The Weekend That Was

It was the final weekend before Mists of Pandaria launches, and I certainly managed to make the most of it.  Saturday I puttered around with some dailies until it was time to go take care of Arthas.  After last week’s fiasco, it was nice to be able to go back.  I hopped on Saintvache and then sent out the call.  Wow, was it answered.  We had 24/25 after all the folks who wanted to come, including Myth guildies Yuush and Hadleigh (the latter formerly of Heal-Alt-Delete).

Yuush warms up

Yuush was pretty excited to be able to go back and get his 25-man kill. His pre-battle warmup involved riding a Spectral Tiger and grooving under the disco ball.  He wasn’t alone, as Laid Back Raids was living up to its name.

Cuppy and Moi, pre-raid

Once we were all together, Arvash took care of the details of the fight and we got the fight going.  It went fairly smoothly and the moment the raid “wiped,” there were digital smiles to be had.  A number of people got their Kingslayer achievements, including Cuppy who had contacted me Friday about coming.  I had sent her a Real ID invite but didn’t hear back so just before the raid I sent her an e-mail.  Turns out she was at the taco bell drive thru at the time so it was good that I did it as she made it.  Saintvache was most happy to see fellow Tauren Treetopsy as a result.

As it was relatively early after Arthas fell, I decided to work on my Archaeology with Tumunzahar for a little while.  While it’s still not perfect, the digging has been improved.  So I knocked off a few minor artifacts, and then my fossil dig showed “Fossilized Raptor.”  As I already had the pet, Healblade confirmed for me that meant a guaranteed mount drop.  Well, I knew what I was doing before bed.  I set out and gathered up my fossils.  Well crap.

I know, I know.  No big deal.  However, I literally had no fossil locations anywhere on Azeroth.  So, that meant knocking off various other dig sites…which continued to reveal various other dig sites which were conveniently not fossils.  Eventually one opened up in the Eastern Plaguelands and off I went to get my boney little Dino ride.  At that point I called it a night.

Sunday was time once again for Laid Back Raids, Alliance side this time.  I scheduled Seperentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep.  I was surprised when we could basically go straight to the organ and open up the path straight to Lady Vashj.  Siori and company wasted no time paying her a visit.  Of course, being Transmog and recipe hunters we didn’t just walk back out the cavern door.  No, we went back and killed every boss first.  The most pleasant surprise for me, was getting Formula: Enchant Weapon – Potency.  That was one Siori still needed.

As we switched gears to go visit Blood Elves in space, Tome had to part with us for the evening.  At the same time Repgrind had arrived on the scene, so off we went.  The Keep zerg’d about as fast as the Naga did.  Some nice gear dropped, but no Ashes for anyone to get truly excited about.  However, it was once again an evening where folks got to see some older content for the first time and get the achievements for each.  That’s always exciting.

The last LBR before Pandaria was as enjoyable as the first (which was incidentally discussed again during our Lich King battle Saturday night.  I believe the term was “retirement is overrated).  It will be interesting, to me, to see how turnout is during the first few weeks of the expansion as everyone is no doubt excited about, and enjoying, the new content.  I also wonder how long before LBR has its first Panda participant.  Who knows, both might be answered when the Horde visit Ahn’Qiraj Saturday night.

Professor Tum

Well, to be perfectly honest he’s still just an Assistant.  But I’ve had this outfit in the works since I ran the ICC 5-mans with Shoryl back in July.  At the time, I got the Blood Boil Lancet and set about making an outfit for it.  I didn’t have too many issues getting the gear, save getting into either Molten Core or Naxx and hoping the shoulders I wanted would drop.  Well, a few weeks ago I set up Laid Back Raids to do Molten Core and even though we saw an entire Warlock set drop…I still got my shoulders.  I finally zipped out to Quel’Danas to get the boots and tah dah!

To go with the staff, I ‘ve got the Vambraces and Mantle of Prophecy.  I debated on the belt as well, but it became too much.  In this case, less is more.  The Chief Architect’s Monocle probably took the most tries.  Fortunately I could zip in and out of BRD pretty quickly.  There’s an epic BoE monocle that shares the same skin, but it was easier just to farm it.  The main clothes were pretty easy with an Elementalist Tunic, Willow Belt, and Senior Designer’s Pantaloons.  I went with the Black Mageweave Gloves to ensure the bracers showed, Veteran’s Mooncloth Slippers for the feet (208 JP on the Isle of Quel’Danas), and then a Gray Woolen Shirt to keep him looking more formal.  Now there’s just the matter of leveling his Archaeology at some point…

Days Go By

It was a long weekend here, and I was enjoying the weather and the family yesterday and even some WoW.  So things here were quiet, though I did stay on top of the Transmogolympics.  The contest was only announced a couple days ago and we’re already up to twenty participants.  In case you missed it, there is no limit on how many people take part.  However, if we manage to have more participants than factions, then some factions will merely have more than one representative; much like the real Olympic Games. Also, I wanted to take a moment to once again thank Tome of the Ancient for the logo.  I told her what I wanted and she delivered beautifully.  I’m also happy to have her, Matty, and Khizzara as fellow judges for the event.

We had another successful Laid Back Raids on Saturday night.  The only place scheduled this week was Trial of the Crusader, but that didn’t stop us from also kicking down the doors to Ruby Sanctum and Obsidian Sanctum. We had a solid turnout including, for the first time, both Repgrind and Ratters (and his daughter as well)!  It was great timing as Rep knew TotC and was able to provide some guidance, though we did zerg the sucker down pretty fast.  For the Sanctums, I filled out the group with my friend Valanyr and a couple of his buds.  Oh, and Tum even got himself a new set of wings.

In Azeroth over the weekend, there was a great deal of puttering about, or “faffing” as Godmother and Kamalia have come to tell me.  Fireflint is finally 75, and that means time to boost his Blacksmithing.  I’ll obviously have to gain a few levels before I can max him out on it, fortunately I’ll be able to hit the Darkmoon Faire before the week is out.  I also snagged a few levels for Carrera and Estheriot.  Plus, three new faces are showing up around here now.

I have no clue as to why internet demons have taken the Gnome’s face.  Fortunately she sent me a postcard of her hanging with faction leader of epic epicness,

Zero Zero One One One Zero One Zero!

She joined the ranks for a few reasons.  The first, is admittedly, I had a sudden fetish to have a character with the Very Light Sabre.  As I pointed out to Mrs. Amateur, it’s a coincidence I gave her the Leia hair buns.  Also, I rolled her on Fenris (US).  I’ve heard horror stories about the economy and thought I would check it out for myself.  I farmed up some quick Peacebloom and Silverleaf, and threw that on the Auction House.  Neither was a full stack and it resulted in about 10 gold in her pocket.  That allowed me to grab a couple of items off the Auction House to sell, as well as purchase some of the rabbits from Amberstill Ranch and see if I can get a few coin for those as well.  So, so far things don’t seem too strange.  Hopefully the Schematic: Mechanical Mithril Dragonling sold at the behest of my advice.  I managed to sell one with Tumunzahar yesterday on Runetotem for 85g.  I still think that’s absurd, but if folks aren’t going to go get it out in the Hinterlands I may as well.  It didn’t hurt I was getting a couple points in Archaeology at the time either.

In closing, let me just tell you how strange it is to see “Semblance” in Trade chat.  Even merely as a name, it seems to look out of place.  Funny that.

Monday, Monday

I Can't Come In To Work Today...

As I level Archaeology, I’m finding some pretty interesting things.  This is the result of the Ancient Amber.  Despite it’s description I had to try it out anyway.  Turns out it does exactly what it says -who knew?  I will say this, I’m quickly understanding why the Archaeology profession has had so many expletives thrown its way…and I’m not even at 200 yet!  Go “way over there.  No, sorry, you’re off by 21 degrees so try again.  Another 50 feet.  Another 50.  Another 5.  Another 5.  Another 5.  Back 3.”

Definitely gets annoying fast.  I can only imagine how bad it’s going to get when I’m actually at the point of just getting those last relics and rare items.

For those who were out and about with us on the weekend, not only Kara and Icecrown but also Ahn’Qiraj last night, we’re getting things a bit organized with the idea this group of folks can run stuff with regularity on Sunday nights from 8-10.  Keep up to speed around here or Effy’s blog.

Finally, just a couple of Transmog notes.  For starters, congratulations to Navimie.  Yesterday morning she won her server’s WoW-Factor.  After getting 5k along with several others, she took home the 100k grand prize.  I was chatting with her when it happened and it was a great moment.  Apparently some folks threw some hate her way on her server.  Clearly they are better transmogrification judges than anyone else.  Or, they’re just jealous.  That seems slightly more likely.

Also just a friendly reminder that the next Transmogrification event is just around the corner.  Tome, Effy, and myself will be back on the judging panel but the doors were opened should anyone else want to judge as well.  Today is the deadline to let me know if you’re interested.

Monday Money Making: The Specific Archaeologist

*courtesy of wow.danomatic.com

Archaeology has been a hit amongst players since its inclusion back in December.  Some people just enjoy it, while others have goals such as pets and mounts.  The one thing people have made clear is the profession really isn’t going to net any return.  For starters, everyone can learn it and benefit from it.  That might be true, but if you’re not working on archaeology on one specific toon then you’re wasting your time.

Before you criticize, remember that we’re talking about making gold here.  You can take the profession on any toon you want, but if you have an alchemist that isn’t out there surveying, you’re a fool.  Everyone knows about Vial of the Sands.  Did you look closely, though?  That’s right, the recipe is bind on pickup.  If you want to be able to make Cataclysm’s main money sink, you need to do it via Alchemy and Archaeology.  Nothing will be more frustrating than looking at that recipe drop, and not being on your Alchemist.

Of course, you could also try to flip the finished product.  This becomes more risky, though.  You have to show patience, and really set your snatchpoint.  Still, those who got the chopper recipe in the early days of Wrath were able to profit for quite some time.  This recipe is more random and therefore those who get it early this time will really see a return.