Sunday, December 13, 2009

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 145 - Patch 3.3 We Love You

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 145 -

Aprillian, Glanthur and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG. Contest Ongoing send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play WoW, either as an altaholic or dealing with it in your family life to being placed in a drawing for a month free of WoW or a $10 iTunes Gift Card or an Authenticator, they are back in the store.


Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 1 - Intro 23Dec06


What We've Been Doing:



Aprillian & Vrishna

Vrinya hit 40 - Pally mount discovery

Aprillian did some more heroics - TOC/UP with:
Tarragon
Aenar
Asheal
Moonee

Monday Cowboi & Iceflow took Aprillian to Culling of Stratholme & Violet Hold with:
Ttemic
Caoboi
Awra
Iceflow






New Map interface - cool

Quest tracker interesting.

Ran Uldaman with Sebastian and Prills and then again with Sebastian, Prilly & Prills.

Groups don't lose leader or members when one logs on, stays persistent. Probably good for when the leader DC's

New Bank alt Dondea - Hot Bull



Party Leader has name tag in party chat. Stay mounted after porting to TB

New talents added to bar

Upgraded to trial BC account to do cloth rep in Silvermoon.

Made a Belf hunter to level rogue, will Belf disappear after 10 days or will I just not be able to go to Silvermoon?

New Guards in UC:




Teary eyed in the Courtyard at UC

Ashayo

3.3 stuff
- no daze for levels 1-5
- Everyone (over 15) can use all meeting stones
- strange time to change no food/water in new toon bags, and remove attack from action bar of mage/priest/druid/warlock
- Druid battle rez down to 10min from 20min
- Hunter call stabled pet down to 5min from 30min. Cower finally useful - just reduces damage, rather than threat. Pets level even faster
- Shadow priests get some nice buffs
- Warlocks can refresh soulstones every 15 minutes. Also some nice buffs; might try affliction again
- Track quest objectives on the world map
- Dungeon Finder and Cross-realm groups really seemed aimed at encouraging more pugs. Loot option changes - good?
- Tentative status for calendar is added
- Easier to get rep. Sons of Hodir quests give more rep
- 100% drop rate of Essence of Ice from Brittle Revenant in Hot and cold quest
- Equipment tool-tip now includes what equipment set it is a part of!
- 3 new glyphs - warlock, druid, mage

Run on Dalaran Cooking awards stopped after 3.3

Black Temple - 3 more bosses

H ToC and H UP with April and Solador/Ostira. Not scary at all!

Pud - Revered with Sons of Hodir

Crazy Train Raiding - seemed to clear ability to extend raid after 3.3
9 stacks (90% debuff) on Gothikk
4 horseman - 1 practise attempt, then killed em good
1 shot patchwerk - twice.
Crazy Train - Raids can't be extended?
Grobbulus down after a few attempts. Poison causing a problem.

Core Hound pup for having an authenticating
Ashayo got the Shop Smart, Pet Smart (50 pets) with the Core Hound pup, Asheal got 15 (Plenty of pets)

DwP Raiding
Naxx undying. Military and Plague (safety dance achievement!)
ICC 10 man. i264 shoulders for Ashayo on trash before first boss. Got him to 65%. Lots of running, dodging, and freeing impaled toons
ToC 10 man - Jaraxxus weekly quest done. New legs for Ashayo

Guppers
Ulduar 25man
Shoutout to Womb for advise on warlock dps
Increased dps from 2500 to 4500. Got rid of stopcast macro. Very happy with dps meters :)

PoH
Heroic Forge of Souls- very tough with tank and 3 melee dps
Pit of Saron - shoulders to replace ones from naxx previous night. Only got 1st boss down before instance servers were shutdown.

Jeppy

I played on the EU servers during the US downtime and appreciated the joy of lag free playing. I missed any of the problems on the US servers as I didn't try until Wednesday.

Funny how people don't realise that it is them all hammering the servers at the same time which causes many of the problems. I have no sympathy for those who plan raids on a major patch night as they should learn from experience.

Most of my addons worked ok. The patch gave me a chance to try out some new ones. I discovered the multibox addon Jamba had had some excellent changes made to it well worth checking out for all multiboxers http://wow.jafula.com/

Hunter levelling - Karlayne and Farlayne made it to level 70. Super fast leveling. Hit 70 in Nagrand. Alachia came and did the Ring of Blood quests. This series of 6 fights gave me over 105,000 XP and 67 gold not to mention a fine two handed axe and some potions. Best 15 minutes boost in the game?
Next time I am going to grab them at level 65 and hopefully will able to boost myself.

Not sure but I might continue on in Outland and clear up other areas as this seems better than coming back for loremaster title later?

Flying at 60 has once again made the whole process super fun. I even avoid difficult tower climbs by flying in through the windows. Not particularly looking forward to being flightless on Northrend but hopefully this will be the only time thanks to Tome of Cold Weather Flying (at least on Boulderfist)

Practicing Death from Above. My hunters fire as they dismount and seem to float to the ground. Great against mobs but fantastic againt the opposition.

Double Death - mobs jump up and re die

3.3 changes which tickled me were the introduction of Haris Piltons 24 slot bag worringly called 'Portable Hole' seems the gang of BoE could discuss that further. Two new flight stops have been added (Alliance in WPL - Thondroril River / Horde at the Bulwark)

There appear to be no hostile red mobs in the starting zones. This makes grabbing the grape barrels in Northshire abbey rediculously easy. Also I noticed the wolves you start killing in Northshire are now diseased and are being killed for their own good. PETA have taken over Azeroth?

Not sure how long it will be before I get to try the new Looking for Dungeon but I hear lots of great things about it. I also want to have the Peg the Pug pet! weirdly the idea of running with strangers is more appealing than running with those I know.

Haven't tried the new quest tracking or map changes as i am happy with carbonite.

Emails


Email #1 Solador

Hello Aprillian, Ash, and Varishna (sp?),

Please excuse my writing style... I tried to proof read it but I write the way I think, and that can sometimes be dangerous to your health.

My wife and I (Solador and Ostira) play exclusively together with a few exceptions.... we are allowed to do trade skills, farming, dailies etc separately but raiding, heroics and if we are on a lvling pair of toons anything that gains XP we do together. We have two pairs of characters that we focus on: Rogue / Mage, and our Bear Tank and Tree healer combo.

Below are some issues I would like to discuss:

  • Gear issue

    • If you would like I could generate you a gear list based on your spec that requires absolutely no raiding... not even heroics. This gear (with Argent Tournament, and other rep gear) will get you to the point where you will easily feel confident in your gear.... only thing that will be holding your back is your interest to move forward into heroics/raids etc...

    • This is easily accomplished via the program called "Rawr" This program is a must for a person wanting a one stop preview of what gear is an upgrade and where it can be obtained. An example is my bear tank, without ever once stepping into a heroic was able to obtain gear that made it possible (not easy mind you) for me to immediately start running Heroic Trail of the Champions. This program will tell you what items are an upgrade based on your spec, how to gem it, and how to enchant it for optimal results. Just let me know and I will do that for you... it will only take a few minutes.
  • Fear of 80

    • There is no need to be fearful of dinging 80. Game play does change a bit, but you will find the freedom of not needing to quest if you don't want to liberating. I always have found end game a sigh of relief, for I felt that now I could focus on whatever I wanted. Look at it as sort of retirement... you can continue questing if you want, or you can just sit on your lazy butt and fish up coins in the Dalaran wishing well.

  • False assumption 80 = end game raiding

    • Whenever I hear people put forth the idea that once you are 80 all that is left for you to do is raid...I cringe. Just as when you were leveling, that was not all there was to do... you could do all kinds of things. The same is to be said for end game. You can do all kinds of things: Trade skills, grind money for alts, achievements etc... there is plenty to do. So much so I promise you that even if you never raid you will always have something to do ingame that you will enjoy.

  • "Turkey Hunter"

    • In a recent episode I heard you mentioning that "OH! I just got the Turkey Hunter achievement!" Well.... I have some bad news... you referenced that you had killed 28 turkeys I believe, but the actual achievement is for killing 40 turkeys with no longer than 30 seconds expiring between each kill. Sad fact is, probably while you were looking in your achievements list etc to try to research this "turkey hunter" that popped over you head you went longer than 30 seconds and lost your shot at the achievement. This "turkey hunter" title that popped over you head happens every 10 turkeys (different title each 10) until you reach the 40. I was unable to complete this achievement after several attempts and many foul words!

  • Glanthor leaving

    • Well, all I can say here is that I am very sad! Many podcasts have tried to delve into WoW lore and every time that segment was one that got me mashing the fast forward button. However when I gave his segments a trail run I was hooked! He spoke about it with a true interest that was infectious. He also didn't recite the lore as if from a text... he spoke of it as if it were a subject that he had newly discovered and was now wanting to learn more. He will be missed!
If you will read this email within the first one or two emails that why Ashayo's bad rolling goes in my favor! I would so love to have me a little KT!


Email #2 from Shendryis

Dear Ctr Alt Wow,

I suffer from altaholism...... and I love it. I have my main, a female night elf Fury Tank named Shendryis. She is my favorite and so she gets the most attention. I also have a Dreanai Holy Pally named Xydam, a night elf Druid bear tank, Xylin and another night elf, this time a death knight. They are all 80. I am currently working on a Night elf Hunter girl, she is only 66..... i keep running out of rest xp so the going is reeeeeeeealy slow /cry. Anyways, I play the game with my girlfriend who lives on the other coast from me, im on the west coast and she lives on the east so wow is a wonderful way to hang out and have fun together. And for all those guys who play a female avatar i would like to put this bit of thought out there, All the male avatars are rather ugly..... so stop getting on all those poor guys who would rather play a pretty Night Elf female.... rather than a male, who can fit his whole hand around his head.... ^-^ Anyways, I really love your guys podcast and I miss Glanthur :( being a fellow alliance player I really miss him alot.....

Sincerly ---- Shendryis, Fury Tank for the Epidemic guild on Whisperwind

P.S. Even tho I am alliance, I am 21 and most of my guild is either around my age or older..... but i think that might be a fluke >.> because there are alot of children on the server /sigh


Email #A from Patrick

Howdy guys,

I believe Ashayo was on at the time I left. It was the dreaded time of the ridicules queue times and Earthen Ring was the longest wait time of all the realms. But I found that I just can not find a decent guild. I had a lot of fun while in AIE so I wanted to come back. What can I say, I am fan boy to your podcast and The Instance so it was only natural that I want to come back.

Also, Aprillian, my 80 is an Alliance Dwarf warrior and I own my own home (well the bank does in reality), however when I piss off my wife, I often find myself sleeping in the basement, but that is a conversation for anther time.

I was laughing my butt off listing to you guys pronounce my toons name. I pronounce it like Pill & Gander = Pilgander. Folks around my cubical though I was nutz.

I though I heard my name was drawn in your weekly e-mail drawing. I am flattered that I won but I am not a collateral of pets and I pay for my account in 6 month intervals, so please pass this on to another.

Best Regards

Patrick


Email #3 from Ryn


Hello Ashayo, Aprillian, and Vrishna!

I've been listening to your show for about a month now, and i think its very entertaining :) It's actually all that keeps me alive while i am at work. Im new at the whole podcast thing, so if this letter sucks i am so sorry!

First of all, i will tell you about myself... I play an 80 Resto Druid on the alliance side. I started out as horde Pre-BC and through many complications, jumped from account to account. :) most of my friends play on Nordrassil, so thats where i made my recent character. I love alts! though im not as hardcore about it as aprillian ... hehe. i only use one account at a time. Currently i have a 62 mage, 62 warlock, and a 21 hunter on the Horde. Alliance i have an 80 druid, 80 rogue, 55 mage, and my bank alt of course (1 paladin). Alliance is great once you get to run with actual people, not all of them are children. I myself am 20 years old, and i play with my boyfriend who is 21. My guild is actually full of people over the age of 30. I will say though, the alliance on my server can not pvp worth S***. I think its a curse, i can not win a battleground ever!

I think that aprillian should level something on the alliance side, seriously. you might find that the jokes you make about us on your podcast arent as legit as you portray. They can be just as fun and open minded as the Horde, and honestly both sides have their immature, young children running around and spamming trade. That is why you have the option to turn off trade chat. :)

Also it makes me really happy to hear that there are other girls that play WoW! Aprillian and Temp you guys are awesome! I always get the usual guy jokes on vent about my voice and what not, and there are all those jerks in trade saying that girls arent smart enough to play games. If your podcast wasnt PG i would say that they could kiss my A**.


Keep up the work! great podcast!!!! and i will miss the lore segments from Glanthur. :( Cant wait to hear more about Aprillian and Vrishna.


Sincerely

Valryn (Ryn for short)
Server: Nordrassil

Email #B from Kurly


Thanks for the great time on the Podcast! It was an honor. Everyone in my guild listend and I think you may have a few more fans!! So....the patch is live and the servers are down...and yes I am going nuts!! I was reading through some of the patch notes, and it does look like its going to be amazing. I am considering re-rolling my Pally since I changer her from Ret to Holy, but she runs out of mana to fast. Last night out guild ran Violet Hold and Old Kingdom on our Not So Much Baby toons. There are five of us that are consistent players and each of the five of us have a few different toons we can use for different group make up....so fun!!

I have been going back and forth on my hunter between Beast Master and Marksmanship. When I am doing Marks my pet seems to die a lot, but I do a lot of damage, whereas beast master the pet does a lot of work, but my damage is so so.....oh to choose!!

Anyway, thanks again for the great podcast!!

Time for some tea!!

XOXO

Kurly


Email #C from Karen


Hey control-alt-wow crew,

Thought I'd chime in on how I stay busy in WoW, though as an altaholic it's really hard to get bored. Seems that the players complaining of boredom are all single toon players because when you have a lot of toons, it's easy to find stuff to do.

I currently have three 80's (the first time I've had more than two toons at max level) and I'm sort of trying to gear them up for instancing, though we don't instance very often.

I have two pet collectors: one on horde, one on alliance. They currently have 101 and 76 pets respectively. The plethora of pets that Blizz has given away lately has helped enormously. That core hound pup (yes, I finally attached an authenticator to my account to get it, great social engineering by Blizzard) is the best pet ever!

And I've decided that I'd like to level up at least one of every race and every class. My toons are split over two servers and both factions and I have a couple of duplicates, but it can take a lot of time to get the right combination of race/class/name for each toon. Oddly enough I'm still playing my first two toons, but have actually created and purged quite a few others in my quest to have one of each class and race.

Thank goodness for Death Knights because I finally found a perfect class for my gnome. She runs around causing disease and blight with her Lil' K.T. and ghoul trailing her. The new races will give me a chance to make a shaman (goblin) and a warlock (worg).

So my 80's are busily grinding Argent Tournament dailies to buy heirlooms for all the alts below them because I'm not leveling anyone again without the 20% experience boost.

I have found that concentrating on a single leveling toon works best. I got my tauren druid to 80 quicker than I expected. I'm also trying to do zones that I didn't do the first or second time around and everyone gets flying as soon as possible.

Great podcast, as usual. I miss Glanthur, but enjoy hearing from Vrishna and Jeppy (and Aprillian and Ashayo also, of course),

For the Horde and Glory to the Alliance!

Karen


Email #4 from Makling

hello ctrlaltwow crew, makiling here

i had listened to your show earlier this week, and wanted to write to you then and there, but the patch came up and boy do i have some stories to tell.

i really really love the new dungeon finder. it matches my now casual play style (i have accepted the fact that i may never be able to do hardcore raiding, thus the casual status). i like how i can sit down, queue for a random, dungeon, get in, get out, and say thank you for the group. it was like that for my mage and my priest on the first day, but lately im finding that it is immensely quicker for my priest to get into a group than my mage. it literally takes seconds when i queue as a healer, whereas im finding that my mage can go and do a lot of dailies before he gets a group. i can just imagine, in our realm there is a ratio of tanks to heals to dps of around 1:2:5, but now that number is multiplied by 10 across the battlegroup. so for now, im getting a lot of game time on my priest. and its good because she's getting phat loots from the new heroic dungons.

this morning my druid dinged 70 from doing the kaluak dailies in borean tundra. i havent been logging on to her lately, but i did find that doing the random dungeon on her rewards 2 triumph badges. i was wondering if you guys tried the random dungeon finder on lower level toons (burning crusade or classic wow) and if they reward emblems too. if they do, then that would be awesome because you can save up emblems even before hitting 80, then buy up the gear you need when you ding 80.

enchanting right now is a booming business with all the new gear rolling out from the new dungeons. im just bummed out that i cant take advantage of it because im not online that often. one more thing i love about the patch is the boa enchants from the northrend factions. its a good thing my mage is exalted with the major factions. no more mandatory rep grinding on alts =)

thats it from me for now,

i hope everyone is enjoying the patch

twitter.com/makiling_mage

Shout Outs & Thank You

MoMoMomments

Hello Ctlr Alt Wow podcasters and listners,

hope everyone is well and nice to hear Sir Knight Eljeppy on the last few shows.

Busy few weeks for me after thanksgiving week and being sick; busy in wow and as always real life things.
I have been able to get back to doing usual dailies and heroics and some raids.
But of course the exciting news is the new patch, Ice Crown Citidal

Hope everyone gets a chance to check it out because I like!!!

I know its new and shiny and phat loots! but so far I like the instances, yes even the last one, something about my reflection or something (halls of reflection). I hope we can have Glanthur back soon to go into the lore and all the stories behind the dungeons. Just so much better reads that to you, you know :)

I first ran the ICC instances on regular wednesday night as Tuesday is always fail, in my opinion.
Oh and of course the new LFG, that is also MO LIKE!
So far so good, minus the first patch day fail, it is working pretty well; you may not always get grouped up with the classes you want but I have had nice people from other servers so far.

So after a nice regular run I tried Heroics ICC with some guildies and one other which resulted in fail in the 2nd instance, Pit of Saron is it. I do apologize but I do not have all of the correct names at my disposal as I am writing this at work (don't tell anyone :))

On my other attempts this week thankfully I was able to complete them and I like the loots on regular and heroics.
Many people say that Blizz has made the game too easy, passing out gear and badges like its candy but I disagree.
They are catering to the majority, which is not the hardcore raiders, its well MO, and others like me (I do hope no one is exactly like me that would be scary).

I have also done Onyxia 10/25 a handful of times, 3-2, 3 wins and 2 fails and failed 10-TOC and we will be attempting the Ice Crown raid this evening, Friday night.

Well for me that is a crazy busy wow week and half!

OH yes Tuesday was also crying over broken addons but thanks to all the addon developers most of them were fixed fairly quickly.

I know I am really tied to the addons I use. Take healbot, I dont care if someone says (read this in your old man voice) "back in my day we used the Wow UI to heal raids!"
for me without healbot I might as well just use bandages. ok ok its not that bad but the healers know what I mean and I know Hypnatoid does not ( did i spell his name correctly?)

Ok I think that is enough from me. Thank you to Ashayo for correcting my grammar and mo knows many things but mo does not know grammar. I wish spell check would do grammar check as well.

Happy wowing, checkout the new instances, even on regular and LFG and what ever else you wish!

Take care,
--
Mo

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