Choose My Adventure: Recap and personalized leveling advice
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on US Zangarmarsh-H.
The remaining Choose My Adventure schedule for the week is:
Elizabeth Harper as Faience, the troll shaman, and Robin Torres as Robinemia, the undead mage: Thursday, 11 p.m. to midnight EDT
Michael Gray as Grayfields, the tauren hunter: Thursday, 8:30-10 p.m. EDT
Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the tauren druid, will be making appearances as he can.
After the break, our intrepid adventurers will relate their experiences from last week, and we'll get personalized leveling advice from our class experts.
Week 1 recaps
Elizabeth Harper as Faience, the troll shaman
The first eight levels were easy enough, though that could have just been the fact that we ran around Mulgore and Eversong in a large group, laying complete waste to all before us. I think I'll have to try to stick to leveling with Robin, because having a pet mage certainly does seem to come in handy. But after eight levels I'm still no clearer on how to play a shaman -- but I'm sure it will come to me eventually. Lightning, Lightning, Shock, Lightning, Lightning, Shock. Repeat until dead, right? Right -- or at least it's worked so far. But it's my understanding that enhancement shamans don't actually play like that, so I may need to rethink my strategy. And grab a melee weapon. (Or at least I'm guessing that a staff won't quite cut it in the long term if I go the enhancement route.)
Michael Gray as Grayfields, the tauren hunter
My first eight levels have not been difficult. Well, the leveling hasn't been difficult -- the long run across the Barrens was plenty difficult. I think I more or less spent the whole time as a ghost. I'm not quite sure why I didn't take the zeppelin. I think someone suggested running, and I did my very best lemming impression and did so. I think I'll claim I wanted the authentic Barrens ghost-run experience.
Once we hit Silvermoon, time flew and I'm now sitting at the awkward age of 8. In a few levels, I'll be off to pick up the first pet for Grayfields, so I'm excited to see what the readers have chosen.
Robin Torres (me!) as Robinemia, the undead mage
As we were asked to visit the blood elf lands for our earliest adventures, I first traveled to Sunstrider Isle. But no one would speak to me there. I think their isolationist policies are shortsighted and don't represent the outlook of the current administration. I won't get into politics here, though. So we decided to go with the second choice and traveled to Camp Narache. The taskgivers there, even though not exactly friendly to my kind, were happy to send us on errands and reward us for our troubles.
Not that we had many troubles. There were many of you there (40?) to help us as well as compete with us. It was likened to "launch day" by one of you. I very much enjoyed questing with Faience, particularly since I can be completely reckless with my health as long as she is nearby. After we helped the tauren get rid of those nasty boar people, we were of sufficient experience to go back to blood elf lands and run their errands. I wore my apprentice robes, as I had yet to acquire anything more fashionable.
The authorities at Falconwing Square, it seems, do not carry on the Sunstrider Isle isolationist policy. I think it is because they have such a problem with the addicts and wayward guardians that they are willing to accept help from almost anyone. We carried out their assassinations for a while, until we qualified for our level 8 training. They also gave me the pretty new dress I am currently wearing, though I really should be wearing my Red Linen Robe. Not only does the color of fresh blood suit me better, it makes me feel more intelligent. I may have to rethink my wardrobe choices. I'll get back to you on that next week.
Personalized leveling advice for Week 2
We asked for a paragraph from our respective class experts to help us level.
Advice for Faience from Rich Maloy, Totem Talk
For the first 20 levels you are going to feel more like an elemental shaman than an enhancement shaman. Pull with Lightning Bolt, apply Flame Shock and start meleeing down your target, and hit Earth Shock when the shocks come off cooldown -- all shocks share a cooldown. If the mob tries to run and get his friend, use Frost Shock to slow him down. You could probably kill faster with more LBs than melee, but you are leveling enhancement, right? Melee away! For glyphs, reader Tom had the winning suggestion of using Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem to protect yourself and your totems. I would also suggest Glyph of Ghost Wolf for the minor glyph. 0/11/0 will be the spec of choice.
Advice for Robinemia from Christian Belt, Arcane Brilliance
Open with a Frostbolt. Then cast more Frostbolts. Close with a Frostbolt. The end.
Oh, you wanted a paragraph. Ok. Put your first five talent points into Improved Frostbolt. Nothing's more valuable early on (or later on, for that matter) than a lowered cast time on your primary nuke. Then take your pick of Frostbite and Ice Shards as you level (one, then the other), with an eye toward snagging Icy Veins the moment it becomes available at 20. Leveling frost is something of a cakewalk compared to the other mage specs. You slow everything down with Frostbolt, then continue to pump out more frosty punishment until death occurs. Anything gets close, you Frost Nova it in place, then flee, turn around and resume Frostbolting. Frost mages are excellent at controlling mobs, even multiple mobs, with ease. If you're careful, you can avoid almost all non-ranged incoming damage. Keep Frost Armor up, kite everything and don't forget to sheep!
Advice for Patent from Chase Christian, Encrypted Text
The key to leveling a rogue is learning to let go. You have to let go of any preconceived ideas of rogueishness: you will be playing the role of a mindless brute. Don't bother with Stealth or intrigue, just walk up to every mob you find and smash their face in with Sinister Strike. My advice is to open with a Sinister Strike, use a one-point Slice and Dice to get your blades twirling, and then finish off with a heavy dose of additional Sinister Strikes. There's really no reason to do anything besides SS, as your opener options are weak and your finisher options are lackluster. Drill down into the combat tree; almost any talent choice will do. Find yourself a very slow weapon for your main hand, and anything else you find for your off hand will be fine. Weapon types don't even matter until later levels. Your goal should be getting used to the pacing of Sinister Strike, feeling the amount of time you have between attacks. If you're efficient, you should be attacking the next mob before your energy pool's back to 100, which means no wasted energy. There will be plenty of time later for sneaking around in stealth, planning your elaborate opening sequences and executing your targets before they even realize what's happening. For now, you get to experience the dullest part of the rogue class: leveling without the toolbox of abilities that define the real "rogue experience."
Advice for Grayfields from Brian Wood, Scattered Shots
Now that you have your pet, you get to reap the enormous benefits of one of the easiest classes to solo. Send in your pet (make sure it attacks first), then DPS with whatever damaging shots you can, then loot. If you get attacked by multiple mobs, run to your pet and have your pet round up all of the mobs, shoot, then loot. Remember that if you're attacking mobs of significantly higher level than you, it's possible for them to resist your pet's growl (meaning you'll pull aggro instantly when you shoot). When attacking much higher-level mobs, you'll want to let your pet get two full growls off before starting your attack. At level 12 you'll have both Mend Pet and Wing Clip. Wing Clip will let you escape just about anything beating on you, while the combination of Mend Pet and your turtle's Shell Shield will mean your pet can survive almost anything leveling can throw at you. Ten levels higher than you? No problem. Just remember that you never, ever want to melee anything except to apply Wing Clip, and you always want your turtle to attack first. You are now an unstoppable leveling force that will have Liz and Robin weeping with envy.
If you want to join in on the fun of Choose My Adventure, please join us on US Zangarmarsh-H in <It came from the Blog>. Ask Robiness, Robinemia or any member online for an invite. Guild ranks of Lurker or above have the ability to invite. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules, which can be summed up with "Don't be a Funsucker!" Also, please see the guild FAQ for the most common questions.
