This is my new strategy for making money in WoW, and so far it has been pretty lucrative. Its not a strategy for beginners, but a strategy that takes advantage of others beginning professions. Specifically Enchanting.
Nikodhemus is a Tailor/Enchanter. The purpose of taking these two professions together is that you can make items to disenchant, to get materials for enchanting. Both professions are pretty easy to level up together, but don't forget that other people can use those materials to level each profession seperately. I've already mentioned the success I've had with Silk Cloth (which is still very successful, except that now the Cloth is prohibitively expensive, bolt still sell at 1g or more!). Now the idea is to make low level Tailoring items just to break and sell the mats.
Watching market trends is a big part of working the AH for money. I looked up Strange Dust, and noticed that people were trying to sell it for 9g EACH. Not per stack, but per item! The first mistake here, is that people don't buy something like Strange Dust by single units, like they might by Shards. Dust of any flavor is used in multiples of 2 to 6, so when leveling, you need A LOT. Second, that is a price that the market just will not hold. If powerleveling, you need approximately 125 Strange Dust; at 9g, that's over 1125g, just to get to level 50!
So, I checked AH for Linen cloth, and 12 found stacks for 1g90 each. That turns into 60 bolts, which turns into 30 Leather Gloves, which turned into 26 Strange Dust and 7 magic essence. Shipped it all back to my Nikto the Bank Alt, and sold the Dust for 2g each, clearing a NICE profit. I just bought another 12 stacks of Linen for less than before (always check the Bid price, might be MUCH lower!) and transfered it into over 40 Strange Dust. We'll see how I do!
The Angry Man
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Void Tank
Have a new mission in Warcraft: Void Tanking. They call it "Drain Tanking", which for a Warlock, is sending your Voidwalker out to draw aggro, and then you Health Funnel to keep him up then drain the life you lose from the bad guys. Takes a long time, but that's what you have DOT's for too.
I tried doing Stratholme at level 57 and no dice; just too many skeletons to keep aggro on. However, I just got out of one of the best instances I've ever been in at Blackrock Spire. I've never been there before so I have no idea where to go... and then 2 minutes in our Tank has to leave. BLECH! So, we re-queue and wait a few minutes... In this circumstance is usually when I say 'Ok, its Voidy time!' and go ahead and bring him out. I'm Demonology, so Voidy is pretty substantial, and we start going, with 3 DPS and a Healer; and we kick ass! DPS is letting Voidy (Helthang by name. Yes!) get a good head start (plus DPS consists of a DK and a Warrior, so they can take a hit if Voidy loses aggro) and Heals is just keeping Voidy up and spotting everyone.
We make steady progress just like we had a real tank, until we get to a boss... Some big Ogre guy, don't remember his name... and we Stomp him, no problem! No one dies or even comes close, we just manage things. Everyone is having a blast, and we just keep rolling... until the queue finally comes up (25 minutes! BLAH!). We get a DK tank, and I reel Voidy back in for my Imp.
At this point, we hit a stall... the DK has never DK'd before, and worse, has never Tanked before. I don't mind teaching a guy how if he comes out and says 'Hey, I'm new!'... but this is where the fun dropped off.
But not entirely. This guy is Bad, but a nice guy, so we roll. Its a good thing we had 3 Plate guys with us, because he just could not keep aggro. I waited 3 seconds to do ANYTHING, and I was pulling off of him with AOE spells. So, i spent the remainder of Blackrock (which is VERY LONG) protecting the healer, as we were the only two in the back. I died twice with this new tank, which we never died once with Voidy. Healer would draw aggro, i would Fear them... he would pull more than 2 or 3 and i would Howl of Terror. I saved us from a wipe with that spell when the tank pulled two large groups at once... HP was dropping fast all over, i threw my Soulstone on the healer just to be safe, than ran into the middle and Howled, sending everyone scattering and giving us a few seconds to draw breath... and we finished them off.
Later, the healer was getting aggro again and I howled them away, but then 4 more came for him and i had no howl for 2 minutes. If the healer dies, we all die i figure, so I throw myself at him and hit Hellfire. Drains my HP but does LOTS of damage to everyone around me, drawing all the aggro and letting the healer get back up some HP and get back to work. I, of course, got splattered.
The mobs were still up and fierce, the feared ones came back, and things turned for the worse again. Then, the healer dies. I'm dead, thinking Hell, its a wipe... and then the healer springs back up! At 75% health and mana! Turns out my soulstone was still active on him, and he is able to outlast the remaining horde. Whew!
After we finished the dungeon, I had to admit: As much as i've hated this character leveling up, this was the MOST fun i've had with him... Totally changed my mind about Warlocks.
Being a good player doesn't mean having gear or knowing the instances like the back of your hand: Its about knowing the capabilities of your character, and using them at the right time. I'll never be afraid to pull Voidy out again.
The Angry Man
I tried doing Stratholme at level 57 and no dice; just too many skeletons to keep aggro on. However, I just got out of one of the best instances I've ever been in at Blackrock Spire. I've never been there before so I have no idea where to go... and then 2 minutes in our Tank has to leave. BLECH! So, we re-queue and wait a few minutes... In this circumstance is usually when I say 'Ok, its Voidy time!' and go ahead and bring him out. I'm Demonology, so Voidy is pretty substantial, and we start going, with 3 DPS and a Healer; and we kick ass! DPS is letting Voidy (Helthang by name. Yes!) get a good head start (plus DPS consists of a DK and a Warrior, so they can take a hit if Voidy loses aggro) and Heals is just keeping Voidy up and spotting everyone.
We make steady progress just like we had a real tank, until we get to a boss... Some big Ogre guy, don't remember his name... and we Stomp him, no problem! No one dies or even comes close, we just manage things. Everyone is having a blast, and we just keep rolling... until the queue finally comes up (25 minutes! BLAH!). We get a DK tank, and I reel Voidy back in for my Imp.
At this point, we hit a stall... the DK has never DK'd before, and worse, has never Tanked before. I don't mind teaching a guy how if he comes out and says 'Hey, I'm new!'... but this is where the fun dropped off.
But not entirely. This guy is Bad, but a nice guy, so we roll. Its a good thing we had 3 Plate guys with us, because he just could not keep aggro. I waited 3 seconds to do ANYTHING, and I was pulling off of him with AOE spells. So, i spent the remainder of Blackrock (which is VERY LONG) protecting the healer, as we were the only two in the back. I died twice with this new tank, which we never died once with Voidy. Healer would draw aggro, i would Fear them... he would pull more than 2 or 3 and i would Howl of Terror. I saved us from a wipe with that spell when the tank pulled two large groups at once... HP was dropping fast all over, i threw my Soulstone on the healer just to be safe, than ran into the middle and Howled, sending everyone scattering and giving us a few seconds to draw breath... and we finished them off.
Later, the healer was getting aggro again and I howled them away, but then 4 more came for him and i had no howl for 2 minutes. If the healer dies, we all die i figure, so I throw myself at him and hit Hellfire. Drains my HP but does LOTS of damage to everyone around me, drawing all the aggro and letting the healer get back up some HP and get back to work. I, of course, got splattered.
The mobs were still up and fierce, the feared ones came back, and things turned for the worse again. Then, the healer dies. I'm dead, thinking Hell, its a wipe... and then the healer springs back up! At 75% health and mana! Turns out my soulstone was still active on him, and he is able to outlast the remaining horde. Whew!
After we finished the dungeon, I had to admit: As much as i've hated this character leveling up, this was the MOST fun i've had with him... Totally changed my mind about Warlocks.
Being a good player doesn't mean having gear or knowing the instances like the back of your hand: Its about knowing the capabilities of your character, and using them at the right time. I'll never be afraid to pull Voidy out again.
The Angry Man
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Dual Instance
Updates in the WoW world for the last few days:
All the Silk Cloth i had place low bids on ended up being out bid... However, I did learn an interesting fact about the AH that is extremely unfair. I placed a similar low end bid on some Copper ore; something like 2g for 20. Checked back to see how it was doing, and I got a letter saying the auction for the item was CANCELLED. WTF? In any type of auction anywhere there is a mutual agreement between the buyer and seller ie: You will accept my bid, I will pay what I offered. you can't take it back!! Oh well...
Made a little money in the Copper Ore market which I've been watching closely. Ore was selling for 25s, so I bought up 120 with the intent of sitting on it for awhile. Then i looked up the cost of Bars, which were selling at about 80s each. To save time, I went ahead and trained my Bank alt to smelt, and put 100 bars in auction. Made 18G after only 2 hours! Crystallized elements have tanked, sitting on close to 100.
Still sitting at 56 on my Warlock, been working on my Warrior and tanking skills. Got in a fun run at level 41 for Zul Farrak, which is the lowest level i can get in that instance, and did VERY WELL. The downside is, we fought our way up the stairs, killed the Executioner to get the key, and the loot drop was for the one guy who went AFK for dinner. So, we waited for like 10 minutes, no big deal, but when he returned, the Executioner was gone! No key, No winning the instance! We disbanded.
Speaking of that run, we did wipe ONE time that was my fault, and once because of a F***ing rogue trying to be a badass yet again. I caused the wipe the first time because of Intimidating Shout. Sent 3 guys off running away in terror, which sent the hunters pet apeshit after them, which pulled 8 guys to us. HA!
Did my first Dual Instance tonight, which really was a blast. A friend of mine with a level 16 pally and me with a 13 Shaman (Ghornik). Spent maybe 6g on gear, made as many potions as I could, and had my Blacksmith whip up an Axe for me. We wiped ONE time, and that was the very beginning. Otherwise we stormed right thru, slow but steady, right to the end. Most fun I've had with the game in a loooong time. Tomorrow night we intend to try it again, but with his level 12 Mage. Then, its on to the Wailing Caverns by level 16!
The Angry Man
All the Silk Cloth i had place low bids on ended up being out bid... However, I did learn an interesting fact about the AH that is extremely unfair. I placed a similar low end bid on some Copper ore; something like 2g for 20. Checked back to see how it was doing, and I got a letter saying the auction for the item was CANCELLED. WTF? In any type of auction anywhere there is a mutual agreement between the buyer and seller ie: You will accept my bid, I will pay what I offered. you can't take it back!! Oh well...
Made a little money in the Copper Ore market which I've been watching closely. Ore was selling for 25s, so I bought up 120 with the intent of sitting on it for awhile. Then i looked up the cost of Bars, which were selling at about 80s each. To save time, I went ahead and trained my Bank alt to smelt, and put 100 bars in auction. Made 18G after only 2 hours! Crystallized elements have tanked, sitting on close to 100.
Still sitting at 56 on my Warlock, been working on my Warrior and tanking skills. Got in a fun run at level 41 for Zul Farrak, which is the lowest level i can get in that instance, and did VERY WELL. The downside is, we fought our way up the stairs, killed the Executioner to get the key, and the loot drop was for the one guy who went AFK for dinner. So, we waited for like 10 minutes, no big deal, but when he returned, the Executioner was gone! No key, No winning the instance! We disbanded.
Speaking of that run, we did wipe ONE time that was my fault, and once because of a F***ing rogue trying to be a badass yet again. I caused the wipe the first time because of Intimidating Shout. Sent 3 guys off running away in terror, which sent the hunters pet apeshit after them, which pulled 8 guys to us. HA!
Did my first Dual Instance tonight, which really was a blast. A friend of mine with a level 16 pally and me with a 13 Shaman (Ghornik). Spent maybe 6g on gear, made as many potions as I could, and had my Blacksmith whip up an Axe for me. We wiped ONE time, and that was the very beginning. Otherwise we stormed right thru, slow but steady, right to the end. Most fun I've had with the game in a loooong time. Tomorrow night we intend to try it again, but with his level 12 Mage. Then, its on to the Wailing Caverns by level 16!
The Angry Man
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Gotta have friends
Ran into an old friend and talked Warcraft for a few hours last night, convinced him to start a toon on Crushridge, now I've got someone to roll with my tiny Shaman.
One of my favorite things about games is having someone else I know play the same game. I used to play LOTS of games, but I stopped having friends for a few years and only hung around 1 or 2 people; but it could be any game at all, so long as someone else played it too. Final Fantasy X, Pokemon, Dungeons and Dragons, Runebound, Diablo II, Warcraft... game is MUCH more fun when you have someone else to talk to about it! That's what I need now, is more folks to gab with about the game! But, no douchebags. No dickweed jerks who think they have reinvented the wheel in the game and their stuff is SO much better than anyone else's stuff.
As much as I like these kinds of games, I really don't like anyone else who does. I played Dungeons and Dragons for years. Loved nothing more than to talk game stuff with someone who knew what I was talking about. However, with DnD, there really isn't any basis for achievement. You can say "I completed the Rod of Seven Parts!" and I can say "Yeah, because your GM let you! Woopdeedoo!" People can even say they completed the Temple of Elemental Evil module; its still just subject to what the GM allowed.
Playing something like Pokemon is a little different, but not much. Yes there are 450+ Pokey's... but, that is a finite number, and the only way to 'catch 'em all' is basically to have bought all of the games that were released for Gameboy. The game is balanced perfectly, with the dozens of elements each having strengths and weaknesses, making NOTHING you do unique. Your Ursaring is no different than my Ursaring, other than the attacks. Yours may have attacks that beat mine, but my Monferno has attacks that beat your Ursaring... and so on. Another game that was a blast to play, but most folks who play are complete dorks, unworthy of conversation.
Diablo II was a game I played for a long time, with friends online. It was fun, but eventually you ran out of things to do. You can play for a long time because after you finish on a higher difficulty with higher loot... but it is still the same game. It took quite awhile to beat, but not too long, maybe 30 hours, then it became MUCH harder. The only folks I knew who played this were my 2 friends and that was it, so never talked to anyone else. Really, there wasn't enough game here to make it interesting to talk about to anyone.
Warcraft is HUGE and varied and caps at 80. Even at cap you can still get better and better gear which adds huge amounts to the replay-ability... however the Douchebag factor is MUCH greater because the following is so huge. Cannot talk to ANYONE other than my close friends about it. Most folks I talk to are like "Yeah, i did all of that, on 5 characters!" You have to be in contact with douchbags in order to play, especially at the end game... which ultimately makes me wonder why I still play it at all!
Where was I going with this rant? I don't know, I just don't like people very much...
The Angry Man
One of my favorite things about games is having someone else I know play the same game. I used to play LOTS of games, but I stopped having friends for a few years and only hung around 1 or 2 people; but it could be any game at all, so long as someone else played it too. Final Fantasy X, Pokemon, Dungeons and Dragons, Runebound, Diablo II, Warcraft... game is MUCH more fun when you have someone else to talk to about it! That's what I need now, is more folks to gab with about the game! But, no douchebags. No dickweed jerks who think they have reinvented the wheel in the game and their stuff is SO much better than anyone else's stuff.
As much as I like these kinds of games, I really don't like anyone else who does. I played Dungeons and Dragons for years. Loved nothing more than to talk game stuff with someone who knew what I was talking about. However, with DnD, there really isn't any basis for achievement. You can say "I completed the Rod of Seven Parts!" and I can say "Yeah, because your GM let you! Woopdeedoo!" People can even say they completed the Temple of Elemental Evil module; its still just subject to what the GM allowed.
Playing something like Pokemon is a little different, but not much. Yes there are 450+ Pokey's... but, that is a finite number, and the only way to 'catch 'em all' is basically to have bought all of the games that were released for Gameboy. The game is balanced perfectly, with the dozens of elements each having strengths and weaknesses, making NOTHING you do unique. Your Ursaring is no different than my Ursaring, other than the attacks. Yours may have attacks that beat mine, but my Monferno has attacks that beat your Ursaring... and so on. Another game that was a blast to play, but most folks who play are complete dorks, unworthy of conversation.
Diablo II was a game I played for a long time, with friends online. It was fun, but eventually you ran out of things to do. You can play for a long time because after you finish on a higher difficulty with higher loot... but it is still the same game. It took quite awhile to beat, but not too long, maybe 30 hours, then it became MUCH harder. The only folks I knew who played this were my 2 friends and that was it, so never talked to anyone else. Really, there wasn't enough game here to make it interesting to talk about to anyone.
Warcraft is HUGE and varied and caps at 80. Even at cap you can still get better and better gear which adds huge amounts to the replay-ability... however the Douchebag factor is MUCH greater because the following is so huge. Cannot talk to ANYONE other than my close friends about it. Most folks I talk to are like "Yeah, i did all of that, on 5 characters!" You have to be in contact with douchbags in order to play, especially at the end game... which ultimately makes me wonder why I still play it at all!
Where was I going with this rant? I don't know, I just don't like people very much...
The Angry Man
Market going down
Rapidly running out of markets on Warcraft... Nikto the Bank Alt is having serious trouble making ends meet lately! Crystallized anything has gone right to hell, selling for less than 1G... too many people flooded that market, and it proves the theory on the Deep Undercutting method of making money; eventually, profit is reduced to ZERO. Enchanting mats are dirt cheap as well, haven't sold any souldust, shards, anything in days... its just not worth the effort to post things for 15s each, to make 2 gold per stack. The only thing that sells for anything is Nether Essence, and if I had those, I'd be using them!
The only thing still making money is Silk cloth conversion to bolts. Currently I'm all out of Silk Cloth, but I found an enterprising fool in the AH with his Cloth set up at a buyout price of 4G per stack, and a BID price of 45 Silver a stack... so, i put in a bid! On all of it, like 12 stacks... 48 hours and I'll let you know how things went. Did manage to sell Un'Goro soil for a decent amount, but that's really it.
Perhaps its the summer drag. Perhaps its the Pre-Cataclysm blues. Perhaps I need to up my game a bit... get my crafting skills up, buy mats and Craft things worth selling. Blacksmithing should be a good market for me, but it is so difficult to get the mats, and so expensive to level it. Enchanting is worthless other than selling mats. Tailoring has some good things at high level, especially bags. Nikodhemus is 56 1/2, should be getting to Outland soon.
We'll see, I will of course keep trying...
The Angry Man
The only thing still making money is Silk cloth conversion to bolts. Currently I'm all out of Silk Cloth, but I found an enterprising fool in the AH with his Cloth set up at a buyout price of 4G per stack, and a BID price of 45 Silver a stack... so, i put in a bid! On all of it, like 12 stacks... 48 hours and I'll let you know how things went. Did manage to sell Un'Goro soil for a decent amount, but that's really it.
Perhaps its the summer drag. Perhaps its the Pre-Cataclysm blues. Perhaps I need to up my game a bit... get my crafting skills up, buy mats and Craft things worth selling. Blacksmithing should be a good market for me, but it is so difficult to get the mats, and so expensive to level it. Enchanting is worthless other than selling mats. Tailoring has some good things at high level, especially bags. Nikodhemus is 56 1/2, should be getting to Outland soon.
We'll see, I will of course keep trying...
The Angry Man
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Making Money
Spent quite a bit of time today Leveling my Warlock (56!) and making money in the AH. Learned some things from the Greedy Goblin (I would post a hyperlink, but either the site or this pc won't let me.) And, as simple as the tricks are, by the end of the day, most of my moneymaking plans were copied by someone else...
The one thing I've been doing consistently for months is buying Silk Cloth and selling Bolts of Silk. It takes 4 silk to make one bolt; I buy 4 stacks of Silk Cloth for about 1.5G each, turn it into 1 stack of Bolts, and sell that stack for 20G. So for 6G cost and about 5 minutes of down time, I'm making 333% profit! I have NO IDEA what people are buying Bolts of Silk for, and I don't care. That has worked for MONTHS, until tonight I checked my auctions and someone undercut me by 20s... SO, i pulled all of my auctions and reposted, undercutting him by 1G. We'll see if it worked tomorrow...
My other ploy is with Eternal Fire and Eternal Water. These break down into 10 Crystallized Fire or Waters; I bought Eternal Fire for 20G, broke them apart, and managed to sell quite a few Crystallized Fire for 5G each! 150% profit! Waters were even better as the Eternal water is selling for 2-3G, and the Crystallized Waters sold for 2-3g... 1000% Profit, and people are buying it up like marijuana at a middle school.
My 3rd venture I stumbled across by accident, and another guy saw it just after I did. Someone had posted 8 stacks of Copper Ore for 4G each... while ALL the other Copper was selling for 20G. I started scooping them up, and after I had grabbed a few I started getting a message "Item Not Found"... when I refreshed, the stack was gone. I managed to grab 6 of the 8 stacks and turned them into 500% profit within hours.
I've been using these tactics for a few days now, and was on for several hours today, when I noticed at the end of the day, my auctions were being undercut, and I was getting a lot of the materials back. Going thru the mailbox, I realized that I had put A LOT of the same merch out on the shelves. As they say at Wu-Tang financial "You got to diversify yo' bonds, my nigga!" I think part of the reason I didn't get as good of returns has to do with me flooding the market with MANY stacks of these items, and leaving it open to be cut. I have enough capital now to sit on my investments for a bit and let the market even out, plus I'm not even in Outland yet on this server to see what other tidbits I can farm and make cash on.
Check out the Greedy Goblin if you get a chance, he's a real asshole, which I like in a guy, and he's got some really good points and ideas...
The Angry Man
The one thing I've been doing consistently for months is buying Silk Cloth and selling Bolts of Silk. It takes 4 silk to make one bolt; I buy 4 stacks of Silk Cloth for about 1.5G each, turn it into 1 stack of Bolts, and sell that stack for 20G. So for 6G cost and about 5 minutes of down time, I'm making 333% profit! I have NO IDEA what people are buying Bolts of Silk for, and I don't care. That has worked for MONTHS, until tonight I checked my auctions and someone undercut me by 20s... SO, i pulled all of my auctions and reposted, undercutting him by 1G. We'll see if it worked tomorrow...
My other ploy is with Eternal Fire and Eternal Water. These break down into 10 Crystallized Fire or Waters; I bought Eternal Fire for 20G, broke them apart, and managed to sell quite a few Crystallized Fire for 5G each! 150% profit! Waters were even better as the Eternal water is selling for 2-3G, and the Crystallized Waters sold for 2-3g... 1000% Profit, and people are buying it up like marijuana at a middle school.
My 3rd venture I stumbled across by accident, and another guy saw it just after I did. Someone had posted 8 stacks of Copper Ore for 4G each... while ALL the other Copper was selling for 20G. I started scooping them up, and after I had grabbed a few I started getting a message "Item Not Found"... when I refreshed, the stack was gone. I managed to grab 6 of the 8 stacks and turned them into 500% profit within hours.
I've been using these tactics for a few days now, and was on for several hours today, when I noticed at the end of the day, my auctions were being undercut, and I was getting a lot of the materials back. Going thru the mailbox, I realized that I had put A LOT of the same merch out on the shelves. As they say at Wu-Tang financial "You got to diversify yo' bonds, my nigga!" I think part of the reason I didn't get as good of returns has to do with me flooding the market with MANY stacks of these items, and leaving it open to be cut. I have enough capital now to sit on my investments for a bit and let the market even out, plus I'm not even in Outland yet on this server to see what other tidbits I can farm and make cash on.
Check out the Greedy Goblin if you get a chance, he's a real asshole, which I like in a guy, and he's got some really good points and ideas...
The Angry Man
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Real Time Strategy?
So, I ended up playing WoW for a bit last night, working on my Warlock, Nikodhemus (53!) nothing too strenuous, an hour or so of play. Switched over to a game i haven't played in awhile, and totally forgot how AWESOME it is!
Warhammer 40K Dawn of War is one of those Real Time Strategy games like Command and Conquer or Starcraft. Get base, Get builders, make builders build stuff, make soldiers, kill stuff, all faster than your opponent.
First of all, lets talk about the term 'Real Time Strategy'. Think of how popular Chess would be if you both just moved your pieces at the same time, as fast as you could... at what point does 'strategy' come into play? There is no possibility of making long term plans other than Get the Biggest Unit First, then sending all troops at the opponent. No option for flanking or drawing your opponent out from cover. Very little thinking is involved short of 'Uh oh, troops died. Must make more troops!' Mostly, I don't play RTS games (or PVP for that matter) because there is just no strategy involved short of 'move faster than that guy'. PVP is the same thing, sh** like Call of Duty, which is a fantastic game, but there are ALWAYS dozens of people online who have played more than me and are already much faster than me, giving me no chance at all to increase my reaction times in-game. But enough bitching...
Dawn of War is very similar to Starcraft, in that there are several different factions, each plays a little differently, and you Build the Biggest Guy First to win. The one thing I did not like about Starcraft is, you build ONE soldier at a time. Then, to send out your army, you have to draw a box around ALL of your forward troops, pick a destination then, ideally, go back to base to make the second wave. If i forget 1 guy, he just doesn't go. If i want a few guys to attack the turrets and these other guys to attack the base and the tanks to hold back... well, you just can't do that without selecting them one at a time, or painstakingly drawing boxes around them and repositioning. Then, when so many die, you have to go back to your base, start cranking out more guys, then send them marching along, meanwhile leaving your remaining army to fend for themselves. Which just facilitates the person with the fastest clicks wins. No strategy, just button mashing.
DoW introduces a mechanic which changes that drastically: Squads. With a single click, I make a unit of Slugga Boyz, and now i have control over that squad as a whole. I can reinforce it directly, add weapons, add generals, give commands, EVERYTHING to this single squad of Slugga Boyz while they are out in the field. Over the course of a battle, i might make 8 or 10 squads, and that's it. I click on one guy, it lights up his whole team. Select two different guys gives me both squads at once, and the ability to tab between them for reinforcements or commands! SO much more control over the game! Now when Chief Gorgutz is commanding his WAAAAUGH! (cuz he's the biggest and the meanest) he can sit back and manage his troops with ease.
Real Time Strategy is a complete fallacy... but Dawn of War gives you a bit more control. Haven't played Starcraft 2 yet, hopefully it runs like this, otherwise I'm going to give it a pass.
On a side note, i REALLY need to learn to focus on one subject! Might make these posts a little easier to read!
The Angry Man
Warhammer 40K Dawn of War is one of those Real Time Strategy games like Command and Conquer or Starcraft. Get base, Get builders, make builders build stuff, make soldiers, kill stuff, all faster than your opponent.
First of all, lets talk about the term 'Real Time Strategy'. Think of how popular Chess would be if you both just moved your pieces at the same time, as fast as you could... at what point does 'strategy' come into play? There is no possibility of making long term plans other than Get the Biggest Unit First, then sending all troops at the opponent. No option for flanking or drawing your opponent out from cover. Very little thinking is involved short of 'Uh oh, troops died. Must make more troops!' Mostly, I don't play RTS games (or PVP for that matter) because there is just no strategy involved short of 'move faster than that guy'. PVP is the same thing, sh** like Call of Duty, which is a fantastic game, but there are ALWAYS dozens of people online who have played more than me and are already much faster than me, giving me no chance at all to increase my reaction times in-game. But enough bitching...
Dawn of War is very similar to Starcraft, in that there are several different factions, each plays a little differently, and you Build the Biggest Guy First to win. The one thing I did not like about Starcraft is, you build ONE soldier at a time. Then, to send out your army, you have to draw a box around ALL of your forward troops, pick a destination then, ideally, go back to base to make the second wave. If i forget 1 guy, he just doesn't go. If i want a few guys to attack the turrets and these other guys to attack the base and the tanks to hold back... well, you just can't do that without selecting them one at a time, or painstakingly drawing boxes around them and repositioning. Then, when so many die, you have to go back to your base, start cranking out more guys, then send them marching along, meanwhile leaving your remaining army to fend for themselves. Which just facilitates the person with the fastest clicks wins. No strategy, just button mashing.
DoW introduces a mechanic which changes that drastically: Squads. With a single click, I make a unit of Slugga Boyz, and now i have control over that squad as a whole. I can reinforce it directly, add weapons, add generals, give commands, EVERYTHING to this single squad of Slugga Boyz while they are out in the field. Over the course of a battle, i might make 8 or 10 squads, and that's it. I click on one guy, it lights up his whole team. Select two different guys gives me both squads at once, and the ability to tab between them for reinforcements or commands! SO much more control over the game! Now when Chief Gorgutz is commanding his WAAAAUGH! (cuz he's the biggest and the meanest) he can sit back and manage his troops with ease.
Real Time Strategy is a complete fallacy... but Dawn of War gives you a bit more control. Haven't played Starcraft 2 yet, hopefully it runs like this, otherwise I'm going to give it a pass.
On a side note, i REALLY need to learn to focus on one subject! Might make these posts a little easier to read!
The Angry Man
Monday, August 2, 2010
3 Second Rule
Another night of gaming last night, not going to play tonight... and another night of a dumbass Rogue messing up the run because he thinks he's hot sh**. And another abandoned Scarlet Monastery, as I only lasted thru 2 pulls this time. First 10 seconds of the run, and the rogue runs in a saps the first opponent, then starts hitting him... so, i run in and hit a couple of times, get a tiny bit of rage, and chase off down the hall to the next pull. First hall of the Cathedral run, there are 2 guys midway down the hall, and 2 at the end... any tank who has done it before runs all the way down the hall to get all 4, then stops and tanks. Well, i pick up the first two, and now the idiot rogue AND an idiot Hunter immediately open fire, causing them to turn while i'm running in the opposite direction.
Here's the kicker... the Hunter says "Dude, TANK!" Grrrrr... I say "Dude, F*** off, let me get aggro before attacking!" Then he starts cussing me, and i just quit the group... screw him, let them all sit in cue for another 20 minutes.
For anyone who plays WoW, let it be known... Tanking is hard. Ok, not HARD, but it is a damn sight tougher than DPS or Heals. With DPS, when you are in an instance, your rotation really doesn't change much from your PVE roll. My hunter uses the first 6 buttons on the keyboard, then repeats. Doesn't much matter if it is an instance or in the field, its the most DPS I'll be getting. But, I also have an appreciation for the tanks job.
See, if you pull bad guys towards yourself, the tank CAN'T tank. If its a warrior or bear, he gets no rage if guys aren't hitting him. As brainless as DPSing is, they need to realize this and it will make everyone's run that much better. Which is why I follow the 3 second rule. I do not attack until 3 seconds after the Tank hits the first time. If its a fast tank, i use that time as my looting time, not hurrying to his spot, just giving him time to get set. 3 second rule also applies to movement. Wait for the tank to be standing still for 3 seconds before shooting... if he intends to pull the rest of the room, he can't very well hold aggro while running. And, for the Hunters and Warlocks out there, be sure to turn your Roar and Torment off before going in... Trust me, tanks have enough with just 3 DPS competing for threat. And, sadly, i'm still at 39 1/2... I logged out after quitting, because now I get the dreaded 'Dungeon Deserter' flag that keeps me from reentering a dungeon for 30 minutes. Oh, but it was worth it... cuz F*** those guys...
In other news, my bank alt is running low on cash... I made an 80G investment in Primordial Fires to break them into Crystalized Fire and sell individually. (Read that trick from the Greedy Goblin) Paid 20 each for Primordial, break into 10 Crystalized and the going price was 4G 50S... so i posted for 4G... AND just got every one of them back. So, something is a little wrong with how I set things up... i just posted 10, in 2 peice stacks for 3G 75S each, we'll see how well those sell, and go from there. Also, I've been making pretty good money with my Tailor and specifically Silk Cloth. I've been able to by stacks of cloth for 3G, turn it into Bolts, and sell them back for 1G per bolt. So, 4 stacks (12G) of cloth turns into 1 stack (20G) of Bolts, and I make a tidy profit. Enchantment is a 0 money maker, and I'm finding Blacksmithing to be terribly difficult to level.
Compare BS with Alchemy... Mining copper once gets you 2-4 pieces, same with picking flowers... However, making Potions takes 2-4 Herbs/Oils, whereas Blacksmithing takes 6-8 sometimes 12 Bars, PLUS leather PLUS other mats! Holy Crap! But, it is a little more fun than Herbalism, and the Bars and Ore do sell for more... I think my next toon should have Tailoring and Mining for profit!
Well, I'm off... maybe tomorrow I'll talk aboot one of the other MANY games I play or have played...
The Angry Man
Here's the kicker... the Hunter says "Dude, TANK!" Grrrrr... I say "Dude, F*** off, let me get aggro before attacking!" Then he starts cussing me, and i just quit the group... screw him, let them all sit in cue for another 20 minutes.
For anyone who plays WoW, let it be known... Tanking is hard. Ok, not HARD, but it is a damn sight tougher than DPS or Heals. With DPS, when you are in an instance, your rotation really doesn't change much from your PVE roll. My hunter uses the first 6 buttons on the keyboard, then repeats. Doesn't much matter if it is an instance or in the field, its the most DPS I'll be getting. But, I also have an appreciation for the tanks job.
See, if you pull bad guys towards yourself, the tank CAN'T tank. If its a warrior or bear, he gets no rage if guys aren't hitting him. As brainless as DPSing is, they need to realize this and it will make everyone's run that much better. Which is why I follow the 3 second rule. I do not attack until 3 seconds after the Tank hits the first time. If its a fast tank, i use that time as my looting time, not hurrying to his spot, just giving him time to get set. 3 second rule also applies to movement. Wait for the tank to be standing still for 3 seconds before shooting... if he intends to pull the rest of the room, he can't very well hold aggro while running. And, for the Hunters and Warlocks out there, be sure to turn your Roar and Torment off before going in... Trust me, tanks have enough with just 3 DPS competing for threat. And, sadly, i'm still at 39 1/2... I logged out after quitting, because now I get the dreaded 'Dungeon Deserter' flag that keeps me from reentering a dungeon for 30 minutes. Oh, but it was worth it... cuz F*** those guys...
In other news, my bank alt is running low on cash... I made an 80G investment in Primordial Fires to break them into Crystalized Fire and sell individually. (Read that trick from the Greedy Goblin) Paid 20 each for Primordial, break into 10 Crystalized and the going price was 4G 50S... so i posted for 4G... AND just got every one of them back. So, something is a little wrong with how I set things up... i just posted 10, in 2 peice stacks for 3G 75S each, we'll see how well those sell, and go from there. Also, I've been making pretty good money with my Tailor and specifically Silk Cloth. I've been able to by stacks of cloth for 3G, turn it into Bolts, and sell them back for 1G per bolt. So, 4 stacks (12G) of cloth turns into 1 stack (20G) of Bolts, and I make a tidy profit. Enchantment is a 0 money maker, and I'm finding Blacksmithing to be terribly difficult to level.
Compare BS with Alchemy... Mining copper once gets you 2-4 pieces, same with picking flowers... However, making Potions takes 2-4 Herbs/Oils, whereas Blacksmithing takes 6-8 sometimes 12 Bars, PLUS leather PLUS other mats! Holy Crap! But, it is a little more fun than Herbalism, and the Bars and Ore do sell for more... I think my next toon should have Tailoring and Mining for profit!
Well, I'm off... maybe tomorrow I'll talk aboot one of the other MANY games I play or have played...
The Angry Man
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Rule #1: Do not call the tank names
Played Warcraft for many hours yesterday, currently have 4 characters on Crushridge server... and I play thru them all, to maximize my 'rested' experience. I'll go into details on them sometime, but today's post has to do with my Prot Warrior Nikail.
Level 39 1/2 (yeah, the 1/2 matters!) and I'm sitting in Org insta-queing to keep my rested exp and to be able to get my level 40 abilities and new mount. The awesome thing about the 'Looking For Group' (LFG) tool for tanks is, you get a spot in about 5 seconds. The bad part is, well, its a Pug, so you are never sure of the group you get. The perfect group for me when tanking is Mage, Warlock, Hunter for DPS and Pally for heals... I hate Melee DPS, especially Rogues.
So I get drafted into this group for Scarlet Monastery (what ever the last part is called), got Hunter and Mage plus a priest for heals... and a Rogue. SM is a pretty straight forward tanking experience, and good for training as there are casters that you have to run at and silence or they will blow you away at range. Throughout the run, this rogue is running ahead of the group in stealth, then sapping an opponent and soloing it, while the rest of us deal with everything else. What he isn't realizing is, when he starts his attack routine against that guy, his stealth goes away, and he gets charged by nearby goons... which means the healer has to take time from me and heal him, which at one point did lead to a wipe. No problem, i figure, i don't mind a wipe every now and then, and if you end up with a crappy group, it makes you better.
So we get back in, and go to the Cathedral, where on a lower end group, you kite guys out the front door and tank them there... well, Rogue of course goes in, saps, and draws aggro, and eventually he dies, because i'm dealing with all the extra adds he's pulled, and healer decides to just keep the tank up. Rogue starts bitching, saying healer is pathetic and he shouldn't have died, and I say it was because he runs ahead and draws aggro. Then he says to me 'No, I sapped one and attacked the other, Dumbass'.
At which point I said "Ok, i've had enough. Sorry everyone, but the rogue has cost you your tank", and I left the group. No tolerance for that, especially as the tank. First of all, my job is much harder than yours... I have to watch all of you, keep you from getting threat, make sure healer has mana to heal me... so calling me names is never allowed. Second, if i quit the group, I'll be in another group in 5 seconds... you will wait 15 minutes at least.
So, I left, which I very rarely do, and ended up in Uldaman with a fantastic group! In and out, they followed my lead and didn't pull from me. I'll likely play a bit today, I wanna get Nikail to 40 and get the new mount out of the way.
Going to the store for beer!
The Angry Man
Level 39 1/2 (yeah, the 1/2 matters!) and I'm sitting in Org insta-queing to keep my rested exp and to be able to get my level 40 abilities and new mount. The awesome thing about the 'Looking For Group' (LFG) tool for tanks is, you get a spot in about 5 seconds. The bad part is, well, its a Pug, so you are never sure of the group you get. The perfect group for me when tanking is Mage, Warlock, Hunter for DPS and Pally for heals... I hate Melee DPS, especially Rogues.
So I get drafted into this group for Scarlet Monastery (what ever the last part is called), got Hunter and Mage plus a priest for heals... and a Rogue. SM is a pretty straight forward tanking experience, and good for training as there are casters that you have to run at and silence or they will blow you away at range. Throughout the run, this rogue is running ahead of the group in stealth, then sapping an opponent and soloing it, while the rest of us deal with everything else. What he isn't realizing is, when he starts his attack routine against that guy, his stealth goes away, and he gets charged by nearby goons... which means the healer has to take time from me and heal him, which at one point did lead to a wipe. No problem, i figure, i don't mind a wipe every now and then, and if you end up with a crappy group, it makes you better.
So we get back in, and go to the Cathedral, where on a lower end group, you kite guys out the front door and tank them there... well, Rogue of course goes in, saps, and draws aggro, and eventually he dies, because i'm dealing with all the extra adds he's pulled, and healer decides to just keep the tank up. Rogue starts bitching, saying healer is pathetic and he shouldn't have died, and I say it was because he runs ahead and draws aggro. Then he says to me 'No, I sapped one and attacked the other, Dumbass'.
At which point I said "Ok, i've had enough. Sorry everyone, but the rogue has cost you your tank", and I left the group. No tolerance for that, especially as the tank. First of all, my job is much harder than yours... I have to watch all of you, keep you from getting threat, make sure healer has mana to heal me... so calling me names is never allowed. Second, if i quit the group, I'll be in another group in 5 seconds... you will wait 15 minutes at least.
So, I left, which I very rarely do, and ended up in Uldaman with a fantastic group! In and out, they followed my lead and didn't pull from me. I'll likely play a bit today, I wanna get Nikail to 40 and get the new mount out of the way.
Going to the store for beer!
The Angry Man
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Blogging
Hey! Writing again! New Blog, first post!
Writing for me is very therapeutic, but it is usually pretty difficult to come up with post ideas. Anyone reading this may have followed my previous blog and saw how random it was. This time around, I'm going to focus on one subject: Games. (And, less bad language!)
I am a Gamer Geek. Always have been, always will be. Now, I've never considered myself to by really hard core; I rarely go out and buy new release games. I rarely play games that are the current fad. In fact, I don't actually play all that many games at the age I am now...but games still are a HUGE factor in my life. From World of Warcraft (which is my current addiction) to 8-bit Nintendo to Dungeons and Dragons to Monopoly to ping-pong. I f***ing LOVE games! I love the rules and structure involved, and using those rules to play the game to its fullest. I even like LOSING at games, especially close games. It's one thing to get totally destroyed against a far superior opponent (Call of Duty), but to have a player of similar skill to yourself and have real competition... That's what's fun for me.
Anyway... on to some content!
Warcraft is my current addiction... and I really don't see anything unseating it from the champion spot. To me, it really is the best game ever made. I love a game that I can play a character, level that character up, have choices in how I level the character... plus have so many other things I can do if I get tired of leveling! I never do raids or any of the end game content... I've been playing for a year now, and only have one level 80, which I haven't played on in months, for the purpose of starting up a new stable on a new server. A couple of hours a week is about all I'm able to dedicate to the game, which is fine by me, as there is so much to do with the family and teaching the kids some of the games that i've played and loved over the years.
What I am working on now in the game is an Enhancement Shaman, with the intent of attempting to soloing instances. I've had the idea in my head for awhile, and Shamans are a class that can handle most anything, and have great armor. I refuse to play a paladin, at least for now, since the only horde group that can run Pally are Blood Elves, and that's just generic. Never liked picking the class that everyone else plays, and there are far too many Pally's in the world for my taste. So, Shammy it is! Only level 7 right now, Ghornik the Orc is rocketing thru the starting zone, to get into Ragefire Chasm. I will attempt it first at level 15, and will Auction House the best armor I can find, and ship it to my Enchanter (Nikodhemus, Blood Elf Warlock)first to pump it up a bit to give me the best chance of success. The next challenge is to find the time to run it! HA!
Ok, that'll do for an opening post... I hope to write something a couple of times a week, just keep things about games, and see how it turns out.
LATER
The Angry Man
Writing for me is very therapeutic, but it is usually pretty difficult to come up with post ideas. Anyone reading this may have followed my previous blog and saw how random it was. This time around, I'm going to focus on one subject: Games. (And, less bad language!)
I am a Gamer Geek. Always have been, always will be. Now, I've never considered myself to by really hard core; I rarely go out and buy new release games. I rarely play games that are the current fad. In fact, I don't actually play all that many games at the age I am now...but games still are a HUGE factor in my life. From World of Warcraft (which is my current addiction) to 8-bit Nintendo to Dungeons and Dragons to Monopoly to ping-pong. I f***ing LOVE games! I love the rules and structure involved, and using those rules to play the game to its fullest. I even like LOSING at games, especially close games. It's one thing to get totally destroyed against a far superior opponent (Call of Duty), but to have a player of similar skill to yourself and have real competition... That's what's fun for me.
Anyway... on to some content!
Warcraft is my current addiction... and I really don't see anything unseating it from the champion spot. To me, it really is the best game ever made. I love a game that I can play a character, level that character up, have choices in how I level the character... plus have so many other things I can do if I get tired of leveling! I never do raids or any of the end game content... I've been playing for a year now, and only have one level 80, which I haven't played on in months, for the purpose of starting up a new stable on a new server. A couple of hours a week is about all I'm able to dedicate to the game, which is fine by me, as there is so much to do with the family and teaching the kids some of the games that i've played and loved over the years.
What I am working on now in the game is an Enhancement Shaman, with the intent of attempting to soloing instances. I've had the idea in my head for awhile, and Shamans are a class that can handle most anything, and have great armor. I refuse to play a paladin, at least for now, since the only horde group that can run Pally are Blood Elves, and that's just generic. Never liked picking the class that everyone else plays, and there are far too many Pally's in the world for my taste. So, Shammy it is! Only level 7 right now, Ghornik the Orc is rocketing thru the starting zone, to get into Ragefire Chasm. I will attempt it first at level 15, and will Auction House the best armor I can find, and ship it to my Enchanter (Nikodhemus, Blood Elf Warlock)first to pump it up a bit to give me the best chance of success. The next challenge is to find the time to run it! HA!
Ok, that'll do for an opening post... I hope to write something a couple of times a week, just keep things about games, and see how it turns out.
LATER
The Angry Man
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