(Dis)enchanting. 4.0.3

All right, I know it's nothing overly new, but it's certainly an awesome way to bring in the gold and I thought I would share my thoughts and logic about how amazing disenchanting is for item shuffling. Jewelcrafting + (dis)enchanting was a classic combo in Wrath, and it's still a great way to shuffle ore into larger profit margins.

Right now ore has dropped to 100g a stack on my server, sometimes you can get lucky and catch it below that. Last week ore was 200g a stack. Suddenly prospecting has become profitable. But wait, now everyone is prospecting gems. While uncommon gems still sell well, especially for dailies, the rare gem prices are unreasonably low. I haven't bothered selling any of mine yet. I'll either donate them to my guild bank or save them for later epic gem transmutations or when there's higher demand for gems.

I have been selling my uncommon gems in singles and stacks for levelers (mainly Hessonite) and daily required gems. When the gems aren't in high demand I craft them, yes *all* of them into the misc, random enchant items. While Jasper Ring seems the most logical to make, and is clearly the most profitable, I've still found it worth my while to also craft Nightstone Choker, Hessonite Band, Alicite Pendant and Carnelian Spikes. Obviously Carnelian Spikes are the least profitable, so I only make this when the market price for the gem is low and will have a higher DE value than selling the gems themselves. Since Carnelian isn't in very high demand on my server, it's more profitable to DE them.

A stack of Greater Celestial Essence goes for about 700-800g market price at the moment (23g per Lesser Celestial Essence), and a stack of Hypnotic Dust is going for about 600g+ as well (30g each dust). So, each green that disenchants into 1-3 Lesser Celestial Essence or 1-5 Hypnotic Dust is giving me anywhere from 23g-150g. While a large variable, if we wanted to just take an average of that (1.5 for lesser essence and 2.5 for Hypnotic Dust) we'd be getting (34g+75g)/2 = 54.5g per disenchant.

Ok so you're thinking, "but the uncommon gems are worth so much more on the AH than 54.5g, even just for one gem." Well, that may be true on your server, but the only time gem prices hike up are the days when JC needs them. There just isn't enough demand for uncommon gems. Most people just prospect themselves or get someone else to prospect, since it's so much cheaper to do it this way. For example Carnelian is only worth 22g50s, but the market is flooded and there's a very low demand for the gems. All gems but Nightstone, which is the JC daily today, are roughly 22g on the AH B/O.

When you factor in the price of the ore, 100g for a stack or 4 prospects yeilding 2 uncommon gems nearly every prospect, and we won't count the rare gems into our equations. So 100g/8= 12.5g per uncommon gem. Zephyrite is the worst to get, but you can still sell it on the AH for a fair profit to levelers, and also when it is up for JC daily. So you *could* just post your uncommon gems up and hope for a demand. Or...

You can convert them into a market that doesn't have enough supply. As I stated above, the enchanting market is so dry at the moment. It needs more, and is generally a fairly healthy market. So when you think about it, you're turning 54.5g-(12.5x2) = 29.5g per DE profit. This is assuming all your DE's are done using two uncommon gems, and ignoring the price of the JC settings. So a stack of ore at 100g turns into 218g. You're already making a 100%+ ROI, and enchanting mats sell much quicker and easily than the raw uncommon gems are now. And at 22.5g market price for uncommon gems, you would only be making 10g off a gem costing you 12.5g. Still a fair profit, but why settle for that?

Well I really enjoyed getting into the maths of that. A bit worried that I made a mistake in there somewhere. Note my numbers are based on MY server's current market values, and I chose the lower end of the price ranges for my calculations.

Christmas 4.0.3

Merry Christmas to the West, and Happy Boxing Day to the East!

I had a wonderful Christmas, however the Holiday is not over for me until post-New Years, so my postings will continue to be sporadic.

This is an interesting time of year, and a lot of you may have been profiting off of vendor purchased items, Christmas attire, and all the new accounts coming into play. If you have time, farm, farm farm. I've been logging in and farming while I chat to all my relatives back home (thank god for Skype) and running around snatching up herbs and ore.

While the prices on my server are declining, others are anticipating an incline in prices again, or at least an increased demand on ores, bars and herbs. Either way, it's still a great time to profit from farming, and possibly the low prices on the auction house.

Just a reminder that Darkmoon Faire will be returning next week. You have about 7 days to start preparing some card decks if you're going for The Insane title, or just looking to try your hand at profiting from the trinkets. Keep an eye out, if the market seems flooded, be patient and hold back with your sales. The cards will sell to raiders and alts through the expansion, and most of them are looking to be fairly high on the better in-slot items for most classes.

I hope you all have, and continue to have, a very wonderful holiday season, whatever it is that you may be celebrating.

Fortune Cookies! 4.0.3 Cataclysm

I have found a new love. Yes, the delicious little Fortune Cookie.

At first I thought, "oh hey, a useful stat. So for my rogue that means agility. Oh wow this could be great for my hybrid characters as well!" So I made myself a batch or two of these. I was a bit concerned about using up so much Blackfallow Ink and my chance at 5000g from the Mysterious Fortune Card. And then I noticed used Fortune Cards in my bags, and I was thinking "oh crap, maybe when I cook them something is happening and I'm flipping the fortune cards!" No, my friends, I was not. Upon consuming my tasty treat and gaining my food buff I was getting my fortune card flipped as well.

So what does this all mean? Well, instead of just making the Mysterious Fortune Cards and selling to gamblers, why not up the value by investing some Simple Flour into it and adding a 90 stam 90 useful stat bonus to the gamble?

Lastly, these are the easiest buff food to make right now once you get the recipe. And possibly cheaper to produce than specific stat foods. The universal usage of these cookies makes them a very viable product for profit. All it would take is a bit of advertising in trade to get the idea out there.

I have noticed this has been a fairly talked about topic, but this is just my own little anecdote about how I came across my love of these. I might change my mind if costs change, but fish and meat has always been fairly expensive. If herbs keep declining in price, these may be the most profitable buff food short of feasts.

Gold and heroic dungeon grinds. Cataclysm 4.0.3

I've been so swamped with grinding rep, running dungeons and Christmas that I've hardly found much time to really focus on any gold-making. 

However, I've found JC to be the most profitable by far. If you can get yourself a cut that is desired, but no one else has, it's pretty logical that you're going to make a fair bit. Gem cuts that no one else has, or few people do, or even few people have the raw gems to cut, are going for about 300-400g on my server. Common cuts are going for about 115g. Either way, at 150-200g a stack of ore, even just prospecting and selling the gems you get is an easy win when you have little time. 

Cloth and leather are also a steady 150-200g a stack, and I'm really hoping they come down soon. Herbs range from 225g to a low of 60g a stack. If you're trying to make anything with inscription or alchemy I advise doing the herb farming yourself. People are posting items at incredibly competitive prices (at least on my server) and the only way to really stay in the game is to put the effort in yourself and wait for herb prices to decline.

Another gold mine if you're a farmer is to go and fish up all the new fish. They are all extremely expensive and extremely hard to find on the AH because who the hell fishes at the beginning of an expansion? Yea, well if you're waiting on slow-poke guild mates or dungeon queues, bust out that fishing rod and make yourself 250-500g a stack. While you're fishing you're also earning the That's A Lot of Bait guild achievement earning your guild the purchase of Seafood Magnifique, fish feast. 

Fortune Cookie is something that might be a great seller, especially for players that change spec frequently, and what I'm personally aiming for as far as cooking recipes go. The materials for the card are pretty simple to come by, and easily made if you're a scribe, the only risk is whether one of the cards you send to be made into a cookie is one of the ones that vendors for 5000g.

So, about those dungeons, eh? Yes, spending up to 4 hours (it's happened) in heroic dungeons is not fun, however, it's proof that the new content is at least a challenge until we get a bit more gear and can achieve larger amounts of dps, HP on tanks and greater mana pools and regen on healers. So whatever happens, stay chill, relax and enjoy the few points you do earn. Eventually we'll out gear the new content. If you really don't have the patience for it, do something else, seriously. Nothing is as big of a downer as some crabby pug at each other's throats.

Overview of the first week of Cataclsym.

First off, sincere apologies for taking my sweet time. I've had a very busy week and this month is about to only get busier as the holiday season approaches. This means I won't be posting as frequently as I'd like too, but I will be back into my normal posting schedule soon after New Years and hopefully I'll be able to write about some more detailed ideas. But for now I haven't even had a chance to go farming and check out new routes since the hotfix that nerfed all the nodes because I've been cramming to get my main to 85. I'm falling behind! So today's post is just some bits and pieces from my own experience in Cataclsym so far.

From my own experiences the best money-makers are the items that the rich can invest in and get richer off of. Hardened Elementium Bar is/was outrageously expensive on my server for a long time, and last I checked it did not change much. This was because Volatile Earth was really expensive as well, actually all volatiles were and still are, except life has dropped a bit (thank god). However, this crunch lead people, like me, who had leveled 6 professions in the first few days were able to profit by simply being the first to get there.

I made a fair amount off engineer crafted weapons, Truegold is an amazing investment with nearly triple return for me on my server. The Adventurer's Journal  were also selling well, considering the 10% bonus to questing XP.  Manual of the Planes and other inscription relics are also solid sellers, just watch out for market flooding. As soon as I can start gathering Chaos Orbs I'll be pumping out a few Overpowered Chicken Splitters since rogues can use them for single-target fights as a stat bonus, and I've seen a good few hunters looking for them. The biggest name of the game at the moment is item level, and of course everyone wants gear.

I had no luck with the DMF idea I had, mostly because of the bugs my main experienced and real life demanding my presence else where. But it looks like no one else made any decks either, which also disappoints me a bit, because I wanted one.

I don't have anything exciting for fresh yet, because, let's face it, it's only the first week. Making gold right now is easy, but takes a bit of craft to quickly pick up the flow of the market. Use your cooldowns wisely as well. I've been doing Transmute: Truegold and Transmute: Shadowspirit Diamond. Since shadowspirit diamond and Fire Prism require the same reagents, I don't bother with Fire Prism, since the meta gems are more valuable at the moment.

If you're a leatherworker, you should make some PVE gear. All I see is PVP gear on the AH, and I would really like something to wear on  my rogue that isn't a 305 ilvl green I got from questing. BS and tailoring too, will make an absolute killing once they start running heroics and crating items everyone needs to help them gear up, however, the sooner the better.

A bit of a side note:

The leveling content is pretty awesome, when it wasn't bugged out. Everything seems to be sorted now, so go back and unlock all the reps and enjoy the quest chains, this is what I've been doing while waiting on dungeon queues. The dungeons themselves are awesome, and I'm enjoying the challenge. Heroics are hilarious, and you have to have a good sense of humour going into one, especially if you're planning to pug.

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves. :)

Expansion day 2.

So when Blizzard gives you massive issues with your main... go farm.

I've farmed an insane amount of Obsidium Ore, and herbs with my DK in just a few hours. I was selling the Nightstone Choker and Hessonite Bands for 200-600g each, depending on the stats/ uncommon or rare quality and was on my way to getting closer to 525 JC (maybe server first) when suddenly I could not interact with NPC's anymore on my rogue. Very sad day for me. :( However, I'm saving myself some gold and making some in the mean time. Maybe now I will be forced to level my inscription up and just beg some really nice guild mates to grab me items from Twilight Highlands.

I did opt to send all BoE non-crafted greens over to my enchanter, but have not collected enough mats to bother leveling her up quite yet.

Sorry about the short, kind of pointless updates. I'm sure many people are too busy exploring the new content and making their own gold as well. Don't worry, I promise some more insightful stuff later on. Posting might be a bit sporadic with Christmas coming up as well, but I will still be posting as often as I can.

--Fractella

Expansion release 4.0.3

Firstly, yay!

I got to 82 last night, before getting surpassed by 5 other rogues for server first, decided I'm too old to stay up all damned night, and went to bed to get back at it in the morning. People are already level 84 after 7 hours of being away. So far that's only about 13-14 hours of total played time.


Ore is unsurprisingly high, but all of my sleepily priced jewelcrafting items sold, today I'll have to give it a bit more attention.

Any way, I don't have much advice for you, or any insight yet today, since I'm fairly distracted with all the sweet new content.

Cataclysm Normal Dungeons Overview

So while we're all waiting for the expansion to unlock, or perhaps the servers aren't working, or maybe the mail man was mean and lost your game box. Or maybe you just haven't thought about dungeons yet, being so occupied in the rest of Cataclysm. Here's something to keep you occupied.

Follow this link to MMO:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/2100-Cataclysm-is-going-live-THIS-WEEK!

They've put a lot of time and effort into bringing you a break down off all bosses. The videos might be heroic mode, but that just means you'll be over prepared for Normal mode.

Cataclysm BoE Drops List, for completionists.

You were totally thinking I forgot about these, didn't you? Well, I didn't, so here goes.

Fractella's Cataclysm BoE Drops List


** Disclaimer ** This is based on Datamined information and everything here is subject to change, or may be partially incorrect. It's entirely possible some of these items are not BoE at all, like wowhead says, and it's entirely like that some of these items are crafted. It's not my fault.

I'm going to kick this list off with some curious items. Not drops, but not crafted either,Valour Point vendors are selling off-tier boots that happen to be BoE. This could be a mistake, however, it's worth putting them here in the event that Blizzard does not correct this.


Valourous Quartermaster BoE Epics:


Boots of the Perilous Sea
Eternal Pathfinders
Fading Violet Sandals
Melodious Slippers
Moccasins of Verdurous Glooms
Rock Furrow Boots
Slippers of Moving Waters
Treads of Fleeting Joy
Woe Breeder's Boots

Epic BoE Cataclysm Armour drops:

Phase-Twister Leggings
Phase-Twister Leggings (Heroic)
Morrie's Waywalker Wrap
Hide of Chromaggus
Hide of Chromaggus (Heroic)
Pauldrons Of Edward the Odd
Bracers of the Dark Pool
Bracers of the Dark Pool (Heroic)
Fury of Angerforge
DONTUSEFury of Angerforge (Heroic) Yes, apparently that's what it's called.
Shadowforge's Lightbound Smock
Shadowforge's Lightbound Smock (Heroic)
Zom's Electrostatic Cloak
Ironstar's Impenetrable Cover
Ironstar's Impenetrable Cover (Heroic)
Treads of Savage Beatings
Treads of Savage Beatings (Heroic)
Heaving Plates of Protection
Heaving Plates of Protection (Heroic)
Corefiend Legplates
Drape of Inimitable Fate
Unheeded Warning
Tsanga's Helm
Corehammer's Riveted Gurdle
Corehammer's Riveted Gurdle (Heroic)
Gilnean Ring of Ruination
Signet of High Arcanist Savor
Blockade's Lost Shield
Heartbound Tome
Grips of the Failed Immortal
Icebone Hauberk
Blauvelt's Family Crest
Buc-Zakai Choker
Ritssyn's Ruminous Drape


Epic BoE Cataclysm Weapons Drops:

Chelley's Staff of Dark Mending
Chelley's Staff of Dark Mending (Heroic)
Claws of Agony
Claws of Agony (Heroic)
Claws of Torment
Claws of Torment (Heroic)
Crossfire Carbine The tool tip says Heroic, but the item level says normal.
Crossfire Carbine (Heroic)
Dragonwreck Throwing Axe
Maimgor's Bite
Maimgor's Bite (Heroic)
Maldo's Sword Cane
Maldo's Sword Cane (Heroic)
Soul Blade
Soul Blade (Heroic)
Theresa's Booklight
Theresa's Booklight (Heroic)
Krol Decapitator
Scaleslicer
Spinerender
The Twilight Blade

Jewelcrafting Epic and Rare BoE Proc's (Because I forgot)


Alicite Pendant
Choker Of Night
Pyrium Band
Hessonite Band
Nightstone Choker
Jasper Ring
Jasper Ring
Alicite Pendant

It's likely these items won't be as hot, considering the item level, or for the same reason they could be.

Check out my Darkmoon Faire Cards post for info on Darkmoon Cards. These might be worth adding to your snatch as well.

You'd think we'd be done by now, but we're not, sorry. Because I love punishment, here's the uncommon armour and weapon drops.

Uncommon BoE Cataclysm Armour Drops:

Abandoned Dark Iron Ring
Abandoned Dark Iron Ring (Heroic)
Acanthia's Lost Pendant
Acanthia's Lost Pendant (Heroic)
Amulet of the Howling Watch
Band of Pleasant Pain
Band of the Virtuous
Barnacle Pendant
Barnacle Pendant (Heroic)
Binding Promise
Soul's Anguish
Charm of the Muse
Charm of the Muse (Heroic)
Immaculate Br'etc Signet
Impetuous Query
Impetuous Query (Heroic)
Nightrend Choker Purchased from vendor once Revered with Guardians of Hyjal
Ring of the Great Whale
Ring of the Great Whale (Heroic)
Kuang's Locket of Secrets
Heart of the Vile
Heartbinder Ring
Temple Band
Temple Band (Heroic)
Soulsurge Necklace
Eye of Heaven
Poison Vile Ring
Bottled Lighting
Lady La-La's Singing Shell
Unquenchable Flame


Just looking at the amount here, it's clear that the source for these object may change, or some may end up being BoP, but at the same time it's entirely feasible that all of these items are BoE.

Hope you enjoyed. Leave a comment if I've missed anything, or if there's any mistakes I should correct.

Thanks :)

The market, BoE snatches, and getting ready to roll in the gold. 4.0.3

See below/ full article for "Fractella's Cataclysm Crafted BoE List"

Alright, so we're just over 24 hours away from the Cataclysm launch. The markets are an unstable mess on many servers, and if you're on a server like mine, just plain not worth it, really. I thought I'd share a few things that are selling for me.

Snowfall Ink was going crazy this last week. I think perhaps because today was the start of the Darkmoon Faire. If you still have a stock of these doing nothing, try putting them up on the AH for a competitive price.

Vanishing Powder Yep, this baby sells for about 1g each, and is a consistent, if small, profit. For such little effort, why not?

Selective low-level mats. Enchanting supplies, bars, and leather have all been consistent sellers for me through this rough time on the AH.

Glyphs. Surprisingly, it seems while glyph sales have slowed greatly for me, I'm still making a few sales a day with my small stock and they are selling for 50g+ each sale. I think as time goes, the glyph market will be one where you need to watch your competition closer. I predict many people will be leaving the market, especially once Cataclysm drops in, and you'll see some business opportunity spring up again here.

Something I've already done, and I highly suggest the rest of you do as well, is to build a profession materials snatch list. I pulled up my sleeves about a week ago and made a post about Cataclysm Materials and I strongly suggest you check it out. I'd also appreciate dropping a comment here or there if I've missed anything, so I can keep the list live and updated through Cataclysm.

You should also check out some of these crafted BoE's and add them to another snatch list. They may be expensive, but you could probably make a bit of profit by flipping them, or maybe you need them for your own Character improvement. Keep in mind the blues will start appearing once people get their profession skills high enough, but Epic items won't start appearing until people make it to 85 and start to run heroics since they require a BoP Chaos Orb, which may be worth adding to a snatch list incase Blizzard decide to un-soulbound and act like Frozen Orbs do now. Only one Chaos Orb will drop per heroic run.

Fractella's Cataclysm Crafted BoE list.

Please keep in mind I am unsure of the recipe source for these items, but they are most-likely vendor recipes.

Leatherworking:

Epics:

Assassin's Chestplate
Chestguard of Nature's Fury
Belt of Nefarious Whispers
Corded Viper Belt
Stormleather Sash
Dragonkiller Tunic
Lightning Lash
Twilight Scale Chestguard

Rare:

Razor-Edged Cloak
Twilight Dragonscale Cloak
Cloak of Beasts
Cloak of War

Bloodied Dragonscale Chest
Bloodied Leather Chest
Bloodied Scale Chest
Bloodied Wyrmhide Chest

Ok so there's a good bit more to these PVP Bloodied sets, but you get the picture by now. Just do a quick Wowhead search if you want to snatch these.

Leatherworking will also create "Tsunami" (mail) and "Darkbrand" (leather) sets. They are uncommon and rare items that display a random enchantment when crafted. If you choose to put these on your snatch, I suggest taking caution when purchasing.

Tailoring:

Epic: 


Belt of the Depths
Breeches of Mended Nightmares
Dreamless Belt
Flame-Ascended Pantaloons


Rare:


Emberfire Robe
Fireweave Robe

These are the PVP sets made my Tailoring.

Tailoring will also create "Deathsilk" (Dps) and "Spiritmend" (Heals) sets. They are uncommon and rare items that will display a random enchant when crafted.

Curiously I could not find any cloth crafted backs in the Wowhead of MMO databases.

Blacksmithing:


Armour:

Epic:

Elementium Deathplate
Elementium Earthguard
Elementium Girdle of Pain
Elementium Stormshield
Hardened Elementium Girdle
Hardened Elementium Hauberk
Light Elementium Belt
Light Elementium Chestguard


Rare:

Bloodied Pyrium Breastplate
Ornate Pyrium Breastplate

These are the PVP sets made by Blacksmithing.

Blacksmithing will also create "Redstell" (Dps) "Stormforged" (Healing) and "Hardened Obsidium" (tanking) uncommon and rare items. These will display a random enchantment when crafted.

Weapons:

Epic:

No known Epic weapons from Blacksmithing crafting at this time.

Rare:
lvl 85:
Elementium Bonesplitter
Elementium Gutslicer
Elementium Hammer
Elementium Poleaxe
Elementium Shank
Elementium Spellblade
Forged Elementium Mindcrusher

lvl 81
Cold-Forged Shank
Decapitator's Razor
Fire-Etched Dagger
Lifeforce Hammer
Obsidium Bladespear
Obsidium Executioner

Note lvl 81 items do not need Chaos Orbs.

Inscription:


Relics:

Epic:

Tattooed Eyeball

Rare:

Notched Jawbone
Silver Inlaid leaf
Manual of the Planes
Runed Dragonscale
Etched Horn

Off-hands:

Epic:

None at this time.

Rare:

Divine Companion
Dungeoneering Guide
Battle Tome
Book of Blood
Lord Rottington's Pressed Wisp Book

Jewelcrafting:

Rare Weapons:

The Perforator

Rare Jewellery:

Ring of Warring Elements
Eye of Many Deaths
Entwined Elementium Choker
Elementium Moebius Band
Elementium Guardian
Elementium Destroyer's Ring
Brazen Elementium Medallion
Band of Blades

Cataclysm T- 2 days: Are you ready? 4.0.3

Cataclysm is in about two days. It's on everyone's mind as we're buying up Wrath items while people clear out space for the incoming expansion. We're all pondering the best choices of action, which toon/profession to level first and how we're going to do it.

So I thought I would go over a few things that I may have touched on, and other bloggers are talking about as well.

Basic preparations:

I wrote a post about where to find trainers and familiarizing yourself with Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Check it out if you're Alliance, but also if you not sure if you've thought of all the important NPC's you'll need to find on release day and beyond. "Now the world has changed..."

A few questions we should be asking ourselves:

Have you cleared your banks of items you will no longer use and hold no "keep-sake" value to them?

Have you stocked enough cheap mats to feed back into the market later?

Have you left yourself with enough room, even in character banks, for new materials and item storage?

Have you stocked up each toon you plan on leveling with appropriate elixirs/flasks, buff food, scrolls, fort scrolls, drums, potions, enchant scrolls/ mats or reagents? New uncommon gems will likely flood the market within a few days, so I would not concern myself with too many gems.

Have you bought Master Riding on all characters, especially your farming toons, ready to buy Flight Masters License?

Have you prepared your characters with a quest log of dailies to hand-in in ICC to give yourself a head start?

Have you researched zones to know what levels they are recommended/ gated for, or found some beta info on node positions?

Have you researched quest lines, or dungeons for boss information?

Have you equipped your farming/ gathering toons with bags appropriate/ large enough for what they will be gathering? What about Enchant Gloves: Gatherer?


If you're planning on going for server first 85, or atleast powering to get there, you should considering taking consumables to carry you the whole way, bank space, plan a rough sketch of how you're going to get there. But very importantly, for the love of gaming, don't fill your body up with crap. It will make Fractella very sad :(. Please look into foods that are good for you. Don't eat anything with high simple carbs, be that flour or sugar. Make sure you consume protein, whether that means slices of cold cuts right from the packet, or left overs, or scrambled eggs.

My own plans are to whip up a yummy quiche if I have time to keep in the fridge, home-made iced tea, and a hommus-type bean puree my family loves to dip veggies in. Eggs, beans, chicken, fish and veggies are all great items to have on your "sleep deprived" diet, and prepare them ahead of time so you can just grab and continue leveling. Potato chips, soda, lollies/ candy should not even be a consideration. Yes, I freaking said no chips, got it?

If you choose to consume caffeine, the healthiest choice is tea. The caffeine in tea acts differently, releasing slower over time and reducing a "crash", so if you can make yourself some hot cups of tea (or home-made iced tea without sugar), do so. If you can't stand tea and prefer coffee, don't add the sugar and drink plenty of water so you don't dehydrate yourself and lower brain function. Stay away from energy drinks if you are serious about doing this.


A few other blogs you should check out:

Sterling's Realm first 85 post is more than excellent and very informative.
Trading with Zoxy has some quick info on questing and some thoughts on preparation.

Cataclysm: Darkmoon Faire Card Trinkets Guide.

In a few weeks every level 85 will be looking to fill out their gear slots in order to gain them spots in raiding guilds, pugs, or even to make the first "scouting" teams into the new Cataclysm raid instances. Before you can set foot into these raids, you must gear yourself with crafted items (a topic for another day), Justice Point items and Heroic dungeon drops. The majority of items that drop from Heroic Dungeons in Cataclysm are item level 346, while some crafted items can bring you up to item level 359, which is the same item level as Normal mode Cataclysm raids.

One of the wonderful items people will be looking to equip is trinkets. The only profession that produces trinkets everyone can use, is Inscription. The new Darkmoon Faire Card trinkets are item level 359. The same level as items purchased for Valour Points (obtained by running Daily Heroics, 10/25 man raid boss kills and also has a weekly cap). This makes the Darkmoon Faire Card trinkets even more desirable.

So, now that we've established the demand, let's look into some other details.

Darkmoon Faire starts Dec 5th, and ends Dec. 11th. Cataclysm launch is Dec. 7th. This gives us 3 days to level up our Scribes to 525, which is when you can perform Darkmoon Card of Destruction. Or, we can wait until Jan. 2nd when the Darkmoon Faire returns. I doubt anyone will be doing any serious raiding until January, and since the cards are a jump up from even Heroic dungeon level loot, they will still sell. However, having them before everyone else could mean massive profit. If you're an Insane seeker like me, this is a win-win situation.

Guide to crafting Darkmoon Faire Trinkets: 

Firstly, you should be sure to check out Kaliope's Inscription Guide and El's Inscription: Cataclysm for the most exclusive glimpse into 450-525 Inscription leveling and information. However, I suggest saving as much Inferno Ink as possible, using recipes that require Blackfallow Ink instead, where possible. This gives you more materials for making cards.

Secondly, you need to understand what you are getting yourself into and the risk you may be taking in doing so. There is a LOT of mats required within a very small window, and they may be difficult to obtain in such large quantities, or at all. It may be entirely not worth it depending on the price of herbs/ your farming skills. There is also a great bit of chance here, so you will certainly have to make a great deal of cards. I would assume that you're entire time spent those few days will be between farming/ milling herbs and crafting cards and making decks. It's a big commitment, and certainly not for the light-hearted. However, this guide is also relevant if you choose to wait for the second Darkmoon Faire, and DMF Cards will certainly be just as valuable.

Thirdly, you will need a ton of Volatile Life, each card requires 30. I suggest supplementing this with herb farming your brains out, since you need herbs for the ink any way. Volatile life drops 15-30% from herb nodes, and a 20% drop from an NPC called "Wailing Weeds" in Hyjal.

Each card takes:

10x Inferno Ink

30x Volatile Life

1x Resilient Parchment

You will get 1 of 8 cards from 1 of 4 suits of cards:

Winds: Which combines to become Hurricane Deck which can be handed in at the Darkmoon Faire for Darkmoon Card: Hurricane (Agility) or Darkmoon Card: Hurricane (Strength) Melee trinket.

Waves: Which combines to become Tsunami Deck which can be handed in at the Darkmoon Faire for Darkmoon Card: Tsunami. Healing trinket.

Stones: Which combines to become Earthquake Deck which can be handed in at the Darkmoon Faire for Darkmoon Card: Earthquake. Tanking/ PVP trinket.

Embers: Which combines to become Volcanic Deck which can be handed in at the Darkmoon Faire for Darkmoon Card: Volcano. Caster dps trinket.

Blizzard have really stream-lined the cards for us this time, as you've likely noticed, there's a card for everyone. In an ideal world every 85 on the server would be looking to buy a Darkmoon Card. Perhaps they will. I'm unsure of the BiS qualities for these items, however, because of the unavailability for other trinkets, and the Gearscore (derpscore) people or "ilvl snobs", I really feel (and certainly hope) these trinkets will be desired.

The Darkmoon Card: Volcano looks the most promising to me, even OP really. The other trinket procs are alright, however the raw stats look to be worth the trinket alone.

A few hurdles to note if you plan to do this big rush:

Ok and also a bit of a gold tip: Limited vendor items in Twilight Highlands.

While you won't be gated until level 84 to get these items, you need access to an 85 that has done the required quests to phase Twilight Highlands. There is a vendor who sells a few limited items to get from 515 to 525. It's only 10 levels, and you should get multiple skill ups for these recipes, but you should grab as much of them as you can. These items are Preserved Ogre Eye, Scavenged Dragon Horn, Silver Charm Bracelet. Keep in mind you may be able to find these items on the AH, but likely for a fairly inflated price. Not many will have access/ know about these items right away, but getting to them first would be a strongly recommended idea.

Along with the benefit of getting the cards first, you will also have a 525 Scribe all ready to craft up some off-hand item love. Done well I think this whole ordeal could be a fun grind, and very profitable.

-- Fractella, the (almost) Insane.

Looking at BiS enchants for Cataclysm.

Being a melee dps (Rogue) I often can see a bit focused on my own class, and it's true, I do what I know best. However I wanted to discuss a few enchants every enchanter should be picking up right away once you get there.

The new melee BiS weapon enchant is Landslide. (Effect featured in the post image) It is BiS for rogues to dual wield this pretty little enchant, and I'm going to take an educated stab (no pun intended) that Ret Paladins, Cat druids and dps Warriors will be choosing this enchant as well. It grants a nice flat 1000 Attack Power for 12 seconds.

It's also very likely that Power Torrent will be the new caster (dps and heals) BiS enchant. However HeartSong and Hurricane may be sought after by casting classes as well.

Now, depending on tanking dodge caps, I foresee Wind Walk to be a very common BiS tanking enchant. It's also likely that some may consider this enchant for PVP as well.

Now, that aside, you will still sell old Wrath enchants until people reach Heroic dungeon level and Tier 11. Most people will not want to spend the gold to pay for the new expensive enchants until everyone is raid ready, so I suggest saving a few Wrath materials for some BiS enchants when everyone is swapping their gear around.

**However, the new enchants WILL sell and are more than worth your time and effort to craft them and post, just be careful about market flooding because the demand will be slow at first.

Most classes will be concerned with hit rating during their climb to Tier 11, as the combat ratings and requirements shift and become more demanding for the new bosses we will face. Haste and mastery are also well sought after by most classes, while tanks will likely be focusing on dodge. Any enchant that gives these (ok so like all of them) are worth grabbing up.

Some extra thoughts:

Keep in mind that all groups will be focusing on their primary stat: Agility, Strength, Intellect. But when you considering purchasing enchants for your Enchanter, or maybe flipping, you should consider the deeper value of that enchant to the classes you are marketing.

For example:

Enchant Boots: Major Agility VS. Enchant Boots: Assassins Step
or 35 Agility vs 25 agility. Most classes that will be taking these enchants already have movement increasing talents, but would also rather take 35 Agility over 25 + some movement increase. So it's likely that both will sell, but the 35 Agility will be more popular among the hardcore raiders, and :"Assassin's Step" may be more popular among those who think it sounds cool.

Another example of this:

Enchant Boots: Mastery and Enchant Boots: Lavawalker

It may be worth considering that it could very well be the opposite for these enchants. However, it's a 15 point hit this time instead of 10, so the higher mastery rating may still win.


A few side notes/reminders:

It's Blog Carnival Day at JMTC! Unfortunately I did not manage to submit anything this time around, but there's some really great posts, you should check it out if you haven't. Perhaps I will submit something next time. :)

Cold's Gold Factory Win a Pet Code Contest Donate a $1 into the pot up to 3 times and enter a draw to win a pet code from the on-line pet store! Really cool idea just in time for the Holiday season.

Also, Cataclysm is in 4 days. *Squeel*

Dungeons and gearing up in Cataclysm

Just a quick glance at Wowhead's data mined information to give us an idea of what to expect gear-wise when we begin our journey to Tier 11.

80-82 Dungeons:

Blackrock Caverns
Throne of Tides

These two dungeons will be the first dungeons you will encounter at level 80. Both drop item level 279 blues in normal mode. Yes, that's 2 item level points above your precious Heroic ICC gear. However, they might not be worth the upgrade.

For example:

Sanctified Shadowblade Pauldrons Rogue T10 ilvl 277
Caridean Epaulettes Which are a 279 leather shoulder drop in BRC.

Based on the normal stats alone, this is not a worthy upgrade. You'd pretty much have to be coming into these dungeons in ToC normal 10 man gear for any of this to really even be considered as an upgrade.

82-84 Dungeons:

The Stonecore
The Vortex Pinnacle

Now these two dungeons drop 316 item level blues in normal mode. A whopping 36 item levels over Heroic ICC gear.

To compare:

Helm of Numberless Shadows
Sanctified Shadowblade Helmet

The raw stats are better. However, the new helm has no gem slots, needs to be enchanted, and the green stats may not be exactly desirable for you. But, these items are worth consideration, and will likely be an upgrade for most gear under 277 ilvl from Wrath.

84-85 Dungeons:

The Lost City of Tol'vir
Halls of Origination
Grim Batol

These dungeons drop item level 333 in normal mode. A very large leap up from our 277 item level gear. So let's compare.

Hieroglyphic Vest
Sanctified Shadowblade Breastplate

Finally! Something that is clearly an upgrade to 277 gear. Set bonuses and theory crafting aside, this would be a very considerable upgrade.

I believe it is safe to assume that you could entirely bypass using dungeons at all until level 84, and then it might be a good idea to run a few normals to familiarize yourself and grab a few upgrades before leaping into Heroic level dungeons. It's also entirely likely that Blizzard will have an item level requirement for Heroic LFG queueing like they have done with the recent 5 man H ICC dungeons (HoR, PoS, FoS).

Another note, please remember that hit rating, expertise, armour and dodge ratings will need to be increased in order to actually damage and do your job. Also don't forget reforging! So keep these things in mind when you pass on something. If you can't clearly say that piece of gear isn't worth it, need on it and take it.

You will certainly need to use your JP to purchase vendor upgrades, and run Heroics in order to attain a desirable item level to jump into the first raid.

TL;DR: 80-82 dungeon loot = meh, 82-84 loot = on the fence, 83-85 and beyond = Upgradez! Also, make sure you do your dungeons.

Just for you, a list of the first Cataclysm raids.

Baradin Hold
Blackrock Mountain: Blackwing Descent
Bastion of Twilight
Throne of Four Winds