Kallixta's Notes

Low level dailies, part 4

Low level dailies experiment

You can read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the Low level dailies experiment.

Around 6 weeks ago, Aldonza was level 42. She has been travelling between the Alliance capitals, cooking and fishing the dailies and gloating over how much gold she squeezes from the Auction House. Her progress has slowed down as these quests make a smaller contribution to the XP she needs for a new level. She is now level 46. Achievements are not being directly pursued, but rather signposts of her journey.

Winter Veil arrived in a cacophany of a crowd in Ironforge. They spilled forth, surrounding Grandfather Winter and otherwise providing an obstacle course, occluding her path between the bank and the auction house. As happened the year before, a frown donned Aldonza's face for the season, "Bah! What are they expecting? Something different?"

As she shuffled through her mail, sorting and comparing to her notes, her own words echoed in her head: something different, something different. She looked up from her work, preparing to return to the auction house, and felt her frustration fire up again. -It isn't going to be different. And they don't want anything different. They'd pay good gold to keep it the same.- Her jog falters as she negotiates the bridge. Thoughts of gold and how to gather more always burn brighter in her mind. "Bah! I blame the noise for forgetting this is another good opportunity for profit."

Aldonza's notes remindes her that eggs for cookies were especially good last year. Her instincts also lead her to check for new opportunities. What might have changed? Well, she was an improved cook this year. In fact, there were some other cookies that had excellent potential. And she had working diligently developing a perfect source for the cocoa beans!

Illustrious Grand Master Cook 12/26/2011

Aldonza felt great satisfaction with her improved cooking skills, not so much because there weren't plenty of other good cooks, but rather how inexpensively she acquired those skills, mostly during that profitable Pilgrim's Bounty time. Now she had new recipes at hand and a plan for generating foodstuffs in demand by folks with plenty of gold that she would be happy to take.

There was another skill that had recently been showing slow yet steady improvement. Her fishing hadn't had any easy boosts, but had been rising frequently as she found opportunity fulfilling the daily needs of one or another capital.

Master Fisherman 12/27/2011

Back at her table in the Stonefire Tavern, Aldonza smiled in satisfaction at the improvements to her bottom line. Her visits to the Darkmoon Faire had not shown much new earning potential, but it did exercise some skills. Far better news were how many folks wanted Chocolate Cookies to make themselves Feel Right As Rain. In her notes was an instruction to review the calendar more often. There must be more profit in the Lunar Festival...

Low level dailies, part 3

You might want to read Part 1 and Part 2

When last I updated news of my test subject, Aldonza was level 34 and I'd found a comfortable groove popping between capitals, running the cooking and fishing dailies and making gold from the Auction House. My time on WoW can be haphazard. I was only visiting Aldonza a couple times each week, typically, but she was making steady progress.

Regular progress yielded some achievements just due to their accumulative nature:

Professional Artisan 9/17/2011
Artisan Fisherman 9/30/2011
100 Cooking Awards 10/22/2011
Lunch Lady 11/20/2011
Artisan Cook 11/22/2011
Level 40 11/25/2011
Master Cook 11/25/2011
1000 Fish 11/26/2011
200 Daily Quests Complete 12/4/2011
Journeyman in First Aid 12/4/2011
Grand Master Cook 12/4/2011
One That Didn't Get Away 12/4/2011

Y'all know that there have been a couple holidays and these had an impact on Aldonza's journey. In particular, as many folks know Pilgrim's Bounty is an excellent time to level up one's cooking skill. It's also easy for a Mage with Teleports to run the dailies between the capitals.

Now We're Cookin' 11/20/2011
Pilgrim's Paunch 11/20/2011
Pilgrim's Progress 11/22/2011

With 4.3 out, the new Darkmoon Faire has some quests perfect for my experiment, profession quests that yield some easy XP and cheaply raise my professions. Of course, beyond Aldonza's miserly ways, her cooking got high enough that new avenues for revenue generation has her reaching for the top. All those Cooking Dailies mean a clutch of Cooking Awards asking to be turned into profit. Crates yielded some meat that both levelled her skill and became something to sell. The Baked Tender Turtle was a big surprise seller whereas I already knew how to profit from Chocolate Cookies.

And now Aldonza has reached level 42, which is an answer to life, the universe and profit from Mage Portals!

Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: Thankslinking!

The Blog Azeroth Shared Topic this week, Thanksgiving Event 2001, was suggested by Amerence.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a blogging life
That started with Pink Pigtail Inn,
A haven from all strife.

The Inn was a friendly, blogging spot.
Larísa, bright and gay.
As I learned how this blogging worked
I returned most every day (returned most every day).

My roaming started fast and wide
Many bloggers were soon found
If I wasn't scared off by the Greedy Goblin
I soon was quite Spellbound (Soon was quite spellbound).

A Pugging Pally showed to me
How leveling could be fun!
A Giant Spoon gave added weight,
My new class search was done (My new class search was done).

My blog set ground on the shore of this uncharted blog-a-verse.
With Windsoar,
Kurn's Corner, too.
The Flinthammer (and his wife),
A Bubble lover And many more to quote!

This love comes from Kallixta's Notes!

Achievements, What?, I don't even... 1 Nov 2011

Kallixta has been running Molten Front dailies enough to have unlocked both Shadow Wardens and Druids and will start unlocking the Vendors next. She'll log in, fly around Mount Hyjal while keeping an eye out for Mankrik, the last she needs to wave at, before she "breaks on through to the other side".

Despite trying a few times, she hasn't managed to get the top spidery view achievement either. One time she was on the right path when she got caught in a tug of war between two spiders and dying. Bah. At times like that I remind myself that Kallixta isn't the achievment whore, despite Martuska never having visited the Molten Front.

Speaking of Achievements...

Kallixta did Tricks and Treats for the Creepy Crate. I should have had Martuska do it. I don't know now why I didn't.

Mentally I've told myself and told myself that Kallixta isn't pursuing achievements. And then I see things like that.

Days One Hundred and Something - 20-29 Oct 2011

The Diary Theme doesn't work well any more. It was fine when I logged in for a couple hours, two times a week, but it fails when I log in for 30 minutes at a time for seven out of ten days. It also worked when I was only following one character, but fails as I'm spending time on more than three. I still enjoy the blogging, but expect some changes in format soon.

A couple other important things that are demanding change to the blog. Kallixta has reached level 85 and it's been over a year. The Diary served its purpose. It got me comfortable with writing and supported my goal. Martuska took 3 years to reach maximum level, but Kallixta only 1. I've managed to post something every month and some months, a lot!

Kallixta has still been dithering over her equipment and trying to transition to a new and different life in the end game. She has gotten comfortable running the dailies at the Molten Front. She has revisited Faction Vendors for potential upgrades or for a second copy to be reforged differently. Here are some of her recent purchases:

I enjoyed visiting the Headless Horseman multiple times, all but once as a tank. One time I went as Retadin, just to measure myself against others. By Hallow's End, I managed to pick up

I love "/use 1" It's my Tanking Helm of choice.

Day One Hundred and Twelve - 18 Oct 2011

Hallow's End and Gearing a Retadin

I logged on with expectations of a quick run of dailies and an Auction House visit, but was surprised to discover Hallow's End had started.

I immediately joined the queue for the Headless Horse, selecting DPS for the first time. I knew I was unlikely to fail. I just needed to do decent damage and not get myself killed. I made certain I knew where my "Oh Shit" Lay on Hands button was.

It was ridiculously easy. I actually topped the DPS Recount! I knew it wasn't about meters, but I took this as validation that I did indeed know something about what I was doing. Since I had a '/target Head of' macro, I was quick enough at switching. Seeing others selecting Need on the loot, I felt no guilt in doing the same. Kallixta won the Seal of the Petrified Pumpkin, perfect for my new spec! Three achievements popped from this encounter:

While quickly running through the Molten Front dailies, another interesting achievement popped:

Exalted with The Guardians of Hyjal

From my prior use of Wow JuJu's repcalc, I knew it was coming soon and that there were some excellent rewards.

Gearing

This brings me to the delayed discussion of Kallixta's newest gear set. The first thing I did was review my existing equipment. A few pieces of my Tanking set could be reused. I also found a couple recent Brewfest rewards

Since some were Blacksmith made items, I actually recrafted a couple pieces to allow separate Reforging to occur. I also made a new Ebonsteel Belt Buckle. Some of these have since been replaced:

Second, Kallixta visited faction vendors to pick up some reputation rewards, including the recently unlocked. I also decided to get two copies of some things to allow different reforgings:

Next, I looked in the Auction House. Although the ring and trinket purchase was modest, I did decide the expensive purple weapon was worthwhile:

That leaves the shoulder quest reward that I can't upgrade!

Pharoah's Burial Spaulders

However, I could craft Redsteel Shoulders as something different. I also needed to purchase a few more Bold Inferno Rubies, some different enchants, added my recently acquired Lesser inscription of Jagged Stone

The end result is although it's a new Spec, I'm now better geared than I was with either of my other, longer standing Specs! Kallixta will also need to visit the Headless Horseman and get his Horrific Helm!

Day One Hundred and Eleven - 15 Oct 2011

Into Deepholm

First, Kallixta ran through her dailies as a Retribution Paladin for the first time. It was a little uncomfortable, but it also isn't difficult. After her work on the Molten Front and Uldum, she was ready for something else. She wasn't ready to jump into a dungeon, so what could she do?

Having depleted some funds to buy her new gear, she made some effort to rebuild her funds. One reliable action was to sell Belt Buckles, but another idea was to convert Aldonza's accumulated cooking awards into Cocoa Beans and post a hundred cookies.

While on the Auction House, she realized there was some cloth going cheap. In short order she quickly popped:

Kallixta needed her tool bars and macros updated and her bags cleared. Besides updating her bandages to Heavy Embersilk, she built up her stock of some other goodies, including a stack of Highland Spring Water.
I had reached the point where I wanted to do something else with Kallixta, but wasn't comfortable with her new spec.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and journey to Deepholm

I followed Ding 85 as a guide, which was helpful for efficiency purposes. It ensured I gathered the right set of quests at a hub. There was only one quest it had me ignore. I didn't bother finding out why. The process definitely helped me get more comfortable with the Retribution priorities and cool downs. I needed to rearrange things a couple things and made a couple new macro, but the whole experience was much more enjoyable than it had been on Martuska.

She had been making excellent progress when I noticed she had made Honored with the Earthen Ring. According to my notes, there were useful rewards for that, but I hadn't a clue where the vendor was. A quick check showed I'd need to explore Vashj'r, but it was doable. It sounded like a nice break from Deepholm for a little while. It involved a lot of slow swimming and keeping an eye on my breath bar (since I didn't have my Sea Legs!), but Kallixta knows her way around the zone's flight paths now.

With the end in sight, Kallixta finished Deep into Deepholm and did some Therazane dailies. She finished Honored with Therazane and should break to Revered in another day or so. I find the RepCalc at Wowjuju to be incredibly useful. It showed what was in reach and just how long the Ramakahen grind is without championing.

I would use the next few days to research my complete gearing needs, especially seeing what reputation rewards were close.