Post Soundtrack: “A Banana Split For My Baby” by Louis Prima
I’ve been working on OldDingle lately, with a view to getting him to 80 and doing a multitude of random heroics to buy Phingle a set of heirloom gear to speed up her leveling. Sure, it’s not the most time-efficient way to do it, but it’s an interesting experience viewing the leveling grind from a non-dwarf perspective (and an effective distraction).
OldDingle is currently sitting in Thrallmar, having logged off before the server reset with only a half-bar more XP needed to reach 60 and buy a flying mount (which won’t be the undead drake mount pictured). His gear has been improved by the handful of quest reward greens he’s picked up so far, but it’s still a long way to go to 80 – flying training will help the process, though (although epic flying is still some way off).
With the reduction in expert training and regular flying mount cost that came with patch 3.2.2 (taking them down to 250g and 50g respectively), it was easy to pick up sufficient gold through the AH to cover this expense – OldDingle and Phingle are currently sitting on around 1k between them. Speaking of Phingle, she’s sitting at level 24 in Tarren Mill, patiently waiting for her heirloom items while complaining about the decor of the inn. (It’s a good thing she’s the patient type)
Alliance-side, Ringle has purchased her 2nd hippogryph (and is only three more days away from becoming an exalted champion of her fifth and final tournament faction) and Mingle is slowly working towards having enough rep to be able to buy the awesome pants pattern from Ashen Verdict (she has the primordial saronite to purchase it, and only needs 1650 more rep – she’ll also be able to upgrade to the revered rep ring at the same time). Ringle also has some Ashen Vanguard rep under her belt, but as an alt has had less time in Icecrown than Mingle – she’s picked up the first rep ring, but the second is some time away.
Finally, with the number of random dungeons I’ve under my belt since the patch, it was with no small interest that I came across news that Oculus is to get a loot buff (in an attempt to reduce the number of players dropping group when they arrive). The extra couple of badges will probably be handy, but the chance of getting the Reins of the Blue Drake is pure icing. I just hope the chance of them dropping is higher than for the Reins of the Blue Proto-Drake which allegedly drops from Skadi in Utgard Pinnacle – I say allegedly because I’ve never seen it drop, in all the months I’ve run it on my various alts.
It’s actually interesting how much more often I’ve entered an old instance (it usually happens in Gundrak, HoS and Oculus) and one or two people drop group immediately – it’s usually the tank, and equal chance of one of the dps (if I’m on my healer) or the healer (if I’m on my rogue). I doubt they’ll be adding additional rewards to the other dungeons – Oculus has been unpopular pretty much from launch (my issue with the place was that I never enjoyed the mounted combat), and I think its’ negative reputation has only worsened since then. With the growing number of people bailing from instances (at least in my limited experience), getting players to stay is a battle I don’t envy Blizzard.
For now, though, it’s time to flee for the safety of my bed before the sun rises – funny how time flies when you’re busy (or attempting to look like you are).
/wave
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