New Level Cap, New Ironman

Well, it’s happened folks.  The challenge was set forth and the World of Warcraft rose to meet it.  We have a new Ironman.

It’s been declared that LYSSAN of VEK’LINASH (US) is our World First Level 90 Immortal Ironman. A great big congratulations on the achievement!

As it has been with past winners, your name is now eternally carved into the history of the Ironman Challenge.

And I must say, a huge props on accomplishing this task with a priest.  Early on in the challenge I know a couple people tried to do priests, thinking that the heals and shield would be helpful in the long run.  Ultimately they were defeated by the massive drain of their mana pool. While I’m not sure if that has changed at all in Mists of Pandaria, I am still willing to say that hitting level 90 on priest Ironman style takes balls. Iron balls.  So a massive congrats to Lyssan!

Hail to the Immortal Ironman

Kripparrian, the Immortal Ironman. Err... Irontroll?

Well, back when we did the original Ironman Challenge, I gave a huge shout out to Ironmary for being the first person to make it to 85 and conquer the challenge.  Well, since then we have got a new variation, which some have decided to call the ‘Hardcore Ironman’ or the ‘New Ironman Challenge’ or a couple different names – but I have decided to call it the ‘Immortal Ironman Challenge’.  Not dying is a heavy duty task to tack on top of an already difficult challenge.  A name like Immortal is deserving of one who can pull this off.

Thus it gives me great pleasure to announce that we do have our first Immortal Ironman Challenge victor: Kripparrian the Troll Hunter from Turalyon-US.  You can find more info and Kripparrian’s video here.

Congratulations! You are an Immortal Ironman! Eat, drink and revel in your victory! You have earned it.  If anyone sees Kripparrian in game, give him a /cheer!

(Thanks for MMO Melting Pot for finding this and sending it out on Twitter)

The Ironman Challenge Goes Global

Wow.  Just…   wow.  That’s about the only word I can muster for the amount of sheer awe that I have for this.  Which coming from a guy who spent 5 years of college learning to use fancy words – that says  something.

To bring you all up to speed, a long while ago I asked a simple question on Twitter.  ‘How far could you get in WoW without using  green or better items and not spending talent points?’  Regular readers of this blog or long time followers of my twitter will recall that’s when Psynister and his Notebook jumped in and began an epic back-and-forth of hashing out the rules of the original version of the WoW Ironman challenge.

Several of us attempted the challenge.  Ironkerion made it into the 20’s before I kinda fell out of WoW altogether (We decided to see other people.  We may reconcile over some Pandas.) and so there Ironkerion sits.  I’m not sure how far Psynister made it, but I know that the nerves-of-steel Ironsally from over at Tome of the Ancient made it all the way to 85 on an Ironman Warlock. (Ironsally now hosts a regular video segment being the media darling that we all know and love.)

Cut to months down the way, I have more or less forgotten about the Challenge because I no longer have a subscription to the game.  Then, like a bolt of lightning in a black sky, it reappears.  Not only that, but it’s been built on!  The rules have been expanded to include a “NO DEATH” clause, where if you die you must delete the character and start over.  Talk about taking it up to 11! The no death thing  was discussed in the original twitter conversation, but if I recall we ruled as it because that really danced the line between “fun challenge” and “masochism”.  So we decided to nix the idea.  So those of you attempting to take on this new incarnation have both my greatest respect and deepest sympathies.  You have your work cut out for you.

On top of that, they’ve turned it into a legitimate challenge.  They’ve got a website for it, and everything!  They managed to even get featured on not only WoWInsider but also a WoW community blog post on the official World of Warcraft website!  And now that this entire thing has become a world wide phenomenon, it’s time for good ol’ Vrykerion and his pal Psynister to take that first step into Internet Celebrity-hood!

…Why is nothing happening?  What’s that?  People are arguing about who created it?  Uh huh.  And no one knows our names?  Not even mentioned, you say? I see.

Well, never mind on the whole internet fame thing.  The hipsters can still read my blog cause it’s all ‘underground’ and ‘uncool’ or whatever the heck hipsters like.  (I know NOTHING about hipsters.)  Mostly I’m just happy to see something I had a small part in creating became something amazing.   Even if no one ever acknowledges my existence.  As per usual…   I’m gonna go put on My Little Pony and cry.

Okay, on second thought, NOT being internet famous is sounding pretty good...

Regardless! Good luck to all of you, you Iron-Legion!  May your names be carved in the bedrock of hardcore-ness!  Which is someone near the lake of awesome.  South of YouDaMan-ville.  Yea, I’m gonna go shut up now.

Victory to the Ironwoman!

Ironsally, lv85 Ironwoman

For those who don’t know or don’t recall a while back Psynister and I laid out the rules for the WoW Ironman Challenge.   We wanted to know how far you could make it without a single of piece of uncommon or better gear and without spending a single talent point.

The challenge has since garnered a lot of attention from many people – except me.  Sadly, Ironkerion the Undead Warlock has sat idle for quite a while.  It’s been hard to find the motivation to play him when you have someone who has demonstrated the true power of an ‘Ironman Warlock’.

Who do I speak of?  Well, that would be the wonderful warlock Ironsally!  Ironsally is Tome of the Ancient‘s entry into the Ironman Challenge, who just today has happily announced that her warlock has just reached level 85 wearing nothing but a cobbled together outfit of gray and white items totalling in a whopping average item level of 105.

Seriously, go over to Tome of the Ancient and give Ironsally a hearty congrats.  The entire journey from level 1 to 85 is documented on the blog wonderfully and better than anything I could ever piece together.

And of course if you are interested in seeing if you’re tough enough, you can always find the rules to the WoW Ironman Challenge here at the Land of Odd or over at Psynister’s Notebook.

Ironman Challenge: Level 20 achieved.

Ironkerion has a magic demon pony. devil-bro-hooves yo!

So I got a chance to work on Ironkerion this past weekend and push his way all the way through Silverpine Forest and up to level 21.  I must say that compared to things I’ve been hearing from my fellow challenger over at The Tome of the Ancient I’m thinking that a warlock has been definitely a boon to Ironkerion’s success.  After completing the Tirisfal quest line to completion (though the final quest with Ms. Voss bugged out on me and I got disconnected. Quest still got completed, but the paternal slaughter? Definitely missed.), I ventured down south into the Silverpine Forest to meet up with the Banshee Queen.

I’ve done the Silverpine questline in whole about 3 times now and I must say, it really does quite a bit in terms of making the Forsaken seem justified in their actions.  Granted, most of Hillsbrad undoes that, but I find myself hard pressed to find a reason that the Alliance should have a stake in Lordaeron.  Oh I’m sure there are reasons.  They always have reasons, but when lined up to the Forsaken’s reasons… eh, I’ve got to agree with the forsaken.  However, in regards to Gilneas – Gilneas is not part of Lordaeron.  Heck, neither is Hillsbrad, Alterac, or Arathor for that matter.  They were part of the Alliance of Lordaeron, but that’s like saying every country in the United Nations is part of America because their club house is in New York.  If Sylvanas is referring to the entire continent of Lordaeron… then no, sorry, that doesn’t belong to the Forsaken by default.  In fact, I’m sure your Sin’dorei relatives would probably take issue with that statement too, since Quel’thalas is part of the continent of Lordaeron.  However, since the fall of the Seven Kingdoms between the scourge and the Third War (and that little incident with Deathwing probably didn’t help matters), the entire continent has been more or less a state of nature.  In fact the only reason Gilneas and Kul Tiras survived was due to their seperationist tendencies, and now that they wall is open… sorry Greymane, a new challenger has appeared.

Because I promised to try to smooth things out...

Questing in Silverpine on Ironkerion wasn’t really that difficult until the end.  Once you get to the point where you are sent into Gilneas to assist the front lines, that’s when things started to get a little hairy.  My voidwalker, while easily keeping threat, didn’t have the health to stand up to two 7th Legion soldiers at once.  I died many times attempting to penetrate Gilneas City and peer through its ridiculously oversized telescope.  I was able to kill the completely optional elite Ettin that wandered the Gilnean countryside though.  I simply dotted him with everything I could and health funneled my blueberry.  When the blueberry eventually died, it was just a matter of fearing the ettin away long enough to soul burn summon another voidwalker for immediate disposal (They hate me soooo much. I just know it.)  Using this process, I eventually killed the ettin and claimed the start-a-quest item he drops for a fabulous new ring that I sold to some random forsaken vendor (I can only imagine that they find this mildly insulting.  I’m wearing whites and vendor trash and keep selling all the nice rewards they give me.  And yet I’m still revered with them.)

That was my reaction as well.

The other place that was tricky was penetrating the Kirin Tor bubble (oh god that sounds dirty).  While the elementals that patrol the non-phased bubble, and the mages around the crater, were spaced out far enough that there weren’t issues, the phased bubble was a pink, sparkley death trap of doom.  The mages were so packed in places, I was pulling 2-3 at every turn and I will not hesitate to tell you I died a few times trying to get out of their town hall.  Once I reached the witchaloks, it was much easier.  They summoned wolfoids but luckily I was prepared because I read ‘Lord of the God-Kings‘ before venturing into mage territory.  Did I have three wand-claws bursting from each of my hands? No. I am a warlock. I have warlock stuff.  Warlock stuff instantly beats any mage stuff.  The internet told me so.  However, I did jack one of their dresses.

Those were the two biggest problem areas really.  Other than that the mobs were sparse enough that I only had one at a time on my voidwalker, and if they hit too hard I could always funnel him up.  Ironkerion himself can’t take too many hits.  Maybe 10 direct smacks and he’s down.  Thank the nether that I have a tank-in-a-box.

Oh, also this:

Double Lord Godfrey! What does this MEAN?!

Next up: Hillsbrad.  I try to not murder Johnny Awesome, and attempt to justify playing a forsaken some more.  Wish Ironkerion luck!