J's Cache

To All the Anti-Rift WoW Fanboys

2011-03-07T03:44:00.000-05:00

Here are a few things I'm going to throw out there to derail some of the annoying things being tossed around about Rrift being a wow clone.

First of all- When wow was released it was a clone of about 6 different MMOs mixed together. with a few new concepts.

Secondly- Rift is a clone of some major current MMOs, WoW being one of them. as well as WHO, AOC, and EQ2 with a little bit of GW with the class mixing. Rift has also added a few new concepts.

-Server Wide raiding. wait... games have server events? THEY SHOULD ITS NOT A MMO if you cant incorporate tons of people at once. Lineage 2 did this very well.

this game mixes this concept with..

Instance raiding- get a group zone out to a smaller area fight stuff get loot. Most people think this is a WoW concept..... its not Koreans have done this in MMOs for years, but you all thought it was revolutionary right?...

Moving on-

"OMG guys we have health bars, combo points similair commands, and color coded items!" this is just a pretty wow.

Ok first of all have you ever heard the term "if it aint broke dont fix it"?

Wow has dominated the MMO market in the united states for years.
9 times out of 10 when an MMO tries to make a totaly new concept in and out it fails...
Why try to make an entirely new system UI and battle allong with little things like item coding.
when another development company did all that for you and proved that their system works.
its good marketing take somthing ridiculously popular and tweak it. Look at a tooth brush. did you know that bend wasnt originally there? but that guy that added that bend was just cloning a toothbrush so it doesnt count.

Why?

becuase people like you got used to one game and your tiny little mind couldnt fathom a different game arctype than what you had been used to.

SO?....

well Trion and Rift helped you with that.

Now.....

You can enjoy this game without having to use your brain. Becuase i gaurantee 85-90% of the people playing Rift right now at one point played WoW.... me being one of them.

Is this game revolutionary?

No

Was it suppost to be revolutionary?

No

Is it still a good game?

Yes, and to be frank my first impressions of this game wreck what I thought of Wow in its original realse.

I can quest, que up for pvp and when im getting bored of collecting crap and killing mobs i can go help my zone defeat rifts and get bonuses for doing so.

ALSO

Keep in mind i guarantee allot of you that recently played wow probably started mid stroke. Vanilla Wow wasnt amazing they built onto that game for 6 years to get it to where it is now.

this game has been out for a week today.

unbunch your undies, think outside the box, and if you dont like it dont play it.

A lot of Rift players new to MMOs?

2011-03-05T12:54:00.004-05:00

What makes me say that you ask?

1. The complaining about quests. "I'm sick of the, kill, fetch,gather, escort type quests in this game"...Umm, name one MMO that doesn't have these. Then tell us all how you would design quests.

2. Crying about server down-time. Hello! Have you ever been involved in the launching of a MMO before? No? Well let me assure you downtime within the first couple of weeks will be random and unexpected. Consider it birthing pains. Perfectly normal, and understandable. No mmo has started its tenure online and had no downtime. Relax, as the game is online more the downtime will be less un-expected.

3. Class Balance. Ok if you've got your panties all in a knot over one class "seemingly" being over-powered over others, take WoW for an example. A huge amount of money and resources at Blizzard's disposal yet after 6 years they're sitll trying to balance classes.
Now look at Rift. With all of the class possibilities and you should be able to deduce how hard it is for the developers to make everyone happy all the time. Relax again...It will be a work in progress for the rest of Rifts career. What goes around comes around. Classes that seem weak will get a boost and the OP ones will get nerfed. ad-nauseum.

So come on folks. Cut this company some slack and stop acting like the things that need adjusting in this game are somehow unigue to Rift. Every MMO has the same growing pains.

Try to show some patience and maturity when "telling" the developers off. Lets encourage them rather to keep making this game the success it already is.

Turalyon is coming back next patch!!!!!

2011-03-04T15:41:00.002-05:00

I was on the PTR and I was messing around in Outland of all places. Don't ask why.

Anyways, I was flying between Netherstorm and HFP. You know, there's that crazy ship floating and small floating islands with nothing there? Well, there USED to be nothing there.

On one of the islands, there is now some level 85 "Twilight Assassin" mobs who are attacking a friendly NPC there. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this NPC: it was High General Turaylon.

Yes, it's that Turalyon. That paladin which went to Outland but Bliz conveniently have left his story untold. Until now. Badass pally who kicked Orgrim Doomhammer's ass. Looks like he was to be a secret surprise.

So I jumped in, killed the mobs which were attacking the great paladin, hoping this starts a quest or dialogue or something. Sure enough, that yellow exclamation mark appeared. So I clicked on Turalyon, but no voice. Guess that wasn't added yet (hopefully this means he doesn't just get a generic human voice).

Anyways, I picked up the quest "The Legend of Lothar" from him. Turns out I had to listen to Turalyon's story. This might not be for everyone, but here's the excerpt:

Turalyon "I remember fighting Cho'gall and as the Twilight Hammer Clan. It brings back the memories of that horrible war, where I couldn't save Lothar"

Player: "What happened in that war, great Paladin?"

Turalyon: "It was in front of Blackrock Spire, the final battleground for the second war. The orcs were on the retreat. Lothar had hoped they would just give up. But Orgrim Doomhammer, warchief of the Horde, refused to give it. We clashed. The orcs were fighting with all their might, and so did we."

Player: "Go on"

Turalyon: "I got separated from Lothar, and when I found him, he was surrounded and locked in a duel with Doomhammer. Even when surrounded, Lothar's resolve did not waver. He was matching Doomhammer blow for blow, each blow so strong that the clash of metal can be heard across the battlefield"

Player: "Go on"

Turalyon: "I charged to aid my Lord, but Orgrim's warriors barred the way. I could only watch as Doomhammer gain an upper hand and delivered the fatal blow. The sound of Lothar's sword shattering... I can still hear it. I could have saved him, but I failed"

Player: "Why couldn't you save him? Was it because of the orcs?"

Turalyon: "No, after Lothar was struck. The orcs all cheered. Orgrim thought this would shatter the Alliance's morale. They let me through to Lothar, probably intending to make me deliver the messenager of Lothar's demise. Little did they know that only made me more determined to destroy those wicked beasts. Alas, all of my vengence still couldn't have saved Lothar. It was my fault"

Player: "Why was it your fault? Why couldn't you save Lothar?"

And Turalyon replied: "My word of glory was on cooldown"

Rift Accounts Hacked Already?!

2011-03-03T17:12:00.000-05:00

It has come to my attention that there have been some successful hacking attempts in Rift already. While I am not one to bring up negative points very often, this is one MAJOR concern many in the community. While I can sit here and spout not to visit naughty websites and or suspicious sites. There have been times where hijackers have found creative ways to piggyback of reputable sites through add-ons and advertisements.

So the question is, where does the responsibility lie? Is it Trion's responsibility to offer us some form of advanced protection like an authenticator to protect our accounts against malicious intents? Or does this fall solely on the shoulders of the person paying for the account to ensure their computer is safe from the harmful effects of worms, trojans, malware etc.

I can speak from a technical support agent's perspective and say the majority of internet users are no where near aware enough of the possible threats out there. And from that same perspective I can say even the best protection software is often not enough to save you from a quick striking attack.

So while I am all for taking the blame if my account is hacked, I would still like to see a measured effort from the company that I will be paying hundreds of dollars over the next years to assist me in protecting my account. After all, it is Trion's product that will ultimately suffer if the trend I am seeing continues.

Please respond to this post if you feel Trion should do SOMETHING to increase account security.

200+ Followers!

2011-03-02T21:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks guys, made it to 200+ followers today!

How-to Guide for Rift Macros

2011-03-02T06:28:00.000-05:00

This will be a brief but hopefully somewhat informative guide to Macros in RIFT. Also listed are basic commands and emotes you might use in these macros. This list will not be a complete, but a ongoing project, to hopefully make one comprehensive macro guide.

**Basic Rift Commands-Emotes**

(All emotes are /"emote")

apologize
angry
attack
beg
Bonk
bow
bye
charge
cheer
chicken
clap
confused
cower
cry
curtsey
dance
drink
eat
emote
examine
facepalm
flex
flirt
gasp
Giggle
grin
grovel
hello
hug
kiss
kneel
laugh
laydown
listen
lol
no
openfire
point
ponder
pray
rude
salute
shrug
silly
sit
sleep
smile
talk
tease
tickle
thank
warmhands
wave
yes

**Basic Rift Commands-General**

(All commands are /"Command")

abilitybar - Selects a specific ability bar page from your main bar.
afk <message> - Sets you "Away From Keyboard" with optional message.
alias <alias> <command> <blah> - Allows you to create alias for your commands.
cancelbuff <spell> - Cancels a buff by name.
cast <spell name> - Casts a specific spell.
clearfocus - Clears a focus set by the /Focus command.
combatlog - Brings up the combat log.
dismount - Dismounts you from your mount.
dnd <message> - Sets your chat to "Do not Disturb" with optional message.
duel <player> - Starts a duel
dungeoninfo - Displays dungeon info.
equip <item> - Equips selected item
equipslot - Untested
filter - Turns adult chat filter on or off.
focus <Target> - Sets your focus to selected NPC or player.
follow <Target> - Follows the target.
friend <player name> - Add player as a friend.
help - Brings up available commands
inspect <player name> - Looks at a target players gear.
loc - Gives your location
macro - Brings up the macro section.
motd - Edits message of the day.
played - Shows your time played.
pvptoggle - Toggles your PVP flag on or off.
random # - Rolls a number randomly up to the number specified.
report <player name> - Reports a player.
returntorespawn - Returns you to the graveyard if you are dead.
role # - changes your role.
startattack - Starts melee auto-attack.
startrangedattack - Starts ranged Auto-Attack.
stopattack - Stops your attack.
stopcasting - Cancels casting.
target <name> - Selects target player or NPC.
targetexact <Target> - Selects the exact name of a NPC or Player.
targetmark <number> - To target the marked target specified by <number>
time - Displays the server time and the local time.
version - Gives you the current RIFT version.
who - Opens the social window.

**Basic Rift Commands-Party**

(All party commands are /"Command")

clearallmarks - Clears away all target marks.
dumpraid <filename> - Creates a file that lists the members of a raid.
invite <player name> - Invites target player to your party.
kick <player name> - Kick player from your party.
leader <player name> - Transfer party lead to player.
mark # - Mark a target with designated number.
partyleave - Leave your party.
raid_create - Create a raid.
raid_disband - Disband a raid.
readycheck - Prompts a ready window for everyone to confirm readiness.
resetinstances - Resets a instance.

**Basic Rift Commands-Chat**

(All Chat commands are /"Command")

chat # <message>,# <message> - Selects a chat channel you have joined and enters a message when a message follows the space after the number. See /chatlist for chatlist numbers.
chatlist - Gives the list of chat channels and their numbers you have joined and that can be selected by /1, /2, etc. Aliases of this command are chatinfo and chatwho.
guild <message> - Selects the guild chat channel and enters a message when a message follows the space after the command. Aliases for this command are /gu, /gc and /g.
join <channel> - Joins a chat channel when the channel exists or not. Aliases for this command are chatjoin, cjoin, channel and chan.
leave # - Leaves a chat channel by giving its number. See /chatlist for chatlist numbers. Aliases for this command are /chatleave, /chatexit, /cleave and /cexit.
lfg - Short command to join the LFG channel (/join LFG).
party <message> - Opens a party channel and sends a message when a text follows the space after the command to all party members. Alias for this command is p.
tell <Player Name> <message> - Opens a tell/whisper channel to another character and sends a message in this private channel when a text follows the space after the character name.
Aliases for this command are whisper, w and t. The hotkey 'r' ot the command reply can be used to repond to the last person sending you a tell (or whisper).
wf <message> - Opens a warfront team channel and sends a message when a text follows the space after the command to all warfront team members.
raid <message> - Opens a raid channel and sends a message when a text follows the space after the command to all raid members. Alias of this command is /rsay.
say <message> - Opens an local channel and sends a message when a text follows the space after the command. Alias for this command is s.
yell <message> - Opens an local channel and sends a message when a text follows the space after the command. Work like say but the text get another colour to emphasize it. Alias for this command is shout.
announce # - Enables join/leave announcements for a given channel. Alias for this command is /ann.
chatban # <player name> - Kick and bans a player from a chat channel. Aliases for this command are /ban, /bk and /cban.
chatinvite # <player name> - Invites a player to a private chat channel. Alias for this command is /cinvite.
chatunban # <player name> - Unbans a player from a chat channel. Aliases for this command are /unban and /cunban.
moderator # <player name> - Make a player character moderator of the given channel. Alias for this command is /mod.
owner # <player name> - Transfers channel ownership to another player character.
password # <password> - Sets the channel's password, or clears it if no password entered.
private # - Make a channel private. People must be invited using /cinvite to join.
public # - Makes a channel public. Anyone can join who is not on the ban list.
unannounce # - Disables join/leave announcements for a given channel. Alias for this command is /unann.
unmoderator # <player name> - Remove moderator permissions for a player character on the given channel. Alias for this command is /unmod

**Basic Rift Commands-Pet**

(All Pet commands are /"Command")

petaggressive - Sets your pet to attack anything that comes into range.
petattack - Sets your pet to attack the current target.
petcast <spell name> - Your pet will cast the spell given.
petdefensive - Pet will only attack when attacked.
petfollow - Pet will follow you.
petstay - Pet stays at current location.
petname <pet name> - Sets your pet name.
petpassive - Sets your pet to do nothing, even if attacked.

**Basic Rift Commands-Guild**

(All guild commands are /"Command")

dumpguild <filename> - Generates a file with the entire guild roster on it.
ginvite <player name> - Invite a player to the guild.
gleave - Leave the guild.
guild <message> - Type a message to the guild.
gkick <player name> - Kick a player from the guild
glog - Brings up the guild log
gsetmotd <message> - Sets the guild Message Of The Day
gpromote <player name> <Rank> - Promotes a guild member to a rank designated
gsetnotes <message> - Changes the Guild Notes message.

**Special Macro Commands**

/saveequip followed by an index number (e.g. “/saveequip 1″)
o This saves the currently equipped set of equipment to the specified index.
/loadequip followed by an index number (e.g. “/loadequip 1″)
o This loads the saved set of equipment from the specified index.
/cast followed by an ability name (e.g. “/cast Motif of Tenacity”)
o This casts the specified ability. You can specify a target for that ability using special targeting syntax (e.g. /cast @mouseover Commander’s Order)
/wait followed by a number of seconds (e.g. “/wait 1″)
o This is used to tell the game engine to wait the specified number of seconds before issuing the next command.
/stopcasting
o This tells the game engine to stop the current action and is a necessary intermediate step between chained macro commands.
/use item
o This uses the item named (e.g. /use Blessed Tome)

**Special Commands**

exportui <filename> -- exports your UI, Chat, macro settings to a file
importui <filename> -- imports your UI, Chat settings from a file. This works across characters, shards, factions, and even accounts.
exportkeybindings <filename> -- exports your keybinds to a file
importkeybindings <filename> -- imports your keybinds from a files. This works across characters, shards, factions, and even accounts.
tweetpic - Tweet a Screenshot
Tweet - Opens the twitter interface.
%o - *Example* /p Attack %o. -> Attack him. or Attack her.
%p - *Example* /s Take %p loot. -> Take her loot. or Take his loot.
%s - *Example* /t %s is waiting. -> he is waiting. or she is waiting.
%T - displays the target selected in chat.
@Focustarget - Cast a spell at a target of a focused target, E.G. /cast @focustarget Soul lance
@Lasttarget - Cast a spell on your last target before your current target
#show “ability” - Causes the macro to inherhit the icon and ability icon of the skill.

**Advanced Macro Strings**

Now to the bread and butter! To use the following strings you will need to create a macro. To do this you go to the options menu then select macros or simply type /macro. Here you can select a
icon (or use the #show command to get the icon you desire) and enter the strings into the blank field. Once you create your macro you can place it on a spot on your AbilityBar. Some macros let you
clear up AbilityBar space by organizing different spells into one macro instead of having every spell hot keyed (keep in mind those macros will only use "1" skill due to patching of stringed abilities).
Below are a few example I have at the moment.

*Assisting main Tank*

target <Player Name>
assist
cast <name of your usual starting skill>

*As a tank or puller let people know you are pulling while getting hate*

party I am pulling the target %T
cast <taunt skill or pull skill>

*One button Follow command for a person you group with a lot*

target <Player Name>
follow

*Healing – do this for all 5 group members and you have a handy 1 button heal for each, you can mess around with different skills and combinations but you get the idea*

target <Player Name>
cast <Healing Skill>

*Chat warnings with skills*

party I am Squirreling the target %T , touch him and you will get rabies!!!
cast Transmorgrify

*MouseOver Heal Example*

#show Basic Heal
stopcasting
cast [ctrl] @mouseover Heal Over Time
cast [ctrl] Heal Over Time
cast [alt] @mouseover Big Heal
cast [alt] Big Heal
cast @mouseover Basic Heal
cast Basic Heal

*Setting up Reactionary Skills - Be sure to put the reactants on top so it cycles correctly*

#show Flamespear (ranged ability)
cast Furious Rage (reactive such as on block)
cast Face Slam (melee ability with a cooldown such as 6 seconds)
cast Reckless Strike (Melee Range Spamable)
cast Stonespear (ranged ability with cooldown)
cast Flamespear (ranged spamable)

*Ever get tired of adding every planar damage item onto a bar, here is a solution!*

Use "Planar damage item 1"
use "Planar damage item 2"
use "Planar damage item 3"
use "Planar damage item 4"
Ect..
Ect..

*Switching to DPS mode in a group but your tank is in danger??? try this if you are helping with heals on a tank for easy continuation of damage*

party Mages can heal now???? Just did!!!!! <--- optional
target <Player name (tank)>
cast <Heal spell>
assist <---- retargets the target your tank is targeting, so you can just start casting DPS again.

*Using chat in macros to remind you to rebuff*

\\\Do This Step first\\\
private # - Make a private chat

\\\This is The Macro\\\
#show <Motif>
cast <Motif>
wait 25
<#> \\\Use the number of your chat\\\ - "Motif" is wearing off, re-cast it now!!
party - This will switch your primary chat back to party mode for you. You can also use /say to go back to general chat.

*Calling out Targets with group support*

\\\Calling out a target\\\
mark 1 @mouseover
party Prepare to spike damage in 2 seconds
cast @mark 1 debuff/snare

\\\Rest of team applies damage with this double tap\\\
cast @mark 1 Damage on a cooldown
cast @mark 1 Spammable damage

My Summary of Rift

2011-03-01T05:21:00.000-05:00

I've been playing since the final beta and then since the launch of headstart and I am really impressed with what is going on here.

The dynamic content is great fun. My character just seems to be so busy all the time that I actually have to make real choices, about where to invest my in game time. Something WoW is lacking right now. As the game has opened up and revealed itself, it has really really grown on me. Ok, the queues are a little bit of a chore right now but bearable.

It's been a couple or three years since I really got stuck and fell in love with an MMO and gleaned this much enjoyment from it (TBC WoW).I'd never even heard of Trion Worlds and I've been gaming for 10+ years. Rest assured from here on in, I'll be on the lookout for buying shares. The impact of this game on other MMO developers is going to be felt very hard indeed and that is testament to the quality of product on offer here.

I think anyone with any real cause for complaint needs to take a good look at themselves because Trion are setting benchmarks here. They have also conducted themselves in a far more ethical and professional yet down to earth manner than many other developers in the genre. They are to be commended for that, not harangued and harassed at every juncture from serial complainers.

Credit where credit is due and it's due in abundance here. Rift is slowly becoming my choice of poison.

How-to: Black Garden (Rift-PvP)

2011-02-28T07:40:00.000-05:00

After killing carrier and pick it up and carrying it alone almost every games I been in so far at this headstart, I have to make this post.
Defiant dont really know how to PVP. well, not all but most of us.
So here are some very basic if you have no clue what to do.

Basic rules:
In Black Garden, the rules is like Oddball in HALO. The team that get hold of the fang up to 500 points wins the game. The catch is that the further away from the center (Black ground, glooming spike place) you get less point over time. and the fang carrier get the Damge over Time that get higher and higher.

So in center you have 6 points, further away, you got 4, 2, 1 points etc.

There are also 2 power-up at each side, left and right of the garden, I believe.

So what to do?

1. Dont be scared!
At Start, push the middle so our team can have more people try to pick up and interrupt enemy as much as possible. Try to pick it up as soon as possible. You will most likely to die in black garden once or twice. So its normal! Dont be scared to kamikaze once in a while if its worth it.
Fear, CC, knockback, AoE whatever...

2. Protect our carrier!
Depending on the situation, but normally our carrier should be behind our tree to stay out of sight from range and caster dmg. in this way, you get decent points (4 points), safer, and easier to switch the fang carrier.

3. Switching the fang carrier!
If the dot is more then 500 or 600dmg. carrier should say "Switch" and healer should stop healing. then someone please pick it up after carrier drop the fang.
We are doing this because we can switch carrier when it is the safest and by this way we'll have an optimize carrier health when enemy attacks.

In case of enemy getting hold of the fang:

4. Attack the fang CARRIER!
The faster the enemy carrier dies, the less points they will get.
Focus the fang carrier as fast as possible, ignore other players. They will try to set up a blockade to the carrier but you have to just push in. DO NOT standing there try to attack the blockade.

5. Pick it up!
Again! Pick the fang up! and run back to your side!

6. Repeat

I hope this help you a little on how to understand and get into the black garden. Any suggestion or tips to add is most welcome

WTF more AoE nerfs?

2011-02-27T14:26:00.001-05:00

Earthquake: An earthquake shakes the target area, dealing 325Physical damage to enemies every 1 second, with a 10% chance of knocking them down.

Fire Nova: 40 yd range | 4 sec cooldown | Ignites your Flame Shock spell on any nearby enemies, causing each of them to emit a wave of flames that deals 647 to 724 Fire damage to every other enemy within 10 yards.

----------

Im really not seeing why AoE is getting nerfed in content where AoE is important....Maloriak much? I love when blizzard tries to remove anything even semi-useful to players. Its making Rift all the more appealing.

Rift...

2011-02-25T15:36:00.000-05:00

I love it! Its new, its fresh and it has potential...I rolled on Gnarlwood -PvE-US with a friend. Started a casual guild <Envy> with hopes of endgame sometime in the future, its been a really good process leveling so far, up to level 16 with not very much time invested.

Awwww yeah

2011-02-24T00:30:00.001-05:00

Quick update...Im getting ready for the Rift Head-Start release tomorrow, going live at 10am PST (1pm) my time. Got in my Canon Rebel T2i this morning, so I fooled around with it all day...heres an artistic picture I took for you to fawn over.

Holy hot dicks are these things hard to configure...A lot of work for me to do. Anyways...we started hardmodes this week, got Halfus last night (I topped the charts at 78k DPS lol@combatrogues) went in tonight and got heroic Chimaeron...going for conclaive tomorrow night...should be good times.

Change of Scenery

2011-02-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

Well, after a long career at the high tier of end-game in raiding I feel like WoW may finally be dying off. a lot of long time friends who Ive raided with for years have been logging less and less time per day. I have even found myself going from 10+ hours a day to logging in for a few minutes at a time unless Im raiding. I think Cata has a lot to do with it, theres just not much to do.

On that note I recently picked up Minecraft to kill some time and holy f*** is this game amazing. You start out punching trees.....16 hours later you add the last block to a giant wall. Its insane how easy it is to get lost in this game. There are some creations that are simply amazing, the most impressive thing Ive done is build my house (to scale).

On a whim a few nights ago I downloaded the Rift beta and fell in love. I played through to level 15 as a paladin/warlord tank and could not get enough. Once the beta ended I pre-ordered my collector's edition and am patiently awaiting the servers to go live. Im pretty excited to be back at the forefront of a new game, hopefully it is successful.

L2Crowd Control and Interrupt

2011-02-21T13:12:00.001-05:00

Some abilities have only a small distinction between PVE interrupts and CC. I generally made the distinction, when it came to this, by looking at the number of targets affected and the duration.

The majority of this guide from a tanking perspective, but please note this, speaking as a healer, just because you can survive a pull without cc'ing doesn't mean you should put that strain on your healer. If you can cc, please do. Your healer does not enjoy being low mana, especially if fecal meets rotary and they're on a sudden new pull with low mana.

You should always consider the CCs and durations of these CC's when figuring out your kill order. Glyphed saps for instance, are best left for last with the 2m, 20s duration. In non-levelcap instances, it's important to note that players may not be spec'd into the talents as early as they are obtainable.

SKULL= Kill; X=Next; SQUARE=Frost Trap; STAR=Sap/Shackle; MOON=Sheep; DIAMONDN=Enslave/Bind Ele; CIRCLE and TRIANGLE are for all other CC or repeats.

Tanks might consider having this on a macro. Remember, leading CC is part of a tank's job, so if you're not tanking, don't arrogantly post this. A standard is nice but the tank might do it differently for whatever reason.

CCs can break early. Some mobs while not immune are resistant to a particular cc or all cc and will break early, these can be re-applied but will have an even shorter duration because of the Diminishing Return and base resistance of the mob.

Some CCs (and interrupts) are talents. Every player might not be spec'd into them.

Disarms Rogues, warriors and Shadow Priests can disarm a target reducing damage output of the target. It's not CC but it is quite useful for helping the tank and the healer. Never be afraid to try to disarm either! Certain mobs that are immune to CC, such as the giant bone fellas in ICC are not immune to disarm and can do a great deal to ease the load on healers/tanks as well. Raid boss Gormok the Impaler in ToC was disarmable on regular mode (but not heroic). He would not impale his target for the duration of the disarm. Quite useful at the beginning and ending of the fight as the impale dot damage plus the snakes' attack were quite much for some healers.

Soothes These cause affectable targets to be less likely to attack.

Undead is not demon The few cc's that work solely on undead or solely on demons do not work on the other, please do not make that assumption.

Most Single target cc's can only be on one target at a time per player of that type. A warlock can't banish two targets, but 2 warlocks can.

Charms cause the player to take over the target and gain some of their abilities. While possessing their target, the player cannot control their own character. Healers should not MC and MC'ing is a consideration on movement sensitive fights.

Charms are affected by hit rating and distance. A player mc'ing a mob may wanted to be closer than their class typically allows.

You can, charm healer mobs and assist the healer in healing and negate the mob's own healing output on its friends. (Note that mc'ing another player only allows movement and melee auto-attack).

I've also confirmed, with the help of a lovely random priest, that casting Leap of Faith on a player who has charmed something breaks the Charm.

Many of the fears have useful glyphs now which cause the targets to cower rather than flee. Fear has often been dangerous to use as the mobs flee into 'friends'.

Most CCs will pull the mobs, so the tank should be ready to grab them. If you only need one CC, it's best to have someone besides the healer do it. Priests CCing should pop fade immediately after.

Unless otherwise marked, most CCs will break on damage taken. Many break immediately.. Some, like fears, have a tolerance for a certain amount of damage but may very well break on the first strike.

Transform forces the target to change form as a result of the caster's spell.

Sleeps and Incapacitates put the target in a harmless state. They stand there and watch their allies be attacked.

Most (all?) CC's can miss if the target is not properly hit capped. It is best to have a dps cc'ing as the tank may not, and the healer will not, be hit capped.

Horrors often function very similar to fears, the distinction however is important for DR mechanics. A mob who has become very resistant to fear may still be horrified.

Spell categories are important because of the Diminishing Returns mechanic where when a target is spammed with a spell over a short duration (relative to the spell's base duration) the duration of the effect is reduced.

Sap should always be first. In fact, it needs to be because it cannot be used in combat. Sap will not trigger combat.

Hunter Traps/Ring of Frost should be second because these have an aiming/arming time that makes them difficult to aim at moving mobs. Once mobs are too close, CC becomes pointless.

Most other CCs are castable directly at mobs on the move. Become familiar with what tools your group has and prioritize correctly. While most have cast times, certain, like repentance, are instant cast and are ideal to be used on melee mobs.

Snares You may notice I've omitted most single-target movement-slowing debuffs as these are quite resource-consuming to use and having a player stalking a mob snaring and stopping it as much as possible is quite consuming on time and taking away from what these players do best: smashing face.

Roots only *roots* the target to the ground, the target is free to, and will, cast or melee attack anything that it can. Be careful when rooting with any spell that you're not leaving someone else near the mobs. Healers for instance, don't appreciate a mage frost nova'ing melee adds on the healer and then fleeing. The mage still tops threat, but the melee adds will attack whatever they can reach.

Earthbind Totem is immensely useful in low-level instances where humanoids that flee at low health are very common. While other classes can slow an aoe, none are quite so easy and passive as this totem. At low levels, I would rate earthbind totem as the most useful Earth type. (Remember you won't encounter DKs with Desecration til 55 at the earliest.)

Army of the Dead, and pet tanking (Thanks Demo); Army of Dead will tank mobs that are not raid bosses they will taunt back and forth between them. They may not last long but the mitigation for the first seconds of a fight can be of great assistance. 10 min CD.

It's also worth noting that army of the dead reduces damage taken calculated by your dodge and parry chance. It's a worthwhile cd if you've got nothing else and are expecting a big strike from heroics or raid bosses.

I'm not sure how long shaman earth ele survives these days but it has saved many lives in the past and the strategy for your group might have an earth ele or hunter pet tanking a caster add. It is not unreal. Tanks, be real about this, a melee add or certain casters might be suicide for a pet to tank, but if the pet can do it and ease the load on your healer/increase your survivability.. let it happen.

On my tank, I never was bothered by an add being tanked by a hunter pet. Some pulls are difficult for certain classes to gather, often incidental healing going on/class talents will allow the pet to tank a single caster.

There are definitely some CC tricks that while nice, I'm hesitant to encourage them. It takes understanding of more than just your class' typical role to properly pull them off--and usually Vent--and it might aggravate other players. Things like taunt-ping-pong might just frustrate an unexpecting tank, and as much as I love the role, my tank brethren can be a little uptight at times.

That being said, once you're comfortable with your class, there are a lot of things you can do. A mob should never be attacking the dps, and this is the responsibility of both the tank and the dps. Even moreso, however, a mob should never be attacking the healer, and if you need to Death Grip or Distracting shot a mob on the healer, you may well save the group.

Remember that a mob attacking you still allows me to heal you, a mob attacking me pushes back my casting each time a hit lands. A few mobs, and fast casting spells can take noticeably longer to cast. A good healer knows when a dps saved their butt and will *try* not to let the dps die.

"I'm below hit/expertise cap, what about that?" Mobs, like players, cannot dodge or parry (countered by expertise) while casting, therefore interrupts should land if you are hit capped, especially when made from behind, so that the mob can no longer block the attack (mobs can block without shields). They can however be missed (countered by hit) even while casting, just like players can.

Professions

? - Cardboard Assassin - 8s dur
- Taunt all mobs in an aoe and thus dying very quickly. A fine addition, perhaps, for a trash/heroics tanking belt macro'd to secondary CDs like AD and LS.

R* - http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/54442/embersilk-net/ - 3s dur
- Roots a target to the ground for 3 seconds, dealing a small amount of damage while rooted.

Death Knight

M* -58 Chains of Ice - 8s dur; 1 frost rune
- This spell apparently does not have a DR.

M* -55 Desecration; Unholy
- Plague and Scourge Strike cause an aoe 50% slow

I* -55 Hungering Cold - 10s dur/1m cd
- Applies Frost Fever to the targets, any damage besides diseases will break the iceblock-like effect.

Druid

S* -48 Hibernate - 40s dur (beasts, dragonkin only)

R* -7 Entangling Roots - 30 sec max duration
- Applies a small dot to the target, damage caused may break the effect.

I* -74 Cyclone - 6s dur
- Targets are immune from damage but unable to cast/attack. The short duration makes this better for an emergency interrupt on trash.
- It is also a harsh punisher on diminishing returns. (6s, 3s, 1.5, immune. Yes, using cyclone as a full cc delivers immunity in 11 seconds.

Hunter (Some pets have additional lesser cc abilities like roots and stuns), Traps arming/flight time, they actually come earlier in level, but trap launcher is 48.

M* - 29/31 Concussive Barrage - 4 sec dur; Marksmanship
- Multi-Shot & Chimera Shot also daze targets

I* -48 Freezing Trap - 60s dur/30s cd
- Freezes the first attackable target to trip the trap

M* -48 Ice Trap - 30s dur

F* -36 Scare Beast - 20 sec dur (beasts)

S* -30 Wyvern Sting - 30s dur (Deep Survival Talent, applies a 6 second dot after)

Mage

M* -29 Blast Wave - 3s dur/20s cd; Fire

D* -49 Dragon's Breath - 4s dur/20s cd; Fire

Useful like aoe cower-glyphed fears. Short duration but useful for buying a sec (4) in a bind.

R* -8 Frost Nova - 8s dur/30s cd

I* -83 Ring of Frost - 10s dur/2m cd
- Takes 3 seconds to form and and will freeze all targets within.

T* -14 Polymorph - 60s dur (beasts, humanoids)
- The target is transformed but regenerates health while transformed.
- The glyph for polymorph causes it to remove all dots on the target; highly useful because damage, including dots, break the effect.

Paladin

I* -49 Repentance - 60s dur/1m cd (demons, dragonkin, giants, humanoids, undead); Ret only, deep talent.

F* -78 Turn Evil (undead, demons)
- Tanks should avoid uses this in most cases as it has a cast time.
- The fleeing mob may attract more mobs and there is no glyph to make the mob cower rather than flee.

Priest

C* -38 Mind Control - 30s dur (humanoids)
- Mind Control's success and duration is related to hit rating. It can break early if he priest is not hit-capped. Relax, the hit cap for mobs 2 levels above you and below is 6%.

Fc* -12 Psychic Scream - 8s dur/30s cd*
- Fears 5 targets within 8 yards making this quite useful if glyphed for an emergency interrupt.

I* -32 Shackle Undead - 50s dur (undead)
- The 0 cd of the spell makes it a very useful interrupt on undead mobs.

Rogue - Several ability that require stealth or no combat can be activated in combat with Subtlety's Shadowdance (lv 69)

I* -10 Sap - 1m dur (Beasts, Demons, Dragonkin, Humanoids)
- Only useable outside of combat. The rogue may apply Sap without triggering combat.
  Glyph of sap increases the duration to 140 seconds.

D* -34 Blind - 10s dur/3m cooldown

Shaman

M* -18 Earthbind Totem - 45s dur/15s cd

T* -80 Hex - 60s dur/45s cd (humanoids, beasts)
- Unlike Polymorph, this does not cause the target to regenerate health and can take a small amount of damage, but this is not something to try to strategize around
- The glyph reduces the cooldown by 15 seconds.

I* -64 Bind Elemental - 1m dur
- This is a great spell for cc as well as interrupting the target.

Warlock

S* -32 Banish (demons, elementals)
- The target is immune from damage for 30 seconds.
- The way to remove Banish is to recast banish on the same target.

C* -30 Enslave Demon (demons)

M* -29 Curse of Exhaustion - 30s dur; Affliction

Fc* -14 Fear - 20s dur/0cd, 5s glyphed

R* - 39 Hand of Gul'dan w/ Aura of Foreboding - 3s dur.12s cd; Demonology
- Also stuns the targets. Useful like an aoe cower for immediately stopping trash damage to tanks or kiters

F* -34 Howl of Terror - 8s dur/40s cd
- 5 target aoe fear.

I* -20 Seduction - 30s dur (Succubus ability, humanoids only)
- The glyph removes all dots on the target.

Warrior

Fc* -42 Intimidating Shout - 8s dur/2m cd
- Useful, glyphed, as an emergency interrupt on trash or a backup cd to buy literally a second or two of reduced damage.

M* -15 Piercing Howl - 6s dur; aoe daze

Certain instant cast cc's in areas that you have range to work with, pulling before CC is fine, or if the cc target is a ranged mob, but nearly every random, even the great randoms I've been in, CC is how you pull and then the tank is quick to pickup.

You pull with CC, and then move behind the tank, even a distance behind the tanks to force other ranged to come closer. Paladins should AS the mobs once they're far from the cc'd mobs. Paladins and DKs should drop their aoe's if it's more than 2 mobs coming, or if they'd like to. Paladins should HoR+Holy Wrath once the mobs are upon them. DKs in the same scenario would taunt one and Deathgrip a non-cc'd ranged. Death Grip is a taunt.

In this whole scenario, I haven't forgotten Righteous Defense is a multi target taunt.

Melee mobs, once they've reacted to a fellow npc being cc'd tend to move together, warriors here should Heroic Throw one, pref a ranged, taunt another and charge once the mobs are a decent range from the cc'd target--or build some rage with shouts, battle shout for instance* and rend+thunderclap when the mobs are upon you, and/or cleave.

* I choose Battle Shout as an example because it causes a buff to friendly targets, generating a small amount of threat, but enough to pull 'awareness-threat' (made up term) off of the cc'er.

* Battle shout here is important because Commanding Shout, in most groups (no lock, no priest) will generate empty hp for the group, a healer may do a quick aoe to heal this (CH, CoH, PoH, WG) and cause the threat transfer to them. For the same reason, just in case a person should be so inclined, casting mark or kings immediately after the cc would probably be a bad idea.

Bears here, I've no experience at the helm of a bear so I can't say for certain but they should enrage and charge or enrage+swipe/thrash. (I've never played a bear tank, q'd in blues one time--the first time, got hToC, lol'd and wished the group better luck on a tank and left). Bears can also use Demoralizing roar, just as warriors can Demo Shout. It's a great idea to have the AP debuff up on the mobs anyway and it gets attention off the CC'ers.

Horn of Winter can be used the same way.

Most every tool in the game can be used horribly wrong, but several good, even decent, players of any class know how to use their tools well.

I was doing h BR last night and a hunter pet took the long way around and pulled everything and we all did amazing. I dropped PW:B on the tank because I had no idea how much was coming, the ret dropped hand of protection on me (I guess the ret didn't realize I had Fade--and the hunter, once he saw which ranged was going to hang back dropped a freezing trap.

After the pull, which we easily survived? He apologized for the mistake. The rest of the group? We congratulated each other and thanked the hunter for the clutch CC. Too many bads, realizing their mistake, would have done nothing but FD'd/vanish'd/left group as they watched us die to a perfectly survivable pull.[/i]

GCD Several abilities are on the GCD and several are not, the gcd status can cause a reaction to be delayed by a gcd, or more if the person is slow to stop mashing buttons.

Stun Most trash is stunnable and so stuns work quite effectively on stopping a harmful cast. Most dungeon bosses are not stunnable.

Interrupt Interrupts by themselves only interrupt the cast, allowing the boss to go immediately to the next cast unless the spell has another effect.

Silences and Spell locks: What's the difference? In many cases, the effects of the two are indistinguishable as many mobs only cast from one school but a silence will stop a vulnerable mob from casting anything for a short duration. A spell lock will only stop a mob from casting in the school they were casting in when locking ability was used.

Key
G+ On GCD, G- Off GCD
X+ Stuns X- doesn't
I+ Interrupts, I- doesn't
S+ Silences, S- doesn't
L+ School locks, L- doesn't

Racials

G- X- I+ S+ L+ 0 Blood Elf - Arcane Torrent - 3s dur/2m cd

G- X+ I- S- L- 0 Tauren - War Stomp - 2s dur/2m cd; aoe stun
- Druids cannot use this in bear or cat form. This ability has an 0.5s cast time so is dangerous to use while aoe tanking as you cannot dodge or parry while casting.

Death Knight

G- X- I+ S- L+ 57 Mind Freeze - 4s dur/10s cd

G+ X- I+ S+ L+ 59 Strangulate - 5s dur/2m cd

G- X- I- S- L- 55 http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/49576/ - 35s cd
- Death Grip is not actually an interrupt or silence of any type, except that forcing the target to move interrupts its casting. Death grip is a taunt, and a 3s fixate, so having a dk death grip will put them at the top of the threat list and force the mob to attack the dk.

Druid

G+ X+ I- S- L- 32 Bash - 5s dur/1m cd/50s talented; Bear form

G+ X+ I- S- L- 62 Maim - 1-5s duration/10s cd; Cat form only, requires combo points

G- X- I+ S- L+ 22 Skull Bash - 5s dur/1m cd/10s talented; Bear and Cat form

G+ X- I+ S+ L+ 39 Solar Beam - 10s dur/1m cd; Balance
- Solar beam only interrupts the main target (5s), while silencing all targets (10s).

Hunter

G- X- I+ S+ L+ 29 Silencing Shot - 3s dur/20s cd; Marksmanship

G+ X- X- I- S- L- 15 Scatter Shot - 4s dur/30s cd; disorient, breaks on damage

G? X+ I- S- L- 10 Intimidation - 15s dur/1m cd; Beastmastery

Mage

G- X- I+ S- L+ 9 Counterspell - 8s dur/24s cd
- Talentable to also silence for 4 seconds

G- X+ I- S- L- 69 Deep Freeze - 5s dur/20s cd; Frost
- Only usable on targets frozen to the ground or while the Fingers of Frost buff is active.

Paladin

G+ X- I+ S+ L+ 10 Avenger's Shield - 3s dur/15s cd; Protection
- Avenger's Shield will not jump to mobs CC'd with Incapacitates. It's still best to let mobs get breathing room away from the cc's though. It is also a substantial part of paladin aoe threat and so is typically on CD.

G+ X+ I+ S- L+ 7 Hammer of Justice - 6s dur/1m cd, 40s talented; Protection
- Interrupt is with Vindication talent

G+ X+ I- S- L- 28 Holy Wrath - 3s dur/15s cd (demons, undead); aoe.
- Glyph of Holy Wrath causes it also stun dragonkin and elementals

G- X- I+ S- L+ 39 Sacred Shield - 10s cd, 4s duration; Ret only

Priest

G- X- I+ S+ L+ 39 Silence - 3s dur/45s cd; Shadow (pvp spec)

G? X- I- S- L- 35 Psychic Horror - 3s dur/2m cd; 10s disarm duration Deep Shadow

Rogue

G+ X+ I- S- L- 26 Cheap Shot - 4s dur; Stealth/Shadowdance'd, 40 energy

G+ X- I+ S+ L+ 40 Garrote - 3s dur; Stealth/Shadowdance'd, 50 energy

G- X- I+ S- L+ 14 Kick - 5s dur/10s cd

G+ X+ I- S- L- 30 Kidney Shot - 2-6s dur/20s cd; requires combo points

G- X- I- S- L- 16 Gouge - 10s cd; Gouge is more like a 4s stun, any damage breaks the effect though.

Shaman

G- X- I+ S- L+ 16 Wind Shear - 2s dur/6s cd

G+ X- I- S- L- 69 Earthquake; Elemental - 8s Channel
- Earthquake is an aoe spell with an 8 yd radius, it has a 10% chance per tick of damage to each mob to knock that mob off its feet. This can interrupt casts and delay melee damage.

Warlock

G+ X+ I- S- L- 20 Axe Toss (Felguard) - 4s dur/30s cd

G? X- I- S- L- 42 Death Coil - 3s dur/2m cd; Horror

G+ X+ I- S- L- 49 Shadowfury - 3s dur/20s cd; Destruction

G- X- I+ S+ L+ 52 Spell Lock (Felhunter) - 3s dur/24s cd
- 6s duration on a spell lock if the silence interrupts a spell

Warrior

G+ X+ I- S- L- 29 Concussion Blow - 5s dur/1m cd

G- X- I- S+ L- 78 Heroic Throw 1m cd; Protection
- (With Gag Order (21)) 3s dur

G- X- I+ S- L+ 38 Pummel - 4s dur/10s cd (Battle Stance, Berserker Stance, so DPS only)

G- X- I+ S+ L+ 20 Shield Bash - 6s dur/12s cd (Requires shields)
- (With Gag Order (21)) 3s duration.

G+ X+ I- S- L- 69 Shockwave - 4s dur/20s cd (Deep Prot)

G+ X+ I- S- L- 35 Throwdown - 5s dur/45s cd (Arms)

G- X+ I- S- L- 3 Charge & Intercept - 15s cd; 8-30yd range

Farming for Fun, Profit or just to piss off Botters

2011-02-20T08:38:00.000-05:00

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started
2. Addons and Keybinds
3. How to detect, evade, and deal with bots.
4. Tips & Tricks
5. Conclusion

Getting Started

We all know how to farm. Fly from point to point and right click the nodes we find. But did you know that there's some small things that people miss? Especially now with the phasing. You know what I'm talking about. Those occassional herbs or minerals that you fly down to and start gathering only to watch it phase out and you've wasted your precious seconds of farming time.

So here's a little breakdown of the basics that you want to do before you go all out farming.

How long do you want to farm? -- This is the first decision you want to make. If you farm too long, you'll get bored. If you don't farm long enough, you'll feel unsatisfied with your haul. You can also decide how much of a particular item you want to farm.
Do you think you have the capacity for the duration/quantity you've decided on? -- Running out of bag space is problematic for farming. Especially if you're going to do it for extended periods of time. Having to mail all your stuff is time consuming even with addons. So the less trips you make to unload, the better. Think about investing in a Mammoth Mining Bag or an Emerald Bag.
Where are you going to farm? -- This right here is where lots of farmers get frustrated. They'll go to their favorite farming location and find that it's overrun with people and often go to a place that they aren't as familiar with in hopes of it having a lower population of fellow farmers. Don't do this. Pick your spot and stick with it. Flying around all over the place just hoping to find somewhere with less people is wasteful and frustrating.
Is the area you farming in a phased area? -- This can distract you as well. Be wary of the nodes located along the outside of the area your farming in. You Twilight Highlands farmers are probably already aware of this. If possible, try and find an area that isn't phased. One you remember hasn't changed since you leveled through that zone.
And finally, is this for professions or profit? -- If you're farming in order to build up a profession, you probably don't have to farm as long or as much unless you need that profession maxed like, right now. If you're doing it for profit, then it's likely you'll be spending more time farming than someone with professions. Especially if you're like me and get a great deal of enjoyment from pulling 10-15k gold out of your mailbox every morning ^_^

Addons and Keybinds

This little section here is all suggestions. Things I personally find make farming much easier for me. Lots of you probably already have some of these but some of you might not. Hopefully these will make you day to day farming a more pleasant experience.

Addons

Here is a general list of addons that I use as well as the function I use them for. I would provide links, but I'm pretty new to the forums. However, many of my addons come from wowace.com and curse.com. There are numerous setup and tutorial videos on youtube on how to configure these addons.

GatherMate2 -- This addon tracks nodes that you have found and marks them on your world map and mini map. Gatherer is another addon that serves the same purpose.
Gathermate2_data -- This is a wowhead dump of known nodes. While I strongly suggest building your own database through actual farming, this can be useful for people just diving head first into the farming game.
Routes -- Should be a staple addon in any farmers arsenal. This addon can generate, tweak, and display routes created by you for optimal gathering. Just make sure to learn how to use the taboos and such. Make your life much better when it comes to those pesky phasing nodes.
TomTom -- When combined with fine tuned routes generated by the Routes addon, farming is literally as easy as "Monkey follows the arrow." But that's only if you willing to invest the time in fine tuning your route.
Postal -- When it's time to open or send lots of mail, this addon is great.
BagSaver -- This addon can help when you find that pyrite node and your bags are full. Displays the two lowest value items in your bags and lets you trash one. Also has an auto sale feature for grey items you may come across while farming.
AdiBags -- Great bag addon that separates your goods. Wonderful for us dual gathering types!

Keybinds

First things first, go to your keybind options.

Targeting Functions - Pet Attack -- If you have a pet, you want this at your fingertips. I have it bound to Shift+Mouse3. I can't stand when there's a mob by a node and someone else swoops down and snags it out from under me while I'm in combat. (Note: If you aren't a permanent pet class, you want a quick keybind or something that can root, incapacitate or distract the mob. Shamans, Stoneclaw totem. Mages land blink distance from the node, pull mob, nova, blink, gather. You get the idea.)
Targeting Functions - Interact with Mouseover -- This is just a personal preference over clicking on the node. I'd rather over my mouse over it and press another key. This can be useful if you're trying to beat someone else there. I know you've all right clicked and just slightly moved the mouse during that click. You know what I'm talking about.
Targeting Functions - Show All Nameplates -- This has a few purposes that will be discussed later. Default is Ctrl+V. Just make sure you can turn it on.
Your Mount! -- Having this key readily accessible is a necessity for farming. I've got mine bound to my mouse so I can mount up asap after gathering a node.

How to detect, evade, and deal with bots

Bots... we've wished unholy death upon them for stealing our nodes while they are under the terrain or for racing node to node while having no mount at all. We've all been there, cursed, and wished there was something we could do to deal with them. And there is!

Bots are programmed by lazy people for lazy people. Many cost money and some are free, but there is one thing that every bot has in common. They will never compare to or beat a real human player. Especially when you're armed with knowledge of how some of them work!

Detection!

How do you know if it is a bot? What are the tell tale signs that some guys computer is taking you for a loop? Here's a few ways to tell if it's a bot.

Can you only see the players nameplate? -- If so, they're likely under the terrain stealing your goods. Not much you can do about these guys unless they're enemies and flagged for PvP. Then you can attack them and they'll most likely stop moving for a predetermined amount of time.
Are they walking through the air with no mount? -- I've found numerous bots lately that don't even mount, they just slowly go from node to node without a mount and under the terrain. I got lucky and death gripped one back through the terrain only to watch him "fly" off. These people are using not only bots, but XYZ hacks, to get them ahead with no effort. These ones you can usually report to a GM and see them disappear a few days later.
Do they mine a node and fly straight upwards after mounting? -- There are a few actual players that do this, but in my experience, they're mostly bots. The bots that do this are being run by a lousy program that requires the player to define a max height to ensure that the player won't get stuck. I've seen a number of reports about these guys getting banned and it makes me tingle!

These are the best ways I've found to detect bots. May not be all the methods or signs, but these are what I notice the most.

Evasion!

If you get nipped in the butt twice by a single bot, just turn around and reverse your route. He's going one way, you're going the other. Pretty much the only way to avoid bots.

Dealing with Bots

Now. I enjoy hunting bots. I find it exciting. I research them, follow them, and ultimately get their asses banned and raise a beer in victory! Yeah. Little over the top, but I really like hunting bots! If you have no ambition to hunt bots, then this section won't do you much good. You can probably skip to the next part of the guide now.

Research! -- Knowing how bots work, their limitations, and their tells makes this a great past time. And I'm not saying to go out there and use them! Don't be stupid! I'm telling you to read forums, reports of who got banned and what bot they were using, where they were botting. You may not know this, but the more ban reports a bot gets, the less trusted it is by botters, and ultimately, reduces the number of people running bots. Less people running bots usually means less people farming, and that's my goal!

Follow! -- If you can map out an entire bots route, you just hit a goldmine of information! See... people are lazy. They just take whatever route is given to them and stuff it in their bot. If you can discover these routes and match numerous players to the same route, you may just have yourself a nice fun time compiling a list of bots to forward to the GMs. My largest report thus far was 4 bots using the same route in Uldum.

Misc -- You know that bot you just reported? How the GM said they can't tell you about any action they take? LIES! Add that bot to your friends list and pretty soon after reporting (sometimes you'll have to report them a second time.) you'll find that the person either doesn't exist on your friends list anymore, or no longer comes online! This is victory! I have a lowbie alt that just has bots on his friends list for the opposing faction.

Tips & Tricks

Pick a section -- Don't just go flying all over the zone looking for what you want. Pick an isolated section and farm only that section. Such as Uldum. I will pick sections of the zones outer wall and only run those. Such as the west wall. I'll go up and down that area repeatedly rather than do a full circle around the zone. This always yields a higher take than when I used to do full zone sweeps.
Roll a Druid -- Druids are, by far, the best farming class. They stay in flight form with herbs and instantly enter flight form. That means you save 1.5 seconds every node. Huge difference when you farm as much as me.
Avoid Phasing -- If you have a dual gathering druid alt that hasn't done any quests in the Cataclysm zones, keep it that way. This will reduce the number of phased nodes you'll encounter and makes farming much more pleasant.
Know Market Values -- If you're farming for profit, find out the average value per unit in the AH. Pick something that has a low quantity in the AH. You'll likely find a great deal of AH guides at the end of this contest! USE THEM!
Music -- Farming is probably viewed as THE most tedious thing to do in WoW. I've found that listening to some Drum 'n' Bass or some Dubstep keeps me going for hours! Throw on your favorite tunes and just go for it!
Keep your bags closed! -- Nothing will deter you from farming more than looking at your bags and seeing that you haven't gotten as much as you thought you have. Don't open your bags till they're full!

Conclusion

Ultimately, everyone farms differently. People will hate it and people will love it. I'm one of the latter and it's unlikely that I'll change. The gold I get from farming is just too satisfying for me to pass up ^_^

The only real last thing I have to say is that if you have any other tips, ideas, suggestions or whatever, feel free to let me know!

The big 1-0-0

2011-02-19T11:02:00.000-05:00

Thank everyone, it looks like I made to 100 followers while I slept!

Guide to getting started as a raider

2011-02-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

Little compares to the rush of victory that accompanies your first successful raid boss kill. Suddenly, those pixels on a screen morph into a true challenge of wits, dexterity and teamwork that one can not truly grasp unless they have been through it. For much of World of Warcraft's history though, these incredible challenges have been out of the reach of most players.

This guide was crafted in order to bring that incredible feeling to a larger audience of casual players. While it is designed with the individual player in mind, it can also serve a casual guild that is looking to offer or manage raiding while maintaining their original charter.

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Contents:
Terminology
How to prepare for your first raid
Addons
What will be expected of you?
PvP
Resources
Customs and courtesies
Judging your skill level
After the raid… how do I get better?
Finding the right guild

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Terminology:

While there far more expressions than I can list here (and many new ones created every week), I will attempt to offer the most common phrases and short forms that you are likely to encounter on your first raid.

RLer - Raid Leader - the person who makes the final decision on the rules and conduct of the raid. May also act as the Master Looter, Strat Reader and Organizer.
Strat - Strategy of the encounter. Unless you are on the cutting edge of raid progression, there will be guides and videos available on the internet to view before your raid begins. Any details acquired before the encounter that give advice or instruction count as 'strat'
Strat Reader/Leader - the person relied upon to give a quick, but detailed overview of the encounter to anyone who has yet to attempt it. This person may also communicate ability timers, cool downs, boss abilities, player dangers, etc., during the fight in order to keep the raid focused and safe.
Organizer - The person who forms the raid and manages invites or removals. RLers are most often a raid's Organizer, but in larger groups, these jobs can be beyond the reasonable scope of just one person and thus, will be shared.
Master Looter - In larger groups, and those comprised of PUG players, the RLer will often set loot distribution to "Master" meaning that only he/she has the ability to assign to whom the item will go. The Master Looter task can be assigned to a trusted member other than the RLer in order to share the burden of managing the raid.
Roll - When items drop from a successful boss kill, all members who can benefit from the type of armor or weaponry will be asked to 'roll' for the item. By using the command: /roll you will be given a random number against anyone else who desires the piece.
BoP - Bind on Pickup - This item will become soulbound to whomever loots it and will not be tradeable with anyone outside the raid. After 2 hours, the item will become permanently bound to the owner.
BoE - Bind on Equip - This item is tradeable with any player. Once it has been equiped, however, it becomes soulbound and untradeable.
NPC - Non-player character. NPCs can be quest givers, aids in a battle, offer unique buffs, change the mechanics or difficulty of an encounter, and much more. NPCs are usually friendly forces unless part of a lore event.
Mob - a general term used to describe any hostile force within the game. All mobs are NPCs, but not all NPCs are mobs.
LoS - Line of Sight - A technique used in order to force casters and ranged attacking mobs to run towards the party by using solid barriers such as walls, corners, pillars, stairways, etc. to prevent them from using their abilities. Any mob that can not use ranged attacks will run forward in order the use melee abilities.
Pat – Patrol – a roaming group of mobs that greatly influences the kill order of hostile targets and guild placement outside of boss fights. Attention to pats is the responsibility of every raid member.
CC - Crowd Control - This term encompasses any player ability that will temporarily cause a mob to halt their attack. Every class now has some form of CC, though some are more reliable than others.
RDPS - Ranged dps - any damage dealing player that does not stand within melee range of the boss.
PUG – Pick up group – any party or raid that is comprised of either strangers or non- guild members. This term can also refer to a single member that is not usually a participant of an established raid.
Nub, Noob, Scrub - what you will be negatively referred to as when you do not follow directions or appear to have inadequate knowledge of the encounter, your class, or basic game mechanics.

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How to prepare for your first raid:

When at all possible, your first task is to know as much about the encounter as possible before you arrive. Please refer to the 'resources' section for helpful websites in order to accomplish this. While many people see their first raid thanks to a sudden invite from a guildy or a PUG, you should still take the time before hand to know the encounter if you are at all serious about trying to raid.

Things you will be expected to have with you:
-at least 20 health (and mana) pots.
-bandages and your First Aid skill high enough to use the best bandage available.
-flasks
-ample regular food/water in case a mage is not in attendance
-ample buff food of the highest level possible
-come fully repaired and with enough gold to fully repair at least one additional time
-have all gear sets on or in your bag for your main and off spec

If you can not afford to meet every requirement on this list then you should not be raiding, even casually. These items are the bare minimum you will need in order to participate to your fullest potential.

You should also spend all of your instance currency on the best gear you can get before the run. While it's possible that something may drop from a boss that could have filled that slot for free, you have to realize that being in a poorly geared group will, more likely than not, result in wiping rather than a successful kill. Think of it as an investment in your group in the hope that you defeat more bosses that will drop even better gear.

You should also check ahead of time that you have the proper voice chat software loaded on your computer, such as Ventrilo. Nearly all raids require that their members have the capability to at least listen.

Lastly, make sure that your class spec is functional for a raid environment. While casual raiding should not require you to spec into a tree that you do not enjoy, you should still maximize the tricks of your chosen spec in order to benefit the group. Options that improve survivability, CC, and offer cool downs that can save lives will be worth more than 100 extra dps on the meter in most cases.

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Addons:

While you can manage to solo well enough without addons, raiding without them will become exceptionally challenging, especially to a newer player. While I do not have time to go into the topic of safe downloading practices in respect to addons, there are other guides out there that do. If you are completely new to using addons, seek out a guide or a kind guildy who can explain how to install them for the first time.

When I lead a raid, my bare requirements for members are:
Deadly Boss Mods
Omen
Recount
Decursive (or some other mod that helps players to cleanse and dispel)

While I personally play with many more choice addons, these four are a must if you hope to keep up with the rest of the raid. Here is a brief description of what they do and why you need them:

Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) - This incredible repository of fight details will act as your visual and audible warning of incoming events and danger throughout the fight. Think of this as the Strat Reader, but with flashing warnings, timers and more. For the casual raider, this addon will give you an edge to overcome your lack of experience with the encounter.

Omen - Threat meter - DPS can not afford to pull agro from a tank even once in an encounter. Bosses do many nasty frontal attacks and cleaves that can decimate the raid should it turn on the group and run after a damage hungry player. Omen provides a graph plus visual and audible warnings when you are approaching the threat ceiling of your tank so that you know when to back off.

Recount - Activity meter - In truth, Recount is known mostly as a DPS meter, but a casual raid should not be using this tool to monitor the output of dps alone. Through a simple interface, you can see not only damage, but also healing, dispels, CCs, damage taken and so much more. As a raid leader, I will often times link the meter in chat to highlight a star dispeller, but never will I care to show who topped the damage charts.

Decursive - Cleansing - This addon is incredibly easy to use, as it displays small, clickable boxes to represent all of the members of your raid. When a debuff appears that you are capable of removing from a player, that person's box will light up. With a simple click, the effect is removed, and you can get back to doing your main job.
Decursive is easy to setup, but for those with a healing addon already installed, you can set most popular healer mods to also highlight cleaning with relative ease.

There are many other great addons, both for general and class use. Check out the 'resources' section to learn more about sites that can help you find tools that will benefit your class and spec.

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What will be expected of you?

Well, at this point you will hopefully have some understanding of the fights you will be facing, you'll have a bag full of potions, food and gear as well as some shiny new addons to keep you aware of the dynamics of the encounter. What more can be possibly required of you?

Plenty....

In my opinion, some of the best encounters are also the ones that make individuals do tasks that take them out of their comfort zone. I think back fondly to being a mage tank in Gruul's Lair back during Burning Crusade. Had I not known ahead of time how to use the Spellsteal and damage mitigation abilities of my class, I would have been the reason for repeated wipes. It was crazy, but incredibly fun.

With luck, you may show up to your first raid and there will be others of your class with way more experience that will be asked to do these strange, odd jobs. No one is lucky in raids I lead though (/evil grin), so best to be prepared.

CC has become the most heavily required, least honed skill in Cataclysm. If you don't even know where your Hunter trap launcher is, or whether or not your Druid Hibernation works on dragonkin, then you are unprepared. I make it a point to have new people crowd control if it seems as if they may become regular members of a group. In reality, no RLer wants dead weight, so it is best to set the bar high right off the bat, especially in a casual raid where you don't have a vast pool of willing raiders to choose from.

Beyond CC, each class has several very unique and creative talents, many of which were just added, that will greatly help to problem solve a snag in your progression. Are one of your CCers getting focused fired when they run up to cast? Then try using a priest to grab them back to safety. Perhaps you just need to buy a little time for the healers on a hard, initial pull; then have a frost mage use Ring of Frost to buy you 10 seconds of control and damage mitigation. If you don't know how to use these abilities ahead of time though, you will be much too slow to be of aid to the raid.

Use target dummies, duel guild mates, try downing elites by yourself or PvP and just really try to stay alive through whatever sneaky tricks you have in your spell book. It is really only by trying, failing and learning that you will gain the reflexes that your group expects of you.

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PvP:

"But I'm awful at PvP!" I hear this all the time when I suggest Player vs Player activities to new raiders who are looking to get better. The true reason for such reluctance is because they have not learned enough about their class and/or game mechanics to outsmart another player reliably. The same applies to raids in which new people have slow reaction times, can't use abilities fast enough, or just plain fall behind the curve.

PvP allows you to train your reflexes and skills in your own time and without anyone else seeing your repeated failures. You will die over and over again, but eventually, you'll realize that certain abilities buy you time, slow your enemy, provide better dps on the move, etc. PvE encounters may be predictable for the most part, but they are short in duration. With the average boss encounter only lasting around 5-6 minutes (less if you wipe shortly into the fight), you do not get much time to learn. Battlegrounds and duels can supplement your learning throughout the week between raids.

Once you feel confident running solo in battlegrounds, see if you can get some of your raid members to join you. You will find a sudden increase in teamwork, reliance and usually, commitment to the group as a whole.

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Resources:

While I will briefly recommend some sites that have been of great help over the years, I do so with a standard safety warning. Please do not visit any site, no matter how trusted, without a properly secured and updated browser, as well as functioning virus software. Most sites rely on advertising revenue for income, and while they will always try to ensure the safety of those advertisements, it is simply not reasonable to assume any site as 100% safe. Also, while there are many wonderful resources out there, I will only cover the ones I have used with reliability over a long period of time. This, however, is not to say that one or more have not experienced some hacking issues in the past, so please take proper measures to be safe.

Addons: Curse - WoWAce
Class: ElitistJerks
Encounter videos: Tankspot - Youtube
Strat/loot: Wowhead - Wowpedia - Wowwiki
News & community forums: Mmo-champion

and of course: us.battle.net for the Wow forums and also the Armory. If you have questions about what gear, stats, spec, etc that you should have to compete with others in your raid, checking them out on Armory can be incredibly valuable.

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Customs and courtesies:

Voice chat:
Most raids are conducted with the use of a voice chat system, most commonly Ventrilo. Unless you have been tasked by the RLer with duties that require spoken directions, coordination or warnings, it is generally expected that the other raid members will not speak on vent with the exception of down time. It is of utmost importance that the RLer, Strat Reader and Class Leaders have complete freedom to direct the course of the raid without having to talk over other people.

Whether or not you have seen a particular fight, it is unwise to argue with the RLer on the strat he/she has decided to use. Some RLers welcome comments and questions via tells, but keying up over voice chat to contradict their decisions will generally result in a lack of invites for future raids. To put it bluntly: if you don’t like the strat, then run your own raid.

If you happen to miss vital instructions, do not key up over vent and ask for them to be repeated. Most RLers will have class leaders or assistants that can be contacted via tells in order to answer such questions. If you are unaware of who to ask, open up your social tab (O), go to raid and look for any member with a shaded crown icon next to their name. This signifies that the member has increased authority and control within the raid.

In general, it is expected that you follow the lead of your RLer when it comes to profanity, vulgarity and other colorful forms of speech. While the occasional slip after a wipe is generally expected, continual foul language in a casual raid will generally get you a warning. Other raids have a very open speech policy, so if you have concern over the quality of chat, be sure to ask the RLer ahead of time.

Loot:
While full PUG raids can foster an 'every man for themselves' attitude in regards to loot, it is still generally expected that you will not roll on items that are of minimal value to you, especially if you believe you may run with members of the group in the future.

In guild runs, you will usually encounter either a loot distribution system (such as DKP or one of its many variants), a loot council or a general trust that items will only be rolled on by those it will benefit. In a casual guild, the later two are most commonly seen in order to foster a more social raid, rather than a focus on the acquisition of loot. Regardless of the loot system that is used, it is a generally accepted practice that veteran members have priority on choice items over first time attendees since their work has allowed for the level of progression that has already been achieved by that group.

Most raids will enforce a 'one purple per night' rule, unless an item is about to be disenchanted. Rolling on items after you have already received an upgrade will be seen as greedy. Additionally, not rolling on upgrades early in the run in the hopes that an even better item will drop later is a sure way to earn the ire of the regular members and thus, prevent the RLer from inviting you in the future.

If you are in disagreement with a Loot Council, or RLer, then it is generally accepted practice to communicate through tells with them while the run continues. Items in instances can be traded for up to two hours, so there is no reason to hold up the other nine or twenty-four people in order to resolve the issue. For this reason, it is also advisable that you do not gem or enchant an item that you received for at least five minutes should you suspect that a disagreement may have occurred.

When you join an established raid for the first time, it makes a great impression on the members when you are willing pass on items that a veteran has been after. Casual raids will seldom state that new members can not roll, but a bad impression is made nonetheless, resulting in less chance that you will be invited back in the future.

If you join a raid that runs on general trust, it is in your best interest to know what items would be a proper upgrade for you, rather than just rolling because it matches your general armor type and stats. General trust raids will inspect new members who roll to ensure that they are not only rolling on loot that is a true upgrade, but also to make sure that they are not simply passing on all loot because they are afraid to mistakenly take something they shouldn't. This type of raid requires several experienced leaders who have knowledge of what benefits all of the current classes and specs, so it is best to know yourself what is best, or you may miss out on upgrades you deserve.

In general, most RLers expect a new member to be satisfied just by the chance to go into a raid for the first time. If the first timer winds up with an upgrade, all the better, but not at the expense of those who have put in all of the hard work week after week.

Attendance:

If you have received an invite in advance to a raid, it is expected that you will be at the instance location, repaired and prepared, fifteen minutes before the start of the run unless prior notice is given to the RLer. The RLer is tasked to invite the right people and get the run moving on time. Repeated late logins will usually reduce you to sub status.

If you can not make a run, contacting the RLers either by tells, in game mail, or forums as soon as possible will ensure that a sub can be found to keep the raid full. Even if you suspect you might miss a run, letting someone know is generally appreciated.

If you have been a sub in a group for a long time and would like to inquire about a full time spot, you should contact your class leader or RLer for feedback on your performance. Once a sub is found to be a good match for a group, both technically and personality wise, a RLer will usually offer an open spot as soon as possible. If you suspect you are being overlooked though, it is best to inquire what more you can do to improve your viability to the raid.

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Judging your skill level:

Now that you decided that you still want to try raiding, despite all of the preparation, investment and fear, how do you know you're actually ready to contribute to the group?

Gear:
PvE progression is very linear, and thus, easy to measure. A max level character will first progress through regular instances, then heroics, and finally onto the first stage raid instance of the current expansion. While running 5 mans, you will also earn additional currency in order to build better gear sets to compliment the loot that has dropped during your runs.
As of the writing of this guild (early cataclysm), there are only two currency values for purchasing PvE gear, Justice and Valor points. Before you set your eyes to raiding, you should already have all that you can acquire from the Justice point vendor. Valor points are given for your first random heroic dungeon each day, and then more frequently with raid boss kills. Ensuring that you have maxed out the gear available from all pre-raid sources will allow you to properly perform within a raid.

Skill:
The best way I have found to answer this question is again, through PvP. Can you hold your own at least 50% of the time or are you just fodder for the meat grinder? Can you heal yourself or others until you are simply overrun by the enemy? Tanks are the exception, but you'll know you are ready when you don't get one shot in heroics, and can handle threat from the various DPS classes out there.

Financially:
Raiding is expensive, especially if you're one of the trail blazers. Even on cloth, repairs run over 100g once fully broken. If you're not prepared to devote a few hundred gold a week for repairs, pots, food, reagents, and more, then you are not ready to raid.

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After the raid… how do I get better?:

If you are asking this question, then you are already in a prime spot to become a competent member of a raid. Learning never stops, and while the newer raider may see only an uphill battle to prove himself, even the veteran player sees potential to learn in every new encounter.

While this will vary depending on your guild, there should always be members willing to help you to improve. Check your forums for a Class section, or just ask your GM for the names of those who historically tend to be helpful to new members. If you are already committed to a raid group, your RLer will usually point you to the top performers who will offer to assist you. But... you need to ask.

I can't stress enough the need to put in the effort to forge relationships with those who have the knowledge you seek. Ask questions in tells, chat on vent, ask to run some randoms with them in order to shadow their rotation. More often than not, you'll find some great new people to play with as a result.

Lastly, there is so much information out there just waiting to be used. Fortunately, it will range from the very basic all the way into the math behind the scenes. If one resource is leaving you totally confused, find another one that is at your experience level. It does you no good to wade through formulas if you're still trying to understand which points should be in your talent tree.

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Finding the right guild:

I've decided to save this section for last because I firmly believe that your play style heavily dictates which guild will ultimately serve your needs best. Now that you have gone through the process of determining just how much commitment you are willing to offer to the end game experience, finding the right guild will be paramount to your continued enjoyment.

Why even bother joining a guild?

While you could pug raids, you lose a large portion of what it means to work as a team towards a challenging goal. While I have certainly been surprised by the ability for some PUGs to pull together and do a great job, this is sadly in the minority of experiences. Furthermore, it is difficult to place trust in the abilities of strangers, not to mention the very real chance that someone may roll on items that they didn't need. (I have seen people need on items just to disenchant them for a shard).
So while you can PUG, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to feel at ease in a group of random members who will change week after week.

If I want to raid, don't I need a raiding guild?

That all depends on your play style. If you need to be on the forefront of progression, have the best loot, coolest achievements, mounts and titles, then yes, you will probably need to be in a raiding guild. Rather than focus on the social aspects of the game and its members, raiding guilds are structured to allow the best members to push content, gear up and prepare the way for the less experienced members. It provides a place to really push and challenge yourself if you are very knowledgeable about the game and your class, but usually not a great option if you are just getting started with raiding.

But isn’t casual…well, casual?

Yes. You can never expect to raid in a casual, social guild. At the heart of a casual guild, you find the focus is mainly on playing the game with other like minded people, not progression. Yet, raiding has transformed into an activity that even a casual guild can potentially participate with the right guidance.
First and foremost, you need to be prepared to lead your own raid, even if you’ve never raided before. I have found that those most willing to work in order to casually raid, are the ones who most often get to. As long as your casual guild allows raiding groups to form (check ahead of time, some do not), you should find not only those eager to join, but also those willing to help. Even if you find that your guild harbors no experienced raiders to assist you, don’t fret. As long as you have two tanks, at least two healers and enough dps to fill up the ten slots, you can all just learn together. It may mean more research and learning before you succeed, but it will be well worth the process.

Guild... large or small?

I’ve found this relies far more on the individual’s social skills than anything else. Larger guilds will provide more chances for signups to your raid, or openings for you to join in. Smaller guilds though can provide a very close knit community that many love, and if you are very outgoing, can still provide enough members to staff a raid. Still, a small guild may limit your options for finding interested members, so a larger guild will tend to offer a higher chance of success.

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While the choice to raid will confront every player given enough time, I hope that you now see that there are many ways to participate in end game content without altering the way you enjoy playing the game. With the right amount of preparation, research and understanding, not only can you discover the hardest instances, but you can truly enjoy the challenge and the people you explore them with.

Rare spawns and how to get them

2011-02-17T18:54:00.001-05:00

Many of us at one time or another decide to camp a rare... whether its for your Hunter, a rare drop, or those uber rare mount drops... This guide is for all of you who are new to the glory of rare camping, some etiquette, some tips, and what to do to annoy the opposing faction’s campers (cause doing it to your own faction campers is just a n00bie move that basically creates a lot of nerd rage, don’t be THAT n00b please). Some of us (yes I have been camping the ridiculous rare Aeonaxx for 3 weeks only to watch it go to a horde and then despawn on a fail attempt by a n00b alliance) are die hard pet and mount players... we will willingly give up gear, levels, and end game content to camp a random rare whose timer is still unknown and makes all of us really angry... so for you new rare campers, make friends with us veterans and we might all go on with WOW happier and a mount or pet more to our list.

Camping Etiquette:
-Do your homework before camping, the “Oh look MMO Champion says there’s a rare in Deepholm that drops a mount... lets check out... “ Is not the right kind of homework... For those of you that have failed this particular rare spawn because of its “bug” then you are a camping n00b... read up on it, might make your life easier and those of us watching you fail less infuriated. We’d rather see you succeed then fail miserably at what we consider a well known mechanic to the fight.

-Don’t camp another person’s spot... (unless of course its of the opposing faction)

-Ask around, if someone says they’ve been there for 9 days, they probably have been, and lets face it, those are the crazy campers, let them do their thing, come back after they have ragequit or been successful.

-When asking around, it doesn’t hurt to make friends... you’d be amazed out how teamwork for camping a rare makes life easier and less stressful for all involved and can net a rare faster. For some of us, we have dedicated friends on both sides scouting and discouraging wherever possible to give us the advantage... be prepared.

-Add known campers to your friend list... this way you can find out if they’re in the zone whether you can see them or not... Helps to see your own faction competition.

-Do not be THAT guy that kills a rare a hunter is trying to tame... if its a tamable mob and there is a hunter... they are likely not killing it for an achievement but instead taming it... slaughtering while it is being tamed is as awful as it gets. (a good way to verifying taming status- do they have another pet out?? cause if not then YES they are taming it.... BACK OFF)

Opposing faction annoying awesomeness:
(So you hate Alliance or you hate Horde... I don’t necessarily advocate being a total punk BUT I do often enjoy annoying the opposing faction while they are camping the same rare I am after.... so here are some fun things to do while you wait)

-Create a worgen... when a horde is around, sit right next to them and let the male worgen roar drive them away, either that or they must turn their sound down to save their sanity thus missing the npcscan sounds. (A willing worgen friend is also sufficient... especially if they keep annoying them AWAY from you, much better for your camping spot)- Just remember when you’re alone to go back to human form, cause the roar will make you mental in the long hours of camping.

-If they are camping a rare hunter pet... get a friend who has (or if you’ve been lucky to get already) the pet to randomly show up at an opposing player’s camp spot... their npc scan will give them a false alarm. This requires them to log off and clear their cache... do this often enough at random intervals and you will drive them away.

-If you happen to make a friend of the opposing faction (who may have at one point gotten that uber rare while you watched in anger) then use that person to discourage their own faction … false trails, false spawns, or “hey I just got this at the other spawn location, take a break for a few hours”... Evil yes, effective yes, fun, even more so .

In the end be gracious about someone else’s victory (even if on the opposite side, cause that enemy today could be your friend tomorrow getting you that much closer to your rare- thank you Real ID for cross faction chat, life is beautiful)

Know that for us crazy campers, we camp while at work, we lose days of sleep, and basically neglect all other real life responsibilities until we get our rare... Call us names, in reality we don’t care, we’re crazy. So enjoy :-)

And just in case you’re wondering if you’ve hit the crazy rare camper status, here are a few things to identify yourself:
-You randomly check your npc alert just to “make sure’ or really just to hear the sound you’re hoping for when your rare spawns.
-You know everything there is to possibly know about the rare you are camping, even speculated spawn sites/times/etc and participate in your own speculation as you wait...
-You have a very very long friend list of all potential competition and know where they are at all times.
-You are a frequent and religious follower of all discussions being led on your rare... yes you are even calling it “my rare”...
-You lose sleep, countless hours of sleep, and sometimes even dream about your rare.
-You have come up with your own nicknames for the rare... usually not nice names, names you yell at random intervals in an effort to draw out the stupid spawn. There are also the rare moments of poetry or songwriting that occur while waiting... yes... you are crazy.
-You know of every server reset, you harrrass all successful campers for every minutia regarding their success in an effort to boost your chances and knowledge.

If any of the above sound like you... I hate to tell you, you’ve entered crazy rare camper status. Good luck to you... it only gets worse!

Guide to getting "Glory of the Cataclysm Hero"

2011-02-17T02:57:00.004-05:00

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Blackrock Caverns
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|_Rom’ogg Bonecrusher_| <^> |_Crushing Bones and Cracking Skulls_|
Defeat Rom'ogg Bonecrusher after using his Skullcracker ability to kill 10 Angered Earth elementals in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

The first thing to know is that the Angered Earth elementals spawn from the Quake ability he uses. During Quake, an animation of rumbling earth will appear under each party member’s feet, which, after a few seconds, will deal damage and spawn an elemental. Each Quake spawns 5 elementals. So, you need the tank to pick them up and hold them.
The second thing to know is that the Skullcracker ability is used after he pulls everyone in for Chains of Woe. It is an 8 second cast on Heroic and is pretty much a one-shot to anyone in melee range when it goes off.
The way to do this is to have the tank hold the elementals until a Chains of Woe. At that point dps kills the Chains and the tank either stuns the elementals in melee range and then runs out or pops cooldown and takes the hit. It is possible to wait to have the elementals killed until there are 10 so you can get it in one shot.
Tricks and Tips: You get the achievement when you kill Rom’ogg, so if you think an elemental might have died not to his Skullcracker, just wait for a third set and do it again.
As a Warrior, you can utilize Shockwave to stun them all while you run away; as a Paladin, you can utilize a glyphed Holy Wrath to stun them.

|_Corla, Herald of Twilight_| <^> |_Arrested Development_|
Allow all three of Corla's zealots to evolve, then defeat Corla after slaying the evolved zealots in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

This one can definitely turn to disaster fast if the healer runs out of mana, which is a definite possibility. There are three Zealots that have purple beams shooting to them. The Zealots do not move or attack, unless they transform. The beam applies a stacking debuff called Evolution, which stacks up to 100. When it reaches 100, the Zealot will transform into a Draconid (the big Dragon-people you fought in the hallway before Corla). The Evolution debuff will also be applied to any player standing in the beam. So, you have 3 people assigned to standing in the beams. From my experience, this works best with 2 ranged dps on the outside beams and a melee dps on the middle beam.
To get the achievement, you need to allow the adds to evolve and transform and then kill them. It is imperative that you do this one at a time, as the transformed adds deal massive damage on top of Corla’s damage.
Corla herself casts Dark Command, which is a fear and can be interrupted. Dark Command is a bad thing, mainly because, if it goes off, it can fear people out of the beams at very crucial points. This can be handled quite effectively by having your tank assigned to only interrupt that. I say ‘only’ because the transformed adds have a cast called something like Shadow Strike. This works exactly like the adds on Heroic Anub’arak. If the cast goes off, he will teleport behind someone and hit them, hard. A good way to handle this is to have a dps assigned to only interrupting that cast.
There is talk of doing this a slightly different way also. It involves having one of your dps be an OT and tank the transformed adds and drag them 40 yards away from Corla. The reason for that is because Corla has an Aura that increases attack speed and movement speed to all creatures nearby.

|_Karsh Steelbender_| <^> |_Too Hot to Handle_|
Defeat Karsh Steelbender after he has reached 15 stacks of Superheated Quicksilver Armor in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

This one can be one of the harder ones if your healer is not very strong at decent to good group heals. However, they did extend the duration of Superheated Quicksilver by a decent amount, which allows more time to heal up. Superheated Quicksilver is a stacking debuff which is applied to Karsh whenever he moves through the pillar of fire in the middle of his area or when he moves through the pools of fire that killing his adds spawn when they die. The adds spawn when the stack of Superheated Quicksilver on Karsh drops off.
Basically, this works best by starting off with Karsh on the opposite side of the group because he will gain about 2 stacks when you pull him through the fire pillar. From there on, the tank should periodically pull him through to the other side, only gaining 2-3ish stacks per movement. This is the safest way, as it’s lower group damage compared to heavy burst if you keep him in the pillar of fire. As Karsh’s stack increases, so will the damage of his AoE, so be careful when you reach 12+ stacks. Only move when you need to and make sure the group is mostly healed up.
Tips and Tricks: As a Warrior tank, you have more utilities than other tanks to get to the other side quickly – Heroic Leap and Intervene. Make sure to use them.
With dps numbers getting higher, make sure that the dps does not kill him before he reaches 15 stacks. The stacks increase his damage taken, so, for example, I had to stop casting for a while in order to not kill him when he was at 12-13 stacks.\

|_Ascendant Lord Obsidius_| <^> |_Ascendant Descending_|
Defeat Ascendant Lord Obsidius without any party member reaching 4 stacks of Crepuscular Veil in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.

The Crepuscular Veil is applied to any player within melee range of any of the three adds that engage with Obsidius.
There are a few ways to do this, as there are for every achievement, but the best way that I have seen is one dps kiting all three. Their agro tables work on the basis of who last attacked or dealt damage to them (just like the orbs on Blood Princes in ICC). This means that the dps who is going to kite them should start the encounter and try to apply a DoT to as many as they can. The person kiting must also have a way to slow the adds, as they will run faster than normal run speed and catch up very quickly if there is not some sort of slow on them.
Be sure to tank Obsidius in the middle of the circle area where he is engaged. This allows the person kiting plenty of room along the outside to kite, as the adds will apply the debuff to anyone within their melee, even if a person doesn’t have agro on them.
The next issue to deal with is the boss swapping places with an add. When he does this, all agro on the add that appears where Obsidius previously was will reset and he will target the tank for a second or two. Make sure the kiter attacks this specific add, and a DoT helps a lot as well.
Tips and Tricks: As a Shaman kiting, utilize Flame Shock for a DoT, Frost Shock for a clutch slow and Earthbind for a group slow. A Hunter can Concussion Shot and use Ice Traps and Serpent Sting. And so on, most classes have tools to deal with kiting.
Make sure that if you have ranged not kiting that they stand near the boss and not on the outside ring.

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Grim Batol
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|_General Umbriss_| <^> |_Umbrage for Umbriss_
Defeat General Umbriss while he is affected with Modgud's Malice in Grim Batol on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

Modgud’s Malice is a buff that starts out on a Malignant Trogg; Umbriss summons 6 Troggs (2 groups of 3) periodically. When that Trogg is killed, whatever is nearby gets a damage buff. The achievement calls for this buff to be present on Umbriss when you kill him, which makes him hit very hard. The other Troggs also apply a stacking bleed debuff that deals damage to whoever they are attacking, so they should be killed quickly.
The trick to this achievement is to CC the Malignant Trogg if possible - Sheep, Hex, Trap, Fear, anything to keep it away and not dead. The reason for using CC on it is that there is a Malignant Trogg alive, one will not spawn when the next set of Troggs spawn.
So, if you keep the Malignant Trogg CC’d, just do the boss like normal – dodge Blitz and Ground Siege – until the last 5-10% of his health. At that point, he will be enraged, so he will already be dealing more damage, but this is when you break CC and kill the Malignant Trogg on top of General Umbriss. The tank might want to throw up a cooldown to relieve the healer some, but with such low health, he should die quite soon.
Tips and Tricks: Don’t get hit by Blitz.

|_Erudax_| <^> |_Don't Need to Break Eggs to Make an Omelet_|
Defeat Erudax without letting a Faceless Corruptor begin to cast Twilight Corruption on any of Alexstraza's Eggs in Grim Batol on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

This one can be difficult without good dps, however it’s mostly about coordinated dps and how fast they can run.
On Heroic, two Faceless Corrupters spawn from the entrance from which the group entered Erudax’s room from. There will be one that goes to the left and one that goes to the right. They run fast, so you will definitely need slows, unless your dps very very far outgears Heroics. The Faceless Corrupters spawn immediately after every Shadow Gale, which is why I mentioned the run speed.
The most effective method to deal with this, that I have seen, is to put 2 dps on one of them and one dps on the other. It works out the best if you have 2 ranged and 1 melee, or 3 ranged. The reason this favors Ranged is because of the movement involved with switching targets. Place the two Ranged on an assigned Corrupter and the Melee on the other one. The ranged kill theirs and then immediately swaps to help the melee kill the other one.
Now, if you have 3 melee, the best way to handle this is to do the same dps setup as having ranged, which is to have 2 dps on one and 1 dps on the other and kill and swap quickly. However, because the melee needs run time, the most important thing to consider is what classes you have. For example, Enhance Shamans can Ghost Wolf, Rogues can sprint, and so on. The success of your group requires understanding of what to do, and creativity on how to complete that.
Tips and Tricks: Slows, slows, slows.

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Halls of Origination
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|_Temple Guardian Anhuur_| <^> |_I Hate That Song_|
Defeat Temple Guardian Anhuur without allowing him to sing Reverberating Hymn for more than 15 seconds in Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

There is a little dispute on the accuracy of the 15 second time limit as there are reports of people doing it in between 15 and 20 seconds.
Every 33% of Anhuur’s health (66% and 33%), he will go into a phase where he stands in the middle of his platform and becomes invulnerable to damage. He will cast Reverberating Hymn almost immediately after putting up his shield, and on either side of his platform will be a beam going to him with a lever that controls it. You need to break his shield by getting a full 10 second cast off on both sides and interrupt Reverberating Hymn. It should be noted that if a snake hits the person using the lever, the cast is interrupted and must be started again.
In order to do this, you need to split the group into 2 groups of 2 people: One group with 2 dps and the other group with 1 dps and the tank, who jump off different sides. The Healer should stay up top on the platform and focus healing on the 2 dps side. For the 2 dps side, make sure one of them has some AoE ability that will aggro the snakes onto them and away from the person using the lever; the tank needs to do the same thing for the other side. Now, there also emerges an issue with this – what if the healer is unable to cancel. This is where the creativity comes forth from, because there are very, very many variations to this strategy. You could have a dps stay up top and let the healer go down to either aggro snakes or use the lever, so that dps can interrupt, and so on.
However, there is a strategy that is slightly different, and that is to aggro the snakes from the top before jumping down. To do this, you could have a ranged use an AoE to aggro them, while standing on the platform, so that they have a very long run time. Or, you could try to have your healer get healing aggro. The options are almost endless as to how exactly you and your group can handle this.

|_Earthrage Ptah_| <^> |_Straw That Broke the Camel's Back_|
Defeat Earthrager Ptah while mounted on a camel in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
<Personal Achievement>

This achievement was previously bugged, but has since been fixed.
This is pretty simple, however I have experienced a few occurrences in which a player is dismounted for seemingly no reason. That said, it should go swimmingly for you and should not be an issue.
You will find the camels at the bottom of the staircase before Ptah, where there were 2 trash mobs. You are able to mount them just like vehicles, and once on you are able to cast while moving and gain increased movement speed. Staying mounted can only be ended by getting hit by 1 of 2 abilities. They are Earth Spike and Quicksand. The animation for Earth Spike is a tall area of rumbling ground that will be placed on top of a player. It is very easy to see this animation, and you have about 3-5 seconds to move out of it. Quicksand’s animation looks sort of like a sand version of Mana Tide Totem and is very visible, unless there are many adds stacked up on top of it. All you need to do to get this achievement is to avoid those two abilities and kill the boss.

|_Vault of Lights_| <^> |_Faster Than the Speed of Light_|
Complete the Vault of Lights within 5 minutes of entering in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

This particular achievement is not extremely difficult, however there can be no wasted time sitting around. You must skip as many Trogg groups as possible (all middle groups except 1 or 2) and kill the bosses very quickly. This is a test of how well and efficiently you play with one another, and it can end in disastrous results. The timer starts when you talk to Brann, and the doors open at about 4:50 to 4:40 left. The timer ends when you kill the last mini-boss and Brann does his little RP (takes 20 seconds). That means that you have roughly 4:30 to kill 4 mini-bosses, including run time.
The order of in which the mini-bosses die does not matter, as, from my observation, their spawns are random. It’s advisable to use Bloodlust/Heroism either on the Fire or Water mini-boss, or in any spot that would benefit the group. You get one chance at this achievement per soft reset. This means that if you fail, in order to try again that day, you must exit the instance for about 30 minutes to allow the event to fully reset.

|_Rajh_| <^> |_Sun of a...._|
Defeat Rajh before he completes an entire recharging phase in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

This achievement may seem ridiculous if you’ve tried it and failed, however there is a strategy that worked very well for my group. There are people that claim that this is mostly RNG, but I can neither confirm nor deny that at this time.
At this point, I cam going to quote a post by “darknesscalls” on the WoWHead forums. His post has all the information I can post about this particular strategy in a nice format:

“Rajh engages, 100 focus
Fire cyclone, 80 focus
Sun Strike, 60 focus
Fire orb, INTERRUPT, 60 focus
Fire cyclone, 40 focus
Sun strike, 20 focus
Fire cyclone, 0 focus
Runs in middle, 20 seconds to kill him.

Now, this really wouldn't buy us enough time, so here's what we did instead!

Rajh engages, 100 focus
Fire cyclone, 80 focus
Sun strike, 60 focus
Fire orb, DONT INTERRUPT, 40 focus
Heroic Leap, INTERRUPT, 40 focus
Fire cyclone, 20 focus
Fire orb, INTERRUPT, 20 focus
Fire cyclone, 0 foucs
Runs in middle, 20 seconds to kill him.”

What this shows is that if you do not interrupt the first Fire Orb, but then interrupt everything after that, you are buying yourself time. HOWEVER, Rajh’s casts have had conflicting views of whether or not they really are RNG. I did this method with my group and it went flawlessly on the very first attempt, getting us the achievement.
For the sake of a different option, there are secondary strats, however, most of them mainly require very high dps, although there are some tricks you can use to help. One is to tank Rajh by the stairs from which you enter his area. He only begins to recharge when he reaches the middle, so this buys you extra time. As another note, a Bloodlust/Heroism effect is pretty much necessary for this, even if you use the first strategy and have ‘good RNG’.
One more note about different strategies – a 4 dps group is very capable of working on this achievement. You can either drop the tank for a dps or the healer for a dps. My personal preference is dropping a tank, as healing can be an issue during the recharging phase. Rajh does not hit very hard, so a dps can definitely tank him.

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The Lost City of Tol’vir
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|_ Lockmaw_| <^> |_Acrocalypse Now_|
Defeat 20 Frenzied Crocolisks within 10 seconds during the Lockmaw encounter in the Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

You do not need to the kill Lockmaw to get this achievement. The Frenzied Crocolisks spawn when a party member is targeted with Scent of Blood, which makes you the prime target of the recently spawned Crocolisks. 4 Crocolisks spawn per Scent of Blood, which means you need to have 5 sets of them spawn. They have low health pools, so it’s very difficult for the tank to attempt to get threat on all of them without killing any. If a single Crocolisk dies before the 5th set, you either have to wait until the 6th set spawns or wipe it. Healing for this achievement can get quite stressful, as there will be damage all over the group, and it’s made much worse if you are unable to dispel poisons, as the poison debuffs deal pretty massive damage.
The best way to do this is to have the 3 dps all stay mounted throughout the entire encounter, up until it’s time to kill the Crocolisks. This ensures that they take less overall damage because they’ll just be running in circles kiting Crocolisks. If the Healer has a slow, like Earthbind, it can be used to help stop more damage if the dps kite their Crocolisks through it.
When the 5th set of Crocolisks spawns and there are a total of 20 to kill, have the group stack on the tank and have the tank all-taunt. At this point, it depends on your AoE, you need to kill all 20 Crocolisks in 10 seconds. The timer starts when the first one dies.

|_ High Prophet Barim_| <^> |_Kill It With Fire!_|
Defeat 3 Burning Souls during the High Prophet Barim encounter in Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
<Personal/Cumulative Achievement>

This achievement takes place in Phase 2 of the fight, when Barim pulls everyone into the shadow realm (at 50% health). There will be a shadow phoenix kind of thing that the tanks needs to pick up and kite around. The reason it needs to be kited is because party members will be targeted with an ability that spawns a Soul Fragment from them. That Soul Fragment has only one path – directly to the shadow phoenix. The Burning Soul is a debuff that is applied to the Soul Fragments when they pass through fire. I believe they need to be standing in fire in order to get the achievement, rather than just needing to simply walk through it once. So, this means that stuns should be used effectively. The Soul Fragments have 77k health.
You do not need to kill Barim in order to get this achievement, and you do not 3 killed all in one attempt.

|_Siamat_| <^> |_Headed South_|
Defeat Siamat, Lord of the South Wind, with 3 stacks of Lightning Charge in Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
<Personal/Group Achievement>

I listed this as a Personal/Group Achievement because you need the group to be doing this a certain way in order to get the achievement, however the achievement itself is personal, in that if one person doesn’t get it, that doesn’t stop everyone else from getting credit. As a side note, this is definitely one of the hardest, if not the hardest achievement. I spent over 4 hours attempting this different ways until I finally got it.
A few things need to be known before I can go into strategy details. There are 3 Servants that spawn, you CANNOT kill them. They must stay alive until you are ready to do the achievement. When they die, anyone that is standing in melee range will receive the Lightning Charge debuff, which increases your damage taken by 33%, damage dealt by 10%, and increases your haste by 10% per stack. The achievement is to have 3 stacks, which means you will be taking 100% more damage, which can be devastating with the high amount of AoE on this fight. A very, very important thing to know is that Siamat breaks his shield and goes into Phase 2 as soon as the 3rd Servant spawns. When I say the 3rd Servant, I mean the 3rd one to spawn. As the Servants spawn, you should have your tank mark them, so you know which is the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. When you have a stack of Lightning Charge and you kill another Servant, that stack goes to 2 and the duration is refreshed to 30 seconds.
There are 2 main strategies to this achievement. One is to burn through his damage reduction shield in Phase 1, and the other is to burn him hard, with a few variations of each.
Phase 1 Burn: You need 2 Healers for this, absolutely. This means that you will have 2 dps to burn through the damage reduction. This strategy takes 12-15 minutes per attempt. Basically, start the encounter, and if you have a melee, let them engage the boss as his shield is sometimes not put up immediately. Healers need to focus on conserving mana, as long as your 2 healers have mana, you can go indefinitely in phase 1. Make sure to mark the Servants as they spawn because you will need to know which is which. Ignore the Minions. Their Chain Lightnings don’t hit hard and after about 15-20 seconds, they die on their own, so killing them is wasting dps time on Siamat. It’s pretty simple, in theory, how to do this up until he’s at lower health. But that’s when there’s a variation.
There is one way which would have you get him to 50-60% health or so and then kill the 3rd Servant. After he breaks into Phase 2, you can either kill the other Servants immediately and go for a hard burn, or kill them slowly and kill another so the group has a second stack, wait another 15 seconds, kill the last Servant, and then the kill Siamat. For this, use Bloodlust/Heroism after you break him into Phase 2.
The other variation is dps him down further, until he’s very low, say 20-40k health. This would mean that a dps might be able to kill him very quickly without the group taking ‘too much’ damage from being thrown around. For this strategy, use Bloodlust/Heroism at the start, and then again when the 10 minute debuff runs out.
The other main strategy is to keep all 3 Servants alive and then kill the 3rd one so that he starts Phase 2. From this point, you have the option of doing it as said before – killing them one at a time to extend your stacks, or killing the other 2 immediately and hitting Bloodlust/Heroism and burning hard. It’s all about what works for your group, but this definitely a hard one to get. It’s also advised that it might be better to just get the achievement for a few people each time you do it, as the group damage with everyone taking 100% more damage is absurd and borderline not healable.

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Shadowfang Keep
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|_Baron Ashbury_| <^> |_Pardon Denied_|
Defeat Baron Ashbury without letting him heal with Stay of Execution in Shadowfang Keep on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

Stay of Execution is cast immediately Strangulate, which brings every member of the group down to 1 hp. Stay of Execution is a Holy Nova that Baron casts that heals the group and himself. Since you cannot let him get a single pulse of this heal off, you need a few things: someone that can interrupt it immediately as it begins to cast, and a healer that can get a quick heal on the tank and the group. It’s also very important that you do not assign everyone to focus on interrupting Star of Execution, as there are 2 other casts that HAVE to be cancelled – Pain and Suffering and Mend Rotten Flesh. Pain and Suffering is a DoT channel spell that targets a player, it results in death if not cancelled and at low health. Mend Rotten Flesh is a huge heal on Baron, so you cannot let either of those casts go. At 30%, Baron goes into Phase 2, which is lots of group damage, and it becomes a burn.
Now, with 3 dps doing about 10-12k each, you can most likely only have one Strangulate, which means use Bloodlust/Heroism after that one in order to skip to 30%. However, you could also save BL/Hero for after a second Strangulate and have it to help heal the group damage from Phase 2.

|_Commander Springvale_| <^> |_To the Ground!_|
Defeat Commander Springvale without allowing him to receive Unholy Empowerment in Shadowfang Keep on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

Unholy Empowerment is cast by all of the adds during this fight, it can be interrupted. Unholy Empowerment is different from Unholy Power, which Springvale will periodically gain. There are 2 methods to do this.
The first method is to kite him to the courtyard at the beginning of the instance (where you fight the big guys that fear). This currently ensures that the only adds that ever come are the first 2 that engage with Springvale. I’m not sure if this is a bug or intended, but I’d lean towards a bug. As long as you have 2 people assigned to interrupting Unholy Empowerment from each add, and kill them, this is an easy method. However, the adds cast Unholy Empowerment while they are running with Springvale, so you need to have 2 people running with Springvale, each on a different add, and interrupt when they begin to cast Unholy Empowerment.
The other method is to fight him in his room and do the fight like normal there. The only difference is the adds are your first priority. You need to kill them immediately while locking down Unholy Empowerment.

|_Lord Godfrey_| <^> |_Bullet Time_|
Defeat 12 Bloodthirsty Ghouls with Pistol Barrage and then defeat Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

Lord Godfrey has a few abilities worth mentioning. One is Cursed Bullets. This deals pretty large damage to whatever random party member it targeted and leaves a Curse DoT on that player. It is a 1.5 second cast and can be interrupted, so do so. Another is the Ghouls he spawns. Normally, you would kill these quickly, as they leave a debuff on the tank. However, for this achievement, it requires that you keep them alive until…Pistol Barrage – a frontal cone attack that should pretty much always target the tank, although I have seen it aimed at other players. Basically, move out of this, except the tank. The tank needs to bring the Ghouls into the Pistol Barrage so that it kills them (they have low health, so dps on them before is not necessary). Repeat until you have 12 killed and then kill Godfrey.
There is also a certain strategy that is quite popular that focuses on positioning. I am going to quote a post by ‘djcloudnine’ on the WoWHead forums for this:

“Range / Healers - stand on the stairs you first walk in on.
Tank - tanks boss at the bottom of the stairs of the platform the boss starts on. The key part is to face him facing the bottom of the staircase that leads to your range/healer.

Whenever the boss pops out the adds, right after he will start his pistol barrage. The tank steps to the backside or side, and all dps remains on the boss. The adds will aggro to the healer forcing them to run up the stairs. The bosses barrage will take them out as they attempt. Rinse and repeat.”

It works very well, and it does indeed make this easier.

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The Deadmines
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|_Glubtok_| <^> |_Ready for Raiding_|
Do not get hit by Fire Wall in the Glubtok encounter in Deadmines on Heroic difficulty.
<Personal Achievement>

This fight is simple, and the achievement doesn’t come into play until Glubtok is somewhere between 30% and 50%. He will run the middle of the room and begin to float. At that time, he will create a Fire Wall, which is like a rod of fire that cuts the room in half and rotates in a circle. All you need to do is keep moving and not get hit, whether you get this or not is entirely dependant on you. As an added note, the Fire Wall continues to rotate after he reaches 1 hp and does a little RP.

|_Helix Gearbreaker_| <^> |_Rat Pack_|
Kill 20 Mine Rats during the Helix Gearbreaker encounter in Deadmines on Heroic difficulty.
<Cumulative Achievement>

You do not need 20 Mine Rats killed in one encounter, although it is possible. The Lumbering Oaf will use a charge ability where he charges down the middle of the wooden platform into the pile of logs. When he does this, he spawns Mine Rats, which are critters and can be seen running around the log pile. I believe there are 5 or 6 that spawn each charge, so it is possible to wait until he’s charge 4 times (or however many it takes to get 20) and then kill him and Helix.

|_Foe Reaper 5000_| <^> |_Prototype Prodigy_|
Keep the Prototype Reaper from falling below 90% health during the Foe Reaper 5000 encounter in Deadmines on Heroic difficulty.

Do not get in the Prototype Reaper to clear trash, do not.
Tank Foe Reaper on the ramp, about halfway up, with the healer standing towards the top. If you have a ranged dps, have them stand closer to the bottom of the ramp. This is to avoid Harvest coming in the direction of the entire group. Harvest is an ability that targets a player and then Foe Reaper makes a bee-line for that person while doing a flurry that will hurt anyone in melee. Simply run away and avoid Foe Reaper while he is doing this.
The person in the Prototype Reaper should have no problem getting this achievement, as there is Obsidian Alloy, which makes the Prototype immune to fire damage. Just Charge everything and kill it quickly and there will be no issues.

|_Admiral Ripsnarl_| <^> |_It's Frost Damage_|
Allow three Freezing Vapors to cast Coalesce during the Admiral Ripsnarl encounter in Deadmines on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

This achievement can be tricky, but just know this: you will probably wipe in the process of getting this achievement, as it does not require you to kill Ripsnarl.
Basically, you burn Ripsnarl to 75% so that he starts the first vapor phase. Do not kill any Vapors, none. If left alone, the Vapors continue to grow in size until eventually they cast Coalesce, which is an AoE that deals about 100k Frost damage. The way to handle this is to allow all that spawn to grow in size. The tank is pretty much a sacrifice for this particular strategy. You will have 3 casting Coalesce pretty quickly, and the group should try to run behind the little room that is on your right when you get to the top level of the boat. Coalesce can be LoS’d, so everyone can survive. And, as long as the tank runs out of LoS when a Vapor begins to cast Coalesce, he might live also. Although, it’s easier for him to just take the hits in some circumstances.
All in all, this is pretty simple, as long as you don’t mind wiping while getting the achievement.

|_Cookie_| <^> |_I'm on a Diet_|
Do not gain more than one stack of Nauseated during the Cookie encounter in Deadmines on Heroic difficulty.
<Personal Achievement>

This one isn’t too difficult. The Nauseated debuff is attained from eaiting bad food (the food that has a green swirling AoE radiating from it). All you need to do is only eat the good food (the gold, glowing food) and burn Cookie down. Melee gets very cluttered with bad food, so you might want to have someone who already has it or someone who doesn’t care to focus on getting the bad food out of melee. Alternatively, your Ranged, if you have any, can easily take down Cookie solo with heals, as long as they are eating the good food.

|_Vanessa VanCleef_| <^> |_Vigorous VanCleef Vindicator_|
Engage Vanessa VanCleef within 5 minutes of being inflicted with the Nightmare Elixir.
<Group Achievement>

This one can be tough, and aggravating. In theory, it’s not too bad, but you cannot have any deaths or waste any time. It’s similar to Faster than the Speed of Light from Halls of Origination in that regard, but it’s much easier to die here.
In the first room, dodge the fire patches and the ice drops. There is a way to drop down from the starting area onto the boss, however it’s possible to fail and land in fire and fail the achievement, so it’s a risk unless you know where exactly to jump. You need to plow through the first 2 bosses very quickly and prepare for the lightning room.
DO NOT move forward before the lightning rods have a chance to spin for a few seconds. They will speed up after about 3-5 seconds of normal speed and then slow down, this is the only time that will happen. You need to have every member of your group negotiate their way around the lightning without dying. The tank needs to pull as soon as possible. This room is where the most time is lost, whether it’s from dying or hesitation. If you can do this room perfectly, this achievement should be an easy win.
The next area has groups of worgen adds, three in each group (2 groups total) and then a mini-boss with 700k health. You must kill the first worgen group completely before the second one spawns, and the second must die before you can kill the mini-boss. While the group is killing the mini-boss, the healer should be continuing on towards to Vanessa to engage her as soon as possible. You get a nice speed buff while on the boat. I advise using Bloodlust/Heroism either when you begin the first worgen group, or the second.

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^ ><^><^>
The Stonecore
<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^ ><^><^>

|_High Priestess Azil_| <^> |_Rotten to the Core_|
Defeat 60 Disciples within 10 seconds during the High Priestess Azil encounter in the Stonecore on Heroic Difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

In front of Azil, before you engage her, there are exactly 60 Disciples. In order to do this, you must have the tank run in and pick up all 60 WITHOUT killing them. Azil needs to be engaged and she needs to land and have her Energy Shield buff gone before you can kill the Disciples. When she aggro’s onto the tank, throw up all AoE you have to burn all 60 down. It’s likely that the tank or healer will die and will ultimately result in a wipe, but you can still get the achievement.

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^ ><^><^>
The Vortex Pinnacle
<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^ ><^><^>

|_Vortex Pinnacle_| <^> |_Extra Credit Bonus Stage_|
Collect 5 Golden Orbs in a single visit to the Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

This is very easy and fun. Throughout the instance, you will see Golden Orbs that are floating out in air. They will have a loot icon when you mouseover them. The only way to get them is to jump off and click to loot them quickly, before you go past them. There are 8 or 9 total throughout the instance, so there are not mandatory ones to collect. There will be one near the first boss’ platform. 2 on the Altairus encounter (they will be in the air – you need to use the tornadoes to shoot yourself high enough to loot them). Not that the ones at Altairus’ area are not mandatory. There will be 2 on of the bridges, I think it’s the first one you come to. There are 2 on a spiral ramp with the wind that increases your speed, and there’s a few more in other places. As long as you keep an eye out for them, it’s very simple.
Just an extra note: recently, when you jump off the side, you get ported to the beginning of the instance. This makes this achievement much more of a pain to get now.

|_Asaad_| <^> |_No Static at All_|
Completely avoid the Static Cling effect during the Asaad encounter in the Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic Difficulty.
<Personal Achievement>

Asaad casts Static Cling within 5-10 seconds of first being engaged and then pretty regularly soon after he casts Chain Lightning. Static Cling roots you to the ground, and can be dispelled. However, there is a specific way to do this achievement in order to never receive the debuff. And that is to jump as soon as you see Assad begin to cast Static Cling. It is a very fast cast and if you don’t jump when it starts, it will probably still get on you, even if your character jumps.
Levitate used to work for this, and probably still does. However, the issue with relying on Levitate is that any hit makes it fade, and you can take a hit at an inopportune time, like if you were the target of the Chain Lightning. It is better to just rely on yourself jumping.

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^ ><^><^>
Throne of the Tides
<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^ ><^><^>

|_Lady Naz’jar_| <^> |_Old Faithful_|
Get Lady Naz'jar to kill one of her minions with her Geyser ability in Throne of the Tides on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

Lady Naz’jar periodically spawns pools of water called Geysers. After a few seconds, they explode dealing damage to anyone or anything inside that area of effect.
At about 66%, Lady Naz’jar goes to the middle of the room, becomes immune to damage, and spawns 3 adds – one melee and 2 caster adds. The best way to do this is to have the group kill the 2 caster adds and leave the melee one alive. Her damage immune shield expires after about a minute, so just keep dodging the water tornadoes that spawn from her and work their way to the outside ring of the ring in a straight line.
This next part is sort of tricky. The Geyser will not kill an add that is at full health, the add needs to be below 10-20kish health for a single Geyser to kill it. This either requires one dps to bring it down very carefully, or to have it get hit my multiple Geysers. How you have it hit is to just move with it and place it on a Geyser. So, the tank will have Lady Naz’jar and the add both on him until the add is killed by a Geyser.
You do not need to kill Lady Naz’jar to get this achievement.

|_Ozumat_| <^> |_Prince of Tides_|
Defeat an Unyielding Behemoth while you have the Tidal Surge effect during the Ozumat encounter in Throne of the Tides on Heroic difficulty.
<Group Achievement>

There will only be one Unyielding Behemoth that spawns, and that will be in Phase 1. When it spawns, the tank should pick it up and begin to kite it around. If you have a Shaman in your group, have them lay down an Earthbind Totem near the middle of the room to help the tank kite.
When Phase 2 starts, the group should handle like regular. The dps works on the channelers while the tank picks up all of the Beasts and also kites them.
When that phase ends and Phase 3 begins, wait until you get the buff and then kill all of the beasts and the Behemoth immediately and then move onto Ozumat. With the buff, the Behemoth should die in just a few hits. If you are dead when it dies, you will not get the achievement.

How to Get Noticed on Your Server.

2011-02-16T14:04:00.001-05:00

An Idea of What Not to Do
Becoming famous on your server can be a very hard feat to accomplish without the idea of offensive behavior involved which leads to being infamous. Most people that are famous on a server became infamous due to offensive behavior, examples of these are: trolling, ninja looting, flaming, leaving pugs, using bots, etc.

The Golden Rule
On the contrary there are many ways to become famous on a server. First of all you must follow “Golden” rule. Abide by the rules that Blizzard has made for the game. If you don’t then you are considered to be a person who can’t agree to keeping your word (remember the Terms of Use) thus leading to people not respecting you. If people do not respect you then they will most likely never want to join your groups or guilds just because they know from past experiences with you that you tend to be a very tedious person to deal with.

How to Contribute
Contributing to the server can be done in many ways such as: Mentoring newbies, Leading pugs/guild raids or arena teams in a suitable style, Being an effective raider or pvper that rarely makes a mistake, starting a guild, etc.

The Newbies
Mentoring newbies is a very good way to get yourself on another players friends list. Although they may be newbies, think about when they reach the level cap and remember what you have told/taught them. They may want to raid with you, maybe even ask for you to join their hardcore guild (they may take awhile before they become a hardcore raider themselves) or arena team. This leads to being a better known player even if it starts out with the newbies.

Those Guilds and Raids need YOUR Help
Leading pugs/guild raids or even an arena team can be very good for your reputation as long as you lead it in a appropriate fashion. To lead a raid you need good organization skills (especially for pugs), 25 man raids require more than 10 man raids as a result of more people to consider to join the raid and more to manage. DO NOT go AFK and ask someone else to do it, it is your raid therefore you lead it. Lead effectively. Don’t attack other players for mistakes they make, explain to them what their mistake was in a peaceful way as to not lead to an argument that could break a raid up. Keeping your composure is very important because people will take advantage of you if you don’t.

Those Guilds and Raids need YOUR Help (continued)
Watch the rolls, you do not want to accidentally give leather gloves with intellect on it to a warrior, that will cause a huge kerfuffle in the raid. Read up tactics for bosses so people hopefully do not make errors and if somebody asks specifically for what their role is for the boss then explain it to them quickly, be quick so the raid doesn’t get anxious (referring to pugs there). For arena teams a lot of that read above is already explained except there are no bosses involved and no rolling either. As said above (the newbies section) this will lead to people wanting you to be on their friends list.

People Want a Flawless Person
Being an effective raider/pvper that rarely makes a mistake is extremely important (also goes really well with being the raid leader). Though it is said above that it is ok to make a mistake if you just by chance tend to be out of it or something, it really is nice to have a flawless (or mostly flawless) raider/pvper. They can really change the tide of battle when needed or make the battle easier for many others. Being flawless also means being polite and not starting flame wars with one another, people will like you more if you are polite which is also much easier (drop the pride) than boss mechanics or pvping. Read up on a website that explains boss mechanics or pvping (pvping can be more gut related sometimes) and get what you read, if it works, engrained in your head. Making yourself flawless is hard task but trying to achieve it will better you as a raider/pvper.

Guilds Are the Key
The simplest way of really becoming famous is by starting a guild. If you can make a successful guild then you can become famous very quickly. Starting a guild up itself is not very easy, it is very hard at the beginning though it gets easier once you know who to put at the officer position to treat the guilds needs at specific areas. People who have started guilds fully well know that inviting people is a tricky task that takes time and who to invite is also very important. The best kind of guild to start up for your step towards being famous is a raiding guild. You need to step up and advertise your guild. Also it is highly recommended to make a website because it makes your guild look a lot more superior than other guilds that don’t have a website. A website shows professionalism makes you look a lot better on your behalf.

You, YES YOU! Are the Leader
Though the above is required, you need to be a good guild leader at the same time. To be a good guild leader you have to be sociable person with everyone in the guild, you need to be commanding on what to do and always think about if it is best for the guild, and use your officers wisely for they also portray the guild too. Help your guild and they will help you in return. A very important thing about guilds though is if you are aiming to be famous then you need be devoted to it (may be hard if you have a full-time real life job). Being devoted can impress your guild members and other players in the game.

Friends and Hindering
Being on a friends list is very important (it is your helping hand) as well as being the guild leader of a highly respected guild. Do not do anything that you think could hinder your reputation. Doing so can ruin everything because people always remember the bad over the good.

Multi-Core Cpu Architecture and WoW / Lag and Graphical tweaks

2011-02-15T15:48:00.001-05:00

The TLDR version of this guide

Also, as a little side note. If you decide to edit your config file you obviously need to open it. Right click on it, click open with, and open it in notepad, word, or any other text editor.

Updated for 4.0:
They changed wow in 3.1 to run on more processor threads. Originally it was running on 2 main threads with several smaller threads handling simpler tasks. As of 3.1 there are now 3 main threads, and many more smaller threads. This means that forcing wow to run over all 3 cores may prove more beneficial then having it run over only 2 cores, as now you can"force" it to use all of the available cores.

If you want more information on what exactly setting the masks values does, and how it works, look in the CPU stuff section of the article.

These are the new recommended affinity mask values taking into account three available cores:

Intel:
i7 Qudcore with Ht- 84
i5 Quadcore which does not have HT - 14
i5 Dualcore with HT- 5 (note - wow will default run over both availabile processors in dual core systems - no gain may be experienced)
Dualcore with HT- 5 (note - wow will default run over both availabile processors in dual core systems - no gain may be experienced)
Dualcore without HT - 3 (note - wow will default run over both availabile processors in dual core systems - no gain may be experienced)
I7 - Hex core (6 logical / 6 virtual) - 1344

AMD:
AMD tricore - 7
AMD quad core ( Phenom series ) - 14
AMD hex core - 56

TCPAckFrequency portion of the latency fixes can be done manually or by using the Leatrix utility. Look at the bottom of this post for the steps or download Leatrix's Latency fix from WoWInterface. Its verified to work, and does exactly what the manual steps illustrated below will do. I have examined his code myself, it's visual basic, and it emulates the exact functionality that I go over in this thread. If you're lazy and like using apps, try his. If you prefer to learn and do things yourself, take a look at the lag stuff portion of the article.

However, the Leatrix tool will not be able to to the TCPNoDelay tweak, that one must be done on your own. As mentioned, the steps are listed below.

CPU STUFF

The CVAR value which controls what cores wow ill run over is SET processAffinityMask ""

If fore whatever reason this is missing from your config file you can manually add it, by copying and pasting it from above. In between the quotes is where the number for the mask value goes. For example, SET processAffinityMask "84"

This should clear up any confusion some people were having.

I recently have been toying around with assigning certain running processes on my computer to certain cores on my PC via Affinity I/O controls. I have an Intel i7 quad core. I know a lot of people use this processor, and a few others use AMD phenom cores. In any event whether you use dual core, quad core, or hexcore the following information pertains to you.

Config.wtf is located in the WoW/WTF game folder. Contained in this file is CVAR's a.k.a console variables or in some cases referred to as configurable variables. These variables allow you to manipulate program settings often found in games and other applications. I used to edit this config file a lot in the past to manipulate camera settings but never really paid much attention to the CVAR's. There is a ton of variables that can be changed and manipulated within this file, but for the purpose of this write up we will only talk about AffinityMask CVAR.

WoW is a threaded application meaning it can take advantage of more than 1 single core. However, no matter how many cores you have, WoW cannot take advantage of more than 3 main threads(after patch 3.3.3). After monitoring process activity on each core, I saw that when I started WoW, core 1's activity spiked while my other cores were remaining pretty low. The majority of applications that run on my computer are not threaded meaning that for the most part they either default to core 1 or windows will dictate which core the application is processed through. Having WoW run on core 1 as well as all my other programs run on it seems counter productive as the other cores have no work load. This is the main point behind why you want to set affinity mask values. So that you can force WoW to run over less busier cores therefore reducing any type of cpu bottleneck that may occur during heavy gaming sessions.

The whole point of this is we can force WoW to run on whatever cores we want, up to 3 cores in total. We can change the Affinity CVAR value from the default which is 3. The default value of 3 has wow running over cores 1 and 2. You have to think though that this isn't really running over physical cores 1 and 2. Instead it is running over 1 physical core/ and one virtual core.See below chart I put it in quotes:

A Dual Core processor :[CORE1][CORE1Virtual][CORE2][CORE2Virtual]
Core numbers: 1 2 3 4
A Quad Core: [CORE1][CORE1Virtual][CORE2][CORE2Virtual][CORE3]
Core numbers: 1 2 3 4 5
[CORE3Virtual][CORE4][CORE4Virtual]
6 7 8

This is what is called hyper threading which basically splits each core into 2. 1 physical core and 1 virtual core. Which means that on quad cores we have a total of 8 cores. It isn't really a virtual core, but for the sake of argument we can call it that. Each core on the chip has circuitry on it that splits that core into two separate entities in software. Look up hyper threading if you want more of an explanation its to long to write out and really off topic for this.

This is also the reason the default value of 3 is not recommended. If you reference the above chart, a value of 3 has wow running over only the first core. Which means that's, even in a dual core system, the second core is not being utilized.

If you have a dual core processor with hyper threading you can stop reading here and set your CVAR value for affinity mask to 5. What this does is force wow to run over the actual hardware cores of your computer instead of having it run over 1 physical and 1 virtual. Make sense?

Dual core set your value to 5 and your done. This will force WoW to run on cores 1 and 3 which in actuality represent the 2 physical cores in a single processor w/ dual cores.

____________________________

For single processor/ quad core it becomes somewhat more complex because instead of being

[CORE1][CORE1Virtual][CORE2][CORE2Virtual]

it turns into

[CORE1][CORE1Virtual][CORE2][CORE2Virtual]
[CORE3][CORE3Virtual][CORE4][CORE4Virtual]

4 phyiscal cores / 4 threaded (virtual) cores = 8 logical cores (the chart above also shows this)

The mask/CVAR values also become more complex. See my chart below.

Logical Cores: |C1|C(v)1| |C2|C(v)2| |C3|C(v)3| |C4|C(v)4|

Core Number: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

Mask Values: 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128

Binary translation: We have to reverse the processor cores around since binary is read right to left, like Hebrew.

|C(v)4|C4| |C(v)3|C3| |C(v)2|C2| |C(v)1|C1|

In dual core systems setting the value to 5 would allow you to make wow run on physical core 1 and core 2, which we already went over. The default value of 3 has wow running on 1 physical core and 1 virtual core which are both parts of the same core in reality, which we also went over. In quad core systems you can set it to 5 as well like we do for dual cores, but you can also set different numbers. You want to stay away from running the game on virtual cores and run it only on 3 out of the 4 physical cores. The beauty of quad core is that we do not have to run anything on core 1, like you do with dual core processors. Core 1 is the most used core of all the 4 physical cores since it is the default core most applications run on. In my case I wanted wow to run over physical cores 2/ 3/ 4.

I typed in 80 which would be cores 3 and 4 as per the above chart, you have to add the decimal values that I listed in the chart above that correspond to the core numbers that you want to enable. Now if you convert 80 to its binary equivalent 1010000 *Remember binary is read from right to left* Now if you match up that number to the binary translation chart.

for cores 3/4 - CVAR value 80

|C(v)4|C4| |C(v)3|C3| |C(v)2|C2| |C(v)1|C1|
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

for cores 2/4 - CVAR value 68

|C(v)4|C4| |C(v)3|C3| |C(v)2|C2| |C(v)1|C1|
0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

you could even have it run on cores 1/4 if you wanted with the value 65

|C(v)4|C4| |C(v)3|C3| |C(v)2|C2| |C(v)1|C1|
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

For most people I would recommend a value of 84. Cores 2, 3 and 4 are used virtually never.

People who have done this tweak report, in some cases, double their fps.

LAG STUFF

I have been using this for a while, and I noticed substantial results with it. If you have random lag spikes, lag all the time, or internet problems this may help you out a bit.

Its kind of old school now, but a lot of people don't seem to know about it though so figured I would include it here. Depending on your system settings it can drastically improve ping times due to TCP/ACK response times.

Basically at the root of this tweak is changing the frequency at which TCP ACKS's or acknowledgments are sent out, it also disables NAGLE. Most know that TCP/IP works with data packets, the header of the packet contains destination port information as well as source port, followed by sequence and acknowledgment numbers, data offset, and then lastly the data itself.

By default the TCPackfrequency is set to 2 in windows. Other programs that you might have installed can manipulate this number though, some network drivers for certain cards also can edit it as well. A value of 2 means that for every 2 tcp packets you computer receives an acknowledgment packet is sent. It basically tells the sending end, in the case of wow the server, that I received the data you sent me. The below reg tweak changes this value from whatever it is set to on your PC to a value of 1. It takes about a total of 2 minutes to make this change anyway, it is very simple.

TcpAckFrequency defaults to 2. At this setting, copying a
250 MB file from the server takes 45 seconds. That's not a terrible
result, but I'm just establishing a baseline.

Microsoft Windows 2003 performance guidelines recommends a setting for TCP
ACK of 13 for gigabit Ethernet. Setting TcpAckFrequency to 13 on the
client yields copy time of 20+ minutes!!

Microsoft recommends a TCP ACK setting of 5 for 10/100 networks. Setting
to 5 yields copy time of 18 minutes!!

Finally, I tried setting to TcpAckFrequency of 3. This yields copy time of
13 minutes.

In the case of wow a much higher number will generate a retarded amount of lag while a lower number should remove it.

The second part of the hack is TCP no delay. Setting this value to 1, disables the Nagle algorithm in the TCP stack. The nagle algorithm buffers up TCP packets and arranges them in a way that balances the size of the packets with the delay in sending it. It can rearrange different packets of different sizes coming from different programs on your computer and it sends out the bits and pieces that are easier to send first. It prioritizes and it also will wait for a packet to fill until sending it. Its kind of like QOS on a router, prioritizing certain pieces of data over others.

This is normally a good thing as it balances the load of a network if you have multiple PC's going at a time, and the delay is typically not noticeable with normal internet surfing etc. However, with WoW, any bit of lag is noticeable. Any bit of delay can mean the difference between living and dieing, wiping the raid or being the hero. On our level of internet usage, the TCP buffer/prioritization from nagle can affect performance. The second part of the tweak disables this. Instead of allowing Nagle to do its thing we are basically telling it, "choke and die, do not buffer the packets and wait to send them, just push them out NOW!!! NO u no u."

Here are the actual tweak steps:

-TcpAckFrequency -

Type "regedit" in windows "run.." dialog to bring up registry menu

Then find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\

There will be multiple NIC interfaces listed in there, find the one you use to connect to the internet, there will be several interfaces listed (they have long names like{7DBA6DCA-FFE8-4002-A28F-4D2B57AE8383}. Click each one, the right one will have lots of settings in it and you will see your machines IP address listed there as one of the values.

-Right-click in the right hand pane and add a new DWORD value, name it TcpAckFrequency, then right click the entry and click Modify and assign a value of 1.

You can change it back to 2 (default) at a later stage if it affects your other TCP application performance. it tells windows how many TCP packets to wait before sending ACK. if the value is 1, windows will send ACK every time it receives a TCP package.

Again make sure you set it to 1.

- TCPNoDelay -
This one is pretty simple

Type "regedit" in windows "run.." dialog to bring up registry menu

Then find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Paramet ers

Right-click in the right hand pane and add a new DWORD value, name it TCPNoDelay, then right click the entry and click Modify and assign a value of 1.

Click Ok and close the registry editor, then reboot your PC.

FOR WINDOWS VISTA/7 HOME ONLY PEOPLE:

I just want to note that the MSMQ key DOES NOT EXIST IN WINDOWS VISTA/7 HOME BY DEFAULT. If you cannot find the MSMQ key, then please do this instead:

Open up notepad and paste in the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Paramet ers]
"TCPNoDelay"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Paramet ers\OCMsetup]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Paramet ers\Security]
"SecureDSCommunication"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Paramet ers\setup]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Setup]

Save the file as Lag.reg ---- Run the file, say yes to the prompt. This will automatically enter all the above reg values for you.

WINDOWS 7/VISTA STUFF

This section is dedicated to core parking. Core parking is a feature that will disable cores in real time that are not being used, as a power saving feature. The OS will then switch them back on as needed.

This poses a problem while gaming at times, because if you are out farming herbs/ore and their isn't very much graphical intensive activity going on some of the cores on your cpu may be disabled.

Lets say you then take a queue for Tol Barad, and you are shot right into the midst of angry battle. Fire is raining from the sky, green little lasers are flying at your face, and there are 25 angry alliance bum rushing your node. The OS will then flick the cores back on again.

The problem is that sometimes this process of turning the cores on and off causes noticeable video lag or screen tearing. Neither of which you want to deal with especially in pvp.

The following steps will disable this annoying feature.

Shut off Core parking:

- Go to Regedit

- Find this key:- " 0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583 "

- Within this key, there is a value called: " ValueMax "

- This value represents the % number of cores the system will park - the default 100% ie: all Cores are potentially park-able

- Change the value from 64 to 0 so the " ValueMin " and " ValueMax " are both zero

- You will have to find the key a few times and repeat the process for each time it is found - the number of instances will depend on the number of power profiles in your system

- Do a full shutdown and power-off and cold-re-start

GRAPHICAL/DX11 STUFF

If you have a graphics card that supports DX11, and are running on Vista/7, then you can potentially unlock a 20-30% gain in FPS while playing WoW by doing the following:

-Open your config.wtf file (located in ...\World of Warcraft\WTF\) with notepad.
-add the line SET gxApi "d3d11"

This will unlock experimental dx11 support for wow(full support will probably be implemented in a future patch), it made me jump from 80fps to 100fps. Not a noticeable increase to my eye.

There have been numerous articles linked in the pages that follow this guide about how many FPS the human eye can actually see. Some say 30, some say 60, some say 200. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so is your sensitivity to FPS. Some of us who have a more acute sense of sight may notice the jumps in fps even at higher values like I mentioned above.

In conclusion, the above DX11 tweak is definitely beneficial, and you have absolutely nothing to lose by trying it out. You have nothing to lose by trying any of these tweaks out as all of them are completely reversible.

Thank you for reading, and please post in the thread or send me a PM if you have further questions on something written here. Feel free to recommend adding things to the guide. I will certainly try and keep up to date on any type of new tweaks, or changes in the game and update the guide with further suggestions in the future.

Running a Guild for Dummies

2011-02-14T12:36:00.000-05:00

Throughout this guide I will be using The Guild Leader’s Handbook by Scott F. Andrews, writer for WoWInsider’s guild column, “Officer’s Quarters” as a reference.

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since it released and I’ve also played various other MMOs prior to WoW, so I have quite an extensive amount of experience relating to the leadership and conduct of guilds, clans, and other forms of organized play. While this guide has been written based on World of Warcraft ideology, feel free to use it as it applies to your individual situation.

While I have worked very hard to compile this guide, please keep in mind that it is only a general overview of being a guild leader and lacks specificity. My intent was for you to take knowledge from this guide and for you to use it as a reference, connecting this information to that of specific events in the game world with a general outlook.

Also please keep in mind that this guide has been prepared subjectively and has been written because I feel that you may benefit from my thoughts, experiences, and overall opinion on how a guild can be run successfully. You may disagree on some points and I encourage such thought because that allows you to prepare a thorough analysis of certain aspects of running your guild.

A New Beginning

Creating a guild can be difficult. There are so many things you should be thinking about when you’re starting a guild. You should be thinking beyond the name – what do you want your guild to be about? What kind of overall personality should your guild have? What is the foundation you will be setting for your guild? Do you want to create a guild full of elitist pro-gamers, or would you rather have a helpful, loyal group of slower-progressing individuals with less free time on their hands? Think about what you want your guild to represent.

Create a guild based on your desires. What kind of a guild do you want to be in? PvE or PvP? Don’t bother with creating a leveling guild if you’re interested in raiding and not guiding anyone through the levels – you’ll be wasting your own time. I’m going to be up front with you, if you want to build a guild exclusively for max-level raiders, you’re going to have a hard time recruiting as a level 23. As a leader, you need to set an example for others to follow, starting with your recruitment specifications. If you want to create a casual leveling guild, you’ll have an easier time if you’re either leveling yourself or willing to help others level (or both, being the ideal combination).

Large or Small?

Also keep in mind how big you want your guild to be. Not everyone wants to be in a huge guild full of gossip, cliques, and drama along with a plethora of crafters, raiders, and experienced players, then again not everyone wants to be in a small guild with less resources either. There are pros and cons to each, and at this point you just need to decide what works best for you and go from there. With more people, you will spend more time managing the guild as whole and organizing events that will keep everyone on their toes – this should be taken into consideration if time is an issue for you. If you own a copy of The Guild Leader’s Handbook and you’d like to see a visual of the advantages and drawbacks of large and small guilds, refer to Table 1-1 Advantages and drawbacks of Large Guilds and Table 1-2 Advantages and drawbacks of small guilds on page 31 as well as the Guild Identity Flowchart on page 56.

Naming Your Guild

Once you’ve given some thought to what you want your guild to represent, the name should come easier to you. You want your guild name to accurately define your guild in a general way. Try to keep your guild name concise and to the point; names like “Midget Gnome Kings of Stormwind” (if that even fits in the name prompt window) lack meaning and are a turnoff for potential recruits. Just the same, try to refrain from names that are too vague or too specific, such as “Stormwind Knights,” “Epic,” or “Raiders.” Work on finding that middle ground; some good guild names include “Work Harder,” “On The Farm,” and “Show Gnomercy.” Try to refrain from names that can have a double meaning, such as “Game Over” – who’s the game over for: them or you?

Guild Policies

Now that you’ve conceptualized your guild’s overall personality and you’ve come up with a guild name, work on the ground rules. You want your job as a moderator and a leader to be as simple as possible, and you can accomplish this by setting ground rules that cover everything. One thing I’ve learned as a guild leader is that you don’t want to be too specific here – if you’re too specific, people will skip around and end up not reading the more important stuff. Be broad and still to the point; a basic outline will be sufficient. One thing you should be sure to let everyone know here is that they should leave their drama at the log in screen – sometimes it’s necessary to clear the air about things, but when it gets out of hand you may watch dozens of members leave your guild if you don’t handle the situation quickly and effectively.

Promotion Process

After you’ve created a basic outline of guild policies, outline how your promotion process works. One thing that irks me about many guilds is that their promotion process is often completely random. You want your promotion process to be a tool of thanks to members you want to recognize and appreciate for their contribution to your guild. If you’re a leveling guild, perhaps you’ll decide to base ranks purely on level, or if you’re a raiding guild, perhaps you’ll base the ranks on gear score – from personal experience, this type of system annoys many loyal, helpful members, so I encourage you to create a system based on how helpful people are instead. However, you don’t want to get nitty-gritty here either. I’ve based my rank system on points which a member accumulates by helping other members; a sort of reputation system if you will, and it didn’t work because it became overly-complicated to the members. Spreadsheets shouldn’t really be required for promotions, and if you do use them, calculation formulas should not be needed!

Function Over Novelty

You can create a guild website for your guild now or wait until later. Perhaps you don’t have the means to create one and you’ll need to enlist a willing member instead. Whatever the case, just keep in mind that many accomplished gamers will require their guild-to-be to have a guild website where information is posted in an organized way, which is perfectly understandable. Just the same, you can choose to acquire a voice chat server (preferably on Ventrilo or TeamSpeak) or put it off until later. Voice chat is really only necessary for raiding guilds trying to take down bosses in complicated raid encounters; one can get through a leveling dungeon quite easily without voice chat. If money is an issue, look for a free guild webhost, such as GuildZilla orWowStead, just the same you may also be able to secure yourself a free channel on a fellow friend’s Ventrilo server. Money shouldn’t keep you from running a guild (unless it keeps you from paying for your WoW subscription, that’s different), so don’t feel bad about putting a little donation box on your free website that allows members to toss a few bucks in for whatever cause they so desire (consider including a dropdown with options that they can choose to support, ex. Ventrilo, raider has financial struggles – pay for their month of WoW, etc.).

Running Your Guild

Now that you’ve created your guild, you’ll need to start recruiting. If you want a larger leveling guild, perhaps you will go through broad recruitment to pick up as many members as possible. If you’re looking to build a smaller guild, you will want to take careful consideration as to who gets in your guild. One thing’s for sure: you definitely want to steer clear of the selfish “I will ninja everything” personality types. When you announce recruitment in the appropriate “Looking For Guild” channel, be sure to specify exactly what your guild is about – if you’re PvE or PvP, leveling or raiding, casual or hardcore, large or small, be sure to say so in your recruitment message – you don’t want anyone to walk in feeling half blind, otherwise they’ll more than likely be the first ones out the door.

Applications

Eventually (or initially, whichever you prefer), you may want to create an application process. Try to make your application rather simple to navigate through but also require that initial effort – get applicants to read through your guild’s mission statement and/or rules by asking them a question about a specific part. Find out enough about this person through the application that will allow you to make a judgment on rather or not they would be a good match for your guild. Be sure to follow up with the applicant to let them know if they have been accepted, declined, or if you want to have a group run with them to find out more about them.

Officers

You’ll need to find officers. Officers are essential because they provide your members with a feeling of support and prevent them from feeling oppressed by an all-too-powerful tyrant dictator who does nothing except make unilateral decisions that have backlash on the rest of their members. In finding officers, look for quality members who represent the values that you’ve molded your guild after. An officer is an authoritative figure in your guild and should be looked up to, so if they’re the one breaking all of your rules, they’re probably not a good candidate for the position. Be sure you get to know them before promoting them – making every founding member an officer after just randomly inviting them to get your charter filled up is probably one of the worst things you can do as a guild leader.

Discuss!

Talk to your guild members. Nothing’s worse than an empty, inactive guild chat channel. What a waste of a channel! When members start talking about things, the shy ones start chipping in here and there and eventually you have a budding bounty of conversational people who actually care about each other, thus providing them loyalty to your guild. A guild channel full of bashing and thrashing with bitingly sarcastic and venomous monster-members is equally as terrible, and you should ensure that this type of madness is cut to the quick at the point it starts to erupt. Sometimes you may be forced to remove a member or two, but always take careful consideration when you have to do this and try to talk to them about what’s going on.

Loyalty Is a Necessity Among Members

Loyalty is extremely important. Without loyalty, members will up and leave your guild at the drop of a pin without so much as saying good-bye, or by saying good bye they will go on a mad rant in which you and your cherished members will be caught in the crossfire. Besides initiating and carrying out some meaningful conversations, you can also show appreciation to your members by recognizing them for their efforts and using the promotion process you’ve previously created.

Care Packages

Everyone needs to be recognized at some point, and one great way to recognize your members and provide them with more loyalty for your guild are “care packages,” if you can afford to provide them. Care packages are gifts that you can choose to send your members for various reasons to acknowledge them. I used to send my members a veteran’s package every six months which included a bounty of consumables and a nice little thank you note (via the in-game mail system) for which they were extremely appreciative. I also used to mail our new members bags, as it gets extremely annoying as a newbie to the server to be without bags to hold everything. This wasn’t the best idea because these members ended up getting lazy for the most part and expecting the guild to afford everything they dreamed of, so it is my recommendation that if you’ve decided to create a leveling guild, that you reserve the bag handouts for contests or members that have been active in your guild. Also, I used to mail out retiring packages to members who quit the guild on good terms. These retiring packages contained about a week’s supply of consumables to tide our former members over for a little while so they would have a smoother transition into their new guild. Often that very consideration brought members back with a new appreciation for our guild later down the road.

Be Server-Wide

Finally, build a good reputation between your guild and your server. Encourage members to do things to help out the server and work with others in the community to spread the word about your guild. A great way to handle this sort of thing is to see if you can help manage a sticky on your realm’s forums, for which people will be extremely grateful and they’ll get to know you as an organized guild leader and contributor to the server.

How to play your Mut Rogue (in a nutshell)

2011-02-06T07:12:00.000-05:00

I've recently had to go over a slew of potential rogue recruits with some of our officers. Most who are taking advantage of the higher numbers of mut vs. combat. I personally play combat and have since combat swords was viable but, this doesn't mean I don't know how to play Mut. So to help out some of these other guys, I'm putting a quick guide together.

Talents

Well we'll start with talents. Your spec should be 31/2/8 and for those of you who have difficulty figuring out what increases your dps and what DOESN'T, here is a link Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Hopefully I don't have to justify my talent choices but if you have questions I will answer via comments.

Glyphs

For Prime Glyphs you will want to use Mutilate, Rupture, and Backstab. Slice and dice makes the rotation easier but won't increase your dps. A Major glyph you will want is Feint regardless. You want glyph of kick if you're raiding too, it allows you to handle more interrupts or pick up someone elses if they screw up in raids, and many of Cata's fights include interrupts.

Gear

When choosing gear, keep your stat priority in mind. Your stat priority is Agility>Hit until 1332>Mastery>Haste>Expertise>Crit>Hit after 1332

You want 1332 hit in order to reach the spell (or poison) hit cap for raids. Poisons are almost all of your damage, which is the reason mastery is the next most important secondary stat. Agi is FAR more valuable than any other stat.

On your weapons, of course, you should have Deadly Poison on your OH, Instant Poison on your MH

Enchants:
Head: Head enchant from Ramkahen
Cloak: +22 Agi until a better one comes out
Shoulders: Shoulder enchant from Therazane
Chest: +20 Stats
Bracers: +65 Haste
Gloves: +65 Mastery
Legs: Dragonscale leg armor or the LW equivelant
Boots: +35 Agi
Weapons: Landslide. It's VASTLY superior. Don't even get another enchant, save and get landslide. I have it on both of my weapons and I barely ever farm gold, so don't even bitch.

For gemming, you'll want to match the sockets based on stat priority for the most part, but use common sense, if the bonus is something like +20 crit, dont bother. Honestly, you lose a negligible amount of damage by dumbing it down and just getting +40 agi in everything. It isn't much.

Rotation

For your rotation, which is more important than gear spec and glyphs put together, you have to keep a few things in mind. The first is THERE IS NO ROTATION. Energy procs from Rupture and varying amount of combo points in finishers screws that up.

So your rotation is more like this: Open with Garrote, Use SnD off of that, hit a 4-5 point Rupture, whichever you get. At this point, if you can get a 4-5 point Envenom before SnD goes down, do so, if not, get a smaller Envenom to refresh SnD. Continue Mutilating to 4-5 points and using Envenom until Rupture is about to fall, then pop a 4-5 point Rupture. Your goal is to keep both Rupture and SnD up 100% of the time, but if you have to choose, Envenom and keep SnD up over Rupture. Pop Cooldowns as they come up and remember Vanish is an offensive cooldown.

After the boss drops below 35% replace mutilate with backstab and use 5 point finishers. This is your execute phase.

Situational Abilities

Feint: Feint can be used to reduce AoE damage by quite a lot. Use it on every AoE mechanic.

Cloak of Shadows: Your best friend. Trivializes many mechanics. Drops a large variety of debuffs, even "Acquiring Target" on Omnotron Defense System, saving your raid from the flamethrower!

Recuperate: I know it isn't much... but in some fights it makes it WAY easier. On the Chimera boss in BWD you can use it to get your health up above 10k, which is ALL you need. When healing is needed on the entire raid, use it religiously when you have the energy and combo points to spare.

Redirect: Not a major one in most fights, but when you're switching targets a lot on certain fights it is quite useful, please remember you have it to maximize your DPS and keep your rotation running

Dismantle: Not useful in raids, but some heroic bosses can actually be dismantled, notably, the second boss in Grim Batol's swords.

Shiv: IT DROPS ENRAGES NOW. NO MORE STUPID ASS ANESTHETIC POISON!

Tricks of the Trade: If you have aggro trouble, and you shouldn't if you properly follow this guide, because after overkill drops you should be vanishing, USE TRICKS, DON'T BE STUBBORN.

The man who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself

2011-02-01T12:11:00.001-05:00

I forgot to add this to my update post and a couple of you who follow me on twitter may of seen my tweet. With my prot paladin slowly becoming my favorite toon to play I felt I needed something a little more out-standish on him rather than his normal flying and snow gryphon. I spend most of my day on him, running heroics for guild mates, powerleveling lowbies in instances or just flaunting his 163,400 unbuffed health. Even with all that being done...I felt like he was still just the lowest form of an alt...until this happened...

I was tanking a daily heroic for a couple guildmates' alts and managed to get Stonecore. We had no problem breezing through, killed Slabhide with no issue, looted him, saw two windows pop up, one had purple writing. I intially thought, sweet, a BoE world drop, someone is gonna make some coin. Then I realized it was Reins of the Vitreous Stone Drake. At this point, my eyes lit up, this was exactly what I needed. Fortunately, a friend and guildmate won the roll, as he was on an alt and a druid, he willingly passed the mount to me. I was ecstatic and couldn't wait to be done just to go blow 5k on epic flying and learn the mount.

Even out of all the mounts I have across my account, my Rusted Proto with a top 100 date, several old school mounts, this one is by far my favorite and does a wonderful job at making my paladin feel all the more important....now if they'll just fix the damn mounting on it....

Random Update, Defender, Guild Recruitment....

2011-01-31T14:17:00.000-05:00

It's been nearly a week since my last post, I apologize. I've got a couple more guides I'm working on, mostly gear guides for combat rogues and protection paladins. I've been pretty busy since my last post, my main (Jcache, combat rogue) finally got his ', Defender of a Shattered World' after a horrible night spent on Al'Akir 25m, that fight is horribly tuned versus the 10m version, its almost sickening considering the gear you get.

My guild seems to be doing well, having to turn back to recruitment for a couple slots. Our Ele Shammy is going to need to turn his focus to school very soon, so we're on the hunt for an elemental shaman. Our mut rogue requested to be demoted to a social after riding the bench and missing out on some of our 'big' kills, so, we're also interested in another rogue of any variety. One of the DKs decided to up and go play with "RL" friends, pretty unexpected, one of our Invincibles gone /cry. He forgot to remove a few people from realID and was seen to be raiding on another server within an hour or so of his transfer...kind of fishy but, the less melee the better, yet we're still in the market for a DK.

We started our 10-man alt-run last night. Absolutely horrid raid comp, we went in with Prot Paladin, Bear Druid, Frost DK, BM Hunter, Spriest, Fire? Mage, Boomkin, Holy Priest, Resto Druid, Holy Pally. We managed to tackle Magmaw and Omnitron with no issue other than slow DPS. Now, Im well aware of Blizzard's "Bring the player not the class" policy, but holy f*** what I wouldn't of given for a shammy for wind sheer, or a rogue for kick...or both. Myself (Prot pally, Thrilladin) got the main tank spot, which I was fine with. After facegrinding Maloriak for several attempts and having too many adds spawning due to missed interrupts we decided to head over to Bastion. Wyrmbreaker we had...Slate, Nether and Stormrider. Freeing Storm first, only to not be able to catch Shadow Nova on every CD wipes us several times...we ended up calling it a night at that point. Overall, I'm decently happy with killing two bosses and happy that we could pull 10 people together for an alt run. Hopefully with an adjustment to group comp we'll make things work and see more progression.

Prospectin' Made Easy

2011-01-25T06:17:00.000-05:00

Prospecting has always been a decent way to make gold. Its one of the more complicated ways to make gold and even involves some risk. Some of the people who use the raw ore for prospecting take it seriously enough that they run spreadsheets similar to raiders eying their next upgrade. Well, today I'd like to feature Ore Crusher, an in-game prospecting spreadsheet.

OreCrusher - Addons - Curse

Simply scan the AH with Auctioneer, and then type "/oc" or "/theoc" or"/orecrusher". You can force GetAuctionBuyout when you have Auctioneer installed by using the toggle command:"/oc altbuyout". Fill in the stack information, and the addon will do the rest. It will give you an idea of how much to spent per stack of ore to insure you make a profit.