New WoW General Discussion Thread 6/8/10

The Game Room
581

Another night with not enough online for ICC25. Ugh. The GM has promised that we’lll be raiding Monday, even if we have to PUG replacements for anyone who’s offline.

Continued our ICC10 drake run, at least. I now only have four things left to do to get my drake: PP HM, the Sindri achievement, Sindri HM, and the LK achievement. We’re cleared up to LK; we should have no problem finishing that achievement up some time this weekend.

Should have had All You Can Eat, but the person leading the raid was being frustratingly thick. She refused to even entertain the idea of doing anything but the normal strategy for ph3–not even something as simple as leaving up the first iceblock long enough for both tanks to drop their stacks. :rolleyes: Look, bitch, you have your drake already… in fact, you got the last achievement you needed earlier in this run. If you’re not going to take seriously the achievements that some of us still need, don’t lead the fucking raid.

How to link has already been explained. Someone also pointed out that you can claim to have done them on another character (though they might ask what that character is to look it up). Another option is an addon called Underachiever. It spoofs achievements for you. (Note that this only works for making fake achievement links–if anyone actually inspects you or looks your character up, they will see that you don’t have the achievement.)

However, the problem with lying is that if you do not know the fights, it will be very obvious when you (at best) stand around confused, (at medium) die, or (at worst, and reasonably likely) wipe the raid. If you choose any method of claiming you’ve completed the fight before, make damn sure you’ve done very, very solid research on the fight mechanics. That means strategy videos (try Tankspot) *and *reading up on boss abilities (WoWWiki and Wowhead).

Make sure you’re advertising in Trade chat and listing yourself in the raid browser–don’t just wait for people to advertise. If you respond to someone, you can be honest about your lack of fight experience, but *do *specify if you know the fight mechanics (which you’d better, if you want to have any chance of getting into a PUG without having killed at least the early bosses). You could also try putting together your own PUG.

Oh phew. Carry on, then. :smiley:

Yes, a Prot War should definitely work on their Argent Crusade rep first (for the head chant), then Wyrmrest Accord (for the chest).

Fun fact: I was wearing that god-damned thing for months. MONTHS. I literally COULD NOT get either my T7 chest token or a non-tier chest to drop. My friends still tease me about my “blue chest.”

Nitpick: Open your Achievements tab (by hitting Y) before opening the chat line. Otherwise, hitting Y will just type it in the chat instead of opening the window.

They can’t go invisible, but a Hunter with the speed-boosting talent (Pathfinding?) could easily catch up to you, mounted.

IMO, it would have been reasonable for him to ask, at the beginning of the raid, to reserve a particular piece of loot in addition to his normal rolls in exchange for toggling Heroic mode(s). But once he’s stepped in without making any special requests, he’s bound by the same loot rules as everyone else.

Right now, for endgame raiding, the absolute best professions you could have would be Blacksmithing (allows you to add extra slots) and Jewelcrafting (gives you the ability to use a limited number of gems with better stats). However, the Stamina bonus from Mining is actually pretty good for a tank–comparable to the bonuses from BS and JC–it just doesn’t benefit you any in your offspec.

So, for you right now, I’d say keep Mining, and pick up Jewelcrafting in place of your other profession. That way, you can supply most of your own materials while leveling JC (will save you a LOT of money).

Once you’ve maxed it out, JC on its own can be a pretty lucrative profession, if you buy the right gem cuts. First, you can add value to any uncut gem by cutting it the right way to sell it. But even better, you can keep an eye out for people in Trade chat seeking gem cuts, and make money off tips without having to invest in gems of your own. When you get to the point that JC is a solid moneymaker, you might want to farm up the mats to level BS, then drop Mining and powerlevel it. But I wouldn’t worry about it unless you really want to do hardcore raiding.

Can’t research it from here, but it sounds like the the Thorium Brotherhood stuff is unrelated. Back in vanilla WoW, you had to buy plans from them to make resistance gear for raiding Molten Core. That’s probably all this is.

If you look up Blacksmithing on WoWWiki, that should give you all the details on specialization.

Any production profession is going to have at least a few items that will be useful while you level. I’ve never had a Blacksmith of reasonable level, but my Tailors and Leatherworkers have always benefitted from their professions. I can tell you that when I hit 80 on my main, I bought quite a few BS-made BOE pieces as entry-level gear.

582

Blacksmithing gear can be comparable to quest gear, but you have to put in a lot of work gathering ore and keeping your BS skill up as you level. With the speed of leveling in classic these days, you usually outstrip the profession very quickly.

Totally, and I don’t think anyone would have begrudged him that. It still would have been fair to have that be his mainspec roll, it would just be an auto-win. Once he rolled on and won the Lootship piece, he forfeited any claim he could possibly have made to DBW.

583

where can I pick up JC? Will I need to go to the Exodar?

584

There’s a JC trainer in Dalaran who can do all the training you need.

585

There’s probably also a guy in Honor Hold, if that’s convenient for some reason.

586

I’m not a endgame raider, but even a quick glance shows that JC/LW is straight up better than JC/BS if you’re going to tank. LW gives the same stamina bonus as BS, but gives the option of resist wrist enchants as well, which don’t have an equivalent in other professions. JC/BS is only best if you’re going to DPS and even there I’m not positive.

587

I wouldn’t bother if I were you – the best items you can make by specialising are only level 70 and not as good as early Northrend quest rewards. My Paladin is an Armorsmith and it was very time consuming gathering the mats (342 Mithril bars for example) for all the quests and I haven’t made anything I have used from it.

Blacksmithing can give you some very good armour sets when you hit Outland and Northrend; the Fel Iron Plate Set is pretty good in the early 60s for warriors. At 80 you can create some epics which will give you a hand in the easier heroics, for example Tempered Titansteel treads . Also you can create a starter PvP set which is good enough for casual PvP.

Weapons don’t get useful until level 80 in my opinion and then you can create some of the Titansteel epics like the Titansteel Destroyer.

588

IIRC, you can find JC trainers at the Exodar, at Honor Hold in HFP, possibly in Shattrath, at both the Northrend starting zone landing towns, and in Dalaran. Dalaran will probably be the easiest. Just ask an NPC where the JC trainer is, or just go to the little horshoe-shaped trade area and look for the place that’s covered in giant gems. :smiley:

1.) I’ll take your word for it that the Stam bonus is the same.

2.) What’s the melee DPS bonus? If it’s not Strength, it’s almost certainly worse for a Warrior than BS.

3.) Resist wrist enchants are pretty effectively useless. There are a tiny handful of fights where resistance matters for tanks anymore–the only one I can think of that’s currently relevant is Sindragosa HM. And AFAIK, you’ll probably need more resistance than you can get from a wrist enchant at that point, anyway, so you’d be better off getting your resistance from FR gear and keeping the extra Stamina from your normal wrist chant.

589

Further to the Blacksmithing specialisation talk it seems they are going away in Cataclysm see this blue post World of Warcraft Forums.

590

It appears to be slightly worse, actually. Fur Lining - Stamina gives 102 Stam. Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina gives 50 Stam, and the two extra gems from BS grant 60 Stam for 110 total.

I don’t know if DPS Warriors have a Strength-boosting talent; if they do, Strength gems are better. If not, they’re equivalent.

In addition, BS offers something Leatherworking doesn’t: versatility. Leatherworking gives only AP (+80), SP (+46), and Stam (+52). Blacksmithing allows any two extra gems, so if you need more Dodge, more Haste, more Hit, more Expertise, etc., etc., you’re better off with BS. The Resist gear is indeed unique to Leatherworking, but it’s not really important.

591

Yup, the current plans are for all specializations to go away. That’s always subject to change, though, and no reason not to get the extra benefits now, while you’re still leveling.

And there you go.

From the way that’s phrased, I’m assuming you mean the bonus is just flat AP? That’s definitely worse, then–not just from Str-boosting talents (which IIRC Fury has but Arms doesn’t), but because of buffs like Kings. Str scales with it; AP doesn’t.

Another good point, although not as relevant for endgame min/maxing, assuming that what it offers is identical to what you’d be gemming (though in this case, it isn’t).
ETA: Is this the point where I get to blow the smoke off the end of the barrel of my hardcore raiding nerd gun, spin it around my finger, and stick it back in the holster? :stuck_out_tongue:

592

Well, yes, I said as much in the next para. :slight_smile: I forgot Kings applies to everyone, though.

Yup. Leatherworking would be insane on my Pally, as my caster spec gems for Intellect and my DPS spec gems for Strength. If all you need is AP or SP, and you’re a leather wearer, it’s great.

593

Major Stamina is only 40.

594

Yeah, I was replying point by point, and I was too lazy to scroll back up and change what I’d already written when I got there. :smiley: The scaling from Kings is very important for a lot of classes to take into account when figuring out what stats to focus on–or which buff to take (e.g., Kings vs. Might).

595

Well, crap, you’re right. What the hell did I read that said 50? Okay, so it’s +2 better than Major Stamina + 2 gems.

596

Missed this post; thanks for the update. In which case, a Prot War who was only ever going to tank on every single encounter and wanted to min/max should take LW and not BS. However, given that most–if not all–tanks will be in their DPS offspec occasionally (since ICC fights require a varying number of tanks), JC would be better for them, because +2 Stam is pretty trivial while BS is *way *better for a Fury/Arms War than LW.

597

It’s good to know that if I pick the ‘wrong’ specialization now, I won’t be stuck with it when Cataclysm comes. It’s also good to know that I didn’t accidentally pick a specialization. I was really beginning to wonder if the non-gathering professions were worth it as I sold ten or so mithril coifs for 2 gold each on the AH.

It should only take about ten more circuits around Un’goro Crater to get me all the thorium I need to max out blacksmithing (well, up to 300).

Thanks for all the info!

598

AFAIK, all professions currently let you swap specializations by some mechanic. (I think Engineering might still be slightly broken, though, where there’s some extra benefit you lose out on if you swap.)

Are you running an auction-tracking addon like Auctioneer? It’s very helpful to have something that can tell you the historical market price for various crafted items as well as the mats used to make them (and the expected value of the chanting mats the finished product would DE into). IME, a lot of what you make while leveling up should just get disenchanted and sold as dusts, essences, and shards. But it’s worth it to know what the items are that people particularly look for, especially at higher levels, so that you can sell them instead of DEing them (or vendoring, in the case of BoPs).

599

Yes, I’m running Auctioneer. I find that, unless I cut the Auctioneer price by about 50%, I have to relist a couple of times. At this point, I’m not counting nickels and dimes so I’m not too worried. That’s the best thing about having a gathering profession: a few days of dedicated mining will get me any cash I need.

Good thought about disenchanting. I’ve been crafting the cheapest items that are orange, but I still lose money when compared to what I could sell the raws for. And, that’s assuming anybody wants to buy them.

600

My tradeskill leveling method takes into account a number of factors:

1.) Orange vs. yellow vs. green. I almost always prefer orange recipes. However, if a yellow one uses substantially fewer mats, such that even with the failures I’ll get more points out of the same mats, I’ll stay with those. Same for green, though it’s pretty rare to find a recipe like that.

2.) Saleability of item. Not too common with equipment; usually happens with bags in Tailoring.

3.) Volume of DE mats and price of said mats. If an item uses up slightly more materials but produces more of the same DE mats, I’ll use the more “expensive” recipe.