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Tuesday, December 04, 2007
WoW Journal - 4-December-2007
I had an interesting weekend in World of Warcraft, and didn't get around to post about it yesterday. Saturday was exclusively spent on my level 70 characters. My warrior found a guild group to do the Ogri'la group quests. That resulted in him getting an Apexis Crystal, with which I bought the Ogri'la Aegis, a very nice tanking shield. Then I switched characters, but stayed in that same guild group with some modifications, and we did the Ogri'la attunement quest chain for my priest and and another player.
So now my warrior has access to 7 daily quests, two in Skettis, the cooking daily, and 4 in Ogri'la. My priest doesn't have cooking, and not being honored yet he only has 3 Ogri'la quests, for a total of 5 daily quests. But I'm not doing all 12 daily quests every day, that gets boring pretty quickly. I'm more likely to do 6 quests with the warrior (skipping the Skettis escort), and between zero and two with my priest. The biggest difference between the two characters is that the warrior already has his epic flying mount, while the priest is still saving up for one. And that makes a huge difference for the Ogri'la bombing run. With the epic flying mount I often can destroy all 15 stacks of cannonballs without being hit or landing even once. With the normal flying mount I got shot down every single time, and sometimes already on the approach. I ended up riding around with the epic non-flying horse, standing next to the cannonball stack, casting shield, mounting on my flying steed and immediately throwing the bomb. Then I get shot down, but with the shield on and not having left the ground that doesn't do much harm.
My warrior also started the next quest series leading to more daily quests, in Shadowmoon Valley for the Netherwing. But I'm at the step where I need a group now, and will have to ask around for one to continue. Strangely the daily quest I enjoy the most is the cooking quest, probably because there is a random quest out of at least 4 different possibilities every day. Each quest involves traveling to a different zone, and the quest only pays 8 gold, so it isn't as fast a money-maker as the other quests. But you get free meat for your cooking, and a chance to find a rare recipe. I already have the Kibler's Bits, and Hot Spicy Talbuk recipe. But I read there is also some fish soup and the even rarer (but apparently useless) chocolate cake recipe. Fun!
On Sunday I mostly played my mage. The leveling speed really increased at lot, I got from 27 to 31 in one day, albeit while playing a lot. At level 28 I got invited to a very good pickup group to Razorfen Kraul. I hadn't realized before that they had lowered the level requirement for that by around 4 levels. Previously I would have thought 28 to be too low for RFK, but now it went just fine, we cleared out the whole place. Not much luck on the loot side though, we had two priests and the shadow priest won the roll for the robe with the spell damage bonus. After that I soloed a lot of quests in Hillsbrad, Stonetalon Mountains, and Ashenvale, until I hit level 30.
At level 30 as a mage you get a class quest for a very nice wand. Only problem is that you aren't really able to do that quest at level 30 until you receive a lot of help. First I had to travel to Dustwallow Marsh, to Tabetha, a mage living in a hut in the south. I promptly got killed while trying to escape from some spider and getting aggroed by a lot more mobs on the way, but it turned out that there is a graveyard next to Tabetha's hut, which got me to her very quickly. I was also able to get the new Mudsprocket flight point. Then, after an easy intermezzo in Thousand Needles, I had to get one book out of the Scarlet Monastery library, which at level 30 wasn't even on my list of possible dungeons in the LFG window. But a friendly level 70 mage from my guild ran me through the library, so I got the book, another book for a quest in Thunder Bluff, and the robe and dagger from Doan, even if I can't use them for a couple more levels. Wow, a level 70 mage sure can blast his way through SM fast! It reminded me why I wanted to level up my mage in the first place. :) Next I had to kill level 32 to 35 trolls in Arathi. Both Thottbot and Allakhazam show strange false data for non-existing level 30 "Witherbark Troll", but what you really have to do is to kill the witherbark axe throwers and other trolls south of Hammerfell. Now this is possible for a level 30 mage, but dangerous and slow. Not good news if you need 10 quest items with a 25% drop rate, and have to kill 40 trolls. But I had barely started when a level 70 Alliance warrior turned up. Which was already strange in the first place, because what does a level 70 want in that corner of Arathi Highlands? Apparently playing the gallant knight to pretty blood elf ladies (even if the player behind them is a guy). He waited until I had pulled and thus locked a troll, then easily killed him. And he continued to do so until I had my 10 quest items. No communication possible, except for emotes, and I didn't do more than wave and curtsey. Nice guy, or very, very bored. Or both. :) Last step of the quest required me to charge the 10 sticks from the trolls at the circle of outer binding in the same zone. Which wouldn't have been a problem, except for the level 38 and 39 level thunder elementals swarming around the place. So I needed help from another level 70, but this time I could use one of my own. I simply logged on my level 70 warrior, traveled there, cleared out the place, then quickly logged the mage on and completed the quest before the respawn. Back to Tabetha I got the wand, and all the quest xp rewards got me to level 31. Wow, I hadn't done anything than this one quest series to get from level 30 to 31, but of course I had a lot of help.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:28 AM Permanent Link
Comments:
*vlad* said...
No-one 'needs' any help from a level 70 character. There is no 'need' to go to RFK or SM, or get help from higher levels.
I like completing quest chains. One of the interesting aspects of non instanced quest - in WoW - is that many/most of them start out with solo task and progress to two man task and culminate with a quest requiring a full group. It would suck not to be able to complete these quest chains - and it would also suck to follow a "bodyguard" around while they did all the work for you.
I've come to the point where I believe ALL quest in a mmorpg should be possible to do solo, but that doing them in groups or with guilds would result in greater rewards.
How this could be implemented, I have no idea.
Well I think a quest chain should stick to being either group or solo.
I agree one hundred percent, this should be the bare minimum.
In fact, I'd say a 3rd gen mmorpg should have - at the minimum - three improvements over WoW.
1. quest chains that start solo should finish solo
2. quest chains should not require doing previous quest in a specific order - being able to start in the middle of a chain would make it much easier to get a group
3. all quest should be repeatable - this gives an incentive to join a group - even if you've already done the quest
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Heya Tobold,
The bombing is not so hard with a "slow flying mount", you just have to use "dive attacks". At the end i was able to do the bombing run with getting shot down once or twice per day.
The bombing is not so hard with a "slow flying mount", you just have to use "dive attacks". At the end i was able to do the bombing run with getting shot down once or twice per day.
The fact that I would probably need frequent "help" by higher level characters, since there are so few low level players to group with, really kills my interest in starting over, once Lich King goes live.
# posted by 
: 4/12/07 10:34
: 4/12/07 10:34
No-one 'needs' any help from a level 70 character. There is no 'need' to go to RFK or SM, or get help from higher levels.
As for your Arathi troll experience, Tobold, I love doing quests like that, ie there is an element of danger, a good chance that if you pull 3 mobs you will die - so much more fun than just nuking things with a couple of spells and collecting the quest items.
Why you would want to kill Lv 39 mobs with a high level chr so you could complete a quest with your Lv 30, baffles me. I guess WoW's E-Z solo play and increase in XP is still too slow for you.
You say you are not interested in the end-game much any more, but you seem in an awful ruch to get your latest alt there asap.
My Belf is currently Lv52; let's see how long before you overtake me.
As for your Arathi troll experience, Tobold, I love doing quests like that, ie there is an element of danger, a good chance that if you pull 3 mobs you will die - so much more fun than just nuking things with a couple of spells and collecting the quest items.
Why you would want to kill Lv 39 mobs with a high level chr so you could complete a quest with your Lv 30, baffles me. I guess WoW's E-Z solo play and increase in XP is still too slow for you.
You say you are not interested in the end-game much any more, but you seem in an awful ruch to get your latest alt there asap.
My Belf is currently Lv52; let's see how long before you overtake me.
# posted by : 4/12/07 11:44
: 4/12/07 11:44
@vlad: "Why you would want to kill Lv 39 mobs with a high level chr so you could complete a quest with your Lv 30, baffles me."
- Easy: as in many other class gear quests, if you get it done at the minimum level you get the quest, it's a good reward. If you wait until you can solo it, you can find better greens on AH for that level. On my 24ish pally, I've been soloing most of the needed quests (even a partial DM run to get Sneeze down), but soon the quest reward will be almost useless. I got the quest at 20 and if I waited until 28 or such to do all those steps without much work, I'd probably be vendoring the quest reward.
That's a question of bad game design by blizzard: they favor random world drops much more than quest rewards, and those quests with nice rewards usually require you do them with higher level help or wait quite a few levels and then the reward is not that "great" anymore...
- Easy: as in many other class gear quests, if you get it done at the minimum level you get the quest, it's a good reward. If you wait until you can solo it, you can find better greens on AH for that level. On my 24ish pally, I've been soloing most of the needed quests (even a partial DM run to get Sneeze down), but soon the quest reward will be almost useless. I got the quest at 20 and if I waited until 28 or such to do all those steps without much work, I'd probably be vendoring the quest reward.
That's a question of bad game design by blizzard: they favor random world drops much more than quest rewards, and those quests with nice rewards usually require you do them with higher level help or wait quite a few levels and then the reward is not that "great" anymore...
# posted by : 4/12/07 12:39
: 4/12/07 12:39
Why you would want to kill Lv 39 mobs with a high level chr so you could complete a quest with your Lv 30, baffles me.
What class are you playing that you can kill a level 39 mob with a level 30 character? I tried it once, and my mage didn't get a single spell through. The fight went: resist, resist, resist, resist, dead. I totally enjoyed killing the level 32 to 35 mobs, but already the level 35 resisted a lot, and 39 is just plane impossible for a mage. Don't know if lets say a well-twinked warrior would do better, but don't try any spellcasters on a mob 9 level higher than you.
What class are you playing that you can kill a level 39 mob with a level 30 character? I tried it once, and my mage didn't get a single spell through. The fight went: resist, resist, resist, resist, dead. I totally enjoyed killing the level 32 to 35 mobs, but already the level 35 resisted a lot, and 39 is just plane impossible for a mage. Don't know if lets say a well-twinked warrior would do better, but don't try any spellcasters on a mob 9 level higher than you.
@someone: On my alt I prefer not to buy stuff from the AH. I only use gear from drops or quest rewards. Yes, compared to your average twink I am seriously under-geared.
@Tobold: The whole point is that I wouldn't attempt it. I would wait until I was higher level. Where is the challenge in killing all the mobs with your high-lvl chr and then looting to get the quest item?
Anyway, no criticism of your play style; it's up to you how you choose to play.
Resistance to spell damage increases dramatically as the level gap increases.
At lv 30 you will hit a lv 33 mob 83% of the time (same at Lv 70, which is why spell hit becomes more important when you are raiding - most bosses will be 3 levels higher than you), a lv 34 mob 67%, a lv 35 mob 51% etc etc (I may be the odd % out, just trying to remember off the top of my head). So, by the time there is a 8 or 9 lvl gap, your spells will be resisted almost all of the time.
@Tobold: The whole point is that I wouldn't attempt it. I would wait until I was higher level. Where is the challenge in killing all the mobs with your high-lvl chr and then looting to get the quest item?
Anyway, no criticism of your play style; it's up to you how you choose to play.
Resistance to spell damage increases dramatically as the level gap increases.
At lv 30 you will hit a lv 33 mob 83% of the time (same at Lv 70, which is why spell hit becomes more important when you are raiding - most bosses will be 3 levels higher than you), a lv 34 mob 67%, a lv 35 mob 51% etc etc (I may be the odd % out, just trying to remember off the top of my head). So, by the time there is a 8 or 9 lvl gap, your spells will be resisted almost all of the time.
# posted by : 4/12/07 16:03
: 4/12/07 16:03*vlad* said...
No-one 'needs' any help from a level 70 character. There is no 'need' to go to RFK or SM, or get help from higher levels.
I like completing quest chains. One of the interesting aspects of non instanced quest - in WoW - is that many/most of them start out with solo task and progress to two man task and culminate with a quest requiring a full group. It would suck not to be able to complete these quest chains - and it would also suck to follow a "bodyguard" around while they did all the work for you.
I've come to the point where I believe ALL quest in a mmorpg should be possible to do solo, but that doing them in groups or with guilds would result in greater rewards.
How this could be implemented, I have no idea.
# posted by : 4/12/07 17:57
: 4/12/07 17:57
Yeas the increase in leveling speed has made me go back an start a Human Warrior. Something I wouldn't have thought of after just getting to 70 on my second character a month ago. In 4 hours played hes already 10, and thats of course just fooling around. I can't wait to see the speed increase past 20 or 30. Looking forward to Duskwallow if only to avoid Strangle thorn Hole.
# posted by : 4/12/07 18:22
: 4/12/07 18:22
Both.
The whole point is that I wouldn't attempt it. I would wait until I was higher level. Where is the challenge in killing all the mobs with your high-lvl chr and then looting to get the quest item?
Well, that is what I do with nearly all quests, wait until I can do them without help. But class quests are special, I alway have the impression that I am supposed to do them when I get it. I have no idea why they designed the level 30 class quest to require at least level 36 or so to do.
The whole point is that I wouldn't attempt it. I would wait until I was higher level. Where is the challenge in killing all the mobs with your high-lvl chr and then looting to get the quest item?
Well, that is what I do with nearly all quests, wait until I can do them without help. But class quests are special, I alway have the impression that I am supposed to do them when I get it. I have no idea why they designed the level 30 class quest to require at least level 36 or so to do.
That area of Arathi sees a lot of traffic from players cleaning up the old "elite" quests that were replaced with normal quests in 2.3. Also, mining has a couple grind stops in the area.
I've come to the point where I believe ALL quest in a mmorpg should be possible to do solo, but that doing them in groups or with guilds would result in greater rewards.
Well I think a quest chain should stick to being either group or solo. All those long quests in Shadowmoon Valley is a pain in the butt, because you need a group who most certainly isn't all at the same point of the questline, so you all have to start at the beginning, sometimes even the solo part.
Well I think a quest chain should stick to being either group or solo. All those long quests in Shadowmoon Valley is a pain in the butt, because you need a group who most certainly isn't all at the same point of the questline, so you all have to start at the beginning, sometimes even the solo part.
Well I think a quest chain should stick to being either group or solo.
I agree one hundred percent, this should be the bare minimum.
In fact, I'd say a 3rd gen mmorpg should have - at the minimum - three improvements over WoW.
1. quest chains that start solo should finish solo
2. quest chains should not require doing previous quest in a specific order - being able to start in the middle of a chain would make it much easier to get a group
3. all quest should be repeatable - this gives an incentive to join a group - even if you've already done the quest
# posted by : 5/12/07 02:54
: 5/12/07 02:54
uh dailies. getting so tired of them. yeah they make money, but i agree. they get so boring.
i also agree Savrukk about the dive attacks on the bombing runs. although have you noticed the south ones seem "smarter" then the north bombers? i can do a side swipe dive on the north bombers all day long w/o getting hit, but the south ones they catch on.
maybe it is just me though lol.
i also agree Savrukk about the dive attacks on the bombing runs. although have you noticed the south ones seem "smarter" then the north bombers? i can do a side swipe dive on the north bombers all day long w/o getting hit, but the south ones they catch on.
maybe it is just me though lol.
@wargoo:
I noticed that aswell, the north ones seem easier than those located in the south.
This may be related to the positioning of the "Flak-Canons". The south ones are more dense than the northern Canons iirc.bvgxvh
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I noticed that aswell, the north ones seem easier than those located in the south.
This may be related to the positioning of the "Flak-Canons". The south ones are more dense than the northern Canons iirc.bvgxvh
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