8/25/2010
Hey, only one month since my last post!
I've actually been mulling over a few topics, but one of them leapt to the front of my brain tonight.
The most useful pet you can get is.......a Death Knight of the opposite faction!
If you're stuck trying to get reputation from rarely visited areas like Hellfire Peninsula (Thrallmar/Honor Hold rep) or Nagrand (Mag'har or Kurenai rep), they can really help you out. Now, I realize that you can just grind rep by killing ogres, but if you want Halaa Battle Tokens, you're usually outta luck. And why would you want those Battle Tokens? The two Talbuks that you can buy, of course! If you're going for the Mountain o' Mounts achievement, every little bit helps. I'm currently at 89/100, and getting those plus the 8 Talbuks from exalted with the Mag'har would definitely come in handy. So, do the daily PvP quest in Nagrand, and after 17 days, you'd have 8500 rep extra, plus 170 tokens.
Here's the catch, though. You gotta be around the same level as the DK. They have to be at least green to you, so they give you honor for kills. No honor, no tokens. So, the only way I'd be able to get those mounts for my main Bloodshrike would be to get my friend to level up his DK to whatever level gets him to be green to an 80. I'm not sure that's gonna happen anytime soon.....
If you've blown past Outlands, you really have to kiss those mounts goodbye, because it's gonna be extremely hard to find a level 80 cruising around Nagrand, that's also landed around the outskirts of Halaa, and the chance of you killing them 170 times is slim to none.
You could still kill your pet DK to get the daily quest done, for an easy 500 rep with the Mag'har, but you won't get the tokens unless they're green to you.
In contrast, Thrallmar rep can still be earned fairly easily playing solo, in 2 ways. One, with the daily pvp quest. Two, you can solo Shattered Halls at 80 for the rep needed to level from honored to exalted, since rep from Ramparts and Blood Furnace stops at 5999/6000 Honored, and you can't earn any more from mobs until level 68, and have access to Shattered Halls. But guess what, at level 68 you can go to Northrend, and so nobody runs those dungeons anymore.
Here's where the rules get fuzzy. Any level player can kill a player of the opposing faction when in the three stadiums, and still recieve a Mark. Turn those marks in 5 at a time, and get a rep boost buff. Now, if you manage to get a rep run with other players, or do it solo, you're getting more reputation per mob than normal.
Getting those marks is also pretty sweet for a toon that just hit Outlands, too. My paladin Clockwrknyt was able to get her first Libram and a sweet trinket that should help her with tanking. Mana AND life back, without having to use judgements or seals!
She earned the marks with a combination of the daily PvP quest, which gives you 3 tokens, and also laying the smack down on my pet DK, one kill at a time.
The reason that this came to mind was because of an encounter I had while doing the daily pvp quest for the tokens and rep. My pet DK was standing outside one of the stadiums, waiting for Bloodshrike to fly over, whereupon he would go inside, tip the balance to neutral, and let Bloodshrike recapture it. A level 80 Blood Elf DK swoops down, and slaughters him. I whispered to him to please leave him alone, as I was using him to do the daily. Not only did he try to camp the DK's corpse, he also squatted on the stadium, pushing the balance all the way over to max Horde side. He also pretended to speak french when I asked him to stop it.
When I armoried him, I just had to laugh. Apparently, he liked the starting Relic and trinket so much, he kept using them. He also seems to be unsure of whether to PvP, tank, or DPS, based on his gear and gemming. I truly understand the term "faceroller" after dealing with this illustrious gentleman.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
2 months since my last post
7/20/2010
....and I don't know why. I just really would rather play the game then talk about it, I guess. But, WoW is down for maintenance, and extended maintenance on Demon Soul, where all my mains are, for the entire day, so now's a good time.
I didn't post anything about the Midsummer Fire festival, kinda because I was bummed I didn't get the Frigid Frostling, even though I ran it every day of the festival.
Here's a quick recap of my toons leveling during the Festival. Keep in mind that most of the leveling was just off the 2 dailies, the Torch Tossing and Catching. Those reward basically the max xp of a quest at that toons level, which is generally enough for at least a bubble's worth on your xp bar. Only the toons that were around level 70 did the Ice Lord lieutenant killing, since it was easy to take a portal from Dalaran to Thunder Bluff, do the dailies and get the Striking Back quest, take the portal there to Blasted Lands, go thru the Dark Portal, kill the Glacial Templar, then hearth back to Dalaran.
6/21 Start of Midsummer Fire Festival.
Demon Soul
Bloodshrike - 80
Bullkathos - 73
Thrillkiller - 68
Bonescourge - 53
Banesidhe - 72 (and dinged 73 that day)
Kukoshakaku - 51
Clockwrknyt - 58
Burizadokyanon - 41
Morticide - 34
Pallormortis - 80
Daggerspine
Clockwrkmage - 60
Preyonyou - 37
Tsuris - 52
Aosdanasaoi - 50
Hangfire - 42
Panzergishi - 49
Kishigishi - 49 (got 50 off dailies)
Ryoushigishi - 52
Gwiddonyn - 46
Doomslinger - 38 (dinged 39 on dailies)
Darrowmere
Bloodshrike - 49
Clockwrkmage - 31
Psilentkill - 36 (dinged 37)
Didactylos - 27
Gavelofpain - 29
Wartraveler - 28
Misericorde - 30
Ghostflame - 25
Gimmershred - 29
Annihilus - 26
6/22 - (Darrowmere) Clockwrkmage->32, Gavelofpain->30, Misericorde->31
6/23 - (Daggerspine) Gwiddonyn->47
6/24 - (Demon Soul) Clockwrknyt->59
(Daggerspine) Preyonyou->38, Hangfire->43, Gwiddonyn->48
(Darrowmere) Wartraveler->29, Gimmershred->30
6/25 - (Demon Soul) Bonescourge->54, Morticide->35
6/26 - (Demon Soul) Thrillkiller->69
(Daggerspine) Tsuris->53, Kishigishi->51
(Darrowmere) Didactylos->28
6/27 - (Demon Soul) Kukoshakaku->52
(Daggerspine) Aosdanasaoi->51
6/28 - (Demon Soul) Thrillkiller->70, Burizadokyanon->43
(Daggerspine) Panzergishi->50
(Darrowmere) Ghostflame->26
6/29 - Nobody dinged
6/30 - (Daggerspine) Gwiddonyn->49, Doomslinger->40
(Darrowmere) Bloodshrike->50
7/1 - (Daggerspine) Ryoushigishi->53
(Darrowmere) Clockwrkmage->33, Psilentkill->38, Gavelofpain->31
7/2 - (Demon Soul) Morticide->36
(Daggerspine) Preyonyou->39
(Darrowmere) Bloodshrike->51, Misericorde->32
7/3 (Demon Soul) Bullkathos->75, Bonescourge->55, Clockwrknyt->60, Burizadokyan->44, Morticide->37-38-39 (yeah, he put out a lot of torches that day)
(Daggerspine) Clockwrkmage->62
7/4 (Demon Soul) Clockwrknyt->61
So, most of my toons got at least 1-2 levels during these 2 weeks of leveling, with the star being Morticide, bouncing up 5 levels. I could have done more if I had everyone do the torches in each zone, but that takes about 4-5 hours each, with all the flying and traveling you have to do. Since this was added to my daily regimen of Bloodshrike and Pallormortis' Frost Badge dungeons and Argent Tournament dailies, plus Bloodshrike/Pallor/Bane/Thrill/Bull doing the Dalaran Fishing and Cooking dailies.....I'm happy with what I did. The Midsummer Fire Festival is definitely my favorite holiday for leveling.
....and I don't know why. I just really would rather play the game then talk about it, I guess. But, WoW is down for maintenance, and extended maintenance on Demon Soul, where all my mains are, for the entire day, so now's a good time.
I didn't post anything about the Midsummer Fire festival, kinda because I was bummed I didn't get the Frigid Frostling, even though I ran it every day of the festival.
Here's a quick recap of my toons leveling during the Festival. Keep in mind that most of the leveling was just off the 2 dailies, the Torch Tossing and Catching. Those reward basically the max xp of a quest at that toons level, which is generally enough for at least a bubble's worth on your xp bar. Only the toons that were around level 70 did the Ice Lord lieutenant killing, since it was easy to take a portal from Dalaran to Thunder Bluff, do the dailies and get the Striking Back quest, take the portal there to Blasted Lands, go thru the Dark Portal, kill the Glacial Templar, then hearth back to Dalaran.
6/21 Start of Midsummer Fire Festival.
Demon Soul
Bloodshrike - 80
Bullkathos - 73
Thrillkiller - 68
Bonescourge - 53
Banesidhe - 72 (and dinged 73 that day)
Kukoshakaku - 51
Clockwrknyt - 58
Burizadokyanon - 41
Morticide - 34
Pallormortis - 80
Daggerspine
Clockwrkmage - 60
Preyonyou - 37
Tsuris - 52
Aosdanasaoi - 50
Hangfire - 42
Panzergishi - 49
Kishigishi - 49 (got 50 off dailies)
Ryoushigishi - 52
Gwiddonyn - 46
Doomslinger - 38 (dinged 39 on dailies)
Darrowmere
Bloodshrike - 49
Clockwrkmage - 31
Psilentkill - 36 (dinged 37)
Didactylos - 27
Gavelofpain - 29
Wartraveler - 28
Misericorde - 30
Ghostflame - 25
Gimmershred - 29
Annihilus - 26
6/22 - (Darrowmere) Clockwrkmage->32, Gavelofpain->30, Misericorde->31
6/23 - (Daggerspine) Gwiddonyn->47
6/24 - (Demon Soul) Clockwrknyt->59
(Daggerspine) Preyonyou->38, Hangfire->43, Gwiddonyn->48
(Darrowmere) Wartraveler->29, Gimmershred->30
6/25 - (Demon Soul) Bonescourge->54, Morticide->35
6/26 - (Demon Soul) Thrillkiller->69
(Daggerspine) Tsuris->53, Kishigishi->51
(Darrowmere) Didactylos->28
6/27 - (Demon Soul) Kukoshakaku->52
(Daggerspine) Aosdanasaoi->51
6/28 - (Demon Soul) Thrillkiller->70, Burizadokyanon->43
(Daggerspine) Panzergishi->50
(Darrowmere) Ghostflame->26
6/29 - Nobody dinged
6/30 - (Daggerspine) Gwiddonyn->49, Doomslinger->40
(Darrowmere) Bloodshrike->50
7/1 - (Daggerspine) Ryoushigishi->53
(Darrowmere) Clockwrkmage->33, Psilentkill->38, Gavelofpain->31
7/2 - (Demon Soul) Morticide->36
(Daggerspine) Preyonyou->39
(Darrowmere) Bloodshrike->51, Misericorde->32
7/3 (Demon Soul) Bullkathos->75, Bonescourge->55, Clockwrknyt->60, Burizadokyan->44, Morticide->37-38-39 (yeah, he put out a lot of torches that day
(Daggerspine) Clockwrkmage->62
7/4 (Demon Soul) Clockwrknyt->61
So, most of my toons got at least 1-2 levels during these 2 weeks of leveling, with the star being Morticide, bouncing up 5 levels. I could have done more if I had everyone do the torches in each zone, but that takes about 4-5 hours each, with all the flying and traveling you have to do. Since this was added to my daily regimen of Bloodshrike and Pallormortis' Frost Badge dungeons and Argent Tournament dailies, plus Bloodshrike/Pallor/Bane/Thrill/Bull doing the Dalaran Fishing and Cooking dailies.....I'm happy with what I did. The Midsummer Fire Festival is definitely my favorite holiday for leveling.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
ur doeing it rong, lol!
5/22/2010
Urrgghh....just seeing that on the screen makes you cringe, doesn't it? That means that someone is about to drop a pearl of wisdom on you, swiftly summarizing your playstyle as bad, because it's not done according to what they're used to.
I just finished doing heroic TOC for the 54th time, just gathering my daily 3 Champion Seals for the last mount I need from the Argent Tournament. The first tank dropped out after the first wipe, we kicked the healer after the second wipe since he wasn't really doing a great job of healing, and after the 3rd wipe and subsequent victory over Lady Paletress, the new tank commented that the dps was terrible. Then, he started blaming me! He said, "Oh, Beastmaster. You should go Survival, you'd do 4k dps easily. And your weapons are wrong too, even Marrowstrike (which had just dropped) would be better."
I currently have Blood Weeper and Nighttime equipped, with 65 AP on both of them. Here's my armory link.
But, excuse me? I was tops dps of the group! My pet gorilla was doing about the same dps as the rogue. Just because I had 5k GS, that means that I should carry the whole group? It seems that PUG's tend to rely on the fact that people with higher equipment are still forced to run heroics to get emblems or seals, so they feel comfortable showing up in sub-par gear, confident that they'll still get carried thru the instance.
As Beastmaster, with my pets damage added to mine (Diznizzia is my pet), I was doing about 3300 dps. Plus, I was using Misdirect as much as possible so that the tank could do their job without worrying about someone like me pulling aggro. The rogue was at 3300 GS, the DK was probably 4400. And yet I'm supposed to "know my roll?"
I might change my second spec from Marksman (since I've never used it) to Survival, but that's just because I want to try it out. I brought sufficient firepower to the instance to justify my being in it. The others should do the same.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
In Soviet Russia, mounts pay you!
5/18/2010
Yakov Smirnoff
Unlike most rep grind mounts, the Argent Tournament Champion Seal mounts pay for themselves, many times over. I'm currently at about 81 mounts (I think), on my way to the 100 mount achievement, and only have the troll 100 seal mount left.
Let's look at what getting ALL the mounts entails.
Each capitol city faction quartermaster offers 2 mounts, one for 100 seals, the other for 5 seals and 500g. All of them (Horde and Alliance) also sell the Argent Hippogryph flying mount for 150 seals.
11 mounts for 2500 gold, 675 seals
Sunreaver or Silver Covenant - 1 land mount 100 seals, 1 flying mount 150 seals.
2 mounts for 250 seals.
Argent Quartermaster Dame Evniki Kapsalis sells the Argent Warhorse for 100 seals to any class, and the Argent Charger to paladins.
1 mount for 100 seals (100 seals more for a paladin)
Grand total: 2500 gold, 14 mounts (for most classes), and 675 + 250 + 100 = 1025 seals required.
Add the teleport Tabard, and if your toon isn't an engineer, you might want the mailbox/vendor/bank option that the Pony Bridle offers, for an extra 150 seals.
Tabard and bridle = 200 seals.
I've already bought the tabard, and since I already have Jeeves, I'm very doubtful I'll go for the bridle, even though it does give you an achievement. Why not? Urggghhh, I am very, very, verrrrry tired of doing those AT dailies. Yes, it's a nice amount of gold, but it's a time-sucker, when I want to be working on other toons.
Let's break down how long it takes to earn 1025 seals, using only the dailies, once you're exalted with Argent Tournament.
3 seals + 3x(13.23 gold)= 39.69 gold from Sunreavers or Silver Covenant tent NPC's.
7 seals from the Argent Tournament tent. 6 quests, but 7 seals since TFA gives 2 seals. These quests also reward 6x(13.23)= 78.78 gold + 40 gold from the grab bag = 118.78 gold, plus the chance of extra Champion seals dropping occasionally from the bag.
So, 9 Daily quests, 118.78 gold, 10 seals per day. Let's also toss in the Heroic Trial of the Champion for an extra 3 seals, bringing us up to about 13 seals per day, give or take. I usually specifically do heroic TOC first, while doing quests, then do my random for Frost badges after that. Sometimes, you get TOC as the random, so you could have 16 seals that day.
1025/13 = 79 days. Well, really, 1075/13= 83 days, since you're definitely going to want to get the tabard to minimize travel time to the tournament grounds as much as possible. This is assuming you do all the dailies plus TOC every day, 7 days a week. Assuming you do this, 83 days times 118.78 = 9,858.74 gold. That's a profit of almost 7,400 gold, even after you pay for the 500 gold mounts.
So if you ever see a level 80 whining about gold, tell them to go buy all the Argent Tournament mounts. They won't have to worry about gold for a long time after that.
Yakov Smirnoff
Unlike most rep grind mounts, the Argent Tournament Champion Seal mounts pay for themselves, many times over. I'm currently at about 81 mounts (I think), on my way to the 100 mount achievement, and only have the troll 100 seal mount left.
Let's look at what getting ALL the mounts entails.
Each capitol city faction quartermaster offers 2 mounts, one for 100 seals, the other for 5 seals and 500g. All of them (Horde and Alliance) also sell the Argent Hippogryph flying mount for 150 seals.
11 mounts for 2500 gold, 675 seals
Sunreaver or Silver Covenant - 1 land mount 100 seals, 1 flying mount 150 seals.
2 mounts for 250 seals.
Argent Quartermaster Dame Evniki Kapsalis sells the Argent Warhorse for 100 seals to any class, and the Argent Charger to paladins.
1 mount for 100 seals (100 seals more for a paladin)
Grand total: 2500 gold, 14 mounts (for most classes), and 675 + 250 + 100 = 1025 seals required.
Add the teleport Tabard, and if your toon isn't an engineer, you might want the mailbox/vendor/bank option that the Pony Bridle offers, for an extra 150 seals.
Tabard and bridle = 200 seals.
I've already bought the tabard, and since I already have Jeeves, I'm very doubtful I'll go for the bridle, even though it does give you an achievement. Why not? Urggghhh, I am very, very, verrrrry tired of doing those AT dailies. Yes, it's a nice amount of gold, but it's a time-sucker, when I want to be working on other toons.
Let's break down how long it takes to earn 1025 seals, using only the dailies, once you're exalted with Argent Tournament.
3 seals + 3x(13.23 gold)= 39.69 gold from Sunreavers or Silver Covenant tent NPC's.
7 seals from the Argent Tournament tent. 6 quests, but 7 seals since TFA gives 2 seals. These quests also reward 6x(13.23)= 78.78 gold + 40 gold from the grab bag = 118.78 gold, plus the chance of extra Champion seals dropping occasionally from the bag.
So, 9 Daily quests, 118.78 gold, 10 seals per day. Let's also toss in the Heroic Trial of the Champion for an extra 3 seals, bringing us up to about 13 seals per day, give or take. I usually specifically do heroic TOC first, while doing quests, then do my random for Frost badges after that. Sometimes, you get TOC as the random, so you could have 16 seals that day.
1025/13 = 79 days. Well, really, 1075/13= 83 days, since you're definitely going to want to get the tabard to minimize travel time to the tournament grounds as much as possible. This is assuming you do all the dailies plus TOC every day, 7 days a week. Assuming you do this, 83 days times 118.78 = 9,858.74 gold. That's a profit of almost 7,400 gold, even after you pay for the 500 gold mounts.
So if you ever see a level 80 whining about gold, tell them to go buy all the Argent Tournament mounts. They won't have to worry about gold for a long time after that.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Children's Week
5/4/2010
Another meta achievement, with some more pets available. No daily quests that come from the holiday itself, so no easy XP for my multitude of alts.
However, Bloodshrike, Bullkathos, Thrillkiller, Banesidhe, and Pallormortis on Demon Soul are able to do the Shattrath Orphan questline, with Pallor able to do the Dalaran as well (perhaps Banesidhe too, if I level soon enough). Since Bloodshrike already did the Dalaran questline when he got to 70, no luck with picking up the Oracle orphan, unless Blizz fixes the code to allow it. Oooh...I just remembered that Clockwrkmage on Daggerspine is my first Alliance to hit 60, so she can do the Shattrath quests too!
You know what the kicker is? The only thing that could keep me from getting the title on 5 of my alts this year is food. Yup, while you only need to be level 68 to queue for Utgarde, you need to be level 75 to eat some of the foods listed in Bad Example. You don't even need to be that high to accomplish the dreaded School of Hard Knocks, since Eye of the Storm is available at level 61.
Edit: Utgarde Pinnacle is actually accessed starting at level 78, so Bloodshrike will be the only toon I really need to stress about this year.
Another meta achievement, with some more pets available. No daily quests that come from the holiday itself, so no easy XP for my multitude of alts.
However, Bloodshrike, Bullkathos, Thrillkiller, Banesidhe, and Pallormortis on Demon Soul are able to do the Shattrath Orphan questline, with Pallor able to do the Dalaran as well (perhaps Banesidhe too, if I level soon enough). Since Bloodshrike already did the Dalaran questline when he got to 70, no luck with picking up the Oracle orphan, unless Blizz fixes the code to allow it. Oooh...I just remembered that Clockwrkmage on Daggerspine is my first Alliance to hit 60, so she can do the Shattrath quests too!
You know what the kicker is? The only thing that could keep me from getting the title on 5 of my alts this year is food. Yup, while you only need to be level 68 to queue for Utgarde, you need to be level 75 to eat some of the foods listed in Bad Example. You don't even need to be that high to accomplish the dreaded School of Hard Knocks, since Eye of the Storm is available at level 61.
Edit: Utgarde Pinnacle is actually accessed starting at level 78, so Bloodshrike will be the only toon I really need to stress about this year.
The Most Valuable Item in the Game
4/29/2010
What is the most desirable mat for recipes in the game now? Primordial Saronite? Abyss Crystals? Titansteel Bars? Frozen Orbs? Not likely. Prices for high level mats are falling fast, with Primordial Saronite, once up to 1.8k gold each, now down to about 800 gold on the servers I play on.
And, exactly how much profit margin can you make with high level recipes? My enchanter Banesidhe can barely get work, even after dropping my crafting price from 30 to 20 to 15 gold for any of the Wrath enchants (of course I don’t have Blade Ward or Blood Draining, since he’s only level 69). Even when I enchant scrolls with those recipes, I find that the Auction House already has Berserker/Massacre/Super Stats in there already, at….and get this…..less than mat cost. So, enchanters get mats together, pay for or make their own Armor/Weapon Vellum III’s, then put them in the AH at less of a cost than the mats would sell for. Ludicrous!
What is it about the fact that it’s a game that prevents people from considering making a decent profit? I always measure things against how much gold my level 80 Bloodshrike can make doing the Argent Tournament Dailies, which is 13g 23 silver per, plus 4 of the quests have the option to make an additional 10 gold and a chance at another Champion Seal. When someone wants me to craft something for them, and they want to party up and then spend time gathering the mats, and 5 minutes later are ready for me to start crafting, then I get a 5-10 gold tip…..It’s not worth it to me.
My Blacksmith Bullkathos had someone whisper him to come to Orgrimmar to make a Razorplate chestpiece for them. I said sure, but I wanted to discuss the crafting fee first. This guy, just because he had mats, thought that that entitled him to have me make it for him free. I’ve bought all the Ulduar and TOC recipes that I have off the AH, and I’d like to make a profit on them.
I’ve probably used this analogy before, but I think it’s a good one. When people get accustomed to you crafting for free or for tips, that’s like them showing up at a carpenter’s house with bunch of lumber, and asking the carpenter to build you a house. When the carpenter is done, he maybe gets a $20 tip. Having mats means nothing! You can have all the mats in the world, but unless someone on your server has the recipe you want, you aren’t getting the item you need.
Getting the recipes, which for the most valuable ones means going out and either grinding specific mobs or building up reputation with a faction, that’s what makes you stand out among the crowd of other crafters who “LFW [Profession] Your mats free, tips appreciated.” I refuse to lower my standards on pricing. I spent hella gold/time either searching for bargains on the Quest items tab in the Auction House, or by doing dailies or killing monsters to gain rep with factions for the recipes that I possess. And for someone to compare that to a Max level enchanter who doesn’t have any other recipes than what the trainer taught him, and want to tip me the same? Hell no.
/end rant
So, getting to the original point of the post. Large Brilliant Shards are the most valuable items in the game to me right now, offering 500-5000% return on the cost of buying them from the AH. They have a multitude of uses in enchants, for heirloom items as well as enchants for equipment slots that don’t have heirloom pieces. Crusader, 15 Agility to 1hand, 25 Agility to 2h, Spellpower, Healing Power, and various other enchants to gloves and chest pieces.
So stock up, enchant scrolls, use the Auction House, and save yourself the grief of dealing with customers!
What is the most desirable mat for recipes in the game now? Primordial Saronite? Abyss Crystals? Titansteel Bars? Frozen Orbs? Not likely. Prices for high level mats are falling fast, with Primordial Saronite, once up to 1.8k gold each, now down to about 800 gold on the servers I play on.
And, exactly how much profit margin can you make with high level recipes? My enchanter Banesidhe can barely get work, even after dropping my crafting price from 30 to 20 to 15 gold for any of the Wrath enchants (of course I don’t have Blade Ward or Blood Draining, since he’s only level 69). Even when I enchant scrolls with those recipes, I find that the Auction House already has Berserker/Massacre/Super Stats in there already, at….and get this…..less than mat cost. So, enchanters get mats together, pay for or make their own Armor/Weapon Vellum III’s, then put them in the AH at less of a cost than the mats would sell for. Ludicrous!
What is it about the fact that it’s a game that prevents people from considering making a decent profit? I always measure things against how much gold my level 80 Bloodshrike can make doing the Argent Tournament Dailies, which is 13g 23 silver per, plus 4 of the quests have the option to make an additional 10 gold and a chance at another Champion Seal. When someone wants me to craft something for them, and they want to party up and then spend time gathering the mats, and 5 minutes later are ready for me to start crafting, then I get a 5-10 gold tip…..It’s not worth it to me.
My Blacksmith Bullkathos had someone whisper him to come to Orgrimmar to make a Razorplate chestpiece for them. I said sure, but I wanted to discuss the crafting fee first. This guy, just because he had mats, thought that that entitled him to have me make it for him free. I’ve bought all the Ulduar and TOC recipes that I have off the AH, and I’d like to make a profit on them.
I’ve probably used this analogy before, but I think it’s a good one. When people get accustomed to you crafting for free or for tips, that’s like them showing up at a carpenter’s house with bunch of lumber, and asking the carpenter to build you a house. When the carpenter is done, he maybe gets a $20 tip. Having mats means nothing! You can have all the mats in the world, but unless someone on your server has the recipe you want, you aren’t getting the item you need.
Getting the recipes, which for the most valuable ones means going out and either grinding specific mobs or building up reputation with a faction, that’s what makes you stand out among the crowd of other crafters who “LFW [Profession] Your mats free, tips appreciated.” I refuse to lower my standards on pricing. I spent hella gold/time either searching for bargains on the Quest items tab in the Auction House, or by doing dailies or killing monsters to gain rep with factions for the recipes that I possess. And for someone to compare that to a Max level enchanter who doesn’t have any other recipes than what the trainer taught him, and want to tip me the same? Hell no.
/end rant
So, getting to the original point of the post. Large Brilliant Shards are the most valuable items in the game to me right now, offering 500-5000% return on the cost of buying them from the AH. They have a multitude of uses in enchants, for heirloom items as well as enchants for equipment slots that don’t have heirloom pieces. Crusader, 15 Agility to 1hand, 25 Agility to 2h, Spellpower, Healing Power, and various other enchants to gloves and chest pieces.
So stock up, enchant scrolls, use the Auction House, and save yourself the grief of dealing with customers!
Monday, April 12, 2010
.........and that ain't bad!
27 out of 30.
Yup, 27 out of my 30 toons either got, or are able to get the Noble title this year.
I can't camp eggs on my servers. Even on sunday, when it started, there wasn't much of a turnout for the holiday on Daggerspine. Demon Soul and Daggerspine are PvP servers, and while Darrowmere is now a PvE realm, it just recently switched from PvP, so there still isn't a big population.
So, when I'm getting eggs, I have no choice to but to hunt them down individually. I'm sure glad I move with the mouse, because if I was WASD moving, there's no chance I would have gotten as many eggs as I did. Tons of them are hidden in pots that you have to tilt the camera over your shoulder to see, or placed under a wagon, behind a wheel, with a noblegarden rabbit hiding in front of it going "bok bok bok" (just kidding about the last part).
For the most part, I was able to get all the items needed to complete the achievements as drops, with a few exceptions.
Hangfire and Doomslinger on Daggerspine had to buy both the rabbit and flowers, as they didn't drop while I was getting the 100 eggs that I needed to eat. 300 more eggs needed total. I'm sure there were others who needed to buy the flowers or the robe, but hey, what's 50 more eggs?
On Daggerspine (my Ally server) everyone except Ryoushigishi got the title already, and Ryo just needs to finish up Shake your Bunny-Maker and the Badlands part of Desert Rose, and he's got it.
Demon Soul has 7 Nobles, with Kukoshakaku, Clockworknyt, and Morticide needing the Badlands rose to be planted.
Darrowmere has Bloodshrike (number 2) who already got the title, and then all the other level 20-30's who still haven't gotten the Badlands flight point, as well as need to finish up the bunny-maker achievement. Here's where my 3 failures reside as well. Gavelofpain, my shaman, who had completed the Bunny-maker achievement LAST year, but I ran out of time this year to finish up getting eggs to eat, and didn't get the Spring Robes to drop, so that would have probably been another 50 eggs to collect. Misericorde and Ghostflame....I just couldn't stomach the time and concentration needed to get the eggs for them.
Not to mention, as low levels, none of my toons didn't have the Tanaris or Un'Goro flightpoints, and couldn't survive in those zones safely. My method of getting it? Take the portal from Dalaran to the Caverns of Time, mount up and ruuuun to Tanaris for the flight point, drop a flower, run north to 1k needles for the next flower drop, come back to Tanaris, and head west, dodging all those ??? skull monsters determined to take a chomp out of my toons. Once I reached the rim of Un'Goro crater, my obsession with engineering let me use my Parachute Cloaks to jump from the cliff to a safe point partway down the wall, then jump from there to a plateau on the east side of the mountains. Run down to the valley, grab any Thorium veins if they're miners (at level 20, you can still have up to 300 mining if you powerlevel by smelting ore), and hug the mountains going north, then west to Marshal's Refuge.
Here's where I deviated from the normal method. For low level alts, after you grab the Refuge flightpoint, run down, then keep heading west until you get to the path up to Sithilus. Go get the flight point there, drop your flower, then come back to Un'Goro. After running through the level 50+ monsters to get to the Golakka Hot Springs, you're going to want to hearth out of there when you're done. Get transformed into a bunny, lay an egg, hearth to Dalaran, take a portal to Thunder Bluff or Darnassus, and fly over to Desolace for the last flower drop needed on Kalimdor. Now I just need to get.....oh, 6 toons to run from the Arathi Highlands flightpoint thru Wetlands, up to Loch Modan, and into Badlands. Sounds fun, right?
Yup, 27 out of my 30 toons either got, or are able to get the Noble title this year.
I can't camp eggs on my servers. Even on sunday, when it started, there wasn't much of a turnout for the holiday on Daggerspine. Demon Soul and Daggerspine are PvP servers, and while Darrowmere is now a PvE realm, it just recently switched from PvP, so there still isn't a big population.
So, when I'm getting eggs, I have no choice to but to hunt them down individually. I'm sure glad I move with the mouse, because if I was WASD moving, there's no chance I would have gotten as many eggs as I did. Tons of them are hidden in pots that you have to tilt the camera over your shoulder to see, or placed under a wagon, behind a wheel, with a noblegarden rabbit hiding in front of it going "bok bok bok" (just kidding about the last part).
For the most part, I was able to get all the items needed to complete the achievements as drops, with a few exceptions.
Hangfire and Doomslinger on Daggerspine had to buy both the rabbit and flowers, as they didn't drop while I was getting the 100 eggs that I needed to eat. 300 more eggs needed total. I'm sure there were others who needed to buy the flowers or the robe, but hey, what's 50 more eggs?
On Daggerspine (my Ally server) everyone except Ryoushigishi got the title already, and Ryo just needs to finish up Shake your Bunny-Maker and the Badlands part of Desert Rose, and he's got it.
Demon Soul has 7 Nobles, with Kukoshakaku, Clockworknyt, and Morticide needing the Badlands rose to be planted.
Darrowmere has Bloodshrike (number 2) who already got the title, and then all the other level 20-30's who still haven't gotten the Badlands flight point, as well as need to finish up the bunny-maker achievement. Here's where my 3 failures reside as well. Gavelofpain, my shaman, who had completed the Bunny-maker achievement LAST year, but I ran out of time this year to finish up getting eggs to eat, and didn't get the Spring Robes to drop, so that would have probably been another 50 eggs to collect. Misericorde and Ghostflame....I just couldn't stomach the time and concentration needed to get the eggs for them.
Not to mention, as low levels, none of my toons didn't have the Tanaris or Un'Goro flightpoints, and couldn't survive in those zones safely. My method of getting it? Take the portal from Dalaran to the Caverns of Time, mount up and ruuuun to Tanaris for the flight point, drop a flower, run north to 1k needles for the next flower drop, come back to Tanaris, and head west, dodging all those ??? skull monsters determined to take a chomp out of my toons. Once I reached the rim of Un'Goro crater, my obsession with engineering let me use my Parachute Cloaks to jump from the cliff to a safe point partway down the wall, then jump from there to a plateau on the east side of the mountains. Run down to the valley, grab any Thorium veins if they're miners (at level 20, you can still have up to 300 mining if you powerlevel by smelting ore), and hug the mountains going north, then west to Marshal's Refuge.
Here's where I deviated from the normal method. For low level alts, after you grab the Refuge flightpoint, run down, then keep heading west until you get to the path up to Sithilus. Go get the flight point there, drop your flower, then come back to Un'Goro. After running through the level 50+ monsters to get to the Golakka Hot Springs, you're going to want to hearth out of there when you're done. Get transformed into a bunny, lay an egg, hearth to Dalaran, take a portal to Thunder Bluff or Darnassus, and fly over to Desolace for the last flower drop needed on Kalimdor. Now I just need to get.....oh, 6 toons to run from the Arathi Highlands flightpoint thru Wetlands, up to Loch Modan, and into Badlands. Sounds fun, right?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
"I do not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am."
I would not, could not, in a box.
I could not, would not, with a fox.
I will not eat them with a mouse.
I will not eat them in a house.
I will not eat them here or there.
I will not eat them anywhere.
I do not eat green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
I don't like eggs anymore............
It's hard to be an altoholic sometimes. The Noblegarden meta is upon us, and as an altoholic, I feel compelled to try to complete it with all my toons, especially since it's one that doesn't require you to go into Northrend dungeons, and it will be the first title that they can achieve. Theoretically, you could get this done at like level 1, not counting the XP you'd get for discovering areas.
You'd need at least 105 eggs collected (100 to eat, 5 to buy an egg for Noble Garden) , assuming you got the
Spring Rabbit, Spring Robes, and Blossoming Branch as drops. You can buy the pieces for the Blushing Bride off the AH, so don't worry about them.
WoW.com already has a write-up for normal folks that are concerned with only getting the title for their mains, but I thought I'd add a few ideas for the people who want it for more than a few alts.
1. Collect 100+ Eggs. You're going to need to eat 100 of these for the Chocoholic achievement, and if you're not lucky enough to have the Spring Rabbit drop while you're collecting them, you'll need to buy the rabbit for an ADDITIONAL 100 eggs. Oh yeah, if you're a mage, you'll need 100 MORE eggs for the Rabbit Morph book. My strategy has been to collect about 100 eggs, then start eating everything over that. If I haven't gotten the rabbit to drop by the time I get the 100 eggs eaten, then I just hand in my overstock 100 eggs for the rabbit, and never, EVER pick up an egg again if I can help it.
2. Get your Spring Rabbit ASAP. People will be doing the Spring Fling achievement only in the first few days of the week, and after that, it'll be a lot more difficult to get it done, especially if you need it for 10 alts in each town. I'll probably end up paying someone to come out to each town to romance my rabbit for a few of my alts.
3. Get Hard Boiled done quickly as well. Hopefully you can just ask people in the zone to help you get it done, since they'd be coming to do the same thing. However, after the first day, it's hard to find people doing it. If need be, just get all your alts but your highest to the Hot Springs, and have that one back in the capitol city spam trade chat for someone to come out with enough Blossoming Branches to be able to transform all your alts. I figure 5 gold for each one, times 9 or 10, should be a decent reward for someone's time.
4. Desert Rose is actually not something you have to worry about. It doesn't need to be done during the meta week, you can get it done anytime during the year. Banesidhe, my original mage, actually got this done the day before Noblegarden started.
5. Another achievement that can be accomplished during the year is Shake Your Bunny-Maker. Bloodshrike on Darrowmere was actually my first toon to ever get the title, and she got it on (I'll have to check the date when wow is done with maintenance). No time limit on this, probably because Blizz realized that some of the races are rarely represented on some servers.
I'm going to need at least 2100 eggs this year, to get this done for all my toons. Why not 3150? Well, I was dedicated enough last year to get the Spring Rabbits for all my toons on Darrowmere, before just giving up on the achievement. It might be a bit less than that, since I haven't checked what toons have the rabbit on Demon Soul, but none of my toons on Daggerspine have the rabbit, since I really didn't like the way any of the Alliance towns placed the eggs.
I've got the title already for Clockwrkmage and Tsuris on Daggerspine on Sunday, Bloodshrike on Darrowmere already had it, and I think I'm pretty close on most of Demon Soul. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
LFG Steamvault at level 80
3/10/2010
While perusing the list of blogs I read, I came across Mania's tweet about wishing there was LFD available for running lower level dungeons at 80, i.e. ZG. Seriously, why not? It's hard enough to drum together a group using the trade channel, and you already could group for these dungeons when you were a lower level, why not at a higher level?
I'm still grimly pursuing my Loremaster achievement, with only 20-30 quests left on both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. I've gotten most of the quest achievements in Outlands, and gotten Sholozar Basin, Icecrown, and Storm Peaks completed in Northrend.
I'll finish up with Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, Grizzly Hills, Howling Fjord, and Zul'drak after I've gotten Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms Loremaster finished.
Most of the quest achievements in Outlands, I said. However, Bloodshrike probably did 3 or 4 of the quests in Hellfire Peninsula before moving on to Zangarmarsh, because I stumbled on this little tidbit of info. Thrallmar - "If you do the bulk of the Thrallmar quests instead of quickly moving on to the next zone, you might expect to reach Honored after 1 or 2 levels of play. However, once you reach Honored, you hit an earnings barrier that you can only remove when you are level 68 and can start re-earning points in the Shattered Halls dungeon.....One option is to grind reputation via Ramparts and Blood Furnace runs to 5999/6000 before doing any Thrallmar quests outside the instances, as those continue to yield reputation up to Exalted."
At that point, I seriously never thought I'd see the inside of a dungeon unless I was soloing it. So, I just ignored the quests, and took myself to Zangarmarsh. Now, being the achievement hound that I've turned out to be, I wanna get exalted with Thrallmar. I'd also like to not have to solo those dungeons ad nauseum to do so. I just ran Hellfire Ramparts for the hell of it with my Ally mage Clockwrkmage, and had a blast with the group, Blizzarding everything in sight. Granted, at level 80 it wouldn't be difficult, it's just going to be boring, and even running it with a group of 60's would speed things up.
I'm not sure why the capability to join any dungeon isn't available. Apart from the possibility of Stockades being farmed by Horde for the easy availability of wool cloth, I don't think someone is going to constantly run Wailing Caverns for the greens that drop.
Also, going back to the title of the post, I'd like to go for the Guardian of Cenarius title, but again, I missed the boat on that one. While it's simplicity itself to turn in Twilight Texts until you ding exalted with Cenarion Circle, it's a bit harder with Cenarion Expedition.
I do have to say I like how Blizzard has refined dungeons and zones in Northrend. Dungeons are shorter, zones don't have a lot of quests that force you to go to a different zone, come back, go to a 3rd zone, come back, and finally the quest chain is completed. Everything is more linear. When you're on your first toon, you don't mind doing all these far-flung quests, as everything is new and exciting. On your 10th toon, you look at the quest, you evaluate on whether Blizzard actually provided enough mobs to complete it on the first pass, or whether the quest item has a ridiculously low drop rate, and then you might decide to not pick it up at all.
While I do want all my toons to be at least exalted with the home cities, I'm passing up a lot of quests nowadays, just because I don't want to do them. Like in Harold & Kumar go to White Castle, I've gone too far.
Kumar: I forgot my cell phone.
Harold: You wanna run back and get it?
[both turn and look at their front door 20 feet from them]
Kumar: No, we've gone too far.
While perusing the list of blogs I read, I came across Mania's tweet about wishing there was LFD available for running lower level dungeons at 80, i.e. ZG. Seriously, why not? It's hard enough to drum together a group using the trade channel, and you already could group for these dungeons when you were a lower level, why not at a higher level?
I'm still grimly pursuing my Loremaster achievement, with only 20-30 quests left on both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. I've gotten most of the quest achievements in Outlands, and gotten Sholozar Basin, Icecrown, and Storm Peaks completed in Northrend.
I'll finish up with Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, Grizzly Hills, Howling Fjord, and Zul'drak after I've gotten Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms Loremaster finished.
Most of the quest achievements in Outlands, I said. However, Bloodshrike probably did 3 or 4 of the quests in Hellfire Peninsula before moving on to Zangarmarsh, because I stumbled on this little tidbit of info. Thrallmar - "If you do the bulk of the Thrallmar quests instead of quickly moving on to the next zone, you might expect to reach Honored after 1 or 2 levels of play. However, once you reach Honored, you hit an earnings barrier that you can only remove when you are level 68 and can start re-earning points in the Shattered Halls dungeon.....One option is to grind reputation via Ramparts and Blood Furnace runs to 5999/6000 before doing any Thrallmar quests outside the instances, as those continue to yield reputation up to Exalted."
At that point, I seriously never thought I'd see the inside of a dungeon unless I was soloing it. So, I just ignored the quests, and took myself to Zangarmarsh. Now, being the achievement hound that I've turned out to be, I wanna get exalted with Thrallmar. I'd also like to not have to solo those dungeons ad nauseum to do so. I just ran Hellfire Ramparts for the hell of it with my Ally mage Clockwrkmage, and had a blast with the group, Blizzarding everything in sight. Granted, at level 80 it wouldn't be difficult, it's just going to be boring, and even running it with a group of 60's would speed things up.
I'm not sure why the capability to join any dungeon isn't available. Apart from the possibility of Stockades being farmed by Horde for the easy availability of wool cloth, I don't think someone is going to constantly run Wailing Caverns for the greens that drop.
Also, going back to the title of the post, I'd like to go for the Guardian of Cenarius title, but again, I missed the boat on that one. While it's simplicity itself to turn in Twilight Texts until you ding exalted with Cenarion Circle, it's a bit harder with Cenarion Expedition.
I do have to say I like how Blizzard has refined dungeons and zones in Northrend. Dungeons are shorter, zones don't have a lot of quests that force you to go to a different zone, come back, go to a 3rd zone, come back, and finally the quest chain is completed. Everything is more linear. When you're on your first toon, you don't mind doing all these far-flung quests, as everything is new and exciting. On your 10th toon, you look at the quest, you evaluate on whether Blizzard actually provided enough mobs to complete it on the first pass, or whether the quest item has a ridiculously low drop rate, and then you might decide to not pick it up at all.
While I do want all my toons to be at least exalted with the home cities, I'm passing up a lot of quests nowadays, just because I don't want to do them. Like in Harold & Kumar go to White Castle, I've gone too far.
Kumar: I forgot my cell phone.
Harold: You wanna run back and get it?
[both turn and look at their front door 20 feet from them]
Kumar: No, we've gone too far.
Friday, March 5, 2010
I AM the fail Tank
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.
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.
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.
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