Hellfire is about average for Outlands. The least intense zone there is probably Nagrand, which is, not coincidentally, the area least affected by the disaster that broke up the planet. Nagrand is at least as pastoral as Arathi Highlands in most places. The most intense is a tie, for me, between Blades Edge Mountains, Netherstorm, Hellfire and Shadowmoon Valley. All of them I seem to have a tendency to end up running directly into something particularly nasty no matter how careful I am.
All right, thanks. Looks like the mid-60s zones are mostly subdued (Zangarmarsh in particular looks neat). That’ll give us some time before we hit the high 60s zones, which are what you describe. Maybe that’ll give her some incentive to play more, so we can get out of Hellfire.
I hated Hellfire. Before the Death Knights came out, my highest level character was my orc shaman, who’d gotten to 60. And he sat there for at least a year, because I just didn’t want to play in Hellfire Peninsula. Hated it.
Almost the same thing happened to me, except I only thought I escaped. I got to a safe distance, and watched it pause and then start running at me. Unfortunately, my little totems I had left behind upset it (I guess littering is against the law in Hellfire Peninsula ;)). Did you know Reavers have extremely long leash lengths before they reset? Did get away eventually, but he just kept coming.
Most food that you cook yourself gives you a buff, even at low levels.
If you’re going methodically, zone-by-zone, you should be able to hit level 68 without ever going to blade’s edge, shadowmoon, or nether storm. (I still haven’t been to nether storm, despite levelling 2 different characters through outlands).
Veering slightly, are there any Cenarion Expedition quests in N-storm? I’ve just calculated that my DK needs to gather 1,850 ears in Borean Tundra if he wants to hit exalted with the Expedition that way. Which doesn’t sound too terribly fun.
Hmm. How about the demon camp quest chain in Nagrand? I basically did the quests in Z-marsh, Blade’s Edge, and the northern part of Tarokkar forest, plus all the quests in Borean (DEHTA and the Murlocs), which put me just short of revered.
Yeah, I did maybe five quests in Blade’s Edge and nothing in either Netherstorm or Shadowmoon (except to buy my flying mount, I think).
As far as Cenarion Expedition I think the easiest way to get to exalted is to run the Coilfang Reservoir dungeons and collect Coilfang Armaments for the rep turn-in. I’m not sure what Borean Tundra ears you are talking about…
Interesting takes on the Outland zones - I think I’m pretty much the opposite of most of you, I love the intense charred zones much more than the pretty atmospheric ones. I found Hellfire a blast at 58 - the thrill of always being on the edge of survival is much more fun than the grind of Nagrand for example. Zangarmarsh was OK, but I still preferred Hellfire by a good margin.
In NR so far my favorite zones have been Dragonblight and Icecrown - Borean Tundra was OK but mainly for the Coldarra region and the Walrus-men (DEHTA was fun too).
The Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals (DEHTA) are a branch of the Expedition who’ve set up shop in the Borean Tundra. They offer a free buff and 150 reputation for every 15 Nesingwary lackey ears you turn in, and there are a lot of loot-crazed hunters, divers, et cetera who drop the ears. (Though generally much less than 2 per, which raises some questions about just how healthy a lifestyle these hunters lead.)
Ah yes, I did the turn in many times getting the DEHTA’s Little PITA achievement - I guess I forgot about the CE rep that came with it (rep grinding is one of the things I’ve never really got into… and I was distracted by the nice buff).
When I was at that level Hellfire got too intense for me too, so I picked up some quests in Zangarmarsh and did a few there, then a few in Hellfire, rinse, repeat. It broke up the intensity, and let me catch up on fishing and enjoying the game.
If you pick up cooking, you should always have food with you that gives you buffs. You can get the first buff food recipes by the time you’re level 10. It’s not much, but an extra point or two of stamina can make a difference.
Whenever you’ve been silenced or polymorphed or feared or otherwise taken out of battle, it’s always a good idea to let the rest of the party know–especially if you’re the healer. That way they won’t be counting on you taking care of them and they’ll pop a potion or something if they’re hurt too badly.
This brings up a question I’ve had. In PvP it seems like some players are never CC’ed. I’ve heard reference to “popping a trinket” - is this also something that can be used PvE in dungeons? Is it worth having over a more traditional “Use: Grants XXX AP for 10 sec” type of trinket? Cause man I hate getting feared, running into another pack of mobs, and wiping the group.
Are there any other reliable ways to get out of fear/daze/silence?
Humans have “Every Man For Himself”, which removes movement-impairing effects like ice traps or a Death Knight’s Ice Cage. Gnomes have a similar thing, “Escape Artist”.
Dwarf priests used to have (and may still…it’s been a long time since I played one) a racial priest spell called “Fear Ward” that prevented a Fear from affecting someone.
Undead have “Will of the Forsaken”, which breaks sleep and daze effects.
Everybody and their brother has a way to get out of fear (can you tell I’m bitter? (= ). The PvP trinket, zerk stance, bubble, other stuff I’ve forgotten because I got stun locked to death again.
If you’re instance running and having issues with fears, bring a shammy along to drop his tremor totem. It pulses every couple of seconds, and the pulse will remove fear affects; you’ll still be interrupted by the fear, so if you’re healing, try to keep the tank up so he can take a couple of hits while you’re feared and have enough health that you can get back into your rythym.
That’s what I’ve noticed… but none of the things mentioned so far (other than trinket) is applicable to a Tauren Hunter. Maybe that’s why I’m the only one on the BG running around like an idiot with a purple skull above my head… guess I gotta get a PvP trinket…
The Shaman idea is good - being new(ish) to the game I don’t have a handle on all of the benefits that other classes/races can bring (just experienced the Pally mount speed buff - very nice!) - especially since Tauren Hunters bring very little in the way of buffs or group-wide benefits.
Well, I’m glad to know that some of y’all get “startled-jumpy” too!
I thought it was just me.
Damn Defias thug sneaks up behind me while I’m checking the map, and almost makes me shit my Depends! Then the Parkinson’s starts from the “fight or flight” and next thing I know I’ve run through the enemy and I’m out the other side of him! Instead of turning my toon around, no, I walk backwards, so he can get another lick in.
So I get dead and summon my healer (“It’s me again, Margaret!”) and get revived, but forget to let myself get over the sickness, and, you guessed it…
Yeah, hunters only have to be feared twice, provided they don’t silence me before I get the second one off (=. In BGs you have a nasty combo of war stomp + disengage, and don’t forget to send the pet in.
Depending on your spec, imp hunter’s mark and/or ferious inspiration bring something to the group, as do your traps and misdirection.
If you’re running with a priest, ask for a fear ward. That helps. Beyond that, I don’t know what others can do for you.
Yeah, I pulled a good one last night. I was running low on health & mana, so after I finished killing my current mob, I had myself some food & drink. While sitting there, I targeted the next dude I was going to take down. So I’m halfway healed up, and a wandering mob jumps me from behind. I leap to my feet and launch a spell while I’ve still got the other mob targeted. Spiffy. Half health, half mana, and two mobs on me.
My 80 frost mage could have just frozen them in place, skipped away, summoned the water elemental to snag the aggro, and used evocation to get some mana back. If the water elemental got aggro on both, I would have had time to bandage up and kill 'em both.
Unfortunately, this was my little holy priest. I was hosed.
Then the Parkinson’s starts from the “fight or flight” and next thing I know I’ve run through the enemy and I’m out the other side of him! Instead of turning my toon around, no, I walk backwards, so he can get another lick in.