I Have a Cunning Plan…

Rogues Comments Off

Jul 292008

Actually, it’s a Cunning Blade and I’ll skip further Black Adder references.

[tag-tec]Rogues[/tag-tec] at level 10 can do a quest chain to get this Cunning Blade as a quest reward. This quest chain is entirely optional and if you browse the Auction House regularly you’re likely to find better weapons for not much gold. (And you twinks can stop laughing now.) 🙂

Still, it’s a fun little quest chain and it can be quite challenging for your average level 10 Rogue. Each race has a different quest, in its own area, but the quest rewards are the same.

Gwynne’s done a complete walk-thorugh of all of these level 10 quest chains. So if you have an up and coming Rogue, here you go:

Arathi Basin, Why Not Win?

PvP Comments Off

May 262008

I really don’t quite get it. [tag-tec]Arathi Basin[/tag-tec] Weekend is coming to a close and while I like the [tag-ice]battlegrounds[/tag-ice], some of the players are… annoying.

Why would anyone want to lose? A win doesn’t take much more time and you get the three marks, instead of one, and about 50% more honor. Now admittedly, my best use is probably to imitate a log and let people trip over me, but if you don’t play to win it doesn’t matter what your gear/skill level is.

So for 22 ABs over the weekend (playing Horde on Bloodscalp:)

8 wins, 24 marks, average honor = 343 (Plus 419 honor from the daily AB quest)
14 losses, 14 marks, 218 average honor

Seems to me that if you go in wanting to lose and working to lose you’ll send more time getting your marks and honor than by working to win.

How to lose AB (Applies to AV and WG, too):

Attack all five bases, preferably at the same time
Fight on the road, where possible, far from a flag.
Let the opposing player pull/kite you off the flag while the Rogue ninjas the flag (or backstabs you while the other Rogue ninjas the flag.)
Don’t communicate. See attackers coming to your base? Don’t say anything!
Sit down and don’t participate. (AFK playng)

How to Win AB:

Everyone follows the game plan, don’t wander off and do your own thing.
Grab your closest base and keep it.
Grab the next two closest bases and keep them.
I think it’s best to get three bases in a triangle, for example: Farm, MIll, Blacksmith. That way It’s easier for each base to support the others. Alliance, of course, should do stables and farm (wink.) Stables, Smith, Mill. I like the mill more than the mine for the view advantage.
Defend your bases. Don’t grab a flag, cap it, and then leave. Even if just one person stays then that one person can call out enemy assaults.
Communicate. Call out the incoming enemy and their numbers. Rogues can spy on bases and call out defending forces.
Coordinate. Agree to assault one or two bases at one time, rather than five.
It helps a lot if you want to win.

Of course, if the other side is fielding a well-geared, skilled pre-made, the winning is going to be rough. But then, why can’t that pre-made be on your side?

If the other side is all on the same Vent channel and no one on your side has heard of Ventrilo and none of them can type, then it’s going to be hard to win. 🙂

The Massive WoW Gold Blueprint Goes Live Tuesday

Get the Gold Comments Off

May 262008

The Massive WoW Gold Blueprint is scheduled to launch at 12 noon (PST) on Tuesday, the 27th. If you need to convert that to your time, anywhere in the world, then go here.

What you need to do if you want to get in on the launch is click through and join the notification list. That way you’ll get notice as soon as this puppy goes live. While you’re at it, watch the videos (links below.)

Why hop on the launch as early as possible?

You’ll get started building your gold stash before those who don’t
You’ll get a pile of bonuses for buying early, including
- Access to all the info for the Gold Speed Run 2 – this is where Jon builds new characters on a new server and earns at least 1000 gold in 30 days. No 70s to help out, no generous guilds, no sugar daddies.
- Four Q&A sessions, only available to people who buy in early, where Jon will answer any and all questions about WoW gold and the Blueprint.
- The logbook from Gold Speed Run #1 – with all the details on how he already did the speed run… what he bought, where he went, how he did it.
- And there’s more
You’ll save $30 over the final price. Yep, he’s going to increase the price after June 1.

So what’s in this thing? This Massive WoW Gold Blueprint?
For starters, it’s a series of modules designed to teach you how to set up your gold creation network of characters. The blueprint will walk you step by step, with videos and PDFs, through every step of setting up your gold machine.

He does recommend doing this on a non-PvP server, for the simple reason that you can have characters on both sides, Alliance and Horde. This makes it easier to do cross-faction buying and selling. If you’re on a PvP server, like all of my characters, then you can still work the blueprint, but you won’t be doing the cross-faction work unless you have two accounts.

In addition, everything is accessible to the brand new WoW player. Don’t know Stormwind from a hole in the ground? He’ll tell you everything you need to cash in on Stormwind, including how to get there from the starting area. (All the experienced Ally players now groan…)

Instead of giving advice like. “Use Auctioneer to play the Auction House…” he’ll give you a set of videos which will show you exactly, step by step, how to do that.

Never had more than a few gold to your character’s name? The Gold Blueprint will fix that. Brand new to the game and don’t know where to go? The Blueprint is for you.

No matter what level you are you’ll learn a path to getting all the gold that your characters will be able to use. The speed runs were all started with level 1 characters.

So check it out and get all the gold your characters will ever need.

The Massive WoW Gold Blueprint

Gotta Druid?

Druids Comments Off

May 242008

For those of you who may be new to Druids, there are a few quests that you’ll have to go through to get access to your various forms, lions, tigers, bears, oh my.

Well, bears and big cats, anyway.

Of course, like any decent Blizzard quest the Druid shapeshift quests will take you all over the place, hunting high and low for certain items. It’s even more interesting if you’re on a PvP server, since high level n00bs like to lurk in some of the quest area and kill any lowbie they see. (That’s what Guilds are for: Revenge.)

So if you want to check out a complete walkthrough of the first couple of Druid quests, the Bear and Aquatic forms, check out these links:

Druid Bear form, for Alliance and Horde
Druid Aquatic Form, for Horde
Druid Aquatic Form, for the Alliance

If you have any comments regarding those guides, or questions, or improvements, leave a comment on those pages.

Here’s a guide that provides you with a unique chance to learn how cutting-edge raid and PvP druids handle their character, plus tons of help on leveling, gold, and Druid specific abilities. Check it out, here: The Killer Druid Guide

Massive Wow Gold Blueprint – Cash from Prarie Dogs

Get the Gold Comments Off

May 172008

Well, actually it’s the whistles…

Video #3 from the Massive WoW Gold Blueprint gives you another technique to make a nice sum of cash, even if you’re level one. You do have to have access to the Horde though, so if you’re alliance on a PvP server you won’t be able to do this.

Check it out: The Praire Dog Trading Route

For the More Seasoned Druid

Druids, Quests Comments Off

May 162008

The next form that the up and coming Druid can get is the Aquatic Form. More so than the Bear Form, this quest has you running all over hither and yon to collect the bits to complete the quest. Some of these bits are a little hard to find. For a complete walk-through of this Druid quest check out this page:

Team iDemise Leveling Guide

Leveling, Reviews Comments Off

May 162008

Here’s a cool leveling guide by TeamiDemise. These guys are a professional (yeah, they make money from it) Counterstrike gaming group and they’ve brought their talents to WoW. I don’t think I’d want to be on the other side of these guys in a battleground or arena.

Anyway, they’ve put their talents into a leveling guide that’s pretty cool. What makes it really cool is that it’s entirely in-game. It’s built into the Map Notes addon so you never have to alt-tab to some website to see what’s next.

Load the guide, bring up your in-game map, and you’ll see step 1, step 2, etc for every zone. Follow their path, which includes plenty of notes and remarks, and you should hit 70 very quickly.

One hit, which probably only applies to new players, is that there’s no info on how to get from one zone to the other. Another is that there are a few typos. Proofreading was not a high priority. Still, the content is very accessible and very good.

The iDemise guide is available for both Horde and Alliance.

You can see a complete review here: The TeamiDemise Leveling Guide review, or you can go here and check it out directly.

Battlegrounds PvP with Green Gear

PvP Comments Off

May 162008

So how else goes one get that purple gear, short of raids or that 0.000001% chance world drop? Short answer: [tag-tec]Battlegrounds[/tag-tec] and Arenas, or spend the rest of your life grinding for that exalted rep with several factions or grinding Badges of Justice from the appropriate instances.

Dinged 70 not so long ago and I’ve been spending lots of time in the various battlegrounds, on the purple gear quest. My gear is mostly green with a couple of blues that dropped of the Auction House.

The picture of a green geared Rogue sneaking up and attacking that well geared Druid with the ungodly HP number is rather amusing, isn’t it? Do it all the time. When I get lucky there’s someone else around who’ll help out before he eats me.

And don’tcha just love the various fear spells? Not. At least, when it’s not me casting them!

I’m finally starting to feel a little less newbish, but let’s face it, going up against well geared players who’ve been doing this for a long time is … problematic. It usually results in a quick squishing. Fortunately, I’m playing a Rogue and stealth is wonderful. The well placed cheap shot is a big help. I get some kills, but the died number is usually the larger number.

I figure that my best use to this point is in being something for people to stumble over on their way to whatever goal is on the current battleground.

Is it fun? I’m having a blast. I’m on the Horde side and we win often enough when the “we must lose” crowd is elsewhere. I assume the alliance side is the same. It gets interesting when both sides want to win, though I’ll admit that a win in 10-15 min is better than one in 45. Any win is better than a loss, even though it might not be honor efficient.

Now I’m going to go and trip someone…

Teamwork in the BattleGrounds

PvP Comments Off

May 162008

Found an interesting post on teamwork in the battlegrounds that I agree with totally. From WoWbasic.com:

One of the things that bothers not only me, but many others is the lack of teamwork within the battlegrounds these days. A good example of this was an Alterac Valley that I was participating in only this morning. While trying to capture the Dun Baldar South Bunker I was fighting a Paladin who had been attacking a Warlock from our team. This in its self is nothing unusual, but what happened during the fight was. While fighting the Paladin the Warlock ran behind a pillar and stopped fighting him. In addition a holy priest came in and stood there while I was being chewed up by the Paladin and the Archers at the same time. Not one heal nor any help with dispensing the Paladin led to my ultimate death right as I killed the Paladin.

Here’s the rest: Teamwork in the battlegrounds – A lost strategy

For myself, I’ll jump in when I can and help out. I like winning these things and teamwork is a big step in that direction. And we do win these things when we can get enough people to participate.

More tips on Battlegrounds PvP and teamwork

Some of these are Alliance specific, but the thoughts apply just as much to Horde.

Teamwork in the battlegrounds – A lost strategy – While there are still a good many of us who play by the rules of good teamwork wins Battlegrounds there are yet more who believe that it is like solo questing where you do not need be helped nor help others. …

Battlegrounds! You Lose! – Alliance: everyone just wants the marks and honor with as little team work as possible. most of them travel alone. Buffs, yeah once in a blue moon before the battle starts. Heals, Ha forget it. Sometimes they will start as a group and …

Taking It to the Horde! Tips for Ret PvP in Battlegrounds – Teamwork is vital to being successful in Warcraft battlegrounds. How does this apply to the Ret Paladin? Well first off the Paladin as a class is group-oriented. Blessings and Auras do not diminish in power as you extend them to more …