Bank Alts and You

Hello again! Today we are going to be talking about bank alts. These terrific little time savers are popular among many players in the game. I myself never really looked into creating one until I thought about all the advantages that having one would give me.

Now what exactly is a bank alt?

Well, you more then likely have one or more level 80 characters by now. Wrath of the Lich King has been out since November now and thats given us plenty of time to get our butts up to northrend and kill enough stuff to ding the big 8-0. Now you probably have a main character that you put all your focus into and its more then likely decked out with a bunch of huge bags and many bank slots. However, even the biggest bags and the most bank slots sometimes isn't enough for all the cool stuff you want to keep. I myself am a warcraft packrat. I keep everything that isn't a common junk item that I will get millions of while playing. I found that soon after hitting 80 I was running out of space all the time and had to do little inventory checks all the time and make room for more and more items. 

Things such as old tier 4 and 5 pieces that I cant bring myself to delete because its still nice to have them for the memories of when they were awesome, as well as all the cool items I pick up each holiday are items I want to store but take up a HUGE amount of space that I need for gems and off set level 80 gear. So I thought about making a bank alt to alleviate the cramped mess that was my bank and bags.

This sounds like a good idea right? Well thats not even the best part! After making my alt I realized the main selling point of bank alts other then a nice new set of bank slots. The ability to have a character parked in a main city that always has access to the beloved auction house! What this means for you is that you can simply log off your main character and on to your bank alt, run to the AH which is right there in front of you, buy something, then send it to your main at the mailbox which is also right there!

Let's take Orgrimmar for example. I found that this is a good place to park a bank alt for the horde side. When I log on, my little banker is right there at the mailbox and about 5 steps from the bank and about 20 steps from the auction house! It's great for characters you may be leveling that need something from the AH but unfortunately are not anywhere near a main city. 

A good example of this would be a character that just broke into Northrend content. Let's say your in the Borean Tundra. To get to an auction house you would need to either have your hearth set to a capital city, or go all the way back to Warsong hold/Valiance keep and hop on a transport back to the main city. This wastes a ton of time that you could be grinding out quests with. This game is about fun and no one I have ever talked to has too much fun sitting on a zeppelin waiting to get to Orgrimmar. Or even waiting for the darn thing in the first place! Don't waste your valuable playtime waiting. Just log out near a mailbox, jump on your banker, walk over to the AH and buy what you need and send it over to your character waiting in Borean! This feature alone is enough to show that any good WoW player should invest the small amount of time it takes to make a bank alt. 

So how do I make one? Here's a few easy steps to start you on your way to shaving loads of time off of this tedious task.

First, you want to decide whether a level 1 character will do or if you want to use an already existing character you have. Sometimes people find that they level a character up and then don't really fancy it too much and stop playing it. This is also a good candidate for a bank alt. But let's say you love all your alts and want to start fresh. Ok, log into the game and go to the create new character screen. Pick a race, pick a class (this is unimportant as you wont be needing any of the skills) pick your hair, pick your face and all that stuff. 

Then you want to pick a name. Now while this seems unimportant, you may want to consider giving it a name that relates to your main character. I find myself sitting on my bank alt for long periods of time and don't want to miss out on anything important that happens with my guild. Plus I wanted an easy way for any of my friends and guildies to contact me if they need to. It's also beneficial to ask an officer in your guild to invite your bank alt so that if someone is looking for you in game for something and you happen to be taking care of business on your banker, they can clearly see your name and contact you that way. Soooo, a good example for a name would simply be "your characters name" then the word "bank". My main character's name is Meach so my bank alt is called Meachbank. Sound simple enough? Thought so!

Ok so you have created your new bank alt and given it a name that will tell people who you are while your taking care of your financial and storage business. Your halfway done! Hooray! But the next part involves a bit of work. As most of you know, when you start a character they are in a tiny little noobie town that is nearby your races main city, but not quite next door. So you have to make the bank alt jog. Just ignore the guy standing in front of you offering you your first quest. You don't need it. Tell him thanks but your not a hero, your a banker! And start running. This doesn't take too long so sit back, relax, enjoy the sights as you make your way to your city of choice. 

Once you arrive, you are ready to get down to business! The first thing I did was run over to the mailbox where I had about 100 gold mailed from my lvl 80. Why? for BAGS! Unless you have a tailor or are close buds with someone who is a tailor, your gonna need to buy your bags. I found that for me and my decent but not huge amount of gold, buying the biggest bags on the AH was not a good idea considering I didn't want to blow all that gold at the time. I bought the respectable 16 slotters and equipped a couple in my inventory and the rest I took over to the bank where I moved on to the next step. 

Talk to one of the bankers in there and pull up your bank inventory screen. At the bottom, there should be a button to buy more bank slots. Now this option is based on your personal situation. How much stuff do you need to store? I know for a Leatherworker, being able to send all those stacks of Borean leather and fill up bags and bags is a nice thing so that my hunter has some breathing room in his own bank. Purchase as many as you like and equip your new bags into the slots. Guess what, YOUR DONE! You now have a bank alt that can store all non soulbound items, materials for professions, eternals, potions, fish, RP items and soooo much more! That's pretty nice right? Not only does he have a whole new set of storage space but he can also be your personal Auction house guy and you'll never have to haul your butt to a main city to trade on the AH ever again. 

Now for those who want to take it one step further, dress your banker up! If you have a lvl 1 bank alt, your choices of clothes are limited due to level requirements, but a good choice I found is the Tuxedo shirt and pants from Noblegarden which just passed this week. What's great is that if you missed it on your bank alt but attained the items on your main, they aren't soulbound so send them over to the bank alt and put em on! You'll not only have a professional banker, but he will look pretty snazzy while doing it!

So that's pretty much bank alts for ya. I find that its a great way to keep your valuable bank slots and bags open for new items. The more you play, the more stuff your gonna get and it's always nice to have somewhere to send it. So get out there and make a bank alt. Or if your that hardcore, make two!

Dual Professions

So lately I have been thinking of ways to max out my Main. I started my shaman two years ago and have loved all trees of the class since. Im currently elemental and looooving it. I decided that when 3.1 and dual specs hit, Im going to go Resto PVE and Elemental PVP. Im very excited to do this because I will be more helpful in pve content then being one of a million dpsers out there, and at the same time, be able to switch to my main love of pvp whenever I want for free!

That got me thinking... I've always heard that if you wanted to take pvp seriously, you should level engineering. Once I researched this, I realized that this is so true. From rocket boots to bombs and trinkets, there is a ton of pvp goodies in the engineering profession. I wanted it badly. I did not however, want to drop my Jewelcrafting that has been maxed out for as long as I can remember. Jewelcrafting has been a great source of gold and ease when gemming my gear. I get the jewelcrafter's gems which are very nice, and can make them on demand as I get gear. My second profession was originally Mining. Now since blizz included a passive buff to your collecting professions (for example +50 stam for 450 Mining), you may question whether to drop that gathering prof for a main one. 

The choice was all to clear to me, I have had a Death Knight sitting at 80 and raid geared that I played after leveling my shaman when Wrath came out. He is a great candidate for my mining profession! Not only does leveling his mining help my shaman with both his main Professions, but the DK gets a stamina buff!!! It took me a day and a half to level mining up on the DK and now I have a Shaman with two main professions, and a Plate wearing miner to go out there and fight for ore. See what I did there? Try it.

Making the most of it

There are countless things to do in the world of Warcraft. And when I say countless, I really mean it. I don't believe one person could ever do EVERYTHING there is to do in this game. Mostly because its an ever-evolving mass of entertainment. So us players are left with choices of what to do and when to do it.

Now, some people have more time available in their day/week then others, and it always seems that those people who have more time get more done. Makes sense, right? This is not always the case. While some things take much planning and preparation such as progressive raiding, other objectives can be obtained with the smallest amount of time each day. 

My WoW time is unpredictable. Working different hours on different days has me finding myself on during some strange hours without a pattern whatsoever. I do however, use every moment of my time to something I would like to do in game, and I always see results with time and persistence. Here are a few of the many things you can do with your limited playtime.

 

Dailys:  

Daily quests are a great way to earn quick money and work your way toward a variety of goals. Whether its achievements you're after, or a nice piece of loot, dailys always work great. Some great dailys to get started on upon reaching level 80 are right up in Northrend. Sholozar Basin has a faction of Murloc looking creatures known as the Oracles. They have a very easy rep grind with a nice mix of dailys that are not boring or difficult at all. The prime drive for most to grind rep for these little guys is the beautiful Green Proto-Drake mount! 

Now before you get too excited, I want to point out that this is still a rare drop mount even after you are done with the reputation. Upon reaching revered status you can purchase a Mysterious Egg which has a 7 day hatching timer. At the end of your 7 days, the egg will hatch revealing either the drake, one of a few non-combat pets, or just yolk! Good luck!

There are many other factions you can grind rep for in every continent in Azeroth. Some take a long time and others are a breeze. But you can fit them into your time for some quick pocket change and one step closer to various prizes.

PVP:

Ahh my lovely player vs. player. I personally am in love with this aspect of the game. Its a nice change from killing the same mobs every day with all the same abilities and eventually the same boring routine. It really opens up a different perspective of WoW where your not only thinking about the abilities a target can do, but also predicting what they will do and when they will do it. Because of how PVP is set up, you can fit a lot of it into a small amount of time. This makes it a very cool thing for casual players who enjoy tearing the opposing faction apart.

Whether you like battlegrounds or the Arena, you will be able to fit a bunch of play time in no matter what your schedule. To get involved in battlegrounds, go to a main city and ask a guard where the battlemasters are. Queue up for one and get in there and start killing. Arenas take a little more time then bgs due to the fact that you'll more then likely want to make a team. You can research arena tactics and team makeups all over the internet and find a team that works for you. Keep in mind that PVP is something you have to learn with time and adapt to.

I also want to point out that Wintergrasp is another fantastic PVP event that happens every two and a half hours. It's a siege battle where one faction holds a massive keep from destruction by the other faction. The cool thing about WG is that it is server exclusive, so if there is that one alliance or horde player that always kills you while your trying to fish or quest, look for him/her in WG and let them have it! Doing Wintergrasp daily will yield you lots of Honor points and some tokens to buy various items from a vendor in the keep. I would most definitely recommend you try the battle for lake wintergrasp at least once!

Achievements:

Blizzard introduced achievements not too long ago, and while some hate them with a passion, most players enjoy these little goals that not only show your WoW experience, but can give you awesome titles and items upon achieving them! Some achievements require lots and lots of time and dedication but some are easy and definitely within the casual players reach.

The key to all this is to multi-task your WoW schedule and work on multiple things at once. For example, I recently decided to go back and grind my Mag 'har rep in Nagrand. These guys hate the ogres of Nagrand and will reward you nicely for thinning their numbers a bit. My daily schedule for these guys was to go there every day and kill enough to get about 3k reputation for them. Killing one ogre grants 10 reputation. I know what your thinking...10? The really nice thing is that most ogres you kill will drop an item called Obsidian Warbeads. Collect ten of these and hand them in at Garadar for 500 rep! What I did each day was kill ogres until I reached 40 warbeads. By that time, I usually gained at least a thousand rep from kills alone. Then with my 40 warbead turn in, I got around 3k rep per day. This whole process took me only about 20 min per day and now I have eight beautiful Talbuk mounts to show for it. 

So, while gaining my rep for the mag 'har (achievement at exalted), I was also gaining access to exclusive mounts. I purchased all 8 for something else I have been working on called the 50 mounts achievement. You see how many things can come from just 20 minutes a day? You should always feel one step closer at the end of each day to something. In my case, I try to stack my goals.

Another example would be the White Polar Bear Mount. Ohhh this is a nice mount that is rare and looks very very cool (especially because were in the north pole of Azeroth at the moment!). There is no real grind for this mount, but instead a single daily quest that can be found in Storm Peaks. I would hit this quest every day between casually farming the Time-Lost drake, and doing my Sons of Hodir dailys. So in one trip to Storm Peaks I was covering 3 different goals. Im proud to say that after only ten days of doing that daily I have the mount and also got my shoulder enchant from the Sons of Hodir rep. Now if I could only get that Drake to appear I would be done flying around Storm Peaks for at least a little while....ahem...Ulduar.

So get out there and combine your efforts to many different objectives. Even if you inch and inch your way to the things you want, at least you are moving forward. The really nice thing about this technique is that sometimes you have a lot of things happen at once or in the course of a few days and its a nice pat on the back that says GOOD WORK!

The Beginning

Hello everyone!

This is the very first post in my new blog about, you guessed it, World of Warcraft! There is a lot I have to say about this game that has been in my life for over two years now. Hopefully I can post something worth reading to maybe help my fellow WoW players out with certain topics. We will cover everything I think I can write about from how-to guides, To news and changes in the game. 

Just a little info about myself first. My name is Mike and I am from Pennsylvania (US). I have been playing World of Warcraft since my college days and it has been quite an experience ever since. I play Horde exclusively ( woot woot ), and though I don't Dislike the players who roll Alliance, I just gotta say there is nothing that grosses me out more then seeing a giant goat man running around with totems! Haha. Anyway, I play a Troll Shaman on the Jaedenar server. I started out Enhancement and have recently found a strong love for the Elemental tree. We will get into that in later posts i'm sure. 

Hopefully you find something I have to say useful, and please let me know if I miss any details! Thanks so much. Enjoy!