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Lichborne: Outland leveling Supplemental: Professions and Dungeons
Two major questions remain from our Outland Leveling advice column from last week: Is it worth it to run Dungeons, and is it worth it to level a Profession? In both cases, the answer is: It depends. I know that sounds like a bit of a copout, but it is true. You can pretty much level straight to 70 and even 80 without ever touching a dungeon or learning a profession and do just fine. That said, there are certainly advantages to delving into dungeons or putting your Gnomish Army Knife to actual use. Let's take a look.
15 Minutes of Fame: 10-boxing Karazhan, Part 2
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.Last week, 15 Minutes of Fame visited with multiboxer Nixi of team Absolute Power-H of Archimonde to bring WoW Insider readers his 10-boxing strategy for Karazhan. This week, we'll step back for a look at Nixi's hardware setup, his top five tips for new multiboxers and a broader look at why he's a 'boxer.Catch up with 10-boxing Karazhan Part 1, then join us after the break for an inside look at Nixi's 10-boxing team.
Around Azeroth: Looking over Underbog
Lalunas from Bronze Dragonflight (EU) sends in this shot taken from the end of the Underbog instance (in Coilfang Reservoir in Zangarmarsh). Lalunas tells us, "I really haven´t explored that instance until now recently, and I have to admit that this is probably my favourite looking instance." I can't say I agree -- but that could just be because I'm haunted by a recent attempt at Heroic Underbog with am off-spec tank. What do you think, dear readers? Is Underbog the best scenery there is to be found?Do you have any incredible scenery just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see your idea of the best looking instance on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!%Gallery-1816%
Get exalted with Sporeggar
If you fancy the new Tiny Spore Bat pet, then Sporeggar is the faction for you. While the reputation grind can be daunting and mind-numbing, becoming exalted with the Sporelings is one of the easiest and quickest rep grinds out there. Mooire of Ferocious Bite, a drood blog, has recently posted a guide to gaining Sporeggar rep, just in time for all the non-combat fans to make a quick grind. After all, if you need one, you simply need it to be had on patch day. How will we co-ordinate with our flying mounts otherwise? The "Bring me a(nother) shrubbery!" quest is undoubtedly the easiest way to gain reputation, provided you can get into a group for Underbog. Mooire found that each run can yield 20-30 sanguine hibiscus, and at 750 rep per 5 turned in, that's up to 4 500 reputation per dungeon run. If you have the herbalism skill, Mooire points out that many of the mobs will shed sanguine hibiscus. For rogues and droods, some of the plants can be gained without the aid of a group by stealthing through the dungeon. Reaching exalted with Sporeggar may bring fashionable benefits as well. After all, what blood elf male doesn't secretly long for the pinky-purple mushroom tabard?For those of you who are still leveling, or who have seriously neglected this particular faction, then there are other quests and turnins to be done before locking into an Underbog group.
A few tips for starting Heroics
Most players by now that started rolling to 70 when the expansion hit are probably either just starting or in the middle of running their first few Heroic dungeons. I fall into that group-- my guild has had a few folks running Heroics for a while, but the majority of us are just now starting to pick up the Revered rep needed in the different factions to make running Heroics a regular possibility. So here's a few tips I've picked up just in the past few weeks or so about how to get started running the most challenging 5mans in the game. Please feel free to add your own below.-Easiest Heroic: in general, you're going to want to start in the Slave Pens. I've heard good things about Underbog and Old Hillsbrad (Ramparts is comparably easy as well, especially if you've got your FR gear on), but really I've found that Slave Pens is a good indicator of whether your group is ready for Heroics or not, and it seems like Cenarion rep is pretty easy to come by, so you've got lots of keyed folks to choose from.-Best place to get badges: Heroic Mechanar. Even the Gatekeeper minibosses, who don't give good loot in the normal instance, will drop Badges for you in Heroic, which means that if you skate through this place in under an hour, you're earning five badges in that time.-In Heroics, it's not the bosses you have to worry about, it's the trash. Trash hits hard (really hard), so there's no room for error (read: letting the mobs go after clothies). If you don't have the standard CC you need (and you should-- heroic groups are best when every class type is well-represented), then fear is your friend, because in most heroics two hits are enough to cause a wipe.
Instance Spreadsheet offers overview of swirly portals in Outland
Ryianne of Stormrage has assembled this freakin' terrific spreadsheet of all the Outlands instances, a must-have close at hand for anyone like me who considers running instances the most fun part of the game. Want to know where the Shadow Labyrinth is, or what level Blood Furnace is, or what rep is given in the Underbog (both regular and Heroic runs)? It's all here.Ryianne hasn't added one thing a lot of players might want-- exactly how to get attuned to the instances that need attuning. That info has been floating around, though, and it's definitely out there if you need it (my guild is holding a Karazhan attunement drive lately, trying to push our latent 70s to get the key so we can start downing stuff in there). Ryianne also says she's still working on it, so if you have more to add (like the fact that it's Thrallmar rep for Horde in the first three instances), let her know.But it is cool to see, in a "big picture" sense, all the different options available when someone says "Let's run something." With the expansion, Blizzard has really paid a lot of great service to the 5man instances (not just in size and quantity, but in variety and skill), and nowhere is that more apparent than in a large overview like this.
Finding your way through Outland's first instances
Definitely my favorite part of BC so far has got to be the instances. We haven't seen new 5-man content in such a long time, and it's so much fun to be facing new pulls, new lore, and new bosses, most of them with brand new models, and even audio! Although, while I do like Magtheridon's voice, it seems like yes, those "puny magics" are actually holding him for a long, long time-- we get it.Most of the new strats aren't too hard to get down with trial and error, but there are a few quirks to figure out. And for that reason, my guild's raidleader, Belacroix of Gothic Bunnies on Thundehorn-H, has punched together a few quickguides of the first few instances-- two wings of Hellfire Citadel, and The Slave Pens and the Underbog in Coifang Reservoir. They're not complete walkthroughs by any means, but if you want a little insight on how to take down certain bosses or what you'll find in there, Bela's guides are a good read.WoW blogger Relmstein has also been running instances in Outland, and he's got even more complete walkthroughs for Hellfire Ramparts and the Blood Furnace (so far, the Furnace is my favorite). And I have to make a mention of WoW Wiki as well (and everyone that works on it)-- they've got strategy up for almost every boss seen in the instances so far, so if you've got a group stuck on something, they're the place to go.
Blue Notes: European transfers and Ghaz'an hotfix
Two bits of news for you this brunchtime. First, there's some new transfers for European realms. From Thundy: The below migrations are currently active. They're scheduled to close on Monday January 22nd, at 12:00 (noon) CET. However, again, please note that this may change at any time. Bloodhoof to Bronze Dragonflight Emerald Dream to Bronze Dragonflight Thunderhorn to Bronze Dragonflight Azjol-Nerub to Anachronos Doomhammer to Anachronos Turalyon to Anachronos Ravencrest to Agamaggan Ravencrest to Vek'nilash Neptulon to Vek'nilash Neptulon to Jaedenar Outland to Jaedenar Outland to Spinebreaker And second, Ghaz'an, a boss in The Underbog (one of the Coilfang Reservoir instances in Zangarmarsh), has been hotfixed. Apparently he was spitting poison as if he was at heroic setting; he will no longer be doing so. I've not gotten to any of the Coilfang dungeons myself, being mostly content with Ramparts and Blood Furnace, but I'm glad I won't get spit on quite so much when I do make it there. From Tseric: A hotfix has recently been applied that adjusted Ghaz'an's attack rate. The acid spit rate was occurring at Heroic mode rates, not normal mode rates. The spit should be going off at a more reasonable frequency.
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Revenge of the pugs
New five-man instances can only mean one thing -- the return of the classic source of amusement and frustration, the pickup group. It's especially interesting when raiders, who are used to perfect coordination and military-like precision, end up running an instance with, say, a priest who they hate from a rival raiding guild, a warrior who forgot his shield in the bank, and a warlock who clearly bought their Tier 3 character on eBay and is having difficulty figuring out that Searing Pain is not the greatest spell to spam. Such people often overestimate the coordination of their teammates -- like my mage friend who got us all a free trip to the graveyard while attempting to master something he called the "Flamestrike Pull" in the Blood Furnace. Since I've mostly been running with said mage friend, who is in a different guild than me, our instance runs have been semi-pugs -- someone from his guild, someone from my guild, someone we found by spamming general chat all stuffed together. It took the raiders among us some time to get used to the five-mans again. Wait, we can sap and sheep things? A pet can off-tank? We can pull without a hunter? Ooh, a chest -- wait, do we have a rogue to open it? Plus, the bosses usually only drop one item, and someone who's been through Naxx is probably not psychologically prepared to die to a lot of orcs AGAIN. Nevertheless, most of my pugs have been good. I've met old acquaintances on new characters and made mental notes of people I'd like to group with again. We had a group today that was so good we went straight through Slave Pens and the Underbog, and were preparing to go through the Underbog again when we realized that we were all sick of fighting spore bats and agreed to meet up later. It's also dang satisfying to see gear drop that people can really use, without a giant fight over class priority and DKP, and watching as everyone slowly replaces their epics with blues. Well, except the tank in Dreadnaught. Those shoulders are way too cool to replace. What's your pug experience been like so far? Do you hate doing instances without strategies and Vent, or are you welcoming the new content?
