World of Server!

Original image shamelessly grabbed from http://www.ultimate-lwt.co.uk/blog/

It's time for another badly-considered and hastily-constructed Occasional Series! Huzzah!

So the Summer Holidays are almost upon us. My eight and a bit year old will be starting six weeks of school-free celebrations on Friday, but the party has already started elsewhere across Europe. The telltale signs are already there, and World of Server will be spending the summer (and possibly beyond depending on the mileage of this shoddy feature) reporting on the latest trends you need to know about, if you were actually bothered about such things.

So, enough chat, on with the show!

The Summer of Extraordinary Gubbins.

It's the time of year when the kids who's parents actually care about their online hours let them loose on computers in the daytime (assuming of course they're balancing the online time with healthy amounts of exercise, not too much junk food and an equal amount of vegetation by the TV/360/PS3) and as a result you're likely to see a marked increase in the following:

• Greens, Blues and Purples sell for above the normal going rates, normally to expedite profession levelling or alt levelling. Bear in mind weapons and shoulders especially may not sell as well as they used to as many people will be using Heirloom items. This is a great time however to sell your spare cloth.
• PuG frequency will increase, especially in lower level brackets. The quality of your PuG's WILL vary, check individual servers for details ^^ See below for tips on how to maximise your Ulduar PuG suitability.
  
• Odd items may start selling for frankly ridiculous sums. For instance, I sold 2 Pristine Black Diamonds this morning for 200g apiece, with an offer to buy any further Diamonds I might obtain at 100g a go. The person concerned was clearly doing the Insane achievement, and it does go to show that people will pay just about anything if they want it badly enough. So, if you're spending your summer farming Dire Maul for Steamweedle rep, I'd stop vendoring anything that these people might find useful...
• Merciless undercutting on EVERY item by idiotic sellers keen for a quick gold return. If you have a decent epic, it may be time to brave Trade to sell it.
• Stupidity in World Channels, commonly on an Epic scale. Actually, those of you of a sensitive disposition may wish to /leave Trade and General altogether until early September... [*]

The massive influx of idiocy during working hours is something that can, on occasions be particularly distressing to those of use used to quietly pottering our way through Dailies and farming spots. I'd remind you at this point that if it's nice outside, it's probably a good time to log off and enjoy it :P

Ulduar PuG-ing and You: A Brief Reminder

There's already a marked increase in the number of Ulduar 10 man PuG's on my Server. If like me you suffer from Alt:itis this could be a very good time to capitalise on the mass influx of keen minds (because I do understand that the nutters make up only a small population of any Server) ready to take Yogg Saron on his home turf. However, much has changed since the days of LFG 39m MC and sadly having a Raid Leader who can link you The Descent into Madness is no guarantee you're going to get further than Brann Bronzebeard at the starting area. You are going to be expected to be able to prove that a) you've at least been to the instance you want to take part in and b) if you haven't that you're capable of at least grasping and working within that instance's level of difficulty.

There's a lot of QQing of late in Trade that it's not fair people are asked to link a specific achievement, when to get it normally needs a Guild to help you. That's not true, and there are ways to persuade any would be raid leader that even if you don't have the achievement they're asking for, you might be worth a look. I've done content without the need to link the appropriate achievement with all my alts, so here's a few tips that might work if the Raid Leader on your server has an eye for a keen player.

1. Lead with your Best Shot: Link the RL an achievement you're proud of and that shows your skills: Emalon 25, Sarth +1, 10 or 25 man KT are all technically complex fights and aren't really the places where you can carry anyone. They're worth opening with. If you don't have them, I'll be honest and say you need to get them before you stand any real chance in Ulduar anyway. If you don't have them, go try and get into a 25 man Naxx, coz a 10 Man Naxx achievement should get you in there without too much of an issue.
2. Keep your Armory Profile Current: Time to stop logging out in your fishing gear, I'm afraid. People WILL Armory you, like it or not. So make sure you're in your best gear and preferably log with a flask or food buff on.
3. Choose your Words Carefully: You may even wish to go as far as making a macro for this. You'd be wise to be able to list your spec, your Spellpower/AP and anything else that you think might enamour you. Someone offered me 250g once to let them into my Sarth semi-guild PuG. Needless to say, I didn't take him. Make sure if you do this that what you say in your speech actually matches what it says on your Armory profile as well. Like I said above, people will check.
   
4. Be Willing to Respec (or even) Dual Spec: If you've been thinking about spending 1000g on the DS Talent now would probably be a great time to do so. If you have the flexibility to heal and dps or tank and dps and you're not capitalising on it already, the Summer PuG might be a great way to start. If your RL's already got most of the Raid sorted and needs specific spots filled and you're able to do so, he may forgive you not having the achievement. This is especially true for healers. My druid got into Sarth + 1 by linking Naxx 25 KT and by providing the Tree buff. It can be done.
   
5. Go the Distance: Don't start a PuG unless you're prepared to finish it. Commit yourself and you'll sound more confident when you're talking to the RL. You'll be surprised, even in text, how much of a difference that makes.
   

Above all however, Be Prepared to Be Shafted. This may sound obvious, but you're playing with a bunch of random people. Don't go looking for anything, and anything you get will be a bonus. The best PuG's I've taken part in have always been the ones where I went in expecting nothing. You will get a badge for each boss you kill, and unless you're doing 25 man Ulduar PuGs right now that means that any badges you do have will be useful for upgrades only until the new patch hits. So you may want to look at the shoulder and leg upgrades to tier that Ulduar emblems can give you, or perhaps to use your badges to get a Valor wrist item to sell for cash.

Now it's time to take a short break: coming up in Part 2 we'll help you maximise your 3.2 readiness!

Cue the commercials!

[*]: Let's face it you left months ago, didn't you?

DTSOSDMF: TGE

Yes the title sucks. What else is new?

Making Money by Doing Not a Lot

No 2 in an Occasional Series of Several

I have been experimenting over the last few weeks with the optimum route to take if I want to streamline the completion of the current crop of Dailies of Choice. Lots of people have guides up, I'm not trying to pretend I'm writing something new and imba here, I'm just looking for a decent and reasonably efficient plan to take which includes the dailies I'd like to do (cookery, fishing) and gives me a route which cuts down on those annoying faff moments. I love to faff like the next person, I really do, but if I'm doing Dailies, it helps if I can minimise the downtime. So with this in mind I am proud to present:

Doing Tournament and Some Other Selected Dailies with Minimum Faffage, The Girly Edition!

We are going to assume the following before we begin:

1. You start your trip in Dalaran with a cooled HS.
2. You are a member of the Alliance. Horde (being clearly more intelligent and intellectual) won't need a Guide in the first place. You can work it out from both sides regardless, I hope.
   
3. You have sufficient free spaces in your Quest Log to pick everything up on the list below.
4. You have a gathering skill of some kind (in this case it's going to be skinning) so you'll have sufficient bagspace for any item you can pick up.
5. You are already a Champion with your home Tournament faction and working on Champion status with another home faction. In my case, I'm on Stormwind at the moment, having already ticked off the Gmomes. They just love me in that underground city :D
   
6. You are a nublet. This is quite important. I still take AGES to do all the Pure Jousting quests at the Tournament and therefore don't include them on my list of things to do in this circuit (Among the Champions and The Grand Melee count as Pure Jousting) I do them as an ABSOLUTE last resort. Really, I'm still that bad.

So, if you're ready, let's start our little jaunt around the environs of Northrend!

Dalaran, Icecrown and How I Stopped Hating General and Embraced the 5 minute PuG.

Click for a Larger version and to see how crap I am at doing diagrams...

A. If like me your HS is set to A Hero's Welcome in Dalaran, the first thing to do once you're ready is pop out back and pick up the Cookery Daily. Once I have that (and if it's Cheese for Glowergold I swear quietly to myself and forget about it until about 12 midnight server) it's out, turn right and over to the Bohemian Marcia Chase for the Fishing Daily (how does she find the time to paint when she's always standing by the fountain?) Depending on what this happens to be can add or remove things to your route, but as this guide includes ALL the possible fishing options we'll not worry too much about what it is and head for the Flight Point.

Oh, and if your Fishing or Cookery daily is one of the ones within Dalaran (and does NOT involve cheese, wine or old shields) feel free to knock that off before you start.

When you're done, head for the flight point. Our next stop is the Argent Tournament!

B. Ok, so here is the bulk of our workload. In no particular order we have the following:

• A Chip off the Ulduar Block
• Jack Me Some Lumber
• One or more of the three available Weapon quests (A Worthy Weapon, The Edge of Winter, and that one with the frogs ^^)
  
• Scourge biffage on a horse (A Valiant's Field Training, Battle Before the Citadel)
  
• Scourge biffage NOT on a horse (At the Enemy's Gates, Taking Battle to the Enemy)
  
• Threat from Above

Oh and don't forget to chuck Squire Artie 10g in the AC Tent for 100 rep (Contributin' To the Cause). Yes we know you're supposed to be making money but 100 rep is better than nothing.

By the time you've left the tent someone will already have asked in General LFG Chillmaw/Threat from Above so there's your cue to make a quick random PuG and get started. On your way to Point C it's a good idea to go via the floating Alliance bomber ship thingy and pick up the quest Blood of the Chosen, which requires you to kill 20 mobs in Ymirheim. Why's that? you ask? Just a sec, we gotta go PuG quickly.

C. Right then. Not all of us are shammies who can one shot Chillmaw (sadly), so find yourself some buddies, hope you tag all the Bombadiers first go (and the Horde/random gomers/all of the preceding don't get there first) and get Threat from Above done, then ask your group to accompany you to point D to help out doing A Valiant's Field Training and Battle Before the Citadel in double quick time. Anyone who says 'that's soloable, just needs a bit of skill' remind them you're a nublet and need all the help you can get. Most will take pity on you as a result. Trust me.

D. Arrive at Argent Biffage HQ (Southern Division), do your 2 quests and remember to thank your PuG. Then run away as fast as possible. There's only so much Hot PuG Action you can take per hour, after all. Now it's time to zoom off North again and knock off three quests in one hit! Think about the money!

E. So, remember the quest to kill the Ymirheim from the Flying Boat 'o' Doom? Assuming you're inside their city they will also count for the two Scourge biffing quests as well (At the Enemy's Gates, Taking Battle to the Enemy) Bear in mind that the Ymirheim that spawn OUTSIDE don't count. Don't say I didn't warn you, nublet here found that out the hard way... So, kill 20 giants (male or female) and it's THREE lots of Completed in the Quest Log!. We love it when a plan comes together! On your way to Part 2 of this Guide (and Point F) you may wish to drop off Blood of the Chosen if the Airship is close. If not, fly yourself down to Crystalsong Forest for the next bit of brief and entertaining faffage. Ooh, we need a new map!

Crystalsong, The Storm Peaks and You Have to Love the Blue Laydeez coz they're... Blue!

Maps! We need more maps! And explosions... oh never mind...

F. Right then. We're heading south from Icecrown and we fly over the Iceflow Dam, so time to pick up Winter Hyacinths (* on the map) if you need that particular sword quest today. Remember also if you have the Crystalsong Carrot Cookery quest this will be a great time to get those ticked off (** on map) as you pass the Violet Stand and grab your 12 bits of wood for Jack Me Some Lumber (and dodge the branches of the angry Treants... sorry I have a hard time thinking trees can ever get anything other than mildly irritated, but I digress.) If you need to kill Lord Everblaze pick him up to the south (marked with a *** on your map) and then fly to the Windrunner's Overlook (G on the Map). If at this point you need to sell stuff and/or repair, there's a vendor near the FP. After that, grab a scheduled Hippogryff (yes I'm saving 100 Champions Marks for one of these babies) and off you go to H.

Yes you could just flap there on yer epic flyer of choice but I use FP's as a way to break up my time at the screen and to provision for drinks, cuddles from children, huge afk's to clean, cook and tidy generally. It's all up to your personal preference.

So, have I utterly confused you with letters and lines yet? Have I???

H. You either love them or hate them, but the Sons of Oh Dear (yes I know it's Holdir ^^) are a necessary part of most raiders' lives because of the shoulder enchant at Exalted. Feel free to work your Sons' Dailies into your routine at this point, otherwise head to the Brunnhildar Village (*) for a quick daily and your 1% chance of the Reins of the White Polar Bear.

There's a rather useful reason we come here, because the Foot Steppes above the village (**) is by far THE quietest place to find blocks to blow up for the A Chip off the Ulduar Block quest. It's also a great place to pick up Rhino Meat for the Rhino Dogs Cookery quest, and is a fantastic skinning point (rhinos AND frostwyrms!). Really, if the wind's in the right direction and there's people doing the kill the frostwyrm quest from Frosthold I can be here for ages. Try, unlike me, not to get carried away. You can fly back either to Dun Niffelem or Frosthold for the next part of the trip, the choice is yours. Depending on which fishing daily you have, this is where your route should change.

They Fish it Here, They Fish it There, the Fishing Quests are Everywhere! (and annoyingly far away from each other...)

By now, our author had run out of witty things to place under her diagrams...

I. So, depending on where you need to go, we have a lot of options at this point :D

1. If you have the PvP Fishing Daily (Dangerously Delicious) it will largely depend on a) who has WG b) how confident you feel fishing if your faction doesn't hold the zone and c) whether you fancy doing any of the other dailies in the zone. As a rule I'll go do my fishing with 30 mins to go to a battle, pick up the 'farm 10 of item X from the elemental quest and combine the two before picking up an invite to a PvP raid in the hope of a victory and some more cash.
2. If you have The Ghostfish quest you can fly from Storm Peaks to the Basin and then return to the Guide.
3. If you have the Blood is Thicker quest (kill a mob in the Tundra, jump in the water and fish the pool of blood) then I'd suggest going from the Peaks to the Fizzlecrank Airstrip, doing the quest and then taking a detour across the southern coast to do the 3 Kal'uak Dailies for a bit of extra cash (plus if you're not exalted this gives you a chance to work towards the fishing pole)
4. If you have the Monsterbelly Appetite quest (severed hand) I'd go from Storm Peaks to Moa'ki Harbor, fly out to sea and then come back to Wintergarde Keep and pick up the trail from there.

J. Wherever you go to you need to aim to return to Wintergarde, if you have a floral tribute to make for the Blade of Drak'mar. The lake you need is a quick hop from the Keep's FP. If you don't need this quest you can skip this flight altogether of course and head straight for

K. which is the Flight Point at the Westfall Brigade Encampment and closest to the Frog Kissing or if you don't have this quest to do today it's

L. the Flight Point at Fort Wildevar which is the closest FP for the Maiden of the Lake and Winter's Edge.

To save lots of faffing it's best to work logically from east to west, I find. Whatever happens, leave the sword quests until last as they involve the furthest travel. You will then have a cooled HS and can simply rub and return to Dalaran (for cookery/fishing handin) before you hop back on the public transport system back to the Tournament for a mass handin session. Job Dun!

On a good day this takes me a couple of hours and nets me over 200g. This is quite apart from the fish, elemental bits, cloth, weapons, epic mounts (see an upcoming post) and various other bits I pick up along the way. It's hard enough on one character but if (like me) you're running 3 through the same sequence, it really does help to have a system.

You gotta have a system :D

...and I feel Fine!

So, there are those who have decided, because the professionals went in and cleared out Ulduar in a night and a bit, that it's all a bit too easy. They've decided that the entire raiding experience has been cheapened or debased. They've decided it's the End of Warcraft as we know it.

What a load of utter bollocks.

We went in last night for the first time. Our team could have been better (for a start they could have found a competant Boomkin) but we weren't there to try and clear half the instance, we were there to have a look and judge what we need to be aiming for. We started with 10 man because we thought it was going to be easier. How wrong we were.

Ulduar ISN'T easy. It's not got the advantage of having existed pre-expansion and it doesn't have the advantage of lots of Guild having been there. PTR training aside *before you even get inside* there are FOUR VERY COMPLEX AND CHALLENGING 10 man encounters. See, I did that bit in capital letters. There are ton of new skills to learn for the Flame Leviathan encounter but this does at least allow you a measure of leeway (if you die you can come back in, wait for a new vehicle type to respawn and return to the fray) We downed him on the second try of asking once we worked out you need someone on top of the vehicle and you HAVE to take out the turrets:


As an aside I clearly didn't get Epic Flight Form on Wednesday, and neither did I join the Brew of the Month Club. Blizzard Changes FTL :(

We then spent an hour on Razorscale and concluded that we needed a better strategy than the guides we could find would give us, so we avoided Ignis the Furnace Master and headed straight for the XT-002 Deconstructor.

When we left we'd pulled him down to 34%. It's an incredibly complex fight by my standards, there is a LOT going on and you need to be totally aware of your own health and what is occuring around you. The damaging debuffs come thick and fast and you are required not simply to just stand and dps (which is so often the case in Naxx) but to watch your range to everyone else, to watch your health and to watch the spawning of robots which, if you let them get too close to the boss will bugger up all of your good work. Plus, he's on a six minute enrage timer. Yes, SIX minutes. So it means (if like us you bought two tanks, and two and a bit healers) the dps have to be VERY good.

I suspect we will be spending some time in the Ulduar Car Park. I suspect it is going to take us quite some time to make it to Yogg Saron. If we are as typical of casual raiding as I believe we are, this is going to be a long road before we've cleared the content. In this respect I think Ulduar is a total and complete success. If you think it's too easy you're either spoilt rotten or talking pants, or you've simply not had the chance to be here.

When we finally kill Yogg Saron on 10 man, and we will, it will be one of the hardest fought victories I've ever achieved in game. And we will have earnt it, good and proper.

Girl Guide's Girly Girl Guide to Preparing for 3.1.

The Second Stormwind Guides before their weekly Polearm Skills lesson.
(from http://www.easington.gov.uk)

In life, there is a great deal to be said for being prepared. Of course, it's impossible to cover every eventuality, but on most days you can accurately predict what to take with you, what the weather will be like, and what you'll need to make your day run smoother. The same is of course true in game. With 3.1 possibly only a few weeks away, it's becoming increasingly simple to guess what you're going to need to make sure you're ready for Ulduar, and for the awesomeness that is Dual Speccing.

Bearing this in mind, I have put together this shoddily-constructed and impromptu guide. Enjoy!

5 Things every Girl Guide (or Tauren or Gnome) should do to prepare for 3.1

1. Read the bloody Patch Notes, you Nublet.

I cannot reiterate this enough times. Well I could, and then I'd guaranteed there'd STILL be someone who didn't RTFPN. This is a MAJOR content patch. It introduces a dungeon, an entire new questing area, debuts a new Arena season plus literally dozens of class, profession and world changes. It will forever change the way the vast majority of people play their characters. It affects YOU.

It's also available right now for you to look at. Yes, it is likely to change several times between now and release but really that's not an excuse to pretend it doesn't exist. If you want to be properly prepared for 3.1, go take a look. It will tell you what mats you'll need to collect to make new items, what new glyphs you can look out for to improve your character, what changes you'll be getting in your Talents and will mean that clams finally stack correctly. \o/

2. 5 Minutes Planning will save Hours on Patch Day.

Take a screenie of your current talents. They're going reset on Patch Day so it will be vital you have a copy somewhere, even if you don't do anything about it now. What you ought to do before the patch hits is pop over to one of the many Talent Calculators updated with the latest PTR spell builds and look at what has changed. As things are still being tested it's early days to work out where you'll be placing those points, but if you wanna be raiding or 5 manning come the night 3.1 arrives you need to have an idea of what to expect. Plus if you plan to be Dual Speccing this is a good opportunity to go look at your second spec and work out exactly what spells you'll need to be taking. Don't be afraid to steal someone else's current spec either, just remember it'll all change come the actual patch.

Don't worry either about messing up your spells on the day and having to spend gold when you misplace a point on your talent tree either. Blizzard have this covered, with their new feature which will allow you to preview your talents before you spend any gold. They think of everything!


3. Make your Money and Items for Dual Spec NOW.

Dual Spec will cost you 1000g. This not an impossible amount to make. I've just done it in five days. This will not involve you spending every waking hour at your computer either. If you have an 80 toon and you've not yet completed all your quests, then the simple act of spending some time doing those and selling your rewards (or if you're a DE-er selling the dust and shards that your rewards can become) will net a lot of cash. Go do dailies. Yes I KNOW you hate them but really it's the best way. Hey, you can do Wintergrasp and make money as well if it's all too much, or failing that spend an hour clearing out your bank and stick some stuff on the AH.

I guarantee you'll have trouble making 1000g the night before 3.1 hits. That's why you need to do it NOW.

You'd also be well advised to decide which Glyphs you'll be using for your second spec and finding a friendly Inscriber to make them. AH prices will be even more ridiculous than they already are come Patch Day: yes there will be new glyphs but for now you really don't want to be wandering around with nothing in your spellbook. Again, a bit of research will pay dividends.

If you're PuG-ging the phrase 'I'm needing that for Dual Spec' really should not be coming as a surprise to you. Of course if it's a Tank needing leather you should be ready to bitchslap them into next patch: if you're playing with friends or your Guild it might be a good idea to introduce a 'DS Rule' about now. Don't DE it, look at it and see if it has benefit. Yes, even if it is a L78 item. Start thinking about what you should be searching for.

Maybe if you have enough Elbows, it's time to actually buy some epic DS items as well.


4. Nobody Loves you if you Don't Augment.

You may be lucky enough, if you sort everything above out before Patch Day, to get to go into Ulduar for a first play at the new content. If you do, it might be an idea to make sure you have the materials you will need to upgrade any weapon or piece of armour you might snag to keep yourself in prime fighting condition. Currently there's some absolute bargains on the AH on the Enchanting Scrolls front (and there are because people like me are selling them in anticipation of the patch :P). You could go farm some content for greens and get them DE'd in preparation. I'd certainly make sure you have the cash to go buy a Sons of OhDear Shoulder enchant, and maybe a head enchant from your rep vendor of choice. You could even buy them now and stick them in the bank you sensibly cleared out in order to make the cash for your Dual Spec...

(Of course, if you also want to make a fast buck on patch day, you could start stockpiling all the stuff above to sell to the nublets players who were foolish enough not to prepare themselves beforehand.)


5. Be Ready for ANYTHING!

Now is the time to check your computer is in fighting shape. Now is the time to download the latest video drivers. Now is the time to start checking your favourite add-on sites and see if the developers are going to have a 3.1 Mod ready for you to pick up before the patch. With Blizz' new policy on addons some of these may change or stop being updated altogether. If the site's not been updated for a while it's time to find a replacement. If you're having to do all this on the day you're going to suffer delays, and frustration. Trust me, I know.


Follow these simple steps, and you will soon have your 'Ready for 3.1' badge to hastily sew onto your Swagdog Guild t-shirt. So what are you waiting for? Don't just sit here reading this mediocre blog, off you go and get ready!!!