My short and not so stout Gnome Mage ‘Husker’ is about to hit 75. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of WoW but for me it is. I love leveling (once I’m over 60). ‘Husker’ is a Frost Mage and so far, so good and the spec. I’m a farming machine for materials, I’m usually 1st or 2nd on dungeon runs and am a respectable level 428 on Engineering. Last night I bought the Artisan Riding and made my Turbo Charged Mechanical Flyer mount, I also made another and slapped it on the Auction House for shits and giggles at 9900 gold. minus a 400 fee….(really?)
Leveling Husker has been a blast literally and metaphorically. Mages have a singular purpose…deal damage. Our roles are the purest form of laziness. Yes, one can say our role is crowd control with our freeze spells and polymorphing but essentially Mages being as squishy as they are – are built to bitch slap you. PvP, I beg to differ anyone with equal skill level being able to go one on one and beat a Mage. Not that I can…but IF I had skill in PvP with mages…you’d have a damned hard time teabaggin me.
The ability to be their own cook and the groups cook isn’t a big deal as in previous years (sounds weird referring to game time in years…) as most people in 5 mans don’t even ask for a Mage table (to those not in the know of WoW terms…Mages have the skill to make Water (mana) and Eats (Health) for themselves and groups.) More than a few occasions I’ll put of the spell and no one clicks the table and is ignored. At this stage in the game most players are prepared or since the game is so simplified, (5 year olds are playing WoW….) ones mana or health point regeneration are so efficient there is no need to replenish. That’s good, right? It is for leveling, certainly.
This is my 2nd time leveling Engineering and is much more easy to do the 2nd time around with my excess materials from leveling SeanCassidy *I couldn’t use “ShaunCassidy” as it had too many characters. My wife was in love with Shaun Cassidy back in the ‘day’. All of my toons have a reason for their names..I don’t get why people choose ‘random’ when naming them.
One the cool things about leveling Engineering is that you need old school materials from the Outlands, Khorium Ore being the most precious. I’d gladly trade 3:1 Titanium for Khorium. You get to travel to all places deserted to farm your materials. Husker has been on the Isle all week and not seen a single soul. I can do the dailies for the Shattered Sun – I think there are 8 dailies – in about 20 mins as well as the guaranteed nodes for mining. That is certainly one huge benefit on a low pop server, farming a plentiful. No Horde or Alliance trying to steal your kill or spawn. Our economy is still whack though…
I’m still not sure what to with my other spec….fire or arcane. I think I’ll wait for the expansion. I’m loving the commercials for Cata…I wonder if you don’t get the expansion of the cities will be the same…meaning If I only bought the base game will the areas in Azeroth and beyond be altered? Are all the beginning areas being left untouched or will they be affected. Not that I care much but am wondering. I have no inclinations to look it up…
____________________________________________
My recent trip to New Orleans was interesting. It was my yearly business trip to a different city – last year was San Diego. I hadn’t been to NO for at least 21 years. My friends and I would go at least once or twice a year when I lived in Houston/Spring, Texas. I thought it maybe a lot different since Hurricane Katrina and maybe it looks cleaner but the smells are the same. Less people, same debauchery. Bourbon street is a College Frat boys wet dream and a thugs bread and butter. Strip club after strip club with nearly free alcohol in every door and window for your indulgences. Bars with loud scantily clad drunk women. Mostly white women. In fact in all the bars we went to ‘color’ was the least seen unless you got off of Bourbon Street. Maybe it was all the REALTORS® flooding the bars and eateries…they did bring a lot of monies to the establishments. A lot. So at the very least, Kanye can’t say ‘White People Hate New Orleans’.
I may have reached an age of being lame. I had no desire to step into Pat O’Briens, Hustlers Strip Club, Penthouse Club, Barely Legal, etc. I was very happy to enjoy a highly expensive Creole Dinner paid for by our generous President and talk amongst the Account Reps. I declined on more than a couple occasions to party til 4 in the morning. It’s easy for the reps to party on since they don’t have to be in early at the show floor to open it up, start up all the gadgets and vacuum. Not that I haven’t..just that I didn’t this trip. =D
The people of New Orleans – of what I saw downtown and the outskirts are still the same people…just less of them. I read/heard that nearly 40% of the cities population never came back since the Hurricane. I also witnessed first hand the dilapidated homes all across the surrounding city. I tried to see if I could see where the flood lines were on the houses but it seems they disappeared, along with it’s core citizens. They all moved to Houston.
Old School 