Entry 6 - Planning for the Future

As of this writing, humble visitor, your host is sitting on the largest pile of Gold he's ever had in his entire gaming career. 4420 gold, to be precise, within spitting distance of that coveted 5000 that will finally get me my epic flyer. Having long-since earned my exalted rank with the Sha'tari Skyguard, once I finally clock in those last hundred gold I will likely be cruising around on one of those slick Nether rays.

At least, that had been my plan. Then the PTR went and threw a very shiny fly into the ointment.

There are two new tailoring recipes that drop from the Sunwell Plateau raid instance, and neither of them are BoP. That means, conceivably -I-, your humble host, could get his hands on one through the AH, and soon afterwards be utterly decked out in some of the sickest robes I've ever seen. My Frozen Shadoweave Robes are already shuddering at the thought of being donated to Goodwill (read: Disenchanted), but hey, one day you're in, and the next it's some-german-word-for-goodbye.

Here they are. Try not to drool on your keyboard.

Sunfire Robe
Sunfire Handwraps

Between the ludicrous stats and gem slots, I could have that thing rocking like nobody's business in no time, and I'd look snazzy to boot. I wholly expect that, should the item even end up on the AH (more on that later), it will clock in easily at at LEAST 3000 G, just for the pattern. Add another 1K gold for the mats, and you'll see why I'm sweating. If I waited, I could watch the AH manically until the pattern went for sale, and snatch it up as soon as it did, but then I'd be broke. Almost totally and utterly broke.

But I'd look great.

This is a common problem often mirrored in real life too. You have a stash of money you've been saving for something important, like the down payment for a new car or house, or for the renovation of something like your kitchen. These are what we like to call 'long term investments' (well, except for your car, which is basically a four-wheeled black hole of depreciation). The epic flyer is a long term investment, while the robe is most definitely a perfect example of instant gratification.

Unlike the flyer, the robe would convey a sense of instant power. They are on par with T6 and would definitely contribute to the whole "power overwhelming" thing we warlocks apparently enjoy. The problem is that they are so terribly transient. With Wrath probably just a few months away, it's almost certain that these robes would get replaced by whatever junk drops in the starting areas of Northrend, as Blizz has already confirmed it will once again reset all equipment so that everyone is on-par.

The lifespan of that item is at best about a year long.

The epic flyer on the other hand, while in no way contributing directly to my power level, is an investment I can be comfortable making because I know I'm not just blowing my money. Even if Northrend ends up disallowing flyers until we're closer to the level cap again (kind of like how Shadowmoon Valley and Netherstorm), I will nearly double my travel speed in Outland and in any other areas flying becomes permissible. A faster flyer means swifter completion of any task I could conceive of performing, be it gathering or otherwise.

With absolutely no idea what WotLK will hold, I hate to speculate on what Blizz is or is not working on, but I'd like to think that we'll see continued growth in the realm of mounts. The natural progression, in my mind, is mounted combat, limited to specific abilities like bombing or jousting. I don't know about you, but I'd love to be able to get on my dreadsteed and drive headlong into a mob, maybe knocking them back and stunning them for a second, and dealing a nice chunk of damage. Will siege weapons require a specific riding skill to use? No idea, but it makes investing in 375 riding seem like a pretty good bet.

The real question, of course, is whether I'd be better off buying the skill and then starting on the Netherwing Ledge reputation grind to 'earn' my epic mount rather than just shelling out the 180g for the Nether ray I can get through the Skyguard. Honestly, at this point I'm pretty burned out on rep grinds, so it looks as though the Nether ray will be it for me. Well, at least until the aesthetics of the situation become unbearable and I simply HAVE to have a dragon mount.

After all, Warlocks + Dragon Mount = ALMOST Nazgul, and Nazgul are teh shiz.