This is why I play.

Last night, Jon was raiding so I logged on to my shammy for some solo play. Less than a minute later, I got a whisper from a hunter I'd grouped with a couple of times, asking if I had any instances planned for that night. (Yep, I'm just that awesome. Well, and healers are rare...) I didn't but we put a group together and headed for ZF... Unfortunately the tank had to leave, after bringing in an incompetent replacement (really, whining about the hunter using AoEs on the scarabs because the pally couldn't hold aggro on more than two and we needed them dead, -fast-? Lame.) So me and the hunter spent about an hour just messing around in Gadgetzan, me admiring his awesome uber (and sometimes giant red) monkey--you do NOT see a lot of gorilla pets, especially on BM hunters. so yay! I need to get a screenie next time.

Managed to find a new group...his pally friend as tank, and then a lock and mage for dps. Got in okay, despite the stupid nelf druid by the entrance killing us a couple of times, and got to work. I died. A lot. And it's not 'cause I don't know the instance, either...it was my fifth time through. I blame the warlock. We actually had a purple drop (Gut Ripper), the first one I've actually seen, which the lock won, and the mask dropped off the witch doctor (lock needed on it, bleh. SO not grouping with her again!) Anyway, after the 6th death or so--this took long enough that I used my ankh TWICE--we'd skipped fighting the group from the pyramid, and no one had the mallet to summon the hydra, so we called it quits. Got back to Org, repaired (nearly 1g, my new record.. :P), and got a whisper from the hunter asking if I'd like to go and get the mallet with him. I said yes, flew to Tarren Mill to meet him and the pally, and we started our journey into the Hinterlands...

We killed a rarespawn bear that dropped a green, just for kicks, and skirted around the gryphons in front of the pass through the mountains. I stopped occasionally to check the maps, while the others killed stuff that attacked me. We ran into trouble early on, since we had to pass through what was apparently an Alliance village.... luckily only the hunter died, so we rezzed him and continued on. The map didn't show any paths to the Horde town on the other side of the zone, so we headed for the lake and swam down the river to the sea. Luckily nothing nasty in the water. We discovered, though, that there was a huge waterfall at the end of the river...after much deliberation--and making sure that we all had rez abilities (hunter is an engineer)--we jumped. Thank goodness no one hit the rocks. We then swam south to Revantusk Village, picked up the flight path, check where we needed to go, and headed west again...

It took awhile, but we found the mob that dropped the hammer for all of us, and then headed into this weird troll city to find the altar to enchant it with. Really, it was just like an instance, only outdoors, and I was getting hardly any xp...very sad. My healing was really needed, as were the totems, which was kind of fun for normal questing, though.

And that's what this was...questing. Even though we didn't technically have a quest or anything. But there we were, three level 45 Horde, off on our big adventure into the wilds. With a goal in mind, and the basic party roles filled, and that element of uncertainty that makes everything so much more fun. There might have been a bit of roleplay. It was, without a doubt, the most fun I have ever had playing WoW. Totally immersive.

We gotta do it again some time.

Anyway, we have the hammer now, so we can do Zul'Farrak again tonight or tomorrow. And I know we'll have a good group, if we can pick up some decent dps, since the pally actually knows how to tank...turns out I'd done Uldaman with him before, too, though I couldn't remember.

Anyway, Fogol, Thenus, if you guys ever read this--thanks, it was fun. :) Seeya in Azeroth!


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Would also like to add: Looks like my number of blog entries has been keeping up with my level! Hmm, maybe I'll update every time I level up?