Microsoft to buy WOW/Blizzard/Activision!

In a shocking move, Microsoft will purchase WOW's parent company for about $70B U.S.D, according to many sources the head of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, is unclear if he is staying at the head of the company after the final approval of the sale is complete. 

According to Reuters, this is the biggest gaming deal in the industry's history. This would lead to approximately 17% of all gamers using one of the new conglomerates at Microsoft brands. 

What are your thoughts on what impact this will have on World of Warcraft and other beloved Blizzard games? Will this be the end of WOW or could the addition of Microsoft revamp the love for the game that seems to be slowly losing it's base?

A place to share my voice

Still Standing

I'm still around. Not sure why. Not sure how long but in reality, I have so much history with this game and time invested, it is almost as if my toons are old friends I jump on the game to say hi too. 

I haven't been gone much. I left after WOD saying I wasn't coming back and got suckered in with Legion and Kara. Playing/raiding with friends in a very casual group allowed me to hang with my WOW people some more. 

BFA wasn't exciting and I feel back into life. Raiding was just an occasional thing and I leveled, farmed, and dabbled in Mythics. By the end, I left for another guild at the launch of Shadowlands. A casual guild with a bit of talent but still only worried about just clearing content. 

Life Changes

The new guild I'm with lost a tank mid-tier and asked me to tank. Well, I did. My partner was a one-of-a-kind complete toolbox (we'll refer to him as Mr. Perfect). We didn't get along and both of us have since left the game. While I dabble, he is completely gone. Never have I lacked enjoyment logging on to play this game as when I knew I was tanking with him. It was simply awful. 

One big concern I had was the loss of confidence I found as a tank. The community is now so toxic and the "it's the tanks fault" has grown to a whole new level. I have tanked a long time in this game. Sadly, Sire Denathrius on heroic is my downfall. I don't think I'll ever tank again. Not that the fight was that hard but one mistake by anyone for a guild of our talent almost certainly meant wipe. Wipe meant, it was something the tank did wrong. Where I was in life, I couldn't take the pressure. 

Add to that the Mythic plus toxicity with the prides at 20% led to that ending soon too. 

So there I am, still, stuck playing the Paladin in a guild that has literally one of the best Ret Paladins in the world numbers/awareness wise I've ever seen or played with. He is a rock star and pushes me to be a better player and Paladin but I'm nowhere at his skill level. 

While I might not be gone from the game, my tanking days will be as infrequent as my posts to this blog will be. 

Who knows who will read this. Who knows how many still see this blog but here is what I know, it is at least a soapbox and sounding board for me to vent the issues I have with WOW. 

My next blog will be a more in-depth recap of my journey. 

Welcome back...

I'm back.

Back in the saddle again.

Not really! I'm playing the game again for the first time in a few years regularly.

Life is too busy now to devote time to blogging and chasing a semi-hard core raiding schedule. I am playing the game, enjoying it so far and I've dedicated myself to making Chasey, the best Ret Pally I can be. Yes, I said it, I said Ret Pally! Not in position right now to take up tanking, I tried holy and I am just not a healer.

My DPS is low, lower than it should be. I've been working on that. It's  hard with the item level culture of the game. But we've know that since Cata, ilvl rules the day. It weeds out the bads in a sense.

Rets too don't get much attention. We really are a great single target burst DPS but any class can do that. So taking my 868 ilvl vs. a Fire Mage or DK I lose out all the time. It has made me work to better myself which has been different.
Here is Chasey's armory, any suggestions would be welcomed.

I have more to say but want to save it for later. I hope you enjoy the Ret version of Judging Chasey as much as you did the tanking one.

Bye for now.

To a Friend,

Friend

It’s been a long time since I posted anything. Yes, I’m back playing WOW. Not raiding other than LFR and a few heroics. No there won’t be a continuation of the blog past this post. I made some amazing people blogging and being in the community but that ship has sailed.

Like I stated this is my post to a friend. A friend that means the world to me still, and well due to a few things we didn’t get to have the same experiences in game. So, I figured I’d take the time to chronicle it for them.

One of the last conversations we got to have in game, you told me I could tank anywhere I wanted to in the world. That I could be the best, those words never really left my head after you said them. You weren’t the kind of person to make such statements unless they were true. So, for you friend, here is my journey after Resolve…

I had a friend that got me into Arcania Solare. Not a bad guild talent wise but the GL wanted me to be his personal 5 man tank. I never got raid invites as they suddenly had a glut of DK tanks they didn’t know they would have. Then I hooked up with a  few friend in a guild named Reprisal. Good group, we got KT down in Naxx #7 on the server and well before Ulduar came out. We also landed Sartharion with 2 drakes #2 on the server. It took a while to do all drakes. They wanted to expand to 25 man raiding with another guild. You happened to be there ,, and well, I was asked not to raid. At the time, it was the best thing that could have happened. I went to a guild on Thrall (don’t remember the name) but they were amazing. I was tank #3 which was ok, I was getting 10 man stuff and seeing fights in a different light. I got hacked! For some reason, WOW would not open my account back up. I had to call them. During my time being away from game this guild I was in absorbed another guild and we suddenly had like 10 tanks. Being that I was now lagging in gear, I was warming the bench.

Meanwhile, I rolled another toon on SWC, a pally. This was just to have fun with while trying to figure out what to do. I raided a few times with Reprisal in 10 man Ulduar. I ran into a friend I taked with pre-Wrath from Natural Twenty. He asked what I was doing. Needless to say, I got an invite and xfered Chasey (then Kayden) to N20.  We really made some head way in Ulduar. At one point were only behind Pathenon on SWC. We had a tyrant raid leader named Xees who screamed if you made a mistake. No one made mistakes. In one night we got Heartbreaker and Cache was rare. We did this the same day as Honorbound. I was proud to be with such an amazing group. They were great people and great raiders.

Suddenly we hit Yogg. We wiped on Yogg for 3 straight nights. We locked the raid out and failed every time a few time were at 2%. It was so frustrating NO ONE was even talking. We swapped people in and out, we sat people we tried different methods and nothing. The next day I logged on and seen the guild message of the day, it said. “Thanks for the time guys, N20 is calling it quits”.  I think I cried. I enjoyed playing with that guild that much. It was hard core skill wise but friendly amongst the players.

I bounced around for a bit after that. I raided with Reprisal and did a few cool things but it wasn’t where I wanted to be. I had a taste of what solid players were and well, I had no clue what to do.  I xfered to a guild on Killrog called Ouroborous. They were the BIGGEST douche bags in the history of wow. Worse than Mal’ganis. I was there for 3 weeks. I raided their 4 day a week schedule, I was the least geared player in the guild wearing plate and I didn’t win ONE piece. Not even off set. When I finally asked why, I was told being new, I wasn’t going to be awarded gear until all the others there had off sets 1^st. We were in Heroic Colisium fights at this time and I was in T8 mixed gear still. I couldn’t hold agro and was a squishy punching bag. It did, however help my skill at learning cooldown usage. Thankfully, the Asian Gods came a calling again and I was hacked for the second (and last) time.

I was so far behind in gear, I couldn’t find a tanking slot. I had a pretty kick ass Healer off set and a guild on SWC called Refuge said I could heal and OT for them. I became their maintank. We did some amazing stuff for a small and talentless guild or so we were called. We ended up being 3^rd on SWC behind Pathenon and Honorbound to get Algalon 1^st week we could get him too, which at that time was a top 3000 kill. Yes, we were in T9 gear but it wasn’t Heroic T-9. The week after we started Heroic Colusium and the LK came out. We did ok in those raids but never got to Arthus a second time. Our 1^st time was a disaster and it was our best 10 men. Lots of loot drama took place and we started losing people so we just went to 10’s. Which we found ourselves carrying instead of progressing.  Or other tank, named Soten, maybe the best tank I’ve played with in game left to go to Paradigm on SWC and they took our best heals too, Dunghoof. We were, now not raiding.

Off I go, this time to Icecrown server. To an amazing guild called Jinx. A guild full of kids who were good at the game and raid kicked and guild kicked lots of folks almost weekly.  I got my 1^st LK kill there. A 25 man kill too boot. It was pretty epic, I blogged about it. When we got the cut scene, there was me, a few dps and 2 healers alive. That is out of a 25 man raid. LOL I tanked and kited and cooldowned him for about 30%. Yes, we had a 30% buff but they had him down for months before, we were just gearing others up. WE did hard mode on just about every other fight. It was solid raiding like with N20. I finished out Wrath with Jinx. In fact, my blog header is from Jinx.

OH, right before wrath ended, I ran a LFG with a tank who was in heroic t-10 ungemmed and unenchanged and a healer who had the same thing going on. This was with my hunter Zumhug. I thought this was going to be a mess. You remember how fast heroics went at the end of Wrath, right? This was Heroic UP. That thing was just LONG as an instance, not hard but it was long. I’m not kidding you, I never got out of combat and never stopped moving. That ungemmed tank, literally pulled everything in there, we seriously finished heroic UP in 7 minutes. From entry to goodbye.
They raided with a guild called Exodus on Ysondre. At the time they were top 10 in the US and 12 in the world. At that moment, I think I knew my limitations and my lack of skill. These two were amazing, never rushed, panicked or out of control. Simply amazing!

I ended up leaving Jinx after Wrath. Why? They were going alliance when Cata hit. I could NOT make Chasey an alliance toon.  I struck out to Hyjal for a few reason, I found a 10 man guild that raided at the time I could. My kids were getting old enough that they were going to be later.  So I raided on the PST servers. The effin week after Cata hit, we were gearing up to start raids with a guild called Macabre, they split up. Took all the good raiders or the raiders they knew and moved to a guild called Dread. They did rock the raids and heroics, I give them credit. But I was stuck with the casual’s right after moving guild. I scrambled to find a guild that needed a tank after and XPAC hit. NO luck to be had.

Finally, I got a shot with a guild that only needed a fill in tank.  We got their 1^st kills in and were doing good. I was then asked to either DPS or find another guild as their normal tanks were ready to go. Crushed again, I found a lil 10 man guild called AVA (short for some latin shit). They were decent and allowed me to tank. Most I could ask for. I wasn’t running from server to server anymore and just wanted to enjoy tanking with friends. This is where this went back. Maybe the very best DPS’er I’ve ever played with was an officer in this guild. He was GREAT. Putting up huge numbers and far and above anyone I’ve ever seen play the game. He was truly an elite players. In fact, he was British and raided with his daughter on a EU guild that was supposedly one of the top 10 in the world. He would literally berate people in guild chat and officers chat. He would kick people for mistakes in the daily heroic. On top of it he toon hopped about every two months. He was a complete jackass. We had hunters raiding, he stopped raiding with us because they told him at the time we didn’t need a 3^rd hunter. He’d leave raid in the middle after a wipe and not come back for a few days.

Sadly, I opened my mouth on the forums and generalized about the selfish play of some people and he logged on and G/Kicked me. I guess I deserved it. Problem was, I didn’t care, why? My computer was broke and I couldn’t play wow!  Really, my last day I really ever raided was our Cho’Gall kill in May for 2011. It took me a few months to get my computer back. We had a few runs at Thrown of 4 winds but never got Nef down. I did however get rated top 100 in the world in DPS on twin drakes. I blogged it, it was pretty exciting. We were good enough that I could gear for less avoidance and more damage. I came with in points of being top 50 DPS wise.  I never touched, not even LFR firelands.

I was off and on WOW for months. I came back for Siege of Org just to say I killed Garrosh, who I really hated.

I took the time to explain this amazing journey I went thru in really the only thing that brought us together and sadly we didn’t get to do any of it together. Why? I was a mess, I was a bad person and a terrible friend. I seen nothing but my issues like a spoiled child and you, sadly had your own you were dealing with. Take only this away from this BIG long book like note. Thank you, for instilling confidence in me, believe it or not, this crazy game allowed me to be me again. If it weren’t for your words and guidance, I may have stuck on SWC and been slightly less than mediocre.  See when we raided, I was a clicker. Yep, I didn’t start key pressing until Ulduar. It forced me too. I was that good at this game playing half assed. All of that came from the drive that you had me believe. I could be as good as I wanted and in life at that time, being great at this game is what I wanted.

So thank you Wolf. For being a friend and giving me something to strive for, It worked. 

Your pal,

Zum

One more try...

Facts!

Face it we are all addicted to this game, it certainly isn't easy to give up the memories of this game we've all had. I'd like to just walk away totally but really, I have RL friends that I see that play the game. I have Facebook friends that still post on my wall and there is always the blog emails I get that remind me of the time I had in game.

So, needless to say, I missed the game. I'm back.

How did it go down?

I had one of my friends hit me up on facebook and talk to me about him playing the game again but on a private server. He was playing on a Vanilla server. Not sure why. As we talked longer we chose to start up playing on a TBC server. 2.4.3 in fact. It's a bit odd going back to that time frame in game. My life was so different and come to find out, so was the game.

I know we all have complaints about where WOW currently is. Even if happy, there are things you don't like. But the evolution of the game since Sunwell is amazing.

Here is my TBC version of Chasey in the Shockadin spec.
http://risewow.com/character/4/35290

I don't condone or advise anyone with this blog post to go play on a private server, it was just my idea to give it a try.

Game play for a pally, both ret and prot were clunky to level with, going back at least. Lots of gaps in rotation and almost zero mana return. When I hit 70 I was in crafted T5 gear equivalent and as ret the very best I could do was 3 mobs in a minute with a sit to drink afterwards. Prot was much worse. To say the least it wasn't fun to grind.

I went in to Kara with a guild. I was a healadin as they had everything else covered. So to see how it went I healed. Well, no one told me the knuckleheads were trying to 6 man Kara. Ok we all know Kara was entry level raiding but no vent, no technique and almost NO experience there, The Currator is NOT doable with 2 DPS. Bad DPS at that.

After that fail it had to happen!

I chose to re-up. If I was going to waste my time playing WOW I would at least play a toon that meant something to me. It didn't matter if I was going to raid or not I wanted to play the real thing.

More on my tales of my adventures of re-upping later.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season and had a safe and happy new year.

That's all folks.

It's been a LONG time. I hate looking at blogs I read and never seeing what really happened why those who ran a blog didn't update or at least say good bye. Well, GOOD BYE!

Life has been crazy, hectic and well, as life should be, moving along. I'm FINALLY back to work. I've worked hard to get where I'm at, my knee while not 100% allows me do to do what I do. I'm a paramedic. I was a fire fighter and that is what I've worked to come back from. My kids are grown and they keep me busy.

What does this all mean?

I don't have time for the game. In fact I don't have a want to play the game. While off and working to get back to work, it was a security blanket and a way for me to continue to socialize.

My favorite time of the year is coming up in the game and well for the 1st time in 6 years I'll miss it. I do not however miss the game. WoW was a great old friend that I simply moved on from.

Thank you to a many, my blogger friends who pushed me to be a contributing member, even if I wasn't. My friends I made in game; Skreebo, Dogbone, Solic, Crimsonlock, Wolframm, Tom (zirrin), paleskinpete, and many others. Oh, by the way I've missed my 3rd year as a blogger. Take care all.


If anyone wants to reach me or say hi rmason92@gmail.com BYE

Thunderforged and the Green!

Long overdue and many broken promisises later, PTR 5.2 features green fire for Warlocks and a call from Blizz to increase the want/need to do 25 man content again. On top of that Tanks are beating on Ghostcrawler (GC) about the bad idea to stack haste and the fact that dodge/parry gear is horrible and I think Blizz is hearing the cry's from the player base that the overwhelming amount of dailies was bad, the reduction of VP after the 1st heroic 5 man.

In other words nothing new for the devs to handle but I think the later is driving the normal playbase away from the game in droves. In a quote from GC we are supposed to get the new ground breaking part of the game in an upcoming patch. (source) (source)


Bout time -  This comes from a quest line that won't be open to everyone that comes form a piece of gear it seems to be in the unknown range just how but it looks like it starts in the Black Temple.
(source) (source)

The uproar on Haste - (we all seen it coming) almost seems long overdue. This incarnation of tanking features Hit/Exp and Haste and lacked the need for dodge/parry and to a smaller extent mastery. (source) (source)
 Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator) 

• For Protection, we do have plans to try and lower the value of haste relative to dodge and parry. We don't want to make haste terrible for paladins, but we agree that it's odd for it to be better than more traditional tank stats. It might require a nerf to Shield of the Righteous to do this, but our goal is not to nerf survivability overall. We just wanted to provide you some context if you see odd changes to tanking abilities.

Is there a reasoning behind this? It honestly feels like you're taking the opinions of a mysterious part of the playerbase (like the same portion who you quoted as "not liking DivPurP because it was too RNG") and changing the entire spec paradigm around it. Why push for MORE class homogenization when the game already has WAY too much?
The game just isn't currently designed to support it. It creates potential problems such as:
A Prot paladin competing with a Frost DK or Ret paladin over gear, meaning there isn't enough DPS plate to go around.

• A Prot paladin considering a tier set with dodge and parry on it to be "garbage" because it doesn't stack all haste.
• A Prot paladin looking at a Ret 2pc set bonus that she normally wouldn't touch because now the stats aren't that bad either.

In a world where tanking plate didn't exist or every loot system used the personal LFR one or 100% efficient reforging then it might work
We understand that having a lot of haste feels fun and visceral and is more dependable than dodge and parry. We'll try to come up with a solution that keeps that in mind.

And along those lines we are now seeing the backlash of the daily grind and the loss of the once "cool" seven 5 man VP grind that was introduced mid-cata, we now the the max once a day then as Blizzard states, we can do 20 in a day but a much reduced level, almost forcing players to log on or it is, in essence a waste of time. (source) (source)

Strongly prefer 7x/wk. Can't play weekdays much, like to grind on weekends. Its was fun for me in cata
You can still do that. The runs after the first still give valor. It's not the most efficient way possible, but totally works. (Source)
Look at it this way. I got few hours per week to play & not every day. 7x/wk means I get full valor. Other not.
I can appreciate that. The current model is intended to be a compromise between folks who want long sessions vs. many sessions. (Source)
7 per week allows you both to do them on one day or on 7 days. The current implementation doesnt (without dr on vp)
But the current one lets you do 20 a week if you really want to. (Source)
you traded the one efficient way in cata for the one efficient way here. Don't pretend you're more diverse.
Disagree. The big difference in the previous two systems is after X you got *no* valor. Very hard to play other ways. (Source)
Do you honestly think players want to do 20 per week? RT But the current one lets you do 20 a week if you really wa
How many should you do a week? (As an aside, more did 1/day than 7/ week.) (Source)
it's something only HC raiders (a minority of the raiders) would say, or someone with more time than skill.
HC raiders tend to do content anyway. It's more casual raiders who drop out if rewards and prestige are lacking. (Source)
so am i right in asumming you are designing content for a slim minority and saying screw the rest of yall?
How did you get that from what I said? I said we tend to see players give up when their accomplishments are too easily outdated. (Source)
You seriously want players to have to grind 5.0 content before running 5.2?
Is it fair to players who played in 5.0 if they aren't ahead of those who did not? (I don't think we ever said "grind.") (Source)
I'd like to see the numbers/proof of this "the less hardcore raiders quit when we provide catch up stuff" crap.
You don't see it all the time? Think about those players who get lazy when a tier is near done. It's like that but more so. (Source)

And the icing on the cake of what is going on in the PTR is the new Thunderforged. Briefly we now have upwards of 6 versions of gear; LFR, normal gear, normal Thunderforged, heroic gear, and heroic Thunderforged. Blizz is doing this to give upgrades for what all of us have done, getting a chance at upgraded loot on a boss you might still be progressing on and getting a special cooking by getting Thunderforged gear. Wouldn't this had been nice pre-M'uru nerf in Sunwell? 

Just why is Blizz doing all this? They have increased Thunderforged gear drops in 25 man, a bit too late to help increase 25 man raids. Blizz in some way seems, in a mercy attempt to keep 25 mans solvent, being throwing a bone for those who want to stick with it. It is not their fault it is easier to set up a 10 man platform on a 7 year old game who's numbers of solid raiders are dropping. They are rewarding what here? Ants on a sugar cube! Really, if you make is so better loot falls, people will come, for now and then back out after the special snow flake gear is gone or acquired. A shoddy attempt if you ask me.

(Source)

Tyiliru

Coming to the PTR in the near future will be a new designation of item type in Normal and Heroic raids for non-tier pieces. Each 5.2 raid boss will have a chance of dropping this new designation of a particular item that's 6 item levels higher than their counterparts. These higher quality versions will be called "Thunderforged". This means that there will be five variations of some items. You'll now see a 5.2 raid item of LFR quality at item level 502, the same item in Normal quality at item level 522, the item in Normal Thunderforged quality at item level 528, the Heroic version of the item at level 535, and the Heroic Thunderforged version of the item at level 541.

This new item designation is being added for a couple reasons, but first and foremost to make loot drops more interesting overall, especially after you have earlier bosses in Throne of Thunder on farm. As you're working on progression, those first few bosses can now continue to provide a chance at upgrades, making repeated kills potentially more exciting and rewarding. Those additional upgrades can then help to slowly raise power, and boost you over whatever progression roadblock you may hit.

We've also received a lot of feedback regarding 25-player raids, and have been looking for ways to address some concerns. Ever since we changed 10-player raids to drop the same item level as 25's, we've seen a steady decline in 25-player raiding. This isn't surprising. A 25-player raid takes an extra level of logistical commitment for the officers of those groups. It's unfortunately easy for a 25-player guild to collapse down into a 10-player guild, but very unlikely for the opposite to happen. However, we like 25-player raiding and don't want to see it go away. Like many players, we love the epic feeling that comes with banding together more massive groups to battle powerful foes, we love that there's opportunity for those groups to try out new players or unusual comps without causing a huge burden, and we want to support the larger raiding guilds. That said, we're also concerned that over-rewarding the 25-player guilds-if, for example, we went back to a higher item level across the board for 25's, as was the case for Icecrown Citadel-would feel like a slap in the face to the many 10-player raiders out there, who are the majority of our Normal and Heroic raiders.

To attempt to navigate this minefield, we're going to try having Thunderforged items drop more frequently in 25-player raids. They'll be somewhat rare in both cases compared to the standard versions that'll drop, but they'll be even rarer in 10's. Overall, a 25-player group will be more likely to end up with a slightly higher item level after several weeks of raiding.

It's important to keep in mind that this only affects 10- and 25-player Normal and Heroic raids, and tier-15 armor pieces won't be available in Thunderforged quality at all. We're curious to hear your thoughts about these changes, and what you think once you begin seeing them on the PTR..

Til next time, thanks!

Too Late, so Sorry!

This is not the 1st time this has happened to me, and I'm guessing it won't be the last time either. Looking back it happens far to often so maybe I should just get more posts out when I get the, "Hey that would be a great blog post".  More about that later.

Almost immediately after I posted my last thoughts last night, I ran into the info about Blizzard giving close to $2.5 Million the Red Cross for their Super storm Sandy relief effort. I think that is just amazing. I actually went and bought the pet for that purpose and blogged about it. Here is the complete story here ~ The Cinder Kitty ! (source)



Why didn't I post it, well, I was on the tired side and wanted to get into an LFR, and I must say, it was a very productive night for me in WOW. I finally after about 4 years got my Amani Battle Bear. I narrowly lost it in TBC and really never gave it a serious go in Cata when it was fresh.

After doing some browsing, I seen a story of a level 80, yes I said 80, who was soloing MSV (certain bosses) In this video and MMO-Champion thread. Blizzard has fixed the issues that allowed him to use the coding mechanics to do this. Good on the chap for completing this, it really is (armory) a breath of fresh air after posting about my "major" issue I had in my last post.

Well, to make a long story short, I ran into a video that talks about EVERYTHING I wanted to mention, so I was beat to the punch by maybe the most adorable person in WOW. The one and only Panser Smash. So Panser, please forgive me for sharing your info and giving you pub in my writings, but you are always entertaining and sure to put a smile on everyone's face when doing your videos. Thanks for what you do. All the info was spot on (aside from the 12 man raid oops!) and I was just a bit too late. I'd love to continue talking about what is already out there or I could just post the YOUTUBE video that is already made. So please check the video out and I'm sure she would want you to subscribe to her channel.

Enjoy!

Maybe the Worst Thread Ever!

Sorry for the delay in posting the last few weeks. I hope everyone is enjoying their new year and sticking to their resolutions. As if anyone ever does!

On to the thread-
So even if I don't post or log on, I jump on a few web sites daily just to browse the game and see what might be coming up with the game. I guess you can parlay that too the generation before us sitting down after work and reading the newspaper. Its just how I do it. Most of the time while reading some threads on MMO-Champion, my jaw hits the floor. I mean some of the comments and posts are just out of this world. It really is entertainment.

This thread that I post on truly struck me. I guess people just don't have pride; pride in themselves, their guild tag, their toon or are plain too lazy to push keys. I was shocked to read what I was, and it was all as an excuse of "well, no one else does it" so that must make it ok.

This poll, in which [about] 800 people voted for, shows that close to 61% go AFK while in LFR. (Source) So why am I spending my time caring about what others do in LFR? The sheer number of people who say its ok to white swing or not even attack while doing a (scaled down) raid. The problem is in the sheer number that don't even feels bad about it. I will post a few anonymous quotes in case you don't want to read thru 18 pages of this disgusting thread.

Usually I burst all cd's win dps then afk till execute phase and win dps again. Some fights just ain't worth my time and I completely tab out/leave the computer.

my 4 alts I afk hard when I bother to run them. Autoattack, tab to netflix, etc. 

yeah on my rogue this week i was afk for all 16 bosses, playing lol on the other screeen only got kicked 1 time - but hey i could que again  

Always walk up and hit the boss and get my free sha crystals. That's all the casuals deserve out of me.

I afk a LOT on my alts, Also you can easily afk on bosses. Just attack it once and then idle in the melee pool. No one will notice cause you don't even show up on meters. 

I try to afk as much as possible. Auto attacking and then spamming execute usually makes it look like i am just a bad with crap gear. Sometimes i don't deal any damage at all because then i won't show up on recount/skada and people will most of the time not notice me not doing anything 

This wasn't everyone of them, maybe not even the worst, but really the outrage by those that don't wasn't there. Is this what we have fallen to as a gaming community. I remember in TBC when you entered a 5 man pug or pug'd a Kara run, if you even thought about using Rep gear or a EPIC piece of PVP gear you got the "welfare tag" or the tell/lecture saying you shouldn't be wasting everyone's time by joining.

My head is still spinning by reading and contributing to this monstrosity of a thread, showing exactly how  gross OUR community has become. To some of the posters credit, there were jabs thrown at those that those who so excitedly proclaimed that going AFK is just the thing to do while doing LFR. But really, that is MMO-Champion, which leads to some of the longest, most drawn out bickering I've ever seen in a thread. That outrage, never really showed up.

I also understand most have to AFK at one point in a fight. I had the stomach flu a few weeks back and had to bolt for a few minutes, I should have not que'd for LFR but when I came back after taking care of my incident, I did ALL I could to catch up and not look like a tag along. I guess that is where I differ than most that are in this tread, I care and have pride. Well, if only more thought that way.

I remember just before the WOW Armory changed over to the new one, there was a 20+ page thread dealing with a 5 man run where a player had to take a few minute break for her child. The outcry in that thread was far worse than anything in the MMO-Champion. Point is, in a 5 man, you can't push ahead and must work as a team. I think this is where Blizzard has let us down, in LFR you have no need work as a team, as long as the Tank doesn't kiss the carpet, and during AOE damage the healers keep the DPS alive, it is a win. Sadly, with the ease of LFR, that is pretty much every fight.

I will stop my rant, now. What are your thoughts on people AFK ing? I'd love to hear what others have to say about this. Because it really only bothers me that it is so acceptable to do now. This isn't the game I started playing, any longer I guess.

2012 In Review!

I'd like to take a few minutes to send out a friend (2012) that was kind of ho hum both in game and out for me. Basically, this year went out about the same as it came in, just...blahhhhh.

This year actually brought the 1st time I suspended my account. For a few months prior to MoP 5.x being brought into play, I was done. The game had just lost it for me. It was short lived.

So without further adieu, lets get into my thoughts;

The Good!

• The art work in MoP - No complete zone is amazing but overall the art that was done is pretty great. I really enjoy the views. From the gear to the buildings, Blizz really hit a home run with the detail and the way the captured the Chinese themes. I love the way the "Wall" winds thru the zones. 
• The talent system - At max level this is fantastic! Oh my, its simple and you don't have the odd D-Bag telling you, "psssst...your spec is all wrong". As you level it is long days between getting new points but I think it is more than made up for at 90.
• Tradeable loot - This was brilliant and I loved it. Running with guild members this was cool if you were unsure about a piece or if you did the ultimate OH- OH and picked the wrong piece from the vendor.
• Account wide mounts and achievements  Finally they made your account look like an account, instead of a puzzle that was half-assed together. I highly approve of this one. 
• Transmongering - ugly word, kinda cool. You can make gear that you REALLY want worthwhile. I'm so glad I held on to my T6 gear. 

My winner for the best new thing in game for 2012 - Upgradable loot! I don't know how many times I wanted a piece of gear for MONTHS and finally I'd get it. Then next week a patch comes our or a nerf and something else becomes more "BETTER" for you. This way you can at least put some points in to a hard fought, well needed item. (more here)

The OK! (sure I'm not sticking to the normal patter but its my thoughts...LOL)

• Farming - Overall I like this aspect of the game. It actually gives you something to do that you can work with and help yourself with in-game  Be it either cooking or mats you might need. The really cool thing is you can grow motes which is a life saver. The really bad is the shit you have to do to pick and plant your crops. There is no way it should take over 15 to 20 minutes to plant 16 crops. I'd love it if they would nerf the surprises you get when planting or picking.
• Scenarios- Thank you, Blizzard! I really enjoy these fast, easy way to do something different in game. No tank needed, almost zero gross people in these things and it moves to fast to the lazy to take hold. It would be perfect aside from the fact the gear/loots is useless and you get no JP from the bosses.
• Shrine of Two Moons- Overall I like having a major hub in a new land. There is more bad than good but you do get everything you need there, I still don't understand why Blizz didn't put Ally and Horde in the same city? 
• Motes of Harmony - Overall, I understand it and like it. I wish they were BOA instead of BOE. 

There is no, most OK because - well that would be like the best mediocre thing. It just don't work.

The Bad - 

• Cataclysm's finish - ok, make that the whole expansion. It was garbage. The 1st tier of raiding was ok, but after that it was all down hill. I spent more time in the 5 mans that anyone should.  There was so very little to embrace about that expansion, I"m just glad it is gone.
• VP going down after every 5 man or scenario - In cata we were allowed in a subsequent patch from release to be allowed to run for max VP for a max of 7. Not everyone can play all day and this allowed you to get the VP in case you missed it. Now with the way things are done, there is very little incentive to run more than one. 
• Heroic MoP 5 mans- They are pitiful. No challenge at all with what I mentioned above the amount of people running them is low. With the new news that there will be none release it 5.2 I can see them dying out. I'd rather spend my time doing a round of dailies than doing into a heroic. I'd like to get your feed back on this, please leave a comment.
• Faction grinding for VP gear. Absolutely STUPID! The worst part is you have to open one to revered before others become available. I could continue on this but I think they looked to stop a gushing wound with a band aid by doing this.
• Tanking gear has gone DPS! Really guys? do we need even more fights about who rolls on what. I can't believe haste is the stat for prot pally's. Hit and Exp mean so much even for mitigation. They absolutely missed the mark on this one. 
• Professions are not longer money makers. I've got a JC and Enchanter, I make nothing with these two. JC is dead other than mounts. Enchanting is so heavily flooded with mats and competition it makes it hard. My LW makes decent money but as more have unlocked the recipe's the gold has dried up. 

The worst of the worst in 2012! 

The daily grind! Have the implemented anything worse than this in game ever? I know, if you don't like them don't do them. But really, it is the #1 way to earn extra loot (which has been a fail mechanism) via the coins. It is the only way to open certain professions recipes, if you are a raider, the gear was a must. It really has turned off many from the expansion so far. From the ass hats that stand on the quest givers to make your life just a little more miserable, to the mobs that seem to never not spawn and gang up on you. Blizzard has answered this many, many times, they did this to get us out of the cities and keep us busy. It just reeks of wrong, it just frustrates people and wastes time. Blizz just missed the boat. We went thru this in TBC and well, I guess they didn't learn anything from that.

Well. where do we go from here? I'm not sure. I can tell you this, my object of my blog is a view of a WOW tank. I'm not tanking any longer. I'm only Ret. I'm not even collecting prot gear anymore. It isn't worth it. I've never played ret, MoP has forced me to, for my own sanity and for my need to still play the game.

Here is to a great and safe 2013. Thank you all for reading my blog, I enjoy you all. Lets hope 2013 is even better than the year that was 2012.

Be safe!

Tier 15, Already?

5.2 on the PTR soon.

So this expansion seems to be rolling right along. We have tons of info already on (MMO) about the patch notes and the view of the new Tier armor. I'm not a really big fan of the T15 pally set. It lacks, um...well it lacks, I'll leave it at that, although the yellow looks better than the other two colors.
 To be fair, I'm never a really big fan when I see a picture of them, but live and around town they look much better. Season 13 armor set is viewable too but that is horrid and I won't waste your time linking that.

I'll hit on the highlights for the upcoming info so far:

• We get another faction and quest area. 
• New raid with 12 normal bosses and a heroic only.
• World bosses will spawn faster and we have a new one incoming.
• Warlocks now FINALLY (um, we will see about this) get green flames! Really, its only been around for 4 years but now you can have it too.
• New player models.
• PVP JC only gems.
• Farm changes-  
• Buy the farm - You are able to purchase your farm from Yoon which makes your farm an inn essentially and you will also receive orders to gain rep with the faction that places that order.
• You can purchase a seed bag that allows you to plant 4 at a time. 
• Special crops yield has been increased.
• When you master plow virmen will pop up stunned and at 30% health.
• Wild crops will be LESS!

Paladin changes- (sources)

 Paladin  -

• Hand of Purity now reduces all incoming damage by 10% in addition to its other effects.
• Eternal Flame periodic heal now provides 100% more healing when self-cast.
• Judgment now costs 5% of base mana.
• Protection
  • The base damage of Consecration has been increased by 789%, and it now scales less efficiently with attack power by approximately 11%.

Shout Out: The Undermine Guy!

I ran across a wonderful interview (Here) on the WOW Insider by a man named Erorus who runs probably my favorite website in WOW right now. The Undermine Journal gives you solid facts on what is selling, when its selling and even to an extent who your main competition is. It goes over Add-ons which are great but if the days lot have expired people seem to guess on the price of an item so this site tells you what the real market rate will bear on the price of an item. Not only on your realm but all realms similar to yours. You must check this out if you in any way like the gold making part of the game. I'm guessing most people know of this site.

But... introducing a site that ALLOWS you to see what realms are similar to yours.

I'm going to say many don't know about his other VERY popular, very helpful site called realmpop. A ingenious site that counts populations in a way I never thought of before. A quote take from the site states how they come up with the numbers:

How - To get the list of characters for a realm, first we record all the characters who posted to the auction house. Then we fetch and record their guild rosters. This should cover the majority of characters on a realm. To avoid getting listed, a character must never post to the auction house, and never belong to a guild where a guild member posts to the auction house.

Using the auction house to get real numbers is something I never would have figured could be done to get totals, but if you go to the site and see how he goes about it is amazing.  Above is a view of the info you can view on top of that you can to sort via his data seeing who has the highest Horde population etc.


What is lacking in graphic beauty on these set of sights is made up for in totality by the sheer amount  of info provided.

Thank you Erorus for adding so much to the WOW community and thanks to WOW Insider for doing this interview.

Surviving the Daily Grind!

The long road to 90 felt almost painful! For the next few paragraphs I'm going to give you my ideals for making you time you log on when you aren't raiding or doing guild activities. I think this is the number on complaint I see everyone have about MoP so far.

Leveling my 1st toon to 70 didn't feel as awful as the five levels that Blizzard gave us as a jump off point for this Xpac. The rise to 70 was new, exciting and adventurous. I looked at my time on game as a book series I read when I was a kid called Choose Your Own Adventure. It offered the read the way to pick how you wanted the book to end. Some of my favorites. This launched me into D&D and a game called Dark Tower that allowed the same kind of thing. Even after landing at 70 I always had fun. Sure that was 6 years ago but doing your daily PVP or Heroic was something I looked forward too. I had fun, it never felt like a job or work. Sadly, the start of this Xpac has felt just the opposite.

After hitting the max level in 90 I felt relief! It took me a few levels and a guide or two to realize that I couldn't do it as prot this time around, that was pretty shocking as I've leveled as prot all the way thru with Chasey. Even at 90 with better gear, doing dailies in prot gear is tiresome.

After being a 90 for a few months, and getting me second toon to 90 showed me some times and I'd like to share them with you. Maybe its a bit late or past when it should have been written but if I give even one person a reason to log back on because they don't feel like its a job and just want to have fun it will be worth it. Because -  we play for fun, well most of us do.

• YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THEM EVERY DAY!
• Don't try to do it all at once. Pick a faction and do that one until you get what is needed.
• After you get the Golden Lotus to Revered take a break from them and go to the others just to break up the grindy feel of doing only one faction all the time.
• Enjoy the sights and try and not repeat the same set over and over. 
• Queue for scenarios - I really enjoy the diffident aspect of this game that we now have. It is an easy 40 VP and give you some quick gold. 
• Jump on a low level alt to reminisce about the game you knew in the past. Do a 5 man too!
• This sounds to easy but don't log on for a day or two when you don't have "anything really to do", it will refresh you.
• Remember the gold you are gaining, dailies are the new "I play the AH" part of the game.
• Do not feel compelled to do dailies, if you do, you will wear yourself out of even wanting to play. Getting the VP/gold is not crucial to your survival.

A few good things about dailies -

• You earn VP by not sitting in the city mounted listening to 2/City TRADETROLL spam his thoughts on his pre-adolescent view of the world.
• You accumulate charms to allow you extra rolls in the "loot sac of fail" or gear while doing LFR.
•  Well, that is all I can really come up with.

While doing research I found this from Orcish Army Knife on trick for doing dailies. 

I understand Blizz was trying to keep us busy and allow us a way to enjoy the graphics of the game they put lots of work into. The missed the mark big time! MoP is more grindy than anything else they've ever attempted. They did it for a good reason, so they think, and that is to keep us busy and not bored. What they really did is make MoP a full time job....If YOU let it.

For a Good Cause: Cinder Kitten!

My 1st purchase from Blizz's store.

I have never purchased a pet or a mount from Blizzard. I never felt the need to, even the charity pets. I felt this was a Blizzard money grab and way to get attention. Call me crazy it is just how I felt.

Well today I seen the reason to pull the trigger on a new charity pet the Cinder Kitten. One that I felt very strongly about because of how many lives its touched and where it hit.
100% of all proceedings will go to the Red Cross in there effort to aid victims of Hurricane and Super Storm Sandy.

The Poke-Man feature aside, I think this pet is pretty cool, absolutely adorable and well done by Blizzard.

Its $10 bucks and really worth it, if you can afford it please think about purchasing this pet. You can also gift it too.

Here is MMO-Champions video on the pet and the press release.

Now up for adoption in the Pet Store: the Cinder Kitten, a fiery little feline looking for a home to warm. Adopt this adorable rascal, and you’ll help bring relief to the victims of Superstorm Sandy in the process.
From now until December 31, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. PST, 100% of the $10 USD adoption fee will be donated to the American Red Cross's Superstorm Sandy relief efforts. This support will enable the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, emotional support, and other assistance to victims of this disaster.
The Cinder Kitten doesn’t just have good looks -- this kitty has claws, and makes a purrfect addition to any Pet Battle team. The Cinder Kitten has Rare-quality stats and is a part of the Elemental family. This not-so-cool cat uses many Beast abilities in addition to Dragonkin and Elemental, and can also Prowl, Leap, and Rend its way to a 3-hit combo against its foes—and look good doing it.
To learn more about the Pet Store, please visit the Pet Store FAQ.

(Sources)

How to be Elite!

Everyone thinks they can -

The separation between the elite player and a normal raider is staggering. So staggering that the normal raider will never ever have a clue on what the elite player does to get where they are at, the amount of pulls it takes to kill the boss or the investment of time they put into their toon to make it right for ONE fight let alone a whole nights raiding.

This topic came to me while reading a thread on a forum I go to from time to time. The forum has some good  people but in a way, a skewed sense of the game from a more casual audience  I take nothing away from what they have accomplished or what kind of people they are but it usually isn't a site you go to when you want to find out what is new in game. For that reason I will leave it anonymous.

In every aspect of life you come by people who just have a knack at being better at something they do. Call it natural ability, if you will. Usually that isn't by total mistake and this portion of the discussion goes way deeper than I'm willing to go here but skill is usually cultivated more than innate. If you want to learn more about that please check out this book and site. I've looked at both in length and they make a ton of great points. But back to this point; you are always in awe of those people -they are often called the 1% because 99% of the people walking around can't tie their shoes correctly but these people make anything look easy.
Our game of WOW is no different. 

How did this post come about?

There was a discussion about Prot Pally builds and the new way things are for post 5.0 tanking. The poster started to slam a person who has contributed so much to WOW, Pally's and tanking in general he is a legend. I'm talking about Theck. A member of WOW's community so highly thought of, Blizz even named a poorly stated tanking ring after him. I say that with a smile on my face because maybe it was a sign of things to come. The statement went to the "Theck doesn't know what the hell he is talking about" due to the use of haste as a stat that Prot Pally's want to use. The thread went on to say that they knew the he was wrong because none of the top guilds in the worlds tanks were doing this. Which BTW is flat out wrong. (Dream Paragon's top prot pally Fraggoji). My counter rebuttal was, we causal's can't look to the very elite due to several reason and just do things that they do. It doesn't work that way.

But this got me thinking.

Now, in that post I put I'm not Theck fan boy, but looking back on it, I guess I am. I know for a fact I wouldn't be the player I am, or was with out the time he devoted to ALL of us knowing what it took for use to be built as tanks. Other than maybe Ciderhelm, I had no clue who to look up to as tanks. He laid the foundation to my career as a solid WOW tank.

The reason not everyone can do it.

Here is what I came up with - I always loved raiding from the minute I walked into Kara and got chased out due to a face pull. Raiding is or was the best thing about this game to me. As a raider I thought I knew what it meant to be a min/maxer and top of the line. I had some run in with greatness. In fact I hit top 300 for a few days in Wrath.

I also seen some drama that being towards the top created. I've logged on to see my guild was no longer going to be a guild. I was asked if I could switch professions to get an extra 400 HP's. I've been sat for certain fights because prot pally's weren't a solid choice on a given fight and been brought in as a 3rd tank because of my PoJ skill which made me move faster to kite adds. Oh, I was also ported out and hearthed in so I could go as an extra healer in certain fights. All in all sounds reasonable, it was what you did to be good.

Just like in real life there is a point in wow where your skill won't take you further. You hit a wall, and it could be from a multitude of things. Can you take the hours of raiding and wiping? Can you devote the time to running your rotation with your eyes closed? Can you take the yelling that goes on? Or losing out on that ONE piece of loot that you needed to complete your threat set because the loot master gave it to the new tank to help get him closer to the rest of them? On top of all that are you willing to do whatever it takes to be number 1? It isn't easy.

Visual proof -

Oh I thought it was! I watched this - The Race to Number One a professionally done movie about the top few guilds in the world racing to get the top spot. They do some crazy shit. I could never devote that kind of time or life to this. Its sad and awesome at the same time.



Race to World First from Looking for Group Productions on Vimeo.

People that get to where these people are in game are no different than any other 1% in the world. It isn't easy and takes a special kind of person. They log out in different gear so you don't know what their spec was for a fight. They walk to rope of just outside the rules every way they can just to get that kill.

And on top of that, they do it better than you or I could ever do it. See I thought I was good. I really did. After watching that movie it proved to me I'm not. I'm not bad. There was also that other incident I had that made me realize I might not be ready for prime time. This goes back to mid wrath.

In person proof - we've all seen it - 

It was just after LFD come out. T9 was still the top of the line gear due to gating. 258 Was heroic 25 man T9. I qued up with my hunter to get some VP/JP. I entered and the tank had zero gems or enchants but was fully 258. I always looked at the tank, just to see his build he was a prot paladin. I looked no further, because we were off to the races. A bit into the dungeon I seen the healer (tree) and the tank were in the same guild. From start to finish it took us 8 minutes. That entire place was done in 8 minutes. Now, most of you can remember that Wrath style AOE fest were pretty common, but not the week that LFD came out and not with such grace and perfection. This guy was off spec, not set up correctly and pulled that whole place in about 4 pulls. We didn't skip one boss. I looked later to see where they were from. It was a guild called Exodus on Ysondre at the time they were top 15 in the world in progression.

So yes while the guys who put spread sheets and blogs together to make us better, we normal casual players have no clue what it takes to be sitting up high on the pecking order of WOW raiders, let alone staying there. They just get it. Because Theck or EJ puts out a post on how to do it, doesn't mean you can do it like them. The thing that makes the really great theroycrafter so good, is  they do it and then write it.

I've said this before, anyone could run a 969 rotation, but to really understand why you did it and what came up next separated the great from the best.

Sorry for the length. I really wanted to get this out. We all think we can do IT but really not many of us can, it is why one guild has for patch after patch, time after time been at the top. It ain't easy, and if anyone could do it, why hasn't anyone else done it?

Watch the video Race to Number One if you get time. It will open your eyes.

November Ramblings

I know I neglect my blog. So I thank those that pop in to read my ramblings the odd two or three times a month I jump on to whine about the game.

Due to the fact I'm not raiding with any guild and LFR is my source of seeing raids, which is equal to taking a few friends and doing a raid boss from two expansions back it doesn't really take much of my time, there is a mechanic you might have to look out for but hey, the healers can heal you thru it so don't worry about it.
On top of not raiding, having family in and out due to holidays and the the doldrums of the daily's grind I'm not really enthusiastic about the game right now. I stay for the time sink it offers when I want to visit my toons. I do have a fondness for my toons. I've known them for years.

So what did this month offer for me in game:

Shade of the Horseman is no joke when you are in lvl 88+ Blue. The fight was ridiculous when the DPS is to slow to burn adds. I'm not saying its hard but the ONE time I did do it, I must have had 16 adds on me with health equal to what I had as a tank. I can remember the last time this fight popped up in TBC prior to Wrath launch and it took 2 minutes for this fight. This time around it was about three minutes per phase.

Blizz still made it tremendously hard for you to do any quests that require you to get a hold of other factions players toons. So now instead of hanging out in our home cities, watching the kids spam trade with Thunder-fury links, we now get put in an unmountable city where we have just about everything we want but an AH and the other faction. Oh and a way to get from point to point fast and well, a city that is fun to be in. I still don't think I have seen everything that this city we get stuck at, has to offer.

I will say, even thou LFR is scaled down and basically brainless we still get to see the brilliance of the fights and design Blizz put into the fights. Elegon is a wonderfully looking fight and simply a two phase fight that LFR tanks seem to not get. Garlon is pretty neat as well, kill some legs, slow the boss, kite and kill. Lots to do but simple. I also like the Spirit Kings. From what I see, the raids were done very well, much more so that the last few tiers of Cata.

I know 5.1 is here, I still haven't started the quest line that opens the new quests with rep, I mean lord knows that we have enough factions to grind thru, so wondering how the hell the basis of a new patch would be to add another grind is beyond me.

Lets not forget we now have brawlers guild, this is something that is like PVP but not. On top of it, you need to get an invite, the 1st round of invites go to those willing to sink gold into by going to the Black Market AH spend gold on this. Another idea that you have to wonder what the braintrust at the front office greenlighted this odd game mechanism.


My parting shot for this wonderful month as we lead to the kick off of Christmas. I flew to Halfhill Village to do my framing. I have the complete farm open to me, all 16 plots. I understand that you must not make this pure mindless, but from the time I picked my 1st plant until I finished it took me 13 minutes. This wasn't doing dailies, it was picking my plants, taking the "Why not Scallions" quest, grabbing my seeds and replanting. Almost a minute per plant. Why? I had 5 Critters to fight, 5 of my plants were tangled, and the others were either parched or infested. Not ONE plant was just pick and plant.  I did get 16 motes of harmony but it cost me so much time I wanted to scream.

Til next time, thanks for hanging in there with me.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

Jewelcarfting, its a bad joke!

Looking back

Chasey's professions are Jewel Crafting and Enchanting. She has always been an enchanter but the other profession has changed a few times. I don't remember the 1st couple, but one day before Naxx. 2.0 I went mining to get the Stam. that goes along with that profession. Shortly after I realized, I must go JC, I was spending SO much gold on gems. At the time I did it, I was looking to save gold and get the unbelievable JC only gem bonuses. My goal wasn't to be a gold maker or to collect all of the recipes that the game offered. I was to make my gems or gems for my alt's. and to get the profession only stats.

Towards the end of Wrath I got to get the real benefit of being a Jewel Crafter. The awesome gold oppertunity and doing what the money makers call the "Saronite Shuffle" by prospecting Saronite. It worked but I was never a true auction house mogul. It was to keep my butt out of debt. Doing the JC daily wasn't much fun but it wasn't painful. The money you made became much better than any of the drawbacks.

During Cata, the money from JC was sickening! I made painful amounts of gold selling gems. Until the epics came out. At that time, being a JC was a pain in the ass! The dailies weren't horrible but it was something you had to do to get the patterns you wanted and the sheer fact your bonus was almost void by being a JC hurt to the core. I wasn't raiding but it saddened me I could spend 250g to get the same stats I had already by being the owner of a crafting profession. I heard some talk of it, but in the end Blizz never did up the JC only gem stats.

Enter the Mist of Panderia

For almost the entirety of Cata, blue quality red gem cuts sold for above 100g. They hardly ever dipped below that until the release of epics and even then certain cuts stayed pretty close. Every 4 days you had a new pattern that you NEEDED and could make a profit.

MoP has brought us a guessing game and the NEED for a miner on staff to get the gems you need. As we sit less than two months from release day, the blue quality red cuts are 60g on my server. That is even for the brilliant cut, which is much needed by ALMOST every class.

I'm a tank, I need 3 or 4 cuts. I'm not looking to sell at this point, I'm looking to get the cuts I need for my gear. It took me close to a week of buy or xmuting to get my cuts, per gem. Now I did get extra gem cuts but NO ONE buys blues. It is almost at this point (yes, even now in game) better to vendor them. Because re-listing them for 5 days straight makes no Goblin sense.

I thank Blizz for giving JC's a mount. Its been glorious doing dailies to get the pattern. While I discuss this I can see almost non stop for another poor JC, and I say poor because there seems to be a million of us, are now selling the panthers for cost. Yes, there is zero money to be made in the mounts.

No this isn't all about gold with me, my complaint isn't that the poor JC can't make gold, the simple fact is I've had to rely on RNG to get my patterns. I still don't have the pure mastery cut and the ring and neck patterns were obsolete a few days after level 90 for any toon.

Just quickly on another note, I think Blizz really dropped the ball on professions for this whole xpac. Sure I think they cut down the BOT'rs by making raw mats so very plentiful. But being a LW, Tailor or Blacksmith requires you to level and GRIND rep! OH, yes more grinding with the alts. Enchanting doesn't even have a use for the sought after Spirit of Harmony.

On the Spirit of Harmony front, I'm not sure if Blizz has implemented a worse idea to "get people out in the world". Making them BOE makes some of the raw materials less attractive. To my statement on enchanters, and even JC's who get their patterns they want they are now sitting on these and selling the raw mats you can buy from the panda. If you look it really has put dent in the Golden Lotus market.

Looking ahead

I'm guessing as teir gear becomes more regular on the normal raiders, as opposed to the hard core. That will once again make the gem market profitable again, but...

Sure being a JC is still fun at this point. The money from the profession is dried up. We are now only able to have TWO JC only gems in our gear and even cutting the Meta's is less cost efficient than selling the blue quality gems. I'm hoping that Blizz makes a change to the profession in later patches. Again, not raiding I'm not really disabled by this other than not having incoming gold flow that came with being a JC once was. Blizz has fixed that for us by giving us 120 or so factions that take no less than 9000 dailies to do to become exalted with.

Currently, being a JC is a joke. If I was raiding hard core again or on a serious scales I'd be upset by the 'nerfs' to the profession only benefit.