20 Questions with Nance of AlteracVolley, WoW Headlines and PugChecker.com
If you don’t know who Nance is, then you really need to get over to Alterac Volley. This guy is a premium guide writer, as well as a master of the AH and making gold within WoW.
Add to that someone that has deveoped probably 2 of my favorite resources (next to The Hunter DPS Spreadsheet of course) out there, WoW Headlines and PugChecker.com
WoW Headlines is WoW News, Blog and Information site. You can check out a Blog or Information for every class in the game written by some of the greatest minds to play the game.
Add to that, the new site PugChecker.com. Pug Checker allows you to search up a character and easily see what Raids and Dungeons that character has completed. (Just remember that this information is provided off of WoWArmory. That being said it doesn’t provide Player History, but a snapshot of Character History. Also, it may not be accurate if you’ve recently transferred. But this is still an awesome resource to quickly vet out potential PUG members.)
Anyways, I don’t want to take up the entire post, let’s meet Nance!
Hey Nance thanks for taking the time to do this and your patience for me taking so long to get back to you.
Before the 20 questions, I hope you don’t mind if we get to know you a bit.
You currently manage 3 sites that I’m aware of, Alterac Volley and WoW Headlines, and the new PugChecker.com, can you briefly tell us how you got started?
Originally, Alterac Volley was going to be a Hunter blog (hence the stupid pun title) but since I started in December it’s grown to encompass more than just one class. In all actuality, I’d say 80% of the content now is less about Hunters and more about other things that interest me in the game. After starting WoW Headlines it’s clear to me that there are plenty of other people running Hunter blogs that do a much better job than I could at covering the class. So now I just write about stuff in WoW that’s got my attention which lately means the Auction House and Professions.
As for WoW Headlines, I had the idea for the site last spring but I never found the time to put it all together. There are similar sites out there right now but I think mine is unique in that it offers coverage of a variety of blogs broken down by class (as best as possible). I have a background in blog aggregation sites so it was just a matter of taking some of the code I’ve written for other projects and applying it to Warcraft blogs. I had the basics of it up and running in a few hours once I decided to stop being lazy and make it happen.
So the readers can get a good idea of your break down let’s get the simple questions out of the way.
How long have you played? How many characters do you play? What are their classes?
I started my account on November 24th, 2005 and played initially for maybe six months or so. I quit before hitting level 40 because I was frustrated by the pace and, to be honest, I was really awful at the game. I had no idea what I was doing. I came back in January of 2008 and have been going strong ever since.
My main is a level 80 Hunter named Nance. The other character I spend a lot of time on is my bank alt, Daugherty, who is a level 43 Warrior thanks to the Recruit-a-Friend level bonus. Then I have a level 71 Death Knight I flirted with for awhile and also a level 72 Holy Priest too. Both of those alts saw Recruit-a-Friend help in leveling.
Thanks, now let’s start on the harder questions.
1. You’ve written some awesome Questing guides. What is your inspiration for those?
I write the guides for two main reasons. While I’m a huge fan of Wowhead and in-game addons like LightHeaded, I think it’s nice to give people not only details and specifics on completing quests but to give them a reason to want to do those quests as well. I try to point out in each of my guides just why in the world you want to bother. For instance, my recent guide on the Venture Bay dailies puts an emphasis on the fact that they are excellent ways to quickly level through the mid-70s and beyond.
Secondly and selfishly, and this is the freelance web developer in me talking, they are an exercise in seeing how much traffic I can get from and how highly I can rank in the search engines. I’m a huge nerd who is fascinated by keywords and analytics and terms like “venture bay quests” are cool to rank highly for in Google.
2. Because you offer these for free and even solicit request for other ideas, what’s your thoughts on the people that are out there selling Quest/Leveling/Profession/Gold making guides?
I have absolutely no problem with those kinds of guides. I’m actually bummed out, and I wrote about this on AV, that the ramifications of these new addon rules by Blizzard is going to shut some of these guides down. A few of the more impressive leveling guides come with custom-built addons as well that, by the new law of the land, can no longer be sold along with the guides. For those of us running WoW blogs with banner ads for these guides this could be cause for concern down the road.
I know a lot of people think it’s silly or wrong for people to sell information that is readily available online (assuming you know where to look). But to some people there’s a need to have that information compiled and organized for them and if they’re willing to pay for that convenience and someone is willing to charge for it than more power to them all.
3. So tell us a bit about WoW Headlines? I know that everyone has to be jealous that you got the domain name, much less the concept. How did you come up with the idea? And what’s your plans going forward with it? Are you still accepting new blogs to list? If so, how can people get added to the site?
The people I’m jealous of are the folks who own wownews.com because that’s the domain I really, really wanted. But anyway, like I mentioned above, the idea for WoW Headlines stems from a series of blog aggregation sites I had built a few years back centered around regional sports. Those sites took a place, like my home state of Ohio for instance, and pooled together all of the news stories and blog posts about all of the professional teams in the state. The idea for WoW Headlines was to take that technology and apply it to WoW blogs broken down by class.
I’m pretty happy with things as they are but I’m going to continue to add features and tweak things as I think of them. I try and squeeze in time between client work to mess with the code so if you visit and things are weird or different that’s just me fooling around. I’m always accepting new blogs so please email your information to me at info@wowheadlines.com and I’ll try and get you added to the site. I’m also seeking banners to add throughout the site so please send those in as well (especially if you have a blog about Mages).
4. Have you gotten to the point yet that you can do any stats based on WoW Headlines? Like how many blogs per class or click throughs to tell the popular ones? Some might be interested in info like that.
I’m going to steer clear of publishing click throughs or designating one blog as more popular than another for now but I can give you the class breakdown for what I currently have listed on the site:
- Death Knight – 14
- Druid – 27
- Hunter – 41
- Mage – 13
- Paladin – 24
- Priest – 26
- Rogue – 10
- Shaman – 12
- Warlock – 10
- Warrior – 13
5. Since you Solo and Pug a lot, have you notice any differences in how players play? I guess, what I’m asking more directly, how do you NOT pull your hair out all the time by pugging?
Being in a serious Raiding guild is just not conducive to my playing style or schedule so, once Wrath was released, I decided to jump into PUGs full bore. I’ve had several pretty bad experiences (my first time in Naxx was a total joke) but more often than not the people on Greymane-US are pretty decent folks.
You have to go into a PUG knowing that there’s a chance not everyone will be on the same page or know what to do. If you can’t accept that, you should avoid PUGs entirely. It’s probably not something for the “hardcore” players to regularly get themselves involved with because they’re used to a playing experience where everyone is focused and prepared.
6. Back to your characters, which class is your favorite? What drew you to it and why?
I like the Hunter class a lot. It’s perfect for a player like me that’s not in a real guild and likes to run content on their own more often than not. Hunters get a bad reputation from a lot of players because it’s supposedly easy. And at lower levels I would certainly agree with that. But once you hit the level cap the number of really poor hunters out there will shock you. It’s not as easy as everyone would like you to believe.
7. Is there any class you just can’t seem to get into and now almost despise?
I’m trying to level a Paladin but I don’t know… It’s pretty awful even with the Recruit-a-Friend bonus. I think my Pally hate stems from the fact that I’m a long time battleground player and, as a Hunter, the worst one-on-one encounter I could have before Death Knights stumbled drunkenly onto the scene was against a Paladin.
8. Everyone is always asking how to make gold in the game. So without going into too much detail, what professions can people really do to make money?
I don’t think that the crafting professions as a sole means of income, meaning you buy materials and craft goods for resale, is a viable money making option in Wrath. I’m not the first to point this out so I’m not being original here at all but the problem is that there are few, if any, rare recipes or plans to make in a profession anymore. My level 71 Death Knight is a 450 Blacksmith and all it took was a bit of money to buy materials to level. Along the way it was just a matter of buying all of the plans from the trainer. That’s kind of silly and by the time I hit 450 the market for the high level Blacksmithing gear was starting to crumble because everyone and their brother’s mother had the same items for sale.
But that’s the situation for crafting professions. The gathering professions, on the other hand, are great for making money if you choose wisely and know how to work the Auction House.
9. What about the AH? Is it really possible to speculate and make money “Playing” the AH?
I’m a pretty big Auction House geek now. This didn’t start until I got into WoW the second time around and I shudder to think of how much gold I’d have now if I hadn’t been so dumb back in the winter of 2005. I could talk about the Auction House all day but I’m rambling enough as it is so here’s my basic strategy:
I use a combination of Mining, Fishing and occasionally Blacksmithing to make most of my money on the Auction House. I’m a big proponent of selling materials on the AH and I’m starting to get into selling fish and Raid food as well. Materials and Raid food are always in demand because people are constantly leveling professions on their mains and alts and, with the extreme accessibility of high level Raiding, the need for buff food is almost constant.
10. What professions should a player stay away from? Why is that?
In regards to making money I think the only profession worth the trouble right now is Inscription but I’m pretty sure that’s going to collapse shortly after 3.1 is released. There’s going to be a crazy rush on glyphs in the short term after the patch but once people have their Dual Specs settled who is going to buy lots of glyphs?
So if you’re an Inscriptionist keep pumping out those Cards, Decks and Glyphs while you can and if you’re any other profession I hope you get something worth selling in 3.1.
As for gathering professions, I think Skinning is a total joke anymore. I keep it on my main for sentimental reasons and for the crit buff but I don’t use it as a serious means to make gold. The prices on the leathers and arctic furs is not worth the time or effort to farm the stuff.
11. I see that you have a ton of achievements. Can you tell us about your top 3 accomplishments?
I’m into the companion pets for some reason so I like the “Shop Smart, Shop Pet… Smart” achievement. Even though lots of people have the “World Explorer” one I like that as well. When I decided to do it there weren’t many people with the Explorer title so, for a few weeks at least, I was a rarity. “To Honor One’s Elders” is my other favorite just because that was the one world event I decided to buckle down and complete.
I’m a big achievement fan but I wish they would expand it a bit in some areas. For example, the Professions achievements are pretty weak if you aren’t into Fishing or Cooking.
12. Stepping away from professions. Can you take us back to when you started playing and what that feeling was like? Has it gone away?
My first MMO was a game called The Realm by Sierra Online. This was back in the days of the 14.4 modem. After that I dabbled in Ultima Online and the EverQuest beta so the concept or idea of WoW never really blew me away.
I remember thinking that the smoothness of the experience and the interface was certainly better than anything I had seen up to that point. The one thing I will say about WoW is that the world is so vast and the gameplay comes in so many varieties (solo play, group play, PvP) that I’m still impressed by the options. When I get tired of PvP I focus on the Auction House. When that wears me out I run Heroics, etc. etc.
13. We’ve all made mistakes as we leveled. Talents that went unspent, new spells not learned, or trashed gear that we should have kept. What would you considered your biggest “Oh No!!” moment?
Oh my, if I could go back in time and not vendor all those glorious stacks of leather I had before I learned about the Auction House I would be loaded with gold. And since I use gold as a sort of Personal WoW Scoreboard this huge mistake bothers me all the time.
I’m sure along the way to 80 I made dozens of poor gear choices but I don’t really get into a big bother over that stuff very much. And now, thanks to all of the great blogs out there, it’s pretty easy to find out what gear I should be using and how I should get it.
14. With all this time and focus on making money in the game, what’s your feelings on some form of “Official Blizzard Pay for Gold” transaction? Hurt/Harm? Change the economy too much? What are your insights??
I highly doubt this would ever happen. I keep seeing ways that Blizzard is intentionally adjusting the game to lower the amount of gold floating around so I doubt they’d ever introduce a method to actually increase the bloat.
Somewhere deep inside of me is a long-winded (imagine that?) post about all of the subtle and not so subtle changes Blizzard is making to help cut down on the means to make large amounts of gold in the game. For example, look at how they’ve consolidated leather into one type to flood the market with supply or the fact that there are few high level BoP items worth selling at Auction anymore. The only viable market for selling BoP armor and weapons is to twink players it seems.
15. Are you planning on going to BlizzCon 2009? What are you really excited about and hope to hear about?
No plans to go to BlizzCon. Aside from Warcraft I’m not a big fan of Blizzard’s games. I had a fling with Diablo back in college but I’m not really pumped for the third go around and Starcraft was never that attention grabbing to me.
16. Some players are very vocal that they think WoW has crested and is now on the downhill side. What’s your thoughts?
I think a lot of players need to realize that this game is no longer targeted at their demographic so they need to learn to cope. Casual players, the type who probably wouldn’t read our blogs or care to start doing so, make up the vast majority of the WoW subscriber base whether you like it or not.
WoW is certainly easier now and that’s by design. The old WoW, during the Burning Crusade, was incredibly restrictive unless you were willing to invest time and commitment to a guild or what have you. That’s fine for the players in school but those of us with jobs and more time consuming obligations couldn’t justify putting forth the effort to see the end-game, so to speak. In Wrath, we all have a chance to play more of the game than ever before and that’s a good thing.
17. Is there anything that has tempted you to leave WoW?
I was pretty burnt out near the end of the Burning Crusade. That was when I was basically only playing battlegrounds and running dailies for gold. I didn’t do instances then which is a shame because, having gone back at 80 and on some alts, a lot of those 5-mans are a lot of fun.
18. Bob over at Bob’s Casual Huntering WoW Blog recently wrote about the difference between casual and hardcore, what’s your definition of Casual and Hardcore? Also, how would you classify yourself and why?
Maybe I touched on this a question ago, but to me a hardcore player is one who worries about 1 or 2 DPS improvements and spends just as much time running numbers in a spreadsheet as they do actually playing their characters. A casual player cares about how successful they are but are willing to relax a bit on min/max stuff.
By that definition, I’m a casual player. There’s no doubt I play a lot and I’m at least moderately knowledgeable about my class and tactics but I’m not so intense that I either a) mock others who aren’t as “good” as I am or b) care if others mock me.
19. I always like to get an idea of the personality of the players, so what skeletons are Nance trying to keep hidden?
It’s obvious that with two separate sites and all the time I invest in WoW that I like the game. But I’d choose playing a round of golf over playing WoW any day of the week.
20. Finally, just because you got to be the lucky person and get selected for this week, what’s you thoughts on BRK’s recent decision? Do you think it’ll have an impact on the game? Or will the short term memory of the Internet just make him another WoW Casualty?
No one could argue with the reason for his decision but it’s definitely a bummer to see him go. In all honesty, as much as his blog posts were popular I’m going to miss what he had planned at Project Lore the most. It’s too bad that he left with so many projects on the table. I’m sure lots of people are going to be scrambling now to pick up the pieces but I’m sure I speak for many when I wish him the best of luck moving forward with his personal situation.
Thanks Nance! I’m glad we got a chance to get together and do this. Any last thoughts for people out there?
Thanks for sending along the questions. And thanks for letting me ramble on and on.
I just want to say again that if you have a WoW blog and want to submit it for addition to WoW Headlines just email your details and a banner, if you want, to mailto:info@wowheadlines.com
