Learning From the Enemy

Learning From the Enemy - Wildswench Considers Gaining a Druid

A lot has been going on between Alliance Druid Wildshard and Horde Happyface in recent days. For those who have forgotten, Happyface has been the caretaker of the Horde Auction House for many years.

Wildswench is learning the hard way that she must have a Druid on her side. The Alliance depends heavily on Tailoring and Enchanting to gain the gold required to function. Wildswench knew she needed to match those skills on the Horde side of the equation.

So, after a lot of back and forth, a new arrangement has been settled on within the ranks of the Horde.

Jocelyne will continue to act as the leader of "The Order of the Dragon Guild." Wildswench has declined to become part of the guild, but in all other activities, she will participate to the fullest with the Horde.

And now for the BIG Announcement: Happyface has been granted a BOOST to iLevel 120! The happy Warrior has a huge pile of work to complete. Among his most early tasks is to get the Tailoring and Enchanting work started and functioning for the Horde.

And, oh by the way ...  Happy must learn this new world of Zandalar, Zuldazar, Daz ar alor, and other critical places. It's a huge undertaking.

Question? Why was this monstrous process necessary? The rationale was simple - The Alliance was crafting materials used to earn gold. The Horde wanted that capability as well. And now they have it.

GO HORDE! 

A Fearful Moment

A Fearful Moment

For a long moment, I had no name. Sitting on a horse. Wondering for a long blink if there was no name. Then it slid back into the mind's view - Wildswench. Yes, that's the name. My name. She was here to consider tapping Worldvein Intelligence for her next foray. Still not quite herself, she let it pass. No matter, she would need two more players for the three foray run, and there were no takers. There was a bit of relief at that. 

Then the world tilted, righted itself, and Wildswench Strikes the Motherload!

In one great swoop, Wildswench raised the bar to the next level of her skill. To start, she finally retired her worn but beloved Honorbound Pigsicker; ie, her i370 two-hand polearm. She has now replaced it with a new weapon - a dazor alor i415 Two Hand Polearm. The major upgrade jumped her gear score from i370 to i415!

Here are her newest Stats:

Heart of Azeroth Neck i461

AP Level 64 plus 74%

Gearscore rises to i407

The above upgrade is the largest Wildwench has received in real-time in a considerable time.  

It's now time to make a new foray to Sisthulus in hope for another upgrade. 

The Last Gasp of Bag Sales

The Last Gasp of Bag Sales

Flooded Markets

Prices Continue Falling - a 30 slot bag is selling for 650 gold. Used to be over 1,000.

There are fewer and fewer players who needs bags.

Virtually Everyone Already Has maxed 30 slot bags

Only the Rich Can afford the 32 slot bags that sell for nearly 10,000 each.

And of course there is no intermediate bag between the 30 slot and the 32 slot.

Is there a case to add a 34 Slot general bag?

So What About Other Types of Specialty Bags? Is there a viable market for these bags?

More to follow  . . .

Meanwhile, Wildswench is back on the trail for more azerite.

Update on Progress:

Heart of Azeroth Neck i457

AP Level 62 plus 52%

Gearscore rises to i401

The Blind Islands Expedition

The Blind Islands Expedition

A strange thing happened when Wench joined an Islands Expedition. As usual, there were three players participating. Every expedition has a leader and Wench never really thought about how or who would lead it. Every expedition she'd ever been on had a leader assigned. Wench more or less assumed that someone would ask to take the lead. Wench also never considered that maybe no one would sign up as the leader. This morning Wench found out how that works. Wench was assigned as leader of the three person group.

Well, despite Wench being the "leader" of the group, Wench quickly noted that one player had a good idea where to go and what to do. Wench followed him and shortly the third player also follwed after the lead. The expedition was a success.

The Latest Stats Follow:

Heart of Azeroth Neck i455 

AP Level 61 plus 29%

Gearscore rises to i399

Update on Progress:

Heart of Azeroth Neck i455 

AP Level 61 plus 47%

Gearscore rises to i399

Wench sometimes gets a little lonely. Wench has to do everything for herself. She belongs to the Order of the Dragon Guild. She is only at iLevel 194 and would need to work very hard to progress. What Wench REALLY wants is to be a Demon Hunter, but Demon Hunters are for Alliance only. Sad.

Anyway, enough of that. Back to the grind.

The Heart Forge Responds

The Heart Forge Responds in Big Way

Wildswench was in Nazjatar plugging along, killing bad guys and trying not to die too many times. She wanted a break, so she decided to make a trip to Silithus. Wench makes these trips in between doing other things, hoping each time that she might learn something new or gain some new talent or something else useful.

Wench entered the Heart Forge and clicked on it and as always nothing happened. Except that this time something DID happen. The two items that Wench has never been able to apply to the Heart now accepted the two items she had been holding on to all this time. So now, instead of just one Power, she has three (ie, her original one and the two that she's being carrying around).

Wildswench now has a significant upgrade:

NEW:

Heart of Azeroth Neck i445

AP Level 56 plus 40%

Gearscore is i390 (the gear upgrade was a shoulder piece of i405 to i420 !

Update !! Wildswench Raises the Bar Again

The New Level is:

Heart of Azeroth Neck i447 

AP Level 57 plus 4%

Gearscore remains at i390

BUT Wait! Wench has another update - Her Gearscore has risen to i391! She got the upgrade by raising her Waist gear piece from i385 to i410.

The New Level is:

Heart of Azeroth Neck i447 

AP Level 57 plus 37%

Gearscore rises to i391

Wench has been doing pretty well with her improving gear, but she was still impatient. So Wildswench decided to take a bigger step. She decided to take on the entire continent of Vul Dun. She sliced arcross the continent, slaughtering the poor alliance and leaving behind the dead. She had to complete all four major segments. Here is the new results:

The New Level is:

Heart of Azeroth Neck i447 

AP Level 57 plus 72%

Gearscore rises to i393 !! by earning an i415 pair of gloves.

Wench is anxious to see if she might get a benthic piece of gear once she gets back to NazJatar. What a great day for the Horde!

Wildswench Reaches One hundred Thousand Gold

Wildswench Reaches One hundred Thousand Gold (9/5/2019)

Wench reached a major gold goal by reaching 100,000 gold. Her primary method of achieving that goal is through fishing. Wench learned that method from Wildshard, who is a master fisherman who has fished virtually every spot with fishable water.

It's too bad that in Nazjatar there are only two types of fish available.

A Plea For Help

My Character is Wildswench. She is struggling with her Heart of Azeroth. She has an unused Essence slot but can't figure out how to use it. The new slot pulses, but Wench cannot find a means to activate it. She has two elements meant to fill that slot, but again, no means to use it. Frustrating.

There have been several attempts to fix the problems. All have failed. So now I am asking for assistance to walk through the process to understand what I need to go through. What are the steps needed?  What is the order that things have to be done? What if anything is missing?

Here is what Wench has right now. She is a Level 120, i388 gear, Heart of Azeroth i443 Neck. Shift Right Click to bring up The Crucible of Flame Rank 1. She has a pulsing, empty minor slot. She has another minor slot to be unlocked at 65. She has two items at rank one available: Pearl of Lucid Dreams and Volitile Worldvein.

Note that Wench has been to Silithus a number of times. The Heart says that An Essence is Available. But I can't interact with it.

With that information, can you help explain what I need to do to progress further?

Enough about Wildswench - Chaitee Has Fallen on Bad Times

The machinery that funds the gold for Wildshard has taken a sharp turn to the worse.

Hexweave Bags (30 slot) once sold for 900-1000 gold apiece. That price has been falling for some time and has now scraping rock bottom at 569g. There are signs it may fall even further.

Even more alarming are Silkweave Satchels (24 slot). What should be prices in the 500-700 range are now being posted at the basement level of 274g. Chaitee has 18 satchels for sale sitting idly with no takers.

Frostweave bags seem to be hanging tough. These bags (20 slot) are still available at 232 gold. Embersilk bags (22 slot) are still available at 378g  but are often unavailable.

The more modern bags are also available but pricing is uneven. A Deep Sea Bag (30 slot) is readily available for 500g.

Those players with deep pockets will pay over 23k gold for one Embroidered Deep Sea Bag (32 slot). That price has been very stable and unlikely to change. It's also the largest bag you can buy.

Benthic Treads - The New gear upgrades

Wildswench Super Dooper Island Run

 Benthic Treads - The New gear upgrades

Wench is not the type to lead troops into battle. In all of the previous Island runs she's been in (not many), Wench has stayed with her group and followed the leader. This time, though, Wench found that the leader of this run really didn't know what he was doing. Given that Wench was in bear form which generally are the leaders, Wench found herself in the lead simply by way of the other two players letting her lead. 

Since Wench didn't know where to go either, Wench simply started killing things. Wench attacked and killed whatever got in her way, stopping only when items or enemies were killed or paused to collect goodies. Sometimes Wench had his helpers around, but just as often Wench was alone with bevies of bad guys around her. The result was the best Island venture she's been on so far. Wench was only 7 percent toward her next upgrade - at the end of the run she was a 90%. Wow. She even received a Volitile Worldvein. This item should be a piece to go into her Chamber of Heart. An outstanding morning.

Wench did get an upgrade, at last. Using the benthic system to upgrade gear is still confusing. Almost by accident she stumbled over her i385 shoulder gear and earned an upgrade to i390. Her item level rose from i386 to i387.

Heart of Azeroth Neck i441

AP Level 54 plus 32%

Gearscore is i387

The unfortunate part, however, is that Wench is still unable to interact with the Heart Forge in order to use the two new items she should be able to interact with: Volatile Worldvein and Pearl of Lucid Dreams. Her Crucible of Flame is still level 1, but she did ger a minor upgrade called Perseverence that granted her an additional 3% Stamina.

Attempts to use the Benthic system has failed so far. Wench has lost two pieces of i385 gear trying and filaing to figure it out. 

Benthic Treads - The New gear upgrades

Wench didn't even know she had earned a Benthic item until she accidentally activated it. The resilt was an i390 Benthic Shoulder piece. Wench wondered how long it would take to earn a second piece, and that piece fell into place. She now has as a pair of  i385 Benchic Treads. Wench already has a pair of i390 treads . . . but, there is a possibility that returning the Benthic item could result in an even better piece of gear. Wildswench is currently in Orgimmar and will have to go back to to complete the work.

Unfortunately the Gods weren't giving, and granted no gear. Wench is still confused about how to acquire and use Benthic gear.

Wench has recently started using companions. Her favorite is Poen Gillbrack, a healer who tries to keep Wench alive. Her companion can also level up along with Wench.

Wench is learning the hard way that she will have to work a lot harder to gain the gold she needs. Her cache has hovered around 90K gold for some time and she's just treading water. Wench has relied on fishing to gain gold. There are only two types of useful fish, though, Mauve Stinger and Viper Fish. She has made some early cash, but there are a lot of players out there and prices are falling fast. Other options are the redtail loach.

Wildswench Newest Upgrades

Heart of Azeroth Neck i443

AP Level 55 plus 2%

Gearscore is i387