The Levellers

I got Blacksting, ain't it pretty? :)

Sadly though I was getting Blacksting with the expectation of being able to bust Archie out of the stables while out and about, then I eventually discover that "Call Stabled Pet" is a level 80 skill. Bah.

I've been levelling Bernard up, he's still 3 levels below me and I'm not far from 75 myself.

This has been a much more entertaining level. As levelling was proving incredibly slow I headed back to the Fjord to complete more quests there. This was a very good idea, and made levelling both more rapid and more enjoyable - I think to some extent it was Bernard being level 68 when I tamed him that did it.

After struggling with 'level appropriate' content, I had a few Fjord and Borean Tundra group quests which of course involved killing Elites. I thought I'd struggle with them, especially as Bernard was still 69 or 70 at the time. First there was Jonah Sterling (70 Elite), he wasn't too bad, then Hozzer (71 Elite), more difficult but got a bit low on mana towards the end. I was pleased I managed to solo them.
Heading across to the Tundra there's Ned, the Lord of Rhinos, a level 72 Elite on a non-elite 71 Rhino called Lunchbox. Having googled I now know I'm not alone in this, but seconds after killing Lunchbox and Ned jumping down to fight, Ned respawns right on top of me with another Ned on his back. Both confusing and alarming. We killed Ned 1, then we ran. If I had vast reserves of mana I may have been able to take him again, but I was down to very little.
Then, Harold Lane, also 72 Elite, we took him out and were home in time for tea.

So I feel quite chuffed at that.

Thanks to Trenn for helping out on most of the Gjalerbron quests, particularly Glacion - that was one 71 Elite I didn't have much chance with, though I was lower level at the time and so was Bernard.

Tonight we (The Elunatics) ran Maggy and Gruuls, so I got those achievements and died a lot. I really need to practice instances :)
It was a good night, everyone had fun, and there was much loot.

Level: 74
Location: Air-borne between Dalaran and Nexus (Dalaran corrupted my sound and I had to log out).
Theme: It's impossible to tell, Dalaran killed my sound!
ap/crit/hit/dps: 1746/14.87%/89/600+ (dps from raid, so doesn't really count)

There's Something About Northrend

Well I made 73, got Kill Shot, and it's all good.
I'm currently installing the patch and want to test out 3.1 - but mostly vicariously as most of the interesting changes are end-game content or talent changes :)
That said, I am considering testing out 'call pet', so I may yet head to Zangar to fetch Blacksting :)

It's been a bit of an uneventful level, right now I'm really really looking forward to 80!
I do like some of the things they've done with Northrend, riding on the back of the horse, the silly harpoon surfing and the like - I'm just finding it a lot slower than 60-70 pre-wrath.

This level I spent a lot of time levelling my cooking skill, I figure it'll be useful when I get to 80 to be able to make buff foods. Mmm, food.

Short entry this time. I'll let you know if I grab Blacksting :)

Level: 73
Location: Northrend
Theme: Theme from annoying kids TV programme.
ap/dps/crit: This patch is taking a very long time, I'll check when I get the chance.

The Trouble with Travel

The 3.1.0 patch is downloading, release can't be far away!
I think dual-spec is the most eagerly awaited change in it, though I'm finding it hard to justify 1000 gold for dual-spec untalented. Still, it'd be funny - well it'd amuse me, so ner.

I've finally gone to Dalaran, made it my home and got the flight point. This follows having to travel from the middle of Northrend to the Ring of Blood to help Hammydin out. I may have been low on the dps chart, but I'd like to think that the 20 minute wait while I travelled was worth it, and that they couldn't have done it without me ;)

Level 71-72 was still not quick - around 10 hours - but it certainly felt a lot quicker :)
I'm now expecting the rest up to 80 to be on the order of 10 hours each, getting longer towards 80.

I need to go to the hunter trainer as I keep forgetting again. I should have already had Kill Shot at 71. I'm looking forward to getting it - as it has the "only useable under 20% health" clause it's more than just another shot for the rotation so it should help make kills a bit more interesting (and hopefully faster!).

In other news, I've been on a Nexus run with my guild (The Elunatics, and thanks!) and you can see how much difference that made to my stats above. I replaced 4 items on just one run and significantly upped all of my stats! Curiously, Armour and Intellect gained most.

Level: 72
Location: Dalaran
Theme: Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting
dps/hit/crit/ap: 365/44/17.35%/1525

A møøse once bit my sister...

Weeeelll, it's been a while, but I haven't been slacking.
No no, I have indeed been getting my mining up to Northrend levels, followed by the most tediously long level in history ever.
It took around 16 hours of running about Kalimdor to get my mining up (Engineering didn't fare so well and I'm not caring right now). 16 hours. It's so dull.
Following that I ran off to Fizzcrank to finish the quest chains there and around there (occasionally mining the occasional node I might happen to find, don't you know). It took something like 16 hours of that to get to 71. So approximately 32 hours of tedious - I'm just glad I had a guild to talk to and keep me sane. Thanks go to the Elunatics for this valuable service (not that most of them know it, but that's nothing new, they help anyway :).
I figure the extended levelling time was due to me trying to do quests of an overly high level, having done most of the lower-level quests between 68-70.
So I've moved to the Fjords, which are sadly lacking in møøses.
I have to say it's really helped, basically doing quests intended for 68-70 rather than 71-72. They go much quicker and give just as much XP!

Level: 71
Location: Westguard
Theme: Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's dead
dps/crit/hit/ap: 320/17.49%/38/1319

A mile in these shoes

Wow! I can't believe I finally made 70! :)
It's such a relief to have got there, and at 8 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 14 seconds I easily beat the 9 days target I'd set myself.
After the Ziggurat quests I travelled out towards Fizzcrank, stopping on the way to do all of the quarry quests. I quite liked them, only... it's not that the respawn rate is too high there, it's that there's no delay between respawn and selecting a target so you don't get the chance to avoid aggroing when they do, and they often appear in batches - I died several times and there was nothing I could have done about it.

I always find the mechanicals entertaining - it's that the gnomish comedy engineering always comes across in them, in the idle animations as well as during battle. To cap it all off I got to fly back in one of those ace flying machines from the FP in Fizzcrank! :)

Obviously this (70) is by no means the end, but it's an excellent milestone :)

Now I'm going to spend some time catching up on mining and engineering - apart from anything else I've just spent some time doing the Fizzcrank quests and wishing I could dissect the mechanicals.

Level: 70
/played: 8 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 14 seconds
Location: Fizzcrank
Theme: The Prodigy - Breathe
dps/ap/crit/hit: 284/1112/17.53%/28

All Ice in Vain

I'm very much enjoying Borean Tundra.
The Tundra area and En'kilah in particular have provided massive upgrades with relatively little effort. Whilst most are upgrades in the form of crit/AP - and in many cases also a reduction in Agility - I did get Death Knight's Anguish and the sheer DPS upgrade of Fury of the Raging Dragon. The former is an interesting one, difficult to quantify the results after only a few uses, but I did get my crit up to over 25% in one fight, impressive when you consider that's nearly +10% crit. It does seem to proc reasonably frequently too - it would be particularly useful for a hunter with talents that benefit from crit. The new gun is around +30 dps according to the tooltip I get in the character sheet - also it looks ace; I mean, that's one interesting looking gun.
If those are the greens I can't wait to get the blues and purples! :)

So I made 69. Whoah - I'm less than one level from 70 and in an area awarding more XP per mob/quest than previously. 70! The last level took around 3.25 hours, nearly half the time of the previous levels even though I knew what to do and where to go for the previous.
At this rate I'm mere hours from 70, even though I've never before done any of the quests in this area. Sure they're harder but they pay better too!

Thanks to Kristalene for the En'kilah/Ziggurat quest chain and Chosen for the final quest in the chain. You both made it fun, not to mention a lot quicker and in the case of the final quest, possible :)

Level: 69
/played: 8 days, 3 hours, 3 minutes
Location: Un'upe Village
Theme: Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl
dps/ap/crit/hit: 320/1134/18.25%/28

Northrend Ho!

Great! I've reached 68 and headed straight for the Borean Tundra, stopping only to train skills and buy 3*+16 Agi gems for my chest.
With 2 levels to go I'm still a few hours short of 8 days /played so I'm not worried about making 70 inside the time I've set myself (9 days).
I've got the void axe quest reward from the Ring of Blood quest and I have to say I really like the glowy effect, it was great to have the team to do it :)
I headed for Bladespire and did a few of the quests around there before heading back to Nagrand to finish off. I like the ogres, they seem to be good targets and I could get through them pretty quickly - that said, 'kill 30' still takes time :)
I enjoyed the last few quests in Nagrand and narrowly avoided having to go all the way to Area 52. Not that I don't like it - it's not my favourite but it's okay - but it's such a long way to travel for a few XP :)
The little I've done so far in Northrend makes me believe it will be good, but from here on I have no idea what to expect as it's all new to me!
XP has been good so far, better than if I'd stayed in Outlands so I'm pleased I decided to come here as soon as possible :)
Being so close to the 70th level I can see, not the end, but a milestone - light at the end of the tunnel :)
Once I do hit 70 I intend to take it a bit easier, explore more, raid and instance a little and generally enjoy the scenery :)
I haven't set any kind of time - not even a target - for 80 as I haven't the faintest idea how long that's likely to take. I also have no intention of setting a target as it would be a shame to ruin the content by rushing it :)

In dps news, it's certainly going up quickly over the past few levels, and I expect the green drops in Northrend to improve it further.

Level: 68
Location: Borean Tundra
/played: 7 days, 21 hours, 42 minutes
Theme: On The Hour, Series 1, Episode 4 - Chris Morris
dps/ap/crit/hit: 299/1007/12.34%/30