Chef Soon

Looking over my achievements, I have just 3 more recipes to cook up to become Chef Tiddlywinks. I have one Dalaran Cooking Award on me, which means I need 5 more. At one per day (hopefully I get 2 one of these days), Sunday I will have what it takes to be called Chef! Counting down the days...

Some Updates

It's been a while since I updated anything here, but some big news last night. I finally obtained my Pengu and my Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole. I'm now done running dailies for the Kalu'ak, as they were my 25th Exalted Reputation. Pretty happy to be done with them as their dailies awarded just 3-5g each. Now I can do more dailies in Icecrown and get rewarded properly.

I also spent all my money last night. I bought the Signet of the Kirin Tor for 7649g, and combined it with my Annhylde's Ring which gives me no ring upgrades until Wrath. I also completely updated my upgrades list which I will post about later and I now know every instance I need to run or every crafted Item I need to get ready for the end-game.

On a side note, last week, after picking up Lil' Smoky, I dropped Engineering and took up Mining. I hit 450 last night (hit 375 on Sunday) and now can mine anything I run across which is awesome. Just this morning, a quick run around Icecrown netted me 50 Saronite and 8 Titanium. I quickly smelted a Titansteel Bar and threw it up on the auction house, undercutting all others at 330g. It should sell today and I'll be back on my saving money for more outrageous purchases.

I've been running heroics on and off and slowly I'm getting my Kirin Tor rep up. I'm getting 150 rep daily from the cooking (and hit 25 Dalaran Cooking Awards last night). I'm also working on Sons of Hodir rep and the lovely Vetarra pointed out some places to find Frostfire Chips last night which should help my rep grind.

My Upgrades Spreadsheet

And now a quick break for some Excel fun!

This is a spreadsheet I have put together to quickly compare two items and plot my upgrade path. It's a bit complicated, but could be used by anyone so I'm making it available here. A quick overview first:

There are three sheets to the whole workbook. The first is multi-colored (named: List) and looks up all the information from the second sheet (named: Lookup). The third sheet is not really used that much, but can be helpful to figure out which crafted items give you the most bang for the buck (named: Crafted).

Basically, you enter all the information on the Lookup sheet. You fill out the name of the item, where it drops, and all the stats. It takes some time, but isn't too tough once you get the hang of it. Then, on the List sheet, you can quickly toggle between items from the Lookup sheet and compare them and see where gains and losses come from. For example, right now I'm looking at The Argent Skullcap and Heroes' Frostfire Circlet. I can quickly see that the Circlet grants me 2 STA, 20 INT, 60 SPI, 72 CRIT, and 35 DMG at the cost of 61 HIT. Using numbers provided by MaxDPS.com, I gain 70.96 DPS by upgrading to the Tier 7 headpiece. I'm also alerted in Red that there is a set bonus to the Tier 7 piece which I need to look out for. I also know that it drops in Naxxramas 10-man from Kel'Thuzad.

So we'll take a quick look at the Lookup sheet first.



This is the top-left most area of the Lookup sheet. The first row is simply the column number and should not be touched. The second row contains some information further over and should not be touched. The third row is a descriptor row that tells you what you are entering into the spreadsheet. Below that, you can see all the head items I have input into the sheet and all the neck pieces I have put in.

Column 1 is the row number and should not be changed and column 2 is the Slot position and should not be changed. All items should be grouped by Slot position. Also notice row 4 and row 14. These are small spacer rows. They should be left alone. If you need fewer rows for Head Slot items, delete any of the rows from 6-12. You should always leave the first and last rows in a grouping alone. If you need to insert rows, copy any row from 6-12 and insert it between 6-12 and go from there. Following these rules will keep the spreadsheet running as it should.

From there, you just need to enter all the information. The item name should just be the item name, but as you can see, I added a T7 to the end of some items to keep me cognizant of their rarity. "Dropped In" should just be the instance where it is dropped. If it is a crafted item, just enter "Crafted" and if it is from badges, just enter "Badges" (see the examples of Hat of Wintry Doom and Lattice Choker of Light above. In the "Dropped By" column, you can put where it is dropped, for crafted items, I kept track of what skill level is needed for them, but for Badges, you must put the number of badges required, and only that.



Now on to the stats. Here you just enter the relevant stats for each item. So you can see I've entered Armor, Stamina, Intellect, and so on. Damage is obviously Spell Power now, but I've left it as Damage. The problem here is I don't have AGI or STR or Dodge or other stats built in that could be useful for some. I am pretty sure you can change the descriptor in row 3, but the abbreviations in row 2 cannot be changed.



In these columns we have some additional information. The Proc is some sort of "on effect" type proc. So for example, the Sundial of the Exiled has a Proc of 590 and a Proc Type of "Damage". Sockets 1-3 are just filled in using one letter abbreviations, Meta = M, Red = R, and so on. Socket Bonus Number is the number of stat points you receive as a bonus. And Socket Bonus Type is the type of stat you gain a bonus to. So you can see in the first item, I gain a bonus of 9 DMG (or damage/spell power) if I correctly socket a Meta and a Yellow gem.



Here in these last few columns, we have some random information. Set Bonus can be set to Yes or No. If it's set to Yes, then it will highlight the item on the Listing page. If "Own" is set to yes, it will also highlight it on the main page and help you to distinguish it from other upgrade items. The MaxDPS column represents the DPS each item grants as determined by MaxDPS.com. This is just for reference and to compare items that may seem close in stats. DPS Gain per Badge relies on column E (Dropped By) if Column D says "Badges". So you have to make sure to follow the instructions above for Badge purposes. Cost of Crafting is a rough guestimate that comes from the "Crafting" page. This relies on Column D correctly being identified as a "Crafted" item. The DPS Gain per 100g relies on the Cost of Crafting. So here we see I'd go from 120.78 DPS to 152.63 DPS for just 373g, which is 8.54 DPS per 100g spent.

Here's a full-size image of the Lookup Page: Clicky

So once you have input all the information on the Lookup sheet, it flows through to the "List" sheet. This colorful sheet allows you to quickly compare two items for upgrades and also plot out where your next upgrades will come from.



Here we see in Column A we have the Slot position, column B has the item, and columns C & D show where it is dropped. The orange colored line indicates that the item is currently in our possession. The white colored lines are upgrades and the green colored lines compare the items to the one we own. Each slot position allows for the comparison of two items to the one we own which should go in the top slot. If you just want to compare one item to another, you can throw any item you want in row 3 and 4 and compare the two. But line 4 will always compare against line 3 and line 6 will always compare against line 3.

To compare items, you just use the pull down boxes in each section:



These pull down boxes come from the Lookup page, which is why it's important to leave the first and last lines of each item slot table alone. You can insert lines or delete lines between the first and last items, but the first and last items should always remain there. You can change all the info in them, but the should never be deleted and you should not add additional lines outside of these rows.



Here we just list the different stats for the items and the enchants that are available to that item. Enchants come from the bottom of the lookup page. All it shows here is the different stats for each item.



Here we get socketed stats added to the total. Nothing to do here.



Here we get the totals. This adds up all of the "On Item" stats, all the "Enchant" stats and all the "Sockets" stats. The fist line shows the item we own, the second line shows the first item we're comparing against and the fourth line compares the second item to the item we own. In this example, going from The Argent Skullcap to the Hat of Wintry Doom, we gain 17 STA, 10 INT, 21 CRIT and 1 DMG and lose 17 HIT.



These are the final four columns. Delta Unbalanced shows the total number of stat points that change. So going from the Argent Skullcap to the Hat of Wintry Doom has us go from 278 to 310 skill points. The reason it says unbalanced is because it considers Spirit equal to Spell Damage, which we know is not the case. But using the MaxDPS numbers, we can see a gain of 31.85 DPS. You can also see that the fourth line is colored red because it has a set bonus associated with it. It's just a bright red color to remind you to factor in the set bonus before tossing it aside if it has weaker stats.

Here's an overview of the full listing: Clicky

The last page is the Crafted page. Here we can set prices for crafted items which will factor into the DPS gain per 100g statistic.



Note that Row 1 is hidden. In Row 1, we have the column number. So if you have to add columns, make sure you unhide Row 1, fill in the column number and hide it up again. Row 2 has the cost of the material. These costs are pretty far off as I found Ebonweave and Spellweave are going for almost double the prices I guessed. All of these prices are changeable - so just switch out different prices for the different materials you have in row 3. Then, just enter your item name (it has to match the name on the Lookup sheet or the DPS gain per 100g won't work. Then just enter the quantities for each item and at the end, a total cost will be calculated.

Here's the full page:Clicky

I know it's complicated, but it works for me and it will be pretty complicated to adjust to your own stats (e.g. STR or AGI). While I am willing to answer some questions about the spreadsheet (leave comments on the blog), I can't customize it for you or enter items for you.

Also realize that the spreadsheet could easily break if you do something you shouldn't. Just be careful when deleting or adding rows or columns. Also remember you should not touch the "List" sheet other than using the drop downs to pick different items. And though the "List" sheet might seem to break at times, remember, if you select an item and then delete it from the Lookup, it won't work. So just select another item.

Also, I have manual calculation on for this spreadsheet. You need to hit F9 to calc the spreadsheet. Or you can go into Tools > Options > Calculation and turn automatic calcs back on.

Here's the latest spreadsheet for you to play around with (EXCEL FILE): Clicky

The Daily Circuit

Every day starts in Dalaran. I do the daily cooking quest and then venture out to find more dailies to do. My circuit starts at Moa'ki Harbor in Dragonblight where I do the Kalu'ak daily quest. I then fly over to Kamagua and help two sea cows find true love for more Kalu'ak reputation.

A quick trip up to The Argent Stand in Zul'Drak for Troll Patrol, and 900-1000 reputation, is next. And then a quick flight from there to Dun Niffelem to do the Sons of Hodir dailies. There's currently 5 for me to do since hitting honored which yields 1600 rep. From there I have a choice - either go to Icecrown for dailies or port back to Dalarn.

Usually, I'll port back to Dalaran to do the other leg of quests. I fly to Unu'pe for the last of the three daily Kalu'ak quests, and then fly up to Sholazar Basin to do my three Oracles quests. Once done there, then it's on to Icecrown for more dailies.

Upon arriving in Icecrown, I have 7 dailies left to do. I haven't quite figured out the dailies that I'm going to do on a regular basis, but there's plenty scattered throughout Icecrown to keep me busy. Also, in just 4 days, I'll be fully exalted with the Kalu'ak which will leave me with 10 dailies to do in Icecrown or, the alternative...

Wyrmrest Accord reputation. I figure on my way down to Moa'ki Harbor to start the day, I can stop in at the Wyrmrest Temple for a quick daily and then I after completing my loop, I'd port back to Dalaran and instead of going to Unu'pe, I can go over to Coldarra and do the Wyrmest daily there and then up to Sholazar Basin.

Either way, I'll be staying busy for quite a while. After my loop, without counting Icecrown dailies, I receive the following rep on average:

Argent Crusade: 900-1100 based on different Troll Patrol dailies.
Kirin Tor: 150 from the daily cooking quest.
The Kalu'ak: 1500 with just 4 days left until max exalted.
The Sons of Hodir: 1600 with quite a ways to go, but these are fun dailies.
The Oracles: 1700 with 12 days left until max exalted. I won't be switching to Frenzyheart though until I have all the pets that can be obtained from the Mysterious Egg

Old Crafty & Chuck

This morning, I woke up early and did my daily Dalaran cooking quest only to be whispered by a fellow guild mate that today's fishing quest was Crocs in the City (my guild knows I need to get my pets from that so they are looking out for me which is awesome). So I quickly ported to Shatt, got the daily quest and then ported to Theramore. Took a flight to Ratchet, hoofed it to Orgrimmar and easily made it past the guards, hit invisibility, and arrived at my fishing spot with nary a nick.

After about 10 casts, Old Crafty was mine! I ported to Ironforge, looking now for Old Ironjaw, but couldn't catch him in about 15 casts, so I took the Crocolisk, ported back to Shattrath and turned in the quest. Perhaps Old Man Barlo is in a better mood with fewer people visiting him, or he's lonely and wants me to visit more because not only did he reward me with Chuck's Bucket for returning the crocolisk to him, he also gave me Spun Truesilver Fishing Line. I'm going to save it for when I obtain my Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole from the Tuskarr (currently at 5,000/21,000 revered).

So it was quite a nice morning for me with both cooking and fishing done. Last night I was finally able to get the Oracles to start giving me daily quests. The final quest in the line was bugged as the lich just stood there and refused to let us attack. After a couple of hours, a GM finally reset her for us and my pick up group quickly took her down twice as the first time the other four people wanted to help the Frenzyhearts out. Luckily they all stuck around and helped me complete her again as I wanted to get on good terms with the Oracles. So now my dailies consist of the Kalu'ak and the Oracles. I'm also just getting somewhere with Sons of Hodir, so they'll probably be on my daily sweep as they have the really nice new shoulder enchants.

Level 80 and More!

Quite a busy day yesterday. First and foremost, ding 80!


It all started yesterday as I cleaned up the final quests in the Sholazar Basin. I had only about 30 more to do and quickly earned my Into the Basin achievement. But while completing my Sholazar Quests, another achievement I had been traking for a while finally popped up - I am now Tiddlywinks the Seeker! 3,000 quests completed (which also pushed me over 3,000 achievement points). After 3,000 quests and the Basin complete, I headed for the Storm Peaks. K3 was my next destination and after questing there for a while, earning the vaunted Mine Sweeper achievement, and having some fun up in the sky and the mountains, I hit 80.

So what to do next? Well continue questing of course. I'm going to finish off the Storm Peaks and then move to Ice Crown to get my Loremaster of Northrend achievement (unfortunately, Kalimdor remains unconquered). But after questing a little longer, I decided to go explore, and earned the title of The Explorer!


So now what? Well bright and early this morning, I earned my 10th Dalaran Cooking Award, and I have much reputation to grind with certain factions that reward pets. I also need just one more reputation at exalted to earn 25 Exalted Reputations and of course, I'm fishing for my Giant Sewer Rat and also for the coins in the fountain.

I also put of leveling engineering this whole time, but with stacks of cobalt going for 100g each right now, getting my engineering up will take quite a while when I finally decide the market has stabilized. However, I did raise First Aid to 450. Enchanting sits at 410, cooking at 415ish, and fishing at around 395. Last night with my Tabard of the Explorer, I also received my Tabard of the Achiever for having 25 Tabards.

There's so much more to do, so many more quests to complete, so many more achievements to seek out. I think I'll head back to the Storm Peaks tonight, fish a bit, and try and finish up the Oracles questline so I can start earning rep with them.

Some Mounts Worth Aiming For

The fine folks at MMO-Champion posted a list of all the new mounts in Wrath and here are a few I think I'll be shooting for:

#1: Reins of the White Polar Bear - These drop from a reward you get for completing daily quests in the Storm Peaks. It appears the quests are level 79-80, so I might be able to go hunt them down tonight if I have some time to see what's going on out there.

#2: Reins of the Red Drake - An exalted reward from the Wyrmrest Accord. I'm pretty sure my rep isn't that high with them as I left Dragonblight soon after completing most quests. The drake is cool, but I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get to exalted with them.

#3 & #4: Reins of the Ice Mammoth and Reins of the Grand Ice Mammoth - Both available from the Sons of Hodir - a faction I have not yet encountered. One is available at revered for 2,500g, the grand ice mammoth is available at exalted for 10,000g.

Speaking of gold, when I ventured into Northrend, I left Shattrath with 3,200g. Upon hitting 71, I went to Dalaran and bought the brown bear for 700g. I was down for a little bit, but worked my way back up. Training First Aid, Cooking, Enchanting, and Engineering cost a few hundred gold. And then at 77, I trained Cold Weather Flying for 1,000g. And right now, I'm at about 3,400g. Yes, after spending well over 2,000g, I've made it back from questing and selling grey items. All green and blue quest rewards have been disenchanted (except for a couple weapons that sold for 10-15g each). So while leveling, don't leave anything behind, and just quest, quest, quest. You'll have plenty of gold for whatever you need. I'm hoping to have upwards of 5,000g by the time I hit 80 and then I can splurge a little on an Ice Mammoth.

The Path to 77

Last night, I reached 77 seasons thanks to some fun in the wonderful Sholazar Basin. A wonderful region of Northrend that is lush and green. A huge step up from the closest zone I could compare it to - the Un'goro Crater. I had made it my mission last night to take revenge on D.E.H.T.A. for making me go love all those mammoths in the Tundra, so I teamed up with Hemet Nesingwary to destroy some beasts.

Upon arriving at the Nesingwary base camp, I was surprised to see there was no flight path, despite hearing there was. Luckily after fetching a motor and some other parts, I was able to rebuild the flight path and could use it for an easy escape from the basin back to Zul'drak for leveling. Of course, first I had to kill a bunch of rhinos, sabers, snakes, crocs, and whelps. They all succumbed to my awesome power and I easily breezed through all the quests I was given. The reward wasn't quite worth it, however the achievements were: The Snows of Northrend and Hemet Nesingwary: The Completed Quests.

So then I returned to Zul'drak for some leveling and found an absolutely amazing group for the Amphitheater of Anguish. Not only did we quickly blow through everything they could throw at us, but we also had hordies trying to steal our kills and kill us while we were fighting. We quickly dispatched them, even destroying them when they outnumbered us 7-5 and we were fighting the finall boss of the Amphitheater. It was great fun and I finally have a new weapon: the Chilly Slobberknocker! What a name! But it was without an enchant! For shame, young Tiddlywinks, for shame! So I gave out a bunch of free enchants to my buddies Weser and Ryshat, got Enchanting up to 400, and gave myself a nice enchant of Enchant Weapon: Exceptional Spellpower. Oh yeah, I also got the achievement, Of Blood and Anguish.

And now for some updates on skills and achievements:
Enchanting: 400
Cooking: 410
Engineering: 381
First Aid: 441
Fishing: 389

2,851 quests out of 3,000
414 dailies out of 500
6,170g out of 10,000g