Cooking is a secondary tradeskill that most players should strongly consider learning, and maximizing. The buffs that many of the foods award can be quite helpful, and aside from damage buffs, there are also healing buffs, tank buffs, and food for hunter and warlock pets, among other yummy treats. If you rely on purchasing the foods from the auction house, you'll find your consumables bill soaring upward.
You can also make a profit from cooking, especially regarding pet food. Because many players are stubborn and won't learn any of the secondary skills, you can sell your dishes for a hefty price.
Still, if you don't fall madly in love with cooking, searching high and low for the latest recipe and farming to your favorite tunes, then you might have some trouble and confusion when trying to reach 375. This week, Insider Trader will take an in-depth look at the easiest path to cooking 375, avoiding fishing altogether. Although they go hand-in-hand, they can be done separately, and many cooks do not want to become fishermen.
Lots of stuff is happening on the First of May today (do we really have to remind you that that video is NSFW? consider yourself reminded) -- not only did Children's Week start and the Diablo3.com countdown end, and not only is it a holiday for some Blizzard employees, but if you're Friendly or higher reputation with the Consortium, it's time once more to grab your free back of gems. Unlike last month, we don't have to refer to them as "gem stickers" -- thank God the whole HKO Insider thing only lasted a day.
If you've got the rep, just stop by Gezhe at Aeris Landing in Nagrand, and he'll hand you a bag of free gems, quality dependent on reputation level. You'll still need a Jewelcrafter to cut them up, but hey, free gems is free gems.
After looking back on my post about disliked races in WoW again and talking to some friends of mine, I can't help but notice one of my favorite races gets quite a bit of hate! Which is funny, because one of the races I greatly dislike(but didn't make my list) are sort of their 'competition' and get quite a bit of love!
There are a lot of similarities between the Ethereals(like) and the Goblins(dislike), which is rather neat! It's interesting to see the two races somewhat rubbing against one another. Competition is fun to watch. Even more fun are the differences, though. I imagine that's where the opinions are formed.
Read on to discuss the Barons of Bling and the Planar Princes!
Last week, Insider Trader began the journey from 300 to 375 jewelcrafting skill. While we were able to avoid using recipes that required faction reputation or that had to be farmed, the cheapest methods to 375 from about 365 may require a bit more effort to obtain.
If you are like so many other craftsmen, stuck with 375 seeming far away and expensive, then carry on through the break to examine ways to not only maximize your skills, but to attempt to make a profit while doing so, rather than running on a loss.
Featuring several distinct ways to reach 375, you will find that you have many choices to suit your own needs, your guild's needs, and your server's market. In addition, I've put together some links for further reading that you should find helpful.
Each week, Insider Trader takes you behind the scenes of the bustling sub-culture of professional craftsmen, examining the profitable, the tragically lacking, and the methods behind the madness. For more guides to maximizing your chosen profession, check out the final stretches for Leatherworkers and Alchemists alike, as well as part one of Jewelcrafting's final stretch. For a complete list of profession guides, feel free to peruse our directory.
Listen, our corporate overlords have forced us to write about Hello Kitty Online starting today, but there's something you should know about another game that rhymes with "Mold of Forcraft," so we're going to try to sneak this news under the radar.
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.
If you have ever rolled a druid, rogue, shaman or hunter, it is quite likely that you ended up choosing leatherworking as one of your professions. Because it can be a valuable source of gear for the leather and mail-wearers, it is a common choice. If this is the case, you are going to want to hit 375 skill in order to make your end-game epics.
If however, you chose leatherworking as a companion to skinning in order to make money, you will only need to reach about 325. Once there, you will be able to convert any type of skin into its available higher form in order to maximize your profits.
Still, leatherworking, like any profession, can be an extremely costly skill to cap. This week, Insider Trader will be taking an in-depth look at some of the best ways to reach 375 from 300. Hop through the break for tips and analysis.
Engineers have among the greatest freedom to choose our allegiances throughout Azeroth and Outland. While Jewelcrafters and leatherworkers spend hours and days making a name for themselves with the Furbolgs of the Timbermaw, or the druids of Cenarion, Engineers remain free. No such slaves to the grind of reputation, we. For what could we learn from the various factions of the lands? It's little they can teach us, and little we would gain from the work done. No, our main choice of faction has always been to join M.E.G.A. or to take our lives in our hands and join G.E.E.K.
With few exceptions. There are several factions we can seek out whose expertise in Engineering allows us to learn a thing or two (quite literally) from them. In this lecture we will discuss where an enterprising Engineer can go to learn some of the rarest schemata known: those derived from earned reputations.
The factions with which you'll need to work are the Zandalar Tribe of trolls in Stranglethorn Vale, the Cenarion Expedition, predominantly in Zangarmarsh, and the Consortium, predominantly in Netherstorm. Zandalar trolls will require you to join their battle against Hakkar, the Blood God, and his priests in Zul'Gurub. This will require a raid 20 strong, though if you've mastered the art of flying you'll likely find you need somewhat fewer than that to be effective. The Cenarion Expedition has agents posted in the western barrens of Hellfire Peninsula, but the main camp can be found further west in Zangarmarsh. They offer work mostly in and around Zangarmarsh itself, including, most prominently, reputation earned from delving into the Coilfang Reservoir: Underbog, Slave Pens, and Steam Vaults. Consortium reputation can be earned in Auchindoun, but only in the Mana Tombs, and that only until you've reached Honored. Beyond that you'll need to visit Nagrand for Ogre beads or, ultimately, Netherstorm for a variety of work.
It's that time of the month again, ladies and gents. It's the first of March, so the Consortium has a fresh round of gems to hand out! If you're new to level 70(or Outland in general), each month you can travel to Aeris Landing in Nagrand and receive a packet of gems. How many gems is dependent on your reputation with the Consortium.
Personally, I've never had very good luck with these guys. I'm Exalted on two characters and all they'll ever give me is a handful of junk and some slightly better junk. I actually think the game is working against me when it comes to gems. I have the same luck with Prospecting. I know everyone says Prospecting is an amazing source of money, but I'm confident it only works for them because all of the awful gems are used up on me.
But enough QQ. Go! Get your gems! Make sure to leave comments lying about those Stars of Elune you got. It'll make me feel better if you just say you got a few Talasites.
Just a friendly reminder for those of you who have Friendly or better reputation with the Consortium that it's that time of the month again to collect your gems.
I just got back from my run to Nagrand to hit up Mr. Swirlybandages for my bag. I was particularly excited because I had just hit Honored with that faction. And you know what I got? An Azure Moonstone and a Shadow Draenite. Uh...okay. I guess I'll try not to spend the 40s I'm gonna get for these on the AH all in one place.
Once again, it's the first of the month, and that means it's your gem payday from the Consortium! Get your butt out to Aeris Landing and click on Gezhe for your Membership Benefits, which means a package of free gems to help you pimp your new season 3 gear or Zul'Aman epics. Depending on your Consortium reputation level, you get one of the following:
I meant to get my rogue up at least to Revered since last month, but alas, real life stepped in, so it's another Unmarked Bag for me. What's your haul for December?
Since it's the first of the month (or close enough), those of you with Consortium rep (which would be roughly anyone over level 60) should remember to fly out to Aeris Landing in Nagrand and visit Gehze for your monthly lot of free gems. The better your rep, the more gems you get, and the more likely they are to be blue-quality. Both of my high-level characters are merely honored, so I got a couple of Unmarked Sacks of Gems, each containing three or four uncut green-quality gems. Not huge, but hey, a few extra gold never hurt, and it's certainly enough to be worth flying out for every month. Blizzard originally had plans to have the gems come in the mail, but that was buggy and they ultimately scrapped it in favor of a monthly quest.
The different rewards, depending on your Consortium reputation, are:
Maybe it's time to start grinding Consortium rep...any tips on that? Also, jewelcrafters, do you see a spike in your business around the beginning of the month? Just curious.
Hot on the heels of the great Hammer of Grammar, here's another up-and-coming WoW comic, called Dragontouched. Normally, I'm not much for story-based comics like this (I tend to like the humorous ones much better), but I have to say-- I checked out the first page, and didn't look up until I got all the way to the latest one. It pulled me right in.
The style is a little simpler than some of the other "screenshot comics" ("machigraphica"?), as there's really no editing on the shots at all. But you can tell that Autumnflare, the creator, is getting better and better at this as they go along-- both the storytelling and the layout are improving with almost every new comic. And it is super cool to see all the lore integrated so well. The story feels like both a part of the WoW universe and an interesting new take on it. I especially like the Consortium dude-- he seems more shifty here than I've ever seen them ingame.
So good stuff so far, and I'll bet there's even better things to come. Are we entering into a whole second generation of WoW comics?
The 2.1 patch this week introduced enough new quest lines, top-end raid content, flying mounts, and L70 solo & small group content to qualify as its own game. With a three day weekend looming I didn't even know where to begin. So I scoured the web and found the where to go and what to do to get me started.
THE BLACK TEMPLE: Already planning to strut around Shattrath in your T6 Raid gear? Don't bank that T5 set too quick. The Black Temple attunement quest is ... epic. And it hasn't even been fully discovered so far. What is known is that you will have to slog through a great deal of the Burning Crusade raid content that comes before it: Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshire Cavern, The Eye and The Battle of Mount Hyjal. And many of those raids require extensive attunement quests of their own. If you are still itching to begin, you can dig in with the Tablets of Baa'ri chain out of Shadowmoon Valley to start grinding that Ashtongue Deathsworn rep. NETHERDRAKE EPIC FLYING MOUNT: First, don't confuse this with the Swift Nether Drake top Arena teams are awarded with at the end of every season. That one has a speed increase of 310% and has an armored appearance. This is the normal epic nether drake with a speed increase on par with other epic flying mounts: 280%. What's special about this epic flying mount is that it can be obtained through solo and small group quests. No raid required. What is required is a great deal of dedication.
The first steps on your journey is to dig yourself out of Hated reputation with the Netherwing clan and get all the way to Exalted. This is accomplished through solo, 5 man and 3 man daily quests. Head to the south east corner of Shadowmoon Valley and speak to Mordenai in the Netherwing Fields. A complete write up can be found here.
One of the neatest-sounding profession changes in a while is the alchemy discovery feature, where an alchemist crafting things had a small chance to spontaneously discover a new, rare recipe. A lot of people are unhappy with exactly how rare these recipes are, though; Drysc responds: The discoveries aren't intended to be common, they're extremely rare in fact. It's really intended to be a bonus if you happen to get one, and not something every alchemist is guaranteed to see. They're so rare that if you're putting effort purely towards discovery you could be spending a lot of time and resources to simply be disappointed. If you do find one, it should be a happy discovery, and not a waste of time if you don't.
What I'm saying is don't expect to discover one, but if you do then congratulations.
This makes a lot of sense to me: it's more or less a waste of time to grind for them, so just go about your business and be happy if you get one. Like a world epic. Drysc elaborated:
There are a lot of new factions in the Burning Crusade. Just by looking at WoWWiki's factions page, I can count thirteen, and that's combining all the opposed faction ones like Honor Hold/Thrallmar, Mag'Har/Kurenai, and Aldors/Scryers.
With so many factions, it's nearly impossible to grind rep with all of them. So I've come up with a game plan. I have to get revered with Thrallmar, Lower City, the Sha'Tar, Cenarion Expedition and Keepers of Time to get my Mount Hyjal attunement, so those are a given. That alone should net me a couple of transmutes and alchemy recipes.
Aside from that, I have two factions I am considering grinding to exalted: the Scryers and the Consortium. They both have excellentdaggers available at exalted, and I'd like to be able to start the endgame off with some good daggers. The Keepers of Time also have a nice dagger, but they seem significantly harder to grind solo than the other two. Plus, the Consortium is a group of ethereal smugglers! How cool is that?
After I've been 70 for a while, I may go back and do some exalted grinds to pick up alchemy recipes, but I doubt I'll be in any hurry. What factions do you want to grind out, and what reputation rewards are you lusting after?
Lots of stuff is happening on the 
After looking back on my post about 
Each week, 
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.
It's that time of the month again, ladies and gents. It's the first of March, so the 
The 
One of the neatest-sounding profession changes in a while is the alchemy discovery feature, where an alchemist crafting things had a small chance to spontaneously discover a new, rare recipe. A lot of people are unhappy with exactly how rare these recipes are, though; Drysc 
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