Eve Online Referal Link

Here is my referal link for Eve Online.

Bag Post!

 

Free 34 slot bags are a hot commodity. Here are 3 places to get them.

Misty Satchel - Waking Shores (/way 58.70 53.13)

Goblin Mini Fridge - Ringing Deeps (/way 59.01 64.37) Buy Blue Orange Oyster Mango

Arathor Courier's Satchel (/way Hallowfall 30.23 38.75) 

Brutosaur mount in Blizzard Store

Thousands of dollars of Brutosaurs seen here running around Dornogal. I must admit I would like one, but I don't see myself ever spending $90 in game for a mount. If it's ever half off, maybe. I've been wanting a mobile mailbox for a while now, but I guess Katy Stampwhistle will have to do for now.

Going Solo in Warcraft

Blizzard has officially embraced the idea of Solo'ing in World of Warcraft. I'd like to throw out there that Follower Dungeons are much more fun than Delves. I really wish they would realize this and make Heroics available and allow for better gear improved experience gain. It's nice to have Dragonflight dungeons available from 10-70 but that's a long time to devote to just a few dungeons. Seeing more of the old world and lower-level dungeons would be great.

Right now, Delves appear to be where it's at. Although I am still hopeful that Follower Dungeons will get some love in the future. I have a dream to be able to roll through some dungeons with all of my alts. The current AI being used is really nice and well thought out. They will remove curses, apply buffs, and lay out Mage Food. They even give suggestions for short cuts. If you haven't joined any Follower Dungeons recently, I highly recommend it. It's a great way to learn your role (Tank/Healer/DPS) - and Captain Garrick is a pretty awesome tank.

Right now, with my Warband Mentored Leveling at 20% I am getting almost a whole level per dungeon at level 13 while running Dragonflight dungeons. That's not too bad. And you can pretty much do them blindfolded if you want. You just have to keep up.

EA rants and marketing

I'm really tired of the ranting and complaining about Early Access and 'making' people pay for it and all that bullshit. Blizzard is a company that makes money selling a resource that is created by people working for them. That resource is more or less all digital in form. You pay them to access that digital material. Everyone thinks that the way that THEY access that material is better than the way that other people access it. We all have our opinions, but we are all still just accessing the same material. 

If I pay extra to access it sooner than others, great. In a month, nobody will know or care aside from you. 

If I pay extra to access a specific look or object, great. In a month, nobody will know or care aside from you. 

If I pay extra to access a sweet set of Bookends designed to look like that main character of the expansion, great. Nobody will ever know or care aside from you.

Blizzard has created different aspects of this material for a reason. Each one appeals to a different subset of people. And each one contains things that appeal to a different subset of people. Some people want early access, some want beta access, some want special pets, and some want transmogs.

You are all complaining about paying for EA when you don't want it or feel like you shouldn't have to. Or paying for Pets when "nobody uses them". Or paying for Tender when they promised you would never have to. I swear, some people would complain about free gold being too heavy. If you don't like what you're paying for, then don't pay? Stop making it bad for others. Stop bringing your negativity into something that others enjoy.

I look at each expansion like "Okay, am I willing to pay this much for this item?" or "Will I be able to get this item later in the game for free?" All of the rest is just a bonus. If I don't want it, or think I can get it later, I won't spend the money. But paying money to access something sooner than other people is just foolish to me. You gain nothing. If that's what you're paying for, I think you need to rethink how you spend your money. That's just my opinion. 

We all have a different opinion and that's why this is such a great marketing tool. They are able to appeal to a wide variety of opinions with the same product and we are all willing to pay for the part of it that's important to us and share our opinions on why ours is better than yours. I'm just happy to have been a part of it for 20 years. It's been quite a ride.

 

Connection issues...

I started lagging really bad when questing around Hallowfall, then got kicked and I can't get back in.

Could be a denial-of-service attack, who knows.

Even the Blizzard support page is offline it seems.

Currency Transfer Disabled - FIXED!

As soon as I swapped to my Rogue to upgrade his gear, they temporarily disabled currency transfers.

I have over 100k of memories on my Pally, but it looks like I'll need to grind out some on my Rogue for now. It's crazy how quickly you get used to new features. I never realized how nice that can be. 

Now, if they can go ahead and give all my chars a 0 count. As it is, you have to get at least 1 Residual Memory to give you the window to click the 'transfer' button. Kinda lame but it would help.

Extended Maintenance Downtime Thoughts

The completionist in me wants to create and level a Demon Hunter, Death Knight, and Evoker on the Horde side so I will have one of each class for Horde and Alliance. But knowing what's in store for all of my alts, it just seems fruitless. I know in the past I haven't kept them up to speed after a new expansion hits. And the idea of getting them all to max level in TWW just makes me cringe. I guess I'll have to see how painful the leveling process is first. As long as we aren't forced to do the same drawn-out death runs (without flying) to complete quests-lines through some kind of time-gating grind for each alt, I could be talked into it. I suppose I should be questing on the beta realm to get the hang of it. But I really want the expansion to have that new feel when I first see it.

Slime Serpent Mount

The Slime Serpent Mount is easier than ever to get now. With 480 gear from the Pre-Patch I'd bet just about any class can knock out a heroic Plaguefall.

Once complete, go back up via the teleporter and over to the lake next to where Domina Venomblade was killed. There will be a Slime Serpent in the water waiting to be pet/claimed.

Run awaaaay!

Glad they have the tuning down for the memory events. It was a little shaky at first, but they have been ironed out and are working well now. 

Get out and level your alt and/or collect that 480 gear. Don't forget the pets and mount. Now's the time to catch up. I'm sure the greens and blues that start dropping in a couple weeks will be lame compared to these epics...  ;-)

SimCity Article in Wired

I've been playing SimCity since it was released. There's just something about the mindless everchanging evolution of it that keeps me coming back. Here's a good article about the game and how it has influenced people over the years.

https://www.wired.com/story/simcity-libertarian-toy-land/

Warbanding it up!

I must admit, I am pretty excited about this whole Warband thing. It's a game changer for a transmogger and collector. I'm a little worried about all of my alts just going stale. I've put a lot of effort into them. But they aren't going anywhere.

Cantrips rant

Maybe it's just me but I always thought of cantrips as a quirky addition to any player for non-combat fun and trickery. I know there are combat cantrips that do some minor damage, but they are limited to certain classes and not the main intent. I have always wanted these to be added to the game as fun 'spells' similar to toys for effects and building your characters uniqueness and story. Now we are getting them as pseudo-trinket effects and soon-to-be forgotten (think Azerite Abilities) combat abilities that won't scale and will fade away with the expansion. I still have hope for a Dancing Lights or Thunderclap in the future for my Wizard, but I won't hold my breath.

Remix Leveling Guide

Turn off Auto-loot. Don't pick up any XP bonus tokens. Let them go to mail. Just pick threads and gear and gems if you want or let it all go to mail. There is an Addon that will do this if you'd like.

Run heroic dungeons - Loot threads only

At 25 run normal Mogushan vaults in LFR

Get xp bonus threads

Run heroic dungeons - Loot threads only

Then at 35 run Heart of Fear in LFR

Get xp bonus threads

Run heroic dungeons - Loot threads only

At 40, run Normal Terrace of Spring

Get xp bonus threads

Open mail and all XP bonus tokens - should get you to 70

Downloading The War Within Beta

Excited to be downloading the beta for something to do. I'm really not impressed with the Panda Remix.
 

Scaling Concerns

This post has me a little concerned with the future of scaling.

https://www.wowhead.com/news/heroic-raid-bosses-scaling-with-player-item-level-in-mop-remix-bosses-buffed-by-342207#comments

What is the purpose of getting better gear if the mobs scale with your gear? I understand they don't want people to be over-powered, but let's be honest. If they do this for all bosses, it will make collecting a lot more difficult. 

Being someone who spends a lot of time in old content collecting random transmogs and toys, it would change the entire game for me. I can't imagine mobs in Elwen Forest kicking my ass when I'm just trying to level a new pet.

Hat attained... on to backpack.

Managed to get the hat. Now it's on to the backpack. 

https://www.wowhead.com/item=218247/chen-stormstouts-bamboo-hat

New "Three Storms" Bamboo Hat

I'm pretty excited about this new hat. I think there are similar looks already, but this is getting closer to the "Three Storms" look I've been wanting for a while.

Run Speed Bags in TWW

While I can't stand toys and other items that are zone-restricted, I can get behind this effect in a new zone where we won't be able to fly. Running around new content doing daily quests before 'earning' the right to fly is so BFA.

I also find it shocking that people are complaining in the comments about giving up bag space to get the effect. I can't imagine running around with 34 slot bags and not having enough room. Who carries around that much crap in their bags? I have bags purchased from the Grand Expedition Yak on most of my characters and rarely run out of space. If I do, it's 90% vendor trash that can be sold or discarded. I swear, some people would complain about free gold bars being too heavy.
 

Waitin' for the rain...

 

Sitting around Boot Bay waiting for the rain. I'd love to get the Baby Ape pet some day.

More Archaeology woes...

This profession is so slow to grind out. Coupled with the fact that to get the items that you want, you have to survey areas that do not give you skill. I'm up to the 900s but it is so slow after that; especially since the areas that give you a skill change weekly in BFA. So, you are stuck with one race for an entire week. It would be nice if that changed with dailies.

On the plus side, the Tol'vir Hierroglyphics that you can get from trading Restored Artifacts are currently selling for 6k each.

Here are the items you can get from Archaeology.

https://www.wowhead.com/guide/compact-list-of-all-available-archaeology-rares-2137

Sinrunner Blanchy Mount

I'm starting on this mount today.

https://warcraft-secrets.com/guides/sinrunner-blanchy

/way 63.2, 43

Day 1 complete: Oats obtained from random spots around the Saldean farm in Westfall (55, 30) and fed to Dead Blanchy in Revendreth (63.2, 43). Brush obtained from Snickersnee (63.4, 61.8) in Revendreth for tomorrow.

Day 2 complete: Brush applied. Horseshoes acquired for day 3.

Day 3 complete: Horseshoes affixed, and Water Bucket filled in Ardenweald.

    /way Revendreth 63.26, 61.60 Empty Water Bucket

Day 4 complete: Blanchy's thirst has been quenched. Comfy blanket purchased.

    /way #1525 51.0 78.8 Ta'tru

Day 5 complete: Saddle/Blanket given, and Apples purchased. 

    /way Revendreth 40.85, 46.80 Mims

Day 6 complete: Apples given; Reins obtained. Thanks, Blanchy.

Time Gated Reputation Rant

I have been playing this game since the very beginning. I have a max level character for almost each class for Horde and Alliance - multiple Druids, Hunters, and Priests for some reason. I have many rare toys and transmogs that take a considerable about of grinding. I can do many mindless tasks that take days to complete (max Fishing and Arch). But for whatever reason, I can't seem to grasp the idea of reputation-based time gating that Blizzard insists on implementing for some quests and achievements (and now game progression). I am still missing out on tons of Dragon Flight content because I refuse to do the daily quests to raise the base Dragon Isle Renown. There's something about doing 3 quests per week for 9 months to continue the story that just makes me angry. Regular story progression should grant enough reputation to continue. I shouldn't have to wait 6 months while I do some mindless tasks over and over again just to continue with the story line. I already paid for the expansion, now I have to pay for 6 months of the game to finish the game!?

I play just about every day but very casually. I don't do Mythics and maintain a very solo lifestyle. No guild membership for many years. Here are my Dragon Isles Renown Max levels.

10; faction=Dream Wardens
11; faction=Iskaara Tuskarr
9; faction=Loamm Niffen
6; faction=Maruuk Centaur
5; faction=Dragonscale Expedition
Learned; faction=Azerothian Archives (had to get the transmogs)
20; faction=Valdrakken Accord (boosted char gave me this)
Neutral; faction=Artisan's Consortium (not a crafter)
Empty; faction=Cobalt Assembly (not even sure what this is for)
Acquaintance; faction=Sabellian
Acquaintance; faction=Wrathion
Rift-Mender; faction=Soridormi (transmogs)
Aspirational; faction=Glimmerogg Racer
Exalted; faction=Winterpelt Furbolg (I've always loved the Furbolgs)

The War Within Beta

The War Within Beta signup is open. Get added to the list today!

https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/134449?flowTrackingId=1f990e8a-da2b-4c06-a2d3-e9de6163a646
 

Noble Transmog Woes

 

Rainbow hijinks were on par for the last few minutes of the Noble Garden holiday. I managed to get all of the drops aside from the new dress. Which is fine, since I rarely wear dresses on my male characters anyway.

Farming Precious' Ribbon

From the Wowhead Comments

<UPDATES>

Do NOT kill Festergut or Rotface, just Precious. Make sure to "Reset Instances" before entering the 25 instance. You don't need to reset after each 25 run, just the initial instance of 10 normal.

Guide for shadowlands farming: enter icc 10 normal, kill the first 4 bosses, then kill Precious next to Festergut and Rotface. Go out reset instances, enter icc 25 normal, use teleport to 4th floor kill Precious again. Repeat this until you get the shirt. Got it on my 4th. try, gl!

Dragonflight Graphics Settings for FPS

Credit to this page...

Worked really well for me on my M1 Mac.

• System/Graphics: Display Mode — Fullscreen
• Resolution — Native
• Render Scale — 90-100%. The 100% scale means your resolution is scaled in full. You can lower it if you use Radeon Super Resolution or the in-game Fidelity FX Super Resolution.
• Vertical Sync — Disabled. Enabling it fixes excessive tearing but reduces input.
• Image-Based Techniques — FXAA High
• Camera FOV — 60. Too much FOV means more rendering, which harms the framerate.
• System/Graphics/Advanced:
• You can put everything in this section at low. You don’t want to disable some of these options because it can mess with your perception of the important game elements but putting them in the lowest acceptable way will do the trick. The only exceptions are spell density, outline mode, and projected textures, which need to be a bit higher.
• System/Graphics/Raid and Battleground:Triple Buffering — Disabled
• Ray Traced Shadows — Disabled
• Ambient Occlusion Type — FidelityFX CACAO
• Resample Quality — FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0. This WoW performance issues fix works similarly to Radeon’s Super Resolution.

Permanent Buff Items

Just about every character that I get to 60+ or to the Dragon Isles, makes their way to the Farrier Roscha in the Ohn'ahran Plains (/way #2023 84.4 25.0 Farrier Roscha) to buy the Lucky Horseshoe. This gives them the "You feel lucky" permanent buff. Here is a list of other items that give permanent buffs.

• Lucky Horseshoe
• Inventory item for buff
• Ohn'ahran Plains
• /way 84.4 25.0
• Haunted Memento
• Now a toy with a 15-minute buff on any target
• Quel'dalar
• Precious' Ribbon
• Shirt that must be worn for buff
• Various Reputation Tabards
• Tabard that must be worn for buff
• Fashionable Undershirt
• Shirt that must be worn for buff
• Survivor's bag of coins (rogue only)
• Inventory item for buff
• Aura of the Forgotten
• Inventory item for debuff that blurs the screen
• Complete the quest or delete item to remove the debuff
• Mana Divining Stone\
• Provided by this quest
• Click item to apply the buff, item can remain in the bank or inventory

Portal Madness

Horde being crazy at the Hearthstone Portal in Durotar today on Stormrage. 

Innkeeper Allison?

 

Goooood morning Stormwind

 

Target Macro with sound

New Hunter so I am looking for Lightning Paw, again. I keep looking this up and finally have a good, tested macro that only plays a sound if the target exists.

/cleartarget
/targetexact Lightning Paw
/stopmacro [dead][noexists]
/targetmarker
/targetmarker 8
/script PlaySound(11965)

Runebear ahoy!

 

Managed to get the Runebear Mark from Aurostor this morning. I'm pretty excited about it too!

Easy Warcraft Ringtones

While being AFK on my new hunter, I noticed the periodic howl of my hound pet in the background that seemed like a great ringtone. It didn't take long for m to figure this out and I thought I'd share.

First, go to https://www.wowhead.com/sounds/ and download the sound in question. There is a rather nice search function to narrow things down. 

Next, go to one of the many online converter sites and convert the file to the M4R format. Some of them have a daily limit but there are many that seem to work. I used this one. https://www.online-convert.com/

Next, open the GarageBand and import the file. 

Here are the instructions from Apple Insider in case they go missing from this site. https://appleinsider.com/inside/ios-17/tips/how-to-create-custom-ringtones-in-ios-17

Craft a ringtone using GarageBand on a Mac. After finishing, select "Share" followed by "Project to GarageBand for iOS." Or, connect the iPhone to the Mac with a cable, then drag and drop the .m4r file in Finder into the Garageband folder under the Files tab.

Assign a suitable name to the project and save it in iCloud Drive by hitting "Save."

On the iPhone, launch GarageBand. Press the downward-pointing arrow at the top left, followed by "My Songs."

Click "Browse" and locate the stored project in iCloud Drive. Press and hold the project, then choose "Share."

In the "Share Song" menu, opt for "Ringtone." Enter the ringtone's name and hit "Export."

Navigate to "Settings" and go to "Sound & Haptics." Then, press "Ringtone" and pick the newly created custom ringtone.

Now every time I get a calendar appointment reminder, my Hyena lets me know.

Let it be day...

 

Let there be light!

Let it be night...

Cold hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is gray and yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

--The Moody Blues

Stormy day in Stormwind