MMQB: Grinding Professions

I'm contemplating dropping Engineering and picking up Blacksmithing. And by contemplating I mean if I had all the mats to power grind it I'd probably do it. I actually started farming them over the weekend, and while it's insanely dull, it's not taking nearly as long as I'd thought.

I'm using wow-professions.com to steer me through the process. In a few short hours I've managed to farm all of the mats except for a few hundred Thorium, Cobalt and Saronite. The Thorium will probably take me the longest to get. Still I should have everything I need to make the switch in only a few days time. Not bad at all. And if I had opted to purchase some of the mats the gathering time could be reduced further. So why bother with this?

Reasons to make the switch include,

• Gem socket for gloves.


• Gem socket for bracers.


• Allows for a little more flexibility in terms of itemization.


• BS pairs nicely with Jewelcrafting.

Reasons to to not make the switch include,

• I like having an AH in Dalaran.


• I like making my own ammo.


• I like my rofl copter.


• I like playing around with the engineering gadgets. The other night I flew atop Icecrown Citadel and used my Nitro boots to rocket me off the platform in the direction of Dalaran. Unfortunately I was headed for impact with the citadel so I was forced to use my parachute much earlier than I wanted. I fell to my death right by the Dalaran portal in Crystal Song forest. Good times :)


• Cataclysm - We don't know how the professions will change, but there's always a chance that Engineering could be given some love and I'll wish I hadn't dropped it.

While my reasons to stay outnumber my reasons to switch, they represent things I can certainly live without. We'll see how this shakes out. Worse case, if I decide not to do it, I'll have some nice mats to sell on the AH ;)

Good Hunting!

I Mourn for Shadowmourne

MMO-Champion data mined information about Shadomourne the new legendary axe dropping from ICC.  I play a dwarf hunter and am perfectly capable of wielding an axe.  Apparently Blizzard is well aware of this and has restricted the classes that can use this to Warrior, Paladin and Death Knight.

Now since this is the PTR I'm sure it's just an oversight and we can expect to see Hunter added to that list.  If not I may have to get in touch with Mr. T and see how good his WoW hacking skills really are.

As a jewelcrafter I'd be perfectly happy loading the three gem slots with Delicate Dragon's Eye for 102 agility.  And my pet could use the strength, right?  C'mon Blizz!

Epic Gems, What are You Waiting For?

Today's post comes from the Procrastinator's Anonymous division of the Azerothian Gem Institute, as I highlight all of the things I should have done before patch 3.2 was released (note: As I'm writing this it is not yet known if 3.2 is going to be released today, if not you still have time).

As I'm sure your aware epic gems have been added to the game. Now if you're a jewelcrafting survival hunter like myself then your meta-gem is probably going to be DOA, and getting it active again is a priority.

The reason is that the Dragon's eye gems are no longer prismatic. The Delicate Dragons Eye gems that I'm sporting are now red gems. The good news is they are +34 agility now.

The solution to my meta-gem issue will be the addition of a Nightmare Tear. This is as good as the best chest enchant, and one gem will keep my meta working. All of my other gems will be replaced with Delicate Cardinal Rubys.

So how do we get all those gem replacements? The epic gems can be purchased with Emblems of Heroism. The Red, Blue, and Yellow gems cost 20 badges and the Purple, Green, and Orange gems cost 10 badges.

You can get epic gems from prospecting Titanium and you can also find them inside an Icy Prism.

One thing to keep in mind is that Emblems of Heroism will no longer drop in heroics. The only way to get these badges is to convert Emblems of Conquest to Emblems of Valor, and then convert your Emblems of Valor to Heroism. If you're like me, I'll be wanting to use my Emblems of Conquest for gear and not gems. Hopefully you have an ample supply of badges to get the raw gems you need. I'll need about 120 badges to upgrade my existing gems.

Additionally, I'll need to buy the epic recipes to make my new gems. These can be purchased in Dalaran by spending the tokens earned from the Jewelcrafting daily quest. The recipes can be purchased for around four tokens each. To get the recipes I need for myself it'll cost nine tokens (two recipes and one Dragons Eye).

There you go, upgrading my gems is just one of the many things I'll be doing on patch day.

Jewelcrafting - Getting Ready

First things first, I'm back from my second vacation. It was a great trip and if it weren't for the timeshare folks it would've been perfect (that's a story for another day). I discovered something about myself, I may be an idiot, but at least I'm not a fool, but I digress.

A couple of months back I picked up Jewelcrafting so I could cut my own gems and take advantage of the awesome jewelcrafter only gems. I took a quick glance at some of the 3.2 changes on the PTR, and today I want to share some of the Jewelcrafting changes and what they mean for me, and possibly you.

First here are the important changes.

• Epic gems and recipies have been added to the game.
• The stats of the jewelcrafter only gems have been increased. The delicate dragonseye now has +34 agility up from +27.
• The jewelcrafter only gems are no longer prismatic. For example the delicate dragonseye is now a red gem.
• Epic gems can be purchased with Emblems of Heroism.
• Epic gem patterns can be purchased with tokens earned from the daily jewelcrafting quests.
• Epic gem patterns require jewelcrafting 450.

So what does this all mean for me? It means I have work to do.

• I will have to do some re-gemming. I'm currently using the jewelcrafter only gems to satisfy my meta-gem requirement.
• I will probably add a Deadly Ametrine and Shifting Dreadstone to my gear in order to keep my meta gem active.
• I will then upgrade any available sockets to Delicate Cardinal Rubys.
• With my current gear I'll probably gain about 20 more agility, but I'll be sacrificing some socket bonuses.
• I'll need to work on getting my jewelcrafting to 450.
• I'll also want to make sure I do the daily jewelcrafting quest each day so I can buy the patterns I want (I want all of them by the way).
• I'll also be doing more heroics to stock up on Emblems of Heroism so I can purchase some epic gems. Remember that when 3.2 hits we'll be earning Emblems of Conquest, and while they can be converted to Emblems of Heroism, I'll probably want to keep them to get Conquest gear.

When patch 3.2 hits you can bet that a lot of folks will be looking to upgrade their gems. In addition to gemming myself, I'm hoping to cash in on the early demand.

So the bottom line is if you're a jewelcrafter you might want to start collecting badges and earning tokens to get the new patterns and gems when 3.2 goes live.