My brand new little Orc, Nazuga, started off Day 2 of the TrialMan Challenge at level 4. This time, I remembered to use the arrow keys to move him around (instead of clicking on the screen in front of him and wondering why he didn’t move).
However, I am still expecting his character sheet to pop up whenever I open his bag and am looking for it on the wrong side of the screen. More than a year of focusing on Diablo III has made its setup my “default mode”.
Shortly after logging in, I got a random guild invite. This time, the sender didn’t bother to /whisper me at all. In the air, above Nazuga’s head, was an invite (which I declined). The rules of the TrialMan Challenge stipulate that you cannot /whisper another player unless he or she /whispers you first. The very first thing I am going to do when the TrialMan Challenge is over is get Nazuga into my guild.
The first quest I picked up seems to be content from The Burning Crusade.
What’s a Vile Familiar? This little guy right here!
Nazuga has two spells now: Frostfire Bolt…
…and Frost Nova.
He also has Blood Fury, which is a racial ability for Orcs. It temporarily increases attack power and/or spell power. He’s a Mage, which means he is a “squishy” who survives by throwing spells at enemies from a distance. With only 2 to choose from, things got a bit monotonous on Day 2.
I really wanted to get a big axe and start swinging it at monsters, but Nazuga cannot do that right now. I understand, but was a bit frustrated and missing my Barbarian, Zeta, who is waiting for me in Diablo III.
Most of the quests that were given to Nazuga tonight came from these two NPC’s (non-player characters).
I had concerns that I would level too fast and hit level 20 before the 10 day TrialMan Challenge ended. To slow things down, I decided to take one quest at a time, and then finish and turn in the quest before taking another one. Usually, I grab all the quests I come across at the same time, and then run around Azeroth in an attempt to complete them before I forget where to go and/or what to do.
Turning in the Vile Familiars Quest earned Nazuga a new pair of shoes. No more going barefoot for him!
Next, I got my favorite quest of the night – the “Lazy Peons” quest!
Find a Sleeping Peon like this one. Wake him up by bonking him on the head with the Foreman’s Blackjack.
Back to work you go!
Now…where is that last Lazy Peon hiding?
Ding! Level 5!
I ended up spending a lot of time inside this cave.
This experience reminded me why I typically pick up multiple quests at once when I play WoW. I went into the cave for a quest, completed it, and returned to the NPC. The other NPC had a quest for me… that sent me right back into the same cave. I found this to be rather frustrating, but realized it was my own fault for not grabbing both quests at once.
One quest was to retrieve Foreman Thrazz’ril’s Pick. The other was to obtain a Burning Crusade Medallion. That second one is obviously a quest from The Burning Crusade.
Down there is Yarrog Baneshadow, who you must kill in order to find the Pick. You can’t kill him from up here by throwing spells at him, because he evades. I must have killed him 3 times before finding the Pick. The battle wasn’t anywhere near as difficult as I was expecting it to be.
The Pick is hidden a little too well, if you ask me. In addition to killing Yarrog, I also had to kill off a bunch of the smaller monsters who were in the way. With only 2 spells to choose from this became tedious (and not so much fun). After finding the Pick, Nazuga used his hearthstone for the first time.
Back to the cave, for the second time, to find the Medallion. Ding! Level 6!
At this point, I realized that Nazuga has 3 spells. The third one is Fire Blast (and he actually got it when he hit level 5). Things became a tiny bit less tedious. I’m still rather frustrated by not being able to hit stuff with an axe or sword. The screenshot above shows Nazuga throwing one spell after the other.
Little did I know that those were the last two quests in The Valley of Trials (the Orc starting zone). Next, Nazuga was sent to report to Sen’jin Village. He’s too little for a mount, so he had no choice but to walk there. I miss being able to use a mount!
Nazuga picked up his first Flight Point at Sen’Jin Village.
Hello there, Master Gadrin. What can I do for you? Go slay some Alliance humans? Allrighty, then.
By now, I was getting tired. It was probably a mistake to push myself to play through just a few more quests. Things might have been more fun if I wasn’t fighting sleep.
One of the quests required Nazuga to destroy crates. There is a chance the crate will fall on the men who are carrying it, and kill them for you. If not, they rush over and fight you. It wasn’t much of a battle, because they are all level 1.
Nazuga ran back to Sen’jin Village and turned in the quest. The next quest sent him right back out to the same location, to kill some Northwatch Infantrymen. The only option is to run back out there, and I am frustrated by not being able to use a mount.
Nazuga moved out of the way to let the “Crate Parade” go past.
When the quest was finished, I just couldn’t make myself run all the way back to Sen’Jin Village. I can’t fly there from here, and I can’t use a mount. I know! I’ll use the hearthstone!
That’s not a Troll! I forgot to set the hearthstone to Sen’Jin Village. Time to run back. /sigh
Progress: Level 6
Location: Sen’Jin Village
Deaths: Zero
Total time playing: I think it’s been about 4 hours so far. I’m giving that my best guess because I have no idea how to find out the exact amount.