The Great Gem Grind

Another productive weekend, I eventually made it into Sethekk Halls on Friday night, accompanied by Aerious, a fine guildie paladin, who kindly escorted me to the Talon Lord Ikiss to finally complete the Pilgrim’s Bounty holiday achievement. I’m pretty sure I could have solo’d it, though not nearly as quickly or efficiently. I am now the proud owner of the Pilgrim title and a fine plump turkey pet (which will probably never see the light of day again). Thanks Aerious.

I then spent the rest of the weekend levelling StoneKold’s jewelcrafting. I started on Friday at about 225 so I was now into the Thorium levels, oh joy! So I sent MacNeilly over to Silithus which wasn’t that far as he’d been mining Mithril in Tanaris up until then. So a few circuits of Silithus, especially down into the hives for the Ooze Covered Rich Thorium Veins, and I had bagged quite a decent haul of ore. I added that to a couple of banked stacks that I’d forgotten about and a quick bit of smelting and I posted 50 Thorium Bars and 80 ore to StoneKold.

He then crafted Thorium Settings until he hit 250 then prospected the remaining ore for the gems. With a bit more subsidising from the bank he was up to level 280 and in a bit of trouble. The easiest way to get to 290 (seemingly) is to craft 10 Onslaught Rings which require 1 x Essence of Earth, 1 x Powerful Mojo and 1 Thorium Setting each. At 25-30g each on the AH, I decided to farm the 10 Powerful Mojos. So over to McRaffles, port to Ironforge, hop a taxi to Eastern Plaguelands and ride up to Zul’Mashar in the north-east and start slaughtering the Mossflayer trolls over and over again. 10 Powerful Mojos and many stacks of Runecloth later I mail a grateful StoneKold. The Eternal Essences were a lot easier to get, they have quite a good drop rate from the Desert Rumblers in north-west Silithus which just so happened to be where MacNeilly was parked after his Thorium farming. That got StoneKold up to level 290 with enough Azerothian Diamonds and Huge Emeralds to jump straight to 300. All these rings and necklaces were disenchanted and the materials banked to be auctioned later. (Guys gotta make a living somehow)

Onwards to Outland and learn Master Jewelcrafting. MacNeilly was definitely happier mining Adamantite Ore in Nagrand as he could cover a lot more ground on his Epic Gryphon. He sent over a few stacks of Fel Iron Ore for prospecting and a lot of Golden Draenite, Azure Moonstone and Deep Peridot (thank goodness for all those Consortium Gem Bags). After a bunch of Gem cuts I finally left him last night at level 340 with enough materials to make the jump to 350 without too much difficulty. I hope!

~McRaffles

Sick Of Turkey Yet?

Having problems with ‘The Turkinator’ achievement for ‘Pilgrim’s Bounty’? Get yourself up to Tristfal Glades. I was up there for ‘Pilgrim’s Peril’ the ‘sitting at the Hordes tables’ achievement in Undercity and was amazed at how many turkeys were wandering about. So many more than there ever seemed to be in Elwynn Forest (where I killed over a hundred with no joy). Oh and back to the ‘Pilgrim’s Peril’ achievement, if your having trouble getting the Ogrimmar table, then go to Razor Hill to the south and get it there, much easier. I’ve only got ‘Terokkar Turkey Time’ to go, and I should get that finished tonight.

Even though they bring their own frustrations, I must confess a real enjoyment of the Warcraft holidays. I find them a welcome diversion in their own right and of course the opportunity to get a 310 % speed mount (Violet Proto-Drake) doesn’t hurt either. Still I suppose that after getting the achievement I’ll have to get back to levelling my Jewelcrafting on StoneKold…..ah well.

~McRaffles

Mine, All Mine

This week I have been mostly mining! I started off patrolling Borean Tundra on MacNeilly’s new epic gryphon picking up all the Cobalt Ore I could find, though I found it to be few and far between. As soon as I skilled up enough, I progressed to doing circuits of Sholazar Basin, grabbing as much Saronite and very rarely Titanium as I could lay my hands on. This took a little longer than it really should have, mainly because MacNeilly is still only level 70 and Sholazar Basin is full of level 76/77 mobs. Still, there are a lot of nodes that are free from mobs and on the odd occasion that I did get jumped it was quite easy to get away (Pally bubble FTW). Even with a couple of other farmers it didn’t take me that long to amass 50 stacks of Saronite a couple of stacks of Titanium and a serious amount of gems and eternals, this coupled with about 20 stacks of Cobalt Ore that I got earlier seemed like quite a haul. Then I remembered what I was actually trying to accomplish; the whole idea of levelling up my mining skill was meant to be to assist StoneKold in levelling his Jewelcrafting. So armed with an online Jewelcrafting guide I switched over to StoneKold and took the portal to Exodar and became an apprentice jewelcrafter.

Now I’d heard that it was quite expensive to level JCing but as I had a Grandmaster miner ready and willing to supply the raw materials, I thought that it would be a dawdle. Oh how wrong I was. I sent MacNeilly back to Ironforge to start the hunt for the 4 or 5 stacks of Copper that I’d need to get started. Even on his Epic Charger with the Crusader Aura active, it still took a fair while to find, mine and post back the required amount. I thought about giving up and just hitting the AH instead, yet another bad idea. I don’t know if it’s just my server but low-level minerals cost a bomb, and that’s if you can even find them. That wasn’t the worst part though, after leaving Dun Morogh in search of Tin, I finally decided to head to Thousand Needles. After a couple of circuits I had found some more Copper, a bit of Iron and Mithril but only 2 stacks of Tin. This was not going as well as I though, after a good few hours mining, prospecting and crafting I was only up to 133.

Thank goodness for Pilgrim’s Bounty, you can’t beat a good old Warcraft holiday to take your mind off mindless grinding. Based on the North American holiday of Thanksgiving, Pilgrim’s Bounty let’s you partake in cooking, eating and sharing the foods of the holiday and of course the obligatory ‘dressing up in silly clothes’ too. A couple of good things about this holiday are the +10% reputation gain earned by eating five servings of every food at the ‘Bountiful Table’. There are also five new recipes to learn which will come in very handy if you are seeking the ‘Chef de Cuisine’ achievement for which you need to learn 160 recipes. So I switched to McRaffles (trainee achievement whore) and get started. As usual there is a whole lot of jumping around from place to place which I was pleased to see some entrepreneurial mages taking advantage of, by selling a serious amount of portals. I finished of last night with four achievements under my belt, a stack of cooked delights, a full set of holiday gear and a couple of ‘Turkey Shooters', with which to blast unsuspecting rogues of various races. If I get turned into a sodding turkey once more…….

~McRaffles

Blog Wars

The current question on every warcraft blog reader’s lips is, Gevlon or Marko? In case for some reason you didn’t catch it, in a nutshell, Marko (Just My 2 Copper) asked Gevlon (Greedy Goblin) to write a review about ‘Gold Guide Sellers’, totally slating them. Then at the end of the article say that Marko’s guide was one of the best. Gevlon of course refused, Marko then asked him again Gevlon then posted the whole thing on his blog, naming names and totally nailing Marko.

This resulted in much fuss and furore in the blogosphere with certain (usually anonymous) people getting their panties in a bunch and swearing never to set foot on one or other site again. Well if that’s the kind of thing that upset’s you, then fine, though I hope that you don’t forget to keep up with your letters to ‘Points of View’ and ‘The Daily Mail’.

I may as well add my tuppence worth, for what it matters; I’ll definitely still be reading both blogs. I think they both have many good points and a couple of bad: Gevlon is a self professed Greedy Goblin, he can sometimes come across (to me) as a pseudo-intellectual economist and philosopher. There are some excellent lessons in generating in-game income (most of which I will only scratch the surface of). He makes no apologies for his frequent tirades against ‘Morons and Slackers’. He is also quick to point out the many flaws in being a ‘social’ and how this can seriously hurt your pursuit of gold. I love it.

Marko’s blog, on the other hand is full of gold making tips and tactics which don’t necessarily require the time, effort and total narcissistic exploitation of all lesser mortals that Gevlon condones. One of the main differences are Marko is upfront about using his blog to generate real income. Advertising banners and links and pointers to his own gold making guide are very prominent. Though I wouldn’t personally ever dream of purchasing one, I don’t have a problem with a guy trying to make a buck. If anyone is stupid, naïve or just plain desperate enough to want to, then caveat emptor.

BTW, Happy First Anniversary Marko.

A storm in a tea-cup you may say . It did get me thinking though. When I created this blog I didn’t see any problems with having adverts on it. Then I noticed that most of the adverts were for gold making guides, grinding guides etc. Well what credibility would I have left if I professed a disdain for such material and openly let them be peddled on my little blog. You may or may not have noticed their absence…..

~McRaffles

Dings and D'ohs

DING! StoneKold is Level 80 at last, okay so he’s a Deathknight and only had to go 25 levels but hey, big deal, it made me happy. I finally got there yesterday afternoon while my better half was engrossed in Eastenders – The Movie (Sunday omnibus). I had already cleared Sholazar Basin of quests, started my dailies for the Oracles. I then moved up to Icecrown and completed the quests to begin the Ebon Blade grind, finished the Fleshwerks and ended up dinging during the starting quests for the Argent Vanguard. WOOT! And relax!

So, what now? Well as previously intimated I jumped over to my ‘never seen the light of day since pre-WotLK’ Paladin, MacNeilly. He emerged, blinking, out of the Aldor bank in Shattrath, wondering where the hell all the people went! Well I decided to show him; a quick port to Stormwind, a short ride up to the docks (docks, I don’t remember any docks) and on to the first boat to Borean Tundra. I went into the Inn in Valiance Keep, logged on to McRaffles, purchased a book of Cold Weather Flying and promptly posted it to MacNeilly. Back onto MacNeilly, pick up mail, learn and up up and away. Jeez! How slow? Non-epic flying mounts FTL.

Anyway I take him on a little tour of the Tundra, just to get him acclimatised, and seconds later a mining node pops up on my mini-map. Ha-ha, I know I can’t skill-up (forgot to pickup Grandmaster Mining) however, it wouldn’t hurt to dust down my pick and have a go, would it? Wrong! Halfway through mining the node I get jumped by two smugglers in the Abandoned Reach. Not really a problem, wrong again, I start my normal rotation, but half of the damn buttons have disappeared, where did they go? That’s when I realised; I hadn’t used him in such a long time, all of his talent points were sitting unallocated…..D'OH! More by luck than judgement (excuse the pun) I managed, by the skin of my teeth, to kill the smugglers, loot the node and get my sorry ass outta there double-quick (well as quick as you can on a non-epic gryphon)

Back to Valiance Keep, train Grandmaster Mining and Blacksmithing and alt-tab onto Elitest Jerks Pally forum to find a decent levelling build. I decide to go Retribution (used to be Protection) and log back on and assign the points. I then, slowly, flew towards Dalaran, picking up a few mining skill points and doing a better job taking down the odd mob. I eventually made it to Dalaran and made the ‘A Hero’s Welcome’ inn my new home. I then decided to bite-the-bullet and transfer enough cash for him to learn epic flying and purchase a Swift Purple Gryphon. Luckily my AH shenanigans over the past couple of weeks allowed me to cover this without any issues, still, it did make a fair dent in my bank account. Ah well it’s only money, I’m sure being able to mine on a fast flying mount will soon pay for itself.

~McRaffles

Around the Horn

So I couldn’t stand Zul’Drak anymore. StoneKold dinged level 78 about three quarters the way through the quests and thought ‘stuff this for a game of soldiers’ and made my way over to Sholazar Basin and my old friend, the ubiquitous Hemet Nesingwary. I like it there, lush vegetation, meandering rivers and loads of Shardhorn Rhinos to hack apart. Apologies, I don’t know what came over me (though I do enjoy knocking those birds from their comfy perches). I must admit that it was a bit different this time, most probably because McRaffles was a skinner/leatherworker and all that Borean Leather just laying there seemed like such a waste. Still, I was able to post a couple of stacks of Rhino Meat and lots of Cold Meat back to him to top up supplies for the daily cooking quests.

As of last night I had completed all of the Nesingwary Camp quests as well as all of Freya’s too and am now more that halfway to 79. I’ve still got to complete all of the River’s Basin quests then it’s on to the Oracles/Frenzyheart chain. I’ll probably choose the Oracles again as I’m not really a fan of the puppymen. I hope I fare better with my Mysterious Egg than I did on McRaffles, I’ve now lost track of how many eggs he’s lovingly incubated without even a sniff of the Green Prot-Drake mount, ah well, I’m sure it’ll happen soon.

This weekend I think I’ll make a concentrated push to the big 80. I have really enjoyed levelling and learning to play a Death Knight but I can’t wait to get back on McRaffles and hit some raids. I’ll need to have a break before I level my pally from 70 to 80 and the last thing I want, is for it to feel like a chore. I also have to find the time (and money) to power level Jewellcrafting on StoneKold, but that will also have to wait. I am a rogue at heart and I can’t wait to blend back into the shadows.

~McRaffles

Of Mice and Pandas

I finally received my birthday present from my daughters on Friday and therefore had the whole weekend to test it out. My new laser gaming mouse, the Logitech G9: Installation of the mouse was a dream, straight USB plug and play, auto detect and away. This works pretty well if you're okay with the default settings. In order to get the advanced features and save custom profiles you will need to install the SetPoint software from the CD. The software installation took a couple of minutes but was definitely worth it; the interface gives you easy access to various options including customising the LED colours, macro recording facilities, enabling you to record keyboard instructions and bind them to a mouse button (I think that may come in handy) and up to five software profiles which are stored in the mouse’s own memory. I have only scratched the surface; the DPI switching between 200 and 3200 DPI is easy to use and gives great control. I know other mice now boast DPI of up to 5600 but I found that even 3200 was too high for Warcraft. It also comes with interchangeable grips, customisable weights, MicroGear scroll wheel and low-friction braided USB cable. Overall an amazing mouse, I love it, thank you for my birthday present girls xxx.

How immensely satisfying, I got my screenshot (see previous post) published on the ‘Greedy Goblin’ blog. It still amazes me that some people seem to think that they have the god-given right to dictate the virtual economy of an online multiplayer game. Gevlon’s site is full of instances of some silly git telling everyone else that they are the AH daddy and to either leave or stop crashing the prices, how surreal. Gevlon’s name and shame tactic is the minimum they deserve, if it was up to me then the rough end of a pineapple would be involved!

Still, my little foray into the realm of the goblin certainly has paid dividends, I now have nearly 6k gold across all my characters. Not bad from being virtually skint a few days ago, I think I’ll ease back a little, but not too much as I will still have to budget for getting the full Cold Weather and Epic Flying package, plus an Epic Flying Mount for my pally once StoneKold reaches Level 80. Hopefully the big 80 ding shouldn’t take too long as he’s currently ripping through Zul’Drak and is now over halfway into level 77.

Finally just a quick word about the new purchasable pets; now I’m not going to get into a long debate about how Blizzard selling pets is the thin end of the wedge, or it’s okay, it’s for charity mate. No, I’ll leave that for others, as far as I’m concerned if you want to pay then it’s no skin off my nose (I certainly will not be buying one). My issue is the bloody sound effects, I spent a fair bit of time in the AH this weekend and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan film again. It seriously got on my nerves. I know I can just remove my headphones (and I did) but should I really have to?

~McRaffles

Goblins and Guilds

As I said the other day, I needed to raise some capital and decided to flog some buff food on the AH. I was happy to see that all my Fish Feasts and Dragonfin Filets had sold at the first time of posting; I checked my mail to rake in the cash and see the following mail:

Though I may not actually subscribe to all the tenants of pure ‘goblinism’ I do enjoy reading Gevlon’s Greedy Goblin blog, in particular the ‘Morons of the Week’ section, where, if you’re not already aware, they name and shame M&S (Morons and Slackers) who, among other things, seem to think that for some reason, you have to play the AH according to their rules. So I sent off the screenshot to Gevlon with the following note:

Gevlon,
Though I am not actually a Goblin, I do thoroughly enjoy reading your well written, insightful and sometimes contentious articles. I recently spent a chunk of cash on cold weather and epic flying for my DK alt and decided to replenish the coffers by selling a couple of hundred Fish Feasts and Dragonfin Filets that I had squirreled away for a rainy day. Would you believe it, I got this in the post and immediately thought of you. I must be doing something right.
Regards
McRaffles

Just a quick word about my guild, I didn’t really feel comfortable saying too much about them in this blog until I checked with the GM that it was okay. Well I checked and it’s fine. The ‘Knights of Columbus’ on Lightbringer (EU); more than ably led by the mighty Fli. I have now attached a link to the web site over on the right, under my ‘Favourite Sites’ list (cunningly hidden under the ‘Guild Web Site’ link). I know this is a shameless plug but hey, it’s my guild and I’ll plug it as much as I want to. Anyway, they are great and I love them all, well apart from Adam….don’t want him to get the wrong idea…I just like Adam, in a non-homoerotic manly way. A fun guild with some decent raid progression, works for me.

~McRaffles

Making Gold

After nearly putting myself in the poorhouse paying for StoneKold’s epic flying, I decided I had to replenish the coffers a bit. McRaffles happened to have a couple of hundred Dragonfin Angelfish left over from the grind to get the Sea Turtle Mount. As I also pretty much always complete the cooking daily, I have a fair stock of Northern Spices and a stack of tokens to trade for more if required. So on with my trusty Chef’s Hat and I quickly (at least a damn site quicker than if I wasn’t wearing the hat) rustle up 227 Dragonfin Filet. I then sent 27 to StoneKold to keep him going, the 40 strength and 40 stamina are ideal for a growing DK. The remaining 200 are sent to my AH mule along with 25 Heavy Borean Armor Kits and 150 Fish Feasts that I’d been saving for a rainy day. Hopefully that should see the pennies roll in over the next couple of days.

StoneKold has just completed the Grizzly Hills quest achievement and is now over halfway through level 76. Next step Zul’Drak; not really one of my favourite zones, though I’m sure it will be fine. I was thinking about skipping straight to Sholazar Basin, which is my favourite zone, then I thought about all that experience and not forgetting the DE’ed quest rewards that I’d be missing out on and decided to bite the bullet, Zul’Drak tonight.

As much as I enjoy leveling, I do miss the thrill of raiding. I have never really had the time to be anything more than a part-time raider. My guild, which I’ve been with since I started playing the game, is currently halfway through Ulduar, regularly runs VoA and OS and is 1/5 in TotC (10). I personally helped them clear Naxx, but have only done the first couple of bosses in Ulduar. I still get asked to make up the numbers when they are short, but recently I have been spending most of my time on StoneKold. I can’t remember the last time I joined a raid, or even ran a 5 man Heroic for that matter. This is the curse of the casual gamer, so little time, so much to explore. You just have to get your priorities straight.

~McRaffles

Birthday Weekend

What a great weekend, it was my birthday on Sunday and as it was seriously awful weather; my lovely wife gave me carte blanche to play as much Warcraft as I wanted, what a great lady she is. As it was ‘Day of the Dead’ in game I quickly headed ‘home’ to Darnassus on McRaffles, spent a good 10 minutes hunting for the graveyard until I had to break the most masculine of covenants and ask for directions. 10 seconds later I was there. A quick dance with Catrina, a transform into a pretty cool Hispanic skeleton, grab the ‘Bread of the Dead’ recipe and a marigold from Chapman. Make some bread over the ghostly fire (requires only flour and milk) equip the marigold and offer the bread to a cheerful spirit. I then got the Macabre Marionette temporary pet, which is a cute little skeleton with a sombrero and maracas. Event over! Ah well, at least I got another achievement.

I then switched to StoneKold and sped through the rest of the Dragonblight quests and then on to Grizzly Hills. It really was a good move blowing 5k on the epic flying skill on Friday night, really speeds things along. I then found that my 325 enchanting skill was no longer high enough to DE quest greens and drops. Luckily I had stockpiled enough Infinite Dust and essences to make the grind up to 375 quick and relatively painless. The only glitch was the need for a Primal Might for an enchanting rod upgrade, and there was no way I was shelling out the 200g that the robbing gits on the AH wanted. A quick shout out to my guild yielded a fine young chap who would be happy to transmute one for me, gratis. (Thanks Iver)I only had to hop back on to McRaffles pick up a selection of banked Primals, mail them over and hey presto, one shiny new Primal Might.

I left StoneKold parked in an inn in Grizzly Hills last night, he is now four bars into level 76 and ¾ the way through the ‘Fo' Grizzle My Shizzle’ achievement (I love that achievement name). I think I’ll get him to 80 then power level him in Jewellcrafting. I understand that paired with enchanting for crafting and DE’ing it can be a right little money spinner, we’ll see. That brings me to MacNeilly, my level 70 pally, had maxed Mining and Blacksmithing prior to WotLK, so he shouldn’t really take that long to level if I switch him to Retribution and post him a Manual of Cold Weather Flying. I’m only interested in levelling his Mining to begin with, as that should go a long way to supporting StoneKold’s Jewellcrafting. Also I think it would be really cool to have 3 level 80’s prior to the release of Cataclysm next year, happy days.

~McRaffles