I Haven't Really Been Playing

I don't know. It's hard to try and care when the expansion is just around the corner. I mean, I could make money, but who really cares? It's also hard to play when I don't have a desk to play at. Maybe once I get a desk and chair to sit at. And if Dan starts playing again....

bought 45 stacks of Whiptail
12g a stack
to make 271 fortune cookies.
to sell at 400g a stack.
awww yea

I'm Still Blown Away

I've been playing since BC and I still love Nagrand

Stance Zero

Wut?

For Rugged Leather

A Couple Options

If you're not 85, Blasted Lands

If you're a decently geared 85 with AOE capabilities, Dire Maul North is great. Clear the first pit and up to the left, and run out and repeat. Loads.

Ridiculous Money Maker

Fortune Cookies. They cost almost nothing to make, except you have to have Cooking and Incription up to 525. Just make Mysterious Fortune Cards (which take 1 blackfallow ink each) and cook fortune cookies (1 card each). Sell that for a huge profit. I also seem to be the only one on the server selling them too. Weird.

For Thick Leather

Go To New Kargath in Badlands and go right outside. Almost never ending spawn of whelplings that all drop it, with some rugged leather in between.

awww yeaa

Achievement included. And this was after losing like 6 or 7 in a row.
combusting kids is fun

Awesome

So as an ally and I run to go get Farm from BS, I notice one guy who sees us and is trying to beat us to the point. And that point I just start casting cyclone, hoping beyond hope it will work. It does. The enemy is trapped, sitting watching my teammate cap Farm.

All to win the game. I was so stoked. Then I had second most honor in the BG and I was pleased.

This came after I singlehandedly held off at least 5 or 6 people off of mine, preventing them from capping for at least a minute longer than I should have. This prevented them from assisting other points most importantly. The resources gained from those couple seconds aren't important. It's bringing the enemy out of position that's key.

No Kills

I just want to write up the story of this BG before I forget. Typical BfG, and my whole team goes WW. I am a feral cat, so I decided to try and go for the LH, since its easy to Ninja, since there's usually no one there. I watched this warrior cap it and then stand there. So I was in cloak, so I went to the place where his back was turned and then started capping. He didn't notice until I had capped it. At which point, i started fighting him. When I realized he would beat me, I flipped on entangling roots, waited until he hit me, then I put some stacks of lifebloom on me. I ran around and then another enemy joined the battle. I switched to bear mode. I love bear mode, because I have so many "oh shit" buttons, including one that lets me gain health for rage. As a bear, I am basically perfectly equipped for holding points. I can melee multiple people with swipe, then if I'm really in a pinch, I can flip berserk and melee multiple people with no cooldown with mangle. Then, if I'm dying I can flip Barkskin and Survival Instincts for less damage, and Frenzied Regeneration for health. So basically, in this game, I ninja'ed a point, held in by myself (until help showed up, which to their credit, this whole role/plan wouldn't work without them actually being able to take out the other team. I also think there was a healer healing me, so that helped a lot) and I did really well. But funnily enough, as you can see, I didn't score any killing blows. But I got the highest honor on the team.

I mean you could see it if my computer could screen shot. God damn it. Well, I had 0 killing blows, but the most honorable kills, 1 assault and the most honor.

Rainy Day

Hate when my computer cant take a screenshot. Thousand Needles. Gloomy rainy morning.

Not Bad

 Not bad for 0 resil

 Not bad

Gates

 Gates

My Father

 "My Father was a gate humper"

What Blizzard Needs to Do

What Blizzard needs to do with World of Warcraft is similar to the thing that the music industry needs to do in order to become profitable again. World of Warcraft is arguably, being ruined by the fact that we can fly. This has many reasons to it, like the fact that we have flying makes us consume content at a faster rate, it makes the game easier, and it detaches us from the world itself. It allows us to pick and choose our battles for the most part, and this leads to a detached feeling from the world. When we were ground bound, it took longer, because we had to get there. It's weird going back to an alt without flying, because actually getting there is like half the battle until level 60. What Blizzard has also done, that has made this game easier, and therefore more boring (to some. not me, but some) is they had reduced the number of items required for something, like material gathering quests or kills for reputation gains.

Now that the game is easier, how will Blizzard sustain its playerbase and not lose people because they either dont like it or run out of things to do? Blizzard will have to innovate. It will have to make content interesting enough that we will want to experience it. And so far from what I have seen, they are. They make quests that make intricate use of the flying mount, and I can tell you it's really fun to be able use my flying mount for the quests. But they have to create new game mechanics that are entertaining and engaging enough that are not the old style MMORPG quests. I don't know if I can think of another MMO that uses flying like WoW. WoW is an old school MMO at heart, at least when it began. It took a turn after Burning Crusade and the release of flying mounts. At first, flying mounts were hard to obtain, but because of the nature of expansion packs, they became the norm. By nature of expansion packs, I mean,  by being an expansion pack, one assumes that the characters will be advanced in level beyond the level cap of the previous game. So, when Wrath came out, everyone needed to get to level 80. If the flying level is 70, its necessary that everyone who experiences new content will have obtained flying at some point. So, therefore, flying becomes normal. If flying makes the game easier, that means that everyone will have an easier game. After everyone experiences this easier game, no one is going to  want to go back to the hard game. You can't go back. It will always be seen as a downgrade, and not up to the game's full potential.

What Blizzard needs to do is make us want to play the game for other reasons than the traditional MMO reasons. The tradition of old MMOs is wanting to collect something for the purpose of being a compulsive collector. What WoW needs to do is make the MMO fun. They need to make you want to collect things, but for different reasons. They have to make us want to keep playing after we've collected the things. That is something that the Star Wars: The Old Republic and (probably) The Elders Scrolls MMO haven't figured out yet, and this is why they failing. WoW is making it easier to play (Dungeon Finder, Mounts, PvP queues from anywhere, less reputation for factions), so that if you want to collect, its so much easier. We've all been trying for so long, we should just be given what we want. Why make it hard?

I don't have any suggestions really for how to make it better. But I do think that Blizzard recognizes this fact and is acting upon it. Like I said, I think their questing mechanics reflect this trend. Deepholm makes good use of flying mounts, as does the Twilight Highlands. Especially the parts with the city on the rock, The Krazzworks. They use vertical space well, and they make it useful, but not impossibly easy to complete the quests there. I think adding fighting to flying would make the game a lot different. It would add that sense of danger back into the game. It would make it so you can't AFK in the middle of the world.

Of companies I know that may be up to the challenge, Blizzard is one I expect to rise to the occasion. They needs to innovate, and that's what I see them doing. But I think most importantly, they have to deal with this flying problem.

New Ally Strat

 New Ally Strat: let Horde take everything and then HK farm us in the keep

On Vanilla Nostalgia

In my own opinion, Cata is far more fun than vanilla. As being a player who has played since Vanilla (but couldn't raid because it required too much time), Cata is far and away the most fun the game has ever been, at least for me. I don't have lots friends who play this game, and I've had a busy schedule since starting College at the launch of Wrath, so I don't really have time to find a guild and raid with anyone. The game caters to casuals, and, shockingly enough, that's the vast majority of the player base. The vocal minority of prozone raiders are correct, in that this game is a lot easier now, but I would have it no other way. The game is fun constantly now. There are so many different things you can do at any given moment. I just think that people who say Vanilla is better are being nostalgic for that time, not actually looking at the game that existed. If Vanilla WoW released now, it would bomb.

1. Lack of Endgame content 
2. No dungeon finder/raid finder 
3. No Dual specs 
4. (this is really old) but no connected Auction Houses 
5. Reputation was impossible to get
6. No Mounts till 40 
7. Gold was very difficult to make 
8. No Achievements (debatable if this was good or not) 
9. BG queues took forever (and you had to run to the battlemasters to join) 
10. Sunken Temple was impossible to figure out to navigate 
11. Have you ever tried to coordinate 40 people to do anything?

Cata is the only reason I've convinced my friend Dan to play, as he tried WoW many times before, but got bored with it. He plays now, because it's fun. I trust Dan's taste on everything (music, movies, TV shows, video games) and so I'm inclined to value his opinion on this too. So when people talk about how Vanilla was better, I'm a little hesitant to believe them.

Rose tinted goggles, yo.

MoonGuard Goldshire

So today we went to Moonguard Goldshire while in vent with Dan and Marc. And I have some observations:

1. Why are there so many people there? How many people are paying $15 a month to simply stand around in an Inn. Some don't even respond. A lot of them were giving lap dances
2. It was very funny that people were mad when we would walk up to them and dance. Especially people who were homophobic about it
3. Marc, Dan and I all tried to make ugly characters, and they all ended up being black with blonde hair
4. People get mad when you follow them around
5. Shouting that you're a train and shouting chuuglin sounds is rather amusing

Stuff That's Better to Buy

Elementium Ore
Whiptail

Things To Do Daily (Cata)

Transmute with Alchemy
Northrend Inscription Research
Jewelcrafting Daily

Craft Dreamcloth (weekly)

This Is Why I'm Okay With Not Playing the Beta

Cataclysm

Personally, I really loved Cataclysm. A lot of people complained about it, but I had a lot of fun with it. But then again, I spent most of the expansion leveling Alts, not raiding. I went from having 2 80s and a 70 something to having 6 85s. I had 5 characters now I have 10. And I've done a bunch of different stuff from all corners of the world. I tried to hit every Horde zone and do everything, in different orders, as different classes. I've enjoyed myself.




I guess I see where people are coming from. How much fun would hanging around as max level be? I don't know. I'm not really into raiding. I don't have the schedule to do it. Plus, that would make me a huge nerd. I almost wish I was a huge nerd....sadly though, I'm not. I'm not sure there was a terribly large amount of things to do at max level. I really dig it now, but that's because they introduced raid finder and transmogging.




They introduced some really great features in Cata. Raid finder, Transmogging, and other stuff (that I may attempt to think of later) have really created a different game. I know that lots of people are quitting because it's different. However, I would respond and say that the game needed to change. If a game stays static and doesn't innovate, it gets abandoned and eventually it shuts down. Innovation is required for a game to continue to be good. Don't slam Blizzard for doing that.




What’s especially funny to me is that when Mists releases, there will people being like “Man I liked it more in Cata when …….”. No matter what, people will always be nostalgic for a time, if it sucks. Rose tinted goggles, yo.

Mithril Ore

Is so plentiful, yet no one gets bothers to go get it. Consequently, it stands to make loads of money from it.

Motes/ Primals

Layout:
(Zone) NPC name - Coordinates - % drop rate - link to page at Wohead

Mote of Air:
(Nagrand) Storming Wind-Ripper - 69.21 (Throne of Elements) - 33.9% - http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=22310

Mote of Fire:
(Nagrand) Raging Fire-Soul - 69.21 (Throne of Elements) - 34.1 - http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=22311

Mote of Water:
(Terokkar Forest) Crashing Wave-Spirit - 63.17 (North-Western Throne of Elements) - 33.7 - http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=22309

Mote of Earth:
(Blade's Edge Mountains) Sundered Rumbler - (Basically above and all below Area 52) - 18.8 - http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=18881

Mote of Mana:
(Netherstorm) Mana Wraith - 36.60 and 31.73 (Anywhere above Area 52 and more below. While you're at it, kill the Nether Rays as well, they have just as good of a chance to drop and are mostly in the same area) - 25.8 - http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=18864

Mote of Life:
(Zangarmarsh) I didn't find any specific place to farm for these because the zone is just rich with them. But I would suggest farming the Bogg/ Starving Bogg Lords and Fungal /Starving Fungal Giants because they are all very close. - The Spawning Glen (SW Zangarmarsh) and East of there is the Quagg Ridge - Very similar drop rates on all 4 mobs that I pointed out, 18.2 to 18.8 - http://www.wowhead.com/?item=22575#00Rmz

Mote of Shadow:
By far the most commonly found mote. This is dropped in almost every zone and can be easily farmed anywhere. But there may be a few exceptional areas just because npcs that drop them are close together, non-elite, and easy to kill. Here's one spot in a few that are exceptional:
(Nagrand) Voidspawn - Again, no specific coords, but all around Oshu'Gun, the bigass crystal SW Nagrand. - 18.4 - http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=17981

Eternals

Crystallized Air - Tempest Reverent, Wintergrasp
Crystallized Earth - Earthbound Reverent, Wintergrasp
Crystallized Water - Water Reverent, Wintergrasp
Crystallized Life- Mature Lasher, Wintergrasp
Crystallized Fire - Flame Reverent, Wintergrasp
Crystallized Shadow- Shadow Reverent,Wintergrasp

Potential Large Sellers on AH

Arcanite Rod ~400g
Primal Might ~700g
Inferno Rubies ~250g
Enchant Weapon - Hurricane ~1,150g
Vicious Armor
-Chest and Legs specifically, because they cost the most HP/CP
Vicious Relics!!!

For Rugged Leather

Go to Razorthorn Shelf in Outland. The little guys give you one or two every time.

For Fel Iron

Hellfire Pennisula is great. Do laps around the zone, hugging the mountains. There's a lot.

This is made a lot easier at 4:30am, as there are no farmers.

Adamentite incoming soon.

Get Gatherer if you haven't already. Helps a ton.