Plex - Level 10

Some of the posts I enjoy reading most are the ones that just simply tell about what someone did in game. Doesn't have to be some fancy analysis or advanced theory crafting, just reading what happened to people while they did some good old playing works fine for me. I'm the same with literature overall, where I really enjoy reading life stories, whether they're real or not. I've tried to share some in game anecdotes about myself, like my posts about pugs, my raiding and my guild problems. This time around I thought I'd just share some random thoughts about yet another alt that I've created and what happens when I run around and do quests, instances and play with strangers.

I started out Plex, undead priest, because I wanted to get a feel for how lowbie priest healing works nowadays. No special reason really, just one of those curiousities I have. I'm not entirely sure why I started a new char when I've already got an undead priest somewhere around level 40 - maybe I wanted a female undead priest (the other one is male) since I miss the way Zinn looked. She had been female undead for 5 years before I turned her into a goblin in early Cata. I don't regret it since the goblin racials are superior to undead ones in pve, but there is no denying I miss my old female undead somewhat. I also figured that by leveling two healing priests simultaneously, I could check out both disc and holy without having to hassle around with constant respecs. It allows for a great opportunity for comparing the two specs to eachother.

I haven't played my old healing priest alt (the level 40ish one) since the launch of Cata. I have been pretty busy leveling all my other alts, and I've never actually been a big fan of leveling priests. It came as a shock to me to notice how ridiculously overpowered the shield is at early levels. You get it at level 5, and eventhough I don't have any fancy gear (the coolest thing I've got is a staff with 3 stamina), it shields for more than 200 hp at that level. The mobs hit for 10-15 damage. It is very expensive, but you'd have to aggro a couple of mobs before they get through it. Actually the problem with the shield is rather that it is too good, so that you never get to use the full absorbtion of it before it falls off. If I were to pull more mobs I wouldn't have enough mana to kill them all before the shield fell off. The new, shortened duration on the shield is very noticeable at these levels where the shield doesn't immediately fall off, and eventually I figured that the Shield wasn't worth the mana after all, since so much of it was wasted. I would've liked it if they made it cheaper and less good instead.

But hey, I thought. Awesome shield must be awesome in pvp! I had been eager to try out the new pvp since I heard that you could get good exp and level fast through it. Jumping in with only white/gray items and level 10 into Warsong Gulch probably wasn't my smartest move though. Eventhough level 8 mobs might not hit for more than 10-15 damage, the twinked level 14 rogue sure does. I was more often one shotted than not, and didn't really feel like I was of much use at all. My shields were powerful alright, but I could only use 3-4 before I was completely oom and completely useless. I mostly felt sorry for my side for having me to be honest. I'll give pvp another go in a couple of levels.

My primary goal with leveling as disc was to give Atonement a real work through and see how it works in the lower levels, because as you know, I'm no fan of using it in end game. I thought that maybe if I really get the hang of it the slow way, I'll like it more in end game as well. Unfortunately, the first couple of levels you do nothing but smite basically, which only reminded me about one of the things I really don't like about atonement healing. It's damn boring to spam those smites. But I'll still give it an honest shot and see if I change my mind, especially now that Holy Fire actually works in the rotation. Overall I think you start out with too many healing skills at early levels. What am I supposed to do with Shield, Renew, Flash Heal and Penance at level 10? Penance could be used as dps too, but I'd rather have more dps skills so that I don't have to do all that smiting. Shadow Word: Pain isn't efficient because the mobs die too fast for it to do any good. On the other hand I remember that shadow priest dpsing is all about mind flaying. Oh, and why does Smite have 30 yds range when every other ranged skill is 40? Any good reason for that? I doubt it.

I immediately fell in love with Darnell. Who could NOT love a guy who carries your corpses?

Contrary to how I usually level my characters, I didn't choose skinning and herbalism as my professions. As a homage to my first character, I chose tailoring just because it is the first profession trainer you find when you start as undead (or it used to be, now you find a trainer that can teach you any profession). I complemented it with enchanting because it's a nice combo. Some of my best gear is hand made, it actually feels kinda cool.

I usually jump on leveling guilds whenever I can. Eventhough I don't mind leveling slow, having crap gear and never getting boosted, I'm not sadistic enough to turn down the easier path if it's laid out to me. Sometimes it takes only a couple of levels before you find someone fishing for lowbies to their leveling guild, sometimes I can't find one even when I am asking for it in trade and general chat. This time around I was found by a 30 something rogue who wandered around the starting area and asked me if I wanted to sign his charter for 1g. If people ask politely I usually comply, and his guild was formed quickly after that. Most people left after it had been formed, but I decided to stay. The guy had proper english and humor, which can sometimes feel like a rare gem in WoW. We talked some while I leveled and he gave me four Netherweave Bags just like that! But then I had to log to do irl stuffs. I didn't see him online for the next couple of times that I logged on, but I didn't care much. I'm fairly used to being forever alone when I level alts, and it's really how I like it anyway. I don't mind some chatting, but in the end I just like to focus on the game. I get so scatter brained when I talk to people.

Then I logged on one day and noticed that I wasn't in a guild anymore. Or actually, I ran around randomly in UC and saw this rogue, but with another guild tag. "He switched guild?" I thought, which was odd since he had just started his own. Then I noticed I wasn't even in the guild myself anylonger so then I thought he had kicked me, for whatever reason. I've been kicked for little or no reason before. I decided to whisper him and ask about it, and it took me a couple of minutes to think about something witty to say without it sounding too angry like "Oh, I was kicked was I?" or "Hey, I'm not in the guild anylonger!". Eventhough I hardly knew the guy, I still feared that he'd say he'd kicked me because I didn't fit in the guild.

Then I remembered my mantra - it's never as bad as it seems. So I whispered him a "what happened to the guild?" and he answered that he had disbanded it because he realized he didn't really want to lead a guild anyway. I can understand that. The last time I tried to seriously start a guild was back in Vanilla, and I've never tried it again. Recruiting people sucks. When they leave sucks. If you've got a small guild that you've busted your ass to get together and to make everyone happy and someone still says "ah, it was nice guys but I'm moving on" it really hurts.

He offered to invite me to the guild he had joined instead, and I accepted. The new guild, which apparently is some aspiring rp-guild (the first I've ever been in as I can recall), was lead by a person who ended every sentence with a smiley =). Girl, I thought. I got my suspicions confirmed when the rogue told her that someone had declined an invite to the guild but "wished us luck with our endeavors". She then answered something in the lines of "Omg that's so nice of him, awwww =)". "You don't happen to be a girl?" I asked. "Yes I am =)" she answered. "I figured" I said. I remember I had a period in my early gaming when I ended every sentence with a smiley. Until I met Love and he told me it made me seem psychotically happy (like this girl, but I liked her nonetheless).

So far so good for the first ten levels, we'll see what happens next.