Gathering for Cataclysm, or "Everyone Likes Gold"

New races means new rerolls means new characters leveling professions means high demand for profession-leveling materials.

So whether you're a miner, herbalist, or just willing to put in the time for grinding cloth, I suggest you stock up to help those power-levelers level their crafts -- and line your pockets.


This post brought to you by the "I don't have internet access on the road" post scheduling system.

For the Horde, or "See Mom? Warcraft Has Real World Benefits"

We're finishing the last details of moving (will be MIA all next week) and husband just confirmed our new apartment and scheduled the cable guy.

Afterward, husband came into the living room and pumped his fist in the air. "Say it with me now. For the Horde!"

I pumped my fist in a confused manner. "For the Horde..?"

He'd chatted with the cable installation guy, who'd noticed we'd chosen the super-fast option. Installation guy said "Yeah, I use that too. It's really great for gaming." Husband agreed and mentioned that we play Warcraft.

Installation guy was pleased. "So do I! Now, I have to ask... Alliance or Horde?"

"Horde," said husband.

"Good, because now I can comp you for the $50 installation fee."

For the Horde, indeed. XD

Rock the Boat, or "The Way Things Have Been Done"

The biggest drawback for me and my character customization fetish is that my MMO characters can't hang out together. And it made me wonder -- why do MMOs insist you can only play one character at a time?

Customization Nation, or "Where Avatars Can Be All That They Can Be"

Intro

A while back, I went afk for Sims 3 and one of my readers requested my take on the game. Here, I'm going to take a broader view of that request and talk about avatar customization in games in general.

A E I O U, or "Brewfest Grammar Police"

Me: Is anyone else disturbed by that murderer of the English language? ...hic!
Brother: what are you referring to?
Guildie: no ur just drunk
Me: Guild name "Trolling Is A Art."
Brother: is he... a troll?
Me: Yes. But he used "a" instead of "an." He's a monster!
Brother: Sorry... is he AN troll?
Me: Hiss.
Brother: Their their, Beth, it's okay.
Me: /CRY

I don't mind internet shorthand, don't get me wrong. I correct people when they misspell stuff, but I don't insist everyone type stuff out in properly-formed sentences.

But such a blatant grammatical mistake in your own guild name?

/flails of horror

Help Me, or "The Low and the Desperate"

Request from a Level 52 to a Level 80
"can u help me?"
"what do you need?"
"well i need hhelp trying to get a mount the. foollow me"

Request from a Level 48 to a Level 80
"okay umm can you by any chance help me do that ill pay you every gold i have it should b 6 gold"

These are so sad they're almost not funny.

Approaching a stranger for something is like going to a job interview. You have to make them want to help you. There has to be something in it for the person helping, and you have to communicate clearly and make sure people know what's going on.

When Mr. 52 whispered me with a request for anything from the ram reins to run the Brewfest quest to the Zulian Tiger in Stranglethorn Vale, my reaction was an automatic "hell no" (okay, I said a little more than that and quite a bit more politely, but that was my first instinct).

Let's say he wanted the Direbrew mount, since that's what it probably was (plenty of people don't realize you no longer need the mount as a drop to get Brewmaster).

First, I want the ram on my druid so there's a stranger rolling against me. Second, he's 52 and doesn't have a summon so our summons would be limited. Third, he's 52 and can't help fight so he's dead weight. Fourth, he's a stranger so why would I waste my precious once-a-day summon on him when my guildmates want it?

How could he have phrased it to make me help him?

• He (or a friend of his) has a summon.
• I don't have to use my summon.
• He lets me roll against him if something cool drops.

That's the only way I'd help a complete stranger. The only way.

Let's look at Mr. Level 48. He asked a guildie for help killing Direbrew and offered to pay. I'm more sympathetic to his case, but he still has the same major roadblock that Mr. 52 had -- no summon to offer.

How could he have phrased it to make her help him?

• He'll pass on everything, just wants the kill.
• He brings his own summon (self or friend).
• She doesn't have to use her summon.

You don't have a lot of bargaining room when you're low level wanting to do high level things. You make cuts and sacrifices and, if those don't work, you keep leveling until you have enough to trade with.

When you don't get to join the big kids, suck it up and do the low level stuff for now. Brewfest will be back again next year when you're 80.

Dance Studio News, or "I Was Hoping for Video, But This Works"

MMO Champion says:

... if I had to draw conclusions based on what we have in the game files, I'd say that the Dance Studio will let players create custom dances by combining different moves, effects, and modifiers. Once they are happy with their dance, it looks like they will be able to name it and share it with other players (it would explain the dancecache.wdb to store them clientside). The PlayDance("dance name") command most likely means that players will be able to save multiple dances on a character and pick one depending on their mood.

MULTIPLE DANCES! (Probably.)

SHARED DANCES! (Most likely.)

SPARKLY EFFECTS IN DANCES! (Perhaps?)

This poses a new social issue. If you can share dances and you spend hours designing a perfect dance just for your character and some level 12 shows up and says "I CAN HAS DANCE?!" -- what do you do?

Say it with me: "L2Create, Nub."

I think it could be like a bit like gold begging -- people who didn't grind all that gold out on their own don't see the big deal of asking for a handout. And people who don't have the energy or creativity to make their own dances will likely ask to use other people's, if sharing is allowed.

I suggest that (as long as it isn't super-expensive per dance) everyone make a dance that you're willing to hand out to others, but you keep your favorite for yourself. There's no shame in not giving away your hard work, as long as you're polite about it: "Sorry, I made this specifically for this character and don't plan to share it. I do have another dance I can share, though."

That gives them a chance to use your other dance (and see you as a generous person) or be a whiny jerky brat and keep demanding the one they asked for (we've all seen it with gold beggars).

Luckily, whiny jerky brats aren't our problem and give us a chance to exercise our Ignore list! :D

Brewfest 2009, or "WHY Did I Choose to Miss the Second Half by Moving?"

Lesson for all you little WoWers -- check the in-game schedule before setting the date for a three day drive with all your stuff to a new location. Otherwise, you'll end up moving in the middle of Brewfest.

Changes since Brewfest 2007 & 2008

• ALL NEW PINK ELEKK PET!
• Direbrew is 80 with 80 drops.
• No longer need a mount drop for the meta achievement.
• No longer need to drink 12 months of brews for the meta achievement.

Major Dailies/Quests That Give Tokens
First day gave me 125 tokens from doing all the available quests.

Dark Iron Invasion
There's a mini-quest you do where you pick up mugs off the table, drink, and chuck them (auto-targeting included). Dark Irons pop up every half hour or so and you find a table by one of the brew tents, drink, and chuck. A barker will refill you, so basically if you put the mugs on a hotkey you get to just spam it for 5 minutes.

The goal is to protect 1 out of your 3 kegs of Brewfest beer. If you make the enemy retreat (denoted by a /yell to retreat and number of losses), a gear will appear in the center of the grounds with a daily quest. (You don't have to help to get this.) Pick it up, turn it in.

Direbrew's Dire Brew (One-Time Only)
Kill him, loot quest item for 40 tokens. He's 80 with 80 loot and still has 2 rare drop mounts.

Do this in the first three days if you don't have a group of friends or guildies to do it with. I'm not even joking, it's the easiest time of the holiday to PuG it.

Check to make sure everyone in your party has a summon. This includes you. Just walking in does not equal a summon.

Prereq for Direbrew summon: Do the Welcome quest that gives you a reward of your choice of drink (available under the main banner leading onto the grounds). After that, head to Kharanos (A) or the road south of Org (H) to pick up Save Brewfest!

The rest is inside with Direbrew. Turn in, talk to Direbrew, he attacks.

Be prepared to meet him, because even if you don't kill him your summon is gone for the day.

Bark for _____
They give you a ram and you run around your city to the four flags. Read this quest before doing it if you aren't familiar with it. Alliance flags here-ish, horde flags here.

You no longer have to get back to the guy before your ram runs out, you can dismount once you're finished and ride back on your own.

Tips for Riding: Keep the ram's speed on yellow and put it down to bluegreen when you get your fatigue to 70. If you hit 100 fatigue, it will make you go super-slow.

There and Back Again
Keg deliveries have a limit of 3 and 10 token reward for the first. AFTER that, you can speak to the guy once a day, click through his dialogue, and turn in kegs for 2 tokens each until your ram timer runs out.

Tips for Riding: Whip your mount into a lather and keep it in the red riding speed. Brush by buckets of apples (more convenient placement this year, thank God) to remove fatigue, since hitting 100 reduces your mount to a crawl.

Pink Elephants (One-Time Only)
Go to the major cities. Bring drinks or your stein to use at the kegs. Get drunk. Use quest item on pink elephants:

• Stormwind, Darnassus, Exodar
• Thunder Bluff, Undercity, Silvermoon

Achievements

Coming soon...

Pirate's Day, or "She's On The Bank Roof"

Go up in the inn, out toward Seahorn and the Baron, loop left past the horde flightmaster, continue to the bank roof.

Talk to Dread Captain DeMeza.

Achieve.

(Achievement available today only, no substitutes. Arrrr.)

Hugs for Revenge, or "Opportunities Arise"

So yesterday I wrote about a ganking hunter who messed with us (most likely) because he hated me for my mount.

Today I found him in the Hodir dailies hub and squashed him (he went down pretty fast).


Yes, that's an AFK. Please, like I could take him one-on-one? I know how squishy I am.

And, yes, I got an achievement off him. I don't PVP on Dusty (I have another character for that) and never bothered to do PVP achievements for her, but this seemed right somehow.

Cost, or "Drawbacks to Owning Something Cool"

• The ribbons fly in my face when I turn the camera (due to my settings).
• I'm hesitant to mount in front of large groups when I'm busy.
  
• Mounting in front of my friends feels a bit like bragging.
• I shift out of shadowform every time I mount, so I never have mana.
  
• I get focus-fired by gankers.

Where You Belong, or "Husband Makes Me Laugh"

Three weeks ago, I decided it was time for a gear audit. We were trying to down Kael'thas and the ranged woman wasn't going down fast enough with just me on her, so I decided to do something about it.

Those of you who've been reading for a while know that my husband and I compliment each other with our WoW styles. He's into learning about his characters, what they can do, and all the spells and gear and glyphs and enchants available to them.

I'm into looking pretty.

So he tells me how to gear my character and I help him with his color coordination.

Sometimes my lack of interest in getting new gear can verge into the silly. When I asked him to help me on my gear audit and gave him a list of my squirreled-away currency (honor, badges, etc), he found me about 3 major buyable upgrades and we had the following conversation:

[Husband stirring coffee in the kitchen and informing me of upgrades while I lean against the doorway. He's already bemoaned my lack of purchasing skills and has just told me which legs to buy.]

Him: You also have enough Emblems of Valor you've been sitting on for a month that will give a cloak upgrade.

Me: Go me!

Him: Yes. Go. Go to Fail Land. Because that's where you belong.

[At this point, I was too busy laughing to finish the conversation, so he sent me an email with the rest of my upgrades.]

Selfless, or "Can I Come With You To Kael'thas?"

While hovering on my phoenix in a public spot today, I got a lot of whispers, a few of which got excited when I mentioned my friends would probably go back to TK for more phoenixes. One asked if he could come with us, and I said I'd pass his name to my friends (I will and they'll say no). Another seemed like he wanted to ask to be included, but I "had to" log to get lunch.

Why would they want to be part of my group instead of forming their own? Because the hardest part of the phoenix farming isn't the fight itself, and it isn't the gear. It is finding others willing to go when the possibility of reward grows exponentially smaller with each group member. (And also because letting someone else do all the work is nice.)

My group was unique in several ways, the biggest being that my guildmates went in knowing they wouldn't get anything out of it besides a TK achievement -- they went in specifically to get me the first phoenix.

Competitive groups will have to weigh the pro of possibly winning a phoenix mount vs the con of probably grinding for an epic amount of time just to see the roll go to someone else (and perhaps see that person leave the farming group so that you have to find someone to fill their spot -- and thus keep the odds of winning it very low).

So why has my guild been successful, and why are we likely to see another phoenix eventually?

Kael'thas Strat, or "How To Farm Your Phoenixes"

Where: The Eye of Tempest Keep (Netherstorm, Outlands)
What: Kael'thas Sunstrider, 2% Drop Rate for Ashes of Al'ar
When: Once a Week

You can skip all the other bosses and go straight to him. The trash is annoying and dangerous, with knockbacks and whirlwinds, but you can handle it if you can handle the boss.

Recommended Level 80 Team Requirements:

• 3 Melee
• 2 Heals
• 1 Ranged
• 1 Tank
  

^ This requirement list is for level 80 if your gear is post-Ulduar and pre-Icecrown. If it's below Uld, get one more of everything.

When starting out at 85, I recommend using 5-7 players. You shouldn't try with less than 5 because of mind control (he controls 3 players at a time, and your teammates will try to kill you) and the fact that mind control won't break until a non-mind-controlled player breaks it.  Using 4 players is theoretically possible, but I imagine more complications.

Phoenix Mount, or "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG"

A friend recorded the whole fight, and I'll get you a link when he has it available. (Here's a link of me flying.)

This was our third run. Third. I'm absurdly lucky and don't deserve it, but I needed a pick-me-up after lunch today. We went out with a family I really like and my only female friend in town, and I started sniffling about moving away (2.5 weeks, and then we'll live by my brother and his wife).

So then we got home and ran TK and... um... it dropped.