Aprillian, Glanthur and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard’s great MMORPG and the Bladed Edge!
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What We've Been Doing:
Aprillian
RAF is OVER, so back to my old stuff. Tues morning before the regular maintenance, I used Veyle, who had the Netherstorm FP, to get the DK's to there. I was going to finish quests in Nagrand, I wanted to have one area done, but I realized they weren't getting good xp. Then during break Tue night, I had the DK's easily killing stuff in Netherstorm. I could probably take them to Northrend now with no problem. One of the things I'm itching to do is get an Engineer. So I thought I should get those Alliance Dark Knights out of the DK starting area. I forgot how much fun the DK starting area is. A dwarf and Nelf, boy that bouncing is irritating.
Finally went to Blade's Edge with the DK's and Auruk. I had skipped over this area with Aprillian, I did parts of Nagrand then went to Netherstorm and hit 68 out there an went to Northrend. So now I'm in Evergrove for the most part. I love the variety in that zone.
Aprillian can make Ebonweave and stuff, but really doesn't know where to go. She went to Og and took the Zeppelin to Borean Tundra and rode all the way to Dragonblight ran south through the snow and swam up the coast. She had a quest to talk to someone in Moa'ki Harbor and then swam to Emerald Dragonshrine and made Moonshroud
At work with only two accounts, I ran Auruk with alternating DK's. I ran into a Scalewing Serpent that was bright red and Auruk had to have one. After going back to the stable, she realzied she had duplicates.
Aurruk and Elyte got Medium Rare Acheivement
Ashayo
Stormwind raid
Ashayo and Aheal hit Honored with Sons of Hodir this week.
Which opened up the daily "Thrusting Hodir's Spear" quest.
Flying around on a wild wyrm attacking it with a spear. Tough to start with, but fun when you figure out what the hell is going on!
It can also be bugged from time to time (evident when the Wyrm is green - buttons won't, no damage, no dodge, no grip - death. Relog seems to fix it.
Ran quite a few Heroics this week - Azjol Nerub (wipe on spiders before 1st boss even with strong group - is there a secret method here?), Violet Hold, and Old Kingdom. Killing your fellow players in heroic mode during insanity on the last boss is quite challenging for those of us with little PvP experience. Warlocks fear FTW!
Gretta the Arbiter in Brunnhildra Village offers dailies. Supposed to be two, but only getting one (bug). Chance of polar bear mount in the quest reward bag.
Also completed Storm Peaks quest Achievement: The Summit of Storm peaks
In K3, after doing the quest chain to activate teleporter, go back through the teleporter and pickup a further quest.
This leads to being able to do the daily landmine quest.
Ashayo
OS 25-man pre-naxx. one shot it, yay!
Plague quarter - Heigan the Unclean - safety dance! Finally figured out how stay alive.
Construct Quarter - Grobbulus on 2nd attempt (124k on 1st)
Asheal
25 man Naxx - The Arachnid Quarter.
Grand Widow Faerlina - Priests are needed here to mind control mobs and sacrifice them at the boss when she enrages. I rarely use mind control and was worried I'd stuff it up. Well, I did actually, because no-one told me I had to be standing right next to the boss when I sacrifice. So, after a wipe, we got her down on the 2nd attempt.
Plague Quarter
Loatheb - can only heal for 3 second gaps during fight. Tough fight for healers!
Glanthur
Running more heroics - Healing is much easier with a good group - DPS/Tanks/Healers they all have a part to play...Bladed Edge
Blade here.
I was up rather late Friday night, so late that I did my dailies for the Wyrmrest Accord when a call-to-arms, of sorts, came... a guildie (Mujitsu) needed help with the 'big three' in Dragonblight. For those of you not *quite* there yet, there are three quests from Agmar's Hammer that involve an inevitable group as they want you to dispatch a trio of level 74 elites (each with around 100,000 health or so) across the zone.
As I was on Skull (my tank) I rose to the occasion!
Maybe I'm patting my own back a little much, but Muji and I two-manned the elites down easily... granted we were both level 76 (me a warrior tank and Mujitsu a feral druid)... but it seemed that I took very little, if any damage from them... does the level-comparison thing scale *that* much... was it my 'mad tanking skillz'? Or was it the fact that my health bar didn't seem to go down all that fast due to my having 20,000 health unbuffed?
Well *I* thought it was pretty impressive... I'm told reliably that 27,000 is a mark to achieve for heroics and raid tanking...
I'm making it a personal goal to exceed 30,000 once I hit level 80.
I've been thinking about Aprillian's little problem, too... no more Refer-A-Friend instant-summons... but what to do?
How can you multi-box your toons from one area to the next? Especially if one is on an epic mount, another on a normal mount and a third with no mount at all?
I don't know if this is a complete fix, or just a band-aid solution, and it's a little pricy... but the benefit might overshadow the cost of:
A Traveller's Tundra Mammoth.
Yeah... I know what you're thinking... 19,000 gold?!? Blade, are you as crazy as your old Uncle Throgg?
Well yes, but that's not the point.
Lush leather exteriors... all-terrain movement... decent mileage... and lots of trunk space!
Plus... the fuel cost is peanuts!
And talk about 'extra features'!... I've come across these mounts a couple of times when someone *else* was riding them... and discreetly availed myself of their portable-vendors. One on each side / saddlebag... you can repair and everything with them!
Or... and here's the benefit to you, and other multi-boxers, specifically... bump the NPC vendors out of the saddlebags and you have space for not one, but *two* extra characters (and plenty of legroom!)... so you can literally move all three multi-boxed toons around as one tightly-packed unit!
Oops! Need a vendor? Mount up! Your NPCs are right there waiting!
Them bump the NPCs out again and you're ready to pull your multi-boxed miniature-'you's around to further adventures!
Have Aprillian take 'the twins' out for a drag around Northrend when they hit 68!
Ah... you say... 'So what? I can fly!'
Not in Northrend... at least not until level 77 and another thousand gold expenditure for the cold-weather flying skill...
Plus... Northrend is so massive... epic flying is almost a *must-have*... so that's another 5,000 per toon...
Add it up... 18,000 for epic flying and cold-weather flying for all three toons WHEN you hit level 77... what will you do until then?
The Mammoth might be the answer...
From the 'Dirty Little Tricks' Department...
As I approach the end-level of 80, I've been thinking more and more about raiding and epic dungeons... and how it could be made a bit more efficient in terms of crowd control...
I'm sure we've all encountered a scenario (as whatever class) of having multiple mobs attacking, with the tank fighting to control all the aggro, the healer fighting to keep the tank up... and the dps running about willy-nilly drawing aggro from additional mobs and then running away... (stand still, already! ... but that's a rant for another time...)
Here's a macro that might help sort things out... this one's all about Crowd Control...
(Dunno who wrote it, exactly, so props to wowwiki.com where I found it)
/focus [target=focus, exists, nodead] focus; [btn:2] [] target
/cast [target=focus] **insert crowd control spell here**
When I think 'crowd control', I think 'sheep'... but Shackle Undead or any other 'pull the mob out of the combat' spell will work just fine. So put this macro where your crowd-control spell would be.
Once the target is identified for control, another target can be selected for damage or to be healed, with the crowd-controlled target available to be controlled until it's time to take it down properly.
Wowwiki also states that it's common for people to add a shout line to warn off would-be sheep-breakers:
/y Controlling >>%t<<... You spank it, you tank it!
Here's another utilitarian macro that more than one style of class might find use for:
/cast [target=mouseover, exists] [] **Name of spell**
Basically, this one lets you mouse over (but not click!) any enemy or group member or NPC and cast the chosen spell with a click of the macro button... this might make raid healing just a bit easier... mousever then hit the button saves you from clicking each raid member independently before you cast... and with some of those bosses hitting super-hard, a second might make all the difference between some nice epic drops and a wipe...
Atternately, this could be used by dps with multiple-target spells... or by the tank to drop some threat onto a second mob without shaking up your button rotation to do so... or tabbing (which might cause you to tab something completely *not* in the combat at the time... a potentially hazardous situation... I've done it... it sucked...
From Ol' Blade's Easter Egg Basket...
When in the Wetlands, either you're Alliance and you have quests there, or you're Horde and you have to do that thrice-cursed mind-numbing run from Hammerfall in the Arathi Highlands to Kargath in the Badlands...
Yeah... we've all done it...
Personally, I say we Horde should commandeer the elf-boats from Auberdine, and conquer Menethil Harbour! Save ourselves a lot of needless running...
Well... at least they put in a little something along the way... so to all of you who haven't yet made the 'epic journey' from teenager to adulthood... I mean... Arathi to Badlands... this one's for you.
On the broken side of the bridge (from the south-side - you Alliance-types will need to come here anyway to find the body of a missing dwarf... you will have to go inside the bridge. In the room where the dwarf is found you will *also* find a mechanical arm in a glass container near the wall... look closely, the arm even twitches now and then...
All in all, a pretty nifty /nod to the 1991 movie Terminator 2... but then that brings up a question... if the Dark Iron Dwarves blew up the bridge... does that make the Alliance gnomes agents of Skylab?
I *knew* we had to cull their numbers for a reason! Our very future is at stake!
Speaking of robotics... let's move all the way out to Area 52 in Netherstorm... through a quest series, you're led to a goblin near town named Doctor Vomisa, Ph.T.
What's so special about this guy?
Reverse his name. The quest name "You, Robot" is also a big clue...
This proud goblin's name is an homage to who else but Isaac Asimov, one of the fore-fathers of science-fiction literature.
As always, an awesome podcast guys!
Loremaster Blade
Emails
Email #1 from Keelhaul
Thank you for clearing up my hunter Kill Shot question. I heard a newer listener to Ctrl Alt Wow ask about getting started dual boxing. I posted the below "mini guide" in the AIE forums a while back. It's pretty good for those who just want to try dual boxing out to see if they like it or not. Obviously I dont expect you to read the below on air but if you like it, feel free to post it on the Ctrl Alt Wow site so your many non-AIE listeners can read it as well.
Thanks again for the great podcast. I really look forward to hearing all your in game adventures each week.
-Keelhaul
Emails #2 from MO
Hello,
we can never say thank you enough, so thank you for your on the podcast.
To my last email about starting characters on the new FULLY! locked realm borean tundra, bad idea eh!?
Well I was able to start my new alliance characters; I did start new ones with my RF (love the triple xp!) :)
I started a pally female draenei named Shahram and female druid NE named kasra.
I was able to level them to 23 from friday to monday but wow talk about a humbling experience. Starting from scratch, was not fun and fun at the same time.
It really makes me appreciate my main server Balanzzar and all my high characters and the GOLD, GOLD I say i can make with them.
It is very strange to go through a server where everything on the AH is in copper an silver and i cant even sell my copper ore or leather.
But I was able to for the first time, tank and heal Dead mines, or VC as some people call it.
I know it is a low instance but wow it is fun...click click click between screens and more importantly I just yell at myself if I die! :)
Even though I still hate pallys, going back to pre-BC days but protect spec is not bad so far. I had no idea Pallys have a taunt spell: hand of reckoning.
And experiencing healing by a druid is still a learning experience, especially since on both characters I dont have enough to train all my skills.
So to go on, I have also been able to experience a new Addon for me, Carbonite (I think that is how you spell it) it is another map/quest tracker addon. It is not bad and light, only about 6mb.
After QH I was using Light headed but so far Carbonite is not bad. I still like quest guru as well.
I know i have to rely less on addons but you know I am used to it now for what it is worth.
Well time for some wowing for me so take care all and just for the time being:
For the Alliance (but really for the horde :))
Oh and thank you for giving the go ahead to make a Ctrlaltwow guild, I will try to make it somewhere and hope people can join to have some in-game fun
:)
Email #3
Email #4
Hey Guys,
Thank you so much for the WoW Mini. You were right. It does look great. The pictures do not do them justice.
I thought I would send you another portion of Beastcaller's adventures.
Thanks,
Josh
Email #5 from El Jeppy
Hi everybody,
I have been quite a long time listener (well since Aprils great
appearance on 'How I WoW') and have also enjoyed going back through
past shows. It really is like listening to friends chat about the game
I love so what's not to like.
I have been playing WoW for nearly 2 years and apart from a small
flirtation with second life (floaty dangly bits drove me away rapidly)
WoW has been my first real online 'meta' experience.
Having recently retired I now have more time than I know what to do
with and so my playing of WoW as well as exploring other online
avenues has increased substantially. As well as my WoW addiction I am
also freebasing EVEOnline, LotRO and the occasional delve into
Warhammer. I always come back to WoW though and it feels like coming
back home from a business trip and sleeping in your own bed again.
I have also been bitten by the multiboxing bug and now have a desk
full of monitors and a floor full of PCs and an electricity bill that
would choke a donkey! But I love it.
I have the capacity to 5 man but rarely do more than 3 and quite often
just dual box. I am also a huge fan of RAF. My greatest thrill is
sitting in a major city and giving out copious amounts of levels from
my referred accounts. The crys of 'haxor' , 'cheater' and other
expletives ringing in my ears as my toons dance from level to level. I
have also received a certain amount of grief whilst levelling teams by
quest but make good use of the ignore button on those occasions. There
is little that would make me stop playing the way I love to play.
Anyhow I will say my goodbyes to you Aprillian, Ashayo and the not to
be forgotten Glanthur until the next time I put finger (yes just the
one) to keyboard.
Happy WoWing
El Jeppy
Email #6 from Valathilia
Hello
This is Valathilia from the Maiev server
I just want to give a shout out to you guys, just want to say I love your podcast I am a first time listner. And I just have to say I enjoy your humor and great tips from your show, well thank you for such a great podcast
P.s
First time I ever write a email to a podcast so it's a bit weird cause I have no idea what to say hopefully I will get better
Ty and cya from valathilia
Sent from my iPod
Email #7 from Jason
Email #8 from Ginsue
Hello Aprillian, Ashayo & Glanthor,
I was late getting to episode 101 and I am listening to 102 as I type.
In episode 101 Glanthor asked about the benefits of gathering over jewel crafting. My level 80 rogue is a jewel crafter and has a few of the epic designs that are obtained by doing JC daily quests.
The mats are very easy to grind and the most expensive one (the dragon's eyes) you get from completing the JC dailys. The epic rings and necks sell from anywhere from 1000 to 1500 gold a piece on my server anyway. Once you have the designs you can make an epic piece every 4 days. I have found Jewel crafting to be the easiest way to make gold so far in Wow.
I hope this helps.
Love the show. I listen to a few Wow podcasts and you 3 seem to really enjoy the game.
Happy hunting,
Ginsue
(named after the set of knives if you remember them)
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