For some reason, crafting has always been a big part of massively multiplayer games. Maybe it's their quality as loot-collecting simulators, but from the very early graphical MMOs, players have almost always been able to create and modify and trade and sell items of their own. Though we don't talk about it as a mechanic much (you press a button and get what you crafted, what's the big deal), it's certainly one of the main reasons people play World of Warcraft, and the crafting system has come to not only fuel the economy, but has ended up becoming one of the best ways to show off and present your customized character.

So our question today is: what's your favorite or most important crafting item? I'm in the middle of leveling my paladin, and he's just now reaching the highest reaches of Engineering, which is a skill I've never leveled up before, but have always wanted to. I haven't gotten together the gold for epic flying yet (well on my way at level 73), but I did make normal flying machine as soon as I could. And my big goal with this character, other than getting him raiding ASAP, is to make the Mekgineer's Chopper -- ever since we first saw it in the early days of Wrath, I've planned to get a character up high enough to make it. I know, I know, I can buy it, but for me it's a crafting thing -- I want to go out, find what I need to find, and craft it with my own virtual hands.

Any other crafted items that have you wanting to make something for yourself?

Welcome to the latest Arcane Brilliance, the weekly Mage column that believes there's no such thing as a wrong time to turn something into a sheep. Unless it was already a sheep to begin with. Then it would probably have been better to turn it into a pig or a rabbit or something. Or maybe just hit it with a Pyroblast. Mmmm. Lamb chops. What were we talking about again?

If you missed last week, here's a link to click on so you can catch up. If you can't be bothered to read the first part of this column, let me summarize the idea here: we're discussing ways to get your Mage all decked out in epic, raid-worthy gear without ever actually entering a raid instance. Now, more than ever before, we have so many options for obtaining raid-quality gear that actually raiding for it seems almost...old-fashioned.

Last week we talked about 5-mans in both their normal and heroic varieties, focusing on Trial of the Champion, because duh. But maybe you don't want to do 5-mans. Maybe your guildies aren't on, and maybe you hate pugs. Maybe you are a Mage, and because there are eighty-four DPSers looking for group for every one tank or healer, you threw your hands up after an hour of trying to get a group and went off to do dailies.

Well good news, everyone! Doing those dailies can get you epics too! Yes, it is entirely possible--even if you happen to be the guy on your server who ninjas gear in pugs and sucks at everything to the point that nobody invites you to groups anymore--to fill just every slot of your gear with sparkly purples without doing any instances of any kind. Isn't that wonderful? It tends to take a bit longer, overall, but these alternative methods for obtaining gear can be perfect for those of us who simply don't have a lot of time to commit to a group. Simply log in, craft an epic cloak, do a daily quest or two, blast out a couple Arena matches, and then repeat for a few weeks, and eventually you'll have epics too. Anyway, nice talking to you, see you next week! Wait...what's that? You want details? Oh fine. Clicky clicky.

Profession bags are a godsend for almost anyone leveling up a profession -- while the loss of bag space in favor of specialty slots can be a problem sometimes at the lower levels, almost all high level characters can definitely make use of at least one profession bag, to hold all of the extra ore, or gems, or leather, or whatever else you're hauling around all the time. But Natalia over on WoW LJ makes an excellent point: just where is our cooking bag? And how about a fishing bag? You might argue that only the gathering professions are meant to have bags (the Blacksmithing bag is actually a Mining bag, so even Engineers can make use of it), but that's not quite true: Engineering does have its own bags, as does Inscription. Cooking and/or Fishing, you'd think, should both have their own profession bags.

Of course, they are both secondary professions, so maybe Blizzard believes that because they're more or less optional, you should be able to carry around all of your food and spices and lures in your regular bags. But cooking especially has gotten pretty complicated lately (there are a few foods that you've got to have in your bags regularly to do the daily quests, especially Chilled Meat), and so a lot of players would definitely find a use for a dedicated bag. First Aid, probably not, but Cooking and Fishing? Definitely.

And if you want to really dream, maybe food could actually get a bonus from being kept in a special "refridgerated" bag -- nothing big, just maybe a few extra points of the bonus stat or a little longer duration when you actually take care of your food rather than just tossing it in with all of the Kobold eyeballs and oily swords and cloth that you're also carrying around. But that would be extra -- for now, just a bigger bag meant for cooking and fishing utensils would be fine, thanks.

This installment of All the World's a Stage is the thirty-second in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class (or profession!) well, without embarrassing yourself.

Blacksmiths are known for being brawny folk -- hammering pieces of metal together is not easy work after all. But in World of Warcraft, even the smallest gnome or scrawniest elf can be a great blacksmith. Azeroth is a land where even the smallest people can wield the biggest of axes, so it would follow that they could craft them too, as well as any other sort of armor or weapon that they could imagine.

Typically, however, even in Azeroth, blacksmiths are, by and large, members of a class that can use plate mail and heavy weapons, such as a warrior, a death knight, or a paladin, just as tailors are usually spellcasters of some kind. So even if a blacksmith appears scrawny on the outside, he or she is very likely still quite brawny on the inside. Underneath that elf's pretty skin are muscles of steel!

Being a blacksmith implies a state of mind as much as it does a state of body, however. Working with metals is not something for the light hearted. The weight, the heat, and all the soot are not for people who like to keep their clothes clean at all times, for instance. It's also not a very socially-oriented profession, requiring long hours spent hammering away at something until it reaches perfection, often using lots of material in the learning process before you finally get one right. Blacksmiths of lore tend to be patient and hardy people, tempered and perfected by their work, like good, hard steel.

Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

In the World of Warcraft, there are three types of craftspeople: those that gather, those that enhance, and those that create gear. They are not mutually exclusive. For example, Scribes can create off-hand weaponry in addition to glyphs and Jewelcrafters can prospect gems from raw materials.

Gathering professions are known to be money-makers, and in addition, when asked, many players will also list the enhancement professions as well:

• Inscription, although it is currently suffering from a lack of demand created by the introduction of dual-specs with patch 3.1.
• Jewelcrafting is on the list, not because of its ability to create gear such as rings, but mainly because of the Prospecting and gems, cut or raw.
• Enchanting is often stated, not only because of the enchants that can be created and even auctioned, but also because of the Disenchanting ability.

To balance this out, one would assume that the gear-crafting professions of Leatherworking, Tailoring and Blacksmithing must be incredibly useful, if not lucrative. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. This week, Insider Trader will be discussing the state of these professions. For a similar assessment of Engineering, check out The state of Engineering in 3.1.

I am especially interested in reader input and brainstorming, so don't forget to read through the comments section at the end of the article!

I've been thinking for awhile now that I'd like to approach Blood Pact a bit differently. Thus far the bulk of my posts have focused on playing a Warlock at level 80. Granted, a casual Warlock at 80, but still, my aim has been towards max level players. Aside from the obvious problem that raises of excluding lower level 'locks, this approach pointlessly limits my available subject matter. And that's just plain silly. So, since I still haven't wriggled my way into a new raid group, I think this is a good opportunity to delve into some of the topics I've been ignoring, with the goal of writing a more balanced column in the future.

While pondering what specifically I should post this week, I perused the writings of some of my fellow class columnists, and discovered that most of them had, at some point, explored their class' profession choices. A topic which I then discovered had never been broached by Blood Pact. But then, since the topic of the post is rather evident in the title of the post, I guess there's no point in belaboring its introduction. I'll start with the secondary professions, move on to the gathering professions, and finish up with the production professions.

Each week Arcane Brilliance brings you a column about Mages and all things Mage-related. That's right, Arcane Brilliance is nothing if not consistent. You won't find any server instability here. We're never down, we're always up, and you can always enter our instanced content. And the best part? Arcane Brilliance doesn't charge you 15 bucks a month. Although, donations are totally welcome.

So how's everything? Did you make it through patch day unscathed? Did you log in, like me, and find that your Mage's face, forearms, and feet were gone, and there was a hole through his chest (pro tip: upgrade your video card drivers more than once every three years)? Are you running out of mana at an outrageous clip? Are your crit numbers from Molten Armor up or down? Did your guild manage to make it into Ulduar yet, and if so, did you manage to snag any phat loot? Did you dual spec your Mage so he can now both DPS and DPS? I went Frostfire/Firefrost, myself. When triple-specs hit, I'm taking a Frarcano-fire spec. Mark my words.

All in all, I'd say 3.1 wasn't too bad. We have some new glyphs to play with, the Argent Tournament is good, clean fun, our mounts can swim, and we have a whole new batch of loot-pinatas to blow up. Our DPS seems to be down a bit, but we're still beating Warlocks, so I'm not going to mail any angry, expletive-laced letters to Blizzard just yet. I've written them--rest assured--but I'm not yet prepared to actually invest in stamps for them. Those things are like a buck apiece these days.

So now we turn to the third and final installment in our guide to professions for Mages. If you missed them, the first two parts can be found here and here. This week we'll investigate the merits of Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, and Engineering. As an added bonus, we'll take a quick peek at the three secondary professions and enumerate the reasons for investing in them. Yes, even though you can conjure Strudel from the very air around you with but a word and a snap of your fingers, you still need to learn how to cook

In case you missed the memo, the short list of changes to the Engineering profession that have been posted for patch 3.1 are all you are going to get come patch day, like it or not. Bornakk confirmed that Blizzard feels that the "perks work out" compared to what other professions offer, and that they "have no changes planned at this time."

The relevant forum thread has grown to over 1300 replies and more than 50,000 views, suggesting that while Blizz might be satisfied, much of the Engineering community is not.

In fact, many are threatening to drop the profession and take up Jewelcrafting, which is something I hear about a lot. Of course, if your profession is really, honestly inferior to all others, then why is everyone trading up to the same one?

Pass through the break for a list of the upcoming changes, the major gripes, and a comparison of Engineering to other professions in order to put this all into perspective.

You may think, as I did upon first seeing this Engineering thread in the forums, that Engineers have nothing to complain about. They get some of the coolest and most-wanted items in the game exclusive to their profession. In fact, as a LW/Skinner, I'm thinking about dropping Skinning when I hit 440 LW just to pick up Engineering, and pour a whole ton of gold into it just so I can get the Roflcopter and all of the other great stuff they get.

But after Wryxian gets everyone to settle down and give out just one suggestion for how to help Engineers, they all make a pretty good point: Engineering doesn't have that one self-buff that all the other professions seem to have lately. My Leatherworker can put a nice enchant on my bracers, Blacksmiths can add sockets to some of their items, and Tailors have spellthread that can be weaved into certain pieces of gear. Ashram, the original poster in the thread, actually has some good ideas along those lines -- "Electrified Armor" (reflect damage to chest) or "Laser Targeting System" (a +crit or +expertise head enchant). Other Engis just ask for their current "enchants" to stack with other enchants already on their gear.

The flip side here, of course, is that Engi can't be overpowered One person asks for Engineering to have a "significant advantage" in some bit of gameplay, and that's not the way Blizzard is handling professions -- different classes may play better or worse in different situations, but since every class can choose any profession, they've got to work across the entire spectrum (yes, even Rogues with Tailoring). But it does seem like Engineering is missing that extra self-buff that other professions picked up in Wrath.

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.

No no no. I'm not being political here.

The change I'm talking about is changing the game. We can all believe in changes to WoW because we're all reading a big flashy World of Warcraft news and information site. Namely change about Wintergrasp, audio settings, mob behavior, and craftables.

Except changing Paladins. They don't need any change. /snicker

MK asked...

"I was wondering if there's been any noise coming out of Blizzard regarding fixing Wintergrasp?"

This is one of the more legendary shields in the game at this point, even if it isn't actually Legendary. But it is for all you Blacksmiths out there looking for something to do.

Name: Titansteel Shield Wall (Wowhead, Thottbot, Wowdigger)
Type: Epic Shield
Armor: 7350
Abilities:

• 211 Block, +36 Strength, +69 Stamina
• Increases defense rating by 64, and at this level, while I'm not a tank expert (I leave that to the pros), Defense is what you want.

One of the initial changes in patch 3.0.8 was the inclusion of Death Knight tanking weapons that could be crafted by a high level Blacksmith. As of the latest 3.0.8 PTR update, these have been removed. And all indication is that they'll stay removed.

Ghostcrawler doesn't want Death Knights to hang onto the weapons throughout their time in Wrath of the Lich King, which is apparently what Blizzard is afraid will happen. The other issue with providing 2H tanking weapons was that Blizzard would have needed to start itemizing (putting tanking stats on and crafting gear for) 2H tanking weapons overall, and that's something they didn't want to do.

The Ghost also points out that the new sigil and runeforge enchant should be enough to get the Death Knight defense up to where it needs to be.

I love this idea a whole lot. A group of folks on Steamwheedle are holding an RP even (which they've done before), but it's a different kind of event than the usual party or dueling tournament. Instead, it's going to be completely peaceful -- they're having a Saturday morning crafting bazaar. Down in the empty vendor stalls of Undercity, they'll have crafters of all types and levels, some with their mats, some where you'll have to bring your own mats, making items aplenty for players. On January 24th, they're holding a "Black Market", where you'll be able to get almost anything crafted that you want (providing you've got the goods). They're also having a raffle, and they'll be serving food and drink as well. What a great idea.

In fact, I'd love to see something like this come to the game at large -- maybe Blizzard could provide a bonus to crafting when it's done at a certain time in a certain place, like create a "crafter's market" weekly on Saturday mornings (scheduled just like the Sunday fishing tournament), where crafters can make sure to be in a certain area ready to craft for any players who might need it, and can get bonus items or currency or mats for their trouble.

For such a social game, combat seems to always end up being the only way for players to connect regularly (not that there's anything wrong with that, but the only way to bond in game seems to be killing things). It would be nice to see more of this type of connection encouraged by Blizzard, with players using the skills they've earned to help each other and both sides getting a nice reward for it.

From our friends at MMO-Champion, we get this news: there will be two new tanking weapons from Blacksmithing, both of them 2h weapons. The Titansteel Deflector and Titansteel Defender will allow new DK's just gearing for raiding at 80 to craft themselves a spiffy 2h with enough defense or parry to help them out without making an instance drop useless for other classes. I admit I'm eyeing the Titansteel Defender for my fury warrior's OT set, but it's clearly made with DK's in mind. They even re-use the models for the starting DK weapons, which is fine by me, those are some hot weapons.

However, does this mean any serious DK tank has to be a blacksmith now? These are listed at BoP weapons, which would mean you'd have to be a smith to get one. But then again, one of the two is listed as a sword yet certainly looks like an axe, so it's possible that we'll see these go BoE, which would mean that I'd probably set up shop as a DK tank's weapon supplier. Here's to hoping.

PLATE MELEE
Warriors, Death Knights, and Retribution Paladins can all look forward to the Savage Saronite non-set, which is crafted by Blacksmiths. The recipes are available from the trainer, so all players have to do is look for a Blacksmith who has Blacksmithing at 425 and didn't scrimp on his training. The Plate PvP items have higher Stamina and Resilience overall compared to the other gear, making it an excellent investment for Northrend starter PvP.

Savage Saronite Skullshield
Savage Saronite Pauldrons
Savage Saronite Hauberk
Savage Saronite Waistguard
Savage Saronite Legplates
Savage Saronite Walkers
Savage Saronite Bracers
Savage Saronite Gauntlets

The materials to craft the Savage Saronite pieces aren't as straightfoward as the Leatherworking items, but they're still quite simple. It will take a total of 102 Saronite Bars (or a shade over five stacks), 2 Eternal Airs, 2 Eternal Shadows, 2 Eternal Waters, 1 Eternal Fire, and 1 Eternal Earth. All eight pieces confer a total of 559 Stamina, 360 Resilience, 380 Strength, and 340 Critical Strike Rating.

PLATE CASTER
For now, Holy Paladins get a free ride in raids and dungeons because all Plate caster drops automatically go to them. Unfortunately, as far as crafted PvP gear is concerned, they get an awful compromise. The set has one piece with Strength, the belt, which is utterly useless for Holy Paladins. Some pieces also have token MP5 when it should simply have been Critical Strike. And there's a dearth of Intellect. Still, the key is Resilience, and this non-set has quite a bit of it.

Ornate Saronite Skullshield
Ornate Saronite Pauldrons
Ornate Saronite Hauberk
Ornate Saronite Waistguard
Ornate Saronite Legplates
Ornate Saronite Walkers
Ornate Saronite Bracers
Ornate Saronite Gauntlets

It's advisable to wear some pieces of PvE gear at the expense of Resilience in order to inflate the Holy Paladin's mana pool. All the pieces grant a whopping total 87 Intellect, an odd 44 Strength, laughable 36 MP5, and 567 Stamina, 355 Resilience Rating, and 139 Critical Strike Rating. Assuming you'd want to have the entire non-set crafted -- it's still 355 Resilience, after all -- you'll need the same materials needed for the melee version. It takes 102 Saronite Bars, 2 Eternal Air, 2 Eternal Shadow, 2 Eternal Water, and 1 each Eternal Earth and Fire.

FILLER GEAR

Trinkets
The most important filler gear for any PvP situation is the all-important trinket. This should be your first priority in terms of gear, above and beyond any other piece of armor. The start of Season 5 introduced Level 80 versions of the Medallion of the Alliance and Medallion of the Horde. If you're serious about doing Arenas, this 49,600 Honor trinket is the first thing you should buy with Honor. It grants a massive 84 Resilience, almost double that of its Level 70 epic counterpart. You can purchase this at the Hall of Legends in or Champion's Hall.

You can put anything else in the other trinket slot, but considering how it's only the beginning of the Arena Season, I'd recommend padding Stamina until you can get better from epic gear. Jewelcrafters have great options in the Bind-on-Pickup Monarch Crab and Ruby Hare figurines, both of which have over 60 Stamina. Both also have two sockets each, with a +9 Stamina socket bonus, making them incredible for PvP. Between the two, Ruby Hare would be the safest bet as you'll be able to use the sprint use more often than the Dodge of the crab trinket. Can't have Warriors and Death Knights insta-gibbing you.

Alchemists have an awesome trinket in the Indestructible Alchemist's Stone, although the Dodge rating is terrible against the aforementioned classes. But +75 Stamina is +75 Stamina, and the added bonus of healing effects of potions is extremely useful. This brings to mind the only potions usable in Arenas... the Alchemist-only Endless Healing and Endless Mana Potions. Note that these aren't trinkets, merely endless charge items that stay in your inventory.

Engineers can use a Sonic Booster, which is a melee trinket. But the sweet thing about this trinket isn't the proc but the amazing +81 Stamina. The caster version, the Noise Machine, provides no Stamina but has a defensive proc that just might prove useful against those pesky melee classes. If you're not a Jewelcrafter, an Alchemist, nor an Engineer, there's a perfectly good alternative which is the Essence of Gossamer, which is a great tanking trinket but works equally well in PvP. A whopping +111 Stamina from one trinket slot is insanely good. The proc is pretty sweet, as well. This beauty drops from Hadronox in Heroic Azjol-Nerub.

Rings
Obviously, the best upgrades in the ring slot are the currently available Honor items. The Hateful Gladiator's Band of Dominance and Band of Triumph provide great Stamina and +33 Resilience Rating. The rings cost 38,000 Honor, which should be a good Honor sink for those who've capped at 75,000. Barring those, Jewelcrafters can make a Savage Titanium Band and Savage Titanium Ring, caster and melee rings respectively. Both have sockets and provide +32 Resilience.

Cloak
Likewise, the Hateful Gladiator epic cloaks, which require no Arena ratings, also cost 38,000 Honor and are a significant upgrade from old PvP cloaks. There are eight versions of the cloak (which makes you wonder why there are only two rings), so it might get a bit confusing. The good thing is that players are certain to find a cloak that will fit their play style perfectly. We'll take a look at all the newly available Honor and Arena gear soon. For now, gear up and get PvPing!