Out With The Old

When Wrath of the Lich King came out, had I not taken a break I would have had a very good chance at world first level 80 Rogue. I don’t say that as a means of bragging, because well…what’s there to brag about? I didn’t get the achievement. So why bring it up? Well, to illustrate just what I thought of the rogue class at one point. Siori was my main. I loved Combat and then its evolution into Outlaw. So after Saintvache hit 50, I decided she was the next out of the chute.

With the druid and paladin, I fell right back into old habits and rotations and took care of business. Imagine my surprise when that was not the case with my rogue. I got Slice ‘N’ Dice going and made sure poison was equipped and the other usual things. But overall it felt flat. I was incredibly underwhelmed and while I can’t quite put my finger on why, I do think the current state of combo finishers plays a large part. There were more to choose from when I last played. And I found them more affective. Now hitting your rotation is just as easy, but there’s no DoT’s anymore (that I can really see). Dispatch is there for dealing damage and Cheap Shot of course for stunning the target (when Kick just doesn’t do the trick). But overall I just felt I wasn’t putting out as much damage as I used to. It made me really keep an eye on what felt like a depleted survivability.

I did end up getting her to 50 though. How much play she’ll see from here out is up in the air at best. I feel like my Feral Druid does rogue better than rogue does, if that makes sense. Her biggest asset at this point is probably making Enchanting scrolls and opening lock boxes. Not exactly where I expected to be with my rogue if you had asked me a few years back. And if you’re curious, I did look at the other specs. While they might be more optimal, I wasn’t really feeling them all that much more than Outlaw. So, I suppose it is what it is. Perhaps at some point I dust her off again and suddenly the class clicks for me again, I don’t know. But for the short term, the boss is going to be doing her work from behind the desk instead of out in the field.

Garrison Newbisms

For those of us who didn’t play the beta, or read prior to release, we went into Garrisons pretty blind.  As I’ve touched on, they are a far better mechanic than I first expected.  When I heard they were a “required” part of leveling, I was not impressed.  Until I actually did the leveling and it does tie in very well together.  Plus, instead of just being a hero, you’re at the forefront as a commander.  It’s a nice little touch.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and lollipops.  Take, for example, yours truly.  Out of the gate I built a Gem shop and an Enchanting shop. The Enchanting shop was a no-brainer for a toon who had no professions at the time.  Free disenchanting is a fantastic feature for all the BoP mail rares like to give my Druid.  Plus, at level 2, weapon enchant transmogs.  Good deal.  The gem shop not so much.

For the most part I did it thinking I would get a gem or two every work order…which I could easily fill via the mine.  Instead I got a bunch of soulbound crystals that are fantastic if you’re a Jewelcrafter.  I know Tumunzahar will definitely be looking forward to one of those.  Occasionally my work order would result in Sorcerous Earth or Sorcerous Air, which in the first week of the expansion yielded some solid returns on the Auction House.  So after a while I realized the error of my ways and just switched to the Storehouse.  Not the most viable choice, but gives me bank and eventually guild bank access.  So I’m ok with that.

The big thing for me is the desire to get the Garrison to level 3.  I want to open up the Pet Menagerie and also get my other buildings leveled.  What I hadn’t been able to figure out, is why that wasn’t happening.  To do so, you need 5k in gold (which in this expansion is ridiculously easy) and 2k in resources.  For the longest time, I couldn’t stockpile half of said resources.  I had no idea why.  I know the best way to get them is through your Garrison, rares, quests, etc (without changing your buildings).  What I knew, but didn’t pay attention to?  This:

Yup.  Silly, right?  I normally run anywhere from 8-15 missions a day, and did so all along as I leveled.  At no point did it occur to me that I was burning through more resources than I was acquiring.  At 10-30 resources a mission, there was no way I was ever going to meet my goal.  Now that I’ve made that discovery, and righted myself, I can begin the push to 2k.

What about you?  Any foolish errors along the way or did you plan yours out well in advance?

Ideas of March

My efforts thus far to get where I want to be for Warlords has been met with limited results.  It’s entirely my own fault as I’ve been spending my time Hearthstoning when free, usually in an effort to complete a daily each day.  Yes, reader, that one has its teeth sunk in but good.  Fortunately with some free time last night I finally got in some actually WoW time and took to my Gnome Warrior.  The Mrs. and I did some puttering around but actually got into a dungeon pretty quickly(!) and I picked up a couple of levels in Blackfathom Deeps.  After that she was kind enough to run me through Stocks before calling it a night.  Another Gnomeregan run this morning and she’s now 27, on her way to 28.  Go figure, as soon as I lament queue times, I have two occasions where it was less than 20 minutes.  But, now that I’ve actually been productive to some degree, I figure I can increase said productivity and give myself a proverbial kick in the rear to do so…by jotting down some goals for the month.

• Get Semblance the Warrior (27) to 35.  My original plan was 25, but I accomplished that quite easily yesterday.
• Get Paramita the Priest (41) to 45.
• Get Elcombe the Mage (68) to 70.
• Finally have Elcombe learn Alchemy, and then actually power level it to some degree.
• Max out Saintvache’s Herbalism, currently 310.
• Get his Enchanting (487) up over 500 as well.  Who knows, might even Max it as well.
• Get Junkshot the Monk (7) to 20.
• Clean up Claws of Nature Guild Bank.
• Get Liouxpold (85) at least one level in Pandaria.
• Reach 2,500 Daily Quests

Not a vast list by any stretch, and many of the goals are pretty simple to obtain.  I average about an hour and a half of free time a day, so I can’t be shooting for the moon.  If I get all of these accomplished then it will feel like I’ve done something and will push me on towards the next ones in April.  Let’s face it, many little things can add up to one big thing and in this case that one thing can be momentum.  It wouldn’t hurt for me to have some of that the closer we get to Draenor.

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.

Another Musings Post

I find myself with a great many thoughts on a great many things, but at the moment none of them amounts to a full post.  As such, you get another set of random ramblings this morning.

• Got my soundtrack in to ALT:ernative.  60 minutes was just cruel.  Back in my cassette making day, 90 was the way to go.  As it was my original compilation was closer to 120 minutes.
• Having mentioned “playlists” in my post the other day, I really see that coming to fruition either later this month or early in March.  Too many ideas already.
• Stonetalon Mountains is my favourite Horde quest area thus far.  The quests are moderately fun, there’s a few really funny comments, and I knocked off levels ridiculously fast for not having BoA’s.
• SWEET ILLIDAN I WANT GOT THE HEART OF THE ASPECTS MOUNT!!!!! (see below)
• If you don’t understand why the Lovebird sells for more than a Chopper, you don’t understand economics at all.
• Your situation is worse if you don’t understand it a month from now.
• Claws of Nature hit Level 9 this week.
• After we came up just shy Sunday night, I logged on and did two dailies Monday night.  Done and done.  Yay!
• I want level 10 for cloaks.  Not good when I want character levels elsewhere.  I see a time issue, but it will happen.
• Getting to level 10 will take a while.  I gave up trying to form a raid.
• Even the night people said they were free, few ever actually are.
• Twice in the last month I’ve set a record for site visits.  That’s an awesome feeling.
• Checking the “what linked people here” and finding random forums talking about me is also an awesome feeling.
• Raiding is 2011.  Transmogging is 2012.  Start profiting NOW.
• Expect a detailed post on that in the coming days.
• Hrm, I have been challenged.
• I should really take Tumunzahar into the final HoT 5-man.  It’s the only one I’ve not done yet.
• Why do I keep grouping with dps Shamans who refuse to drop totems?
• Seriously, just because you’re not Resto does not mean it wouldn’t help even in a 5-man.
• I have no idea how the Love Is In The Air dungeon fight works.  I just heal through it.  No one (short of the guide by Tome of the Ancients) has ever bothered explaining it.  All I know is I aggro huge when healing it.
• Formula: Enchant Chest – Greater Stats.  To learn or not to learn?  Money is the question.  Perfect recipe book is probably the answer.
• No Mists of Pandaria this year?  I’m actually ok with that.  Folks who signed up for a year might not be as content and that’s understandable.
• I wonder if we’ll get anything new between now and Mists…
• I’ve never levelled a Paladin to 20.  Now I have one past 30 and he’s starting to pull me, with a sign that looks like a faint “8” and “5.”
• Liouxpold is camped in Zangarmarsh.
• He’s not coming out until he’s Exalted and has that damn Hippogryph.
• He’s about halfway to Exalted.
• I can only take so much Naga.
• I miss when Hunter pets took off after what you shot at.  It’s a little thing I don’t understand why they changed (especially when they removed Aggressive pet behaviour setting from the game).
• I have seen Loque’nahar 5 times roaming the wild but have yet to see another spirit beast.
• I don’t think I want to go anywhere near his spawn point until I have an actual Beast Master hunter.
• Speaking of which, Oddfodder now has a color changing crocodile named “Fido.”
• This is why playing a character is more fun than just killing time on a toon.
• I want those ampm cups, all of them.
• I live in Canada.  This leads to a rather flawed hope.

Behold the generosity of The Godmother!

Monday Money Making: Getting Right To The Core

Ever since Cataclysm hit I’ve noticed a major increase in the drop rate on two particular items.  Actually, that’s not necessarily true but I definitely see far more of them on the Auction House.  They would be Fiery Core and Lava Core.Both items drop from Molten Core.  Perhaps with all the emphasis on Firelands and even going back into Blackrock Mountain folks are running MC for fun.  I can’t say, but whatever the reason these used to be 40g.  Now they’re usually under 10g.  Personally, I wait until they’re listed for around 4g or less before I buy them up by the handful.  You see, they’re great for Reputation with the Thorium Brotherhood.

I know, I know…reputation grinds are nasty.  But hear me out on this one.  For starters, the Thorium Brotherhood is a reputation a number of people tend to pass by.   One of the few reasons to even bother is if you’re a recipe collector, as there are several for the core professions.  A couple of them do well when crafted.  The enchantments do very well.  Obviously it varies from server to server, but I guarantee you there’s at least one or two on the list that you can make a good bit of cash off of (keep in mind every recipe is BoP, so no flipping them).

So what does this have to do with Lava Core and Fiery Core?  As I mentioned, you can hand them in for reputation to the Quartermaster, Lokhtos.  He’s what turns most people away from grinding any reputation, as he’s located in a little room in the back of the Grim Guzzler in BRD.

Our friend here will take your Cores at a mere 2000 rep each. More depending on what level your guild is. That means once you hit Friendly, less than 20 will get you to Exalted!  You don’t even have to go grind out a bunch of quests or hand in 100’s of something.  Less than two dozen and you’re done and you can find them at the expense of someone dumping them on the Auction House.

Keep in mind, as well that a couple of the items he sells are in limited supply.  So you may not necessarily be able to grab all the recipes you need in one fell swoop should someone else have recently visited him for the same purpose.  Regardless, you can probably get two stacks of Lava Core/Fiery Core from your Auction House for under 100g.  Another twenty minutes to visit this guy and you’ll have at least one recipe (more if you’re an Enchanter) that will make that back in less than a week.  Plus, if you don’t have 100g to invest then you probably aren’t reading this.

😉

Good (Enchanting) Friday

In the past I’ve commented on folks who shoot for achievements, or collect mounts and pets.  I’ve stated it’s not really for me, but kudos to them.  It’s one of the beauties of WoW and its ability to adhere to a diverse set of interests.  That said, when it comes to my Professions I’m of a completely different mindset.  Profession recipes turn me into a Pokemaster on crack.

Long I’ve searched for a way to track which recipes I need.  Crafter’s Tome does a decent job, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.  In the past, I tried Ackis but it wasn’t quite what I wanted.  Puttering about this morning, I went back to said addon and am I ever glad I did.  You can look up its functionality in the link, but I’ll sum it up quickly by saying that in game you can open your skill window and scan it to find out what you need and where to get it.  Amen!

So, it turns out according to Ackis, Siori needed 84 recipes to complete Enchanting.  First off, she isn’t at 525 yet, so there’s some I can get just via the trainer.  The two from Ulduar will be slightly more difficult as I’ve never been there.  Still, I quick hopped to the Auction House this afternoon and found two World Drop ones that I needed for less than 10g each.  I then decided to head off to Shadowmoon Valley to try and get Enchant Cloak: Greater Arcane Resistance.  Ackis told me it’s BoP from Eclipsion Archmages.

As you can see by the picture in this post, I succeeded.  I think it took less than 20 kills to obtain it, so I was quite happy.  Up next, a few Magister’s Terrace runs to get the 3 I need there.  Suffice to say, the countdown is on.