Choose my Adventure: Insert funny title about being level 25 here
by Alex Ziebart 
Jun 5th 2009 at 1:00PM
WoW.com readers, it's up to you to decide the fate of Turpen the Gnome Warlock with Choose My Adventure. Help test the site's new features by participating in this event, casting your vote toward the many aspects of Turpen and following his exploits on Alex Ziebart's WoW.com profile!
Well, you guys wanted me to run Deadmines. As you can see, I ran Deadmines. Many thanks go to Urse (Healer), Child (Tank), and Sneafoo (Noob Rogue of Doom) for 4-manning the thing with me. Urse was pretty overleveled for the place so healing was hilariously easy, but Sneafoo made up for it by starting the run at level 12 and aggroing Gruul from the pirate ship.
I went further than that, too. I didn't stop at Deadmines, I did Wailing Caverns, Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep as well. I was kicking around the idea as soon as someone suggested Deadmines, but I didn't think I would manage to land a group for either of them. When I went out to the Barrens to get my Succubus (Angva) at level 20, that sealed the deal for me. I picked up the quest The Orb of Soran'ruk, and despite the fact that its quest rewards sucked, it gave me more reason to try and get the groups together. I put out a call to all of the various resources I knew, LFG and community chat channels (your server probably has a few good ones) and all of that, and managed to score a few groups.
Well, you guys wanted me to run Deadmines. As you can see, I ran Deadmines. Many thanks go to Urse (Healer), Child (Tank), and Sneafoo (Noob Rogue of Doom) for 4-manning the thing with me. Urse was pretty overleveled for the place so healing was hilariously easy, but Sneafoo made up for it by starting the run at level 12 and aggroing Gruul from the pirate ship.
I went further than that, too. I didn't stop at Deadmines, I did Wailing Caverns, Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep as well. I was kicking around the idea as soon as someone suggested Deadmines, but I didn't think I would manage to land a group for either of them. When I went out to the Barrens to get my Succubus (Angva) at level 20, that sealed the deal for me. I picked up the quest The Orb of Soran'ruk, and despite the fact that its quest rewards sucked, it gave me more reason to try and get the groups together. I put out a call to all of the various resources I knew, LFG and community chat channels (your server probably has a few good ones) and all of that, and managed to score a few groups.
The 5-man dungeons were absolutely a ton of fun, but is that really surprising? Even though I consider myself a high-end raider, I really love 5-man content. There's plenty of room for both in the game, and I've long held the opinion that each content patch should have a 5-man to accompany the raid zone. 5-mans have incredible longevity if done well and given desirable rewards. I don't know about your servers, but Magisters' Terrace still sees a ton of action on mine. The gear was incredible at level 70, it was acceptably challenging, and it remains relevant through its vanity rewards like the Swift White Hawkstrider (which I use and adore on my main) and the Phoenix Hatchling.
While Shadowfang, Wailing Caverns and Blackfathom lack some of those lasting rewards, I still enjoyed running them. Since they lack those rewards, they've all sort of fallen by the wayside so I was glad to have some actual reason to run them. Many thanks to Jillanus, Tempt, Retica, and a couple of the folk that helped out with Deadmines for tagging along on these somewhat less rewarding runs.
My swag:
Not a bad haul, really. Some of it is so-so but certainly better than what I had before them.
Playing The Warlock
So there's that about what instances I did, now let's talk about the class. A lot of my grievances for last time such as a lack of mana regen and all of that have pretty much gone away. Once I got to my 20s, I started getting the many talents and abilities that make the Warlock a strong soloing class. Fel Concentration was a recent acquisition, and Life Tap without talents or much spell power seems sort of like you're whipping yourself just because you like pain. It's much more useful with Improved Life Tap and some spell power behind it. I definitely feel better about my downtime while soloing now than I did last week.
The stretch of levels I'm in right now isn't exactly the greatest place to start min/maxing, but figuring out how to use my spells in instances was pretty interesting. I'm having a rough time feeling out when to re-apply my DoTs on a mob, or to just blast it because it wouldn't be worth it to reup them. It's all part of the process! Advice is welcome, but I suspect there's no simple rule of thumb. All mobs have different health pools, so it's a matter of adjusting.
Talents
There are my talents as they are right now. That one, single point in Improved Corruption bugs the crap out of me, but it seemed one of the better options to get to the tier 4 talents. I plan on filling out the last point in Nightfall (as that's what I was told to do on my blog) and from there... that's your call. Hit my blog, give me some advice over there. Don't just give me a fully made talent spec, that's no good! Tell me exactly where my next 5-10 talent points should go, and explain why. Remember, you are playing a role in Turpen's success. Justify your suggestions so I know why you're making the choices that you are.
The Quests
Last week, you all voted that I go to Westfall rather than continue on in Loch Modan. After finishing up a few quests I had in my quest log, I hopped on the Deeprun Tram and made the trip down. While Loch Modan still had a bit of freshness for me since I haven't gone there often over the years, I know Westfall like the back of my hand. For the longest time I really liked Westfall, so I would take all of my alts there. When everyone started going nuts over the Draenei starter zones, I was still running alts to Westfall. I knew it well enough that I could go in, get all the necessary quests, and be out in a couple hours. Even pre-nerf Defias Pillagers weren't immune to my brutal efficiency.
There has been one roadbump in my Westfall desctruction, however. Each and every time. The Defias Messenger. Yeah, sure, you can just wait in Moonbrook for him to either patrol back or respawn, but holy crapola. Do you know how long it takes him to RP walk across the entire zone? I was sitting in Moonbrook for a half hour waiting for his stupid face to show up. Yeah, I could've wandered off down the road to hunt him down, but then what would have happened if somebody killed him while I was working my way up the zone? Yep, would've spawned back in Moonbrook and I've missed my chance. This quest sucks, yo. In fact, it sucks so hard that I kind of want to spell it 'sux' to emphasize just how much suck it sucks.
But I killed him eventually, so woo.
My brutal efficiency (with that single exception) caused me to finish up Westfall really, really quickly. Rather than sitting around doing nothing all week, I did a little questing in Redridge between instance runs, and I was reminded why I hate that zone. It's basically nothing but tightly packed Humanoids that all either run or call for help. It was even worse before the removal of elite status from many of the mobs, so I was glad that was gone.
Redridge is also home to what is probably one of the most epic (also annoying) escort quests in the game. Missing in Action's Corporal Keeshan is kind of a badass all things considered, despite the annoyance of the quest. He's a legit tank, even when he's wrapped in bloodied bandages. Play your cards right and he'll taunt things right off of you and let you blast away. Very convenient. Still, the escort was way too long. I didn't exactly time it, but I'm pretty sure the escort took a good 20-30 minutes or more to go from the back of the cave to Lakeshire. Considering the next person that shows up to do the quest needs to wait for him to respawn back there, they could be camping out in a dank corner of a cave for a half hour. That's not good.
So now comes the part where we decide where I go. At level 25, we have three more choices. We're tied to Hillsbrad, Duskwood, and the Wetlands until around level 30, so...
Level 30 will come up pretty quick, most likely. That'll open up some additional zones to mix it up a little more and give me somewhere else to go. After I finish up the zone picked above, where would you guys like to see Turpen go?
Odds and Ends
In other news, I forgot I had this Kharanos Gift Voucher in my bag from when I first rolled the character. My WoW account is a Collector's Edition, so I get a fancy pet each time I roll an alt. I usually default to the Panda because it's the cutest. The Zergling is sort of ugly, and I've only recently played a Diablo game so the Mini Diablo is sort of meh. The Diablo might go nicely with a Warlock, though. Which should I pick?
The whole leveling process has been very cool. I've had a lot of readers sending me tells in-game (which I welcome, by the way) and that's been neat. I've had a number of people say they want to race me to 80, but keep in mind that that's probably a bad idea. Level at your own pace, not mine! Remember, leveling this character is practically part of my job now, so when I actually take some time to level, I'm going to be doing it aggressively. It's a work ethic thing, not a gameplay thing. Don't inflict yourself with it unless gaming is serious business to you! Still, I love chatting with you guys, so don't be afraid to stop by and say hello. All of you have been incredibly kind. Well, most of you...
Now a question for the ages: What else do you want to see Turpen do? More instances? Some PvP? Some other crazy random other thing? Try to be as specific as possible in your requests! Heck, do you have any questions for me? About the class, or my tradeskills? About my experiences? Ask them here or on my feed! If you ask on my feed, you're more likely to get a quick response. If you ask here, you're probably going to be waiting until next week.
Before I close up, remember that you can follow Turpen's progress visually in my WoW.com gallery dedicated to him. I'm uploading a screenshot of him at every level, and it's all completely up to date. If you want to see how he grows progressively more awesome looking, that's the place to look.
I'll decide where to go next according to the status of the polls embedded in this post at midnight tonight, but I'll leave them open awhile longer so you can all see the results. If you don't get your vote in before midnight, it won't count. How do you like dem apples?
The Quests
Last week, you all voted that I go to Westfall rather than continue on in Loch Modan. After finishing up a few quests I had in my quest log, I hopped on the Deeprun Tram and made the trip down. While Loch Modan still had a bit of freshness for me since I haven't gone there often over the years, I know Westfall like the back of my hand. For the longest time I really liked Westfall, so I would take all of my alts there. When everyone started going nuts over the Draenei starter zones, I was still running alts to Westfall. I knew it well enough that I could go in, get all the necessary quests, and be out in a couple hours. Even pre-nerf Defias Pillagers weren't immune to my brutal efficiency.
There has been one roadbump in my Westfall desctruction, however. Each and every time. The Defias Messenger. Yeah, sure, you can just wait in Moonbrook for him to either patrol back or respawn, but holy crapola. Do you know how long it takes him to RP walk across the entire zone? I was sitting in Moonbrook for a half hour waiting for his stupid face to show up. Yeah, I could've wandered off down the road to hunt him down, but then what would have happened if somebody killed him while I was working my way up the zone? Yep, would've spawned back in Moonbrook and I've missed my chance. This quest sucks, yo. In fact, it sucks so hard that I kind of want to spell it 'sux' to emphasize just how much suck it sucks.
But I killed him eventually, so woo.
My brutal efficiency (with that single exception) caused me to finish up Westfall really, really quickly. Rather than sitting around doing nothing all week, I did a little questing in Redridge between instance runs, and I was reminded why I hate that zone. It's basically nothing but tightly packed Humanoids that all either run or call for help. It was even worse before the removal of elite status from many of the mobs, so I was glad that was gone.
Redridge is also home to what is probably one of the most epic (also annoying) escort quests in the game. Missing in Action's Corporal Keeshan is kind of a badass all things considered, despite the annoyance of the quest. He's a legit tank, even when he's wrapped in bloodied bandages. Play your cards right and he'll taunt things right off of you and let you blast away. Very convenient. Still, the escort was way too long. I didn't exactly time it, but I'm pretty sure the escort took a good 20-30 minutes or more to go from the back of the cave to Lakeshire. Considering the next person that shows up to do the quest needs to wait for him to respawn back there, they could be camping out in a dank corner of a cave for a half hour. That's not good.
So now comes the part where we decide where I go. At level 25, we have three more choices. We're tied to Hillsbrad, Duskwood, and the Wetlands until around level 30, so...
| Duskwood! | |
|---|---|
| Wetlands! | |
| Hillsbrad! |
Level 30 will come up pretty quick, most likely. That'll open up some additional zones to mix it up a little more and give me somewhere else to go. After I finish up the zone picked above, where would you guys like to see Turpen go?
| Stranglethorn Vale | |
|---|---|
| Arathi Highlands | |
| Desolace |
Odds and Ends
In other news, I forgot I had this Kharanos Gift Voucher in my bag from when I first rolled the character. My WoW account is a Collector's Edition, so I get a fancy pet each time I roll an alt. I usually default to the Panda because it's the cutest. The Zergling is sort of ugly, and I've only recently played a Diablo game so the Mini Diablo is sort of meh. The Diablo might go nicely with a Warlock, though. Which should I pick?
| Panda | |
|---|---|
| Zergling | |
| Diablo |
The whole leveling process has been very cool. I've had a lot of readers sending me tells in-game (which I welcome, by the way) and that's been neat. I've had a number of people say they want to race me to 80, but keep in mind that that's probably a bad idea. Level at your own pace, not mine! Remember, leveling this character is practically part of my job now, so when I actually take some time to level, I'm going to be doing it aggressively. It's a work ethic thing, not a gameplay thing. Don't inflict yourself with it unless gaming is serious business to you! Still, I love chatting with you guys, so don't be afraid to stop by and say hello. All of you have been incredibly kind. Well, most of you...
Now a question for the ages: What else do you want to see Turpen do? More instances? Some PvP? Some other crazy random other thing? Try to be as specific as possible in your requests! Heck, do you have any questions for me? About the class, or my tradeskills? About my experiences? Ask them here or on my feed! If you ask on my feed, you're more likely to get a quick response. If you ask here, you're probably going to be waiting until next week.
Before I close up, remember that you can follow Turpen's progress visually in my WoW.com gallery dedicated to him. I'm uploading a screenshot of him at every level, and it's all completely up to date. If you want to see how he grows progressively more awesome looking, that's the place to look.
I'll decide where to go next according to the status of the polls embedded in this post at midnight tonight, but I'll leave them open awhile longer so you can all see the results. If you don't get your vote in before midnight, it won't count. How do you like dem apples?
Filed under: Warlock, Analysis / Opinion, Instances, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
whalt Jun 5th 2009 1:18PM
You should go to desolace. It sucks getting there, but if you go once you are thirty and you get your mount it isn't so bad. I quested their on my warlock before all the mobs got nerfed and elites dissapeared almost entirely. It is a cool place full of demons and although you can't fear them you can a) banish them, and b) ENSLAVE them. There are all kinds of saytrs with neat abilities and infernals way to the south (btw you'll go their to get your infernal summoning ability if you do the questline) that are super fun to enslave and send into large packs of kodo's and centaurs. Plus if you get bored you can go swimming off the coast and open up traps for a Big Iron Fishing pole, assuming you don't have it already. Also, I find this to be an awesome idea for a column (maybe because I leveled my lock in vanilla when group quests actually took groups - lol) and so I'm eagerly awaiting more updates. Get out and get enslaving - :)
Cetha Jun 5th 2009 5:00PM
I agree with Desolace. Why have him go to stv where everyone goes. It would be more interesting I think for people to hear about a zone that mostly goes unused these days. Also wsg and ab are most fun in my experience at 29 39 and 49 so you should definitely swing in there.
Ailis Jun 5th 2009 9:23PM
Definitely Desolace - you get the quest line for the Scarlet Monastery which has some pretty nice rewards in itself. Plus it's something different from the same ole STV...
Keleron Jun 6th 2009 12:18AM
Exactly! As a Warlock this should be a no brainer. Desolace is filled with demons and fel energy.
Aureliusz Jun 6th 2009 6:07AM
Go to Desolace. A bunch of fun demons to enslave. Much fun shall ensue. Everyone who votes STV doesn't understand. :P
Hellscreamy Jun 6th 2009 8:08AM
I agree, Desolace is much more fun than Stranglethorn Vale. Although the jungle looks great, everyone goes there and it gets really boring after your 4th time or so. Desolace has some very interesting quests and the chain for Scarlet Monastery. Don't forget to pick up the two escorts that go past the Kolkar village and through the demon infested area, although they are 35+ quests. There is another escort quest in the village near Maraudon and some hidden treasure near the sea. I always go to Desolace instead of Stranglethorn Vale, although I do that because of all the gankers in STV.
Lasher Jun 8th 2009 9:45AM
He'll prolly have to do all 3 zones anyway, since only STV actually has enough quests to get you from 30 to 40, but at some point the quests will be too high level, so he'll have to switch for a few levels.
IMO, STV has the easiest level 30-ish quests. He can get 32-33 there, then move to Arathi and Desolace and do some quests there, then come back, so on and so forth.
Fung Jun 8th 2009 7:31PM
also a worthwhile low-level farmable as a lock w/ underwater breathing: big iron fishing pole. no idea what it sells for now, but a year ago it would occasionally net me 100g
Valorum Jun 5th 2009 1:18PM
Don't the Alliance Hillsbrad quests start at 30?
liu Jun 5th 2009 1:20PM
I think Turpen should run some WSG, just to see the twinks nerdrage at him for going in level-appropriate gear. Those dudes are hilarious.
Wither Jun 5th 2009 1:36PM
Yeah you have to do WSG in the 20-29 bracket. Save it for when you are at least lvl 27. Lower level BGs (apart from 10-19 and 50-59 which are heavily twinked) are a lot of fun and balanced completely differently from the end game. The tactics are often different to (obviously no mounts in 20-29). Have fun.
divinebubbles Jun 5th 2009 5:01PM
I agree with this. The token rewards for doing WSG are pretty worth it at the lower levels too--if nothing else, the extra stam on the gear will be great for a squishy. =)
thebitterfig Jun 5th 2009 10:50PM
grind out the marks for the lower level of the two WSG trinkets, at very least. you won't find another trinket for levels upon levels, and stamina is handy.
Jamison Jun 5th 2009 1:22PM
Not sure if this was mentioned previously, but I'd love to see you level completely in Eastern Kingdoms as an extra challenge.
eric_barbaric Jun 5th 2009 2:45PM
Well, since he's already done WC, your idea died before it started.
Zuwhowho Jun 5th 2009 1:23PM
Can we choose who Turpen befriends in game?
If so I suggest you attach your self to the first Night elf female you discover in game.
~Becuase when I look back at my adventure with my character, I don't remember the instances I've run, or the zones I've leveled in, I remember the friends I have made.
Yeng Jun 5th 2009 6:02PM
Who will ofc be a male irl, but this is a funny concept :D
t0ddd Jun 5th 2009 1:25PM
I first played when BC first came out. Groups for five mans were easy.
I have now returned (with a new account and character) and on Dalaran it is damn near impossible to get a group together for any five man. Thank God for Recruit-a-Friend bonus XP (five quests netted me 19950xp EACH!) and knowing a few 80's willing to run instances with me. Takes a bit of the fun out of it, but I figure the faster I get to 80 the faster I'll be having fun getting groups together for "when the game really starts."
jurandr Jun 5th 2009 1:40PM
I think it to be rather disappointing how non-80s don't really run instances with each other.. just buy runs from somebody with extra time. Back when I leveled, there was no trouble finding groups for 5mans. And guess what? I had a good time running those 5mans. They weren't tedious or anything, they were fun. I met some new people, some of them I still play with years later! Now I"m leveling a palidan, and even though I offer to tank or heal, NOBODY wants to run 5mans. It's just stupid. Great content is there, you can have fun pre80. Just because you aren't max level doesn't necessarily make the point of the game to race to it.
impurezero Jun 5th 2009 2:01PM
Jur,
This isn't true. I assume it takes more time to get a group then in the past, but I can proudly say that with my level 52 main, I've done every single instance in the game so far with a level appropriate group, even Maraudon (or at least appropriate enough...let's just say I haven't been "run" through any of them). Next up, Sunken Temple!
It can be done...it just requires a bit more planning ahead.
Pre-emptive edit: Ok...I lied slightly...I didn't do Ragefire Chasm until recently. ;)