WoW Ramblings: Big Weapons n' Dragon Farming

Right before I logged off of World of Warcraft tonight, a thought came to my mind. On my way to Valormok in Azshara and while still in Orgrimmar, I saw somebody put up an epic item in the trade channel and said after it, "pre-TBC ftw!" I figured that the item was most likely a level 60 epic then with that concluding statement, and confirmed my hypothesis upon examining the item stats. The epic was [Anathema], the shadow staff rewarded from the priest epic quest widely sought after pre-TBC. However, not until I tried the staff on me did I finally realize something. Why were all the main epic weapons before The Burning Crusades monstrously huge? Not that I ever owned an epic weapon from The Burning Crusade expansion, but just from walking around and spotting a large variety of 70's in major cities, I never exactly saw a gigantic weapon. Just a week or two ago, I remember looking at pictures of warrior/paladin two-handed swords that were probably the length of their body. And of course, they were level 60. Maybe such as how Blizzard got rid of the 50-man raids in the expansion, they also got rid of the 50-man length swords, staffs, etc. However, these large weapons must be an Azeroth thing. With the introduction of Wrath of the Lich King, we should expect weapons such as the Ashbringer and Frostmourne to appear, which are large weapons.

So why not create other products mimicking them in size? If anything, why doesn't Blizzard try to revise the weapons of yesteryear? Make a serious update to blacksmithing by introducing ways to improve older weapons (and same may even go in terms of armor for their relative skill in the production of that type). Make the engine so that the materials would be challenging to gather, and would require high-level content to do so, yet the outcome will be rewarding. That way, it may scare some away so that everybody isn't lazy and they acquire the easy-to-get weapons to improve them to 'pwn' in battlegrounds, arena, and world PvP at level 80 without ever doing an 80 raid/instance. I don't know, it's a risky sketch of an idea. Just a thought there rotting away in my mind.

For the past week or two, I have been farming like crazy for a noncombat pet in Azshara. The pet is the extremely rare [Azure Whelpling], obtainable from the blue dragonflight members around the ruins of Lake Mennar. Yesterday I calculated (from taking a total of eight different pieces of data provided by MobInfo2 [four different types of dragonflight times two different levels each]) that I have killed 1850+ mobs already. Yes, my luck is bad. Very bad. So far I got a ton of green items, two blues, a million stacks of rugged leather, thick leather, worn dragonscales, and blue dragonscales, and a variety of other white items: all destined to be sold for a good sum at the auction house. Being a skinner and a herbalist, I benefit greatly from farming in this area. Sungrass, dreamfoil, purple lotus, etc. all inhabit the path I take to go in and out of my farming area, and skinning the dragons is great money. Rugged leather goes for a pretty high price on my server -- approximately four to six gold per stack. I normally come out of the place with five to six stacks too. Sadly, I never leave with the pet I'm seeking. I shall continue the farming effort, however. Maybe I'll have enough for my epic flying mount by the time it drops.

That's all I'll leave you with for today. Even though I have much more to say, I'll save it for another post at a later time. Until then, have a good one.