Back to the Grind

It's been a while since I posted. That's mostly because I've been playing the game at night and actually having to concentrate at work. Since I last posted, Hiahotah got to 80. I had started fourth thursday of november just into level 78 with the intention of grinding it out to 80 that day... I mean... Why the hell not? I've got nothing better to do that day... Man do I hate fourth thursday of november. But I digress...

I was making good progress towards 80 but at around 8pm after about 11 hours, I started getting a little punchy. I was working my way through Sholazar Basin and I was having a very hard time making decisions about gear, so I was just letting it accumulate in my bag. I was also having a hard time with a number of the "vehicle" quests. By 10 pm, I was a third of a level away. I could have made it but... I was completely asleep at the switch and I wasn't enjoying myself... So I shut it down early. Just turned off the computer and went to bed. I just can't understand those people who plow through to max level in just a couple of days.

Since then, I've been making the rounds of dailies: Seven in Icecrown (I'm over half way to exalted with Ebon Blade and about a third of the way with Argent Crusade), 3 in Sholazar (I got to revered with the Oracles just this afternoon and I'm not that interested in the trinket, so I'll probably stop doing those (on Hiahotah...)), one in Borean Tundra (for Wyrmrest Accord rep), another Wrymrest quest in Dragonblight, the Troll Patrol quests in Zul'Drak for Argent Crusade rep and now 5 in Storm Peaks for Sons of Hodir rep... Oh... And the cooking daily if it's not the one that takes 12 chilled meat.

I have to say... I do NOT like the Wrath dailies at all. There are no major quest hubs... Well... That's not entirely true... But a number of the quests just grant gold. No rep. No possibility of a badge... Just... Gold. That seems cynical to me. There _are_ 6 Ebon Blade quests in Icecrown... At two different locations. All told, it takes me about 3 hours to do those 24 daily quests... About a half hour of which is just traveling.

But that's not all... I really actively dislike some of the quests. I find them very frustrating. For example, he quest where you free prisoners from the mine in Icecrown where one of three things can happen - you can free them, they turn on you or... THEY JUST RUN THE WRONG WAY... IDIOTS!!! Very frustrating. Also in Icecrown is the one where you have to shoot down 20 drakes and riders. If you're not in a group, that one just sucks. Out loud. I did OK this morning when I was by myself but things didn't pick up until I joined forces with someone and we got credit for each other's kills. When you're not in a group, you only get credit for the ones you tag. If you're very unlucky, you could down 40 of them, but 20 would be credited to someone else. The patch notes on the PTR say that they are changing that quest so that you only have to kill 15 and it is reducing the energy cost of firing the cannon by half. It should make that quest better. I'm not sure how it got out of Beta that way. It's excruciating... Like the quest to control the super awesome looking cat to kill 50 wolvars in Sholazar... The cat that doesn't kill things any faster than I can kill them just by going into bear form and swiping 5-15 mobs at a time. And then there's the Apothecary quest in Zul'Drak... I can't tell you how many times I've gotten to adding the last ingredient and he's listed something that I've never seen before and there's only one of and, oh yeah, it's only found on the other side.

But the granddaddy, worst Wrath of the Lich King daily quest that I've found so far? It's the one for the Sons of Hodir where you have to harpoon a Wild Wrym and kill it while you're clinging to it's belly. You have to keep mashing the button (on a GCD) that tightens your grip while spamming a quick, small attack while the big attack is on cooldown and trying to dodge when he swipes at you but... Be careful... The big attack prevents you from dodging for about 5 seconds. Then at about 20-25% health, he switches over and you have to pry his jaw open and use a fatal strike that misses repeatedly. And... Yes... It does appear to be on a bit of a timer so don't take too long or you'll be unceremoniously dumped... Same if you lose your grip. I don't know if you would die from the fall because I'm on a druid and just pop into flying form on the way down. But I'm usually two minutes from the starting point and at low health after every attempt. It's never taken me less than 6 attempts and I've actually died from the quest at least 4 times.

That said... The quest line to open up the Sons of Hodir dailies is among the most fun quest lines I've ever done... Particularly one of the last quests... Where you're riding the drake with a harpoon in your hands and... Well... I won't spoil it for you. Trust me... It's fun. Do that quest line.

In other news, my death knight is almost 75 (About 3% away) and I did the For the Horde achievement series in a PuG last night. There were some coordination issues and people who didn't get credit for various kills started bailing. By the time we got to Ironforge, we were down to about 30 people and the Alliance started defending the boss there. But we ground him down with about 15 people still standing, rezzed the dead and hopped a portal to Dalaran... And in the mailbox... A Black war bear. I've been meaning to buy one of those but... Free is good too. I'll have to take it to Undercity at some point to see if I can fit onto the elevator while mounted...