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 | Posted by: Ankalima on 5/13/2008 5:37:10 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Perfectly Poignant Pointers Part 3
| Ishnu-alah! It's Ankalima, your friendly neighborhood Druid here to continue on from what I was talking about in my little series of Perfectly Poignant Pointers. First and foremost I want to hit up the Shamans out there real quick.
Regardless of spec Shamans have totems. This means that no matter what your area of expertise is it is never a bad thing to break out the totems when grouped in an instance. Even if you're dps, your mana spring and healing stream totems still regen mana and health, even if they aren't as spiffy as a resto Shaman's would be. Don't hesitate to drop them, especially mana spring during down time or long boss fights. Every little bit is a bit more than what you had before. During fights, especially if you're right up there with the Tank, Grace of Air and Strength of Earth are spiffy. The point is, no matter your spec, if you're a Shaman don't be afraid of your totems, but save those big cool downs for the bosses.
Next on the list is group make up tips. First and foremost you need a Tank. Unless you're a group of 30s getting dragged through by a 70-whatever, you need a Tank. No Healer in their right mind is going to accept the aggravation of trying to keep a Fury Warrior or Ret Paladin alive just because they have a shield. It's not impossible no, but it's not easy and the repair afterward can seriously bite. Now, the Tank can be any of the following - Warrior, Druid, Paladin - and be effective. Each one lends itself to a different style of tanking, but none are above the others. The only variant is the person in control of the Tank, and sometimes that's something no amount of gear can help.
Of course, a healer is needed. Regardless of the Tank or the rest of the group, the elites found within any given instance hit entirely too hard for a group to manage without some heals. More variation can be found in Healers than in Tanks. Priests, Druids, Shamans, and Paladins all make excellent healers. Like Tanks they have different ways of being effective at their jobs, unlike Tanks sometimes certain kinds make certain situations easier. Paladins, as a for instance, have some of the best single-target healing capabilities. Making them fantastic in higher end raids, because they can focus on the Tank while another healer works on the rest of the group. Druids are notorious for instance cast heal-over-time spells as well as they're single-target heavy heals; Shamans have a spiffy chain heal on top of their totems and single target spells, and Priests have heavy single target heals as well as a couple of nice group heals.
Next is the Damage Per Second group, which is by far the most broad since every single class has at the very least a dps spec. My biggest bits of advice here are to try and keep it mixed up. A Tank, a Healer and three Mages is restrictive. Sure, you've got a lot of flashy bangs and booms going on, but no diversity. A Mage, Warlock, and a Melee dps (Rouge, Warrior, Paladin, dual-wielding Shaman) is well-rounded. If all your dps is spell-based and you come across something with serious resistance, you'll get owned. The reverse is true, so having all melee dps isn't going to work any better. The dps available is varied as well, with different kinds of CC available, as well as pets, buffs, debuffs, traps, and whatnot.
So just keep in mind that variety is the spice of life! And, as a closing tip for the day, there is no end-all be-all class for any given role or capacity. I'm not saying that the game is perfectly balanced, but do keep in mind that a toon's effectiveness is 95% due to the person at the keyboard - give or take 5%.
That's all from me for now - Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~ Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 5/13/2008 5:33:37 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Shattered Sun Shake Down
| Ishnu-alah! It's Ankalima, your friendly neighborhood Druid here to continue on from last week. I hope you've used my suggestions to gaining rep swiftly and easily, because now I'm going to explain to you exactly how you get to benefit from all that fantastical rep. And the best part is I'm going to list it all nice and neat for you as well. See? Your friendly neighborhood druid spoils you so, and you love it.
From Eldara Dawnrunner the Shattered Sun Offensive Quartermaster, you get nice things right from get go.
At Friendly: |
| Naaru Ration | which restores 7500 health and 7200 mana over 30 seconds. At 5 for 50s they are a steal, but free mana biscuits are free, and free is good. |
With a little work we move to Honored: |
| Enchant Chest - Defense | which allows an enchanter to grant 15 defense rating to a chest piece. The Recipe may come cheap, but the mats aren't. 4 Greater planars, 8 Arcane Dusts, and 4 pieces of Eternium Ore. |
| Formula: Void Shatter | which allows you to shatter a void crystal into two prismatic shards. A boon for you crazy end gamers out there, with your over-flowed stock of useless EPICS that's you've disenchanted into Void Crystals. |
Moving on to Revered, and the long spiffy list of things you can choose from: |
| For the Jewelcrafters - |
| Design: Regal Nightseye | +4 dodge rating and +6 stamina |
| Design: Eternal Earthstorm Diamon | +12 Defense rating and +10% Shield block value. |
| Design: Ember Skyfire Diamond | +14 spell damage and + 2% intellect. |
| Design: Steady Seaspray Emerald | +5 Resilience rating an +7 stamina. |
| Design: Forceful Seaspray Emerald | +5 Spell Haste Rating and +7 Stamina. |
| Design: Reckless Pyrestone | +5 Spell Haste and +6 spell damage. |
| Design: Quick Lionseye | +10 Spell Haste Rating. |
| Design: Figurine - Shadowsong Panther | Equip increases your effective stealth level by 1, and attack power by 80. Use increases attack power by 320 for 15 seconds with a 1.5 minute cool down. |
| Design: Figurine - Seaspray Albatross | Equip restores 18 mp5s, and use restores 900 mana over 12 seconds with a 3 minute cooldown. |
| Design: Figurine - Khorium Boar | Equip increases attack power by 84, and use summons a Khorium boar to fight for you for 30 seconds with a meager 5 minute cooldown. |
| Design: Figurine - Empyrean Tortoise | Equip increases defense rating by 42, and use increases dodge rating by 165 for 20 seconds, with a 2 minute cool down. |
| Design: Figurine - Crimson Serpent | +49 stamina and +33 intellect, use of the trinket increases damage and healing by 150 for 20 seconds with a 2 minute cool down. |
For those who aren't Jewelcrafters, fear not! There's plenty to go around: |
| Truestrike Crossbow | 66.3 dps, +10 agility +12 Stamina +6 intellect and +20 attack power. |
| Archmage's Guile | +12 stamina +11 intellect sword with +20 spell critical strike rating and magical effects increased by 120. |
| Seeker's Gavel | +30 stamina and +8 intellect main hand mace with +11 to spell hit rating and a +130 to spell damage. |
| K'iru's Presage | +16 stamina +13 intellect and +8 to spirit, this healer's mace adds 228 healing and 6 mp5s. |
| Inuuro's Blade | 71.8 dps +21 stamina this one-handed sword increases defense rating by 13, hit rating by 8 and your expertise rating by 11. |
| Bombardier's Blade | 71.7 dps +14 agility and +12 stamina this one-hand dagger improves hit rating by 11 and increases attack power by 26. |
| The Sunbreaker | 71.9 dps +14 agility and +12 stamina this one-hand sword improves hit rating by 11 and attack power by 26. |
| Legionfoe | a two-handed axe that deals 93.2 dps with +31 to strength and +45 to stamina. It also improves your critical strike rating by 26 and your expertise by 19. |
| Glyph of the Gladiator | Permanently add 18 stamina and 20 resilience to a head slot item. |
And finally. You've run the 5-man instance, you've done dailies until you were so sick of seeing people from the Shattered Sun Offensive that you thought you'd swear off MMO gaming before you reached Exalted. Fear no more! You are here, and here is what you've earned: |
Tabard of the Shattered Sun! And that's it. Now you get to see the Shattered Sun colors every time you look in the mirror. Impress your friends, family, guild mates, and even your little non-combatant pet Sleepy Willy. All that hard work and this is your parting gift my friend! Ande'thoras-ethil, farewell, sayonara, and G'bye! There's... yeah, okay, I'm lying from between my pointy ears and glowing eyes. Of course there's more! |
| Sunward Crest | 4872 armor (as a cloth wearer I could really just stop here and be impressed by this.) 122 block and +31 stamina. Equipping it increases your shield block rating by 18, your spell hit rating by 13 and increases magical damage by 26. |
| Dawnforged Defender | 4872 armor 122 block +31 Stamina, and equipping this one increases your dodge rating by 18, your hit rating by 13 and the block value of your shield by 33. |
| Shattered Sun Pendant of Acumen | is a neck piece with +19 stamina and +18 intellect. It increases magical damage by 37, and your spells have a chance to call on the power of the Arcane or Light, dependant on whether you're Scryer or Aldor respectively. |
| Shattered Sun Pendant of Might | whose only differences from the above are +18 to agility and +19 to stamina, equipping it increases your attack power by 64 and it also has a chance to call on the power of the Arcane or Light with every melee and ranged attack. |
| Shattered Sun Pendant of Resolve | and as we're catching on to the pattern it's +48 stamina and it improves your hit rating by 13 and your expertise by 18. |
| Shattered Sun Pendant of Restoration | has +19 to stamina, increases healing done by 70 and restores 7 mp5s. All your heals have a chance to call on the Arcane or the Light. |
The following all Require an Alchemist's Stone to make, and all four - when equipped increase the effects of healing and mana potions by 40%. Other variations are listed separately. |
| Recipe: Assassin's Alchemist Stone | This trinket requires 350 Alchemy and increases attack power by 108 |
| Recipe: Guardian's Alchemist Stone | This one is the same except it increases your defense rating by 54. |
| Recipe: Redeemer's Alchemist Stone | This one increases your healing done by up 119. |
| Recipe: Sorcerer's Alchemist Stone | increases your damage done by magic by up to 63. |
That's all from me for now - Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~ Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 5/5/2008 2:02:28 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
SOS? No, no, no, SSO.
| Ishnu-alah! It's Ankalima here to offer something just a little different from the norm. Need help getting to exalted with the new faction? At 250 rep for most of the dailies available the biggest problem is understanding which ones to do, and which ones to not really bother with. Of course, if you've won the lottery and are able to play for hours upon hours, then it's not really a matter of picking and choosing, so much as it is a matter of order.
Vindicator Xayann, Battlemage Arynna , Captain Theris Dawnhearth , Harbinger Inuuro, Astromancer Darnarian and Magister Ilastar All have quests available on the Isle of Quel'Danas which should be completed on the Isle - so you don't have to go anywhere! This is nice for saving time, but given that there are a LOT of people that spend time on the isle doing the dailies. I suggest starting at the north end, to do Keeping the Enemy at Bay which requires you to go out into the water and kill 6 Dawnblade reservists, and burn down the three ships.
Heading south from there you can do Erratic Behaivor, make sure you loot before you use the attuned crystal cores, or you'll lose the loot. Arm the Wards! requires Mana Remnants which drop off the wretched mobs around the arcane guardian mobs you'll be using the attuned crystals on. Nearby, and only slightly more to the south you can do Crush the Dawnblade Where you'll need to kill three kinds of Dawnblades' mobs. Also one of the readings for Know Your Ley Lines is in the north-ish region that these mobs inhabit. Moving on to the south (and slightly east), you'll come across the mobs needed for The Battle for the Sun's Reach Armory. Kill 6 burning legion demons in that area, and impale the Emissary of Hate's corpse with the provdided Banner. Nice thing to keep in mind is you don't have to kill the Emissary to complete this, just impale the corpse. Also, while you're here, the second reading for Know Your Ley Lines is near where the Emissary spawns.
Then there's Distraction at the Dead Scar Which requires killing mobs in the scar on the island. Don't waste your time in actual combat with these things though, talk to Ayren Cloudbreaker and go down on a flying mount with some highly damaging Arcane Charges. Unlike earlier bombing type quests, some of the mobs for this one require multiple hits to take out. It might take more than one run, especially at high capacity server times, but it's easy peasy.
Heading to the east of the isle you'll reach Darkspine Siren which drops the Orb Of Murloc Control needed to complete This Quest. You can also do This quest whis requires that you kill Darkspine Myrmidon or loot Darkspine Ore Chest, which are both in the same area anyway. Also, the last reading for the Know Your Ley Lines is in this area. After all those are complete you'll have earned well over 1k in rep with The Shattered Sun Offensive, and there are still other areas in the Outlands that can earn you rep. Netherstorm lets you do Sunfury Attack plans Which, after you get the quest in Shattrath city, will drop from any of the Sunfury mobs in Netherstorm. You can also pick up Gaining the Advantage while in Shattrath, but if you have two crafting professions you're pretty much out of luck on that one, the nether residue is found in herbs, mine nodes, and when skinning mobs in Outlands.
Magistrix Seyla has two dailies availble, both of which are completed in the same area as she is - the Throne of Kil'Jaeden. Be very careful doing either of those quests, a misstep could cause you to pull Doom Lord Kazzak and that kind of puts a damper on things for everyone in the general area. That's all for now from me, next week I'll have a list of the items you can get from the reputation that you'll gain while doing all these wonderful quests, as well as the continuation of Perfectly Poignant Pointers for instances - Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~ Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 4/28/2008 1:42:36 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Perfectly Poignant Pointers - Part 2
| Ishnu-alah! It's Ankalima, your friendly neighborhood Druid here to continue on from what I was talking about last week concerning Instances. A whole other week of experience has yet again taught me a great many things, but I'll try to stay focused on what I said I'd cover from last week.
For starters I want to go over Warlock Soul Stone (Shortened to SS from here on). The SS has a 30 minute cooldown, whether it is used or not during that time. The only way around the 30 minutes cool down is if you have more than one Warlock in your group - in other words it's not like a health stone where the warlock can create and trade them. Once used however, the Warlock can create another SS to be used at a later time, like once the cooldown of the first stone is up.
Best person to use the SS on? The Healer. Hands down. As a general rule The Healer is the furthest back in any given group, and it's possible that in the case of a total wipe, the Healer could wait for aggro to drop and then use the SS, thereby being able to resurrect the entire group. Better yet let's say it's not a wipe, and you have a holy priest as a healer (I pulled this off once myself, it worked out rather nicely). As long as that priest has Spirit of Redemption the SS gives a double whammy effect. Upon death Spirit of Redemption procs, the Priest can heal free of charge for 15 seconds and is un-target-able during that time. After 15 seconds, they die and can use the SS, bringing them back to the fight with a large chunk of health and mana, and hey, if they die again then Spirit of Redemption will proc again. As a side note, it is possible to SS anyone, but it is usually wisest to put it on a class that can resurrect.
Moving on to Paladin buffs. I love Paladins, I have to admit. Especially when they roam in packs. Between the Blessings, and Auras and versatility a Druid can get spoiled! There are a ton of combinations you can go with, but remember - only one Aura and one Blessing per Paladin, and since most groups are lucky to have one that's what I'll focus on. Healers, trust me on this, you want Blessing of Salvation. Yes, Blessing of Wisdom gives a nice mana regen, but Blessing of Salvation lets you live long enough to actually run out of mana, and as a caster you ought to have a mega mana pool anyway. My fabulous Melee Dpsers - your gear decides your blessing. All greens in Outlands? You want Blessing of Might or you simply won't do any real damage. Geared up nicely, especially Raid nicely, I'd suggest Blessing of Salvation. You're already pumping tons of damage, and it's easier on the Healer if the only one taking any real damage is the Tank. For the distance Dspers you're probably best off with Blessing of Kings if you're under-geared, and Salvation otherwise. Blessing of Kings, especially when you have more than one Paladin in the group, is a nice second for everyone to have - 10% to all stats regardless of level.
As for Paladin Auras, well, that's more a situational thing. The shadow, fire and frost resistances auras are obviously only really useful against those particular elements. Devotion Aura is nice because everyone enjoys and generally benefits from higher AC. Healers and Casting-based dps enjoy the Concentration aura for a 35% reduction in interruptions. Though, there's really only two kinds of a Paladin that should be using the Retribution Aura - the ones that are tanking or the ones that are soloing.
Wow! There was way more to touch on there than I expected, and that's just touching the tip of the iceberg. So it seems that I'll be touching more on this next week with group make-up, Shaman totem, and things to avoid tips! Speaking of which, here's one for you before I go - If you die when taking on a boss don't release your spirit! The group may not wipe, and if you release before the boss dies you lose your loot rights. The spiffy new gear that you could lose out on aside, if you're questing you won't be able to loot that either.
That's all from me for now - Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~ Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 4/25/2008 1:57:17 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Ninja Druid Post
| Ishnu-alah! It's Ankalima, your friendly neighborhood Druid here to take just a little bit of a detour from what I was talking about earlier. Yes, this is a little early for me, and worry not! - I will be continuing from where I left off last week this coming Monday, but a good friend of mine thought I should point something out that's a little more focused than I intended to go. Still, it's good advice, and as such is the topic of my Ninja-Druid-Blog-Post! I call it that because you'll never know when I'm doing an extra post, so it'll sneak up on you like a ninja, and the idea of a Ninja Druid is just plain awesome. Anyway, back to the task at hand - Pet Classes in Instances.
Rule number 1 - Pets on passive. Really, I could stop there and this would still be a helpful post. I can't stress this enough though, and lack of following it has caused many a wipe. Aggressive pets in an instance just plain should NOT happen. Only time an aggressive pet is a good thing is for Battlegrounds and Arena, generally speaking in any other situation it could easily spell death. Defensive isn't bad, but I would recommend avoiding it for dungeon settings. A lot of mobs' agro is linked, and if you get the attention of one, you've got the attention of many - and your pet will cycle through each. Sounds like it's not a bad thing? Well, your pet will cycle through each, which move and run and change agro as the fight progresses, and that means it is very easy for your defensive pet to go and pull an entire room.
Rule number 2 - Food and Soul Shards. Hunters need to be sure, before starting an instance, that they have not only food and drink for themselves, but also for their pets. I don't know about anyone else, but the last thing I want to deal with is a crabby pet that has decided in the middle of a boss fight that it no longer wants to play nice with the rest of the group. On the flip side of that, Warlocks need to be sure they have as many soul shards as they can carry. Not just for re-summoning their pet, but also for Health Stones, Soul Stones, Summons portals, Soul Fire, etc. Honestly though, the only reason a Warlock should have water on them is so they can pay off the healer to keep their hit points up enough for Life Tap.
Rule number 3 - Understand Your Role in the Group. I don't doubt that the Warlocks and Hunters of WoW have a complete understanding of what they're capable of. Fantastic at leveling solo and extremely good at dps, there's more warlocks and hunters than most people can stand sometimes. The true downside to being very good at solo leveling is that often times you don't realize you need to do things different in a group. The Tank is not your pet, the Healer is not your personal health potion, and The Mage does not have pet-envy. It's hard, to sit back and let others steer when you're used to being in the driver's seat 99% of the time, but it's important to understand your role in the party. Trust me, you'll need to tone it down. You want the dps, you want the burn, you want to do what you're good at doing - turn off the pet taunt, and give the tank a second to get a nice firm grip on the agro. After that, have at. Maybe a nice friendly competition with the other dpsers in the group to see who can pull agro off the tank. Especially entertaining when you've got an awesome tank.
~Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 4/21/2008 8:00:31 AM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Perfectly Poignant Pointers
| Ishnu-alah! It's Ankalima, your friendly neighborhood Druid here to, surprisingly, talk
about something other than professions. Yes, I know, take a few deep breaths to help
calm yourself, it's okay - I can wait. What has spurred this change you ask? Honestly
I've been doing so much instancing recently that I've realized there are some serious
questions as to the dos and don'ts that apply to that most fantastic of leveling tools.
Basically, I'm not going to tell you how to act, or that you HAVE to act a certain way
for any given Instance, what I am going to tell you are things that will help you to get
re-invited into a group because you will be deemed "Spiffy". Speaking of group invites,
it's generally best to ask someone before you invite them in, regardless of their being
in LFG or not.
Let's start with Crowd Control, aka CC. It's lovely, and with a few rare exceptions
(Banish, for instance) it is easily breakable. CC is often times the greatest thing in
the world to have, and at the same time the most frustrating thing to have as well.
Especially when it is consistently being broken before it's safe. This can happen due
to lack of communication, or not paying attention, or even - let's be fair - ignorance.
Not everyone on WoW understands all the aspects of WoW, that's just the way it is, so I
suggest making sure that the players who say they are new, get at least a brief
explanation of CC. At the very least let them know what it looks like, and then let them
know what the raid signs are, and what each one means for that particular instance. All
tanks have their way, but the general rule I've noticed is you kill the skull first, and
the moon is loved for the CC icon.
Next, we get to meet The Tank. The Tank wears armor. Metal Armor (or Leather and Fur).
As well the tank has a shield, and fantastic threat generating skills. The Tank, unless
he be a Paladin, also does not have mana. What this means is that Mages, Warlocks,
Rogues, Priests, Hunters, and certain specs of other classes, are -not- The Tank. As a
general rule The Tank should be the group lead, so they have access to raid marks. They
should also be one the chattiest people in the group - explaining what the marks mean,
when they want the Hunter to pull, etc. Only person talking more The Tank should be The
Healer, which leads us onto that very thing.
The Healer, unlike The Tank, generally doesn't wear metal armor (unless they're a
Paladin). They generally do not have skills that help -draw- agro, since the act of
healing draws enough on its own. There's really two things The Healer absolutely needs
- Line of Sight, and Mana. Now, really, The Healer needs to know how to do their job,
there's no argument there, but the other people in the group need to understand HOW The
Healer does their job. The answer to that is: From a distance, and with lots of aggro
reduction. At no point should The Healer be leading, pulling, dpsing, tanking, or
soloing. If your group has a damage meter The Healer shouldn't be on it. If they are
on it they ought to be at the bottom of the list, with room to spare. As a side note,
party members should at least -glance- at The Healer's mana bar from time to time, as
well as where The Healer is. Spells do not bend around corners, or go through walls, and
even if they could, they are not forthcoming without any blue juice (aka, Mana.)
That's all from me for now. Next week I'll go over some slightly more Class-specific
instance points, like the Warlock's Soul Stone, Paladin Buffs, and group make-up tips.
Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 4/13/2008 6:32:13 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Professions from an End-game stand point
| Ishnu-alah! So, you've got your class, your race, and even your spec. You know what the background story of your character is and which nickname you don't mind being called by. Your problem? What profession(s) will be most helpful to you/your guild in an end-game setting. Ankalima, your friendly neighborhood Druid is here to assist you. Almost all of the crafting professions can offer assistance to your fabulous fellow guildies, the real trick is what it is you want to offer - or perhaps what needs to be offered.
The Master Alchemist must decide which specialty he wants - Elixirs, Transmutes, or Potions. The most helpful for raiders (or even heroic instances) would be either Elixirs or Potions. Following one or the other gives you a chance to "discover" some rather spiffy pots that will always be at the top of every raiding event. Following the potions path allows you to learn how to make Cauldrons, which can supply your 25-man with a major potion of some form of protection (arcane, shadow, nature, etc.). You can only hold one of the potions at a time, so it's not good for stocking the tank, but it's nice to help the guild all the way around. You could, instead, follow the Elixir route, and through a bit of luck discover the top of the ladder in elixirs - The Flasks. Each Flask acts as both a Battle and Guardian Elixir, but the effects last for 2 hours and persist through death. The buffs are well worth it, and really it's the "persists through death" part that makes them really worth it.
The Master Jewel Crafter doesn't really have to worry about using their profession when raid time comes around. The help that they offer comes from preparing for the raid ahead of time. Cutting gems to go into slots, making trinkets and rings and necklaces. Though, really it's the ability they have to turn those nice sparkling gems into very helpful sparkling -cut- gems. The pluses from the gems, coupled with the bonuses from following the color requirements for slots, and then throw and meta gem in on top of it all (head slot only folks!), and you've got a new title to put in front of you favorite tank/healer/dps - it's called "Uber".
The Master Leather Worker has one thing and one thing only to worry about in a raid - Drums. Especially Drums of Battle, which increases melee, ranged, and spell haste by 80 for all nearby party members. The 30 sec length of the spell is saddened by the 2 minute cool down, but it's useful for that extra burn push that you need to knock out the last 4-5% of health on that boss with the ?? for a level and your tank's already bit the dust. Have more than one Leather Worker in the raid? Better make sure they're communicating, the effects of these bad boys don't stack.
The Master Tailor only has one pre-raid concern Runic Spell Thread. Not easy to obtain, and not cheap to make, this +35 to healing and damage and a +20 to stamina is nice for any caster class. Though, the Golden Spellthread is nicer for straight healers - +66 to healing and +22 to spell damage with the stamina buff still the same. The threads aside, tailors (especially in a guild lacking them) are much loved for the easy-to-make 16 slot Netherweave bags they can crank out. And hey, if you've got the recipe, and someone else has the mats, 8 mooncloth and 4 Netherweb Spider Silk can net you the even spiffier Primal Mooncloth Bag for 20 slots total.
Well, that's all from me for now. Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 4/6/2008 8:01:13 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Professional Role-Playing
| Ishnu-alah! This is your friendly neighborhood Druid Ankalima, here to babble on about professions again. Earlier I got to thinking about professions chosen and pursued for no reason other than the role-play value of them - or perhaps shock value would be a better term.
There are those that are just plain silly - Blacksmithing holds almost no value whatsoever for a Priest, Warlock, or Mage. They can't use any of the armor no matter what level they achieve and the end of the line BoP items available aren't geared toward casters in the slightest. While a 70 Warlock wandering around Shattrath with a Blazeguard would certainly be an interesting sight to behold indeed, even professions chosen for roleplay should still be at least mildly helpful. Think about picking up Jewelcrafting and Engineering instead, for a little shock value and a lot of role-playing possibilities. It fits for a Gnome of any class to pick up Engineering, it's like a Gnome "thing". What about the Night Elf Druid (*clears throat*), with goggles and rocket boots on, staring intently at a Living Ruby through a magnifying glass. Maybe the story behind her is that she lived in Gnomeregan before it was lost, loves all things mechanical and natural and strives to keep balance maintained between the two.
Go a different direction and bring up your raging Fury Warrior as a Herbalist and Tailor. I can hear you now, "But Ankalima you said they should still be helpful!" Yes I did, and this works. The herbs gathered can be sold for profit alone, and tailoring allows for the creation of always-in-demand bags. I mean, truly, Deathgaze is really a sensitive dual-wielding mass-slaughtering raging berserker deep down, who enjoys picking flowers in his spare time and creating the latest fashions with cloth and thread. The reasons behind this can be varied as well, maybe he lost his family in the war and remembers them by doing what he does because they owned a clothing shop or his little sister just plain loved flowers. Maybe it's something as simple as he managed to break his thumb with a hammer or impaled his foot with a pick on a failed attempt and simply just doesn't like Blacksmithing and Mining.
Snifflebolt has no aptitude for all things mechanical, nor does he have enough understanding of the arcane to get by on the that. Fear not! Everyone's favorite little rouge seems to have a mind that wanders right between the two. As an Alchemist and Enchanter Snifflebolt never really lacks for much of anything, and all of his plundered - er - purchased equipment is enchanted to sparkly perfection. I'd bring your own drink though, if you stay to visit him, he doesn't label anything and is mischievous even for a Rouge.
Well, that's all from me for now. Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all! *Peers into her drink and looks around for Snifflebolt* Eh, heh.
~ Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 3/30/2008 8:08:29 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Happily Harmonized
| Ishnu-alah! This is your friendly neighborhood Druid Ankalima, getting ready to touch on the dreaded subject of Alternate Characters. Alts slow down the leveling of mains, take precious time away from raiding and heroics, and can be aggravating at times - especially when you’re used to a nice heal spell and realize you’re on your warrior at the wrong time.
I am here to help alleviate this quandary, rejoice! There’s two major routes you can take for this one, the first being to stop thinking of your alt as an alt, and think of it more as a second main. Keeping this in mind you’d have to be willing to give almost equal time to both characters, keeping them very close in level. The reason for this is harmonizing their professions. One would be your gatherer, we’ll say Miner/Herbalist for this example, the other would be an Engineer/Alchemist.
The gatherer is feeding the crafter, so to avoid spending too much in the Auction House, you’ll need to make sure your gatherer keeps pace or passes your crafter. With the Engineer/Alchemist combo you can always opt to slow the leveling of your crafter by hanging around and doing battlegrounds from time to time. The buffs and heals from alchemy, on top of the explosive power of engineering will definitely make your time in battlegrounds entertaining - win or lose.
Another profession-based option for making your alt not so useless is to try out this combination - your main is a Miner/Engineer ( or blacksmith or enchanter), and your alt is a Tailor/Jewel Crafter. Basically your main is supplying itself as well as the alt, though most all of what it will be sending to the alt it will hardly have a need for itself. Yes, Engineering and Blacksmithing use some cloth, and leather for that matter, but not so much that you can’t afford to resort the AH for those.
Not concerned about making bags with the tailoring? Alt not a cloth wearer and you feel a little weird in full plate making bolts by the inn? Then go Enchanting/JC. You won’t be able to enchant your main’s BoP gear, but the mats created from Disenchanting help create a nice income from the AH, and can help cut the costs of keeping your other professions supplied. As well as helping you out in netting that spiffy mount you’ve got your eyes on.
Well, that's all from me for now. Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~ Ankalima |
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| Posted by: Ankalima on 3/24/2008 2:41:38 PM | View other Blog posts from Ankalima
Affects of the Anxiously Awaited
| Ishnu-alah! This is your friendly neighborhood Druid Ankalima, just passing the time by sharing a bit of information. Fun times are upon us as everyone is anxiously awaiting the 2.4 patch, wasn't it supposed to come out a week or two ago? Oh well. More specifically I want to talk about the changes brought to professions (a personal focus of mine).
The first thing that jumped out at me was the change to the cooldown of Transmute Arcanite. A relief for Epic-unmounted Paladins and Warlocks alike I'm sure, the creation of the bars will no longer have a cooldown. I suggest waiting for the patch to buy these if you need them for anything else as well, since its more likely for the market to get flooded with them now the average price per bar should drop, though the cost of the items used to create the bar will probably rise to offset the bar's drop.
Chefs with severe aversions to fishing should look forward to this patch, since it'll much easier to level cooking up to 300 without having to ever own a pole. Charred Bear Kabobs and Juicy Bear Burgers (Foo, now I'm hungry...) can be purchased from Malygen in Felwood and use the meat found on level 48-56 bears. On a side note the recipes themselves require a 250 cooking skill level to learn.
The changes to mining almost broke my heart, as I've already suffered through low skills gains from smelting on far too many characters. However, I am looking forward to getting more skill gains from smelting for any future obsession I pursue. It seems this is more for people who pick up two gathering professions though, since most all professions that rely heavily on mining require enough of the different kinds of ore to help your mining along with little fuss. Still, help is help, and a smart professional knows better than to look a gift Naaru in the mouth.
Enchanters, and those seeking their services, rejoice! You can now shatter Void Crystals into two Large Prismatic Shards. The Large Prismatic shards are used in nearly twice as many recipes as the Void Crystals, and usually in greater quantities. Granted the Void Crystals are from Epic equipment, while the Shards drop from higher end Rare items, but the ability to turn an unwanted abundance into a needed store is always welcome - which all the Jewel Crafters out there are getting a hand in as well, with the added ability to turn green gems into a random blue gem.
Finally, I'd like to touch on Engineering (Careful, the Goblin stuff is a bit unstable...) just a little. Minor Recombobulator is now sold by Gagsprocket in Ratchet making it more accessible to the Horde. Rocket Boots Xtreme now come in a Lite cloth version which drops from Mechano-Lord Capacitus - good luck to you on that one. Non-engineer PvPers will be happy to know that Engineers can no longer run away cackling with the flag with these boots, they now cause you to drop the flag.
Well, that's all from me for now. Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~Ankalima |
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