2/5/10
I'm finally getting around to having my Tauren Warrior Bullkathos get the Elders in Kalimdor, since it'll save me time next year when I'll be 80, and able to get all the achievements done. I might be able to do it all this year, but I think some of the Elders are in Heroics, and Bull is only 71 right now.
I dual-specced to Prot a while back, and while I organized my action bars for Battle/Defensive/Fury to be almost the same as when I'm Arms specced, I didn't actually....play like that. Bad tank, no biscuit!
Since I solo most of the time, I go with the higher DPS of Arms. However, flying around to get the Elders gets really boring after a bit, and since I've gotten more used to the LFD tool, I saw that Bull could get Emblems of Triumph, just like his big brother Bloodshrike!
I selected tanking, hit the "Find me a group!" button, and I swear, about 2 seconds passed since the time I clicked it to when I got the message that my dungeon was ready. Instant queue times indeed.....
I get into Nexus, switch to Protection, switch to Defensive stance, and realize that my Charge macro that I copied from a blog a long time ago, would be totally wrong for this. Shoot, I should have copied it before I erased it from my macros, but basically it would take you from any stance into Battle Stance, hit Bloodrage and Fury, and charge the monster, ending in a Hamstring. If you tapped it twice, it would switch you to Fury stance.
So, after LoS pulling, and throwing knives at monsters to get them to look at me, I came up with the simple macro I had used in the beginning of my warrior's adventures.
/cast Bloodrage
/cast Berzerker rage
/cast Charge
So you're already getting some rage while charging the monster, and will continue to do so while getting hit, and hitting them back.
After about 2 minutes of very slow going, I revealed that this was my first tanking experience. After about 10 minutes in, I said they could boot me if they wanted, no harm no foul.
Nope, they were all very friendly and helpful, encouraging me to use Thunderclap and Taunt (I remembered Mocking Blow on my own) more, and since I actually communicated and thanked them for their help, nobody insulted me or dropped out. We wiped on the first boss (Telestra), got the second(Anomalus) and 3rd boss (Ormorok) down with no problems, and I was getting into a more of a groove with my aggro and rotation.
We then wiped on Keristraza 2 times, and I died on the 3rd try, with the other guys stepping up and taking her down the last 20k health.
I have a lot more respect for tanks now. I never disrespect them anyway, and I'm always careful to start my dps after they start building aggro, with Misdirect going up as soon as I can. However, the sheer amount of things you have to concentrate on while tanking is kinda stressful.
I think Bull needs to level as Prot for a bit, until I can get my skills built into muscle memory, like it is for Arms spec.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
My First Fail PUG
2/27/10
Well, not really. We still finished the run, we never wiped, but it wasn't a very fun run. I've started running Heroics (surprise, surprise), and generally have had a very good time. I've wiped once or twice, but the groups are pretty fun. However, doing Heroic Azjol-Nerub, I fell behind the group when my pet got killed, and had to resurrect him. By the time I wound my way down the spiderwebs, I couldn't see anyone, and it took me a bit of time to find the hole to fall down.
They started the fight when I was on the ramp, and the Dungeon Guide Pally Tank didn't see fit to tell me that the circle closes up when the fight with Anub'Arak starts. So, I spent the entire fight outside, twiddling my thumbs and feigning death. After the fight, I apologized again, and while the DPS and healer were cool, the tank said "You guys suck," and left after Needing on the Frozen Orb.
BTW, what's up with that? I've found that most tanks need on the Orb nowadays. I know that it'll become valuable to trade in during the next patch, but is it cool for anyone to need on it? Or is it just considered a perk of tanking?
It was embarrassing, but at least that Heroic got me the Northrend Dungeonmaster achievement, so I presumably now have knowledge of all the dungeons. No more mistakes!!
I have also discovered that instead of endlessly grinding quests for the Argent Tournament, I can just use Emblem of Triumphs that drop like rain from these heroics, and trade them down to get any BOA heirloom items that I might want for my alts. Just like my Argent Tournament rep, I did it back-assward.
I currently only need the Elders in the Sunken Temple, Blackrock Spire, Blackrock Depths, and the Nexus to get my Elder title for the Lunar Festival. Wow, that achievement takes a LOT of time to get, just because it requires so much flying from zone to zone in Azeroth. Now, imagine doing that 30x. Yeah.....
I'll do what I can for my alts, but I'm NOT even going to try to get all of them to do the Eastern and Kalimdor Elders. They'll fly down, and get the easily accessible ones, but the ones in enemy territory will get a miss until next year perhaps.
Well, not really. We still finished the run, we never wiped, but it wasn't a very fun run. I've started running Heroics (surprise, surprise), and generally have had a very good time. I've wiped once or twice, but the groups are pretty fun. However, doing Heroic Azjol-Nerub, I fell behind the group when my pet got killed, and had to resurrect him. By the time I wound my way down the spiderwebs, I couldn't see anyone, and it took me a bit of time to find the hole to fall down.
They started the fight when I was on the ramp, and the Dungeon Guide Pally Tank didn't see fit to tell me that the circle closes up when the fight with Anub'Arak starts. So, I spent the entire fight outside, twiddling my thumbs and feigning death. After the fight, I apologized again, and while the DPS and healer were cool, the tank said "You guys suck," and left after Needing on the Frozen Orb.
BTW, what's up with that? I've found that most tanks need on the Orb nowadays. I know that it'll become valuable to trade in during the next patch, but is it cool for anyone to need on it? Or is it just considered a perk of tanking?
It was embarrassing, but at least that Heroic got me the Northrend Dungeonmaster achievement, so I presumably now have knowledge of all the dungeons. No more mistakes!!
I have also discovered that instead of endlessly grinding quests for the Argent Tournament, I can just use Emblem of Triumphs that drop like rain from these heroics, and trade them down to get any BOA heirloom items that I might want for my alts. Just like my Argent Tournament rep, I did it back-assward.
I currently only need the Elders in the Sunken Temple, Blackrock Spire, Blackrock Depths, and the Nexus to get my Elder title for the Lunar Festival. Wow, that achievement takes a LOT of time to get, just because it requires so much flying from zone to zone in Azeroth. Now, imagine doing that 30x. Yeah.....
I'll do what I can for my alts, but I'm NOT even going to try to get all of them to do the Eastern and Kalimdor Elders. They'll fly down, and get the easily accessible ones, but the ones in enemy territory will get a miss until next year perhaps.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Tipping Vs. Crafting Fee
2/15/2010
Wow.com has an article up right now that relates to something near and dear to me. Specifically, the idea of getting just compensation for crafting goods and items for other players in the game. Charging a crafting fee, or depending on the kindness of strangers to provide tips.
I’ve always been a perfectionist with professions, seeking to get as many recipes for each character as I could. Just like Pokemon, I “gotta catch them all!” Because of that, I have the expectation of being appreciated for putting in time and effort that might have been more happily spent elsewhere. Grinding for reputation with the Timbermaw, or paying 20-30 each for Lava Cores/Fiery Cores to turn in to the Thorium Brotherhood to boost your rep to Revered………not a lot of fun.
However, I do it for a couple reasons. First, and foremost, I do it for profit. Always one of the best reasons, in my opinion. Having ANY sort of recipe that requires either a ton of gold to acquire, or any type of grinding or work, and you knock out at least 50% of your competition in that profession. In my RL job, my company charges $200 an hour for my time. I currently get a much smaller percentage of that, but as my skillsets and knowledge base improves, I’ll start getting more of that income.
Same goes with professions in WoW. If you only have trainer taught recipes, with maybe the recipes you can buy in Dalaran for Dream Shards, expect a low tip. You’re not bringing anything special to the customer. If, however, you have recipes that dropped from a boss in a dungeon, with a very low drop rate, and nobody runs that dungeon anymore (cough, Enchant Weapon – Spellpower), expect to get paid much more for providing that service to customers.
Secondly, I take pride in what I do in life, both in life and in WoW. If I spend time learning how to be a master carpenter in real life, then charge $8 per hour for making a gorgeous table for a customer, I’m doing a disservice to myself, my profession, and the customer. I could have taken a job doing fast food for about the same amount of pay, not learned anything, and would not have a different skillset in my life. When people pay a lot of money for something, it tends to make them value and appreciate it more, no matter what it is.
Take painting, for instance. If you splash some color on canvas, and sell it for $10, or give it away, is anyone really going to appreciate it if they aren’t related to you? They might think it looks nice, or maybe encourage you to take up painting full-time if they think you’re really good, but they’re not going to offer $10,000 for your next masterpiece, which might take you months or years of your life. However, if you put your painting in a gallery, and someone buys it for $300,000, you feel vindicated and proud of your abilities, and the customer is happy to have obtained a piece of art that moves them and causes introspection.
When there are people like this guy (Elmo), “I'm a real cheap ass but willing to tip for enchants or gems. however most people don't dare ask for a little sum, when their trade window goes green I accept and don't pay anything. I think the crafter should take the initiative when it comes to money. I get the enchant I want and if I don't have to pay for it I won't.”
It makes me not want to even bother with Trade Chat at all. My philosophy is that you should get paid for anything you do for someone you don’t have any connection to in the game. For guildies, fine, I could see doing enchants and such for free. But for anyone else, they didn’t run you in dungeons, they didn’t help you with group quests…..you don’t owe them anything. If they don’t have the gold to pay for Enchant Weapon – Spellpower, either by giving me a 75 fee +mats or buying the scroll off the AH for 500g, they need to have kept some of that gold they got for doing the dailies that got them the Champion Seals needed to buy that Heirloom weapon in the first place.
Granted, I am specifying Fee vs. Tip. When I bark in Trade, I say “Heirloom [Enchanting]! I have those hard to find rep recipes that most enchanters don’t have. Get it from me with a DECENT fee, or pay way more for it on the AH.” 2nd macro says “Specializing in [Enchant weapon – Spellpower][Enchant weapon – Strength]. I’ve got more recipes than some enchanters at 450!” (I'm currently at 375 enchanting with my 60 mage Banesidhe and my 54 mage Clockwrkmage)
I suppose this guy is justified (Methuus)“f you expect a certain amount of gold for your services, then it's not a tip. It's payment for services rendered. If you say "tip", then don't act all surprised when you get 1 copper. I really wish that tradechat crafters would stop being vague and wishy-washy with the whole "tips welcome" thing. Just come right out and pick a number and require it. As in: "[Enchanting], your mats, anything for 20g payment." Again, these are probably people who powerleveled their professions, don’t have anything other than trainer taught recipes and maybe some epic patterns. They don’t value their professions, and it shows. There might be some people who are so nice in life and in game that they genuinely don’t care, but usually if you spend time trying to get a recipe, you want to get paid back for the effort.
I should wrap this up. Basically, if you know you want payment for your skills, tell the person at the very start of the conversation. When you’re barking, mention a fee in your macro, and when you set up a deal with a customer, try to tell them the fee before they gather up the mats. It’ll waste your time if you have to wait for them to get mats, come to you, get ready to make/enchant an item, then the guy offers a 1g tip for all the effort and time that they used.
If you want to just have fun, have NO expectations of a customer. Be honestly happy to get gold, and don’t worry if they give you nothing. You could /ignore them after that, so they’d never be able to contact you with that toon again, but they could always use an alt. You’ll be happily surprised sometimes, you’ll get nothing occasionally, but you won’t have to worry about seeming “mean” in the game.
As for me, I’ll continue to be upfront with my fees, and not back down if people get upset with me. It’s just gold, and if you want special things in life and in the game, you should realize you have to put some effort into it.
Wow.com has an article up right now that relates to something near and dear to me. Specifically, the idea of getting just compensation for crafting goods and items for other players in the game. Charging a crafting fee, or depending on the kindness of strangers to provide tips.
I’ve always been a perfectionist with professions, seeking to get as many recipes for each character as I could. Just like Pokemon, I “gotta catch them all!” Because of that, I have the expectation of being appreciated for putting in time and effort that might have been more happily spent elsewhere. Grinding for reputation with the Timbermaw, or paying 20-30 each for Lava Cores/Fiery Cores to turn in to the Thorium Brotherhood to boost your rep to Revered………not a lot of fun.
However, I do it for a couple reasons. First, and foremost, I do it for profit. Always one of the best reasons, in my opinion. Having ANY sort of recipe that requires either a ton of gold to acquire, or any type of grinding or work, and you knock out at least 50% of your competition in that profession. In my RL job, my company charges $200 an hour for my time. I currently get a much smaller percentage of that, but as my skillsets and knowledge base improves, I’ll start getting more of that income.
Same goes with professions in WoW. If you only have trainer taught recipes, with maybe the recipes you can buy in Dalaran for Dream Shards, expect a low tip. You’re not bringing anything special to the customer. If, however, you have recipes that dropped from a boss in a dungeon, with a very low drop rate, and nobody runs that dungeon anymore (cough, Enchant Weapon – Spellpower), expect to get paid much more for providing that service to customers.
Secondly, I take pride in what I do in life, both in life and in WoW. If I spend time learning how to be a master carpenter in real life, then charge $8 per hour for making a gorgeous table for a customer, I’m doing a disservice to myself, my profession, and the customer. I could have taken a job doing fast food for about the same amount of pay, not learned anything, and would not have a different skillset in my life. When people pay a lot of money for something, it tends to make them value and appreciate it more, no matter what it is.
Take painting, for instance. If you splash some color on canvas, and sell it for $10, or give it away, is anyone really going to appreciate it if they aren’t related to you? They might think it looks nice, or maybe encourage you to take up painting full-time if they think you’re really good, but they’re not going to offer $10,000 for your next masterpiece, which might take you months or years of your life. However, if you put your painting in a gallery, and someone buys it for $300,000, you feel vindicated and proud of your abilities, and the customer is happy to have obtained a piece of art that moves them and causes introspection.
When there are people like this guy (Elmo), “I'm a real cheap ass but willing to tip for enchants or gems. however most people don't dare ask for a little sum, when their trade window goes green I accept and don't pay anything. I think the crafter should take the initiative when it comes to money. I get the enchant I want and if I don't have to pay for it I won't.”
It makes me not want to even bother with Trade Chat at all. My philosophy is that you should get paid for anything you do for someone you don’t have any connection to in the game. For guildies, fine, I could see doing enchants and such for free. But for anyone else, they didn’t run you in dungeons, they didn’t help you with group quests…..you don’t owe them anything. If they don’t have the gold to pay for Enchant Weapon – Spellpower, either by giving me a 75 fee +mats or buying the scroll off the AH for 500g, they need to have kept some of that gold they got for doing the dailies that got them the Champion Seals needed to buy that Heirloom weapon in the first place.
Granted, I am specifying Fee vs. Tip. When I bark in Trade, I say “Heirloom [Enchanting]! I have those hard to find rep recipes that most enchanters don’t have. Get it from me with a DECENT fee, or pay way more for it on the AH.” 2nd macro says “Specializing in [Enchant weapon – Spellpower][Enchant weapon – Strength]. I’ve got more recipes than some enchanters at 450!” (I'm currently at 375 enchanting with my 60 mage Banesidhe and my 54 mage Clockwrkmage)
I suppose this guy is justified (Methuus)“f you expect a certain amount of gold for your services, then it's not a tip. It's payment for services rendered. If you say "tip", then don't act all surprised when you get 1 copper. I really wish that tradechat crafters would stop being vague and wishy-washy with the whole "tips welcome" thing. Just come right out and pick a number and require it. As in: "[Enchanting], your mats, anything for 20g payment." Again, these are probably people who powerleveled their professions, don’t have anything other than trainer taught recipes and maybe some epic patterns. They don’t value their professions, and it shows. There might be some people who are so nice in life and in game that they genuinely don’t care, but usually if you spend time trying to get a recipe, you want to get paid back for the effort.
I should wrap this up. Basically, if you know you want payment for your skills, tell the person at the very start of the conversation. When you’re barking, mention a fee in your macro, and when you set up a deal with a customer, try to tell them the fee before they gather up the mats. It’ll waste your time if you have to wait for them to get mats, come to you, get ready to make/enchant an item, then the guy offers a 1g tip for all the effort and time that they used.
If you want to just have fun, have NO expectations of a customer. Be honestly happy to get gold, and don’t worry if they give you nothing. You could /ignore them after that, so they’d never be able to contact you with that toon again, but they could always use an alt. You’ll be happily surprised sometimes, you’ll get nothing occasionally, but you won’t have to worry about seeming “mean” in the game.
As for me, I’ll continue to be upfront with my fees, and not back down if people get upset with me. It’s just gold, and if you want special things in life and in the game, you should realize you have to put some effort into it.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Love is in the Air waypoints - Horde
2/12/2010
Just a quick post about my method of getting the most out of the Valentine's Day holiday for tons of alts.
BTW, this applies to someone who gets tons of Charm Bracelets, either by grinding for them, or by buying them from people.
I usually start in Orgrimmar, do the daily chocolate or cologne giveaway, pick up the Crushing the Crown quest appropriate for my level, take the quest to turn in the Charm Bracelets to Thrall, then hearth to Dalaran.
Depending on if I have a level 60+ toon or a 70+ toon, I go kill the Crown agents by Dalaran or Shattrath.
From there, I go thru the portal to Silvermoon City, go to the Bazaar in west SMC to pick up the quest for the bracelet, go all the way back to Lor'themar , turn it in, go thru the portal to the courtyard of Undercity, pick up the quest for Sylvanas right before the elevators, go down the elevators to the Apothecarium, and go down the middle corridor to turn the quest in to Sylvanas.
Log out, repeat the process with another toon, and come back to the first to hearth back to Dalaran, then go to Thunder Bluff, pick up the bracelet quest by the bottom entrance to the flight master, turn it in to Cairne, then take a flight back to Orgrimmar to turn in the Crown quest.
Granted, the above is for my toons that are 60+. For all the rest, I log in, do the daily cologne/candy quest, maybe turn in a bracelet to Thrall if I have any extras, and I'm done. Since I'm no longer able to get the Lovely Charms from doing mass destruction dailies, I'm not going to worry about the low levels. Plus, 10 toons on each account doing a 2 minute daily equals 50 EZ Love Tokens per day, which they can turn in and share the rewards equally (except the Peddlefeet pet, which they can earn themselves in only 8 days).
Yup, the Box of Chocolates chocolates can be shared among your toons if they have a common guild bank, as well as Rose Petals, and I believe Love Fools. You can't mail items that have a limited duration, but you can put them in your guild bank. Candy Hearts CAN be mailed between toons, but you're better off saving the Love tokens, since they're usually really cheap on the AH.
Just a quick post about my method of getting the most out of the Valentine's Day holiday for tons of alts.
BTW, this applies to someone who gets tons of Charm Bracelets, either by grinding for them, or by buying them from people.
I usually start in Orgrimmar, do the daily chocolate or cologne giveaway, pick up the Crushing the Crown quest appropriate for my level, take the quest to turn in the Charm Bracelets to Thrall, then hearth to Dalaran.
Depending on if I have a level 60+ toon or a 70+ toon, I go kill the Crown agents by Dalaran or Shattrath.
From there, I go thru the portal to Silvermoon City, go to the Bazaar in west SMC to pick up the quest for the bracelet, go all the way back to Lor'themar , turn it in, go thru the portal to the courtyard of Undercity, pick up the quest for Sylvanas right before the elevators, go down the elevators to the Apothecarium, and go down the middle corridor to turn the quest in to Sylvanas.
Log out, repeat the process with another toon, and come back to the first to hearth back to Dalaran, then go to Thunder Bluff, pick up the bracelet quest by the bottom entrance to the flight master, turn it in to Cairne, then take a flight back to Orgrimmar to turn in the Crown quest.
Granted, the above is for my toons that are 60+. For all the rest, I log in, do the daily cologne/candy quest, maybe turn in a bracelet to Thrall if I have any extras, and I'm done. Since I'm no longer able to get the Lovely Charms from doing mass destruction dailies, I'm not going to worry about the low levels. Plus, 10 toons on each account doing a 2 minute daily equals 50 EZ Love Tokens per day, which they can turn in and share the rewards equally (except the Peddlefeet pet, which they can earn themselves in only 8 days).
Yup, the Box of Chocolates chocolates can be shared among your toons if they have a common guild bank, as well as Rose Petals, and I believe Love Fools. You can't mail items that have a limited duration, but you can put them in your guild bank. Candy Hearts CAN be mailed between toons, but you're better off saving the Love tokens, since they're usually really cheap on the AH.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Dropping Bombs - a Love Story
2/7/2010
Hey, just wanted to throw up a quick post about the Lovely Charm Bracelets that people are so eager to get for the meta achievement. As Markco pointed out, you can farm for them in Ulduar. However, what if you've never been to Ulduar, or don't want to go? I think it requires a raid group to do it as well...
Well, since I just recently spent a LOT of time in Icecrown for Loremaster, I immediately thought of 2 quests that I did a few times. Riding the Wavelength, and Total Ohmage. Since you don't have to loot the mobs to get the Lovely Charms for the Bracelet, ANY quest or action that you do that allows you to kill mobs near your level in a quick fashion will suffice. And dropping bombs on all those mobs in the Bombardment netted me about 40 charms in 3-4 minutes.
This is especially helpful if you're looking to get those dailies done for lower level alts, and don't have the time to go out and kill with each of them.
Hey, just wanted to throw up a quick post about the Lovely Charm Bracelets that people are so eager to get for the meta achievement. As Markco pointed out, you can farm for them in Ulduar. However, what if you've never been to Ulduar, or don't want to go? I think it requires a raid group to do it as well...
Well, since I just recently spent a LOT of time in Icecrown for Loremaster, I immediately thought of 2 quests that I did a few times. Riding the Wavelength, and Total Ohmage. Since you don't have to loot the mobs to get the Lovely Charms for the Bracelet, ANY quest or action that you do that allows you to kill mobs near your level in a quick fashion will suffice. And dropping bombs on all those mobs in the Bombardment netted me about 40 charms in 3-4 minutes.
This is especially helpful if you're looking to get those dailies done for lower level alts, and don't have the time to go out and kill with each of them.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
As of 2/6/2010....
I just wanted to jot down what I have at this point in time, compared to my meager achievements of a few months ago. I think I had 1 or 2 titles then, and maybe 5 exalted reputations. Feel free to think to yourself "TL-DR," and move on.
As of now, I have 16 Exalted reps (5 home cities, Netherwing, Sporeggar, Sha'tari Skyguard, Shattered Sun, Scryers, Argent Crusade, Kirin Tor (mainly leveled off cooking and fishing dailies), Sons of Hodir, Horde Expedition, Sunreavers, and the Oracles (finally!)).
11 unique tabards including one from Shadowmoon Valley .
65/100 mounts.
75+ pets.
472/550 Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms, 615/685 Kalimdor, 15/90 in to Hellfire and Back with all the other Outland zones done. Summit of Stormpeaks and Into the Basin are my only completed Northrend zone achievements, but I'm 112/140 in Icecrown.
I'm 2187/3000 on the Seeker achievement, plus 1474 dailies equalling 3661 total quests done.
Merrymaker and Hallowed make 2/8 for the Violet Proto-drake grind.
Titles: I can now call myself Bloodshrike the Ambassador, Chef, Crusader, Merrymaker, Explorer, Hallowed, or Pilgrim. Or affiliate myself with Of Orgrimmar, Sen'jin, Silvermoon, Thunder Bluff, Undercity, and the Shattered Sun.
As of now, I have 16 Exalted reps (5 home cities, Netherwing, Sporeggar, Sha'tari Skyguard, Shattered Sun, Scryers, Argent Crusade, Kirin Tor (mainly leveled off cooking and fishing dailies), Sons of Hodir, Horde Expedition, Sunreavers, and the Oracles (finally!)).
11 unique tabards including one from Shadowmoon Valley .
65/100 mounts.
75+ pets.
472/550 Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms, 615/685 Kalimdor, 15/90 in to Hellfire and Back with all the other Outland zones done. Summit of Stormpeaks and Into the Basin are my only completed Northrend zone achievements, but I'm 112/140 in Icecrown.
I'm 2187/3000 on the Seeker achievement, plus 1474 dailies equalling 3661 total quests done.
Merrymaker and Hallowed make 2/8 for the Violet Proto-drake grind.
Titles: I can now call myself Bloodshrike the Ambassador, Chef, Crusader, Merrymaker, Explorer, Hallowed, or Pilgrim. Or affiliate myself with Of Orgrimmar, Sen'jin, Silvermoon, Thunder Bluff, Undercity, and the Shattered Sun.
Out of Phaze
So, Bloodshrike, and ONLY Bloodshrike, will be going for the Loremaster achievement. I'm not going to put myself through the misery of slavishly trying to complete all those quests again on another character. I'll do the rep grind for certain factions if they have recipes that that toon needs for their profession(s), but I'm done with being a perfectionist.
I guess this whole thing kind of spun off from me doing the Icecrown quests. I'm currently about 104/140 on them, and I grouped with a BE rogue for a few of the group quests. One in particular was kind of funny. See, I only really got into Northrend at about level 76. I did all of the Sholazar Basin quests by level 77, then came back to Northrend for the Storm Peaks, and I know I got 80 before finishing the quests there.
When I finally started in Icecrown, I went straight to the Argent Crusade, did the intro quests, then became an Aspirant. I did those quests for 25 days, becoming "Champion of ..." and "Exalted Champion of .." at the same moment, since I was already exalted with all the home cities. It wasn't until about halfway thru Revered that I realized that the OTHER quests in Icecrown probably would help boost my Argent Crusade rep, so I wouldn't only rely on the dailies for the rep grind. Doh!
Needless to say, when I finally hit Exalted with the AC, I had over 180 tokens to spend. The first 50 went for the teleport Tabard, and another 120 went for my clothies to level up in style.
I also spent about 10kg for another teleport, though this one actually helps me kill stuff faster.
So, between the tabard, ring, 3 engineering teleport devices, and my hearthstone....I'm almost a mage!
Anyways, back to the original story. The BE rogue and I were about to kill the dogs and the casters for the Guardians quest, but when he came to join up with me, I couldn't see him. We could both see the monsters, but since we were in different phase stages of quest chains, we couldn't see each other. It was quite interesting to coordinate attacks on the monsters, especially since I'm a suspicious basterd, and don't trust that people are pulling their weight unless I actually see them fighting. But, we got it done with only 2 people, so it was a lot better than trying to solo it. I had tried before, and died twice while only killing one of the mobs. But, since we had also done Basic Chemistry and Coprous the Defiled, that finished my list of group quests that I need, except maybe the Banshee's Revenge. Ahh, I'll be happy to get this zone over with.
I guess this whole thing kind of spun off from me doing the Icecrown quests. I'm currently about 104/140 on them, and I grouped with a BE rogue for a few of the group quests. One in particular was kind of funny. See, I only really got into Northrend at about level 76. I did all of the Sholazar Basin quests by level 77, then came back to Northrend for the Storm Peaks, and I know I got 80 before finishing the quests there.
When I finally started in Icecrown, I went straight to the Argent Crusade, did the intro quests, then became an Aspirant. I did those quests for 25 days, becoming "Champion of ..." and "Exalted Champion of .." at the same moment, since I was already exalted with all the home cities. It wasn't until about halfway thru Revered that I realized that the OTHER quests in Icecrown probably would help boost my Argent Crusade rep, so I wouldn't only rely on the dailies for the rep grind. Doh!
Needless to say, when I finally hit Exalted with the AC, I had over 180 tokens to spend. The first 50 went for the teleport Tabard, and another 120 went for my clothies to level up in style.
I also spent about 10kg for another teleport, though this one actually helps me kill stuff faster.
So, between the tabard, ring, 3 engineering teleport devices, and my hearthstone....I'm almost a mage!
Anyways, back to the original story. The BE rogue and I were about to kill the dogs and the casters for the Guardians quest, but when he came to join up with me, I couldn't see him. We could both see the monsters, but since we were in different phase stages of quest chains, we couldn't see each other. It was quite interesting to coordinate attacks on the monsters, especially since I'm a suspicious basterd, and don't trust that people are pulling their weight unless I actually see them fighting. But, we got it done with only 2 people, so it was a lot better than trying to solo it. I had tried before, and died twice while only killing one of the mobs. But, since we had also done Basic Chemistry and Coprous the Defiled, that finished my list of group quests that I need, except maybe the Banshee's Revenge. Ahh, I'll be happy to get this zone over with.
"Jump, jump, jump around!"
What's your favorite quest in WoW? There's some quests you loathe, and breathe a sigh of relief when you complete them, and others that you always enjoy, even after the 20th time. My favorite is this one. I don't know why, it's just fun to see how fast I can jump up the mountain, with as little time spent on the ground as possible.
And conversely, I really came to dislike the hunt for shiny baubles that I completed, ad nauseum, after I got exalted with the Frenzyheart, and rashly decided to go for both reps. Luckily, I did get the transformation item from the Frenzyheart on my first Ripe Jar, but then I had to start over again on the rep grind with the Oracles. The shiny treasure quest just bugs me for some reason. I don't mind killing Frenzyheart, it actually is kinda fun to send my gorilla and Jaloot into the middle of the flat rock on the north side of Kartak's hold, gather 22 of the warriors, then annihilate them with 1-2 volleys. The other quests where I have to fly around to the tops of mountains don't bother me either, as it gives me a chance to search for Loque.
And conversely, I really came to dislike the hunt for shiny baubles that I completed, ad nauseum, after I got exalted with the Frenzyheart, and rashly decided to go for both reps. Luckily, I did get the transformation item from the Frenzyheart on my first Ripe Jar, but then I had to start over again on the rep grind with the Oracles. The shiny treasure quest just bugs me for some reason. I don't mind killing Frenzyheart, it actually is kinda fun to send my gorilla and Jaloot into the middle of the flat rock on the north side of Kartak's hold, gather 22 of the warriors, then annihilate them with 1-2 volleys. The other quests where I have to fly around to the tops of mountains don't bother me either, as it gives me a chance to search for Loque.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
This <- ^ -> way to Achievements
12/08/09
Since I'm waiting for the patch to download, I might as well post!
Well, thanks to the advice and comments of Joar and Kring, I finally got 2 achievements that have been bugging me for a while.
On the Blade's Edge
Check here for tips on how to get this. I had picked up the Orb of Grishna at one point, but I must have thrown it away, because the Ravens Wood Stonebark were still hostile to me. This achievement is very dependent on you doing 2 things.
1) Kill ALL the sons of Gruul.
2) Get all the Pick-up quests - i.e., all the items that drop that say "this item starts a quest." This item from the Bladespire Ogres is good for quite a long quest line.
I also got Nagrand Slam after deciding to run through Auchenai Crypts for Auchindoun, which is 8th in a 14 step chain quest.
Now I just need do about 78 Hellfire quests for the Achievement, and after getting Exalted with the Netherwing (sweet, sweet dragon mounts), I will never, EVER go back to Outlands with Bloodshrike if I can help it.
Woot! Download finished, time to play.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
I level......Daily
11/24/09
Well, Pilgrim's Bounty is now upon us, a new title and pet available from it (though you don't need it for the World Event achievement, it's always fun to get a new title, now that I've recently started getting them.
I'm not going to delve into the specifics of the achievements much, since Darth already has an excellent write-up on them, which adds to the guides already out there.
Instead, I'll add my viewpoints from the altoholic standpoint. Before, when world events came along, I'd do some of them, then give up, because I knew I couldn't finish all of the achievements needed for the title. I figured I'd get back to them later, when I finally hit 80 with one or some of my toons. However, I had been ignoring something very, very nice that happens during these times.
Daily Quests
Normally only available to level 70's and above (unless you're a cook, which allows you to do the Dalaran cooking daily at 65), World Event Daily Quests are usually easy to complete quests that offer a decent amount of gold, sometimes rep, and most importantly, usually a bubbles worth of experience for a few minutes work. With the Midsummer fire festival, I'd log in to do Torch Tossing and Torch Catching, and gain an easy 2 bubbles of experience a day for each of my alts. That's huge for me, since months or even years can go by for a toon before they get out of a city. Banesidhe (my first mage) stayed at level 40 for at least a year, before getting up to level 46 recently with the Hallows End and I believe the Midsummer Fire Festival earlier this year. If I can get to level 48, I'll be ready to zerg out to level 50 with grinding Timbermaw rep, same as I did with Clockwrkmage on my Ally server.
So, my tips on getting some easy gold and xp for your alts, without pulling out your hair in frustration over the lore cooking quests that you think you might have to do. Don't worry about the quests that aren't Dailies, do them as you come to them, but the reward? you get from doing the "Lore" related quests isn't something you will want to rush towards.
Tip #1:
Stock up! Clear out as much of your bags as you can, and stock up to 80-100-120 of each area specific item (Cranberries, Sweet Potatoes...). You never know when someone will offer gold for you to cook food that costs copper to buy. Plus, it really, really, really sucks to run out of Cranberries when you're in UC, and you only have to cook 5 more to turn in a quest. Trust me.
Tip #2:
If you can stand it, try to get as many Wild Turkey stocked up as you can. It's not a problem to replenish your stocks of pumpkins, but it's annoying to have to go out of the city to kill another 20 turkeys each day. Just try to get 60+ the first time, while you're going for the Turkinator achievement, and see if you need more after that.
Tip #3:
Try to do all 5 dailies with all your alts. It only takes a few minutes to run from a portal to where the dailies are, cook up the mats, and turn them in. Then hearth back to Dalaran, portal to the next city, turn in or pick up a daily there, and log out. Rinse and repeat with the next toon. By the time you've done this with your 10th alt, your first one will definitely have their hearth up, and will be ready to go to the next city.
Tip #4:
If you're going to visit the enemy capitals, you might as well explore the zone around there, since I doubt you'll want to come back again when doing all your exploration for the Explorer title. Darnassus and the Exodar are annoying zones to get to as a Horde, so you might as well kill 2 achievements with one trip.
Well, Pilgrim's Bounty is now upon us, a new title and pet available from it (though you don't need it for the World Event achievement, it's always fun to get a new title, now that I've recently started getting them.
I'm not going to delve into the specifics of the achievements much, since Darth already has an excellent write-up on them, which adds to the guides already out there.
Instead, I'll add my viewpoints from the altoholic standpoint. Before, when world events came along, I'd do some of them, then give up, because I knew I couldn't finish all of the achievements needed for the title. I figured I'd get back to them later, when I finally hit 80 with one or some of my toons. However, I had been ignoring something very, very nice that happens during these times.
Daily Quests
Normally only available to level 70's and above (unless you're a cook, which allows you to do the Dalaran cooking daily at 65), World Event Daily Quests are usually easy to complete quests that offer a decent amount of gold, sometimes rep, and most importantly, usually a bubbles worth of experience for a few minutes work. With the Midsummer fire festival, I'd log in to do Torch Tossing and Torch Catching, and gain an easy 2 bubbles of experience a day for each of my alts. That's huge for me, since months or even years can go by for a toon before they get out of a city. Banesidhe (my first mage) stayed at level 40 for at least a year, before getting up to level 46 recently with the Hallows End and I believe the Midsummer Fire Festival earlier this year. If I can get to level 48, I'll be ready to zerg out to level 50 with grinding Timbermaw rep, same as I did with Clockwrkmage on my Ally server.
So, my tips on getting some easy gold and xp for your alts, without pulling out your hair in frustration over the lore cooking quests that you think you might have to do. Don't worry about the quests that aren't Dailies, do them as you come to them, but the reward? you get from doing the "Lore" related quests isn't something you will want to rush towards.
Tip #1:
Stock up! Clear out as much of your bags as you can, and stock up to 80-100-120 of each area specific item (Cranberries, Sweet Potatoes...). You never know when someone will offer gold for you to cook food that costs copper to buy. Plus, it really, really, really sucks to run out of Cranberries when you're in UC, and you only have to cook 5 more to turn in a quest. Trust me.
Tip #2:
If you can stand it, try to get as many Wild Turkey stocked up as you can. It's not a problem to replenish your stocks of pumpkins, but it's annoying to have to go out of the city to kill another 20 turkeys each day. Just try to get 60+ the first time, while you're going for the Turkinator achievement, and see if you need more after that.
Tip #3:
Try to do all 5 dailies with all your alts. It only takes a few minutes to run from a portal to where the dailies are, cook up the mats, and turn them in. Then hearth back to Dalaran, portal to the next city, turn in or pick up a daily there, and log out. Rinse and repeat with the next toon. By the time you've done this with your 10th alt, your first one will definitely have their hearth up, and will be ready to go to the next city.
Tip #4:
If you're going to visit the enemy capitals, you might as well explore the zone around there, since I doubt you'll want to come back again when doing all your exploration for the Explorer title. Darnassus and the Exodar are annoying zones to get to as a Horde, so you might as well kill 2 achievements with one trip.
Loremaster or Bust!
11/9/09
I’ve been trying to get around to having Bloodshrike on Demon Soul get the Loremaster title, since he’s the closest in terms of quests completed in Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms, missing only about a 100ish on Kalimdor and a little more in the Eastern Kingdoms. That’s fine and dandy, but what I’ve noticed is that it’s kinda impossible to do the Outland Loremaster without going into Auchindoun, since you stall out at 77 out of 87 quests in Nagrand at that point. I really don’t like being forced to go into dungeons, especially ones that would take me forever to solo. I’m sure I could probably get a group together for running it, since they’d appreciate having an 80 along, but I hate getting into PUG’s.
I guess this is just whining, because it’s really not that hard to get the quests needed for the Outland Loremaster achievement. Heck, I’ve still got a bunch of Consortium quests I could do in Netherstorm, including the quest line that leads up to the X-52 rocket helmet. It’s just that my philosophy has been “If I can’t solo it, I don’t want to do it.” I hate waiting around in Trade, spamming “LFG for whatever,” when I could be out completing other quests, or on an alt, finally getting around to leveling them.
One thing’s for sure, I’m not going to even attempt Loremaster on any other toon. It’s even worse on Alliance side, requiring 700 quests each for Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but they aren’t all this easy. – Ding!
I’m also going to need to do a lot of quest catchup in Northrend too, since I mainly leveled to 80 while still in Outlands, doing all the dailies I could there. I’ve really only touched Sholazar Basin and a little bit of Borean Tundra. I guess it’s a good thing that Pallormortis, my DK, is almost to 70. It would be fun do the quests in Northred around their level, and actually get good amounts of XP for completing them, plus the quest rewards would be around my level. I’m really, really tired of doing quests that are gray to me, just to tick off 1 more number on quests completed.
Edit: Due to completing the Shadowmoon Valley quest achievement, I got some more quests to take back to Nagrand, to visit Altruis the Demon Hunter. So, I'm about 84/87 for Nagrand, and the Auchindoun quests should be filled this week, since I'm going to knock out the Thanksgiving holiday achievement on Bloodshrike at least.
And, after being 80 a few weeks, I finally remembered to visit a hunter trainer and get my level 80 spells, as well as retraining my gorilladin to be more of a tank. Doh! That allowed me to solo the quest in Netherstorm, where you have to defend Area 52 against a Fel Reaver, using a weak version that dies after a little while, leaving you to try to solo it, since there's nobody else out there. I couldn't do it at 79, but finally got it done at 80.
I’ve been trying to get around to having Bloodshrike on Demon Soul get the Loremaster title, since he’s the closest in terms of quests completed in Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms, missing only about a 100ish on Kalimdor and a little more in the Eastern Kingdoms. That’s fine and dandy, but what I’ve noticed is that it’s kinda impossible to do the Outland Loremaster without going into Auchindoun, since you stall out at 77 out of 87 quests in Nagrand at that point. I really don’t like being forced to go into dungeons, especially ones that would take me forever to solo. I’m sure I could probably get a group together for running it, since they’d appreciate having an 80 along, but I hate getting into PUG’s.
I guess this is just whining, because it’s really not that hard to get the quests needed for the Outland Loremaster achievement. Heck, I’ve still got a bunch of Consortium quests I could do in Netherstorm, including the quest line that leads up to the X-52 rocket helmet. It’s just that my philosophy has been “If I can’t solo it, I don’t want to do it.” I hate waiting around in Trade, spamming “LFG for whatever,” when I could be out completing other quests, or on an alt, finally getting around to leveling them.
One thing’s for sure, I’m not going to even attempt Loremaster on any other toon. It’s even worse on Alliance side, requiring 700 quests each for Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but they aren’t all this easy. – Ding!
I’m also going to need to do a lot of quest catchup in Northrend too, since I mainly leveled to 80 while still in Outlands, doing all the dailies I could there. I’ve really only touched Sholazar Basin and a little bit of Borean Tundra. I guess it’s a good thing that Pallormortis, my DK, is almost to 70. It would be fun do the quests in Northred around their level, and actually get good amounts of XP for completing them, plus the quest rewards would be around my level. I’m really, really tired of doing quests that are gray to me, just to tick off 1 more number on quests completed.
Edit: Due to completing the Shadowmoon Valley quest achievement, I got some more quests to take back to Nagrand, to visit Altruis the Demon Hunter. So, I'm about 84/87 for Nagrand, and the Auchindoun quests should be filled this week, since I'm going to knock out the Thanksgiving holiday achievement on Bloodshrike at least.
And, after being 80 a few weeks, I finally remembered to visit a hunter trainer and get my level 80 spells, as well as retraining my gorilladin to be more of a tank. Doh! That allowed me to solo the quest in Netherstorm, where you have to defend Area 52 against a Fel Reaver, using a weak version that dies after a little while, leaving you to try to solo it, since there's nobody else out there. I couldn't do it at 79, but finally got it done at 80.
The Start of an Era
11/2/09
Thanks to Kring and Darth’s advice, I decided to try late night dailies of the Headless Horseman, and I was able to get the Hallowed Helm on my 2nd try. It was a good thing too, because I did it once halfway thru the week to get “Bring me the Head of….oh wait,” and didn’t get around to doing it again until the Friday before the event ended. Since I had gotten the Sinister Squashling pet as a drop from trick or treating the innkeepers, that got me all the achievements I needed for “The Hallowed” title.
Funnily enough, on Darrowmere, my other hunter Bloodshrike was able to get a title just yesterday. She finally nabbed the last 18+ female she needed for the “Shake your Bunnymaker” achievement to get “the Noble” title. Yeah, I’m a little behind the times, I know. It’s just hard to find females in Dalaran, since a lot of the high level armor makes it impossible to see faces. You have to basically inspect every toon of that race that you need, in the hopes of seeing bumps on their chests.
However, in addition to Bloodshrike #1 getting the title, I was able to get about 2-4 levels on each of my toons between the Hallow’s End Dailies and some of them going to get the candy bucket achievements.
Bloodshrike on Demonsoul actually leveled to 80 doing the daily in Brill, funnily enough. I was also able to get several toons on each server either the Squashling or the Hallowed Helm, which will make it easier on me next year, when I will hopefully have a lot more 80’s that I can kill the Headless Horseman with. At this point, I’m not worried about getting the mount from the HH, but it would be nice to have it SOMEWHERE on my account, even if it’s not on my main. And if I get 10-20-or 30 toons up to 80 by next year, that’ll give me tons more chances for it to drop each day.
Here’s the list of who got what from Hallow’s End.
Demon Soul:
Bloodshrike – Squashling and Helm (and Title)
Daggerspine:
Clockwrkmage-
Darrowmere:
Bloodshrike -
Still need to fill this in…….
Thanks to Kring and Darth’s advice, I decided to try late night dailies of the Headless Horseman, and I was able to get the Hallowed Helm on my 2nd try. It was a good thing too, because I did it once halfway thru the week to get “Bring me the Head of….oh wait,” and didn’t get around to doing it again until the Friday before the event ended. Since I had gotten the Sinister Squashling pet as a drop from trick or treating the innkeepers, that got me all the achievements I needed for “The Hallowed” title.
Funnily enough, on Darrowmere, my other hunter Bloodshrike was able to get a title just yesterday. She finally nabbed the last 18+ female she needed for the “Shake your Bunnymaker” achievement to get “the Noble” title. Yeah, I’m a little behind the times, I know. It’s just hard to find females in Dalaran, since a lot of the high level armor makes it impossible to see faces. You have to basically inspect every toon of that race that you need, in the hopes of seeing bumps on their chests.
However, in addition to Bloodshrike #1 getting the title, I was able to get about 2-4 levels on each of my toons between the Hallow’s End Dailies and some of them going to get the candy bucket achievements.
Bloodshrike on Demonsoul actually leveled to 80 doing the daily in Brill, funnily enough. I was also able to get several toons on each server either the Squashling or the Hallowed Helm, which will make it easier on me next year, when I will hopefully have a lot more 80’s that I can kill the Headless Horseman with. At this point, I’m not worried about getting the mount from the HH, but it would be nice to have it SOMEWHERE on my account, even if it’s not on my main. And if I get 10-20-or 30 toons up to 80 by next year, that’ll give me tons more chances for it to drop each day.
Here’s the list of who got what from Hallow’s End.
Demon Soul:
Bloodshrike – Squashling and Helm (and Title)
Daggerspine:
Clockwrkmage-
Darrowmere:
Bloodshrike -
Still need to fill this in…….
Friday, October 23, 2009
The easiest way to win the Lotto.....is by having won it already
So, I dragged all my toons back from the far corners of the world, to concentrate on the Hallows End achievements.
My Alliance server Daggerspine has all the toons in Goldshire, even though it's a 2 building fire, Allies do it often enough to park all my toons there, and reap the rewards from one succesful fire quenching. Kharanos in Dun Morogh is a ghost town (heh, a pun), and though I've heard that Azure Watch in the Draenai starting area is easy, I haven't gone out there yet.
Darrowmere, my baby Horde account, has all the toons in Brill. Why not Razor Hill, since it's close by Orgrimmar? Because Brill only has the right side of the town hall set ablaze by the Headless Horseman, whereas Razor Hill has 3 buildings to quench. Needless to say, that quenching doesn't happen very often. Why not Falconwing Square by Silvermoon City? Yes, it only has one building front set on fire, but there's nobody there! It could be different on other servers, but I've noticed a tendency for nobody to go to the BC Expansion areas anymore.
A side note: If you do have a lot of toons, and don't want to have to worry about doing the town dailies more than during one login loop, do some preparation. I usually log in with my first toon, accept the "Let the Fires come" quest, then dump it and get "Put out the Fires" immediately. Go back inside the inn, and have all the other toons accept the "Put out the Fires" quest as well. Now, when you're logging in to trick or treat the innkeepers, and hear "My fires have died, left not a spark....." immediately run outside and loot the pumpkin, and this will also give you a completed status on the "Put out the Fires" quest.
However, this doesn't mean you need to turn in the quests immediately. In Brill, since the pumpkin and Matron are so close together, go ahead and turn it in and get your rewards, then dash back in the inn for the next toon.
In Goldshire though, you'll want to loot the pumpkin, then run back to the inn to get your next toon. With a lot of toons, seconds can count, and it's better to get the dailies over as soon as you can, because more and more people won't care to do them as the festival winds on. This philosphy would also apply to Razor Hill in Durotar, since the pumpkin lands straight out from the inn, and the Matron is a good distance away.
Now, as to the title of the post. The Sinister Squashling pet and the Hallowed Helm are needed for the Sinister Calling Achievement, which is part of the Hallowed Be Thy name Achievement, which rewards the Hallowed title after your name. If you don't feel like dealing with PUG groups to kill the Headless Horseman, you can also get them as drops from Trick or Treating the innkeepers every hour (usually 3-4 times a day for me, as I'd really rather be out questing).
Here's my luck so far:
Sinister Squashling
Clockwrkmage on Daggerspine
Doomslinger on Daggerspine
Aosdanasaoi on Daggerspine
Tsuris on Daggerspine
Hallowed Helm
Gwiddonyn on Daggerspine
Aosdanasaoi on Daggerspine (giving her the Achievement)
Bonescourge on Demon Soul x 2
Kukoshakaku on Demon Soul x 2
So, if you want something, get it, and you'll be sure to get it again.
I've also noticed a tendency to be repeat tricked - as in, if I'm a snake, and login an hour later, I'll most likely be transformed again, instead of getting a treat.
I know, I know, it's just numbers and statistics, but it feels weird to get your third Flimsy Male Troll Mask on one toon, without having any other masks received. The Random Number Generator (RNG) doesn't seem so random at that point, more like vindictive.
My Alliance server Daggerspine has all the toons in Goldshire, even though it's a 2 building fire, Allies do it often enough to park all my toons there, and reap the rewards from one succesful fire quenching. Kharanos in Dun Morogh is a ghost town (heh, a pun), and though I've heard that Azure Watch in the Draenai starting area is easy, I haven't gone out there yet.
Darrowmere, my baby Horde account, has all the toons in Brill. Why not Razor Hill, since it's close by Orgrimmar? Because Brill only has the right side of the town hall set ablaze by the Headless Horseman, whereas Razor Hill has 3 buildings to quench. Needless to say, that quenching doesn't happen very often. Why not Falconwing Square by Silvermoon City? Yes, it only has one building front set on fire, but there's nobody there! It could be different on other servers, but I've noticed a tendency for nobody to go to the BC Expansion areas anymore.
A side note: If you do have a lot of toons, and don't want to have to worry about doing the town dailies more than during one login loop, do some preparation. I usually log in with my first toon, accept the "Let the Fires come" quest, then dump it and get "Put out the Fires" immediately. Go back inside the inn, and have all the other toons accept the "Put out the Fires" quest as well. Now, when you're logging in to trick or treat the innkeepers, and hear "My fires have died, left not a spark....." immediately run outside and loot the pumpkin, and this will also give you a completed status on the "Put out the Fires" quest.
However, this doesn't mean you need to turn in the quests immediately. In Brill, since the pumpkin and Matron are so close together, go ahead and turn it in and get your rewards, then dash back in the inn for the next toon.
In Goldshire though, you'll want to loot the pumpkin, then run back to the inn to get your next toon. With a lot of toons, seconds can count, and it's better to get the dailies over as soon as you can, because more and more people won't care to do them as the festival winds on. This philosphy would also apply to Razor Hill in Durotar, since the pumpkin lands straight out from the inn, and the Matron is a good distance away.
Now, as to the title of the post. The Sinister Squashling pet and the Hallowed Helm are needed for the Sinister Calling Achievement, which is part of the Hallowed Be Thy name Achievement, which rewards the Hallowed title after your name. If you don't feel like dealing with PUG groups to kill the Headless Horseman, you can also get them as drops from Trick or Treating the innkeepers every hour (usually 3-4 times a day for me, as I'd really rather be out questing).
Here's my luck so far:
Sinister Squashling
Clockwrkmage on Daggerspine
Doomslinger on Daggerspine
Aosdanasaoi on Daggerspine
Tsuris on Daggerspine
Hallowed Helm
Gwiddonyn on Daggerspine
Aosdanasaoi on Daggerspine (giving her the Achievement)
Bonescourge on Demon Soul x 2
Kukoshakaku on Demon Soul x 2
So, if you want something, get it, and you'll be sure to get it again.
I've also noticed a tendency to be repeat tricked - as in, if I'm a snake, and login an hour later, I'll most likely be transformed again, instead of getting a treat.
I know, I know, it's just numbers and statistics, but it feels weird to get your third Flimsy Male Troll Mask on one toon, without having any other masks received. The Random Number Generator (RNG) doesn't seem so random at that point, more like vindictive.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Ah crap, not another holiday event!
It's time for Halloween.....strike that, it's Hallow's End in WoW. Despite the title of the post, I actually don't have a problem with any of the quests/achievements in this holiday.
Visiting candy buckets in Azeroth and Outlands, and getting XP for each one? Check, gotta love it. This allows me to give some levels to some of my alts that I haven't played in a long time (clothies and druids, mainly), as well as perhaps getting some exploring and flight points unlocked.
So, I'll have all my toons parked at either Razor Hill or Goldshire, be able to Trick or Treat the Innkeepers every hour on the hour if I remembered to do it, and be able to cash in on one of the toons helping out with the daily, then having all the rest come in to pick up the pumpkin head.
This holiday, like the Midsummer Fire Festival, actually rewards altoholics with XP for trying to complete the achievements. Brewfest......not so much. Spending 2-4 hours ram riding, with no "Ding" of leveling, kinda made me not want to log on. With the candy bucket achievements, I've already gotten some toons to their next level, just by flying around. Much, much more fun.
Also, the pet available during this event isn't something I have to save up tickets for, it's completely random, and I can probably get it by just doing trick or treating enough. Sinister Squashling
Wish me luck, and have fun with Hallow's End.
Visiting candy buckets in Azeroth and Outlands, and getting XP for each one? Check, gotta love it. This allows me to give some levels to some of my alts that I haven't played in a long time (clothies and druids, mainly), as well as perhaps getting some exploring and flight points unlocked.
So, I'll have all my toons parked at either Razor Hill or Goldshire, be able to Trick or Treat the Innkeepers every hour on the hour if I remembered to do it, and be able to cash in on one of the toons helping out with the daily, then having all the rest come in to pick up the pumpkin head.
This holiday, like the Midsummer Fire Festival, actually rewards altoholics with XP for trying to complete the achievements. Brewfest......not so much. Spending 2-4 hours ram riding, with no "Ding" of leveling, kinda made me not want to log on. With the candy bucket achievements, I've already gotten some toons to their next level, just by flying around. Much, much more fun.
Also, the pet available during this event isn't something I have to save up tickets for, it's completely random, and I can probably get it by just doing trick or treating enough. Sinister Squashling
Wish me luck, and have fun with Hallow's End.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
About Last Night.....
Well, since Blizzard decided to extend the Brewfest deadline by 2 days, I decided to see how many toons could save up 350 tokens by Monday night. Here's my progress up to now.
Demon Soul
Friday
Saturday
Daggerspine
Friday
Saturday
Darrowmere
Friday
Saturday
Most of the toons on Demon Soul, ALL of the toons on Daggerspine, and Bloodshrike and Psilentkill on Darrowmere will have the 350 tokens necessary for the Brewfest garb, then they'll return it for the refund, buy the Brew of the Month Membership if they don't have it already, and maybe buy the Beer Goggles with the rest.
Demon Soul
Friday
Saturday
Daggerspine
Friday
Saturday
Darrowmere
Friday
Saturday
Most of the toons on Demon Soul, ALL of the toons on Daggerspine, and Bloodshrike and Psilentkill on Darrowmere will have the 350 tokens necessary for the Brewfest garb, then they'll return it for the refund, buy the Brew of the Month Membership if they don't have it already, and maybe buy the Beer Goggles with the rest.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Hindsight is always 20/20
To Kring, HokieJayBee, and David....
I'm kicking myself right now for not investigating the event more thoroughly. I should have looked up a strategy guide for the event, or even posted sooner, and all this would have been avoided. I originally wanted just the Elekk, and only after a couple of days had passed (and I had already gotten the Elekk on all toons on Demon Soul) did I start thinking about getting the achievement.
But, as has been pointed out, it's not necessary to drink each Brew of the Month to get the achievement, you just have to join. So, if I only get my toons enough tokens to join this year, I'll just wait for next year to see if my toons are high enough to warrant getting the other 350 tokens for the clothes, as well as killing Coren, thus getting the title at that time. Or, I could just hang on to the tokens that I get this year, wait til next year to get to 350, and follow the advice of buying the clothes, wearing them in Dalaran, returning them, and THEN buying the membership. I dunno, I'll make up my mind at the end of the week.
Wish me luck on getting some of my toons enough tokens this year that they won't have to repeat the hell of running kegs ad nauseum next year!
I'm kicking myself right now for not investigating the event more thoroughly. I should have looked up a strategy guide for the event, or even posted sooner, and all this would have been avoided. I originally wanted just the Elekk, and only after a couple of days had passed (and I had already gotten the Elekk on all toons on Demon Soul) did I start thinking about getting the achievement.
But, as has been pointed out, it's not necessary to drink each Brew of the Month to get the achievement, you just have to join. So, if I only get my toons enough tokens to join this year, I'll just wait for next year to see if my toons are high enough to warrant getting the other 350 tokens for the clothes, as well as killing Coren, thus getting the title at that time. Or, I could just hang on to the tokens that I get this year, wait til next year to get to 350, and follow the advice of buying the clothes, wearing them in Dalaran, returning them, and THEN buying the membership. I dunno, I'll make up my mind at the end of the week.
Wish me luck on getting some of my toons enough tokens this year that they won't have to repeat the hell of running kegs ad nauseum next year!
Monday, September 28, 2009
What Price Sanity?
9/28/09
I've been meaning to post, I just haven't had the time. Why? Brewfest. More specifically, getting the pre-requisites done for Brewfest NEXT year. Bloodshrike on Demon Soul is the only toon even close enough to being able to get the Brewmaster title this year, but, since he didn't join the Brew of the month club LAST year, he still wouldn't able to get the title until next year anyway. So, I decided to take all of my toons and camp them in the brewfest grounds, all to get the Pint-sized Pink Elekk and the Brew of the Month Club done in the 2 weeks that Brewfest lasts.
Let's break down what that entails. 100 tokens for the pet, 200 tokens for the membership. Not too hard to do with one toon, although a bit tedious. Times 30 = mind-numbing insanity.
One-time quests:
There and Back Again = 10 tokens.
Chug and Chuck = 10 tokens
Catch the Wild Wolpertinger = 0 tokens, but gives you the Wolpertinger pet and achievement.
Pink Elekks on Parade = 40 tokens.
= 60 tokens so far.
Daily Quests
Bark for the beer vendors = 15 tokens, 4 minutes or less completion time.
This One Time, When I was Drunk = 10 tokens, 10 second completion time, and you can have all your alts complete it since the gear sticks around for 10 minutes after you've defeated the Dark Iron Dwarf attack on the camp.
Semi-Daily Quests
Remember the guy that had you pick up 3 kegs? Talk to him again, and he'll offer a semi-daily that you can do every 18 hours, to get as many kegs as you can with a diminishing timer. I can usually get 14-16 tokens from Horde side, but up to 30 tokens on my Ally server. Horde side is almost a straight shot, whereas Ally side takes you thru trees, but I guess the apple barrels are placed more strategically, because I hardly ever have my ram get exhausted.
So, as it stands, all my toons have the Elekk, and are working on the 200 tokens for the membership. Bloodshrike already got it, so he's going to see what pieces of the Brewfest regalia he can buy before the fair ends.
P.S. I got all the toons on Demon Soul the Elekk on the first day, with about 30 minutes needed for each toon to get 100 tokens. After that, it slows down, with only the 3 dailies to give you tokens. 10 + 15+ 16(or 30 for allies) = 42-50 average per day (and about 15 minutes needed), if I was able to do all toons every day. I've just been mostly doing the This One Time, When I was Drunk turnin, then seeing what toons are lowest, and focusing on them.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Questing in Northrend
9/18/09
From the last post until now, I've changed my mind a little bit. I took a simple travel quest Where in the World is Hemet Nesingwary to the middle of Sholozar Basin, to just meet the legendary Hemet Nesingwary and to do the Ghostfish Daily fishing quest for Dalaran. At least, that was my intention. So, I introduce myself to Hemet AGAIN, even though I've already done bucketloads of his quests in Stranglethorn Vale and Outlands (that dwarf has a memory as bad as my own), and run on down to the River's Heart to catch the elusive Ghostfish.
After I catch the fish, I look around, and I notice a ! over Tamara Wobblesprocket's head that I hadn't seen on the other few times I had done the Ghostfish daily. So, I accepted her Part-Time Hunter, since it seemed like it would be close, and I should be easily able to solo whatever mob I needed to. That led me to the Frenzyheart questline, and then I started doing the Nesingwary questline, since I now had 2 (two) tanks ready to soak up and deal out damage. As long as you keep Hoofing It, you've got a pocket tank with Zepik the Gorloc Hunter. As a hunter, I already had a tank, so this made questing SUPER easy. I got thru 39 out of the 75? quests in Sholozar before I stopped. And, I stopped because I dinged 77, and could learn Cold Weather Flying. :)
So, there is a bonus from spending time past 68 in Outlands, at least on your first toon on the server. I only really spent about 1 level stuck on a ground mount in Northrend, before I could fly again. With only 2.5 levels to go to 80, I'll probably ding 80 before Pallormortis, who is currently 67 and doing Netherstorm quests, will need or want to start to start flying in Northrend, so I'll be able to provide the Bind on Account Book of Cold Weather Flying.
From the last post until now, I've changed my mind a little bit. I took a simple travel quest Where in the World is Hemet Nesingwary to the middle of Sholozar Basin, to just meet the legendary Hemet Nesingwary and to do the Ghostfish Daily fishing quest for Dalaran. At least, that was my intention. So, I introduce myself to Hemet AGAIN, even though I've already done bucketloads of his quests in Stranglethorn Vale and Outlands (that dwarf has a memory as bad as my own), and run on down to the River's Heart to catch the elusive Ghostfish.
After I catch the fish, I look around, and I notice a ! over Tamara Wobblesprocket's head that I hadn't seen on the other few times I had done the Ghostfish daily. So, I accepted her Part-Time Hunter, since it seemed like it would be close, and I should be easily able to solo whatever mob I needed to. That led me to the Frenzyheart questline, and then I started doing the Nesingwary questline, since I now had 2 (two) tanks ready to soak up and deal out damage. As long as you keep Hoofing It, you've got a pocket tank with Zepik the Gorloc Hunter. As a hunter, I already had a tank, so this made questing SUPER easy. I got thru 39 out of the 75? quests in Sholozar before I stopped. And, I stopped because I dinged 77, and could learn Cold Weather Flying. :)
So, there is a bonus from spending time past 68 in Outlands, at least on your first toon on the server. I only really spent about 1 level stuck on a ground mount in Northrend, before I could fly again. With only 2.5 levels to go to 80, I'll probably ding 80 before Pallormortis, who is currently 67 and doing Netherstorm quests, will need or want to start to start flying in Northrend, so I'll be able to provide the Bind on Account Book of Cold Weather Flying.
My First Title
9/16/09
Last night, Bloodshrike on Demon Soul got his first title. At Exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive, you can buy the “of the Shattered Sun” title from the NPC in the high tower on Quel’Danas. After probably a month of dailies on the Isle of QD, as well as the Sunfury Attack plans in Netherstorm and the Spectro-graphic disturbances in Nagrand, I finally got to Exalted. And while the Alchemy trinket plans are useless compared to the highest level alchemy trinkets, the necklace I bought (Shattered Sun Pendant of Might) was actually a small upgrade compared to what I had. Couple that with being exalted with scryers, and having it proc because of that, and it becomes really nice (though I haven’t noticed it doing that). I haven’t been finding much on the AH for upgrades at level 76, maybe because people have found that quest rewards are better in Northrend than what drops? Dunno.
Speaking of Northrend, I’m level 76, Honored with the Kirin Tor because of the fishing and cooking dailies, and yet I’ve barely done any quests there. I did all the D.E.H.T.A. Little P.I.T.A. quests, and a few around Warsong Hold, but I haven’t really done much else there. I want to get exalted with whatever factions in Outlands that give me Alchemy/Engineering recipes before really moving on to Northrend.
Last night, Bloodshrike on Demon Soul got his first title. At Exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive, you can buy the “of the Shattered Sun” title from the NPC in the high tower on Quel’Danas. After probably a month of dailies on the Isle of QD, as well as the Sunfury Attack plans in Netherstorm and the Spectro-graphic disturbances in Nagrand, I finally got to Exalted. And while the Alchemy trinket plans are useless compared to the highest level alchemy trinkets, the necklace I bought (Shattered Sun Pendant of Might) was actually a small upgrade compared to what I had. Couple that with being exalted with scryers, and having it proc because of that, and it becomes really nice (though I haven’t noticed it doing that). I haven’t been finding much on the AH for upgrades at level 76, maybe because people have found that quest rewards are better in Northrend than what drops? Dunno.
Speaking of Northrend, I’m level 76, Honored with the Kirin Tor because of the fishing and cooking dailies, and yet I’ve barely done any quests there. I did all the D.E.H.T.A. Little P.I.T.A. quests, and a few around Warsong Hold, but I haven’t really done much else there. I want to get exalted with whatever factions in Outlands that give me Alchemy/Engineering recipes before really moving on to Northrend.
Monday, August 31, 2009
How many Professions have you gone through?
At level 72, I finally decided to level Bloodshrike the rest of the way from 420ish Alchemy all the way to 450. One of the easiest and cheapest professions to max, I only had to do some Earthsiege and Skyflare transmutes, and badda-boom, I'm 450. Along the way I noticed some very nice bonuses that Alchemists have - Flask of the North, Endless Mana Potion, and Endless Health Potion are 3 potions that an Alchemist can use, and will not be consumed on use. Think about that, people! While the health from the potion isn't much for someone with 10k health already, it's nice to top off after a fight. Same with the mana potion. Before, I would have to switch to Aspect of the Viper after every 5 mobs or so, to regen my 5k mana. Now, I make it a game to see how low I can get my mana before chugging the mana pot. With only a 1 minute cooldown, I literally would never have to switch to AotV again while questing.
And with a proper macro, it can be made to be easily used.
#showtooltip
/cast [nomodifier] superduper high level healing potion, for use in combat
/cast [modifier:alt] Endless Mana Potion
/cast [modifier:ctrl] Endless Healing Potion
Demon Soul is my first server, and as such, I made some mistakes or choices that I rethought with my other 2 servers. On Daggerspine, I have a warlock as my alchemist, and on Darrowmere, my priest is my alchemist/inscriptionist. But, it's nice to know that it's not a wasted profession slot that one of my other toons could have done for me.
I even had my Rogue on Demon Soul going for Weaponsmithing for a while, before I made him into a miner, and then when my DK blew past him in Mining/Skinning, had him take up Skinning for when the DK would drop Skinning for Engineering at level 60.
Anyone else have any stories about changing professions midgame?
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