Project Lore

Some people like to equate details with polish.  Either way you take it, as a synonym or as an aspect of polish, the inclusion of them makes video games better.  Blizzard has a long-standing reputation for going above and beyond in the company's titles, which is why they are still played years, hell, possibly decades after their initial release.  During my initial run through Wrath of the Lich King's quests I mainly focused on the designs and stories implemented as I grinded to level 80.  Now that I am there, or on my second run through with the priest, I can focus more on the small details instead of worrying about my XP per hour.  Yes, I take the game that far. I've written almost a week's worth of articles on the Argent Tournament.  They have spanned the gauntlet of guides to love and boredom.  I've spent thirty minutes to an hour a day in Icecrown killing scourge, Chillmaw and riding horsies all in the name of the Argent Crusade and the five other factions.  Three days, I've only missed three days of dailies.  Yet, I somehow never realized that the damned Cultists actually ride on Chillmaw's back and head.  I always thought that he summoned them during the fight.  Definitely a detail that I just flat out missed. That was my own stupidity though.  One particular that recently caught my attention on Solidsagart was the Murloc costume.  Any interaction with murlocs is a welcome one, and the chance to pose as one was something that I couldn't pass up.  After donning the spare suit I took off towards the cavern to complete my mission of deceit and death.  Secretly, I have always hoped that the murloc race was bidding its time before the scaled, two-legged race took over Azeroth.  I realized during the quest that either they aren't intelligent at all, or their senses haven't adapted for above water scenarios.  Just look at how awful the suit is.  The stiching is obvious, it waggles around my body in an awkward fashion and my seeing sphere is falling out of its socket!  How the hell did they let me get to Claximus without being harassed? There are hundreds of these small gems spread throughout the game, so let's share as much of them with each other as possible.  As noted, even "obvious" things may not be so apparent to other players who A) aren't very observant, B) too busy with their stabbing, C) pressed for time, or D) too busy leveling.  What say you PL fans?  What is your favorite small detail from Wrath, or all time?

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I admit that little of Blizzard's new raiding philosophy has sat well with me, so when details started trickling in about the next major content patch, you can imagine that I had a few beefs. Most notably, this little nugget:

Crusaders' Coliseum: In order to prepare for a siege on Icecrown Citadel, players will be called by the Argent Crusade to test their mettle in the Coliseum. 5-player, 10-player, and 25-player challenges await inside.

With the wealth of raiding content added in Burning Crusade, am I the only one that feels like Blizz has been sort of phoning it in? Sure, Ulduar's a fantastic instance, but Naxxramas really did feel like recycled content. Remarkably few people experienced its first iteration, and it was nice to smash Kel'Thuzad's face in, but the feel and design screamed "hand-me-down." Likewise, before Wrath hit the market, we knew Ulduar was on the horizon and were told that the doors to Icecrown Citadel would creak open with the release of 3.3, but Blizzard also hinted at a mystery raid that would appear sometime in-between. Now they're telling us it's the Argent Coliseum, a raid instance that Blue Zarhym describes as "Ring of Blood or Amphitheater of Anguish, but more epic" is the only bone being thrown? You call that a raid dungeon?! A raider's appetite is voracious (just ask Ensidia), and the meatier the content, the happier we're going to be! I hate to take a Blue's words at face value -- after all, they're just trying to help and don't necessarily represent the company as a whole -- but "another Ring of Blood" doesn't exactly inspire. You've already got three of those in various areas of Northrend! Coliseum-style quest lines are all fine and dandy for a few extra boxcars on the leveling train (as I sometimes describe my experience bar), but as a raid instance? I'm not so sure. Those raid designers are going to have to work some juju to convince me. Really, though, it just feels symptomatic of a greater malady. Hard modes? Who wouldn't want to see whole new encounters as opposed to a few over-charged bosses? It smacks of the same sort of lazy design most developers use to "enhance replayability" in their games by juicing the enemies and nerfing the player. A true Hard Mode works great with well-coded AI that becomes more and more devious as the difficulty scales higher, but the structure of WoW's PvE gameplay doesn't lend itself to those sorts of augmentations. Bosses are clockwork machines that work either on strict timers or random number generators. It's easy to strategize for them, and from there it's mere player execution. The path is not that hard to follow: a raid group encounters a boss for a first time, wipes and wipes to the point of frustration, finally kills that boss, then has it on farm. The "freshness" of any given in encounter doesn't last very long, and Hard modes, at least in my eyes, do very little to lengthen it. Despite my problems, I feel like i'm peeing on the wrong hydrant here. Blizzard's put a crazy amount of effort into this expansion and it shows in the cohesiveness of Northrend. I think it's great that the community can have differing opinions and honest debate about this topic with those that actually have to create the game. It shows a great amount of love and investment on all sides. Perhaps that's why their new raiding philosophy feels do damning to long-time players like myself. The focus has been on expanding the casual content, providing a wealth of quests to work through on the path to 80, dailies galore once you get there, and the opportunity to traverse content you never would have had a chance to in Burning Crusade. But in doing so, it seems to rob successive content (and the lore associated with it) of its impact.  Once terrible fiends in the WarCraft universe have had their rears thoroughly kicked in 5-mans, and as I've discussed here, the raid bosses haven't had it much better. This philosophy would've worked fine if it had been implemented from the ground up, but two expansions in, broadening the base of the content makes for an increasingly flat experience. Perhaps I'm belly-aching too much, though. I do find it weird to make a post like this on a night spent entirely having my face cratered by Mimiron, but it's also strange to know that by this time next week, yet another Titan will no doubt have been toppled. So you, dear readers, does WoW's new raid direction feel like a sweet deal to you, or does it leave a faint, sour taste in your mouth? Will 3.2 serve as a sufficient stop-gap between Ulduar and Icecrown, or is it just another bump in the road for the hardcore set?

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In late March it was revealed that Blizzard is hard at work on a new Battleground for an upcoming patch.  Just shy of a month later and not one, not two, but three separate blues announced plans for a new 5-man dungeon.  Being Blizzard employees, there wasn't much to the announcements.  All that we know for sure is that the dungeon will be part of an upcoming patch - you'd be insane to think the BG and instance will come in the same patch - and that it "can be compared to what we saw with Magister's Terrace."  Naturally, we have no idea if the comparison that can be made refers to the scope, size, difficulty or a combination of the three. New content is fantastic, and I can't wait to see what direction they take the instance.  Will it be released alongside a raid?  Will it have anything to do with the growing Arthas storyline?  Is it going to contain machinima like MgT?  An endless amount of questions, with a catch.  Sadly, the announcement of the new 5-man content has shined a light on the current crop of 5-man instances and their heroic alter egos.  Frankly, they are beginning to feel incredibly stale. It is this very reason that I bring up a topic as old as heroics themselves, heroic Old World instances.  Blizzard, if you can't get new content out fast enough, I am sure that many of your subscribers wouldn't mind revisiting some retuned old content.  Just think of the advantages of doing so.

• A large percentage of the players joined World of Warcraft after the launch of The Burning Crusade.  Therefore, a good amount of the old world instances - especially the mid-range instances - were ignored by the playerbase.
• Retuning is far less time consuming/costly than creating a new instance.
• Trickling out retuned old world instances would keep players busy between major content updates.
• Many old world 5-mans are far longer - and larger - than the current crop of dungeons.  The varied length would likely cater to the hardcore audience who tend to be fond of more diverse and deeper offerings.  There's no reason to expect that the casual players wouldn't enjoy it either.
• You've already recycled content in the past (Naxxramas , Caverns of Time) and that was accepted.  No need to worry about that stigma.
• The old world would see a (small) population increase, rather than its current state of being largely abandoned.  Essentially, more than just Northrend would be relevant.
• Come the next expansion, you could sprinkle retuned TBC instances amoung the content patches.
• Being "old school" is still hip...or so I tell myself.
• You'd shut me up.

Just think of the possibilities.  LFM Heroic UBRS - Rend Run.  The return of Dire Maul ledge walking.  More Barman Shanker grinding.  Discovering the secret boss in Blackfathom Deeps.   Getting lost outside of Maraudon, only to be farted on when you finally get inside.  Van Cleef.  I'm giddy over the prospects already. Many of us have run Wrath's heroics dozens, perhaps even a hundreds times.  The question is, would you have the any interest in the four year old content or are you content waiting long periods of time for all-new encounters?

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Mythology, folk lore, legends, all words to describe ancient stories.  These tall tales were created to explain the unexplainable, scare children, hail fallen heroes and even to just entertain.  Every civilization has them, from perhaps the best known - of the Western world - stories of Ancient Greece to the Samurai, onto the homegrown tales of Native Americans.  And to me, every single myth is captivating, no matter how similar they may be.

While much of the Warcraft lore is based on more recent, or original, stories, Wrath of the Lich King added an entire race dedicated to a civilization that has been plundered by the video game industry, Norse mythology.  Final Fantasy, Tales of Symphonia, Odin Sphere, Too Human, Viking: Battle for Asgard, and even earlier parts of WoW (World Tree as well) have lifted from stories of the long dead viking culture.  Players can see the Norse influence on WoW all over Northrend, from Howling Fjord, The Storm Peaks and the final zone of Icecrown.  No matter what soil you step on, there is a good chance that the Vrykul, or their Undead version, the Val'kyr, have made it their home. If you want more than mobs based on oversized vikings, then the Sons of Hodir/Thorim quest line is for you.  Without spoiling the experience, allow me to whet your appetite a bit.  The quest line is one of the longest currently in WoW and contains some of the best lore, that has its own twists on the ancient story.  For better or for worse, the lengthy chain is not required for anything too substantial, unlike the exhausting Onyxia chain, meaning many players may have dropped the line, or skipped over it entirely.  Not all of the 40+ quests are worth the time, but the culmination of the events your toon has taken part in are something that should not be missed.  Plus, it gives you a reason to tackle Halls of Lightning, other than helping out a guild mate. I am no Norse expert, but there are many obvious references to their deep tales.  Here is the basic, spoiler free, tip of the iceberg information for the adventure:

• Dun Niffelem - Niflheim is one of two places that existed before the known world.  It is intensely cold and likely the basis for Dun Niffelem's name.
• Thorim - Thorim, the protagonist of our long quest line, is based upon the God of Lightning, Thor.  Lending credence to these claims is that the name of Thorim's wife, Sif, is the same name as Thor's beloved.
• Loken - Loken is based on the tricky bastard known as Loki, and in this telling, happens to be Thorim's brother.  Constantly up to shenanigans in Norse mythology, Loken follows his basis well, upsetting Thorim so much as to send him into a deep depression.  His acts are the start of our quest.

Believe it or not, this is actually the third time I have touched upon this quest line.  I revisited it for my favorite area in all of Northrend, an area that was created by Thorim's butterfingers.  There is plenty more to the quest than what we touched on here, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't tackled the full line.  Anybody who hasn't finished the line should avoid visiting the comments section until they do so - but feel free to leave a comment if you have the willpower to skip reading everyone else's thoughts.  If you enjoy lore in general, then this is one quest chain you should not miss.  It has everything, love, betrayal, deceit and epic battles.  It makes me want to dig up some more books, anyone know a good Norse mythology collection?  Preferably one that isn't incredibly difficult to grasp.  I recently read the Divine Comedy, so I need a break for the difficult stuff!

Probably worth noting that Thorim is actually a Titan, while Loken is a Dark Titan serving the Old God Yogg-Saron.  Not exactly a spoiler, more of a setup for Ulduar.

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After a Tuesday full of wiping, I was looking forward to grinding out some reputation and tackling a new Heroic on Wednesday.  The last thing I really wanted for the Heroic Wednesday session was a repeat performance.  I may enjoy the hardships due to the end results, but success is plenty fun too.  It so happened that Gundrak - a rather easy Heroic - was the Daily, so I wasn't worried that the group comprised two newer members.  I am sure you have guessed by now that things didn't go as planned. Slad'ran brought us down without much of a hassle. Looking at the Recount data it was painfully obvious what the problem was.  The DPS-specced Death Knight couldn't perform, with less damage dealt than the tank, who was also new.  The freed DK's collection of green and blue quest gear was the obvious culprit. We could have pulled through the issue - Slad'ran wiped us at ~10% HP the second time -  but at a lousy 800-900 DPS, it hardly seemed like a good idea to struggle.  After all, the later bosses pose a much greater threat, and who wants to spend a few hours in one heroic?  We didn't abandon our new Death Knight friend for some other Heroic ready member, we kept it real.  As a group we decided to move our endeavor to another instance so he could gear up for next week's heroic night.  After all, this is what a guild is supposed to do, help its members.  And yet, the new guy seemed a bit shocked that we would run him through a non-Heroic when they offered the rest of us "nothing." Apoxz noted in a comment the other day that it is incredibly difficult to find a group for a none-Heroic instance.  I completely agree with the statement, but have you guys found it difficult to even get your guildies to help you out with such things?  I won't, without fail, help someone, but if I have the time I am more than happy to lend a helping hand for the betterment of the guild.  Has this bit of comradely disappeared with all the PUGing that is going on?  Or am I jumping to conclusions based on a bit of anecdotal evidence? By the time I had to leave, the former green DK had two new blue items of far superior quality.  Therefore, the time I spent in your basic dungeon was well spent.  Oh, and I guess you could say my acceptance of the move to a non-Heroic wasn't all altruistic.  SolidSamm scored himself a bit of Kirin Tor reputation from his Champion's tabard, and caught his first glimpse inside Ulduar and the Halls of Lightning. When was the last time you lent a helping hand to a guildie that you didn't already have a rapport with?  Wondering how last night's 25-man Naxxramas went?  Two words for ya, much smoother.  One-shotted Grand Widow and Maexxna, some bad pulls on Instructor, but that happens.

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When I said that SolidSamm's guild "canceled raiding for the foreseeable future" I knew it wasn't going to last long.  For starters, the GM has been a big PvEer since EverQuest, and many of the officers and other members have been with him since then.  Two of the members outside of that group are formerly from a hardcore guild - where they met the current GM - who still take the game very seriously, but can no longer dedicate the same amount of time.  Thus, they never lost their itch to dominate content, just the time required to do so.  Lastly, the Heroic Wednesday event that I initiated has been quite a success in its short life, with numerous dungeons being run on the formerly inactive day.  The indications were obvious that the Warriors were ready to head back into Naxxramas, so we gathered up the troops and dominated Kel'Thuzad's stronghold in record time. Actually, that is a lie.  We failed.  Epically.  The Warriors of Faith wiped for hours, downing a single boss - Anub'Rekan - over the course of a night.  Yes, yes, it certainly sounds pathetic but the repair bills are forgiven because we attempted to move up to the big leagues, Heroic Naxxramas.  Hey, even Ghostcrawler said 25-man Naxx is "too easy to pug", we just wanted to test out his statements. Our little guild barely has enough raiding ready level 80s in its entirety to fill a full raid, so we had to flesh out the ranks with non-guilded friends and a handful of random players.  Where does the blame for the collection of graveyard runs go?  On everyone.  We allowed pugged players with terrible gear and little knowledge in the raid, we had our own members with inadequate gear, and we even failed to research the subtle differences in 10-man, 25-man and 40-man encounters.  I ended the night with something along the lines of a 110 gold repair bill. Am I upset, annoyed or angry at our failures?  Not at all, we tried something a bit different and difficulties are to be expected.  Heck, there is actually an upside to what didn't go down.  A few of the PUGs joined the guild and have already begun to gear their toons at last night's Heroic Wednesday run.  How those went?  Well, that is a story for another day.  I just hope that our morale stays high and these new members stick around for the long run.  After all, if tonight's second attempt at Heroic Naxxramas doesn't go a bit better, members may just disappear until Ulduar.  But I don't believe our core members expect instant gratification or to be carried through. As masochistic as this may sound, I absolutely love these times in a guild.  Despite the numerous setbacks we are sure to face, they help weed out the weak players or those who are just in it for the good times (read free loot).  They push players to the edge, getting them to eek out every bit of DPS, mana or threat-per-second their class can muster.  They breed competition, creativity, interesting discussions and strategies.  From these difficult times comes good, long-lasting members and friends.  And when there's finally that taste of success, it becomes that much sweeter.  It's the digital equivalent of being in the trenches - just without the trench foot, machine guns, mustard gas, shell shock and death.  See, just like it.

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No one will deny that the impending release of dual specs in patch 3.1 will be a game changer, particularly for the hybrid classes out there. The ability to easily change specs based on an encounter (we need more healers!) or for an activity (no more tank farming!) will make many people's lives much easier, not to mention save some cash at the trainer. As someone who respecs once a week to do PvP, I was very excited about this announcement. Now I'll be able to PvP whenever I want to! Not only that, but I get to save the 100g I spend a week on respecs. It did get me thinking, why is Blizzard stopping there? They have made it clear they don't mind people changing spec mid raid, and they do not plan on balancing encounters around this new dynamic, so why not let us have more than 2 specs? On my Paladin I could easily have 5 specs, and I wouldn't mind one bit paying 1000g a piece for them! I can see it now, with the push of a button I could be a tank, a healer, DPS, or even a PvP healer, or PvP Ret Pally. It would be great! Maybe I'm going a little overboard here, but you see my point. While this benefits hybrid classes over the pure ones, if Blizzard is going to take away limitations, why not take them away completely? What do you guys think? Would you use tri specs, quad spec, or even the dreaded quintuple spec? I know I would.

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I always wondered about how Blizzard would handle armor designs as new content as released. As players are able to get more and more powerful and fight progressively nefarious enemies, how could armor sets get progressively more epic to reflect the power of the wielders? Thrall is beginning to look less and less cool comparatively. I thought tier 2's Bloodfang was far cooler than anything until tier 5 for rogues. The Burning Crusade armor sets had quite a few very bizarre armor sets as Blizzard designer's were reaching to try to make things as epic as possible. They definitely had the theme of Burning Crusade, drawing on the ideas of "lasers! pew pew" used in the nether-themed places and Draenei. The mighty morphing pally rangers will never be forgotten! The Wrath sets definitely have a distinctive look as well. The tier 7 sets are nigh direct copies of tier 3 since tier 3 was obtained in Naxxramas, which was revamped and moved to Northrend, but the non-tier pieces have had a very satisfying Nordic look that was a little shocking coming from the highly colored and crazy Burning Crusade world. Tier 8 continues this trend, with the items being highly influenced by the Titan architecture and carrying a very "new" look. Some players complained that the new PvP sets were too bland. Blue poster Zarhym told players:

The look of the sets will improve as the seasons continue. If we started the first sets of PvP gear with asteroids orbiting the shoulders, in a couple seasons you'd be wearing Thrall on your head... Under the current design philosophy, the idea is that in PvE you're killing very rare and challenging creatures of Azeroth, while in PvP you're receiving gear from the crafters (so to speak) of your faction to get you battle-ready. Chances are you're going to be given the gear that'll get the job done rather than the gear that has to be constructed entirely out of the nipples of a 7,000 year-old dragon.

I personally like this idea. It used to be that my PvP sets would be a mish-mash of pieces from various sets and didn't look very cool. Now, it blends together much more nicely. You can check out all the new armor sets for both PvP and PvE gear on MMO champion. Additionally, you can read more about the Frost Wyrm mount reward in season 5 and more discussion on PvP rewards. Check out the first part of our gallery comparing the tier 8 and tier 7 sets along with all the Wrath Gladiator sets. Today, we feature the classes of the "Lost Vanquisher": Rogue, Death Knight, and Mage. Druid's sets are not done yet, so they will be featured later. Thanks to MMO Champion for the renderings of the sets from the PTR. Note that the unreleased armor sets are still subject to change. Rogue Mage Death Knight The Death Knight's "Valorous Darkruned Battlegear" appears to be the same as Darion Mograine's armor. Very cool! Rogue's PvP sets are boring. They look like a themed grey set. I've got to say, the tier pieces look great though. Mage's tier 7 looks more like druid gear with the moose horns, but the tier 8 looks decent. What do you guys think? Is the current philosophy of PvP gear's look good, and are the PvE tier sets maintaining a good look?

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My GM made a call to the general members when the guild hit its raiding roadblock the other week.  I took up the call and set up a heroic night where members who needed badges, reputation, gear or something to do, could have a dedicated night where others would know to be online.  I even put a little thought into it.  I selected a weekday that the guild doesn't raid on, ensuring that the heroic night - should it become popular - would not interfere with the general operation of the guild.  The plan was to have separate groups, or some sort of rotation, that would enable us to run a few heroics over the course of a night.  Brilliant, I know! The first week was not what I would call a raging success.  I was only able to notify the guild via the little used forum, which don't garner too much attention.  After about an hour sitting around in Guild Chat a group consisting of a healer, tank and ranged and melee DPS was formed, a PUG was found and we were off to tackle the Daily Heroic, The Oculus.  It became the most agonizing instance run of my life, an amazing feat considering that we only wiped once. I've run my fair share of piss poor PUGs, but that punishment came from other players due to messy pulls, not paying attention, bad play or what have you.  Never have I gotten frustrated at the title's design itself, until last week.  The Oculus is one of three instances inside Coldarra, the others being another 5-man dungeon, The Nexus (also the name of the area) and the 25-man raid against Malygos, The Eye of Eternity.  Many of us have likely completed the other 5-man dungeon, as it is one of the easiest Heroics to participate in.  The Oculus is known for the opposite reason, being one of the most difficult and least run heroics that Wrath introduced. For me, the instance is, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst instance ever.  The dungeon is high on the fail meter from a culmination of its length, inspiration, execution and general boredom.  You spend most of your time flying around the outside of The Nexus killing trash mobs as you make your way to various constructs.  The fights with the guardians and constructs are basic, uninspired quick kills.  As if that wasn't boring enough, the trash is followed by uneventful tank and spank boss fights.  It isn't until the third boss, Mage-Lord Urom, that an encounter becomes interesting.  About 90 minutes after we zoned in - no wipes up to this point - we finally pulled Eregos, the only enjoyable aspect in the entire dungeon.  Many players hate the final encounter because it's a very fickle battle, requiring knowledge and near perfect execution.  Thanks to a fantastic explanation and constant communication, our group downed him in only our second go. The designers attempted to make The Oculus heavy on vehicle combat but it just didn't work.  The battle against the blue dragonflight is painfully boring mainly due to all the crappy trash you have to clear to do anything of consequence.  Hopefully the team behind The Oculus learned from their mistakes, and passed that knowledge on to the team responsible for Ulduar's vehicle-based encounters.  At least those fights inside Ulduar will enable gear to make a difference. The Oculus was a valiant effort at trying something new, but it didn't come together.  If you feel like torturing yourself then you can run it, just be prepared for agony.  We ended on a high note, as the the entire party received a chuckle after we downed Eregos.  This came by way of the Guild's GM receiving six, yes a half dozen, achievements all at the same time.  As for Solidsamm, he shall never return there, daily or not.

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The bloggers of ProjectLore may be critical of World of Warcraft from time to time, but we do it with a purpose.  The main reason behind our critiquing of WoW is to help our readers envision the way we see the game, and what we think is best for it.  Being paying supporters we, and you, are entitled to our opinions and aspirations.  It would be an added bonus if some of the topics we discussed ever did reach the designers at Blizzard, but we can't honestly expect them to keep track of everything.  This is one of those things that I wish would reach them, as I believe we could all agree that it would be beneficial to all kinds of players. Repair bills sucks.  It is a safe assumption that we all hate paying them, no matter how much sense they makes.  They are included in WoW - and many other MMORPGs - as a consistent and easy way to pull money out of the hands of players.  The fee is essentially a tax, if you are fighting monsters, then you must pay.  I have no issues in paying for consequential repairs to my gear, as stated, it only makes sense that they experience wear and tear.  But there is always a fabric, material or even brand that is known for its durability.  Take cast iron or stainless steal kitchenware, those things take a beating.  Mine go from boiling temperatures to chilling waters without more than a hiss.  Yet they keep on performing.  Why can't we have something like that in WoW, a material revered for its long-lasting durability?  Perhaps we could learn to be a craftsmen so skilled, that our weapon and armor can survive the harshest conditions? There are two intuitive ways to achieve this goal.  The first would be to follow the lead of the Jewelcrafting profession and allow a max level crafter a chance at creating a more durable item.  Should the random number generator fall in their favor, then the item would be imbued with all the craftsmen skill, giving it a slower rate of decay.  This implementation would be great, but requires special durability cases for these items at best, or a re-design of the entire system at worst.  A more likely and more beneficial solution would be a salve or potion that lowers all incoming wear and tear.  The item would cover all of our armor in a protective shield, saving us money on each piece, rather than a designated few.  Our second option removes the need for special cases, although a re-design of the durability system remains a possibility.  Let me be clear, I do not mean a high max durability, I mean for the items to not take damage at the same rate as our current gear. The reduction of our repair bills would be minute if the proc on crafting was selected.  A salve or potion would be of far greater use.  Just think about all those early training runs in raids, difficult heroics, and of course, shady PUGs that they would be applicable for.  In the end, you would be saving tons of gold, making the creation and use of the items quite beneficial.  Not to mention profitable for any profession that was able to craft it. The only adverse effects I foresee would be skyrocketing prices for the the needed materials and a shift in the weight of professions.  Neither of these concerns seem to worry Blizzard that much as evidenced by The Burning Crusade's Leatherworking crafted War Drums.  Heck, now that I think about it, if they are going to implement one of them, they might as well just do both.  It would help even out the profession changes.  What do you guys think?  Do you like money?

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