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Guide to Companion Vanity Pets in World of Warcraft

2009-12-15T19:18:00.000-08:00

The fourth article in our guide to WoW vanity pets covers companions available through increasing reputation with various World of Warcraft Factions. Learn which pets are available from The Oracles, The Sha'tari Skyguard, The Sporeggar, and the Kalu'ak.
Faction grinding is a fact of life in World of Warcraft. For many, the potential rewards make the tedious grind worthwhile. For pet collectors, there are some fantastic and unique pets that can only be acquired by gaining a favorable reputation with certain in-game factions.

Oracle Faction Pets
The Oracles, in Northrend’s Sholazar Basin, are one of the most lucrative factions with which to gain reputation for pet collectors. Once players reach Revered status, they become able to purchase a Mysterious Egg from the faction’s quartermaster. After 7 days, this egg has the potential to hatch into one of four unique pets, the rare Green Proto Drake flying mount, or a semi-useless food item called Aged Yolk.

Approximately 20% of the time, the Mysterious Egg will hatch into a Tickbird Hatchling. This brown bird will flutter along behind you faithfully after being summoned.

The White Tickbird Hatchling is another potential pet that can emerge from a Mysterious Egg. Like its darker-feathered cousin, this white bird has a 20% chance to emerge from any given egg.

The Cobra Hatchling is another potential drop from a Mysterious Egg. Like the tickbirds, it drops approximately 20% of the time. The Cobra Hatchling very closely resembles a smaller version of the giant snakes that circle the Oracle village in Sholazar. You know, the ones you were forced to repeatedly kill in order to complete your Oracle daily quests.

The rarest of the Mysterious Egg hatchlings, the Proto-Drake Whelp, is also the coolest-looking. This tiny red version of the mounts many level 80s can be seen flying around on only drops approximately 10% of the time.

None of the Oracle pets are soulbound when they hatch, so those unwilling to grind their way to Revered with The Oracles can potentially get them off the auction house instead. Players who find themselves constantly getting repeat pets can simply auction off the duplicates for a decent amount of gold, as well.

Check out page 2 for information on pets available from the Kalu’ak, Sha’tari Skyguard, and Sporeggar factions.

The Kalu'ak Faction Pet: Pengu
Pengu is a black and white baby penguin with dark red eyes. To obtain him, players must purchase a Nurtured Penguin Egg from a Kalu’ak quartermaster (Sairuk in Dragonblight or Tanaika in Howling Fjord) after reaching Exalted status with the Kalu’ak. The Nurtured Penguin Egg costs 12 gold before the faction discount.

Sha'tari Skyguard Faction Pet: Nether Ray Fry
Players who manage to reach Exalted status with the Sha’tari Skyguard in Terokkar Forest will find themselves able to purchase the Nether Ray Fry from Grella the Skyguard Quartermaster at Blackwind Landing for 32 gold. This tiny version of the Nether Rays found throughout outland is dark-colored with a purple glow.

Raising your Sha'tari Skyguard faction to Exalted also enables players to purchase rare Nether Ray epic flying mounts. While these may have been more common in the Burning Crusade Days, they're rarely seen in Northrend.

The WoW Wiki guide to the Sha’tari Skyguard faction will help you reach Exalted as fast as possible.

The Sporeggar Faction Pet: Tiny Sporebat
This tiny green sporebat glows orange and hovers along behind its master. To purchase it, players must first reach Exalted status with the Sporeggar, then purchase it from the Sporeggar quartermaster, Mycah in Zangarmarsh, for 30 glowcaps (Sporeggar currency). Glowcaps can be found on the ground throughout Zangarmarsh, and are available as rewards for certain Sporeggar daily quests, similar to Champion's Seals.

WoW Wiki has an excellent guide to increasing Sporeggar faction, as well.

Each of these pets is easily acquired; players just need to invest the necessary time to improve their standing with each of these factions. While the long faction grind can seem tedious, it has its upside. Faithfully completing daily quests can earn you quite a bit of money, and the gear rewards available from the various factions can often make the process more than worthwhile.

Be sure to check out the other sections of the guide for information on pets available from vendors, as quest rewards, through the engineering profession, and from ultra-rare loot cards in the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

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2008-01-21T00:17:00.000-08:00

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A chat with a World of Warcraft bot programmer

2008-01-29T00:30:00.000-08:00

Every day, millions of people trade in their real-life personas for virtual humans, orcs and night elves in the massive online game World of Warcraft. Real people spend countless hours controlling their virtual counterparts, collecting online treasure, fighting monsters and making their characters more powerful. Some, in a bid to save time or the sanity of their girlfriends, have started using bot programs to autonomously control their characters. We took a close look into one such "bot" program WoWglider and chatted with its developer who goes by the nickname "Mercury".

In World of Warcraft, players log into various online characters such as a Warrior, Mage or Priest and travel around the twin continents of Azeroth. The goal is to fight monsters and complete quests that will award experience, gold and equipment. As characters gain experience, they will "level up" and procure better skills. All of this takes time and it's not uncommon for people to spend several hundred hours getting up to level 60, which is currently the highest achievable level.

While many people enjoy spending time venturing around World of Warcraft, others want a fast and easy way to the top. WoWglider and other bot programs automate the leveling and treasure gathering process by automatically moving characters around and attacking monsters. While it will still take many hours for characters to reach higher levels, people can now surf the web, read a book or even sleep.

Mercury told us that the primary purpose of WoWglider is to allow busy people to "level up" their characters. When he first started playing WoW, Mercury felt left behind because his friends were already at level 60 and he had little time to catch up. "I also wanted to get to 60 to come along on the instance runs, but I had no time to grind it out between work and social life." Many areas of the game are only available to higher level characters, so Mercury wrote WoWglider to accelerate his game.

While WoWglider can be used to level up the first character, Mercury discourages people from doing so and recommends the program for people's alternate characters. In WoW, people can have many characters and their primary one is usually referred to as the "main", while the other characters are called "alts". "I always discourage new players from using Glider. All that 1-60 content is pretty fun... and skipping it with Glider is just a shame," Mercury said.

People can download and try WoWglider for free. The trial version works for a few minutes and users can pay $25 for a perpetual license. Mercury told us that the program has been "fairly popular" and while he doesn't want to give away the exact numbers of people who have paid $25, he does say that the program has been downloaded 3,000 to 5,000 times.

WoWglider works by navigating characters in a big circle around an area. Users set up waypoints and the program automatically scans for monsters and attacks them in the "glidepath". Killed monsters are then automatically looted for treasure items. Special gathering skills such as mining, herb gathering and animal skinning can also be applied.

Mercury told us that WoWglider reads the game's memory locations to find out the status of the character and nearby monsters. Keystroke information is then sent to the operating system, which is then sent to the game client. "It reads memory to see your health and mana, the monster's health, etc. It works pretty much you would, pressing keys and moving around in response to what's happening in the game," says Mercury. He emphasizes that the program won't do anything that a human player wouldn't be able to do such as, "finding stealthed monsters or teleport".

Blizzard, the owners of World of Warcraft, obviously doesn't like these programs and tries to ban anyone using these. Two methods, one technological and one human, are used to detect these bot programs. A security program called "the Warden" routinely scans memory addresses and window names for anything suspicious. Bot programs can also be detected by their robotic behavior and Blizzard employs people acting as GMs ("Game Masters") follow that behavior.

Mercury realizes that avoiding detection is tough, but can also be fun, adding, "Avoiding detection is rather exciting, to be sure." A big part is randomization of character movement to fool onlookers that the player is human. "We try to add little mannerisms here and there, like jumps and random strafing and bits of randomness to combat," says Mercury. Character movement between waypoints is also randomized so as to not walk over the same point multiple times.

Despite all of these measures, WoWglider users have been detected and Mercury constantly adds anti-detection features. GMs usually use the in-game-chat to talk to a suspected botter. Players that do not respond are usually banned for 72 hours or permanently. Mercury added in an auto-responder that blares out an alarm and responds with a user-defined phrase. He even added in teleport detection to thwart sudden teleportation, which is another GM tactic. A once sure-fire way to detect a botter was to teleport a character to another place for a chat. A robotically-controlled character would still go around in circles, while a human would stop and usually say, "What the heck just happened?" WoWglider now detects teleports and will sound an alarm and shut down the program.

Blizzard isn't completely against automation and allows players to install custom user-interfaces, like CosmosUI, that allow limited automation of spell casting and other attacks. There is even an official "UI and Macros" forum on the World of Warcraft website. Automation can help ease some tasks, especially for spell-casting players. The game has an array of beneficial spells that temporarily give effects such as extra strength or attack power. The spells usually last a few minutes, but can be as a few seconds. In a regular party of five people, it's easy to see how this could become a major headache.

What's next for WoWglider? Mercury is thinking about adding in custom combat routines to give players, "absolute control of the fight and post-fight resting". He also is giving into user requests to add limited player to player fighting. Mercury had maintained a policy that WoWglider would never be used against another human player, but told us it must be added in to help avoid detection. "A player who ignores an attacking player looks very suspicious, so we're building in some limited means to fight back," says Mercury.

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2008-02-17T21:56:00.000-08:00

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PTR Notes: Nethers no longer BoP

2008-02-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

Nethaera promised that patch 2.4 would be progressively tested, and we are now seeing that she was indeed correct. Some major changes have been applied to the PTR tonight:

Nether Vortices can now be purchased for 15 Badges of Justice (and 7g20)

Both Nether Vortices and Primal Nethers are no longer bind on pickup

Retribution Paladin season one and two armor now has resilience

Resilience now affects mana drain

Vortices and Nethers being BoE is a huge change; my initial reaction when I saw the tip come in was "WHAT", in all caps, just like that. On the one hand, this makes top-end crafted items much more accessible. You no longer have to find a crafter who has both the pattern you want and a nether. On the other hand, it makes running heroics less profitable, since primals will probably not sell for as much on the open market as the premium that you can charge for crafting with them (often around 100g on my server). But I suppose we'll see. Overall, it looks like a good change, in the direction of making it easier for casual players to work towards high-end items. The game seems to be trending in that direction, for the better in my opinion.

News on more changes is forthcoming; I thought this was big enough to be worth posting ASAP.

PTR Notes: Patch note watch 2/15

2008-02-17T23:29:00.000-08:00

any new changes to patch 2.4 would show up in the PTR patch notes, I decided it might be profitable to save copies of the patch notes every so often and run diff on them to see if anything's changed. It looks like there were some changes today; here's what I found that we haven't discussed in full yet:

The benefits of drinking out of combat have been delayed. It will now take five seconds before the full benefit of the mana regeneration will come into effect.
Hunters will no longer spin around if they cast Aimed Shot or Steady Shot while facing away from their target.
Arcane Explosion: The damage cap for area of effect damage on this spell has been increased by approximately 50%.
Drain Mana: This ability no longer increases in power from bonus spell damage effects. Base points of the effect increased by 50%.
Queue times for arena matches have been reduced. Players will now be able to enter matches faster than previously.

Players feared outside of the Arena (through the world or outside the arena walls) will now be teleported back to the center of the arena map.
Badges of Justice have been added to all raid bosses who did not previously have them! [25-man bosses drop two badges]
There is now a teleport orb located behind Kael'thas that will become active when he dies and will allow players to teleport out of the Magisters' Terrace.
[Zul'Aman] Jan'alai will now only teleport players to him if they are too far away.
Shattrath Flasks now work inside the Sunwell Plateau raid instance.
Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe: The weapon delay has been reduced.
The Ratchet bank now has access to the Guild Vault.
A mailbox has been added to the inn in Darnassus.
Bug fixes:
- Leaving a 2v2 arena team and creating a new 2v2 team while on a 3v3 arena team will no longer result in incorrect rosters listed for each team.
- Joining a second arena match before a previous arena has closed will no longer result in personal rating not updating correctly.
- Attempting to promote an arena team member to Team Captain while that member is offline will no longer result in a "Player not found" error.
- Disbanding an arena team while inside an arena battle will no longer cause the arena UI to become corrupted until logout.
- The Arena Team Petition Window will now automatically close when the Arena Captain is out of range or offline.
- Switching arena teams after playing a game will no longer cause the PvP tab to incorrectly display your old team's rating.
- There is now a chat message given when logging in after attaining a new title.
- Spells that require targeting circles will now be castable on textures that would previously disallow their use.
- Alterac Valley quests will now properly show a golden ! or blue ? for players above level 65.
- Archimonde's Grip of the Legion will no longer target pets.
- There is no longer an area in Serpentine Cavern where using Field Repair Bot 74A will cause it to fall through the ground.
- There is no longer an area in Coilfang Steamvaults where ground targeting AOE effects cannot be cast.
- Spells that require targeting circles will now be castable on textures that would previously disallow their use.
- The proc from Black Bow of the Betrayer will no longer break crowd control effects such as Scatter Shot.
- Vengeful Gladiator's Mooncloth Hood and Vengeful Gladiator's Satin Hood will now display Troll Tusks.
- Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury will now display its bow animations correctly.
- The Legion Ring boundary markers no longer occasionally disappear.
- Monthly quests will now properly reset at midnight server time.
- Fixed an area in Netherwing Fields in Shadowmoon Valley where players on flying mounts could be dismounted and were unable to mount.
- It is no longer possible for players to use guild banks in opposing faction cities.
- The Clockwork Rocket Bot can no longer be buffed.
- Players with moderator status in custom channels will now properly lose moderator status when kicked by the channel owner.
- Mobs no longer regenerate health during the stun effect from the Goblin Rocket Launcher.
- Sending mail to a non-existent character will now result in players getting the message, "Cannot find mail recipient".

PvP for PvE on the PTR

2008-02-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

The changes just keep on coming, and at the oddest times too. The following was just unlocked on the patch 2.4 PTR: Arena gear is now obtainable in exchange for PvE tokens. According to World of Raids, Tier 4 tokens will get you season 1 gear, T5/6 will get you season 2, and the new Sunwell T6 tokens will get you Vindicator gear. You can also, apparently, exchange Badges of Justice for "all PvP gear," as pictured.

What does this change signify? Yet again, Blizz is trying to open up progression. Whether this is in advance of Wrath, when this all will be relatively meaningless, or simply in response to continuing pressure for advancement from players, this is probably a change that will be lauded by those who don't already have what it gives. If you've got this arena gear already, it might seem unfair that people can get it through alternate paths, and maybe it is. But I like that Blizz keeps trying to make it easier to be versatile in the game, to not just have to devote yourself to either PvE or PvP. Players being able to take advantage of all the game has to offer is key to its continued success.

Blizzard announces a 3v3 arena tournament

2008-02-17T23:53:00.000-08:00

Blizzard announced today that they will be hosting a 3v3 Tourney beginning in April with international qualifiers and some pretty hefty cash prizes at the end. After paying an entrance fee, teams will compete in qualifying tournaments with other teams from their region for cash prizes totaling $27,000 before proceeding to the global championship, where the grand prize will be $75,000. The twist is that this tournament will take place on dedicated servers in which participants will play with pre-made level 70 characters. You can read the FAQ here.

It sounds like this Tournament will be something that PvP Enthusiasts will want to watch with interest. The entrance fee should ensure that most of the field is made of dedicated players, or at least players who are somewhat sure of their ability, and the establishment of pre-made characters to ensure a "level" playing field should definitely lead to some exciting matches in which we'll see how differences in skill can make or break an arena match. However, It may also bring to light class and talent discrepancies as we watch which team make-ups rise to the top and which fall. Since we already know that additional class changes will be coming to 2.4.0, we certainly have to wonder if Blizzard will try to make some last minute class adjustments to this patch in preparation for this tournament, or if they'll use data from this tournament in making further decisions on class balance.

But either way, if you fancy yourself to be pretty decent at 3v3 Arena play and think you're willing to part with a bit of money to try and win a lot MORE money, it sounds like you'll want to keep an eye out for the sign-ups for this.

2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational

2008-02-17T23:54:00.000-08:00

This year's Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational is coming to the Porte de Versailles Exposition Center in Paris, France on June 28-29. Top StarCraft, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft players will duke it out for supremacy and cash prizes in eSports tournaments, and all attendees will be able to enjoy discussion panels, signings, musical performances, and more. In addition, StarCraft II and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will be playable by everyone on the show floor.

For much more information on the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, check out the press release and visit the official website. We look forward to seeing you there, but if you're unable to make it out to Paris in June, we'll be providing live coverage on the official website throughout the weekend of the event.

Wrath of the Lich King Bestiary Update

2008-02-17T23:58:00.000-08:00

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King has been updated with one new creature and half a dozen new screenshots from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about one of the new species you'll encounter in Northrend, the powerful and ferocious shovel tusk.

PTR Notes: Miscellaneous changes

2008-02-18T00:05:00.000-08:00

change of Nethers not being BoP anymore, some other changes were pushed to the PTR tonight:

Commendation of Kael'thas has had its dodge rating bonus reduced from 380 to 152
Five epic trinket jewelcrafting recipes have been added, all with passive benefits and on use effects. See this MMO-Champion screenshot for materials.
- Crimson Serpent: +33 Int, + 49 Stam, use: +150 damage/healing for 20 sec (2 min cooldown)
- Empyrean Tortoise: +42 def rating, use: +165 dodge rating for 20 sec (2 min cooldown)
- Shadowsong Panther: effective stealth level increased by one, +80 attack power, use: +320 attack power for 15 sec (2 min cooldown)
- Khorium Boar: +84 attack power, use: summon the Khorium Boar to fight for you for 30 sec (5 min cooldown)
- Seaspray Albatross: +18 mp5, use: restores 900 mana over 12 sec (3 min cooldown)
New gem cut: Regal Nightseye, +4 dodge rating, +6 stam, matches red or blue
Warlocks' Drain Mana buffed by 50%; top rank now drains 300 mana per second (was 200)
Paladins' Holy Shock damage buffed by about 35%, healing buffed by about 75%. Top rank now deals 721-779 damage or heals for 931-987 (was 530-574 damage or 530-574 healing).

That's a lot of changes. And now that I look at those numbers, those are big shifts for Drain Mana and Holy Shock. Is anyone now reconsidering those spells? Do you think those buffs will last through testing?

Free European Character Migrations

2008-02-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

Due to population differences between some of the highest and lowest populated PvP realms, the following Free Character Migration will be available January 30th to February 5th:

From: Crushridge, Grim Batol, Outland, Stormscale
To: Vek�nilash, Burning Steppes, Jaedenar
Please note that the migration may be closed at any time should a destination realm's population rise too high. Please see the migration info thread for updates.

Peons Not 4Hire in World of Warcraft Anymore

2008-02-18T00:18:00.000-08:00

covers legal issues that impact virtual worlds, reports:

The injunction also prohibits In Game Dollar from investing in a new operation doing any of the enjoined acts, and authorizes the court to award damages in the event that the company violates any of the terms. Essentially, the injunction puts In game Dollar out of the World of Warcraft virtual item and power-leveling business. The Peons4Hire website is down.

Wrath of the Lich King Beta Scams

2008-02-18T00:37:00.001-08:00

introduce a vast new land and many new dungeons to the game. A multitude of strange and terrifying creatures inhabits the frozen continent of Northrend, and you can now catch the first glimpses of the denizens of Northrend on Blizzard's newly updated Wrath of the Lich King Bestiary page. This page contains a sampling of the many new monsters you will encounter as you venture deep into the forgotten lands and desolate wastes of the Lich King's domain. The Bestiary will be updated regularly, so make sure to check back often!

How to Find the Cheapest Wow Gold

2008-02-18T00:38:00.000-08:00

The decision to purchase is one that many World of Warcraft players make. The main reason why wow gold is purchased is because it can be used to help achieve victory in the game. Without wow gold many players suffer defeat.

Purchasing wow gold can be done in a number of ways. There are many online websites that are offering wow gold for sale, but that it not the only way to obtain it. There are many individuals who offer to sell their wow gold on online message boards. It is also possible to find the gold for sale on online auction sites.

Most individuals want to purchase things for a low price and wow gold is not an exception. When purchasing it, there are many individuals who search online for the cheapest wow gold. Finding the cheapest wow gold for sale can be done in a number of different ways.

The easiest way to find the cheapest wow gold is to compare the prices of the individuals selling it. If you are interested in purchasing gold from a reliable place you may want to do the transaction through an online website. These websites can be found by performing a simple internet search.

Once a collection of online websites selling wow gold has been found you can begin price comparing. Using the internet to compare prices of wow gold is an easy process that can be done in a matter of minutes. Price comparing is the most effective way to find the cheapest wow gold.

While finding the cheapest wow gold, the price is important to a large number of gamers, but it is important to keep quality in mind as well. Since all wow gold pieces are the same and they are used the same way the quality will have to be measured in different ways. In the case of finding the cheapest wow gold, quality should be measured in reliability and service.

When purchasing wow gold the process should easily work, but you never know if or when problems may arise. This is why it is good to deal with an individual who is willing to assist you in getting wow gold. Look to see if an online website has a customer service phone number or at least an email where the individual selling the wow gold can be reached if a problem should happen to occur.

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World of Warcraft Unfinished Area

2008-02-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've been a really obsessed with this game called World of Warcraft. Maybe you've heard of it? So anyway, this latest patch integrated a thing called "Battlegrounds," of which the premise is either (depending on which you goto) to defeat the enemy, or capture their flag. So I was in the CTF area playing when my crappy dial up died and I was disconnected. On returning to the game, the battleground had ended, and my dial up promptly crapped out once again. With the way that WoW works, it loads the previous state on the server, and that saved one was still of me in the Battleground. Normally this would be fine, but the BG is an INSTANCE meaning that it's a seperate area that you load into. Upon logging in once again, I found myself in the air, and falling quite a bit down, except I was on a totally different part of the continent!

The area I was in was an area that is inaccessible from the outside world. Blizzard actually built a wall in-game that blocks all travellers from going to this area. After looking at my map, I was PAST this wall! So I decided to look around and I saw some very weird things such as an extremely tall, skinny wall, and places where textures would just suddenly change. Check out the pictures! If you wanna contact me in-game, I'm on the Terenas server with the character name Ayoshen.

Note to Blizzard: Don't ban me for this! It wasn't even purposeful. And it wouldn't even be possible at my level to get here with exploits, since that whole zone is for level 60s and I'm level 21. So *pbbbt*!

WoW Mage

2008-02-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

The Mage is a World of Warcraft class that casts powerful spells to eliminate enemies in short periods of time. The Mage is also able to cast powerful buffs, port to major cities, provide food and drink, crowd control, and protect and shield themselves from damage. The Mage has three main areas of spell focus: fire, frost, and arcane. The Mage can deal massive amounts of single target and area of effect damage. The Mage is a versatile class to have in groups and is deadly to oppose.

Below you'll find a brief summary of the Mage class, but if you want to know how to really play a Mage this Mage Guide provides a lot more helpful information.

What Races Can a Mage Be?

Horde: Blood Elf, Troll, and Undead

Alliance: Draenei, Gnome, Human

In order to be a Mage you must be one of the following races if you want to be Horde: Blood Elf, Troll, and Undead; and if you want to be Alliance you must be: Draenei, Gnome, or Human. Before you actually decide what race you want your Mage to be (from the above of course) check out the racial bonuses of each race. The bonuses most relevant to Mages are: Gnomes have increased intellect, Draeneis receive a heal over time and increased chance to hit with spells, and Humans have increased spirit.

What Kind of Gear Can a Mage Use?

Armor: Cloth

Weapons: Daggers, Swords, Staves, and Wands

Mages are only ever allowed to wear cloth armor, or I suppose nothing at all! They are also only able to use the follow weapons: daggers, swords, staves, and wands. Mages are not a melee class and are not designed (gear wise) for taking damage. They also are not especially good at dealing melee damage, with the exception of the damage wands provide them.

What Stats Should a Mage Get?

Intellect

Stamina

Spirit

The primary two stats a Mage needs to focus on obtaining are intellect and stamina. As a third stat, spirit can be chosen but the main focus should be intellect and stamina. Since Mages have low hit points and low armor, stamina is a must in order to stay alive. And because the majority of damage is done by casting spells, intellect is a must for mana and spell critical strike rating.

What are the Main Abilities of a Mage?

The main primary ability of Mages is high damage output through the use of arcane, frost, and fire abilities. Mages are able to provide high damage output through single and area of effect spells. They can also buff party members and port themselves and party members to major cities. In the frost talent tree they are granted superb damage absorption and shielding spells which provide them with powerful tools for staying alive. They are also able to crowd control through the use of incapacitation spells and immobilizing spells.

What Kind of Attacks do Mages Have?

Mages are a casting class and their main attacks are accomplished through spell damage. Mages have high single target damage spells, instant cast damage spells, and powerful area of effect damage spells. If a Mage wants to conserve mana or is out of mana it might use wands to DPS, but the main attacks of a Mage are accomplished through spell casting either fire, arcane, or frost damage.

What is the Role of a Mage in Groups?

The general main role of Mages is to DPS like crazy, so in a group setting Mages are often pulled in for this ability; however, there are a few other reasons that make Mages highly desirable group mates. Mages are often used as a source of crowd control in group settings and the addition of a Mage to a group can sometimes allow a group to break through an area in an instance they otherwise couldn't without the Mage. Frost Mages are often used to pull mobs because they can shield and block themselves from enemy attacks. Mages are also able to buff group members, port them to major cities, and summon food and drink. The benefits of having a Mage in a group are plentiful and go beyond the reasons mentioned here.

Is is Easy to Solo With a Mage?

Soloing with Mages is typically easy because they can deal high single and multiple target damage. They are also given mana restoration spells like Evocation which make regaining mana easier. The downside to soloing with Mages is that they have low hit points and armor, making them more susceptible to attacks and you must med with them to regain mana. These factors can create some down time with the Mage while soloing.

What Professions are Best for a Mage?

Tailoring

Alchemy

Enchanting

Jewelcrafting

The above professions are those which are the most useful for Mages to actually use to provide themselves with gear and items. If you are looking to make lots of money through a profession you might want to alter your choices a bit but in terms of Mage usability the above professions are the ones to choose. By training Tailoring Mages are able to create wearable gear for themselves. With Alchemy they can create powerful potions that can restore mana and health, increase damage, among other things. Enchanting give Mages the ability to give themselves powerful enchants and Jewelcrafting of course allows them to cut their own gems and make their own jewelry.

Maiev Has Opened the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj

2008-02-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

Maiev -- December 14, 2007 -- The Gates of AQ have Finally Opened!! The World of Warcraft server Maiev has finally opened the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj exactly one year after the server's inception. The player bestowed with the actually opening of the gates is Orangebug (70 Human Rogue) of Armor of God.

Patch 1.9 unleashed a complex massive server wide quest to unlock the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, which allows entrance to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, a 20 man dungeon found in Silithus. The first server to open the gates was Medivh on January 23, 2006. The actual amount of time to open the gates can take months, as players of both factions must turn in thousands of items to NPCs for the war effort. And while the Horde and Alliance often fight and rush to open the gates first, it's truly a joint effort, as the Alliance and Horde each have to gather different items for the war effort. In other words, the gates cannot be opened without each faction turning in their parts and doing their share.

In order to unlock the gates there are long and complex quest lines that need to be completed; however, they can be easily summarized into two steps: get the scepter and turn in the supplies. In order to actually open the gates the Scepter of the Shifting Sands must hit the gong on the Scarab Wall and all of the supplies must be turned in by both factions. Once all of the supplies have been turned into the war effort NPCs five days must pass for the supplies to get to Silithus, then the scepter can ring the gong to open the Scarab Wall. This begins a 10 hour long event in which many bosses are killed.

Why open the gates? The reasons for wanting to open the Gates of AQ are many. Some players want badly to obtain the title "Champion of the Bronze Dragon Flight" which is given only to the first player to ring the gong to start the event. While some want to obtain the epic Qiraj mount, which is only obtainable if you have a scepter and ring it on the gong during the 10 hour event. While others simply want to explore the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj or participate in a truly historic server event. But whatever the reason, opening the Gates of AQ is a memorable and unique event for all players involved. So congrats Maiev and all the players who participated!

WoW Priest

2008-02-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

WoW Priest

The Priest is a World of Warcraft class that possesses the power to cast incredible holy restorative spells as well as powerful destructive shadow spells to obliterate those who oppose them. The Priest is also capable of casting protective buffs and shields which protect him or herself and group members from enemy damage. The Priest has three main areas of spell focus: shadow (which primarily focuses on damage), holy (which primarily focuses on healing), and discipline (which consists of shields, buffs, and other miscellaneous magical spells). Priests are most sought after by guilds, groups, and raids for their healing and resurrection abilities.

The following guide provides a brief overview of the Priest class. This Priest Guide provides far more helpful information.

What Races Can a Priest Be?

Horde: Blood Elf, Troll, and Undead

Alliance: Draenei, Night Elf, Human, Dwarf

If you are looking to become a Priest you'll have to choose from one of the following races if you want to be Horde: Blood Elf, Troll, Undead; and if you want to be Alliance you'll have to choose from: Draenei, Night Elf, Human, and Dwarf. Any race will work but if you want to get the most benefit from being a particular race look at the racial bonuses each receives. Here are the racial bonuses beneficial to the Priest class: Humans have increased spirit and Draenei have increased chance to hit with spells. Also, when considering the race to choose keep in mind that Priests receive one to two racial specific spells.

What Kind of Gear Can a Priest Use?

Armor: Cloth

Weapons: Daggers, One-handed Maces, Staves, and Wands

Priests are only able to wear cloth armor. They are also able to use the following types of weapons: daggers, one-handed maces, staves, and wands. Priests are simply not designed to take or give melee damage. Beyond damaging with a wand, Priests typically will not be found meleeing unless for fun or to level up a weapon skill. Priests also have low hit points and taking large amounts of melee damage will often lead to their demise, unless they can heal and shield themselves enough to survive the attack.

What Stats Should a Priest Get?

Spirit

Intellect

Stamina

The three basic stats to focus on obtaining as a Priest are spirit, intellect, and stamina. Spirit has long been viewed as the most important stat for Priests because of talents in the Priest talent tree that are based off of the amount of spirit a Priest has. However, since there are a variety of specs a Priest can be some might find that they'd rather focus on stamina for survivability or intellect for more spell critical strike rating and mana. However, spirit, intellect, and stamina are the main stats any Priest should focus on obtaining.

What are the Main Abilities of a Priest?

Priests are perhaps best known for their healing abilities; however, they also produce high burst holy damage and consistent shadow spell damage. Priests are also able to cast useful buffs and shield party members from damage. In addition, they have many other incredibly useful spells that allow them to control humanoids, fear enemies, resurrect group members, and dispel magical effects, among other things.

What Kind of Attacks do Priests Have?

Priests are a casting class that doesn't use melee weapons, besides wands, for dealing damage. Instead they deal their damage through the use of powerful spells. While Priests do have some area of effect spells, they are primarily designed for causing single target healing and damage. The types of damage Priests can cause are shadow and holy.

What is the Role of a Priest in Groups?

The most common sought after use of Priests is for their healing abilities, therefore, if you are a Priest you will commonly get invited to groups to fulfill the role of a healer. Although a shadow spec'd Priest is able to heal fine for lower levels or in easier instances, Holy spec'd Priests are often desired for end game raids and instances. However, shadow spec'd Priests are also extremely beneficial in group settings because of their consistent damage, their ability to backup heal and resurrect players, and the bonus healing and mana regen their shadow spells can provide.

Is is Easy to Solo With a Priest?

Soloing with Priests is typically very easy because of the high amount of damage they can cause with shadow spells, their healing abilities, and special skills that allow priests to fear enemies and buff themselves. However, soloing can be very slow for Priests before they get the talent Shadowform, which increases shadow damage and reduces physical damage taken. Also, soloing while holy spec'd can be much much slower than soloing while shadow spec'd.

What Professions are Best for a Priest?

Tailoring

Alchemy

Enchanting

Jewelcrafting

If you are looking for professions that best compliment the Priest in terms of usefulness of the items created then the best four professions for Priests are Tailoring, Alchemy, Enchanting, and Jewelcrafting. With Tailoring Priests are able to craft useful stat relevant gear. With Alchemy Priests are able to create potions which do everything from increase spell damage to replenish mana. With Enchanting Priests are able to provide a wide range of enchants to gear which increase stats and provide other bonuses. Finally through Jewelcrafting Priests are able to cut gems and create jewelry and trinkets. However useful each of the above professions might be for the Priest, if you are looking to make lots of money with your Priest through gathering professions or simply want to do another profession then by all means go for it!

Before you Enter Outland Guide

2008-02-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

Before you enter the Outland and start completing quests the first thing you should do is sit down and think about what you want from your character. What spec do you want to be? What do you enjoy doing? Are you going to focus on Battlegrounds or the Arena? Will you be hardcore PvE? A lot of these questions are hard to answer if you've never had a level 70 character before but still considering these things will help you to get your character to where you want it to be.

Consider Reputation:

It's very important that you consider faction reputation before you enter the Outland. Faction reputation is a major part of the Outland, items, gear, instances, professions, and more require certain reputation standings. Reputation often times takes a long time to gain, so it's important that you know what standings you need with factions in order to achieve your character goals. If you have professions consider what formulas you would like to obtain and list those factions and reputation standings. Consider what pieces of faction gear you would like to get for your character and how much reputation is required. Also, consider what instances you would like to do that require certain reputation standings to enter and consider what reputation increases those instances provide you with. Finally, consider the reputation that is received from quests and keep in mind that you may have to grind in areas for hours to gain reputation. Also remember that when choosing to gain reputation for factions like Aldor and Scryer it can take hours or lots of gold to undo your choice, so choose with some thought.

Consider Quests:

When you enter the Outland you will find that there more quests than you will need to quest until you hit 70. But before you start doing quests there are a few points to consider: gear, reputation, and money. First off you might want to consider the quest rewards for doing certain quests and perhaps make the quests with the best gear upgrades a priority. Or you might simply make sure you do certain quests in instances perhaps because of their quest rewards. Secondly, you should consider the reputation gained by certain quests and focus on doing quests that will increase your reputation. If you really have a good reputation plan in place you may even find that some quests should be completed after you have already gotten your reputation to a certain level. Finally, you consider the fact that any quests you do not complete before you hit 70 can be completed to earn gold. In some cases players find that they can level much of their time instances or by grinding in areas for reputation and save quests for completion after 70 to earn gold.

Consider your Focus:

Before you begin equipping gear decide as best as you can what your focus is going to be, whether it be PvE, Arena, Battlegrounds, or a combination of any. This is of course in addition to deciding what spec your character is going to be. You will find that certain gear is better for certain things, for example, the best PvE gear might not be that great for Arena and vise versa. If you really don't know what your plan is, then no worries, just keep a variety of gear and try out everything until you discover what you really like. And of course many (if not most) players focus on all of these areas and have multiple complete sets of gear. If you are a casual player this might be hard for you to accomplish though, so it's good to have an idea in mind of what you'd like to do.

Consider your Gold:

Last but not least, think about gold before you enter the Outland. Once you go into the Outland you will most likely find that you will make more money that ever, but also that your repairs, consumables, and profession materials cost more than ever. And let's not forget about mounts, whether you are getting a standard epic mount, a regular flying mount, or an epic flying mount you are going to spend a lot of money on mounts and riding skills. How you get gold is up to you, you can quest for it at 70, farm for certain items, sell profession items, and so on. Just be sure to consider that although you might feel like you are drowning in cash in the beginning the expenses your character incurs will start to add up.

Horde Mining Trainer Locations with Maps

2008-02-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

Below is a list of mining trainers that will provide Horde miners with the training they need. All of following trainers will provide miners with training so that they can raise their skill level to 300. Krugosh in Hellfire Peninsula can provide characters with training that will allow them to raise their skill to 375.

WoW Horde Mining Trainers

Krunn (Razor Hill, Durotar)

Krunn is located in the northwestern section of Razor Hill near the forge, weaponsmith, and blacksmithing trainer, right next to the inn and mailbox. Location 51,40

Makaru (Valley of Honor, Orgimmar)

Makaru is located in the northeastern section of Orgimmar in the center building of the Valley of Honor. You will find him just northeast of a small body of water. Location 73,26.

Brek Stonehoof (Lower Rise, Thunderbluff)

Brek Stonehoof is located on the west side of the Lower Rise, (center island in Thunderbluff) in a hut named Stonehoof Geology. You will see him to your left as you walk through the doorway of the hut. Location 34,57.

Brom Killian (War Quarter, Undercity)

Brom Killian is located in the southern part of the War Quarter, in the inner circle. If you click your map you will see that the mote runs through the War Quarter, you will find the trainer in the southern part of the inner circle. You will find him near the weapon master. Location 55,37.

Johan Focht (Sepulcher, Silverpine Forest)

John Focht is located in the building in which the innkeeper and mailbox stand in front. You will find him down 3 flights of steps at the very bottom of the building. Location 43,40.

Krugosh (Thrallmar, Hellfire Peninsula) [Master Trainer] TBC

Krugosh is located outside of the largest building in Thrallmar, on the right side in the very center of the city north of the Blood Elf Pilgrims. Krugosh is able to provide training so that characters are able to reach the mining skill level of 375. Location 55, 37.

Belil (Farstriders' Square, Silvermoon City) TBC

Belil is located in Silvermoon City. You will find him by running north toward Farstriders' Square on the east path; he will be left up the stairs in the southwest corner of Farstriders' Square. Location 78,42.

WoW Neutral Mining Trainer

Pikkle (Gadgetzan, Tanaris)

Pikkle can be found in a hut on the west side of Gadgetzan. Pikkle is a neutral mining trainer, which means that he will also provide mining training to Alliance characters. Location, 51, 28.

Questing for WoW Gold at 70

2008-02-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

There are lots of possible options for making gold once you hit level 70. If you have professions you can make money by selling your supplies, crafted items, enchants, or whatever your specialty provides to your character. You can farm for certain items like cloth, primals, and vendor loot. There are even ways to make money fishing. A big way to make money is by doing quests with your character. Chances are that you didn't finish all the quests in the Outland before you hit 70 and if you decide to do those quests now you will get gold instead of experience. Questing at level 70 can equate to big bucks. Here's an example of the kind of cash you can make while questing.

Case Sample: Questing for Gold

Place: Netherstorm

Classes: Priest and Rogue

Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes

Number of Quest Turn ins: 25

Items Looted: 9 stacks of Netherweave Cloth, 14 Motes of Mana, 5 "green" items

Money from quests: 268 gold each

Money from vendor trash and sold quest rewards: 46 each

Total gold made: 314 gold each (not including items)

TOTAL GOLD MADE TOGETHER: 628 gold

My rogue friend and I set out one day to make some gold. We had completed a only few quests in Netherstorm and decided to head to Town Square (located in southeastern Netherstorm) and pick up the quests that can be found there. We completed all the quests from Town Square, along with one or two stray quests we had from before. The quests were very simple and easy to complete, we stayed within a very small radius of the quest givers. By the time we had completed all the quests we had EACH MADE 268 gold from quest turn ins and about 46 gold each for sold vendor trash and quest rewards. We both made 314 gold, for a combined total of 628 gold, plus the items which are not figured into this value. We accomplished this in only 2 hours and 15 minutes.

If you are short on gold don't overlook the possibility of making it through quests. As the above example shows, you can make quite a large amount of gold in a short period of time. If you do decide to quest for gold choose your quests wisely, don't waste time doing time consuming low drop rate collection quests. Also, consider researching what factions are obtained by doing certain quests so that you can focus on quests for gold that also help you raise the factions you want. Finally, try to find a a gold making buddy. Even if you have to split loot, you can usually kill mobs faster and complete quests much quicker.

If you want more in depth information as to gold making check out this .

WoW Engineering

2008-02-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

Engineering is definitely the most complicated and creative World of Warcraft profession. Engineers are able to create many diverse and unique items found nowhere else in the game. As they create items they are able to create higher level engineering items which are even more unique and valuable. Engineers are able to specialize in either gnomish or goblin engineering, each which allow players to make different items. Some of the items engineers can create include guns, scopes, jumper cables (which can revive dead characters), dynamite, bombs, mines, and repair bots (which can repair gear).

If you are creating a new Alliance character and know that you want to train engineering consider the fact that gnomes have the passive racial ability of slightly increased engineering. If you don't plan on being Alliance or don't want to be a little gnome, no worries, any race and class can train the profession.

There isn't a particular class that is more suited to engineering. If anything there might be a higher percentage of gnomes, because of their racial ability, but otherwise any class is game to take on engineering.

Mining is the most useful profession to train with engineering. Metals and stones are required to create parts for engineering and mining is the way to get those metals and stones. Since mining is a gathering profession engineers often spend much time mining for the supplies they need. This makes engineering even more complicated and time consuming.

The downside to engineering is that it is very complex. Normally many crafted parts or other miscellaneous items are required to make just one item. Because of this it is not incredibly easy to power level your engineering skill level up. In addition to this, the mining that most engineers takes a lot of time. Engineering is also not really a money making profession. Most of the items engineers create are parts or neat items that are engineer only. Also there are many miscellaneous items such as leather, cloth, and other oddities that are found in all different ways from farming mobs to fishing, that must either be bought or farmed.

Engineering is a great profession to train if you'd like to experience something a little outside the box. While most profession formula are pretty unexciting, with engineering players are usually able to create something fun, humorous, or useful. So if you don't mind the complexities of the profession go train it!

WoW Blacksmithing

2008-02-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

Blacksmithing is a World of Warcraft profession that gives players the ability to create a wide assortment of weapons and armor out of metal bars and other miscellaneous items. As players create items they level up their skill in blacksmithing and are then able to train more valuable recipes. At higher levels players are able to choose a blacksmithing specialization (armorsmith or weaponsmith) and at even higher skill levels they are able to specialize even further. Players often train blacksmithing so that they can eventually make themselves epic items.

The majority of players who choose to train blacksmithing are melee, and a large majority are paladins and warriors. This is due to the fact that items created by blacksmithing are geared towards these classes. Blacksmiths can create weapons, plate armor, mail armor, sharpening stones, weight stones, and other random items such as rods and iron buckles which are used in tailoring and enchanting, respectively. Blacksmiths often make money selling these weapons, armor, and miscellaneous items in the auction house. Other neat items blacksmiths can create are weapon chains, shield spikes, mithril spurs, and skeleton keys.

If you are considering taking on blacksmithing as a profession then you should also plan on training mining as your second profession. Mining gives players the ability to collect minerals from veins across the "world" and to smelt them into metal bars. These metal bars are the major component of blacksmithing recipes. So unless you plan on buying or having someone else mine and smelt all of your materials (which may be close to impossible unless you have loads of money and a full auction house) you should definitely train mining. Mining also uncovers gems, which are used in blacksmithing formulas.

Since mining is normally trained along with blacksmithing, those who blacksmith are faced with the downside of mining, which is the time it takes to get the supplies. Mining is a gathering profession which means that players must run from area to area and zone to zone gathering the supplies they need. Players normally spend a lot of time collecting the supplies they need to level up their blacksmithing.

If you are a melee class like a paladin or a warrior and want to be able to create your own weapons and armor blacksmithing is the profession for you. While it can take some time to mine to obtain your supplies, it pays off when you can use the items you create to upgrade and provide bonuses to your character.

WoW Leatherworking

2008-02-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Leatherworking is a World of Warcraft profession that allows players to create items out of leather and other regeants. Most of these items can be traded with other players and sold on the auction house, while others are bind on pick up items which are very useful to certain classes. Players are able to specialize in different types of leatherworking, such as tribal, dragonscale, and elemental. The gear produced through each of these specializations is slightly different and geared towards characters of different classes and specializations. As leatherworkers level their leatherworking skill level up they are able to train formulas which create higher level desirable items. At high leatherworking skill levels players also have the ability to create epic gear.

There are many items that leatherworkers are able to create such as leather armor, mail armor, cloth backs, armor kits (which give stat increases to items), ammo pouches, quivers, and other neat items such as riding crops, drums, and throwing balls. Leatherworkers are also able to combine certain types of leather to create higher level types of leather. Leatherworkers often sell extra stacks of leather or items such as riding crops on the auction house to make themselves a little extra money.

The profession most commonly trained along with leatherworking is skinning. Skinning allows players to skin mobs for leather and hides, which are required for leatherworking formulas. Skinning is the support profession of leatherworking and although it's possible to obtain leather and hides from the auction house, if you are planning on becoming a leatherworker the best other profession to train is skinning.

Since most leatherworkers choose to use skinning to get the leather and hides for their leatherworking formulas leatherworkers often have to grind on mobs to get the supplies they need. Skinning for supplies can get to be very tedious and time consuming, so if you don't like the idea of grinding on mobs you may want to choose another profession.

Any race and class can become a leatherworker but the majority of classes that choose to train the profession are leather or mail wearing melee classes. This is due to the fact that the majority of the gear created by leatherworking is most suited towards these classes. If you don't mind training skinning and grinding on mobs to get your supplies and if you can wear the items created through leatherworking is a great profession to train.