Quick recap of the last few weeks
Yes, I know I don't post much. Shush!
First of all, a couple of images:
After missing the Tempest Keep attunement run (due to my boyfriend's computer croaking a few hours before it was scheduled, and me lending him my laptop so at least he could go), I finally got attuned to at least Mount Hyjal (and now just need to kill Rage Winterchill for Black Temple attunement).
Granted, I'd be happier if this hadn't come at the expense of progression for the guild (the only reason we went to Tempest Keep instead of them going to Black Temple to kill Reliquary of Souls was they were short on rogues for the evening)... eh.
Also, though I don't have a screenshot (I forgot to take one, for once, heh), I managed to get my hands on a Sinister Squashling a few days ago. And my boyfriend got his today, too. Whee. (We're both a bit obsessed with collecting vanity pets. Just a tiiiiiny bit obsessed. *cough*)
I do sympathize, though, with the guildie who wants The Horseman's Helm for his warrior alt and still hasn't seen it drop even once after several days and a couple hundred runs of the place.
I've also been keeping track of the various changes that will be happening in the 2.3 patch. There's certainly enough interesting changes to go around (Zul'Aman, new daily quests, new patterns, a plethora of new items), but just to mention my reactions to a few specific changes (as I have the feeling they might be amusing for some :P)...
Oh no no no no. Not fair. Now I'll have to grind Sporeggar reputation to exalted. Gah. Sporebats are damned cute, and having a tiny one following me around is going to be great, but... gah. Sporeggar exalted. That's going to take a while.You can now obtain a tiny Sporebat pet with exalted Sporeggar faction.
God, finally. I've been saying there should be an Azure Whelp for two years, ever since I first saw the ones in Winterspring. (Which are also the ones I figured should be dropping it - but I don't particularly mind it being dropped by something that dies faster.) I've got the other three, have had them for years, but I've always wanted a blue one, what with blue being my favourite colour and all.An Azure Whelp pet now drops from the blue dragonkin in Azshara.
There'll also be a third new vanity pet added in 2.3 - this one from Zul'Aman: a frog called Mojo who turns people who /kiss it into frogs. This one's going to be harder to get, but I'll get my hands on it, just you wait. :P
(Said I, still having not managed to find a Captured Firefly, and that has been out how long now? Heh. Moving on...)
Another long-overdue addition. My bank alts' bankspace would like to thank Blizzard for finally seeing the light.A new recipe is available from Grand Master leatherworking trainers to make a 20 slot bag to hold leatherworking supplies. The ogres in the barrier hills are rumored to have a pattern for a 24 slot bag to hold leatherworking supplies.
You mean all those drums I made to skill up leatherworking are no longer useless, since they now are instant and I can use them without shifting out? Hurrah!Drums can now be used while shapeshifted.
On the other hand, they've had their material costs changed. Gah. What's with Blizzard and their love for specialist leather? I'd rather go grind primals than go grind leather (especially since my skinning character is Horde-side). At least I have a decent amount of Drums of Battle on a bank alt from when I was levelling Leatherworking, I guess, but making other useful ones (like Drums of Restoration) is going to be somewhat annoying.
Especially since in a pinch, I can always find normal leather and primals on the AH, while the specialist leather is more hit and miss.
At least they got their charges upped from 30 to 50, that's another upside. Overall it's a good change.
It takes three tabs (1g + 10g + 100g) before the price gets too steep for my liking - which means 294 slots to stuff items into once I and my boyfriend manage to create a guild for our bank alts. Not to mention it also helps with fetching items from said alts - no more "Hey, can you relog Alt X? I need Item Y!"Guild banks are available in most capital cities! Each tab can contain 98 items and you can purchase up to 6 of them.
And there was much rejoicing. I'm not very affected by this change, as I tend to not carry around many healing or mana potions, but I know that my boyfriend, for instance, regularly carries at least around 20-30 mana potions (he needs them, as a raiding priest), and then has inventory issues when he needs to pick something up. Just a slight extra expense (and not even much of one, as I have an alt that can mine Fel Iron and an alt that can skin Knothide Leather) and 20 potions will occupy one inventory slot rather than 4.Engineering potion injectors no longer require engineering skill to use.
In other words, if I'm reading this correctly, "Your DPS and healers no longer get one-shot by Mr. Big Ugly Boss if the tank gets feared and they resist". Yay. Bosses that fear will still be easier when tanked by a warrior, but now they'll no longer be impossible when tanked by a druid or paladin without the aid of fear ward.Creature AI has been changed to no longer prioritize attacking unfeared targets over feared targets.
Another change that should've been implemented years ago, honestly. Hunters have so many tracking abilities it's almost silly, and asking guards for directions was getting old. (Not to mention that this change also means you see questgivers, still-unfound flight points, and suchlike on your minimap, too. One of the things Lord of the Rings Online had that I found myself missing once I got back to World of Warcraft.)All players now have a tracking bubble on their minimap. From that menu you can select a specific type of vendor or npc to look for or you can select a specific tracking type if your character has tracking. Yes this means that hunters can take all of those tracking buttons off of their action bars.
On a completely different note: if I hear one more person describe themselves as "casual players" when they mention, in the same breath, how glad they are about [insert change here] as it will benefit their five level 70 alts, or complain about "oh noes more easy welfare epics on the badge vendor" when they're in a TK/SSC guild (or even in a MH/BT one) and are still wearing crafted epics (tailoring sets or what have you) or using reputation items from non-raiding factions because "there's nothing better, it's the best item in the game right now", I'm going to kill something. Seriously.
