User:D. F. Schmidt/Paia

Paia Ferrier was a charter member of her guild The Dark Sun from her early days, until she was at level 34, after spending some time in Arathi Basin with her second guild's leader Athiena. Now, since around level 45, Paia is in The Circle of Hands, which is now defunct. She has yet to be in a decent guild.

Her hometown right now is Stormwind. She probably has approximately at almost level 54.

Biography
I met Paia when she was level 21, and she has at last confided with me her story. I now set it down for posterity to read.

Paia came from another land, belonging to a clan called the Falani. While in that other land, when she was much younger, just a child, she was given a faint hint that there was another world out there. She told few people about this, but those who knew reviled her for having mentioned it, except two: her husband Jone and their mutual friend Jerome. Jerome also had been given this same hint.

Some time ago, Paia Falana (as she was known back then) was visited by someone very similar to the Spirit Healer. It may have been a relative of hers. She was told that she was needed in another land. She was brought to the world we know as Azeroth. Because she had already been a warrior in her other world and because she had a pervasively noble character (everyone agreed to this), she was sent to Northshire in Elwynn Forest by this same person who brought her from her old world. (I don't want to say she was "teleported" but for lack of better term&mdash;it doesn't translate well, and it doesn't seem right to attempt to transliterate it.)

So Paia found herself here in Northshire, not knowing what was going on around her. She visited the abbey to see how she could serve, wondering that she might go back home sooner if she could finish her mission sooner. For some time she became discouraged, believing she might never be able to see home again, but now she has concluded that she is here for good. So now, she lives her life among the paladins that are native to the area.

When she decided to take up mining and blacksmithing, she was given the moniker Ferrier, and the name has stuck even though she let decay that skill and turned to engineering. She does, however, remember her old clan the Falani, hoping to return one day to her husband and good friend. Therefore she doesn't forget her old name Falana.

Weapons
Paia's skills in one-handed swords used to be maxed out until level 28; but the skill she'll be using now is of two-handed swords, and that skill is maxed out. Her favorite weapon is now two-handed sword Archeus, the reward for in Duskwood, begun at level 28 and involving killing Morgan Ladimore's ghost Mor'Ladim.

For a short time, Paia used a two-handed mace. She sold it, because it was a piece of junk. This mace was supposed to have a higher DPS than Archeus, but it didn't. Paia's skill in maces is right around 140, maybe 160, but all the same, this mace did much less damage than Archeus. The mace did add to spirit and stamina, but it wasn't enough of a bonus to warrant having to fight a battle that would take five times longer.

Paia recently obtained a one-handed axe called obtained by a quest involving murlocs. It may be better than Cruel Barb in a couple of ways: It has an attack delay of 2.1 seconds compared to 2.8; its overall DPS is 16.7 compared with 15.5, and adds 5 spirit. Fish Gutter should work very well against casters (this remains to be seen), but it is seen to perform very poorly against any armor to speak of. Paia's axe skill is nearly on par with what it should be, but because this one-handed axe doesn't have a good real DPS, she still uses Archeus unless she's fighting tough monsters where she needs a shield. For this case, she also carries. This Fish Gutter she also sold, in favor of a new one-handed sword that she found. But this sword, if it is not yet soulbound will be soon mailed to a friend.

Paia has proficiency in all kinds of swords, maces, and polearms. For her first few days she wielded the two-handed mace and perhaps another like it. Then she found a remarkable shovel that she found on a kobold's body. She then began to use that against them. Then she used Cruel Barb dropped by Edwin VanCleef in the Deadmines. She has had it since her level 16, and has wielded it from level 19 until late in level 28. Then she found some good two-handed swords, but they weren't suitable at the time, so she stayed with the Cruel Barb. She will continue to keep Cruel Barb until she finds a superior one-handed sword, so that when she needs it she can carry a shield. She found her first polearm in her latest run at the Stockades, and has used it to some small extent, training her skill to about 80.

Deadmines
At level 16, Paia heard a call for a priest or paladin to join a run through the Deadmines. She took the call, and went there for the first time and was quite successful. Even though she was such a low level and she had never gone through the Deadmines before, she listened well and learned quickly. That first time, or perhaps the second, she found VanCleef's Cruel Barb and Smite's Mighty Hammer. Since then, she has visited the Deadmines on six or seven occasions. One of these lasted nearly or above five hours; another lasted roughly three hours. The rest were within two hours; one may have been within one hour.

The Stockades
} At level 24, Paia joined another group bound for the Stockades. With two more experienced characters, the two went in with mixed results. A quest was finished on Paia's part, but some pain was involved. Approximately half an hour later, the same two joined another group that was headed for the Stockades, all more or less with the same amount of experience. This time everyone did very well, the party was very successful and there was only one death in the whole lot. In that run, they all finished whatever quests they had that pertained to that dungeon. In fact, some of them stayed longer than they needed to so that the rest of them could finish their quests. (This is common etiquette, but sometimes other people are in a hurry to do some other quest, or have other duties that they must attend to.)

Gnomeregan
At level 26, Paia ventured over to Gnomeregan seeking help to finish approximately 8 quests that have appearances there. She asked for help in Iron Forge, but no one answered. As she went into the main area of Dun Morogh, she found one soul there that would accept her as a group member, but that was all. The group was soon disbanded, but she ventured in anyways. At the entrance, she soon found that it would be too difficult to continue on in that manner. She still has not made it there, and will most likely not do so again.

Late in level 29, Paia finally went to Gnomeregan with a solid group, and did three or four of the quests that were associated with that. She did neglect, however, to go to Kharanos because until recently she didn't know where that was. (She never visited Dun Morogh any significant amount.) Now that she knows where it is, she'll one day return to Gnomeregan to finish the rest of her quests there.

Blackfathom Deeps
At level 29, Paia went to an innkeeper and in doing so joined a group headed for Blackfathom Deeps to get the Purified Kor Gem for the paladin quest whose reward is Verigan's Fist. This is how she met Feynarion, also a paladin. She never even made it to the instance before she got the requisite gem. There was also another quest she did that related to the naga there. (She still hasn't gotten the Fist, though, because Jordan Stilwell was obstinate. Even though Paia had all the requisite items, Jordan would not give her payment. A GM said he sent Jordan running, and when he comes back he'll give Paia her reward.) I'm sure that Paia's problem was her own fault, because she had banked some of the items required, and expected to be able to have the items delivered directly to Jordan, but didn't take into account the fact that this could be so. She has since acquired the Fist, and will most likely not use it, because it is a mace, and maces (she feels) look really stupid.

Scarlet Monastery
At level 36, Paia went to Scarlet Monastery first alone, hoping to find someone on the way. (She didn't find anyone that time, so she just scouted out the area of Tirisfal Glades, put Undercity on the map, and went home.) When she was 37, Paia was about to return with one friend, and discovered that a guildmate wanted to join, so they all went to the Monastery together. The three were disastrously wiped, having cleaned out the left wing, and having gone into the right wing. The three were a rogue Alyass, a warrior, and of course a paladin by the name of Paia. Later, when both of those that were with Paia had to leave, Paia went once more into the fray with three others: a mage, a druid, and a warlock. Later on, a rogue joined. Together the four and five went up to Doan and at that point the party fell apart because one looted something that was not to be looted (by what reasoning, I do not understand). At that time, Paia had to leave, and it is unlikely that anything came of what was left. Paia didn't obtain anything here of any significance.

She was going for the Sword of Serenity, a one-handed sword that is one of the possible rewards for a quest that begins in Desolace. This step of the quest was called, or something like it. It requires killing four bosses; Paia killed the one boss with her first group – of three. Doan was not among those who needed to be killed, so Paia was understandably upset. (She later determined that it was necessary to kill him anyways, to get the Scarlet Key.) Near the beginning of that run, Paia had mentioned to the others that she needed to kill specific people, and mentioned them by name, but no one had told her that they wouldn't be doing so. At the end of that run, she was told, "That takes a long time...about 3 hours." It would have been nice to know that – the time it would take, and the fact that they weren't even planning to do so.

The quest In the Name of the Light gives as a reward the Sword of Serenity mentioned above and three other options, one of which is Bonebiter, a two-handed axe. When Paia does eventually finish this, instead of winning the Sword of Serenity, she will win Bonebiter.

Paia went later on, and started with a decent group, but it fragmented after killing Herod in the armory. It is still necessary to go to the cathedral and kill Whitemane and Mograine.

At last, at level 40, Paia went back to the Monastery cathedral with four others and successfully got to finish the quest, and earned Bonebiter. It has served her very well since then. The first several monsters she has killed since then has taken several minutes for each. At this time, her two-handed axe skill is at max or nearly so.
 * November 25, 2005:

Zul'Farrak
At level 45, at the prodding of many different individuals that wanted one thing or another, Paia went to Zul'Farrak. There she finished four quests: She had another quest, too, that would eventually take her back to Zul'Farrak, but that involved going first to Dustwallow Marsh. She would have gone there beforehand, and could have, since not everyone was gathered together on time, but she didn't realize how much time she had.
 * The one for scarab shells
 * The one for troll temper
 * The one for the Divinomatic Rod
 * The one to kill Gahz'rilla

Later, she was able to go again, this time to finish the quest that took her through Dustwallow Marsh along with another one that was given at Steamwheedle Port.

Temple of Atal'Hakkar
As soon as she could, at level 50, Paia accepted her Argent Dawn commission and went out to gather scourgestones. When she had enough, she delivered them to the one that had requested them, and then he sent her into the Sunken Temple to gather feathers. When that job was finished, she returned once more to him, and her final reward was Lightforged Blade. It still has such a beautiful glow.

Since then, she has returned several times.

Maraudon
At level 53, seeking to step to the next level, Paia accepted a call to go to Maraudon. This was a failure, with regard to the original goal, but it was an interesting experience. It was the first time she had gone, of course. When one of her party was fallen into a trance [gone AFK], the party soon broke apart.

Exploration
Paia has explored nearly all (read more than two-thirds) of both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, thanks to her faithful steed, aptly named Warhorse.

Behavior
Paia enjoys casting blessings on everyone she comes across, healing everyone that she sees who needs it, and helping kill any monster that seems to be a threat to someone who has already tagged that monster. (She has accidentally tagged mobs that had been attacking another, but that was only an accident. She was not deliberately stealing the kill.) When Paia sees a player's corpse, if she determines that the player is online, she'll redeem the player's spirit and resurrect the player.

For healing, she uses a macro that says so, and she wishes that everyone had a macro to indicate who they were healing. She will soon start to use a macro that will automatically choose which blessing would be applicable to another.

Since finally realizing at level 27 or 28 that she had Seal of Justice (see Seals, under Paladins), she has used its judgement extensively, especially against humanoid mobs that tend to flee when they've finally discovered that they won't make it out alive. The seal itself has a chance to stun the mob upon hit; its judgement causes the mob to not be able to flee.

Before that, she was wont to use the Seal of the Crusader, which causes less damage but increases the attack speed to increase the number of hits. This should make Archeus even more effective, increasing the number of hits so that Archeus will have more of a chance to cause 85 Arcane damage. The Judgement of the Crusader is rather useless unless at least someone is dealing holy damage to the foe.

If a mob is significantly stronger than Paia, she will probably use the Judgement of the Crusader along with the Seal of Command; otherwise, she will probably use the Judgement of Justice and the Seal of the Crusader.

Battlegrounds
At level 34, Paia went to Arathi Basin for the first time on 7 October 2005. In a total of between four and six runs, she earned more than 60 Honorable Kills. Her first run, the Alliance won; after that, the Horde won every time.

At one point, she earned enough kills to complete a quest, earning her. Including that money, she went from having around to. Some of this may have been earned while grinding some before these runs.