WoW Fans Level up With Dell Computer

You've heard of the deal between Dell and Blizzard, right? In a nutshell, these two have combined efforts to make the Dell XPS M1730 Notebook PC. Custom World of Warcraft artwork and whatnot, bonus items, you can even align it with the Alliance or the Horde.

You can read the news release here

And you can visit Dell, and see the comp, here.

Is There a Tauren Chef in the Kitchen

Massively.com has an interesting post regarding my wife's WoW cookbook. They say...

Have you ever found yourself playing World of Warcraft when you found yourself overcome with a desire for Redridge Goulash or Beer Basted Boar Ribs? No? Well, neither have I, but I have to say that Tauren Chef's Unofficial World of Warcraft recipes have me intrigued anyway....

Here's the rest

Personally, I don't think $19.97 is too high a barrier to entry, especially since you can download it immediately, but people differ. Anyway, it seems to be getting some good reviews, so we're pretty pleased.

By the way, if you want to check out Ironforge Bread Pudding, hop over to theWoWcookbook.com.

World of Warcraft Gold Limit Found!

Wow, there does seem to be a limit to how much gold one can have on any one character. Wired Blog Network says...

According to Internet sources, the limit is currently set at 214,748 gold, 36 silver, 48 copper, and once reached will prevent you from receiving any more cash.

Now how the heck did they find that our? Did some character actually hit the limit? Yow. Now, for most of us that number is a dream. we'll never get close. Even if you follow everything in Valkor's Gold Guide it'll take you a looooooong time to hit that point. It's a nice thought, though...

Hunters and Rogues

Ah yes, the easy classes they've been called. Still fun, though.

So I made up a Blood Elf Rogue and am following Joana's Horde Guide to the letter. Well, mostly. I'm also taking plenty of tips from Valkor's Gold guide. So at level 22 I think I'm pretty decently equipped, am making levels and gold at a good rate, and am avoiding PvP like the plague (for now.)

What? Avoid PvP? Bah! You n00b! Whatever. It's a test of Joana's guide and there's nothing about PvP in the guide since PvP has nothing to do with leveling (though the PvP gear is pretty sweet...)

Joana covers each of the starting areas for the Horde races, so you get the step by step detail regardless of what race you choose.

At level 22 (Rogue) I have 40 gold, +40 add to Agility, nice adds to the other stats, 16 slot bags, and I am not mooching off any other characters or mains (which would kill the point of using the guides, right?) You may well have better, but this ain't bad. I've made a lot of it by selling skins and ore, but there's a lot of other stuff you can do to build your cash stash.

Now I have a case of Altaholism, just like most of the rest of you, so it's not like this Rogue is going to get to 70 tomorrow, but I'm pretty happy with the pace so far. It's way faster than normal. If leveling's your priority then the guide is a big help, because it lays out everything in a very organized manner and tells you exactly where everything is. Go here, do this, boom boom boom level fast.

What about the Hunter? We have a trio that sticks together, two Hunters and a Rogue, also mostly sticking to Joanna's guide. Plenty of trips into town and the AH, though, and we're easily distracted. One of the Hunter's is completely new to WoW, and gaming in general, so the Hunter is perfect for her. If you're doing speed runs the Hunter is the way to go.

They're actually the class of choice for Joana's speed leveling runs (When Blizzard pops a new server Joana does a speed run to 70, the goal being to be the first on the server to 70, He usually succeeds by a wide margin.) Mostly because they're the easiest to solo.

Snag your copy of Joana's 1-70 Leveling Guide here and get leveled fast.

Edit: Made it all the way to 70 in about 15 days /played time, which isn't bad for my first character to make it past the newb area. I used those thottbot and video links in the guide. Next run through will be a lot faster.

Romulo and Julianne

Romulo and Julianne, an homage to the original Romeo and Juliet, is an event in the Opera House in Karazhan. Of course, the original Romeo and Juliet didn't take a group of high level players and tear them into tiny little bits, either.

So there are some small difference here...

Take a look at the Romulo and Julianne guide and see if it doesn't help you turn the tables on this pair of nasties.

Here's Illuminati putting R & J in their place:

World of Warcraft Grinding Spots

It's a grind, dude. It really is. Endless mob mashing until you hit level whatever, or go insane. At least pick up the appropriate kill a bunch of these quests, which'll give you the quest XP and rewards.

Now, of you're grinding for loot, raw materials, etc., it isn't quite so bad. If you're a mage (see below) you can learn to kite masses of mobs, kill 'em all, and loot. This can be very quick if you know what you're doing.

So here's a basic wow grinding guide, with the what and where. Gear and loot is up to you.

Gnome mage A of E grinding in Tanaris. Does anyone really play gnomes? Well, anyway, here it is:


While grinding has it's points, questing will get you leveled faster unless maybe you're an expert at that A of E grinding stuff...). So here's the best horde leveling guide and this one's the alliance leveling guide.

The World of Warcraft Warrior Guide

So you want to be a warrior. This means you like pain, suffering, and being just a little behind everyone else?

If you have the right gear and you're fighting the right things you'll be ok. Warriors are more gear based than most of the other classes, so you'll need to learn the gold grind (or have rich friends) to keep yourself in the right gear.

Collecting PvP honor points and arena points will also get you into good gear, but you're going to die a lot until you get that gear.

Still, if you want to be a warrior, and/or you think I'm full of kodo droppings, then here's the warrior guide and here's the really killer warrior guide!

Happy hacking!

WoW's Shadow Priest

If you're a little more Darth Vaderthan Luke Sky Walker then the Shadow Priest may be right up your alley.

Really, it all depends on what works best for you. How you desire to play your character determines which character you make and which path you follow. Well duh. Most people don't roll Priests for the massive damage dealing and killing capabilities, but some do, and if so Shadow Priest is the one for you.

Aspiring Shadow Priests should understand one thing, even if you have shadow form and all nice damage spells, sometimes you actually do have to heal, like when in a party, or you're about to die, the holy and discipline tree's do exist for us dark siders.

Finally, not all endgame guilds, dungeons, etc. require shadow priests, obviously we bring some things to the table, but don't count on that spot not having been filled by one of the many already existing 70 priests who've gone shadow.

That said, here's a shadow priest guide that'll get you started on the dark side and give you a good idea of the gear you'll need to get, but if you want to rule you'll look into snagging a the Killer Guides' Priest Guide.

World of Warcraft Blacksmithing

So ya want to be a blacksmith? What are ya, a Dwarf?

First, save yourself a TON of money over the long term and get the mining skill. That way not only can you make a ton of cash by selling ore you'll also be able to provide raw materials for your own (and your guild's) blacksmithing without having to buy the stuff off the Auction House.

Second, learn to use the Auction House. All of the good Gold Guides have a ton of tips on how best to use the AH to make your character rich. If you're not already an AH expert then you should grab one.

Next, find the local mining trainer and buy the apprentice mining skill. Ask a guard if you don't already know in which corner the trainer is lurking. Then grab yourself a pick, head to the kills, er... hills, and start mining. Sell your stacks of ore (in stacks of 20) on the AH. Rinse and repeat.

As for what to mine, what you need to to get to what skill level, and what you need at each skill level, here's a full wow blacksmithing guide that'll take you all the way to skill rank 375 and give you an estimated list of materials required to get there.

Happy smithing!

WoW Mining Guide

You do know that buying gold is, according to Blizzard's terms of service, illegal, right? Which is why you'll want to develop certain tradeskills, mining among them.

You can sell the ore you pick up on the auction house for prices much higher than you'll get from the vendors. Make it a regular routine: mine where you can, make a stack, sell it, rinse and repeat. Soon you'll have a lot more gold than your pals.

Also, the ore you mine is used in the Engineering and Blacksmithing tradeskills. If you're able to mine your own ore you won't need to buy it off the auction house. This will save you a ton of cash.

Here's a complete wow mining guide which will take you up to the max skill level possible.

Don't want to bother with earning gold by mining? Buying gold can get you banned (ask around, it's true) so our recommendation is a good gold guide which will give you the who, what, where, when, and why of making more gold than you can spend.

By the way, one of the tradeskills in WoW is cooking. Here's a cookbook which takes that WoW cooking and brings it into real world kitchens.

Ninjoo's Shaman Class Guide

The Shaman is the Jack of All Trades, class. If you like variety and aren't concerned so much with being the ultimate in any one area, then the Shaman might be right up your alley.

Shamans are indeed an interesting class, in fact they're one of the more hybridized classes, which just means they depend more upon a mixture of abilities than almost any other class, except for maybe the Paladin or Druid.

Shamans present the interesting bonus of being able to summon totems, essentially little buffing posts that provide something similar to a paladin's aura, except in a limited range around the totem itself rather than the shaman. The upside is that you can have 4 of different elements going at the same time. This can be amazingly useful if you need to be stationary in your battle.

Obviously the ability to not only have 4 different totems out, each giving some rather nice buffs, but also the ability to heal, melee, and throw out some nasty damage spells, makes Shamans a fun, and challenging, class to play.

Utilizing all of theses to an effective degree will take some time, experience, and personal skill, but any good shaman will find it rather easy and insinctive eventually.

You'll find a Shaman guide here, which will hit a lot more detail, but if you want to get your Shaman to rule you'll want to treat yourself to the Killer Guides Shaman Guide.

Shade of Aran

WoWwiki says:

The Shade of Aran is a boss in the abandoned tower of Karazhan. He is the spirit of Nielas Aran, the father of Medivh - the previous occupant of Karazhan.

He is located in the Guardian's Library, which is a small, circular room (about 45 yards in diameter), with one door that closes and locks as soon as the fight begins.

The Shade of Aran is an optional boss. However, after he is defeated, a teleport to his room becomes available from Berthold the Doorman, and all trash mobs from the Curator to Aran (exc. one pack outside Illhoof's door) cease to respawn.

So, it's a very good idea to kill him. (The trash above his library is linked to Netherspite.)

For a good guide on how to send Aran to the great beyond check out this Shade of Aran guide.

There are also some pretty good Aran mashing tips in the comments on Thottbot.

How to Finish High King Maulgar

King Maulgar and his vicious High Council are the beasties in charge of the ogres of Blade's Edge Mountains.

This is the first 25 man raid encounter of the Burning Crusade. Most people consider this to be a pretty tough encounter (expect those who've already mastered it.)

As usual the mobs here will wipe your group, repeatedly, unless you have the right gear and use the right tactics.

Here's a complete guide to dealing with High King Maulgar.


The High King Himself, in all his, ermmm... glory.

Here's Stratics on How to kill High King Maulgar