Low level dailies experiment

Back in early March, I decided I wanted raise my bank mule to level 20 so that I could develop a couple professions to Expert and make a bit more gold. I often find myself with a few minutes sufficient to craft items and play the auction house, but not enough time to run a dungeon. Also, if a distraction arises, I don't fear to leave my character as I would if she were mid-adventuring. This means I've more time to play the Auction House Game than other aspects of WoW.
From Aldonza's Activity Log:

• Earned the achievement Giddy Up! for 10 points. 5/7/2011
• Earned the achievement Level 20 for 10 points. 5/7/2011
• Earned the achievement Cooking Award for 10 points.  5/7/2011

Yes, even on the day I dinged Level 20 and grabbed the Riding skill, she did a cooking daily quest.

• Earned the achievement 5 Daily Quests Complete for 10 points. 5/13/2011

So, subtracting days we can see Aldonza managed 5 dailies in the next week. It was likely six because I almost always did both Fishing and Cooking. Well, I always at least checked the daily, but some of those quests might take a bit longer than others and I'd skip. It wasn't important to me at the time.

• Earned the achievement Professional Expert for 10 points. 5/14/2011

I was more diligent about doing Minor Inscription Research every day and adding to my possible Glyphs and max'ed my skill in one week. I wanted to make gold, so I raised my skill inexpensively and that meant slow and steady, not ASAP. But I continued the occasional Cooking and Fishing daily.

• Earned the achievement 250 Fish for 10 points. 5/22/2011
• Earned the achievement 10 Cooking Awards for 10 points. 5/30/2011
• Obtained Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat. 6/5/2011
• Earned the achievement Fish Don't Leave Footprints for 10 points. 6/5/2011

Aldonza wasn't trying for any particular achievements at this point. They just dropped as she did enough of these dailies in the normal course of life. The hat was in the fishing reward sack as was the journal that granted fish tracking. Around this time Aldonza dinged level 21 and I noticed just how much XP those dailies were granting. So I started being a bit more diligent at doing them. My schedule also meant it was easier for me to perform them in the mornings before heading to work. That meant the next achievement to pop shouldn't be a surprise:

• Earned the achievement A Simple Re-Quest for 10 points. 6/7/2011

This regular pursuit of two dailies showed results:

I belatedly realized that I could improve this rate. Kallixta didn't have access to heirlooms while levelling, but she was high enough now to pass something over to Aldonza of the guild "Sages of Tabasco".

• Obtained Renowned Guild Tabard. 7/1/2011
• Obtained Tattered Dreadmist Mask. 7/1/2011
• Obtained Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak. 7/1/2011
• Earned the achievement Represent  for 10 points. 7/1/2011

I would still occasionally forget to switch from my fishing outfit to the heirlooms for the XP bonus when turning in the quest. In this case, style was more important than a few XP. If Aldonza is fishing, she's damn well going to wear her fishing hat, not some ugly Mask!

Continuing with this pattern had regular consequences:

• Earned the achievement 25 Cooking Awards for 10 points. 7/8/2011
• Obtained Jeweled Fishing Pole. 7/9/2011

This fishing pole requires skill level 300, which won't happen until after Aldonza trains as Artisan at level 35.

• Earned the achievement Fish or Cut Bait: Ironforge for 10 points. 7/20/2011
• Earned the achievement 50 Daily Quests Complete for 10 points. 7/21/2011
• Earned the achievement 50 Cooking Awards for 10 points. 8/3/2011
• Earned the achievement Let's Do Lunch: Ironforge  for 10 points. 8/7/2011
• Earned the achievement Expert Fisherman  for 10 points. 8/10/2011

So, Fishing finally max'ed, but only from the skill granted by the quest and the required fishing the quests asks for. The cooking dailies don't get this secondary side effect. No skill bump from Spice Bread! So cooking lags behind. Note that she's actually earning gold in cooking without purchasing any new recipes. With the accumulated Cooking Awards, she purchased Imported Supplies and sent the Cocoa Beans to Kallixta, who made the Chocolate Cookies, posted stacks on the Auction House and mentioned on /trade how You'll Feel Right As Rain.

That is nice extra income. Aldonza is not a philanthropist.

Aldonza had been avoiding the I Need to Cask a Favor until she learned the trick of switching to walk speed to negotiate the steps and doorway at the end. The achievement reminded me that Aldonza can Teleport easily enough to any capital as needed, so expect the other similar achievements to fall soon.

Life as a Bank Alt at the various capitals has its differences. The mailbox in Darnassus and Stormwind is a bit more convenient than in Ironforge, but the combination of Auction House, Mailbox and Guild Bank is best in Ironforge. And I'm happy to avoid Stormwind. Aldonza likes being a Stormwind ex-pat. Another big advantage of Ironforge is its Limited Supply Recipe circuit as I learned from The Consortium. It's a great Gold/minute rate for a low level character.

By the way, the dailies have a Reputation consequence, too. Besides the capital city reputations, Aldonza is also earning tiny amounts of Guild Reputation, about 3 points each quest! Bank Guilds like mine typically stay level 1 for a long time. With Aldonza slowly leveling, some Guild XP is coming in and Sages of Tabasco is about halfway to level 2. Guild Achievements are also slow in coming, but because of her business, the first to actually pop is likely The Pen is Mightier, which is at 65% already.

Seeing other bloggers experiment with alts, such as Eccentria Jones's Mad Murray, inspired me to post this story now. I'll provide an update after Aldonza dings 35 and trains up her profession to the next stage.