Episode #5 - Leveling Outlands

First off, thanks to all our new Facebook fans!  A special shout out to Eglantine and Kushiell for actually admitting they know us and telling people about us too!

Now... on with the show notes!

This episode we talked about leveling from 58-70 with the first choice being deciding where to level once you hit level 58 and Outlands' quest open up for you.

Here are a few things to think about:

• Stay in Azeroth in Silithius to get the first Cenarion Rep to exalted, then go to Zangermarsh for the second Cenarion rep grind in Outlands
• Stay in Azeroth to do Argent Dawn rep grind in Eastern Plaguelands and Western Plaguelands, their other faction is in Northrend
• If you are working on Loremaster in Azeroth, do as many quests as you can that give you xp before going to Outlands.
• On the other hand, if you want the achievement for Loremaster in Outlands go at 58 and do each zone before going to Northrend
• Stay in Azeroth to grind the Ravasaur Mount - Horde only mount in un'goro
• Stay in Azeroth to grind the Wintersaber Mount - Alliance only mount in Winterspring
• If you are playing a Pally - you might want to finish everything in the plaguelands - undead=easy killing for you
• If the highest xp you can get matters the most to you, then move along to Outlands as soon as you can.

Some thoughts and quests in the Outlands' zones:

• Hellfire - better known as, well, Hell
• First dungeon is here
• Great quests:
• Outland Sucks - Horde and Alliance
• Mirren's Drinking Hat - Alliance (let me know if there is a similar Horde quest!)
• Zangermarsh
• It's blue and filled with mushrooms - a refreshing change after the reds of Hellfire
• The Cenarion folks are here to grind rep with
• Sporeggar faction - they are cute and they have a pet if you get to exalted.  There is a repeatable quest available after you do a series of quests for them that you can grind and level with to get the pet.
• Coilfang Reservoir is here bringing us three more dungeons and a raid instance.
• Terokkar Forest
• Not Gariath's favorite place to be
• Another dungeon hub is in the barren area of this zone
• Two great skinning quests for skinners - out of Allerian Stronghold to kill the warp stalkers and wolves.  No pre-quests and you level skinning while getting xp.
• There is a escort quest for a Mini Wing vanity pet.
• Nagrand
• One of the most beautiful zones in the game
• Nesingwary has quests for you again here that if you complete all of them will put you on your way to getting the Nesingwary achievement that concludes in Northrend.
• Skinner's paradise especially if you do the Nesingwary quests
• Can start the rep grind to get a Talbuk and War Talbuk with either the Mag'har (Horde) or Kurenai (Alliance) in this zone.  There is a repeatable turn in that (I think) gives not only rep but also xp.
• The first Ring of Blood quest is in this zone.  There is another in Northrend - do both to get an achievement.
• No dungeons in this zone
• Save the moron Corki to find out what his father really thinks about him.
• Blade's Edge Mountains
• Fidelma's least favorite zone except for the gnome engineer's area
• No dungeons and no rep grinds that I know of for mounts, etc...
• Netherstorm
• Area 52 is worth a looksee and is the goblin engineers' headquarters. 
• Several level 70 dungeons are out in this zone floating in the sky
• Shadow Moon Valley
• Demon land
• Highest level zone in Outlands, has the Black Temple raid instance
• Aldor and Sha'tar have outpost and additional quests out here if you grinding rep with them.
• Netherwing quests to get a drake if you have artisan (fast flying) skill

I've hit 68 - where should I go - stay in Outlands or go to Northrend?

The same things come into play here as they did when you decided at 58 to come to Outlands or stay in Azeroth.  If you are grinding reputations for mounts, pets or achievements, then staying in Outlands for a few levels may make sense for you.  The Netherwing and Sha'tari Skyguard both open up at 70 and have daily quests as well as repeatable gathering or killing that can get you xp.  At exalted you can get flying mounts from both factions.  Also, there is a mount from the Cenarion folks you can buy at exalted - the Cenarion War Hippogryph.

Our guildmate, Lyllea, decided to stay in outlands longer on the toon she is leveling now just to see zones that she had not quested in before on her other two toons.  So, you might just try to make sure you see it all!

Also, keep in mind that there is the random dungeon looking for group that will get you a pouch with a blue item as well as some gold and xp every time you complete a random dungeon.  Lastly, there is leveling through pvp.  Each pvp battleground will yield experience for kills and objectives accomplished at the end.

Sites of the week:
Carbonite - a leveling guide addon that has been around for a while and is still updating.
Lightheaded - an addon that allows you to see wowhead comments about a quest while staying in game - no need to alt-tab out to get info!  This is the link to WOW Interface's information about the addon.

We didn't mention it in the show notes, but Fidelma still relies on Thottbot.com as a source for information about quests and especially for basic profession information (list of patterns in order of lvl required, etc...).

That's it for this week!  Join us next week when we talk about leveling in Northrend!
~Fidelma

       

   
   
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Give Dan Work!

We love our friend Dan, and because we think he's got a voice that just begs to be used for voiceover work. He's graciously allowed us to post his email address to contact him. Do that here.

Working on the kinks

Trying to get mine and Gariath's levels the same in Garage Band so that we are more at the same volume. Also, switching back to my old mic - I think I sound better on my headset and there is no click sound when I mute.  Thanks everyone for being patient while we get things ironed out.  Gariath has done a great job figuring out how to record, upload, etc... the podcasts!  I think he is doing great!
~Fidelma

Change in topic for Episode #5

Mods have been put on hold - need to do more research and devote more time to getting that episode ready!  So, this week Gariath and I will be recording about leveling toons in Outlands and Northrend.  Both of us are leveling alts right now, so we thought this could be a timely and fun discussion to have.

Let us know if you have suggestions, comments or questions!
~Fidelma

BlizzCon 2010 dates announced

Blizz has announced the dates for this year's con - October 22 & 23 are the winners.  Still in California at their homebase and no ticket sale date announced as of yet.  Gariath and I will keep our fingers crossed about getting tickets so we can record from the show!

Episode #4 - It's Alright, We're Professionals

This episode Gariath and I talk about professions.  Here's a summary of our podcasts along with some of our tips, mod suggestions and websites of the week.

Three basic classifications of professions:

• Gathering - mining, herbs, skinning - the bonuses you get - Mining give you more  health, Herbs gives you a HoT anyone can use, skinning gives you a crit bonus
• Crafting - LW (uses leather from skinning), BS (uses ore/bars from mining), JC (mining to get ore to prospect for gems), Enchanting (mats come from any item that can be de'ed along with world drops - like elemental fire, etc...), Inscription (herbs to make inks), Alchemy (Herbs), Tailor (world drop cloth), Engineering (mining primarily but will need gems, cloth, you name it this is one uses lots of mats).
• Everyone can do them - First Aid (Fi makes everyone get this - after her Tailor has finished leveling), Fishing (it can be fun) and Cooking (buffs for everyone!)

Professions:

• Alchemy - uses Herbs, a few other mats, but by far is the easiest crafting profession to level.  At highest level you will need to do "Research" to get new recipes.  Alchemy pairs well with Herbalism.
• Blacksmithing - most likely the hardest to level but they can make chain mail up to lvl 40 and plate armor as well as weapons.  Uses a variety of mats but mostly ore/bars from mining.  BS and Mining goes together.
• Enchanting - one of the hardest and most expensive to level.  You will end up DE'ing (disenchanting) every drop you get.  Don't go 'ho yourself in Goldshire - it's too painful for words (trust me, Fidelma knows).  BE's enchanting is able to get to 460.
• Engineering - OMG - mats from everything mainly mining but the number of mats to make some things is OUTRAGEOUS, Gnomes have a bonus for this profession - Engineering skill increased by 15 - 465.  Must Engineers are miners if they gather... but many take this as a second crafting professions as well.
• Herbalism - tied for easiest gathering profession to level and mats are used by two crafting professions, this is the one to make gold off the AH USUALLY, +15 for the Cows
• Inscription - complicated process to make the glyphs, can also make dark moon fair cards and some off-hands - a PITA.  Pairs well with Herbalsim.
• Jewel Crafting - useful for any class, will blow through TONS of ore to get gems to level.  Draenei get an extra bonus for JC'ing and can level to 455.  JC'ing and Mining can go well together.
• Leatherworking - not hard to level if you are smart about skinning.  Can be expensive if you do it without skinning or if you do it at end game without going back to get your mats.  Skinning goes with this one of course.
• Mining - the PITA of the gathering professions, because nodes do not spawn just anywhere - like herbs - so there has to be a certain type of land present (think mountains/rocks)
• Skinning - it's the way to get leather and that nice crit bonus.
• Tailoring - omg, you will beg people for their cloth because you will never ever get enough in a timely manner.  Works well with enchanting because you can de the crap you have to make to level that no one really wants.  Extra bonus - cool RP clothes are yours!
• The everyone gets:
• First Aid - cloth abuse!!!!!  Everyone should really have this
• Cooking - the buffs are good, and some of the achievements are fun, Gariath suggest Thanksgiving for leveling
• Fishing - you can level anywhere now, you just may not get anything worth a flip while you fish.  Fidelma suggests the fountain in Dalaran so you can work on the coin achievements while boring yourself to tears.  Fishing is also good if you are a hunter (feed and buff the pet) and if you are leveling Cooking.
How to choose
• Easiest to Hardest
• Herbalism, Skinning and Mining for gathering
• Alchemy, Tailoring-Inscription-Leatherwoking-JC, Engineering-Enchanting (some changes with lfg), BS
• What's good for the gold?
• Herbalism for gathering and AH'ing - two professions use them
• Jewelcrafting and maybe Enchanting - especially for working the trade channels
• Good matches with toon classes
• BS and DK and warriors
• LW and Druids, Rogues, Hunters and Shamans
• Tailors and Mages, Priests and Warlocks
• Enchanting and everyone
• JC, Alchemy - really anyone
• But we know DK and Pally tailors....so anything really goes
• Mining and Herbalism for Druids - in outlands and northrend you do NOT have to come out of flight form to get the nodes, you can farm so much faster
How to level your professions
• Three ways:
• leveling with two gathering professions to make money and then choosing a crafting prof at 80; This works well if it is your first toon or if you are starting a toon on a server where you do not have a high level money maker.
• Leveling a crafting profession as you level along with its corresponding gathering profession (if one).
• Leveling a carfting profession at 80 can be expensive.  As all DKs know - since they start from scratch at 55
• End Game
• Enchanting - Once you near the level cap - try to get a few enchants that people look for, then offer it in Trade or look for people needing it.
• Jewel Crafting - once you hit near level cap you can finish leveling by offering services in Trade or looking for people to need a few cuts.  Chose a few to get that you see people needing often or ones that you use.  
• Some people have two crafting professions - these people either know how to make gold on the AH and questing to buy all their mats or most likely, they have alt(s) that can help collect them.
• Some tips
• Fast flight - it matters (see druids... grrrr)
Addons to help with professions

• Gatherer - Garetia (The WoW Noob Blog) suggests getting the import from wowhead with nodes, she also says leveling mining is evil and reminds us that the AH fluctuates greatly in price (leather).  BTW, you can share your nodes with others.
• Carbonite - like quest helper
• Receipe Radar - if you are in a particular zone, and if there is a vendor there that sells something for it they will let you know.  Tells you who and how many they have for you.
• Altoholic - keeps tracks of all your professions so you can look at what you can do even if you are on a different toon.

    Website of the Week

http://wowguideonline.com Quickly level your professions using this site. This site helps you level professions by suggesting different items to produce. It's broken down by level range (levels 260 to 275 in tailoring suggests making 15 runecloth belts) and tells you the quantity of materials needed to move through each level range. The site has a blog and forums, but honesty compells Gariath to say that he has no idea what they are like.
         
 http://www.thenoobschool.com/worldofwarcraft/ - has concise guides for leveling, including mats that you need.  Leveling is broken down by the old caps - where you would have to go get training to get 'artisian' etc...   The home page includes patchnotes that effect professions.  Fidelma used this to level and it was suggested by her good friend Azyrth.

That's it for this week - next week we are talking about mods!  Be afraid - very afraid!

Thanks again to Dan and Neige for helping us with voicework and artwork for Leveling Azeroth!  We love you guys!

~Fidelma

We Have a New Logo!

 Thanks to our friend, Neige, we now have a new show logo. To see more of her work, visit  her deviantART page.

Episode #3 - Guilds, Guilds, Guilds (with apologies to Motley Crue)

Welcome to our third episode!  We're a little late getting this one recorded, but it is finally done and we are set-up for next week.

Gariath and I (Fidelma) have both been leveling toons in Outlands - well, Gariath has moved on to Northrend with his Pally, but my druid lags behind.  Wedding planning and my fiance are taking up a lot of my time - but I'm managing to squeeze some wow time in here and there.

Now - on with the topic of the week - Guilds

What is a Guild? For those of us who have been playing a while, we know what they are, but for new folks,  you may be trying to figure it out.  Guilds are basically people who have chosen to 'group up' for a variety of reasons.  Most guilds either focus on leveling, social/fun, PVP, Role Play, Raid or some combination.

Gariath and I talk about picking a guild that is right for you as well as good old fashion guild drama.  Breaking-up is hard to do, and in a guild it can even be worse.  Sometimes in a divorce the guild has to decide who they are 'getting.'  If you find yourself needing to leave a guild, do so in a classy way.  I always tell people to sleep on it, if they suddenly get the urge to leave a guild for whatever reason.  Sleep on it - and if you still need to leave, send the guild lead a note or tell people why politely before you leave.

Our Guild, Silver Dragoons on Shadow Council server, has been through a lot of changes, but has manage to survive.  Originally set up to be a place for former guildmates to weather the storm and so myself and Azyrth wouldn't have to keep guild hopping, SD has morphed into a smaller, but dedicated guild.  I like to describe us as a small but fierce guild with amazing players who like to kick some 10-man butt.

One word of caution when starting a guild - always check the other names on your server.  Our guild is "Silver Dragoons"  there is another guild on our server called "THE Silver Dragoons" - you can imagine the confusion!  THE SD is an RP guild, so it makes it interesting when someone gets the wrong one.


Our site of the week is the WoW guild relations forums at: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com

A variety of information is available for you here including other players' opinions and their experiences with guilds form creation, membership, guild websites and management.  Be warned: Trolls aren't just limited to Kalimdor.

Next week - Professions!