WoW Starmyst

Starmyst May 24, 08

Meet Starmyst who was actually born as Dreamstar, sister of Dreamfire. She had to change her name when she moved from the Blackhand server to the Alleria server with her sister and other companions.

You can read the blog in a section way down below, following this story.

Starmyst was born long ago for a very special, basically secret, purpose. It was her job to work hard and level mostly on her own. She was not going to join a guild until she reached 60, or whatever the current maximum level was at the time she reached it. Read about the chronicles of Dreamstar in the blog below.

(Note that the dates below are not the date of the actual event. The events listed by a date are events that happened sometime between the last entry and the current entry.)

May 28, 06: I am Level 60 today and finally came out into the open and joined a guild. People now know who I am. But, this is getting ahead of my story. Let's go back in time a bit, and allow me to tell you my tale.

I am Dreamfire's sister and was born not too long after Dreamfire, my elder sister. I’d say she’s about 10 months older than I am. We are both Night Elves, a proud and ancient race with a strong desire to understand all things of nature. Dreamfire is Druid, one very much in touch with nature, and she's a good healer, preferring that role over her other forms. Following close in her footsteps, I chose the path of a Priest, also a healer and one to assist others.

But, the way Dreamfire and I walked our paths was very different. While Dreamfire quickly went out into the world and made friends and joined a guild, I did not. While Dreamfire spent time socializing and learning professions, I did not. While Dreamfire traveled to many lands, I stayed in a few small areas. I didn't want to be in a guild or have anyone on my Friend's List as it would be too tempting to chat or talk. I left the chatting and talking to my sister. Yes, my path was very different than her path.

My life was an experiment of sorts. I was focused on leveling first and income second. Every waking moment, I was grinding or questing to see just how long it would take to reach the maximum level and just how much money I could make.

For leveling, I did a lot of grinding. The only quests I did were those that could be done quickly and easily. If a quest required a lot of traveling or traveling to an area I really didn’t need to go to, I skipped it. I hunted in areas where grinding was normally 2 levels below (-2) me to 1 level above (+1) me. Yes, I can take on monsters 2, 3, or even 4 levels above me, but not quickly. In the level range of -2 to +1 (maybe +2 at rare times), kills are quick and XP is good. I didn’t spend time getting groups together or joining groups, and I didn’t spend any time sitting around chatting or shopping. I worked on grinding and a few quests.

On the income side, I looted everything and either sold loot to vendors or in the Auction House. In the Auction House, I posted the items with low prices and low buyouts as I didn’t want to take time to research current prices to get the “best” price. Any price I could get that was better than a vendor price was acceptable. The only profession I took up was skinning because it can easily be done on the move, and it generates income. When I went to my Priest trainer, I did not train everything available. Instead, I only trained those skills I needed to effectively fight and live. For example, a Priest has several different kind of heals, including a group heal, but I was not in groups, so didn’t train it. Also, I only trained the healing spells to an effective level, not their maximum levels. I did spend money on 14-slot bags, and I bought a mount at level 40, but other than that, I kept tight control of every copper. When I was grinding, I’d only go after things that dropped money or good leather (or both). For example, birds (Rocs) around Tanaris don’t drop money and can’t be skinned, so I didn’t bother with them. On the other hand, some dragons drop money and can be skinned—double income!

I mentioned travel, so here’s my travel story. I was born in Teldrassil as all Druids are. I did the basic quests and hunting there, but again, only those quests that could be done quickly with minimum travel time. From there I went to Goldshire (getting a Portal out of Darnassus to Stormwind). I worked Goldshire, Westfall, Darkshire, and only the northern part of Stranglethorn Vale (just for hunting and the few little quests). The travel for quests in most of these areas is much shorter than those around Auberdine and Ashenvale. From there, travel was to the Arathi Highlands and to the Hinterlands, and just a very short period in Tanaris and Un'Goro Crater and Feralas before moving to Western Plaguelands, Felwood, Azshara, and Winterspring. These tend to be good hunting areas with income dropping, leather dropping, and good-loot dropping monsters, and good re-spawn rates. I never went to Lakeshire or down to the city of Booty Bay, and I never went to Eastern Plaguelands or several other areas. Travel to some areas was just too long for too little a reward. I also didn’t do a lot of instances, so I skipped most of those quests. Instances tend to require groups and getting a group together takes time. Plus, kill XP in a group is shared, which would slow down my levels. So, unless there was a significant reward for a short instance, I simply didn’t do it.

After running this experiment, what was the outcome? As you know from above, I made Level 60 and “came out of hiding” so to speak. When I made 60, I used the /played command and found it took right at 10 days (slightly lower, but I’ll use 10) of playing time to go from Level 1 to Level 60. Now, this is actual on-line (play time) days. So, a character can go from Level 1 to Level 60, mostly solo, in about 240 hours of play time. This is WITHOUT rested XP. I did not take time to find an Inn or to use a Hearthstone. If I was in a specific area hunting and needed to log, I simply logged there so I’d be there next time I got on to continue hunting. I had rested XP very few times I played. I averaged about 2 playing hours a day (some days I did not play at all, but other days I played 3 to 4 hours). This means it took me about 120 calendar days to play the 240 hours needed to level. Note, there were a few weeks here and there where I did not play at all due to other responsibilities. This time was not figured into my "calendar day" count. Bottom line is, it took me just under 240 play-time hours to go from Level 1 to Level 60. (Note, since I've done this, a lot has changed in WoW. The max level is now 70 and many quests have been modified. You can now get a character to 70 in about 8 or 9 days of actual playing time, or around 200 hours.)

As far as the money goes, this may surprise you, as it did me. As I mentioned above, I bought a mount and some bags when I was able. Other than that, I didn’t spend any money that wasn’t really necessary, not even on training some skills. When I hit 60 and repaired and sold excess stuff, and I had just over 297 gold in my bag. I’m not saying everyone could have that amount when they hit 60. I got some very good drops from some of the things I was killing, to include some nice blues and one purple item that sold well. Plus, I was selling leather like mad. Others may do even better, and others may not do as well. But, it is possible to have a nice chunk of gold at Level 60. Once I got to 60, I went back to my trainer and did some of the class quests that I skipped (which opened up some training skills) and also trained those routine skills I had skipped. I also bought a new staff. This training and the new staff cost me just over 180 gold (most of that was training as the staff wasn't that expensive).

Are there any drawbacks to this? A few. For example, I did not have a second profession. Even something as easy as being a miner or a herbalist would take time to get to the mine or herb or clear the area to get to those items. The other professions are not as “instant” and "on the spot" as skinning, so I didn't do them. With skinning, you kill something and do SHIFT + Right Click and it skins and auto loots. By the way, I used SHIFT + Right Click to auto loot all the time—it’s faster. Another drawback is I’ve been solo 98% of the time; therefore, I have very little experience as a Priest in a group. I’m not used to looking out for and healing others. Finally, there are a lot of quests I did not do. Because Dreamfire, Sunfire, Lilclover, and others have done a lot of quests, I have an experience base that helped me know where to go and what to do and not do. But for a person new to World of Warcraft, if they followed this type of leveling plan, they would be missing a lot of experience that quests and instances provide. They would have a high-level character, but their character would not be much good, and they could not offer help to others because of their limited experience.

To sum it all up, if you have experience with the game content and you want to quickly level up a character, it can be done in just a few months playing a few hours day if you are focused. I would not recommend this for a person new to WoW.

And that is my story. I’ve upgraded armor and things, and I've redone my professions. I’m ready to join forces with my brothers and sisters in arms. It has been a fun and interesting experiment, and I look forward to seeing many of you on line. If you’re reading this and if you want to, please send me an in-game note and say hi. Let me know what you think of my story.

June 5, 06: I thought I'd bring everyone up to date on what I've been doing since I made 60 through the experiment. I joined the guild with my friends and people are getting to know me. I'm also starting to interact more in small groups to build up those skills some. So, my social aspect of the game is growing, and I'll be of more use in groups.

As far as skills go, I have dumped the skinning I used for income and replaced it with tailoring. Many of my sisters are skinners, but none are tailors, so now there's a tailor in the family. As far as a second profession, I took up enchanting.

I'm also doing a lot of exploring. Due to the experiment, there were many flight paths I did not get and many maps not filled in. So, I'm traveling around getting those flight paths and filling in the map. Plus, I'm also doing a few quests I passed up along the way. Of course, there's no XP for the quests at level 60, but the gold is nice and so is the faction reputation!

Blog Starts here with newest items on top.

Jan to Feb 2008: After taking a long break away from WoW, I'm back! I'm working to improve my armor, and I'm trying to fit in and bet a better help to the guild.

June 16, 07: A lot to report on this update. I was able to complete my shadow armor set, and again, a big thanks to Eon. Also, I finished the reputation with the Netherwing and became Exalted. Therefore, I was able to select my Netherwing dragon mount. I've captured the process in a series of images and they are in the zip file on this page. Eon and several others helped with this long series. I thank you all, and so does my faithful dragon.

June 1, 07: I've been farming a lot of motes and Eon has been a great help here. The motes are for crafting because I'm working on a special shadow armor set. I've also been working on reputation with the Netherwing to be able to get one of their flying mounts. And a couple of days ago, a nice character named Superwombat gave me a blue moth egg. He calls it a butterfly, but I think it's a moth due to the name of the egg and also because of the antenna. Either way, it's beautiful and travels with me.

April 14, 07: I'm level 70, currently the maximum level in the game. I'll try to remember to get my "played" stats from in the game next time on line. I'll also be buying my mount, so stay tuned for pictures of that. I need to thank so many in the guild such as Spar, Wahoo, Taz, Chrissi, Pelman, Adaer, and gosh the list goes on for helping me work through the 60's. Also a big thanks to Eon who has helped all along the way, but also was a big help for my final push from 69.5 to 70.

Mar 24, 07: I'm a level 65 now and hope to soon be 66. However, I'm about out of rested XP, so I'll be slowing down some. I'll need to work on my Tailoring and Enchanting professions for a bit instead of quests and levels. One of my other sisters will work on levels while I build up some more rested XP. But, speaking of professions, they are coming along too and are starting to be useful at these higher levels.

Mar 10, 07: I went into my first Outlands instance yesterday. I had a quest to do in the Ramparts so Spar, Taz, Bil, and Eon helped out. It's a nice instance because it's not really long and drawn out. Also, while there, some nice items dropped for my sisters, so Dreamfire and Starfury were able to get some goodies while the group held the loot chest open. Also, by the time you read this, I should be level 62.

Mar 5, 07: We had a family meeting the other day with Wendy because some of us are going to be retired. It looks like I will live on, and I'm starting to work the Outlands areas. I've visited my trainers there and I'm also level 61 now, the first in the family to exceed the prior level cap of 60.

Sept 10, 06: I got my Priest cap from Scholomance the other day. It looks cool!

Aug 15, 06: Due to the move to the Alleria server, my original name of Dreamstar had to changeto Starmyst.