(WoW) Mists of Pandaria, Day 3
A little more play, a little more perspective.
A couple guild mates (I won't even name names) convinced me that just maybe it would be worth the effort to get my herbalist out to the Jade Forest to get some materials for my scribe. The new glyphs are all learned by random daily research, so the market for them is high - but rapidly tanking each day. Plus, y'know, it's better to have access to the glyphs sooner rather than later. I was not expecting to be doing this with alts, but once I got my deathknight's spec sorted (and with some handed-over crafted gear from my main), it's not too hard to run around and collect some materials.
This had the very unfortunate side effect of distracting me at an inopportune time. I missed the last of Lorewalker Cho's vision quests, which turns out to be rather critical. So when I took my paladin back, I was missing the primary thread leading to 1) questing in new areas and 2) actually seeing what's up with Anduin. After some help in tracking this down, I'm back cruising along. Having at least seen that Anduin is alive and okay reassures me, though if the Vale's healing waters are so important, he could do something a little more than mind controlling SI:7 agents to let him run off with a couple pandarens. Tsk. Going to have to have a talk with the lad later.
I've also been getting a bit lost in Jade Forest a few times. I think my mental map is reasonably updated now, but for a while there... ugh.
I've been feeling a lot of personal focus on professions. My main's mining is capped, and there seems to be ghost iron everywhere. I fully expect the spawn rate to be nerfed at some point, though it might just be high now due to online population. And in a case of "didn't know what I was missing," I just this morning realized I hadn't been finding any gems while mining. A little research and it seems that's by design, but there's a rare-spawn pick axe out there that will allow a chance to mine up gems (otherwise, it's prospecting ore pretty much). That's a little frustrating even if I didn't actually care about it until I found out. Hmm. There's also an engineering-crafted helm that supposedly reveals extra herb/ore nodes, which I may have to look into sometime when it's not too expensive (ie. later).
Blacksmithing is at 580-some-odd, but until gathering professions, it becomes difficult to level at that point without access to end-game materials. I have mixed feelings on the new paradigm (that seems to borrow from jewelcrafting) where you have access to a 'random enchantment' pattern for each slot. So I can make a breastplate and maybe it will have stats I want, and maybe it won't. But there's also a change it'll be a rare version with a higher item level and better stats. Getting a useful rare is a "yay!" moment, but having to produce several items just to get one with a useful set of stats is disappointing. RNG at work.
Inscription is going to be all about keeping up with daily research and unlocking glyphs. They're now the main source of shoulder enchants, too. A little strange that I didn't see level rescrictions on those when I glanced. I'm going to have to look more closely since I actually replaced my main's shoulder armor.
Alchemy is... strange. I learned a few recipes from the trainer. Anything further seems to be a chance to learn something new whilst making regular healing potions (possibly other recipes too, but that's the one I recall mentioning it explicitly). So I've unlocked a couple types of flasks, but it'll be a while before I have materials for them.
Herbalism... well, that's pretty much like mining. Easy to advance if you don't mind running around looking for herbs. Nothing much to mention there.
I've capped first aid, and may never use a bandage again! I can't recall using them in Cata much, and that secondary skill has pretty much fallen out of disuse, but... I still feel compelled to train it up. Now, though, I'm free to send found cloth to tailors.
I haven't done any fishing yet, or new cooking (though I expect to see some quests about that soon). I've just barely touched archaeology, which seems a little less "fly all over the place" than before, and has the occasional summoned monster that gives additional fragments when killed.
Between the rare ilvl 404 quest rewards and a few of the rare crafted (ilvl 415, I think) items, I've started to replace some pieces of my main's kit (consisting of ilvl 378-397 Cata raid epics). That feels slightly faster than in Cataclysm, but it doesn't seem too bad to me. I'm up to about 8 motes of harmony (whee) and can only hope that higher level mobs have a higher drop rate.
I haven't tried any dungeons yet. I'm reluctant, even though a few are meant for sub-90 play. I just don't like experiening new content in the company of strangers. That goes double when it comes to possibly tanking. I've talked about it before. Just too much pressure! ;)
A couple guild mates (I won't even name names) convinced me that just maybe it would be worth the effort to get my herbalist out to the Jade Forest to get some materials for my scribe. The new glyphs are all learned by random daily research, so the market for them is high - but rapidly tanking each day. Plus, y'know, it's better to have access to the glyphs sooner rather than later. I was not expecting to be doing this with alts, but once I got my deathknight's spec sorted (and with some handed-over crafted gear from my main), it's not too hard to run around and collect some materials.
This had the very unfortunate side effect of distracting me at an inopportune time. I missed the last of Lorewalker Cho's vision quests, which turns out to be rather critical. So when I took my paladin back, I was missing the primary thread leading to 1) questing in new areas and 2) actually seeing what's up with Anduin. After some help in tracking this down, I'm back cruising along. Having at least seen that Anduin is alive and okay reassures me, though if the Vale's healing waters are so important, he could do something a little more than mind controlling SI:7 agents to let him run off with a couple pandarens. Tsk. Going to have to have a talk with the lad later.
I've also been getting a bit lost in Jade Forest a few times. I think my mental map is reasonably updated now, but for a while there... ugh.
I've been feeling a lot of personal focus on professions. My main's mining is capped, and there seems to be ghost iron everywhere. I fully expect the spawn rate to be nerfed at some point, though it might just be high now due to online population. And in a case of "didn't know what I was missing," I just this morning realized I hadn't been finding any gems while mining. A little research and it seems that's by design, but there's a rare-spawn pick axe out there that will allow a chance to mine up gems (otherwise, it's prospecting ore pretty much). That's a little frustrating even if I didn't actually care about it until I found out. Hmm. There's also an engineering-crafted helm that supposedly reveals extra herb/ore nodes, which I may have to look into sometime when it's not too expensive (ie. later).
Blacksmithing is at 580-some-odd, but until gathering professions, it becomes difficult to level at that point without access to end-game materials. I have mixed feelings on the new paradigm (that seems to borrow from jewelcrafting) where you have access to a 'random enchantment' pattern for each slot. So I can make a breastplate and maybe it will have stats I want, and maybe it won't. But there's also a change it'll be a rare version with a higher item level and better stats. Getting a useful rare is a "yay!" moment, but having to produce several items just to get one with a useful set of stats is disappointing. RNG at work.
Inscription is going to be all about keeping up with daily research and unlocking glyphs. They're now the main source of shoulder enchants, too. A little strange that I didn't see level rescrictions on those when I glanced. I'm going to have to look more closely since I actually replaced my main's shoulder armor.
Alchemy is... strange. I learned a few recipes from the trainer. Anything further seems to be a chance to learn something new whilst making regular healing potions (possibly other recipes too, but that's the one I recall mentioning it explicitly). So I've unlocked a couple types of flasks, but it'll be a while before I have materials for them.
Herbalism... well, that's pretty much like mining. Easy to advance if you don't mind running around looking for herbs. Nothing much to mention there.
I've capped first aid, and may never use a bandage again! I can't recall using them in Cata much, and that secondary skill has pretty much fallen out of disuse, but... I still feel compelled to train it up. Now, though, I'm free to send found cloth to tailors.
I haven't done any fishing yet, or new cooking (though I expect to see some quests about that soon). I've just barely touched archaeology, which seems a little less "fly all over the place" than before, and has the occasional summoned monster that gives additional fragments when killed.
Between the rare ilvl 404 quest rewards and a few of the rare crafted (ilvl 415, I think) items, I've started to replace some pieces of my main's kit (consisting of ilvl 378-397 Cata raid epics). That feels slightly faster than in Cataclysm, but it doesn't seem too bad to me. I'm up to about 8 motes of harmony (whee) and can only hope that higher level mobs have a higher drop rate.
I haven't tried any dungeons yet. I'm reluctant, even though a few are meant for sub-90 play. I just don't like experiening new content in the company of strangers. That goes double when it comes to possibly tanking. I've talked about it before. Just too much pressure! ;)
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