By the time she could finally afford flying training, Kaumalea had been in Hellfire Peninsula for so long that she felt like she’d burned to a crisp.
She could only afford it at all because she’d decided that, being a Taunka, she needed a Vrykul Drinking Horn when she returned to Northrend. Thus, she’d taken up Archaeology. The XP from that is not so much different from finding treasure chests, is it? Her first rare find was the Voodoo Figurine, which sold for a nice sum on the Auction House. Leveling this new skill to Outland competency also brought her from level 65 to level 67. Collecting Coins of Ancestry during the Lunar Festival got her to level 68.
At level 68, Kaumalea could finally wear all of the various items that I’d collected for her to use as RP sets in the event that she ever reached max-level. She could also go “home” to Camp Winterhoof, so I took her there for a photoshoot.
Sundered/Defender’s mail with Azure Shoulderguards, Wound Dressing, Dark Phantom Cape, and The Oathkeeper
Outrunner’s (dark blue) and Sundered/Defender’s (light blue) mail
Imbued plate with Alabaster shoulders and Commander’s belt
Symbolic plate with Circle’s Stalwart Helmet, Talonguard shoulders, and Warlord’s/Warmaul belt
Warleader’s chestpiece & leggings with Symbolic shoulders gloves & boots and Ango’rosh belt
Since then, she’s been campaigning to wear her “pretty clothes” all the time. I spent a certain amount of time and gold to acquire all those items because I wanted to see her wearing them, did I not? So now that she can wear them, I should let her wear them.
Kaumalea picked up Cooking at Winter Veil so as to be able to give Great-Father Winter the treats he desired, so after she trained Archaeology, she also picked up Fishing because it amused me for her to have no primary professions, but all four secondary professions. I haven’t leveled her Cooking and Fishing even enough for her to do the Darkmoon Faire cooking and fishing quests, though.
Kaumalea had only recently started doing Archaeology and was on her way to a digsite in Winterspring when another player recognized her as an Ironman.
As pleasing as that was, I think I am not really very well-suited to the challenge conditions I set for Kaumalea. I keep gradually relaxing her rules. Even though I probably regularly use only half a dozen or so abilities with any of my highest level characters, having constrained myself to use only the five abilities a brand-new Death Knight receives still feels slow and boring. Although I like how she looks in the various blue and red low-level items I collected for her, I’m beginning to chafe against the inability to Transmogrify her gear.
So what now, Kaumalea?
I don’t mind leaving her talentless and glyphless while she continues to level, but I feel that for the sake of my own fun in playing with her, I ought to either expand her allowed ability list or let her wear her “pretty clothes”. I shouldn’t do both, however, because then she wouldn’t really be “underpowered” anymore.
She needs to continue questing in Outland at least until she saves up enough money to afford cold-weather flying. Her Archaeology is not quite to Northrend competency yet, so she needs to dig some more in Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms or Outland.
Kaumalea exists as much because I want a blue-and-white Taunka Warrior Ice Princess as anything, so I don’t have any particular desire to play her through the Cataclysm or Mists content. Perhaps I should lock her XP when she reaches level 80 and gear her up as if she were trying for Herald of the Titans (even if I don’t ever find a group with whom to run for that feat of strength)?
Update:
While Crushing the Crown in Terrokar Forest, Kaumalea has been wearing her pink, black, and white plate set and using her restricted five-skill action bar. After the holiday is over, I think I do want to continue leveling her as a pseudo-Ironman. At this point, I think it’s clear that although playing a DK to max-level with just the five starter skills *could* be done, it’s too boring for me. Regular Ironmen don’t have an ability list restriction, so I am going to “unlock” Kaumalea’s action bars to allow her to use any skill she has available, but continue with the “chestpiece & leggings must be wearable by a character of level 10 or under and all other slots must be Common or Poor quality” dresscode.
Previously: the Underpowered Death Knight in Patch 5.0
I didn’t know you were doing Ironman! You look like you’re having fun with the character even if you’re questionning the fun of the challenge which is very awesome. š
Well… I’m kinda-sorta-maaaaybe doing Ironman. Mostly it’s that I want a blue & white Tauren, but my other DK’s backstory and place among my characters is too firmly set for me to change her color so radically, and I feel like I need to have some other purpose for leveling a second DK than just teh pwetty. š
I don’t see the problem in levelling for the pretty! š
Yeah, teh pwetty is a fine reason!
I like the first set on her the best, and I LOVE her coloring. She is quite attractive.
I just love that monochrome blue color scale š
I didn’t realise you were ironmanning either? Blue and white tauren hahaha!
I don’t do much with or write much about Kaumalea, so I guess it’s pretty easy to forget that I’m pretending to attempt a watered down version of the Ironman challenge š
Reading your post about Kaumalea has inspired me to try the Ironman Challenge again! The farthest I was able to get before giving up/dying was level 25. š¦ I kept tweaking the rules, too! Maybe this time I’ll get farther than before. š
Heh, I’m definitely doing something modeled after the original Ironman concept — no way could I do the “no deaths” version! Good luck to you! š
Just wear the nice looking gear and continue like that, it’s not strict ironman, but like the others say, it sure is pretty! š
You could also remove certain pieces entirely (making up for the green gear) such as belt, bracers, maybe even gloves and shoulders.
She really does look striking, it’s not often you see a tauren death knight look like that, in fact, people seem to shy away from the death knight specific skin tones, some which have excellent contrast and depth.
XD Teh Pretty Roolz ALL!
Getting rid of the bracers is a good idea, as they aren’t visible anyway. I’m actually using the common quality Outrunner’s shoulders instead of the identical rare quality Azure Shoulderguards, so I can keep those.
I see the DK-specific skin tones on male tauren DKs fairly frequently, but not so often on females. I chose a normal face & skin tone for my first tauren DK because I wanted to emphasize her pre-DK background — but after I observed how nice the DK-specific looks were (and also that the DK “black” is actually more of a plummy mix of deep reds and blues), well, then I needed another tauren DK. š The DK-specific looks do seem to be a small, experimental step in the direction of more subtle & detailed skin tones for the earlier races.
[…] This is better than the Crown of Eternal Winter! Although obtaining the Vrykul Drinking Horn has satisfied her original reason for wanting to take up Archaeology, the Underpowered Death Knight will most likely continue to do […]