Monday, December 3, 2007

A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there

Once the daily routine is completed, if no guildies need help or want to run a dungeon, I've got some time to kill. I fill it with some herb farming on my new fast mount, but that gets mundane.

So why not try out some alts?

I have an ambitious vision of creating my family of toons. Namely, I've already got my DPS player, so I want to grow a tank and a healer. Plus, I want some professions that'll help Amava out, perhaps crafting some jewels for her, or making arrows/bullets, or maybe some potions. And pretty dresses.

My first priority here is to get my Enchanter past his 225 skill cap. I've got a growing number of green items that just won't sell on AH, even at rock bottom prices, and I can't DE them until I get to 275 skill. To do that, I've got to get him from 20 to 35 so I can train artesian. I don't overly enjoy playing pally solo grinding, so this is a bit of a chore. I am a bit excited about getting him to a higher level and turning him into a tank, but at this level, not so much. I think I can commit to playing him whenever his rested XP is full. I got him up to 22 the other day. Also dropped tailoring (he was originally intended to make pretty dresses for Amava, but my priest has taken that duty over) and took up Engineering.

Once the pally's rested XP was burned up, I went on a bender of crafting professions. Got my warrior up to level 8 and became a Blacksmith. Also took the long trip from Stormwind to the Exodar so he could learn Jewelcrafting. Took my Rogue out got her up a couple of levels, and trained in Skinning and Leatherworking. I was going to play my priest through his rested XP also, but got an invite for Old Hillsbrad, so didn't. He's currently a Tailor/Herbalist, but he's gonna drop herbalism and take up Alchemy shortly.

So my reflection on crafting: A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Without the financial backing of Amava with her income from daily quests, mining, and herbalism, crafting would just not be that much fun for me.

BUT, since my little family does have their rich matron, I have to tell you, I'm having lots of fun crafting.

First I started out with my warrior. He was sitting in Stormwind and wanted to get to The Exodar. I figured I'd gear up a little for the trip, so I could survive the orcs in Dun Modr or a random wandering crocolisk in the Wetlands. Crafted some armor (which I then learned I couldn't equip due to low level) and a sword (which I then learned I can't equip due to lack of 2h sword skill). So despite the fact I couldn't equip more than half the stuff I crafted at first, it was pretty fun mapping out all the mats needed to craft orange items.

Then I played engineer for a little while. I havent tried out the explosives yet, but they might add some novelty to solo grinding with my Pally. That plus I learned Seal of Justice at 22, that supposedly cuts down on the mobs running away from me before they die, which is such a pain when compared to playing hunter.

So there you have it, a family of alts, all of whose rested XP is reset and accruing once more.

Even if I can buy better stuff on AH, there's something fun about wearing equipment that I made myself.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Eng and Ench on the same pally? That pally will be on the very OPPOSITE side of the road from Amava! Those are just the two most expensive skills to level!

Of course, you shouldn't listen to a guy that started Ench up to 225 or so on 3 different chars until he finally settled for one of them! And you probably won't listen to a guy who had a 40ish warlock with 300 Eng skill that he DELETEd because he wasn't playing that char for a few months nor finding it fun to play, only to remember the skill issue a couple months later... :)

But, if you're serious in crafting, get serious in add-ons for it too. If you use ace, check out Skillet. There's another one whose name I can't remember now that is also very good or in fact maybe even better in some aspects: do yourself a favor and search those add-ons!