Power-Leveling

I hit level 33 last night in the Growling cave in Hillsbrad Foothills trying to get Hecular’s rod to drop and then charging it at the braziers. I was at 52% when I logged in and noticed after 20 minutes that I only had 20 minutes left for the level, with full rest through the end of the level, give or take a kill. That’s some dang good motivation to grind there. I was getting about 2% XP per group of 3 yetis and rocked out the rest of the level in a 43 minute session before bed.

With 6% Retribution, things were going pretty good. I could take on 3 like-level or +1 level yetis without any danger, plus one or two to follow if someone happened to spawn or patrol.

That all changed with another level under my belt and another 2% chance for 4 extra swings. Here’s what I did: I went after Frostmaw. I cleared out the cave, charged the rod, and then realized that I needed to kill a mountain lion again to get the carcass. I found 2 and got a carcass. Entering the empty cave, I summoned him with the bait, only to have a yeti respawn. Not good. That meant that two more were going to respawn momentarily, and much sooner than I’d prefer too.

As I was laying down the last smack on Frostmaw, a second yeti appeared behind me as I had the first one down to 56%. I started to conserve mana and just trying to beat them down and had Seal of the Crusader up to help heal. Then the third one respawned behind me and I had to bring it full force.

So… that’s a 37, 32, 32, 31. Screenshots at home… I’ll get them up.

My next point is going into Blessing of Sanctuary, not Retribution. I think I’d like the perpetual damage from multiple attackers more than extra full-force swings a little more often. 8% is darn good, and 10% can wait one more level after I get the benefit of Sanctuary.

Last night, I didn’t think it could get any better when I soloed 5 like-level and higher mobs in Arathi Highlands. There were 2 31s, 2 32s, and a 33. I was so stoked, I challenged Level 37 Punitor to several duels outside Org… and proceeded to lose every one of them, though not by much on two of them.

I was mistaken about how cool that was, when I was quest/grinding this morning before work in a mad effort to ding 32. I went to Witherbark Village in Arathi Highlands. While beating on an Axe Thrower, I aggroed a named gray, Nimar the Slayer. Oops. He is a level 37. I killed the firstmob, but there was no recovering from the beating Nimar was putting on me.

Flee, drink, arrogantly go for it mano y mano.

[Read more…] about Ding 32; Soloed 37 Nimar the Slayer at 31

It was quite a weekend with Paladr, as we were determined to hit level 30 to become a true tankadin. That moment has finally arrived, as I’m now able to take on multiple mobs in a fashion I’ve never done before, although, carefully. we remembered reading that the AOE tanking should be done with melee beasts and other mobs that don’t flee. That really can screw things up, in a number of ways, which we will outline below.

Please keep in mind, at the time of this writing, Paladr is only level 31, with most of the stuff following being from his time at level 30 and does not have all the “cool” tools for tanking as a pally. What he does have is awesome so far, and is bringing us a lot of enjoyment.

Things that I have learned from my mistakes already:

• You will run out of mana if mobs keep fleeing and bringing help.
• It is better to hit fast than hard.
• Your aura is crucial.

[Read more…] about Ding 30, 31; Starting a Tankadin Run

I dinged 29 last night in just a short while, but spent a lot of time in Hillsbrad Foothills killing things for no XP to complete a few quests. I’m at 25% or so, but getting up to higher level mobs now. I want to get the recipes for the Green Iron Boots and Green Iron Gauntlets to complete my set. I found the shoulders recipe on the AH. I can equip the chest at level 31, which won’t be a problem because I’m going to play through 35 or 40 before finishing out the 60s on Huntr. He will be able to blast though easier than Deadr because Poor, Unfortunate Deadr has hit a brick wall on some quests that require assistance.

Using my new UI, I found a feature that takes my screen and makes the viewable area the viewport, so when I Alt+Z, the borders stay and make a very nice window to crop pictures like above. When I don’t crop, it makes a terrific area to write things or such… idea popping into my head.

I got Paladr to 28.5 last night while running a few quests in Ashenvale. Tonight, I’m going to give it a go for level 30 looking around the Satyr area and such. I can safely take on 2 mobs one level below me pair after pair without stopping, but it’s those pesky like-level and one above that get to me.

I looked at the spells for paladins and decided they weren’t worth the trip to UC to train my level 28 skills. At 30, though I truly become a Prot Pally, and I’m really looking forward to it. I was going to get a jump on things at school tonight, but my prof cancelled class, so I’ll get more hours in at the office and have wifey time tonight instead.

I’ll be sure to fill you in on my conquests as an AOE grinder when I get to try things out.