When I left off last week, I achieved level 10 and received notice from my trainer to
. I also had a second 'turn in quest' in Ironforge, so set off into the great city to begin my new tasks, leaving much of Dun Morogh behind me until I reach a level where I can safely venture into
.
Ironforge is the Capital city of both Gnomes and Dwarves, and the population ranges all spectrums of the Alliance fraction. In the past, before Stormwind Harbor connected the Human city with all areas of Alliance life, Ironforge played the role of major gathering point. To be honest, I still find it more busy than Stormwind, but that could just be my opinion.
I find moving about in Ironforge easy, and less confusing than other capitols I've been in, but getting from one side to the other does take a while. As a Mage/Miner, I find my time split mostly between The Commons (bank), The Great Forge (for mining), and the Mystic Ward (Mage training). I also find I spend a fair amount of time in the Forlorn Cavern, where I have taken some time to relax and fish.
For the moment, I only needed to find the Mage area and speak with Bink. She's a little Gnome who set me off to
find her gizmonitor in exchange for a
new staff or an orb.
Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled from my past characters, but the level 10 mage quest was a big let down. At level 10 as a Hunter, you get a quest chain giving you the ability to tame your pet, at 10 as a Druid, you get a quest chain to learn your Bear Form, your first shifted form.
For me--I chose the new staff, which, when compared to
the Staff I already had, okay, yes, it was a good upgrade, including a stat boost of +1 intellect and +1 spirit, but it didn't feel like much compared to my past characters. Where is the great game changer? Where is something unique to Mage? Portals are fun, what about them (Oh, not until level 20 I see) -- I also find it funny the second choice for reward was an off-hand item when we are trained in, and melee with, a two handed staff. Yes, I suppose, in Blizzard's defence, we do have the ability to use a wand, but at this point in the game, unless you're a spoiled alt, you don't have enough money to buy one.
In any case, my mage training was over and done with before I knew it. However, before I continued with levels, I needed to decide on where to use my talent point. I had 6 choices and chose
improve fireball, (to save time, I chose improve fireball for my level 11 talent too), to speed my cast time of the spell, then continued with my questing to the east of Dun Morogh. There is a tricky set of quests in the quarry to the south of the zone which netted me experience points, bags full of loot to sell and a lot of copper for my crafting. Unfortunately, no cloth armor to replace my own, but I made some good cash.
Speaking of crafting, both are going well. With my jewel crafting, I have been able to make myself 2 rings, one for stat boost +1 intel, and one for stat boost +1 spirit. When I reach level 13, I will be replacing my spirit ring with one I can make myself with +Stamina. Intelligence and Stamina are my two best attributes.
In my attempt to clear the zone and receive the "Explore Dun Morogh" achievement, I found a short quest line at the Northern gate of the zone, centered around a downed pilot, with an easy end pray. 
It's rather dull to blog and then I went here, and did this, and then I went there and did this, but in reality, that is what the game is all about. What is interesting is how the zones all tie together. I've always been a fan of organically moving through the land as you are sent on your quests, and the beer delivery quests, as well as the honor picks quest line does just this. This is about when I hit level 12 and landed in Ironforge for my mage training in Fireball (3), Slow Fall, a spell to, well, slow your fall and Dampen Magic, a spell to help you and/or your party against spell casters. One thing more to know about Dampen Magic, if you're in a party, it will also dampen any healing spells being cast on you and your party, so the use of this one will be hit or miss.
Back to Thelsamar, where I set my hearth and logged out for the week.
This weekend also was the beginning of the Darkmoon Faire in Elwynn Forest. It's the only place the Faire comes that is safe for me until I hit level 60, so I decided to take some time and go have a look. In Ironforge, I picked up a quest to turn in a voucher for free tickets, but I didn't find much to do with my tickets, so I traded for a pretty flower (you can't see it, it's one of those off hand items) and caught the running boy to buy a tree frog pet. I always wanted one, but the only place to get them is the faire. Cost me 1 gold, but I think he's cute. 
