Sunday, April 27, 2008

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 60 - Insert Title Here

Episode 60 - Insert Title Here

iTunes and What's in a Name. I don't know why but Episode 58 that was entitled let's all grind was removed from iTunes. And Episode 59 was not showing up. I contacted iTunes and was eventually instructed to refresh my rss feed details and a few hours later they both appeared. Oh I did rename Episode 58 to Let's all Level.

What We've Been Doing:

Aprillian:

Aprillian got to 50, yeah! in Felwood Kiling Furblogs. She flew to og to train Warlock and then she hearthed Shat. She wasn't sure if she had to run to Thrallmar, or if she could find someone who could summon her there.


Aprillian got Soul Link
Aprillian bought Runecloth off of AH and went to Og, TB, UC and SM to donate 60 RC for 9550 Xp. She went from 65% to 89% just from that. She finished up and then flew from UC to Booty Bay, a little over 13 mins.

Friday I had to go to a funeral, took the day off thinking I could come home and wow

I made a major decision last week. I left AIE. Being an officer in a large guild is a big chore. I would like to give a shout out to AIE and all of its officers. You guys do a wonderful job.

Ashayo:



Other Topics to discuss:

Big Giant Scary thing from out of no where. Every zone just about has one. The most popular one is the Devilsaur in Un Goro Crater


Bottom Scanner has made me shy at the Neutral AH

I keep pressing r in AIM


Emails:

Hi Aprillian and Ashayo:

I just finished listening to episode 59 and it was great. Another fantastic episode! :) I was wondering what you and Ashayo thought about ideal combinations for dual boxing characters.

I have 3 dual boxing teams (Priest/Warlock, Druid/Warrior, and Rogue/Hunter) and am finding the Druid/Warrior combination to be my favorite so far. I'm planning to spec my Warrior Fury and my Druid Resto. I use KeyClone along with custom macros in order to dual box without having to switch between windows.

I rotate between the three teams to maximize the rested XP bonus. I'm tempted to start a fourth team after listening to you discuss Mages. ;)

My teams are currently level 10, and hope to get one team to 15 by next weekend. Thanks for the tips in episode 58 for my professions!

--Molsan

HI Aprillian:

Ashayo had some questions about how to effectively dual box with software that manages your commands and I would be happy to answer any questions he might have. I can send a more detailed email, or even an audio response if you would prefer. I'll also try and find him in-game and chat as well.

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help or contribute.

--Molsan

Talking about Multi boxing

Ashield and Asheal - What A Team

A Video preview of one of the things was discussed in episode 60:



Check out the Episode to see what's what.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode Episode 59 - The Power that is the Mage

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG. Emails and a special interview with a confirmed Alta holic and Mage rounds it out.
What We've Been Doing:

Aprillian


Working on getting Aprillian to 58, she's currently 48. After she dinged, she went to Og to train Had her soloing in Felwood, doing the Jaednar quest, but she kept dying so I brought in Auntrillia

Started a Mage named Pia


Thursday Morning
Since Aprillian was running out of rested XP, I took her to Tanaris to do the Gahz'ridian Ornaments quest. She would get a little XP from killing mobs in the desert and complete that quest for xp. Plus she can level up her herbalism. She started at 292, Collecting ornaments went well. There was an ally at the Eastmoon Ruins killing the ogres, and ignoring the ornaments and herbs. It was easy pickings. I had Pia on at the same time. She was over halfway to 10 and dong Fairbreeze quests. Aprillian finished and turned in the ornament quest and ended up with her herbalism at 295. She checked her log and found she had a quest to go to the Hinterlands. She hearthed back to Shat and then took the portal to UC and flew to TM. She didn't have the fp to Hinterlands, so she rode from TM. What a difference a few levels can make. I remember running through the Hinterlands and dying on other alts at lower levels who didn't have mounts. As she was riding around, she saw a ! in a Troll Mob village, she picked up the Venom Bottle Quest, then the Undamaged venom sac quest in TM. Which leads to a ZF quest. Good times. She flew back to Hinterlands and I left her in the inn to get some rested xp.

Meanwhile Pia's gotten to level 10 out that tower with the corrupted soil quest, and she's bumping up her herbalism from all the bloodthistle out there. She dings 10 and heads to Silvermoon to train. Along the way she passes Farstrider Retreat and pickes up 3 quests and then heads to Silvermoon. She gets the start of one of my favorite quests, the one where the buildins are floating in the sky. She also pick


Guest Triaa - Mage
Every class has it's give and take. I started with hunters because I like pets and believe they are the easy button.


Thayloo -http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Lothar&n=Thayloo

It seems to me that the Mages get pretty powerful early on. Come on they make their own food.



Frost Nova and then fire. Spec fire until higher levels.


Happy Birthday to Matahorn April 16


Email:

Hello Aprillian and Ashayo
This is Matahorn, a Dual boxer and a long time listener of the podcast. Also I am a fellow guildmember of Alea Iacta Est. I thought i would write to you and tell you how I Dual Box. I have 2 accounts but I play them together both on the 1 computer with 1 screen. I atl tab between the 2 characters. Matahorn is my level 70 Tauren Hunter and he is used to help my lower level characters through instances or hard any group quests.
I am also an Altaholic. I will start on a server with a hunter because I find them easy to level and I really enjoy playing them. When he hits 70 I then use his great money making ability to help out my alts. Another reason I love alts is that they are great for having the different professions and not having to rely on the AH for my goods.
Anyway I just thought I would write in. Keep up the great podcast and see you in the Game

Matahorn

P.s For the Horde

While setting up the podcast, I got an email from Glanthur. Always nice to hear from him. He writes:

Subject: Stalker's Chain Armour

My first complete set. The boots and the belt are not part of the set, but I wanted to match to look pretty. LOL. What do you think?


/Salute to you Glanthur, looks pretty spiffy!


http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Earthen+Ring&n=Glanthur

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 58 - Let's All Level Up

Episode 58 - Let's all Level Up

What We've Been Doing:

Aprillian

Spent some time Monday with Aprillian in Felwood

Put an arcanite rod on AH.

Tuesday at work, took Rilfire to Spinebreaker Post. I'm itching to do some dual boxing in Outland. So I need to get Rilfire up there. It was slow going but at 1000xp per boar and skinning, she was making progress during my breaks.

But when I got home, I didn't have time to get on and when I got up Wed morning, I felt like playing with the twins, Aprilliian and Ardrion. While they were hammering away in Felwood, I realized Ardrion needed clams to get his cooking up. When I googled clam meat and found that the Makruras off the coast of the Barrens were a good source of clam meet. Since Treshel was sitting in the inn in Ratchet after her little sojourn into Gnomeran, she took the boat from Booty Bay, I ran her over and she was also able to level up fishing while there and get some Oily Blackmouth to make blackmouth oil, which always comes in handy. And as everything in WoW, one thing led to another, while Treshel was harvesting clams, she noticed Isha Awak, so I pulled out Pri, a level 19 Rogue and I'm running her to Camp T to see if she can get that quest. Meanwhile A&A ran out of food and water and flew back to Orgrimmar where Aprillian picked up the Arch Druid Hamuul Runetotem quest. Before heading to the Elder Rise in Thunder Bluff, she flew to Silthius to make use of the Moonwell in Cenarion Hold. I had logged Ardrion off in flight back to Felwood while Pri ran to Camp T. Oh as Pri was leaving TB, she noticed the Darkmoon Faire was in town.

I am excited about Aprillian having the Un Goro Soil quest. I want her to get a Kodos, I've been stocking up on Morrowgrain just for this purpose. I am sad to admit I spent almost 7g on AH to get 22 Un Goro Soil and completed that quest and went to Bashana Runetotem and got the seeds and bags and I got 47 Morrowgrain from my alt and got:

She also donated mageweave, she had a bunch and got some from my bank Alt

60 mageweave - 4750 xp/350 TB rep
Un'Goro Soil - 6800xp/250 TB rep/1g 45s
Morrowgrain Research1 - 675xp/10 TB rep
Morrowgrain Research - 6800xp/250 TB xp

4 more turn ins = 300 xp

Wed Night, spent the evening got to thinking maybe I need a different dual boxing combination so I decided to level up Aprillian to dual box with Auntrillia. But I'll practice with her and Treshel, who is also a hunter.

Then I got sidetracked Thur morning. I had Aprillian and Treshel in Felwood killing Furblogs, when I thought I need a bit more firepower, so I'll bring Ardrion in. When I logged on Ardrion, I remembered he was in Thunder Bluff levelling up his cooking. Of course I got hooked on that and ran around between the AH, mail box and cooking trainer. And then logging on and off various and searching for the mats and in some cases resorting to the AH, but just for a few things, like some fish. I had plenty of clams from Ardrion's Turtle grinding. He got all the way to 225, thanks to mystery meat and an alt in Ogrimmar who could get the Skin of Dwarven Stout from the inn there and put in the Guild Bank. Primall took it out and gave it to Ardrion. Then had to go to Gadgetzan for the Clamette Quest and to go over 225. Luckily I had most of the ingredients scattered among atls and only needed 2 Giant Eggs. Ardrion went out south of Tanaris and tried to farm the Fire Rocs by himself, but there were too many mobs and he died. At the same time I wanted to take Rilfire, my level 60 hunter, to respec. I had a One to One at my local Apple Store and my Creative advised me to respec in Beast Mastery. Since Rilfire was in TB, she flew down to Tanaris and rode over to Ardrion's body, cleared mobs so Ardrion could resurrect and just followed, not grouped helping out when Ardrion got overwelmed. It took about 10 Fire Rocs before

In the meantime, I find a good deal for Arcane Crystals on the Ally AH. Ten Arcane Crystals at 5.75 g each. All the others were 14g to 19 g. Ever since the Arcanite Bar cooldown was removed, the price of the crystals have shot up.


Friday morning
Aprillian had the fp to Marshall's Refuge in Un'Goro Crater but Iwari didn't. I was almost suprised to see that both Iwari and Aprillian, my two Warlocks, were both 47. Iwari was one of my first toons. I created her on Lightenhoof and transfered her over.

Saturday morning

Took Aprillian and Treshel back to Felwood, Aprillian only needed 2 more Furblogs to
Then Treshel escorted Aprillian and Ardrion to Bloodvenom Post in Felwood. It's a really good fp to have, because there's an NPC to do repairs and sell food, drinks, ammunition and a mailbox. But it's hard to get to.

Message from Cairubel
Shout out to Cairubel and Lethanogolas

Ashayo

Hiide got Flying Mount/

Ashield made Armorsmith

We miss Glanthur




Email!!!

Hi Aprillian:

I just finished listening to episode 57 and it was great. You and Ashayo continue to make a great team.

I have started two new teams of dual box characters. One is a Priest/Warlock and the other is a Hunter/Rogue. What professions would you recommend for them? My Priest and Warlock are both Tailors, but have not chosen their second professions yet. My Hunter and Rogue have not chosen any professions.

Thanks and keep up the great work!

--Molsan Earthen Ring


Hey Aprillian and Ashayo, its triaa again (70 lock on the Lothar server) I heard that you both are planning on starting mages, and i just thought I would give a few tips that I have learned from leveling my mage Thayloo to 70. One of the most important things i find to remember about a mage is that you are very squishy, so try not to get hit too much, you can accomplish this with many frost spells such as frostbolt as an opener, or frost nova when the mob gets too close. Secondly, polymorph will become your best friend, use it often and wisely. And finally, do not give up, the first 10-15 levels may be hard, but it gets more and more fun as you learn more spells. I'm looking forward to sending in some more mage tips. Hope you all have fun, looking forward to more shows. If anyone has any questions don't hesitate to email me at wowwarlock2@gmail.com.
And finally, For the Alliance!
Triaa-70 Lock
Thayloo-70 Mage
Lilthis-70 Warrior


Monday, April 7, 2008

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 57 - Playing for Fun

Monday April 7, 2008
What We've Been Doing

Aprillian
Making Decisions: Felt a little pressure this week to level Aprillian and Ardrion, but at the same time, I'm getting antsy about money and all the money I could be making if I had a level 70. But I'm ambivalent, because I know even though I can push Auntrillia to 70, she doesn't have decent gear. And then it's HS all over again and I'm not in the right outfit.

Some were silly, bought a 24 slot LW bag. Ardrion has two 20 slot leatherworking bags, one in bank one on him but always needs more room. Since they are boe and unique, when I upgrade I'll have to vendor one.

I took Ardrion out to Tanaris to grind and farm turtles. It was a win win situation for him. He gets turtle meat, skin and turtle shell. Plus they are all neutral, he doesn't have to worry about aggroing other turtles. Although in a rare instance another turtle will join a fight, only happend twice the whole time he farmed/grinded turtles.


I didn't spend as much time as I usually do playing. Did a lot maintenance. Clearing out stuff. Sending low level greens to Aunrillia to de.S

Tay, my Ally Dranei AH alt is back to making money. I had some competition for a while, but it slacked off. I thought about this while I was transferring stuff in Booty Bay. It's a very tedious thing to do. You have to put each individual pet up for auction and then immediately bid on it on the other character right away. One time there was a bot there who snatched a cockroach away but I just overpriced it a bit and was okay. I imagine the average player doesn't have enough patience to do this on an ongoing basis.

I spent Thursday morning getting Auntrillia Enchanting to 100.

Friday morning, Aprillian, Treshel and Ardrion went to Gnomeran, just for fun. Of course we were overpowered for the instance, being 54, 46 and 41 respectively. I loved it. We all died when that Shortfuse chick set off that explosion. Aprilian used a soulstone and was stuck behind a wall of rocks and the other two spent 10 or 15 minutes running around Dun Morogh (whatever) until they found the

Saturdy spent leveling up an alliance
Ashayo

I haven't played as much as I normally do either.
Monday I spent some time with Asheal and Ashield out in Hellfire peninsula doing the 1st few quests. Then Ashayo came and helped Asheal get some quests done so that Asheal was a level or so ahead. Asheal is now 60.
Tuesday I was in Kara before shutdown to help finish clearing it. Got nightbane down with about 5 minutes to shutdown :)
Wednesday we had massive storms that took out the power and internet, so I didn't get to play at all.
Thursday was Jekle's turn for Kara with the "drunk with power" group. We have lots of fun and took our time downing the first three bosses. As you've seen Tarqq has an open invitation for you when you hit 70 - regardless of your gear!

Jekle and Hiide have been doing the new dailies, but haven't had time for the Ogri'la. The new bombing run on the Isle of Quel'Danas got nerfed in Tuesday's patch. It now requires less hits to kill the pit boss and the sorcerers, which is good, because it was taking too many re-runs, and about 80% of the time is just waiting for the flight to take you to the bombing area.

Something I meant to mention last week that I definitely DON'T like about 2.4. Hunter's got a big nerf in terms of their mana regeneration. Blizzard made the mana-per-5second formula the same across all classes. For a class like a hunter where mana is important, but we have previously not concentrated on maximising intellect, we're at a massive disadvantage. Estimates on the forums is that you need an intellect over 400 to get the same mana regeneration you were used to prior to 2.4. I'm having to change the way I do fights, and take alot more rests , which is a pain. On the flip side, Jekle as a resto druid is better off. And Ashayo's minions are regenerating mana faster, so I can mana tap them more regularly.

One thing I want to do is to try dual-boxing two of the same class - probably mages. I want to try out the technique of both toons casting the same spells simultaneously. However the only software I can find to do this isn't free. I'm both hesistant about buying it just for a trial, and because it isn't open-source, I can't be sure that it doesn't contain a keylogger - since it's very nature is to replicate keystrokes (and mouse movements)

Even though I've levelled my tailor past 300, I've been persisting with trying to get felcloth from the vendor in Winterspring. I was beginning to think that they'd taken it away in 2.4, as I spent hours there once and got nothing. Then one day I got 3 pieces in several hours, then another time I got 11 in about 2hrs. So the spawn rate seems very random.


Show Close out.
Great Mods I've been using. This one came from Renata of World of Warcast Podcast
Quest History
http://www.curse.com/downloads/details/7388/download/42496/

and Pet emote
http://www.curse.com/downloads/details/3538/