2018-0811: on the eve of Battle for Azeroth expansion start

Done.  Left the game again 28jan2019.
Battle for Azeroth turned out to be as bad as Legion was good.

1. What I like
1. Demonology Warlocks: I had no luck with DW in Legion or before,  In BfA, DW seems quite robust.
2. Discipline Priest: weak in Legion, but more durable in BfA
3. World quests in Darkshore.  It has been nice to get level 210 weapons and armour, except for rings, trinkets, necklace, and cloak.  Now and then, pieces at 215, 220, 235 show up.
4. Survival Hunters: quite robust in BfA, while next to worthless (my viewpoint from long series of deaths) before BfA.


2. What I don't like
1. End of artifact weapons: strong, clear meanings to components, useful.  The loss is actually a loss.
2. The Heart of Azeroth: stupid, weak, ugly, meaningless. Quite an eyesore as well. Feeding the Heart might increase your iLevel, but nothing actually improves your character's abilities.
3. Scalable region difficulty. I hate having to work to kill something in Westfall, when it should die with a one-shot.  There are many examples like this.  I suppose that this increases XP generation overall, but I miss the total domination that one gets from having a much higher rank than the environmental NPC trash.


3. Later: mid-November, 2018.
1. Heart of Azeroth: is controlled by the game, not by you, the player. It contributes nothing except to control your characters.  Every time an NPC drops <explitive deleted> azerite, the amount the HoA is updated by the game, not by you.
2. Solution: drop the Heart, replace with necklaces, as done in WoW from 2004 until the sorry BfA, 2018.  Drop azerite.  Forever.  Drop azerite armor.  Forever.
3. My lead character armor iLevel 350, has not particular way to advance.  The emissary quests provide a little intermittent forward progress, usually only small artifact level increases.
4. My lead character is my favorite, but I have no particular reason to play it.  Great.  
5. Why continue playing?
6. Leveling is still sort of fun, but I am too good at it.  All my 32 characters will be level 120 soon enough.
7. Why continue playing?
8. Island expeditions: utter nonsense.  Lots of effort, little reward.  An average world quest yields more return than island quests.  Perhaps you have had better success.  I have not.

20180228: Mage Order Hall

Done.  Left the game again 28jan2019.

Battle for Azeroth turned out to be as bad as Legion was good.

Mage Order Hall: Hall of the Guardian

Location:
Planet: Azeroth
Continent: Broken Isles
Region: hard to tell.  Connected to Dalaran (above Broken Isles) through a portal.
Where: Hall of the Guardian
Specifically: Lovely design. Very smooth and easy on the eye.
Faction: The Tirisguard

Your title in the order hall: 

What one does there:
Get quests
Set missions
--as in Warlords of Draenor, the Legion missions are done by named NPCs.
--also available: nameless followers (water spirits, invokers)
Upgrade permanent followers from mission rewards
Do order research: most of this is done at the 110 level
Edit the artifact weapon at the weapon forge.  This is the only place for warlocks to update traits.
Train temporary troops, by armour upgrades and enchanted tools that give them extra power.'
As one accomplishes more, be able to change the weapon's appearance with the artifact forge

How to get there:
Buy the teleport skill to the Mage order hall, Hall of the Guardian.  There is no other way in!

Return from Hall of the Guardian:
There is a portal in Hall of the Guardian to Dalaran. Alternately, teleport (mage skill) to Dalaran.

Artifact weapons: mages can only update their artifact weapons in Hall of the Guardian.  Find the highest level of the Order Hall.  The forge is on the floor in the centre of the room.

Arcane (DPS):
--Aluneth, Greatstaff of Magna
--relic slots: Arcane, Frost, (initially locked) Arcane

Frost: (DPS)
--Ebonchill,  Greatstaff of Alodi
--relic slots: Frost, Arcane, (initially locked) Frost

Fire (DPS)
--Felo'melorn, sword, plus Heart of the Phoenix, held in off-hand
--relic slots: Fire, Arcane, (initially locked) Fire

------

Notes from early on with the mage:

1. new Dalaran hearthstone
2. armor upgrades: considerable
3. from Stormwind Vanguard Staff (staff, level 685; replaced 536)
4. from Accolade of House Wrynne (trinket, level 685; replaced 565)
5. from Signet of Stormwind (ring, level 640; replaced 515)

2018-0228: Priest Order Hall

Done.  Left the game again 28jan2019.
Battle for Azeroth turned out to be as bad as Legion was good.

Priest Order Hall: Netherlight Temple

Location:
Planet: Azeroth
Continent: Broken Isles
Region: hard to tell.  Connected to Dalaran (above Broken Isles) through a portal.
Where: Netherlight Temple
Specifically: Lovely design. Very smooth and easy on the eye.
Faction:

Your title in the order hall: High Priest

What one does there:
Get quests
Set missions
--as in Warlords of Draenor, the Legion missions are done by named NPCs.
--examples:,
--also available: nameless followers (fel servants of one sort or another)
Upgrade permanent followers from mission rewards
Do order research: most of this is done at the 110 level
Edit the artifact weapon at the weapon forge.  This is the only place for warlocks to update traits.
Train temporary troops; here called 'ghouls'
Engrave weapons with enchantments
As one accomplishes more, be able to change the weapon's appearance with the artifact forge

How to get there:
In the new (Legion expansion) Dalaran, there is a portal to NT in the Greyfang Enclave.

Return from Netherlight Temple:
There is a portal in Netherlight Temple to the Greyfang Enclave in Dalaran.

Artifact weapons: priests can only update their artifact weapons in Netherlight Temple.  Find the highest level of the Order Hall.  The forge is on the floor in the centre of the room.

Discipline (healer, sort of):
--Scepter of Sargeras, staff
--relic slots: Fel, Fire, (initially locked) Fel

Shadow: (DPS only)
--
--relic slots: Shadow

Holy (healer)
--
--relic slots: 

------

Notes from early on with the warlock:

My level 98 Destruction Warlock, Chronoslock, on 20170503 attained the

1. new Dalaran hearthstone
2. armor upgrades: 560 average to 587 average
3. from Stormwind Vanguard Staff (staff, level 685; replaced 536)
4. from Accolade of House Wrynne (trinket, level 685; replaced 565)
5. from Signet of Stormwind (ring, level 640; replaced 515)
6. an invitation from the faction 'Council of the Black Harvest.'
7. There was a summoning; the demon showed, then the demon imprisoned my warlock and 3 others.
8. One obtains 'A Tome of Blighted Instruments' then tries to escape.
9. I got the book, got away from the demons, but hearthing back to Dalaran did not constitute escape.  Crap.
10. Start over.
11. Did the same stuff, only more efficiently.  Worked this time.  Go figure.
12. A portal to the warlock meeting place seems to be the Ring underneath Dalaran in what was called the Underbelly.
13. Got the quest to get the  Destruction artifact weapon.
14. Finished the quest, got the weapon
15. Got the invite to the order hall
16. Got my character installed as leader (Netherlord)
17. Got my artifact weapon properly initialized at the artifact forge.

20170503: The Warlock Order Hall

Warlock Order Hall: Dreadscar Rift

Location:
Planet: Azeroth
Continent: Broken Isles
Region: hard to tell, but seems to be above the Broken Isles...somewhere
Where: Dreadscar Rift
Specifically: the whole nightmare location is devoted to warlocks and their fel servants
Faction: Council of the Black Harvest

Your title in the order hall: Netherlord (one word)

What one does there:
Get quests
Set missions
--as in Warlords of Draenor, the Legion missions are done by named NPCs.
--examples:,
--also available: nameless followers (fel servants of one sort or another)
Upgrade permanent followers from mission rewards
Do order research: most of this is done at the 110 level
Edit the artifact weapon at the weapon forge.  This is the only place for warlocks to update traits.
Train temporary troops; here called 'ghouls'
Engrave weapons with enchantments
As one accomplishes more, be able to change the weapon's appearance with the artifact forge

How to get there:
In the new (Legion expansion) Dalaran, there is a portal to DR in the Underbelly near the entrance next to the Kirin Tor tower.

Return from Dreadscar Rift:
There is a portal in Dreadscar Rift to the new Dalaran.

Artifact weapons: warlocks can only update their artifact weapons in Dreadscar Rift

Destruction (DPS):
--Scepter of Sargeras, staff
--relic slots: Fel, Fire, (initially locked) Fel

------

Notes from early on with the warlock:

My level 98 Destruction Warlock, Chronoslock, on 20170503 attained the

1. new Dalaran hearthstone
2. armor upgrades: 560 average to 587 average
3. from Stormwind Vanguard Staff (staff, level 685; replaced 536)
4. from Accolade of House Wrynne (trinket, level 685; replaced 565)
5. from Signet of Stormwind (ring, level 640; replaced 515)
6. an invitation from the faction 'Council of the Black Harvest.'
7. There was a summoning; the demon showed, then the demon imprisoned my warlock and 3 others.
8. One obtains 'A Tome of Blighted Instruments' then tries to escape.
9. I got the book, got away from the demons, but hearthing back to Dalaran did not constitute escape.  Crap.
10. Start over.
11. Did the same stuff, only more efficiently.  Worked this time.  Go figure.
12. A portal to the warlock meeting place seems to be the Ring underneath Dalaran in what was called the Underbelly.
13. Got the quest to get the  Destruction artifact weapon.
14. Finished the quest, got the weapon
15. Got the invite to the order hall
16. Got my character installed as leader (Netherlord)
17. Got my artifact weapon properly initialized at the artifact forge.

2018-0202_Battle for Azeroth pre-order goodies

Battle for Azeroth (pre-order, 31jan2018)

Bias: Of my 33 characters, 7 are Horde, 26 are Alliance.  Of my ten (10) characters at level 110, only 1 is Horde, while 9 are sensible members of the non-bastard Alliance.

Setting:
Planet: Azeroth, after the Legion was taken out.  The warring sides are the traditional Horde versus Alliance.  Both are looking for reinforcements to their ranks.
Leaders:
Anduin Llane Wrynn, King of Stormwind, leader of the Alliance, and
Sylvanas Windrunner, Warchief of the Horde.

Purpose of the preorder:
Make money for Blizzard
Get new BfA appropriate armour: my lead Legion character had armour iLevel 928.  After the pre-launch patch, that same armour was level 210, 208 (a couple days later), then 204 (a few more days later.  During the pre-launch patch, moving up to 212 was not especially difficult using the world quests.
Get a new weapon: my glorious artifact weapons were all totally castrated.  May you be damned, Blizzard.  The new replacement weapons are monstrously weak, but they work in BfA.  So get a round of new weapons ASAP.

Introduce two new races per faction.
Void Elves and Lightforged Draenei (Alliance).
High Mountain Tauren and Nightfallen Elves (Horde)

After the actual start of BfA, there will be even more allied races.

Introduce requirements (2  per race) enabling the user to access the races.

Standard purchase reward: user gets to advance an existing character to level 110, or start a new character at level 110.

Deluxe purchase reward: everything in standard, plus mounts and pets

Why go ahead with the pre-purchase:
The enabling quests might take most users a long time.  For instance, I am still working on "Revered" from Argussian Reach (01mar2018).  Exalted is required.  On the other hand, I witnessed players getting access to the new races on 01feb2018.

After a re-launch, or sooner, your 110 level characters should get mail and video from High King Anduin (Alliance) or Warchief Sylvanus (Horde).  Meet your respective leader where they have indicated that your character go.

Next travel step:
Alliance:
Get to Stormwind City, one way or another.
Fly, ride, or walk to Olivia's Pond.  You should be able to see the new Embassy building.
High King Anduin Wrynne awaits within, along with kings, queens, and distinguished leaders.

Horde;
Go fuck yourself.
Less seriously, get to Orgrimmar, the Horde capital.  When the goblin filth joined the Horde in the Cataclysm expansion, Orgrimmar suddenly had a goblin slum.  Go there.
Find Warchief Sylvanus.  A motley crew of traitorous Horde backstabbers surround her.

What to do, Alliance:
Listen to High King Anduin Wrynne discuss the losses incurred by the Alliance and the growing militarization of the Horde forces.  Anduin introduces High Exarch Turalyan and Alleria Windrunner.

High Exarch Turalyan discusses Light-forged Draenei as allies. Speak to him. A dialog pops up giving requirements for creating a Light-forged Draenei character, and some of the abilities the new character would have.  One needs to have exalted status with the Army of the Light.  Also, complete 'you are prepared.'

Alleria speaks of Blood Elves who have studied the Void to the point where she can use it, rather than it use her.  Speaking to her yields pop-ups describing Void Elves' abilities.  One needs to achieve exalted status with the Argussian Reach faction, and complete 'you are prepared.'

What to do, Horde: 
Go straight to hell. Do not pass GO, do not collect 200 dollars.
Less seriously, listen to the Warchief, who introduces two useless scum.

Listen to the scum, then speak to them about requirements to create a character from the new races.

20170526: a few recommendations

Some best early decisions in the Draenor => Legion transitions.

1. One can get to Legion material from Draenor at level 98.  Speaking from the viewpoint of a post level 110 veteran, I'd say there are planning decisions one can make at level 98 to simplify things.

2. How many alts do you have?  If the answer is 'many,' read on.

3. Recommendations, early on.
  a. Choose your strongest level 98 to go forward.  'Favorite' is OK, but strongest is better.
  b. Get through the Scenario about landing on Broken Shore.
  c. Pick up all the armor and goodies from subsequent quests.  Try not to skip any quests, including the one that gets your to New Dalaran and a third hearth stone.  (Yes, third.)
  d. On the quest to get your order hall, do all possible parts.  Learn how to get there and get back to New Dalaran.
  e. Get the quest to obtain your first artifact weapon.  Get it.  Do not do ANYTHING ELSE until you get that first artifact weapon.  (First?  One can get a separate artifact weapon for each specialty your class has. For Monk, it's three: Brewmaster (tank), Mistweaver (healer), Windwalker (DPS); each has its own artifact weapon.)

4. You've got class order hall, artifact weapon, hearthstone to New Dalaran.
  a. Get the quest to choose the first campaign for your order hall.
  b. This starts your campaign in one of the following regions: Val'sharah, Azsura, High Mountain, or Stormheim.  The sub-regions Suramar and Broken Shore are intrinsically level 110, so you cannot start there.
  c. This is the start of your work in the Broken Isles.-----------------------------

5. There are a few common things to do early on.
  a. Your opponents, wherever you choose to start, will be at your level.  Well, except in Suramar, which always seems to be level 110.
  b. Start any quest line.  Follow it as far as you can.
  c. Get flight points as you go.
  d. Do not leave the region until you have reached 'Honored' reputation for the dominant faction.

6. Flight.
  a. Once you have reached 'Honored' for five dominant factions, you can get the 'pick me up if I'm under the sky' taxi service.  This is great.  Once you have finished a harsh quest, you usually have to fight your way out of the bad region you are in.  The taxi service saves you from most of this.
  b. To get the license to fly your own bird, much more is required:
     
i. Get the Exploration achievement for each of the sub-regions
Val'Sharah,
Azsura,
High Mountain,
Stormheim,
Suramar, and
Broken Shore.
   
ii. Reach reputation 'Revered' with all of:
Dreamweavers,
Wardens,
Vrykul,
Court of Farondis,
High Mountain,
Nightfallen, and
Army of Legionfall.
   
iii. Complete the 5 Loremaster achievements:
Azsura Matata (five parts),
Ain't No Mountain High Enough (seven parts),
That's Val'Sharah Folks (seven parts),
Good Suramaritan (eleven parts),
Vrykul Story Bro (eight parts).

-----Use your Achievements pane to check your progress on these Loremaster achievements. Each of these parts consists of a quest line which consists of 10 to 25 quests.

20170429: Demon Hunters and Professions

Demon hunters start at level 98.  What is their overall initial state?

1. Pieces that start rather nicely:

1. Armor: your average iLevel is 660, which is rather nice.  It would take some definite effort (gold, dungeons, nasty quest chains) to get it otherwise.
2. Your character starts with four 20 slot bags.  This would also be expensive.
3. Your character starts with a viable weapon that is good enough to let you get your first artifact weapon.

2. Professions: start quite unevenly.

1. The common professions (First Aid, Cooking, Fishing, Archaeology) all start at 1/75.
2. The optional professions Gathering (Herbalism, Skinning, Mining) and Construction (Weaponsmithing, Jewelcrafting, Engineering, Herbalism, Alchemy, Leatherworking) also start at 1/75.
3. Normally ('before Warlords of Draenor') one with 1/75 must only gather low-level materials, and construct only low-level products for which one already has recipes.
4. That means that, normally, the Demon Hunter would have to go back to Stormwind, Goldshire, and surroundings to work with the lowest of the low critters, herbs, and ore deposits.
5. Thankfully, Blizzard changed everything in WoD.
6. Take First Aid and Skinning for instance.
7. Usually one would have to work up from level 1 in skinning to level 601 just to start skinning in Draenor.
8. Instead, one can skin Draenor animal monsters with skinning at level one, not 601.  These same animals will drop Fine Fur.  Fine Fur can be used in First Aid (even if you are at level 1 in First Aid) to make Draenor level bandages. 
9. For instance, by DH harvested 102 Fine Fur by killing elephants, wolves, and giant birds.  I converted the Fine Fur to bandages in lots of 4, yielding +4 on First Aid per lot.  So...100 Fine fur from pre-skinning gave me +100 in First Aid, even though my character started at 1/75 in First Aid.  The parallel skinning results lifted my skinning level by over 100.
10. Fishing is another place where Blizzard made allowances.  After some enabling quests, one has an official Fishing Shack on the Garrison property.
11. There are daily fishing quests from the Fishing Shack.  Each success is worth +15 (yes, fifteen) in the fishing level.
12. To make things even nicer, the products of filleting the fish can be used in first aid to produce anti-poison and anti-venom products that further level up First Aid. 
13. Fish fillets can be used in Draenor cooking to level up cooking.
14. At level 96, one's Garrison gets a quest that enables an herb garden to be built.  Herbs mature everyday, and even with a low level herbalism initial rating, one can level up quickly, at about +8 per day.
15. Mining gets engaged early on.  Even with a low initial rating, the garrison mine allows for +8 or so mining improvement per day.
16. Engineering, Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, and Inscription also get boosts from WoD's new design permissiveness, but not nearly as good as with fishing/first aid/skinning/herbalism.
17. Archaeology, as usual, gets little respect.  One starts at 1/75, but one can do archaeology on the planet Draenor and also in the new continent Broken Lands on Azeroth.

20170412: Death Knight Order Hall

Death Knight Order Hall

Location:
Planet: Azeroth
Continent: Eastern Kingdoms
Region: Eastern Plaguelands
Where: Acherus: the Ebon Hold, a fort floating above Light's Hope Chapel near the eastern border
Specifically: the whole fort is devoted to Death Knights
Faction: the Ebon Knights

Your title in the order hall: Deathlord (one word)

What one does there:
Get quests
Set missions
--as in Lords of Draenor, the Legion missions are done by named NPCs.
--examples: Thassarian,
--also available: nameless followers (ghouls of one sort or another)
Upgrade permanent followers from mission rewards
Do order research: most of this is done at the 110 level
Edit the artifact weapon at the weapon forge.  This is the only place for Death Knights to update traits.
Train temporary troops; here called 'ghouls'
Engrave weapons with enchantments
As one accomplishes more, be able to change the weapon's appearance with the artifact forge

How to get there:
Every Death Knight has a spell that invokes a portal to Acherus.  Only Death Knights can go through one of these, and one Death Knight may not use another's portal.

Return from Acherus:
There is a portal to the new Dalaran floating over the Broken Isles.
Alternately, fly out to the Eastern Plaguelands.

Artifact weapons: (can only be updated in Temple of the Five Dawns)

Blood (Tank):
--Maw of the Damned, two-handed axe
--relic slots: Blood, Shadow, (initially locked) Iron

Unholy (DPS):
--Apocalypse, two-handed sword
--relic slots: Fire, Shadow, (initially locked) Blood

Frost (DPS):
--Blades of the Fallen Prince; two one-handed swords (Frostreaper and Icebringer)
--relic slots: Frost, Shadow, (initially locked) Frost

20170412: Druid Order Hall

Druid Order Hall

Location:
Planet: Azeroth
Continent: Broken Isles
Region: Val'sharah
Where: the Emerald Dream subregion of Val'sharah
Specifically: the Dreamgrove, from a portal in the Emerald Dream
Faction: 

What you are called there: Archdruid

What one does there:
Get quests
Set missions using NPC followers
--known NPCs, such as Naralex and Zen'tabra
--train and use nameless troops, here Dreamgrove treants; cost for training is in Order resources
Upgrade followers from mission rewards
Do order research
Edit the artifact weapon at the weapon forge.  This is the only place for druids to update traits within the artifact weapons.
Train temporary troops; these are called treants (rather like Lord of the Rings treants)


How to get there:
Every druid (of any race) has a skill called Dreamwalk, which teleports the druid to the Emerald Dream, which is sort of a place, sort of a state of mind.  Within the Emerald Dream are a number of portals.  Choose the portal called The Dreamgrove.

Return from The Dreamgrove:
Take the portal back to the Emerald Dream.  Act like it's a physical place and walk out into Val'Sharah.
First alternately, there is a flight master in The Dreamgrove.
Second alternately, use the Dalaran hearthstone to return to the new Dalaran floating above the Broken Isles.
Third alternately, there is a direct portal to new Dalaran in the Dreamgrove.

Artifact Weapons for Druids:

Balance (DPS; Moonkin form):
--Scythe of Elune: two-handed staff
--relics: shadow, life, (initially locked) shadow

20170412: Paladin Order Hall

Paladin Order Hall (Sanctum of Light)

Location:
Planet: Azeroth
Continent: Eastern Kingdoms
Region: Eastern Plaguelands
Where: Light's Hope Chapel, toward the eastern border
Specifically: under the floorboards in the chapel itself

Your title: Highlord (one word)

What one does there:
Get quests
Set missions executed by NPC followers
--get armor for followers for harder later missions
--get artifacts that strengthen your weapon
--get buffs for followers
Do order research; this needs to be complete before the third relic slot is unlocked
Edit the artifact weapon at the weapon forge.  This is the only place for paladins to update traits.
Train temporary troops; here called 'squire squads'
One uses 'order resources' as currency to grease most of these operations.

How to get there:
1. If you are in the Eastern Kingdoms, fly to Light's Hope Chapel; walk in.

2. Hearth into the Dalaran that lies above the Broken Isles in the Legion expansion.  Inside the Kirin Tor building, teleport to the inner part of the building.  There is a portal to the Dalaran crater that is from the pre-Lich King period.  There is an immediate drop upon arrival.  Use some protection to avoid the damage from the long drop.  From the bottom of the crater, fly to Light's Hope Chapel to the east.

3. In the Greyfang Enclave building in new Dalaran, there is a portal up one flight of stairs that activates when a paladin is near it.  Take it for direct teleport.

Return from Light's Hope Chapel:
In the order hall there is a portal to the new Dalaran floating over the Broken Isles.
Alternately, fly out of Light's Hope Chapel to the Eastern Plaguelands or other destination.

Artifact weapons: (can only be updated in Sanctum of Light)

Protector (Tank):
--Truthguard, Shield and Oathseeker, one-handed sword
--relics: holy, iron, (initially locked) shadow

Holy (Healer):
--The Silver Hand, two-handed mace
--relics: holy, life, (initially locked) holy

Retribution (DPS):
--Ashbringer, two-handed sword
--relics: holy, fire, (initially locked) holy

20170412: Monk Order Hall

Monk Order Hall

Location:
Planet: Azeroth
Continent: Unknown, but sort of near Pandaria
Region: the Flying Island
Where: the Flying Island, the newbie region of Pandas
Specifically: the Temple of the Five Dawns in the center of the island

Your title in the order hall: Grandmaster (one word)

What one does there:

1. Get quests from NPCs
2. Set missions using NPC followers
   --known NPCs like Taran Zhu, Chen Stormstout, Li Li Stormstout
   --a few new NPCs, like
   --renewable temporary troops


3. Upgrade followers from mission rewards: the NPC followers have iLevels that have to be increased in order to do tougher missions
4. Do order research: one must do this in order to unlock the third relic slot for your weapon.
5. Edit the artifact weapon at the weapon forge.  This is the only place for monks to update traits.  The forge is in the center of the Temple at the top level, on the face of the big turtle statue there.
6. Train temporary troops; here troops are called '{Ox, Tiger} x {initiates, adepts}'; the troops cost order resources and last exactly one mission
7. Get buffs from the Stormstout Brewery
8. Buy Grandmaster armor and armor upgrades after passing a variety of milestones

How to get there:
Every monk (of any race) has a skill called Zen Meditation.  Use this to travel to the Temple.

Return from the Flying Island:
Use Zen Return to get back to where you came from.
Alternately, use the Dalaran hearthstone to return to the new Dalaran floating above the Broken Isles.
After some leveling, there is a portal from the Island to Dalaran.

Artifact weapons: (can only be updated in Temple of the Five Dawns)

Brewmaster (Tank):
--Fu Shan, the Wanderer's Companion; two-handed staff
--relic slots: Life, Storm, (initially locked) Iron

Mistweaver (Healer):
--Sheilun, Staff of the Mists; two-handed staff
--relic slots: Frost, Life, (initially locked) Storm

Windwalker (DPS):
--Al'Burq, Fists of the Heavens; fist weapons
--relic slots: Storm, Iron, (initially locked) Storm

20170413: Demon Hunter Order Hall

Demon Hunter Order Hall

Location:
Planet: Azeroth
Continent: The Broken Isles
Region: Floating spaceship; has a helmsman and a control room
Where: Above Broken Isles, though peaking off the sides, looks like another dimension
Specifically: Mardum, the Shattered Abyss

Your title in the order hall:

What one does there:

1. Get quests from NPCs
2. Set missions using NPC followers and the scouting table
   --a few named NPCs, like Altruis the Sufferer, Asha Ravensong, Kor'vas Bloodthorn or Akama
   --unnamed temporary NPCs (troops) one buys with order hall resources
   --troops (Ashtongue Warriors) only last one or two missions, then have to be refreshed.
   --costs: order hall resources for the missions
   --rewards: armor for followers; in-game gold; new quests; artifacts
   
3. Upgrade followers from mission rewards: the NPC followers have iLevels that have to be increased in order to do tougher missions
4. Do order research; this takes a considerable number of the currency called 'order resources' --one absolutely has to do order research to unlock the third relic slot on your artifact weapon!
5. When one has enough artifact power assigned to the weapon, edit the artifact weapon at the weapon forge.  This is the only place for demon hunters to update traits.  The forge lies at the lowest level in the fort.
6. Buy demon hunter armor and armor upgrades from the Illidari Provisioner (higher level stuff) or from her assistant (the very lowest level DH armor).

How to get there:
Near Dalaran there are two floating islands.  One (Illidari Redoubt) holds a gate to the order hall.  Get close to that island, then take a running leap toward the island.  While in the air, engage the Glide skill.  Try to hit the green bull's eye on the island, then take the gate near the center of the island.  Just where the gate takes you is quite a mystery.

If you miss the island, all is not lost.  A strange bird catches you in the air, flies a bit, then drops you on the island.

Return from the Mardum:
There is a portal in the order hall to new Dalaran.

Artifact weapons: (can only be updated in Mardum)

Vengeance (Tank):
--Aldrachi Warblades, glaives
--relic slots: Iron, Arcane, (initially locked) Fel

Havoc (DPS):
--Twinblades of the Deceiver, glaives  (Verus and Muramas)
--relic slots: Fel, Shadow, (initially locked) Fel

20170315: The Return, Part 3. Early Legion material.

1. The biggest differences between Legion and previous WoW material.
1. Artifact Weapons.
1. Earlier WoW weapons could be leveled and improved, but this is a step beyond that.
2. Your artifact weapon will be your last weapon, in Legion, anyway, levels 101 to 110.
3. Artifact weapons allow for leveling, from the initial iLevel 750 to well over iLevel 900.  This helps your average armour level grow significantly.
4. Beyond the iLevel, the artifact weapons have an associated large tree of nodes that can be grown by the player.  The nodes have levels.
5. The levels of the nodes strengthen or alter existing skills, and sometimes create all new skills that are few but extremely powerful.
6. Buying a traditional WoW weapon that is similar or better just will not happen.
7. One evolves the artifact weapon through joining artifacts or relics to the weapon.  Such artifacts are obtained at the end of hard quest changes, from boss drops, or from raiding treasure chests.
8. Smaller quest drops or field drops allow increase of node levels through 'artifact power.'  As one spends artifact power on node level increases, the cost for the next bump goes up.
9. The first bump cost is 300; the next is 325, after that 350 and so on.  At level 13, the cost to level up goes from 1000 artifact power to 6875.  Later on there are even bigger jumps.
10. Each artifact weapon allows for the installation of 3 relics.  The relics enable level increases of the weapon itself, plus an increment in a single node.  For instance, a relic might increase the iLevel  of the weapon by +2 (early acquisitions, when the character is around level 101) to +56 (later in the game, character at 110, tougher quest chains or raids).
11. The relics come in types: Frost, Iron, Storm, Blood, Holy, Life, Fel, Shadow, Fire.
12. Relics can occasionally be purchased at the Auction House. Look under 


2. Armor improvements.
1. Each class/specialization has a primary statistic: Strength, Agility, or Intellect.
2. When a character switches specialization, say Monk/Mistweaver => Monk/Windwalker, the primary statistic might change. In this example, Intellect => Agility.
3. In Legion, the statistic (Strength, Agility, Intellect) for most armor pieces changes when the specialization changes.
4. This is true for (head, shoulders, chest, wrist, hands, belt, legs, boots), but not for the decorations (neck, shirt, cape, tabard, rings (2), trinkets (2)).
5. When making weapon sets for characters, one good piece of armor for the head will work for any specialization.  However, a trinket, for example, might have a fixed primary statistic, say Agility.  When switching to a specialization using Intellect, one needs to get a piece of armor with Intellect or just use one that has neither.


3. Specialization switching is easier and cheaper.
1. When switching specializations, the artifact weapon is switched automatically in your armor set.
2. The primary statistic (Strength, Agility, Intellect) is automatically switched on eight pieces of armor (see above).
3. This makes it unnecessary to have separate armor for the eight most expensive pieces.
4. However, take care with the choices for the decorations.  If you have a trinket, for example, that has only Agility as a perq statistic, switching to an Intellect or Strength specialization renders the trinket almost useless.
5. If you have all three artifact weapons (two for Demon Hunters), and you have chosen decorations carefully, selecting the specializations automatically accomplishes the full armor set change.


4. The game recommends pursuing more than one specialization for a given single character.
1. I took my lead monk to level 101 as a Mistweaver (healer).  I chose Windwalker (DPS) for the second artifact weapon to pursue.
2. The game suggested I look for a second artifact weapon.  The second go was easier since I started at a higher rank and was familiar with the process by then.
3. After playing with the Windwalker for a while, I noticed that the quest giver offered a quest to start looking for an artifact weapon for the third Monk specialization, Brewmaster (tank).
4. I had not played a tank for five years or so, but I thought, why not.  See what it's like.
5. I got through levels 106 to 110 as Brewmaster faster than I did levels 98 to 105.  Brewmaster is really good for quest chains in the Broken Isles, where mobs tend to gang up on you, and are fast relative to what I was used to from Mists of Pandaria.
6. Keeping separate artifact weapons of Mistweaver, Windwalker, and Brewmaster approximately equal in strength has been challenging.  Still, this seems a good idea, since I might start dungeons and quests again.  I'm not sure whether to go with DPS (probable for dungeons) or healer (most of my WoW experience) or tank.


5. As in Warlords of Draenor, Legion characters get followers that one can send on missions.
1. The followers are more configurable in Legion.
2. One of the followers will, at your choice, follow you around on the Broken Islands to assist in your questing.
3. Some of the rewards in the follower quests are armor upgrades to the followers.
4. After level 110, followers get a listed iLevel, which starts at 760.  The armor upgrades increase the iLevel of the followers.  Some quests will not start unless the followers are above a certain level.
5. Followers, as opposed to your character, continue getting experience after level 110.  Followers are first green (ordinary), then progress to blue (kinda special), then progress to purple (more special).
6. After a time, your followers have to be purple with iLevel 830 or more, then 850 or more.
7. All missions cost order resources.
8. The missions give better rewards after a while, but never great.


2. Early tasks that one must do to continue.
1. Do the Alliance or Horde quests that lead to the Broken Isles.
2. Do the return quests. By this time, you'll have some significant armor upgrades.
3. Get the quest that lets you observe the teleportation of Dalaran to the Broken Isles.
4. Do the quest sequence that allows you to get your first artifact weapon.  This quest is class-specific, and on the difficult side.  The artifact weapon is likely a big armor level boost; the weapon is usually iLevel 750, a big jump up from WoD levels.
5. Also, the artifact weapon has an entire tree within it that allows improvement through getting rewards that include 'artifact power.'
6. Your single artifact weapon grows with you for levels 99 to 110.


3. Around level 102, one might get the option of pursuing a second artifact weapon.
1. For example, I got my first artifact weapon as a Mistweaver Monk, around level 99.
2. I got some advancement through artifact power.
3. Later I got a summons to the home region of the Monks, which was updated from the Pandaria expansion to the Legion expansion.
4. Then I got a chance to do quests to get an artifact weapon suitable for Windwalker or Brewmaster Monks. I chose Windwalker.
5. After completing those tasks, I was asked whether I wanted to get a Brewmaster weapon. I passed on that.
6. After attaining the second weapon, it is a good time to configure a second armor set in the Character pane.
7. After I equipped the new fist weapons, I went through the talent tree, and chose talents for Windwalker, then ordered the skill bars.
8. Fortunately, the Intellect rating I had for Mistweaver was automatically switched over to Agility when I activated Windwalker.
9. That represented a huge savings in not purchasing new armor.
10. Also, to interchange Mistweaver to Windwalker, I only need to activate the specialty and switch armor sets.
11. The choices in the Talent pane and in the skill bars are remembered and returned.
12. In DPS only classes (say Warlock), one can still choose among different specialties, such as Affliction versus Destruction versus Demonology.  There are separate Talent choices, skill choices, and weapon choices that can be interchanged quickly.

20170228: the return, part 2

The Return. Comments on changes, part 2.

Characters, Antonidas Realm, 2016-1228 to 2017-0216

Character	Class	Sub-Class	Level	Sub-Class	Level	Armor Level
Kronoszero	Druid	Balance	37	Balance	38	n/a
Kronosten	Priest	Discipline	53	Discipline	56	n/a
Kronosnine	Warlock	Affliction	64	Affliction	66	n/a
Chronosnine	Mage	Fire	86	Fire	86	n/a
Chronosone	Warrior	Arms	86	Arms	86	n/a
Plutozero	Hunter	Marksmanship	85	Marksmanship	86	n/a
Chronosten	Death Knight	Blood	86	Unholy	92	565
Kronosone	Paladin	Retribution	34	Retribution	100	648

For the Realm Uldum, same period:

Character	Class	Sub-Class	Level	Sub-Class	Level	Armor Level
Kronoshunter	Hunter	Marksmanship	52	Marksmanship	54	n/a
Chronosmage	Mage	Fire	86	Fire	88	n/a
Chronospriest	Priest	Discipline	90	Discipline	93	542
Chronoslock	Warlock	Affliction	90	Destruction	96	541
Chronosmonk	Monk	Mistweaver	90	Windwalker	95	550
Chronosdruid	Druid	Restoration	90	Balance	98	550
Chronoslycan	Death Knight	Blood	90	Unholy	100	596
Chronosmwone	Monk	Mistweaver	90	Mistweaver	102	696
Chronosdh	Demon Hunter	dne	98	Havoc	101	683

Qualitative changes:

1. New planet: Draenor; new player levels 91 to 100; new regions and many new quests
1. Moonshadow Valley--levels 90-92
2. Tanaan Jungle--level 100
3. Gorgrand--levels 92-94
4. Frostfire Ridge--90-92
5. Spires of Arak--96-98
6. Talador--levels 94-96
7. Nagrand--levels 98-100


2. Transition Activity: Pandaria expansion to Warlords of Draenor expansion
1. My level 90 characters from 2013 started my 2017 experience with this.
2. As part of a quest with Khadgar at the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands/Eastern Kingdoms/Azeroth...
3. ...go through the gate to Tanaan Jungle on Draenor
4. Dozens of quests.  One gets improved armor and lots of XP.
5. Shift to garrison site in Northern Shadowmoon Valley.
6. Continue the quest for armour until one can quest easily and use LFG for dungeons.
7. All that once fine 476, 483, 522 level armour from Pandaria raids and reputation: replace all of it.  You will need an average of around 520 just to get started on WoD dungeons.
8. Professions: if you were 600/600 before, you are nowhere now.  Start doing quests, killing monsters, and finding the right professions merchants.  Instead of trainers, most professions upgrades come from dropped scrolls that allow you to learn levels 601-700.


3. Alternate Transitions: Demon Hunters and straight to level 100 upgrades
1. Demon hunters start at level 98 and have an alternate route (through 75+ quests) to start in the Battle Isles.
2. In the Antonidas Realm, I used the Blizzard gadget (obtained by buying digital version of the Legion expansion) to promote my retribution Paladin from 34 directly to 100.
3. Demon hunters are heroic characters that have excellent armour and weapons.  Their quest line provides further excellent armour choices.  The skill set gets a nice workout during the 75+ quests.  Gliding is a nice borrow from Guild Wars II, and the eye-beams are fun for mass destruction of enemies.  Demon hunters start with average armour level at 660.  After the 75 or so quests, my Havoc (DPS) DH had armour level 683.
4. In similar fashion, the Paladin upgrade forced me to re-learn the typical Paladin skills. The initial new level 100 armour was rather nice as well.


4. Garrisons:
1. Do a few initial quests to get to Shadowmoon Valley, then build the first stage of your personal garrison (fort).  Upgrading the fort and getting new followers continues through level 100.
2. Get a new hearthstone for the garrison in addition to the original hearthstone.
3. Get your own fishing daily quests.
4. Get your own mining daily quests.
5. Get your own herbalism daily quests...all the harvesting sources.
6. Keep building as your accumulate garrison resources, gold, and followers.  Send your followers on garrison missions to level them up and get occasional armour rewards.
7. Cooperate with other parts of the Alliance (or Horde) to fight the Iron Horde.
8. Build (option) your own bank.
9. Build (option) your own auction house.


5. Transition from WoD (Warlords of Draenor) to Legion.
1. I have only four level 100+ (100, 100, 101, 102) characters, so my experience here is limited, to say the least.
2. WoD ends at level 100.  At level 98, WoD characters can start the Legion quests, which often yield armor fit for Legion environment.  Newfangled armour starts showing up at the Auction House at levels like 685 and 715.  Levels 98 to 101 are great for upgrading your average armor score.  Do the main quests.
3. Early on, a level 98+ character gets a quest that allows witnessing Dalaran's move to the Battle Isles.  In addition, one gets a third hearthstone, used only for returning to the new Dalaran, which is mildly re-designed from the old one.  In addition, one gets quests that enable flight paths from new Dalaran to the Battle Isles.

20170131: The Return. Comments on changes, part 1.

The Return. Comments on changes, part 1.
I first started WoW in 2007, after The Burning Legion (2nd expansion) was released.
I left WoW in August of 2013, while Mists of Pandaria (4th expansion) was still current.
Since I left, two new expansions came out, Warlords of Draenor (5th expansion) and Legion (6th expansion).

1.  What did I miss most?
1. Flying.  Yes, it's a video game, but I love flying in WoW.
2. Exploring: seeing new areas, or finding nooks and crannies I missed before is great fun.
3. Running dungeons: free armour, defeating nasty monsters, seeing other players in combat action.
4. Questing: another source of armour, a great stimulus for exploration, gaining familiarity with the new material.
5. Raids: My level 90 characters had mostly raid armour, which let them be competent for most tasks in the game.  
6. The armour iLevels here were around 476 to 522; this includes some high-end quest and reputation based armour.


2.  The changes I've seen with Warlords of Draenor include:
1. Draenor as a separate planet, and a new large area to explore and quest in.
2. New dungeons peculiar to Draenor.  These all seem serviceable, and provide a supply of armour upgrades.
3. Garrisons.  Hm, both pluses and minuses here.
4. Raids: I've pretty much missed the boat on WoD raids, since Legion is already out and established.
5. Armour iLevels up into the 500s, 600s, and the 700s.
6. Crafting levels had a ceiling of 600 in MoP.  In WoD, this was raised to 700.


3. The changes I've seen with Legion include:
1. The Broken Isles as a new land mass in Azeroth, the base planet for WoW.
2. The Demon Hunter heroic class for Night Elves and Blood Elves only.
3. Armour iLevels up into the 900s.  Oi.
4. The character GUI widget (press C on keyboard), has added lists of attributes the character needs most in the top-down proper order.  This beats looking it up to make decisions about what armour to pursue.
5. Dalaran was moved from the Crystalsong Forest region in the continent of Northrend to the Broken Isles.  When a character reaches level 98, quests take the character to see this move.
6. New dungeons for Legion.  I have made a new Demon Hunter character, which has progressed from level 98 to level 101.  I have not done any dungeon runs yet.  I'll likely start with this character.
7. New raids for Legion.  I have not started this cycle either.  My DH qualifies, but just barely.  I'll need to do some reading to see the pitfalls for the various raids.
8. Crafting levels had a ceiling of 700 in WoD.  In Legion, this was raised to 800.


4. Adjustments.
1. My good and competent level 90 characters from MoP, despite all their raid experience, could not qualify for a single dungeon at first.
2. I had to get the armour average levels up over 500 to even get started in dungeons, then rise to 520, 540, 560 to progress in the WoD dungeons.
3. Garrisons take a lot of effort for paltry returns.  Perhaps I'm not doing it right yet. I have more garrison work to do with my eight lead characters, so I might change my mind on this issue.
4. I used the 'elevate an existing character to level 100' feature from buying Legion to change a level 34 paladin to a level 100 paladin.  The changes in armour, weaponry, and spell set were rather impressive.
5. I have a fair number of characters in the 80s levels.  Moving them up to 110 is going to take forever.
6. I changed my Restoration Druid to Balance Druid to make questing and dungeon runs easier and more enjoyable.
7. I changed my Blood Death Knight to an Unholy DK for the same reason.
8. I used the attribute order in the character GUI for my Windwalker monk (Agility > Critical Strike > Haste, and so on) to improve the character's effectiveness.
9. I have a reasonable familiarity with the Warlords of Draenor material, but I have barely found my footing with the Legion material.

cancelled the account

20130710, mercredi

I have found no reason to continue, and have had a lot of fun elsewhere.

If WoW gets rid of

1. pandas (unlikely)
2. Pokemon (unlikely)
3. endless dailies (unlikely)
4. et cetera, see previous posts

I'll think about returning.  It was mostly great fun, 2007 jan to 2013 aug (when subscription runs out; I won't be playing in the meantime).

20130521, mardi

Working on Guild Wars 1 for a while.

20130508: character developments

20130508, mercredi

The rule of six: why WoW looks like it's being sent into the sunset as a product.


Here are some examples to get us started.

A. Mistweaver monk.  The six skills are

1. Renewing Mist.
2. Uplift.
3. Soothing Mist.
4. Gift of the Serpent.
5. Revival.
6. Surging Mist.

When I run an LFR, I often have the WoW add-on tinyDPS active during the entire proceedings to catch statistics about the effects of my healing efforts.  My top six most productive skills are usually the six above.  Sometimes the order (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth most heals delivered) changes, but it's almost always the six above.

Before the disaster called 5.2 came out, I used Enveloping Mist instead of Uplift.  Now mana costs are too high, and I switched to skills based more on chi.   Occasionally, Spinning Crane Kick weasels its way onto the list when there are many, many multi-mob trash enemies to defeat.  Still, 99% of all my heals are done with six spells.

B. Restoration Druid.  The six skills are

1. Wild Growth.
2. Swiftmend.
3. Rejuvenation.
4. Lifebloom.
5. Tranquility.
6. Wild Mushroom: Bloom.

The order may vary from LFR to LFR, but it's always these six. When I switch off to other skills to any extent, I have always seen a drop in HPS.

C. Affliction Warlock.  The six skills are

1. Corruption.
2. Agony.
3. Unstable Affliction.
4. Curse of the Elements.
5. Malefic Grasp.
6. Drain Soul.

As before, the order may change, but it's always these six.  When I deviate from these six, my DPS drops.

D.  Discipline Priest.  This is slightly more complicated.

1. Penance.
2. Cascade.
3. Smite.
4. Power Word: Solace.
5. Mind Sear.
6. Power Word: Pain.

When time is not tight, I join LFRs as DPS since I cast spells on enemies for the most part.  On a good day, I'll rank around #15 in DPS, but #7 to as high as #3 in healing even though I try to cast few if any direct healing spells.

Discipline Priests proc Atonement (often 66% of my healing total) and Divine Aegis (another 20% or so of my healing) when they cast the first 4 skills listed above.  That is, there is no skill called Atonement, but when Penance is cast, it damages the enemy, and heals the Priest's allies.  This healing is attributed to Atonement.

When I get my spell power considerably higher, I intend to keep to this strict model.  I've seen Discipline Priests come in #1 in healing with only Atonement and Divine Aegis...so they've cast zero healing spells the entire LFR.  That's my goal for Kronospriest...as well as to be in the top ten consistently in overall damage done.

In the mean time, I use

1. Power Word: Shield
2. Power Word: Barrier
3. Desperate Prayer
4. Hymn of Hope
5. Shadowfiend

as stop gap measures to keep my character alive and to restore mana.  However, the more I use these, the more my productivity drops.

E. Fire Mage.  This is very direct.

1. Fireball.
2. Living Bomb.
3. Inferno Blast.
4. Pyroblast.
5. Molten Armor.
6. Combustion.

One should keep Molten Armor on all the time, and cast Fireball repeatedly.  Pepper enemies with Living Bomb.  Wait for Inferno Blast to light up, then invoke it.  (One sees 'heating up' on the screen.)  This usually makes Pyroblast an instant invocation rather than a slow one.  Use Pyroblast as often as possible.  Hit Combustion now and then, and you've got some great DPS.  Blizzard messes with this rat's nest of spells now and then, but those are most of the basics.

Repeat.

There are many other Fire Mage skills, but using other ones means a drop in productivity; that is, drop in DPS.

=========================================================

In MoP, these small skill sets are made strongly attractive.  That is, once you've found them (either by yourself, or on the internet, or from your friends) it's hard to move away from them to anything else because your DPS or HPS will drop.  Since the pattern repeats itself across classes, this seems to be by design. So what's the goal behind the design?

Since one can accomplish almost everything by using just 6 spells, why not simplify the WoW action bars?  I usually have 48 spots in my deployed action bars.  Clearly I don't need this.  One could drop the GUI down to say 12 spots total...so that WoW could look like a more fully featured version of Guild Wars.  I would guess this will start being bandied about sometime this calendar year.

When your company starts driving the product into being an imitation of an inferior rival, it usually means that the product is slated for the dust bin.  WoW has had a good run, but the direction the product is taking is not one that I find encouraging.

Anyway, have a good think about your characters...

1. Blizzard has decided which spells are your best choices.
2. Blizzard reduced the glyph system from 9 to 3 (the minor glyphs are meaningless).
3. Blizzard reduced the talent system from one talent point per level (before Cataclysm) to one talent point per two levels (Cataclysm) to one talent choice per 15 levels (the disaster of MoP). Often 4 or 5 of the six talent choices are useless or detrimental to the character...why choose any?

I suppose if one is 8 or so years old, these are 'good' changes, just like placing a copy of Pokemon inside WoW is a 'good' addition.  It's all easy to learn and fun to do...just six buttons to push, and little of that pesky configuration to do.

20130506, lundi
posted 20130508

A. Character status, armour: I have 6 characters left in the Dungeon Crusaders guild.  All of them are level 90.  So what is left is armour, crafts, and gold.  Let's look at armour changes first.

1. 498 Chronosmwone, Mistweaver monk
2. 482 Chronosdruid, Restoration Druid
3. 481 Chronoslock, Affliction Warlock
4. 480 Chronoslycan, Frost Death Knight
5. 475 Chronospriest, Discipline Priest
6. 467 Chronosmonk, Mistweaver/Windwalker monk

I've resorted to PvP to increase the rankings of my armour for the Druid, the Warlock, and the DK.  This was relatively quick for getting to average iLevel ~476.  Above that, I use LFR drops and valor point purchases.  For the 498 Mistweaver, I've stayed with only PvE armour, as I've done with the priest and the MW/WW monk.

The Windwalker armour is all based on agility, but advancement comes a lot quicker with Mistweaver.  So I'm going with 2 different sets for Chronosmonk: a pure agility set for DPS, and a mixed set for doing LFRs as Mistweaver.

For one reason or another, Chronosmwone remains my lead (most advanced) character, and I am aiming to get the average iLevel above 500.

I dropped the Shadow spec on the priest in favour of Discipline, which is where the character was most of its career.  Discipline is particularly good in LFRs, where I operate as DPS, but score well with healing due to procs to Atonement and Divine Aegis.

B. Crafts.

Both Kronospriest and Chronosmonk are leatheworking/skinning.    As I saw in the Darkmoon Faire, the monk still needs to do some finishing in both.  Chronosmwone and Chronoslycan are both 600/600 in herbalism/inscription.  The Druid is 600/600 in tailoring/enchanting, while the Warlock is 600/600 in mining/engineering.  So I've covered only 6 areas in crafting.  In retrospect, I wish I had planned that better.

Most of the characters are at the place where they can purchase recipes for the 'higher order' products, such as 458 leather armour and the like.  I have a lot to do there.

C. Gold.

I could use more of this before the next expansion to make the transition easier.  So I need to do more crafting and selling in the auction house.

20130330: character updates.

20130330, samedi

A. Status updates, Uldum realm characters.

1. 90Chronosmwone, iLevel 492, mistweaver monk
2. 90Chronoslock, iLevel 481, affliction warlock
3. 90Kronospriest, iLevel 475, discipline priest
4. 90Chronosmonk, iLevel 462, windwalker monk
5. 90Chronoslycan, iLevel 447, frost death knight
6. 89Chronosdruid, iLevel 427, balance druid

B. Notes, Uldum characters.

1. Mistweaver--I have upped the average iLevel from running LFR6 (Last Stand of the Zandalari) and from purchases made available from the Shado-pan Assault reputation.  While 5.2 has increased mana problems overall, it has also increased the chi production rate.  Using this, I've kept the Mistweaver viable by changing spell sequencing, notably invoking Uplift frequently.  I'm hoping to get some more 502 gear in LFR7, but it has not happened yet.
2. Warlock--my misadventure into PvP helped get my armour level high enough to run all 7 LFRs, which is great.  I still have a lot to do on making this character stronger as DPS.
3. Priest--I changed my alt-spec from Shadow back to Discipline.  Now this character is almost OK as DPS in raids, but has a large side effect of healing with Atonement and Divine Aegis.  Once I get the spell power up significantly, the priest should become my lead character.
4. Windwalker--who cares?  Not I.
5. Frost DK--again, who cares?
6. Balance druid--finally achieved character level 89.  I revisited the character's alt-spec of Restoration, filled it out (talent choices, glyphs, action bars), and will start in as healer sometime after I hit level 90.

C. Antonidas realm.

1. I've got 11 characters there, one around level 10, the rest levels 32 to 86.
2. I should revitalize this group.  It has a full set of crafts, I think, which will ameliorate the lack of guild membership.
3. I learned a lot about WoW (particularly PvE) with Dungeon Crusaders in the Uldum realm, and should apply that to my older, nostalgic favorites.

D. Other realms.

1. I have ignored my orc, blood elf, and goblin characters for far too long.
2. It's interesting to run dungeons that I've run as Alliance in Horde mode, and observe the chatter.  A lot of it is just the same, and some not.  It's often quite a hoot.