Leafshine: Lust for Flower

What Cataclysm has got right

To my mind, there are only a handful of undisputed successes in Cataclysm. One of them is the new levelling experience. I've always been a quester/leveller by nature, enjoying that more than the endgame. Cataclysm has only exaggerated  that. In fact, since Leafy hit 85, I've found it pretty hard to deveote much time to her and the various chores (and I mean chores) of the endgame. 

The main beneficiary of this has been Halesworthy, my worgen druid. He's feral-specced, so feels completely different to Leafy to play. I charged through the worgen starting area, which is just wonderful, and found myself sucked ever onwards by the narratives of each zone. The "go to a zone, do stuff, move on" feel of vanilla has been replaced by driving (and often phased) plotlines in each major zone. It's fun, dammit, and adds another element of addiction to an already pretty compelling game. 

I've started a little video series capturing some of the fun moments of the levelling experience. This probably covers Halesworthy up to his late 20s:

 

Halesworthy has mainly been following Leafy's footsteps through Kalimdor, as I wanted to see how much that experience changed. I can't wait to get started on another character and take them through the Eastern Kingdoms. 

And as for Ularia, my space goat pally, who was labouring through Ashenvale waaaay back in May 2008, over three years ago?

Well, one ding…

…leads to another…

Yes, I finally have two toons in the same expansion for the first time since… well… um… ever, actually.

So, yes, Cataclysm levelling rocks. Pity not a huge amount else does.

Leafy: the Return (Good News/Bad News)

I'm back from my holiday!

Hoorah!

Good News, Everybody!

A ding:

Could it be…?

Yes!

Bad News, Everyone!

When portalling to Uldum to do that fun little daily…

Deathwiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

(It was quite fun watching people phase in, die, get the achievement. Nice pile of bodies by the end…)

Racking up the Dings

Don't you hate it when you have everything lined up for a lovely, lovely ding screenshot - and somebody flies into shot at the crucial moment?

Gee, thanks.

I made sure that didn't happen for the 82 shot:

Which mean that, yes, I'm at 82 and levelling nicely. And yes, I'm taking my time. If we're two years from the next expansion, I don't see any point in blowing through all the levelling content in the first week. That just seems like an utter waste to me. 

Even so, I'm hitting the levels so much faster than I did in Wrath. Ding 1 took 24 hours. Ding 2 a further week. But as we're only getting 5 levels this time, I'm at the equivalent of ding 74, which took over six weeks.

I'm really hoping that Blizz has the next expansion in a state to release in significantly under a year, or that the content patches bring a whole load of extras, or this will be a really quickly consumed expansion…

The Incredible Dinging Space Goat

So, it's possible that nearly one of you cares how my space goat pallie got on with the quest to hit 40 at the weekend?

Well:

I've finally let go of the "completist" approach to questing I had with Leafy - following quest chains to the very end and trying to clear out each zone before I move on. But that doesn't matter with an alt - I've done most of the stuff before - especially as Leafy is within a hair's breadth of being a Loremaster - and given heirlooms and levelling boosts since the days of classic WoW, I'm going to be skipping great chunks of the old world and Outlands anyway. In fact, doing Loremaster has taught me where I can find clusters of quests that can be done quickly and efficiently. And that, combined with Epic riding, meant this:  

 And then this:

Three levels in one day…? Inconceivable!

42 levels done. 38 to go. I think I might, finally, have got the hang of alt levelling… 

The Great Warcraft Ennui Escape Plan

Like 67.56983214%¹ of the WoW blogosphere, I've been going through a period of WoW ennui right now - and I know exactly why. I've moved past the questing stage with Leafy and am now occupied solely with a combination of dailies, instancing, raiding and clearing out my remaining group quests. And, as happened in Burning Crusade, that leads to a touch of, well, boredom. I'm a narratively-driven gamer, and once you reach the end of the questing road, your narrative incentive goes.

So, I find myself just a few Champion's Wotsits away from a nice Epic weapon, but unable to summon up the enthusiasm to log in and do a few rounds of jousting to bag the reward.

And so I don't play.

And so I don't blog.

But then, the social pressure of the need for Leafy Haelz gets me raiding in lovely ol'Naxxramas last night, and we have a satisfying night, with Noth falling before us on our first ever guild attempt on him. Hurrah, us. Hurrah also my uber, Decursive-assisted, curse removing skillz. And Hurrah for guildies who are bringing their new alts into the instance. And as I look at the alts, electrons leap the vast gap between neurons in my brain, new connections are formed and an idea takes shape.

I need to get back to my alts. Nice as the idea of "completing" Northrend on Leafy appeals, it's never going to happen unless I rekindle my enthusiasm. And the best way to do that will be to get my alts, sadly neglected since the launch of WotLK, back in action.

I have A Plan. Will report back.

¹The legions of researchers I have working on this blog are very precise in their investigations.

Leafy Ding 80!

Done.

At last.

Leafy Ding 79!

And just for good measure:

Leafy Ding 72

So, slightly earlier than expected, I've dinged 72. I had a little time to spare this evening, and ended up doing a Nexus run with some guildies whose healer had been called away. It was a pretty successful run - two wipes (neither on bosses), and all four bosses down. And I've done another couple of blue-for-epic swaps. 

My Signet of Unshakeable Faith, removed from Mr Moroes a long time ago, has made way for Tome of the Lore Keepers, a pretty clear upgrade. And Red Riding Hood's Cloak has been displaced by a quest reward: Mantle of Keristrasza. That makes four Epic to Blue upgrades in a week. Whoa.

There's no doubt about it: I'm going blue faster than expected…