Inspector Gadgetzan

Blingtron 5K finally coughed up the last encoded message after I-don’t-know how many duplicates (I didn’t save them). Now my Engineer can move on to leveling her Legion engineering and learn how to make Blingtron 6K.

Meanwhile, the mog farming continues. I am managing to cross items and raids/dungeons to be run off my list. I am starting to get kind of tired of doing nothing but mog farming, though.

Thus, I have been thinking about taking Kamalia down to the Broken Shore and starting to work on gaining Legionfall reputation, so that I can have flying as soon as my Mage gets through Suramar, and also so that I can see what’s up with getting Magatha Grimtotem as a Shaman Order Hall champion. Despite — or perhaps because of — Magatha’s betrayal of Cairne and attack on Bloodhoof Village and Thunder Bluff, Kamalia would prefer to have Magatha and the Doomstone close to hand so that she can keep an eye on them — she was very unsettled by Kaohana’s report of events in Thousand Needles immediately following the Shattering and has remained uneasy not knowing where Magatha and the Doomstone are.

I have also been thinking about just going out and doing Troll Archaeology until I get that blasted Zin’rokh, Destroyer of Worlds. I have a Mog idea, maybe two, that I’d like to use it for. I guess it would be more productive to do Broken Isles/Draenor/Pandaria Archaeology and turn in crated artifacts for Troll fragments instead, though, so that I could work on my Pristines collections at the same time.

And I have been thinking that I ought to go through all my alts and work on their Professions until they reach the (first) point at which they have to go run a dungeon or two. Then I will be able to get the most efficient use out of the dungeon running I will have to do for their Order Hall campaigns.

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in which the Nightfallen love Kamalia (even though she hasn’t really done all that much for them)

Kamalia hasn’t progressed any farther in the Suramar storyline than completing “Nightfallen but not Forgotten“, activating all of the leyline feeds to Shal’aran, and doing a few random side-quest chapters of “Good Suramaritan“. Nonetheless, through always choosing Suramar when I turn in a Kirin Tor Emissary quest and through doing Suramar Emissary quests when they are available, Kamalia dinged Exalted with the Nightfallen when she turned in today’s Suramar Emissary quest.

The Artifact Power she received in the process was enough to get the 34th trait in the Fist of Ra-den, too. Just one more trait in the Fist of Ra-den, and then I can start filling out the Doomhammer. Seeing how fast filling up Kam’s off-spec Artifact has gone since she reached Artifact Power 25 has made the prospect of filling up Artifacts for my alts much less daunting. The most important factor in that, of course, is that, my alts won’t have the same long hard slog up to Artifact Knowledge 25 that Kam had. Kam can just spend 11000 Order Hall Resources to boost them all up to Artifact Knowledge 20 as soon as they hit level 110, after which it won’t take long for them to get to Artifact Knowledge 25 — and then they can just blast through filling out their Artifact weapons. I like that!

Getting Exalted with the Nightfallen also means that Kamalia has managed to earn her entire Order Hall set. Even though I don’t much like the set as a whole (though the pants, gloves, and boots have some mix-and-match potential), I figured I ought to wear it, just for a little bit (meaning, I might Mog it over with a black and purple kit to go with the Nightfallen tabard as soon as tomorrow :P), because I might not manage to get the entire Order Hall set with any of my other characters.

Raiment of the Farseer

Raiment of the Farseer with Blue Workman’s Shirt, Theldurin’s Fist, and Shield of the Barrens

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Artifact acquisition accomplished! (and analysis)

Shaman, Restoration 31 August 2016

Demon Hunter, Havoc 9 September 2016

Shaman, Elemental 23 September 2016

Shaman, Enhancement 23 September 2016

Mage, Fire 8 October 2016

Mage, Arcane 15 October 2016

Mage, Frost 22 October 2016

Priest, Discipline 28 October 2016

Rogue, Outlaw 29 October 2016

Warlock, Destruction 12 November 2016

Monk, Brewmaster 23 November 2016

Death Knight, Frost 26 November 2016

Hunter, Survival 26 November 2016

Warrior, Arms 30 November 2016

Paladin, Protection 1 December 2016

Druid, Balance 2 December 2016

Hunter, Marksmanship 10 December 2016

It didn’t seem quite right to claim Thas’dorah as a Tauren; that bow rightfully belongs to the children of the Sunwell. So I used the Orb of the Sin’dorei before I picked it up. I guess my camera angle was bad right at the moment when I clicked on Thas’dorah, because this is the best screenshot I got of the triumphal moment.

Hunter, Beast Mastery 10 December 2016

Demon Hunter, Vengeance 10 December 2016

Monk, Windwalker 23 December 2016

Monk, Mistweaver 23 December 2016

Death Knight, Blood 29 December 2016

Death Knight, Unholy 29 December 2016

Rogue, Subtlety 30 December 2016

Rogue, Assassination 30 December 2016

Warlock, Affliction 6 January 2017

Warlock, Demonology 6 January 2017

Druid, Guardian 11 January 2017

Druid, Feral 11 January 2017

Druid, Restoration 11 January 2017

I didn’t get a very good screenshot of picking up G’Hanir because the camera swung around to be under the surface of the nearby pond… but I was feeling to lazy to do the whole scenario over again just to get a better screenshot of the triumphal moment.

Priest, Holy 14 January 2017

Priest, Shadow 14 January 2017

Warrior, Fury 15 January 2017

Warrior, Protection 15 January 2017

Paladin, Holy 16 January 2017

Paladin, Retribution 16 January 2017

~*~*~

The Artifact questlines that packed the most emotional punch (for me) were the Ashbringer, the Doomhammer, and Fu Zan.

Three Artifacts are found on Niskara: Holy Priest, Marksmanship Hunter, and Blood Death Knight. I wasn’t able to determine the “canonical” order in which these events occur.

Three Artifacts are found at Tyr’s Fall in Tirisfal Glades. To the best of my understanding the canonical order of events is as follows: Arms Warrior, Shadow Priest, Holy Paladin.

Three Artifacts are found in the Tomb of Old Kings on Shield’s Rest island in Stormheim. To the best of my understanding the canonical order of events is as follows: Protection Warrior, Protection Paladin, Beastmaster Hunter.

Three Artifacts are found in the Karazhan Catacombs. Because all three questlines end with killing the same boss, I’m not sure which order they would canonically go in, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Balance Druid, Unholy Death Knight, Affliction Warlock.

Two Artifacts are recovered from Felsoul Hold in Suramar. I’m not sure which event happened first, the Havoc Demon Hunter or the Demonology Warlock.

Two Artifacts are recovered from Icecrown Citadel. I’m not sure which event happened first, the Frost Death Knight or the Fire Mage.

Two Artifacts are retrieved from the Nexus. I’m not sure which event happened first, the Arcane Mage or the Discipline Priest.

Two Artifacts are retrieved from the Broken Shore. To the best of my understanding the canonical order of events is as follows: Retribution Paladin, Vengeance Demon Hunter.

Two Artifacts are found in the Helmouth Shallows of Stormheim. These two events, Survival Hunter and Fury Warrior, seem to be quite independent of each other and might have occurred in either order.

The locations for the Frost Mage (a Legion place that wasn’t Niskara), Destruction Warlock, and Beast Master Hunter were unique, but the other questlines for those classes went to shared locations.

The Druid Artifact quests go to one shared location (for Balance) and to three places that no other class goes: Grizzly Hills, the Shattered Locus, and Nordrassil.

Only Shamans go to Vashj’ir, the Temple of the White Tiger, or Deepholm.

Only Monks go to the Temple of the Jade Serpent, the Vortex Pinnacle, or the Terrace of Endless Spring.

Only Rogues go to the Temple of a Thousand Lights, Legion Citadel (it’s not on Niskara), and Stormwind.

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Farseer Kamalia; Fist of Ra-den & Doomhammer

I finally finished Kamalia’s Order Hall Campaign on Thursday night. I could kind of predict where it was going by the time I picked up the third set of Champions, but that wasn’t a bad thing. I enjoyed the story, and by the time I finished the campaign, I was feeling quite a bit more comfortable with the Farseer role.

Tonight (Friday), therefore, I went and collected Kamalia’s other two Artifacts. I pulled my Demon Invasions mace and Salvage Yard shield out of the bank so that I could do the Elemental quest chain as Elemental. Then I did much of the Enhancement quest chain as Elemental, too, only switching to Enhancement about halfway through. Then I had to spend several minutes selecting talents and setting up my bars, as I hadn’t tinkered with that spec at all yet — and I had to equip my Finkle’s Skinner in my off-hand so that I could have two melee weapons to make some of my abilities work 😛

I enjoyed both of the stories. I had been thinking that it was wierd and backwards for Shaman to get their fist weapon from Xuen in Pandaria while Monks get theirs from the Tol’vir. The story of Highkeeper Ra as told by Xuen made the Shaman fist weapon make more sense — but I still need to level my Monk and see how their fist weapon story plays out before I will be fully satisfied on that account. The Enhancement story made me feel even more fond of Stormcaller Mylra — and I’m glad to see Thrall experiencing some consequences from the way he dealt with Garrosh. That ending cinematic from Warlords!Nagrand bothered me so much that I skipped it entirely on the two or three other occasions that I actually completed the storyline of that zone.

I’d been stockpiling small Artifact Power items to pour into my Elemental Artifact as soon as I got it. A few large AP items from doing some world quests later, I had my Elemental Artifact up to level 12. I’ll leave it there for now. Small AP items can go into my Enhancement weapon, while large AP items need to go into my Resto weapon until it is fully powered (it is currently level 15).

I’ve found that for all of the Shaman Artifacts, I like either the basic appearance or the first upgraded appearance (from finishing the Order Hall campaign), in the first color, the best. Maybe later in the expansion I will want to mog over them because I will have some shibby keen idea for a mail Transmogrification kit — but for now, I’m quite happy to use them just the way they are.

Despite my sense that the Heart of Azeroth would be perpetually damp and chilly and slippery and rimed with salt, I’ve come rather like the place, and I almost always leave Kamalia logged out there.

The Shaman experience all around gets a big Bravo, Blizzard! from me.

~*~*~

Now I’d like to get started on the Order Hall journey of another character — perhaps my Demon Hunter, because she’s already gone to the Broken Isles, acquired her first Artifact, and established her Order Hall? or maybe my Blood Elf Mage or my Druid, because I love to play them? — but Kamalia still has much to do. I need to do Leatherworking and Archaeology so that I can get the white and spectral moose mounts. I need to do Fishing so that I can eventually figure out how to get the Artifact Fishing Pole (hey Blizzard, can you please make fishing poles moggable to other fishing poles?). I’ve just been doing enough world quests to keep my Emissary quests cleaned out, and I think I’ll keep managing world quests in that way until I’ve reached Revered with all the factions for Pathfinder. I need to follow up with Khadgar about Light’s Heart. I haven’t been very diligent about collecting Order Resources, and I’ve been prioritizing Artifact Knowledge over the Order Hall upgrades — and I’ve still got a long way to go on both of those tech trees.

And then there’s Suramar… the zone is breathakingly gorgeous and I’ve been delighted by all the little details in Suramar City itself and some of the quests that I’ve done so far in the zone have been tremendously fun and amusing — I just haven’t gotten very far into it. Now that I’ve finished my Order Hall campaign and gotten my other Artifact weapons, I ought to be able to focus on Suramar.

I read on WoWhead today that the final quest for the Good Suramaritan achievement requires going into the Emerald Nightmare to kill Xavius. I didn’t LFR in Warlords due to burnout and no tier in LFR and being able to get raid gear from Garrison follower missions and lack of interest in the story aspect of those raids… but I’d been thinking I might want to LFR again in Legion. Work is keeping me busy enough, though, that LFRing is going to have to be a play activity that I sacrifice, so I probably won’t visit the Emerald Nightmare until I get to the point in the Suramar questline where I have to do so.

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a Bear and a Resto Shaman walk into a Dungeon…

Last night, we picked up where we’d left off in Azsuna. My favorite part of Azsuna, so far, has been the Nar’thalas Academy. The whole place was just delightful, with all kinds of fun quests and details. When we got to the point in the questline where we’d have to go into the Eye of Azshara dungeon to obtain the Pillar of Creation, we just hopped right through the portal — just the two of us.

We didn’t look at the dungeon journal at all, just tried to figure out the boss mechanics on our own. It was challenging, but really quite fun, and the only boss that actually wiped us was Serpentrix. We had to try that one three times before we got the mechanics completely worked out. That dungeon sure has a lot of different ground effect mechanics! During the final boss fight, I commented that this was acutally easier with only two people than it would have been with five, because I didn’t have to worry so much about ranging or the ground effects quite so much. BTH said, “Wait, waht? This is a 5 man dungeon? I thought it was a 3-man scenario!” Which is entirely logical, really, considering that the big end-of-zone events in the past two expansions have been scenarios. Then he said that when we have to go to dungeons to get the Pillars at the ends of all the other zones, we can use LFD and get ourselves some DPS so it doesn’t take so long 😛

It was pretty awesome, though, to duo the place at-level. Guardian Druid + Resto Shaman FTW! This was the kind of play that I’d missed while BTH was away from the game.

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Sharas’dal, Scepter of the Tides

When I got home from work yesterday evening, BTH had completed his Guardian Artifact quest. He’d rolled a Demon Hunter and was halfway through the starting zone. He finished the Demon Hunter starting zone while I did my Resto Shaman Artifact quest.

I rather liked Vashj’ir back in the day, so I enjoyed going back under the sea for the Artifact quests. Most of the other players I saw while I was there, though, were level 102 or higher — obviously there for their second (or third) Artifact. I enjoyed the questline itself, too.

After I’d gotten my Artifact, we decided to start questing in Azsuna because I’d read that it was a good place to go for Professions. We got through two of the five chapters in the zone storyline and had lots of fun detouring from our quest path to chase after stars. We managed to get to level 101 before we got tired and sleepy and decided to call it a night (at about our usual bedtime).

I’m definitely going to need to play through Azsuna with my Demon Hunter, because Illidari. I wonder though, does the choice between [this guy] or [that guy] that one makes in the Demon Hunter starting zone affect whether other characters on the same realm see [this guy] or [that guy] at the Illidari foothold in Azsuna? I chose [this guy] with my Demon Hunter and Kamalia saw [this guy] as the leader of the Illidari — but if I’d chosen [that guy] would I have seen him instead? Maybe I should go roll up a Night Elf Demon Hunter on Kaylynda’s realm before I take Kaylynda to the Broken Isles, to test it out…

I’m liking what I’ve seen so far of the Followers & Mission structure in the Order Hall — I like how it iterates on both the original Garrison design and the Shipyard design. I also definitely appreciate that there’s much less of all that to keep track of!

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red ringlets reverie

As we look forward to another year, here is one small and silly little thing that I wish would happen, one of these Patches, that would make me very very happy indeed:

I want more ringlets!

I love the ringlets of the Draenei “Jeweled Band” hairstyle.

I love the ringlets of the Goblin “Elegant” hairstyle.

I would love, love to see the Barbershop make these hairstyles available to more races.

Wouldn’t those long Dranei ringlets look just lovely on a Blood Elf, Human, or Night Elf?

And wouldn’t those fat Goblin curls look simply adorable on a Gnome, Dwarf, or Pandaren?

I’d love to see curly coat Tauren, too —

— but I realize that that’s far, far less likely to happen than getting ringlets for the more Human-like races.

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