Horde numbers increasing, Reputation Satchels, Vend-O-Tron D-Luxe!

FOR THE HORDE! This weekend saw what was probably a new record for the F2P Horde of Aerie Peak. We had 40 people online at the same time for a consistent 2 hours, NOT during the fishing tournament, and when the tournament came around even more people came online. I don't think I saw the number drop below 20 until well into late night. At this point I think I can say that, if Wargame battlegrounds were working for low levels, we'd be able to run a full 15v15 Arathi Basin with Horde alone.

If only Alterac Valley was possible.

By now absolutely everyone playing Free to Play should know this, but in case they don't, here's a tip I meant to post LONG ago, but did not get around to. For every city faction you get revered with, you can buy a 16 Slot Satchel. There's a total of 6 bags that you can buy, enough to fill your bag slots and 2 in the bank as well. Alliance, however, can also get 2 more 16 slot bags, the Harpy Hide Quiver and Gnoll Skin Bandolier, from Gaelden Hammersmith, that sadly Horde cannot get.

Each city has their own version of the reputation satchel.

Ever find yourself stranded while farming, leveling professions? No durability? Forgot that damn Skinning Knife again? Well, there's no need to run back to org as of Cata, thanks to the Dungeon Finder system and Cata's overhaul of Deadmines! The Vend-O-Tron D-Luxe, added in Cataclysm to the entrance of Deadmines, is a godsend for those moments. Simply queue up for Deadmines, Enter, grab the stuff you need, repair, and leave right back where you were. No running back to the city.

The best thing to happen to Deadmines.

Mok'ra,

~ Thirk

Profession Guide: First Aid (1 - 225) SOLO

I finally decided to finish up my First Aid, and decided to go ahead and get through the gruesome farm. But it turned out a bit easier than expected (blame it on the class if you'd like), and I found an interesting area that more than just people doing First Aid might be interested in.

Linen Cloth of course is the easiest, and while leveling you should be collecting as much as you can. I suggest farming the low level areas with Humanoids. Silverpine Forst or Durotar is great for Horde and Alliance can stick to Teldrassil or Dun Murogh. This is easily the fastest part of leveling First Aid and honestly you should have it done by the time you're 20.

Wool Cloth should be farmed in Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep. Both places have tons of Humanoids with pretty good drop rates.

Now I'm sure most people have no problem with Linen and Wool, so here's the main point of this guide. Silk is normally only dropped in decent amounts off level 30 - 40 mobs, but I've found a very nice farming area with level 25 - 26 mobs. Silk Cloth drops off Saltscale Warriors at a 12% drop rate. The area they're found in has nothing but these murlocs. In addition to Silk Cloth, I've gotten a few greens and a good amount of Healing Potions. Not to mention these mobs have some of the higher drop rates for the coveted Hyacinth Macaw! There's a good chance that after a few toons leveling First Aid you just might nab yourself the parrot. In about 30 minutes I've gotten, on average, 30 Silk Cloth and 6 Healing Potions, along with 4 or 5 greens.

However, there is a catch. You're going to need to breathe underwater to effectively farm these murlocs. Do NOT attempt to farm without it, you're really wasting your time. Luckily, you can get all the mats for Elixir of Water Breathing within the area, and there's no reason you shouldn't be an Alchemist already. The Elixir lasts for an hour, not 30 minutes, since you craft it yourself. Once you're down there, just move around in circles, they're in packs of 5 - 10 and you should have no problem farming them. It took me about 3 hours total to farm ALL my Silk Cloth, from 150 - 210.

Once you can breathe underwater, you're set for a nice farming session.

For Mageweave, and your final tier bandages, I've got a small tip for Horde. Andra, a Silvermoon vendor, sells 2 Mageweave every few hours. Once you're fully geared, head over there and stock up. Unfortunately Alliance is out of luck in this aspect. Aside from that, you can get higher level help or try and farm level 39 - 42 Death Singers in EPL. Good luck, and happy farming!

Her cloth sales bring all the Horde to the yard.

Dabu,

~ Thirk

Perfecting the Hunter, Alliance Gear IS a problem, Macros, Hunter Spreadsheet!

After my venture into rolling a Shaman and gearing one up rather well, I decided that I wanted at least one twink to be fully completed. I went back and started mercilessly grinding for my Ring of Precision and Arena Grandmaster. I've yet to get any closer to my Arena Master or my ring, but I've decided I want my hunter to be completely Best in slot. Slowly starting to regret not being Blood Elf or Human...

The difference between a fully geared Human Hunter and a fully geared Troll Hunter.

While we're on the subject of races, up above are the exact calculated differences between a fully geared Alliance Hunter and a fully geared Troll Hunter. Obviously, the Human wins, and by a big margin. As far as Survival goes, considered the most viable spec, we have a gain of 1.46% Crit, 0.46% Hit (Troll being 0.38% under the cap), 9 AP, 1.85 white DPS, 2 damage and 104 HP. It's nothing to laugh at, and I'm not so sure Berserking makes up for it. 

Macros are an important part of any "Big Game" Hunter's arsenal. I recently started using 2 VERY useful macros that might help you out.

This macro will automatically use Lifeblood and Berserking when available and cast Steady Shot, which will reduce your attack speed  nicely. All "ability is not ready" errors are suppressed, so this is perfect for replacing your normal Steady Shot bind. In clutch situations (arenas), you may not want to use this, and instead choose to bind Lifeblood and Berserking seperate from Steady Shot (but together).

#showtooltip Steady Shot                             
/run sfx=GetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX");                 
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0                           
/petattack                                           
/cast Lifeblood                                      
/cast Berserking                                     
/cast Steady Shot                                    
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()                           
/run SetCVar("Sound_EnableSFX",sfx);                 

This next macro is useful for pet ability management. My mount macro also dismisses my pet, because I never know what I'm going to encounter next in battlegrounds. I have the following bound to 3 and my Bird of Prey to Shift-3 instead of adding a modifier to the macro, so I don't need to mess with my other character's binds. When I know whether I need an interrupt or disarm, I summon the required pet and then use 3 for it's ability.

#showtooltip                                         
/cast [nopet] Call Pet 1                             
/cast [pet:Bird of Prey] Snatch                      
/cast [pet:Moth] Serenity Dust                       

Lastly, I recently released my spreadsheet for hunters, which was used to calculate the differences between Alliance and Horde hunters a few paragraphs above. You can find more information and a download link over at Twink Info.

Strength,

~ Thirk