Better late than never...

Recently I've been fairly lazy when it comes to finish certain things. Which is weird, as usually I'm a completionist. When I fist started playing WoW I insisted on completing the number of quests required in each zone to get the achievement before moving on. As of late I've had a fairly hectic schedule with work, people visiting and general faff. Hence, things have gone unfinished but this week I've set about changing that...

I've finally completed all of the LFR's available, at present, which you can read about here. Concerning my mission to get the Legendary cloak, I've not progressed much since I last posted on the matter - but not for lack of trying. I need to hit 3k Valor - week 1 I hit cap (1k done), week 2 930 (70 off of cap *grumbles*), leaving me to hopefully hit cap again this week and the final 70 or so next week.

#WoWscreenshotaday Day 16

Day 16: Cooking

This is my mage Jojopanda (she was made before I knew panda's would exist in-game) & the cooking supplier Jojo who I'd love to say Blizzard named after me...

Blog Azeroth: The One!

I'm a little late to the party with this one but Cymre asked the following question as Blog Azeroth's shared topic for 22-31 March:

What is your absolute favourite profession in WoW? Why do you love it above all others and what is one feature you would add to the profession if you could?

So, a quick recap on the available professions in-game (in-case like me you often forget what they all are). There's three sub-categories of professions which I refer to as: gathering [primary], crafting [primary] and secondaries. Each character may have up to two primary and up to all four secondaries at any one time (you can unlearn profs if you so desire). In most cases it can be beneficial to have complementary gathering and crafting professions (but, not all crafting profs have an associated gathering prof).

Gathering [primary]
Mining, Herbalism and Skinning.

Crafting [primary]
Jewelcrafting, Engineering, Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Inscription, Leatherworking, Tailoring and Enchanting.

Secondary
Fishing, Cooking, First Aid and Archaeology.

Now I'm somewhat an altoholic - I have a large collection of characters but rarely play most of them. Anyway, as a result I have all of the professions except two (Blacksmithing and First Aid) at varying levels. To date I've only maxed out a handful of the professions but I do know which I like and which I don't!

What's my One!?!
I've been thinking about my answer to this question for a couple of days now. I had narrowed it down to two and then I finally chose my One. The two are both secondary professions, namely cooking and fishing. In general I find the secondary professions to be more relaxed, more laid back and less of a 'I must hit max level' and as a result normally max them out early on.

20 Days of Gold Making: Day 19

Here we are, the penultimate day of Nev's 20 Days of Gold Making...

Have you bought yourself anything really expensive as a reward for earning all that gold? Or do you have a self-present in mind for when you reach your goal?

On Day 2 I spoke about how my gold making goals are usually the acquisition of a certain expensive mount and on Day 8 about when I achieved two such mounts - the Sandstone Drake and the Mekgineer's Chopper.

Since achieving these two mounts I haven't really had a goal. I've been continuing to sell items here and there and my bank balance has been steadily growing - for no real purpose. So, today's question has got me thinking about the upcoming Patch 5.2 and a certain pet called Pierre.

For those of you who don't know, Pierre is a companion pet who also acts like a mini stove making him very handy! Plus, he has a moustache!! Anyway, he can be made by an engineer and the materials required are Stabilized Lightning Source (from Ghost Iron Bars) and Living Steel.

Whilst I can get my hands on most of the materials (i.e. the ghost iron) I'm not sure if I'll get me Mage to being able to Transmute: Living Steel in time. I am currently leveling her for this purpose, it all depends on how fast I level her and when the Patch arrives. Anyway, I've realised that if the worst happens and I don't have any/enough Living Steel I will be digging into my savings and buying them.

Pierre will be mine!

20 Days of Gold Making: Day 10

I'm now half way through Nev's 20 Days of Gold Making now and todays question is:

Do you farm materials? Why? Why not? & Which ones? Where?

I have farmed certain materials and will no doubt continue to do so. The truth is that I don't like to spend my gold on items that I could get for myself. I'd rather fly around Outlands mining Fel Iron Ore than give someone I don't gold for doing exactly that.

I guess I've farmed most materials atleast once in order to level a profession. To be honest, I've probably farmed quite a lot of materials just for the hell of it.

Mining Ore
Ore is something that I continually farm - every (well 99% of) node I run, walk or fly past I mine. My hunter (main) is a miner/jewelcrafter - both maxed. I don't need to mine the nodes for a skill up or the experience but I still do it. I guess it's the hoarder in me that insists I must virtually collect the ore. My DK is also a miner (with engineering) but she's currently on vacation in Halfhill living the good life farming vegetables - which brings me onto my next sub-section...

Cooking Materials
Cooking is something that I enjoy both in-real-life and in-game. In-game my hunter has max-level cooking - even before I had MoP. I took full advantage of the free 10-day trials available on not one but two occassions. I used this opportunity to max out my cooking and to farm some cooking materials. I started my farm at Halfhill and got growing veg. Now this more traditional-style farming in combination with fishing (something I also enjoy in-game) earned me a fair bit of gold.

Herbs & Leather
I've farmed both herbs and leather atleast once when leveling a subsequent profession (i.e. alchemy and leatherworking). However, I've not farmed them to the extent that I have mined ore or been fishing.
I pick herbs (on my maggie) in the same way that I mine ore on my hunter - if I see it I pick it. This means that I normally have enough herbs to do my alchemy with little or no need to do additional farming.
Skinning is a different matter! My druid, who still needs some loving and to be leveled, is a skinner/leatherworker. I think in part these professions are one of the reason she rarely played. I'm too stubborn to give up on them but I find them such a pain! I never have enough leather to craft items - no matter how many animals I've skinned. Periodic skinning sessions are the only way I seem to get enough grr.

Where?
Well I've farmed for various items in various places. I tend to use wow-professions.com as my guide when I'm farming items. However, their guides sometimes miss out certain ores/herbs/etc. and in those cases I use wowhead to find where they exist/grow.

Into Pandaria: 10-day free trial

I had two days of game time left and was once again preparing for a mini 'break' from the game (albeit a non voluntary one). These breaks are almost part of my WoW routine happening pretty much every month or so when my game time ends. But not this time! A guildie messaged me to tell me that the Mists of Pandaria trial was now available giving me a handy 10 days free game play etc. So I waited it out and finally got to Pandaria.

I had a quick look online to find the trial restrictions (Source). The only real limitation was the experience capping to 1pt below hitting level 86. But this then essentially locked out half of Pandaria. Nonetheless I was able to roll a monk, start a farm, level some professions, tame some pets and generally make a bit of money. Not a bad 10 days!