professions
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Burning Crusade Profession Rumors
World of Raids has some interesting information on professions in the expansion. But are they accurate? Well, I'm a little confused by the listed alchemy specializations - which are very unlike existing profession specializations in the game, which tend to open up new, specialized patterns. (A "potion master" will be able to sometimes produce two potions instead of one, when crafting potions. A "transmutation master" will sometimes get greater results from alchemical transmutations. And an "elixir master" will be able to sometimes produce two elixirs instead of one, when crafting elixirs.) Further, some of the enchants strike me as strange - a +4 all stats enchant for a ring (doesn't that seem... somewhat overpowered?), a +30 healing enchant for bracers (there's already a +24 healing enchant for bracers, and the added +6 seems quite minor). However, take a look and decide for yourself!
Obviously, You Missed Something
I had to smack my forehead last night when I realized that my level 55 warrior was still carrying around nothing bigger than 10 slot bags. It seems so obvious that I'd have upgraded those by now, but inbetween all of the PVPing, questing, instance running, and grinding, it just plain slipped my mind. Herewith, five things that seem really obvious to remember, but a lot of players end up missing.1. Upgrade that equipment! My forgetfulness is your gain. Bags are important to upgrade (because even if it costs you all your gold, you'll make it back quickly with the extra carrying capacity), but it helps to check all of your equipment every time you ding. A guildie of mine had to laugh when he hit level 46 on his hunter-- he realized he was still wearing a leather chestplate, despite having trained to wear mail six levels ago.2. Train those skills. It's happened to all of us. You ding, head back to the trainer to train up, and you find that there's a ton of new skills sitting there for you. You forgot to train last time! Blizzard should have a little optional icon on the UI when there's a new skill for you to go get (or maybe this is a job for a plugin...).3. Professions, too. Professions have even more skills and recipes to train up than the regular levels, so it seems like people forget them all the time. And for some reason, when I'm looking for herbs or mining, I always forget to turn the little tracking marker on after I die (Gatherer helps out a little with this one).4. Repair, repair, repair! There's nothing worse than heading into an instance after LFG for half an hour, only to wipe once and have your gear turn yellow (or, even worse, red). By now, I'm repairing every single time I land from a griffon ride. Every time I enter a new town, the blacksmith is the first person I talk to.5. LRN2PLAY. Of course, this is what all those hardcore players will tell us forgetful types, but this time, they're actually right: studying up on a class's strengths, weaknesses, skills and abilities will make things much, much easier. If you're a priest, don't use Shield-- use Renew, and less mana. If you're a Shaman, use Rockbiter (until you get Windfury, at least). If you're a Warrior, make sure to keep Battle Shout up 24/7.Of course, all this stuff will seem obvious-- until you realize you've forgotten something. But in this game, as in everything, the devil is in the details.
All About Jewelcrafting
Blizzard has released some new information about the jewelcrafting profession that we'll be seeing in the Burning Crusade expansion. Jewelcrafters will be able to make jewelry, trinkets, and insert gems into socketed items - imbuing them with additional powers. Raw gems may be used by the jewelcrafter to create jewelry and trinkets, or they may be cut into gems suitable for use in socketed items (cut gems may be inserted into socketed items by any player). Interesting, to me, is the article's mention of how jewels are found:By processing the raw ore mined from the various deposits and mineral veins, jewelcrafters can extract gems from the ore which they can then use for their craft. Although miners sometimes find gems while gathering ore, jewelcrafters mostly rely on their prospecting skills to get more of the precious stones.Does this imply that jewelcrafting will be a natural match with mining for a supply of gems? Or that there will be a new "prospecting" profession for gathering gems? While we have a lot of new details, much is still unclear.
Breakfast Topic: Shifting professions
Professions are an interesting sideline in WoW, and allow us to make money as well as some interesting items. However, there comes a point when the professions we've chosen become expensive and slow to level, and we face a decision: continue or change?Changing profession isn't something to be done lightly -- you lose all acquired skill in your existing professions, as well as any recipes you've learnt. On the other hand, switching can have its benefits -- if you're not needed as a guild enchanter after all, you can save money by picking up gathering professions and loading the AH up daily. If you're bored of running around levelling a gathering profession, you can switch to a crafting profession, though you'll probably need some spare cash to make the change.Have you ever changed professions? Did you regret it or have you not looked back since?
Fishing FAQ
I've always been an avid fisherman ever since I started playing WoW; I find it to be one of the easiest ways to make money & although I understand why some players find it boring, I happen to enjoy watching for that little bobber to splash.So, for all you fellow anglers out there, the Azerothian Trade Union has posted a great Fishing FAQ, detailing all the good spots to cast a line, and all the goodies you can reel in. It's a very well-done guide that I plan to be referencing often; check it out here.
New Professions Guides
The official WoW site recently featured a fairly comprehensive list of profession guides culled from the US and EU forums as well as external websites. After looking through them, I have to say these are excellent references for any profession. Still looking for more info on your profession of choice? We posted a brief guide to power-leveling certain professions a while back as well as a guide to the game's craftable epic items. (Expect the latter to be updated some time today with a few new recipes!)
Power Leveling Professions
Want to go from zero to three-hundred skill in just a few hours? No problem, provided sufficient preparation - and a little guidance from someone who's done it before wouldn't hurt, either. Most professions have a few highly desirable items that are bind on pickup - meaning if you want one, you have to level the profession and make it yourself. As I recently ran my priest from 0 to 300 tailoring in order to craft myself Truefaith Vestments (trust me, it wasn't very much fun), I thought I would try to gather up some information for people trying to do similar tasks. Know of any excellent crafting guides I've missed? Drop your links in the comments section!
