Project Lore

It's been a solid eight months since Blizzard introduced its Recruit-a-Friend system and this week, I know of at least two more accounts they've roped in. One is legitimately one of my RL friends from college who finally caved to playing WoW for the first time out of general boredom. I'm hoping it keeps him entertained enough to get a paid account. And the other is my husband, determined to take advantage of the triple XP to get at least two new level 60 characters - a druid on his new account (which he then plans to transfer), and a shaman on his main account. Now how am I affected by that? Well, it's my DK who is running his new shenanigans through dungeon after dungeon. So he rolled his two Taurens and had one /follow as they leveled to 10 within an hour - triple xp for both the new account and the one its linked to (only up to level 60) is grand. Meanwhile, I quickly leveled my DK (who I had not really touched since completing my initial quests in The Ebon Hold and getting in good graces again with Thrall) to 60, so I could get Death and Decay and some AoE power. Now, I'm certain there are more efficient methods to achieving the quickest-as-possible leveling results. But I'm going to share how we've been going about it. We started off with running the Wailing Caverns to level 20, then Scarlet Monastery to level 40. Pull a group of mobs, bring them back within xp range of the alts, Death and Decay and spam a few spells - mainly Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Blood Strike, Corpse Explosion, and Unholy Blight. I'm not a DK expert, but it gets the job done. And despite the difference between the DK and the alts' levels, the triple xp (which unfortunately doesn't seem to stack with rested xp) more than makes up for it. He's actually been doing the bulk of the work - we're on different work schedules, so when I'm not around, he's multi-boxing with his two accounts and my one. It's quite a site. Four days in, and he's got both alts to level 40. Once they're to the level 60 cap for the xp, perhaps we'll start a new pair. The levels come so fast that it seems a waste not to! Now, there is a cost. In order for the characters to be transferable, you have to buy the game and upgrade to a paid account (however, your main account gets a free month for this, so the account costs basically cancel each other out). Then there's the transfer fee. But even if you decide not to transfer, the characters you level up on your main account still get to keep their levels. I guess it could be a game killer for some, but for people who cringe at the leveling process and just want to get to end-game, I say it's a fun and productive way to pass the time in those long hours when we were waiting for 3.1. And although I'm not much of a mount collector, I really want that damn Zhevra! I know a bunch of us here at Project Lore already have taken advantage of the Recruit-a-Friend bonuses - who else has? And how do you view the system - as a game promoter or destroyer?

Click to read more ...

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but Hallow's End is here in the World of Warcraft. With all of the new achievements in the game, there are tons of people heading to the Scarlet Monastery to kill the Headless Horseman for his rings, helm, sword, or mount. It seems like the hardest thing to get for the long list of Hallow's End achievements, other than all twenty masks, is the squashling pet. I'm one of the many people in the Totally Rad Guild who, once the twenty mask achievement is removed from the meta achievement requirements, only needs that pet in order to complete the Hallow's End world event achievement and get the Hallowed title. I've seen that pet drop maybe five times in the past few days, and the last one I rolled a two on. That's ok though, there's still a lot of days left in the holiday. The Horseman, though, is starting to feel a lot like that other farmable holiday boss, Coren, from BRD just a few weeks ago. I've got every single drop off of the rider without a skull that I want, including the Horseman's Reigns (which I rolled a 100 on the first night of Hallow's End). I feel like it's really only a matter of time until I get that pet. Of course, that's how I felt about the Kodo Mount, and I never got that drop. Although, as much as I would have liked a kodo, the Headless Horseman's mount is about a quadrillion and five times cooler to me. I personally never really participated in the world event quests until now, but the seemingly improved rewards that have been creeping into the game have made it worth my while. While browsing through the hundreds of achievements, these useless points really encourage players to go out and experience all of the world events that Blizzard puts together so well. My only worry is that every time one of these new holidays comes up, we'll have another flavor of the month title. Right now, it seems like at least half of the people I see are in the Jenkins family. I'm sure after the Hallowed achievement is changed, most of those people will that one up. I'm sure it's only a result of new titles and achievements having just been implemented, but I look forward to seeing all sorts of new titles around, instead of everyone having the exact same one. Either way, I am loving the holiday season in WoW so far.

Click to read more ...