I was sad to see the Mid-Summer’s event come to an end over the weekend. The 10% bonus to XP you could get during the event was a terrific buff that stacked with the 10% XP bonus you earn from the heirloom shoulders. That 20% XP bonus (20% on creatures killed only – 10% from heirloom shoulders apply to creatures killed, as well as to XP earned from quests. Midsummer buff applied only to creatures killed) quickly added up. Normally when I level a character through outlands I’m hitting level 65 when I first enter Nagrand, however on my Rogue I was already level 65 when I entered Terrokar Forest. I hit level 68 within the first few quests in Nagrand and left for the Borean Tundra shortly thereafter where I hit level 70 Saturday. That nearly 3 level advantage was all thanks to those two bonuses. I can’t even begin to imagine what magic those bonuses would have worked for me in Northrend where I normally hit level 80 in Sholazar Basin (Borean Tundra > Fjord > Dragon Blight > Grizzly Hills > Sholazar Basin). 80 by Grizzly Hills was probably quite feasible.
Alas, the Mid-Summer celebration is past and I now have about nine and a half levels to go before I can start running my Rogue through any of the end-game content. I’m not really looking forward to the leveling, but am looking forward to what comes after, so there is my incentive. Not even a dyed in the wool alt-a-holic such as myself can grind day in and out without some less stressful down-time though. I spend most of yesterday afternoon PVPing on my Druid and still lamenting the fact Cat AOE is so abysmal. I had to take out some aggression on some poor clothies to make up for it all. It’s amazing what a Pounce, Shred, Mangle, stun, and a couple more shreds tend to do to them. Unfortunately you can’t see the very big grin on my face right now.
