Everyone is stoked with the new patch 3.0.2. Something new that blizzard specifically added was the achievements. The achievements is a new system that offers combined game content that players can earn by completing the selected field. This can range from doing a certain amount of quests to exploring the world of Azeroth, Outland, and soon Northrend.

What achievements offer is for players to get that complete feel of domination towards WoW, and it most certainly helps. What people really want to know is what does the achievement system have to offer?

Although most of the specific rewards are still unknown, the bounty of completing certain achievements will give each player the right to earn certain rewards and titles. For example, if you are rep’d (exalted) fully in all five major cities you will receive a special title for doing this. Another is if you collect 50 mounts you will receive a special mount.

We won’t know everything until the xpac comes out, but this is just a little taste of what to expect. What I want to tell you is a little secret I discovered with this new system.

One of the achievements available is to earn 50 pets. By doing this, players can earn a special pet when completed. Pets can be a pain to collect, but there are gamers out there that want to help their fellow man (what?), or profit themselves. Whatever you motive is this small guide will help!

High level players will pay anything to get what they want, when they want it and they want it right now. If it costs 50g for a pet, they will pay just that so they can complete their achievement list. Below are listed pets that you can obtain very easily, then turn around and sell them for a 1000% profit or more on the AH.

Ancona Chicken – This is sold by Magus Tirth in the shimmering flats. Not many people know about this guy and even more so, they don’t know he sells a pet. Both sides can obtain it easily. It costs 1g and I have sold them for 25g in the alliance ah. It may depend different on your server, no one may not be selling them at all. Take advantage and put it up for 50g, they will sell. Some may have already figured this out and the prices dropped to 10g. A 9g profit is still a big percentage and it adds up when you sell a lot of them.

This next strategy calls for having a toon on both horde and alliance sides. Saying this, pvp servers won’t be able to profit. Take your toon and buy up a bunch of the opposite server pets, such as cats in SW or dragonhawks at fairbreeze village. Then use the neutral AH and have your buddy buy them from your character. Check your ah and be prepared to make a lot of gold, chances are none will be listed allowing you to set the price.

On my server, the alliance AH are selling dragonhawks for 75g BO and there are not for sale yet at the AH. Even if people know how to obtain the opposite faction pets, they are still willing to pay a certain price just so they don’t have to hassle with the neutral AH exchange. So get those pets collected and dominate your AH with such a simple strategy yielding huge profits!

You can take a look at this page from Warcraftpets.com to see all 33 pets available from vendors. Stock up on these and sell them at the AH for a nice profit.

http://warcraftpets.com/wow.pets/filter.asp?filter=vendor

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Inscription is the new profession coming to WotLK. This will not be something that is optional for player enhancement; everyone will be using it in one way or another.

The common reason players will be subjugated to inscription is the need for glyphs. Glyphs are the main feature of inscription and what they do is power the player in certain abilities depending on what glyphs they decide to get.

Glyphs are kind of like gems and enchanting combined. They offer small enchants to certain aspects of a certain class. Unlike gems however, they are placed in their own little fancy UI (user interface), not on equipment or into sockets.

As of now, players can have a total of 6 glyphs (3 major and 3 minor). Major glyphs provide vital enhancement to spells and abilities such as an extra 5 yrd range to ambush or 50% to avoid interruption while casting wrath. Minor glyphs provide small and unique enhancement to spells and abilities such as lowering spell costs or changing an animation.

How glyphs differ from enchanting and gemming is that the enhancements are not a boost to stats. Instead, glyphs provide enhancements to abilities and spells. This is what will make inscription so unique and demanding, every player will need it.

Even at lower level glyphs are available. The number of glyphs able to use are lowered according to levels, as well as the types of glyphs used. Here is a list of what players should expect at what level:

· Level 1-14: None

· Level 15-29: 1 Major, 1 Minor

· Level 30-44: 2 Major, 2 Minor

· Level 45-59: 2 Major, 2 Minor

· Level 60 and up: 3 Major, 3 Minor

As for what glyphs to get, each glyph is made for a specific ability for a specific class. Here is a list of some glyphs to expect (1 of each class):

Glyph of Lifebloom – Increase the duration of lifebloom by 1 sec

Glyph of Steady Shot – Damage of steady shot increased by 10% when target is effect by serpent sting

Glyph of Death Coil – Increase duration of death coil by .5 seconds

Glyph of Blade Flurry – Reduce energy cost of Blade Flurry by 100%

Glyph of Dispel Magic – When you dispel the target it heals them for 6% of total health

Glyph of Healing Wave – Your Healing Wave also heals you for 20% of the effect when you heal someone else

Glyph of Fireball – Increase initial damage dealt of fireball by 5% but removes the DoT effect

Glyph of Flash of Light – Your flash of light heals 50% less, but also heals for 200% of initial effect over 15 sec

Just these few examples show how powerful glyphs can be. In a way, they are somewhat more of an improved talent point, furthering the specialization of how you want you to be. Glyphs bring a more unique feel of how you play your character.

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Blizzard holidays are never dull in the slightest. Aside from some of the neat and interesting activities they provide, there is usually a temporary boss that can also drop interesting items.

Right now the Brewfest is going on, and if you haven’t participated in the festivities you are missing out. Even if you are a party pooper and do not participate in the activities, there is a certain NPC that will interest you.

Coren Direbrew is out there, trying to ruin the Brewfest, and it is up to you to stop him. Even if you don’t feel up to doing the chain quest, you don’t have to. This holiday boss resides within Blackrock Depths (BRD). Oh yes, time to drag up those fond pre-BC memories.

Even though Coren is pretty far in, it is actually really simple to get there. Once you enter BRD, turn directly to the right. There will be 3 level 70 NPCs guarding these little contraptions. Take them out then right click on the doodles and be on your way.

You will be transported to the bar area in just a few seconds, (quite appropriate considering the theme). Once you land, there will be an NPC with the blue exclamation mark (!) over his head. This is a daily quest, you can fight Coren 1x per person. That means you will be able to fight him 5x per group.

Coren is fairly simple, not as easy as a regular boss, but just under the heroic level. Once you get the daily quest, talk to Coren and the battle will start.

There are a couple of things to watch out for. First off, there are additional mobs. Depending on how well geared your group is, you can literally ignore these. Having a paladin tank helps. If not, take them out, they are just regular mobs.

Coren has two abilities; the first is a whirlwind which deals a nice chunk of damage and also disarms melee ranged targets. This whirlwind is very slow and easy to avoid, so all melee classes be sure to evade this.

The second ability is this drill that will come up from the ground. Although this is harder to avoid at first, be sure to move once it comes up. Along with damage, the drill will pop the target back.

Coren also will spawn a female dwarf (Ursula or llsa Direbrew). These chicks can be kind of annoying. They will stun a target for 6 seconds from “Brewmaiden’s Stun” and also have another ability called “Barrelled,” which will disorient and slow the target for 8 seconds. This is troublesome for healers and can even cause a wipe.

The females are elite mobs, so they take a while to kill. It is actually wise to ignore both of them completely, focus dps on Coren and make sure your healer isn’t taking damage from adds. Follow these simple steps, along with avoiding his whirlwind, and you’ll be saving the Brewfest festival with ease.

Of course what everyone wants to know is what goodies Coren will drop. The answer is trinkets, lots of trinkets. There is a trinket for every necessity and an ‘extra’ one that is really fit for everyone. There is also an epic dagger called “Direbrew’s Shanker,” which looks like a broken glass bottle when equipped.

The trinkets compliment each spec: healing done, spell damage, attack power, block value, and then two stamina trinkets that can be used once every ten minutes. The two stamina trinkets either summon a brewmaiden who will smite your foes, or a brewmaiden who will bolster your party’s vigor.

The dagger is nice since the stats offer AP, agility, and stamina. It is a slow speed, 2.0, which is actually pretty rare. They are not unique so two can be wielded for those mutilate rogues out there. I enchanted one of mine with 7 weapon damage just to see if the glow would be seen and it did.

The equipment is on par with Karazhan epics, which is really nice for how easily they are obtained. Aside from the items that are used in battle there are, of course, some Brewfest items related to the whole theme.

A rare trinket which is dropped, called “Direbrew’s Remote,” will allow the party to teleport to the Grim Guzzler (where Direbrew is). This isn’t all that special, but more of a convenience for the festival. I wonder if it will still work when this is all over.

The last thing is really great for you rare mount collectors. There is a low drop percentage for the party to obtain either a Brewfest Kodo or a Brewfest Ram, a great way to compliment your character while running around naked in the Brewfest festival. (Role-playing?)

Holidays are always interesting in the World of Warcraft; it really does spice up the game.

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Everyone is stoked about the new talent trees in the upcoming expansion. There are an extreme amount of new abilities that come into context, creating a whole new field of strategies. WotLK will certainly shift the way we play not only in PvP, but PvE as well.

If you haven’t checked out the new talent points then get your butt over to Blizzard’s website and be amazed.

Rogue beta talents

Of all the characters out there, I am glad to say rogues look insanely sick. I think they are finally getting the true buff they deserve in certain aspects. Now don’t get me wrong, rogues already have a great advantage in the PvP world. But it is pretty basic; stunlock and hemo.

Rogues in PvP only have 1 of 2 choices. That is, go 20/41 assassination/hemo or go combat fists and pray you have a good priest (2v2 only). But what about the good old days when rogues use to deal that large burst of DPS via ambush? We still have a high DPS rate right now, but it is more of a consistent damage rather than a good burst. This being due to the resilience gear making such talents like ambush and backstab basically useless.

As we look at the different talent trees for the rogue, what is blizzard trying to tell us? Look at the subtlety tree, here is where it really excited me the most; Waylay and Slaughter from the Shadows. Nothing but pure ambush/backstab buffs.

With those two buffs, ambush rogues finally have their place back in the WoW society of what they should be; assassins striking from out of the shadows with a vicious dagger. What really pulls it all together is the shadow dance. This is the main feature that blizzard sticks out saying, ‘Hey, ambush rogues are back in the game.”

If you realize what shadow dance does, then there is no other substitution then using ambush between stealths. Using garrote over and over will be a vigorous waste, while cheap shot would be pointless with diminishing returns. This talent point was made directly for multiple ambush uses; anything else is not even an option.

Even though ambush rogues are very rare right now, I still play the spec (as well as every other spec). Using a 2k AP unbuffed rogue will crit SS ambushes at around 4-5.5k points of damage. If you add resilience into the picture you can lose up to about 1k of damage depending on the resilience rating.

I hit S3 warriors around 3k of SS ambush damage; it’s really only a chip in their side with their massive 13k hps+ and daunting plate armor. Now let’s bring blade dance into the picture. I can open up with a 3k ambush through SS, then I trigger blade dance. This gives me 3 extra opportunity attacks to use ambush at will, with 2.5k points of damage per strike. Do the math, even with resilience gear the warrior will be down over 10k of damage within a short period of time. And the best part; there will be no stun locking, which in turn procs second wind.

This is still assuming that I can get all 3 strikes from the blade dance off. Who knows what factors will be brought in, such as rend or a lock’s magic spell causing a dot on the rogue, disabling stealth. Then again, this should happen so fast that a warrior shouldn’t be able to do anything but /beg.  As soon as he turns around the blade dance should be set in motion, confusing him and hopefully creating outright terror. I would definitely panic if I got hit like that.

Now another scenario; let’s assume a decently geared mage but with NO resilience is attacked by this set up. Rouges with 2k AP can SS ambush crit mages for 5k damage easy (resilience drops this down to 3.5-4k). Using blade dance, a mage will be dead in seconds if they do not think fast by using frost nova, blinking out, or ice block (POM polymorph FTW). What other choice do they have? Any character is automatically thrown into the defensive while the rogue can have their way with them and be in total domination of the battle. That is, after all, the whole idea of a rogue; getting the opportunity attack.

The real questions are: How will this all play out at level 80? How much AP will rogues have that level? Is resilience going to destroy their DD (direct damage) like it has now?

All I can say is, I am very excited to find out.

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The two most versatile classes are the druid and the paladin. Not only do both contribute to dps, tanking, and healing, they offer important buffs that are vital for carrying out grouping, raiding, and bg’ing.

The paladin is an amazing class. They have key ingredients for arenas and raids due to their special abilities. This guide will help you chose what spec is right for you from level 1 past level 70.

When starting out, it is safe to work down the retribution line. This gives the most solo capability for running through quests quickly and leveling. Even through instances up to ZF, retribution paladins can tank without protection points or even a shield.

After hitting outland it is smart to switch over to holy or protection, there is always a demand for healers and tanks for the 60+ dungeons. Even if you only plan on dealing with one spec, it is always wise to collect gear for all 3 specs. You never know when you might switch over.

For end game, most paladins are protection or holy. Retribution paladins are very rare in raids or heroics, due to the amount of dps and CC (crowd control) they are limited too. Some players do take the retribution line, for there is some awesome raid gear out there to be earned. Retribution dps can be effective.

Here is a brief run down of what you need to know for paladin specs:

The Healadin

The holy paladin is a strong class for raiding and pvp. They offer constant heals that are largely accumulated. Just thinking about characters in plate that can heal makes me grin.

• Relies on crit healing
• High amounts of mana regeneration
• Able to cast large heals consecutively in a short amount of time
• Due to abilities, very good class for arenas

The Retadin (aka Retardadin by popular demand)

The retribution line is harshly under rated. It does not necessarily yield the outstanding dps that other classes can put out in pve. But in pvp, this is an excellent talent line.

Retadins are just as rare in pvp as in pve, but a geared retadin can solo down any class with ease. They are reliant on burst damage in combination with their stun and timing. Even though they necessarily do not have movement slowing effects, the advantage of pursuit of justice used with seal of justice will make it so no enemy can ever escape you.

• Relies on strength, crit, and spell damage
• Use improved BoF (blessing of freedom) with seal of justice so no enemies escape you
  For mobs or characters that do not run, apply seal of crusade then phase through seal of command for the best dps outcome
• Use slowest 2h weapon for greatest proc damage

The Tankadin

Tankadins were not always favored as a main tank for guilds. However, people soon realized just how effective they are, especially in heroics. Their ability to control multiple mobs through consecration is far superior to warriors tabbing targets while spamming sunder. The tankadin doesn’t generate threat through physical damage and taunts, rather through spell damage. It is important for end game tanks to spec not only in defense and stamina, but in spell damage as well to hold max threat.

• Relies on stamina, defense, and spell damage
• Can easily control multiple mobs
• Extra buffs - BoS (blessing of Sanctuary) and BoK (Blessing of Kings)
• Can support groups with their special abilities where warriors can not (ie blessing of protection, resurrection, divine intervention)

It is great to be able to switch between different specs such as healing and tanking while using the same class. Crossing a geared pally can be harsh, especially when they are in combination with another good class. They are one of the most needed characters in raiding while doing some even more amazing things for the simple heroics.

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23 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

One of the most versatile classes to play is the druid. They can be set up for tanking, healing, melee DPS, and ranged DPS. The best part; any spec is highly effective.

Given the balance and restoration trees, there are some incredible abilities that can lend support to each other. Keep reading on to learn how to manipulate these two talent lines to get a dps/healing effect that is incredible for PvP, raiding, and just running simple heroics.

Before I explain, here is the link. This is known as the Dreamstrate healing spec. The idea is to use the talent abilities Lunar Guidance and Dreamstate to replace ToL (tree of life.)

Dreamstate healers spec fully in intellect and +healing. They are not reliant on spirit because it really does nothing for them. The cycle of healing consists of lifebloom, rejuvenation, and regrowth on at all times while casting healing touch (HT) appropriately.

HT is extremely powerful (especially with empowered touch) so lower levels of this ability are required. Healing touch will not be spammed, but used appropriately when big heals are needed. Combining it with nature’s swiftness is vital for getting a 6k heal in half a second to save a tank. With 1800 bonus healing and empowered touch, a HT crits for 10k or more.

The only thing that hurts this spec is losing swiftmend and the threat that HT generates. However, the effect of HT easily replaces swiftmend. The bonus healing from ToL form is replaced with Lunar Guidance.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the dreamstate build:

Pros:

• Spell damage is now applied, also giving an extra ability (Insect Swarm)
• Moonglow reduces nearly all spells by 9% mana cost
• No shapeshift form. Healing touch can now be used and no speed reduction
• Dreamstate gives 10% mana regeneration every 5 seconds
• Nature’s Grace

Cons:

• No Swiftmend
• No Improved Regrowth
• No Empowered Rejuvenation
• Casting Healing Touch causes more threat

This is a different strategy to bring to the table, but is still very effective. It all depends on your style and equipment. The druid is very diverse and can be manipulated in several ways. In addition, the ability to off-DPS or solo daily quests without difficulty makes it much easier than being full restoration. There is plenty of DPS to carry around through this build, making the life of a healer more simplistic.

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37 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

(Now for our third place winner - Nameless Demon Hunter. He’s a rogue expert and did a really nice piece of machinima about the grind for the winterspring frostsaber mount. You will be able to read his work a couple of times each week from now on!)

Everyone is out there trying to find the best and most effective way to earn gold. There are epic mounts to be bought, materials for those l33t weapons to make, and even more just to spend it on leisure stuff from the AH (we have to tweak out those alts after all).

Well, I’m here to give you the straight forward answer on how to earn your cash the fastest way once you hit level 70: take your character to 70 and do two things;

1. Dailies
2. Quests that have not been completed

As for the Don’t dos:

1. DO NOT go around in SW begging all the other 70s for loose change!

This sounds so basic and ingenious, could it actually work? Not only does it work, it’s one of the fastest and most consistent ways. There are other gold making tips for working your way up to 70, because you will need it for earning your epic land mount. There are also people like Lawbringer who do nothing but work the ah. But this guide is for making serious gold doing dailies and quests so you can proceed toward buying your epic flyer as well as making life easy for your alts.

Since patch 2.4, blizzard upped the daily quest limit to 25. They did this because of all the new Sunwell Isle quests that came into play. Players can now earn an easy 100g in less then an hour.

So where to start? If you are a fresh level 70 with only a land mount, start doing the dailies at the isle. The purpose of doing this is not only for the gold, but for the reputation. The SSO faction has some powerful rewards to offer, especially if you are a gem cutter. Aside from the awesome recipes, there are rare and epic items for everyone to use.

Spend an hour and do all the SSO (Shattered Sun Offense) dailies. For the most part, every server should have at least the armory opened by now; which means more quests to do and more gold and reputation to be earned. If you have a friend to help don’t hesitate, the repetitiveness can become quite boring and you will be doing this for the next 1-2 months. But of course, what is Warcraft with out some kind of a grind?

Now you have done all the SSO quests, what do you do next? If you have a regular flying mount, do the Outland daily quests. There are some in Shattrath city and then 2 in hellfire peninsula that you especially want to focus on.

The importance of these quests is that they offer a SSO package and you do not want to pass this up. The reason being, there is a chance that a badge of justice will drop. It is the only way to earn badges in the game besides running heroic and raids.

There are other sets of dailies you should concern yourself with. They are the Skettis, Netherwing, and Ogri’la dailies. You will need a flying mount to access all 3 sets, so do not bother with these until you have one.

The Skettis dailies will provide you with reputation for the Sha’tari Skygaurd, to buy the nether ray mount. The Netherwing quests are for the same cause, an epic Netherwing mount.

The Ogri’la dailies have a lot more to offer. You can hit 3 birds with one stone doing these quests. First, the faction rewards from Ogri’la are somewhat decent depending on your class/spec. Second, it is a very good way to earn quick gold. And third, you are grinding two factions at the price of one. That’s right; you are getting both Ogri’la and Sha’tari Skygaurd reputation.

The last way, notably the most important, is to do regular quests at 70. Once you max your level, quests will yield gold instead of experience. The amount of gold will range from12-26, an average of 16g per quest. Not to mention the item rewards you will vendor off.

The importance of doing regular quests, I can not stress enough, is the reputation you will be earning along side with all that gold. Doing all the basic quests in outland will get you between honored and revered with almost all factions. This is so important when you start reaching end game material, you will want to be exalted with all factions.

Just a re-cap:

• When you hit 70, do the daily quests along with reputation grinds. This is a constant 100-200g per day in a short period of time.
• Do regular quests, you can literally earn 1k gold in 3 hours from grinding regular quests and quest chains. This will also help you gain reputation with the major factions necessary for end game.
• Always sell good material that is dropped on the AH. Look up your item and do some research for the best profit (an obvious tip).

I followed these 3 simple steps and went from having 200g to 7,000g in less then two months. I purchased artisan riding along with a Cenarion War Hippogryph mount (costs 1600g and you never see anyone riding it). Now I have money to spare for all my alts and buy whatever I need.

The best part of it for me, I never had to farm mats/items and I spent barely any time at the AH. It is hard earned gold, but in a very quick and non irritating matter for me, especially since you are gaining other rewards in the process.

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6 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post