Hopefully, there’s something in this week’s notables that will appeal to just about everyone. I have to confess, I wasn’t quite as studious this week in reviewing items–I’ve spent a good part of the week in the garage, cleaning out 20 years of junk, and setting up a new workbench and tool cabinets. And the work isn’t near done yet. However, I’ll have a photo spread on the "before and after" in a week or two! In the meantime, enjoy this week’s offerings.
[recreading]


I agreed with you section up until the “worry about the expansion…when it’s installed.” – now everyone should play the game the way they like, but that is a very sub-optimal way to play this game. I was shocked as to how far in advance of the WotLK beta the economy crashed. I clearly think you should enjoy as much content as possible (assuming it does not involve a vehicle of course) – be that Algalon or Patchwerk for you. But I think it is reasonable to think about the future when allocating your current game time – do I want to do unpleasant rep / grinds for items with limited life time? Is it worth it to grind for rep for a recipe that, whether rightly or wrongly, people are no longer as interested in buying? Remember the stock market quotation – if people think something is going to be worth less in the future, it is worth less now.
If you are a guild leader, I think your planning will need to start 6 months before ship – does the guild want to make it into Cat? Will it hiatus during the 4 month leadup or will it try to do things? Same things or “goodbye to Az” achievements?
Unfortunately, just like in life, what people *should* do is pretty irrelevant; all we can control is our reaction to what they actually do. And Cataclysm will be having a major impact on WotLk long before it ships.
You’re absolute right; my point was more along the lines of, “Don’t let Cataclysm paralyze you before it gets here.” I did almost zero prep before WotLK came out, and I still have maxed level tailoring, enchanting, jewelcrafting, herbalism (2 characters), inscription and mining.
Worse, though, is the impact on raiding guilds: Too many people don’t want to help others progress; instead, they want to wait for the new content…then wonder why they can’t get decent groups when an expansion comes out.
My initial reaction to this is WoWC will be harder on guild survival. WotLK seemed to me really tough on guilds for 10-person raids (almost said 10-man oops) – if you care enough to do much progression, you probably care enough to get geared up and move on to 25s – hard to find enough middle ground to keep in going. Plus losing a tank or healer is a half or third of that role in a ten, smaller % with 25s.
Now with the guild benefits (recipes, chants, etc.), it seems that people will be more judgmental about the guild they are in. But we don’t really have enough information to know how that will work.
I absolutely *loved* the XKCD strip. I can think of a few (dozen) relatives of mine who should get that printed on glossy paper and mounted as a poster above their work space.