Firstly, I totally did a good deed today. /brag Gnomeaggedon, earlier this morning, posted a wonderful post about how he killed a whole bunch of Hordies, and finished it off by asking the ganker for an [Enchanted Broom], the Blood Elf Argent Tournament pet.

Now, I, being the probably the most sympathetic PvPer ever to grace the blog-o-sphere (Pfft, yeah right), was totally like “He wants a Broom? I can totally get him one (or like 4) of those!”. So I told him I’d get him one. And I did.

Now, I know I totally said one good deed deserves another, and while I did get a mechanopeep out of this, that’s not the only thing. You see, this is the 50th post of Arcane Envoy. It might of taken ages, but it totally happened.

So yeah. This post should of been about my 5 favorite 5-mans, but I’ve been slow in getting pictures for all of them. Soon, I promise.

Basically to do this, you need to run into the opposing faction’s main cities and capture all of their flames (I’m not sure if you need to get Silvermoon or Exodar’s flames, but I will assume that you do (because I am a completionist)).

Therefore, I have developed this mini-guide to…

Being a Sneaky Fucker. Stealing the Flames of the Alliance & Horde.

Now, this is not actually all that difficult. Honest. To begin with I’m going to do the Cities of the Alliance (I have actually done these, and can be 100% sure that they more or less work). I suggest going Exodar -> Darnassus -> Stormwind -> Ironforge.

To begin, haul your ass to just outside Auberdine (in Darkshore). Then make your way to the far end of the dock (the western end). This boat goes to the Draenei starter zones, and you should be able to get over to Azuremist Isle without any incidents.

To get into the Exodar, take the side entrance, which is just to your left as you get off the dock. Run down the ramp, and then north into the Crystal Hall. The bonfire is near the middle of the area, and takes 1 second to steal (you will find an item in your bags, not an immediate quest popup).

Once you have the flame, take the boat back to Auberdine and take the northern dock to Rut’theran Village, convienently, the Darnassus flame is here, so grab it and scram, if you’re really quick you might make it back on the boat before it leaves.

Back at Auberdine once more, take the southern boat to Stormwind Harbor. From here you need to run up the ramps, along The Park side of the canal, across to the Mage District, and make your way over to the flame, which is outside the Stockades.

From here, quickly jump into the canals and swim for your life to the Cathedral Square dock thing (near the Dwarven District), mount up (you can do this in the water) and ride to the Deeprun tram, which will take you to Ironforge.

Finally, run out of the tram (mounting as soon as you exit it) north to the Hall of Explorers. This is the hardest flame to get, as there are usually about 1,000,000 Alliance douches there waiting to kill you. As long as you get the flame, just spirit rez and hearth out. Congratulations on getting your achievement!

Now to do the Horde Cities

Before I begin, remember that the quests start from an item that is deposited in your bags when you use the flames. As long as you’ve got the item, don’t worry about the actual quest while you’re in the enemy cities.

First off, I’d start in Silvermoon, not for any real reason, apart from the lack of flow to other cities that it has. In Silvermoon you need to get to the Court of the Sun. To do this, you should run north, and through Murder Row. The bonfire is just beyond this.

Then make your way to Undercity. This is probably the easiest one of all the cities, as it is not even inside the city proper. Just run in the front door, and leave. No biggie.

Take the Zeppelin to Orgrimmar, and then run to the western edge of Durotar, and across the river into the Barrens. Follow the river north and go in the side entrance of Orgrimmar. Follow the path along into the Valley of Wisdom, and get the flame. This is by far the hardest of all of the flames, but if you’re quick, it should be rather simple.

Finally, go to the western Zeppelin tower out the front of Org. There are two Zeps that depart from here. One to NR, and one to Thunder Bluff. The best part of this is, that it deposits you right on top of the flame. Too easy. Hearth out and collect your prize.

However, through my many runs this year (like 10, but w/e) I have noticed that most players are either really bad in general, or are just dumb. (Not that I needed a event boss to figure that out, it’s just more exceptional here.)

With this in mind, I bring you…

TwilliK’s Rad Guide to Lord Ahune.

Now, the fight itself is not too hard. Phase 1, gather adds, kill adds (burning the initial big bad add that spawns at the beginning of the phase). Phase 2, burn CDs on the Frozen Core. Repeat if your DPS is too low.

However, there are some really dumb mistakes that I’ve seen people making, and have felt the need to correct, in fancy bullet point form.

• The Tank needs to be at the front, and needs to stand still for fuck’s sake.

Now, I know you’re all thinking that this is elementary, but I’ve only seen two tanks do this, the others are all running around the place like idiots trying to get all the mobs that have peeled off of them. I know that you think it’s important, but it’s really hard to AoE things when the whole pack is moving. Most DPS will stop to kill mobs that have peeled off to eat their (or the healer’s) face, just sayin.

• Every mob in the fight is immune to frost damage.

You know what that means, Fail Mages (as I have seen about 6 other mages do this)? Blizzard doesn’t work. AT ALL. This is a big issue, because it means we have to use Arcane Explosion (mana eater) or Flamestrike (which is a terrible AoE, but is alright here, if point one is conformed to). This also affects Frost DKs, as Frost Fever doesn’t affect them, which has led to many lols and wtfs among our zombie bros. (Just to make this perfectly clear DO NOT CAST BLIZZARD. Thank you)

• When you can attack the Frozen Core, stop whatever you are doing, pop CDs and kill it quickly.

This is the thing that will change the fight from a 5 minute kinda annoying thing into a 3 minute dream. The Frozen Core has about 500k Health, and is attackable for about 30 seconds (maybe? I don’t know, it’s not very long). Try and deal 5k-ish DPS over that 30 second period and he’ll go down without having to wait another 60 seconds or so for another go.

Anyway. That was all rather obvious tips, but the number of dumbasses I’ve been grouped with made me need to vent about it. Stay classy peoples. Twill, out.

Dear readers.

I’m Sel’s sister, Iraia. Sis said something about how she needed to go find something, now that the Lich King is dead, so she’s asked me to take care of this journal for her.

She said something about sending letters to an address in Dalaran, and that they’d find their way “across the nether” to here, and presumably to her.

So… yeah. I’m currently working with the Argent Crusaders to help clean up Icecrown, but I’m also doing lots of other things across Azeroth and Outland.

Uhh, talk to you soon,

Yours, Iraia.

Like, really bad, guys. I AM NOT SHITTONG YOU GUIZ.

Okay, perhaps that last bit was a little too far.

Anyway, would you kindly pick one from the following list/poll thing.

So, yeah. No DK, Mage or Pally in here, because I have them at above 60. If the winner already exists (and isn’t a bank alt), it’ll be picked up from where it is at (somewhere between 6 – 19).

If nobody votes, I’ll be kinda sad, and stuff. I mean, this is a relatively short duration poll (like a day or two?) SO GET VOTIN ALREADY, JEEZ.

Other things, like race & spec are 100% my decision, but if you really have an opinion on that, you can leave a comment, savvy?

When I plan out my characters, I get a piece of paper, and write down 3-5 traits that they have. These can (and should) change over time, but they represent the character at the current moment.

For instance, let’s take Selite. (Oh yay.) When I sat down and did this she was level 70 – and had been ‘shaped’ a little, and she’s been ‘shaped’ since, but she’s one of my more static characters.

Selite, at 70.

• Wants to help people. This is her primary motivation.
• Wants to obtain more knowledge.
• Independent.

Now, this is much earlier, and is quite different to the current style I use to write these. But still, these give a good idea of what her motivations and wants will be at a given time. As an example of ‘evolution of character’ I’ll now show you what she’s all about at level 80.

Selite, at right now.

• Independent.
• Mercenary disposition.
• Vengeance to the Scourge.

So, Selite now is much more about killing undead, and getting payed for it. You might notice that I wrote ‘Independent’ first this time. This is what I call the ‘primary motivation’ of a character. While the other factors are a part of her, the higher up the list it is, the more it means to her. (Well, you forgot “likes things to be shiny” and “likes cats” :p)

This whole post isn’t about Sel though. (Boo.) It was inspired by her wonderful younger sister Iraia. (You’ve been hitting on my sister?)

Iraia has recently gone through Dragonblight. Now for those of you not familiar with Warcraft, Dragonblight is a big zone, filled with lots and lots of quests (over 130 of them, at least). The main quest chain in Dragonblight, however, is about the Wraithgate, which is where the forces of the Alliance and the Horde have decided to prepare for their initial assault upon the Lich King. Unfortunately, bad things happen, and they get killed by a dangerous splinter group of undead.

Then a few more quests happen. But before that last part of the quest, you have probably spent the best part of the last 3-5 levels perfecting that plague for the undead. Now, this has changed Iraia dramatically.

She used to be all about (exclusively) ‘Seeing new things’. Being responsible (at least in her eyes) for the deaths of not only a bunch of mooks, but the greatest hero the Alliance has ever know (or so she thinks) has made her quite the introverted Blood Knight (fancy way of saying ‘Paladin’ if you’re a sexy elf). (One more thing, Iraia is technically part of the Horde – not that she feels like she has any reason to hate the Alliance)

Iraia, after Wraithgate & battle of the Undercity.

• Introvert.
• Wants to help people.
• Is inclined to pacifism.

Now this has already changed in the course of the last 12.5 hours, but there’s no rule against that. I say ‘inclined’ as she is still leveling, and as such, is still a Retribution Paladin (basically she hurts things) out of necessity (and don’t say “why don’t you heal randoms”?) – but she’s changed slightly.

Iraia, after completing the quest [Mystery of the Infinite] (level 73 version).

• Wants to help people.
• Has come to grips with the fact she needs to use violence.

Now, this quest has some funky time travel bits, so most of this is due to the influence of FUTURE IRAIA! *Cue Twilight Zone music*

Anyway. I’m not sure if that helps you guys think about your characters, but it’s always nice to throw out some examples of what I’m thinking.

New post “Character Interview – Iraia” coming soonish. (I’m thinking before friday, but we will see)

Been playing the paladin, who is now sitting at 63 after fully clearing Hellfire (gaining over 5 whole levels in the process), and I did gain a level on the DK (or like half of one), with the drastic reduction in leveling speed in the 70s, I’m not feeling terribly enthused (I’m really just going on Cobalt farming runs and killing things at the same time).

I also started a HUNTARD. He is an orc, and that is the sex. Sexy orc sex, with their sexy oversized shoulder armor. (Disclaimer: He really isn’t the sex at all, Bayonetta is “the sex”.)

Now I’m not the only one leveling alts (mainly because Rilgon is leveling a Mage (awesome) that is frost ( … ) and is a lady Gnome (awesome)) but I am the only person who’s leveling an alt that also happens to post on this blog. ((Why did I feel it necessary to post that, anyway?))

So, what about you guys? Are any of you leveling alts?

Before I begin, though, I feel the need to state that I enjoy the zones, and their flow, and everything else, and I’m not ‘hating’. I’m simply stating what I feel would be a better direction.

I would like bigger zones. In fact, not even that. I would enjoy having either bigger zones, with more more ‘padding’ OR a larger amount of zones that serve no purpose in the world apart from looking nice (and having rare fishing nodes or something) possibly with some mooks to grind on, but they’d be lower level than the surrounding zone, yellow (not aggressive) and generally leaning towards simple beasts.

These zones would reward exploration. Each one might have a dozen quests, all very simple, often nothing more than courier quests, designed to be a (very slight) reward for visiting them. Here’s an generic example. This is set in a large forested area, like a mix of Elwynn and Grizzily Hills, with occasional houses and stuff. Near one of the trees (spawning at random – spread over a big enough area to make it stupid to farm) you find a book or a letter or something. And then you deliver it. Simple. You might get a few gold too. Who knows.

They would exist entirely for people like me, who have explorer because of a need to know what was on that map before there was an Achievement to clear it all and people with Salty. Because they are fucking crazy, and I wish I was one of them.

Now. I’m a gamer. Obviously. Like many of you, I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for a long, to very long, time (longer than I’ve played any other game with the possible execption of Diablo 2, and possibly the first Disc of FF7 (not on purpose, that second one)), and as I mature as a gamer, and look back at what I want from a game, I still find Warcraft worthy of playing – and I’m sure I’ll still play it for as long as it is around. However, I feel that the game is… drifting away, from where I really enjoyed it, and for now (this post) I’m going to focus on one simple, succinct point.

The world (of Warcraft) is getting smaller.

I know this is not technically true, but with the release of Cataclysm sometime this year (I’m guessing before Blizzcon, myself, but I could be wrong (really hope not)) the world will shrink enormously. Now I know what you’re thinking. “But TwilliK! You’re stupid, they’re adding more zones and stuff!” But let me ask you, once you get the chance to fly around Azeroth, not just Northrend, the world will shrink down tiny small.

Remember when you got your 60% flyer at level 70? (If you got a 150% flyer at 60 for your first, then this whole post might be lost on you, missing out on the mount/world curve the way you did) Even though you were going slower, because you could fly over gigantic cracks in the ground, mobs, the Fel Reaver, and anything else, you got wherever you were going faster than if you were on your epic ground mount.

Now imagine that in Old World. Wanna go from Orgrimmar to Winterspring? No 5 minute taxi or 30 minute mount ride (plus the five minutes running through the furblog cave) just hop in your flyer, press the space bar for 30-60 seconds, and fly north. You’ll be there bloody quick I bet. Remember those old horrible non optimised flight paths? They did one good thing. They made you appreciate the scope of the world that Blizzard had built.

Anyway, that’s some food for thought. Also, please don’t say “why don’t you just not fly anywhere?” because I know that to be able to go anywhere worth going, I’ll need to be able to fly.

Point One : Leveling Enchanting When Capped is a Pain in the Ass. (or LEWCPA, if you like acronyms)
Especially if you are a clothie, and can hardly solo Coilfang normals for mats, at least.
However,  it did give me one great method to get all the crap I need. Loremaster. Chances are, that you have quests from Outlands (and near definitely from old world, but you can solo 60 instances easy anyway) to do, as documented in the Quests-Outlands tab of the Achievement frame. So, pick a zone (I started with Hellfire, as it was the lowest, and I felt like it’d be fun-ish) and look for quests. You’ll get tons of cash (or a bit, whatever) and enough greens to sate your needs (pick weapons wherever possible though, as they are rarer (as you will get green drops as well), unless you specifically need dusts) unless you need lots.

Protip! If you make an account with WoWhead, you can be a sneaky unit and use their new features to see what quests are left in the zone for you to do, by using their client and uploading data. I personally didn’t need it for the Outland or Northrend zones, but think it might come in handy if I decide to get Loremaster on Selite some time. There are also several addons that will mark questgivers on your map for the quests that you have not yet completed (I’m fairly certain Questhelper will do this, and Carbonite probably will too).

Point Two : Even Then Enchanting Still Costs a Billion Gold. (ETESCBG)

This mainly the point that states why I’ve stopped at 350 (Heroic Greens and Blues DEible) instead of 375 (80 epics DEible) to get much further past 350, you need a certain rod, in this case it is the wondrous [Runed Adamantite Rod] or, to be precise, the hellishly annoying to get mats, otherwise known as [Primal Annoyance (Might)] – now, I know this seems slightly stupid, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to find an alchemist who is willing to transmute you one of those around New Years (perhaps that is the problem).

Protip! Be a Blood Elf, they get a bonus to Enchanting, so they can use lower level enchants to level their enchanting higher! (Also we are sexy, what more could you want?)

Now, to solve the mystery of why this post is called what it is, for the 3 people who will read this thinking it is something to do with some speech a guy made in the past (not that they would read to here). This is called what it is (obviously to anyone who has done a heroic since 3.3) because of the frankly scary number of [Dream Shard]s that you get running Heroics non stop.