Tis' The Season... To Gank!

I think it's time to post some good 'ol ganking videos for all you people who are on Christmas vacation.

Yuck - Ganking 2
Mavrek PvP Arcane Mage - World of Warcraft
Mavrek PvP Arcane Mage - World of Warcraft #2
Revenge on the GANKERS! Solo Death Knight at Hellfire pens.
Bonetti the movie! - 73 retribution ganking wotlk launch

Enjoy!

More Multi Boxing

Well my brother has finally hit 60 with his druids and I've reached 60 on my holy priest.

This time we found that leveling through quests much quicker than running dungeons every night. Most of the quest we did were kill X mobs, but there were a few collection quests too. Our only dungeon run was the Scarlet Monastery: Library, Armory and Cathedral. It was a bit tricky for my brother to handle dps and tanking, but he got the hang of it eventually. Most of the gear that we're wearing are green drops, quest rewards or from tailoring/leatherworking. The druids are specced as follows: 3 balance (moonkins), 1 feral (tank). Usually the druids stay in moonkin form, but sometimes 1 goes into bear form for those group pulls.

So what's next? We've been discussing what we should do with the extra levels we can grant, my brother has been pondering creating a paladin (retribution). And I've been thinking of starting a mage. After the levels have been granted, we'll probably be continuing our grind from 61-70 on his first multi-box group (shamans).

The funniest thing we've seen is when we were granting levels in Orgrimmar... As my brother was granting levels to his main account, another player was intrigued and wanted to get in on the leveling. He shouted, "Do ME next!", I replied, "Can't he ran out of levels", which was true after he granted 25 levels to my rogue :).

The worst comments out of our multi boxing campaign, were players saying we should be banned, and to stop botting. I guess whenever you do things unconventionally, you're going to get negative feedback. We do mostly get cheers and applaud though.

What's next after hitting 70? PvP? PvE? We're currently undecided :). Plus the expansion is coming out in 22 days.

My Pally

Well, my brother's multi-boxed shamen and my protection paladin finally hit 60 (and then some). Purchasing shamen mounts are fine, but for my paladin things were a little trickier to do.

Fortunately I have 2 level 70 characters, a hunter and a shaman. Luckily I was able to do most of the paladin 60 mount quests by myself. As for the dark runes I farmed them out with my enhancement shaman in Scholomance. Now I got this idea from a forum posting or wowhead.com comments. You don't need to clear all of Scholomance or even kill any bosses. All you need to do is clear the 2 rooms with Necromancers and Dark Summoners. Now these mobs don't have a great drop rate (15% and 12%), but it's alot easier than soloing the whole instance by yourself in greens, blues & 2 pvp weapons :).

First of all I finished up the quest chain to acquire the key to Scholomance (not too bad 20 mins, astral recall FTW). Then it was off to Scholomance. After entering the instance, clear the 4 skeleton mobs and open the gate. The next room can be skipped or partially cleared to make your way to the second room.

Now you should be in a hallway that leads to the Room of Summoning. Kill the patrols 1 by 1 and then go for the groups of 2-3 around the bone piles. When clearing the groups ALWAYS KILL the dark summoners FIRST! And watch your health and don't wait too long to heal (you might get silenced). The dark summoners have a 12% drop rate for Dark Runes, so don't get too excited :).

It's off the the third room (necromancers), where you'll need to pull out all of the stops for 1-2 groups of 4! Start by killing the patrols 1 by 1 again, then go for the group of 3, directly right of the gate. Slowly pull each caster group back into the Room of Summoning by using the Line Of Sight method. When I got in trouble with the groups of 4 I used my Elemental totem. That allowed me to heal to full health and continue clearing the mobs. Rinse and repeat.

On my first run I looted 2 dark runes and on my second run I received another 2. Finally, I ran Scholomance a third time and got the last dark rune.

I was quite surprised and thrilled I was able to clear those 2 rooms by myself! I mailed the dark runes to my paladin and then it was off to finish off the quests. On the second last quest I partied up with my brother's shamen to complete True Masters of the Light, which required me to loot some water from Tyr's Hand (east side of Eastern Plaguelands). I might have been able to solo it, but I didn't want to test myself :). After looting the water and turning in the quest, I headed back to Eastern Plaguelands and into Stratholme.

We entered the undead side (right side of the bridge). I had run Stratholme only once before, so my experience was limited. And this was my brother's first attempt at Stratholme. Most of the mobs early on up to the chapel were straight forward, a bunch of regular 57-58 mobs mixed in with 2-3 elite mobs. We cleared up to the chapel and only faced 2 bosses. After clearing the 2nd boss to get the Key to the City. We were ready for the final fight, which went smoothly. Once completed, we headed out of Stratholme and went straight to Silvermoon. There I recieved my Charger and a blood knight tabard!

Recruit A Friend, worth it or just a waste of money?

I've been leveling a blood elf paladin with my brother's multi-box accounts. So far the leveling bonus has been nice (200), we've been mostly running instances and rarely do any quests. Here's the breakdown:

Level(s) Instance(s)
------------------------------------------
15-18 Ragefire Chasm
19-22 Wailing Caverns
22-28 Shadowfang Keep & Blackfathom Deeps
29-31 Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard
32-34 Scarlet Monastery: Library
35-37 Scarlet Monastery: Armory
38-40 Scarlet Monastery: Cathedral

All 4 characters are shaman and 3 of them are getting 300% XP, which makes leveling go very quickly (1 week playing - 2 hrs on weekdays and 3-4 hrs on weekends). His first shaman and my paladin are only getting 200% XP so we're leveling a bit slower but still faster than playing by yourself. Also, handing in quests are so damn great, 17,400 xp for handing in Into the Scarlet Monastery ! Now I have a nice tanking sword.

Once my brother got his macros down and figured out how to control his 4 characters everything went great. My brother wasn't familiar with this whole multi-box thing so that's why we ran a few dungeons at a higher level than required.

Hopefully we'll get some better gear now that we've hit level 40, plate armor for me and chain armor for my brother's shaman.

It's been fun so far, but what about after the free 30 days are up? Is having 4 separate subscriptions worth the fun? Plus the upcoming expansion Wrath of the Lich King is going to be available later this year... Some people have commented that it's just a money ploy by Blizzard, because of slumping sales & to get more people playing their game instead of Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (which is out at the same time as WoTLK).

Yet some people say that WoW is just a hobby and there are other hobbies that cost alot more.

Warlock and Alts...

So I've managed to get enough gold and complete the first dungeon quest for my Dreadsteed. The problem now is finding a group or good guild that will run Dire Maul West for the last part.

Since I couldn't find a group a month ago, I've decided to level a shaman, who's currently sitting at level 56. So far I've found leveling down the Enhancement tree very enjoyable. Here's my talent build,

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=hZxVdbVzsAuqoh

I plan on respec'ing at level 70 to Elemental, since it gives the best damage in raids/dungeons. Getting gear will be the hard part. Hopefully the honor and marks grind will fly right by this time.

While on the honor & marks grind, I've manage to get my rogue on my old realm, in full merciless, vindicator and guardian gear. I did most of the marks grind and some honor grind at level 69. It took me about 2-3 weeks to get it too.

At least my shaman & warlock are in a different battlegroup (which I hear is alot better for horde, yay!).

Warlock Update

So I've finally reached level 60 with my warlock. Now it's time to get my epic ground mount. Since this is my first warlock, I'd like to go through the grind of getting my dreadsteed. And the dreadsteed is what makes you a warlock :).

For the guide go to,

http://www.wowwiki.com/Dreadsteed#The_Dreadsteed_quest

The only hard part is getting a group to run Diremaul west and Scholomance.

Starting A Warlock and Updates...

Since I've created a new character on a new realm, I've decided to start a warlock. I'm hoping this will create more gold for my epic flying mount (for my hunter) with the help of professions. And I've read that warlocks are just as good/better at farming materials. Plus they're supposed to be a quick leveling class.

As for my hunter, I've manage to grind out the Shattered Sun Offensive reputation for the Truestrike Crossbow. Doing the dailies helped my gold coffers as well. Now that I have a better weapon, it's time to get better gear. I'm thinking of making myself the Felstalker set (chest, belt and bracers). I'm hoping that running more instances will result in better gear, before I run Karazhan next week.

Finally...

I have reached level 70 with my hunter and it only took 9 days :). This is my second level 70 character, my first character was a warrior on a different realm (took ages to level). Now that I have a farming character I could go back and level my bank mule. Right now I'll probably upgrade my gear and start raiding or running 5 mans so I can get some experience in groups.

Maybe it's a good thing not running any instances while you're leveling. I never ran 1 instance while I leveled my hunter. I haven't grouped up for any group quests either. Although I ran many instances with my warrior and didn't reach level 70 until 30 days of played time! I wasn't leveling 100% of the time, but mostly farming for gold and twinking out some of my alts. And I was leveling with a friend for the most part AND this was done pre 2.3 patch.


Currently I have about 1,200 gold and 700 gold on my bank mule. I still need to buy my flying mount and start doing dailies to get to 5,000 gold. Hopefully with my hunter it'll be alot easier to farm out those motes.

New Ganking Videos

Here's some new ganking videos for your viewing pleasure,

Gotta Catch 'Em All
Gank'D 2
WoW ganking
Horde Lock in ironforge on AH roof

Small Update...

So I've been busy lately, but I've managed to level my rogue to 64. I haven't run any dungeons in outlands yet, but I hope to soon. I really need better swords (combat swords specc'd) and I'm thinking of running Ramparts for the Shadowrend Longblade. Currently my gear is all from quest rewards or drops during my time in Outlands. I've also been leveling my Engineering to prepare myself for the flying machine. It's taking a lot of mats, but I'm managing most of it through my main who's a miner & blacksmith.

I still haven't downloaded the 2.4 patch yet, which might go live tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be available tomorrow from one of the file download sites.

The Guild

I've just stumbled upon this series online and it's interesting look at a group of people who play MMOs (WoW) and how it affects their lives. Here's the link to the 7th episode "Home Invasion". And here's their official website,

http://www.watchtheguild.com

After A Long Break...

After taking a long break from leveling my priest or rogue I've come back and have continued with my rogue.

Here's my talent build at level 60. I'll have to level my engineering so I can create my flying mount at 70, but I have alot of time to do that. Currently I'm questing in Silithus to get to level 61 before I start questing in Hellfire. Hopefully I'll get there by tomorrow.

For the past two weeks I've been leveling a troll hunter (my very first hunter), and I must say that it's very easy to level. Now I know why all those chinese farmers use one. It's so easy taking down a mob 2-3 levels higher than yourself. Plus you'll gain more experience when doing so, therefore enabling you to level faster. If you haven't tried one you should do so, especially if you want an alt to farm a ton of mobs quickly. Currently my hunter is sitting at level 42 with a nice ghost saber for a pet.

Bug Makes Ganking Easy

If you're a hunter and have learned Snake Trap then you'll be happy to learn that you can now gank all players that are NOT flagged! So when the snake trap is laid beside a hostile NPC/mob, the trap is activated and it goes after any player (even those not flagged for PvP). Here's a couple of videos:

WoW Hunter Snake Trap Trick
WoW lvl 70 hunter snake trap PvP

Who knows when this bug will be fixed, so get out there and exploit it as much as possible!

Fresh Ganking Videos

Here's some recent ganking videos of horde laying waste to allaince:

Horde gank Alliance Nude
Some WoW fun
Alliance skills, ganking low lvls
Wowcraft Bank Gank
For The Horde!

Enjoy!

Cupid Take Aim

It's that time of year again and Valentine's Day is quickly approaching. Along with all that mushy stuff there's some special events you can do if you've lost that 'lovin' feeling (Love Is In the Air).

You don't swing that way? Then how about the PvP Battlegrounds weekend event, Arathi Basin?

As always check the official World of Warcraft calendar for upcoming events.

WoW Offline... AGAIN

Looks like most of the highly populated realms were down last night (10:30 pm EST). Reason? AT&T again? Or was it because Horde and Alliance were raiding each other's cities (WoW Insider)? Whatever it was it didn't take that long to fix it, because my realm was back up at around 11:15 pm EST.

Is this a sign that World of Warcraft has reached it's limits in users? hardware? bandwidth? Or is this another patch problem?

WoW Offline

Over the past weekend (Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008) was offline for ?? (WoW Insiders article)

I don't know how long, but I went to bed after trying to log in for 10 mins. It was about 12:30am Sunday morning so I thought it was a good time to quit anyways. After reading WoW Insiders article Instance Hour, it occurred to me that some of you night owls like to start your questing at the time the servers got disconnected. So what do you do when you sit down and fire up the client and the servers go offline? Do you wait it out or quit and get up early and try to get some quality WoW time in? Or do you play some other MMO?

I've recently discovered a free MMO called, "Rappelz", which looks pretty nice. I haven't tried it, but if I ever have the urge to play something else other than World of Warcraft, this will definitely be the one.

Premade AB, WSG Anyone?

All I ever see spammed on the trade channel is "lf premade AV", why not Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin? Or even Eye Of The Storm for that matter?

Is it because Alterac offers more honour and bonus honour per game? What are people supposed to do to get their 20, 30, 50 or 70 marks in Warsong Gulch or Arathi Basin? Now I know why those AFK players are always in battlegrounds :). I can only image what it's going to be like in the next level bracket. So I blindly join the "First Available" game or should I spam the trade channel looking for a premade group?

Another idea of mine was what if 2 groups of players (alliance and horde) were to create their own premades by allowing 1 team to win games and then switching it up? So basically alliance would forfeit or go afk while the horde tramples them for 5 games, then horde would reciprocate. Has this been done? In the end everyone would win and get their marks/honour and get it much quicker. I only play battlegrounds to get gear, since it is very time consuming and pretty boring. I'd rather be doing quests, making money or running an instance. How do people play so many games without burning themselves out? I'd probably go crazy or quit going to work just to keep playing to earn those marks/honour/gear. Leveling, making money to train, buy a mount or skilling up professions is taking long enough, AND I still have to keep going to battlegrounds to earn my level 60/70 gear? Damn you Blizzard for sucking the life out of me!

Sorry for ranting, maybe I've been playing this game too long.

Holidays Recap: Priest

Over my Christmas holiday break I finally got enough honour and marks to purchase some well deserved priest gear.

I didn't go for the nice "purple" gear since it would've taken all of my holidays to get even close to the honour needed to buy them. Plus I'm a tailor so maybe I can make some nice gear when I get to my mid-late 60s. Here's what I purchased from the vendor in the Hall Of Legends:

Blood Guard's Satin Handwraps
Blood Guard's Satin Walkers
Legionnaire's Satin Tunic
Legionnaire's Satin Legguards
Champion's Satin Hood
Champion's Satin Mantle

Honour: 22,000 (approx.)
Alterac Valley Marks: 50
Arathi Basin Marks: 70
Warsong Gulch Marks: 30

I don't think the 70 marks were worth "blue" gear, but I hope that I can drag myself back to Arathi Basin for those marks again. In the mean time I'm getting honour by playing Alterac Valley, since I'm level 60 now and I can't play in the 50-59 brackets for Warsong Gulch or Arathi Basin.

I'm also saving up 50 Alterac Marks for the Frostwolf Howler mount and training.