World of Warcraft XIII: Even Aspects Get Nerfed

[The_Jackal]

So what do we get from Blacksmithing? Beltbuckels... jay. What else? Crafting stuff that is outdated as soon as the second raidtier of that expansion started? Crafting green items to put into AH for enchanters to buy where we have to compete with Tailors and Leatherworkers? Jeah seems reasonable... NOT.

I think I've ranted enough for now...

Yeah, losing the custom weapons and armour sucks, I played a BS on my main since Vanilla. That said, I was still able to make money as a blacksmithing, just by selling intro PVP gear.

I started a Enhancement shaman yesterday (female dwarves are teh sexy <3) and I was looking into which professions to get.

Leatherworking, Alchemy, Jewelcrafting or Engineering. I wouldn't touch Blacksmithing on a new character, especially for a non-plate wearer. In your shoes, I'd be doing Engineering, because to be honest, making money is easy enough in WoW, and Engineering is just more fun, and thematically appropriate for a Dwarf.

[Admiral Squish]

Here's a question I think needs more detailed analysis than a brief mention in trade chat and polling my guilds.

What do you guys think about players RPing unusual races? Like, trolls playing Zandalar or Amani trolls. Humans playing vrykul. Gnomes playing pygmies (Actually saw one once). Of course, there's always plenty of tools playing dragons, and I'd love to exclude them from the conversation, but I suppose they have to be brought up.

Do you think this practice is interesting and imaginative? Or is it just pointless and stupid? I will admit, I ask mostly because I'm seriously considering making a vrykul toon.

[Derjuin]

You think that's the only thing they did? The even stole those recipes from the people that had them. I asked a GM about it and you know what he could tell me? NOTHING. Compensation for stealing that recipe? Nope.

That's bizarre, because my warrior can still make the BC specialist weapons (fireguard + lionheart).

[Dublock]

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/securityupdate.html

Blizzard had a security breach back on the 4th. Overall it doesn't sound to bad, no financial information was taken, only some passwords, encrypted. But they did take some, so change your passwords and they did take answers to the secret questions.

So Blizzard is going to make us all change our answers to those questions for our own protection, I suspect they will make us in a few days when we log on to play the game or on battle.net.

[subanark]

Well, finally got past spine yesterday. Pretty clean kill overall we just needed to adjust our strategy to ensure that healers weren't getting eaten by the bloods and to maximize the amount of time it took them to respawn.

[Ivellius]

Here's a question I think needs more detailed analysis than a brief mention in trade chat and polling my guilds.

What do you guys think about players RPing unusual races? Like, trolls playing Zandalar or Amani trolls. Humans playing vrykul. Gnomes playing pygmies (Actually saw one once). Of course, there's always plenty of tools playing dragons, and I'd love to exclude them from the conversation, but I suppose they have to be brought up.

Do you think this practice is interesting and imaginative? Or is it just pointless and stupid? I will admit, I ask mostly because I'm seriously considering making a vrykul toon.

It's not a very detailed analysis, but I'd say as long as you can make it work it's acceptable. (Probably not a very helpful answer, I know.) Realistically, vrykul are too big for humans to "count" as them. A gnome as a pygmy is a little better, although that raises questions about how he made it to regular society and joined the Alliance. I'd be fine with trolls more or less roleplaying any troll tribe, so long as they have an understanding of troll lore and reasons for joining the Horde, which aren't hard to dredge up. People who play dragons just want to be special little snowflakes and yeah I'm just making fun of them at this point. Be a mage alchemist and get a vial of the sands, then maybe we'll talk.

Does that help at all?

[Admiral Squish]

It's not a very detailed analysis, but I'd say as long as you can make it work it's acceptable. (Probably not a very helpful answer, I know.) Realistically, vrykul are too big for humans to "count" as them. A gnome as a pygmy is a little better, although that raises questions about how he made it to regular society and joined the Alliance. I'd be fine with trolls more or less roleplaying any troll tribe, so long as they have an understanding of troll lore and reasons for joining the Horde, which aren't hard to dredge up. People who play dragons just want to be special little snowflakes and yeah I'm just making fun of them at this point. Be a mage alchemist and get a vial of the sands, then maybe we'll talk.

Does that help at all?

Well, there are plenty of ways to make your character larger than normal for a vrykul, or for that matter a zandalar or amani troll. There's the Vrykul Drinking Horn, which is a rare archaeology relic that makes you larger for 10 minutes at a time with virtually no cooldown, but it does make you wear a specific helmet while under it's effects. There's the ever-popular elixir of giant growth, but that's really expensive to keep active for any length of time.

The pygmy's MRP said he'd snuck onto a caravan's food cart and fell asleep before it left uldum. I can't remember much more than that, but it seemed to make sense at the time.

As for dragons... yeah, pretty much that's what I was thinking.

[Traab]

Cant you also farm winterfall firewater? I think that makes you grow too.

[Dublock]

Yes but that is harder to farm I think and you can't buy it I believe.

I am still going to get exalted with them at some point...lol

[Admiral Squish]

Related to that vrykul character, is there any way to get a protodrake mount easier than going through and getting Glory of the Uludar raider?

Also, I'm really amazed at how much faster dungeon leveling is than questing-leveling. I always thought people were exaggerating, but I got 15 levels in a day.

[Traab]

Related to that vrykul character, is there any way to get a protodrake mount easier than going through and getting Glory of the Uludar raider?

Also, I'm really amazed at how much faster dungeon leveling is than questing-leveling. I always thought people were exaggerating, but I got 15 levels in a day.

Dont you get a bronze protodrake for completing the timed run of heroic culling of stratholme and beating the optional boss? or is it just a bronze drake?

[Admiral Squish]

Dont you get a bronze protodrake for completing the timed run of heroic culling of stratholme and beating the optional boss? or is it just a bronze drake?

I think it's a bronze drake. I think I got that once on my last account.

[Dublock]

Yea its a Bronze drake, and I was going to suggest the red one from Wyrmrest Accord rep but that is just a drake too :(

I honestly can't think of an easy to get protodrake. But the only one I do have I was so thrilled to get, its my violet one :D

[Eakin]

Yea its a Bronze drake, and I was going to suggest the red one from Wyrmrest Accord rep but that is just a drake too :(

I honestly can't think of an easy to get protodrake. But the only one I do have I was so thrilled to get, its my violet one :D

Green is probably the easiest one to get these days, even though it's pretty RNG dependent. Or throw together and Ulduar-10 achievement run, they're a breeze now

[Kish]

Yea its a Bronze drake, and I was going to suggest the red one from Wyrmrest Accord rep but that is just a drake too :(

"Just" a drake?

Being sapient and non-hideous is now an indication of inferiority? Oh, the humanity. Dragonity. Whatever.

[Dublock]

I said "just a drake" to indicate that I thought it was a protodrake but it wasn't.

I honestly don't like the drake's club tail but I don't mind the protodrake either.

[Derjuin]

Related to that vrykul character, is there any way to get a protodrake mount easier than going through and getting Glory of the Uludar raider?

Also, I'm really amazed at how much faster dungeon leveling is than questing-leveling. I always thought people were exaggerating, but I got 15 levels in a day.

Blue: Skadi in Utgarde Pinnacle heroic, rare drop
Green: Oracles rep, rare chance (exalted IIRC)
Red: Northrend heroic dungeon meta-achievement (Glory of the Hero)
Bronze: Very rare spawn in Storm Peaks, is only up for ~2 hours and has a 3 day CD

Farming Skadi might be a bit easier than any of the others, but you can do it at the same time as a few of the others (doing Oracles rep, checking for the Time-Lost Protodrake to be up, etc), though you can only do it once per day. Out of all of them, Oracles is probably the quickest way, since you're not relying on a 1.5% drop rate or a heavily farmed rare mob. You can probably do a lot of the Glory of the Hero achievements solo, but some might require a group.

[The Linker]

Green: Oracles rep, rare chance (exalted IIRC)

For what it's worth, it's just Revered. That's when you can buy the egg, wait for it to hatch, hope for a drake, open it, and repeat.

[Krazzman]

Yesterday was...the Horror!

Yeah normally for our Guild or better said the late formed raid group... we breeze through the first 3 hero bosses, then smack hagara and ultra and last ID we conquered the ship...

I normally play Ret with my paladin (~399 average gearlevel) but had to take the tank-job for Kohcrom, Ultraxion and Blackthorn.

We haven't got a single first-try-kill except for Morchok HC. Together with a 5% wipe at Yor'Sahj, a <10% wipe at ultraxion because our MT clicked the button when he should have not... and so on.
And why did I have to tank? Because our Bear-Druid didn't show up after a critical conversation after the Twinkraid we organize once a week.

Now with the Pre-MoP-Patch on the probably next patchday... I'm a bit confused... I hope the Paladin still plays similar as I like how he works...except Inquisition...that one sucks.

[Karoht]

Watched some of the livestream stuff from the beta on the heroic mode bosses. I can't wait to raid MoP. That is all I have to say on the topic.


Okay, so I have all my professions where they need to be, I have less than 30 days left of ToC dailies and that is done, I'm now trying to round up the last few things I am missing out of Archeology. I lucked out and got the bug mount the other day, I'm just missing the crawling hand pet and the formula for the Vial of Sands Mount.


My guild is on hiatus until MoP. I'm honestly not sure how well we will handle the expansion attrition. As such I've thrown the cool people on my realID list, and I'll see what happens. I really hope I luck out and get a few Heroic Rags runs in, get my Firehawk mount finally.


And my work is being stupid, and we've got someone quitting, and someone who might be quitting. Lets just say that I'm not expecting to have a work schedule that will be favorable to T14 raiding when MoP lands, at this pace.

[illyrus]

Getting excited about the MoP class/talent revamp. I wasn't initially a fan but after logging some hours on PTR with the warlock, rogue, mage, hunter, warrior, shaman, and paladin I'm looking forward to it.

I'm not sure how I'll end up liking the new warriors though, the rage and stance changes seems like they shaved off the minimum and maximum of the class and left a smaller operating band. On the other hand tanking warriors seem more in control of their own fate past just blowing survival cooldowns.

Really looking forward to the new warlocks as they were my favorite class in vanilla and I've liked most but not all of the mechanics I've seen on PTR recently.

[Karoht]

Getting excited about the MoP class/talent revamp. I wasn't initially a fan but after logging some hours on PTR with the warlock, rogue, mage, hunter, warrior, shaman, and paladin I'm looking forward to it.
Really looking forward to the new warlocks as they were my favorite class in vanilla and I've liked most but not all of the mechanics I've seen on PTR recently.

I like how all 3 warlock specs are actually quite different from one another.
Right now I only play my warlock as a professions alt, I might give my warlock a serious try in MoP.

Ret Paladin took a few nerfs last patch due to some bugs, I figure they'll get that sorted out pretty quick before launch. But I hear that Inquisition is much easier to manage (with a Glyph to make it even easier than that) and a bit less important to the rotation.

Resto Druids are in an awesome place. No massive 'relearning' type changes, and a few new options for the toolkit. My Talent and Glyph choices feel like actual choices again. I like the fact that choosing between Treants and Treeform are actual choices I have to make, and both are compelling for different reasons AND different situations.


EDIT: Patch Dropping August 28th
The Archeology changes alone seem very cool to me.
6 digs per site instead of 3, all guaranteed to net you 5-9 fragments for a possible 30-63 fragments per site. 6 sites up at a time instead of 4. Oh wow. I've been spamming Archeology this week to get it all topped up for MoP, but this just sweetens the deal.

Also, confirmed on Beta, top up your Archeology fragments for as many races as you can. Why? Each completed object gives you a skill up (so faster skill up), and XP. It's work you can easily do now to help speed up leveling your main once MoP drops. Also, Archeology is tied to the Lorewalker faction, so this can and will give you a bit of an advantage in getting that reputation up faster.
Dailies + Archeology turn-ins pretty much guarantee you a level.

[subanark]

Tuesday went pretty well. We were a bit late getting started and had a rather extended break after blackhorn, but overall we only wiped once on spine (our second kill too). We did a couple of attempts on madness and managed to get to the 3rd platform. We just need to sort out where people stand for the parasite and we will be fine for that. Maybe even get madness down in the next two days. There is however some demand that we go back and work on rags instead.

[Hullabaloo]

EDIT: Patch Dropping August 28th

Interesting, the day that GW2 goes live for those that did not preorder. Blizzard taking them serious?

[Gryffon]

Doubt it. It's a Tuesday, so traditional day for patches. And the pre-Expansion events usually take a couple of weeks to build up and then finish. I imagine it's just related to the timing of when the patch is coming out. Plus bonus of it being another games launch day.

[Dublock]

We just need to sort out where people stand for the parasite and we will be fine for that.

How my guild does it, whoever gets the parasite gets to the center of the time zone and everyone else gets away from that person (only a few people should need to move as you should be spread out anyway) and then nuke down it.

On the last platform it goes just inside the melee range so melee can cleave it down as you have half the time to do it. The melee obviously needs to move out.

[The_Jackal]

So, I got a buddy to send me a Scroll of Resurrection, and now have a brand-new minted level 80 Warlock. Any recommendations for professions? I have no deep investment in any profession, though I guess Alchemy is a solid pick for the good old transmute cash-cow.

[Karoht]

So, I got a buddy to send me a Scroll of Resurrection, and now have a brand-new minted level 80 Warlock. Any recommendations for professions? I have no deep investment in any profession, though I guess Alchemy is a solid pick for the good old transmute cash-cow.

Yeah, Alch + Herb will always be a good combo.


@Patch Date
Since when has Blizzard NOT dropped a patch or a product on an important release date?

Cinematic Trailer releases tomorrow.
My trailer predictions
-Shots of Jaina, Wrynn, and Garrosh for certain. Other faction leaders could see some screen time but I very much doubt it.
-Shots of Horde and Alliance fighting, probably causing some collateral damage. Very reckless and messy fighting.
-Pandaren mom/dad tucks the kids away somewhere safe, then proceed to lay the beatdown on both Alliance and Horde. Probably going to see at least one good solid roundhouse kick, maybe a flying kick as well. I'm going to chuckle quite hard when one of them punts a Gnome or Goblin. OR mom and dad each grab a Gnome and Goblin each, and smash them together face first. OR! OR! One of them ends up dual wielding Gnome and Goblin.
OR! Wait for it...
Gnome-chuku!
-Possible shadowy hints at the Sha but not necessarily direct.
-Definitely some shots of the new races like the mogu and the mantid, even if it's just a flash/closeup.
-Possibly show someone riding one of the cloud serpents up over the mountain tops/scenic vista, with a closeup as the final shot.
-Narration minimal, think more like the Vanilla cinematic.

[illyrus]

Hah nice.

For me, I'm going to expect the following:

---
Shot of human and goblin ships sailing to the isle of Panda-land
voice: "You dare enter my realm..."

Shot of a picnic basket surrounded by Alliance and Horde:
voice: "You are not prepared!"

Panda does a roll and grabs it

Benny Hill music plays as Alliance and Horde chase him around but he avoids them for the whole song

Intro fades with the Panda eating the food

And quickly fades back in to an all male panda group dancing to LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem
---

I figure whatever they have will be better than that so I cannot be disappointed.

[The Glyphstone]

7/10 would watch again.