This blog is being shut down. Fortunately, Alazar is not! I'm moving to a better blog format, so go to the NEW ALAZAR now and enjoy!

Posted by Alphasim

10:29 AM Oct. 12th, 2008

I figured it was time to catch everyone up on my whereabouts in WoW, so here's what's going on.

I, as Gavelier, recently spent a long stretch of time in Kalimdor, using Gadgetzan and Darnassus as my bases of operation. I went to Felwood and Azshara for the first time while up north and did my first real foray into Un'Goro Crater. When I wasn't visiting new zones, I was trying to level up and grind rep with Darnassus. I have a serious desire for a nightsaber mount, and I'm only 5600 reputation points away from getting one. Yeah, I've got my (nearly) free paladin warhorse, but I want something different, and I'd rather have a nightsaber to a ram or an elekk. If only I could ride mechanostriders!

On the subject of levelling up, I reached level 52 this morning. That means that since I started this blog on Oct. 4th, I've gained 4 levels. I may make it to lvl. 55 before Wrath of the Litch King yet! Anyway, I got my Crusader Strike for filling in my Retribution talents finally. It's ok, but I'm not yet sold on it. It seems to miss more often then I'd like. I also upgraded my blade from the Beheading Blade I mentioned before to a new Warmonger. Aside from a vicious look (see a pic HERE), the new blade's to-hit buff comes in handy. As for the rest of my gear, I'm working on replacing Gav's near-full suit of Overlords armor with Imperial Plate. So far I have the only parts available to my level - the belt, shoulders and bracers - giving me the bonus for having at least 2 parts of the set (+100 armor).

I've also reached Artisan level in engineering, allowing me to pick a disipline, Goblin or Gnome. I chose Gnome, because I don't have allot of use for the guns and explosives of Goblin engineering. I passed my entrance test and got my membership card.

As for odds and ends, I completed the questline for Marin Noggenfogger, netting me the Noggenfogger Elixer. I've seen folks all over the place under it's influence, and now I've got my own! I did drink all of mine, though, so I'll have to get more. Also, during the recent Brewfest holiday, I earned enough Brewfest Tokens to join the Brew of the Month club. September's Binary Brew was weird (it made you speak in Gnomish Binary), but October's Autumnal Acorn Ale, which makes a small animal love your character, is just plain off. I'm interested in seeing what odd brew November nets me.

That's all for now, everyone. I'll check back in later!

Posted by Alphasim

8:25 AM Oct. 10th, 2008

Having swam from Theramore Isle in Dustwallow Marsh to Tanaris to get to Gadgetzan, I'd never had the need to go through Thousand Needles. Therefore, while I was killing Rocs for Rhapsody Shindigger's Kalimdor Kocktail and saw a path leading north out of Tanaris, I was intrigued. I followed it and came upon the Shimmering Flats. As someone who's only been playing WoW for a handful of months, there are still places that are on my to-see list, and the Mirage Raceway was one of them (Booty Bay, Gadgetzan, and the Barrens are among those already scratched off of said list). Call me a tourist, but it's something I enjoy doing. So when I came upon the Shimmering Flats, completely by happenstance, I was thrilled. Now, I've been places where you can easily see mirages before, Las Vegas among them, and this place definately fit the bill for a mirage (but I kept wondering where they were going to put the volcano/fountain). In any event, I hung around for a while, took in a race, and did some quick quests for the two racing teams before posing with my warhorse for a shot with the two racers. It didn't net me much XP or anything worthwhile (other then more quests for racer sponserships), but it was perhaps the most fun half hour or so I'd had in WoW in quite some time. With all of the grinding and questing I've been doing in harder areas, this was a welcome break. That's my advice for everyone; take a break every once in a while and do something simple that you can enjoy. Be it fishing, cooking, or - like me - sightseeing, partake in something relaxing and you'll come back to your adventures refreshed.

Posted by Alphasim

1:08 AM Oct. 7th, 2008

This is the first of our Sights Seen series, featuring pix from WoW that are amazing, unique or beautiful. If you have one to donate, please send it to me here. No UI please, unless it adds to the picture.

When I first got to Feralis with Gavelier, I really didn't know what to expect, but when you consider the nearby zones - Tanaris, Desolace, The Barrens, and even Mulgore - I expected a very arid, rough land. When I was met with a semi-tropical enviroment, I was stunned. I took allot of pics on my first run through it, but this is my favorite.

(Edited because I kept calling Feralis, Tanaris. I was actually in Feralis)

Posted by Alphasim

2:49 AM Oct. 6th, 2008

	The graphical overhaul is subtle yet beautiful. I love the play of light and shadow across everything. Shadows move dynamically now, and you'll notice your characater coming out from under the shade of a tree, dappled in light at first, and then brilliantly lit.
	The choice of three judgements for paladins, as well as the fact that they no longer dispell your seals, will re-write how pallies are played. It's nice for me, as a retribution-specced paladin to fire up Seal of Command and then just hit the enemy with whichever judgement fits - Wisdom for mana regen, Light for health regen, and Justice to stop mobs from fleeing - and still get the Seal of Command's benifits. The judgements no longer renew when the mob is hit, though, so you'll be casting it more often. The new seals last longer, too, up to 2 minutes from 30 seconds. They've even buffed up the eye-candy for seals - in particular Seal of Command - so they look more powerful. Nice touch, Blizzard.
	A maxed-out Judgments of the Wise talent can keep most paladins pumped with mana, so long as they keep judging. This plus Improved Judgements and a maxed-out Bendediction (which, admittedly, hasn't actually changed) are critical to my playstyle.

Improved Blessing of Kings is broken atm, and doesn't provide the full 10% stat benefit it should. It only gives you the 2% stat bonus of the base spell, which makes it useless for pouring talent points into. I hope this gets fixed by the patch's release, or there's going to be allot of unhappy paladins.

	I have to admit that the glyph system is awesome. It's also - at least on the PTR - expensive. I dabbled in inscription, but don't count on getting any herbs - needed for inscription's ink - at a decent price anytime after the patch's release. 20 Peacebloom - the most basic herb you can get - are going for upwards of 500g on the PTR. Unreal. I actually started buying up herbs for inscription about a month ago on my main server to beat the rush, and it seems I was right on. I've been hearing allot of whining and moaning about herb prices, and it can only be because of the upcoming inscription profession.
	The glyphs themselves are allot of fun, and can really differentiate one player from another. I'n addition to Gavelier, Budman is on the PTR. Budman's major glyph is the Glyph of Slowfall, which, by releaving the spell of it's reagent, is going to save Budman money and bag space. I don't use the spell allot, but I can use it allot more now.
	There seems to be a few new passive buffs in the game. Mining nets you the Toughness buff, but I'm not sure when you earn it or when it's upgraded. On a related note, humans get a new racial ability called Every Man for Himself, which is good for getting out of traps and negating movement debuffs.

Unfortunately, Budman is under level 20, and - despite having an alt in about every class, race and profession - my only avatar over level 20 is Gav at 48, so I'm not in a position to test all of the new abilities. I'll update again when more comes to the fore.

Posted by Alphasim

10:35 AM Oct. 5th, 2008

Posted by Alphasim

2:34 AM Oct. 5th, 2008

I was a big fan of Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth by Dave 'Fargo' Kosak at Gamespy, so it's no surprise that I'm writing my own spinoff. Gavelier's World of Warcraft features my main (Gavelier), one of my alts (Budman), and a character loosely based on the WoW-hating Betasim (Sibyl). Gav has helped Sibyl kill Hogger, aided Budman in killing a bunch of Defias mobs, and been shown up by a low-level druid. Now, after calling in a favor from a 'well connected' friend, Gav has dug himself a hole and will need Budman and Sibyl's help to dig his way out.

As a side note, Fargo now has a new strip out called Flintlocke vs. the Horde, so read that as well.

Posted by Alphasim

8:36 PM Oct. 4th, 2008

First and foremost, I've been working on Gavelier, my human paladin, allot lately and I've finally gotten him to level 48. I would love to reach lvl. 55 before Wrath of the Litch King hits, but that's not happening. I struggle allot in this game with enemies and areas that I theoretically shouldn't. I recently upgraded my sword from Witchfury to the Beheading Blade, but the new sword is extremely slow in comparison. So much so, in fact, that most baddies I should kill are giving me grief because I take so long between hits. With that thought in mind, I've kept Witchfury in my inventory in case I should need it.

I dinged while in the Searing Gorge, killing Dark Iron Dwarves, golems, and elementals for a series of quests. A couple of them, such as Job Opportunity and Flawless Flame I could grind in an area not far from Thorium Point, making them fairly easy. There was a camp just off from where I was where a Dark Iron Taskmaster and a Dark Iron Slaver would spawn alone, and there was a plethora of Heavy War Golems, Fire Elementals, and Magma Elementals to kill without getting ganged up on. I did get the Key to Freedom quest from a dark iron dwarf drop, but I'm not sure I want to follow up on it.

In other news, on my server yesterday, the Horde invaded Stormwind. I happened to be there, so I did my best to slow them down. I got 7 honor points, so it wasn't all bad. I did die about three times, though. Once, a Blood Elf warlock hopped onto the Deeprun Tram, and when a group of us jumped on to kill him, he jumped back off and the tram carted all four of us away to friggin' Ironforge. We felt kinda dumb. We got word on our way back that a group of Horde raiders had gone from Eastvale Logging Camp to Goldshire, and was en route to Stormwind. We all hopped on our mounts once back in Stormwind and rode to the gates where - to our horror - we saw over twenty of the Horde, laying waste to everyone. Everyone riding out from town stopped where we'd stopped and just stared. Finally, we all rode out as one, and I died. Twice. And then I logged off.

This was a gutsy move by the Horde, and getting this far was alone a great achievement. I respect this allot more then I do the raids on Auberdine and Azure Watch. I was in Auberdine when it was raided a few days ago, and it made me very upset. Level 60-70 players slaughtering level 10-15 players. Where's the fairness there?

I'll be updating again soon, so look for it!

Posted by Alphasim

7:00 PM Oct. 4th, 2008

Comments added manually later, be patient!