WoW - World of Warcraft

[Lythiaren]

Just gonna say, having been a mod over at Runescape, I can tell you that a very large number of the active accounts out there are just bots set up to harvest tons of resources to sell for gold, to sell for real money. Millions of accounts are banned every month for holding up the RWT market; some are sophisticated bots, and others are actually enormous rings of thousands upon thousands of Chinese and Korean players (and no, that's not a stereotype; the majority of botlike activity came from those IPs) paid to chop trees or mine ore relentlessly to the point of becoming extremely bot-like. And those people do it because they get paid and they need money to live; in most cases they don't even have any idea that they're being paid for illegal operations.

 

Those don't count as players. Just like how gold sellers on WoW don't count as players either.

 

Most of the accounts boasted in RS's total count are either "secondary" accounts (basically, the RS equivalent of a WoW alt) or they're banned. Remember, a WoW account can have up to 10 characters on a single realm, up to a total of 50 overall; in RS it's one per account. If you want to make a pure attacker for the wilderness you have to make a new account. On WoW you just click to create a new character. Most people on RS have multiple accounts for many reasons; their enormous count includes bans and multiples, so you can't simply compare the two numbers and say RS is more popular. There's more to the comparison than that.

Edited January 28, 2011 by Lythiaren

[Happyface]

Hey guys, an officer in my guild found the solution to forum trolls!

 

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1764407459?page=9

 

As of right now it's the second to last post. I lol'd.

[FireAngel73]

I got my Nelf priest to 85 pretty quickly and I've turned Shadow (re-learning Cata-holy spec is daunting), but I'm really trying to get my lock up so I can faction change her to Alliance. Warlocks are a bit more...competitive in raids. She's been stuck mid-70's for a long time, I probably posted that she was mid-70's in this very thread months ago. She hit 78 today, though, and I'm so close to leaving Northrend I can taste it.

 

It's a shame that when I finally get around to making myself get her out of Northrend, I've got to finish Frankenstein in a weekend because I've put it off for two months. Also, I want to make a draenei mage, and I've told myself that I'm not allowed to level her until Kyandi hits 85.

 

I feel like I'm the only one who hasn't been pwnd by Deathwing out in the world, but then again, I don't spend much time out in Kalimdor/EK. My main is primarily traversing the Cata areas or the area between SW and BWD, my secondary is in Northred, and my little mage is still in draenei land.

Edited January 30, 2011 by FireAngel73

[Cxisbest]

You know you're new when you brag to your little bro about how your lvl 27 hunter is better than his lvl 16. And about your first raid, where you died only twice '

[Layn]

You know you're new when you brag to your little bro about how your lvl 27 hunter is better than his lvl 16. And about your first raid, where you died only twice '

I've been playing for years, and all through Wrath my guild had a saying: It isn't a real raid night unless Layn pulls aggro and dies at least once due to already having used her threat reduction cooldowns

[Rendivaunci]

Feb 9th, 2011--

 

As of today, I have been stalking the elusive Arcturis for a full week. Ever the cunning species, I've only seen it twice. One time someone had made the poor decision of killing the exotic creature, for the sake of a superior item, or perhaps mere misinformation--many seem to think the creature grants an "achievement" of some sort. The second was nerve-wracking -- the beast had appeared right in front of me! However, a fellow hunter viewed him as mere hunting game and killed him on the spot, during my tame.

 

The waiting is tedious. The location is frightful. Arcturis, while limited in areas where he is sighted, has the misfortune of making his home right next to the nearest town. Many Alliance come and go (I'm not sure why, but they seem to enjoy hunting the nearby bears). Thankfully Horde are few and far between, only their hunters dare venture this close to Alliance territory.

 

The Horde keep making strange gestures at me. I am at a loss as to what it means.

 

They keep laughing at me. I've learned not to use the public board to ask information. Whenever I make a plead as to when Arcutris was last spotted, the only replies I get are along the lines of "lol I just killed him" or "yeah, tamed him an hour ago." I do not trust this information -- the only ones who reply are fellow hunters, probably after the stunning creature themselves.

 

I have met many Survival hunters of the 73rd season, camping. They refuse to leave. Only Beast Mastery hunters of the 74th or higher season may have the honor of taming the exotic beast. I try to explain this to them, and they laugh. They believe they can do anything without the proper preparation. And they threaten me with the beast's death if they find it and can not tame it.

 

I will cease to continue these logs. My patience wears thin, every minute is antagonizing. But I do not have the time to spare writing. I must further devote myself to the hunt.

 

I wish my fellow hunters luck, should you choose to search for Arcturis or any of his kin. They truly are beautiful specimens.

 

Cheers,

-Mighty

 

P.S., while I may not have something as eye-catching as a Spirit Beast, I am able to put other hunters to shame. Many a time have other hunters summoned their pets for show, perhaps to gather admiration at their rarity. All I need to do is summon my faithful Silithid Raidboss to outdo them. The creature is only tameable in the temple of An'Qiraj. A feat which only hunters of the 85th season may obtain, or ones with a guild willing to help.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Rendivaunci

[Lythiaren]

I kill Arcturis, Gondria and Skoll if I can't find a hunter to tame them within five minutes. Krush, Aotona and Loque are Kill on Sight, along with all other Frostbitten rares. The latter three may also be tameable, but they count toward the achievement so they are slated for immediate extermination.

 

Northrend has a rare cap. If one of them is up, it hinders the spawn of Vyragosa and the elusive Time-Lost. Killing them is necessary if people in Storm Peaks are to retain their sanity.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Lythiaren

[Rendivaunci]

To each his own, but I personally don't think you should kill non-Frostbitten rares.

 

Frostbitten? Sucks if you want it, but they're part of an achievement. Free game.

 

The ones that aren't a part of the achievement, are all spirit beasts. There is nearly always someone camping them, so they leave quickly enough.

 

Sanity? What sanity? I camped TLPD for 9 months and didn't see the thing. Although I still think you shouldn't kill the non-achievement rares.

[Lythiaren]

It's been proven that killing rares, including the spirit beasts, helps spawns. Since the spawn timer has apparently been either removed or severely shortened (previously 6h give or take 5 minutes, and in 4.0 evidence exists of 1.5h between spawns) on Vyragosa and Time-Lost (perhaps even all Northrend rares), it becomes even more pertinent to keep the cap down. The only one proven to despawn is TLPD; if you don't keep the rares dead, the longer you spend camping out there wondering if it spawned at a different spawn point but being too paranoid that if you leave it will spawn where you were.

 

Also, if you've been camping 9 months for it and you weren't on a spawn point, you're doin it wrong. They do not spawn over that stupid lake.

 

I camped three months for my TLPD and actually got sick during the camp because of it. I know what I'm talking about.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Lythiaren

[Rendivaunci]

The point is, that the spirit beast aren't going to be up for very long either way, regardless if you kill them or not. Someone is going to be camping them, or come along and kill them thinking they'll get an achievement.

 

To be fair, some days I would camp an hour. Other days I would go up to sixteen. But I did camp every day I was on WoW, for nine months.

 

Ask anyone I know about how unlucky I am with rares, seriously. I know what I'm talking about too.

[Lythiaren]

Doing it wrong, then. I camped 40 hours for Razormaw Matriarch when the pet still dropped off her. Friend of mine camped 3 weeks straight for Ravasaur Matriarch, stopping only to sleep. Both of us camped TLPD and she has Frostbitten; she camped 5 days for Aotona alone. The secret to camping is, as much as possible, you don't sleep. You set up your addons and sit until your brain rots. Arcturis only has one spawn point, if you camp like a zombie you should get it within only a few days.

 

I camped 20 hours a day for TLPD on top of a spawn point, and those four hours a day I spent sleeping were either catnaps between spawns or interrupted every 10 minutes by a timer that told me to wake up and nudge myself. 28 Vyragosa hats and a month of severe fatigue later, I get to shine in the spotlight at TLPDResource.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Lythiaren

[Rendivaunci]

So, being unable to camp 24/7 means I'm doin' it wrong? Even though I always camp where he spawned? It got to the point where my old guildies took pity on me, and went around killing rares in NR while I was online. Saw nothing but Vyra spawns. TLPD dead twice, and alive once, but I was on the FP to Ulduar. Bugger probably spawned as soon as I left my camp spot.

 

I know that, by camping only when I can (as in, 8 hours a day when I have nothing needed doing, to staying awake all weekend), it WILL take me longer to get a rare. But that isn't the point -- I just don't think you should kill hunter non-achieve pets, as they WILL be gone soon enough.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Rendivaunci

[Lythiaren]

Yes, actually, camping "where he spawned" is not possible with TLPD; he has four spawn points so it's impossible to cover all of them unless you have as many accounts. There's one place in the entire map that can see all four paths, and it's only viable when you're literally the only person in the zone. Frozen lake spawn point, way up near Frosthold, is the next best place to camp because it's a spawn and can see two other paths. Waterfall spawn point is next as it can see Brunnhildar swinging up from K3 (or heading down that way if it's the opposite direction), leaving Ulduar and Brunnhildar spawns as being the worst spawn points to camp as they can't see anything but their own paths. You don't leave your spawn point. Ever. I missed out on Death's Demise because I was camping. Three times I saw his corpse after he spawned at the other spawn point I could have chosen. But the longest recorded time between Time-Losts was 25 days on Area 52; then he spawned twice in a row, 9 hours apart.

 

Like I said earlier, I give the hunters five minutes. Any longer than that and some other rare must've been barred from spawning. I even annouce it in general, ask people to ask their friends, hibernate it so it's tagged to me and anyone wanting it for kill credit and/or loot can't have it unless I run away until it untags. I'll even hold it until you get there if you're not going to run an auctioneer scan or go do 5 dailies on the way. But that's all I give because I'm not here to babysit your rare pet that you should've contacted me to get while you had the chance. You knew it was up, you knew someone had their crosshairs on it. If you're not in the zone or you can't type "/w Porashota I WANT IT", you don't want it bad enough.

 

I will kill it, and I will skin it, and if you come crying to me after, too little too late.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Lythiaren

[Rendivaunci]

I'm aware he has four spawn points. Did I ever specify where I was camping? I would always try to camp at the lake, anyone going for it would be crazy not to. But it's also the most popular spawn point. Odds are, if someone's camping TLPD, they're going to be there or at the horribad temple path. If someone's already there, and there usually are several people at one spawn location at a time, you move to an empty one. You minimize the competition.

 

"If you're not in the zone, you don't want it bad enough"? So, the time my guildie got the drake because I was offline due to having to go to the hospital was not wanting it bad enough? Having to be in class eight hours a day so you don't fail at life means you don't want it bad enough?

Sure, maybe I didn't want it bad enough, because I went to go to Ulduar. But when your guild has two tanks online, it's prime raid time and they can't find a tank pug, I feel morally obligated to help them. If you're in a guild, you should probably help them out when they ask you for it. Helping your guild makes them help you, after all.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Rendivaunci

[Lythiaren]

Sitting on the lake? I said it earlier. Vyra/TLPD does not spawn over that stupid lake. Three paths cross over it, but they do not spawn "over" it. Too many people have tried to tell me that it spawns midair over that godforsaken ice patch. The frozen lake spawn is the place up by Frosthold, with a nearby herb. In all my time camping, there were all of three other people who knew about the spawn point up there, and all of them decided to stack on me until they logged out. If you talk about camping "at the lake" being the most popular "spawn point", I'm immediately assuming you're talking about hovering over the lake like everyone else does. No, go up the mountain to Frosthold level and look for some bushes and an herb, move away from Frosthold until there's a little dip in the edge of the cliff. If you were camping there, good for you, but you gave up too easily if you gave up at all. Camp a spawn point and your chance of getting the mount skyrockets to 100%; it's only a matter of waiting. Leave before your prize arrives and it's too bad for you.

 

Making excuses to justify not being able to sit there doesn't make the drake spawn. Hospital, fine. Class? If you have a laptop, run WoW on minimal settings in the background, use earphones and have NPCScan set to unmute on alerts. Ta-da, you have camping while you're in class. If your camp was during Ulduar and you left for raid, too bad if it spawned. You sacrifice your mount for the raid. You take a flight point of all things to get anywhere when you have your own flying mount, probably a 280? Your loss if you taxi past it. It's faster to fly straight on a 280 mount than to take the scenic route on a rail at 300% anyway. I raided ICC 4 hours a night during my camp and I was excused when it wasn't during a no-spawn window because my GM was worried it would spawn while we were killing LK. Yeah, I had guildies flying around killing everything too. In the third month, I had assembled a team of other campers to cover all four spawn points at all times. The aforementioned friend got six rares in a single lap one night while she was on killsquad. My reward? Vyragosa two hours later, and four hours sleep before I had to go to class, laptop in hand.

 

If you want the rare drake mount, you go to extremes to get it. If you make excuses, you get nothing.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Lythiaren

[Googleplaxin]

I got a pretty bug;

 

 

 

 

Yay, rage averted.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Googleplaxin

[Lythiaren]

Sorry, I get all kinds of RAEGy when someone gives up on TLPD and starts making excuses.

 

[Rendivaunci]

Who said I gave up? ;p I just don't have the time to dedicate myself to camping at the moment.

[Lythiaren]

Because you're making excuses. It's easy to say "well the guild needed a tank" a year later.

 

Otherwise, the camp is merely "on hold".

Edited February 10, 2011 by Lythiaren

[Rendivaunci]

I'm not trying to make excuses. I'm well aware that it's only my fault that I missed it. I know that, by leaving to do anything, I'm risking missing a spawn. I'm not complaining I missed him in the slightest.

 

...just trying to illustrate my bad luck. >_>

[Lythiaren]

9 months without getting it is not as bad as some people have it. >> [insert obligatory cursing disclaimer here]

[Rendivaunci]

Of course not. But I still feel entitled to silently rage when I hear people get it while leveling through the area, or camping for something like an hour. I feel like they don't know exactly what camping means. I've met several people who lucked out once, and then QQ about not getting something else rare in a couple hours/days.

 

Really gets on my nerves.

[kokorori]

World of Warcraft has officially been made boring ,

not saying that I dislike it but it's quite boring after a long time ..

I mean I've played since Vanilla all the way to Cataclysm and I'd say Vanilla was the best time I've had in WoW .

[Layn]

Rendi's friend is wandering around in Grizzly Hills an hour after she gave up and went to bed. He misses her....

 

sorry Rendi, we only got the idea to hit it and kite it somewhere safe for you AFTER a hunter wandered up and stole your friend away....

Edited February 10, 2011 by Layn

[Rendivaunci]

I do not "give up," my dear friend. I simply make a tactical backtrack.

 

This one just seemed to have gone horridly wrong, probably shouldn't have tried to sleep. Had insomnia either way and logged back on about 30 mins after you set your Real ID message.

 

No more sleep for me!

 

ETA: Arcturis spawned at 4:57 in front of me. Again, hunter distracting shotted off of me.

Edited February 10, 2011 by Rendivaunci