The Shiny Side

So, I didn’t get a whole lot of levelling done yesterday. Nope.

In face, I think I only gained 20% of my XP bar (that’s 4 bubbles for your silly bubble-counters out there).

However, what I did do were two instances I’ve never seen before. Both are technically higher level than I should have been in, and they both rocked.

While bored during the day, I was looking for a group to do AN or The Old Kingdom, and randomly got an invite to some place called Gundrak. WTF is Gundrak? Okay, I’m in… but understand I’ve never been here before! No problems, and off I went.

The PuG wasn’t the best. Everyone made mistakes. I may or may not have caused a wipe on the second group because I so rapidly was invited/ported/in the instance that Turtle was on aggressive.

>.>

Anyway, it took a while and some party member swaps, but we made it! What a fun instance!

Winnar!

Rock on. I even got myself an awesome new bow for when I level a couple more times. Sa-weet!

Right, then. So, after work that evening the guildies decided we’d do an all-guild run (woo-hoo!) of Violet Hold. Another new instance for me. I’m really loving the new things that I get to experience. Almost makes WoW feel new and fresh. Almost. ^^

Of course, it wouldn’t be an <Ashes of Tirisfal> run without some shenanigans… so here is our pre-fight dance of awesomesauce.

Turtle is amused.

That one’s for you, Roz. I figured you’d like the shot where you’re lookin’ right into the camera. Even if you do look like a dirty human.

Edit: Also, I’d like to point out that I would have a screenshot of my VH achievement… but someone keeps looting the final boss so that my achievements get covered up. If I wanted a screenshot of the loot, I’d use AtlasLoot. Jerk. <3

Good Gods. Every time I sit down to post I feel like I’ve done so much that I’m never going to remember it all. Every day I feel like there is a bajillion things that I’ve accomplished, which is awesome.

Apparently there is Nothing Boring About Borean, which is cool, seeing as I’ve done pretty much every quest in the zone now. Here’s my favorite screenshot of the craziness I went through to finish up the zone…

y halo thar, Turtle!

Steadily making my way towards 80 with Jaarka. Hit 74 yesterday before doing a Nexus run with the guildies, so my progress is steadily marching forward. Speaking of: the Nexus run was awesome. 4 Ashes members and a PuG Druid for extra DPS. Ditzul tanks like a champ, and Artoo can “fake heal” like the best of ‘em. Good job, all!

I’m really looking forward to the next instances. Being as I’ve never seen this content, I think that I’m specifically going to not look up any of the fights, etc. I want to be surprised. Deal with it!

Oh, almost forgot, I got to experience Wintergrasp for the first time. I only have two words to describe my experience: Epic Chaos. Of course, I brought Roz along for the ride, and she Arcaned the light right out of those darn dirty Alliance. We ended up losing the defense, but I can’t complain about earning over 100 honorable kills in one battle.

CHAOS!

Good times, good times.

Also: Sylus, you’re on notice… I’m so gunning for 80 before you. Watch out, now!

Yanno, as of late, I’ve been playing so much on my days off that I completely spaced on updating the interwebs on my progress! Ohnoes!

No worries, though, I’ve got you covered. Here, for your reading (or viewing) amusement… the Giant Post o’ RECAP! (recap! recap! reca~)

I’ve taken waaaay too many screenshot to effectively pick out which ones I’d like to show you. Plus, I driver crashed during our instance runs through UK and Nexus last night — so FRAPs decided that I didn’t *really* want to be taking screenshots every time I hit the button. Ugh.

Ah, well. So — text recap!

Jaarka is now in Northrend! w00t! As soon as I hit 68 levelling with Fikkle’s DK (Kor), we hopped on the Zepplin and headed towards “Boring” Tundra (as Roz so likes to call it). The three of us pretty much opened a giant can of whoop-ass and steamrolled through all of the quests we’ve attempted so far.

At about level 70 I headed over to Howling Fjord to check it out. Fikkle’s in the middle of a move, so I wanted to save the rest of Boring for when he’s around. Holy crap. This. Zone. Is. Epic.

As a big fan of Norse Mythology (or any Mythology for that matter…), all of the Norse-inspired units in this zone rock. The zone is pretty. The quests are fun. I think I have a new favorite. Seriously.

Last night we did some mostly-guild runs of UK and Nexus. Fikkle, Roz, and Sylus all brought their OP DKs to the fights, I was Jaarka, of course, and we PuG’d a shammy healer. I think the runs went very well, with only a single wipe on each of the final bosses. I have officially been into Northrend instances! WOOT!

Okay, so I can’t have an entire post without a screenshot of SOME sort. So here, I give you… me being an achievement whore. Make sure you check out the caption… it’s pretty much how things, uh… “went down.”

"Just aim for your bones. Trust me!" -Kor

I have returned from my wonderful FL vacation with a (slight) tan, and ready to get back into my daily grind-fest. I’m very confident that I can get Jaarka up-to-snuff relatively quickly, now that I’m in Outland. Speaking of, I feel like it was just yesterday (or a week ago…) that Jaarka first came face-to-fa, er.. stone? with The Dark Portal!

Oooh, Shiny!

Epic. I love the way it looms.

I’ve really only had one day to play around in Hellfire, but I’ve made some great progress. Already level 62, well on my way to hitting Zangramarh soon. Kicking butt, taking names. The Void Fields are nothing compared to my smexiness!

Boom! Headshot!

While running around, doing my thang, I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Fikkle a few times. Welcome back to the game, mate! He seems to share the same kind of crazy humor that I do, and soon he will realize that threats of screenshot are nothing to me… my F10 key FRAPS the crap out of everything I do. Hi-yah!

Yeah! No blackmail on me, I’ll post it myself!

…that’s just how I roll.

Last night was more of the same when it came to the Fire Festival. We forgot to do our Ahune run, but that’s not a big deal. We’ll have a few more chances to get that pet before I go on vacation. Heck, I may even get WoW installed on the laptop so I can sneak on and hit him a few times while I’m away. /ponders

After getting Ditzul the Midsummer Meta-Achievement, Junahu and I decided it would be good fun to blast our way through all three wings of Dire Maul. It took us a few hours, being as I am still only 55 (hit 56 last night!), so I’m technically just on the cusp of being viable for the instance. Inevitably, though, we kicked some ass and took some names - and became the new King and Queen of Dire Maul! /flex

My screenshot fail continues today. I thought I hit the button when the achievement popped up on the screen, but no such luck. Ah-well. At least I have Roz to cover my butt, as she got an amazing picture of our (Pirate) Hunters in action, side-by-side. Thanks, hun!

–

Side note: apparently a certain Gnomish Pie is hard to get a screenshot of. As it is, I happen to have proof that the little bugger exists, so I’m taking this moment to share! BEHOLD: BRATWURST!

Gotta love the comb-over!