tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223Tue, 31 Mar 2026 07:11:40 +0000QuestingEngineeringProfessionsAHBloodshrikeKishigishiWhat a Long Strange TripCamping VendorsMoney MakingRecipesPVPPatchTwinkAltsClockwrkmageMeta AchievementsThrillkillerGuildsRyoushigishiAchievementsAosdanasaoiHolidayMacros20 Days of...WoW Blogging ChallengeBullkathosCataclysmDaily QuestsDoomslingerFeast of Winter VeilGold-makingLevelingLoremasterPetsTsurisbloggingAddictionBrewfestChildren's WeekGwiddonynHallow's EndMisericordeNeutral AHPanzergishiReputationBankBonescourgeCharactersDarkmoon FaireFaction recipesFishingHangfireKukoshakakuLove is in the AirNoblegardenPUGPet BattlesPilgrim's BountyPreyonyouRecap on GoldRespeccing EngineeringAccountsAlchemyAltoholicAnnihilusArgent TournamentBlacksmithingBugsClockworknytCorpse RunningDead MinesDeath KnightDungeonsEnchantingExplorationFeat of StrengthFrancoisGatheringGlyphsGnomerGrindingInsane in the MembraneJerksKeyboardLooking for DungeonMatsMidsummerMinipetsMorticideSansetsukonSpider CaveTrinketsWeaponsWraith FlightXPAbyss CrystalsAffirmationAggroArcaniteArcanite DragonlingsBargainsBattlegroundsBlack Tabby CatBlade's EdgeBloodshrike 2BuffingCT ModCookingDalaran ringDeath RayDiscworldDragonlingDramaEconomics in WoWFarmingFeeFestivalFirst AidGeneralGhost SaberGoblin Land MineGogglesHalaaHealingHeroicsHoardingImmatureIntroLovers DrugsLunar FestivalMiningMoPModsMorons and SlackersMountsNPC'sNagrandNew Player TipsNon-WoWNorthrendOutlandsParachute CloakPetPhasingPsychrometricsRealm FirstRecap of levelsRecruitingServer PopSkinningTankingTaurenTime-Lost Proto DrakeTippingTitleTol BaradVCWarriorWarshrikeWartravelerWell-restedWintergraspWorld EventaddonsbanesidhecommunitylolcatslangtheoreticalA Boy and his Death RaysRecipe Hound extraordinaire!noreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)Blogger223125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-4245343565535443216Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:40:00 +00002013-04-29T14:40:58.708-07:00Children's WeekMeta AchievementsMinipetsPetsChildren's Week 2013My previous <a href="2011/05/childrens-week-2011-wrap-up.html">post</a> on this :)<br />
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<br />
The only revision necessary would be that since most people are hearthed at their respective faction cities in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, since those cities have portals to all the capitols, DON'T set your hearth to Orgrimmar/Stormwind. Also, since you'd probably be starting off there anyway, you might as well stop in Shattrath first, to pick up the Orphan quest there before heading to Org/SW.<br />
<br />
That will stream-line your questing a bit, since you wouldn't have to make an extra trip that way. Grrr....I'll just copy/paste, and replace what's needed, though I'm not gonna do the hyperlinks again. :)<br />
<br />
<b>Horde</b><br />
Horde route doing both Orgrimmar and Shatt orphans together. <br />
Shrine of Two Moons/Shattrath to pick up quest/Orgrimmar to pick up quest.<br />
<br />
Azshara for riding the rocket/Org/portal in Cleft of Shadows to Dark Portal in Blasted Lands/take a windrider to Zabra'jin in Zangarmarsh to get to Sporeggar for Hch'uu/then fly to the Throne of Elements. <br />
After that, use your Hearth to Vale/Dalaran teleport ring/Gadgetzan teleport to get to Tanaris to visit the Caverns of Time (if you don't have either of those, take the portal in Shatt back to Orgrimmar to get a port from a mage to Dalaran). Hearth to Vale, and use the portal to Silvermoon City to rock out with the Elite Tauren Chieftains. Ride back north to the teleport to UC, then go visit Sylvanas. <br />
Go back to the Mage quarter to the portal to Blasted Lands, go through the Dark Portal, fly to Shattrath, and go turn in your Blood Elf orphan. Take the portal in Shatt to Org, then either get a port or fly to Thunderbluff. Ride east to Red Rocks to honor Cairne Bloodhoof, then take the nearest windrider back to Orgrimmar (for those with flying, you can fly over the mountains to your east to the Hunter's Hill flightpoint). Go get Ice Cream, fly a kite, pick up the sword rack, get your choice of pets.<br />
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<br />
<b>Alliance</b><br />
Alliance route doing both Stormwind and Shatt orphans together.<br />
Shrine of Seven Stars/Shattrath to pick up quest/Stormwind to pick up quest. <br />
<br />
Fly to Westfall for your Chopper ride, then come back to Stormwind. Fly or get a port to Ironforge to visit King Magni Bronzebeard, then take the portal in the Mystic Ward to Blasted Lands, go through the Dark Portal, complete quest. Take a windrider to Allerian Stronghold in Terrokar Forest, then fly to the middle of Auchindoun. Fly back to Allerian Stronghold, then take a windrider to Telaar in Nagrand. Fly to Aeris Landing (the Consortium guys), and talk to Jheel. After that, use your Hearth to Vale/Dalaran teleport ring/Gadgetzan teleport to get to Tanaris to visit the Caverns of Time. Hearth back to Vale, then portal to Darnassus after Caverns of Time to visit Malfurion Stormrage. <br />
Don't leave the Temple of the Moon, just take the portal there directly to the Exodar, then follow the spiral walkway all the way down to visit O'ros. He gives you a follow-up quest to visit the Farseer in the Exodar. Hearth to Vale, take the portal to Shattrath. Turn in your Draenai Orphan for your pet. Take the portal in Shattrath back to Stormwind, get ice cream, fly a kite, pick up a sword rack, and finally turn in the orphan for your pet.<br />
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____________________________________________________________________<br />
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(Disclaimer - Be very, VERY careful in picking your orphan in Dalaran. Check through your pets to see if you have either the Curious Wolvar Pup, or the Curious Oracle Hatchling. Don't pick up the whistle for an orphan that you already have, or all you have to look forward to is an awesome 5 (five) gold reward.)<br />
<br />
For the Dalaran quests, there's no variance between Horde or Alliance. I usually went through this route. For the Oracle orphan - Dalaran to Grizzlemaw in Grizzly Hills/Bronze Dragonshrine in Dragonblight/then Winterfin Retreat in Borean Tundra. After that, the Oracle Orphan sends you to Shaper's Terrace through Sholazar Basin, then Alexstrasza in Dragonblight.<br />
<br />
For the Wolvar Orphan - Dalaran to Grizzlemaw in Grizzly Hills/Bronze Dragonshrine in Dragonblight/then Snowfall Glade in Dragonblight. After that, go back to Alexstrasza in Dragonblight, and THEN go to Sholozar Basin to meet Hemet Nessingwary .<br />
<br />
When those quests are done, it's back to Dalaran to fly a kite at the Wonderworks, and you finally get to turn in the orphan. You recieve your pet through the mail in a few moments, so don't worry about not getting it from the Matron.2013/04/childrens-week-2013.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-2445608424483050538Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:38:00 +00002013-04-20T12:04:39.571-07:00LevelingPet BattlesPet Battles - Fire Spirit leveling vs. wild pet battlesOn my previous post, I had come up with a way to gain levels for pets at a decent rate, while battling Aquatic pets in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. However, just after I had posted that, I noticed a post by <a href=";, in which he was talking about battling the <a href=" Spirit</a> in Townlong Steppes for super-duper fast leveling of pets. I'm always a fan of new information, so I took my level 86 paladin out there to try it (Goblin Glider ftw to fly over to the rock). I did one battle with a level 5 Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling and my Anubisath Idol, and the Dragonling dinged level 12! Woot, new favorite spot for leveling!<br />
<br />
However, the next day I told my friend Mysscia about it, and she ran into a string of bad luck, with the first pet Crimson killing off her Anubisath Idol due to misses. She sounded kind of discouraged about it, so I decided to run some tests to see for myself which spot is better for leveling pets, as well as alts.<br />
<br />
<b>Townlong Fire Spirit</b> - <br />
With a level 5 Dragonling and a 25 Idol.<br />
<b>Battle</b>-------------------------------------<b>Rounds)</b><br />
<br />
1 - Win, level 12 from 4813 xp. 31 rounds<br />
2 - Idol died to Crimson. <br />
3 - Idol died to Crimson.<br />
4 - Win, level 17 from 5198 xp. 31 rounds<br />
5 - Win, level 20 from 4648 xp. 30 rounds<br />
6 - Win, level 22 from 3988 xp. 31 rounds<br />
7 - Win, level 24 from 3410 xp. 32 rounds<br />
8 - Idol died to Crimson<br />
9 - Win, Level 25 from 1339 xp. 25 rounds<br />
<br />
Total = 9 Battles, and probably 7-8 bandages, since you want to be at full health on Anubisath before engaging Crimson. I also got 106,700 xp for my well-rested paladin per WIN, so 106,700 x 6 = 640,200 xp towards leveling. 180 rounds over......oh wait, I'm forgetting something. When my Idol died to Crimson, those were rounds too. Estimate at least 10 per failed battle, so let's say 210 rounds over 9 battles.<br />
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<b>Vale of Eternal Blossoms Aquatic Battles</b> - <br />
With a level 5 Shimmershell Snail and a 25 Moth.<br />
<b>Battle</b>-------------------------------------<b>Rounds)</b><br />
1 - level 7 from 924 xp <br />
2 - level 9 from 1012 xp<br />
3 - level 10 from 990 xp<br />
4 -level 11 from 1045 xp<br />
5 -level 12 from 1045 xp<br />
6 - level 13 from 982 xp<br />
7 - level 14 from 968 xp<br />
8 - level 15 from 949 xp<br />
9 - level 16 from 924 xp<br />
10---------------------894 xp<br />
11- level 17 from 963 xp<br />
12- level 18 from 858 xp<br />
13---------------------817 xp<br />
14- level 19 from 817 xp<br />
15---------------------770 xp<br />
16- level 20 from 847 xp<br />
17---------------------798 xp<br />
19- level 21 from 718 xp<br />
20---------------------743 xp<br />
21- level 22 from 743 xp<br />
22---------------------597 xp<br />
23---------------------597 xp<br />
24- level 23 from 682 xp<br />
25---------------------528 xp<br />
26---------------------528 xp<br />
27---------------------528 xp<br />
28- level 24 from 528 xp<br />
29---------------------454 xp<br />
30---------------------454 xp<br />
31---------------------454 xp<br />
32- Level 25 from 253 xp<br />
Total = 30 + battles for the same result, a level 25 pet. However, each battle usually only took an average of 10 rounds. 32 Battles x 10 rounds each = 320 rounds. Since it takes 180+ rounds (without dying) vs the Fire Spirit, it would require 14 more battles in the Vale for the same result. But wait, there's more!<br />
<br />
It's a lot less aggravating to battle those aquatic pets. You really don't even need to bring bandages, since by the time your first moth has been killed off, and you've started using your 2nd moth, your free bandage in the pet journal is ready. You also have a chance for rare Battlestones to drop from these battles (I've had 2 rare Aquatic ones drop back to back), which I'm not sure drop from battles with the Fire Spirit.<br />
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Another fun fact, my well-rested level 86 Shaman who was doing these battles got almost the same amount of xp per battle as my paladin did. The xp varied between 101,365 and 106,700, with 101,365 being the norm. So, 101,365 x 32 battles = 3,243,680 xp. Considering you need 15,080,000 to level to 87, that's not a bad chunk of xp. <br />
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<br />
2013/04/pet-battles-fire-spirit-leveling-vs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-1532592448962093786Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:56:00 +00002013-04-20T12:10:54.008-07:00Daily QuestsPet BattlesPet Battling DailiesOh wow, I have a blog! I should use it more often. :)<br />
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I haven't had much to talk about lately, just enjoying the game, but after chatting with my friend Mysscia, I remembered that I had been meaning to post a guide to the tamers that you want to battle every day. First of all, you need the addon <a href=";, as it will simplify your life by telling you what tamers you have defeated each day, and which you still need to do. If you don't want to run a spreadsheet for your alts, this is a big time-saver. <br />
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Next, you definitely want the <a href="; addon. This one is so useful, after the last patch when it was the only addon that didn't work, I was so annoyed that I didn't even want to play that day. You're able to setup as many teams as you can dream up, with the skills that you specify, and when you click on that team, you automatically switch your 3 pets in your active team in the pet journal to those pets specified. It also allows you to name your teams, so you don't have to remember what team goes with what tamer. <br />
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Alrighty, without further ado, here's a partial list of my recommendations for the Grand Master pet tamers that you can battle each day for those highly desired Rare <a href=";, to upgrade your lack-luster common or uncommon pets to elite killing machines.<br />
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I try to do these pet battles each day for a few reasons. <br />
1st) Battlestones, of course. <br />
2nd) It also rewards a chunk of xp, equivalent to doing a daily quest. So if you have alts that you aren't doing anything with, you might as well stick them out at the tamers location, so you don't have to fly out there each day. <br />
3rd) This is a good way to get some additional guild xp for your guild, if you're still leveling to 25. It counts as a daily quest, so that's an additional 60k guild xp for each tamer you beat. As a matter of fact, if people want to have easy access to the tamers without tying up their mains, you could actually start level 1 characters on a different realm, have a friend mage-port them to close by where they need to go, then fly them there while grouped using a flying mount that allows a <a href=";. Just be careful while crossing zones, my friend from Daggerspine that is helping me on Darrowmere kept getting disconnected whenever we crossed a zone boundary. Winterspring was especially annoying, as the high mountains meant that the zone changed while I was flying up a 1,0000 foot cliff. Splat!<br />
4th) this is a decent way to get some good xp for your pets to level up, which is why I recommend lower level pets rather than just steam-rolling them with 3 level 25's, as tamers reward more xp for battles than regular pets at that level (though not the fastest way, as I'll explain later).<br />
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Starting off in Kalimdor, the Grand Master <a href="; is located in the middle of Winterspring (65,64), and has a load-out of a Dragon, Beast, and Flying pet, all level 19. I'd recommend at least a level 16-17 Humanoid, 16-17 Mechanical, but probably a level 18-19 Dragonkin that does magic damage to fight Blizzy, since he can hit pretty hard. Here's a handy link to explain <a href=";. <br />
Flying pets DO 150% more damage to Aquatic pets, and only damage Dragonkin pets by 66% (2/3rd of their normal damage listed). <br />
Flying pets TAKE more damage from Magic attacks, and only take 66% damage from Beast attacks.<br />
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In Eastern Kingdoms, <a href=" Master Lydia Accoste</a> is located directly south-west of Karazhan. This is actually one of the easiest masters to beat, btw. She has a level 19 Elemental, and 2 Undeads, but they're a cake-walk. A level 16 Aquatic, a 16 Critter, and a 17-18 Critter should be sufficient to beat them easily. I've even started to use lower level Aquatics against the Elemental, since he doesn't attack very often.<br />
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Ramping up the difficulty, lets head out to Shadowmoon Valley and take on <a href=" Antari</a>. With level 24 Magic, Elemental, and Dragonkin pets, he's a bit tougher to beat with lower level pets. I'd recommend a level 22-24 team of Dragonkin, Aquatic, and Humanoid pets. Make sure the Dragonkin actually deals Dragonkin damage, as quite a few of them actually do mainly Magic damage. Hmmm, looking over the pet damage chart, I just now came up with using the engineering created Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling against the Magic pet, since he'd be resistant to magic damage, plus have access to the Dragonkin damage spell of <a href=";. After you kill the magic pet, swap out for your aquatic quickly, as the elemental would destroy your mechanical dragonling quickly. Maybe you could toss up <a href="; as you're switching out. Put out that elementals fire with your aquatic pet, then get ready for <a href=";. Since he Soul Wards and Phase Shifts, you're going to want a really fast Humanoid to take him out asap. <br />
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Northrend bound, we encounter <a href=" Payne</a> at the Argent Tournament grounds. I gotta say, he really lives up to his name, as his pets are a major pain in the arse. He has a level 25 Beast, Mechanical, and Elemental, and each one can be deadly even to a full 3 level 25's of your own, if not picked carefully. While I haven't been specific on pets on the earlier tamers, here's where I break down what I use, and why. Against Grizzle, I use my level 25 <a href=" Tonk</a>. If I get Bashed straight off, I quit, then challenge him again until he Rampages on the first round. I immediately use Minefield, then charge up and use Lock-on twice while he's Hibernating, with a final Missile if needed. Grizzle dies, then Beakmaster runs in and immediately takes damage from my Minefield. I use my first turn to toss down another Minefield for Bloom, then try to damage Beakmaster with Missiles as much as I can until my Tonk dies. Once that happens, I use my <a href=" Hatchling</a>, since 1 <a href=" Rush</a> and a few Burn's are sufficient to take down Beakmaster. Bloom will then switch in, and take a few hundred damage from the Minefield you had already setup. Use a combo of Stone Rush's and Burns to get him as low as you can, then switch in your last pet, preferably either an Aquatic or Critter pet. I usually use a 20-23 Critter (they don't take much elemental damage), since you'll get a full level of xp from the battle, and it's a good way of getting pets really close to level 25.<br />
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Out on the Dam in Uldum, south of Ramhaken, we come to the Cataclysm tamer <a href=";. If you're flying a friend out here, port them to Dalaran first, and then take the portal in the Violet Citadel to the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. With a level 25 Beast, Flying, and Critter team, he's not that hard to defeat with the proper line-up. Beast = Mechanical, right? Actually, you don't want to start out with one. Pyth hits hard, and <a href=" Fang</a>'s dot does Elemental damage, which will mess your mechanical up pretty quickly. Instead, use a pet that has <a href=";, such as Anubisath Idol, Tiny Twister, or Enchanted Broom. Once that's going, it negates much of the potential damage from Poison Fang, so switch in your mechanical pet such as Darkmoon Tonk. Finish off Pyth, then take on Spring. With Sandstorm taking away much of his damage, you can easily finish him off with Lock-on's or Missiles. Clatter runs up after that, and he can be easily killed with a level 20-23 Beast, especially a spider pet with <a href=" Webbing</a>, since it damages them when you cast it, and also when Clatter attacks you.<br />
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Part 2 coming next, with my strategies on Pandarian Battles.<br />
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I'll leave you with my way of leveling up pets lickety-split. In the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, there's 2 areas where teams comprised of mainly Aquatic pets congregate. The lake in front of Mogushan Palace has several pets waiting to battle, right by Master Aki. Also, the pond south of the Golden Pagoda has a lot too. My method is to make a team of a level 5 pet, then 2 level 25 Moths. If you don't have any, <a href=" Moths</a> are flying around the zone, so no worries. Once you start the battle, have your low level attack once, then immediately switch out for your Moth. The reasons why I advocate using a Moth is because they're really fast, and have hard hitting Flying abilities like <a href=" Strike</a> and <a href=" Dust</a>. With <a href=" Strike</a> to absorb potential large damage attacks like <a href=";, you can last several battles without switching to your second Moth. Once both of your Moths have been killed or severely damaged, use your free bandage in the pet battle journal to heal them, and go for more battles. You can get a level per battle for your low level pet up to like level 13, and pretty frequently thereafter. <br />
If you're doing this with a low level toon, you'll get some decent XP. If you're doing it with a level 85+ toon, you'll get about 100k xp per battle, almost comparable with questing. I believe at level 90, you have a chance at getting <a href=" Charms</a>, which could be a pleasant change from doing dailies.<br />
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2013/04/pet-battling-dailies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-6191734733583203240Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:01:00 +00002012-09-08T14:46:14.485-07:00Gold-makingMoPPet BattlesMoP Pet Battles Tips & PredictionsHey all, been a while since I posted, but I figured I'd get this one out while I thought about it.<br />
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I've been playing the Beta recently, with one main focus in mind. Pet Battles! As an altoholic collector, the Pokemon themed Pet Battling that will come about in Mists of Pandaria is awesome. Not only is it fun, it's also challenging, forcing you to use strategy to defeat the other team. <br />
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<b>Hints & Tips:</b><br />
Don't worry about those unique pets that other people have. So, you weren't around from Vanilla WoW, and don't have <a href=" Hilt</a>. You didn't go to a Blizzcon, and don't have a Murky code. Fuggedabowdit.<br />
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I ran a little experiment with the Argent Tournament <a href=" Lamb</a> vs. a rare quality Black Lamb that I caught in a pet battle in Elwynn Forest. <br />
After leveling them both to level 6, here's their stats.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="; imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="125" width="200" src="; /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="; imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="125" width="200" src="; /></a></div><br />
As you can see, the Black Lamb has substantially higher DPA (Damage per Attack), Haste, and Health, making it the better choice.<br />
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So if you want the best battle pets, you're gonna have to capture them. Don't even bother leveling poor thru uncommon pets though, only put effort into leveling the rares that you catch. But how do you catch rares?<br />
<br />
Welllll, until there's an addon created that identifies them as rare when the pet battle begins, the only way to do it is by trial and error while battling. Hover over their portraits to see their DPA/Haste numbers, and look at their health. If those numbers are a lot higher than your pets, or if they have the little chevron showing that they have first hit capability, they're probably a rare. You'll get the hang of judging whether they're rare or not after a while, so don't sweat it. You can also capture one, then on the next battle, open your Mount/Pet tab, to see if the stats on the one you own are substantially lower than the one you're fighting.<br />
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If you want to get rares quickly, you can start pet battles, check the pets, and end the battle if you don't see stats you like. <br />
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Oooh, also, Aquatic pets are the bomb! Most of them have single target or group heals, which can come in handy for restoring health to your 3 pets without running back to a stable master, or waiting 10 minutes for the ability to come off of cooldown. 1 DPS pet and 2 Aquatic = EZ mode. The frog/toad ability to /Kiss is also pretty sweet, with ramping damage, plus the ability to CC your opponent.<br />
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<b>Predictions:</b><br />
I'm gonna go out on a limb and prognosticate a way to move gold from one server to another, with Blizzard's blessing. All the pets you catch in the wild can't be put in a cage to be sold on the Auction House, which kinda sucks. However.....all those vendor bought pets CAN be. Not exactly news, since they could be put on the AH for years now. Here's the twist though; you buy/obtain a pet on one server, and you're free to transfer it to any other server/faction side you want! Since the pets are shared account-wide, and you'd be able to cage them from any character you have, it makes sense that you could sell it anywhere you choose. No more starting broke on a new server, just sell off a pet and make a chunk of gold!<br />
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Another prediction I have is that people will level those vendor bought pets. Why? For someone who is starting to do pet battles, it realllly makes a difference to have a high level pet to be able to swap in. If you're battling a level 10 pet, and have a level 5 and level 25 pet, all the level 5 needs to do is survive 1 round, then swap out for the 25. The level 5 will get a huge chunk of XP, allowing him to level up a lot quicker than by battling pets around his own level. Think of it like getting run through RFC at level 10 by an 85; as long as you don't draw aggro, you get lots of XP for just hanging around.<br />
<br />
Anyways, just wanted to share those thoughts for anyone that's interested in pet battles.<br />
2012/09/mop-pet-battles-tips-predictions.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-9123745434002749195Tue, 22 May 2012 11:02:00 +00002012-06-03T05:00:33.435-07:0020 Days of...WoW Blogging ChallengeDalaran ring20 Days of...WoW Blogging Challenge - Day FiveDay Five - Favourite Item in the Game<br />
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I'm a sucker for items that DO something for you. Not for me the vendor trash grey items with humorous text, no sir! They either have to make my character look different, or have some useful function in the game. I'd have to say that the Dalaran teleport rings were/are my favorite item of all time. Wayyyy back in Wrath of the Lich King, they introduced these nifty little rings. Not only were they exceptionally handy for getting to the main hub of activity at that time (Dalaran), they also could be <a href="; <a href="; to <i>almost</i> best-in-slot itemization for your character. All it required was a mere pittance, maybe 10,000 gold or so, to go through the upgrading processes, and you got a great ring with killer stats that allowed you to warp back to Dalaran every 30 minutes. And, since Dalaran <b>had</b> portals to all the capitol cities, the world was open to you. Need to get to Silvermoon City from Thunder Bluff? No worries mate, port to Dalaran, and take the portal to SMC; no need to track down a mage, or spend time on a windrider, then wait for a zeppelin.<br />
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The other great benefit of having the ring was the multitude of options it allowed you in setting your hearthstone. Since you had an easy way to get back to a capitol city with an AH, you could be more choosy in setting where you wanted your hearth. You wanted to pick up an easy 200 honor per day in 5 minutes? Set your hearth to Conquest Hold/Amberpine Lodge in Grizzly Hills, and do those 4 PvP quests around Venture Bay, then use your ring to get back. Or maybe you were working on your <a href="; rep out in Shadowmoon Valley, and really didn't enjoy having to spend 5 minutes flying out there everyday. Hey hey, set your hearth at the Sanctum of the Stars, and you could do your dailies and egg hunting, then zip back to Dalaran.<br />
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Nowadays, we have our <a href="; <a href=";, but even the <a href="; one has a cooldown of 2 hours, which is still a long time. I enjoy my engineering warp items, but the Dalaran ring is always useful.2012/05/20-days-ofwow-blogging-challenge-day_22.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-3736821555533967713Wed, 16 May 2012 23:48:00 +00002012-05-22T03:17:35.540-07:0020 Days of...WoW Blogging ChallengebloggingTime-Lost Proto Drake20 Days of...WoW Blogging Challenge - Day FourDay Four - My fondest memory<br />
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<br />
I'm a bit strange when it comes to WoW memories. Unlike <a href="; or <a href=";, I don't raid, so I don't have memories of taking down a particularly vexing boss. I get more of a sense of accomplishment from achievements that I earn solo, since it was ME ME, all ME that did it. One in particular was especially gratifying.<br />
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After killing my first rare in Northrend, and earning the first step towards <a href=";, I started learning about the other rares in Northrend. I was especially intrigued by the <a href=" Proto Drake</a> in Storm Peaks, since just killing it would give you a bad-ass Drake mount. Unfortunately, it <b>definitely</b> lives up to its name. I would spend an hour at a time flying around SP, or just perched in the intersection point of the TLPD flight <a href=";, but I....just...can't stay AFK in a game. I log in to play, not to do nothing. So, after a while, I gave up on it. I figured, "Hey, I already have the Red/Green/Bronze Drakes, that's enough for me." <br />
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I was flying out to Storm Peaks on my rogue Thrillkiller on 10/13/2011 to try to look for Dirkee, since I was knocking out <a href="; on all toons. All of a sudden, my NPC_scan went off! I figured it was Vyragosa, which would have been great too, since she's on the endangered species list from all the TLPD hunters. But, it was the real deal this time. I quickly hard logged, deleted my creature cache, logged in on Bloodshrike, and headed over to the area where Thrillkiller was. I started scanning for the Drake, hoping and praying that nobody had gotten it in the few minutes I had lost. I finally located it, got its attention, and quickly downed it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="; imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="125" width="200" src="; /></a></div><br />
I had been trying to get that mount for at least a year, and finally obtained it. That was a great day! :)<br />
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<br />2012/05/20-days-ofwow-blogging-challenge-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-2112320380658395547Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:35:00 +00002012-05-16T16:00:50.130-07:00Children's WeekMeta AchievementsWhat a Long Strange TripChildren's Week 2012 - Early Post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="; imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="196" src="; /></a></div><br />
<a href="2011/05/childrens-week-2011-wrap-up.html">Last year's post</a>. 'Nuff said. :)<br />
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Seriously though, that's all I have to go on right now. I'll update if there's anything different, like if they take out that cursed <a href="; that is the bane of altoholics everywhere....<br />
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Edit: All 10 of my toons on Demon Soul did all the Orphan quests possible (Blood and Bull already had both Dalaran orphans), Clockwrkmage on Daggerspine got the SW and Shattrath quests done, and I only got Bloodshrike on Darrowmere through the Dalaran orphan quest.<br />
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After hearing about mounts being shared in Mists of Pandaria, which would retro-actively grant the achievements necessary to obtain the mount (I.E. all the meta achievements for <a href=" a Long Strange Trip It's Been</a>, which gives you the <a href=" Proto Drake</a>), I just couldn't stomach trying to do the School of Hard Knocks achievement for toons on Demon Soul, even though it was the only achievement that some of my guys needed to get the Drake.<br />
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Since my main achievement hunter already has the Drake, why bother with the stress and headaches of doing it on other toons, when I'll be getting it when MoP launches?2012/04/childrens-week-2012-early-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-1354368454517508628Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:17:00 +00002012-03-06T03:17:05.412-08:0020 Days of...WoW Blogging Challengeblogging20 Days of...WoW Blogging Challenge - Day ThreeExtended maintenance tonight, so it's time for me to get back to the challenge. Nobody SAID it had to be done in 20 calendar days.... :)<br />
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First Day Playing WoW (Day 3)<br />
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Like I said on Day 1, I had resisted playing WoW. I had heard the horror stories about Evercrack, and how WoW was just as addictive. But, I crumbled, and finally gave the trial a spin. Hmmm, I actually forgot what year I started, I just remember it was October, and The Burning Crusade came out shortly after. Wikipedia says TBC came out in January of 2007, so I started mid October of 2006.<br />
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I picked a troll hunter, since I had always favored ranged classes, like the Amazons in Diablo II, and the ability to have a pet that helped you was pure win. After finding out how to adjust the hotkeys to my liking, since WASD controls isn't how I roll, I set off in the training valley. I know I probably hoarded every drop, running back to the vendor to clear out my bag(singular) of trash, since that's how I've always been. The thing I really remember was finding a treasure chest on my way to Razor Hill, and seeing a green texted jewel come out of it. I was excited!! That Kawasaki green had been branded into my brain from Diablo II as relating to sets, and it was always a rush finding them. I think I changed professions from miner to skinner to herbalist to alchemist to leatherworker all in the same day, because I couldn't decide which I wanted to pursue. I finally picked Alchemy, since I figured health potions are always a good thing to have. <br />
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In the next few days, my stable of alts started growing exponentially. I figured, why pay someone else for crafting something for me, when I could just have an alt that could cover that profession? And once my 4th toon Bonescourge took up engineering, and I saw the benefit of having AoE attacks with bombs that could hurt multiple monsters at once.....well, shoot, that meant ALL my guys needed to be engineers!2012/03/20-days-ofwow-blogging-challenge-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-1227331436475111050Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:31:00 +00002012-02-24T14:20:27.196-08:00AltoholicLove is in the AirMeta AchievementsLove is in the Air (and zipping thru portals)2-12-12<br />
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A bit late on this, but I'll link to it next year.<br />
Whew, the Lunar Festival, Darkmoon Fair, and Love is in the Air all happening around the same time makes for a very busy altoholic. <br />
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You definitely want to do the 4 Gift for XXX chief daily quests on as many toons as you can, as it allows you to turn 1 bracelet into 5 love tokens. Do all 4 Chief dailies, and 4 bracelets becomes 20 tokens, getting you closer to the 270 tokens needed for the <a href=";, without the headache of grinding it out. Plus, 16 gold at level 85 for each daily adds up to a lotta gold, especially on multiple toons.<br />
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The holiday, like most of them, is a lot easier and more rewarding at max level, as you have access to the holiday boss, which always drops more tokens that you need, plus you have a chance at the ultra-rare <a href=" Love Rocket</a>. At 0.16% drop rate, the more toons you do it on, the more you increase your chances. It's also a whole lot easier to do on a max level toon because of the HUGE difference in monsters. On a lower level toon, for example my hunter Bloodshrike on Darrowmere (76), I can kill mobs that are maybe 5-6 levels lower than me. They die easily, but it still takes a bit of time, and I'm only getting a Charm on every 3rd kill (though it seems like more). On Demon Soul, with all my 85's, I have tons of options to annihilate mobs that were designed for level 80 toons, in ilevel 200ish gear. With toons geared in Cataclysm gear, even crappy 318 greens or 371 PvP gear, you cut through whole groups of mobs in seconds, and watch the charms just pour in. It's all about the efficiency of killing, optimal results for the minimum of time spent grinding mobs. <br />
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Cold at <a href=" Gold Factory</a> had some ideas, which I gleefully seized upon. The Slags in Halls of Lightning normal mode is a brilliant idea. Since they don't drop loot, it doesn't slow me down in my killing frenzy, so I just run around the central pillar. I've done it on my hunter, paladin, and death knight, and racked up 130 charms in about 25 minutes. <br />
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Alto at <a href="; recommended Rokir in Icecrown. I tried it out, but didn't seem to make many charms.<br />
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Over at <a href=" Word: Gold</a>, he suggests the Fractured Front in Deepholm, since you can use a <a href=" Potion</a> to get even more reward for your time spent.<br />
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Whatever your favorite spot is, you're still going to need to turn in the Bracelets for the Gift to the 4 Chiefs of each Faction. <br />
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<b>For Horde</b>, here's my rotation. My guys are all logged in Orgrimmar for the holiday. I log in, grab the <a href=" the Crown</a> daily, the Perfume/Chocolate daily, the Gift for the Warchief, and take out 3 or 4 bracelets from my guild bank. I join the Q for the Apothecaries, then go turn in 1 bracelet to Garrosh, tossing out candy/perfume to all the NPC's in the throne room. 2 dailies down already, I take the portal to Uldum for Crushing the Crown. <br />
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Once that's done, I either fly straight north to Thunder Bluff to turn one in to <a href=";, or I just hit my hearthstone. At the beginning of the holiday, I changed my hearth to the Wayfarer's Inn, located just off the Bazaar in Silvermoon City. The reason for this is that the daily for <a href="; is given at the Bazaar, allowing me to pick it up ON THE WAY, not having to backtrack to it from getting a teleport there. And, once done, I just take the portal behind him to the courtyard of UC, where I pick up the daily for <a href=";. <br />
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Now, here's the difference with having the Darkmoon Fair running at the same time. With the DM Fair, I'd come back up to the central section of UC, talk to the DM mage to instantly port to Mulgore, then fly up to do the daily for Baine. Once done, I'd use my guild <a href=" cloak</a> to instantly be back in Orgrimmar, turn in Crushing the Crown, then log over to my next toon. Less than 20 minutes total time spent, 30 tokens plus the extra from the holiday bosses, plus 16 gold x6. You'd have to collect 300 <a href="; for the same result, and at a 33% drop rate, that would be over 900 monsters you'd have to kill. Now that the Fair is over, I usually don't bother with Baine.<br />
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<b>For Alliance</b>.....you're screwed, just like during the daily for killing the Greench. :) <br />
I kid, I kid, but it probably adds on a lot of time to try to get to <a href=";, as well as go to <a href="; and the <a href=" />
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I haven't been doing much on Alliance side this year, since my main Clockwrkmage only got to level 81. I'd imagine you'd log in, join the Q for the apothecaries, grab bracelets out of the bank, toss perfume/candy, get the Crushing the Crown daily, then turn in a bracelet to <a href=";. Take the portal to Uldum for Crushing the Crown, then hearth to the Inn in Darnassus, pick up the daily for Tyrande, turn it in upstairs at the temple, then hop down and take the portal to the Exodar. Turn in the daily for Prophet Velen, then use your teleport cloak/<a href=" teleport ring</a> to quickly get back to ......Stormwind, to turn in Crushing the Crown. Darkmoon Fair or not, there's no fast way to Ironforge, unless you get a port from a mage. The Alliance Darkmoon mages port you to Goldshire, right by Stormwind.<br />
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You could take a flight from a flightmaster, or take the portal in Stormwind to Twilight Highlands, then fly south-west to Ironforge, since you'd only have to cross the Wetlands.<br />
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Well, just a few random thoughts about the holiday, hope it helps!<br />
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Edit 2/24/2012:<br />
I got 4 of the <a href=";, 2 <a href=";, and 7 <a href="; (Buriza got 4 of them). No Rocket mount for me. :(<br />
Buut, I did save up enough tokens for 8 <a href=";, and 13 <a href=";, both of which will fetch a good price later on.2012/02/love-is-in-air-and-zipping-thru-portals.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-8398411693523048171Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:58:00 +00002012-01-23T01:38:57.262-08:00GuildsGuild Level 25 - Finally!1-23-12<br /><br /><a href=" Flight</a> on Demon Soul finally hit level 25 yesterday, with a big sigh of relief from me. I don't have to pay people anymore!! It's not about the gold, but I felt obligated to log in to see if I owed people money, as I didn't want people to have to wait forever to get paid, like the copycat guild Guild Bonus made them do.<br /><br />Exactly how much gold did I pay out? Given that I leveled it to level 2 myself, that's 16.58 million gxp subtracted from the grand <a href="; of 845.67 million gxp, leaving 829.09 million gxp needed to get from level 2 to level 25. Grand total of contributions from all my toons = 150,107,791 subtracted from 845,670,000 = 695,562,209 guild xp that my guildies were paid for. At 1 gold per 1k guild xp, and allowing for people who didn't hit a payment mark, I probably paid out 695 THOUSAND gold over the past year. <br /><br />In retrospect, I probably should have just paid someone for their high level guild, like E at the <a href="; did, who I discovered from a comment on a BigBearButt post.<br /><br />The difference between <span style="font-weight:bold;">owning</span> the guild, as opposed to just being a regular member and <span style="font-weight:bold;">contributing</span>, is that I can never ever be /gkicked. I am free to set policies, and I have faith that the Cash Flow perk, as well as the gold rewards for guild challenges, will eventually pay me back for the gold I've spent. I'd definitely have to /kick everyone if I decided to go on a long break, as you can be dethroned by members petitioning GM's if you've been offline for more than a month.<br /><br />I don't know what it is, I'm just highly self-reliant (loner), probably from the influence of Diablo II, where I would buy items I wanted from players using my carefully hoarded gems (P Rubies ftw!), instead of doing countless Baal runs hoping that the items I wanted would drop. In WoW, I pay people to help the guild, instead of just hoping that they would, or having to run dungeons/BG's ad nauseum to benefit them, even when I didn't want to, so they'd stay in the guild. <br /><br />Being a GM of a guild has drawbacks, you always have to be offering something, be it gold, dungeon runs, PvP, or raiding. If you offer nothing, people will leave.2012/01/guild-level-25-finally.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-4064748208841938731Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:51:00 +00002012-01-22T13:41:05.654-08:0020 Days of...WoW Blogging Challengeblogging20 Days of...WoW Blogging Challenge - Day TwoWhy did I start this blog?<br /><br />I started this blog back in November of '08.....well, not really. Actually, I had a bunch of posts that I had written on my laptop beforehand, and started throwing them up there when I finally got around to making my blog. That's why there's about 50 posts within the first 3 days. The <a href="; was actually written a year before that. :)<br /><br />Why do bloggers write? It's usually for a multitude of reasons, not just one. I had been reading BigRedKitty for a while beforehand, and BRK's sheer joie de vivre in playing his hunter was infectious. I've always enjoyed writing, and really like teaching/sharing my knowledge with others. The best way to learn is to teach, as by going over a subject from the ground up, you often learn surprising new things. I had noticed that nobody really talked about the Engineering profession, treating it like a bastard crafting profession, and that annoyed me. Ever since my 4th toon picked up the Engineering profession, I was hooked. I dropped max level herbalism on Bloodshrike to take it up, and haven't looked back. As of right now, 26 of my 30 toons are engineers, with only my priests and my mage Banesidhe not having the engineering skill (Priests have Levitate/Resurrection, Bane had too many hard to find enchanting/tailoring recipes to give up).<br /><br />So, I started a blog with the intent of perhaps swaying people's opinions towards engineering, through the enthusiasm I showed for it in my posts. That's the reason for the <a href=" title</a>, as well as the picture.<br /><br />The blog is also my release for stress, such as when my guild bank on Darrowmere got items ninja'd from it. As a Spider Robinson quote says, "Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased — thus do we refute entropy." Just typing out my feelings and thoughts is a release in itself, and if people comment, that's a bonus.2012/01/20-days-ofwow-blogging-challenge-day_22.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Bloodshrike)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5605424126720652223.post-228295659360943081Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:50:00 +00002012-01-22T00:06:06.065-08:0020 Days of...WoW Blogging Challengeblogging20 Days of...WoW Blogging Challenge - Day OneI was blog-crawling the other day, and somehow I ended up at the <a href="