So You Want To Be An Enchanter!

Okay, if you want to choose enchanting as a profession, I have a few tips that will save you tons of cash. I learned the hard way a couple years ago and trust me, I spent more gold than I will ever be able to recover by being a, well as they say ... a noob. Hopefully I can save you alot of time and money with this article.
Let's start with a new character. What I do is choose 2 gathering professions for the first 20 levels. You can change professions at anytime. What this does is allow you to make extra gold that you will need to become an enchanter. Typically, I choose Herbalism and Mining. Both will allow you to generate nice amounts of cash. Once you reach level 20 or so, (can be more, can be less), drop one of your professions in order to add enchanting. Which one you drop is entirely up to you. As you level your character, mining gives you toughness and herbalism allows you to have lifeblood, both come in very handy.
Once you have picked up enchanting you will need to do a few things to get ready. Hit the auction house and purchase approximately 200 Strange Dust, 100 Lesser Magic essence, a cheap bracer (or use your own) and 1 copper rod. This will get you started. You will need other mats, but that can wait for the time being.
Make your ruined copper rod and start enchanting. Enchant you bracer over and over again with "Enchant Bracer Minor Health". Keep going until you have reached level 75 then visit the enchanting trainor. Now you are at 75/150 in your enchanting skill. Resume enchanting Minor Health until you reach level 90, at which time it turns green and becomes harder to level with. Now, go to "Enchant Bracer Minor deflection" until you reach level 100. From there do "Enchant Chest Absorbtion" until you reach level 110. Then "Enchant Bracer Minor Stamina to get to level 120. You may want to train again at this point. Continue on this way until you are bored to dealth, lol. Just remember to do the enchants that will take the least amount of materials as possible. They do get costly! Once you reach level 150 hit your trainor and the Auction House again. Look for new enchanting recipies you can afford, as well as new mats you will need. Some of the mats you will need are Soul Dust, Vision Dust, Greater Magic Essence, Greater/Lesser Astral Essence, and some various shards. Look at your enchants to see what material will be needed.
Another thing you will want to do is get some Armor Vellum & Weapon Vellum. These will allow you to do enchants on scrolls to sell in the Auction House. If you are in a guild ask for an Inscriptionist to make them for you. Otherwise, it's more money into the Auction House. The scrolls are a great way to make money with your new profession, and an awesome way to level your skill. This wasn't available when I created my first enchanter and, let me tell you, it makes leveling so much easier!
Now you are on your way to becoming a real Enchanter! Well, not real, it is a game. Remember, scrolls will be your best friend. Make sure you use this to your advantage. That's where you will make your best money.

Finding Vanity Pets

This is a list of some of the different types of vanity (non-combat) pets and approximate locations as to where you can find them. After each one it will state whether it is a horde or alliance pet. Of course, you can always search the neutral auction houses for pets from the opposite faction. Also, there are many more that are drops such as the Green Wing Macaw that drops from the pirates in The Dead Mines, as well as some that are created by engineers like the Mechanical Squirrel, and the pets obtained from certain quests (children's week). If you know of more please drop me a line at exodardrakkor@yahoo.com so I can add them to the list.

Ancona Chicken: Magus in Shimmering Flats (he is by the bleachers)(Both)

Blue / yellow / White Moth: Sixx in The Exodar (Alliance)

Crimson / Black / Brown Snake: Xan'tish in Orgrimmar (Horde)

Great Horned Owl / Hawk owl: Shylenai outside darnassus (alliance)

Bombay/Silver tabby/Orange Tabby/Cornish Rex Cats: Elywnn Forest House near Goldshire (Alliance)

Snowshoe Rabbit: Yarlyn Amberstill Amberstill Ranch in Dun'morogh (alliance) ***you'll have to catch her, she constantly runs***. I found it easiest to left click on her then right click on her as she runs past me.

Parrot Senegal / Parrot Cockatiel: Sold in Booty Bay (Both)

Cockroach/Blue Dragonhawk Hatchling/Mana Wyrmling/Red Moth/Crimson Snake/Parrot Senegal/Siamese Cat/Brown Rabbit: Sold by Dealer Rashaad in Stormspire (Netherstorm). Some of these pets are pricey and you will need to be at least level 65 or higher to get there alone. (Both)

Prairie Dog Whistle: Sold in a vendors hut near Warrior Terrace Thunder Bluff (horde)

Get Your Pet Westfall Chicken

I'm going to tell you how to obtain a very cool pet, a Westfall chicken! Most people have never even heard of this pet. I played the game for 3 years before a guildie told me about it. If you are alliance, travel to Saldean's farm in Westfall. Buy some special chicken feed from farmer Saldean, then go behind the house and kill any local coyotes, as they will kill the chicken's. Now, make yourself a macro. This will save you alot of time. To do this go to the game menu, select macros, new, choose an icon and name it. The coding for the macro will simply be /chicken. Finally, make a short cut on your action bars.

Now target a chicken by left clicking on it, then start pressing the macro short cut. It takes a while so don't give up. It will take approximately 150 clicks to get the chicken's attention. Keep an eye on the chat window so you will know when the chicken has your attention. Once she does you can right click on her to get the quest called "Cluck!". Once accepted, you will then need to type in /cheer in a chat window, make sure you still have the chicken targeted, then immediately right click on the chicken again to complete the quest. The chicken will now lay an egg for you to right click and add to you backpack. The chicken egg is soulbound so you will only need to get 1 per character. ***Note*** beware, someone else can grab the egg before you do, so keep an eye out for lazy thieves. I also recommend you get extra chicken feed, while you are there, if you plan on getting one for another character.

Okay, now if you are horde it is the same thing, with one exception. You will have to go to Trisfal Glade to buy the special chicken feed. See William Saldean in Brill for that. You can also do the quest in Brill on the chickens there. However, if you like to do things the dificult way like me, you can travel to Westfall and do the quest there. Thats about it. Now you have one more pet to go toward your Plethora of Pets achievement, which I will be writing about next. Until then good luck and have a wonderful day!

PVE Combat Rogue, Dagger Build

This is the combat rogue build that I am currently using. This build works very well for me, but I haven't tried it out in a raid yet. However, as a PVE build, it works great. I just hit level 80 and once I get geared, and try it oun in a few raids, I will let you know how well it works as a raid build. You can try this build, and maybe twink it a bit to fit your playing style.
I'm always looking for new builds (any class), so if you have one or more to share, drop me a line at
exodardrakkor@yahoo.com


Assassination:
Improve Eviserate 3/3
Malice 5/5

Subtlety:
Master of Deception 1/3
Opportunity 2/2

Combat:
Improved Sinister Strike 2/2
Dual Wield Specialization 5/5
Improved Slice & Dice 2/2
Deflection 3/3
Precision 5/5
Endurance 2/2
Riposte 1/1
Close Quarters Combat 5/5
Improved Sprint 2/2
Lightening Reflexes 3/3
Aggresion 5/5
Blade Flurry 1/1
Weapon expertise 2/2
Blade twisting 2/2
Vitality 3/3
Adrenaline Rush 1/1
Combat Potency 5/5
Unfair Advantage 2/2
Surprise Attacks 1/1
Savage Combat 2/2
Prey On The Weak 5/5
Killing Spree 1/1

Great Grinding And Farming Spot

If you are looking for a nice grinding spot in the Borean Tundra, you may want to visit the Charred Rise. The fire elementals there go down fairly easy. I prefer to take them on 3-4 at a time with my rogue and as many as possible with my 80 Death Knight. Not only can you grind there, but it doubles as one of the best farming spots in the game. Using my level 74 rogue I looted 4 green items, 1 blue item, 22.4 gold in vendor trash, and the best part; I received 41 crystallized fire all in 1 hour! With my Death Knight I can easily double those results.

You can turn 10 crystallized fire into 1 eternal fire, or keep them as they are. In both forms they are coveted!
As an enchanter I rarely need these items so I usually sell them off for a nice profit. Currently on my server the Crystallized Fire sell for 2.9 gold each and the Eternal Fire goes for around 28 gold each. Not a bad profit for 1 hours worth of effort.

However, there is one little drawback. It's such a good spot, there is almost always someone farming/gringing there. Fortunately there are alot of the fire elementals and the respawn rate is excellent. Three to four people can farm/grind there at the same time and still have a productive outing. If you play late night or early mornings like me you may get the place to yourself once in a while.

If you are looking for a great farming/grinding spot drop me an email at exodardrakkor@yahoo.com. Tell me your level, what you would like to farm (if you are farming), and which side you play on. I will see what I can find for you. Until then, happy grinding!

Party Looting Etiquette

There are many ways for a party to share the loot, and the one you chose should fit the party's needs. Here are the options available to the party leader.

Round Robin : The most common way. Everyone takes turns in looting. It is your turn to loot again when everyone has taken their turn in that round. If a player leaves some or all of the loot, anyone in the party may grab the loot.

Free-For-All : This setting allows anyone in the party to loot any corpse. This option is useful if no one cares who gets the loot, or how often any one person gets the loot.

Master Looter : This setting allows the group leader to loot everything and decide who will receive each item at a later time. This is useful when very powerful items are dropping and people can't be trusted to pass them out fairly. Any time an item is distributed using the Master Looter system and the item is quality epic or above there will be a confirmation dialogue to confirm that the item is going to the correct person.
In Master Loot mode, all players in the group will see sparkles on corpses that have loot above the master loot threshold. This lets everyone see what the master loot items are, though they cannot interact with them. Only the master looter will be able to loot them.

Group Loot (default) : When an item equal to or above the threshold (details on threshold below) is on a monster that is killed, everyone gets a pop-up box on their screen with the item and pass or roll options and a timer. Anyone who rolls, displays a number from 1 to 100, the highest roller of all those who choose to roll automatically gets the item. Anyone who waits until the timer expires automatically passes. To roll all you have to to is open a chat window and type in /roll, then press enter. You number will show up in the chat dialog.

Items below the threshold are taken care of by normal round robin rules. If the loot roll is a tie a random player will receive the loot.

An interface option, "Detailed Loot Information" is defaulted to 'on.' If you turn it off you will only see the roll and Need/Greed option of the player who won the item rather than information for every player.

Need Before Greed : Same as group loot, except players who cannot use the item automatically pass.

Threshold : This determines the level of items that are affected by the methods above. If a party wants to set the threshold to blue items and are in group loot mode, then green items that are found will be taken care of by the normal round robin rules.

Tip: When a party member receives a loot item, why not give to the party member that can use it best?

The Need Before Greed and Group Loot countdown timers are set on a 3 minute countdown when there is a bind on pick-up loot item. The Group Loot/Need before Greed dialogue will show a golden dragon border around Bind on Pickup items.

Players can opt out of looting for group loot, round robin and need before greed looting styles. If a player turns this on, they will not get a looting turn. This can be turned on by right-clicking on your own portrait.

When an item drops that you cannot loot for whatever reason, you will get a chat message letting you know what the item is that you are passing on.

If a player is looting a corpse and there are one or more items on it that player cannot loot, the player will still be able to see those items, although not able to loot them. This is only for green or better quality items.

Corpses that belong to someone in your party, but that you cannot loot will say in the corpse mouseover who has loot rights on that corpse.

Help Me Make WOW-WORLD A Better Blog

What would you like to know about The World of Warcraft? It can be virtually anything. I will do my best to see that you get that information. Also, I'd love to have some quest articles to post here. Show the world what you know about The World of Warcraft or even share a great story about your adventures. You can send them to me at:

exodar-drakkor@yahoo.com

If it is a knowledgible, and well writing article or story, I will place it here on WOW-WORLD

Who To Attack In An Instance?

The Party Leader can, and should, mark the targets during a raid or instance by right-clicking the portrait of their target to select a symbol to associate with that target. The symbols are: A star, oval, diamond, triangle, cresent moon, square, X, and a Skull; the skull usually being the boss. All players in the party or raid group will see the symbol over the head of the target as well as on the portrait of that target. Make sure you understand what the symbols mean before the battle begins. Your success will depend on all players attacking the targets in the correct order.
Using the "V" key: It's important that everyone isn't attacking a different target. That could mean a complete failure for the party. During battle, hit "V" to show the monster's hit points. Always try to attack the target that is closest to death. You can also use this for targeting purposes. Click on the name of the monster you wish to attack.
Assist: (F2-F5) Can be used to select party members. Use the F-Key that matches the corresponding player and then hit "F" to target the monster that player is attacking. You can also go into the options menu and select the option "Attack on Assist". Attack on assist makes characters that assist with "F" automatically try to enter attack mode against their new target. This option might be good for one particulat class, but might not be useful for another. Communication the the key here. Communicate with other party members to determine who the party should be assisting.
Tab and Shift-Tab: Tab chooses and targets the nearest monsters and Shift-Tab cycles through the list of monsters from farthest to closest. Use these keys during battle if you need to target a nearby monster or cycle through the list of monsters.

The How To's of Fishing in Warcraft

Although I'm not a WOW fishing expert, I do have some helpul information to people trying to level their skill. You can level your fishing pretty much in the same order you would level your character. By that I mean say you start in Goldshire, then you would go to Westfall, then maybe Redridge, and followed by Stranglethorn Vale. To become an expert fisherman you need a book titled "The Bass & You". You can get this from the fishing vendor in Booty Bay for 1 gold. If you are lazy, you may find it in the Auction House for 2-5 gold. This will allow you to obtain level 225.
Once you've reached level 225 in fishing you need to pay a visit to Nat Pagel in Dustwallow Marsh to get your Artesian Fishing skill. It's just outside of Theremore (58,60 are the coordinates I believe). He will send you on a fishing quest in Desolace, The Swamp of Sorrows, Feralas and Stranglethorn Vale. Not a particularly difficult quest, but it does take a little time. Approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours I'd say.
Once you've mastered your fishing be sure to stock up on some +75 to +100 fishing lures. These will come in handy. Not a bad idea to use them while you are leveling either. I would elaborate more but I haven't reached that point myself. Once i do I shall return!

Warcraft, A World of Constant Change

Since the release of WOTLK there have been many changes to the World of Warcraft. However, change isn't always a good thing. Don't get me wrong, I love WOTLK. Maybe i'm just a little bummed out over the nerfing of my hunter. I rarely play him anymore due to the fact that hunters no longer ROCK! But the addition of the Death Knight helps make up for that.
Blizzard also decided to nerf my rogue. This really got me angry, at first. But after a ton of trial and error respeccing, I finally found one that I enjoy again. The only problem I really have with my rogue now is the down time (healing). More than the rogues of the past. Perhaps joining a few raids and getting better gear will cure that little problem.
I'm sure more classes suffered as well, but the thing that irritates me the most is they never seem to nerf the Paladins or Warlocks. Both can be devastating opponents. Actually, those are the only classes that seem to give my Death Knight problems. I mean, a Death Knight is suppose to be a hero class. Once in a battle ground my DK happened along a stray Warlock. One hit later I lost half of my heath, approximately 13k. Needless to say I was humbled. Some day, fingers crossed, I will get my revenge. Like i said, change isn't always good, but it is constant.

Making Money Without Leaving The City

It's true! You can make good money and never leave town. I made over 700 gold in 11 days. Here is how I did it. I started a new Death Knight on a new realm. After the prequests, I went to Stormwind and preceded to start a career in the battlegrounds. But I needed gold, as I only had 20 gold in my pocket. Patiently, I browsed through the Auction House and found items that people were selling very cheap, then I resold them at great mark up prices. A couple of the items I found to have awesome returns were Clefthoof Leather and Elixirs of Defense. I knew the average price for Clefthoof Leather on my realm was 4 gold each. People were selling them, in varying quantities, at very low prices (1.5 to 3 gold each). Same deal with the elixir of defense. It may not seem like alot of money, but trust me, it adds up quick. Making 700 gold in approximately 2-3 hours of game time over an 11 day period, is pretty good. So, while I was racking up the cash, I was also earning honor points. For my efforts I received an awesome Cape and now I'm the proud owner of a new War Cat Mount. Both from the BG vendor. There is no limit to what you can resell in the Auction House; no short supply of people needing quick cash a willingnes to sell cheap. The thing is, supply & demand for items fluxuate wildly in this game. It's best to get in on it when a trend starts. The best way to do that is spend some time in the Auction House and study it. You will find your own niche. Give it a try. You have nothing to lose and gold to gain.