Deathwing Brood Cloak

Sexy, Ain't It?

Limited Accessability
In the upper reaches of The Blade's Edge Mountains are a couple of plateaus only reachable with a flying mount.  One plateau houses the Ogre faction at Ogri'la, while the other is an etheral hub at Bash'ir Landing to the Northeast.  Both of these areas are teeming with mobs that drop the Bind-on-PickUp item: Apexis Shard.  Daily quests from the Ogri'la also reward stacks of 15 of the shards along with Ogri'la and / or Skyguard reputation.  If you have worked on the Loremaster Achievement or reputation with either Ogri'la or Sha'tari Skyguard, then chances are you may have excess Apexis Shards stored in the bank.  This is an option for turning those Apexis Shards into profits.


Hunting Dragons
Whether you are farming the shards, gathering them from quests, or have a stashed surplus grab all you can get and head towards the Blade's Edge Mountain Plateau's.  What we are doing is hunting the 4 Dragons:
Insidion, Furywing, Obsidia, and Rivendark.  These level 72 elites are easily soloed by level 80 classes that can heal themselves or by any of the pet classes.  Each of these dragons are summoned by placing 35 Apexis Shards into their respective nests, which will hatch their babies egg, thus forcing them to land to defend their nest.  Here are the locations of the eggs. 


Rivendark: 27.00, 64.80
Obsidia: 33.80, 54.60
Insidion: 62.90, 7.00
Furywing: 66.90, 14.60


Making the Cloak
The Deathwing Brood Cloak is crafted by combining 1 of each of the dragon scales that drop from each of the elite dragons.  This is now Bind-on-Equip, thus allowing us to sell it.  The creation process requires once of each:


Insidion's Ebony Scale
Jet Scale of Furywing
Obsidia Scale
Onyx Scale of Rivendark



Once all 4 scales have been collected a simple right click on one will create the cloak.  No profession is required to create these cloaks.  This cloak has a random 3 stat enchantment when created, but they are the most useful combinations of stats.  Options for this cloak are...of the Bandit, Beast, Champion, Elder, Hierophant, Invoker, Knight, Physician, Prophet, Soldier, or Sorcerer.  The average value of this cloak is around 120g, but if you get lucky and get one of the better suffixes you can sell it for much more.


Other Benefits
All of these dragons will also drop a BOE green item or two along with a chance to drop rare BOE crafting patterns and depleted items, which also can be sold for profits.  (More on depleted items tomorrow).  In 1 cycle of the 4 dragons last night, I got 2 depleted items, including 1 epic depleted piece.  I also got 2 BoE Burning Crusade jewelcrafting recipes.  I am currently working on faction reputation, so I am killing these dragons while in the area working on raising my Ogri'la reputation.  Win-win!

Guest Post: Mageshadow of The Gnomish Coin

A Guest Post by Mageshadow of The Gnomish Coin




Aerith Primrose - Lets Sell Flowers!

What? Selling Flowers?

Yup, today we're going to be selling several different pair of flowers and bouquets from a vendor in Dalaran. Aerith Primrose can be found right before the entrance to the Violet Hold, there is a wagon to the left. The prices for the flowers range from 2 silver up to 50g. I recommend starting out with the 2 silver flowers if you're a low level, and slowly moving up the ladder as you obtain more gold.

Why Do They Sell?

These items sell because people like to dress up their bank toons. I can flip these things for an easy 20-25g, and they sell rather quick. Many people don't notice this NPC, because quite frankly she's hidden, I didn't even notice her until a couple weeks back. The competition is little to none on these items, and since they can be obtained for as cheap as 2 silver, the risk is very little.

Some Days Are Luckier Than Others

So I have been farming ZG now for a few weeks, collecting Tomes of Polymorph Turtle to sell once ZG is changed from a raid in hopes of making big profits later on.  Each raid lockout I do a minimum of:

1. Fish up Ghaz for a chance at the tome.
2. Kill as many raptors as I find for a chance at the Raptor Pet.
3. Kill the Tiger boss for a shot at the mount.
4. Kill the Raptor boss for a shot at the mount.
5. Farm bosses and trash for Rep.
6. Send all coins and bijous to my alchemist to get the Living Action Potion recipe before it may be unavailable.
7. Farm rep to get to exhalted for my main, Cold, just for the achievement.

Well after this weekend, I am happing to say that Cold has now Earned the achievement Hero of the Zandalar Tribe, as has my Alchemist, Morgueann.  After never ever even seeing either of the mounts drop for years since the days of Vanilla WoW and the hundreds of times, I have ran ZG.  When I won my Headless Horseman's Mount, after losing a roll the first time I saw it drop.  I only saw it drop twice the entire holiday event, and it dropped during the same run that I had already rolled and lost.  I won it on the second roll in the same holiday boss group run.  Well, Saturday night while I was bored and doing my routine farming run in Zul'Gurub, luck struck not once, but twice on the same run yet again.  I'm proud to announce:

Sep 25, 2010 Earned the feat of strength [Swift Zulian Tiger].

Sep 25, 2010 Earned the feat of strength [Swift Razzashi Raptor].

Yup, same run.  Both mounts dropped. So goodbye ZG, you can be removed now.  I'm done with you.  Lol, thanks for the memories.

Twilight Bosses Loot

Twilight Bosses Loot

251 Shield - Melee Off Hand - Barrier of the Earth Princess

251 Plate - Heal Waist - Girdle of Oblation

251 Plate - - Melee Chest - Tectonic Plate

251 Plate - Melee Chest  - Salamander Skin

251 Plate - Melee Wrist  - Twilight Offering Bands

251 Mail - Physical DPS Legs - Sacrificial Mail

251 Leather - Heal Feet - Flamewaker's Treads

251 Leather - Physical DPS Chest - Pulmonary Casing

251 Cloth - Heal Chest - Earth Bride's Gown

251 Cloth - Physical DPS Back - Cloak of Mocking Winds

251 Cloth - Spell DPS Back - Zaetar's Deathshroud

251 Cloth - Spell DPS Feet - Sandfury Sandals

251 Finger - Melee Finger - Old Gods' Blessing

251 Finger - Physical DPS - Sulfuron's Favor

251 Finger - Spell DPS - Ring of the Three-Headed Beast

251 Neck - Heal - Pendant of Burning Spirits

251 Neck - Melee - Flamelash Amulet

251 Neck - Physical DPS - Amulet of the Centauri

251 Neck -Spell DPS - Amulet of Evil Winds



The Bosses
Above is the list of loot dropped by the 4 Twilight Bosses that will be available during phase 3 of the Cataclysm pre-events. These bosses will be available once the major cities are defended from the elemental invaders. You access the bosses via the dungeon queue or through the portal that appears in the major cities after the elementals are defeated.

The Drops
There are some excellent items here, but all are item level 251, which means Frost badge and ICC gear will not be replaced. These will be excellent items for alts though. Many people originally get initial gear for their alts during holiday events and this should be no different. There are going to be many excellent upgrades for all of our level 80 alts that are undergeared and more easily obtainable gear for those that are behind in the gear progression.

The Impact
Once the elemental invasion is on the live servers, I would expect to see a rise in the sale of gems, as many players will be getting item level 251 upgrades. Also the sale of BoE item level 245 gear should grind to a halt since these bosses will be dropping gear that will replace most of those popular crafted epics. Crafted plate gear that will be less desirable include Saronite Swordbreakers, Titanium Razorplate, and Breastplate of the White Knight. The other crafting professions have similar replacements as well. If you have any of the soon to be obsolete patterns, then dump them now. The are losing value already due to the expansion ending. These drops will only help to make them much less desirable. If you are a recipe collector, hold out until after this event goes live to save some gold on your purchases. Titanium Shield Spikes and Saronite Belt Buckles may see a slight increase in movement, if the belt and shield start dropping for your buyers.

Exploiting The Brewfest Dungeon Queue

Exploiting The Brewfest Dungeon Queue


The Limited Availability Option
Brewfest offers us the ability to queue for the seasonal Brewfest boss, Coren Direbrew, via the Looking For Dungeon queue.  Once the group is formed all party members are ported to Coren, who is located inside the Grim Guzzler Tavern within Blackrock Depths.  This will only be available through October 5th.  We can use this limited oppurtunity to get the most out of this option while it lasts.

Benefiting From Instant Ports
Now that we have a free port to inside The Grim Guzzler, we have the oppurtunity to farm some mass amounts of enchanting materials and runecloth very easily.  You do not need a shadowforge key either, since the port drops you deep within the dungeon already.  After the Brewfest boss is dead, just boot everyone from your Coren Direbrew group or wait until they all drop the group.  Many of the mobs inside the instance drop runecloth, so this is a good spot for farming runecloth also.  The instant port drops you right in the middle of one of the most heavily congested boss locations within the entire game.  Anyone selling enchants regularly will be looking for Large Brilliant Shards, especially since these are the main limiting material required for most of the BoA weapon enchants.  Many enchanters run Scholomance and Stratholme just for the Large Brilliant Shards to keep up with the demand of enchanting sales.  Lately I have turned to farming for them myself as the auction house prices have inflated to 20-25g per shard.  If you are not an enchanter, all you need is to have a friend or guild member (thats enchants) join your group.  This allows the disenchant option to appear on all dropped items, regardless of whether your enchanter friend is in the instance or not.

The Bosses
You will start off in the keg room of the Grim Guzzler.  Within the Grim Guzzler itself are located 4 bosses and a vendor to unload any vendor trash that you might pick up while inside this instance.  Win-win!  You can queue for Direbrew over and over without being limited by the 5 per hour per account restriction on dungeon entries.  There are a lot more bosses very close by and most can be reached without even having to aggro any of the trash mobs.  So by farming these bosses and any trash you may happen to aggro, you can easily collect a large number of Large Brilliant Shards, Runecloth, and Small Brilliant Shards (from the lower level bosses).  Any class can do this as these mobs are low enough level that you won't have any problems with survival.

The Best Route
I have tested this all during the hour I was on before work and have come up with the best route to take.  So the Brewfest boss is dead and everyone else is gone except for you (the enchanter).  You are in the keg room of the tavern.  Let's Begin:

1. Smash the 3 kegs to summon Hurley Blackbreath and his cronies.
2. Go just outside the room an talk to Ribbly Screwspigot to get him and his bodyguards to attack you.
3. Go up a level within the tavern and talk to Plugger Spazzring.  Buy out his Dark Iron Ale Mugs to get more profits later.  Then kill him. Loot the rest of the mugs off his table.  Plugger can drop the Schematic: Goblin Jumper Cables XL, which is a good schematic to sell.
4. Killing Plugger has allowed Phalanx to now be killed.  He is in front of the back exit of the tavern.  Guards will come to investigate the disturbance in a few minutes and they will leave that back exit open for you
5. While waiting for the guards to open the back door, backtrack out the front entrance of the Grim Guzzler to Golem Lord Argelmach.
6. Backtrack further to General Angerforge.
7. Return to the grim guzzler, kill the guards at the back door and head through the exit.
8. Drop down to the Black anvil platform and slay Lord Incendius.
9. Backtrack back through the golem area and kill Fineous Darkvire.
10. Continue upwards and into the Vault area to kill Warder Stilgiss and his pet Verek.
11. Save up any keys you find off trash mobs until you have enough to open all of the vaults at one time and this will summon an extra boss, Watchman Doomgrip, and allows the opening of the Secret Safe.
12. Go ahead and rejoin the LFD queue for Coren Direbrew again.  The last bosses nearby will drop items that disenchant into Small Brilliant Shards.  Just farm these guys and trash while you are waiting for the new Brewfest Boss group to form. So the following bosses are optional.
13. Continue backtracking to Pyromance Loregrain.
14. Drop into the Arena in the Ring of Law for the random event boss.
15. Head out the tunnel and south to High Interrogator Gerstahn.
16. Find Lord Roccor patrolling the tunnels.
17. By this time you should be back in the Brewfest Boss Queue.
18. Rinse and Repeat.

Repeating This After Brewfest Ends

Another thing of note is that currently, when you log out in a dungeon, once you log back in you return to the entrance of the dungeon and the bosses respawn.  Since you entered via the keg room in the Grim Guzzler, this is where you will return once you log in.  We can assume that once the Brewfest holiday is over, you can do this very same farming route, if you were lucky enough to obtain a Direbrew's Remote from your holiday bag loot.  Just log out and return back to the keg room to start your route over again.

Daring Dirk

 

Daring Dirk Binds when equipped One-Hand Dagger 19 - 37 Damage Speed 1.60 (17.5 damage per second) +5 Agility Durability 55 / 55 Requires Level 29 Item Level 34

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daring Dirk

This nice BoE dagger is a great limited spawn quantity item that is a super reliable weapon to purchase off of  vendors to flip for nice profits.  Anyone who has leveled a rogue as combat daggers or subtlety knows how hard it is to find a good dagger to level with.  This is a nice dagger for leveling or since it is level 29, also can be a cheap weapon for someone twinking on a budget.

 

Who Sells This

This is a limited quantity item, which means that is only periodically spawns on the vendors and you can only ever purchase one at a time.  There are 3 total vendors in the game that sell this nice dagger. 

1. Jutak <Blade Trader> in Booty Bay
2. Marie Holdston <Weaponsmith> in Theramore Isle (Alliance Only)
3. Vharr <Superior Weaponsmith> in Grom'Gol (Horde Only)

 

Profits

The vendor cost is 3g20s30c for each dagger.  If you have increased goblin reputation, you can get the faction discount, if you purchase it from Jutak in Booty Bay.  She is located near the inn and the Gnomeregan transporter.  These daggers can fetch you 15-25g each, so it is well worth a check to see if has spawned on the vendors.  So anytime you are in Booty Bay or the other location, peak at the vendor list.  If there is one available, do not hesitate.  Buy one, then send it to an auctioneer alt to sell on your factions auction house.  These always sell the same day for me.  I have never had one returned due to an expired auction.  They usually sell within hours of posting. 

 

 Do you understand the relationship between this post and the picture of the Dragon's Lair hero?

Setting Early Goals

Zuggy over at ZugGaming has invited myself and other bloggers to participate in a blogging carnival.  This carnival will be on October 2nd, the same day as the blogging carnival at JMTC.  We should all break some traffic records on that day.  Zuggy is also author of the popular Dominate WoW Gold Guide, which is well worth a read.

Setting Goals
Every player, whether old or new, should always be setting goals.  Setting goals will help to keep you focused and on track.  There is also a feeling of accomplishment once you reach one of these goals.  As one goal is reached, another goal should be set for a new objective.  Here is my take on what a brand new player should do to set and reach those goals.

Early Goals
From very early on you are exploring and learning, unaware of the world you have entered.  This is very similar to our first stages of infancy in real life, but unlike real life, no one is assigned to help us, care for us, or  watch out for us.  As you begin to explore, you begin to learn.  You get the feel of game mechanics, you learn where your trainers are, you learn what major city is near you, you learn where the flight paths are and where they connect.  Early on  you goals are just to level, learn your abilities, learn to battle, and learn where the inn is to log out.

Next Goals
Now you shift your focus to leveling, and gathering copper, silver, and gold.  Everything costs money, but your main expense should just be on training your skills as you level.  Never buy gear at low levels, you can quest just fine with what you find by looting monsters and completing quests.  You should be setting a new set of goals now.  The first goals you should set are for saving enough money to buy 4 larger bags, preferably netherweave bags from a tailor or the auction house in a major city.  How will you afford these bags which go for anywhere from 8-12g each?

Gathering
As a new character you have a wide variety of options when it comes to training professions.  You can only have 2 major professions.  At low levels you should ignore the crafting professions as these cost money.  You want professions that will make you money.  I recommend picking up Mining and Skinning as your first two professions.  Herbalism is another option, but the ores you mine and bars you smelt are used by the most other professions.  The hides and skins from skinning are also used by multiple professions.  Mining Nodes and Herbalism plants and herbs both show up on your mini-map, but you can only see one kind at a time.  Thats why I recommend Skinning as your second option.  You will be able to post every item you mine or skin onto the auction house to make good amounts of cash as you are leveling up.  You can worry about other professions once you understand the game more and are much higher level.  You can always switch professions later, so you are not stuck with what you originally chose.  So choose the money making gathering professions as gold will be needed to meet your next set of goals.

Mounts
Your next set of goals is to reach level 20 and be able to purchase riding skill and a mount so that everything becomes much easier.  All the skins, ores, and bars that you collect and sell, while only spending gold on training your skills up, will earn you the gold you need to get your very first mount and riding skill.  Once you obtain a mount your new goal should mainly be to level up and continue to learn your character.  Then once you are higher level and have plenty of funds, you can think about change professions.  I highly recommend keeping both of your gathering skills until you hit the level cap, and then switch them out one at a time for a crafting profession that suits your liking.

Summary
So remember to set a goal to lead you into the right direction.  A brief summary of your early set of goals would be:

1. Gain levels, experience, and new skills.
2. Find the closest major city.
3. Choose 2 gathering professions.
4. Gather, level, and sell materials on the auction house.
5. Buy 4 netherweave bags.
6. Get to level 20 and purchase a mount and riding skill.

Image borrowed from jeremythiessen.typepad.com

Guest Post: CappedByCata

A Guest Post from CappedByCata.com


First of all, I would just like to say a very special thanks to Cold. He has been very helpful in allowing me to branch out with my blog and obtain new readership, so I do very much appreciate it.

I wanted to return the favor with a guest post here at Cold’s Gold Factory.

Mining will never be as profitable as it will be at the beginning of Cataclysm.

Yep, that’s right. The start of Cataclysm will lend itself to some insane demand in the terms of Ore needed for crafters in Cataclysm. Expect prices to be in the hundreds of gold for a stack of the new Ore.

So what does this mean? Besides the fact that you need to be mining, there are a couple of ways you can take advantage of this niche. Once prices sky-rocket, a lot of people who dropped mining for raiding professions will quickly pick it back up and join in on the gold rush. Not wanting to go from Node to Node all the way until 525, they will look for any shortcut possible. This shortcut is where you come in.

The only other way to level up mining besides hitting a node, is to smelt. What this means is people will be willing to pay a premium for ores such as Mithril, Gold, Adamantite, etc in an effort to cut out a few of those nodes that will be in heavy competition. If you can already have a stock pile ready to go, you will be able to net yourself a very healthy profit.

Time really is Money

Gathering professions will once again be at their peak come Cataclysm. Having a Miner ready to go at the beginning of the expansion will make you an insane amount of gold if you’re willing to put in the time. Me personally, I’m taking 3-4 days off work simply to Mine. Sure this may sound a little extreme, but I know the Ore will never again go for as much as it does during those few days. People will be racing to get those realm first achievements, and it needs to be your goal to take the most advantage of those people as possible. If you spend those first couple of days leveling up, exploring new content, trying out new dungeons, etc, then you’re selling yourself shorts of the profits that will be available in those few short lived days.

So take advantage, friends and line your pockets, guild banks and bed sheets with shiny shiny gold.

****************************************
 
Thanks Wes for the guest post.  I agree with you and I already have been stocking up on ores.  I myself am focusing on the uncommon (green) ores that give a skill-up each smelt:  Silver, Gold, & Truesilver.  In my opinion these will be the most realiable for power leveling miners.  If you plan on mining, I highly recommend getting to max skill prior to the gold rush of Cataclysm.  I also expect to see a rise in the sale of Mammoth Mining Bags as well.  Thanks again.
 
Anyone else interested in guest posting, or swapping guest posts, either shoot me an email here or a private message over at The Consortium.

Profiting from Dark Iron Ale Mugs

Beer Drinking Frog?

Getting Started
Brewfest has started in Azeroth.  While you are in The Grim Guzzler be sure to pick up some stacks of Dark Iron Ale Mugs from Plugger Spazzring.  You can steal some mugs off of his table or you can buy all he has for sale, then kill him, and steal the rest off of his table.  Now just save them for when the Darkmoon Faire comes to town to make some extra cash.

How To Get The Pet
Amongst the carnies at the Darkmoon Faire is Morja, a female orc, that has lost her pet jubling.  Bring a pair of Dark Iron Ale Mugs with you to the faire, if you want to get the vanity pet, Jubling.  All you do to get the jubling from her is drop one of your mugs at her feet.  The beer drinking frog, Jubjub, will come to drink the mug of ale.  She will thank you and reward you with the quest, Spawn of Jubjub.  Apparently, drinking beer makes Jubjub have babies.  Complete the quest by giving her a 2nd mug of ale and she will reward you with an Unhatched Jubling Egg.  This egg takes 7 days to hatch.  After the egg hatches, open it up and collect your new vanity pet jubling.

Profiting On Jublings
During the Darkmoon Faire, make sure to post Dark Iron Ale Mugs on the auction house for 5-10g for a stack of 2.  It also helps to advertise in trade chat that you are selling the vanity pet jubling for 10g.  You will probably have to explain the process to any buyers.  Set up a macro for advertising and a macro with the instructions on obtaining the pet.  This will make it much easier on you both.  Enjoy your sales on the beer guzzling,alcoholic aphrodisiac, egg laying, red and blue frogs.

Dire Changes To Brewfest Farming

Dual Wielding Tankards

Brewfest no longer has a quest to summon Coren Direbrew.  You can now join the Looking For Dungeon queue and select Coren Direbrew as your dungeon.  Gone are the days of finding a group, finding someone with the Direbrew Remote to summon the party to his location, and farming him 5 times per group.  Blizzard has made it much easier.  You just need to be at least level 78 and queue up much like how we went to kill Ahune daily.

There is no reason to farm Coren Direbrew multiple times, unless you are after one of his six ilvl 200 epic trinkets.  Farming for the trinkets on your alts and new 80s has never been easier.  The trinkets still drop off of Coren Direbrew himself and he can be killed as many times as you like.

With the new changes, once per day you will receive a Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest, which will contain 2 Emblems of Frost and a chance at awarding:

Great Brewfest Kodo (Rare Epic Mount)
Swift Brewfest Ram (Rare Epic Mount)
Tankard of Terror (BOE and sells for over 1k)
Direbrew's Bloody Shanker (BOP sells for nearly 20g to vendors)
Direbrew's Remote (summons your party to The Grim Guzzler in BRD)

These changes make it much easier to farm for the epic mounts and tankard daily.  I will be doing this every day for every one of my level 78+ characters, as well as getting the ghetto-trinkets for my undergeared 80s.  The 2 extra Frost Emblems are a nice addition to any daily farming routine.

This holiday, especially the first few days, is a great time for a Horde mage character to make easy gold selling portals to Thunder Bluff, Silvermoon City, and Undercity for those impatient players doing the quest to zap the Pink Elleks.  Just hang out in Orgrimmar and Durator and advertise your portals for 5-10g each.  Players will pay to save the time.  Alliance can hang in Ironforge and do the same for the alliance cities.

Enjoy the holiday!  Good luck farming!  Bottoms Up!

Flipping Flik's Faire Frogs

Flik - Slow Down Boy!

Flipping Flik's Faire Frogs

The Darkmoon Faire comes to town for one week every month and rotates locations between Elwynn Forest, Mulgore, and Terrokar Forest.  Many item collectors will reward you with faire tickets.  There is also a fortune teller which will give you a 2 hour buff based on how you answer his questions.  You might be able to get some excellent deals from Lhara or purchase some unique treats and drinks from the other vendors at the faire.  One of my favorite vendors that travels with the Darkmoone Faire is a little goblin boy named Flik.

Flik is sometimes hard to catch as he is constantly in motion.  He runs all around the faire grounds chasing his pet frog.  If you are able to catch up with him and stop him for a moment, you will be able to buy a couple of vanity pets from him.  You must not be slow, as he will take off running after his frog within no time.

What He Sells

Flik sells Tree Frog Boxes and Wood Frog Boxes for 1g each.  The Tree Frogs are always in supply, thus allowing you to purchase as many as you can carry.  The Wood Frog Boxes are a limited quantity item and you can only purchase one at a time until more respawn into his item list.  If someone has recently bought the Wood Frog Box, then you will have to wait until another spawns before you can purchase one yourself.

Profiting Off Of Flick's Frogs

I like to camp out and buy as many frogs as I can, because he is only available for 1 week per month.  These frogs will sell very well during the weeks that the faire is gone.  Many people do not know about Flik and his frogs and will buy these pets off of any of the auction houses netting me a nice profit.  I have found that listing the Tree Frog Boxes at 25-35g each and the Wood Frog Boxes for 100-125g each will bring me continous sales.  The Wood Frog Boxes do fetch this high of an amount due to the limited quantity available.  As you can see turning 1g into 25g or even 125g are both very nice profit margins for not much work.  So next time the Darkmoone Faire is in town be sure to say "Hi" to my little friend and do some frog flippin' of your own.

Join The Consortium: New Auctioneers Forum

"The Consortium is a community focused on the discussion of gold-making in World of Warcraft. It was founded in early February 2010, by Alaera of Twisting Nether US. The concept was simple: establish a community where World of Warcraft’s greatest entrepreneurs can share ideas, without fear of spilling sensitive secrets to the masses. Initially a small group of friends threading ideas on a free bulletin board, The Consortium now seeks to expand.

Our site is host to both public and private forums. The private forum is accessible only to “earned” members, or as well call them, Wind Traders. Wind Trader status (and access to the private forums) is earned on an invite-only or application basis. Due to the sensitive nature of the information contained in the private forums, membership is limited to one player per server. Nonetheless, we plan on regularly releasing articles showcasing the quality of content housed within the private forums. We will do this not only to give back to the community, but also to fuel discussion in the public forums. The public forums are publicly accessible and contain a wealth of information including:

• WoW Economy discussions.
• Power-leveling guides and routes.
• Profession FAQs and leveling guides.

The site will also host a GDKP forum, which will conglomerate and streamline GDKP runs from all servers worldwide." - quoted from the site.


We have a nice contest running currently to celebrate the grand opening of The Consortium Forum.  And there are plenty of the exclusive Wind Trader spots still available.  Come apply for yours before your server representative is already taken.


Please list Cold as the referral, if you do join us.  Looking forward to seeing you there.


Just click on the promo box on the upper right to be taken to the site.

How I Won The Booty Bay Fishing Derby

How I Won The Booty Bay Fishing Derby

On Sunday the 12th of September I won the Booty Bay Fishing Extravaganza.  Got me one step closer to my Angler title and I selected the trinket that turns me into a fish.  Here's some tips on how I did it.

1)  Waterwalk:  I'm a Deathnight.  This is a huge advantage due to Path of Frost, but shamans have waterwalk.  All other classes should use potions of waterwalking.  Simplifies things and makes travel to Tastyfish pools shorter.

2) Timing:  I chose September 12th to try to win.  Why?  Less competition.  Why?  That was opening day of the NFL football season.  Yup RL events do affect in game events.

3)  Come Prepared:  I had my best pole, my hat, lures, and plenty of Captain Rumseys Rum for extra buffs to fishing skill.  I didn't have the boots yet, but I did also get the rare fish that traded in for the +5 fishing boots.  If you have enchanted fishing gloves, then wear those as well.  Higher skill does mean faster catches in my observations.

4)  Speed:  The main problem with the contest is fighting over pools, so any speed boosts are golden.  Unholy Aura, Crusader Aura, +movement speed to boots, Sprint, Rocket Boots or anything that increases your movement speed should be used, if you are serious about winning.

5)  Location:  Where you start and how crowded the area is will also affect your performance.  Don't start where you see a lot of fishermen.  Fighting over pools is bad and lowers the catch rate of each fisherman that is competing for pools in the area.  My secret locale that I chose was an amazing area.  I chose the little dead end pool area just North of the naga area and just south of the Bloodsail Compound up that way.  On the Zone map it is the area on the coast due west of the Ruins of Aboraz.  I fished from 3 pools that form a triangle in that area over and over, until i had to move to get my last 4 as others caught on to the area.  I highly recommend this spot as 2 of the pools spawn right next to each other and I has 20+ fish before even having to move.  Stay away from the southern east coast, the eastern coast, and Yojimba Isle as that is where you will get the most competition.

6)  Hearth:  Make sure to set your hearth to the Booty Bay Inn and make sure you don't have it on cooldown.  The contest takes around 20 minutes max.  I won in 16 minutes.  So don't get stuck having to run back to town.

7)  If someone starts fishing in a pool you are in, never try to get the last fish because you never know how many fish will come out of any pool. You don't want to be the one who wasted his time fishing in a pool that disappears once your competitor pulls out the last fish.  If you cast first, then you are fine.  Let the dummy waste his time.

So with proper planning and a good strategy, you should greatly increase your chances at winning.  Hope these tips were helpful to those of you stilling shooting to be an angler.

Farming: Rugged Leather

Where to Farm Rugged Leather?

I can never find Rugged Leather on the auction house for a decent price, so sometimes I have to resort to farming it myself.  My top 2 spots for farming Rugged Leather are:

1)  Dire Maul North.  Just into the instance, down the first ramp, is the first boss who is surrounded by packs of Gordok Mastiffs.  A quick pull and AoE of the whole room will net you a ton of Rugged Leather.  So if you are a skinner and working on Freeing Knot for patterns or reputation with the goblins for the insane title, then make sure to knock off all the dogs here.

2)  Winterspring Yeti Caves.  East of Everlook is the most abundant area for Rugged Leather farming.  Excellent respawn rates combined with mobs that drop greens and coin, make this the most farmed area for Rugged Leather.

Continue on to the most recent post on Rugged Leather Farming since Cataclysm.

Flipping: 5 Items Under 5 Gold To Sell For Over 5g

 Five Items Under Five Gold To Sell For Over Five Gold

Not all of you are seasoned auction house veterans.  So here are a few tips to get you started in the game of flipping items on the Auction House.  These 5 items can often be snatched off the auction house for under 5g each and can easily be relisted for 5g or higher and will still sell.  These are some excellent items to try to get a hold on flipping as well as preparing you to start resetting markets for extra profit.  Here are the items and why they are in demand.

The List
1)  Large Fang - These are used in the Lesser Beastslaying enchant and all Barbaric crafted gear, which is a cheap way of leveling some blacksmithing.  Leatherworkers use these for the excellent profit twink item Barbaric Bracers, which is BiS for many classes and low level characters.

2)  Spider's Silk - This is the best selling spider silk of them all because multiples are required for many twink blues including, Spidersilk Boots, Spidersilk Drape, Toughened Leather Gloves, and the Warlock class quest item Robes of Arcana.

3)  Small Radiant Shard - Only used in 3 enchants, but as an enchanter you will never have enough of these, especially once Cataclysm drops and everyone is after either Enchant Weapon - Fiery and/or Enchant Boots - Minor Speed.  The Fiery Enchant takes 4 of these and moves quickly and reliably.  I often buy these under 2 gold and when none are listed on the auction house I sell them for 12g each along with my Fiery enchants, which move for 60-100g.

4)  Aquamarine - These are used for power leveling jewelcrafting, making Aquamarine Signets, Figure - Truesilver Crab, and other jewelry.  Engineers require these to make Green Lens of (Random), which is a popular twink headpiece, Deadly Scopes, and Ultrsafe Transporters.  Enchanters need them for the popular twink enchant Enchant Boots - Minor Speed and Blacksmiths use them for Truesilver Guantlets, Phantom Blades, and Heavy Mithril Helms.

5)  Truesilver Bar - These are very often under 2g per.  I just bought 3 stacks for 60g total.  The demand on Truesilver bars is high enough that I can flip these for 7-8g each.  The recently changed to BoE engineering pets take a lot of these so engineers are the primary buyer of Truesilvers Bars, but other professions use them as well since they are required for 52 different crafting recipes by engineers, blacksmiths, and jewelcrafters.


Does anyone else have any other materials that they would ad to this list?  Please follow the same format if commenting to help people out.  What item? What's it used in? How much do you mark up?

Favorite Niche Market?

So the new blogging carnival question from Markco at JMTC is:

What Is Your Favorite Niche Market?


Well my favorite niche market is selling Rich Purple Silk Shirts.  Why?  This pattern is super rare, as it is a random Vanilla drop.  It is so rare that wowhead doesn't even register any of the mobs that drop it at any rate higher than 0.0%.  Wowhead also shows the average buyout price to be 1255g.  Good thing I found this one for 40g on the auction house.  Excellent investment as I have sold tons of these for anywhere from 10-25g each.  I am the only one who ever lists these Horde side, so I have absolutely zero competition and the cost to produce them is ridiculously low as the Horde auction house is swamped with Silk Cloth.  I snatch all silk cloth under 1g per stack, but often I get mass quantities for under 50s a stack.  So the return on investment is insane.

Why do they sell for so much?  


Other than the fact that hardly no one crafts them or even has the pattern learned, they sell mainly because they are purple.  It's not that pansy lavender color, but the real deal dark purple, and the only craftable dark purple shirt there is.  Color preference is something I learned when playing the early version of Star Wars Galaxies Online.  While other people were out fighting, I was at my home sewing and crafting and becoming a Grandmaster Tailor.  The two best selling colors to dye and sell items were Purple and Black.  I would say that 90% of my sales were Black or Purple Items.  You had to be a very highly skilled tailor in order to make dark purple items.  I do not miss the days of crafting in SWGO.  That auction system was horrible.  It was nothing like the running back and forth from the mailbox to the auction house like in WoW.  You had to fly to every planet and post your goods on each planet's bazaar and when an item sold you had to fly back to that specific planet in order to collect your money.  Yeah, it was a real hassle.  Glad the crafting system is much simpler in WoW.

Watch For It


So I would recommend that everyone should at least put the pattern for the Rich Purple Silk Shirt onto their snatch list as it can be found for super cheap as most people don't realize what a valuable pattern it really is.  And if you do get lucky enough to find one, don't sell it.  Utilize it to make some high profit rare shirts to sell.  I can't wait until Cataclysm as I am sure to be selling a ton of these to new alts, goblin characters, and Christmas noobs.

X-53 From Trade Chat

So I already own a Zevhra, but I have always wanted to try out one of the X-53 Touring Rockets, which are the current award from the Recruit-A-Friend program.  Never having anyone to refer, I was supprised to see someone selling the mount in trade chat.  Well, he couldn't sell me the mount iteself, but he was selling a RAF linkage and he had gametime cards ready to add gametime to his new account.  Hrm...Sounded legit.  He was asking 15k gold in game.  I would get the Mount for 15k, but also I would get the Free Game Time for 1 Month, which is another bonus of finding someone to recruit.  Have 10 characters all over level 70, the RAF level bumps would be pointless to me anyways.  So he provided me with his email, and I sent him the RAF link through my BNet account.  In order to do this as legit as possible, he asked for 5k once it showed I had a free month of game time, then the other 10k once the mount was showing as mine.  All he had to do was add the gametime cards he had and the mount was mine.  After verifying I gave him the rest of the gold and completed the deal.  So looking at the purchase:

I spent 15,000 gold.
For my gold I got:
1 Month of Game Time Free
1 X-53 Touring Rocket

Not a bad deal in my opinion.  Sure beats having to pay for a second account as I got in game and out of game benefits for only in game gold.  *cheers*

Now time to get some lowbies in the back seat, while i eject out and parachute to safety as I watch them go splat.  Let the fun begin.

Ranking The Twink Professions

In today's post we are going to focus on the major professions of level 19 and level 29 twinks, as well as ways the twinks can profit off of these choices.

Since most twinks will be funded by a player's higher level characters, we can assume that most level 19 and 29 twinks are going to be hardcore twinks that choose the best 2 professions to give the largest advantages within the battlegrounds. With that assumption, I would expect to see most twinks with 2 of the Top 5 Professions. After all, the twinks themselves are usually not out to turn a profit via crafting. Twinks are about maximizing PvP benefits, not making gold. They actually tend to be much more of a gold sink than a profitable endeavor unless the correct professions are chosen that can still be profitable given the skill level restrictions imposed by the level caps.

Here are the primary professions and the order that I deem them most powerful for the 19 and 29 brackets to maximize effectiveness in battlegrounds.

          Profession                   Benefit for 19                      Benefit for 29

1. Engineering                 *See below                         *See below
2. Herbalism                    Lifeblood 720 Heal             Lifeblood 900 Heal  
3. Mining                         Toughness +7 Sta               Toughness +10 Sta
4. Skinning                      M o Anatomy +9 Crit          M o Anatomy +12 Crit
5. Jewelcrafting               Dense Stone Statues            Primal Stone Statues 
6. Alchemist                    Make Own Potions & Mixology Skill
7. Blacksmith                  Make Own Sharpening Stone
8. Enchanter                    No Use
9. Leatherworking           No Use
10. Tailor                          No Use

I personally think that jewelcrafting is just as worthless as the other bottom 6 professions because Lifeblood is by far better than the BoP healing Stone Statues that a Jewelcrafter can create.

*Engineering is by far the most popular and has been for years. Let's take a look why:

At level 19 this is the only way to get a BoP head gear item, unless you have the Fishing Hat from the StV Fishing Extravaganza. At level 19 its going to be pretty hard to get and with Cataclysm we will see BoA head pieces that may be better than the engineering versions. We also see dynamite and bombs that stun or daze, minor recombobulator that heals and dispels polymorphs, harvest reapers and mechanical dragons to fight by your side, discombobulators to weaken your enemy into a leper gnome, flash bombs to scare hunter pets, goblin sapper charges and land mines for AoE damage, exploding sheep, and gnomish shrink rays. All these goodies at level 19!

At 29 we add to this list with mobile bomb dispensers, nets to root players, parachute cloak, better bombs and grenades, improved headpieces, battle chickens, rocket boots, mind control caps, and the uber-powerful gnomish death ray trinket.

And another great benefit of having engineering, at lvl 19 225 skill you can still craft Mechanical Squirrel Boxes, Lil Smoky, & Pet Bombling for some excellent ways to turn this twink into a gold maker while waiting for your battleground to start. The same holds true for my other top 4 professions for twinks because Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning can all be done while waiting for battlegrounds to start up. Many twinks also like to fish during wait times, especially for deviate fish to cook and sell as Savory Deviate Delights for nice profits.

Are you going to be rolling a twink in Cataclysm?

BoA Heirloom Item Scaler

Found an excellent tool over at quickarmory.com.  With all my talks about twinking, this little gadget is a quick and easy reference to finding what stats are given at any given item level for your BoA gear.  Useful for comparing BoE gear versus BoA gear for your twinks.

All you do is find the Heirloom Item on the list, then just move the slide bar at the top of the page to the level you are looking for.  Easy to use tool that saves a lot of time.

 Check it out:   Heirloom Items Level and Stats Scaler (currently broken and not updated - will post lnik once they get it back up and fixed)

SPOTLIGHT:::Zapthrottle Mote Extractor

Zapthrottle Mote Extractor

Another one of the ways to make money with engineering is the Zapthrottle Mote Extractor.  This handy device allows the engineer to see gas clouds on the mini-map.  Unlike other resource nodes, gas clouds are mobile so sometimes you must wait for them to travel out of an unreachable area to a more accessible area.  When you extract from the gas clouds, you will receive 3-5 motes or crystallized eternals depending on which cloud you are extracting from.  These gas clouds are numerous and the low population of engineers makes for less competition.  Here is the list of where to find the various gas clouds and what they produce.

Outlands

Felmist - Shadowmoon Valley - Motes of Shadow

Swamp Gas - Zangarmarsh & Steamvault - Motes of Water

Arcane Vortex - Netherstorm - Motes of Mana

Windy Cloud - Nagrand - Motes of Air

Northrend

Steam Cloud - Sholazar Basin & Borean Tundra - Crystallized Fire & Water

Cinder Cloud - Sholazar Basin, Wintergrasp, & Dragonblight - Crystallized Fire

Arctic Cloud - Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, Storm Peaks, & Icecrown - Crystallized Air & Water

So if you are an engineer, make sure to complete your quest to create your extractor and carry it with you at all times.  My favorite spot to farm Crystallized Fire to create Eternal Fires is at the Cauldren of Flames in Wintergrasp where you can kill the revenants and elementals as well as pick up 2 cinder clouds in the same area as well as a titanium node.  Then while waiting for respawns, I fly just below into Dragonblight and grab the Cinder Cloud outside the Obsidian Dragonshrine and the Arctic Cloud towards the Wrathgate and loop back to the Cauldren of Flames.

Do you have any great spots that allow you to access the clouds while farming other things?

Nine 10-19 Bracket Greens Going Blue

Cataclysm changes are coming and those changes will include the upgrade or downgrade or re-levelization of many items.  Here are 9 currently green BOE items that are turning into blue BOEs and getting big upgrades to their stats.  So these are 9 items, I would be snatching up for very cheap prices to flip to all the new characters and twinks.  If you run across these items, don't disenchant them.  Save them and resell for a lot more than you originally paid.

The 9 I would snatch are:

Current Green Item                Current Green Stats                          New Blue Stats
Blackened Defias Gloves (Lthr)           3 Str / 1 Sta                               4 Agi / 6 Sta
Foreman's Gloves            (Lthr)          10 Ap                                        5 Agi / 5 Exp
Metalworking Gloves       (Lthr)          3 Str / 1 Sta                               6 Agi / 4 Sta
Woodworking Gloves      (Lthr)          3 Int / 2 Spi                               6 Int / 4 Sta
Stonemason Cloak                              3 Sta                                         3 Str / 5 Sta
Foreman's Leggings           (Mail)         3 Str / 3 Agi / 3 Sta                   7 Str / 7 Sta
Goblin Mail Leggings          (Mail)        4 Str / 3 Sta                              8 Str / 6 Sta
Blackened Defias Leggings (Lthr)         3 Str / 3 Agi                              7 Agi / 7 Sta
Blackened Defias Boots     (Lthr)         3 Agi / 2 Sta                              6 Agi / 4 Sta

So you can see plenty of worthwhile increase on these items.  If you see them for cheap, snatch them up and hold onto them.

Be sure to read the follow-up post about these greens gone blue an how profitable this Cataclysm gold making strategy turned out.

Non-Gear Badge and Emblem Options

So we are all amassing a surplus of Emblems and Badges at this late in the game as the expansion comes to its final weeks / months.  Many of us don't have much need for spending our Emblems on gear, either because we are geared out or because purchasing gear upgrades this late in the expansion may not be the most sensible thing to do as simple green questing items from Cataclysm will replace many of the upgrades we can currently obtain.  Is your currency tab getting filled with Emblems?  Maybe you have been farming BC Heroics for reputation and you have been collecting a lot of Badge of Justice.  So what other options do we have instead of gear upgrades?  Let's take a look.

Emblem of Frost
23 = 1 Primordial Saronite

Emblem of Triumph
15 = 1 Crusader Orb

Emblem of Heroism
10 = 1 Ametrine, Dreadstone, Or Eye of Zul
20 = 1 Cardinal Ruby, King's Amber, or Majestic Zircon
10 = 1 Frozen Orb

Emblem of Conquest
18 = 1 Runed Orb

Emblem of Valor
60 = 1 Bind-On-Equip iLvl 213 Wrist Armor

Badge of Justice
10 = 1 Primal Nether
15 = Nether Vortex
15 = Any BC Uncut Epic Gem

As you can see there are many other options for Badges and Emblems other than gearing up your character, mainly using them to purchase materials required for your other crafting endeavors for a better profit.  Selling these items outright can also be a viable source of income, if you just like to run heroics over and over.  This late in the expansion I would advise on dumping as many of your Badges and Emblems as I can't see any reason to hang onto them for use in the next expansion.  Who knows what blizzard will do with the badge system anyways.  And most of these items will continue to lose value the longer you hold onto them, so unload what you can to maximize profits before the values drop even further.  And don't forget about the Stone Keeper Shards and Wintergrasp Tokens, which can be easily monetized through the Wintergrasp Shuffle. 

Blacksmithing Lock Picking (Revisited)

So last month I talked about Blacksmith Lockpicking as an optional idea for blacksmiths to make some easy gold.  I showed that you can craft the blacksmithing titanium keys and any tip over 84s will net you a profit for just a few seconds of your time.

Well, today I was on my blacksmith for a good while so I shouted in trade to test out my own advise.  I sent out a message that I was offering lockpicking services in Orgrimmar and almost instantly had two replies.  I highly recommend putting an advertisement into trade chat while you are smelting since that will give you some time to find some takers while you smelt.  The first guy had 2 boxes to unlock and tipped me 2 gold.  Fair, not too great, but easy profit none the less.  Then the second guy brings me 20 locked boxes of various levels and then tips me 250g.  Yup!  250 Gold for a few minutes of work.  None of the boxes were higher than level 375 so I just used the Cobalt Skeleton Keys and didn't even have to break into my Titanium Skeleton Keys.  The Cobalt Skeleton Keys only take 4 Cobalt Bars per stack of 10 keys.

So if you haven't tried this out yet, give it a go because this is super easy money.  Steal the business away from the rogues and pocket it for yourselves.

Happy Labor Day!

Taking the day off blogging for the Holiday.  If you haven't logged in today, you should.  A lot of the competition appears to be taking the day off from WoW gold making too.  The auction house has a lot of items inflated in value, so you can post for higher than average prices at the moment.  Give your realm a look and see, if you see the same thing on your realm.

Twink and BoA Specialist Enchanting

Enchanter: Twinking Specialist

Level 19

At level 19 twinks are mostly restricted to using pre-BC enchants. Most all Burning Crusade enchants have a minimum level requirement of 35. Wrath of the Lich King enchants have a minimum level requirement of 60. This is a list of the most sought after enchants by all classes.

• Back
  
  • [Enchant Cloak - Lesser Agility] +3 agility
  • [Enchant Cloak - Superior Defense] +70 armor
  • [Enchant Cloak - Greater Nature Resistance] +15 nature resistance
  • [Enchant Cloak - Greater Resistance] +5 all resistance
  • [Enchant Cloak - Stealth] increased stealth

• Chest
  
  • [Enchant Chest - Greater Stats] +4 all stats
  • [Enchant Chest - Major Mana] +100 mana
  • [Enchant Chest - Major Health] +100 health

• Wrists
  
  • [Enchant Bracer - Superior Stamina] +9 stamina
  • [Enchant Bracer - Superior Strength] +9 strength
  • [Enchant Bracer - Greater Intellect] +7 intellect
  • [Enchant Bracer - Healing Power] +15 spell power
  • [Enchant Bracer - Mana Regeneration] restore 4 mana every five seconds

• Hands
  
  • [Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility] +15 agility
  • [Enchant Gloves - Shadow Power] +20 shadow spell power
  • [Enchant Gloves - Fire Power] +20 fire spell power
  • [Enchant Gloves - Frost Power] +20 frost spell power
  • [Enchant Gloves - Healing Power] +18 spell power
  • [Enchant Gloves - Minor Haste] +10 haste

• Legs
  
  • [Medium Armor Kit] +16 armor value

• Feet
  
  • [Enchant Boots - Minor Speed] movement speed increase (This enchant heavily outweighs all others in this category)
  • [Enchant Boots - Greater Stamina] +7 stamina
  • [Enchant Boots - Greater Agility] +7 agility
  • [Enchant Boots - Lesser Accuracy] +5 hit rating

• Weapon
  
  • [Enchant Weapon - Agility] +15 agility
  • [Enchant Weapon - Mighty Intellect] +22 Intellect
  • [Enchant Weapon - Fiery Weapon] chance on hit: 40 additional fire damage
  • [Enchant Weapon - Icy Chill] chance on hit: slow movement and attack speed
  • [Enchant Weapon - Crusader] chance on hit: heal for 75 to 125 and increase strength by 100 for 15 seconds
  • [Enchant Weapon - Lifestealing] chance on hit: steal life from enemy
  • [Enchant Weapon - Spellpower] +30 spell power
  • [Enchant 2H Weapon - Agility] +25 agility
  • [Enchant 2H Weapon - Superior Impact] +9 damage

• Ranged
  
  • [Standard Scope] +2 damage

These are the current favorites for Level 19 Twinks and are also going to be the prime enchants for BoA items since the non-level requirement enchants are the only options for the BoA items.  Some of these will be removed/changed due to the removal of Mp5 (from everything) and Spellpower (from non-weapons).  While they may be removed, they may also be upgraded as well.  For example, the Mp5 may change to +Spirit, etc.  Right now it is all just speculation as to what will happen to the enchants that will be effected by the stat changes of Cataclysm. 

Level 29

At level 29 you have the option of getting quests that can be started at level 29 or below, but twinks will complete quests that reward items with an item level of 35 or higher.  What this does is open up all of the lower end BC enchants to be placed on these items.  This gives a rather large benefit to getting these items, which may not be BiS stat wise alone, but once they are enchanted with the new level of enchants, they become vastly superior.

Ex:  Gallan Cuffs - Horde quest reward from "To Steal From Thieves"  Lvl 27 quest that rewards iLvl36 item.  Thus allowing the twink to put +12 Sta, +12 Int, +15 Sp, instead of the basic enchants.  Even though it is a cloth item, many hunters get it just for the +12 Sta or +24 Attack Power enchantability.  As a lvl 29 Twink Warrior named BashRipRock, I loved having my iLvl41 Shield, Vile Protector, with the +18 sta enchant.  Big difference over the BoE shields, but these kind of quest rewards are much easier to get now that you can pay to turn off all experience gains. 

Cataclysm changes are revamping a lot of the item levels, quest rewards, stats, and enchants for these kind of rewards.  So at this point I wouldn't go crazy finding any rare minimum iLvl 35 enchants until we know whether any of these will stil be left to take advantage of.  I would try to get as many of the harder to earn/find Vanilla enchants to be able to sell to all of the potential buyers once twinks return and new BoA items are implemented.

Dear Deathwing, (A Cataclysm Wishlist)

Dear Deathwing,

All I Want For Cataclysm Is:

1. I would like the ability to pay gold to increase the movement speed of already owned mounts.  I don't want to have to replace my Headless Horseman's Mount just because he isn't the fastest.  Let me pay to make him just as speedy please.
2. Can we please get a stealth action bar for Rogues in Cat form, In Stealth?  It's rather annoying not having our own autoswitching stealth castbar for stealth mode.  Rogues have it, so can cats get it too please?
3. Please, please, please increase all items to a minimum stacking size of 20.  Please allow cut gems to be stackable as well.
4. Please give me replacement recipes in return for all the recipes that will be useless, pointless, or destroyed come Cataclysm and the stats changes.  Ammo bags, Soul pouches, etc.
5. I would like an achievement quartermaster or reputation, some benefit to achievements other than bragging rights.
6. Can we fix Wintergrasp so its a much more evenly matched battle, not so dependant on sheer numbers that show up?

What about you?  Anything that you would put on your wishlist?

Why I Like Engineering So Much

Why Is Engineering Good?


While many people tend to assume engineering is mainly just for making fun gizmos and for low level PvP twinks, I highly disagree. Engineering is by far my most favorite profession because in addition to being fun, engineering is very convenient and allows the engineer to do many things that are unique to the profession. Let me go over a list of some of the great things about engineers.

1) Jeeves - The robot Jeeves allows repairing, vendoring, and purchasing anywhere for anyone nearby. Engineers can also access their character's bank through Jeeves. He lasts 10 minutes and his cooldown was recently shorted to just 1 hour. With the bank access it allows me to store my 2nd gear set in the bank instead of carrying it and allows the dumping of goods into the bank when my bags are getting filled.
2) Wormhole Generator - Your very own port machine. The cooldown is 4 hours, but the ability to port yourself to Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Scholazar Basin, Icecrown, or Storm Peaks is so nice. You can port to Scholazar to grab another Oracle Egg or to get to Wintergrasp quickly. The Storm Peaks spot drops you right by the Ulduar area for quicker stone summons. I use this portal maker very often. It really saves a lot of time.
3) Dimensional Ripper / Ultra Safe Transporters - Goblin Engineers get a portal on a 4 hour cooldown to Area 52 and another to Everlook. Gnomish Engineers get the transporters to Toshley's Station and Gadzetan. Again this is awesome for porting around if you are not a mage. And even Mages can't port to these places. Main benefit is for grabbing pets/recipes off of the neutral Auction House. Also comes in handy when flying around gathering recipes to flip as well as offering shortcuts when completing holiday achievements that take you all over the globe.
4) Zapthrottle Mote Extractor - Ever been exploring and seen those globes floating near the ground in Outlands or Northrend? Those are gas clouds that are harvestable by engineers only. Easy source of motes and crystalized forms of eternals. There are clouds for each element.
5) Moll-E - Who doesn't like a portable mailbox? Drop a Mailbox down next to you that last for 10 minutes. Recently shortened the cooldown to only 2 hours. So many uses for this, from being able to mail excess materials or items from anywhere to using your own mailbox for faster Libram turn ins in the DM Library while you work on your Insane Title.
6) Titanium Toolboxes - While these are usable by anyone, did you know all the stuff you can put into there?
7) Goblin Jumper Cables, Gnomish Army Knife, etc. - Having the ability for a chance to rezz a party member is great, especially when you rezz the only healer.

8) Dalaran Auction House Access - GM Engineers get to use the auction house in the Dalaran Engineering Shop. This is even better once you realize it is next to a mailbox, the forge, Frozo the Frozen Orb Trader, and the Leatherworking vendor that swaps Heavy Borean Leather for Arctic Furs. So an engineer can make a easy quick buck just going outside the shop and swapping the newly bought frozen orbs for the higher priced eternals and/or making arctic furs.

9) Vehicles - Engineers can create Copters and Choppers for mounts and profits.

10) Vanity Pets - Mechanical Squirrel Box, Tranquil Mechanical Yeti, Lil' Smoky, Pet Bombling, & Lifelike Mechanical Toad are all great items to craft and sell for profits.

11) Gear attachments - The Hand Mounted Pyro Rocket is great for added DPS and also has an insanely long range for pulling mobs from far away. Excellent for paladins and deathknights becasue the range on this thing is crazy! The cobalt bomb dispenser that attaches to your belt is in addition to an eternal belt buckle. The parachute added to a cloak is best in slot enchant for some classes and you can never go wrong having a parachute to save you. I use this thing mroe than you would expect.
12) Potion Injectors - These are a nice bonus. You can turn 20 mana or healing potions (Runic or Super) into an injector which stacks 20 potions, but with 2 added benefits. They now will store in your titanium toolbox, freeing up bag space, and engineers using them get an extra +25% effect, which is great considering you can only use one potion per combat nowadays. This is sweet for PvP too.

13) Fun Toys - From World Enlargers, to Poultryizers, to Arcane Bombs, the engineering profession does have a lot of fun and cool gizmos. The Rocket Boots are great in PvP. IF you get the recipe for Cluster Launchers from the Lunar Festival Vendor you can craft more cluster launchers to allow the use of the Lunar Rockets that give the AoE Health Buff year round, so you aren't stuck with a stack of rockets when the holiday ends. I like to toss one down at the graveyard in Warsong Gulch since they last a full 30 minutes. Its a nice extra buff in PvP.

14) Skinning Robots - Engineers can "skin" robot type mobs for bars, gears, vendor trash, pre-cursor craftables, and machine parts. Some raid bosses drop titansteel bars and motorcycle parts when skinned.

15) Cataclysm Love - Engineers appear to be getting some long overdue love when cataclysm hits. It appears that we will be able to have item slots that allow engineering only "gems" to be socketed, much like the bonuses that other professions got in WotLK. About time!

Engineering Gems (Hydraulic Pump Socket Only)

Flashing Hydraulic Pump +132 Parry Rating

Precise Hydraulic Pump +132 Expertise Rating

Rigid Hydraulic Pump +132 Hit Rating

Sparkling Hydraulic Pump +132 Spirit

Engineering Gems (Cogwheel Socket Only)

Fractured Cogwheel +132 Mastery Rating

Quick Cogwheel +132 Haste Rating

Smooth Cogwheel +132 Critical Strike Rating

Subtle Cogwheel +132 Dodge Rating


So don't simply dismiss the engineering profession as just for fun. We have some very nice benefits for the auctioneer as well. There are plenty of items to sell from pets, to ammo, to mounts, to quest required craftables. All in all engineering can be a fun and profitable profession as well as adding a ton of convenience in portable mailboxes, banks, and portals.

Happy Hunting!