In the meanwhile, I had to do some more thinking about using Wow. I have finally come to grips with the fact, that there is not enough time in the day to be an expert in Wow. So, I have a friend and potentially friends, who will need to suffice.

The other day I shot him a host of questions and a recap. I have re-posted some here:

As you might recall, I plan to have 2 teams doing 5 raid instances. I will need to put out some feelers to find the participants; I think I need at least 25 participants (with hopefully toons each to qualify). I am only looking at  the 10ppl raids. 

I will pay/arrange to have 2 applicable toons (per person) ported to the correct faction and server for the 6 week duration (and back). But, I need some criteria to make sure the teams are balanced by 1) the needs of the raid and 2)  the needs of the study. 

Questions…

1. What is the maximum level of participants in a raid, ie. Can you take 11 on a 10 person raid? 
2. What websites and in what locations should I post on to find participants?
3. How much do you think a reasonable incentive is?  I was thinking of a free year of play and the port there and back. Or do I need to sponsor 2 years?
4. At what level of raid completion should be the minimum requirement for participation in the study be? For example, should the relevant toon have completed TOC and ICC in normal before you are applicable. Then the study would be across 5 dungeons (1 week at at time): BD, BOT, TFW, FL, DS with some mixture between normal and heroic levels.
5. Is there a tool that you know about that will help select a balanced raid team from a list of toons. For example, just how are the warriors spec’s. Is the mage, frost or other. If I have an undead DK with a specific dual spec, what warrior and spec be a compliment?

Also, I have proposed adding a battleground component where teams would compete 3 or 4 times. The BGs take a varying number of people as shown below. Now that they are rated and you can play as either faction, I can make sure the teams compete together. After 3 of the smaller BGs head-to-head, they would then group together to do IoC or AV.

1. What do you know about the newer BGs? I need to understand the tasks and level of difficulty etc. each team performs in each.
   Warsong Gulch 10
   Arathi Basin 15
   Eye of storm 15
   Strand of the ancients 15
   Battle for Gilneas 10
   Twin Peaks (?)
   Isle of conquest 40
   Alterec valley 40

Anyone feel free to add comments..

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My rationale is simple.

I am doing an experiment in WOW. WOW takes time. I must use experienced players. Since I am interested in looking at emergent leadership in WOW, I need observe players in situations that accommodate leadership. WOW has lots of opportunity there. Easiest is in instances (dungeons) where groups of 10 players or more must work together as a virtual team in order to achieve. There are 30+ dungeons available in WOW now. Some have a 5 player requirements. Most higher level  instances have 10 man + requirements. In these settings, the group must organize in order to achieve. So, this is the place for the study.

With a minimum of 10 players required. We must then have at least 15 players in a team for backup (if something comes up and they cant make it into the game). So that is 15. Then because you need some kind of control, you have to examine a treated group and an un-treated group. So, double the number and you have 30. So, I need 30 players to play WOW.

The next hurdle is the amount of time. Players need some time to adjust to each other in a new team. I need time for the process to occur. Thus, a single instance is probably not a good indicator of team achievement. Also, it might take multiple days to "complete" a single high level instance So, if it takes 5 days (playing 3hrs each day) to finish a instance, that is 15hrs. And if we need more than 2 instances. Lets say; 3 min. Then we need players (30 players) to agree to play together for at least 3 weeks (45hrs) in order to complete 3 instances.

During the holiday break, students are not in school. Nor are the majority of them working. If I need 4 weeks of game time, this is prime season, with nothing to do, no where to go, and its cold. Players could do the 3-4 week stint easily during this time.

During the summer…not so much.

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Farming is far too slow. With that I can make about 100-200 a day, if I bring stuff back from Northrend. But I need about 1kg a day. I do need to get to the endgame, where I can join a better guild and do more instances.

Well at least I have a target in mind. AND with the upcoming patch touting the ability to switch factions, that might be the way to go. Of course, I will keep everyone posted.

For now, I will settle for consistently earning 200g a day. Lets see where I am by months end.

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Now I was determined. And off from work too.. And with crappy weather. Ok the stars have finally aligned. Im ready to hunker down in front of my computer and level.

So on Thursday night I started. And I was at level 69 when done and some obscene number of XP still left to go. Then Friday, well I had stuff to do Friday night. Oh well..But then Saturday. Marathon time. Wash cloths, make lunch and game. Game until its done!

And I did. With only 2 bars left at about 10pm I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then, my loving, wonderful companion who is a DK (level 69 too, but just barely). Poops out on me. Gotta make some phone calls, send a few emails.. yada yada. Its SATURDAY NIGHT and we are gaming fools and you are talking emails???? Well, no matter. I can finish this.

I was in an area in WOW with some kinda human raiders just outside of the small main elvan city (in the outlands). Killing the poachers and various beasties just outside yielded a 1k XP pop per. Well that the ticket! 2 bars is about 20k. So 40 killed and Boom, it would be done. At 11pm I dinged. Haleluyha!!!!

Now to that stupid flying mount. Lets see a quick consult to wowwiki. Need to go to Shat. Ok.. port to shat. Looking for Mr Goodbar and what.. I cant get it here gotta go to DK land. Ok,.. portal there. And by the damn thing; 800 gold. Wow, who knew horses cost so much, and this one looks dead – or at least very bony. Wait, I cant ride it.. not enough riding skill. gotta go back to Outlands?? Who thought of this..dont designers have something better to do than to chastise the players with this wild goose (horse) chase.

I wait 30min while my home port resets and boom back to Shat. I ride on my pale horse like the wind to the location in Shat and see the trainer. Mount training is 1000 gold or  5000 gold. Hmm.. Im thinking I dont need to train that hard. At a thousand gold lighter, I take off on my first flight..all be it shakily. I guess the training really didn’t cover a how to teach the player to fly; they should work on that.

After a few face first landings and falling from the mount in mid sky, I think I have the hang of it. Now its midnight. Finally my partner is determined to get his mount tonight too (he is shy 4 bars!)… Boy those poachers are really gonna get a whipping tonight.

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Mostly, work, lol. But aside from that the very mechanics of the game. For example, in SHAT and areas outside of the regular areas there are no banks. So, I cant collect stuff like a pack rat and not worry. Moreover, every quest brings something to keep and carry. I have taking to mailing "stuff" to my other alts to dispose of, sell, disenchant whatever, and not coming to my home for what would be like months. I have even stopped checking in to get new spells – instead looking up on wowwiki, when they are definitely available. Since all that extra checking, selling, and harvesting costs precious game minutes I can no longer afford. So, its questing, all the time. I have not even done dungeons since it takes time to organize parties, and there is always that 1 or 2 wipe that has to occur before you finish it. Questing (while leveling is slower), is more steady. I can gain 1 level, almost every few hours (ok 4hrs) I play.

All this for a flying bird that looks a lot like a bit eagle. LOL. And how could you mistake this for the real world.

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As soon as work, school, life slows down. LOL. Yeah right!

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More later..

So I’ve been playing WoW for hmm, over a year now? And I’m still level 43 …

Then again, I guess I’m am a very light gamer. I mostly log on to buy/sell stuff once every few days, and even less frequently do I venture out to kill stuff and complete quests. Though interestingly enough, I somehow keep getting more exp when soloing than when I’m in a group. ::shrug:: Most likely, it is just my imagination and introvert personality, but hey who cares

Maybe by the end of next week I’ll be level 44 and out of more gold for dem pesky druid spells. The only question that comes into mind is should finally get rank 3 on Feral Swiftness or go with that thingy that get’s me an extra 2% to all attributes ::shrug:: decisions decisions. What is a gamer to do?

Basically, you run a couple of programs against the data, finding bargains. Alot like ebay – but for a wide variety of things. Absolutely anything. And you buy it, and then you sell it back for the correct market price. However, this is work! It is not simple to get it going, or to keep the sales happening. But, it clearly pays off. I think its better than farming all those damn skins (unless it happens to correlate to a quest).

So, a typical day looks like this in WOW. Check mail, get things that fell off auction, put them back on. Run the data scan, check all the things selling below market value. I like about 80% as the WOW market fluctuates greatly, some items are often overly inflated due to newbs posting garbage. Then buy more stuff.. retrieve from mail. Back to AH to put on sale. Check the scans again. Wash, rinse repeat. I am making between 10-20 20gp a day and 2x that on weekends.

Rules of thumb..

Stuff must be up on FRIDAY – best day for sales
You must buy stuff at 100% if you see it
Gems sell very slowly
Items over 10gp sell more slowly
Be wary of inflated items
Check for stats on sales (your instance will only show data since you install the program). If it hasnt sold for over 10 times be cautious

So there you have it. HAVE fun!

Now that I am not working on work, I will try to update the blog stuff. Piotr has updated the wordpress so it stops yelling about needing an update, AND I have installed MarsEdit. This little app promises to let me blog, WHILE NOT ONLINE. Sure I know what you are thinking.. Well DUH, why dont you just use WORD (or similar) and post it later when you connect. I thought the same thing. I been blogging on the train..LOL. But where does it end up, you ask. Well no where. It stayed stuck on my laptop like all the other lost files. So in an effort to prevent that, I have installed this nifty little MarsEdit. AND this is my first, offline post.

Perhaps now I will blog more frequently. As of course only time will tell. Now to the Nitty Gritty.

The list now..

-Leatherworking
-Leveling up
-strategy in BG
-GOLD!

and stuff from before

-Blogging software
-terminology in WOW
-on being 27
-life as a cat
-playing nice with others
-VCs and BGs
-XP in WOW and XP inworld
-Next steps
-Times for play

SO..Leatherworking it is..

Ok, so I spent a sum of money to get leveled up on LW. It worked. I got to level 225 and then had to wait to get to Level 35 so I could get the next grade. Artisan I think it is. Now, at level 229 I find myself at a sticking point. Wild LW in one term!! There are quests to get from a small town off the cost of Feralas. Well I got the flight point and thought I was home free. Or so I thought..

I dropped another wad of cash for some thick leather to make the things for the quest in order to level some more. Until I got to the TURTLE SCALE GLOVES!!!!! You might be asking, so… Well I need to make 2 TSGs and 2 Turtle Scale Brestplates. Breastplates went fine. After milling around the AH I finally scored enough turtle scale to open my own amphibian weight watchers. Thinking I had everything in place I fly back to the island, turtle scale in hand to turn in the quest. I arrive at the quest-giver and am planning to purchase the last bit of thread and whatnot for the item. I go to pull up the pattern AND hmmm.. I don’t have it. Ok..there must be some mistake. Im supposed to turn in 2TSGs AND 2TSBs. I take a look again and I have a pattern for turtle scale breastplates and a pattern for… turtle scale bracers!!! WTF… where is the one for turtle scale gloves? I hit the internet to find out. Perhaps it was an oversight, maybe I should have got the pattern back in town. Then I read that the tribal leatherworking guy, is supposed to sell me that pattern. Ok great . Im right here. I check his wares.. and NO PATTERN. Hmmm.. I close and check again. nothing.. I walk around talk to other NPCs, hide from the hordies.. and check again. Nothing. Well I make something else and buy something from him. Check again, nothing. I check another 20 times in a row.. NOTHING. I stop poking the guy (one more “Hello How are You” and Im gonna go postal) and read some more. Some poor blokes have waited for HOURS for this asshole to cough up the pattern.. and NOTHING; others simply gave up and never got it. Ok… well I think I will orb back and try again another day. (A 20min flight mind you). Day 2, nothing. Day 3, nothing. JEEZE!!! At the AH, I see the stupid TSGs for sale, 1 pair. I buy them and rush back to the island asshole. Still nothing!!!ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!! I wait 30mins checking for the pattern, and he finally shows me a pattern for basket-#$!#%!! weaving!!!! I know that already, WTF. Where is the one for the stupid gloves!! Day 4 another flight and another nothing.. And now we are all caught up. Still no gloves. I still have lots of turtle scale (thinking of cornering the market), and 2TSBs and 1TSG (from AH). But unless someone takes pity, I will be without the wild LW skills, but not before I turn to HORDE and come back and waste that smug asshole on that tiny little island. Selling a load of promise, but no Freaking Patterns of TSGs.

-N