Month: April 2020

Well, it was bound to happen eventually! It’s been a few days since I posted something and I really didn’t have an idea of where I wanted to take this post. Therefore, its gonna go in a million directions all at once! 

First off, I think that I made a HUGE mistake. I had been happy playing through most of my toons on retail and running through dungeons as DPS. Then I decided to try out Recount to track my DPS as compared to the rest of the group. Don’t ask me why, as I wasn’t getting any complaints from the groups that I was in. I just wanted to see where I stood, figuring I might be second at best. It turns out that I am placing third or fourth, putting me right around dead last since the healers don’t usually rank in the DPS charts.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to throw myself at the “problem” right now since all of these characters are nowhere near max level right now. If I am still having this issue once I get them to 120, then I will do what I can to improve on their performance.

Next is the fact that I still see people running through some of the older dungeons (Dire Maul in this case) like we used to do back in the day. I am sitting in the back of the group, trying NOT to draw extra bad guys into the fight, and our tanks are charging ahead to pull the next group or two! Meanwhile, I feel kinda guilty for pulling one extra bad guy when I keep tabbing through enemies and using my spells.

I guess my point is that I suppose times have changed as far as running dungeons and such. I know that LFR and LFG have really simplified the process, and it is really nice to be able to run things quickly. While that is nice for my little leveling experiment, it still hasn’t helped me to change my mindset.

I also blame the release of WoW Classic for this, as things are almost exactly as I remember them being in the original version of the game. While I know that is the point of it, playing both versions of the game reminds me of how happy I am (and I may be in the minority) that the game is where it is today.

Anyway, I have to leave quarantine for the day and go to work, so that is going to wrap things up for this post. Stay safe everyone! Have fun in Azeroth and may all your loots be epic!
-Zebgora

Here are the people that I have run dungeons with in the last couple of days. 

Character Name     Server                   Race / Class
The Deadmines – Aprilnova
Illodri                        Wyrmrest Accord  Blood Elf Rogue
Hallard                      Lightning’s Blade   Tauren Warrior
Farainga                    Lightning’s Blade   Tauren Druid
Millard                      Terenas                  Troll Hunter

Dire Maul (Warpwood Quarter) – Cowbobz
Mashul                      Emerald Dream     Orc Warlock
Deathandi                 Andorhal                Blood Elf Death Knight
Kronnot                   Andorhal                Tauren Paladin
Natashaa                  Kel’Thuzad             Orc Shaman
Kavnic                     Stormrage               Vulpera Warlock

Thank you all for being a part of the journey of whichever character you ran into! Good luck out there and may all your loot be epic!
-Zebgora

Dungeon runs for Sunday, April 19, 2020

Character Name     Server                   Race / Class
Neltharion’s Lair – Jendemonium
Finalstand                 Tichondrius          Zandalari Troll Warrior
Holyadamb               Bladefist               Zandalari Troll Priest
Shadowninja             Agamaggar           Undead Rogue
Buzlightyeer             Mal’Ganis              Zandalari Troll Druid

Eye of Azshara – Jendemonium
Hellzboi                   Hyjal                     Fel Orc Demon Hunter
Zodo                       Bleeding Hollow   Blood Elf Paladin
Amrek                     Stormreaver          Vulpera Shaman
Farfalla                    Nathrezim            Blood Elf Paladin
Skipee                     Thrall                    Tauren Druid

Thank you all for being a part of the leveling adventure for anyone of my characters that you ran across in these dungeons!
-Zebgora

Hey guys! Zebgora here, back at the blogging again. I just wanted to give an update on what I’ve been up to in-game. 

I am making slow progress on the Nightfallen storyline from Legion (so that I can get the allied race). It’s easier than it probably should be since I’m doing it at 120 rather than 110. I think its a really fun storyline to play through in Suramar and it’s something that I never really got to do as real-life kinda got in the way for me in the Legion era.

On other toons, Cowbobz (my druid) is now level 45. I am having quite a bit of fun with him too. As I have said before, I have much more fun leveling by running dungeons than I do by questing, so that is the approach that I have been taking with all of my low-level characters. It has already led to some burn out (from running the same places on different toons [yes I have that many lowbies]). When I feel that burn out coming on, I switch back to Zeb and do some more stuff in Suramar. 

All the dungeon running leads me to a rather frustrating conclusion. I have noticed that there is not a lot of chatter between the members of LFG groups in these runs. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t miss the days of getting yelled at for doing something that I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to be doing and wiping the group. What I DO miss is strategizing for the bosses and such. I mean, I know there is some of that going on, as I have gotten a few helpful hints along the way as I level up some of these toons and get to know their abilities and such, but overall it seems that communication has been greatly minimized.

This slight bit of RANDOM RANTING has given me an idea. I am going to start doing something special at least once a week here. The next time I post, I am going to start doing shoutouts to all the people that I wind up meeting in my dungeon running adventures. Not making any promises that this is going to go anywhere, but the idea is that once Tam and I get the podcast up and running again (which, if things go as planned, is closer than originally thought), we will give shout-outs on the air to these people. Nothing super crazy, just a little on-air thank you for being a part of the journey through Azeroth.

I think that’s it for now, as I really have to get back to leveling. The quarantine continues and insanity draws ever closer. Believe me, I wish I was talking about the Old God N’zoth. Take care everyone and many happy adventures in Azeroth. Until next time!
-Zebgora

I have been struggling with a name for a new character since I unlocked the Vulpera allied race a few weeks ago. I knew that I wanted to make a warlock since I was having a lot of fun playing one on the classic side of things. I really hope that it translates well into how things are in retail now.

Anyway, I also want to go back and try to unlock some of the other allied races as well. I am most interested in the Nightfallen since I really like the elvish races of Azeroth and from what I have seen, these new elves are pretty interesting. I’m sure that eventually, I will have all of the allies unlocked but these two races are my first priorities.

So back to the point that I was originally making (sorry for bouncing back and forth like this, but you guys should come to expect that from me by now. I mean nothing has really changed since the show went off the air.). I finally made my little fox warlock. 

So here she is! Aprilnova, the Vulperan warlock!

So as I was saying before, it is really cool blowing through the higher-end content in the game, because that is what sticks in my mind the most since its what Zebgora has the most memories of.

However, there is quite a bit to be said for the lower-level dungeon content as well! Running my newly rediscovered druid (who was level 10 when I started playing him again) is now 23 (at the time of posting) and going through dungeons such as Ragefire Chasm, Wailing Caverns and Shadowfang Keep, I discovered that they changed the bosses, even ever so slightly since the Cataclysm. 

It has been an interesting quest, to say the least. I had the idea after getting Amontillado leveled up to 80. So I picked up a character that I had not touched in a long time, along with a class that I have not played since my very first character ever when I had my 10-day trial, a druid!

I had to actually quest until I got him up to level 15 so that LFG could kick in but after that, the levels started rolling in rather quickly. It has also been fun using websites to figure out rotations for abilities and spells and everything, along with talent points and stuff like that.

It greatly depends on how long this quarantine stuff goes on, but I may have quite the diverse selection of level 50+ characters by the end of it if it goes on for TOO long. I’m also not sure how I really feel about that, but at the time that I am writing this, I am enjoying the return to my old habits and ways. That being said, I think that will just about wrap this post up. Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime, here is Cowbobz (as of level 23).
-Zebgora

Hey guys! It’s Zeb again. I just wanted to get another post up here while in this crazy quarantine. 

So, I’ve been continuing leveling my death knight and am happy to say that the pace seems to be maintaining itself. Amontillado is level 80 as of the time of this posting and he seems to be averaging a level per dungeon. Still having just as much fun running all of the old dungeons that I remember being so difficult as I leveled Zebgora back in the day. 

THEN…I hit Pandaria. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think Panda-land is my favorite area as far as landscape goes. However, I am now remembering how much I disliked questing through it. Really, it’s the exact opposite of Outland for me, once you get away from the Dark Portal. I remember finding the questing in all the zones to be pretty fun, but the scenery was not to my liking. 

The one big plus to this, as has been the underlying theme in all of these posts so far, is that leveling by dungeon crawling seems to still be a way to go. Now, this may change once I hit level 90 or 100, but I am pleased with how far I have been able to ride this wave so far.

There may be more updates in a day or 2. Then again, there may not be. We here at Epic Shardz never know quite how the mood is going to strike on any given quarantined day. Stay tuned!
-Zebgora

So I have been doing a LOT of catching up on Zebgora, my main toon in the game, but also looking at the fact that I have a lot of lower-level characters as well. So, I decided to take one of my older relatively untouched characters for a spin! So here he is, Amontillado, my Blood Elf Death Knight!

As of the time this is published, I started JUST running dungeons 2 days ago and got an amazing (at least to me) 10 levels in 2 days! This has given me a chance to revisit a lot of the Wrath of the Lich King dungeons that I forgot were so much fun! It has also given me the opportunity to see that there are really good people still in this game. I have only died 3 times in this new journey so far and only 1 of those times (amazingly) has been due to my own stupidity. I jumped off the wrong area of a bridge in The Nexus and fell into the void. After swearing at myself as I fell, I released and started the long run back to re-join the group. I apologized. One of the group (and I WISH I could remember his name) said it was all good and that Poe references are always given a pass. Yes, I know it might be something very small and insignificant, but I thought it was a really cool comment.

Anyway, its back to the dungeons for me and Amontillado. Have fun out there in Azeroth and stay safe. More to come!

-Zebgora

P.S. – This is Amontillado enjoying a well-earned feast in Dalaran. 🙂