I’ve never found a tutorial about creating a macro that could swap my combat gear with my fishing gear and back. That’s why I’ve decided to write my own. Even better, I’ve tried something completely new to me: I made a video.
After weeks of learning how to use OBS and Sony Vegas with my camera and my microphone, I thought that the time had finally come to make my first video. You’ve got to start somewhere, right?
Don’t hesitate to tell me what you think in the comments… My apologies if I sound a bit nervous or if I repeat myself a few times, but it’s pretty much the first time that I speak in front of a camera.
The macro I use:
/equipset [worn:Fishing Poles] PVE;Fishing
I hope that you will find it useful. If you have any question, don’t hesitate to ask, I’ll be glad to answer.
Questing in the Broken Isles without flying reminded me of those old times, when flying in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor wasn’t even possible. I remember that both zones were so huge that having to travel without Flightmaster, Zeppelin or Ship required a lot of time. A few weeks ago, I took my hunter out for a little test: let’s cross the entire Eastern Kingdoms with a ground mount (no flying!), passing through each zone and capital city.
Something I’ve learned out of this experience is that I completely forgot that not every zone has a path that leads to the next one. Sometimes you have to return to the previous zone to be able to travel to another.
Anyways, my adventure started North, in Silvermoon City, traveling all the way down to Stranglethorn Vale… I barely go to Silvermoon City, there is no special reason for that. Maybe is it its misfortunate location or the fact that I always get lost overthere, but I don’t really feel attracted to the Blood Elven Capital.
Upon my arrival, I noticed the red carpet and couldn’t stop but think: oh guys, you shouldn’t have…
From Silvermoon City, I traveled instantly to the gloomy Ghostlands. A beautiful and eerie forest that I remember keenly from when I leveled my hunter. Next on my path was Eastern Plaguelands… I passed through the entire zone before reaching Light’s Hope Chapel. A bit too Alliance for my taste so, I quickly moved on to the Western Plaguelands.
Once I arrived in Andorhal, I visited the local Inn. I cannot recommend this place cause that crazy Undead Innkeeper likes to do weird rituals that, in his opinion, are completely harmless. Don’t believe him, he’s a madman! After my successful escape I ended up in Tirisfal Glades…
I quickly payed my respects to our new Warchief in Brill. I don’t know if she likes flowers though… maybe she would have prefered a human sacrifice but hey, we’re in Tirisfall Glades, all I could find were scruffy looking dead things… After that I headed for Silverpine Forest, passing through Undercity.
I love Silverpine Forest and it’s magnificent trees, not to mention the pumpkin patches! It makes me dream about my favourite season of the year: Autumn and Halloween… I’m already counting down to the most wonderful time of the year. While wandering around like a tourist, I spotted the beautiful Ruins of Gilneas in the distance…
Well, all I can say is this: not so friendly these Worgen. Wolves make excellent pets and when I tried to tame one of them, he started poking me with something that resembled a toothpick. What a waste… So, on I went, passing back for a bit through Gilneas and Silverpine to get to Hillsbrad Foothills, followed by the Hinterlands. Here is where I made my first mistake. I had completely forgotten about the fact that you can’t pass from each zone to another. This is exactly what happened here: I couldn’t find a path that lead from Hinterlands to Arathi Highlands so, I had to run the entire way back to Hillsbrad to be able to go to Ararthi.
While getting lost, I stumbled upon this cranky Dwarf with red glowing eyes. We shared a few jokes (mainly about exploding the wrong things) and ended up exchanging Engineering recipes for dynamite and fireworks. I asked him to join me on my trip, but he declined politely so, off I went to the Wetlands.
It was easy to go from the Wetlands to the Twighlight Highlands. Since I’ve never done any Archeology in Cataclysm, I thought it was about time to do something about that. So, I started digging up some fossils before my departure to Loch Modan. Once again I had to first go back to the Wetlands to be able to travel to Loch Modan. From there I passed through the South Gate Pass to go to Dun Morogh.
I had looked forward to the moment to sample some of those famous Dwarven Ales. Unfortunately, the Guards at the main gate of Ironforge seemed to be pretty on the defense when it came to sharing their brews. They sapped me and started poking me before I could unmount. Well, I guess I could see that one coming. After all, they’re Alliance… After I one-shotted them, I left this unwelcoming place.
Next on the map was Vashj’ir… it quickly proved impossible to get there with my Waterstrider as I died due to “fatigue” on every attempt.
So, I went back to Loch Modan to go to the Searing Gorge. From there I passed through Blackrock Spire to go to the Burning Steppes, followed by the Redridge Mountains, Elwynn Forest (Goldshire and Stormwind) and Westfall.
When I wanted to go and admire the pumpkin patches in Westfall, I noticed these huge walking scarecrows that haunt their grounds. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that there were no pumpkins… these abominations probably trampled them all. I wonder what kind of idiot came up with the creation of these stuffed machines. I could probably teach him a lesson or two about Engineering.
From Westfall, I could easily travel through Duskwood and the Deadwind Pass, to arrive shortly after in the Swamp of Sorrows.
Upon my arrival in the Swamp of Sorrows, I met up with the local Wind Rider Master, Breyk. I tried to explain him that he shouldn’t wave around with his spear like that when he talks, after all, it’s not a toothpick. But, he wouldn’t listen so, I gave up and left for the Blasted Lands. From there, I couldn’t find a road leading to Stranglethorn Vale so, I had to head back to Duskwood to reach this Goblin infested place.
Like they say: where there are Goblins, there are treasures. I had stumbled upon a big one, but from the look of the skeletons, it seemed to be cursed. So, I’ve left it where I’ve found it. Knowing these Goblins, you never know where these trinkets and coins have been. And… that’s where my journey ends.
While writing this post and checking the map of the Eastern Kingdoms, I realized that I’ve completely forgotten the Badlands. I don’t know how I could have, but I did… too bad ;p The entire traject, with stops for screenshots and running back and forth for finding rideable paths included, took a bit over two hours in total. Two hours of pure nostalgia. I definitely should go back more often!
So, you have unlocked your fishing artifact… You have, right?! If you still need to know why you should do it, have a look at this video by Hazelnuttygames. Not only is it the most beautiful fishing pole in the game but, if you unlock its perks, you will be rewarded with a amazing abilities like water walking. How can you unlock its perks? By fishing, duh!
You have to continue fishing those same rare fish you caught to unlock the artifact (as described in Soforah’s post).
I guess that everybody has his own favorite fishing spot, so let me share mine.
Where to go
When it comes to catching a maximum of rare fish in a minimum of time, I always go close to Valdisdall, in a place called Ashild’s Bay. Not only is it filled with Stormray schools, but it also is pretty calm when it comes to hostile mobs.
Try to catch as many Oodelfjisk as you can. The pool won’t disappear until the end of the buff from the ring;
Don’t forget to keep an Arcane Lure up, even when you fish for Oodelfjisk, the Ancient Vrykul Ring can drop from these pools as well. It will allow you to continue fishing from the pool without having to go back to the Fevers of Stormrays to get a new ring.
If you plan on following this technique, you shouldn’t put any point in Stormray Angling. At least, until you’re done with collecting all the rare fish you need to unlock your artifact completely.
Stormray Angling will allow you to fish an entire school of Stormrays in one cast, preventing you from getting any Ancient Vrykul Ring. I had put 3 points in that perk and I couldn’t get a single ring anymore.
If you have already attributed points to that perk, you can have your artifact talents reset (and your ressource refund) by the same NPC who already does it for your other artifacts, at your class order hall. Unfortunately, it’ll cost you 750 artifact power.
You can put your points in any perk, just not Stormray Angling.
Arcane Lures
The most efficient way to stock up on Arcane Lure is to find a fishing raid through the premade tool.
More people will fish Mark of Aquaos, which will allow you to fish more Drowned Mana. Also, fishing raids are fun, you can finally group up with people in a relax environment.
Finally, you can then exchange your Drowned Mana to Margoss for pets, toys, mounts, reputation and Arcane Lure.
Voilà, I hope that it will help you unlock all the perks of this awesome fishing artifact.
In the same afternoon, I solo-raided Blackrock Foundry normal, Blackrock Foundry Heroic and Siege of Orgrimmar Heroic. The reason why I raid Blackrock Foundry is to collect the Rylakstalker’s Battlegear, but I went to Siege of Orgrimmar for the sole purpose of collecting the parts required to craft a tameable juggernaut.
While these two raids may have a similar flavor, they are very different:
Blackrock Foundry
Short raid that can be completed within 30 minutes;
It’s easy to navigate through the different rooms;
Except for the Blast Furnace, the bosses don’t require much tactic, which doesn’t break the pace of the run;
The Hunter set looks really nice on an Orc (which is nice since I’m one);
You can run the different difficulties within the same raid lockout and the 3 recolors of the set all look great.
I managed to get a few parts of the normal and heroic difficulty recolors, but Mythic will require a few more ilvls.
Siege of Orgrimmar
The raid is horribly long;
The place is too huge and requires too much running;
There is way too much trash to clear;
Some of the bosses were fun in group but are very boring to solo: Immerseus;
Some bosses were not funny in group and are still boring to solo: Spoils;
The Hunter set is ugly, which removes all incentive to run it again.
I’ve followed an amazing guide by Bendak to find all the parts I needed to craft the Iron Scorpion. I’ll have to go back there 3 more times if I want to craft the pet in all the diferent colors, but I highly doubt that it’ll happen in the near future. I really don’t enjoy running SoO and I’m not such a fan of the Juggernaut pet. I just had to have one, for my collection.
All in all, BF and SoO maybe two Orc-flavored raids, they are very different. The first is a fast-paced raid with a great incentive to return while the second is slow, long and globally boring to run. Blackrock Foundry is already on my farm list while Siege of Orgrimmar is on my “avoid unless absolutely necessary” list.
Something I’ve always neglected a little bit in the game was the entire transmog madness. Not that I don’t like it, to the contrary, I love it. Who wouldn’t want his character to look cute bad-ass?! I guess that I just didn’t have enough time before to dedicate to this part of the game.
Since I had a lot of Marks of Honor sitting in my bags, I kind of started itching to get some of those nice PvP transmog sets. So, off I went to Netherstorm and Area 52 to get some new gear. I’ve bought four in total: the Vengeful Gladiator’s Chain Armor, the Gladiator’s Chain Armor, the Warmongering Combatant’s Chain Armor and the Ruthless Gladiator’s Chain Armor.
Time for me to change my everlasting Merciless set! I’ve been wearing that last one for a couple of years now, I guess it’s time to do some laundry…
This is the set I’ve equipped at the moment: the The Vengeful Gladiator’s Chain Armor. The thing I like the most about this gear is that it looks very gloomy, as if death is coming for you. Now, I don’t have a lot of guns in my collection so, the one I’ve used is the only one I have that suits this set: Spare Gunship Cannon. I have to admit that I love the little fuse on top of the gun, it looks like it’s ready to explode at any minute.
My second favourite is the the Gladiator’s Chain Armor. I’m not a big fan of the gun I’m using with this set: Pearl-Handled Long Gun. Like I’ve said before: I don’t have a lot of guns in my collection. I have to admit that I was a huge fan of bows before Legion. It’s only after Legion that I started loving equipping guns that much. I guess that I’ll have to start working on expanding my collection.
The third set isn’t my favourite, but I kind of like it anyway: the Warmongering Combatant’s Chain Armor. The gun that suits best with this transmog, in my humble opinion, is the Baleful Rifle. It looks big, mean and like it survived a few wars… just like I like it ^^
Like I’ve said, the Ruthless set isn’t my favourite, in fact, I’m quite disappointed with the looks of it. I had seen a few screenshots on Wowhead of a Troll wearing it and thought: awesome! Until I equipped it on my Orc and realized that it’s way too flashy for a hunter. I’m not a big fan of flashy colours for hunters. You’re supposed to blend in with your surroundings and sneak up on your prey, and not wave around like a flamboyant flag.
Anyway, you may have noticed that I never show my helm and cloak. The reason is very simple: I love to see the face of my character so, why cover it up? And, cloaks are, in my opinion, too messy for classes that need to be agile. I just can’t imagine my hunter jumping around with a cloak that, most likely, would make her stumble on every occasion.
Lately, I’ve been playing with WoW Model Viewer, it opens the door to so many possibilities, and it’s really fun to use. Expect more silly things like this in the near future…
I had already checked a few times the premade tool to find a group to raid the Black Temple. Unfortunately, between the high ilvl or the “link progression”, I couldn’t find any.
I was about to give up and turn the page, when I found a group yesterday evening. It was, apparently, a few people from a guild called “Starfish” who started a raid and who were inviting people to fill the ranks… That group was awesome! Nobody whined when we wiped, we just laughed and made our way to Illidan. After a few attempts, the Betrayer was down.
While it is true that it can’t reproduce the authentic experience of raiding during Burning Crusade, it was awesome to be in a true raiding environment again. I enjoy LFR but there’s nothing like being in a real raid, with people who know each other. It even made me consider joining a relax raiding guild again, for these evenings of jokes and laughter.
Oh, by the way, if you die after you’ve helped Akama defeat his shade, you can talk to this NPC to be brought back inside of the temple and avoid a long run. Later on, he can also bring you back to the command chamber (the room before Illidan).
Black Temple is an awesome place and I was thrilled to revisit it. Here are a few screenshots I took after the raid:
I’m very happy about the new Timewalking raid and I hope that it’ll be expanded to all BC and WOTLK raids in the future.
I didn’t really write blog posts last year… Between our huge move to Brussels and trying to catch back our delay in Warlords of Draenor, we didn’t have much time for a blog. Instead, I quoted a few screenshots and posted them on social medias. Here are the few ones I could find back in my hard-drive.
This first one was made during my favourite quest from Legion. For an Orc Hunter, what could be more amazing than to spend a night with Rexxar?
This house was the one where Soforah and I were planning to retire (when we were still Alliance Druids). Deathwing (Chr. Metzen) destroyed many places in Azeroth, but Auberdine is the one I’d like the most to see rebuilt (along with Loch Modan). They should also clean the entire Darkshore and restore it to its previous glory. I plan to post something (maybe a video) about that zone and the npcs that were populating it. (like the Absent-Minded Propsector)
I was so thrilled to get the ability to tame mechanicals pets that the first thing I did was to collect them all and rename them. Pullover was the one I used the longest, it was also the one I had the most fun taming.
Warlords of Draenor was also the first time that people were raiding for fishing, and it was glorious! Spending an afternoon with a huge bunch of players, for no other reason than fishing mounts was really amazing. Especially when you catch them both!
If you’ve ever been farming The Eye for Ashes of Al’ar, then you know what I’m talking about…
This has to be my favourite easter egg from Legion. Talking about Game of Thrones, we’re only a few days away from the next season, the wait is almost over!
That’s all folks! I hope that you enjoyed these little souvenirs from my archives.
As requested by Alunaria, we’re about to tell you one of our taming adventures. Take a seat and turn on your second degree because the story that follows is filled with danger and heroism, but it also may or may not have happened exactly the way we tell it.
Sardoken
Most people know me for my natural charm and my magnificent muscled body. But what trully makes me the awesome Orc that I am, comes from my courage, my intelligence and my exceptional strength. When, like me, you’re a natural hero, the challenges of the normal life may not be enough. I mean, come on, any hero already rescued Azeroth several times, it became trivial to me.
One of the reasons why I became a hunter is to tame beasts. What possibly could be more challenging then facing fierce creatures without your weapons, as equals?
Today, my thirst for danger is leading me to the Eye of Azshara. I’ve obtained from a very reliable source that a fierce beast, half lion half hawk, has made its lair on the southern part of the island.
I first carefully prepare my backpack with all the necessary equipment. You see, the secret of a sucessful taming trip lies within the preparation. After having double checked everything, I sneak out of the hut. Soforah, as usual, is still asleep… I jump on the back of my mount, direction The Broken Isles.
I land close to the entry of the cave. From now on, I must be extra careful, any wrong move could lead me to my death. The challenge has begon and my instincts have kicked in. I check the direction of the wind and I mask my scent, I don’t want the beast to detect my presence. I walk close to the walls, very slowly, almost motionless.
I see the animal and I realise that it’s probably the most dangerous one I’ve ever faced. I keep in the shadow, watching its every move. The plan is forming in my head, I’ll have to jump on it from above and maintain it to the ground. If I give it a chance to open its gigantic wings, I’ll be dead under its sharp talons.
The time for action has come and jump as high as I can. I’m probably ten meters above the ground when I let myself fall on the beast’s back. I try to keep away from its head, I don’t want to give it the opportunity to bite me. The beast is angry and tries to turn, but I manage to stay on top. Unfortunately, I slip on the feathers. Even if I quickly manage to get back in position, the creature is fast and it has the time to bite my left boot. I feel the pain and the warm blood leaking off my foot but I don’t have the time to think about it. I mentally supress the pain and double the strenght of my grip.
After what felt like hours, the beast starts to tire and, suddenly, it gives up. I roll on the floor and I take a few minutes to recover. When I finally get back up, all I can see in its eyes is respect. That beast will follow me anywhere and it will defend me until its last breath. A bond has been created.
After limping back to my Wind Rider, I head back home. Tonight I’ll celebrate another victory and I will probably be the admiration of the entire Durotar.
Soforah
As usual, when Sardoken finally decides to get out of bed, half the day has already passed… It’s been pretty quiet lately and that is what scares me the most. No hut on fire, no broken bones and no jailtime yet… Or my man is finally calming down, or the next catastrophy is about to happen. Knowing him, I would bet on the latter.
After the breakfast, I see him gathering a few things from around the place. He’s still very silent, he only had his third cup of coffee. When he’s not watching, I quickly check the content of his bag: A bottle of Dwarven Ale, a piece of stinky cheese and a steamy romance novel. Oh my, it must be quiet the expedition he’s up to. When I ask him what his plans for the day are, he answers “Listen, pumpkin pie, there are times when an Orc has to be alone. What I’m about to do requires extreme concentration. Not only would it be dangerous for you, but you would risk to put us both in danger. That’s why you’ll have to wait for me. But don’t be afraid, I’ll be very careful. You know me.” That’s usually when I start to panic.
He explains me that someone very reliable gave him a map to a secret cave where a fierce creature has made its lair. He’s gonna head there and tame the beast. A reliable source, huh?! It seems like he’s been hanging with Marcel again… I’d better add some real equipment to his backpack, I don’t think that sharing a pic-nic or reading a naughty Tauren novel is a very good way to harness a dangerous beast.
I also quickly checked that secret map of his, I’m not gonna let him throw himself in I don’t know what crazy plan that local drunk, Marcel, has put in his head this time.
After a rather long flight, I land not too far from Sardoken’s landing location. As I suspected, his preparation consists mostly in drinking his beer and taking a nap. When, finally, he decides that the time has come for some action, I follow him to the cave. You would think that anyone willing to tame a dangerous beast would try to keep his scent masked and be as silent as possible. Well, if walking with a piece of dalaran blue in your hand as only equipment means being prepared, then Sardoken was as prepared as he could be.
What follows is suitable for the faint of heart, because no blood was shed and no violence whatsoever happened in that cave. Sardoken simply walked in as he would enter any bar from town, and walked to the creature as if they were friends from way back. The one thing that you must know about my man, is that beasts love him. I don’t know if it’s because of his charisma or the smell of his feet but, where most adventurers would be shred to pieces, all Sardoken gets is furry balls of affection, a few good licks and a ton of drool. It didn’t take long for the beast to even start chewing on his boot, letting his big toe come out. Another pair of boots ruined by a very “dangerous” taming adventure.
I think it’s safe to say that no harm will come in his way today. I silently backtracked to my mount and headed back to the village where my man would join me triomphant this evening. My man, the hero.
I was very excited when I heard that there would be a new scenario, The Deaths of Chromie. At first I didn’t want to be spoiled and refused to read anything about it. Little did I know that it isn’t just a simple scenario, it’s quite an event…
There are portals to unlock, a reputation to level,… and, most important: you can run the scenario as much as you want! Since I never read anything about it, I didn’t know that last fact so, when I started the scenario and saw the timer at 15 minutes, I panicked. So much to do in such little time… I’m going to fail! Once the 15 minutes were over, I realized it was repeatable and, with a sigh of relief, started running it over and over again.
If I were to give any advice… unlock the portals first! You’ll have to go to the dragonshrines to kill and collect stuff which will lead to having to kill an end boss. Each time you’ll defeat the related Dragonshrine for the first time, a portal will unlock. There are four in total, my favourite being “The Culling of Stratholme”. I don’t want to spoil too much so, I won’t go into any details!
The ultimate goal of the scenario is to defeat 8 timeways in one attempt. I haven’t gotten that far yet. I’m first leveling my reputation with Chromie in order to unlock more of her talents, which will make her stronger. My reputation has currently reached “Epoch-Mender”, only one more left after that (Timelord), and then I’ll finally make my attempt for a speed run.
In the meantime, I hope you’re all having as much fun as I do, and good luck on the speed runs!
