Archive for March, 2006

28
Mar

Unwritten Rules to Party Loot Sharing

   Posted by: WoWGrrl    in Earning Cash, Etiquette, Guild Initiates, Warcraft Tips and Tricks

This entry covers “group loot” parties only. Future entries may cover Master Loot and Free-For-All, etc.

While there are some who believe that if the software doesn’t restrict it, it’s “fine to do”, there are many who feel that it’s the “spirit” of the game that is most important when it comes to making decisions about what’s okay to do and what is not.

Take one example of loot-sharing in parties and raids for example: Inexperienced players may believe that it’s the first to the chest that gets it, but experienced players know that there is a process all party members go through to determine who “wins” the chest this time.

Why The Rules?

For the same reason any Rules are put into place - to try to keep things fair for everyone involved. Just because you’re a big buff warrior who can storm on ahead doesn’t mean that the priest who hangs back to keep you alive should be deprived of the chance to win a chest.

Also, if you roll “Need” a lot, you may find yourself booted from the party and not welcomed back.

Why Are They Unwritten?

Who knows. I just know that it’s bad for your toon’s reputation on the Realm if you don’t learn these rules.

Okay, So What Are These “Unwritten” Rules?

Uh oh. If I write them, they cease to be Unwritten! Of course, these aren’t official rules, so the official rules are still unwritten. Plus, I could get some of them wrong, so don’t blame me if you have to change your behavior - just leave me a note so I can learn too :)

So, here we go:

Loot From Kills

Parties start out in “group loot” status, with “uncommon” (green) and up items triggering a “group roll”. If your party is in a status other than “group loot” it will behave differently, and you may not get the options presented here.

When a green+ item is looted, all players in the immediate vicinity are presented with a small window which has a picture of the item, and three options - clicking on the image of the dice will roll “Need”, clicking on the image of the gold coins will roll “Greed”, and closing the window will “pass” on the item completely.

Need? Greed? Huh?

This is where things get more detailed and important. It’s important to know when it’s appropriate to roll “Need” and when you should be rolling “Greed”.

In short, in most parties the deal is,

Roll ‘need’ if you can use the item in question and it’s an upgrade to your current equipment

Some parties will allow you to roll Need on items which are NOT “bind on pickup” if your alternate character could use the equipment, but be sure to ask.

Otherwise, if you cannot directly use the item or it’s not an upgrade from what you already have, roll “Greed” (or pass completely).

Lockboxes

Something else to consider is that lockboxes are NOT only for rogues - sure, only the rogues in the party can unlock the boxes without keys but the loot that is inside the box is what you are rolling on. It’s likely the non-rogues will turn to the rogues for unlocks anyway :)

Looting Chests

Chests that parties run across are generally “won” through the /roll feature. Each player who wishes to try for the chest types /roll and is presented with a random number between 1 and 100 which all party members see. The player with the highest number “wins” and can loot the chest without competing further for the green+ contents in it.

If the winner of the chest does not want all of its contents or has a full inventory and cannot pick more up, the second place roller can take the rest.

Disposing Of Your Winnings

Selling your winnings in the AH or disenchanting them is perfectly acceptable, and in fact is why many folks continue to go through dungeons that do not give them experience towards levels.

Comments? Questions? Additions? Please leave a note :)

6 Comments
27
Mar

Playing the Battlefields in World of Warcraft

   Posted by: WoWGrrl    in Battlegrounds, My Hunter, Warcraft Tips and Tricks, World of Warcraft

A strong underpinning of the World of Warcraft is the ongoing war between the Alliance and the Horde. Good vs Evil, Light vs Dark… a battle that will never truly end.

As members of either faction, you can take part in the war effort in many ways - raiding Alliance territory, providing supplies needed for war to open the gates to AQ, and what we’re talking about here… the Battlegrounds or Battlefields, which are specifically set up for Player vs Player competition and are outside the game’s regular map.

Why Play The Battlefields?

Players do not enter the Battlefields to gain experience for advancing their character to the next level, although some experience is earned when the Battlefield reward coupons are turned in.

Mainly, players enter into the Battlefields to engage in a practice called “Player Killing”. In the battlefields, aside from the steps that need to be taken to “win”, there is a lot of player-vs-player (PvP) action in the format of two warring factions clashing. Every battlefield you enter, you can pretty much guarantee you will be killed at least one time, even if you’re not trying to kill others. (note: there is no equipment degradation when you die in the battlegrounds)

So, why not go in there ready to kill as many alliance as get in your way??!

No Experience For My Effort??!

While you do not get experience for killing players from the other faction in the Battlefields, you DO get something for the effort - Honor with the different groups in your faction.

Honor itself is what is used for player ranking in the PvP arena. Players who gather honor are rewarded with Military titles as they progress and gather more honor. Each week with the Tuesday morning update the prior week’s honor is calculated and some players will find themselves promoted a rank or two, or even demoted a rank or two.

And continuing on, the military ranks players earn through their Battlefield and other PvP efforts earn the player the right to purchase special equipment, food, drink and trinkets which are superior quality to those found in shops and in the majority of drops one could attain at their level.

Won’t I Get Pounded By Lvl 60’s?

Glad you asked! ;)

The battlefields have level ranges: 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60

So, you’ll be faced with some tough folks for sure, but not ones that are completely out of range for you to contribute to killing.

Cool! Let’s Form A Party And Join The Battlefields!

Great! Glad to hear that you’re interested in trying it out. Now, some important information for players to understand as you head into the battlefields for the first time:

  • Join the main raid - since all those in the same raid party get honor shared for things like capturing/returning flags and honorable kills, everyone in the battlefield tends to join one big raid group to facilitate as much honor as possible for every member. For this reason, even if you join as a group, disband your party and say “invite please” or find a way to get into the main raid group.
  • The team is 10 ppl big - even if you enter with friends or guildmates, it’s difficult to stick together because different players have different playing styles. Therefore, try to think of the entire raid group as your “team” even if you don’t know them.
  • Do your best, but don’t worry - even if you’re brand new to the battlegrounds, just do your best. We all start out new at some point, and all have to figure out how to get our PvP feet under us, so don’t worry about letting the team down in the mean time. If anyone’s squawking at you over the raid line or through chats, just ignore them.

Battlegrounds can be started at level 10 with the Warsong Gulch “capture the flag” Battlefield. When you get to level 20 you can start to enter Arathi Basin, and at level 51 you can enter Alterac Valley.

How Do I Sign Up?

Look for Battlemasters in any large city - Origrimmar, Thunder Bluff, and Undercity all have battlemasters for fellow Hordelings.

Alternatively if you’re going in with a friend or a guildmate, party up and get them to put the party in the queue. You can then leave the party and you will still be in the queue for the battlefield. When you come out, you will come out in front of the same Battlemaster your friend queued you both up from.

When Do We Play?

The games can happen at any time during the day or night, as soon as player requirements are met on both the Alliance and Horde side.

For instance, if there are 5 or more Alliance and 5 or more Horde in the queue for Warsong Gulch, a game will begin.

The evening is the best time to try to get into the Battlefields, although mid-day (near lunch) is also good.

Join in and if you’re in my level range in Zul’jin, say hello! (or cheer me if you’re alliance ;) )

2 Comments
24
Mar

The Weekend Marketplace

   Posted by: WoWGrrl    in Earning Cash, Guild Initiates, My Hunter, Warcraft Tips and Tricks, World of Warcraft

Of course, now that I’m nearly level 50, money flows in and out rather freely and even if I’m dead broke at one point, a few hours later I’ll have more money than I need for standard repairs, restocks of arrows and skill advancements. I don’t often have enough money to buy really good equipment, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story ;)

I’ve found that Friday night and Saturday morning are the best times to sell things on the AH. There’s a lot of people gathered around the Auctioneers during those times and things which don’t sell on Monday and Tuesday hardly at all, will sell like hotcakes on Friday night and Saturday.

So, this morning I spent my 45 min before work putting together some of my standard Leatherworking items so I can sell them between the hours of 3 PM Friday and 3 PM Saturday… I made 10 Dark Leather Tunics which I generally sell for 90s each, 5 Quickdraw Quivers which can sell for 3-5g each depending on the current glut on the market, and as many Thick Leather Ammo Pouches which can sell for 4-5g each as well.

I listed a few of the items this morning for the Friday morning/early afternoon buyers, including the one Thick Leather Ammo Pouch I could put together with the Elixir I had left. I listed the pouch at a buyout of 4g75s because there were 4 pouches already listed at a buyout of 5g. I’m confident that when I get home from work, that’ll be sold.

My bank account is currently crammed with things to sell - Expert Cookbooks, Expert First Aid books, Recipes for Heavy Crocolisk and Heavy Kodo stews, and now Dark Leather Tunics and Quickdraw Quivers.

Last week I did a good job at emptying out my “things for sale” bank slots but I made the mistake of restocking immediately and all last week I was struggling with inventory space as a result. This week I plan to start to restock on Thursday instead of right away. Sure, I’ll still do my flights to pick up the recipes that are limited in stock during the week, but those things always go right into the AH and do well at selling anyway.

Another strategy I’m going to employ this weekend is one designed to improve my new Enchanting levels. I dropped Skinning recently in favor of picking up Enchanting, which is a decision I haven’t regretted, since skins are available so cheaply and regularly in the AH anyway. It has taken some getting used to however, and I still feel as if something is missing after I kill a beast ;)

At any rate, my strategy will be to buy cheap low-level things that I can enchant (I usually try to bid on them instead of buying them out), and then sell back at a higher price than I paid, on the AH. I tried this strategy once with low-level bracers and it went well - I bought things for 7-15s and sold most of them for 25-40s after enchanting. I’m sure it wasn’t the enchantments that helped it sell really, but it was nice to get the experience points and the bit of extra cash as well.

In the end this week, all the selling etc allowed me to buy my second Epic item. Once I can login and get the official name I’ll post what I have, here.

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