Friday, May 7, 2010

I am (again) a Blizzard WoW Fan(boy)

As promised.

Really?
Well, not really. I'm not blindly, dogmatically supportive of all things Blizzard. I am, however, extremely impressed, again, with Blizzard's WoW support team.
Here's the Cliff's Notes version of the in-game resolution notification:
It was too long ago, we can't help you. Besides, you have enough money and gear to be able to play the game.
That was a depressing response, let me tell you what. More like a kick in the jewels. I was NOT relishing starting over. One oddity, though, was that one of the items in my item restoration emails that were already on my account when I resubbed was a Warrior/Shaman/Priest (I think) Tier7 or 8 glove token. On my Paladin. So in response to the "we can't help you" resolution response, I extended the ticket with a request that, even though they can't restore all my stuff, could they at least swap that token out for something I could actually, you know, use?

Well, for some reason, that got my ticket Escalated. Hmm... ok, I thought to myself. Maybe I'll get a gear token for gear that's too low for the content I want to do, but maybe it will help me build my new Ret set. We'll see.

Later...
While in the middle of logging between banker, main, DK alt, and back again in an attempt to rebuild my old glyph business and try to restart some JC biz, new GM mail popped up in my mailbox. Odd. What's this, I think. The gear token should be on my Pally, not my DK. And there's 3 of them, not one. Oh dear, what's wrong now?

Whoa, Darkmoon cards and ore and stuff?!?
OMGOMGOMGWTFBBQ! Quick, log to my main, log to my main!!!
Gold! Gold! GOOOOOOOOOOLD! 8k GOOOOOOOOOLD!
*gasp
Quick, self, check the mage, check the MAGE!
Yep, there it is!
*happy dance


What did Santa Blizz bring me?
73 DK Alt Miner/newb Enchanter - Money Restored: 87g 68s 24c
70 Druid Alt(old refer-a-friend) Mid Tailor/Mid-High Skinning - Money Restored: 836g 96s 11c
80 Pally Main JC/Scribe - Money Restored: 8,632g 30s 81c
10 Mage Banker - Money Restored: 17,300g 12s 30c

Total - 26857g 7s 46c
Additionally, there were a boatload of Adder's Tongue, Saronite, a few Epic and Rare gems, several uncut meta Gems, Eternals, BoE and BoP gear, Orbs, glyphs, etc.

So, instead of having about 1000g cash and probably 1500g in mats and inventory across all my characters and having to "start over", Blizzard have made me fall in love with them all over again.
I have my bankroll, I have many mats and sellable inventory, and most importantly, calmness, zen, a lack of stress. Coffee may be for closers, but stress kills. I can't concentrate when stressed and depressed, so I lose my edge.

He can fly!
I can play the game without constantly worrying about having money for Cataclysm and alts.
I can finish training up my Enchanting, drop my low tailoring and pick up Leatherworking or, more likely, Alchemy. My spouse has 450 Tailoring because she wanted the carpet and Alchemy Flask master because we were raiding at the time and "free" bonus flasks were great.
So I want to make a Transmute Alchemist, but I also want Leather, but I also want to be able to make money on skinning and mining when Cataclysm comes out, if not by outright selling mats, at least by turning skins and ore into armor kits and gems. Maybe I can get my spouse to switch to Transmute. I can afford it, now. :D


What's the Plan?
I don't know. I know what I want to have when the 'clysm hits.
Goals for Cataclysm
0 - Keep: 450 Mining, 450 JC, 450 Inscription
1 - Get (to): 450 Enchanting, 450 Alchemy(Transmute), 450 Leatherworking, 450 Skinning
2 - Drop Tailoring, as my spouse has that covered.
3 - Level DK and Druid to 78, as I think that will be the "cutoff" for Cataclysm, like 68 was for Northrend. They need to be able to gather the new zones/content.

Who's what?
My Mage will continue to be the Banker, though I'm going to need a second one, I think, if I'm going to get heavy into JC and add Enchanting and Leatherworking.
My Pally JC/Scribe is and will continue to be my main "playing" character.
My DK will keep Mining/Enchanting
My Druid can drop Tailoring but keep Skinning.
I'll also be starting a Worgen. He'll probably be Skinning & either Herbs or Mining, depending on what else is happening to tradeskills for 'clysm.

Decisions, decisions...
That leaves only one slot for Alchemy AND Leatherworking. Or rather, OR. The worgen won't be meaningful to this decision, as I want to level up and skill up before 'clysm.
So, what would you do? Take Leatherworking and hope I can get my spouse to switch masteries? Ignore Leatherworking because you have to focus, limit yourself at some point? Maybe Gevlon can do it all(or rather, chooses to), but I prefer to spend more time in random dungeons than in AH PvP, though you do have to deal with competition, no matter what, unless the competition deals with itself for you. I know I need to diversify some, as my previous business was almost entirely Inscription, and due to a lucky hit by the RNG and some slick salesmanship in the /trade channel, a big chunk of my ~30k was from a single, once-rare recipe. Rituals of the New Moon. When I first got it, noone else was selling them. I made about 8k over a couple weeks in /trade and on the AH, hawking them for anywhere between 200 and 500g. Each.

Point is, I need to diversify. I just have to decide between two valid options. End-game benefits have no bearing, as this character probably will never raid.

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