1000hrs


Summary:


-Woke up to find Dark Moon Faire had moved on for the month.  No more easy gold from selling the 16 slot bags.

-Explored most of Elwynn Forest, Dun Morogh, Teldrassil and Azuremyst Isle(the areas that were close to the main road) including the edges to Redridge, Westfall, Loch Modan, Darshore and Bloodmyst Isle.

-The best of these Starting areas, by far,  was Azuremyst Isle because:

• Most amount of collection quests without any other quest prereqs.
• The Southeastern part of Azuremyst Isle, most notably the East, Southeast and South, have a lot of non-aggressive  (yellow) mobs.  Not a lot to fight or run away from.
• A good amount of resources nodes (both herbing & mining).
• There is one quest where you get a fishing pole and lure as a reward from a collection quest.  One less item to buy when you are cash-strapped in the early game.

-Saying I was elated when I hit level 5 was an understatement.  Picked up all 3 secondary professions and then realized that:

• First Aid will do absolutely nothing for me until I can actually afford to buy cloth.  This once essential profession has now turned optional due to cost by playing the Pacifist route.
• Cooking:  Good for dailies and that's about it.  Most of the time, you have to kill creatures to get the appropriate reagents to cook and level up.  Also, cooked food does not vendor for much more than the reagents.  At least the Stamina bonuses will help to keep me alive longer... I guess...
• Fishing:  If you start at skill level 1 and fish in a higher difficulty area, such as Stormwind City or Darnassus, the majority of the items you bring up with be trash.  Tattered Cloth vendors for 1 silver each!  The other items come out to 18 copper each which is a fortune this early.  When all was said and done at skill level 35, I was able to vendor off 12+ silver worth of trash.  This is even better than fishing up actual fish which only vendor for a few copper each at most.  Oh, did I mention that it is good for dailies?  I read somewhere this will unlock at level 10.  We shall see...

-Level 6 comes with the ability to morph into catform.  Let's see:

• 30% increased run speed?  Check.  Less wasted time.  YES!
• Ability to go into Stealth mode (Prowl)?  Check.
• Complimentary ability to Shadowmeld?  Check.  I know you get this ability at level 1, but when prowl is on cooldown and you are in enemy territory after picking up some herbs, ore or collection quest items, it is really nice to use this ability until Prowl is available again.

-Decided that Pet Battles would not break my pacifist vows.  (Hey, technically, Amicabal is not killing any mobs herself.  To each, their own, right?)  This was the first time I've actually tried the Pet Battles aspect of WoW.  My initial impressions were very positive:

• Man, pet battles are pretty fun.  I like how it is more turn-based.
• Amicabal gains experience from some of the pet battles! (Along with the pet gaining xp too).  Another decent source of xp is very welcome.
• The ability to capture more pets is a bit addictive.  I wonder if there is a max number of combat pets you can own/have.  Also, I have multiples of the same pets.  2 rabbits, 3 voodoo figurines, what's the difference?  Also, account-wide pets are available, even on a brand new character.  So cool I don't have grind a different complete set with every character I have.
• Pet Battles are expensive.  10 silver to train.  Another 10 silver to heal up pets for a quest (wtf...).
• I check the mini-map for resource nodes, quests, and now pets.  So much to do, SO MUCH TO DO!

It really feels like I've passed the hump of playing a Pacifist.  Having great fun so far!