Friday, August 31, 2007

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 036 Guilds: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Show Notes Episode 36 Guilds - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

The show's subject was prompted by an email from a listener on how to deal with guild drama.


What we've been doing.


Ardrion, Level 28 was attempting to complete some quests in 1k Needle but ends up dying too much, so he brings in Aprillian.
Used Auntrillia to go to Winterspring and Moonglade to get enchant recipes for Veyle
Speaking of Veyle, she's my level 37 Rogue and for the first time in a long time, I played her. And I solved a problem that had been plaguing me. How to get her lockpicking skills up. I had done the boxes on the boat in Ratchet and the ones in Stonealon Mountains, but looking for them took time. Then I heard all this talk about picking pockets and it wasn't until Rilfire took Veyle to RFD and she started pickpocketing the Quillboar there and getting a bunch of worn lockboxes, that it all clicked.

Ashayo's two characters Hiide, a hunter, and Jekle, a druid have dinged 40 this week.



Email no. 1

Hey Aprillian and Glanthur,

I was wondering if in your next podcast you could talk about guild drama and how to handle it. Some people panic and go crazy at the thought of people leaving (like in AIE) and some just remain calm.

-Vino
Uchihavino in Alea Iacta Est
For the Horde

Email No. 2

Hi, I'm Marco Aka Dorom from the WoWBOX podcast which will be coming to iTunes soon. I play on the Eu realms on the Shadowmoon PVP server and I listen to your show every week. I find your podcast more cheerful than others and I always have a smile on my face while listening to it. I have 2 questions for you. The first one is, how can I make good money in WoW while being a low level (Blood Elf Paladin level 16)? I always find it hard to make gold fast. Also, can you give me some advice on starting up a podcast and getting it out there?

Keep up the good work on the podcast and keep those episodes coming.

FOR THE HORDE!!!!

From Marco

PS> Sorry Glanthur.

Aprillian: Money is funny in WoW. When you are low, it seems like you never can get enough. But then once you get some, you get more. At level 16, you aren't suppose to have a lot of gold, unless you have a higher level alt. I started on a server, and I picked a profession I liked, two gathering professions, mining and herbalism. And I just started selling stuff on the AH.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 035 Working Together with Friends from Afar

Show Notes Episode 35 Working Together from Afar
August 25, 2007 Sat

What we've been doing
Auntrillia in Outland
Rilfire in WC with Relaq - Relaq is now unrested and tried to take her to SFK to level. I now think this is the wrong aproach
Veyle made some Green Iron Hauberek - blue chest mail - I need money for all of my characters. Sometimes you go for the loot and the levelling and of course the fun, but then sometimes you just need gold to train. With many alts, sometimes resources are plentiful and sometimes you find yourself a little short. As we've said before, there are so many ways to play this game.
Arlaerus on his Mount

Remodeling, what fun. I have to admit to being a little lax when putting up the show. The show takes about 5 to 7 hours of time outside of the game. Once the podcast is recorded, I am anxious to get it up and going. But now that this has been brought to my attention, I will try to put a little more effort into the processing part. I listened to this episode and did what I could to adjust the volume, I hope it is better.

Glanthur and I discuss what we've been doing. It's a casual conversation and we don't really try to stick to any serious guidelines. If there's something related to Alts and mid level game that you would like us to focus on, drop us a note at ctrlaltwow@gmail.com or glanthur@gmail.com and we will address in our upcoming show notes.

Auntrillia is enjoying Outlands to a degree. We touch on the differences of being Horde and Alliance in Outland. I made a small video comparing the Frostwolf Mount to the Raptor. Auntrillia spent hours in AV to get the 50 marks to get her mount. Check the show notes for my Utube video. I will be updating.





Emails, Lovely Little Emails

Hi,

My main is a level 70 rogue on Uldum named Hap, and I have a level 11
alt on Earthen Ring (in your guild) named Tuskface (I hate that name).
Anyway...

I think I said on the forums that there were only a few good podcasts
and the rest were junk. Yours was not one I'd heard before so I gave it
a listen. I have the following suggestions:

Your volume level changes during the show. Some parts are fine, but
toward the middle things got very quiet and I had to turn my volume all
the way up. I assume you must be editing each show. Before you do
this, go through and normalize sections of the show, not just the whole
thing at once, so that they are all at about 98%.

It sounds like you are probably working from notes which is great! But
(doesn't everyone have one) each part of the show could be a little
more defined, then stick to each topic then move on to the next. If you
forget
something, do it at the end then edit that part into its proper
place (but don't mention that's what you're doing - no one will know!).

Content is good, and you seem to know your audience well (people with
alts under level 40). This is great and not always easy to do. I'm
glad there is a podcast for lower level players - it is something that has
been missing from the WoW podcast universe.

Not sure I would have reused the audio from that Australian dual-boxing
guy. I don't like his segments. I would rather have heard you two
summarize his thoughts, or had your own guest.

So I think you're doing great! Keep up the good work and I will keep
listening to your Podcast along with The Instance, World of Warcast, and
WoW Chronicals.

Darrell (Hap, Tuskface, Bearbutt, Dauria, and others)

We hope we addressed some of Darrell's issues. We are open to suggestions, so please keep them coming



Email No. 2
Hi Aprillian, Just wanted to tell you about some problems I had getting your show. I was one of your contest winners from a couple months ago (the flaming tabard from the tcg) and at the time regularily listened to your show by downloading it from Digg, onto my Mp3 player. But then, all of a sudden, your podcast started to be posted onto Digg in a format that my Creavtive Nano couldnt play...Acc or Mp4 I believe it was! I dont know too much about audio files, just that it wasnt Mp3 format and couldnt play. But then, just last week I was poking around on your website and found that you can get just about any format of audio file, for any of your podcasts right there! So I just wanted to say I am in the process of listening to the last couple months that I've missed, and I wonder if other people know that they can find a huge variety of various audio files from your website. And also wanted to mention that I like your new co-host also, you two really radiate a true passion for the game unlike other podcasts (*********) not to mention any names. (But listen to that one sometime....they almost spend their whole time during the podcast complaining about various aspects of the game) Ron

Thanks again for the nice comments, and the information.

Ashayo's Tips on Dual Boxing

He goes into some details Aprillian is not that knowledgeable on. I am glad we have these great tips to share.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 034 What Did You Do When the Server Downtime

What We've been doing:

Aprillian and Server downtime - Earthern Ring was down for 48 hour maintenance. Drove me crazy. I have alts on 4 other servers, but none that mean as much as the ones I have on Earthern Ring. So I made a resolution, I'm not going to put all of my eggs in one basket.

Aprillian levelled herbalism so she can get flower for Treshel.


Glanthur:


I've been working on Arlaerus. He's half-way through level 38. Once I hit level 40, I'll put him on hold and level up some of my other alts for a bit (see "Alt Advice" below). With the 48 hours of down-time and preparations for a major life event coming up, WoW has (unfortunately) taken a little bit of a back burner. I'll soon be back in the saddle, so to speak.

Email - None so far

Dual Boxing w/Ashayo (2 episodes) - it got cut off, so we have a corrected version and a new version.


Alt Advice - Visit alts:
You can get caught up with one alt. But if you are a true altaholic, you will want to keep all your alt connections fresh. This means spending one hour a week logging into all of your alts on all realms. You might find one that catches your interest. Or learn something. And you will have some fun.

THINGS WE DID DURING SERVER DOWNTIME!

Arlaerus - did research on what gear he should use for his protection tree. Found out what the different armour suffixes are. Gorilla = Strength + Intellect. Eagle = Intellect + Stamina. Bear = Strength + Stamina. Boar = Spirit + Strength.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 033 It's Not All About the Levelling


Episode 33 It's Not All About the Levelling


What We've Been Doing....

Arlaerus:

I found a nice bit of writing in the game. As a BE, I had to help an undead NPC create a "new plague" and one of my quests was to test this plague on a human's dog, Stanley, in Hillsbrad Foothills. Well, as I was questing with my Draenei, Arlaerus, one of the Alliance NPCs said that his friend in Hillsbrad had to recently put down his dog Stanley because it "grew to an enormous size and attacked anyone who came near". Hehehehe. Yeah, sorry 'bout that - my bad. Just shows how in-depth this game is.

Arlaerus is Level 36 now. Almost to 40. I also have maxed out the number of alts I can have on Earthen Ring. =(

Made a new alt - Troll Warrior named Zuule.

Aprillian
Auntrillia hits 60 - I don't think I made a big deal out of it last week, but this is the first level 60 character I've ever had. It just dawned on me that this would have been the level cap back in early January.
Iwari is back in Crushbridge Hold - it was suggested she could go mine mithril in Tanaris. When I said liked being in the cave and having the convenience of multiple nodes. But the next question, but won't she stop getting xp? made me laugh. It isn't always about the leveling.

Play Styles:

Death Knight - What it means for alts - but more importantly: what is it?
If it's anything like Warcraft III, it will be like a very naughty Paladin.


Emails

Hey, this is orcbreaker of the dentarg realm, you've been talking a lot about twinks on your podcast and I still dont know what the hell one is, please tell me so parts of your podcast can make sense.
Well, hope you can let me, and other people know on a later cast.
Ty

Hey guys, this is orcbreaker again, I know I emailed you once today but I was just looking on wowwiki.com and apparently in the new expansion for wow they are going to be adding a new class that starts off at over level 50 apparently, they call it deathnight.
Don't take my word for it because i'm not sure whether it's true or not but I'll keep an eye out for it again, cya

We talk about twinks and the Wrath of the Lich King



Finding the right vendor for fussy pets can be a right pain.
So what I do is buy up big - buy 6 stacks of fish for that turtle.
But you don't want to have it use up 6 slots right?
No problem, mail it to an alt. Then on your alt, just return the mail.
So then, wherever there is a mailbox, there is food! (There are alot more mailboxes than vendors or banks)

Also, treat your pet with higher level food.
For example, "Striped Yellowtail" says "requires level 35". But that's just for you!
Irkle, my turtle, is only level 33, and I can feed him those. This has the added benefit of having him gain more happiness from the feed pet effect. (You know to always keep the pet happy (green) right? That way they cause 125% of damage.)

Ash




I am khalid mahmoud, A Bahrain national I have been diagnosed with Oesophageal cancer .It has defiled all forms of medical
treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live.I am very rich,but was never generous, I have given most of my assets to my immediate family members. I have decided to give alms to charity organizations.I cannot do this myself anymore because of my health.I once asked members of my family to give some money to charity organizations,they refused and kept the
money.I have a huge cash deposit of Eighteen Million dollars with a finance House abroad. I will want you to help me collect this
deposit and dispatch it to charity organizations.You will take out 20% of this funds for your assistance.DO REPLY ME VIA MY PRIVATE EMAIL(deleted)TO ASSIST ME.

Should we write him?

Friday, August 3, 2007

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 032 Emails and More Emails

Episode 32 Show Notes Emails

What Aprillian has been doing:
  • Twinking Pri - Networking helped, (guildies, internet)
    • reworking my characters for alliance selling because of mail changes. Putting alliance at Neutral AH and Alliance in Exador on same account. This way, anytime I want something from alliance AH, I can now get it at once. Ally on Exador buys it, sends it to Ally in Booty Bay, who then puts it on neutral AH and my Horde Toon in Booty Bay can buy it and send it instantly to anyone on that account or in an hour to another toon. Consider putting a toon on all accounts in Booty Bay but would take up too many valuable Alt Slots.

What Glanthur has been doing:
Leveling Morion and Arlaerus. Morion has a felhunter now! Not as sexy as the Succubus, but could be a lot of fun? I'm sad about warlocks getting nerfed in the next patch, but I do see the potential of them being really overpowered at higher levels. I'd love to see protection-based paladins have more skills to make them a little bit stronger with their single weapon. I've also been collecting large amounts of enchanting material. Any day now Morion is just going to pop and go up 20-30 levels in enchanting. That will be a good day.



Mail


Hey Aprillian and Glanther this is lilthis again, now a 70 Night Elf Warrior, after listening to your last podcast where someone mentioned lightheaded i wanted to suggest another addont hat goes great right along side lightheaded it is called TOM TOM and it does just as the GPS it shows you where to go, any time cordinates are found in ligtheaded or throughout the game you can left click and it will put a nice marking on you map it can be found at http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info7032-TomTom.html and really helps, expect to hear from me as i will probable be sending in a recorded audio file this week as well keep up the good work.


Hey Guys its Auho (Ah-ho) again.

Lately I have been playing my level 16 hunter, Jovvi, and I was wondering if you could tell me a few tips to playing a hunter. Since you have mentioned several times that you have a few of them. Also in patch 2.2 Blizzard is adding voice chat for instance and raid groups to the game, what do you think of that? I'm all for it as long as it doesn't create server lag.

Also I am a mod nut so I am going to tell you about another great mod I use called Mappy (http://downloads.curse.com/details/7917/). It takes your mini map and makes it a square. Which lets you see a lot more!! And if you use a lot of mods like I do it makes the buttons fit better around the map.

Have a great week and FOR THE ALLIANCE!!!

From Ashayo

You only learn new grimmoires every 2 levels the same as training.
So each time you train, just scroll thru the grims looking for "requires level xx" (eg 30) when you hit level 30.

Train the current minion, put it on "stay" and walk away. At some distance, it despawns and you get the shard back. Summon the next, rinse and repeat!

Ash

Date: Jul 21, 2007 8:47 PM
Subject: Fwd: 29 comments
To: ctraltwow@gmail.com

Hi, Just listened to 30. I guess I sent my email about 29 to the wrong address... I used ctrl instead of ctr I guess.... strange how my 2 earlier emails got through... oh well.

I haven't used any twinks. I'm interested in getting to 70 and seeing what's what then. Do either of you do the pvp things? Battlegrounds/arenas/etc? I never really cared for pvp stuff...


I agree with instances are fun when you find a good group. I'm doing BRD now (priest) and it is a very tough place. I've been trying to get lock the elite horse quest which has a part in Scholomance... holy cow what a tough place. Still not luck after 3 tries... I find instance interesting when using diff alts... which makes it fresher... you know the layout but you have to adjust your gameplay to you class.
Keep up the good work,
Kurt

PS: I hear the next patch, locks DOT are changing... sigh!

Date: Jul 14, 2007 10:05 PM
Subject: 29 comments
To: ctrlaltwow <ctrlaltwow@gmail.com >

Hi, just finished your latest podcast after spending 4+ hours in SM killing all the bosses there. Other than the staff in the library nothing really drops there for mages. Anyway, this mage is an enchanter. This is my first time with an enchanter. I had my other chars send the enchanter stuff they didn't need so enchanting didn't really cost me any out-of-pocket money. I'm at 225 and now I have to go to Uldman for the trainer. I'm not happy about that at all. I haven't had any lucky getting ported/summoned to BC though that would be the easiest way to go. I tried once to disenchant another's players soulbound item and was unable to. I gathered from the podcast that you can do this? I'll have to try again if that is the case. As far as disenchanting for the group, the shards sell for good money but not sure about the different dust. I guess it would be more money then vendoring the item.
With all my chars I've been in some strange group policies as far as loot. I've had some that you never need no matter what. I've had some that players say "If XZY drops I get it, O.K.?" I find these really annoying... you should need if it is better than what you are wearing, otherwise greed. Most if not all are pick-up groups and some of the players are questionable quality. I think the thought of doing the disenchanting is too complicated for the groups I've been in. I've had players whine and quit the group if they didn't get an item. For example the staff in the SM library: I needed it and so did a shaman, I won the roll and the shaman whined about it and quit the group. I don't get it.
I was in STV in a group with someone who before starting playing WoW decided not to use any outside info about the game. No custom UI, no looking at stuff on the web. I thought it was interesting idea but I would go crazy if I had to do that... I play spellcasters and the normal UI is not good enough for me. I have spells for keys 1 through =, Shift 1 through Shift, F6 - F13 and shift F6 - F13. I currently use FuBar, Auctioneer, WoWKB, Cartographer, MBB and just started using LightHead which give info about quests in a window next to the quest window (avoids having to look up stuff on web). I use MacAceUpdater to handle most of these addons.
Well, have fun playing WoW. I'm still not decided if I should transfer to another server. It took me days to find a good enough group for SM. I don't mind the money if I could be sure the server was better... maybe I'll go to Earth-Ring... lol
Oh, did you notice that with the latest patch you no longer have to wait an hour before receiving items in the mail... YIPPPEEE!!! I love it.
Later,
Kurt