Well, time for another World of Wacraft post, talking about several different things. It's been a pretty eventful week or two in my characters' lives.
First, my main, Dellenar, the level 70 Human Mage. First, a few weeks ago, I started the Karazhan attunement quests. The first few steps are just easy solo quests, and "go speak to this guy" quests. The first real step is to get the 3 shards of the Master's Key, to allow entry to Karazhan. The first key shard is a quest just to get the first one, and it's in the Shadow Labyrinth; the level 70 wing of Auchindoun. But to get in, you need a key, which drops from the last boss of Sethekk Halls, about a level 68 wing of Auchindoun. After doing Sethekk Halls, and also getting the mage Dungeon Set 3 Legs from its last boss, I did Shadow Labyrinth, and got the first key shard quest done. After this is a quest to get the Second and Third shards. One is in the Steam Vaults, which is the level 70 wing of Coilfang Reservoir, and contains two, yes two, pieces of the mage dungeon set 3. I did this about a week ago, got the shard, and the DS3 Gloves, which gave me 2/5 pieces of the set, and the rather useless set bonus of -0.25 seconds to the cast time of flamestrike. Flamestrike is pretty useful for AoEing in groups, so -0.25 secs is useful, but when that makes it 2.75 secs instead of 3s, it's a set bonus I wouldn't mind losing.
After this came the major snag. The last shard was in the Arcatraz, which needs a key to enter. The key, unlike the Shadow Labyrinth key, comes from a quest chain. The quest chain starts off with some nice easy solo quests, but the quest chain leads to a quest to kill a 70 elite. I seemed unable to solo it. But I didn't give up, and after trying a couple of times a day for about a week, I finally killed the guy. I then handed in the quest, took it to the big Naaru in Shattrath city, and got the follow-up: Get the two halves of the Arcatraz Key. One from the last boss of the Mechanar, and the other from the last boss of the Botanica. The Mechanar, Botanica and Arcatraz are the three non-raid wings of the Tempest Keep instance. So, that day, I went to the Mechanar, and got pretty much every single mage drop there in the one run, including the Dungeon Set 3 Headpiece! I also went to the Botanica, and got both the key shards. I completed the key, and found a group to go to the Arcatraz. We got to the container for the third Karazhan key shard, and I got it. After this the group kind of fell apart, but it didn't matter - I'd got what I came for.
The next step after this in the Kara quest chain is to go to ANOTHER level 70 instance. This time it's a caverns of time instance, the Dark Portal. To enter requires you to have done the Durnholde Keep instance, but I'd done that a month or so previously. I did the Dark Portal today, which gave me honoured with Keepers of Time, and nearly Revered! It also got me the Master's Key. Hurrah! I can finally enter Karazhan! Now to find a guild to go with...
Over the last few weeks my reputations have done pretty well. I've got to revered with the Scryers and with Kurenai! Unfortunately, these are pretty much the only two factions that getting revered with gives you nothing! I'm within 2000 reputation of revered with 3 factions, however; Keepers of Time, Cenarion Expedition and The Sha'tar. Pretty much 1 instance run with each, and I'm ready to do their heroics! I also got to Honored with the Keepers of Time, which also gives me nothing. Well, it gives me access to a "Frost Glyph", which adds 20 frost resistance to a head slot item. Since I'm a mage, I have Frost Ward, meaning I really don't need much extra Frost Resistance. The one resistance I do need is arcane, and I got that glyph from the Sha'tar.
So to summarize what I needed to do to enter Karazhan:
1) Reach level 68 (I think)
2) Get to Karazhan, get and do two solo level 70 quests in the nearby areas.
3) Travel across the eastern kingdoms to find a guy.
4) Get to Shattrath City (easy as a mage with portals!)
5) Clear Sethekk Halls to get Shadow Labs key.
6) Clear Shadow Labs to get First Key Shard.
7) Get follow-up.
8) Get to the first boss of Steam Vaults to get Second Key Shard.
9) Do a quest chain ending in an elite-killing quest, to get the quest for the Arcatraz Key.
10) Clear both the Mechanar and the Botanica.
11) Get to the first boss of the Arcatraz for the Third Key Shard.
12) Go to the CoT: Dark Portal instance, and complete the whole event.
13) Return to Shattrath, then return to Karazhan. Phew!
Easily the most epic quest chain I've done so far; and it isn't even finished! The chain continues inside Karazhan. And upon reaching Honored with the Violet Eye (Karazhan faction) you get yet another quest chain. The quest chain has taken me to 2392/3000 towards friendly, without even setting foot in Karazhan, which is always good!
Now, to my new Alt, Nellacon the (currently) level 22 Draenei Warrior. About 2 weeks ago, Scott got a 10-day trial of the Burning Crusade. Obviously this meant he rolled a Draenei, and he chose the Shaman class. I decided I'd also roll a Draenei, and level with him. So I rolled a Warrior. After a couple of weeks, we're both level 22. Scott really loves his shaman, and I don't blame him. It's THE class for him, I think. The shaman can Melee DPS, Magic DPS, Heal, and they have enough survivability with Mail armour, and some totems, to allow you to solo elites pretty well.
I'm also loving my warrior. It's such a contrast from the mage. I can't make a full comparison, obviously, since with my mage I'm level 70, and used to seeing 1.8k normal hits and 2.5k crits. My warrior is level 22, and crits for about 120 with heroic strike. I've decided to level as a dual-wielding Fury warrior, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, fury gives great DPS, and some really good grinding talents. Also, I want to keep my 1H weapons skills high, so that if I tank an instance, I can do it without missing every melee swing. I'm really enjoying playing the warrior, and also levelling with a friend. I can't wait for Scott to have a high-levelled character, so we can take on some of the group quests I can't solo.
In summary: WoW is excellent at the moment!
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