A Modest Proposal

Why wait until we're all tricked out before we hit BGs? I've been reading the Nancycalahan thread and noticed that a goodly number of posts say good team work trumps good equipment. We should get comfortable playing together. If we just hold on to our badges and do not turn them in, we won't garner any extra XP.

My 2 zorkmids worth...(what?! you don't know Zork?)

Keeping the XP Down
A way to keep xp down is to do the quest runs for goodies in a party with high lvl peeps. Grab your alt and run one of our lil' guys through a chain. Then you take a turn w/your lil' guy whilst someone else's main keeps you livin' and killin'.
My available escorts:

Hallgrima, lvl 57 warlock
Saami, lvl 35 hunter

What normally is a fun killer can work for us here. IMHO. Am I wrong on this?

worth ck'g out:

LVL 20-29 twink guide for WSG

The prep for Deadmines

This is the start of the Deadmines chain. Do it all, and you end up getting the choice of this or this or this.

Then do this chain.

Then finally, do this set. At the end of that, you have the chance to choose among this, this or this. And you get set up for the ring quest.

It's like phat lewt city.

Our opponents await

This is a post by Nancycalahan, and this is a longer thread (worth reading all the way) about BGs on Khaz Modan, and there are layers to both that I think have ramifications for us. For those of you not reading the Khaz Modan forums, Nancy is an alt who plays in a guild called Zeiram, one of two 10-19 Twink Guilds for the Horde (Dark Knights is the other). Zeiram has 16 alts in the top 2000, all but one lvl 19; DK has 20 in the top 2K, with 11 of them in the 10-19 bracket. They often run together, and they're formidable players.

1. First, I think the wistfullness of Nancy's OP is not just e-peen, though there is some of that in it. It's interesting to think of a game within a game where there's the option to play but not develop expertise, while other players have committed to really understanding the rules of this bracket.
2. The third post in the string of Nancy's thread, from Marianne, is an insight into some of the Dark Knights/Zeiram strategy - a Mage in the Flag Room (presumably to freeze or sheep), along with Gotcha (actually, Gotchamon, a good Hunter) working at the entrance to the Horde tunnel. The slowing effect of the hunter and pet at the entrance, plus the inside freeze, makes it very difficult to grab their flag. We may need a mage to replicate this - a druid's roots don't work indoors, and only targets one player at a time. I don't know of an equivalent of the shaman's Earthbind totem that slows AoE on the alliance side, so we're left with a mage for this role. We'll have to see whether we need to add this capability.
3. Read the comment by Yscar - it's a testament to the importance of good hunters for us. I don't know the class - I just know those of you playing as a pet wrangler are going to be working.
4. Read post 25 of the second thread, by Nancycalahan (again), about strategies that Alliance players have tried and failed at. Suggestions for 'locks and hunters alike, as well as a comment about how ineffective it is to turtle - if both flags have been captured, it's almost more effective to go out as a group, including the Flag Carrier, to chase down the opposing FC. Risky to be sure, but that's why we need a group with the ability to Fear and Shield.
5. Read post 21 of the second thread - the "Highway, flag to flag" is just the straight down the middle path in WSG. The shortest path between two points, and all that...

Something to think about.

Joyriding as a defense against unwanted XP

So, now that Shadowpeeg is lvl 10 and so spiffly adorned with green shades, I decided to take him for a run.

One of the things I learned from DruidiaJane is that it's not a good idea to get too close to lvl 20 without having visited the three major Alliance cities, because if you go into the BG in a group, you return to the home city of the group's leader, regardless of where you started. For all of 18 and most of 19, that wasn't a problem for DJ, but then I happened to end up in Stormwind and then IF. In both situations, I got xp just as soon as I came out of the BG. The second time, in IF, I compounded the problem by following Viamedia out the IF gates to duel him (long story), and as I went out the Gates, ding, more XP. Eek!

So to prevent that, I'm taking Shadowpeeg to see the world at 10. We've seen all of Elwyn Forest and Westfall (so that when he goes to Moonbrook for the ring, no unexpected XP), and next is Loch Modan, Wetlands, Auberdine and then Darnassus. It's a lot of running, but so far, the xp for the various new locations has yielded most of .5 of lvl 10 - pretty cool.

Power Levelling Engineering, Pt. 2

Okay, this one take a little more money, but it's pretty easy - no crazy mats. And, as an added bonus, you end up with a ton of bombs and dynamite, which I used for the first time last night, and it's the "bomb-diggity" as Ken would put it. For a lvl 10 priest to drop a 140 dmg on something is kinda cool.

Here's what you'll need:

Something in the neighborhood of 24g (I did it with 23g 10s 50c)

Buy the following mats:

• 40 Coarse Stone (I paid 3g 25s per 20)
• 15 Linen Cloth (had it lying around, but buy it for 30s per 20)
• 40 Silver Bars (I paid 3g per 20)
• 40 Bronze Bars (I paid 70s per 20)
• 2 Tigerseye (I paid 7s 50c each)
• 2 Light Leather (25s per 10)
• 60 Heavy Stone (1g 40s per 20)
• 2 Moss Agate (50s each)
• 20 Wool Cloth (80s per 20)
• 2 Medium Leather (30s per 20)

The levelling process I followed was:

1. If you haven't trained to the 150 level yet, do that.
2. Make 40 Coarse Blasting Powder. This should level you to 91ish
3. Make 15 Coarse Dynamite. This should push you to 98ish
4. My notes here are weak - I think I then made 2 Copper Modulators to reach 100.
5. Then go get trained on Silver Contacts and Flying Tiger Goggles
6. Make 40 Silver Contacts. This should push you to 130. (This is a step that I think might be a point to diverge from my instructions, because you end up with WAY more Contacts than you'll need. It does get you to 130, though.)
7. Go get trained in Heavy Blasting Powder
8. Make 30 Heavy Blasting Powder. This should get you to 140.
9. Train in Big Bronze Bomb.
10. Make 10 Big Bronze Bomb. This will get you to 150.
11. Train on Green Tinted Goggles.
12. Make 1 Flying Tiger Goggles, then make Green Tinted Goggles.
13. Put them on, and marvel at how cool you look.
    

Some additional thoughts. This process doesn't do any of the training needed to make guns, which may be attractive to the hunters among us. It's pretty much just focused on leveling up. I went ahead and trained on some additional items, so that I could make Explosive Sheep, because who doesn't need combustible sheep?

Additionally, if you're not a completist, don't train in either the Flying Tiger Goggles or the Green Tinted Goggles. You don't have to know the patterns in order to wear the Green Tinted Goggles, you just have to be at 150 Engineering. I'm happy to make you your goggles if you want, and I've been seeing the Flying Tiger Goggles for 50s on the AH, too.

Happy Engineering!

So I've been searching for Warlock Twink Guide to 10-19, apparently they are the Bomb-diggity in 20-29, but for 10-19? Ahhh, not so much.... But I have found some actually helpfull information besides "Lvl ur lock to 29, nub."

As a twinked warlock, I beg to differ on the viability of my class in low lvl bgs.

2 Instant cast dots (1 from talents) and the ability to chain fear is death for most opponents.

Using witching staff with + spellpower enchant, throw some minor wiz oil, and some + dam gear and I rarely even need to do anything else.

Any class can be twinked nicely, it all comes down to the gear.

And now for the most helpful post I found this link.

I recently finished my Warlock twink and I have compiled this nice little guide on how I did it.

For starters, I was making a Level 19 WSG Lock Twink. Why not a Rogue, Warrior or Hunter you ask? Simply because these are the most over-twinked classes out there and I wanted to experiment with something new. I always finish within the top 3 for HKs with my warlock.

To begin, I started an Undead warlock. Sure, Orc Locks get the +5% Pet Damage bonus...But we really aren't focused on Pets here, seeing as at level 19 all that you will have available is the Imp and Voidwalker...And well...The voidwalker is damn near worthless in 10-19 WSG. WOTF is invaluable, and UD locks also get more INT then orc locks.

For the Talent Spec I went 5/5 Improved Corruption, For the instant cast, 3/3 Improved Imp, Just to give a bit of a boost to Blood Pact, and 2/2 improved drain soul. I've tried going 2/2 Improved lifetap over Improved Drain Soul but due to the lack of "Twink Healers" its pretty worthless...No one likes to heal in BG's anyway.

For my professions I took up Engineering/Mining, simply so I could mine some copper as I leveled to cut down a bit on the gold costs. By level 18 Engineering should be maxed out at 150.

Next is Gear...Estimated Cost for Gear + Enchants...800-1500G. (No I'm not kidding)
For my gear I used the following
Head - Green Tinted Goggles
Neck - None
Shoulders - Pagan Mantel
Back- Sentry Cloak +70 Defense Enchant
Chest- Tree Bark Jacket +100 Health Enchant
Bracer- Mindthrust Bracers +9 Stamina Enchant
Hands- Magefist Gloves (Working on Enchant Gloves - Shadow Power)
Belt- Keller's Girdle
Pants- Darkweave Breeches
Feet- Sanguine Sandals Minor Speed Enchant
Ring- Seal of Sylvanas
Ring- Lavishly Jeweled Ring
Trinket- Insignia of the Horde
Trinket- Minor Recombobulator
Weapon- Witching Stave +22 Intellect Enchant
Wand- Skycaller

Minor Recombobulator Seal of Sylvanas Phew...Now that gear is out of the way its onto Strategy...

Now even though you have all these amazing items they simply wont just win the game for you...After all, your job is support, and HK farming. Don't run into the group of allies full force, Stay in the back to middle of the group, and try to stick with a warrior/rogue at all times. When running into a group hit tab Have CoA and Corruption set to hotkeys 1 and 2 and hit 1...then 2...then hit tab to target another enemy and repeat. Have imp on Aggressive And basically let him do w/e he wants. I really don't bother too much with him. Once they start to drop, throw an Immolation on the warriors/pallies and focus Imp (ctrl + 1) attack on it while wanding or use the infamous lifetap/drainlife combo.
Because you are a lock, and you are a twink, You cant just go out to the barrens and farm soulshards. When you see someone is around 100 HP and dropping fast, quickly cast Drain Soul on them to get a quick shard. Make it into a healthstone, and also keep this on your hotbar. Because you are cursing everything like mad, when they die you get an HK and before long they really begin to snowball upon themselves.

I have a blast with my lock twink, he has better enchants on him then my main does and I think I might have spent far too much on gear...But in the end im having a great time with him. He is known on my server in the 10-19 WSG Bracket well, and feared by many an allie. I hope this guide opened your eyes too more then just the standard...Rogue Assassin Blade Twink, or Hunter Chzer Twinks.

~Vilkacis

Actual link had a ton of pop ups but here it is anyway: http://www.blizzardguides.com/warlock_twink_guide.html

Power Levelling Engineering, pt. 1

Power levelling a profession isn't a new idea, and there are some good guides out there that I've seen that'll take you from 0 to 300 in Alchemy and Tailoring, etc, but I couldn't find one for Engineering. That's a problem for us because we all need to level our BG twinks to 150 in Engineering, so that we can wear Green Tinted Goggles - they're widely understood to be THE twink headgear, since their 35 armor and +8 Stamina, + 7 Spirit (making your 19 Twink effectively have the HP of a lvl 27, as well as significantly increasing your HP and mana replenishment).

So I've taken it upon myself to write a power levelling guide for the process with the assumption that you're just going to buy the mats at the AH, rather than farm them. You can farm them if you want, it'll just take time. This part of the guide takes you to lvl 75, partially because I couldn't go beyond this before levelling Shadowpeeg to 10 (I'm at 8 right now).

So, here's what you need:

Something in the neighborhood of 3g 40s (I did it with 3g 18s 45c)

Buy the following mats:

• 100 rough stone (5x20) - don't pay more than 10s each, I bought mine for 9s each.
• 60 linen cloth (3x20) - don't pay more than 30s each, I bought mine for an average of 18s 33c.
• 80 copper bars (4x20) - don't pay more than 50s each.
• A blacksmith hammer, bought from the engineer supplies vendor

The levelling process I'm suggesting is that you:

1. Start by making 100 of the Rough Blasting Powder - this will be tedious, but will level you to 35.
2. Next, make 25 of the Rough Dynamite - this will move you to 50.
3. At this point, you can go for more training. If you're a completist, get all the plans, but what you really need will be Copper Bolts and Arclight Spanner. Level 50 is also when you can train to a max of 150, but your character has to be level 10.
4. Make 35-36 of the Handful of Copper Bolts. This should level you to 69.
5. Make 1 Arclight Spanner. This will level you to 70.
6. Go get trained in Copper Modulator.
7. Make 5 Copper Modulator. This will level you to 75.
8. Go get trained in Coarse Blasting Powder, Coarse Dynamite and Crafted Heavy Shot.

That's it for getting to 75. I'll be working on 150 tomorrow, so I'll write that up then.

I went looking for a twinking guide for the pally.

Here's what I found.

Available items for 10-19 twinks

As I've said, I've been gathering items for us to draw upon. These have been banked, and they're available for you to take for your twink when it's appropriate - just ask. Here's the list as of 6/9:

Item Rarity: Blue Magefist Gloves Binds when equipped Hands Cloth 23 Armor +3 Stamina +4 Spirit +5 Intellect Requires Level 15 2 available Item Rarity: Green Red Whelp Gloves Binds when equipped Hands Leather 52 Armor Requires Level 19 Equip: 5% chance of dealing 15 to 25 Fire damage on a successful melee attack. Item Rarity: Green Shimmering Gloves of the Eagle Binds when equipped Hands Cloth 22 Armor +4 Intellect +3 Stamina Requires Level 17 Item Rarity: Blue Deviate Scale Belt Binds when equipped Waist Leather 51 Armor +6 Stamina +5 Agility +3 Spirit Requires Level 18 4 available Item Rarity: Blue Sentry Cloak Binds when equipped Back Cloth 21 Armor +5 Stamina +4 Agility Requires Level 19 Item Rarity: Green Defender Tunic of the Eagle Binds when equipped Chest Mail 177 Armor +4 Intellect +5 Stamina Requires Level 18 Item Rarity: Blue Tree Bark Jacket Binds when equipped Chest Cloth 42 Armor +6 Stamina +10 Intellect Requires Level 19 Item Rarity: Green Buccaneer's Robes of the Eagle Binds when equipped Chest(Robe) Cloth 37 Armor +5 Intellect +5 Stamina Requires Level 18 Item Rarity: Green Scouting Trousers of the Eagle Binds when equipped Legs Leather 73 Armor +5 Intellect +4 Stamina Requires Level 19 Item Rarity: Green Ritual Leggings of the Eagle Binds when equipped Legs Cloth 30 Armor +4 Intellect +4 Stamina Requires Level 16 Item Rarity: Blue Darkweave Breeches Binds when equipped Legs Cloth 35 Armor +6 Spirit +7 Intellect +4 Stamina Requires Level 17 2 available Item Rarity: Blue Starsight Tunic Binds when equipped Chest Leather 89 Armor +4 Stamina +10 Spirit Requires Level 17 2 available Item Rarity: Green Lupine Leggings of the Eagle Binds when equipped Legs Leather 66 Armor +4 Intellect +4 Stamina Requires Level 14 Item Rarity: Green Grunt's AnkleWraps of the Eagle Binds when equipped Feet Mail 117 Armor +3 Intellect +3 Stamina Requires Level 16

Item Rarity: Green Blood Ring Binds when equipped Finger Miscellaneous +5 Stamina Requires Level 19 3 available Item Rarity: Green Zircon Band of Frost Resistance Binds when equipped Finger Miscellaneous +5 Frost Resistance Requires Level 18 Item Rarity: Blue Band of Purification Binds when equipped Unique Finger Miscellaneous +6 Spirit +2 Stamina Requires Level 18 Item Rarity: Blue Ring of Defense Binds when equipped Unique Finger Miscellaneous 20 Armor Requires Level 17 Equip: Increased Defense +4. 2 available Item Rarity: Green Shadow Goggles Binds when equipped Head Cloth 31 Armor +6 Spirit +5 Intellect Requires Engineering (120) Item Rarity: Blue Searing Blade Binds when equipped Two-Hand Two-Hand Sword 39 - 59 Damage Speed 2.50 (19.6 damage per second) Requires Level 18 Chance On Hit: Hurls a fiery ball that causes 70 Fire damage and an additional 9 damage over 6 seconds. Item Rarity: Blue Skycaller Binds when equipped Range Wand 24 - 45 Arcane Damage Speed 1.60 (21.6 damage per second) Requires Level 16 Item Rarity: Blue Lil Timmy's Peashooter Binds when equipped Range Gun 20 - 37 Damage Speed 2.60 (11.0 damage per second) Requires Level 16 2 available Item Rarity: Blue Skeletal Club Binds when equipped Main Hand Mace 28 - 53 Damage Speed 2.60 (15.6 damage per second) Requires Level 19 Chance On Hit: Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy causing 30 Shadow damage. 2 available Item Rarity: Green Medicine Staff of Frozen Wrath Binds when equipped Two-Hand Staff 25 - 38 Damage Speed 2.50 (12.6 damage per second) +9 Frost Spell Damage Requires Level 14 Item Rarity: Blue Twisted Chanter's Staff Binds when equipped Two-Hand Staff 55 - 84 Damage Speed 3.40 (20.4 damage per second) +10 Intellect +6 Stamina Requires Level 19 Item Rarity: Blue Staff of the Friar Binds when equipped Two-Hand Staff 42 - 64 Damage Speed 2.60 (20.4 damage per second) +11 Spirit +4 Stamina +3 Intellect Requires Level 19 Item Rarity: Green Battle Slayer of the Eagle Binds when equipped Two-Hand Two-Hand Axe 38 - 58 Damage Speed 3.30 (14.5 damage per second) +5 Intellect +4 Stamina Requires Level 17

Ok, there seems to be some confusion as to the purpose of this exercise and what the rules are.

1) We are setting out to see if a small strike force of BG players can own the Horde n00bs of Khaz Modan.

2) The initial plan was to have about 6 hunters who could absolutley dominate the mid field of War Song Gulch. We thought about it and decided that would be bad. So you can be whatever you want to be. But we'd like to have at least 3 hunters. I think we have that, so every position is open.

3) You can twink your player all you want, spend your gold anyway you want and obtain your gold anyway you want. I personally frown upon buying it from websites though... :-P

4) We want you to play characters you enjoy playing and then we want you to learn to play that character in the Battle Grounds.

Here is who I have as our current BG SMASH warriors

Olla - Hunter
Turbulent - Hunter
Brimas - Hunter
Shadowpeeg - Priest
Morlo - Rogue
Corandra - Warlock
Meranda - Warlock

Deadmines at 16

Ok, so it appears that when folks reach 16, we need to run you through Deadmines. The reason? You want this reward, the Seal of Wrynn, that's a result of the Unsent Letter quest that drops off of Van Cleef. It'll ultimately mean you'll also need to do a Stockades run to kill Basil Threadd; it's one of the longer chains. Don't wait much beyond 16 to do this - the xp from the two instances, unless you manage it properly, will push you up pretty quickly, as will the chain xp.

My thinking on the two instance runs is this: if you're at 15.9, we take Twinkleheal and another high level, and then three of our lowbie twinks, and enter the instance. The twinks stand at the instance entrance while the two higher levels clear in a ways, then we move into the instance in two groups - the twinks looting but staying far enough behind the killing so that they don't get the XP. Then when we get up to Mr. Smite, the groups converge to do the final ship together. Everyone gets the letter off of Van Cleef, and then we head off to Stormwind, where we run the chain and then use the same strategy on Stockades. Done right, you get the best twink ring and only end up at lvl 17 or so. We'll have to do this process at least twice to get everyone the ring, but that's not a big deal.

So, something to plan for.

SMASH!

Our Mission, as I see it...

Like Hillary, I want to do it because it's there, and also because I want to prove that a little bit of money, a lot of preparation and some teamwork can go a long way.

The plan is simple - I want each of us to roll an alt that we'll spec and gear up specifically to be a twink in the 10-19 WSG BG. We may ultimately move into succeeding decades, but for now, I'm focused on seeing how well we can prepare for a specific evaluation - 10-19 BG - and then achieve the highest rankings as a group.

I don't know all the classes well, so I'm suggesting we need everyone's input and research to do this well, but here's my thought on an optimal start:

3 or 4 players with minions - hunters or warlocks
2 players with fear capability - priests or warlocks
2 players with shield capability - priests or palladins
2 or 3 players with slowing capabilities - druids (root), warriors (hamstring), hunters (wingclip, concussive shot), mage (frostbolt)
1 or 2 players with speed options - rogues, hunters
1 or 2 players with DPS - rogues seem optimal for this level, but I've seen mages and warriors hold up here too.

Obviously, there's overlaps, and we're not necessarily going to be the perfect group. That's okay. But the goal is for everyone to get their character to 18, and then we'll set a date and time to go in together to see how we've done.

From my reading, Stamina is perhaps the most important buff to look for, since it directly increases HP. I'm working on getting Slipperypeet up to lvl 35, so that he can be our guild enchanter - we'll need +Sta buffs our equipment, and fiery enchants for our weapons. I've begun stockpiling the mats for the fiery.

What would be great is if everyone were to do three things:

1. Read some of the material below and then post the class you want to play, and then post some of the items you think you're looking for. I'll watch the AH for cheap bargains. Pay attention to the suggestion of choosing Engineering so that you can wear the fancy goggles that have the high +STA buff. We may want to put together a power levelling plan so that everyone can grind out 125 engineering points if it makes sense.
2. Be aware that some of the really esoteric buffs are going to require us to do some runs with our higher level alts - the Westfall Tunic, for example, will require us to run Deadmines with several high level folks sheparding some 15 and 16s through, so that they can get the reward after killing Van Cleef. VC is a chain quest, so plan accordingly.
3. Be thinking about the enchant buffs you think you'll need - we'll have to buy mats, and that could take some time.

I know this sounds a bit like work. That's not my goal - this should be fun. On the other hand, I want SMASH to break into the BG like a rogue wave - high, fast, unexpected and deadly! The Hordies won't know what hit them...

OK -

Here are some resources we all need to study. Blizzard's Forums are woeful for reliability, so some of these are surely going to break, but even so, it should give you a good idea of what we're talking about with SMASH.

A guide to creating a lvl 19 twink.

A guide to creating a lvl 29 twink, inspired by the guide above

A compilation of the optimal lvl 19 gear, and a recompilation by the same author. I'm not sure which is more complete - I think the first, but the second is shorter.

Here's a counter-opinion to the task we've taken on - in essence the argument is that pvp guilds and their ability to join as a grou are a detrimental addition to the BGs because of the inequity it creates for PUG players. I've been on both sides of this, so I see the concern, but I figure that's the beauty of choice - you get to choose how you want to play.

And finally, here's a fascinting thread on what happens when BGs take over your life. Read it and know the peril that awaits us...

Eric