WoW Journal - Day 11

Day 11, Monday evening at 6 pm, I do my usual census, with the usual result of slightly below 500 players. Turns out I'm taking this census at off-peak time. In the UK it is only 5 pm, not everybody is home from work/study yet, or people are still busy with family and other things. A second census at 9 pm shows 604 people online on the Horde side, the highest level being 50.

I want to explore Ashenvale today, but I don't really get far. Some guildies want to do Shadowfang Keep and could use a tank. So I head over to Silverpine and join them, in spite of having done all the quests already. And I end up doing nothing but Shadowfang Keep all evening long.

The first run is kind of a draw. One of the group members is only level 19, which makes the things a bit more difficult. Aggro radius in WoW depends strongly on the level difference, and a level 19 in Shadowfang Keep is working like a mob magnet. Still we manage to get to the final boss, Arugal. He kills three of us, including me, before the last two kill him. Unfortunately the other two dead are the rezzers, and by the time we release and run back, the corpse of Arugal has gone, and they can't loot his head for the quest.

One of the two healers who didn't get the head wants to do it again, the other is fed up. Especially since if Shadowfang has one fault, it is a too big level difference. At my level 26 I'm a good match for Arugal, but the mobs at the start of the dungeon are grey and don't give any xp, while the main part mobs are low green and give very little xp. But I agree to help the other healer to do it again. Reshuffling of the group occurs, with people who got the head leaving and others joining. That takes some time.

Finally we start the second run. Our rogue isn't home, and is playing on a laptop with a flaky internet connection. He keeps getting disconnects, which doesn't help. Our average level is lower than on the first run, which doesn't help either. At the start of the hard part of the dungeon, where the level 24 elite mobs are, we get swarmed twice and wiped out twice. And the rogue has so much lag that he decides to give up. No chance to make it to the end, we give up.

While the end was a bit disappointing, and I only made half a level of xp in the two runs, the evening was not a total loss. Because I get a very nice blue shield, a nice blue ring, and some minor green loot. Still level 26. I hope I can do Blackfathom Deeps tomorrow, I think I've done everything in Shadowfang.
- posted by Tobold @ 11:59 PM Permanent Link