So it’s been another week and I’ve made some progress in the game, although I’ve not had a great amount of time to play this week. Still, both Bodeclaw and Teddired have had their adventures.

The Long Run Back

You might recall that we left Bodeclaw extremely far away from the last mission I had to complete in Ashenvale, thanks to me wanting to start some of the Stonetalon Mountain quests – which led to my hopping on a survey vehicle that carried me away from Honor’s Stand and all the way to Northwatch and the Barrens. And I was adamant that I would run back to Honor’s Stand because of it.

Now part way across the Barrens I found the spontaneous jungle known as the Overgrowth and with it more quests to take and complete. So I did, because I thought I might as well complete some along the way and so had one of my first encounters with the Nightmare.

I’ve read up on some of the World of Warcraft lore since getting into the game, I know about the Emerald Dream and the Nightmare corruption that moves through it and tries to break through to the waking world of Azeroth. I also know that the Dream has a lot of druidic ties, so I was bound to encounter it at some point. Fortunately it wasn’t a strong breech but I know that it gets worse later on. I’ve watched others play the later missions…

Anyway, with those tasks completed I returned to the camp and found myself directed to another fortification which I headed to, just to get the flight location for my map to make going back easier… and picked up even more missions in the area. It was at this point that I decided that I had been sidetracked long enough, got down into Running Wild mode and headed back for the Overgrowth and the path to Honor’s Stand.

Dangerous terrain though in some places…

Once I got to Honor’s Stand I briefly debated running my way back through the Stonetalon Mountain area to get back to Ashenvale and this furbolg uprising quest I was heading back for. I decided to basically say fuck it and take a flight back. Now I’m back at Stardust Spire, and poised to start this uprising…

… next week.

Admiring Strangethorn While Killing Everything In It

I should have known when I chose Hunter that I’d be doing a lot of just that… hunting. Now I was in Strangethorn, there was an awful lot of game and many quest givers who wanted to see me murder it.

Of course, it wasn’t all just wild beasts I was being tasked with killing, oh no. Some Venture Co goblins had tumbled stones that someone wanted, so I ran my way into that camp and began shooting any Geologists I saw, just to pick up enough for satisfy the quest. He did fix the pot I’d been given to take to him though, so I guess it’s alright.

Oh, and also some people at the rebel camp wanted me to grab Bloodscalp items. Of course, trolls are Horde and Teddired is Alliance. They wouldn’t just give me what they wanted… so I had to do even more killing.

Of course, this week wasn’t all killing and murder. No – I had time to explore the jungle while running between quest areas hunting for animals or goblins or trolls. And honestly, some of the scenery was amazing… even if getting too close would have been dangerous and potentially deadly.

I also found myself with full bags a little bit too often, so I grabbed myself a gryphon flight back to Stormwind and then ran around trying to find a seller for more bags to fit into my bank slots so I could store some items I couldn’t use now but might be able to later on.

Then I found someone I’d been keeping an eye out for since I got into the game wandering around Stormwind and… well…

… I’m at the Faire! Woo!

Another week for me venturing through World of Warcraft and both my characters have travelled a fair distance, leaving behind the places they were previously and entering new territories and meeting new people.

Dungeoneering

Teddired started off my week and Lone decided to take me into a few dungeons, playing with his own Pandaren as we journeyed through various dungeons with a group of other people who had been placed into our instance. Now, I used to have an opinion of MMO games. I used to think they had a few too many people who were dicks solely for the sake of getting their laughs at the expense of others. Most of the people we played with were fine. One person we ended up grouping with twice and refused to do his job as tank, allowing myself and Lone to take aggro. Fortunately last week’s experience with Blackpowder Inc. had already introduced me to the nicer side of dungeons so I didn’t take it to heart.

Also, my boar decided he wanted to sit in the same chair as me after one of those aggravating dungeon runs, and it’s nice to know that he’s there for me through it all…

After the dungeon running I finally finished up where I was and headed across to the Stranglethorn area I’d accidentally found my way into last week before realising I was following the wrong quest marker. Picked up some missions and then decided to get a nice little photo to commemorate being near lush green plants again that weren’t super creepy.

I headed down into the camp where the majority of my picked up missions were set and began killing enemy soldiers, trying to get to them and pick them off before the other players in the area could wipe the map clean. I’ve never known such competition, and many of them ignored my attempts to offer to share kills (i.e. we both land a hit, we both get loot) so I said ‘Fuck it!’ and joined them in the ruthless hunt for targets to fulfill my quota.

And then I met a new friend.

I became a Hunter because I love pets. Now I have a tiny raptor following me around as well as my lovely boar, and although he doesn’t really do anything or contribute to attacks I’m glad to have him with me. This hatchling is an unexpected bonus for completing some missions down in that camp and although I have a feeling at some point I will have to give him up I’ll enjoy his presence while I can.

Travelling Further By Accident

Meanwhile Bodeclaw was wrapping up missions where she was. I had a choice of two left to finish off, one to instigate a Furbolg uprising with the aid of a magical rod; the other to report to a place in the next area of the Stonetalon Mountains. I decided to pop over quickly and get the Stonetalon missions rolling before coming back when I hit a dead end to finish off the furbolg quests.

After a little confusion about which way I had to go to get up to the outpost (the path was behind the other post I got the mission from) I ventured into the Stonetalon Mountains only to find that this was an area that not only other Alliance players were in – but I saw the odd Horde player too. And the first one killed me seeing me dash away from an NPC opponent with half health.

Bastard.

Because of this after completing the first missions I had taken, I decided to race forward to complete those quests and then I’d go back for that Furbolg mission. That would be what I’d do. So I raced forward and eventually found myself at the Northwatch Expedition Camp.

Some interesting quests saw me racing all over the place and eventually collecting all the components for the Ramlette, I encountered the first Horde NPCs who weren’t hostile to me. The Grimtotem Tauren. I like the tauren race, especially their background. I’d be a tauren, but I want my eventual Horde alt to be a Warlock and I don’t think Tauren can be Warlock… I’ll have to double check that.

So eventually I found my way down to the Grimtotem Post and began recruiting their aid for the Alliance. I have respect for them, and frankly the skull facepaint looks awesome on the models.

I then continued on to more Alliance settlements along the way and eventually made it to Honor’s Stand where I took on a quest to fly a survey vehicle. It flew… rather further than I thought it would. Now I’m at Northwatch and although I have the flight points marked along the way, I’d rather run back and complete all the quests along the way…

… I guess the Furbolg uprising’s going to have to wait until next week to get started.