PTR 4.1 :: Goes Without Saying...

Capped via those lovely people at MMO..

Considering how much trouble this bow caused when I first won it, and the fact it was my First Ever Epic (TM) I feel I will be competing rather vociferously for it again on it's return in ZG come 4.1. MMO has the first of the Epic Loot datamined available for viewing this morning and I'm putting cash on 'modified' old gear skins with new stats. Having said that, The Hexxer's Mask has now become a healing item and if they change the looks of that there will be words...

[RARE SPAWN UPDATE: Only two yesterday. However this does mean Blade's Edge is also done.]

We Interrupt This Scheduled Post...

... with the shock news that after over THREE YEARS [*] of farming, my husband finally got a Bindings of the Windseeker to drop from Baron Geddon in MC. When asked how he felt, the Wonder Pally was lost for words.

This may be a good time to buy a lottery ticket... ^^

[*] That's three years, every reset or thereabouts, public and personal holidays aside. Can't fault him for persistence...

PTR 4.1 :: Subtle Changes

Finally made it back to the PTR today, and was able to escape the Barrens to Winterspring at last...

Yes, they're impossibly cute. Deal with it!

There's no limit on how many Winterspring Cubs you can buy, if you have lots of 50g's to spend. Not having time to queue for ZG or ZA I was going to have a poke about in the Ghostlands, and on the way I took a look at the standard interface... a few things have changed.

Titles are now far easier to see and select.

The three buttons at the top right make perfect sense: portrait for your stats, the Titles button and your equipment sets, which also appear in the same drop down menu. Reputation has also been given a much needed overhaul with Guild Reputation now listed first as opposed to last. The Looking For Guild interface is also further along, and although the laughable 256 character 'notes' panel still exists, we have some developments if you're hunting for a place to go.

No, I don't want to join the Guild with 0 members... ^^

It's still horribly basic: pick the Guild with the prettiest icon and the highest Guild level (or the most members if this works like Facebook/Twitter popularity) and send a request, sit back and wait. The more I think about it there could be a use for this as a GM, depending on how much 'homework' a GM/Officers are prepared to do when investigating new applications. Considering the number of guild currently cluttering up Trade with adverts on my server during any given day... this could be a winner. Time will tell.

I hope to have some free time tomorrow to get back to the PTR and stick myself in a ZA queue...

Blimey Charlie :O

Happiness is lucking out on your first day \o/

Needless to say, an early morning run at the Rares of Outland seems like a good way to start. In the hour after fishing, I managed to find four on my list:

• Doomsayer Jurim
• Speaker Mar'Grom
• Voidhunter Yar
• Collidus the Warp-Watcher

plus two that aren't, Bro'gaz the Clanless and Zraator, but both of whom still drop Blue-quality loots. This means I'm done for spawns in Nagrand, leaving only nine to find. Not bad for a first sweep! Of course the fewer I have to find, the harder this is going to get...

Bloody Hell!

Can't beat some mild profanity to start the week.

At least one person on Guild (waves at R) has an achievement I have coveted for some time: Bloody Rare. I'll have to link the Medium Rare achievement from MMO because it's one of those funny 'kill one and the name changes' deals but the fact remains, this one isn't something you can knock off in an afternoon. This requires planning, thought and some help. As I've been doing the daily Outland Fishing Quest in the hope of finally getting Snarly in my bag (plus the fact that it's by far the easiest way to farm Water Walking potions) it occurred to me I should probably be having a quick pop round TBC Land on my way to see if I can pick any of these guys up.

I am aware of how important a macro is when searching out any rare spawn. I know there are addons that will do this for you but personally I don't think you can beat good old fashioned button mashing to get a job done. The macro for the Outland Rares is wonderfully simple:

/tar Fulgor
/tar Mekt
/tar Vorak
/tar Martic
/tar Bog Lurk
/tar Coilfang Em
/tar Crip
/tar Doomsay
/tar Okrek
/tar Goretoo
/tar Voidhunt
/tar Morc
/tar Hema
/tar Speak
/tar Nura
/tar Ever-Core
/tar Chief Engineer L
/tar Collid
/tar Kraat
/tar Ambassador J

There is one mob in Hellfire that burrows underground (Fulgorge) and is therefore untargettable (except ofc when dead ^^) This means we'll also need an idea of where to fly to find him, and this is where the first of my two addons comes in.

Rare Spawn Overlay tells me that I'm in one of Marticar's three spawn areas,
time to start mashing that macro button...

Rare Spawn Overlay is a thing of genius, and basically sits over your minimap with a set of colour-coded markers which correspond to rare spawn areas. I plan to use this in tandem with the excellent Silver Dragon addon which when I do target a rare spawn will sound an alert and give me a visual warning of which rare I'm looking for. Using all three of these last night I was able to snag a Rare in Zangermarsh:

A ded Rare Spawn with the Silver Dragon 'alert' showing

It occurs to me that the best time to do a lap of Outland is early morning, while it's still quiet. I intend therefore to do an exploratory run in the morning...

A Weekend Off!

So, I had a couple of days off. It was my daughter's 6th birthday on Saturday and frankly that was far more important than anything Azeroth might have thrown at me. So, nothing to report, but expect some movement next week on various long-term achievement goals... :D