The Burrow

General

Players will now automatically join General chat when logging in

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This really has to count as one of the more moronic design decisions Blizz has made of the years, not as bad as the RealID fiasco but well up there in the count of “stupid things done to keep marketing happy”.  There were no complaints on the forums about not joining /general, there weren’t screams across the media or blogs.  However the lack of enforced social connections goes against the current Blizz drive for everything being social.

So we’re forced into a channel with the morons, the teenagers, the ‘rape’ morons (ie those who bolt ‘rape’ onto another word because they can) and the spammers.

Blizz, here’s a hint.   This is not a quality of life improvement in the game.

The case of the missing pond and floating air breathing fish.

I’ve probably posted about this podcast before, but in honour of its passing (last episode out today) I recommend that anyone with even a passing interest in ancient Rome download the whole damn lot and listen to it back to back.

http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/

It looks like as part of the change in mitigation, cooldowns and the other stuff they’re doing to tanks that paladins are getting back word of glory in pretty much the original form.  Short CD with good healing (~41-45k at level 85 in 397 raid gear).

Well the beta is here, though only sort of as far as I’m concerned.  SWMBO has her beta invite so I’m reduced to looking over her shoulder or using the account at other times.

Now let’s cover off a few initial points to make sure we’re all talking the same language.

1. This is not paid for content
   Now this is going to be an arguable point as access to the beta is part of the Annual Pass, however those willing to actually read the detail of the agreement will almost certainly find some epic grade caveats about the beta shoved in there.
2. This is not a demo
   Seriously, it’s not.  It isn’t filler content either.  This is a work in progress, it has bugs, it has problems, whole sections of the new content are locked out and may be only open for limited periods of time. 
3. The dev team are mostly in America
   This means that a lot of the focused testing when they’re watching will occur at times to suit their working hours / schedules not those of people in Europe or elsewhere in the world.  Sorry but deal with it.  It’s their business decision on how best to use their developer time, which devs to keep in the office late etc etc.  See point #1
4. We are here to test
   Ok, it is fun looking at the new content but this is our moment to find the problems in the game (yes scroll of pandageddon I’m looking at you) .  Whether they’re bugs, spelling mistakes (See point #3 when considering whether something is going to be considered a spelling mistake), holes in the scenery, problems with animation.  Everything.
5. Report bugs
   and report them well.  At the moment our only option is the forum, report quickly, report fully, report concisely.  Include screenshots / other supporting information, but for the love of the panda gods report the damn things.

Finally I shall leave you with the first bug I encountered, a graphics glitch on the interface between the bridge and land.

So, the first ChromeGnome turned out to be a Worgen Hunter (why can’t gnomes be anything they like? Gnomes are the definition of all that is good (and evil) in the world). Anyway, the first few levels were no different to normal, from ~7 onwards the greens start landing and went straight to Mr/Mrs Generic Vendor for some much needed funding.

The problem turned out to be more related to my choice of toon and the unpredictability of the Battle for Gilneas where the masses of mobs decided I was tasty and the NPC army slacked off and watched.

Thus ended attempt one at the epic adventure.

Minor other problem, because I didn’t take the BOA mounts out of the mailbox to save bag space I can’t delete the toon until I get to somewhere there’s a mailbox. Which is a pain in the arse, a big one.

Attempt #2 is being planned, this time with a gnome.

Blizz have thrown down the gauntlet.  The Iron Man Challenge.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3659712/

So, I think I shall be nuking the little hordie I’ve been mucking about with on my home realm tonight or tomorrow and creating my little IronMan (or more likely a female ChromeGnome).  The question of course is “which class”, a mix of the ability to survive the inevitable mis-pulls / problems / fel-reavers with enough native “nuke” to make the combat go as effectively as possible.

I’m thinking that the prime candidates are

• Druid (shapeshifting, what’s not to like)
• Warlock (health through soul sucking, blueberry…)
• Hunter (pets…)
• Paladin (just because nothing says Iron Man more than the plate light dealing gods)

More on Project ChromeGnome as it happens.

At the beginning of October I set myself a challenge of “just how easy is it to make gold in this game”, prior to this point gold had come in through a mix of dungeons, selling stuff picked up, flogging off stuff farmed up and so on.  Nothing special and over the course of the expansion I went from ~30k at the start to 100k.

From the start of October the money machine was put into gear, investing daft amounts of gold into ore, grinding it through the JC and Enchanter and selling on blue quality cuts and enchanting mats.

As of last night (just under four months on) the gold loving dwarf had half a million to go impersonate Scrooge Mcduck with.

Naturally the alts were not impressed with having their savings raided so he could strut his stuff, but would you argue with a plate covered tankadin on a mission to pub crawl his way around Ironforge (I say crawl, what I mean is dive into the first in and drink it dry and pass out of course).

So, where next.

Firstly to everyone who claims it is too hard to make gold, I respond “rubbish”.  Just from questing, farming and selling anything which moves everyone can have enough gold for mounts, riding skill and repairs.  The game is designed that way, long gone are the days of epic gold grinds to get that first mount.

Secondly begging in Stormwind, not classy particularly in the time you spend begging it is possible to make the gold through questing / dungeons etc etc.  Just get a grip and be self supporting.

Finally, yes I have plans for the gold.  No I’m not telling you yet.

The problem, a house which is ~250 years old, with at least 100 years of DIY slapped on top, some network cabling retrofitted on top of that and 2′ thick walls which are a right pain to drill holes through.  On top of which a second hand Shuttle box running as the house server, backup MX for a bundle of personal domains which currently relies on a 9″ desk fan to deal with the fact the internal cooling wasn’t doing it’s job properly.

It’s a noisy thing to have in the dining room.

Enter some birthday money and some decent recent reviews on Amazon for the TP-Link.

Installation

In short, a doddle.  Plug one in, press the button for 2-3 seconds.  Plug the other in, press it’s button for 2-3 seconds, watch until the lights calm down.  That was it, all working.

Performance

On the ethernet (100Mbs switch) 9-10Mb / sec transfers from Windows 7 to the server were the norm.  These drop off to ~7.5Mb/sec when running over the adapters, however that’s an acceptable loss given it’s new location shoved in the spare room.  The documentation recommends not spanning across different rings, or plugging into extension cables etc etc.

Naturally I’m doing both, the connection has to jump across different power rings (two MCBs) and 4-way extension cables at both ends.

Summary

As with all technology things vary, but given the nature of the house, it’s power setup etc etc I reckon this is a solid test.  I’d buy it again.

As a dwarf I have a certain affinity to the shiny metal.  As a guild leader I believe it’s my right, nay, it’s my duty to go skinny dipping in the guild reserves in a manner which is reminiscent of Scrooge McDuck.  Though the guild banker does mutter and curse about having to go in and polish all the coins after I’m done for the day.

Anyway it would appear from the complaining on trade, level 85’s begging for gold and so on that making gold is hard.  That amassing enough for basic survival within the game is highly difficult.

To all those who don’t have gold I say “Stop drinking in Ironforge“, surely everyone knows by now that the innkeepers charge everyone, except dwarves, higher rates for beer.

Anyway.  Ways to make piles of gold.

1. Levelling
   It really is that simple, a recent experiment with power levelling a warrior, ignoring professions, ignoring gathering, nuking through the levels as fast as possible left me with a level 85 sat on his epic pony at epic speeds and 2k in the bank.If I had done some more work, had him gathering through the levels and clearing Northrend and the whole of Cataclysm the pile of gold would have been much higher.
2. Sell everything
   BoE items, check the AH, and see what similar items go for.
   BoP items, where you don’t need the reward always select the most expensive
   Pick up and vendor all greys
   Vendor any potions you don’t use, they don’t sell on the AH
   Cloth, if you’re not using it, slap it on the AH
   It’s pretty clear to see the plan here, everything has a value, the coppers add up.
3. Bags, invest in them
   Invest in at least 16 slot bags as soon as possible, carry the minimum of equipment and other stuff, clear out the junk every time you reach a vendor or mailbox.
4. Banking Alt
   This is a key, no one wants to break their levelling to play the AH.  So ship everything off to the alt and bulk list at the start or end of the session.
5. Dungeons
   At cap these are worth a decent amount of cash, particularly for tanks and healers who don’t have the queue times.
6. Professions
   There are guides a-plenty out there on making gold from your professions, however remember that for certain gold making schemes various professions link very nicely together (mining / blacksmithing / enchanting for example).  Experiment, look at what’s needed on the AH and how that can be provided.  Spreadsheets are your friend.
7. You don’t need to be a millionaire
   For most players having 20k or so is actually more than enough.  Raiders can burn through more and feed back into the economy by spending large wedges of cash on gear at the start of each patch grabbing BoE items.  Work out how much gold you need, put in that much effort and be happy.  Gold envy isn’t important, having enough so there’s no repair stress is.