Slain by Elf

In an effort to keep their professions relevant both Knifey and Sapphire manage to train their first aid skill up to the old skill cap of 300, and a bit of work sees them both reach skill level 300 with cooking as well. On top of that, Sapphire is able to create enough rings and necklaces to attain a skill level of 300 in jewelcrafting.

Where is the fanfare for these achievements? They may not be quite as dramatic as gaining a level but they are still achievements. Nothing indicates a grind quite as much as spending time gathering and crafting materials in to level-specific items with no visible in-game recognition for the effort.

There is a flash of light accompanying new recipes learnt but the delayed gratification of having to find a trainer or the vendor for the skill book distances the accomplishment of crafting from the act of spending money. I would rather the achievement be recognised as gaining a 'level' in crafting than buying a book.

Moving up a tier in a faction's reputation standing was changed to have a burst of light similar to but lesser than that when gaining a level. Perhaps it is time a similar animation was offered to professions.

Does someone have access to the barber shop before it is open? Even so, what's he doing with my face? And my ram?

I need a lie down.

Investigating the old keep has turned up pit traps, goblins and hobgoblins, and rats and devil hounds. The few hours we have so far spent working through enemy-infested rooms have taken their toll on the party, with our Warlord's healing surges fully depleted and others running out quickly. It is time to rest. Rather than trying to find somewhere in the keep quiet enough to let us lay low for hours, with Winterhaven only a couple of hours away and it being early afternoon we head back to town to get a hearty meal and good night's rest in an inn.

The journey back to Winterhaven is uneventful, with no interruptions on the road, but as the town comes in to view we see that something is amiss. The gates are firmly shut and the town wall has guards stationed on it at regular intervals, all quite alert. The mayor himself is atop the wall and, once we are spied and close enough, comes down to greet us at the gate. 'My friends, we are in peril! Townsfolk have been dragged off by the living dead, zombies that have arisen from the graveyard!'

'Oh, right. We should probably head over to Felcrest to get some rest. Thanks for the warning, mayor.'

'Yeah, we're a bit tired. Can it wait until the morning?'

Having made the journey to the Outlands it would be foolish not to risk travelling the road to Shattrath City, where I can set my hearthstone to take advantage of portals to every capital city in Azeroth, particularly when I have recently considered the utility of the decision to keep my home at the Exodar. With my hearthstone set in Shattrath City, I could still travel to the Exodar whenever my hearthstone could be used, but also to Ironforge, Stormwind City, or Darnassus.

I was planning only to ride to Shattrath City and set my hearthstone before jumping through the portal to Darnassus to get my swift frostsabre mount, but when I get to the city I think that perhaps I should choose my affiliation between the two factions, Aldor and Scryer. Being a Draenei, the Aldor is perhaps the natural choice, being Draenei themselves, but I have to consider other factors, like my professions and class. It is possible that the Scryers have access to more appropriate designs and formulae for jewelcrafting and enchanting that would suit my needs, or that the quartermaster has access to better armour and weapons than the Aldor equivalent. I at least owe it to myself to make enquiries before choosing arbitrarily based on race.

I head over to the Scryer's bank to see what the quartermaster can entice me with, once I gain enough reputation with the faction, but he won't talk to me. In fact, he's quite hostile. Perhaps I have come to the wrong man, and I need to talk to someone up on the Scryer's tier instead. Taking the lift up to there only makes matters worse, as two mechanical monstrosities attack me on sight and banish me from the city, turning me in to an exile only minutes after arriving! This is not the welcome I had hoped to receive in a sanctuary.

Tentatively wandering over to the Aldor bank instead, familiar Draenei faces smile back at me and are happy to talk to me, show me what they can offer, even allow access to my vault space. I don't understand what is happening. I was sure Knifey said he was able to walk in and discuss faction choice with both sides before needing to choose, but maybe I got confused. There is a quest to be introduced to the Sha'tar leader, so maybe I need to report my presence in the city before both factions will acknowledge me. It's worth a try.

A few minutes later, after having been shown around the Lower City and the lifts to both of the factions' tiers, I have been officially inducted in to the city and am given the choice of siding with one faction over the other, but still the Scryers won't talk to me. The only explanation I can think of is that they don't like me because I am a Draenei, which would fit with why the Aldor like me to start with. Neither faction appears in my reputation status, so I clearly haven't met them before, yet there is an apparent difference in the initial reputation status.

I could simply side with the Aldor. After all, they are my people and already friendly with me, but I would prefer more than the illusion of choice. Without direct access to the Scryer quartermaster's wares I have to ask around as to what he offers. I also ask which faction is best suited for a protection warrior. Luckily, it seems that there is little difference in designs and formulae offered, as well as equipment and inscriptions, although that is a little disappointing in itself. I talk with Khadgar again and make my choice: I will align with the Aldor.

Now I can see the reputation status of both factions, and the Scryer really hate me after my choice. Whilst it was awkward being treated with such hostility for no other apparent reason than being a Draenei, particularly as there was no explanation or indication as to why this was the case, the benefit of being on friendly terms with the Aldor initially will help speed up the process of gaining their favour. If only the lift weren't quite so high, as it makes me dizzy.

After hearing Knifey talk of his first step through the Dark Portal to visit the Outlands, with its strange new creatures and otherworldly landscapes, I have been keen to see the new world for myself. Having explored most of Azeroth and defeated many of its deadliest denizens I feel prepared to face a greater challenge. First, I need to become strong enough to survive the forces the Dark Portal exerts when passing through. With a few quests to complete in Winterspring and another delve in to Blackrock Depths with my guild I quickly gain enough experience to reach 58th level, unlocking access to the Outlands.

It is early the next day when I catch a gryphon to Nethergarde Keep in the Blasted Lands, feeling a good night's rest would be a better preparation than rushing in exhausted from Blackrock Mountain for what awaits on the other side of the portal. It is quite a sight. The portal in the Blasted Lands may look most ominous, but it is nothing compared to the vastly more monstrous construction it leads to, and that's not including the hellish beasts waging a constant war against the combined forces of the Alliance and Horde on the doorstep of the Dark Portal. Luckily, there is a gryphon master on the Step of Destiny ready to send me on my way to Honour Hold, an Alliance encampment further in to Hellfire Peninsula.

It isn't long before I am greeted by the military leaders and set some tasks appropriate to my standing. These quests send me to kill demons in a chasm, destroy demonic transporters, bomb bigger demonic transporters, bomb a massive demon camp, and, well, I am killing a lot of demons. I see now how the name Hellfire Peninsula arose. For my efforts I am rewarded with otherworldly equipment, appropriate for the more powerful enemies I am meeting. It is not long before I have my helmet, trousers, chest piece and sword all replaced with far superior pieces, along with a new shield recovered from the Outlands that I bought from the auction house. All of the new equipment is also more protective and powerful than both that which I have been using for increased damage output whilst running solo as well as the gear more suited to damage mitigation and survivability for dungeon explorations. I can now hit harder and survive for longer all without needing to take time to change any armour. The Outlands is truly a markedly different world from Azeroth.

All the differences are nearly too much for me and I consider taking a rest, but just as the thought crosses me mind I am called to help defeat the fel orcs of Hellfire Citadel Ramparts, a dungeon close to Honour Hold. It sounds like a good opportunity to experience more of the Outlands and practice my skills as a protection warrior. A party of able bodies is drafted, with myself as the warrior, three more Draenei, all shaman, and a gnome rogue. We head to the Citadel and to enter the Ramparts.

Despite having a fair amount of my armour upgraded I am still somewhat underprepared for the onslaught the fel orcs can muster, and the progress is slow but steady. The problems faced are really only caused by my equipment being nowhere near as powerful as the Outlands can provide, and thus used by its inhabitants, and my healer has to try harder than normal to keep me standing, which catches the attention of the mobs on occasion. Otherwise, we fight our way through to the end, defeating all three bosses and exiting victorious to claim our rewards in Honour Hold, where I choose sturdy new shoulder guards.

All of the combat and quests I have engaged in throughout the day has marked another achievement for me. This morning saw my entrance in to the Outlands, certainly a day to remember, and now my trip in to Hellfire Citadel sees me needing only to kill a fel pig or two so that I reach 60th level! To round off my day of major equipment upgrades I head back to Darnassus and take ownership of a swift frostsabre mount, enjoying a fast ride around the trees in the elven capital before changing in to more comfortable clothes to rest for the evening. It has been quite a day.

We interrupt some goblins who are digging for treasure, an application of their time we later find out to be like most nine-to-five jobs as it is a task given by their boss merely to keep them occupied. We manage to find this out after neither finding no treasure in the room nor any sign of treasure in the many pits that have been dug. We do our bit for archeology, though, by leaving some future goblin skeletons to be unearthed at some point.

Leaving the room by the same door in which we entered we head back down the corridor a short way and turn down a set of stairs as yet unexplored by us. A gloomy, unlit room looms ahead, so for illumination I conjure up some Light. The sudden appearance of the bright light startles and scatters several squeaking critters, and it is not long before our presence causes a number or large rats to become aggressive towards us.

It is only at this point we notice our ranger is not with the rest of the group. With our headcount still at five we are surprised to find one of the goblin corpses being dragged along in the ranger's place. At that moment the ranger appears at the top of the stairs. 'Hey, you left me in the room looking for treasure.'

'Uh, yeah, we hadn't noticed. We have this goblin corpse instead and he's doing a pretty good job so far.'

'Are you insinuating that a dead goblin is more useful than me?'

'Let's find out. Goblin corpse, attack that rat!'

'See? He didn't attack it.'

'Sure, he didn't attack, but neither did he complain about it. That's a 50% improvement.' Sadly, we lose our beloved new goblin corpse party member as quickly as he joined, dragged away as a meal by a rat. We wish him all the best in his new role. In other news, we welcome back Adran the Elven ranger to the party after his short hiatus.

After being told about Knifey's disappointing time at Brewfest last week I had planned to give it a miss, but Damacy showed me her cute Wolpertinger pet and I wanted one for myself. As the festival was still in full swing and peasants were encouraging me to visit I decided to take some time to see what the fuss was about.

Realising that the Brewfest rams were not available for general purchase I didn't want to dedicate too much time to collecting Brewfest tokens, but once at the Brewfest area outside of Ironforge there were two quick and easy opportunities to gain ten tokens each. With these tokens in my pocket I thought it would be foolish not to check to see what could be purchased with them. Knifey was adament that there was nothing of any value to buy, but I don't think he'd seen the Wolpertinger.

I ask the gnome seller what is on offer and have a thorough browse of her stock. There are a few outfits for sale, but they are unflattering and uninteresting. At least the Midsummer outfit that Knifey picked up sets him on fire when he dances. Quite right too, his moves are hot! Apart from the outfits there are a few drinking purchases, but not being a mana user and not really caring for booze these do not interest me either. It seems that Knifey is right.

But tucked away in the back is an item of interest. A special hops plant that when fed to your mount changes it in to something 'more festive'. One of the hops plants only has a two day duration, another seven days, but one has no duration limit placed on it and costs the twenty tokens that I happen to have. It seems like the ideal purchase and worth the extra cost over the other two hops for its lack of time constraint. I exchange my tokens for the plant.

It's not ideal for the hops to take up bag space but at least I get something out of Brewfest that I can continue to enjoy. With the day growing late I try out my new purchase to have fun with it briefly before heading in to town to rest. I give my big cat a taste of the hops and she turns in to a Brewfest ram! I may not be able to get a special ram mount, but I can get the next best thing it seems, and one that doesn't run out with time.

Oh, except that the hops gets consumed with use. Yes, the extra cost of the hops may guarantee its use well in to the next year but it is a strictly one-use item. I would perhaps feel more chagrined at having wasted its single use having only wanted to sample its effects if I didn't consider the item to be completely worthless because of its limited applicability. I see no reason to waste time collecting tokens so that once or twice in the future I can make my mount look like a ram. I have enough trouble deciding when to use potions, and those can be bought as standard equipment all year around.

Of course, there is the Wolpertinger pet that can be bought from the Brewfest vendor, so it might seem that the festival isn't a complete waste of time. Except that the Wolpertinger is bought for cash, not a single token required, so you don't need to participate in any of the activities to get one. If you don't drink and aren't high enough level to get the daily quest in Blackrock Depths, which is where the real Brewfest rewards are, Brewfest is a complete waste of time.

Our goblin guide we rescued, his corpse being dragged along behind us, whispers to the warlock that a door ahead supposedly leads to a treasure room. We must investigate!

The battle map we use is wiped clean of the previous combat zone and the party waits expectantly in limbo. Under his breath, whilst reading the printed adventure, the GM mutters '...cockmonkeys'.

'Really? I must peruse the Monster Manual a little more if there are such creatures in the world. Do we know anything about them?'

Another player suggests that 'maybe it requires a Nature skill check'.

I make a D20 roll and add my skill modifier. 'I rolled 18 and add 7, giving me a check of 25 for knowledge of cockmonkeys. Apparently I have studied the species extensively.'

'If only any of us could say we're surprised.'

Sadly, we only find goblins when the door ahead is opened.

We encounter an imprisoned goblin in our exploration of the keep, telling us he fell foul of the boss goblin's favour, which prompts a lengthy discussion on whether we should release him and let him accompany us. If he really is friendly after we release him then he can guide us through the keep and perhaps even steer us away from traps. But regardless of his intentions to his rescuers it could be in his nature to be hostile to adventurers and could instead lead us to an ambush despite the consequences.

Our warlock has the answer, with his 'detect enemy' ability. With a far more dramatic gesture than is necessary, he channels his magical energy and claims that he has 'cast a curse, affecting the closest enemy', before asking, 'is it you, goblin? There is only one way to find out!' And with that he launches all his most devastating spells in quick succession on the green fellow, eventually inflicting the single point of damage that kills the minion.

'A cursed enemy's death causes me to teleport. I did not teleport upon the goblin's death. That means he was not cursed and thus was not the nearest enemy. Goblin—my friend—you are free to accompany us on our adventure.'

Our problem of the goblin joining us is solved.

When Knifey was working his way towards getting a ram, and avoiding the mechanostrider as much as possible, Melmoth helpfully pointed out that the popular Brewfest in October offers a swift ram mount that can be gained by repeating some daily quests for a week. Brewfest didn't come around quickly enough before Knifey reached 60 and got his ram, but it's here now and I thought I'd see what all the fuss is about.

Brewfest is another time of celebration in Azeroth, this time it is all about the beer. Naturally, this makes it a Dwarven celebration, and you can't turn around without stumbling in to another beer-drenched beard. The initial quests I pick up are simple enough. I use something to hit some robot, complete a quest to collect a beer stein, and do something with something else to... I dunno. It isn't even a state of drunkeness that's preventing me from remembering, it is all just a bit of a blur because of the sheer number of people running around and the overall lack of interaction with most of the quests, unlike the Midsummer celebration quests.

I find my way to the ram master and collect some reigns, which let me participate in the quests I actually get involved with. The introductory quest has me learning how to ride the Brewfest ram, loosening the reigns on the ram to let it speed up. I maintain three separate speeds for eight seconds each and am able to take the learner plates off the ram's tail for further quests. The ram master asks me to pick up a few kegs from Kharanos, allowing me to keep the ram for a full four minutes even if I complete the quest sooner. This lets me accidentally find out about exhausting the mount and the usefulness of the apple barrels he had mentioned but to which I had previously paid no attention, mostly because I hadn't seen them for what they were.

Finding the apple barrels, and thus the route I was supposed to be following, makes his repeatable quest easier. I am to collect kegs as before, but as many as I can manage this time and for each keg I collect I will be able to ride the mount for an extra thirty seconds. As someone who greatly enjoys efficiency this appeals to me. I push my mount at full speed and work out a quick route between each barrel of apples, keeping my mount refreshed despite riding at full pelt, as well as determining how close I need to get to collect and drop off each keg. The apple barrel next to the keg pick-up point isn't necessary, I discover, and I keep my mount riding at full speed for quite a time, picking up a chunk of reward tokens when my time is over. The next time I do this quest I should be able to gain even more tokens.

This leaves one more quest for the day that I can see, to be a caller for the Brewfest. I am to ride a Brewfest ram up in to Ironforge and holler at the flags outside four of the major quarters of the city about the festival happening down the mountainside. After my success with the keg delivery I think this will be pretty easy. However, I soon notice a distinct lack of apple barrels in Ironforge and I am quickly tiring my mount. I hold back on the reigns as much as I can, but with only had four minutes to complete the quest I need to keep pushing. Luckily, I am a sneaky rogue. Rushing around the four flag areas and calling out as required leaves my ram exhausted but I don't need it to hand in the quest. With the ram knackered, I dismiss it and get on the saddle of my own swift riding ram, easier to handle and never tiring, and ride down the mountain to hand in the quest in plenty of time.

After all of this dedicated celebrating I speak to the trader who swaps tokens for gifts, wondering how many I would need to collect before I could pick up a Brewfest ram of my own. Hmm, none for sale, maybe the ram master has them instead. Nope, he doesn't want to talk to me any more. I ask around and it turns out that the rams are no longer for trade, instead a boss has to be defeated in Blackrock Depths, in the style of the Headless Horseman of Halloween. Whilst the daily quest formula can be most enjoyable it appears that I am not quite high enough level to pick up the Brewfest quest, and so a Brewfest ram is out of my reach for now. Being teetotal, the Beer of the Month club isn't of particular interest to me either, nor is the portable keg. Ah well, I may not be indulging in Brewfest again until I reach 70th level, but with halloween coming up I have a clear motivation to reaching a level where I can take on the Headless Horseman in the Scarlet Monastery.