Lethal Shots

For those who don’t know, my main (my Hunter) has been an Engineer for quite a while. I have always loved the idea behind the profession, even if it hasn’t always been well implemented in game. So while the Enchanters, Jewelcrafters, Scribes, ect. all got min/maxing friendly perks, Engineers got handed, well, nothing. Our profession only perks are inferior to standard enchants, leaving little reason to use them.

Well, it looks like there are going to be some changes in 3.2 to help offset this imbalance. The blue post can be found here, but I’ll go ahead and list the highlights of the post here:

• Added a new Mind Amplification Dish attachment for helmets, allowing engineers to control other humanoid targets. Some restrictions apply: does not work in Arenas, dish sometimes reverses targets, unable to stack with other stat-improving head enchantments and makes your helmet look… stylish?

Think Gnomish Mind-Control Cap (off-hand, I can’t look up the exact name right now). This is Blizz’s attempt to bring old-world Engineering into current end-game, which I am all for. Some of that old stuff is a blast to play with. But in truth it really isn’t that great for PvE.

• Engineers can now learn to create a portable Wormhole Generator for Northrend. The Wormhole allows them to travel to different locations in Northrend, although the locations are sometimes in dangerous places.

Fun, useful, and very mage-like. But if you really want to impress me, let me use it to go to places in Azeroth and Outland too.

• Increased benefits from Hyperspeed Accelerators, Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket and Reticulated Armor Webbing glove modifications.
• Increased the passive bonuses provided by Springy Arachnoweave, Flexweave Underlay and Nitro Boosts.

Simply Blizz changing every profession to keep up with Smiths being able to equip two extra epic gems.

• Mote Extractor now has innate tracking of gas clouds while it is in your inventory.
• The Spynocular belt attachment has been changed to a Frag Belt. The Frag Belt periodically produces a Cobalt Frag Bomb that can be used from the belt every 10 minutes (never runs out!).

I’m thinking these two changes may be Blizz trying to augment Engineering’s already weak profession bonuses. At the very least it will be a new toy to play with.

• A new repair bot has been added, and his name is Jeeves. He is the ultimate gentleman robot butler, able to perform all the mundane tasks of repairing, selling and buying junk for your entire raid. Additionally, he can open bank boxes for skilled engineers (350+). Jeeves is not destroyed when used, but due to pressing engagements, can only be summoned once per hour. The schematic for this handsome robot was said to be hidden within the parts of another robot – hoping to be found by an engineer one day.
• Significantly reduced the cooldown on MOLL-E.

Wow, this is actually pretty cool. Almost as cool as the squire, which (if memory serves me right) can do everything Jeeves and MOLL-E can do, that EVERYONE can get in 3.2 from the Argent Tournament.

• The Ultrasafe Bullet Machine and Saronite Arrow Maker schematics have been simplified to create a full stack of the appropriate ammunition. No longer requires an anvil. Reduced the materials required to make this ammunition.

Interesting change. The only effect I see this having is removing the niche market at the AH of people who buy the ammo boxes and re-list the ammo itself. I do like that it no longer requires an anvil.

• A Steam-Powered Auctioneer has been added to the Dalaran Like Clockwork engineering shop, allowing access to one’s faction Auction House. The Steam-Powered Auctioneer was programmed with a superiority chip, and will only interact with Grand Master Engineers.

Now this is huge. I love this idea. Too bad there will be so much QQing from non-engineers that the idea will either be dropped or it will be opened up for use by non-engineers.

I know I didn’t go over all the changes, but to be honest the rest of them weren’t very exciting. Overall I like the direction they are going. Up until now, Blizz has only payed Engineering minor lip service in terms of min/maxing, but I’m hoping the devs have seen reason and buffed our gadgets up enough to make them worth using. Jeeves is going to be cool, but not really that big of a deal since anyone who spends some time at the Argent Tournament can get a squire. And the Engineer-only auctioneer in Dalaran? You can can forget about that ever making it live. The whining and crying from other professions will be so overwhelming that Blizz will cave. But hey, we can dream can’t we?

I figured I should do a quick update on how my switch to Mining / Engineering is going. To describe it in one word: SLOW.

I decided to hold off on leveling Engineering while I level Mining, instead of going back and forth between gathering and crafting. The way I figure it, once I have leveled Mining, I should be able to take my huge stockpile of materials and power level Engineering. So I left Engineering sitting at 125 and proceeded to work strictly on Mining. As of last night, I have leveled it up to 255.

One thing I realized is that leveling Skinning is way easier than leveling Mining. With Skinning, all I had to do was go somewhere with a lot of skin-able mobs and go on a killing spree. With Mining, I find myself circling zones, zig-zagging across them, looking for nodes. It is boring. And Slow.

But who cares. I knew what I was in for when I switched, so I will take it all in stride and keep grinding away. Hopefully by the time I go to bed tonight, I will be happily Mining in Outland. Wish me luck.

(P.S. If you know a great place/route to mine Thorium, let me know.)

Santyn has been a Skinner and Leatherworker ever since the grand level of 5. I faithfully used all of my skinned leather to level my Leatherworking, went out of my way to gather materials, went broke buying thread and other items. And what do I have to show for it? Nothing. I shed the last of the armor I made within the first few levels of Outland and haven’t worn anything I have made since. The stuff doesn’t even sell on the Auction House. I end up just having a guild member DisEnchant it for me. So far I have it up to 363, and I can find no motivation to level it any higher. Sure, the drums are kind of neat for the occasional group or raid, but that is about to change once Wrath hits and drums get a 2 minute debuff. So here I am with a profession that is useless to me and I can’t stand to level any further. What is one to do?

Well, I’m going to drop it. Yup, you heard me right, I am going to drop it. Replace it with something else. Screw the time and money I have poured into it. And you know what I am replacing it with? Engineering. Yeah, you heard me right, Engineering. “But isn’t that painfully expensive to level and won’t you have to put massive amounts of time into it?” Yeah, it is and I will. But you know what? I don’t care. I am taking it because Engineering is fun. And isn’t that why I play this game in the first place, to have fun? I want the goofy looking helicoptor / plane thing. I want the motorcyle that is coming in Wrath. And I’ll even wear the funny looking goggles so that i can get free and easy motes. And bombs. I will gleefully throw those at my enemies and watch them look at me with that blank stare of confusion. And again, I won’t care. Because I am having fun.