Tank like a girl

How’s Northrend been treating you? I still have a jolly good time, and I am not anywhere near the level cap myself. I am leveling my main Kadomi and my shaman Garande mostly side-by-side, so I am sitting at 75.5 with Kadomi and 73 with my shaman.

During the week I mostly played my shaman, who is currently in the Borean Tundra. I did HF with Kadomi, so I wanted the change of scenery. While I hated the first couple quests around Warsong Hold, I really have to agree with the achievement, Nothing Boring about Borean. I really loved the D.E.H.T.A quests in all their diversity. Who wouldn’t want to stomp on things with a mammoth? And seriously, who wouldn’t want to free baby murlocs?

Seriously, the D.E.H.T.A quests in the murloc village really made me laugh so much, it was awesome. From the cuteness of the babbling babies, to the hilarity of the murloc suit. If you haven’t done any quests in the Borean Tundra, do those two, and don’t forget to /dance and jump around a lot while wearing the costume. I moved my shaman to Taunka’le village now, and am still about 20 quests away from the quest achievement for the zone.

Later in the week I started playing Kadomi more seriously, investing more time. Let me just tell you how much I dig the Dragonblight. I thought the whole zone was done fabulously well, and even the more mundane tasks lead you to quests that make you feel epic. The phasing is so gentle it’s hard to notice, but it’s there. Once you’ve sworn the Taunka into the Horde, you will notice more and more of them show up at Agmar’s Hammer, ready to fight. Then you go to Icemist Village, and free the Taunka Chieftain from the Nerubians. A mini-boss shows up and even though the Taunka chief and the taunka he summons do most of the work, it feels really epic. Afterwards, you get to Agmar’s Hammer, and he’s there, and you get him to declare himself for the Horde. That’s the whole thread throughout the zone. You do great things. I really enjoyed the whole Scarlet Onslaught quest chain. Reading Abbendis’ diary was pretty creepy. I can’t wait to met Barean Westwind again. I enjoyed traveling to all the Dragonshrines and fighting along with bitchy Future Me. The machinations of the Blue Dragonflight were everywhere, and it’s cool.

I won’t say much about Wrathgate. The prequests were great and when you finally get out there, to Wrathgate, I think most people won’t be disappointed. It’s too good for me to say much about it. I love Saurfang, he really is as cool as all the myths about him. Also, Thrall kicks ass and from a lore-standpoint I don’t think Alliance has any leader comparable to him. I have forgiven him all his crimes of noobdom from Old Hillsbrad, he just kicks ass.

If I have one quibble with Dragonblight, it’s Alexstrasza. Was it really necessary to turn her non-dragon form into a female bloodelf in a bikini and thigh-highs, with horns? Really, Blizzard, really? I am sure you picked out the most regal slutwear for her, I am sure. Bah. Male designers, catering to the masses. I pretty much prefer her dragonform. She’s got bling, the lady!

I had hoped to hit both Azjol-Nerub and Ahn’kahet this weekend, but I only got in a couple Azjol-Nerub runs. If you are arachnophobiac like me, Azjol-Nerub is not exactly the place to be, especially not the second boss in there. The passage down through the spiderwebs to the hole in the ground is fantastically beautiful. It reminded me a bit of Maraudon on crack. The jump down the hole is really amazing, you zoom past so many beautiful sights. I didn’t even know you can die while jumping, so I am pretty happy no one in my groups died. I would call the place short but not sweet, and it’s a lot of fun running it. I really can’t wait for Ahn’kahet though. It’s supposed to be enormous, beautiful and have the best end-boss fight ever.

Leveling as prot continues to be amazing. I really love the AoE grinding, and my new pastime is testing my limits with soloing group quests. It doesn’t always work out anymore, the elites in Dragonblight are a bit more taxing. The two closest calls were Rattlebore in Really Big Worm and Grom’thar the Thunderbringer from Wanton Warlord. I had to blow all cooldowns for Rattlebore, and almost all of them for Grom’thar. Enraged Regeneration is <3. By the way, thank you, group of four alliance guys who stood there and watched when I fought Rattlebore, without lifting a finger when it got really close for me. Thank you so much. Thankfully most of the other alliance people I ran into when trying to solo elites were a lot more helpful than that. Your admiring BUR when I survived only made me want to KEK at you.

Gear upgrades have slowed down to a crawl. I have made my Saronite Defender and switched to Expelling Gauntlets as quest reward from Azjol-Nerub. I am also loving on my new Medallion of Heroism for grinding. I highly recommend Veneretio’s macros for grinding, though I dig the Retaliation one a lot more than the Recklessness one. But they both work and I am having fun finding out the best uses for them.