Ironstevo Finishes the WoW Ironman Challenge (Again)

 

This incredible rendition of Ironstevo and his trusty blueberry minion Belnak was created by the talented @hugshot

Well guys n' gals, Ironstevo has done it again. He's reached the next level cap of the WoW Ironman Challenge as it currently exists. It was a long and wild ride to level 100, and a MUCH different experience than getting from 1 - 85 three years ago. He was also the first warlock to finish during this expansion, and the only one to finish without having either shadowmeld or feign death (two highly used life-saving abilities by many irons).

 

I'm not going to get all wordy here, because I'm about to do that in the transcript you can clearly see below. This is from the WoW Challenges podcast episode titled "Knowing is half the Battle," where I was asked to talk a bit about my experience with the challenge. Wall of text, yeah I know, at least I was kind enough to put the questions in bold to break it up a bit.

 

 

1. Tell us a little about yourself - the player behind the characters!

Bored? Check out the WoW Iron Man Challenge(s)!

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Are you a veteran WoW player who is tired of garrison chores? Raiding got ya down? Leveling alts just not holding your interest right now? Well, I've got just the thing for you - the WoW Iron Man Challenge!

Let's face it, these past several years we've gotten used to running from one quest objective to the next as quickly as possible. Pulling as many mobs as we can at a time, mowing everything down in our paths with no real sense of danger. Between the addition of heirlooms, talent changes and the world around us things have gotten so easy that leveling has become (at least to me) a bit of a bore.

Well this challenge will turn that experience right back around. It is quite difficult, and adds a real sense of danger back into the world of leveling. Clearing paths to a named mob, carefully planning out routes of escape, feeling your heart beat rise as you make your way through a cave (hoping nothing respawns in your face), wiping the sweat off your brow as you make it through another fight with only 27hp left - these are all things commonly experienced by iron man challengers. As difficult as this challenge is, I have always found it fun and very rewarding, both from a gameplay perspective, and for the community formed around it. It'll also really make you appreciate the small things in game. ;)

That being said, the WoW Iron Man challenge is still around and thriving. Since I last posted regarding the adventures of the Iron Steves, there have even been two new challenges created in addition to the original. :D

What is the Iron Man Challenge?

For anyone unfamiliar with the WoW Iron Man challenge, it is a player-created challenge with the ultimate goal of trying to make it to max level in only grey/white gear, with no spec and without dying. (See link for full set of rules.)

And the Ironman Challenge Continues...

Well, it's that time again. The time where a new expansion has been out long enough to evoke longer stretches of boredom while playing my mains. Dailies wore out their welcome months ago, raid finder hasn't produced a drop for any of my toons in weeks and one can only do so much pet battling before their brain explodes. So I find myself once again picking up where I left off with the WoW Ironman Challenge last summer.

For anyone new to this blog, last year when things got dull at the end of Cataclysm I decided I'd give the Ironman Challenge a shot. Here is a quick recap of the rules (Full list of rules and current challengers can be seen at wowironman.com):

Level from 1-85 using the rules below. (1-90 now that the level cap has been raised.)

Only White or Grey gear. No Heirlooms of any kind.
No transfer of gear, items, or money from any other character (yours or others).
No gear enhancements, including gems, enchanting, and reforging. Class abilities are allowed (eg. Rogue poisons, Shaman imbues).
No specialization, talent points, or glyphs. No pet talent points.
No professions or secondary skills, except for First Aid.
No potions, flasks, or elixir  s except for required quest items.
No food buffs or other external buffs (including buffs from items and other players).
No groups or assistance from other characters, even if not grouped.
No dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, or arenas.
No guilds, except for level 1 guilds created specifically for the Ironman Challenge.
No Refer-A-Friend.
No addons which assist in combat and/or leveling (eg. leveling guides, Ovale).
THE BIG ONE: No deaths. Character death for any reason disqualifies the character

A quick history of my Iron toons (the Ironsteves):

WoW Ironman Challenge Complete!

Ironstevo has done it! He has gone where no other undead have gone before. He has finally completed the WoW Ironman Challenge! It was a long, perilous and incredibly nerve-wracking journey. Now that it's over Ironstevo is going to get himself a cold one, put up his rotting feet and relax.

For anyone unaware the WoW Ironman Challenge is to level from 1-85 using the rules below.

Only White or Grey gear. No Heirlooms of any kind.
No transfer of gear, items, or money from any other character (yours or others).
No gear enhancements, including gems, enchanting, and reforging. Class abilities are allowed (eg. Rogue poisons, Shaman imbues).
No specialization, talent points, or glyphs. No pet talent points.
No professions or secondary skills, except for First Aid.
No potions, flasks, or elixirs except for required quest items.
No food buffs or other external buffs (including buffs from items and other players).
No groups or assistance from other characters, even if not grouped.
No dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, or arenas.
No guilds, except for level 1 guilds created specifically for the Ironman Challenge.
No Refer-A-Friend.
No addons which assist in combat and/or leveling (eg. leveling guides, Ovale).
THE BIG ONE: No deaths. Character death for any reason disqualifies the character
The following are allowed:

All class abilities, racials, and personal buffs.
All mounts, bags, and non-combat pets.
All quests, including holiday events and dailies (unless prohibited by some other rule, eg. Fishing and Cooking dailies).

More info on the challenge can be found on this thread on the World of Warcraft forums: The Official Ironman Challenge Thread. There is also a leader-board that automatically tracks progress at wowironman.com. This morning after Ironstevo hit 85 it looked like this:

WoW Ironman Challenge - Ironstevo Update

For anyone wondering, Ironstevo is still alive and well. He is about 75% of the way through level 83 and he is very slowly and steadily inching his way toward 84. He is also getting a little more nervous as he's moving forward. Heck, he's practically afraid of his own shadow right now.

Random disconnects are the biggest fear at this point. I've been pretty lucky recently as far as those go (knock on wood). When I first created Ironstevo, and the original Ironsteve, I was disconnected several times and thankfully saved by my pets each time while I was frantically trying to log back in. If I get dc'd with my poofy blue marshmallow out now, I think I'll stand a chance against wotlk mobs, but not cata mobs. For this reason I am sticking to Northrend hopefully until level 85, so long as I can continue gaining xp as I have been the last few levels.

That isn't the only reason I'm sticking to Northrend however. Cataclysm mobs have FAR more hit points and hit incredibly hard compared to npcs in Northrend. One cata mob I can take on, and it's not easy. If I make a sloppy pull and grab a second -- that could be the end. With Northrend quests only giving slightly less xp than cata quests, I'd rather not take the extra risk and just do a few more Northrend quests to get there.

I've managed to make it to this point without touching any of the quests in Icecrown or Stormpeaks (minus the ones to open up the Knights of the Ebon Blade dailes). Hopefully the quests in those zones will still yield ~20k xp at 84. I started the opening quest-line to open up the Sons of Hodir dailies as well, but then got too chicken to finish them. I know that a couple of the other Ironman challengers that made it to the end were able to open them up but I'm not willing to try the quest The Drakkensryd. The thought of not having my marshmallow by my side scares me, but what scares me more than anything is the thought of falling to my death. I know I can complete the quest without my pet, I've done this quest several times on pet classes before (both a hunter and my gnome lock, each at level 78). Ironstevo has enough health now (20489hp) to be able to stand a very good chance against those crazy blue ladies. The mobs can even be dotted up at range before moving to the next drake and killed with minimal risk. As far as I know though, there is still an incredibly tiny chance that I could be dismounted by another player while doing the quest. A couple of years ago I fell to my death when I was fighting one of the drake-riders. The drake I was fighting on just...vanished, and I had no idea what happened. The same thing happened to my husband a few weeks later, and after some research we figured out that when another player spears the drake that your fighting on it de-spawns. Just *poof* gone. I'm not sure if this is still the case, and the odds of it happening are probably incredibly small if it is, but those are odds I am not willing to take. Without some type of slowfall and not being allowed to use potions, a vanishing drake would certainly = death.

So that being said, I have still opened up a decent amount of dailies. I've been doing the Argent Tournament ones where I snagged Ironstevo one of the only titles he will probably see until they become an account-wide thing in mop. In Sholazar Basin he's done enough to pick up his Mysterious Egg, hopefully we'll see some Green Proto-Drake love in a few days. I've been doing a couple of the Knights of the Ebon Blade dailies as well, but the two dailies which are giving the best experience right now are The Way to His Heart (which scales by level, 44k xp at level 83) and Thieving Little Pluckers (32k xp at 83).

Treasure chests are still proving to be a HUGE added chunk of experience for Ironstevo as well. The ones in Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra and Grizzly Hills have just started to decrease in the amount of xp they give (roughly 17k rested at level 83), but experience is experience so I'm still looking for them. The rest of the chests I'm finding in Northrend are still giving about 44k xp.

When dailies are finished and chests have been found I do a few green quests. I recently did a good portion of Sholazar Basin where I came across a pretty cool ring called Flores' Lost Seal of Approval. It filled a blank ring slot for Ironstevo, and after looking it up on wowhead apparently people actually farm for this thing for their bank toons. =)

Ironstevo's sweet new ring!

I've got a lot of painting to do around my house this week, and this weekend coming up I'll be away visiting my parents out of state; so I won't have an another Ironstevo update for probably a couple of weeks. Until then, cross your fingers and hold your breath!

WoW Ironman Challenge - The Final Countdown

"Always watch your back..."

I wanted to give a quick update on Ironstevo before I dive straight into talking about the lovely treasure chests he's been finding recently (I'm saving that for it's own post which I'm currently working on). Ironstevo has hit level 80 as of two nights ago and he's still alive!! I honestly can't believe that he's made it this far! ^-^

Ironstevo finds another Treasure Chest

Hold your breath, cross your fingers, pray to whatever deity you can, these last five levels are going to be treacherous. Northrend mobs now only give 10% xp, so Ironstevo is relying on quests and chests to move forward. I have no intention of taking him to any of the Cataclysm zones until I have exhausted my options in Northrend. At level 80 Ironstevo has a mere 7874 hit points, even his squishy voidwalker is only sitting at 11326. I imagine the mobs in the Cataclym starting zones would easily destroy him in 2-3 hits at this point.

Ironstevo Dings 75 & Finds Some "Safe" XP

Ironstevo hit level 75 last night. Holy moly, I can't even believe it! He's the number two warlock in the world currently on the wowironman.com leaderboard. He's also number one for the forsaken! Hurrah for the undead! =D

He's had a few close calls in the past week, but no deaths yet...thank kittens!

Ironstevo is currently questing through Borean Tundra and The Howling Fjord, and has been popping back and forth between those two zones since he hit 72. From 70-72 he did a mixture of Outland quests in Blade's Edge, Shadowmoon Valley and Nagrand, as well as dailies on the Isle of Quel'Danas. He did a bit of grinding to kill some of his massive rested xp as well in Borean Tundra on neutral mammoths for about half a level. He's also finally opened up all of the Kalu'ak dailies, and has been doing those religiously since.

A Close Call:

WoW Ironman Challenge Update - Ironstevo Dings 70

Well, Ironstevo has officially hit another milestone. He dinged level 70 last night and is still alive and kicking! For anyone unaware, Ironstevo is participating in the WoW Ironman Challenge. In short, the challenge is to level from 1 - 85 with no talent points spent, using only grey/white quality gear, no potions, elixirs, scrolls, etc., no help from other players, no dungeons or battlegrounds, and the number one rule.....NO DYING. (More info on the challenge and current challengers can be found at wowironman.com.)

Ironstevo had moved from level 1 - 60 rather quickly by killing rare spawns for extra experience. Since hitting Outland though, he has only killed a couple of rares. I had not been actively seeking them out as much while moving from 60 - 70, but now I may start looking a bit more for achievement purposes.

I have no immediate plans on heading to Northrend to continue Ironstevo's journey. He still has most of Blade's Edge, and all of Shadowmoon Valley and Netherstorm quests to finish before he even thinks about venturing there. I was even thinking about checking out the dailies on the Isle of Quel'Danas and the Skyguard dailies as well before heading there. Ultimately, the plan is to - TAKE IT SLOW. I'm not in any rush. This isn't a competition. I just want to get Ironstevo to the end without taking any unnecessary risks.

For reaching level 70 Ironstevo also got a little bit of a reward. I let him purchase an Armored Blue Wind Rider, which he purchased with monies received from greens that dropped from rares that he sold on the ah while leveling up.

Ironstevo hits 65 and Ironsteve gets lucky!

Ironstevo is still running strong. Well, as strong as an ironman can I guess. He just hit level 65 last night and is slowly and steadily making his way toward 66. He is still questing in Hellfire Peninsula and still has a few more to go before they run out. Quests are also finally starting to turn green there so I'm pretty happy about that. 

I'm really trying not to rush at this point. I've made it this far and I'd be pretty bummed if I did something stupid to kill Ironstevo now. I'm doing everything I can to try and make sure quests can be green in areas he's in. I'm also taking advantage of any xp that I can get from quests that pose no threat to Ironstevo such as the Noblegarden dailies. If he is still alive during Children's Week I plan on using those to boost his xp as well.

Ironstevo has also found a few rares since he's arrived in Outland netting him his Medium Rare Achievement and some decent xp (which you can see in the video below). He has been lucky enough to find a couple of Silverbound Treasure Chests as well, which give an absolutely insane amount of experience and a blue item.

WoW Ironman Challenge Update ~ Ironstevo hits 60

It's official, Ironstevo has gotten farther now than any of my other ironman toons. Last night he dinged the big 60 in Blasted Lands while hunting down a few rares in that zone. I never thought I'd make it further on a lock than I did with a hunter. Had I not clicked on that angry dwarf flight master lady maybe I'd still be playing the original Ironsteve, then again maybe I would have fallen to my death or died from fatigue. Whatever, it's in the past and I'm still having a ton of fun with this challenge. If I die tomorrow I'm still quite proud to have gotten as far as I have. 

As far as where I'm going and what I'm doing next now that Ironstevo has hit the end of the beginning, I've thought this out pretty thoroughly. I'm still afraid to head to Outland, the mobs there hit a bit too hard for my liking and I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. Since last night I've finished most of the quests in Blasted lands and have moved over to Silithus where Ironstevo actually just hit 61. The mobs only give 10% of the xp they otherwise would before level 60, however the quests still give full xp so I plan on exhausting every old world quest I can before heading to Hellfire Peninsula. If I can get to at least 62 before I head over there I think I'll stand a much better chance.

Ironman Challenge Update ~ The Saga of Steves

I'd like to report that both Ironsteve and Ironstevo are still alive and each are busy hunting down a ton of rares. Ironstevo just hit level 40 this past weekend and he's going strong! He's a little more difficult than the hunter, but only slightly. Plus I think any added difficulty for me is really based mostly on my unfamiliarity with the warlock class. (I'm more of a mage kinda girl...)

Sad, squishy kitty

The new Ironsteve (druid) is doing alright, but I haven't been playing him as much as Ironstevo so he's still in his 20's. He is just so uber squishy I'll admit I'm actually a little nervous to play him. I have been playing him a little bit here and there, but far less than the lock and pretty much to find rares exclusively; where with Ironstevo I'm questing a bit as well.

In this post I'm not going to post a collage of Ironstevo or the new Ironsteve murdering rares again like I have previously (that was a lot of work). Instead throughout the next few weeks/months I'll be posting those rares by zones with information on where you can find all of them, any special abilities they have, and I've been working on some video footage of both Ironsteves hunting them down which will also be included.

Oh Fraps how I missed thee. Stay tuned! ^-^

The Return of Ironsteve, and Introducing...Ironstevo!

When the original Ironsteve died I'll admit it, I was a little upset. When I created him I knew I'd more than likely be saying goodbye to him before he hit 85, but I can't help it...I pretty much always get attached to my characters. After a few days of mourning (actually busy 12hr work days irl) I decided to remake Ironsteve. This time around Ironsteve is a druid. ~

The next Ironsteve

This Ironsteve is super cute n' cuddly, however after a bit of game play with him I have a feeling he won't last very long. He seems super squishy, even in bear form. Even some green quests are proving difficult. Just the other day, Ironsteve ran off from Lieutenant Pyre while trying to do A Captain's Vengeance with literally TWO hp left. The quest was green at the time and I was being incredibly careful, but Ironsteve was still smacked up down and all around. I'm not giving up though, Ironsteve hit level 20 this afternoon and I'm going to try my darndest to get him to at least level 30!

Ironsteve Say's Goodbye to the World...of Warcraft

Ironsteve met his end last night. It was an incredibly quick and painless death. It happened quite literally in the blink of an eye. I had just logged into the inn in Tanaris and was headed over to the flight-master so that I could head south and begin on some of the quests there, and naturally to look for some rares. Well...the flight-master who has been so friendly with me for the past year or so this time wasn't. I've been playing alliance for the past couple of years and never realized that this neutral town still had two separate flight masters for alliance and horde. Hell, as I write this I'm still not sure as to where the horde one is.

Here is a screenie of what can only be called a slaughter below~

RIP Ironsteve

I'm not angry about Ironsteve's death, I knew it would happen eventually. I am however pretty disappointed in myself. I was so SO incredibly careful for almost 53 levels and thought I really had a shot at making it a lot further. I went through incredible measures to avoid anything that could hurt Ironsteve, and then I had one moment of not quite paying attention.

I imagined that Ironsteve would die while attempting to take out some difficult rare with special abilities or from getting ambushed by handfuls of angry mobs...something epic. Well this was just about the exact opposite of the epic death I imagined, and it happened so fast I just sat here with my mouth open staring at the screen in shock.

Ironsteve Hits 50 & Stumbles Upon a Few More Rares

Ironsteve is still alive! Well, as alive as one who is technically already dead can be I guess. He hit level 50 today and he's feeling pretty good! Normally at level 50 my toons would have some nice armor waiting for them or some other fun upgrades. All Ironsteve got was Mail Specialization, with Ironsteve's current stats it gives him a whole FIVE extra agility! Watch out, he'll be one killing machine now for sure!

Ironsteve did have a VERY close call with death yesterday. Before I get into exactly what happened with Steve let me give you a brief overview of the internet connection I have been playing on for the past year. My internet connection is like the weather. It changes daily. Mostly it's alright, but now and then I start loosing packets like a fiend and the next thing I know the world is waving bye bye to me. Other times I swear it just straight up turns itself off because it's lazy and just want's to be off. Sometimes I can go a whole week without any interruptions, other times I've been dc'd six or seven times in a two hour span. Usually it is only down for a minute or two, but a minute is all Ironsteve needs to become prematurely dead.

Ironsteve Hits 40 and Shares His Experience

Ironsteve is still frolicking around the countryside with his trusty sidekicks Kittykins and Mcmewington on his perilous journey to 85. He's not letting his absence of talents or the fact that he's basically naked get him down though! Just last night good ol' Ironsteve hit level 40 and he celebrated by purchasing himself a shiny new set of Augmented Chain Armor and a Hula Girl Doll so that he could run around in style (and so that his neck slot wouldn't look so darn empty)!

Steve and his fuzzy companions have also been quite successful in their hunt for the rarest of rare beasts across Azeroth. For your viewing pleasure Ironsteve has put together what could almost be considered rare spawn wallpaper below.

Ironsteve is Still Kicking and Looking for Rares!

I'm continuing to have a blast participating in this crazy no death Ironman Challenge that everyone and their grandmother seems to be doing right now. Ironsteve just hit level 30 today, and he is still alive and going strong(ish)! 

I've been sticking to green mobs and quests, as well as green rares to gain xp. I do the occasional grey quest and I've been trying to stay away from the yellow ones altogether to play it extra safe. I've killed a couple of yellow rare mobs but I haven't been seeking those out because naturally they tend to hit harder and the risk of death rises significantly when engaging them. 

Like I mentioned in my last post pertaining to the Ironman Challenge, I'm hunting rares down because they net a very large amount of xp per kill and they tend to respawn fairly quickly up until you hit Outland. Check out the screen shot below, Ursol'lok gave me roughly 2 bubbles worth of xp at level 25. Killing that one mob was basically worth a quest turn in.

Ironman Challenge with a Rare Twist

After reading the Ancient's posts over at Tome of the Ancient about trying the ridiculous no-death version of the Ironman Challenge I have to say, I was quite intrigued. Recently I have also been seeing topics pop up more and more on the official WoW forums about this challenge and decided enough was enough, no more reading about it, I needed to give this challenge a shot. If you haven't yet heard of the ironman challenge the rules are this:

1) No Heirloom gear
2) Only White or Grey gear is allowed
3) No enhancements to gear
4) No buffs unless its class specific. (No food buffs and buffs from others, but personal buffs of the class are permitted. Shaman totems, Aspect of the Hawk, Mark of the Wild - etc.)
5) No potions/Flasks/Elixirs - unless needed for questing.
6) No Talents or Specialization, No Glyphs (Hunter Pets ARE included in this)
7) No Guilds (Unless its a level 1 guild designed for this challenge)
8) No groups
9) No dungeons/Raids
10) No Battlegrounds or Arenas
11) No professions or secondary skills - except for first aid.
12) No add-ons that assist in leveling/combat.
13) No sending gold or items from other toons. (bank alts for the specific challenger are okay)
14) Lastly, and the most important: If you Die, you delete the toon and start over.

There are no rewards for completing this challenge. No achievements, titles, mounts...nothing. Just a personal sense of accomplishment.

So without further adieu, I'd like to introduce you to Ironsteve~

I chose Ironsteve using random integers at Random.org. I was hoping to roll on alliance side because I am a lot more familiar with the new starting quests, but ultimately I was happy to land a hunter as I have quite a few of them and am familiar with the class. Also, I chose the name steve because for some reason I think it is hilarious.

Now on to my little twist!