Project Lore

The last few weeks, I've become quite the little achievement whore. And since my main character wasn't around for the grand days of Vanilla WoW and the Burning Crusade, she has plenty to catch up on -- questing, rep, professions, dungeons and raids. In fact, some of my guildies with the same state of mind have started running old school achievement content on Fridays. it has been lots of fun - not only to see the content and old loot, but also to get that shiny message popping up saying that you've earned an achievement.

I also have a few alts, none of which have hit 80, and I've come to realize something: While I may love achievements on my main, I really don't care about what achievements my alts do or don't have. Sure, there are plenty of achievements that I'll get along the way if I level the way that I plan to, but other than those, I won't go out of my way to earn anything special.

It's a weird state of mind. I guess I think of it this way: If I've done the achievement once, I've already achieved it. Why go through the hassle again on an alt, unless it's something that I need to do to reach a completely unrelated goal in the game? We need to have a way to track achievements on multiple characters - not to tell us our total number of points, but instead the number we would have if we added up all the different achievements we've gotten altogether.

But I also can see another point of view:

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I've touched on this before, when talking about a lack of end game in the current content. But once again I personally have reached an interesting point in the life of my Paladin. When Wrath first came out, and I first got a look at all of the loot tables I spent a great deal of time planning my gear. I found every piece I wanted, determined what was the best in each slot, debated what set bonus were worth while, and finally came up with my "gear plan." More or less I  decided exactly what I wanted my character to look like when I had everything I wanted. Well last week I reached that point. With the exception of a few changes I made along the way as I gained a better understanding of end game bosses, my gear is exactly how I wanted it. What I am saying is there are no longer any pieces I want to drop, I have it all! There may be a few side grades here and there, but nothing that I absolutely must have for my character. There are no upgrades for me, so to speak. I know a few other people that find themselves in this same situation. It is interesting to see how they are dealing with it. I, for one, love raiding. I don't plan on stopping, but at the same time there is little reason to go anymore. Sure, I am still chasing down a few last achievements, but gear as a motivation is completely out of the equation. In a certain way, I feel like I have beaten the unbeatable game. Others in my shoes it seems have stopped playing all together, meanwhile I have been burying myself in an alt (loving the shaman!). I find myself logging on my paladin only for raids, and even then I am willing to sit out if another tank is chasing a drop. I really feel like I have been left no choice but shelve my main, at least until Ulduar. I know I can always find something to do, but I am hard pressed to find something I want to do. It is such an odd feeling, and one I have never experienced before. Any of you guys finding yourself in the same boat (or have you in the past)? If so, how are you feeling about it?

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As I’ve said before, I’m a little frustrated at the level of content available for my main at the moment. Lucky for me I am a bit of an Alt-o-holic, and have elsewhere to turn in this situation: my army of alts.

While the Paladin will always be my first love, I really enjoy giving my alts some play time and seeing how the other half lives. Lately I’ve been having a bit of trouble deciding which alt I want to level. My “main alt” has always been my rogue, but I am finding more and more that I am not enjoying the rogue as much as a I used to.

I also have a shaman, druid, and death knight (obviously) all above level 60. In trying to decide which one of these to spend time on, it occurred to me, why not level all of them!

Going back and logging into these characters for the first time since WotLK dropped, I noticed that they were all at full rested XP. This means that all of the experience for killing mobs is double. This coupled with sped up leveling from 60-70 AND the fact I’m getting another 10% experience from outfitting them all with heirloom leveling shoulders really meant that the experience was racking up fast.

By running two or three instances I could easily gain a level and use up a good chunk of my rested xp. Then I can simply switch to another character the next day and do the same. By the time you work your way back to your first character you are rested again!

Of course this isn’t the most efficient leveling system if you want to get another 80 as soon as possible, but that has never been the point of an alt for me. I like to hurry my first character, and do progression raiding as soon as I can before there are people around that can run me through stuff. On my alts I am much more likely to “smell the roses.” This method seems like the way to do it! Level quick, but try on a lot of shoes!

What do you think? What’s your approach to alts?

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Not the actual occurrence.

I have touched on this subject before, but I never truly broke it down for you. I have been dating a lovely lady for almost eight months now and we have enjoyed our time together thoroughly. Heck, those vacations I took, the ski trip and holiday break, were with her. Needless to say, we fancy each other quite a bit, and yet she has managed to avoid a large facet of my life, video games.

She knows that I enjoy them and write about them frequently, but she hardly ever sees me play them. Unlike some gamers, I am not ashamed of my hobby. In fact, I tend to glorify it in my clothing, my home's decorations and even the name of one of my ferrets, Cloud. Lesley just happens to miss most of my playtime due to work hours. So the issue of games didn't really come up for awhile.

When I discovered that my fair lady still thought of video games as Tetris, I knew I had a job on my hands. I introduced her slowly to the newer games, mainly focusing on lighthearted, easy to grasp Wii titles before handing her the axe for Guitar Hero III. Then one night, I handed her the controller during a mission in Grand Theft Auto IV. Hilarity ensued.

Ms. iTZKooPA turned the game into “Grand Civilian Auto,” slowly driving through traffic as if she were in the South. After waiting at lights, allowing other automobiles to have the right of way, and extending the crosswalk to pedestrians, her vehicle strayed into a barrier into a Toll Booth. It caught fire. Panic quickly consumed the rookie gamer behind the controller.

Lesley spammed buttons on the controller until Niko fled the burning car. Once she swiveled the camera around, a horrible realization struck her, half a dozen cars were piled up behind hers trashed vehicle, blocking the exit she was planning on taking. As the fire roared louder and pedestrians begin fleeing, Niko turned...and got back in the car seconds before it exploded.

Our friends who were there upon the fiery demise of Niko have never forgotten the episode. Nor will they let Lesley, but I didn't recant the tale to make fun. No, no, I simply wanted to give everyone a feel for what kind of gamer is finally going to make the leap into Azeroth.

Just to be clear, I am not forcing her to do this, nor is she going the “if you can't beat them, join them” route. We both believe that the experiment will be a fun endeavor and something new to do with each other. So this weekend, Lesley will subscribe to her first MMOG and make her first character. While I will be by her side on a new alt, SolidPumice a soon-to-be Prot Warrior, I will not be helping her too much. The discoveries and designs MMOs have to offer are half the fun.  Wonder if Recruit-A-Friend still works...

Who knows, you may see some Horde-based coverage on ProjectLore as I won't restrict her faction choice!  Any one who has done the same have any tips?

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I have been on a bit of a financial kick lately. Although all the advisors out there say someone my age (less than 35) shouldn't worry too much about their portfolio, it is hard to break a daily routine. This daily routine actually extends into my digital life as well, as I am constantly monitoring fluctuations in the Azerothian market as well.

Being a self-proclaimed financial analyst, I figured I could give you guys a few pointers on how to cash in before the launch of Wrath. You see, as with any content patch, let alone an expansion, many things will change. It is pretty safe to say that no item from The Burning Crusade will remain at its current level of value once Wrath launches in mid-November. Although this may sound like a doomsday statement, there is still plenty of money to be made in the market.

Run On The Banks

The first thing you guys should do is take a hard look at your banks on all of your characters. Grab one of my favorite UI addons to make things easier. BankItems will allow you to look at all inventory - bank, mailbox and bags - on any character. Now that you can browse things easily, grab any items that will be worthless in Wrath and get the money for them while you can. Things like Primals, some enchanting mats and potions will all be replaced by better versions once Wrath launches.  Dump 'em like an abusive boyfriend.

Players should be able to pocket a sizable amount of gold by clearing out their banks of useless junk that they have been saving “for a rainy day.” Not only that, but your bank, and bags will be nice and tidy for the level grind to 80.

To The Market

Ore, leather, and cloth are a different story though. The market for these items will be different than the higher end gear, mainly because they are profession based. As mentioned in the comments section of my other economic post, things like low to mid-range cloth are actually selling at inflated prices. The reasoning behind this is due to many people leveling up alts for Wrath. Why stop and eat something when you can transmute some bandages and just keep on grinding?

This sets the old supply-and-demand graph on its head, with almost no supply but a high demand. Time is money friends and that jacks up the price on many trade profession goods.  If you have time, go farm some of these mid-range items on your main, and reap the benefits.

While running on your bank is making you money, it's more about cashing in while the items are worth something. In the trade profession market, you could make a good amount of gold by resale alone. If you are going to give this a run, be sure to pick up the Auctioneer Addon suite. It is a must have for any Auction House monitor, recording, scanning and adding functionality to the standard AH layout.

I should mention that each realm is different. What is selling like hotcakes for me may not be worth looting on yours. As an example, the ore market on Magetheridon-A has bottomed out recently, with high-end ore being at its lowest point since I reformatted some time ago. In contrast to that, mid-range ore, like Thorium, is through the roof. The evidence – that the bars are selling for much less than the ore – points to miners just buying it to smelt for skill points.

Be Careful - It Isn't Fool Proof

Be careful and do your research before you dump your stuff. Selling on the weekend and buying on weekdays (or bidding right before the servers go down) are also handy tricks to pulling in extra cash. Everything counts but it is still a risky market out there. Use my tips at your own risk but please, treat your financial advisor right. The last time I gave our readers some tips I couldn't use the ideas myself for a few weeks. I have no problem with players on my server making a buck, but send me (Solidsamm of the Alliance) 5% of the profit! Kthxbye.

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In light of all the downtime, alts have been a pretty hot topic lately. Just about everyone I play with is working on one, and now a few people I know are even thinking about switching mains. I know I’ve been working my alts pretty hard recently. I went through a number of different classes before I decided I want to make the rogue my “main alt.” It got me thinking about the role that your main plays in picking your alt.There are a few ways to approach it. At first I decided I wanted to do the complete opposite of my Protection Paladin. After a bit of thought I decided this would probably be the Warlock. Unlike my Pally he’s a DPS class, he’s squishy, he’s ranged, and he has a pet. It seemed difficult to find something much more different. It turns out that this was a little too different. My play style was that of a tank, I would always pull more than I could handle, and it ended up being a fairly unpleasant experience. I was disappointed, but I decided it was time to try something else. I then started my rogue. This was much better. Leather armor meant she could take a little more of a beating, and she was a melee class, so as that was certainly in my comfort zone. Turned out I really enjoyed the class. Play style actually wasn’t far off from my Paladin. Combat was actually more similar than I would have thought, just much faster. Instead of pulling mobs and counting on being the one that dies last, I just had to count on being the one that kills the other one first. Once I got her to 30 I decided to try some other classes on for size. I’ve played shaman, druid, warrior, and priest all past 30. After all that I ended up going back to the rogue. It was simply too much fun. In the end I found picking a class that compliments your play style is a win. My recommendation would be to find that common link between what you enjoy and what other classes have to offer. For me it was getting up in peoples faces with melee classes. Maybe you want to stick with pet classes, or keep it at range, or stick with mana users. Whatever it is, I think common ground is a good thing. What about you, what made you pick your alt? Is it similar or completely different from your main? Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to grind out a level and a half to 70!

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It seems like the entire world (of Warcraft) has gone into a bit of a holding pattern lately. Many people (myself included) have stopped raiding, we just heard about the arena points reset, so there is not a whole left for anyone to do other than count the days until November 13^th. While I am very much in the same boat, like hell I'm going to stop playing the game! So I have been trying to find a few activities to keeping me going. In the short term, I have been spending my days grinding the Kodo mount for Brewfest. I have over 200 kills and still have yet to see the thing drop, I'm beginning to suspect the cake is a lie. I imagine I will get it eventually, and if not, Brewfest will ultimately come to an end. Soon I will be looking for other alternatives. I have been trying to stay positive and look at this as a good excuse to catch up on those things I have always been meaning to do. I'm talking about all those projects I have always meant to get around to, but never did because I was busy raiding. Here is my list of things I think I will finally be able take a shot at:

Netherwing - I want to finally grind out the Netherwing Dailies, and get my nether drake. Although I must admit, with all the new mounts on the horizon, my desire here is waning a bit.

Fishing / Cooking - I have played around with the idea of leveling my fishing and cooking. It seems like a good way to make some cash and be able to make all that tasty raid food.  Problem is I hate fishing, so I guess this one is just a matter of how bored I get.

Farming Gold - The last thing I could even thing to do on my main is stockpile gold. Certainly not a bad approach, but I question what is going to happen to the WoW economy, and if this will pay off in the long run.

Alts - I have a Rogue that is closing in on 70 fast, and want to make her a priority. I have a few others sitting in 60 range that I may have time to get up there as well.

New Professions - With the prices on the AH falling through the floor (at least on Executus), this isn't a bad time to powerlevel a new profession on one of my alts, and I've always wanted to try Jewelcrafting. For some it may be a good time to push to 375 on your main.

Roll Horde - I've always wondered how the other half lives.

I'm sure there are lots of other worthy projects that would be worth taking on during this time. So tell me, what are you guys doing?  Have you come up with a productive way to spend your WoW time? Please don't tell me you are still raiding... I may become incredibly jealous.

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I already had a nice blog entry written for today but something was announced yesterday that all of you should definitely know about. Well, a few things were announced but Juggynaut already covered the PvE to PvP Paid Transfer news. I am against it, that is my two cents. In lieu of starting a new column this Friday I just had to talk about the so called 'Bind on Account' items, more properly known as Heirloom items. This new development is ripe with awesomeness, even if it is mainly for the alting people out there. Details on the Heirloom or 'Bind to Account' items:

• Purchasable via dungeon tokens (similar to Badges of Justice)
• Can be transferred to characters on your account (ie cannot be traded)
• Only transferable to characters on the same realm
• Items scale with level (see inset picture)
• Scaling will make the item equivalent to a blue item of the characters level
• Heirloom armor will transform based on the character who wears it. Therefore, a level 80 plate piece can be worn by a level 1-39 character who wears mail, but gains the ability to wear plate at level 40.

Future changes:

• Additional Heirloom items aimed at high level alts to come in the future
• Additional ways to earn heirloom items

Best of all this information has been confirmed by Tigole and Verimonde! They even confirm that the goals of the items are to get people to play other classes and support people that love to play alts. Hardcore or casual, I would think that both camps would approve of this move. Don't worry, that blog entry that was bumped for this should return next Friday.

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Sometimes, you log in and nobody is around to group with you for heroics. Sometimes, your arena team is busy. Sometimes, your guild is busy wiping on a new boss for two hours. Sometimes, you just want some mindless fun. Recently, when I find myself in those situations, I've been leveling up some new alts. I've been playing a druid, and I've been playing a priest. At the same time. Kind of. I signed up for the Recruit a Friend program to test out that juicy triple XP. I entered my own name as the name of my friend, which I suppose is true enough. I tend to consider me a friend. So, I made a second account and, on it, created a dwarf priest. I'm not dual-boxing to pwn in arena or to solo Kara. I just have the priest auto follow the druid while I rip stuff up in cat form. If I need some help, I'll just have the priest bubble, renew, or heal the druid. It's fun, it's a new type of challenge, and it's a good way to get a lot of levels. And I mean a LOT of levels. The rate at which these two characters are leveling is pretty unbelievable. A guildy ran us through stocks a few times, where I got two levels from the mobs and one from completing the quests. Each character got almost 10,000 xp for each of the Stockade quests. That is pretty ridiculous in the mid 20s. Now, they both have their mounts and are level 31 and 32. Soon we will be roaming Outland, killing Overlord. Maybe. Now, I'm not really into the exclusive mount thing, so I probably won't keep the account for the full time needed to unlock that Zhevra. I just figured that it's a good way to get a couple of alts up to at least 60 before the expansion hits. Once the priest hits 59, I'll have him give 29 levels to my level 28 warrior or my 29 mage. That will be three characters to 60 in less time than it normally takes one. And then perhaps my dual-boxing days will be behind me. Although, maybe I will start the whole process over again with a combination of a hunter, a rogue, or a pally. I'm thinking rogue/pally would be easiest. Hunters are OP while soloing anyway. Once that's done, I might have a chance to finally get that second shaman I've always dreamed of. If you couldn't tell, I love shaman. And I love alts. After WotLK comes out, I can take advantage of the over-abundance of death knights that will be roaming Outland looking for groups and have nine 70s (or 80s?) Although, I have heard of 5 DKs completing appropriate level instances in the beta. NERF DKs.

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