Some quickies

Played way too much wow this weekend. A combination of leveling the horde pair with the gf, doing a little dual boxing of the horde pair while the gf went shopping for some vacation clothes her vacation, not mine :-(, getting run through ZF on the horde pair, and raiding on Amava.

As such, here's what's floating around in my head right now:

1) Feralas looks cool. The zone feels much more like a forest than Terokkar Forest, and feels less cartoony than Ashenvale. I like saying the word Mojache. That said, the fact that they have you kill a bazillion hippogryphs, and then they send you to Hinterlands to kill a bazillion more owlkins, and then back to feralas to kill a bazillion more of the same hippogryphs. That little dance makes me not want to go back to Feralas again. And don't even get me started on Yetis.

2) The more I level, the more I dislike that fundamental concept of MMO. Time sink with a carrot hanging at the end of it. Maybe I'm being parochial, but end-game is more fun than game for me. Raiding, heroic dungeons, even level cap BG's. I want to get the horde pair up to 70 so we can play with our friends. Playing with those friends for months only via dungeon run-throughs and /gchat is not my idea of fun. The lure of WAR get stronger each time I log into WoW on a non-level capped toon, just to try out what all the bloggers are describing as meaningful grouping and interactions at all levels.

3) The recommended leveling spec for a Shammy is Enhancement. I think that's only because Blizzard didn't really include suitable leather gear, and after 40, mail gear with stats for Elemental. Leveling elemental shammy needs to wear cloth to be able to kill stuff, but that makes her squishy. Change that, Blizz. Elemental feels much more Shaman-like than doing melee stuff.

4) Mining. Getting through the later Tin stage, and then getting from Iron to Mithril can be a little challenging. Then you party like its 1999. Until about 230 or so. Mithril turns green and very sporadically gives you points. And you need to get to 245 for Thorium. But it is fun traveling in a pair with two miners. First toon hammers at the node, gets the skill point, doesn't loot the ore. Second toon hammers at the node, gets the skill point, continues looting.

5) Future Inscriptors must be rich folks indeed. Stack of Sungrass sold for 67g. That is insane. Amava doesn't even pay that much for Nightmare Vine, which is one of the more rare/expensive herbs, and is needed in mass quantities for the endless supply of Fel Mana Pots she drinks. She might need to join Potions Anonymous to help kick the habit.

6) If I ever do find myself leveling again, doing it in a pair is verah nice. Whether with an actual other person, or just dualboxing, it is pretty sweet with two toons. Even if one is just a healbot you go so much faster, and can pretty much rush into anything. Anything. ANYTHING that makes the grind a little less agonizing. If your healbot can drop totems, all the better.