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