Been threatening to share my Trade Skill Master 2.0 import strings for a while so I finally got of my rear end and decided to make it a reality. As I have many strings, I have decided to split them into the sub sections, This post will give you the imports for what I call Materials, and I'll deal with them purely in alphabetical order of my names.

The first is "Archaeology", this includes all of the keystones such as the Dwarf Rune Stone:

52843,63127,63128,64392,64394,64395,64396,64397,79868,79869,95373

Next up is "Cloth" this includes bolts of cloth as well as the base item such as Runecloth and Bolt of Runecloth:

14047,14256,21840,21877,24271,2589,2592,33470,41510,41511,4306,4338,4339,53010,53643,72988,82441

My "CraftingSpecials" contains items that are used in craft but don't fall into any other category, (e.g. Shadow Silk)

10285,11382,12804,12809,12811,13422,13926,14227,15409,17010,17011,17056,17202,17203,21881,23572,30183,31080,3182,32428,34249,40199,42253,43102,4337,4402,45087,47556,49908,52078,5373,5500,5635,6358,6359,6530,69237,7077,7079,71998,7971,80433,814,83064,94289

All my enchanting mats are grouped together into a group called "Dusts". Here you will find things like Lesser Magic Essence:

10938,10939,10940,10978,10998,11082,11083,11084,11134,11135,11137,11138,11139,11174,11175,11176,11177,11178,14343,14344,16202,16203,16204,22445,22446,22447,22450,34052,34053,34054,34055,34056,34057,52555,52718,52719,52720,52722,74247,74248,74249,74250,74252

"Elementals" is a group that does not contain shaman pets but rather items such as Living Essence as these drop from elementals:

10286,12803,12808,21884,21885,21886,22451,22452,22456,22457,22572,22573,22574,22575,22576,22577,22578,23571,35622,35623,35624,35625,35627,36860,37700,37701,37702,37703,37704,37705,52325,52326,52327,52328,52329,54464,7067,7069,7070,7075,7076,7078,7080,7082,7972

All the raw mats for crafting gems are found in my unimaginatively entitled "Gems" group, in which you'll find things like Black Diamond:

11754,1206,1210,12361,12363,12364,12799,12800,1529,1705,18335,21929,23077,23079,23107,23112,23436,23437,23438,23440,23441,24243,24478,24479,32227,32228,32229,32230,32231,32249,36783,36784,36917,36918,36920,36921,36923,36924,36926,36927,36929,36930,36932,36933,3864,39998,42225,52177,52178,52179,52180,52181,52182,52196,5498,7081,71805,71806,71807,71808,71809,71810,76130,76131,76133,76134,76135,76136,76140,76141,774,7909,7910,818

For making buff food and drinks you need "Groceries", here I include everything a cook would need, unless you're cooking your books!, like Lean Wolf Flank and 100 Year Old Soy Sauce;

1015,1080,1179,12037,12184,12202,12203,12204,12205,12206,12207,12208,12223,13754,13755,13756,13757,13758,13759,13760,13888,13889,13893,1468,159,17194,17196,18255,20424,21024,21071,21153,2251,22644,23676,24477,2593,2594,2595,2596,2672,2673,2674,2675,2677,2678,2680,27422,27425,27429,27435,27437,27438,27439,27515,27516,27668,27669,27671,27674,27677,27678,27681,27682,27854,27860,2886,2924,31670,31671,3173,33444,33823,33824,3404,34412,34736,35562,35948,35949,3667,36782,3685,3712,3730,3731,41800,41801,41802,41803,41805,41806,41807,41808,41809,41810,41812,41813,43007,43009,43010,43011,43012,43013,43501,44834,44835,44853,44854,44855,44940,4537,4603,4655,46784,5051,53062,53063,53064,53065,53066,53067,53068,53069,53070,53071,53072,5465,5466,5467,5468,5469,5470,5471,5503,5504,58262,58265,58278,60838,62778,62779,62780,62781,62782,62783,62784,62785,62786,62791,6289,6291,6303,6308,6317,6361,6362,67229,6889,723,74659,74660,74661,74662,74832,74833,74834,74837,74838,74839,74840,74841,74842,74843,74844,74845,74846,74847,74848,74849,74850,74851,74852,74853,74854,74856,74857,74859,74860,74861,74863,74864,74865,74866,75014,769,7974,81403,81405,81414,8150,8365,85506,85583,85584,85585,98111,98116,98118

All the flowers lovingly picked by my herbalist get sold under a group called, "Herbs" whicch includes pretty flowers such as Icecap;

1288,13463,13464,13465,13466,13467,13468,22785,22786,22787,22789,22790,22791,22792,22793,22794,23117,2447,2449,2450,2452,2453,3355,3356,3357,3358,3369,36901,36903,36904,36905,36906,36907,36908,37921,3818,3819,3820,3821,41814,4625,52983,52984,52985,52986,52987,52988,5637,6522,72234,72235,72237,72238,76137,765,785,79010,79011,8153,8831,8838,8839,8845,8846,9262

The group called "Leather" contains all the goods my skinner retrieves from the corpses of dead beasts from around the world of Azeroth, including classics such as Light Leather:

12607,15407,15408,15410,15412,15414,15415,15416,15417,17012,21887,2318,2319,23793,25649,25699,25700,25707,25708,2934,29539,29547,29548,33567,33568,38425,38557,38558,38561,4232,4234,4235,4255,4304,44128,4461,52976,52977,52979,52980,52982,5784,5785,6470,6471,72120,72162,7286,7392,783,79101,8154,8165,8167,8169,8170,8171

"Ores" contains all the products of mining a ore node (except gems as they have their own group) so Dense Stone is included as well as Thorium Ore:

10620,11371,12359,12360,12365,12655,22202,22203,23427,23445,23446,23447,23448,23449,23573,2771,2772,2835,2836,2838,2840,2841,2842,3164,3575,3577,36909,36913,36916,37663,3858,3859,3860,41163,51950,52185,52186,53038,53039,54849,58480,6037,72092,72093,72094,72095,72096,72103,7912

The group called "Pigments" includes pigments and inks so items like  Ivory Ink as well as Alabaster Pigment are found within:

37101,39151,39334,39338,39339,39340,39341,39342,39343,39469,43103,43104,43105,43106,43107,43108,43109,61979,61980,62323,67319,67335,79251,79253,79740

I have an experimental group called "Seeds" that contains all the seeds sold at Halfhill Market. They sell surprisingly well, especially Scallion Seeds:

79102,80590,80591,80592,80593,80594,80595,89326,89328,89329

Lastly is the group I call "Vendor" which covers all sorts of random stuff that is used by professions (e.g. Pink Dye), you're unlucky to stumble across these items on the AH but if you see them and see others making coin from them why not try your luck.

10290,10647,11291,14341,18567,2320,2321,2324,2325,2604,2605,2880,3371,3466,38426,38682,39354,39684,40533,4289,4291,4340,4341,4342,4399,4400,44499,44500,44501,4470,52188,5956,6217,6260,6261,63388,64670,65892,65893,7005,79249,83092,8343,9260

That finishes the first batch of my import strings. I don't claim these lists to be perfect and they don't all include every item possible but if they are not, they are missing very few items. If you find an incorrectly placed or missing item, please feel free to comment below.

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I have been lusting after the Fiery Warhorse's Reins ever since Burning Crusade when my old guildmate Cheiftan won one on an alt run through Karazhan. I really don't want to add up the number of kills I have on Attumen across my account (which incidentally is only post TBC) but as a finger in the air I'd say that I have run it an average of 3 times a week for the past 5 years which puts my guesstimated kill count at over 700.

However as the screenshot shows that has finally ended with my monk, Wilkini being the lucky toon. Am I happy? Oh hell yeah, although it will mean I have to now farm Netherweave Cloth in Sethekk Halls now as I can focus on the big blue chicken there. more »

Been a couple of topics in guild chat this week that have raised the head of the terms of hardcore and casual and it has caused some lengthy discussions, so I thought it worthwhile to put over my vuews on the matter.

Firstly I'll come out and say that these terms are only in our heads. If you think you are a casual gamer, then you probably are, if you think I am hardcore while I think I am casual then you're right again but so am I. Confused? If not you're unlikely to read beyond here so /wave. 

If you're still with me, thanks and sorry for confusing you. You're probably wondering how could we both be right if I'm both hardcore and casual at the same time. Well my friend the reason is because we share different definitions of what is a hardcore gamer.

I'll now describe me as a gamer. I started gaming at the tender age of 3 playing card games and board games, and am now 43, I started playing video games back in 1977 with Pong on a console, moved into computer gaming back in 1981 (snake on the ZX81), got my first handheld game (Astro Wars) in 1981, got my first PC in 1990 (an Amsrad PCW8512). In 1999 I got a Playstation and played racing games and sport sims before moving on to games like Grand Theft Auto until 2005 when I got introduced to World of Warcraft since then I have had very brief flings with other MMOs but have focused 99% of all my gaming into World of Warcraft which can consist of daily amounts of 7 hours or more on my days off work and 4-5 hours on a night when I return home from work. My character is always fully gemmed and enchanted and wears the best gear I can lay my hands on.

Does that make me hardcore?

I have researched this a bit and the most common theme for a definition of a hardcore gamer, in order of frequency given around the Internet, are:

1. The gamer must play a lot of different games;
2. The gamer must have professional gaming skills;
3. The gamer must play 'their game' for hours each day;
4. The gamer must play MMOs;
5. The gamer must put their heart and soul into their gaming;
6. The gamer just wants to win;
7. The gamer has played games of all types for many years;

Lets look at these in detail and score myself in each one.

The gamer must play a lot of different games;

For the most common reason to be a hardcore gamer I fail horribly, as I only dabble in other games like SWTOR and LOL. (Hardcore 0 - 1 Casual)

The gamer must have professional gaming skills;
I raid a a respectable level on a below average server and am OK at PVP. But I AM a keyboard turner although I do keybind 95% of all my abilities. I can hardly be defind as a professional skilled gamer. (Hardcore 0 - 2 Casual)

The gamer must play 'their game' for hours each day;
Yeah I play WoW too much most days, no way I can claim casual here. (Hardcore 1 - 2 Casual)

The gamer must play MMOs;
erm got me again, infact I really only play MMOs . (Hardcore 2 - 2 Casual)

The gamer must put their heart and soul into their gaming;
I play too much, blog about WoW, am a raid leader, guild officer and listen to hours of podcasts each week all about WoW and gaming in general. (Hardcore 3 - 2 Casual)

The gamer just wants to win;
For me I want to win but I also want to have fun. Losing lessens fun and I'm sure nobody plays to lose. But If I had to choose winning all the time and not having fun or just having fun and winning half the time I'd choose winning half the time and fun. (Hardcore 3 - 3 Casual)

The gamer has played games of all types for many years; 
Well a simple read through my gaming resume prooves that, but then so has my sister, my Mum, my Dad and my wife so while I notch one up for hardcore here, it really proves 1 of 2 things, this measure is bad or we're all hardcore gamers. (Hardcore 4 - 3 Casual).

So there we have it a narrow margin win for me being a hardcore gamer. However, scoring my Mum against these criteria she also scores a 4-3 win for being hardcore. The ones she differs on to myself are that she plays many games but no MMOs.

Do you think there are other criteria that could be used? I'd love to know how you scored and how you rated me from my gaming resume. more »

Sometimes real life can be cruel and recently it seems to have conspired to throw everything at me which has resulted in less than optimal time in WoW and almost crippled my blogging for the past 2 weeks. Then this week TSM2 got launched and that has devoured a huge amount of time learning that and then setting it up 3 times (long boring story I won't tell yet). 

The good news there though i that the 3rd incarnation of my set up is far superior the the first 2 and worlds ahead of the TSM1 set up. Rather than risk having to spend a 4th period of 3 hours setting up TSM, I decided to back up all my groups and fortunately that will give me a lot of content to provide through the blog so the exercise wasn't a complete waste.

A quick plug for Sapu and his team over at TradeSkillMaster.com and the Consortium Forums who deserve a huge thank you from everyone that uses or has used TSM. If you're not a user and are heavily into gold making using your professions then you really should give it a look. I won't lie, the learning curve is steep but there are many fantastic guides out there in the community. Below is a few I have used this week after discovering them on the Consortium forum's "Read First" post:

TSM2 Video Guides

• TSM 2.0 Guides by @PhatLewts
• Basic How To Videos from PowerWordGold

TSM2 Written Guides

• Installation and user Guide from @Cryan
• TSM 2.0 Teaser including basic functionality guide from @PhatLewts
• Nice review guide from Marcus TY
• A look into groups and operations by @Kathroman

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This weeks screenshot was taken while waiting for Galleon to spawn. Wow is apparently in decline, the folks of Silvermoon EU would like to disagree.

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Recently a forum post on our guild website prompted me to put together a short guide to farming cloth and rather than let it fester there I thought I'd share it here.

In my experience, farming cloth is often the best option because it is often very expensives, particularly Frostweave and Embersilk. Therefore, the profits on crafted items, the cost of leveling kits and the cost of your own power leveling  make buying cloth inefficient. Therefore farming is needed. But where do you farm the cloth you need? 

With the advent of cross realm zones, the best spots are often being used by levelers and we don't want to upset them by running in and AoEing down half the zone and steal their kills or let them steal ours! 

Therefore I prefer to hit an instance of the appropriate level un til I have hit the 5 instances per hour cap when I will go and farm the world area, respecting any levelers in the area, until my cap has reset. My recommended farming spots are below.

Linen Cloth
Level : 5-15
Instance: Deadmines
World: Gnolls in Westfall

Wool Cloth
Level : 20-26
Instance: Stockades
World: undead in Raven Hill Crypts

Silk Cloth
Level : 33-38
Instance: Scarlet Monastery
World: cultists Eastern Plaguelands

Mageweave Cloth
Level : 40-48
Instance: Dire Maul North
World: ogres in Badlands

Runecloth
Level : 51-58
Instance: Blackrock Spire
World: undead Gilnaens in Blasted Lands

Netherweave Cloth
Level : 60-70
Instance: Shadow Labs
World: demon hunters on Black Temple roof (not the instance!)

Frostweave Cloth
Level : 70-80
Instance: Utgarde Keep/Pinnacle
World: Converted Heroes in Icecrown

Embersilk Cloth
Level : 80-85
Instance: Grim Batol (don't do the bombing run)
World: Tol Barad (anything except the spiders!)

Have you got better suggestions? If so I'd love to hear them. more »

I recently stumbled upon an article on World of Matticus, that claimed Tanks and Healers Should Get The Biggest Rewards which was written by Gordon of the We Fly Spitfires blog back in 2010 and it got me thinking.

We know there is shortage of tanks and healers to allow the masses of DPS to run Raid Finder and heroic 5 man content and that is in part because the roles of tanks and healers are more highly pressurised. This is because a 5 man needs only 1 tank and 1 healer and therefore any slack is instantly noticed compared to 1 of the 3 DPS who can be carried by the other 2 performing the same role. In LFR the gap is even bigger for tanks and slightly less for healers but again DPS get away lightly because there are 16 DPS that can carry one slacker.

Blizzard seems to have given up trying to incentivise healers and tanks and have now fixed the problem with scenarios and while that will fix the problem of long queue times for DPS will it fix the problem of too few healers and tanks? I doubt it. In fact I would suspect that it will actually make the issue worse as those DPS that used to queue as healer reluctantly in 5 mans now will switch back to DPS mode.

What I believe will resolve the issue is a different reward system for tanks and healers and not just the Call to Arms guff we got before, which in my opinion, failed horribly. What would work is extra rewards in terms of valor points, say an extra 25% when you queue up as a tank and healer. To avoid people abusing the system, it would be necessary for people to be automatically respecced into their tank/healing spec upon zoning into the instance and then being locked into the spec until they zone out of that instance. 

The other issue that such a reward system would create is that tanks and healers would cap faster than DPS and then not queue, therefore a possible solution would be for these extra points to be added to the cap so if a tank/healer chooses to earn all their valor via LFR/LFD they would end up with a 1250 weekly valor cap. This would enable them to gear up slightly faster and then spend their valor points on off-spec gear which gives them a better experience outside of the dungeons and raids.

As a healer such a system would not encourage me to change my play style but then I predominantly play tanks and healers because I like fast queues and am not afraid of the pressure. However, I suspect the lure of extra loot would encourage some DPS to go beyond their comfort zone and actually try out these vital roles and discover that it really is neither scary nor hard.

I'd love to know your views on this suggestion, especially if you are a serial DPS player. Would this system make you more likely to heal or tank? If not why not? And what would encourage you to try tanking/healing? If nothing would encourage you why not?

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Blizzard announced a few weeks ago that they were adding in more items to the Blizzard Store for us to buy and use in-game. They also announced they were testing, on the PTR, an XP bonus elixir that they would be selling, initially Asia, that works like the Elixir of Ancient Knowledge and 3 transmog helms (which all look awful in my opinion but that is not the point here).The naysayers have been out predicting this is the beginning of the end of the World of Warcraft and that Blizzard are cashing in now before it keels over and dies.

This all sounds very familiar, remember "that retarded horse"? Watch the video below from Totalbiscuit if you need a reminder.

Well that was April 15th 2010, the same predictions were made then, especially with the likes of Rift and SWtOR that were coming soon. Did WoW die? I don't think it did, subs have dropped since then but it wasn't due to the Blizzard Store and most of the drop has come in Asia where they pay to play by the hour not use the monthly subscription model and as the game gets easier for people to get to the end, some players that get there don't feel the need to carry on buying game time.

Despite what people may whine about these items robbing us, the players, of more heroic dungeons and more playable content it really doesn't. Does a helm graphic take the same time as a heroic 5 man dungeon? I certainly hope not. Heck if everything that Blizzard have put into the store so far takes the same time as it would for them to heroic up an old 5 man dungeon I would be shocked.

The store has added more mounts and pets and people continue to buy them and personally I welcome that.Why? Because Blizzard are making huge amounts of money selling these items and while they are doing that my monthly subscription stays at the same price today as it was back in 2005 when I started playing the game £8.99 which is $15 in the US and EU.

They have also stated that Lesser Charms of Good Fortune will also be purchasable and while that is getting close to the point I would call foul I still see no major issue as these are so easy to obtain if you play the game that hitting the weekly "need" of 50 happens in no time at all.

The line that must not be crossed is the one where you can buy a real advantage such as non-cosmetic items (armour, weapons, buffs) or actual content that gives unique items that grant extra power. This then means that rich players have a competitive advantage over the poor ones and then that only applies if the game is NOT Free2Play.

Personally I have bought no mounts or pets from the store, I have spent about £150 on transfers and faction changes though and I did subscribe to the Remote application when that was a paid service. However, I'll be looking at the XP elixir closely. If it persists through death and is "the right price" I'll be very tempted.

I'll not condemn those that keep buying "That Retarded Horse" or the "Golden Penis" mount though I do think you're stupid for spending that amount of money on a mount you'll not use much after the first few weeks. The real fools are those that paid thousands of pounds for a spectral tiger mount, that surely is a sign of someone having more money than sense. If I had that kind of extra money spare I can thing of a thousand better ways to spend it than on a bunch of pixels in a game.

If you have ever bought a mount or pet from the pet store did you regret it afterwards? I'd love to hear your story if you did. If you haven't bought anything from the store, have you been tempted? Are you waiting for the right "thing" to be there?

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This week I have mostly been doing Brawlers Guild and have finally gotten to rank 7 on Evlyxx. I had previously been stuck at rank 2 boss Kirrawk. Past that point there was only one boss that was remotely difficult, Yikkan Izu, the 1st rank 6 opponent who was a complete nightmare and took me 30 tries before I got lucky with procs that gave me many instant Mind Blasts and Mind Spike in quick succession allowing me to burn him down while running away from what seemed like hundreds of adds.

Compared to my warlock, who got rank 7 earlier the same day while I just face rolled the challengers thrown at her the priest is at a distinct disadvantage.

If I were designing Brawler’s Guild I would make 2 changes. Remove the ability to use pets and normalise gear.

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Anyone following this blog from day 1 will know that the reason for me starting to blog was to write about my progress in WoW and while that has sort of happened I've never really caught up with my pre-blogging story. My last installment was, as has become tradition, many months ago and in it I got got to the beginning of the Trial of the Crusader in terms of game progression and had just switch guilds leaving Encore and joining Quercus. Anyway, the story so far can be read in the following posts The Backstory: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13 and Part 14.

Quercus were more the type of guild I was accustomed to being in albeit it ranked a few places lower on the Tier 7 progress than Deadwood, but they were actively raiding and were a progression type guild. The folks there were a friendly bunch and, as expected were damned fine raiders too. They also knew how to have fun and that meant an awful lot to me as that was something that never seemed to happen in Encore and had slowly vanished in Deadwood as the guild slowly died. The only remotely odd thing was that the guild leader was absent as she was away in the US but her husband was leading the guild and doing a good job in my opinion.

The raiding schedule was hectic though in the 3 nights we raided we cleared Ulduar on 25 (as they were attempting to get the guild's 2nd Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings) and Trial of the Crusader on Normal and Heroic. The "off" nights were spent raiding Ulduar 10 working on hard modes in 2 groups and Trial of the Crusader (normal and heroic) in 10 man. Back then that didn't feel like a chore, mainly because my work schedule allowed it and because the guys were fun to be with following the mantra "work hard, play hard". In early December the guild leader returned from her break and things almost instantly took a more serious note when raiding but as Icecrown Citadel had just been launched I just put that down to us having to learn new fights rather than simply farming known content with the exception of heroic Trial of the Crusader (25).

The first boss in ICC, Lord Marrowgar died in the first week and boss #2, Lady Deathwhisper, died in the 2nd as did the Loot Ship. Saurfang slowed the guild down a bit and it was this that seemed to be the catalyst that saw a character change in the guild leader, as she became very rude with people and I remember her kicking a tank mid-raid for making a small mistake. A friend who I had encouraged to join the guild was so angry at this act that he left the raid and quit the guild instantly. It was at this point that I too decided to look for another guild, a process that took me only 2 weeks and during those 2 weeks the mood of the guild changed dramatically. A few days before I had got accepted into my new guild, Immersion, I was guild kicked without any explanation and to this day I don't know why, but can only assume that she found out about my application. This was proof enough to me that I was lucky to be out of the guild.

Today Quercus are one of the best progressed raiding guilds on Shadowsong EU despite having the guild leader still at the helm with some of the same faces that were there in Wrath. Hopefully, the guild leader was just going through a bad patch in her life and is now a friendly and likable person. However, she remains the only person I have encountered in game that I have ever had feelings of pure hatred towards. It doesn't make me feel big or clever however, she was the real inspiration at me starting this blog so I guess in someways I owe an awful lot to her. So Myrgthe I salute you!

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Nothing fancy this week just a funny scene captured randomly in a recent ICC run. more »

Pandaria, her hills of gold, in dark and mournful times of old, did once a hopeless horror hold.
When from her sacred veil did spring, with storm and flash, a monstrous thing, his name Lei-Shen, the Thunder King.
His thunder boomed across the land, and none who dared and fought could stand, against the iron tyrant's hand.
A palace grand, a walled domain, such mighty works born of his reign, built by slaves, their hearts in chains.
But seasons change and tyrants die, his fury spent in times gone by, the thunder slept beneath Kun Lai.
By Zandalari hands he has been taken, by Zandalari voice he has awakened.
Exhumed's heroes came to pwn, the Thunder King's gone, the Thunder King's gone.

Last week my guild, Exhumed, killed the Thunder King, server 21st, EU 7880 and world 12474. In the grand scheme of things nothing fantastic but for a guild that raids for only 6 hours a week in a casually hard-core style I’m proud as hell of the 14 guys and gals that got us the kill. It means that we’ve got the “Ahead of the Curve” achievement for the 2nd straight tier and something that we were not able to do at all prior to Mists. Sure were rocked in Dragon Soul but that was only AFTER the nerfs came in and we took Deathwing HC down literally 2 hours before Mists launched. 

Heroic modes now await us until the Siege of Orgrimmar arrives to occupy our attention and that is something of a dilemma for me, not because I don’t think we are capable (our blitz through the first 11 bosses in less than 3 hours this week is proof that we are more than ready) but rather the way Blizzard has the HC bosses tuned. The order goes something like:

1. Jin'rokh the Breaker (1st boss)
2. Ji-Kun (6th boss)
3. Horridon (2nd boss)
4. Tortos (4th boss)
5. Iron Qon (10th boss)
6. Council of Elders (3rd boss)
7. Twin Consorts (11th boss)
8. Megaera (8th boss)
9. Durumu the Forgotten (7th boss)
10. Primordius (8th boss)
11. Dark Animus (9th boss)
12. Lei Shen (12th boss)

This means that for optimal progression you need to waste a lot of opportunities especially this late on in the tier of killing HC bosses. I am likely to not bother attempting Ji’kun heroic because we could spend time more wisely by going straight to Horridon after Jin’rohk dies on HC mode despite the fact we lose HC tier legs. Likewise once Horridon HC dies the council at 6th toughest doesn’t seem worth passsing by to go to Tortos HC because of the HC tier gloves there.

All in all the HC progression should be linear if the instance is linear. However that begs the question should raids be linear (as every raid instance in Mists has been), winged like Naxxramas and ICC was or more freestyle like Ulduar and Firelands was?

My personal preference is freestyle like Ulduar/Firelands it means progression in HCs can be more illogical without the need to kill normal mode bosses get to the HC boss you want to try next. I also prefer this layout for normal modes as it gives you options to vary the route you take and if there are a few “optional” bosses along the way it allows you to miss them out completely if nobody needs loot from them and therefore gives you more time to work on progression.

If you were able to design your perfect raid what style would you have? Would you bosses rise in difficulty in a logical order on heroic modes? Would you have optional bosses in normal mode?

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Just to prove that priests are powered by the light, even low level ones like Evangelysta, my 30 something Draenei priestess on Silvermoon EU. more »

Duane returns to the scene this week which is sad because he has brought some drama with him. For my newer readers, he is not a real person, he is merely a character I have created to represent "my typical guildmate". It has been a while since I had to write about him as the my guild has been largely devoid of drama and even when there is some drama it isn't anything I felt the urge to write about. However over the past few months things have been slowly building to a point where I feel I need to vent the steam that is building before it boils over uncontrollably. 

I am certain many of you can relate to the events that I shall briefly describe here and if you can my heart goes out to you all and I hope that most of you, my dear readers, don't have any experience past, present or future. 

So lets set the scene a bit. Duane has been around the guild for a long while he is a good player and knows how to make himself popular with others. Sounds great, but Duane gets bored/distracted easily and often considers the rest of the guild to be slightly beneath him and at times I get the impression that he thinks we are holding him back. Duane likes to raid and as a raid leader he is hard to leave out of the raid because he is good. However, he has a cycle that has repeated itself on more than one occasion that in short is:

1. playing like a boss and being the perfect guild/raid member;
2. forming a clique;
3. becoming bored/disillusioned;
4. causing drama upsetting one (or more) players who may be part of the clique or not;
5. disappearing from the game for a short break which ends up being months;
6. returning as if nothing had ever happened;

Duane is currently in the early stages of step 4 and I am in a position of knowing what is about to happen and being powerless to stop it as if I do the clique that has evolved will see me as the bad guy which will upset the balance of the guild's raid and PvP teams.

This is not only affecting my game enjoyment but also that of a few others that know fully of Duane's past. I know something needs to be done I just don't know what the best course of action is to take.

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