Project Lore

Patch 3.2 is going to be a doozy. Epic gems are going to be introduced, and this will change the game considerably. The gems are acquired in four ways. You can either have a Grand Master Alchemist transmute them (its unknown how this will be learned or what the materials will be), prospect them from Titanium Ore, or buy them using honor or Embelm of Heroism. It is likely that designs for cuts and maybe the gems themselves will drop in the 3.2 raid, the Argent Coliseum. This will impact the game in several ways. Emblems of Heroism are going to be valuable again, so start farming your heroics and Naxxramas. Save up your honor points and Titanium Ore. If you know an alchemist, make good friends with them. Everyone and their dog will want to socket every last piece of their gear with these epic gems. Existing gems will likely plummet in value. With sockets becoming more valuable for stats, the sockets given by Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves give more stats than the benefits from other professions. What is Blizzard to do? The answer is rework many professions buffs entirely!  Just as I was about to give up Herbalism for Engineering, they finally put a lot of the profession's PvP and PvE buffs on equal footing. Since players have more stats all around, they are giving out more stats in profession buffs to make them relatively as desirable.

• Alchemy gets 3 major changes. First off, the effects of Mixology have been increased. This is likely more stats from each flask. For PvPers, an elixir called Flask of the North will be added, which will give you either spell power, attack power, or strength, and is usable in arenas. It is bought with honor and not consumed. It is unclear if this will be usable outside of arenas. Finally, Endless Healing/Mana Potions will no longer be usable in arenas and their restorative effects will be increased.
• Blacksmithing will remain the same; the sockets from Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves are now much more valuable.
• Enchanting's ring enchants will get better.
• The following Engineering item enhancements will get better: Hyperspeed Accelerators, Hand-mounted Pyro Rocket, and Reticulated Armor Webbing.
• Herbalist's Lifeblood will scale with maximum health and does more healing overall. It is also removed from the GCD.
• Scribes will have increased benefits from shoulder inscriptions.
• Dragon's Eye cuts will get better.
• Fur Linings will get better.
• Toughness gives more stamina
• Master of Anatomy gives more critical strike rating
• Tailoring embroideries will be improved.

I may still drop Herbalism for Engineering, as those Pyro Rockets are way too sweet. But with the addition of the Argent Squire buffs, things like portable mailbox from Engineering seems less fun. Are you all going to change your professions around?

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I haven't been playing a whole lot of WoW lately. I'll hop on vent every once in a while to hear the latest haps, or maybe log an alt and spy on the Totally Rad Guild (or their lower level equivalent, The Knights of Radshire), but I haven't spend much time doing anything meaningful in game. The one thing that really made me want to play last week, Brewfest, is no more. Of course, there are some other fun holidays coming up, but the Darkmoon Faire just doesn't do much for me. I turned in the Blessings deck a while back for the Crusader card, but now I don't even use it in enhancement spce (I've got a couple of trinkets that are better). So in light of this lull that many players seem to be noticing, I decided to look forward. The 3.0 patch is coming soon, which means there are going to be a lot of changes for, well, everyone. For some, more than others. Some classes, like Shaman and Paladin, are having set pieces reworked to play nice with new class mechanics. This will probably cause me a few headaches. To avoid those headaches, I have been playing around with Wowhead's recently unveiled Item Compare feature. In short, it allows you to compare a bunch of items or groups of items with built in stat weighting so you can decide which item would be best for you. For example, say I have two helmets and I need to decide which one is better for me. I take a look at this page and it shows me. What does this have to do with the changes to certain set pieces? Well, change the www. in that link to wotlk. and you get this page. Now, currently the feature doesn't seem to allow socketing or enchanting, but since, for an enhancement shaman, strength will be worth one attack power after the patch hits, even a lowly Bright Blood Garnet will be better than an epic Bold Crimson Spinel. So, let's say red socket will be worth 16 AP, a Bright Living Ruby. That offsets the AP bonus. Enh shaman will also be gaining 1AP per agi and 1AP per Int (talented). This means that, while crit chance will go down by a little under 1%, with the Cyclone Helm, AP will be much higher. Take into account a Meta gem and we have a winner. So, all I'll need to do is change to a Bright Living Ruby and I will be set for 3.0, at least in the helmet department. This tool will give me a chance to really figure out what I will need to change before the market gets crazy. Well, crazier, I guess.

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