WoW 101

2-manning Scarlet Monastery Graveyard

October 5, 2007 By Gitr 2 Comments

Last night Punitor and I attempted the insane: 2-manning Graveyard. We didn’t have any trouble getting through 2-3 mobs at a time, although it often took most of what I had in the way of mana and health by the end of a fight.

We hit our stride in the halls, with me trying to master aggro playing with a decked out level 37 warlock and whichever pet he had out at the time. I got a little extra help when we got to the undead section by way of my extra undead spells.

Into the crypt, we pulled more than what is considered “fun” a couple of times, but survived. And there he was: Bloodmage Thalnos.

Here is how it turned out:

He dropped a useless Bloodmage Mantle.

Brewfest Is Underway, and Paladr Joined In

October 4, 2007 By Gitr 5 Comments

I upped my graphics last night for some anti-aliasing 2xQ on my ancient nVidia 5500. It slowed things down to about 8 fps, but I got nicer screenshots last night and object seem to “pop” a bit more.

We went to Orgrimmar to run around doing some Brewfest festivities (I keep trying to call it “Beerfest”) and see if this new generation of festivals catches my interest more than the others. I don’t have a single item from any rep/ticket hording (pun intended).

We did the first ram run to get the deliveries from the road to Razor Hill, but I ran out of time doing the Dhrone’s Barking ram run. I got to all 4 flags and the timer ran out just outside the entrance to Org. I figured out a better path to take and should get it tonight.

For some PvP fun, as I ran out of Org, an Alliance 35 Warrior flagged me for a duel. I darn near had him several time. I swear he popped a potion because a warrior should not be able to regen health that fast. I had him down to 10% a couple of times. Dishonorable warriors are the worst.

We bought a Scarlet Belt off the AH last night and got a hankering for doing some SM runs with the guildies, even if we won’t finish it or need to fill out with a PuG. Lance, Phil? You in? I need more Scarlet gear, guys. I’m sure we can handle the Graveyard, and I think we can get a decent amount into the Armory with a main healer. I can stinking tank anything right now, as long as I can keep my health up, which is a tad hard when taking so many hits. WTB a Priest or Shaman. 🙂

Another New UI; MUCH Less Memory Usage

September 26, 2007 By Gitr 3 Comments

I follow WowInsider’s Reader UI of the week and eagerly await every new UI (and drool over every new workspace). Today’s was no different from the norm. I LOVE IT! It even has the added feature of working. Now, a slight disclaimer is that a couple of the items did not load when I ran today because of the patch going to 2.2, but I didn’t write them down, and don’t care to. It works like a charm and I don’t miss anything that didn’t load. One thing of note so far is that I can’t get the buttons on AutoBar to work at all. I ended up creating a few huge buttons on the left side of the minimap to click for vitals.

Here is my before and after memory consumption:

. NICE!

Okay, I’m sure you’re dying for a look, so here it is at 1280×1024 on a 3 year old video card:

Ding 27; Blacksmithing up to 225/225

September 25, 2007 By Gitr 3 Comments

I dinged last night with the help of Punitor running some tough-to-do quests as a paladin. I got Steelsnap and the 30 Elite gizmo tiger and the 10 eggs before logging.

I got my blacksmithing up to 225 and topped it off until level 35. I think I’ll start recruiting 60+s before I head back onto Huntr for long-term leveling. I’d like to get Paladr to 35 to craft Huntr great gear and for money-making. That will give me a 350+ Tailor, Enchanter, Blacksmith, and 2 First Aids at 375. Oh, and Huntr’s cooking is around 330.

Time to get back to work now that I restored the blog, sans plug-ins.

Ding 62; Found a New Webgame – Duels

September 21, 2007 By Gitr 2 Comments

I dinged 62 last night after getting my giddy-up to level out for the evening. I got about 40% of the level done in one sitting by doing Zangarmarsh quests with full rest. Notable kill: Boglash went down with Tiggr still having 62% health and Huntr with 40% mana. Woot. Deadr couldn’t solo him until 64, if my memory serves me right.

Paladr hit 150 Blacksmithing in pursuit of using the Mithril Spike plans he got in SM on Wednesday night. Metal is a bit hard to find on the AH in Velen, but I’ll manage. I’m making things I almost find useful now.

Duels

I’m sure some of you have heard of Duels already. DM Osbon pointed me to it on Monday. I didn’t get a chance to register until yesterday morning and I played last night after Huntr hit 62. MAN!! It’s addictive. I moved up through the first 3 levels pretty fast, and now I’m at level 7 with a bunch of duels sitting in the queue for others to log in and play me.

I created Gitr (of course) and at level 5 made him a sword-specialized warrior. It took me a few duels and skirmishes to figure out the reward system since I don’t like to read documentation outside of my job. It was pretty quick and intuitive, though. The game includes quests, equipable gear, talents, XP, gold, tokens, and item drops when you buy bags. I’ve lucked out on a few item drops already that you can even sell on the market higher than vendor trashing price.

It’s a great time-waster, and I strongly advocate it for those with boring jobs that just require you to sit at your desk all day and answer the phone when it rings. I wasted almost 2 hours after midnight feeding my new addiction. Get it here, you won’t be sorry.

Ding 61; Already Ran Hellfire Ramparts

September 18, 2007 By Gitr 17 Comments

I’ll roll this all into one for you today. I get to pick up my first pair of new glasses in 7 years today. I’m done with contacts for now – pretty much only for outdoor activities where glasses will be a nuisance.

I got Huntr into Hellfire Ramparts Sunday night. I’ve added a paladin a level or two above me to my Friends list because he’s always going when I’m in the queue. We ended up with a 64 hunter, 63 paladin, 63 rogue, and a 70 shaman to tank. Our only death was when the paladin pulled one of the guys leading up to the spiral ramp when we were sneaking by after downing Watchkeeper Gargolmar. We ended up taking on 7 at one time, but came out okay with no healer after 30 seconds. 🙂 TWO Beastmasters FTW!

I was so excited when the last boss fell, I forgot to take screenshots because they both went down sooo easily compared to the others and from my past experiences in Ramparts. Hunter is sooo much fun.

I dinged 61 Monday morning before work. It opened up a bunch of new questgivers that had gray exclamation marks over their heads. Last night I blasted through about 20 quests and got another blue drop: Gauntlets of Purification. I debated amongst my toons and decided to not hold on to them until Paladr hits 61. I’m cashing out on them now while the getting is good. That’s two rare drops in one week.

What have you been up to on your realms? It’s a good time to catch up on your toons around the world. Feel free to post your Armory links and latest blog posts in the comments and we’ll have a big free-for-all sharing session about what’s the latest with the Gitr readers.