The Master Looter

Have you just dinged 80 and think you’re ready to start raiding? Here’s a handy guide to prepare yourself, gear-wise. This assumes, of course, that you are already well-versed with your talent specializations and spell rotations.

As you leveled up on your journey to 80, you may or may not have done a lot of dungeons. If you do mostly quests to get to max level, you may either find yourself in pieces of green gear or Karazhan epics from months past. The best way to upgrade your gear as you level is simply to do dungeons. The dungeon quests as well as the bosses will provide you with a plethora of quality blues. These blues will then help you get better blues. Your primary goal before getting ready to raid is to obtain as high level blue items as possible.

If you had lots of gear from Tier 6 raids, and the Sunwell, this probably does not apply of course. But for the rest of us, doing each Northrend dungeon at least once will provide you with most of the gear you need to start doing heroics. Heroics will then give you many of the item-level 200 blues you’ll want before you start raiding.

What’s in an Item Level?

Viewable with an add-on, or on a website such as Wow Heroes, an item level is a basic measure of the quality of a piece of gear, compared to gear of the same color. Green quest rewards from entry quests in Northrend have an item level of 138, for instance. For the most part, an item level 200 blue is better than an item level 187 blue, and an item level 200 purple is better than an item 200 blue – assuming the stats being compared are similar.

Blue item levels in Northrend can vary from 155 to 200. Blues with item level 155 to 187 are obtained from regular mode dungeons. Heroic 5 man dungeons drop item level 187 and 200 blues, and the last boss usually drops an item level 200 purple.

Item level 200 purples are your entry level raid gear at level 80. You can get these from crafting, exalted reputation rewards, and emblem of heroism rewards. You can also get them from Naxxramas, Archavon, Sartharion, and the last boss in each heroic dungeon. Tier 7 set items are of this level. Having item level 200 purples is good preparation for 25-man raids, and 10-man Eye of Eternity, where you will obtain the next level of gear.

Item level 213 purples are your next step up. These drop on 10 man mode from Kel’thuzad in Naxxramas, and from Malygos in the Eye of Eternity. Items of this level will drop in Ulduar when it is released. On 25 man mode, you can get 213′s from Naxxramas, Archavon, and Sartharion. Emblems of Valor can be redeemed for 213′s, which drop from 25 man raid bosses. Heroic tier 7 gear shares this item level. Being equipped fully in 213′s will help prepare you gear-wise for the toughest of encounters currently available in Wrath.

Item level 226 purples are currently the best in game. These drop off Kel’thuzad and Malygos on 25 man, and will appear in Ulduar on 25 man as well.

flux Raiding

Nothing seems to cause drama quite like looting disagreements. While most looting decisions are usually pretty clear cut, all it takes is one bad decision to upset someone. While it’s difficult to please everyone, there are a few ways to keep loot distribution as fair as possible. Here’s a brief analysis of all the possible looting methods you can use for your raid team:

Group Loot: This is probably the worst of all the methods. You can let people roll Need/Greed on the honor system, but this is probably best saved for 5 man dungeons.

Loot Council: This is the system we currently use in our guild. Officers will look at everyone’s gear who is rolling, and determine who should get the loot. Most of the time it’s pretty clear cut, but sometimes it’s difficult to hand out an item without someone getting upset. Subjectivity plays a large role in loot council. Many factors must be taken into account such as how much time each member has contributed to raiding, how good their current items are, and if healers & tanks should get priority.

DKP: Taken from the term “Dragon Kill Points” this is a system used by many hardcore raiding guilds. You earn DKP by participating in raids, and use the points to bid on items that drop. It’s a fairly complicated system for a casual raiding guild to use, but more serious guilds swear by it.

Loot Ladder: With a loot ladder, if you win an item, you move to the bottom of the “ladder”. This gives people priority to win loot if they haven’t won any in awhile. The problem with this system is that it does not take into account the amount of time each member has contributed to the raid, and does not take into account how big the gear upgrade will be. Nonetheless it’s a fairly balanced, and rather simple system to use.

Which loot system is the best for your raiding guild? If you’re a hardcore raiding guild, DKP is probably the only way to go. If you’re a more casual guild, Loot Council or Loot Ladder are probably more feasible. If you’re a dedicated 10-man team, Group Loot might get the job done just fine.

Just remember: You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. But you can’t please ‘em all every time.

flux Raiding

You don’t need to farm stacks upon stacks of cloth to get the largest bags possible. All it takes is a visit to a few different raids, both classic and current – and a bit of luck, of course! At level 80, most of these should be a breeze even for a pickup group, so you should be able to farm them every week.

The Obsidian Sanctum: Sartharion drops a 22 slot Dragon Hide Bag in both 10-man and 25-man mode. This will require a full group of level 80 raid-equipped players.

Zul’Aman: Complete the intro quest to ZA “Promises, Promises…” and you’ll be rewarded with a 20 slot Tattered Hexcloth Sack. All you need to do is take down Nalorakk, the bear avatar boss. Every person in the raid can get one of these since it’s from a quest! At level 80, this boss will be a lot easier than at 70. If you haven’t tried him yet, why not give it a shot and get a 20 slot bag in the process?

Magtheridon’s Lair: Once a level 70 raid requiring 25 people, Magtheridon can now be defeated by a much smaller group. One lucky winner will go home with a 20 slot Pit Lord’s Satchel.

Magister’s Terrace: The Sun Touched Satchel is a 20 slot bag that randomly drops in both regular and heroic MGT.

Zul’Gurub: The panther boss High Priestess Arlokk has a chance to drop an 18 slot Panther Hide Sack.

Onyxia’s Lair: Onyxia drops an 18 slot Onyxia Hide Backpack which is not unique! You can get one of these at every raid reset, and fill your bank up with them! Considering that Onyxia can now be soloed by many classes at level 80, getting her down at every reset is a great way to get an 18 slot bag, a bunch of drops that can be disenchanted or vendored, and a bunch of gold!

flux Gold Making Strategies

Training fees getting you down? Repair bills forcing you to mortgage your mount? Here’s some common-sense tips that may seem simple enough, but all too often go overlooked.

Always loot your mobs. Too many times, I see a field of dead mobs that haven’t been looted. Gray items may not be useful at all, but the vendor value sure does add up. In Northrend, gray weapons and armor can vendor for several gold, and other worthless gray items can vendor for 20 silver or more. Everything adds up, even in small quantities.

I can only think of two reasons why people don’t loot their mobs:

Not enough bag space: This is a problem easily fixed by keeping your bank and bags organized, and by carrying 18 slot or larger bags. If you can get 20 slot or larger bags, by all means use them. Don’t waste stacks upon stacks of Frostweave cloth, or buy Haris Pilton’s Gigantique Sack! Make your way to some raids, new and old, and pick up some free 18 to 22 slot bags. Alternatively, you can pick up or craft some Imbued Netherweave Bags if raids aren’t your thing.

Not enough time: Oh, give me a break. It takes half a second to loot a corpse! You’ll be glad when it comes time to train Cold Weather Flying.

Don’t rush to max out your profession skills. Level them gradually, making sure to keep the costs involved minimal, if any. Make items with other peoples’ mats to gain skill points. Level up making items that people will buy on the AH for a decent amount. Don’t make an item just because it is orange if you are going to take a huge loss to do this, if at all possible. Often it’s more profitable just to sell your raw materials than to craft items to sell; don’t be afraid to do this to keep your cash from running dry.

Drop your crafting profession if you don’t need it. Know a lot of other leatherworkers? You’ll get by just fine dropping Leatherworking and picking up Mining. Know a few alchemists? Drop alchemy and pick up skinning. Having two gathering professions is the best way possible to keep a lot of gold coming in.

Know the market, and don’t always undercut. Visit the AH regularly to get a feel for the prices of the items you regularly gather. If the market is flooded and prices are low, wait to sell. If the supply is low and prices are higher, that’s when you want to be listing your items. If you see items listed at way below the normal cost, buy them up and resell at a profit. By having patience, and knowing the value of your items, you can earn several times more gold for your efforts. Timing is everything.

Utilize helpful add-ons. Auctioneer will help you list items on the Auction House and keep track of their value. There are many add-ons that show the vendor value of items, and allow you to vendor all gray items with one click, that will also save you time and provide valuable information. The more time you save, the more time you can be leveling or farming!

flux Gold Making Strategies, Newbie Guides

In a moment of legendary fail (that’s even bigger than epic fail, for all you noobs), Blizzard somehow managed to temporarily have gold selling ads displayed on their forums today. Threads discussing the ads are being quickly removed, it appears. Seeing as Blizzard specifically forbids buying and selling gold, accounts, and other in-game items, this would appear to be a potential public relations nightmare.

Nonetheless, it brings up an interesting question. What if buying/selling gold were a perfectly permissible activity? I’m not going to knock the gold sellers, as their ads do provide revenue for my website. However, I don’t condone engaging in any activity that can put your account at risk for termination. Let the buyer beware. That being said, let’s look at both sides of the picture:

World of Warcraft gold is not a commodity. It can be infinitely farmed. However, time is a commodity, and only so much gold can be harvested in a given period of time. If you buy gold you’re trading your money for someone else’s time. If you don’t have much time to farm gold, but want to get your epic flyer right away, you have the option to violate Blizzard’s TOS and purchase gold on the internet. Of course, there are less expensive (and risky) options. You could borrow it from a friend. Or, if you’re smart with your gold, you’ll have no problem paying for your epic flyer from the items you get while leveling (hint: use the Auction House). Not everyone is that savvy, though, and buying gold is pretty cheap compared to many folks’ salaries.

Many years back I used to play a lot of Magic: The Gathering Online. Like its physical counterpart, Magic Online cards are legal to sell on the secondary market. You can buy and sell them on eBay, as well as inside MTGO itself! A currency of “tickets” exists to facilitate in-game trading. Tickets can be purchased to use for entering tournaments and leagues, and they can also be used as currency for buying online cards from other players. In addition to selling MTGO cards on eBay, tickets can be even sold on eBay too! This is not uncommon, and usually the ticket prices are a small amount lower on eBay than they are if you purchase them directly from Magic Online; a result of the secondary market. I stopped playing MTGO because it was too expensive (and because there were too many jerks!)

WoW’s in-game economy is set up very different. While players can trade items in-game, there is no money involved outside of your monthly subscription fee. Blizzard’s TOS forbids the act of selling in-game items on the free market. If gold-selling were to be allowed, Blizzard could either limit players to purchasing gold directly through them, or allow transactions on the free market. Either way, the free market will exist, and some players will assume the risks involved whether it’s allowed or not. If there were no risks, surely it would be more common, though.

Given that gold can be farmed infinitely, if gold-selling became more prevalent due to being legitimized by Blizzard, it could lead to an inflation of the in-game economy. With more gold to go around, users of the Auction House who are buying with purchased gold would drive up the cost of items (think about twinks). This would mean that players who are not purchasing gold will be paying more, too. Of course, the income would trickle down as the people listing their items on the AH reaped the profits. AH sellers would benefit, and those not selling on the AH would find themselves less able to afford many items on the AH. The real winners here would be those who are farming the valuable items in-game and listing them on the AH, and possibly those who are able to save some time by purchasing their gold. Even if you spend less time playing WoW you still pay the same monthly fee, so this doesn’t seem to hurt Blizzard. If a person “invests” money into their toon by buying gold, surely they’re not going to quit the game anytime soon, I would think.

Two markets exist; the value of gold on the free market, and the relative value of gold in-game. If selling gold were allowed by Blizzard, surely the price of gold would drop as individuals sought to auction their gold on eBay and through other forms of member to member communication. That’s not to say they don’t already do this, just that it seems more likely that they would if it weren’t as risky. The more prices drop, the less feasible it becomes to engage in this activity for a profit. In countries where “gold farming” companies exist, gold farmers are already paid low wages; perhaps allowing gold selling on the free market would drive them out of business?

There are more downsides, though. Compared to Magic: The Gathering, where you have to spend a lot of money to make a good deck, getting the best gear in WoW involves a lot more skill. Those who have put in the time and effort to get their character geared in epics usually don’t appreciate when someone buys an epicced-out toon on eBay. If this activity was permitted by Blizzard, a lot of subscribers would become angry and potentially leave WoW. A lot of us don’t want someone to be able to progress farther into the game simply by spending more money; it doesn’t seem fair.

I’ll leave you with this thought: if I could make a few extra bucks farming gold I’d probably do it. But it’s definitely not going to make me rich.

flux News

In addition to many class changes, here are a few changes in today’s patch worth noting:

You can now create a Death Knight on any server, as long as you have a toon that is level 55 somewhere. Previously you could only create a Death Knight on the same server as your existing level 55+ toon.

Low level mobs will now give full reputation gains. Looking to get exalted with many of the old world factions? There’s no time like the present!

You can now open clams without being dismounted! And there was much rejoicing.

Loremaster of Kalimdor has had its quest requirement reduced. I think I’ve already said this enough times now!

Mining a node is now done all in one action, instead of having to hit the node several times. Seeing as I just leveled up mining, I’m a big fan of this.

Some low level dungeons and bosses are now more easily accessible:

• The altars in Blackrock Spire and Uldaman no longer require three people to use.
• You no longer need Aqual Quintessence to summon Majordomo Executus in Molten Core.
• You no longer need the Scepter of Celebras to teleport to the final section of Maraudon.
• You no longer need the Mallet of Zul’Farrak to summon Gahz’rilla.
• You no longer need the Blackened Urn to summon Nightbane.
• If you have the mallet or the scepter, you will find that they are now weapons. The urn is now vendor trash.

Here is the full list of changes in 3.0.8 including all the class changes.

flux News

A few hours before the server went down for maintenance, I finally finished my 730th Kalimdor quest to complete the Loremaster achievement! Last week I was at a standstill in the low 700′s with no more quests seemingly available. However, a little searching around led me to the final few quests to reach the grand total of 730:

I found a quest in Booty Bay that sent me back to the Mirage Raceway. I am not sure how I missed this while doing the long chain of quests from there, but it gave me a couple more quests toward the achievement.

I stopped in Tanaris and did the Tooga escort. I had a feeling I had missed this one, having discovered it for the first time when leveling my druid.

Blackmoss the Fetid in Teldrassil dropped an item that added two quests to my total.

I did the escort quest at the Master’s Glaive in Darkshore that I had missed earlier. Then, after farming hundreds of the Twilight cultists, a book finally dropped, giving me another quest to add to the tally.

After all that I was stuck at 723 quests. My only options left appeared to be the Tier 0.5 quest chain, or grinding rep with Brood of Nozdormu for the Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest chain. I decided on doing the former.

After many flights back and forth to Gadgetzan, many boat rides between Theramore and Menethil, and many Scholomance runs to get the Lightforge Bracers to drop (there were none on the auction house) I made it to 728 quests complete. Continuing the quest line led me to a Baron run in Stratholme, and then to Dire Maul. Turning in the quest at Dire Maul gave me number 729, and I expected the next part (turning in ogre warbeads) to be number 730 – but ended up with a surprise when freeing the NPC inside Dire Maul North gave me credit for the achievement.

The loremaster tabard is pretty cool – it has a giant exclamation point on it!

Today the 3.0.8 patch is supposed to go live, which reduces the number of quests required down to 700. As much fun as it was running all over the place to do that quest line, I do think it’s a smart move on Blizzard’s part in lowering the requirements. Perhaps they could even divide the quests by area as they have done with Outland and Northrend? Just my 2 cents.

flux Achievements, Questing & Leveling

I had much better luck tonight, and did not get disconnected during any of the boss fights. We defeated Razuvious on the first try, Gothik on the second try, and one-shot Four Horsemen. Patchwerk went down on the first attempt, and after a few tries we even got Grobbulus down – a guild first! We fought Gluth for the first time and got him on the third try. After a couple of tries at Thaddius we had to call it a night but tomorrow we will continue.

One of the offbeat features of Naxxramas is something that was not as much of an issue in Karazhan; unless you count falling off the ledge in upper Karazhan. I am, of course, referring to many of the tricky maneuvers required to make your through the instance, often risking life and limb while not even fighting any mobs! Previous to Naxxramas, there were a few situations like this in Burning Crusade:

The Gong Boss: Getting everyone to bang the gong at the same time in Zul’Aman was sometimes harder than making it through the timed prisoner event!

The Elevator Boss: The elevator in Serpentshrine Cavern is famous for many deaths. Paladins using their bubble prematurely after jumping ended up floor tanking at the bottom of the lift.

The Construct Quarter in Naxxramas is home to three encounters of similiar style:

The Frogger Boss: This is basically an economic stimulus package for the repair vendors.

The Pipe Boss: Fall off the pipe on the way to Gluth and you get to do the Frogger boss all over again!

The Ledge Boss: I fell victim to this one on our first attempt at Thaddius. Perhaps I need to go back to practicing at Super Mario Brothers?

Of course, the developers who created these challenges are the same ones who brought you doodad_nox_door_spider02.

flux Raiding

Last week, my guild faced off against the Four Horsemen in Naxxramas (10-man) and ran into an unfortunate situation. During our first attempt, people were just learning the fight and we wiped, which is nothing unexpected. Our second attempt went rather well, until one of the priest healers got disconnected. Our third attempt also went pretty well, until the other priest healer got disconnected! I was the only healer who didn’t get disconnected that night. It was getting pretty late so we decided to try again another time.

Fast forward to last night. I logged on and was asked to heal 25-man Naxxramas for another guild. After making my way inside, the raid leader explained the fight and everyone got to their positions. The people in the front of the room were still learning their roles so it was a quick wipe. The second attempt was going very well, with one of the bosses almost to zero health before the first switch, at which point the server decided to disconnect me. I logged back in only to see my corpse on the floor and the rest of the raid falling like a pile of dominoes. We tried it once more, and the server disconnected me again! I felt horrible, having wiped a 25-man raid twice, even though it was not my fault. What’s a paladin to do?

Here’s hoping that tonight our group of 10 fares better in the Military Wing!

flux Raiding

Through your questing and leveling journey you will encounter a number of quests that require the aid of others to complete. Icecrown and Shadowmoon Valley are notorious for the large number of group quests they offer. Here are a few options for approaching these quests, in order of best to worst:

Try soloing the quest. This is possible for some quests and classes, but doesn’t work out too great for others. Sometimes waiting a level or two can make this possible. It’s usually worth a shot trying to solo a 2 or 3 man quest, depending on your level and class. The better your gear, the fewer people are required to do a group quest. As a general rule, most Northrend 2 man quests can be soloed, most 3 man quests can be duoed, and most 5 man quests can done with 3-4 people. Some higher level group quests demand a tank and a healer, while the lower level ones usually do not. Having a healer always helps though.

Asking in General Chat or Looking For Group. This is by far the best way to get these quests done. Especially if you are on during peak hours, there is often someone else also looking to do the same quest you’re on. Asking in the General chat of the area you’re in should always be the first step you take when trying to find someone to help you with a group quest. Looking For Group can sometimes work too. Your best bet is to ask in General upon entering the area, and then ask again every 10 minutes or so. Don’t spam, though; this won’t get you anywhere.

Ask in Guild Chat. While guildies can be a great source of assistance, this should be done sparingly. Don’t be that guy who asks for help with quests 5-10 times every day. First try and solo it, and ask in General or Looking For Group if soloing isn’t possible. Remember, your guildies have things they’d like to get done, too.

Ask in Trade Chat. Don’t ever do this. There’s enough spam in trade chat!

flux Newbie Guides, Questing & Leveling