Aeldina turns into a Tree!!!

Jaos & Aeldina turned level 64 last night! With the new level, Aeldina learned the new spell Lifebloom, which is a healing over time spell that can be stacked up to 3 times on your target. Since Aeldina has become the primary healer for our group, I decided to switch her over to a full restoration build and get her the Tree of Life ability. I'm really excited to give this new build a try as it seems healing in Tree form will be different from what I've experienced with my Priest. When in Tree form, you can only cast healing over time spells such as Lifebloom, Regrowth & Rejuvenation. With my priest, I used large slow casting heals such as Greater Heal more than I used HoT's such as Renew. I guess I'll have to try to keep Lifebloom up on the tank and use regrowth & rejuvenation when necessary. In emergencies, I can cast Nature's Swiftness and Healing Touch for an instant cast large heal. I hope I can find a good mod to help me keep track of the HoT's and when to reapply them.

Jeamyr reaches level 50!!!

As tough as I found the first 40 levels of Shaman, the next 10 levels were no problem at all. Jeamyr is doing so much damage now, that he is just ripping through the levels and I still haven't finished Tanaris or Feralas! I'm hoping that by the time I reach Ungoro Crater, he will be at least level 53 to 54. I'm still thinking about transferring Jeamyr over to a 3rd account so I can try 3 boxing him with my Paladin & Mage. If I do that, I will switch him to a pure restoration build so that he can be the group's healer. However, I think I will wait until Jeamyr reaches the Outlands before I make the switch.

Another Zone Down!

Well, with the big snow storm that happened last Friday, my office was closed! So, another full day of WoW playing!!! Almost did all of Zangarmarsh on Friday and completed it over the weekend. Jaos and Aeldina are now working in Terokkar Forest and are on the verge of level 64! I had a mixed reaction to the level 62 Burning Crusade skills for Warrior and Druid. On the one hand, I found the Warrior skill Victory Rush to be great. Victory Rush is a no rage cost instant attack that only becomes available after you kill an experience generating opponent. It works really well with my fury spec and seems to be a great way to build up some rage at the beginning of a fight. On the other hand, I did not like the druid skill, Maim. Now I have to admit, I am not running a feral spec right now, but this skill still seems a little weak. Maim sounds a lot like the Rogue skill Kidney Shot. However, it is not a true stun and any direct damage will break the effect. I guess it could be useful if you need to get a self-heal off during the fight.

The White Lion is Mine!!!

Devarien was able to tame Sian-Rotam yesterday!  I've been wanting a white lion for a long time.  I love the way lions look in general & the white color is just plain cool!  However, prior to the recent patch, it was extremely difficult for an alliance character to tame a white lion, since they only spawned from two horde quests.  I had a plan that once one of my horde characters was high enough to take the Winterspring quest, that Devarien would get an opportunity to tame him then.  By the time that happened, Devarien was already level 70 and I just didn't feel like grinding the lion up 10 levels.  With the 2.3 patch, not only can Alliance characters take the quest that spawns Sian, but pet leveling supposedly got easier.  So, I decided to say goodbye to my raptor and get my lion =)  

I brought him out to Nagrand to grind on all the beasts there.  I figured that I could skin while grinding and at least make some money while doing it.  I was surprised by how well my lion tanked.  He was able to last an entire fight without loosing too many hit points.  Pulling aggro was a problem, so I had to be very conservative with my shot rotation.  I also used the Omen add-on to monitor my threat, which seemed to help.  According to my pet's experience bar, it will take 84k exp to get to level 61 and he seemed to be getting about 700 exp per kill.  That's about 120 kills for the level.  That still seems like quite a grind, but hopefully I can stick with it. 

Hellfire for a Day!

Today, my friend Jim & I had off from work for President's day. So we were able to spend the whole day playing WoW!!! Jaos, Aeldina & Holtzy have just entered the Outlands. So, we started working on the Hellfire Peninsula quests. I really wanted to finish Hellfire today, but we just weren't able to do it. It's amazing how many quests that zone has!!! However, we were able to get to level 61 and are about 1/2 way to level 62! We also had no problem doing any of the group quests like Overlord, Drill the Drillmaster & the Rockflayer Matriarch. All in all, it was a great day. I love all the new gear Aeldina and Jaos got. I think Aeldina looks really cool =)

Bring on the Outlands!!!

Jaos & Aeldina just turned level 60 tonight!!! The leveling enchancements of the recent patch really made this run to 60 a joy =) Now, I'm in the final stretch with these guys & am really looking forward to upgrading their gear with all the Hellfire Peninsula quest items!

Closing in on 60!

Jaos & Aeldina turned level 58 last night, so only 2 level to go until 60! Now technically, I could take them to Hellfire Peninsula, but I find starting that zone at level 58 throws off the progression through the rest of the Outland zones. Plus, with how fast the exp is coming from the zones in Azeroth, it's really not a problem to wait until 60 before I start with Outland. Teaming up with Jim's hunter (Holtzy) has been great. We have just been ripping through everything with little trouble. Aeldina has taken the role of the group's healer and I have really been enjoying Jaos' Fury Dual Wield build. It's a totally different feel from a protection warrior. Hopefully, we'll finish up with 60 over the weekend & be ready to unleash these guys on Hellfire!

Character Profile: Jeamyr - The Last!

My Orc Shaman hit level 40 this week! Assuming that my warrior & druid hit level 70 first, Shaman represents the last class I'll need to level to accomplish my goal of having a level 70 character for each character class in WoW. I'm not really sure why shaman ended up being the last class in my progression. Jeamyr isn't the first shaman I've created. Over a year ago, I started a Tauren Shaman, but never stuck with him. I picked the Tauren race for its cool War Stomp racial skill. However, I just couldn't get into the character. He was soooo big and cumbersome, it made his running speed seem extremely slow compared to the other races. My Tauren didn't last too long and was eventually deleted and having a shaman went on the back burner.

Several months later, I read the excellent Warcraft novels "Rise of the Horde" and "Lord of the Clans", and I just had to create an Orc Shaman. I think from a lore perspective, having an Orc Shaman is the only way to go! I loved the story line of how the Orcs' original shamanistic way of life was corrupted by demon influence and how Thrall was able to redeem the Orc race and bring them back to their shaman ways. I was really eager to give Shaman another try. Unfortunately, leveling a Shaman to 40 has been the toughest of any of the classes I've tried!

I did a lot of research on the best spec for leveling a shaman. My conclusion was that an enhancement shaman was the way to go. The first 30 levels were really tough. An enhancement shaman is primarily a melee class, yet you only get to wear leather until level 40. Also, you do not get any special melee attacks. My usual encounter would consist of pulling with Lightning Bolt, casting flame shock and then auto-attacking until the mob was dead reapplying an appropriate shock when the cool down was up. As far as weapon choices, you can go with a one hander and shield or a 2 handed weapon. With the 1h and shield option, it just took too long to kill enemies, so I went with a 2h axe to take advantage of the Orc racial trait. Still, with no special melee attacks fighting seemed to take a long time when compared to other classes. A shaman's ability to deal with a multiple mobs is not too good either. The only option that seemed to work for me was dropping a Stoneclaw Totem, which will taunt away the add and has a chance of stunning it. You just have to hope you can kill your current target before the Stoneclaw runs out or else you'll have multiple mobs pounding on you and certain death. At level 30, things got slightly better with the skill of Windfury Weapon. Windfury adds a significant amount of dps to your attacks. The only problem is that its' proc rate with a 2h weapon seemed to be low. I found myself hoping it would proc during each fight and being disappointed if it didn't.

Then you reach your 40's and the Shaman class changes night and day. You get to wear mail armor, you get to dual wield and you get the Stormstrike melee attack. With Windfury on both of your weapons, it seems to proc multiple times during each fight. Stormstrike is a strong melee attack and having mail armor increases your survivability. I find that fights go much quicker now and I am really starting to enjoy the Shaman class! Once Jeamyr reaches his 60's, I might switch him to a restoration spec, but for now I look forward to continuing as an Enhancement Shaman.