July, 2008

When I first started dual boxing a couple months ago and was looking to join a guild, I wondered if it was better to disclose up front with the GM that I dual box or just let it be. I came to the conclusion that it was probably still better to just be up front with the GM as to avoid any troubles down the road.

Well it seems this isn't such a huge issue after all and I was probably just being paranoid since I was new to the whole multiboxing thing. I just joined a new guild and there were no problems. I joined with my main, then followed up with a simultaneous request from Team DoubleD. I did the obligatory mention in guild chat that I was both of them and that was that.

So perhaps no disclosure is necessary at all. However if you're multiboxing a larger team, it's more likely you and/or your GM will get comments. So it may still be better to just disclose you're a multiboxer from the beginning.

I'm here to update on the WoW Mosaic Project that I had initiated earlier. I also did a followup post that showed a Proof of Concept mosaic for this project.

The proof of concept post generated some additional interest. Those that responded with additional screenshots were Jatheak from 70 Tauren Warrior, Phaelia from Resto4Life, and Autumnn from Grumble N Autumnn. I'm also submitting additional screenshots. Together, there is an additional 331 screenshots that will be added to the existing pool of images. The new total is 642, so I think it would be a good time to do an update and see what impact these have on the overall mosaic.

Below is the original Blog Azeroth logo that I've used as the proof of concept image. The image to the right of it is the resulting image from the first mosaic discussed in detail in the Proof of Concept post. Recall that this was done with a pool of 311 screenshots.

Original. Click on image to see larger version

40 X 40 Mosaic. Pool of 311 screenshots. Click on image to see larger version

By adding the additional 331 screenshots to the pool of potential screenshots, there is a newly formed image below and to the right. Notice that the image is different from the first mosaic, and that there are even exchanges in the screenshots from the original mosaic. This is because the mosaic software found better matches for those areas from the additional screenshots. Can you see now how the larger the pool of screenshots there is the better the mosaic can get?

Original. Click on image to see larger version

40 X 40 Mosaic. Pool of 642 screenshots. Click on image to see larger version

As you could see, the additional screenshots did a lot to improve the overall quality of the mosaic. The image is getting more defined and the smaller details are beginning to appear. Naturally it would get even better if there was a larger pool of screenshots to select from, but that would only improve it up to a point. This is because the next limitation would be that of image resolution, meaning the number of tiles within the mosaic. Presently, the above two mosaics were done using 40 X 40 tiles (1600 total tiles). So the blocky appearance would still exist even with a lot more screenshots in our pool. In order to address this, we'd have to increase the resolution or the number of tiles used in the mosaic.

So let's take a look at what would happen to the mosaic if we used the same number of screenshot in our existing pool (642 screenshots) but doubled the resolution from 40 X 40 tiles to 80 X 80 tiles (6400 total tiles).

Original. Click on image to see larger version

80 X 80 Mosaic, Pool of 642 screenshots. Click on image to see larger version

Now the blockiness has diminished greatly and the finer details of the logo are becoming more defined. This is very apparent especially in the words "Blog Azeroth". So increasing the resolution really does help alot even with a small number tiles. However we are going to need even a larger pool screenshots to capture the colors better have the image be more accurate. Imagine that the number of screenshots as being equivalent to a color and shapes pallet. The larger the pallet to choose from, the better representative the mosaic would become to the original.

At some point if enough screenshots are received I'd love to move from a simple logo to something a lot more complicated like a character screenshot or some WoW scenery. I'd also like to increase the mosaic resolution even more up. Higher resolution will definitely be required to do a mosaic with a lot of detail in the original image.

I'd like to extend my thanks again to all those from the blogging community that have submitted screenshots. I am encouraging everyone who sees this to submimt any and all screenshots you may have (with or without UI). I'll take what you have. The more the better!

You could send screenshots directly to

This is a continuation of my quest for a Winterspring Frostsaber mount. Related previous posts include: My Frostsaber Grind Begins, Frostsaber Grind Revisited, and Frostsaber Grind Bonus Points.

Last night I got to Honored with the Frostsaber Trainers and Rivern Frostwind offered up a new quest called, Rampaging Giants. This quest gives 350 reputation points and requires you to kill four Frostmourn Giants and four Frostmourn Preservers. These giants however are on the opposite end of the zone.

Looking at the map it looks like it's quite a ways away and I believe that most people are skipping this quest because it's so far away and may not be an effective use of time. As I've done with the other quests, I went ahead and did five roundtrips of this and got the average roundtrip time for completion. Though the quest area is on the opposite end of the zone, it only takes about 3.5 minutes to get there. The giants are spread out around the rim of the valley and it's easy to find enough of them complete the quests within several minutes (average time to complete the killing is about six minutes). The average total time for a rountrip is about 14 minutes.

This quest should not be skipped as it's probably the most time efficient quest for Frostsaber Trainers reputation. If you look at it in terms of reputation points per minute, this quest will give as much reputation as the Winterfall Intrusion quest at it's absolute best time. However, as I mentioned earlier the Winterfall Village is problematic because it is heavily camped by both factions for the quest objectives, and can severly impede grinding speed. The Rampaging Giants quest is rarely camped and I have yet to see anyone else in that area killing those giants. So even though it's a long ways away, it's made up for by the increase in 100 more reputation points and the fact that not many people are there killing the quest mobs.

Naturally one could combine any of these quests together and be very effective at gaining reputation. It is probably the ideal situation to combine the Rampaging Giants and the Winterfall Intrusion quest together for the most efficient reputation gain. All three quests could be combined of course, but I find the drop percentage on the Frostsaber Provisions quest to be too limiting. I'd rather make the long run to kill those giants than grind out killing those Chillwinds and Shartooths.

It's a long run down to those giants, I just have to remember to equip my Riding Crop with every trip.

In an earlier post I discussed a little about the potential time it would take to grind out Exalted reputation with the Frostsaber Trainers. Well I'm here to revisit my estimates as I have some new information.

Half way through Neutral reputation (1500 points) with the Frostsaber Trainers, Rivern Frostwind offers up a new quest called Winterfall Intrusion. Here you are asked to slay furbolgs, five Winterfall Shaman and five Winterfall Ursa located in Winterfall Village which is due east of Everlook. The rewards for this repeatable quest is 250 points of reputation, same as the first one.

This opens up two more possibilities. Do only the Frostsaber Provisions quest, do only the Winterfall Instrusion quest, or do both at the same time. I went ahead and investigated these scenarios because I want to maximize efficiency and minimize the grinding time.

If you'll recall, I estimated an average roundtrip of 17.5 minutes for each Frostsaber Provisions quest. If I could do both the Frostsaber Provisions and the Winterfall Intrusion quests in less than 35 minutes, then it would be more efficient for me to do these two quests than just grinding out the first quest.

These two quests could actually be combined in the same roundtrip. Since Winterfall Village is east of Everlook, I would go directly there first for the Winterfall Intrusion quest, then on the way back, kill Shardtooths and Chillwinds for the Frostsaber Provisions quest. So like before, I did five of these roundtrips and averaged the roundtrip time. What I expected was that doing these two quests together would improve my grinding time since the Winterfall Intrusion quest should not take as long as the Frostsaber Provisions because the quest objective is a kill quest and not a gathering quest dependant on the drop rate.

What I discovered is that doing both of these quests together, I had about a 5 minute improvement (22 minute roundtrip) over doing two of just the Frostsaber Provisions quests alone. That's a 37% improvement, resulting in a decrease in grinding time from 47.5 hours as reported earlier to 29.9 hours (assuming 163 quest turn ins).

I also completed five quests of doing just the Winterfall Intrusion and what I found out was that doing this alone could significantly reduce the grinding time, but there's a caveat (more on that later). The average roundtrip time to do this quest is about 10 minutes. The respawn time for the mobs within the Winterfall Village is between 6-8 minutes, so it is possible to do this quest back to back without having to wait for the mobs to respawn. So with an average roundtrip of 10 minutes, that's an improvement of 42.8%, or a decrease in grinding time from the original 47.5 hours to 27.2 hours. Nice right?

So it sounds like the way to go is just to do the Winterfall Instrusions quest? Well, that's where the caveat is. Allow me to explain. The mobs within the village are randomized respawns so sometimes you'll get a favorable mob composition and will complete the quest in a matter of minutes. Typically you are able to complete half of the quest and have to wait until they respawn to complete the rest. The respawn is between 6-8 minutes. Even with the respawn it's still better to grind out just this quest, but there's one more thing that could actually slow down your grinding time significantly and may mean that it would be more efficient to just grind out the Frostsaber Provisions quest.

The caveat is that mobs within the Winterfall Village are the objective of two quests that people leveling are trying to complete, Winterfall Activity and High Chief Winterfall. So you may have some competition for the mobs within the village. If there are others killing the mobs you need, you are then at the mercy of getting to the mobs first, and the 6-8 minute respawn time. So you could see how this could significantly slow you down. Another thing is that quests in the village are both Horde and Alliance, so you may run into a few from the other faction. If you are on a PvP server this could of course slow you down as well. I found that the best time to do this quest is when no one is around in the village (e.g. late at night).

So what this means is that there are a couple options open that will help minimize the grind time for the Frostsaber mount. It's situational on which quests will be most efficient, but at least with these two quests there is a huge potential to reduce the grinding time.

[Postscript]

While I was doing this little experiment I ran into a very kind level 65 enhancement shaman, Avelea, who was also grinding reputation with the Frostsaber Trainers. She had just begun and was working on the Frostsaber Provisions quest. As we talked it sounded like it was taking her a littler longer to get all the meat for that quest, but not significantly longer. Though I am probably killing the mobs faster than she was, the real limiting factor is the drop rate, and killing faster doesn't help there. So it's expected that the times would be similar. When I last spoke with her she had just gotten enough reputation for the Winterfall Intrusions quest. I gave her the quick scoop on this quest and the time it could potentially take. I'd love to hear her experience on this reputation grind. So Avelea, if you happen to see this post and are willing to comment or write something up for posting, I'd welcome it.