As I worked my Frost Mage to 70, I did a lot of reading and researching on gearing needs for running Heroics and gearing needs for maybe, perhaps, on occasion, filling in for someone in a Karazhan raid some day.

Shadoweave Tailor - Frozen Shadoweave set

So, when I hit 70 I started working on “epicing” out my equipment set, using the 3-piece Shadoweave set as the basis of it all.

I fished ALL 38 Primal Water in Nagrand myself since they sell for around 25g each. (Collection of Poached Bluefish for my Mage and Grilled Mudfish for my up-and-coming Rogue is restocked as well) I transmuted about half of the cloth myself, but relied on the cooldowns of others with materials I bought from the Auction House for the rest.

Socketting My Gear

I socketted up my gems with semi-expensive ones (~35-55g each) first - dumb move, because I ended up replacing a bunch of those after finding out they were best for 25-man raid teammates, or PvP players. Now I’m using the “cheap” gems (1-3g each) that are better tuned for what I need - +damage above all else, bug +crit over +hit, and ZERO +spell penetration (except as wanted for PvP gear).

Filling In The Gaps

The Shadoweave set only fills in three slots, so I had to do some research and learn from others about where to fill those. Soulcloth Gloves was easy and I got it done before my first Shadoweave piece, but my attempt at getting the PvP bracers Vindicator's Silk Cuffs was fouled by my confusion and I bought Vindicator's Mooncloth Cuffs instead, so I need to PvP more than I had planned (that’s okay, it’s a great skill-builder to fight while dancing).

I see there’s a nice epic 1h Mage Sword that’s reputation for Exalted with Thrallmar… and a nice wand in Heroic Underbog…

Heroic Statistical Goals

All I’ve been aiming for in gearing up for Heroics is to get to 500 frost damage. Fortunately my gear gives significant Stamina as well, so I’ve got nearly 6.5k health unbuffed before I decide on enchants to go on top of my +damage +hit or +stamina gems.

And, that is where I was when I got into my first Heroics group that went through the daily Heroics dungeon of the day, Blood Furnace. I went in with 6.7k hp unbuffed and came out with 6.9k, and went in with 464 frost damage and came out with 650.

But that’s another entry for another day!

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I’m not much of a “team player” on games, I believe I’ve written before. If I haven’t, take my word for it. I’m the kind of person who likes to have the freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want, without having someone else there to restrict me.

But, I’ve partied up a few times and it’s been a profitable venture most times, and I’ve found a couple of online friends to chat with while I play, so that’s not too bad.

One thing I find about this particular MMORPG compared to the one I was playing before (RuneScape) is that the players are generally of an older age category, although I’ve run into a few teens and pre-pubescents who play as well.

The most recent person I partied up with described himself as in the “10 and under” category, but I’m not entirely sure he was telling the truth. He was getting far too hung up on the fact that I’m a female IRL and that I am involved in the martial arts. He kept telling me I was “hot”. It’s my opinion that boys under the age of 10 don’t think much about girls and certainly someone 20+ yrs older than him wouldn’t be described as “hot”. Perhaps I got the age thing wrong in my assumptions when he gave his response.

Thankfully, partying with this guy wasn’t all that bad for what we were doing, since I was ignoring or failing to respond to his come-ons. I figure if we party up again and he starts it again, I’ll remind him who between us will get in trouble for any sexualized banter between us, and hopefully I won’t have to take the next step, which online for me is to add someone to my ignore list.

I also ventured into the WC (wailing caverns dungeon) with someone who was killing Thunderheads in The Barrens as I was running by - he wasn’t skinning his corpses, so I did that and while I was there, we chatted a bit, and the next day went into WC together with a third person he had found to join us. Unfortunately, NotSkinning guy (whose character name I won’t mention) was level 21 and the first one to die in WC, and he got mad at the other two of us for not saving him, while we were all quite tied up with a number of aggressive and hurty monsters. He didn’t even bother trying to come back to join us in the Caverns, he left the party and then logged out shortly afterwards. I continued on with the other player until I too was killed quite a bit further in, and then I took off myself.

I actually had taken NotSkinning guy off my friends list because I figure that I don’t need hot-heads in my party, and I don’t need folks who a) think we’re not trying to help in a “team” way and b) get mad and log out if they get killed, essentially leaving the party in the lurch.

I was surprised when, the next day, he invited me back to WC. I politely told him I didn’t have time, as dinner was in 30 minutes. I haven’t decided whether I’ll take him up on his party offer at a future time or whether this first experience is going to be the one that decides his fate with me.

And of course, there’s my good buddy J’koll who I’ve known since my first day of logging in to the game. We party up semi-regularly to lay waste to things, and he’s got some friends who regularly party with him too, so they joined us and we did quite well together in the WC. I got one of the quests done, and two of the quests half done… I’ll have to venture into there again soon so I can free up some bank slots!

Tags: earning cash, girls don't play wow, girls on wow, girlz on teh interwebz, pugs with losers, wailing caverns, warcraft dungeons, warcraft instances