Archive for blizzard

Will MoP Get More Alt-Friendly?

Posted in Main with tags , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2013 by Epic Diapers

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I have fun raiding, acquiring gear and rep on my main, but I also had fun doing it on my alts. My main was always better geared than my alts, but that gap was much narrower than it is in Mists of Pandaria. While I understand the philosophy of how Blizzard is handling alts in MoP, I personally enjoyed my alts more in Wrath and Cataclysm. Now, I can barely log onto an alt because of the time it takes to grind reputation, farm (literally) and raid on my main, and the fact that I know I can’t level more than 30 minutes a week on any given alt. We’re not even talking about touching pet battle or going on transmog runs!!

After 5 months in Cataclysm, I had 7 level 85s with about the same amount of playing time as I have today (6-10 hrs/week). After 5 months in MoP, I have one 90, and those other 6 alts are still sitting at 85 (disclosure, I RaF-boosted a Panda monk to 81 and leveled him to 85)…I haven’t been able to touch them.

As someone with limited playing time, I long for the days that I could quickly gear up an alt and experience a raid from a caster or healer point of view (frost DK is my raiding main). However, it’s not keeping me from the game, or is it a major complaint, just a disappointment, really. I still thoroughly enjoy MoP on my main, as my “main dish,” but I miss all of the alt “sides” that I used to be able to enjoy.

I personally would like to see an “alt leveling perk” system for every level 90 toon that you have. I’m not sure of the actual buff levels here, but maybe now that I have one 90, Blizzard could give me a permanent 25% leveling experience boost to all other toons on my account, and every additional 90 would boost my account an additional 5-10%. I would also like to see some of the reputation grinds lowered even more than it is currently (100% bonus to all server toons when you purchase a faction commendation at revered). I guess I’m a bit put off by doing even half of the same rep grind over again.

I’ve been playing WoW continuously since October 2006, but I will never be that player that claims to have walked uphill in the fel-tainted snow both ways to the auction house, I don’t care if things are easier for the newer players!

Do you like the way Blizzard has dealt with alts this expansion? Are you happy it’s not easier to level and gear up alts? Or, do you wish it was a bit easier to level and gear alts because that’s what you enjoy? Could Blizzard award leveling speed perks to alts for every 90 you have?

-Sihx

@epicdiapers

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Episode 28: “Recruit-a-Monk”

Posted in Main with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 13, 2012 by Epic Diapers

 

Recruit a friend and dual boxing = instant level 80 panda monk!

Click below for the audio segment:

I took the summer off with the kiddos, but now I’m back for more Epic Diaper segments.

I’m a bit of an altoholic, and as of today, I have 7 level 85s and 3 level 81s, all 10 slots are full. Before 5.0.4, I assumed that we wouldn’t get that 11th character slot until MoP drops on September 25. However, Blizzard surprised me in giving us that 11th slot in patch 5.0.4!! What did that mean for me? Well, another alt! But, wait, I have one of every class, and monks aren’t available until MoP, so what would I put there?! Good question, Mr. third party brain!! Why, I do WANT a panda monk, afterall, and there’s a way I can get a level 80 panda monk within hours of MoP launching. You cannot boost a panda monk with the Scroll of Resurrection, unfortunately, but Blizzard has been clear about allowing you to grant levels from Recruit a Friend!

So, it’s a bit tricky, but this is what I’m currently doing: I bought the WoW Battlechest and Wrath for $5 each during the August sale on Blizzard’s site. $10. Now, I emailed myself the RAF code and established the new account on my Battle.net account, which starts the clock for the 90 day duration of benefits (summoning, triple xp, etc.). I then created 2 blood elf mages, and equipped BOTH of them with a full caster dps heirloom set (yes, I spent the justice points and gold on a second set). The reason is that heirloom XP boosts (a total of 35%) STACKS with the 300% RAF boost for a total of 335%!!!

I plan on leveling this first pair of mages to 80, then deleting the mage from my veteran account, as she takes up that 11th character slot, and I need a new team. The referred account mage now has 40 levels to grant my panda monk (you get 1 level to grant for every 2 levels you gain). But that’s not enough. So, I will level a SECOND pair of mages to 40, so the referred account now has 20 levels to grant, and then I’ll level a third pair of mages to level 20, so the referred account has 10 levels to grants! That’s 70 levels total, why not 80? Well, when you create a panda (and I’m creating a panda monk), you need to level through the starting zone to the point where you choose a faction, which is at level 10. You can’t grant a panda monk levels before that, as stated by Blizzard. That’s fine, I want to see the starting zone anyway!

Once MoP drops, I’ll level that Kung-fu panda to 10, then have my level 20 mage summon him to Orgrimmar to grant him 10 levels to level 20. Then I will log on the level 40 mage, grant the panda 20 levels to level 40, and finally, log on with my level 80 mage and grant him 40 levels to level 80.9999! Note: make sure you have your boosted character at a bubble shy of the next level. This way, he/she will be one bubble away from level 81 and save you an hour or two of leveling in Cata content.

Happy Boosting!!

Sihx

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Episode 21: “The Chocolate Cake is a LIE!”

Posted in Main with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2012 by Epic Diapers

No, Blizzard, I do not need or want your chocolate cake!! (nom, nom, nom)

Click below for the audio segment:

I just had to “QQ” about the incoming nerf to the Dragon Soul raid. How dare Blizzard treat me like a noob, and NO I won’t eat your chocolate cake!!!!! NEVAHHH!!!!

:)

Sihx

 

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Drop it Like it’s Relevant

Posted in Main with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 15, 2011 by Epic Diapers

Aw man, none of us wear this gear!

I’ve often wondered if Blizzard would ever implement a more targeted loot system in raids and dungeons. How many times have you been in a group when holy pally gear drops…and there’s not even a paladin in the group? Similar to that, we’ve had quite a streak of “Paladin, Priest, Warlock” tier gear dropping in Firelands. Although we do have a priest and a pally (no lock) in our raid, the gear has dropped so many times, they have both their main and offspec pieces already, while the DK token (me) has not dropped even once. We are sharding quite a few pieces in Firelands, yet our group still has a few gear spots to fill.

If I were grand poo-bah of Blizzard, I would consider implementing a system that would drop random loot, but only draw from a pool of loot that is relevant to not only the class composition, but spec as well. Let’s say you have an elemental shaman in the group, but no hunter. Well, this new system would drop intellect mail, but not agility mail. Ok, ok, of course some of you would prefer to have offspec pieces drop as well, so as a compromise, I suppose I would just restrict it to class so that would drop…sheesh. At least this would stop holy pally gear from dropping because I mean, who wears intellect plate?!

Share your stories of loot irrelevance.

Sihx

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Segment #4 as heard on “The Instance”

Posted in Alts, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2011 by Epic Diapers

copyright Blizzard Entertainment...I don't want to be sued.

You can listen to Segment 4 of “Epic Diapers” at the end of episode 232 of “The Instance” at www.theinstance.net.

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Audio

If you’re like me, you like alts…a lot. But, I don’t have the time to level them one by one. Heirlooms are nice, but dual boxing with recruit a friend is about 5 times as fast. What you get with this program is 300% experience gain from all sources.

10% bonus reputation gain, each toon can summon each other once an hour, and the recruit can donate up to 30 levels to the veteran account….plus, you get a swanky rocket mount.

So, how does it work exactly? Well, without going into the fine details of the process, you basically send yourself an email through the recruit-a-friend option on your battle.net account management page. Once your new trial account is established, your two WoW accounts are now “linked.” You will need to purchase a full copy of WoW, about $20, or you can wait for Christmas like I did and pick up a copy for $5. These accounts are linked for 90 days, and in that time, each account gets a free month. So, in all, you’re only shelling out $35 for everything…it’s the same cost for a winged eagle lion and cenarion hatchling, and quite honestly, I think it’s way more worth it to get lots of level 60s for this price…and you still get a mount on top of it, which is a $25 value anyway!

To play, just launch two sessions of WoW on your computer and create two toons that will be grouped together for the next 60 levels. As far as class selection goes, it’s generally easier to level two of the same class, say two mages, double pyroblasts anyone? It’s really up to you and your end goals. Either way, it will take some time to set up your follow and assist macros.

I generally get a pair of 60s up in 24 hours or less of played time. I then start another pair of toons, level them up to 30 in about 8 hours, and with the original recruit level 60, I can now grant 30 levels to my level 30 veteran toon, making him a level 60 instantly….man, you should see the language in chat when you gift these levels in the middle of Orgrimmar! Anyway, that’s 3 level 60s in about 32 hours played total!

You can do this as many times as you can within 90 days. If you have additional cash lying around, you can even transfer your level 60 toons from your recruit account to your veteran account.

And if you wondered, yes, this is completely legal, does not violate the terms of service; Blizzard has absolutely no problem with multi-boxers…I mean, it’s more money for them in the long run! And personally, I feel it’s a new, different, and challenging way to play the game.

Very detailed guides are available at dual-boxing.com.

You can also find a beginning dual boxers resource page here

Blizzard has a good FAQ about their RAF program

Multiboxing software info here

Follow me on twitter @epicdiapers and shoot me an email at epicdiapers at gmail.com.

And remember, it’s hard to balance the pew pew with the poo poo.

-Sihx, Earthen Ring US

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