Winterveil - It's here

2.0 - Voyeur

This is one of those changes I think was probably in a lot of mods out there, but that I've never seen before. I played around with the interface options and now I can see the target of my target, as well as any spell he's casting.

I had just buffed this player and he went on to fight some NPCs immediately after.



I felt a little intrusive (and yet I kept watching). Although I have convinced myself that by watching I can learn better techniques than what's in my tired (and small) bag of tricks.

Here's those options:

2.0 - In the Year 2525

If I was a guy, I'd probably reference Cleopatra 2525 but I'm not so you get the 70's song - In the Year 2525. It has a certain ring to it.

Either way a beauteous new feature of WoW 2.0 is the increased quest cap of 25 (up from 20).

This actually may be more of an irritant then a friend for me because I have this bad habit of holding onto old quests. Then I get that icky old quest feeling and purge tons of them out (really, am I ever going to go back to the Badlands to finish those quests again?). Then I suffer the punishment of that sound I now despise with a passion.

Don't lie... you know the one.

2.0 - Keyrings

Since I don't participate in instances and dungeons, and the like, I don't have keys and therefore no need for a keyring. But one of the patch changes was an expanded definition of what fit in the keyring. When I logged on after the patch, I saw the little keyring button flashing.

I had this Captain's Key in Marielle's bank for the longest time and couldn't remember what it was for (although now that I finally got around to looking it up on thottbot I have an idea). So I tried out putting this key in the keyring and sure enough it worked. :)

Now if only there were a souvenir bag where we could put faded photographs, old letters, etc.

Those would be good gifts to get under the Wintervale tree every year. Keyrings, souvenir bags that go in a free slot in the bank, enhanced fishing poles, bad ties, you know the stuff.

2.0 - New Islands

Highlighted on this map are the new Island areas that we'll be able to reach once the Expansion comes out.



I know that it's only reachable when the expansion comes out by reading posts like this. Note to self - don't get in any unknown boats until January 16th.

Update 12/11/06 - I found a screenshot of the old map for comparison:

2.0 - Enchanting and Bank Improvements

This screenshot shows some of the improvements from the new 2.0 Patch.

The "Improved Enchanting Interface" is on the left.

In my opinion it hit 1 out of the 2 things I wanted to see (the ability to show only enchants for a particular armor piece, but not the ability to show only enchants for a particular bonus type, e.g. spirit) plus one I hadn't thought of (it can show only items that you have the materials for - although it doesn't check your bank).



And, just as Doeg said, a larger bank and an extra slot available for purchase! I had no idea. Thanks for the heads up Doeg. Marielle has that last slot available for purchase and it looks like it'll cost her 25 gold to buy it.

Before the Storm Patch

Today we patch 2.0.1, "Before the Storm."

Here is the link to the post of Patchy Convenience with mirrors, realm status links, etc...

Selected Patch Notes:

General:

• When casting a buff on a low level target, the appropriate rank of the buff will automatically be applied."

Items:

• Spells can now require either a totem item or a totem category item to cast a spell. This means that the Enchanting Rods now count as all of the lower level enchanting rods as well, so you only need a single enchanting rod instead of all six. This also means that "Finkle's Skinner" now counts as a Skinning Knife. Several weapons that are picks have been flagged as counting as a Mining pick as well.
• Thrown weapon items no longer stack, but use durability instead. One unit of durability is lost per throw, and these items can be repaired.

Professions:

• All of the profession-made items that have been created up to now have been given proper stats based on the current expansion item level progression table.

• Most of the items made by Tailoring/Leatherworking/Blacksmithing have had their creation time reduced. Now the cap on time required to make an item in those professions is based on quality and level.
  New Max times required:
  

  Level 31+ Green Items	at least 8 sec
  Level 31+ Blue Items	at least 15 sec
  Level 31+ Purple Items	at least 25 sec



• Skill level now determines what items you can disenchant.
  

  Skill 1	Level 1-20
  Skill 25	Level 20-25
  Skill 50	Level 25-30
  Skill 75	Level 30-35
  Skill 100	Level 35-40
  Skill 125	Level 40-45
  Skill 150	Level 45-50
  Skill 175	Level 50-55
  Skill 200	Level 55-60
  Skill 225	Level 60-65

Interface:

• Enchanting UI has been vastly improved.
• Auto-loot may be enabled with just one click in the Interface Options.
• Character sheet UI now displays more precise melee, ranged, and spell stats.
• Semi-charged items can no longer be placed in the Auction House.
• Keyrings have been expanded to hold more key-type items and will now size dynamically for the number of keys in possession.

Bugs:

• Bags will no longer overlap the Bank UI when the game window is resized.

On Enchanting

"Something there is that doesn’t love a solo player..."

Well, Robert Frost was actually talking about a Wall but this has been running through my head for a while now - ever since a few weeks ago when I decided it was time to get to the Master Enchanter. You know the one... she's inside an instance. Clearly a decision not intended to support the solo player.

Annora, the Master Enchanter is located inside Uldaman. She's the only Master Enchanter in the game so if you want to train in Enchanting you have to see her.

(By the way, I'd just like to point out the similarity of "Annora" to "Inara" of Firefly fame, who some may say, is also a "master enchanter.")

Over a year ago when I was playing with some friends I made it to Annora and learned Artisan. But I didn't have the materials to train in all the skills. Since then, I've tried several times to get back to her on my own, but I've had to give up before I made it. I usually can't get past the overgrown Troggs.

But I mustered up the guts to try again. I had WoW running on my gaming PC on the left and this map of Uldaman on my old PC on the right. And I proceeded to fight my way to Annora. This time I'm happy to report that I made it.



I was dissappointed though. It turns out she'll only train you up to 250 but then she has nothing else. And here I had brought big bags of enchanting stuffs. After all that fighting, what a let down.

Pathetic Auction House Gear - 10 gold
Elixirs & Potions - 2 gold
Food & Scrolls - 1 gold
Soloing Uldaman to get to the Master Enchanter and finding out she'll only train you in 3 more skills... Freakin' Priceless.



In other Enchanting News:
This weekend I spent performing a few enchants on some cloaks (+50 defense) and some boots (10% speed increase) for some of my alts before the big patch which should both a) make the enchanting interface better but also b) add level requirements to enchants. (Another nail in the solo coffin if I can't enchant my alts.)

And this picture... well I just like this picture. He looks weary and beleagured. Which is precisely how I was feeling when I stumbled upon him.

2006-December Events

From the Events Calendar for December:

Event	Dates
Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn)	Mon December 4 - Sun December 10
Feast of Winterveil	Fri December 15 - Fri December 29
New Year's Eve	Sun December 31
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch!	December 1 - December 4
Call to Arms: Arathi Basin!	December 8 - December 11
Call to Arms: Alterac Valley!	December 22 - December 25
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch!	December 29 - December 31

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

I can't wait to dive into the Feast of Winterveil. It's one of the best times in the game for me.