Episode 67: Patch 6.2.3 and new toys and new mounts and new gear and new….

Your new drake. (image from worldofwarcraft.com)

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Patch 6.2.3 has dropped, and boy are there lots of things to do in this patch! First, there is a new Timewalking dungeon event in which you can earn Timewarped badges to then spend on new toys and other items, not to mention, that any Timewalking boss might drop a new mount, the Reins of the Infinite Timereaver, which looks really, really cool. For right now, Timewalking dungeons are available for level 86 and higher and take you back to Cataclysm dungeons.

Also, be sure to log in by November 30th to claim your treasures for WoW’s 11th anniversary. Items include an inflatable Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker, Exquisite costume set of Edwin VanCleef, a gnoll and murloc celebration wand, and a celebration package , which gives you an 11% reputation and experience gain for one hour.

There is also a new quest chain that can reward you with the new Reins of the Grove Warden Mount. However, you need to kill Archimonde in this patch to get the Remnant of Chaos that needs to be turned in to claim your new mount.

Cross-realm Mythic raiding is now open as well, and bosses can reward an heirloom trinket that will scale up to level 110 in Legion.

Lastly, Valor is back! You can earn Valor to upgrade Hellfire Citadel, Tanaan Jungle, Crafted and Draenor dungeon items. Items can be upgraded twice, costing 250 valor per 5 ilevel increase.

@epicidiapers

Epic Diapers #63: Everything Heirloom is Awesome!

My level 90 warrior decked out in glorious golden heirlooms. Yes, he’s fashion conscious.

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Heirlooms have always been awesome, but now, they’re even more awesome. After Blizzard made heirlooms accessible via a tab throughout all your characters, and that you can boost them to carry you to level 100, it offers a great avenue to level your alts all the way to raiding with an efficient route.

Personally, I have used my heirlooms to get every class to at least level 90. Now, I’ve upgraded my cloth heirlooms to take my mage, priest, druid and shaman to level 100. Yes, you can use cloth heirlooms on druids and shaman that go pew pew, since you take little damage. If you combine the 45% leveling experience boost with the 20% garrison potion that’s available at level 91, the grind to 100 is more than 50% faster than my first two toons that I took to level 100.

So, plan out your toons by heirloom type, and if you have the gold, upgrade those pieces to get all of your alts to 100. Because, who doesn’t want to run missions and dailies through 11 different classes every day?

Sihx

@epicdiapers

Epic Diapers #62: “That Potion Makes You Buff”

My level 91 lock in his tailoring emporium, putting in orders and crafting ilevel 640 equipment.

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If you’re an altoholic like me, or you plan on leveling several toons to 100, I’ve got a few tips for you that can make your overall leveling process faster, and  a way to manufacture more materials and gear for all of your toons.

If you have several toons at level 90 gathering dust, may I suggest leveling each one of them until they establish their garrison. Typically, this takes only an hour or so to do, but once that garrison is built, resources start accumulating at about 500 every 3 ½ days. Now, you can simply log in every 3 days to collect your resources, and when you’re ready to take that toon to 100, you’ll be swimming in resources which will enable you to send more followers on missions, construct buildings faster, and even buy that 20% experience buff potion from your garrison innkeeper to save hours of leveling.

If you have an extra hour or two to spend with each alt that has established their garrison, may I recommend that you select a crafting profession and complete that initial questline in frostfire ridge to get the level 1 blueprint. Now, you can build your tailoring emporium, forge, or whatever you need mats for. My level 91 warlock has already created enough hexweave cloth for a level 640 chest, and I plan on creating the legs and helm to wear to make his eventual leveling process even faster. My lock also has 4 followers, all at level 100. Often the player experience quests come up, and I’ve gained almost a full level on my lock by just completing those missions with the experience potion buff active.

Epic Diapers #61: “Filthy Casual Followers”

All 25 of my followers are level 645 or higher now. What to do with all the 615 gear?

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I am a filthy casual player, yet I have 23 followers over ilevel 645, and the other two are at 630, and all 25 are epic. Yet, I continually hear from players that are frustrated about their low chances at higher level missions such as the Highmaul raid for ilevel 655 gear because of few followers at level 645 and the rest are barely off the mat from 600.

Look, I log in only once or twice a day to do missions management, but aside from the addons of Garrison Mission Manager and Master Plan as a great aid, I am obtaining virtually all of my follower enhancements from big crates of salvage and the War Mill. If follower levels are important to you, you need to put in a salvage yard and war mill and upgrade them to level 3. For every level 100 mission you complete, you get a big crate of salvage, and the war mill processes garrison resources for metal scraps and follower enhancement items. In patch 6.1, you will also be able to access a daily quest to trade in your iron horde scraps, or the alliance equivalent, for follower equipment. I do raid Highmaul with my raid team, yet I have some great gear from missions that I can easily complete due to my army of high level epic followers.

Epic Diapers #57: Draenor is Open for Business!

I took this screenshot last night at the now infamous “Master Surveyor” quest. Blizzard has since fixed this, but it was a Charlie Foxtrot last night that forced me to log off and go to bed.

You can download the minicast here, or stream it below!

We’ve been waiting for it for far too long, but it is finally here. Kim Kardashian has exposed her large bare butt!

Oh wait, wrong podcast.

I mean, Warlords of Draenor is live! I’m personally excited about the new content, and I didn’t spoil it by logging in with the beta access I’ve had for 8 months.

I planned on getting all 11 classes to level 90 before this week, but something got in the way… (THE GIANTS WON THE FREAKIN’ WORLD SERIES…AGAIN!!!)..but, I still have 8 classes at 90!

So, how’s your experience so far in this alternate timeline? I’ve only gained a level and a half, thanks to the bugged master surveyor, but have started my garrison, including a forge, and have been sending followers on missions to go stabby stabby orcs and get me treasure. I’m really digging this new feature, and I can’t wait to tailor it to my needs.

If you’re having problems even understanding what garrisons are, let alone, what would be best for your interests and playstyle, Ask Mr Robot has an excellent guide and even provides recommendations on what small, medium and large buildings you should choose, depending on what you want to enhance in Your World of Warcraft.

I hope you aren’t planning to blaze through the leveling content, unless, of course, you’ve played through the beta, then by all means, race to 100. Also, if you have many level 90 alts hanging around that you eventually plan to level to 100, don’t forget to log each one of them in after launch to start their accumulation of rested XP. If you don’t, they won’t have any when you eventually log them in for the first time.

Sihx

Epic Diapers #56 – Patch Your Enthusiasm!

It’s live. Go there! Now! oh wait, after you listen and read my stuff…

Download the audio segment here, or stream it below!

[audio https://archive.org/download/EpicDiapers56/EpicDiapers_56.mp3]

 

Hey, I tried to get all 11 toons to level 90, but I’ve petered out at 7, with another 4 lost in limbo between levels 85 and 88. I just couldn’t find the excuse to carve out time to play a game that had grown a little long in the tooth.

However, that’s all changed as of last Tuesday, when patch 6.0.2 dropped on us weary virtual Azerothians. There are so many new and shiny things about this patch, including you! With higher fidelity character models, humans look less porn-starrish, the tauren are hairier, and the undead look more grotesque, yet still human. Sorry blood elves, you’ll have to wait for your facelift.

Our stats have changed and everything has been squished, so no more crits for 800,000. And gems are like +5 strength. It’s a little awkward at first, but eventually you burn everything down as quickly as before.

But, what I did first was take my Death knight through the short series of quests as part of the event leading up to the release of Warlords next month. It only took me about 30 minutes, and I upgraded a few slots with quest rewards.

There’s also a short-time level 90 version of Upper Black Rock Spire that you can queue for at obtain ilevel 550 gear. However, you have to have a minimum ilevel of 510, so be sure to upgrade your gear if necessary.

You can follow me @epicdiapers or check out all of my segments and show notes at epicdiapers.com

Epic Diapers #55 – Late Expansion Rut

…aren’t you feelin’ it?

 

Download the audio segment here, or stream it below:

[audio https://archive.org/download/EpicDiapers55/EpicDiapers_55.mp3]

If you’re like me, you’re burnt out on this expansion, and this is coming from the guy that hasn’t even played in a couple of months. Yes, I’m busy as I’ve ever been with family and work, but if it were fresh and new, I’d probably be finding excuses to play at night like when I used to raid.

However, if you’re looking for new challenges, and a way to regularly mix it up, don’t forget the in-game world event calendar! For example, this weekend is the Alterac Valley Call to Arms, while the first weekend of August brings us Warsong Gulch AND the week-long Darkmoone Faire. Also, don’t forget the Stranglethorn fishing Extravaganza every Monday.

Aside from the calendar of events, mix up your gameplay: go for some transmog gear, level alts, or wrack up those achievements. And, if you DO want a fresh look at the game, and you have beta access, give your toon a spin on Draenor. You don’t need to level far to maybe inspire you to prepare your characters for their eventual arrival back in time…er, in a different timeline, on a different planet.

You can find me @epicdiapers and epicdiapers.com. Also, Willie Dills, Veronica Belmont and I will be covering the San Francisco Giants game this Saturday, July 26 as they play the archrival LA Dodgers, so be sure to check out our twitters.

Epic Diapers #54 – Legendaries, now TWICE as fast!

Which one is the black prince, and which one is me?

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Blizzard has a special buff running from June 17 through 30. It’s called, “The Gaze of the Black Prince.” No, he doesn’t have a thing for you, but he will think you’re more awesome for these two weeks! Blizzard is trying to make the grind for the legendary cloak a bit easier for many of us, which it will. I’m not really trying to complain here, but there is a sticking point that I can see many players having. Since this was announced right before it went live, you can’t blame those who have their mains or alts sitting at the “Test of Valor” quest part of the chain. Unfortunately for those stuck there, you need 3,000 valor points to reach the next step in the quest chain. Well, since you can only earn 1,000 valor points a week, unless you have more than 2,000 valor points, you will completely miss this buff. And furthermore, with 6 months left in Mists of Pandaria, why isn’t Blizzard just making this buff permanent? Yes, there are many of you that earned your cloak when you walked uphill both ways in the snow, but for God’s sake, it’s June! Maybe us procrastinators need a little more incentive than a 2 week buff.

Anyway, you can find my blog at EpicDiapers.com and you can follow me @ epicdiapers. I was also a recent guest on This Week in Science with Dr. Kiki, so if you’re interested in deep sea science, please check out their podcast number 468 from June 12. (or watch the YouTube below!)

Sihx

 

Special pre-Alpha Beta Gamma Zeta Eta Theta pre-pre-Omega access

I found additional buildings to choose for your Garrison in my special pre-alpha-beta-eta-theta-beta access to WoD.

Although we’re still months away from the new expansion dropping, we have gotten a sneak peak on many of the new features coming our way. Recently, Blizzard gave us a little more information on the new Garrison feature, where we’ll be able to build our own little buildings in various zones.

I have exciting news though, Blizzard has given me special pre-Alpha Beta Gamma Zeta Eta Theta pre-pre-Omega access to the expansion, specifically to test out this new Garrison feature.

Listen to the audio mini-cast below to discover what happened:

[audio https://archive.org/download/EpicDiapers53/EpicDiapers_53.mp3]

 

You can follow me @epicdiapers. I also co-host TortureCast with Willie Dills and Kids Are Hard with my wife, so be sure to check those out.

And, for you science geeks out there, I’ll be a special guest on This Week in Science with Dr. Kiki Sanford on June 12, so look for that soon!

Sihx

Epic Diapers 52: Do What You Want

Don’t let them put baby in the corner, that is, if baby is you.

[audio https://archive.org/download/EpicDiapers52/EpicDiapers_52.mp3]

Click above to play the audio segment!

Hey y’all, back with another segment of Epic Diapers, in my new recording studio! I can’t wait to decorate and produce more content, including more podcasts and youtube videos. Keep in touch for those projects.

So, with the doldrums of the end of mists of pandaria, many of you probably aren’t playing much world of warcraft. Well, I’m one of those, especially since we just moved and my current assignment is to defeat the boss that is the council of moving boxes. Of course, my wife is the general, and I answer to her. Although I still have a goal of getting all 11 classes to level 90 before Warlords of Draneor drops, I need to pick it up. Whatever your goal is, try and stick with it, whether it be playing with your new boosted 90, gathering legendaries or transmog gear, or perhaps, you want to be that guy who gets all of the achievement points that are possible. I’d rather empty boxes than get those points, but who am I to say? Do what you want, be yourself, and if that includes playing Hearthston, Heroes of the Storm, or hey, I don’t know, spend time with your family and friends, do what you gotta do. I won’t call you a noob.

You can follow me @epicdiapers and check out my blog at EpicDiapers.com. you can also listen to me and Willie Dills Gregory talk San Francisco Giants baseball at TortureCast.com and for you parents out there, check out the podcast I do with my wife, and she’s the talker, at kidsarehard.com.