Project Lore

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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I have shared a few different ways for players to make money in World of Warcraft over the months.  From getting top dollar for your TBC loot, maximizing your quest reward income, to abusing the transmutation of cloth to bandages.  By following my own suggestions, I managed to stockpile a few thousand gold with a relatively small amount of playtime invested.  Aside from the need to purchase Cold Weather Training and a new epic flying mount, I knew the gold would come in handy one of these day.  I went Katia Verber on my bank yesterday.

With Solidsamm in desperate need of upgrades for several slots, I bit the bullet and began spending where applicable.  My first purchase was to replace my aging pair of daggers, Merciless Gladiator's Shiv and Fang of the Desolate Soul.  The Shiv served me well through TBC, but it was in definite need of an upgrade.  The Fang's speed is simply not suited for a Mutilate-specced Rogue. Out with the old and in with the new, a pair of Librarian's Paper Cutters.  Not only does their model remind me of Death's Sting, but they just so happen to be the best Mutilate daggers available outside of Naxxramas.  With no weapon upgrades coming in the immediate future, the 650 gold dropped on them (bidding not buyout) should be well spent.  Following that same logic, I knew I had to get some enchants applied ASAP.  The offhand cutter picked up a Greater Potency due to the fact that I already had the materials.  The mainhand will get a little more love - and burn additional funds - thanks to an upcoming application of Mongoose that will further increase the pair's sick attack speed.  A lot of TBC enchanting mats remain quite expensive, causing me to farm the required 40xArcane Dust unless I see the price drop. The purchase and enhancement of the new weapons ran me about 700-750 gold in the end, not all that expensive in Wrath's terms.  What really did me in was going for a new head item.  Currently I am sporting the lower version of TBC's engineering goggles, the Deathblow X11 and they simply won't do for...doesn't matter, I should have gotten rid of them awhile ago.  While on my high from my shiny new daggers I decided to go for broke and level my engineering from 372 to 440 for the new headdress.  Now I can no longer swim in my reserves. Being the forward thinker that I am, I saw this coming and stopped selling my stacks of Cobalt and Saronite as soon as the Wrath market crashed.  The stockpile that I had accumulated on my bank alt managed to push me through 415, at which point I hit a wall.  I simply did not have enough Saronite in reserve to finish out the last 25 skill points.  After picking up a handful of stacks - and dropping another few hundred gold - 437 was mine.  Three freaking points away. A few relogs later, I had everything I needed and then some.  My spree scored me 440 Engineering, some new on use effects for my gloves (breaks stealth), boots (doesn't break stealth) and cloak, a Gnomish Army Knife, Moll-E, Scrapbots, crap to sell and all the mats for Weakness Spectralizers.  It took me just over half of my gold reserves, but I replaced three slots I desperately needed to with some of the best non-raiding pieces available. Solidsamm is still a far cry from the needed 214 expertise rating, but he is slowly getting there.  Thanks to all the new gear, the 315 poison hit cap isn't far off.  Hopefully these changes help out my pitiful DPS from the other night.  Now to get rid of this god awful belt... As I type this my Weakness Spectralizers are currently being hammered out.  Crap, now I need some gems.../me heads off to the Auction House, good thing I still have over 2,000 gold left!  Yesterday wasn't the biggest drain on my account ever, but it certainly was the most time consuming series of purchases.  What's the most you've ever spent in one day?

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Way back when I started here at ProjectLore.com I was all giddy over a new engineering pattern that showed up on the Wrath of the Lich King Beta. The Mechano-hog (Horde) or Mekineer's Chopper (Alliance) infatuated me with its ridiculous clunkiness , gnomish features and lifelong dream to be part of a biker gang.  We should also factor in the hilarious Predator reference that comes via the accompanying achievement, Get to the Choppa!

I had been waiting to get on this bike since Wrath launched, but its insanely steep price and my incredibly slow grind to level 80 have delayed me severely. I am underselling the price when I say steep though. The bike is on the Auction House for downright ludicrous prices, well over 10,000 gold the last few times I have checked.  I am not poor but in this economy I find it difficult to even spend virtual money.

Being an engie, Solidsamm has an alternate route, making it himself. This would require a crapload of money spent to level the profession (see link above), then a boatload of time spent getting the required materials. Lastly, a small purse full of money and time spent rep-grinding to pick up the pattern itself. All of this to ride around in a spiffy hog, that can't fly.  At the moment my time is better spent on other things, causing me to go with option three, the passenger's seat. Shotgun!

While participating in yesterday's Heroic Daily, I noticed my tank had pulled out his shiny new Hog, complete with PWN license plate. As I ran up to him to get a free ride click the green arrow, a party member dove in before me. Being the little knee biter that I am, I harassed the paladin until he got out of the sidecar and allowed me to navigate. After all, I did call shotgun.

To my surprise, Blizzard actually intended the person in the sidecar to navigate. Once belted in, I noticed a scroll of parchment placed in front of my character. On it was a map of Kalimdor. The map wouldn't help in Stratholme (Lordaeron is part of the Eastern Kingdoms) but I loved the small detail nonetheless. It is the little things Blizzard adds that make their titles more enjoyable.

Although we didn't succeed in completing the timed event (I blame Arthas and his snail pace), I did score some loot. Sadly, it was two new pairs of gloves, but they may both be used. Until I can get my hit rating up to something respectable, the Handwraps of Preserved History are my new gloves. Bile-Cured Gloves should make an appearance when I begin to approach the the hit cap. This is all assuming both pairs aren't replaced by then.

I would say that Solidsamm had quite a productive weekend. Scored a few pieces of new loot, got more than a dozen Emblems of Heroism, over twenty Stone Keeper's Shards, a good amount of reputation and his first ride in Wrath's version of the ROFLCopter.  He also got a sad reminder of his sister's lack of playtime. According to the returned mail he received from Solidsagart, I haven't paid much attention to her in 30 days!

The irony of the whole situation was that as I oogled that glorious chopper, my buddy went on to explain that he wanted my Mechanostrider...Anyone else manage to have a productive weekend in Azeroth?

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