Well, everyone’s got tae have a wee sideline in sellin’ somethin’ or other tae make them money, aye?  Or, if no that, then maybe a wee hobby that they happen tae use fer enhancin’ their gear or makin’ fun wee gadgets wi’?  Seems a lot o’ us spend the time perfectin’ these arts and dreamin’ up weird and wonderful new ways tae use our skills and, well, ah thought ah would put some o’ mine doon oan paper afore someone else claims ‘em!

I’m a huge fan of professions - in fact I enjoy them as much as any other aspect of the game and would probably find WoW a little less fun if the crafting aspect were removed.   Given I’m an altaholic with a love of professions you could guess I’ve tried them all and you’d be right - even if I did give up on blacksmithing before maxing it out… /guilt.

My favourite professions are leatherworking, jewelcrafting, alchemy and enchanting - the first because I like to make my own gear and all of my level 70 toons are leather-wearers and the other three because I like having professions from which others can benefit greatly besides myself.  So, what do I wish my favoured professions could do?

Leatherworking

I’d love to see more of the silly stuff in leatherworking - [Heavy Leather Ball]’s and [Gordok Ogre Suit]’s for example.  It wouldn’t be a huge stretch, for example, to add other costumes which change your appearance by using bits of the creatures you skin (or that others skin, if you’re a double profession-er) - dragonscales and leather for a dragon outfit, wolf or bear fur for costumes of the respective creatures - just fun recipes used to level on or as a silly pattern dropped in an instance, the results of which you could pull out in a raid or whilst standing at the mailbox.

I’ve also always felt it was unfair that tailors get the majority of ’shirt’ slot items and rp style outfits.  Give us leather [Tuxedo Pants]!

Jewelcrafting

Jewelcrafting already has a lot of nice things but, to be honest, I was actually disappointed to see that it would be blacksmiths and not jewelcrafters who could add an extra gem slot to items (though I do feel blacksmiths need something like this so I don’t begrudge them it!).  Still, it would be nice if they added this ability for jewelcrafters for necklaces and rings only, even as a jewelcrafting only thing.  Although the epic gems in TBC were nice I couldn’t use any of them on my rogue and the craftable necks / rings weren’t all that great for most classes and far more replaceable than any other profession’s crafted items.  This, of course, doesn’t include the Sunwell craftables which were pretty much inaccessible to most people.

The trinkets were nice but I upgraded my blue one before the end of Kara and the upgraded one wasn’t available until the last few months of TBC.  A wider range of melee trinkets focussing on different stats or even more with non-combat usage would be nice - as would a basic set of pvp trinkets for those what like that sort of thing.

Other than that I have to say there’s not much else I could ask of jewelcrafting - it’s a pretty nifty profession and much more well rounded than the ‘traditional’ crafting professions of pre-TBC.

Alchemy

Oils for weapons were mostly concentrated in the hands of the enchanters in The Burning Crusade so I’d like to see more added back for alchemists - perhaps special ‘resistance’ oils which would allow you to give up weapon-based dps (from poisons, WF, etc.) instead of one piece of gear in a resist set?  Maybe some which ar temporary versions of full enchants (along with the glows) such as beastslayer, demonslaying, etc. which wouldn’t overlap too much with enchanter’s mana / spellpower oils or blacksmith’s stones.

I would also love it if alchemy could create more potion versions of most of the non combat spells some classes have - i.e. a potion of levitate to go alongside the current water-walking, detect invisibility and underwater breathing potions.

Enchanting

As with jewelcrafting, the main thing I wanted for enchanting was given to another profession - scrolls that can be ‘enchanted’ and then sold but the ability to make such scrolls was given to inscribers.  I can undertsand why they’d give this to inscribers but, at the same time, is it fair for enchanters to have to rely on another profession so much if they want to be able to sell their wares?  Maybe it is, given that enchanting is a gathering and crafting profession in one.

Anyway… The thing most people love about enchants is that they can be shiny or cool.  It might be interesting if, for example, cloak enchants could add a glow to cloaks - maybe make them fiery or icy.  Boot enchants could make a person leave ‘footprints’ dependant on their enchant - a little trail of grass / flowers for Vitality, cat pawprints if you have Cat’s Swiftness.

Herbalism

I know most people wouldn’t care for this but… wouldn’t it be cool if herbalists could make some of the posies and bouquets that the flower-sellers have?  Perhaps even ones with on-use effects like the [Bouquet of Red Roses]?  Just a random thought as I realise herbalism is a gathering rather than crafting profession, hehe.

Fun + Epix = Win

I know these are mostly cosmetic things but, to be honest, the fun of a profession is often in the silly and fun looking things it can create in my opinion.   I believe that Blizzard been trying quite hard to make professions valuable and worthwhile for more than just ‘epix crafted lewts’ since Burning Crusade and hope to see the trend continued in Wrath.

This /hug post brought to you by the Blog Azeroth Shared Topic of the Week!

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I know, late to the finish line for the BA topic as usual but better late than never, eh?

I’ve played a variety of classes - some to 70 and some not - and have experienced a wide range of play-styles amongst them.   There are two classes, though, which draw me in completely: Druid and Shaman.  I’ve always been a bit of a nature-lovin’ hippy at heart - I don’t kill critters and I’ve hugged lots of trees.  I like the ‘nature’ of the classes (harhar) and how they play but for very different reasons.

Druids

Versatile, Graceful, Strong, Fast

Druids are the jack-of-all-trades - even unspecced they can fulfil any role in a pinch and fully specialised are a force to  be reckoned with.

Doing anything as a druid has always felt slightly graceful to me, in that I feel there is a nice flow to my actions - one leads to the next which brings you to the next.  There are so many buttons and so many ways to do things that one has a plethora of choice and can turn any situation around like some sort of choreographed dance.

Druids are also strong -  when the goin’ gets tough they hunker down and can outlast a flurry of blows under a thick fur hide or protected by barkskin.  In leather gear they’re no pushovers and even our caster form has a big, feathery shell to protect them!

The nature of hots and other instant abilities makes this class feel very ‘fast’ paced for me - though I guess that might just be lack of practice!

Shamans

Solid, Strong, Powerful, Flexible

Whilst I think of druids as versatile - able to take on another role in a pinch - I think of shamans as flexible.  Why? Well, I’ve spent a lot of my time as a resto shaman in any other group except the healer group - I buff the melee or casters most often and, although I may not have the buffed totems that enhance or elemental do, I am still able to provide some measure of benefit to almost any group I join.  I can tweak my totem set-up and tailor it to the needs of my party - flexibility within my chosen role.

Shamans are healers in mail.  Not as tough as paladins maybe but they have a shield and can take a few bumps and bruises in a dire situation - they also tend to have reasonably high health pools and generally survive better than their squishier leather and cloth counterparts.  I’m a big fan of survivability so this aspect of shamans is greatly appealing to me.  The fact I can add an Earth Shield to that and make a warrior get so bored of lesser healing wave spam that he walks away has always tickled me.

Resto is my chosen spec and, despite being a little focussed on one particular spell, I do feel it is a powerful one - not only in terms of ‘efficiency, hps, etc.’ but when my chain heal connects it hits reaonably big.  As much as I do like being a resto druid from time to time I admit that it can be a little disconcerting having to wait for all the little numbers to add up…

But what about rogues, etc.?

As much as I do love my rogue and enjoy playing him, and although his ‘personality’ is more in line with my own, I don’t feel I am, deep inside, a roguey type.  Maybe the hugging sorta gives that away?  I like happy, cheerful and strong - which is why of all races I chose a dwarf for my rogue.  I can be happier playing a dwarf rogue than any other race but as much as I loved my big swords I’d hang them up in a moment for a good sturdy staff or hefty, healy mace.

Overall

I think that both druids and shamans are the best fit classes for me - playing both gives me the ability to help others and be a strong solo player - druid gives me the ability to play a complex, graceful class with many twists and turns to it and shaman gives me a nice, earthy, solid and dependable healer to help my teammates with.

A little spin on one of the current shared topics from Blog Azeroth.  Now, I’m sure I’ve covered what concerns I have with other players and their thoughts on rogues as well as mentioning some things that rogues can do which others don’t realise so I’m going to rant on another little bugbear of mine - misconceptions about dwarves!

First, though…

• We are not all holy-loving, shiny or knee-cap melting priests.
• Neither are we all bloody hunters!
• Nor are we all Paladins.
• In case you didn’t get the theme here, we’re definately not all warriors, either.

So, before you ask for a blessing, particular aspect, tankage or haelz… please check your dwarf is not, in fact, a rogue! *Ahem*

I’ve had all of the above happen to me a few times - people don’t seem to realise dwarves come in rogue-flavour.  That aside, though, there are some other common misconceptions about dwarves in general which people should remember not to insinuate when grouped with a dwarf.

• We do not smell badly.
• Our women do not have beards.  Well, except one.
• We are not short, everyone else is disproportinately tall (except gnomes, who’re too short).
• You may not punt us, we are not gnomes.
• We are not fat, we are big-boned.  No, really.
• We’re not all drunkards.  We just like a wee drink (or five) now and then.

I love being a dwarf, I enjoy being part of what is becoming an increasingly small community.  Although we may not have the same sort of thing going as some class-communies (I’m looking at the druids, here!) I’ve always found dwarves have more of a kin-ship than any other race I’ve played.  Dwarves playing with each other will often greet one another enthusiastically, we will dance and drink together and female dwarves are coveted rarities.  I think this comes from the fact there are so few of us in comparison to most other races - especially now that all priests can have fear-ward.

If I’ve missed mentioning any other dwarven bloggers here give me a poke for linkage! Dwarves must stick together in the face of what is becoming an overwhelmingly racist attitude against our kind!

For Khaz Modan!! /charge.

Ye has yer ups and yer doons and it’s guid tae share them wi’ yer pals so ah’m gonnae tell you a few o’ the moments that ah remember well fae the past few years.

It’s been a while but it seems it’s time for another Blog Azeroth shared topic!  Not going to number them as I can’t really choose an ‘order’.

Lightwalkers Al’ar FK

My first first kill.  I’d never had that sort of momentous moment before.  Feeling like part of the group and that “I helped achieve that!” was amazing - even more so as it was my first time in Tempest Keep and I was terribly under-geared and under-confidant.  I think this was the moment I really started to enjoy raiding began to strive towards the next first kill! Oh and I totally had to steal the front-center spot for the picture. *ahem*

Bloodrazor
When I was levelling Aurik for the first time (pre-tbc) I’d been ogling a certain beautiful big sword in the Auction House.  I’d heard it was pretty nice for a sword rogue but I knew I’d never get it - the price for it was extortionate.  So, when I woke up one morning to find it in my mail box? Very, very happy rogue.  My other half had been grinding in Western Plaguelands and it had dropped from some undead thing or other and promptly popped it into the post for me.  I still have it - I can’t bear the thought of selling it.

Flight Form

Fly up.  Click flight form off.  Drop.  Hit flight form before hitting ground.  Repeat for one hour, gleefully giggling.  Need I say more? (Remember when horde druids were black crows too? hehehe)

Stuck Warlocks
When on one of my first forays into Karazhan two orc warlocks got stuck in the staircase and we had to rescue them.  There was so much silliness over teamspeak and comments about seeing up each others dresses and so on.  Every guild has their fun moments even on serious raids and this showed me that raiding was not all ’srs bsnss’.

Seeing Shattrath for the First Time

The first time I walked into Terrokkar, stepped over the hill and beyond saw a city nestled into the hills, arched walkways extending into it’s core,  broken but not shattered,  It took my breath away.  I’d seen some concept art and possibly some vague screenshots but nothing had prepared me for seeing that beautiful landscape for the first time in-game.

Realisation
The day I realised… “I’m in Black Temple…” I never, ever thought I’d be there.  I always wanted to be - I loved the idea of pitting myself against Illidan, of breaking into his bastion in Outlands.  The Akama storyline is one I have enjoyed playing through a lot.  And I was here…

PvP in Ashenvale
My first ever pvp experience.  I was in Ashenvale, at whatever level people go to Ashenvale. Myself and my other half noticed local defense lighting up like a Christmas tree. “Maestra’s Post is under attack” etc.  We were intrigued - we were on a normal server and had never seen any world pvp before so we waited around until the Hordies hit Astranaaaaaaaaaaar.  Being only little rogues and hunters we went splat when we decided we’d help the sentinels out but, when a few levels 60’s began to show up, the battle got a bit more even.  It was fun and gave me a taste for occassional pvp.  I still prefer world pvp to battleground pvp.

First Time Through the Dark Portal

I stood there, grinning and walked (yes, I toggled walk on!) through the huge, looming gate.  I had re-rolled on TBC launch and resisted the temptation to try and get a port or summon to Outlands.  I entered a complex world, battered and was confronted with a large-scale battle immediately! (which, like every other nub, I tried to walk past and got squished).

First Mount
Everyone remembers their first mount, right?  Well, I do.  I spent about half an hour running around and jumping about on my freshly minted lamb ram! I doubly remember this as I spent all of my gold - so that I didn’t even have enough gold to fly anywhere afterwords…  Oops.

Dying to Dots
The number of times on my druid where I was the last party member surviving and tanked a boss into he ground and then died from some sort of debuff just after my glorious victory lap… Although this is not a specific single time I count it as a top ten memory as it has me in stitches every time it happens.  Recently, in Mount Hyjal, I got caught in a rain of fire just as Azgalor boss died, with no CloS up.  There were no healers left alive (first kill, unlucky dooms and other stuff) so as I leapt about and cheered over not dying (I’d died at the very start of the Kaz fight, whilst helping to distract him) I fell over dead due to the dot and was promptly mocked. /sadface

Wow has given me some awesome times and memories - most of them involving the people I play with and which would make little sense out of context.  For all those fun moments I thank those people who, without which, I wouldn’t be having so much fun.

There’s acquaintances and pals and then there’s good friends - you know they’ve got yer back and you’ve got theirs and when the shite hits the fan you’ll be able to pull through or at least laugh at yer mishap.

A lot of really cool people have been writing about healer and tank synergy this week - the first two I read being that by Phae at Resto4Life and the person who had inspired her - SaladFork at Omen of Clarity. I know I’m a little late to the party (story of my blog-life) but I figured I’d go and stick up my own little view from the ‘third’ point of view - dps - specifically melee dps.

Melee dps get the least love when it comes to healing. A lot of healers tend to look down upon the poor ill-fated rogue, warrior, crittycat, shaman or retridin who has commited the heinous crime of taking damage. In 5 mans you know, as a rogue especially, that if you take aggro (it can happen for reasons other than stupidity, trust me) you’re not going to get a heal unless the healer is content that the tank is ok. You sort of accept it with a small sigh, accept your res and move on.

It’s not always the case, however. I, personally, always try my best to make myself aquainted with a healer if I’m running a pug. Water / mana pots drop? Pass ‘em to the healer. “Thanks for the heals” also goes a long way. I find if I do this, and make friends with ‘em, I get more heals. Making your healer feel loved means more heals all around. That might seem a bit feindish to most of you but I see it as win-win. The healer knows I appreciate them and I appreciate them all the more as a few more heals come my way. This works on me too - I am more inclined to heal those who take time to appreciate my efforts when on my Shammy.

However! The topic was special bonds. I think the reason, perhaps, any dps are less likely to feel a special bond with their healer is that they don’t really get assigned a healer to themselves. Noone ever says “Ok, Priest-1, you’re healing Aurik”. Unless they’re a ‘lock, mage or hunter tank most dps will never have a special healer to themselves. Melee dps, however, have their resto shammies. Resto shamans are awesome melee healers and in Burning Crusade the melee often takes a lot more damage than ranged (not always true, I know, but in general). This means having a healer assigned especially to us! As a group we love our resto shaman and she keeps us alive - we know half the time we owe our ‘lives’ and our dps (from not being dead) to her timely heals.

I have learned around how much her chain heals hit for and when they will heal me and when I should maybe step out and bandage / pot on raid-damage heavy bosses. I also keep an eye and ear out to make sure nothing’s decided she’s a tasty meal-inna-crunchy-shell. In Hyjal, with so many mobs, sometimes I’ll find a caster targeting her or a skeletal mage who’s slipped through and will do my best to stun/maim or otherwise incapacitate them - or failing that aggroing and pulling ‘em to the Pally-tonk. For us ‘our’ Shammy part of the melee team. Doubly so as sometimes she fights alongside us enhancement spec!

An in game relationship of any sort - one on one or amongst a small group - makes working with others so much easier and better. It’s all about trust and doesn’t matter, in my opinion, if you’re a tank, healer or dps. People who trust each other and know each others limits will not only do better but enjoy their time more - going a step further than they might have otherwise.