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