And so the story continues...

So a month on, what have I been up to?

Well we've nearly completed Karazhan, only Netherspite left and KZ is complete which will be a nice testament to how things have moved on. We've also taken our first tentative steps into Zul'Aman. Well, one quick blast to see what it's like to be honest. It's a big leap up, and I think maybe we were a bit naive tactic wise as a group. I know some people have already been and done some of it, but quite a few of us had never seen the place, or knew any of the tactics. I include myself in that last group as the ZA run came as a slight surprise.

So have I got lots of extra epiccy goodness, well no, not really, Karazhan does not seem to have been designed with DPS Plate drops in mind, and the sum total of items, is well, one. (Boots that drop off Nightbane) The rest of the stuff is rings and cloaks, without a lot else, so I'm wearing some mail just to balance stuff out till I can get better plate gear. On the other hand I now have the start of a decent healing set, mainly just to avoid sharding tons of stuff, so if I ever decided to swap to Holy I'd already be part way there. I guess the biggest step for me would be the acquisition of my Tier 4 gloves, though they did break my PvP set up, overall it's a nice little upgrade.

On other news, well I've gone back to some characters and dusted them off for some small runs, Renvik now has his PvP swords, though looking at patch 2.4 swords might not be the way to go. Grundir finally made some progress, and I've been getting pointers on tanking from the Guild's MT. Silvena is now in Outland and just about finished in Hellfire Peninsula, she's probably the easiest character I've taken through the zone. And last but not least a few levels on assorted characters, my Shaman is closing in on Outland as well now, my Druid finally made it to her mount. So I'm at the point that "active" alt is now in the 40+ bracket, so my battle for world supremacy takes another step in the right direction, lol.

All this epiccy goodness

So I've hit 70 now, and roamed battlegrounds for a couple of weeks, and am nearly onto my fifth (yup read them, 5) shiny purple gif. I'm finally starting to show some form, and actually hitting reasonably, though still below what I would have had out of Renvik, but there you go. So a couple of days and hopefully I'll have my fourth piece to my Gladiator's Scaled Set, meaning there will only be one piece missing.

If I can get attuned to Kara in the next few days I'd be well chuffed, and that'd let me have the opportunity of maybe getting raiding, which I do miss. Although I must say I'd forgotten how much fun Alterac Valley can be, for all they've turned it into a charge-fest now rather than the mass battle it once was. I still don't really like AB, it's far too hit and miss whether you get a decent group or not, although the guild group that went in at the weekend was great fun. WSG is my next adventure, because I need a lot of tokens from there. I know what it used to be like, and really it's heavily Horde biased, and so it'll probably be a case of see how quickly I can lose enough of them to get my tokens.

But for now, it's onwards and upwards. I've nearly managed to return to the point I was at before I started this excursion, it really hasn't taken that long at all. I guess we'll see how the adventure continues, hopefully sooner rather than later.

69, Dude!!!

So I've nearly made it, I'm so close now I can almost taste it. So hopefully come Sunday night I should be the proud owner of three level 70s. The last little bit has been difficult, primarily because work is taking up so much time, that I'm either getting back late and not getting a lot of playing, or I'm setting off early and am just too knackered to play.

As soon as I hit 70, it's BGs all the way. If I can get the old season 1 gear then I have a tentative invite into a 3v3 team, which as long as it isn't really serious, could give me the ability to get hold of some of the even bigger gear, in particular season 2, especially from all the info giving season 3 gear some widely varying DPS output, and in some cases the season 2 being the better option. Obviously if I do well I'd love the items that require ratings, but it's more just another little boost to my gear and another step towards being in a position to raid again. I look forward to it, while not being so desperate to be there that I'll batter in my head to do it.

First step, get reasonably geared by doing BGs and doing some instances as a Retadin. Unfortunately that's been the biggest thing lacking in my levelling. I never got the chance to go look at what I'm capable or not capable of in an instance. I really want to see what it is I've got to offer, and normal instances would be a logical place to start, in fact Ramparts would be a good place to start, although I think Stratholme and Scholomance are more likely, so I can get another horse that looks tiny when I ride it.

Darth Antaris

Thanks to Fennar, for starting a whole conversation on nonsense ranks :)

Well, on reflection the level 70 by the end of 2007 did seem a bit over optimistic. I guess I never really factor in that I might actually want to have a little bit of life during the Christmas period. Never mind, I've made pretty reasonable progress and I'm within striking distance of 66. So hopefully I should reach those heady heights tomorrow. I've nearly got enough money to start the quest chain for my epic riding mount, which means I should hopefully soon be able to free my money for my trade skills and for my flying mount. It'll be nice to reach that point certainly.

Looks like on hitting 70 I'm heading to battlegrounds, it's hard to see any better than the stuff I can get from there, and from talking to Ace it'll prob only take a few weeks to garner the honour to get my Gladiator set, and who knows, if I feel brave maybe I'll have a good look at Arena, maybe in a 3v3 or 5v5. The Season 2 or even Season 3 stuff would obviously be an advantage. That said I'd really like to get into an instance with some of my guildies, but with so many of them trying to gear for Karazhan it can be difficult to get their attention off that and back onto some of the more basic dungeons to help some of us come through. Maybe I'll get to 70 without ever seeing a dungeon, I hope not.

State of the Union

Just a quick update to my current status as of last thing Monday night. I hit 58, so the Dark Portal is open to me now though I'm gonna keep running through Azeroth till I'm done with the quests I want to get done.

I'm 2/3 of the way to 59 and with a few quests left in Western Plaguelands, and a few complete quests still to hand in in places like Winterspring. So 60 is looking highly possible now, which hopefully should allow me to make 70 before the end of the year. Which means I can start gearing up in the New Year. Hopefully at that point everyone else in the guild will be ready to start raiding, and really I'll be playing catch up in terms of being well enough geared.

Right, that's enough for now.

The Build

So I thought I'd share my ideal finished build for Antaris with the world. Unfortunately though the old embedded talent calculator from Wowhead no longer works, so it's just gonna have to be a list :(


Divine Strength 5/5

Imp. Devotion Aura 5/5
Precision 3/3

Imp. Blessing of Might 5/5
Benediction 5/5
Imp. Judgement 2/2
Imp. Seal of the Crusader 3/3
Conviction 5/5
Seal of Command 1/1
Crusade 3/3
Two-Handed Weapon Spec 3/3
Sanctity Aura 1/1
Imp. Sanctity Aura 2/2
Vengeance 5/5
Sanctified Judgement 3/3
Sanctified Seals 3/3
Repentance 1/1
Fanaticism 5/5
Crusader Strike 1/1


http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=sxZxhZEf0t0cuiIot

Slow Progress

Well I haven't made my lightning level quota for the past week. Unfortunately work has got in the way, early starts and late finishes have just left me too tired to play. Don't know if this is gonna let up much until we reach the holidays, but I'm still hoping for 60 by the end of the week, though this may be a tough ask given the fact I'm gonna be out of commission totally for at least 2 days this week. But the aim is 70 by the end of the year, then gearing up and getting ready for instances and raiding, but that could take a while to get through. I'd be happy to be in a position to get going in February to be honest. Anyway watch this space for future developments.