I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

In this game, I often set myself targets. Some are straight forward  achievements others are slightly more obtuse. For the end of this expansion I was expecting to gear my alts to a minimum of iLevel 500 and to get all my professions to at least 500 skill. In reality this means to level fishing on all my characters even though there is no benefit having more than one fisherman in the team.

Yesterday I finally got lucky and obtained the last Burden of Eternity needed to fully gear all my characters. It was touch and go and I used up 150 keys before I finally managed to get the Burden to drop. I could see another 3 weeks of doing tasks that I would rather not do stretching ahead. Now I am free to do something else, but as I mentioned yesterday I have yet to find that filler activity.

All my gear on all my characters is upgraded with valor, and it is striking that the iLevel ranges from 537 - 540, even though they are essentially wearing the same gear. The standard list of gear is comprised of:

1. Burden of Eternity Gear upgraded to 543
2. Weapon costing 20,000 Timeless coins for Timeless Isle 497
3. Tier (Normal) Pants and Gloves upgraded to 561
4. Crafted Belt upgraded to 561
5. Time Lost Artifact Trinket

Why two weapons of the same iLevel as the 2 hander would make an average 3 iLevels difference unless the shirt and tabard have a bigger weighting. One item I can upgrade is the Trinket from Operation:Shieldwall, but other than that the options are limited until I can start doing Ordos on a weekly basis.

The profession list is starting to look very healthy indeed, and with plenty of 5+ skill ups available from the Darkmoon Faire, it looks like even this is going to be achievable before we step into Draenor. All skills are now up to the current content which at least means that any fishing will be profitable.

Professions are one aspect of the new expansion that I am keeping a keen eye on. At present they are not very engaging, and if anything the concept of doing cooldowns for discovering recipes and materials turned into a huge flop. Being able to cover all professions with 3 characters and the Garrison will devalue the goods that we can produce for the Auction House. I am interested to see what the Gold Farmers make out of this change, or are simply going to see a mass of Enchanters and Transmute Alchemists.

After much expense purchasing or the crafting of 44 x Royal Satchels, I am getting close to the new expansion, even if Blizzard are not. The Bank spaces are not looking quite as good, but several of the less important alts have plenty of space to stash new resources.

I have clawed back 25K Gold in about a week, but I am still down on my original amount of 375K Gold, and probably a realistic target of 500K Gold for the start of Warlords of Draenor is very attainable.

Slightly more embarrassing is the Total game time at a stunning 516 Days. What could I have achieved in my life if I was motivated by something other than a computer game. A cure for Cancer?