Weeks 26-27: Breakthrough!

I did it! I pushed through the lack of motivation, with tremendous success (for me, anyway):

• Wildlight is now 83
• Lóthwen is now 37
• Enchanting is at 491
• Engineering is at 352
• Inscription is at 297

After I asked for ideas last time, Rades suggested the Midsummer bonfires for a big chunk of XP, which I'd resisted doing but knew I should, so on the very last day I pushed right until the festival disappeared and did about half of them. It took me up to 75 and I ran some random dungeons until I hit 76, at which point I decided to go questing in Sholazar Basin.

I'd forgotten how much I like that zone! The quests are varied, the Frenzyheart are hilarious and the Kungaloosh-making quest is fun. I ran random dungeons while I was questing and managed to hit 80 before I knew it! I can't really explain how much of a relief it was to be done with Northrend without having to do Icecrown or Storm Peaks again.

Having a max-level tailor was an absolute boon, as I could craft an entire Deathsilk set to replace my Wrath gear and by 81 I was completely decked out in Cataclysm greens/blues. The AH was kind to me too, and I won some good dungeon drops in my first few runs. Having a lot of crafted gear meant I could hold my own in terms of DPS too and I've not had a single snarky comment (unlike the first Wrath dungeon I did), despite still using the heirloom head and cloak. Mind-controlling adds like the Spiritmenders in Throne of Tides has been good fun too.

Shadow priesting has been really entertaining since I got Mind Sear - AoE, finally! - and I feel like I'm getting the hang of keeping my DoTs up, managing procs and temporary buffs, remembering to use cooldowns and all the jazz. When I hit 83 I could finally put a talent point in Archangel! WINGS.

My DK gatherer has been mining up ore for Engineering and that's at the cobalt stage now, which is great because I have cobalt nodes on Gatherer from back when I was mining up Jewelcrafting/Blacksmithing materials. There's some regret that I didn't have the drive to level it as I levelled the character, because I missed out on using some things that aren't as fun anymore, but that's a lesson learnt. Enchanting has taken care of itself mostly, with the help of my hoarded materials from other characters. I'm onto the Cataclysm mats but I'm not going to buy any because I'll eventually have enough if I'm patient.

My Frigid Frostling stood in the fires of the forge AND DIDN'T MELT. It demands I worship it as a God. This picture has no relevance to this post.

Lóthwen the mage has jumped up quite a few levels now that I didn't need the shoulder, chest and weapon heirlooms on my priest anymore and I didn't have to worry about losing their mog appearances. Playing as a fire mage has been good but I feel like I don't get enough time to do damage in dungeons before things are dead, so yesterday I sorted out an arcane spec for instancing. Hopefully that'll make things quicker and simpler!

Levelling inscription has been fun and simple, and I'm now focusing on getting to level 50 before the next Darkmoon Faire ends, so that my +5 points quest isn't wasted. The level restrictions on each stage of professions make sense but are sometimes a little annoying. I'll have to find the energy to take the DK back to Outland to gather herbs but I have a lot of pigments already from my hoarded herbs so it might be a minimal grind.

I'm hoping that I can hold on to this enthusiasm. Wildlight is so close to 85, and Lóthwen is the last professioned alt I needed to focus on. If I can just push through in the next month and get them both to max level, I can finally start on Loremaster with Ara!

Weeks 22 - 25: Being Lazy

So. I uh...hmm. Let's be honest here, and say that I've been really lazy about levelling, reluctant to start Loremaster, dabbling in other games and painting my nails. It's not been completely static though:

• Wildlight is now 72
• Enchanting is at 416
• Inscription is at 225

Not much to tell, except that the levelling block on Wildlight is still very much in place. I can't think of a way round it, either :( PvP isn't my thing, dungeons are getting boring, quests are getting boring! This is probably an unavoidable side effect of levelling too many characters during Cataclysm. This would be my 4th character from 0-85 during one expansion and there aren't exactly any new zones to go through >.>

Any ideas would be welcome!

Midsummer Fire Festival 2012

A fiery halo! That makes the whole festival worth it, in my book.

The Midsummer Fire Festival is running from 21st June - 4th July and I’m looking forward to completing the Northrend and Cataclysm achievements, which I missed out last year because they didn't contribute to the meta and my sanity was in danger.
EDIT: Frigid Frostling is mine! Keep running it if you haven't got lucky yet, and remember that pets are going account-wide with Mists so run it on every character that's 84 or 85!
In case it’ll help you get one meta closer to What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been, here’s my guide (it's the same as the 2011 one, with some updates).

Achievements needed for the meta:

• The Fires of Azeroth
• Desecration of the Horde/Alliance
• Ice the Frost Lord
• King of the Fire Festival
• Burning Hot Pole Dance
• Torch Juggler

Burning Blossoms needed for achievements: 405-435 (see below)

The Fires of Azeroth and Desecration of the Alliance/Horde

I used the 2011 Wowhead guide co-ordinates to get me started last year, so the location credit goes to them. All of the co-ordinates for the meta have been visited and double-checked by me personally, and I will be checking the Northrend and Cataclysm ones during the first couple of days this year.
I found some bonfires in my travels that weren't part of the meta achievement but will still give the same rewards. These are marked with asterisks if you want to skip them. My route is from an Alliance perspective so may not be as convenient for Horde players I'm afraid!

Eastern Kingdoms:

Zone	A/H/N	Location	Co-ordinates
The Cape of Stranglethorn	A	East of Booty Bay	51, 67
The Cape of Stranglethorn	H	East of Booty Bay	50, 70
Northern Stranglethorn	A	Fort Livingston	51, 63
Northern Stranglethorn	H	Grom’gol Base Camp	40, 51
Westfall	A	Moonbrook	45, 62
Duskwood	A	Darkshire	73, 55
Blasted Lands	A	Nethergarde Keep	55, 15
Blasted Lands	H	Dreadmaul Hold	46, 14
Swamp of Sorrows*	A	Bogpaddle	70, 14
Swamp of Sorrows	H	Bogpaddle	76, 14
Redridge Mountains	A	Lakeshire	24, 53
Burning Steppes	A	Morgan’s Vigil	68, 60
Burning Steppes	H	Flame Crest	51, 29
Badlands*	A	Dragon’s Mouth	19, 56
Badlands	H	New Kargath	24, 37
Loch Modan	A	Thelsamar	32, 40
Dun Morogh	A	Kharanos	54, 45
Wetlands	A	Menethil Harbor	13, 47
Twilight Highlands*	A	Thundermar	47, 28
Twilight Highlands*	H	Bloodgulch	53, 46
Arathi Highlands	A	Refuge Pointe	44, 46
Arathi Highlands	H	Hammerfall	69, 42
Hinterlands	H	Revantusk Village	76, 74
Hinterlands	A	Aerie Peak	14, 50
Hillsbrad Foothills	H	Tarren Mill	55, 50
The Sepulcher	H	Silverpine Forest	50, 39
Tirisfal Glades	H	The Undercity	68, 9
Tirisfal Glades	H	Brill	57, 52
Western Plaguelands	A	Chillwind Camp	43, 82
Western Plaguelands*	H	The Bulwark	29, 56
Ghostlands	H	Tranquilien	46, 26
Eversong Woods	H	North Sanctum	46, 50
Eversong Woods	H	Silvermoon City (Court of the Sun)	70, 43

Kalimdor:

Zone	A/H/N	Location	Co-ordinates
Bloodmyst Isle	A	Blood Watch	55, 69
Azuremyst Isle	A	Azure Watch	44, 53
Teldrassil	A	Dolanaar	55, 53
Darkshore	A	Lor’danel	49, 23
Winterspring	A	Everlook	61, 47
Winterspring	H	Everlook	58, 47
Mount Hyjal*	N	Nordrassil	63, 23
Azshara*	H	Bilgewater Harbor	60, 53
Durotar	H	Orgrimmar (Valley of Wisdom)	47, 38
Durotar	H	Razor Hill	52, 47
Northern Barrens	H	The Crossroads	50, 55
Ashenvale	H	Silverwind Refuge	51, 66
Ashenvale	A	Forest Song	87, 42
Stonetalon Mountains*	A	Mirkfallon Lake	49, 51
Stonetalon Mountains	H	Sun Rock Retreat	53, 62
Desolace	A	Nijel’s Point	65, 17
Desolace	H	Shadowprey Village	26, 76
Mulgore	H	Thunder Bluff (Spirit Rise)	21, 26
Mulgore	H	Bloodhoof Village	52, 59
Feralas	H	Camp Mojache	72, 47
Feralas	A	Feathermoon Stronghold	47, 44
Southern Barrens	A	Fort Triumph	48, 72
Southern Barrens	H	Desolation Hold	41, 68
Dustwallow Marsh	H	Brackenwell Village	33, 30
Dustwallow Marsh	A	Theramore Isle	62, 40
Tanaris	A	Gadgetzan	52, 29
Tanaris	H	Gadgetzan	49, 27
Un’Goro Crater	A	Marshal’s Stand	60, 63
Un’Goro Crater	H	Marshal’s Stand	56, 66
Silithus	A	Cenarion Hold	60, 33
Silithus	H	Cenarion Hold	51, 41
Uldum*	A	Vir'naal Oasis	53, 32
Uldum*	H	Vir'naal Oasis	53, 34

Outland:

Zone	A/H/N	Location	Co-ordinates
Hellfire Peninsula	H	Thrallmar	57, 41
Hellfire Peninsula	A	Honor Hold	62, 58
Shadowmoon Valley	A	Wildhammer Stronghold	40, 55
Shadowmoon Valley	H	Shadowmoon Village	33, 30
Terokkar Forest	A	Allerian Stronghold	55, 55
Terokkar Forest	H	Stonebreaker Hold	52, 43
Nagrand	A	Telaar	50, 70
Nagrand	H	Garadar	51, 34
Zangarmarsh	H	Zabra’jin	36, 52
Zangarmarsh	A	Telredor	69, 52
Blade’s Edge Mountains	A	Sylvanaar	42, 66
Blade’s Edge Mountains	H	Thunderlord Stronghold	50, 59
Netherstorm	A	Area 52	31, 63
Netherstorm	H	Area 52	32, 68

There are 3 Earthen Ring bonfires which are neutral and award 15 Burning Blossoms each. One is in Mount Hyjal and is part of the Eastern Kingdoms route above. The other two are in:
Vashj'ir, Silver Tide Hollow (49, 42)
Deepholm, Temple of Earth (49, 51)

It's unlikely, but there may be others! Let me know if you find any.

Northrend: These aren’t part of the meta but they do give an achievement and will get you extra experience/gold/blossoms.

Zone	A/H/N	Location	Co-ordinates
Borean Tundra	A	Fizzcrank Airstrip	55, 20
Borean Tundra	H	Bor'gorok Outpost	51, 12
Sholazar Basin	A	River's Heart	47, 66
Sholazar Basin	H	River's Heart	47, 62
Dragonblight	H	Agmar's Hammer	39, 48
Dragonblight	A	Wintergarde Keep	75, 44
Crystalsong Forest	A	Windrunner's Overlook	78, 75
Crystalsong Forest	H	Sunreaver's Command	80, 53
The Storm Peaks	A	K3	42, 87
The Storm Peaks	H	K3	40, 86
Zul'Drak	A	The Argent Stand	41, 61
Zul'Drak	H	The Argent Stand	43, 71
Grizzly Hills	A	Amberpine Lodge	34, 61
Grizzly Hills	H	Conquest Hold	19, 61
Howling Fjord	A	Fort Wildervar	58, 16
Howling Fjord	H	Camp Winterhoof	48, 13

Ice the Frost Lord

You will need to be 84+ to queue for this holiday boss via the Dungeon Finder. The first time you defeat Ahune each day you will get a Satchel of Chilled Goods, which will reward a guaranteed 24 justice points and a chance at:

Frostscythe of Lord Ahune
Ice Chip (gives you Frigid Frostling)
5-15 Burning Blossoms

There are 5 cloaks that have a chance to drop. These are ilvl 353 (equivalent to epics from Zul’Aman/Zul’Gurub):

Cloak of the Frigid Winds
Icebound Cloak
Shroud of Winter’s Chill
The Frost Lord’s Battle Shroud
The Frost Lord’s War Cloak

Currently there’s nothing in the game files to suggest that these couldn’t drop too:

Formula: Enchant Weapon – Deathfrost
Lord of Frost’s Private Label

The first time you defeat this boss you should receive Shard of Ahune, which starts a quest rewarding one of two tabards - Tabard of Summer Flames or Tabard of Summer Skies. It seems that players who completed this quest before 2009 will not see this item drop, but you can restore the tabard at a tabard vendor if you’ve deleted it (these can be found in the Visitor’s Centre of most cities).
CONFIRMED: It is possible to choose one tabard, equip it, delete it and then restore the other option at the tabard NPC. Once you have equipped that, both will count towards the 25 Tabards achievement! I have just done this successfully :D so delete with an easy mind!

King of the Fire Festival

You get this achievement by completing the quest A Thief’s Reward. This involves (you already guessed this was coming, I’m sure) going into each of the 4 enemy capitals and stealing their flames. I know you’re too awesome to be put off by that though. Old World Flying will make this much easier than in previous years so find their fire, fly straight down and steal the flames.

You might die, it's true, but as long as you take their precious flames, it matters not! If you do I'd advise taking the rez sickness, going to find yourself some pie to eat and doing the next one later. I’ll probably do mine early in the morning (6-7am) before work. Pie is a valid breakfast food too, you know.

Burning Hot Pole Dance [requires 400 Burning Blossoms]

For this achievement you need the completed Midsummer Set. This will set you back 400 Burning Blossoms, so get honouring/desecrating those fires! Luckily you’ll be doing that anyway if you want the holiday meta. The good news is that you can collect ~800 blossoms during the holiday so it’ll definitely be possible to buy all 3 parts. Equip them and dance round a ribbon pole for 60 seconds. Voila!

Torch Juggler [requires 5-35 Burning Blossoms]

Juggle 40 torches in Dalaran. Sounds simple…but you have to complete the Torch Tossing and Torch Catching quests first.

For these quests, the most sensible-sounding tip I’ve found is to set your camera distance to maximum (type /console cameraDistanceMax 50 into your chat window) and point it downwards in ‘never adjust’ mode. Follow the shadow and be underneath it when it lands. This is really hard, and took me a lot of tries (plus some generous cussing). The first torch will always go straight behind you and quite a few yards, but torches 2-4 won't go far - the trick is spotting which way they go and getting there in time!

If you're stuck on this, I'd recommend Rades' awesome guide to catching torches!

So once you've done the quests you’re ready to go and possibly a little fed up. Don't despair! The achievement itself is a lot easier. I used the following strategy for this achievement:

Find a minimal-lag spot in Dalaran. Point the camera straight down, zoomed out. Bind the torches to a hotkey and target the ground under your feet. You should be able to alternate hotkey-click-hotkey-click, catching each torch as it lands.

UPDATE: Use the Purple Parlor! I never got below 11 torches out of 20 in my bags, so try everything with 10 first. This is down to lag, ultimately. I found that consciously alternating key-click-key-click made the process too slow. In the end, I just hit hotkey and clicked at the same time, as fast as possible! So try that first, ok? Because you don't want the air at your desk to be as blue as mine was before I thought of doing that...
They reappear in your bags when caught so many report doing this with as few as 10 torches and I think that would be possible. You earn 5 by doing the Torch Catching quest and stacks of 5 torches can be bought for 5 Burning Blossoms. There is also a chance for 5-15 Burning Blossoms to drop from the Satchel of Chilled Goods. Finally, you can buy them on the AH as they don’t become soulbound. Let me know how many you needed to do it!


Well, that's it. Hopefully you found something helpful in here if you were working towards any of this meta. As always, corrections/suggestions/general comments are welcome and will be edited in as soon as I can!

Good luck!
Ara

Weeks 19 - 21: Mogging Heirlooms and Hellfire Peninsula (again)

Three weeks since the last update, huh? You'd think I was slacking or something but that isn't it at all. I've been...uh...saving the world. Yep. You wouldn't believe what nearly happened and how many marshmallows I had to eat to prevent it.

Quick update:

• Wildlight is now 61
• Enchanting is at 375
• Engineering is at 265
• Inscription is at 201

Wildlight has been getting a lot of time recently as I've been running dungeons with my boyfriend's alt which makes it less tiresome. Shadow is still a fun spec for boss fights but I'm getting pretty bored of Mind Flay followed by more Mind Flay. I have noticed that I'm getting to 3 orbs quicker now so it might be looking up, but I'm still wishing for an AoE attack (and to be honest, slightly concerned that I have might have one but not know about it because it seems like such a massive hole in my toolkit?)

About mid-50s I took Discipline as my second spec and have healed a few dungeons! It's pretty good fun - dropping a shield with a heal attached is a big improvement, and Divine Aegis is great - so I'll try to heal some dungeons every few levels and slowly cement my basic Disc knowledge ready for hitting 85. I made the mistake of never playing as a Resto shaman on Shiden and now I'm too chicken to heal on her without a full guild group :( but that's for another day.

The best thing about levelling my priest was picking up some really nice quest rewards and having a sudden inspiration to mog my entire outfit around them. Sure, it's just what I had in the bank so it's not perfect, but it's making me happy to log on and level her now she's wearing a pretty outfit!

If you're interested, the visible pieces:
Head - Vishas' Hood
Shoulders - Karna's Poncho
Chest - Xakxak's Lab Frock
Hands - Frostweave Gloves
Waist - Dawnspire Cord
Feet - you can't see them on Draenei but you might have to experiment on other races to find a match.

On the professions side of things I finally made the effort to level them a bit. Enchanting is now at the Infinite Dust stage so I'll be collecting materials whilst I'm in the 60-70 bracket before I buy anything extra. I have a fair amount stashed away so hopefully it won't cost me too much! Engineering is on the back burner until I can be bothered to go and mine up lots of Thorium on my gathering alt and Inscription is likewise in need of some herbs. If only I wasn't so lazy! The Darkmoon Faire is on this week though so I've grabbed 5 points in all three professions and saved myself another chunk of materials, so it could be worse.

That's about it for now! I have a few days off this week and I'm hoping to powerlevel Wildlight into Northrend at the very least (dungeons until 62 because I refuse to quest through Hellfire Peninsula again), so we'll see how that goes.

If you have a pre-Mists list, how is it going? Have you met some/all of your goals yet? I'd love to know :)