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The Queue: Sweet romance
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Dating advice in The Queue? Seriously? Yep! @aspectofthedork as ked: if your significant other asks you to be "romantizzle," what is an appropriate response?
Breakfast Topic: What's the most difficult thing in the game to farm?
My warrior recently found herself farming a lot of Khorium in order to build her Turbo-Charged Flying Machine, and while flying a seemingly endless number of circuits in Nagrand in order to get the metal (which is a rare spawn on other Outland ore nodes), I started to wonder where this farm fell in relation to other grinds. Khorium sometimes cooperates by spawning regularly, but this time, it was its usual, awful self. I'm sure the Burning Crusade-era players can relate. And yet, somehow I still don't think that khorium is the worst thing in the game to farm. Off the top of my head, I can think of others that are or have been equally bad or worse: Non-combat pets A lot of farmable non-combat pets (e.g., the dragon whelps, the firefly, the Fox Kit) have a 1-in-1,000 drop rate and a limited number of mobs up at a given time. Combat pets Waiting for a particular pet to spawn somewhere and then finding and taming it before someone else does can be maddening if you're consistently unlucky. Fishing Accomplished Angler is justifiably famous for being stuffed with requirements full of RNG. Let's talk about the year it took me to get Mr. Pinchy's Magical Crawdad Box! On second thought, let's not. The Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest This disappeared in Cataclysm, and with it went all the work that went into farming up bug parts and Elementium Ingots, which is where I got stuck in the chain. (So close, and yet so far.) The Insane This almost goes without saying, although it's easier these days than it used to be. Your thoughts, readers? What's the toughest thing in the game to farm?
WoW's 18 easiest achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the phrase "low-hanging fruit" comes to mind. While I collect suggestions for our next article on evil achievements, I thought it might be amusing to turn toward achievements that are considerably easier to get. The 17 achievements (and one Feat of Strength) in today's column are all things that you can do without any real preparation. I'm going to ignore the super-obvious picks (Shave and a Haircut, anyone? You don't need me to tell you about that) and head straight for the more esoteric stuff. I'm also going to bypass extremely expensive achievements that, while quick, will bankrupt the average player, so nothing like Grand Ice Mammoth. (Looks like I need to update OverAchiever: Straight to the poorhouse, come to think of it.) I briefly considered including achievements that you can only get at the end of a long quest chain or reputation grind but canned that idea too. For example, Skyshattered is relatively easy these days with a 410% mount and a little practice, but you'll only be able to access it after a quest grind, so nuts to that. I also eliminated You'll Feel Right As Rain, Critter Gitter, and Fungal Frenzy for that reason. They're all easy, but you can't just toddle off to get them unless you've already put some work in. These are all achievements that the average player -- assuming a friend or two, a tiny bit of luck, and a little time -- can just run out and get whenever he or she wants.
Raw Summer Bass now in season for WoW fishing enthusiasts
There are a number of achievements associated with fishing in WoW, and that's a large reason why the profession is so popular (despite its faults). Some of the achievements are predictably harder to get than others. Take, for instance, the new-for-Cataclysm achievement The Oceanographer, which we covered a few weeks ago in our weekly achievement column. It requires two fish that are only available during different times of the year; you can't catch Raw Summer Bass in the fall and winter, and you can't catch Winter Squid in the spring and summer. As such, the achievement was totally off limits. For all you achievement-hungry anglers, there's good news: Today, March 21, is the official start of spring, and Raw Summer Bass are once again available to be caught. That means you can finally complete The Oceanographer achievement, provided you've already fished up a Winter Squid. Raw Summer Bass can be fished up in a number of coastal areas, including Tanaris, Blasted Lands, Swamp of Sorrows, and even off Jaguero Isle in The Cape of Stranglethorn. If you're interested in The Oceanographer and haven't fished up a Winter Squid yet ... well, you might want to sit down, because El's Extreme Angling has got some bad news for you: You won't be able to fish them up again until Sept. 21. Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.
The OverAchiever: The good, the bad, the ugly, and the weird
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we reminisce on that auld lang syne ... that nobody really misses. It occurred to me recently that we've never really done a retrospective piece on achievements. Sure, we've rounded up stuff like entertaining achievements and evil achievements, but we've never really looked at their impact on the game as a whole. There's an article in that, but it won't be this one. New Year's Eve is tomorrow, and I'm in the mood for some brainless fun. While I was writing this article, a number of the achievements that came to mind were the product of tier 7 raids, and I think I know why. Wrath raiding achievements were the first time Blizzard had experimented with their inclusion in raid content, and the implementation occasionally had some bizarre results. There was also the pressure cooker of having to finish Glory of the Raider before the rewards disappeared (a very belated announcement), and there was never that sense of urgency with Ulduar or Icecrown achievements. Anyway, let me know what you think.
The OverAchiever: The 25 most entertaining achievements, part 4
Every so often, I get tired of the self-seriousness that infests some of (OK, most of) the other work I do here and get the urge to write something purely for fun. After our series on evil achievements and the relentless misery of School of Hard Knocks, I'd like to spend some time on achievements that are nothing but an absolute joy from beginning to end. We continue our series on World of Warcraft's most entertaining achievements this week, and this is the full series if you're just joining us: OverAchiever: Pure Win The 25 most entertaining achievements, #25-21 The 25 most entertaining achievements, #20-16 The 25 most entertaining achievements, #15-11 The 25 most entertaining achievements, #10-6 (today's post)
The OverAchiever: More Accomplished Angler
This week we'll finish our look at the Accomplished Angler meta-achievement. As with all matters concerning WoW fishing, El's Anglin is your best friend here, and more particularly their page on fishing-related achievements (which also addresses a few we don't cover here, as they're not part of the Accomplished Angler meta). Continuing from our previous article on the first set of Accomplished Angler achievements: The Old Gnome and the Sea Apparently someone at Blizzard is a Hemingway enthusiast. At any rate, this achievement's easy as pie, and you'll get it after fishing successfully from any pool of fish in the game (although it does have to be fish -- it can't be the wreckage pools you need for The Scavenger). You can get this doing either of the following achievements --
Polling for Mr. Pinchy
Blizzard EU Community Blue Ancilorn has posted a poll over on the EU forums asking players about one of the more prickly pieces of loot in the game: Mr. Pinchy. Usually with loot, Blizzard has been pretty good lately: if there's a piece that you want, there are usually a few different ways to get it, one of which usually requires grinding (i.e. picking up tons of Badges) rather than just getting really, really lucky. But with vanity stuff, it seems like they feel free to just put us at the will of the dice roll, and almost no other pet is more random than Mr. Pinchy. Not only do you need to level fishing (which, admittedly, is much less random than it used to be), and not only do you need to fish up a random item, but then, you need to hit a random choice of five different options. It's a slim chance on a rare chance on a nearly impossible chance.Which explains why even those who have been trying for him for so long (ahem, me -- as you've probably heard on our podcast) haven't picked him up yet. The biggest percentage in the poll (about 26% of respondents, as of this writing) says they've been trying a lot and haven't gotten him. But strangely enough, the lowest percentage says "an absolutely enormous amount" of effort went into getting him. Which suggests that the people who are getting him are underestimating the amount of time they're putting in -- just how much fishing is "a moderate amount"?At any rate, it seems like Ancilorn is just asking to be asking. Mr. Pinchy is definitely as much of a vanity item as they come, and there should at least be some items in the game that are very, very rare. It does seem at times that every time I suggest Blizzard won't move on something, they do, but I'd say in this case Mr. Pinchy will stay as rare as he is.
How to get the Turtle mount
We're listening in to your replies on Twitter about what you're all planning to do when you log into 3.1 for the first time, and an astounding number of people are planning to go for the fishing mount. Yes, despite the fact that everything Blizzard has told us points to the Turtle mount obtained via fishing being extremely rare, lots of players are after it anyway. We've decided, then, to wish you luck. And to help you out, we'll give you a few tips that just might help make the almost assuredly long, boring, clicking grind bearable.1. Learn to fish (and cook). If you're going to be fishing for the mount, you might as well learn to fish and cook while you do it. The mount itself drops from fishing pools in Northrend, so if all you're doing is going for those, it'll take you a little longer to level than just sitting in Stormwind and leveling fishing (which you can definitely do), but you might as well up your profession while you do it. El's Angling is the guide of choice -- follow it closely and you'll be 450 Fishing/Cooking in no time.2. Find Fish. If you follow El's guide, you'll figure this out along the line, but even if you've already leveled fishing, you'll definitely want to make sure you've got the Find Fish ability, obtained from the Weather-Beaten Journal, which you get from -- you guessed it -- fishing. This will help you find fish pools on the minimap tracker, and since you need to fish in pools in Northrend to get the mount, it'll be a huge help, if not invaluable.
Breakfast Topic: It's gotta happen sometime
Whitney over on WoW Ladies LJ has a story that's so improbable it must be true. Not only did her guild pick up an epic on command in Naxxramas, and not only did they pick up two of the exact same epic item in a row, but they actually got three of the exact same item in the same room. As you regular readers know, I'm horrible at math, so I'm not sure how unlikely that is (you'd probably have to figure how much trash you actually kill every Naxx run and combine how likely it is for each of them to drop the item), but I'm guessing very. Still, given that every drop is randomly generated when a mob spawns (in other words, when you walk into an instance), it's still possible. Even a flipped coin can come up heads 100 times in a row.So yes, even though we don't think about it much, it's totally possible to get Mr. Pinchy on the first try, or pick up three epics in three pulls. Ever just been really, really lucky? I've had the opposite happen, too -- I go for an hour without seeing a drop, check all of the databases to make sure I'm in the right place, and then just before I quit, sure enough, whatever I was looking for drops.Got any stories of the random number generator (RNG) being really random?
WoW Insider Show Episode 67: Rating the rep rewards
This past week on the WoW Insider Show, we were thrilled to welcome our friend Michael Zenke of Massively.com -- in addition to his experiences in Wrath so far, we talked with him about a few other MMOs WoW players might be interested in this holiday season. Matthew Rossi was also on, and he brought his terrific insight on Warriors, Death Knights, Shamans, and itemization for pretty much all of the classes in the new expansion. And we welcomed back our old friend Turpster to the show -- you didn't think he'd be gone for long, did you?It was a good time, so good in fact that we had trouble reeling ourselves in to finish in time. But we hit on all sorts of subjects, including a look at the reputations in Wrath and what their best rewards are (the Oracles' Mysterious Egg is great), and we even got a short chat in about whether there's still a tanking shortage or not (the good news: there mostly isn't). You can follow any or all of the links below to listen to the show in its entirety (and do subscribe in iTunes if you use that -- you'll get the show automatically every week).We'll be back live next week as usual, 3:30pm Eastern on Ustream. In the meantime, if you have a comment, question, or tip for the show, send it along to theshow@wow.com, and you might hear us talking about it then. Enjoy this week's podcast!Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show Episode 64: Wrath of the Launch King
This past week on our podcast, Wrath was the topic -- getting it, playing it, loving it, hating it. Our own co-lead Dan O'Halloran and rogue blogger Chase Christian joined us, and we talked Wrath of the Lich King. Dan was at the midnight launch in Anaheim, so we asked him about that -- not only were there about 2000 people (and 100 Blizzard employees there), but there was a bubble sword and a hot dog-on-a-stick stand, so listen in for that. And we talked about what the starting zones were like (including two don't-miss quests in Howling Fjord) and our main annoyances with the game so far (none of which include, surprisingly, lag -- despite the queues, Blizzard has really kept the game alive).And we answered emails, including whether a listener should play through his Warlock or Death Knight, and the perils of going after Mr. Pinchy. Don't forget, if you'd like to send us email, the address is theshow AT wow.com -- drop a note, and you might hear it live on the show next Saturday, which we'll stream right on our Ustream page.And finally, we're back up and running at full steam -- as of right now, every way you need to listen to the show should be completely fixed and functioning. So if you've got iTunes, head over to our iTunes page to subscribe to the show and make sure to leave a review while you're there. Or, you can even listen to the show right over there on our sidebar -- you'll get a new show there every Monday.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
Slorkuz tells you how to win Arathi Basin
I have to admit, I've been giving Arathi Basin short shrift lately -- while I'm having a great time hitting all the solo achievements (just got my Delicious Chocolate Cake the other day, and Mr. Pinchy is my next goal), battlegrounds have fallen by the wayside on my play schedule. But AB is a great time, and if you've recently found your way back in there, Slorkuz happens to be an expert on AB winning -- when a player wonders how to win AB in a tournament setting, Slork shows up a wall of text on how to walk away with at least 3 nodes.Of course, Zach has already written extensive tips on how to win in there, but Slorkuz has a few tricks of his own -- rather than the usual 5-5-5 group, he recommends a 4-3-3-3-2 setup, with a group of four holding down what he says is the most important node, the Blacksmith. It's the closest point to all of the nodes, so if you group has to move fast, that's the place to be. The other three person groups hold down the other nodes, with an extra three person group and a duo moving back and forth and defending as necessary. And in a tournament setting, there are lots of things you can do to make the setup even stronger -- give mount buffs to the moving players, communicate back and forth to match the numbers, and make good use of CC when possible.Definitely food for thought (and probably enough to pull me back into AB for a few fights this weekend -- to get Make Love, Not Warcraft, if nothing else). When Wrath actually releases, Wintergrasp will probably be the place to be, and I'm just plain tired of WSG and all the shenanigans in AV, but AB still seems to have some fun in it.
Insider Trader: Crafting achievements pre-Wrath
Times are changing. Where previously you could merely craft epic swords and new-fangled flying machines, you can now craft success. Achievement points, the latest addictive means of displaying your awesomeness, are all the rage, and can be crafted up in a jiffy. Well, maybe two jiffies.As a level 70, there is one achievement you almost certainly have, and that is "Professional Master." This is awarded once you train the highest rank of any given profession, and serves as a little pat on the back for a job well done. Ready to go further? Get ready to maximize your fishing, cooking and first aid skills!
Going Deep Sea Fishing for some better 375 Fishing rewards
I've been leveling up fishing lately (hit 373 last night, along with 375 cooking, thanks to El's great guide), and I've actually found it pretty fun. It's a little too boring to do it without something going on in the background (last night it was the Cubs game, as depressing as that was), but it's kind of fun just to throw a line into some random water or pool and see what comes out. That said, the rewards could use a little tuning -- while events like the STV Fishing Tourney are fun (I've done it twice now and haven't won it yet) and offer some nice items, fishing itself even at the highest levels just isn't as rewarding as, say, running dailies or Heroics. The only reason to run it all the way up is really just to say you did -- while there's a promise of a Mr. Pinchy somewhere out there, there's no real fishing endgame in the way that there is for the rest of the game.Which makes Qann's suggestion intriguing -- he says that high level fishers should have access to certain areas via boat that offer them tougher fishing challenges, and better rewards for it. A boat could shuttle you out to a remote island or location, where only certain fish could be caught or found. And we don't even really need a boat -- just more events like the STV Extravaganza (where certain fish that appear in special pools can be turned in directly for items) would be great. And why is it that the best items obtained through fishing are apparently scrolls? Why can't we fish for Badges, or even have a fishmarket, where fish can be exchanged for gems, crafting materials or other rewards?Even Blizzard admits that there's a lot of work to be done for fishing, but it doesn't seem too hard -- if they're giving out epics for holidays, fishermen and women who make it up to 375 should deserve some good loot for their hard work as well, whether it's through Deep Sea fishing, keys that will unlock special chests, or just a vendor that will take all of those Barbed Gill Trout off your hands and give you something worthwhile in return.
Fishing: What lurks beneath? [Updated]
I had read the news that, in patch 2.1, many more fish would be added to the waters of Azeroth and Outland, so that every time you cast a line in, one of them would bite. So, as I leveled up my draenei hunter, dreaming of one day becoming great like my hero (with a Big Red Lizard or something), I thought, "I'll just wait until after patch 2.1 to start fishing! Then I'll be able to get a bite every time, and level up my fishing a lot faster!" So, soon after the patch came out, I found myself questing along the shoreline of Feralas and wishing I could fish up all those schools of valuable fish and boxes of floating treasure. "Well, self," I said to myself, "Now's the time to give fishing a try!" I was so wrong. Fishing is still astoundingly boring. After about two hours of fishing in Darnassus with lures, from a skill level of 1, I reached a mind-numbingly dull skill level 19. The abominable sense of wasting time shocked me all over again. Usually your fish will bite, only to get away! Often, your fish will bite within the last 0.2 seconds of your fishing cast time, and latency makes your click on the bait come after the cast time is finished. You actually have to click the bobbing bait thingy before you hear the splashy sound in order to have a chance at catching it. So there I was, staring like a hawk at my computer screen, ready to click in the last split seconds of the cast time, dreading another "your fish got away!" message, and thinking, "This should be better! How would I improve it?" Then, suddenly, I remembered a certain piece of Blizzard fan art I had seen (which still makes me chuckle whenever I see it) and I suddenly sensed the tremor of monstrous ideas rising up from the depths of my subconscious.Brilliant fishing improvement ideas after the jump. Don't forget to see the larger version of this art, too!
