Ding 51

Well I skipped the "ding post" on lvl 50 because it all happened this weekend and I just always avoid posting using my cursed dial-up connection. Yes that's right I play WoW on dial up and that really blows at times. If you're the prayin' type of guildie reading this, I could really use high-speed internet soon :)

But I digress.

Well Oak has had no epic battles of late but I did run into a few epic guildies. Namely Bacon, Magnusson and Lou.

The other night, Lou was helping a buddy of his on a run from Menethil to SW and it turns out that my pal Lou seems to have never made that run himself (can you say Ebay character, I knew you could). So I offered to tag along and was really excited to see Lou in-game for the very first time.

He's really short. Lots of beard and mustache and appears to wear a monicle. Sorta like if the monopoly guy turned drug-czar. That's what struck me about him :) Ah but a finer rogue (except maybe Sylvara) you're never to find than Lou. He's of strong stock that gnome and has a winning attitude to boot! Good to see you in-game buddy :)

Next up was Bacon and Magnusson. Now Bacon and I go back a few years now, I've worked with him IRL and it's always good to see my buddy Bacon. Him and Magnusson, along with RW, were kind enough to help me out on a quest to ST (Lou, that means "Sunken Temple" - its a dungeon in the Swamp of Sorrows, lol) .... sorry couldn't resist another shot at my gnome buddy.

Anyhow I had a quest to get the following sword Lightforged Blade which is a pally chain-quest starting with Inert Scourgestones and ultimately yields this sword. (A little trivia that I've read about it is that its the only weapon in the game that adds specifically to holy damage.) It is a NICE weapon and I'm thankful to have it.

Anyhow I needed some feathers in ST for the last step of that quest. Bacon came to throw down some phat healz, RW did the big damage, Magnusson joined us and he and I did dual-tanking/off-dps.

In typical Heroes fashion, it was an odd group makeup. But with Bacon and RW there, it went off without a hitch. That Magnusson boy, I can learn much from that pally. He's a good egg and has really worked hard on his gear and that shows, as well as him being a good player. As for my performance, I felt like I held my own on dps and I had fun too.

As for Bacon, well I'd have to quote Mike Martz from back in the Marshall Faulk era. " I mean that was just Bacon being Bacon. Just when you think he's gonna do this or that he surprises you and takes it to the next level. He's Bacon". So thanks for coming man, its always great to hang with you in-game.

And as for RW - well she's my wife. I wouldn't be this far in the game or life in general without her :)

In general, it was just good to group with some Heroes for a change and I really appreciate their help.

As a matter of fact I think I'll post this on our forums just to make sure they get the proper thanks :) That's it from me!

Just one little level

Ding 49 baby! And with my last point put into Fanaticism, that means I'm only one point away from the beloved talent point that gives me the new ability Crusader Strike. Can't wait. I hope after all this time, it doesn't turn out to be a giant disappointment, lol.

The pally whacking has been going well of late. I've got a good feel for the solo PVE scene and in world PVP, I'm remaining fairly calm. I need to get my tight little dwarven rear into some battlegrounds soon and start testing my abilities there (while hording some sweet honor points/marks).

It looks as though my mod is leading me back to the Hinterlands next for a few quests, untold riches and the ever-present race of watching the exp bar whoosh across the bottom of my 19" LCD monitor (with 8ms response time). Just had to throw in a techie point there since I don't do that often on here. The mod btw is still behaving well, can't say enough good things about it. I did have one concern in that I thought they had only done it to 50 and after that, I'd be stuck alt-tabbing to their website. But it turns out that it's done to 60 now, they just released some new yummy upgrades. And the beta testing is going on clear to lvl 65. Level 70 content for it should be done in a couple of weeks.

So they are staying way ahead of me in upgrades which is great news for Oak. Keep that walkthrough coming so I can catch my guildies before they all roll alts and lvl past me (again). ;)

Ah, so much to do in this game. I can't imagine how tempting it would be to play more often if I had high-speed :)

Farewell Former Hero

Dagnabit! Dang it to heck and tarrrrrrrrrrnation! Now that I got that off my chest ... our good friend and tankdadin has moved on to another guild, thus the brief venting.

Just when you have a sweet night in questing, killing Gammerita and sneaking up on lvl 50, something like this happens and just ruins the ride. Ah Honors, if you're reading this, I'm not mad at you my friend - just teasin.

Origami has a really good post about his feelings on the matter and I do have to say, that he has some good points. That drood has a good head on his shoulders in regards to what a guild ends up being to a player after they've spent some time in the guild, developing friendships - he captured how I'm feeling about things exactly.

I blogged not long ago about being happy to be a hero and to a certain degree (as bad as it may seem to do it) I have to bump my own post. Origami's post today and that one seems to go hand-in-hand ... like paper-wad fights and good friends (couldn't resist that jab at your character name)!

Well at this point I feel as though I'm rambling which I guess you get that from bloggers from time-to-time. Kinda feels like a rainy day, even though its sunny outside where I live.

So tonight the only remedy for this mood is, with extreme prejudice, to finish shrinking my giants in Feralas! Yeah that's the ticket ... Giant spankings and watching the exp bar edge closer to larger repair bills in the future ... suh weet!

Cheer up Heroes - you can still kick me around :)

Ain't she the cutest thing?

Those eyes, those lips, those nose ... and then I had to kill her :) Well sorry Gammerita, but the xp bar wins out over your "stunning" looks.

Having put an abrupt end to our brief and torrid relationship, I headed back to Aerie Peak in the Hinterlands and turned in some quests, then flew to Menethil, boated to Theramore, flew to Gadgetzan (where I finally got my noggenfogger quest chain done), then I hearthed to Shatt, portaled to Darnassus, rode to Rut'theran Village and then ...

Ding 48!

Long way to go for that I realize but I have to keep typing in order to get around the picture of this freaking big turtle on the right :)

So yes, I dinged 48 and man I'm still loving this mod. I just run straight down my little checklist of things to do on my map and bingo, bongo, bango ... I'm still leveling faster than I ever have before. I know it's just because it keeps me focused though - no magic in any leveling guides other than that.

No new cool stuff at 48 other than new ranks of existing spells and that was a drag. But in 2 levels I'll get me some yummy Crusader Strike and I can't wait for that one :)

P.S. - Since I'm at home and don't yet have Photoshop, I can't change my lvl on my blog title but I'll get around to it on Monday so stop yelling at me. I can hear you. Quit it. I mean it now, I may cry soon.

Do you hear what I hear?

Tis the sound of 46 drawing near :) Well last night if I hadn't been so sleepy after my very long weekend in Iowa (visitin my in-laws), I'd have dinged 46 ... but alas ... I caved and dragged myself to the welcoming comfort of the feather-bed and pillow.

Tonight it will happen though. I've really been gliding through the leveling pretty easily, especially since I usually give a Oak a good rested bonus to work with. Last night I killed Lord Shalzaru over by Feathermoon Stronghold on the Isle of Dread. He is a lvl 47 Naga mob, surrounded by 2 lvl 44-45 warrior/caster mobs.

After fighting my way up to him and getting in the room with him, I rebuffed and entered the fray. For some reason the nags give me trouble. They have always seemed to hit MUCH harder than other mobs at their levels.

So I did have to bubble once, and heal/bandage but I managed to down them all. And also, I was able to pull the warrior mob separately so that I only then had the caster and the boss to fight together. Still, twas a close one for little Oak.

But tonight the goal is finish my Feralas quests and hit 46, maybe 47 (we'll see). Level 50 and Crusader Strike would be awesome to behold by the end of this weekend. I'll do my best.