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The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing your Retadin for Karazhan part II
Let's take a short breather from this whole flood of Wrath of the Lich King Beta news for a bit. I know everyone's excited to find out more about what's waiting for us in Northrend, but some of us would actually like to play the game right now, instead of waiting for *cough* a few months. As exciting as the new Paladin changes seem to be, players with fresh Level 70 characters would do well to focus on gearing up for now. After all, it'll make it so much easier to fight the numerous baddies in Northrend.Previously, we discussed the weapons for a Retribution Paladin only starting to gear up for the ever-popular Karazhan. More than anything -- more than any piece of armor -- a Retadin must find the biggest, baddest 2-handed weapon she can find to strike righteous fear into the hearts of her enemies. Once she has that, everything follows. In this installment of The Light and How to Swing It, let's take a look at the armor pieces that every Karazhan-bound Retadin should be wearing.
Professional benefits in Wrath
Thanks to the information slowly (we just can't get them fast enough around here...) leaking out from the Wrath of the Lich King Beta, we already learned that the professions trend started in The Burning Crusade will continue in the new expansion. The Burning Crusade (or Patch 2.0) introduced new items or enchantments that confer bonuses exclusively the character with the profession, such as ring enchants for Enchanters or Bind-on-Pickup gems for Jewelcrafters. This was a welcome change that rewarded players with their choice of profession -- almost to the point where such profession-only bonuses compelled many to choose professions somewhat incongruous with their class. Hardcore PvP players pursued Enchanting for the ring enchants, for example, while hardcore raiders leveled their Leatherworking for the Drums of Battle. In Wrath of the Lich King, the different professions get even more exclusive goodies designed to keep professions more or less in tune with their intended classes. Eliah reported about the passive buffs for gatherers, and they seem to be in thematically tuned to some classes. Take Master of Anatomy, for example, which seems to be a benefit given to Skinners. Traditionally, Rogues, Hunters, and Shamans were the classes who pursued Leatherworking and its complementary profession, Skinning. The passive benefit to critical strikes are certainly welcome to those classes, so players who chose to stick to their Skinning will actually receive a pleasant boost in Wrath.
Making/Money: My value chains are broken
There's a person out there who claims that all they need to know about business can be learned from World of Warcraft. A fine sentiment, to be sure, but I take issue with its accuracy. Today we are discussing the first of their eleven business topics: value chains – and why they don't work. In brief, value chain analysis states that for any good requiring multiple stages of production (meaning you don't just rip it out of your backyard and eat it), value is added at each level of refinement. Therefore the price should increase along its path to becoming a finalized product.
Arcane Brilliance: The world of Mage-crafting, part 1
Each week Arcane Brilliance offers a place for Mages everywhere to take a short break from opening portals to Shattrath and just relax and enjoy a thousand words or two about their class. That's right, my robed brethren, nobody's going to ask you to "sheep square" or demand "table plz" around here. Yep, 'round here, all the Fireballs crit, the tank never breaks your Polymorph, and aggro is just a five letter made-up word that doesn't mean anything. So set aside your threat meters and your spell damage trinkets, sit back, and enjoy this brief respite. You can always get back to pulling aggro off the tank later. Much like life, playing World of Warcraft is a series of choices. Some of these choices (should I jump that flagged Gnome while he's already in combat, or wait till he's done and engage him honorably?) are smaller than others (should I roll Mage, or some other, crappier class?). You choose a class, a race, a hairstyle, a guild, a spec, and whether or not to accept a party invite from that Hunter who has no pet and has decided melee suits him better than attacking from range (psst...always choose "not" on that last one, trust me). One of the most important choices you will make, and one that will effect your entire WoW experience from start to finish, is your choice of professions.Your choice of a crafting profession will offer you benefits as you level your Mage to 70 and then determine many of your opportunities at end-game. Thankfully, this choice is one you can always undo, although doing so can be costly and wasteful. Join us after the jump for part one of our look at the seven primary crafting professions and what each one has to offer us as Mages throughout our WoW careers.
Professing love for PvP through professions
I wrote up about Leatherworking as the hardcore raider's profession of choice. This is due to one particular item -- the Drums of Battle -- which greatly increases raid efficiency, particularly if the buff can be kept up indefinitely throughout a boss encounter. The item is so raid-beneficial that even cloth-wearers, who cannot equip any leather items, drop more aligned professions such as Tailoring. For Arena PvP, where each stat point counts towards survivability and lethality, there is no better profession than Enchanting and to a lesser degree, Jewelcrafting. Arena players competing at the highest levels have taken up Enchanting purely for the exclusive ring enchantments. A quick inspection of all players rated 2k and above will reveal that most have taken up at least Enchanting and enchanted their rings with the appropriate enchantments.Today I dropped Mining to take up Enchanting after months of internal debate. I know the cost involved and it would break my back to level all the way to 375 for the Enchant Ring - Stats and the Enchant Ring - Healing Power along the way, but if I felt that if I were truly dedicated to Arena play, there simply was no other way. In fact, I'm rather disappointed in myself for having taken this long to take up Enchanting. Embarrassingly, I wasn't hardcore enough. Fortunately, I had informed my wife of this decision weeks ago and she's been generous enough to amass a bunch of Enchanting materials for me to use in skilling up. She even made me a Spellfire Bag. Now the trek begins. I'm not as sold on Jewelcrafting for PvP, however, so I'm keeping my Blacksmithing. I also have an emotional attachment to my Stormherald, even though I know the Season 3 mace is arguably better. But as more and more players run around wielding one of the coolest-looking weapons in the game, thanks to the easy availability of Nether Vortexes, I'm pretty sure my love affair will soon end. Jewelcrafting only has unique-equipped gems with minor stat point benefits so I think I'll pass on it for now. I'm also willing to wager that Wrath of the Lich King holds nice BoP surprises for crafting professions. It feels good to have finally made the jump. At the very least, I can put this silly little racial skill to good use. Enchant Bracer - Minor Health, anyone?
BattleHeat brings Azerothian armor to life
The Euro WoW site has recently posted a brief interview with Tobias of the German workshop BattleHeat, a group that has recently crafted a real life set of Judgement, the Paladin Tier 2 armor set.The interview gives some cool insight into the creative process of the armor, in addition to Tobias's training and experience as a Blacksmith. It is interesting to hear that while he has extensive technical training as a Smith, most of his know-how of crafting armor is largely through practice. It boggles the mind how much practice and hard work it must have taken to get to the level of expertise required to make a Judgement replica, but I'll admit I have no knowledge of the field myself.There are some incredibly fun details on this armor that you really should see, and I've tucked some of it just behind the cut!
I spent how much on my alt?
Just this weekend I did something I never expected I would do: Spent 5,000 gold on epic flight. On my main? Oh no, I've had that for months now. I spent 5,000 gold on my alt. My alt! Good gravy!Honestly, I don't really regret it, it's mostly the shock of spending that much gold on an alt that gets me. I'll definitely be putting the epic gryphon to good use, I play my alt quite a bit. Like I mentioned in another recent post, my alt is almost my second main. Pretty much full epics, has seen the insides of Zul'Aman, Tempest Keep and Serpentshrine, capped Blacksmithing, all of that. The fact remains, though, it is an alt. 5,000 gold on an alt!I can't be the only one crazy enough to do this, am I? Surely there are others with alts that have epic flight? Most of my friends poked fun at me about it, but besides waiting for Wrath of the Lich King, what am I going to use that money for anyway? I suppose I could feast on Stormwind Brie instead but I have a feeling an epic gryphon is a little more useful, no?
Blacksmiths won't be left behind in the Sunwell
Blacksmiths aren't being left out of the crafting spree and receive some new recipes of their own. Additionally, Miners get a new type of metal! Sort of.Hardened Khorium can be made by Miners as of patch 2.4, and is used in the new Smithing plans. Hardened Khorium isn't as frightening as it sounds, it doesn't require 10 bars like its Adamantite counterpart. The bad news is, Hardened Khorium Bars require Hardened Adamantite Bars. 3 Khorium Bars and 1 Hardened Adamantite Bar will net you a Hardened Khorium Bar. Who knew smelting was such a confusing process?Now the good stuff: Like Tailoring, Blacksmithing is receiving at least two new sets consisting of a breastplate and some gloves. The Hardened Khorium set is a set of DPS plate, and the Sunblessed set is Healing plate. Both sets have a total of 5 sockets, but they're a little less focused than the tailored gear. Red, blue and yellow sockets are all present here.Like the other new crafted gloves, the Blacksmithing gauntlets take a handful of Sunmotes. Aside from the Sunmotes, all of the other materials can be acquired in-game before the launch of 2.4. Primals, metals, nethers, those sorts of things.If you care to see the stats, go ahead and check them out after the jump. A special thanks goes out to MMO Champion for these images.
Encrypted Text: Job perks
I love the profession system in WoW, but sometimes it strikes me as odd that we're basically paying money to go to work. I wouldn't run around the world and skin animals, pluck feathers, find rare threads and cause massive environmental destruction for a leather jacket in real life, but I'll gladly do all that to make an epic leather chestpiece in WoW. Nevertheless, it's a good idea to pick up a crafting profession in WoW, just for the perks. (Unless you want to be one of those ultra-capitalists who take two gathering professions.) We've covered this in general terms before, but today we're going to focus on the crafting profession-specific BOP items and abilities that can really help out rogues in the end-game. Alchemy Honestly, alchemy doesn't have a lot of good BOP stuff. It's good for money-making and as a support profession for an alt (someone has to get all those transmutes done), but it doesn't offer a lot of enhancement for your main, unless you count "Being the guy at the raid who sucks up to everyone by giving them pots" as an enhancement. Which, for rogues, is not a bad thing -- there's enough of us out there that being an alchemist can help get you that coveted raid spot. But for pure min/maxing, it might be better to buy herbs off the AH or farm them on an alt and then have a guildie make you your pots. Particularly useful pots include Flask of Relentless Assault, Haste Potion, Insane Strength Potion, Fel Strength Elixir, Elixir of Major Fortitude, Onslaught Elixir and Super Healing Potion. The Alchemist's Stone is one of two items that are only usable by alchemists, and though it's a good starter trinket, it'll be quickly eclipsed for everyday wear by more rogue-specific trinkets. It really shines for hybrid classes and mana-users, but rogues shouldn't be popping healing potions like bubble wrap in PVE. If you are, you have bigger problems than your trinket selection. The other alch-only item is the Mad Alchemist's Potion, which restores health and mana and gives you a random buff. Nice, but not reliable when you need it.
The Light and How to Swing It: The paladin's guide to engineering
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article suggesting that blacksmithing may be the best profession choice for paladins. However, a metric load of engineers wrote in to inform me that a) I am dumb and b) engineering offers some great options for paladins. I disagree with option a on principle, but after doing some research, I've come to agree more and more with b. Engineering is indeed a viable (if still largely unprofitable) profession. While I might have soured on engineering after a torturous pre-BC time on my warlock, the new, revamped engineering has some wonderful tricks, toys, and ways to fill in the gaps in the paladin playstyle. The basics Dynamite and Bombs: They come in many forms, from these ultra-cheap versions to sophisticated gadgets. But no matter what type you make, they fulfill two important functions: they're wonderful ways to level engineering, and they provide a ranged attack/pull for a class that is otherwise lacking one. (Unless you grab Avenger's Shield or Holy Shock, but those are only available at later levels.)
The Light and How to Swing It: Blacksmithing for the rest of us
It's tough to figure out what crafting professions to take as a paladin. Jewelcrafting is fun, but the market is flooded. Engineering is great if you PvP, but otherwise it's not very useful. (Edited to add: I am wrong and forgot about the goggles. Please don't turn me into a chicken.) Tailoring and leatherworking are totally out. Alchemy is easy to level, but doesn't provide much of a return. And enchanting ... is a huge pain in the rear to get to max level. That leaves blacksmithing. Unfortunately, most blacksmithing items seem tailored for warriors or retadins. There's not a lot of craftable healing or tanking stuff out there, and blacksmithing is tough to level. So today we answer the question: What can blacksmithing do for holy and prot paladins in endgame? (Sorry, retadins, your stuff was covered in Chris's wonderful ret gear series.)
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: This is the year that was
The Care and Feeding of Warriors strides forth like a colossus, possibly my favorite X-Man because he's the team tank (I also kind of like Cyclops because he can shoot people with his eyes, which is just cool) to present you, the reader, with an overview of the year in warrioring. No, warrioring isn't a word. Yes, Matthew Rossi knows he can't just make up words whenever he feels like it. Ah, 2007. A roistering, boistering year. What? No, I'm pretty sure boistering is a word. You can't find it in the OED, you say? Look again, I'm sure it's in there.So what can we say about what's gone on the past year for warriors? The big changes (to my admittedly jaundiced eye) were the total overhaul of the honor system, the addition of the Arenas, allowing Thunderclap in defensive stance (a tacit admission that warriors were deficient multi-mob tanks compared to druids and paladins), the nerf to Thunderfury's aggro (okay, not so much important as just kinda sad), and rage normalization.The change to the honor system (taking place in December of 2006) caused a flood of poorly geared warriors, my tauren among them, to flood the BG's looking to improve their gear. I know at the time I was fed up with running instances for marginal upgrades and then losing the rolls on those items (items I'd already collected twice on two previous 70 warriors) over and over again. While the old system forced you to grind for ranks on a ladder week in, week out, the new system simply allowed you to collect honor and marks . While a lot of long time PvPers protested seeing the same gear they'd sweated for suddenly available to more people, in general it was a positive change allowing a lot of players to step through the Dark Portal with better gear than they otherwise would have had. In the time between 2.0.1 and the actually release of The Burning Crusade, I managed to get a whole set of PvP blues and a couple of epics, and I wasn't really running the battlegrounds all that much.Rage normalization, on the other hand, was a giant kick in the teeth. I'm still angry about it a year later. To me, rage normalization was the biggest change of 2007, the earliest screw up in the class balance, and is still felt the most almost a year later.
Shield specialization suggestion? Serious!
Sharkantos, a level 67 paladin from the Netherlands, wrote us with a question about blacksmithing specializations yesterday. "As you all know you can specialize in armorsmithing and weaponsmithing," he wrote. "Isn't it a bit odd that you can make epic chestpieces etc., but no shields? Shieldcrafting would be a 'normal' option, I guess...." This brings up a subject that has always interested me. How come some professions have much better specialization options than others? There are three types of weaponsmithing with wonderful upgradable weapons, but all armorsmiths get is a semi-crappy breastplate that tries to do too much for too many specs. How come you can't craft a wonderful BOP tanking shield, or for that matter, some decent tank armor sets? I figure that the best type of specialization is the sort that gives you little bonuses instead of forcing a chocie that will cut you out of half your recipes. That's why I love the alchemy specializations more than tailoring/engineering/leatherworking. But there are two specialization-less professions out there -- enchanting and jewelcrafting. These could easily accomodate "bonus" specializations like alchemy. Here are some ideas: Enchanting
