Battlegrounds 8/2/08

Today was not a great day for the Alliance in the battlegrounds. I fought in all of them on Wranngar. I was in 3 Arathi Basin, 1 win 2 losses, it was my daily today, 5 Alterac Valley, all losses, 7 Eye of the Strom, 5 wins and 2 losses and 7 Warsong Gulch, 2 wins and 5 losses.

In Arathi Basin we just couldn't seem to get it together and work together. It took 3 battles to get my win and that was enough for me. In our 2 losses we couldn't seem to get more than 2 nodes capped at one time. Of course everyone was running around doing their own thing instead of grouping up and working as a team. One person would go after the Farm while another single person would go after the LM and another after the BS. Finally in the last battle we worked together and had a 4 cap to win in not much time at all. I got my 11g99s, 419 extra honor and 3 Arathi Basin Mark of Honor for a total of 5 for the day.

Alterac Valley was a total wash, it is their holiday weekend and I usually try to stay away from battlegrounds on their holiday weekend but decided to go ahead and fight in there anyway. The only good thing I can say about it is I got a lot of kills. The weekend warriors and AFKers were out in full force, it was pretty sad. That is about all I am going to say about AV, we never got into a position to even think about taking down Drek but people were still calling to "go kill Drek, that's what we need to do to win". You can tell those are the weekend warriors that have no clue what they are doing in there because it takes a good group to take down Drek with even 2 towers up and there was no way these groups were going to do it with 4 towers up.

After AV I decided to go into Eye of the Storm to get the foul taste of defeat out of my mouth. We usually do good in EoS and today was no exception. We pretty much worked together as a group and had some good groups. The two we lost were because of bad grouping, possibly weekend warriors that strayed into the wrong battleground lol. We won the 5 battles with a wide margin on most but the last one I was in we won by less than 100. The Flag in EoS is there for the same reason Galv is in AV, to slow down the clueless and it works well. It is a much faster win to have a 4 or even 3 cap then it is to cap 2 and run the flag but people either can't or refuse to understand that.

I actually had a pretty good time in Warsong Gulch even though we did not win a lot of them, I like to run the flag and one battle I capped all 3 for the win. I run back to our flag room with the flag going up the very right hand side of the battleground, I stick right to the edge and get very little interference. I don't really need the marks for anything but I can use the honor to upgrade my gems.

Battlegrounds 8/1/08

The daily battleground today was Eye of the Storm again which wasn't bad, we do good in there and it wasn't their holiday weekend. We won the first one I was in, 2000/300, we trashed them. We had MT, DR and BET capped and were keeping them busy at FRR while we ran the flag. It didn't take me long to collect my 11g99s, 419 extra honor and of course get my 3 Eye of the Storm Mark of Honor mailed to me.

I did some AV's after I was done in EoS, I fought in 7 battles, 4 wins and 3 losses. Our first battle was a win, then we had a loss, then 3 more wins and finally 2 losses before I called it quits. I usually don't fight in a battleground on it's holiday weekend but I decided to give it a try to see how the new add-on I installed today, TuringTest AFK Reporter, was working. I hit it at the right time because overall we were doing good for awhile. Yeah there were a lot of AFK, and the add-on was working great, but it didn't really get bad until the place filled up with weekend warriors. In our wins we rushed FWGY and the relief hut in one, even took down Galv at the start in one of them and still won, that should give you an idea of how good the group was at one point. But towards the end it got really bad and the last 2 battles everyone was in Dun Baldar so I decided to call it quits. Those are the weekend warriors, they are not there to fight, they are there to get honor and marks, they are just a little above the AFK as far as I'm concerned. The only difference being if the Horde come into DB while the are "guarding" it they will put up a fight even if it is half hearted. I am really pleased with this new AFK reporter, it reports automatically so I don't have to waste time doing that anymore and I think if everyone was using it, or Blizzard got off their ass and incorporated it into the game, AFK in battlegrounds would be a thing of the past.

Daily 8/1/08

I only did one daily on Wranngar today so I can't really call it daily's. I did the fishing daily which was Felblood Fillet and spent the rest of my day in the battlegrounds. To catch my Monstrous Felblood Snapper I headed over to my spot at the Pools of Aggonar (39,37) in Hellfire Peninsula. I got one in 7 casts and headed back to Old Man Barlo, (40,59) at Silmyr Lake in Terokkar Forest, to hand it in for my Bag of Fishing Treasures. For that I got 7g4s39c, 3 Elixirs of Water Walking and a Broken Spyglass which I sold to a vendor for 2 gold. Certainly no exciting rewards from this quest today but I will keep plugging away for the good stuff :).

AFK Reporting Add-on

I downloaded a great mod today for reporting AFK in the battlegrounds. It is called TuringTest AFK Reporter. It automatically reports the people that are AFK and also lets you know it reported them. It has other uses too, reports most damage, most healing, best defender and so on. I have tried it in a couple AV's and there were no problems I could see, it seemed pretty accurate. It doesn't report people just getting into the battleground either, I guess it gives them a little time to get out of the cave and do something. I highly recommend this to anyone who fights in a lot of battlegrounds and are as sick of the AFK problem as I am. For those of you who use WoWMatrix you can download TuringTest AFK Reporter right through there and there is also a download/install program available from the download website. I use WoWMatrix to keep track of all my add-ons and it is really handy to update, I update every Friday and it is a one button process with WoWMatrix. Both of these are free to download and use.

Update: I have used this in 7 AV's and I love it, no more taking time to report people AFK, it does it automatically and reports them again in a couple minutes if they are not marked inactive. I think if everyone had this add-on, AFK in battlegrounds would be a thing of the past :). Too bad Blizzard didn't take the initiative and just incorporate it into the game...

Battlegrounds 7/31/08

I fought in Eye of the Storm and Alterac Valley today on Wranngar. EoS was the daily battleground and we won the first two I was in and lost the last one. We won the first one by over 1,000 and the second one by over 1600 :). Then in the last one we got trashed, we only had one base and it was all we could do to hang onto it. In the first two we capped MT, FRR and DR then ran the flag while the Horde were trying to defend BET, we kept the pressure on them there to make sure they all stayed right there. In the second battle we capped MT, FRR and DR and ran the flag, eventually capping BET towards the end. In the third battle everything seemed to fall apart and we were only able to cap BET and it took all of us just to hang onto that, we got beat by quite a bit on that one. I got my 11g99s, 419 extra honor and 3 Eye of the Storm Mark of Honor from the daily.

In Alterac Valley we didn't do too good at all. I didn't realize it was AV holiday weekend or I would have thought twice before going in there. We did win the first one I was in but we lost the next 2. In the first one we had a Frostwolf pre-made in our group so they were a little more organized than a pug but not by much. I think it was a trade channel pre-made and sometimes those aren't any better than a pug but we did win although it was a close fight. We rushed FWGY while the pre-made took care of the towers and eventually moved into FW Keep and got the relief hut. When all the towers were burned we went in and took Drek down. The Horde were on Vann so it was close. In the last 2 you could really tell it was a holiday weekend, there were a lot of AFK and most of the people didn't have a clue what they were doing, the weekend warriors that only do battlegrounds on the holiday weekends and don't really do anything anyway, might as well be AFK. Anyway those 3 battles were all I could take.

Daily's 7/31/08

I did the daily fishing which was Shrimpin' Ain't Easy, the daily cooking which was Manalicious, Gaining the Advantage, Sunfury Attack Plans, The Multiphase Survey, Blast the Gateway and Blood for Blood on Wranngar today along with the daily battleground which was Eye of the Storm. It didn't take that long and I made around 100 gold.

The daily fishing had Old Man Barlo, (40,59) at Silmyr Lake in Terokkar Forest, sending me over to my spot at Umbrafen Lake (78,74) in Zangarmarsh. I had to catch some Bloated Barbed Gill Trout for the Giant Freshwater Shrimp they have inside. I got the 10 I needed from 6 fish. When I turned this in for my Bag of Fishing Treasures I got 6g73s29c, 6 Sharpened Fish Hooks and a Rusted Lock. Nothing great there but I am still hoping for The 2 Ring someday.

After I got the fishing quest done I headed over to Eco-Dome Midrealm in Netherstorm to pick Mana Berries. This is a really easy quest and while I was there I did killed and skinned the Lynx there for Nether Residue. Once that was done I headed over to Sunfury Hold to get the Attack Plans. That took me awhile, I had to kill everything around there once and then finally got them on the respawn. From there I headed over to the Throne of Kil'Jaeden and did Blast the Gateway and Blood for Blood. That one went pretty quick. When I turned in the cooking to The Rokk, (61,15) in Shattrath, I picked Barrel of Fish for my reward and got 12 Figluster's Mudfish and 2 Bright Baubles. Nothing great there either but I am in it for the cooking mats now so it is not bad, I have all the recipes.

After I handed those in I went to Nagrand to take some gas readings for The Multiphase Survey. This is a really easy quest that takes no time in Swift Flight Form. The cast time for Swift Flight Form is instant so I take and reading and I am off to the next one :). To see what I got for the other quests check out the List of Daily Quests I do.

Battlegrounds 7/30/08

I only did battlegrounds today. I did them on Wranngar. I did 14 battles in AV, 8 wins, 6 losses. AV was the daily battleground today too, I got that out of the way on the second battle. Jacedic fought in a couple of them with me, I think we had two wins and one loss while he was there. The Alliance wasn't doing too bad overall but the AFK's are killing us. We had a couple battles where almost half our team was AFK, Blizzard needs to do something about this problem instead of just saying they are doing something about it. It is hard to believe they are doing anything about it when you see the same people AFK day after day, week after week, it is sad. For the most part the strat that seemed to be working today was rush FWGY then move forward and backwards and cap towers and GY's. The strat that continues not to work is take and hold SHGY, we lost a couple due to that and a couple more due to people going for Galv first. We won one battle on reinforcements and the rest killing Drek so I got some pretty good honor out of it. We only had a couple battles, one was where almost half the team was AFK, where we didn't get any towers and almost no honor. The Horde won most of their battles on reinforcements as they usually do, that is due to AV still being unbalanced even after Blizzard "fixed" it. Anyway I got some good honor and a lot of kills along with the 11g99s and Alterac Valley Mark's of Honor which I have to let expire in my mailbox because I can't carry anymore.

Battlegrounds 7/29/08

I fought in a few battles on Wranngar today. I did one Arathi Basin which was my daily, we won the first one I was in, and 7 AV's, 4 wins, 3 losses. The Alliance was having a pretty good day in AV :). In Arathi Basin we went out and 4 capped at the start, ST, LM, GM & BS, then we lost the GM and got the Farm. After that we went back and got the GM at the cost of the BS but we got the BS back too for a 5 cap. We had the Horde trapped in their spawn GY and kept them there. The resources click off really fast when you have a 5 cap and it was over in no time. It took less than 10 minutes and I got 11g99s, 419 quest honor, on top of the honor I got from the battleground, and 3 Arathi Basin Mark of Honor. The Arathi Basin Marks came in handy as I picked up Merciless Gladiator's Dragonhide Tunic today for 14,500 honor and 30 Arathi Basin Mark of Honor. I had plenty in the bank but nothing wrong with replenishing the supply.

In AV we were having a good day. We won one of the battles on reinforcements and the rest killing Drek. One was a Blackrock pre-made and that was a quick one, the others we mostly used the rush FWGY then move forward to FWRH while some moved backwards for IBT & TP. Then we would get the East & West Frostwolf Towers down and move in and kill Drek. As usual there were a lot of AFK in the battles I was in, no change there. We got Galv in most of the battles so I ended up getting some pretty good honor out of them.

Daily's 7/29/08

I did some daily's today on Wranngar. The ones I did were the daily cooking which was Manalicious, the daily fishing which was The One That Got Away, Sunfury Attack Plans, Gaining the Advantage and The Multiphase Survey.

The daily cooking had me heading out to Eco-Dome Midrealm in Netherstorm to pick some Mana Berries. This is a really easy quest that takes no time at all. While I was there I finished up Gaining the Advantage and I stopped off and did Sunfury Attack Plans on my way back. I got the Attack Plans on my second kill. When I got back and turned in the cooking to The Rokk, (61,15) in Shattrath, I picked Barrel of Fish for my reward and got 4 Figluster's Mudfish, 4 Spotted Feltail and Bright Baubles along with the 7g59s this quest pays. I turned in Gaining the Advantage for 16g39s and a Major Rejuvenation Potion. Sunfury Attack Plans got me 10g10s plus Shattered Sun Supplies.

The daily fishing had Old Man Barlo, (40,59) at Silmyr Lake in Terokkar Forest, sending me out to Lake Sunspring (34,43) in Nagrand. It took me 11 casts to get the World's Largest Mudfish. While I was there I also did The Multiphase Survey. That is another really easy quest that takes no time at all. When I had that out of the way I headed back to Old Man Barlo and turned in for my Bag of Fishing Treasures. It had 6g97s47c, 4 Sharpened Fish Hooks and a Piece of Polished Driftwood, nothing exciting there I'll tell you what. For The Multiphase Survey I got 9g10s when I turned in.

Battlegrounds 7/28/08

I only did battlegrounds today, I fought in 10 AV on Wranngar. We had 3 wins and 7 losses. There were only a few though that we did really bad in though, the rest were pretty close. A really big factor in our losses is the number of AFK per battle. There were at least 10 AFK in each battle I was in, sometimes more. It is pretty sad, at one point everyone in DB was marked as AFK, the AFK usually run into DB at the start and go to the graveyards so it looks like they are rezzing. The really sad part is when the Horde move into DB and there is no defense although there are a dozen people there. That pretty much sums up my night in the battleground. In the 3 wins we had we rushed FWGY then moved forward to FWRH while some went back and got TP & IBT. In one of the battles we even got Galv first and still won although Galv was tried first in a few of the losses too. We won one of the battles on resources and the Horde won at least 3 of theirs on resources.

Battlegrounds 7/27/08

I was in 11 battles today on Wranngar, 1 Arathi Basin which was my daily and 10 Alterac Valley. We won the first Arathi Basin I was in for my daily. We started out with a 3 cap, ST, LM and BS, then we got the farm and eventually, around 1,000 resources, the gold mine. When you have a 5 cap the resources tick off really quick and it was over fast. We held the Horde at their GY after we had the 5 cap.

In Alterac Valley the first one I was in was a win, we rushed FWGY, them moved on to FWRH and went back and got IBGY, TP and Galv. Once we had everything capped we went in and took down Drek. It was a good easy win and I hoped that was the way AV was going but I guess that was too much to hope for. The next battle we had we tried the same plan as the first and almost pulled it off but the Horde ended up killing Vann before we could get Drek down. We proceeded to lose the next 5 battles too. A couple of them we didn't get any farther than IBGY and were lucky to kill Galv for some honor. Then we won one using the same strat as the first battle, we rushed FWGY then moved forward and backwards getting the towers and GY's. Once we had 3 towers capped we took down Drek for the win. The last 2 we lost, there was a lot of fighting among the Alliance and a lot of AFK in all the battles I was in. The AFK problem is getting worse if anything despite the fact Blizzard says they are taking action against people that are going AFK in the battlegrounds. I saw a couple people in there today that I saw in there weeks ago, still AFK. In my opinion Blizzard is doing nothing about this problem.

Daily's 7/27/08

I hadn't been on for awhile but I did get some time to play today. I did some of my daily's on Wranngar along with some battlegrounds. The daily's I did were the fishing which was Crocolisks in the City, the cooking which was Revenge is Tasty, along with Gaining the Advantage, The Multiphase Survey and the daily battleground which was Arathi Basin.

Old Man Barlo, (40,59) at Silmyr Lake in Terokkar Forest, sent me to Stormwind to catch a Baby Crocolisk. I went to my spot in the canal right outside the Mage Quarter and got one in 22 casts. When I turned that in for my Bag of Fishing Treasures I got 6g72s69c, 5 Sharpened Fish Hooks and a Piece of Polished Driftwood. Nothing to write home about there.

The cooking quest had me heading over to Skettis to kill a Monstrous Kaliri for it's wing. Believe it or not, even though they were flying, the first 2 I killed didn't have a wing, the third one did. I took that back to Shattrath and cooked it up with some Warp Burgers to get my Kaliri Stew. I turned that in to The Rokk, (61,15) in Shattrath, and picked Barrel of Fish for my reward. I got 6 Spotted Feltail, 4 Zangarian Sporefish and a Hoop Earring along with the 7g59s this quest pays. Nothing too exciting there either.

I did The Multiphase Survey and Gaining the Advantage together while I was in Nagrand. The Multiphase Survey is pretty easy, just fly around and take samples from the fireballs you can only see wearing the special goggles. The I headed over and killed Clefthoof and Talbuk's for Nether Residue. Once I had enough I turned these 2 in and got 9g10s for The Multiphase Survey and 16g39s and a Major Rejuvenation Potion for Gaining the Advantage. After that I did some battlegrounds.

Battlegrounds 7/22/08

Today's daily battleground was Alterac Valley. Out of the 4 battlegrounds Alterac Valley is my favorite even though we don't win too often in there. I fought in 3 battles on Wranngar, 2 losses and one win. The first 2 battles we didn't do too good in. The first one we managed to get FWGY, the 2 Frostwolf Towers and had just gotten the relief hut when the Horde killed Vann. We didn't have a chance of winning that one as we didn't have IBT or TP and it didn't appear anyone was working on them so even if we got the relief hut we couldn't have taken Drek down. You can take Drek down with 2 towers up if you have a good group, this wasn't a good group. The second battle was even worse. In the second battle people were holding SHGY while we had SFGY so the Horde were in front of us the whole time. On top of that everyone was screaming to get Galv who is a small player in AV. So while everyone was concentrating on holding SHGY and getting Galv, who had at least half the Horde team defending him, the rest of the Horde walked into Dun Baldar, killed the AFK, and basically took it eventually killing Vann. That is usually what happens when Alliance holds SHGY, they leave Dun Baldar wide open. We weren't doing great in the third battle either but we won it. In that battle we rushed IBGY and wiped, then we regrouped again and got it. We got IBT and TP then someone took SHGY again which almost cost us the battle but we were able to hold onto IBGY and move forward to take FWGY. At this point 3/4 of the Horde team were turtling in Frostwolf Keep, the only place they had to rez was FWRH. In a long drawn out fight we were able to take the 2 towers and finally FWRH. By this time the Horde had SPGY and were moving into Dun Baldar. This wasn't a really big problem as they still had 3/4 of their team in Frostwolf Keep and didn't have enough in Dun Baldar to take down Vann if they got to him. As soon as we had FWRH capping so the Horde couldn't rez there we went after Drek. We had all 4 towers down so he didn't have any Warmasters with him. We took him down pretty quick for the win.