Ch-ch-ch-changes

Steve's Healer blew past, dinged 80, and left me eating dust at 69. (Don't go there. Do NOT go there!)

Paaco, my old Guildie who rolled a Death Knight, started a new job this week and hasn't been playing as much, so like Steve did to me I flew past him and when he logged on he was still 60 but I was now (then) 65. Now he's 65 and I'm 69, but I've been taking it slow these past few days giving him a chance to catch up.

A couple of times over the weekend we had all five Guildies logged in and when my sister said we should do an Instance I suggested Shattered Halls (which I needed for the two Honor Hold quests) but she really wanted to do a Heroic and felt I was too low for that (I was still 68 at the time). I didn't care to do SH on Heroic either but saw no reason why we couldn't blow through a regular Shattered Halls, but that wasn't going to happen either. Instead my sis told me to hurry up and level to 70. Instead I hit 69 then decided as Paaco and I would probably see each other in-game more than I would my sister & her hubby, I would delay my progress to let Paaco catch up. I'm not in a hurry to hit 70, or even 80, it's going to happen so why not enjoy the journey along the way?

Dire Maul was an Instance I'd only ventured into a couple of times over the past years, so I decided to make my way to Feralas and get reacquainted with it. I will say that while Atlas is not perfect it's still a great tool for finding your way around unfamiliar Instances.

I acquired the Crescent Key from the Imp Pusillin and slowly worked my way through DM East, then North. DM West had to wait another day as despite being 10 levels higher than the DM Ogres they still hit pretty freaking hard so both DM East & North had consumed a lot of my play time. When I got into DM West the next night it took almost as long again as both East and North, but eventually I killed both the required Bosses and got my Dire Maul Achievement.

Scholomance was next on the agenda and after running through the WPL cemetery and buffing the druid farming there I was glad I didn't invite him on my Scholo Run because I made the same mistake I recalled making a long time ago: I didn't have Scholo's Skeleton Key. As I was walking away an 80 Blood Elf came running up but either he didn't have the key or he wasn't opening the door with me standing there, so I still couldn't get in. One visit to WoWWiki and I was off on my quest to add yet another almost useless key to my key ring. Fortunately gold is easy to come by, and I'm a Miner, so the 2 Thorium Bars and 15g fee to forge the Skeleton key in Un'goro Crater's volcano were a mere drop in the ocean.

Like DM, Scholo also took some time to clear although I probably could have skipped many of the Mobs that I chose to kill. A catch to killing Scholo's final boss and earning the Achievement is the Boss will not spawn unless you kill all 6 of the mini Bosses, but they were nothing compared to the might of the Indestructible Tankadin and they were soon all defeated. Darkmaster Gandling was not a tough fight, and his Shadow Portal spell were more annoyances than anything else, so while it took some time the result was still inevitable. With Scholo out of the way that left just three Instances on the checklist: BRD, LBRS, & Stratholme.

During this time I'd also done several Terrokar Forest quests, as well as upgrading my gear via some Northrend quests, so I was now dangerously close to hitting 70. I hadn't seen Paaco on for a couple of days and I didn't want him to log on and see me at 70, but I also wanted to Tank Shattered Halls (I had two quests for there) and so I felt a visit to Stormwind Keep's Behsten was in order. Money changed hands, he did a little 'something'...and my XP bar disappeared.

And with that I signed up and jumped into Shattered Halls. It wasn't necessarily a fast run but it was problem free, except for the DK dropping out after the first Boss, and the Huntard pulling about 500dps as I found out later when I reviewed Recount. FWIW I did around 850 as a Pally Tank while #1 & #2, a Frost Mage and a Boomkin, pulled around 1450 and 1200 respectively. For my troubles I wound up with a pair of green boots that were actually upgrades to the Blue pair I was wearing from Ramparts, along with a pair of new pants I can't equip until I hit 70 (which won't happen until I visit Behsten again).

LBRS was next on the Menu, and with it being an Instance I had done many times (enough to get the UBRS Key) it didn't take long for me to work my way through it. In fact except for a few Pulls I skipped much of the Instance and Bosses. When I saw the door to UBRS was opened I didn't even bother keeping the Gems for the UBRS key (which isn't really a real key, so it's not like I need it for my collection). Of all the old 60 Instances I think LBRS was probably the easiest by far.

Stratholme, on the other hand, was a lesson in humility, for it contained my one weakness. Casters. In large numbers. Casters in large numbers who never use Melee, or only when silenced, and usually that's not for very long. And so I died. Here I was thinking I'd run through the place, tear it apart, maybe even do the 45-minute Baron Run, and instead I got my face melted. Several times. Just lovely. I did get the Key to the City, as well as the Mailbox keys, and eventually I made it to the Baron. I was a little concerned because with his large Mana bar I was expecting a very tough fight, but the Baron uses Melee a lot and that just tickles my Tankadin. I was a little puzzled when he finally went down and I didn't get the Stratholme Achivement, so I opened the Tab and checked and...Stratholme has another Boss, and I need to kill both to get the Achievement.

Strath was not challenging. It was time-consuming, and it was fatal if I didn't take it carefully, but as long as I went slowly and carefully there were very few problems. And it was a good learning experience of what my Tankadin can, but more importantly cannot, handle. I'd found my Kryptonite, so to speak.

With Strath finally down that left BRD. I'd tried to Solo BRD on my 70 Rogue and failed but in spite of the humbling Strath experience I was confident my Pally could handle BRD. First on the agenda was getting the key, and that meant dying so I could get the Quest (tricky bastards, Blizzard), which I did by dropping off the top chain in Blackrock Mountain and splatting into the lava below. Coincidentally this puts you right next to the tunnel entrance to BRD, so after spirit running back and getting the quest I was able to Rez in a very convenient spot and be on my way. And I was right about my Paladin. Being both 69, and a Plate-wearing AoE machine, I quickly retrieved Ironfel then replaced the mystical Hammer and received the Shadowforge Key in return. Yet one more key added to the keyring. I don't know how we coped years ago when we had to carry all these keys around in our pack, or leave them in the Bank.

But with the key to BRD finally in my pocket it was getting late, and so the Emperor, the BRD Achievement, and the Classic Dungeonmaster Achievement have to wait for another day.