socketing
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Aion fail-proof manastone supplements available in the cash shop
Hey Aion players, want to do away with the frustration inherent in socketing your manastones? NCsoft has answered your prayers with the new fabled and eternal felicitous socketing supplements. The catch? They're only available today through October 11th. The other catch? They're only available in Aion's item shop. If you've never played Aion, here's a run-down: Socketing manastones into your gear grants considerable bonuses and is basically required for competitive PvP and PvE. Unfortunately, the random number generator that governs the process is notoriously unfriendly to players, many of whom have blown their entire in-game fortunes trying to socket a single suit of armor. Five of the new fail-proof supplements are also available as part of Aion's 24-month veteran reward package. You can read the details on the new promotion at the official UK Aion website. NCsoft has not confirmed whether the promotion is also happening on the American servers. We'll update the post as that info becomes available. [Thanks to Indeterminatus for the tip!]
Patch 3.2.2 known bugs
Each new patch seems to bring about its own unique bugs, and Patch 3.2.2 is no different. As of Tuesday evening there are significant lag and server stability issues plaguing Azeroth worse than that night Jaina spent with Arthas plagues her, but that should hopefully be resolved with the rolling restarts tomorrow (5:00 a.m. PDT / 8:00 a.m. EDT). The lag, not Jaina's problem. That's going to take... well, she should see a doctor.There are currently two major issues Blizzard has announced.The first is a series of display problems, which Blizzard recommends you do the standard deleting of the WTF, Cache, and Interface folders. Before you do that be aware that removing the folders will delete all your add-ons and add-on preferences. In my experience, you're better off deleting the Cache folder and then updating all your add-ons, or just disabling add-ons which are out of date.More detailed instructions for Windows and MacOS X can be found in Syndri's post on the official forums.The other issue that items which are tradable under the BoP rules are not able to be socketed. This appears to not be affecting everyone, however there is a work around in the following steps:
WoW Rookie: Slotting your sockets with gems
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.You're over level 60 now, and you're pretty hot stuff. You've ridden through the Dark Portal the old-fashioned way, swaggering into The Burning Crusade content in style. You'd done your reading; you knew these mobs were going to hit a lot harder, and you came prepared. You ran a few last dungeons before you shipped out, and you're respectably outfitted in BRD and URBS blues, along with a heady mix of new gear that appears to be dropping like candy.And then you looted a piece of armor with crazy-hot good looks but an odd, blank box among its stats – and the stats, strangely enough, appear to leave something to be desired. Nonetheless, your groupmates applauded your luck and seemed genuinely pleased for you. What in Outland have you gotten into now?My dear WoW rookie, you've just looted your first socketed item. Sockets allow you to truly customize your gear to either augment your strengths or brace up your weaknesses (or both). Whether you just want to get down the road with a decent set of gear or you enjoy endlessly tweaking your armor's performance, we'll help you fill your first sockets and make your character stronger than ever.
Wrath profession goodies
The days of choosing a profession and maximizing it solely based on a few purples at the very end are no more. Not only will many more crafted epics be bind on equip, they will be available earlier than the maximum rank. Instead, the incentive to choose between the available professions will be based more on fun and personal preference. Each profession is getting its own 'goody bag' of items that are fun and promote individual customization. Intrigued? Here's an overview of what you can expect to see:
Insider Trader: Armorsmiths vs. weaponsmiths
I received a question over the tip line from an armorsmith this morning who is considering switching to weaponsmith because he is dissatisfied with his profession. Player regrets surrounding a chosen specialization, or even profession, are common and happen to almost everyone at one time or another.JDT writes that he is "extremely disappointed" with armorsmithing and what he is able to make, and that one of his reasons for possibly switching to weaponsmithing is that he theorizes it would be helpful to be able to pass down weapons to his alts that cannot wear plate. Unfortunately JDT, anything that you craft as either a weaponsmith or an armorsmith is not only bind on pick-up, but it also requires you to have that specialization in order to wield/wear it. That being said, there are blacksmithing plans for weapons and armor floating around that are bind on equip and can be passed along, but those can be made by any blacksmith regardless of specialization. This week I will begin comparing the various armorsmith and weaponsmith pieces to the first non-crafted upgrades in order to illustrate the value of each item and help each class and spec come to an informed decision when it comes time to choose blacksmithing specialties. Next week I'll finish out the comparison, as there is more than I can fit into this week's edition!
Breakfast Topic: Direction for professions
Over the last few days, we've been given some exciting new details for craftsmen everywhere. Haven't been keeping up? Here's a quick summary of some of the more interesting developments: The alchemical discovery system might become a feature of all professions, although it would likely be restricted to "fun" recipes. Daily quests awarding tokens to craftsmen to use at a special vendor selling recipes might be implemented. In this way, there would be a bit more individuality between players. The best items you can craft for any given slot will be available around 350 instead of 375, as in The Burning Crusade. Tailors are getting their own flying mount, the Magnificent Flying Carpet. Fishing will become more interactive. Blacksmiths will be socketing. Enchanters will be able to sell their enchants on the Auction House. Engineers are getting a form of enchants, rather than having to cart around so many items. The list goes on. In fact, there are several interesting and fun abilities and recipes on the horizon for all professions. Which changes are you most excited about? Are you thinking of switching trades because of some of the upcoming goodies? If you don't currently have a crafting profession, are you considering getting one?Edit: The best items you can craft for any given slot in The Burning Crusade came at the skill cap (375) and Blizzard now feels this was too late. In Wrath, you will acquire them earlier.
Is World of Warcraft really World of Diablo?
So how do you design Diablo 3 anyway? Bargain Bin Reviews has an idea -- just retrofit World of Warcraft. Shift talent points to spells, decrease enemy health and damage and increase the number of enemies by a factor of 10 or so, do away with healing spells and tanking, and you're essentially done. It's a bit silly and a bit tongue in cheek, yes, but it also brings up a good point. In the end, WoW is probably influenced by Diablo 2 as much as it is by Warcraft 3, if not more.
Re-evaluating item stat values
Blizzard is looking at the value of sockets on items (currently, the value per socket is slightly higher on higher quality items) and standardizing it throughout the game in an upcoming (but unspecified) content patch. In addition to this, they're also going to reviewing the expansion armor sets -- Drysc says it's not the intent for higher tier sets to be poorer quality or side-grades to previous sets, and that some sets may see changes in the future.While Drysc seems to be talking about future changes, some re-evaluation of item values seems to have already happened in patch 2.0.10, however. This list of undocumented patch changes, compiled by Ramiel, contains numerous item tweaks -- some good and some not so good.
Vacaloco's complete jewel guide
One of the new puzzles I've had in the Outlands is figuring out just how good that socketed item is. For instance, Chemise of Rebirth without any gems in it is obviously worse than Goldweave Tunic. But what gems are available, and how much might they bump up the Chemise? Enter Vacaloco's complete jewel guide. It purports to be a list of every gem currently in the game, showing in easy-to-read format their color and what stats they give, as well as whether they're crafted, bought, dropped, or PvP rewards. I've had this list open in a browser window constantly for the past few days.Personally, what I'd like to see is an AddOn or web tool that would do the thinking for me. I want to be able to mouse over an item, or input the number and color of sockets on a web page somewhere, and get back the maximum stat boost, for my chosen type of stats, that I could get out of the item with gems socketed. That would make a lot of comparisons much easier. Unfortunately, I don't know any Lua, nor am I very familiar with WoW's API, so writing that AddOn is probably beyond me.In any case, Vacaloco's page is a great resource. Have you found any ridiculously useful references for this brave new world?
