Time to redo the UI and macros!

Not been happy with a couple of things that needs fixing, so since I have today off I'll be trying to address that.

For instance:

• It's horribly difficult to play most of my boxed characters as solo characters.
• My healing setup completely sucks.
• Somewhere I lost my team movement and formation macros, which is completely needed to do the harder heroics.
• My unit frames and various other things make raiding hard because they are so cramped.

Part of this will be evaluating to maybe replace Keyclone with Innerspace + ISBoxer.

Drak'Tharon Keep

Added another heroic to the list of what the Grins have cleared: Drak'Tharon Keep. I did try it ages ago, but couldn't get passed Novos, now with some better gear all around I just went in and one-shotted the whole place.

The fun part about this new random heroic quest is that I do get the motivation to try some new heroics, and I have been much more successful than I thought I would be. I've still to do any of the real hard ones, but also, I haven't spent any triumph badges either yet.

Back!

Well, not 100% sure of that yet ;)

A few months back I started focusing more on raiding on my main, and didn't box much - And the ToC content stunk from a raiding perspective, so coupled with a high workload that turned in to a all time low in playing WoW - Canceled the 4 extra accounts and fired up 2 accounts in EVE instead (since it is much more friendly to low play time play).

However, with the release of 3.3 I found my WoW interest revitalized!

Raids are fun, new instance is great - And the LFG tool is amazing. I renewed the 5 accounts to farm a Battered Hilt from the trash in the new heroics (can't yet box the bosses). So far I scored one, realzied it wasn't much of a DPS upgrade for Perrigrin and proceeded to sell it just before they upped the drop-rate, making a nice profit.

Badge farming is now easier than ever, I boxed a few daily random heroics and added Violet Hold and The Nexus to the list of cleared instances with the Grins.

I think I'll be pushing to get the mixed team to 80 (they are now sitting at 70) over the holidays, given how much easier it is to gear now it definitely rekindled my interest.

In other news I completed What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been on my main for the Violet Proto-Drake!

Bronze Drake and RAF finished!

Not as much boxing done as I thought I would be doing lately, mostly due to the fact that I'm now raiding more on the main (which is all good).

Did get around to doing COT timed and got 2x Bronze Drakes so far.

I got a couple of weeks left on my RAF, but decided to call it finished - Got warrior, druid, warlock, hunter and priest to 60, and a rogue on main account to 54 - Not much, but it is what I need and I can't be bothered to do more boosting.

I had intended to get the rogue to 60, and have another druid + maybe get a team up on another server - But there just haven't been time or energy enough to get it done - So calling and end to the RAF now. The decision was made even easier by the fact that I now what that druid to be a Troll ;)

The plan going forward is to make sure I can comfortably take the Grins' through all heroics to make sure I get the dailies done to maximize the emblem farming, farm some TOC normal and learn it on heroic (my dps is still low, need to tune macros and gear some). Any spare time will be spent getting the mixed team to 80.

On a side note, I upgraded to Windows 7, 8 GB memory and a SSD on my boxing computer - And now it runs fine even in Dalaran despite being a old machine processor and graphics card wise :D

Cleared Trial of Champions

Well, 3.2 is live - Lots of badge loot to get, not much time to post between work, raids on main and boxing.

The Grins' are in farm mode now and I intend to add more heroics to the rotation, which means that the mixed team will have to wait on its leveling.

The new 5 man is somewhat involved to box, I got it down to no wipes now on normal, but not sure if I have the dps to deal with the heroic - Should probably invest some in geming and enchanting the gear of the shamans.

ZG Cleared!

Been a while since I posted, did some pvp on the Grins', including winning a few 3v3 arenas, clearing some heroics and clearing ZG + 1 boss in KZ for mount farming for Perrigrin.
The mixed team is 66/67ish, and just about getting done with Nagarand.

Mixed Team Questing

Well, first play session with the mixed team in HFP - 2x62 and 3x61 so far - Not bad, but the change from boosting with RAF bonus is quite disheartening.

Did a few collection quests to up my gear quicker, but will skip most of those and just go for multi-box-friendly type of quests.

If I'm going to do harder stuff I need to work on my warrior tanking skills, and some on my healing setup, but for most questing I'm fine as it is.

Update

Finally got all the transfers done, so now my mixed 60 team is on the appropriate accounts, ready to start the run to 80. I must say that once you get through the mile long phone wait, Blizzards tech support is excellent.

While waiting on that to go through I farmed enough shards to buy the +10% xp shoulders on all accounts, so the mixed team will have a 10% bonus leveling.

Also, the Grins' got a few upgrades and did some dailys for cash - I'll be splitting my leveling time with some easy heroics and daily quests to get the cash to support the mixed team and to get badges for retribution gear for Perrigrin.

And, on a side note, I am getting quite bored of SFK and SM boosting ;) I need a couple of more characters leveled to get my rogue and druid 2 on the main account to 60 - And then the goal of this RAF session will be filled.

The Grins' are Back!

Well, starting to move my 60 team over to the main accounts now - Slight hickup with Blizzards billing department, so not quite done yet ;)

But, while waiting on that I took the Grin's back to Gundrak heroic and cleared it - One wipe due to me muting keyclone, but other than that just a few odd shaman deaths - So fairly happy with how it went.

Will be farming retribution gear for the pally and gear for the shamans while leveling the other team. Having the shammies at better gear level will help if I need to gear out tank 2 a bit + Next patch will have some great improvements in loot potential for 5 man stuff, so I need to be ready to exploit that for the paladin.

Mixed Team is 60!

Well, decided that I had enough of boosting for a few days, so used what I had to get the tank of the mixed team to 60 - Making it 5 x 60 - Just about to move 4 characters to Lich King enabled accounts now.

As for the rogue and the druid, I'll get to boosting for their levels later ;)

"Gift Teams"

Well, quest leveled 2 teams to 10, also making sure my druid and rogue on the main account is sitting at 99% xp at level 10.
Getting kind of good at picking the right quests, could probably do another stint in less than an hour now.

Started boosting one of the teams in SFK/SM to help with "the gifting", and they are sitting outside SM at 25 now (the other 4 are sitting at 10 outside SFK).

Perrigrin is being busy working on the Midsummer achievement, so not quite the focus on leveling as it was a couple of days ago - This one is a lot of work, but easy.

Most likely I'll stop the boosting madness for a bit once I have "gift team #1" at 31, that should get me enough levels to get the warrior to 99% into 59 - And then I'll move the "mixed team" off to the main accounts and start the leveling.
But I'll be back before RAF runs out to get enough "gifts" to get rogue and druid to 59 to (which unfortunately means getting another 2 teams to 60 (need at least 2 more 60s on the first RAF account to be able to gift up to 59).

Ding 60 x 4!

Well, it took a week of fairly low playtime to hit 60 on the mixed team, I figure I need at least another team to 30:ish to be able to gift up my warrior on the main account to 60.

Then of course, I wanted to have my druid and rogue at 60 also on the main account, and seeing as how you can't gift levels to someone higher than yourself, I might need as much as 2 more teams to 60 - Not sure if I can stomach that.

Ding 57!

Well, LBRS turned into a fiasco. Fell down on my 3rd pull and had to gate to get out, so decided to go back to strat since it's fairly straight forward, and Perrigrin still needs the faction.

If I don't give up from boredom the team should hit 60 very soon, just in time for the midsummer event farm on Perrigrin.

Ding 52!

Getting bored of strat, maybe trying LBRS a couple of hours, had great success there boosting the Grins'.

Level 49 Reached!

Xp in strat is pretty decent, I'm doing Baron runs even though the it's only really the first 3 pulls that are good xp/h for the team - After that there is to many ranged mobs and casters that silence to keep the kill rate up.

However, this keeps me from running into the instance reset limit - And oddly enough, on a Friday evening there were not a single occurance of not being able to launch another instance.

Ding 45 x 4!

Well, mornings are much better - Could get in to the instances whenever I wanted, and me deciding to loot all I clear meant that I didn't run into the 'reset limit' even in ST. Xp got a bit slow at 44, but ground out to 45 and heading to strat undead now.

...and...

...after trying for 40 minutes I gave up, came back 2 hours later and couldn't get in after 5 minutes of trying...guess I'll play in the morning :(

Loosing Time...

...to the fact that Blizzard can't get instance servers that can support the population of my server ... 30+ minutes of running in and out of ST now :(

SM Getting Slow

Well, at 41 SM is getting real slow, seems like I need 2 and some arm + cath clears for a level, not sure if it's worth going elsewhere (SM/ZF) for the 4 levels I got to 45...

Not much playtime now with midsummer coming up, but at least got the team to 41/42.

Ding 40!

Well, the hunter is 41, but all others are 40.

Went to ST last night, but found xp seemingly slower there at 35 - And I hit the instance reset limit real fast - So went back to SM and did cath+arm clears - Which with me being greedy enough to loot all mobs never had me hit the reset limit.

Seems like at 40 the xp is still pretty good, so might stay at SM until 45, but if it goes real slow I guess it's back to ST.

Linking WoW Directories

Short note, the following batch script ran in a "new folder" will link it to the main WoW installation, speeding up some load times and sharing interface customizations.

Replace "d:\wowmain\" with the path your main WoW is installed.

mklink /d Data "d:\wowmain\Data"
mklink /d Cache "d:\wowmain\Cache"

md Errors

mklink /d Interface "d:\wowmain\Interface"

mklink "BackgroundDownloader.exe" "d:\wowmain\BackgroundDownloader.exe"
mklink "Burning Crusade Install Log.html" "d:\wowmain\Burning Crusade Install Log.html"
mklink "dbghelp.dll" "d:\wowmain\dbghelp.dll"
mklink "DivxDecoder.dll" "d:\wowmain\DivxDecoder.dll"
mklink "ijl15.dll" "d:\wowmain\ijl15.dll"

copy "d:\wowmain\Launcher.exe" Launcher.exe

mklink "Patch.html" "d:\wowmain\Patch.html"
mklink "Patch.txt" "d:\wowmain\Patch.txt"
mklink "realmlist.wtf" "d:\wowmain\realmlist.wtf"
mklink "Repair.exe" "d:\wowmain\Repair.exe"
mklink "Scan.dll" "d:\wowmain\Scan.dll"
mklink "unicows.dll" "d:\wowmain\unicows.dll"
mklink "World of Warcraft Install Log.html" "d:\wowmain\World of Warcraft Install Log.html"
mklink "Wow.exe" "d:\wowmain\Wow.exe"
mklink "WowError.exe" "d:\wowmain\WowError.exe"

Ding 30x4 (Update, 35 now)

Moved on to SM, decent XP boosting here and all are now sitting at 35 ;) Seems like XP is flowing ok still (a Cath clear nets over half a level still), so might stay another level or two before moving on (most likely to ST).

Mixed Team Started

So, set up a warrior, hunter, druid, warlock, priest and quested those to 10:ish - Very nice with the 3x RAF bonus - Leveling 5 characters faster than one would be normal (at least it feels like).

Took me a bit longer than optimal though as I first of decided to try the Thunder Bluff starting area, which has way to many collection quests - And even with the new hotkey for interacting with targets, collection quests with 10+ items for 5 characters just take waaaaay to long.

At 10, the warrior stepped out for Perrigrin to start some boosting in SFK - Currently the team is at 16/17 and will head to SM at 20:ish.

I'm Back!

Well, the MMO project is on hold for now (the graphics people that are working with me are to busy with other projects being the main reason). LotRO had me interested for a while, but I dropped of that due to to much work for a period leading to loosing interest.
But, since a couple of weeks Game has been running an offer on buying 2 WoWs for a bit cheaper than normal, and that has had me itching to get back and get a few other characters up to give me the option to run a mixed team, or maybe even 10 box at some point.
So - Now I have 4 shiny WoW boxes to set up RAF with my main account!.

The main plan is to get a Warrior, Priest, Druid, Warlock, Hunter team to 60 that I can then take to 80 (swapping one of the Hunter or Warlock for my mage around 70 something where he is waiting) - With the purpose to build a 80 heroic team with pally tank, mage, boomkin, elemental mage and holy priest.

Once I have that at 60, I might use the remainder of the RAF time to build more teams to 60 - Not 100% yet what I'll do with that.

Three Gods

Started working on a bit of a hobby project as well as playing LoTRO - Watch this space for more information ;)

Taking another break

Canceled payment on 5 of our 6 accounts a couple of days ago, the lack of 5-man content in the next patch killed my motivation to play boxing. Will still keep my main account with Perrigrin active to play a bit with dual-spec and maybe get into some 10/25 mans, but faily low motivation for that to at the moment.

I'm sure I will be back, I still intend to have a Pally, Mage, Boomkin, Elmental shaman and Priest team at some point.

Right now I've renewed one account of Lord of the Rings Online and am happily single boxing that.

Heroic: The Culling of Stratholme Cleared!

Well, figured it should be easy, so headed over to CoS to check it out....

Boy, I was wrong - The mobs by themselves really were not that hard, but the gauntlet type of event, coupled with my lack of coordination and lack of knowledge of the zone turned the whole adventure into a wipe fest.

I eventually finished the whole thing, after 5 or 6 wipes and an additional 2-3 deaths - I think that if I watch a few boxing movies about it, my gear is good enough to get the 30 minute event done, but I just can't help myself from silly wipes on thrash. Don't think I will add this to my Gundrak + Utgrade Keep badge farm rotation just yet.
One key factor seem to be to not loot to be able to keep moving in the right pace. Might have to try it out with master loot mode on or something.

The good news is though that it gave me enough badges so that now all the shammies have Protective Barricade of the Light. And thanks to some generous guild mates of Hordeland Security, I now have Revenants gear on most of my shammies.

I had to spend a few minutes leveling Babegrins enchanting today to, so that see can shard the Epic drops that I wont use from heroics.

Heroic: Utgarde Keep Cleared!

Well, once I figured the Prince Keleseth out - It turned out to be quite a easy place ;) Took me 4 wipes before I grabbed this video to figure it out.
Been farming Gundrak enough to get Babegrin the badge shield (Protective Barricade of the Light), and Tuffgrin is not so far off.
Some drops of interest, Battlemap Hide Helm, Dalronn's Jerkin and Annhylde's Ring as well as Design: Fierce Monarch Topaz for Perrigrin.

Heroic: Gundrak Cleared!

Well, been way overdue to try a heroic with the Grins'. General opinion seem to be that Gundrak is the easy option for a shammy heavy team - And today it was the daily, so I went there.

Didn't give me to much trouble, think I had 3 deaths and 1 near wipe (but no full wipe) on the whole clear - Of course I forgot to share the daily, so will have to go back tomorrow :P

One drop that was interesting: Sash of Blood Removal of Gal'darah. Had some melee drops that I stashed on Tuffgrin as she is my "main" dps shammy. Debating leveling my mage to replace one of the shammies, and swap in a Moonkin druid and Holy priest as a longer term project.

Broke 30k

Did a 10 man Naxx with guild last night, and along with hitting 400 in JC - Perrigrin now broke 30k hp unbuffed!!

Yay!

Finally got Essence of the Gossamer for Perrigrin!!

Been a while...

Not done much boxing other than some dailys, spent most of the WoW time getting the Fool for Love achievement. 

Started a druid, Druidgrin, that I level slowly with my wifes rogue to eventually replace one of the shamans as a boomkin. Might also replace another of the shammeis with a mage that I got sitting at 70 at the moment - We will see.

Spent a little time creating this document as a personal reference for Lich King raid encounters. I haven't had time to do much raiding (did 2-3 10 mans, including tanking a full Naxx clear, but nothing else). But I'm hoping to extend my regular friend group that does 5-mans into at least doing a few 10-mans, so really wanted to read up on and learn the strategies.

My short term objectives are:

• Level Jewelcrafting on Perrigrin and make the Figurine - Monarch Crab trinket and some Solid Dragon's Eye gems for increased HP.
  
• Get the Essence of Gossamer trinket from Hadronox in Azjol-Nerub Heroic.
  
• Do enough skinning to get the epic mail leatherworking items made for my shamans to get them ready to at least do a few easier heroics.
  
• Gather enough gold to pay for dual spec when it goes live, as well as gather a healing set for Perrigrin.

If I accidently get any spare play time, that will be spent leveling Druidgrin or my DK back on SWC.

Violet Hold Normal Cleared

Not a big piece of news at 80, but wanted to get rid of the quest for 3 of the shammies ;) In other news Perrigrin now has the 'Elder' title from To Honor One's Elders.

Epic Flyers!

As I played the team a bit more the last few days, the fact that only Perrigrin had epic flyer was starting to annoy me - Specially when doing dailys.

So, I took inventory of all my gold, and came up with the 20,800 gold needed to get 4x training + 4x Swift Red Wind Rider - Very nice.

Of course, now I have to get my butt in gear and do dailys to replenish my cash - Less than 1k between 5 accounts.

Lunar Festival!

Not done much boxing lately, just played the DK and done a few dailys on the main.

But, now that the Lunar Festival is in town, I'm boxing to get the Elders of the Dungeons achievement done - So I can get To Honor Ones's Elders and eventually What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been.

Onyxia Down!

Was bored, so went and tried Onyxia.

Quite easy, possibly solo-able by my paladin. But, a quick 130ish gold, and I got a Judgement Crown for vanity :P

DK Solo Play

Well, still a bit burned out from getting the team to 80, so I haven't done much more than a few dailies.

As a distraction I rolled a DK on an old friends server to play with them now and then.

Hopefully I'll get to doing some multiboxing instance clears soon though, just seems like that when I'm done with my dailies, I either have been lucky enough to get to raid - Or just been to tired to play :P

Maxed Blacksmithing

Maxed blacksmithing on Perrigrin while making 4x Titansteel Guardian for the shammies.

Other than that not much multi-boxing progress. Made an arena team and got properly killed in about 2 seconds in the 2 games I played - Will grind out 10 games at least for the charity points, but don't expect to even see a single kill.

Did a few AVs, and that was more fun - But probably should spec all shamans elemental and the pally resto for PvP - But I'll make do with my PvE spec until dual-specs hit.

First Batch of Dailies

Well, had intended to go to a normal level 80 instance with the Grins' today, but decided to do a run of Icecrown dailies instead - A run following this thread + adding in a few non-daily quests I hadn't done yet netted me close to 2000 gold.
Not to bad, but gonna be starting from zero soon as I must buy my wife's hunter her epic flyer :P

Some guildies needed DPS for a few heroic runs, so I took Tuffgrin there - Really showed me that

• I don't know how to play a elemental shaman outside boxing
• The gui setup that I use for slaves don't work that well for "main" play
• 12k hp sure don't last long in heroics

But, on the up-side I got 4-5 very nice upgrades for her, there will be no contest which shaman will do most DPS in my team now :P

Ding 80!

Well! It's official - The Grins' are all level 80! - Now time to figure out how to gear the shammies up.

Can pretty much say that 90% of my leveling once leaving "boosting mode" has been through questing, and not instance run - Did the odd one, but found questing less boring.

Just need to catch my breath now, maybe roll a alt team to chill on ;)

Ding 79x4!

Questing in Icecrown and The Storm Peaks is quite fun and fast - a bit to many collections as usual though :P

1 to go!!

Heroic The Uderbog Cleared!

Well, not a big achievement, but wife's hunter needed 2 quests in there and decided to do it on heroic instead - At almost level 80 that was quite easy :P