Thursday, August 25, 2011

R.R.B.L. Replacement!!!

This folks, is why you waste time on youtube. While checking out Roskmeg, Boglund, and , I came across a fantastic new item. It is called Halaani Whiskey, and it actually improves on Rumsey Rum! This drink is purchased in Nagrand, which is now opened up to trial accounts due to BC/Vanilla being bundled. Though only 3 can be held at a time, I think it would be worth it to grab a few sets and bank them (not sure if that's possible).

Luckily, the drink costs around 1.5g, so twinks on a budget can still afford them. This is truly inspiring, and I am going to start playing again just to grab this stupid whiskey. Someday...I WILL HAVE THE HIGHEST HP IN A BG!!!


Monday, August 22, 2011

Alts

My favorite twink class will always be huntard, but I think it is time to make some new guys. Since my shaman dinged 20 off damned exploration XP, I will be making a rogue and priest. So far, the rogue is vastly OP, and the priest's shield essentially triples my health.

I chose these classes because they both have nearly all key functionality by level 14.

For the rogue, I want to make a kind of haste twink, with Berserking and Lifeblood as integral parts of a rotation. This would probably make combat the prime spec option.

The priest will be an FC or FC support. If I can get enough cash by level 14, I will stop in the lower bracket for the first time!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Well, after an extremely frightening afternoon, my hunter has been restored after accidental deletion. Thanks to blizz support, especially GM Turenai (I think).
Goddammit! I deleted my hunter accidentally... Hopefully blizz comes thru and helps me out here.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

An Interesting Idea

Browsing around the WoW forums, I see that the trial twink concept is really starting to explode! There are probably 4 threads on the New Player forum devoted to this idea, and I found some external links in those threads that are worth checking out.

I had never even considered grinding for rep, but this twink acquired Ambassador! As one of the only titles available to trial players, I consider this worth the EXTREME amount of work. There is plenty of other information on twinking if you click around this person's blog, I have no clue who they are or where they play, but I do respect this player.
Guide to a level 19 Ambassador

Bracket Choice

Sorry for the lapse in updates folks, I was on vacation in Florida! No internet for me, and I can't say I missed it terribly.

Today's discussion topic is bracket choice. There are 3 PvP brackets available to trial players: 10-14, 15-19, and 20-24.

It may seem obvious that the last choice there is foolish, as most players would be above a twink in level. However, that range of levels does not provide any truly key abilities, and twinking is extremely rare in the 20's. The addition of mounts at that level makes the game feel more complete, and several gear/buff improvements can be obtained at level 20. If you want to feel like a paying WoW player, this may be the bracket for you. Likewise, if you want to pump your stats up as far as possible, a higher level will always provide an easier path.

10-14 is a new division, built to reduce the effectiveness of twinking in low BG's. The idea here is to pick a class that gains an extremely OP spell either from a talent specialization or early on from trainers. It can be used to assassinate and decimate unsuspecting players. Another benefit is that gearing up in this bracket is extremely uncommon, and if one wears even full uncommon armor, he or she will have enormous advantage over almost all players in battle. The flip side of that, is that gear is nearly impossible to grab at such a low level, without the use of the dungeon finder.

Lastly, the infamous 15-19 bracket. Really, it should be called the 19 bracket, because lower players are few and far between. This range is the original twink arena, and will certainly pose the most challenge to any twink. As this is the objective of twinking, this is my chosen bracket, and the others are for relaxing after blowing up the legitimate twinks. Not much needs to be said here, as almost all of the blog deals with play at level 19.

Please comment with any ideas on class/spec choice in any of the brackets, and I will attempt to answer any questions related to gear.




Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Let's Start A Community!

So everybody has friends on WoW. Most of those friends like to do things together, so why not group up and twink around together?

I propose organizing on a chosen server, and adding each other to the standard friend's list (RealID does not work on trials). Twinks, in lieu of a typical guild, could use some sort of a clan tag system to identify themselves as such.

Right now, I am on Khaz Modan, but I'm open to switching off. If I am in-game, I will be in the Alliance capital cities, a dungeon, or a battleground. Feel free to find me in Stormwind (my main city) and /say something to get my attention. As trials are EXTREMELY limited in communication, that would likely be the only way to contact me, other than this blog, or the WoW forums. My character name is Bowhemian, though I am also leveling a shaman to twink -- Handell.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Gearing A Hunter

Since I am approaching Best in Slot on my Hunter, I figured I could/should put out a list of what gear you want to make sure to grab. Some things may be better for you based on your spec, but this is a decent list.

Source: Deadmines
-Impaling Harpoon (7 agi 7 stam) from Helix Gearbreaker 24% drop

Source: Shadowfang Keep
-Black Wolf Bracers () from Lord Walden *
-^Rugged Spaulders

Source: Wailing Caverns
-Basically any Fang gear
-Venomstrike (nature damage proc) from Lord Serpentis
-^Serpent's Shoulders

Source: Dungeon Bag
- Tumultuous Cloak of the [Monkey or Bandit]
-

^ Indicates roughly even stats between gear choices, a personal preference.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Celebration!

Huzzah! After closing the gap in health, WSG can actually be fun! I had a great team behind me and one nearly dedicated healer, which was a first. I am extremely proud to be top of BG in Damage and KBs. I would of course have liked to contribute more in the way of flag defense, but I think pulling two rogues off our runner for the third cap was helpful :p

Here's my screen cap....

Friday, August 5, 2011

Woot XP OFF!

I have finally reached the ten gold cap, and have found that Wailing Caverns farming is best if you can afford to level up. Promptly after canceling my experience at the NPC near the Stormwind Battlemaster, I entered a WSG 15-19. Here, I was astounded at the rudeness of twinks. Honestly, they hated me. I was a 'bad', though i got far more kills than most... They resent any player with under 1300 health, and encourage them to leave with emote tricks. Hopefully there is more respect in Arathi Basin, a slightly less twink-centric battleground. I prefer node style games anyway. Hopefully I can gear up enough to show all of these jerks up!


I will continue farming dungeons for blues, and work on getting support for a run to Arena Grand Master. With two of those, and some Rumsey Rum Black Label, I will have just over 1000 health. Without BiS gear, or any heirlooms I think that is acceptable.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Secondary Profs

I have noticed that secondary professions (fishing at least) break the alleged skill cap of 100. This will be useful for improved bandaging from first aid as well as better food for buffs/bg healing. Hopefully this holds for all profs!

Better Way To Raise Funds

I was getting extremely sick of making leather, so I decided to look around for better options. My first thought was "Hmm, I'm gonna be twinking, might as well level up First Aid." And that was the solution. Near Sentry Hill in Westfall, there is a small camp of Humanoid mobs. If you kill the last one in the group, another spawns! It is as simple as that.

For maybe 20 minutes, I was grinding the grey mobs, gaining no XP, plenty of linen cloth, random item drops including potions, and armor/weapons from grey to green. I think I made around 80 silver in that time, and that certainly beats crafting. This may be the best non-dungeon route to go if you need to make money without leveling, and I am sure there are more spots just like it.

If any real people read this blog, please comment! Tell me what you want to know, tell me what I am doing wrong, complain about the ads! Click them, but feel free to voice your opinion-I do have a  college education to pay for after all...

Grinding To 19

Anyway, you are probably wondering what the optimal route to level 19 is. I have no clue. It depends on your play style, commitment, skill, and intentions after reaching the lofty heights of pre-cap S. Ed. Wow. I, as a NE Hunter, quested through the storyline of Teldrassil until level 10, when I began to do BG's. This got me up to about 16, where I stopped and switched to Dungeon Finder. I should have switched earlier- instances are fantastic sources of gold. About 1 gold per run, actually.

I have explained to my teammates that I was going to twink, and they allowed me to ninja most rare drops. Vendoring these, along with the 30-40 silver bonus from a Random Dungeon completion, add up to a very nice sum. Had I done this ASAP, I might not have to farm LW for 4 gold...

Speaking of profs, I would recommend either 2 gathering profs, or mining/BS skinning/LW pairs. I don't like Alchemy, because it vendors for crap, and vials are expensive. JC is a viable pair with mining as well, but I don't know it well, so I opted for the more useful set of Skinning and LW. On to the grind!

And so it begins...

My friends, it is time to seize the opportunity. Blizzard seeks to get us hooked on WoW in a mere 20 levels, and compel us to purchase the Battle Chest. Why? Some say greed, others say pure malicious intent to brainwash the world. I for one, don't care.

The starter edition allows a player to do so much in Azeroth that it is a waste to pay for an account in my eyes. Sure, it is a lot of work to gear up your character for competitive play in 15-19. But it is free. The 10 gold cap is a pain, but it is enough to stop your XP! Most importantly, at level 15 you gain access to the dungeon finder for great (okay good) weapons and armor. These will allow you to play well in the battlegrounds and earn honor towards your heirlooms -- yes. The trial accounts can buy heirlooms with honor or justice points.

I am not a PvP savant, but I do enjoy it. I think there is a market for this type of play, and a great community could spring up.

Overall, I hope that followers of this blog will learn how to twink various classes, and become true free masters of World of Warcraft. To this end, I will link my armory page, and build profiles on Wowhead to form ideal builds. Together, we shall stand.