Alt Swarm

False Alarm

2008-09-28T18:50:00.003-07:00

Okay, so my warrior has fallen out of favor, right? Right. I thought I'd get back to the Alt Swarm, but I was wrong. I decided that I was tired of running battlegrounds with a twink hunter. I stopped the PvP and started up the PvE. Good times, that. She's now up to level 41, and just learned Dragonscale Leatherworking.

I was kinda depressed to discover that there isn't any true hunter gear in the leatherworking specializations. Tribal is for druids and Elemental is for rogues. Both specializations are purely leather. Hunters, of course, can wear mail after level 40. So, there's Dragonscale. All items are mail, but none of the crafted gear adds agility. A hunter can certainly benefit from the Netherscale Armor set, but the lack of agility is rather surprising. Hopefully, that will be fixed in Wrath of the Lich King.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Alt Swarm is still on hold. But you guessed that anyway, didn't you?

Back in Action (sort of)

2008-09-16T22:35:00.003-07:00

Character: Marilith
Zone: Dun Morogh

So, I'm back! My warrior main hit 70 a few months ago and I was all excited to run heroics and raids. I was pretty pumped to tank. But no one wanted me because I wasn't geared enough. And I wasn't geared enough because I couldn't run any instances. Quite a predicament I'm in. My guild is nice, enough, but there's never anyone online when I am. There have been times when I was, quite literally, the only guild member on.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with the Alt Swarm. Well, marginally. It means that I'm bored of my warrior again. Bad for him, good for the Alt Swarm!

Tonight, I loaded up Marilith and starting running some quests. I wasn't able to make any real progress, though. I updated my video drivers about a week ago and now my video crashes periodically. Usually, when I'm fighting something. Quite annoying that.

It's a shame that the "welcome back" post is so lame, but my game session tonight was pretty blech. Hopefully, I'll be able to resolve the weirdness with my video adapter and write some meaningful posts. Well, more meaningful than this one, anyway.

On Hiatus

2008-05-19T23:31:00.003-07:00

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been a while since I've posted. What happened to me? No, I didn't fall screaming from a burning building, breaking every bone in my body.

What happened is a lot simpler than that. I respecced my warrior main to protection and suddenly became really excited to play him again! As a result, the Alt Swarm has suffered. Sorry if you've actually been following my progress.

I'll get back to the Alt Swarm "soon".

Long Haul to 12

2008-05-04T14:45:00.006-07:00

Character: Rilly
Zone: Elwynn Forest

I'm not sure why, but it seemed to take a lot longer to get to level 12 with Rilly than with the other characters. Sometimes, it seemed like I was dying more frequently. Certainly more often than I would expect with a demon pet soaking up damage. I don't know, maybe I'm just so used to melee combat that I want a warlock to blow things up quicker.

I'm rather curious to see how long it will take Rilly to hit level 14.

Elwynn Forest is Too Big

2008-05-01T23:47:00.005-07:00

Character: Leiline
Zone: Elwynn Forest

I spent too much time today just running from place to place. The zone is unnecessarily large. It's all well and good to make you feel like you actually had to travel to get somewhere, but if it takes several minutes of running, running, running without anything happening between point A and point B, then the zone is just too big.

On a less QQ note, stupid head Hogger didn't want to die tonight. Nobody else was fighting him, so I went toe-to-toe with him. Five or six times. It's hard to keep track of your death count. I got him down to 17% the last time I fought him. I died because my potions had one second left on their cooldown. One second! *sigh*

Bubble, Hearth, Log

2008-04-30T23:00:00.003-07:00

Character: Altaana
Zone: Teldrassil

I had never really used the paladin's bubble, but tonight, I learned of its greatness. I was fighting Lord Melenas for the Twisted Hatred quest. He had one little friend. I smacked Melenas with Hammer of Justice and started whaling on the grell. All was well until the grell decided to run, pulling two other grellkin, one of whom was a rare demon.

Great. So now what? I finished of the first grell and turned my attentions to Melenas. It didn't take long for my health to become dangerously low. So, I bubbled, coincidentally right after Melenas kicked the bucket. It gave me enough time to heal twice without interruption, which gave me enough health to be able to squish the remaining two grellkin.

Not bad for a n00b pally. Four demons lying dead, one draenei standing victorious.

WAAAGH!: The Ten Commandments of Altitis

2008-04-30T21:00:00.005-07:00

I found a pretty fun blog post today on WAAAGH!: The Ten Commandments of Altitis. All of the commandments are great, but here are some that I felt stand out from the crowd.

2. Give An Alt A Chance To Impress

Characters usually need a running start before you get a good feel for the class — yet it’s easy, as a higher level player, to grow impatient with a lowbie toon who has only basic skills, few (if any) class-defining abilities yet, and not even a single mastery point to help differentiate your alt from the pack. Reserve your judgment until you’ve given that alt a fair shakedown.

6. Go Off The Beaten Path

Alts aren’t there to be carbon clones of your previous characters, stomping down the same exact path that you’ve already explored. Try something different — after all, that’s the POINT of an alt! Try new zones, new classes, new roles, and you never know what you might discover in so doing.

10. Embrace Your Altitis

Don’t be ashamed of it when a guildie moans “ANOTHER character?” after you re-join the guild with an alt for the tenth time. Just grin, emoticon a grin so they know you’re grinning, and embrace the fun and joy of being diagnosed with one of the most enjoyable diseases an MMO gamer can have!

Cut Him Some Slack!

2008-04-29T22:28:00.005-07:00

Character: Maelinn
Zone: Dun Morogh

Poor, poor Vagash. All he ever wanted was to sit in his little cave and eat mutton. But nooooooo... some meanie dwarf wants him to stop. Apparently, there were quite a number of others who agreed with her. Check out the screenie.

A Black Day for All Gnollkind

2008-04-27T12:45:00.009-07:00

Character: Crise
Zone: Elwynn Forest

I had the easiest experience dropping Hogger today. I had gotten him to about 75% health remaining, and then he keeled over dead. I think he got knifed by a level 27 rogue. Not sure. I found him later and tried to pick a fight with him again. Bad idea. He beat me pretty bad. Hooray for Polymorph!

Anyway, I then had to do the other gnoll-slaying quest, Riverpaw Gnoll Bounty. I only died once, but this quest still took a long time to complete. There were probably about a dozen other players running around the gnoll camps, chopping them down. One of them was a level 70 mage, who was getting happy with Arcane Explosion.

Gnolls world-wide will remember this day as their dark day of doom.

Awesome Addon: Altoholic

2008-04-26T21:35:00.008-07:00

I just found a really great add-on: Altoholic. This add-on lets you manage all the characters in your account, regardless of realm. I haven't played with it much yet, but I'm pretty sure that it's going to be invaluable, if only to help me manage bag space and crafting materials.

Here are a couple of screenies from WoW Interface:

Bag management
Crafting recipes & materials

See ya, Single Digits!

2008-04-26T21:26:00.004-07:00

Well, all nine characters have hit level 10. Kaliina actually hit level 11 last night. I didn't intend to ding, but I wanted to complete her Fire Totem quest. Little did I know that it's a seven-part chain, totaling 4230 XP, not including combat XP. Oh, well. That just means that she'll get less play time in Cycle 12.

By the way, poor Gleiara doesn't count in my assessment. She'll probably get leveled to 10, but not for a while, and only so she can disenchant higher level items.

So... what's the plan?

2008-04-23T18:48:00.002-07:00

It's all well and good to say that I'm going to level the Alt Swarm simultaneously, but what does that really mean?

Simple, really. I play one of the characters until it's time to train again. After training, it's time to move on to the next character. The characters will be played in the order listed in the Armory links on the left sidebar. Why this order? Well, that's the order that I created the characters in. No special reason.

So, you see, there is method to my madness. Occasionally.

Meet Gleiara

2008-04-23T18:34:00.003-07:00

Gleiara, Dwarf Hunter

Gleiara is the character that will get the most logins, but the least amount of play time. She is to be my bank alt. I'm taking up Enchanting to be able to disenchant greens, since the enchanting materials sell for much more.

Spec: None.
Professions: Enchanting.

Meet Kaliina

2008-04-23T18:27:00.002-07:00

Kaliina, Draenei Shaman

Kaliina is going to present me with a special challenge. I have started a couple of shamans before, but the class just doesn't do much for me. I don't know why. Maybe I just haven't played them long enough. I think my highest is level 23 or something. Perhaps I'll discover the draw with Kaliina.

Spec: Elemental.
Professions: Jewelcrafting and Mining.

Meet Aesara

2008-04-23T18:19:00.002-07:00

Aesara, Night Elf Hunter

Aesara is one of my numerous hunters. Of all the classes that I've played, I enjoy hunters the most. And not because they're "easy mode". I personally am an archer, so I'm automatically drawn to any class in any game that makes use of the bow. Having a pet just makes the deal even sweeter.

Spec: Marksmanship (duh!).
Professions: Leatherworking and Skinning.

Meet Marilith

2008-04-23T15:40:00.008-07:00

Marilith, Human Rogue

Marilith is one of the few characters that I named myself without relying on the Randomize button. I was pretty surprised that the name wasn't already taken, but very pleased. It goes really well with a rogue. A marilith is a demonic creature whose appearance is similar to the naga, but mariliths are bigger, meaner, and have more arms. Here's a picture.

Anyway, I've got two other rogues, one of which is my second-highest level at 37. So, I won't be breaking any new ground for a while.

Spec: Assassination / Combat (Swords).
Professions: Mining and Skinning.

Meet Rilly

2008-04-23T15:35:00.003-07:00

Rilly, Gnome Warlock

Rilly is my first warlock ever! I don't know what to expect, really. I've watched my cousin play his warlock, so I have some idea, but nothing major. I'm pretty excited to see what I can do with the class.

Spec: Affliction.
Professions: Herbalism and Skinning.

Meet Leiline

2008-04-23T15:22:00.006-07:00

Leiline, Dwarf Warrior

Leiline is going to be the easiest for me to play. I have the most experience playing a warrior, since that's what my highest level character is. I enjoy tanking, too, even though it's tough (and frequently thankless and expensive).

Spec: Arms.
Professions: Blacksmithing and Mining.

Meet Altaana

2008-04-23T15:16:00.006-07:00

Altaana, Draenei Paladin

Altaana is going to be a fun one to play. Beyond the fact that she's a paladin, she's going to learn Engineering. I hope that this will alleviate the problem with pallys not having any ranged attacks (no, Judgement doesn't count).

Spec: Retribution.
Professions: Engineering and Mining.

Meet Maelinn

2008-04-23T14:56:00.001-07:00

Maelinn, Human Priest

Maelinn is my second priest. I'm not too sure how well I'll do with her, since I don't have much experience in a healing role. On the other hand, that's one thing that makes me want to play her. It's yet another aspect of WoW that I just don't know very well.

Spec: Shadow.
Professions: Herbalism and Tailoring.

Meet Crise

2008-04-22T23:48:00.002-07:00

Crise, Gnome Mage

Crise is my second mage, though I don't know that I can really count the other one, who still hasn't hit level 20. So, pretty much everything with Crise is new to me. Dropping huge fireballs on the uglies is great fun!

Spec: Fire.
Professions: Enchanting and Herbalism.

Meet Velwyn

2008-04-22T23:33:00.001-07:00

Velwyn, Night Elf Druid

Velwyn is my first attempt at a druid. I hear great things about druids, and I really like the shapeshifting dynamic. So, I'm pretty excited about her.

Spec: Feral.
Professions: Alchemy and Herbalism.

Welcome!

2008-04-22T23:21:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Alt Swarm! This is the diary of a WoW alt-o-holic. I love to play WoW, but I find myself getting bored with the same grind with the same character, day after day.

To rescue myself and my WoW account, I have created a set of characters on the Sentinels realm: one for each class, two from each race. I intend to level them simultaneously. This is great because I'll play a character for a few hours and then it will be time to switch to a different character, in a different location.

Alt Swarm is composed of ten characters, the current maximum on any given realm. The links in the Armory section on the left sidebar go to the characters' Armory pages.

This blog was created to post my thoughts on the classes as I play them, several for the first time. I don't expect to write anything groundbreaking. I started playing just after Burning Crusade was released, so there are a lot more experienced players out there.

However, I enjoy playing WoW, and I'm pretty excited about my Alt Swarm. And, who knows? Maybe you'll be able to find a gem midst my rambling!