EVE Online Crafting Review

This is going to be a hard review for me. EVE Online is radically different from other MMO games I've played. As such, it's very difficult to compare it to other MMOs in a meaningful fashion. One might say this major departure in gaming style is a good thing. For me I'm afraid that really wasn't the case. I was very curious about it, and also somewhat intimidated about certain portions of the game. It claims to be an open-ended game where players can do whatever they choose. For me this turned out to be more of a flaw than a feature. More than any other review I've done so far, this one is going to be touching on all aspects of the game. That's because crafting is such an integral part of the game that it's very difficult to separate them from each other. At least that's the way I experienced it.

What's up with the Ashen Verdict?

I popped over to the PTR last week to check out the latest build. I keep hoping to see new crafted goodies, or if nothing else find the Ashen Verdict quartermaster. Sadly I flew all over Icecrown Citadel and still didn't find a vendor of any kind. And now, the blue button of Dev harrassment is gone. This means they are no longer accepting in-game feedback and presumably testing is winding down on Patch 3.3. If the IC vendor is not there now, he may never show up before Live. More likely - he's somewhere I cannot go. I have a sneaky suspicion that he's inside the raid instance. I really hope I'm wrong and they aren't reserving the new recipes for raiders only.

Giving Thanks for EZ-Mode Cooking!

You may have seen on WoWHead and other sites that the new Pilgrim's Bounty event allows you to level your Cooking skill quickly and on-the-cheap. Since this holiday only lasts a week, I went ahead and tested this out to see if it's legit. I used my new Hordie Death Knight, who had a Cooking skill of 6. She got a few points doing those Day of the Dead quests, what can I say :P It was the best I could come up with on short notice!

Kalu'ak Fishing Derby from the Test Realm

This weekend I participated in the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby. I went last week too - but the quest NPC was bugged and I don't think anyone was able to complete it. It appears to be functional now, so I went ahead and put together a walk-thru for you guys. Here is me in Dalaran, waiting for the contest to start -->

New 3.3 Glyphs

Yes, I've been a bit remiss in posting new content from the Test Realms. This is mostly because new items have been dribbling in, and I wanted to hold off until there was more to share. Since that hasn't happened yet, I'm just going to run with what I have. I really don't know if there will be more goodies anyway.

Desperately Seeking Cataclysm

Since August, there's been a flurry of speculation about the release date of Cataclysm which refuses to die down. From what I understand, most of the guesses are fueled by player need. This is comical to me, for players to base development estimates on what "should" happen to minimize their boredom. I think we all know by now that Blizzard does not skimp on features to make a random deadline, so trying to dream up a timeline based on the needs of the fickle player base is pretty silly.

Why is Arctic Fur on the Vendor?

One of the newest changes on the Test Realm is the addition of Arctic Fur on the Leather Trader in Dalaran, available for the price of 10 Heavy Borean Leather. I find this change a bit odd because I didn't realize that Arctic Fur had become scarce. This is primarily because I'm not actually using my Leatherworking skill, which I guess is saying something. For a while I tried making leg armor, but I got disgusted with the lowballing and gave up. It probably doesn't help that I dropped skinning and now have to purchase leather.