Back in Outland

Feeling at home with the gnomes in Northrend

My plan is still the same.  I HATE not being able to disenchant items and since Blizzard has decided that you need to be level 75 in order to get the 475 enchanting skill to disenchant Pandaria greens, I'm in the process of leveling my designated Disenchanter/Banker/Engineer to level 75 (who just happens to be a mage named Kantria).  She has sat at 65 for more than a year (more than 2 years?) since that's the level she had to be to disenchant Cataclysm greens. Once she gets to 75 I'll hopefully have the components she needs to get up to 475 enchanting skill.  At that point I'll go back to playing "Mists", assuming it's on sale.

So I'm still waiting for a sale on "Mists of Pandaria."  Amazon has lowered the price to approximately $29 with free shipping, and if it doesn't go down before I level my "Disenchanter", I'll go ahead and buy it at that price.  It's still $40 on Blizzard and it would be nice to be able to just install it, but I can wait a few days to save $11.  It's still tough to pay $29 when it was $20 not long ago.  Maybe it'll be there again soon, but $9 isn't enough to stop me while $20 is.  I expected Blizzard to have lowered the price by now, but I guess they know more about the economics of these things than I do.

The good news on leveling is that even though I don't play much, I'm already on level 69 and should be able to go to Nothrend after my next play session.  I could go there now, but I'd rather be 70 since I should be able to level more easily then.  I also am trying to finish questing in Nagrand.  I'm not sure how I didn't finish it on my Hunter and I'm guessing I'm only a few quests away on him, but I might as well get the experience for it (since I'm almost done now).  Well, I think I'm almost done.   I'm using the Wow-pro addon to make leveling even easier than it is normally and it's telling me I need to do some quests in Shadowmoon Valley in order to finish the Nagrand quests.  It's possible I'll need to do the 'Ring of Blood' and I won't be able to solo it at 70.  In worst case, I can't imagine I won't be able to do it at 75 though.

When I first started leveling at 65 in Zangarmarch, it felt very slow.  Everyone says leveling is so fast, but it was dragging enough that I went ahead and bought the three guild heirlooms that boost your experience by 25%.  I might be able to buy others (I haven't checked), but between this and moving to Nagrand, I seem to be moving at a good clip now, but not too fast.

Although it's going fast enough now to be enjoyable, there is nothing new.  I have 3 toons above level 70 so I've seen it all before.  I guess if I wanted to do dungeons it would be a little faster, but I need to be able to leave quickly in case my family needs me and I don't want to have to desert a group.  I've also seen enough drama in LFD and I'd rather avoid it.  Gear really doesn't matter and it's nice to be able to just do things on my own with occassional chatting with the guild.

If I'm trying to tie down why its enjoyable, I guess it comes down to familiarity and preparation.  I don't mind doing something a little boring so that I can better enjoy what I'm doing.  I'm sure there are members of my guild who would be more than willing to disenchant for me, but I want to have that independence and I know once I have it, it'll make leveling in Mists more fun.

New Year, Old Game

Happy New Year!

Blizzards 10 day trial worked on me and I'm playing World of Warcraft again now. I waited until after the holidays when I was less busy but that meant that all the sales on Mists of Pandaria are gone now.  However, that's ok, because I found it extremely frustrating that I couldn't disenchant those Mists of Pandaria items and so this is the perfect opportunity to level my (Dis)Enchanter (who just happens to be a Mage) who was left at 65 since that's where she needed to be to disenchant Cataclysm gear.

Since this is pretty much all about reaching the magic level and I don't play a lot, I invested gold in some Heirloom items.  Hopefully with their help, and despite my minimal play time, I'll get to 75 in a few weeks and by then I'll find a sale so I can go back to leveling in Mists.

One thing I've discovered that probably shouldn't be so surprising is that it is difficult to start a new MMO when your play time is limited.  However, playing a game where you've already invested the time is much easier.

So, back to Outlands and Wrath briefly so I can see some new things and not be frustrated that I can't get sparkleys from them.  It's odd the things that frustrate people, but I've learned to just accept them.