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I never want to do Al Akir again, 18 wipes tonight and countless others before hand and we finally got him. Of course we DE both items but glad to have it done.

How many pulls total, and are we talking hard mode?

We've done 135 wipes on that encounter this week. I'm at the point where I'm going to look at recruiting a new healer and benching a couple of DPS that just can't put it together. Seeing that two recruits / trials weren't pre-potting was the last straw. It sucks because I actually really enjoy the fight, there's a high amount of personal responsibility involved and that's pretty damn rare unless you luck out and get an important job (like gong clicker, add kiter, 'omfg debuff' soak, etc)

How many pulls total, and are we talking hard mode?

We've done 135 wipes on that encounter this week. I'm at the point where I'm going to look at recruiting a new healer and benching a couple of DPS that just can't put it together. Seeing that a two recruits / trials weren't pre-potting was the last straw. It sucks because I actually really enjoy the fight, there's a high amount of personal responsibility involved and that's pretty damn rare unless you luck out and get an important job (like gong clicker, add kiter, 'omfg debuff' soak, etc)

Normal mode and somewhere near 200 pulls I think over the last 3 weeks. We now pretty much one shot our way through the other 9 bosses and start nef tonight. Also bringing in higher dps and better heals may not matter as much as it is keeping your stacks up on phase 2. Do you have dps whose only job is to make sure they go down when they need to?

Also bringing in higher dps and better heals may not matter as much as it is keeping your stacks up on phase 2. Do you have dps whose only job is to make sure they go down when they need to?

My issue with healing is that she dies a lot: whatever is killing her, she just isn't good at. My DPS problem is sort of the same: I've got a mage that makes some down right stupid choices and a boomkin that somehow thinks it's okay not to pre-pot. If we can get through phase 1 with everyone alive (which is rare) phase two is "reasonably smooth" My concern is less about add management than it is about keeping people alive towards the end.

I drew some lines in the sand last night, we'll see how things go today.

My issue with healing is that she dies a lot: whatever is killing her, she just isn't good at. My DPS problem is sort of the same: I've got a mage that makes some down right stupid choices and a boomkin that somehow thinks it's okay not to pre-pot. If we can get through phase 1 with everyone alive (which is rare) phase two is "reasonably smooth" My concern is less about add management than it is about keeping people alive towards the end.

I drew some lines in the sand last night, we'll see how things go today.

Yeah people dying in phase 1 was a early issue for us. People just need to be raid aware. We found that stacking in groups of 2 greatly reduced our lighting damage and people just need to be aware of tornados. Do yall not have the cauldrons yet? Pots are a non-issue as we have guild alchs that give those so we never have to worry about them.

Yeah people dying in phase 1 was a early issue for us. People just need to be raid aware. We found that stacking in groups of 2 greatly reduced our lighting damage and people just need to be aware of tornados.

Sadly stacking up means you instantly die on hard mode (well you die in 4 seconds but it's not enough time to spread out before you're dead). Dont' get me wrong - the combination of lightning, tornados from both directions, ice, and wind burst can be tough, but the fact is you should know you're going to have to deal with disgusting combinations like that and plan accordingly.

Do yall not have the cauldrons yet? Pots are a non-issue as we have guild alchs that give those so we never have to worry about them.

We don't have an alchemist main in the guild, people have to swap to an alt, drop the cauldron and leave. Not everyone bothered to level their alchemists yet so that sometimes means we don't have cauldrons. Not that it matters: everyone has 100k gold, you can afford to have a stack of flasks and potions for nights when they're not provided.

I called out everyone (and made a couple of people quiet cross), sat the slackers and pulled in some people I know can perform. We're consistently making it to the end of phase 2 tonight. Still working out how to cycle cooldowns to survive the last bit where acid rain is ticking for nealy 20k, and we're having a little trouble coordinating adds (you can't just keep a spare one because the acid rain damage makes your tanks get trucked when 2 adds are up) but the last hour we've seen more progress than 3 previous nights combined.

We might get it today - we might not - but I feel way better about everything today than I did yesterday. Unrelated, if you're a holy disc priest with past and current hardmode experience that wants to raid 3 nights a week for 3 hours (roughly) then you should probably send me a tell.

I've not been playing for the past few days, so I canceled my account.

Not played for 2 months now, Also cancelled my Rift account and put my PC in my garage. I'm not interested in gaming atm. Browsing on my laptop is fine, Its nearly Summer anyways

Ok so... I'm kinda new to WOW, got to level 60 I'm an Undead warlock, I only have burning crusade right now.... do I have to have wrath of the lich king to get a flying mount? my character is level 60, so I have the expert riding and flight masters license in my spell book it says go see your trainer.... but according to some world of warcraft help website , it says you need cataclysm to actually train that. But can I buy a basic flying mount? On another note, if anyone is on US servers ..... I'm on burning legion .... and you can pm me for char names....

Ok so... I'm kinda new to WOW, got to level 60 I'm an Undead warlock, I only have burning crusade right now.... do I have to have wrath of the lich king to get a flying mount? my character is level 60, so I have the expert riding and flight masters license in my spell book it says go see your trainer.... but according to some world of warcraft help website , it says you need cataclysm to actually train that. But can I buy a basic flying mount? On another note, if anyone is on US servers ..... I'm on burning legion .... and you can pm me for char names....

no and yes no you can get the basic flying for outlands but in wrath you need to upgrade your flying skill to fly in wrath zones.To fly in old azeroth you need the most recent expansion cata.

How is levelling a warrior in prot?

Got up to 30 in arms, but I'm thinking of going prot for the rest of the way.

My first tank class, I need experience! :(

Works OK, your survivability is better, and it takes a bit longer to kill mobs, but then I had less down time between mobs.

I was levelling as Arms, but switched to Prot. when I got to Northrend.

I just started back playing. Leveling seems to be easy now, maybe too easy. I say that because I can't seem to find anybody below level 85 lol. I'm a lvl 55 fury warrior now, but money is very difficult for me even though I sell all my blue items etc in AH. Nobody is really buying anything, even at extremely low prices; at least on my server, I think I'm on Azuremyst ?.

I have, so far, 300 mining and bs...my question is: Is somebody, possibly here, willing to give me a tip or two how to get some gold and some better equipment?. I pretty much get owned in dungeons, most of the time the healer doesn't do anything. I recently (yesterday) started playing Raids or whatever that is where it's one side vs the other. I'm just really lost to be honest, don't really know what to do.

Also, after completing, what seems like all the quests in an area; how can I find out where to go next?.

Thank you =)

"Grepo"

I just started back playing. Leveling seems to be easy now, maybe too easy. I say that because I can't seem to find anybody below level 85 lol. I'm a lvl 55 fury warrior now, but money is very difficult for me even though I sell all my blue items etc in AH. Nobody is really buying anything, even at extremely low prices; at least on my server, I think I'm on Azuremyst ?.

I have, so far, 300 mining and bs...my question is: Is somebody, possibly here, willing to give me a tip or two how to get some gold and some better equipment?. I pretty much get owned in dungeons, most of the time the healer doesn't do anything. I recently (yesterday) started playing Raids or whatever that is where it's one side vs the other. I'm just really lost to be honest, don't really know what to do.

Also, after completing, what seems like all the quests in an area; how can I find out where to go next?.

Thank you =)

"Grepo"

You can try skinning and herbalism, and sell the mats in AH (don't bother with any of the manufacturing skills), but if the economy on your server is not very good, you will still struggle to make good gold. I have a character on Outland and he makes loads from selling mats., but one's I have on Emerald Dream struggle.

I assume as a Fury warrior your not the main tank in dungeons, so the healer isn't going to concentrate on healing you. They will put the heals on the main tank, and then the other members of the party if able to, it's up to you to control your aggro, so you don't take too much damage, and to heal yourself with pot's and bandages.

In random group PVP Battles don't count on the healers at all, you don't take armour damage when you die, so don't worry about it, just have fun.

When you complete quests in an area the is usually a quest that takes you on to the next area. You could also try the Carbonite addon which is a quest helper.

I just started back playing. Leveling seems to be easy now, maybe too easy. I say that because I can't seem to find anybody below level 85 lol. I'm a lvl 55 fury warrior now, but money is very difficult for me even though I sell all my blue items etc in AH. Nobody is really buying anything, even at extremely low prices; at least on my server, I think I'm on Azuremyst ?.

I have, so far, 300 mining and bs...my question is: Is somebody, possibly here, willing to give me a tip or two how to get some gold and some better equipment?. I pretty much get owned in dungeons, most of the time the healer doesn't do anything. I recently (yesterday) started playing Raids or whatever that is where it's one side vs the other. I'm just really lost to be honest, don't really know what to do.

Also, after completing, what seems like all the quests in an area; how can I find out where to go next?.

Thank you =)

"Grepo"

Yea, Leveling has definitely changed over the past year or so. It is pretty quick now, especially with all the heirloom leveling gear. Fury is a DPS Spec so don't espect healers to focus on you. Money is pretty easy once you hit NR and CATA Zones, you will have thousands just from questing. At this point, the only professions that will make money are gathering, jc, or alchemy. It could be server based.. or it could be that what you are selling just isn't wanted.

And the one side vs another is a Battleground which is player vs player.. raids are like dungeons on steroids (but player vs enemy).

As for what zone to move to next.. most places will do that for you automatically, give you quests that lead into the next zone, so just watch for those. Alternatively some addons such as Carbonite, or Cartographer will show you the level ranges for zones when you open your map.

How is levelling a warrior in prot?

Got up to 30 in arms, but I'm thinking of going prot for the rest of the way.

My first tank class, I need experience! :(

I did all of NOrthrend (granted was in full T6 gear so didn't replace anything till later levels) and Cata as prot spec. Found it much better than arms. Not sure how it would work in the lower levels, but doing those two areas I hardly ever had to sit and drink and I never had to stop pulling nor did I ever have to drink when pulling mobs for quests (only after elites and that depends on what kind of elite). I'd recommend it from 70+, but couldn't tell ya before that as I did it as arms.

I did all of NOrthrend (granted was in full T6 gear so didn't replace anything till later levels) and Cata as prot spec. Found it much better than arms. Not sure how it would work in the lower levels, but doing those two areas I hardly ever had to sit and drink and I never had to stop pulling nor did I ever have to drink when pulling mobs for quests (only after elites and that depends on what kind of elite). I'd recommend it from 70+, but couldn't tell ya before that as I did it as arms.

I did 50-61 as arms, and still leveling as arms. I hadn't played that char since pre-wrath so my spec was all reset. I don't have to sit and drink very often if at all. With Victory rush giving me back 20% of my hp no questions asked.. and solid DPS I find health is rarely an issue. I did ramps last night and was second in DPS to a DK but he on;y beat me by about 10dps so I felt that was pretty good, I can take on multiple enemys at once. Plus I have max first-aid for my level and the bonus that I get from bandaging helps to reduce downtime even more.

All my gear has crit as a main stat so to switch to Prot.. wouldn't gain me much.. I think I would need to re-gear as tank (instead of DPS) to reap and true gain.

Im the guild recruiter of my guild and I need some tips on how to get applicants. I bump our post on the WoW forums frequently and reply to ppl LF a guild on the WoW forums but it hasnt yielded much in terms of apps. Any tips?

Thanks

Seems like you're relying too much on the forums, remember not all members of your server will be on the forums, but they will be in the server (not 24/7 ofc, but the active members that you want will be on) so try the chat channels in-game, and every now and again, feel free to just mention it to people in guilds already because people aren't always happy with what they're in and are just looking for a backup to leave.

Im the guild recruiter of my guild and I need some tips on how to get applicants. I bump our post on the WoW forums frequently and reply to ppl LF a guild on the WoW forums but it hasnt yielded much in terms of apps. Any tips?

You need to take note of what you've got to offer. Assume every guild is level 25, has tabs, a website, has vent, and does raids/pvp. What do you offer than they can't get from my guild? Do you have a lot of members so there's a good pool of people to do heroics/raids with? Are you very progressed in PVE? Are you welcoming new players who want to learn to raid with less pressure? Do you offer free consumables/repairs/etc? Do you raid earlier or later than other guilds on your server? more hours? less hours? RP? focused on leveling alts rather than raiding/pvp? Whatever it is, that's the thing you should be promoting.

After that it's a matter of getting your name out there. Organize pugs. If you can't do raids, have your tanks/healers make groups in trade chat for the daily heroics: try and meet new players. If you're looking for PVP, run or join pug battlegrounds/arenas and look for good players. If you're a PVE guild then open up a spot in your alt run, organize a weekly pug that runs consistently once a week. At the end of the run even if you don't actually find somebody you want them to leave and say "On sunday I ran BWD with <guild x> and it was pretty good: cleared 5/6, got a pair of shoulders." Maybe the guy in your run won't join, but one of the people he talks to will.

One of the things I've noticed is to run a weekly video blog. See bigcritsguild.com for one of the most popular examples, though there's one on my server doing something similar. Both of those guilds are way behind me in progression so under normal circumstances I'd never have heard of them, but because they have a video that lets me blow 5 minutes a week when I'm bored: I'm aware of what they're up to, I know their name, and if I was ever to go shopping for a new guild they'd actually be on the list of "possible choices" because it seems like they're pretty cool people.

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    • You literally have to do it on a desktop, which is incredibly annoying in our mobile-first world. What???
    • What part of "you can’t really depend on service providers to maintain features forever" is not clear enough?
    • Nope. That lack of surround sound capability (analog) won't fly with me. Sure, I use headphones most of the time, but still.
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
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