Monday, April 29, 2013

Children's Week 2013

My previous post on this :)


The only revision necessary would be that since most people are hearthed at their respective faction cities in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, since those cities have portals to all the capitols, DON'T set your hearth to Orgrimmar/Stormwind. Also, since you'd probably be starting off there anyway, you might as well stop in Shattrath first, to pick up the Orphan quest there before heading to Org/SW.

That will stream-line your questing a bit, since you wouldn't have to make an extra trip that way. Grrr....I'll just copy/paste, and replace what's needed, though I'm not gonna do the hyperlinks again. :)

Horde
Horde route doing both Orgrimmar and Shatt orphans together.
Shrine of Two Moons/Shattrath to pick up quest/Orgrimmar to pick up quest.

Azshara for riding the rocket/Org/portal in Cleft of Shadows to Dark Portal in Blasted Lands/take a windrider to Zabra'jin in Zangarmarsh to get to Sporeggar for Hch'uu/then fly to the Throne of Elements.
After that, use your Hearth to Vale/Dalaran teleport ring/Gadgetzan teleport to get to Tanaris to visit the Caverns of Time (if you don't have either of those, take the portal in Shatt back to Orgrimmar to get a port from a mage to Dalaran). Hearth to Vale, and use the portal to Silvermoon City to rock out with the Elite Tauren Chieftains. Ride back north to the teleport to UC, then go visit Sylvanas.
Go back to the Mage quarter to the portal to Blasted Lands, go through the Dark Portal, fly to Shattrath, and go turn in your Blood Elf orphan. Take the portal in Shatt to Org, then either get a port or fly to Thunderbluff. Ride east to Red Rocks to honor Cairne Bloodhoof, then take the nearest windrider back to Orgrimmar (for those with flying, you can fly over the mountains to your east to the Hunter's Hill flightpoint). Go get Ice Cream, fly a kite, pick up the sword rack, get your choice of pets.


Alliance
Alliance route doing both Stormwind and Shatt orphans together.
Shrine of Seven Stars/Shattrath to pick up quest/Stormwind to pick up quest.

Fly to Westfall for your Chopper ride, then come back to Stormwind. Fly or get a port to Ironforge to visit King Magni Bronzebeard, then take the portal in the Mystic Ward to Blasted Lands, go through the Dark Portal, complete quest. Take a windrider to Allerian Stronghold in Terrokar Forest, then fly to the middle of Auchindoun. Fly back to Allerian Stronghold, then take a windrider to Telaar in Nagrand. Fly to Aeris Landing (the Consortium guys), and talk to Jheel. After that, use your Hearth to Vale/Dalaran teleport ring/Gadgetzan teleport to get to Tanaris to visit the Caverns of Time. Hearth back to Vale, then portal to Darnassus after Caverns of Time to visit Malfurion Stormrage.
Don't leave the Temple of the Moon, just take the portal there directly to the Exodar, then follow the spiral walkway all the way down to visit O'ros. He gives you a follow-up quest to visit the Farseer in the Exodar. Hearth to Vale, take the portal to Shattrath. Turn in your Draenai Orphan for your pet. Take the portal in Shattrath back to Stormwind, get ice cream, fly a kite, pick up a sword rack, and finally turn in the orphan for your pet.

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(Disclaimer - Be very, VERY careful in picking your orphan in Dalaran. Check through your pets to see if you have either the Curious Wolvar Pup, or the Curious Oracle Hatchling. Don't pick up the whistle for an orphan that you already have, or all you have to look forward to is an awesome 5 (five) gold reward.)

For the Dalaran quests, there's no variance between Horde or Alliance. I usually went through this route. For the Oracle orphan - Dalaran to Grizzlemaw in Grizzly Hills/Bronze Dragonshrine in Dragonblight/then Winterfin Retreat in Borean Tundra. After that, the Oracle Orphan sends you to Shaper's Terrace through Sholazar Basin, then Alexstrasza in Dragonblight.

For the Wolvar Orphan - Dalaran to Grizzlemaw in Grizzly Hills/Bronze Dragonshrine in Dragonblight/then Snowfall Glade in Dragonblight. After that, go back to Alexstrasza in Dragonblight, and THEN go to Sholozar Basin to meet Hemet Nessingwary .

When those quests are done, it's back to Dalaran to fly a kite at the Wonderworks, and you finally get to turn in the orphan. You recieve your pet through the mail in a few moments, so don't worry about not getting it from the Matron.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Pet Battles - Fire Spirit leveling vs. wild pet battles

On my previous post, I had come up with a way to gain levels for pets at a decent rate, while battling Aquatic pets in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. However, just after I had posted that, I noticed a post by BigBearButt, in which he was talking about battling the Fire Spirit in Townlong Steppes for super-duper fast leveling of pets. I'm always a fan of new information, so I took my level 86 paladin out there to try it (Goblin Glider ftw to fly over to the rock). I did one battle with a level 5 Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling and my Anubisath Idol, and the Dragonling dinged level 12! Woot, new favorite spot for leveling!

However, the next day I told my friend Mysscia about it, and she ran into a string of bad luck, with the first pet Crimson killing off her Anubisath Idol due to misses. She sounded kind of discouraged about it, so I decided to run some tests to see for myself which spot is better for leveling pets, as well as alts.

Townlong Fire Spirit -
With a level 5 Dragonling and a 25 Idol.
Battle-------------------------------------Rounds)

1 - Win, level 12 from 4813 xp. 31 rounds
2 - Idol died to Crimson.
3 - Idol died to Crimson.
4 - Win, level 17 from 5198 xp. 31 rounds
5 - Win, level 20 from 4648 xp. 30 rounds
6 - Win, level 22 from 3988 xp. 31 rounds
7 - Win, level 24 from 3410 xp. 32 rounds
8 - Idol died to Crimson
9 - Win, Level 25 from 1339 xp. 25 rounds

Total = 9 Battles, and probably 7-8 bandages, since you want to be at full health on Anubisath before engaging Crimson. I also got 106,700 xp for my well-rested paladin per WIN, so 106,700 x 6 = 640,200 xp towards leveling. 180 rounds over......oh wait, I'm forgetting something. When my Idol died to Crimson, those were rounds too. Estimate at least 10 per failed battle, so let's say 210 rounds over 9 battles.

Vale of Eternal Blossoms Aquatic Battles -
With a level 5 Shimmershell Snail and a 25 Moth.
Battle-------------------------------------Rounds)
1 - level 7 from 924 xp
2 - level 9 from 1012 xp
3 - level 10 from 990 xp
4 -level 11 from 1045 xp
5 -level 12 from 1045 xp
6 - level 13 from 982 xp
7 - level 14 from 968 xp
8 - level 15 from 949 xp
9 - level 16 from 924 xp
10---------------------894 xp
11- level 17 from 963 xp
12- level 18 from 858 xp
13---------------------817 xp
14- level 19 from 817 xp
15---------------------770 xp
16- level 20 from 847 xp
17---------------------798 xp
19- level 21 from 718 xp
20---------------------743 xp
21- level 22 from 743 xp
22---------------------597 xp
23---------------------597 xp
24- level 23 from 682 xp
25---------------------528 xp
26---------------------528 xp
27---------------------528 xp
28- level 24 from 528 xp
29---------------------454 xp
30---------------------454 xp
31---------------------454 xp
32- Level 25 from 253 xp
Total = 30 + battles for the same result, a level 25 pet. However, each battle usually only took an average of 10 rounds. 32 Battles x 10 rounds each = 320 rounds. Since it takes 180+ rounds (without dying) vs the Fire Spirit, it would require 14 more battles in the Vale for the same result. But wait, there's more!

It's a lot less aggravating to battle those aquatic pets. You really don't even need to bring bandages, since by the time your first moth has been killed off, and you've started using your 2nd moth, your free bandage in the pet journal is ready. You also have a chance for rare Battlestones to drop from these battles (I've had 2 rare Aquatic ones drop back to back), which I'm not sure drop from battles with the Fire Spirit.

Another fun fact, my well-rested level 86 Shaman who was doing these battles got almost the same amount of xp per battle as my paladin did. The xp varied between 101,365 and 106,700, with 101,365 being the norm. So, 101,365 x 32 battles = 3,243,680 xp. Considering you need 15,080,000 to level to 87, that's not a bad chunk of xp.


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Pet Battling Dailies

Oh wow, I have a blog! I should use it more often. :)

I haven't had much to talk about lately, just enjoying the game, but after chatting with my friend Mysscia, I remembered that I had been meaning to post a guide to the tamers that you want to battle every day. First of all, you need the addon DailyTamerCheck, as it will simplify your life by telling you what tamers you have defeated each day, and which you still need to do. If you don't want to run a spreadsheet for your alts, this is a big time-saver.

Next, you definitely want the PetBattleTeams addon. This one is so useful, after the last patch when it was the only addon that didn't work, I was so annoyed that I didn't even want to play that day. You're able to setup as many teams as you can dream up, with the skills that you specify, and when you click on that team, you automatically switch your 3 pets in your active team in the pet journal to those pets specified. It also allows you to name your teams, so you don't have to remember what team goes with what tamer.

Alrighty, without further ado, here's a partial list of my recommendations for the Grand Master pet tamers that you can battle each day for those highly desired Rare battlestones, to upgrade your lack-luster common or uncommon pets to elite killing machines.

I try to do these pet battles each day for a few reasons.
1st) Battlestones, of course.
2nd) It also rewards a chunk of xp, equivalent to doing a daily quest. So if you have alts that you aren't doing anything with, you might as well stick them out at the tamers location, so you don't have to fly out there each day.
3rd) This is a good way to get some additional guild xp for your guild, if you're still leveling to 25. It counts as a daily quest, so that's an additional 60k guild xp for each tamer you beat. As a matter of fact, if people want to have easy access to the tamers without tying up their mains, you could actually start level 1 characters on a different realm, have a friend mage-port them to close by where they need to go, then fly them there while grouped using a flying mount that allows a rider. Just be careful while crossing zones, my friend from Daggerspine that is helping me on Darrowmere kept getting disconnected whenever we crossed a zone boundary. Winterspring was especially annoying, as the high mountains meant that the zone changed while I was flying up a 1,0000 foot cliff. Splat!
4th) this is a decent way to get some good xp for your pets to level up, which is why I recommend lower level pets rather than just steam-rolling them with 3 level 25's, as tamers reward more xp for battles than regular pets at that level (though not the fastest way, as I'll explain later).


Starting off in Kalimdor, the Grand Master Trixxy is located in the middle of Winterspring (65,64), and has a load-out of a Dragon, Beast, and Flying pet, all level 19. I'd recommend at least a level 16-17 Humanoid, 16-17 Mechanical, but probably a level 18-19 Dragonkin that does magic damage to fight Blizzy, since he can hit pretty hard. Here's a handy link to explain why.
Flying pets DO 150% more damage to Aquatic pets, and only damage Dragonkin pets by 66% (2/3rd of their normal damage listed).
Flying pets TAKE more damage from Magic attacks, and only take 66% damage from Beast attacks.

In Eastern Kingdoms, Grand Master Lydia Accoste is located directly south-west of Karazhan. This is actually one of the easiest masters to beat, btw. She has a level 19 Elemental, and 2 Undeads, but they're a cake-walk. A level 16 Aquatic, a 16 Critter, and a 17-18 Critter should be sufficient to beat them easily. I've even started to use lower level Aquatics against the Elemental, since he doesn't attack very often.

Ramping up the difficulty, lets head out to Shadowmoon Valley and take on Bloodknight Antari. With level 24 Magic, Elemental, and Dragonkin pets, he's a bit tougher to beat with lower level pets. I'd recommend a level 22-24 team of Dragonkin, Aquatic, and Humanoid pets. Make sure the Dragonkin actually deals Dragonkin damage, as quite a few of them actually do mainly Magic damage. Hmmm, looking over the pet damage chart, I just now came up with using the engineering created Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling against the Magic pet, since he'd be resistant to magic damage, plus have access to the Dragonkin damage spell of Breath. After you kill the magic pet, swap out for your aquatic quickly, as the elemental would destroy your mechanical dragonling quickly. Maybe you could toss up Decoy as you're switching out. Put out that elementals fire with your aquatic pet, then get ready for Netherbite. Since he Soul Wards and Phase Shifts, you're going to want a really fast Humanoid to take him out asap.

Northrend bound, we encounter Major Payne at the Argent Tournament grounds. I gotta say, he really lives up to his name, as his pets are a major pain in the arse. He has a level 25 Beast, Mechanical, and Elemental, and each one can be deadly even to a full 3 level 25's of your own, if not picked carefully. While I haven't been specific on pets on the earlier tamers, here's where I break down what I use, and why. Against Grizzle, I use my level 25 Darkmoon Tonk. If I get Bashed straight off, I quit, then challenge him again until he Rampages on the first round. I immediately use Minefield, then charge up and use Lock-on twice while he's Hibernating, with a final Missile if needed. Grizzle dies, then Beakmaster runs in and immediately takes damage from my Minefield. I use my first turn to toss down another Minefield for Bloom, then try to damage Beakmaster with Missiles as much as I can until my Tonk dies. Once that happens, I use my Shale Hatchling, since 1 Stone Rush and a few Burn's are sufficient to take down Beakmaster. Bloom will then switch in, and take a few hundred damage from the Minefield you had already setup. Use a combo of Stone Rush's and Burns to get him as low as you can, then switch in your last pet, preferably either an Aquatic or Critter pet. I usually use a 20-23 Critter (they don't take much elemental damage), since you'll get a full level of xp from the battle, and it's a good way of getting pets really close to level 25.

Out on the Dam in Uldum, south of Ramhaken, we come to the Cataclysm tamer Obalis. If you're flying a friend out here, port them to Dalaran first, and then take the portal in the Violet Citadel to the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. With a level 25 Beast, Flying, and Critter team, he's not that hard to defeat with the proper line-up. Beast = Mechanical, right? Actually, you don't want to start out with one. Pyth hits hard, and Poison Fang's dot does Elemental damage, which will mess your mechanical up pretty quickly. Instead, use a pet that has Sandstorm, such as Anubisath Idol, Tiny Twister, or Enchanted Broom. Once that's going, it negates much of the potential damage from Poison Fang, so switch in your mechanical pet such as Darkmoon Tonk. Finish off Pyth, then take on Spring. With Sandstorm taking away much of his damage, you can easily finish him off with Lock-on's or Missiles. Clatter runs up after that, and he can be easily killed with a level 20-23 Beast, especially a spider pet with Brittle Webbing, since it damages them when you cast it, and also when Clatter attacks you.

Part 2 coming next, with my strategies on Pandarian Battles.

I'll leave you with my way of leveling up pets lickety-split. In the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, there's 2 areas where teams comprised of mainly Aquatic pets congregate. The lake in front of Mogushan Palace has several pets waiting to battle, right by Master Aki. Also, the pond south of the Golden Pagoda has a lot too. My method is to make a team of a level 5 pet, then 2 level 25 Moths. If you don't have any, Gilded Moths are flying around the zone, so no worries. Once you start the battle, have your low level attack once, then immediately switch out for your Moth. The reasons why I advocate using a Moth is because they're really fast, and have hard hitting Flying abilities like Alpha Strike and Moth Dust. With Cocoon Strike to absorb potential large damage attacks like Pump, you can last several battles without switching to your second Moth. Once both of your Moths have been killed or severely damaged, use your free bandage in the pet battle journal to heal them, and go for more battles. You can get a level per battle for your low level pet up to like level 13, and pretty frequently thereafter.
If you're doing this with a low level toon, you'll get some decent XP. If you're doing it with a level 85+ toon, you'll get about 100k xp per battle, almost comparable with questing. I believe at level 90, you have a chance at getting Lesser Charms, which could be a pleasant change from doing dailies.