It's On!

New PTR Push. New Weekly Fishing Competition in Northrend \o/

• Quel’Delar Quest Chain: The Battered Hilt, the item needed to start this quest line, can now be purchased from all glyph vendors on the public test realms

 Well, you know where I'll be then...

Learning is Fun!

So, I have a confession to make. Be gentle, dear Reader.

When I finally got to The Valiant's Challenge with the Hunter I did something I don't think I've had to do since a BFD run back in my 20's. I had to get someone else to play for me. It was embarassing and frankly I felt a little dirty because it seemed like cheating, but I couldn't get the challenger down fast enough. I couldn't co-ordinate all I needed to do simultaneously. So, I asked someone to do it for me. So, thanks again to my Husband without whom I would never have completed that first fight.

Since then, I've been doing my best to get my head around the Jousting mechanics. I will admit there have been tears at one point. Again, Mr WonderPallyTrousers has saved the day. He found what is a pretty foolproof method of jousting and I've watched him for the last few days. Yesterday, I felt confident enough to try The Grand Melee on my Druid for the first time:


I did it!!!!!!!!! I beat 3 factions!!!!!!!!! There may have been running around with mock shirt on head glee!!!!! I seriously considered giving up all of the Jousting stuff because of this but in the end I learnt how to do it. If I can do it, there has to be hope for all the nublets out there who still keyboard turn and lose their spells from the action bars in moments of stress...

The Thing is...

I really like 3.1. REALLY Love the Argent Tournament, the new Fishing Dailies and the changes most people won't be raving about. The new content does seem to have been more considered than previously. Things that make me happy include:

• The FP to Winterspring, and the Summoning Stone inside the Keep. That wasn't always there, right? With the new fishing daily in there it makes life so much easier, though I suspect this will become a camp point for the opposition over time. Fishing rods at the ready!

• Chilled meats now have a chance to drop from ANY mob. I've been getting them from worms, mammoths and rhinos. Very useful for alts when doing the Cookery/Holdir/Tournament dailies.

• The quest tracking I discovered on the PTR really is fantastic. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination (certain quest items don't show even when required for a quest if they are part of a chain of actions you need to complete) but the difference it makes to questing is significant. It's also fabulous that quests now automatically appear when picked up.

• The amount of money I make simply by doing the Argent Tournament stuff. I've already paid back M's Dual Spec, and am well on the way to providing one for someone else. The jousting is a bit of a faff for Idiot Girl on some days, and I've not yet been able to defeat anyone in the Grand Melee quest :( Never mind, I can kiss frogs until the cows come home...

• The stuff in the Fishing Daily bags. I specifically point at the grey items (like the Battered Jungle Hat) which Blizz have clearly included for Bank Alt Pimpage. My vanity banker and the Guild banker both have one now, and very smart they look too. I really don't care how many New Age Paintings I get either: at 25g a throw, it's still a good living. Plus it's also good levelling: Druid's up to 200 and Lock's close to 225 now, just on the Dailies. It does take a while though, and considering the chaos offshore yesterday for the Severed hand quest I think I'll stick to fishing inland with those two until I get their skills up a bit.

• The new Books of Glyph Mastery. Lots of people on my server are not best pleased about this change: books are being sold for what people consider profiteering amounts... well they're right, of course. People all make money in their own way. However, the drop rate is pretty good if you're in 80 territory. A bit of patience... I've had two drop as a result of my work in Storm Peaks and Icecrown (plus one from a mate). As a result as of yesterday I was still the only person who was selling Glyph of Nourish on my server. I've done a very steady trade as a result: I refuse to sell them at the three figure prices most people seem to favour. As a result I finally have Inscription paying for itself.

• The new Raid Boss in Wintergrasp. No turning up without a brain in 10 man any more. Hooray!

Talking of which, M has the 10 man achievement. I'm guessing it's gonna be a few weeks before anyone's PuGGing him successfully in 25 man...

W got her first piece of badge gear last night, the very useful Ward of the Violet Citadel, which means I only need to upgrade three more items to be in all 80 gear. The Hat of Wintry Doom was my last crafted item which means it's boots, wand and trinket that remain to be replaced. It's a slow process, but we'll get there eventually!

Now if you'll excuse me it's off to get one step closer to P of Ironforge...

RIP J.R. Hartley

Via www.socketdesign.co.uk: he was a great old bloke, wasn't he?

It hadn't occured to me until this morning that a couple of lines in the 3.1 patch notes has sounded the death knell to those of us who considered Fishing as truly Old Skool. One of the areas of the game which so long stood apart from the Nerfbat has finally and soundly been given a right kicking. Ol' JR would not be amused, I am sure.

You can now fish anywhere, regardless of skill. Every catch has the potential for fishing skill gains, but you are likely to catch worthless junk in areas that are too difficult for your skill.

This means, in real terms, that if you are L77, in Dalaran and in posession of a fishing rod and a 1 skill in Fishing you can take and do the Fishing Daily, and you will eventually complete it. Yes you will. As long as you can survive Northrend you'll have a daily done and be suitably rewarded and you will eventually get to 450. No need to stand in SW catching fish, or following schools around Outland, you can simly spend 15-20 minutes a day in Northrend and it's job done.

Of course it's great news for any of you who thought the fishing skill up was useless and pointless and a waste of time. This way you have the potential for new pets, 100g vendorable items (yes I got one this morning) and a new skill which means you can make a fortune selling fish on the AH coz no-one else has the skill... hang on, wait a minute... bang goes that moneymaker then ^^

In reality this has been a long time coming. The Crockilisks in the City quest from Old Man Barlow was generally accepted by most Guildies I know as a great quest as it meant they could level a bit in SW AND still have a chance at the quest item. For the pet collectors especially it was very well recieved. Considering that the complete the Salty Achievement requires you to fish up a fair selection of items, I suppose it really was a matter of time before this changed. Doesn't make me any less sad though. It was a LONG haul from 1-450, and for a long time in my Guild I remember being the only person with the 300 skill at all. I'd supply people with fish in exchange for potions. Aaaah, nostalgia.

Oh well, off to get all my alts who can take the quests in Shatt to do the dailies there so they can level in Outland then...