Then today, in a fit of nostalgia, I opened up my Wordpress admin console for nedruid.com and once again read through the comments many of you left me when I quit WoW to focus on my marriage.  I got comments from long time friends and first time commenters.  I got comments telling me that my blog was the first blog they ever read.  I got comments telling me my blog helped them level from 1 to 70.

Most heart-warming were the comments about the trials and tribulations of relationships and the wisdom of picking RL over WoW.

I literally had to stop reading as I’m at work and you all were starting to bring a tear to my eye (us Druids being a sensitive lot).

See, I’m a bit raw emotionally as things didn’t work out with Mrs. Amanna and myself.  After separating last summer, then reuniting after several weeks of brutally honest conversations, we both thought we had worked things out and our relationship felt like it did when we first started dating.  But as anyone who has been through something like this knows, true change is often more elusive than we’d like to admit.

So, a little over one year after that separation, and just two weeks shy of our 10 year anniversary, my wife and I have made the decision to part ways. 

Honestly, I’m not sure why I’m writing this post.  A part of me feels like some of you are actual friends and as friends you deserve to know what’s going on in my life.  It may be weird to some people to think of random commenters on a blog as friends, but what is friendship if not a series of conversations and shared interests?  It may be weird to some of you to know that I consider you friends.  Well, I hope you feel the same about me.  Anyway, going through something like this bottles up a ton of conflicting emotions and sometimes it helps to just talk about them a bit. 

Lessons learned?  The cliche lesson learned is that “relationships are hard.”  And while there is some truth to that, one could also just as rightly assert “relationships shouldn’t be this hard.”  I don’t know if they fall into the “lessons learned” category, but for me, I have two huge takeaways from this past year:

1. Things don’t always work out.  In a recent article about Nelson Mandela, Time Magazine wrote about his 8 Leadership Lessons.  #8 was “Quitting is leading too.”  Sometimes recognizing something just isn’t going to ever work out, and making hard decisions to change in a positive direction, is the appropriate response.
2. As the contrarian position to #1, there is no rule book for life.  Relationships are complicated, complex situations and many times there simply is no right or wrong answer.  It’s hard to say whether quitting is leading or just… quitting.  Our society seems to have become somewhat casual about divorce and I hate the fact that I am adding to that statistic.  Tough decisions should not be made in haste, should have a solid foundation upon which to make the decision, and should be made knowing even though you feel the decision is in everyone’s best interest, you may well regret it for the rest of your life.  For the time being, I am squarely in this camp.

So, I really didn’t mean to be a downer for your Monday afternoon, but for my loyal readers I did feel I owed you something of an update. 

I do continue to check this blog from time to time, so any comments you choose to leave will be read.  Most of my blogging time I now spend in a different direction, which you are welcome to join in on.

I wish you all the best and I hope this post finds you all healthy and happy.  Should you be interested in leaving me a personal message, please use the contact form on my new blog linked just above as I rarely, if ever, check Amanna’s E-mail anymore.

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A few of you asked me to post a notice if/when I started my new blog.  Well, there are only 4 posts, but I am up and running.  I decided against the personal finance blog.  As Kinless said, that would be pretty dry!

After much thought about my life and work experiences, what I’m passionate about, and what I felt I had something to say, I decided to write a blog on Leadership.  Given my background working with entrepreneurs, my tagline is “Leadership through Entrepreneurship”. 

I may appear the height of conceit, but the blog is called DaveCrainOnline.com.  It kind of fits since Dave Crain is my name.  ;-)  Actually, I really didn’t want to call it that, but anyone that’s started their own blog knows how hard it can be to come up with a meaningful name whose domain is available.  So after about a 1/2 hour of fruitless searching, I just said “screw it - I’m calling it my own name”. 

On the blog I’ll be talking about Leadership as defined as the search for personal and professional excellence.  I’ll be using the qualities of entrepreneurship as a framework for having that discussion.  I’m just getting started to it’s a great time to amble on over and get signed up.  I’m looking to build the discussion framework from the ground up and really want active commentors on the site. 

So if you have an interest in the topic and would like to be part of the discussion, then I’d love to have you. 

I’ll leave AinA up for a bit more, but I’m guessing this will be the last post here.  I want to thank everyone for the kind words you have left me.  I will certainly miss playing WoW, but more than anything I will certainly miss all of you.  Best of luck to everyone and have fun!

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 Anyway - I really don’t see myself returning.  Even if I do I simply don’t have the time to devote to this blog.  I appreciate all the kind comments and am truly sad to be leaving.

I am a fan of simplification, so I do not intend to leave this blog up indefinitely.  With other Druid blogs providing great content, and the new expansion quickly outdating most of my content, I’ve made the decision to permanently delete this blog at the end of July.  If there is any particular content you would like to save, make sure to copy it off before that time.

It’s been a LOT of fun.  Best of luck to you all, both in-game and in real life. 

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As you can surmise from the title, I have decided to move on; not just from this blog, but also from World of Warcraft. 

That really is the short story, and if you you’re not interested in why I’ve quit or my parting thoughts on WoW, fellow bloggers, and life, then you can stop reading now and not really miss anything.  Really - you won’t offend me.  In fact, the rest of the post is intended for those readers who have been with me for a while.  As much as you can develop a “friendship” in an anonymous, online environment, there are several of you out there I feel that way towards.  And I’m also sure there are many more out there who don’t have their own blogs and have never commented on mine, that feel that way towards me.  At least I hope so.  There may never be an Amanna’s Army reunion, but that doesn’t mean we won’t miss each other.

Why I’m moving on

For those of you that have read this blog for a while, you know that my wife and I have had our share of struggles over the past year.  I’m not the melodramatic sort, and I’m certainly not one to air my personal life in public, but there have been a couple posts where I shared when we separated last summer, reunited in the Fall, and began having some problems again a few months back.

I’m happy to report that things are going well with us.  I’m sure the grown-ups in the crowd can appreciate the challenges and subtleties required to keep a marriage strong and positive.  If there are storybook relationships out there, I haven’t come across any.  Most married couples I know (including several friends in long-term committed relationships), subscribe to the philosophy that “marriage is hard work”. 

Personally, it’s taken me a while to come around to that way of thinking.  I always came from the “it shouldn’t be this hard” camp.  What I’ve come to appreciate, even though I always knew it, is that people are complex beings.  Even if there is such a thing as perfect matches, it’s just not that simple.  You’re having a bad day when I’m having a good one; I say something you take the wrong way; money issues; free time issues; etc. etc. - there are just so many ways that even the best relationship can get strained from time to time.

Add on top of all that, both my wife and I are high-end control takers, very set in each of our ways, with extremely well-developed personalities, who got married later in life (me 39, her 30).  So let’s just say we have our challenges.

There is an upside to challenging relationships though.  I truly believe there is a balance to everything, and the fact that we have to work so hard from time to time to balance our relationship just means there is really something great there to fight for.  We are both over-achievers and when we set our minds to accomplishing personal goals together, I truly believe there is nothing that can stop us. 

There is also an added depth to our relationship with each other.  You come together and get married because you love each other.  People may say that over time that initial headrush of love may mellow, and I suppose they are right.  But tough times are the crucible in which love is forged into something much greater than a simple melange of emotion and hormones: you now have something you have both fought for.  Even as initial feelings have mellowed, stronger feelings emerge as you realize you have something you don’t want to give up.  There is an intimacy born of familiarity that can only be appreciated in a long-term relationship.  Whereas a new relationship is intense, it is shallow; long term relationships have the potential to be much deeper and wider.

So it was in this context of committing to our relationship that we shared with each other a very small number of issues that each of us were just having a hard time getting past.  One of the issues my wife had was World of Warcraft.  Surprise, surprise, right?  For all of you out there that play this game and are in a relationship with a person that doesn’t, especially someone who isn’t into gaming at all, they have a hard time understanding our seeming addiction to the game.  That was my wife.

Yet, it’s not as simple as “she just doesn’t understand”.  I did play the game too much; and in a unfortunate paradox, played even more the worse our relationship got.  We both had ways to avoid confrontation, even each other, and WoW was my main.  I hope it goes without saying that no one has ever resolved marital issues by playing a computer game to the exclusion of meaningful dialogue. 

Yes, I felt it was unfair.  Yes, I felt I was being asked to give up something I greatly enjoyed.  If I was honest I even had thoughts along the lines of “if I give this up, then what’s next?”.  Yes, I am that immature from time to time. 

In the end, I came to two realizations:

1. There was a strong part what she said that I couldn’t argue with.  I did play a lot.  I am a very competitive person, and simply playing a couple hours a week was never enough for me.  First there were professions to be leveled, then there was level 60 (then 70) to be attained, then more gear, then raids.  There was always something to do, and it was all great fun.  Even though I predominantly played after my wife went to bed, it added up.   I also found it very hard to resist playing over the weekend from time to time.  My wife is not a bitch; in fact she largely was fairly laid back about my playing most of the time.  I don’t feel I was addicted in the classic sense, I simply loved playing - it was the best computer game I ever played.  So when you added up after-hours play and weekend play it was quite a bit.  Also, I had to admit from a priority point of view, I often would pick playing the game over household to-do’s I should have been accomplishing.
2. More to my wife’s point I think is that she felt I valued WoW over her.  She wasn’t asking me to change 50 things in my life, or give up everything I enjoyed doing, just this one thing that drove her crazy.  This was no more unreasonable a request than the couple items I asked her to re-evaluate in her life that drove my crazy.  This was the clincher for me.  I was totally prepared to negotiate a play schedule if that’s what it took, but if your loved one says there are 1 or 2 things you need to change to save your marriage, then you have a choice, don’t you?  In the end I think it was really that simple:  WoW isn’t killing our marriage, but you need to choose between the two.  I chose my marriage.

To my fellow bloggers

When I started this blog, I really had to search to find WoW blogs.  I really, really had to search to find Druid blogs.  It has been quite a ride starting as one of the seminal Druid blogs out there and watching the explosion of blogs, Druid and otherwise, around World of Warcraft.  Now we have Blog Azeroth, and just so many good Wow and Druid blogs it’s really hard to keep track of them all. 

It will be very hard to put Adventures in Azeroth to bed, but not as hard now that there are such good Druid blogs to replace me - most if not all probably more informative than this blog ever was.  It shouldn’t take you too long to search out the really good ones.  There are several by playstyle that come to mind.  I’d really rather you find them on your own, there really shouldn’t be any surprises, but for those of you who would rather be lazy, here are my recommendations (with my profound apologies to anyone I may forget):

Balance

• Gray Matter- blogger with three toons all with ”gray” in their title, currently in Hyjal.  His posts on playing a Moonkin are worth checking out, along with lots of gear and gem information.  This is really the only Balance blog I’ve read since Balance of Power went dark.

Feral

• Big Butt Blogger- Cranky ex-Marine turned feral druid.  Has a lot of good stories to tell along with good, useful Druid advice and theorycrafting.  John’s distractions have grown over the past few months (alts, WoW Insider column, etc.) so the detailed insights have become farther apart, but an entertaining read.
• Ferocious Bite- Currently on “sabbatical of unknown length”, add FB to your reader and hope for new posts.  Lots of solid posts on instances (including strategy and kill vids), crafting and questing, etc.  I always looked forward to FB posts.
• Of Teeth and Claws- A self-proclaimed “casual tank”, Karthis is T5 level and always shares detailed information on encounters.

Resto

• Resto4Life- Almost the only blog you need as a Resto druid.  Phaelia, Resto Druid, stylesheet goddess and founder/creator of Blog Azeroth, never disappoints with her insights and valuable guidance. 
• 4Haelz - Another must read for restos, just remember to put on your sunglasses before linking through to the blog.  Good insight, along with the ever-popular gear lists.

Two other Must-Reads (IMO)

• Tobold- Great insight into MMORPG’s in general, with a natural focus lately on WoW (some Conan).  For insightful, thoughtful, intelligent commentary sadly missing from most writers in the genre, Tobold consistently delivers.  If you are a troll, immature, belligerent, think the world revolves around you, or a just a general asshat - please do not visit Tobold.  At the very least, don’t tell him I sent you.
• The Ancient Gaming Noob- MMORPG player who currently appears focused on Eve Online first, WoW second.  Decent insight and commentary; what I like about this blog the most is it appears the writer only plays WoW one or two nights a week with the same group, all around mid-60s in level.  They aren’t rushing for gear, they don’t QQ when something bad happens - they just play the game to have fun with each other.  I love reading the recaps of their weekend instance runs.

Like many of you, I use a feed reader to follow a number of WoW blogs, some of which I will probably still follow even as I’ve quit playing.  There are good number of other blogs that found their way into my reader somehow, that I will not miss following.  I may be a grumpy old blogger, but some of you really drove me crazy.  I offer the following advice primarily to those bloggers (and NO I am not going to name names):

• First and foremost:  SAY SOMETHING!!!  I really don’t care how long it took you to drive to work, what kind of coffee you like, or what you did last night between 7:13 and 7:20.  There - got that out of my system.  I do realize blogs are by nature personal and I myself did not always write specifically WoW-related posts, but this trend I see toward inane, meaningless personal trivia meant to do nothing more than self-promote is something I will not miss.
• Be fair.  We are all the first to share our disgust with forum and comment trolls, do not think that just because you are a public blogger that you can make the same type of comments and they are any less disgusting.   You are not “justified” acting the same way, nor is “I usually don’t talk this way” an excuse.  As a blogger, your words are your actions.
• Pet peeve here, but stop using that darn “more” tag.  I hate it when WoW Insider uses it too, but at least I can understand them using it as a commercial entity and all; that’s their business.  Write your post and publish it.  If there is value in it, then I’ll click through to your site eventually.  If you continually put “more” tags in your posts, then unless you have unusually high value content, you will be removed from my feed list (and many of you have been).  Why do you need it anyway?  Obsessed over your blog stats?  Trying to drive more traffic to your Cafe Press store?  It may just be me, but I just want to read what you have to say.
• Endless self-promotion: Stop.  Now.

Adventures In Azeroth will stay live since it is still getting a decent number of hits from searches.  Most of that I expect to tail off as the new expansion grows closer.  Eventually, I will take the blog down. 

Open Comments to the Blizzard WoW Team

First and foremost, a hearty Thank You for producing simply the best computer game I have ever played.  I have been primarily an RPG gamer since the early days of Wizardry on an Apple IIe, and World of Warcraft has been the most engaging, most enjoyable gaming experience I have ever had with number two far behind.

You are not without your challenges though, both in the current game implementation and looking forward.  While I recently quit playing WoW, it was not because of gameplay issues as you probably read above.  All things being equal, I would love to still be playing.  While I played WoW far longer than any other computer game I ever owned, I had found my interest level starting to suffer a bit over the last few months. 

Let’s put my profile into perspective.  First of all, I am not a PvPer.  Never enjoyed that in any game.  I am a level 70 NE Druid.  I typically played around 15 hours a week, give or take.  I did raid, although due to guild issues both around 60 and 70, raiding did not constitute the majority of my gameplay.  I levelled multiple professions, changed my mind a couple times, then re-levelled the ones I stuck with.  For all these reasons, and more, I feel I represent a fairly typical member of your core target market.  I could be wrong here, but that’s the assumption I’m making.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that even if I am in your core market that the issues I see with your game are shared amongst others.  But you have a great product that I was starting to get frustrated with.  So, making the obviously conceited assumption that you are at all interested in my comments, here they are:

1. First of all, quit funneling new content into remote areas.  I think one of WoW’s biggest selling points is the social aspect of the game.  I’ll never forget as a young Night Elf, rounding the corner out of Stormwind into Goldshire only to stop and gawk at the activity in the town square.  There were duels in progress, little flying dragons as pets and characters of all levels and classes interacting in any variety of ways.  That moment I knew this game was something special and I was hooked.  I doubt you would see the same scene these days in Goldshire as everyone races through “low-level” content to get into Outland now, Northrend in the future.  I really think you’re dropping the ball here Blizzard.  Social is so much more than guilds and raids; it was getting help from a level 60 that just happened to be in my zone for some reason, it was the center of Ironforge on a Saturday night, and it was seeing people everywhere, not just in Outland.
2. Don’t forget the small things, and I don’t mean gnomes.  I’m talking about little features off the beaten path, caves in the middle of nowhere, skydiving off the Twin Colassus, etc. etc.  I never had played a game so rich in both the main questlines, but also in the attention to detail and variety.  I can’t put my finger on it, but it feels like the attention to detail and variety started to suffer in the first expansion.
3. I’ll add my voice to others calling for more attention to mid-level content.  Not only do I believe you need to keep the entire game fresh, not just the newest zones, I also think you need to integrate new content if not entire expansions into the existing world instead of entirely new zones/continents/realms.  Sure Outland existing on the other side of the Dark Portal made a lot of sense and greatly added to gameplay.  I’m not suggesting you change that.  I just think you could have better integrated the rest of Azeroth into the expansion.  You turned on the portal and BAM!, Azeroth was empty.  The same thing is going to repeat for WotLK.  You may think it’s a waste of time upgrading the rest of Azeroth when you have an expansion to work on, but to me it’s building re-playability.  This really hit me when you didn’t take the time to make flying mounts work outside of Outland.  Yes - I hear you.  That would have taken a lot of time and resources and you were trying to get the expansion out of the door.  My response - you are making money hand over fist and I simply don’t buy that you don’t have the resources.  Your mantra has always been that you will release a game or expansion “when it’s ready”.  So don’t tell me you didn’t have the resources, it wasn’t a priority.
4. Power-leveling.  I certainly don’t have the answers here, but I agree with Tobold that this is something that needs fixed.  As more and more expansions come out the process of levelling a new character is going to become more and more tedious, not to mention less fun.  Either the experience multiplier is going to get bigger with each expansion meaning I’ll never complete any questlines in a zone, or it will stay the same, meaning the process will take that much longer.  Hopefully you have some folks working on this.

Just to re-iterate though.  This was hands-down the best game I’ve ever played Blizzard.  Well done.  I hope you have a long and successful run and I look forward to other games you may release.  I just recently read that Diablo 3 may be coming out, which I will certainly be looking forward to.

So, for all of you still reading…

Thanks for reading my blog.  Thanks for all your comments, well wishes and support.  Most of all,

Thanks for the memories!

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Writing the title for this post reminded my of my nephew when he as in his early teens.  “Random” was his favorite word for a year or so.  Squirrel runs across the road?  “Hmm, that was random.”  I ask him what he had for breakfast.   That was random too.  Little Tommy has grown up and he doesn’t have a favorite word anymore.  I miss those random days.

I’m trying to do a good number of dailies as often as possible to save for epic flying skill.  I don’t get on near as much as I would like to, but with the addition of all the Shattered Sun Offensive dailies, it sure is easy to sock away 100 - 150G.  The issue seems to be all the travel involved, multiplied by the fact that I can only fly (or ride) so fast when transport isn’t available.  I’m trying to do the 4 or 5 on Sunwell Isle (our server is 70% of phase 2 as of Tuesday night), the two by Doom Lord Kazzak, and the three from Shatratth.  I haven’t had much luck with the Nether Residue, so I haven’t even turned that one in yet.  Lots of greenies in my Supply Packages.  I’m sending them to our guild enchanter to be DE’d, saving for materials for my agility enchant once I (finally, if ever) get Earthwarden.

Personally, I liked the nerf lowering the required hits on the Pit Lords and Sorcerers on the bombing run.  I’ve never been a big fan of dumbing down the game just because people complain, but this one seemed to make sense.

Other than instance tanking, hardly fighting at all in bear.  Kitty form FTW.  Seriously need some gear upgrades, but shredding everything in sight that’s not elite.

New guild is still great.  Only been on one instance run, but I really like them.  They seem very mature, but not boring. 

Personal life is having some issues again.  Not WoW-related, just hard changing who you really are and sometimes two great people just can’t find there way to compatability.  Not sure where this one is headed.  Actually I’m sure where it’s headed, not sure how it will end up.  We both agree life’s too short to not be happy.

Spring is in the air where I am and it’s my favorite time of year.  I particularly love spring flowers and have tons of daffodils planted around the house.  They are already up about two inches. 

Later, everyone…

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A little farm kid from the Midwest, grows up playing computer games and strikes it rich writing a blog, of all things!!!

Turns out The Donald is a huge WoW player.  Druid all the way.  He likes the power and how he can be three “different” characters on one toon.  Not too much into Resto, something about how the leaves look.  But I digress…

Seems he’s been a big fan of Adventures in Azeroth for quite a while.  Back in the early days, he posted as Slipslappy off an on.  Mosshoof has supposedly been a popular handle recently (I think I read he has a moss fetish.  Or is that a hoof fetish?).  He’s tricky this one.  Sometimes he would end his comments with a “:D” emoticon.  At least we all thought it was an emoticon.  It was actually a “D” as in Donald.  LOL - this guy is a genius, I tell you.

Anyway, he’s reading my blog and commenting on the sly, all the while I’m sure figuring out exactly the right time and manner to put his plan into action.

Apparently, that time was last night.

I came home to find a 30 foot black limo parked in my driveway.  When I pulled in, the driver got out and simply told me “Let’s go for a drive”.  So I get in.  Probably not the smartest thing I’ve ever done in retrospect, but sometimes you just gotta say “what the heck” (or something like that).

So we drive down the road to a local middle school playground.  I still don’t know what’s going on at this point.  Driver gets out, opens my door and I get out, and he proceeds to wave at a man dressed in a gold jumpsuit.  He’s over watching some cheerleaders practice and it takes a couple attempts to get his attention.

Finally he walks over and I see it’s Donald Trump.  THE DONALD.  (Yea, I know).  I’m thinking what the heck does Big D want with me?

“Amanna,” says DT, “I have a business proposition for you.  I feel like I just don’t get the credit I deserve.  I’m filthy rich, and I do mean filthy.  I’ve covered every exposed inch of my penthouse with gold.  I’ve been successful on TV, in wrestling, heck I even own Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.  I mean, I produce those shows.  I don’t own those girls.  That would be….  wrong….  wouldn’t it?”

The Donald appeared to be lost in thought for a minute here, but then he went on.  “The one frontier I have yet to conquer is having a successful World of Warcraft blog.  I think I can be honest with you Amanna, I’m a bit intimidated - and I don’t intimidate easily.  Heck you got BBB and his huge hairy bear butt kicking out great feral articles.  I can’t write like that, and my butt isn’t anywhere near that big.  Keredria, Phaelia and Bellweather can have all that resto crap.  I don’t like how those leaves look.  That leaves me with Balance, and you know those guys are all whacked.  Running around like a big owl shooting lightning strikes and all.  No wonder there’s not many of them around.  That Graylo seems kind of okay, but you never know, do you?”

“What I’m trying to say Amanna, is I need your help.  Would you be my personal blogger?  I can’t offer you much, only around $300K in salary and an all expenses paid penthouse in any of my properties.  Access to company jet of course, blah, blah, blah.  What do you say Amanna?  Let’s figure out the details later over a steak?”

Well, as they say, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.  It’s been fun, but I gotta move on.  See you on the other side…

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I’ve been playing this game close to two years and I’m on my third guild.  No drama, no guild meltdown, just life.  My first guild had a couple officers leave due to personal issues, which resulted in several sub-segments of the guild forming their own new guilds.  My second guild saw several of it’s officers leave to start a more hardcore raiding guild, which resulted in a mass exodus.  There were no hard feelings either time, just time to move on.

My second guild breaking up happened early fall 2007.  I say it broke up, which isn’t really true.  Once the officers left, then the second wave left to either join the new raiding guild or move on.  The guild (which was once 500+ strong), dwindled down to around 50 or so folks with only a handful of 70s.  I ended up leaving the guild to go solo for a while.  I had some personal issues going on and wasn’t playing much anyway.

Fast forward to early 2008 and I was ready to get back into the game.  I really needed a guild, having fallen so far behind in so little time.  People talk about how quickly players eat up new content, but I think the reverse is also true.  You can take just a couple months off from this game and really fall far behind.  So I started the process of looking around for a guild.  I really wanted to find a good guild that fit my play-style, my play times, and had the kind of attitude that matched mine.  I wrote briefly on this topic before and got a lot of great comments.  At that time, I promised to make this topic into an overall guide and here it is. 

Obviously, there is no right or wrong way to find a new guild, and this writeup simply reflects my experiences.  Use your own best judgement as to what works for you or not.  If I’ve missed anything or you would like to add to what I’ve laid out here, leave me a comment and I’ll consider including it.

Ground Zero - Get your house in order

Okay, if you’re not level 70 or not looking for a raiding guild then you can probably move on to Step 1.  If you are a level 70 and you are looking for a raiding guild then this step is a must.  Also, even if you don’t fit one of those two categories, this step probably still has some good advice.

First of all - do an inventory on your gear and make sure you understand where you are.  Is your gear appropriate for your class?  Are you under-geared?  What about gems and enchants?  If you’re looking to get into a raiding guild and hit SSC, but you are missing enchants and you have inappropriate gear - then you most likely will be turned down.  Just make sure what you have is a fit for what you are looking for and be prepared to talk about your upgrade plans.

I’m gonna assume you know your class and role and are proficient.  If not, be realistic about the type of guild you are looking for.

Make sure your talent spec makes sense.  If you’re not sure on this one, there are plenty of resources out there to point you in the right direction.  Need more help?  Trying searching for some bloggers within your class.  The WoW community is rich with insightful and helpful bloggers of every make, model and color. 

Lastly - grow up!  Of course I don’t mean you, but there are lots of, forgive the language, asshats out there.  If you are one of them, then you can probaby stop reading right now.  My guess is you bounce from guild to guild every month or so, and are fine with that.  If that isn’t you, then here’s my simple suggestions:

• If you are a fan of leet-speak, instant message shorthand or swearing, stop.  Now.  Most organized, well run, mature guilds will not accept applications written this way.  Correct grammar, along with the ability to communicate effectively in the language of your server, is generally a good thing.
• Learn to show a little humility.  You may think you are Elune’s gift to raiding, but believe me you are not the only good player in the game.  If you come off as overly arrogant, then what that tells the guild you are applying to is that you are simply out for yourself.  Not only will you probably leave as soon as you get what you want if not before, but odds are you won’t be stepping up to help others in the guild.  This is another sure way to get your application rejected (from the good guilds at least).
• Be realistic in your expectations.  It’s okay to convey what you are looking for in a guild in no uncertain terms.  Just realize that are not going to be the only person with expectations. 

Before anyone gets their shorts in a bunch and comments to tell me I’m discriminating against younger players, let me stop you right there.  I’ve grouped with players in their young teens as well as grandma’s and grandpa’s.  Believe me that maturity is not limited to older players.  Likewise, age appears to be no remedy for stupidity.

Step 1 - What are you looking for?

Okay, okay.  You’re chomping at the bit to get started and I’m asking you some lame question like “what are you looking for”?  What gives?

Well, if you’re reading this guide, then you are either without a guild or you are in one that isn’t a good fit for some reason.  Before you get involved with another guild that potentially isn’t a fit either, take a little time to figure out what you are looking for and what would make you love your new guild.  For some folks this would be a casual play attitude, for others it would be raiding every night of the week.  Unless you have a good idea of what you are looking for, how will you know when you find it?

Here’s some of the things I thought about:

• PvP, PvE, simple instance help, or Raiding?
• Am I looking to be a guild officer or not?
• How often do I want to raid, and what nights? 
• What am I willing to offer the guild?
• What do I want out of the guild?

This doesn’t have to be a science project, and you should probably know most of this already.  However, our gameplay and our expectations do sometimes change over time.  Taking a few minutes to make sure you understand (and can communicate) what you are looking for in a guild will not only help you find a guild that fits you, but should help make the application process smoother.

Step 2 - Do some research

Okay, you know what you’re looking for but how do you find it?

Unfortunately, there are no simple solutions here.  However, there are some tools to help you develop a list of candidates.

1. Wow Forums - I tend to avoid the WoW forums like I would a black cat infected with rabies covered by fleas carrying The Plague.  Seriously.  However, by way of comment in my previous article, Graylo recommended the realm forums as a reasonable place to start your search.  The forums offer you a couple places to start your search.  The general Guild Recruitment forum is a place where any guild from any server can post messages.  What may be a better option are the realm forums that Graylo mentioned.  The realm forums are broken up by battlegroup, so start on this page, organized by battlegroup.  (There’s even a handy guide if you don’t know what battlegroup you are in).  Again relying on Graylo since I haven’t used these forum - he mentioned they are a good place to research a guild’s reputation also.
2. WoW Justu - WoW Jutsu is a site that ranks guilds based on their raid progression.  It can be very helpful in tracking down guilds on your particular server that match the area of progression you are looking for.   Don’t rely on this site for specifics however.  There are many aspects to how the site runs and collects data that you should take into account.  For instance, if a guild progresses through Gruul’s Lair, then all their raiding members leave, they will still show Gruul’s as their current progression level.  Also, I’ve heard from a number of people, that the farther down a guild is on the progression list, the less frequent their stats are updated.  Finally, if a guild isn’t currently raiding, or just started Karazhan, they might not even be on this site.  Don’t write this site off though.  The guild I eventually joined I found on this site and their progression level was accurately stated.
3. Guild Cafe - Guild Cafe is a social networking site for gamers.  While not specifically stated, the site seems to be particularly focuses on RPG games, with MMORPG games and WoW in particular, being well represented.  In addition to offering some fun goodies (like the gaming personality test), I did find some guilds on this site advertising for new members.  It’s been a while, but if I remember correctly, they were even organized by server, making it pretty easy to find them.  You may not find your new guild on this site, but if you are a hardcore gamer, you may end up liking the community aspect of this site.  (Guild Cafe also offers free, although ad-sponsored, online guild homes.  I haven’t tried the service, but it includes raid scheduling).
4. You can also keep your eyes open in game for potentials.  Have the good players in your PUGs consistently been from one or two guilds?  Did someone help you on a quest (what guild were they from)?  Sometimes you just seem to see a particular guild everywhere.  Bigger isn’t always better, but if they are always everywhere you are, maybe you have similar goals.

Step 3 - Narrow the field

Now that you have a “short list”, you can start some specific action to either weed the list further, or build the case in support of others.  Again, there are no simple shortcuts here, but some of the actions I took were:

• Do a search to see if the guild has a website.  Guild websites are treasure troves for things like conduct rules, raid schedules, DKP systems, etc.  If their application is posted, take a look at it and see what kinds of questions they ask.  If their forums are open, there are great for giving you a real glimpse at what their members are like.  Forums tend to be more informal and frequented by the most active guild members.  Also, make sure their site has a means to schedule raids that makes sense to you. 
• Look up the guild in The Armory.  It’s all basic information, but you can get current class and race breakdowns, along with an idea of how big the guild is and how they are geared.
• Ask around.  If you’ve got a lot of in-game friends, ask them if they’ve heard anything about any of the guilds on your list.

That’s all I have for this step.  When I was looking for a guild, the best resource I came across were guild websites.  They were very helpful in both taking prospects off the list and helping identify the ones that had real promise.

Step 4 - Quest (Daily) “Make Some Contacts”

At this point, you may be ready to apply to a guild.  You’ve seen everything you need to see.  If that’s the case - great!  You may skip this step, but please read the next step before applying.

If you’re still not sure you’ve picked that one special guild, hopefully you’ve at least narrowed the list down to 2 or 3 candidates.  At this point, you’ve got to leave the research laboratory and get out there in the field.

Keep your eyes peeled for members of the guilds you have in mind while you’re playing.  When you see one, invite them to quest with you.  Maybe you catch them getting ready to do a daily and you offer to help them (the escort daily in Skettis is perfect for this).  Strike up a conversation with them and get a sense for what they are like.  Ask a few questions about their guild and whether they like it or not.  Just be sure to keep in mind this is just one opinion, so don’t put too much weight into it for good or bad.

You might even ask who the most active officers are for the guild.  Check and see if any of them are online.  If so, whisper them and see if they are open to talking for a minute or two.  I did this with one guild officer and simply said I had done some research on their guild and it looked like a potential fit for what I was looking for and just wanted to ask a few questions.  Guild officers love this as most players simply apply to the guild and consider the guild lucky to have them.

If you get an officer in a conversation, what you ask them has to be relevant to you.  For me, I was looking for a raiding guild, but could only commit to couple nights.  So I wanted to understand if that level of committment would exclude me from raiding.  These interactions are also great for getting a simple read on the maturity level and personality of the guild.  Again, this is just one person, but it is often the guild officers who set the overall tone for the entire guild. 

Step 5 - Make it official

Okay, you’ve narrowed down the field and found a good candidate that fits your criteria, fits your progression level if you’re a raider, and seems to have a complimentary attitude to yours.  Time to apply.

Notice I said “a” good candidate.  Don’t apply to more than one guild at once; it’s simply bad form.  As Graylo also commented in my first article: “Most guild officers I know tend to look at the other guilds forums, and may have played with members of the other guild. Seeing that you have apps at a lot of guilds can hurt you even if they are closed. No guild wants a guild hopper and no guild wants to be used as a stepping stone. App to one guild. Give it a week. If nothing happens look for your next opportunity.” 

As you fill out the application, it might be a good time to go back to Ground Zero and review the basics there.  Okay you’re busy and in a hurry, what were those basics?  Write in full sentences, using proper grammar and spelling words in their entirety.  Remember that a little humility never hurt anyone.  Also remember you are not the only one in the guild - a few sentences about how you can help guild members will go a long way.

Step 6 - Success!  Or not…

If you’ve followed the steps I’ve outlined your application should be met with approval and you will soon be told “invite incoming” followed by that familiar stream of green messages in your chat box.  Welcome!

If not, don’t be discouraged.  Just like real life, some relationships are just not to be.  Dust yourself off and try to figure out what went wrong.  Head back to Step 3 or 4 and start all over again.  There are plenty of guilds out there and one of them is bound to be a fit for you.

I suppose the other option is to start your own guild.  I have never started a guild and really don’t have the desire to, but it might be the right answer for you.  Play with a bunch of real life friends and you all get along great?  Why not start your own guild?  Have tons of players on your friends list and a lot of them are un-guilded?  Why not start your own guild?  Not at endgame yet and think it would be a fun experiment starting a guild?  Go for it?  One of the things I love about this game is the endless opportunities it offers.  Starting a guild is not one I’m interested in taking advantage of, but it might be  a perfect fit for you.

Wrapping up

I hope you have found this little guide helpful.  Please feel free to comment and add to it as makes sense.  There is a great sense of community amongst the WoW bloggers (and readers) and I look forward to making this writeup even better with your additions. 

Also, you may want to check out the “Guild Stuff” section of my Walkthroughs, Guides & Resources page.  This is my dumping ground for all kinds of great articles I find around the web.  Currently, there are two additional guild guides; one on building a raiding guild and one on making the transition from 10-man to 25-man raiding.

I’ve had the good fortune to be part of now three great guilds.  I’ve found all of them to be helpful, fun and dedicated to getting better.  If you currently don’t have a guild, or are in one that just doesn’t feel right, start working through this guide today.  I’m confident there is a guild for you out there - you just have to find them.

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First impression though is it’s a pretty fun instance.  The half we saw didn’t really hold many surprises (Selin Firehart is another Warlord Kalithresh fight, Vexallus spawns adds that must be killed just like The Curator), but it’s always fun and interesting to go through something for the first time. 

The instance is a bit more colorful than others, in my mind.  It’s still somewhat dark overall (you are in a “dungeon” after all), but it has some Blood Elf reds and golds throughout that add a nice counterpoint.  After killing the second boss, you get to wander outside and are treated to a nice cutscene. 

No huge strategy tips here.  Overall, while we did wipe on several occasions, we didn’t find the instance to be overpowered.  I was tank along with a Paladin, Shaman, Mage and Warrior.  What I noticed:

• A few 5-pulls early on, but very manageable with some basic crowd control
• Some of the mobs cast this purple bubble shield over them.  If you are tank, be sure to pull them out of that bubble as it absorbs 75% of the spell damage directed at them.  Our first wipe was becasue we didn’t notice this
• The strategy on Selin is to attack and break the green crystals when he starts to recharge his mana from them.  I can tell you that the recharge time is much shorted than Kalithresh.  Our group actually did not attack the crystals and instead kept on Selin.  His AoE did take out our mage eventually, but it wasn’t so overpowered that it couldn’t be healed through.
• The mana wyrms things leading to Vexallus do not come all at once.  However, if you’re tank and you are trying to use Swipe to keep the entire group under control, be sure to rotate your facing (e.g. from 9 o’clock through 3 o’clock) to make sure you are getting aggo on them all.  Even then, we lost our mage on a couple of the groups due to 2 or 3 of the wyrms peeling off and hitting him
• The lightning orbs off Vexallus didn’t seem overpowered, just like with Selin.  I couldn’t tell if my party members were attacking them, but we did get hit a couple times and they didn’t seem too bad.  We wiped on our first attempt, probably due to grouping too closely around Vex at the start.  Second attempt, ranged stayed at distance and Vex went right down.

No great gear.  The ring I wanted off Vex didn’t drop.  Only one greenie off trash which I lost the roll for.

This was my first run with my new guild and I really like them.  Good, easy-going folks that don’t screw around.  When it felt like the first wipe was my fault, they re-assured me they didn’t care and this was new content.  And when we wiped again at the entrance to Selin’s room, the mage admitted he “blinked” into another mob and we all had a laugh. 

I really hadn’t planned on playing a full night as I get up at 6 in the morning.  When I realized it was midnight, I asked if we could look for a replacement for me, but said I would continue until one was found.  The response was actually something like “no worries, RL comes before any game.”  We looked around for a replacement, and when none was found, called the run.  Any guild that acknowledges that real life is more important than a game has something going for it in my mind. 

I didn’t do any of the new dailies, so no information there.  All in all though, a fun night.

What did you all do and what do you think of the new content?

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(Hint:  Try my Guides, Walkthrough & Resources page).

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Phew - that’s a load off…

So, I’m still levelling fishing and cooking, need CE rep for my Earthwarden, need gold for my epic flying skill, and don’t have a single T4 item, BUT who can resist a new zone?  I’ll definitely be heading for Sunwell Isle (which is a lot easier to remember and type than The Isle of Quel’Danas).  New quests, new dailies and a new instance sound too fun to pass up.  I’m hoping my guild may pull together a couple groups to run through Magister’s Terrace.  I’d really like to get Band of Determination off Vexallus to replace my Iron Band of the Unbreakable.

Anyway - hope you have fun tonight.  If you’re on the Eldre’Thalas server cruising around the new area and you see a hot little cross-dressing Night Elf chick in a purple hat, be sure to wave!

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Anyway, you should now see a “Guides, Walkthroughs & Resources” link at the top of the page.  I’ve consolidated everything onto this one page.  I’m sure there are lots of other links I’ve forgotten to include; I’ll just update the page as I come across them.  If you have any top-notch walkthroughs, resources, posts, etc. that you would like to see included, simply leave a comment to point me in the right direction.

As a teaser, there are lots of gear guides linked to.  And not just feral - I have guides for Moonkin and Balance linked to, so be sure and check it out.  My next big project is to combine all the gear guides into a series of overview documents you can download and print out.  I’m currently researching permission from the authors of the other guides.  Stay tuned.

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This guide is nothing more than the Alliance portion of the very comprehensive WoWwiki guide I referenced when I started levelling my fishing skill.  I had really neglected cooking also, so levelling them both at once had a lot of appeal.   What I will do in this guide is to use the Alliance portion as a base, and add my observations as I’ve gone through the process.  I find that it’s these personal observations from following the guide that can be most helpful.  If you’re just looking for the basic guide, or want the Horde portion, by all means head over to the WoWwiki link above - it’s a great, comprehensive guide.

Things to keep in mind:

• Other than when you first start, cooking will always level faster than fishing.  As your fishing increases, the use of lures and equipment with plusses to fishing will become ever more important.
• This guide is strictly for levelling fishing and cooking at the same time - levelling cooking with the fish you catch thereby levelling two professions without having to buy stuff off the auction house. 
• I’m assuming you are level 70 and I’m not working in any needed character progressions throughout the process.  I assume you can go anywhere in Azeroth as needed.
• I never carried around flint, tinder and wood to cook with.  Almost all towns and villages have either an inn with a kitchen or a campfire somewhere.
• Alcohol and background music, while recommended, are not essential to the levelling process.  Levelling the fishing profession is a time sink and a grind - be prepared for it.  The good news is, you now have something to do while you wait on groups to form, raid members to show up, mobs to respawn, etc.

—> This guide is a work in progress.  Look for announcements of further updates via my blog <—

Levels 1-50

The WoWwiki guide said:

“Go to your fishing trainer and cook and pick up Fishing and Cooking skills. Buy a fishing rod and a stack of Shiny Baubles (a lure that adds +25 to your fishing skill). You are now ready to begin.

The best place to start is in Elwynn Forest.   Speak to Tharynn Bouden in Goldshire and buy the recipes for Brilliant Smallfish and Longjaw Mud Snappers. Start fishing in Crystal Lake.   You’ll want to catch 50 Brilliant Smallfish to get your cooking from 1 to 50. “

These first 50 levels are by far the easiest you will find in the process.  Virtually any starting zone with water will suffice.  I started in Auberdine in Darkshore and had these first few levels under my belt in short order.  The advantage of Auberdine is you can talk to Gubber Blump and get a fishing quest with a +3 fishing skill pole as a reward.  However, since your next stop in this guide is Stormwind City, it certainly makes sense to start in Goldshire. 

The downside to starting in Auberdine is the lack of both cooking and fishing trainers.  However, they are both available in Darnassus, just a short hippogryph ride away.  The other downside is acquiring your starter cooking recipies.  They are not available in Darnassus, but you can get them in Teldrassil.

50-75

The WoWwiki guide says:

“Go to Stormwind City and fish the canals for Longjaw Mud Snappers. You’ll need 56 of them to raise your cooking to 100.  Between levels 50 and 75 go learn journeyman fishing and cooking. Go to Southshore and speak to Lindea Rabonne and buy the recipes for Bristle Whisker Catfish and Mithril Head Trout.”

Again, this will go fairly quickly for you.  Around level 75 you’ll notice that it will start taking more than one succesful catch to raise your fishing skill a level.  Get used to it - at upper levels it will take ten successful catches to raise one level!

You’re going to be in the area anyway, so fishing for the Snappers in Stormwind does make sense.  However, the next step of the guide takes you to Southshore and you fish in the river east of the city for Bristle Whisker Catfish.  I ended up catching quite a few of the Snappers along with the Catfish, so you may consider just heading to Southshore.  I’m not sure how the levels stack up though and you may find the fishing tough in Southshore without levelling in Stormwind first.  Either way, be prepared to catch quite a few Snappers in with your Catfish there.

Fishing and cooking trainers are both available in Stormwind; just ask a guard for directions.  Lindea Rabonne not in any of the Southshore buildings.  She is located on the docks down by the water.  There is also a fishing trainer right next to her.  This would be a good time to stock up on lures also. 

75-150

The WoWwiki guide says:

“Go to the river to the east of Southshore and fish for Bristle Whisker Catfish.  You’ll need about 80-100 of these to get your cooking to level 175.  Between levels 125 and 150 go to Shandrina by Mystral Lake in Ashenvale and buy Expert Cookbook.  You’ll need to go to Booty Bay and buy a book for your Fishing level.  Speak to Old Man Heming and buy the book Expert Fishing: The Bass and You.  Alternatively, if you are lazy and are not bothered spending a bit of gold, someone always posts a few copies of this book in the Auction House.”

At this point, you may start having some extra raw fish depending on how your catches go.  Bristle Whisker Catfish were the first fish that seemed to sell fairly well on the auction house.  I didn’t make a ton of gold, but at this point you can definitely start shipping your cooked fish off to your banker alt to dispose of.  However, the raw fish seemed to sell a bit better than the cooked version.  My guess is they are being bought to level cooking, but that is just a guess.  At the higher levels, the cooked versions start to sell much better.

Old Man Heming is on the lower level of Booty Bay in a shop towards the back.  If you jump in the water and start swimming away from the dock, you will eventually come across a little plank leading up out of the water.  Go up this plank, take a right turn and he is in the building you are looking at.

150-225

The WoWwiki guide says:

“Now go to the Lakes outside Stromgarde Keep in Arathi Highlands and fish for Mithril Head Trout.  You’re going to need about 60 of these to get your cooking up to level 225.”

Right about here is where I noticed the fishing levelling feel like it was really slowing down.  It’s all relative really as it’s still not too bad versus where it will end up, but be prepared.  The Mithril Head Trout rate here isn’t great, but since levelling the fishing is starting to take longer, it all kind of works out.

Remember Stromgarde Keep and how many times you got killed in there?  If you need a break why not wander in and kill some things.  It was kind of fun.  I ended up helping a small group that was questing there and having some problems.  Good karma.

Off Script - Become a Professional Fisherman

Once you make level 200 fishing, it’s a good idea to start accumulating some gear with plusses to fishing skill on it.  The best way to acquire this gear is through the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza.   This server-wide event happens every Sunday afternoon from 2-4 server time, and is open to Alliance and Horde alike.  Several pieces of fishing gear are available:

• Arcanite Fishing Pole - for winning the tournament, you can select this +35 fishing pole
• Lucky Fishing Hat - for catching a rare Keefer’s Anglefish you are rewarded this +5 hat
• Nat Pagle’s Extreme Anglin’ Boots - for catching a rare Brownell’s Blue Striped Racer you are rewarded these +5 boots
• High Test Eternium Fishing Line - for catching a rare Dezian Queenfish you are rewarded with this +5 fishing line which can be used as a permanent enhancement to your fishing pole

To win the tournament, you have to be the first to catch and turn in 40 Speckled Tastyfish.  I have not attempted this tournament yet, but there are several good guides out there.  From what I read, even though this event takes place in “classic” Azeroth, it is still well attended and hotly competed.  Be prepared for all types of tricks both dirty and sneaky, as you compete for that Arcanite Fishing Pole.  Here’s a couple posts with some tips:

• Keredria’s Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza tips
• The Game Dame’s tips

+5 to fishing skill may not seem like a lot, but it all adds up and every little bit helps.  I will definitely be heading for this tournament every Sunday I’m able.

If you haven’t hit Stranglethorn yet, or don’t plan to, and are finding that you need some fishing plusses past your lure, then there is an easily obtainable fishing pole with +20 to fishing skill.  Seth’s Graphite Fishing Pole is yours for completing a simple farming quest just outside Shattrath.  Head to Shattrath and look up Seth to get the quest Rather Be Fishin’.  (Seth is in the Lower City area - and he’s a kid not a grownup).  Once you get the quest, the lake you can find the eels in is just over the wall toward the northeast.  Ironically, you kill the eels, not fish for them.  Also, they are underwater, so either bring a means to breathe underwater, or be prepared to kill quickly and swim to the surface.  The drop rate on the quest item isn’t too bad and I had my 8 in about 10 minutes.

225-226

The WoWwiki guide says:

“At this point you should now have level 225 fishing and level 225 cooking. If you’re not level 35 yet, then this is as far as you can go. If you are level 35+ then you have two quests to complete before you can continue.”

Well - you may or may not be level 225 fishing depending on how it all works out.  I wasn’t.  Just keep fishing until you are.

First quest: Cooking

Requirements: Level 35, 225 Cooking.

“Go to Gadgetzan in Tanaris and speak to Dirge Quikcleave.  He is in the tavern. He’ll want you to bring him 12 Giant Eggs, 10 Zesty Clam Meat and 20 Alterac Swiss.  You should actually be able to buy the eggs and clam meat off of AH, but in case you can’t here’s where to find them.  Now according to the quest Giant Eggs drop off of Rocs in Tanaris or any large bird. The best place I found for the eggs, was the owlbeast in The Hinterlands.  Only needed to kill about 20 of these to get my 12 eggs (about a 25% drop rate).  They are about level 43′ish, so if you’re not that high a level, get help or wait till you can handle them. The clam meat comes from clams, naturally!  Well to save you swimming around the sea looking for clams, you’re better off killing turtles at Steamwheedle Port or Revantusk Village.  The drop rate is quite high and you’ll have your clam meat in no time.  The levels are 41′ish for Steamwheedle Port and 49-50 for Revantusk Village. The Alterac Swiss is the easiest part.  Go to the Cheese Shop in Stormwind, and buy them from the cheese vendors there. Hand them all in and you’ll get your Artisan Cooking.

Since the opening of the Caverns of Time, the provisioner inside, Galgrom, sells Alterac Swiss.  You can now get all the drops necessary for Artisan cooking in Tanaris.”

Hmmm.  I departed from the script a little bit here.  I did indeed try to fulfill this quest via the Auction House and was able to get my Zesty Clam Meat there.  I found a few Giant Eggs, just not enough.  Plus, they were very expensive.  I smelled opportunity, and started farming my own Giant Eggs.  Instead of heading to The Hinterlands, I went into The Wetlands and started killing those little purple dinosaurs.  They drop Giant Eggs pretty good too.  I got enough for Dirge, then farmed a 20 stack to repay myself for what I had spent at the Auction House.  My cheese I just picked up at the Cheese Shop just inside the front gates at Stormwind while I was visiting the Auction House.

The Zesty Clam Meat was a little pricey, but still in the silver, not gold, range. 

I have a banker alt, so I wasn’t flying all around doing this.  Anything I need from the Auction House is processed by my alt.  She’s parked in Stormwind, which means I also have access to most all general goods items I may need.  If you don’t have a banker alt, I highly recommend one.  You can start a level one human character in Northshire Abbey and make the run to Stormwind without having to level.

Second Quest: Fishing

Requirements: Level 35, 225 Fishing.

“You need to go and find Nat Pagle in Dustwallow Marsh. He is standing on a small island to the West of Theramore (58,60).  He’ll ask you to catch four rare fishes for him. This quest is actually really easy and the only hard part is the amount of travelling involved.  The fish you need to catch are:

Feralas Ahi - West from Camp Mojache.  Fish the Verdantis River where the small bridge is by the Ogres, you’ll soon catch one.

Sar’theris Striker - South or North or Shadowprey Village.  Make sure the area comes up as Sar’theris Strand.

Savage Coast Blue Saffin - Just outside Grom’gol Base Camp.  Make sure the area comes up as Savage Coast.

Misty Reed Mahi Mahi - Directly East from Stonard and the Sunken Temple, all the way on the east side of the map. Just avoid the Murlocs. You should be in the Misty Reed Strand area of the minimap.

(Note: There isn’t a particular spot that is best to fish at. As long as your mini-map zone name matches the zone name in the quest log, you are in the right spot. You DO NOT need to move around once you are in the correct zone. You should hopefully catch these fish within 5 to 25 casts at each location. So it wont take long.)

Now go back to Nat and get your Artisan Fishing. (There is apparently a bug with this quest, if go away from Nat before getting your fishing level to 226, the quest can bug and you’ll be stuck on 225 for good. Didn’t happen to me, but I’ve seen a few posts from people who it’s happened to.)”

Well, this is a bit of running around, but certainly manageable.  Most of the fishing spots were pretty easy to find.  The only one that took a little bit of extra fishing was the Verdantis River.  I had to fish about 10 minutes there before I got my rare fish, but that could just be random odds. 

It was on the Sar’theris Strand that I had a couple fishing revelations.  Yes, yes - everyday knowledge to you fishers, but for first timers reading this guide, maybe they haven’t figured these out yet either:

1. By now you’ve probably seen those specific pools of fish in the water.  They look like big bathtub rings and if you hover over them, the tooltip tells you what kind of fish it is.  You can also find pools of “floating wreckage” that you can fish for crates, supplies, even sellable gear.  I know now that it was dumb luck, but the first time I tried to cast into one of these pools, my bobber went right into the middle of it, leading me to believe that was normal.  It isn’t.  If you want to catch something out of a pool, then your bobber has to be inside the pool.  Simply re-cast until your bobber is located inside the ring.
2. It took a while to sink in that I didn’t have to let my current cast time out to re-cast.  If you’re trying to get your bobber inside a fish or wreckage pool and it doesn’t land there, no need to wait until you catch something.  Simply re-cast your bobber until it lands where you want. 

At the Sar’theris Strand in particular I found two pools of floating wreckage to fish - the first I had found anywhere.  I got a number of chests that contained bolts of linen and silk that sold well on the auction house.  Never pass up the opportunity to fish out floating wreckage.  You should get 3-4 successful “catches” out of it, containing anything from trade goods to green BoE gear.  

——–> More details coming soon.  Look for announcements of further updates via my blog <———

226-250

Go to Steamwheedle port and speak to Gikkix, You’ll want to buy the following two recipes: Spotted Yellowtail and Poached Sunscale Salmon. Either fish for Spotted Yellowtails at Steamwheedle Port or go to Revantusk Village (well… not to it, just a little North of it) for the slightly better drop rate. You’ll need about 30 to get your cooking from 225 to 250.

250-275

Now go to Bloodvenom Falls in Felwood and fish for Sunscale Salmon. You’ll need about 30 to get your cooking from 250 to 275. You may also fish for Sunscale Salmon and Nightfin Snapper in Lake Elune’ara

275-300

Then go and speak to Vivianna in The Feathermoon Stronghold of Feralas and buy the recipe for Mightfish Steak. Whilst you’re there buy about 40 Hot Spices and 40 Soothing Spices as you’re going to be making the food that you will want as a level 60 (without going into instances that is). It gives a +10 stamina buff for 15mins which is always helpful.

Now go to Scalebeard’s Cave (54,49) in Azshara (it’s one of the islands to the East) and fish for Mightfish. (This is also one of the best fishing spots for Stonescale Eel, a profitable fish, used to make Stonescale Oil) You’ll need about 30 to get your cooking from 275 to 300. You may need to bring some lures with you at this point, as your cooking will level up faster than your fishing and Azshara is a 330 fishing zone. You will need something in at least the 380 skill range, so if you try to come here right at 260 fishing bring a +20-25 rod and +100 lures. Once your cooking is a 300, keep fishing till you’ve maxed out that too. It will take 7 to 10 catches to get one skill up at this point, so take your time. At first, you may experience “Your fish got away!” quite frequently, but as your skill level goes up, you will catch more and more fish.

Powerleveling Fishing from 300-375

Ok, first things first. A quick shopping trip. Buy lures!! +75’s preferably. Now go and buy the Master Cookbook, to give yourself master cooking level. If you are Horde, buy it from Baxter in Thrallmar (Hellfire Peninsula). If you are Alliance, buy it from Gaston in Honor Hold (Hellfire Peninsula).

Master Cookbook is also sold by Naka in Cenarion Refuge

Now go buy Master Fishing - The Art of Angling from Juno Dufrain in Cenarion Refuge (Zangarmarsh).

Now go buy Recipe: Blackened Trout. If you are Horde, buy it from Gambarinka in Zabra’jin (Zangarmarsh). If you are Alliance, buy it from Doba in Orebor Harborage (Zangarmarsh). Whilst you’re here buy Recipe: Feltail Delight.

Horde can go back to Swamprat Post and buy Recipe: Feltail Delight from Zurai.

Head back to Cenarion Refuge and fish for Barbed Gill Trout and Spotted Feltail. You only need to catch about 25 in total to get your cooking up to 320. Your fishing level will probably only be about 305 by this stage, if you’re lucky (it’s a long, slow process and not for the easily bored). Cook up the Trout and Feltails.

Now take a trip to see Nula the Butcher in Garadar if you are Horde or Uriku at (56,73) in Telaar if you are Alliance, both are in Nagrand. Buy Recipe: Poached Bluefish and find a nice quiet spot in Nagrand to fish for Icefin Bluefish. You are really going to need to have lures attached here, unless you spent a lot more time in Zangarmarsh fishing. Keep fishing till you have about 40 Bluefish and then cook them to take your cooking to 350.

By this point, your fishing will probably only be about level 320. You might want to go to Terokkar Forest and fish for Golden Darters. When cooked, these give a +44 healing and +20SPI buff, so they are great to sell to healing classes. Or you can head back to Nagrand and fish for Figluster’s Mudfish, which give a +20AGI and +20SPI buff when cooked. Either way, to get to 375 you’re going to have to make about 650 successful catches. That should take a normal person about 8 hours, so you’ll want to break that up into something like 30-60 minute chunks, spread out over a period of time.

(NOTE: Highlander’s guide originally discussed fishing for Furious Crawdad before maxing your skill. However due to the extreme difficulty of the highland lakes — requiring 430 skill to even cast there and 525 to completely avoid fish getting away — I would not recommend fishing there without very high skill and good equipment.)

The final challenge of fishing in Outland requires a flying mount, as the best fish are only found in Highland Mixed Schools in three lakes in Terokkar Forest, all of which can only be accessed with a flying mount. In these schools you can catch Furious Crawdad, used in Spicy Crawdad the only cooking recipe that will take you to 375 easily. Spicy Crawdad is also valuable because its food buff grants +30 stamina, more than any other food in the game.

The three lakes are:
Lake Jorune - north west of Stonebreaker Hold.
Lake Ere’Noru - south east of Allerian Stronghold.
Blackwind Lake - in the south east corner of the map, in the Skettis area.

If you are Alliance, go see Innkeeper Biribi in Allerian Stronghold (Terokkar Forest) and buy Recipe: Spicy Crawdad. If you are Horde go see Rungor in Stonebreaker Hold (Terokkar Forest) and buy Recipe: Spicy Crawdad.

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Cooking - 300

Yay!  I’ve been on a short vacation so therefore the lack of posts.  I’ll try to get some out over the next few days including a fishing/cooking guide.

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 The overview focuses on leather gear available for Badges of Justice that folks without immediate access to Sunwell Plateau might be interested in.

There’s some great gear coming in the patch, and this article covers the best of the best for all three specs - something we don’t always see. 

Go there.  Read the article.  Hoard your Badges.  Get stuff.

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Gwaendar, over on Altitis, isn’t.

That’s good news for you if you are wanting some first impressions of the new Wordpress.