Mercentile Madness - Roundup.

Its about two months since my last post in this series. In that time, I've had precious little chance to work on my two "Newbie" servers.

I did manage to catch up with Ideale/Ahami on VeCo and had some fun showing off the scenery in southern Tanaris. Traceabull my hunter was only level 22 or so and proved to be an absolute magnet for aggro in Tanaris. One thing I did notice is that hunters have a large advantage vs almost any other class when fighting much higher level monsters. Spellcasters find it nearly impossible to fight anyone 5 levels above them due to their primary attacks being resisted nearly all the time. I took a 29 warlock with some guildies into SM recently and could barely contribute at all due to this. Previous adventures with my rogue have shown that his melee attacks are also heavily penalised against higher level monsters, to the point where he would be lucky to hit for 5-6 damage each attack. Hunter's melee and special shots seem to suffer from this reduction also... but not so their white-damage autoshots. Traceabull was hitting the level 45-50 mobs in southern Tanaris for reasonably respectable 30-40 hits a shot, about what he does on same-level targets. These guys are 20 levels above him! This may partly explain why hunters are so good at taking on mobs a couple of levels above their own whereas other classes are not so lucky. Even warlocks in the mid-20's struggle more than hunters do.

After the sight-seeing trip was done, we hearthed out. I met up with Ideale's druid alt and her housemate's priest, to whom I gave some enchants with the crappy mats I had available. Hopefully they made a bit of difference. I do have better enchants available if you want, ladies... just give me a chance to scrounge some mats.

Ideale was a "bad friend" and hadn't supplied a wand, so when one turned up later while I was questing I gave that to the priest as well. The two girls were busy finishing off their quests and I was off elsewhere doing my own for a bit too, though we remained in a party to facilitate chat for a while longer. I burned through the rest of my rested experience then switched over to Changeabull my druid for a bit.

Changeabull had a fairly full quest log so spent some time handing in. Once that was manageable again, he visited the auction house. Between the two characters I now have quite an inventory of stuff for sale though little spare cash on hand. Much of the money I do make is spent on obtaining cheap items for disenchantment. Some of this is still being absorbed leveling enchanting on Traceabull; he's nearly maxed it for his current level. Any of the lower level materials are returned for auction and are starting to generate decent funds.

Over a couple of days I spent several hours trawling through the AH, finding cheap stuff and disenchanting it, then using or reselling the materials. I also spent about 150 gold in market manipulation.

There was a mid level enchanting material that was in quite large supply. I bought out virtually the entire stock, leaving only a handful of very overpriced suppliers in the market. I actually then consumed probably 80% of that stock levelling up enchanting. The remaining materials were then listed back on the AH at a price higher than average but still undercutting the market. Since this was still the weekend peak, most of my stock has since moved at those inflated prices and I've made nearly all my money back using only 20% of the stock! I do have some more of the same material, since several people tried to undercut my inflated price, but I've bought them out and re-listed.

There is a second, quite expensive, enchanting material that I now have significant stock in. It has not been as successful an investment and I had several 48-hour auctions expire. Luckily I need these to continue levelling my skill anyway so it won't matter much.

I also sacrificed an unused hunter alt on a "normal" US server. I found some random guy in razor hill and gave him all my stuff before suiciding that character. I then returned to VeCo and saw the birth of "Replaceabull", a Tauren shammy. He's had a little help from his bigger brothers and is motoring along nicely at level 6.

I've also found some time to visit Cael. I got distracted by my alts on the horde side when I should have been looking after the alliance guys. Nevertheless, I've managed to boost both warlock and hunter to level 21 and have done some more market and enchanting work. Unfortunately, the friends from Dath who were playing here have more or less abandoned their characters so some of my motivation to continue has gone. I am still feeling uneasy having both Horde and Alliance on the same server... its just wrong. Anyway, once I've done a few more market scans here and rebuilt my prices, I'll hit that auction house fairly hard while casually levelling the characters.

On Dath, most of my time has been spent in various instances. I've managed about 10 levels on some of my lower alts but have done little work on Crypt, despite a fair bit of encouragement from friends and guildies. I've been very busy with work so by the time I get on wow I'm interested in instant gratification that I can get by quickly levelling an alt.

I did take Crypto in as tank to Scholomance with two level 60-ish shammies from my guild and a warlock and hunter from the LFG channel. We did mostly ok. One wipe happened early when our healer went afk (unavoidably) and was then feared right into the middle of the room pulling a truckload of mobs. We wiped again later when I made a spectacularly bad pull that somehow managed to drag two extra groups of mobs, who then aggroed a few more on their way over to beat me into a pulp. We had several more individual party deaths when I either lost aggro, or didn't gain it in the first place - rogues are not designed to tank! Once people got used to the unusual group composition though, things went well. I also ran Crypt through RFC dragging along a level 11 guildie. A full clear in 20 minutes isn't bad! (Yes, this completely goes against my "runthus are evil" policy, but he'd already been in with an unsuccessful group earlier so I took pity on him.)

Ride 'Em Cowboy!

Methane, my mid-30's tauren Druid on Dath, picked up his Kodo mounts the other night. I hadn't had a kodo on any of my other characters yet. Riding around on these guys is like steering a minibus or a monster truck!

The normal walk animation on a kodo has a definite side-to-side swaying motion. This looks ridiculously funny when combined with various strafe and jumping motions. Performing a full 360 degree turn after jumping off the lifts at Thunder Bluff was rather amusing too. I am reminded of the line from "hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy" where the Vogon starships "hung in the sky like bricks don't."

Losing one's Cool factor.

So, there I was on my freshly rolled gnome warlock doing the newbie quests. A rather rude gentleman thought I was stealing his kills and told me to "Pee off!". At first I didn't even notice, since I was busy clearing trash mobs out of the way so I could get to the ones I needed. When I checked my chat log however I saw the little note. I went back and confronted the little dweeb about this and his only response was even ruder.

What can one do about tactless little shits on a PvE realm? Not a lot really. You can /ignore them. You can retaliate in kind with pointless verbal abuse. You can tag every mob in the area so they get no kills. You can attempt to drag a train of mobs into conflict with them so they die..... or you can note that they have their /pvp flag set on at level 5!

I shamefully admit to trying all of the above, mostly without success. Mr stunted personality seems to have a fairly thick skin to go alongside his thick skull.

But Wait! I have higher level horde characters not too far away and bonehead is flagged. Hmm.

Log out, log in as my horde hunter. She's stationed at Undercity, not too far away from the dwarf lands.... except I hadnt yet picked up the flightpoints on the way. Ah well, I'll walk and get them on the way.
Sephulchure, check.
Taren Mill, check.
Hammerfall, check. Of course, mobs in Arathi are much tougher than my poor hunter, especially the elites! Naked travel makes this a little less expensive than otherwise.

Travel through the wetlands was mostly uneventful. I was joined along the way by a similar level mage from my horde guild. We got past the first dwarf guard in the tunnels, but the second one got us both. On resurection, we were joined by a mid-30's orc hunter. He could handle the level 30 guards without much trouble! We ran through the remaining sections of tunnel and on into Dun Morogh past the guards. Track humanoids helped us avoid the majority of trouble on the way south of Khanoros and into the newbie zone.

The main gate to the newbie zone is guarded by 4 level 65 guards. They can and will aggro on a low level horde from quite a way inside the tunnel. Death by guard swiftly follows! One death is usually enough to get past them however. On into newbie territory we go!

I came here looking to find one particular idiot. Despite a long search, both in the newbie area and the obvious places near Khanoros, I failed to find him. We did however find a couple of other newbies who were foolishly flagged. These were promptly munched on by the Orc's pet.

The newbie area soon lost any attraction so we ran back past the guards (dying again) and on to khanoros. We pointlessly killed several of the quest mobs.. the ones not protected by more level 65 guards that is! Most of the newbies in this area were smart enough not to put their pvp flag on so we were just mucking about killing mobs mostly. One lucky level 9 warlock took out my fellow guildmate when he was weakend by resurection sickness. He then died several times at the Orc's hands. I dont think I got a single kill, and no trace was found of my boneheaded "victim", despite me logging back on the gnome and having a quick scout around!

A completely wasted hour that could have been better spent with a quick /ignore and getting on with the job! I still had fun though so I guess it was worth it!

Sometimes, Karma bites

A repost of something I wrote on our guild forums, mostly to keep MW amused with her recent PvP forum drama.

***
So there I was, minding my own business in Tanaris. I was peacefully riding along avoiding the local wildlife when a flagged Nightelf hunter rode up beside me and started making rude gestures. I tactfully ignored him and rode on.
He followed, making ever more persistent attempts to annoy me. I stopped for a bit and looked at him. I rode around him in circles. I even lowered myself to his level and taunted him. I had him follow me for a bit, and then I circled once more and gave out one final taunt....... and then Bleedingclaw ran over the top of him, killing in 2 shots. I barely had time to get an attack in!

I was 56 Rogue. Bleedingclaw is a post-kara 70 Shamman. The poor fool nightelf was a 56 hunter.


Ok, so sure there was elements of schoolyard bullying "(I'll get my big brother to bash you up!)" and I could have taken him easily enough alone but it was just so funny to mislead him into a suicidal attack.

A lesson for all you pvpers out there: Sometimes, your victim will pull a bait and switch and you will bite off far more than you can chew. In this case, BC, Donkey and I were grouped together to do some exploring along the coast of tanaris and I had gone on ahead due to slower mount. BC was following along about 30 seconds behind. All I had to do was delay long enough for the cavalry to arrive.

Elites, they aint so tough after all.

One great thing that the Burning Crusade expansion gives to solo explorers, is an opportunity to get into areas that would have previously been almost inaccessible. A higher level 60's character can get past level 60 elites without too much difficulty.

On my travels as a young adventurer, I came across several areas which were protected by ?? level elite monsters. If I got too close, they came running out and ripped me to shreds in seconds.
Now that I'm level 67, I've come back for revenge... and to take a look around.

A fellow guildmember and I hit up three of these areas the other night. She's a level 69 priest who has done an excellent job of keeping my undead ass intact in numerous previous adventures.

Our evening's entertainment started at Undercity, where we grouped up and headed via bat to Taren Mill. Off the west coast of Hilsbarad is a nasty place called Purgation Isle, infested with undead monks, priests and paladins. When I swam past the isle at about level 18 I was more interested in dodging the tribes of murlocs (yes more murlocs) on shore and didnt even see the nasty elite dive into the waters and rip me to shreds. This time I was ready for them!

After obliterating the murlocs, I dived in and swam accross to the island. My friend was showing off and used levitate to keep her dainty undead feet above water. On shore I imediately stealthed up and ambushed the first opponent. Level 58-60 elites tend not to last too long against two high-60's in a bad mood!

We fought our way up the island to the top. I wont spoil it other than to say its worth a look but nothing particularly awesome. There was a nice mineral node at the top and my friend fell off the edge of the island while trying to reach a herb node. Lots of dead elites on the way up that had started to respawn as we made our way back down.

We rode back to Taren Mill via the edge of Southshore, just to keep the natives restless. From there it was a bat to Undercity, then the Zeppelin to Orgrimmar. In Org we took the wyvern down to brackenwall village in Dustwallow marsh for our second island adventure. Always keeping an eye out for mercantile opportunities, I bought several of the first aid books from the vendor in Brackenwall and mailed them to my bank alt. Mounting up on our rusty steeds my companion and I headed off to the east cost just north of Theramore Isle.

Ah, Theramore. This brings back memories....
Theramore Isle contains an ally base, but more importantly, is the home of one of Azeroth's most prominent magicians, the lovely Jaina Proudmore. Rumour swirls around about her past relationships with both Thrall and Kael'thas Sunstrider, also key players in modern events. Our guild took the time to visit Theramore once... but the guards, and Jaina herself, were less than pleased to see us. We only wanted to say hello. The bouncers wouldnt let us in, so we ...ahem... persuaded them to lie down quietly. Jaina was entertaining guests at the top of her tower. Someone in the raid group got a bit too close and she cracked a hissy-fit of epic proportions. All I remember was the flashing lights and the scorching warmth before I was visiting the lovely spirit healer. I was soon joined by the rest of our raid group, including a good half-dozen level 70's. Even the guards had recovered before we got back to our corpses and a few of us suffered further casualties at their hands before we took the better part of valor and buggered off into the sunset!

... Ah, where was I? Oh yes. Dustwallow. Off the east coast are a chain of islands. When I was here last time, they were occupied by mostly turtles and (more!) murlocs. This time, some Venture Co divers had moved in scavenging off the shipwrecks. The island to the furthest east is called Alcaz island. This is a thinly veiled reference to Alcatraz, but like the real world Island, most of the excitement was over by the time I'm able to visit.

At the docks, we were greeted by a couple of fierce elite hydra. Their skins were added to my collection and we moved inland. We encountered the naga guards, also elites, and made short work of them. From a vantage point half way up a hill, we could see the southern lighthouse, but it appeared unoccupied. Suddenly, a great flying shape swooped past us..... a firemane Dragon. We prepared for battle on its return but unfortunately were unable to engage... its all roar and no bite.

Further inland there are a number of former prison barracks. These were empty of anything interesting, but still guarded by lots of Naga. On a hilltop was one of the swirling pink portals such as are used to get into Naxx, but no indication what to do to activate them. Two interesting things were found nearer a set of barracks buildings however. Dr Weavil has left a flying machine here under guard of two tough bodyguards. These were the first elites that were even slightly challenging but we disposed of them easily enough. Beside the flyer was a ramp descending into a sewer pit. It looked somewhat ruined but was still guarded by lots of Naga elites, so we investigated. Inside, through an underwater passage, we found the Naga lord. Wowhead tells us that we are several patches too late to find the true king of Stormwind, imprisoned here by the Defias. Oh well, We'd have just killed him anyway!




It was getting quite late, so my companion and I rushed back to the flightmaster at Brackenwall and flew off to Shadowprey Village in Desolace, since she didn't have the FP in Ferelas. A quick mounted tour past Dire Maul and collecting the flight point in Ferelas's horde base ended up with us on the docks at the western shore, just short of the Ally contrlled Feathermoon stronghold on its Island. We boarded the boat, resisted temptation to kill the level 40-ish human pally that was also aboard. Our true destination wasnt the ally base at all, but a narrow canyon on the eastern side of the "isle of Dread" to the south.

I jumped ship as it sped past the northern shores, but my friend got stuck somehow. Eventually she was able to disembark as well and we headed south. My last visit here was when I was in the high level 40's and the scary Chimaeroks easily saw through my stealth, making short work of me. This time was different! There are several varieties of chimaerok on the island. All are level 60ish elites and moderately tough. At 67 with crap gear, I would strugle to kill one solo, but with lots of lovely healing it was fairly easy. Their daddy however is NO pushover. He looks just the same as the others but is a hell of a lot tougher. I had found his info on wowhead before we got there so wasnt expecting to win this fight. We got him down to only 95% before my healer was almost out of mana. I hit vanish to avoid death but was finished off by his AOE while my healer managed to run out of range. We will be back, with ranged DPS and a real tank to take him down!

We killed the naga in the cave at the north end of the island, then desecrated the festival fire outside of feathermoon before I hearthed and logged for the evening. Lots of fun.

Revenge - a dish best served grey

Murlocs. The mere mention of the word is enough to bring nightmares to the most stalwart adventurer. Creepy scaly fish-men from the deeps, Murlocs are appearing on many of Azeroth's coastlines, noisily devouring the local population. The ones along the coast of Tirisfal Glades are particularly nasty.
Long before they have a chance to learn even basic combat techniques, neophyte Forsaken are pitted against the schools of fish-men. An individual murloc isnt a great threat, certainly not much more than other hostiles in the area. What makes them different is they have lots of friends, are grouped close together, and flee when badly wounded. A solo undead can soon find themself fighting against overwhelming odds. Hamstrung, dazed and dazzled by ligntning, many a young forsaken has met an early demise.

Such was the fate of several of my early characters. I HATE murlocs more than anything else in the game. I've got much better at avoiding creatures like the murlocs as I've learned the game but I still take a deal of pleasure returning and smashing swarms of them into pulp!

Almost every time I revisit Undercity, I'll take a short detour north or north west to the Tirisfal shoreline and hunt me a school of murloc! I can safely stand in the middle of a whole village full of them, ignoring their attacks, before unleashing my pet, raining down fiery destruction, or simply pulverising them one at a time with my fishing rod. Revenge Is mine MUHAHAHHAHA!


Look for "I am Murloc" on youtube.
heres one link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOpdyytB3OY