Ctrl Alt WoW - Virtual Reality & Gaming Podcast

Aprillian and Glanthur discuss the many play styles of WoW. Talk about what they've been doing, re-entry into WoW after taking a few days off, developments in the Guild Bank and going back to Basics to RTM!
What We've been doingAprillian

Glanthur:
Re-Entry
OK, It's that time of year again -- when everyone goes to the mall.  So, work has really picked up.  And, because of that I have very limited time for World of Warcraft.  Now, I know a lot of people think that there's ALWAYS time for WoW, and you're right.  However, last week also marked the release of Mass Effect, an Xbox 360 RPG that I had been waiting patiently for.  New always takes the place of old, but I find that WoW is like your comfort foods.  You may want to try snails, you may even like snails, but grilled cheese sandwiches will always be delicious.  But, going back into WoW after some time away can be disorienting.  Here are some things that I do to help get me back in the saddle again (which ever mount it happens to be):
- Challenge allies to duels outside a capital city.  This will help you refamiliarize yourself with your hot keys and keyboard layout.  The point is that it's OK to die.  Better than running to your corpse across STV.
- Look over your quest and remember "The Tubes" are a great resource.  Get your bearings and remember all those quest items and XP you were lusting after
- Go shopping.  Nothing gets you back in the mood than a little spending spree at the AH.  What good is fake gold if you don't spend it.  Splurge and get those blue leggings you have been craving.  If you're low on gold, then spend some cash on materials for professions.  Leveling your professions also helps get me back into the swing of things.
     Play your own way 
Working out Guild Bank issues
Back to Basics

Strength (STR)

   
Increases your Attack Power with melee and ranged weapons. Increases the amount of damage you can block with a shield.

Agility (AGI)

   
Increases your Attack Power with ranged weapons. Increases your Armor. Increases your chance to score a critical hit with a weapon. Increases your chance to dodge attacks. Increases your Attack Power with melee weapons (rogue, hunter, and druids in cat form only). 

Stamina (STA)

   
Increases Health. Increases your pet's Stamina.

Intellect (INT)

   
Increases Mana. Increases your chance to score a critical hit with spells. Increases the rate at which you learn weapon skills. Increase your pet's Intellect.  

 

Spirit (SPR)

   
Increases Health regeneration rates out of combat and Mana regeneration rates when not casting spells.

Next week
Dual Boxing reintroduction

Of course we talk about Patch 2.3, the mini-expansion
What We've been doing:Aprillian We decided to start over on a PvP server, as alliance.
Patch stuff Guild banks are cool.  Perfect for people with alts.  No longer do you have to remember who is holding what or use Rpgoutfitter.com.  You can store stuff in the guild bank.  Not too much room so you won't be storing silly stuff.  It's going to make all the difference for true altaholics.  If you have 3 accounts like I do and a bunch of different alts, it's worth it to invest in a guild and guild bank.
Tips: Eggs, start collecting small eggs for the Holiday season.  You'll need them to make cookies.  So will everyone else.  You can sell them on the AH right at the start for a few gold. 

We're back after a little hiatus. Aprillian and Glanthur discuss Hallow's Eve and what they've been doing. Glanthur is interested in putting some more RP in the RP Server they are on.
 
Hollow's Eve is here and there's so much to do.  But sometimes RL intrudes. Sorry for the Hiatus.  Timing and colds prevented us from recording.
 
Hallow's Eve = good fun
 
Aprillian:
 
I felt like doing some triple boxing.  I had been dual boxing here and there, including some double dual boxing with Ashayo in the Hinterlands.  It's nice because we both understand the intricacies of operating two characters at a time.  This week I took Aprillian my Level 33 Belf Warlock, Rilfire my Level 51 Orc Hunter and Auntrillia my level 60 Troll Hunter to Felwood.  It's very tricky because at level 33, in an area where the mobs are 49 to 52, Aprillian aggros everything in a very large area.  But the beauty of bringing her with the higher level hunters is that while standing back and offer auxillary assistance with one of her demon pets, she accrues Timbermaw Rep.  Oh and a bunch of exp.  By the end of the week, she was neutral with Timbermaw and had dinged a level.  Rilfire is now friendly as well.   Auntrillia didn't get much because at her level, she only gets 2 points of rep for every 10 that Rilfire and Aprillian was earning. 
 
New Mail Rules - I was afraid they were going to affect me.
 
Someone says in trade they needed a Deadly Blunderbuss.  I whisper back that I have one for 2g.  They whisper back, there's one on AH for 1g.  Okay then buy it.  He said something about not being born yesterday.  Well to me 2g for an item I trained to craft and gathered the materials and then stored it in my inventory is not a lot of money.
 
Glanthur:
 
    * Been trying to play Arlaerus some.  I just missed Alliance so much.  Ironforge and Stormwind are just such great places to hang out.  Did some grinding and questing in Stranglethorn Vale as well.
    * Grinded the good-old Bloodsail Buccaneers.  Even killed one of the captains (all while soloing).
    *
 
 
 
Do the alliance get turned into Horde characters?  Seems the answer is no.
 
Are you on an RP server?  Tell us your experiences in RPing.
 
mailto:ctrlaltwow@gmail.com http://ctrlaltwow.com
Review us on iTunes.
 

Now What is the Question. More Brewfest Brouhaha and other deep World of Warcraft discussions with Aprillian and Glanthur. Grind or not to Grind, is that the question?
 Episode 42 - The Answer What is the question? Welcome to listeners who found us via Podcast Alley. Aprillian: Got a little big hung up on the Brewfest. I want the Ram for Rilfire, level 51 Tauren so she can't leave the Kodos behind. She and Auntrillia went back to the Hinterlands. Tons of Quests there Quea rode the Barker Ram almost all the way to Crossroads. Then road it back to Senjin Village. Making cool videos using the built in video capture for the mac. Glanthur: Didn't have a lot of time to play. But, I did manage to level Palanor, Mortlente, and Arlaerus. Arlaerus is now level 44. Only 26 more levels to go. Ugh. Why does grinding have to be so tedious some times? Subjects to talk about Grinding vs not Grinding

Brewfest http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/events/brewfest/ Ram Racing     Lots of fun, takes some finesse. Barkers Wanted Mystery Hunts Aprillian: 
New Hunter Twink Orc Quea, now 7. Dual boxed with Rilfire, level 51 Tauren Hunter and Auntrillia along with Ashayo who had Jekle and Hiide.  We went to Jentha A'Lor for
[50+] Separation Anxiety - from Huntsman Markhor in Revantusk Village
[51+] Wanted: Vile Priestess Hexx and Her Minions - from wanted poster in Revantusk Village
[51+] Job Opening: Guard Captain of Revantusk Village - from wanted poster in Revantusk Village
Hearthstones - good to use in Starting areas.
Mac Video Recording - Having lots of fun with it. The quality is great
Glanthur:
Yeah Brewfest!  I had a lot of fun doing these activities with Arlaerus.  I also found a potentially cool new guild.  I won't name them until I'm sure they're up-and-running, but it things are looking up.  I got Palanor to level 13 and Arlaerus to lever 43.  One more level until the next skill buying spree for both of them.  I also started a new Undead, Warlock named Mortlente (slow death in French).  He's going to be the antithesis of Arlaerus, who is Mr. Goody-goody on the Alliance side.  I also finally got to go exploring in Uldaman.  I love the "Map Room".  What a great ode to Indiana Jones!  Oh, and the pink elekks...those reminded me of the scene from Dumbo when the mouse character (whatever his name is) got drunk and say pink elephants.
I you haven't already, install LightHeaded.  It's a great time saver when it comes to playing WoW full-screen.  No more alt-tabbing to a Web browser to check Thottbot.  All of the coords and quest discussions are right there.
Comments in Blog:
From Darrell "Also you dont need to say "we'll be right back" and have music cuz for us listeners, time does not pass when you hit the pause button. Just pretend you took a breath between sentences."
This done more for the chapters than really for the break.  If someone wanted to find something later, they can go back to a chapter and search from there.

First we would like to apologize for the poor sound quality in the previous 3 or 4 episodes. We were experimenting with internet recording and obviously we haven't worked out the kinks yet. So we are back to recording together in Aprillian's "studio".
Second, someone asked if we had message boards. Well we aren't really geared for that. But, if you would post a comment in this blog, we will respond to it. In fact, I think we will be commenting on thing from the podcast in the blog, so check out the comment section.
What we've been doing:
Glanthur - I leveled up my BE mage (Palanor) and I am really digging a mage. He's extra squishy. I think that even my warlock and my priest are more resilient to damage. To compare and contrast, my paladin absorbs around 60% off all damage. My mage absorbs about 15%. Yeah. I also decided on herbalism and alchemy for my professions with Palanor. I'm excited to get to 20 since then I'll be able to start going into instances. It's going to be a lot of fun since my mage is already shaping up to be one of the highest damage-dealers I've played yet. I know this is common for mages, but I'm just not used to actually killing MOBS before they can even reach me. Thanks Frostbolt.
Aprillian - Had a personal tragedy, lost a really close friend, Azeroth helped make it bearable. Spent some time working on leveling Pri, my level 17, now 18 Rogue Twink to be. It was very satisfying to lash out at things in Azeroth to help deal with the pain of losing someone.

Addons we find helpful
MobInfo
Guild Mail
macaceupdater
characterviewer
Priceper
RPGOutfitter

Appropriate professions for alts
Don't start out in Engineering or Enchanting.
New stuff since the patch
Voice Chat is here but not enabled - doesn't do much for alts.
Mac video is cool and easy to use.
Key binding for addons, very nice.
New icon for disenchanting.

What We've Been Doing This Week
Glanthur:
My goal for this week is to start getting all of my lower-level alts up to at least level 10 (and that all-important, first skill point). I figure that doing that will help me get out of the frustration I'm feeling by not having a nice Alliance guild for Glanthur and Arlaerus to join on the Earthen Ring server.
Also, finally got the PTR Test Realm up and running. Created a pre-made hunter, paladin, and druid. It was cool, but after only a few minutes I was overwhelmed. It's like winning $300 million in a lottery drawing. All of a sudden you have all of this stuff, and you're not sure how to use it properly. You think you know what you want, but you feel empty, like nothing of it was actually earned.
I feel like rolling a mage - a BE mage. I'm stuck on the Alliance side without a nice guild for Glanthur and Arlaerus. However, on Horde side, I have Ashayo and Aprillian. So, hopefully I'll be able to level Palanor up quickly. I'm thinking Frost Mage. =)
Aprillian:
Clefthide leg armor obsession.

Aprillian got mad at an AH Profiteer. Glanthur is back and we've got emails.
 
Glanthur is back.
What We've Been Doing
I'm a little angry about this situation.  I make a little gold selling Dragonhawk Hatchlings from Eversong Woods on the Alliance AH.
Emails:
From TomiBoy  and Marco
 
http://ctrlaltwow.com for more notes.

Glanthur is out of town, and Ashayo graciously steps in to cohost.
Casual vs Hardcore?
Fun vs. Method?
Just what constitutes a casual player? Are there different layers of casualness? Aprillian plays around 40 hours a week. But still plays in a casual manner. How does a casual casual player play.
What we've been doing this week.

All of my alts have been sending greens to Aprillian and Veyle to DE. Have also moved some alts around to use for storage. Bought Enchanter's Satchels in Thrallmar, 20 slot enchanting supply bags for several storage alts. They are BOE but worth it for the extra room.

I've re-specced Jekle to resto. He was feral, but he hardly ever gets into actual battle, and in tough battles I was running out of mana too quickly to heal efficiently.
I tried it out in Stromgarde last week. We went in there to knock over all the quests with Albinobull, who is a mighty fine warrior in the guild, and Jekle was cruising with healing.
Even though Ashayo is exalted with the Netherwing, Ogri'la and Sha'ari Skyguard she still does some of the daily quests because they are both fun and good money earners. You get about 12g per quest. And they can take as little as 2 minutes in the case of bombing runs.
And Ashayo has also been taking Asheal, which is my level teen-level undead priest, through wailing caverns. I'm sure Blizz has it in for me. When I was taking my rogue through deadmines to get the leather defias chestpiece, the cloth vest would drop - about 14 times in a row. And now that I'm running a clothy through wailing caverns, I'm getting mail and shields and other stuff useless to a priest.
Anyway, I got her to 20 last night, so that I can artisan tailor training. Hopefully I can level her a bit further during the faire next weekend.
And I've levelled Hiide to 300 alchemy so he can start doing arcanite transmutes for the faire.
And I did some farming with Ashayo. One of our guildies is trying to level enchanting, and needed some nightmare vine for making wizard oil. And that's only found in Shadowmoon valley. Farming with a flying mount is alot easier, because you can literally drop in on the node, and if you draw aggro, take off again before dismounting. So you know if you have to clear to get to a herb or ore.
We close with Episode 5 of Ashayo's Dual Boxing Tips. Thanks Ashayo.

The show's subject was prompted by an email from a listener on how to deal with guild drama.

What we've been doing.

Ardrion, Level 28 was attempting to complete some quests in 1k Needle but ends up dying too much, so he brings in Aprillian.
Used Auntrillia to go to Winterspring and Moonglade to get enchant recipes for Veyle
Speaking of Veyle, she's my level 37 Rogue and for the first time in a long time, I played her. And I solved a problem that had been plaguing me. How to get her lockpicking skills up. I had done the boxes on the boat in Ratchet and the ones in Stonealon Mountains, but looking for them took time. Then I heard all this talk about picking pockets and it wasn't until Rilfire took Veyle to RFD and she started pickpocketing the Quillboar there and getting a bunch of worn lockboxes, that it all clicked.
Ashayo's two characters Hiide, a hunter, and Jekle, a druid have dinged 40 this week.

Email no. 1
Hey Aprillian and Glanthur,
I was wondering if in your next podcast you could talk about guild drama and how to handle it. Some people panic and go crazy at the thought of people leaving (like in AIE) and some just remain calm.
-Vino
Uchihavino in Alea Iacta Est
For the Horde
Email No. 2
Hi, I'm Marco Aka Dorom from the WoWBOX podcast which will be coming to iTunes soon. I play on the Eu realms on the Shadowmoon PVP server and I listen to your show every week. I find your podcast more cheerful than others and I always have a smile on my face while listening to it. I have 2 questions for you. The first one is, how can I make good money in WoW while being a low level (Blood Elf Paladin level 16)? I always find it hard to make gold fast. Also, can you give me some advice on starting up a podcast and getting it out there?
Keep up the good work on the podcast and keep those episodes coming.
FOR THE HORDE!!!!
From Marco
PS> Sorry Glanthur.
Aprillian: Money is funny in WoW. When you are low, it seems like you never can get enough. But then once you get some, you get more. At level 16, you aren't suppose to have a lot of gold, unless you have a higher level alt. I started on a server, and I picked a profession I liked, two gathering professions, mining and herbalism. And I just started selling stuff on the AH.