Way to Dalaran Arena (Beneath the sewers)

1. Go to the arena item sellers in Circle of Wills.

2. Jump up on these:



1. Go to the arena item sellers in Circle of Wills.

3. Mount up, and just before the mount is up, jump.

4. Jump several times until your on the roof above.

5. Move to this spot:




6. Repeat the mount process, then slowly jump backwards til' you get here :





7.Now, dismount and take a little leap down to the arena. Use slowfall or such if you have it. Try not to land on this part:





8. Done!

Newbie/Common Knowledge Guide

Hello everyone! Tonight I will show you some of the facts of WoW that everyone knows, but is hard to find written somewhere! I've seen people doing things wrong that are so common knowledge to ME that it's rather stupid, so instead of complaining about it, i'm trying to help atleast someone with this guide.

This guide WILL require your help! If you find anything regarded common knowledge or worth knowing for a newbie, go ahead and write it and I'll add it if it's good.

Mob = Hostile creature (AKA enemy)
DPS = Damage Per Second (A person doing damage to mobs)
Tank = The person responsible of NOT letting the DPS and the healer die by getting hit by mobs.

1.
If you are melee DPS, do not stand infront of the boss/mobs and dps when possible. If you are standing infront of the mobs they will be able to for example parry. And why isn't parry good?

2.
When a mob parries your attack, it will strike the person it is hitting one extra time! So if you are going against a raid-boss and standing infront of the boss and he parries, the tank will get hit one extra time. (Not good)

3.
In the starter zones you can doubleclick the questgivers to accept the quests. (Why they stop doing that AFTER the startzones is beyond me.)

4.
Heirloom items that are made out of mail will be converted to leather when used on hunter or shaman below level 40.

5.
Superior and Epic can be achieved easier by buying items for emblems, equipping and selling them back. Also you can switch your trinket and ring slots around and get extra there aswell.

6.
If you sit down and eat, you can stealth afterwards and you will keep eating. You can't stealth first and then start eating however.

7.
If you are being ganked very hard by some irritating pricks in STV, use the "unstuck" feature in help menu before ressing and 0.5 seconds before the cast is done, ress and it will HS you directly.

8.
The sockets in gems are NOT limited to only that color. You can put any kind of color in any gemslot, but you will only get the "socket bonus" If you follow the colors however.

9.
Be polite and ask BEFORE inviting or dueling. Otherwise it is considered rude and people might have a negative way of replying you. (Also don't spam them with guild charters)

10.
Sometimes there is fire in WoW. You need not to be in it. Seriously, just move out of it. Fire hurts.

11.
When you sit down people will ALWAYS crit you with melee-hits. Spells will not however.


Battlegrounds: How to play each of them.

Warsong Gulch
Your objective is to grab the opponents flag inside of their base and score it inside your own base. You can only score if you haven't lost your flag. You can't use any immunity effects or mount up while having the flag, or you will drop it.


Arathi Basin
Your objective is to capture the bases, by clicking on the flag. After you've clicked the flag the base will be contested, and a timer will start ticking. When the timer have gone all the way, you will capture it and you will start gaining points from that base. You will also be able to ressurect there. The more bases you have, the faster the points will tick. Also you can stop the other team from capturing your bases by capping the flag, called Defending.


Alterac Valley
This is a huge battlefield, you will start at each of your own end and make your way down to the other end of the battlefield. There are 4 towers/bunkers for each team and a special captain for each team. You also have 600 resources. The objective is to empty the other teams resources by killing them (One death drains one resource), but by capping a tower or bunker it take away 75 resources from the other team. You cap them the same way as in Arathi Basin. When you capture a tower or a bunker the captain (AKA the boss) will lose a guard and 25% hp. By capturing more towers you can make the fight much easier and win by killing the captain - Drek'tar for alliance and Vanndar Stormpike for the horde.


Eye of the Storm
This is a mix between Arathi basin and Warsong Gulch. There are 4 bases capturable by standing close to them and watching the meter grow in your color (Blue for alliance, red for horde). When it reaches the color the base will be yours. There is also a flag in the middle, which you can pick up (takes 10 seconds) And run with to a base you own, capping it and increasing your score. When a team reaches 1600 points, that team wins.


Strand of the Ancients
This battleground got two scenarios, defending and attacking. If you are attacking you are starting on the beach D-day style. Use the demolishers and bombs laying by the docks to shoot down the gates. When you are inside the gates, there is a flag on the inside you can capture which will make you spawn there and also the workshop will create demolishers for you. Make your way through 4 gates and you will reach the titan relic, all you need to do is click it to win.

Then it's time for defending. You need to kill the demolishers and disarm the bombs by clicking on them. You can also use cannons by the gates if you are too low geared to do any real damage on your own to the demolishers. Also try to defend the flags and you should be alright. The fastest team who captures the titan relic wins.


Isle of Conquest
The newest battleground added. It is inspired by Alterac Valley and feels like an medieval battle... with bombs. Anyway, the objective is to kill the captain holed up inside the opponents base, that coward. By capturing the Quarry and Docks you will increase the damage done by seiges by 5% each. By capturing the hangar you will be able to board a giant airship that will float above the enemies castle where you can shoot with cannons or jump off, spawning a parachute and you can bomb the gates from the inside. Capturing the Docks will give you glaives and catapults, which can launch you over the gates and bomb from the inside. If you capture the workshop in the middle you will get demolishers and a siege machine spawned. Use these to get the gates down.

Getting to Old Ironforge

The duel trick, where a mage has to sheep you, doesn't work anymore; I think my way is a good, maybe the only(?!), possibility to go to old ironforge!

Do just what I'm doing in the pictures and it will be very easy for you to get there!
I think its doable with every class, only for the classes warrior, dk, hunter, druid it might be a bit more difficult, because they dont have a soulstone or slow fall effects; but a friendly warlock could give you a soulstone anyway, so its doable with every class!

You need a mammoth for this! The flask I'm using in the pictures isn't nessesary but makes it easier!

And now, let the pictures speak!



This is your starting position.



Go up the stairs.



Go to the Boxes and if you're playing warlock, place your circle to avoid death if you're falling through the world.





Mount on your Mammoth and JUMP, just jump around till your character looks through the roof. Then dismount and jump normaly by just pressing normal "space". You're on the top of the house now, place your circle again to "save" your position.





Do a normal forward jump, you have to stand a bit in the air, like in most exploits (I guess u know what I mean) to reach the next roof.



Place your circle again to "save".



Jump down to the balcony.



Jump into the first alcove and let your char look EXACTLY in the same direction then mine char does, to avoid falling through the world or landing in the magma of old ironforge!





Mount on your mammoth and jump forward, only forward; otherwise you might miss the correct position on the other side of the wall! You might have to jump a couple of times untill you "break" through the wall. To Mages & Priests or players who have these special slow fall pots: Make sure you're ready to activate them instantly after you went through the wall! Otherwise you will be dead!



Dead like me^^; Use your soulstone, ankh or whatever...





Enjoy Old Ironforge





I hope you enjoyed my guide to old ironforge; happy exploiting

Easy gold farming as Druid

While i was leveling my druid today and doing a quest called Rifle the Bodies . The quest basicly tells you to loot dead bodies in a scertain arena. Those bodies drops a blue bag called Mage Hunter Personal Effects.

The bag always drop a gray item that stacks in 10 and sells individually for 10s.
The place itself is located in dragonblight - Map.

You'll be running in circles around the lake collecting bodies.
There will be mobs around the bodies but since we druids dont need to cancel Flight form to loot we can just run past those.

The bodies have a fast respawn timer and making small circles around the lake makes it non-stop farming.

Fill your bags with the bags before looting. You will occasinally loot a item called Moonrest Gardens Plans (the quest item), if you have this item in your bag you wont be able to loot more bodies.
This is easily fixed by just deleting the item and keep on farming.

Testing:
This is the part which i think you are going to hate me for.
I did farm here for about 5 minutes and that netted me around 17g.
17x12=204.
So it's only 200g/hour.
This might seem little to you but i hope that someone could take benefit from it since it can be done on all servers.

Cataclysm "Friends and Family Beta" has begun

It seems that World of Warcraft's latest expansion, Cataclysm, has entered into the "Friends and Family Beta" phase - which is slightly behind where many Warcraft players were hoping. Blizzard, through a forum post, has just confirmed that their latest project, which will be the third expansion pack to expand upon the Warcraft universe, has entered the Alpha Beta phase.
As you most likely gathered from above, unless you have connections from within Blizzard, you will not gain access to this beta. The official message, posted by Zarhym, a community manager and Blizzard employee, can be seen below:

"Yes, we can confirm that the Family & Friends phase of the testing process for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has begun. The closed beta test phase has not yet started, but we will provide updated information when it does."

Along with this confirmation, it seems that someone has leaked a photo of "Deathwing," the main antagonist in Cataclysm. You can find this picture above, and if I may so say myself, it looks quite spectacular!

Dalaran Well Exploit

I recently discovered this and thought I should post it here.

Buy a : Blue Crashin' Thrashin' Racer Controller

Use the toy car to jump into the well(the one with the portal) near Dalaran's North bank.

You wont get teleported by the portal, instead you will stay in mid air. Start driving in circles and spam the turbo untill you fall down the well. Next you will be near a big bad crocodile and the whole sewers are yours to explore.

http://img190.imageshack.us/i/wowscrnshot042310014202.jpg/

Warlock Leveling Guide (Tips&Tricks)

Warlock Leveling Guide
Last Update: Dec 2009 aka 3.3.0
This guide is still accurate as of 3.3.3 (Mar 2010)

This guide is simplified for people who want as much information as they can get as fast as possible. Good for you, this is how a Warlock works. If you want to discuss something or have a question not answered, post in this thread and we will get to it. I will reveiw this thread every couple days and update the main posts, but we have several extremely able members who can answer your questions.

If the warlock is your first character, this guide is not meant for you. It will help, but there are things in here that require a knowledge of game mechanics. I'm sorry. World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Forum Index will have more answers for you, especially in the Warlock Class section.

A quick reminder. If you have an opinion about this guide, or a response to a question, the phrases "retard" "l2play" or anything to do with someone's intellect are not appropriate responses and will be reported dealt with. We can be adults and give reasons for our disagreements.

Lastly, Jame's Alliance and Horde Leveling Guides (also available as an add-on!) are amazing and best of all free. I highly recommend the guide in conjunction with the new questing interface as they work very well together.

***CHANGE LOG***
3.3 Update - Changed 1-29 spec (more dps), updated all Affliction talents to include Improved Felhunter (now a dps boost), added a suggested 35-55 talent pick order, added some more information to leveling as Destruction.

3.2.2 Update - Renamed a bunch of sections to make more sense, moved "Nightfall" information paragraph from 1-29 to 30-54 section. Updated level 40+ pet use. Added macros and suggested ways to use your Felhunter better.

Skip this section if you don't know what I mean.

From 1-29
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IZ0GchkZVM
Glyphs: Lifetap and Unending Breath
12 Points into Demonology, then move into Destruction

@30, respec to
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IcxbbhMho
Glyphs: Lifetap, Siphon Life and Unending Breath

ending up at @54
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxrbhMhoiA0hk
Preferred order of talent choices based on DPS gain:
Shadow Mastery, Eradication, Improved Fel Hunter, Contagion, UA, Pandemic, Malediction

Decision time: Do you want to try something different?

"Yeah, I hear a lot about Demonology." Give this spec a shot:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IcbZ0GchkAdi0sxz
Glyphs: Lifetap, Felguard, Unending Breath, and Drain Soul

Getting to this @71
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#Ifxrbz0hoZ0GchkAdi0sxz
Glyphs: Lifetap, Felguard, Unending Breath, Drain Soul
Then whatever you want.

"NO WAY IM OP!" Don't respec.
Getting to this @70
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxrburhoiA0hkt0M
Glyphs: Lifetap, Siphon Life, Unending Breath, and Drain Soul

Then do whatever you want.

This section of the guide is for people who want 1-79 as simply as possible with as little fuss as possible. The spec choices reflect this and will be explained. Yes, you can go ~ANY SPEC~ 1-79 if you'd like, but this is impractical for many reasons. See the level range to find out why. Here we go.

Do this, all the time, or you're a scrub:
Spellstone - we're using dots the whole way. Spellstone makes them better. Firestone is not as potent.
Demon Armor / Fel Armor - If you do not have your armor up, you fail. Its free buffs.
Healthstones - This is your first emergency button. We all make mistakes, this is how you learn from them without dying.
Soulstones - If you are smart and don't fight in the middle of spawn points, this eliminates your downtime.

Soulshard management: "Whine! I have too many!"
Macro:
Code:

/run i="Soul Shard"d=GetItemCount(i)-20 for x=0,4 do for y=1,GetContainerNumSlots(x) do if (d>0) then l=GetContainerItemLink(x,y) if l and GetItemInfo(l)==i then PickupContainerItem(x,y) DeleteCursorItem() d=d-1 end end end end

See this text "GetItemCount(i)-20"? Replace 20 with the number of shards you want to keep. Click this macro once to destroy all but this number.

That gut feeling when you think you're going to die:
Suppress it. Embrace it. Live it. A warlock lives by constantly taking damage and shrugging it off like nothing. If you ever feel comfortable of your survival, you are not pulling enough mobs, or are extremely overgeared for the area. A Warlock is the only class in the game who can pick a fight with 20% HP and come out with full Health, Mana, and a field strewn with corpses. The only specs who comes close to this are lvl 75 Prot Warriors with Enraged Regeneration and level 73 Shadow Priests with Dispersion and Meditation. Even then, you can mop the floor with both of them.

1-29:
I'm not going to lie to you. The first 14 levels of your life as a warlock will be a living hell. You will have mana issues, health issues, and you will die a lot. This turns around at level 14 when you get Drain Life.

Purchases:
Lesser Magic Wand http://www.wowhead.com/?item=11287
Greater Magic Wand http://www.wowhead.com/?item=11288
Bloodscalp Channeling Staff http://www.wowhead.com/?item=1998

Spec:
End up at level 29 with this spec
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IZ0GchkZVM
Glyphs: Lifetap and Unending Breath

How to play:
The spec doesn't work until you get Sacrifice (16) and Drain life (14), so until then you will have to use your wand a lot. As I have said, the worst parts of leveling a warlock are these first levels. Here's how you manage:
-Only do green quests (this applies to all classes - it makes the first 20 levels that much easier)
-Do two starting areas, such as Tirisfal Glades until level 7, then migrate over to Silvermoon/Ghostlands until 11 or 12, then back to Tirisfal/Silverpine.
-Dot (Corruption) Dot (Curse of Agony) Wand till it's dead.
-Your wand is ridiculously overpowered at this level, it won't take long.

~If you are fast at moving and know the quests, you should reach 16 in 12 hours or less, not factoring in Heirloom gear~

Now that you're 16, the keys to this spec are your Wand, Corruption, Curse of Agony, Drain Life, and your Voidwalker. Leveling is all about synergy, so here is how this spec works together to make you a badass:
1) Your damage output heals your pet.
2) Your pet actively prevents damage being done to you by sacrificing part of its health.
3) Demon Armor prevents 25% of physical damage taken.
4) Your pet absorbs 20% of your damage taken.

Summary: You kill shit and heal your pet. Your pet uses this healing to make you take less damage. You kill more shit. It's a glorious cycle of violence.

Your voidwalker should have all abilities turned off and Soul Link active. "But Gherkin, he's a tank!" No. Smack yourself. Your pet is a dumb shit. He will stand in one place and tank the monster while you could be running around killing things. The second he gets aggro is the second you will a) wait for the mob to die, b) let him despawn because you go out of range, or c) pull more mobs because he stood in another mobs path. End result: if he gets aggro, you will have down time, either passively (you died) or actively (you wasted too much mana/hp trying to survive the **** up). Your pet serves two purposes: minor dps and shields. That's it.

Let's say you're doing a quest that requires you to kill boars for meat. You walk into an area with boars and it should go kind of like this: Corruption and Agony on 3 or so mobs. Your pet is running out to smack on the first one because he's set to defensive - remember that with his Taunt disabled, he will not put out enough damage to hold aggro over your dots. The other two boars are running at you, each with both dots. Hit Lifetap and Sacrifice to keep your mana up and prevent the damage. Cast drain life on the last one a few times until your hp is at or near full, then use your wand to finish him and the second mob off.

Boom, three mobs dead in around 24 seconds. Maybe a bit longer. Do this a few times until you get the hang of it, then start increasing the number of mobs you pull at a time. You should be able to handle 6 or 7 green-level mobs without heirloom gear. Key word - green mobs. Yellow mobs hit too hard, causing more damage (hit harder and more frequently due to less misses and more crits, i.e. tank mechanics) than you can safely handle in numbers.
If you happen to fight Casters (Defias Pillagers for example), they are your priority. Instead of Drain Life the last one, drain life the caster. Lastly, if you find that you can't pull this off, work Immolate into your first few mobs for extra damage.

Start thinking about your gear. You should be able to obtain 100 spell power by lvl 32 without much work, and it is highly recommended that you do so. Here's a link for things you can get between 20 and 30: http://www.wowhead.com/?items=4&filter=qu=2:3;minle=30;maxle=42;ub=9;cr=123;crs=1;crv=0#0+3-2+1

EDIT: Some people are having a hard time getting 100 spell power by lvl 32. Scroll down to the advanced topics if you are as well.

RULES OF DOT-DOT-TAB - DO NOT:
-Go below 50% health
-Go below 50% mana
-Let your pet go below 50% health
-Cast Sacrifice before a mob reaches you. Only when you have 2+ beating on you
-Fight inside a spawn point. Sometimes respawns are instant, which can get painful very fast.
-Cast Fear. Ever. It causes the mobs to unpredictably run off in a random direction, usually grabbing more mobs in the process who you did not necessarily want, see, or prepare for. Same with instances.

Why not Affliction?
Affliction's talent tree features minor damage upgrades with zero survivability options. You rely on spell power gear, and there isn't a lot of it this early on. You need to get used to being hit, because despite wearing cloth a warlock gets hit a lot. If you go affliction 1-29, you are learning how to be a shadow priest, not a warlock.

Some people advocate sticking with Affliction the whole way up, because its simpler and doesn't force you to respec. I disagree with this because of how lvl 30 works. You play Affliction and intentionally gimp yourself from 1-25 until you get all of your main arsenel of spells, and these spells become powerful enough to matter. Then you start getting spell power gear and have a few less problems. Suddenly you hit 30 and you're invincible. I don't like playing this way, as the transition is alarming and hard to get used to. If you have heirloom gear and run dungeons frequently, or if you don't mind dinging 30 and wondering if you missed a "GOD MODE ENABLED" message, feel free to stick to affliction the entire way. Scroll to the next post for your spec.

Why not Destruction?
Destruction's talent tree features major damage upgrades with zero survivability options. You will run out of mana all the time, use fear far too often, and only kill one monster at a time (two if you're good). If you go destruction 1-29, you are learning how to play a very bad mage, not a warlock.

30-54:
Respec time. You now know how to dot multiple mobs and survive, now its time to turn on extreme mode.

Purchases:
Demons Deck (new weapon at 40)
Dreamweave or Shadoweave armor

Spec:
Respec to
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IcxbbhMho
And it should look like this at 55
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxrbhMhoqAohk
Glyphs: Siphon Life, Lifetap and Unending Breath

Edit: If you feel like it, you can swap the points in Dark Pact and Improved Felhunter to Improved Howl of Terror. This makes it instant, but still falls under the "Try not to use fear" category. A good emergency button, but chances are you won't need it. At 42 you will use the Felhunter instead of the Succubus. Improved Felhunter means he never runs out of mana. Dark Pact means you can eat his mana and watch him fill it up again for you. Less net health cost. You only need one point in Improved Fel Hunter - two points means he shadow bites so frequently that he may pull aggro on you, and this is not the goal. One is sufficient.

How to Play:
You will be doing the exact same thing as you did before, except now you have the Succubus out. Turn off Seduction but leave her other abilities on. Pet mana has been fixed enough that she will not go OOM, and Soothing Kiss will ensure she's not tanking. Remember, pet tank = downtime so if she holds aggro even with Soothing Kiss going off, disable Lash of Pain as well. The major difference here is that now instead of pressing a button to stay alive (Sacrifice) it happens passively (Siphon Life) and you can get more healing out of Drain Life (Fel Concentration, Soul Siphon) and more mana (Imp Life Tap, Imp Drain Soul). There is no change to your strategy.

At 42, switch to your Felhunter. Keep Devour Magic and Shadow Bite on auto. Spell lock is turned off (in case you need a silence!). Shadow Bite is a good damaging ability that hits harder because you dot everything.
A word on Spell lock: If you use this ability on a caster, they will run towards you making you have to run less distance to loot them. Efficiency!
A word on Devour Magic: Devour Magic will automatically remove painful buffs from enemies as well. If you get adventurous, disable this ability and use it on yourself to dispel harmful effects such as DoTs or debuffs. Will not remove Curses, Poisons, Stuns, or Diseases. Macro:

Code:
/cast [target=player, modifier:alt] Devour Magic; Devour Magic
Alt Click for self dispel. Click for target dispel.

The limitation of this spec is a big reliance on Spell Power gear. Spell power is your most important stat because it increases your damage AND healing. Your goal should be 100 spell power by level 32 (extremely easy to achieve if you know where to look). You should already have a good start on it, but heres the link again.
http://www.wowhead.com/?items=4&filter=qu=2:3;minle=30;maxle=42;ub=9;cr=123;crs=1;crv=0#0+3-2+1

Here's your next step:
http://www.wowhead.com/?items=4&filter=qu=2:3;minle=42;maxle=55;ub=9;cr=123;crs=1;crv=0

Note that you can get 100 spell power without going into a dungeon. It is just as easy, but requires you to think about where you will be questing more. You will use the Demons Deck weapon until Outland, so if you want to enchant it you can.

You should be seeking to double your spell power every 15 levels. This means getting to 200 spell power at 45-47, 400 at 60-62 (this is a bit tougher) and 800 at 75-77 (very easy).



Nightfall Procs:
When your Corruption or Drain Life tick, they have a chance to give you a buff called Nightfall. It has a sound effect and displays these awesome black flecks on your character. It means your next Shadow bolt is instant. You will get a lot of these. A LOT. Here's when to use them:
-When you are comfortable with the amount of damage you are healing
-When you are comfortable with your current mana level
-When you want another mob to pull

A word of caution - Nightfall makes shadow bolt an extremely attractive button to press. Resist this urge because like many things it can get you killed. Shadow bolt is the least efficient single-target spell in the game. (This is intentional but I won't explain why as it requires another post by itself). When spec'd correctly with sufficient gear, this is an amazing spell. Unfortunately, this is not the case while leveling. It provides a decent burst of damage but is not your main source. As such there are times to use it and times where you shouldn't. Here's a few "shouldn't" scenarios to get you thinking the correct way.

Scenario 1: You have a lot of mobs on you and are spamming drain life. Your health is slowly dropping. Sacrifice is on cooldown. Pressing shadow bolt means 2 seconds of no heals, which can be unrecoverable if your hp is low enough.
Scenario 2: You have a lot of mobs on you and are spamming drain life. Your health is fine, but your mana is low. If you cast shadow bolt, thats 2 drain life spells you no longer have the mana for. Which means you life tap. Which means 2 seconds of no heals and a chunk of your HP missing.

Play with it. If you find that you have a lot less mana than normal, then the way you just used it is not a good idea. Myself, I use it like my pet - added damage if I need the target to die a bit sooner. So if I Corruption and Agony first, the pet will do the rest of the damage. The second can have Immolate as well to do the rest of the damage. The third I can drain. The fourth I can shadow bolt if I get a proc. The rest I drain as well.

As you level, you will reach a point where you can choose between two or three talents in order to fill out the "template". There is no right answer, pick what you like, but this order will result in more damage:
Shadow Mastery (More damage output, all spells)
Eradication (More spells out)
Improved Fel Hunter (More pet damage)
Contagion (Prerequisite to UA/Pandemic, minor dps upgrade)
UA / Pandemic (Replace Immolate with a better dot, two hardest hitting spells can crit)
Malediction (Minor dps upgrade, major crit upgrade with Pandemic)


Why not Demonology?
You start to get a lot of spell power in the 30's, and your pet doesn't increase as fast as you do. Buffing your pet at this point is like taking your stats and saying "Hi, can you make these worth less to me? I think they're too strong." It's still viable, but you will get more out of an Affliction build.

Why not Destruction?
At this point, Destruction starts losing its mana problems because you hit harder. It's just as viable as Affliction if you like that playstyle, but I just showed you how to dot and run and drain tank. This is the easymode guide, so why should I retrain you? One more thing about Destruction is that it's very crit focused - the more crit you have, the better it works. The problem is that as soon as you gain a level, your crit % goes down. This is how scaling works, and its working AGAINST you as a Destruction lock. More in the hardmode section.

55+:
This is where you can branch your playstyle. Blizzard nerfed the shit out of Outland so mobs that used to be challenging can still be steamrolled. You can continue the Affliction path or swap to a Felguard build. I'll explain how they both work, but the recommendation of people in this thread is Affliction, providing you can maintain your spell power (i.e. enchants and dungeon or heirloom gear). You can do Elite quests in both specs.

Purchases:
Nothing. Quest rewards will kick the ass of anything you can buy, or is worth buying at least.

Demonology Option:
Respec to
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IcZ0GchkAdi0sgz
And it should look like this at level 72
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#Ifxrbz0hZ0GchkAdi0sgz
Glyphs: Felguard, Lifetap, Drain Soul and Unending Breath

How to Play:
You now have the Felguard. He will do exactly half your damage from now on. The main reasons for this build are Elite quests and an excellent stat boost. First, in Outland there are a lot of elite quests, such as the Matriarch, Terrokarantula, Drillmaster, and the Nagrand Mastery quests. In these cases your Felguard will be your tank and you defeat these mobs through attrition - one dot, spamming Health Funnel, taking care of adds yourself. Secondly, the talent Demonic Knowledge lets you hit just as hard as you did in Azeroth despite the health increases mobs get in Outland.

For the Felguard, you can keep everything except Anguish (the aggro button) on auto. He will never need healing on normal mobs and if left to his own devices will usually win 1v1 against mobs. Your strategy is the exact same as it was - Corruption, Agony, (sometimes Immolate), and Drain Life as necessary. Since the quests in Outland are very different from what you were used to, killing gobs and gobs of enemies is not as important. However, it is still important to kill everything in your path, rather than run around the mobs to avoid fighting, as it is a direct experience gain with zero loss. Seriously, your Felguard hits like a truck.

One strategy that may become fun is the use of Decimation. The combo starts like this: Dot the mobs, have the pet attack one, then when a mob hits 40% hp, wind up a shadow bolt. It will impact the mob as they cross the 20% threshold and sometimes kill it. You get Decimation and have the ability to Soul Fire crit for 60% of a mob's life. Soul Fire a new mob, and hit Agony, and Shadow Bolt. This will require a bit of experimentation, but you will find a groove where you are casting Soul Fire on every single mob. Plus, if you play on a PVP server, those nasty Death Knights and Ret Paladins won't know what hit them. If this does not appeal to you, fill out the Affliction tree with these two points as per above. It means you reach Siphon Life at 71 instead of 73.

Don't forget to start using Fel Armor when you get it.

There are a lot of questions about why I choose 55 as the switchover point, here they are with answers:

Q: Why not go Felguard at 50?
A: He has no abilities and scales poorly. Thus he has no HP and dies a lot.

Q: Why don't you pick talents like Molten Core or Demonic Resilience?
A: You don't have incinerate until 64, and it relies on Immolate to prop it up. Molten Core sucks. Demonic Resilience is a no brainer because the options are 10% crit or ~200 spell power.

Q: Why Felguard at all? I was doing just fine.
A: Elites are easy mode, and you might want a change of pace. It's also kind of fun if you can learn how to chain Decimation procs.

Elites are easy for you now. Here's how to down a simple one, such as the Rock Flayer Matriarch.
Send in your Felguard with all abilities up. Wait until he is at 75% life and start channelling Health Funnel. If he seems to be taking a lot of damage, cast Curse of Weakness on the elite. Otherwise, cast Curse of Elements. Continue Health Funnel until the elite is at 75%, then start casting dots, filling the felguard to full anytime he hits 50% hp. After 2 minutes you should win.

The harder ones, such as Overlord or the dual naga's in Zangarmarsh require more finesse from you, but its a fun learning experience. I won't ruin it for you. Always be aware of the ground (your pet standing in stuff means it might die) and the abilities of the target in question. The south Naga has a knockback, so make sure the area is clear, or figure out how to reposition your pet so he gets knocked in the correct direction. The north Naga is a caster, so be careful of the frozen circle spell. Overlord summons Infernals.

Your last talent point before the final stretch will be Siphon Life. The final talent that matters. You now have Siphon Life AND a Felguard. Effectively, you are invincible. There's nothing I can say or do that won't tell you more than you already know. The rest of your points can be spent as you like (I recommend Improved Demonic Tactics, Decimation, and then Demonic Pact - these are the only "quick wins" for dps gain). ENJOY!

Affliction Option:
You will already be:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxrbhMhoqAohk
And it should look like this at level 65
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IfxrburhoiA0hkt0M
Glyphs: Siphon Life, Lifetap, Drain Soul and Unending Breath

You know how to play this, so I won't bore you with details.

One thing to note is that the transition to Outland will mean you pull fewer mobs at a time. This is because they gain more HP and hit harder (25% more each, approximately). For example, Yetis in Winterspring hit me for 250-300 or so. Bonechewer Orcs will hit you for 350-400. Your gear won't improve right away, but will improve. Just take it a bit slow until you approach 300+ spell power, then let her rip. If you already have 300+ spell power, then enjoy being a steamroller.

Elites: You will have a harder time with Elites, but don't worry too much. Skip them, move to the next zone, then come back and solo them. Send in your Voidwalker, wait until the void has 50% hp, Health Funnel once and fully DoT the mob (Elements > Agony for elites). Spam Shadow Bolt. Your pet will heal to full and you will get aggro. Keep Corruption and UA on the target, use Haunt on Cooldown once you get it, and spam Drain Life. You will win.

Unstable Affliction. Use this instead of Immolate from now on, and keep your playstyle the same.

Haunt. When you hit Northrend, the mobs jump up in difficulty again, so you will need a bit more healing. Corruption, Agony, Pet. Corruption, Agony, UA. Corruption, Agony, Haunt. Life Tap once or twice so that haunt heals the tap. Repeat forever.

Your final talents are up to you. Death's Embrace is useful 75+ when the mobs have 12000 hp. Improved Shadow Bolt is useful if you enjoy Nightfall procs. Soul Link and Demonic Aegis are more spell power and more survival.

Why not Destruction?
Destruction works well in Outland, but again it's a matter of ease and learning. You already know how to play two specs, why learn a third where you single target mobs really quickly? Seriously though, if you want to play this spec for a while don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Between mana cost reduction early in the tree to Improved Soul Leech the spec is more viable now than it ever has been. The only reason its not more popular is because once you figure out Affliction... well, you've seen it in action.

Start with this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IZZEbhVbcuVsVd
Glyphs: Conflagrate, Life Tap, Unending Breath, Drain Soul
End with this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IcZ0MZEbhVbcuVsVfot
Glyphs: Conflagrate, Life Tap, Unending Breath, Drain Soul

Playstyle: Immolate, Conflag, next target. Immolate, Chaos Bolt (replace with Shadow Bolt if you don't have it yet), next target. Repeat until OOM and dangerously low on HP (30%). Add Curse of Agony after Immolate if you need extra damage. Use Succubus as you did 30-54. Grab food instead of water because food returns more hp than water does mp at this level, and life tap makes this more efficient.

Don't take Empowered Imp - 3 Talent Points for 3% crit or less is not very good. (Imp has 5% unbuffed, which translates into ~3% for you) Also, Imp has to stand to cast - this is the same as a Succubus or Voidwalker tanking, and we know how that part works.


The First Goal: 100 spell power by 32
This ensures that you will have zero problems leveling the rest of the way through to Outland. While this is not a required number, it is a ballpark figure illustrating the important of Spell Power on your gear. Spell Power not only increases the damage you do, but also decreases the damage you take. If you can kill a mob faster, it does less damage to you. If you hit harder, Siphon Life heals harder. If you have very low spell power at level 32, you will take a lot of damage, spend mana re-casting Corruption on targets that should have died already, and Life Tap more to regain this mana. It becomes very inefficient. The more you can get, the better. If you can't get 100 by 32, don't fret, but Spell Power should be the only stat you look at.

Here is a list of gear that you can get, and where to get it, by level 30. Most of it is attainable by 27. Note that there will not be Dungeon or Heirloom gear here because not everyone has uber 80's or assistance.

This is a wowhead profile I created showing easy to find gear from either the AH, Quests, or Tailoring. The profile shows 93 spell power but it is possible to have upwards of 116 using only AH, Quest, or Tailoring gear.
http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=14373828

Here is the link I used to find these items:
http://www.wowhead.com/?items&filter=qu=2:3;maxle=40;ub=9;cr=123;crs=1;crv=0;gm=3;gb=1;wt=123:77;wtv=10 0:-100

You can make more than enough gold by simply mining Copper Ore while riding around to your farm/quest locations.
Most of the time, money should not be too much of an issue, but availability is. If you are having a hard time with finding some of these items, there are several things you can do instead.
Enchant Weapon: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=18259
Oil: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=20746 (Stacks with enchants!)

Lastly, here is one more profile fully decked out with the best you can find, including enchants. 204 Spell Power.
http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=14373869

Glyphs, and why the suggestions are the right ones:
Here is a list of every possible glyph you might use in your quest to 80 and why you shouldn't use them. If you feel it in your gut that I am wrong here, I suggest you give it a go, as it just might work for you.

Corruption - More free shadow bolts means more desire to cast shadow bolt. I said above, I'll say it again. Without all the talents to prop up Shadow Bolt, it's the worst spell in the game. Casting it is stupid without the spec (usually raid spec), a loss of mana (extremely inefficient), and a loss of health (to recover the mana). More time life tapping is less time staying alive via drain life.

Curse of Agony - Mobs won't be alive longer than 24 seconds, so why extend it to 28 seconds?

Haunt - This is a raiding glyph.

Health Funnel - Just kill the things surrounding you while/before your pet tanks the elite, then you don't have to worry about pushback.

Healthstone/Soulstone - If you died, you failed. An extra 30% should not save you - this is a crutch, and you should not rely on crutches.

Immolate - Periodic damage won't tick fully to get maximum benefit from this glyph

Incinerate/Shadow Bolt - Direct damage is not how you level.

Voidwalker - He should not be getting hit.

Why Affliction will ~always~ beat out Destruction and Demonology:
Quite a simple answer, if not immediately obvious - looting. Destruction and Demo have the capability of killing a mob from range, thus forcing you to walk to it. Affliction lets the mobs beat on you, guaranteeing close proximity to loot quest items, gold, etc. Then you mount up, run into the middle of another camp, and repeat.

And since half your quests require you to walk to point A and get items B, Affliction lets you leave a trail of bodies going there for you to loot going back. Destro would force a zig zag pattern that is not efficient to retrace.

Other Topics:
Suppression (Talent)
When you level before Felguard, you have a 5% chance to miss. Less since you should be killing things at least a level below you. This is no big deal because you can simply recast your spell and continue. When your Felguard shows up, he does half your dps. This means you effectively have twice the chance to miss (him missing and you missing). This is why we take this talent now instead of earlier.


Pawn:
Some people use this tool to compare gear and have mentioned its use. You can download it from curse:
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/pawn.aspx
And the values you want to use are here:
Haste Rating=1, Crit Rating=0.7, Spirit=0.5, SpellPower=1.6, Stamina=0.5
And the copy paste code is here:
Code:
(Pawn: v1: "Warlock: Leveling": SpellHasteRating=1, SpellCritRating=0.5, Spirit=0.5, SpellPower=2.0, YellowSocket=10, RedSocket=10, BlueSocket=10, Stamina=0.5 )



This isnt wrote by me;
Credits goes to:

Jame's Leveling Guide
Gherkin @ MMO Champion for this article/guide
Me for the layout etc.

NOTE: THIS IS JUST A LEAK!!

5/5 Relentless Gear w/o PVPing.

Want to Gear up an Alt in PVP gear with practically no effort at all? Well, this is how you do it, without actually having to arena OR do BGs (25 pts a days is WAY too slow anyway).

Before I go on though, let me just say, yes, I know it would probably be easier to just grind up to 1800+ on a toon and get points MUCH quicker, but hey, how long does that take? This is how you get your toon geared w/o having to PVP.

Kind of a trick/exploit I would say cause Blizz doesn't really want this I am sure.

PROCEDURE

* Step 1: Buy a 5v5 arena team(will actually work any size, but 5v5 is best for max pts).
* Step 2: Get 4 friends to do this with ya =p
* Step 3: Que for 5v5 rated match
* Step 4: As soon as que pops(usually less than 30 seconds), LEAVE QUE -- You NEVER have to step foot in arena, but leaving que counts as a loss.
* Step 5: REPEAT for a total of 10 games.


You ONLY have to do this once a week. You will be 0/10, BUT, at the end of the week you still get your 340 arena pts for 5-10 min of effot. I currently have an arena team that is o/40 atm and 1400 Arena pts lol without ever stepping into an arena or a BG.

NOW -- There is one thing that you also need, a total of 58,200 honor for ALL 5 pieces. So, you have a couple of options here... Either send your toons WG commendations from your main to get the honor, negating your effort even more, OR, just doing WG once a week, 3 times and doing those dailes... That will easily get you about 60k honor.

I will do the math for you so you don't have to on time...

Total Arena pts needed FOR 5/5 RELENTLESS?: 3350 / 340 a week = 10 weeks.

Total Honor Pts Needed for 5/5 RELENTLESS?: 58150 / 20k per week in WG = 3 WG runs(once a week).


ANYWAY, before all of you say this is worthless cause it takes 10 weeks to do to get 5/5, just remember, MAYBE it is not for you, but for someone like me who has 7 level 80s, I try to be as efficient with my time as possible, and this is VERY helpful for gearing up some of my alts.

Just think, if you had started doing this at the beginning of Season 8, you would already be just about done with EVERY toon of yourse in Full relentless with 10 min or less of play time a week.

ENJOY!

How to find farmers and how to communicate with them

Hey guys, this guide is dedicated to those players who have specific items that they routinely craft with professions to sell on the Auction House, and often craft those items in bulk.



There is nothing better than having a personal farmer or two which you can always rely on to provide you daily materials at very reasonable prices.

Part 1: How to find material farmers:

Pretty much every single server will have at least 5-6 farmers per faction, most servers having more. However the trick is actually finding those people.

When ever I am in the city or on my bank alt I check trade chat for good deals and farmers selling their wares. You just need to look for players who tend to sell a LOT of items. If you watch chat each day often you can pick up the same sellers selling the same things every few days. That is a good indication that they are a farmer. Also if you find someone selling farm able items for very good prices, you could ask them if they would like to farm the items specifically for you and you will buy them each time for that price.

On my bank alt I have Trade is for trade! addon enabled which allows me to filter out all the crap. On most servers the LFM / LFG spam has loooong over taken the WTB / WTS. So you can use Trade is for trade! addon to filter out all sentences that begin with LFM / LFG etc

The next addon that is a HUGE goldmine is TB_ChatEnhancements . What this handy addon does is it highlights keywords and phrases in trade chat that may be of interest for you. So if you are looking for a farmer for Saronite Ore, just add the phrase Saronite Ore to the list and each time someone mentions it in chat, that keyword/phrase is highlighted.

http://media.curse.com/Curse.Projects.ProjectImages/18338/14221/TB_Chat_Enhancements.png

http://www.wowconfidential.com/wp-co...-highlight.jpg


The easiest way of course is to search the Auction House for your desired items. If you then see a large amount of the same items all listed together by the same seller, there is a good chance they enjoy farming those items in bulk, or possibly have many more of it to sell.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/3938/arcticfur.jpg

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/1637/stongue.jpg
Part 2: How to communicate to farmers:

I think it is safe to say without sounding too racist (because I most definitely am not) that the majority of farmers are Chinese or Asian, simply because they have a better attention span than most and can actually manage to concentrate to farm over a considerable length of time. Therefore you need to be very careful how you approach them.
Say too much and you scare them away / confuse them, speak to little and you offend them or they think you are an idiot.

If possible, ALWAYS choose to speak to your farmers via Whisper to reduce any confusion or language barrier errors. If you notice a farmer or a possible farmer add them to friends and talk to them when they are online and not busy.

Always first approach them in English, but keep it very simple, almost like keyword or summary form. In otherwords a form of shorthand only using very basic words that if they are foreign, they will probably know.

Keep your sentences short and to the point, be friendly but do not bother with small talk. You will only piss them off / confuse them / loose their interest.

"Hello, me/I WTB [Item Link] for [Price] each."
"Hello. You sell [Item Link]? Me/I WTB [Item Link] for [Price] each."

Your next option is to send them an in-game mail. Often after I have talked to a farmer I send him an in-game mail AS WELL just to remind him and confirm with him what I want. It shows enthusiasm and dedication from my part making him more likely to farm for me before someone else.

Keep your mail messages something like this: (if this is a follow up mail after talking to him in-game, introduce yourself again and remind him that you spoke with him earlier too).

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/765/mailuo.jpg


Part 3: Worst case scenario - they don't understand you:

I mentioned to my friend that I was writing another quick guide for MMOverload and when I told him the topic he gave me a link to this post with the following english:chinese translation table to help you communicate to your farmer if you get stuck at the language barrier and lost in translation.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9060/translation1.jpg

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/7622/translation2e.jpg
Hope this helped y'all, peace.

Ingame Costumes and how to obtain them

So I decided to make a list of all the ingame costumes for mmOverload, and now I am going to post it here. I hope you enjoy it and if I did forget any costume (or maybe I just did not know of it) just tell me and I will add it along with your name!

Here's a list of all the things you can transform into, and below you can find how to do it. (Some are obtainable in multiple ways.)

List: black whelp, enemy faction race, skeleton, ogre, forbolg, arakkoa, iron dwarf, , ninja, pirate, dark iron dwarf, pigmy gnome, basilisk, roach, locust, whelp, blood elf, wolvar, wasp, tuskarr, mage, fish, gorilla, wolf, overseer nuaar, murloc, worg, scarlet crusade member, christmas gnome, bat, ghost, leaper gnome, wisp, snowman, rabbit, member of dread captain demeza's crew, red ogre.

Here is how to obtain them:

This item is obtained from(sold by) Wyrmcult Provisioner in Blade's Edge Mountains and turns you into a black whelp.

This item is a very rare azeroth wolr drop. It does however drop from the Dire Maul (outside) arena bosses with a decent droprate. It will turn you into another race if the opposite faction.


Sold by Marin Noggenfogger in tanaris - gadgetzan. It has 3 diffrent effects: Slowfall for 2 minutes, Shrink for 30minutes and Turn you into a skeleton for 30minutes.

Gordok Ogre Suit
Tailors may learn this pattern in Dire Maul north, it requires: Bolt of Runecloth(2), Rugged Leather(4), Ogre Tannin(Drop from Dire Maul), Rune Thread. Turns you into a big, awsome, ogre!


Alliance only.
Obtained from a level 18 quest in ashenvale. Turns you into a furbolg


Drops from Terokk in Skettis in Terokkar Forrest (outlands). Turns you into an Arakkoa.

-
Sold by 2 vendors in Storm Peaks for 10x Relic of ulduars. Turns you into an Iron Dwarf.

Savory Deviate Delight
Made with cooking, made from fishes at Wailing Caverns. Turns you into a Ninja or a Pirate


From the Tavern in BRD. Turns you into a Dark Iron Dwarf.


Made with alchemy, shrinks you for each one you eat until you finally turn into a gnome.


A northrend (dalaran sewers) fish that turns you into a random of the following: Basilisk, Roach, Locust and whelp.


Dropped from a random boss in Magisters Terrace. Turns you into a blood elf.


Turns you into a wolvar, obtained from the Frenzy Heart tribe in Scholazar basin.


Found in the dalaran sewers.Turns you into a wasp, a Tuskarr or a mage.


Obtained from STV fishing contest, turns you into a fish with 35% increased swim speed. Does only work in water.



Drops from random trashmobs in level 80 northrend instances. Turns you into a Gorilla for in an arcane sphere.


Crafted ofhand with Inscription. Turns you into a giant wolf on use.

Overseer Disguise
Turns you into "Overseer Nuaar" for 3minutes. Created by 5x Costume Scraps (which drop from any Wyrmcult mob in blade's edge mountains.


Crafted with alchemy, makes you go shadowformish.



Bought during lunar holidays, but can be used any time 'round the year! Makes you glow with moondust!

Quest costumes:

Turns you into a murloc, obtained from this quest: Surrender... Not!


Obtained from the quest: In Worg's Clothing in howling fjord.Turns you into a worg.


Obtained from the quest: Nathanos' Ruse. Turns you into a member of the scarlet crusade.


Obtained from Holidays / Holidays only:
Winter christmas machine turns you into a Christmas gnome

hallowed wand
Obtained from trick or threating inn keepers during Hallows End - turns you into either of the following: Bat, Ghost, Leaper Gnome, Ninja, Pirate, Skeleton, Wisp.


Obtained from the Winter Veil holidays, requires a snowball and turns you into a snowman.

Rabbit Costume
Obtained from Noble Garden holidays. Turns your target into a rabbit.

Dread Corsair
Turns you into a member of Dread Captain DeMeza's crew. Obtained from talking to Dread Captain DeMeza in Botty Bay during pirates day.

TCG Lootcards:

From a TCG lootcard. Makes you look like an red ogre.

Blizzcon:

Obtained from attending blizzcon 2007.

Fun way to make 1000g+/hour

A while back (I may have been a bit drunk at the time) I was bored and decided to grind something on my paladin tank. Since I didn't have the bloodsail admiral title at the time, I decided to go zerg booty bay. To my surprise, the bruisers melted away like nothing and the title was achieved in short order. Looking at my clock, less than 3 hours had passed since I started, and I had taken a small break. This gave me an idea. Selling the Bloodsail Admiral Title.

Though it is an extremely easy title to get, it remains one of the rarer titles. Why? Well, firstly it can involve pvp, which a lot of people are squeemish about, and secondly squishier classes (lol rogues) can't pull this off nearly at the speed tanks can. My solution? Charge for the title! Add somebody to your party and just romp all over the bruisers while your customer chills out in the bay. Charging 2,500 gold for this (a more than reasonable amount) you easily get 1,000g an hour if you're ICC10 geared(where my paly stands). If you're better geared or can find customers who'll pay more, it can easily be 2k gold an hour or more! Get multiple customers at once for max profits.

How I made 1,000g in 15 minutes

*********************WARNING*****************************
I have not tested this out on any other servers besides US. If you are in EU
You are doing this at your OWN RISK of being banned. US does NOT ban for
casino's or in game gambling. However there have been Reports of EU players
getting in trouble for gambling. In US as long as you PAYOUT, and not be a
cheapskate you are doing fine. Remember its all Social Workings. You are
selling PLAIN LETTERS! You are not selling the chance to buy anything. You
are selling PLAIN LETTERS and some of them are vouchers for gifts.
*********************************************************


First this is NOT A SCAM If you SCAM, you WILL be a SCAMMER and YOU WILL BE BANNED! Everyone in this will get gold. Even the losers.. this is how you stay out of trouble.


Posting, like the screenie below. I am posting on my Alt. Kookies in which I had a GM reply.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...38770873&sid=1
==============================================

LEGAL, any person who gets banned for this is a retard and did not follow my directions. If you do not pay out, its a scam. Scam = Ban. I have been doing this for 5 years now. Don't tell me your getting banned for it.


Requirements: Alt in a city - Same Faction.

Step 1. The boring part, copy this sentence.

"Thanks for trying to find the prize. This is not a winner! However, if you return this to (your name) you will get 1g back."

Step 2. Using your Alt, create alot of mail to yourself. When I say alot.. I am talking like 700-800 plain letters. It really doesn't take a long time. Mail to your main.

The Reason you are mailing to your main is because it creates a "created by" this is used for tracking purposes. Now if someone comes to redeem it, you can tell if its your alt or not. Its also a way to people cannot dupe you by sending themselves mail.

Step 3NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A COUPLE WINNERS!
Step 3. Create 2-5 winners. I use 25g, frozen Orb, and trash in my bag usually. Mail this sentence to yourself.
"Your a Winner! You won [insert prize]. Take this back to XXX or send back to XXX for your prize!"

Step 3NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A COUPLE WINNERS!

Step 4. Log onto your main. Go to your Mail Box, and then open each letter up. MAKE SURE YOU SAVE A COPY OF THE LETTER!

PUT IT IN YOUR BAGS!!!!

Step 5. Upload all the letters to the AH. I use 5g Buyouts.

Step 6. Social Engineering. Talk about it in trade. I use this Macro.

"Step right up.. are you lucky? Some people may win a Primodial Saronite. Some may win a Frozen Orb... could you be the lucky 1000g winner? Buy [Plain Letter] in the AH from me [Name] 5g per try! garunteed 1g back!"

Step 7. Profit from people buying your letters. When they come to claim the prize, just check it out. If its from your ALT when you hover over the letter, your fine. If its not, someones trying to scam you.

*****************
QUESTIONS:
*****************
Q: Why do I pay 1g back to people that return the letter?
A: Because its a pain to have to rinse and repeat every 10 minutes. The 1 gold is to make people bring your plain letters back. Now you dont have to remail everything from your alt as you will have people giving your letter back to you.

Q: Is this bannable?
A: " From US Tanaris - ******* while this is not a bannable offense you may have people dislike you in the long run. What you are doing is complete and legal. It is not against Blizzard WoW TOS in any means, people will pay for anything won't they? .... However, I do suggest making sure you reword yourself carefully. Ingame advertisement is not allowed, but you are allowed to state you posted auctions, which you did."


*****************
SUCCESSFUL SCREENIES
*****************

CRYSTO

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5629/plainletter.jpg

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/1220/paint2i.jpg
I do this every day. Last night I pulled in close to 51k.

Walk behind walls! [no macro required]

Now you don't need this macro anymore to pass wall:

/run if(not scm) then scm = SendChatMessage; end; function SendChatMessage(msg,type,lang,chan) scm("\124cFF00FFCC\124Hitem:19:0:0:0:0:0 :0: \124h" ..msg.. "\124h\124r",type,lang,chan);end;

/say DISCONNECT RISK: TRUE.

What you have to do is just to summon your mount near a wall like before. But you don't have to use the macro, you will not be dismounted like before the last patch. You character will be able to walk behind walls.

Try to cross the bubble in the eye of the storm for exemple, you will see it is easy to cross it.

You just have to go near the wall and summon your your mount.

To jump through the wall you have to beable to jump over the wall.

Analyzing Raid Mechanics

Introduction

Hello there and welcome to my newest guide - Analyzing Raid Mechanics. This is in many ways a continuation of my previous guide - (Guide: Joining High-End Guilds) but, because the scope is completely different (actually talking about raid mechanics), I decided to make a new thread.

Once again I must apologize in advance for the wall-of-text. I'll try to format this in the best way I can, but this is another content-intensive guide.

The idea of this guide is to dissect the core components of raid bosses in a way that allow you to comprehend through the means of a technical method how the bosses are fundamentally designed and what, essentially, are your tasks in a fight. Ultimately because of the limitations inherent to the fact it's a game, there aren't as many components as one might be led to think.

However one must also understand that they're actually more developed than many other game genres - in fact, many games that are hard can be dissected into very few core components that exploit few skills such as strategy or bare twitch reflex. Contrary to popular say, the raid designs in WoW offer a fairly complex gameplay, which might be the reason so many people feel interest in it nowadays as the game developed and matured from an Everquest model.

As with every aspect of game design, these components can be tuned to be either hard or easy. Many classic games that are very hard follow simple components and patterns that, while easy (and in many ways easier to understand than WoW) to understand, are very complex to execute properly. A particular example would be Battletoads - Dodging the lava waves in Sartharion is not fundamentally different than dodging obstacles in Battletoads, but while the former doesn't offer nearly as many components as the Sartharion fight, the execution is considerably harder due to the speed of the game.

In WoW, however, speed and twitch reflexes are not everything. You're constantly being forced to take decisions, including how to best deal with performing your core role (DPS, Tank or Heal) with the haphazards being presented by the boss mechanics. Although you do have a Global Cooldown limiting your actions in-game, the amount of actions per second you as a person are performing can be considerably bigger, since you're also paying attention to timers, health bars, cooldowns and the environment.

Because of this, the maximum complexity of either execution or strategy of the boss mechanics in WoW is ultimately limited to an amount that is always gonna be inferior to the amount presented in other games, for example Starcraft. This is obviously to compensate for the inherent challenges the game presents, most related to your task.

While reading this guide you'll realize that these components can be reduced to simple tasks that add up to form the challenges the game present us. The goal of this thread is to assist players in understanding the raid environment and develop a more technical approach to the strategies of the bosses to come, so that you can better project in your mind the situations to be presented better either before experiencing them (but watching videos or reading about the fight), or within the first attempts.

It's also important to understand that the mechanics listed here don't represent all issues you're gonna face, rather the base blocks that are used to create these issues. Many things such as buff/debuff management and character rotation in specific events or situations are either caused by the way these blocks are arranged, or solved by the means of properly organizing them into your raid strategy.

The best players I've witnessed are capable of mastering a fight within one or two attempts, even fights as complicated as Yogg-Saron. This is because they understand (even if they don't realize they do) the core elements that compose the fight and how to predict them. By fully comprehending these patterns you'll be able to use your past experience to master almost any boss to come.


The Core Elements


Damaging

The core of most fights is that you need to damage the boss to death. This is the most absolute truth to most bosses with exception of few like, say, Valithria Dreamwalker (whom you need to heal instead of damaging). An empirical proof for this is that when outgearing or outleveling enough a content, one can abolish the use of a tank or ignore the mechanics of the fight. While there are many exceptions to it (I'm looking at you C'Thun and Twin Emperors), this holds true to one too many old content bosses.

Damaging might include add killing or pushing during certain moments, which may require you to save cooldowns and consumables. Usually these are phase changes or "berserk" modes that happen to certain bosses.

In the early days players didn't have to bother much with DPS classes because if you had enough healers, you would just never die. They added Enrage Timers to force the raid to actually care about DPS later on.


Healing

Healing is as basic as damaging and as important, if not more, on most bosses that are not yet trivialized by gear or level difference. A Healer has to keep the tank and everyone else alive, usually being tasked with one group of people (the raid, a raid group, the tanks, the main tank, etc).

Again, some fights play a bit with it, such as Dreamwalker (where you heal the boss to win) or Frostmourne's room in the Lich King's fight (where you can heal a NPC to kill entities for you), but the core seldomly changes, although a Healer may have to endure certain debuffs some bosses cast (such as Loatheb's) to silence, interrupt, slow down or just reduce the effectiveness of his healing spells.


Aggro Pull and Threat Management

In most fights, albeit not all, there's a designed tank or tanks. These are the players with the obligation of keeping their threat up.

Pulling Aggro however might not be just the initial act of pulling a boss - it may be a necessity. Some fights force a second tank to pull aggro from the boss, for example, because he applies a debuff to whoever he hits that causes an undesirable effect. Other fights need a second (or third, or even the main tank) to keep pulling aggro from adds as they spawn.

There aren't many variations of this theme, although they're present. Some bosses also split damage between the top people on the threat list, so multiple tanks need to keep their threat high.

Regardless of there being a dedicated player in tanking gear and spec, there's always a tank - someone who's taking the damage. There are also some very few gimmick fights where the game forces you to have someone of an unusual class (such as mage) to tank a boss or an add.



Fight Gimmicks


Move to



Almost every fight in this game requires you to move in one way or another. This is usually enforced in terms of instant death, extreme damage or undesirable debuffs to anyone that doesn't move to a certain position.

By far most of the relevant bosses mechanics of WoW fall within the movement category. This is extremely basic but to make life easier make sure not to be a keyboard turner - use WASD to move and remap A and D to strafe left and strafe right, and the mouse to turn.

Move tos can be presented in form of Damage Novae, where bosses will start casting a spell where everyone in proximity to him (or variants, like in proximity of another player) will take damage. They can be presented in form of AoE damage around an object or target. Some fun variants happen on the Lich King fight - at a point you need to move away from him because he'll create a massive Danger Zone and stay on the icy edges of a platform. Then these borders will break and you have to move back to the center, least you'll fall into your death.

In Professor Putricide's fight some players may have to run away from gas slimes, or they'll not only take but cause massive raid damage. In that same fight but in Heroic mode, some players will take a debuff that they'll need to spread to someone else after 10-15 ticks of it. In this case they must first move away from the raid, then move to someone else to give them the debuff (and then move away to not get the debuff back again).

Movement requirements may also abuse of proximity awareness, that is, deal with effects that depend on your proximity to other players. These usually require you to stay away from others.

Because moving is such a quintessential part of the game, many variants can be made using this theme with the widest effects, such as the portal positioning requirements and character rotations in Netherspite.


Danger Zone



Although this is a sub-product of the "Move to" category, the Danger Zones are so present in WoW that it deserves its own remark. Many players will refer to them as void zones or fire, and it's common to say that in raid all you need to do is "dodge the fire".

In fact, I don't think there's any mechanic in WoW that's more characteristic than this - it might as well be the signature of this game's bosses. The Danger Zones are usually round places on the ground that require you to move away from it so that you're not stepping within it's area of danger. Danger Zones are usually preceded by a visual aspect on the ground before they either happen or, in lieu of that, wait a few seconds before the first tick of its effect proceed, so that players may have a moment to dodge. They may also be of long duration or instant.

The most common occurrence are in the form of circles with magic symbols that deal damage to everyone standing inside them, but there are many variations. Koralon himself literally puts fire on the ground around him and players should dodge to avoid stressing the healers.

One variant are fire patches that move around. Examples are in Archimonde fight where a fire patch will spread around the room, or in Lord Marrowgar fight where multiple fire patches come away from him and spread in straight lines.

Most environment hazards may be disguised but are pretty much just Danger Zones. For example, both Putricide's gas bottles and mallible goos are danger zones - round areas you have to avoid. The first are static and take some time before the first tick, while the later is preceded by a visual aspect and causes an instant full effect.

Because Danger Zones usually give you obvious visual cues, it's imperative that you're paying attention to your character's feet at all times. Put the relevant bars and timers need the center if that will aid you, but do not let it obscure your vision of what's happening.

Learning how to dodge these zones is crucial to raid and should be fairly obvious. If you can dodge the fire, you've defeated a considerable part of every content of the game even if you don't know the specific fights.


Add Control



Add Control involves using non-damage dealing abilities in order to prevent an add from doing something undesirable. There are many examples - Moroes' adds required to be controlled so the players could focusing killing them one by one, for example. A lot of bosses cast a Heal spell that needs to be interrupted with maximum urgency. Add Control can be anything - from preventing an add to move by using a trap or shackle (or anything that stops him) to interrupting him.

Sometimes a player may need to kite an entity, which could be (Add Control + Pulling Threat + Moving To) or any combination of these.

Karazhan was filled with these, as examples can be find in Romeo and Juliet on Karazhan (interrupt Juliet's heal), Moroes' adds as mentioned, Shade of Aran's Elementals, amongst others.


Dispellable Effects



These are any kind of debuffs that are cast upon a player or players that players with respective dispelling capabilities can and should dispell. Some fights may require you to wait until a certain moment before dispelling probably because of a secondary effect (like "Move To", etc).

The best way to improve your skill on this is by playing Arena - a lot - and by keeping up every skill you have, dispells included, keybinded.


Pick-Up/Activate Item/Doodad



Some fights require you to pick-up and/or activate an item. These can be doodads or actual items looted, and can be any of combination (pick-up doodad, loot item, active item; or activate doodad; or get item from a NPC and activate it) of these.

Once you have the item, you'll have to use it at a specific time to proceed with the fight. Examples are Archimonde (where you use Elune's item to avoid falling damage that would kill you) and Vashj (where you throw an item around to other players until it reaches a specific place).

A curious item pick-up would be the Pyrites in Flame Leviathan, where you use a vehicle to pick-up objects from the ground with a hook.


Vehicle Activation

There are many fights that are dependant on vehicles, including two on Icecrown even though not many people realize it (Gunship Battle, with the Boat Guns, and Putricide with the Abominations). These usually include right-clicking on a doodad to get inside a vehicle-like object, where you'll usually get an unique task only your vehicle can perform.


Use Special Skill

Some fights will require you to use an unique, special skill at a certain moment. Such skill may or not require a target. An example is the Blood-Queen Lana'thel who gives a debuff that greatly increases your power, but forces you to choose someone to turn into a vampire after some time.


These sum up the core mechanics of the fights - pretty much every fight in the game will follow these gimmicks in one way or another. There might be some other gimmick that wildly escapes these that I'm missing since I didn't analyze every single boss fight in the game, but the main boss fights can be divided by these components or variants.


Examples:

Yogg-Saron

Not including all mechanics, just the ones I can remember. This fight is VERY complex, so I picked it up as a good example:

Phase 1:

Move To: Avoid Gas Clouds on the ground; Keep moving following their direction.
Pull Aggro [Adds]: Keep Pulling Adds; Rotate adds with other tanks
Move To: Move to the Center of the room before the adds die
Damage [Adds]: Damage adds, wait until they're at the center of the room before killing.

Phase 2:

Dispellable Effects: Curse of Doom, Apathy, Black Plague, Draining Poison
Danger Zone: The big crusher tentacles, DPS and Healers should avoid.
Damaging [Adds]: DPS should focus on killing Constrictor Tentacles, then Corruptor Tentacles if Melee, Crusher if Ranged
Move To: Move to green lights to increase your Sanity Meter.
Move To: Targets who get Brain Link need to move close to each other.
Move To: Move away from the Death Ray.
Move To: Move to position around the boss to prepare to click the portal.
Activate Doodad: Click on Portals when available.
Move To: Face the skull faces with your back.
Damaging [Adds]: Kill tentacles around the room, fast.
Damaging [Boss]: Attack Yogg-Saron's brain, use cooldowns and reagents in this moment.

Phase 3:

Pull Aggro [Adds]: Tank keep pulling aggro on the adds. Multiple adds keep coming.
Damaging [Multiple]: Certain players attack the adds, others attack Yogg-Saron.
Move To: Face Yogg-Saron with your back during certain moments.


Mimiron:

Mimiron's "Nova" is a funny example of mixing Danger Zones with Move To. The boss spreads mines around the room randomly and the player needs to get away from him before he casts a Nova, which requires him to prepare in advance by dodging the bombs.


Gunship Battle:
Fairly straightforward fight.

Pick-up Item: Get the jetpack before fight and equip it.
Activate Vehicle: Players get in the boat guns.
Damaging [Boss]: Players at the guns need to shoot and damage the enemy boat.
Danger Zone: Rockets keep falling from the sky around your boat.
Pull Aggro [Adds]: A tank picks up the adds spawning on your boat.
Damaging [Adds]: Players clear adds in their boat.
Use Item + Move To: Players use the jetpack to get to the enemy ship.
Pull Aggro [Adds]: A tank pick up the adds in the other boat.
Damaging [Single]: Players kill the sorceror on the enemy boat, use cooldowns.


Conclusion:

I hope this guide was useful to you in one way or another, even if just as a curiosity. Game Design is my field of expertise and I find studying the theory behind these mechanics relevant, so why not share?

Although I'm not sure when I'm going to write, my next guide will be about PVP, probably focused in Arena.

Thank you very much for reading.

Joining High-End Guilds

This is going be a slightly different guide - it's going be a guide on how to kick in high-end raiding.

However, I'm NOT going discuss in detail things like raid strategy or addons. These have been done to death. You can look for these almost anywhere. Wowwiki usually does a good job at keeping the strategies, and Tankspot releases very decent videos.

No, this guide is about the more humane issues. After playing MMOs for 7 years I've realized what everything boils down to - politics. While most of this guide can be seen as "common sense", I am sure there are things in it that can be useful to you. In this guide I'll teach you the most psychological aspects.


About Me

I'm a "casual hardcore" type of player. The things I learned over the years while writing this guide were aimed at one goal - I wanted to do some "high-end raiding", but I wanted to have free time too. I've been playing WoW since the beta, and I always felt very frustrated at how I could never kick in the top guilds back then.

I was also an avid EVE player, and, for a long time, my guild in EVE was the top guild of the game. Now, EVE is a game entirely about politics. During that time I considered trying to apply the things I learned from EVE in WoW and, to my surprised, they started working.

I then found out my main fun in this game was starting from zero, and going all the way up to the top again, being completely unknown in a new server. From then on I played on multiple top 100 guilds until finally realizing with WOTLK it was no longer worth it (no time to do that anymore) and sitting on my druid.

I'll share the things I learned and the tricks I used.


Concept

For the sake of simplifying things, let's consider high-end raiding guilds the top 400 World guilds. That may seem a lot but it's actually slightly less than one guild per server.

The first thing is - high-end raiding guilds want good players.

The main idea you have to understand to be a good player is that WoW can be a game that requires skill. Now, I never said that it requires >a lot< of skill. However, every game can be a game pushed to the extreme. While almost everyone can beat Sonic 2, almost no one can do the crazy speed run stunts that some hardcore players have tried to. The majority of the players of WoW like to bash the very game they play because this makes them feel comfortable. When you're in a server first guild you'll see a lot of comments like "lol u guys suk" from people in considerably worse guilds. It's because they expect you to be better than you are because "dis game is easy lol" even though they can't do these things themselves. Calling the game easy makes them feel comfortable because it makes it seem like they could if they wanted, they're just not even trying. Furthermore you, the player who is trying and not killing Lich King Heroic on 25-man is clearly inferior.

They also hide behind the fact that being in a high-end guild is for "people without a life". In my experience, you can spend more time raiding in a bad guild than in a good guild, simply because the bad guild will take a long time in every boss, while a good guild will clear everything very fast, giving you time to do whatever else you want. Exactly because of this reason that their guilds don't succeed. Because it's always "someone else" who is screwing up. Because they can't take the fight seriously enough or else they'll be like the no-lifers.

You see, the main difference here is the attitude. The attitude that distinguishes a good player from a bad player. The attitude that you can be the one who could be doing better, and that you're not skill-capped. To be a good player you must accept first that you're not the best, and you're probably far away from it. Second, is to understand skill doesn't refer exclusively to twitch reflex.

This seem to be the main issue with a lot of people - they assume you don't need skill in WoW because the game isn't fast enough to require skill. Second, is that none of that can be necessarily true. You see, there are different types of skillsets - Twitch reflex, Strategy development, Theorycrafting, Politics, Leadership, and even being good at economy can be a relevant skillset in WoW. Like I said, top raiding guilds want good players. However, the only relevant thing when it comes down to that is not that you're a good player yourself - but that they see you as a good player. I call this "the bullshit factor", because while it may be true, it might not. People are easily influenced by a lot of different things that can cloud their judgement. To read more on this, I recommend the book "Influence" by Robert Cialdini.

So the point is - not all of the skills you develop are made to be put to use inside the game, but outside it. And this is again something a lot of players don't even realize - the metagame. Anything you can use to increase your chances of getting up to a good guild should be used and, if you master enough of these skills, you'll be able to join any guild in the world, as long as they're not overly full on your class and, even then, I'm pretty sure there are skills to fix that issue. So, with this overly verbose introduction, let's get to the beginning, shall we?

The Start

So let's assume you've quit WoW, sold your account, and now decided to get back. Aside from the obvious fact you'll have to level up a new character, you'll also have to pick a role. So which role should you pick up?

Well, the one you like. Choose the class you want, the race you want, and the role you want. Even the race is not relevant, although if you want to start with the attitude of a min-maxer, choosing the best PVE race would be good.

As for roles, the only role that will give you trouble is, surprisingly, tank. This is because most solid guilds already have tanks, and tanks don't guild-hop as much - they're called "career roles".

Otherwise, you can be any combination of class and race as healer or dps and it will not influence the final result as much. Very few guilds on the 100-400 range are really anal about these things and, if they are, you should avoid them like the plague.

The reason I'm assuming you'll be rerolling (I know you won't) is because I want you to comprehend the entire process as if you had zero assets.

The best moment to reroll and start your crusade to join a top guild is slightly before a new expansion come out. That's because by then a major reset will happen, and you should have time to be max. level, so now would be a good time Similarly, the very first months of an expansion are good. During the mid-end good guilds tend to already have their core, so it's harder.

Ideally you'll want to start with friends. WoW is a social game. You need to have social skills to succeed or, in lieu of that, to be an excellent player. You should treat your group of friends in the game as a network, as the bullshit factor can be elevated much more this way. For example, assume the following - you just meet someone and say:

"I'm a very good player." while wearing greens and blues or not even at level 80.

They'll not be amused.

Now, if someone elseAttitude

Attitude can be a deciding factor. The first rule is - Don't be a prima donna. People don't like prima donnas. So, in the example given above, you'd have to be careful to sound humble.

You: Hey uhm... do you do ICC?
Him: Yup
You: Damn, that's cool. You know, I had to stop some months ago so I didn't get to see it. How's it?
Him: Good, we just killed Saurfang, neat fight.
You: Neat.
You: I really enjoyed Ulduar, reminded me of a lot of old-school Naxx.
You: We got to down Yogg but I had to quit right after so I never got to see Algalon.
Him: Ooh that sucks

You can probably sound less assholish than that, the point is trying to include everything casually as part of your conversations. Never go with the "Did you know I ......?" route. EVER.

Similarly don't ever talk or be smug about your achievements. Specially if they involve numbers. No one wants to hear about your exploits in your OMG TOP 100 GUILD. That's why networking is good - it allows you to give people the necessary information without sounding like an *******. Plus the more humble your friends are, the more people will be compelled to listen to them. That's why you need to be humble too.

Being humble is essential. Being nice is essential. Guild Leaders don't like *******s. Your guildies don't like *******s. Most people don't like *******s. When you're being smug no one will stop and think "Damn he's good", they'll think "Damn he's an *******". On the other hand, when you're nice, humble, and outplays them (or have them think you outplay them) they'll admire you, and that's what you need to get higher.

Good guilds will ALWAYS pick up people with good attitude first, unless their guild master is also someone with bad attitude. In this case, you'll want to avoid the guild like the plague. I'll talk more about this later.

Ultimately, this is not just about wearing a mask. Try to be genuinely nice to people. The best players I've seen in this game are always calm, polite, nice. They have this soothing aura of confidence. People want to play with them simply because they inspire confidence. The moment you argue with someone on ventrilo over something stupid, this aura fades. Being a "diplomat" is the best thing you can do - making people feel like they're playing a game, not working.

Jungian psychology works great here. Try to be a figure others will look up to. This can be either a father or a mother figure in a smaller guild even if you're not an officer for example, but it will obviously not work when you're looking for a top guild (because they already have it in the guild leader). In other words, try to be the living representation of an archetype. As such an entity, you're above their mundane needs - So no loot-whoring, avoid whining. You'll want to use your influence to change things the way you want, but never complain about anything as this may reduce your aura of confidence.
About any quality you have can be used to build a great archetype.

For example, if you're a model in real life, try to combine it with extreme humbleness, and others will see you as someone who combines both physical and mental perfection - mens sana in corpore sano. They'll see you as "that person who show us you can be great inside and outside the game" and, through your image (that's what guild forum picture threads are for), think of you as something above. And the line that divides that from calling you a "faggot" if you're a man or an "attention whore" if you're a woman is EXTREMELY thin, so you need to time it correctly. Rushing to the forum to post your picture on the first day would do you no good in this case, for example. Ultimately it all boils down to being nice and always agree on disagree.

Last but NOT least here - writing correctly will do you wonders. It shows maturity and seriousness. Always try to spell the best you can. Know the difference between their, there and they're. Know the difference between lose and loose, then and than. Our is not are. Guild leaders are usually people a bit more mature than the common player, and chances are they pay attention at those things.

Unnecessary to say but almost all of this session also applies to your job or to your job-hunting.

The Middle Road

Once you're at the maximum level of the current expansion, you'll need to gear yourself up.

Remember when I said to befriend people from common guilds? You'll have to find guilds who are relatively bad in progression and make a trade. In exchange for your presence and your help, you'll have gear. The idea here is to join a guild, be helpful to them, then move to higher grounds when you can no longer progress with them.

Now this guild-hopping might sound a bit assholish. The point is - you STILL have to keep a good image for yourself as you leave guilds, or else you'll burn your reputation before getting to the top. What this means is - you'll have to do it in a way that the guild understands your situation and don't find you an ******* for it.

This is where you put to practice what I told you to when it comes down to attitude, but not just that. This is where you start to make the difference - players from top guilds don't behave or play like players from bad guilds. You have to literally make the difference. How? Using the skills you have.

Strategy - Always show to be on top of your game when it comes down to bosses. Read about the bosses, know what other classes have to do. Say on Ventrilo things you know about this fight. Talk about the strategy with the officers, but NEVER correct them, just give "helpful suggestions". Know the fights. Post on the guild forum about the fights. Be active.

Theorycrafting - Always show to know your shit, no matter how irrelevant it is. Gem perfectly. The importance is not to gain a small edge on dps or heal, but to show you care. Talk about spreadsheets or - even better - talk about simulations such as SimCraft. Display excellent math knowledge of your class. There's no shortcut here. The importance, again, is not to actually gain an advantage on dps or heal, but to show others you know what you're doing.

Once you get these two done, people will be much more lenient on your actual gameplay skills, since they'll see your mistakes as "something that just happens". After all, you seem to be on top of your game all the time.

Diplomacy - All is for naught if you can't have the items. Remember, you're in the bad guild to gear up. Join a guild that you know will give you access to items. The best guilds for this are ones that do officer loot - there are much higher chances they'll want to gear you up if you know what you're doing AND you befriend the leadership, so this is where diplomacy is important. The more active you become, the more they'll trust the items to you.

Avoid like the plague guilds whose mindset is "if he's doing less dps than you, then he must be geared first.", unless it benefits you.

Also beware of loot officer guilds where they'll just try to explore you so you can carry them while not receiving anything. First you must be seen as a top asset of the guild. If you're not getting anything, leave and be open about your discontempt. If you were really important, they'll reconsider the situation and you'll get more loot.


Actual Raid Skills

All these tricks are very important and relevant, however in order to shine you need to do things others don't when it comes down to actual gameplay.

Topping damage and healing charts is always good, but it is NOT everything. As a matter of fact, if you're starting, you'll probably not be able to do anything remotely close to good damage or heal. If you have friends you can just chain-run heroics like mad with them to get at least Triumph-level gear, but even then you'll probably not be topping charts.

For a DPS Class, the best way to show complete mastery of your class is to do what everyone else doesn't, even if this costs you DPS. Do NOT TUNNEL-VISION.

This may seem common sense but it's clearly the biggest fault I see on bad or mediocre players.

YOUR DPS IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS YOU THINK IT IS.

Odds are if you're caring about DPS you can top it or you're near the top. Odds also are if you're not in a good guild, you're farming mediocre content. So odds are your guild has more than enough DPS for it, or outgears it.

Which means, DON'T TUNNEL VISION YOUR DPS.

DO NOT TRY TO COMPETE WITH OTHER MEDIOCRE PLAYERS.

I can't say this enough times.

The reasoning is - If you're in top 5 it's pointless trying to compete. Everyone knows you're capable of doing good DPS. If you're not in top 5, then chances are no one cares. Jumping from 9 to 7 will not make much difference. You're still not doing good DPS.

So it's always better to focus on doing what others can't or don't.

For example, as a Druid, you have the power to save raids with your battle-rez. In many fights with more than one tank, a fast battle-rez can save the raid from a wipe, but you need to be fast. If you know the issues your guild are having in this fight are related to the tank dying, it's better to tunnel vision the tank health even as a dps, than tunnel vision your recount. Hell, make a macro to revive him.

Because the moment you throw that rez as soon as he dies he'll be impressed. If he's an officer, he'll notice it. You'll mind-boggle him.

Find creative uses for your other skills. Tranquility can save a raid. Feral Charges can sometimes produce impressive results. Look at your environment. Just don't tunnel vision your dps. Ever. And don't aggro either.

If you do something outstanding, brag about it, just don't be too smug. Do it just to make everyone aware. "Man, that was a good ____, can't believe I pulled it off" and never talk about it again.

If you're a melee class with tanking capabilities (Frost Presence, Bear, etc), you can also increase your bullshit factor by tanking a boss after the tank dies. Pay attention to it, and call on vent as soon as it happens. Remember, it's gonna be more important for you (and probably, for the raid) than increasing your DPS.

If you're a DPS class with healing capabilities, pay attention to the health bar of your mates. This works great as a Shadow Priest. Do 5-man runs with your guildies, and toss them heals if you're a shadow priest. People will notice these things and be impressed at your stunts.

In other words, do stuff you're not supposed to. A good player doesn't play like he's "doing what he has to". You also do what you don't have to. Because you can. That's how good you are.

It's vital that you develop your environmental awareness. Make a mental rule to pay less attention at your damage and timers than at what's happening in the fight. Take your sweet time to practice this while in a bad guild. What will happen if you fail? Get kicked? Hardly. Yes, you're trying to build a reputation and make a good network, but learning one or two things is worth it.

To look like a good player, it's more important to dodge the gimmicks from the fight than anything else. Remember, dead DPS is no DPS at all. Dead healer is probably a wipe.

Also, and this is very important - KEYBIND EVERYTHING.

Ending the Middle Road

You'll want to have gear good enough to be accepted in a good guild. Keep trying to get to guilds that run the newest content, even if they do just the first boss(es). Try to do it through contacts rather than formal applications, to that you don't get burned.

Being the "top player" of "bad guilds" will usually net you a lot of advantages if you chose the guild correctly. If the guild is not entirely bad you might even get to do the newest content. With the badges system you'll also be able to gear rather quickly but remember you don't have all the time of the world.

As soon as you reach a gear threshold where you can go to something better, do it. Make sure that "something better" will give you the chance of picking up good items but sometimes it's worth even if you can't. For example, if your guild is hopeless and can't do anything past the first wing of ICC, a guild that can do the first two wings will give you twice the emblems of frost, which in the long run might be better even if they won't give you the epic drops.

In fact, once you get to that point, you're probably ready to gear yourself to try something more serious.


The Application Process

The best moment to apply is when new content has just been released, because that's when you can gear yourself the fastest to the level the top players were, and the difference is cut considerably, albeit not entirely.

If you're in a moment like now, when the latest content has been out for a while, it might be worth to wait until something new, and keep gearing yourself up.

Once you think it's the time, you choose a guild. It might not be in your server. Avoid the following guilds:

1) Guilds with outrageous requirements, such as being a top 300 guild requiring experience as a top 100 player
2) Guilds famous for having poor leadership or being *******s
3) Guilds with DKP

And think for a while about what you are or, according to this guide, should be:

1) Polite.
2) Nice, don't write like a retard.
3) Avoid fights or drama.
4) Geared.
5) Can think outside the box and do things others don't.

That's what people are looking for. For everything else, you embelish however you want.

For one, there's NO ONE who will dispute your old-school claims. You don't need to say the truth about the dungeons you've done or not. Say this is your fourth character for what is worth. Although I always say the truth, no one ever asked for proof that I did vanilla or tbc. No one have the time for it, really. Just be sure you know about what you're talking about if people ask later.

Second, writing an application for a guild is a lot like a job interview. Treat it like so. I like to practice real-life skills in the games I play, so it's never really time wasted.

If you're denied do not lose your calm. Be polite. I often see people getting declined and then taking that time to show their "true selves" - calling people morons, and being jerks overall. Don't. If you show you have a great attitude even when you're declined and, SPECIALLY if they were rude to you or to your decisions, you're showing you don't lose your head even when facing these situations. The next time you apply again, they'll look at you with different eyes. This has once worked for me, and I got accepted on my second application because of the attitude I displayed in the first.


Conclusion

There's still much more that could be said, this is a synthesis of it. I'll write more in the days to come, with some other tips on how to actually play better, and how to deal with people.

And remember, do not treat the game like it's automatically easy. There's always room to improve. Know this, and show you know this.