Changing the Theme and thinking about crafting a theme myself

I guess it is time to get better at WordPress. I’ve had a bunch of people insisting this is the way to go when it comes to plug-ins, design and audience. I just changed from Simpla to the Sapor theme. Look for more color soon!

Warcraft Diary Moved and Illustrated at Cockeyed.com

Ahh! Great to be back and see that everything is just how I left it.
Piehands reached level 60 and I found some other, less exciting things to work on.

Also, I moved these diary entries to my main website and added 52 screenshots for illustrative purposes.

Please check it out: 

My Illustrated World of Warcraft Diary
 http://www.cockeyed.com/wow/wow.shtml

Day 320 – Searching for Pteryodactyls in UnGaro Crater

 Killed a bunch of dinosaurs in Ungaro last night. I ran out of food and heal potions, and even bandages at one point. I got in a group with one other dude, a Paladin, looking for those pteradactyls. I must have died 8 times. It was pretty fun but crazy. We kept attracting the attention of a few, and trying to run away from them on our horses, but they would sometimes catch up and we’d have to face 3-4-5 of them at a time- dinos, slime and those retarded flowers. It was so nuts. The bodies would just PILE up. After more than an hour, we had killed a total of four of the pterys. Ridiculous!

 My inventory was full, so I stoned home. I have somehow amassed 5 stacks of thick leather!

I’m halfway through level 51.

All the Creatures I killed from level 42 to level 43.

Not long after I started playing Warcraft, I realized that much of the game had already been carefully catelogued and databased. However, there were a few things that I figured no one had logged.. How many monsters do I have to kill to get to the top level?

I don’t know yet, and honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever have the patience and drive to go the whole way making such detailed notes. Until then, here are the results from my tally so far: The Complete List of Kills from Level 42 to Level 43. (87,100 experience)

I began by cashing in the Colonel Zurzen quest for 5450 and the “Favor for Krazdo” for 2200.
Next, I killed
Crystal Spine Basilisks (3)
Strangethorn Tigers (8 )
Venture Co. Geologist (1)
Mosh ‘ogg Witch Doctors (4)
Most ‘ogg Brutes (3)
Shadowmaw Panther (1)
Murkgill Warrior (1)
Young Strangethorne Tiger (1)
I also cashed in Tiger Mastery for 150 experience. What a rip off.

Then, I got together in a group and ran Stockades. I didn’t earn any experience however, because it is a low level dungeon. Also, the action happened too fast for me to take good notes on how many prisoners I killed. The group was a good one, so next we hit Deadmines (no experience) and finally Ulduman.

I did not gain a lot of experience from Ulduman, because it was split between four of us. Outside I killed:

Shadowforge Surveyors (7)
Shadowforge Diggers (7)
Shadowforge Ruffians (3)
Stonevault Rockchewers (1)

I then cashed in “Furious Deep” quest for 300, and “Hints of a New Plague” for 3700.

Killed Black Bear (1) and
Moonrage Elder (1)
Shadowfang Whitescalps (8 )
Bleak Worg (4)
Bleak Glutton (1)
Undead Servants (7)

Crushridge Brutes (2)
Crushridge Ogres (5)

Syndicate Enforcers (4)
Syndicate Assassins (4)
Nagaz (1)

Cashed in the Enscrolled Parchment Quest for 1100, and completed the Triage Quest for 5550 experience. Also, I met James Hyal for 330.

killed:
Risen Spirits (6)
Risen Husks (3)
Darkfang Venomspitter (2)
Drywallow Crockolisk (4)
Grimtotem Breaker (9)
Bloodfen Raptor (3)
Grimtotem Elder (10)
Grimtotem Shapeshifter (8)
Withervine Creeper (1)
Noxious Flayer (1)

Completed the Escort Stinky Quest, Raptor Capture (2950)

killed:
Darkmist Spiders (6)
Darkmist Recluse (3)
Darkmist Widow (elite) (1)
Darkmist Hatchling (4)
Theramore Deserter (8 )
Theramore Leitenant (2)
Mottled Drywither Crocolisk (1)
Acidic Swamp Ooze (3)
Giant Darkmist Spider (1)

and finally, I cashed in the Zepplin Crash Quest for 440 experience.

So! Yeah! Did a lot of killing, fighting more than 42 types of creatures. That was a surprise. I never thought I would see such a wide range of creature through such a short time span.  Also, a very surprising discovery in these notes was that I rarely kill more than 7 of any one kind of creature. Sure, it seems like I’ve killed 50 Theramore Deserters, but it was really only 8.

Day 260 – Mounted

Still on foot, I ran up to Stormwind and put some items up for auction. Luckily, I had a few bags worth of valuable booty on me, so it looked like I was going to have no problem raising 7 or 8 gold for a horse.

With my auctions set, I ran around Stormwind selling some junk to merchants. Soon enough, a few things had sold, so I was able to jump over to the mailbox and grab my payment. Curiously, I needn’t have waited. I had some cash just sitting in the mailbox from previous auctions.  Easy money.

With a total of 13 gold, I had a little breathing room, so I visited the warrior trainer, being sure to keep at least 7.5 gold for my horse.

So, I get out of there, run over to the Eastwood lumber hut and guess what? The horses are 8.5 gold! Damn it! I was totally short! How did this happen?

So, once again, I ran to find a mailbox. This time I ran south to Duskwood, and stopped a few times to try fishing. By the time I got to the Duskwood Inn, there was fresh money in my mailbox and I was ready to actually, really buy a horse!

Using a horse is like using the Hearthstone, with no cooldown. You just sort of summon it and POOF, you are riding a horse! I selected the pinto.

Man, what a rush! Riding a horse is like riding a motorcycle in this game! The world zips by! Being able to move this fast is a huge upgrade, better than a weapon or armor, because it enhances the most basic function of the game: running around.

When you need to get off of your horse (for going inside buildings or casting a spell or making a fire or dancing or getting into combat), the horse just disappears. Obviously it would be terrific to be able to fight from on top of your horse, because you’d have much better access to your enemy’s head,

but was probably judged to be too huge of an advantage.

Wow, riding the horse is super fun! I could not wait to join up with other folks on horseback for group quests!

Day 259 – Elementals, 40 and riding lessons

Another day fighting with Elementals in the Aranathi highlands with Apostasy. By the end of the night, I had hit 40th level, and was eager to get a horse so that I could keep up with my tiger-riding friend.  I only had about 40 gold, so I knew I’d have to borrow some cash from him. We flew to Redridge and ran to the Eastwood lumberyards, where I had seen horses for sale once upon a time.

Buying a horse is a two-step process, first there are riding lessons, for 78 gold. I know what you are wondering… how is it that someone can teach me how to make lightning bolts explode out of my axe for 90 copper, but demands 78 gold, (8,666 times as much) to train me how to ride a horse?

I don’t know. Riding a horse must be pretty damn tricky.

Anyway, I took some riding lessons and tried to buy a horse, only to discover that I was about 5 gold short. Damn!

Determined to see me on a horse before the end of the night, we both scrambled for cash. We ran to the nearest mailbox to see if anyone had any auctions ending (and money coming in). Nope not yet!

Five gold is not a lot of money in this game, but it is a lot to try to pick up off of corpses.

Day 258 – Accidental Diplomacy in the Cave of the Drywhisker Kobolds

The next day, after a stop at the Ironforge auction house to buy healing potions, I asked for help at Refuge point. “Does anyone else need to fight the Drywhisker Kobolds?” No answer. I headed there anyway and tried some more.  This time, a level 41 undead priest was wandering the foothills, also killing kobolds.

“Cool” I figure, I’ll just help him fight kobolds and he will do the same for me. 
Nope. It didn’t really work out that way. I was obviously free to slice up the guy(s) he was fighting, but he didn’t return the favor.
“Damn” I thought. Either he didn’t get it or he didn’t care. Being level 41, he could probably pull it off solo. I needed him more than he needed me.

He ran off in a different leg of the cave and I fought on, trying to improve my techniques and devise a way to finish this quest on my own.

I did better this time, banking rage when the threat was low and using execution to stop them from running for help. I also tried to  save my big guns (retaliation and last stand) for the epic battle between myself and the level 40 boss.

I inched closer to the final crystal, offing 10 or so kobolds on the way.  I rounded the last corner and was pleased to find that the elite 40 was gone! Only two standard magic dudes stood in my way. Still, this was going to be hard. I tried it, depending too much I guess on retaliation and was soon on my way to dead. I ran, but was caught by re-spawing kobolds on the way out.  Dead. To add insult to death, the Undead priest was there with an undead ladyfriend, hovering over my corpse.

The ladyfriend spit on my corpse!!

Aye! Thanks for the help! I was almost certain that I couldn’t do this alone, and I was definitely frustrated, but I realized that the undead pair was unwittingly clearing out a path for me. I would just have to wait for them to knock out all of the foes, then walk up and massage the crystal to complete my quest.

I ran in from the graveyard and tried to find an alcove to resurrect in.  Sure enough, during my 4-minute ghost run, the undead spitters had cleared a path all the way to the back! I popped back to life, ate an apple and attacked the final remaining kobold. He had no one to turn to for help and I ran him down.

The crystal was mine for the taking and I completed my quest.

Hooray!

Day 257 – Cave of the Drywhisker Kobolds

Playing solo, and feeling behind in the elementals quest, I decided to start it myself.  The quest begins at a magical suspended crystal in the northeast of Aranthi Highlands. A trapped princess apparently speaks through the crystal, and needs some help getting out. The first step is to battle the nearby Drywhisker Kobolds in the eastern hills.

Ranging in level from 35 to 38, the kobolds were easy prey by themselves, but they were light on their feet, and ran for help once they got down to about 30% of their help. This was a problem. I could beat one, and I could beat the one that he pulled into the fight, but I was having trouble defeating the one hat THAT guy pulled into the fight. In addition, as I neared the mouth of their cave, the fighters were augmented with spellcasters, who enjoyed freezing me to a spot on the floor, stepping back and hurling freeze rays at me.

After a few deaths, I was pulling everything out of my bag of tricks. retaliation, last stand, shield bash.. etc.  I was bandaging myself as they ran away in battle, using execution to deliver a knockout blow and gulping healing potions. It was tough going.

The cave was deeper than it appeared. I was able to pick up the 12 required “motes” (?) from the bodies of dead kobolds, but the quest also required that I find and activate a large crystal at the back of the cave.

After many struggles, I reached the back of the cave, only to find a level 40 elite there. Ugh. He had friends and looked completely impossible to defeat alone. I gave it one shot and died quickly.

I signed off.

Day 256 continued

A while later, we had another terrific encounter. Aranthi Highlands is a contested region, which means that undead, tauren and orcs are wandering around doing some of the same quests.  Blizzard scrambles typewritten communication between Alliance (men) and Horde (orcs), so it isn’t easy to communicate with the other side, but sometimes the goal of your group is obvious to them, and vice-versa.

The next step in this quest was to unlock and defeat another 43rd-level elemental giant, and we were fortunate to find three horde warriors knocking down rock elementals in the same area.  Without any communication or advance warning, we unleased the giant and started our battle. The horde warriors jumped in immediately and started to help! Five of us were, although not technically grouped, on the same team, with a big, dangerous and obvious goal. It was rad.

The giant fell in no time, and despite getting no experience or loot from the kill, the horde was obviously thrilled, jumping around and celebrating with us. We prevailed together.

You want two factions, which are supposed to hate each other to come together? Throw a 43rd level giant at them.

Day 256 – Heavy Leather and Zombie Gang in Aranthi Highlands

The next day, he was online, and we got cracking, killing our way through Stromgarde keep. He was level 41 and I was 39. It was awesome! Each of us was powerful enough to kill these enemies without too much difficulty. Teaming up on them was a breeze, and they could never muster a force larger than three, so we didn’t have much trouble taking them out.

Our only combat strategy was “you rend and thunderstrike, I’ll hamstring and sunder armor”, although we quickly realized that we could both rend and the target would get hit with both debuffs.

We ran into a little trouble up on the third floor, where two boss characters were hanging out with some drinking buddies. We both died twice, but then grouped with a dwarf hunter and killed everyone up there. It was super fun!

The next day we grouped again and wandered the countryside, trying to collect prison keys from the elementals. It was really fun!

These individuals were tougher, but they didn’t run from fights, so it was easy to keep from pulling more than we could handle. Fighting a dinosaur on the plains, I leaned over to skin the body. “Piehands picks up Heavy Leather”.

“Oh no way!” his fighter has forging, and could not believe that I could get a valuable skin so easily. This was going to be a good partnership! We ran from Dino to dino, killing and skinning them. I had to actually get him to stop and loot the bodies first, so their corpses were free for me to skin.

At one point, we were wandering around, searching for Fozzruk, the 41st level giant who cruises from elemental circle to another.

On the road nearby, we ran up on a pack of undead warriors escorting a zombie courier down the road. We both noticed them at the same time and jumped backward.

“Aye! We almost ran into them!”.
They looked like a tough bunch, moving together and impossible to cull singles off of the group. Also, they were zombies.

BUT! They were only level 35, and we were 39 and 41. I considered it.

“Lets kill them all”. I ventured.
They were shambling away at a snail’s pace.
“Ok.”

We ran at them.

At the time, and now again, as I tell the story, I was filled with an incredible surge of excitement and power. We could totally do this, right? It looked _scary_, and we were diving in anyway.  After being in 1,000 fights with creatures I knew what I could beat: anything at or just above my own level, or two creatures just below my level, unless they were elites.
This was a different calculation: A pack of five or six zombies four levels below us.  It seemed possible, and we were jumping in, because there was no half-way. It was all or nothing: these zombies were going down!

We charged in and started swinging, using Thunderstrike liberally as one of our few multi-opponent attacks.  Chop! chop! chop!  They fell, and a little pile of glittering corpses piled up at our feet. We got ’em!

“Yeah!” It was an awesome moment of triumph, and we both jumped up and down.

One of them was a courier, and grabbing his loot, it looked like this little venture had completed a quest for me! Bonus!