The Revival of Wildshard

The Revival of Wildshard

Has anyone noticed that the character who laid the foundation for all that has happened in the World of Warcraft has all but disappeared from view? Among all of the current active players, Wildshard has fared the worst, particularly in the new lands of Boralus.

Having barely reached Level 110, Wild's Artifact Power (AP) is barely visible at AP Level ONE! and is still short 32% to reach level 2. This is the Druid that's fought and triumphed over hundreds of dungeon runs and raids and is still standing in this fourteenth round of world building.

How far ye have fallen, someone once said. How did this happen? Somewhere along the line Wildshard and Guild Leader Tiphaine departed ways. Wild had it in his mind that he would start his own guild. What happened to that goal is buried somewhere in the past. Wild himself can remember little of it and is still searching the records for facts.

It's time to bring Wildshard back into the light. Sure, Wild will continue to help out the guild. But he has his own aspirations as a guild leader. He wants to revive that goal in his own way. Think of it this way, Wild told Tiphaine. Wild has always been a loner, more comfortable in the shadows instead of at the head of the march, so to speak. Wild's first attempt to bring that to fruition fell short. Wild became frustrated with a process that seemed determined to see him fail.

Wild is going to try again. He will revive his moribund guild aspirations with a new kind of liberty. Wild still wants his own guild, and he now thinks he has a way. The new dungeons, raids, and scenarios may not be what Wild wants, but he has his eyes on the three man runs that are new. Island expeditions they are, and require only three players. So what if he sucks at it? The worst that happens is he'll get kicked. So what? Try again with another group. Get better at it.

At the same time, keep asking random strangers to join his guild, and then they can stay or leave once it's firmly in place. Wild only needs four players to give him a helping hand.

For all of that above to become true, Wild has to greatly improve all aspects of his game. No one will take him into a three man island expedition with such a poor set of gear. Get to work.

Wild's "in process" guild is called BloodNtheWater. Wild wasn't sure his charter was still valid since it has been months ago when he applied. So Wild went to the Dalaran Visitor Center to find out. He spoke to Guild Master Matthews and confirmed that the charter was still valid.

"You need signatures," he told Wild. "Four of them. How you get them is up to you."

How to get a signature - (1) Find the guild charter in your bag. (2) Right Click the charter and request signature. (3) The charter should show up on the person's screen and he can then sign it. (4) Note that a player must be guildless in order to sign a guild charter. Obvious, but just saying. Once the guild has the four signers and the guild is officially recognized, the signees don't have to stay. In fact, Wild will thank them, pay them if gold is involved, and remove them. Wild plans to accost low level players in Stormwind hoping to get them to sign the petition. If gold is asked for, Wild will sweeten the pot.

NOT SO FAST - Oh My.

Sometimes expectations go beyond reality. And sometimes one wants something so bad that wishes seem true. Wildshard is Level 110. Repeat that - Wildshard is LEVEL 110. The lowest rung on the ladder.

Wildshard thought he was already at level 120. That has to hurt. No one is going to join a fledgling guild with a guild leader that hasn't even taken the first step toward level 120.

Okay, reality check. It really is time to get to work.

The Limits of Gear

The Limits of Gear

Sista recently earned a piece of gear rated at i340. That is the largest single item of gear that the Tiphaine family has earned.

Ever wondered what the max limit is? Theoretically, there is no limit. Checking on that, Keya has seen high end players with gear levels in the i900's. Keya's own gear is i311. Among that gear are two pieces of i340 gear. As a practical matter, there is really no limit, since the Tiphaine family does not raid.

Sista is determined to improve on that score. Think of it this way. The higher level of skill, the faster Sista can farm the mats she needs. Farming mats entails not just picking flowers and rocks. In the world of Boralas, killing humanoids drop tons of mats such as tidespray linen and many others.

BUT . . .  with a gear level currently at i302, and competitors with gear as high as i900s, Sista is at a huge disadvantage. Sure, she can still farm, and will continue to do so. It's a fantasy that Sista could ever challenge the big players.

However, if she works at it, she hopes to carve out a niche that would at least help the guild prosper and move forward. That is why Sista keeps pushing and continues to press the big players in the market.

Tiphaine has also accepted that buying gear is now acceptable. Keya has the record for a piece of gear - 100,000 gold. Most likely, though, such purchases are rare. The "reasonable" priced gear is too easy to get and already in use. The truly good upgrades can run in the millions. It's Chiatee's job to pick and choose gear that will help the guild without breaking the bank.

Here is a real life example. Sista's current weapon is an i325 two-handed staff. At the Auction House, Sista is looking at an i340 two-hander she can afford at 10,000 gold. As a practical matter, this is a no-brainer. Sista bought the gear, a two-handed mace. The next best piece of gear for sale had an asking price of 50,000 gold. Chance plays a huge part, which is why Sista pounced on that two-handed mace. The mace is ugly, but functional and will help keep her alive. The downside is that an hour from now Sista might win a battle and EARN an i340 two-hander, which is a lot more fun than just buying one. You take your chances.

The final tally is that Sista's gear score has risen from i298 to i304, and she has become a bit more deadly. Even though the weapon you rely on is ugly ugly. 

The UGLY Mace

The Pretty Staff

 

Market Price Fixing and a Change of Subject

Market Price Fixing and a

Change of Subject

Marketeers Gloras and Sincow have effectively cornered the market on a wide swath of goods. Chaitee and Sista have been fighting a losing battle against the two behemoths. They are determined to continue the fight despite the heavy odd against them.

Silkweave Satchel - (24 slot) - 300 gold.

The latest assault from the Marketeers is Silkweave satchel, maintaining control of a 300 gold price for the bag, and watched with glee as the cost of mats to make the bags reach new highs. The price for shal dorei silk is now at 5 gold on the auction house, well above the cost to make the bags. So the Marketeers hold the monopoly.

Embersilk Bags (22 slot) - price varies depending on availability and price of other bags.

Sista has a small foothold on this decent seller with 22 slots. Farming mats are easy (Twilight Highlands farming) but there's a twist. Hypnotic Dust is required, which uses - guess what - embersilk. So half of the mats farmed must go to making hypnotic dust first. The result is that only limited amounts embersilk bags can be produced in quantity and are subject to large swings in price.

Frostweave Bags (20 slot) - The cheapest of general bags, they are easy to farm at Naxramas. Sista, Wildshard, and Atkar can farm it once a week. The pricing of frostweave depends largely on the big sellers. For some weeks Sista has held on to a 220 gold price for the bags. That changed this morning when Gloras/Sincow suddenly dropped the price to 150 gold to chase off other bidders. They'll accept the temporary losses until the thinning competition fades away and will then pump the price back up for their advantage. So - Chaitee will not be selling frostweave bags until the prices go back up. Sigh.

Hexweave Bags (30 slot) - Crafted over a period of days, the price for these have been relentlessly falling since new bags came out. The price has recently dropped below 1,000 gold and will likely stay around the price of the new bags as long as someone wants to craft them.

Deep Sea Bags - There are two types - (1) The new 30 slot bag will eventually eliminate the current hexweave bags. (2) The new embroidered 32 slot deep sea bag is ridiculously hard to craft due to cost and time to gather the required mats.

The 30 slot deep sea bag pricing is still in flux. Today it sells for 1400 gold, but that price will fall as mats get more plentiful. The 32 slot deep sea bag has a very steep price of over 9000 gold, and there are players willing to pay that price for two extra slots. Unfortunately, the pricing and the difficulty in gathering mats for this ultimate bag is out of range of Tiphaine's coffers. Note - as this is being written, the price of the 30 slot deep sea bag fell to 1298 gold, a drop of 200 gold.

Change of Subject - The new view of leveling is becoming more comfortable, and in fact seems to be working pretty well. Before Boralas and the new continents splattered onto the world, character leveling eventually ended. Permanently. Level 120 is as high as it goes. But now, the world has Artifact Power (AP). Gear is now improved by collecting AP. Though similar to the old leveling process, the new process has no forced limit. Sista's AP is at Level 19 and will continue to grow indefinitely as far as we know. Simple. Which is how we like it.

Sista Hits Mythic Dungeon Wall

Sista Hits Mythic Dungeon Wall

Sista has been looking over the mats that she will need to craft higher level gear for her guild. It didn't take her long to realize that all of the faults from Legion regarding crafting are still alive and killing the crafting market in Azeroth. Key elements, such as Hydrocore, can only be gathered in Mythic Dungeons, and are rare enough that no regular player outside a large guild could every get the required mats.

In summary, Sista and other players that need crafting mats will have to have guild support to progress.

Once upon a time a single player could level and excel without needing massive support from major guilds. Once upon a time . . .  but not anymore.

Sista plans to go as far as she can at improving her gear. She'll continue to provide such mats as she can, but crafting higher end gear is simply not possible under the restrictions Blizzard has set.

Sista's crafting level is 102/150. Enchanting is 3/150. She will put more effort into Enchanting, since she can still craft Ring and Glove enchants for the guild.

That also means that Chaitee has to pay more attention to Gloom Dust, which is used to make enchants. Sista now has both ring and glove enchants. The rest of the level 120 guildies will get enchants as gloom dust is available.

Gloom dust is currently posted at 24 gold apiece. Chaitee needs to get that cost down. One enchant costs 288 gold at the current price.

Sistaphilia - Will she reach iLevel 120 today?

Sistaphilia - Will she reach iLevel 120 today? 

Here's How it all Fell into Place. PS - And no thanks to the nasty Anathema. Grrr!

She began the morning as an iLevel 119, XP adjusted to 29% toward the goal.

Then she moved up to 50% toward the goal, pausing only to rinse off the blood.

Her next push got her to 55%.

She then left Kul Tiras and sailed to Nazrim. Targets were few, but her destruction still rose to 69%.

She caught on with a loose group and took down another elite - She reached 76%.

Back in Boralas and then Anytown, Sista was hard pressed but ground her way to 93%.

On her last mission as a level 119, Sista pulled two elites (one at a time, of course) and crushed them!

Sista is now officially ranked as an iLevel 120! Guardian Druid.

Finally!

 

Her gear score went from 271 to 278 to 282.

Her AP (artifact power) reached level 17 and is 98% of the way to the next level.

Her two-handed staff was upgraded from 263 to 290!

Oh, and who is Anathema? She is the elite all of the family have had trouble surviving. Not because she is that deadly, its because she surrounds herself with multiple mobs of varying types, mixing in with other quests to cause bedlam. Sista has yet to kill her, but swears she'll go back and finish the job.

PS - Sorry for the lack of pics, but in the heat of battle its hard to remember to stop and say "Cheese!"

Cheesy Pics

The Nicest View in Nazmir

The Not-SoUgly Side of Nazmir

Sista at the Bar

 

Slamming Down iLevel 118 !!

Slamming Down iLevel 118 !!

Sista is feeling frisky, indeed. Now at iLevel 118, she has only two more rungs to climb to reach the highest level. A wary Tiphaine kept things quiet, wondering why Sista hadn't come back from her trek yet. She was still pushing forward, happy and gore soaked. Her gear score increased to 267, decent, but still short.

On the other hand, Java is livid. She was supposed to get some work. Instead, Sista simply refused to come back from the wilderness. Java, still fuming, asked to take over so she could take her turn. Sista failed to show up. It wasn't until Sista dropped in at the flight pad did Java learn that Sista had reached iLevel 118, two levels ahead of Java.

The Boat in Nazmir

  Hating Nazmir - Sorry, but this is likely going to turn into a rant. Nazmir is one of the three islands in Zandalar, the others being Vol'Dun and Zuldazar. Don't get confused (everyone does) - Zandalar encompases all three islands, and Zuldazar is one of the islands.

Nazmir is full of these winding aireal ramps

  Anyway, the rant is about Nazmir. It's a nasty place of limpid pools, mushy earth, and decay. The decay is everywhere. Everything is wet and icky. None of that is a problem for Sista, who has finally gotten around to entering Nazmir. The main base is near worthless. There is a flight path but little else. Oh, there is a small boat that only goes to Boralus.

Most starting areas provide guidance to get started, but she got little help there. She struck out on her own, following squishy pathways. She did well early on, getting kills and learning. The central area is in multiple layers. There is ground zero, which is deep in the earth, a middle area that looks almost normal, and then there is a crazy profusion of twisting paths that rise into the sky, all of which have huts and enemy denizens. Seriously, Sista has to fight constantly and respawning is almost constant. She once counted killing the same groups three and four times while trying to figure out this maze.

Sista took all this in stride, and had soon earned a few quests. The problem that Sista suddenly found herself in is that the quests done are done in one area, but they must be turned in at another area. Remember those three levels mentioned earlier? There is no sane way to get from where the quests are completed and where they must be turned in. Sista has died three times now trying to find out how to get to where the quests are turned in.  

Sista is persistent. Her bloody battles faced level 118 killers in bunches that had her struggling to stay alive. Then she had a prescient moment. All this time she has been fighting as a bear for defensive reasons, and completely left out the other half of the battle - her healing! In two following battles that would have killed her, Sista went Healer, earning time with heals so she could kill her attackers. It took some work to re-remember her defensive skills, but now she will make good use of them.

Sista is 42% of the way to iLevel 119. However, she has yet to improve on her gear, still stuck at 267. Not even Chaitee could find proper gear upgrades for her.

Update - Sista is 50% of the way to iLevel 119.

Sista Gets Fired Up

PS - The below is a long post covering two posts added together. Sista wanted to be sure her successes weren't going to over shadow Atkar's troubles, which are also included. Hope that isn't too confusing.

Sista Gets Fired Up

Sista has been trying out some additional gear to determine which gives her both the best damage dealing and the best protection.

Her standard setup is a two hand i232 Polearm that averages 149-278 DPS.

She also recently earned an i254 off-hand to go with an i233 fist weapon. As much as she wanted to use that off-hand, it just didn't deliver the damage she needed. Too bad.

Being the ornery type, she decided that a two-hand staff was what she really wanted, being a druid and all. She paid a bargain price off the Auction House, which she paid for out of her own pocket (1,700 gold). She is much happier now with the i239 staff, which deals 194-263 DPS. 

Things may look slow, but Sista has actually been very busy. She rolled over another level and is now LEVEL 116!  She is 36% toward the next level.

Her gear score is now 257. Her AP is Level 7, 48% toward the next level.

Now for "The Atkar Situation"

Atkar is a mess. She was forced into picking up two professions, Tailoring and Alchemy, both of which she hates. Her single room at the Snug Harbor Inn is anything but snug. She has yet to fully unpack from the move from Dalaran to Kul Tiras. Atkar has little to do other than complete the once a day tailor crafting and whenever Sista decides to make an embersilk run and needs a potion to boost the take. Atkar is lobbying for a pool table at the inn so she'll have something to do.

She did manage to make some progress sorting through her junk. She still needs to do a thorough cleanup and sell/destroy. Chaitee offered help, and Atkar might take her up on it. Her reagent bank is 90% full of stuff from her time as a jewel crafter - another failed profession foisted on her that she didn't want. Chaitee chimed in again that she could help sell off the mats and get something back from the Auction House.

As far as her leveling goes, here is where she's at: Still stuck at Level 110. Which really sucks. Her gear score is i177. She is living with an i180 two-handed mace.

[WHAT? Yep, Atkar seems to have forgotten the type of gear she needs, which is a sword and shield]

She's a Protection Warrior (did I forget to mention that?) and she keeps getting mail gear tossed into her room. One day it might even be useful [no, it won't, she needs plate gear].

She has some random plate gear crushing a box full of unused cloth gear somewhere. Oh, to make things really clear - Tiphaine hasn't offered any gold and won't, not until Atkar becomes useful. She has less than 5k gold to her name.

She still has a shortage of space and will have to keep up the de-cluttering. Tiphaine wanted her to make a gold run, but she only has 77 slots free, not enough space to warrant a run.

What she really wants is the time to at least reach iLevel111. She made her first foray into Dustvar to see how she would do.

WARNING! This will be embarrassing.

Atkar with a Two-Hander? Really!

  There is an elite at the bank in Dustvar that is very hard to kill. All of the family who have taken it on have won that fight. Atkar arrived in Dustvar and saw that a player was already engaged with the elite and having a tough time of it. Atkar weighed in. Between the two of us we killed the elite, but we both knew that neither of us would have survived had it been a solo fight.

Simply stated, Atkar needs practice. But it's worse than that. Some of her weapons can't be used because she doesn't have the right gear! Shield Slam requires a shield duh! Revenge requires a one-handed melee weapon! Devastate also requires a shield! How Atkar managed not to die is a mystery, given the situation. Atkar needs better gear, but she won't likely get much stuff until she gets to level 111. Quite a conundrum. Nobody knows what happened to the original gear she owned. It's apparently gone.

What she has now is a two-handed mace - which is worse than worthless in the hands of a protection warrior.

Okay, Atkar is finally getting her act together. She now has a simple one-hand sword (i186) and a decent shield (also i186). Finally, all of her spells and gear are in working order. And the price was cheap, too.

Atkar's overall gear is now i178.  She's barely started leveling at 14% toward level 111.

She has a Level 1 Artifact and is 36% of the way to the next level. She has a long way to go. But at least she's wearing the right gear. Sigh.

Atkar Shines with Correct Gear