Let's talk alpha notes.

It's an exciting time right now because of Warlords of Draenor alpha notes. There is plenty of speculation, badgering of devs' Twitters, and crying about precious removed spells. That doesn't mean I'm not crying, because I definitely am. However, in RP Your Life! fashion, let's take a step back and look at the trends that these changes are indicating for the development of WoD.

- It now takes a lunch break to read mage talents.

- Healers are panicking about Cata-style healing when it was AWESOME.

In the Convert to Raid and FinalBossTV interviews, Celestalon assured healers that healing in WoD would not become the fight against OOMing that it was in Cata, but that period of time when healers had to think about which spell to use, not only to match the situation but to also preserve their mana, was the most engaging. The WoD movement away from critical burst healing back to triage seems like the perfect opportunity to bring that cerebral kind of healing back, but it's not looking like they're willing to push healers that far.

- The devs can't decide what to tell us their ultimate goal is.

If the new Mythic raiding is balanced around having at least one of each class, then why remove utility like healthstones and Innervate? If they want to remove unique utility so a raid doesn't require a specific class, then why leave in things like Gateway? If they leave things in like Gateway because they want to balance around having at least one of each class, then why remove utility like healthstones and Innervate? If...

- The devs might not even be talking to Mythic raiders.

Even after their big claim that the move to 20-man raiding would be the epitome of balanced raid tuning, it doesn't even look like many of the changes that they're making are geared towards Mythic at all. The homogenization of classes and making sure that certain class abilities aren't required are definitely safeguards for 10-man Normal and Heroic raids. Plus, when a shadow priest asks whether or not s/he needs to carry separate sets of gear for multi-target and single-target fights, the answer that I gleaned from Celestalon's appeasing "No, but..." was actually "Yes, but not for casuals," which he could have just said outright. I was hoping that FinalBossTV's interview would be more enlightening for end-game raiders, but there were very few instances in which the crew pushed the devs to a point where they were forced to defend their choices and explain their reasoning in a deeper manner. Why indeed is a certain DPS class retaining a raid-wide CD while others are having theirs taken away?

Watch your raid spot, everyone. The mages are after it.

-Avia.

Edit: Added a link to the FinalBossTV interview.

The Flow of Gold

Now that I have a ton of gold on my old server that I haven't yet moved to the new one, I've been thinking of dumping a bunch of it on the supreme gold sink: the Black Market Auction House. If it weren't for the BMAH and battle pets, gold on an old server would be like having a bunch of money in the currency of a defunct country, but now it just means that I can camp multiple places for chances to win Unclaimed Containers full of Tier 3 bracers and cat carriers. What was that? They can have mounts inside them, you say? Well I'm sure that one person who got a Mimiron's Head for 10k is ecstatic, but I'll be over here transmogrifying a slot that no can see anyway and playing with my 8000g Siamese.

While I'm trying to hemorrhage money, my guild is starting to rake it in for we just opened our raid to buyers this week, something I've never before had the opportunity to experience coming from less competitive/10-man guilds. In the meanest sense, it's the sale of our services that is set to make us a small fortune over the next few months. Some would say that this is the true end-game for high-ranked guilds, an understated but vital part of raid preparation for the next tier or expansion when consumables and repairs will rapidly drain bank funds.

As for me, I rather liken it to being a mercenary for hire. An inexperienced stranger is in our midst, eager for the spoils of war and the thrill of battle. What he lacks in knowledge and skill, he makes up for with gold. We tell him to stay out of our way while we do the real fighting, and once we've salvaged a body of any useful armor, we toss our patron whatever we don't need or what he has bartered for. But we are not unfriendly. When the battle wanes, we invite him to joke with us, listen to our stories, and dance together. At the end of the night, some of us shake his hand before we part ways, a favorable transaction for the both of us having been completed. Next week brings another opportunity for riches.

Want to be a part of it? Read this post and then contact one of our officers.

-Avia.