B. Hudson

My little experiment going to a lock has proven pretty potent, not sure if its that I am getting better in general or if I am just a good lock.

My play time is not all that long, and I just leveled to about 44.5 yesterday.  I have been following (loosely) a guide on how to level quickly, and it has paid of really well.  I am not naming it cause.. well.. cause if I bring another toon along I don’t want to see a bunch of folks doing what I want to be doing (and some q’s are kinda odd..).

As a lock I got a free mount, but have had over 100g now on 2 occassions.  If you read me often, you know I throw my gold away on little nuggets here and there.  So its not that I’m a miser or anything.  I just noticed.. casters don’t NEED new weps/armor/gear all the time.  I mean, my gear is (I think) very good.  I’m not great by any stretch of the imagination, but i”m doing well.  I have 10, or 11 blues on (I can’t remember) and I have bought NONE of them(2 are warlock q’s..).  I have gotten the rest in dungeons, and all the while skinning/looting/mining and just building up a good stockpile of… well gold.  I have been sitting back getting the ingredients I’d need to powerlevel engineering for my pally, I am close to getting him where I want him.  HE will be my “project” toon.  By project I mean, he’ll have “neat” things.. grenades.. deathray’s.. his own crafted armor.. etc.  First of all Pally’s are like juggernauts.. all but unstoppable(but terribly slow moving).  I have, at whatever teen lvl I’m at.. killed a lvl 20 guy.  alone.  thats at least 6 lvls above me, and almost unreasonable to accomplish.

Anyway.. So I have a lot of money, for me since I see things on the AH for like 300g.  I have about a hundred gold.   I continually find myself buying new gear, not because I need it, but because I THINK I want it.  Like now, I bought a ton of +shadow damage gear.  Nothing blue, its all green actually.  I will use that as my “PvP set” since dieing in a PvP battleground is not a big deal, and I really just wanna see what kind of damage I can do to ppl.  As a lock, there is no real BOOM (I’m affliction), so if you’re in a fight already you might not notice the dots on you.  My favorite are warriors for dots.. usually I only put 2 on.. siphon life, and corruption.  Corruption is my money maker, its instant and my biggest damage maker (plus it can give me a free shadowbolt (Boom) for no mana on occasion).  Siphon life cause.. well I drop that on as many as I can.. Mostly cause it gives me a SMALL amount of life over a long period of time.. so if no one notices the siphon, or just can’t remove it.. I am getting basically healed.  Not a ton, but every little bit helps. Plus if nobody is noticing me I can drop corruption on them, and then drain life (which heals me a bunch).  I have issues with lifetap in a battleground.  Something bad about draining my life while there could be a rogue behind me getting ready to kill me.  Just seems bad..

Well my final decision.. No engineering for my warlock. I am enjoying way too much having all the gold I want/need. My pally was always my runner up for engineering, and thats mostly just for the death ray.. Grenades are nice.. but I think I’ll be a target enough just being a stupid pally.

I get so sad just thinking of missing out on some of the good 40-50 gadgets from engineering.. such is life tho. Greed fuels me.. C.R.E.A.M.

If you know what C.R.E.A.M. is, leave a comment.. nice to know I’m not too dated.

Saturday afternoon my wee gnome lock, acquired his mount.  Not from having extensive funds with which to purchase said mount, but simply by being a lock.

hate me..

I had some mithril spurs made by a smithy, and now I ride with some slight speed enhancement.

Right now my lock is kicking the crap out of the badlands, and stealing all dead carcass’ for the thick leather they give me.  Oh and my christmas I got in May!…

Typically I don’t carry around crap.. I run empty on all but my last bag which carries my supplies (food/pots/drink/bandages/hearth/skinning knife/pick).  From time to time I get an offer to group that I am excited about and I go with it.  Last time I really did that I dropped all my crap in the mail to my “never played pally”, and go on to SM.  Well all my crap timed out yesterday and I got 20-30 mail items.  Incomplete stacks of leather/copper/tin..  So this “dump” will end up making me about 10-12g easy.  Christmas.  And as an act of good karma, I helped a buddy with his mount a bit.  If I get burst funds I may help more, but as I have said before, this locky seems to always have gold..  I piss away money on all the “cool” stuff I want in AH, and still make more gold than I use.   I would tell you what I was rolling around badlands with, but really check me on Armory.. Mcgoo on Medivh.

So running strong/fast in badlands.. if you’re on Medivh shout at me..

I am now lvl 39.  Feel my power!!

hehe.. well not really.  But I think its a good sign that in several LESS days in grinding/questing I have made it within reach of my 49 character.  On average I spend (according to WoW) about 2hours or so at each level since 30.  Not too shabby I don’t think.  I am doing great, and have a crapload of gold.  Which is odd cause my original character never had this much till he was mid 40 saving for a mount.  I’ll probably give my buddy some gold so he can get his mount.  Some because I think it’d be nice to do, some because when he hits 40 he can port (you see where I’m going eh?).

Anyway, I am still according to most ppl a “farmer”.  I do skinning/mining.  WANTING to go to engineering, but don’t know when I should go ahead with that.  if anyone has advice.. (val) lemme know!!

Finally got to play WoW last night..

And.. and..

Well it got boring quick.  I found a bunch of stuff with + shadow damage, and bought it all.  I have heard things like “focus on stats not damage”.. but really, I just want to hurt things.  I noticed a difference already though, so I’m not really sure what the heck is up with those “stats” focus ppl.  Anyway..

So Now as a newly dubbed (and now halfway to 17) 16 lock, I was hammering lvl 20 critters/orcs in Redridge Mountains.  This is another example of how fast I level when grinding with this guy.. Not saying it will always be the case, but I spent less than an hour on and lvl’ed and got halfway to the next one before my rested bonus went bye-bye.  Plus I seem to be collecting “black whelp scales”.  I am pretty sure I have SOMETHING with my main (that does leatherworking) that can use these things, but I haven’t bothered to check yet.  Cash is getting low, so I am thinking it’ll be time to run stockades a couple times a week again.. (sigh)..  lately I have been sending stuff that doesn’t sell at first try to my enchanter to DE.. This has been going relatively well, but I miss that money.. that 30-40s I get for that green crap that drops in stockades.  Why do I miss it?  Well I am almost always the poorest guy playing at any given time.. why.. Probably because on my main.. I only get warrior drops.  And he is the farm guy right now.. crap mail, and an occassional crap plate, that nobody really wants.  My pally can/will use this kind of stuff.. but right now he’s standing at goldshire doing.. nothing.   Can’t help but think that eventually the lock will be a better “farmer” since as a 16 he kills 20’s and 21’s.  Stands to reason that as you go on enemies get harder, but my skills should increase.

With turning 16, I got.. dut dut dut DAAAA.. Instant cast corruption.  Which means, I am now going to dump some points in destruction for the shadowbolt increases.  I have been trying to do the “drain tanking” thing.. and its okay, but I like the kerboom life drop of htting someone with a shadowbolt.  plus if I read the talent description right, it increases shadow damage for x amt of seconds after a crit or something like that.  I am just PILING on the shadow damage.. if I find a warrior who is like a bigillion in shadow resist, I’m a dead gnome.. period.

Next milestone is 18, when I get the soulstone and stop caring about getting killed.  Well it will be cool to see anyway, I’ve never been rez’ed or anything like that outside of a BG, so this will definately be a cool thing.  I also get another fire based spell that is good.. well it seems good anyway.  30 yard range, and I think 1.5 cast time.. so really fast.. and can burn mages at a distance..

Mcgoo, out.

(I hate ryan seacrest)

Okay, so I am not really trying to kick the WoW habit.. But I can’t seem to stay awake anymore.  Used to be that from 9-whenever I would just wander back and play WoW.  Now I find myself falling asleep at 8pm.

8… pm…

I must either be exhausted or just getting really old, really fast.

Either way I keep hearing my wallet saying that if I am paying for this I should get on and play more than a few hours a week.. (remembering $15 a month or something like that.. not a big fee, but also not free).

So I will endeavor to get somethings done on WoW in the next few days.  #1 is to get my lock to 20.  My buddy I group with all the time is already to 19 with his squishy and I need to catch up so that I don’t have to solo (solo=sucky time playing).  I should have a GOOD rested bonus to push up a level and a half at a shot, but that puts me at 17.5..  Will have to find a way to grind high enough to level the rest of the way.. at 18 it will be fun.. all my lvl 18 skills.. and 19 I can do PvP for some fun ( I hate odd levels ). 20 I get a ton of crap to goof around with, and I am really looking forward to it.  Mostly soulstone. I don’t see much in the use of succubus outside of PvP, but I will give the chicky a try, I mean what could it hurt to have a winged bikini clad demon with a wip around?  LOL!!  I am looking most forward to the felhunter, but we’ll see thats a long way off at this point.  I am feeling the itch to resume leveling my main.. its a strong urge too.  I have TBC installed so getting to lvl 70 or above 60 would be an awesome thing to do.  I keep thinking leveling to 70, as a hunter maybe I could solo some of the better <50 instances without any problems, but I could be wrong..

Again, that title is so heavily invested in abbreviations people use in Warcarft, no one outside the game would EVER get it.

My first BG experience without my good friend dwarfenstuff… Well it was pretty good.  I held the record for dieing the fastest, and most frequent.. but I was also in the top 3-4 for total damage done in the BG.

It sucked in the sense that I got no (zero, zip, zilch) killing blows.. but I did get over 5k damage dealt out over the course of the BG.  I was only severely put to shame by a undead guy who got 16k in one BG.  The rest of the time I was hundreds off the leader.

How did I play?  Poorly.  I was the biggest dip-stick in action (even if I was a gnome).. I am so used to “knowing my roll” as a hunter that getting in there with a lock is so different.  It was like I knew what I wanted to do, but it wasn’t “right”.  Now I think I only get 1 more ability that will help in PvP as I progress through to lvl 19.. So not a whole lot will change ability wise with the toon.  I need to get better.  I am no twink, but doing as poorly as I thought I did, and being towards the top was a good feeling.  I can’t help but think I would have owned these people if I had more feel for the class.  I did 2 BG’s and the first one was all about damage, I topped out at about 6k.  The second time I started playing more like a “team” player.  I saw 3 orc warriors running up on 2 of ours.. they all got curse of weakness, and then corruption.  Not that I don’t like curse of weakness, I just don’t see it as a big deal.  I prefer curse of agony.  And I LOVE curse of recklessness on casters.. I dunno if any rogue/warrior got to smack one with the curse on em.. But if you remove some armor on someone who already has almost none.. and have a big warrior/rogue run up on you.. its a bad day for you.

If any people out there roll locks, and know WTH they are doing in a PVP environment, I’d love to hear it..

Gnome lock -15

Mcgoo, on Medivh

Well just as in real life, I’m a poor so-and-so in WoW. Almost none of my guys even have 1g on them. I decided that I had a 49 sitting in stormwind.. not 1 minute’s ride (remember… mounted) from an instance I can farm.

Let it be known, again.. I hate the stockades. Hate. I am getting MUCH better at farming there though. I managed to clear 2/3 of it in less than 30 minutes, which I considered good. Most of the time I am managing runners.. (which is why I hate stockades). In a perfect world the dingle-berry Defias prisoners would stand perfectly still while my wolf was biting them so I can shoot them in the head with my gun. But at some point or another they turn and run to get help. Sometimes the tards run into the wall, sometimes they actually make it to the hall. This is where I get spooked.

Being lvl 49, I can take 2-3 of these guys no problem at a time, with really minimal life lost. But if 4 more guys run in while I finish off one of the 2 on me.. Well you can figure that out. Hunters suck at melee, and I am no exception. I use Blight on them to get my skill up for when I do go over the 49 wall.. and get Ice Barb Spear. Which is a weapon I liked from day 1 of warcraft. I have envisioned getting a ice enchant on it, and then thats just my 2hand’er for a LONG time. I don’t do melee much, so my weps are usually for the added buffs they give. Well mostly. And the big AGI buff that comes with Ice Barb Spear is going to ROCK steady. Anyway, back to hating the stockade.. I have a buddy that is a 49 warrior who can just roll on through.. his record of survival is 6 guys I think. Mine is closer to 5, and it was a “barely” survived thing. I have long held that if possible I should be farming Scarlet Monastary, but now I am a little bit chicken I can’t do it without getting some XP, and I am VERY close to lvl 50.

Well mostly this weekend was spent with my family, but I managed to get in about 1 hour of Warcraft.. Almost nothing to show for it besides the 3g I made in a stocks run. OH and I got the PvP cape which is a huge armor booster, and a silverwing sentinels necklace that ups my agi pretty good. Next is rune of duty.. I have enough honor to go get the alliance thingy that dispels stun and such.. but.. I don’t really get stunned a lot in PvP.. I get KILLED a lot.. but Its going around when I’m in PvP.. LOL!

If you are lvl 49′n it and need some gear I’d say spend a week or 2 getting all the blue gear from the WSG guy in ashenvale, and the AB guy in refugee point. Its typically the best possible gear, that I’ve found. I mean there are some better at some points.. but the buffs on this stuff is really good.

Like the great Phoenix, my incredibly insignificant level 6 gnome warlock has become my new main for the time being. He is almost not equipped at all.

But it is he that will make me the moolah. Okay so maybe the Phoenix was a bit overstated, but still.. The person I run with the most in WoW has decided to stop his progress as he is wanting to practice more with his main warrior in PvP. In doing this he wants to have an alt he is leveling.

My choices were pretty simple really. He comes with 2 friends from a premier guild that will probably be so ridiculously well equipped as I will feel like poop. So, lets go with the averages…

He’s going to be an ice mage..

Buddies are priest/shaman..

That leaves the roll of the tank (SO not something I can handle), and support really. I don’t have much use for frost mages as I seem to always get out of their frost attacks (except the bolt that slows me.. but as my main is a hunter, slow doesn’t matter to me). He assures me that this is a big deal, and showed me a horde frost mage’s character sheet that proves he’s right. So.. Mage/priest/shaman.. I have been a hunter before, so I’d prefer not to do that. I have a shaman (13), Mage(fire)(15), and Palladin(13) already in the “mix”. I also have a lvl 5 druid, and a lvl 7 rogue (nelfs). But I was forgetting someone..

Mcgoo.

He’s my warlock AH mule I have had in IF since I started my main on lvl 19 and started getting a ton of crap I didn’t want. he’s in all greys.. nothing special going on with this guy at all.

In reality I think the druid would be a better choice since if his buddies aren’t around I can do bear form and do some tanking, or some healing if need be. Honestly though.. leveling a druid before getting bear/cat form is just PAINFUL for me. Why? I dunno.. It seems my druid is not necessarily GOOD at anything at this point. Better long run? yeah. But that warlock gets a free mount.. but the druid gets travel form.. so still hard to compete against free mount. Any advice?

I have recently decided that I don’t like guilds in WoW.  I have yet to find one that is really organized the way I think it should be, or if they are organized well.. they aren’t helpful.  As I am about to turn the corner on lvl 50, I don’t see as I would really require a ton of help to get where I am planning to go.. So what I am about to say would not really impact me, per se.

I want to start my own guild, on an alt.  Names.. I’ll get to later.  I am not much on “requirements” for doing something in a friggin GAME!.. but I thought of some that would be intensely helpful for ppl joining up.

1.  whatever profession you have is fine, but whatever profession that is.. you need to donate some things regarding that profession to the guild “bank”.

— Reasoning behind this?  Well, one guild I am in has no guild bank, or they don’t speak of it (like fight club).  The other has one, but its chock full of 40-50 stuff.. (great, if you need that..but its not GREAT stuff… its just ok.)  Professions seemed to me to be one of the coolest things in game.  Look.. I am using a axe I MADE.. which always seemed neat to me.  Or look at this new armor I MADE.. (typically green lvl drops are better than what you can make @ your level in a skill, but its still neat and not everyone has the $$ to buy that stuff)

2.  I want ppl to give BACK to the bank, so if you get 100 light leather, I expect you to give BACK some leather goods, even if just to be sold by the guild bank and sit as gold in the bank.

–Reasoning behind this?   People will lie/cheat steal.. period.  They do and will, and I have no problem with this, inherent problem with people.  What I don’t want is for me and whoever else runs this guild to be in ultra-purple gear with 8 bigillion gold and have a flock of lvl 20’s in grey stuff, thats just not fair.

3.  If you can make any blue items in your profession, donate some.. (here is where I get more vague).  I want this because I really intend on people getting the best gear the guild as a whole can get them.  While at the same time the requirements for some of the blue stuff can be pretty high. So I haven’t nailed all that down just yet.

4.  If you happen to be stinkin rich.. donate gold instead of your crap.. Meaning if I have 800g and such at lvl 50, and I don’t wanna farm low-mid lvl mats from my gathering prof, or donate some stuff from my crafting prof. I can just dump some gold in the bank for the guild.

I realize this is kind of sketchy stuff, but honestly I think getting to upper levels can be pretty hard if you have a crap guild.  I mean I am lvl 50 almost and haven’t been able to get a group (in guild or out) to go to Uldamon.. I’ve been to zul faraak 2x’s and only 1x all the way through.  But really what I’d like is to grab people coming in the door to Ironforge or Stormwind, lvls 6-10 and get them going.  Personally I think it will suck for me and be a big downer on resources etc.. But its all funny-money anyway.  I just know that when I went to go find Hogger the first time, I solo’d and died.  Second time same thing.. 3rd time I was like 5 levels above every mob around him and smoked his butt.  That shouldn’t be necessary with 8million people online..  Perhaps start a second guild as a “sister guild” to this one for ppl above 50?  Dunno yet how it’ll pan out.  If you think this is marvelous, or perhaps you have a guild that does this kind of stuff already, leave a comment and don’t forget your toon name, and server.  I am mostly on Medivh, but I’m all over lately.. While I wouldn’t start a guild on another server JUST to start a guild.. it would be neat to see if people are actually doing this.