Elkagorasa the Casual

Checking this blog, I noticed that I hadn't posted anything in over 6 months now. So how about a quick update to dust things off.  In all the (14+) years, I've played WoW there are actually a couple of classes that I've never played and even more that have never made it to max level. While under the Winds of Wisdom  buff, I've decided to play through a few of the other classes.  First off was to finish leveling a paladin on my current server. Eraalii (in honor of friend's mage "Oh Really? Ya") was a fun class to go back and revisit. She was my BFA boost and my first allied race (light forged draneii). I had forgotten how much fun tanking was, especially while wearing all heirlooms in those early dungeons. " Hold on let me pull a large pack, we got this ".  Next, I finally gave in to the aesthetic of the Worgen heritage armor and leveled a Worgen mage. Erleoniance  (the random name generator gave me that one, "Erl" + "brilliance...

For the last 2 weeks, I've been having a lot of fun with the addon  oQueue . If you haven't used this add-on before, it's something the helps breathe new life into the game. What does it do? oQueue allows users from cross-domains find each other. Players can setup a request for other players, post it out there. Then players see that request popup, and request to be put on the wait list. If the event organizer loves you, they can send you a meeting invite and off you go! This is the addon that Blizzard hopes their new Group Finder will replace. BUT will they go far enough? Another central innovation in Warlords is our Group Finder feature, which will allow players to easily form and search for raid groups (among other activities) with players from their entire region. [...] For players who want to take the next step beyond Raid Finder, or who want to find a weekend run for their alt, or who just need a last-minute tenth member for their raid, Group Finder will make th...

With my recent feature post on Amijade's blog , I figured it's time to refresh my user interface post. Below is a sample of my current raiding (questing, rep grinding) user interface. Nothing fancy, mostly like the default interface. I like moving myself, pet, target, and focus down below my toon's feet. This way I can focus on the fight and not need to look around the screen. Here are my addons: Addon Control Panel so that I can swap between AH and DPS/Questing addons. Bartender4 to shrink buttons main rotation buttons down to 70% normal size, shrink main menu and 'out of combat' buttons down to 50% and to create a CYA button bar- on use button (soulstone, fear macro, teleport macro, healtstone macro) XPerl to provide detailed views on myself. Standard interface allows moving user frames around, but xPerl will also include target-of-target-of-target options and "my spells are larger" views. Skada as a damage meter. I like that I can turn off...

Just a little over a month remains until the Mists of Pandera expansion is released and it's time to start getting ready. Step 1 : Remove/Uninstall outdated add-ons. I just went through my Curse client and uninstalled every addon from my interface that hasn't been updated in over a year. Friends with Benefits , Gone. TBag , Gone. I easily did this by adding the "Latest Date" column to the interface, sorted by this column then just scanned down for older items. I left a few addons that I am fairly sure will be updated, like Addon Control Panel . Curse has a nice section of add ons that work with the Panda beta. Take a look . Maybe it's time to start replacing those really old middle-ground addons with something new?? Step 2: Empty mailbox.  Blizzard hasn't handled mailbox items well several times. Making sure that the mailbox is empty before each patch isn't a bad idea. Right before my last logon, I had put bids on a bunch of disenchant prospects...

Just been busy. See, June starts with my wife's birthday, followed closely by the kids getting out of school for  their summer break, our first vacation of the summer; ending around the 4th of July with a neighborhood garage sale and catastrophic hard drive failure. Yeah, nothing like doing a little research on some doll to have the auction site pass you a copy of a virus and wipe out (what appears) to be all of the files on my PC. It still boots, I can logon, I see the drives still full, but no content. Rumor has it there's a popup ad around that advertises a drive-fixing tool. This ad pushes down the problem, that you 'can only fix' using the tool?? Don't click the [X] to close the window, as it is rigged to fire off the code. I only learned of this virus yesterday at lunch and haven't tested the tool.  Why? Borderlands . Three of us from the guild have been playing this multi-player FPS off and on for about a month. Borderlands is about a near future...

I've been saddened lately to see that Shefki has given up maintaining TBag . I am guessing, like a lot of people, he is on hiatus until MoP comes out (this Summer?). This has left me to maintaining my bags and bank by hand (/GASP!). It's dreadful, things everywere, herbals mixed with PVP gear, and gems stuck under that piece of gingerbread cookie I am still hanging on to. Happily, I have found ArkInventory . This is also an all-in-one bag solution, but with some interesting quirks. First off, it combines nicely all of my bags into a single source. I can sort each of them based on various criteria so that items are quick and easy to find. Once it is configured it is a very nice looking interface with even more thematic options available. Finish it off, it contains a few nice features that TBag still doesn't have. Starting view First time you fire up ArkInventory, you will be presented with the default profile view. It's currently sorted into a single bag, and th...

With the 4.3 patch, a number of my favorite add-ons have quit working "Out of Date". While I can simply work around the error pop-ups (or even suppress them), I'd rather not have that overhead, especially while in the middle of a battleground or dungeon. Nothing more irritating, than having that 'inspect' dialogue box popup while in the middle of a fight, over and over again. Unfortunately, as minor addons, I don't expect any updates on them very soon. TBag by Shefki Way back in BC, I had an issue with my install of Warcraft where my bags would not display correctly. Instead of simply reinstalling the software (it was on 4+ cds, plus all the patches up to BC and my internets were not very fast), I went with an addon. TBag is my absolute favorite for this purpose. It's biggest strength is that it SORTS . Yeah, sorts your bag view into areas. Food, drink, bandages and pots are at bottom, quest items at top, gear is along the right, and other miscellany...

Of the two red Xs, one has an invalid reforge (hit to stam) on it. I was testing to see if it would remove them as well. (Elk pats imp, "Slow down Volham, we haven't even written the post yet".   Revert to Draft ) We are both a little excited about a 'new' addon, Reforgerade . This simple little addon takes reforge priorities and presents them in a nice little interface when you visit that reforge guy. "Reforge Priorities??" you ask. "Where do I get those?" I don't know, go AskMrRobot ?  :) Click the EXPORT button, then the Export Reforges button. I know, go figure. Copy the contents. When you visit Enchanter Faradine, the Reforgerade window will popup, paste the AskMrRobot content and hit the Reforge button. Now you don't have to think to blindly follow our robot overlords. Love ya Mr Robot (and  legowxelab2z8  the addon PM)

The 4.2 patch is going to drop. MMO-Champion estimates this coming Tuesday (6/28). Sounds good, as it will give most people the long (US) holiday weekend to explore the Firelands new content and get them prepared for the new raid content. Reminder on Currency Conversion : With this new raiding tier, comes the standard currency conversion. At least, unlike Wrath, Blizzard isn't going to create a new currency, per se. They are simply going to devalue your current valor points, so that they are equivalent to Justice points. I'd like to suggest you spend some points this today and get yourself under 4000 combined total. I am a little torn about what to buy. What you could buy now for valor points, will be purchasable in 4.2 for Justice points. So no effective price difference between today and next week. If you have enough, buy a valor item now. If you have an abundance of Justice Points, then buy a BOA item and send it to that alt you've neglected. The BOA gear isn'...

As a disc priest, I love the addon Vuhdo . Combine the ctrl, alt and shift keys with my 5 button mouse and I can cast virtually all the primary healing spells I'd ever need. I can automate trinket usage, and casting buff spells (i.e. power infusion ) in line with everything else, or call on macros that would combine the functionality of different items automatically. In addition, Vuhdo has buff minding and simple casting options (click buff and it applies it), plus auto-cast of some spells (i.e. click on dead toon to rez) or middle-click to debuff magic. After my interview with TNB , where Fimlys mentioned he uses this instead of the standard, Blizzard party/raid window, I got to thinking about how I could use this healing tool more effectively as a warlock. Some ideas. Buff: Dark Intent - Out of the box, Vuhdu tracks self-buffs (Fel Armor, Soul Link, and Dark Intent, etc.). I can click on the self-buffs and it immediately casts them on myself. Last night in the raid, it target...

Always looking for something to make the process of growing gold easier, I have downloaded and started playing with TradeSkillMaster (TSM). This addon looks to be a mix of various other tools that I already use. Auctioneer/Auctionator - scans the Auction House, gathers current prices of items available. Plus, post auctions to the auction house with competitive prices and undercutting values. Postal - automate the scrapping and sending of mail to/from crafter/bank toons. Lil' Sparkys Workshop - Provides me with a list of craftable items, with the cost to make, and current AH sale price (aka Profit!).  Being a combination of these various tools, has some advantages and some disadvantages. Advantage-wise, things work nicely together. Stuff you queue up for one bank toon, should present as a shopping list on another and then be mailed back when it's purchased for that toon (for example, bank toon purchases Alchemy materials for my main toon/alchemist using this tool, those ma...

not Ish and his Wish Dish I am looking for an addon. I want an addon that will track my wish dish list. You know, that list of items that you can pickup at vendors, or the auction house. Stuff that would be fun, or useful later on. Stuff that I blog about here, but don't actually have. Here is what I want this addon to do: When I visit a vendor, say a quartermaster or the AH, I can right-click an item and add it to my wishlist; tracking a virtually infinite list of items.  I'd like at least categories for the different body parts (head, shoulders, etc.) so that I can find items on my list quickly. Allow linking to that item, so that I can reference it in chat, or via Pawn. Have a column that shows me the pawn scale value for the item. (Scale chosen on an Options page). Allow me to prioritize the list so that I can set the weapon upgrade before the boots then change it when I get the weapon drop.  Have items lower in priority when I get a better upgrade (or maybe d...

In my opinion, one of the best elements to playing WoW is the capability of using addons. In my limited MMO gaming experience, addons or hacks were just that, hacks. You did it to change the game to your benefit. Often consider a illegal. I learned about AddOns in a sort of backhanded approach. My original install of Warcraft came from a dump of the folder from a friends machine. Sure, I paid $40 for the license, but the media came on a flash drive from his PC, addons and all. It wasn't until BC, that I learned how tweeked my view of the GUI truely was. I remember the day, saying "I CAN'T PLAY RAW!" Buttons were all in the wrong place, I only had 2 rows of bars, and my mini-map didn't show herb possibilities any longer; it was devastating. A few years ago, I started using WowMatrix and have not been surprised again. WowMatrix downloads addons from a variety of locations, and doesn't ask for money (like some other addon updaters I've used). Unfortunatel...

With this holiday, I become reminiscent of my childhood. I remember those long drives, early in the morning (without any of the modern conveniences) to Grandma's house, to have fun filled afternoon with cousins I barely know. I remember sitting there watching hours of televised sports (aka American Football) not knowing the difference between the teams (or secretly caring - nerd, not jock) or who wins. Now I get the honor of spreading that same joy, this year to my kids. Now as one can imagine, with any family get-together comes food and eating. This means one of two rooms are usually extremely busy, and I am not referring to the kitchen. Playing a horde character, I am some-what surprised by the lack of facilities in our lands. Sure the Alliance lands are spotted with little rooms with moons, but I have yet to see one in Durator. Is this due to the belief that Horde are animals ? Unless I am missing something, the Blood Elves and all their glory, do not either. Just saying... th...

Now, that my guild is fighting Sindragosa, and soon (I hope) Lich King, the Demonic Circle is playing an enormous part in my fight strategy. The first night we attempted the bone dragon, my lock closet kept timing out. Nothing worse, than dying due to the AOE, because your madly clicking "teleport" and there's nowhere to go to. What I have started looking for is a PowerAura to help out. I love that I have glowy, shiny reminders to tell me when something is available, missing or on CD. Over at MMO Champion , they've started a warlock guide for PowerAura's and this one is posted right on top. I've tried a variant Friday of this on my own, but couldn't get it to work, probably a typo in the creation or mix-up the coding. To simplify it, I've found code that I can import. Just need to update the reference in the first to the second and vice versa. I am not getting this to work, but I think it appears to be my relationship of the two auras. When I move...

From the online Horde 21-30 guide I have long been a big fan of Jame's leveling guides over at WoW-Pro.com . These online guides helped Elk level fairly quickly and painlessly from 20 to 75. The guides were concise, with maps and locations to grind for quest items. (He specifically designed the guides to avoid grinding extra mobs to level.) At any time, you could find printed, dog-eared copies of these guides, sitting around my computer, with crossed out segments, and circles of what I still needed to complete. They were extremely helpful, but cumbersome. "Oh man, I skipped a line and missed that quest item, I need to run back..." My current questing status Earlier this week, the Wow-Pro team has released an add-on version of their leveling guide. I loaded up this add-on yesterday (off Curse , WoWMatrix hasn't added it yet) and was quickly impressed. Once, I updated my ACP Questing build to include LightHeaded, and TomTom, I was greeted with a simple interfac...

BBB then Fulgaris started reviewing their UI for functionality. BBB is a clicker, Ful is a button masher. Me? Well I don't know, both(?) Since, I haven't really reviewed my recent UI changes since last year , I thought I'd also contribute. Here's is my raiding UI! My Raiding UI as seen from my HP2509 My design premise: Minimize my eye movement on screen. I read a forum post reviewing eye focus. It stated that it typically takes 0.2 to 0.5 seconds for your eye to focus on something different. (to find at button, click, then refocus could take 1.5 seconds) To minimize my eye movement, I've placed myself and my target immediately at my feet. (Stay out of that green gooey stuff). Spell timers are immediately visible on my target. Remove clutter . I removed Necrosis as it's functionality wasn't adding anything to me. I removed all additional bag buttons as I only needed to click one to see contents. One version, I was having a button bar disappear w...

If you, like me, have at least one PC set with the Blizzard background configured, you'll like this script. I've placed the script in my Startup folder and it will randomly download a new Blizzard approved wallpaper image each time you start your Windows XP/Vista/7 computer. I've linked to this before, but I recently posted a newer version of this script to include Fan Art and some random functionality. You will still need to modify the script to fit your size monitor. Edit the code in Notepad and it should be fairly obvious (Note look for two sizes of art, the fan art sometimes comes in different sizes than Blizzard images). Script is here

It all started off as innocent leveling of my bank toon. Running a level 12 toon from the bank/auction house in Orgrimmar all the way around to the inscriptionist trainer is painful! So, during the Fire Festival last week, I had my priest do the 2 dailies (in BOA gear). Well, from that spawned using the fire-pole buff to get another 5% buff when killing monsters, so I started questing. That went really, really quickly. Collectively gaining +25% additional xp (gear + buff) then 9 months of rested bonus added up to some quick leveling. Heck, I went from 12 - 16 in no time flat. 4 levels to go from there. At 20, I'd be able to train apprentice riding and mount up my pretty pony. See, at 15, you can start running dungeons. Yep, and the beauty of it, they give you a satchel of goodies just for doing it via the RDF . So, I queue'd my priest up DPS (warlock at heart and all! Note, a shadow priest at 15 to 19 plays a lot like a affliction warlock. Dot , damage then wand .)  20 mi...

Not sure if it's a secret, but it appears that the 3.3.5 patch will be dropping on us June 15th. How do I know you ask? Well, I thought I'd sign up for the Beta and while on the Battle.net page, I saw the new Battle.net terms of service page.. :) Those new terms take into affect June 15th. Have you ever read the terms completely? Did you know that: 1) No add-ons [Blizzard forbids] use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, mods or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify the Service, any Game or any Game experience; 2) No cyborgs You may establish an Account only if you are a "natural person"  3) No blogs You agree that you will not create any work based on the Games or the Service 4) No Wowhead/Curse Addon client use any third-party software to collect information from or through a Game client or the Service, including without limitation information about your character  5) In game advertising sponsored by Blizzard [Blizz...