Getting There!

I finally attained the ‘Lunar Festival’ achievement on Friday night, pugging Azjol-Nerub and 3/2 guild run/pug on Utgarde Pinnacle (Thanks guys, especially Fli). Thank goodness, no more visiting Elders [I love this]. So just ‘Children’s Week’ to go for the Violet Proto-Drake. To tell the truth, I’m not looking forward to most of the battleground achievements, but we’ll see how it goes.

I’ve decided that, not before time, I will have to bite the bullet and gear up McRaffles a bit, prior to the release of Cataclysm. So as I don’t really have time for raiding, I’m just going to have to do Heroics for Emblems of Triumph and the odd Emblem of Frost. Then I can make up the difference by blowing a chunk of my hard earned cash on some BoE epic upgrades.

After reading the latest patch-notes, I have sold all of my Titansteel Bars as they will probably plummet in price once the cool-down is removed. I have also tried to buy Frozen Orbs but I was too late to cash in on last weeks price of 7g each and had to be happy with picking up the few that were still going sub 15g. It looks like the price is still rising, so I may just see where it stops and relist them for a profit.

I was asked by a RL friend who also has a Jewelcrafter and an Alchemist about which epic gem cuts I usually go for, so I decided to pass on the main cuts I use, this is by no means a definitive list, and by all means I would welcome any comments as to what you think may be better, it is just what I’ve found to be the best seller (not just quickest) for each epic gem type on my server:

Red      –  Cardinal Ruby      –  Bold        –      +20 Strength

Yellow  –  King’s Amber      –  Rigid        –     +20 Hit Rating

Blue      –  Majestic Zircon    –  Solid        –     +30 Stamina

Purpl e  –  Dreadstone          –  Purified     –    +12 SP +10 Spirit

Orange  –  Ametrine             –  Luminous  –    +12 SP +10 intellect

Green   –  Eye of Zul             –    I don’t bother cutting, I just try and sell raw.

Meta    –  Skyflare Diamond  –  Chaotic    –    +21 Critical Strike Rating and 3% Increased Critical Damage

After making a few investments (fingers crossed), I currently have a little over 92,000 gold.

~McRaffles

Onwards and Upwards

Apologies for the lack of recent updates, a mix of RL mishaps and being real busy at work has seriously impeded my ability to blog. So, what’s been happening in-game? Well let’s start with McRaffles achieving ‘Love Fool’ last weekend. After making a concerted effort this week, I only require two Dungeon Elders for the ‘Lunar Festival’ achievement. Being a rogue I managed to solo all the others (mainly thanks to WoWHead). The two left however, (Azjol-Nerub an Utgarde Pinnacle) are not possible to solo, so I should hopefully manage to pick up a group for them either tonight or over the weekend then it’s only ‘Children’s Week’ to go (sigh).

On the gold making front, as I am still plodding away at the holiday achievements, I have not really been concentrating too much on accumulating wealth. Still, even with minimal effort I have raised my working capital to just over 83,000 gold. I now have an extremely kind gentleman who will supply me with Eternal Airs, Waters and raw Chalcedony at a very reasonable price. This will go a long way to supporting the seemingly insatiable demand for Eternal Belt Buckles and Chaotic Skyflare Diamonds.

I had one of those rare occurrences happen to me last night whilst carrying out my daily epic gem transmute, for the first time ever I saw the amazing sight of ‘X5 Cardinal Ruby’ pop up. That made me very happy, I had experienced X2 a few times and even X3 once or twice, but that was a first for my daily transmute, not wanting to sound greedy or anything, but I hope it isn’t the last.

~McRaffles

Nearly a Love Fool

I cracked on a fair bit with my ‘Love is in the Air’ achievement last night; I finished the ‘Lonely?’ and ‘Sweet Tooth’ together then ‘Nation of Adoration’ (I still have a problem finding my way around The Exodar). I then completed the Goblin Quest-line ‘Dangerous Love’ I think it's called. I was a bit gutted that I wasted a ‘Love Fool’ outside Naxx by the Summoning Stone, but it turned out okay as I was invited to join a group by a guy who saw my failed attempt (I guess he Pitied the Fool twice that day :P ). I then hoofed it down to the Battle Ring of Gurubashi Arena in Stranglethorn Vale and crossed that one off too. That means that I only have Wintergrasp, CoS and Arathi Basin left for that achievement, no worries.

Apart from finishing of the last three ‘Pitied the Fool’ locations, I only had ‘My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose’ to go, so I decided to try and get a group together for Utgarde Keep – normal, the easiest of the three dungeons that have bosses that drop the Roses. I thought that 4 or 5 level 80’s would breeze through to the first boss in no time at all – the problem was that I couldn’t get anyone interested. All my guildies were otherwise engaged, so I decided to hit up Dungeon Finder to join a group; between 20–25 minutes later I eventually get into a group of a couple of 71’s a 72 and a 76. I let them know that I was not interested in rolling on anything other than the Roses from the first boss and we buffed up and headed out. Out druid tank was fine, though a little rusty as he confessed he hadn’t bear-tanked for quite a while and everyone seemed to be pulling their weight fine. I had a few aggro stealing problems (obviously) however with judicious use of ‘Tricks of the Trade’ on the tank, all seemed to be going well (if a little slowly).

We cleared the trash and got to Prince Keleseth – I TotT the tank and open up with everything – the Prince is no more. I pass on the blue whatever he drops and need on the Roses – nice, wait up – someone else needed too – WHAT? I wait with baited breath and of course the gods of RNG shit on me – I roll a 16 and he gets an 84, I can’t believe it. He comes out with some rubbish about needing by accident – yeah right!! Then he offers to sell me the Roses – ah, so that’s your game eh!! Okay, how much? 20g, he says. No worries, I would have paid at least 100g; so the trade screen opens, and I even put in 50g, and guess what – No Roses – And the ‘This Item can’t be traded across realms’ bullshit flashes across the screen – Bollocks!

I must admit I was fully intending to stay with the party through the whole dungeon, but after that, my heart wasn’t in it – I apologised and quit. I don’t normally act like a petulant child; however I was so annoyed that it would have ended in tears if I’d stayed – Sorry guys.

Ah well, still a couple of days left, I’ll hopefully pick them up tonight. I’ve got a couple of days off now (Friday & Monday) so I’ll see you on Tuesday with my ‘Love Fool’ achievement (fingers crossed). Have a great weekend.

~McRaffles

(Un) Lucky

As I said in answer to a comment on my last post, they've only gone and 'fixed' the trick to get loads of Lovely Charms from Ulduar. You can no longer loot Lovely Charms whilst in a vehicle - major bummer! Looks like I'll have to head back to the Cultists in Icecrown.

I have however knocked out a few more achievements for the event, including ‘Tough Love’ (killing the three bosses in Shadowfang Keep). Hopefully I’ll manage to get the rest finished before the end of the holiday – I really don’t fancy having to wait another year.

~McRaffles

Love is in the Air

I think I will have to put my gold making on hold for the next couple of weeks, the Love is in the Air holiday runs straight into the Lunar Festival and those are two of the last three holiday achievements that I require for my Violet Proto-Drake from the “What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been” meta-achievement.

I only started knocking down the achievements last night, as I believed that it was on for two weeks – wrong, just the one so I’d better get cracking. I was a bit behind so it was very helpful to read the tip on both Anaalius’s blog and JMTC - In a nutshell, group with a friend, make a raid, enter Ulduar (your friend can then leave if they want), start the event, jump into a vehicle (I prefer the Demolisher) kill the three Sentinels then start killing dwarves to your hearts content. As long as you have the Lovely Charms Collectors Kit from Kwee Q. Peddlefeet outside Stormwind bank, they drop lots and lots of Lovely Charms. Ten Lovely Charms combines into one Lovely Charm Bracelet and they can be used for the daily quest or exchange 1:1 for Love Tokens. The Love Tokens can then be exchanged for a lot of the items (from the vendor next to Kwee Q. Peddlefeet) required to complete various individual achievements and holiday pets. Alternatively, you can always sell the Bracelets in the Trade Channel - they are currently going for between 10 - 20 gold each.

~McRaffles