Level 50!

     Today, only partway through questing in Hasla, Aelithar hit level 50. This is a huge thing for me. This is only the second MMO that I've ever leveled a character entirely to cap. It's also the first MMO I've played since Beta. Perhaps it's silly that I get warm fuzzies in addition to a feeling of accomplishment. It's not like it hasn't taken me ages longer than many others after all. Still there he is, my level 50 paladin, fresh and new in his level. He's got a lot left to do. Needs to get to Karkasse to pick up the lower part of the last set of questing armor, needs to figure out what he's doing after that. So many quests handed to me at level 50 that I felt a little overwhelmed and wasn't sure what to do or where to start.
   So I went first with something simple. I wanted more hereafter stones, so I needed raw stone. Went over to Cinderstone and rowed out into the ocean so I could mine the stone along with Starshards to make into jewelry later. A simple thing I didn't have to be max level to do, but it was something simple and relaxing to let me figure out my center. And mining Starshard isn't -that- simple. After all Aelithar doesn't have any breathing tools, so as an elf with the swimming racial he has just enough breath to swim straight down, mine the node, and swim straight back up before drowning. Three nodes got me enough stone for three hereafter stones, enough Starshard for three ingots and burned through a LOT of labor in very short order.
    But he has enough hereafter stones to make me comfortable in heading back to Hasla later and I proved to myself that playing my paladin doesn't end at 50. I don't know if I'll shoot for the ArcheMaster title. I'm not sure I even want all the skillsets at 50. But after much debating I think Aelithar might take a short break from being called a paladin to be an Abolisher while he finishes up the Hasla quests. Why? Because that lets him level Auramancy to 50 on the backs of his Battlerage and Defense sets... and that means that if his guild needs a healer he can be a Templar (Defense, Auramancy, Vitalism) for them. And a Templar's also a pretty awesome thing to be.
     Another interesting thing happened when I hit 50. I noticed the guards started doing this:

     I'd seen them refer to other players by name before but I guess I hadn't paid attention. I thought it was something they did for the Founders and such. But I guess it's for max level characters. And I won't lie... it feels a little good to see it.