World of Warcraft Twink Info

Decreased Spell Mana Costs – 19 Bracket

Ishh — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:32:00 +0000

Patch 3.3 will decrease the mana cost of most spells below level 60. The 19 bracket is special because they further decreased the mana cost of low-rank spells below level 20 that have a shorter cast-time or duration. You’ll understand if you check the Mage example – look at Frostbolt and Fireball.

I calculated the new mana cost of every spell a level 19 Twink can learn. I also added the current (= live) cost so you can compare. Here are links to the remaining classes:

Addendum – Click here to download the Excel file I used to calculate the new mana costs. If you want to modify it for your own bracket, just add the spells (and ranks) you want to check. Don’t forget to update the Base Mana value!

Cross-Faction BoA Item Mailing

Ishh — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:01:56 +0000

You might be able to exhange your BoA items between your Horde and Alliance twinks in patch 3.3:

CM Wryxian – Then the good news is that, if you’re able to patiently wait for patch 3.3 you will probably be rewarded with the very thing you’re requesting. That’s right, we aim to implement the ability to exchange bind-on-account items between your Horde and Alliance characters in patch 3.3. Of course, as with anything not yet live (and even things that are) this is subject to change, but it currently remains our intention. Hope that helps somewhat, or rather, hope that will help somewhat. (Source)

Fingers crossed!

Dread Pirate Ring – Stats per Bracket

Ishh — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:21:38 +0000

Here are the stats of the new heirloom ring per bracket:

You can get this ring by winning the Kalu’ak Fishing Derby. You can find an in-depth guide for it here. Additionally, you can pick a new pair of fishing boots instead of the ring if you’d want to:

Right now, even twinks can compete in this derby, because the turn-in quest doesn’t have a level requirement. Lucky for us Blizzard didn’t forget to give the boots Item Level 1 – as you can see in the picture. This means that you won’t see level 19 twinks with TBC enchants on them, thank god!

Patch 3.3 – AGM No Longer Usable in Arena?

Ishh — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:35:01 +0000

A few days ago CM Dresorull updated the 3.3 patchnotes with the following statement:

“All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes.”

This change caused some speculation in our forums, because it could mean that items like [Arena Grand Master] and [Tidal Charm] wouldn’t be usable in arena games anymore. I couldn’t get in an arena on my twink because few twinks transfer to the PTR. Instead, I farmed Prince Nazjak on a premade 80 Rogue until he dropped a tidal charm for me, and I tested it in a skirmish match:

As I hoped, the new rule doesn’t apply to trinkets. All your items and abilities that work in the arena right now will still work once Patch 3.3 goes live.

Even an end has a start – Project 29 Cruelty.

Ishh — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:01:32 +0000

One must bury the dead and heal the sick, not the other way around. For the past year I’ve been playing in the 39 bracket at Cyclone EU, and today I’m pulling the plug. It was a bumpy ride, but it was the best MMO experience I’ve had so far. My thanks go out to everyone who played in our community, friends and enemies alike. I’m leaving the bracket because I want to put my money where my mouth is at. In my previous blog I tried to inspire twinks to look beyond their dead bracket or battlegroup, but I realized I wasn’t living up to it myself. Post 3.2 we had a few WSG pops every sunday, but that was it. It felt like owning a Scarlett Johansson Porsche I was only allowed to ride once a week. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not enough.

I tried to think of ways to attract more twinks, but I realized the best I could give was an empty promise. Europe just doesn’t have the quantity for an active 39 bracket yet. I had to look beyond 39, beyond Cyclone. I looked for a thriving 49 or 59 battlegroup, but sadly those didn’t survive 3.2 either. This might seem odd to American twinks, but it really isn’t. In terms of quantity I believe American and European twinks are on par, but European twinks are divided by the linguistic zones set by Blizzard: English, Spanish, French, German and Russian. American twinks only have to deal with G’day. This language barrier is hard to overcome, because most Europeans only speak their native language.

I did find a glimmer of hope in a different battlegroup and bracket: Cruelty 29. They’re getting WSG pops every day, starting at 10 PM. It’s not ideal, because 10 PM is pretty late for most players, but it’s a start. I will convince friend and foe to join this community, with the following long-term goals in mind:

WSG pops starting at 5 PM until midnight;
Small casual and hardcore guilds scattered across different realms;
An active 2v2/3v3 arena scene;
No premades until the above goals are achieved.

The first goal – frequent and early WSG pops – should be the first goal of every twink bracket that wants to be successful. In the US, 39 Cyclone had a stellar arena community, but arena alone can’t keep a bracket alive. Even if arena is your main focus, you need something to do until your arena partners or opponents log on. Prior to 3.2 you could melt faces in WSG until they did. After 3.2 people would log on, notice that their arena partners or opponents weren’t online and log out. Without WSG, there’s no arena.

You need both casual and hardcore guilds. Whether you’re Joe the keyboardturner or Brumble the macro-maniac, you should have a guild you feel comfortable playing in. Without casual guilds the WSG queue’s will be long, and without hardcore guilds brackets lose their competitive edge. I do believe these guilds have to be scattered across different realms within the battlegroup. Too often twink “super realms” start to emerge, everyone transfers or rolls on the same realm. This might work for awhile, but it’ll hinder the bracket’s long-term progression. With too many twinks on one realm, obtaining BoE gear from the AH can become quite a pain, not to mention the increased competition on AGM.

Premades aren’t a good idea when the bracket’s still under construction. If you steamroll a PuG once or twice, they’ll simply stop queue’ing – You might as well shoot yourself in the foot. Too much too early is never good.

So to all homeless European twinks out there, try Cruelty 29. As of now I have left 39 Cyclone, and tomorrow I’ll pick a suitable realm in the Cruelty BG for our new 29 guild. We won’t transfer our mains for BoA’s. A level 58 Death Knight is all you need to get started. Saying goodbye to your bracket isn’t easy, but right now nearly every bracket in Europe has a glass that’s half empty. But all those glasses combined will fill up one glass entirely. Once we’ve achieved a solid foundation, we can think about expanding into other brackets again.

That’ll have to do for now! In my next blog I’ll talk about our progress and the problems we have to deal with as a guild and as a bracket in a post 3.2 era.

Per Request, Twink Info is now iPhone Friendly

Admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:22:14 +0000

Well, at least the front page. Forums are not specially formatted for the iPhone, but the blog is now.

If this is something that is useful to you, thank Frontears for the suggestion. It was a simple thing to pull off. Enjoy.

Hey Blizzard! How much for a pre-leveled, Ulduar geared level 80?

Admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:22:42 +0000

I have a friend that wants to buy a couple of them. I know you guys need the money and all since all the servers are fucked up and you can’t afford to fix or replace them. I mean 12 million times $15 a month isn’t enough to pay for a self respecting health club for your low paid executives right?

So Blizz, I have an idea, why don’t you sell players the ability to make their dude toon a chick for some RL dollars and if enough people pay, you can get out of that crappy SL class you are in and into something that might get you a trophy wife. Oh wait, you’ve already tapped that resource. Ok, how about faction changes for $30 a pop. People like Drayner, if he still played, would be all over that shit and you could afford to fill up that Leer jet. Oh damn, you beat me there too. Ok, how about race changes. I know lots of people want to be sexy Blood Elves. Ya, that would work. How much would that cost? I think it would sell good too. Whoa shit… already there. Well, damn guys, you’ve tapped all the resources already. Lowered the time requirements to transfer, added sex changes, faction changes, race changes, but you still haven’t fixed the fucking servers. What will you ever do now?

OMG. I got it. Sell in game items for cash, similar to the Trading card game loot cards but instead of making us bust packs, we can just pull our wallets out again. Oh wait, again? Collectable Pets via Blizz Store!

What a damn shame Blizz. What’s next? $200 bones for an instant, pre-geared 80? Don’t laugh folks, it’s not far fetched.

So where $180,000,000.00 a month from subscriptions, extra loot from the transfers, cosmetic surgery center, and these stupid pets going? Throwing it all into another basket for the next generation of MMOs?

Yes readers, it’s me Drayner bitching and whining again. Get over it. It’s what I do.

Image Credit: EBSQArt

For you Arena Junkies… Bang! Arena Obstacle Timer

Admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:17:00 +0000

If you have 14 other mods to help get an edge in the Arena, this one is for you, a 15th.

It’s called Bang! Arena Obstacle Timer. If you are a humper and get stuck in the Arena that many hate and just AFK out of, you can get an edge. Know when the pillars are coming before they actually get there.

Features:

Displays timer bars for obstacles and eyes in arenas.
Bars are customizable to match your UI

Beta State:

Beta Release Version: 3.08a: Timers are accurate most of the time, but the random logic of the spawns is not fully accounted for. More accurate data for the pole spawns is needed, if you have this data please make a post on the Forum

In-game command: /baot

Get it here

Ishh brings word that Basilisk Hide Pants get better on the PTR

Admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:55:33 +0000

Basilisk Hide Pants got updated on the PTR. Instead of +3 spirit it now gives +3 hit:

It’s not much, but I’ll take it. Unfortunately [Assault Band] still gives spirit. I’ll check for more item changes, but I think this is it for now.

That’s good, what heck was a leather wearer with feral/rogue stats doing with spirit anyhow.

Man I miss Twinking

Admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:57:06 +0000

Ah, the good old days. Man weren’t they fun. I miss parts of the game bad… (...)Read the rest of Man I miss Twinking (492 words) © Admin for World of Warcraft Twink Info, 2009. | Permalink | 17 comments Related posts: