Northrend

So I find myself for real in Northrend and so much going on that I have not had time to retell my stories of adventure, dungeons, dragons and the scourge. But I will, and I will soon.

But for now I recommend leveling like this;

Level 70-72 in Borean Tundra
Level to 74 in Howling Ford
Level to 76 in Dragon Blight
Level to 77 in Grizzly Hills
Level to 78 in Zul'Drak
Level to 79 in Sholazar Basin
Level to 80 in Storm Peaks
and finish off in Ice Crown

If you're going to Northrend as a Level 68 then still use the guide, just more work in Storm Peaks and Ice Crown to get to 80.

And a note for Death Knights, I would strongly recommend leveling to 60 in Eastern and Western Plaguelands. Its quicker, easier, and less camping for Quests.

On The Edge

Lexicon: So with all these achievements going on there is lots to show and tell, but today Hellfire Penisula was my realm, and I went off discovering. And I found this body on the southern ledge.

You see him in the left hand side, holding an urn. When you click on the urn it says...

Here is a jar of ashes. These are the ashes of my sanity, my passion, and my drive. All, utterly destroyed by themselves. May all those who look upon these desolated lands of Hellfire remember this fallen peon. He shed blood for the Alliance, and sacrificed for the Horde only to be driven utterly mad by the wicked and soulless ones who devoured what he held most dear. As they feast from his toils, may they suffer his wrath. Maybe not in this world, but in every world hereafter. It is my declaration, my solem oath, and my everlasting promise. I will avenge my suffering.

Now what the hell is that about?

So to distract me from working out who died here I decided to have a play with my pets. And although I don't own a Lemming, I do have a Parie Dog. And he looks like a Lemming. So I tried to see whether he'd jump off the cliff edge...

He didn't. :(

Inscription

Lexicon: I took a gamble today and dropped tailoring to learn the new skill of Inscription, the gear I wear is pretty good, and the drops availble to me, and badge items, are good in Northrend so I should survive.

Anyway, for the time being Inscription is a gold makers heaven with everyone wanting some, and I earn't around 1400g in all in a day making Glyphs.

My favourite is a Penguin Polymorph Minor Glyph, very funny.

Ethereal Soul Trader

Lexicon: Today I wandered lonely as a cloud, with Gnomergan gone and a huge change to my world happening tonight, I was at a loss on what to do. The Dead Mire farmed for Basilisk Chunks again, 42 in 20 minutes... I decided to raise my rep with the Consortium as it stood at 9k in Revered.

So I went south of Area 52, and collected Zaxxis Insignia's, 10 are worth 275 rep. I killed 380 Ethereal's and recieved 170 insignias, plus 8 Ethereal Prison Keys, dropping 2 blues and 4 greens when opened. A great night, about 250g up in all, plus 17 stacks of Netherweave, and a few odds dropping. The added benefit with those kills is that my Ethereal Soul Trader pet needs only 120 more kills and then will provide me with a complete set of Ethereal armour.

But tomorrow is all about new talents, and mana burn, I can't wait.

Going Nowhere

Lexicon: What a day... finally, after getting more whispers than a cheap whore in Goldshire, I finally leave Gnomergan with Exalted status, and with that I hope the title of Ambassador when it is available.

My gold earning tip about collecting Basilisk Chunks from North East Zangramarsh still stands. 10-12 minutes will net you 20 chunks, and if cooked, they will sell for around 30-35g a stack on the AH. And in 10 minutes, the Basilisks will start respawning and you can do it all again. On a good day, 200g + Green or Blue drops an hour. I don't mind sharing that now, as I have about 20 stacks in the Bank which will last me until I go to Northrend.

There are many other titles when Northrend becomes available, one of which is Explorer. This is acheived once every zone has been discovered in Azeroth and Outlands, so as part of this I headed off to Grim Batol, in the South East of the Wetlands.

An interesting place, and the stuff of legends and old charter. But the door was closed and no matter how much Wizard Oil I threw at the hinges it would not budge.

But what you will notice if you ever go to that part of the world, is that it is one of the few areas on the map that have yet to be opened up. A large costal area exists, and no doubt these doors will open one day. But for now at least I have discovered the area.

I also had a lot of whispers from people asking if I was going to start a new guild for WOTLK. Well I am happy in my current guild, although raid slots are never forthcoming, so who knows.

But until then, slaughter basilisks, make gold, and adventure to places that do allow you in.

An Expensive Game

Lexicon: Today I started my questing towards the goal of being exalted with Gnomes, which in all honesty is a very scarey proposition given Gnomes "attitudes" in general. So I'm running around Gnomeregan completely lost and only totalling 550 rep points.

Having got very bored and very fed up with Gnomes I headed toward Sunwell to get the Shattered Sun title. At 1000g it is a bit of a piss-take, but as I have over 8000g on my Banker I felt I could afford it.


Although, during another bout of Gnome bashing, Shadowwave came by with an offer of a game of chess in Karazhan, where Medivh and myself discussed the opening gambit, shortly before this newbie guild come PUG group disbanded.


So afterwards I dragged Shadowwave off to Netherstorm to earn a few hundred rep points for the consortium, before calling it a day.

Shutting Down the Mana Forge

Lexicon: And so on my long road to being exalted with the Consortium I became exalted with the Netherwing, which meant that some of my quests don't happen... for example nasty dragons are now nice to me. So I ended up shutting down the mana forge. Luckily that Legend called Shadowwave once again turned up, although watching him do DPS once I have died (which I do alot being a woman in cloth) is like watching a snail race 100m.

We fought mobs of various sizes and shapes, and very slowly after I died, and then that legend rezzed me (/thanks - no macro required :P) and he took 50g off me for the trouble. This is where I go off to the auction house to sell my Basilisk Kebabs... Pally mercenaries, I hate them at times....

The Stasis Chambers of Bash'ir

Lexicon: The consortium is a tough old faction to gain reputation in, some mean Outland questing to be achieved, and today was no exception as I finally got my key to unlock the Stasis Chamber at Bash'ir.

So off I travelled with my fellow guildies, Shurq the Shaman and the legendary Pally tank / healer come begger to pay for the respecs, Shadowwave. And we would three man this five man Q in an instant.

"Can we do it?" asked Shurq

"Of course", I replied, buffed up to the max and downing my last Pure Death potion in case I died.

I opened the prison in which the innocent looking Ethereal soul was waiting... and before I could say wtf, a son of Gruul impersonator with 80k HP came along and started spanking my arse. Luckily Shadowwave jumped in to tank, whilst I ice blocked - a subtle ploy giving him enough time to build up agro whislt I remained immune and pointless, before I recovered from my quick bout of hyperthermia and nuked the monsterous monkey.

The fight didn't last long, but it never does with me. Usually because I die early - the downer of being a girl in a cloth skirt. But this time the monsterous monkey thing died, and not me. Yay! We cheered, and flasks of water were consumed by all.

The next quest in this chain looks even harder... but a big thanks to Shadowwave, he rocks.

The Big Hole called Dalaran

So having travelled for many hours on my horse across desert, grass, and hill, I arrived north of Southshore, and looked upon the large purple dome...

...except it had gone. Like wtf?!

Daralan's big purple dome has gone, and has been replaced by a big dark hole.

Now I know there seems to be in my mind some necessary connection between big purple domes, and big dark holes. But I never would have believed it.

So just in case you can't be arsed to look in Southshore yourself when WOTLK comes out, here is what the old Dalaran now looks like...

The 13 Laws of WoW

When wandering the lonely roads of our world there are 13 laws that govern the way the world looks...

1. No matter how good the proc rate is on an ability, it will never work when you need it the most.
2. Any item you need in an instance will always drop on the wrong toon.
3. When flagged, you will get ganked by a group of people twice your level. You will then respawn and get ganked again. This will continue until you log out or unflag. If you are playing a PvP server, you must delete this toon.
4. If you beat someone more than 5 levels higher than you, they will blame the loss on lag. If you beat someone 5 levels lower than you, they will threaten you with their main.
5. Westfall and Crossroads will always be under attack.
6. Goldshire will always be a **%##house.
7. Horde will always win if you are on Alliance.
8. Alliance will always win if you are on Horde.
9. The boss will always CC you just as you blow your trinkets.
10. The item(s) you want will always be off the last boss of instances every hates to run.24. The 11. A Gnome will die , fact
12. If the tank is a Gnome, he will probably take you with him
13. Gnomes will die on purpose if they belive the ensuing wipe to be of comical merit

Goatee of my guild posted the orignal version of this on our Guild Forum, cheers to the goats!

Flying WOTLK - The 30 minute Guide to Northrend

Slyfoxy (a WOTLK beta copy of Lexicon): Apart from stories that one day will become the myth, legend, and perhaps old charter of Hellfire, I will also be trying to provide useful tips for your adventures. So to show you what is in store here is a guide to find the major flight paths in Northrend as a level 70, if you're a mage like me ensure you have some light feathers, otherwise you may need to find a way to slow fall or stealth occasionally.

So my jounrey started aboard a ship in Stormwind harbour, (the dock is the second on the right) and when the ship arrived, a few minutes later, it then took me and a couple of close shaves with some icebergs, to Valiance Keep. When you walk off the boat the first FP is on your right as you get onto the dock. But have no fear, they are not all as easy and as boring to find. The second FP is at Fizz Crank Airstrip, run by little goblins. This is a fairly straight forward ride non-stop in a North Easterly direction. Most paths from the Keep will take you that way. I have drawn some maps, with little red dots representing my journey, and big red dots representing the FPs.

Once here, you can optionally head north to the Sholazar Basin (an averagely adventurous journey into the unknown) or you can head immediatley East.

If you decide to go north to the Basin follow the path into it as marked on the map. Once you head down into the basin (it sort of like Un'goro but more jungley) head north easterly until you're on a path. Moving fast, as you're preferably mounted, you'll come to a river flowing north, at the end of which is a large waterfall into a lake. The Flight Point is at the bottom of this waterfall. So Slow Fall or try and jump into the lake, avoiding the rocks, crocodiles, and any other toon easting creatures Blizzard have left for you.

Once done, you can fly back to Fizz Crank Airstrip and head East back on track.

With the journey East you should try and stick to the road if you're level 70, so go south first, but in the Tundra, where creatures are only upto 72 you may try and short cut it as per the map and get a few XP and Frostweave bandages whcih will always be usefuy later.However once on the Easterly road you will pass many enemy camps and huge temples and castles full of Level 70-75 nasty creatures, some elites, and you will end up dying if you are not concentrating.

Once you enter Dragonblight (map which says Zul'Drak on it, which did really confuzal me), ride past Azjol Narab, and then head south a very short distance to Stars Rest, and get the Flight Point here. This is an important place for us mages as once you are level 71, you will want to pick up a quest here, the completion of which will allow you to teleport to Dalaran. This was a pink dome north of Southshore, but is now floating above Northrend. Back in Southshore however there is a big hole... but more on that later...

Get back on the road and head East, this journey will be dangerous if you don't concentrate, so ride fast on your horsey, or elephant, or tiger, or whatever rare mount you are showing off. The road will pass between some high rocks, stay on the road and soon Wyrmrest Temple will be in your sites. Avoid the mamoth fighting monsters, and condors, and head in its west entrance, you start off neutral with the residents of the temple so do not be wary of them.

The temple provides safe refuge, and you can repair, and buy reagents etc here. Maybe worth picking up mats for Inscription if that is one of your wants. The flight point here is on the outside north east wall of the temple. Under the temple are the entrances to some major instances.... You can not enter unless your in a Raid and Level 80. So you can try, but I told you so... it'll be a few weeks before I'm raiding here I thinks.

If you can't find the downstairs, then leave the temple by the north exit... and look at the drop... slow fall will take you down safely and quickly. Again there are some optional scenic diversions and a flightpoint called K3. This can be found by travelling north on the large broken road. To get to it you need to travel through Crystal Song (this map actually says Sotrm Peaks, how I love beta worlds), best be stealthed, fast, or have some wicked CC abilities here. Just be careful. Patience will get you through...

The otherside of Crystal Song is Stormpeaks. This is just a little base, but watchout for the mine fields, and bad guys. Alot of PvP seemed to be going on here. Once the flightpoint is found you can fly back to Wyrmrest Temple.

The next area to the west with a Flightpoint is Winterguard Keep which is still in the land of Dragonsblight. Again, like the journey into the Temple, the journey out is similarly tricky, so pay attention and you will be okay. Go across the frozen lake to the East, and up the path in the rocks and you will find yourself looking at a Keep being bombed. Watchout for the undead soliders, luckily graveyards aren't too far from either side of the Keep, so if you die it won't take long to rez.

The Flight Point is deep inside the keep, so head up into it and you will will eventually find it. Now to leave the Keep I jumped of the west wall, a high drop that sees you looking at Nax, the instance Blizzard just got rid of in this patch :? .Failing that, leave the keep the way you cam in, head south, and find the road going east.

I have also placed a route in the North East corner of Dragonblight, which I took once, into Zuldrak. This is worth a run purely to see the entrance to the awesome instance there... it is an incredible view which I won't spoil here.

Climb the steps, and dodge the pats, and after you pass the first instance in a temple (it looks awesome just looking down into the depths with the undead racing away), you can run round to the back of it, jump off the wall and end up in Grizzlyhills in the north. The reason you may want to go this way, than the more direct route out of Dragonblight, is that it is quicker to get to the next flight point, and you get to see a bit of scenary too. :D

Not much to say about the Grizzly Hills, as you follow the path, toes tapping to the Irish Jiggy music. The Flight Point at Amberpine Lodge affords nice views of the world, so chill out here, take a bio break or something, as your almost home. So head off south and towards Howling Fjord.

Again you can follow the road, which is averagely marked out here, but the more adventerous of you will want to stop by Utguarde Keep, your first instance in Northrend I would guess. Have a look around, and then jump of the keep southwards (slow falling ore equivalent), and you will end up about 20 seconds later at the Alliance start point.

Once here, level up your First Aid, and your other skills, you'll find the trainers near the Flight Pont. Then decide whether you want to level in the Fjord, or fly back to Valiance Keep.

You will get to use your existing flying mounts at level 78, but that will be a few weeks away for me, so take a 30 minute tour of the land and speed up you're ability to level.

Day One

Lexicon: Here I was, bored, playing a bit of WOTLK beta when I found Pengu. I thought I must tell the whole that I found Pengu. No idea what he does, but I must tell the world. So I created a blog. So this is a blog about me, Lexicon, and my fellow characters in the World of Warcraft.

So Pengu... well, I can't really say anything about him as he doesn't exist as an NPC yet. But it is quite exciting.

Anyway, the reason I'm wandering the wastes of Northrend is cause I was a little bored of WoW and The Burning Crusade, what with everything changing, and the economy taking a turn for the worse with the new patch expected to change my world for the better in a week or two.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been sooo bored that I've become exalted with Darnasus (Nelf Girls FTW), Draneri (Draneri Girls FTW), and Iron Forge (too close to the Gnomes for my liking, them and their bad attitude). I have also managed to become exalted with Netherwing after 6 days grinding, and the mount reward you can see in my profile's picture.

So all that is left to do is grind for gold, my favourite sources are the Sunwell Dailies, easy 100g, and farming Basilisk Chunks in North East Zangramarsh. 20 Chunks in about 10 minutes, and sells for 25-50g dependant on the market.