Posts with tag primal nether

Insider Trader is your weekly inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

Is armorsmithing of use to a tank? As with most debates, the answer remains relative to your resources and playing status – whether you're a PvP machine, a casual raider, a five-man specialist, an uber-raider ... Players with limited raiding access and resources will always consider trade skills more valuable than players with access to the leetest of lewts.

But while many players have summarily swept armorsmithing's possibilities under the carpet as they clattered up the gear ladder, others have run thoughtful comparisons and concluded there just may be some merit to smithing your own breastplates. For those of you who don't have the time or energy to dredge through such drearily titled official forum threads as "Sad state of armorsmithing & what's wrong," Insider Trader takes a look at armorsmithing's selection of top-end breastplates.

Gather 'round for another Friday edition of Ask WoW Insider, where we publish reader questions for community feedback. Last week we looked at where the best class loot lists live, and this week we have a few questions regarding loot etiquette in instances involving a couple of popular BC drops. Jeffrey writes:

I've recently come across a few situations where I'm not sure of the proper etiquette, even though I've been playing for a couple years. This is mainly because new items have appeared that have blurred the lines in my mind.

1) In an instance, we find a locked chest but have no rogue. I however have a blacksmith key/seaforium charge that can open it. Should I open the chest (spending the mats i used for the key/charge) for myself or for a group roll?

2) A primal nether drops. I can use it to make a BoE item which I plan to sell for a large profit, but someone else in the group can use it for a BoP item for themself. How should I roll?

3) An arcane tome/fel armament drops and the group says need if you're scryer/aldor. I belong to this faction but am already exalted with them. How should I roll?

I'd appreciate feedback on what is the right thing to do in these situations, or if not necessarily right what is considered acceptable to do.

Do you or your guild have any set rules regarding the above scenarios? If you've encountered these situations on past runs, how did your group handle them? Is there an optimal solution to any or all three questions?

More Ask WoW Insider awaits you next week, but it needs your questions! Send us your burning conundrums to ask AT wowinsider DOT com.

Each week, Lisa Poisso brings us Insider Trader -- your weekly inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

In the wake of the avalanche of item and crafting tweaks ushered in by patch 2.1, Insider Trader takes a look at the much-maligned Primal Nether. How do you get one? Do you even need one? Should you roll for one?

And keep reading for an Insider Trader tip on a special tactic engineers -- yes, engineers! -- can use to get certain types of motes.

But first things first: Primal Nethers. These glowing globules of crafting goodness have about a 5-10% chance of dropping from final bosses in non-heroic Burning Crusade instances, and they're a guaranteed drop from final bosses of heroic instances. Post-2.1, you can also purchase them for the bargain price of 10 Badges of Justice from G'eras in Shattrath City.

I think of all the trade skills I have, Engineering has to be the one I feel has been overlooked the most by the devs. The patterns have traditionally been scarce, and it seemed to me like the material costs were pretty crazy for many things when I was leveling up. In contrast, I still haven't gotten all the patterns for tailoring and recipes for alchemy. Enchanting is definitely a pain in the arse, but I can justify that one with tips and the occasional sale when I have the mats. Engineering, for me, was something I picked up and only leveled for the love of toys. (Like my long-ago-nerfed Gnomish Shrink Ray in combination with Nogginfogger Elixir, which was great for laughs.)

I've listened to my Hunter officer, who has maxed his skill out, decry the material costs of many of the new patterns. (I haven't pursued it on my alt as yet) So when I saw this tidbit today, I thought that many engineers would be glad to hear that they are actually looking at improving a pattern as opposed to nerfing it. Per Drysc when fielding complaints about the inclusion of Primal Nether in the epic goggle schematics:

We're in the process of reevaluating the power consumption needs of the goggles. While it was felt that the Primal Nether would be able to sufficiently power the devices, and through further testing, we're currently investigating other power sources and their availability.

Good news, and a bit of RP. We'll have to wait and see what the final decision is in regards to "power sources."