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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSharpening Stones, Mana Oils gone in Wrath
by Eliah Hecht 
Oct 31st 2008 at 9:00AM
It didn't really hit me until I saw this post about it, but there are no sharpening stones, weightstones, or mana or wizard oils in Wrath of the Lich King. Verimonde, a blue name that's unfamiliar to me, confirms that this is by design, saying "While they were something nice to use once in a while for most people for many raid guilds they were simply another burden to the cost of raiding." This is essentially my reaction to the change, although some other Insiders are of the opinion that it's another step in the oversimplification of WoW. I'm happy that typical raid consumables will be down to flasks and food.There's another problem with this plan, though. Unless they remove the current stones and oils, progression-oriented raiders are going to be running back to Outland and farming up the mats for old stones and oils all the time. This is nothing new really; dedicated raiders have been going to great lengths for buffs since the days of mind-controlling fire resistance off UBRS mobs to go to MC and BWL. Still, I don't think it's what Blizz had in mind in removing them, so my bet is that old stones/oils will either be removed, or prevented from working on players over level 70 (like the Riding Crop).
Update: Looks like they went the latter route. Stones/oils will not work on post-70 items.
Filed under: Raiding, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 6)
Balino Oct 31st 2008 9:27AM
You should have used the mana oil.
Raaj Oct 31st 2008 9:38AM
Gah, now I feel like an idiot. I was just thinking about the spellpower oils. Thanks for reminding me that there's MP5 ones. :)
Fletch Oct 31st 2008 9:38AM
I'm not sure it's correct to say that the bonus is 'infinitesimally small'. The bonus they gave was as good as a high level enchant. Besides, even if the bonus was 'infinitesimally small', a small bonus is better than no bonus.
Nick S Oct 31st 2008 10:03AM
Mana Oil pre-patch was so indispensable to Hunters that I carried two 1Hers around to dual-wield mana oils on mana-intensive fights. Even though the stats on the 1Hers were slightly inferior to my 2Her, not running out of mana meant a significant DPS increase.
Now, though, I only use Mana Oil on the most mana-draining of fights, and only on my 2Her. It's mostly now just a delay before I'm forced switch to the infinitely-better Aspect of the Viper. Even so, AoTV is rarely a necessity outside of particularly long sustained-DPS fights like Illidari Council.
DavidC Oct 31st 2008 11:27AM
Why didn't you use oils? Because your BAD.
The difference between GOOD players and BAD players are the GOOD player go get every advantage they can, while the BAD players are content on being mediocre.
I bet if I armory'd you, I would find several other problems with either your gear, your gems, or your spec.
placebo Oct 31st 2008 12:02PM
"I bet if I armory'd you, I would find several other problems with either your gear, your gems, or your spec."
Because no one plays this game for fun. It's all min/max putting in time at work/job?
Abbadon Oct 31st 2008 9:22AM
Heh... I noticed this a few weeks ago on the PTR when I tried to apply some wizard oil to my badge dagger, and it told me the item was too high lv to use the oil.
At the time, I just shrugged it off as a bug and thought nothing of it as it didn't affect things (yet) when the patch hit.
Ichthus Oct 31st 2008 9:27AM
This is fairly interesting being as the Warlock Spellstones and Firestones now are used like sharpening stones/mana oil.
Peridan Oct 31st 2008 9:32AM
So is this a profession nerf? I won't be able to make money selling oils as an enchanter any more. And it makes enchanting less valuable if we can't make oils for ourselves and others.
souvlaki Oct 31st 2008 9:57AM
I remind you, you'll be able to sell your enchants directly in the AH using blank inscription scrolls where you write the enchant into.
Pfooti Oct 31st 2008 11:57AM
Yes, it is a profession nerf. The best profession money-makers are consumables. People need several flasks / potions per raid. They only need an enchantment once, when they get a new item. The demand for stuff like mana oil keeps that a money-maker, AND it provides a useful way to sell off / utilize our otherwise annoyingly abundant items such as arcane dust.
placebo Oct 31st 2008 12:07PM
@Pfooti: Are you forgetting the ability to enchant vellums to sell?
And people pre ilvl(x) item will still need / benefit from using the oils. Look at deadly blunderbusses or gyrochronatoms / frost oils - those low level quest items still sell today.
Jeremy Oct 31st 2008 9:50AM
I think the real reason for this change is to prevent people from stocking up on the Blessed Wizard's Oil and Consecrated Sharpening Stones available during this Scourge Invasion. This was, in fact, my plan.
Killer Oct 31st 2008 9:38AM
I think there is too much oversimplification going on in the game. I really can't say if I like the idea or not yet till Wrath comes out and we see how hard the bosses/raid bosses are. My most missed consumable will be Brilliant Mana Oil. Anyone know if Runes of Warding and Shielding are on the cut list too?
Mortallis Oct 31st 2008 9:39AM
Great. the only thing that made Blacksmithing consistently useful and they are taking it a away. At least it makes my decision to train up some other profession that much easier.
JPN Oct 31st 2008 9:42AM
That's too bad, things like that were good for solo grinding.
Josef Oct 31st 2008 9:45AM
I just never used them, never told to by the raid leaders and tbh being somewhat poor in WoW (a mere 2000g) didn't leave me that favorable towards them anyway, its just that I have never seen anyone in my guild use them, but maybe thats just us.
BTW sorry I didn't "reply" to my posts, I don't know how, sorry
Calaana Oct 31st 2008 9:45AM
Well, I can see where their coming from, but I have to say this isn't the best move in the world. The expensive stuff is still required. If they really want to remove having to buy so much for a raid, have they considered making things more avaliable?
Maybe a vendor which will sell you a stack of food for 1 badge, 5 stack of pots/ elixirs(all bop) for another badge or anything?
Would this hurt the market? A little.. but lets face it, by the time people have so many badges they spend them on this rather than actual upgrades, the buffs aren't needed anyway.. it would be like kara is now: Fart at the boss and it falls over.
As a shaman, I like having the weapon imbue thing being more unique to my class, but I liked it when you could put oils on it too.. shaman ones where generally better so it worked out anyway, as were rogue poisons and I'm sure the lock thing will work out too(I believe that's a new change? *isn't a lock*). earth living and the new flametounge made me a very happy shammy, and it saves me 5g a night.. if that. Normally it saved the gbank 5g a night(which was later spent on repairs as I auto run into a pack six times in a row..).
I just hope they find another way for professions to make the money they now won't.. it might of been 5g for me, but for the maker that would be close to 50g a night or more.
Aaron Oct 31st 2008 9:49AM
Dang, I just saved up 10 stacks of those consecrated sharpening stones from the scourge invasion ready for naxx, and all for nothing :(
Sayce Oct 31st 2008 9:50AM
Honestly, this is frustrating and stupid to me. It removes more of our abilities to customize how we want to play our character. Do I want more spell power? Do I want more mp5? Do I want more damage? What am I looking for? Oh, I don't have a choice now.
If blizzard wanted to make raiding cheaper, they could minimize durability damage taken... or the cost of repairs. It's silly of them to keep taking away more and more from raiders. No potions more than once per fight, no stackable buffs... And any good raiding guild will help provide these things for their raiders, so it isn't really a cost. My guild is a lowish level casual guild that does raids on Kara and will start on higher ones since the nerf... and we don't have any of these "expense" problems. We have people that farm the mats, usually as they play, and people who will craft the potions, oils and food.... so none of this really costing anyone a great deal of in game cash.
This is just one set of changes I am not in favor of them implementing and I fail to see the "bright side" that Eliah sees. That seems like just taking what Blizzard said as gospel and believing it to be true solely on the merit that they said it.
Sorry... had to rant.