Game On!

Being done with EQ2 and focusing more on WoW, I talked with one of my gaming friends who didn't believe WoW was a blight to the earth and that the cartoony graphics were something to loathe and he agreed to try playing WoW again. The original plan was to play on Mannoroth where my Blood Elf Hunter lives and a few people from work are playing, but that changed.

The guy I've been online gaming with for over ten years now heard that we were playing WoW and he was signing his son (11 years old) up to play. He was a little annoyed I didn't invite him to come play, but I had a good reason not to. You see, he believes WoW is a blight to the earth and that the cartoony graphics were something to loathe. I think that was a pretty good reason to not invite him. I just assumed he'd be against playing that given his grumbling about EQ2 and the infamous "taking a break from MMOs" comments.

Well, he decided he would play as well. The catch was that he didn't want to play on a PVP server. At all. I couldn't convince him otherwise no matter how hard I tried. He was keen on this fairly new server called Cairne. He's got something about starting on equal footing and on new servers.

Cairne is PVE and CST, so they're an hour behind us. I wasn't too keen on that. It's a new economy as well, which means it will be awhile before people are making items that can sell at a price where you can turn a profit. You're also facing stiff competition as most people are churning through the same tradeskill levels that you are and end up selling their items at a loss on the auction house - yes, people selling for a loss when compared to what a NPC vendor would give you for them (i.e. Hillman's Shoulders can be sold to a vendor for 12sp, people are selling them for that much on the AH so minus the AH fees and you've taken a loss). On older servers there are fewer people making the lower tier items so when you do make them, they sell well.

Another painful thing about starting on a new server is that everyone seems to do that, so there is actually a queue most of the time, though it is pretty short. The server also lags a bit.

Oh, and then my friend and his son play a ton of Battlegrounds... I really do mean he played a ton. Not only were they entering at the lower level range of the tier (something which is apparently frowned on by people who must win all the time) but they discovered the joys of Battlegroups... namely, when you're on a new server you get devastated by the twinks off other servers in the Battlegroups. They still had fun and I actually got involved too.

I should mention the players.

Frank - Arasia, Blood Elf (mangina) Priest (level 22ish now)
Michel - Armoquard, Orc Shaman (was about level 18 yesterday, Frank's son)
Chris - Celecirce, Blood Elf (mangina) Mage (about level 18 last I saw him)
Me - Karrn, Orc Hunter (level 26 /flex - I sneeze and I level)

That brings me to another point - Capture the Flag in WoW feels bloody weird (Yes, it was my first time in a BG). It took me a bit to realize where to set up the defense. At first I was setting things up in the flag room (I was around level 15 at the time so I only had my fire trap). This wasn't a good idea. It's far easier (with Track Humanoids going) to roam the middle in front of the base and intercept the flag carrier when he does get the flag (Boar pet FTW). It also took me a short time to figure out the power ups and lay of the map.

I focused mainly on defense and we actually won one of the 6 matches we played (3-0). The previous ones were a loss with us suffering at the hands of the twinks. Still, I came away with well over 100 kills and several hundred honor.

Frank was having issue as a Priest since his DPS wasn't really something capable of killing the Rogues that jumped him and they often got the drop on him. Even when I tried to get their attention they would focus on getting him down. Boar pet, Concussive Shot and mad Hunter DPS to the rescue. Until a Warrior would charge me. hehe

All in all, it was good fun.

We started to hit some instances over the weekend. We cleared out Ragefire Chasm (no big feat there) then proceeded to Wailing Caverns and cleared that one out twice (and did parts of it a couple of times). Yesterday we cleared through Shadowfang Keep and I'm hoping this weekend we'll hit Blackfathom Depths. We do quite well considering we rarely add to the group and we didn't have Chris around much. Me and my pet tanked while the Shaman and Priest kept things going. I did a little CC when I got my hands on Ice Trap (I couldn't wait to get that one again). The only areas of problem were in Wailing Caverns when we'd face more than one Druid and suffer from having two people put to sleep. We managed to pull through though.

I'm trying to hold back and not level any farther than I am now. It's hard to resist, I really want to get back to where Malken was but I'll try to be patient. Instead I'll raise my Skinning (on grey mobs), Leatherworking and Fishing skills. Oh, I scored Humar the Pridelord on the weekend, soon after hitting 23rd. I grabbed a wyvern to Ratchet, camped out for lunch then popped back in when the kids were napping and sure enough, he was there. I bungled the first attempt because I was rushing and trying to avoid extra agro but I got him the second time without a problem. I had tried to get Echeyakee but I had Frank and Michel with me and somehow they got agro and my taming kept breaking. No loss, he seems to be pretty common. I think I saw about 10 Hunters with him hehe. I did grab Ishamuhale but I wasn't that impressed by him and he was also fairly common.

Crap, I just realized I need to build up some cash for an extra stable slot so I can get upgrades in abilities for both my pets. Humar has only Claw 2 as a trainable and he could be using Claw 4. My boar, "Tye" (my son named him), is still using Bite 2 and the lower level boar abilities. He needs an upgrade too but I can't do that without dumping one of the two or getting the coin together to buy another stable slot.

Ah well, I'll get to farming in around the Barrens. I might even go into WC and clear out some of the areas that I can to collect a lot more medium leather (I'm up to being able to use Heavy Leather).

To quote an orc peon, "Work, work." Back to work I go...