On WoW and I

Before I start let me assure you that this is not a farewell post. I haven't stopped playing WoW and I don't intend to stop blogging either, just yet.

The nature of my play has changed dramatically, though. I also came to the realisation that I haven't written anything of any substance on the blog for at least six months - I do apologise for that.

About a month ago, I nearly wrote a farewell post for the blog and actually cancelled my subscription for a couple of weeks, but it turned out all I needed was a change of pace and circumstances to get me interested in both again.

Allow me to explain.

Effin' About
The last time I wrote about guild things I was lamenting that I was never online at the same time as my new(ish) Alliance guildies of Eff the Ineffable. Before my Sproutling was born, I envisaged being online during the day a lot more. I figured I should look around for an American-time guild to play with so that I would have some guildies to do dungeons and perhaps even raid with. The Effers are a friendly bunch - in fact they're looking for healers at the moment for their raid team.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from him but Sproutling doesn't sleep during the day on any kind of schedule or for a predictable length of time. For the last six months I've had snatches of play time during the day but usually less than an hour and certainly not enough to commit to a group of any kind. I don't use the computer at all while he's awake - I feel that's a bit unfair to the little Sprout.

After about twelve weeks the Sproutling started to go to bed at a predictable time, so I was able to play in the evening more. At 4am server time, Azuremyst is pretty deserted - even the night owls like Rhii and Fizzy are offline by that time.

I began to consider going back to Oceania and finding another Aussie guild to play with, since my Horde guild on Nagrand was still deserted. Playing by yourself is all right for a little while (there's a whole 'nother post coming about that), but my Alliance druid, Aoifen, was getting very bored with pugging heroics, and the Molten Front dailies are just... so... boring...

I was burned out. I was lonely. I didn't log in for two weeks and allowed my account to lapse. I was very close to that closing-up-shop post.

What brought me back, in the end, was Transmogrification. I wanted to run old raid content and couldn't bear the thought of trying to pug it.

No Longer Vitare (it means to avoid, don'tcha know)
I've been meeting up with Lathere in real life for a while now since her Sapling and my Sprout are about the same age. She had a break from the game since her bub arrived and was just starting to get back into playing again, so, for the first time in my whole WoW career, I transferred a character to another server. Aoifen bid goodbye to Eff the Ineffable and moved to Barthilas to join Lathere, Cassandri and Velidra in Vitare.

It was awesome to actually have some green chatter going on, even if I hardly knew anyone! Since I moved over I've run tier 1, 4, 5 and 6 raids, finally seen all of Ulduar and even run through Throne of the Four Winds and Bastion of Twilight for the first time. We haven't convinced anyone to take us to Firelands yet but I hope that will happen after 4.3 arrives.

The end result in all this is that I've re-discovered what makes MMOs so awesome and that keeps me playing: Everything is more fun when you are doing it with other people.

So, I'm still playing. I still love the game - I still have things to explore and classes to level, achievements and raids to enjoy (even if they're not progression ones). The game is certainly not boring if you're willing and able to get out there and find your own fun.

On Blogging
R&R has really suffered in the last six months. Babies are exhausting - when I get to the computer I tend to want to play rather than write these days. The Mogging series was a product of that extremely bored phase where I couldn't face doing another daily.

I'm afraid it's likely to stay quiet for a little while longer, but I'll be trying to post every now and then and keep up with the Druid resources. Next year I'll be going back to work full time, which is where most of my inspiration was gathered before. I'm not sure how much time or energy I'll have for writing then, but we'll see.

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all you readers for all your support over this year. I really do appreciate it! If you made it this far, you're a superstar :D

<3

Mining Charts Updated

When Deathwing roasted Azeroth, he left fiery destruction in his wake. The volcanoes, tidal waves and rents in the crust thrust different metals to the surface, while melting others clean away.

I have now updated both my Mining charts, showing the post-Shattering zones where ores can now be mined, and my charts showing Gems from Mining and Prospecting.  

The current versions were created using current spawn count stats from Wowhead. I plan to revisit the charts in a few weeks once the stats get a little more mature. 

I hope you find the charts useful for leveling your Mining or Jewelcrafting!

The Road to 85

Ding!

Yes, a whole eleven days after the release of Cataclysm, Leesah has finally made it to level 85.

I'm a bit behind, especially since many were 85 within the first day of release, but this time of year is just plain hectic around here and when I can't skip sleep due to crashing early every night (energy vampire baby) I just had to fit in the leveling when I could.

I have to say, I have enjoyed every single bit of it so far! At first, the sheer number of people tromping through Mount Hyjal and fighting to tag each named mob got very annoying, but as I progressed through, the faster players sped on ahead and there were less and less to compete with.  Of course, then we were left with the insta-spawning mobs who could easily overwhelm a poor moonchicken on her own.

So where'd I go?  Mount Hyjal, Deepholm, Uldum and just a few quests into Twilight Highlands.

I thought Deepholm was very pretty but got a bit repetitive towards the end.  I LOVED all of Uldum, but then, I am a massive fan of both Ancient Egyptian culture and Indiana Jones!

So far I have only done Blackrock Caverns, Stonecore and Vortex Pinnacle normals.  Due to the nature of my play time this week I haven't really had time to devote to dungeons... but I expect to remedy that this coming week. Having said that, I have now replaced all my level 80 purples with greens and blues. I haven't visited the Justice Point vendor just yet.

Anyway now it's time to take my own advice and see how much of the gear I can pick up from my guides! I've reached the end, but it's just the beginning...

Balance Druid Gear Guide Updated

I couldn't leave out my more Balanced side so I have now updated my Moonkin gear guide to the

Balance Druid Cataclysm Pre-Raid Guide

Unlike the Resto version, I haven't given the items scores. The extra complexity in considering whether you're under or over the hit cap makes stat comparisons difficult.

Instead, I have listed available items more or less in order of item level, with priority given to items with Haste on them. This is not a BiS list - more of a shopping catalog to see what's available as you gear up.

I also marked the items with Spirit or Hit on them, to make them easier to identify. Since Spirit gives Moonkins Hit Rating with the Balance of Power talent, it means that we can almost use the same gear for both Resto and Balance spec. Convenient!

I hope you find it useful in planning for your Moonkin!

Toasted

This was the highlight of my weekend.

I was minding my own business, playing with archaeology in Tanaris to further Leesah's fossil collection, when the sky went all red.  I jumped up and down in my chair with excitement for a good 15 seconds, scanning around to see where Deathwing would come from.  A few seconds later I was dead.

If you're wondering how to get yourself toasted by Deathwing, the answer is... be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Keeva has more information! 

In other news, Deepholm is pretty!

First Few Days

It's time for a meme!  This Cataclys-meme came from Janyaa of Muradin's Musings, although I read about it on Type "H" for Heals so it's doing a good job of being passed around so far. It also ties in quite nicely with this week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic, suggested by Jaedia.

1. Disk or Download?
   Download. It was the most smooth game purchase I think I've ever had - I didn't even notice it downloading anything!


2. Did you experience any difficulties? IE: Login servers crashing, late delivery, etc?
   Nope, it was great. At 6pm my time on the 7th, I logged out with the rest of the US/Oceanic population and had trouble reconnecting for about 10 minutes. After that I was able to log in and train my flying right away. I'm feeling sorry for those people on high-population servers who have had hours of queues this week - I haven't seen one at all on Nagrand yet.


3. What are you doing first? IE: Speed leveling to 85, rolling a new race, completely avoiding the new content, etc?
   Sadly I haven't had a lot of time to play this week so my Druid is still only level 82, but I will be leveling to 85 as soon as I can. I have been mucking about with Archaeology a little bit but haven't really looked at other professions yet.


4. Mt. Hyjal or Vash’jir?
   Mt Hyjal!  As a Druid I felt it was my duty to head up there and see what I could do to help. I will probably take my Mage to Vashj'ir when I get around to leveling her.


5. Worgen or Goblin?
   I rolled a Worgen, even though my other characters are Horde - I really wanted to see Gilneas and the other side of the quests I'd already done in Silverpine and wow, haven't they done a great job with that? It almost felt like I was playing a different game while working through the worgen quests. We'll see how much I actually get to play her. At some point I will roll a Goblin, but it's a little way down the priority list.


6. Questing, dungeons or both?
I intend to do both, although so far I have only been questing with Mr Ang.  I really wanted to do the first dungeons with guildies rather than randoms, but for some reason not many of my guildies have been online so far.  I'd really rather not pug the new dungeons but it might be the only way I get to see places like Blackrock Caverns while they're still relevant!


7. What was the first piece of gear you replaced and with what?
   I replaced my Frozen Bonespike with Druidic Channeler's Mace.  It wasn't a huge upgrade, but I thought I might as well take it. I've since also replaced my Tier 10 head and Muradin's Spyglass!


8. Did you take any time off from work or school?
   No. Since the game released at 6pm our time, I didn't need to miss out on work or sleep to play right away. The following couple of days I was pretty distracted, but it's been busy at work so I wouldn't really have been able to take time off.


9. Will you be keeping the same spec and main, or changing to a different toon?
   My Druid is my main and will be for the foreseeable future.  I love playing her too much to change :) I'm leveling as Balance but will go back to Resto for dungeons.


10. What’s been your favorite aspect of Cataclysm so far?
    Hmm, that's a tough question. I've liked pretty much everything I've seen so far - flight in Azeroth, questing in Mount Hyjal (sooo epic), Archaeology, the revamped zones including New Orgrimmar. I think my absolute favourite has been the visibility of major lore figures while questing in Mount Hyjal - they have never been so visible before, complete with voice acting for each.  It made me feel like I was actually a hero of Azeroth taking part in important storylines.

Bring on the next chapter of leveling!

Licence to Fly

A little storytelling today, from my Druid, Leesah.

Leesah reached into the bottom of the backpack. Her nose wrinkled as she pulled out what had once been a wrapped package of Very Burnt Worg but was now looking slightly green and furry around the edges. It made a kind of wet splat as she dropped it onto the pile of rubbish she had just pulled out of her bags. Other items lay scattered around her where she sat on the floor of her room in the Valley of Wisdom.

"No wonder Max has been sniffing around the Kodo a bit more," she thought as she looked fondly at the little windrider cub, curled up asleep with the moonkin hatchling on a cushion nearby.

A loud screeching cry from outside in the valley made her look up in alarm.  "What in the world..." She quickly packed about her potions and other useful items back into one backpack and plonked the pile of rubbish into another. It was amazing what vendors would buy these days.

Leesah headed outside and looked up in wonder at the sky, her jaw dropping.  There were dragons, drakes, sparkly flying horses, windriders, gyrocopters, rockets and all sorts of other flying creatures and apparatus flying around the air above Orgrimmar, swooping and diving. She turned to a Tauren standing just outside the door and said, "What's going on?"

The Tauren shrugged and said, "I heard the Warchief had started allowing people to fly in Kalimdor airspace now, but you have to have a licence.  I'm not sure where to get them."

Leesah thought she could probably guess. A good number of flying creatures were hovering above the new flight master and Zeppelin towers on the top tier of the city.  She headed up the ramp to the lift.

As the lift reached the top of the shaft she was almost unable to get off it. An enormous crowd was gathered around the general location of the Flight Master, shoving, pushing, shouting, mounts crying out in panic and flying creatures squawking and screaming above. Someone riding a War Mammoth was trying to push through the crowd, and a large number of swearing people were busy ducking out of the way of the large tusks as the huge creature swayed back and forth.

Leesah joined the back of the crowd, peering over the heads of those in front of her to see what was happening in the centre. Gradually, she was pushed from behind towards the centre of the crowd, where she could see the Flight Master, Maztha, frantically scribbling on bits of paper and shoving them at members of the jostling crowd. A goblin standing just behind her was collecting gold from those lucky enough to be handed a licence.

"Do you mind, you're standing on my foot!" shouted an unfortunate Blood Elf who Leesah had been shoved into from the side.

"Sorry!" she said helplessly as another shove pushed her forward suddenly and she found herself with a piece of paper in her hand.

"Well?  Hand over the gold! 212 please!" The goblin was looking at her expectantly and holding out a hand. Leesah blinked and quickly counted out the coin, then realised she was free to go.  With a grin she muttered a few words and transformed into her Stormcrow form, shooting straight up above the crowd with a strong flap of her wings.

"Orgrimmar looks so different when you're not coming in on a zeppelin!" she thought as she circled higher above the city, then suddenly had to dive out of the way as some idiot on a Green Drake almost rammed into her from one side.

"Watch where you're going!" the orc on the back shouted, shaking one fist at her. She glared after him, then hurried back down to the Valley of Wisdom to finish her preparations.

~o~

Incidentally if you're having trouble clicking on an NPC for a quest or training because of people standing on them, try keybinding the "interact with target" command.  Type "/tar " then the NPC's name to target them, use your keybind, then step back and leave the suckers to it.

Thanks for the top tip, Sunfyre!

Cataclysm Survival Tips

There's only one sleep to go until Cataclysm is released (or depending on where you are in the world, no sleeps!).  Are you ready?

Here's a few links to information to help you prepare for the onslaught.

• Firstly, MMO-Champion has the lowdown on all the new raids, dungeons, zones, professions (including Archaeology)... pretty much everything, in fact!  There is so much detail here that you may prefer to read other posts which break it down into bite-sized chunks:


• Rakhman over at Flame Shock has prepared a Cataclysm Survivor's Guide which pretty much contains everything you need to know about new things in Cataclysm. Keep this handy!


• Where to go once the Realms are open again?  Beruthiel posted this detailed guide to the new zones. Leesah will be off to Mount Hyjal!


• MMO-Champion's Leveling Map should prove invaluable for those starting new characters right away (or those who already have).


• A few last minute reminders: Empty your bags, clear your quest log. Do a few dailies but don't hand them in (if you're planning on racing to 85). Don't forget to update your addons before you log on, and to visit your trainers after you do, including the riding trainer.


• And lastly, Redcowrise's awesome poem seems fitting today, even if the Shattering already happened.

Just a quick addition to say thanks very much to everyone who last linked my pre-raid resto gear list in their guild forums or on their blogs.  You guys all make me happy, thank you :)

Have a great Cataclysm everyone! Catch you on the other side!

Cataclysmic Flower Picking

When Deathwing roasted Azeroth, he left fiery destruction in his wake. The volcanoes, tidal waves and rents in the crust changed the ecology of many zones, allowing different plants to flourish and others to die out of certain areas.

Suddenly my Herbalism charts didn't work so well anymore. I've now updated them, using a combination of exploration and the first batch of stats on Wowhead. It's still a work in progress and I'll be updating them regularly over the next month or so, until the stats in Wowhead have settled down and give a better indication of the numbers of spawns in each zone.

Leveling Herbalism: Cataclysm Edition

I hope you find the charts useful as you level up Herbalism!

Be Prepared

Well, there are only five sleeps to go now until the big day!

People seem to be holding their breath waiting, while at the same time trying to cram in as much alt-play as possible before the time comes when we can dust off our mains and start leveling.

As we start to level again, there's no harm in being prepared, right? That's where pre-raid gear guides come in.

So without further ado, I'd like to present:

R&R's Resto Pre-Raid Gear List

I hope it helps you as you level up and run dungeons on your Druid to recognise the gear that will be useful to you. Remember that this time, we will need to gear up through Normal and then Heroic dungeons before we start to raid.

My list has a score for each item based on a stat weight, to help compare between options.  It is not really designed to be a best-in-slot list as I haven't done any modeling and I wasn't in the Beta, but hopefully it should give some idea of which items have more desirable stats than others. I do plan to update my Moonkin gear list as well before long.

I realise there are already several other lists out there now - Restokin and Maedred both published theirs this week, as well as this one over at the PlusHeal Forums.  I had already done the Wowhead-work for mine, so I thought I might as well put it together and post it in the spirit of having as many resources out there as possible.

I hope you find the gear list useful - please send me any feedback you may have!

Shattered

I've finally caught up with all the pre-Shattering screenshots that I took.  If you'd like to see the full series of posts, just follow the 'azeroth photo tour' tag.

The Shattering... Oh wow. Amazing!  Mind blowing.  I wasn't in the Beta and I kept away from spoilers wherever I could, so everything was so shiny and new, it was like Cataclysm came early! (which I suppose is accurate enough.)  As I traveled around the new zones, I had a Keanu moment at every turn (you know, in the Matrix when he goes, "Whoa.").

Did I miss something here?
But now that I can finally talk about the Shattering, I was all poised to write a post about how I felt about how the series of events has unfolded, when I found that Johnny from MMOmeltingpot has already written it. Go there, have a read, then make sure to come back again.

I absolutely agree with the sentiment that we should feel robbed of something awesome here. I logged out on Tuesday night then back in just one day later on Wednesday, and everything was different. As far as I could tell, no-one told us there was going to be a time warp.  It felt like whole new stone towns and encampments had sprung up all over the world overnight. A war had gone on in the Southern Barrens, for goodness' sake, and we missed all of it.

I haven't read The Shattering book although I realise that a lot of the events have been explained there. I think that's a bit unfair of Blizzard to just jump into a new story like that when many of their paying player-base won't have a clue what just happened.  I did notice on MMO-Champion that there was a linked blue post with a sort of synopsis on the changes, but the actual patch 4.0.3 release notes revealed precious little about the extent of the changes that took place during the patch, including the 'time warp' factor.

What I really would have liked is some kind of intermediate patch where the world was just a fiery pile of rubble for a few days.  I realise this would have meant a whole 'nother load of graphic development, but just being able to see Orgrimmar or Stormwind in ruins and without the new camps would have made the story feel like we were really involved, rather than just waking up one morning to a brand new city.

The Alliance vs Horde changes in places like Ashenvale and the Barrens could have been brought about, or at least helped along by players. Perhaps a few extra quests could have been added to help out some refugees or put out some fires in Orgrimmar... or to lead into the political changes in each faction? I don't know, I just feel that a chance has been missed - something that could have been so incredible to experience in the game.

A Whole New World!
Just to be clear, I absolutely LOVE the changes. I spent two whole nights just exploring, getting all weepy as I flew into Booty Bay and rode through the ruins of Taurajo.  Auberdine felt terribly sad also, but the zones look completely brilliant - even more beautiful than they did before.  I was so overwhelmed by it all that I didn't take any screenshots at all. I have realised this week how much I love exploring in games, and how much I'd been missing it lately.

I haven't rolled any new alts or done much questing yet, but I've been reading people's reactions on other blogs and on Twitter and I am so excited to experience it all, sooner or later.  There's just so much to do!

I had a go at the Plants vs Zombies quests in Hillsbrad, starting with [Basic Botany] at the farm just south of the Dalaran crater. If you're not familiar with the original game it can be a bit tricky so I just wanted to share a couple of great guides - Syl's post about the new pets on Raging Monkeys really helped me out with a bit of strategy, and Jaedia has explained some more as well. It took me a few goes including a couple of times where the game bugged out right at the end, but now Leesah has a Singing Sunflower to add to her collection!

I stopped exploring after that because I realised that Pilgrim's Week was about to finish, so I quickly cleaned up the achievements for that.  I really hope it will be easier to get to the Alliance cities as Horde once we are able to fly in Azeroth - at the moment it is extremely painful to get into Darnassus and Exodar.

Now, to leveling my Priest! And bring on the expansion - 10 sleeps to go!!


Tell me about your Shattering experience!  Do you agree that we missed something amazing? Where is your favourite new zone? 

The Shattering has arrived

The Shattering, aka patch 4.0.3a, has arrived on the US servers.

Sadly I can't play until I get home later today, but in the meantime if you're stuck at work like me or in Europe waiting for maintenance to end, I can help you out with some information.

You can read the patch notes here on the official site.

There aren't any major game-breaking changes for Druids at first glance, although it was nice of them to add the [Glyph of the Treant]. Our talents are being reset due to a couple of talents in the Resto tree being changed, so expect to have to respec when you log in. I've now updated my Resto and Balance cheat sheets to include the 4.0.1 changes, but for more information about the changes to playstyles I recommend checking out the guides I listed on my patch 4.0.1 post.

One other interesting thing I did notice is that they have nerfed ALL the damage and healing numbers in levels 1-79 to make it slightly more difficult during leveling.  To be honest this was a needed nerf - my little priest has been totally kicking arse while leveling and as much as I was enjoying it, it did seem slightly over the top.

If your addons were up to date for patches 4.0.1 and 4.0.3, they should be fine for this patch. It's always worth checking before you log in though, and remember to tick the "Load out-of-date addons" box before logging in.

And if you've read all that and are still looking for more, my Azeroth Photo Tour posts might make you a bit nostalgic for what has now been lost.

Bring on 5 o'clock.

Farewell to Ye Olde Azeroth

At the Eleventh Hour...

Balindah paid her respects,

Aefa went to sleep at home in Silvermoon,

and Leesah decided that the safest place was with her Warchief away from the elementals.

Goodbye, old Azeroth.  It was a fun four years, but let's see what the future brings.

The Shattering: Are You Ready?

If predictions are correct, Deathwing will be making his grand appearance tonight. (or tomorrow for you people in the past, or Wednesday for the slow Europeans ;)

The world will be forever changed. Are you ready?

I, for one, am not. I was kind of hoping the Shattering wouldn't happen until next week.  Going on holidays was awesome but means I have to cram the invasion events into just a few days. Every time I try to sit down and get some play in, something happens and I have to stop again.

In any case, here is my To Do List for the few hours I'll have tonight before the server goes down.

1. Get the feat of strength [Tripping the Rifts] on Aefa.  Leesah defended Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff last night, but my poor mage has been very neglected recently and I think she at least deserves to take part in some elemental bashing.


2. Finish the Twilight Cult quest chain on at least one character. I did the first phase quests but the rest are still a mystery.  I'm assuming they won't be available after the patch, so I'll try to get them done tonight.


3. Log my Draenei pally on Argent Dawn to see what Stormwind looks like at the moment! My EU account has sadly lapsed again so there's no more playing on my 80s there, at least for now.


4. Screenshots of Eastern Kingdoms. I've been trying to get them in while the sun was still up but night shots it will be for the rest of EK.


5. And lastly, move my characters out of Dalaran. After the patch, the city portals will be disappearing. Choose your home now! Leesah will most likely move around with the action over the next few months, but Aefa might just hole up for a while at home in Silvermoon.

And if I get even half of that done before 9pm and the end of the world, I'll be really happy :)

What does your To Do List look like?

Grand Plans for Cataclysm

Recently Alas from Kiss My Alas celebrated her first Blogaversary. She was handing out free inspirations so here's what she had for me:

Cataclysm is coming and everyone I know plans on rolling one of the new races. Will you be taking advantage of all the reasons to roll something new and if so, what will it be? Is there a class you’ve never tried before that you can’t wait to try out or will you be playing something familiar to see how it feels to level with all of the changes that have been made?

Firstly, here's an extra grats to Alas on her blogaversary!

Yes indeed, I am really looking forward to the new races! I've been trying really hard not to spoil anything for myself - I haven't even watched the videos of the new dances or anything, so I'm really excited to see it all in-game for the first time.  One month to go!

Having said that, I remember what a complete mess the Death Knight starting areas were at the Wrath release. So first thing on Cata release I will more likely be taking Leesah to explore around the new zones,or as much as I can get to without being a higher level. Either that or I'll just start leveling right away, although the idea of leveling to 85 along with the entire Nagrandian population does kind of turn me off. I remember queuing (of a sort) for named mobs in Howling Fjord, and shouting at people for not inviting anyone to a party but rushing in and tagging the mob when they did spawn.

I'm fairly sure my guildies won't be rushing to level 85 and into raiding again so there should be some leisurely time to level and enjoy the scenery.

Once the hullabaloo has died down a bit, or I can't stand to wait any longer (will probably happen first), I'll be rolling a Goblin.  This Goblin will become my banker, after I play through the Goblin starting area.

Then, I'll be rolling a Worgen, and attempting to level her up. I think I'll probably go for a Warlock - I haven't played one past level 20 before and everyone always says how much fun they are.  Then again, people are always raving about Hunters and Rogues as well, so who knows!

I am planning on eventually creating alts to see all the new starting area experiences.  Whether those alts actually make it past level 10 is anyone's guess!  I am really keen on making a Troll Druid.  I know a few people who are planning on faction changing as soon as they are able, but I love my Cow-lady too much to go changing her.

How about you?  Do you have grand plans for Cataclysm? What class are you keen to try out?

The End of the World is Nigh

The Cataclysm is beginning... If you haven't heard, head down to your capital city and have a listen to the Doomsayers around the place.

It's scary stuff, and it's only just begun...

Good News, Everyone!

I have to say, that out of all the informational juice that flowed out of BlizzCon this weekend as a result of the trampling fan-feet, the news I was most excited about was this (paraphrased from the post at WowInsider):

Cataclysm is going to be available for download before the release date, and become available to play at Midnight, PST on December 7th.

This makes me a very happy Ang for two reasons.

Firstly, it is unlikely that Aussie game stores would be actually selling their copies of Cata before or at midnight on the 7th (that's unconfirmed, by the way - I haven't ordered a copy at all yet). At Wrath release, the European store I was lined up at midnight did actually release them at midnight, but the much smaller Aussie/Kiwi/SEA market tends to get shafted when it comes to release dates.

The other reason is that, in buying and downloading the expansion directly from the Blizzard store, it sounds like we will be able to pay the American price for it. Hooray for the strong Aussie dollar, and for not having to pay whatever ridiculously inflated price it will be here!

So if all goes to plan, and Mr Morhaime is good on his word, and if the Aussie game distributors don't kick up a fuss and somehow force us to pay full price to download the game, we can come home from work on the 7th and start playing our pre-installed Cataclysm at 6pm AEST (that's 7 for you DST types).

Roll on December!! /excitement

Gem conversions for 4.0.1

With Patch 4.0.1 due out in the next week or so, one of the major things that will be changing is the stats on not only gear, but gear enhancements such as enchants and gems. I have looked at gems only in this post - enchants are a whole other kettle of squid.

Gems in our gear and inventory should automagically convert to their new forms once patch 4.0.1 is installed. The table below shows how those conversions are taking place at the moment on the PTR. They've shuffled around some colours and descriptors to remove duplicates, and in doing so removed a lot of the obsolete recipes.

But what does it mean? At present there will be twelve new types of gem introduced. It's possible that the "old" recipes will convert to the new ones, or we will be able to train them again from the Jewelcrafting trainer. It's also possible they might make us buy them from the epic vendor, but that seems unlikely.

What happens to our Jewelcrafting Tokens anyway? I can't find any source information as to whether they are going away after the patch, but they certainly won't be able to buy anything useful after we start leveling up to 85, so it seems to be a good idea to wait until closer to the Cata release date buy up Dragon's Eyes or other epic gems before the Cata release, for leveling up JC and putting into gear as we level.

By the by, after the patch we will no longer be able to buy epic gems with honor (Source: MMO-Champion).

Please note I do not have access to the PTR, so I am not able to check that all of these gem combinations are correct. If any PTR Jewelcrafters read this and are able to help me out to confirm the info in this post, I'd appreciate it.

I have based the gem list on the following assumptions:

• Spellpower becomes Intellect
• MP5 becomes Spirit
• Attack Power becomes Agility for Druids, Hunters, Rogues and Shaman (?)
• Attack Power becomes Strength for Warriors, Paladins and Death Knights
• Armor Penetration becomes Critical Strike Rating
• Defense becomes Dodge

I also could not find equivalent gems for a few current ones - I've marked them with a question mark.  If anyone can enlighten me as to whether they are just going to disappear or what they are converting to on the PTR, please do.

The formatting is a little icky but Blogger isn't great at tables... I'll go through and update the links at some stage but I wanted to get this out there first.

As usual, if you can add any information or correct me, please let me know. I hope you find this useful!

Gem

Current Stats

Action

Will Convert To

New Stats

Red

Bold Cardinal Ruby	+20 Strength	no change	Bold Cardinal Ruby
Bright Cardinal Ruby	+40 Attack Power	removed	Bold Cardinal Ruby or Delicate Cardinal Ruby	20 Agility or 20 Strength
Delicate Cardinal Ruby	+20 Agility	no change	Delicate Cardinal Ruby
Flashing Cardinal Ruby	+20 Parry Rating	no change	Flashing Cardinal Ruby
Fractured Cardinal Ruby	+20 Armor Penetration Rating	removed	Smooth King's Amber	20 Crit Rating
Precise Cardinal Ruby	+20 Expertise Rating	no change	Precise Cardinal Ruby
Runed Cardinal Ruby	+23 Spell Power	removed	Brilliant Cardinal Ruby	20 Intellect
Subtle Cardinal Ruby	+20 Dodge Rating	removed	Subtle King's Amber	20 Dodge Rating
Brilliant Cardinal Ruby		*NEW*	Brilliant Cardinal Ruby	20 Intellect

Orange

Accurate Ametrine	+10 Expertise Rating	removed	Accurate Dreadstone
	+10 Hit Rating
Champion's Ametrine	+10 Strength	altered	Champion's Ametrine	10 Strength
	+10 Defense Rating			10 Dodge
Deadly Ametrine	+10 Agility	no change	Deady Ametrine
	+10 Critical Strike Rating
Deft Ametrine	+10 Agility	no change	Deft Ametrine
	+10 Haste Rating
Durable Ametrine	+12 Spell Power	removed	Wilful Ametrine	10 Intellect
	+10 Resilience Rating			10 Resilience Rating
Empowered Ametrine	+20 Attack Power	removed	Lucent Ametrine or Resplendent Ametrine	10 Agility or 10 Strength
	+10 Resilience Rating			10 Resilience Rating
Etched Ametrine	+10 Strength	removed	Etched Dreadstone	10 Strength
	+10 Hit Rating			10 Hit Rating
Fierce Ametrine	+10 Strength	no change	Fierce Ametrine
	+10 Haste Rating
Glimmering Ametrine	+10 Parry Rating	removed	Stalwart Ametrine	10 Dodge Rating
	+10 Defense Rating			10 Parry Rating
Glinting Ametrine	+10 Agility	removed	Glinting Dreadstone	10 Agility
	+10 Hit Rating			10 Hit Rating
Inscribed Ametrine	+10 Strength	no change	Inscribed Ametrine
	+10 Critical Strike Rating
Lucent Ametrine	+10 Agility	no change	Lucent Ametrine
	+10 Resilience Rating
Luminous Ametrine	+12 Spell Power	removed	Brilliant Cardinal Ruby	20 Intellect
	+10 Intellect
Potent Ametrine	+12 Spell Power	altered	Potent Ametrine	10 Intellect
	+10 Critical Strike Rating			10 Crit Strike Rating
Pristine Ametrine	+20 Attack Power	removed	Glinting Dreadstone or Etched Dreadstone	10 Agility or 10 Strength
	+10 Hit Rating			10 Hit Rating
Reckless Ametrine	+12 Spell Power	altered	Reckless Ametrine	10 Intellect
	+10 Haste Rating			10 Haste Rating
Resolute Ametrine	+10 Expertise Rating	alter	Resolute Ametrine	10 Expertise
	+10 Defense Rating			10 Dodge
Resplendent Ametrine	+10 Strength	no change	Resplendent Ametrine
	+10 Resilience Rating
Stalwart Ametrine	+10 Dodge Rating	altered	Stalwart Ametrine	10 Dodge Rating
	+10 Defense Rating			10 Parry Rating
Stark Ametrine	+20 Attack Power	removed	Deft Ametrine or Fierce Ametrine	10 Agility or 10 Strength
	+10 Haste Rating			10 Haste Rating
Veiled Ametrine	+12 Spell Power	removed	Veiled Dreadstone	10 Intellect
	+10 Hit Rating			10 Hit Rating
Wicked Ametrine	+20 Attack Power	removed	Deady Ametrine or Inscribed Ametrine	10 Agility or 10 Strength
	+10 Critical Strike Rating			10 Crit Strike Rating
Wilful Ametrine		*NEW*	Wilful Ametrine	10 Intellect
				10 Resilience Rating

Yellow

Brilliant King's Amber	+20 Intellect	removed	Brilliant Cardinal Ruby	20 Intellect
Mystic King's Amber	+20 Resilience Rating	no change	Mystic King's Amber
Quick King's Amber	+20 Haste Rating	no change	Quick King's Amber
Rigid King's Amber	+20 Hit Rating	removed	Rigid Majestic Zircon	20 Hit Rating
Smooth King's Amber	+20 Critical Strike Rating	no change	Smooth King's Amber
Thick King's Amber	+20 Defense Rating	removed	Subtle King's Amber	20 Dodge Rating
Subtle King's Amber		*NEW*	Subtle King's Amber	20 Dodge Rating

Green

Dazzling Eye of Zul	+10 Intellect	removed	Purified Dreadstone	10 Intellect
	+5 Mana every 5 seconds			10 Spirit
Enduring Eye of Zul	+10 Defense Rating	removed	Regal Eye of Zul	10 Dodge Rating
	+15 Stamina			15 Stamina
Energized Eye of Zul	+10 Haste Rating	altered	Energised Eye of Zul	10 Haste Rating
	+5 Mana every 5 seconds			10 Spirit
Forceful Eye of Zul	+10 Haste Rating	no change	Forceful Eye of Zul
	+15 Stamina
Intricate Eye of Zul	+10 Haste Rating	removed	Energised Eye of Zul	10 Haste Rating
	+10 Spirit			10 Spirit
Jagged Eye of Zul	+10 Critical Strike Rating	no change	Jagged Eye of Zul
	+15 Stamina
Lambent Eye of Zul	+10 Hit Rating	removed	Lightning Eye of Zul	10 Hit Rating
	+5 Mana every 5 seconds			10 Haste
Misty Eye of Zul	+10 Critical Strike Rating	no change	Misty Eye of Zul
	+10 Spirit
Opaque Eye of Zul	+10 Resilience Rating	removed	Turbid Eye of Zul	+10 Resilience Rating
	+5 Mana every 5 seconds			+10 Spirit
Radiant Eye of Zul	+10 Critical Strike Rating	no change	Radiant Eye of Zul
	+13 Spell Penetration
Seer's Eye of Zul	+10 Intellect	removed	Purified Dreadstone	10 Intellect
	+10 Spirit			10 Spirit
Shattered Eye of Zul	+10 Haste Rating	no change	Shattered Eye of Zul
	+13 Spell Penetration
Shining Eye of Zul	+10 Hit Rating	removed	Lightning Eye of Zul	10 Hit Rating
	+10 Spirit			10 Haste
Steady Eye of Zul	+10 Resilience Rating	no change	Steady Eye of Zul
	+15 Stamina
Sundered Eye of Zul	+10 Critical Strike Rating	removed	Misty Eye of Zul	+10 Critical Strike Rating
	+5 Mana every 5 seconds			+10 Spirit
Tense Eye of Zul	+10 Hit Rating	removed	Radiant Eye of Zul	10 Critical Strike Rating
	+13 Spell Penetration			13 Spell Penetration
Timeless Eye of Zul	+10 Intellect	removed	Timeless Dreadstone	10 Intellect
	+15 Stamina			15 Stamina
Turbid Eye of Zul	+10 Resilience Rating	no change	Turbid Eye of Zul
	+10 Spirit
Vivid Eye of Zul	+10 Hit Rating	removed	Nimble Eye of Zul	10 Hit Rating
	+15 Stamina			10 Dodge Rating
Lightning Eye of Zul		*NEW*	Lightning Eye of Zul	10 Hit Rating
				10 Haste
Nimble Eye of Zul		*NEW*	Nimble Eye of Zul	10 Hit Rating
				10 Dodge Rating
Regal Eye of Zul		*NEW*	Regal Eye of Zul	10 Dodge Rating
				15 Stamina

Blue

Lustrous Majestic Zircon	+10 Mana every 5 seconds	removed	Sparkling Majestic Zircon	20 Spirit
Solid Majestic Zircon	+30 Stamina	no change	Solid Majestic Zircon
Sparkling Majestic Zircon	+20 Spirit	no change	Sparkling Majestic Zircon
Stormy Majestic Zircon	+25 Spell Penetration	no change	Stormy Majestic Zircon
Rigid Majestic Zircon		*NEW*	Rigid Majestic Zircon	20 Hit Rating

Purple

Balanced Dreadstone	+20 Attack Power	removed	Shifting Dreadstone or Sovereign Dreadstone	10 Agility or 10 Strength
	+15 Stamina			15 Stamina
Defender's Dreadstone	+10 Parry Rating	no change	Defender's Dreadstone
	+15 Stamina
Glowing Dreadstone	+12 Spell Power	removed	Timeless Dreadstone	10 Intellect
	+15 Stamina			15 Stamina
Guardian's Dreadstone	+10 Expertise Rating	no change	Guardian's Dreadstone
	+15 Stamina
Infused Dreadstone	+20 Attack Power	removed	?
	+5 Mana every 5 seconds
Mysterious Dreadstone	+12 Spell Power	altered	Mysterious Dreadstone	10 Intellect
	+13 Spell Penetration			13 Spell Penetration
Puissant Dreadstone	+10 Armor Penetration Rating	removed	Jagged Eye of Zul	+10 Critical Strike Rating
	+15 Stamina			+15 Stamina
Purified Dreadstone	+12 Spell Power	altered	Purified Dreadstone	10 Intellect
	+10 Spirit			10 Spirit
Regal Dreadstone	+10 Dodge Rating	removed	Regal Eye of Zul	10 Dodge Rating
	+15 Stamina			15 Stamina
Royal Dreadstone	+12 Spell Power	removed	Purified Dreadstone	10 Intellect
	+5 Mana every 5 seconds			10 Spirit
Shifting Dreadstone	+10 Agility	no change	Shifting Dreadstone
	+15 Stamina
Sovereign Dreadstone	+10 Strength	no change	Sovereign Dreadstone
	+15 Stamina
Tenuous Dreadstone	+10 Agility	removed	?
	+5 Mana every 5 seconds
Accurate Dreadstone		*NEW*	Accurate Dreadstone	10 Expertise
				10 Hit Rating
Etched Dreadstone		*NEW*	Etched Dreadstone	10 Strength
				10 Hit Rating
Glinting Dreadstone		*NEW*	Glinting Dreadstone	10 Agility
				10 Hit Rating
Timeless Dreadstone		*NEW*	Timeless Dreadstone	10 Intellect
				15 Stamina
Veiled Dreadstone		*NEW*	Veiled Dreadstone	10 Intellect
				10 Hit Rating

Dragon's Eyes - Jewelcrafter Only

red	Bold Dragon's Eye	+34 Strength	no change	Bold Dragon's Eye
red	Bright Dragon's Eye	+68 Attack Power	removed	Bold Dragon's Eye or Delicate Dragon's Eye	34 Strength or 34 Agility
yellow	Brilliant Dragon's Eye	+34 Intellect	no change	Brilliant Dragon's Eye
red	Delicate Dragon's Eye	+34 Agility	no change	Delicate Dragon's Eye
red	Flashing Dragon's Eye	+34 Parry Rating	no change	Flashing Dragon's Eye
red	Fractured Dragon's Eye	+34 Armor Penetration Rating	removed	Smooth Dragon's Eye	34 Critical Strike Rating
blue	Lustrous Dragon's Eye	+20 Mana every 5 seconds	removed	Sparkling Dragon's Eye	34 Spirit
yellow	Mystic Dragon's Eye	+34 Resilience Rating	no change	Mystic Dragon's Eye
red	Precise Dragon's Eye	+34 Expertise Rating	no change	Precise Dragon's Eye
yellow	Quick Dragon's Eye	+34 Haste Rating	no change	Quick Dragon's Eye
yellow	Rigid Dragon's Eye	+34 Hit Rating	no change	Rigid Dragon's Eye
red	Runed Dragon's Eye	+39 Spell Power	removed	Brilliant Dragon's Eye	34 Intellect
yellow	Smooth Dragon's Eye	+34 Critical Strike Rating	no change	Smooth Dragon's Eye
blue	Solid Dragon's Eye	+51 Stamina	no change	Solid Dragon's Eye
blue	Sparkling Dragon's Eye	+34 Spirit	no change	Sparkling Dragon's Eye
blue	Stormy Dragon's Eye	+43 Spell Penetration	no change	Stormy Dragon's Eye
red	Subtle Dragon's Eye	+34 Dodge Rating	no change	Subtle Dragon's Eye
yellow	Thick Dragon's Eye	+34 Defense Rating	removed	Subtle Dragon's Eye	34 Dodge Rating
blue	Nightmare Tear	+10All Stats	no change	Nightmare Tear

Further Resources

• www.wow-gem.com
• Wowhead - List of current level 80 epic gems
• Wowhead - List of level 80 epic gems in Cataclysm (and patch 4.0.1)