Short story long…..

I don’t raid anymore.  I used to pre-expansion, pre-2nd and 3rd shift work schedule, and pre-children.  Due to lack of time, I dropped from my raiding guild back into the RL guild I started with on Crushridge.  Most of the players I knew stopped playing, so that just left myself and one or two others to roam around Azeroth together.  I still found great enjoyment from the game, and once Burning Crusade hit, it was the same story.  I leveled my warlock and hunter up to 70, and being PUG averse as I am, neither toon ran a complete 5-man instance on the way up to the level cap.

My remaining friends and I decided that we needed to at least make the effort to see the 5-man instances, so we up and transferred our toons to Kael’thas, connecting again with some RL friends who added a few more to our still small guild, and started running all of the 5-mans in the expansion.  I write all this because when you see me getting excited about running something like Botanica, realize that this is new content to me, and to my guild, so hopefully that gives you a better viewpoint from where I am coming from.

To that end, back to the topic of this post.  THIS dungeon is what playing a warlock is about!  Myself, a warrior, and a shaman from my guild picked up a druid and mage and headed off to Botanica.  It was the first time in for me and my two guildies, but the druid knew it like the back of his hand.  He directed us perfectly, and I have to say, I’ve never used so many of my warlock skills in one place as I did in Botanica.  From Seducing to Banishing to Enslaving – usually 2 of those 3 in most fights – I had my full Warlock mojo going on.  The first boss, Commander Sarannis, was a breeze.  Burn her down, burn down the adds, burn her down.  Pretty straightforward.  Too bad hunter loot dropped.

High Botanist Freywinn was a little more tricky, but our druid friend explained the fight perfectly, and he went down without a hitch, dropping some decent caster gloves that the mage won.  On the way to the High Botanist, the mage also picked up the rare Jewelcrafting pattern for the Coronet of Verdant Flame, outrolling the shaman in the group with a high roll of 3 vs. 2 from the shammy.  Many LOL’s were dispensed much to the dismay of the shaman.

Thorngrin the Tender wasn’t too bad either with our excellent druid guide.  I was the only casualty at the last second before Thorngrin went down.  Stupid hunter loot again though. (I’m allowed to say that if I have a hunter of my own, right?)

I had to bail after that fight, but it was a successful group and tons of fun.  The mage even commented that he had never been in a group that hadn’t at least accidentally wiped once prior to Thorngrin, so I guess that was good.  I felt a little rusty using Seduce, but it only took me 2 or 3 tries to get back into a good flow.  If I am going to keep running this instance, which I think we are, I need to work on some new warlock macros to help smooth things out a bit.

Hi, my name is Begbie, and I am a profession-aholic.

I’m not sure what it is I find so enjoyable about what many find mundane, but I love working on my professions. Maybe it is because I am a casual player and can accomplish something meaningful in the ten spare minutes I have within one of my professions, or maybe it’s just my anal-retentive nature. I’m really not sure, but it is something I quickly latched on to right when I started playing the game.

I also have a bit of an obsessive streak when it comes to having all of the patterns/recipes that are available. Pre-Burning Crusade, Begbie had all of the alchemy recipes outside of two flasks. I made so much gold from the Greater Fire Protection potion alone it was crazy. The discovery system that came about in the expansion made it much tougher to acquire all of the patterns, but I don’t really have a problem with it like many others, despite only discovering a few so far myself.

On Brassneck, I am finding endless fun with Jewelcrafting, especially in acquiring the rare cuts. Without checking, I probably have 12 or 14 rare cuts so far, picking up two more post-patch: the Steady Talasite from Halaa, and the Great Dawnstone from the AH for an insanely low 30g buyout. Hooray mis-pricing!

I do feel some of Kestrel’s pain as far as the flying mount goes. My mining would be so much more efficient with the speedier ride. But my profession obsession keeps me from saving up enough gold at any one time. I know I’ve spent more than enough for my mount in the past few months, but getting it hasn’t been a focus of mine, although it is about to be.

Professions, like this blog, are always a work in progress. I plan of digging much deeper in the near future, as I am still getting my feet wet on the topics I wish to discuss. That being said, I will be away for the next five days with little to no computer access, so it will be next week before I post again. /afk

Warning: Language and violence. LOTS of language and violence.

Since Brassneck is used primarily as my farming/gathering toon and has rarely set foot inside of an instance, his choice for gear is limited to items obtained via drops (AH included), quests, or faction rewards. A recent post on WoWInsider by the hunter community blogfather BigRedKitty practically described Brassneck’s gear verbatim, down to his Fruit of the Loom’s.

The article was right up my alley, and I was excited to read it, being the fan of BRK that I am. But the venom that was spewed in the comments section of that post was a bit shocking, even prompting a BRK follow up post appropriately titled “Idiots vs. Idiocy“. Yes, I know this isn’t the best gear in the world. Yes, I know that I can get better gear in instances. Yes, I know I spent a lot of money that could be better utilized. Brassneck will never see the inside of Kara, much less Shadow Labs, so this is the gear that works for me in my current situation, and that is what’s most important.

It has been fun searching out the best non-instance gear for Brassneck, and this article validated that my thinking was correct. There are a few possible upgrades to be made, but I am in no hurry at the moment.

And yes, I would happily spend 1400g for my Don Santos’ Famous Hunting Rifle all over again if I had to.

One of my favorite things to do when I have a few minutes to spare is to scan the auction house for items I can flip quickly and turn a decent profit (I’m pretty sure I’m on Auctioneer Buckler’s Christmas Card list with all the fees he is collecting). I have only been immersed in the economy of Kael’Thas for a couple of months after transferring from Crushridge, my home of more than two years, and I have to say, there definitely aren’t many deals to be found on my new server. That said, I scored one of my biggest hits today, grabbing Recipe: Elixir of Major Mageblood for a mere 25g!

Begbie has been an alchemist since day one, but I dropped herbalism about a month ago for tailoring to create my Shadow’s Embrace set. I have learned a couple of flasks (Mighty Restoration and Relentless Assault) through the discovery system, plus several transmutes, but the Mageblood pattern is a rare world drop, and arguably the most desired/expensive alchemy pattern currently in game.

You would think I was ecstatic to find such a deal on this rare of an item, but I found myself in a bit of a dilemma – learn the pattern, or sell for a fat profit? If I still had my herbalism, I’d learn it in a split second, no questions asked. I loved picking flowers, and I could churn out pots for guildies and the AH all day long. But since I would no longer be supplying my own mats, should I sell it and reap a 700 gold (give or take 100g) profit and add to the epic mount fund?

I went back and forth a dozen times on what to do. This pattern only shows up on the AH about once a month that I see. So, I posted it back up the AH with a 900 buy/850 bid. I always price something this rare fairly high the first time or two through for the person that has to have it at any cost. I logged and went about my business. A few hours later I checked back, and it hadn’t sold yet. That’s when the guilt set in. Begbie has a bunch of rare alchemy patterns already, and this will add to his repertoire greatly. Auction pulled – “You have now learned how to create Elixir of Major Mageblood”. And I’ve been happy ever since.

/2 375 Alch crafting Elixir of Major Mageblood pst

Welcome to Easy Mode! I hope to take a fun, lighthearted look at the World of Warcraft through the eyes of a casual player. My current main is a level 70 Warlock named Begbie on Kael’thas, and I also play/farm with my level 70 Hunter named Brassneck (see Armory links in sidebar). Yes, Warlock + Hunter = Easy Mode.

I am in a small, real-life friends and family guild, which works for me on a lot of levels, especially with my limited playing time. We are working through most of the Burning Crusade 5-mans right now in preparation to run heroics. Having five level 70’s online at once is a challenge for us, but we manage to make 2-4 runs a week. Since I have been playing him for almost 2 1/2 years, and he’s the only level 70 warlock in the guild, Begbie goes on all the dungeon runs, while Brassneck and his stable of pets farms up whatever I need at the moment. It’s a nice symmetry I have going.

So, what can you expect from yet another entry in the ever expanding World of Warcraft blogs? Well, I am a casual player, so this will be a casual blog. I have done the hardcore blogging thing in the past (1-5 posts a day, rarely missing a day, constant research, etc.) and while I loved it at the time, the times have changed. I hope to update this blog 2-3 times a week with whatever is striking my fancy at the moment – be it WoW, music, movies, life, etc.. We’ll see how it all plays out.

Let the blogging begin!