Screenshot Sunday: Elekktrofied

So, I've been making a huge push to get my shaman to level 70 before patch 2.4 hits. This week's screenshot is from Blade's Edge earlier in the week, back when he was 68. I hit 70 yesterday at 10 days, 3.5 hours, which I figure isn't so bad since a) I wasn't trying to keep a pace, b) I have a tendency to stick him in an in and wander off without logging, and c) a fair bit of his Azeroth leveling happened before the leveling changes in patch 2.3.

The best part about leveling my shaman, in addition to the sheer fun of whacking things in the face and having a short-timer interrupt, has been leveling on rested XP from 61-70. That just rocks.

I've also had a great time leveling enhancement, and will probably keep the spec as I finish out most of the early quests -- I have a tons more to do in Netherstorm, and I haven't even touched Shadowmoon Valley. But the other big push this weekend has been to get my Kara key. Sure, they may be unnecessary in just a few short days, but in the meantime, our Monday newbie Karazhan raid needs a second healer, so I volunteered my undergeared self to the task.

Will I survive? More importantly: will my raid survive? I'll let you know.

Screenshot Sunday: Goodbye to All That

Little Hooloovoo took his leave of Azeroth last night. Having finally dinged 58 on my shaman, it was time to turn in a last few quests and head back to Shattrath.

I'd been making a real push for 58 lately because two of my guild's more prolific jewelcrafters have all but quit the game, causing the AH jewel market to be temporarily thrown into chaos
a few weeks back and (more importantly) leaving Firkin without a lazy in-raid option for getting Veiled Noble Topazes. And trust me when I say this: Firkin goes through those things like candy.

And so began my stint of alting on Hooloovoo, a bright-eyed and not so bushy-tailed super-intelligent shade of blue. He's my first real melee class, and I have to hand it to shamans: they are incredibly fun characters to level. It's just the right balance of pure whack-things-with-a-stick dps with a dash of dps caster and some mana-efficient healing. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with him besides jewelcrafting, but he's been surprisingly entertaining to level so far.

And as for Azeroth? It's gotten a lot more tolerable with all the leveling changes, but I'm still glad to be heading back to Outlands. There's something about all those now-useless factions ticking away as I turn in quests to the Argent Dawn that just makes me grit my teeth every time.

Call of Air

Battling a cold this week (a parting gift from The Boy before his business trip to San Francisco), so I've been going through lots of tissues, leveling up my shaman, and generally feeling vaguely miserable and sorry for myself. I'm not a very stoic person about being sick, but WoW at least makes for a decent distraction.

I don't know how I'll spec him at 70, but my shaman is currently enhancement for leveling and has been a lot of fun to play so far. Just yesterday I completed Call of Air, the level 30 quest to get an air totem (and with it, arguments over whether groups should get Windfury or Grace of Air). As a bonus, the quest giver also gives you a cool buff that lets you fly down from the top of the Exodar to the bottom (plus an hour of increased attack speed).

I'm really enjoying the new buffs to leveling; it feels like we have a lot more choices to make about where we go and what we do in Azeroth, without actually sacrificing XP efficiency.