Regrets on rapidly levelling to 100 and some fishy tales
The start of this post is probably a bit of a misnomer. I wasn't lightning fast, hitting 100 in a day, but I managed to get to 100 by Sunday evening. Considering that 6 hours of playtime was lost because of launch server and instance crashes, as well as the whole server queues debacles, I think that it was much faster than any other expansion I had levelled in.
I have levelled with HK/Aimei every single expansion. The first time I happened to have had a week off work and he had a lot of free time so I had someone to play with. In Lich King, we just continued the same. By Cataclysm I was getting really lazy and he was driving me around on the bike (yay for 2 player mounts that came out in Lich King) and in Pandaria I was just blindly following and killing whatever he told me to kill. In reality I am a really frustrating person to level with because I often forget to pick up the quest item, or haven't finished the quest and we're back at the quest giver and HK will be like "YOU said you were finished??" and I'll sheepishly reply "I was finished - with that pet battle!"
One thing I regret is not reading the quest text. I skimmed it all in my rush to pickup stuff that I feel like levelling was not the immersive lore experience that I've had previously. Granted, I tended to have a much better feel for the story when I was questing for fun (ie to finish achievements) and not when I was questing to level, so my perception may be skewed somewhat. I wish I had screenshotted more things - including rare spawns, since they are only rare ONCE and then ever after they are not rare ever again. It was impossible to screenshot them in the launch period with people swarming like starving piranhas over a lone carcass and I think that I might actually enjoy questing with Minndy as she absorbs the zone and the story and screenshot all those little scenes where I missed my moment to screenshot stuff.
Another thing that people have been talking about is what happens at the end of Nagrand. I hit 100 whilst in the Spires of Arak so I stopped questing after that and started hitting the dungeons. Probably a mistake on my part, as higher level gear drops in Nagrand and I probably wouldn't have to farm so many dungeons if I wasn't lacking so much in my ilvl.
Because I feel this PRESSURE to start hitting heroics, I'm not really doing the things I want to be doing. I want to explore Ashran more. I want to do BGs - I hear that if you do well in a BG you get a box of loot or something that can contain PvP gear. I want to go out and pet battle and collect all the pet things! Fortunately I can still use my spare moments to do things like fish and cook, and doing those has made me feel like I'm achieving something. Fishing for these 100 enormous fish species achievements has been rather relaxing IMO.
And look at the hilarious things that you can get whilst fishing. These two hats have a 7 day duration and look hilarious when you put them on!
Tentacled Hat (left) and Hightfish hat (right) were fished up by me when fishing inland water. The Tentacled hat was caught in Frostfire ridge as I was fishing for Fire ammonites, and the Hightfish hat in Nagrand. These hats are GREAT for fishing bonus - they only last one week from when they are caught though, so having them is good for fishing for the achievements as having a fishing skill of 900+ means you'll pretty much only catch Enormous fish. And don't forget to put the right bait on too! The annoying thing about the bait is that it's unique so I can only have one of them in my bag at any one time. Would be useful to have a nice stash of bait for those long hours of fishing. The plus to all this fishing is rapid levelling of cooking. I have always fished and cooked hand in hand, so after I do the next round of fishing achievements, some lucky person can use all my fish to level their cooking too :D
Oh, and I forgot to mention the Frostwolves first 3 to 100 - big cheers to James, Luxy and Raverager! I think that deserves a comic, don't you? If only WoW Model viewer was working properly!
I have levelled with HK/Aimei every single expansion. The first time I happened to have had a week off work and he had a lot of free time so I had someone to play with. In Lich King, we just continued the same. By Cataclysm I was getting really lazy and he was driving me around on the bike (yay for 2 player mounts that came out in Lich King) and in Pandaria I was just blindly following and killing whatever he told me to kill. In reality I am a really frustrating person to level with because I often forget to pick up the quest item, or haven't finished the quest and we're back at the quest giver and HK will be like "YOU said you were finished??" and I'll sheepishly reply "I was finished - with that pet battle!"
One thing I regret is not reading the quest text. I skimmed it all in my rush to pickup stuff that I feel like levelling was not the immersive lore experience that I've had previously. Granted, I tended to have a much better feel for the story when I was questing for fun (ie to finish achievements) and not when I was questing to level, so my perception may be skewed somewhat. I wish I had screenshotted more things - including rare spawns, since they are only rare ONCE and then ever after they are not rare ever again. It was impossible to screenshot them in the launch period with people swarming like starving piranhas over a lone carcass and I think that I might actually enjoy questing with Minndy as she absorbs the zone and the story and screenshot all those little scenes where I missed my moment to screenshot stuff.
Another thing that people have been talking about is what happens at the end of Nagrand. I hit 100 whilst in the Spires of Arak so I stopped questing after that and started hitting the dungeons. Probably a mistake on my part, as higher level gear drops in Nagrand and I probably wouldn't have to farm so many dungeons if I wasn't lacking so much in my ilvl.
Because I feel this PRESSURE to start hitting heroics, I'm not really doing the things I want to be doing. I want to explore Ashran more. I want to do BGs - I hear that if you do well in a BG you get a box of loot or something that can contain PvP gear. I want to go out and pet battle and collect all the pet things! Fortunately I can still use my spare moments to do things like fish and cook, and doing those has made me feel like I'm achieving something. Fishing for these 100 enormous fish species achievements has been rather relaxing IMO.
And look at the hilarious things that you can get whilst fishing. These two hats have a 7 day duration and look hilarious when you put them on!
Tentacled Hat (left) and Hightfish hat (right) were fished up by me when fishing inland water. The Tentacled hat was caught in Frostfire ridge as I was fishing for Fire ammonites, and the Hightfish hat in Nagrand. These hats are GREAT for fishing bonus - they only last one week from when they are caught though, so having them is good for fishing for the achievements as having a fishing skill of 900+ means you'll pretty much only catch Enormous fish. And don't forget to put the right bait on too! The annoying thing about the bait is that it's unique so I can only have one of them in my bag at any one time. Would be useful to have a nice stash of bait for those long hours of fishing. The plus to all this fishing is rapid levelling of cooking. I have always fished and cooked hand in hand, so after I do the next round of fishing achievements, some lucky person can use all my fish to level their cooking too :D
Oh, and I forgot to mention the Frostwolves first 3 to 100 - big cheers to James, Luxy and Raverager! I think that deserves a comic, don't you? If only WoW Model viewer was working properly!
People have been asking me to do dungeons, but I am in a position to say no since I am still questing. It is the first week, you aren't obligated to be in Heroic Dungeons in the very first week!
ReplyDeleteLOL and isn't that exactly what I'm doing? :D I guess I should be grateful I have the opportunity to do it all again on Minndy at some stage, though if I really wanted I could boost a toon.
DeleteYou hit the nail right on the head there with the word PRESSURE.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't figure out why I was really super loving this expansion. I didn't play in BC, so I have no nostalgic feelings for the characters or storyline. Yeah everyone loves fresh content, but it wasn't that either. I normally QQ a little bit each expac at class changes, but this was a really easy transition.
Reading your post made me realise, it's because I have no obligation to hit level 100 in a couple of days. I'm not letting anyone down. It's the first expansion where I can actually read each quest, instead of having an auto accept/auto hand in mod to get me to level quicker. If I want to waste half the day playing with my transmog at level 92, I can and not feel guilty! It feels really nice :D
Until I see my boyfriend and best mates running dungeons together and I have to miss out :'( Can't win!
It is a bit like that isn't it! If you see other people doing it you want to do it! Well, that's how it is for me anyway. I'm glad you're taking your time and enjoying the expansion because I envy having to do that - but it is something different for me, I admit.
DeleteThe story is definitely worth the extra few minutes to read the quests or watch the animations so I'm glad you'll be able to take your time on another character.
ReplyDeleteOh and you and I have the same idea. It's hard not to stop for a pet battle when it's something you don't already have. I would either be in a pet battle or while racing to a new pet hear... "don't even think about it" (just as I'm about to engage it).
I haven't done much fishing yet. Archaeology was my goal since it's so easy to level this time.
I need to do some pet battling so I can battle your NPC :D
DeleteLife is more pleasant if you take the time to stop and laugh at the hats!
ReplyDeleteAnd also if you WEAR the hats! :D
DeleteI don't know the pertinent details of why, and quite frankly it isn't any of my business, but I maintain you should never feel pressured to play a game. Knowing you as well as I do, you really did miss out on some great storytelling in the quests. The main story is certainly easy to follow, but there are several really good side ones and underlying tones. If you're able to go back and do them on another toon then that's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI think you can easily get through the levels quickly, and still enjoy yourself. I'm taking my relative time, and am just about 98. That's average 4-5 hours of play a day (if I'm fortunate). So really, you should be able to level cap in about 45 hours, while still puttering about.
So wait...if you come across a rare and kill it, it will never be rare again? That would certainly explain the sheer number I have annihilated in the past week.
Yes, I think that's rather cool about the rares! Though my screenshot folder of rares is sadly lacking right now :( I only want the picture with the silver dragon and the mob! Suppose I could fudge it a little but it feels like cheating.
DeleteThis is the first expansion where I am the GM of Frostwolves. I think as such I feel a bit of responsibility to be in a position to help out my guildies if they need a healer or tank. I think that if I had taken my time I would have felt guilty for not being able to help or for needing to be helped,and I wouldn't be able to overcome that regret, whereas doing it this way I can overcome my regret of missing the storyline by doing it again on Minndy - and WITHOUT the queues, fighting for quest mobs, being unable to take pics of rares... so really, this is a good option.
Of course, WHEN I can find the time to level an alt.... after all it took me 8 years to level an alt to max previously!
Mmmm pressure. I remembers it well. First coupla months of Rash of the Itch King, was all "level, level, level, grind, grind, grind, heroic, heroic, heroic". And it were all fer nothings 'caused Kinnavieve got benched so's buggers with better gear (and no RL jobs) could get a shot at the shinies Kel'thuzad dropped. Not how I wanna roll, I decided.
ReplyDeleteLast time out, I done spent coupla weeks levelin' me pets before even settin' foot in Pandalandia. Was refreshin'.
Little faster paced this time around, but still way behind the power curve. Highest team member be 93 now, though some of the garriminions be pushin' 100.
See that's really frustrating and I admit that has happened to other guildies in the past which is really upsetting (and it was my fault - I couldn't fit them in!) and they haven't come back to the game. You did what I did last time Ratters - I also levelled my pets so I could battle Pandaria before I started levelling. Back then as I'm sure you remember, there was no XP for levelling pets! Imagine, we could've maxed out just from pet battling all the way back then....
Delete