Remember last weekend?

Remember last weekend where I decided to level a paladin and got him to level 20 by the end of the weekend? well this weekend I started off at level 26 and ended up level 34. its not the 20 levels from last week, but it is still a significant change. howso? at the start of the weekend I was pretty happy doing 60 dps. now im trying to hit 150 each time through SM:GY. Scarlet Monastery: Grave Yard. Graveyard is probably the shortest of the four SM instances and also the lowest leveled. Not only is it the lowest level instance, it's probably the only instance at level 30. when I started the weekend, I was doing RFK and Gnomers, but at 30, its only SM:GY. only.

sure, I can q for another instance manually, althought the choices are pretty limited (I cant even choose SFK to complete a quest that's green to me), but at level 30-32 I was doing all graveyard runs. and when my group wanted to re-q, we got graveyard again. how random is that when there's only one instance that LFD will pick? Gnomers/stocks/rfk is green? so what, send me there I don’t care. they should really do at least one lockout if we've done maybe the same instance like 3 times in a row. then remove the lockout once we've done a new one. that would work. programming that in would not be so hard would it? how many times do I have to deal with listening to the torturer yelling "Naughty Secrets"? I don’t want to. but sadly, I think im not given much options in the future. next group of instances: Library and… that’s it.

next after that: RFDowns, SM:Armory.

next after that: Uldamon, SM: Cath, Zul Farak

next after that: Maraudon, Sunken Temple

next after that: Scholomance, Stratholme, BRD, BRS: upper and lower.

So honestly, I don’t think I'll even get to do all of the last tier instances before I hop over to outland. those instances are much better planned, better laid out, gives better loot and gives better exp. all better unless I really want to get some kinda acheivement. or that rare enchanting recipe from that rare spawn in brd. I don’t even know what formula it is, I just know its there. So with the list above, I'd say my best chance to actually enjoy random instances is with Ulda/Cath/ZF, or… Scholo/Strath/BRD/BRS. In the early 50's, I'll be stuck with Mara and Sunken Temple. and right now, I will be stuck with Library. just library. until I hit one more level and then I can do RFD. Razerfen downs. So I guess it's not soooo bad. but still.

anyway, so at level 33, I think I was able to get into random SM:Lib. Scarlet Monastery Library. 34, maybe RFD with some SM:Lib still. and then hopefully at 34 or 35 I can start doing Armory. it doesn’t help when most of the gear that drops from armory can only be equipped at 35-38. so for most of my time there, I will probably come across Herod's axe like 10 times, and each time I will roll need on it because I will claim I do not have it. and each time I will save it so I can take a screen shot of how ridiculous Armory is… in terms of drops. its all mail and an axe. so warriors, paladins, hunters and enhancement shamans, this instance is for you, even if you cant use the drop for four levels. hopefully I can run this place long enough to come across all the pieces to the chain set of the scarlet crusade and then the tabard, shield, and a shoulderpiece from herod. I think I'll be all set for two levels. that’s when plate gear kicks in and I'll be switching to that. although I've done this grind before and I really don’t transition out of mail completely until well into my mid 40s or even late 40s. there is no real hurry anyway, as my dps is rockin and my survival isnt so bad when questing "yellow" or "orange" mobs. now have me fight off two orange mobs and I might run low on health. but that’s about it. 3 orange mobs and im basically dead if I don’t BOP and run.

This weekend, I also tried to level my cooking and fishing. fishing was pretty easy actually. I remember the days where I tried to fish at a certain spot and would not be able to because my fishing skill was too low. now I can fish anywhere, but what I catch can either be junk, or a sickly fish. either way, it still increases my fishing skill. and that's really all I am after. really. I can now fish in hillsbrad and catch decent fish without a lure. I still get the occassional junk, but I get more fish than not. also, I try to seek out the pools, which will get me more "good" fish and some junkboxes. those trunks do have nice goodies. I did get a book that taught me how to spot fish pools on my minimap. it hasn’t really helped since im still stuck on "sense undead" haha. but I cant say for sure if its actually helpful. I mean I run along the riverbank and yea, there's a pool. did I need a minimap finder for that? nope. I also discovered there are fish that only live in fresh water, and others that only live in salt water. interesting. I stopped using lures now, but I know I can probably fish better with it. I need to keep it in mind.

cooking isnt so bad either. I started off making the simple sweet bread, then herb baked eggs. this was done last week. I spend about an hour running through the zoram strand the other day for crawler meat, then went and killed the naga for clams. then, I went to hillsbrad and killed the naga there for higher level clams. the naga in hillsbrad drop the zesty clams. then I went and hit 175 and learned to make soothing turtle bisque. so cooking will be easy for now. I do remember the last few items to cook in azeroth were fished, so that might be a problem. but I did read somewhere that cooking was made easier so I don’t have to really deal with having to buy lobsters at 295 in order to reach 300 cooking skill.

So far, everything's stuck at 200-225. I learned to make mageweave bandages, my fishing is almost 200, and my cooking is at 190ish. my enchanting is stuck at 235 and my second profession should be coming right along… soon. yea, soon. I am still tossing up two options. one is inscription, and the other is blacksmithing. I'll ponder more about this later.

One last thing im discovering, if there's a shaman with a mana spring totem, he's usually overriding my blessing of wisdom. which causes smartbuff to go bonkers. I really like smartbuff, but I am having some problems tweaking it, specially with all the other buffs out there and everyone asking for something else. blessing of wisdom and mana stream doesn’t stack. so I just put on kings.

I also joined a guild this past weekend. we're called Durotan's Children. or was it Children of Durotan? something like that. it’s a social/leveling guild. there's some nice people, with lots of "gratz" going on. I really don’t like congratulating people of small acheivements. if its hitting 30, or 60, or 80, then sure. if its for buying an epic flyer then sure. if its for downing some difficult raid boss then sure. if its for getting journeyman mining, then no. no no no. that’s not an acheivement. that's something you would do anyway. but other than that rant, theres a lottery! I don’t know what else is in store for me, but hopefully the guild leader remains in the guild, doesn’t get caught up with real life (or give leadership to appropriate person to lead in their absence), and doesn’t do stupid things. well stupid can be subjective. but anyway, I am hoping for something fun. maybe a bunch of people to level with. I see a lot of people who are level 20, 30, 40, and so on. My DK is still in my other guild with my friend, but she's barely on and almost no one is on in the other guild. so I figured I might as well try a "social leveling" guild for now.

so that’s pretty much what went down this past weekend. hopefully I can post a bit about some of the small details of ret leveling and spec soon. its quite interesting how the same class can level differently based on spec. and how talent choices can matter depending on levels, style of play and just plain ol' preference. of course, pally leveling has changed drastically since a few years back (all for the better, ofc).