Call for Submissions: Cataclysm tips and tricks
by Alex Ziebart 
Dec 11th 2010 at 6:00PM
We World of Warcraft players are officially neck deep in Cataclysm on live realms. Everything is brand new again, and everybody needs a little help adjusting to new things sometimes. In this call for submissions, we're looking for tips and tricks to the newest Cataclysm content. Some examples are:
- Tips for a new healer in Cataclysm
- Tips for an easy clear of Grim Batol
- Tips for leveling Blacksmithing
- The art of crowd control
You get the idea! These articles should not be one single tip, but an attempt at troubleshooting the content for those that may be struggling. Make sure your piece is focused. Pick one role, one class, one dungeon, or so on.
Your article should run between 500 and 1,000 words. We will not accept articles submitted under player names or pen names; please use your full, real name and email. Please include your email address again at the bottom of your synopsis in the body of your submission. Links should be included as full URLs in the body of the copy; no active links, please.
Artwork is not mandatory. However, if you wish to include images to accompany your written work, all images must be exactly 580 pixels wide and no more than 350 pixels tall. If you do include artwork or screenshots, you absolutely must follow the instructions above to include your email address at the bottom of your submission.
The Seed program currently only accommodates submissions from individuals living in the United States. As much as we love sharing our readers' voices on a broader scale via guest posts, submissions outside of the context of Seed are simply not a viable option for us at this time. We appreciate your enthusiasm, but sorry, no exceptions. If you live outside of the United States and would like to comment on Seed's availability or keep tabs on the status of international submissions, please visit Seed.com.
To submit an article, read up about our guest post program, then sign up for Seed. WoW Insider articles are not listed among Seed's publicly listed assignments; click here to view this assignment and submit your article. We'll accept submissions for this assignment until 12:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, Dec. 24. You may submit more than one article to this assignment. If you have further questions about this assignment, drop us a line at seed@wowinsider.com. Good luck and good writing!
Filed under: Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jafis Dec 11th 2010 6:32PM
Tip for healers in general:
Don't Panic.
Phort Dec 11th 2010 11:38PM
I asked the GMs what would happen if heals tried to tank.
They said:
Dont.
Jorg Dec 11th 2010 6:49PM
Why this constant exclusion of those outside the US? Is it so hard to take submissions via a different avenue than Seed? Everytime I see these calls for submission I look through hoping that this limitation will be gone.
Tom Dec 11th 2010 7:31PM
Seed owned by AOL just like Joystiq is.
Matt Dec 11th 2010 8:44PM
Because Americans only care about themselves.
j.h.gorton Dec 11th 2010 9:18PM
IANALB but AOL wants to make sure they're legally in the clear when you waive your copyright over the property you just created (your healing tips) and sent to them without compensation, assigning them the right to republish it however they see fit. AOL's (American) lawyers know how to defend that process in American law. Probably not so much in a court of chancery or a non-common law system abroad.
Superthrust Dec 11th 2010 6:55PM
I can do the blacksmithing one...maybe...if i feel like leveling it before i drop it for alchemy.
Succulent Dec 11th 2010 9:17PM
Someone needs to do it, Blacksmithing seems an absolute bitch :p
Oh lol guys, 100 obsidum for 1 item.
Got loads of elementium, lemmie make stuff outta that already :(
Noyou Dec 11th 2010 10:16PM
Blacksmithing isn't all that bad. I just hit 460 and there's a decent recipe that gives 5 skillups for 8 eternium bars and a few volitile earths. It will probably turn yellow after one is made but if you can get 10 points off it. JC looks like the real pain right now as the patterns are very limited beyond the first tier of gem cuts. My biggest problem is that I have my main with mining/JC and 2 alts (one with Alch/BS and one with Engineering) who also need ores. That in addition to leveling to 85 leaves not much time for much else. I might submit the how to on the JC and BS though. One word of advice for JC's - Don't be in a hurry to make a ton of cuts to level because for most of the JC dailies (open at 475) require you to cut and turn in 3 of the elected stone for that day. The other thing that sucks is if you cut a perfect stone (I had 4 in a row) it counts as the stone being cut but not as one of the ones you have to turn in. Really not liking the way it is set up right now...
Baba Dec 12th 2010 5:57AM
I just hit 505 BS and I've not lost any money. I farmed up around 360 elementium ore from 8th-9th, then I sold half of that on the AH over the next few days. Keep the volatiles, if you have over 30 then sell a few.
I then farmed up some Obsidium and bought a lot, since it's SO scarce. I then followed this progression:
Folded Obsidium; 450-455 (keep them ALL)
Gauntlet Recipes; 455 - 460 (sell this on the AH for a high mark-up)
Belt Recipes; 460 - 470 (sell these on the AH under-cutting the cheapest, as there are normally quite a few up there.
Cold-Forged Shank; 470 - 475 (uses less Obsidium but more volatiles, so this or Boot Recipes, depending on your AH costs) - sell this for a large mark-up, rogue's love it.
Elementium Rods; 475 - 480 (woot you've made it out of obsidium! Sell all these on the AH for enchanters, if there aren't any up price hugely, since they MUST have them to level Ench)
At this point I picked some non-optimal items to craft, because they used not much metal but more volatiles, and I had quite a few volatiles from farming all that elementium at the start. I also started advertising my skills in trade for free, which netted me a lot of skill points. Offer some gold for people if you want, it's pennies compared to the level's you gain since they typically get you to craft +3 skill items.
Personally I'm saving my Pyrium since it's only selling x2 that of elementium, and cheaper than obsidium. Hope this helps!
Baba Dec 12th 2010 6:00AM
p.s. Crafting a +5 skill point item at 479 / 489 / 499 etc is very useful, as you can 'catapult' yourself into the next bracket. Note that as soon as an item turns yellow you only get 1 skill point per crafting regardless, so wait until you're one level beneath that change and craft it ;)
Jeff Dec 12th 2010 5:18PM
I'm at 510, and here's the only tip I can give:
Prepare to spend a lot of money. Seriously, a LOT of money. Some of it
you may make back - I've crafted some skillupable items that actually
returned a profit on the AH - but the outlay of funds for each point
of skill is huge.
Get AuctionLite (or Auctioneer, I'm sure, or probably one of several
other AH addons), and you'll be more easily able to search for mats on
the AH to find out where your best deals are - for example,
inexplicably, on my server two elementium ores are consistently
cheaper than one elementium bar (despite the former's greater utility
for miners trying to level their skill).
Take a minute, before you buy your mats, to see what's selling for how
much - if there's an item that you can make that costs 500g in mats
and there are currently three in the AH for 500-600g, you might want
to make one and put it up for 450 or even 400, taking a small loss to
ensure that you can sell it quickly (by making your item look like a
really good deal!).
Once in a while, you'll find an item that _nobody_ is selling at the
moment. These can be good opportunities, but it can also be dangerous
to assume that you can sell your item for at or above the materials
cost even then (believe me: I've been burned, for example, by belts
that I thought I could sell at 200g that then ended up finally going
at like 40g).
In general, tank gear seems to be an excellent option. It's all
wearable at 80, meaning that anyone coming straight off of Wrath who
wants to make sure that they're properly able to tank dungeons - as
most responsible tanks, especially ones who have in the past had to
spend a ton of gold and energy reaching the def cap before running
instances, and who are used to that mindset - will probably be in the
market for just about anything you make. Prices on tank gear seem, at
least on my server, to be higher than prices on DPS gear overall.
Oh, and have fun having to shell out 20 elementium bars (about 400g, on my
server), then 5 pyrium bars (500g), and finally 2 hardened elementium bars
apiece (500g if you can smelt them yourself, more if you can't) in order to buy recipes at or above 500 skill.
I know I will.
Superthrust Dec 12th 2010 2:46PM
See, this is why I am completely fine with dumping blacksmithing...I would rather get the potion that turns me into a drake, then go back to blacksmithing later or something different.
The fact that ore is scarce, only 3 classes can make use out of most of the stuff, AND the blacksmithing stuff will be replaced or never needed again once people get raiding...it sucks...
Baba Dec 12th 2010 5:13PM
Actually they've said that Blacksmithing is constantly getting upgrades through the expansion in line with PvP seasons, keeping us in the money (especially since we could sell bottom-line PvP sets in Wrath anyway)
Superthrust Dec 12th 2010 5:49PM
well, i still dont know or havent seen anything that makes BS worthy of keeping.
Ghoti Dec 11th 2010 7:02PM
Considering I live in the UK, here are my healer tips:
1) Ask for mana if you want/need it.
2) If you get blamed for the wipe, take it as the others mearly being having a very bad period. If it happens again, around the same place and/or against the same mobs, then see what's happeneing.
3) This relates to Tip No.2, people who stand in the fire and subsequently stand in it until thier health is depleted to half of thier total should be left to die in the flames - or in the case of Wrath, pools of green ooze. As they're killing themselves and depeteing your mana if you have to heal them ( and subsequently giving you less mana to heal those who actually need healing to do damadge/tank/heal) they're pulling the group down.
I say half health, because there are things such as lag ( or in my case graphics that make patched of fire look like wavy pieces of Sponge Cake).
4) HAVE FUN! You are saving people from thier own demise. That sense of god-like power is what keeps me playing a omm-ish holy priest (Not to metion the wings animation). And some people realise it, and thank you. In Cata dungeons, healers need to be ontop of thier game and take advantage of the mechanics of the boss fights.
- Ghoti, level 83 Holy/Disc priest. Needs coffee.
Possum Dec 12th 2010 7:02AM
And remember the triage system. You can't keep everybody topped off all the time or you'll go oom.
Kevin Dec 14th 2010 12:51PM
I have to agree with this. The biggest thing I've had to learn as healer is to RELAX and not scramble if people aren't topped off. We have these huge health pools now so that Blizzard can create encounters with much more predictable damage, not just super crazy spike damage that threatens to kill people not above 80%. So relax, think a bit about who needs the healing, and carry on. Regardless with how well you do or don't pugs will at times blame you -don't let it get you down!
fainda Dec 11th 2010 7:03PM
I could do the crowd control one, played a mage as my main since vanilla
dave Dec 11th 2010 7:18PM
What does one get, if one's submission will be accepted?