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Bind On Equip

Episode:194

Date:15 February 2013

I WANT TO GROW A BEARD!

Welcome to episode 194 of  the Bind on Equip Wow podcast, where we talk about ourselves as wow players and how we see the game.
It’s a social podcast about us, so it you are looking for hardcore analysis, tuck and roll now!

Who the hell are we? Let me explain by introducing you to my two cohosts, firstly … It’s the Wych!
My heart belongs….
Secondly Its Tempeste!

My name is Wembli, and this is my week..

Wembs week.

Work-

• Booked in for bdouble licence course
• Also dangerous goods
• Went to supermarket prior to 7am, coffee shop setting up, walked back out, girl gave dude a coffee & a kiss, so I said…
• new dude, the cowboy. doing delivery, had a snooze as you do. woke up and they were all done, took off-full noise back to depot. cut to me-Walked into office, boss on phone to driver “mate, nikpol just rang, and apparently you just drove out with one of their guys still in the back of the container…

Home-

Sum up your week ingame in a sentence:
“I guess I’ll pack my totems up,
Make out like I never was interested in voodoo,
I tell you I won’t miss the tusks,
Cos you treat me like a freakshow and that feels so rough,
my dps will be so low,
Ill have to go to mr robot now to fix my numbers,
I guess I’ll miss the shaman though
Now you’re just another class I used to know

Temps week
Work- They have decided to go with a fully qualified teacher, which is fair enough, cause I am a hard sell and not guaranteed.  However I am in the process of enrolling for my 4th year, which I will do part time over the next two years.  I will also be stepping up to do any relieving to save costs at the kinder, which will be a nice bonus when it comes.  This means that I am the teacher for the next two weeks, while we wait for the new chick to start.

It also means that I will have time to study and I won’t be giving up WoW any time soon!

Home-  Is pretty good, I have heard from the bank and the super people for Mum’s stuff and it looks like it will all be sorted within the next couple of weeks, which means not only can we can book our trip very soon, but it will finally be done.

Sum up your week ingame in a sentence:  I am hell bent on valor capping ONE toon first!

Wych’s week

Work- Still about as awkward as a divorced couple living in a 1 room apartment with someone else’s mother & her incontinent cat.
I’ve taken to having lunch out of the building every day – it’s kind of nice! 45 mins of peace & quiet reading a book on my tablet. Hanging out for Friday when I’ll have the $ afford something other than McD’s loose change menu though

Remember the handlebar spider incident? Well…..

Home- My new tablet arrived on Friday, Our new bed arrived on Saturday – Tip: make sure the slats are secured correctly!
Walking Dead is back……from the grave!

Sum up your week ingame in a sentence:
I did stuff!
BOA Dagger = OCD Danger
Wemb’s blacksmithing provided a PvP set for me…to build a new Transmog set!

News & Current Affairs:
Patch 5.2 on the Background Downloader
This weekend the Launcher started downloading ~1 GB of assets for Patch 5.2. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean the patch is coming anytime soon, especially as LFR bosses still need tuning and Isle of the Thunder King still needs testing.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/8608452/Preparing_to_Kill_a_King-2_11_2013

This came from an email from Zarhym – Clearly he’s finally learned who the real cool kids are.

With 5.2 fast approaching I’ve been wanting to get my thoughts together on how I should be playing in the last couple weeks before the patch. Are there any reps I should catch up on; do I need to worry about spending currencies or upgrading items; and just in general what do I need to start doing now to maximize my play time before and after the patch releases? This isn’t going to be earth shattering info to anyone who has been following closely, but hopefully it’s a helpful reference.

So, It’s Like a Seat of Sound?
It’s probably most appropriate to start by talking about the new raid, the Throne of Thunder, as entering and clearing it is the goal for PvE progression. The raid is located on a new island, which can be reached by using a portal found in your faction’s Shado-pan camp on the west coast of Townlong Steppes. When 5.2 releases you’ll automatically receive a quest that will get you there, so no need to write that one down.

As the 5.2 raid Throne of Thunder is one continuous, sprawling dungeon, each difficulty will open in its entirety once unlocked. Normal difficulty will be available the first week, then Heroic the week after. LFR will, as usual, be broken up into sub-sections and those will be releasing over time, likely with the first section opening with Heroic in the second week, and a new section each week afterward. Of course we don’t tend to give out patch release dates ahead of time, because things can slip, but right now we’re targeting the last week of February.

To get into the LFR difficulty of Throne of Thunder you’ll need an item level of 480. A quick way to find your item level is to search for your character in the upper right search bar of WorldofWarcraft.com. Your item level is a big number in the upper right of your character’s profile. You can also see it in-game by expanding the advanced character stats.
The new LFR will require an average ilvl of 480, so get crackin’!
If you’re shy of 480 you’ve got some gearing up to do. There are a few different methods of finding and targeting upgrades. The in-game Dungeon Journal can filter by class and spec, showing you what each boss drops that’s good for you, and is actually a pretty easy and straightforward way to create a shopping list. The one downside is you’re not going to have lists of Valor-purchasable items with the Dungeon Journal to compare against. Likely the most popular strategy is to use item database sites like Wowhead.com and look for specific items, and arrange by ilvl or source. They also have a “Find Upgrades” button when looking at an item, which can help provide a list of higher ilvl items in a nice format. Askmrrobot.com offers the same kind of upgrade list too. I’ve also recently been using their new Find Upgrades feature, which has a bunch of useful options. It’s a premium feature so they do charge for it, but it’s free for the first week or so. If nothing else it can be a good option to just help you clear that 480 hurdle.

Upgrade ‘Em While You Got ‘Em
Like prior raid tiers we’re down-converting Valor to Justice with the patch. This means any Valor you have before the patch will become Justice, and any Justice over the cap will be converted to gold. There is a difference this time in that current Valor items are not being changed to cost Justice, and instead their cost is just being reduced (25-50%). That means you’re not going to benefit by waiting for the down-conversion to pick up any current Valor items. You’re going to want to strategize spending Valor beforehand, if there’s anything you want to buy with Justice (and there’s new Justice-bought heirlooms coming in 5.2), or maybe even if you want the gold. With both currencies at cap you could make around 1,400 gold with the conversion, so maybe that’s even a consideration. After the patch you’ll need to build Valor back up if you want any Valor items of course, but at a reduced cost it may be an option if you’re still looking to get over that 480 hurdle.

Personally I’m not really looking to pick up any Justice items, so my plan is to spend all of my Valor before the down-conversion, and the next section describes what I’m likely to spend the majority of it on.

Later Space Mummy
Item upgrades won’t be available in 5.2, so getting those upgrades done before the patch hits is probably a good idea. Upgrades are likely coming back in 5.3 (at least for PvE), but spending the Valor now on upgrading pieces you don’t expect to replace quickly is pretty safe. Of course you could always get that lucky boss drop that completely demolishes your fully upgraded item, but those kinds of situations are par for the course.

This is one place where the Askmrrobot upgrade recommendation tool is pretty helpful for me. The rating on how best to spend Valor is quite useful. I’m over 480 so I’m personally just looking at spending Valor on upgrading my best items now.
Is that a mount!? Can it be a mount!? I want that to be a mount. GIMME DAT MOUNT
Be Less Charming Every Day
Throughout Mists of Pandaria we’ve all been working to collect Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. Once a week there’s a quest to exchange 90 Lesser Charms for 3 Elder Charms. The Elder Charms can then be used to get an additional chance at loot (bonus roll) from raid boss kills. In 5.2 the weekly quest to turn in the Lesser Charms changes, and will instead give you 3 Mogu Runes of Fate. The Mogu Runes of Fate can be used the same way, on bonus rolls, but only in the 5.2 Throne of Thunder raid and on the two new world bosses (Nalak and Oondasta). Elder Charms will still be available for the 5.0 raids, but they’ll instead be dropping from mobs in the new outdoor Thundering Isle zone.

There are a few different ways you can use this information depending on how well you’re geared, and how well geared you want to be before the patch. The new raid will require 480 item level for the LFR, and so if you’re at or above 480 you’re probably wise to just hold on to your Lesser Charms. If not, those bonus rolls may well be the quickest way to getting into the Throne of Thunder.

Personally I’m hanging on to mine. I think spending some Valor is probably the wiser course for getting over the hurdle. I do plan to still be doing dailies in 5.2, but I have enough reps at Exalted now that I don’t expect I’ll be coming across enough Lesser Charms to be overburdened and not working through my stack each week.
I’ll just come back when you look like you’re in a better mood…
Ketchup
As I briefly mentioned in the Currency Conversion section, 5.0 Valor items are seeing their prices reduced by 50%, and those added with the 5.1 factions (Operation Shieldwall and Dominance Offensive) will see their prices cut by 25%. In addition, the chance to get drops in the 5.0 LFR raids is being greatly increased, including the chance to get an item when using an Elder Charm for a bonus roll. All of this means gearing up alts will be a bit quicker, and if you’re not at that 480 requirement yet it should be pretty fruitful to run those raids for a few more weeks to get you there.

Sounds Like Heavy Metal
This isn’t really anything you can prepare for, but I think it’s at least worth mentioning here. In the Throne of Thunder, the Normal and Heroic raid bosses have a chance to drop an item with a new Thunderforged designation. Thunderforged items are 6 item levels higher than their standard counterparts. Bonus rolls can award a Thunderforged item (again, only in Normal and Heroic), so probably the only thing to plan for ahead of time is having Lesser Charms ready and waiting to exchange for Mogu Runes of Fate.
♫Said if you want to call me baby, just go ahead now♫ (Two Princes, get it? Ugh just keep reading…)
On Doomed Azeroth, Black Prince Choose You
As we’re all aware, Wrathion, the Black Prince, using his voodoo crystal ball of Black Dragonflight future-sight has determined Azeroth is headed for (more?) doom and despair. To help solve this problem he wants to give you a Legendary item, but only after you’ve gone around terrorizing the world and killing a bunch of people. Fishy. Over the course of each patch he gives you some tasks for new toys, ultimately leading to your very own Legendary item in (presumably) patch 5.4.

This is where things get a bit tricky because, up until this point, everyone has been working to obtain theirSha-Touched weapons, the gem to put into it, and adding a prismatic slot. But in 5.2 the reward veers left, no Sha-touched weapons will drop in the new raid, and the new Wrathion reward is a Legendary meta gem, which leaves your Sha-touched weapon and gem to be replaced by what will certainly be more powerful weapons in the Throne of Thunder. You will still be able to apply the prismatic slot upgrade to 5.2 raid weapons, though.

Considering the prismatic slot is usable on 5.2 raid weapons, my recommendation would be to try to catch up if you haven’t yet, but balance it against other priorities. You’d be pretty lucky to get a weapon drop your first time into the new raid, and if you’re running LFR the raid is broken up into smaller sections which open one at a time each week. So if you have more pressing matters, this is one thing you can continue to work on even after 5.2 releases and probably not be too far behind.
Well at least they don’t have robots full of blood. Nevermind.

It’s Not a Tabard! (in your best Arnold voice)
In 5.2 you’ll be able to champion a Mists of Pandaria faction (except for Black Prince) by choosing a new option added to your reputation list (in the same list where you can show that rep as your XP bar). By championing a faction you can earn 750 reputation for the first Heroic dungeon each day, and 325 for the first Scenario. This allows you to augment (or avoid) daily quests with those factions to get to Exalted that much quicker.

In addition, if you have The Tillers at Exalted and all of your farm plots unlocked, you’ll be able to take on a work order each day from one of the various factions (except for Black Prince) which will reward you with additional rep.

The new reputation and quest hub in 5.2 is pretty cool; it unlocks and builds up via server progression a la Isle of Quel’danas. What will be a lot cooler for some of you though is that there are no Valor items associated with the rep. At least this time around, all the Valor items are tied to a raid reputation, which you can earn even through LFR. It will require boss kills though, so no ICC rep runs.

I know some people are already saying they’re going to stop doing dailies until then. I don’t know; I’m already playing more or less every day, doing a daily hub here and there isn’t going to break my time-bank, and I’m still going to be hitting Exalted quicker than if I was waiting. Up to you, but I’m hoping to have less and less 5.0 content to have to think about once 5.2 hits.

That’ll Do, Tree
I think that about does it. You’ll of course want to look at mixing up food and elixirs, and gathering mats for crafted items. There’s also the new the world bosses, but that’s not content you really need to prepare for specifically, at least not to the same extent you need to gear up for a raid dungeon. It may be worth noting though that one of the world bosses, Oondasta, is intended to be crazy-difficult. If you’re not in an organized Heroic-level raid group and teaming up with other Heroic-level raid groups, you’re going to want to stick to the other world boss, Nalak; although, keep in mind Nalak unlocks with the island’s server progression, so it’s something to look forward to. Sha of Anger still has Tier-14 and Season-12 items, so that’s certainly something a lot of people will continue to hit up, and I expect it to stay pretty active even well into the new patch.

Update on Valor
After reading your feedback and locking ourselves in dim, fluorescent-lit rooms for much deliberation, we have decided that we are NOT going to convert Valor to Justice and Justice to gold when 5.2 ships. Current Valor items will continue to require Valor in 5.2, and will be offered at a discount as listed in thePTR patch notes. Given that PvE and PvP currencies function quite a bit differently, Conquest will still convert to Honor and Honor to gold as previously discussed.

We’re making the Valor change for a couple of reasons, but primarily because we think a down-conversion under the new Mists endgame progression model just feels mean. We traditionally viewed this conversion process with each patch as a necessary evil to discourage hoarding—it’s not fun to feel like you can’t spend your Valor in the weeks before a new patch because you have to be ready to buy everything up. However, we have a Valor cap now to prevent excessive hoarding, many of the Valor rewards in 5.2 require raiding to acquire (for example, many of the ilevel-522 rewards are tied to Shado-Pan Assault reputation, which you’ll only gain rep with by raiding in the Throne of Thunder), and the LFR version has an ilvl-480 requirement, meaning you can’t hoard Valor on a brand new 90 and jump straight to the best stuff. All of these factors being considered, it doesn’t make good sense to take Valor away from players in this context. Down-conversions may occur for future patch releases depending on the circumstances, but for 5.2 it’s safe and snuggly where it is.

In addition, we’re making a change to ensure that there are some gear rewards available via the Kirin Tor Offensive and Sunreaver Onslaught, the two new factions with which players can earn reputation in 5.2 without raiding. The patch was shaping up to be a real challenge for players who don’t like raiding (including LFR), as our original design meant that no new Valor rewards would be available to them without needing to run Throne of Thunder. You can expect to see the Valor rewards on the Kirin Tor Offensive and Sunreaver Onslaught quartermasters updated on the 5.2 public test realms in the near future. These rewards are ilevel 496 and will only accommodate a few slots, as they aren’t intended to be very attractive to raiders (including those running LFR), but should give non-raiders something to shoot for in 5.2.

If you’ve already made plans and sank your Valor, don’t fret! As of this announcement, and even if you have 0 Valor currently, you still have enough time to cap out at 3000 Valor before patch 5.2 goes live. (It’s math!)

We’d love to hear your feedback about this change, and how you’re planning to earn, save, and spend Valor before the patch releases.

WOOOHOOO to not losing valor!

Wembs wow fact

What’s with that?
The nod: It’s accepted as good form to politely nod to other motorbike riders you see, particularly if you see them on a regular basis. With the warmer weather there are a lot more bikes on the road. Most of the newer ones tend to be fair weather riders who only ride when it’s clear & warm and they tend to have a pretty casual view on gear.

So, I’m sitting traffic the other day waiting for a light change. The cars ahead were to close together to get through so I was just waiting. I hear this bike coming up from behind me – guy stops right beside me = almost brand new ninja, wearing shorts, t-shirt, sneakers & helmet (no gloves). As he’s beside me I figure I should give him the nod.

So, I nod & the dude gives me a look like – “who the fuq are you?!” and just ignores me!
So, to you Mr Fuq-tard poser I say – WHAT’S WITH THAT?

Crazy Train:  CT has just gone through a reshuffle to ensure that we have more versatility to enable continued raiding even when someone in a key role is away.  So Wemb has moved to dps warrior instead of his shaman – which is a shame cause he was pulling AWESOME numbers, but his off spec is Tank.  Delia has moved from her warlock to her druid (we didn’t have one in the raid) and from dps to heals (dps off spec) and I have moved to elemental spec on my shaman with heals off spec.  We still need more gear to be at the same level but I think we will enjoy more success in the long run.  We have managed to take down Gara’jal once and look forward to downing him again and moving on the Spirit Kings.
Wemb: I did feel like the new kid at school a bit on thursday night, trying to make friends but at the same time trying not to be noticed. My gear sucks and my numbers match so i’ll be doing what i can to cap valor and collect more asap.

Other Raids:

Lfr’ing:

Heroics:

Pugs.

Pants On Head Guild.

Mains.
Temp:  Spending lots of time doing LFR. Heroics and Scenarios with some dailies thrown in – just for valor.  Still loving my farm and am almost finished with the bell quests.
Wemb: as mentioned trying to get kitted out as quick as i can. was thinking to myself today that the only expac i ever hit the ground running was wrath where i played my boomkin from go to whoa and sat atop the dps hill. otherwise i usually find some way to get behind the 8-ball, or someone does it for me (i’m looking at you cataclysm).

Alts.
Temp:  Trying to take advantage of the boost to my alt by valor capping my main first – therefore doing less work for the same points.  This has been a challenge with Wemb swapping toons and work being so busy, but we are almost there!!  I also spent a little bit of time here and there on my mage – I miss her a lot!  I am now at 86 which is nice – cause I dumped the Jade Forest and headed for Halfhill asap (yes another farm inc)  but also dinging 86 meant something else significant that was both happy and sad.  I got to equip my uber 450 BOA staff – YAY but that meant that I had to take off my legendary from Cata that turns me into a blue dragon – sadness.  I have however decided that I am gonna keep in my bags for when I can fly in Pandaria and use it then!!
Wemb: alts are a touchy subject for me as my current alt craps all over my new main! Not sure what to do with this guy now.

World/seasonal events.

Gear.
Wemb: my warrior is currently sitting at 469 one point shy of getting into the 3rd, 4th & 5th lfr. i was eying some 496 gloves on the AH with a price tag of 15k- i think i’m going to have to go to these lengths and get back on the farming merry-go-round to raise the cash required.

Valor/Justice points.

Rep.

Professions.
Wemb: maxed out blacksmithing on the warrior during the week and nearly made temp pass out from shock as i also maxed out first aid!

PvP.

Achievements.

Wembs wow fact

Listener input:

Well hello to the Wonderful Wych, the Whymsical Wembli and the most gorgeous Tempy,
I’ve been quiet because i’ve been busy in RL, Claire’s father died and I have been helping her arrange all the stuff that goes with that. It’s been a hard time but its now all over, just have to sell the House and tie it all up.
For Christmas we flew to Lanzarote for some sun and even found a nudist section in the Hotel, and no guys no photo’s were taken. The sun was not too hot but to swimming pools were Bloody cold.
Warcraft
I have a Level 90 Panda Mage, well I cheated and did a faction change, yes guys I am now all Horde and I must say I love it.
My Little Panda is a Hunter (31) and my Turtle’s is called Claire, it confuses the real one as I will occaisionally explaim, claire where are you going and of course i’m talking to the Turtle. I’m loving Horde Quests, its plike playing a completely new game so its even better. Claire bought me Zygor’s guides as part of my christmas present, which is amazing to be honest.
Yet again I love your podcast and the new intro is absolute gold.
Sarah

Wemb- shout to  @_angelya & @mageic ; yes you both should absolutely come and join the guild.
Temp:  A big shout out to Skkybeauty on twitter, who today got great news about her husband’s treatment.  Lets hope that this is the start of a new, healthier, cancer free future!

Goodbye.
We’ve come to the end of another podcast. Thanks for joining us, I’ve been wembli, ciao for now!
Temp:  Take care and chat to you next week!

• The majority of the music used in our podcast comes with permission from a great Aussie artist Jimi Hocking . To check him out and get some of his stuff for yourself, go to  www.jimihocking.com for more info. Other music used in Bind On Equip is from Mevio’s Music Alley. There is some awesome stuff there and something for everyone. goto music.mevio.com

• The podcast is over, but it doesn’t have to end here, come to the Oceannic Jubei’thos server on the horde side. /join BOE channel for an invite to the Pants On Head guild. BoE now has an iphone app available on itunes. We also have an android app and we’re on the blackberry rim podcast directory! We can also now be heard on Stitcher Internet radio at stitcher.com

• To keep in touch with us, follow “bindonequip”, “thewych” “tempeste” and “wemb” on Twitter. Check out our website at www.BindOnEquip.com To contribute to our show, drop us a line at BindonEquip@gmail.com Leave us a review on Itunes to raise awareness of the show, and send us a donation on the website paypal to help us with hosting, booze and hookers.

We’re so outta here!