Kharins Quest

In the middle of playing late last night I found myself guild-less.  Now while it was possible that I’d been kicked, it seemed unlikely given that I was second-in-command and knew the Guild Leader well.  I emailed her at once and it soon became obvious that she had been hacked, the Guild no doubt stripped of all assets and, then to rub salt in the wounds, disbanded.  This is not my first experience with hacker and gold stealers – my first guild was cleaned out when one of the ranking officers followed an ingame email ostensibly from one of the guild members with a website link to a supposed video about our guild but in reality a key logger site.  The sad fact is that such attacks are not rare occurrences in WOW.   Most often a GB is cleared as the result of a hacker gaining access to a guild member’s account.  In other cases it may be ninja (a less than trustworthy guildie who takes items of worth to sell rather than for personal use).  And in some rare cases Guild Masters have apparently, in a fit of pique or boredom, closed down the guild.  There are people after your virtual gold – whether for their own personal use or to sell for real US dollars to those silly enough to trust them.

If your account is compromised you should immediately  1) create a new password for your account if you can; 2) contact Blizzard by phoning or sending an email (to restore account if necessary) and, once you have access to your account, by opening a ticket in game with a Game Master (GM) (to recover lost items)  and 3) run a full viral scan of your computer to eliminate the presence of key logger programs., 4) secure your account and your email account, & 5) you will need to be patient as generally takes time to restore things.  ( Check out this and  this for summaries of what to do).

Just as with theft in the real world – there are a number of measures that you can take which greatly reduce the risk of being hacked, but not entirely eliminate it.  And as with theft in the real world, it is a shock when it happens to you and can often feel like a gross invasion of personal (more…)

From Sunday evening, festively colored bunnies have been hopping across the major faction villages of Azeroth in search of hidden brightly colored eggs.  Noblegarden celebrates the arrival of Spring with cute bunnies, chocolate eggs, eggs hunts, spring flowers and elegant costumes.  The key to this festival is the brightly colored eggs as not only are they required for three of the achievements (I Found One; Chocolate Lover & Chocoholic) but can both drop items required for the other achievements  or serve as currency to buy them.  Thus competition for eggs is fierce especially in peaks time.

Quests

There are three quests, 2 lead in quests and one daily:

• Spring Collectors or Spring Gatherers – lead in quests from the capital to speak to the Spring Collectors at Goldshire, Kharanos, Dolanaar, and Azure Watch (Alliance) or the Spring Gatherers at Razor Hill, Brill, Bloodhoof Village, and Falconwing Square (Horde).
• A Tisket, a Tasket, a Noblegarden Basket – collect 10 Noblegarden chocolates and return with the borrowed Noblegarden basket to the Noblegarden vendor or merchant.   Reward includes a permanent Noblegarden basket.  Some players advise not completing this quest until you have completed the achievements as it costs 10 chocolates.
• The Great Egg Hunt (daily) – collect and return 20 brightly colored egg fragments to the Spiring Collector (Alliance) or Gatherer (Horde).  The fragments are collected with the eggs when you have this quest.

Finding Eggs
Eggs can be found scattered around Goldshire, Kharanos, Dolanaar, Azure Watch, Razor Hill, Brill, Bloodhoof Village, and Falconwing Square.   They can be hidden in bushes, beside trees, behind or and sometimes in objects such as mail boxes, crates, pots, walls, corners and general debris, on windowsills and posts, etc.  Respawn rate may vary and tends to be a couple of minutes.  Every so often collecting an egg will give you a 60 minute Noblegarden Bunny buff that turn you into a bunny (unless you are already shape shifted e.g. druid travel form).   Some players have found using macros (eg /use Brightly Colored Egg) useful.

There are two basic strategies in egg hunting:

1. The static method – with this strategy you find a spot in which typically 3-4 eggs spawn and then camp the spot.   This requires some patience and knowledge of where eggs spawn.  It is probable more viable when the area is overrun with egg hunters.  It can also be used intermittently – for instance while you loot your eggs and/or consume your chocolate.
2. The circuit method – in this method you circle the area, covering the areas where you know eggs spawn.  Using your egg basket (which increases speed by 60% for 10 secs with a 10 sec cool down) or druid travel form etc can help you cover the area faster or get to an egg before another player.   I suggest varying your path and angle as that way you will see eggs you hadn’t noticed before or eggs that are hidden behind objects or walls.

Some starter areas are more popular (i.e. crowded, e.g.  Goldshire for Alliance).  In some areas the eggs may be easier to spot (e.g. Kharanos versus Dolanaar) though if you are familiar with the possible spawn points that can work for you rather than against you.  Picking less populated (more…)

Exploring Northrend without a flying Mount is not impossible – it just requires some time and determination.  Most areas in this continent are accessible by running/riding with the exception of a couple of areas in Sholazar Basin, most areas in Storm Peaks and the floating city of  Dalaran.  Here are some tips on how to explore these hard to get to areas before you can fly in Northrend.

[EDIT: Since the release of Cataclysm it is now possible to get Cold Weather Flying at level 68.  Obviously, this makes a big difference to exploring Northrend however for toons who have not yet reached 68 it is still possible - see below.]

Sholazar Basin

The two areas that present a challenge in the Basin are Stormwright’s Shelf and Maker’s Overlook. (While The Maker’s Perch is set inside the cliff face on the western side of the Basin,  it can be discovered by edging along the cliff close to the structure.)

Stormwright’s Shelf is the high shelf or plateau on the western coast of Sholazar.  While it cannot be reached without flight it can be discovered by swimming or running (with water walking elixir, path of frost, levitate etc) northward up from the coast of Borean Tundra. Edge as close to the cliff face as you can between the first and second inlets (the one above Nesingwary camp and Seabreach Flow above Bittertide lake) that cut across the plateau in Sholazar until you get credit.  If you reach Icecrown, you have obviously gone too far.

Once you have the credit you might as well keep going to get the credit for Onslaught Harbor, Icecrown.  You can then either hearth, swim back or enter Sholazar Basin from either the Sholazar inlets by jumping carefully down the waterfalls.

Maker’s Overlook is another structure built into to the sheer cliff on the eastern side of Sholazar Basin just north of where Wintergrasp borders with Icecrown.  You can reach it by jumping down from Icecrown.  Make your way to area just south of (and below) the The Fleshwerks in Icecrown until you come to a point where you can see the roof of the Maker’s Overlook below – then jump down on top (using whatever fall mitigation abilities you have).   Druid feline grace and Barkskin worked well for my druid though my dwarf hunter fell like a stone – but either way I got the credit.  If you survive the fall you can hearth out or levitate/slow fall down to the ground.   Alternatively, for toons 77+ it is possible pick up the Reconnaissance Flight quest from at Vic at Lakeside Landing and then land the damaged plane on the Overlook (rather than at Rivers Heart as required by the quest).

Storm Peaks

For those level 77+

If you are level 77 but don’t yet have Cold Weather Flying – you can hire a flying mount from the “Honest” Max just outside K3 next to the (more…)