To The Skinners

Recently I had a discussion with another player, after they were running around the Timeless Isle happily skinning away at whatever other players had left for dead.  “I’m getting leather hand over fist…what the hell?!?!  God damn it, loot your kills!”  It got me to thinking that the general skinner seems to have some sense of entitlement when it comes to gathering.  I’m not saying this applies to all (I certainly don’t feel that way when I’m out and about with Liouxpold), but it’s definitely there and the air needs to be cleared from the Amateur perspective.

If we are in an instance or, really, grouped together in any way and I know at least one of the other players is a skinner then I will certainly do my part to loot.  Heck, even if I don’t, said skinner can come along after and loot the corpse and then skin it.  The important thing is that I do feel I owe it to them to clean up my corpse so they can get their materials.  It’s a courtesy thing and one that in the confines of a group is quite warranted.  As far as I’m concerned, that’s where it ends.

When I’m out and about in a place like Stranglethorn Vale and Sholozar Basin, I am under no obligation to consider someone coming along and cleaning up after me.  If I am running around, for example, doing the Nesingwary kill quests I am not going to loot all the little patches of fur that are worth about two copper each, or any other worthless little thing, when I might be filling my bags with quest items, greens, and more.  I have a limited bag space the same as you do, and I’m not going to keep running back to the nearest vendor just so that I can make sure all my kills are ready to be skinned.  It’s time consuming and quite frankly a chore to do so just to make things easier for someone else.

I have a skinner.  I know that leveling it can be a bit daunting at times, especially if you’re in a leveling area that doesn’t have much in the way of furry trophies.  But the thing is, you (we) chose the profession.  You know how it works.  On occasion, you are going to have to go grind some kills just to get some leather.  If you are in an area where someone else is doing the killing, then consider it a blessing that you get to clean up their mess and land some leather (and in cases, skill points) in the process.  But at no point do you have a right to get upset if someone doesn’t completely loot their corpse and thus deprive you, because they aren’t.  You can be disappointed.  But instead of trying to feel wronged when the corpse isn’t looted, be thankful for the times that it is.

Pitching A Tent

A couple of weeks ago I talked about ways to fix the Professions in WoW.  Since then, a few other ideas have popped in and out of my head elaborating on that.  One in particular I would really love to see implemented, and it would make Leatherworkers quite popular.

Yep, it’s a tent.  First reaction is probably that tents seem kind of pointless, but hear me out.  Leatherworkers would have tents made from Medium Leather, Rugged Leather, Borean Leather, Savage Leather, and the base leather of Mists of Pandaria.  Looking at it closer, you’ll see there’s one for each stage/expansion in WoW except for Rugged Leather.

Breaking it down, it would work like this:

• Medium Leather Tent: Works for levels 20-49.
• Rugged Leather Tent: Works for levels 50-70.
• Borean Leather Tent: Works for levels 70-80.
• Savage Leather Tent: Works for levels 80-85.
• ??? Leather Tent: Works for levels 85-90.

The idea, is the tent works like an inn.  Logging out while in a tent would give you rest xp, negating the need to visit a town or return to a city if you’re out questing and they would bind to a character after it was used the first time.  A Leatherworker using a tent would generate an extra 20% rest when using a tent, a nice bonus for making them for self use.

This would have been an even better idea when questing actually took time and we couldn’t fly everywhere in Azeroth, but I still think it’s practical in the current game without being game breaking.  When it comes to WoW, it’s sometimes the little things that people like best.

Professional Bank Toons

Money Never Sleeps, Pal

Recently over at WoW Ladies, someone asked what professions their bank alt should have.  Amidst gold making efforts and several bank toons I can honestly say it never occurred to me until that moment. 

The Day Has Arrived

Cataclysm Here We Come!

At 12AM PST the new expansion officially launched. Now we know what Blizzard meant by Stamina was going to be key this go around, am I right? Worgens and Goblins are popping up all over and the elitists out for Server or World first could care less what effect their goal has on you and your ventures.

I set out a few goals this time last week and as I reflect on them, I do so with mixed results. I simply could not get Liouxpold to Honored with the Winterspring Trainers. I don’t know if others decided this is what they wanted to do before returning to endgame, but Winterspring was covered in level 80’s on both sides whenever I logged in on Lioux. I managed to get another thousand rep or each pair of quests once each time I tried. I think Blizzard reduced the number of Winterfall Shamans in the area as well, so the sniping was at a premium.

Neither Liouxpold or Elcombe got to 400 on their professions. In Elcombe’s defense, he can’t. As he’s only 51, he caps at 375. The happy news is that I did get him that far.

My newest Tailor, Egwydorian (Dwarf Shaman), made her way into Wool as I had hoped and I also got her to level 20. I’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

The hardest goal to meet, that I succeeded on, was getting Siori Exalted with Cenarion Expedition. First off, I went against my own views when it comes to achievements.   As I’m not Azeroth’s greatest Rogue by any stretch, and quite often had infant in hand, I stuck to running regular Steamvaults for rep rather than the Coilfang Heroics.  I also knocked off quests in Blade’s Edge.  But a good chunk of my rep came from Coilfang Armaments.  Some I got in Steamvaults, but the rest came from the Auction House at 8-14g a piece.  I think I bought over 150 of them.  The end result is Siori is Exalted with the Expedition and despite popular thought it was not to get the Hippogryph (though I cringe at wanting that for Liouxpold).  You see, The Shattering changed a number of things, including stats on a number of things.  Take for example, Enchant Cloak – Stealth.  The new +8 Agility and +8 Dodge is twink heaven, and I appreciate the tip from Mageshadow (now content manager for JMTC) about the change and how to obtain it.

So out of six goals, I did complete four.  Liouxpold was the toon to get the short end of the stick unfortunately.  It also got me thinking about setting in-game goals each week and Tuesdays work rather well.  So, what’s the plan for this week then?

• Well, I realize Liouxpold is very close to Revered with the Thorium Brotherhood and has enough rep items in his bag that I should have done that quite some time ago.  I’m going to refrain from any Wintersping goals, because further content today has my attention even more divided.
• I’ll be rolling my Worgen Warrior, Horrux.  I will probably wait to play him because the start zone is ridiculous.
• Getting Tumunzahar his Flight Master’s License and then getting his Mining maxed.
• Getting Siori’s Enchanting as far as I can before she needs to level.
• Starting my One Life To Live challenge.
• Leveling Egwydorian’s Tailoring to 150 and getting her Archaelogy to the same.

So, another half dozen goals in the works.  I’m sure some weeks I will have more and others will see me have less.  I just imagine little things will pop up that will grab my attention in the early Cataclysm days (including the new Guild UI, and what Claws of Nature will be focusing on).

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve stopped experiencing Cataclysm long enough.

Engineers Are Still Special

You Still Have To Choose A Side

One of the things I looked forward to most in Cataclysm was the remove of Specialization training for my Professions.  I specifically skipped choosing Armorsmith or Weaponsmith on my Death Knight because I knew it wasn’t going to matter for very long (though it did in turn make for a long or expensive climb through skill points).  Now, I have access to all Blacksmithing recipes.  Same goes for Tailoring and Leatherworking.  Not for Engineering.

Engineering is already a misunderstood profession.  For starters, it’s a tonne of fun.  My Shaman went Goblin, and it’s been a hoot.  But, fun factor aside, people don’t take Engineering because they think it’s expensive and that it yields little in return because most of the stuff you make you have to be an Engineer to use.  Whether that’s entirely true or not is for another day, because only having access to half the recipes for the profession doesn’t help entice players. 

Now, Engineers aren’t the only ones who were left out in the cold on this decision.  Alchemists also must still choose between Potion Master and Transmute Master.  So while the gear making Tailors, Blacksmiths, and Leatherworkers can make whatever they want for whomever they want, Engineers and Alchemists are still stuck with one path or the other (or subsequently paying to switch).

I’ve found no explanation for why this is.  To be honest, I doubt I’d find one that satisfies me either.  It should be all or nothing.  Then again, weren’t orange recipes supposed to grant three points instead of one?  Why are my Scribes the only ones who have this happen?