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How to make 10,000 gold in a month - Sat, 31 May 2008 19:00:00 EST
I like to have a bit of gold on me at all times. When I see something I want for one of my alts, it's nice to be able to just buy it without thinking about the ramifications for next week's farming and raiding. There's a strategy that I've been using for a couple months now that'll let those that follow it earn upwards of 10,000g a month.

To use this strategy, you need to have access to the following:

• Rare T5/ T6 patterns
• A steady stream of Badge of Justices or Hearts of Darkness
• 5 hours a week set aside for hard core farming
• A second account
  

Those might look like insane requirements to some, and they're not wrong. They are a bit steep. However making this amount of gold should not be easy and be able to be done by everyone. But with that said, it's not too hard to get into a T5 guild these days, and weekly Kara runs plus a few heroics can get you 30+ badges a week.

Read on after the break for the complete strategy.

Continue reading How to make 10,000 gold in a month

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Welcome back to beautiful Alterac - Sat, 31 May 2008 18:00:00 EST
The forums have been quiet lately. Quiet about Alterac Valley, that is. Whereas the changes brought about by Patch 2.3 resulted in an uproar, with reports of entire realms reportedly boycotting the Battleground, Patch 2.4 seems to have delivered a modicum of balance at long last. Prior to the last patch, some people seemed to believe that the new mechanic prevented the Alliance from winning the Battleground unless the Horde played below par. The stink brought about by the supposed imbalance was so huge, in fact, that Blizzard quickly hotfixed Balinda Stonehearth and Vanndar Stormpike to have more life in an effort to "assist in balancing the opposing sides."

In Patch 2.4, Balinda and Vanndar were restored to their original (lower) health totals and included minor tweaks in order to further balance the ambitious map. The biggest change in the patch, however, was a geographical one. The Horde starting cave -- which was reputedly so close to the game objectives that it gave the Horde side an unfair advantage under the new mechanics -- was abandoned and a new one created further South. The old cave is still there, oddly, except that now it's just an empty hollow where people can presumably AFK in peace.

Continue reading Welcome back to beautiful Alterac

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Ready Check: Reliquary of Souls - Sat, 31 May 2008 17:30:00 EST

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Even if they are mysteriously conglomerate faces...

Continuing our jaunt through Black Temple, this week's Ready Check looks at the Reliquary of Souls, also known as the Essence of Souls (RoS or EoS for short). How often is it you get to fight three oversized faces joined together? Savour this opportunity now...

You'll encounter RoS by making your way through Black Temple, usually after either Teron Gorefiend or Gurtogg Bloodboil, depending on how your guild prefers to do things. Let's take a look at the fight.

Continue reading Ready Check: Reliquary of Souls

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Know Your Lore: Brann Bronzebeard - Sat, 31 May 2008 17:00:00 EST

Welcome to Know Your Lore, where each week Elizabeth Wachowski and Alex Ziebart bring you a tasty little morsel of lore to wrap your mind around. Sweet, sweet lore. Mmmm. Oh yeah, and it's late this week. Blame it on the severe dehydration. Or Alex, you can blame him too, if you want.

Continuing the Wrath preparation train, this week's Know Your Lore will take a look at one of the three Bronzebeard brothers. Not the King one or the dead one, but the eccentric, probably-should-be-dead one. The one and only Brann Bronzebeard, explorer extraordinaire.

Brann Bronzebeard is the very definition of a Jack of all Trades. He's an explorer, a linguist, a warrior, an archaeologist, et cetera, et cetera. He is the premier member of the Explorer's League, and while the guild was founded under an edict by Magni, Brann was one of its founding members.

Continue reading Know Your Lore: Brann Bronzebeard

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WoW Rookie: Mad weapon skillz - Sat, 31 May 2008 16:00:00 EST

WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know.

One of my favorite things about World of Warcraft is the wide variety of sharp, pointy objects and projectiles at my disposal for beating on my foes (and occasionally my friends). At times I find myself overwhelmed by the number of options for each class, and I've always wanted a handy guide to what I can use and where to get it. Since I couldn't find such a guide, I've decided to create one. Hopefully you will all find it useful also.

Continue reading WoW Rookie: Mad weapon skillz

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Arcane Brilliance: Leveling your Mage, 1-20 - Sat, 31 May 2008 15:30:00 EST

Every Saturday, Arcane Brilliance freezes you in place, then Blinks behind a pillar and turns Invisible. You can look for Arcane Brilliance if you want to, but I can tell you that's a bad idea. You see, while you're looking, Arcane Brilliance is positioning itself behind you, cooking up a giant Pyroblast and aiming it up your tailpipe. You really only have a few options here. You can a.) cry, b.) curl into the fetal position and wait for the sweet embrace of death, or c.) distract Arcane Brilliance by quickly yelling "Spell damage is more important that spell hit rating, discuss!" and then log out while Arcane Brilliance is busy posting on the forums about what you just said. I'd go with c.), personally. Works every time.

Recently, I discovered that there seem to be leveling guides on this site for just about every class but Mages, so it's time I stepped up to the plate. The problem is, Mage was my very first class, on my very first character, on my very first foray into the World of Warcraft, which took place approximately forever ago. Ok, so it's only been about two-and-a-half years, but in WoW years, that's the rough equivalent of a million kajillion years ago. My memories of those first few levels are fuzzy at best, and I can condense what I remember learning into two statements: "Murlocs are evil," and "The only way out of Undercity is to use my Hearthstone." One of those statements eventually stopped being true for me, and the other one is "Murlocs are evil." Needless to say, I didn't feel entirely qualified to write a leveling guide for the first few levels of Magecraft.

To rectify the situation, I decided to roll a brand new Mage, so that I could experience those first few levels all over again. To ensure that the experience was as pure as I could make it, I created my Mage on a new server--the newest actually--Cairne. I knew nobody on that server, and had no alts there, so this Mage, a Human female I named Niwt, would be an entirely virgin Mage. I had never played an Alliance Mage before, and never leveled any character in the Human starting area, so the quests would be new to me, and the landscape foreign. I disabled all of my mods and dove in.

It was horrible.

I learned a lot though, or remembered learning a lot, depending on how you look at it. After the break, more text!

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Leveling your Mage, 1-20

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The fan art of Warcraft - Sat, 31 May 2008 15:00:00 EST
I write a little, mostly intermittent column called The Art of War(craft). As it's a PvP column, I actually intended for it to be a play on Sun Tzu's The Art of War. On the other hand, I'm also an artist and I found that my recent trip to Internet-less limbo gave me enough time off from World of Warcraft and blogging about it to actually work on some illustrations. Of course, being the true WoW addict that I am, what better way to celebrate my withdrawal symptoms than by drawing Warcraft-related art?

I put WoW Model Viewer to good use as I used it as a reference for drawing. Being unable to go online to take actual character screenshots, I drew up a list of my wife's character's gear from memory and added some flair of my own, such as an exaggerated off-hand tome. It was my very first time working on Corel Painter, so I struggled a while with my colors. I was rather pleased by the result, though, specially on Jhuutom, her Warlock's felhunter. In the tradition of true World of Warcraft addiction, I've been working on my own character art as well. A larger-sized image after the jump. Pogi points to the first one who can identify the weapon she's holding.

Continue reading The fan art of Warcraft

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The Art of War(craft): Choosing PvP targets part II - Sat, 31 May 2008 14:00:00 EST

The gates open. We rush to the left side and head up the ramp, scoping out the opposing team from across the bridge, seeing totems drop and a Warrior peeking from behind the pillar. The Warrior's buffs reveal a Paladin, a Priest, and a Mage. 2345... a mirror match. As tab selections and they F key fill out our Proximo, it's time to get to work. Our Warrior charges the Shaman, our Mage starts spamming Ice Lance, and our Priest throws in a perfunctory Shadow Word: Pain while our Shaman keeps on Purging their Warrior.

As soon as the Warrior is stripped of all his buffs, a target switch is called out on vent and we all focus on the Warrior. Cooldowns are blown, a Counterspell thrown, and in about ten seconds their Warrior is dead and we switch to another target. After another five or ten seconds, two of them are down and it's all cruise control from there. The Shaman was a bluff. The Warrior was always our primary target, but we needed the opposing team to commit enough resources to protecting their Shaman in order to pull off a Warrior gib.

In PvP, particularly in Arenas, choosing the right target can make or break an encounter. It's probably one of the most critical skills in PvP. From the Battlegrounds to the Arenas to world PvP, it's important to learn how to choose your battles. Last week we glossed over the important factors in learning to pick the right target, such as awareness of your limitations and a good grasp of your opponents'. Exactly how to do that, however, is much trickier.

Continue reading The Art of War(craft): Choosing PvP targets part II

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WoW Model Viewer, how I heart thee... - Sat, 31 May 2008 13:00:00 EST
WoW Model Viewer saved my life. Well, ok, not really, but it kept me sane these past two weeks. See, our router and modem were fried by a lightning storm and soon after we got them repaired/replaced, our service provider decided to go all wonky on us. So I was Internet-less for a while. This means no WoW Insider, no blogging, and -- gasp -- no World of Warcraft.

If you're like most WoW addicts players, you would understand how frustrating it can be without Internet. Ok, having no Internet is frustrating by itself, but as a WoW player, you have to admit it can be additionally upsetting. My wife was fidgety each time her cooldown for Brilliant Glass rolled around. Fortunately, with the help of VMWare Fusion, I was able to recently install WoW Model Viewer on my Mac. The useful application has long been used as the tool for machinimists and comic artists everywhere.

Continue reading WoW Model Viewer, how I heart thee...

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WoW Moviewatch: Death Quest - Sat, 31 May 2008 12:00:00 EST

Fans of Chronicle of the Annoying Quest will have to wait for a few weeks for Episode 25. In the meantime, Bakasavant Productions created a scary parody of an anime show, Death Note. Death Quest is simply a WoW version of the second opening for the animated series.

This is one of those machinimas that leaves me scratching my head. Since I'm not a fan of anime, I'm probably missing some key element here. However, given how well the Vic Mignogna WoW commercial parody went over, it seems that a lot of you will enjoy it!

[Via Warcraftmovies.com]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

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Neth on Death Knights being the only new class - Sat, 31 May 2008 11:00:00 EST

We all know by now that Death Knights are the new class being added with Wrath of the Lich King. And, what's more, they're the only class being added with the new expansion. Skudo (Altar of Storms) doesn't like that much, and would rather see Shadow Hunters or Demon Hunters added.

Posts like these are common enough, but Nethaera showed up to add some clarifying candlelight. First, she reiterated that Blizzard isn't closed to the idea of adding more classes in the future. But what she really seems to strive to get across is that adding a class isn't easy.

There's a lot that goes into creating a new archetype for players to operate, play, defeat, vanquish, and exploit for every bit of Warcraft goodness. There's balance to consider, and the need to make each class play in unique ways. Heck, we all spend enough time arguing now about whether the existing classes are even balanced. Can you imagine what it's going to be like with a brand new class added?

So these things take time. Assuming that Blizzard's team pulls off Death Knights well, I'm pretty sure we'll see more new classes in later expansions. Let's see how the first new class goes, before we put our eggs in new baskets.

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Around Azeroth: The murloc suicides - Sat, 31 May 2008 10:00:00 EST

What is with you raiders and your murloc abuse? Just a couple of days ago, in this very feature, a murloc was left to face Brutallus with naught but a Blizzcon flag to defend himself. Now Cygerstorm of <Satellite> on Anvilmar, frustrated by his guild's habit of hot-tubbing in volcanoes on Supremus, has dressed up in a murloc suit and sacrificed himself to the massive infernal. Even worse, he's brought out the supremely (har har) annoying Kwee Q. Peddlefeet to smirk at his demise. Please, people! Stop the murloc snuff! Won't someone please think of the children?

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. And please, no sunsets, and this is our last murloc suit pic for a while.

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Déjà vu in WoW comic contest? - Sat, 31 May 2008 09:30:00 EST
A new winner has been announced for May in Blizzard's World of Warcraft comic contest. While I like the art, I didn't find it particularly funny... but only because it already seemed very familiar. It turns out that a comic with a similar theme had already won the contest in June last year. It's not quite the same, but to me, the joke seemed to be the same thing: an overweight passenger on an undersized mount.

If you look at the comparison of the two comics (after the jump), even the color palette seems to be the same. They're both set in Hellfire Peninsula, too. While I honestly don't think one copied the other, I couldn't help but feel there was some sense of déjà vu with the whole thing. I mean, I like the art -- they're both nicely drawn -- but the joke seems to be too similar for me to laugh at the second one. Maybe the folks at Blizzard just find the idea of big guys on small mounts -- in Hellfire -- so funny that they just have to make it win again.

Continue reading Déjà vu in WoW comic contest?

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Why do people blog about WoW? - Sat, 31 May 2008 09:00:00 EST
Why do we feel compelled to spill out our guts all over the intertubes for the entire world to read? The answer, of course, is a subset of the larger question, why do people blog about anything? It's probably a variation of the same question that medieval bards asked the operators of the first printing press: "Dude, why do you want to put yourself so, I don't know, out there?"

The "serious" answers get all sociological and some junk. We want to be heard popping off about our opinions on talent trees, bragging about one-shots, or feeling part of the larger WoW community outside our own servers.

However, as a WoW blogger myself, I know that the truth about us isn't nearly that pretty. We blog to brag about Kara exploits or show off our expertise on the Hunter class, a frame addon, or prime Oily Blackmouth fishing spots . We dream of demi-celebrity status in the WoW community. We try to provoke people into replying, sometimes with generous link love. We like to have the first scoop on expansion news (essentially, more showing off). We gossip about guild drama, sometimes wrapped up snuggly in the ignorance of our fellow guildies that we even have a blog. (There is a sweet freedom in finding the comfort of internet strangers.) We blog for artistic expression and to make others laugh.

And the main reason we blog? The same reason we feel itchy when we haven't called Mom in a few weeks: guilt.

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Breakfast Topic: Have dailies replaced old fashioned grinding? - Sat, 31 May 2008 08:00:00 EST
One of the stated goals of making daily quests so vast and varied in WoW is to help out those people who would rather quest for money than grind primals all day and night. A good goal, and definitely one that I support. Questing is usually a lot more entertaining than grinding out piles of motes.

However, to me it doesn't seem like dailies have replaced grinding as a way of making money. It works fine as an alternative, but it doesn't quite stand up to other ways of generating gold. Dailies make it easier to get money, but it doesn't seem to me like it's the best source of income, contrary to what most people say about daily quests. Dailies allow you to make one hundred gold in an hour, but farming the right primals can get you quite a bit more. Even Fishing in the right places, as Eliah pointed out to me, can double or triple what you could make in that time through daily quests. Let's not forget that the gold generated by daily quests has inflated the market on some items required in crafting, making it even more profitable to grind out the raw materials.

What are your thoughts on daily quests as a replacement for old fashioned farming and grinding? As an alternative? Have they done their job well as another option for generating gold, or have they just thrown the market off? Is it possible for anything to actually usurp grinding raw materials as the number one money maker?

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One-day credit for Misery (EU) - Fri, 30 May 2008 20:30:00 EST
Firstly, I would like to apologize for the image at right, which is really not directly related. However, the only thing I could think when seeing the battlegroup name was Helium going "Miiiisewy" -- watch these flash videos, especially the first one, and understand.

Now that's out of the way, here's what I meant to talk about. Apparently the realms in the European battlegroup Misery had some maintenance difficulties on May 21st and 28th, and will be compensated by the upstanding people at Blizz with a free day of playtime.

So if you have a character on any of the following realms, enjoy your €0.43 worth of credit:
Aerie Peak, Boulderfist, Eonar, Frostmane, Grim Batol, Jaedenar, Kazzak, Kilrogg, Outland, Ravenholdt, Stonemaul, Tarren Mill, Vek'nilash, and Wildhammer.
Oddly enough, they're also giving a day's worth of rested bonus to affected characters, which is something I haven't seen them do before. I wonder if that's going to be the norm in the future.

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Insider Trader: Gathering, the final stretch - Fri, 30 May 2008 20:00:00 EST

As we round out the final stretch series, I thought it fitting to end with the three gathering professions; mining, herbalism and skinning. While these are fairly self-explanatory in terms of maximizing one's skill, there are tips for the most profitable avenues available.

For miners, I've compiled a list of where mining deposits are to be found, what else they drop, and what level you'll need to have in order to mine the ore up and smelt it.

I've broken down each of the Outland herbs for herbalists, including the buffs they might award, which provinces have which herbs, and where the herbs tend to grow. Many herbs also drop motes and other herbs, as well.

Skinners will be interested in the list of the types of leather, hides, and scales, where best to farm them, and how profitable such a venture might be.

Along with a brief discussion of the benefits of gathering daily quests, you should leave with all the information you need to plot a quick and profitable route to skill 375.

Continue reading Insider Trader: Gathering, the final stretch

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WoW Insider Show live tomorrow afternoon - Fri, 30 May 2008 19:30:00 EST

Yes, our weekly podcast is back on the air tomorrow -- it's everything you love about WoW Insider, in pure, distilled audio form. This week, Daniel Whitcomb and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli join myself and Turpster to chat about all of the most popular posts on WI in the past seven days, including the big news of the game being beaten yet again, the Onyxia soloing that's been going on lately (first a Druid, and then a Paladin), and why account sharing is wrong, mmkay?

And of course we'll be chatting live on IRC at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel (or just over on the Chat page on WoW Radio), and we'll be reading and answering your emails and questions -- send us a note if you'd like at theshow@wowinsider.com. And come to think of it, there's some fun stuff to chat about over on the show's forums, too, so we'll have to throw some of that in as well.

We go live at 3:30pm EST (which is 8:30pm GMT), so if you're around, definitely be sure to tune in and listen live. We'll see you then!

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WoW Player Stories updated: Military stories - Fri, 30 May 2008 19:00:00 EST

The official World of Warcraft Community site has updated its Player Stories section with two new stories from military personnel. Both are short and easy reads, so I'm not going to spoil them here for you. They're kind of heartwarming, and help put WoW in a little bit different light. The stories definitely show another side of why some players play the game.

It's pretty easy for some folks to forget that there are people on the other side of the computer. Real live human beings, who have friends and family. And, for some players, the whole reason they're sitting down at the computer in the first place is to get access to those friends and family. And, remember, even Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says one of the great things about World of Warcraft is its social experience.

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[1.Local]: Readers talk back - Fri, 30 May 2008 18:30:00 EST
[1.Local] serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Readers put their heads together on all sorts of topics this week: the basics of tanking, the lore (or lack thereof) behind Deathknights from every race as well as Deathknight profession leveling, and a long thread on add-ons readers crave.

Readers also talked about the recent world-first raiding accomplishments - who cares, and who doesn't? Readers on both sides of the coin came together in a round of applause for SK's Kil'jaeden kill video. Readers got into a scramble again over the age-old issue of age, before finally uniting to reminisce about unconventional dungeon runs.

Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts - unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Readers talk back

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