Sunday, January 31, 2010

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 152 - I'm Sorry...TheWych

Aprillian, Ashayo and Jeppy 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.

The Bladed Edge:

Greeting to one and all...

Blade here.

It seems that you folks are not content to allow Ol' Blade to simply fade into the shadows; nay... every now and then you must give me cause to unstealth and flash the edge of the blade... if only to provide a Horde presence to scare all the little Alliance children happily skipping around Stormwind. 'Cause for SOME silly reason you CAN'T attack them!

/grumble

Yes, El Jeppy, you are correct - and thank you for the mention in episode 150. Ol' Blade has indeed achieved the Loremaster achievement... and it isn't as intimidating as one might think at first glance... much like an Alliance when you first start warring in the battlegrounds. Possibly scary on the outside... on the inside, they're all soft and squishy... although... who in their right mind could REALLY find a Gnome scary?
Seriously.

Onwards. My Orc sister Batswala (Donna) is endeavoring to become a member of "The Inner Circle" (as I like to call it when I offer congrats to all who I witness having achieved a step in the Loremaster achievement. Why the inner circle? It's not so much a difficult achievement as it is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
If you (or anyone) still need the help finding those last few quests, then listen closely... it's dark here in the shadows and we rogues like to whisper...

The crew at Ctrl Alt Wow have not steered you wrong: there are indeed quite a few resources online to assist you (quest lists and the like) though I have heard better things from Wowhead than about thottbot. It is mostly to your individual preference, though.
And yes, your tracker will show you 'low-level quest givers' and this - coupled with Carbonite - will be a great help in finding some of the ones you missed.
Here's where I come in:

My take on finding the missing few or last quests you need:
1) Open your world map. Are there any zones in the old world you did not explore fully? That might be a first clue... if you didn't explore it, perhaps there's a quest in that zone that sends you to the unexplored part. It might be worth checking out;
2) Since the expansion, Blizzard has added new quests along with the new content to 'validate' the presence of previously-nonexistent places and things - like Mudsprocket in Dustwallow Marsh. The quests there all count towards the achievement, so if you are missing a few, look back and see what added content there might be that you might not have checked out (probably because you were too high level to want to go back to the zone at the time)
3) Speaking of places you never went back to, (linking back to point number one) perhaps there are places you never went? I can honestly say that - in my first time leveling Blade - I completely skipped Stonetalon Mountains; just bypassed them completely! My questing in the Barrens and then right up into Ashenvale left me completely outside the level requirement for Stonetalon... so I never went. If you're missing a sizable chunk of quests, maybe you missed an entire zone's worth - some places of note: Silithus, the aforementioned Stonetalon Mountains, Felwood, Winterspring, Azshara... and those are just in the Kalimdor zones!
4) There may have been quests for things you simply skipped due to their being part of dungeons (there's some in Tanaris desert (for Zul'Farrak) and Ferelas (for Dire maul) like that... the quests you skipped might have also been ones that inconveniently took you half-way across the world (like the one in Winterspring sending you to Western Plaguelands)... while you're IN WPL, though... head to EPL just across the river, head north and find not only an undead questgiver, but further along, a human questgiver. Why I remember that I have NO idea... there's a guy outside Razorfen Downs... the list goes on and on...
5) Don't forget about long quest chains. The 'test of Faith' questline is a nice one; and if you didn't do the one I affectionately refer to as 'the Paladin Ranged Weapon' questline... you're missing out on another... oh... say 13 or so quests... all counting towards the achievement. Be warned, though... they take you all over the world, but if you're a fan of the original Legend of Zelda game... it (the questline) is worth doing just for the trip down memory lane. Want details of how to go about starting the questline? Do a quick check through the Ctrl Alt Wow archives.

If you're a sucker for punishment (like Ol' Blade was when I did it) you can start in one zone and explore it fully, stopping at every known area with questgivers with your tracker set to find all the low-level quests... that way, not only will you get the Loremaster achievement (through your hard-work and diligence) but you will ALSO get the Explorer achievement! Sporting not one, but TWO new Tabards for your troubles!

Now onto the second of two things that drew my attention... the alarming bias that Ctrl Alt WoW seems to be developing towards the Alliance!
Now I'm not saying that one should not play Alliance... SOMEone has to... and one should always be encouraged to play whatever they want to in order to have fun playing... but...
Where has all the Horde love gone? The talk seems to gravitate towards gnomes and dranei and other blue pointy eared things that bounce.
This is disturbing... along with Aprillian's seeming loss of innocence (when she hit 80, it was lll news, now it's all about GearScore).
It's hard enough for Ol' Blade to pretend to be human in real life... why would I want to pretend to play one in my chosen game of distraction?
That said... the Alliance need to complete 2,843 quests for Loremaster, while the Horde need to 'only' complete 2705.
Seems to me that one side has easier quests... so they have to do MORE to compensate. I'm just sayin'...
So... I wish to put forth a challenge to the listeners of Ctrl Alt WoW:
Have you played both sides? And I mean HONESTLY played them - not just "I rolled an Orc, but didn't like how he looked so never played him"? Can you make a fair and unbiased comparison between the factions?
Show me. Show me what I seem to be missing (or rather what I left far far behind). Prove to me that the rumours of the Alliance being vastly overpopulated by squalling children are not true.
And keep in mind... Ol' Blade knows a lot more about the Alliance side than you might think.... I played Alliance quite extensively... played all the race/class combinations, and I even had two Night Elf bank toons called 'Kashe' and 'Kairie'!
So as an ULTIMATE CHALLENGE, if anyone can name Ol' Blade's VERY FIRST character that he rolled almost five years ago, (plus race and class)... there might just be a prize awaiting you!

One last thing: A shout-out to 'Lespa', level 80 tauren Druid healer on Earthen Ring server. Upon running with my tank one of my first nights back , I tried the LFG system... after finding a guild healer FIRST. Not only did Lespa heal effortlessly and incredibly, but took the time to walk Ol' Blade through an entire instance that I had NEVER been in... even to the point of marking the mobs! Kudos!

Until next time,

I remain:

Loremaster Blade



What We've Been Doing:


Aprillian

Amazed at how quickly I've been making money just by doing dailies.

Remembered to fly up while doing the Cult of the damn and accepting the log in for LFG.
I used my triumph to buy a trinket [Mark of Supremacy], my trinkets are the only things under 200.

I had my alliance toon send over 3 cats and got the acheivement
Died twice in Ahn Kahet. Should have SS myself instead of the priest.
Epril got [Jeweled Fishing Pole]
Gambling on JB?

Just realized Chilimaw and the surrounding scene is the intro

Moved my Elephant Logs to http://aprillianer.blogspot.com/

Aprillian & Vrishna

started 3 new alts on jubethos
sorrry geppy. Love refer a friend
Paladin quests in ragefire & shadowfang keep ... "there are dogs on either side"

Vrishna

blood elf paladin in durotar
warlock in durotar
loved finding ratchet thru the hidden pass.

Ashayo

Mod of the week - Tidy Plates / Threat Plates
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/tidy-plates-threat-plates.aspx



Raiding 10 man
--------------
Crazy Train - did ICC rep runs. Tried Marrowgar a couple of times, and did a few percentage damage. Hit friendly and got [Ashen Band of Courage] ring 251
Guppers (Jekle) - ToC - won [Pauldrons of Glacial Winds] with a 1. Rocked Faction Champs!
Crazy Train - impromptu monday night naxx - weekly + Sapph + KT. Got the key for Malygos (EoE)
DwP - Doing ICC before maintenance is proving to be very laggy. Wiping on rotface. Reset for next night and cleared first wing again. Great night for loot - both [Sister's Handshrouds] and [Muradin's Spyglass].
Oneshot Saurfang despite more disconnect problems and got the the [I've Gone and Made a Mess] achievement - defeat him before 3 mark of the fallen champion cast. Ashayo now Honored with Ashen Verdict


Raiding 25 man
--------------
DwP (Ashayo) - ICC won [Frozen Bonespike] (dagger). Now need a decent offhand - suggestions? Got down Lady DeathWhisper for first time in 25man after a few wipes
DwP (Asheal) - ICC - reset and got down first three bosses (with me dead for most of the gunship battle). Getting Saurfang to 10% before he enrages and wipes us.
Guppers (Ashayo) - ToC - Beasts down

Heroics
-------
Pudendal
- Finally beat Paletress in H ToC and got the achievement.
- way over defense cap, so bought [Bloodshed Band] -dps ring for 35 emblems.
- Fully pug random heroic and got Oculus. Healer immediately drops. Get replacement, he immediately drops. A dps start running in trash without a healer, dies, and drops. Another dps drops. Finally get replacements, and not only completed, but got the [Make it Count] achievement - which means 4 emblems in under 20 mins. Bargain!
- Tried getting zombie achievement in CoS - 100 zombies in 1 minute. Requires kiting right through from the initial area into the last areas gauntlet. Seems problematic, as one dying starts a timer, rather than being 100 within any 1 minute period.
- PUG Pit of Saron for 50th emblem of frost and bought [Sentinel's Winter Cloak] for tanking. Pondered on getting dps cloak, since I'm over minimum defense value, but I figured more dodge is always good.
- Ran about 5 heroics and got the triumph tanking trinket. Might get the dps trinket as well, but [The Black Heart] from ToC is a nice trinket even though it's only i200

Misc
----
Ashariss - dinged 72 this week, and completed Wrathgate chain
- pugged UK, 68 tank that couldnt' hold aggro and 80 healer that was probably shadow spec. Tank dc'ed after 2nd boss and healer left. Surprisingly, pretty quickly replaced tank and healer and finished instance.
- bugged quest in HF, "Test at Sea". Opened two tickets and was told both times "bad luck"

Farmed for Rituals of the New Moon - offhand item made by inscriptionists. 3rd Kill from Silverbrook Hills mobs in Grizzley hills. Turns you into a wolf.

Pud got knuckle sandwich and master of arms ach doing JC dailies

Pud finished Violet Hold and on last boss, hit exalted with Wyrmrest Accord, which gave [Northrend Vanguard] (4 factions) and 5 exalted reps


Jeppy

El Jeppy is under the weather

Emails

Email #A from The KurlyQ

Hey folks.....'tis your faithful bud Kurly, although....I have not been that faithful with the emails for a while and I do apologize for that, as I am sure that you have missed my riveting tales.....or not....anywho.
So my dwarven female hunter (Dordanka) dinged 80 a few weeks back...and was doing more DPS on her third day as a hunter than either my Moonkin or My Shadow Priest, who have both been 80 for sometime now. This deeply distressed me until I realized that as a pure DPS class of course they are able to tear it up with high numbers (topping 2.1k at last recount) in both Survival and Beast Master. All the Beast Master hate bugs me. There are specialty pets and talents you can use to increase damage, but it does take some finesse, or the slip of a finger on the mouse key, but....whatever works!!
So I have rolled a toon on Jubbie bubbie, so keep an eye out for Sizzawakira. At last log out she was a level 8 Troll Priest...yes....a Priest. As soon as she hits level 10 its going to wsg after wsg and then healing instances starting at level 15....woot woot woot!
Also, I am looking at starting a podcast of my own for me and my little guild, Rabid Kittens on the Norgannon server, so any advice you have will be most welcome!
XOXOXO
Your bud...The KurlyQ


Email #1 from Vince


Non Spanish speakers on Latin Realm

good day Aprillian, Vrishna Ashayo Jeppy and any special guests u may happen to have on. I just wanted to let ya'll know that I really enjoy your show.
Well my story is short. A cousin of mine who I had grown apart from as the years have gone by plays WoW regularly and I had just found that out during our family Christmas party this past year. I play on the spanish/portuguese speaking QuelThalas server due to my wife, who I've managed to get to play WoW. My main language is english..but i do know some spanish...(I DID manage to get a Latin woman to marry me even though i can barely afford to play WoW....lol)
I have an 80 priest, rogue and 64 Paly all alliance..My wife has an 80 druid...allaince as well. We managed to get my cousin..to switch servers and play with us...along with his girlfriend and younger brother ..all alliance...heehee. They all speak a lil spanish...so we have to constantly translate for them from time to time...there are some emglish speaking guilds in there..but translation is still needed at times. Just wanted to say that WoW has managed to help me and my cousin keep in touch more often even if all we ever talk about is game related..Anyways...my 'short message' has managed to be all but that (maybe it was shorter in my head???). Thanks for your awesome show...


Email #B makiling


hey guys, makiling here

first of all i would like to say congratulations to jeppy for dinging 80! i am looking forward to hearing your adventures in northrend at the endgame. i can just imagine how you will be using the heirloom items for all your alts. and i am even more excited to hear how you will bring other toons to 80.

your last show was really fun to listen to. it was nice hearing your guests, and i hope we get to hear from them again.

here are some of the comments i wrote down while listening to your last show:
-if you do the puppy snatching quest in a druid in flight form, you wont have to kill their mothers and just snatch them up =)

-i noticed that Deepril doesnt have a BoA ranged weapon. you might want to buy that too

-and about talking in pugs, i too have noticed that there has been less and less of that. i used to say hi at the start of the instance, but as a tank i want to start as soon as i can. and as a healer or dps, i am catching up with the tank that is in a hurry to finish the dungeon.i just make it a point to say thank you at the end before the group disbands.

speaking of running random dungeons, my druid got into a pug for utgarde pinnacle yesterday. as we were going along, i noticed that time it took for our group to bring down the first 2 bosses was significantly lower (4-5 minutes versus less than 2 minutes according to Deadly boss mods). it was then that i saw that most of the dps were new 80s. the awesome moment came when we were at the gauntlet boss and all of the dps get wiped by his whirlwind! the healer and i slowly chipped off the bosses health until we finally got him down. we then went to the final boss where a few of the dps died again, but we finished the whole instances with no wipes. it has been a long time since a heroic felt as epic as that.

and finally, i would like to share that i rolled another alt: a death knight female orc! you see, i had recently maxed out jewelcrafting on my druid, so now i need someone to transmute gems for her to cut. since i need to be at least level 70 to learn the highest level transmutes and potions, i decided to make another alt =) i got him the BoA shoulders and 2 handed sword, and had just started the dk starting zone. i havent done all the quests because i want him to have maxed out rested exp, but i had just discovered that respeccing her talents was free. i dont know if it was because i did it once or because i was still at the starting area, but i thought it was a nice thing to share especially if you want to try out other specs early on.

thats it from me for now, for the horde!

twitter.com/makiling_mage

Email #2 from Chol


Hey Guys,

Listened to you reading my email out - thanks!.... but...

Choldar - Achievment 'Lady of the Night'? Erm, perhaps not.
Choldar - Achievment "rub your tummy, guv'nor?" ... OMG! (thanks Jeppy)... Oh yeah, I didn't know you did bird calls Aprillian... :D

While I think my arguments against me being called "Choldar .. has changed" have failed badly, I will continue to argue the case that there are necessary evils in the game where you do stuff you dislike in order to get completion (I mean that in a clean way, Jeppy!), or to do something you do like.

Perhaps Jeppy and I should have a conversation at some point to settle the matter ? LOL.

Keep up the good work, I thoroughly enjoy listening to the show.

FOR THE HORDE!
Chol etc on Jubei'Thos
Pantsonhead Guild

Email #3 From Donna

Dear Aprillian, Vrishna, Ashayo and Jeppy,

Since my last e-mail, so much as has happened! I have finally succeeded in completing Loremaster of Kalimdor and am now on my way to completing the few quests left in Outlands and Icecrown for my title "The Loremaster." I spent all last weekend on Botswala, my 80 Orc Hunter, researching and playing to find those last few quests I needed to get to 685 in Kalimdor. It was tough but well worth it. I feel so proud! And no, I have no life. Ha ha.

For those out there looking for some hard to find quests, here are a couple that might help.

In Un'Goro Crater, take a peek around a lake in the southeast of the crater to find a wrecked raft. This leads you to the pack under the water and from there....all over the place! You even have to die to complete this quest chain. Shhh...but don't tell anyone because it's a secret!

Desolace has quite a few unusual quests to find. How about the Gizelton Caravan that travels north and south along the road. The Gizeltons offer two quests that are only available for a few minutes while they are traveling. If you don't catch them during those times, you won't get the quests. They are escort quests and if you are at level, definitely be well geared or take some friends. Also, on the beach in the north lies a book on the shore next to a chest, click on it for a great quest, but learn to hold your breath for a long time!

If you are in Feralas, head over to the Gordunni Outpost where the ogres hang out. Search around carefully for a scroll lying on the ground. It won't have an exclamation point and it spawns in different locations, but if you find it, it will lead you to witness a very dark ceremony. Watch out for those pesky ogre mages!

Besides obsessing about achievements, I have been playing my other toons. My husband and I have been playing a few characters together. Our level 30 somethings are still questing it out somewhere in Azeroth but I honestly can't remember where. That 30-40 level span is tough for me. I tend to get distracted easily and lose interest. Once you get past 40 or even better, 50, I gain more interest and want to play the toon more. Anyway, we will keep up with them and get them up there sooner or later. But the real distraction besides achievements this week has been the transfer of my Level 57 Blood Elf priest, Sistajosepha, over to Earthen Ring. I love playing her and am happy I finally decided to bring her over. I think she was lonely on her other realm! Currently she is leveling as a shadow priest and having a blast. I have been playing her with my husband's hunter toon, Tigerbelle. I am hoping I will get up the nerve to actually use her for raiding one day. But the thought gives me the chills. I need to get past the raid phobia thing and not worry so much about what other players think.

I've said enough...have a great weekend...talk to you soon.

Donna

P.S. Thank you for a great podcast. We enjoy it immensely!


Email #c from Melvyl

Hey Guys!

I haven't written in a while but all the letters in this week's episode inspired me so here goes.

When last I wrote, back in October, I had just gotten my Shadow Priest, Sceadua, to level 59. She ended up spending 9 days in Outland and then another 2 1/2 weeks in Northrend getting to 80. So at that point I had 3 80s in my Alliance guild. That part was great. The only downside was that our guild had kind of collapsed over the summer.

Then came November. Apparently our guild thrives in cold weather. Participation really picked up with lots of new people participating - including several couples, which you guys can appreciate. None of our new guildies have 80s yet but many of them are getting close.

But for me, it still meant a lot of dailies and a lot of soloing. Getting a group for the Heroic Daily was possible but usually a pain and very time-consuming. And then 3.3 came. It changed everything.

These days, I try to run a random on each of my 80s at least once a day. I have both the title and the pug now on all 3 of them and they are all sporting the level 264 capes. I really didn't like healing pugs but once you get better gear it gets much much easier. Between drops in the new instances and badges, they all have a gearscore now that even Aprillian wouldn't look too far down on.

I don't know if my guild will be able to raid before Cataclysm but I am least hoping for a guild run of HoL and HoS like Karen's guild this week.

I haven't forgotten my PoH or AIE toons, either. I have some plans for them as soon as I have enough Triumph (not Frost) badges to get the right heirlooms for them.

I was going to tell the story of my misadventures in leveling a druid but I will save that for the next e-mail.

Melvyl, Holy Paladin, Libraries and Librarians Guild on Aerie Peak

Also on Earthern Ring

Sceadua, Shadow Priest
Encyclopedia, Death Knight

On Jubei'thos

Lyvlem, Death Knight

On Earthern Ring
Adversaria, Death Knight
Aversa, Protection Paladin

p.s. You can letter this one. I don't need the free month.




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