WoW Item Creator

I cleared out my extensive Favourites folder last week and, among the myriad now-defunct websites lay a gem that I had completely forgotten about. http://www.wowitemcreator.com/ was something that I had bookmarked many, many moons ago (probably close to when I first started playing WoW) and, having used it once or twice to fashion a no-doubt thread-winning picture it lay discarded in that oubliette of dusty ephemera that is my WoW/Misc folder. One exploratory click and I was surprised (and delighted) to find the site still running. The site allows users to create items, weapons or spells that use Blizzard's templates, making for some fun opportunities to parody in-game issues or just create gear examples. Below are a handful of user submissions.

I had remembered the site as being rather rudimentary back then (but effective enough), and it certainly looks a lot better now, although a quote from the main page implies that another face-lift is on the way:

“Ok Guys, we hear you. We've neglected Wowitemcreator.com for awhile. There are
plans in the works to revamp the site, so enjoy making Warcraft items now
and be
prepared for new changes to come to the site!”

So, go make your own must-have item, or simply browse through the rated submissions. You can even search by server to see what your comrades-in-arms have been up to.

E-Mail Caveat.

Another E-Mail Scam

My daily E-Mail inbox trawl revealed a couple of interesting catches this morning; two duplicate E-Mails from Blizzard Account Administration. I opened one to admire its contents and was addressed by the following:

From: Blizzard Account Administration (noreply@blizzard.com)

“Greetings,

An investigation of your World of Warcraft account has found strong evidence
that the account in question is being sold or traded. As you may not be aware
of, this conflicts with Blizzards EULA under section 4 Paragraph B which can be
found here: WoW -> Legal -> End User License Agreement and Section 8
of the Terms of Use found here: WoW -> Legal -> Terms of Use.

The investigation will be continued by Blizzard administration to determine the action to be taken against your account. If your account is found violating the EULA and Terms of Use, your account can, and will be suspended/closed/or terminated. In order to keep this from occurring, you should immediately verify that you are the original owner of the account.

To verify your identity please visit the following webpage: http://mangogoldguide.com/loginbattle/index.htmlOnly Account Administration will be able to assist with account retrieval issues.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter, and your continued
interest in World of Warcraft.

Sincerely,

Account Administration

Blizzard Entertainment”

Apart from the minor grammatical errors, this E-Mail seems quite compelling (much more refined than previous, laughable efforts). A superficial reading might well sucker the naïve WoWer into popping their details into the login link, or even just visiting the site and receiving a key logger for their trouble. There are only a few small aspects which can tip-off the E-Cynic to the counterfeit nature of this particular attempt to grab your account details.

If you mouse-over the first link (EULA) your browser will reproduce the address that the link takes you too in the bottom left-hand corner of your browser window. Both the first and the second links (Terms of Use) take you to World of Warcraft.com sites, but the third link asking you to verify your login details is identified as leading to Mangogoldguide.com, which, as I’m sure you’ll agree, is not a very official Blizzard sounding address!

Secondly, if you receive a genuine Blizzard E-Mail, it will include your account name and probably the name of a character under investigation, with details of the alleged violations.


There are many similar scams floating around the internet, and unfortunately they will probably become more sophisticated with time, so if you are in any doubt about dubious E-Mails arriving in your inbox, simply type the content details into the Google search engine (adding ‘scam’ helps) and see if other surfers have encountered them too. Or, get in touch with Blizzard yourself.

Vengeance Landing Zeppelin Tower.

Folly or fitness aid?

After smiting the many lupine foes that stood between me and a Cobalt node, my recently-resurrected Hunter dinged level 72 yesterday and thus I happily skipped across the pleasant landscape of Howling Fjord with a visit to my Orgrimmarian Hunter trainer in mind. The nearest route to Orcy goodness was via Vengeance Landing, so I duly hopped onto the back of my trusty white Talbuk and toddled off in that direction. After a brief near-death-experience on the high lift I was soon standing in the shadow of the Vengeange Landing zeppelin tower.

As I craned my green neck skyward, I wondered what moment of madness inspired the construction of this twisting edifice? Thrusting vertically, the zeppelin tower is built in that architectural style which is so beloved of those aromatic Undeads; funereal, menacing Gothicism. Menacing not because of the dark, looming nature of structure (although it would probably be enough to make a gnome uncomfortable, at least), no, the real peril here comes from a more tangible danger: the amount of staircases and sharp turns the bloody thing has!

My goodness! Even if you scroll in to first-person view the journey to the top is anything but fluid. Having fallen off, (and missed the first zeppelin) I made a note of the different turns the average adventurer would have to complete, just to reach the platform. I was sorely tempted to write an in-depth guide on ‘How to Climb the Bloomin’ VL Zep Tower’, I’m certain it would save at a million lives.

In the interest of filling copy with the repetition of three different words (left, right and up), I will put in writing the results below.

From the ground level: Climb the first, short ramp and make a right-hand turn, followed by a left turn, another left and climb the flight of stairs ahead of you. At the top, turn left once again, climb another flight of stairs, turn left again, up again until you see another left-hand route. Take this path, going up once again, right after that, right again, right again and right once more until you see the final flight of stairs. Climb this and you will be on the zeppelin platform just in time to /wave goodbye to the crew as they leave without you.

My fat Gorilla (sorry Kolya, but your ass does obscure the view sometimes,) didn’t help matters much on this Escheresque landscape, but I did manage to assail the seven flights of staircases on the second attempt and, eventually, reached a waiting transport which whisked my off on my brief trip to Azeroth. Thank Blizzard for the Hearthstone back.

Choices, Choices.

Okay, I admit it! I’m back playing the darn game. After taking over a month off from WoW I now find myself logging in once again. Well, it wasn’t my fault; it was the research I needed to undertake in order to produce these articles that got me back to the game. Yeah that’s it…

So, I’m faced with a dilemma which has plagued me many times: I simply can’t decide which class to play. I don’t want to start a new character as I already have quite a few high levels to choose from: 80 Rogue; 71 Mage; 71 Hunter; 75 Paladin; 70 Warrior and a 65 Warlock.

I won’t be raiding again, and I doubt I will have much time for running instances again. So that leaves me leaning towards a character that will be fun in casual PvP. Well, Hunter it is, then surely, Matthew! Don’t call me Shirley. Hunters suit my PvP playing style (which is to hang around the back and shoot people from afar. Waddya mean it sounds cowardly?!) but, annoyingly, for some reason Hunters don’t inspire me like they used to. They are much more polished than they used to be, they can take a bit of a battering in melee range once they have the gear, and they now have lots of nice, new tricks to take advantage of but, well; they feel a little empty at the moment.

Despite having a level 80, Rogues are still quite new to me and I love the whole stealthing thing that they enjoy. When my Rogue was still a lowly alt I dreamed of stealthed into IronForge and gutting unwary Alliance members, but since WotLK, I have never really enjoyed mine in Battlegrounds. I seem to spend ages stealthing behind some clothie only to be tossed about by all (at least a thousand, I counted) the Death Grips that magically appear. I also can’t help hating the end talent in my usual spec of choice (Subtlety). Can’t I have Killing Spree or something else up there instead, please?

Onto the Mage. My all-time favourite class. Fire-specced for fun, my TBC Mage tore up damage meters and made short work of all but the healthiest of opponents. I hear that Fire is still viable with excellent burst damage, and this would certainly suit my cowardly BG playing style, but I can’t help thinking that they are just a bit too squishy.

Paladin. He’s Prot-specced so if I pinged him to 80 it would be to primarily dungeon crawl, in particular the old school instances. I love the social aspect of WoW, but I also prefer to play alone most of the time and it would be great o toddle off and bash Onyxia and her ilk on the head occasionally.

Warlocks seem to have dropped off the radar since TBC. At one time all I saw was bloody warlocks running around, revelling in their overpoweredness. Now it’s mainly just their smell that lingers. The smell of flavour-of-the-month that’s been left out in the sun too long.

That leaves my Warrior. Can’t play him, no. He’s a Tauren, and he’s fat.


Well, I thought that ordering my ruminations on the page would help somewhat, but it bloomin’ well didn’t. Oh well, what’s a boy to do…?

The Big List of WoW Abbreviations.

Observing a tightly-knit community’s idiosyncrasies can confuse any newcomer and this is especially true in World of Warcraft. This bewilderment can be exacerbated by the abbreviations that the subscribers use to cut down on typing time. Instances, game mechanics, skills and spells are all shortened to their initial parts. So here I present a guide to help the newcomer.

This post contain naughty language!

1H: One-handed (weapon type).
2H: Two-handed (weapon type).
5SR: Five Second Rule. In-combat mana regeneration begins after 5 seconds of spell inactivity.
Add: An Additional (and often unexpected) mob has entered the fight.
AoE: Area of Effect. Instead of targeting a single mob, AoE spells will affect an area of ground.
AFAIK: As Far As I Know.
AFK: Away From Keyboard.
Aggro: Aggression/Aggravation. Interchangeable with Threat.
Alch: Alchemist.
Alt: Alternative character. See Main.
AP: Attack Power.
AP: Armour Penetration.
ATM: At The Moment.
BBL: Be Back Later.
BE: Blood Elf. Sometimes BElf.
BG: Battleground.
Bio: Used in place of ‘a biological function’.
BoE: Bind on Equip.
BoP: Bind on Pick-up.
BoU: Bind on Use.
BRT: Be Right There.
BRB: Be Right Back.
BS: Blacksmith.
BS: Bullshit.
BTW: By The Way.
Buff: An often temporary spell that boosts certain statistics.
CBA: Can't Be Arsed.
Creep: Aggressive NPC. See Mob.
CC: Crowd Control. Spells that prevent mobs from fighting such as the Mage spell
Polymorph.
DIAF: Die In A Fire, used primarily to wish a painful death upon the recipient.
DKP: Dragon Killing Points. A points-based loot distribution system used by many raiding guilds. DM: Damage Mitigation.
DND: Do Not Disturb.
DOT: Damage Over Time. A DOT spell has its damage delivered over a certain period.
DPS: Damage Per Second.
DR: Diminishing Returns.
DW: Dual-Wield. Having a one-handed weapon in each hand.
Eng: Engineering.
FA: First Aid.
FFS: For Fuck's Sake.
FP: Flight Path/Point.
FTL: For The Loss. Something that is so bad it will make you unsuccessful in your venture.
FTW: For The Win. The opposite of FTL.
GG: Good Game.
Gief: Corrupted form of Give.
GJ: Good Job.
GTFO: Get The Fuck Out.
GTG: Got To Go. Confusingly, sometimes used as Good To Go.
HPS: Healing Per Second.
HOT: Heal Over Time.
IDC: I Don't Care.
IDD: Indeed.
IDK: I Don't Know.
IIRC: If I Recall/Remember Correctly.
Imba: Imbalanced. Something is so good is has unbalanced the game. Too good.
IMHO: In My Humble/Honest Opinion.
IMO: In My Opinion.
Inc: Incoming. Used to warn other players of imminent danger.
IRL: In Real Life.
L2P: Learn To Play. An insult.
LF: Looking For…
LFG: Looking For Group (to complete an instance or group quest together).
LFM: Looking for more (players to complete a raid/group).
LMAO: Laughing My Ass Off.
LOL: Laugh Out Loud.
LW: Leatherworker. Sometimes LWer.
Main: Your main character. See Alt.
Mats: Materials.
Mob: Mobile. Refers to an aggressive NPC, not to movement. Also Creep.
MH: Main Hand.
ML: Master Looter.
MP5: Mana Per 5 Seconds. See 5SR.
M/T: Miss-tell, used when a whisper/tell is sent to the wrong player by accident. Sometimes used as MT, which is not to be confused with Main Tank.
MT: Main Tank. The player assigned to maintaining the highest threat rating on in-game targets.
NE: Night Elf.
Nerf: Non-Expanding Recreational Foam. According to WoWWiki: to turn a real weapon into a toy version.
NP: No Problem.
NPC: Non-playing Character.
Ofc: Of Course.
OH: Off-Hand.
OMW: On My Way.
OOM: Out Of Mana.
OP: Original Post(er). A forum thread starter.
OP: Overpowered.
OT: Off-Topic.
OT: Off-Tank. A player assuming a secondary tanking role in situations where one tank is not enough.
Pat: Patrolling NPC.
PewPew: To Shoot. Refers to ‘laser gun’ sound effects.
Pot: Potion. Usually referring to health potions when used in combat.
PPM: Proc Per Minute. The amount of times that a special ability can be expected to appear in a minute.
Proc: Procedure or Programmed Random Appearance. The appearance of a special ability. Often used to describe enchantment effect like Crusader. Relic of MUD programming code.
PUG: Pick Up Group. A group formed of strangers.
PvE: Player versus Environment.
PvP: Player versus Player.
QFT: Quoted For Truth. Used mainly in forums to display agreement with the quoted.
QQ: To Cry. The two capitalized Qs picture a pair of weeping eyes.
RAP: Ranged Attack Power.
Res: Resurrect. Sometimes Resuscitate.
RL: Real Life.
RP: Role-playing.
RPG: Role-playing Game
ROFL: Rolling Floor Laughing.
Spec: Talent specialization.
SS: Screenshot.
STFU: Shut The Fuck Up.
T#. Tier 1,2,3 etc. Refers to class-specific sets of armour.
TBC: The Burning Crusade.
TBH: To Be Honest.
TL:DR: Too Long; Didn’t Read.
UD: Undead.
UI: User Interface.
Vanilla: Plain. Used to describe WoW before the expansions.
WC: Wrong Channel. See M/T above.
WF: Windfury, a Shaman ability.
WotLK: Wrath of the Lich King.
WTB: Want To Buy. This is a statement, not a question.
WTF: What The Fuck.
WTH: What The Hell.
WTS: Want To Sell. Again, a statement not a question.
WTT: Want To Trade. Used to initiate a money-less exchange.
Xmute: Transmute. A function available to Alchemists.


Instances and Battlegrounds
AB: Arathi Basin
AV: Alterac Valley
EotS: Eye of the Storm
SotA: Strand of the Ancients
WSG: Warsong Gulch

AC: Auchenai Crypts
AN: Azjob-Nerub
AN:OK: Azjob-Nerub, Old Kingdom.
AQ20: Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj.
AQ40: Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.
Arca: Arcatraz.
BF: Blood Furnace
BFD: Blackfathom Depths
BM: Black Morass
Bot: Botanica.
BRD: Blackrock Depths
BRS: Blackrock Spire
BT: Black Temple.
BWL: Blackwing Lair.
CoT: BM: Caverns of Time, Black Morass
CoT: OD: Caverns of Time, Old Hillsbrad Foothills. (also just ‘Durnholde Keep’).
CoT: Strat: Caverns of Time, Culling of Stratholme
DK: Drak’Tharon Keep.
DM: Dire Maul. Often DiM to distinguish from Deadmines.
DM: Deadmines
Eye: Nexus, Eye of Eternity.
GD: Gundrak.
Gnomer: Gnomeregan
Gruul: Gruul’s Lair.
HFR: Hellfire Ramparts.
HoL: Halls of Lightning
HoS: Halls of Stone.
Kara/KZ: Karazhan.
LBRS: Lower Blackrock Spire
Maggy: Magtheridon’s Lair.
Mara: Mauradon
MC: Molten Core.
Mech: Mechanar.
MH: Mount Hyjal (Caverns of Time, Hyjal Summit).
MT: Mana Tombs.
MT: Magister’s Terrace.
Naxx: Naxxramas.
Nex: The Nexus
Nex OC: Nexus Oculus.
Ony: Onyxia’s Lair.
OS: Obsidion Sanctum.
RFC: Ragefire Chasm
RFD: Razorfen Downs
RFK: Razorfen Kraul
Scarlet/Live Strat: Scarlet half of Stratholme.
Scholo: Scholomance.
SFK: Shadowfang Keep
SH: Shattered Halls.
SH: Sethekk Halls.
SL: Shadow Labyrinth.
SM: Scarlet Monestary
SM: GY: Graveyard wing
SM: Arm: Armory wing
SM: Lib: Library wing
SM: Cath: Cathedral wing
SP: Slave Pens.
SP: Sunwell Plateau.
SSC: Serpentshrine Cavern.
ST: Temple of Atal'Hakkar (also called Sunken Temple)
Stocks: Stockades
Strat: Stratholme
SV: Steamvaults.
TK: Tempest Keep, The Eye.
UB: The Underbog.
UBRS: Upper Blackrock Spire
UD Strat: Undead half of Stratholme.
UK: Utgarde Keep.
Ulda: Uldaman
UP: Utgarde Pinnacle
VH: Violet Hold.
VoA: Vault of Archavon.
WC: Wailing Caverns
ZF: Zul’Farrak
ZG: Zul'Gurub.
ZA: Zul’Aman

Gold Guide: Things To Make You Money.

Specific Tips

In this section I’m not going to identify every single item that you can make money on. Almost every in-game article can make you a profit, and as such, it would be far too time-consuming (and unnecessary) to list them all here. This is especially true when you consider how massive the price fluctuations can be between servers. Even on your own server the market values can change dramatically in twenty-four hours, so my thoughts would be out-moded very quickly. I will also be circumventing the ‘obvious’ money-making techniques such as completing the daily quests, converting badges into things you can sell and utilising your professions.

Instead, I am going to talk about aspects that I haven’t seen in other gold guides, solid markets, items that many people overlook and also those high value, low drop rate items that could net you thousands of gold in one go. I will also, begrudgingly, be divulging some of my own secrets!

This article is designed top be a fluid piece, so will always be under construction. I will be constantly adding to it as I find out new information.

More to follow (under construction).