There was a rumor floating around a few days ago that Blizzard was considering a reduction of the cost to learn Epic Flight, a cost which is largely prohibitive for many druids who would like to complete the Swift Flight Form quest. Community Manager Drysc responded to this rumor yesterday, saying:

Depending on how mount riding skills are going to progress, the most likely point for a price drop would be with the release of the next expansion, just as the ground mount prices dropped when Burning Crusade was released. Again it would likely depend on a few factors, and may actually not change. But that’s a question for a later time.

So for those who were holding off dropping 5k on training the ability to fly at epic speed, don’t worry. Even if we’re lucky enough to receive news of the next expansion at Blizzcon next week, it’s unlikely we’ll see it’s release for at least a year.

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Mookysolo of Ner’zhul is still working hard to provide an in-depth guide to Arena PvP as a Restoration-specced druid. Recent additions and revisions to this version of his guide include:

• Revised ratings for “good”, “better”, and “best” items by slot
• A complete rewrite of the suggested talent builds section
• A new “suggested setup” section that details which of the farmable/questable/craftable/droppable items are worth the most effort to obtain, in order to “[minimize] time spent of PvE and [maximize] time spent on PvP.”

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What’s better than spending a night killing and looting with guildmates in Karazhan? Drinking and eating with guildmates in town! My guild, Aegis Hestia, has a large contingent in Salt Lake City, with around a dozen of us having known each other before entering the lands of Azeroth and another eight or so that we’ve met since we began playing. Last night, a group of us gathered at Valenna’s player housing to meet a couple of guildmates who were passing through the area on the way to a family reunion in a neighboring state. Drinking, eating, and an excessive amount of WoW banter ensued till the raid was called and everyone hearthed.

I’m a fan of real life gatherings of virtual friends, having met my husband at a gathering of EverQuest guildmates in Las Vegas in 2003. I feel like these sorts of out of game activities can greatly strengthen an individual’s attachment to her guild, putting faces with names and sometimes giving context to how their guildmates interact through text (or even voice chat) when they’re online. Meeting guildmates face to face can also lead to friendships with people who are less likely to get irritated that you’d rather stay in to raid than go out to a nightclub on a Friday night.

Here are some screenshots from last night’s gathering:

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Last night Community Manager Eyonix responded to questions about playing as a Moonkin, including a question posed by Solur of Skullcrusher, “So how many pieces of cloth does your Moonkin wear?” (The answer was 3.) Eyonix goes on to defend Burning Crusade’s lack of leather armor with spell damage by saying:

I’m disappointed that you wouldn’t treat armor the same as any other statistic. As a caster, you really do owe it to yourself to prioritize your gear so that caster stats have priority over defensive stats. You have chosen to play your character as a caster afterall. Armor is a defensive statistic, and while it can be useful, you really should be focusing on the items that benefit you as a caster the most. I think people forget that the armor bonus on the Moonkin ability was mostly a flavor bonus.

Mmmmm!
Tastes like turkey!I can’t really say that I agree with Eyonix’ assessment of the 400% armor bonus afforded to our Moonkin form as “flavor.” After all, Moonkin are encouraged to regenerate mana by meleeing (albeit, this dynamic is widely regarded as both silly and broken). Balance’s clearcasting ability, Omen of Clarity, also requires that Moonkin be in melee range since it cannot proc through spellcasting like the clearcasting abilities of the Shaman, Priest, and Mage. If the armor bonus really is just “flavor,” why not also award it to the Tree of Life? This would certainly increase the viability of a deep Restoration-spec in Arenas. Which, of course, only points out that an armor bonus — on any of our forms — is certainly more than just “flavor.”

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Hey there!
Having the usual?There are many types of UI addons: addons that overhaul the appearance of your unitframes, addons that make spell casting more efficient, and addons to help with inventory management. The list goes on and on. While the impact of many addons seems to be directly related to the amount of memory they consume, there are certain gems that can greatly improve the efficiency of how you play, despite their small memory footprint. One such addon is FreeRefills.

FreeRefills is an addon developed and maintained by Kyahx, but despite its name, it doesn’t actually give you items for free. Rather, it automatically purchases prespecified items to ensure you have a certain quantity on hand whenever you visit a vendor who has said items for sale. FreeRefills uses a simple, command-line interface that won’t overwhelm you:

• /freerefills add [item link] #

  Use this command to specify items to automatically purchase. Shift+click on the item to generate an item link and replace the “#” symbol with the quantity you wish to keep in stock. (Ex. /freerefills add [Wild Quillvine] 60)

• /freerefills del [item link]

  Removes an item from the list to automatically purchase. (Ex. /freerefills del [Simple Wood])

• /freerefills list

  Displays a list of all items currently being tracked and the quantity that should be automatically purchased.

• /freerefills clear

  Removes all items from the list to automatically purchase.

• /freerefills overstock

  Toggle option to purchase quantities that would result in a greater number on hand that what is specified if the item is sold in stacks of 5 or more. Off by default.

• /freerefills bank

  Toggle the option to automatically move prespecified items from the bank to your inventory when banking.

Here are a few of the items you might consider setting up to restock:

• Flintweed Seed x 20 and Maple Seed x 20 (Why?)
• Wild Quillvine x 60
• Simple Wood x 10 and Flint and Tinder x 1 (if you’re a cook)
• Purified Draenic Water x 40

Of course, this list can be customized to whatever tradeskills you have. Alchemists might want to keep a certain number of different types of vials automatically on hand. Fishermen might want to keep a stack of Bright Baubles. Similarly, different classes can have differing uses for this addon, such as keeping a quiver stocked with arrows or repurchasing poison components. However you use it, FreeRefills can remove a lot of the everyday tedium of restocking before or after a raid.

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