So That’s Pandas…

Now that pandamonium has officially begun, Kalil has already hit level 90, and I have the daunting task of rep grinding and trying to get geared and ready for raiding while at the same time level a new monk.

I’m pretty slow when it comes to leveling, but Kianlor has a good chance of becoming the new main.  I’ve been playing Kalil for the better part of four years and something new and fun (but still a healer because we need healers right now – and I still like healing) is definitely appealing.

I’d like to get Kian to 90 as soon as humanly possible, but until I do – and until I gear him up – Kalil will have to be filling the traditional “main” role so I don’t hold up the guild when we start raiding.  Given that I have four days off coming up, that should let me get a good chunk of the way there even if I’m getting dailies done before hopping over.  Once he hits 30 (probably tomorrow) I’ll duelspec dps and quest in addition to the dungeons.  Leveling in dungeons will let me figure out the healer toolkit, but I’m in a rush here.  I’ve got a couple dps heirlooms and with the new Enlightenment buff, this shouldn’t be too painful.

I hope.

Anyway, looking back over the bucket list from pre-MoP, I’m pretty proud of myself.  While I didn’t get ALL the things done, I did I get most of it.

• Level that EXPLICATIVEDELETED shaman to 85.  Done.  I haven’t logged into him yet (I should do that to build up some rest xp) but he’ll be a panda after payday.  He’s on the backburner right now though.
• Once Dorky Orcy hits 85, get him some gears.  Eh, he’s got a couple BoE purples on him.  I didn’t really go into dungeons after he dinged.
• Level leatherworking on said shaman.  Whoops.  To be fair, 475 isn’t too bad.
• Rebuild the nest egg. Done…ish.  I didn’t have a definite goal in mind, but I’ve got more gold than I’ve ever had before to my name now.  I’ll call it a win.
• Replace all of Kalil’s 22 slot bags with 26 slot bags. Done!
• Replace all of Kalil’s 18 and 22 slot bank bags with 26 slot bags.  Yeah… Hell didn’t freeze over.
• Clean out the gear in Kalil’s bank and void storage. Done!  …And now I need to do it again.
• Finish gearing up Verandin and Kellidan. Verandin kinda made it.  Kellidan… not so much.
• Elliaesin needs a new bow and polearm.  Nope.
• Level an Alliance toon.  Kierien hit 81 before pandas dropped.  He’s now collecting rest xp.
• Pets and mounts.  I have a sparkledragon.  Therefore, I am happy.

So that leaves me with an entirely new list.  Ugh.  One of the things that I both love and hate about WoW is the constant grinding.  I hate, loathe, despise – and other synonymous that describe dislike of something – daily quests.  Leveling in Pandaria was amazing.  I don’t think I’ve been quite this engaged in a storyline since Wrath – and even moreso now than I was in Wrath.  That is enjoyable.

Dailies, amazingly fun story aside, are still dailies.  Getting rep in order to get gear is still a grind.  The best part is that while I’m doing this on Kalil to get him ready while I level up Kianlor, I’m going to have to do it all over again on the monk if I do decide that main swapping is a thing I’m going to do.  On the one hand: boo.  On the other, if I want to raid – and I do – I’m going to have to do this.  Ergo:  Suck it up, buttercup.

And all this while trying to not be distracted by pet battles (which are way more fun and addicting than I anticipated), or various alts.  I have… a lot of alts sitting at 85 ready to run into the Jade Forest and I have professions to level (and in order to get patterns I have to have rep and AHHHHH).

But… babysteps.

Step one: Level Kalil is done.  I even let myself spend a couple hours flying around Pandaria getting achieves for the Lorewalkers rep – turns out this is a FUN rep grind, because it involves NO dailies!  I also have a flying cloud, so I win.  There are several guides on the internet but I used this one and a map I found via google.  This rep will also make the Archeology grind much less painful, which is definitely a plus!

On the days I have to work my playtime is limited, so I focus on the Tiller’s quests because a steady supply of mats will come in handy.  I also poked around the Anglers, but I haven’t started anything beyond a couple of the quests and I haven’t seen any of the special fish or whatever that raise your rep with Nat Pagle.  Really, the Anglers will probably be last.

Once I’m off work again, I plan to finish off the Dread Wastes (and work on the Klaxxi dailies) and dive into the Golden Lotus chain so I can get that done and get the Shado-Pan rep grind started.

Apparently all these dailies only take about an hour to do, but this is me we’re talking about, so double that time – at least.

And there’s Kianlor.  Once he hits 90 and starts on the grinds, things might be less spastic in game and I can slow down again.  One of the better parts of the end of Cata was the fact that I didn’t feel at all rushed – didn’t have to do dailies – and I could take my time and just level alts and hunt for achieves and transmog gear.  *sigh*

Oh.

Annnnd November is NaNoWriMo, which I usually try and do.  I’ve “won” the past two years I’ve done it but this year is going to be more difficult.  Not only is MoP a huge distraction but I’ve got… nuffin.

Oh well.  I’ve got a month to come up with something.

Let’s talk about fashion

I actually had another post in mind, and I still intend to get TO that post, but Blizzard distracted me.

I present Exhibit A:

S’up!  I’m going to be looking like a comic book hero reject.  Lest anyone think this is a bad thing, let me state right off the bat that I actually like this set.  There is something about it that screams “Paladin.”  I play Horde and I still think it fits.

Though I’m not a fan of the hat.  The hat has wings.  Do note, however, that the game lets you turn the helmet graphics off.  These are the first pauldron graphics that appear to actually work like pauldrons should.  I like the Judgement set as much as the next paladin, but those shoulders?  Are really neat, but ultimately not practical (Blizzard sends us to war in bikinis, so I may be picking the nits here.).

Someday H-Ramps will drop the purple judgement shoulders for me.  Someday.

And someday I’ll have the original Judgement Shoulders for my set.  Seriously.  What is it with Kalil and pauldrons?  I swear I’m going to be stuck with these neon blue monstrosities for the next several months.

It should be noted that due to my work schedule my time on farm bosses is severely limited right now.  I won’t be raiding at all next week and this week.  Well.

I’m told we’re starting on Raggy tomorrow, because the Majordomo just went down.

@_@ <— My face is this.

So that’s fun.

In other news: I have collected the Blood Knight set for transmog purposes.  Kalil will be healing for several weeks looking like this:

I still need to find a good weapon for this set, but otherwise I’m pleased.  Yes, his shield does, in fact, breathe fire.

And I’m very much looking forward to mogging All The Things.

Blizz’s pally preview post is here.  I may be one of the only paladins ever to like the look of Crystalforge.