Project Lore

ZOMG, No Deadly Boss MOBS!? Gkick! Major combat operations in /World of Warcraft have ended.  By dedicating a healthy bit of time before bed, and using my own advice, I was able overcome the horrible lag I was experiencing in all of my World of Warcraft endeavors.  No more 30% drops in framerates, lost DPS or accidental dives off cliffs to large for a gnome to survive.  WoW has returned to normal. Onyxia will rue the day she returned to these lands! There are a few things that I learned during my hour-plus battle.  Most important is that I am absolutely terrible at keeping my add-ons up to date.  The majority of them haven't been updated since the Wrath launch patch (v3.0), or at best v3.1.  I refuse to use the various auto-updating services because of my fear of hackers, unsavory add-on authors and the notion that such a program will clutter my computer.  These ridiculous reasons mean that the blame falls squarely on my shoulders for being lazy.  At least suggestions four and five, after already narrowing things down from 1-3 earlier this week, fixed the problem. In addition to my disorganized /AddOns folder - it in no way reflects the cleanliness of my slop pit house - I came to the realization that I have far too many add-ons.  During my campaign to capture the latest versions of my tools, I cut my add-on list from 49 memory suckers to a slim 26 user interface enhancements.  It wasn't even difficult, no hard decisions made.  Simply, do I use this or not? Here's my list:

• Auctioneer: This add-on is the key to my financial success in World of Warcraft, arguably responsible for the Mo' Money, Mo' Problems column, among many other one-shot posts.  It scans and records data from the Auction House, and automates putting items up for sale at competitive prices.  I roll with the suite, which includes numerous supporting add-ons like BeanCounter, Enchantrix, Informant, and Stubby.  Norganna's add-ons have proven to be so helpful to me that I have even made donations.  Yes, plural.
• AutoBar: An easily customizable and maintainable bar that is populated with all your hot items and abilities, like hearthstones, mounts, potions, food, food with buffs, etc, by default.  I set it up to be a third default action bar, just one with collapsible buttons.  It's proven to be a clutch addition.  Contains class specific bars as well.
• BankItems:  Enables player to look at their bank, their alts' banks, and even the guild banks from anywhere.  Good enough?
• CT_Basic: The CT_Mod team was the first team to create an ubiquitous collection of add-ons.  Some of their tools were so common that they've been enshrined in the Add-On Hall of Fame (Blizzard implementing an add-on's capabilities in the default UI).  CT_Basic is still an incredibly useful package thanks to the CT_MailMod, allowing players to loot their mailbox via a 'Select All' button.  There is a perfect synergy between it and Auctioneer.  I nuke CT_PartyBuffs though.  I used to use CT_RaidAssist when I was a raid leader, but no more.
• CT_ExpenseHistory: A good expansion to the basic CTMod package for the gold nuts like myself.  Tracks your expenses - repairs, reagents, even mail postage - to see where all that gold went.  It's pointless, but I love numbers and finances.
• Fishing Buddy: I used to be huge on fishing, and that's when I fell in love with this mod.  It previously automated almost everything about fishing, but Blizzard disabled some of that functionality.  I continue to use it mainly out of nostalgia, but also for the tracking (numbers!), and easy casting.
• Gatherer: This bad boy records where you've looted gatherable items (mining, herb and even treasure nodes) and displays them on your minimap.  The best part is the ability to share the data with friends, party members and even your guild!  I always kill Gatherer_HUD.  It's a resource hog that offers nothing but fancy visual effects over the normal add-on.
• QuestHelper: What can I say? I like saving time, and it's even more useful after you've already run through the zones on your first toon.  QuestHelper is another mod that has entered the Add-On Hall of Fame due to its ease of use and immense quest database.  There are many imitators, but I've found QH to be the best.
• Recount: Allows me to see my mad deeps, overall damage or how many times I die.  Recount tracks healing and useless stuff like that too.  It doesn't matter how much healing they do, it's never enough and always their fault when someone dies. :p
• RoguePowerBars: You may have noticed that I don't use Deadly Boss Mods (eh GM?). I may have died a few times because of that decision, but I find it to be too informative for my taste.  I mention DBM in this RPB snippet because they effectively do the same thing, scream information at you.  My justification for RPB is that the standard UI is laid out poorly for rogues (and many other classes).  We have so many buffs and debuffs on short timers that need to be kept active for maximum DPS that they really should be in your face.  RPB accomplishes that goal superbly.  I rarely ever lose my spell rotations since I began using it.  That obviously increases my DPS.

Once Solidsagart becomes a raid healer - sometime in November I assume - I'll have to add a few more add-ons to the mix for healing.  I still haven't decided between Grid or Clique, but other then new raid frames I can't really see Solidsagart needing anything special.  Raid frame changes are her version of RoguePowerBars.  I'll likely grab Omen though, something Vanish makes rather pointless.  Anyone have additional selections for either toon? I just realized that only two of my add-ons have anything to do with combat.  Everything else is time saving or money making.  Maybe I need to get my priorities straight so I can nail 15k DPS on a regular basis. The whole downside to nuking all of my add-ons was that I lost all of my macros.  I don't know exactly how that happened, they are supposed to be server side, but it did.  My next task is recreating all of them.  Oh, how I don't look forward to finding the correct icons for everything or remember which abilities had which other abilities bound to them...

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With all the well-deserved hoopla regarding BlizzCon and WoW Cataclysm over the past few weeks, I thought it'd be fun to take a look back at some of the user interface changes we saw implemented nearly a month ago, in Patch 3.2, now that we've had time for the content to sink in a bit. It seemed that while many of us were excited to see these changes made, a large number of players also were concerned that the changes would make the game too easy, or even dumbed-down. This always seems to be a difficult line that Blizzard must walk when making content changes - and players aren't always happy with the results. Now that we've had a month to adjust to the changes, let's take another look at some of what was implemented:

• How about that auto-complete for character names while in chat, for mail, etc? It certainly simplifies chats and invites, especially for those toons with special characters in their names.
• I'm a fan of the casting bars that now show under target nameplates. It makes timing interrupts considerably easier. But I suppose that also could be considered a bad thing if I was the one being interrupted.
• The double-paned questlog makes viewing quests a bit easier - I basically already had this through the DoubleWide addon, but now it's built in to the standard WoW UI.
• Automatic item comparisons per armor slot and the ease of seeing vendor sell prices also are a welcome addition in my book, but also both are similar to the addons RatingBuster and Auctioneer.
• Druids now can see their mana bars when shape-shifted. Sounds handy.
• Have you found it helpful to have the item level on tooltips? I'll admit, this one I haven't done much with yet.
• Another useful addition - options menus now display an exclamation when they have new features.
• Remember all of those Quest helper additions that were on the 3.2 PTR patch notes? The ones that probably were the most widely debated for their simplification of questing? Well as we've all probably figured out by now, those never made it onto the regular servers. But it should be interesting to see if they were scrapped altogether or if they'll make another appearance in a later patch.

So in retrospect, now that we've had some time to adjust to all these changes, what do you guys think? Are you happy with what Blizzard has brought? Perhaps now couldn't live without some of the changes? They may be minor in the grand scheme of things, but I always think that the UI changes can bring so much to the game in their functionality. I also would say that first starting out on the game can be a bit intimidating. I would argue that many of these changes simplify aspects of the game that wouldn't necessarily affect the actual gameplay, but moreso the ease of getting around the interface and learning how to play. Perhaps Blizzard's looking to expand its market... or perhaps I'm just trying to make something out of nothing. What do you think?

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Healer? Tank? Bueller? DPS? The little guild I call home is still struggling to recover from the quarterly event known as the Summer.  The hiccup in raiding, filling and scheduling, has caused me to focus my efforts on things outside of Naxxramas domination and Ulduar subjugation.  First and foremost is the leveling of one Holy/Shadow Priest that is to become an end-game healer.  This of course assumes that I don't suck at healing in a raid setting.  Another bulk of time, I am talking about a 60/40 ratio here, has been spent on my favorite past time, farming the Auction House.  With my trusty Auctioneer equipped, I have begun to refill my coffers that were plundered for recent purchases. Over the last few weeks of datamining I have come across what I believe is an undeniable trend, a drastic reduction in key supplies.  Frost Lotus, Abyss Crystal, even Deviate Fish are barely available on my realm, relatively speaking.  Following the good old supply and demand model, what items are available are made so at drastically increased prices.  For producers and investors of the market this is a good thing, while for a consumer this is a bad thing.  Upon discovery of the trend I dug further.  According to my collection of anecdotal data, the changes are for numerous items, items that span the gauntlet of locales, from Mageweave to Knothide Leather, not just top end consumables used by raiders. The question at hand is what is causing the fluctuations?  Is it normal changes in the market?  Unlikely.  Could it be a wealthier investor than myself cornering whole swaths of Azerothian goodies?  Doubtful, it'd need to be on the scale of organized crime (Defias) to have such an impact.  Or, like I suggest in the title, is my realm (Magtheridon-North America) emptier than normal?  If that is the case then it would explain the depressed amount of supplies, and why they are coming in at higher prices.  Coupled with the numerous responses of guild trouble in a previous thread, I believe we have some credible evidence that our home away from home is a little less cozy, and far more expensive, than we are fond of. This is where you readers come in.  To make any kind of overarching statement about WoW's economy we need more information.  Do your realms feel underpopulated?  Are commonly used consumables being placed on the market for far higher than normal prices?  Are you still logging in as normal, or has Summer sucked you away along with the unrelated loss of six million other players? And yes, the issues are completely unrelated.  Blizzard's troubles in China have no effect on the gold farming market.  Those players need the localized version (read North American/European) of the game to play on the same server as us.  So the lack of Wrath in China doesn't make an impact on our supply levels.

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Many players have been griping that the gear they have seen on their first five levels towards 80 have not been good enough. Generally speaking, these players are decked out with Tier 5/Season 3 gear, or better. Heck, one of my characters has a combination of heroic/Karazhan/Season 2 and their set is still going strong. Blizzard Poster Bornakk even addressed the lack of upgrades by stating that those with concerns should "keep leveling and keep instancing, you'll find upgrades soon enough. :)" The flip side to this discussion is that this is exactly the opposite situation from The Burning Crusade's release. After TBC went live, people who had been raiding for the previous two years realized that their gear was being replaced by early quest rewards and instances. Mind you, these players had the best gear available in the game, making them feel that all their hard work was pointless. The reversal of fortunes is not perfect, but I feel it is a much better way to go than the itemization from The Burning Crusade. However, it remains to be seen if Blizzard made the end-game stuff difficult enough to force players to upgrade. While TwentyFifthNovember has now beaten all of Wrath, the hardest way possible, they are the best of the best. Many other guilds are now tackling endgame heroics with their Sunwell gear, and blowing them away. Hopefully they have upgrades available to them, and need them to complete the end-game raids. It remains to be seen. While I have been complaining the majority of this post, that isn't my only point. Many of you out there are in the same boat as me, seeing quest reward after quest reward being wasted because you can't use it. In the interest of helping with your personal economy, I have another gold creating tip for you. If the quest reward isn't a solid upgrade then buy the plate or weapon reward and just vendor it. As tanks know, plate gear costs way more to repair, but on the flip side, sells much higher than Cloth or Leather. The Auctioneer Suite used to be able to tell you exactly how much things would vendor for on mouseover, but the last version I grabbed does not have the updated information. It will likely be updated soon, if it hasn't been already in an alpha release. So for the players out there complaining about not getting upgrades, perhaps this is Blizzard's way of handing you 1000 gold for the Cold Weather Flying fee. Seriously, if you do 300 quests with item rewards on your way to 80, average 4 gold per vendor, you'll bank 1200 gold. Remember, the harder it is, the better it sells.

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I have been on a bit of a financial kick lately. Although all the advisors out there say someone my age (less than 35) shouldn't worry too much about their portfolio, it is hard to break a daily routine. This daily routine actually extends into my digital life as well, as I am constantly monitoring fluctuations in the Azerothian market as well.

Being a self-proclaimed financial analyst, I figured I could give you guys a few pointers on how to cash in before the launch of Wrath. You see, as with any content patch, let alone an expansion, many things will change. It is pretty safe to say that no item from The Burning Crusade will remain at its current level of value once Wrath launches in mid-November. Although this may sound like a doomsday statement, there is still plenty of money to be made in the market.

Run On The Banks

The first thing you guys should do is take a hard look at your banks on all of your characters. Grab one of my favorite UI addons to make things easier. BankItems will allow you to look at all inventory - bank, mailbox and bags - on any character. Now that you can browse things easily, grab any items that will be worthless in Wrath and get the money for them while you can. Things like Primals, some enchanting mats and potions will all be replaced by better versions once Wrath launches.  Dump 'em like an abusive boyfriend.

Players should be able to pocket a sizable amount of gold by clearing out their banks of useless junk that they have been saving “for a rainy day.” Not only that, but your bank, and bags will be nice and tidy for the level grind to 80.

To The Market

Ore, leather, and cloth are a different story though. The market for these items will be different than the higher end gear, mainly because they are profession based. As mentioned in the comments section of my other economic post, things like low to mid-range cloth are actually selling at inflated prices. The reasoning behind this is due to many people leveling up alts for Wrath. Why stop and eat something when you can transmute some bandages and just keep on grinding?

This sets the old supply-and-demand graph on its head, with almost no supply but a high demand. Time is money friends and that jacks up the price on many trade profession goods.  If you have time, go farm some of these mid-range items on your main, and reap the benefits.

While running on your bank is making you money, it's more about cashing in while the items are worth something. In the trade profession market, you could make a good amount of gold by resale alone. If you are going to give this a run, be sure to pick up the Auctioneer Addon suite. It is a must have for any Auction House monitor, recording, scanning and adding functionality to the standard AH layout.

I should mention that each realm is different. What is selling like hotcakes for me may not be worth looting on yours. As an example, the ore market on Magetheridon-A has bottomed out recently, with high-end ore being at its lowest point since I reformatted some time ago. In contrast to that, mid-range ore, like Thorium, is through the roof. The evidence – that the bars are selling for much less than the ore – points to miners just buying it to smelt for skill points.

Be Careful - It Isn't Fool Proof

Be careful and do your research before you dump your stuff. Selling on the weekend and buying on weekdays (or bidding right before the servers go down) are also handy tricks to pulling in extra cash. Everything counts but it is still a risky market out there. Use my tips at your own risk but please, treat your financial advisor right. The last time I gave our readers some tips I couldn't use the ideas myself for a few weeks. I have no problem with players on my server making a buck, but send me (Solidsamm of the Alliance) 5% of the profit! Kthxbye.

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