Sprocket’s Air Land and Sea Taxi

If you want a wild ride that barrels through the forests, swamps, deserts, hills, and settlements then you could do worse than sign up for a trip on Sprocket’s duo passenger rocket.  It’s an X-53 Touring Rocket and can really move.

I was loping along at 2 frame rates a minute when he picked me up at the Darkshore ~Ashenvale border and hustled me into Astranaar where I picked up the flight path and my Halloween candy. There was a soft explosion of light and sound and I was a 26 Night Elf Hunter. (Definitely need to get to the trainer)  From there we went through the Talondeep Path into Stonetalon where I picked up the flight path and more Halloween candy.

Then we ported to Theramore, said ‘Hello’ to Jane, got more candy and picked up the flight path.  Rocketed out of gate heading for Mudsprocket and here’s where things started getting a la Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.  I am now in terrain above my level and taking a few hits from ravagers, crockalisks, and assorted denizens as we careen through trees, swamps, and into the now and then boulder.  I am not complaining as we are still pretty much on the move.  But I am watching my health bar and resigning myself to the inevitable.  I have ridden with this cowboy before and knew what I was getting myself in for.  Sure enough, my tender, newly 26 body went down for the count.  I lay there in a curled up heap with my Pumpkin helm starting to wither and this leper gnome of a mage asks me if I will accept resurrection.  Duh!  After a few munchies we are on our way.  We make it to Mudsprocket ~ barely~ and again we pick up candy and I nab the flightpath.  From there we take a couple more ports ~don’t ask me! and end up in the Cavern of Time.  I think, ‘This is one tricksy mage!”

We barrel over the desert to Gadgetzan and he warns me to keep my extremities in as there is strong turbulence ~ hyenas are everywhere.  We pick up candy and I get the flight path, we port to Ironforge, fly to Wetlands  and then it is back into the X-53 saddle.  We head north into Arathi  along Thoradin’s wall across the bridge where I think for one moment he is going to do an Evil Knieval over the chasm. But at the last moment he opts for the road.  I pick up the flight path at Refuge Pointe and we scream over the hills and along the coast towards Southshore.  It is here I go down again.

Sprocket hops up and down and tells me the defillabrator is down for two more minutes.  I don’t care ~ just let me catch my breath.  He tells me to get up and march over the hill to the Spirit Guide, take the rez hit, get back here and we’ll be on our way.  . We arrive in Southshore, pick up the flight path, we get the candy and also the quest for Wickerman.

We are screaming through Silverpine Forest, past the Ruins of  Lordaeron and rocket into Triasfal Glades.  I am in some sort of Zen state watching the trees go by in a blur.  We pull up near a bonfire  where the Pillsbury Doughboy cousins are acting as guards.  I don’t even get my seatbelt unstrapped and there I am ~dead.  This time my instructions are to res, immediately do my elf stealth thing and wait for further instructions.  He picks me up in the rocket and we zip into Western Plaguelands where I pick up the flight path.  From there we fly to Southshore.  He turns in the  quest and asks me if I got it and I say No, I was too dead.  He is disappointed  about this but its ok with me.  I am really happy to be here and to have this particular flight path.  We say goodbye at Southshore.  I tell my pilot thanks and that this is one trip I will never forget.  If you would like to read more about or by Sprocket et alt then go to his blog ~ Alt In The Family.  It’s great.

 

A WoWser of a Week

This past week I completed several fun goals:  Earned the title of Explorer, Raised the last of my 13 weapons to 400, and built a Flying Machine Mount.  Oh, and on a whim gave my Druid Zhanda the profession of Engineering so at 150 she could make herself green goggles to match her Festive Green Dress and her  green, glowy Illusionary Rod.  She looks so cute!  OK, that is the headline and here are some of the details.

Exploring:  I think it definitely harder to level  Explorer as Horde than Alliance and I wanted to do it the hard way before Cataclysm comes out and perhaps makes it easier to get this title.  I finished everything and got the title in Oracle Glade.  Somehow that seemed right and mystical to me.  Had to suicide myself under the docks at Auberdine a couple of times to get to Azuremyst and Darnassus but it all worked out and I’m glad its done.   Oh, and I made it through Darnassus without getting killed.  Took the short cut past the fishing trainer, the AH, through some more shops, made a left and was out the gate.  I was prepared to get killed and was only wearing my pretty  dress with matching cloak that I bought after getting exalted with Tranquillien.  Everything else was in my  purses at the bank .

Raising weapons to 400:  It would be nice if you got a nifty title to go along with that but no matter ~ its still gratifying.  I guess Knuckle Sandwich is as close as it gets.  Having gone through my complete arsenal I will say that if I never see another thrown weapon it will be too soon for me.  I like a gun or cross bow for my main weapon and a polearm or staff for my melee.  I like my melee weapons long and gently shimmering.   I bought several of my level up weapons in Dalaran and that worked very well.  I especially liked the crossbow I picked up and can’t bring myself to sell it quite yet.  When I get back to work ~ battlegrounds and dungeons ~ I’m going to look around and see where I can get a good one.  Although I am very attached to my  Armor Plated Combat Shotgun  it’s fun to change from guns to bows  when the mood strikes.

Flying Machine Mount:  What can I say?    I love my Flying Machine.  It makes me laugh.

And am sorta close to getting a Turbocharged Flying Machine built.  Still need  some fel steel, motes of fire, khorium, but doesn’t every  Engineer?  Turned my cape into a parachute with a Flexweave Underlay  and jumped off a few things but don’t see much difference.  Maybe I’m not doing something right.  I wonder if you have to drag it down to your tool bar or equip it somehow.  Will have to ask Sprocket.

Love having  Reginald Arcfire the Steam Powered Auctioneer  in the Engineering Shop.  That end of the Magus Market place is just about the coolest place to hang out in Dalaran.  You can bop from the forge, to the bank, to the mailbox, to the Engineering Trainer, to Reginald  the Auctioneer, throw bombs at a few mailboxes.  Just great!

I am finding out there is life after 80 but I am still not ready to get serious and go to the battlegrounds or to dungeons just yet. Promised myself I could do Engineering when I reached 80 and it has been a lot of fun.  Maybe when I get a few more playful goals out of the way like getting exalted with Timbermaw or grinding for that great Dragon in Shadowmoon or the Mechano-hog built  I will get serious and go back to work  but right now its summer and that means fun and games.  Right?

Toys That Blow Things Up

When I was nine bad blood developed between me and  a couple of kids from a family in our neighborhood.  There were more of them than of me and in defiance and retaliation I threw a rock at their mailbox.  I don’t think I even  dented it but the intent was there.  One of them saw me and told her mother who told my mother.  I had to go and apologize.  Needless to say, I was terrified as I had been duly informed that this was a federal offense.  What if The Mother didn’t accept my apology?  Would I be arrested?  Would I have to go to reform school?  Needless to say I have been leery of all federal property since then.

It used to be that teenage boys could build rockets, set things on fire, shoot guns without getting into a lot of trouble.  It was the beginning of wisdom: learning how to do it safely, where to do it without attracting a lot of attention  or putting other people in danger, what could be destroyed and what couldn’t,  how to do it efficiently and not let it get out of control, and who was a good partner.

Since those days are pretty much gone Engineering is a fairly good substitute.  Oh, the range of things you can make! And I’m only to level 130.  I have gone wild making things and trying them out.  Who wants to run around with some level 80 headpiece on when you can put on your Flying Tiger Goggles, call up your mechanical squirrel,  take a supply of bombs,  dynamite, a few target dummies, and see what the world has to offer in way of excitement.  And to make it even more worthwhile, take off your high powered weapons and work on leveling up another weapon ~  Since my bombs weren’t guaranteed to work on anything above level 24 I went to the Southern Barrens and perfected a few basic skills in learning how to throw  the explosives and how the target dummies operate..  Was really cool.  The target dummy waves at you ~or at the mob ~not really sure.  When he gets destroyed you can loot him and get some of the parts back.

But the best thing is that those low level bombs can be used anywhere so currently I am amusing myself by tossing them at the mailboxes in Dalaran.

Post Partum Eighty Blues

Post Partum Eighty Blues

Whoa!  I didn’t expect this! To have confusion and sadness come crashing down on me.  Not to know what to do next. To feel disoriented because there was no more XP at the end of a quest..  No more straining to reach the next level.  Where did this what’s the use? feeling come from?  Where did this what do I do next? feeling come from?  No more feeling as if I am behind the eight ball and trying to catch up.  Instead I feel as if I have had the eighty ball dropped on my head.

I started playing WoW when the highest level was 60.  This wasn’t too long before Burning Crusade was launched so before I could even get to 60 the goal post was moved to 70.  Wrath of the Lich King came out and upped the ante to 80.  It seemed I was always straining towards some impossible goal.  I thought I would die in RL before I ever made 80 in WoW.

Don’t get me wrong ~ I am thrilled to be 80.  In fact, I insisted my guild have a celebration party.  We met at Tidus Stairway and had dancing, fireworks, all sorts of good things to eat, and went water skipping.

But three months later I am still in a quandary as to what to do next.  I did save up the 5000 gold and now have rapid flight.  I next started replacing my pitiful gear.  I am trying to get everything to at least a Superior rating.  I am too embarrassed to go into battlegrounds or dungeons.  I hate getting killed with just one shot. Demoralizing.  I explored Outland. Raised three weapons to 400 and have the Knuckle Sandwich Achievement.  I gave up my 400 level skinning and took up engineering. With not having to pay for training and all the other ancillary costs of leveling I can use money for the profession I think is absolutely the most fun.  I thought about going for Exalted rep with five different factions and thought it would be cool to be Exalted with Steamwheedle Cartel but was laughed out of that idea and firmly instructed to get exalted with the capital cities.  So now have to look into that.  Thought I would like to get that purple dragon mount that you have to work for in Shadowmoon.  Went out there to mine for nethercrystals with a shadow priest ~ a good stalwart fellow~ but he got killed by a wandering 72 elite partly because I was too cocky and was whacking things melee style in order to level swords.  I have this ambition to level all my weapons to 400.  So we are arguing in chat and I am using my Snicker Snack Blade on this Jabberwock.  So the priest died and I ended up feigning.  Not sure why he died as he is level 80 but there you are.  It never pays to have a personal agenda when you are playing with others.

And, btw, I didn’t have the flight path to Sanctum of the Stars so had to go back to Shattrath and take the tour of the city, do a few things to prove I am a loyal Scryite so now I can get to S of S. I had sort of skipped over all that whilst leveling to 80.  Am now mousing about in Shadowmoon getting ready for another foray to get crystals.

To sum up, I still haven’t settled down with a firm focus.  I love battlefields and dungeons but am intimidated by them because at this level it seems to be all about gear. I thought I would be more involved in them at this level but I’m not.  In lieu of that I am searching for a new direction, a new path but not a new character.

Confessions of a Marginal Player

I love WoW with a passion.  It is my biggest guilty pleasure but I am not very good at it.  It started one day when I was at my son’s and said to him, “I have a game to show you on the computer”.  He kindly and patiently sat through my demonstration of Slingo.  Then he said, “I have a game to show you,” and proceeded to show me WoW.  It was one of the most exciting moments of my life ~  the clouds parted, the angels sang, the air around me turned a different color when I realized there was a whole new, magical world to explore.  It was Magical Realism, stepping through the Looking Glass, The Master and Margarita, Dungeons and Dragons, Kali come to earth, all the myths, legends, and fairy tales I ever read, all the adrenalin , terror,  and addictive highs of dirt biking and four wheeling ~ Right there in my computer.    I instantly wanted a character.  I think she was a priest and I named her Garbanza after the can of beans that caught my eye.  She only lasted that afternoon but I will never forget her.  Do we ever forget our first?

When I first started  playing I was always looking at the ground, hurtling over green terrain trying to keep up, not knowing where we were going or why, didn’t know how chat worked, how to vendor anything, or how to save myself from dying.  In fact, I was kicked from the first guild I joined and was broken hearted.  I asked my son to find out why.  He talked to the guildmaster and found out the GM thought he had recruited a bot because I didn’t answer him when he talked to me.  How was he to know I was  not ept at chat.  I still can’t chat and play.  I can do one or the other but not both.  I am blown away by those players who can write reams whilst fighting or galloping nonchalantly towards Balinda.

I am lucky enough to belong to a small guild that has a couple of great players who are blessed with patience and a sense of humor. I stumble around dark dungeons trying to track them on the mini~map.  I fall off cliffs, into pools,  poke into caves I shouldn’t, all the time trying to hustle up in time to do enough damage to make it worthwhile for them to put up with me.

I revel in the game itself.  I enjoy the little details that are everywhere.  I love watching and taking part in the spontaneous byplay and interaction that happens between characters.  I know that has slowed me down in my efforts to get a character to eighty.  But so what?  Also, I am big on learning from repetition. So I have a few hunters.  So what?

I know that as an older player I must bring something else to the table. There is a quote from The Battle of Malden that inspires me both ingame and in RL.

Mind must be firmer,

Heart the more fierce,

Courage the greater,

As your strength diminishes.

It is a good and humbling experience to play WoW with my son and his friends and know that I will never be as good as they are but that I am accepted.

Dumb Deaths I Have Died

Sure, I have died dozens and dozens of time during my career in WoW but a few of these really stand out.  One of the early ones was running myself into the Stormwind moat and finding the walls too steep to climb out. Then there was the time I suicided myself under the wheels of The Deeprun Tram.  Finally had to get one of the Blizzard Helper Dudes to get me out of that one.  The time i was fooled by the baby bear cub playing in front of the cave in the hills above Auberdine. Mama Mia!  And those elevators in Undercity!   Am I the only one for which they are an optical illusion?  I have killed myself at least 3 times on them.  Splatted on some floor or else landed in the Undercity sewers.  Yuk!  The times I died and died and died off the coast of Shadowprey Village trying to find an item that turned out not to be there.  You’d think I would learn after the first half dozen times.  Not moi.  But the coup de grace was the time I died at the top of the ladder looking into Edward Van Cleef’s face.  Some sailor came out of nowhere and did me in.  It was fortunate for me that I was with my son, the Druid.  He promptly rezzed me, gave me a thorough scolding for getting myself killed and made me go stand in a corner.  I must say, I am bemused, amused, sometime confused but never refuse to learn from this parent child role reversal.

Note to those who have been kind enough to leave comments:  I’m still on the steep side of the learning curve with this blog thing as well as with my digital camera and cell phone ~ never did get the GPS mastered so gave it to the Druid.  I do appreciate the comments and may start responding in my blog if I don’t get the response thing wired pretty soon.

l

Rocket Chicken

Have you seen the wing-heavy Rocket Chicken cutie in Booty Bay?  This Booty Bay Beauty is located on the piling next to one of the auctioneers on the lower wharf.  She caught my eye one day as I was running some pirate’s errand.  I was stopped in my tracks. Captivated. Love at first sight. A coup de foudre.  I must have watched her for ten minutes ~ thats a lot of time in WoWland.   I loved the dainty way she pecked at the invisible corn. The way she laid flames instead of eggs. The wavy line~ drawings on her rocket wings that look like the face of The Wizard of Oz Scarecrow.  Of course, as soon as I saw this darling dinosaur descendant I had to have one.  I scrambled to find out where and how.  I was mightily disappointed to find that she is a Crackerjack prize in one of the WoW trading card decks. But that is probably just as well.  She would just take up bag room I can’t really spare and I can come visit Bottle Rocket Red whenever I am in port.

A Horse! A Horse! My Kingdom for a Horse!

When you roll up a character in WoW you should be shown the mount you will get when you reach Level 40. I might have thought twice about rolling up a Blue Kangaroo . As it is, I am currently a Level 44 Drenai Hunter with pushing 300 gold in the bank and still running around on foot. All because I am too prideful and stubborn to settle for a dumb, fruity, clunky, chunky Elekk. Let the gnomes have them. I want a wolf like the Orcs get to ride, or a nightsaber like the Nightelves. But what would be really cool to have is one of those gorgeous brown horses with white fetlocks and blazing hoofs. Can’t have it, I know ,but the next best thing is become exalted with Stormwind and at least get a regular looking horse. At least until I can get a Black War Steed.

What does it take to become exalted with Stormwind? 21,000 points. That is a lot of running around on dribbly nosed low level npc quests. I am only a little over a third of the way there which means a lot more running around on foot. So this prideful, stubborn Hunter spent (some might say squandered) two talent points on maxing out Aspect of the Cheetah in order to get places faster and not feel quite so grumped when those over 40 guys on their Elekks pass me by.