Hellfire Ramparts Cleared!

Finally cleared Hellfire Ramparts!

Some careful positioning and this macro:

/castrandom [target=party1target] lightning bolt, grounding totem

Helped kill Nazan and Vazruden with no deaths. Did get a Witching Band, and completed the quest - So of to The Blood Furnace next.
Did get a few more AVs completed for the shammies since it's AV weekend, as well as started some HFP questing (some good upgrades to be had).
Experience coming along ok, a bit over halfway to 61 so far.

Wiping in Ramparts!

Well, the trash in Ramparts die fast now - And it's decent experience. I want to build a bit of faction before doing the HFP questing.

The first boss dies quick and easy, but boss 2 killed all the shaman before Perrigrin got him down, and for boss 3 - I just can't kill him before he kills all the shaman with his bad-ass fireballs.

I need to review my moving around setup as well as my healing setup and then go back and beat that place.

AV weekend this weekend, which is nice on Silvermoon horde - Played 5, won 5 (at level 60, level 70 is a completely different story). However 10-30 minute queues make it a bit of a drag to wait for.

Negative Cash Flow

4x Horn of the Swift Timber Wolf - That hurt the funds, got to remember the 5x dailies quests that I'll be able to do soon.

And...

...ding 60!

Finished up the evening in Strat, and got the 'grins' to 60 - Time to try Ramparts again I think!

Ding 59!

Spent a while 4 box questing in the Plaguelands today, great zone for that and I needed the break from boosting.

So, halfway through 59 now.

Best Macro Ever!

Well not really, but a nice one:

/assist focus
/cast Skinning

Will let a skinning slave skin the target of your main, great to use to avoid having to switch focus to a slave to skin - Now if this only worked on mining and herbing + there was a way to share the radar :P

Feeling the Preasure!

Well, saw this message from Blizzard:

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King approaching, we wanted to provide you with some important information. In preparation for the expansion, we will be issuing a new content patch in the coming weeks. Much like the patch made available shortly before The Burning Crusade's release, this content patch is designed to bridge current game content with that of the expansion and will contain some exciting changes and additions.

We have outlined some of the larger features scheduled to release with the patch below:

New class spells and talents
Stormwind Harbor
Barbershops in capital cities
Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
Guild calendar
Hunter pet skill revamp
New profession: Inscription

As mentioned above, this is not a comprehensive list, just some of the major highlights. We’ll post the full patch notes as soon as they’re available. Regarding Inscription, please note that all Burning Crusade players will be able to select Inscription as one of their two professions and level up to a skill level of 375 with it. Upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King, players who purchase and install the expansion will be able to continue leveling in Inscription and the other professions beyond 375.

To me this really increases the preassure of getting the shamans to 70 asap, as the expansion release can't be far off now - I want them in good enough gear to be able to 5-box level with Perrigrin to 80 when the expansion comes + I would have loved to grind out some heroics for the practice.

I guess RAF leveling alts will have to wait until after the 80 push for me, o'well ;)

Now the only issue is that I'm swamped with work for a good 2 weeks, so wont get much playtime in.

Ding 58 and Stratholme Undead Side Cleared!

So, went to Stratholme to grind some, but decided to clear the undead side, just to see if I could get some loot for the shamans.

The first boss, Baroness Anastari, turned out to be a a bigger pain than expected - Due to her charming the paladin who then proceeded to kill all the shaman - Ended up having to just solo her with Perrigrin, which took ages - But worked fine.
The other 2 bosses before the gate opens were easy enough, the mana draining necromancers was quite the pain though.
Ramstein wasn't really a problem, except him charging the shamans, and with their current health level pretty much 1 hitted them, so ended up with quite a few deaths.

Finally at the Baron, I had forgotten the mechanics of the fight and actually wiped - Thanks to Ankhs I ended up doing a second go - And he went down with no problems (all shaman dead from the aura though) - No loot, but 3 shards ;)

So, as it's standing - The 'grins' are about 20% into 58. A interesting side note is that at 50ish, you get considerably more AD faction than at 70, so the shamans have passed Perrigrin in AD faction :P

Ding 57 and LBRS Cleared!

So, finally got some playtime. Did a quick clear of Strat undead side, and then went back and completed the non gathering quests in LBRS and cleared the whole place - Completing a step on Perrigrins UBRS key in the process.

That got the 'grins' almost halfway through 57, so making decent progress - Will do a few more laps in Strat until 58-59, and then go back and try the first Outlands instance again.

Work > Multiboxing...

...sad but true...maybe get some playing done this weekend, stay tuned.

Ding 55 and Trying Ramparts

Well, ground out to 55 in LBRS, and decided to give Hellfire Ramparts a try - That faction would be much more interesting, so I would have prefered to grind out the levels there rather than in some old world place.

However, the damage output of Perrigrin is to low to do this efficiently, and the shamans can barely hit the mobs in there at 55 - So after dropping the first boss, Watchkeeper Gargolmar - I decided to head out and find other hunting grounds for 3-5 levels.

Got a Bracers of Finesse from the boss, which highlights the fact that I now need to level enchanting (or at least before going back to Outlands). Shouldn't be a big deal though as I have tons of materials gathered.

Ding 54 in LBRS!

Work has been way to hectic to get any play time in this week, but spent a while boosting in LBRS tonight and got the 'grins' to 54 - It is quite slow though.

I'm cursing the fact that I decided to get my 4 new accounts just a few weeks before Blizzard introduced the 3x experience for 'refer-a-friend' accounts. Might decide to get a few new accounts to use this once the 'grins' are 70 (unless lich king is out by then).

I find it ironic that I got 3x Bracers of Valor.

I guess the plan now is to do one more level in either LBRS or Strat, and then try out if the experience is better in the first hellfire instance - If not, maybe back to some 4 man questing to 58.

Ding 53 in LBRS!

So, spent a few minutes boosting in LBRS as described here, which got the 'grins' a good bit into 53, not to bad experience.

I called it when I pulled a mob that turned Perrigrin into a frog when I had 30 or so mobs in the pull, which needless to say killed the shamans quickly. But I should be able to push to 55 using this method and maybe some Stratholme - And then either start doing Outlands instances or do a few full old world instance runs.

Ding 52 and BRD Cleared!

Had a few hours to kill, so decided to grind out the last quests in BRD as I think I wont bother with Onyxia, MC and BWL access quests until level 70.

Other than the Lyceum killing the shamans repeatedly, it went fine - if slow. At the end of the day, the 'grins' are almost 53 and the Princess freed and the Emperor dead.

I am looking forward to doing BRD at some point with a boxed group with no high level in it - Could make for some fun hours - It's huge and challenging. I recommend Jame's Guide if you are to attempt it.

Next I think is some boosting in LBRS, and maybe a full run in there to complete The Demon Forge quest for Perrigrin for a nice boosting breastplate: Demon Forged Breastplate.

Ding 51 and More BRD Adventures!

Spent a while in BRD last night, the 'grins' are now 51. Only cleared up to finishing the quest for the Shadowforge Key. I find that it's good experience, but the size of the instance makes for very long runs and I just haven't managed to squeeze in a long enough session to do the whole thing.
I might just decide to come back and finish BRD when the 'grins' can pick up the MC quest, and do boost runs in LBRS until then.

Project: One Man Band

So, stuck at a hotel with a laptop that

• Can't run 5 instances of WoW
• I don't have a Keyclone license for

So, what to do?

Well, I figured that the laptop might be able to trot along 4 instances of WoW at absolute minimum settings with no addons - And, there are a few free tools available that can do key broadcasting. I settle on Octopus, but there are a number of other choices listed here.
Fairly easy to set it up and get it working (but have to say that Keyclone is worth its money in my book).

So what to play? Well, I don't want to mess about with the settings of the 'grins' - So instead I decide to roll up 4 shammies to support my level 7 one on Tarren Mill, alliance side.
I rolled on this server as a project to play a bit with a coworker, but haven't put any time in to it due to the 'grins' project. And really, this is only for when I can't play the 'grins', as getting them to 70 is absolute focus.

Takes a while to set it all up, I even use some of the twink money my coworker sent me to create a guild - "One Man Band".

I manage to get the ladies to level 3 doing some newbie quests, and the whole "One Man Band" team is now resting at an inn, waiting on the next business trip before the push to get them to the same level as the main shaman begins.

I do like the idea of having a alt team that...

• ...is alliance (haven't played much there, certainly nothing since the expansion was released)
• ...is on a PvP server (as I never tried that)
  
• ...is all shaman (I want to take up the 'accomplishments' of solo dungeon clearing where the 'grins' left off to be boosted)
• ...is untwinked in terms of cash and mage water support (enjoying the extra bit of challenge)

But, as said, I doubt they will get much playtime until the 'grins' are well into the 70 grind.

The Plan (TM)

Well, not much playtime over the next few days due to various business trips - But, the plan for the next sessions are:

1. Finish BRD (will have to go back at some point for the MC access quest as the 'grins' are to low for that).
2. Get the Shaman 50 class quest done to get the trinket Enamored Water Spirit, I suspect that one can be good to have situationally. I will probably clear the Sunken Temple while at it.
3. Depending on what level the 'grins' are at at this point, doing quest runs of LBRS, Strat and Scholo should take them to a level where the first outland instance is relevant to try.
   

Starting Blackrock Depths

Well, took me a while to gather the BRD quests - So only had time to finish a few of the ones that have a follow up in there - The 'grins' are halfways through 50 though.

BRD is not a good place for boosting, the rooting mobs create huge problems with big pulls - And to avoid being permanently rooted Perrigrin had to use the bubble more than once.

Lots of BOE blues in here makes it kind of interesting, even though looting takes more time than hunting :P Only killed 1 boss: High Interrogator Gerstahn, who dropped Kentic Amice.

Ding 50!

Tried some boosting in Stratholme & Lower Blackrock Spire, decent experience - but some quite interesting pulls in there ;)

Got the 'grins' to 50, which hopefully should enable all BRD quests.

4 Box Questing and Ding 49!

Spent a while in Feralas and Felwood, knocking out a few quests. Went with only the 4 shaman, as the paladin isn't needed for non elite questing.

Decent experience, even though the Robot quest in Feralas messed up on me a couple of times - But finishing all 3 of them does give a nice xp boost when handing in.

Most likely BRD time next, but will probably take all the playtime I have tomorrow to just gather quests.

Reworked the UI some!

Since I accidentally cast Divine Intervention on one of my slaves in ZF, I decided I had to rework the UI (specially of the paladin, but also of the slaves). Today I finally had some time to do it.

What I ended up with is using Trinity Bars and its built in macro function instead of WoW macros (same language, just seems like trinity don't like using WoW defined macros much). I ended up with a bit heavier footprint in terms of memory (might have to upgrade from 3 GB to 4 to make it behave better in cities and AV - Will see when I get to AV farm mode).

The current setup makes each character playable by itself, which is specially important on the Paladin. What's missing now is setting him up a bit better for healing if I need to go heal specialization. Also, the other characters I play solo needs to be configured a bit to adopt to the Trinity Bars (70 mage and 70 hunter).

For the 'grins', I still have to setup healing macros to heal other characters than the target of the focus target, but that won't be needed for a few levels I think - Most of it can be coped via Chain Heal until it gets harder.

Attached some screenshots, and bare in mind that it's designed to work, not to look good - And also that it hasn't been tuned by playing with it yet ;)

The UI of the tankadin (main):

The UI of the slaves:

Blizzard Scores Another €70!

One of my 5 accounts have been my wifes, we share the same last name and address and billing information - And the GM I talked to last night didn't say anything about this.

But, being paranoid I decided to completely follow the TOS and went out and bought another battle-chest today, sent myself a 10 day trial and activated it and moved the needed characters over.

Total cost around €70, but at least now I can relax when playing.

Maraudon Cleared and Ding 48!

Gathered all the quests for Maraudon and spent an evening finishing them - Not a huge accomplishment with a 70 paladin tanking, but I can imagine that this instance is no push over for 5x shaman of the proper level, specially not the Princess.

Got a few useful drops out of there: Infernal Trickster Leggings, Gizlock's Hypertech Buckler and Cloud Stone - And probably some other stuff I forgot about.

Also made sure to finish the quest for the Scepter of Celebras on all the 'grins' so that I could shortcut the instance if I ever needed to farm it - Given the high nature resist and the fact that I level so fast, I doubt this will be a place of farming though.

Not quite sure what to do next, either grind out some quests somewhere or maybe head to BRD - I do know that I need to rework the setup for macros and UI now though - Using what I had for 5 shamans with a paladin + 4 shamans is not working well, and would cause extreme problems as soon as I was in a hard instance.

Reported Myself!

Just to confirm with the powers that be that multi-boxing is ok, I reported myself - With the response seen in the image.