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.
Relmstein has a good post up about how Blizzard's world PvP has evolved over time, and what we might expect from Lake Wintergrasp, the PvP zone in Wrath of the Lich King. When world PvP began, it was very much an ad-hoc environment, which lead to a lot of 1v1 battles that eventually escalated when wandering guildies or alts showed up. As Relmstein says, the large majority of battles started with that stealthing noise (that used to inspire chills in the spines of those on PvP servers), and ended with an all-out brawl with no rewards but to get the other guys back.
Nowadays, world PvP is much more organized, in the sense that there are specific objectives and goals to go after. The original reward was a zonewide buff (in Silithus and the Plaguelands), but Blizzard eventually morphed this into something more permanent -- in Auchindoin, you fight for a buff that earns you tokens for rewards, and in Halaa, you fight to get the rewards themselves.
Which leads Relmstein to suspect that Wintergrasp will have direct rewards of its own, almost equal to the gear you get from endgame dungeons and Arena PvP. He predicts that it will be token-based (not a bad idea, considering all the badge changes Blizzard has put in lately -- in fact, Blizzard might even cut a corner and have Wintergrasp reward players with WotLK's version of badges directly), and that it will be updated with each Arena season, to keep players fighting there. All good ideas -- Blizzard has definitely innovated (successfully or otherwise) in the area of World PvP rewards, and we'll look forward to Wrath to see what they come up with there.
One more great Silithus shot, then no more. I promise. No, really. Ok, we'll see. This one was too cool to pass up. Player Vexxia of The MishMash Crew on the Velen realm risked life, limb and repair bills to get this great screenshot. And right after she got it, the miniboss spawned and her pet ate it for lunch and whined for more. Well, not so much with the repair bills, I guess.
Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!
Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime.
While the alien landscape of Silithus may be familiar to many of us, there are many more who are relatively new to the game and never spent time among the insect swarms and underground hives of the desert zone. Player Thirlwell of the Murder By Numbers guild on the Khadgar realm sends us this ominous shot to remind us of places yet unexplored by many on their race to cross through the Dark Portal.
Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!
Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime.
It's a good week for posts at DwarfPriest.com, it seems. In this look at the manual for World of Warcraft, we get to see that the maps included in the original, 2004 release (which hasn't been updated since... four years later, and we're still using the same increasingly inaccurate manual) are at times surprisingly accurate to what we see in the game today. Interesting inclusions and omissions abound: the fact that Maraudon isn't on these maps but Dire Maul is just fascinates me from the perspective that Maraudon was a full patch ahead of the Maul.
I remember riding around Silithus way before the AQ release trying to get inside and see what was back there, and have been to both Hyjal and along the Greymane wall with my lovely wife who always wants to see the zones that are the hardest to access: I like the idea of Gilneas coming into the game so much that I've mused about releasing the whole zone as an instance before. For these reasons I found this look back at the game manual's maps and what has and hasn't made it into live yet to be grist for the mill of my naturally speculative brain. Will we finally see Uldum when Ulduar hits in WoTLK? Maybe Hyjal will finally go live? Will those islands off the coast of Gilneas make a reappearance on the world map? I've been wondering for years now what's up in Kul Tiras.
Anything on these maps you're surprised to see? Anything excluded that you'd expect? The very detailed map of Quel'Thalas, years before it went live, was one of my big 'woah' moments looking over these maps, which shows how easy it is for me to forget just how much lore the RTS series packed in.
Reader Ekrim sent us a tip to let us know that when all instances crashed on the Earthen Ring server over the weekend, Horde-led raids descended on to Stormwind and Ironforge. Word quickly got out to the Alliance and an epic battle ensued for the next hour until the entire server was brought down to fix the crashing problem. Not an unprecedented event, but certainly fun.
This reminds me of old school world PvP at Southshore/Tarren Mills (on my server). There was no goal or objective other than to overrun the enemy town before they overrun yours. It was pure, unadulterated, unmitigated fun. Blizzard experimented with structured world PvP in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands, and then some more when they launched the Burning Crusade expansion, but they failed to capture the lawless, unpredictable quality of the good old days when we just did it ourselves.
Which brings up the topic at hand: why aren't we doing it ourselves anymore? Because of the lack of Honor, welfare epics or Arena rankings from the proceedings? When's the last time you've spontaneously joined in on a mass world PvP party for fun and not for profit?
So you've tried out all the Battlegrounds; maybe even ground your Honor quota from the Call-to-Arms holiday. You've played your Arena games for the week, and maybe you've sent a message to those filthy campers who messed up your guildie's daily Simon Says. What else is there to do in the world of PvP? Well, there's always World PvP. Technically, any PvP that occurs outside of an instanced zone (i.e. Battlegrounds and Arenas) is considered world or outdoor PvP. In the old days, that meant hours of skirmishes between Tarren Mill and Southshore or endless assaults on the Crossroads. In Patch 1.12, however, Blizzard introduced objective-based outdoor PvP with A Game of Towers in the Eastern Plaguelands and The Silithyst Must Flow in Silithus. The trend continues in Outlands with objectives in Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terrokar Forest, and Nagrand.
I wrote about how I always wanted my PvP to have some sort of meaning, and objective-based zone PvP is about as meaningful as it gets. More than the Battlegrounds, where PvP is contextualized only through a story, or the Arenas where PvP is purely sport, the objectives in the outdoor PvP zones are designed to give a direct benefit to your faction. If any sort of PvP highlights the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde, it is the battle for control of these PvP zones. Achieving these objectives can make a player feel like he or she's contributed something substantial to his or her faction. Although it gives little to no Honor and no Arena points, it can be fun, spontaneous and even rewarding for the little time you put in it. Whether it's role-playing or for something different to do in between 2-on-2 Arena queues, world PvP offers a different slice of the PvP pie.
Over on Around Azeroth I sometimes think we focus too much on the amazing vistas to be found in Outland and look some of the scenery in our own back yard. Take this for example -- a screenshot of Silithus sent in by reader Dubl3. It my be an unvisited and overlooked area of the game these days, but it's no less the lovely for it.
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth.
Reader Silvertiger sends in this lovely shot of a part of Azeroth that I think is oft overlooked since the release of The Burning Crusade: Silithus. In the pre-expansion world, Silithus was a great place for players in their mid to high 50s to quest and grind out those last levels before 60. But these days most players hit 58 and head straight through the Dark Portal and into Outland, missing out on some great zones. This shot shows us the moon rising over the scarab gong outside of Ahn'Qiraj, another interesting, but rarely visited, part of Azeroth.
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth.
Did you know that Auchindoun is pronounced "Aw-kin-doon," not "Aw-chin-do-in," as I've been saying it? As a shaman main, I know that the plural of shaman is shaman, but I always mess up Silithus-- for some reason I called it "Sith-il-us" all the time (it's really "Sil-i-thus," of course). Maybe too much Star Wars. Orgrimmar isn't that hard, and Gnomeregan is pretty easy once you know what it is. But those of you who are longtime readers may remember the trouble I had here on the site with spelling Draenei-- for some reason, I thought it was "Draenai" for the longest time. I messed up Maraudon a lot, too.
Because so many of the names we see ingame aren't always spoken out loud, there's lots of little linguistic quirks in the proper names and language of Azeroth. What else have you seen that you were confused with, either with the pronunciation or spelling?
It's been a long time since the gates of Ahn'Qiraj were opened on any of the realms I play on -- so it's kind of nice to see this shot sent in by reader Robin reminding me how darned cool the gate opening event was. And, since the game has scarcely enough dragons, this event includes quite a few of them. Whee!
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.
2006 was a year of much change for our favorite MMO, from patch 1.9 through 2.0.1 (not to mention the BC beta). Here's a quick rundown:
1.9 saw the first world event in the form of the opening of AQ. It also contributed further to server unification by linking auction houses. Paladin talents were updated.
1.10 gave us weather effects, new Priest talents, and Tier 0.5.
1.11 introduced Naxx, keyrings, nifty Mage talents, and a global LFG channel, which was quickly patched to default to off.
1.12 had cross-realm BGs, the EPL and Silithus PvP objectives, and new Rogue talents
2.0.1, as I'm sure you all know, was the day the add-ons died, honor got completely overhauled, and we all got shiny new abilities and talents to tide us over till the expansion.
What would you all like to see come to with WoW in 2007? Is the Burning Crusade giving you all your wishes, or do you have more burning desires for the game?
In my gaming career, I've spent entirely too much time in Silithus, surrounded by countless insects desiring my demise. (At one point, I might have been heard to say that I would scream if I ever encountered another Silithid, but with growing content out in Silithus, that's proven impractical.) However, even I have to admit that these towering insect mounds, surrounded by ever-moving insect swarms, are darned eerie. I appreciate this shot by reader Gereth on Llane -- though maybe mostly as a reminder of why I stay away from the place!
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.
I've talked before about how important nature resist is in parts of
Ahn'Qiraj and how difficult it is to find in Azeroth. Well, today the Cenarion Circle reputation page was updated
with a selection of craftable cloth and plate nature resist gear. CM Eyonix has informed us that these
will go live in patch 1.11, along with leather patterns (I can only presume no reputation is required, since they
are not on the Cenarion Circle page) for sale in Southwind Village. Having options for nature resist that don't
require me to farm Maraudon is big plus.
The past few patches have added
quite a few goodies to Cenarion faction, and if the gates of Ahn'Qiraj have been opened on your server there are
faction-based quests that provide nice, class-based rewards in exchange for item drops from inside the (20 player)
instance. The rewards are best summarized on Blizzard's own reputation page, here. And, of course, the most appealing
items there are the weapons - all of which require exalted reputation.
While getting to that level
would certainly take time and effort, there are a couple of excellent guides to help you along. Wowwiki's guide explains some of the lore as well as providing a
detailed list of quests and reputation gain, and Feign's
guide provides more detailed information on how to reach exalted, focusing mainly on the field duty quests.
(My advice for repetitive field duty quests: bring a healer. Or be one.)
Relmstein has 
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