Three Simple Things You Need to Do to Prepare for Wrath

Introduction

As many of you know, I’m specced for WotLK-avoidance. I’ve made the point here, in comments on other blogs, and on the Twisted Nether Blogcasts, that I’m having way too much fun raiding current content (that bastard Al’Ar has more lives than a cat!), to pay much attention to the beta. That said, I’m not being a total ostrich about the upcoming expansion. 

I now realize I entered Burning Crusade without much of a plan; I hope to correct that in Lich King. For one thing, I have a better idea of the importance of gaining faction reputation, and how to do it (e.g., get at least up to Honored before starting faction-gaining quest lines). Poor Kestrel is still only Honored with Honor Hold, for example: He may never learn [spell]Enchant Cloak – Subtlety[/spell].

Therefore, I want to lay out a few ideas for you to consider as you prepare to weather the Wrath of the Lich King.

1. Maximize Your Secondary Professions

You still haven’t trained First Aid? Or Fishing or Cooking? Well, lucky you: There’s still time! If you don’t know why you should train First Aid, read the linked article. Or go back to The Eye and fight Al’ar. Are you one of those people who cries out in Raid Chat (between the misdirect and the first pull, usually), "OH…does anyone have some stam food?" So there’s one good reason to get that cooking skill trained up.

Let’s face it: We’re going to be grinding 10 levels before we get to the "good stuff" in Wrath. A lot of that grinding will probably be solo. Being able to catch and cook your own food will allow you to grind harder, faster, smarter: Less downtime is a Very Good Thing, no?

Sure, the prospect of fishing for hours to get that skill up is the pits; don’t do it on EVERY character, but do it on one you plan to take to 80. Once you hit level 70 and 250 (bare minimum) – 300 (recommended) skill, you can do the Daily Fishing Quests, which will certainly help (and one of those,  Crocolisks in the City, only requires Fishing Skill 1!). But the payoffs to fishing are huge: First, you can cook what you catch (see following paragraphs). Second, you can sell what you don’t need, unless… Third, you can help provide your raid with consummables. And trust me, if you’re not a healer, you can sell [item]Golden Fish Sticks[/item] for a pretty penny!¹

Cooking doesn’t require nearly the effort (or time) fishing demands. However, if you’re starting from zero, farming low-level animals to get started is a bit boring, I agree. So grab a friend or two and make a game of it! (You can do the same with fishing, of course, and adding in a friendly wager or three will help keep the enthusiasm bubbling.) And once again, if you are Level 70, you can pick up the daily cooking quests, which pay out in cash and food you can cook (in fact, once you hit 275 skill, they are the easiest way to get that last hundred points, as well as most of the rarer recipes). Of course, besides providing your own consummables, you can again help out raid members, or sell some of your excess at the Auction Hall.

As for First Aid, go read my original article, and the comments. Seriously though, are there still any raiders who have not maxed First Aid? As I alluded to above, the Al’ar fight is a perfect example of why first aid is a great asset. In this fight, if you’ve forgotten (or haven’t been there), there is a lot of movement, especially in Phase 2, when Al’ar meteors. In addition, there are the flame patches, which hurt a LOT, and do a lot of damage in a short period. Often, half the raid suddenly gets a lot of damage. Being able to bandage yourself (especially if you’re a DPS class) allows your healers to concentrate on tanks and other healers, and top off your health with just a quick-cast HoT instead of needing to spend two or three seconds giving you a larger heal.

A final note: The WoW Wiki links in the preceding paragraphs aren’t there simply to make this article more bloggified. They lead to pages with loads of information on how to progress in the secondary professions. While there are other guides available, these are all in one place. Let’s face it: If you haven’t maxed these skills yet, you’re lazy. So I’ve put everything in one easy-to-find location. But if you want to spend some time looking around for even more comprehensive guides, GO FOR IT! (And please, link your finds in the Comments!)

2. Get Your Epic Flying Mount

"But Kes, we can’t even fly in Northrend until level 77!!" Right. We’re still in Beta, last I checked. And while I truly don’t expect this to change, the possibility is always there. But that’s not a very good argument.

The point is, you have time now. Are you going to have that time once Wrath is released? Don’t count on it. Remember: You won’t be level 80, so you won’t be getting 10-12 every time you complete a quest, as you currently do at 70. And 5,200 gold is still not a trivial sum for most people. One thing we know about Northrend is that it’s huge; at least as vast as Outland. And besides, it’s going to make step 3, below, a lot easier.

3. Maximize At Least 1 Gathering Skill

Seriously, there is no easier way to make money than to gather ore, herbs, or leather and sell them at the AH. My jewelcrafter has mining at 375 skill level; my enchanter and my leatherworker both have skinning maxed, and my tailor has herbalism at 375. For the jewelcrafter (who prospects ore for gems to cut into jewels) and the leatherworker (who of course uses the leather for his craft), these are no-brainers. If you have an engineer, then you should also raise your mining to 375. If you’re an alchemist, ditto herbalism. If you didn’t do this before now, do it now. (If you buy your ore in the AH, do I need to give any other reason??)

I realize many of you are thinking, "Tell us something we don’t know, Kes!" but you’d be surprised how many people don’t do this. My tailor happens to be Osprey, my Priest. Priests use lots of potions, elixirs and flasks, and all of those take herbs. Lots of herbs. I use the equivalent of at least a couple hundred every couple weeks to replenish his stocks, and all it costs me is a bit of time and the money for bottles.

Every one of my five level 70 characters has at least one epic flying mount, and herbalism and mining paid for all but one of those (one was a Christmas gift).²

Tell Me Again, Why?

Again, I’m pretty ignorant of Lich King content, and I’m blissfully ignorant. But if it’s anything like Burning Crusade, we’re going to see a lot of new enchantments, gems, glyphs, runes, potions, flasks, elixirs, and inscriptions coming our way. No one can do all these things themselves (although inscriptions apparently will make this a lot easier!), which means you’ll probably be paying for some of these things yourself. And if you aren’t a raider, then chances are you’re going to be counting on the AH to supply a lot of your gear, weapons and consummables. Last time I checked (yesterday), the AH only takes cash. Except for the First Aid (and even with that, you can sell extra high-skill bandages), these are skills that can make you a lot of money with relatively little effort. 

So leave a comment, tell me how wonderful this article was in opening your eyes to the possibilities in front of you, then get in game and SKILL UP!