Over The Hills And Far Away

Well, as you all mostly know, Ive been working real hard on my Wilderness Druid, also known as my Wild Thang! Okay... Not really. But you get the point! I think. either way, Ive spent alot of time on her and have made it all the way to the Searing Heights and level 5. Even though AZGreentea made a blog similar to what Im gonna write here, Im pretty sure I thunk of it first so Im gonna write it anyway! Also, as me and him/her/it follow different rules, Ill be posting the rules for my Druid as well. So, without further ado, I present to you all! A NEW FRIGGIN MIZZABLOG! Now, siddown shuddup an enjoy!

Rules, Rules, Rules!

As I was reading AZGreenteas blog, it struck me that his way of doing it is signifigantly different than mine. In one way, his way is more lenient but in another way, more strict. Overall, my way, in my opinion, provides the most challenge. Heres my rules:

1: No XP Boosts of any kind. The whole point is to get the most out of each and every wilderness area with the XP that it already gives. The only XP bonuses that are allowed are from the Monster Manual and when you complete the Rares and Explorers. Naturally, this means XP bonus days are off limits.

2: Only buffs that are allowed are buffs you can provide yourself through potions, equipment, wands and spells. Ship buffs are no nos. They would make the explorer areas much too easy.

3: The only equipment youre allowed to use is equipment you either loot or equipment you manage to buy with plat youve earned on your Wilderness character. No having someone craft you gear or transfering gear to the character from other characters, plat included. Also, no using the DDOStore. The AH is allowed because its a means to make plat and find equipment to buy that the vendors likely wont have.

4: Some wilderness areas require a quest to be completed in order to enter. Its okay to do those quests but they have to be completed on casual to minimalize the amount of XP earned from them. The point of the Wilderness character, for me, is to do EVERY wilderness.

5: Hirelings are allowed as well as parties consisting of other players. So long as theyre not doing the most of the work and not affecting the XP output, its all good.

6: No slayer boosts. Pretty much the same as number one. Yes, children, that means that doing some areas will take time and effort. What of it?

7: No DDO Dice on the wild character.

8: Renown and Loot Bonus Days are allowed.

Thats it!

Each And Every Area!... Thus Far...

One of the things that Ive learned while running through each area up to Searing Heights is that each area manages to test your character in some way thats different from the last area. Ive also come to the conclusion that Turbine has some creative people making these areas and they deserve a pat on the back for making them. The problem is that they arent creative enough to make the wilderness areas matter. Most have this huge massive area to explore and stuff but only one or two quests. Most people, myself included, tend to just blitz through them and ignore everything. They can do so so much more and its really quite sad just knowing they wont. Anyways, heres my experiences through each area!

Korthos Island: Definetly the most filled out wilderness in the game, thus far in my journey. The quests that take place in the Korthos wilderness take you all over the island. Korthos is a nice and easy area to do. This is good because it allows you to become comfortable with your character. If you can finish the Korthos Slayer/Explorer/Rares and feel comfortable with the character your on, then you should be good heading into the next wilderness areas. If you dont feel comfortable with the character, chances are you wont even finish all 750 slayers opting instead to make a different character.

Cerulean Hills: The first true test of your character happens here. Cerulean Hills is a definite challenge regardless of what kind of character you build. Cerulean Hills is where you learn how you handle taking damage on your character. The Orcs here will hit you damn hard and the Quickfoots will also. You may want to get a Light Fortification item here or go buy a hireling to assist you. Its possible to do it without either as I didnt use either, but they will make it easier. Cerulean Hills is a great medium sized area thats really pretty. Sadly, it only has two quests. In my opinion, they could make two more. One involving the temple and one involving the Quickfoot. But, that aside, its still a good fun area.

The Waterworks: Like Korthos the Waterworks is about as filled out as it can be in terms of quests. Its also a nice and easy break from the pain suffered during the romp through Cerulean Hills. But it still tests you in its own way. The test you face here? Skills, Attributes and/or equipment. There are two rares that are behind rune locked doors. One is an INT rune and the other [I think] is a WIS rune. Other rares are hidden behind secret doorways. So in order to succeed here you need either a decent search or gear that boosts it and a decent WIS/INT or equipment/hireling to open the rune locked doors.

Tangleroot Gorge: Tangleroot is alot of fun. Its not quite as challenging as Cerulean Hills but it does have two spots that will gave you a bit of trouble. One is against the Trogladyte Shaman and the other is against the Orc[?] Shaman. Their spells can zap you dead in one or two hits and thats just no fun when it happens. Tangleroot is pretty easy once you figure out a route that works for you but theres still going to be a point where youre going to do more running around looking for kills than actually killing things. So I guess you can say the way Tangleroot tests you is your patience and will to see doing a wild character through. Sadly, theres only one place with any quests where you go over and over and over and over and... over. They could have done more involving the Trogladytes but they, again, opted not to.

Three Barrel Cove: This area is big. Real big. The quests here take you to various points of the area thus giving you the ability to see quite a bit of the area. My main beef is that there isnt a single damn quest involving the Saohaugin or the Pirates on the far North East[?] of the area. Along with being big, three Barrel Cove bring back the challenge that Cerulean Hills had regarding involving being hit hard. Three Barrel Cove was the first area I encountered that made me feel I needed a Cleric Hireling. The test in this area isnt simply your characters ability to take damage, its your characters ability to face off against large groups of enemies while taking loads of damage. Overall, Three Barrel Cove is still my most favorite area in the game. Why? Pirates. ARR!!! Favorite line from the area: These proud Kobolds were able to fortify this lagoon, mostly because the real pirates simply ignored them. Also, one of Geoff Hannas Gnomes can be found here! Its true!

Searing Heights: Like Three Barrel Cove, Searing Heights is HUGE! The downfall? It has one quest that is really easy to blitz to ignoring pretty much the entire damn area. Turbine most certainly could have included quests involving the Drow here. There is just so much wasted potential in this area that its the most damn saddest thing in the game that Ive encountered. That aside, the area is a definite challenge. First, you have the bit of taking loads of damage going hand in had with the large groups of enemies but with a new twist! Now your ability to resist spell effects is tested as well by Drow Clerics who love to spam their soundburst spell and stun you! Being in a constant state of stunnedness sucks. It pretty much means death. Favorite line from the area: Your soul shall be set ablaze for your intrusion!

I havent finished Searing Heights yet, but I managed to get all the explorers. Next up after Searing Heights is Sorrowdusk Isle. I do love that place. The only thing that makes me sad about Sorrowdusk is that Ogres arent in the Monster Manual and theres alot of those dudes there. Come to think of it, neither are Orcs and you encounter them before you encounter Ogres in the game! Well... unless you get the red named Ogre in Butchers.

The biggest challenge going through these areas is that Im spending the majority of my time in them under level. This is good because Im getting lots of renown for Destiny. But its bad because it hurts alot. Ive still managed to make it through each area though. Died quite a bit but still managed to do the things I wanted to.

Well, thats about it. Natalysas adventures with her loyal Wolf companion, Spazz, and her Panther Cub, Payne, will continue in a couple days. For now Ive got stuff in real life to do. Hopefully Ill be able to get onto my Artificer this weekend with Comic.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

BYEZZ!!!