The Last Days of Disco

... which would of course be a GREAT header if the patch heralded the end of Priest Shield Generators... but sadly not.

The last major content patch before Cataclysm hits tomorrow. The days preceding any patch are, as I believe I have observed before, often a bit mad. Last night in Trade I watched six different people all spam Crusader Craftable Patterns for sale, one after the other, in a surreal microcosm of what is now likely to play out across most servers AH's. Runed Orbs will get cheaper, Crusader Orbs will become affordable and everyone who wasn't already heading to Icecrown is on their way. I spent a happy two and a quarter hours there last night.

The Mage made it to 80 with a day to spare. She's the poorest geared of any of my clan hitting this point thus far, but she can scrape together a healthy 1200 dps unbuffed at the dummies, so with some potions from W and a bit of tender loving care I'm sure that won't be a permanent situation. After all, as of tomorrow I can get a full set of T9 for her if I run instances enough. Muahahahahaha! This is not the first time I've foregone traditional questing and simply ground my way to level cap, I remember a couple of my clan getting to 70 that way via the Ethereals at Bashir's Landing in TBC. The benefit of doing it this way are many fold: shed loads of cloth (my first job this morning will be making Frostweave Bags to upgrade my storage) a healthy number of greens to DE (see above for Imbued Frostweave), stacks of grey trash to sell and the cash, which means last night I netted close to 200g for the entire exercise. There is a certain satisfaction to be had grinding with a Pally: my husband can manage up to four of the six-packs of Converted Heroes in the Valley of Lost Souls, plus their Scourge Banner-Bearers. He rounds up 30 mobs, Consecrates, and I Blizzard the life out of them. Job done!

Today, I suspect, I will be mostly mining, gathering herbs for potions and restocking everyone's bags ready for the orgy of PuG-ging that is likely to break out once tomorrow finally stabilises. I am DETERMINED to get a Perky Pug on as many of my alts as possible, and yes I will be documenting the usefulness or not of this new system at length.

In Downtime Tomorrow: a Guide to Surviving PuG Madness!

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'They want this place finished WEDNESDAY? That's gonna mean some overtime...'

Batten down the hatches! Slice the mainbrace! Break out the Chocolate Biscuits!

PATCH 3.2 is coming TOMORROW!!!

What do you mean I'm overreacting????

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatch!

from http://cloudappreciationsociety.org

Ah, if only my patch was this fluffy... *sigh*

It took the best part of a day for the US servers to be operational. It's taken 10 minutes for the patch data to download write into what I already had on the PC.


Right then, off out with the kids...

Don't Panic!

Ooooh look, I was wrong. 3.1 is tomorrow. Who'd have thought it?

MMO have the new cinematic for Ulduar, and it marks something of a departure from previous events. The Horde and the Alliance (thanks to the King in the main, whut a nublet) really are at each other's throats after the Wrathgate incident, and so it really is up to us, the humble Adventurers, to get into the instance and kick butt. The fate of Azeroth moves out of the hands of the Horde and Alliance radicals and into the hands of the people. We are truly the masters of our own destiny.

I'm not sure I'm ready for all this responsibility, you know.

I just need to make copies of all my Talents, across the family, then I am prepared. I'll spend an hour today making a list of all the new stuff I need to be on top of tomorrow as well.

Chaos is but a day away...

Calm Before the Storm

It is palpable, right across the Server. People are waiting.

Whether it's the fact I can get a PuG for my Lock in 5 minutes of joining LFG (L78 and a bit now) and it's not full of people on Easter Holidays (though I did have an 11 year old tank earlier in the week ^^) or it's the fact that even the Azerothian crafting mats sell within one 48 hour window, the signs are there. The IMBA 25 Man Guilds are dressed in their PvP gears at the Mailbox. WG has 5-6 groups per evening assault. There's more than 49 people in Molten Core.

People are waiting for 3.1.

There was an amended set of patch notes yesterday, which normally means we're less than a week away. I'm still sticking to my assertion it's gonna drop 21/22nd but part of me is gearing for this Wednesday because... well, I'm wrong more times than I'm right, let's be honest. While I wait, first up, more from Ghostcrawler on 10 man raiding.

There are groups of players who just prefer to run smaller raids. I don't know off the top of my head how many, if any, exist on your server. They do exist. You can't always assume they are small guilds. Sometimes they are large guilds of more casual players with only a few raiders. It varies. What happened in LK is a lot of these players (who remember prefered to do 10-player content) just gave up and joined 25-player pugs because those were easier and provided better loot. For Ulduar, we predict they will have more motivation to do the 10-player version because the 25-player version is going to be more challenging. They might join a pug, wipe a lot, and remember why they prefer to run smaller raids with friends.

I know a LOT of Guilds like this. I would suspect it counts as a lot of the populations on a lot of servers as well, the 25 man people just don't notice because... well, they're running 25 man ^^ We do 1 x 25 man a week and 1 x 10 man a week and this fits most people into a raid schedule without any issues at all. As it happens this week we had trouble getting 10 people together. Normally we have 30 online on a Saturday evening, last night it was 13. Suspect that won't last long after 3.1 hits, I'd be expecting login queues and lag and...

W should be Locking at 80 in the next few days. She has rested up to 79, and is well into the Sons of Oh Dear dailies. I am grinding Emblems as well in various places across the Storm Peaks, and as soon as someone else turns up to quest I move on. Honored at 78 is not beyond the realms of possibility as a result, so at least I don't have to worry about getting Scryer marks for shoulder enchants any more. Shatt is even more of a Ghost Town than it normally is right now. I was the only Alliance person there for at least an hour earlier this week :(

M the Shaman is 61, and accumulating Rested. I suspect if 3.1 does hit she's gonna be there for a bit, if not we will probably badger Mr Godfather for some boostage. I've decided once I hit 70 she's gonna run through as many PuG's as I can find, partly as an exercise to see just how good/bad the PuGging experience has become. I know at least one priest in the Guild who learnt their trade this way, and now instances are by design shorter and MEANT to be easier it shouldn't be too much of a stretch. I am going to pick up some really cheap 70 epics for a bit of a healing boost. The results will, of course, be reported here.

Girl Guide's Girly Girl Guide to Preparing for 3.1.

The Second Stormwind Guides before their weekly Polearm Skills lesson.
(from http://www.easington.gov.uk)

In life, there is a great deal to be said for being prepared. Of course, it's impossible to cover every eventuality, but on most days you can accurately predict what to take with you, what the weather will be like, and what you'll need to make your day run smoother. The same is of course true in game. With 3.1 possibly only a few weeks away, it's becoming increasingly simple to guess what you're going to need to make sure you're ready for Ulduar, and for the awesomeness that is Dual Speccing.

Bearing this in mind, I have put together this shoddily-constructed and impromptu guide. Enjoy!

5 Things every Girl Guide (or Tauren or Gnome) should do to prepare for 3.1

1. Read the bloody Patch Notes, you Nublet.

I cannot reiterate this enough times. Well I could, and then I'd guaranteed there'd STILL be someone who didn't RTFPN. This is a MAJOR content patch. It introduces a dungeon, an entire new questing area, debuts a new Arena season plus literally dozens of class, profession and world changes. It will forever change the way the vast majority of people play their characters. It affects YOU.

It's also available right now for you to look at. Yes, it is likely to change several times between now and release but really that's not an excuse to pretend it doesn't exist. If you want to be properly prepared for 3.1, go take a look. It will tell you what mats you'll need to collect to make new items, what new glyphs you can look out for to improve your character, what changes you'll be getting in your Talents and will mean that clams finally stack correctly. \o/

2. 5 Minutes Planning will save Hours on Patch Day.

Take a screenie of your current talents. They're going reset on Patch Day so it will be vital you have a copy somewhere, even if you don't do anything about it now. What you ought to do before the patch hits is pop over to one of the many Talent Calculators updated with the latest PTR spell builds and look at what has changed. As things are still being tested it's early days to work out where you'll be placing those points, but if you wanna be raiding or 5 manning come the night 3.1 arrives you need to have an idea of what to expect. Plus if you plan to be Dual Speccing this is a good opportunity to go look at your second spec and work out exactly what spells you'll need to be taking. Don't be afraid to steal someone else's current spec either, just remember it'll all change come the actual patch.

Don't worry either about messing up your spells on the day and having to spend gold when you misplace a point on your talent tree either. Blizzard have this covered, with their new feature which will allow you to preview your talents before you spend any gold. They think of everything!


3. Make your Money and Items for Dual Spec NOW.

Dual Spec will cost you 1000g. This not an impossible amount to make. I've just done it in five days. This will not involve you spending every waking hour at your computer either. If you have an 80 toon and you've not yet completed all your quests, then the simple act of spending some time doing those and selling your rewards (or if you're a DE-er selling the dust and shards that your rewards can become) will net a lot of cash. Go do dailies. Yes I KNOW you hate them but really it's the best way. Hey, you can do Wintergrasp and make money as well if it's all too much, or failing that spend an hour clearing out your bank and stick some stuff on the AH.

I guarantee you'll have trouble making 1000g the night before 3.1 hits. That's why you need to do it NOW.

You'd also be well advised to decide which Glyphs you'll be using for your second spec and finding a friendly Inscriber to make them. AH prices will be even more ridiculous than they already are come Patch Day: yes there will be new glyphs but for now you really don't want to be wandering around with nothing in your spellbook. Again, a bit of research will pay dividends.

If you're PuG-ging the phrase 'I'm needing that for Dual Spec' really should not be coming as a surprise to you. Of course if it's a Tank needing leather you should be ready to bitchslap them into next patch: if you're playing with friends or your Guild it might be a good idea to introduce a 'DS Rule' about now. Don't DE it, look at it and see if it has benefit. Yes, even if it is a L78 item. Start thinking about what you should be searching for.

Maybe if you have enough Elbows, it's time to actually buy some epic DS items as well.


4. Nobody Loves you if you Don't Augment.

You may be lucky enough, if you sort everything above out before Patch Day, to get to go into Ulduar for a first play at the new content. If you do, it might be an idea to make sure you have the materials you will need to upgrade any weapon or piece of armour you might snag to keep yourself in prime fighting condition. Currently there's some absolute bargains on the AH on the Enchanting Scrolls front (and there are because people like me are selling them in anticipation of the patch :P). You could go farm some content for greens and get them DE'd in preparation. I'd certainly make sure you have the cash to go buy a Sons of OhDear Shoulder enchant, and maybe a head enchant from your rep vendor of choice. You could even buy them now and stick them in the bank you sensibly cleared out in order to make the cash for your Dual Spec...

(Of course, if you also want to make a fast buck on patch day, you could start stockpiling all the stuff above to sell to the nublets players who were foolish enough not to prepare themselves beforehand.)


5. Be Ready for ANYTHING!

Now is the time to check your computer is in fighting shape. Now is the time to download the latest video drivers. Now is the time to start checking your favourite add-on sites and see if the developers are going to have a 3.1 Mod ready for you to pick up before the patch. With Blizz' new policy on addons some of these may change or stop being updated altogether. If the site's not been updated for a while it's time to find a replacement. If you're having to do all this on the day you're going to suffer delays, and frustration. Trust me, I know.


Follow these simple steps, and you will soon have your 'Ready for 3.1' badge to hastily sew onto your Swagdog Guild t-shirt. So what are you waiting for? Don't just sit here reading this mediocre blog, off you go and get ready!!!