Really farming Motes of Harmony

I wrote a post a while back about farming for Motes of Harmony, and the one thing which really gives fantastic return is the Tiller’s Farm. Its a safe 10-12 (or more) motes a day if that is all you did. And that effort takes about 15-30 minutes max. Sheesh, if you’re not doing it – get on it.

Granted you need the rep to unlock the seeds, and that takes some grinding. However these dailies grant cash and side rewards, with motes on top. It really feels like something that the game got almost perfect in Mists of Pandaria.

With a slow steady effort even a slow player can get a fair reward for time spent. Regular readers and followers of all the news will know this, but the impact of 10 free motes per day is a huge potential source for new gear, or even money if you are happy to craft gear to sell. The seeds are cheap, and you are in effect paying for the effort. Players with alchemists are doubly blessed due to the metal transmutes too.

Happy Farming, I mean killing

Best use of Frost Emblems for casual players?

If you are a casual, or leveling and gearing alts – then you’re probably not going to have 400 Emblems of Frost to purchase 264+ ilevel items for all gear locations. Instead you’ll probably run the heroic daily, get 30-60 badges, and look at what is your best purchase.

It begs the question of what is the best use of Frost Emblems for casual players?

My list in order of priority would be:

1. One Trinket. Without question. These are often the most difficult to get, and will last you the longest. I’d say that get your first trinket, and then maybe another slot, rather than buying two trinkets. However if you are a dual-role class, maybe get a trinket for each spec if you’ll use them.
2. Belts & Cloaks. They are cheaper than the rest, and often harder slots to upgrade than the Feet, Hand, Chest, Shoulders, and Head.
3. Then your Class Tier gear.

Happy killing.

Whats the best Rotation for Success?

There are a few comments on my blog about the “best rotation” for a spec, and a few times I’ve asked this question, often receiving a complex answer. So here and now I say there is no such thing as a fixed best rotation.

Critics: Huh, TyphoonAndrew you idiot, I always use [a][b][b][c][a], and it rocks, you’re wrong!

Me: No pal. That is just what works now when you’re doing a tank and spank. Read below for why you need to think deeper.

Most wow classes have a few abilities that are straight out fire and forget. Other abilities are better when used in a particular order, or used after a number of other affect have been applied. And a few quirky ones have internal cool-downs, shared cool-downs, and best used with powers from other classes. eg. Using Hysteria with Heroism is godlike, and Inner Focus with Devouring Plague is nice too.

This creates the expectation (and a good one) that you should use some abilities together in the “right” order and/or right time for maximum affect. This also means that as a player if you’re aiming for best performance, then you’re going to have to understand the abilities and how they mix, so you can best decide what to do. And that is the key difference between sayings a rotation is best, or knowing that a series of affects is optimal, but then being able to adapt to other situations when they occur. Those who just learn the a+b+c formula will always be limited by a lack of true understanding when compared to somebody who learns the detail of their powers.

For the sake of giving it a name, lets call this adaptive style of play Opportunistic Rotation; which is really saying the opportunity to use power with a set of rules that establish priority.