I have revealed in the past that I’m horrible at replying to emails.

I love you all, I just have a hard time replying to email right away. Bad bear! Bad!

But I DO read them all, I really do. I just have good intentions to get around to replying… soon! And we all know where I’m going with my good intentions, yes?

I received a lovely email from Tuketi, who wanted to share with me a nice artistic vision that showcased not one but two druids in forms!

Now, Tuketi just sent it in to me because they thought I’d get a kick out of it, but I felt it was perfect for sharing with everyone.

You know, Phaelia has been much more supportive of Druidic artists, but I have tried to do my part to show my love of Andrige and Cynra and Neo and Kody and other artists when I can.

When I saw this one, I just knew it had to be seen.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have!

Thanks, Tuki!

Thanks be to the fine folks at World of Raids, we get a look at this Glyph that has come out of the latest Beta build;

Class
Druid
Glyph of the Red Lynx (Druid) - You appear as a red lynx in your Cat Form.

I think that about says all that needs to be said, right?

Couple that with the Polar Bear Glyph, and we have some fun stuff already coming our way… with the possibility of new Glyphs on a seasonal basis.

I mean, come on… if all it takes is popping a Glyph in or out…

Well…. hows about seasonal quests to give festive skin Glyphs?

I could see a Glyph that made your Travel Form switch from the traditional Cheetah to… a festive Reindeer?

This could be the Druids’ new Idol.. quest chains for Glyphs, new Glyphs for fun… playing with our forms, new skins…

It could be very nice. It could be very fun.

I have hope that, with the expansion still so far away, we will see even more neatness.

Good job, imo.

Hello!

I know this is something we are all gonna be delving into hella deep if we haven’t already, and I look forward to reading a ton about it on blogs in the months ahead, but I wanted to touch base on where the BBB family was sitting with professions now, and what we are planning to do for the future. Just to kind of kick off the panic season.

Before Burning Crusade, BBB had one max level character, a Druid. And said Druid had been a long time Enchanter/Tailor, maxed out.

For one reason or another, I have dropped professions left and right on Windshadow, maxing out a new one only to drop it for something else.

Likewise, when Windstar the Hunter was born after BC, she started as Mining/Engineering, and then saw professions get dropped and new ones started several times.

After a while, it gets old. And expensive.

At this point, I have three level 70s I enjoy, two of which actually see a lot of play time. I am leveling a Shaman for a healer, but who knows if I see 70 before WotLK.

And we know we have a new Profession, Inscription, coming in the expansion.

So far, there has been no sign that we will have a third profession slot opened to our characters. If we want Inscription, it SEEMS we will need to have it as one of our characters two choices.

Now, there are a few things I am considering when trying to decide what to do.

First, which characters are most likely to be seeing raids or instances enough to get the rare profession recipe drops?

Second, which characters would I most want to benefit from the Bind on Pickup properties of the professions?

Third, are there monetary reasons to keep professions on characters that are not synergistic with the playstyle?

I have three 70s and an up and coming lowbie;

• Windshadow (Druid) - Engineering/Herbalist
• Windburn (Shadow Priest) - Jewelcrafter/Tailor
• Windstar (BM Hunter) - Enchanter/Miner
• Windshear (Shaman lvl 20) - Leatherworker/Skinner

As you can see, it’s a mess, but there are reasons for it.

Windshadow has ended up an Herbalist because Cassieann the Rogue was leveling an Alchemist, and I could speed farm herbs to help her level. Likewise, Windstar had dropped Engineering to take Herbalism as a dual gatherer in order to help with the ‘level Cassie’s Alchemy’ activities. And, further, while she was leveling her Rogue, funneling her a constant stream of Herbs kept her in insane amounts of gold. So yeah, Windshadow went Herbalism to help Cassie make money.

Windshadow is STILL Herbalism, because the profession goes so incredibly well with Druid Swift Flight Form. I can fly at max speed around zones herbing without shifting forms or mounting/dismounting. It’s very nice. Plus, it goes VERY well with Engineering, which I also use as a Gathering profession.

What? It’s true. I have only kept Engineering because with it, I can gather Motes of Air, Mana, Shadow and Water.

I originally got Engineering on Windshadow for the BoP epic Tier 4 quality Helms for tanking and DPS.

Fast forward to today, I have my actual Tier 4 Helm and Gloves, so even though I still use my Engineering Helm for DPS (since I can gem it for pure DPS instead of a mix), I really should be using the Tier 4 set for the Energy returns.

BUT… if someone I know needs Primals, well… I had Falromord offer to craft Windstar an epic armor chestpiece last night. It’s a Dragonscale piece I am not too familiar with, but he told me he had the nether dragonscales and leather, I just need to come up with 20 Primal Earth, 8 Primal Air and 1 Primal Nether.

Well, from Mining on Windstar I already have 14 Primal Earth in my bank, and I had 1 Primal Air. 1 Hour of flying around Nagrand later on Windshadow, and I have 7.6 Primal Air. No killing, just Mote Extraction. So yes, I think of Engineering as one of my gathering professions.

The other reasons I love Engineering on my main? Gnomish gives me instant teleport to Gadgetzan, which I have used a LOT to get to Caverns of Time. Damn, I love that. Also, I can make guns and ammo for my hunter and hunter friends, and I have the rare scope recipe drop from Attumen. And mana and health potion injectors. So, useful. VERY uiseful. BUT, I fly with Swift Flight Form. I have a Dragon, AND a flying helicopter, and I never use either because, hey… Swift Flight Form, baby.

Windburn is a Jewelcrafter and Tailor. I took Tailoring for the three piece BoP epics. Period. I still need to make the Primal Mooncloth set for a healing set, since you can switch from one spec to another fairly easily. But right now, I need it.

I don’t know if that will stay that way in the future. I don’t have any special recipe drops for Tailoring, so except for making bags for everyone that wants ‘em, all I have it for is to be able to equip three epics.

If in WotLK, they no longer have a level 80 tier of ‘must have’ BoP epics for my Shadow Priest that require me to keep the profession to use, then I can easily see dropping it. But right now… no choice. Gotta have it.

Jewelcrafting, I’m stuck with. I have TONS of recipes, massive amounts of gold invested in it. For better or worse, I’m staying with it. I don’t actually use any BoP items, but I’m sure there will be some nice ones, and I have all those epic gem recipes they released. Yeah, I’ll be keeping that, it’s just too stupid a waste of resources to drop it now.

Windstar is Mining and Enchanting.

I took Mining to feed Windstar’s Engineering at the time, and when I dropped Engineering here for Herbalism, I kept Mining to funnel ore to Windshadow. I use Mining all the time, I get Primal Earth, Primal Fire and tons of ore for Windshadow to use in making ammo or potion injectors, and for Windburn to Prospect for gems. I don’t see dropping this highly useful profession, and since it doesn’t get affected by rare drops, it doesn’t matter that Windstar doesn’t raid.

Enchanting is a different proposition. I took it for two reasons.

One, neither Cassie nor I had anyone available to D/E our drops, except for our friend Daak. We were mailing him stuff in a never ending stream. We both felt bad, making him log in all the time just to D/E our crap. So having someone to D/E stuff, especially with the daily quests for SSO dropping a ton of greens, became very useful.

The second reason, was I wanted someone who could keep my Shadow Priest supplied with the Superior Wizard Oil I drink like a fish every time we raid. 

So Windstar got nominated as Enchant girl. Not raiding with her, so no access to the recipe drops that people actually WANT, but for D/E purposes of BoE items, and making Wizard Oil, it works okay.

But while I can see WHY I got where I am, it’s not very… smooth.

Cassie now has two characters, her Rogue Alchemy/Herbalist. I don’t see that changing. But she can, and has, been supplying herself with Herbs just fine on her own now.

She has her Paladin (which dinged 52 last night), who is a Miner and also JUST took Engineering last night and powerleveled it to 193, planning on going for her own epic BoP helms.

So… she will soon be able to farm Primals on her own. She will still find it helpful to have Ore, but she really doesn’t need an external Herb supplier.

So I could drop Herbalism on Windshadow… and soon, if she gets the recipes, I could drop Engineering, too.

Windburn is stuck. No possibility of change.

Windstar is good as a Miner… but Enchanting is wasted on her, because she can’t get drops, AND because she doesn’t raid or solo instances, and so cannot D/E BoP boss drops. Plus, let us not forget, we have friends who have the good recipes, who can also enchant our other stuff… Windstar cannot enchant Windshadows’ gear or my other alts.

So, looking ahead… it seems to me that I would like Inscription on Windshadow, because people with the profession will get one bonus Inscription slot they alone can equip, a ‘meta’ Inscription. Something I want on my main character. Hell yes. So figure Inscription replaces Engineering. Cassie’s Paladin will take over as our Engineer. All good.

I figure on keeping Herbalism on Windshadow for now, since Herbs go for Inscription leveling. That works out well. And I can keep sending stuff to Cassie.

And I have no idea what to do about Windstar. Keep Mining, sure, but do I keep Enchanting, even though I’ll never get recipe drops? I have tons of friends now that are Enchanters that could D/E or make Wizard Oil for me… do I take Engineering on Windstar again? So my Hunter can make her own ammo and guns, just like before? And let’s not forget that Engineers might be able to make thier own Motorcycles soon… god, don’t I want my Hunter with long rifle on a Motorcycle from Hell… my hunter was born to be in a raiding biker gang.

I think I answered my own question….

I don’t know what professions would be most useful for a healing shaman at 70, so Skinning and Leatherworking are fine for now, but Windstar needs to drop Enchanting for Engineering, and Windshadow will drop Engineering for Inscription when the expansion comes out.

What a long, convoluted mess.

So.. unleash the posts! I want to know why I’m wrong, and what YOU plan to do!

My friends, what plans are YOU making on Professions to ready yourself for WotLK?

Are you going to go Inscription? Are you farming and stockpiling thousands of low level herbs for powerleveling purposes well in advance? I know I will be, very very soon.

Do you think Windshadow should drop Herbalism in favor of Enchanting/Inscription, and make Windstar a dual gatherer for Herbs and Ore? I’ve heard that gathering professions will soon have passive buffs that may have serious benefits to raiding… will we need to have a specific gathering profession to maximize tanking?

Later today, I will post the next PBeM… Hulan, as you are my only reader of that, and I cherish you for that, I just wanted to let you know.

Reading Mr. ’short britches’ BRK today, and laughing.

First, allow me to say, I agree wholeheartedly.

If you seriously get a legendary Bow to drop, or hell, a hunka nice super-sweet ranged epic weapon like the Sunfury Bow of the Phoenix or the Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle or something…

For the love of the WoW gods of loot fairness, if you have a Hunter in the group, let the Hunter have first chance!

No other class is as DEFINED as the Hunter by a single piece of loot.

I don’t mean other classes don’t depend on weapons as much, I mean that few other classes get judged by a single piece of gear like Hunters do.

You see almost any other class, and you will do a general /inspect to check them out.

You look at a Rogue, and granted, you check their weapons out first, but then you want to see what they’re packing to back those bad boys up.

But a Hunter runs by, and admit it… you’re checking out the long gun. You want to see what they’re using to bring home the bang-bang.

Come on, folks. The ranged weapon drops, you give the Hunter first shot. Period. End of story. I don’t even want to hear it. I don’t CARE if the Fury Warrior could use it to pull and hasn’t had a drop in two months, you offer it to the Hunter first.

Okay. *breathes deep*

Now, on that post BRK gives a lot of advice. And if you look close, you may notice that he gave this bit of advice to bloggers as number 3;

3. Make moar white space. Massive chunks of text turn people off, totally. Break up those paragraphs, people!

Hey, I resemble that remark!

The thing is, he’s absolutely right.

Yes, yes, I know, my site is 99% massive chunks of text.

That doesn’t change the fact that he’s right. Don’t do as I do, do as he says, break it up, make it attractive, please the eye with nice layouts and pictures and designs.

You want some examples? Check out Unbearably HoT (grats on the awesome marriage proposal, Runycat! Woohoo!) or Resto4Life.

Both of those sites have awesome, informative posts, but they also break things up with attractive formatting and images that are relevant to the subject… and are cute, too.

Me, I do it this way because I screwed myself with my theme.

I CANNOT get images in this theme to play well or do ANYTHING I tell them to. I cannot get them to align right, align left, wrap text properly, space where I put them, put text above or below or in any way do what I tell them. NOTHING.

When I add images, they go to the left and text wraps, PERIOD. Even if I put breaks, line spaces, it doesn’t matter. It’s like, built into the damn theme to take my power away.

When I really need an image, I work the sizes over and over until I can get them so the text ends up below. But if you look through my imported archive of back posts from the old blog website, you’ll see my pretty picture formatting got turned into crap, and it’s enough to make me cry, ’cause I can’t fix it.

So… no pictures, except when necessary. No neat formatting. No pretty playful pictures woven into my posts.

It sucks. I WANT to do better, I just can’t get it to work.

So follow the advice of the BRK. If you have the ability to break up your text with images, colorful or fancy text, moving text around and making things flow in interesting ways…

DO EEET!

Oh, and since I said nice things about BRK… foshizzle… I have to add something Erthshade pointed out to me… the natural result of any Bear/Hunter altercation…

I have an article going live, probably in about 2 minutes (Noon Eastern time on Tuesday) on WoW Insider that concerns something I feel fairly strongly about.

Correction: Someone apparently moved it to 2 PM Eastern time. Don’t ask me why.

Correction to my correction: because Noon is WoW Moviewatch time. I knew that. 

I’d originally written most of it for the blog last week, and then realized it was going to be a loooong topic, with many parts, so I should try and do it more in depth… and geez, where have I been posting big things lately?

So it’s on WoW Insider.

The subject comes down to how we think about preparing to move from five man content, soloing and questing, and into early raiding.

All of us know how much fun it is to play solo through quest chains, most of us have enjoyed getting together with four other people and playing in an instance (at whatever level), and we know how widely our specs, gear and playstyle can vary from others during that kind of play.

There is very little pressure to have certain specs, or knowledge, or unique class skills or gear levels for most of the game.

Once you reach the last few levels, whether it be 68-70 like now, or 78-80 in the future, expectations change… but sometimes it seems the players don’t realize it, especially for their first level 70 character.

And if you are relatively new to the game, why would you be expected to know any of this?

Let me be specific.

As a druid, if I had purchased this game just 4 months ago, had started playing and leveled and had fun, once I reached level 65+ I would know certain things about how I have played while soloing.

If I was adventurous, it’s reasonable to assume that I’d found some people in LFG or the trade channel to join me in occasional instance runs.

But for the most part, the majority of people currently playing the game have been playing for a year or more, even if they started after Burning Crusade was released.

And there are certain assumptions that are made about what people know now, because ‘everyone knows that, duh’.

Can you imagine the fun I’d have trying to join a guild full of know-it-alls now?

It’s as if we are all expected to know everything when we ding 70, and it’s just not true. new players pick up the game all the time, but compared to when I started playing, lower level zones are a wasteland, barren of players except those powerleveling yet another alt to rush to 70.

Yes, there are exceptions, but for the most part, the game now belongs to the 70s, and those trying to hurry up and get there.

And people see this, and, excited to join other people and finally play with the community, they get up to 68+ and look to join an active guild that does lots of neat stuff.

And the people in that guild, having been there for a while, have certain expectations of how you can play your own class that you just might not be aware of.

Like how to manage aggro. Or what neat little abilites your class has that you haven’t needed to use (like me and Mind Control on my priest), Or what you should do to prepare yourself before expecting to go on raids with your guild. 

Or how to be part of a team, and let everyone have a chance to use their abilites to help everything run smoothly, rather than be a hot dog wonderboy.

I’ve had quite a few new feral druids email me various questions, and I make a note of the things people are curious about.

Questions from people that are eager to get in and play a feral Druid in Karazhan, but are afraid of making a mistake, or don’t understand how to be a useful part of a team if they don’t have great gear yet, or simply wonder how they are to get into a Kara group as a feral druid if the party already has a good tank.

And once they’re in there, what should they do?

I’m hoping to answer a lot of these kind of questions, by writing a series of articles dealing specifically with tips and advice I would have to give a newly rising feral druid that wants to be ready to go into Karazhan, and wants to know what different things he has to offer the group besides just tank and spank once in there.

I hope you enjoy the first part, which covers everything prior to going in, and I invite your suggestions for your own tips and tricks for specific bosses and trash mobs, in the hopes that the final articles will be as complete as I can make them.