Thursday, February 28, 2008

Alchemist Stone Trinkets in Patch 2.4


Courtesy of the fine folks over at MMO Champion who dug up this latest find in the latest PTR files. Seems Alchemy is getting a little love in patch 2.4 with all the goodness going around to every other profession and loot being added to the upcoming patch. Seems Alchemist we will be getting 4 new Epic Stones to choose from. See a Guardian's Alchemist Stone there with 54 Defense on it.

However if only the dev's could add like +35-50 Stamina on the stones or one with the Defense already on it would be pure awesomeness and worth it for Tanking. That would be ubar Trinket .... thats seems too much to ask of the devs it seems for a little Stamina. Not too happy with the Trinkets but better than nothing at all also.

Edited.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

10 Things I Dislike About Raiding

My raiding days haven't been that long. About 2 weeks in fact, which is less than a month of weekly raiding in Karazhan. As a result I've learned quickly there things I dislike about Raiding.

1. Raid not starting on time and people not logged on as they say they would and everywhere else but at the raid location. We've had this happen allot! I myself usually say if I'm going to be late before the raid time is planned because I know I have a long commute time from work.

2. People not using consumables that they know they need to use. I've seen that too which cost us a few close kills and then wasted time having to rez. However more people are using consumables the more we raid so getting better at it and using Flasks but not but at least half the raid don't as yet for whatever reason.

3. Raid members being constantly AFK between pulls or downtime and not saying going AFK and going AFK for long periods of time for whatever reason not obvious. Seen some people gone AFK for like 10 min thus result in everyone having to wait around doing nothing just waiting. One person went AFK so long it we canceled the raid due to no replacement for the AFK person.

4. Raid wasting lots of time to replace members who have to leave or leave suddenly and then have to spend a hour or more to get a replacement. Time is damn valuable my time or your time and it a waste to have it wasted especially with consumables like Flasks ticking away. At least half the Flasks I use go wasted and that expensive.

5. Raid members not having their gear fully repaired. That's just a no brainer! But we have had that happen that I have seen people forgetting to repair. Fortunately myself and others now have enough reps that I can repair inside Kara with Violet Eye reps.

6. I've seen raid members forgetting to bring reagents and forgetting they need then. Seen a pally healer without reagent in the raid and wondering why he could only cast regular blessings. Had to give him one on my stack of 200 reagents. I carry that many all the time in raid and heroics.

7. Sometimes loot rules are not always fair, however the rules are the rules and can still be dislikes all the same even if its the official rules. Oh Well.

8. No set raid time duration. However that said because we can't seem to start raid times on time and often late this have impacted when we end as well. But a set time would be nice. As for me I often have to get up at 0430 to get ready for work and my commute. We've had raids where it was 0200 am when it was just finishing. However I stayed to finish that nights raid, however its not something I wish to repeat often considering my work schedule that are 12 hour days long with commute time.

9. I'll have to be honest on this one. I do have a general dislike of carrying people through a raid who don't take the time to gear themselves to some degree after they hit lvl 70 and think that hey I just hit 70 my gear is not raiding level ready gear but I want to join the raid. Honestly I have a general dislike about that when some people don't take the time to run 5 man instances during the day or off raid time to improve their gear chances but only wait till raid time to get into a raid to do so. If you ask me why that bothers me, well you have never read here for long.

10. Raid members not knowing raid strategy of boss ahead of time thus having to spend lots of time to explain boss strategy. Thats a loss in momentum and that's also time wasted. Only a few people in the raids I've been on seem to do homework on any bosses ahead of time. Can waste a lot of time.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Tanking Gear Upgrades

Spent 35 Badges of Justice and picked up the Badge cloak to replace my Blue Devil Shark Cloak with the same Enchant for Dodge. The cloak is much better than the Gilded Thorium Cloak that drops from Terestian Illhoof and all of Kara. Replacing it gives me more Armor, Stamina, Avoidance rating and enough to maintain Uncrushable rating with Holy Shield though not by much. I still carry the old cloak and swith gear as needed for the block value on trash or like in Heroics downgrading gear so mana in not as much a problem getting heals from taking some damage.

Replaced the Felsteel Helm with this. If had won the Justicar Faceguard it would have being really nice. However spent 50 Badges and picked up the pre 2.3 Badge gear helm at the vendor. Especially since seem no new helms for Tankadin on the horizon for Badges in 2.4 either that I have seen. The new helm is also better than the Eternium Greathelm that drops in Opera House for Tankadins. So again get more Stamina/Avoidance a little less Armor. Having the Shield Block Rating on it to maintain Uncrushable with Holy Shield allows me to un-equipt my Figurine of Colossus in my Trinket slot for Block Rating and replace it with my Netherwing Exalted Trinket the Commander's Badge for more Stamina. I've never got to use it before much anyway. So usefull at least the Trinket for pure Stamina which added about 520 HP total.

Since I'm now Revered with the Violet Eye replaced my Andormu Tears ring from Black Morass with the Violet Signet Ring. That allows me to get more Stamina and keep up Defense though I be just under uncrushable. Been just under Uncrushable that's easily fixed by doing a few things easily by just switching from my Continuum Blade back to Crystalforged Sword for the BlockRating. I can have BoK up if need or eat a Warp Burger for the almost 1% avoidance if needed. I carry lots of consumables always. Point is I have options if I need them depending on what gear I need at any one point in time. Every good Tank carry lots of extra gear as options depending on what gear pieces they need at any one time.

Every piece of my gear worn I get it fully Fully Enchanted when its bought and before I even wear it the first time. I take a lot of personal pride in wearing my gear and keeping it updated as best as one can. With all three pieces of gear change that allows me to remain Uncrittable/Uncrushable with Holy Shield. Also increase my Stamina HP from 12.8k to 14.1k unbuffed and with more Armor. So I finish the week now with 9 Badges of Justice in the Bank. So need to burn the candle again with more Heroics to get at least 60 Badges to get my next piece.

Nightbane Down - Demon to Ashes


After 2 weeks in Kara with our guild Alamat. We Killed Nightbane. Gratz to our little guild team and the effort for 2 weeks at doing and learning Karazhan. I forgot to take the screenshot for the blog, always a lot to remember since I blog to screenshot stuff.

First attempt at Nightbane we got him down to 23%. DPS kept pulling aggro and Nightbane aggro'd and got out of hand and started hitting people and lost positioning and control of him. Warrior MT Nightbane and Galo more less melee dps keeping up Judgement of Wisdom. On our second attempt we killed Nightbane.

For tanking loot, guess what he dropped? Yeap he dropped Shield of Impenetrable Darkness. Though both the Warrior and I needed the shield both, I was gracious enough to not roll on it and let the Warrior have it. I'm not a bullheaded about loot. I'll get the shield eventually like every piece of gear I've ever went after in due time though I have a good shield currently. The Warrior and I work tanking just fine in our small guild with 2 dedicated tanks. So was gratz to him on his gear improvement and it overall benefits our small guild also.

Thursday night we killed Prince again and he dropped Helm of the Fallen Champion. I really wanted the token so I could have picked up the vendor facepiece the Justicar Faceguard with the token. The new guild member the Shaman that's often a pain in my ass rolled a 98. It didn't look good, So I rolled and roll a 5. To be honest he won it fair and square in the roll as we do a roll on loot if need at this point. But as the tank having been on every single raid from the beginning, with full consumables, on time and for the duration of every raid I really got heartburn at that point to be honest. It was irritating to loose the roll to someone that was a pain in my ass often in various ways, never in complete attendance, never there for the entire raid and leaves when he feels like it. So yeah I got hearth burn for that reason alone

As far as the raid goes the Warrior and I more less quarterback the raid as we don't have a actual raid leader per say. However most the time on the raids I guess I'm the acting raid leader it seems as far as knowing the proper strategy to take on all the bosses since obviously since I blog I do my fair share of reading all over the place and research ahead of time what works or works best. For 2 weeks in Karazhan not bad it is having killed every boss except optional boss Netherspite as yet.

Related Post:
Galo's Karazhan Tankadin Gear Wish List

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Heroics or Karazhan?

Having been at lvl 70 for a while and taken my well documented detour and time gearing up, and tanking lots of Heroics I can safely say my opinion of Karazhan now that I've been there 3-4 times now.

I've spent a lot of time on the rep grind & faction grind for all my gear and tanking Heroics with decent gear. Now that I'm raiding Karazhan this is what seems more than obvious to me in my own opinion.

Mobs in Heroics hit much damn harder than in Karazhan. Allot harder in fact they hit in Heroics, but thats my honest opinion there and I'm sticking to it. Trash mobs in Karazhan may sometime do some wired tricks but running 5 man Heroics is harder. This now reminds me of when in Heroics often times that I get some Kara raiding healers with epic gear does not often realize how much harder mobs hit in Heroics compared to Kara. They may not anticipate just how hard mobs hit a Tank in Heroics and I've had many such healers that have claimed because they raid heal in Kara they can heal just fine in Heroics. Not all of them do. However the point is in my opinion as a Tank. Trash Mobs in Heroics hit much harder and can put a royal pounding on Armor.

Back to Karazhan

We didn't really have a raid schedule for last night Tuesday night. However we had enough guild members online and most of the raid team so we just decided since having people logged on why not go raid Karazhan. So we did!

Was later then the usual raid start time but we got it going. Think group was a Warrior (Tank), Galo (OT), H.Priest, Resto Shaman, 2 Warlocks, 2 Rogues, Mage, Hunter. The Shaman was our guild newest member and a very young member. So we started this week doing the usual Bosses. So we visited and one shot Attumen, Moroes, Maiden, Opera Event.

For the Opera Event this time we got a new boss, so we got Romulo & Julianne. Was easy to tell from the announcer who we had so first time seeing the event we one shot them both. Warrior tanked Julianne and Galo tanked Romulo and consecrated both in Phase 3 of that fight been next to both. It was fun and they both died quick and fight didn't seem that hard to me as they got burned down quickly. So so far having now seen all three Opera Event I'll have to say the Wizard of Oz is the most fun. Romulo and Julianne was the easiest.

As for the trash mobs, I just AoE the non-elite trash mobs in Moroes room. We pulled the elites by themselves. On way to Maiden after Moroes room we did the same thing as far as pulling the mobs and staying close to the left wall. On room to maiden we just pulled the patrol and mobs in their own groups. At one point we had 2 groups of mobs going in a pull and hell it was just more fun AoEing the whole group. After having seen Kara 3-4 times now its much easier to understand the place and the Bosses. They don't seem as hard as the first time you see the Bosses learning the event for the first time. Having being in very decent geared made it all seem a bit easy to me I guess.

We finally had some drama on our raid. The new Shaman that recently joined our guild claimed he has run Kara as he said at least 45 times yet for all that he only has one Kara piece. Anyway when Attumen died some cloth dropped he got mad because he wanted to roll on the cloth gear and was mad he couldn't. He was given already 1 piece of gear that was a huge improvement for him. Last I checked Shaman wears mail also. So this guy decided to go Afk to protest his discontent with the loot. I was like "wtf" is up here! We did a ready check, guy was like "I'm busy thinking". I almost blew a fuse at that point.

From Attumen to Maiden this one Shammy (My Healer) kept complaining about loot and everything else non stop. I reached the point where I was just completely annoyed. So I /w the GM as he was in the raid. The guy was complaining to him too. I laughed, but to be honest he annoyed the crap out of me and with lots of smart ass comments as if the guy knows me in any way when he's being a smart ass. I just decided not to answer him and leave it at that. So on the way leading up to Maiden the shammy decides "Hey I got to go, see ya peeps later" then he said 2 smart ass remarks and logged off a little bit later. So we had to find another healer which took forever it seemed. I'm not keen on this new guildmember. Will see what becomes of him.

Anyway after we did the Opera Event we called it a night. So tonight we head back to Kara to start with Curator.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tankadin Itemization Issues on 2.4 PTR

With the release of 2.4 gear and itemization on the PTR Tankadin gear itemization still continue to be a very big issue as well as the issue of having Weapons itemized for Paladin Tanks. Lore one of our community leaders over at at the Maintankadin Forum and one of our bloggers has put forth a very good summary on the Test Realm Feedback Forum. He addressed a good deal of the many problems that still continue with all the new itemized gear that continue to be released. Read it Here.

*Also new 2.4 Badge Item link at MMO-Champion.

Screenshots - 3 More Dead Karazhan Bosses

Infernals trapped and killed up on 4 attempts. On our 5th try I QB a different strategy with the Warrior tanking. I just back up heal, cleanse debuff, and spot infernals and we got Prince down all the way and not a single infernal problem. Yeah he's dead thats all that mattered. 8th Boss down this week or 2nd week in Kara for our small guild "Alamat" so a Guild First! He dropped phat loot! I was so excited he was dead I forgot to roll on The Decapitator. The Holy Paladin got it, cheers. AH better days ahead. Got 9 Badges for the effort. Was a good night!
Three tries on Terestian Illhoof and he was not hoofing anymore. 7th Boss down this week. Guild First! Next we did the chest event and that was fun. Hunter got all the loot from that was excited for him on that also.
Sometimes you try, try, try again and its not good enough. A bad night it was Saturday night on 7 attempts to get him to <1500HP thats less than 1% and we wiped. People dying all over the place. Man it really hurt to get him so close and not down for the count, was just a bad night at raiding. Tonight (Monday) we went in with game face and one shot him and not a single person died on the attempt. Overcoming failure was oh so sweet. Retribution is a bitch and Shade of Aran got it full square. 6th boss downed this week. Guild First! Not bad for our 4th time and 2nd week in Kara, we can only get better.

Badges of Justice count: 66

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Curator Down - Guild First

We started a hour and a half late for the raid due to people late getting online from work and other things. However we got started and knocked over 5 Bosses in one night for this week Kara run tonight. One shot Attunmen & Midnight, Moroes and his crew & Maiden. I backup healed the warrior tank on Maiden. She dropped both the Glove and the Necklace both on my list that I needed however I passed and let the Warrior pick them up both. I'm not worried I'll get them eventually soon. On the way to the Opera picked up Boots of Elusion on the trash pull before the Opera. Lots of AoE of trash, which helped having good gear.

For the Opera this time we got the Wizard of Oz and took us two tried to get it just right as I tanked both Roar and Tito the same time. That was a really fun event I have to say. After that we found our way up to Curator eventually and first try we got him to 38%. 2nd try we got him to 23%. 3rd try he bit the dust. Thats one mana intensive fight as the off tank yet the fight did not seem all that hard. I guess good hear helps as well as the dps. At that it was 1:45AM and so called it a night as need to head to work in just a few hours. Will see what luck tomorrows raid bring. Was a fun night with a few more Badges of Justice, can't remember how many, but now have about 50+ for some goodie goodie purchase. Anyway just a quick recap nothing fancy since I'm pressed for time here at the moment.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Leaving Your Guild

When its time to leave what do you do and how do you do it? Over at World of Matticus earlier Matt has a great piece on "Leaving the Guild the Right Way". I though it was a great piece he wrote. I haven't joined that many guilds that I personally have ever had to quit. But if you play WoW long enough there will come a time when you will eventually have to quit one of them unfortunately for whatever reason. Its all up to you how you decide to quit, /gquit, stealth quit or whatever kind of quit which is basically leaving to say the least.

How you leave your once guildmates, the people you instances with day in day out or raided with once says much about you as a player and your personal character when you decide to quit or leave. Also will reflect much on how many friends you retain after you quit or leave also. Not every issue will be plain black or while before you quit or decide to, but it helps to give a GM or a guild officer a heads up before you leave. Having a little courtesy helps much as well as some personal dignity however you choose to do it. I remembered when I left my last guild "Ascention" my former guild Not my current guild. It was the first and only other guild I had joined at 70 or for a long time that is. I knew most the officers in the guild as well as the GM. Did many key frag runs and full instance run with many the members to get their Kara keys.


When I decided to leave I had my reasons and it was firm in decision. I talked to the GM about my decision. And before I left the guild with many people online I at least gave them the courtesy of letting them know I was leaving. I didn't have to /gquit or stealth quit when no one was around. I gave them common courtesy and left with my dignity same as I would do on the Job with the people I have worked with for years. It is rather still good to know i'm friends with everyone I knew back in "Ascention" guild. Who needs enemies on a Server, already have enough in PvE. Just 2 days ago one the officers /w me asking me to fill in as Tank for their Kara group, I had to decline because I was in Heroics at the time. The point is I still have friends there.

However what you do and how you leave is always up to you when you decide to leave!

Blog Spotlight

Always add new links when I get around to it or remember to often its blogs of my same class and a few different classes. But have being reading a Paladin blog for a while and keep forgetting to add it.

Its a Blog of a REAL CHICK playing a Protection Paladin in the endgame on "Moonrunner" Server. And yes this CHICK IS A Main TANKADIN and has already completed the very endgame with her Guild, Tanked Illidian Stormrage herself and already past having BT on farm. A member of Maintankadin so one of our own. Right now she's playing around on the PTR and getting ready like everyone else at the very endgame to beat down the Sunwell and all else when it arrives. Will be a lot of strategy there. A good blog so far it is really worth reading. Linked below.

CHICK TANKADIN

WoW Update 02/14/08

Sunday the guild raid didn't go off as planned, but fortunately I had to work so worked out better on my time. Monday night guild got a raid together and headed back to Kara, cleared some trash which was not too bad and got to the Opera Event. We got the Big Bad Wolf.

That event seems fun, however in the middle of the Boss Wolf fight one of our couple team (Warlock & Shadow Priest) in the raid which included the GM & his wife got disconnected so we lost 2 people right there. As result we ended up wiping on the Wolf at 24%. The GM couple never got reconnected after some time and since we had no other dps available we ended up calling the raid. So no raid this week till friday, which on my work schedule I should be able to make that. Weekend raid this weekend will be doubtful on being able to make it if start early and not till after 7:30pm or 5:30 server time since don't get home from work till then at least for this weekend schedule. On another note just from observation, I find you can waste a lot of time starting a raid when people are either not ready at the raid by having zoned in and not having any clear idea of the boss strategy by not reading up on it ahead of time. Just my observation.

Heroics
All things otherwise I'm usually just spending time PuGing Heroics most the time. Usually have one guild member at most 2 guildies if possibe but often its just a PuG for Heroics. Our guild is a small guild of almost 50 people and has a member cap of 50 with exception to member alts to keep guild small and allow most the members the chance to raid. So at most times their may be 8-12 people online at most time on regular days excluding raid days. Most my guildies do PvP Arena/BG's for gear for Kara gearing. Some do Heroics when all done with PvP. For Galo its just running Heroics all the time for my goal of 12 Badges a day as my focus. I don't have time to wait around for a guild Heroic run so I choose to just PuG my Heroics and i'm fine with it. Only 2 times I've made that goal on a weekend before but thats the goal whether I make it or not running Heroics. If I hit 12 Badges I call it a day and log off and go do something else with the time.

For Heroics its all about Badges and more Badges and thats all its about nothing else. So I just run the Heroics that give the most farming badges. Usually I run anything Colifang Reservoir & Tempest Keep except Heroic Arcatraz. So often my own personal Heroic Daily grind is running Heroic Botanica (5), UB (4) and then either SP, Mech, SV or the other 3-4 Badges. I can usually run those with a group fast and efficiently. Thats Galo's Personal Daily Grind for 12 Badges a Day Goal irregardless of what the daily heroics are. On most days I don't meet the goal due to work and schedule and endless hours in LFG trying to find 4 other people to run Heroics as i'm always at login in LFG. Last night I was just to tired from work to login WoW so no heroics last night. However I'm up to 33 Badges of Justice with no firm decision what my next Badge gear piece will be as yet. Shadow Priests are always fun to have along doing mind control on mobs I've found for CC.

More Friends
As a result of running lots of PuG Heroics, my friends list had grown even longer. Many players that were at once just from PuG group are now friends that I run with sometime on Heroics or a fill in when needed. Pays to have lots of friends. More good PuGs, more friends and they need badges too so works out well. As result of that I have one friend that Multi-Box two characters all at the same time a Warlock and a Shadow Priest and rather good at it. I also realize Enhancement Shaman can pump out lots of DPS. It can be real fun trying to maintain aggro with a Shaman in full T4 and some T5 gear when I'm barely in T4 gear but his DPS was off the charts, makes for fast Heroic runs.

A few other time had a Boomkin or Doom Chicken whichever you like best that also puts out some amazing high DPS and that one player was a heck of a lot of fun on runs in SSC gear. Yeah have to hold aggo to those players too make for fun times in Heroics. But you know make new friends with all those players which are all in my server top guilds. Pays to have more friends in high places.

Some people refuse to PuG Heroics but hey I understand that too, its all in what you like and prefer or choose to do. I can afford the repair bills if need I have to spend all that money on something worthwhile, but its usually minimal repair on all my runs thus far. On all my runs it usually works out that everyone is a casting class with a Blue bar and just works out great.

Downtime Fishing Fun
In between running Heroics and always in LFG to see whats happening there you usually find me darting back and forth in Terokkar Forest fishing in the highland lakes when I can on my pet project of trying to re-catch Mr Pinchy in Highland Mixed Pools. They re-spawn on average very 40-45 min or so. As a result I bought another Alt GuildBank Slot to hold everything I catch in the attempt since I need more bank space. That makes Alt GuildBank slot #3 at cost of 500g. Its just a matter of time before I'm due to catch Mr Pinchy. On the flip side lets just say the economics of all those fish catch also works out well also. When all mixed pools are fished I just head off to farm herbs or drop a few bombs in Skettis for the daily while still in LFG to do my next Heroics.

Alchemy
I'm just still selling the usual stuff I sell daily. However I've found that Flask of Pure Death which I learned through Alchemy Discovery not too long ago has being doing good for my Alt Banker botton line accounting recently so I've made several more flasks of course for stock sale. However only ever sell 2 at a time on AH. For me those have sold everytime in 48 hrs. Tip:Market scarcity is good sometimes, never sell all your goods all at once if profit matters to you.


Alt
Played around with my Eternallord my BE Shadow Priest and got him from lvl 18-20 in Ghostland, was fun. Goal achieved though for that Alt and #2 Banker. He will probably be stuck at lvl 20 for a long time. But he does have 150 fishing and all the other little Alts can do fishing as well as all of them has the Fishing Journal as well. Seems I like to fish. Not sure which Alt I will level next to lvl 20...... when I have time to play around.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Tankadin Heroic Goodies in Patch 2.4

Get ready to be running a lot of Heroics in patch 2.4 to get some noteworthy awesome pieces to equipt your Tankadin for awesomeness. Holy Batman, these are just too awesome to ignore. Get ready to rumble and tumble in Heroics for these maybe even making your death to get them. It will be fun all the same.

Commendation of Kaelthas - This is so awesome its unbelievable! This procing at 35% health when our talent Ardent Defender kicks in is just awesome sauce for the duration of the proc. ** This got nerfed while still on the PTR from 380 Dodge Rating down to 152.

Cudgel of Consecration - Upgrade to your Continuum Blade via PvE vs having to grind Honor in BG's for the S1 Gladiator Mace. I'm sure I'll be grinding Heroics Magister's Terrace for this one to upgrade one of my 2 blade. Seem like this will look like a awesome weapon and with a gem socket too. More HP for the win.

Timbal's Focusing Crystal (Trinket) - Another awesome trinket this going to be to get. WTB 2 more Trinket slots! 2 Slots is just not enough with the Darkmoon Card Vengeance in one slot and a Defense Trinket already in the other slot.

All 3 of these are now etched onto my Heroic want list. You can bet I'm going to be grinding these with some friends till these drop. Awesomeness!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Guild 1st Day In Kara 3 Bosses Down


Took the day off from working tonight on the Job so can get to head to Kara with the guild. Headed into Karazhan (Finally) with out guild "Alamat". Our guild has 2 Teams so we are Team 2 with Warrior MT, myself being the OT, Holy Priest, Resto Druid, Warlock (Dest), 2 Hunters (Mark & Surv), Shadow Priest, Rogue, Fury Warrior. So a Guild first in one shotting Attumen & Midnight. We 2 shot Moroes and his crew. Then we went over and slapped around Maiden and one shot her too as I healed the tank for that one.

Was fun for first time getting to see Karazhan, place looks really nice, big and really pretty. Mobs were fun, Aoe a lot of the trash is Moroes room as well as the ones in the room before Maiden. Just pulled the Elites patrol seperate. After downing maiden we called it a night. Mobs in Heroics seem to hit much harder than in Kara.

Picked up Vambraces of Courage from Attumen and Bracers of Justice from Maiden. Have yet to decide how i'm going to gem and enchant the Vambraces as a bit less avoidance compared to Bracers of the Green Fortress. Tomorrow rest of the guild on Team 2 heads back to Kara but I wont be there since I'll be busy working tomorrow night.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Confessions of a Money Manager

This post turned out way longer than I though it would turn out. I though I would just answer a few things but to explain things it turned out longer than I thought. But after spending the time writing it, I'll leave it as it is. But a regular reader here on the blog ask the question in comments:

"I still don't understand how you make so much money. Would you say that most of your profits come from playing the auction house or selling herbs/pots?"
Augustian


That's a very good question. But you know I really don't think I make all that much though one may view that differently to their own asset stake and in how you may choose to play the game of World of Warcraft. We all play the very same game, the thing is each of us play the game differently and choose to use our professions, skills, time differently. However I do many things with patience and focus as well as using my professions to my advantage.

Almost any activity in WoW that one person finds boring another person see profitable. Another activity that players Choose Not to waste their time doing, another person does it for their own reasons. Some players hate to farm X, you can make it you business to farm that X if its profitable enough, I've done that too.

Some players love to raid thus needing certain items a player can make it his business to find things that they need and make it profitable by providing that service to the economy. Learning to use one chosen profession properly goes without saying. Learning what sells, what sells profitable, what sells often is important to take notice of and when it sells in the economy. Soloing quests is also profitable thats just the way I quest also unless it require 5 people.

Doing your dailies add up over time they are not hard to do and are often fun. Playing lots of alts can be a drain on all your resources and time, as you know I don't spend much time playing Alts. Learning how to save money and not spend it all goes without saying.

Its always a good thing to find niches in the market that your profession can serve and fill that niche or make it your own niche. For instance i'm the only person on my Server that will make certain Elixirs, because I have being doing it day in day our for months. Players keep buying and I keep making them. Its also a good thing if you can check AH a few times a day. Along with that maintaining market scaresity sometimes in valuable items is good, always flooding the market with your goods is never always good for your good, your competitor and the economy in WoW. In case i forget to mention using Auctioneer is a good thing but using your own brains is even better when using whats considered a tool. After I've said all that, making money for me is all a game I play withing the game inbetween doing everything else. I just have fun doing it when i'm playing.

Daily Rituals:

1. Log in check Alt Bankers and see what sold by checking Mail. See what sold and how much. Depending on what sold I may restock AH with whatever it is that I usually sell. I check my competition on goods and see if its a usual seller or just a one day seller dumping goods on AH. If item is way below market price I may buy it all up on AH and relist it at my price.

a. Most of what I sell are Alchemy related being Elixirs. I don't often do transmutes but if I do it may just be Arcanite Bar, nothing fancy but profitable. I very rarely do high level Alchemy transmutes, like once in a blue moon often.

b. On Herbalism you may not believe it but I don't really sell many or much of my Herbs. I can if I wanted to but i don't have a need to sell them either. Herbs are raw material for doing my Alchemy even when I have excess. The only herbs I ever sell is usually Fel Lotus if that and not all the time or often, only when I have excess inventory way pass a full stack. Sometime i sell Mana Thistle but its because I may have in excess of 12 stacks on hand. Other than that I don't sell herbs or many.

c. Sometime I sell Primals. Can be Primal Fires/Water/Life often its Primal Life since I collects lots of motes of life picking herbs. Again I don't sell it all the time, most the time I can have in excess of a full stack. I don't need to sell them, but will when prices are good on AH or the market is inflated by some player who puts like 10-20 primals up all at once.

d. My Paladin does a lot of Instancing/questing/grinding when questing or doing dailies and picks up all kind of loot or green and blue gear and I sell those too. I spend allot of time fishing and I sell all that fish I collect for a handsome profit also on AH so may be selling some of those things too.

e. Market Speculating selling. Here I only trade in what I Know, Use and Track in the market. This is not something I do daily. But i do check prices daily for a good deal on underpriced items on AH. If the valuable item is low enough in price and say in multiple stack I may buy the gems, get them cut and resell them for profit. However thats whenever I find a good deal on another player selling their goods cheap.

2. I check the price of about 10 mid level alchemy herbs than grows in Azeroth and if its at a very low price to me, i'll buy the herbs and sometime for stock inventory. Send herbs to Galo to brew the needed Elixirs/Potions, send pots back to banker. Take the herbs and provide a service supplying the AH market with the Elixirs that people need to level their millions of alts with. With that i make about a dozen various Elixirs that are core elixirs that people need or like to have.

2.b If someone selling their pots on AH cheap that day. I may not even bother to list any of my goods. Let that person sell their goods and at some point later i list mines. However I never list my items under competitors price. You be amazed how often you item sells when you sell it at your regular price and not just underbid to the lowest price.

I never never make health or mana pots why because everyone makes them and cheapen the market. I often make elixirs that no one else chooses to make and for that those are profitable to me. A profit of 50s -1 gold here and there adds up over time when you make hundreds and hundreds of elixirs/potions. I do this every single day, because i'm desiplined enough to do it.

3. When I have too much excess inventory of herbs and i mean a lot of inventory I take a few hours and brew up hundreds of Elixirs/Flasks and restock the the Personal Alt GuildBank as needed with supplies. Some of these Elixirs my main Paladin do use or can use however many are used by Raiders and Casting Raiders and needed Flasks also. I NEVER MAKE ANYTHING THAT WON'T OR DON'T SELL .....Period. My Paladin usually have full stacks of Elixirs I use often, excess goes to my bank for stock supplies. Elixirs that I don't use or excess stock needed by other classes get sold on AH. That is pure economics because I hate loosing money on something that don't sell well. Everything I make is an Elixir/Flask since I'm Elixir Mastery. I don't make and sell Super Mana Pots/Potions, I put those herbs to other uses often or in Flasks. Most Super pots are make for my main.

4. When I list stuff on AH to sell it is always in (5) stacks never in (10) when it comes to any high level Elixirs. When I sell any of the Flasks I make I sell them in singles due to their price since making Flasks are more expensive and cost more. However also when i sell Flasks only one or 2 are ever listed by me on AH at any one time. If i put one up and say someone buys one when i'm at AH then I will list one more on AH and so on. That goes with every single thing I sell thats consumable. I only put enough up to sell, never in excess.

When selling low level Alchemy pots i sell them in single item because people are at lower level and have less income or may be just using the pot for first time or only need one of item. Some pots i make are quest items which are always in demand. When I list Elixirs on AH I never flood the market even though I can if I wanted to cheaply. I don't believe in being a cheap seller on AH, you should be able to make money with your profession or be crafty enough to do so at and affordable price.

Its better to sell your product often and consistently at and affordable consistent price than once in a while at and expensive price. You will never ever see me in Trade channel asking to sell and item, I never ever peddle any of my items to sell in Trade channel. The only one time i may ever do that is If i happen to be listing something on AH during the hours immediately before or during raids I may say so and so Flasks are now in AH. That's what I do.

5. When I sell green items I don't sell it at a crazy high price. I check the market price of comparable items and i price it as needed and affordable but not too high. Often it sells in 24-48 hours of first listing and i get my profit and maybe some my deposit back. I will relist and item twice but never ever three times on AH to sell it. If it does not sell being listed 2 times on AH it goes to the vendor or I may get a dis-enchanter to disenchant the items. You will just about be loosing money because of the deposit cost of and item to keep listing it and it not selling. Right now I have so many green items I don't have time to sell them.

6. Before log out for the day, check in with Banker Manager alt and see what sold and restock AH if needed.

Outside of that I don't really spend much money on things. I'm not leveling alts to be spending money on alts and then again when it comes to the ones I play they are self sufficient to make their own money. When it comes to my main the only things I ever usually spend money on is getting and enchant maybe or buying Wizzard Oil on AH which my Banker usually buys also when pricing is good for stock. When I every fly anywhere in Outland I use my Epic Flying mount and fly a herbing route to get from point A to point B. I collect herbs all the time to and from wherever I go, so I have lots of inventory to do whatever I need. When someone over inflates the market at high prices selling herbs I though I never need to sell mines I can put a stack or two up to regulate over inflation of prices.

When I need mats that I can obtain farming I check AH if prices not too high i buy it there, if prices not seem reasonable I go out and farm it. I find the mob and go Paladin farming it often its Primals and I have fun doing it. If herbs in the area farm that too. While farming often I get to pick up other valuable items that may drop green items sometimes. Though I don't have to farm often, whenever I do I make it fun.

Now you ask when the heck do I have time to do all that. Since I don't spend time playing alts and so forth I can do all that inbetween running Instances & Heroics. You will also never see me sitting idle in Shattrath City or Orgrimmar sitting on mailboxes, jumping around or whatever. I'll be out heading somewhere, farming something for fun, herbing, doing alchemy, fishing. Like said we all play the same game, we all just play the game differently.

Doing all that with Patience and Decipline while having Fun is how I earned full and paid for 2 Epic Mounts, every enchant I need for my tanking gear, have a Alt Banker with a personal Guildbank with 2 bank tabs full of stuff, more green gear to sell than I know what to do with and 10K in savings that I'm just sitting on. After a while it gets a bit boring making money. Simply that's all I do and do most those things daily the other things if needed. Nothing I do is hard to do. Its the simple things I do that counts.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Epic Milestone!


Not bad for 1 main character, 2 Epic Mounts and 7 bankers since I don't give the alts much love.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Why do you fight?

An interesting question it is playing WoW or the game you play however you choose to play it. But Kaziel over on his blog in yesterdays post ask the question: Why do you fight? In many ways I share his same views on playing WoW and for progression and being able to see some of the endgame while at the same time having an interest and looking forward to Warhammer Online (WAR).

So I though I respond here as to some reasons Why do I fight the WoW fight and my Interest as to why I may do the same in Warhammer Online when it arrives.

I fight the fight in WoW pretty much in a PvE way. I'm Neither a Casual Player or a Hardcore Player, I'm what I refer to as a Dedicated Player and thats how I play and fight. Leveling via questing to progress to the higher levels to get the needed gear to progress to see the higher level content. Being able to see the higher level content thats locked behind instances. Being able to progress enough with the needed gear to access that game content is in many ways the reason why I fight on that front or with friends. In other things its progressing my character to maximize all his skills whether its weapons skills or in secondary professional skills available which allows me to progress smoothly and have a fun profession and do fun stuff like fishing.

I fight the fight of the expanding Warchest to fund my own war effort which would be using all my skills or taking quests to make money to acquire the things my character needs for his gear upgrades and repairs to make progress to acquire the gear to make progress to see the higher level content. Better gear and skill increase the possibility of seeing higher level content. That is pretty much my fight. I do enjoy playing WoW and just being able to see some the endgame content is fun and beyond what I though I would get to in the beginning. Yet where is the real war in WoW?

Enter Warhammer Online which will arrive in the future at some point soon which does have and interest to me as well as a different reason as to why I will play that game. I get and read the newsletters monthly, check out the new classes, watch podcast videos with interest, as well read the info. So I've already chosen my army alliance and that will be the order of "Destruction" because its just more fun to game being of the evil faction in my opinion. I'll probably chose the army of "Chaos Chosen", or a Black Guard of the Dark Elfs. Will WAR be better than or more polished in look than WoW who knows. Don't care its a game and will play whats fun. For me its a chance of playing a new and different game while in a different game enviroment.

So for what reasons does it peak me to fight there. Well from everything I'm seeing and reading WAR looks like a more dynamic game enviroment with both Realm vs Realm and against the game enviroment. Your character actions will matter to your character overall life and have consequences of all sorts. That to me have my interest playing or fighting in both sides of the game.

Unlike WoW where you level and gear for content, what seems apparent in WAR is that you can progress your character fighting or progressing in different ways where it will affect your character doing RvR, PvE or just through game play discovery. To me thats very dynamic game play where it seems everything you do, kill, meet, find in some way matters to your overall character as it relates to what would be in that game the Tome of Knowledge. That to me has my interest as it makes why I fight in the game all different, what I do matters in the grand scheme of my characters life it will seem. For that reason also I Will Fight there. Just a different game to play and fight in a different way. There its at least a constant war and a war to fight with consequences in WAR. In WoW its just about getting gear to progress to see more content. More content, better gear to see better content.

So as Kaizel asked before in his piece: Why do you fight?

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Shared Topic: What Do I Enjoy About My Class

I'm a little behind on this Shared Topic from last week that was presented over on Blog Azeroth to other WoW bloggers. A member had asked the question: What do you enjoy about the class you play the most?

One of the things I like about my class/spec is the ability to Solo level and quest. Many people have said they have trouble soloing as a defensive class spec like mine is. But honestly I've never had that problem. I solo'd everything and still do it. Being able to do that in my spec is a reason to like my class. No, the mob won't die in 5-8 seconds but it will kill itself trying to kill me and kill a bunch of them all while trying to do it also. In being a defensive class I enjoy being hard to kill physically while wearing heavy armor.

To me being a Protection Paladin is like being a Porcupinefish, defensive, sometime slow yet full throttle the next moment, hard to kill and you will suffer just trying to kill a properly armor geared paladin. Throw in a bunch of physical mobs and its mass death all at once. Yeah if its one the many things that I enjoy about being a paladin is being able to take on many crazy mobs all at the same time and survive to tell about it. Being in Heroics and being able to take on more mobs than you think you can survive and live to tell about it is something to enjoy with a good healer behind you. Being able to cast powerful spell at the worst of the worst in demons and spirits and such is something to enjoy. Ability to heal in a tight jam to save someone life is enjoyable when needed.

Its also fun when I need to be able to increase spell damage and threat in a tight jam with many mobs by just poping Wings "Avenging Wrath" yeah it can seem like a angel at work when it happens. But thats some the fun I enjoy being a Protection Paladin. Survival built to Last and Outlast the toughest of them all. Being able to take a licking and keep on going while using various tricks to survive well all those are reasons I enjoy playing my class. For me its not about the quick kill or dps, often its just being able to out survive and out last a mob with all the tricks you can muster to do it being a defensive class spec.

When tanking it just being tactical in how you decide to take on or tank mobs and going full throttle taking on everything in what can seem like a chaotic fight on a full blue mana bar all at once to out of mana the next when everything dies. Yeah that's fun. I just enjoy being hard to kill with various tricks. That's some the reasons I enjoy being a Protection Paladin.

Guides to Karazhan

One of the blogs I like to read our friend Ulushnar's blog over at Wolfblood's Writings who is a Protection Paladin doing much futher progression content. So I always read his blog to learn stuff myself. Ulushnar has being doing a series of guides for Karazhan from the point of being a Tank that has already done Karazhan and beyond. This weekend my Guild finally goes to Karazhan and will be tanking beside our guild warrior so its nice and interesting to read first hand guide from someone that plays my class. For Kara I'm just finally glad to be able to see the place really with almost everyone new going there. Maybe you've already done Kara, kudos to you. However for those that haven't and still working on Kara you can find his Guides to Karazhan over on his blog as a much added resource to read.

75 Badges of Justice and a Chest Piece!

Being M.I.A. doing Allot of PuGing action....... Heroics that is. Yeah that scare some people PuGing Heroics. But If you want the Badge gear you do what it takes with or without guildmates whether they logged in or logged out. However I'm used to PuGing anyway. So with 75 Badges of Justice picked up my first (correction) second badge reward item piece a few hours ago Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian which will replaces my Breastplate of the Righteous.

Was really hard to decide what to get, but in the end decided on the chest piece especially since its not going to be replaced anytime soon in heading into Kara this weekend unless WotLK shows up quicker than expected. Anyway pulled some gems out the bank and socked it and got it fully enchanted before trying it on. Looks Awesome and with nice HP boost allot more Armor and Avoidance with a taste of Dodge Rating. Also still fully UnCrittable/Uncrushable with Holy Shield in my Kara tank set. More badges ahead!

Edited:
Had spent allot of time researching and deciding what Badge piece to get, here are some Paladin (Tankadin) resources all linked on the sidebar. As always the Maintankadin Forum is a resource for Tankadins.

Tanking Gear Evolution - by Zen Tanking
MT Gear Progression - Maintankadin Forum (Tankadins)