Weekend Update

I don't have any major insights to offer today. I didn't play as much this weekend, as real life was quite busy instead. So I'll just feature a few odds and ends.

39 and Holding
Last week, we decided on a leveling plan. Our hunter friend Firegrin has been a consistent 5 or so levels behind the rest of us. He just got started later, and it's hard to catch up when you're questing with the players you're trying to catch. Not to mention that he's the only one of us with a child!

So, DK proposed that we advance to level 39 and then hold. That's mostly to get Firegrin up to equal level with the rest of us; it also allows us to spend some time in the battlegrounds without sacrificing levels. So far, it's working. Wyrmm and Cargarios are holding at 39, while Alamein is at 38, just a couple bars from 39. Firegrin has progressed rapidly to 35, so it's not like we'll be waiting long.

Alamein has progressed mostly through running quests in Desolace; now she's starting on Stranglethorn Vale as well. These have proven to be solid places to move up quickly; the only challenge is to stop at 39.

Guild Movement
As I've mentioned, three of us (all save Wyrmm) were in the same guild. I've been conflicted about it for a while, but amusingly it was Cargarios who decided to /gquit first. He's now currently unguilded, while Firegrin and Alamein are still members. I'm not in a rush to quit but I'll be interested to see how things move. At this point, I'm not getting a lot of value out of the experience, so we'll see what happens.

I'd had one semi-annoying experience with a guildie. He'd pinged me, wanting help transfering items between characters. I agreed, and spent a half-out shuttling back and forth between Stormwind and Ironforge. He didn't tip or anything, which I really didn't expect from a guild mate. But I was still annoyed. When we completed the last trade, he just ran away. I sent a /t back of "are you finished?" and got a response of "yep". I'm not a terribly sensitive guy, but at least a "thank you" would be a bare minimum for using up a half-hour of my gaming time.

So I was amused to see him in the Auction House a couple days later... as a member of a different guild. He said hello so we chatted for a bit. He claimed he'd been "trying out" his friend's guild. While I was watching, he /gquit and asked to be re-added to my guild. Oddly, I couldn't do it. I could select the option but he never saw anything. Not sure what the story was there... but frankly I'm not too disappointed.

Leatherworking
I've grown a bit frustrated with my leatherworking. Alamein's skill is up to 208 and she's hit a wall. There are some key patterns that she can't buy or find, like the Swift Boots. But more importantly, she can't find enough thick leather. With mobs up to 40 or so -- about what she can comfortably farm -- thick leather still seems to be a rare drop. So I can't collect enough leather to make a significant number of items. And there's just not enough profit in farming heavy leather to convert it -- I'd be better off auctioning it and buying thick leather.

Which is all fine, except that I'd prefer to do the work myself. And that just won't happen. Now that I'm at 38, I'd love to wear the Big Voodoo Robe, but I stubbornly refuse to buy it at auction. I want to have it say on the label... and that's going to take a bit of time.

I do think though that I'm going to make a set of +agility/+stamina armor for Alamein. I don't want to respec; she'll stay a caster/healer druid. But for grinding mobs -- especially shooters and casters who aren't really rootable -- she can do much better in cat form. Now if I can just figure out how to get the bag space to hold the extra armor...