Smithy

We completed a small handful of quests around Elwynn Forest, such as collecting Defias Bandannas, taking out Princess the Prize Boartusk Sow, and eliminating Morgan the Collector. The XP from that was enough to push us both up to level 10 (and in fact we're more than halfway to 11 already).

However one of the major achievements from my perspective was that I pushed my Blacksmithing skills up to a point where I can now make equipment that's significantly better than what we can buy or find easily. We now both have leggings, gauntlets and chest armour that's several points stronger than what we had before, and also adds points for Stamina and Strength. What's more is that I only need a few more skill points to reach 65 at which point I'll be able to buy a bunch more Plans, and that's likely to enable me to create even better equipment - among other things I want to make Kate a better one-handed sword. In fact, I could use one myself, as well as us both really needing better shields - but I'm not sure if I'll be able to make shields as I don't recall seeing a Plan for that so far.

Still, so far the Mining/Smelting/Blacksmithing route has been far more useful than Enchanting ever was. I can mine enough copper in a short time to re-equip both of us from head to toe, and have enough material left over to create things to auction. What I'm planning on doing is to keep us both equipped with the best kit that I can, then anything else I can make will be sold or auctioned and I'll split the proceeds with Kate (or I'll just give her half of what I make and let her decide how she wants to convert it to cash).

Going forward, we have quests to complete at the east and west ends of Elwynn; we'll figure out which to do first later, but either way we should hit level 11 very soon.