Citizen Azeroth: Day of the Dead miniguide

This is a very small (VERY small) event, so it won't take long to cover the bases. It runs from today (November 1) through November 2.

All of these happen in nine graveyards, located outside the four major cities of each race. You can also do this in Dalaran if you have access. The cities and races follow:

• Dalaran (all races): Between Simply Enchanting and the Violet Citadel
  
• Orgrimmar (orc, troll): East side of the road -- the usual location for events such as Thanksgiving and Honor the Ancestors
• Silvermoon (Blood Elf): Eversong Woods - between the Dead Scar and the arch to Falconwing Square
• Thunder Bluff (Tauren): near the North Great Lift to Thunder Bluff
• Undercity (undead): Courtyard outside the city
• Darnassus (night elf): left of the road between Warriors' Terrace and the gates to Teldrassil
  
• Exodar (Draenei): near Azure Watch
• Ironforge (dwarf and gnome): Along the road down the side of the mountain
• Stormwind (human): between Stormwind and Goldshire

Full completion requires going to the graveyard associated with your race, or going to the graveyard in Dalaran. If you just want to complete the achievement and nothing more, any of those of your faction will do.

Before you go to the graveyard, stop in the city and buy [Ice Cold Milk] and [Simple Flour]. You need both. (Note: you can buy Simple Flour from the cooking vendor in Dalaran, but there is nowhere in Dalaran to buy Ice Cold Milk. In fact, you can't buy it anywhere in Northrend).

There is one achievement associated with this: Dead Man's Party. There is an NPC in each of these graveyards named Catrina. Simply target and /dance, and you'll get the achievement and a 12-hour costume. Usual issues with these costumes; they disappear when you shapeshift or die. Also, this costume follows server time, not real time, so it will erode while you are offline.

There is also a vendor that sells a number of things; the only two things you may care about are the Bread of the Dead recipe and the Orange Marigolds. Buy and memorize the Bread of the Dead recipe, and then find the Ghostly Cooking Fire. The Bread of the Dead needs the milk and flour, and you can only cook it over the ghostly fire. Make one bread, then equip and right click the Marigolds. This will allow you to see a bunch of ghosts, including one racial "Cheerful" celebrant who will give you a quest to bring Bread of the Dead. Give him/her the bread you just made, and you will get a very cool, yet very lame, temporary pet.

(You can also use a warlock's Detect Invisibility to see the ghosts, if you're too cheap to buy the marigolds -- or if you happen to be a warlock).

It's a cool pet, but it's seriously and deeply flawed. First, it's designed only as a temporary pet that only works for these two days. But it gets worse. Right now, the pet is bugged and disappears permanently from your bag when you zone or hearth.

However, you will get experience (if you're under 80; you get 13g 23s if you're 80), and you'll also get two completed quests toward your Seeker title (it doesn't count toward Loremaster).

Citizen Azeroth: Haiku from the EQ past

Analog Hole Gaming's recent episode (144) got into a discussion about turning raid instructions into haiku, which has in turn led to AHG host (and best friend) Christy posting submitted WoW haiku verses on Twitter. I only thought of one off the top of my head, but I am sure more will appear:

Up on Scryer ledge
Sixty-five yard achievement
Splat goes the tauren

Years ago, when playing Everquest, Cryler and I wrote several EQ related haiku. So, for those of you who are old Everquestarians, here are some of those oldies. Maybe they'll bring back some memories.

Keep in mind as you read these, particularly in reference to Jimble Woodentoe and Sergeant Slate, that I played a dark elf.

sitting on the docks
hey, who let the spectres out?
Damn ... PLEASE WAIT, LOADING...

Spirit of wolf please?
have long run -- corpse in Dalnir,
bound in Neriak

Jimble Woodentoe
Your Rokyl's Crystal shimmers.
I feel much better

entering the zone
frantic chaos, shouts of "TRAIN!"
Anyone rezzing?

Sergeant Slate killed me
twenty-five levels ago
ah, revenge is sweet

shop in the Bazaar
everybody face the wall
the lag is deadly

Citizen Azeroth: Easy way to Ambassador

I'm working on my third Ambassador, as part of my ongoing experiments on how to do this the fastest and most efficient way possible. My 41 night elf druid is now Exalted in Darnassus and Stormwind, halfway through Revered with Exodar, and about 1/3 of the way in Revered in Ironforge and Gnomer.

So when did I start factioning? Level 41.

That is not a typo.

Now, from my previous rep experiments (see the tags for Rep Experiments 1 and 2, which involved repping first with an Alliance character and then with a Horde), I knew some of the secrets of how rep works and what's the best way to get the most bang for effort. Now, I've decided to refine the technique a bit, and so far I'm quite pleased with the results.

(And yes, I know you can also get a lot of player race faction doing Argent Tournament and Alterac Valley. However, I'm gearing this reputation stuff for people who want to do this earlier in their character's leveling careers. If you're 80, Argent Tournament is the easiest way, but some of us like the title earlier).

However, to those who don't want to go back and look at previous posts, I'll recap a few of the most important things to understand about player race faction in the game:

1. The newbie zones (1-10 zones) are among the biggest payoffs for rep. The quests are easy and the rep gains are huge -- often 250-350 rep per quest. DO NOT skip these. Rep goes DOWN from here! Start right with the level 1 quests; though unfortunately, Blizzard still makes it impossible for non-blood elves to do this in the first blood elf newbie zone, at least until you get up to the level 5 quests in the second area. You can do the 1-5 quests in all other areas, including the Draenei, although there is one quest line where you have to use the Draenei healing racial, so you'll have to skip that one if you're not Draenei. The zones in question are (Alliance) Elwynn Forest, Dun Morogh, Azuremyst Isle, Teldrassil, (Horde) Durotar, Tirisfal Glades, Eversong Woods, and Mulgore.

Remember that there are "hidden quests" in many of these places -- quests you get from dropped items. Don't skip any of these, even if this means farming every gnoll in Elwynn for the Gold Collector's Schedule to drop.

2. Dungeon quests are big payoffs -- often up to 500 rep.

3. Do holiday quests, as these often give a lot of rep and it's often for all five player factions on your side. As of this writing, the Harvest Festival is on, and there is a fairly easy one-off quest to leave a tribute. Do it, because it's either 500 Alliance or 500 Horde rep.

4. All quests that give player faction reputation in the level 11+ zones will give sympathetic rep -- that is, whatever the main player rep gets, you also get 25% of that on all other player faction reps. So a quest that gives you 200 rep for Orgrimmar will also give 50 rep for Silvermoon, Undercity, Thunder Bluff, and Darkspear. If you're having trouble with the harder reps like Exodar and Silvermoon, going back and doing quests for other factions will bring you up the ladder.

So those are concepts I've introduced before, but now that I'm factioning with my night elf druid, I have a couple of minor refinements.

In previous experiments, I ran the newbie zones in circuits. I started out in one 1-10 area as a level 1 character, finished that, moved to the next 1-10 area, and so on, until all four 1-10 areas were complete. Then I would start it over again, cycling through all the 11-20 zones. I thought this would be the fastest and most efficient way to faction up.

However, here's my new advice. Don't do that. Just level up as normal, as efficiently as you can, until you're level 40, and THEN go back and do the newbie zones, the 11-20 zones, etc.

At level 40, you can zip through the level 1-10 zones in near-record time. You're high enough level to blow through any of the mobs, and in fact, most mobs don't really want anything to do with you at all. You can just walk past trash mobs to end objectives and finish the quests more efficiently. Many classes have an AOE ability by level 40 (as a druid, I just got my first good one, Hurricane) which also cuts down considerably on time.

Consider not even looting mobs if you don't have to, at least in the 1-10 zones. In the 1-5 newbie areas, nothing of any interest will drop anyway. You can't even skin beast mobs at that level. Unless the quest calls for you to loot something, just leave it. You'll only make a couple silver total in money by looting and selling, and it slows you down. By the level 11 zones, you'll start getting some possibly good saleables, so it's worth it to consider looting then. But if you have a wealthy character, you might not even bother doing it then.

Because you are a high level character, you'll be able to pick up more quests from the start than if you were just barely high enough for the zone. Turn on Low Level Quest tracking and you're good to go. Using a mod like Quest Helper can aid you in stacking quests most efficiently to get as much done in as little time.

By level 40, you also have your epic land mount. Many of the newbie zones require a certain amount of long-distance running around, and having the epic land mount will really help you out a great deal.

Speed counts for another thing too: it minimizes your impact on the zone to other players. One of the problems with being level 40 and factioning in a zone that's 30 levels too low for you is that you can easily monopolize an area. Moving quickly through the content assures that you're not going to be inconveniencing any one person for any length of time, because you're going to move so much faster than they are. It's inevitable that you'll be wanting to do something at the same time as a "real" newbie, although if you try to do your low level factioning at off-peak hours, that can minimize the problem. But if you're moving through super quick, you will not inconvenience any one person for very long.

You don't get a lot of experience for factioning, as my level 41 druid illustrates. She had just dinged 41 when I started working on faction in earnest. Even without paying attention to it, I was very close to Exalted with Darnassus when I started, having done all the quests in Teldrassil, Darkshore, and Ashenvale as I leveled up. So I just started in the Draenei newbie zone, and by the time I finished Azuremyst and Bloodmyst, I was Exalted with Darnassus and getting very close to Exalted with Stormwind (also dinged Revered with all the other factions while I was at it). I finished Elwynn Forest and was halfway through Westfall when I dinged Exalted with Stormwind, though I finished Westfall and soloed Deadmines for the sympathetic faction (plus there are some very high-rep quests there for Ironforge and Gnomer). I've now finished Dun Morogh just started Loch Modan.

So how much experience has all this given her -- clearing out three 1-10 newbie zones, two 11-20 newbie zones, and clearing Deadmines? Total: three and a half bubbles.

But it was all very fast. I believe I may beat my old Alliance toon's record for level for hitting Ambassador. And it's taking a lot less time because, being overpowered as I am, I can be much more efficient.

The old methods hold, but my advice has changed a bit: level up and start when you're 40, after you get your epic mount. It'll go much more quickly and seem like a lot less effort.

Citizen Azeroth: Bugged-Out Brewfest Barrel Bingo

The Horde's Brewfest keg run is way, way bugged.

Before I get any "lrn2play n00b", let me just say that I am running this pseudo-daily every day on both the Alliance and Horde sides, and have been running it every day since the start of Brewfest on September 20th. I finished Brewmaster (and thus finished What A Long Strange Trip It's Been) on my rogue (pictured below right, giving the offending apple barrel a piece of her mind).

This isn't really a daily quest -- rather, it's a token gathering task that resets anywhere from 12 to 18 hours from the last time you did it. Even this is bugged, since I can almost always do it 12 hours or so from the last time I did it, but my husband almost always has to wait more than 18. Go figure.

It seems simple and straight-forward: gallop to KegThrower, an NPC who throws you a keg when you near him, turn around, and gallop back to TokenGiver, who takes the keg when you get near and gives you 2 Brewfest tokens. Your special mount for this quest can get exhausted, which you refresh by passing close to apple barrels. There are four on each course -- two between KegThrower and TokenGiver, and one a little past each of these NPCs for an emergency in case you mistimed. You have 4 minutes, but each time you successfully return a keg you get another 30 seconds. Usually this run takes about 8-9 minutes total.

Theoretically speaking, you should be able to run this without ever having to visit any apple barrels other than the two in the middle. This is how I always run the Alliance-side keg "daily"; in the eight days I've been doing this, I believe I have had to veer off and tap the behind-TokenGiver keg exactly twice.

In fact, I have few, if any, problems running this on the Alliance side. In the past eight days, I have never had the keg thrower fail to throw, or the token giver fail to give me tokens. I can pass several feet short of either of them and do fine. I have my turn-around spots well mapped. In the past eight days, I have had ONE apple barrel bug out and fail to refresh my fatigue when I passed right next to it. A second time, I simply mistimed a barrel pass and had to go for the emergency apple bucket behind TokenGiver. (A third time I exhausted, but that was a cat related accident so I don't count it). Even on my worst day -- today -- when I am just feeling horribly uncoordinated and got caught on trees, fence posts, bushes, barrels, etc, I managed to get 22 tokens. Normally, I get 26-28 tokens.

Now compare this to my Horde experience, where I normally get 12-16 tokens. NORMAL. My personal best Hordeside is 20, 2 short of my worst day on Alliance side. I have talked to guildies, Twitter followers, and fans about this, and have heard overwhelmingly that this is the experience of nearly everyone who is running Horde side keg runs. Many who don't play any Alliance or aren't running it Alliance side didn't realize how much easier this seems to be on Alliance.

I posted my experiences on this thread in the official Bug Report forum, where others have been posting as well. It's not a big thread right now, and I wonder if this is due to people not realizing that such a disparity exists between the sides. If you are having issues, I urge you to post there as well.

So here, in a nutshell, are the problems with the Horde side:

1. Apple barrels do not refresh fatigue consistently. Even when you pass by right next to it, jump over it, even run into it, sometimes the apple barrels simply fail to do anything to your fatigue counter. Apparently there was a bug from an earlier Brewfest where if two people hit the barrel at the same time, it might not refresh both of them. However, this seems unrelated to proximity; I have had this fail when I have been the only person doing the run at all. In fact, my very worst run, where the same apple barrel failed to refresh four times in one run, it was about 6 AM server time and I was the only person I could see doing the keg run at that time.

The barrel most likely to fail is the one I will call FailBarrel. FailBarrel is the first apple barrel you encounter as you leave TokenGiver. (It's also the one pictured above, the object of my rogue's particular detestation).

2. FailBarrel causes periodic instant-exhaust. Watch FailBarrel for a little while and you'll see people hit it, get the red flash, and then instantly go into the 12-second exhaustion. I've had this happen more than once to me, with my fatigue meter reading as low as 80 when I hit the barrel. Flash, fatigue shoots up to 100, exhaust.

FailBarrel is fail.

3. Horde TokenGiver and KegThrower require a closer pass than their dwarven brethren on the Alliance side. I can turn several feet away from these NPCs on Alliance side and have never failed to get kegs or tokens. On Horde side, I must nearly step on their toes. Apparently, goblins can't throw or catch as well as dwarves.

And on that note:

4. Horde TokenGiver sometimes fails to give tokens. Sometimes, you run up with a barrel, run over his little green toes, and ... nothing. I've had to loop around to the barrel behind him for emergency fatigue refresh, then circle around him as many as three times to get him to take the keg and give me tokens. I've heard of people circling him unsuccessfully six or seven times. And yes, they had a keg from KegThrower at the time.

So why is this happening? I had a theory that perhaps the Horde course is longer, so I measured it as best as I could by having two characters pace out the course on 160% mounts. I measured the distance from standing right next to TokenGiver, straight line to the first barrel, straight line to the second barrel, straight line to standing on KegThrower's toes. I did this three times on each course, and determined that the distance of the Horde course is about 2 seconds longer. However, in utility, it's probably more like six or seven seconds longer simply because you can loop the end sooner on the Alliance side.

But I don't think that's it.

Most of these problems seem to act like they are related to latency. I don't think these are a function of the actual server or of my ISP. If they were related to my ISP, I wouldn't have eight days of consistently good on one side but consistently bad on the other. I have also been doing these on two different servers (Whisperwind, which is very high population, and Draenor, which has about 1/3 the population of Whisperwind) and get the same results on both servers. I also tend to do these very early in the morning when there aren't a lot of people on. This past weekend, I did these in the later afternoon when it was crowded and didn't see any functional difference in results.

In particular, the instant-exhaust on FailBarrel acts like a latency issue. It's like your fatigue was really at or near 100 when you hit the barrel, but the fatigue meter is giving wrong information. As soon as it tries to refresh the fatigue, the fatigue meter suddenly catches up, and boom! you're walking for the next 12 seconds.

So here is my theory.

Since it is (a) consistent between Horde and Alliance, (b) consistent even if it's a low-population time of day or a high-population time of day and (c) consistent whether you're running it nearly alone or with many, many other people, I would be more inclined to blame either the East Kingdom/Kalimdor world servers, or the number of resources allocated specifically to Durotar and Dun Morogh. On most servers, Alliance outnumber Horde, and I am sure that resources are allocated accordingly to deal with the disparate populations. On an average, non-holiday day, more people are in Dun Morogh than in Durotar, and therefore, server resources are allocated accordingly. However, with Brewfest, there are a ton more people in these areas than is normal. Durotar simply isn't built to handle the traffic, and as a result, there is a lag inherent in this area when overcrowded that doesn't exist in Dun Morogh.

I noticed another thing unrelated to the keg run, and that's the dark iron dwarf invasion. On the Alliance side, I get new mugs thrown to me nearly instantly. On Horde side, not only do I have to wait as much as two seconds for a new mug, but I sometimes seem to get "forgotten" by the NPCs and have to go to a table to pick another one up. I think this lends credence to my latency theory.

Yes, I was able to finish it. That's not my point. It's that it's a completely different experience for the Horde and Alliance, and not in a good way. This needs to be addressed and fixed.

Citizen Azeroth: A few insider facts about faction changes

One of my oldest toons, my undead warrior Vivienn, has been rotting on the Khadgar server for ... well, since I moved to Whisperwind. She was created in August 2005, run up to level 60, and then abandoned when I moved permanently to Whisperwind in early 2006. At the time, there was no such thing as server transfer, or I would have taken her with me. By the time server transfers were allowed, I already had a level 60 undead warrior on Whisperwind and had no need for another one.

So when faction transfers became available, I decided to resurrect poor Vivienn and cure her scourge disease, turning her from undead to human. Other than the cosmetic change (her skin tone looks a lot better, her knees don't automatically rip out all her pants, her boobs are perkier and her hair is in much better condition), there were other things I have noticed about faction changing that are worth mentioning. Beyond the obvious, of course.

First, she was a Sergeant and she still is one. I think it's a cool title because you can't get that anymore. Plus, it's one of the few titles that stays the same on both sides.

Second, yes, you do keep all your faction information -- just translated. Viv was Exalted with Orgrimmar back when that was a very hard thing to do. It took days of farming leather during the opening of the gates of Ahn'qiraj event to get her Exalted. Yes, I was one of those people who just sat on my Orgrimmar wolf as an undead at the mailbox. Sue me.

So now, she's exalted with Darnassus. I would have thought it would have been Ironforge, but no matter.

But here's the cool part.

Third, you can be a newbie again. I went to the human newbie area and apparently I can do all the human newbie area quests. Since I leveled under the old reputation gain system, which truly sucked, this means that it will be that much easier to get Exalted with all the Alliance factions if I want to do that. I'm Revered with Stormwind, only Honored with Gnomer and Ironforge and Friendly with Exodar.

Had I thought about this, I might have had UndeadVivienn go and push all her Silvermoon rep quests before transferring her over to HumanVivienn. It would make "Exodar" rep a lot easier to push.

Fourth, apparently you complete both a certain number of quests, and yet no quests. Confused? Well, Vivienn shows for the purposes of the "number of quests" achievement as having completed 768 quests total. She has completed 15 of these in Hellfire Penninsula. However, under the Loremaster achievements, she shows as having completed 0 quests in Kalimdor and 0 quests in East Kingdoms. So where did she achieve these 753 missing quests? Apparently in another life, which doesn't count for Loremaster. So if you're looking to that for a shortcut, you'll have to think again.

This kind of sucks, because I can't redo all the quests that are for both sides, like all the quests for goblin faction quests, the Magram/Gelkis lines, the Racetrack quests, etc., because I already have been "credited" for doing those. But I can't use them for Loremaster. This may need to be bug reported.

Fifth, you get ALL the flight points, even in Outlands. I know I didn't have most of the flight points in Outlands, but miraculously, I now have them all. I have not checked Northrend; will report on that in a future update.

More on the faction change as I discover more hidden treasures/poop about it.

Citizen Azeroth: Unwritten rules

I am sure there are plenty of unwritten rules of WoW, but here are a few I've run into recently.

Nesingwary's Law #1: When you don't want an rare or elite mob, it is always in your way.
Nesingwary's Law #2: The chances of finding a rare spawn has an inverse relationship to your ability to kill it.
Nesingwary's Law #3: When you do want the elite mob, you can never find it.
Nesingwary's Law #4: When you want the elite mob, and you find it, someone else has just killed it.

Distance Rule of the Flight Master: The longer the run, the less likely you are to remember to pick up the flight point.

Unnamed Quest Rule #26: The longer you spend gnashing your teeth because some rare quest item has not dropped, the greater the chances that you looted it twenty minutes ago and you never noticed.

Citizen Azeroth: Elitism

So I got an interesting tweet last night:

Astrellas Tell me Twerps, what is your definition of an "elitist"? #wow #elitists @brigwyn @nibuca @fimlys @starmike @renatawc

The answer I sent her:

RenataWC@Astrellas #wow #elitists @brigwyn @nibuca @fimlys @starmike @renatawc Elitist is someone who thinks that their way to play is the ONLY way.

There's something about 140 characters, especially when you're redirecting AND hashtagging, that requires you to get your point across with the utmost brevity. For that, I actually like Twitter. I try never to resort to "ur" or "thx" or whatever -- I try to figure out a way simply to make my thought more concise. It's a daily writing challenge.

However, this is my blog, and I'm not required to be brief. In terms of WoW, however, I still think it is the right answer, with some minor elaborations. Had I not had so many hash tags and @s to fulfill, I might have said "An elitist is someone who thinks that theirs is the only LEGITIMATE way to play." Everyone playing every other way is somehow missing the point.

This is a superior attitude I often see in people who are fanatically religious. I don't mean people like my mother who go to church every Sunday, but rather people who live to force their own belief systems down everyone else's collective throat. They also have the "us and them" dynamic, "play like we do or you're unworthy of our time and consideration. And go to hell while you're at it."

However, I think a lot of people think of "elitists" purely in terms of hardcore raiders, the ones in the top guilds with mandatory raiding nights/specs/gear/attunements (back in the good ol' days anyway). These are the people who inevitably get in flame wars on the official forums, where people who are Not Them accuse them of having no life and living in their parents' basements (boring, predictable, utterly trite), while they come back with clever (boring, predictable, utterly trite) rejoinders that basically boil down to "you're just jealous" and "if you were any good you'd be One Of Us". ("Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!")

It's easy to think of these first, since they are the most common example. But I have run into elitists in all corners of Azeroth, if you define elitists they way I do: people who believe that they play the One True Way, and that everyone who plays another way is somehow an inferior player/species. In no particular order:

The casual elitist. This may seem like a contradiction in terms, but I have seen the worst side of this brand of elitism. I belonged into one of the largest casual guilds on Whisperwind for over a year and a half, and was one of the first to leave during the second mass exodus from this guild (the first denouement had occurred about six months before). The reason? A group of us had decided to get together on our own time to put together a more focused effort on raiding some of the more difficult 5-man and 25-man instances, and we had not posted signups on the guild board. What is particularly interesting about this was that some of the most vocal "casual elitists" at the time were also running their own so-called "private groups", mostly attempting to crack the 45-minute barrier on the Baron, but somehow their groups were OK and ours were not.

In this case, a large number of us left because in this guild, progression had become a dirty word. We were the ones who were being labeled elitists, because we wanted to see some of the upper level content and realized under the "y'all come" structure of this guild, we were never going to make progress because people kept bringing undergeared alts, not reading strats, not taking anything at all seriously, etc. Mostly what we wanted to do was be left alone and not have every moment of our time monitored by our guild, but the guild would not allow us to do this. So we left. Apparently things eased up a bit after they lost a huge chunk of the guild, but this attitude returned about a year later, and a third exodus ensued. It seems to be a cycle with this guild. There are a lot of great people there, but they do need to recognize that they do have as much of a problem with there being "casual elitists" in their guild, as any guild has with the hardcore ones.

The RP elitists. Play on any RP server and you'll run into the "RP police" eventually. On some servers, the RP Police practically choke anyone who doesn't immediately shift into complete and total RP. Now, you may say, "well, what's an RP server for, if not to roleplay?" but damn it, sometimes you just want to say "LFG for Hogger" and be done with it. You don't want someone correcting you, castigating you publically, or suggesting how to tone your message in bad Pidgin RenFaire.

The solo elitists. Ask for help with a quest anywhere in Azeroth, and unless it's a bona fide 5-man quest, someone will nag about how they soloed it using nothing but a full set of twill and a broken farmer's broom. I also enjoy soloing and prefer to find a way to do it myself, but I don't begrudge people who want help, unless what they are really asking for is for you to do it for you. (There's a difference between asking my level 15 druid if she wants to group up for some quests -- I'll probably say no, but thank the person for asking -- and begging my level 80 rogue to "help" a level 12 through all of Wailing Caverns. There is a difference between asking for help or companionship and begging for a free ride.)

The lore elitists. This isn't so much of a play style as a lifestyle. These are the people who start yammering on about some arcane storyline of the game and then act shocked when you admit you have no idea what they are talking about. I admit: I am largely lore illiterate. I don't know the stories behind most of the major characters. I tend not to read quest text beyond learning what the goal is ("whoja want me keell?"). I know and respect that others enjoy this aspect of the game, but don't make me feel like a total idiot for not being able to recite Arthas' past deeds, lineage, and his family recipe for [Spice Bread]. For some, it adds a lot to the game. For me, it doesn't.

Curiously enough, one group of people who seem to be largely free of the elitist taint are achievement whores. Sure, they will go on and on about their achievements and how they are doing and how many pets they have, but the vast majority of them (us, really, as I am one too) realize one important thing: achievements are, for the most part, stupid, pointless, a waste of time, and yet, strangely addictive. We fully understand why others don't go after them or don't get as obsessed about it.

And here is my point.

It's not that players have obsessions, play styles, preferences, likes and dislikes that makes them elitist. It's not that they study strats, or research achievements, or prefer to play in one particular guild system, that makes the difficult to be around. It's their divisive attitudes. It's the idea that their way is the One True Way, and anyone who doesn't do it Their Way is stupid or incompetent. It's the idea that anyone who attempts to point out that they are acting like jerks toward everyone else is stupid, incompetent, or worse, "jealous" -- the accusation of "jealous" only reinforces their attitude of superiority, even more so than simple stupidity or incompetence.

You may like your playstyle. You may think it's the only way you can enjoy the game. Fine. But that's you. There are many different ways to play the game that bring people enjoyment and fulfillment. Just because you don't agree with someone else's playstyle choices doesn't mean it's not right for them. For some people, a regimented, scheduled, and intense play style is how they most enjoy the game. For others, it's a casual system. I hate raiding; many love it. I love levelling; most seem to hate it. I love achievements; some like them, hate them, or have a love-hate relationship with them. It's all good.

It's not the playstyle that causes problems. It's attitudes and how people treat others because of it. That's elitism.

Citizen Azeroth: Observations from Newbieland

OK, I can't really call myself a true newbie ... more a born-again newbie. I've rolled up my night elf druid, and she's now level 13.

Some things have changed since the last time I rolled up a brand new toon, which I think was when my rogue was first born a few months before the release of WOTLK. Some things I knew about, some I didn't, but here are some of my observations.

1. The fishing change that sounded like a great idea ... isn't. At least not from the newbie perspective.

The fishing change I'm talking about is the one where you can fish anywhere for skill, but all you get is junk until you hit a certain level for the fishing area. I started my fishing career in Darnassus, and planned to do what I usually do with newbies: level cooking and fishing at the same time. Well, I should have started in the lake in Teldrassil instead, because after getting level 50 in fishing in Darnassus, I had 3 Brilliant Smallfish, 7 Longjaw Mud Snappers, 4 or 5 Bristle Whisker Catfish ... and stacks of junk. Maybe I'd have done better starting off in the newbie area, but this was hardly enough to start my cooking, even if they do basically give you 1-40 free with the Spice Bread recipe.

2. Critters are no longer skinnable.

This came as quite a surprise to me. A common way to boost early skinning for me was to get the skinning skill ASAP, usually before I'd left the first newbie zone, and kill rabbits and deer to get some extra skinning. I was quite surprised to discover, after slaughtering my first bunny, that it wasn't skinnable. At the time, I gave a small mental shrug and figured that maybe this was just restricted to the first newbie zone, but as far as I can tell, they just aren't skinnable anymore, anywhere. I suppose this is to allow you to /love them, but personally, some quick and easy skinning practice is easier.

(Oddly enough, you can successfully /love a dead critter. That's just not something I want to think about, but an achievement is an achievement).

3. The AH prices on low level gear are RIDICULOUS.

26g for a green level 10 leather chest piece? Does anyone actually PAY these kinds of prices?

This night elf is only a semi supported toon. I don't have any 80s on this server, and I wouldn't have an Alliance 80 anyway, since my highest Alliance toon in my history is level 60. I transferred one of my old Venture Company characters over to the server where I'm playing the druid, so I got my druid about 250g, bags, and other basic support gear. I do make pretty decent money selling herbs. I had thought I might turn that VC import into a leatherworker, but without taking up skinning, I'd be spending (get this) over 6g a STACK for light leather. Ruined leather scraps are selling for an average of 10g a stack on this server! I decided to forgo making my own gear, preferring instead to sell my light leather for prices where I might be able to afford the odd underpriced upgrade. A few kind souls do still sell the occasional item for a decent price.

I guess from all the lowbies running around with heirloom pieces, I should not be surprised. But no wonder Blizzard is starting to create servers only new accounts can play on.

4. The speed of leveling and reputation gains never cease to amaze me.

I was almost level 13 leaving Teldrassil. I expect to be 22 or 23 leaving Darkshore. Back in the old days, you were scraping through to the next area, barely able to survive walking across the road.

I don't miss that.

5. I'm doing a lot of double takes at level 20s on mounts.

That's just going to take some getting used to. Higher level toons probably don't even notice this one, but I'm seeing it all the time around Darkshore.

6. Bear form at my level is just crazy damage.

I'm two-shotting mobs and my gear sucks. I guess I shouldn't get used to that, though. I remember it as being horribly slow, the last time I leveled a druid (which was back before BC, and I only got to level 24).

I'm sure I'll have more observations of the Born-Again Newb as time goes on.

Citizen Azeroth: Prepping for a faction change

When Blizzard first announced its faction change service, I was surprised. I had been in the camp of "they'll never do it", because I felt that Blizzard had set up a hard-stop barrier between the factions. Between the lack of communication ability between the sides (despite all the attempts at cracking hash tables, the "keks" and such), the inability to create characters of both factions on PvP servers, and the like, I assumed this was something that would never happen.

Well, I was proved wrong. Now the only hard barrier that will exist is the communication gap. Will that fall? I'm done making predictions. Given that the new expansion is apparently made to step up the war -- goodbye to all the lip service to Horde/Alliance cooperation in WOTLK -- I would hesitantly say that I strongly doubt the communication gap will be removed any time soon. How's that for predicting without actually predicting?

So my question is this: will I be able to faction transfer over to one of the new race/class combinations when the time comes?

They haven't given a hard date for the faction transfer service, but the new race/class combos are being introduced with the expansion. So, in preparation, I've rolled up a night elf druid on another server. I plan to level her up as a kind of side hobby, and then when the time comes, faction/server transfer her to become a troll druid.

It certainly makes sense from a lore standpoint. To quote the Blizzard website on the subject of night elves and trolls:

"Certainly many trolls do believe that the humanoids who developed into the night elf race were trolls. The theory does have some credibility, for there is at least a superficial physical resemblance between trolls and night elves ... Nevertheless, many night elves find this theory preposterous and abhorrent. They are quick to point out that the first night elves began their rise to power by defeating a number of nearby troll tribes. As a consequence, the trolls came to fear and respect the might of their new rivals. The troll theory of night elf ancestry may have been a direct result of this early conflict. The trolls hated the night elves--a sentiment that persists to this day--and may have wished to marginalize the night elf race and its accomplishments. Also, attributing the night elf race with a troll heritage likely helped the trolls come to terms with their own shocking defeat."

Being the Hordie that I am, of course I prefer that night elves came from trolls instead of the other way around, and that my little druid will be returning to her roots.

However, there are two potential problems with this plan:

1. Faction changes to the new race/class combinations may be unavailable for a time. I can easily see Blizzard not allowing a transfer to a new race/class combination for at least thirty days, for one simple reason: it will give people a chance to get the "Server First!" of being the first troll druid, or first gnome priest, or whatever, organically, from level 1 to 80. If I decide to do that, I may have to wait some time.

2. Cataclysm also seems to be significantly revamping the old world, which means that I might want to start over and run up a character from level 1 anyway. I am planning to roll up a goblin mage or shaman, so I'll be doing that anyway.

It will depend on how wedded I get to playing a night elf druid. I'm not particularly fond of how often my character has been hit on already, and she's only level 8. Of course, my 74 female blood elf priest gets that to an extent too, but not as often as I'd expected. I think the frequency may still already be higher on the night elf.

Still, it's fun to learn about a class I haven't played much -- my last druid only made it to level 24 -- and there's a ton of new stuff to learn. It's something I'll pick at between times of the more serious business of leveling up my BE priest and orc warlock, just for a change of pace. But I'm a sucker for leveling; I admit it.

Citizen Azeroth: Kickin' it old school

After last weekend's Jcon fest, I began thinking about dusting off one of my long forgotten alts (actually my old main) and level her up to 80. She's my orc warlock, and I always liked playing her, but I got a bit annoyed with playing her in raids because there was little interesting to do (curse, dot dot nuke, dot dot nuke, dot dot nu... well, you get the idea).

So, when WOTLK came out, I decided to play my orc rogue instead, and for awhile it was a lot of fun. It was kind of cool being the first person in my guild to be able to open the new lockboxes, although the waves of lockboxes hitting my mailbox soon made that novelty wear off (not to mention that I actually invested in the glyph that increases lockpicking speed. I got rid of it once other rogues got high enough).

But then, I hit 80, and raiding, and realized I'd jumped out of one bucket, and landed in the same brand of bucket, just painted a slightly different color.

If anything, WOTLK has given us even less character differentiation and fewer "cool" things for our toons to do. No more pickable locked doors. No more chests. Very few fights where rogue poisons are useful, beyond extra DPS. Interrupts are useful but there are a lot of uninterruptible mobs (like, just about every boss, with only a couple exceptions like Kel'thuzad), and now rogues have no particular advantages there. Crowd control is unnecessary. And I traded "dot dot nuke" for "*SS*, Slice and Dice, *SS*, rupture, *SS*, Slice and Dice, *SS*, rupture..."

(SS is Sinister Strike, the *s are a knitting pattern convention that means "repeat as necessary").

So when they got out the giant iron-clad spiked reinforced nerf stick and took 30% of my damage out of Fan of Knives, I decided it was time to level up the warlock.

My warlock has nearly a full set of Voidheart, the Tier 4 set from BC. The only piece she lacks is the robe, but the robe she wears is actually better than the Voidheart robe and isn't needed for the set bonus (come to think of it, I think the Voidheart robe may be in the bank). Needless to say, with its bright purples, the spiky shoulders with the magenta lightning bolts, running through Dalaran makes me stand out like a clown at a funeral. All the 80s are running around looking like they're wearing outfits made with the sole purpose of not showing dirt and travel stains, or like they're on their way to a fetish party. We complained about the clown suits they gave us in BC, particularly those teal pants with fuschia snakes all clothies loved to hate. But compared to the "Nordic brown" look of WOTLK, at least ... well, at least it was colorful. And in a city full of Nordic brown, one does stand out a bit.

So I was finishing up the cooking quest in Dalaran, picking mushrooms in the sewers, when I got a whisper from a nearby warrior, saying something like "Nice outfit". I laughed, and echoing some guildies on the subject of my (nearly) full Tier 4 set, replied back, "Tier 4, baby, kickin' it old school!" He laughed and told me to inspect him. It was another 70, decked out in a mix of BT and Hyjal gear. He told me that he'd been away from the game for a year and asked me when I'd gotten back; I told him that I hadn't been away, but was just resurrecting and dusting off some old, forgotten characters. We swapped stories about settling back in -- how we can't remember what half the icons are for, how he couldn't even remember how to hold aggro as a tank an instance now and he used to be his guild's MT for Hyjal; how I accidentally feared something instead of dotting it (well, to be honest, I used to do that when I DID ostensibly know what I was doing).

I do intend to replace the spiky purple lightning shoulders for heirlooms for the experience bonus, but I'll be sad to see the old Voidheart go. Not so sad that I won't sell it off when I replace the pieces, because Blizzard failed to give us a walk-in closet for our old gear and outfits.

Although, I admit, I still have my old Eye of Flame. Some outfits just aren't complete without a monacle.