I'm a bit late to the game on the Newbie Blogger Initiative weekly challenges over at Tastes Like Battle Chicken, but I figured better late than never! This week's challenge is to do some research into something new to me, and then give a little presentation on what I've learned. I love this challenge because this is pretty much why I play WoW: I love researching a topic, plotting a course of action and then achieving it in game.
Probably the best example of this for me is when I decide to roll a new toon; so this post will be a description of how I get up to speed on a class that is new to me. I am playing a ton of toons right now, but there is one more race and class that I have been itching to try: a troll feral cat druid. This is because:
1. I am interested in learning the feral cat playstyle
2. I don't have any trolls amongst my Horde girls
3. Troll cats and bears look awesome with their dayglo mohawks.
I've been waiting on this until I get the motivation to grind JP on Wapsi for the leather agility shoulder and chest heirlooms, but for the purpose of this post, I'm just going to dive right in. First, I need to actually roll the toon. It's kind of a complicated process as each my other toons contribute something to help with the leveling.
Here's my new troll druid lady, sporting lovely blue-green hair and skin. She kind of reminds me of the large dragonfly I saw at my pond this morning, so I'll call her Aeshna (dragonfly genus name).
And here's Aeshna, getting her first quest. Time to do the mailbox shuffle.
Gallore sends an heirloom cape...
Goetia sends bags and cash money...
Ugh, that helm!
Don't want to look at that for 85 levels, I want to see her glorious hair!
First quest and Level 2!
And, I like to take advantage of the only time in the game when vendor armor is actually an improvement. This set looks pretty ragged, but there is a nicer red leather set (called Cured Leather Armor) that you can get from vendors at around level 17 (Ahanu in Thunder Bluff, for example). Unfortunately this armor has no stats, so is not available for transmogging.
OK, we're good to go. Now for the research. At this point I am particularly interested in knowing which stats are important for a class, the rotation, and talent trees and glyphs once I get to the appropriate level. Other things (enchants, reforging etc) will wait until I get her to level 85.
Icy Veins has a guide for nearly every class.
Noxxic is also very good.
Elitist Jerks reads a bit like a software manual as it is an exhaustive source of information. I find that it's most useful once a toon hits 85.
After reading these sites, I have a good idea of what my toon's abilities will be and how to use them. Next, I want to know what kind of cool looking gear is out there, and where I might find it. There are many transmogrification guides available, and these are the ones that I use most often:
Icy Veins is usually my first source for information, with images of armor sets as well as individual items, and each annotated with how to acquire the piece.
Wowhead has a searchable database of armor sets.
World of Wardrobes allows you to search items by color, which I especially like because I tend to build transmog sets around a particular color.
Mog My Gear allows you to see what armor sets will look like on each race.
Wow Roleplay Gear has selected armor sets of each material type, as well as news on the Wow Factor transmogrification events (wish they would come to Horde Drak'Thul!)
Finally, Disenchanting Azeroth (home of the Mogfather, who began the AH transmog business) is the place to go for information on weapons for transmogrification.
Doing research is nearly as fun for me as playing the game. Knowledge is power, and I feel a lot less anxious about entering a dungeon for the first time on a new toon if I have some idea of how to gear and play her. In addition, since the visual beauty of WoW is a big draw for me, browsing sites for ideas on transmog outfits is a ton of fun, and super easy since there are so many good resources out there.
I love the way you laid out your process. I think a lot of us have an order of operations for things like this; it's interesting to see someone else's at work. Also, your troll druid looks fantastic. :D
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy the research part almost as much as playing the class! Great post, thank you!
This was very well thought out! Lots of links and pictures make this an entertaining and well researched post. Well done!
ReplyDelete