Update

So with my newfound free time I've been steadily leveling my triumvirate of alts. Unfortunately I haven't been leveling them evenly. I worked on Solinari for a while, got her up to Outland, got bored of that, then leveled up Nuiitari. Lunitari is languishing at level 12 merely because I can't have that many characters in the guild. I'm thinking of replacing Caaz with Lunitari, so that I can finally level her. But the guild is short on tanks right now so it may pay to keep Caaz in instead. I haven't decided.

Solinari Level 73 Priest

Soli has gotten up to Borean Tundra. Outland was uneventful, if boring. I've done the 58-68 grind so many times, I do it on auto pilot. It truely is a big letdown after the revamped quests from 1-60.

Before starting outland I had to go back to train up her herbalism. Actually, I leveled to 60 first in outland, then went back. Having a flying mount made training up the herbalism sooo much faster. I even bought her Epic 280% flying, since I was getting tired of how slow the mount was.

Mana has become less of an issue as shadow. With the combination of Shadowfiend and Dispersion, I can usually handle being chained pulled DPSing a dungeon. My DPS is actually pretty respectable, but only on boss fights. The only AOE I have access to, even at this level is Holy Nova, which I forget if it knocks me out of shadowform. Either way it uses a lot of mana for not much damage. I tend to just single target nuke everything.

For healing, mana isn't too bad. I'm trying out the new "smiting" way of healing. Which keeps you constantly casting. Its ok I guess, but I think I prefer the shield+renew way of healing. That might not be too viable once I get into the upper Wrath/Cata instances, so we'll see how that goes.

I've leveled Soli's Enchanting to about 320 or so. Arcane dust is crazy expensive now so I was hoping to bank on DE'ing greens made by Nuii leveling her Tailoring. To do that Nuii has to be at least level 50, so I started leveling her.

Nuiitari Level 50 Warlock

I leveled Nuii to 50 in order to further train her tailoring. Unfortunately the price of Netherweave Cloth is high, probably because of the inflated prices of Netherweave Bags. This makes leveling tailoring in the 300's expensive. The last time I did this on Bob, I had a huge stockpile of cloth, so that helped soften the blow of gold.

At first I was trying to level Nuii as demonlogy. It was the one spec I didn't have much experience with and it seemed to make sense. Having a felguard at such a low level was a boon. I rarely had to stop to drink, and I was plowing through mobs quickly. But as she got higher in level, having the felguard wasn't as imbalanced. Towards the 30's the send-in-the-pet-and-dot style was getting tiresome. I already have to dot the target on my shadow priest, I wanted more burst. I then switched to destruction, which gave me conflagrate. This made quite a bit of difference. Now I send in the voidwalker to tank, hit immolate, conflag and then either a shadowbolt or drain life if running low. The shadowbolt is a long cast, but some talents and procs do bring the cast time down. Its unfortunate you don't get incinerate(fast cast) or even soulfire(instant with soulburn) until much later.

Switching to destruction has really opened the class back up again. With the shoulder, chest and now cloak heirlooms ( +25% XP total), the mana regen BoA trinket, and the guild's +10% XP bonus, you can fly through the levels very quickly.

Unfortunately Lunitari is still at level 12. The main reason being that because she's not in the guild, she loses out on that 10% of xp, which is enough of a psychological reason for me to avoid leveling her.

[WoW IC] Shadow

Log of Expert level Priest, Solinari

Day 34

It took me a few days, but I recovered from my little ordeal in Tarren Mill. Rather than shatter my will, I think it has steeled it. I've redoubled my efforts into becoming more powerful. One day I hope to meet that Death Knight again, I won't be as lenient as that Blood Knight.

To that end, I've decided that I need to embrace both aspects of what it means to be a Priest. All my life I had dedicated to healing, and the ways of the Light. Even when protecting myself, I used the blinding aura of Light to intimidate, and when necessary, punish those who would do me harm. With what happened to me at Tarren Mill, I've discovered that while power from the Light is potent for healing, they are simply not meant to hurt. To truely be effective at slaying the evils in Azeroth, I would need to turn to more dark arts.

I made my way to Lady Balestra in Silvermoon, to inquire for training in the ways of Shadow. She didn't seem surprised at my inquiry, I guess in these dark times more followers of the light are looking at effective ways to fight back. She mentioned that there is a way to follow two avenues of the light at the same time, but it takes special training. It also doesn't mean that I will be equally powerful in both aspects, the training would simply allow me to switch which aspects becomes more powerful, after some meditation.

Lady Balestra directed me to Master Aldrae, possibly the most powerful Priest trainer in Silvermoon. He started my training to allow me to switch aspects. The training itself wasn't terribly difficult, though Master Aldrae seemed surprised that I was able to get through it so quickly. We were finished within a few days. Master Aldrae then directed me to Orgrimmar, to study under a Dark Cleric Cecille. He said she would be able to teach me all about being a Shadow Priest.

Shadow Training

Going to see Dark Cleric Cecille was a mixed blessing. I was glad that she was located in Orgrimmar, and not in the Undercity. I was relieved to know that I wouldn't have to spend any more time in Undercity than absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, getting to Orgrimmar involves going through Undercity, plus the Dark Cleric is a Forsaken ( figures ), so it would still be a constant reminder (plus the smell).

Tomorrow I set off for Orgrimmar to start the training. The trip should be quicker because of the extra training I've received in riding. Strut ( my hawkstrider ) received some new armor as well, so he's in fine form.

I've decided NOT to tell Luni about my decision and training. She thinks I'm just going back to adventuring, like before. She's already worried about Nuitarri. Her worry has kept her pre-occupied so I haven't had to lie per-se, but I don't like keeping secrets from her. She doesn't like anything to do with the Arcane, let alone Shadow teachings. I guess she can't help it. I've heard its drilled from the very first day of magecraft to be wary of the Arcane arts, since they so often lead to Shadow magic. Shadow magic being so addictive, many a magii have fallen under its spell never to be the same again. Luni still hasn't told me exactly what happened to Nuitarri, and why she isn't here yet. Maybe on my way to Orgrimmar I'll inquire with a Magii to see if I can find anything.

[WoW IC] Unexpected help

Adventurer Log, Solinari, Priest.

Day 15

Spent some time in the Undercity today. Wow, that place was a bit terrifying. There were body parts everywhere, not to mention falling off some of the inhabitants. I think the worst part was the smell, I'm still trying to get it out of my robes. I stayed in Undercity only as long as absolutely needed before venturing to Tarren Mill.

At Tarren Mill I had my first taste of Alliance "hospitality". I was hired by the inn keeper at Tarren Mill to gather some herbs and hunt for some meat. Not the most prestigious instructions, but coin is coin. I was just returning with the meat and herbs when I heard a commotion outside the inn. Outside was an Alliance death knight! The death knight was not in a particularly good mood, judging from the way he was coming after the Forsaken, he seemed rather grumpy. I guess he hasn't quite figured out the difference between Scourge and Forsaken. Strange for a Death Knight to not know the difference, but maybe he just didn't care?

Before today, I'd never actually SEEN a Death Knight before, only descriptions and accounts from survivors of the fall of Silvermoon. They're quite a bit more intimidating in person. In fact they're very intimidating when they're barreling at you on a deathcharger while the guards are 2 strides behind him and losing ground. For a second I considered getting onto my hawkstrider and making a run for it, but from the pace his deathcharger was going, I wouldn't have gotten far.

By instinct alone I cast my go-to protective spell, "Shield" on myself. I knew that the shield would protect me as well as some dried leaves but it was purely instinct at this point. The shield materialized, which looked about as imposing as the dried leaves I mentioned before. At this point I steeled my nerves and willed myself not to look away. If I'm going to die, I'm gonna die facing my opponnent, not cowering away. Before my eyes could shut out the actual blow, I did notice that my shield became much more opaque. For a split second I stood there, waiting for the flash of pain and darkness, but none came. Instead a dull POP was all I heard. Opening my eyes, I saw the death knight's rune blade arching once again for my head. The blade simply deflected as if it had hit pure stone. The death knight himself had a confused look on his face, probably the mirror of my own confusion. The death knight's head shifted ever so slightly over my right shoulder and he took a reactive step backwards.

I turned my head to see what could possibly enlisit such a reaction from a death knight. Behind me was, a Blood Knight. This was no journeyman blood knight, judging by the armor he was wearing, and the way he stood, this was a grizzled veteran. His left hand was extended after having cast a Blessing of Protection ( thus saving me ). In his other hand was the hilt of a huge black battle axe. The axe itself glowed, and seemed to actually BLEED. With the cowel of his helm over his face, he looked like the epitome of a golden warrior out for blood.

This image was not lost on the death knight as he took another step backwards. By then the forsaken guards had closed in and were preparing to deliver their own attack on the death knight. With surprising speed the deathknight leaped to get back on his deathcharger and rode away from the forssaken guards. With the speed of the mount he was able to start putting distance between himself and the forsaken, but not before a few arrows could ding his armor.

When I tured back to thank my savior, he was gone. I caught a brief glimpse of him as he rode off on his own red and gold charger, going the opposite direction. After that turned in my herbs and meat, took the next bat back to Undercity, then headed back to Silvermoon. Usually I would have stayed in Tarren Mill to save on the fare, but all I wanted to be was back in the semi-familiar surroundings of Silvermoon.

Luni met me at the door to our little apartment in Silvermoon. We had dinner, and I told her about the experience. She seemed more frightened than I was. I tend to forget that Luni hasn't been outside the Silvermoon walls yet, so in many ways she's more sheltered than I. I think I'm going to stay in Silvermoon a few days, let me get myself back together.