I logged onto Maidofiron, eager to get levelling. First thing I did was rescue survivors of the devastation at Auberdine. While I was doing that, I also destroyed several Vile Spray. The noises those things make creeped me out a lot.

I was surprised to see that the Buzzboxes were actually analysing the items you brought, instead of turning them into booze. Looks like Wizbang Cranktoggle finally decided to use his scientific mind to help the animals of Darkshore, rather than using it to find new ways of getting himself tanked up.

While killing Thistle Bears for their guts, I managed to pull three of them at once. I promptly ran out of mana. Just as I was thinking ‘oh no, I’m dead’, one of the bears died and I hit Level 13 – which refilled my health and mana. Thank goodness for that then! I killed the other two bears and went on my way.

I fell into the Maw of the Void and got sucked into a cavern underneath it. Let me tell you now that Telarius Voidstrider is tougher than he looks. Especially when he keeps using Spellbreak to lower the damage my spells do to him. If it wasn’t for Shadowmeld, I would have died on my first attempt. I barely managed to kill him on the second. At least he dropped a quest starter.

One other thing I learned was not to kill Corrupted Duskrats. The AOE that spills out from their corpse hit me hard. Again, I nearly died.

I hit Level 14 after handing in all the quests I had. I then learnt Power Word: Fortitude from the trainer. This will come in very handy indeed.

And that was that. I then had an overwhelming desire to play Half-Life 2: Episode Two. So I did. Dog vs Strider is the best thing ever.

Until the next time, folks!

The first quest I did in Shadowglen was the old classic to kill Nightsabers. This got me believing that the Night Elf starting quests hadn’t changed much in Cataclysm. Thankfully, I was soon proven wrong. I enjoyed learning about Night Elf history from the spirit at the Moonwells. This is a great way of introducing new players to the lore surrounding WoW.

Before I left Shadowglen, I was given a buff which made getting this achievement so much easier.

As I approached Dolanaar, I saw that Zenn Foulhoof was up to no good, as usual. I was pleased to see that his quest required two of every reagent, rather than three. However, I soon found out that the drop rates on these reagents are still as annoying as they were pre-Cataclysm.

A while later, I was in the Barrow Dens. Getting the Shaman Voodoo Charm only took me four kills, instead of the 15-20 it usually takes me. That was good. And the quest to kill 20 furbolg was also welcome. I don’t remember there being such a quest before Cataclysm came out.

One thing that bothered me was this. The Sentinel who accompanies you is handy for killing things. I also noticed you could ask her for directions to where the relics needed for the Awakening Ritual were located. The mist she placed was quite handy, but how are you supposed to follow it when you have to stop and kill something every five seconds?

Speaking of the relics, I found that they were still as annoying to find as ever. Even with the mist helping me.

I got to Level 12 eventually, and headed to Darkshore. I’m yet to start any quests there. That’ll be the next part of my challenge.

Unlike the other times I have done this challenge, I left the starting zone (Teldrassil) with all of my bag slots occupied. Mostly by 6-slot bags, but still. There were a lot of rares around which dropped bags, and a couple of quests gave a bag as a reward. Why can’t all the starting zones offer quests like this?

One other thing I noticed is that the Earthen Ring realm is rather quiet on the Alliance side. Maybe it was because of the time of day (mid-morning). Maybe most of the players were at work or school. Or maybe there’s just not many people rolling Alliance characters.

Whichever one it was, it was practically dead in the Trade channel. Even the chat channel for people doing the Ironman Challenge was devoid of life. I was the only person there. Someone did join me, but only for ten seconds.

Oh well, maybe things will pick up later. In the meantime, it’s off to Darkshore!

FOR THE ALLIANCE!

I finally started levelling Maidofiron again. When I logged on, I started doing the quests I had left. Attaching a tether to a dead Thunder Lizard is harder than it looks. I got zapped by one and lost half my health!

I then found myself with a Slavedriver, testing his ‘gladiators’. Those three quests were the easiest XP I’ve ever earned.

I got to Level 12 and found that I was pretty much done in Durotar. So, I headed to Azshara. It was so much fun running around in a Goblin Shredder, lobbing grenades everywhere. Once I killed the Ancient, I got out of the shredder so I could kill stags for their venison. I tell you, the number of slabs I was getting was awful. Pretty much every kill yielded only one slab. Though one stag did give me three slabs, which was nice.

I soon wished that I had stayed in the shredder, though. While fighting a stag, a Telrendis Scout decided to have a go. Then another one … and another one. So I was fighting four enemies at once!

… not that it did them any good.

Once I was finished with the Night Elf menace, I started the quests at the rocketway. I found it funny that even with his workers petrified, Horzak Zignibble was still trying to do his job, and make some money on the side. Then, when he realises his workers don’t make good bricks, he grudginly decides to help them. Typical goblin – money first, well-being second.

It wasn’t long until I found myself working for the Bilgewater Battalion. I had a blast shooting naga with the mortar (pun not intended). I was tempted to stay on it, even after I’d killed 60 for the quest. But if I did, I wouldn’t have got anything else done.

Also, I loved the flavour (yellow) text on the SFG. It made me laugh out loud.

Once I was finished with the Battalion, I was Level 14. Then it was time to help the Surveyor map out Lake Mennar.

Turns out that while I can take on three elves and a stag, I can’t handle a bunch of pissed off ghosts. Go figure. Oh well, time to delete.

But first, I might as well get rid of the money I’ve made. I go to Orgrimmar and decide to give my money to the first low level I see.

It doesn’t take long to find one, a Level 14. I should point out that this person wasn’t begging. If they were, I wouldn’t have given them anything.

And that’s that. I deleted Maidofiron after this. However, I created her again (to reserve the name). I’ll decide what race/class to roll, and try again.

Maybe I’ll go Alliance this time…

Maidofiron is now Level 10. I have to say that I was tempted to select Demonology, but not spend any talent points in it. That way, I could get a Felguard, and not break the rules of the challenge.

However, I thought about it and chose not to. It’s still speccing, after all. And besides, I’m not sure it would work.

Still in Durotar. Bored as hell.