Project Lore

Recently I commented on crafted PvP gear and how cheap it was. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. While its a cheap way to get started for PvP gear, PvE is so easy right now that you can easily get much better gear from heroics or even just level 80 instances. The next step up (although debatable) is the Savage Gladiator's set. The Savage Gladiator's set is not that much better than crafted PvP gear by and large, and for the amount of effort it takes to get Savage Gladiator's items, its not difficult to clear some heroics for comparable, if not superior, gear. In patch 3.1, Savage Gladiator will no longer be obtainable. Instead, the current step up from Savage Gladiator, Hateful Gladiator, will be purchasable for about the same amount of resources. In short, Savage Gladiator is really not that spectacular unless you really like playing battlegrounds and Wintergrasp and have lots of extra honor to burn. Most players are probably better holding off until 3.1 hits and Hateful Gladiator gets cheap. There are three options for purchasing the Savage Gladiator set in 3.0.x. You can use a lot of honor (45,000-70,000 per piece), arena points and some honor (200-400 arena points and 8,000-12,000 honor per piece), or Emblems of Heroism. You can purchase Hateful Gladiator's pieces with Emblems of Valor or arena points, rating, and honor. In 3.1, Hateful Gladiator will likely still have the option of being bought with Emblems of Valor, but you will definitely have the option of using only honor. Anything in the columns "Season 6" is still uncertain. It is unclear how VoA drops with work in Season 6, so I showed my best guess. Emblems of Conquest may be exchangeable with a requirement of some lowered rating for Furious Gladiator's gear; its unclear. "X honor" means that we know it will require only honor to be bought with a possible option of a mix of arena points and honor. "X arena points" means its certain that it will cost only arena points. "Removed from PvP currency exchange?" means that these items are probably no longer accessible.

	Season 5				Season 6
Item	Emblems	VoA	Rating Requirement	Cost	Emblems	VoA	Rating Requirement	Cost
Savage Gladiator's Gloves	30 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	50,000 honor OR 275 arena points and 9,600 honor	30 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Savage Gladiator's Shoulders	30 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	50,000 honor OR 275 arena points and 9,600 honor	30 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Savage Gladiator's Helm	45 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	60,000 honor OR 350 arena points and 12,000 honor	45 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Savage Gladiator's Legguards	45 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	60,000 honor OR 350 arena points and 12,000 honor	45 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Savage Gladiator's Chest	45 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	60,000 honor OR 350 arena points and 12,000 honor	45 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Deadly Gladiator’s Trinket	X	X	X	X	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Bracers	X	X	0	31,600 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Cloak	X	X	0	38,000 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Necklace	X	X	0	38,000 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Rings	X	X	0	38,000 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Belt	X	X	0	49,600 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Boots	X	X	0	49,600 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Trinket (Medallion of the Horde/Alliance)	X	X	0	49,600 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Gloves	30 Emblems of Valor	Normal	1615	7,200 honor and 400 arena points	30 Emblems of Valor?	Normal	0	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Belt	X	X	1630	62,000 honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator’s Leggings	45 Emblems of Valor	Normal	1645	12,000 honor and 700 arena points	45 Emblems of Valor?	Normal	0	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Bracers	X	X	1660	39,400 honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator’s Chest	45 Emblems of Valor	Normal	1675	12,000 honor and 700 arena points	45 Emblems of Valor?	Normal	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator’s Helm	45 Emblems of Valor	X	1735	12,000 honor and 700 arena points	45 Emblems of Valor?	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator’s Shoulders	30 Emblems of Valor	X	1775	9,600 honor and 550 arena points	30 Emblems of Valor?	X	0	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Wand/Relic/Idol/Libram/Totem	X	X	1930	1,200 arena points	X	X	1250	?? Arena points
Deadly Gladiator's Gloves	X	Heroic	1750	1,350 arena points	X	Heroic	1300	?? Arena points
Deadly Gladiator's Leggings	X	Heroic	1810	2,250 arena points	X	Heroic	1350	?? arena points
Deadly Gladiator's Chest	X	Heroic	1870	2,250 arena points	X	Heroic	1400	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Bracers	X	X	X	X	X	X	1400	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Helm	X	X	1990	2,250 arena points	X	X	1450	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Belt	X	X	X	X	X	X	1450	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Shoulders	X	X	2050	1,800 arena points	X	X	1500	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Boots	X	X	X	X	X	X	1500	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Neck	X	X	X	X	X	X	1550	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Gloves	X	X	X	X	30 Emblems of Conquest?	Heroic?	1600	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Rings	X	X	X	X	45 Emblems of Conquest?	X	1650	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Leggings	X	X	X	X	45 Emblems of Conquest?	Heroic?	1700	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Chest	X	X	X	X	X	Heroic?	1750	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Trinkets	X	X	X	X	30 Emblems of Conquest?	X	1800	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Weapons	X	X	X	X	X	X	1850	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Helm	X	X	X	X	X	X	1900	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Wand/Relic/Idol/Libram/Totem	X	X	X	X	X	X	1950	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Cloak	X	X	X	X	X	X	2000	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Shoulders	X	X	X	X	45 Emblems of Conquest?	X	2050	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Weapons (2nd tier)	X	X	X	X	X	X	2220	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Tabard	X	X	X	X	X	X	2300	??

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Here at Project Lore, the last week has had us evaluating the balancing act that is playing WoW and still maintaining a social life. ITZKooPA pointed out the difficulties of doing just that, and how indeed, RL should always come first. So for those of us who readily take on this challenge of balancing the two, I thought it'd be fun to talk a bit about what challenges casual gamers face when playing WoW, and what steps we can take in-game to maximize our limited playing time. I've never been able to commit to playing WoW, or any game for that matter, on much more than a casual basis. On my relatively obligation-free days, like on the weekends, I can maybe play for a few hours. Most days during the week, I'm lucky if I can play at all. Since I'm working on leveling my main, one of the most important aspects to keep up with is getting that needed experience through quests. When I log off for a few days at a time, I oftentimes forget what I'm working on by the time I log on again. This past weekend, I went back to the Borean Tundra to catch up on some easy XP quests I had skipped over when I first made it to Northrend. But it takes a little while to get on the ball again. I read back through my quests, and refreshed my memory on several that I had awaiting in the dreaded mist. Then there's the matter of remembering where everything is located. Maybe I just have a poor memory, but when I log back on after a few days and am in an area where I haven't been for very long, I have a difficult time finding my way around. Especially in areas where I still haven't discovered a significant portion of the map. Thankfully, both the problem of not remembering quests and a poor sense of direction can be assisted with AddOns. My favorite quest and direction helper is TomTom (which you can see in use in Dorkins' soloing escapades). Not only can you read comments that give specific instructions for each quest, but the addon also puts an arrow on your screen pointing you to different quest objectives. Also, don't forget to read up on comments that let you know if you can complete any other quests in the same area. That helped me complete four quests in the mist in only one trip and, in the end, I got a fun parachute ride back to Warsong Hold after beseiging the Scourge army. Now, there are other plenty of other difficulties with playing WoW on a limited basis, and I find a lot of that comes in the area of housekeeping - keeping track of your professions and reagents, listing your auctions, remembering to use your new abilities or items that you may have gotten just before logging off a few days before etc. I have a few tricks beyond addons to keep it all straight - mainly in the way I sort my bags. I group all my leatherworking together, all my quest items together, all my gear for guildies in one spot, all my unwanted BOP to vendor in another, and any BOE items to auction someplace else. My main backpack is strictly for the items that I must keep with me always. And whatever isn't sorted tends to be grays that I can sell to the nearest vendor. And anytime I get a level, I take a few minutes right away to spend my talent point, get any new skills and put them on my action bar so I don't forget about them. With a little organization, I find that my time playing is more fun and less confusing. What could be better? So does anyone else have trouble keeping up with the wide World of Warcraft? What addons or tricks do you use to keep track of everything?

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Whether you just thinking of dabbling in PvP or a hardcore arena player, its nice to have a good outline of all the different ways you can get PvP gear. This usually changes from season to season, but if you haven't gotten any PvP gear yet, then your best bets are crafted gear or the Savage Gladiator set. The first introduction to PvP you get in the 70-80 level range are the crafted PvP sets. These are BoE and wearable at 78. They are cheap and have good all around stats, including some resilience for PvP. The Savage Gladiator's set is undoubtedly better, but for the price, this can't be beat. It also has more pieces than Savage Gladiator. I'd recommend picking it up before jumping into battlegrounds at 80. Rogue/Feral Druid - "Eviscerator's" - crafted by Leatherworkers of skill 420 for some pieces and 425 for the rest. Learned from patterns sold by Braeg Soutbeard for 3 Heavy Borean Leathers each. If a Leatherworker doesn't know the recipe, offer them the required Heavy Borean leather to learn how to make it. Materials are included in the item links. Total materials: 8 Eternal Air, 84 Heavy Borean Leather Total stats: 450 Agility, 449 Stamina, 299 Critical Strike Rating, 300 Resilience Eviscerator's Bindings Eviscerator's Chestguard Eviscerator's Facemask Eviscerator's Gauntlets Eviscerator's Legguards Eviscerator's Shoulderpads Eviscerator's Treads Eviscerator's Waistguard Druid - "Overcast" - crafted by Leatherworkers of skill 420 for some pieces and 425 for the rest. Learned from patterns sold by Braeg Soutbeard for 3 Heavy Borean Leathers each. If a Leatherworker doesn't know the recipe, offer them the required Heavy Borean leather to learn how to make it. Materials are included in the item link. Total materials: 8 Eternal Water, 84 Heavy Borean Leather Total stats: 300 Intellect, 450 Stamina, 299 Spirit, 527 Spell Power, 300 Resilience Overcast Belt Overcast Boots Overcast Bracers Overcast Chestguard Overcast Handwraps Overcast Headguard Overcast Leggings Overcast Spaulders Mage/Warlock/Priest - "Frostsavage" - crafted by Tailors. Learned from Tailoring trainers in Dalaran and Horde/Alliance entry towns in Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra. Materials are included in the item link. Total materials: 27 Bolt of Imbued Frostweave, 33 Crystallized Fire, 33 Crystallized Earth, 16 Eternium Thread Total stats: 300 Intellect, 450 Stamina, 299 Critical Strike Rating, 527 Spell Power, 300 Resilience Frostsavage Belt Frostsavage Boots Frostsavage Bracers Frostsavage Cowl Frostsavage Gloves Frostsavage Leggings Frostsavage Robe Frostsavage Shoulders Hunters/Enhancement Shaman - "Swiftarrow" - crafted by Leatherworkers of skill 420 for some pieces and 425 for the rest. Learned from patterns sold by Braeg Soutbeard for 3 Heavy Borean Leathers each. If a Leatherworker doesn't know the recipe, offer them the required Heavy Borean leather to learn how to make it. Materials are included in the item link. Total materials: 8 Eternal Air, 84 Heavy Borean Leather Total stats: 300 Agility, 450 Stamina, 299 Intellect, 598 AP, 297 Critical Strike Rating, 299 Resilience Swiftarrow Belt Swiftarrow Boots Swiftarrow Bracers Swiftarrow Gauntlets Swiftarrow Hauberk Swiftarrow Helm Swiftarrow Leggings Swiftarrow Shoulderguards Restoration/Elemental Shaman - "Stormhide" - crafted by Leatherworkers of skill 420 for some pieces and 425 for the rest. Learned from patterns sold by Braeg Soutbeard for 3 Heavy Borean Leathers each. If a Leatherworker doesn't know the recipe, offer them the required Heavy Borean leather to learn how to make it. Materials are included in the item link. Total materials: 8 Eternal Water, 84 Heavy Borean Leather Total stats: 120 MP5, 448 Stamina, 300 Intellect, 526 Spell Power, 300 Resilience Stormhide Belt Stormhide Crown Stormhide Grips Stormhide Hauberk Stormhide Legguards Stormhide Shoulders Stormhide Stompers Stormhide Wristguards Warrior/Death Knight - "Savage Saronite" - Crafted by Blacksmiths at a skill level of 420 for some pieces and 425 for the rest. Taught by all Grand Master Blacksmiths in Dalaran, starting towns in Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra, among others. Total materials: 2 Eternal Air, 2 Eternal Shadow, 2 Eternal Water, 1 Eternal Fire, 1 Eternal Earth, 102 Saronite Bar Total stats: 559 Stamina, 380 Strength, 340 Critical Strike Rating, 360 Resilience Savage Saronite Bracers Savage Saronite Gaunlets Savage Saronite Hauberk Savage Saronite Legplates Savage Saronite Pauldrons Savage Saronite Skullshield Savage Saronite Waistguard Savage Saronite Walkers Paladin - "Ornate Saronite" - Crafted by Blacksmiths at a skill level of 420 for some pieces and 425 for the rest. Taught by all Grand Master Blacksmiths in Dalaran, starting towns in Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra, among others. Total materials: 2 Eternal Air, 2 Eternal Shadow, 2 Eternal Water, 1 Eternal Fire, 1 Eternal Earth, 102 Saronite Bar Total stats: 36 MP5 87 Intellect, 567 Stamina, 44 Strength, 139 Critical Strike Rating, 355 Resilience Rating Ornate Saronite Bracers Ornate Saronite Gaunlets Ornate Saronite Hauberk Ornate Saronite Legplates Ornate Saronite Pauldrons Ornate Saronite Skullshield Ornate Saronite Waistguards Ornate Saronite Walkers Later on we'll look at the next level of PvP gear, the Savage Gladiator Set, and beyond!

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My new guild - can I still call it new when I get personalized greetings at sign on? - has been going through some troubles lately, and it isn't drama related.  I guess you can blame the lack of healers for causing some drama.  On top of trying to solve this ancient MMORPG problem, we have also been hit by scattershot attendance.  Our GM and Officers have done their best to recruit eager players to the raid, but for everyone four recruited, it seems that only one is willing to show up.  Showing up is only half the battle though.  Being an able bodied raider is the other half.  Apparently, they didn't get the Level 80 memo. At this stage in the game, gear is only part of one's ability to generate respectable DPS.  Don't get me wrong, having the correct gear is incredibly important, but like the global warming problem, it is only one piece of the pie chart. Gear: There is gear, and then there is correct gear.  For instance, I could have some sick 1.8 Speed Daggers equipped.  In fact I have one from Naxx but I never use it.  Why?  Because its slow speed doesn't mesh well with Mutilate spec - this may be changing come v3.1.  There are tons of ways to judge gear which can cause tough decisions.  One of the easiest, but not the best, is to let an addon like RatingBuster do the comparisons for you. Making that type of decision means you have already located and won what you need, which is often the most time consuming challenge.  Thanks to Blizzard's constant updates to the WoWArmory, your character profile can give you some tips on what to hunt for.  Take Solidsamm's rings (or trinkets) for instance.  A quick check through the Upgrade link (On mouseover, hover over the arrow that appears to the right of the item) and you are hit with a two page list of items that are side-grades or better to his Ring of Foul Mojo. If you don't have the time to sink into instances or Heroics, then perhaps player created gear is more suitable.  Crafted gear is a quick and easy way to upgrade many slots.  The catch 22 is that these items can be pretty pricey.  However, if you spend your downtime shopping around for the mats while grinding the other non-craftable slots, you should save some serious gold. Spec: A player's spec is incredibly important for everything they do.  A few misplaced points and a toon can be out of 5-20% of potential DPS, making them a poor choice for a raid or PvP partner.  I am not trying to say that we should all be cookie cutter copies of each other, but the pattern exists for a reason.  My suggestion to those trying to eek out more DPS is to look at the cookie cutter version of your spec and analyze any and all differences.  Weigh the differences to see if what you have selected is truly better for what your spec is built to accomplish.  And don't be afraid to ask guildmates for opinions and tips! Glyphs: These bad boys should be used to strengthen your main spells and abilities.  They are relatively cheap compared to other consumables and will remain viable additions to your character until you change specs or new Glyphs are released, which isn't all that often.  Again, select Major Glyphs that modify the main abilities you use.  For a Mutilate rogue like Solidsamm that would be Slice n Dice (for more poison procs), Rupture and Garrote.  Unfortunately there is no Envenom glyph. Enchants: Enchants are often over looked, and with good reason.  As mentioned in one of my first posts, it is hard to justify sinking tens to hundreds of gold into gear that will likely be replaced very soon.  To avoid emptying your coffers repeatedly, only pick-up the most suitable enchantments on gear that shouldn't be replaced in the short term, meaning most epic quality items.  For those blue items, grab the mats and have a guildmate do middle of the road buffs on the cheap.  If you still have a collection of greens, the money and time are better spent just replacing the gear entirely. Gems: Another often overlooked and easily solvable problem.  Follow the same suggestions for enchants, saving the best gems for the best gear.  Gems are also a fantastic way to boost other stats that you could be lacking, such as Hit and Expertise rating.  Once you get those stats on board with the needed numbers, you should re-gem to help your spec, where applicable. When you do get that fantastic gear that you have been working towards for weeks, be sure to gem it and enchant it ASAP.  I always try to keep a handful of gems on hand to apply to new gear on the spot.  Why would I do this?  Two reasons really.  First, I don't want the new piece of loot to look "worse" than the old piece simply because it isn't gemmed.  Second, I try to get my gems at rock bottom prices, which means I have to wait sometimes.  During the interim, I slap a middle of the road gem in the socket as a placeholder.  The trick is that when you do the on the fly gemming or enchanting, you have to remember to go back and replace it.  That is a personal tip to myself, evidenced by my recent gemming excursion to replace all the green gems I had. Don't forget to play the game the way you want to though.  Just because one spec does a little more DPS than the other, doesn't mean you should suffer through mechanics that you don't enjoy.  After all, you should still want to play the game after you make the changes to be a more productive member of your guild!

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I've touched on this before, when talking about a lack of end game in the current content. But once again I personally have reached an interesting point in the life of my Paladin. When Wrath first came out, and I first got a look at all of the loot tables I spent a great deal of time planning my gear. I found every piece I wanted, determined what was the best in each slot, debated what set bonus were worth while, and finally came up with my "gear plan." More or less I  decided exactly what I wanted my character to look like when I had everything I wanted. Well last week I reached that point. With the exception of a few changes I made along the way as I gained a better understanding of end game bosses, my gear is exactly how I wanted it. What I am saying is there are no longer any pieces I want to drop, I have it all! There may be a few side grades here and there, but nothing that I absolutely must have for my character. There are no upgrades for me, so to speak. I know a few other people that find themselves in this same situation. It is interesting to see how they are dealing with it. I, for one, love raiding. I don't plan on stopping, but at the same time there is little reason to go anymore. Sure, I am still chasing down a few last achievements, but gear as a motivation is completely out of the equation. In a certain way, I feel like I have beaten the unbeatable game. Others in my shoes it seems have stopped playing all together, meanwhile I have been burying myself in an alt (loving the shaman!). I find myself logging on my paladin only for raids, and even then I am willing to sit out if another tank is chasing a drop. I really feel like I have been left no choice but shelve my main, at least until Ulduar. I know I can always find something to do, but I am hard pressed to find something I want to do. It is such an odd feeling, and one I have never experienced before. Any of you guys finding yourself in the same boat (or have you in the past)? If so, how are you feeling about it?

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Did you hear that Season 5 of the Arena would be ending soon?  Well, thanks to Ulduar and its new tier set, Blizzard is forced to close up the Arena season that Wrath brought us and begin anew.  The heads-up was announced early last week, but it lacked any concrete information.  If Blizzard is to stick with their usual two weeks notice, then that means Season 5's demise may come with the launch of Ulduar or very shortly after.  Content Patch v3.1 and all of its goodies are expected to drop sometime in early to mid-April. The end of an era brings the beginning of another though.  The original news posting did not specify end of season rewards, but we have them now.  According to WoW Insider via the PTR, the best of the best Arena players will be soaring through the skies on a Frost Wyrm under the terrifying title of a "Gladiator."  I couldn't care less about the title, but I have wanted to plop my Gnome butt on that Frost Wyrm since MMO-Champion posted the screenshot after Wrath's launch.  Sadly, it'll never happen for me.  What about you guys?  Anyone have a shot at what I consider to be the most badass mount in the game?  Sorry Chopper. The flip side of the closing is that Arena Season 6 will begin soon, and Boubouille has the goods on that too.  You will notice in the picture that the Druid set is far from finished, but really, nothing could be worse than their Tier 8 Raid Set.  The rest of the gear looks nice, but I would much rather drape myself in a raid set for almost every class. That being said, I should have expected something bad to happen after raving about the incoming rogue set before it was completed.  Look how ridiculously out of proportion the Gnome Rogue is in his Ulduar set.  His collar is eating the burning shoulderpads...and his head.  Undead design for the win. Just to keep the PvP information flowing, those of you interested in the Arena Tournament that was announced a few weeks back, may want to take a peak at a thread from Aratil and one from Vaneras.  The two blues posted the very early standings for Blizzard's 2009 Arena Tournament, with the Rogue, Mage, Priest combo still holding on to the top standing in the European bracket.  However, Death Knights, who expert players expect to take over the brackets, have definitley done so, with 13 of the 20 top teams rolling DK, Paladin, Hunter/Warlock. Admittedly, I am no PvP expert, so I will allow you pro PvPers to draw your own conclusions.  Excited for the end of season festivities, or are you realizing that all your hard work will still leave you short of a Frost Wyrm?

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While browsing around the new Project Lore forums (you do know about the forums, right!?) I came across a great thread about your WoW set ups. The thread is "Lets see those setups!" Taking a look through the pics got me thinking about how much your gaming “gear” can affect your performace. When I started playing WoW I had an incredibly basic set up. Just my iMac with the stock Apple keyboard and mouse. I have never been much of a PC gamer, always favoring consoles. That all changed of course when I found WoW, and over the course of the last couple years I have made some purchases that really made my experience much better. Strangely enough my first purchase was a second monitor. I run lots of other applications along side WoW. At any given time I usually have Ventrilo, iTunes, my web browser, and from time to time movies going at the same time. While I used to be tabbing out every few minutes to check something, change a song, or see who hopped into my vent channel, I found that having a second moniotor opened up my whole world! I can now keep tabs on all that stuff, without having to break away for a second. It is partuculaly useful when researching achievement strats, or keeping an eye on the vent channel to see who exactly is talking. I would have to say this is the single biggest upgrade I have made to my WoW experience. Second thing I got was a new mouse. While the stock Apple mouse got the job done, it really left something to be desired. The vast majority of my movement in game is done with the mouse, and investing in a gaming mouse made all the difference for me! The one I use is the Logitech G5, but I’m sure any specific gaming mouse is a huge upgrade over any stock mouse. I love mine because it offers very precise tracking, on-the-fly adjustable tracking speed, lots of additional buttons, as well as adjustable weight. The extra buttons alone made this worth the purchase. I am now able to bind vent to my mouse, which freed up some spots on my keyboard for more important things. Last but certainly not least I bought a gaming pad. There are a few of these available, and the one I am using is the Belkin n52te. This awesome upgrade allows you to put all your keyboard bindings on a single pad that is designed to make things as easy to get to as possible. While it definitely took some getting used to, after about 2 weeks I have no idea how I ever played without it! It makes such a difference in the control that I have. How about you guys? Are you using anything to up your game? I’d love to hear if there is anything out there for me to discover, or if you get along fine on a 12" laptop! Also, don't forget to post your set up in the forums, I would love to see more of what you guys are working with!

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Choosing gear used to be so simple. When you roll a new character, you start out with the crappiest of the crap. At first, it’s just a matter of picking whatever has the highest armor rating. Couldn’t be easier. Then you add in stats to consider. Would you rather have agility or intelligence? Is your character more suited to armor of the bear or of the tiger? Are you mainly PvE or PvP? The choice becomes slightly more difficult, but usually is still pretty clear-cut as long as you have a certain spec in mind. My main character is a rogue, so I almost always went for the agility, with stamina as my second-favored stat (<3 “of the monkey” armor). Then come item enhancements. Being a leatherworker, for me the choice was between using an armor kit or getting a guildmate to enchant my gear with increased stats. Again, I usually went for the agility whenever possible. But then I hit the high-50s, and things got more complicated. Blue armor was no longer always better than green armor. The stat bonuses started getting better. Many items offer bonuses to more than just one or two stats. And now there are sockets to consider, along with bonuses for actually filling the sockets. Or, bonuses for having multiple items in a set. And in addition to just stat bonuses, there also are pluses to attack power, crit rating, resilience rating, dodge rating, resistances etc. Too many choices! Of course, one helpful trick is to equip back and forth between the gear you’re choosing from, and see how the stats that matter to you change. Or, if it’s a bind on equip item, you can use an add-on specific to your spec (I use GearDPS) to see how the gear will work for you. Sometimes you have to choose between one great stat and another great stat. A straight-up plus to agility isn’t always my best choice anymore, not when so many other enhancements may increase both agility and a combo of other needed stats. How does one cope, especially when making the shift to questing in Outland, then Northrend, where much, much better equipment is given as quest rewards (and it drops pretty frequently, too)? In the early 60s, I often found myself carrying around gear that, as it was, wasn’t quite as good as what I had equipped. But if I was able to get it enchanted, it would be a little bit better. Then I would find an even better item before I had the chance to enchant the second one. Or I would hold on to gear that I thought was awesome, but that I wasn't high enough level to equip yet. But once I reached the right level to equip it, my gear already had surpassed that mark. Now that I'm in Northrend, it’s getting even more complicated. So, I became more stingy with my gear. For BoP gear that's a quest reward and already obsolete, I'll just choose whichever item sells for the highest amount (yay, Auctioneer addon). For me, I can't justify equipping BoE gear if I’m going to find something better in a half-level anyways. Instead, auction it! Or give it to a guildy to disenchant.  Do those few extra tenths-of-a-chance to crit really make a difference when I can level quickly without it? Is it even worth keeping spare sets of gear for different uses when you’re leveling up so quickly that it becomes obsolete before you can use it? At least until I hit 80, my guess is no. So how do you go about choosing whether to use gear that may be replaced quickly? Do you go ahead and equip it and make use of it while you can? Do you just go for the money? Or is there a happy medium?

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One of my favorite things about picking up a new piece of loot, or even just seeing a piece linked, is trying it on in the dressing room by Ctrl+clicking it and seeing how cool it looks. While we've heard a few details about the next major content patch and the raid that will be included in it, Ulduar, we haven't seen any phat lewtz that are going to be added. Well, the folks over at one of my favorite WoW sites, MMO-Champion.com, have put together a six minute video that shows off models that are wearing what is presumably Tier 8 pieces for Death Knights , Hunters (starts at 0:53), Rogues (1:35), Mages (2:40), Warlocks (3:45), and Priests (4:50). Unfortunately, there is no set implemented for any of the other classes (including the best class, Shaman), but I have to say the priest set looks pretty sweet and that rogue set is very creepy. Check out the video below!

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So here is a little rant for you guys. I have no delusions about changing the world here, but there is a bit of a double standard out there in the World of Warcraft that I can’t help but point out.

I don’t think (dis)enchanters should have to roll against the group for the shards they collect off of the unused gear. I think they should get to keep them all to themselves. Given, I am an enchanter, so I am a bit biased on this one, but it seems right.

Think about it. When there is a mining node in an instance, do we all roll for the ore/gems? When a skinner pulls an arctic fur off of a slain foe, do we all roll for it? What about the leather? In the groups I run with anyway, the answer is always no.

I’ve heard the argument plenty of times. “But we all worked for that loot!” Well… we all cleared the trash to the mining node, and we all killed the mob that you skinned. How is this different? Because a need/greed box pops up? I have not problems giving out gear, even to off spec, but if the group decides to shard the gear. It should be my shard.

After all, I need those shards to buy my enchants. Why should I have a 1 in 5 chance at the shard I provide, when you all have a 1 in 1 chance at anything you get off of your professions in the instance. It just doesn’t seem right, but then again I have a sinking feeling it is never going to change.

What do you guys think? Am I being greedy? Or is everyone else? Do me favor, next time that blue gets sharded, at least think about passing to your friendly guild disenchanter.

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