Insider Trader: Yeah, nice effect -- but does it glow?
Insider Trader is your weekly inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.
Laugh all you like – for a sizable population of WoW players, an enchant's not worth the mats it takes unless it creates a cool glow. A long-time enchanter, I've made my share of snarky remarks in guild chat about dorky customers bringing me mats for completely inappropriate enchants on completely inappropriate weapons ... But then again, back in the day (ok -- way back in the day), I also made sure to equip an alternate staff enchanted with Demonslaying every time I zoned into town. Watch the peons swarm to see what the Great and Powerful Enchanter (TM) is wielding!
You'd probably be pretty surprised to learn that there is, in fact, an entire web site devoted to helping enchanters and players figure out which enchants make the coolest glows. GlowChart.com, the brainchild of Cordana of the Detheroc realm, offers screenshots of specific glows, lists of available enchants and their effects, and news on newly updated Burning Crusade-era glows.
Read more about glows after the jump, as well as an Insider Trader tip for miners trying to track elusive greyed-out "ghost nodes."
You've probably already noticed the disproportionate number of low-level PvPers padding their damage with the Fiery Weapon enchant. Keep an eye on future Insider Trader columns, when we'll cover the best enchants for different styles of play, from arena PvP to low-level PvP, PvE and more. But what about finding out what just plain looks cool? GlowChart shows you all the effects with screenshots taken in dark conditions, naturally highlighting the enchant glows. Screenshots consistently display two standard weapons (Bloodrazor and the Windweaver Staff), both of which have designs that display enchant glows cleanly and clearly. Cordana also takes the time to explain how enchant glows work on weapons that already glow (short answer #1: they don't), whether a black glow exists or not (short answer #2: it doesn't) and even what you can expect to pay for enchants in many situations.
It looks like more and more players will be asking questions about enchant glows now that effects were finally added in May to several Burning Crusade enchants. Watch GlowChart for updates as more screenshots and information is gathered, now that the glows are on the loose.
But isn't getting an enchant based on looks alone kind of ... dumb? "I find this an amusing comment that I get all the time ... gotta love hate mail," Cordana replies on his site. "The funny thing is that I couldn't agree with you more. However, if you're an enchanter, you know that one of the most common questions you're asked is what color the enchant glows. I've yet to meet an enchanter that hasn't been asked this question a number of times. This site was created so enchanters could have a reference for those people who ask that question. I think the answer to those that don't understand why people care about the glow is that many people care about what their character looks like."
Can't argue with that!
A miner issue
If you're a miner who's noticed greyed-out nodes spawning on your minimap, you've probably figured out that these nodes are located on a different vertical elevation than you are. What you may not realize is that the majority of these are not at bugged "under the world" locations or unreachable spawn points. Chances are, the nodes are located in a nearby cave or tunnel. The entrance may not necessarily be located nearby, though, giving the nodes the appearance of being terrain-bugged. The next time this happens to you, check for underground access points a little further afield than you might normally think to try. You may strike gold – literally!
Insider Trader's Lisa Poisso is a freelance writer, when she's not boxed inside mountainous cul-de-sacs searching for cave entrances.
