Wow, so long time since I’ve updated this blog! In that time I’ve messed around with WoW and LotRO. It doesn’t seem that MMOs are really keeping my interest anymore. I didn’t play TOR or Diablo III. Perhaps I’ll give GW2 a shot. We’ll see.

In place of gaming I’ve been trying to improve my web development skills. As a result I’m getting ready to launch a new website soon. It’s called Idea Bacon.

It will be a place where people can discuss ideas for products and services that they might have. If you have a bunch of ideas that you’d like to see made a reality or if you’re looking for a new project but aren’t sure what to work on this will be the website for you.

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Lately I have felt disenchanted with the state of Warcraft so I put my account on ice for a while. The content is not keeping my attention. Looking for greener pastures I decided to give EverQuest II another shot. When it first debuted in the Fall of 2004 I played it for a month or two before dropping it for Warcraft. Since that time the game has seen many expansions and changes in game play. A vast uncharted territory is very appealing to me.

My original EQ2 character was a Halfling Templar named Mckenzie on the Unrest server. When he was last seen running around Norrath he was level 19 and had just completed the quest line to move from Cleric to Templar. This transition is something that has been removed from the game. Now you just choose which specific class you want from the character selection screen. Since a lot has changed I decided to start fresh with a Dwarf Paladin name Colgaryn on the Guk server. His home city is Kelethin rather than Qeynos. Both characters have been working through the Tier 2 content and have started dipping their toes in the Tier 3 content.

At level 20 an armor quest line becomes available that will upgrade you to a fresh set of cloths with what seems like decent stats. I have finished both the forearms and gloves on the Paladin and will start the same on the Templar soon. First I’m trying to catch up the Templar’s AA point count. This is a system that didn’t exist in its current state the last time I played. Meaning when I logged in I had no points. Searching the forums I haven’t found agreement on the correct ratio of AA points to level to maintain. I think I’ll try for 2 AA points for every 1 level. At level 90 this will give 180 AA points. Hopefully this is a good jumping off point.

So far the adventuring has been fun!

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So it has been just over a month since I last posted a to do list for myself in order to be geared out for a 10-man Naxx team. A lot has changed in that month. As it stands now I only have Malygos on both 10 and 25 left to beat until I have bested all the current raid content of WotLK. This doesn’t include various “hard mode” achievements. The Loot Fu has been kind to me. I only have one blue item remaining and my kit is four slots away from the Epic achievement.

Overall my opinion is a bit mixed about WotLK raiding. I’m glad that the 10 man version of Naxx is a bit easier than I remember Karazhan initially. It is fun to head in with a group of friends and make some immediate progress with immediate returns. I wish that they hadn’t enabled a heroic version of Naxx, but rather launched with something like Ulduar as the initial 25-man raid. After clearing through Naxx on 10 man it does not really have that heroic a feel on Heroic. Especially when many of the encounters feel either the same or easier on Heroic.

In any event there are now a bunch of achievements to work on completing while we wait for Ulduar to drop. First on the list is downing Arachnophobia. Unfortunately we have had a ton of lag lately which has slowed our progression down. Another straight forward achievement we should get soon is Twilight Assist. I see both of these very doable in both 10 and 25 man raids.

Apart from raiding I have been trying to quest in my spare time to purchase my epic flier. I’m generally failing at this since I am willing to drop any amount of money required to keep up the raiding efforts. What I need to get down is a good Daily Quest route that can net me a decent amount of gold a day. So far I haven’t found one I like. I have been able to fairly reliably complete the CoT: Strat timed run but since I don’t have the skill required I’ve been passing on the drake reward.

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With a little bit of gear I’ve now basically ditched running regular dungeons in favor of their heroic counter parts. Doing a quick scan of the cloth gear that drops from various bosses and is also available from reputation rewards I have worked out a basic idea of the items I am after. Some of the items might not be the most ideal option for the slot but the idea is to acquire a basic set to make raiding a better reality. You can see my current gearing here. Item slots that I’m leaving out already have a satisfactory item equipped.

• Head: Forgotten Shadow Hood – Her Strat
• Shoulders: Runecaster’s Mantle – BoE Her UK
• Back: Shroud of Moorabi – Her Gundrak
• Chest: Robes of Crackling Flame – Rep Reward with Kirin Tor
• Hands: Gloves of Glistening Runes – Her Nexus
• Feet: Sandals of Crimson Fury – Rep Reward with Wyrmrest Accord
• Ring: Band of Guile or Annhylde’s Ring or Signet of Hopeful Light. I recently got Ring of the Frenzied Wolvar out of Her UP which could serve me for a while.
• Trinket: The Egg of Mortal Essence – 40 Emblems of Heroism
• Main Hand: War Mace of Unrequited Love – I’ve run Her Nexus a couple times and haven’t seen this one yet. Since I’m at revered with Wyrmrest Accord I’m thinking of grabbing Gavel of the Brewing Storm for the time being.
• Range: Rod of the Fallen Monarch – Her A/N

Notes:
• Any of the above items could be replaced by another item that drops for me and is an upgrade.
• Given that there really isn’t that much attractive Heroism Badge loot I’d probably spend badges after the trinket on the T7 Robes and Gloves. I’m not sure if I’m going to buy any alts Artifact items or not.
• I haven’t met the Sons of Hodir yet so a WotLK shoulder enchant isn’t available to me yet. I can slap on the lesser Scryer enchant just to have some extra stats.

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Last night I finally made it to level 80 on my Belf Priest. I’ve found myself distracted by a lot of things outside of game in the month since Wrath was released. This lead to leveling a bit slower than I thought I would. My first run through Utgarde Pinnacle got me to 80 and also the Northrend Dungeonmaster achievement. The next step will be to gear myself up enough to start running Heroics and 10-mans. At the moment our guild is in need of healers so I’m looking forward to lots of dungeon runs.

Matt wrote up an article about gearing a fresh level 80 Priest. I’ve decided to use his advice as a starting place for gearing up. Many of his suggestions are fairly easy to come by and I have obtained a couple items  already.

It wouldn’t be a status report on one of my characters without a to-do list. Here is my to-do list for the priest:

• At the moment I am Championing The Wyrmrest Accord. I will continue to do so until I hit Revered.
• Level Tailoring to 415 so that I can make Moonshroud cloth. This will allow me to obtain Frostmoon Pants and Aurora Slippers.
• Work on leveling Enchanting as I have the materials. I had been selling all the items I had come across in order to make a bit more money. Since questing will now give gold for XP I’ll resume disenchanting all items I get.
• Get to Exalted with the Kalu’ak so that I can get Pengu and move on to other Daily Quests.
• Get to Honored with Kirin Tor for the Shroud of Dedicated Research. Maybe I’ll Champion them for a dungeon or two to speed this up and then go back to Wyrmrest Accord.
• Obtain an epic flying mount. Gold investment in trade skills will probably be minimal until this is completed. Slow flyer seems even slower in Northrend.
• Work on the Feast of Winter Vale achievements.

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I finally got around to upgrading the blog to WordPress 2.7. People have been talking about the great new features in this version. I can’t wait to check them out.

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The priest I had been casually leveling hit 70 about a week ago. This character is the sixth character that I’ve raised to level 70. Also, despite my previous thought of playing the Druid in WotLK I’ve instead decided to play this Priest. Currently I’ve specced her as 59/2/0 Discipline and really enjoying it. I’m able to heal quite well and also complete quests without getting too frustrated. With the expansion only about a week and a half away I’ve scaled back my normal gearing ambitions. My hope is to enter Northrend with a reasonable kit.

The Headless Horseman event helped. I ran it around level 66 and was able to get a pair of rings that I put in the bank. I was also able to run Karazhan at level 68 and get a pair of boots and an off-hand. At 70 I rounded out my gear by purchasing the blue-quality faction PvP gear.

To do before WotLK:
• PvP for the Merciless Gladiator’s Mooncloth Mantle. I love this model and have wanted a set of these shoulders for a while.
• Purchase an Essence of the Martyr.
• Raise my Shattered Sun Offensive rep to Exalted. This will allow the purchase of K’iru’s Presage and Shattered Sun Pendant of Acumen.
• Raise my Scryer rep to Exalted.
• Raise my Sha’tar rep and Keepers of Time rep to at least Honored to purchase Heroic Keys.
• Complete both Tailoring and Enchanting Professions.
• Save up at least 2000 gold. I had originally thought about trying to get Epic Flight, but I’m not sure there is enough time.

Note: I had intended to participate in NaBloPoMo but I neglected to post on the first two days. All isn’t lost though! I hope to put up a post a day for the rest of the month.

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I’m going to be doing National Blog Posting Month in November. This will be a departure from not posting any updates for weeks at a time. Tomorrow is the 1st!

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Now that the 3.0 patch has gone live is time once again for the Add-On Scavenger hunt. This is where I monitor the add-on sites for updates to the plethora of mods that I use. During this time I also find out which add-ons have been discontinued by the author, make a note, and then search for a suitable substitute. Below I’ve listed the add-ons that I use. Some of these have already been updated and some have already been superseded by new add-ons. Thanks to Bre for her head start on finding updated add-ons. Happy hunting everyone!

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In vanilla WoW I leveled two level 60 characters. In TBC WoW I leveled 5 level 70 characters. With the WotLK looming I’ve decided that I want to get as much mileage out of one character before spreading myself thin over many characters. This is a thought I’ve had for some time, but I’ve been very indecisive about which character I would play. With the announcement of dual-specs I’ve started leaning towards playing the Druid.

My thinking is that I’ll choose Balance as my main spec and Feral as my secondary spec. With multiple sets of gear I will be able to fill the roles of spell caster, tank, and (perhaps) healer. This will allow me to play whichever role is needed on a particular night.

The other motivation behind choosing the Druid is his current skill level. It will very easy to max out cooking and fishing. The trade skills of Herbalism/Alchemy are generally always in demand and can help defray the costs of raiding. He is also in a good position to get an epic flyer before the expansion hits.

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