The Queue: Proto-drakes, Brilliant Glass, and more
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 2nd 2008 at 11:00AM
Since you all need to sit through an extended maintenance today, we're going to have an extended version of The Queue! Well, a little. I guess about two more questions than usual. Or just one, really. Actually, I'm not sure it's extended at all. Maybe if you read through it twice? Yeah, let's do that. Just read it twice, that works.
AbsalonPrieto asked...
Do Death Knight enchants (rune enchant) stack with regular weapon enchants? If not what would be the best choice rune or regular enchant?
No, Death Knights can only use their Runeforging or an Enchanter's enchant, not both. Runeforging is intended to be better for the Death Knight than enchantments since it's one of their core abilities, so just stick with that. From what I hear, Fallen Crusader is by far the way to go at 70+ unless you're in the tank seat.
Hank asked...
How can I raise my rep with the other factions within the Horde Expedition? I completed all the quests I could find for the Taunka and the Hand of Vengeance, and I know if I don't wear a specific tabard, I will get Warsong Offensive rep.
Without a tabard, you'll get Horde Expedition rep. Only that primary faction matters, and the three or four factions within it are largely meaningless. I don't know why they chose to do it this way, but they did. Those sub-reputations have no rewards, no quartermasters, nothing like that. The only benefit to raising them individually is a discount on vendors. Horde Expedition is all that matters. We talked about that a little more in a recent Wrath 101 post, if you're interesting.
LostOne asked...
What're the easiest ways for a casual player that isn't interested in running instances (lack of time) to solo get a proto-drake mount? Don't care about the color. Just love the look of those beasts.
Instances aren't the time investment they used to be, so if you can do a couple of quests per day, you can run an instance. But you can get a lot of the proto-drake mounts solo, so it's no biggie. Our readers suggested a few different ways yesterday, so I suggest reading through that. I personally think the simplest way is to use the Mysterious Egg from the Oracles in Sholazar Basin. It's a rare 'drop' from the egg, but after purchasing it you simply need to leave the egg in your inventory for a week. You don't even need to log in for that week. Just buy it, let it sit, check on it later to see what it turned into. No proto-drake? Buy another one.
Arbolamante asked...
Is it just me, or do the professions seem unfinished? A handful of transmutes to get alch from the low 400s to 450, and a discovery once a week. Cooking 450? What needs 450 to cook?
Alchemy and Cooking were a bit like that in The Burning Crusade, the final stretch of the former took a bunch of transmutes and the latter had very little reason to hit 375. In Wrath, all of the professions are a bit like that which makes me think they're going to release recipes a little more gradually, adding things in content patches beyond raid recipes.
Maybe when they use the Silver Covenant and the Sunreavers, they'll add a bunch of new recipes too? I'm not sure they feel 'unfinished' because they have all of the needed essentials like stuff to level on, epics, high-end gear, profession-unique benefits, etc. I think they feel like there will be more, which is different than unfinished... or maybe not. Semantics for the win?
LetsTryThisAgain asked...
What happened to the small damage addition that was supposed to be added to Faerie Fire (Feral)? Was it in the beta at all? It would be really useful for "tagging" mobs.
As readers have said, they added it to Bearform, but that's all. Cats don't really need something like that, especially considering if you're in a tap sensitive area you can just push Moonfire to snag that named mob and then shift. It's not the perfect solution to people who like playing in Catform, and I understand that, I just mean you have options already.
Bearform received it because adding a damage component has other benefits, similar to the reasons they're added a damage component to the new Paladin taunt they're getting in a future patch. One big benefit is that damage will break Crowd Control at range, which is something neither of them really had in their tank forms, and shifting out of your tank form while tanking is just a little more dangerous than hitting Moonfire if you were in Catform. Being able to break that Sap in a dungeon and pull the mob back without needing to run up into the danger zone and thwack it over the head is very, very nice.
Skar asked...
Speaking of tradeskills, have you heard anything about a Brilliant Glass style design for jewelcrafters? Or am I just going to have to prospect dozens of stacks of ore and keep my fingers crossed for blue-quality gems?
We haven't heard anything about that, but Brilliant Glass was largely their Burning Crusade answer to the uselessness of green gems. Nobody wanted them for anything. I think they're trying something different, giving green gems the chance to be perfect cuts. If that doesn't help anything in the long run, I bet we'll see Brilliant Glass 2.0 in a content patch, but they probably want to see how Wrath's market plays out first. For now, start prospecting.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Jewelcrafting, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Netherscourge Dec 2nd 2008 11:07AM
Can blacksmiths add an extra socket to items that already come with socket(s)?
jjtwalton Dec 2nd 2008 11:17AM
Yeah.
I have an additional Socket on my Bloodboil Belt (from BT) making three in total. Even non-BS's can add the extra socket to an item with a socket in already. The gem also counts towards meta numbers!
Bulk Dec 2nd 2008 11:17AM
Yep!
Jack Spicer Dec 2nd 2008 12:55PM
Although to compensate you'll notice that almost every single item that had sockets in TBC has 1 less socket in Wrath. In other words, you'll never be able to add a fourth socket to an item cause no items have three sockets anymore, and most only have one.
Paul Denton Dec 2nd 2008 11:10AM
More significantly, re: green gems, they're now being removed from the economy by the jewelcrafting dailies. That mechanic being present from the start, will prevent the kind of long-term stocking up that provoked the need for Brilliant Glass.
Eric Dec 2nd 2008 11:28AM
2 common gems a day is not removing them from the economy, I've almost a stack of each green gem trying to get two types of rare gems and still haven't accumulated the rare gems I need. I have yet to cut a perfect gem, so it seems quite the waste of common gems banking on finding that perfect cut.
Baluki Dec 2nd 2008 1:23PM
Yea, having the daily will help a little bit, but not much in the long run.
Personally, I'd rather see them make gems "upgradeable" in the way that leather or essences are. Take 10 uncommon gems of the same color, convert them into one rare gem. Take 10 rare gems, convert them into an epic gem.
The Brilliant Glass transmute was kinda fun, but it took way too many uncommon gems to do it, and you always had that one color that you never had enough of, while you had stacks and stacks of a different gem. And the fact that you couldn't control what came out was...annoying.
Eric: this is probably a stupid question, but did you do the quest that gives you the ability to cut perfect gems? You're probably just having bad luck, though the rate does seem pretty low.
hENNIFER pANTALON Dec 2nd 2008 11:12AM
"CROWN CONTROL!"
Is that something like a Canadian Riot Squad? ;-)
And if you think that professions aren't unfinished, you should try to get 440-450 as a Goblin Engineer. I can only make so many of the Gnomish Army Knives before i USE ONE TO STAB MYSELF IN THE EYES.
I guess we can craft the other scope too, but it's 2 green recipes (and one orange helm that is BoP) all that way.
As if the 11,500G in vendor items isn't enough for the motorcycle, you've got to waste about one thousand saronite bars to get to that last engineering level.
Alex Ziebart Dec 2nd 2008 11:14AM
You saw nothing.
vazhkatsi Dec 2nd 2008 12:05PM
same for gnomish engineers buddy, also i think its 12,500 it vendored mats.
well i gave free knives to all my friends, and sold about 6 for 100g each, but my server has a vast surplus of engineers. and they all want to sell their shit, so they constantly undercut me and others who sell at decent prices, for instance, overcharged capacitors were going at 30-50g apiece, a nice profit considering cobalt goes for 5g a bar right now. however some idiot has undercut that price to the point where a capacitor costs less than the mats it takes to make one.
Jules Dec 2nd 2008 11:18AM
The 3 factions within Horde Expedition do matter; they are worth an achievement for getting all 3 to Exalted. So, is there a way to raise them outside of regular quests? Does Expedition rep gained in instances bleed into the other 3?
ivan256 Dec 2nd 2008 11:18AM
they have all of the needed essentials like stuff to level on, epics, high-end gear, profession-unique benefits, etc.
Really? Not tailoring. The tailoring epics are bested by instance and quest blues... They're vastly inferior to the rep items. The cloak embroiders aren't as good as cheap enchants. If you're leveling without having ever done a level 70 instance, perhaps some of the gear will be useful when you're in the level 75-78 range, but other than that the only gear you'll ever make and wear as a tailor is the resist gear...
Or... The cloak that requires an achievement to acquire the recipe for. WTF is up with that? Weren't achievement rewards supposed to be status symbol type things only?
Maleven Dec 2nd 2008 12:33PM
What is this cloak you speak of?
Andostre Dec 2nd 2008 12:33PM
Really? That sucks. What cloak and Achievement are you referring to?
Madrox Dec 2nd 2008 1:04PM
The Frostsavage gear isnt that bad. It replaced some of my bc pvp gear pretty easily, even with no gem sockets.
Thundrcrackr Dec 2nd 2008 5:42PM
There are actually two cloaks that require prerequisites to learn.
Deathchill cloak is the caster cloak and requires the lore of northrend achievement. I forget the other one but it requires an instance achievement of some kind.
Which is really really lame. We want epics to make questing and instancing easier, but can't get them until we complete every quest? so lame. There definitely seems to be a lack of craftable epics in the game right now. Professions seem very unfinished to me at this point.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41610
ivan256 Dec 2nd 2008 2:14PM
That's a good point. I was talking strictly PvE gear, but there is a nice PvP set for tailors.
There are two items that require achievements to get the recipe for. Deathchill Cloak, and Wispcloak. They require the Northrend Loremaster, and Northrend Dungeoneer achievements respectively in order to learn them.
Will Dec 2nd 2008 11:27AM
I found instance runs now take about 20 mins opposed to 45min - 1 1/2 hours, I love this change as it encourages more players to experience the end game raiding content that wouldn't otherwise because of the notion it is reserved for "hardcore" players
http://www.wowconfidential.com
Daniel Dec 2nd 2008 11:38AM
The short time frame comes from your experience, not Blizzard. I have never been on a full instance that was new to all the party members that lasted under two hours, and three is quite normal. The fasted I have ever done a full instance is one hour, and that was with a PUG where everyone but me had done it before.
Tristina Dec 2nd 2008 11:52AM
@Daniel - Really?
Maybe my experience is differing from yours but we have about 5 of us in the guild that are leveling together so we systematically do the instances together - and they're all new to us the first time. Still, the longest run we've had was Azjol and I attribute that to frequent lag spikes. We still had it done in about 40 mins.
Most instances I've been in, even with a new group, don't take more than 30-40 mins.