I haven’t been doing much xp grinding like I usually do. But I have ridden around Nagrand a bit to look around. My god, but there are a lot of quests in Outland! Walk into any little post and you’ll stumble into at least three quests. Hell, I got five quests from just one tauren, standing all alone, in Terrokar Forest.

I found the Ring of Blood in northern Nagrand. It’s a gladiatorial arena run by a goblin. Making it even more interesting is that it is in the middle of an ogre town. There are always at least a few PCs in the area, either killing ogres or going into the ring, or just spectating the fights.

The goblin gives you quests to fight elite enemies in the ring. He pays well—around 11 gold—for the fights, but they are tough and require a team of five characters.

When I first found the Ring, I picked up the quest from the goblin and he goaded me to get into the ring. I stood at the edge of the ring and looked in. Blood is splattered everywhere. A tauren PC whispered to me, “Don’t go in there. You’ll die quick.” So I backed up and watched a team go into the ring (including that tauren). Whoa nelly! Yeah, I would have died quick.

I haven’t yet fought in the Ring, though I joined a group to do so. I’ve been there a few times, and more than once saw a fight spill out of the Ring in into the spectators around. Plus, you have to watch out for the ogres in the town.

One time a giant void walker devastated the Alliance team that went in to battle it. A couple of the Allies tried to escape the ring and so brought the void out with them. Spectators, ogres, and the void all formed a chaotic melee—people running from the void, aggroing ogres, the void running back and forth through the area killing PCs, etc. In the end there were about 15 dead PCs around the place, and the void walker wasn’t killed. (I and my pet were both also dead.) That was freakin’ hilarious! I really like that place. :-)

Last night I found Aeris Landing — a Consortium base. Pretty cool; kind of a techy-like place. The Consortium are just cool, anyway. They’re sort of humanoid wind creatures in mummy wrappings.

I also went into Halaa. Another cool place, especially with the enemy fire bombing the area. Funny to see the guards standing around during the bombing, not seeming to care that they are on fire! I’m surprised at how often and how long the Horde manages to get and hold Halaa. Not at all like the Eastern Plaguelands towers. I’d say the Horde has the town about half the time I’m on.

Now that my hunter is level 66, I went back to Hellfire Peninsula to kill Azarius the Cruel, a 63 elite. I wanted to finish up that quest chain, and get honored reputation in Thrallmar. I figured I could take him now that I’m 3 levels higher than him. Nope. Son of a gun is TOUGH! I tried twice: both times my pet died and I had to Feign Death. I never got him below 75% health. I think he heals himself.

And on a general note: I don’t know how non-hunters get around and survive in WoW. The tracking ability is worth gold! Every time I play one of my other characters, I feel blind for not being able to see creatures on the mini map.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I ran another poop quest. Go around the area searching through the talbuk droppings to find 20 little cherry-like things. When you turn in the quest you get back 20 berries that give you water breathing for 30 minutes. Good items, but I don’t think I’d want to pop those in my mouth.

In Nagrand, the Throne of the Elements is a cool area with a lot of quest givers. It’s like Stonehenge on a small island in a lake. Walking the perimeter of the area are big elementals. One is a HUGE earth elemental (fel reaver big). He gives quests to go kill bad earth elementals. It’s kind of funny to talk to this guy because you can’t really see much of him. You have to be right under him to talk, so all you get is an “up the kilt” view. Eww.

I’m also really looking forward to getting a flying mount at level 70. (Just 4 more levels to go.) I want to fly up to some of those floating islands in the sky. I’m actually kind of surprised that I don’t see more people flying around on their mounts. I only see one every long once in a while, and they are usually down on the ground.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

My hunter’s ranged DPS has broken through 200 (on the character sheet). The power curve after level 60 is amazing. I think my hunter was doing around 120 at level 60 before Burning Crusade.

Here’s something odd: I haven’t seen the end bar for rested experience points since entering Outland. Even right when I gain a level, there is no marked end to be seen. I have started playing some nights with half the xp bar empty, and then I play until I gain a level. But then the empty xp bar for the next level still doesn’t show an end to the rested xp.

I’ve always played on rested xp because I only play about twice a week, but usually I can see the marker for the end of rested xp.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Weirdness in Terrokar Forest.

I’ve been in the water killing eels (“Rather be Fishin'” quest) and I notice that I’m getting only ~600-700 xp for the kills (levels 62-63 to my then level 63). I had been getting over 1000 xp for such kills just minutes before. And checking the log, I was getting rested bonus. I got this lowered xp for a couple critters other than the eels, too, I’m pretty sure.

After several kills (~20), my xp rate went back to the normal 1000. What’s up with that?

Also, the eels had a growl sound when they attacked. Then a couple times I heard the sound but there was no eel attacking me. The sound seemed close, but no eels other than the one at range that I was shooting.

Later, out of the water, long past that quest, hunting beasts in the forest, I heard that sound again. I heard it a second time when I was not fighting anything at all. Scared the bejeebers out of me. A loud growl right in my ear, but no monster attacking me. There was no message in the chat window (I thought maybe there was some world event happening). What’s up with that?

Did I experience a computer hiccup, or is there a reason my xp awards lowered for a while, and I sometimes heard a strange growl?

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com