A Blast from the Past

Here's the very first DC screenshot I have! It was taken the evening of December 9th, 2007. It's in Azure Watch, and that's me in the middle of course. I can't be sure who the other two guys are...

Note the tabard! That was the first design that we had! Strago changed it to our current design on December 24, 2007.

Thinking about it, I'm guessing that the above puts the guild's birth closer to December 1st rather than mid-November.

Happy birthday to us!

Last night was the birthday celebration of our second year! Strago and I, the last of the charter signatories, weren’t even sure it would last two months, let alone two years! But here we are!

In attendance were Strago, Llilith, Khaskassia, Redonkulous, Raeann, Manapausal, Pactrica, Bashok, and new guildie Luvbug. Friends of the Covenant Logoff and Volcanic joined in. We also recruited a new member, Native, to our ranks! Netherfire (Llilith) was generous enough to pass out birthday Admiral hats and Winter Veil clothes to whoever needed them.

Strago lit up the sky with one of his patented fireworks displays.

Then, after some had left, we got a picture at the Draenei birth spot. From left to right: Aalistra (Llilith), Strago, me, Manapausal, Raeann, Khaskassia and Redonkuous (…or was that Bashok? I’m not sure…).

After showing us his quick-change artistry, master-of disguise Strago led us on a triumphant Elekk march through Stormwind to Goldshire! In train order: Strago, me, Logoff, Redonkulous, Bashok, Manapausal (who was having accelerator problems...alcohol was involved...), Khaskassia, Llilith.

Here's to our coming third year!

Heroic Milestone

It was a long time in coming, but our guild had it's first Heroic Take-Down on Monday, October 26th. It was Nexus; those in attendance (from left to right) were Nacho, Strago, me, Llilith, Khaskassia.

Gratz to us!!

It's our second birthday!

Join us as we celebrate our second birthday next Sunday, November 15th at the Exodar Crash site, 7pm server time.

We're not exactly sure when the DC was born, but I'm pretty sure it was sometime mid or late November so we'll split the month in the middle.

Bring your friends, fireworks, pony kegs, cake, whatever!

Hallows End

Hallows End was fun! All who were high enough level got a broom in the Headless Horseman quest at Scarlet Mansion. We just HAD to get a screenshot. Too bad the brooms disappeared on Sunday!

From left to right Netherfire, Strago, Redo, Krigarre, Raeann, Khaskassia.

So Long Strago!

Two weeks ago we bid a farewell to Strago...a temporary one we hope!

Strago is a guild charter signatory who was instrumental in keeping the guild together when it almost fell apart in its first days. One of the best mages I've ever known (especially in Battlegrounds), he was always been there for me and the rest of the membership.

I think we'll see him again someday. Strago, if you're looking in, we miss you already!

So long, Zotakk.

Recently, Hackorit/Redonkulous found out that his other Death Knight, Zotakk (who was on a friend's account), had gotten deleted without him being notified. Zotakk was a level 74 Night Elf Death Knight and he was a great contributor to our linking guild, Knights of the Covenant. We will remember him as a permanent member of the guild.

Indeed we will!

What we did in Blackrock Spire

...the picture says it all..

Gem Picking

Ok. You’ve now got items with sockets and kinda know what you want to get from them…more defense, stamina, attack power, whatever. What gems do you choose? It’s not always easy, especially when the color of the socket doesn’t match that ‘perfect’ gem you want to use. Or maybe you don’t really know what the options are.

Lots of web sites are helpful but here are two that I’ve started using. The first is a grid table on WowWiki. It has fly-over capability so the description for each type of gem that fits in a color socket can be displayed.



The second is Gem Finder, a web page that does sorting. Just select the gem properties you’re looking for and Gem Finder will list all the available options.

Digging into Dire Maul

...and an interesting place it is, invaded (left to right) by Hackorit, Ravendelara, me, and Llilith last Monday night. That's the final boss taking a long nap.

This is one of the more reliable areas where you can find the Orb of Deception, although you don't have to go into the instance, but rather the arena outside when a rare spawn pops. It seems to be rather a growing guild obsession with Strago and Llilith getting one so far.

Authentication' issues.

There are lots of problems recently where people can't seem to get past the 'Authenticating' step in the log-on process. But there is a work-around and it can be found here. It's worked for me:

- Go to Start then Run and type the word "cmd" (without quotation marks) in the Run box. A DOS window should open on screen.
- Type: "ipconfig /release" (without quotation marks) in the DOS window.
- Wait a few seconds for a reply that the IP address has been released.
- Type: "ipconfig /renew" (without quotation marks) in the DOS window.
- Wait a few seconds for a reply that the IP address has been re-established.
- Type: "ipconfig /flushdns" (without quotation marks) in the DOS window.
- Close the DOS window and attempt to make a connection.

A trip through Blackrock Depths

A week ago Hackorit, Ravendelara and I (with a couple non-guild friends) took a trip through Blackrock Depths...it seems to be a favorite of Hack's these days. Unfortunately Raven had to leave just before we completed the dungeon.

Nothing like inheriting a throne after a hard day's work!

Need an instance run for gear? Let us know!

Paint the sky!

After last Friday’s pet-hunting romp through Blackrock Spire, Strago, the guild’s official pyro-technician, invited us to a fireworks display. So to Azurmyst we went, and Strago did not disappoint with his red, blue, green and gold chrysanthemums.

A little moonlight, a little dancing and our midsummer celebration was complete.

Thanks, Strago!

Pets from the Spire

Last Friday night was a fun stroll through Blackrock Spire on a pet hunt. Pretty easy romp for four 80s like Strago, Llilith, friend-of-the-guild Amiaodarone and me and the payoff was nice…two new pets! Both are quest rewards from Kibler, who gives the quests Kibler’s Exotic Pets and En-Ay-Es-Tee-Why. The first yields a Worg Pup, the second a spider called a Smolderweb Hatchling. Great additions to any pet collection! Want yours? Let us know! We’ll arrange a run!

Childrens Week

It's time for the annual Children's Week event. Go to Stormwind and/or Shattrath to 'adopt' an orphan for a bit and tour him around the sites. It's worth doing, both for the Alliance-wide reputation points and the special reward pet.

For a good run-down on how to start and complete the Stormwind Orphan tour quickly go here. There's one for the Shattrath quest-line here.

'Eggs' mark the spot

Taking part in the Noblegarden events requires gathering Easter-like eggs. Maybe lots and lots of eggs if you want to do some of the quests and achievements, or buy the special rabbit pet! Chocolate is the holiday’s currency and each egg produces a chocolate or, on rare occasion, a seasonal item like a white dress or flower bouquet (also used in other achievements). Getting the number of eggs you want can be time consuming, but I found one very nice spot for gathering lots of eggs quickly.

The eggs have spawning points just like minerals and herbs, but they spawn more rapidly. Sitting in Azuremyst I watched lots of people running from point to point trying to get their eggs. On Strago’s suggestion I simply sat near a spawning point, but then accidentally discovered a gold mine of spawning points around me! Four to be exact. I didn’t even have to move, just ‘click and collect’…the four points were in reach of this one spot.

Here’s where it is: On the east side of Azure Watch is the road that leads in from the crash site (where all Draenei characters begin). On the north side of the road is the building where the Warrior trainer is. On the other side of this building is a tree. Park yourself between the building and the tree, snuggle up next to the tree, face west (toward the Exodar) and wait. The picture below shows the four spawn points that you’ll be able to access. Click on the photo to enlarge (yes, that purple bunny is me!). I was able to gather over 100 eggs in well under an hour.




If you find any other good spots, let me know; we’ll post them here. Hurry! This event ends Saturday!

Welcome Officer Llilith!

Llilith has accepted a request to join the officer ranks of the guild. Her Knights of the Covenant alt, Dreyia, will also act as Guild Master for our associate guild.

Thanks, Llil!

Congratulations Dertus! ....

...on hitting 80!

Change in vault rules

Our Guild has changed a lot since the vault rules were written (you can read them here); we have more members, and we have higher level characters with higher level professional skills that can create stuff for the rest of us. Some have taken up the new ‘Inscription’ profession. Our members also tend to be generous (for which I’m very grateful!), placing lots of their creations and ‘dropped items’ into the vault.

But all these wonderful things about our guild has created a sort of pleasant problem which I’ll call ‘Vault Cram.’ This is where so much stuff is in the vault it becomes confusing...and full! So it’s time to re-visit and revise the Vault Rules. These changes are intended to reduce the amount of stuff that sits unused, make what's in there more useful, and emphasize our guild as a ‘professions-based’ guild.

The first big change is this: deposit mob arms and armor drops of only blue or higher rarity, please! Feel free to sell all those green weapons and armor that you pick up while adventuring. It seems that these tend not to be taken out of the vault and stay there a long time, and players usually can find their own or better weapons as they adventure, or buy from the Auction House. If someone is looking for a special sword or something, we can go and quest for it.

Second, no more than two (sometimes three) slots of the same item, please. Only one for cooking items or potions. We probably don’t need more than one or two of any kind of weapon, clothing, gem, etc. that you create. Some types of items stack, of course. Stackable created items, like enchantment scrolls, should only take up one slot. But there are some other ‘raw materials’ that are more likely to be used by lots of people; cloth comes to mind here. Everyone should have 1st Aid and that takes lots of cloth, especially at the lower levels (linen, wool, silk). So three, maybe even four stacks of each type of cloth wouldn’t be going overboard. Plus, they’re used by the tailoring profession.

So what should be deposited? Briefly, materials that can be used in any of the professions, blue or rarer arms/armor drops, items that you create using your professional skills. For now, a few green arms and armor drops will still be allowed (maybe one or two columns worth) for a disenchanter to build up their skill (although if you’re into enchanting, we should run you through a dungeon for lots of the kind of drops you need).

Over this coming week I’ll be taking items out of the vault to have it disenchanted (with the resulting materials put back in the vault) or sold, as well as mailing some things back to their contributors (if known).

If you have comments, questions or suggestions on this move, please feel free to ask me! We want a vault structure that works best for everyone.

Fun wave file

Courtesy of Verexia...a fun macro that runs those cute sounds made by the Winterfin Tadpoles as they follow you around up in Borean Tundra. Making the macro is easy...

Go to this web page, then look about 2/3rds the way down the page. There will be a comment by 'doeke.' Near the end of his (or her) short post will be a one-line macro that looks like this:

/script s="Sound\\Creature\\BabyMurloc\\BabyMurloc"; s=s..
({"A","B","C","Dance"})[math.random(4)]..".wav"
; PlaySoundFile(s)
Copy and paste the text right into a new macro and you're set!

Strago, Master of Disguise!

Just when you think he couldn't come up with another way to morph (click to enlarge)...

Vault Rules Changing!

Starting sometime in early April (like by midnight Sunday the 5th) some basic vault rules will be changing. Mainly, only arms and armor drops that are 'blue' or rarer will generally be suggested as deposited items. I'll go into more detail soon on the what and why of all this, but the idea will be to shift the vault space for those items that can be used to promote professions (cloth, minerals, herbs) or are the result of crafts practiced by our guild members (jewelry, potions, scrolls, etc.).

So feel free to sell or auction all those green drops you get!

"How do I love thee? Let me show the way..."

(bumped from last year)

...to Staffron Lerent, that is. He's the guy you need to see to end the Valentines Day quest about the strange, amorous goings on in Stormwind. The first parts are easy...they all take place in Stormwind. But the last bit forces you to find some guy named Staffron Lerent of the Royal Apothecary Society, hiding behind Ravenholdt Manor. This can be a real problem, so I'm going to show you how to get there.

There are no experience points awarded, so is it worth it? Well, if you want a snazzy (kinda Victoria's Secret) dress like the one I got, yes:

Start in the Hillsbrad Foothills. East of Tarren Mill is a river, and you want to be on the east bank of that river. Leave the road and run north a ways between the river and the hills and a little east to the spot on the map below (where my arrow is...coordinates are 75, 23).

Looking to the north from this point you see a path. Take this up, through a rock tunnel, and toward the manor. It’s a hairpin path…a couple of sharp turns.

Instead of taking the path into the manor, turn right (south) and run in front of it, and past a sparing ring. There are two trees on the other side at the base of a path that heads south-east.

Follow this little valley-like path until you get to what looks like a drop-off. Run (or walk) down and to the left until you’re heading north again. Keep going and you’ll find the apothecary! Don’t worry about getting back up that little drop-off. You can climb back up.

Elder Run plan

This Friday at 7pm (server time) we're going to have an Elder Run in honor of Lunar Fest. We'll start in Stormwind. Strago has mapped out a plan and you can see it here (click to enlarge). You'll have to have a mount to keep up with this pace. I expect that side stops for 'gathering' and non-related quests will be very minimal so we can keep the pace up!

Hope to see you there!

Lunar fest is on!

Lunar Fest runs from today through February 12th. Strago has found a useful guide here. Quests, achievements, what to do with those coins, the works! Enjoy!