I've been using Gatherer and GathererDB to help me find ore and herbs. Unfortunately the authors blew away all the data in GathererDB because of all the changes in Cataclysm - and they've since released only one update, way back in mid December, when very little data was available.
However, another fellow has begun extracting the WoWHead data and putting it into a new GathererDB database. Here are some links:
Lloydpick's GathererDB WoWHead Updates - Here you can download a more up-to-date GathererDB database.
GathererDB on WoWHead - This is the comments section where I found out about the above download.
I Installed Lloyd's updates this morning and, while the density of nodes is nowhere near what it was with the old, pre-Cata database, there does seem to be quite a few new ones. I think it's worth doing the update.
Back up your WTF folder first, though, just in case!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Gold farming on an RP server
I've found it more difficult to make gold by auctioning recipes on Kirin Tor than I have on the other servers I've played on. Zul'jin in particular turned out to be very fertile; my highest level toon there is only 23 but in a few weeks I accumulated over 3500 gold. Proudmore gave returns at a similar rate.
I think this is because these servers have been around a long time, and their populations have matured. There are a lot of players with high level characters and a lot of gold, and when they level alts they don't mind paying good money for their profession recipes and patterns.
Velen, where I've played most, is newer (2007) so there is not as much gold floating around, and its active population is smaller, but it has still been fairly easy to farm gold through recipe reselling.
By contrast, Kirin Tor is an older server than Velen, but it's an RP server and its active population is noticeably lower than any of the other servers I've played, at least judging by auction house activity. I tried my strategy of buying (mostly cooking) recipes in remote areas and putting them on the AH. This strategy worked great on the other servers but hasn't worked as well on KT.
Part of the reason is that until yesterday I didn't farm recipes in as diverse locations on KT as I had on the other servers; I mostly bought recipes in Zangarmarsh, Hellfire Peninsula, and Terokkar Forest. Yesterday I went out to Nagrand and then toured Kalimdor and Stranglethorn, farming a much broader selection of recipes.
I'm already seeing good payback, with a lot more sales this morning than I've had in several weeks of auctioning only Outland recipes.
I think this is because these servers have been around a long time, and their populations have matured. There are a lot of players with high level characters and a lot of gold, and when they level alts they don't mind paying good money for their profession recipes and patterns.
Velen, where I've played most, is newer (2007) so there is not as much gold floating around, and its active population is smaller, but it has still been fairly easy to farm gold through recipe reselling.
By contrast, Kirin Tor is an older server than Velen, but it's an RP server and its active population is noticeably lower than any of the other servers I've played, at least judging by auction house activity. I tried my strategy of buying (mostly cooking) recipes in remote areas and putting them on the AH. This strategy worked great on the other servers but hasn't worked as well on KT.
Part of the reason is that until yesterday I didn't farm recipes in as diverse locations on KT as I had on the other servers; I mostly bought recipes in Zangarmarsh, Hellfire Peninsula, and Terokkar Forest. Yesterday I went out to Nagrand and then toured Kalimdor and Stranglethorn, farming a much broader selection of recipes.
I'm already seeing good payback, with a lot more sales this morning than I've had in several weeks of auctioning only Outland recipes.
Death Knights
I rolled a Death Knight on Ashuntrah's server, Kirin Tor, a few weeks ago. I leveled through the DK starting zone to 58 and then went to Outland and got her up to 60.
I have to say this is possibly the creepiest and most distressing experience I've had in WoW. Death Knights start out as servants of the Lich King, and you have to go around murdering unarmed civilians who are cowering in their homes and the streets of their towns, shaking like leaves as they plead with you to spare them because they have children to take care of. And the cowering animations are really convincing, too.
I suppose some people may enjoy playing the bad guy once in a while, but for me this was really awful. I have been discouraged lately about the very slow progress of recovering my health, and I play WoW to escape from these feelings, but I have to say that being an entry-level DK was a really rotten escape! I was never quite in tears, but I got close.
OTOH, I appreciated starting out at level 55. The four 12-slot Deathweave bags and the First Aid skills were also nice. It didn't take long to reach level 60 and be able to fly. Ashuntrah very generously loaned me enough gold to get Expert riding and a Flight Master's License, which makes it a lot easier to get around for questing, profession leveling, and my technique of gold farming by recipe reselling.
The programmed dramatic sequence at the end of the Death Knight starting zone redeems your character somewhat, and it was reasonably entertaining. But the whole DK starting experience left me with a fairly unpleasant association with that character, and it's taking some time for it to fade.
Before Ashuntrah explained the way rolling a DK works to me, I was not aware of the fact that once you've reached level 55 on any server, you can roll a DK on any of five servers.
Had I realized this, I might have rolled one on Zul'jin instead of slogging through from level 1. Unfortunately I lost momentum at about level 23. This happened on Proudmoore too, and I've "mothballed" my characters on both servers for now. I seem to stay engaged a lot better when I'm playing with someone.
Anyway, now that I know that a DK is an option whenever I want to start playing on a different server, maybe I'll roll one on another server at some point. Once the memory of those creepy DK starting zone quests fades a little more.
I have to say this is possibly the creepiest and most distressing experience I've had in WoW. Death Knights start out as servants of the Lich King, and you have to go around murdering unarmed civilians who are cowering in their homes and the streets of their towns, shaking like leaves as they plead with you to spare them because they have children to take care of. And the cowering animations are really convincing, too.
I suppose some people may enjoy playing the bad guy once in a while, but for me this was really awful. I have been discouraged lately about the very slow progress of recovering my health, and I play WoW to escape from these feelings, but I have to say that being an entry-level DK was a really rotten escape! I was never quite in tears, but I got close.
OTOH, I appreciated starting out at level 55. The four 12-slot Deathweave bags and the First Aid skills were also nice. It didn't take long to reach level 60 and be able to fly. Ashuntrah very generously loaned me enough gold to get Expert riding and a Flight Master's License, which makes it a lot easier to get around for questing, profession leveling, and my technique of gold farming by recipe reselling.
The programmed dramatic sequence at the end of the Death Knight starting zone redeems your character somewhat, and it was reasonably entertaining. But the whole DK starting experience left me with a fairly unpleasant association with that character, and it's taking some time for it to fade.
Before Ashuntrah explained the way rolling a DK works to me, I was not aware of the fact that once you've reached level 55 on any server, you can roll a DK on any of five servers.
Had I realized this, I might have rolled one on Zul'jin instead of slogging through from level 1. Unfortunately I lost momentum at about level 23. This happened on Proudmoore too, and I've "mothballed" my characters on both servers for now. I seem to stay engaged a lot better when I'm playing with someone.
Anyway, now that I know that a DK is an option whenever I want to start playing on a different server, maybe I'll roll one on another server at some point. Once the memory of those creepy DK starting zone quests fades a little more.
Cataclysm endgame puzzles
I reached level 85 with Alaurai last week. A thousand thanks to Sthenia for hanging in there with me through the long journey!
Also, thanks to Dingbata for playing with me the past few weeks. We've leveled our toons from 30ish to 61, and we're now in Outland. Flying is the best landmark in the game. It was really awesome flying around the Eastern Kingdoms with my bro!
I'm finding that I am enjoying playing my rogue, Sandrainne, now that I've spent enough time with her to start to understand how. Thanks to Sthenia for her tips on this.
Now that we've reached the endgame (again!) Sthenia and I are puzzling over what to do. I'm finding the Tol Barad dailies to be, ah, somewhat less than enthralling, and the mobs there are really mean and nasty. Ashuntrah says they hit harder than any other normal mobs in the game.
I'm also not too sure about how I feel about PvP. I've done a few battlegrounds, and enjoyed some of them, but they are really intense and demanding, and not good for me to do on days when I'm not feeling well.
Ashuntrah suggested working on getting Heirloom gear for my alts, and I've been looking into this, but I must say that the whole Crusader/Valiant/Arena/Honor Points/Exalted Reputation thing seems very complex, and I don't really understand it all yet. Maybe with a little more research I'll get a handle on it.
But the fact that you have to trek all the way out to northern Icecrown to do the dailies puts a damper on this, especially if you're also trying to do the Tol Barad dailies and the Stormwind cooking and fishing dailies at the same time. And you don't get the Argent Crusader Tabard - which lets you portal out there to the Icecrown boonies - until you've finished the process!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Traveling the world for fun and profit
Rakkael blew through three or four levels last weekend, and reached 62 before she ran out of rest. Once again, Orzu's advice about the hunter Survival spec, and using a bear, really helped. I'm following Jame's guides, but I'm two or three levels ahead by now, and the mobs die fast!
I also followed Orzu's advice and did a couple of dungeons, which got me through almost an entire level. Also took Alaurai (level 76 Alliance) into Orgrimmar to help some guild-mates do Ragefire Chasm.
Getting an Alliance toon through Ogrimmar was a real challenge. I made it about halfway from the west entrance to the Valley of Strength before a combination of guards and Horde players brought me down. Had to death run the rest of the way to the east end of Cleft of Shadows and RFC. When the guildies saw the trouble I was having getting through, they sent an 80. She beat me to the entrance of RFC, but only by seconds.
Doing this dungeon - which I've done before, but with a lower level Horde toon - was quite a revelation. The dungeon seemed a lot smaller this time! There were a couple of 80's in the group, and a couple in the 50's. The mobs died as soon as either of the 80's targeted them. It took what seemed like five minutes to get all the way through the entire dungeon!
Then we all went back to the entrance, and the 80's amused themselves by popping out through the portal and trying to get back in before the horde of Horde players lurking just outside could kill them. By the time we'd finished the run through the instance, about a dozen Horde had gathered outside the RFC gate, and as time went on - and the guildies kept taunting them - more and more of them kept arriving. My guildies had a blast! I wish I hadn't teleported out of the dungeon quite as soon; it would have been fun to join them.
This was my first experience of invading a city of the opposite faction. It never would have occurred to me to do it myself. But it was really fun, and made me feel much more a part of the guild. It also desensitized me to dying. Now making a death run to somewhere I want to be seems pretty routine.
This came in handy this week. My health took a turn for the worse, and after Monday I didn't feel up to doing any more dungeons. So I went exploring. I got my level 19 Alliance hunter to level 20, got her a tiger to ride, and went exploring.
The previous week I'd ridden my level 21 Horde hunter down through the Barrens and then northwest through Thousand Needles to Camp Mojache in Feralas - and I'd done so without dying once. Given that Thousand Needles and Feralas are much higher level zones than this toon, this was quite satisfying.
Getting to Mojache was also very useful because there are some recipes available from vendors there that sell for quite good gold on the auction house. Since this level 21 hunter is my highest level toon on that server, I figured it made sense to open up flight access to a location that would help me make some gold.
So this week I decided to run my level 20 Alliance hunter to the equivalent vendor in Feralas. However, this is much harder than getting a Horde to Camp Mojache, because to get an Alliance toon to Feathermoon Stronghold you have to run down from Astranaar in Ashenvale through Stonetalon and Desolace. These are much more brutal zones for a 20ish toon than the Barrens and Thousand Needles.
I made it through Stonetalon alive, but I got clobbered by a nasty beast on my way up to Nijel's Point in Desolace. Died a couple of times before I got away and up to safety. But I picked up some nice recipes there, as well as the flight point, and headed south.
Died one more time when I ran into a bunch of mobs just south of the kodo burial ground, but after that it was clear sailing all the way to Feathermoon, where I bought a bunch more recipes. Unfortunately, for some reason Ghost Dye doesn't seem to sell as well on Alliance AH's as it does on Horde, but it was still a fun and very fun and worthwhile trip.
After that I just went crazy, riding my young Alliance hunter everywhere in the world that seemed at all feasible. Got to Ratchet quite easily, which gave me access to Booty Bay and all its nice profitable recipes. Fell off the Great Lift (between the Barrens and Thousand Needles) and died trying to avoid getting killed by the guards. Got killed when I rode by two other guards hanging out at the bottom of the elevators to Freewind Post. But otherwise the trip to Tanaris was smooth sailing, and I picked up a bunch more nice recipes in Gadgetzan and Steamwheedle Port.
Roamed the Eastern Kingdoms, too, getting flight points in Menethil Harbor, Booty Bay, Arathi Highlands, and wherever else I could think of. Rode the ship from Menethil to Theramore for more recipes and the flight point.
Then I got really adventurous. I kept seeing people asking for mage portals to Dalaran in the trade chat. I was really tempted to ask for one myself. But is it really worth spending 20 gold to get a portal to a city which will become a ghost town - and useless as a portal hub - in just four weeks?
Nah. Shattrath City is almost as good as a portal hub as Dalaran - and I could get there for free.
Could I, though? I'd have to get through Deadwind Pass - piece of cake - and then Swamp of Sorrows and the Blasted Lands. How many times would I have to die to make it to the Dark Portal - and the flight point that would get me to Shattrath?
Not many, it turned out. In Swamp of Sorrows a bunch of Horde NPC's patrolling the road came after me, but using my hunter's tracking skills I managed to dodge and outrun them. But then I made a wrong turn just north of the portal and ran into a bunch of big nasty hogs and died two or three times getting out of there. That was my mistake; if I hadn't made the wrong turn they'd never have seen me.
Then when I rode through the little ravine leading to the portal two giant demons jumped me and killed me instantly. But I think that was the only death I couldn't have avoided.
Once I'd rezzed and rode on down to the portal, it was a piece of cake. Through the portal, take a hard left and jump off the platform, and go over to the flight master. This guy gives you access to Honor Hold and Shattrath as soon as you find him. Stopped by at the inn in Honor Hold and picked up some more profitable recipes, and then roamed the Lower City at Shattrath for a bunch more. And set my hearthstone at the Aldor inn, of course.
This exploration was so much fun - and so lucrative - that I decided to do the same thing with my 21 Horde hunter. Now she's got the flight points at Gadgetzan, Brackenwall Village, Ratchet, Stonard, Light's Hope Chapel, and the key one at Kargath in Badlands, which links the Horde flight points in the northern part of the continent with those in the south. And, of course, she picked up lots of inventory (for auctioning by my bank alt) along the way.
Getting to Shattrath was only a little more difficult for this (by now) level 22 Horde hunter than it was for the 21 Alliance, mainly because of having to get past the Alliance guards in and around Darkshire. She died a couple of times getting through there. Also made a wrong turn in Swamp of Sorrows and died a few times escaping the nasty wild cats north of Stonard. Probably could've gotten clean through the Swamp to Stonard without that wrong turn.
Only died once in Blasted Lands, when a couple of mobs knocked me off my mount. Seems to be a requirement that you die at least once when getting a low level toon through this zone.
Light's Hope Chapel was actually tougher, partly because I headed too far south when I got to the end of that ravine that runs east form the road toward the chapel. Ran into a bunch of slime, and died several times getting out of there. Also, a low level Horde toon has a hard time in Light's Hope itself, because there is a mob that hangs out close enough to the flight master that it aggros when you try to get a flight. And it comes and kills you no matter what you do.
But after the mob killed me the guards killed it, so after I rezzed I was able to take a flight out of there before he respawned. Only after, of course, putting a nice limited-supply recipe in the mail to my bank alt to ease the pain. LOL!
All in all this has been an exciting week of happily taking two characters in the low 20's to lots of places they shouldn't be, lighting up my map and grabbing flight points all over the world, and filling up their bank alts' inventories for weeks of profitable auctioning.
A side benefit was all the XP generated by the exploration; my Alliance hunter went from 2% to 68% of level 20 just on exploration XP alone.
I think perhaps all this traveling around is my way of saying goodbye to the classic Old World. With the retooling of the zones into different levels after the Cataclysm, and the destruction or ravaging of some of my favorite zones and towns (the Barrens, Thousand Needles, Ashenvale, Auberdine, Southshore, Menethil, etc.) so much of what I've learned about traveling, mining, and leveling in the Old World will become obsolete on December 7. I'm trying to make the most of these final days of Azeroth as we've known it.
Next on my agenda: battlegrounds. I met someone who told me that you get really good XP from battlegrounds, especially if you do them on their holiday weekend. I'm going to try to do a few this weekend and see how far I get.
I also followed Orzu's advice and did a couple of dungeons, which got me through almost an entire level. Also took Alaurai (level 76 Alliance) into Orgrimmar to help some guild-mates do Ragefire Chasm.
Getting an Alliance toon through Ogrimmar was a real challenge. I made it about halfway from the west entrance to the Valley of Strength before a combination of guards and Horde players brought me down. Had to death run the rest of the way to the east end of Cleft of Shadows and RFC. When the guildies saw the trouble I was having getting through, they sent an 80. She beat me to the entrance of RFC, but only by seconds.
Doing this dungeon - which I've done before, but with a lower level Horde toon - was quite a revelation. The dungeon seemed a lot smaller this time! There were a couple of 80's in the group, and a couple in the 50's. The mobs died as soon as either of the 80's targeted them. It took what seemed like five minutes to get all the way through the entire dungeon!
Then we all went back to the entrance, and the 80's amused themselves by popping out through the portal and trying to get back in before the horde of Horde players lurking just outside could kill them. By the time we'd finished the run through the instance, about a dozen Horde had gathered outside the RFC gate, and as time went on - and the guildies kept taunting them - more and more of them kept arriving. My guildies had a blast! I wish I hadn't teleported out of the dungeon quite as soon; it would have been fun to join them.
This was my first experience of invading a city of the opposite faction. It never would have occurred to me to do it myself. But it was really fun, and made me feel much more a part of the guild. It also desensitized me to dying. Now making a death run to somewhere I want to be seems pretty routine.
This came in handy this week. My health took a turn for the worse, and after Monday I didn't feel up to doing any more dungeons. So I went exploring. I got my level 19 Alliance hunter to level 20, got her a tiger to ride, and went exploring.
The previous week I'd ridden my level 21 Horde hunter down through the Barrens and then northwest through Thousand Needles to Camp Mojache in Feralas - and I'd done so without dying once. Given that Thousand Needles and Feralas are much higher level zones than this toon, this was quite satisfying.
Getting to Mojache was also very useful because there are some recipes available from vendors there that sell for quite good gold on the auction house. Since this level 21 hunter is my highest level toon on that server, I figured it made sense to open up flight access to a location that would help me make some gold.
So this week I decided to run my level 20 Alliance hunter to the equivalent vendor in Feralas. However, this is much harder than getting a Horde to Camp Mojache, because to get an Alliance toon to Feathermoon Stronghold you have to run down from Astranaar in Ashenvale through Stonetalon and Desolace. These are much more brutal zones for a 20ish toon than the Barrens and Thousand Needles.
I made it through Stonetalon alive, but I got clobbered by a nasty beast on my way up to Nijel's Point in Desolace. Died a couple of times before I got away and up to safety. But I picked up some nice recipes there, as well as the flight point, and headed south.
Died one more time when I ran into a bunch of mobs just south of the kodo burial ground, but after that it was clear sailing all the way to Feathermoon, where I bought a bunch more recipes. Unfortunately, for some reason Ghost Dye doesn't seem to sell as well on Alliance AH's as it does on Horde, but it was still a fun and very fun and worthwhile trip.
After that I just went crazy, riding my young Alliance hunter everywhere in the world that seemed at all feasible. Got to Ratchet quite easily, which gave me access to Booty Bay and all its nice profitable recipes. Fell off the Great Lift (between the Barrens and Thousand Needles) and died trying to avoid getting killed by the guards. Got killed when I rode by two other guards hanging out at the bottom of the elevators to Freewind Post. But otherwise the trip to Tanaris was smooth sailing, and I picked up a bunch more nice recipes in Gadgetzan and Steamwheedle Port.
Roamed the Eastern Kingdoms, too, getting flight points in Menethil Harbor, Booty Bay, Arathi Highlands, and wherever else I could think of. Rode the ship from Menethil to Theramore for more recipes and the flight point.
Then I got really adventurous. I kept seeing people asking for mage portals to Dalaran in the trade chat. I was really tempted to ask for one myself. But is it really worth spending 20 gold to get a portal to a city which will become a ghost town - and useless as a portal hub - in just four weeks?
Nah. Shattrath City is almost as good as a portal hub as Dalaran - and I could get there for free.
Could I, though? I'd have to get through Deadwind Pass - piece of cake - and then Swamp of Sorrows and the Blasted Lands. How many times would I have to die to make it to the Dark Portal - and the flight point that would get me to Shattrath?
Not many, it turned out. In Swamp of Sorrows a bunch of Horde NPC's patrolling the road came after me, but using my hunter's tracking skills I managed to dodge and outrun them. But then I made a wrong turn just north of the portal and ran into a bunch of big nasty hogs and died two or three times getting out of there. That was my mistake; if I hadn't made the wrong turn they'd never have seen me.
Then when I rode through the little ravine leading to the portal two giant demons jumped me and killed me instantly. But I think that was the only death I couldn't have avoided.
Once I'd rezzed and rode on down to the portal, it was a piece of cake. Through the portal, take a hard left and jump off the platform, and go over to the flight master. This guy gives you access to Honor Hold and Shattrath as soon as you find him. Stopped by at the inn in Honor Hold and picked up some more profitable recipes, and then roamed the Lower City at Shattrath for a bunch more. And set my hearthstone at the Aldor inn, of course.
This exploration was so much fun - and so lucrative - that I decided to do the same thing with my 21 Horde hunter. Now she's got the flight points at Gadgetzan, Brackenwall Village, Ratchet, Stonard, Light's Hope Chapel, and the key one at Kargath in Badlands, which links the Horde flight points in the northern part of the continent with those in the south. And, of course, she picked up lots of inventory (for auctioning by my bank alt) along the way.
Getting to Shattrath was only a little more difficult for this (by now) level 22 Horde hunter than it was for the 21 Alliance, mainly because of having to get past the Alliance guards in and around Darkshire. She died a couple of times getting through there. Also made a wrong turn in Swamp of Sorrows and died a few times escaping the nasty wild cats north of Stonard. Probably could've gotten clean through the Swamp to Stonard without that wrong turn.
Only died once in Blasted Lands, when a couple of mobs knocked me off my mount. Seems to be a requirement that you die at least once when getting a low level toon through this zone.
Light's Hope Chapel was actually tougher, partly because I headed too far south when I got to the end of that ravine that runs east form the road toward the chapel. Ran into a bunch of slime, and died several times getting out of there. Also, a low level Horde toon has a hard time in Light's Hope itself, because there is a mob that hangs out close enough to the flight master that it aggros when you try to get a flight. And it comes and kills you no matter what you do.
But after the mob killed me the guards killed it, so after I rezzed I was able to take a flight out of there before he respawned. Only after, of course, putting a nice limited-supply recipe in the mail to my bank alt to ease the pain. LOL!
All in all this has been an exciting week of happily taking two characters in the low 20's to lots of places they shouldn't be, lighting up my map and grabbing flight points all over the world, and filling up their bank alts' inventories for weeks of profitable auctioning.
A side benefit was all the XP generated by the exploration; my Alliance hunter went from 2% to 68% of level 20 just on exploration XP alone.
I think perhaps all this traveling around is my way of saying goodbye to the classic Old World. With the retooling of the zones into different levels after the Cataclysm, and the destruction or ravaging of some of my favorite zones and towns (the Barrens, Thousand Needles, Ashenvale, Auberdine, Southshore, Menethil, etc.) so much of what I've learned about traveling, mining, and leveling in the Old World will become obsolete on December 7. I'm trying to make the most of these final days of Azeroth as we've known it.
Next on my agenda: battlegrounds. I met someone who told me that you get really good XP from battlegrounds, especially if you do them on their holiday weekend. I'm going to try to do a few this weekend and see how far I get.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Homing in on level 60 ... and riding the rocket!
I've been quiet lately, but making progress in WoW. Alaurai is 3/4 of the way through level 75. Last night she finished with Dragonblight and moved on to Grizzly Hills. Thank you to Sthenia for helping me complete three difficult group quests in Dragonblight last night!
Even more exciting is the fact that Rakkael is closing in on level 60 and being able to fly. Woohoo! She reached level 59 last night.
Actually Rakkael blew all the way through level 59 in one evening, thanks to Jame's guides and the WoW-Pro add-on - and to some excellent coaching by my friend Orzu. (That's the same evening in which Alaurai also did those three group quests with Sthenia. Such efficiency!)
In the past couple of weeks Orzu has been giving me a lot of terrific advice through the WoW chat. He recommended that I switch my hunters from Beast Mastery to Survival, and the other night he showed me his Survival talent build and let me copy it, and in the beta he showed me where to get a terrific dog.
Orzu has also coached me on what shots and spells to use, and in what order, and convinced me to replace my beautiful elegant cats with big, clumsy-looking, but very useful bears. Ferocity cats are fine against a single enemy, but Tenacity bears are much better tanks and can cope much more effectively with mobs of mobs.
The result of all this help is that Rakkael is easily hammering through the quests suggested by Jame's Horde leveling guide. Last night I soloed a couple of quests in Shadow Hold in Felwood that Jame recommended doing only if I was able to find a group. I just walked into the cave and started killing things. Went all the way to the very bottom of the cave and back again with no problem; never came close to getting killed.
(Orzu, I'm sorry I wasted your time helping me the other night in Shadow Hold! Now I know I could have easily soloed the quests you helped me with. But I still really enjoyed playing with you. Thanks!)
I'm planning to get Alaurai an exotic pet, again thanks to Orzu's advice, and also plan to get one for Rakkael (love those white Devilsaurs!) as soon as she reaches level 69. Orzu says that having an exotic pet makes Beast Mastery a much more effective specialization. But to keep things simple for now, I'll probably stick with Survival most of the time.
It seems like the more I learn about this game, the more there is to learn. Orzu's coaching has led me to look for web sites with info about how to play hunters more effectively. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface.
Oh yes! One last very cool item. The other night I was in Stormwind with Alaurai, getting ready to do that incredible final Dragonblight quest with the King of Stormwind. Someone asked in the trade chat for a mage portal to Dalaran. I offered to fly him to Dalaran on my rocket instead. Turned out he had a lady friend who wanted to go too, and I flew them both.
I'd been planning to offer to do this once I got the ability to fly in Northrend. I'd been thinking that some people might enjoy the trip, even though the flight would take a lot longer than a mage portal, and that I might collect some small tips now and then. But after Blizzard removed the Dalaran and Shattrath portals to major cities in the Cata beta, I'd more or less forgotten about my plan, because access to those cities by lower level toons will become much less worthwhile when Cata arrives.
But while flying these people I realized that, contrary to being a poor man's alternative to a mage portal, a flight on the rocket to Dalaran is actually far more desirable. This is because you gain XP for every area you discover as you ride over it on the rocket. Both of my passengers leveled from 28 to 29 just on the XP gain from the flight!
After I'd gotten them to Dalaran, they asked me if I would fly them around to get the Hallow's End Tricks and Treats achievements. I ended up rocketing both of them to the various inns around Outland - and they both gave me nice tips for this. (They also leveled to 31 on the Outland discovery XP!)
All in all, I made 120 gold for a couple hours' fun, and did the achievement myself at the same time. Also got XP for discovering some areas I hadn't flown over before.
I hope to do more of this kind of thing. I think even after Cata comes and the portals in Dalaran go away, there will still be a lot of opportunities to make gold by giving people rocket rides to various places all over the world, not only for achievements but for access to flight points and other useful locations. And when Rakkael hits 60, I'll be able to do it (in the Old World and Outland) for Horde characters as well.
I think the dawning realization of rocket ride potential as well as my growing understanding of hunter play are good examples of the kind of expansion of possibilities that have and are coming with Patch 4.0.1 and Cataclysm. Also, a lot of things which were small annoyances (such as, for hunters, having to buy ammo and drinks all the time, and not being able to switch pets in the field) are being ironed out, which is making the game overall more fun.
The game is really changing - and the more I learn about them, the more I feel that these changes are (for the most part) very good things.
Thanks again to Orzu and Sthenia for making my WoWing a lot more fun!
Alaurai
PS. Add-on happiness is back. All of my most crucial add-ons which were broken by Patch 4.0.1 are now fixed, including Bartender, TomTom, Auctioneer, and Altoholic. Gatherer and Addon Control Panel never stopped working. QuestHelper is gone, but the WoW-Pro add-on is working so much better for me that I do not miss QH at all.
The only other add-ons I used which are still broken are FlightMap and MapNotes, and, while I miss these, they aren't essential.
Even more exciting is the fact that Rakkael is closing in on level 60 and being able to fly. Woohoo! She reached level 59 last night.
Actually Rakkael blew all the way through level 59 in one evening, thanks to Jame's guides and the WoW-Pro add-on - and to some excellent coaching by my friend Orzu. (That's the same evening in which Alaurai also did those three group quests with Sthenia. Such efficiency!)
In the past couple of weeks Orzu has been giving me a lot of terrific advice through the WoW chat. He recommended that I switch my hunters from Beast Mastery to Survival, and the other night he showed me his Survival talent build and let me copy it, and in the beta he showed me where to get a terrific dog.
Orzu has also coached me on what shots and spells to use, and in what order, and convinced me to replace my beautiful elegant cats with big, clumsy-looking, but very useful bears. Ferocity cats are fine against a single enemy, but Tenacity bears are much better tanks and can cope much more effectively with mobs of mobs.
The result of all this help is that Rakkael is easily hammering through the quests suggested by Jame's Horde leveling guide. Last night I soloed a couple of quests in Shadow Hold in Felwood that Jame recommended doing only if I was able to find a group. I just walked into the cave and started killing things. Went all the way to the very bottom of the cave and back again with no problem; never came close to getting killed.
(Orzu, I'm sorry I wasted your time helping me the other night in Shadow Hold! Now I know I could have easily soloed the quests you helped me with. But I still really enjoyed playing with you. Thanks!)
I'm planning to get Alaurai an exotic pet, again thanks to Orzu's advice, and also plan to get one for Rakkael (love those white Devilsaurs!) as soon as she reaches level 69. Orzu says that having an exotic pet makes Beast Mastery a much more effective specialization. But to keep things simple for now, I'll probably stick with Survival most of the time.
It seems like the more I learn about this game, the more there is to learn. Orzu's coaching has led me to look for web sites with info about how to play hunters more effectively. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface.
Oh yes! One last very cool item. The other night I was in Stormwind with Alaurai, getting ready to do that incredible final Dragonblight quest with the King of Stormwind. Someone asked in the trade chat for a mage portal to Dalaran. I offered to fly him to Dalaran on my rocket instead. Turned out he had a lady friend who wanted to go too, and I flew them both.
I'd been planning to offer to do this once I got the ability to fly in Northrend. I'd been thinking that some people might enjoy the trip, even though the flight would take a lot longer than a mage portal, and that I might collect some small tips now and then. But after Blizzard removed the Dalaran and Shattrath portals to major cities in the Cata beta, I'd more or less forgotten about my plan, because access to those cities by lower level toons will become much less worthwhile when Cata arrives.
But while flying these people I realized that, contrary to being a poor man's alternative to a mage portal, a flight on the rocket to Dalaran is actually far more desirable. This is because you gain XP for every area you discover as you ride over it on the rocket. Both of my passengers leveled from 28 to 29 just on the XP gain from the flight!
After I'd gotten them to Dalaran, they asked me if I would fly them around to get the Hallow's End Tricks and Treats achievements. I ended up rocketing both of them to the various inns around Outland - and they both gave me nice tips for this. (They also leveled to 31 on the Outland discovery XP!)
All in all, I made 120 gold for a couple hours' fun, and did the achievement myself at the same time. Also got XP for discovering some areas I hadn't flown over before.
I hope to do more of this kind of thing. I think even after Cata comes and the portals in Dalaran go away, there will still be a lot of opportunities to make gold by giving people rocket rides to various places all over the world, not only for achievements but for access to flight points and other useful locations. And when Rakkael hits 60, I'll be able to do it (in the Old World and Outland) for Horde characters as well.
I think the dawning realization of rocket ride potential as well as my growing understanding of hunter play are good examples of the kind of expansion of possibilities that have and are coming with Patch 4.0.1 and Cataclysm. Also, a lot of things which were small annoyances (such as, for hunters, having to buy ammo and drinks all the time, and not being able to switch pets in the field) are being ironed out, which is making the game overall more fun.
The game is really changing - and the more I learn about them, the more I feel that these changes are (for the most part) very good things.
Thanks again to Orzu and Sthenia for making my WoWing a lot more fun!
Alaurai
PS. Add-on happiness is back. All of my most crucial add-ons which were broken by Patch 4.0.1 are now fixed, including Bartender, TomTom, Auctioneer, and Altoholic. Gatherer and Addon Control Panel never stopped working. QuestHelper is gone, but the WoW-Pro add-on is working so much better for me that I do not miss QH at all.
The only other add-ons I used which are still broken are FlightMap and MapNotes, and, while I miss these, they aren't essential.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Jame's WoW-Pro Leveling Guides; those evil rogues
I came across an interview with Jame, who wrote the excellent guides that are incorporated into the WoW-Pro Add-On. It's a great interview, and Jame gives terrific insight into the process he uses to develop his guides. The interview is here:
http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/
Also, I've been assuming that we'd have to do without the guides for a while after Cataclysm hits. I mean, guides for several thousand new quests in just a few weeks? Impossible! But Jame has put together a team whose goal is to have complete guides ready by December 7. Here:
http://jamewowpro.blogspot.
http://www.wow-pro.com/
As to those treacherous rogues, I came across a couple of posts on the WoW forums in which a lot of people complain loudly that Subtlety rogues are now so overpowered (at least in PvP) that they can kill players many levels above them with one strike:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
I'm sure Blizzard will address this at some point, but for now you rogues could really have a lot of fun!
http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/
Also, I've been assuming that we'd have to do without the guides for a while after Cataclysm hits. I mean, guides for several thousand new quests in just a few weeks? Impossible! But Jame has put together a team whose goal is to have complete guides ready by December 7. Here:
http://jamewowpro.blogspot.
http://www.wow-pro.com/
As to those treacherous rogues, I came across a couple of posts on the WoW forums in which a lot of people complain loudly that Subtlety rogues are now so overpowered (at least in PvP) that they can kill players many levels above them with one strike:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
I'm sure Blizzard will address this at some point, but for now you rogues could really have a lot of fun!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)