Day Fifty-Eight - 27 March 2011

First I must confess how much I HATE the helm I earned in Nagrand. I loved my Underworld Helm. It didn't match my Fel Iron Plate, like the Jade Warrior Pauldrons, but it made me smile. Then in Nagrand, I got the Clefthoof Helm. It had better stats and I tell myself that look is not more important to me than function, right? But damn if I didn't feel a twinge ever time I saw how UGLY that helmet was. I really was hoping to get a better helmet soon.


Kallixta and the Ugly Helmet

Anyway, Kallixta spent part of Sunday finishing up some quests in Nagrand and earning a bunch of nice blues that I barely bothered to look at. I had the bag space and didn't need to sell right away nor was my gear a problem that I needed to upgrade. So I postponed making any decisions. I got my Ding 68 and decided I would immediately leave Outland and run for Northrend.

Well, I hopped on the flight path to the Dark Portal, minimized and stepped away from the computer. A few hours later, I followed up. I finally remembered I wanted some screen shots. The first one I made was me, on my griffon, in front of the Dark Portal saying goodbye to Outland. Sounds like a good idea, right? Except I didn't take into account all the changes on the screen. I have a much bigger screen on the new computer and I happened to have things zoomed out to see the whole portal better. And the result is you can't see Kallixta! Well, I sorta can, but seriously?


Can you spot the Paladin?

Next, I clear out my bags and select what loot to keep. I decide not to break the Fel Iron Plate set. Nothing was a clear upgrade and damnit I LIKE how Kallixta looks. She's got a new shield  and cool sword and I remembered to use my blacksmithing to add sockets and gem a few things. However, nobody is bothering to make simple Outland gems. Obviously I don't really need them and will upgrade these things soon with, hopefully, new Northrend items, but there's a bit of me that wants to plug something in my new slots. It took a while to find something useful that wasn't too expensive. Seriously, it took a LOT LONGER to find anything. Finally I found somebody had put up some Champion's Huge Citrine for just over 1g each and I grabbed them. What have others done? It's not like I have a Jewelcrafting alt on this server. I suppose I might have bought a raw gem and begged a guildie to make something useful, but I didn't bother. These will do.

So since I was at the Auction House, grabbing gems, I also looked at BOE Helmets. That's right, I spent 5g on a helmet that isn't much of an upgrade, but that doesn't annoy me to look at. I'm certain my impatience will be rewarded appropriately. If I could wait two more levels, I could make my own Cobalt Helm! I don't have a jewelcrafter, but Martuska is an enchanter, so it was no trouble sending a chest enchantment, but the weapon enchant she makes is Fiery, and I make too much profit to waste one on myself! After all that, here is how Kallixta now looks at level 68

I'd like to mention a few changes I've noticed since Wrath first opened and Martuska journeyed her way north. First on arriving at Howling Fjord, the flight path already has Dalaran. I didn't have to buy a port or explore anything. I just hopped on the griffon and flew. Do y'all remember the difficulties at first?

Next thing is on arriving at the Dalaran landing, I bought my Cold Weather Flying for 500g and Flight Master's License for another 250g. I'd only recently upgraded from Burning Crusade, remember. When I realized I was getting close to needing WOTLK, I found it cheaper to purchase both Wrath and Cata for $68 and be done with it. Consequently, I only needed to spend 750g compared to all the agony of prior purchases. Martuska (on my kids' account) had purchased Tome of Cold Weather Flight a year ago to make things easier on that account. At least she had a good discount with Kirin Tor before spending all that money.

A third change, sitting on Krasus' Landing is Jean Pierre Poulain, waiting to give you a free ride to the Argent Tournament. So I took it. There is nothing available for a level 68, but I no longer need to struggle my way there, as I did on Martuska. In fact, once there I realized I should just fly back to Valgarde and pick up some flight paths on the way. And mine some Cobalt should I spot some.

I first flew to Dalaran, quickly picking up Explore Crystalsong Forest before remembering Kallixta isn't about achievement completion, and so I tried to stay practical. I grabbed a few FPs in Dragonblight, Amberpine Lodge in Grizzly Hills, and Westguard Keep before getting back into the business of quests.

While I didn't earned much XP in this session, I certainly had fun looking around my new home. I even remembered to re-hearth while in Valgarde.