Ctrl Alt WoW - Virtual Reality Podcast

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 93 - Witness Protection Program

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG.  Glanthur join in with the Alliance POV.
New weekly prize contest - enter a drawing to win one month's play time.
What We've been doing:
Aprilian
Got Aprillian in Nagrand with Rilfire and grabbed every quest I could find.  Using Cartographer and Gatherer.  Funny thing is when Rilfire arrived, she had no ammo, just had her do hunter's mark and send in her ravager while Aprillian and her Felhunter did the rest.  Picked up the Nessingwary quest
Monday morning, off today!!    Did some of the Nessingwary quest and Aprillian dinged 66. Tuesday morning, no maintenance, just server restarts.  Sent ThePrimall back to Thrallmar to level up herbalism, she was 300+ but needed 315 for Dreaming glory in FW.  Sent Theardrion back to Kalimdor to mine thorium and truesilver for JC.  Although I'm sure I could just do quest in Outland and use all the gold I make to buy the mats I need.
I was in Dalaran with TheJasper enchanting DK getting stuff from the WLTS gb.  He was leveling by doing the speed enhancement to boots and putting them on scrolls.  There was someone in trade chat saying they were giving away all of their mats, he mocked TheJasper for being only 221 in Enchanting
Took Aprillian out in Nagrand solo on Friday, then Rilfire.
Ashayo
Witness Protection Scheme - $15 per toon!
Warlock Spellstone / Firestone - applied to weapon since 3.0.2 !! Blessed Wizard oil and Superior Wizard Oil (58) can't apply to weapon - "too high"!
Trying to get Asheal to catchup to Ashayo - heal Nexus, dps Azjol-Nerub and Grundrak
Asheal 77 - training + cold weather flying + epic flying + mount 6800 -> 184
Matahorn dinged 80 on hunter - helped with Ring of Anguish in Zul'Drak (Ring of blood achievement)
Matahorn pointed out -explore before you hit 80 for the XP:
Ashayo the Explorer (easy with flyer)
Death Knight overpowered examples: 58 DK vs 55 Elite Devilsaur - hardly lost any health vs lvl 60 Elite stone guardian - I got down to about 60% health Soloed Baron Char ( was reasonably tough, but I'm a noob DK )
Ashayo ran Drak'Tharon Keep - FUN - turned into ghouls on last boss ; DK type attacks
Discovered you can JC dailies at 70 ; just need to kill a level 70 mob, plus some green gems.
Wyrmrest daily - can dual box after 77 with flying :)
Fo' Grizzle my Shizzle - 75 Grizzly Hills
Started Sholazar Basin - quest to open flight path
Mining ; 450 at level 70 on Ashield ; saronite ore. Found a titanium at 448 :(
Don't forget to check for reputation rewards: Kirin Tor - Honoured - Dalaran Horde Expedition - Borean Tundra / Howling Fjord Wrymrest Accord - Dragonblight
Glanthur
Email
iTunes Review

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 92 - The Contest Reading

Aprillian, Glanthur and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG.
Write us at ctrlaltwow@gmail.com
Visit our website http://ctrlaltwow.com
What We've Been Doing

Glanthur:
Wrathgate from an alliance perspective.  Warning, some spoilers
Ashayo Completed Dragonblight questing this week - achievement "Might of Dragonblight" (130 quests)
Ashrune, my unholy DK completed the starting zone and is out picking flowers before heading to Outlands
Ashayo dinged 77 and bought her cold weather flying ; but still riding until Asheal hits 77 also
Factions vs gear level eg Wrymrest Accord in Dragonblight - hit Honored at 75. Great blue waist peice for honoured - but you have to be level 78
Ashayo & Asheak got Tuskarrmageddon achievement ; epic fishing pole and penguin pet, and upgrade chest peice (only needed honoured, but needed level 76)
Grizzly hills - Four daily that flags your for PvP - Blue Sky logging grounds.
Conquest Hold - pit fighting ; very average cloth rewards. Where's the real replacement for Ring of Blood?
Aprillian:
Took the twins to Outland for the outland loot, but soon scurry back to level up herbalism and mining.
Theardrion-Glacierthief Theprimall-Ratmasher
Tuesday morning and evening running around the crater for TheArdrion and Arathi Highland for thePrimall.  Of course Theardrion had a quicker leveling because he got points for smelting
Dreamt about farming ore and herbalistm in Arathi Highland all night Tues.  But couldn't right click on nodes.
Thursday both Theardrion and Theprimall got to 300 in mining/herbalism.  Sent them to Outland.  Did go to Stonebreaker but then skipped to Falcon Watch
9days left on Tuesday, so by Sun 5 or 4 days left on the mail returned from the great Mail debacle.
Friday and Sat morning had Theprimall and Theardrion in Falcon Watch with Rilfire skinning.   Did the collassal and the demonic essence and freeing the hooded people.  Using the rod to reduce  the big Vamithrax like guy.  Both went back to Ebon Hold to train and use a runeforge.  Much harder to level herbalism than mining. Theardrion dinged 62.
Sat Theardrion-Grubreaver Theprimall-Dirtleaper
Aprillian got 2 shards once so far with the soul shard minor glyph
Moved stuff to ally side, selling a lot.
The Contest Reading and Results
Thanks to everyone who submitted entries.  We got a lot of good responses. Honorable Mentions
Heya Ctrl Alt Wow folks!
I just thought that I'd enter the contest to win the CE for Wrath of the Lich King,  So, here is my story:
If I remember correctly, it is basically how do you balance WoW with home life. As a married man with a wife who does not play WoW, I sometimes find it difficult to get time in to play without getting into trouble.  However, as my wife teaches a night class on Tuesdays, I can usually play then and not have to worry about anything.  On other days, it becomes more difficult, what I have to do is play when she is watching TV shows that I dont particularly like, or when she is busy correcting exams or working on her dissertation. I try to make at least a couple of nights a week that I dont play at all so that I can spend time with her, even if it is just lying down on the couch with her watching TV while she corrects papers during commercials, and on weekends, she will usually sleep in so I can get a couple of hours in in the morning also.
I basically just try to strike a balance between getting my addiction in and keeping my marriage intact.... I will always walk the dog with her on the weekends and we do the chores together, so I don't get yelled at for playing that damn game while she is doing all the work. Anyway, I hope that is sufficient, I am certainly not the best writer on the planet, but maybe that wont matter for the contest!  Keep up the good work on the show.
Numnug (Aka Steve)
________________

Greetings, Aprillian and Ashayo
Please consider this my official entry into the contest.
Yours is one of about three or four WoW podcasts that I am subscribed to on iTunes, but it became my favorite after only a couple of episodes. Your laid back approach to the game is one that I can appreciate because I am a very casual player. I have been playing for a couple of years. I once thought that creating too many alts was a sign of some degenerative mental condition. I don't know if it is or not, but at least I know now that I am not the only one that does it! Most of the other WoW podcats cater to the hardcore player who might be focused solely on one class or one activity. CtrlAltWow shows that there us much to appreciate about the game itself.
I play on the Moonrunner server. My main characters are Faluciel (70 night elf druid), Conoreyna (70 human warlock), and Either (67 night elf death knight).
Wrath of the Lich King has renewed my love for this game (it was starting to falter a bit after some glaring issues I had with TBC).
The only problem I have with your podcast is that it makes me want to create even more alts and I need to focus on my death knight!
Take care,
J
Third Place

Good evening to both of my awesome voice accented podcast host.

This email will be for entry into the Wotlk collectors edition contest. It’s a brief story on the rise of my death knight. Just a quick reason for the story if you don’t mind: I transferred servers and a friend of mind actually was using my toons name as a place holder in case we ever decided to move there. Unknown to me at the time I had to change my name and decided to spell my rogue’s name backwards (Suoidisni). Of course I soon found out who was holding my name and didn’t want to pay for another name change; however I decided to create a death knight with the original name. When I heard of the contest y’all were putting on it gave me a great chance to come up with a brief background history on how my rogue dies and becomes a death knight since the DK has my real characters name.

Side Note: Suoidisni (the newly named rogue – which is my main) is Nsidious’s (formerly the rogue main but now a death knight) sister but I didn’t have time to go into that since it was already getting long. And I know how the death knight story line ends but once again I didn’t want to have y’all reading a book.  Spoiler: Suoidisni and Nsidious reunite.


Stun – You’ve met my rogue!

Pressure builds in the confines of your grip. Blood seeps through and begins to wash dirt from your hands as you tighten the grasp around your weapon. Eye’s fixed in time, unable to move beyond their current direction. Lungs fight for each burst of air. You plead with your body to take another breath….but….it doesn’t come.

Your entire body becomes conscious to a truth the brain denies. It’s here. The sound was unmistakable…..stealth….stealth….These words reverberate as they carve their way through the dark layers of your mind.

Your eye lids slam shut. Nothing left to see in this world…quiet…sleep now….
…….
…….

There was a time I fought for the betterment of the horde. But that changed the day we killed Illidan. The battle quickly approached its foreseen conclusion when I was struck by the dark barrage.  As my life slipped away I was comforted knowing we had plenty healers with the ability to resurrect me. But the cast came to late and in those waning moments The Lich King took me….the only part of me that matters.

Now my heart is exceedingly wicked. Filled with hate, I act with no remorse. The world you have created sentenced me to this existence.

*Plagued by unclear voices in my head*

No…no this is more than I can take.
… But look what it did to me..
How can I ask for forgiveness? That which I refused to give, how shall it ever be mine? … It pushed ...but …No, no you pushed... No you can’t have my heart anymore…. No you earned your spot in hell now go there and be content. Forgiveness will not be yours. Salvation shall not receive you. I will give my all to bring you death. You’ll decay in my hate. Let those you love witness your eternal damnation as they drown in your blood. I hate you, you caused this. I’ll deliver your soul to hell. I hate you… I hate you… I hate you…..

voice  “in·sid·i·ous”

I loath the embrace it has on my heart. But far beyond the sun I lay in shadows. I pray that true death finds me soon.


Another Death Knight has been born!



Suoidisni – Insidious
For The Horde… O wait wait a min!

Second Place
Hello to Aprillian and Ashayo (and Galanther - sorry on the spelling if it's wrong),
I've listened to your show for a long time and I have written to your podcast before, many many lunar festivals ago.  I thought I'd touch briefly on the subjects you mentioned you were interested in hearing about ( thoughts on WotLK and "how do you manage to play WoW and deal with your home life.") First of all, I lead a ridiculously busy schedule so there are times when I won't even get to log on for a month or more.  Without boring everyone too much on the banalities of my life, I'll just mention an overview of why that is.  I work 2 (sometimes 3) jobs and go to school full time.  I also spend about 2 to 3 hours per day in commuting back and forth. In addition I study, write papers, and share the responsibilities of owning a house with my girlfriend.  This leaves me with an average of just under 4 hours for sleep per day.  Last week alone I found myself awake for 41 hours strait writing term papers after I had slept just 5 hours two days prior.  Even with all of this, I love to play WoW.  I play Alliance on the Khaz Modan server, where I have two level 70's (Amaging -Gnome mage; Evilpurger - Human priest), a level 55 (Moonguard - Draenei Pally), a level 42 (Whiskeylover - a drunken Night Elf hunter), two level 19 twinks, and my newest toon: a level 57 DeathKnight named BlightFallen. I don't have a good enough computer to dual box but I'd love to try it.  The majority of my character leveling comes from the summer time and holiday breaks.  I have been playing from near the beginning; I started just a few months after WoW's initial launch and have played on my own pace.  I rarely have time to spend on the game so unfortunately, I've never raided, played an arena, seen any sort of end-game content, bought an epic flyer, or anything of the sort.  I don't cry about not being able to see some content or that I can't get all of the coolest gear.  Things in life often require hard work.  I put in an enormous amount of effort into my life in the real world in hopes that someday it will pay off for me.  The "end-game raiders" that have all of their reputations maxed and nothing but epic and legendary gear have also worked very hard and deserve to have something to show for it that others don't have.  I enjoy WoW from beginning to end.  I still enjoy the original content better than Burning Crusade although I do like what I've seen so far of Wrath... I also bought the BC collector's ed. and was there for the midnight launch of both expansions.  I'd really like to win the Collector's set for WotLK to get all of the great content Blizzard provides both in and out of the game.
Thanks again for providing a great show for me to listen to while I drive.  I am up everyday at 4am and get on the road before 5.  Have you heard the radio shows available at that time of day?  Your show, and others like it, provide me an escape from a hectic life as well as keeping me informed about World of Warcraft news when I can't get time to play.
Sincerely,
Bryan in Phoenix
Winner
I've been meaning to write to you guys for a long time (since Brewfest, basically).
I have to thank you for passing on that tip about being able to buy an epic brewfest mount if you had the normal mount from the year before. My tauren druid really hates the kodo mount (he feels that they are a rollover risk, have you ever seen how much they lean when they hit a slope?). So, he diligently collected his tickets a year ago and got a brewfest ram and he was very happy.
He was also content that he would be able to work on collecting tickets again this year and get an epic version (even though he isn't ready for the epic yet, since I have so many alts). Then he heard the news that you couldn't get a brewfest ram this year. He was devastated. I never thought to just go to the ram dealer and see what he had, what was the point?
But after your episode on Brewfest mounts, I hopped right on and bought him his shiny, epic brewfest ram. Now I just need to get him to 60 so he can actually ride it :-)
As for how I WoW and how I mix it with my personal life, both my husband and I play WoW. We also both work for ourselves (he's a computer consultant, I'm a web designer). That can be a bad combination, when you feel much more like playing Wrath of the Lich King than finishing up a client's website. It's also hard when he has time to play at home (he does most of his work at the client's location) and I have to work :-(
But it helps when he spends some of his time helping my toons, like picking herbs for my scribes. We both have lots of alts, have always played Horde and Alliance fairly evenly, and run two very small guilds of real life friends and family. We don't instance much (we joke that we are the masters of four: four-manning the five-man instances because we can't get enough people together).
Our parents and the rest of our family don't understand our hobby, but we have managed to get several friends and our nieces into the game, so we can talk WoW with them. Of course, sometimes we get yelled at (like at the Thanksgiving dinner table) for talking about stuff no one else can understand. That didn't stop us from telling all the undead female jokes from the game ;-)
At home, WoW pretty much takes the place of watching tv and going to movies. We consider it a very cheap alternative to doing things like eating out. Our 11 year old daughter plays, but not very much, which is good. She's more into DS and going out with her friends.
We're really enjoying Wrath and the Death Knights, the only down side is that I'm very busy with work (which is great), but all I want to do is play WoW. Family and real life definitely trump WoW time, which is one reason we don't do many instances. Though we do play a lot, we don't have set times we play and we often don't play for very long at a time.
Thanks for doing the podcast, it's one of my favorites. Keep up the great work. I don't multi-box, but I love hearing tips on managing lots of alts.
Karen Elsa - 71 Orc Hunter, Arathor Bast - 70 Humaon Warrior, Uther + 4 other alts that are actively being played right now.

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 91 - Death Knights 101 and More

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG.
Write us at ctrlaltwow@gmail.com
Visit our website http://ctrlaltwow.com
Contest entries are rolling in.  Prizes WotLK Collector's Edition. Second Prize CE minus key code. Third Prize Blizzard Authenticator.  Discuss entries on next week's episode.
What We Are Doing:
Aprillian
Got my Death Knights ThePrimall and TheArdrion out to Silvermoon to train herbalism/inscription and mining/jc.   We ran up and down the scar collection nodes of ore and herbs.
I also spent some money buying stuff for my herbalist/inscripter
By Friday morning TheArdrion was up to 126 in JC and 161 in mining and ThePrimall was 104 herb and 160 inscribe.
When I left for work TheArdrion was 129 in JC and 204 in mining. ThePrimall was 147 in herbs. All from running around Hillsbrad and up in the caves of Alterac Mountains.
Friday I decided to get Rilfire my level 63 Tauren hunter skinner/LW trained in Skinning after 375, for 35g and took her first out to Falcon Watch to kill boars, she picked up a purple ravager.
Sat morning quad boxing.  ThePrimall in Hilsbrad picking flowers, came across an elite dragon Narillasanz, got a nice green piece for one of my enchanters to de.  TheArdrion was in the cave in Alterac Mountains.  Had spent the early morning getting JC to 200.  Sent Rilfire to Nagrand to grind Skinning and had Aprillian in Terrakor forest grinding netherweave.
Also doing exploration on Theprimall, she fully explored Arathi Highlands and Hillsbrad foothills
Saturday, decided Veyle, my rogue, should be levelled so she can pick lockboxes.  Took her to tanaris at first with The Ardrion, but the DK was too high.  So I got Primall, level 55 hunter and
Pulled out the Jasper to level Enchanting and was going to bring Velye home to make a silver rod but one of my bank alts
Ashayo
Hours cleaning out mail before it was deleted. I really should housekeep that stuff more often! Glaciuss disenchanted a bunch of level 68 gear, and got Northrend mats from them!
Tanked Utgarde Keep on Ashield
Completed the Wrathgate quest line on Ashayo and Asheal - Hint: Wait for Thrall at UC if event in progress.
Tuskarr dailies - Should be exalted by Wednesday!
Levelling mining - Need to get to 75 on Jekle and do JC dailies for tokens. Need to research new profession traits like that.
Group quests in Dragonblight - Three of them that then open up a 5-man with a nice blue reward. (Don't start the event again by talking to quest giver!)
The Old Kingdom. Tanked by a DK. Last boss is cool - Phase out and fight each other pvp style
Quests are becoming more immersive. A quest in Dragonblight has "future me" turn up to help. Future me.. level 80. "keep us alive and get some better equipment" "look at you, no wonder I turned to drinking"
Discovering more dailes - Daily flying fight in Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight (can't /follow when on these quest type mounts)
Shaman Hinterlands - old school stuff!
Re-specced my Priest from full Shadow to Holy/Shadow, with aim of being able to heal instances. Yet to try to determine success!
Emails
Hey guys... Blade here...
I confess... I have tried dual boxing...
See... the thing was... I bought my copy of Wrath like everyone else did... hung out in a lineup and everything... but what I had forgotten was that I super-jumped the gun last year... the DAY they released word that Blizzard was working on an expansion... I went to my local store and tossed them a down-payment for the Collector's Edition.
Totally forgot about it, though... and bought my non-Collector's copy from ANOTHER store....
The local store didn't do 'refunds', only 'in-store credits'... and I didn't really plan to purchase any other games... mainly 'cause ol' Blade has barely enough time to play WoW let alone dumping time into console games...
So I had two copies of Wrath.
What to do?
Totally stumbled my way through the sign-up process... and still haven't figured out the RAF thing... (a little help?) ... but I made a few new toons and have been toying around with them... I took Wolf all the way back to Orc Kindergarten to start helping another Hunter... and I'm quickly realizing that it may be a very long slog.
Rolled a warlock team... and they're kinda fun... I'm looking forward to the huge gobs of dps they'll be unleashing in the higher levels... the new hunter, too... but I have to figure out a way to level him faster...
And now for something I like to call...
Blade's 'Sneaky Trick of the Week'...
Tricks of the Trade...
A Rogue skill you get at level 75... reads as follows:
"The current party or raid member becomes the target of your Tricks of the Trade. The threat caused by your next attack and all actions taken for 6 sec afterwards will be transferred to the target. In addition, all damage caused by the target is increased by 15% during that instance."
That's pretty nifty... naturally... you all can clearly see the benefit in a raid... the more uber-dps you are as a rogue... pop all of your damage boosting trinkets and skills... build up the charge, then pop this on your tank... shaboom... you literally FEED your tank a ton of threat!
But... here's one to ponder about... does anyone know if this works on SPELLS?
Like the majority of Paladin threat?
Or other spells... specifically healing spells?  Hmm... well... yeah... that puts an awful lot of potential threat on your healer... but who says you even have to attack during that 6 seconds of time?  Drop that on your caster, and stop attacking for 6 seconds... they, in turn get 30 seconds of +15% healing?  Hmmmm!
Got one of those super-damage glass-cannons known as Mages?  Heck... anything that is insta-cast (or fast enough to cast a few times within the 30-second window) should benefit from this buff...
Or... if you have a darn-good tank, who's to say you can't use this on yourself?  Or on another dps who might be a little lower on the damage list than you, my fellow 'shankers from the darkness'...
The possibilities are endless...
From the Easter Egg Basket...
A hit...
Bambi... sorta... here's a couple of screen shots... of Bambi(na), Bambina's Mom, Bambina's rabbit pal, Thudder... and their skunk pal Flora...
Oh... the 5th screenshot?  Uh... that's just one from my private collection... I don't know HOW that got in there...

A quick little FYI for you all though... clearly those characters are a not-so-subtle reference to the characters Bambi, Thumper and Flower (and of course Bambi's mom)... but here's something you may not have known... a fellow by the name of Felix Salten wrote the book Bambi in 1923... Disney eventually made it into a movie in 1942.
Which... is a long time ago... 66 years to be exact.
And a miss...
This is one you'll have to take ol' Blade's word for everybody... this is apparently no longer in the game...
(Ol' Blade hasn't talked turkey with a troll in some time...)
If you played Horde... (if you haven't you should... if you don't... well... let's just say there's a special place for you...) anyway...
If you played Horde previous to Wrath of the Lich King... we're talking a while ago now... you will have toyed around with the races and their emotes... to see which ones you like or prefer... and you will probably know about the male troll's predisposition to sound not a little - let's call it - "rastafarian".
Typing a slash-silly command, you might have heard the following:
"I kill two dwarfs in the morning. I kill two dwarfs at night. I kill two dwarfs in the afternoon, And 'den I feel all right.
I kill two dwarfs in time of peace and two in time of war. I kill two dwarfs before I kill two dwarfs. And 'den I kill two more."
If you look hard enough, I'm sure the interweb will provide you with that very quote...
This a reference to the Toyes' song "Smoke Two Joints"... it was apparently removed owing to "legal reasons" presumably related to copyright, although it is also possible that Blizzard was pressured to cut the joke because of the content that referenced a song that made reference to drugs...
That's enough for this week... gonna respec Blade and see if I can't catch up a few more levels...
As always, an awesome podcast guys!
Blade

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 90 - Dark Knight or 70

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG.
A full week of WotLK, how are we doing guys?
Contest is posted on the blog and we've received some entries. We want more.
Aprillian
Aprillian dinged 65 and went to train at the Landing.  Wow, expensive!
I've decided to move to a new server.  I can't take the queues on ER.  I already have limited play time and having to wait even 10 mins to get in, much less 45 mins is hard.  Plus I play at work and sometimes I have to do something and I'm idle for more than 15 mins or I need to move my laptop from the office to the break room and I'm having to log back in.  I'm in the process of moving 3 characters to Lethon.  I already had a guild there named Ctrl Alt WoW.  So I'm transferring over Iwari, Auntrillia and a new Dranei DK.  Oh and I'm doing another RAF.
I have Trez, level 14 Shaman in Eversong woods killing dragonhawks for their eggs.  It's that time of the year again.
Monday was a busy busy day.  Transferring a character is a lot like moving. You need to pack up all the stuff you want to take and make sure you got everything you need because you can't come back.  I also had to get stuff off of my "referred account" because I was going to let that one sit unrenewed for a while.
Free server transfers.  I sent some toons to Dawnbringer.
Wed night, took off.  Hubby is at work.  Going to dual box 2 dk's RAF from start to finish.  The Sweets Blood Elf and Belover Orc.  So far no RAF exp.  Nevermind we weren't grouped.  There we go, yep RAF exp.  They were 59 after turning in the quest to kill the villagers and crusaders and the skulls.  Belover gave Thesweets a level, so now we're doing the persuader quest with the sweets at 60 and Belover at 59.  Doing the horse quest was neat.  I had
Moved two DK to Dawnbringer for free.  Had to get one up to the mail box because she had the pet in the mailbox.
Unholy tree gives an extra speed when mounted and makes the one following break follow.
The ghoul pets have strange names like the warlock pet. Pebbleravager
Doing the flying thing with two is cool.  Didn't realize I had to to start the battle at the end, I guess the last two times someone else started it.
Did one last transfer to my new RAF account. Didn't have a level 55 on the referred because I transfered her to another account.  So I decided to transfer a level 50 over to it.  But then I wanted the pets and I had them but not the actual pet for the Netherwelp.  I checked the account page and that account only had the Wrath CE, so I searched each toon and found the actual pet thing.  I sent it to the level 50 I was transferring and then realized I had transferred a dk off at the account on to Dawnbringer and didn't give it the pet, so I made one real quick and now am getting it to the mailbox.  Had the DK learn it and
Friday morning, got chores done, did some exercises and now have an hour and a half to play.  Goal today: Play the two RAF on ER Primall 50  and Ardrion 44 both Hunters to get them to 55, I got them to 55. At the same time I am running two DK's on the other two clients.  TheJasper, a Tauren DK and Celeen a Dranei DK.  I'm playing on ER during the day while there are no queues.
There's some kid in the DK starting zone who says he has no more quest and he's 55
By the end of the morning, before I had to go to work, I had completed up to the Harvester quest on the DK and the Tauren dinged while the Dranei didn't.  Hmm. I took them both back to Ebon Hold.  Thejasper so he can train and Celeen and Thejasper so they could get rested exp.  Every little bit helps.
And I completed two quest on Ardrion and Primal.  Well 1 and half, Ardrion finished the Ornament quest.  I didn't take the time to let them both collect 30.  I think I'll take them to Booty Bay after this.  And Ardrion dinged 45, yeah. Friday night on my lunch and break at work, Ardrion and Primall did the Dew thingy and Thristleshrub quest.  They eached dinged a level.
Later Friday night, Belover and Thesweets are in Durator levelling skinning and herbalism.  Kind of like the thought of the Mighty Death Knights having to level their skills so humbly.
I love the way the citizens feared themselves and cowered.
Saturday evening, did some AH stuff.  Had pulled Ardrion out of Felwood to Tanaris for the neutral ah but Primall summoned him back. We flew to Moonglade earlier to get to the Furblogs up north.  I was worried about going through the tunnel.  Primall hadn't gotten hostile with them by accidentally killing one in Azhara.  But I guess she had gotten to unfriendly by doing the southern furblog quest and now she was able to run through the tunnel.  Noticed Primall wasn't getting the RAF rep and also that she had a level to give Ardrion.  After she gave it to Ardrion and he got to 48, she got RAF rep but not exp.  Hmm.  Then they finished the quest and Ardrion dinged, cool.  He's 49 and she's 51.  Hopefully I'll get them to 55 this weekend.
Decided to seed some realms to get the 4 year anniversary bear on characters I might want down the road. Be funny if it wasn't worth the effort.  So they turned out to be account bound, but that only means passing to another toon on the same server on the same account, so it's good that I seeded some extra realms.  Now I just have to visit every toon I have within the next 30 days to get the bear, so it doesn't get deleted.  Even new accounts made today got the bear.  I wonder if it will be for everyone who makes a new account who had an active account today.
I also took some time Sun morning to use RAF to summon some new characters to places where there is a mailbox.
Ally alt on ER making a fortune on horde pets. Buying herb stuff for DK levelling, could killy Jokey for selling peacebloom and silverleaf 1 at a time.
Sunday night hubby had an office meeting.  I was determined to get the RAF pair to 55, but it's not always as easy as it seems.  Had them in Winterspring and finshed the Furblog quest but Ardrion still needed to get to 50 to do the totem one.  So I flew them to Badlands while levelling the Jasper in enchanting.
Monday morning I took Primall and Ardrion back to Felwood.  Ardrion reached 50 so he could take the totem quest from the Furblogs in the tunnel.  Did the moonwell quests and the saber quest and the escort quest in Shadow Hold.
Got to 55 and 54 and Primall gave Ardrion a level and I made my DK's The Ardrion and The Primall.  Got them to 58 after the ghoul harvesting.
Ashayo
Email
Email 1
Hey guys... Blade here... What can I say... but Northrend is an awesome sight to behold... here's a couple of screen shots from Wolftusk to show you Coldarra... and a really REALLY big tower. And Malygos. I'm feeling disproportionately inconsequential... despite the fact that I'm starting to get recognition for my contributions to the podcast from guildies! (Woot! Minor celebrity status ftw!) What else can I say? Northrend is awesome... the zones are huge - they will seem even moreso when the majority of people gain levels and spread out a little... it seems more balanced, though... so you don't truly appreciate JUST how many people are in the zone with you... as you only ever see maybe a dozen at a time in specific areas due to how well spread out the quest-areas and quest-givers are. But gaining the levels between 70 and 80? For the "average, casual gamer", it's gonna take a while... 1.5 MILLION experience points to get to level 71. And with 'complete' quests averaging 20 thousand... it's a bit of a slog... but with determined focus, some are hammering away at the levels... I've seen some Death Knights in their 73s and 74s... and I've heard of a few 80s already in guild and outside... The best I've managed is level 71 on Bladetusk,  most of the way through 70 on Skullblade... and 74 on Wolftusk... the reason for which I will hopefully be able to share next week... I admit, I rolled a Death Knight... and it's an interesting take on things to start as a Scourge and then break free of the Lich King's grip and start down a purported 'path of redemption'... oops... was that a spoiler? First impression? DKs are WAY too overpowered. Seriously.  I've said it before... I started playing on the DK and decided to come back to playing Wolftusk (the hunter) to give myself a challenge.  (Note to all those that missed the irony: hunters are considered - as Ashayo and Aprillian have mentioned a few times on the podcast - as the 'easy button' class...) I had NO idea what I was doing in one of the first quests with the DK... I had to fight another guy (I won't spoil it by saying WHY) but all I was doing was literally button-mashing... so I'm betting I didn't even have all the tricks at my disposal... hm... come to think of it... I haven't spent any of his talent points, either... I still pasted my opponent into the ground and curb-stomped him three-ways from sunday... (I got to fight a Gnome... maybe it was pent-up aggression...) Come the next time I play, I'll do a bit of reading about the skills and put the Death Knight together properly... so I can have some REAL tanking-dps goodness! Oh... and for the record?  My opinion?  The term 'hero class' is not (I repeat NOT) because it's supposed to be bigger, badder, rougher and tougher than the other classes... it's a 'hero' class due to the story arcs and lore that surround it. So... expect a nerf as soon as enough DKs hit the battlegrounds and enough non-DK players QQ about how OP the "hero" class is. As far as lore is concerned... the Death Knight story arc feels very 'lore-intensive'... so it's something I will not be doing unless I have the time to sit back and appreciate the hard-work that went into it. Speaking of story-arcs and spoilers... there is a large quest chain in Dragonblight that you will be doing when you are around level 72-73... and though I wasn't entirely clear what was going on at the time (I sent a few queries through /gchat with mixed results) once things started HAPPENING (emphasis there... big happening) I clammed up. This is something you truly have to experience. No... I'm not gonna spill the beans and spoil it for anybody... if anyone WANTS to know about it, I'll tell them or direct them to websites (like the AIE forums for example) that have the cutscene link for anyone to see... I just don't want anyone QQing all over the place... I left my rain-gear in Zangarmarsh. All I will say about it is... THIS questline, story arc and resultant cutscene is the reason I have supported Blizzard to the exclusion of all other MMORPGs over the time I've been playing WoW. I was awe-struck for a good half-hour... and as a fellow guildie says in the forums about the scene "I forgot how to blink". Absolutely amazing. So... Oh... speaking of Q's (queues)... anyone else notice that they're gone? Last week?  I was #979 and had a huge waiting time... I felt very insignificant... this week? Not a queue to be found... it let me right in... I felt like I was on the 'A' list...
A bit more... for those hunters who are lv69 and haven't yet done so... find a hunter pal that HAS tamed a rhino or tame one yourself... if only JUST to see the knockback slam talent it has... It's absolutely hilarious!  Especially when it gets a half-dozen mobs on it!

Some more from Ol' Blade's Easter Egg Basket... ~ I've read somewhere that if you pickpocket a naga... there's a chance to loot 'A Shiny Dinglehopper'... though... I have to say... none of those Nagas look anything like Disney's Little Mermaid...
~ Oh... because it's an interesting quest in Stranglethorn Vale (and worth a fair chunk of xp)... and then a second set of quests in Nagrand (of course I'm referring to the Nesingwary quest chains... Ol' Nesingwary is also the target of the D.E.H.T.A quests in the Borean Tundra... and more hunting quests in Sholazar Basin (in Northrend)... this guy (and his family of hunters and friends) really gets around!
Here's a little tidbit about them you may or may not have known: 'Hemet Nesingwary' is a a sort of anagram of 'Ernest Hemmingway' (there's one more 'm' in Hemmingway... but it's close enough) Hemmingway (like our pal Nesingwary in Stranglethorn Vale) was also a hunter and a writer - and one of Hemmingway's more-famous works was a book entitled 'The Green Hills of Africa'. ~ Hrm... the Blizzard employees must really like Ernest Hemmingway... there's ANOTHER reference to him... this time in Booty Bay. The fishing vendor is named 'Old Man Hemming' - a probable reference to Ernest Hemmingway and his book 'The Old Man and the Sea'.
~ And speaking of the sea... here's a bit of a mystery for you:
Nat Pagle... not only does he appear in Dustwallow Marsh as the Artisan Fishing trainer... (and the questgiver that lets you eventually fish up Gahz'Ranka in Zul'Gurub)... but he ALSO appears in the credits of the game! Whoa.
Is he a real person?  Hm... he must love fishing...
Email 2
Hello, as always thank you for a great podcast.
i was wondering if you are able to suggest or state what video settings you and/or the audience uses.
i have been trying to tweak my system video card settings and also in game settings but it seems like i still only max at 30 fps, with a nvidia 8800 x2 dell xps m1730 system, i have the sli disabled and i have tried every settings. i do have some addons, the usual major ones, which some of my friends suggest that is the problem, i dont want to believe that so please prove them wrong.
if you can please list all the settings that a system such as mine can be set for maximum wow enjoyment.
and yes i love to hate blizzard as i love their work and hate that they pull me back in everytime!!!
wrath is impressive or more, than burning crusade. i am slowly leveling and enjoying every pixel, well when im not annoyed about my low fps.
thank you for any assistance.
happy wowing people
MO
Email 3
Hey Guys,
I just have to say the last show was great! It was so nice having Glanthur back even if it was for one show. I don't know if this is even possible but I think it would be great if CAW went to a three host format. I know i am probably asking the imposable but it would just be really fun.
I guess if i am going to to enter your contest I should mention my alts huh, lol. Well since wrath came out I have only played two of my characters. My priest who is currently 73 whenever my fiancee is at work and can't play. And my 71 druid with her her 71 hunter when she can. Most of our time is just spent running around exploring (looking for ore since she is a miner/engineering) and working on our professions. That has been our experience so far with the expansion and I am loving every minute of it.
Thanks and talk to you later
Auho, Deathwing PVP

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 89 - Queue Queue But Not QQ

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG.
Glanthur joins us.
Issues to Discuss:
Mail was returned and timer reset, good job.
I was amazed at how smooth things went. Yes there were queues, but hey.
What We've Been Doing
Aprillian
Spent time levelling Iwari to 55, so my new account could get a DK.
Stood in line at Gamestop, got my c
I love my Orc DeathKnight,
Then I ran my level 30 mage out to Vengeance Landing via the zep
So much to write, hope I remember it all.
After the Wrath
I am loving my Death Knight.
I want an alliance DK, just because I love the way the Dranei DK looks, but I also want four Horde. I don't have any level 55's on any other server. I decided to see if I could transfer a DK to another server on another account, and it worked.
Found out from Shat the quickest way to the Zep was through Silvermoon portal
If you are grouped when you dual, each win counts for the both.
Saw a Rhino in SW, ,way cool
Still funny
Ashayo
In Outland and Northrend and on a Dark Knight
Email
Email 1

That last quest Ashayo was having such a tough time finding is an insanely random NPC spawn. I've only been able to catch it once leveling 4 toons through Nagrand even though I'm always looking for her to get the easy XP. He was very lucky to catch her.
If you look up the quest on "Wowhead" you'll find out that the npc is named after one of the blizzard developers.
*One more thing* Since you once recommended the podcast "Yet another world of warcraft" podcast, and eventually got tired of the abusive language, (just like I did.) I thought I'd recommend a wow podcast to you.
Here's a podcast that's tagged "Explicit", but the show is very entertaining to listen to and the podcasters are a lot more mature than the YaWoW kids.
Tryout "Outlandish: A World of Warcraft Podcast". Each episode starts with a song parody with WoW references. My favorite was "I had to leave Trade Chat" sung to the tune of the Billy Joel song "We didn't start the fire". It's hilarious. Plus, the guys dual-boxed a lot of alts up to level 60 using the Refer-a-Friend bonus, so they also (as you say) "love playing many Alts".
Xannguyen-Khadgar Realm
Email 2
Hello guys I don't have much to say. I just wanted to let you know that I prefer the mp3 version of the show because my mp3 player (Sansa SanDisk) does not play mp4's. Thank you Aprillian for taking the time and expense to host the show. And thank you both for doing it.
Auho

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 88 - Are you Prepared again!

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG.
Lots of complaints about the file
Plans for Wed night: Aprillian will be in line at the local Gamestop handing out cards and candy and having a raffle to win a free Authenticator.
What We've Done:
Aprillian
Did random stuff Monday night, all pretty stupid.  Thought it would be good if Aprillian used her cloth cooldowns, but she didn't have any neitherweave cloth so I sent her to grind out by Falcon Watch
Tues night, don't know which pair to work on.  Then I decide I want a Devilsaur.  Auntrillia ventured into the Crater alone.  It didn't go well.
I took my level 35 Druid, Drame and a level 30 something mage, we died
Wed morning took Auntrillia, Rilfire and Aprillian into the Crater and got the Devilsaur. It's amazing.
I'm hopelessly lost with the RAF.   Two days left.
Decided to focus on my Mage.  I gave her some levels and now she's 38.  Took her to the Flats,   Then she had to go to Dustwallow marsh for some Warlock quests.  Did some triple boxing with some higher toons.  She got to 39.
Got up Fri morning to play and the realms were down.  Notice said rolling restarts but ER didn't come up for some time.  I got on my Dunemaul Alliance toon.  I had a level 2  on the main account running around with a level 9 in the Dranei starting area.  I knew I had some levels to give but got him to 6 before I got to give him 3 levels.  I changed to my Earthern ring account and my RAF was over.  I felt all alone.
So I thought I guess I should focus on getting to 70
Figureprints
Ashayo
Still trying to get the epic undead chest piece for Hiide, which means Glaciuss has been collecting more void crystals. Alot of fun to AOE the undead - am now revered with Argent Dawn on both Pally and Warlock. Cleared a couple with Mata, who got his Rogue geared. Cleared a few with Tarqq, Deirdrea, Sigurn and Johnni
3.0.3 patch - 3 sec broom cast time :( Updated Ark Inventory - search function
Working on achievements with Ashayo - Snuck into Zul'Gurub to get the fishing achievement - Working on Heroics - Completed daily cooking achievement - Completed Nagrand achievement - only needed 1 quest, and had real problems finding one - Stratholme ; quested too to get trinket that increases vs undead damage
Jekle got ZA achievement ; wondering if I should've made my healer the achievement toon.
Guild MC run - 9 red core hounds, including one for Hiide!
Black Temple run - Downed High Lord Naj'entus and Supremus in our first night there. Sunwell Plateau Suicide run - Wiped over and over on trash ; even after finding Eye of Kilrogg 'exploit'
ZF with Shaman
Email
Email 1
Hey guys... In response to your request - as you know ol' Blade will deliver when asked - I'll tell you all about how my family reacts to my Warcraft play... Now... ol' Blade works hard at his job and at school... and I don't think it'd have been possible for me to have gotten Bladetusk or any of my alts to lv70 without someone as understanding as Mrs. Blade. Before you ask... no she doesn't play, yes she does listen to me rant about the few things that might irritate me in the game (mainly how I think there should be a curfew for Alliance toons)... and she does so with one-part patience and two parts skepticism... yeah she'll listen - and even offer advice now and then... but By The Fist of My Old Uncle Throgg is her tongue sharp! So I get support... she reads and does her own projects while Ol' Blade is mercilessly cutting down beasts and Alliance in Azeroth... but I'd better have the dishes done before I do... That leads me to our two 'kids'... kittens we named 'Goblin' and 'Sprite'... ironically, the names had nothing to do with the World of Warcraft... Goblin is a jet-black kitty, and Sprite his little sister... When they want attention, they will stop at nothing to get it... clutching at cables, crawling on keyboards... and crawling up Papa Blade's back... the list is endless... We chose their names because of the fact that we have a fey-like garden in our backyard with ponds and flowers and trees... 'mystical' the elves would call it, I guess... Though I have to say... Ol' Blade cuts down the grass just as mercilessly as he mows down the Scourge...
A few things from me... and Ol' Blade's a man of his word... a shout out to Jusdoit and Soxie of the Ghostlands server... for helping me clear some bagspace by taking some non-combat pets off my hands (on Wolftusk) and for cluing me in to an interesting achievement that I think Aprillian might like to get started on: 50 mounts = an Albino Netherdrake!
Now... some Easter Eggs to whet your appetite... In Nagrand, at the Nesingwary Safari site, there's a crashed plane nearby... if I recall correctly, it should have an engineering vendor right next to it named 'Pilot Marsha'. I wonder what those snakes are doing crawling all over the plane... is this a reference to anything...? Now... back to Thunder Bluff with you... head to the Pool of Visions and talk to Clarice Foster (if I recall, she gives you a quest to take a necklace to her husband's grave in Silverpine Forest... but notice her name? Now harken back a few years (to 1991) and the movie Silence of the Lambs... and Jodie FOSTER's character... CLARICE Starling... Oh... look closely at the NPC... her lips are sewn shut - perhaps an homage to the movie poster? Hmm...
I know I said I'd go into details about the hunter pet trees this week, but I think this email is long enough... so I'll leave you with a few hints on how to more-easily tame your various and sundry pets that you can now get as a result of the new Beast Mastery talent tree... The first one... something obvious for those level 20 and above... Freezing Trap... if it doesn't resist, your future pet will be immobilized and 3/4 or more through the Taminig bar before it even has a chance to attack you... very very easy way to do it... And for those of you not quite at level 20 (the level at which you learn Freezing Trap) have faith! There's a quest in Sen'jin Village at level 5 (the lowbie Troll area in Durotar) wherein you have to go and gather 'Intact Makrura Eyes' and 'Crawler Mucus' for Master Vornal. The REWARD for this quest is something called 'Really Sticky Glue'. Toss this at your future pet and then hit the Tame button right away... the critter will be held fast to the ground where you hit it with the glue... voila!  A new pet! (I hear this stuff is really awesome to use in PVP as well!  Woot!) Of course... there are other ways of snagging or 'rooting' a future pet... Netherweave Nets... Gnomish Net-Guns... the list goes on... but these two methods can be used - specifically by lowbies - to catch pets with little-to-no risk of harm. Happy hunting!
That's it for now... as always an awesome podcast guys! Blade

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 87 - Zombies: Good or Bad? Mp3 Version

See Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 87 - Zombies: Good or Bad? for show notes.
Going to see if this will help those who need Mp3 versions of the podcast.

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 86 - Brainnnnnsss

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard’s great MMORPG.
We start off with a discussion of the Scourge, good or bad?  Fun!
What We've Been Doing
Aprillian
Right after recording, I logged on to my "Scribe" because I had remembered the cooldown and I learned a new minor glyph for warriors.  I'm loving it. Did some HH in Brill and Razor Hill.
Sunday night I got caught up with getting everyone around to get the xp in all the pumpkins.  I was alternating summoning alts on the ref and mast account and then getting fps and then doing it again with different pairs and of course getting flight paths
Tuesday I got my "new" MacBook Pro.  It's not the newest one, but for $1400 I got 2.5gh, 250 gig hd and 512 vram.  It's big and smoking. Dual boxing with cellular modem is like buttah.  Then I finally solved what I considered the Holy Grail of my Dual Boxing.  I suppose when you are living alone, the sounds of WoW are not an issue.  When Hubby isn't home, I usually have both computers turned on.  When he's home, I put the headphones in one and put the other on silent.  This is okay but sometimes I turn and look and find that one is being attacked and the sound didn't carry over.  Plus on one computer I sometimes have a podcast playing.  I tried cables that would join the two sounds but often I would get an annoying hum.  I solved the problem with a DJ Mixer.  I know it's overkill but both computers are plugged in and cued and it works great.
Wed morning ER was down so I logged on to my ally toons on Dunemaul.  Level 6 Dranei Warrior and Nelf Druid.  Perfect opportunity to get them some levels.  We did Azure Watch and Exador and then the nelf hearthed back to the Nelf starting zone and then we ran to Darnassus, so easy, and then caught the boat to Auberdine and then another boat I thought to Menethel harbor, but noo, it took us to SW, how convenient.  Got them to level 10
Wed evening had Auntrillia running around Outland, ran her and Aprillian to Netherstorm and then summoned alts from Rilfire to low level toons.  Love Netherstorm.  Got Squashling from Treat bag on 3 alts.
Ran out of soul shards. Aprillian got a quest out of
Horseman in Brill is hard, due to cart, easiest is Falconwing Square.
Looks like a lost a bit of what I did since Wed, so I'm going forward and try to fill in the gaps later.
Saturday night, some lower level toons are finishing up the baskets in Kalimador or Eastern Kingdoms.   I should probably be focusing on finishing it with Aprillian, who dinged 64, Auntrillia who dinged 65 and Rilfire who dinged 63.
Downloaded and installed a mod called Multiboxer - but it has a funny side effect, it changes the tool bar to the #2 row. Ashayo
Scourge attacks! - Started at 10 mins , down to 2 for disease - Necropolis hovering over towns ; epic "vs undead" gear (tough to tag ; heavy competition!) - Quests at Lights Hope Chapel. New boss in Kara
Decided I'd limit working on achievements to just Ashayo. - Jenkins - LBRS - UBRS - Hallows End ; yes, including the 50 G.N.E.R.D kills. - Scholo (Stigg was going for book worm achievement) - Heroic Magisters Terrace ( nice chest peice too )
Jekle and Hiide completed Tricks and Treats of Azeroth (interesting that Blizz include Outland in 'Azeroth') Ashwhack and Asharmin also completed - went from level 36 to 38. Thanks to Aprillian for summons to BE and Netherstorm :) Ran HH so many times I lost track. Have not seen mount drop once!
New discoveries - Inn keepers now sell level 70 and 75 food ; better than the old 65 food/drink - High level mobs not chasing as far/long? - Putting out the fire at Falconwing Square is *alot* easier than at Brill or Durotar - Don't need Falconwatch FP to fly Shatt to Thrallmar.
Raiding & Instances - Ashield tanked Kara tonight (awesome heals by Shojobeat) Got the Arcanite Ripper (Tenris Murkblood - new boss) Also belt and gloves (was green, to horror of healer) - Jekle tried Mnt Hyjal with BiPs. Almost got 1st boss down - Rage Winterchill.
Email
Hey Guys... Blade here... As now you both know, I'm in the process of deciding to make the move to Earthen Ring... and full-time school plus work leaves me previous little time to play the game, let alone do anything spiffy like running a guild to any great degree. So I bit the proverbial bullet... plus... as I said to Ashayo earlier in the week... someone's gotta help get Aprillian to 70... and ol' Blade is feeling a little altruistic... To that end... I've spent what time I have had in the game this week both learning and being amazed by the new talent trees (which I will get into shortly) and avoiding the major cities like (and because of) the plague... Happy Hallow's End!  Just don't kill the glowing green cockroaches... First... as per usual... a weird and wacky tip... There's an achievement that is listed under the 'Feats of Strength' for those that had pre-existing toons... I'm not sure if it's visible for newer toons, but I'm told that it's still possible to get this achievement... But it's more about the non-combat pet: The Bloodsail Parrot... See... this one's easy... don't do ANY goblin quests (Ratchet, Booty Bay, Winterspring, etc) and avoid any contact with them... that will leave you at Neutral rep with the Goblins and Hated rep with the Bloodsail Buccaneers. From there (yes, you'll have to be at least level 65 to have a hope of getting this accomplished...) open your reputations tab on your character sheet, click on the Booty Bay rep tab and click 'At War' Now kill the goblins in the towns they're in... the bruisers are worth something like 25 reputation each... any civilians are worth 1 rep each. From Hated, you have to push your way all the way to Friendly... not too far... only about 1080 (or was it 1800?) goblin kills or so... Which is why you almost want to plan this in advance... it's another 1300+ f you have to start from the bottom of Hostile. Note:  this is probably NOT advisable if you want to ever a) be an engineer or b) participate in the Sunday Weekly Fishing Extravaganza... so be SURE your mind is made up... Be aware... the bruisers in Booty Bay can net you, they have rifles for ranged attacks if you get too far away from them and they hit like trucks... they can also knock back and stun on occasion... so you're in for a bit of a fight... probably a suicidal mission for any cloth-wearing players out there... I'm sure it's possible... but I'd be prepared for a little bit harder a time if you aren't on the better side of 'elite'... Also (there's more?) when you become 'Hated' with Booty Bay, a bruiser will spawn when you attack a civilian (so I'm told) making that kill THAT much harder... so be especially cautious when taking down civilians... but at 1 rep each, they probably aren't worth the effort anyway... Assuming you have the patience of a proverbial buddhist and manage through sheer force of will to get your reputation with the Bloodsail Buccaneers to Friendly, go and talk to "Pretty Boy" Duncan on the beach outside Booty Bay. He'll give you a quest to talk to Fleet Master Firallon who will give you a task of some difficulty... as if this wasn't difficult enough... Oh well... you've made it THIS far... time to go kill Baron Revilgaz and Master Seahorn (the two Booty Bay 'bosses' above the inn - right next to the Horde flightpath) Assuming you are successful, hit the water swimming, head back to the Fleet Master and he'll give you one of the more rare items in the game: the Bloodsail Admiral's Hat. I'm betting that it will be something of a novelty on just about any server you could play on... mostly because most people aren't insane or simply don't have the time it would take to accomplish this goal... But for those that do... they get a nifty red-and white trimmed admiral's hat with a skull-and-crossbones motif... that lets you summon a non-combat pet! The Bloodsail Parrot!
On the topic of insanity... I reworked my hunter's talent tree into the new Beast Mastery tree... and it's got to be one of the coolest things I've seen in a while... I beleieve I have heard on more than one occasion the 3.0 patch being referred to affectionately as 'The Hunter Patch'. Some things about the patch are good - Wolftusk's new wasp pet named 'Sikorsky'... and 'Fluffy' the two-headed white Corehound... to add to the stables with my very first-ever pet in the game... Cuddles the (used to be named 'Death Flayer' Durotar scorpid). As a frame of reference, I picked up Death Flayer/Cuddles when the pets all had their own attack speed... he was a rare and valuable pvp one, as he was considered a 'tank' (high high armor) and had poison to stop stealthing rogues... AND had a 1.6 attack speed... faster than some cats (and most other pets) way back then... So be adventurous!  Play with the pet trees... and find a few pets that really suit your style of play... Oh... just one thing... If you DO happen to get yourself a Corehound pet... either outside of or from inside Molten Core.. please please PLEASE dismiss it when you're in a city... there's nothing more irritating than standing at the Auction House and watching your screen shake and tremble as some noob Hunter runs by with his newly acquired Corehound pet... for some reason, the Corehounds shake the ground when they walk... but the T-Rexes don't (and they're easily twice as big)... Ah well... to each their own, I suppose...
As always, an awesome podcast guys... Blade

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 85 - The Candy Shop

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG.
By the time we are recording, we should all be knee deep in Patch 3.02

What We've Been Doing
Aprillian
Spent Sun afternoon getting Kapril, Drainei pally to 30.  Went to Menethil Harbor with Aloq and finished the cursed crew quest.  Ran into a Nelf Hunter and buffed her with underwater breathing.  Afterwards she saved me when I was fighting the Captain, and Kapril Dinged 30 in the help opening the footlocker.  She hearthed to Exador and summoned Aloq and went to the Pally trainer and got her pally mount and riding skill and bought an Elek, I love it.  So now I am going to get Aloq to 30 and then leave my alliance alone.  Sunday night I got Aloq to 30 and hearthed to SW and then Summoned Kapril and then ubby called me for dinner.  After I logged on, got the Warlock training and then the mount.  Then we rode across the map and bought a horsey
Monday night spent most of the time trying to level my 27 mage Tiiaa and 27 druid Drame.  Spent silly time getting their skinning up thinking they could skin in South Barrens.  After getting them to 36 and 18 respectively, realized after killing my first Thunder Lizard it needed 100 skinning.  We did the Gann's quest, had fun sheeping mobs with the mage, she also had the cooking quest, killing rats in Bael.
After finishing them, I realized Tiiaa was going to ding 28, when she turned in the nitro Glycerin wood pulp quest, but more importantly Drame might too, so I sent him down to blow up that flying machine and come back ding and give Tiiaa a level.  He came close, so I brought in Treshel and had her help Drame finish the Weapons of Choice and the skulls quest and ding and then he gave Tiiaa a level.
So now Tiiaa is level 29.  I am thinking of signing up for a BG and then having her get some levels from Suyna get her mount and rush to the mage trainer and then have her come into bg with many higher levels and a mount.
But then it was time for bed.  I waved goodbye to WoW BC and knew the next time I sat down at my desk, I would be playing the brand new beautiful Echoes of Doom, WoW 3.02
I had patched on one computer with the idea of copying to all the others.  But the patch wasn't available before I left for work.  At work I pulled out my MBA around 11am and the patch was available for dl.  I almost didn't take it because I knew I could get it at home but for some reason I couldn't connect to my desktops at home.  Spent most of the day downloading.  Did the first 1.2 gigs and then the 400mb.  All the time watching the Apple event.I tried to get in and do stuff Tues night but the server kept going down.  A couple of things I discovered, for some reason I can't put pets on the AH
Got caught up with leveling herbalism and inscription. Starte some toons on herbalism and two on inscription.  Then had to run through low areas to level herbalism.
Spent Wed night trying to stay on and couldn't, got frustrated and just logged off.  Thursday morning, got Vapril caught up in inscriptions and had her and Weaa dual boxing herbalism in different zones.  Then Vapril got inscription up to a point where she made these things that could only be used by Enchanters (1). SCROLLS, OH MY GOODNESS, SCROLLS! So now I"m obsessed withAshayo
Didn't take notes

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 84 - Another World in World of Warcraft

Aprillian and Ashayo discuss another week of playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard's great MMORPG.
Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 84 - Another World in World of Warcraft
36 Boxer:  http://www.ripten.com/2008/10/10/wow-whore-has-36-accounts-raids-by-himself/
What We've Been Doing
Aprillian
After all I thought about doing, leveling my 40's to 60, I decided to get my 24's to 30, and then decided to level my alliance toons.  Sacrilege I know but think about it.  How else would I endure the alliance?
Levelled my 8 lock to 14 and my Pally to 16 and 18 Tues.  Wed, we are back in the Dranei area and a level 70 ne shows up and hits a kill, I chastised him for lowering the xp.
Thursday night, again on Kapril Dranei Pally and Aloq Human Warlock, got them to 24 and 22.
Did some PTR.  Transfered Aprillian over and got hair cut, found out that once she learns the nether welpling, she can mail it to another alt, even though I transfered her to that account from the actual Collector's edition.
Friday Morning, Aloq has the succubus quest and she has to go to the Barrens, Camp T.  How crazy.  There was a gnome warlock in the training area (which was very hard to find) in SW, who said to go to Darkshore then Ashenvale and run to the Barrens.  I thought I would go to Menethil harbor and swim to ratchet.  But when I got to menethel, there were a bunch of quest, so I picked them all up and started questing.  It was weird because they were all quests I had never done.  We went out and did the murloc quest and some of the crocilisk.  It was a different experience going through at levels 22 and 24 as oppposed to 1 to 5.
Friday morning I decided to get the fp at SW.  Kapril had been there, I think she did the swim originally to get to Ratchet.  Aloq had her hearth set to SW.  So she hearthed there and summoned Kapril. When they went at SW, they discovered they had the fp at BB
Realized I need to save pet  income for mounts
Ashayo
Email
Hey hey! If you have a soundbyte of the orc laugh, it'd be a great filler for the section below after "You die!"
Michael
*****
Hey Aprillian and Ashayo!
As promised... the paladin ranged weapon... AND a bunch of easter eggs! Yeah... I know what you're thinking... 'but Pallys can't USE ranged weapons...' Ahh... but there's a way around that little snag... let's call it a 'convenient oversight'... First... your character will have to be at least level 47 to start the quest chain... and no, you don't have to be a paladin specifically... I just mentioned it as a 'paladin ranged weapon' as most paladin players that push their way through this quest are more than happy with the end-result. Head to Un'Goro Crater... and snoop around (62,68)... or for those who don't have coordinates, it's an area in the southeast... little mini-lakes and lots of raptors... You're looking for a Wrecked Raft... it's the quest giver (of sorts)... The quest is called "It's a Secret to Everybody". Accept the quest and then turn around and look in the body of water right next to you and the boat... you'll find a small pack. Open the contents of the pack, then go talk to a gnome named Linken (44,8) at Marshal's Refuge. Linken will be all confused and send you to talk to Donova Snowden (31,45) in Winterspring... she will give you the Videre Elixir quest. Next go to Ferelas, talk to Gregan Brewspewer (45,26) who wants you to go north and get some Evoroot... but there's a catch! It's guarded by a gnoll and it seems impossible to get past him... you can do one of two things... either a: buy some bait from Gregan or b: sneak up around the back way jumping up and over the wall... yes, it's possible, I just did it the other day... Here's a link for you... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oI3iefJ3_w Yes, it's technically an exploit... but it seems to be legitimately possible... in either case... you can buy the bait from Gregan... so both ways will work. Back to Gregan with you... and get the Videre Elixir from him. So... with your Elixir, go all the way back to Winterspring and talk to Donova again... Now go all the way south to Tanaris... to the graveyard outside Gadgetzan... and drink the elixir...
You die!
Mwah hah hah hah haa haa haa!
Now... would ol' Blade be so cruel as to send you all over the map just to kill you off? Well... yes... but I DID promise you a paladin ranged weapon... so don't rez right away, but instead take your ghost-self and run north to (53,23) and find a fellow spirit named Gaeriyan... then back to your body, resurrect yourself and right-click on the tombstone in the graveyard... mouse over them if you don't see it right away. Now... head back to Linken in Un'Goro Crater again, then up and into the cave to talk to J.D. Collie (41,2) She sends you to Felwood to talk to Eridan Bluewind (50,82)... who sets you the task of collecting Silvery Claws from the local predators (bears and wolves)... they're around lv47-50ish... I found what I needed around the area slightly north of the road to Bloodvenom Post... Now head up to the Irontree Woods and kill Irontree Stompers for the heart you will need... the trees are slightly higher level then the wolves and bears... once you have it, head back to Eridan Bluewind Now... this part's a little involved... head to Tanaris (70,49) - the area just past the pirates - and open the backpack that Eridan gave you... stand in the circle of rocks and use the Book of Aquor Aquementas will appear... he's lv54 if memory serves me correctly... but you don't have to kill him... you receive the Silver Totem of Aquementas as soon as you engage him... you can run if you're not high enough level to take him down (or if you didn't bring a few high-powered friends to clean his clock...) Return to J.D. Collie with the Silver Totem and then to Linken. Now comes the tough part... the mob you have to take down is named Blazerunner and he's at the top of the volcanic mountain in the center of the zone... it might be a wise idea to equip the totem in your offhand and drag it to an open slot on your toolbar or a hotkey... you'll most likely be needing to use it more than once... Ya see... Blazerunner has a blue aura around him... when that aura is up, he takes NO damage. None. Nada. Nil. Zip. Zero. The totem, however, dispels the aura... so as soon as you start the fight, use the totem on him! Oh... be wary of his knockback ability... he can easily punt you right off the mountain to your death if you position yourself wrong... some say to fight him inside the cave... but so long as you have your back to the wall or to the cave opening (as opposed to having your tail wagging in the breeze and facing him while HE is in the cave) you should do alright... Hmm... at this point... I feel it's only right to mention that not only is he completely invulnerable with his blue aura... even when you disenchant his buff and make him susceptible to damage... he's STILL a 56 named elite... and hits like a truck... so bring a few friends... and be careful of the adds up here... lv55ish fire elementals... plus the lava will burn you if you decide to take a swim... When he finally dies, head to the back of his cave and loot the chest that appeared to obtain the Golden Flame... and return to Linken. You've done it! Now for the part you were all waiting for... You have the choice between a 33.3 dps mainhand sword or an offhand that increases healing and spell damage by 20... Not bad items, overall... but you'll probably be getting much better very soon once you hit Outland in a very few levels... However... the item we've just criss-crossed the continent a dozen times to get? Linken's Boomerang! It's a trinket!  When you use it (3 minute cooldown), it flings a magical boomerang toward the target causing 113-187 damage... and it even has a chance to stun or disarm them! Yeah... ok... it's not a ranged 'weapon' per se... but it's quite the addition to a paladin's arsenal... considering they only get one ranged spell (and that's a talent)...
And this week's easter egg?  I should think it'd be obvious... but for those that have never played it, the ENTIRE quest chain is an homage to Nintendo's Zelda and Link characters... Linken is Link The Golden Flame looks suspiciously like a triforce... The act of baiting the gnoll is actually something you do to get past a guard in the very first Legend of Zelda game... Even the quest names share the theme... "It's a Secret to Everybody"... "It's Dangerous to Go Alone"... Oh... and with each part in the quest chain granting around 5000xp... we're talking in excess of 60,000xp JUST for completing the chain... that's NOT including any xp from killing mobs or discovering any areas in zones you haven't been to yet...
So that's it from me for this week... let me know if you or any listeners have any other things you'd like to know about... and ol' Blade will do his level-best to find the sneakiest, most-underhanded nefarious way to go about it!
As always, an awesome podcast, guys!
Blade
Email 2 as always thank you for a great podcast,
my first character was a warrior so it has always been my favorite class, even though hunters are so fun and easy to level.
regarding your warrior bar issue, if you are not using bartender 3, which allows you to have 3 separate bars for each individual stance,
if you use the default wow action bar, when you go from one stance to another, that also uses its own bar, on the bottom left connected to your numbers, so all you need to do, as you stated, place the different skills in the spot that will allow you for quick clicking.
i prefer berserker stance always, so for me its easy, but i know others like to switch stances.
and so you 2 know, you have converted me to the dark side and i started playing 2 characters at the same time, still dont know why its called dual boxing, just another weird wow acronym to me, but i am hooked, and i to dont know what i will do once my refer a friend runs out as it is so much fun to quest and get triple xp.
have fun and hope to experience your fun server one of these days, and your guild as well; i do have a hunter of course on your server
thank you-- Mohammad Ouranos
hello again, i forgot to mention, i also joined the iphone fun and i love it, if you have not already try the app armory spy lite, its free and as it is called you can see the armory, pretty cool
also, wowtalent is another app and you can play around with the different talent trees.
please let me know what apps you like and also if the listeners have any app suggestions.
i am an appaholoic as i have over 70 apps!
yes we all have issues.
thank you-- Mohammad Ouranos
Email 3
Hello again,
Glad you liked the previous email. Hopefully I have some more for you.
Geist (pronounce as you feel fit)
This is my all time favorite mod, and probably one of the most basic. Basically you bind a key to the mod and when you hold down the key 25 buttons appear where your mouse is. You can change the size of these buttons and you can put spells and abilities onto them, simply by dragging them, just like the bars at the bottom of the screen. When you release the button the buttons disappear. It really helps to clean up your UI. Ashayo, you mentioned problems with amount of different totems, on my Shamen i put all the totems on this mod. So when i'm in combat, or getting ready for a fight i hold down R (the key i binded geist too), click the totems i want then release R. On my mage i have all my ports, teleports, counjer food water gem spells, armors and so on. Just imagine how much cleaner your UI will look 25 free slots!
Dual-Boxing in WOTLK
I think my trial account for refer a friend is up (it was 10 days no 7 as per my last e-mail), now here is the problem. If i sign up i will get 90 days of the advanced leveling, however WOTLK comes out in around 30. I wont be standing in line at midnight but i will get it and want to play it. So do i wait and maybe do the refer a friend/dual boxing after i play a bunch of the next expansion of should i go head and sign up for a second account. Once thing i could do if sign up for a second account and transfer my 64 druid over too it, then when Wrath comes out dual box him and a mage. My main fear with this is that dual boxing is its own little game, do you ever feel that your concentrating too much on running two toons that your missing out on some of the intended gameplay? What are you plans for when Wrath comes out? Aprillian i'm sure you'll have two level 70s but the time wrath hits the stores!
Polymorph
There is another Polymorph available right now, it drops from one the the bosses in ZG. You'll have to read up about it because i think you have to fish him up or something and the drop rate isnt very high, but if your bored and can get a group, go nuts!
One other thing, Ashayo, is your mage frost or fire, i know you have one of each. If your frost you'll be getting the spell Ice lance soon, its not that great but it will do triple damage to frozen targets, there is also a talent that will increase your critical strike rateing against frozen targets. So if you have your target frozen, don't fire off the Ice lance, first cast an ice bolt and as its about to fire off spam your ice lance button. I'm not sure if this is a bug but as you cast the ice lance the ice bolt has not landed yet so you'll get the crit/damage bonus for both spells, nice when coupled with your frost elemental.
Thats it!
Sealla 
Email 4
Pithius writes...
I'm listening to the Brewfest Hangover episode of Ctrl Alt WoW and heard your lament on the complexity of warriors. Add me to your friend's list if you want and I'd be happy to run around with your warrior in game and chat in vent about just when and how to use your skills. PM me here as well, though running around in game would be the most effective.
Oh.. you're also to your lvl 30 quest.. my advice get somebody at least lvl 40+ to help you with the quest. I'd be happy to blow through that one with you as well. You get a very nice blue axe for a lvl 30, not quite so good for lvl 40. That's been a complaint of mine, if you wait to do the warrior quests till you can solo them, the rewards you get will be outdated. Head out to stranglethorn and get your tusks and I'll assist you with the elementals and the last guy.