Ding 37!

Well this weekend I dinged 37 as the title of this post may have given away already :) Just three more levels now until I can stroll into SW and ride out on a "free" mount. Okay sure it's 90s but still pretty doggone free as far as I'm concerned.

I did get to equip Herod's Shoulders, which look amazing on Oak. I'm starting to dig this gear that makes you look like a Mack Truck :) VERY different from the stuff that Talon wears and for my part, I think it's more fun to look at. Doesn't seem like rogues get cool looking gear until the set items start showing. The bigger, bulkier melee classes seem to get cooler looking gear much sooner. I dig it!

Not much else to report. Just counting down those last 3 milestone levels. I'm gonna try and hit 38 tonight if I have time.

Herodious Deadious

Last night my wife (Robzwench) ran me through the Monastery. She downed Herod, Mograine (sp?), Whitemane, and the Houndmaster. So that completed Down the Scarlet Path for me and got me a nice new axe (Bonesplitter). Additionally, Herod's Shoulders dropped so I have that for next level.

With my rested bonus, I got nearly through all of lvl 36, which I was surprised by given that RW was there. But that was great!

When turning in my quest at SS, the town was being sacked. Multiple lvl ?? horde hit me.

Solution? Bubble FTR (For The Retreat)! I bubbled and calmly took my flight outta there. That's gotta make those guys mad.

Lastly, I was heavily laden with a copious amount of greens/blues and from the sale of those I should make near 40g. Woot! Woot! Woot!

Whistling a more serious tune

I know this is supposed to be about WoW. But I've got some real life stuff going on that I need to "get out". I guess this is as good of a place as any.

Over the last few months here where I work, two really good friends have moved on to other opportunities; the most recent to leave, his last day was yesterday. I wish them all the best. They are both awesome men and I'm glad to know them (if you read this, you know who you are). Today is my first day of neither of them being here.

So this all raises many questions for me and gives me solid assurances on some areas as well.

• I know who my friends really are. They are the guys that moved on/are moving on. The others here are just co-workers. Decent people, by and large, but just co-workers after all. These are the people that you talk to, you get to know on a "surface level" but no real depth. Sure you wish "co-workers" well but in the end, they are just ultimately strangers that you know slightly better than the "complete" kind.
• I did have some fears as to whether I could do my job here without these guys around. They are guys you depend on daily to get you to laugh when you're totally ticked at the world. You go to them when you're stuck on a problem. Sometimes not even a job-related problem. And when you get to that point, that you'll discuss personal issues with them, you need to realize as I have that you're trusting these people with your life to some degree. Because their input could alter your personal decisions. That affects your life. So not to be dramatic but it's a big deal when those folks move on and your communication is reduced to electronic means for the most part.
• It's lonely being alone, lol
• As far as my wondering if I can do this here alone ... I'm a programmer, k? But over the years I'd found myself slipping into a daily repertoire with these guys. Usually with me, not as the lead role in a conversation, but more as a support role. Kind of an off-healer, you know? So I began to doubt myself as to whether I'd be able to come up with "technical answers" like I used to do; or would I flop? On that note, I believe I will survive. Sure it's gonna not be as fun to figure out things without being able to collaborate; but at least I realized that I'm not a complete idiot.

This place where I work has changed so much. And with my friends being gone, it just really casts all of the "no fun" into sharp relief. I think I'm about done with this place as a developer.

Someone put it well the other day. "This place has always underpaid it's employees but they offset that by making it a fun work environment, not a consultant "get it done faster" atmosphere. Now they are bringing in the consultant atmosphere but not raising the pay to match it. So if you have that atmosphere already, you may as well go look for money somewhere else."

I think I will.

More on our guild world pvp night

Okay, I'm learning more and more from better bloggers like Honors and Bacon that this blogging stuff is much like a diary. I knew that but I have a hard time putting it into practice. But here goes.

I did learn one important lesson from our world pvp night. Okay two things. Alright probably more than that but we're going to limit it to two things okay? Stop yelling at me.

• I really like my paladin better than my rogue. Many times that evening I was thinking how much more straightforward and fun it would be to be playing Oak at that lvl instead of Talon.
• Dial up and guild events really don't make good bedfellows. The lag was beyond my wildest dreams in Orgrimmar. Thus the bubble-hearthing (or my best approximation of it.

Having said all that I do think that I will now keep Talon if for nothing else than money-make for my alts. When you think about it, a rogue (or any stealther) is a great class to have at a high level for just funneling money to alts.

• You can stealth to many areas others can't; to get drops, etc.
• It's an awesome class to bring into the area and park while your lower level class is grinding. Say what you will about rogues but they still have that "scare factor" of killing you quick, then vanishing. And you never know when it's gonna happen again. I do love that so much.
• Talon is an enchanter and can DE anything the game. That's valuable to me now that all items are instant through the mail (within your account). Yes I realize that had nothing to do with stealthing but I'd already got my list going.

Tie all that up to the fact that you can do these daily quests at 70, and I can funnel quite a bit of money to Oak with Talon. Should be able to keep Oak in the AH's finest for a loooooong time.

A wrinkle in their time ...

Well last night our guild raided, Grom'gol, Crossroads, Orgrimmar, Tauren Mill, and the Undercity. I helped as I could with Talon. Good times were had by all ... Alliance :) The Horde however did not have so good of an evening. I was around for the killing of flight masters, taking over of zeppelins, the wiping out (in it's entirety) of Grom'gol.

Our guild master was awesome with just jumping right into the middle of flight master after flight master! I loved it!

I wasn't able to hang with them for the whole evening what with my dial-up connection and all. I lagged out at Orgrimmar and had to hearth outta there.

But it was fun while it lasted and I hope, hope, hope we do it again :)

I got a new axe-itude!

Ok so this isn't the most epic weapon in the game but it's a solid blue that should last me quite a few more levels. It's the Corpsemaker and I'm pretty excited about it.

It's great to have a family that also plays WoW. They went out and ground this out from Razorfen Krawl today for me. Thanks to RW and Ironsword for doing this!

Ding 35

Ever-creeping closer to "free mount" day, I dinged 35 on day before yesterday I think it was. Man, leveling to 40 seems SO easy this time since I've already done this once! It really helps knowing where everything is and I'm continually amazed at how much that speeds up the process.

Tried 3 runs last night with Robzwench through Razorfen Krawl to try and get my Corpsemaker, two-handed axe. So in those 3 runs to kill the Ramtusk Overlord, I got what you may ask? Three helms and axes - not so much. Ah, we'll try it once more tonight perhaps and see how things go.

I'm not sure that its the best two-hander for me at my level but it sure beats what I'm using. More research is called for, this is a certainty.

Sounds like this Thurs, some guildies might be going to Scarlet Monastery, and there could be a drop or two in there for yours truly.

"There's got to be some sailors on this rock crazy as you." - Mr. Gibbs
"One can only hope." - Jack Sparrow