I have now, officially, completed the World of Warcraft TrialMan Challenge. It took much longer than 10 chronological days. The rules do not require that you complete the challenge in 10 days of “real time”.
Instead, it is acceptable to play the character you created for the challenge in the next 10 times that you play World of Warcraft. You can even switch out and play a different character (but that obviously won’t count toward the TrialMan Challenge).
I knew that it would take me longer than most people to finish the TrialMan Challenge. I’m a very casual player of WoW. Most of my gaming time is devoted to Diablo III. In order to finish the challenge, I had to find a way to make it work around my job obligations and my chronic illnesses. It is so nice to be done! Here is the final blog that focuses on Nazuga, my Orc Mage.
Nazuga woke up from a long nap at his favorite Inn. He found Innkeeper Gryshka starring out the door at something. What caught her attention? Looking up, Nazuga saw that someone had strung up a bunch of paper heart shapes. He also noticed that most of the guards in Orgrimmar had a strange, fuchsia, haze surrounding them. Nazuga scratched his head. What kind of magic is this?
A very curious Nazuga used his hearthstone to return to Razor Hill. That town was always changing in magical ways! What would it look like today?
The Inn at Razor Hill also had been decorated with paper heart shapes. Other buildings had huge heart shaped decorations attached to them. Somehow, the guards here managed to avoid the fuchsia colored magic clouds. Nazuga did not understand what was happening, but chose not to investigate. He woke up today with a strong need to finish a couple of quests.
First, he needed to locate a waterlogged Goblin named Fizzle Darkclaw and obtain his orb. Nazuga headed off in search of water. On the way, he worried about whether or not he would be able to hold his breath long enough to finish the task.
Nazuga dove into the water and swam around underneath it. This is not so bad, he thought. He had no idea where to find a waterlogged Goblin. Instead, he found several huge, dead, lizards at the bottom of the lake.
That’s disgusting! , Nazuga lamented. He gave serious consideration to getting out of the water as fast as possible. Then, he remembered that he had a second quest that required him to remove those big, decomposing, lizards from the lake. The faster I get started, the sooner this will be over, he thought. This idea provided little encouragement.
From a safe distance (out of range of the Thunder Lizard’s lightning spells) Nazuga attached a rope to one Lizard.
Nazuga waited to see what would happen. It didn’t take long before the dead Thunder Lizard began to move. Nazuga didn’t see anyone around when he dove under the water. There must be someone up there helping to remove the dead Lizards from the lake. Nazuga watched as the giant, dead, decomposing Thunder Lizard was lifted off the bottom of the lake and taken away.
That looks ridiculous!, Nazuga thought. He could feel himself starting to laugh.
Quickly, he swam to the surface just in time to let out the giggle of a small Orc. This quest, that he wasn’t looking forward to, suddenly became fun! Nazuga dove back under the water and helped remove as many of the dead Thunder Lizards from the lake as he could.
With one quest completed, Nazuga felt ready to search for the waterlogged Goblin (and his orb). Where was he at?
Eventually, he found a campsite on the bottom of the lake. Why would anyone want to try and camp underwater?, Nazuga questioned. Then, he saw the tiny body of the Goblin floating near the campsite. Nazuga realized that this area must have filled with water incredibly quickly, trapping the doomed Goblin before he had a chance to escape. What a horrible way to die!
There were plenty of odd, smoke-like, creatures guarding the Goblin. Nazuga wasted no time in engaging them.
Ding! Level 14!
All I have to do now is take the orb from the dead Goblin. This should be easy! Nazuga’s big Orc hands easily encircled the orb. He pulled, and pulled, but even in death the Goblin wouldn’t give up his treasure. What is this, a Goblin, or one of those steel traps the Hunters use?
Growling in frustration (and sending a batch of itty bitty bubbles into the water) Nazuga pulled as hard as he could! The orb was removed from the Goblin. Unfortunately, the Goblin’s arm came with it.
Nazuga stared for a moment at the Goblin’s dismembered arm. Then he shrugged, and swam to the surface. Dead Goblin doesn’t need his arm anymore anyway.
What’s this funny looking thing floating in the air? Nazuga had received yet another guild request.
Part of the rules of the TrialMan Challenge state that your character cannot be part of a guild. Joining would immediately disqualify me from the Challenge. Once again, I had to explain that I was doing the TrialMan Challenge and that I could not join any guilds right now. I was looking forward to finishing the Challenge and getting Nazuga into my guild.
As Nazuga was climbing out of the lake, he realized that he had become quite tired. Swimming took more energy than he expected it would! He slowly trudged back to Gor the Enforcer, who was expecting Nazuga to return after finishing the quests. Gor had some rather disturbing information to share.
“Gor! I have returned! The dead Thunder Lizards have been cleared from the lake,” Nazuga explained.
Gor seemed pleased. “The electricity was only one of the dangers. If those carcasses rot too long under the water, that entire source becomes undrinkable.” Nazuga grimaced and started to feel a little bit itchy and nauseated.
“I also bring you the orb of Fizzle Darkclaw,” Nazuga said, holding out the orb (dismembered Goblin arm and all) to Gor.
Gor looked very impressed. “I ask for an orb, and you bring half of the goblin’s arm with you? I like the way you work.” This was when Nazuga realized that there was probably a grizzly story behind how this Orc got the name “Gore”. He did not wish to hear the details. Nazuga excused himself, stating that he was off to finish the last quest that Gor assigned him.
This quest involved destroying the pairs of warring elementals who were battling in an open space not far away.
The experience reminded Nazuga of the story that Shin Stonepillar told him about the starving wolf and the fighting Thunder Lizards. In the story, the wolf tried to attack a dead Thunder Lizard, only to get killed by the one that was still alive. It has defeated its foe, but still would not allow the wolf to eat the corpse.
The warring elementals were similar. Here they were, in pairs, trying to kill each other. This changed the instant that Nazuga threw a spell at any of them. Doing so caused the elementals to stop fighting each other in order to team up and attack Nazuga. It was illogical for them to do that, and Nazuga would not have expected it. Shin’s story helped save him.
“Gor! I have returned once more to tell you that I have completed the last quest you assigned to me. I have fought, and defeated, many of the warring elementals.”
Once again, Gor the Enforcer seemed very pleased. He grinned at Nazuga (a sight that was somewhat unsettling) and then gave Shin Stonepillar a smug smirk. “See? The shaman’s tales are nothing but that… a youngling’s bedtime stories. The new Horde takes what it wants, and doesn’t waste time with such frivolity. If you get a chance, I recommend you tell Shin… and those like him… not to waste any more of your time.”
From across the room, a low, enraged growl could be heard. Nazuga had no desire to get in between these two Orcs, who clearly hated each other. Nazuga nodded, keeping his face blank and avoiding eye contact with either of them. He then turned and headed out the door.
I have finished all my quests, Nazuga thought to himself. Now what? A delightful thought crossed his mind. He now had all the time in the world to seek out a Tailor and find a replacement for these awful, shiny, pants he had been stuck with for far too long. To Orgrimmar!
He was hoping to find a nice robe, but the Tailors didn’t have any in stock at the moment. However, they did have a pair of dark green pants that were just his size. The pants had some patches, and were a bit shabby looking. Nazuga could not help but smile. What self-respecting Orc ran around in shiny, gold, pants? Not him! These drab ones would do just fine.
Pleased with himself, and his accomplishments, Nazuga returned to Razor Hill. He was looking forward to a long rest.
Here are the stats from the end of Day 10 of the TrialMan Challenge.
Progress: Level 14
Location: Razor Hill
Deaths: Still at a total of 7 (all before Day 10 of the TrialMan Challenge)
Total Time Played: 12 hours, 25 minutes, 50 seconds
This brings me to the end of the TrialMan Challenge. What will happen with Nazuga now? I have decided that I don’t want to delete him. I’d rather give him some more time. Are Mages more fun at higher levels? The very first thing I did with Nazuga after I completed the Challenge was to ask a friend to help me get Nazuga into the guild. No more random guild requests for me!
I’ve also decided to give this character a break for a bit. The next time I play World of Warcraft, I’m going to select one of my other characters to play. They have all been neglected as I was working on the TrialMan Challenge.