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World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Review

steven on July 26th, 2007

After countless raids on Molten Core, Zul Gurub, and Ahn Qiraj, it’s no surprise that some folks were growing tired of playing World of Warcraft at the level cap. Despite small content additions made to the game through patches, many people have several level 60 characters and there just wasn’t much left to explore, with the possible exception of the game’s most difficult instances. World of Warcraft has been nothing short of a sensation for last two years, but it was evident that fans were ready for a major expansion, and Blizzard has answered their call with The Burning Crusade.

Outland Awaits
The Burning Crusade is a large expansion by any measure. The new persistent continent, Outland, consists of 7 zones, some of which are comparable in size to The Barrens. Hellfire Penninsula, the first area you encounter on the other side of the Dark Portal, is literally crawling with level 60 characters questing and pummelling each other over the PvP objectives in the middle of the map. Raid schedules have been abandoned, at least temporarily, and people seem genuinely thrilled to have their experience bars back as they anxiously pursue the increased level cap of 70.

New dungeons in the Outland are being conquered, although they do represent a significant challenge for characters in their early 60s that don’t have top tier equipment from the “old world.” The last boss in the 5-man Ramparts dungeon has certainly inflicted serious damage on groups with low fire resistance. No doubt these will get a lot more routine as people accumulate experience and loot in the expansion, but they now have difficulty settings which will make them more replayable, and there are numerous more difficult dungeons further into Outland, each of which deserves a review of its own.

When you first enter Hellfire Pennisula you witness a huge NPC battle at The Stair of Destiny. You’re quickly given a flight further into the zone, where enormous level 70 elite Fel Reavers roam about crushing unsuspecting players that get caught in their path. While there are heaps of quests to tackle, only a few have really stood out so far. The bombing runs, which have you dropping explosives on mobs from the back of a Windrider, are very memorable, and they do a wonderful job of forshadowing things that could be done with the new flying mounts which can be purchased at level 70.

These flying mounts don’t come cheap, and they only work in the Outland, so your trusty ground steed will still come in handy in the old world. There are, however, certain areas in the new zones that you can’t reach on foot, so saving some gold is a good idea.

Altogether the Outland is rather like launch day all over again, except everyone is 60+, and there are far fewer server outages. Server queues during peak hours have been quite common, but I suspect that will gradually subside as the initial thrill wears off. Overcrowding is a bit of an issue, as the mobs in first couple zones have barely been able to spawn fast enough for the rush of players.

There’s a lot of new content I haven’t explored yet, and being a relatively casual player, I suspect it will take me quite a while to see it all. A few of the highly dedicated types in our guild pretty much gave up sleep and raced to level 70 in less than a week. Of course, that’s not possible for the average person who actually has a life. If you’re one the latter, expect to spend weeks or even months reaching the new level cap.

At the end of the day, The Burning Crusade will be judged on how much there is to keep level 70 characters busy. Raid content in the expansion is 25-man rather than 40-man, probably due to complaints about how difficult 40-man raids are to organize. As you can imagine, there are a number of additional factions to grind as well, but sooner or later players will likely end up running the same instances over and over again.

Obsolete Equipment
One common concern is that the additional content is bound to undermine items many people spent months persevering 40-man raids to get their hands on. As people approach level 70, it’s inevitable that most of those hard-earned, soulbound items are going to get vendored. Halfway to 63, however, I can’t say I’ve come across anything yet worth giving up tier 2 armor for. There are some very nice drops in the new areas, but taking set bonuses into consideration, I don’t expect to be replacing most of my old gear for a few levels yet.

Another small issue is that the old world raids are in danger of being completely neglected by players, because it’s relatively easy to get comparable equipment in the Outland. The old dungeons and raids may need revisions to get people interested in them again.

New Playable Races
Two races have been added to the game: Blood Elves for the Horde and Draenei for the Alliance, each of which comes with a new starting area. Class restrictions for the game’s factions have been loosened up, because Blood Elves can play as Paladins, a class formerly only available to Alliance, and Draenei can play as Shaman. It’s an understandable move from a balance point of view, but it leaves us with “evil paladins,” which seems a little absurd no matter how much lore you throw at it.

I rolled a Blood Elf Hunter to check in on the budding Horde Paladins, and the starting grounds were very lively. What I’ve seen of the Blood Elf zones is impressive. The high standard of artistry has been maintained, even if they don’t have the funniest joke emotes. My biggest problem with Blood Elves is that they look and feel like an Alliance race. The Horde was an evil army of orcs, skeletons, and other ugly creatures until these preposterously cute Blood Elves came along. Personally, I’d have gone with something foul like ogres, gargoyles, or goblins.

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World of Warcraft Priest Grinding Guide

steven on July 26th, 2007

This priest powerleveling guide was listed on the WoW forums and it is really a good read and has a lot of grinding locations available that will be helpful to more classes than just a priest. Give this a good read even if you are a different class, don’t discount it if you don’t play a priest. (The grinding locations are near the bottom.)

My advice on where/how to powerlevel:
The part you’ve probably been waiting for. Quest for the first 20 levels or so. Since I was alliance, I starting doing Deadmines at about level 19, and I did Deadmines several times for decent EXP.

Summary:
Do very, very few quests from level 30 to level 52. Then do quests as quickly as you possibly can until you ding at 60.

Comments: If this area is packed with players, you can always jump over to the Ghoul area north of the Skeleton area. Watch out for Mor’Ladim. The second “Night Watch” quest is here. Raven Hill is rather far away from the graveyard; don’t die as you will have a long walk.

Levels: 26, 27, 28, 29
Where: Duskwood
Mobs: Level 27-29 Ghouls (Raven Hill Cemetary/Catacombs), Level 26-30 Ogres (Ogre Mound)
Comments: I’m sorta at a loss about what to say for these levels. Personally, I did a lot of Duskwood quests here. The Worgen quest gives a 24.2 dps wand (if you didn’t do BFD) and the Bride of the Embalmer quest gives a 7 INT/7 SPR pair of shoulders. Do whatever for these levels, but if you’re going to quest it up in Duskwood, do bunches of quests at a time to minimize travel time. Set your hearth to Darkshire, also.

Levels: 29, 30, 31, 32
Where: Northeast Duskwood (Manor Mismantle)
Mobs: Level 29-30 Fetid Corpses
Comments: There are two treasure chests here (one in the middle of the area, one in the house). Be careful of Stalvan inside the house; stay away from him since he curses you. You’ll need to remove the disease these zombies give you. You’ll get lots of wool and a bit of silk from here. Pretty close to the graveyard.

Levels: 33, 34
Where: East Desolace (Kolkar Village)
Mobs: Level 31-34 Centaurs
Comments: There is one grind quest here for Centaur Ears, and the quest reward is a 7 SPR ring. You can easily get a ton of silk and mageweave here. Level 33-36 were the slowest leveling paces and the most painful. I’m wondering if there are better places to grind than in Desolace (e.g., Arathi trolls perhaps?). If you want my personal opinion, avoid Stranglethorn Vale, especially if you are on a PvP server as you will not get anything done quickly. Not far from the graveyard in the center of the zone.

Levels: 35, 36
Where: Southeast Desolace (Magram Village)
Mobs: Level 32-36 Centaurs
Comments: This can be a tough area to grind in, if you let it be. You have to find the correct spot and just get in a groove. For me, I used the spot on the map where the land juts into the lake to form a peninsula. There is a small tower near, and you can cross the bridge and kill the mobs on the island if you would like. Beware and avoid the Pack Leaders at all costs (they spell easy death). Figure out their movement paths so that you can avoid them. Not far from the graveyard in the center of the zone.

Levels: 37, 38, 39, 40
Where: Northwest Badlands (Dustbowl)
Mobs: Level 37-39 Lesser Rock Elementals
Comments: Your greatest grinding will probably take place here. Your mount money will come from here. Elemental Earths sell for 75 silver to 1 gold a piece on the auction house on my server, and stacks of 20 Solid Stone sell for 1.5 gold to 2 gold. Make use of the auction house! At level 40, I had about 200 gold thanks to Badlands. The Elemental Earths are also good if you are a tailor (powerlevel your tailoring skill with the Earthen Vest pattern. There is also a grind quest for the Lesser Rock Elementals. IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you are NOT using a nature-based wand. Elementals are IMMUNE to nature damage. If you are an enchanter, you can craft yourself a Greater Mystic Rod (level 175). Right near a graveyard if you die.

Levels: 39, 40, 41, 42
Where: South Badlands (Mirage Flats)
Mobs: Level 39-40 Rock Elementals
Comments: These guys are located very south in the mountain area. Another grind quest here. You’ll continue to get fast experience and make big money here. The only downside to grinding these Elementals in Badlands is that you won’t have much mageweave (if you’re a tailor). At level 40, your EXP/hour will shoot up to around 30,000!

Levels: 42, 43, 44, 45
Where: Southwest Badlands (Camp Something)
Mobs: Level 42-44 Greater Rock Elementals
Comments: There are two areas with these guys, one to the east of the Ogre cave and one to the west. The eastern area in the hills is the larger of the two and works best for grinding. The area is circular, so you can just go around in circles over and over again. If the eastern area becomes packed with players, you can switch back and forth between the two areas easily. Also, there is another grinding quest here. Right near a graveyard if you die.

Levels: 45, 46, 47
Where: East Tanaris (Lost Rigger Cove)
Mobs: Level 44-45 Southsea Pirates
Comments: After 9 levels in Badlands, you finally get some change of scenery. This area can be have quite a few players around, so you’ll need to be fast. As a Shadowpriest, you should kill (and recover) things FAST, so you grind very well in crowded areas. There are five quests of note here, most of them starting in Steamwheedle Port (Northeast of Gadgetzan). There’s a pirate hats quest, two WANTED quests worth doing, a grind quest, a ship schedule quest, etc. The map fragments quest and the Find OOX-117 quests are NOT worth doing, by the way. You’ll get decent Mageweave cloth here. Grind both inside the fenced area and outside it, just wherever there are respawns. Work your way around.

Levels: 48, 49, 50
Where: Southwest Tanaris (Thistleshrub Valley)
Mobs: Level 47-50 Thistleshrubs
Comments: More elementals (so don’t use that nature-damage wand). These are great for alchemists since they drop Gromsblood, Blindweed, Ghost Mushrooms, etc. The Rootshapers go down VERY quickly for mobs at this level (low 2000s HP). There are two quests here (both in Gadgetzen, one is for Noggenfogger). I experienced a high green drop rate here and even found a purple (Flurry Axe sold for 300 gold). You should be hitting 33,000 EXP/hour here.

Levels: 51, 52
Where: Southwest Western Plaguelands (Sorrow Hill)
Mobs: Level 50-52 Skeletons/Ghouls
Comments: This is very tricky grinding. This area will be very crowded, so you may not want to grind here at all. For these levels, I sometimes logged on late at night and did these when the server population was low. This area is very streaky. For a few hours one night at like 7pm, I grinded totally undisturbed. It is a great area since the mobs are weak, you get Runecloth, Scourgestones for Argent Dawn reputation (keep that A.D. Commission equipped!), etc. Right near a graveyard if you die. You also might want to consider grinding in Felwood for Timbermaw reputation or even for Felcloth during these levels, but that will probably be just as crowded.

Levels: 52, 53, 54
Where: Un’Goro
What: Quests, Level 52-54 Tar Lords/Lurkers
Comments: I held off on Un’Goro until level 53 for a reason. On my last character, I quested in Un’Goro starting at level 50, but I found I was unable to do half the quests and by the time I reached level 54-56, I was dry on quests everywhere. The Tar Lords/Lurkers are EXCELLENT to grind since they drop Living Essences (which you can either use for Timbermaw recipes, Hide of the Wild, or just the auction house). These elementals drop herbs also. This spot’s very near the camp (vendor/repair). It is important to note, however, that you should begin doing quests again. Do all of the quests in Un’Goro with few exceptions. You probably don’t want to do the entire Linken Chain since it involves a lot of travelling, but you can do the first few parts before giving up on the chain. Be wary of the Pterodax quests. Don’t spend a lot of time on them. Try to keep an eye out for Pterodaxes while you’re riding around like an idiot collecting soil (for a quest in Darnassus, if you’re ever near there) and crystals.

Level: 55
Where: Felwood
What: Quests, Level 48-50 Furbolgs/Level 51-52 Satyrs
Comments: Felwood is a tricky zone, but many of the quests here are worth the travel if you do and turn in several at once. While crisscrossing across Felwood, I completed the Timbermaw Ally quest several times. You will want at least Unfriendly reputation so that you can access Winterspring. The Satyrs drop Felcloth, but these areas will be crowded with farmers. In my experience, the northern area (Jadefire Run) was very crowded, but the southern area wasn’t. You can probably get 3/4 of a level out of Felwood. Note that the quest where you have to explore the craters and kill 2 Entropy Beasts (or whatever) is incorrectly marked elite (you can solo it just fine).

Levels: 55, 56
Where: Winterspring
What: Quests, Level 53-56 Winterfall Furbolgs, Level 55-58 Yetis
Comments: Felwood and Winterspring go hand-in-hand, and you’ll run back and forth between them a lot. When you reach Winterspring the first time, you should have two quests from Un’Goro that direct you to Donova Snowden. Most of the quests here are pretty easy and straightforward. The Yeti-Fur one is a bit difficult, so try not to focus on it in particular. Try to do it gradually as you ride around Winterspring. If you can catch the furbolg areas free in the western part of the zone, you can grind there for easy EXP and reputation (the Totemics are very weak). The Yetis in the eastern regions and caves are great grinding as well. Note that for the Winterfall Runner quest, there is one Winterfall Runner in Deadwood Village in Felwood that you can kill to obtain the package (so you don’t have to run around searching for those three runners). Also, the Recipe: Mooncloth pattern can be bought from a vendor in Everlook.

Levels: 56, 57
Where: Western Plaguelands
What: Quests
Comments: Western Plaguelands is most definitely an awesome zone in the game. There are so many quests here in such a small zone. Do all four of the cauldron quests. Try to get a group for Araj. At level 56, I was able to do the “All Along The Watchtowers” quest without aggroing the elite inside the towers (inch up to the door slowly). There are a couple quests that start in the Inn in Andorhall. At the first farm, there is a ghost inside the house that starts a line of quests. At the second farm, there is a diary on the floor in the barn that starts a line of quests. At the third farm, there is a dead druid in one of the houses that starts a line of quests.

Additionally, there is a lone human in the northern part of this zone that starts a line of quests dealing with the Scarlet Crusaders. The final quest in this line is probably one of the best quests in World of Warcraft. Tip on soloing it– PW:Fort, Inner Fire, PW:S, jump on your mount, ride like hell through Hearthglen, use Psychic Scream at the bottom of the tower where the two Paladins are, renew/shield yourself going up the tower, make sure you get credit for the quest at the top of the tower, jump off so that you land on the wall beneath and don’t take as much damage, use a potion/Desperate Prayer if applicable, run like hell out of Hearthglen. 6200 EXP and 1.75 gold quest reward. I was averaging about 50,000-53,000 EXP/hour during this time.

Levels: 57, 58
Where: Eastern Plaguelands
What: Quests
Comments: Tirion’s quests are nice and lead to the eventual “Of Family” quest in Scarlet Strat (which gives an AWESOME cape). They are grueling and take a while, but they are well worth the EXP and the latter quests in the line. Be very careful of the quest “Of Forgotten Memories.” It is very unlikely that you can solo it. Slowly make your way toward Light Chappel’s Hill, killing all the Bats/Hounds/Grubs and doing a couple Darrowshire quests. There are a lot of Bats concentrated near the Marris Steed, and a lot of Grubs Northeast of that tower near there. Avoid the quest where you have to explode the eight Ziggurauts (takes too long). There are some frustrating quests here where you have to gather a list of supplies or bring something from another zone (e.g., the Fragments of the Past quest where you need Crystal Restore from the Northern Pylon in Un’Goro and a quest item from outside Dire Maul). You’ll probably want to avoid these quests. You’ll dip down to 40,000 EXP/hour here, but that’s still pretty good.

Levels: 58, 59
Where: Silithus
What: Quests, Level 57-58 Rock Elementals, Level 58-60 Twilight Cultists
Comments: Find a group to do all of the elite Hive quests at once, and you’ll get nearly half a level upon completion of all of the quests. You’ll be grouping a lot in Silithus. You can grind Scorpids for Scorpid Blood drops if you want, or the Rock Elementals for Essences of Earth. The Twilight Cultist camps will probably be crowded with people farming gear/tablets, but then again this entire zone is packed but very fun!

In conclusion:
If you plan on healing in end game raids, you’ll probably want some variation of Disc/Holy (31/20 or 26/25 seem to be the two most popular versions). If you want to respec, you can do this at any time after about level 56, but I recommend just rushing through to level 60 while you’re still Shadow. Also, you might want to PVP your way up to Sergeant for that additional 10% discount before you spec healbot. Of course, you don’t have to spec healbot at all. Spec whatever you want.

I’m currently sitting on a level 57 Shadowpriest with 650g in the bank account and just over 7 days /played, and I’ve had a lot of fun thus far on my Priest.

If you come up with any additions that are needed or if you just want to clarify different areas of this guide just drop an email or post at the forum so I can add to or clarify whatever is needed.

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World of Warcraft Power Leveling Guide

steven on July 26th, 2007

This is another guide that I have used and found extremely useful IF you have the time required to make this profitable. Yes, it can yield you 500 gold in 2 days but you will have to play 8 hours a day in order to do it! For some people this just isn’t realistic.

As a 60 Rogue in full epic gear(bloodfang) I can kill these in about 7 seconds each, literally. The respawn rate is insanely fast, When you kill the whole spawn camp of them which is about 11-12 and take a 1 minute break you’ll start having respawns to kill.

Where does the money come from you ask?

First you have some stackable gray items that are very commonly dropped:

Large Bear Bone(Non-Stackable) - 14s 84c each
Bear Jaw(Stackable) - 8s 98c — 89s 80c per Stack of 10.
Savage Bear Claw(Stackable) - 5s 78c — 57s 80c per Stack of 10.
Bear Flank(Stackable) - 5s 78c — 57s 80c per Stack of 10.
Wicked Claw(Stackable) - 5s — 25s per Stack of 5.

I make anywhere from 9 to 13 gold in gray items per hour here.

Even without the skinning compared to most places this is a great camp for gold/hr. But skinning is where a lot of the money to come from if you want the results like I get.

You can skin Rugged and Thick leather off of these. My server prices are 2.50g per stack of Rugged and 1.50g per stack of Thick. Server prices are going to range, The intake of gold on this obviously is based only on my servers prices, But you will still make amazing gold here if you put the time in.

So where does all the money come from?

I take 8 hours a day and I run it here, Straight. Not every day, Usually in the evenings and into the late hours on the nights I’m not raiding and ocasionally if there is a third day I’ll get up around 7am to start and I can be done around mid afternoon so I can enjoy the day or do something else in game.

A single hour run brings on brings me in 6 Stacks of Rugged Leather and 5 stacks of Thick Leather. I don’t know if it’s because my kill rate is fast or just pure luck, But I can’t remember when I have come away from this with less leather then that in an hours run.

6x 2.50g = 15g per hour
5x 1.50g = 7.5g per hour

If I average out my usual grey items income per hour then I come away with 10.5g per hour. I’m going to edit this tomorrow and record all of my drops and leather intake from my 8 hours, But this is accurate. I’ve been making money like this for months now.

Now, On to the juicy part…

Intake per hour based on Leather sales on the AH is 22.50g Per HOUR.

Intake per hour based on sellable greys averages out at about 10.50g

33 Gold per hour.
Wipe the drool off keyboard and keep reading

I run this 8 hours per day, Two days a week. Sometimes 3 but rarely. Skinning is obviously required to get the bigger chuck of change for your time. Some of you all day BG’ers could make literally thousands of gold here in a week if you took a week off from all day long BG and went here, Just a thought. And I’m not exaggerating. Thousands.

I try to run these 2 days back to back and I generally refuse to put up my auctions and vendor until I have my 16 hours worth of loot. I just throw it all in the bank.

At the end of my 2 days I usually end up taking 510g - 545g out of my mailbox. +\- a few gold for randomness of drops.

I have over 5000g in my bag right now. If you want an exact number then it’s 5649g. All of that gold was made in this spot except about 600g.

Maybe some of you should thinking of switching professions

Anyway, This made me rich. Simple as that, Hopfully it will do the same for you.

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World of Warcraft Guide - Grinding Locations

steven on July 26th, 2007

This guide will be the “mother of all guides” when it comes to grinding locations. Many of you have asked about a guide that has nothing but grinding locations for WoW so here you go! All of these spots have been tested and verified and for some ppl are the best grinding locations that they often spend time at. Remember, if you don’t have time to grind yourself or you need Gold in a hurry check out this gold/powerleveling resource.

Warning: You might see some World of Warcraft cheaters using bots in these spots. The grinding spots are in order of level and class of character.

Level 32 Warrior (Arms spec)
Location: Shimmering Flats, running laps skinning/mining en route
Level of Mobs = 30-35
Total Gold = 3.3g/hr

Level 33 Mage
Location: Shimmering Flats
Level: 30-35 critters
Total Gold = 3.24g/hr

Level 35 Warlock
Location: Boulderfist Outpost (near Refugee Pointe)
Level of Mobs = 30 - 32
Total Gold = 2.50g/hour

Level 38 Rogue
Location: Deadmines
Level of Mobs = 15-25
Total Gold = 7.55 g/hr

Level 44 mage
Location: STV gorillas NE of BB
Level of Mobs = 40-41
Total Gold = 4.5g/hr

Level 44-45 Mage
Location: STV Nagas NW of BB
Level of Mobs = 43-44
Total Gold = 2.68g/hr

Level 47 Warrior.
Location: Tanaris Ogre camp
Level of Mobs = 46-48
Total Gold/hour = about 4g/hour

Level 47 Paladin
Location: Undead in Azshara
Level: 45-47 IIRC
Total Gold: About 6-7g/hour

Level 48 Druid
Location: Tanaris(SandSorrow Watch)
Level of Mobs = 43-45 Elite Trolls
Total Gold = 5g/hr

Level 48 NE Hunter
Locations: Scarlet Monastery grounds and interior Outside the instances
Level of Mobs = 29-32 Elite
Total Gold = 4.66g/hr

Level 48 Warrior.
Location: The Slag Pit in Searing Gorge
Level of Mobs = 46-48
Total Gold = about 6g/hour

Level 50 Mage
Location: The Hinterlands
Level: 49-50 Saltwater Turtles on the Shore North of Horde town.
Total Gold: 6.60g/hour

Level 54 Hunter
Location: Nagas in Azshara
Level: Lvl 48-51
Total Gold: 15g/hour

Level 56 Hunter
Location: Razorfen Downs
Level: 37-42 Elite mobs
Total Gold: 5.06g/hr

Level 58 Rogue
Location: Scarlet Monastery - Library Section
Level of Mobs = 32-35 Elite
Total Gold = 19 - 21g/hour

Level 60 Hunter
Location: All Blue Dragonkin, Azshara loc roughly (39,77)
Level of Mobs = around 51 elite
Total Gold = 7g34s/30 minutes

Level 60 Hunter
Location: STV - Cold Eye Baslisks
Level of Mob: lvl 40
Total Gold: 4g50s/hr

Level 60 Paladin
Location: Khazaran, Deadwind Pass
Level: 59-60 Undead Residents
Total Gold = 4g44s/hr

Level 60 rogue
Location: Jadefire Run - Demons - Northwest Felwood
Level of Mobs = 51-54
Total Gold = 5.67g/hour

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