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Preparing for Wrath: Were you prepared?
Illidan screamed "You are not prepared!" to us all in the Burning Crusade. It turned out that most of us were, especially after the release of patch 3.0.2. Over the past eight days Allison, Zach, and I have looked at what it takes to get you prepared for Wrath of the Lich King.Even if you haven't been preparing every day for the past week or so, you can still get caught up quickly and easily. In each of our guides we give you some tips that only take about 20 minutes or so in game. Everything from cleaning out your bank, to stocking up on food, potions, and stones, to making sure that you have enough money for your travels.Take a look back at our preparation guide. Are you prepared? Preparing for Wrath Day 8 – Your bank Preparing for Wrath Day 7 – Eat, drink, and be merry Preparing for Wrath Day 6 – Have a nice night with some pots, stones, and oils Preparing for Wrath Day 5 – Dungeoneering and you Preparing for Wrath Day 4 – Addons for leveling Preparing for Wrath Day 3 – PvP like there's no tomorrow Preparing for Wrath Day 2 – The dying wallet Preparing for Wrath Day 1 – Get your act together
Preparing for Wrath Day 1: Get your act together
It's not that you've done anything wrong, but if you want to really hit the ground running in Northrend you're going to need to get your act together. Go outside and get some food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and other goodies. All those nutrients will let you stay up and play Wrath until you fall asleep in your chair.But there's more to it all then just that. You need to make sure everything else is taken care of so you can have some uninterrupted play time tonight. Be a pro and get as much of this stuff done now, so come 11pm or so when you walk out to your midnight release gathering you can be free of all responsibilities. And if you're really a pro, you've secretly engineered your life for the next few days to allow you the maximum amount of time to play Wrath. If you're like me this includes having a wonderful dinner with your significant other tonight, then some alone time with her and Jon Stewart, and finally the "Okay hon, I'll see you in a few days."I'm sure that'll work, right?Read on after the break for the WoW Insider "I proudly don't have a life outside of WoW for the next few days" checklist. Follow it, and you'll finally be prepared for Wrath.
The best of WoW Insider: November 4-11, 2008
It's almost here! A whole continent of new content in Northrend, a brand new class in the Death Knight, and ten more levels of the greatest MMO ever created. Wrath of the Lich King, WoW's second expansion, releases on Wednesday night, and Joystiq's sister site, WoW Insider, is buzzing with anticipation. Here's ten of our most popular posts from the last week (all dressed up in our brand new redesign), but stay glued to the site over the next few days, because the frozen north is about to heat up. News The Lich King attacks Orgrimmar and StormwindArthas taunts Azeroth just a few days before we're supposed to head up north and lay the smack down. Mystery continent spottedThere are three known continents on Azeroth -- and this little map found ingame has four. Profession epics go BoE in WrathThe epic gear that you make will likely be able to go to your friends (and the AH) in Wrath. Official WoW site now full Wrath of the Lich KingBlizzard switches over their official site to a more wintry theme. Wrath shipped to stores, copies being sold early at 7-11The game is in stores, and some of them are breaking ranks already. Features The 15 most beautiful Hunter petsLooking good, kitty cat. Here are the best-looking pets for Hunters. Wrath 101: How to get to Northrend and where to go once you get thereUnsure of what to do in the frozen north? We've got you covered. Essential addons for Wrath of the Lich KingAll the addons you need in expansion number two. Ready Check: A look back at Burning Crusade raidingWe're about to move to a new endgame, so here's a final look back at the old one. Preparing for WrathOur in-depth series of posts will get you ready for anything Arthas throws at you, no matter what class or spec you are, in Northrend.
Preparing for Wrath Day 2: The dying wallet
Off a question on professions we recently took in Ask A Beta Tester, it occurred to me that it would probably be helpful to provide players with a few ballpark figures on budgetary expectations for Northrend. Blizzard's been pretty frank about its desire to reduce ingame inflation, so it's reasonable to expect a number of compelling demands made on your e-wallet (especially if legions of grasping guild leaders worldwide get their wish and start taxing the living hell out of you). Bottom line? You're going to bleed gold out of your ears unless you exercise some financial restraint. But...whatever. Screaming over the ingame cost of everything keeps me from looking at my real-life stock portfolio. I need a drink.PROFESSIONS: Your first few minutes on the continent, no matter where you land, are going to be pretty expensive if you train up your tradeskills immediately. Polar22 in the AABT comments provided an extremely helpful link to WarcraftEcon confirming that each major and minor trade skill, with the exception of First Aid, will cost 35g to level to Grand Master. First Aid is more expensive at 50g. So, assuming you train your two major tradeskills in addition to Fishing, Cooking, and First Aid, count on being out 190g in addition to whatever it will cost you to train new recipes. WarcraftEcon estimates the total damage for an average player will clock in around 400-500g for these initial recipes and the Grand Master skill-up. That sounds broadly accurate from my experience in the beta, so plan on toting 500g along if you want all of your professions trained up immediately. The bleed begins!
Preparing for Wrath Day 3: PvP like there's no tomorrow
If you were to do only one thing before Wrath launches, might I recommend my favorite thing? PvP. I mean PvP of the fun sort. The casual PvP that should be healthy for everybody -- the Battlegrounds. Forget Arenas. It's a season in limbo and no Arena points are being awarded tomorrow, with everything from teams to ratings be wiped thereafter. The only thing that really matters now is Honor. It's the one currency aside from Gold that will still be viable deep into Wrath of the Lich King. Since Blizzard announced that Honor will not be reset, it makes perfect sense to stockpile it. Let Adam and Allison duke it out with their graphic duel. We'll ninja this feature and head off into the Battlegrounds to do some PvP of our own.Unlike Badges of Justice which will only be legal tender for Level 70 item rewards, or Arena Points, which will be wiped clean the moment we ding 71, Honor will still be usable to purchase on-level rewards. Of course, we can expect inflation to apply -- a pair of Guardian bracers today cost 11,794 Honor and 20 Warsong Gulch Marks of Honor, but data suggests that the Deadly Gladiator bracers will cost 39,400 Honor and a 1660 personal Arena Rating. The Guardian belt and boots currently cost 17,850 Honor and 40 Eye of the Storm / Arathi Basin Marks of Honor, but looks like they'll cost 62,000 Honor and 1630 and 1720 personal Arena ratings respectively.The current Honor cap is at 75,000, with each type of Mark of Honor capped at 100. This means that at the cost of the boots and belt, you'll only be able to purchase one piece when you hit Level 80 and play a few games through Season 5 when it starts on December 16. It's still not a bad deal if you've stored away all that Honor to begin with. And this is only if you choose to go for the best of the best... the Hateful and Savage Gladiator equivalents should be much more affordable. I wouldn't trust the current prices just yet -- anything can change once the PvP item vendor finally becomes accessible in Lake Wintergrasp. That said, any Honor you will have banked for Northrend will be a good investment.
Preparing for Wrath Day 4: Addons for leveling
While many of us have an army of alts, it's probably been a while since we've leveled our mains. Our mains are the special character for us. The main is the character that we agonize over every stat and piece of gear. With that kind of dedication and interest, we want to be sure that leveling our main goes as smooth as possible. Even if you don't take care of your main to that extent, getting out into the world and leveling again can be somewhat of a transition.One of the best ways to help with this transition is to make sure that you have all the necessary addons already configured properly before Wrath of the Lich King goes live this Thursday. While there are hundreds that you can choose from, only a few are going to really help you level quickly and like a pro.Continue reading on after the break for a quick and efficient list of addons that are going to help you level.
Preparing for Wrath Day 5: Dungeoneering and you
I can see that Adam's post yesterday was something of a graphical hit with readers, which frankly I am at something of a loss to reproduce. Stupid Adam with his stupid Photoshop. It's pictures you want? I got your pictures right here, pal. Did Adam get to see Arthas in a highly compromising position? An action shot, dare I say? Anyway, leaving aside that unpleasant little intrasite feud that will probably escalate and leave millions of people dead, I wanted to use today's Preparing for Wrath to remind people that some things, especially if you're a hardcore achievement bunny like me, are going to get a lot harder to do once Wrath goes live. I think we can all agree that Outland is going to empty faster than a Dave Matthews concert after the cops show up, so you're going to want to exploit the fact that most people are hanging around Shattrath with nothing to do. Foremost among the things you're probably not going to be able to do (at least easily) on once Wrath hits? Outland dungeons. Warriors and Paladins will also want to be aware of a certain demographic shift that's going to affect the likelihood of their getting a group slot.
Preparing for Wrath Day 6: Have a nice night with some pots, stones, and oils
There's only six more days until Wrath's release. Each day until the release we'll take a look at one thing you can do to prepare for the expansion. Taking a half hour here and there to get things ready before release will let you spend more time in Northrend and less time doing some of the un-fun things.Yesterday Alison cover bringing the right food and drinks to Northrend. Quite important to get ready ahead of time if you want to level quickly and easily. Along the same lines are potions, stones, and oils to take with you on your journeys.Let's take look at a long list of some easily obtainable items you should stock up on now. The goal of this list is to go over things that will survive through death. So we're not putting things like elixirs on it. No need to waste lots of expensive items when you die. Also, while flasks are definitely an option to use if you have them, chances are they're all used up with the last bit of raiding in Burning Crusade.
Preparing for Wrath Day 7: Eat, drink, and be merry
If you're planning on entering Northrend at 68, or if you're going to bring a toon that's new to 70 and isn't sporting a lot of good gear yet, setting aside a few choice consumables may help ease the pain while you're leveling. Even if your character's well-geared, you can take advantage of the early-bird specials being offered by a number of vendors in Azeroth and Outland who are already selling Northrend-level food and drink like Pungent Seal Whey. Check in with your local innkeepers to see what they have stocked, sell off the Outland-level equivalents, and set aside a few stacks of upgraded food and drink from vendors with whom you probably have a reputation discount. This will save you some time and gold before you board a zeppelin or boat for the north. If you're still leveling cooking, now's a great time to get to 375. You can also lay in a stash of buff food that will not only help get you the achievement The Outland Gourmet, but will help you complete The Rokk's daily cooking quests a little bit faster (and the Rokk has an achievement of his own). And it certainly won't hurt to have some buff food around for your first few dungeons.
Preparing for Wrath Day 8: Your bank
There's only 8 more days until Wrath's release. Each day until the release we'll take a look at one thing you can do to prepare for the expansion. Taking a half hour here and there to get things ready before release will let you spend more time in Northrend and less time doing some of the un-fun things.It might seem a tad strange now, but that big bank of yours is going to be more or less worthless once Wrath hits the streets. Just about everything is going to plummet in value. Liquidate your assets now or be in worse of a position than our real life economy is.There are some exceptions to that of course. You'll probably want to hang onto enchanting mats, since they can still be useful and high-value in the long run. You might also considering hanging on to some herbs for those leveling inscription. Most other raw minerals however can probably be safely sold now.
