Free to Play Twinking

Hotfixes November 27 - December 5, Transmogrification News, and F2P Death Knights

2012-12-05T16:48:00.001-08:00

Since 5.1 there have been a couple of hotfixes already applied to realms, some of which effect Free to Play characters. It's not much, but hunters have been decently buffed.

PvP

Players are now correctly affected by silencing effects.

Classes

Hunter

Aspect of the Hawk now increases ranged attack power by 15% (up from 10%).

Disengage now properly removes root effects when used with the talent Posthaste.

Serpent Sting's damage has been increased by 100%, and it's focus cost is now 15 (down from 25).

Paladin

Holy Wrath now correctly benefits from Attack Power and Spell Power.

In addition, according to Zarhym, we should soon be able to transmog Main Hand/Off-hand weapons into One-handers, and vice versa. Personally looking forward to this change myself, as it opens up a couple of new options.

Last up, we've got something that's been making the rounds recently for Free to Play characters: Death Knights! That's right, someone has discovered a way for Free to Play characters to create Death Knights, which opens up quite a few possibilities. Creating one is quite simple.

Switch to the realm Nemesis. If you are US, this is in the Brazil or Latin America tab. If you are EU, I believe it is an Italian realm.
Create a Death Knight there. It will allow you to do so regardless of your highest character being 20.
Delete the Death Knight. You can now create a Death Knight on any realm!

However, there is a strict limitation on them. You can ONLY use them "once". After logging into your Death Knight, if you log out, get disconnected, or otherwise exit out of the game, you will be completely unable to access that character again. You will be presented with a character locked error upon attempting to log in past the first time. This means that all those new achievements that are now possible with your brand new Death Knight, will have to be done in a single sitting, or in a way that you do not ever leave the game after making your character.

May your blades never dull,

~Thirk

Free to Play FAQ and Information

2012-12-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

Where do I get heirlooms? How do I get Justice Points?
Probably the most common question asked is, where are heirlooms obtained? A lot of people seem to assume that they aren't even available for Starter Accounts, but that isn't true. All of these heirlooms are obtainable through Honor gained from battlegrounds.

For the heirlooms requiring Justice Points, you can convert Honor to Justice Points at a 375:250 ratio from theHorde or Alliance vendors. Cloak and Helm heirlooms are not available to Starter Accounts.

How do I get bags? What kind of bags can I get?
Aside from dropped bags, reputation satchels are available if you hit revered with your home factions by doing dungeons with these tabards equipped. This bag is also easily obtainable 1 week per month. These will fill all your slots and obtainable bank slots.

Both factions can attempt to obtain this bag, which can drop from the Gurubashi Arena chest.

What titles are obtainable? How do I get Ambassador?
The most common title you will see Starter Accounts running around with is Ambassador. This is easily obtained (but will take quite a while) by running dungeons with these tabards equipped.

Apart from Ambassador, almost all titles obtainable at level 1 are obtainable for Starter Accounts (the exception being 'the Explorer', as Starter Accounts cannot access Northrend and cannot complete the achievement). This includes the following titles:
'the Noble',
'the Diplomat',
'of the Horde',
'the Bloodthirsty',
'Guardian of Cenarius' ,
'the Hallowed' - This title was only available for a short time and is now grandfathered.

What primary professions can I get? What secondary professions can I get?
All primary professions are available up to 100 skill. Enchanting and Leatherworking are staples for gearing your character, as they provide the only available enchantments.

All secondary professions, with the exception of Archaeology, are available, with Cooking and Fishing obtainable up to 525 skill, and First Aid up to 225 skill. This enables us to make and use Mageweave Bandages.

How do I get enchantments for my gear? How do I get armor kits?
The only way to obtain enchantments is to level Enchanting and Leatherworking yourself and provide yourself with enchants. These enchantments are available for Starter Accounts from Enchanting, and these armor kits are available from Leatherworking. Blood Elves also have access to these additional enchantments because of their racial ability.

What is the Lucky Fishing Hat? How do I get it?
You can find that information and more here.

What is the Arena Grand Master? How do I get it?
You can find that information and more here.

What about the characters running around with Bind on Equip items?
Bind on Equip items need to be obtained on the character you wish to use them on. With the launch of Cataclysm, there are now chests spawned out in the world with guaranteed rare loot. The most useful one for Starter Accounts is the Sturdy Treasure Chest, which is found in Ashenvale (among other areas), and can contain very useful rares. There are also zone drops that need to be farmed for.

What type of vanity can I collect? What type of vanity is popular?
The most common vanity for Starter Accounts seems to be the Darkmoon Faire items, the Swift Lovebird(obtainable only during Love is in the Air), the Swift Springstrider (obtainable only during Noblegarden), the Sea Turtle (which can only be fished up in Cataclysm zones (and Darkmoon Island)), and the many obtainable dropped pets. This pirate hat is also common.

What's grandfathered?
Luckily, this bracket has the least grandfathering done of any others. The only 'effective' grandfathering in the bracket is 'the Hallowed' title, as shortly after the event an achievement was made no longer obtainable for Starter Accounts or any character under level 83. However, paid accounts and players who obtained grandfathered gear on old Trials may have a small collection of gear that is not available anymore. It's effect on this bracket, however, is less than minimal, and most of the gear is vanity.

How do I chat with others and find other Free to Play twinks?
Most F2P players are using F2PAddon to talk to each other and create groups or queue together. The designated realm for this addon is Aerie Peak, but it is taking off on other realms as well (please read through the forum and the sticky for this addon for more information).

Patch 5.1

2012-11-27T12:21:00.002-08:00

Patch 5.1 will bring a number of changes to the play environment, and a decent amount of them are balance changes and UI changes that DO affect Free to Play players. An interesting feature is the "Crowd Control UI" that will help you discern when you are silenced, which should help some people out. Here's a short compilation of the changes directly affecting the F2P bracket. These are not complete changes and this post will be updated to reflect upcoming changes.

General

The durations of all Disarm effects have been reduced to 8 seconds.
The caster version of Rune of Perfection now gives +10 hit instead of spell penetration.
The Booty Bay fishing tournament is now merged with the Kalu'ak fishing tournament, and can have three winners.

Classes

Druid

Mangle has received a damage buff.
Rake damage reduced by 18%.

Balance

Starfire and Starsurge have received damage buffs.

Guardian

Thick Hide now reduces physical damage taken by 12% in addition to it's previous effect.

Hunter

Steady Shot is now usable while moving.

Marksmanship

Careful Aim critical strike chance bonus lowered to 75% (from 90%), but health threshold reduced to 80% (was 90%).

Mage
Arcane

Arcane has received a slight blanket nerf in damage to compensate for damage gained from the new Arcane Charge passive.

Priest

Penance has received a big nerf in base damage but a buff in spell coefficient (to 103.7%, from 63.5%).
Psyfiend Psychic Terror cast time has been increased to 2 seconds, up from 1.5 seconds.
Dominate Mind no longer has a cooldown, but it's cast time has been increased to 2.5 seconds, up from 1.5 seconds.

Rogue

Kick now costs 10 energy (down from 15).

Shaman

Lightning Bolt damage increased slightly.
All totems are now considered spells, and summoning totems can be prevented by silencing effects. Searing Totem, Magma Totem, and Fire Elemental Totem fall into the Fire school, while all other totems fall under the Nature school.

Warrior

Execute damage slightly reduced.
Impending Victory and Victory Rush damage changed to a base amount.

Fury

Wild Strike damage slightly increased.
Bloodthirst damage slightly reduced.

Mists of Pandaria: Thirk F2P returns? Quick tips for your return to the bracket!

2012-09-07T03:24:00.000-07:00

This is going to be the first blog post in almost a year. In the past 12 months, the Free to Play bracket has had a lot of turbulence. If you're coming back because of MoP like I am, read this post for my very basic balance and change overview. After that, continue down below for general changes that will affect the bracket.

There's a new chest enchant in town. Rather, an old one that's suddenly gotten much more useful. Lesser mana, which was previously something to laugh at, is suddenly much more useful. Because of the change to mana, this enchant is the only way F2Ps can increase their mana pool. But 20 mana? No, not 20. All healing specs get access to a 400% mana pool increase, or 5x their base mana. This makes the enchant give you 100 mana, or an extra sixth of your total pool. While it may seem like healers never OOM, in a serious premade situation this will now be clearly best in slot. And it seems like this enchant is Horde only since it's bought from two Horde only vendors, so Alliance is out of luck for once.

The resistance cloak enchant has been completely grandfathered. If you had a scroll in your bank, it will have disappeared. The stat no longer shows up in your character tab, but the effect remains. The only way to get resistances now with gear is via rings, as they still seem to drop. Outside of this, any new source of resistance in the F2P bracket is effectively gone. While this shouldn't have a major effect on the bracket, it will likely impact premades.

If you're newly leveling enchanting you will find yourself lacking Magic Essence, and no easy way to get it. After all, only uncommon weapons will have it. Luckily, there may be a quick fix for you. Check here for a list of weapons sold by vendors that you can quickly DE. They're mostly in Northern Barrens, and a few of them are located directly in the major cities. Come back to restock every once in a while, they don't take long to appear again.

The future of the bracket remains to be seen, but it's looking awfully optimistic. Blizzard has been quick to nerf Holy Shock's damage and tossed out a blanket nerf to PvP healing. With this response to PvP, I can only anticipate good things for the bracket as a whole. Looking forward to seriously restart this blog.

Until next time,

~ Thirk the Hallowed

2500 Pageviews this month so far! Loot card giveaway!

2011-10-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

CONGRATS LINDENKRON AND ATCHIPHOBIA!

STAY TUNED FOR MORE GIVEAWAYS!

This morning the blog hit a new record for monthly views. Beating the August record of just over 1,000 views, we've reached over 2,500 views for the month, getting as high as 250 views a day for 2 days of this month! In celebration, I'll be giving away two TCG loot codes.

Before I announce the contest entry information, I'd like to thank Twink Info for being the best twink information site on the net, and if you haven't checked them out you really should, you'll need an account there to enter the contest. I can easily credit them for a lot of my twink knowledge and for keeping me hooked on twinking. I now blog there as well, and my username there is iaccidentallytwink. You might have seen me around.

Now, onto the loot cards I'm giving away:

Paint Bomb x 100 - Covers an enemy in paint.

Paper Airplane Kit - Right click to build a paper gyrocopter.

To enter, follow this blog with your google account, and post a comment in this article with the following:

• Your Twink Info username (must have at least 20 posts).

• One thing you like about the blog.

• One thing you dislike about the blog.

• Your favorite article.

• Your least favorite article.

If you do not enter the contest correctly your entry will not be considered. Be sure to spread the word about the blog, and good luck!

The night of Halloween, I will announce the winners of the giveaway here, and I will PM them on Twink Info telling them they're won and giving them the loot code. I will choose two from all eligible entries from random. Good luck, and thank you for making this blog a wonderful place for free to play twink information!

The Power of Outlands: Halaani Whiskey, Energizing Spores, and Charged Crystal Foci

2011-10-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for some serious buffs for your free to play character, you've probably spent some time looking around at WoWHead for small things that Blizzard may have slipped in without a level requirement. I've already went over the 2 types of Parachutes that you can get in a previous post, and this post is dedicated to 2 specific overpowered items and a buff that Outlands provides. Neither of these are easy or reasonable for the average player (save for the first), and I highly recommend saving them for something important, but if you need to go all out, here's your fix.

By now, every "veteran" twink knows about Haalani Whiskey, but in case you don't, here's how to get it. Free characters can get ported to Shattrath, and I recommend that everyone get their Hearthstone set to the Shatt inn. From there, even if you've been collecting FPs, you'll realize that you cannot get any FPs in Nagrand. Get ready to trek on foot out to Haala. If your faction currently controls Haala, there is a vendor there that will sell you the Whiskey, 3 of them at a time, for 1g60s. Use it wisely, as you can't stock up, and you need to go back there each time you need more.

These might give you quite a bit of trouble.

In Zangermarsh, you're going to find a ton of Sporebats. There's a little trick most people don't know. You can easily take these guys down with a group, and when he gets below 5%, he will use an AoE ability that increases all stats by 30 for 5 minutes! It's called Energizing Spores. All you have to do is be in melee range around 5% and wait for the buff, then take him out. It helps if you queue right before attempting this, and then begin right away. This helps make the most out of those 5 minutes. Very helpful with a group if you guys are PuGging WSG.

These guys are nasty.

Aether Rays are nasty little things. But with them, and the help of some high level characters to summon you to Ogri'la, you can gather up enough Apexis Shards and Crystal Foci to make your time spent worth it. Combining 10 Shards and a Crystal Focus will give you, for almost every situation, a one-click, off GCD HEAL TO FULL, known as a Charged Crystal Focus. While you're out there you should farm quite a few, but when you're doing some serious Warsong Gulch, these can be invaluable. Just be prepared to spend quite a bit of time out in Blades Edge getting yourself these. Aether Rays aren't the only things out there that drop these, but they're easily found and one of the best sources of these drops.

Good luck, and happy PvPing!

You come get da Voodoo,

~ Thirk

YOU can be 'the Hallowed' too!

2011-10-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Thirk the Hallowed, World First F2P and 20.

On the first day of Hallows End I became the first 20 and first Free to Play twink with the Hallowed title, beating another P2P player by 20 minutes for the title of first level 20 'the Hallowed'. Now that the event is in full swing, I might as well discuss the meta itself. The meta took me about 11 hours total, about 3 of which was 2 HH kills, and most of the rest going around Azerothian and Outlandian inns without having most flight paths.

The meta itself is easy and nearly soloable.

Every part of the achievement can be done completely solo except for "Bring Me The Head of... Oh Wait" and "The Masquerade". Trick or Treat and related achievements are all done by going around inns and completing the Candy Bucket quests. If you don't already have most of the Azerothian Flight Paths, you will after going around for the achievements. "That Sparking Smile" and "Sinister Calling", you should get by the time you're done going around Azeroth. Out with it is done by simply eating the Tricky Treats until you get the achievements. "Rotten Hollow" and "Savior of Hallow's End" is done by completing the 5 dailies for the first time. "G.N.E.R.D. Rage" is done by getting 10 HKs while under the effect of G.N.E.R.D.s, and The Masquerade should be done nearly last with someone else as you guys trade wand uses.

Killing the Headless Horseman is simple. Have some 85s queue up, then the 85 from your realm takes lead and kicks someone, then invites you in before the event begins.

This one might take you up to 3 days to complete.

Check your head, if you're lucky, will take 1 day with 1 Headless Horseman kill. If you're lucky enough to receive 5 pumpkins from killing him, and 5 from the Crudely Wrapped Gift (as I did both times), doing the 2 dailies that award one pumpkin each will give you the 12 needed for this achievement. If you get extremely unlucky and receive 3 pumpkins both times, unless you get another HH kill in you're going to be waiting up to 2 extra days. By now, it's third day, about 5 Free to Play characters have the title on Aerie Peak.

Lo'mon,

~ Thirk

Operation Godfrey - Can F2Ps hit 21?

2011-10-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

It all started here. Can an F2P go from 19 to 21 in one go? The question made my mind run wild immediately. I knew that even if it would be a waste and I'd stop 1 XP from 21 I would give it a shot. This myth must be solved. And I WILL be the one to do it.

At least 16601 XP is needed to go from 19 to 21 in one go. 3050 XP is given by the random dungeon finder. Refer a Friend adds +300% XP, Heirlooms add +20% XP, and a 5 man group adds a +40% XP bonus. Totals out to +360% XP. I have verified that they do all indeed stack.

4612 XP * 3.60 = 16603 XP. Completing a random dungeon at 19 gives 3050 XP. That leaves us 1562* XP to clear. I tested 2 20s 2-manning Mutanus the Devourer (level 20 boss). That gave me 1045 XP. Getting there, but not quite.

XP awarded goes up if the AVERAGE level of your group is lower. The lowest level to enter SFK is 11. I've come up with the absolute ideal setup for this mission.

3 level 11 characters. Any will do, 1 must be a P2P.
The level 15 P2P that is Referring the trial.
The level 17 - 22 P2P that will be forming the group in the dungeon.
The level 19 F2P that is going to *hopefully* hit 21, must have Shoulder and Chest heirlooms.
The high level toon that will clear up to the boss while the others are zoned out.

The scenario will set up like this;
The 19 F2P will group up with the 17 - 22 P2P. Once inside, the rest of the group is kicked. The P2P invites the high level to clear the dungeon up to Godfrey. Once cleared, the high level leaves the party. The P2P invites the P2P level 11 and leaves, that toon then invites the other 2 level 11s, and the 15 P2P RaF partner.
This forms the ideal group of a level 19 with his RaF partner in range for receiving the RaF XP bonus, as well as the level 11s to lower the average level of the group.

(19 + 15 + (3*11))/5 = 13.4 is the average level of the group.
This puts the XP multiple at the highest possible point. 1562* XP (or 2138 XP) is all that the 19 needs to be awarded in order to make the jump from 19 to 21 in one fell swoop.

What can you do to help?
Create a level 11, or offer to be the 17 - 22 P2P that will help shape the perfect scenario. I have none of the 3 level 11s I need. I also require a level 15 to test this theory. I have a level 20 with XP-on for testing with 3 level 11s, and the 15. If the level 20 can get 1562* XP from Godfrey, the level 19 will be all set. Test runs will be taking place within the next few days, and if we can get far enough over the 1562* XP mark the +20% from heirlooms may not be required (and this will remove tons of hours of farming for gold and then honor).

*Full group XP bonus is not yet fully tested. If this fails the plan will go ahead without the +40% XP bonus, changing the calculations slightly. 5188 XP * 3.20 = 16601 XP. Leaving 2138 XP to clear instead of 1562 XP.

I have a level 19 Free-to-Play Warrior ready if the test runs go as planned.

So what do you say? Interested in making twink history? Let me know.

also posted on Twinkinfo here.

Colossal Parachute, Goblin Surveyor Jr. Grade, Arathi Basin travel tips

2011-10-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

Sitting atop one of the Twin Colossals in Feralas is Kalin Windflight. He sells a particularly interesting item for 20 twinks, especially Hunters. Colossal Parachute, costing 20 silver, is the only no requirement Slow Fall for any level, is one of the more interesting situational items.

Unfortunately, this item has some restrictions. First, in order to even get to the vendor and buy it, you must be summoned, or flown up there on a multi-person flying mount, because as of Cataclysm the teleport NPC that used to port anyone up there no longer does so. Second, the item is Bind on Pickup and Unique, so you will only have one at a time. Third, the item has a time of 20 minutes on it, so I suggest queuing for WSG at the top and buying the parachute when the queue popped.

Alternatively, there's a parachute inside chests in Gnomeregan. Sharing most of the same restrictions minus the 20 minutes duration tag and requiring level 19, these might be easier to obtain for players who are completely solo, or people who want to have 2 for a battleground (assuming they can get summoned to the peak). Thanks Karazelle from Twinkinfo, for the tip.

This item, combined with Swiftness Potion, will provide very interesting launches with the flag off of the tunnel roof on either side. Be sure to use this in clutch situations and not waste it early, just remember it will disappear when your WSG timer hits about 5 minutes. This item becomes even more interesting for hunters that can Speed off the tunnel roof, disengage and then parachute all the way past mid.

I'll have a video up soon. Oh, and there's a rare spawn there once every few hours, so be prepared to take out Diamond Head when he spawns.

If you need your Slow Fall, this is your guy.

Next up on the bag of tricks is the Goblin Surveyor Jr. Grade, which by now is a rather well known combat NPC that Horde has access to. This gal is accessible after doing the chain of quests at the Rocketway point closest to Orgrimmar, just MAKE SURE TO KEEP THE QUEST once you obtain the Surveyor's Beacon! Not that to get the quest you have to do most of the quests in the small hub where you get the quest, so don't get scared when you can't pickup the quest.

This is Horde only, so Alliance toons are unfortunately out of luck. She'll act as a pet (Hunters and Warlocks can still have their pets/minions out) and do small damage, but it will be helpful for keeping people out of stealth, and apparently she even follows enemies into stealth, as well as pushback enemy casters.

Free damage and stealth tracking!

Arathi Basin weekend is coming up, so get ready to farm some honor. And with that, here are some tips on quick mount travel from either side of BS into BS using the tiny spawned boxes. You're going to have to practice this to get from one side to the other easily without falling into the water. Even if you do fall after a box or two, it's still faster than swimming or going around. The images should be self explanatory.

Stay away from the voodoo,

~ Thirk

Horde numbers increasing, Reputation Satchels, Vend-O-Tron D-Luxe!

2011-09-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

FOR THE HORDE! This weekend saw what was probably a new record for the F2P Horde of Aerie Peak. We had 40 people online at the same time for a consistent 2 hours, NOT during the fishing tournament, and when the tournament came around even more people came online. I don't think I saw the number drop below 20 until well into late night. At this point I think I can say that, if Wargame battlegrounds were working for low levels, we'd be able to run a full 15v15 Arathi Basin with Horde alone.

If only Alterac Valley was possible.

By now absolutely everyone playing Free to Play should know this, but in case they don't, here's a tip I meant to post LONG ago, but did not get around to. For every city faction you get revered with, you can buy a 16 Slot Satchel. There's a total of 6 bags that you can buy, enough to fill your bag slots and 2 in the bank as well. Alliance, however, can also get 2 more 16 slot bags, the Harpy Hide Quiver and Gnoll Skin Bandolier, from Gaelden Hammersmith, that sadly Horde cannot get.

Each city has their own version of the reputation satchel.

Ever find yourself stranded while farming, leveling professions? No durability? Forgot that damn Skinning Knife again? Well, there's no need to run back to org as of Cata, thanks to the Dungeon Finder system and Cata's overhaul of Deadmines! The Vend-O-Tron D-Luxe, added in Cataclysm to the entrance of Deadmines, is a godsend for those moments. Simply queue up for Deadmines, Enter, grab the stuff you need, repair, and leave right back where you were. No running back to the city.

The best thing to happen to Deadmines.

Mok'ra,

~ Thirk

Profession Guide: First Aid (1 - 225) SOLO

2011-09-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to finish up my First Aid, and decided to go ahead and get through the gruesome farm. But it turned out a bit easier than expected (blame it on the class if you'd like), and I found an interesting area that more than just people doing First Aid might be interested in.

Linen Cloth of course is the easiest, and while leveling you should be collecting as much as you can. I suggest farming the low level areas with Humanoids. Silverpine Forst or Durotar is great for Horde and Alliance can stick to Teldrassil or Dun Murogh. This is easily the fastest part of leveling First Aid and honestly you should have it done by the time you're 20.

Wool Cloth should be farmed in Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep. Both places have tons of Humanoids with pretty good drop rates.

Now I'm sure most people have no problem with Linen and Wool, so here's the main point of this guide. Silk is normally only dropped in decent amounts off level 30 - 40 mobs, but I've found a very nice farming area with level 25 - 26 mobs. Silk Cloth drops off Saltscale Warriors at a 12% drop rate. The area they're found in has nothing but these murlocs. In addition to Silk Cloth, I've gotten a few greens and a good amount of Healing Potions. Not to mention these mobs have some of the higher drop rates for the coveted Hyacinth Macaw! There's a good chance that after a few toons leveling First Aid you just might nab yourself the parrot. In about 30 minutes I've gotten, on average, 30 Silk Cloth and 6 Healing Potions, along with 4 or 5 greens.

However, there is a catch. You're going to need to breathe underwater to effectively farm these murlocs. Do NOT attempt to farm without it, you're really wasting your time. Luckily, you can get all the mats for Elixir of Water Breathing within the area, and there's no reason you shouldn't be an Alchemist already. The Elixir lasts for an hour, not 30 minutes, since you craft it yourself. Once you're down there, just move around in circles, they're in packs of 5 - 10 and you should have no problem farming them. It took me about 3 hours total to farm ALL my Silk Cloth, from 150 - 210.

Once you can breathe underwater, you're set for a nice farming session.

For Mageweave, and your final tier bandages, I've got a small tip for Horde. Andra, a Silvermoon vendor, sells 2 Mageweave every few hours. Once you're fully geared, head over there and stock up. Unfortunately Alliance is out of luck in this aspect. Aside from that, you can get higher level help or try and farm level 39 - 42 Death Singers in EPL. Good luck, and happy farming!

Her cloth sales bring all the Horde to the yard.

Dabu,

~ Thirk

Perfecting the Hunter, Alliance Gear IS a problem, Macros, Hunter Spreadsheet!

2011-09-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

After my venture into rolling a Shaman and gearing one up rather well, I decided that I wanted at least one twink to be fully completed. I went back and started mercilessly grinding for my Ring of Precision and Arena Grandmaster. I've yet to get any closer to my Arena Master or my ring, but I've decided I want my hunter to be completely Best in slot. Slowly starting to regret not being Blood Elf or Human...

The difference between a fully geared Human Hunter and a fully geared Troll Hunter.

While we're on the subject of races, up above are the exact calculated differences between a fully geared Alliance Hunter and a fully geared Troll Hunter. Obviously, the Human wins, and by a big margin. As far as Survival goes, considered the most viable spec, we have a gain of 1.46% Crit, 0.46% Hit (Troll being 0.38% under the cap), 9 AP, 1.85 white DPS, 2 damage and 104 HP. It's nothing to laugh at, and I'm not so sure Berserking makes up for it.

Macros are an important part of any "Big Game" Hunter's arsenal. I recently started using 2 VERY useful macros that might help you out.

This macro will automatically use Lifeblood and Berserking when available and cast Steady Shot, which will reduce your attack speed nicely. All "ability is not ready" errors are suppressed, so this is perfect for replacing your normal Steady Shot bind. In clutch situations (arenas), you may not want to use this, and instead choose to bind Lifeblood and Berserking seperate from Steady Shot (but together).

#showtooltip Steady Shot                             
/run sfx=GetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX");                 
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0                           
/petattack                                           
/cast Lifeblood                                      
/cast Berserking                                     
/cast Steady Shot                                    
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()                           
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX",sfx);

This next macro is useful for pet ability management. My mount macro also dismisses my pet, because I never know what I'm going to encounter next in battlegrounds. I have the following bound to 3 and my Bird of Prey to Shift-3 instead of adding a modifier to the macro, so I don't need to mess with my other character's binds. When I know whether I need an interrupt or disarm, I summon the required pet and then use 3 for it's ability.

#showtooltip                                         
/cast [nopet] Call Pet 1                             
/cast [pet:Bird of Prey] Snatch                      
/cast [pet:Moth] Serenity Dust

Lastly, I recently released my spreadsheet for hunters, which was used to calculate the differences between Alliance and Horde hunters a few paragraphs above. You can find more information and a download link over at Twink Info.

Strength,

~ Thirk

Professions, Disengage is your friend, anti-Hunter pets, and Horde sucks less

2011-08-09T00:05:00.001-07:00

I think I've settled on my final professions after going through my permanent enchantments. I've got my Medium Armor Kits on everything, but neglected to save any. I do have tons of scrolls in case I get some new gear pieces, and I'm currently Engineering so I can craft a new scope if anything.

Mining past 75 is essentially useless for F2P twinks, so I don't bother.

As far as Secondary Professions go, First Aid can be leveled to 225, it does NOT stop at 100, despite what it says. You can continue leveling it up. Expect problems once you get past Wool because there is a large amount of annoying farming with high level help required. I'm still on Wool and won't be capped out at 225 for quite a while. They're also changed Heavy Runecloth Bandages to trainer taught so you can get those right away as well, which is nice. Oh, and Cooking is Cooking.

Farming for cloth is the biggest pain out of all this.

Whillow made this GREAT post with tips on Twink Info for baddie hunters. I'm going to mainly focus on Disengage and Scatter Shot here. Please remember that Disengage is similar to a Mage's Blink, only slightly more difficult to use and in some cases actually better. You can and absolutely should use it to catch up to enemies. I bound my disengage to S. If you still back peddle by accident I REALLY advice binding it to S, you will stop accidentally hitting S extremely quickly. I can aim my disengage mid-air 8/10 times and land where I want to. I also recently switched to an old trackball mouse and I am LOVING how much easier it is to move around in PvP.

Off the roof and straight into mid!

Scatter Shot is one of the best interrupts you can have, and is your main interrupt as a hunter. Please do not waste it to pull extra DPS unless you're sure you will not need any interrupts for the next 30 seconds.

Scorpids and Birds of Prey are both the biggest anti-hunter pets in game, with a Disarm that will make Hunters unable to do anything but desperately hug you hoping you don't absolutely destroy them in the 10 seconds they can't do anything. Rolling a Hunter to kill OP Hunters. A bit ironic, eh? I need to get me a Bird of Prey. An anti-Physical pet to compliment my anti-Caster pet.

Horde is no longer losing every WSG game ever. My ratio has soared up drastically in the past 2 or 3 days, adding about 30 games onto my tally and my ratio has gone from about 30% win to 40%. This means that the extra 30 games had to be 75% wins, so Horde is definitely improving now.

Here's to hoping the trend continues!

Thrall Hall!,

~ Thirk

Thanks! Horde losing, Light Leather, and don't roll Hunter/Rogue!

2011-07-30T23:59:00.001-07:00

I wanna start off by saying thanks so far to everyone who's said they like my blog. I've been getting quite a few people whispering me on a daily basis saying they can't wait to read more or are loving my blog. Good to know there are people out there enjoying it, hope I don't disappoint. So here's a toast to the viewers! Keep on PvP'ing.

I get a few of these a day. Thanks guys!

While I'm addressing the viewers out there, if there's on thing I wanna say is PLEASE don't roll Alliance. Horde is getting absolutely demolished in almost every WSG match I go into. It's ridiculous how little healers we have, and how much people float over to the Alliance because of gear imbalances. Which doesn't really make sense because Horde has the best cloth gear. I guess people just don't like healers as much as they do Hunters, eh?

I'm currently at less than a 33% win ratio.

I've ran into several twinks saying they don't bother doing Leatherworking to 100 because it's not worth the 24 extra armor. I picked it up myself to begin farming and realized that for some people it really might be a huge pain. At 1 you can already make the Light Armor Kit, and you need 100 for the Medium Armor Kit. It's taken me about 2 hours to get to Leatherworking 50 and I think I'm in for at least another 3 hours of farming to get enough Light Leather to hit 100. I recommend picking up Skinning and Leatherworking while you're leveling and skinning everything, you will be able to skip this entire ordeal and will probably be able to drop them right after you hit 20 and pick up Enchanting. Then you can Disenchant the greens you made for Leatherworking and you should be well on your way to your enchants. If you're already 20 and need places to farm leather, I HIGHLY recommend the Maclure Vineyards in southern Elwynn. Instant respawn rate on the boars and they're very close together.

Respawn rate is literally instant here, check it out if you need to level LW.

And finally, I urge everyone to please roll something other than Hunter or Rogue on either side. It's getting rather ridiculous, I'm going to start working on my Warrior tomorrow to get away from this mess. Don't understand what I mean? Let the screenshot speak for itself.

If I wasn't capping they would have farmed the whole timer.

This is not how I want to win WSG.

Other than that I actually had a few decent WSG games, and decided on what to roll next. Hope everyone has a great night/day, I'm off to bed, and see you in the Gulch!

May your blades never dull,

~ Thirk

Hunter Pets: Monkeys, Bats, Moths, Oh my! Kill Command is a Hunter's Exorcism

2011-07-29T02:48:00.001-07:00

After realizing that Charge no longer stuns, I realized why my pet was not being much of a help to me as far as Paladin's and healers go. I set out to look for the best pets I could find. First up I came upon Crocolisks, which had a 60% uptime on Ankle Crack. Which is great for slowing multiple targets. But after a day of PvP I realized it was essentially useless, because despite the fact that it IS great, hunters had too much CC slow already (at 100%+ uptime) and having my enemies get out of range was NOT a problem at all.

So, needing an interrupt on top of my Scatter Shot I set out to WoWHead, looking up every pet I could get at this level. I found Monkeys, which have Bad Manner. This could be extremely useful in certain situations, it's essentially another Scatter Shot in every way but has twice the cooldown. Unfortunately, while it's a nice blind, it's not a stun in itself and only gives me one free global against my enemy.

Next I looked to the Bat, which has it's 2 second stun. Sweet in most situations, especially when you're chasing the enemy flag carrier, but against healers it's not quite enough. It's still just over one global, two if you're a Rogue. I went back to WoWHead and scoured for something I could use. I eventually came across the Moth, which has the godlike Serenity Dust.

Next came my hour and a half long fatigue and Ally guard killed filled travel to Exodar. After having my gear decimated to 0% durability, I made it to Azuremyst Isle and picked myself up a moth. Finally my Hunter had a proper interrupt against heals, and not only does it help against healers, but it completely SHUTS DOWN Paladins for 4 seconds. That's enough for quite the DPS as a hunter as it's over 2 globals. I'd be hard pressed to lose to a Paladin 1v1 now, having not only SS for his Exorcism but also a full lockout for the clutch heal he thought would save him. Paladin's are simply no longer a problem for my hunter thanks to this little beast of a pet. Here's the macro I use for Serenity Dust in case anyone is interested:


#showtooltip                                         

/cast [@mouseover] [@target] [pet:Moth] Serenity Dust

PEW PEW SHUTDOWN!

During this time I also tested out Kill Command, something that I overlooked before almost completely. It's like a mini-Exorcism for Hunters. Easily crits for over 400 damage, and I've seen it go as high as the 500s. Hunters might wanna start using this often, it's extremely useful for burst. Definitely improved on my Hunter "skill" (more like lack of, lolol huntard amirite?) today. Learning new things every day.

Not far off from Exorcism damage. And this is ungeared.

Peace, Friend,

~ Thirk

Respec limits, Hard Mode Stocks, Professions, Imbalance

2011-07-27T05:26:00.001-07:00

I'm likely going to end up respecing my Hunter soon. After checking I realized that for some reason my first respec will cost me 42s. What gives? Turns out that the respec costs scale with level, and at level 20 your respec cost won't go above 84s. Yay!

If I respec I will definitely miss Explosive Shot and the extra Stamina.

I ran stocks today with a nice group of players I found in random dungeon finder. I suggested clearing adds and doing all 3 bosses at once. Would provide a nice challenge. While it is probably completely doable with all 20 F2P twinks, my group was not geared up well enough and we resulted in getting 2/3 bosses to 66% and the third to 33%. After that we did Moloch and Overheat together and took out Hogger by himself. Going to be doing the "hard mode" with a group today, assembled on Aerie Peak. Will post results.

Hard mode is actually rather difficult.

Blame Hogger's DPS.

My Enchanting is maxed out. Just gathering up the final materials to make a few scrolls before I drop it and pick up Leatherworking and Skinning. Hopefully that shouldn't take long at all, but from what I've been reading it might actually be one of the difficult professions to level as an F2P twink. Should finish this by tomorrow and move on to Engineering. Now, THAT, will be a major pain. Slowly leveling my First Aid. Also, I somehow managed to dupe 1 Lesser Astral Essence into 10 TWICE, granting me basically 6 Greater Astral Essences. Not completely sure how I did it, but it involved the bank. If I figure out definitely how I did it, I'll be sure to post about it more. They're useless for F2P twinks, but if this is doable with other Essences there might be some use to it and I'll make sure to report it so it's hotfixed.

I always manage to find bugs by completely random accident...

Somehow duped 1 Lesser Astral Essence into 10...

Lastly, class imbalance. It's not even funny how overpowered Hunters and Rogues are at 20. It's worse still that there are people choosing to roll 24 Worgen or Goblin Hunter twinks in this bracket to purposely destroy the (lack of) balance we have at this point. Rogues can pretty much kill anyone with their openers, and Hunters can potentially global you if you're under 1,000 HP. Gear up and hope the hunter you fight isn't skilled. If it's a Rogue, well then, don't get opened on is all I can suggest.

I'm pretty much geared, as far as the easy stuff goes. Need my Fishing Hat, AGMs, and BoA gear. Have my substitutes, minus the lack of hat.

Strength and Honor,

~ Thirk

You REALLY need to work for your stuff

2011-07-25T18:42:00.001-07:00

This "bracket" and play-type is, by concept, possibly my favorite type of twinking. Having to do every ounce of work for yourself with little to no help, and then showing off what YOU personally achieved on the battlefield. Well, it simply doesn't get any better than that. Even as someone who is used to having TONS of help at the snap of my fingers, I'm thoroughly enjoying working for my gear. With the amount of F2P twinks already participating it's shaping up to be an amazing community, even though there's a P2P 20 or 24 twink once in a while.

Another step closer to being geared.

I've created a chardev for a 20 Troll Hunter fully twinked here. It's balanced and pretty much best in slot. The Precision Ring is quite a pipe dream for a Free 2 Play twink, but I put it in there nonetheless. Everything else is obtainable given enough time to grind honor, fish in the tournament, do dungeons, and quest.

If you're a perfectionist like me you're going to be pretty annoyed at the amount of extra work F2P twinks require. In addition to gear, you're going to want to level Enchanting and Leatherworking. With 100 Enchanting I'll be able to enchant +15 HP to chest, +1 Stamina/Agility to bracer, +1 Resistance or +10 Armor to cloak, and +1 Weapon Damage on both my weapons. 100 Leatherworking nets me an extra 48 armor. Obviously not a major gain at all, especially compared to P2P twink enchants, but it's going to make a difference at the skill cap and will show dedication.

Before dropping Engineering I'm filling my bank with these.

I was lucky enough to have the recipe drop (TWICE).

I decided I'm going to level Engineering as well. At 60 Engineering I can enchant my ranged weapon with +1 Damage, and if I decide to level it more I can pick up a Mechanical Squirrel at 80, and since I already have schematics, I'm probably going to go all the way to 100 and craft a bunch of EZ-Thro Dynamite before dropping both Engineering and Enchanting and picking up Herbalism and Skinning. Those Horde side twinks who don't intend to fish can get another +4 Stamina with goggles at 100, but I plan on fishing for my hat.

Zug Zug,

~ Thirk

Free to Play - Level 20, Gold Capped, WSG

2011-07-25T13:40:00.002-07:00

So I got back into WoW. For Free.

Level capped and building up my toon.

I attached a Starter Edition account to my currently existing Battle.net, and set out on creating a Level 20 twink. Since Alliance seems to grossly outnumber the horde purely based on gear alone (Level 20 quest gear is superior for Alliance, and it makes a great difference at this point), I chose Horde.

Now, being my first time back since Cataclysm launched, I know I need to choose something that I'd be able to enjoy and learn from. Hunter was my first toon when I first started playing, and I dropped it soon after. I created "Thirk", a Troll hunter on Aerie Peak US, which is where all the F2P action was happening.

I was quickly surprised when I came into the game. Hunters use focus? Arcane shot has no CD? Autoshot while moving? It was hard to wrap my head around the changes to begin with, but by level 10 it was relatively easy to get used to using Focus instead of mana. Far more burst, but generally more downtime. I suppose that makes up for the change that allows autoshot while moving.

Started doing quests for the gear I needed, and I finally gold capped my character!

Coincidentally, I also completed 100 quests at the same time!

So, I'm level 20 now and slowly getting gear. The few WSG games I played was mostly Alliance steamrolling Horde. A 24 twink here and there. Hopefully I can keep up better when I'm geared and closer to the Hunter skill cap.

Blood and Thunder,

~ Thirk