How to camp a vendor

Fisherman and fisherwoman

Fishing was my favourite activity when I started playing WoW. It was the one thing I got the hang of quickly and it was both relaxing and easy. The first main detractor came when I couldn't get a hold of the fishing guide sold in Booty Bay because I was too low level to get to Booty Bay. I did swim and still remember that swim as my worst experience to date in Warcraft. I know it's not a big deal for others and these days it wouldn't be a big deal for me, but I was new and scared and awkward and the one thing could easily do became the one thing that really pushed all my anxiety buttons. Needless to say, fishing has never been the same since.

Recently, I have tried to get back into it. I have managed to level up two characters past the artisan quest, but I seem to have lost the appetite for it. I still log in regularly as a druid and stand in Moonglade for ten minutes, but I am no longer good at it. In fact, I am now pretty bad at it and I have the lack of level to show for that. Now playing in the level 50's I am finding that less and less things are doable in my 45 minute play slots. Half the time is taken up by traveling from Shattrath City to where I am questing. It has nurtured a new desire to take up fishing again - but where to start? The internet, of course.

I found a great site for info after just a few minutes of browsing: El's Extreme Anglin' and I'm remember why I loved fishing to begin with.

Everlook: Gadgetzan in the snow

I still find it eerie how similar architecture pop up all over the game. I understand why and do not object, I just find it eerie.

Everlook in Winterspring is no exception. The architectural design of Gadgetzan was perfect for it's location. It immediate stole a place in my hard, possibly due to its very Tatooineesqueness. (Yes, I know that's not a real word.) Tatooine is one of those very real fantacy places, thanks to the overwhelming influence and introduction via C, that goes down as one of the greatest places ever.

Seeing the desert style city transported into snowladen Winterspring is just off somehow. It does not quite fit. But judge for yourself which city has the best feel to it:

Nothing is free

I hear time and time again in the general, guild and trade channel the advice "don't pay good money in the auction house, go and farm it, it's free". But it's not free and I am not talking about the flight costs and battle expenses such as potions, food and drinks, although those should not be discounted. Just because you didn't pay for something, does not make it free. Every item you use is an item that has a market value and could have been sold for real virtual gold in your pocket, I mean bag.

Nothing is free. You may not pay for it in a way that is easy to understand, but you pay for it by not making money from it. In effect, that's very similar than paying for since it's potential earnings out of your pocket. You make not have any less money right now, but tomorrow you will have less money than you could have had if you sold the item instead. Nothing is free.

That brings me to the second point. Time is money. If you are going to farm, then farm for the most expensive thing you can at your level. Don't spend hours chasing birds for a hundred or more feathers that could have been bought for a few gold, if not silver. Farm where the money is, sell your farmed goods and then buy the feathers on the AH if you must.

Whether you farm, craft or work the AH, don't forget the hidden costs: auction deposits lost, the auctioneer cut, postage (30 bronze a pop do add up), the cost of levelling up professions, the cost of recipes and mats, travelling costs etc. I am far from a penny pincher, my postage tallies up to gold very quickly, but I do watch for small savings when I can. I hand things over to someone I play with, log out, log in the alt and then ask the person to hand the stuff to the alt - postage saved. I quest and build up good rep so that my flights and goods are discounted wherever I go. I try to stock up my regular supply where I have the highest rep and the largest discounts. I loot for health and mana potions as well as food and drink - or ask my very local mage to supply me free of charge. I buy recipes from vendors and trainers and plan my route before I set out to minimize travelling costs. Small things that accumulate to save me money.

I don't play the game to stockpile gold, I accumulate gold to play the game as it should be played - with good gear, full supplies and life's luxuries (potions and enchants for me) for pure indulgence sake. I spend my solo time making money so that when I play for fun with C, we can not worry about the money. Now that's how the game should be played.

Leatherworking Profits

Each day of playing leave me with a colder chill when I open up my crafting professions screen. It takes so much effort and work to first find the pattern and then the mats and before I know it, someone else is crafting ten and dumbing it on the AH and profits plummet. I enjoy crafting and will not want to give it completely, but I do think it's time to seriously evaluate how much money it can make me, or more likely, how much money it is costing me.

• First rule of crafting - never buy patterns off the auction house for anything other than personal use.
• Second rule of crafting - never buy patterns off the auction house that is available at a vendor
• Third rule of crafting - never craft if the mats will sell for more unless profit is not the number one goal
• Fourth rule of crafting - never pay market price or higher for any mats
• Fifth rule of crafting - never join the undercutting madness, either hold back your item or place it up for the usual price. Once the undercutting frenzy subsides, customers will return to your goods that are always there.
  

To that effect, I have come to the conclusion that I can craft for a small profit, if I craft carefully. Green items are generally not worth crafting for anything other than personal use. The mats sell for more than the item in the Auction House over the weekend. At level 290 I can currently craft 14 items. On my server, only 5 make a profit. The profit ranges from 5 to 10 gold on average. I can increase those profits by farming for most of the mats whilst I quest (I am a skinner too after all) and only buying those that are on the AH for a large discount. That usually doubles my profit, landing me in a 10 - 20 gold profit per item range. Now that is worth my while.

Winterspring

After much grinding and feather farming I finally achieved a neutral reputation with Timbermaw Hold. Not that I can buy any patters yet, but it does mean I may walk through the hold unharmed from Felwood to Winterspring. Since this is the only real route to Winterspring, it is quite a personal achievement. The tunnel is pretty as tunnels go and on first glance, Winterspring turned out to be as beautiful as people say it is. I think I am going to enjoy questing here.

Auction House Style

I fully support personal freedoms, such as the freedom to self-expression, as long as your freedom does not encroach on mine. But being the girl that I am, I find the multitudes of naked auction toons running around the capitals mind boggling. Part of me instinctively wants to say that only men could create a tradition of toons in lingerie, but that would be a sexist generalization. The business suit does it for me. I have my Ironforge Auction Toon neatly dressed in a three piece with matching black shoes and only regret that I did not pick a little more stylish hair-do during creation. I have grown very fond of her, little gold digger that she is. The least I can do is dress her nicely.

Letting Go

It is difficult to decision to make, what to keep and what to discard. A few short months ago, I opened up my first character that came into being with next to nothing. Now I have more than a dozen characters, nearing a thousand gold in accumulative bank accounts and have hundreds of bank and bag slots filled with mostly green and a few blue items. I have progressed all the professions, I have acquired quite a few recipes, some bought for quite a lot of money. I have invested both time and gold to make something of my characters and will continue to do so. However, I have only so much time and energy to put into a game and the questions always arise - What is the best use of my time? How can I be most efficient? When is it time to retire a character or profession? Who, if any, will have to go? Where do I want to focus my energy, time and resources?

We're planning on moving house this year. I arrived in the UK almost seven years ago with 22kg of luggage and now our stuff fills a three bedroom house. It's human nature to acquire things along the way. It's also human nature to hang on to the things we acquire. I recall discarding too many things that I regret giving away or leaving behind. The size 8 little black (and white in this case) dress I wore when I could fit into a size 8. The last tennis racquet I owned that fit my hand perfectly. My black running shoes. My eclectic selection of piano sheet music bought, copied and permanently borrowed from a great many sources. My youthful optimism and my dreams of a possibly bright future.

There are also many, many things I have held on to longer than I should have. Too many pounds of excess weight, a five year out of date wardrobe of size 12's, a bookcase of second rate and second hand thrillers that I have not and will never read, more old pillows than I can count, a motorbike rotting in the backyard and a mountain of guilt over all the things I can't or haven't done.

There is a list of ambivalent things - a much loved but unused original iMac, a few bookcases of non-fiction books, too many sentimental but useless mementos among other things. Last, but not least, there is a list of items I cherish and I hope will be lifelong possessions - a growing collection of fantasy and science fiction, a comprehensive collection of non-fiction books and a small personal selection of literary fiction and poetry. Other than that, I hope to hold on to my piano, a cat (realistically not the same cat) and my husband. Beyond the books, the music and the love, the rest doesn't really matter.

As for warcraft, there is only so much time to devote to an on-line computer game. I cannot maintain multiple characters with ease. Above all, I guess I don't really want to. I cherish my level 52 rogue, I adore my level 50 feral druid, a part of me would really like to have a high level warrior that can do justice to tanking and my auction toon in her business suit is indespensable. As for professions, I have a passion for leatherworking and a need for alchemy and the accompanying gathering professions. Other than that, the rest is just fluff. Despite the gold I have already sunk into my alts, I think it might be time for retirement. At least for the near foreseeable future. There is, at the end of the day, only so many hours in the day that I can play.

An endless source of amusement

Guild chat provides most definitely an endless source of amusement. It serves as a reminder as to why I never did work well with large numbers of people. I simply do not possess the patience to explain the smallest things an infinite number of times. My first guidance counsellor thought I would make and excellent teacher, but at the age of 13 I already knew better. It was never a question of ability or capability, but one of pleasure and satisfaction. Or rather, unpleasantness and dissatisfaction.

I spent the last hour with half an eye on the guild chat. Today a competition is starting where any character below level 20 can enter to win a mount. All the person has to do is go to the guild website, sign in, enter their suitable character, and the first to hit level 40 of the ones who had entered win. Right. However, misunderstanding and misconception abounds. Some seem to think that a draw is taking place and are demanding to know who won, whilst others can't figure out how to enter. The basic idea that a mount is at stake has spread like wildfire, but not much else has. And so the chatter continues in an endless loop of questions and answers, more questions and less answers and more answers and less questions to an sum total of mass confusion.

I have always received my information from reliable sources and the grapevine is notoriously unreliable and only good for gossip and playing devil's advocate. Don't get me wrong, I have learned how to keep an ear to the ground and there's plenty of chit-chat that's truly interesting to eavesdrop on. I have not quite learned how to not seem mean or derrogatory. I also haven't quite learned how to be adequately social. This leaves me in an ambiguous position. I may stand, or sit, and watch the confused discourse with a sense of both amusement and frustration, but I can't jump in. Or rather, I choose not to. There are plenty of guild leaders already involved in the discussion and adding my two cents will simply confuse the matter even further.

I recall countless times as a student and whilst at school being thrust into positions of leadership and power simply because I was both able and capable. I never did accept that offer. I was happy to give advice to whoever was in charge, and that person was usually a close friend, but I stayed out of the spotlight. Why? Because it's a lose-lose situation. In the background, the guild chat is still going strong and the confusion has not lessened. Who in their right minds would want to be the one-eyed king?

Auction House Tip

Buy usable items, such as weapons, armor and potions over the weekend and sell 'em during the week. The majority of players play mostly over the weekend and tend to dump all on the AH after a run or a crafting stint. This results in an overflow of looted and crafted items from Friday evening to Tuesday afternoons, really. (Some auction are placed for 48 hours on a Sunday afternoon / evening). A buyers market is created by an increase in supply is not the best time to sell your wares.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are optimal times for 48 hour auctions. It's when supply is lowest (everybody tends to hold back goods for weekend auctions that are larger) and profits highest, with the additional advantage of also covering the first wave of the weekend crowd logging in on Fridays. Contrary to popular opinion, on my server, I make my best profits through 48 hours auctions placed on Wednesdays.

Consumerism

I came across a blog entry in my daily perusing of internet blogs that stuck with me. Unfortunately, the name of the blog or the author did not stick, but the post was a few paragraphs on the uselessness of playing WoW. Something in the vein of 'you acquire stuff which you sell to acquire gold in order to acquire more stuff'. The 'stuff' was viewed as items with no real value that fulfil no real need and I now recall the word consumerism being used once or twice.

A simple definition of consumerism would be individuals "consuming materials in excess of their basic needs". Having more than you need is generally viewed as a bad thing. Leaving economic theory in the real world for a different blogger, I can't help but wonder why consumerism is necessarily a bad thing in a virtual world. After all, there is no limited resources, no social obligations and nobody is starving whilst the rich get richer and the poor poorer. In fact, it's the lavish allowances that contribute to the fun of the game.

I understand that goal oriented play is not fun for everybody. I also get that for some relaxation has to be some steps removed from reality in order to make it fun. For me however, it's the similarities with reality that makes me want to play more. I can achieve goals in warcraft easily that I would find difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in real life. As a character, I can travel as much as I desire. I can be as rich as it pleases me to be. I can make things, break things and sell things. I can buy something simply because I want to. In fact, I can even indulge in a little bit of impulse shopping and splurging on luxury items I don't actually need. And that's just the self-indulgent individualistic things I am able to do.

I enjoy the goal oriented play. I enjoy the sense of achievement it provides. I enjoy learning more about economics and a closed market; about achieving an end-result as an individual and a team player and I think that for me, I relax best when my mind is stretch, when what I do teaches me new skills and new ways of thinking and broadens my horizons.

As for the continuous upgrade in 'stuff', well, the better equipped your character, the better your character survives. In gaming terms, how is survival not fulfilling a basic need?

A day of firsts

Today, I looted my very first purple item, I trained my first level 50 as a master and I accidentally plummeted to my death despite feline grace off a cliff in Feralas, also for the first time. Some firsts are better than others...

I like cats

My immediate personal favourite character is a Night Elf Druid. She can turn into a cat to fight:
Turn into a cheetah to run:

Has a nightsaber cat as a mount:

A Siamese cat as a non-combat pet:

And an Orange tabby as a non-combat running companion:

I guess I would be a cat-lady if I could be, but I can't. It's on to the next best thing - a collection of virtual kitties.

Curiosity killed the cat?

Ever wonder what happens if you fall off the bridge between the bank and AH in Ironforge? Quench your curiosity now; you land here:

Visual Mental Image

I was watching a television program some time ago on the topic of how children, particularly those living in an urban setting, are ignorant of where food comes from and what it originally looked like. Ask them where carrots come from and they answer, 'the supermarket'. This sparked off a campaign for education on the origin of farming produce. At the time I didn't quite get the vehemence with which the program was made. Does it really matter in day to day life whether I know how the carrots I buy off the shelf came to be on that shelf? Does knowing make me a better person? Improve my life quality or that of someone else's? I am all for education on our global economy - something I personally know little about - as well as education on the potential impact our decisions may have on the quality of life of others, but will visiting a carrot farm really help? In the great scheme of things, it seems like an awful small thing to get so very upset about.

I use the Auction House to buy and sell items on a near daily basis. I realized again today the difference the origin of a visual mental image can make. I both buy, sell and farm herbs. The herbs I require for alchemy at the moment grows in regions too high up the food chain for me to farm, so I buy what I need when it's affordable. My visual mental image of blindweed was formed when I first saw the blindweed icon in the auction house. It did not have any emotional connotation for me, it was just a picture of something called blindweed with a monetary value attached to it. The only emotional connotation to it was slight resentment for shelling out money when I had to buy it and a soothing sense of accomplishment when I resold cheaply bought stacks at market price.

However, having levelled up high enough to enter the swamp of sorrows recently, my image of blindweed drastically changed. To see it standing where it grows, to harvest it for free whilst under attack of little green flying dragons was an emotional experience. My mental image changed from the auction house icon to that of an image of the swamp of sorrows, with a pretty little plant growing near the water. It made me realize that I prefer knowing where things come from. I prefer knowing that monetary value is not an inherent attachment to anything. It's an add-on that occurs later in the process. At the start, there is only potential. No guarantees.

I always thought economics dull. I did well in accounting up until I was 16 and then chose the science route instead. Science has a certain nobility to it. I drifted away from physics and math first toward the biological sciences, but had to settle for the soft sciences. Now, no longer attached to any of these fields at all, I am again struck by the usefulness of information. Informed decisions are generally the better decisions. It's impossible to make an informed decision if you don't know the basics of most things and often specialize in at least one or two areas. Knowing where blindweed comes from, makes me a better buyer and seller of blindweed.

Shattrath City

The options seem almost endless

I started playing with a strong resistance against playing with other players. I am naturally sceptical of teamwork since collective thought so rarely leads to a good working relationship and working with others tend to require a slower pace. I dislike going slow. For each additional member remove 5% haste. Nearing level 50, I am starting to reconcider.

Browsing through a gear and weapons group play seems to be the only way to get the really good stuff. At lower levels, crafting was a truly viable options and drops seemed better. It was also possible to purchase items from the AH without shelling out a small fortune. Post-forty and the going gets tougher and tougher. Soloing is still the best way to level up, but it requires a reasonable set of gear. Acquiring a reaonsable set of gear seems to be next to impossible if soloing.

The end result being that it might be time to either look towards instances and possible raids or Arena and possible Battlegrounds. The choice really is between PvE or PvP groups. To respec entirely at level 50 from PvE to PvP seems like a tremendous amount of work for trying my hand at something new. Time to go guild shopping, me thinks.

Can I fish here?

I find it extremely disconcerting when I happen upon a school of fish or floating wreckage, pull out my fishing rod, only to discover that my fishing is not a high enough level to fish there. So much so, that I tend to carry a stack of fishing lures with me now. One of the first factoids I memorised was this: Region level, minimum skill required to fish and skill level required for a 100% catch rate.

• Level 1 - 10: 0 (30)
• Level 10 - 20: 0 (75)
  
• Level 20 - 30: 55 (150)
  
• Level 30 - 40: 130 (225)
  
• Level 40 - 55: 205 (300)

I also memorised my level needs to be with my +3 fishing rod, +2 fishing enchanted gloves and lure to be able to fish in the area:

• Level 1 - 10: 0
• Level 10 - 20:
  
• Level 20 - 30: 5 (+ 50 from shiny bauble)
• Level 30 - 40: 50 (+ 5 from fishing rod, +75 from nightcrawlers)
• Level 40 - 55: 100 (+ 5 from fishing rod, +100 from bright baubles)

However, what' the fun of fishing if your fish regularly get away? The skill level for a 100% catch with a +3 pole, +2 glove enchant and lure has to be:

• Level 1 - 10: 0
• Level 10 - 20: 25 (+ 50 from shiny bauble)
• Level 20 - 30: 70 (+ 5 from fishing rod, +75 from nightcrawlers)
• Level 30 - 40: 120 (+ 5 from fishing rod, +100 from shiny baubles)
• Level 40 - 55: 195 (+ 5 from fishing rod, +100 from shiny baubles)

Fishing from 1 - 300 at level 40+

Fishing is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it. I quite enjoy the fishing experience, particularly when it pays well. For it to pay at all, you have to keep it leveled up. I did so with my first character and second, but the third fell behind. She's level 40 now and desperately need to catch up quickly. Best way to do so?

1. Learn apprentice fishing (requires level 5) from any of the fishing trainers in level 1 - 20 zones.
2. Buy a shiny bauble and a nightcrawler fishing lure.
   
3. Stand next to the trainer, apply the shiny bauble and fish to level 75. (It takes around 10 minutes)
4. Learn journeyman fishing (requires level 10) from the same trainer
5. Apply the nightcrawler lure and stand next to the trainer and level up to 125 - 150 (It takes around 10 - 20 minutes)
6. Fly to Booty Bay and purchase the Expert Fishing manual from Old Man Heming and learn
   
7. Also purchase a bright bauble.
   
8. Step to the water or travel to a body of water that appeals, apply lure and level up to 225 exactly. Personally, I prefer to travel to Dustwallow Marsh at this point and fish there.
9. At level 225, seek out Nat Pagle for the artisan fishing quest.
10. Complete the quest and hand it in.
11. Fish, next to Nat Pagle if you want, until you reach 300.

Sunbathing

Despite the fact that I am allergic to the sun, I miss sunbathing just a little bit. Not so much the lying in the sand or the breaking out in hives, but the idea of sunbathing. I miss the feeling of relaxation and peace that comes with lying on a beach somewhere far away from home. I miss the opportunity to forget about daily chores and housework and work and bills and life, just for a couple of weeks. I miss spending the day lying around in the sun or with a book in the shade and not wearing a watch.

There's a dozen reasons why I haven't been on a beach holiday for quite some time and a dozen more why I probably will not be going on a beach holiday some time soon. Sort of lying on a beach in Tanaris is the next best thing. I don't get the actual lying on the beach sensation, but there is at least a moment's pause to think about and imagine it. Without the hives or the pesky sand that seeps into everything.

Recipes on the AH

Recipes are one of the most difficult items to buy on the AH (Auction House). Some recipes are learned from a trainer, but could also be a drop, some recipes are purchased from a vendor whilst others are drop only.

The recipes that are trainer, drop tend to be much much cheaper at the trainer. It's not generally a good idea to buy these at the AH. The recipes that are vendor or vendor, drop is also much cheaper at the vendor than the AH. I prefer seeking out the vendor and camping it if necessary to save the 90% AH mark-up. The recipes that are drop only are a good buy when offered at a good price. However, whilst leveling up it's not necessary to own every single recipe. Some recipes will make things that will make money and others will not. Some you will make for yourself and therein will be the value, but you may be able to purchase a far superior finished item from the AH for the same price. It's therefore not as straight forward to decide which purchase is the right one.

The best solution I have so far managed is to first check on-line if the recipe is trainer/drop, vendor or drop. If it's available at a trainer, I never buy it on the AH. If it's available at the vendor, I check where the vendor is and how easy they are to get to. If it's a reasonable journey, I prefer to travel. If it's an unreasonably journey, I prefer to wait until it becomes reasonable. It's a rare pattern that I would pay 10x for on the AH. It hasn't happened it, but it may. The recipes that are a drop is generally a good purchase if it's a good AH price. If you discover that it's not a pattern you truly want to learn, then there's always the potential for re-sell.

When purchasing recipes, I always have a browser open on the patterns/recipes/plans:

• Alchemy
  
• Blacksmithing
• Cooking
• Enchanting
• Engineering
• First Aid
• Fishing
  
• Jewelcrafting
• Leatherworking
• Tailoring

The decision process is at least informed by knowing the details. If a recipe is a drop, I tend to look at the market price for the item as well as the recipe, what it disenchants to and the stats on the item. It requires knowing a little bit about classes and which classes favour which stats to accurately predict if an item will have re-sell value. Other than that, it's simply a matter of watching the AH and scooping up all the patterns that are drops that are available for a significant discount. Bargain shopping. Ahoy!

Flight Paths

It's always a good idea to pick up flight paths to new regions as soon as possible. With so many regions and so many flight paths, I find it quite hard to recall which to pick up when. The list of flight paths compiled by WoW Wiki has been invaluable to jog my memory. Click here to view.

Wanted: Goreclaw the Ravenous

Dustwallow Marsh is inevitably the place I end up questing at level 39. For the third time in a month, I am heading off with my third level 39 to power level to finally get my mount. My favourite quest is picked up in Mudsprocket, entitled Wanted: Goreclaw the Ravenous.

The reason Goreclaw has a spot on my favourite list is the near instant respawn rate. It's impossible to kill Goreclaw once, it's generally more likely to be two or three times. The fun part is that the surrounding mob of raptors also respawn at lightning speed. Great for racking up xp, rather tricky when soloing.

I'm off to complete the quest again. It went fine as a mage-rogue druid, had no problems as a paladin and I don't foresee having any problems with my level 39 feral druid.

Soloing up a Paladin

Levelling up my Paladin has not been fun. Level after level the going seems to get slower and despite good weapons and reasonable gear, the process has been very slow. I prefer my rogue. I do enjoy my feral druid when the mood suits despite her awful gear, but not so much the paladin. Why play one then?

First reason: I am a jack of traits and my ultimate aim is to have a level 70 of each class topped out in all the professions. (I fear that my engineering gnome mage may present issues here, but that's much further down the line.)

Second reason: DH plays a mage and our duo needs a tank to hold the aggro. My feral druid, even in days gone by when she had excellent gear, couldn't quite manage it and my rogue can't manage it at all. When playing his mage, I tend to spend my time running back and forth aimlessly, or so it appears. A paladin is ideal with the added bonus of healing powers, so it's the best gal for the job.

Third: Paladins are popular. There must be a reason why. I am determined to discover the way of the tankadin. I hope blindly that all will be revealed when she rides out on her shiny white horse at level 40. Rides out imminently, I should say. She's level 39 and three quarters.

My chief dislike has been the drinking. I dislike the waste of time between every single fight. She can take on a mob of three, which is nice, but then she has to drink. A lot. The drinking is costing me a fortune in and of itself. Both in the beverage purchasing department (an issue which will be resolved when she's old enough to play with DH's mage) and in the loss of time and time is money. I was at the verge of abandoning her all together, even though she's so close to a major landmark event, simply because I couldn't put up with how slow the leveling goes. Instead, I decided to try a experimenting a little more and alas, me thinks I have found a reasonable solution.

She can keep both her health and mana bar above 90% end fight if the following condition is met and her play style plays along. First: take on singletons that are the same level or a level or two lower than she is. Second: play to minimize expenditure. This can be done as follows:

• Use the Blessing of Wisdom buff and whichever aura is most appropriate.
  
• Start with 'Seal of Crusader' as she runs into melee range
• Hit Judgement, which is immediately followed by Seal of Justice
• Let her fight for 10 seconds whilst Judgment finishes its cooldown
• Judgment again, immediately followed by Seal of Wisdom
• Let her fight for 10 seconds whilst Judgment finishes its cooldown
• Judgment again, immediately followed by Seal of Light
• Let her fight for 10 seconds whilst Judgment finishes its cooldown
• Judgment, immediately followed by Righteousness (if there's time left)

Watch the health bar of the opponent. As soon as it gets to 35%, hit Consecration to hurry along the last bit. For things that tend to run at low health, use stun as soon as they start running, thereby keeping them inside the consecrated area and they're dead before stun has elapsed. At the end, my paladin is between 90 - 95% of both health and mana and can immediately go into the next fight. The fight itself is still a little long (32 - 48 seconds against a steady 18 -23 seconds for my rogue in a similar fight), but at least there's no 10 - 15 second wait inbetween. I plan to shorten this time by investing in an extremely good one-handed weapon whilst plunging talent points into one-handed weapon specialization. Watch this space to see how that goes.

Screen Shots

It took me a while to find, but I've found the shortcut keys at last! To take a screenshot within WOW without the user interface, press Alt-Z (it all disappers), then PrtSc (as usual), then Alt-Z (UI is back).

When to buy, when to sell

Auction House Tip Of The Day: Buy at off-peak times and sell at peak times.

In other words, for good sales, hold back all your key items for the weekend. If you want to sell things during the week, sell your lower priced items and only commit to 12 hour auctions that nicely cover the evenings.

When buying, log on when nobody else does, i.e. the early morning hours. On the weekend, shop for bargains on rarer items that may not be available at all during the week. On weekdays, buy the common stuff for a tenth of the price you'd pay on a Saturday afternoon.

Covering the territory

I tend to forget just how big Azeroth is. The first ten levels take place in the start-up area, the next ten in the nearest 10 - 20 (Auberdine for Night Elves, Bloodmyst Isle for Draenei and Loch Modan for dwarves and gnomes). From level 20 upwards, every 5 levels or so, it's time to migrate to a new region and it's only then that I am reminded that there is plenty of see and much to do. (For the early birds keen to fly the next, there is the opportunity to begin the area to area migration at level 15 by moving on to either Redridge Mountains in the Eastern Kingdoms or Stonetalon Mountains in Kalimdor.)

When soloing, I do find it convenient to level up in 2 - 3 similar level regions. It provides a little variety, more choice for farming trade supplies and the option to complete only the type of quests I like - kill quests, drop quests and courier quests. Personally, I tend to stay close to home until like most players, I favour the Eastern Kingdoms as an alliance player. That said, I do have a Kalimdor list as well, but I tend to wait until level 40 and a mount before racing through Kalimdor for key supplies and flight routes. This is my current strategy for questing, farming and picking up flight paths as Alliance. I have made it to level 44 and so far, so good:

• Level 20: Wetlands
  
• Level 28: Hillsbrad Foothills (20 - 30)
  
• Level 30: STV (Stranglethorn Vale), Arathi Highlands, Alterac Mountains
• Level 35: Dustwallow Marsh (Eastern Kingdoms) and Swamp of Sorrows
• Level 40: Feralas and Tanaris
• Level 45: The Hinterlands, The Blasted Lands, Searing Gorge
  
• Level 48: Aszhara, Felwood, Un'Goro Crater
  
• Level 50: Burning Steppes, Western Plaguelands,
  
• Level 53: Eastern Plaguelands, Winterspring
  
• Level 55: Silithus, Deadwind Pass
  
• Level 60: Off to Outland!
  

Aside: I tend to pick up Kalimdor flight paths and mats once I have a mount by running through Darkshore, Stonetalen Mountains,Thousand Needles and Desolace to reach Feralas as end destination.

Auction House Basics

It's virtually impossible to finance levelling up without making frequent use of the Auction House. Not all of us are budding economists, but a basic understanding is required. Even if you never buy an item on the AH, you definitely will be selling a plenty.

I was a little intimidated at first, but now that I have placed a few bids as well as auctions, it's surprisingly simple. There is no hard and fast rules to make money by putting things in the AH, but if you want to give it a go, there are a few simple facts that is most definitely need to know. All the basic formulas are at Wow Wiki.

Three pieces of information are crucial for any auctions in the faction AH.

One: On putting an auction, the AH will charge you a deposit immediately. In the faction auction house, the deposit is roughly as follows:

• 15% of the MSV (merchant sell value) for a 12 hour auction
• 30% of the MSV for a 24 hour auction
• 60% of the MSV for a 48 hour auction

Two: If your auction is unsuccessful, the AH will keep the deposit you paid.

Three: If your auction is succesful, the AH will take a 5% cut.

Happy Auctioneering!

April Fool's Day

It's the morning after April Fool's Day that's usually interesting. This is the time when it comes to light which hoaxes were pulled off well and which of us are the most gullible. It's also the day of reflection on the best jokes of the past and a few good ones are recounted at Wikipedia.

Blizzard had it's own fun as well with The Bard Hero Class and the Molten Core console. I would say that the Bard is a hoax, but the Console more of a joke. I can see some people accepting the bard story as truth, but the molten core story is so obviously not even meant to reflect truth in any way. Similar to the 'Penguins can fly' BBC footage, it's the end that completely give it away. For the Penguins, it's the migration to the rain forrest for the winter that's the nail in the coffin and for the console it's, and I quote: "Blizzard's World of Warcraft: The Molten Core Collector's Edition, also announced today, will include tinted cellophane TV overlays, further increasing the array of colors available to players."

From the land of the grazing kodo, the green field's of Mulgore, comes the joke of the day: The Tauren Marine for Starcraft II. Google it, and you'll discover just how far and quick this idea spread.

Nobody plays at 6 a.m.

At six in the morning I still feel pretty much the way I did at four and then at five. Annoyed. Tired. Frustrated. I am not a morning person and neither is the person I share my bed with who had to get up between four and five to go to work. The only difference at six a.m. is that now I have the added emotion of guilt. I am here, waking up gradually whilst scanning the auction house for bargains. It's most definitely not the worst way to wake up. The worst way to wake up would be commuting to work right about now. I remember leaving for work at 6 a.m. in the morning a while back and it's the fabric of nightmares.

In all fairness, it's not the early morning that gets you but the late night, the interrupted sleep and the disturbed sleep pattern. I could manage early mornings if they were all early, I suppose. I still wouldn't like them, but it'd possible feel a little less of a torture. I suppose. The earliest I ever had to get up on a regular basis was at 6:00 for school years and years ago. But six then became 6:15, then 6:30, then 6:45 to be out the door at seven a.m. I guess I am just not a morning person.

Logging in at 6 a.m. this morning I did learn something. Less people are morning people than you would think. Also, quite a few must be getting ready, going to or at work already. It's 6 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and the Auction House is empty and Ironforge a ghost town of NPC's.