Tuesday 16 June 2009

Woah Horsey!

Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the forums Blizz chucks in a hand grenade...

I generally avoid patch notes, nerfs and buffs etc. Although in time all these things will effect my toons whilst levelling en mass they have little or no effect. This weeks announcement by Blizzard regarding mounts, however, had me using the expression normally reserved for road accidents or Oprah. I am sure the following is not news to anyone but it is worth a reprint.

Apprentice Riding (Skill 75)
  • 60% land mount speed
  • Requires level 20
  • Cost: 4 gold
  • Mount cost: 1 gold
  • Mail will be sent to players at level 20 guiding the60m to the riding trainer
Journeyman Riding (Skill 150)
  • 100% land mount speed650
  • Requires level 40
  • Cost: 50 gold
  • Mount cost: 10 gold
  • Mail will be sent to players at level 40 guiding them back to the riding trainer
Expert Riding (Skill 225)
  • 150% flying mount speed; 60% land mount speed
  • Requires level 60
  • Cost: 600 gold (faction discounts now apply)
  • Mount Cost: 50 gold
  • Can now be learned in Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde)
Artisan Riding (Skill 300)
  • 280% flying mount speed; 100% land mount speed
  • Requires level 70
  • Cost: 5,000 gold (faction discounts now apply)
  • Mount Cost: 100 gold
So why dear reader should I give a flaming gnome for the above changes well it slaps the crap out of my scheduling and approach.

As I mentioned in a previous post I have a few days left of RAF between my 4th and 5th accounts. I have therefore been busily getting as many Horde pairs on Jubei'thos up to 31.99 (so that future chains they recruit can ding them to 60.99) as possible. My plan was then to take a break from RAF and push the level 60 Alliance teams and all DK teams though Outland and onto 80. This doesn't now appear to be the best course of action.

The question is should I begin another RAF and fill in all the remaining 60 slots and then once complete fly my way around Outland at 150% speed? Or suck it up and push teams through as things stand currently. I would love to say my mind is fully made up one way or another. I know I would love to have some 80 teams sooner rather than later but damn I love to fly!

Still while RAF is running the old world ding fest continues.

The good news for me is that everything will get a whole lot cheaper come 3.2.

Current maths for riding skills and mounts is

2790G for 60% mount 43400G for 100% 55800G for first flyer and a staggering 322400G for epic flight and 62000G for cold weather flying. Ouch this makes an eye watering total of 486390 Gold! This of course takes no account of free mounts for Warlocks and Paladins or any current discounts but still - ouch!

3.2 changes this to the still gut wrenching total of 422530 (but with even more faction discounts) and since 150% flight speed will be more than enough for every team but my main farmers the price drops to 106330. Still a chunk of change but far less likely to wake me up screaming in panic.

Regardless of all this I am stoked for the day that I can muster a 10 man flying squad to guard the roads of Outland and Northrend from opposing faction gankers and to scare the bejeebus out of unsuspecting travellers.

Your thoughts as always are most welcome.

Status Update

OK so this is not exactly hot of the press but once again I blame all that damn leveling and only having a rolling restart last Tuesday!

I had the great pleasure of once again appearing on Ctrl Alt WoW episode 118 and this time not just with the sublime Aprillian and the hunk Ashayo but the highly entertaining Glanthur (follow them all on Twitter). As always I enjoyed myself a whole heap and even managed to squeeze in a status update. I urge you to not just listen to this episode but also plan a spot for it in your listening schedule.

Another podcast that continues to tickle me in places others can't reach is Bind on Equip. I have to say I sometimes have to pause to recover from choking fits caused by too much laughter. A recent episode (28) had their Rock the Horde team amongst the gankage Although not recommended for those unappreciative of pure Anglo Saxon it is podcast gold. If you aren't listening to this week in and week out then words fail me.

I give particular mention to the BoE podcast because it is too their Horde PvP realm that my focus has been recently directed. Jubei'Thos is an Oceanic realm and the BoE Horde guild is called, I think appropriately Pants on Head. They are slowly but surely building up a fun guild of mainly DKs and if you are looking for a place to hang this is it. To join up /join BoE and ask for an invite you won't regret it.

I have been busily adding to the numbers of toons on their server the past few weeks and dinging away like a mad man.

This brings me to another decision my project toons will be mainly grouped on Jubei'Thos (Horde PvP) and Boulderfist (Alliance PvP). It was brought to my attention some weeks ago that I would be committing WoW financial suicide if I spread my toons too thinly across six realms. I will however still have a presence on the other servers planned just not an even split.

As you can also see these main servers are PvP and although this may add to the leveling woes payback will be a bitch for those who make my KoS list. 5 shamans can be quite destructive!

As always it goes without saying if Rawrcast isn't part of your weekly dose of podcast goodness you may need psychological help and if a WoWcast pops up you better grab that sucker too.

Some recent feedback has asked for more in depth breakdowns of the toons I am leveling. What I plan to do is, as they hit 60, add them to www.wow.com and also www.3darmory.com. In all honesty the climb from 1-60 is not where the action is but 60-80 should be more enjoyable to follow (I hope). When I start to get things set up I will let you all know.

Finally I have a question for you all. Although this project doesn't give me heaps of time to blog I am really enjoying it. I was therefore wondering if you would be up for me blogging more general WoW things and not just project stuff?

For example I had the great pleasure to be on WoWCast episode 44 with Alachia and had the further pleasure of interviewing Starman from the venerable WarCast and this is the kind of stuff I would like to blog about (go take a listen).

Anyhow that's more than enough from me for now. Bye till next time.

Tuesday 9 June 2009

To Gank or not to Gank?

The past few weeks as I have feverishly tried to squeeze every level out of RAF I have been in the upper levels (40-60) on my Alliance PvP server Boulderfist. It seems however that somewhere along the line I installed the 'Gank Me Hard' mod. This addon appears to put a huge neon sign above my team which attracts (in this case) angry Horde from miles around!

Now I know I am on a PvP server and should expect to be fighting the opposite faction from time to time but this was turning into a gank buffet with my teams as the all you can kill. I swear at one point people were taking turns to slap the shit out of me. Well I guess all is fair in love and war.

What surprised me most, however, was not that it happened but the way it changed my attitude. I am pretty much a passive guy and had kind of set myself a line as to when I would attack the opposition and when I wouldn't. I did what I considered fair. This changed in the last few weeks! I have become what I just complained about above. When I see opposition I can kill I kill it pure and simple. Does this make me feel good. Well yes and no but to be honest more yes!

Will this be my last post complaining about being ganked - hell no! I can QQ like the best of 'em.