Grinding
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In the reputation grinder
Reputation grinding is something of a mixed bag in the World of Warcraft-- some factions have many options for the player who wants to gain rep. Most of the new factions in Burning Crusade have quests, turn-ins, and various instances that all award rep. Others (especially those that existed pre-BC) are more difficult, requiring hours upon hours of grinding away on specific mobs that provide little return, as anyone who's ever gotten exalted with the Wintersaber Trainers will tell you.Not all factions provide rewards that everyone will need-- if you're anything like me (and, I think, most players), you'll pick and choose which factions you want to grind. For at least one person, however, the goal was to hit Exalted with all available factions. Tombom, from Cho'gall, is exalted with 36 different factions (37 if you count switching from Scryer to Aldor), including Darkmoon Faire. I'd be lying if I said that this didn't make me feel bad about neglecting some of my own reputation goals, but it does inspire me - if a Disc / Holy priest can do it, why not me?Congratulations, Tombom!Thanks, Centipede!
Liquidor's rep calculator works for US realms, too
Ask and you shall be given-- the other day we posted about Liquidor's rep calculator, and lamented that it was EU only, and now only a few days later, he's updated it to not only include US realms, but he's completely revamped the design.Sure enough, I punched in my character from the US realms, and I got the nice readout of where I'm at for all my reputations, and one click access to what exactly I need to do to move up a level (apparently I need to keep running Shadow Labs, grrr). Seems like it pulls everything directly from the Armory (where else would he get it from?), so all the info is as up to date as it is on Blizzard's official site.There's also a checkbox now for "TBC Reputation only" that when unclicked gives a warning that says "Soon!," so apparently Liquidor is working on including Old World Azeroth rep as well. Just like we said the other day, this is a terrific tool for working on those all important rep grinds. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm LFG Shadow Labs. Anyone? Please?
Liquidor's EU Rep Calculator shows the way to Exalted
Liquidor posts on the forums about a cool little tool he's put together. His rep calculator is a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about where your character is at in terms of rep, and what you need to rep up. There's just one little catch-- since Liquidor plays on Boulderfist EU, the calculator only works for EU characters at the moment.So those of us on US realms are out of luck, but maybe if we give Liquidor a little more attention here, he'll be convinced enough to let us Americans in on the fun. As much as rep grinding is required in the game now, it's interesting that there's not a lot in terms of reputation tools out there-- WoW Wiki has those cool charts for each rep and the quests that can be done to level it, but Liquidor's guide is unmatched in terms of utility-- he even tells you mobs that can be killed for rep, and how many are needed of each type to rep up. Hopefully, especially as we move toward the next expansion (where even more factions will likely be introduced), players will get better and better tools like this to help their rep grinding.
How to AoE for fun and profit
I'm very suprised we haven't posted this video before, but I took a gander through the archives, and while we've touched on the magic of AoE mages before, I don't think I've seen it. If you want to know how to hit up a whole bunch of mobs at a time while playing your mage, this extremely thorough guide will teach you top to bottom.And for everything else you want to know, you can check out also very in-depth text guide by Bangy posted over on the EU forums, who also references the video above. He covers everything, from spec to process to the best spots to do it at every level. Mage AoE is extremely powerful when set up correctly-- for grinding in the right places, it almost breaks the game. There are a lot of compromises that have to made in terms of how and where you can do it, but in the right place with the right abilities, there's no faster and easier way to crush whole groups of mobs at a time.
Breakfast Topic: WoW as meditation
There are a million ways to relax in this modern era. Yoga, taichi, zen koans, transcendental meditation, knitting, and yes, video games. It might seem odd to mention video games in the same sentence as "zen" or "meditation," but think for a moment: most forms of meditation involve focusing on one simple thing, such as the flame of a candle, or the repetition of a mantra, and excluding all other thought. Doesn't World of Warcraft call this grinding?Now, granted, there are plenty of complicated and interesting things to do in WoW that involve lots of concerted thought and could not be considered meditation. But couldn't grinding away on daily quests or farming for materials be considered a very modern way for some people to wind down, clear their mind of daily frustrations, and just be nothingness itself for a little while? I know for my part, playing WoW by myself for a while certainly isn't ecstatic communion with the divine, but it can be a great way to just put everything else away for a bit and come back to life feeling refreshed. What do you think: is grinding a form of meditation for you, or is it just something to do when you're bored out of your mind?
Breakfast Topic: Little Red Riding Nether Ray
I know, I know... today's breakfast topic comic seems a bit dark and gloomy -- but don't worry! Things are not what they seem! The girl's grandma is actually a professional hunter of evil grandmavores. The girl-grandma team tricks the beasts into their doom: first, little Red lures the beasts close to the cottage, and then Granny springs a woodsman-shaped target dummy on them and mutilates them from behind with her epic daggers disguised as knitting needles. Annnywaaaay, the topic for today is these scary creatures known as nether rays! Now we can ride them! But... the question is, does anyone want to? I know the nether ray in this picture looks pretty spooky, and I'll admit that there are some screenshots in which they look okay at first. But over all, aren't they really rather ugly, pudgy and too much like a fish with serious dental problems? I was over there questing in Skettis with a friend of mine today, just earning some money in a few spare minutes I had to play, when we stopped to gawk at the Sha'tari Skyguard dwarf just swooshing along on his nether ray mount, looking as pudgy and as awkward as can be. I realized, this thing doesn't look like it should be a mount at all. Your legs kind of sink through the creature's tendril hood or whatever it is, and some races apparently have their hands hanging out in thin air, holding on to reins that should be there on any normal mount, but not on this one.Do you agree that this thing is an ugly waste of your reputation grinding time? or am I totally missing the aesthetic genius of this?
Are we all just here to grind?
I don't often look to the Hollywood Reporter for, well, anything. So when I read an article talking about MMOs, I was a little skeptical. But as it turns out they have some interesting things to say about WoW and the MMO market. Most of the article is a large advertisement for Mesa Studios' latest endeavor, Stargate Worlds, but being that WoW is the top dog in MMOs today, they spend a lot of time talking about what makes WoW successful. They say that the grinding element is, in part, one of the reasons that players keep playing World of Warcraft. Now, Mr. Ybarra, the gentleman from Stargate Worlds sounds as if he doesn't have much experience with WoW as an actual game when he says this: The paradigm for customer retention at 'WoW' and most of the other MMOGs is to build a game that takes the player 2,000 hours to reach Level 500...
Breakfast Topic: WTB guild silliness, PST
Well, okay, maybe not buy, but I'm all about trading stories! For example, it's my belief that some of the best World of Warcraft posts never see the light of day. Why? Because they're closeted on guild forums, safe from prying eyes. But you know you all have seen them. These threads take on Legendary Thread status within our respective guilds, and grow into in-jokes over time. Here's one of my favorite of the recent posts I've seen on my guild's forums that has exploded into a truly silly string of "contest" posts. This original post was made by my Rogue class leader when he was looking for a Blinkstrike to call his very own. Enter the "Win a Free Pocket Rogue" Sweepstakes!
Starting from scratch with the same class
Kraylessa on WoW Ladies has a problem I've been thinking about lately as well. When I first started playing WoW, I rolled an NE hunter (yes, I know it's a cliche noob class and race but I was young and impressionable at the time), and while I was able to get her all the way up to 60, I've since abandoned her for another server (because a friend made me move) and for the Horde (because, come on, Horde rocks). I've since rolled up a shaman, a rogue, and a mage, but even after playing and enjoying those, I still long to play a hunter again-- the combination of crazy ranged DPS, traps, and a powerful pet is like a siren song to me.So I'm faced with the possibility of rerolling the same class I already played, and, like Kraylessa, this is not really something I want to do (at least I wasn't made to reroll because of an accidental character deletion). True, it has been a while since I've played the hunter, so things have changed a lot (not to mention that I've learned a lot as a player). And I'd likely try another spec-- my hunter was a marksman, so I'd probably try a BM (Kray doesn't want to level her priest shadow, but I have no idea why-- shadow priests are hella fun, and if she missed out by leveling with holy the first time around, she owes it to herself to level a face melter).But it still seems like it would be boring, like a suspense movie I've already seen. Have you ever rerolled the exact same class? Was it definitely worth it or completely a pain? I'd really enjoy having a brand new Blood Elf hunter as a main, but I just don't know if I'd enjoy grinding all the way to 70 again.
WoW Moviewatch: How I learned to AoE and make the Scryers love me
Although this video has probably the single worst song I've heard on a WoW vid, it does manage to impress me with a mage's AoE capabilities. (Not to mention the mere fact that he manages to play pretty well on what looks like 800x600 with no mods running.) I wonder how much +damage gear I'd need for Holy Nova to perfom like that. Oh, by the way, don't bother with the last minute of the video -- it's just the song finishing its torpid existence over a black screen.
Ask WoW Insider: best place to grind for a level 44 mage
It's time for this week's edition of Ask WoW Insider (yes, we usually post this on Friday, but blame Chicago for making us sit on a plane all day!). Last week you weighed in on the best duo for PVP or grinding. Our question today comes to us from Jason, aka Sentius: I am somewhat new to the game, been playing for about a month, just taking my time but getting into the game very much. I have already pre-paid for the expansion which is awesome! But I have a level 44 alliance mage, and I am wondering what are some good grind spots for him? I play with a few friends online, and when we are on, we like to do a good instance or run up a few quests... But mainly on solo time, we're out grinding trying to make some money... we are all broke since we got our mounts. So my question to you is, what are some good ideas for a level 44 mage to grind??? You heard the man -- help him out! And don't forget to keep sending us your questions for Ask WoW Insider to ask AT wowinsider DOT com.
Ask WoW Insider: Best duo for PVP or grinding?
Last week we asked you to submit your questions for a new feature, Ask WoW Insider. Every week we'll pick a question out of the box and publish it for you, the readers, to help answer. This week's question comes to us from Christopher: "What do you think is the best duo team for PVP or grinding? I thought about it for a good two weeks and haven't come to any conclusions. Thanks." We imagine you'll have a lot to say on this topic, so let's hear it -- what team of classes do you think makes the best duo for PVP or for grinding? Feel free to include two sets if you feel a different duo is warranted for each. And don't forget to drop us a line with your questions for Ask WoW Insider -- send them to ask AT wow.com. Thanks!
The Burning Crusade: Faction reputation guide
Faction, can't live with it, can't access Naxxramas without it. Up to now, we've really not had to worry too much about faction in the World of Warcraft. Sure, if you want to get cheap access to Naxxramas, or if you'd like to get the Ahn'qiraj rewards you'd have to get pretty far along with the Argent Dawn and Cenarion Circle, respectively. But outside of that, faction was really just a way to earn a cool mount from another race. All of that is about to change. The Burning Crusade brings us not just a couple of expected new factions (Silvermoon for Blood Elves and Exodar for Draenei), but a whole host of interesting sounding names, such as the Ashtongue Deathswarm, Sporregar, The Consortium, Kurenai, The Violet Eye, The Mag'Har, Netherwing, The Cenarion Expedition, and a whole lot more. In fact, there are currently at least 19 new factions to gain reputation with. Luckily, World of Raids is here to help us with a continually-updated Burning Crusade Faction Reputation Guide. From locations, to rewards, to repeatable quests, the guide is set up to have it all. If you have a chance, go check it out, and if you're in the beta, why don't you give them a hand in fleshing it out.
How do we level? Let us count the ways
From reader Luclan comes a very important question: what, in our experience, is the best or fastest way of levelling up quickly?First off, I believe levelling quickly in the "power-levelling" sense, and levelling well, are two different things. Getting a level 60 friend to run you through all the lower dungeons for loot won't help you learn how to play your class in groups; spending five levels grinding in one spot doesn't equip you to deal with a wide variety of situations. The journey through each level should, in my opinion, be savoured and learnt from -- after all, when you end up at level 60, knowing as much as possible about your class is a great start.
"In Praise of the Grind"
Liz Lawley posted a great piece over at Terranova this past weekend, in which she sings the praises of the grind. She compares it to pulling weeds-- a "mindless" and yet "indescribably satisfying" task. Unlike most players, who seem to be making an end run for 60 as fast as they possibly can, she revels in the grind. She actually enjoys the hacking and slashing of countless unnamed mobs, picking up the loot left over, and moving on... to more of the same.And I have to say, I agree with her. I play mostly PVE, not because I'm a carebear, but because there's a very Zen beauty to getting in the groove of collecting loot and XP just for collecting's sake. My NE hunter was my first character, and I had grinding with her down to a science-- Mark the mob, send the pet, put on a sting, pour on DPS until the monster closes, and then hack and dodge until it's dead. Finally, mark the next mob, skin the killed one, and send the pet off to start it all over again. I was almost angry when my bags filled and I had to head back to town and break my rhythm.I will say that having music or television on in the background helps a lot-- I've made it through seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development across all of my many alts, and with the upcoming iTunes controls, listening to music will be easier than ever. But there's still a certain thrill in drinking in the game Blizzard has created all by itself, away from prepubescent gankers, angry guilds rolling on l33t gear, and QQing whiners. Next time you're in Azeroth, give it a try-- close your chat windows, choose a nice secluded glade, and grind, grind, grind away.
Have to Level a Weapon? Go Solo!
Here's a cool tip a guildie shared with me a little while ago. Say you're a human warrior (don't laugh, Horde, it happens), and you have a thing for swords, so throughout your journey through Azeroth, you hack and slash away with your trusty longsword. But suddenly, right around level 40, you're rolling through SM, and all of a sudden the Ravager drops and you win the roll. Suddenly, you've got one of the coolest axes in the game, and not a single axe skill point to your name.What do you do? Well, you could head back to Goldshire and chop up a few low level mobs for an hour or two. But as long as you're chopping without earning experience, here's a better idea: run an instance solo. Almost any class above 40 won't have too hard a time rolling through Deadmines or Wailing Caverns, and once you hit 50, you can even rock Blackfathom Deeps or Shadowfang Keep all by yourself. Not only will you level up your brand new weapon, but you'll get all kinds of loot in the process, including low level blues and greens that you can sell for big gold to twinkers, or lots of cloth you can hand on down to your alts, auction off, or even use yourself to up a profession you've been neglecting.Personally, I've done this twice now-- when my shaman found a great mace, I ran Shadowfang (and found a blue sword that I sold for 40g to a twinker). And last night, Kang dropped for me, so I took a trip through Blackfathom, and had a great time shutting down the Twilight's Hammer (and Aku'mai) all by myself. When you get a great new weapon, and you've got to grind it up, there's no better place to go than a solo instance run.
At War With the Dawn
I really hope I never get this bored...Then again, your options do get pretty limited once you reach level 60; the same raids & dungeon crawls over & over, the endless grinding for reputation. Or you can do what this guy did, and just say to hell with it all & declare war on the Argent Dawn. And he photoblogged the whole thing over at notaddicted.com.Yes, I guess it can be pretty annoying to other players when quest NPC's & the like are killed...especially by members of your own faction. But after all, that 'at war' tab IS there for a reason, is it not? It would be a shame to let it just go unused forever...or not.In any case, it's something I would never do or never hope to encounter, but it does make for some funny reading over your cornflakes....
Shouldn't Games Be Fun?
This article from The Escapist tackles the topic of boredom in video games, and having recently spent the time to grind to honored standing with the Timbermaw faction, I can certainly understand what they're talking about. At some point in World of Warcraft it's all about the grind - whether you're grinding for faction standing, grinding for honor in PvP, grinding for gold, or grinding for gear in dungeons. And when the demands of the games are no longer fun for players? Some just leave, but others bypass the rules and purchase characters or gold - allowing others to do the less interesting parts for them. From the article: "It's fair to say that many players using these services find the time commitments required of them to be distasteful - in a word, these games are boring."
Breakfast Topic: Reputation grinding
At 60, one of the many things on my to-do list is "grind reputation". I didn't really start caring about reputation before I hit 60 (save for some furbolg slaughter to appease the Timbermaws), so I have had a long way to go with all the game's factions.The recent Scourge invasion and expansion of Light's Hope Chapel now mean there's even more you can do to get the Argent Dawn to like you. However, I'm torn. I'm saving up for an epic mount, and the various turn-in items (Crypt Fiend parts, Dark Iron scraps, Bone Fragments, etc) are fetching high prices on the auction house. So I've been splitting my spoils -- selling some, and turning in others.Do you see this as taking advantage of reputation grinders? Or is it merely profiting from the game's mechanics? If I manage to save enough for my mount this way, I'll stop; but I've seen lots of spam in the Trade channel advertising the same items, so it isn't just me who thinks this way.
The PvP Grind
I've been playing World of Warcraft for over a year now, and have only recently attempted PvP. I've had a lot of fun with it, but certainly haven't spent enough time grinding for honor to burn out on the experience. This article from Not Addicted looks at what it takes to make rank 14 in the PvP grind and is a clear explanation of why I don't intend to try going that far. Anyone out there with personal different experiences on the grind to rank 14?
