Dranei love

Boy oh boy do I love my newly dranei shaman! I've been healing dungeons with her and just decided to level 88-90 as elemental. While I'm still not sold on the elemental playstyle (I hate Lightning Bolt), Calyx sure does look cool while she's doing it. The dranei casting animations are a wonder to behold. Coolest of all is the animation for Unleash Elements, which is just kind of a meh swooshy thing on my tauren, but is an all-out YEEAAH on Calyx, with flame bursting up around her. I

Like my enhancement shaman, however, Calyx is rather squishy during questing, even with pretty decent gear from dungeons, the AH and a hand-me-down Klaaxi staff from Mnium. I've heard it said before on the official forums, and I completely agree that shamans are rather hampered by the lack of an instant cast self-heal or bubble, something that many other classes have. I was amazed at how much less damage Calyx received when she had her Earth Shield from Ban Bearheart at the beginning of Townlong Steppes. Why do only Resto shammies get to have Earth Shield? Not only would it be extremely useful for dps specs, but it looks cool as heck swirling around at the same time as Lightning Shield like a little planetary system!

I just began questing on Calyx again recently, because the past few days I have been a bit obsessed with leveling her engineering skill. This is for one reason only- goggles! They look damned cool, and I have wanted to be able to equip them on one toon or another ever since I learned they existed in game. So here are her first transmogrify-able goggles, a BC recipe. Leveling engineering hasn't been as difficult or expensive as I thought it would be, since Calyx is leveling her mining at the same time. She has just begun Cata-era recipes, and will be looking for Obsidium in Mt. Hyjal as soon as she has finished leveling to 90.

Leveling as elemental hasn't been so bad, despite my not being too enthused with the rotation. Maybe it's riding around on a yak, her cute little sporebat pet from back home, or her lovely new duds, but I'm enjoying watching Calyx run around slaughtering all the things. I'm reminded once again of how important visual aesthetics are for me- one of the biggest reasons this game has sucked me in is that I just really like how it looks. I may not currently be in a creative phase where I am making art of my own, but every time I log into WoW I feel like I am participating in a piece of art. Without this visual appeal, no amount of content and achievements would have kept my interest for so long.

Little projects, a step at a time

This weekend I stepped back a bit and looked at my legion of alts, and decided that it was time to go with some small projects on a few of them, rather than diving into any more grinds. With work being super busy lately, I need to be conscious of not making WoW feel like another job, and focusing on what is enjoyable. That said, here is what I will be thinking about when I log into WoW this week:

Mnium will not be doing any dailies, but she will be running LFR and continuing her BC dungeon trips for pretty transmoggery. She got the legs for the Bloodfang recolor set last week, and has the boots and belt left, from Auchenai Crypts and Slave Pens. Right now she's wearing the Clefthoof boots and a belt she found on the auction house, which look pretty good. She ran the holiday dungeon a few times last week while I was grading papers and finally received the 480 necklace- only to have a downgrade necklace drop for her in LFR. Oh well!

Blatella the Wakener! My tough little forsaken shadow priest finally got to exalted with the Klaaxi and is wearing her title and tabard proudly! She also had a great LFR week, winning a cape, trinket and boots, and collected enough valor for the Golden Lotus shoulders. Her luck prompted me to spend the money to get her properly enchanted, gemmed and reforged, and I'm looking forward to melting faces during some Shado-Pan dailies and LFR this week.

So I decided I needed a pretty little dranei! Calyx is formerly Panthalassa, who was formerly an orc and then a panda. Calyx also was moved to my Alliance group on Feathermoon, where the name Panthalassa was taken, thus the rename (I rather like the name Calyx, it's a part of the insect brain). She brought with her some cloth for Fossegrimme's tailoring, and Malik's Stalwart Spear that Blatella found while doing Klaaxi dailies. The spear will be for either my feral druid or my monk, whenever I decide to level them.

I don't feel much like questing right now, so Calyx, who is about halfway to level 88, is just healing some dungeons here and there. Resto shaman is much, much easier for me than resto druid was. Lots of big heals and cooldowns, once in awhile I lose a dps who got two-shotted by a boss, but otherwise healing with Calyx has been challenging but fun. I really like the intellect mail dungeon armor too, she just has shoulders and boots left to collect.

At some point I may switch to elemental for some questing, but I'm in no hurry to get to 90. I hope to be able to heal heroics with Calyx, and maybe even try LFR, so I figure I need all the practice I can get at being a healer. I've also not really enjoyed the elemental spec in the past, but I've been seeing a lot of high-dps ele shammies in LFR, so this makes me think it might get more fun at level 90. So I'm likely to give it a try- I really like the fact that I can swap between the two roles on a single toon as the mood strikes me.

Another busy week

There have been some other blog posts recently about the sheer number of things to do in WoW right now, especially with Patch 5.2 about to drop. It can be overwhelming, but the moment of clarity comes when you realize it's kind of like a buffet where you can pick and choose, but you don't have to try everything. I've really been keeping that in mind this past couple of weeks, and as a result, my activities in game have been eclectic, but more fun than forcing myself to play through aspects of the game that I don't really have an interest in right now.

For example, I don't feel like doing dailies at all on Mnium. Instead, I am grinding a few BC dungeons for the Bloodfang recolor set. All she has left is Auchenai Crypts for the boots and Slave Pens for the belt. This weekend though I will run Mnium through the first two parts of LFR just for kicks. She doesn't have any Elder Charms but I don't really care. With drop rates improving and valor gear getting cheaper in the next patch, she'll get geared up eventually.

I am working towards getting Blatella the forsaken shadow priest exalted with the Klaaxi so I can see the end of the story and get the title. She has maybe 1-2 days left of dailies. I also ran her through two portions of LFR last week and she got a cape upgrade, and a belt that she didn't need. I didn't realize that the belt wasn't an upgrade until I had already gemmed it- oops. 

I started a monk and modeled him a bit after my boyfriend because I like the idea of watching him run around and punch things in the face. My bf requested that he be a ninja panda in black, so that will be his color theme while leveling. Jiaozi is up to level 21 and I plan to level him mainly through questing and exploring, with rested xp and the monk xp benefit. I have been doing some pet battles with him too- I love the little harvester pet!

Finally, I decided I wanted to play my elemental/resto shaman a bit after a really great episode of The Training Dummies podcast on everything shammy. She's at level 87 and I would like to level her to 90 through healing dungeons, and maybe heal through heroics too. I haven't included a picture of her because I have for some crazy reason decided that she needs to be a dranei now, so she is on her way to my Alliance group of Feathermoon. So I'm looking forward to healing some dungeons and pew pewing things in LFR this weekend!

Exhausted

Work is kicking my butt this week, and I have only been puttering about in WoW. I'm still enjoying playing balance on Mnium, and she managed to scrape up enough gear to get into the first part of LFR. No gear drops yet, and she still could use upgrades from heroics, so plenty to do there. I can't, can't do Golden Lotus dailies right now so Mnium is mainly hanging around Halfhill working for the Tillers. She's close to having enough Valor for the Klaaxi belt so after that she'll start working on Golden Lotus.

Mnium has nearly a full set of heroic gear for bear, her new second spec. If no one else in the heroic uses agility leather, she rolls need on it, which I think is fair. Just a couple more pieces and I'll start doing Operation Shieldwall dailies as bear, which I'm rather looking forward to.

Overall I'm still really feeling the night elf druid thing. All of Mnium's forms look cool, the night elf casting animations, which I can see thanks to Glyph of Stars, look totally cool, and thanks to strong self heals and CC I feel that Mnium is decently survivable even as balance. I like the complexity of the class and how well it fits in with the druid lore that I recently read about in the War of the Ancients trilogy. Mushrooms + Ursol's Vortex + Hurricane/Astral Storm to take out multiple mobs is a blast. I like having real AOE and self heals, something that my enhancement shaman is sadly missing. Still, I expect I'll return to my Horde side sooner or later, most likely when all the new raids drop in the next patch.

A druid in Pandaria

Mnium is meandering through Pandaria, in no hurry to reach level 90. She's mostly questing, and has gotten the achievements for finishing Jade Forest and Krasarang Wilds. I wanted to explore Krasarang with her because of the night elf quests, in which she assists the Sentinels in finding the Pools of Youth. Seemed like kind of a bad idea, given the history of the night elves and magical pools and immortality and all that. Mnium quested her way to western Krasarang Wilds, then up to Stoneplow, and then to Kun-Lai Summit to help the Alliance establish a base there. Now she's in Townlong Steppes and halfway through level 88. She'll probably help the Shado-Pan as much as she can in order to finish the quests in this zone. Since finishing Dread Wastes on my Horde priest Blatella over Xmas, I don't want to revist much of that zone so soon.

In addition to questing, Mnium has been doing a few dungeons, mostly as balance DPS. She spent all of the JP earned on some incredibly gaudy BC gear in Shattrath, as seen above. With her dungeon spell dagger and Binan Village quest off-hand, she is the most colorful druid in Pandaria!

Mnium just got a couple of quest rewards in Townlong Steppes that have a pinkish hue to them, and they match pretty well with the help. Hopefully she'll get the whole set as she completes the zone- she got the entire Mortbreath set from Krasarang Wilds, which is a beautiful red and silver. I really like the return to more colorful, detailed gear in this expansion. It's really filling up my bank slots, though!

I'm still enjoying playing as Balance. I like throwing on Barkskin, planting some mushrooms, rounding up a few mobs at a time and casting Starfall on them, and using Ursoc's Vortex to keep the mobs in the toxic mushroom spores after I detonate them. This had made questing a lot of fun. Dungeons have been more challenging- healers still seem to be struggling in the 85-90 dungeons. After nerd raging a couple of times this weekend I switched Mnium to Resto for a dungeon so I could see what the problem was. Turns out Resto druid is a lot more challenging than Resto shaman at this level. OOM + plus only two OMG spells on long cooldowns (Tranquility plus Tree form) + only one big heal with a super long cast time (Healing Touch)- I had a hard time keeping up in heavy damage. I  attributed part of it to having mostly low level questing gear, but still, it was painful enough that I don't know if I'll heal with Mnium again. Nuking things is far more enjoyable.

I figure that by the end of the week, Mnium will have hit level 90. I'm planning to start her Operation Shieldwall and Tillers right away, in addition to some heroics and scenarios until she can get into LFR. Revered with Operation Shieldwall provides access to valor belt, boots, ring and trinket, and hopefully Mnium can fill the rest in doing LFR. I don't think I can do Klaaxi and Golden Lotus dailies for a third time, at least not right now.

Throughout her leveling, Mnium has been making a few trips to level up her herbalism. Between selling herbs and the generous Pandaria quest rewards, she finally has a little money to spend. So she splurged on fast flying- I love the new flight form, and can't wait until she can fly around Pandaria too!

Whirlwind to 85

My recent interest in playing Mnium, a night elf druid, comes from having found the War of the Ancients trilogy at a used bookstore over the holidays. This is her 3rd race change, and by moving her to Feathermoon she's now on my chosen Alliance server. She took some gold and heirlooms over with her to help with leveling and purchasing odds and ends off of the AH, and thus prepared began her journey in Silithus with the Cenarion Circle. 35 or so levels, and then she would be off to Pandaria and perhaps my first Alliance toon to make it to level cap.

Although I usually hate Silithus, Mnium had a goal of collecting rep for the Cenarion Circle. She just dinged Revered as she hit level 58 and began queueing for BC dungeons. I like BC dungeons, as the gear rewards are some of my favorite. Since I took a lot of care with her appearance, I had Mnium use the starry boomkin glyph, so she only goes into boomkin form during her mecha laser chicken cooldown.

I like questing in BC zones too, also because some of the gear rewards are very nice looking.  Above is Mnium entering Zangarmarsh, still in her low level gear but carrying a staff from Hellfire Ramparts. She quested mostly in Zangarmarsh and Shadowmoon Valley, in addition to dungeon runs.

Here's her "Outland Veteran" outfit, as she left to begin questing in Borean Tundra. The chest and gloves are part of the rogue Bloodfang armor which drops from BC dungeons. The belt is the low level Hunter's belt and everything else is from the Clefthoof leather set.

Onto Wrath Mnium quested in Borean Tundra and Dragonblight before I got completely sick of all the snow. I'm gaining a bit more of an appreciation for the Wrath armor though. This leather set from quest and dungeon drops looks pretty cool, especially the staff and shoulders. I got the snail out just for the picture.

Burned out on questing, what to do. Druid can heal too! After a respec to resto and some helpful hints from folks on Twitter, Mnium was ready to heal through the rest of the Wrath content.

Yes I had to check out the treant standing in fire effect. Looks uncomfortable!

The first 2/3 of Wrath went smoothly, and then things started to really grind. Mnium did fine as resto, but levels 78-80 went very, very slowly. Everyone seems to be in Pandaria, as dungeon queues even as healer were 5-15 minutes.

Cata was even slower. Mnium quested in Hyjal from 80-82 and then hit the dungeons as resto once again. She got the Throne of the Tides staff and a cool leather dress from Blackrock Caverns. Overall though, 81-85 felt like a terrible grind, whether questing or dungeoning.

But she finally made it to 85, and is ready for Pandaria. I bought a full set of 415 blues for Mnium as a reward, both to make her a bit less squishy for the upcoming levels, and because I've always liked the leather gear for the newest expansion. She'll get a new staff from one of the first quests into Pandaria, and then she'll be good to go for awhile.

Now at level 85, I have a few goals for Mnium:
1. Work on Cenarion Expedition and Cenarion Circle rep for Guardian of Cenarius achievement
2. ENJOY five levels of Pandaria Alliance-side
3. Find goodies around Pandaria for the Relic Hunter achievement

Most of my gameplay revolves around my enjoyment of leveling toons. But this last experience has shown me that there are areas of leveling that are just not interesting for me anymore. The Wrath content became dull for me but I can see getting interested in questing in some areas of Northrend again that I haven't visited in awhile, for future toons. But I have been through the Cata zones and dungeons so many time, they're hard to bear.

But for now, I have 2 Alliance toons at 85, 2 Horde toons at 90, and 4 Horde toons from 85-87. That will keep me in Pandaria for a long time, until I'm finally ready to brave the lower levels again.

Mnium

Mnium is a druid and a member of the Cenarion Circle, most recently stationed in Silithus. While she has performed her duties admirably, being stuck at a forgotten outpost against the long-conquered Qiraji threat has failed to slake her need for adventure, and the buzzing of the silithids has begun to drive her just a little bit mad. So to her great relief, Mnium has been sent to assist the Cenarion Expedition in Zangarmarsh, by way of Stormwind.

Mnium dresses simply and functionally, as befitting of a druid trainee. Still, she can't completely suppress her night elf heritage and tendency towards stylish fashions. The Stormwind auction house has provided her with a new jerkin and pauldrons that suit her.

What a city! She mustn't dally here though, as she is needed in Zangarmarsh. She is young enough not to worry too much about the dangers of this strange land called Outland, and in truth looks forward to the challenge. Her mind is focused on a lofty goal, of someday becoming a Guardian of Cenarius.

She has seen some curious things in Stormwind, further whetting her appetite for adventure. Pandaren? A new land? She has heard whispers just during her short time in Stormwind that this land contains a Well much like that which nearly brought the night elves to destruction in Kalimdor, and sure enough, there are rumors of a great evil afoot in Pandaria, fueled by the magical waters. Will the night elf druids be needed to help purge the world of this threat, too?

Mnium closes her eyes, breathes deeply and smiles. First Zangarmarsh, and her duties to the Cenarion Expedition. And perhaps with a job well done, she will make her way to this new land, just as she has done before. She has a whole life ahead of her for such adventures.