THE CENTRAL FINITE CURVE

Today I want to talk to you about the meaningless of existence in an indifferent universe, wait! Sorry, wrong meeting. No, today I want to talk about alts and how I use them, Cosmic Nihilism and Physics will just be here as garnish, let's get started...

NORMAL DISTRIBUTION
As I've covered before, I'm now on Arthas, Horde side. In the short time I've been there, I've been busy rebuilding my roster from the ground up...

STILL Majestic AF

I'm sticking with what I consider to be the natural approach, one of each class to fill the twelve existing character slots. Though surely I won't play all of them with any seriousness, I like having them for a variety of reasons. One, playing a character to max level gives you at least a passing understanding of how that class functions. It allows me to have a more reasonable grasp of what to expect from people in group settings. Additionally, you get access to different sides to the narrative. Legion's Order Hall Campaigns are actually very enjoyable, even if the levelling experience isn't quite up to par with that of Draenor. Hate me all you want, but we all know that was the one strength of that miserable expansion.

An army of alts also offers huge opportunities in terms of professions, gold, and resources. It does however introduce a load of redundancies and there's more than a little initial investment of time. But, the biggest problem is the logistical one, for that I find it best to focus narrowly and expand incrementally...

GAUSSIAN FUNCTION 
Whenever I start on a new server, I open up the trusty old spreadsheet and start plotting. So, I make a list of each of the characters I want to make: Name, Class, Race, and Professions. This actually is part of my choosing a new server, as I tend to value some names I use more than others, and am less likely to choose a specific server if say, the name Khaas is unavailable. For others, like my Paladin I like the name Titus, but as he's likely never going to be my main I'm happy adding squiggly lines and dots where needed to get a satisfactory approximation.

For each of my characters I then ask a single question, "What is my purpose?" For some, the answer is immediate and obvious, for Khaas he's my on again off again main. Historically he's been a tank, though he's flirted with DPS. In terms of professions, they're set: Blacksmithing and Enchanting. For my Warlock, it's similarly apparent. He's my new raiding main, specializing in Enchanting and Inscriptions, and since he can't be anything else he's ranged DPS. For those that are redundant the answer is obvious..

You pass butter...

Okay, that's not entirely fair or accurate. My Paladin, Titüs actually has a function within my roster of alts. In terms of professions, he's my Leatherworker. He also does Tailoring on the side, but then again half my alts do. His real purpose however is farming mounts/achievements. To be clear, all of my characters are perfectly capable of that, but dedicating my Paladin to the task means he has the maximum number of mounts available for the mount collecting achievements. I'm free to park him in an older area in order to keep farming for specific mounts and things, like Northrend for example. There's loads of mounts in the Argent Tournament, but it takes a LOT of dailies to get them. I'm okay with leaving the resident butter passer there to make it happen, not so with my Warlock.

Others have profession related functions, my Demon Hunter's excellent for farming transmog gear with his multiple movement gimmicks and self healing. He's also my main Alchemist and Tailor, so he ends up spending a lot of time in close proximity to the Obliterum Forge.

My Rogue, as I've covered previously is my Fence, he specializes in Jewelcrafting and getting rid of the goods on the AH. Added bonus for quick access to the Black Market, in short the perfect AH Alt. My Hunter is my Engineer/Skinner and Pet Tamer. My Druid's a dual gatherer, and everybody else is basically Enchanting/Tailoring and parked in their garrisons. They are the epitome of butter passing redundancy. So, the list basically looks like this:

1. Death Knight - Blacksmithing/Enchanting - Dungeon/Raid Alt
2. Demon Hunter - Alchemy/Tailoring - Obliterum Forge
3. Druid - Herbalism/Mining - Gatherer
4. Hunter - Engineering/Skinning - Pet Tamer
5. Mage - Enchanting/Tailoring - Butter
6. Monk - Enchanting/Tailoring - Butter
7. Paladin - Leatherworking/Tailoring - Mount Farmer
8. Priest - Enchanting/Tailoring - Butter
9. Rogue - Jewelcrafting/Mining - Trader
10. Shaman - Enchanting/Tailoring - Butter
11. Warlock - Enchanting/Inscriptions - Main
12. Warrior - Enchanting/Mining - Butter

Writing it out like this helps me visualize and organize, otherwise it's just a bunch of names and classes and it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. With the pecking order out of the way, I was free to start developing the talent...

DIVISION OF LABOR
I decided this time around to divide my roster into sets of threes, the first three would be my Warlock, Death Knight, and Demon Hunter respectively. These were the first to max, and switching back and forth allowed me to accumulate rested experience to maximize the levelling process. And these three, are frankly the most important. My DH makes bags and Obliterum. And the other two have been the ones I've been using to knock around raids and clear Legion achievements.

So, who's next? Hunter, Paladin, Rogue. Each of these three has specific goals, but they're goals that I won't be necessarily focusing on 24/7. Getting these maxed out also rounds out my profession coverage rather nicely.

Third string is led by my Druid, followed by my Monk, and Priest. Basically, that covers my healers, and gets my gatherer up to snuff. That just leaves the Mage, Shaman, and Warrior for the last to max. As I write this, I'm halfway through Draenor with several level 100s soaking up the rested experience for the next push.

But with that, I think I should leave you for now, but I imagine I'll be expanding on this a bit in the future as frankly there's some rather interesting things going on with my gold making schemes lately.

K

ON THE FENCE

Recently I introduced you to the characters that make up my boxing team, today I thought I'd try something a little different, enjoy...

A thing for every price, and a price for every thing.

ALWAYS BE CLOSING
My approach to gold making has always been extreme redundancy and self sufficiency, at minimum I want at least one of every profession and class available to me at all times. Over the years I've accumulated numerous characters on my accounts, now with Legion here I'm taking stock of my available resources. Every one of the 120 characters on my five wow accounts is a resource to be tapped. Some will see major play in a team or raid force, like those five I mentioned in my last post. Others will serve a more specialized purpose, today I'd like to talk about the logistics of managing this mass of alts, starting with the most important of these specialized alts, the Traders.

------- ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) -------

Bloodsail Admiral DELVIN
I haven't really played Rogue since Burning Crusade, I don't see myself playing the class anytime in the foreseeable future either. Unlike the Death Knight, the class just doesn't appeal to me personally. There is one area where I feel like the Rogue fits in perfectly though, and that is where Delvin comes in. Sad as this may sound to some, Rogues work perfectly as traders. That doesn't mean he can't look good while doing it though...

Transmog: Buccaneer's Booty
Eye of Rend
Soul Eater Shoulderguard
Leather Tunic of Eminent Domain
Black Swashbuckler's Shirt
Safecracker's Gloves
Peerless Belt
Dusky Leather Leggings
Camelhide Treads
The Dreadblades (Artifact, Promise of the Seascourge)

Additional Information
As my main trader, Delvin specializes in Enchanting and Jewelcrafting, he is a perfect fence for goods and materials. He can disenchant any items that fail to sell in a timely manner, generally I follow a three strikes rule. Though he is my main trader, he is certainly not my only one. Which brings us neatly to...

------- ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) -------

THE CRIMSON ASSURANCE
Delvin provides a basic template for the rest of my traders, I've definitely adopted the Pirate theme across the board, going so far as making a guild with an apropos name. Being a guild devoted specifically to Traders however, each character fulfills a certain role.

Mause the Crazy Cat Lady - Gnome [ Engineering / Jewelcrafting ] Pets & Mounts.
Nephora the Insane - Human [ Alchemy / Inscriptions ] Glyphs & Consumables.

There are of course others in my rogue's gallery but these are the ones I see as seeing much use in the near future. For most of the goods I craft and trade, Delvin will be sufficient. But for more space eating items like Pets and Mounts, having these other characters handy to manage them is a blessing.


THE BENCHWARMERS
But what about the rest of my army of alts? Generally speaking those are either designated as gatherers or crafters. The Gatherer's generally have either Herbalism/Mining or Skinning/Mining. The Crafters are generally set up in their garrisons with Tailoring and Inscriptions, they make Hexweave Bags and Card of Omens. I only log these characters once or twice per week to cash in. Despite my limited attention, they bring in about 40 bags per week.

I am at heart a conservative gold maker, I prefer reliable sources of income. And they're a significant part of that. And with that, I leave you for now. But come again, we've much still to talk about...

Regards,
K

THE TEAM: Legion Edition

Last time I talked about the new healer I've added to my team, today I want to take a moment to introduce the team as a whole.

It's been a long time coming, so I thought I'd spend the time introducing the team for Legion and give you guys a brief outline of my overall goals. The team has gone through multiple revisions, in the end only 3 characters remain in the team from my initial return to five boxing, but only two of those are in the same role as before. The changes might surprise you, read on...

------- ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) -------

KHAAS the Indomitable
Let's start with my tank, one of the newest additions to my five box team, and ironically the oldest character on the team. I created Khaas on the night of the Wrath of the Lich King release, though originally he was an Orc on the Bloodscalp server. When I started boxing again, it was using a Warrior tank. Which while fun, was a bit lacking for me personally.

Transmog: The Hollow
Grievous Gladiator's Dreadplate Helm (PVP)
Grievous Gladiator's Dreadplate Shoulders (PVP)
Valorous Scourgeborne Battleplate (Naxxramas, 25)
Dark Silk Shirt (Crafted)
Scryer's Tabard (Reputation)
Grievous Gladiator's Dreadplate Gauntlets (PVP)
Befouled Demonhide Belt (Hellfire Citadel, Normal)
Valorous Scourgeborne Legplates (Naxxramas, 25)
Grievous Gladiator's Warboots of Alacrity (PVP)
Maw of the Damned (Artifact, Bonejaw)

------- ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) -------

HASHUT Ironbane
I used to play a Shaman back in the days of EverQuest as my main, when I started boxing wow it was a tank and 4 Shamans back in BC, then Wrath. However I've never been much of a fan of Shaman healing, until now. The only trouble is I don't care for the look of the Artifact Weapon, so I went a completely different route. I really wanted something more like cauterizing heal than healing wave, mission accomplished.

Transmog
Mantle of Fiery Vengeance (Ulduar 10)
Chestguard of the Lasher (Ulduar 10)
Gloves of Taut Grip (Ulduar 10)
Belt of the Blood Pit (Ulduar 10)
Leggings of the Insatiable (Ulduar 10)
Tempered Mercury Greaves (Ulduar 10)
Seismic Bore (Siege of Orgrimmar)
Furnace of the Great Machine (Challenge Modes)

------- ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) -------

MARMORA the Insane
Once upon a time, in Vanilla I played a Mage on the Blackrock server. I was Undead, and raided through Molten Core. But, I decided to switch things up and rerolled as a Warlock. I went Human on the Malorne server. And when BC was announced and the guild I was in blew up. I went back to the Horde, and rolled an Orc Warlock, since there was no faction change, server transfer services, etc at the time I had to level it up from scratch. But the old Warlock lingered, ready to come out and play when I needed him. Well, things have changed a bit since then. Now, he's a she. And a Gnome at that. But, still as deadly as ever. If I'm being honest, I feel like the Warlock's in a very good place, I enjoy the class immensely right now. And I'm glad to have this little beast on the team.

Transmog
Demon Prince's Ascendant Crown (Hellfire Citadel, Normal)
Mantle of the Eredar Lord (Hellfire Citadel, Normal)
Sanctified Dark Coven Robe (Icecrown Citadel, Normal)
Sanctified Dark Coven Gloves (Icecrown Citadel, Normal)
Demonbuckle Sash of Argus (Hellfire Citadel, Normal)
Plague Scientists Boots (Icecrown Citadel, Normal)
Spine of Thal'kiel + Skull of the Man'ari (Artifact, Gaze of the First Summoner)

------- ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) -------

MORATHI the Flamebreaker
Mage wasn't really my choice in Vanilla, I got railroaded into playing one initially. Because my friends REALLY needed bread, water, and ports. If you read the previous entry you already know how well that went. I no longer have my original mage, I sold that account to a guild mate about ten years ago. Morathi is a very new addition to my stable of characters, but she's still proven to be quite capable and useful.

Back in the days of Vanilla, I played an Arcane/Frost spec out of necessity. The only real metric of value in raids at the time was how many Frostbolts can you cast on Ragnaros? I prefered Fire, but it just wasn't viable for that content. Things have changed since then and now I can go fire to my heart's content.

Transmog
Jewel of the Firelord (Blizzard Store)
Slaughterhouse Spaulders (Highmaul Heroic)
Sanctified Bloodmage Robes (Icecrown Citadel, Heroic)
Dark Silk Shirt (Crafted)
Sanctified Bloodmage Gloves (Icecrown Citadel, Heroic)
Koralon's Burning Touch
Einhorn's Galoshes (Blackwing Descent, Heroic)
Felo'melorn + Heart of the Phoenix (Arifact, Pride of the Sunstrider)

------- ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) -------

RUSALKI of the Nightfall
Time for the dark horse addition to the team, Rusalki is a hold over from my return to boxing, though she's no longer a healer. With the changes to Discipline, I decided to switch my healer to Hashut. And initially had my Hunter Sieba tapped to replace Rusalki as the third DPS in the team. But, changes to the class made me second guess running a Hunter. Druid became a real contender for the team, but I settled on Shadow Priest for a number of reasons. For starters, it fits in more thematically to the rest of the team. Has some nasty damage potential, and adds some extra healing potential for specialized encounters.


Transmog
Grievous Gladiator's Satin Hood (PVP)
Grievous Gladiator's Satin Mantle (PVP)
Grievous Gladiator's Satin Robe (PVP)
Grievous Gladiator's Satin Gloves (PVP)
Grievous Gladiator's Cord of Meditation (PVP)
Prideful Gladiator's Treads of Meditation (PVP)
Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire + Secrets of the Void (Artifact, Claw of N'zoth)

Note: I haven't decided between the red and white variants of this set. We'll see how it looks with Void form.

------- ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) -------

THE TEAM WITH NO NAME
So, there's a few questions to be answered here. The observant may note for example a Warhammer influence. Two of the five members literally are named after Warhammer fantasy characters (Hashut and Morathi). And there's more in my character selection screen, and I approached the appearance in the same way. I wanted something evil and chaotic, that wouldn't look out of place in Warhammer, and was pleasantly surprised to find I could easily make it work. There's a lot of aspirational stuff here, there's gear to be farmed (PVP and otherwise). As well as mounts. One of the bigger things for me in this game has always been defining goals, both short term and long term. So, this post should serve as an idea of where I'm going in terms of developing my team.

I definitely will be trying my hand at Mythic+ Dungeons, as well as raiding down the road. But before the end of the expansion my characters will look at least pretty close to how they're presented in the screenshots above. I started Warlords of Draenor with the goal of getting the Blackhand when I first saw it the loading screen. I did that and more. What I've presented here is much like that, the baseline of what I hope to accomplish. That does it for me this time, but do check in again as next time I'll be getting into a bit more of the nuts and bolts of my army of alts, and we'll see how the fires of industry might be stoked in this expansion.

K

TWO AND TWO

Two more weeks before the release of Legion, are you prepared?

YES AND NO
There's never really enough time or resources, this is one of those imitable truths in life. And so it goes with Legion, at first I was underwhelmed (a symptom of WOD if I'm honest). Then I became excited, my time in Alpha only sharpened my interest. Alpha gave way to Beta, then before I knew it the Garrison shuffle died, 7.0 dropped. Then Demon Hunters went live. Now, we're only a couple of weeks from the official launch of the expansion. One might think I'm just waiting for the expansion at this point, but that's not entirely true. But to understand that, we need to talk about my plans and strategy for the expansion.

Last week I went over my thoughts on my team, which looks very different than it did when I started boxing again at the beginning of the year. I've swapped the Warrior for my trusty Death Knight, Khaas. I've dropped my Priest heals for a Dwarf Shaman, Hashut. In terms of DPS, that's pretty much interchangeable, since I've got 1 of everything either at 100, or well on it's way (more on that in a minute). Right now though, I'm focusing on my tank and healer accounts, because I'm not going to be hitting the ground running a full five when Legion drops.

WAIT, WHAT?
I've decided to duo my way to 110 initially, the main reason is that I've done the full five to max in the past. During Wrath I did that with a DK and Shamans, and it broke me. Those collection quests brought the experience to a standstill. With 2-3 characters, it's not as bad, and no, I know... it's not as bad anyways due to changes Blizz has made. Still, there are those choke points along the way, there always will be. Where questing with a full five becomes a slog.

Expect plenty of shots like this in the future...

Additionally, I want time to really play around with my UI and setup on the two main accounts before I start adding the supporting DPS accounts. Because let's be honest, 3 DPS are just going to burn through those levels. And who knows, I may end up loving a different tank or healer for boxing once I get into it, so this gives me a chance to really finalize things. I'm still pretty confident in my choices though. I've also been working out some DPS rotation(s) for my healers, not just for levelling and World Quests, but for dungeons as well. With the Mythic+ difficulty system implementation, I can see having a little extra damage coming in really handy.

SO WHAT NOW?
With the Legion Invasions going on, I've been taking advantage. My Dwarf (Healer) account was my previous Tank account, so I've been getting it in order. My Shaman was pretty bare, but I got him a full set of ilvl 700 gear from the event in a day. I'm in the process of renaming those characters as well, and remaking in the event that they just happen to be the wrong race. Hence the screenshot of my newly minted priest Abraxus above. As of this writing he's level 70 from a combination of Invasions and Pet Battles. I've already levelled a Resto Druid to 100 using the Invasions, and a handful of other characters are nearing max as well.

You bet your ass I made a Demon Hunter...

When I'm not filling the stable with fresh 100s (which honestly the Stable's nearly full), I've been collecting Transmog gear. For Khaas that meant continuing the trend of embracing class fantasy, but for everyone else it's a little more involved. The real problem being that I played my Death Knight exclusively for so long, that he had a ton of nice mog gear around in the first place.

Dark Souls counts as class fantasy, right? If you're a Death Knight, yes...

I'm going to have to spend some time working up a good set for my Shaman, I have something that works right now. But I think I can do better, we'll see. I'm going to be giving all of my tanks and healers some serious attention when it comes to the wardrobe, I suspect I'll be running some Siege of Org, etc very soon. Anyhow, that's all for now. Check back next week, when I'll be taking stock and talking more about my last minute preparations for Legion. Yes, I'm prepared, but one can always be more prepared...

K