Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 55 - In Depth

Aprillian and Ashayo once again discuss the World of Warcraft and how they play their many alts. Special segment featuring Glanthur. What We've Been DoingAprillian - This week I'm trying something different.  I want to emphasize the whole alt side of playing and my particular style.  So for the next few weeks, I am going to try to keep a general running dialogue of how I am playing.  Keep in mind that there are somethings I might miss, particularly a lot of the monotonous Bank alt stuff.  Also I probably won't talk a lot about the Guild stuff I do as an officer of Alea Iacta Est. Monday off from work.  I had several goals for the day.  I want to level both Aprillian and Ardrion.   Aprillian needs to get to 50 to get over 300 in Tailoring.  She will be my highest tailor ever.  She has loads of mats ready for that day, including a ever growing stack of mooncloth, about 13 now.  Ardrion needs to ride, plus he needs mats to level up LW, even though Rilfire, my level 60, is a LW.  They will be specializing in different things.  The headed to the shores of Tanaris.  There are a lot of turtles there and Ardrion can use the shells to make mail.  They are 41 to 43, so both Ardrion and Aprillian shared xp.  I like to hop around, I don't follow any forumla Morning spent with Aprillian and Ardrion in the Pirates cove in Tanaris  a lot of it with Aprillian and Ardrion in RFD Tuesday morning - Realms down, played Sims 2.  Tuesday Night at work: During downtime, breaks and lunch, I pull out my light but sturdy MacBook Air.  I check into Treshel and have her make an Arcanite Bar, can't waste that cool down. Of course as wonderful as the MacBook Air is, it does not allow for dual boxing.  So I can only run one character at a time.  I look over my cast of alts.  I know Treshel needs to run back to turn in the Andre quest, but hey she can wait.  So I think of Ardrion, who's hearthed back to Shat after the whole RFD thing.  I really want him and Aprillian in Tanaris but he's too low for any of the quests there.  Then I remembered that when Aprillian needed quick leveling, she went to Desolace and had a good time leveling there.  So off Ardrion goes with his pet Ravager TheBeast.  I have to tell you, I was very impressed with TheBeast.  Ardrion picked him up when the Ravager was like level 12 and Ardrion was around 25'ish.  The two have really bonded but the best part is TheBeast is a regular tank and both he and Ardrion are currently 37.  When Ardrion first got him, he was a hungry little bugger, seems like he was always begging for food.  But today he is a winner.  We're hitting beasts 37-40, sometimes getting 2 at a time or 3 in a row, and TheBeast held his own.  Plus the Thunder Lizards and scorpids yielded LW mats, it was a win win situation.  Then the unthinkable happened, ran out of ammo. Keep in mind though, we were right outside of Shadowsprey Village.  I didn't want to go too far because at work meant constant stops and starts and I didn't want to try anything that would get me killed.  So I ran back to Shadowsprey and got repaired but there's no ammo and I needed pet food.  This is the where the alts really come in handy.  I ran to the inn in Shadowsprey and logged off, then logged on my alt in Thunder Bluff, who picked up some Solid Shot and a stack of Roasted Quail, plus some cured ham for Ardrion and put it in the mail.  Ardrion picked it up in Shadowsprey and was back to grinding.  He dinged 38 when I got home from work. Wed Morning: Playing before getting ready for work.  Ardrion picked up [38]Hand of Iruxos in Shadowsprey and Aprillian  left Shat to join him.  Ardrion could have done it alone, but there are multiple mobs so Aprillian made a nice safety net.  Plus Aprillian picked up some silk, she's still making tuxedo stuff for fun and profit.  They also stopped at the vendor Super Seller 680 and picked up [Recipe: Dragonbreath Chili] [Recipe: Mystery Stew] [Recipe: Big Bear Steak], I might level up another alt in cooking.  I know this is a dangerous thing to do, getting stuff I might not need for a while.  OH the Robot also sells ammo.  On the way to Shadowsprey, Aprillian stopped at the AH in TB and saw a nice head piece, Dreamweave Circlet that she can wear now that she's 45.  But then she remembered she made some, sold some and put one in her Bank.  It has 58 armor and 10 int and 12 sp, plus increases damage and heaing done by magical spells and effects by up to 21, cool beans, perfect for a Belf Lock. Back at work Wed evening. Pulled out the MBA at lunch and transmuted an arcanite bar with Treshel.  Someone in the guild forums said the cool down was going to be eliminated.  That would make it easier to make the bars but make them worth less. Then I got out Ardrion, he had passed Sneed Scrabblescrew earlier with Aprilian, but since it was just a collection quest, [34]Kodo Roundup he waited until now to pick it up.  Got two plus he was working on [39]Bone Collector at the same time.  I like shrinking those kodos.  Finished that one and headed back to Shatt.  I thought I'd run him back to Tanaris to see if he now, at level 38, could qualify for any of the Wastewater bandit quests, but no luck, just one quest and the mobs in Tanaris are 42 and above, he got killed the first time I had to step away from the MBA to wait on a customer.  Headed up the hill to Shimmer Flats instead, killing lizards and skinning for  fun and profit.  But then after getting almost halfway to 39, when I noticed Ardrion was coming to the end of his rested xp.  So I ran back to Gadgetzan, ran into the inn and logged off of Ardrion.  Veyle, my level 38 Rogue who is mainly my BS and Enchanter has plenty of rest.  But I am terrible at a rogue.  I looked at her quests and actually headed her towards the portals in Shat but realized I should dual box her instead. Thursday Morning Log on and check AH alts.  Tay, my Alliance AH Dranei sold one Dragonhawk Hatchling, a cockroach and a blue moth.  The profit isn't what it used to be, others have discovered my trick, but the prices on the Ally side on ER are usually cheaper for other things due to the larger number of Alliance players.  Check alt in Winterspring, no Felcloth.   I logged on Aprillian, Ardrion and Treshel, but they would be working separately.  Aprillian went to Tanaris, she was down to 1 soul shard, there were only a few level 37's in Desolace when she was helping Ardrion and none in RFK so she headed to Tanaris to stock up.  Treshel had pulled out an old level 41 cat Eeachyaa and had her out while helping Ardrion and Aprillian but the cat wasn't levelling, so she headed to the Crater and Ardrion needed training since hitting 38.  But when he got to the trainer, it seems I had been remiss.  My bank alt had withdrawn 15g and sent it to him but he quickly went through that.  I think he was way behind.  So basically this morning I'm triple boxing with soloing characters. Work Thursday Evening I stopped at the Apple Store and picked up a Bluetooth Mouse.  It is great with my MacBook Air.  But the job has been busy so not much other than logging into Treshel and transmuting an Arcanite Bar.  Which I guess I need to give up doing because it's official: Alchemy

• Gift of Arthas now stacks to 20.
• Transmute Arcanite no longer has a cooldown.

On Blizzard's Website: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.htmlThis should be an interesting development.  I wonder if the price of Arcane crystals will now go up since you can make them faster? So I'm on Aprillian in Tanaris.  She's currently 16% to 46.  Remember her goal is 50 for Tailoring. Friday Morning Did a lot of Housekeeping, checking mailboxes.  I advocate storing stuff in the mail, but the 30 days can go by quick.  Actually it becomes 60 days, because if you send something to an alt, it sits in their mailbox for 30 days and then gets returned to the original alts box.  Checked out Arcane Crystals and bought all on Alliance AH under 6g each.  They are 10-12g on Horde side.  I spent time doing assorted things, some guild related.  It's almost time to get ready for work.  I have Aprillian and Ardrion heading to the Badlands, Ardrion has [40]Barbecued Buzzard Wings and Aprillian has [43]Broken Alliances, but that might be tricky to do with her and Ardrion.  Oh Aprillian did fly down to Silthius to make mooncloth from felcloth.  I wonder if that cooldown will go away as well., it's almost 4 days for that one.  She's been doing it every 4 days since she got the recipe and now has 17  mooncloth.  She has recipes to use it but since she's at 300 and won't level until she reaches 50, she's just been hording it, like a good little altaholic. I keep forgetting to mention Ishaq, she's my level 15 priest that I have running Eversong Woods.  I'm hoping to get into healing at some point, but probably not dual boxing. Almost time to leave for work, Ardrion completed the quest and then picked up another quest at the inn, the Badland's gathering quest, Aprillian picked a couple of flowers in the Badlands and has her Herbalism at 272.  She's been hearing about Mauradon, I'll have to google that one. Friday Evening at work: Busy night, only got on to do AH stuff before lunch.  At lunch I got on Aprillian and soloed [43]Broken Alliances .  She taunted one or 2 ogres away from the boss and then got the boss down low before the others came to help, snatched the Sigil and ran.  Turned the quest in for 5050 xp and went from 37% to 42% towards level 46.  Then she went to the sigils to the the runes and grinded Scalding Whelps.  By the time I logged off at the end of my shift, she was at 52%. Saturday Morning: A few hours play before work.  I had Ardrion and Aprillian meet up in the Badlands.  Aprillian was farming Scalding Whelps while getting the runes.  But she hates killing animals that can be skinned without Ardrion being around to skin them.  They met up near the Angor Fortress because Aprillian had the missing Luggage quest from the Blood Elf back at Kargath.  Ardrion’s quest log was full, so he hadn’t taken it but while he was in the Badlands he’d finished the Barbecued Wings Ashayo Wow, nowhere near as detailed as that for me. But a couple of good tips for around high 40's. Firstly, Azshara. The quest line that starts with "Stealing Knowledge" is magnificent for free experience points. You collect four tablets from an area infested with Naga, turn them in and get about 7000 exp. Then you get 4 quests to deliver them to npcs in Azshara (very close by), Undercity, Thunderbluff and Orgrimmar, and a quest from each of those guys to report back to Azshara. Total exp: about 42,000 !! One zone I certainly forget about that doesn't appear to have any "leader quests" (ie Quests in an area or major city that sends you off to a new area to quest in) is Searing Gorge. Maybe there is a leader quest and I've never stumbled on it. I'd love to hear about it if there is. At around level 50, there are several quests that are very easy to solo with good exp. This includes the chain "The Flawless flame" starting at Kalaran Windblade just outside Thorium Point. This used to be a hard chain to complete because the step "The flame's casing" involved killing elites and getting an item that is a low drop rate. Well, they are not elite any more, so it is much easier to do. Also in SG is a quest chain specifically for tailors. This starts at Nilith Lokrav in southern SG near BRM. You get a reasonably nice (just green) set of bracers and a belt that increases shadow damage, and a quest to go to Gadgetzan to get a tailoring pattern for a shadowweave mask that increases shadow damage by up to 24. Hinterlands is a great place to quest at this level too. Before you do that, do some questing in Feralas until you get the quest "Natural Materials" and "Testing the Vessel".  Many of the items you need for the "natural materials" quest will drop off mobs you kill for other quests in the Hinterlands. Strangely, the 'testing the vessel' chain ends in a choice of a blue axe or mace, but only a green staff. Jekle got his epic flying form! Shoutout to Stigg, Cuttiepie and Received for helping me with that! Asheal and Ashield travelled to Felwood and "ground" timbermaw rep. I put that in air quotes because it's now a trivial exercise. Just by doing the quest "Timbermaw Ally" and handing it in, you get to unfriendly rep, which is enough to travel safely through to Winterspring. Asheal and Ashield did the the Jintha'alor quests in Hinterlands. This is too easy now that the mobs are not elites. They should've at least left the Vile Priestess as an elite. Ash/Ash started questing in Ungoro. Great as a skinner, and great for thorium for my mining. Though I did have to spend some time grinding mining level in Tanaris to get up to the point of being able to do thorium Glanthur sends in a clip.  Yeah! Secondary Skills     First Aid     Food for thanks     Dual Boxing on Macs - Folder resources     Real World Application         Loan sharks - repossessing