WoW Journal - 16-November-2007

My apologies, but this is going to be another post on running through dungeons with a high-level chaperone. My blood elf mage was following a line of quests that sent him from Silvermoon to Undercity. In Undercity he picked up a quest to find the Book of Ur in Shadowfang Keep. He also got a mage quest to kill Dalaran mages around Shadowfang Keep. Plus a quest to visit Sepulcher, where he picked up more Shadowfang Keep quests. SFK has always been one of my favorite dungeons, and it has lots of cloth drops for mages. Add the promise of patch 2.3 to make these dungeon drops better, and SFK started to look very alluring.

So while looking around in Silverpine Forest for the mages, I noticed a group of people approaching SFK. I asked them whether they would tackle that dungeon and whether I could join, and they agreed. But of course that group had a level 70 player with them, a warrior, and there were no groups around without high-level player. I would have preferred a group of only players of my level, but then I'd rather go with a high-level than not at all, because at least I get my quests done.

My biggest achievement on that trip was "not dying". I barely got any damage in, because in the time it takes me to /assist the level 70 and cast a spell, his target is already dead. Obviously targeting other mobs is not a good idea either, it just sabotages his aggro management. The only useful thing I ended up doing for the group was removing curses, as SFK has several mobs that can curse you with various stuff.

In spite of this lack of contribution, the rewards were huge. Besides me and the level 70 warrior there were a rogue and a hunter, both obviously not interested in cloth drops and other caster loot. And such caster loot was nearly all that dropped. I got Arugal's belt, a blue cloth chest, a staff, some green loot, the quest rewards, and enough xp to gain level 21. And that was with only rolling greed on cloth, and passing on all leather, mail, and plate. It is very easy to see the attraction of dungeons runs like that: they are faster than regular runs, and immensely profitable. But they still make me feel uncomfortable. WoW for me isn't about getting free rewards. I don't regret that SFK trip as an experience on how WoW low-level dungeons are played in 2007, but I don't want to continue doing all the other dungeons like that. It is the achievement, the getting there that is the fun, not the reward at the end.