Engineering fun builds up in Beta

New schematics are finally in for Engineers in the Wrath Beta, with the exception of the eagerly anticipated and widely speculated upon motorcycle. Despite the glaring absence of The Hog, there are a bunch of neat stuff for Engineers from the basic -- such as the space-saving Hammer Picks and Bladed Pickaxes -- to the cool and complex, such as MOLL-E, a portable mailbox. Check out the gallery for a quick look at the new schematics in Beta and an overview after the jump.

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Basic stuff
These include the reagents for some schematics. Basically, the boring stuff that turn gray pretty quickly but are good for 5-8 points of leveling up your skill. Among the simple stuff, however, are a couple of white (common) items that might actually sell to gatherers. A Bladed Pickaxe, for example, works as both a Mining Pick and Skinning Knife, saving one bag space for Miners / Skinners. The Hammer Pick, a combination Mining Pick and Blacksmith's Hammer is even more useful.

Other items that Engineers might profit from are upgraded versions of bullets and arrows, the Mammoth Cutters and Saronite Razorheads respectively, as well as newer versions of Mana and Health injectors. The two new scopes for ranged weapons don't go the usual pattern of increasing damage. Instead, the Heartseeker Scope increases ranged critical strike rating like the Stabillized Eternium Scope, while the Sun Scope is something new entirely, increasing ranged haste rating by 40.

Goggles and fun stuff
Of course, Engineers must have their trademark goggles, although only one seems implemented fully right now. The Armored Titanium Goggles is a pair of plate tank goggles that seem typical of Level 80 gear -- it confers, for example, 87 Stamina. The other goggles don't do much other than give armor and a Metagem slot. The names give an indication of their future stats, such as a pair of leather eyewear called Greensight Gogs. My favorite one is the cloth Visage Liquification Goggles... face melting, anyone?

True to form, most of the fun stuff are Engineer-exclusive and almost seem compelling enough to take up Engineering. The Sonic Booster is a trinket that gives a massive 81 Stamina in addition to having a proc that grants 430 attack power for 10 seconds. While we haven't seen most of the items for Level 80, a Stamina trinket is always precious commodity. The Noise Machine is a caster version that lacks the Stamina but procs a damage-absorbing shield from melee attacks done to the wearer.

Gnomish Engineers get another ridiculous item in the X-Ray Specs, which strip players down to their... bare essentials (those Gnomes are such pervs!), while Goblin Engineers actually get something useful -- the Global Therman Sapper Charge is the big daddy of bombs, a high level version of the Sapper Charge series and does "major siege damage". This makes Goblin Engineers true sappers or bombardiers in the new Battlegrounds. The generic Saronite Bombs also do moderate siege damage. As a Goblin Engineer, I'm looking forward to the Wrath version of The Big One and The Bigger One -- likely to be called The Biggest One.

While guns have been moderate sellers in the past, the two new guns crafted in Wrath are Bind on Pickup. One of them, the Nestingway 4000, is a tanking gun with Stamina and a blue socket and is conceivably the best-in-slot item for tanks at Level 80. It also has a relatively fast speed of 2.00, making it an ideal pulling weapon. I expect more guns to be added, particularly an epic DPS version that may or may not be BoP.

MOLL-E, the portable mailbox, finally makes it to this build, with a seemingly appropriate 1 day cooldown. Unfortunately, there's no sign of a portable Auction House just yet, despite earlier reports. There's also a higher version Jumper Cables, this time from the Gnomes -- the Gnomish Army Knife. [EDIT - thanks Malkeior: The Gnomish Army Knife appears to be a must-have item for all Engineers as it contains all the tools an Engineer needs to craft items.] Another Gnomish device promises to be a lot of fun, the Gnomish Lightning Generator, a trinket that fires off a bold of lightning (that can occasionally zap the user, of course!).

Engineering enchants
The appropriately named Jon LeCraft talked about crafting in the latest BlizzCast, noting that many of the cool Engineering items will be converted to on-use Enchantments that appropriately take the place of an item's Enchantment slot. Of course, these gadgets require Engineering knowledge to use, but the new method makes it more appealing as Engineers no longer gimp themselves by wearing sub-par gear with a cool effect. Instead, they can convert their existing epic gear into Engineering items. As I mentioned before, I think the Hyperspeed Accelerators, a gadget attached to gloves that increases haste rating by 340 for 8 secs, is one of the best glove Enchantments players can get.

There are a whole bunch of new schematics in Beta now, although I expect a few more to pop up before the testing phase is over. Right now, there is only one schematic for each Goblin and Gnomish Engineering, though I expect a few more to further define the two schools. The belt Enchantments still don't seem to compare to the gem slot provided by Blacksmiths, and there still isn't anything good for cloaks. Expect to see more epic schematics, hopefully for the trinket slots, another epic ranged weapon and perhaps one or two more on-use Enchantments. With any luck, we might even get to see the portable Auction House see play, even if only for the Beta.