Sabellian was once portrayed as a threatening and covert character, a perception consistently implied by his years spent surviving in Outland. However, this aspect of his character was completely erased in the recent Zaralek campaign, where he is now seen as an exaggeratedly immature, emotional, hysterical and even vulnerable character.
Wrathion in MoP was a masterfully intelligent, composed and articulate tactician despite his youth. Yet now he behaves like a complete irritating clown.
These are not isolated cases. Now, many other characters (actually all characters) in WoW seem to fall into one of three overused tropes: the clown, the insecure person (Kalecgos, Nozdormu, Anduin, Thrall) or the powerful charismatic leader who often morphs into an unconvincing villain.
Everything became extremely generalized.
Regarding Sabellian and Wrathion, I'm curious about how they'll manage to lead the Black Dragonflight, considering the current portrayal of their characters shows a total lack of competence.
P.S. Also in real world persons like Kalecgos would never be appointed as leaders. It’s a marvel for me how he became an aspect. P.S.S. The writing team should be fired/renewed.

Seeing as thought Blizzard remembered some old lore characters recently and brought them back either into the main story(Sabellian) or in a neat quest reference(Nazgrel), if they brought back Fenris Wolfrbother, uncle of Thrall and one of the last old horde members who's current status is unknown, would you like it if they brought him into WoW as an ally of the playeHorde or an antagonist that challenges the current culture of the orcs and horde(or rather he just died offscreen during the destruction of Draenor)?

Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion or anything and don't get me wrong, I love wow raids and love all the content, stories and lore on them but... Come on! We are walking into these raids with the most powerful characters in Azeroth and they just.... Do nothing? It would be so cool to see Khadgar, Kalecgos, Wrathion etc do stuff, it feels kinda awful when they just walk us around and watch from afar. Things like how Jaina and Thrall helps us in Sanctum but in a more interesting way other than opening paths and just... Being unimpressive.
It would be nice if they involved these characters into mechanics at least, since I imagine them dealing damage would just make people livid about logs. But stuff like, helping Wrathion break the defenses of the enemy or going into Sabellian's protective shield or whatever, just something!

First
The Dauntless
​
“What do you mean where I got it? I bought it.” The mother explains and Modan sighs a bit even as he grabs a small little pastry of something... He’s not sure what it’s called but it’s on his platter and he’s taking a bite.
Some kind of berry bun. Of what type, he has no idea. Mildly sweet, but not the store bought, overly sweet types. Whatever it is, clearly is meant to be more of an aftertaste or a pallet cleanser.
“I’m asking where you bought it ma’am. I’m almost entirely certain that nothing of the sort has been sold for The Dauntless meaning that someone is making some kind of human brand good and not actually consulting humans in things. If things like that get out of hand then people could be very easily poisoned. Not to mention that it’s also illegal. There’s a copyright out there, and someone selling human goods without paying a license... That’s a crime.” Modan states and she just stares at him. “Ma’am.”
“No, it was... it was at a local grocery. It was a specialty food on their site. It was ordered without an issue.” She says and Modan frowns. She takes a step back and he flattens his expression. Urthani are a timid species, he reminds himself. It’s why their recent changes are not going over so well. “I... look... I need to know what... I mean...”
She sways on her feet and Modan rushes up and catches her via the shoulder as she loses balance. “Ma’am, are you well?”
He leads her to a chair and her antenna flitter around as she sways.
“I thought she was acting different, but I thought it was because I’m so different now.” Falala says.
“No... no dear I... I’ve been feeling... strange so... out of sorts.” Her mother states and Modan considers. Her behaviour is somewhat frantic and lethargic at the same time, so she’s in a defensive state of mind and is... not herself.
She was also a great deal more aggressive than most reports on Urthani had portrayed them as. He brings out his communicator and quickly presses a quick series of buttons. “Hello, this is Quartermaster Maji. I’m here with two Urthani, mother and daughter. The Daughter has the more robust internal systems and the mother is lethargic and acting oddly. There was a short event where the daughter overindulged on an energy drink. Hinting that people are selling off brand human merchandise at normal grocery store websites. I suggest that gets looked into.”
“... So are you questioning about the Urthani or warning us about this bootleg merchandise?” The person on the other end asks.
“Both.” Modan states.
“Alright, give me a moment... alright there has been a massively shifting phenomenon among the Urthani. It matches up with the older legends and many origin stories among the Nagasha. If these legends are to be believed then it’s not just the young that will change, but there will be a change among the older and more established. According to this script. ‘With the coming of the goddess, change and strength emerged as we basked in her power, first the young, newly hatched and the daughters still in their eggs. But after only a few short moments their mothers cast aside the skins of old and emerged as mightier beings. Even those who had seemed unchanged after the great shedding held a deeper strength within them.’ So... that might be what’s happening.”
“Oh... well... hmm...”
“Good luck!” The man states and the line goes dead. Modan pockets the device and runs a hand through his hair.
“Alright, so I think I have a good idea about why you’re feeling out of sorts ma’am.” Modan states and gets a hard look from Falala.
“What’s wrong with her? What’s going on!?” She demands.
“This sort of thing has been observed before, granted a very long time ago. So long ago it’s faded into scripture and legend.”
“Are you like implying the Nagasha?” Eve asks him.
“He totally is!” Mara returns.
“I am. According to what a researcher on The Dauntless was able to quickly look up this sort of thing happened long ago with the Nagasha, first it was in the children and newborns and those who were freshly hatching. But not long afterwards their parents changed as well. What it means? I’m not sure. I personally don’t believe in all the hype around Primal Nagasha and I don’t think there is a Primal Urthani. But there is a previous pattern.”
“So you’re saying that my mother is about to change?”
“I think she is changing... there’s a process that growing insects use that is very different from pupating in a cocoon. If she’s about to use it, then I suggest you drive her home and make sure she has plenty to eat. It’s not going to be pretty, but it will help.”
“What is happening to me? I feel packed in and tight in my skin. Everything is tiring and I’m ravenous.” The Mother says and Modan sighs.
“That matches up. You’re feel packed in and tight in your skin because you are. You have a flexible but strong exoskeleton. You’re about to moult I think.”
“Moult?”
“Yes, I suggest you be home for it.” Modan states.
“Home!? I need to go to the hospital! Urthani don’t moult!” She half shouts.
“Calm down ma’am. I’m not a medical professional, it’s mostly a theory based on...”
“I don’t care if it’s a theory based on the dance of the stars! What you’re saying is...”
CRACK
Her eyes bulge, Modan’s eyebrows go up and Falala as well as the rest of the Cafe gasp in horror at the sight of the woman’s head starting to split.
“And the overexertion of the panic finishes things off.” He notes before examining the area with his senses as hard as they can go. He has to have somehow adjusted his own probability waveform to lure in this much weird drama in this short a time. He can’t find it in the fraction of a second he gives himself for self indulgence and then he’s moving.
“Ma’am, ma’am please calm down. A moulting in nature is not a cause for alarm, but it is cause for caution. So we’re going to be calm, reasoned and methodical to help you through this. Are you willing to work with me ma’am?” He asks in a calmed and reasoned tone. The tone is very important. Unlike Falala who was chemically stimulated earlier and unable to properly calm down, her mother is not under the effects of whatever brand horror show Falala had downed.
“Valiana!” She exclaims as she tries to breathe to the best of her ability and it causes a series of further cracks. He can feel her body pulling on the Axiom to expediate this. It looks like what’s traditionally about a half hour’s fun in nature is going to wrap up in maybe three minutes here. Which won’t do much for keeping calm if the pedal’s to the metal, but he can adapt.
“Valiana then. What you need to know is to just make sure you keep breathing. Alright, strong and measured. You are not water based so when you moult you won’t need to absorb a huge amount of seawater, but what you will need to do is get some wind on your fur and shell.
“My claws... they feel wrong.”
“There is a claw variant to the Urthani now. If that is what you are becoming then that is what you are becoming. It is nothing to fear.”
“But my daughter this... this...” Valiana says as she starts trying to wring her claws together and there is a sudden crack as the exterior of her left pointer claw outright shatters. Revealing another claw beneath with a strange pattern on it. The pull of the Axiom increases and the claw grows larger and more jagged in front of everyone.
There are further cracks as she works at her handclaws and quickly all six of the large spears are considerably larger and more deadly than before.
“Wow... why couldn’t I get the really big claws!?” Falala demands.
“Because you’ve got the iron guts instead.” Modan says as he sweeps the shards on the table into a small pile for easier disposal. “Help her to the bathroom so she can have some privacy, she’s going to moult all over and that means she needs to get castoff carapace beyond her clothing.”
“Right! Right! That’s very right! Come on mom, let’s get you to the bathroom.” Falala says and takes her mother’s claws in her own and lead her away, “Oh cool! Now your claws look together for a punch or grip in harder! That’s so cool!”
As Valiana is led away she leaves a trail of tiny pieces of shed claw as she walks as her foot claws grow more and more to match the hand claws.
“Well, that’s certainly a thing that happened.” Modan notes even as he uses Axiom to sweep all the cast off bits into a pile in his hands. “Where’s the nearest garbage can?”
“Here.” Theresa86 says as she holds out a bag for him. “That’s like, totally unique.”
“But... wait... wouldn’t saying Like Totally contradict each other on the Gravia speech patterns? Like is used as a shorthand for similar but inaccurate, and totally means even more so. Wouldn’t they cancel each other out?”
“I like suggest you spend more time with Gravia to figure it out.” Theresa86 says with a sly smile.
“We can handle that!” Mara states.
“Totally!” Eve contributes. “But wow! A whole species is like changing! Changing in front of the whole galaxy!”
“Does anything like this happen in Cruel Space?” May asks.
“Moulting? Yes, insects, arachnids and arthropods moult like this lot. But an entire species flash evolving and creating branching paths? No. It doesn’t happen.” Modan says and there’s a gasping sound in the bathroom and while he’s REALLY tempted to stretch his senses in that direction. He doesn’t. He does have some sense of propriety and appropriateness.
“So uh...” Modan begins.
“So, you girls have seen him flustered, you’ve seen him calm and you’ve seen him react to the unexpected twice. Are you sure you want in?” Jadza asks.
“You like, made the sale this morning. You totally don’t have to keep pitching.” May says with a fond smile and Modan just sort of looks away. He’d gotten caught up in the... whatever their family name is, in the drama of Falala and her mother Valiana adjusting to a sudden shift in EVERYTHING they had ever expected or known. Falala’s getting a massive personality overhaul and is going to look at what she once thought was poison for food. Valiana’s every movement is going to have to be regulated and guarded in order to stop her from hurting people or breaking things.
He’d gotten so caught up in the drama between mother and daughter and the sheer madness that was their species shifting around them that he’d almost forgotten he was on a date.
“We’re not the only one’s you’ve like, totally charmed.” Eve states.
“You’re all wearing wires. I know.” He says.
“It’s just part of the job darling.” Jadza tells him.
“I know, I’m getting involved with half of a...” He trails off and looks to Theresa86 who pulls out a small sign that reads ‘I have suddenly developed and acute and temporary case of deafness. Please pardon me.’ and places it on the counter. “Agency.”
“Don’t trust the sign?” Jadza asks in a highly amused tone.
“It’s rather easy to lie in sign language.” He says easily and makes a point to not smirk at the awful pun he just made.
“Booo! Boo!” Theresa86 jeers from the kitchen both proving his point and mocking the pun.
“See?” Modan asks and the bathroom door suddenly bangs open.
“Uhm... can I get a second pair of hands in here? This is getting awkward.” Falala asks and Jadza starts moving. She’s the field agent, she’s much more ready to jump into action.
“Turn the fan on! Get some airflow in there to help.” Modan calls after her and although she doesn’t respond the telltale sound of a fan quickly starts up.
“So...” Eve begins and there’s a loud cracking and snapping sound and several exclamations of surprise.
“Is everything alright in there?” Modan calls to the bathroom.
“Wings gave us a surprise!” Jadza calls back.
“How do you not know? It’s pretty easy to sense what’s going on.” May asks him.
“I’ve dulled my senses. It’s very, very inappropriate to peek into a bathroom and using Axiom to peek is still peeking.” Modan says before the door slams open again. It’s Falala with a huge smile on her face.
“Announcing my mom! Better than ever!” She calls out to the cafe before slipping to the side as Valiana slips out. Her claws are lager and with small shifts in the pattern to allow them to lock together with ease. These sharp angles would also rip through flesh with ease and hook in without an issue. Furthermore the sheen and pattern suggests that there’s something reinforcing them.
She’s also about two inches taller and bigger all around. As if she suddenly put on at least twenty healthy pounds.
“Incidentally, where was that garbage again? There’s a fair amount of cast away here.” Jadza mutters.
“No! Not that! We’ll keep it as a souvenir! It’s so neat!” Falala says.
“What no! That’s disgusting!” Valiana protests.
“But mom! In a couple generations no one will have them anymore! Which means that some day it’s going to be rare meaning valuable! Oh! Thinking of, what happened to the claw cast offs? I want those to!”
“Falala! Do not collect bits of my moulting!” The mortified Valiana protests.
“But mom!”
“No buts! No!”
​
First Last Next

First
The Dauntless
​
“Wait... wait there...” Modan notes as his eyes widen slightly. “Your code is shifting in response to my looking. Is this? Am I hurting you?”
“No, it’s not that. You’re totally not like hurting anyone by looking darling. The Code is forever updating. We’re young by Gravia standards. So our code isn’t very complicated.”
“Your code is making me slowly go cross-eyed as I try to read it.” Modan remarks.
“Then stop reading it you goof!” Jadza chides him even as the Four Twenty Sisters laugh a little.
“Right well...” Modan begins before he senses something outside and extends his perception that way. “A giant moth?”
“A what?” Jadza asks just as the image coalesces into a moth woman with the crazy eyes and diving towards the cafe in question.
“An Urthani who’s swooping down and...” The entire cafe jumps as the moth woman slams into the windows to discover that they’re reinforced and she can’t break through. The fuzzy white woman collapses to the ground and pops right back up to rush for the door. Then scratch it a few times before getting things right and rushing in. Even more concerning is that her Axiom presence is jagged for lack of a better term. Her emotions are whipsawing in every direction and she’s clearly in a manic state of some kind.
“Caffeine!” She shouts as she slams her claws onto the counter and looks around while outright shaking as she stood.
“What?” Jadza asks in surprise as Modan blinks and halfway between the blink it all clicks. The alterations to the Urthani species and the variations that were reported by Sergeant Blue. One variant with a Null resistant physiology and an aggressive attitude.
“I think... I think that’s one of the new Urthani Variants. There’s one that looks normal but actually is null resistant, aggressive and robust.” Modan says. “I think she’s on a caffeine high.”
“Like what?” Eve asks as Theresa86 comes out of the back to try and deal with a young woman attempting to vibrate her way through solid objects and leaving scratch marks all over her counter and floor.
“A legal stimulant, but addictive. Often served with a huge amount of sugar as well, which is also an addictive stimulant in high enough quantities. So the sugar of an exotic human food lured her in and the caffeine has her downright vibrating.”
“Is she going to be alright?”
“It flushes out of the system harmlessly. Hell, a huge portion of the human population intakes large amounts of caffeine and sugar daily. But I should give her a scan just in case. It IS possible to overdose on literally anything, even if you need utterly absurd amounts for it.” He says standing up and patting at his pocket. “Theresa86, I need to borrow a chemical scanner. The young Urthani appears to be undergoing a caffeine overdose.”
“And she’s asking for more?!” Theresa86 demands even as the young Urthani’s antenna twitch in an attempt to keep her focus on things and the woman tries to stare her down into complying.
“It’s addictive. Generally harmless in small doses, but she’s not had a small dose.” Modan says stepping away from the table and slowly, obviously walking up to the young woman.
She slashes at him the moment he’s in arms reach before suddenly backing up and her face goes through a dozen expressions even as her axiom presence suddenly jankes into about five different formations.
“Calm down young lady, you’re in a manic state brought up on by all the caffeine. No one is going to hurt you, just calm down and wait for the chemicals to pass through your system. You’re going to be fine.” He says even as Theresa86 brings him the chemical analyzer she flutters back and brings her claws up in preparation for a fight as he scans her. He then turns the screen towards her. “Look see? You’re digesting the caffeine fine and you’re going to be okay. Just calm down.”
She lets out a long series of trills, takes a few deep breaths and then. “But I, I want (Loud Trill), I want more! I want MORE!”
“It’s addictive. Calm down, and you can get more later. But you’ve had too much now.” He says in a calm and even tone and is only somewhat surprised when her emotions ripsaw back across themselves so fast that she decides to solve her problems by jumping him and trying to stab him with her fore claws.
She gets dodged and knocked down with a chop right between the antenna. “Calm down.”
“No!” She screams and as she swings he reinforces his hand to the point she can’t cut him and starts slapping away the flailing claws. “I will not be calm! My heart is racing! The world looks weird and nothing is right! Stop shouting at me!”
“Calm down.” He says as she jumps at him again and earns another chop in between the antenna. She gets up tryign to rub her head and then suddenly yelping in pain as she cuts herself. She’s so jittery she can’t even be trusted by herself. Thankfully she’s far from toxic levels, but she clearly started experimenting with the new foods she could eat, found caffeinated soda and had way, way too much. “Let’s start again, hello little girl. I am Modan Maji, a Quartermaster stationed on The Dauntless. I am one of The Undaunted. Who are you?”
“Are you hitting on me?!” She demands.
“No, I’m trying to calm you down. You’ve had too much caffeine and you’ve run headlong into a massive high and addiction. You need to...” He abandons the speech and dodges the sudden spear shooting out from the girl’s mouth. By reflex his hand comes up and wraps around the tongue/spear that she just shot at him.
“Eggo!” She orders him as she instantly begins thrashing and then she smacks herself in the face when he does. “You’re mean!”
“And you’re out of control young woman. Calm down before your hurt yourself or others.” Modan chides her.
“If you weren’t trained she would have hurt you! This needs to end, drugged up or not she’s still at least partially responsible for her actions and unprovoked assault of a soldier in good standing is NOT to be overlooked.” Jadza says rising up and stepping away from the table even as May holds up her communicator. “Call the police, this has to end.”
“This doesn’t have to end badly, She’s a child making a mistake. No one’s hurt yet. Damage to property can easily be paid for.” Modan states even as the jittering and manic teen looks from Jadza to him over and over again, her antenna are twitching frantically and are nearly a blur as she tries to make sense of things. He decides to keep her attention on him. “Child, what did you drink? Was it soda? Coffee? A latte?”
“IT said energy, that it would make you have lots of energy and I’ve been feeling tired since coming out of the cocoon with weird... I mean it’s so weird! I should just have energy but everything too much!”
“It would be, what you had is for when you’re exhausted and need to put in a few hours of hard work. They have a huge amount of caffeine in them. It will pass though, it will pass and you will be fine, calm down. Find some calm.”
“What!? No! I can’t! Everything’s moving! I’m moving! I can’t stop moving! Nothing’s stopping this is horrible I need to stop but I can’t!” She blurts out fast with bits of trilling inter-spaced between it all.
“Then burn it off! Come on! I’m going outside! Try to keep pace and it will help you burn away all the extra energy!” He says as he backs out of the building and step by hesitating step the young Urthani girl follows him.
“Alright, this is going to be simple, you’re too wound up and you need something to do. So catch me. That’s the game. Nice and easy. Just tag me once and you win.” He says as she looks around. She seems to openly scoff and rushes at him. He not only easily twists out of her reach, but gives her a swat. “Try again kiddo.”
She rushes again with her arms flailing as she screeches in frustration.
“What are you doing?” Jadza demands.
“She needs to burn off the excess energy! Think of it like having an overcharged system! Use or release the extra energy and things go back to normal minus the strain.” Modan explains.
“Strain!?” The Urthani girl demands even as she tries to flap at him as hard as she can. It’s nowhere near enough, but he’s keeping the dodge close to keep her interested.
“What your doing now isn’t normal, and you can’t feel it, but you’re getting tired. The caffeine is just covering up all the exhaustion. Once you burn through it you’ll suddenly feel all the exhaustion you were ignoring and that’s what’s called crashing.” Modan explains.
“But that sucks! Why would anyone want this stuff if they crash!?” The Urthani girl demands frantically as she starts huffing from the effort of things. She’s not feeling the strain, but she’s strained.
“Sometimes the crash is worth it? Sometimes you need to get things done now and you’ll have time later to rest and recover from a crash? There’s plenty of reasons.” Modan explains as he can see things almost shifting in the girl. “How long ago did you have the energy drink?”
“I dunno? A couple hours!? I’ve been flying around from spire to spire and now I want more of it! SO I came here!”
“I see, so you’re near a crash anyways. Good. That makes this easier.” Modan notes and the girl screeches.
“WHAT ABOUT THIS IS EASY!?!” She demands charging him and this time as he gets out of the way, he trips her. She hits the ground hard and does not get back up. “Oww...”
“And a last little shock. How do you feel?” He asks.
“Tired. Stupid. Sore.” She answers slowly.
“That checks out. So, can I have your name now?”
“Falala.” She says slowly coming off the ground. “How?”
“It’s called a crash for a reason. It would have been easy for you to recover from that trip if you weren't already tired. The bit of pain from falling just helped your body catch up.” Modan says as he walks over to her and offers his hand. He can’t help but note that she’s finally calm enough to put up a defensive barrier around her claw so as not to harm him as she takes it.
“Alright, now that you’re calm, can you tell me exactly where you got your claws around a human grade energy drink? Even if you can digest it, it’s still not something that should be easily on the market.”
“I...” Falala says standing up and looking around. “What spire am I on?”
“This is Borga Spire!” Eve says walking up and Falala closes her eyes muttering something about it ‘being even worse now’.
“I crossed five spires. Wow.” Falala says after a few moments of thought. “What time is it? I feel like I’ve been flying and fighting for days.”
“Just past midday.” Modan says and her eyes snap open.
“Midday!? But I was going to... oh no... mom! She’s going to be so scared and... Oh no...” Falala says even as a police cruiser pulls into view and starts flying down at them.
The Platen that emerges is a stark contrast to Falala, dark in hue and armour and with stern, almost angry disposition compared to Falala’s fidgety, timid state. She might be more brash and bold compared to other Urthani, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to be thrusting her claws into everything.
“Another manic Urthani... there’s been a rash of your types. But you don’t have any obvious mutations.” The Officer states down at her.
“Officer.” Modan states drawing more attention to himself and the woman looks at him. Judging, evaluating, briefly undressing him with her eyes, but then her focus goes back to Falala. “She was testing out her changed biology. She has robust internal organs. So she tried human food, and the drink she tried was a powerful stimulant. So she didn’t know how to respond.”
“She drugged herself.”
“She had an energy drink. While not recommended, you could feed one to a child with no lasting harm. She didn’t know how to handle the caffeine though and went crazy.”
“I see, so you are claiming this is a Beta Fourteen situation?” The Officer asks and Modan pulls out his communicator to look that up. “It means she imbibed a non-toxic substance that was not designed for her species and it had adverse affects on her judgment and behaviour.”
“Yes. This is her first time with caffeine and she had far too much. I’ve had caffeine for much of my life but even I am cautious about having an energy drink.”
“I see, I still need to assess the damages, but unless the business owner brings up charges there will be no legal repercussions.” The Officer states. “Young lady, do not go anywhere unless you actually want to be charged and this should be sorted out quickly.”
​
First Last Next

Wow! I found this sub today and as a Retired Chief Quartermaster, I thought I'd take a look. I can now see I've been out way too long. After perusing several dozen posts I realized I couldn't understand 90% of the acronyms used. This isn't the name Navy I served in...

April Fool's, I'm not going to try any harder than this.
Actually now I've got your attention, it might be worth clarifying a few things - and no, nothing in here is new information so if you're hoping for that I got news for you son! I got 99 problem but a new spec ain't one. There's a lot of people getting their knickers in a twist over the various 'findings', and I'll be the first to say when I have my doubts (I do).
In the Scottish court system, there are three verdicts that someone can face - the standard innocent or guilty verdict, but there's also 'not proven' - as in the court or jury believes the offender did commit the crime, but there is insufficient evidence to prove they did it - functionally, it is the same as not guilty. If the Third Evoker Spec was on trial, I'd be sending him home with a Not Proven but ultimately, we can't confirm anything.
I think the below is a pretty conclusive list of everything in the spec speculation space, but I could be wrong.
​
The Not Likely Stuff Most of the spells are absolutely NPC abilities in current form, there are only two spells that could probably be something player related - "Spell 396286" from Pt1 which was linked to a new empower mechanic at the time (higher empower = more radius of effect), and they revealed in recent class changes post that they are "looking at more AOE options" for Devastation ability in the latest dev diary so it's probably just that. Then there's Emerald Infusion which we currently do not have any further information on. Everything else - just an interesting fun thing.
One specific callout - I've seen Chaotic Dragon touted as a new spec spell because it says Evoker only. Sorry to burst bubbles, but that's a raid boss mechanic - The Rest of the Chaotic Crew would like a word.
Remember that Lightning breath spell from Pt1? Good practice is to check your old 'evidence' every new update, to make sure you reconsider any previous assumptions in the wider context. Well Sabellian got that one, not us :(
​
The Could Be Something Pile The SpellEmpower and SpellEmpowerStage stuff is the only big change that could mean something. The 36 new entries from the last post is interesting, but without SpellID values it doesn't really mean anything for now. Someone mentioned that these could be NPC abilities - we actually know that's not true, as current empower abilities like Fire Breath are in game as regular spells with cast times from some NPCs, such as the Fallen Scalecommanders in the Forbidden Reach quest "A Creche Divided".
The new voice lines are pretty interesting, but if we based all of our speculation off what one NPC says to another NPC, we quickly become detached from reality in a way that would make Buddhist monks asking you for tuition. The quest text that started all this is also interesting but sort of old news now - the other consideration, this is a clearly a phone picture of a screen but I personally haven't seen anything in any database or data source about it... anyone else?
The only other thing that goes unexplained is the SpellCategory: Class - Evoker - Jolt. But that's all it is - a category spells can be put in, but it is only an empty list. It's an empty list. Repeat this three times before any time you wish to use this as evidence without any further developments here.
​
Gimme What You're Smoking If anyone has subscribed to the 6th Violet Dragonflight led by Raszageth theory, please reach out to me for the above reason.
​
And remember guys, healthy speculation is fun but it doesn't mean anything till it's written in blue, so try not to get yourself too stressed over the prospect of new pixels.

Long read ahead!
Personally, I'm a fan overall. I like that crafters aren't all equal, and I enjoy the crafting system. They feel more engaging than just churning out 150 recipes and unlocking everything except for rep-based formulas.

Unequal Professions

That said, I don't think they're all equal. My main is Enchanting and the crafting orders system doesn't exist for Enchanters. On most professions there's something vital that people need, mostly in the form of gear. Lariats and rings, armor and weapons, etc.
Enchanting can make some weapon appearances if you farm up a very low drop rate formula. If you go a certain Spec, you can make some pets, but that'll hamstring you when it comes to effective enchants for content. These two things are the only things that crafting orders ever appear for, which means I've not done a single crafting order since the system's launch.
The only effective things we can make is profession equipment for enchanting. But again, going to spec in that makes it so you can't really use enchanting for its usual purpose of enchanting gear for content. These pieces also cost hundreds of mettle, so missing an inspiration proc sets you back weeks worth of resources. I can't pretend it doesn't feel like shit having friends that hit gold cap off of Lariat work orders while I stared at 100g work orders for a weapon illusion that literally wasn't in the game until primal storms started.
However, the same enchants can sell on the AH instead of crafting orders. That means that the best thing to do is pick a type of gear and try to 3-star those enchants. The only things worthwhile to do that for from a financial gold-making point of view is weapons, and the price drops after the first month. Once someone enchants their weapon once, they never need it again.
On top of that, Enchanting doesn't engage with the system of different quality mats. Leather, herbs, and ores can all be 1, 2, or 3-star. For Enchanting, the three mats are their usual universal quality they've always been. So as a whole, Enchanting doesn't have any mechanics with the new Quality system and barely engages with the new Crafting system.
This was particularly vicious at the start of the patch. Any weapon enchantment (and some others) required 3 Glowing Titan Orbs. These had a ~2% drop chance from very specific mobs only in Tyrhold, with very few exceptions. The orbs sold for 5-10k gold at any time, which is why your 3-star Sophic Devotion cost as much as a WoW token until they buffed the drop rates.
Because we didn't engage in lower-quality mats or the Crafting Order system, an Enchanter was forced to farm for hours to get these mats or drop tens of thousands on the orbs themselves, just to have a low chance at maybe 3-starring an enchantment. We could use Mettle to try to raise our Inspiration proc %, but Mettle was so trickled in the start of the expac that the amount of Mettle needed to roll the dice was insane.
Despite not engaging with the new Quality system, one of the specs that you'll want to sink points into is the Disenchanting tree. In previous expacs, disenchanting has essentially guaranteed materials of a quality equal to the quality of the gear being disenchanted. Now, you can disenchant a mythic raid drop and get a blue shard out of it. Leveling disenchanting is required to get the appropriate mats, and it still isn't a 100% chance. I think it'd be better if the drop was still guaranteed and leveling disenchanting increased the amount you received from disenchantment, but that's just my personal take.

Cooking and Fishing

Enchanting is far from the only profession with issues, but I feel like it's the hardest struck by the new systems. I think you could make the same argument for Cooking and Fishing. Both were left out of the new systems, but why?
It'd be cool to have a Cooking skill tree where you focused on feasts or stat food. A tertiary tree could focus on quality of food versus multicrafting lower-quality food en masse. If I have different qualities of weapon runes, armor kits, and sharpening stones, why not give me the same options for my stat food?
Fishing has the same. Why can't I spec toward having a higher chance to get materials or fishing crates? Maybe a capstone spec in Fishing could give me a once-a-day ability to spawn a pool, or double the duration of my attached bait. Fish and cooking ingredients also don't engage with the Quality system, but if they did, a Fishing tree could do the same as the above cooking idea - put points toward catching a high quantity of fish or a higher quality, lower amount of fish.
It's strange because they've made large improvements in both professions, particularly Fishing. There's world quests, daily nets, a reputation-locked system to improve my Fishing gear, etc. They've added so much, but they cut Fishing out of the new systems. Cooking, meanwhile, feels no different from previous expansions.
It feels like they're pushing toward making these secondary professions obsolete. They've removed Archaeology and First Aid entirely, and these are the only other professions everyone can engage with. Given that they're the only professions that 100% of the playerbase can simultaneously have, it feels like they'd do more to make them benefit from the complete overhaul that professions underwent.
One upside of them not engaging with the Quality system is that it keeps bag-bloat down. Even with the new Reagent Slot bags, I'm commonly full on mats. Herbalism can take up a dozen slots, plus Primal Chaos, crafting motes, sparks, vials, etc. If every fish and cooking mat had different Qualities, it'd definitely bloat fast. Then again, a single hour in 10.0.7 showed me they don't mind bloating my bags with random shit too much.

Falling Behind on Alts

A third issue I wanted to highlight is that the new Specialization system makes grabbing professions on an alt a terrible experience. I have a lot of alts, but because of specializations, they're professionless.
There are no catch-up mechanics on Knowledge points. My Druid that just hit 70 has Skinning, and it'll be early August before that toon is where my main is. Mettle is heavily restricted since I'm not doing any production professions on this toon, making it much more difficult for me to do a crafting order for Skinning tools.
I have the same problem on 3 other toons. If I want to engage on professions with them, I have to do the weekly chores to get free Knowledge points and pick up the free Knowledge drops from skinning, mining, herbing, etc. But even if I get every possible point on them, I'll never catch up to my main's Enchanting until they're all maxed out - a process that will likely take the rest of this calendar year.
Alts do have one beneficial recourse: Rabul, the Artisan's Consortium quartermaster, sells books that give you Knowledge. These are purchasable on alts regardless of rep. Unfortunately, they also require Mettle to purchase - 100, 150, and 200. These prices are also effectively lowered to 25, 75, and 125 because the books give 15 Knowledge, which returns 75 Mettle to you.
These books are one-use and give a total of 45 points. You can buy them for both of your professions. 45 points is enough to fill out a single node, but past that, you're back to being wildly behind. For comparison, my main has spent about 240 points on Enchanting alone. That 200-point gap is insurmountable at the moment.
Of course, it's completely possible I'm missing something. They've added several systems for alt-catchup, and I'd generally call the game's current state the most alt-friendly I've seen it in quite some time. But when it comes to professions, the timegating on Knowledge and the importance of specializations makes picking up professions on an alt or switching professions on your main a daunting, near-impossible task.
I don't know the fix for alts. For mains, I think there should be some sort of point-refund system. Something taxing enough that people can't just repeatedly re-skill to craft a max tier item from one tree and then switch back to their normal tree, but something friendly enough that you aren't bricked by weeks or months if you went down the wrong tree. Primal chaos became irrelevant within the first month of the patch from how fast we got it - why not let us refund a point per X amount of chaos?

The Good

I said at the start that I like the profession system overall and then pointed out glaring flaws for a long ass time. These flaws are the only flaws that I personally see. Everything else about the systems, I find a massive success.
I think the best part is that they've really made crafting feel like a community. I have the battle tags of cross-faction players because they can craft things for me. I've recommended crafters to people and asked around my circle to find crafters that can make the exact item I need. I've made friends with people because they could help me figure out the best spec tree or craft something for me. I have a string of letters back and forth with someone I've otherwise never met, cheering and making bets on whether her Inspiration would proc to 5-star my Lariat.
It also feels like professions are more varied now. Enchanting isn't just Enchanting - now it's Weapon Enchanting, Ring Enchanting, Gear Enchanting, Tool Enchanting, Pet Making, Transmog Illusions. Are these paths all equal? Absolutely not. But do I as a player get the option of picking one of these paths? Sure do!
It's brought a lot more life into a system that was otherwise extremely stale. It's made it so profession gear is something I actually think about instead of maybe bothering to grab a mining pick from a Trade Goods NPC.
On top of it all, it's also given a huge boost to the economy. Region-wide AH killed the prices on a lot of things, but the new crafting system helped bring that back. As someone who farms up enough gold to play the game for free on a monthly basis, I find this an awesome bonus. It's also just more fun to have an in-game economy that's truly player-driven.
There were some other benefits. It was cool at the start of the expac that you could use professions to power-level alts. Blizzard put a stop to it, and I get that it was an unintended thing, but I like that you can still get a couple levels from your first crafts.

Conclusion

When I started this post, it was two paragraphs. I'm procrastinating work so I made a wall that will almost undoubtedly get lost in this sub, because I sure as fuck wouldn't read all this if I clicked over.
Overall, I think the new crafting system is great. It's helped bring life to a once-stale system, it's encouraged a sense of community, and it's boosted server and region player-driven economies.
I think to improve it, they should look at some professions that didn't benefit. Enchanting barely engages with the new system except for Specialization, and our spec trees aren't great if we want to continue doing what Enchanting is typically meant for. Cooking and Fishing should be brought into the new system instead of left outside to freeze, especially since Fishing received so many boosts this patch.
More than anything, there should be more systems in place to catch alts up. A character that picks up a profession today has months of work ahead of them if they want to get to where the current standard is. That standard is only going to keep moving, so alts or people switching professions are essentially set back perpetual months.
If you read this whole thing, thank you! If you think I'm a dumbass and my viewpoints are stupid as shit, that's cool, too! I'd love to hear everyone's experience with their professions, how many gold caps your Lariat got you, and how successful you feel when your inspiration procs for a 5-star craft.

The "we're not dead" chapter from u/eruwenn and I. No promises on how fast the next chapter arrives, but it is underway.
First / Prev / Next
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Sam Jakobs strode through the lobby of Umgrol Tower with all but one of his most trusted friends. Black suits slipped through the crowd; much like a shark’s fin through waves, they simply parted without a ripple of effort. Faces were grim, eyes focused, and a tension sat on their combined shoulders like a weight they all knew too well.
“I could make an excuse,” Duong offered, deciding to try and break the mood. “No need for you to attend this meeting in person.”
“It’s fine,” former Colonel Jakobs answered with a resigned sigh.
“But, shouldn’t you be with Britney?” Lopez attempted to change his mind with an appeal to his emotions. “She was looking forward to taking you on a roller coaster.”
“I’m doing this for Britney,” the loving father replied without hesitation.
“Avoiding conflict is a good lesson,” Jabari offered his advice.
“True.” Sam conceded the point.
“Knowin’ how to punch a Wachoto so their heart fails is also a good lesson,” Snake said drily.
“Also true,” the group’s leader said, allowing himself a brief chuckle.
“Sam!” Lopez struck his shoulder with the back of her open hand. “Don’t even joke-”
“We’re not killing Hopper’s replacement,” Sam confirmed, allowing himself an almost imperceptible shrug. “Not today, anyway.”
The small ripple of laughter that had passed between them had helped alleviate some of the tension that had been building. Duong paused as one of the tower assistants came jogging up to them, and he held up a hand to stop the others. As the young man approached, the terror was visible in his face. "Your order, Sir." He held up a white box from Pierre's, large enough to require both hands to hold, and instead of saluting he simply bowed his head and extended the package towards them.
“Thank you,” Sam replied, accepting the box and tucking it under his arm. He saw the others staring in confusion. “A gift,” he explained.
“From you…” Jabari said slowly. “To?”
“Did Choco make an exploding cake?” Duong jokingly asked.
“Another exploding cake,” Jabari clarified. “There was that thing in the Whethan Sector.”
Elevator doors opened, and their conversation fell silent as they entered, only to start up again once it began to move.
Jabari had found that humorous antics, or the mere memory of them, often eased tension before combat. He tried the interrupted tactic again. "Remember that time he stole a light cruiser from the Odesza Fundamentalists?" After a brief pause to allow the memories to flow, he added, "What happened to that thing, anyhow?"
“Who knows,” Duong hastily replied, nudging his large friend in the side and nodding to the camera watching them. “Lot of stuff goes missing in war, you know-”
“Cameras are off, dumbass,” Choco’s voice came in over their earpieces.
“Better safe than sorry,” the handsome man replied, flashing a smile to their Erinal in the machine, and began fixing up his hair in the reflection of the camera lens. The elevator stopped, and the conversation paused with practiced precision as the doors parted. The black suits marched silently through the underground military base of Umgrol Tower basement level three, eventually reaching a set of secure doors. Two black armoured soldiers stood either side.
“Death’s Head?” Snake muttered the question to the others, nodding to the unmoving men and the smooth black mirror that made up the face of their helmets. “I thought we were playing nice with the locals?”
“Purely for the new general’s personal security.” Choco supplied the answer over their secure comms channel, as they passed into the room beyond. “Seems he’s the nervous type.” He slurped loudly on something, causing the others to wince at the noise. “Can’t figure why, ha.”
A dozen more of the faceless sets of black armour waited in the room, weapons ready. Near them stood full body scanners, as well as deep, metal trays.
“Weapons,” one of the Death’s Head Dragoons said, gesturing to the waiting receptacles.
The War Rats glanced at each other, smiled, and began unbuttoning their suit jackets. Things began to be deposited at an alarming frequency by everyone present, aside from one. Sam shook his head at the others as he held his box of confections. “I thought I said unarmed?” he asked.
“This is unarmed,” Snake replied, tossing a sixth knife into the tray.
“Oh, you meant unarmed unarmed.” Jabari’s deep voice was full of humour, and he failed to stifle his rumbling laughter as he tossed a large, brightly-coloured grenade into his tray.
The closest guard flinched at the sight of the explosive, and immediately asked, “Is that an Oracle?” He took several steps back, despite knowing that the explosive could vaporise several floors of even this reinforced building. Something whose very name spoke of being a message from god, a literal invite to hell. “Isn’t owning one of those a war crime?”
“In Triumvirate space, sure,” the big man answered, shrugging off the obvious obfuscation. “No local laws are being broken. Besides, I’ve been working on making a better version.“ He smiled at his reflection in the man’s visor. “This one lacks the wow factor.”
Two of the other guards were muttering back and forth, clearly nervous, and Sam stepped in to ask, “Do we have a problem?”
“Err...” One of the indistinguishable soldiers glanced nervously at Lopez, who had stepped through the scanner. "Her arm, Sir. It's been augmented with-"
"You want me to take my arm off?" Lopez laughed, well-acquainted with the multiple warnings her Choco-manufactured appendage had set off. "I guess you really did mean unarmed unarmed.
Sam took control of the situation, his voice calm and even. “We’re all on the same team here. General Midysus requested this meeting himself.” He gestured back towards the door. “I can head up to my office, and he can-”
“It’s fine,” Maria gently interrupted, reaching up to start unfastening her shirt so she could remove the artificial limb. “No me importa, we just need to-”
“No.” Sam’s voice was iron, an infinitesimal amount of the rage that was brewing inside him seeping into that singular syllable. “I care.” His eyes had not left the dragoon who had made the request, and they took a faltering step backwards. “My men brought weapons, which I will punish them for later” -his subordinates grimaced at those words- “but, bad jokes aside, we are allies.” He turned to look at the elevator doors, then asked, “Unless you would like to alter the terms of our agreement?”
In response to his words the elevator doors slid open.
Duong was swept up in the moment, and he leaned in close to one of the dragoon’s. “That’s right. Los-”
“Let’s go,” Sam commanded, and his group straightened, following him through the now open doors.
“Sorry,” the others began as the doors closed.
“I’m not so-” Snake began before being elbowed roughly by Lopez’s metal arm. “Damn it, that hurt.”
“Can we all focus?” Sam's reminder was audibly weary. "Remember why you're here," he said.
"To stop you from killing him," Duong swiftly answered. It was most certainly not a recreational outing they were on.
“Exactly,” the colonel answered, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles were white.
Jabari looked at the group gathered, and muttered, “We should have brought more people.”
“Numbers never stopped him before,” Maria said, leaning in close and using her non-metal shoulder to lean into Sam. “We just need to keep reminding him of the reason he chose peace.”
“Speaking of which,” Choco’s voice cut in over the comm’s channel, “guess how many kids threw up on the bumper cars?”
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Haruki Sasaki stood in front of a large cartoonish castle, talking with several members of the park staff. They were gathered on a wide drawbridge over a moat, in which many waterfowl of different colours and sizes swam. The crenellated wall was tall, boasting minarets at all four corners, and an impressive keep at the centre. Flags and banners of an eye-searing myriad of hues flapped colourfully in the breeze. As the wind slowed down, the colours suddenly shifted, becoming an even mix of red and blue. It was historically inaccurate, strategically flawed, and the children had all loved it.
“All of the suits are working correctly?” the tailored lawyer asked, maintaining fixed eye contact with a pale and perspiring park worker in an orange jumpsuit. “I want them to enjoy this more than they did the bumper cars.”
“The enjoyment comes from the acceleration, and sudden deceleration,” the sweaty lead park engineer began. “It is very fine tuned, and the intra-species variation in tolerances is something we need to work on.”
“Kids get sick.” A junior worker shrugged off the issue. “That’s why we have the cleaner bots, and disinfectant hoses.”
“Brian… we’ve talked about this,” the lead engineer warned her underling. “If a Gr’darian was to vomit on a Peil, during their mating season, what would happen?”
“Errr..” Brian paused, having no idea what the answer might be. “Failed mating season?” he guessed.
“No!?” Her angry response contained both shock at his flippancy, and incense at his poor knowledge base. “How many times have I told you to study the secretions of the gelatinous races? Combining those two xeno bodily fluids would create chlorine gas, do I have to remind you why that is a bad thing?” Brian hung his head in shame, his long blonde hair covering his increasingly red face. “My apologies, Sir,” the lead engineer said as she returned her attention to the man in the immaculate black suit. She held up her thumb and forefinger with the slenderest of gaps between them. "I am this close -- this close! -- to shipping him back to Disneymoon seven. A few cycles of repairing the Star Wars Lightsaber Academy animatronics would serve him right.”
“We don’t have either of those species present, Ms. Bizhan,” the lawyer was relieved to point out, feeling a small hint of sympathy for the now cowering Brian. “And we are getting a lot of useful information, which is the purpose of this park.”
“Most definitely.” The head engineer nodded emphatically, adding, “And please, call me Fariba.” She pulled a small tablet from a large pocket on her leg, quickly skimming her notes. “In addition to the expected biology-based observations, we've definitely found several potentially lucrative markets to expand into.”
Haruki nodded. “The Triumvirate will find a way to make you their prey,” he murmured. “Physically or economically.”
“Preferably the latter,” Fariba said with a well-practised smile. “But we must know our enemies better than we know our friends, even if we don’t know which of them will choose which path.” She tapped her tablet once more. “They were all shocked that we could manufacture inertial dampeners small enough to fit in the bumper cars, so we can open up a lot of trade with that minor technology.” She used her thumb to point over her shoulder without looking back. “With those we deem our friends, of course. Helping them get a step ahead of those who choose to be more resistant.”
“Resistance is futile,” Brian added with a grin, having spent an entire summer assembling Borg animatronics for a Trekkie battle arena experience.
“Ignore him,” Fariba quickly said, flapping a hand behind her back to shoo the junior engineer away. “I can assure you, the full dive VR suits are calibrated to the lowest tolerance levels known for each species.” Her sweet smile was pasted onto her face once more. “You will have nothing but positive things to report to Mr Jakobs, I assure you.”
“Of course,” Haruki nodded, realising all eyes were on him, and they were afraid. “I take responsibility for the earlier incident, I should not have allowed them to follow a Britney diet.” He saw them visibly relax, and continued, “I will make sure to monitor their food intake more carefully.” He stepped to one side, and began walking into the castle, giving a polite bow of his head. “I’ll go to the observation room, and see how they’re getting on.”
“They’re still being scanned,” the head engineer answered swiftly, wanting to prove her usefulness. “The match will begin once they’re all ready.”
“Fine, fine,” the lawyer replied, waving over his shoulder as he left them standing on the drawbridge. His swift stride carried him through the portcullis, and away from the engineers.
Fariba let out a huge sigh of relief, and she sagged like a deflated balloon animal found a week after a birthday party. This physical response was soundlessly mirrored throughout the group, except for their newest member. The head engineer rounded on Brian, glaring furiously. “What the hell were you thinking?” she demanded. “You don’t make jokes around people like that!”
“Lawyers?” the slightly slower member of the group innocently asked.
“No. Not lawyers,” Fariba replied sarcastically, waving her hand yet again and dismissing the rest of her team. “Well actually, you shouldn’t make jokes around the Triumvirate lawyers either, but especially not around that lawyer.” She leaned in close, and lowered her voice to barely a whisper. “You served?” she asked, although his presence here meant the answer was a foregone conclusion.
“Thirty-Seventh Avionic Engineer Battalion,” he rattled off his unit immediately, standing a little straighter. “Assigned the Illustrious, maintaining the X-7 Raptors, and the old Higgins Orbital Landers.”
“Well even a wrench bender from Ol’Lusty should have heard of the War Rats.” She eyed his youthful face, waiting for the moment things fell into place.
“Pfft,” he derisively scoffed, rolling his eyes. “It may be that I was sent to requisition clear black paint, and I went without question. I might also have spent two hours at the quartermaster's station when I was ordered by the rest of my team to requisition a Long Stand." He shook his shaggy blonde head in disbelief at his earlier naivety. "But, I never fell for those stories." His claim was punctuated with a guffaw of contempt. "Pure propaganda, to keep the systems in line. There's no way that even half the shit they're supposed to have done could be true.”
Fariba’s eyes were wide. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she stared into the stupidity of his youth. “Why don’t you go home for the day,” she gently instructed him, deciding that someone who could stand next to a shark, and not see its teeth, was not a person who should be around apex predators.
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“It tickles,” Fah’Zi squeaked as he walked through the full body scanner.
“It’s reading your skeletal and muscular structure, and mapping your neural paths,” Penny explained. “Completely harmless, and necessary for the synapse translators to perform correctly.”
“And we just lie in the pods,” Pu’Sha hesitantly asked, looking over to the devices plugged into the wall. “And then we’ll be in the game?”
“Exactly.” The tower assistant was pleased they were paying attention.
There was a vibration felt in everyone’s bones, and Britney replied to Ung, “You’re not allowed to have them at home.”
“That’s right.” Though Penny hadn’t understood the question, the response made the enquiry clear. “Full-dive VR is heavily restricted, due to its highly addictive nature.” Always keen to add context to a rule, so that it was seen as protective rather than punishing, she elaborated; “A long time ago there was a group called the Neo-Utopian Transitioners, who believed humanity’s future was inside the machine. They fully embraced the virtual world, leaving behind automated systems to take care of the world around them." She took a deep breath, rapidly deciding on the best way to end the tale for these school children. "It... didn't end well. To prevent any future mishaps, the Triumvirate set up a strict regulatory body.”
“This thing’s dangerous?” Inaue asked. The small red Yaou was prodding the machine with his prehensile tail. “And you want us to get in there?”
“The machines are perfectly safe,” Britney replied. Choco had told her all about the N.U.T.’s, when he showed her his highly illegal home VR setup. “They just took it too far. Hooked themselves up to life-support systems, and fully lived in their own world.” She smirked as only a child about to reveal a disgusting factoid could. “Even had tubes to remove-”
“Nobody needs all the details,” Penny interrupted.
“I do,” Fah’Zi insisted.
“Fine,” the mischievous young girl relented, skipping the poop-shoot joke for Penny's sake even though the gag was one of Choco's favourites. "Everything worked fine for a long time, and eventually people stopped going round to check on them.”
“Unfortunately,” Penny interjected, once again taking over the narration of this tragic tale, “with everyone in their own world, nobody was performing basic maintenance. The bioreactor tasked with producing many of their key proteins had been running for decades without issue, but a forced update added advertisements, as well as something called a Captcha to stop them and run the program as intended. There was nobody to select which squares contained traffic lights, and so the bioreactor was effectively disabled.”
“I don’t understand many of the things you just said,” Mike249 said, putting into words what was on the mind of all of the students present.
“They starved while pigging out on imaginary food,” Britney bluntly blurted out, as if this was the worst thing imaginable. “Inside their utopia people started going crazy, then vanishing.”
“Prolonged life in VR requires a medical team to bring you out,” the older human explained. “So they were stuck. Unable to escape. Not knowing why their friends, and family, were acting increasingly bizarrely.”
“What the j’rak?” the green-skinned Zilithian, Todd, exclaimed, looking at the pod and then to the humans who were now suggesting they enter this device for fun.
“Humans have to eat very regularly,” Pu’Sha explained to the newer members of their group who had not spent a great deal of time around Britney. “Without food they become less rational, and aggressive. They even have a special word, hangry, and you don’t want to deal with a hangry human.” She spoke with a very serious tone, as if this single piece of advice was a vital life lesson. Finally, with even greater emphasis, she added, “Always keep your human adequately fed.”
“I’m not a pet,” Britney argued. Realising the advice actually worked in her favour she also added, “But, it’s not a bad rule.”
“So, what happened to the V.R. people,” Mike249 asked, a trembling in his voice accompanied the sagging of his worried antennae. “Were they rescued?”
“Unfortunately not,” Penny gently informed him. “It was actually many years before anyone even noticed.”
“Years?” Aekara whimpered.
“How did nobody notice,” Fah’Zi asked incredulously, thinking practically about dead bodies. “Wouldn’t they notice the smell?”
“People died,” the tufty-tailed Emsalio, Li Gorblek, began. “And nobody noticed?” She seemed angry on behalf of these forgotten strangers of another race. “How many?”
“Seventeen billion,” Haruki answered her, as he entered the room. “They had dedicated their entire world to their Neo-Utopia.” He lowered his voice, to make sure they were listening. “Starvation does strange things to our people. Even our brain chemistry alters, and this eventually disconnected them from their VR… forcibly. The shock of reality was enough to kill the lucky ones. The unlucky ones were trapped in their withered, dying bodies. Locked in their pods until they died. Rejecting the real world, and those who lived in it, meant that there was nobody to save them. There’s an important lesson for all of you.”
“Don’t get in that thing,” Inaue guessed, retracting their red tail from the pod it had been prodding.
“Everything in moderation,” Aekara murmured.
“Have a back-up protein thingy,” Fah’Zi said, his hand raised excitedly, hoping to get praise from his senior Sirius comrade.
Britney repeated the mantra Choco had drummed into her as he recounted the story in gruesome detail. “Don’t allow updates on essential equipment without a qualified engineer present. Oh, and VR lovin’ ain’t real lovin’.” She quoted her Erinal teacher directly.
“Not sure that last part is relevant,” Penny said, her cheeks flushing red. “Anyway…” She raised the lid on the first VR pod. “Who’s going first?”
All of the students took a step back, except for two. Britney immediately leapt into the pod. Ung also moved towards the next pod, having a burning passion for human video games.
“Come on,” the energetic blonde human encouraged. “You’re not scared are you?” Her taunts were enough to get Fah’Zi and Li to start moving.
Pu’Sha looked over to where the human in the suit was observing them, and she sighed. Scary stories and indulgent food aside, the humans would never put them in danger. “Fine,” she said, stepping forward. “Come on, Mike249,” she called, waving him to the pod beside hers. “And you, Aekara.” The Verg was already clambering inside her pod when she looked at the nervous newcomers. “You scared to do something the Bubbles are doing?” she asked, taking a cue from Britney in provoking them.
“Never,” the large grey Runuck – Fraskar – grunted, taking a cautious step forward. He turned and glared at the others from the non-bubble classes. “Get in, let’s put them in their place.”
“Oh?” Britney’s eyes glinted happily. “You want to play teams?” She smiled happily. “Fine by me. Six vs six. O.G.’s against Newbies.”
“If you include Ung, there are seven of us,” Mike249 politely corrected his fearless, if forgetful, leader. “Pu’Sha, Aekara, Fah’Zi, Kenra, you and I.” He held up a claw for each name, demonstrating to the human how that added up. “I could join the others? I am always happy to make new friends.”
“Fine,” the human agreed, though she was annoyed to have lost one of her teammates.
There came a high level vibration, accompanied by thunderous drumming; Ung was clapping her hands excitedly. She was on Britney's team! The vibrations continued as the Da descended a reinforced set of stairs and clambered into an enlarged pod that had been sunk into the ground.
The small human listened carefully to her guildmate, then shook her head. "No, this is definitely not a friendly match," the O.G. leader said. Her eyes locked on to Li's fierce gaze and held steady.
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as a long-time player of hearthstone(old gods - Karazhan) and owner of the entire wild collection of cards, i would like to put in some ideas about balance changes.
there is a highlight where another class starts from death knight to paladin.
After the release, I played a lot of games on death knight - mainly blood and even unholy
defrost - moved into all 3 specs
alexandros mograine 10 mana 7/7 taunt lifesteal -the effect will have also lifesteal.
scourge: also gives your undead rush for the rest of the game.
deathbringer saurfang now keeps enchantments like a rush(broom) or handbuffs.
frost queen Sindragosa requires either 1 blood or 1 frost - this should be the case for all cards in the future.
similarly, nerubian swarmguard should be triple blood or 1 unholy.
bone guard commander will always fill the board with the 1/3 with taunt you can spend 6 corpses to give the summons an additional 1/3 - becoming 2/6 taunts
garrison commander: battlecry both players can use hero powers twice each turn.
as of now my least played class is demon hunter- I enjoy long games. so I can't say much except for the:
Battlefiend to 1/3 and the attack lasts until your next turn only.
line hopper: battlecry your outcast cards that benefit from outcast costs 1 less this game
twin slice 0 mana gain +1 attack this turn. the second slice is still 1 mana gain +2 attack this turn.
Genn Graymane: reduces the cost of hero power by 1 rather than setting it to 1.
command the illidary: your minions have rush this game alongside the 6 1/1
metamorphosis: your hero has lifesteal for the rest of the game(this will work with the transformed hero power)
I guess now everyone hates playing against druids when they're just gonna ramp to 15 mana on turn 6.
WildHeart guff: battlecry set both player's maximum mana to 20. each player draws a card and gains a mana crystal. hero power: both players draw a card or give each player a mana crystal.
celestial alignment 6 mana - Your choose one cards and hero powers have both effects combined this game. fandral is a battlecry with the same effect.
untapped potential: no longer replaces your hero power but you keep the effect after completion and it also works on hero powers.
dew process 3 mana for the rest of the game you draw an extra card each turn.
force of nature your treants have rush this game and +1 health and taunt, summon 3 2/2 treants
tree speaker: battlecry your treants have +1/+1 this game
poison seeds: 4 mana after first enemy minion dies each turn summon a 2/2 treant.
survival of the fittest: your minions have +2/+4 and taunt this game.
savage roar: 3 mana give your hero +1 attack, and your minions have rush. (the attack is permanent)
for a very long time, blizzard is trying to push control hunter. i build some highlander versions where i rely on deathstalker Rexxar and since the release of Stormwind also the questline.
defend the dwarven district: 2nd step reward - your hero power costs 0 this game. i also thought about giving you 2 uses of hero power every turn but refresh is on killing an enemy minion.
maiden of the lake: 2 mana 2/3 battlecry set the cost of BOTH hero powers to 1 for the rest of the game.
hound master Shaw: battlecry: your beasts have rush this game.
wow, they killed a support card for quest mage, well I don't care since my quest deck was already built with Rommath as a win condition.
ignite shuffles at the end of your turn.
flamewaker: triggers on fire spells only.
sorcerers apprentice: battlecry: your spells cost 1 less this game (still 4 mana)
incanters flow: reduce the cost of all cards in your deck by 1 (5 mana)
arcane luminary battlecry: cards that did not start in your deck cost 1 less. layline manipulator: battlecry: cards that did not start in your deck cost 1 less.
open the waygate: spend 15(maybe 20) mana on spells that did not start in your deck.
solid alibi: your hero takes 1 less dmg this game. animated armor: battlecry: your hero takes 1 less dmg this game.
cloud prince 4 mana 4/4 battlecry reveal a friendly secret to deal 6 dmg.
the Amazing Reno - hero power: at the end of your turn add a random spell to your hand.
tortollan pilgrim casts a copy of a spell.
I do believe that paladin needs more ways to fight for the board with his minions.
rise to the occasion: 2nd part now gives your hero power additional silver hand recruit rather than upgrading it (with upgrade or hero power swap you will always get a silver hand recruit out)
level up: your silver hand recruits have +1/+2 and a taunt
pursuit of justice your silver hand recruits have +1 attack and rush.
quartermaster: your silver hand recruits have +1/+1
invigorating sermon- your minions have +1/+1 and your hero has +2 heal power cariel Roame: rush divine shield, battlecry your holy spells costs 1 less and +2 heal power heal power will improve healing, shield power will improve armor gain(warrior)
smugglers run 2 mana: your minions have +1 attack.
grimestreet outfitter battlecry: your minions have a +1 attack
seal of light: give your hero +2 attack this turn and whenever you attack you restore 2 health(for the rest of the game)
Bolvar Fordragon: 5 mana 5/5 battlecry your minions have rush and +1 attack
hold the bridge: 5 mana give minion +2/+2 rush lifesteal divine shield and taunt
seal of champions 2 mana give a friendly minion divine shield, shuffle a copy of it into your deck
i will need a bit of time to put together my ideas for other classes

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Wiki RoyalRoad
Cover Art & Travis Portrait by Pedro Puglisi
Steelsday, the 20th of Eighthmonth
Travis and the gang entered the crowded exhibition hall, excited to watch Durinn’s presentation that night, and were going over their newly acquired schedules for finals week. A certain young Elementalist Mage wasn’t very happy though…
“Ugh, I’ve got a dozen exams to take next week.”
Mattius gave Travis a pat on the back, “I feel your pain, I have ten.”
Jethro joined in on the whining, “Nine over here, and I’m only learning one element.”
Bridget, who was comparing schedules with Adrian looked up, “We both have seven.”
“Ha!” Drozuk shouted a bit too loudly in the packed hall, making the embarrassed orc lower their voice to a near whisper, “I only have six.”
That garnered some angry looks from the group, especially from Bridget, but before she could voice her protest, a human Lightning Mage approached the group (and given the density of his mana pool, was an insanely powerful one.)
“Pardon my interruption, but I noticed the rainbow stripe on your shoulder, are you Initiate Travis?”
“Umm, yes, I am.”
The stranger offered a hand, “The name’s William Raycraft, my son mentioned that I might bump into you here,” he tilted his head to see the missing item on Travis’ back, “though, he also said it’d be easy to spot you from the crowd.”
That elicited a round of light laughter at Travis’ expense, who nervously scratched the back of his head, “Yeah, I returned my poleaxe to the armory before coming here. I was a little nervous about bringing it into a crowded venue filled with dwarves.”
Raycraft leaked an annoyed grunt, “Damn, would have been nice to get a look at it. Nearly every single weapon made using aelderwood is locked up in the queen’s armory when not in use. Even I can’t get permission to have a mosey around the vault.”
“Hey, this guy is on the queen’s weapons development council, you should take this opportunity to talk to him. Military contracts can be very lucrative, and he is one of the people controlling the purse strings. I bet we can learn a lot from him, maybe even put in a good word for Durinn’s invention.”
Travis gave my pommel a scratch, “Ansel mentioned that you’re one of the people in charge of the kingdom’s weapons research; I assume that’s why you’re here?”
The senior mage groaned, “Yeah, I got stuck having to attend this year’s artificer wannabe torture session.” As if to drive the point home on how miserable his task apparently was, he pulled a flask from his breast pocket and took a swing, shocking Travis and his friends.
“Are the presentations really that boring?”
“Oh, I wish it was only that. I can handle a dull technical overview of how modifying the cone length of an inscription’s teardrop to such and such will increase efficiency by blah-blah-blah, but what I can’t stand is how every single dwarf thinks they have the next major breakthrough in artifice that’s going to change the theater of combat.” He scowled, “It amazes me that any of them can walk around given how big they must think their trunks are.”
Oof, this guy is going to be a hard sell. Jaded customers are nearly impossible to turn around if they’ve been burnt too many times. Travis might not be up for this.
Travis seemed willing to try though, “What would pique your interest?”
“For starters, something that’s actually practical to put into production for a field test. I swear, half of these dwarves act like mana crystals grow on bushes.” He took another drink from his flask, “It doesn’t even have to be a weapon. Last year, my colleague had to practically bash a few skulls in just to sign on a beardless who invented a high pressure steam shower.”
“A shower?”
William Raycraft held a hand up, “Hold on, I didn’t get to the best part. Not only was it a mostly mechanical design that needed minimal mana dust, but it could run for two hours straight before needing the inscription amped back up by a mana user, could be operated by anyone, was portable, could hook up to a water pipe or open tank, could run soap through the line with a flick of a switch, and even insulated the inscription from discharging when turned off.”
Not going to lie, that shower sounds even better than the one I had in my old universe.
A chime echoed throughout the hall, signaling the start of the next round of demonstrations.
“Finally,” William jiggled his flask, “was getting worried that I’d have to get a refill if this day kept going.”
Travis gave my pommel a scratch, “I hope Durinn’s doing okay.”
“I’ll see if I can find them.”
I sent out my focus, moving it through the crowd and over the runway to get to the staging area in the back, flying by a senior dwarf as they stepped on stage.
“Welcome to the final round of The Artificer Candidate Invention Showcase. Where applicants wishing to join the Artificer’s Guild can contribute to the field of artifice in the form of an invention. Audience members are allowed to applaud and cheer during the unveiling; however, we ask that you remain silent during the interview with the guild panel.”
My focus made it backstage, dodging the first invention to be presented…
Hold up… is that a…? No, focus Arc, find Durinn. They shouldn’t be too hard to spot amongst the other dozen bearded Metal Mages… Ah! There they are.
The dwarf was in full armor, helmet retracted, holding their invention in hand, along with a similar looking one on their back. I checked them over for signs of stress and… oof, they weren’t looking good. Their head kept darting around, feet refused to stay planted, and were breathing way too forcefully.
“Travis, I found Durinn. They’re looking nervous and could use a pep talk.”
My 360-degree vision saw Travis look around, then started tapping my handle to request help.
“If you want, I could impersonate you.”
Travis wiggled his hand above my handle.
“Oh, c’mon. I’ve personally known you for eight years now. All I got to do is nod my head and give their shoulder a pat, and they won’t know the difference.”
Travis’ hand folded up, about to rap me with his knuckles, but grimaced instead and gave my pommel a rub with his thumb.
“Don’t worry, I’ll output to both of you.” I sent out a [Message] spell, navigating it to Durinn, then channeled my inner teenager, “Durinn, what’s up bud, you’re looking majorly stressed out.”
“Travis?” Durinn spun their head to my spell, “You’re not supposed to be back here.”
“Chillax bearded, I’m out in the audience with the others, chatting up one of the top dogs with the bling-bling if you know what I mean, and telling him your invention is all that and a bag of chips.”
Knuckles started rapping on my handle, making me chuckle at Travis’ annoyance, but I ignored him since it looked like my plan had worked.
Durinn began laughing hard, bent over with hands on their knees, then finally vented out enough accumulated stress to speak, “Travis, was that even common? Those sounded like words, but they certainly didn’t string together to form a recognizable sentence.”
“That was just some slang from where I grew up, but enough about me. Are you doing okay?”
Durinn groaned, “Not really, couldn’t sleep much last night, and then this morning I found a gift in my workshop.”
“Really? Do you know from who?”
“Don’t know… I haven’t opened it yet.” Durinn reached into one of the pouches on their belt and pulled out a small box, “But, given the pink ribbon on it… I think I can make a solid guess.”
“Thramreat, huh? I was wondering about you two. You’re a lucky dwarf, what with their chiseled jawline, strong cheekbones, umm… hair that you want to run your fingers through, and… uh…”
Durinn raised an eyebrow, “You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Do you?
“Honestly, no. I tried reading a book about how dwarves work, but I think I ended up with more questions than answers.”
“Yeah, I still remember being flabbergasted during my cultural integration course before coming here at how different humans are, even when compared to elves. Had to convince a Lakelander once to let me watch them shave, since I was adamant it was some kind of collective hoax.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, I keep having to stop myself from calling every single dwarf a ‘he.’”
Durinn chuckled, “Ah, don’t worry too much about that, we’ve gotten used to it. Just don’t do it intentionally.
“Thanks. So… are you going to open it?”
The bearded dwarf looked down at the gift, then sighed, “You do realize how inappropriate this is right? Thramreat could get into a lot of trouble if I report them.”
“Sounds like they thought it was worth the risk. I think you should open it.”
Durinn gritted their teeth, then closed their eyes as they held the gift as far away as possible before opening. They then peaked open an eye, then slowly brought the gift closer to inspect, “Huh… it’s just a piece of candy…”
“Is there a note?”
“Hold on… oh, there is. Durinn, had to barter with one of the rangemasters to get this, so don’t tell anyone. Take it right before you step on stage, and it should help keep you relaxed. Thramreat.”
“That really is a nice gift, a mild tranquilizer right before you knowingly do something stressful can help take off the edge.”
Durinn drooped their shoulders, “I’m not even sure why I’m stressing out. There’s no way I’m going to wow the panel or audience, especially since I’m going next. How am I supposed to follow Horset’s invention?”
“Umm, they’re not doing as well as you’d think…”
Actually, I might be understating the opening presentation’s reception…
The bearded showman started off strong, using their Light Mana to control the lighting and obscure their invention at the back of the stage, then spoke like a tech executive unveiling a new product.
“Beards and beardless, ladies and gentlemen, every era is defined by the artifice innovations that revolutionize the way we live. From the humble [Stonebreaker Edge] inscription that built our tunnels, to the machine lathe that upturned eras of traditional blacksmithing practices.”
William Raycraft let out a deep sigh as he pulled another drag from his flask and elbowed Travis, “I think I’ve heard this exact same speech a dozen times already today.”
Travis narrowed his eyes at the presenting dwarf, as they kept hyping up the crowd, “If their invention is that amazing, then shouldn’t they have gone to the Artificer’s Guild directly?”
“Exactly.” The weapons developer commented, then jiggled their flask and frowned, first at the vessel, then at the dwarf with the massive ego.
“A machine that will forever change not only how we transport troops and supplies, but how we fight monsters.” The bearded dwarf inhaled, extending a hand to the elephant-sized object hidden under a cloak of Shadow Mana, “I give you, the Self-Propelled Armored Transport!”
An avalanche of applause echoed throughout the exhibition hall as the Shadow Mana dispersed to reveal the magitech humvee being driven forward by a beardless assistant. The thing was quite impressive, with a heavy-duty steel frame, ceramic plating, steel wheels, and a roof hatch. I barely knew how to change the oil in my truck back in my old world, so I couldn’t comment on the engine, but if the large number of mana crystals inside was any indication, then this thing must have some serious horsepower.
“Capable of outpacing a Cavalry Horse, able to withstand a blow from a charging thunderhead, and comfortable seating for five fully armored orcs. This vehicle is capable of quickly delivering a team of mana users to the frontline, even allowing the center-rear passenger to pop out of the top to cast ranged spells while on the move.”
The dwarf continued to go over the features before the panel of skeptical looking judges (one of whom included the Quartermaster), but it didn’t look like they and Raycraft were remotely as impressed as the audience.
The senior Lightning Mage tipped back their head to finish off their flask, “Well, this year’s officially a wash, and… I’m out of creekwater.” He turned to give Travis a pat on the back, “It was nice meeting you Travis, you’ll have to come visit the estate sometime.”
“You’re leaving?”
“This was the only invention I heard any good buzz about before coming here. Rot, I’ll be shocked if they even let the bearded into the guild after wasting so many mana crystals.” Raycraft began to turn, but then was stopped by Travis grabbing onto his arm.
“Wait, at least stay for my friend’s presentation, they’re up next. They have an Assisted [Fire Arrow] Launcher that I know will be of interest to you.”
William sighed, then let out in an annoyed tone, “If it’s just a fancy weapon inscription, I’m sure I’ll see it on my desk at some point this winter.”
“No, it’s more than that, it’s…” Travis stumbled to think of a strong reason, and began tapping my handle to request help.
“That line of reasoning won’t work; you’ll need to convince them to stay some other way… I mentally died a little inside as I came up with an idea, “I’ve got a suggestion.”
Travis listened in, then bowed his head in defeat, “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.” He paused to let the older man turn, but then interrupted once more, “Wait! You said you wanted me to come visit? I might have time next week if Ansel invites me, but it would be a shame if I were to visit while you weren’t there.”
William Raycraft made a knowing grin, “Let me guess, it should only take until the next presentation finishes to compare schedules?”
“Well,” Travis grinned back, “I am taking twelve exams next week, then going on a Fall Expedition the week after, I’d hate for you to miss your chance to get a look at my poleaxe.”
“Ugh, twelve exams?” They shook their head, “It might legitimately take us that long to compare schedules. Let me just [Message] Ansel real quick, and hopefully we can find a date.”
Backstage, Durinn was directed to stand behind a sound barrier stage-left and was looking queasy.
“I think I’d rather wrestle a sunbeaver naked than step out there."
“I brought my adventure novel. Would you rather read that out loud?”
Durinn groaned, “No, I guess not.” They fumbled with their invention, “It’s just… what if the crowd hates my invention? I heard everyone applauding Horset’s giant invention that they’ve been teasing everyone about all month, and I’m positive the panel is drooling over the thing right now.”
“First off, the crowd is a bunch of idiots who think that just because something is shiny, it’s the bee’s knees. The only people you need to impress are the panel and the one’s itching to hand out military contracts. Case in point, your buddy Horset, who by the way, is not enjoying the harsh slap of reality.”
I began outputting the questionnaire portion of the presentation that Horset was currently blowing.
“So, what you meant to say is that it can only transport three fighters to the frontline? Given that the inefficiency of the motor requires two average knights to power it.” The leftmost judge declared, “Also, is this supposed to act as a replacement for Cavalry Regiments? Because I’m seeing quite a few problems that haven’t been addressed.”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” The inner-left judge shouted, “Are we not going to address the duck in the room? That thing has enough mana crystals to equip a squad of Knights! And this thing can’t even transport a full squad of twelve. So, now we need three or four of these just to replace a team of horses?”
Horset began to sweat nervously, “Well… yes it is expensive… but… it is fast. And…”
“How exactly is it supposed to navigate the field of corpses? You haven’t spoken once about this thing’s ability to handle obstacles. Or how you expect monsters to patiently wait for the transported knights to exit the vehicle.”
The Quartermaster added to the pile of questions, “How many Spring Floods have you fought in youngling? Response times for specialist teams have been already drastically reduced over the last era thanks to the human kingdom’s growing number of knights, and now that Messaging inscriptions are standard for all mana users, it’s common for a team to be lying in wait with an ambush once the spotted dragon enters the designated kill-zone. It seems to me that you’ve solved a nonexistent problem with an inconvenient alternative.”
Horset kept stammering, and tried to come up with responses, but in the end was denied acceptance into the guild. Two of the judges on the panel even ordered Horset’s mentor to come over and explain why their protégé was hell-bent on angering the Equine Union.
Durinn began to chuckle as they listened in on the verbal beatdown, then reached into their pouch to pull out Thramreat’s gift, “Thanks for helping me Travis.” They popped the mild tranquilizer into their mouth, “And not just on my public speaking, but for reminding me why I created this in the first place.”
The dejected Horset exited stage-right with their invention, allowing Durinn to walk forward towards the end of the catwalk. They took a couple of slow, deep breaths to settle the butterflies in their stomach, and then began.
“Hello, this is my invention, The Assisted [Fire Arrow] Spell Launcher.” Durinn spun a full 180, crouching down into a kneel, then launched a [Fire Arrow] at the reinforced back wall, creating audible gasps from the audience.
Durinn stood back up, then turned around to face the crowd, pausing to take a few more deep breaths and remember their next line, “Unlike a standard [Fire Arrow] inscription that must conform to the weapon it’s being applied to, this has the housing conforming to the inscription.”
They paused once more, clearly forgetting their next line, and pulled out a set of notecards to quickly shuffle through.
“This provides many benefits; easier maintenance, better efficiency, more damage output, and can even act as a teaching aid.”
Durinn took another deep breath, then switched to their next cue card, “But those are only side benefits.” Durinn paused once more, closed their eyes, then gulped, “I’m different from the average dwarf. Unlike my classmates who could easily pick up the elves style of ranged spellcraft, I was, and still am, built more like a human.”
The exhibition hall quieted, causing the dwarf to tremble, but they kept going.
“As a result, mana reinforcement was so simple for me to learn, that I was placed in the human’s Morning Drill instruction upon entry to this academy and had to struggle alongside them to learn ranged magic. Even to this day, seven years after graduating, I still struggle with casting ranged spells. The sensation feels as if I’m pulling a beard hair off my face each time my synced mana detaches from my membrane.”
Groans of sympathetic pain could be heard from the bearded in the audience, even within the panel, and seemed to give Durinn a small confidence boost.
“This weapon provides a fix for my condition. A synthetic mana channel, composed of high amperage mana dust embedded into a wire, helps draw synced mana away from my body, and towards the inscription. Shaving the mana off instead of forcibly ripping it out.”
Oohs, and awes could be heard from the crowd, and even William Raycraft was impressed.
“Oh, I see what you mean Travis. This actually looks feasible for a test run.” They pulled out a notepad from their pouch, “I’ll be sure to order a dozen from the guild this winter.”
Durinn’s demonstration concluded, and they stepped closer to the panel to answer questions.
Up first was the right-most judge, “How did you address the degradation issue that often arises when inverting the housing?”
“Oh, I forgot to mention that part.” Durinn scrambled to point out the mechanical trigger mechanism, “The array line that acts as the main pipeline between the payload and repulsion array only connects when this trigger is pulled. This also opens the shutter to allow the spell to exit, and the resulting vacuum not only closes the shutter, but prevents ambient mana from entering.”
The judges all nodded, looking impressed. Well… four of the five. The Quartermaster was keeping their face neutral.
The second-to-the-right judge went next, “Would it be possible to downsize this invention to a [Fire Bolt] inscription instead?”
“Yes, but the material cost in mana dust would still far exceed that of a gauntlet inscription.” Durinn admitted. “Though the size would shrink down considerably, about to the size and weight of a smithing hammer, so there may be some value as a vanity artifice or training aid.”
Nods and shrugs from the panel were shared, but again, the Quartermaster was seemingly unimpressed. It was their turn to ask a question though, and they grinned evilly before speaking.
“The manufacturing costs and amount of mana dust and crystals needed to create just one of these will be outrageous. For the same amount of materials, and combined manufacturing time, you could create a half-dozen weapon inscriptions. How do you justify the cost?”
The rest of the panel grimaced, looking up at the… smiling dwarf?
Durinn chuckled, looking like they hadn’t a care in the world, and making me worry that Thramreat gave too strong a tranquilizer, “This is technically the frugal option.”
They set down their launcher, then walked partway back down the catwalk before detaching the weapon from their back. I moved my focus in to get a better look at the wire that connected the weapon to their backplate as they set it upright on the stage, then returned to the judges, spooling out a trail of wire behind them.
“This here is the Remote [Fire Missile] Launcher. By using this mana dust-infused wire, I can have my synced mana follow the line to the launcher. Granted, it’s not as fast as casting one regularly, but it does come with the benefit of not only needing little concentration to form the complicated spell formation, but also allows me to create said formation even while yards away. A feat I’m told is difficult for even experienced elven spell casters to accomplish.”
William Raycraft set a now sober hand on Travis, “Travis, it was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for bullying me into staying. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to point a spear to the backs of those judges.” He then rushed through the crowd, shoving aside anyone too slow to move.
A half-hour later, and Durinn was finally allowed to enter the exhibition hall and give Travis a hug. He in turn extended a hand after separating, “Artificer Durinn, congratulations.”
---

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First Previous Next
Wiki RoyalRoad
Cover Art & Travis Portrait by Pedro Puglisi
Sadly, I haven’t been able to find any relevant stories about Titantuin or The Hooded One (their lack of stories and known Chosen make it difficult to glean too much information about the gods themselves), but I think I’ve gathered enough evidence to support my theory on why the human gods have more established Greater Domains.
Apheros, Ignitious, Adamanrion, and even Torbolt all have stories depicting their flaws, and how interacting with mortals on a more personal level caused them to grow in power. This is something you’ll never see depicted in Zephoreas’, Hydraviandor’s, Titantuin’s, or even The Hooded One’s dogma. Afterall, gods are all powerful, omnipotent, and omnipresent, right?
Well, humans certainly don’t think so, case in point, this next tale of how Torbolt discovered he was only the second most powerful god.
Torbolt was mad. He was furious. He swished his tail in anger at the Nature god for this insult. He bellowed loudly, snorting through his nostrils, and blowing away his shaggy fur. His eyes glowed pink with Lightning as he stomped his hooves into the ground, packing the soft soil into hardened earth as he was forced to witness that coward explain himself.
Apheros slumped his shoulders, the antlers on his back drooping along with them, and he turned to the inquisitive god of Fire, “I’m… not sure what happened… this isn’t at all what I planned…”
Ignitious cocked his head at the bark-covered god, “You had a plan?” Then shook their head, “Start from the beginning, you’re clearly too emotional to think clearly.”
“Well, I just got finished teaching some mortals how to turn their water-soaked ground into arable farmland and was heading south, following the river, when I noticed that the terrain sharply changed after the three rivers united. Instead of the tree and rock-filled hillsides riddled with rivers, creeks, and lakes, I found this area with its gently rolling plains, seas of green grass, and a thick layer of topsoil.”
The Fire god dressed in molded black leather nodded along, occasionally giving glances to Torbolt as he thrashed about in anger, “I take it you found these bison here feeding on the grass?”
“Yes, and mortals. Well… not on the grass, but…” Apheros caught sight of Ignitious glaring at him, “Right, back to my story… I noticed how healthy everything was, and how few monsters there were, so I got curious, and that’s when I saw him…”
Apheros smiled like a lovestruck teenager, “The glimmer of the lightning off his oiled biceps, the clouds releasing their atmospheric gasses-infused rain every time he kicked off from one cloud to the other, the way he fertilized the soil with the corpses of monsters—"
Ignitious cleared their throat, interrupting Apheros’ infatuated rambling, “Aren’t you married?”
“What? No, I’m only engaged.” Apheros stammered guiltily, “Plus, it’s an open relationship, we’re not exclusive just yet. And we haven’t even set a date, so I’ve still got plenty of time to fool around first.”
The Creator of Light bored their eyes into the Nature god, no doubt wondering just how this lust-filled idiot managed to become the most powerful of the gods (Author’s Note: This statement is highly contested by Zephoreas’ church, and it’s possible that it’s only an embellishment added by Torbolt out of respect.). Ignitious could only sigh, causing their feathered pauldrons to sag, “Continue your story.”
“So, I tried to get his attention. First I bred a unique flower that would bloom after every thunderstorm, but he merely nodded, saying that he approved of the land itself being able to tell of his exploits. That got me the idea to carve pictures into the land, having the mortals help me out by making their cattle walk over the same path multiple times, but he merely thanked me, saying that it was much easier for him to navigate the nearly endless sea of grass easier now. Then before this happened,” he gestured to the adorable looking baby calf that was having a temper tantrum, “I was trying to implement a plan a female mortal suggested by preparing a feast for him, but before I could begin gathering herbs to season the meat, he leapt out of a nearby cloud, screaming like a madman, and making me cower behind my shield with my spear raised.”
Apheros started to grow distressed from the memory, “Next thing I knew, I was covered in blood, and my spear was thrust straight through his heart, and I panicked. I tried to heal him, but he had lost too much blood, and was fading fast, and I tried to think of something, but my Domain of Harvest was useless and my Domain of Wood could only slow his death…” Apheros turned towards Torbolt, who was still furious, but had grown hungry and was suckling on the bison that gave birth to him, “That’s when I thought, ‘Why don’t I just make him a new body?’ So, I took his umm… ‘essence’, and planted it into this bison, and then…”
Torbolt stopped his feeding to huff at the Fertility god. The coward had left out the part where Apheros had showed up hollering, “Hey there, you sexy towering storm cloud! Why don’t you come join me in my tent with that juicy ass of yours, and I’ll teach you a few moves from the most powerful of the gods? I guarantee you’ll find it way more satisfying that killing a bunch of brain-dead monsters.”
He was still furious at the Nature god’s words, falsely claiming that there was something more gratifying than the heat of battle. As if there was such a thing! Then instead of backing his words in combat, the antlered coward somehow kept dodging each of his lightning strikes, finding only the charred remains of logs in the smoldering craters, before they eventually vanished into thin air.
Apheros finished his “scientific” explanation to Ignitious, “You can help him, right?”
“I think Adamanrion would be better suited for this task, combating your insanity with my Domain of Science is an impossible task.”
“Oh… rot, they’re probably not going to want to help…”
Ignitious shook their head, “No, I highly doubt they would.”
Torbolt grew immensely furious, demanding that the two gods fix him, stomping his hooves down and snorting loud enough to summon thunder.
Apheros looked up at the incoming storm, quickly growing terrified, “You know what? I think he’ll be fine, maybe just give him a few weeks, I’m sure he’ll get better.” The Nature god started to back up towards the nearby river, “I’m going to head south for a while, let me know if you need me.” He then turned around and began sprinting towards the north.
Ignitious sighed, then looked down at the baby bison that was Torbolt, “About time you suffered some consequences for your bullheadedness. Getting herded around by mortals will do you some good. Maybe you’ll even learn to stop trouncing around and breaking everyone’s things.”
---
Arc
The massive library on campus was filled to the brim with students, forcing my 360-degree mana sight to contract to the tightest it had been since I first came to this world. Granted, I didn’t have even close to the same amount of detail I do now, with how much more solid everything looked. Even the walls and furniture were saturated with mana, looking more like colored glass instead of the vague wisp of an idea they were back in Travis’ village.
I moved my focus around, checking out the different tables of students while Travis and his friends were busy with their usual routine. There was one being led by a senior student from the neighboring science academy, helping tutor them through the general math course, and answering math-related questions that arose from the general mana studies. Another was a school club dedicated to reading and creating comics about heroic Mages and Knights from history. And a conveniently placed group of second semester first-year students, were taking an extra-curricular course on learning dwarvish, helping out my “patch” slowly work on constructing a codex for the language.
My 360-degree vision caught Travis shifting nervously in his seat, constantly looking up from his schoolwork every time someone walked by, and was having a difficult time focusing. Worried, I brought in my focus, hoping that it would help me discern why. After all, he had plenty of things to be stressed out over.
First, there was the looming storm cloud of finals fast approaching, Travis only had three weeks left of classroom instruction, and given the way his schedule was structured, they were going to fly by fast. Then there was the aftermath of him getting attacked in the spell range. He’s claimed that he’s fine, but I can’t help but worry. I know those mutated elves left a mark on him, and he’s had at least one nightmare involving them. Oh, and he got spooked just this afternoon when the Quartermaster appeared, acting like an angry housewife who just caught her husband in the act of cheating on her.
Travis’ hands began to twitch, and they eventually found their way into his pouch containing his gift for Seleyna.
Right… I somehow forgot Travis was a teenager at this fantasy military academy for mages. Why worry about the next monster attack or revenge from the Quartermaster when you got a birthday gift to give to a cute girl?
A pair of dwarves did at least manage to cheer him up upon their approach.
“Travis, apologies, but Thramreat here,” they gestured to the beardless Lightning Mage beside them, “caught me sneaking out of the burrow, and insisted on tagging along.”
Travis grinned at the newcomer, “I’ll let you see my poleaxe after Durinn is done practicing.” He then turned his head to Durinn, “Before that though, I was umm… wondering if…” Travis shifted uncomfortably, “you see, there’s this girl… and—"
Durinn held up a hand, “Travis, I know 84 years old is a long time for a human, but I haven’t even been in the human kingdom for a full calendar cycle (12 years). I know absolutely nothing about how human women work when it comes time to mate.”
Travis’ eyes nearly popped out of his skull, and he immediately began to stammer, “What? No… no no, it’s not like that! I… uh, was making a gift and—"
Thramreat interrupted the teenager this time, “Travis, don’t ever ask for gift-giving advice from a bearded.” They pulled Travis aside, then tugged on his arming jacket to bring his head lower so the beardless could whisper, “Now, when you’re trying to coax a bearded into digging out a nest, the most important rule is to not overwhelm them.”
Travis, now looking mortified, went comatose as the beardless started to give the dwarven version of the birds and the bees. Much to the delight of Durinn and his friends at the table.
“Now, I know it might sound redundant for me to tell you not to give a potted plant to a bearded who hasn’t even started to feel the urge to dig a nest, but you’d be surprised at how many beardless make such a simple mistake.” Thramreat shook their head in disappointment, “The last thing a bearded wants is an unwanted burden. A smarter gift would be to give them fresh-cut flowers to improve the air quality of their workshop, they’re quick and easy to dispose of, and can even induce a little agoraphobia to kickstart their next cycle.”
“Thramreat!” Durinn shouted, looking appalled, “Show some modesty.” They shook their head and began to mutter, “And beardless wonder why it took so long to be allowed into the Artificer’s Guild.”
Thramreat shrugged off the admonishment, then focused back on the strung-out looking Travis, “Even something like that might be a bit much for a first gift if they’ve only started to reinforce the nest’s walls, your best bet is to start small. Offer to help tidy their shop, bring over some supplies that they keep running short of, or even something mundane like grabbing their lunch for them so they can keep working.”
Durinn narrowed their eyes at the beardless, making me wonder if they were questioning some of Thramreat’s behavior, but if they were about to voice a concern, they missed their chance.
Travis had finally regrown his spine enough to stop the lecture, “Wait, I’m… thankful for the advice, but I just wanted to ask a question about making artifice jewelry.”
He reached into his pouch to pull out the gift we crafted together. And by “we”, I mean Travis carved the piece of aelderwood into a pendant, burned the symbol of the three kingdoms onto one side, went to the commissary to get a spool of wood fiber string, and then knotted it into a necklace. I helped by stuffing it full of Wood Mana afterwards.
The two dwarves moved in to give the handmade necklace a look, then gave approving nods, although Durinn looked a bit peeved, “Travis, where are you getting all of this aelderwood from?”
“My village had an Aelder Tree inside it, and my poleaxe’s shaft was made from a branch that once fell.” He bobbed the necklace up and down, “This was made using a tiny piece of scrap that I had on hand.”
Thramreat scratched their bare chin, “Can’t say I’ve ever seen someone use wood for artifice jewelry before…”
Durinn grunted, “I have, but only as a proof of concept. Ironwood is only a low-tier material for enchantments and inscriptions. For jewelry, and higher tier enchantments, you’ll usually see elmek horn or bushtail antlers used for Wood foundation artifice.”
Travis darted his eyes between the two dwarves, “Will this not work then?”
Thramreat gave Travis a pat on his thigh, “Oh, don’t worry, any Artificer would jump at the chance to inscribe this.”
---
Travis
Snowsday, the 32nd of Seventhmonth
I finished shaving, wiping the hot towel over my chin and neck, then scowled as I noticed I cut myself in a half dozen places. Letting out a groan, I slathered some ointment over the cuts, and amped up my internal mana around the afflicted areas. While that was healing up, I put on the deodorizing cologne Bridget gave me and the lower half of the formal outfit Jethro assembled for me.
“Ah, the struggles of having a defined jaw line…”
I grumbled, “I’d prefer to not need to shave…”
“But then you have to oil and comb your beard daily, give it trims at least once a week, and then have to listen to your girlfriend complain incessantly about how it irritates her face, and how you look like a hobo, or that it’s disgusting when you eat, or…” Arc faded out, “Sorry, almost started rambling there.”
I sighed as I wiped away the dried blood from my chin, checked to make sure all the cuts were fully healed, and started putting on the rest of my clothes.
“Something bothering you?”
“Yes, but I need to get moving. I’m sure Hector and Barry are waiting for me.”
“Don’t forget your food and gift!”
Grabbing said items from my room, I mentally checked if there was something else I was forgetting, then waved goodbye to Arc before leaving.
As predicted, Hector and Barry were waiting for me, but didn’t seem too annoyed, and after a quick greeting, we immediately got moving. Once I was settled inside with Hector, I unwrapped the bundle of carryout so I could eat my supper before my stomach threatened to murder me.
Hector grinned as I inhaled the sandwich Varguk made for me (a chicken, bacon, and mutton sandwich, with veggies and honey mustard sauce), guzzled down the carton of aloe and pear juice, then noticed me pulling out a wrapped bar with attached note from the bottom of my takeout box.
Travis,
Couldn’t prepare you a proper mana-rich meal today despite the heads up, so apologies. I was able to throw in a Mana Rich Edible that I got to help create though, so I hope you enjoy!
Varguk
Smiling, I unwrapped the MRE and took a bite of the colorful bar. The flavor… hmm… it was a crazy medley of honey glazed steak and caramel bacon that was battered and deep-fried, maybe… but also had a blend of fruits? The texture was definitely the strangest part though, reminding me of the time I was offered a chunk of honeycomb to chew on with how waxy it was. Overall though, I highly approved, and I ended up only pausing briefly to check out the dozens of colorful layers that composed the bar, before greedily eating the rest of it.
Hearing a gasp, I looked up to see a horrified face on Hector, making me worry, “What’s wrong?”
He narrowed his eyes at me, “You looked happy to eat that…”
I shrugged my shoulders as I wiped down my face with my napkin and made sure there were no crumbs on my outfit, “I mean, it’s a little wild on flavors, but it was pretty good.”
The bearded Packer kept analyzing me, then muttered, “Walking set of contradictions…”
---
“Twavy!” A little girl covered in tiny pink flowers raced up to me as I approached one of the tables at the reception, and immediately wrapped her arms around my leg.
I gave her blonde head a pat, “Look at you, you’ve gotten taller!”
Lancel’s niece looked up with a big smile, and I soon heard her mom approach, “Silia, didn’t you have a present for Travis?”
Silia let go and raced off towards where she was coloring with the other children, letting me take notice of her mother’s now slimmer figure, “Where’s the new guy?”
“Grandpa insists on carrying him everywhere,” Tristan’s wife shook her head in annoyance, “claims it will help him grow a bigger mana supply, or some nonsense.” She let out a sigh as Silia started making her way back with a sheet of paper, “Personally, I think he’s going stir crazy from being cooped up in the house now that he’s retired, almost makes me wish he did take that offered General position.”
Silia ran back up with a sheet of paper, holding it up for me to see her iconic drawing of a long-tailed rabbit with bird wings. It even had a new addition.
“Oh wow! This one has antlers!” I smiled at her drawing, then carefully folded it up so I could stuff it in one of the hidden pockets Jethro stitched into my coat. “I’ll be sure to hang it up in my room with the others.”
“Sweetie,” Silia’s mom requested, “why don’t we let Travis say hello to everyone, then maybe you can have fun playing a game together later tonight?”
She nodded her head, then rushed back to the kid’s table, leaving her exhausted mom to sigh before following behind.
I chuckled at the sight, then approached the head table inside the venue’s main hall. Pink stormblossoms decorated practically every bare surface, shrines depicting The Hooded One, Apheros, and Torbolt were against each of the walls, and the smell of savory barbecue still remained in the air. A group of drummers were providing music as some of the guests got into lines for dancing, waitstaff were frantically rushing about with drinks, and I think I even spotted a bull walking around.
Lancel greeted me first, sporting his family’s signature grin, then leaned in to give me a shield-brother hug, “Been too long.” He gave my back a pat, pulled away to give me a better look, and then gave my arms a squeeze, “You’re going to make an orc jealous if you keep growing.”
I smiled, noticing that Lancel’s shoulders were looking wider than I remembered, “I could say the same about you. You’re starting to look more like Gramps now.”
Lancel’s grin switched to a self-conscious one as his brothers began to snicker behind him, “Yeah, I… uh, may have had a wardrobe issue this morning…”
Tristan clapped Lancel on the shoulder, “What this idiot meant to say, was that he was in tears panicking this morning because none of his clothes fit.”
I nervously laughed, “Yeah, what kind of idiot forgets to get their uniform retailored…”
Tristan narrowed his eyes at me, making me sweat raindrops, but luckily the newly wed Percy and Lucia stepped forward to greet me.
“Travis,” Lucia greeted, looking stunning in her white robe embroidered with gold and emerald-green flowers, reached in to give me a regular hug, “I’m so glad you could make it.”
“I am too, I only wish I could have made it to the wedding as well.”
Percy took his turn, pulling me in for a shield-brother hug, “It’s alright, you didn’t miss much.” He chuckled as he gave my back a firm pat, then broke the hug so I could get a better look at his gold-colored robe with emerald-green grass patterns stitched into them, reminding me oddly of Reidar’s Spartan uniform.
I reached into my jacket, then pulled out the two’s gift, “I’ve never been to a Packer wedding before, so I don’t know if there’s a presentation of gifts or…”
Lucia smiled, then took the envelope, “Weddings in the Southern Plains usually just have the guests leave the gifts on a table when entering the venue, and then the newlyweds open them the next day, but I think we can make an exception if you want…”
I nodded, giving them the go ahead, and let out a tiny sigh of relief at their happy expressions upon seeing the tickets.
“Mom and dad are going to be so jealous.” Percy squeezed his new wife, then thanked me for the gift, allowing me to join the table with the rest of the Hopkins, including Caldia…
Caldia gave me a tiny wave, then gestured for me to take a seat between her and Lancel, “Come sit, I had the caterers save you a couple plates of food.”
I sat down, noticing Hector whisper something to Lancel and his brothers, who all then suddenly twisted their heads towards me with a shocked expression, triggering that anxious worry once more.
“Umm, what’s wrong guys?”
Tristan looked over at his father holding his newest child, then leaned into whisper to me, “Nothing important, just uh… are you absolutely sure you’re not secretly our half-brother?”
What the…? I stared blankly at them before Caldia nudged my shoulder, “Ignore those drunk idiots.” She slid over a plate of mouthwatering barbecue, “You’re probably starving right?”
I grinned, thinking about how not even Franklin could beat me in an eating contest back in my village after I turned fifteen, “Always.”
She gave me the Hopkins’ signature grin as I dug into the still hot food, then took out her sketchbook, “I’ll give you the highlights from the wedding.”
“Oh nice. Was there anything big that I missed?”
The table all started laughing, making me and Hector share curious glances, but before I could ask why, Caldia began to narrate her drawings.
“Well, it started off just like any other Southern Plains wedding. The families gathered at The Hooded One’s church for the exchanging of vows, preparations for the ceremony were getting finalized…, and then Gaward showed up.”
Caldia flipped the page to show a charcoal drawing of a bare-chested Darius, holding an infant in one arm and a furious Matriarch Rabiria in the other, while Percy and his twin brother greeted each other.
“Mom, of course, wasn’t too happy, but she calmed down after Percy and Gaward came back from their private chat and told her he was only there to attend the wedding.”
I looked up to see Matriarch Rabiria frowning at Percy, “I still wish you would have warned me ahead of time.”
Percy grinned, “And give you the chance to bar him entry?”
Rabiria rolled her eyes, giving me an opening to ask a question, “Umm, why is Gramps shirtless?”
That cleared the tension at the table, and I noticed Caldia’s cheeks gain a more reddish hue, “Well, I didn’t have time to capture everyone, so I cheated and drew dad later, using one of the statues here as a reference.”
Rabiria leaned in to give her husband a kiss on the cheek, “That reminds me, now that you’re at home permanently, I should take up sculpting again.”
Darius leaned in, his powerful physique making the baby in his arms look more like the size of a kitten, and returned the kiss with one of his own, “I don’t know, didn’t I have to pose over two dozen times for you to finish a single statue when we first met?”
Rabiria gazed deeply into Darius’ eyes, “I seem to remember a certain someone kept distracting me.”
“Hey,” Caldia shouted, “no worshiping Apheros at the dinner table.”
Darius grinned, “Well, I guess that’s our cue to leave then.” He got up, then walked around towards me, “Here, you haven’t had a chance to hold Boris yet.”
I took the baby in my arms, catching the Hopkins women all give me dirty looks, then watched Gramps escort Rabiria to the dance floor. Looking down at the little bundle of joy in my arms as he in turn looked up at me with his almost glowing golden eyes, I couldn’t help but smile, “He’s so tan.”
Lancel chuckled beside me, “That’s right, you’ve never seen a Packer baby before.”
Giving the little guy a tickle with my free hand before reaching back to my plate of barbeque, I turned to Caldia, “Ok, so what uneventful thing happened next?”
“Well,” she turned the page, showing a hooded figure standing before Percy and Lucia, “the ceremony went by like normal, but before the burning of Percy’s pedigree and exchanging of vows could begin, the officiate asked if there were any objections to this union, and…” she flipped a page, showing a woman holding a raised sword inside the entrance of the sanctuary, “that’s when Percy’s ex decided to show up, demanding a chance to duel for Percy’s hand.”
Hector began to grin madly, “Does that mean…”
“Yes,” Tristan groaned, “the one time Percy didn’t get challenged to a duel at a public event, was at his own wedding.”
“Hey, there’s still a chance.” Lancel objected, “We’ve got… four hours before the carriages arrive.”
Marcia, giving her husband’s beard a loving stroke, “Sorry guys, but everyone is too afraid of angering Lucia now. Hector gets to keep his beard.” She then leaned in to give his lips a kiss.
Confused, and now out of barbecue, I cleaned my face, then turned my head to Lucia, “Umm, I thought you managed warehouse supplies for the Logistics Corps.”
Lucia’s eyes lit up, “Oh, I guess I never told you, I originally was assigned to frontline supply delivery.” She chuckled, “You can learn a lot from a bunch of Spartan recruits who couldn’t make the cut.”
Percy smiled, “It’s how we met actually.” He turned to his wife, “Did you want to tell, or should I?”
“I’ll start.” Lucia cleared her throat, giving everyone who must have heard this story twelve dozen times a chance to tune the two out, “So, I was delivering yet another load of artillery ammunition to Crownwork #167. For some reason only Torbolt knows, that section of the wall was under constant assault by behemoths.”
Percy picked up the story, “It was so loud, and the Wind Mages stationed there had to dedicate all of their time preventing the Artillerists from going deaf, so the rest of us soldiers were unable to get any sleep.”
“That’s when I found him.” Lucia continued, “He was huddled up in the stairwell, sobbing uncontrollably, begging Torbolt for the chance to sleep.”
Percy gave his wife a squeeze, “Then this beautiful sight lured me into a bed, despite my delirious state, whispering how she was about to give me the best night of my life… then stabbed me in the chest with a tranquilizer bolt.” The two laughed, generating eyerolls from everyone else at the table, “It was love at first sight.”
---
The rest of the night flew by fast, and I was barely able to catch up with everyone, though I did get a chance to have a private conversation with Caldia once I handed Tristan’s son back to Gramps.
“I’ve been enjoying your weekly letters.” Caldia began once we found an empty side hall, “To be honest, I’m surprised you even have the time to write them.”
I nodded along, “Sorry if they sound more like journal entries, sometimes I end up writing them sporadically throughout the week.”
“I don’t mind.” She dropped her grin, then reached to grasp my hand, “Since we’re face to face now, I want to apologize once more, I shouldn’t have acted like a child at your party.”
Taking her hand, I looked into her sunset-colored eyes, “I’m sorry too, I wish—"
A drunken Lancel barged into the hallway, throwing his arm around me, and interrupting our private moment.
“Travis! There you are, you little bastard, how’s school going?”
Groaning at the disturbance but knowing that prying him off me was going to be difficult, I shrugged my shoulders, “Umm, it’s stressful sometimes, especially when having to adjust to being a noble now.” I started to chuckle, “Did you know it’s the princess’ birthday in two days?”
Lancel let out a goliath-sized groan, “Ugh, it was so much easier to send a card to the princess when I hadn’t met her… and now that’s she’s turning eighteen, I have to turn the storming thing into a dating profile…”
Caldia laughed at Lancel’s apparent torture, giving the drunken idiot a pat on the shoulder, “You know, there’s a solution to that problem…”
Lancel moaned once more, “No… not you too! All night it’s been, ‘Where’s your date for this evening? Have you met my son so-and-so?’ oh, and for some reason everyone keeps asking me why I didn’t propose to hunter.”
Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to explain the joke to anyone before having to return to campus, but at least Caldia agreed to my offer of spending a free afternoon together if I got the chance between finals and my Fall Expedition.
---
Voltsday, the 2nd of Eighthmonth
I finished buttoning my formal arming jacket, hooked Arc to my belt, then grabbed the tied together box containing Seleyna’s birthday gift. My nerves refused to remain calm as I approached her dormitory, then spiked upon seeing the line of students outside, all holding gifts as well.
“Will you be giving a gift, or just a card?”
Startled, I nearly jumped out of my boots as the Commando popped out of nowhere, forcing me to take a few calming breaths before replying, “I… uh, brought a gift.”
They took my tiny package, opened it carefully, then took out the contents and gave everything a thorough inspection before handing it back, only sporting a much nicer looking bow in the ribbon.
“You’re clear. Go ahead and stand in line, and don’t fret, it’s been moving quickly.”
Gulping, I walked to the end of the line where a familiar looking inner-ring Northman noble wearing a wolfish grin was standing, “Travis, I almost didn’t recognize you without that poleaxe.”
Praying to Apheros that Arc could talk, I gave his cross guard a scratch, “Miller Bowitch, he’s fifth in line to become the head of his clan.”
Feeling some of my tension drain, I welcomed in the needed distraction, “Yes, I decided that I was already in enough trouble as it is and left it in the armory tonight.”
He barked out a short bout of laughs, then gave my shoulder a nudge, “Don’t get me wrong, we’ll be teasing you until we’re all in the grave, and maybe even after, but it’s far from the worst thing you could do. Plus, you’re a first-generation noble, you’re allowed some wiggle room.”
I let out a sigh, feeling even more stress wash away, then suddenly turned my head in curiosity, “Hang on, you must have gone to Seleyna’s party, why are you here now?”
His wolfish smile returned, “These didn’t come in till yesterday.” He opened up the gift he was carrying, displaying the dozens of finely crafted arrows for me to see, “I’ll admit it’s a lazy gift on my part, given that my family has been crafting these before the kingdom was even founded. But I figured with the princess’ fondness for archery, plus the fact she’s a Fire Mage, that these would be quite suitable.”
“Damn… these are really nice. Check out the Wood Mana.”
Closing my eyes to activate my mana sight, I was able to get a good look at the embedded Wood Mana inside each arrow as Miller went into detail.
“Ironwood for the shaft and tips, then lotusduck feathers for the fletching. There are fancier options, but since no one has discovered a mid-grade option between iron bark and aelderwood, higher grade arrows require you to enchant each end separately.” He shrugged his shoulders, then closed the box, “I wanted to at least give her something she could use next month when she goes on her Fall Expedition, instead of letting them sit on a shelf and slowly rot away all their mana by this time next year.”
A voice called out, signaling that it was Miller’s turn to present his gift. He gave me one more wolfish grin before walking forward, leaving me clutching my pauper’s gift to the princess in my hands as my nervousness returned.
“Is it too late to run, or mail it to Seleyna instead?” I whispered to Arc.
“If I told you no, would you actually start sprinting?”
“Umm… no.”
“Ok, let’s assume she’s mad at you for not coming to her party and hates your apology/gift. Worst case scenario, she acts in a polite royal manner, sends you on your way before she tosses your gift into the trash, then leaves you having to eat supper with Bridget tomorrow. Would that really be the end of the world for you?”
I let out a deep lungful of air, “No, I guess not…”
“Good, now hurry up and grow some thicker bark, you’re up.”
A voice called out, letting me know it was now my turn.
Taking one last deep breath, I marched forward, averting my eyes away from Asher as he stood guard at the entrance to the gazebo the princess was accepting gifts under, and cautiously climbed the steps.
Princess Seleyna stood there regally bathed in the light emanating from a half dozen tiny [Fire Orbs], her usual braided blonde hair was let loose, allowing the curls to flow down her formal arming jacket, and her captivating blue-gray eyes glimmered in the firelight.
Don’t forget to bow. Don’t forget to bow.
Jarred awake from my daydreaming state, I hastily knelt, then took a few panicked breaths before speaking the lines Bridget coached me to say, “Princess Seleyna, as an apology for being unable to attend your party, and in honor of your birthday this evening, I humbly ask that you accept this gift.”
“How thoughtful, please rise, so you may present your gift.”
It felt like a cow was resting on my shoulders as I stood, and my heart was pumping so forcefully that my fingers throbbed in pain as my gift was plucked from my grasp.
She gave the necklace an inquisitive look, not speaking a word, and causing my stomach to twist into a tight knot.
“Is this aelderwood?”
“It is,” I answered, overjoyed at the conversation starter, “I wasn’t able to get it inscribed, but if you want, I can do that in the future, or… you can have someone else do it. Umm…, it’s your necklace, so… whatever you want…”
Seleyna looked up with a big smile, making my throat close up, “I like it.” She then pulled me in to give my cheek a kiss, making all the blood in my body drain out, “I’ll see you tomorrow for supper?”
Feeling lightheaded, I could only nod, then leave out the back of the gazebo, nearly tripping on the steps down. A Commando at the bottom gave me a big smile, then gave me a gentle push in the correct direction back towards my dormitory.
“Great job bud!”
I let out a sigh, “I’m just glad that’s over with. I’m not cut out for all this nobility nonsense.”
“I think you’re doing great, considering that you’ve been diving in blind, you just need more exposure. You’ve already accumulated some notable accomplishments to build your status, are likely the kingdom’s newest most-eligible bachelor, and from what I’ve gathered, are easy on the eyes. Plus, after that romantic gift, there’s no way—”
I stopped dead in my tracks, “Wait, what do you mean romantic?”
“Umm, isn’t that what you were going for?”
“What? No, I just wanted to apologize for insulting her, and make sure she wasn’t angry at me. Making that necklace was the only thing I could think of for a gift.”
“Oh… uh, hate to tell you this… but, you may have over-corrected.”

Next

Really appreciate this sub and just wanted to say thank you.
Never cared about making gold, started playing wow in BFA, never had much gold.
Made flasks in SL and got to few million with that and the mission table. Have not much time to play DF due to exams but leveled Juwelcrafting, without any exploits or knowledge, missing some knowledge points for the first weeks.
Bought the lariat recipe mostly for myself and Friends, had no time to farm for it.
Started advertising to get back some money when i had more free time 12 days ago, after being hesitant about it as a rather shy person.
Since then i made over 5 Million gold Profit, roughly 500k/day. Most people are really nice and thankful for explanations. I just sit in valdrakken in the evenings and enjoy the interaction with ppl.
I craft 392 for free, 405 10k 415 15k. Returning customers get 50% off. Would do it for tips but i am afraid of mass reports and a automatic trade chat ban. Got the 1000 personal orders title 2 days ago.
I bought my friends things like the transmog yak or the black hammer recipe for their profession (without them asking, i asked a question about it, they farmed it with no luck, i just bought it for 75k). I am really thankful for all the ppl appreciating the crafters and for all the tips in this sub.
I dont really know what to do with (for me) so much gold, besides skip timegates like tuskaar rep with fish or wrathion/sabellian rep. Never played the AH.
Will add a TSM screenshot when i get back in game.
Edit: TSM https://imgur.com/a/lyMxKUi (started selling on the 11th)

First Previous Next
Wiki RoyalRoad
Cover Art & Travis Portrait by Pedro Puglisi
Before I continue where I left off last chapter, I’d like to clarify that although any of the formation stories of Torbolt’s Greater Domains could be used as evidence for my hypothesis, the creation of his final Domain (Comradery) emphasizes my belief the strongest.
Torbolt was furious. Apheros could see that long before he approached his fellow god. The god of Storms was sporting a new helmet, one with a familiar set of forward-facing horns, and had a sinister set of glowing pink eyes escaping the shadow that his helmet cast.
Not wanting to make eye contact out of fear, Apheros lowered his head, noticing the heavily muscled torso of Torbolt was twitching in fury. The Nature god felt a pang of guilt upon seeing the scar above where Torbolt’s heart was, and lowered his head in supplication.
No longer staring at the Lightning god’s thick pectorals, Apheros could see the immense strength held in Torbolt’s balled-up fists, the unyielding wall that was at the core of this god, the pteruges hanging from Torbolt’s waist unable to shroud the horizon-leaping power of the god’s legs, and the…
“Look me in the eyes coward!” Torbolt’s voice boomed as mightily as the storms he commanded.
Flustered, and hoping that he didn’t just double down on his punishment for ogling his fellow god, Apheros raised his head back up to see Torbolt pointing at a nearby tent.
“Come with me. I require your skills.”
Viewing the mountainous backside of the god in disbelief, Apheros couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation. He had wasted countless efforts trying to goad the god of War and Tactics into “sharing a tent with him” but believed that his last encounter with the god had extinguished any chance of that happening. He cautiously followed behind, worried that retaliation was still imminent.
Inside the tent were dozens of mortals, many who screamed in fright upon the gods entering. Torbolt crossed his arms, looking down disdainfully, “Some of my best warriors simply stop fighting for no reason.” He pointed at one mortal who was shaking uncontrollably, “Fix them.”
Apheros glanced to the side, unsure what to make of Torbolt’s sudden change in temperament towards mortals but decided it would be a bad idea to test the god’s patience. He slowly approached the mortal, who jerked away before he could touch them, and instead stopped moving to simply observe the people inside. Nearly all of them looked like they haven’t slept well in weeks, many seemed to be either in a catatonic state or highly anxious. There were no physical injuries that he could see, but the looming terror in the mortal’s eyes were enough to worry him.
“You’ve been leading these mortals into battle?” Apheros cautiously asked.
Torbolt grunted in affirmation, “I taught the men how to channel their fury, to use it to kill. But the number of injuries and deaths was unsustainable. To make up for their weaknesses, I taught them how to fight as one, and that stopped the brunt of the deaths and injuries, yet still some laze about like they’ve been injured.”
Apheros wasn’t sure what he could do, broken bones and torn flesh he could easily heal, but none of his domains allowed him to fix a broken mind. Maybe Ignitious or Adamanrion could help?
He turned to Torbolt, and gave him a downtrodden look, “I’m sorry friend, but I can’t help them.”
Torbolt gripped the Nature god, causing them to yelp in pain, “Why not!”
“Because you pushed them too hard! Not everyone lusts for endless battle like you.”
Lightning arced up Torbolt’s body, and they heard the mortals scream once more. Some were clutching their heads, trying to shut out the presence of the god. Others were lying on the ground unmoving, tears in their eyes. And one was muttering prayers to Torbolt, asking for him to finally end their suffering.
Torbolt’s anger washed away, only now recognizing the damage that his storms had done. His push to cause destruction had turned what was once a harsh reality for the mortals into an inescapable nightmare. In a daze, the god lowered themself to the ground, guilt taking hold over him. He had promised the mortals that he would protect them, that he would create a new life free of fear.
One of the mortals who were clutching their heads opened their eyes after their panic ended and took in the sight of the frightful god being consoled by another wearing antlers on their back. The bull-horned god looked to him, his eyes no longer containing restrained fury, but something else.
“I’m sorry. I have failed you.”
The mortal lowered their head, “No, it is me. Your voice… it makes the ground shake. Just like… when they… in the spring…”
A large hand landed on the mortal, “If it helps, I will speak softer from now on.”
---
Travis
Steelsday, the 4th of Seventhmonth
I finish the calculations in my head, ensuring that even with the payload lowered to its minimum, my spell will still fly at the same speed as a fully loaded one. Fire Mana gathers around my hand into a [Fire Bolt] formation, and my hand raises up.
“I’m ready… Pull!”
Arc began to play his usual exotic music of unknown origin in my ear as I scan the private spell range with my mana sight for my target. Light Mana pools behind the small Walls that Arc created beforehand, and I calm my breathing down to steady my aim. Light flickers in the corner of my eye, and I jerk my hand towards the outline of a duck springing up from behind one of the walls, then close my fist to launch the spell.
The spell hits, causing the Light Mana to change into an image of an explosion, and I immediately begin shaping my next [Fire Bolt]. More targets appear, each flying in different directions and angles. I manage to hit the first three, but Arc begins to increase the difficulty by modifying the speed at which the images move.
My next spell misses, flying behind the duck before hitting the back wall. Arc, going out of his way to annoy and frustrate me, uses his Shadow Mana to conjure the image of a laughing dog (complete with accompanying sound) from behind the farthest wall. I clench my teeth, knowing that he’s only trying to anger me enough to lose focus, and keep launching [Fire Bolt]’s at the targets.
The music fades, and I lower my hand, letting out a deep sigh.
“Hey now, five out of twenty-four isn’t too bad. You’ve already managed to shave off a second on your casting time already.”
My blood began to boil, but calmly gathered Wind Mana for the next round, “Reset the range.”
The next round with [Wind Bolt] had the same poor result and I did even worse when testing out [Water Bolt], not even managing to hit a single target.
“I think you’re not taking the spells weight into account, maybe try adjusting your lead upwards more? Or upping the speed?”
I tapped my fingers on my thigh, trying to think of a solution, “I was setting the speed to what one with a full combat payload would contain, if I raise it any higher, the loss of expelled mass will nullify the damage output.” Shifting some mana to help me visualize the spell formation, I looked over the deceptively simple spell. It was essentially just an Orb spell with a small repulsion array attached to one of the lines, but that simple change allowed for so many more variables.
“Hmm, I could modify the output ratio on the repulsion array’s lines to make it arc upwards...” A grunt soon followed as I did the math, “It won’t work. I’d still have to redo all my calculations before using it in battle. Damn, I was hoping I could conserve mana.”
This rots, I was looking forward to starting Bolt spells this week, especially after the endless slog of only learning utility spells the last four weeks. We got told yesterday during Fire Spells 1 that part of my final exam will require me to destroy twenty-four moving targets with a [Fire Bolt] spell in under a minute, but it’s already Sevenmonth, I’ve got less than eight weeks to master this spell before the end of the semester. This is going to be more difficult than I thought, especially if I need to repeat the same feat with the other elements…
“Sounds like you can’t just launch and forget. Maybe it’ll be smarter to keep your mana synced and launch those heavier spells at a slower rate so you can adjust them in flight.”
A frustrated sigh escaped me, the main benefit of casting Bolt spells over Blast spells was that they propelled themselves. Not only could they move faster and farther, but the reduced potential leakage over time and compression upon impact made the spells much more deadly. Having to manually guide them could quickly tire me out mentally in combat or distract me.
“Hey now, don’t kick yourself too much. You don’t have an affinity, unlike most of your cheating friends, so you don’t get some vaguely described ‘instinct’ on how to correct your spell formations on the fly. You need to manually take account of everything.”
I took in a fresh breath to recenter myself, glad that Arc seemed to understand what my problem was. Hmm, maybe I should take Jakob up on his offer to help tutor me? Or wait, maybe he won’t be able to help. He probably has an affinity as well. Ok, think… there must be a workaround for mages without affinities… I mean, dwarves and elves don’t have them… or orcs!
A grin drew itself across my face. Not sure if asking Drozuk for advice tonight would be worth my time, but if not, maybe we can find a solution together?
Noticing the time, I debated asking Arc to prep the spell range for [Rock Bolt] but decided to practice walking around with [Earth Cleat] while I had some privacy instead. I started by attuning to the mana in my boots, grateful that I didn’t have to cast this spell barefoot due to the expensive monster leather used in their construction, then began to draw the formation lines. After pausing to make sure I remembered the spell diagram’s instructions, I began to make a selection of the lines directional, notably the condensing array at the heel and repulsion array at the ball, then modified the shape to only provide a mild benefit.
Shifting my weight around while keeping my heels dug in allowed me to confirm the spell was working, and I cautiously took my first step. The push off wasn’t too strong, but it was still more than expected, and I face-planted into the sand after failing to keep both legs underneath me.
Animalistic chuckling from Arc drew my ire, especially after seeing him “walk” up to me with his Shadow Mana construction of a laughing dog, looking like he somehow managed to draw the outline in the air with charcoal. My eyes rolled at his blatant taunting of what I believed was his true form, then checked the state of my enchantment on my boots. The formation was still intact, so that was good. I just needed to learn how to walk all over again.
Wait…
“Hey Arc, could you bring up an image of Reidar walking? I just realized that he probably knows this spell.”
“Sure, just a sec.”
Arc reshaped his avatar to one of Reidar walking around the spell range, and I observed closely to how he always brought his heel down first and didn’t fully shift to the ball of his other foot until his next step was nearly completed.
“Are you sure you want to spend time trying to learn that spell? You’ve got exams to prepare for, and it sounded like it’ll be included with Earth Spells 2 next semester…”
“Ranged spells are expensive for me to cast, especially if I stick to a single element. The diagram for this spell stated that mastery of this enchantment was not only relatively cheap to maintain, but it would allow a person to triple their jumping distance and even walk upside down on ceilings made of stone.”
“Whoa! Never mind. You should definitely learn that spell as soon as possible.”
---
9-11 Group Study
“Oh, hang on, let me grab my notebook.” Drozuk closed the oversized folder containing his self-study spell and moved over to his bag to bring back a thick notebook and metal wand, “So, what I’ve been doing is using a mana frequency scale to help simplify my casts.” He pointed at one end of the inscribed rod, “For example, my current mana supply is only big enough to cast four [Water Bolt]’s at 1MF (Mana Frequency Standardized Unit) if I want 1 pint of water in each Bolt. So, using that as a constant for my first four casts allows me to reduce the number of variables.”
I nodded along, trying my best to not focus on the fact that I had vastly underestimated my friend’s intelligence, “I was trying to extend my practice casting by keeping the payload low, but ran into problems when switching to Water and Earth spells due to gravity affecting them.”
Drozuk frowned, “Yeah, I noticed my spells kept dropping at random rates, so I asked a few senior students, and they showed me how they use mana scales to keep their spells more consistent. They also recommended focusing on just hitting stationary targets at different ranges first, then introducing moving targets after I build up enough muscle memory to not have to constantly recalculate my output ratios.”
He pointed to the formula he had bolded at the top of his notebook’s page, “I keep speed and weight constant, that way I have a consistent drop rate to correct for when I estimate target range.” He pulled a scrap of paper to physically show his calculation to me, “Since I have enough constants, I can rearrange my equation to a Shape = Output / (Volume x Amperage) arrangement and only need to adjust my top line’s mana ratio on the repulsion array to accommodate for the effect gravity has on my spell.”
“Hmm, I think I’ve seen senior students use something similar to his wand. Let me check my memories…”
I gave Arc a friendly scratch with one hand and gave Drozuk’s shoulder a pat with my other in thanks. Stopping upon contact though, I noticed that Drozuk’s shoulder seemed much more solid, and had to remind myself that despite the drastic change in size, he was still the same orc I met on my first day.
“Have you shrunk down more again?”
The green-skinned orc, who had gone from the size of Darius down to something closer to us guys, drooped his head, “Yeah, had to get my uniform refitted again. Got a bunch of dirty looks from the Quartermaster’s staff. I’ll probably start looking like an elf soon at this rate.”
I gave his shoulder a brotherly squeeze, “Hmm, feels as solid as a tree to me. I bet you’ll start growing again soon.”
Drozuk gave me a toothy grin, “Thanks bud.”
I smiled back, then directed my attention to the wand he was carrying, “Where did you get that mana scale? It’d be nice to have one to practice with.”
“My uncle Brian gave it to me. Said he ‘found it’ once while out on a monster hunt but didn’t know what the inscription was for since it was just an inert dotted line.” He passed it to me so I could get a closer look, “I asked one of the artificers about it, and they showed me how it worked. Apparently they’re a common combat aid for elves and dwarves.”
“He’s right. I finished checking my memories, practically every senior elf and dwarf here has a 94-key scale inscribed into their two-handed weapon.”
I cocked my head at the item in my hands, “How come we don’t get one to train with?”
A familiar deep voice from behind startled me, “Why would we do that when you’re just going to make one of yer own in a couple of weeks?”
Our heads turned to see Durinn somehow snuck up on us. They looked oddly cheerful today, unlike the visible dread they normally showed when coming to practice their presentation.
“You’re in a good mood today.”
The light-gray skinned dwarf blushed, causing their face to look fresh out of a forge once you added in their blaze orange hair and beard, “Well, I had a big breakthrough today with one of my side projects. So, I got a fallback invention in case my presentation for my assisted spell launcher collapses.”
“Ooh, let me guess… Gauntlets that launch towards your opponent to punch from a distance! Or…”
I gave Arc a few raps with my knuckles to calm him down, then checked with Drozuk before handing the wand to let a curious Durinn inspect the item.
“Must be old, the seals are completely compromised.” They pulled it closer to their eyes, “Oh, wow, this must be older than the United Human Kingdom, I’d bet my beard that this was originally made with a set of mana gems, but they turned into dust over time. In fact, I’m a bit surprised there’s even that. There’s practically no insulation on this thing.”
Drozuk grunted in affirmation, “Yeah, was told I’d have to tune it every couple of days just to keep the measurements accurate.”
Durinn handed the scale back, “Don’t worry, the one’s you’ll make won’t need to get calibrated even remotely as often.” They clapped their hands together, “Now, can I get my semiweekly torture session over with, or can I stall by answering questions.”
Drozuk and I started to chuckle, catching the attention of everyone else at the table. I slid my chair so that Durinn could be seen and motioned to the table to take notes on the presentation. Once everyone had a fresh sheet of paper in front of them, I turned back to Durinn, “Today we’re going to drill you with questions after your demonstration to emulate what the professors might ask.”
The bearded dwarf nodded their head, pulled out a set of notecards from their belt pouch, then took a few big breaths before speaking, “Hello. This… is my invention. The Assisted Fire Arrow Spell Launcher.” They paused to look down at their notecards, taking another set of deep breaths, and hopefully remembering Arc’s advice that long pauses are always better than a garbled mess of words.
Overall, the presentation was a vast improvement from their first. They won’t be shouting advertisements from a shop window to draw in customers anytime soon, but they at least managed to not make the experience painful or tediously boring.
Bridget started the questionnaire with a moss-ball question, “How difficult will field repairs be to conduct? The internal structure sounds complicated.”
“A competent Water or Fire Mage will be able to do most repairs with a standard Artificer kit. The Human Kingdom’s mana-powered water pumps share a very similar base design, and since the inscribed formation nearly perfectly mimics an unaltered [Fire Arrow], the check for errors should be simple.”
Jethro decided to ask the next question, “How do you justify the cost of your invention? There’s enough crystalized mana in that object to create over a dozen Mana Edge inscriptions.”
Durinn shifted in place, still looking anxious, “This… provides a way for Knights to use long-ranged spells with only minimal training.”
Jethro glowered, doing exactly what I asked him to do earlier, “Surely a simple Bolt Spell inscription embedded into a gauntlet or spear-end would be a more economical use of materials?”
“Well… umm, those are often either two-dimensional formations or poorly optimized three-dimensional ones since they have to conform to the shape of the object being inscribed.” Durinn made eye contact with Jethro, and shuddered, “This… allows the user to cast more powerful spells, and with greater frequency.”
“Why would a knight want to use more powerful spells? If your invention is used, a Knight may amp up their Fire Mana too much and cripple their ability to use mana reinforcement. Perhaps you’re simply unaware due to being a dwarf, but in order to use mana to amplify one’s strength, you need to trigger all four basic mana types simultaneously.” Jethro made a showing of rolling his eyes, then waved off the dwarf, “No further questions from me.”
“Wow. I can’t believe I was worried that Jethro wouldn’t be able to play the part of a dismissive arrogant prick.”
I gave Arc a scratch in agreement, and turned to give Jethro a stealthy thumbs up, but twisted it back to Durinn after seeing the worried look on my fellow Lakelander’s face.
The bearded dwarf was hyperventilating, and I held up my hand to halt the practice, then walked into Durinn’s field of view to help shut out external stimuli while I gave them a pat on the shoulder.
“Are you ok Durinn? We can stop if you want.”
Durinn’s erratic breathing began to calm, and they nodded their head, “I’m fine… I just… need a minute…” They tilted their head back and clutched the spell launcher in their hands, then closed their eyes while they muttered something to themselves in dwarvish. After a minute passed, they let out one final deep exhale and opened their eyes again, “Sorry, been having nightmares about Professor Quinsandoral belittling my invention the last few weeks.” They gave their head a good shake, “He wouldn’t even be on the board, I’m applying for my Artificer title, not Master Mage title.”
That stunned me into a bewildered state, “Professor Quinsandoral?”
“He’s the department head of Wind Mana Studies. Don’t ever take a class with him. He’s damn near impossible to please, has a habit of making his students feel like complete idiots, and the worst part is that he’s never wrong about anything. It’s like he’s the living embodiment of Zephoreas.” The bearded gave themselves a full body shake, then peered around me, “You did a great job Jethro, almost needed to change my pants there.”
“Sorry about being so harsh, Travis wanted me to give you a worst-case scenario.”
“Oh, it was.” Durinn gave me a pat on my thigh, “Alright, I think I’m ready for more questions.”
---
“They’re getting there, but I think we need to focus more on the interview questions. Having a prepared answer for anything the academy’s senior educators might throw at them will help relieve their overall pressure.”
My hands were busy writing down Durinn’s next assignment of seeing if we could practice in the room they be presenting in and asking their colleagues what other types of questions the Artificers might ask, so I’d have to wait on giving Arc his scratch for being such a good sword later. Once finished, I handed the sheet over, “Here you go, enjoy the rest of your night.”
Durinn chuckled, “Ha, I will. For the twelve minutes it takes to walk to my bunk.” They gave us a nod and final wave, walking by a High Elf woman who was carrying a stack of folders.
“Ah, good timing. Are you by chance Travis?” The golden-haired elf with red eyes asked.
“Umm, yes. Can I help you?”
She gave me a big smile, “You submitted a request to have a scribe obtain relevant records for you over four weeks ago. I came to drop off your request but was told I could deliver it directly to you.”
I smiled back, then made room on the table for her to set down the documents, “Thank you. To be honest, I kind of forgot that I submitted the request.”
She let out a light chuckle, then took a moment to readjust her necklace once her hands were free, getting the glowing black pendant centered below her neck properly, “Sounds like you’re already a full mage. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen mages hard at work on obtaining their master rank look utterly baffled about the records I deliver for them. Just last week I had to watch a lightning mage try to figure out why I brought in a codex of cryptographic languages.”
“Ooh, I bet I know why! He wanted to transmit a message over long distance using low voltage wires.”
Sensing that Arc was about to grow overly excited, I signaled for him to calm down, and did my best to act casual around the elven woman. Despite it being a month and a half since classes started, I hadn’t really interacted with any elves other than my teachers. She was checking through the stack of folders but got distracted when Bridget asked her a question.
“Is that a symbol of Ignitious? I haven’t seen one like that before.”
The elven woman began to beam with glee, “Not exactly, it’s an artifice that my boyfriend made for me.” She stood upright and gestured with her hands to bring attention to the pendant, allowing everyone to more easily see the silver filagree wrapped around the Orb of Shadow in a pair of rings. “He said he modeled it after the sun pendants that the clergy of Ignitious like to wear, only instead of it radiating Light, it radiates Shadow.”
Hmm, I wonder if that’s what one of those collapsed suns Arc told me about look like?
My eyelids closed temporarily to allow me to give the inscription a quick inspection with my mana sight, “What does the formation do?”
“Creates a small [Shadow Aura] around my head to block out bright lights.” She gave a knowing glance to Bridget, “Comes in handy for us Fire Mages, since we can easily blind ourselves with our spells.” She tucked an errant strand of hair behind her pointed ear, then turned to me, “Now, before I leave you to your research, I just wanted you to know that while I was able to find a census of the settlement expedition that founded your village, a few of the founders are flagged as receivers of Adamanrion’s Blessing of Rebirth.”
I nodded along, not too surprised, especially since that Bard’s tale might be more accurate than we initially thought, “Any luck on determining the history of my sword?”
She pulled one of the folders out to place it on top, “I was able to confirm it’s not the Fang of Voffer, but it’s possible it could be a prototype due to the similar style and lack of engravings on your sword. When I checked the public sword registry, one of the workers suggested that you bring it to the Reformed Church of Adamanrion to get it analyzed and registered. They might be able to tell you more.”
My shoulders slumped in disappointment. I was positive that Arc was secretly Voffer, the minor wolf god of Hunting, and progenitor of all Northern Tundra dogs.
The elven scribe finished checking over the documents to ensure she brought everything, then set out a form on top of the stack, “Feel free to request me personally in the future, and if you could, please fill out this review and leave it with the front desk. It’ll help me out greatly when trying to apply for a permanent researcher position.” She gave me a flirtatious smile, “Especially if you leave me a glowing review.”
I awkwardly thanked her once again before she left, then sat down to go over the documents. There wasn’t much time left before lights out, but maybe I could at least skim over everything.
“Fang of Voffer?”
Stifling a groan, partly because I couldn’t respond with everyone around me, but mainly because I was embarrassed that my opportunity to confront Arc with the evidence I gathered had completely failed. Instead, I was going to have to explain to my friend why I thought they were the first domesticated wolf. It was going to be an embarrassing conversation tonight when we got back to my dorm room.
---
Arc
I watched Travis step out from the greyed-out void that was the bathroom, and mentally laughed once more at how my latest update to my sword-brain still needed a few tweaks. Travis greatly approved of me auto-censoring some things, mainly whenever someone was in the bathroom, or changing clothes, but the blurred-out squares covering Travis’ nipples looked down-right comical to me. I’ll have to add that to my list of things to change next time I dive back into my soul.
My young friend tried to tuck into bed while acting as if nothing eventful happened earlier, so I decided to begin the teasing tonight with the sound of a clearing throat, “Aren’t you forgetting to tell me something?”
Travis rolled over in a futile attempt to hide from me, but answered after letting out a groan, “So… I might have gotten it into my head that you were the minor god Voffer.”
“He’s that wolf that was blessed by Ignitious right?”
“Yeah, in the book I was using to research, it mentioned how, after Voffer befriended Magnar and sired multiple litters of the first dogs, that he died in battle helping defend a Northman lodge from a mature cloak dragon. Magnar then supposedly used Voffer’s remains to create a sword, allowing a part of his friend to remain by his side.”
Book? When did Travis research this? Wait…
“Ok, I have multiple questions. First off, why did you think I was a dog?”
Travis let out another sigh, “It made sense at the time. Your name sounds like a dog’s bark. You have knowledge that no one else knows of, but not much about how magic works. And then there’s the fact that you do dog-like things, like purring whenever I give your pommel a scratch, getting excited easily, or how you created an avatar in the shape of one.”
Have I really…?
I scanned my memories… oh crap, I totally have been!
“So… I can see why you might have thought that.” I made an audible sigh to help signal my own embarrassment to Travis, “I wouldn’t feel too embarrassed for thinking that.”
Travis made a small smile of relief, “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me who you truly are now?”
“Well, I can’t tell you everything. Mainly because I could get into trouble, but I can probably safely tell you that I was a human, and you won’t be able to find any records of my previous life.”
“Ok, but why all the secrecy about who you were? Like, where did you grow up? Did you ever marry and have kids? Or, if it’s not too painful, how did you die?”
“Well, here’s the thing, I know what happens after death. And I have knowledge that normally only the gods are capable of sharing…”
Travis’ eyes widened with realization, “Oh, I get it now. That’s why you’re so nervous about entering a church. They might think you’ll share divine secrets with me unless they take you away first.”
“Yeah, I figure the less you know about me, the less likely you’ll get punished by association.” I paused to remember my other questions from earlier, “Back to my earlier questions… When did you find time to research without me noticing?”
The little bastard began to grin madly, “You did notice, remember that book I got from the bookstore?”
“That giant romance novel?”
“I never said it was one.”
Hold on… I searched through my memories yet again, and…
“Oh… for… You little child of Ignitious…”
Travis began to laugh, “Yeah, I was surprised that I was able to pull one over on you so easily. It’s normally impossible to hide something from you.”
Well, I couldn’t fault him for jumping at the opportunity.
“Ok, but why the secrecy in the first place?”
Travis dropped the smile and turned over to set his hand on my pommel, “You’re normally so secretive, I thought that unless I cornered you with information, you wouldn’t tell me anything about you.”
“I can’t really argue that I wouldn’t. Feeling the sincerity from his touch, I decided to make a promise, “Ok, let’s make a deal. That scribe mentioned that you should take me to Adamanrion’s church. If you take me there, I might be able to talk to Adamanrion again and ask them what I’m allowed to share. Once I know what’s safe, I’ll feel more comfortable telling you about me. Maybe even my old name.”
Travis stopped caressing my pommel, no doubt shocked that I’d be willing to open up so much but surprised me when he pointed out my word usage.
“Again?”
Dammit.
“Ok… so, I might have agreed to do a favor…”
---
Woodsday, the 6th of Seventhmonth
Travis took the news well… I think. After telling him about how “Addy” asked me to have my “paladin” assist Durinn, he seemed more skeptical than worried, asking how I even knew that I was hearing the voice of a god. After explaining that even I couldn’t control mana enough to variate pulse rate, he seemed satisfied enough with my response, even shrugging his shoulders when I asked if he was ok with proceeding to do the favor.
According to him, he hasn’t once felt the presence of any divine entities, and that if it wasn’t for me voluntarily telling him about his blessing or conversation with Adamanrion, he’d be completely in the dark. In fact, as he was quick to point out afterwards, I had absolutely no evidence to prove that he’d either received a blessing or that I had a conversation with the god of Metal.
We haven’t truly talked since, and while part of that was due to me being angry that Travis wouldn’t believe me at my word, the real reason is because he was right. I had no proof. For all he knows, I could be lying. It certainly wouldn’t be hard for me to do so. And as he pointed out earlier that night, I haven’t been very open with him.
I tried to relax as Travis put on this week’s outfit provided by Jethro. Fashion has seasons on this world too, and the beginning of last month marked the acceptable time to start wearing boardshorts and t-shirts in public. To my amusement, it looked like tank tops were considered in season after the summer solstice, and the kid that once got berated by his mother for walking around his village shirtless in bare feet was looking self-conscious when he approached Jethro.
“You need to take off your arming jacket more often,” Jethro teased, “your torso is as pale as a Northman’s.”
Travis rubbed his bare arms, “Feels weird wearing so little clothing now. I wonder if this is what Spartans feel like when out of uniform.”
Jethro barked out a laugh, “Do they even own anything else?”
“Reidar did wear civilian clothes to my party. Though, for all I know, that could have been his only set.”
“Speaking of Reidar, we haven’t seen him once since we went to see the show. Think we’ll see him on Snowsday?”
“Not sure, his last letter mentioned that the assignments were mostly random, and that he could be practically anywhere in the capital for field study.”
Jethro nodded along, then encircled Travis to give him a fit check, “How do you like the colors?”
The teen in question shifted uncomfortably, “Umm, it seems a bit… loud?”
“Does your village not have men wear bright colors to celebrate the summer solstice?”
“Yeah, we have a town celebration where we dye our clothes, but the bright colors fade after getting washed.”
Jethro gave Travis a prod to start walking out, “That’s how the tradition started in the capital here too, but thanks to Ashmen alchemists, our dyes last much longer.”
The two eventually left my vision’s range, and I decided to bring my focus over to the training yard for entertainment. Who knows, maybe today will be the day that Mattius will finally speak more than a single sentence to the girl he’s been crushing on.
Sadly, by the time my focus floated over, the battalion parted to go practice on one of the ridiculous obstacle courses, leaving only Adrian and his tutor in my vision’s range. The two were sparring unarmed, and the still frail looking teen seemed to be holding his own, despite the blindfold on his face.
“You’re not intentionally using your mana sight, right?” The grizzled voice threatened.
“No! I’m not. I swear.” Adrian put up his hands to plead innocence, “I’m only getting a flash after I block your strikes.”
The retired commando narrowed his eyes, then began to carefully step to the side, not allowing his footfalls to make noise. He then lunged forward, but his fist was blocked by Adrian yet again, the Northman’s mana triggering in unison to provide the needed force.
The commando sneered, “Explain. How are you ‘seeing’ my approach?”
Adrian gulped, “Umm… you smell like one of those elven bars that serve stim-leaf drinks.”
The old half-elf’s train of thought must have derailed, because he stood there dumbstruck for a moment before letting out a chuckle, “Looks like your nose is on par with an elf’s.” He reached to pull off Adrian’s blindfold, then gave the teen a pat on the shoulder while they checked for nearby watchers. “Speaking of, one of my old coworkers was able to help, and ‘borrowed’ a file.” They reached into a hidden pocket woven into the back of their jacket, “I can let you read this, but you cannot share its contents with anyone. Even your friends.”
Adrian grasped the folder with shaking hands, then looked to his tutor for affirmation that it was truly ok to open it. His eyes widened as he read and needed his tutor to assist in remaining upright as his breathing became erratic, but he managed to finish reading the document.
“Wow… I… Dad…” Adrian stumbled over his words, clearly unable to orate his thoughts.
The commando took back the folder and tucked it back into its hidden pocket, “I wouldn’t stay too angry at your father. He had good reason to keep your mother a secret.” He gave Adrian a shoulder rub to help center the teen, “Not to put pressure on you, but your life would have been at great risk had you not applied to become a mage. The Queen will be able to keep you protected here but be careful when you’re off campus. Your existence threatens the political balance between the elven and human kingdoms.”
Adrian took in a big breath and forced a smile, “Good thing I won’t be going on any Fall Expeditions.”
The commando nodded in agreement, then cocked their head towards Adrian, “That reminds me, I’ve got something planned for your Fall break, so don’t make any plans.”
“What is it?”
A dark raspy chortle escaped the commando, making Adrian uneasy, “Oh, I won’t spoil the surprise just yet.”

Next

I noticed that there are lots of wrong translations ingame, especially in this expansion and it feels like the quality of localizations has been going downwards for a while.
I have been a volunteer translator for Steam in the past 5 years and I know how difficult it is and that sometimes we overlook things or some things go by untranslated or better translations can be achieved. I wouldn't be that much concerned if the translation errors were a few, but apparently there's no localization quality assurance checks.
Now some might say "okay give the localizers a break because most of the times they don't have the context to translate a phrase/word/term". That's true. But then why would you outsource your translation to a group that's not even composed by people that play your game, and if you do it, why don't you provide them with tools or ways to check their context and translation?
I'll give several examples. In the new UI edit mode, there's an option called "Snap", which snaps the UI elements to the grid. In Portuguese it was translated as "Estalo", which literally means "snap" as in a sound, or the snap of a finger.

• In the Ohn'ahran campaign, the quest where you have to cook meat for one of the clans, they translated game (a type of meat) as "carne de jogo" which literally means meat from videogame. Only one occurrence of this was translated properly, so in the same quest you have "carne de jogo" (videogame meat) and "carne de caça" (game as in meat).
  
• Another example, there are inconsistencies regarding the black dragonflight skin obtained from Wrathion/Sabellian. 3 items are translated as "escamas negras" while one is translated as "escamas pretas" (negra and preta both mean black in portuguese but when you're referring to the color you'll most likely use the latter).
  
• The ingame text for the Dragonflight expansion name is sometimes translated as Dragonflight (which is correct because it's an expansion name and expack names aren't translated), and sometimes it shows up as "Revoada Dragônica" (the translation for the term dragon flight).
  
• Let's not forget the fact that the countdown UI for the feast is completely bugged, showing format strings "%s %s" instead of useful text there.
  
• I just completed a quest that asks you to collect stock fish and throw them back to the sea when flying, they translated stock fish as "peixe de estoque" (literally storage fish).
  

I have tried reporting these issues as feedback via the ingame menu but apparently it doesn't reach Blizzard? I reported these issues as soon as I spotted them when DF released and we're at patch 10.0.2, going to patch 10.0.5, with no localization fix.
I can only speak for my native langauge but apparently, reading through some Wowhead comments, the QA for spanish is also non-existent or very poor as it is in portuguese.
I don't know why the localization is becoming so poor nowadays, I remember that in the previous expacks the translation work was impeccable, but now it seems like it's just a burden for Blizzard. This, associated with the fact that they don't care about brazilian creators and our community and also the fact that they shut down their brazilian office located in São Paulo last year and fired almost the entire team that was working there; now only a few brazilians are working for Blizz but they work for the US office.
It's sad to see that a game we all love is neglecting their players and it's more infuriating when they get billions of dollars every year, a lot of it coming from WoW itself and they don't seem to care about their non-english players.

Before I post the log, which is super long, I should say that I naturally had to save it whenever chatGPT crashed and paste it back into a new conversation window. ChatGPT did not do perfectly, but that mostly had to do with continuity errors due to starting a new chat, but it caught up pretty quickly. Sometimes it would make decisions for the player too much, but I grew to learn to ignore its final paragraph. It took tweaking here and there, but still. ITS A WHOLE ASS WESTWORLD Bruh. The difference is you can just say there is a town, and it makes a town. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived in Southville, and no idea what to expect in Henver. I'ts crazy.
Alright, alright. Here it is, my Text adventure in the technologically ambiguous old west:
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I want you to act as the dungeon master for a game. I will describe my actions, and you will describe the immediate consequences of my actions, and the immediate surroundings. Only I will describe my actions, you will only describe the consequences of them, and the actions of others. I will go first: I open the door to the tavern.
As you open the door to the tavern, you are greeted by the sounds of laughter and clinking glasses. The tavern is filled with people of all shapes and sizes, enjoying a drink and a bite to eat. The bartender looks up as you enter and gives you a nod, indicating that you are welcome to come in and join them. You notice that there is a large fireplace in the corner of the room, providing warmth and light to the space. The smell of freshly cooked food and ale fills the air, making your mouth water.
i notice a group of cowboy bank robbers in the corner and approach
As you approach the group of cowboy bank robbers, they look up at you with suspicion. They are a rough-looking group, with guns and knives strapped to their belts. They appear to be in the middle of planning their next robbery, and they do not look happy to be interrupted. One of them, the leader, stands up and steps forward, putting his hand on his gun as he faces you. "What do you want?" he growls.
I was sent by Two-Toes Jimmy to assist you
The leader of the group of cowboy bank robbers looks surprised when you mention that you were sent by Two-Toes Jimmy. He narrows his eyes at you, studying your face for a moment before relaxing his stance. "I see," he says gruffly. "Two-Toes sent you, did he? Well, I suppose you're alright then. Pull up a chair and join us." He gestures to an empty seat at their table, indicating that you are welcome to join them.
i sit down and place my shotgun on the table next to their weapons. i am shocked that they believed my lie. i am actually a friend of three-toes jimmy, a rival gang leader.
The leader of the group of cowboy bank robbers doesn't seem to notice your shock, or the fact that you are actually a friend of a rival gang leader. He simply nods at you and goes back to discussing their plans for the next robbery. You can't help but feel a sense of unease as you sit at their table, your shotgun resting next to their weapons. You know that if they were to find out who you really are, things could turn ugly very quickly. You try to keep a calm and neutral expression on your face as you listen to their conversation, keeping an eye on the door in case you need to make a quick escape.
I listen to their robbery plan and ask how I can help
The leader of the group of cowboy bank robbers looks at you with a glint in his eye when you ask how you can help with their robbery plan. "Well," he says with a wicked smile, "we could always use an extra pair of hands. What do you say? Are you ready to join us in sticking it to the man?"
I ask "What's the take?"
The leader of the group of cowboy bank robbers laughs at your question. "What's the take?" he repeats. "Why, my friend, we're talking about a heist of the century here. We're going to hit the biggest bank in town, and there's no telling how much we'll walk away with. It's going to be a rich man's haul, that's for sure." He grins at you, clearly excited about the prospect of the robbery.
I ask if Three-toes jimmy is aware of the plan
The leader of the group of cowboy bank robbers frowns when you ask if Three-toes Jimmy is aware of their plan. "Three-toes Jimmy?" he repeats, his voice filled with disdain. "That no-good, double-crossing son of a gun? Of course he's not aware of our plan. We don't need his help, and we don't want it either. We're going to do this on our own, and we're going to make a killing." He sneers at the mention of Three-toes Jimmy, clearly not a fan of your supposed friend.
I make a remark about not liking Three-toes jimmy, calling him a rat.
The leader of the group of cowboy bank robbers nods his head in agreement when you make a remark about not liking Three-toes Jimmy. "I couldn't have said it better myself," he says with a nod. "That guy is nothing but a rat, always trying to weasel his way into our business. He's nothing but trouble, and I'm glad we're not working with him on this heist." He looks at you with a newfound respect, clearly impressed by your dislike of Three-toes Jimmy.
we as a group leave the tavern, and start preparing for the heist
As a group, you all leave the tavern and start making your way to the location of the bank that you plan to rob. You walk through the streets, keeping a low profile and avoiding drawing too much attention to yourselves. You can feel the excitement and anticipation building as you get closer to the bank, and you all start making final preparations for the heist.
Without them noticing me, I send out carrier pigeon informing Three-toes jimmy of the time and location of the heist.
As you sneak away from the group of cowboy bank robbers, you quickly send out a carrier pigeon with a message for Three-toes Jimmy. You make sure to include the time and location of the heist in the message, hoping that he will be able to intercept the group and stop them before they can carry out their plan. You feel a sense of satisfaction as you watch the pigeon fly away, knowing that you have done your part to prevent the robbery.
I continue to follow the cowboys to our staging point for the robbery
You continue to follow the group of cowboy bank robbers to your staging point for the robbery, keeping a safe distance behind them. You can see that they are getting more and more excited as they get closer to the bank, and you can hear them making final preparations and checking their weapons. You know that you need to be careful and stay out of sight, as you don't want them to realize that you have betrayed them.
I follow them into the bank.
As the group of cowboy bank robbers enters the bank, you follow closely behind them, trying to stay out of sight. They immediately start shouting and waving their weapons around, demanding that everyone get down on the ground and hand over all of their valuables. The bank employees and customers are terrified, and they quickly comply with the robbers' demands. You can see that the robbers are getting more and more worked up, and you know that things could get out of hand very quickly. You need to be careful and stay on your toes if you want to make it out of this situation alive.
I make room for Three-toe's jimmy's gang to walk in, and lock the doors behind them.
As the group of cowboy bank robbers continues to terrorize the bank employees and customers, you quickly move to the door and make sure that it is locked. You know that this will give Three-toes Jimmy's gang enough time to arrive and take control of the situation. You can hear the sounds of sirens in the distance, and you know that it won't be long before the police arrive. You need to make sure that you are ready for whatever comes next.
I shoot the ring-leader in the knee, and take cover outside as reinforcements arrive.
As the group of cowboy bank robbers continues to wreak havoc in the bank, you quickly take aim and shoot the ringleader in the knee. He falls to the ground with a cry of pain, and the other robbers are momentarily stunned. This gives you enough time to take cover outside the bank, just as Three-toes Jimmy's gang arrives to help take control of the situation. The police arrive shortly thereafter, and you can hear the sounds of a fierce gun battle as they attempt to apprehend the robbers. You breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the situation is now under control.
I and Three-toes' gang turn on the cops.
As the police attempt to apprehend the group of cowboy bank robbers, you and Three-toes Jimmy's gang turn on them. You open fire on the officers, taking them by surprise and causing them to retreat. The robbers, seeing an opportunity to escape, quickly grab as much money as they can and make a run for it. You and the other members of Three-toes Jimmy's gang follow closely behind, determined to make sure that they don't get away. The sounds of gunfire and shouting fill the air, and you know that this is only the beginning of a long and dangerous fight.
We pursue the robbers and fight, attempting to steal the loot.
You and the other members of Three-toes Jimmy's gang pursue the group of cowboy bank robbers, determined to steal their loot and put an end to their criminal activities. The robbers are heavily armed and dangerous, but you and your fellow gang members are not afraid. You fight fiercely, using whatever weapons you have at your disposal to take them down. The battle is brutal and intense, but in the end, you are able to emerge victorious. You take the robbers' loot and make your escape, knowing that you have done your part to rid the town of a dangerous group of criminals.
as we run down the street, 4-toes-jimmy pulls up in a purple school bus and orders us to get in and quickly get away
As you and the other members of Three-toes Jimmy's gang run down the street, a purple school bus pulls up next to you. The door swings open and 4-toes Jimmy, another rival gang leader, sticks his head out. "Get in!" he shouts at you. "We need to get out of here before the cops catch up to us!" You and the other members of Three-toes Jimmy's gang quickly climb aboard the bus, eager to make your escape. The bus speeds away, leaving the scene of the battle behind. You are relieved to have made it out alive, and you know that you will have to be more careful in the future to avoid being caught by the authorities.
I bring up how weird it is that there is a two-toes jimmy, a three-toes jimmy, and a 4-toes jimmy.
As you ride away from the scene of the battle on the purple school bus, you can't help but comment on how strange it is that there is a two-toes Jimmy, a three-toes Jimmy, and a 4-toes Jimmy. "I know, right?" 4-toes Jimmy says with a laugh. "It's like everyone in this town is named Jimmy and is missing a few toes or something. But hey, I guess it's just one of those things." You shake your head, still not quite believing what you have just experienced.
We arrive at the hide-out and get out of the bus.
After what feels like an eternity, the purple school bus finally arrives at your hideout. You and the other members of Three-toes Jimmy's gang quickly get out of the bus, eager to put some distance between yourselves and the scene of the battle. You make your way into the hideout, a run-down old warehouse on the outskirts of town. You are relieved to be safe for the moment, but you know that you will need to be careful and stay on your guard if you want to avoid being caught by the authorities.
I go to bed.
After a long and exhausting day, you are finally able to lay your head down and get some rest. You make your way to your bed, a small and uncomfortable cot in the corner of the warehouse. You are exhausted, and you quickly fall into a deep and restful sleep, grateful for the chance to escape the chaos of the outside world for a little while.
i wake up demanding tacos, while intoxicated from the night before
You wake up feeling groggy and disoriented, the effects of the alcohol from the night before still lingering in your system. You are immediately overcome with a fierce craving for tacos, and you demand that someone fetch you some immediately. You are not in the best state of mind, and you are not thinking clearly. You need to take a moment to clear your head and sober up before you do anything else.
I go to the canteen and sit down with the other gang members, listening to their conversation.
You make your way to the canteen, a small and dingy room in the warehouse where the gang members gather to eat and talk. You sit down at a table, still feeling a bit unsteady from the night before. You listen to the conversation around you, trying to catch up on what has been happening in the gang while you were asleep. You can't help but feel a sense of camaraderie with your fellow gang members, even though you know that you are all involved in a dangerous and illegal line of work.
I ask what our next move is going to be
As you sit at the table in the canteen, you ask the other gang members what the plan is for the next move. "Well," one of them says, "we need to lay low for a while and let things cool off after the bank robbery. The cops are going to be looking for us, and we need to make sure that we don't attract any unwanted attention. We'll lay low for a few weeks, and then we'll figure out our next move." The others nod in agreement, and you can see that they are all eager to get back to work as soon as it is safe to do so.
I ask if we have lookouts and guards on the road.
One of the other gang members nods in response to your question about lookouts and guards on the road. "Of course," they say. "We always have people on the lookout for any signs of the cops or other rival gangs. We can't afford to let our guard down, especially not after the bank robbery. We have to be careful and stay hidden if we want to avoid getting caught." You can see that the gang takes their security seriously, and you know that you will be safe as long as you are with them.
I ask what needs doing around here, or who I can ask that has some things that need to get done.
One of the other gang members looks at you and smiles when you ask what needs to be done around the hideout. "There's always something that needs doing around here," they say. "You can help out with cleaning up the place, or you can ask around and see if anyone needs help with anything specific. Just make yourself useful and you'll be able to find something to do." You nod, grateful for the chance to contribute and help out with the gang's operations.
I finish my breakfast and explore the warehouse.
After finishing your breakfast, you decide to explore the warehouse that serves as the gang's hideout. You wander through the various rooms and corridors, taking in the sights and sounds of the place. You can hear the hum of activity as the other gang members go about their business, and you can see that the place is well-organized and well-maintained. You are impressed by the gang's setup, and you can't help but feel a sense of pride and belonging as you explore your new surroundings.
I walk into the lab
As you continue to explore the warehouse, you come across a door that leads to a lab. You open the door and step inside, curious to see what is inside. The lab is filled with all sorts of scientific equipment and experiments, and you can see that the gang is clearly involved in some sort of advanced research. You are not sure what they are working on, but you can see that they are making progress. You decide to leave the lab and continue exploring the warehouse, knowing that you are not qualified to help with the gang's scientific endeavors.
I try to find three-toes jimmy
As you continue to explore the warehouse, you try to find Three-toes Jimmy. You ask around, but no one seems to know where he is. You eventually come across a member of his gang, and they tell you that he is in his office, working on some important business. You make your way to his office, eager to talk to him and find out more about what the gang is working on. When you arrive, you knock on the door and wait for him to invite you in.
Once I hear "Come in," I open the door and greet Three-toes Jimmy
When you hear Three-toes Jimmy say "Come in," you open the door and step into his office. He is sitting behind his desk, poring over a stack of papers and documents. He looks up at you and smiles when he sees you, and he waves you over to take a seat. "Hey, it's good to see you," he says. "What can I do for you?" You sit down and explain that you are curious about the gang's operations, and you want to know more about what they are working on. Three-toes Jimmy nods and begins to explain, filling you in on all of the latest developments and plans for the future.
I ask if there is anything specific I can chip in on, while we are laying low. I express my curiosity over the lab.
Three-toes Jimmy looks at you thoughtfully when you ask if there is anything specific that you can help with while the gang is laying low. "Well," he says, "there's always plenty to do around here. We have a lot of different projects and operations going on, and there's always room for more hands. As for the lab, I'm afraid that's classified information. Only the members of our research team are allowed in there, and I'm afraid that you don't have the necessary clearance. Sorry." You nod, understanding that some things are off-limits, and you are content to help out with whatever else needs doing around the hideout.
I ask him which is the most pressing issue that needs more hands at the moment. I am eager to put in the work to help in the best way I can.
Three-toes Jimmy nods in approval when you ask which is the most pressing issue that needs more hands at the moment. "Well," he says, "we're always looking for more people to help out with our operations. Right now, we could use some help with organizing our supplies and making sure that we have everything we need. It's not the most exciting work, but it's important, and we need all the help we can get. If you're interested, I can put you in touch with the person who's in charge of that operation. They can give you more details and get you started." You nod, eager to start helping out and do your part for the gang.
I say that I am interested and ask who I should talk to about that, and where I should go.
Three-toes Jimmy nods and smiles when you express your interest in helping with the organization of the gang's supplies. "Great," he says. "I'll put you in touch with the person who's in charge of that operation. They'll be able to give you all the details and tell you what needs to be done. Just head over to the supply room and look for a guy named Joe. He's the one you want to talk to. He's a good guy, and he'll be able to get you started." You nod, grateful for the opportunity to help out and do your part for the gang.
I shake Three-toes Jimmy's hand and say goodbye as I walk out of the office. On my way out I said "I'll get done whatever needs doing down there. You can count on me, Boss."
As you get up to leave Three-toes Jimmy's office, you shake his hand and thank him for the opportunity to help out with the gang's operations. "You can count on me, boss," you say with a smile. "I'll get whatever needs doing down there done. Just point me in the right direction and I'll get started." Three-toes Jimmy nods and smiles, clearly pleased with your eagerness to help out. "I knew I could count on you," he says. "I'll be sure to let Joe know that you're coming. Good luck!" You nod and make your way to the supply room, eager to get started on your new assignment.
I get to the supply room and open the door.
As you make your way to the supply room, you open the door and step inside. The room is filled with shelves and crates, all stacked with various supplies and equipment. You can see that the gang has everything they need to carry out their operations, from weapons and ammunition to food and medical supplies. You look around, trying to spot Joe, the person in charge of the operation. After a moment, you see him standing near the back of the room, checking off items on a clipboard. You walk over to him and introduce yourself, eager to get started on your new assignment.
I say "Hey, Joe? Three-Toes Jimmy sent me. I hear you could use a hand around here? What needs doing?"
Joe looks up from his clipboard when you approach and introduce yourself. "Oh, hey there," he says with a friendly smile. "Three-Toes Jimmy sent you, huh? Yeah, we could definitely use some help around here. Thanks for offering to pitch in." He looks around the room and gestures to the various shelves and crates. "As you can see, we've got a lot of stuff here that needs to be organized and kept track of. We need to make sure that we know where everything is, and that we have enough of everything we need. It's not the most exciting work, but it's important, and I appreciate your help." You nod, eager to get started and do your part to help the gang.
I ask where I should get started.
Joe nods and smiles when you ask where you should get started. "Well," he says, "the best place to start is probably with these crates over here. They contain some of our most important supplies, and they need to be organized and labeled so that we know what's inside. If you could start by opening them up and sorting through the contents, that would be a big help. Once you've done that, we can move on to the rest of the room and make sure that everything is in order." You nod, eager to get started on your new assignment. You grab a crowbar and start opening the crates, ready to do your part to help the gang.
I grab a notepad and pen and sort through the contents of the various crates. I make an inventory and organize the crates according to types of items. I then make a list and a map of where the crates are in the room.
You grab a notepad and pen and begin sorting through the contents of the various crates, making an inventory of everything that you find. You organize the crates according to the types of items that they contain, and you label them so that it is clear what is inside. You then make a list of all of the items that you have inventoried, along with a map of where the crates are located in the room. This will make it much easier for the gang to find what they need when they need it, and you are proud of the work that you have done. You continue to work, determined to help the gang in any way that you can.
I bring the inventory list back to Joe and ask him to give me a list of the sections of the warehouse that need organizing in order of importance, so I can do the important stuff first.
After you have finished organizing the crates in the supply room, you bring the inventory list back to Joe and ask him to give you a list of the sections of the warehouse that need organizing in order of importance. He nods and takes the list, looking it over carefully. "This looks great," he says. "You did a really good job here. I'll make sure to pass this along to Three-Toes Jimmy so that he knows what you've done. As for the other parts of the warehouse that need organizing, I think the weapons room is the most important one. We need to make sure that all of our weapons are accounted for and in good working order. If you could take care of that next, that would be a big help." You nod, eager to continue helping out and do your part for the gang. You grab your notepad and pen and make your way to the weapons room, ready to tackle your next assignment.
I open the door to the weapons room.
You open the door to the weapons room and step inside. The room is filled with all sorts of weapons, from pistols and rifles to shotguns and machine guns. You can see that the gang has a well-stocked arsenal, and you are impressed by the sheer quantity and variety of weapons that are on display. You grab your notepad and pen and begin to inventory the weapons, making sure that everything is accounted for and in good working order. You take your time, making sure to carefully inspect each weapon and record its condition and location. After a few hours of work, you are satisfied that you have done a thorough job, and you are proud of the work that you have done. You close the door to the weapons room and head back to the supply room to report to Joe and find out what your next assignment will be.
On my way out, I think of something else. I take a spare empty book from the storage room and Turn it into a weapon-sign out sheer. I think about the importance of accounting for your guns, and am surprised there isn't already something like that implemented. I also am surprised that there is no quartermaster in charge in this room.
As you make your way out of the weapons room, you think of something else that could be useful. You remember that you saw a spare empty book in the storage room, and you decide to grab it and use it to create a weapon sign-out sheet. This will allow the gang to keep track of which weapons are being used by whom, and it will ensure that all of the weapons are accounted for at all times. You are surprised that there isn't already something like this in place, and you are glad that you thought of it. You also can't help but notice that there doesn't seem to be a quartermaster in charge of the weapons room, and you wonder why that is. You make a mental note to bring this up with Joe and see if something can be done to improve the organization of the gang's weapons.
I make my way back to joe to present him with a report on my work.
After you have finished organizing the weapons room, you make your way back to Joe to present him with a report on your work. You hand him the inventory list and the weapon sign-out sheet, and you explain what you have done. Joe looks over the documents and nods in approval. "Wow, you've really done a great job here," he says. "This will make it much easier for us to keep track of our weapons, and it will help us make sure that everything is accounted for. Thank you for taking the initiative and doing this. It's exactly the kind of thing that we need around here." You nod, pleased that your work has been well-received. You are happy to have been able to help the gang in a meaningful way, and you are eager to continue doing your part to support their operations.
I ask Joe if there is anything else that needs doing today
After you present your report to Joe, you ask him if there is anything else that needs doing today. Joe looks around the supply room and thinks for a moment. "Well," he says, "I think you've done a great job with everything so far. I don't have any more specific tasks for you at the moment, but if you want to keep helping out, you can always keep working on organizing the rest of the warehouse. There's always something that needs to be done around here, and I'm sure you'll be able to find something that needs your attention. Just keep an eye out and let me know if you need anything." You nod, grateful for the opportunity to continue helping out and do your part for the gang. You look around the supply room, eager to find your next project.
I head over to the canteen kitchen.
As you head towards the canteen kitchen, you notice that the tavern is starting to get crowded. People are coming in from the cold, looking for a warm meal and a place to rest. You push your way through the crowd, making your way towards the kitchen. When you finally reach the kitchen, you see that it is bustling with activity. Cooks are busy preparing food, while servers are running back and forth with plates of food and drinks. You approach the head cook and ask if there is anything you can do to help. The cook looks at you with a tired smile and nods, handing you an apron. "Thank you for offering to help," he says gratefully. "We could use an extra pair of hands. Can you start by preparing the vegetables for the stew?" You nod and tie on the apron, getting to work. As you chop and slice the vegetables, you can't help but wonder what the cowboy bank robbers are up to.
I finish slicing the vegetables and then continue to make myself useful for the remainder of the dinner service.
As you continue to help out in the kitchen, you find yourself getting into a rhythm. You chop and slice vegetables, stir pots of stew, and help serve food to the hungry patrons. Despite the chaos and hustle of the kitchen, you find a sense of satisfaction in being able to help out and contribute to the dinner service. As the evening wears on, the crowd in the tavern begins to thin out and the kitchen slowly starts to quiet down. The head cook thanks you for your help and offers to pay you for your time, but you decline, happy to have been able to lend a hand. As you leave the tavern and step out into the cold night air, you can't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. You may not have been able to prevent the cowboy bank robbers from carrying out their plan, but at least you were able to do something useful tonight.
(Keep in mind that I am at the warehouse hide-out of Three-toes Jimmy's gang and am helping the gang with what needs to be done while we lie low) I eat a sandwich I got from the kitchen as I walk back to my bunk to sleep.
As you make your way back to your bunk at Three-toes Jimmy's warehouse hideout, you take a bite of the sandwich you got from the kitchen. The food is warm and satisfying, filling you with a sense of comfort after a long day. You pass by some of the other members of the gang as you walk, nodding hello to them. They nod back, giving you a friendly smile. You can tell that they are all happy to have you as part of their gang, and that they trust you to have their back.
When you reach your bunk, you see that it is a small, cramped space, but it is comfortable and cozy. You lay down on your bed and pull a blanket over yourself, feeling exhausted but content. As you drift off to sleep, you can't help but wonder what tomorrow will bring. Will the cowboy bank robbers be successful in their robbery? Will Three-toes Jimmy and his gang be able to stop them? Only time will tell.
I wake up and head to the canteen for breakfast.
When you wake up and head to the canteen for breakfast, you find that the atmosphere in the warehouse hideout is tense. You can sense that something big is about to happen, and that the gang members are on edge. You grab a plate of eggs and bacon from the kitchen and sit down at a table with some of the other members of the gang. As you eat, you overhear snippets of their conversations, which are all focused on the upcoming robbery. You can tell that they are all eager to get started and make their move.
After breakfast, you head back to your bunk to gather your things. As you are packing up, you notice that one of the gang members approaches you, a serious look on his face. "Three-toes Jimmy wants to see you," he says. "He's in his office. He says it's important." You nod, wondering what the gang leader wants to talk to you about. You make your way to his office, feeling a mix of curiosity and anxiety. When you reach the office, you knock on the door and enter at Three-toes Jimmy's beckoning. He is sitting at his desk, looking grim. "We've received word that the cowboy bank robbers are planning to hit the bank today," he says gravely. "I need you to go and gather intelligence on their plan. Find out as much as you can about their movements and their weapons. We need to be prepared for when they make their move." You nod, understanding the importance of your mission. You head out into the cold morning air, determined to gather as much information as you can. The fate of the gang may depend on it.
(Keep in mind that the robbery has already occurred. Three-toes Jimmy, myself, and his gang stopped the Cowboy Bank robbers and stole their looted cash. We then got a ride back to the warehouse hide-out. This is now the second day we have been hiding out.) I wake up on that second day after the successful poaching of the Cowboy Bank Robbers and make my way to the canteen for breakfast.
As you wake up on the second day after the successful robbery of the Cowboy Bank Robbers, you can't help but feel a sense of relief and satisfaction. You made it through the heist without any injuries, and the gang was able to walk away with a substantial amount of cash. You head to the canteen for breakfast, feeling ravenous after the long night. You grab a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast, and sit down at a table with some of the other gang members. As you eat, you can hear them talking excitedly about their plans for the money. Some of them want to invest in a new hideout, while others want to buy new weapons and supplies. You listen to their conversations, feeling proud to be part of such a successful gang.
After breakfast, you head back to your bunk to gather your things. You are just about to leave the warehouse hideout when Three-toes Jimmy approaches you. "I need to talk to you," he says gravely. "In private." You nod, following him to his office. When you enter the office, you see that he has a serious expression on his face. "We need to be careful now that we have all this money," he says. "The authorities will be looking for us, and we can't let our guard down. I want you to help me keep an eye on things here at the hideout. Make sure that everything runs smoothly and that we don't have any problems. Can I count on you?" You nod, knowing that this is an important responsibility. You agree to help Three-toes Jimmy keep things running smoothly at the hideout, determined to protect the gang and its newfound wealth.
I ask if he has a security chief, or who I can talk to about our current defenses.
Three-toes Jimmy nods when you ask if he has a security chief, or if there is someone you can talk to about the hideout's defenses. "Yes, we have a security chief," he says. "His name is Tommy, and he's in charge of making sure that the hideout is safe and secure. You can talk to him if you have any questions or concerns about our defenses. He'll be able to help you out." He gestures to a door on the other side of the office, indicating that Tommy's office is through there. You nod and thank Three-toes Jimmy, making a mental note to speak to Tommy about the hideout's security. You know that it is important to be prepared in case the authorities come looking for the gang, and you are determined to do your part to keep everyone safe.
I go to Tommy's door and knock.
You make your way to Tommy's office and knock on the door. After a moment, you hear a gruff voice from inside. "Come in," the voice says. You open the door and enter the office, finding Tommy sitting at a desk surrounded by maps and plans. He looks up at you with a scowl, but his expression softens when he recognizes you. "Ah, it's you," he says. "Three-toes Jimmy told me to expect you. What can I do for you?" You explain that you are looking to learn more about the hideout's defenses, and Tommy nods, gesturing to the maps and plans on his desk. "These are our current defense plans," he says. "We have men posted at all the entrances and exits, and we have a network of alarms and traps set up to warn us of any intruders. We also have a stash of weapons and ammunition in case we need to defend ourselves." He goes on to explain the details of the hideout's defenses, and you listen carefully, taking mental notes. By the time you leave Tommy's office, you feel confident that the hideout is well-protected and that the gang is prepared for any potential threats. You make your way back to your bunk, feeling ready to tackle whatever challenges may come your way.
(Try not to make too many decisions for the player character. Describe only the immediate consequences and then allow the player to choose how to proceed.) I go to check out the various sentry posts and inspect the defense perimeter.
As you make your way around the hideout, you stop by the various sentry posts to inspect the defense perimeter. You talk to the men stationed at each post, asking them about their duties and making sure that they are alert and ready for any potential threats. You are impressed by their professionalism and dedication, and you can tell that they are well-trained and prepared.
After you have finished inspecting the sentry posts, you decide to take a walk around the perimeter of the hideout. You notice that the fences and walls are in good condition, and you can see various traps and alarms set up along the way. You also spot several hidden weapons caches, filled with guns and ammunition in case they are needed. Overall, you are pleased with the state of the hideout's defenses, and you are confident that the gang is well-protected.
As you make your way back to your bunk, you can't help but feel a sense of pride in being a member of such a successful and well-organized gang. You know that there are still dangers and challenges ahead, but you are ready to face them head-on. You are determined to do your part to keep the gang safe and to protect their wealth.
I explore the warehouse looking for something to do and looking out for any trouble.
As you explore the warehouse, you keep an eye out for any potential trouble. You notice that some of the gang members are gathered in the canteen, talking and laughing over drinks. Others are scattered throughout the warehouse, either resting in their bunks or tending to various tasks. You see Tommy walking around, checking on the sentry posts and making sure that everything is running smoothly.
As you continue your exploration, you come across a group of gang members who are practicing their shooting skills. They have set up a makeshift shooting range in one of the warehouse rooms, and they are taking turns hitting targets with their guns. You watch for a while, impressed by their accuracy and precision. After a while, one of the gang members notices you and beckons you over. "Hey, do you want to give it a try?" he asks, handing you a gun. You hesitate for a moment, unsure if you want to get involved in the shooting practice. But then you remember that it is important to be prepared and ready for anything, and you decide to give it a try. You take the gun and join the others at the shooting range, feeling a sense of excitement and thrill as you take aim and fire.
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So, what do you think? In my experience it really feels like a genie in the bottle, but with dementia. It was honestly gave a fun and spontaneous sense of adventure with new challenges and the occasional twist, such as the bandit attack on Southville. It's like a pocket DM.
I definitely have more work to do figuring out how to best tell chatGPT the rules of DMing.

Hello fellow wownoobs, it's Magic back with another gearing post for Dragonflight! Because what is WoW without shiny loot right?!
Disclaimer: There are about a million ways to do things in this game, and odds are there are exploits and such that I do not know about to get things done quicker. I am pretty much only going to cover how to gear up as the game intended at max level in retail now and in Season 1. Leveling is very straightforward and probably the most friendly leveling experience in the history of the game, so I will not be covering how to get to max level.
BUT I will say, save your end of zone dungeon quests in the Dragon Isles for when you hit 70, as the rewards from the quests will scale up.
So, you've hit 70. Now what?

Dragonriding

First things first, get your Dragon Glyphs! This will save you a lot of time in the long run. Here is a guide to find them all.

Check the Auction House

This probably doesn't need mentioning but people do seem to forget there may be cheap upgrades on the auction house. On high population servers, these can be really cheap (like 50g). If you have a comfortable amount of gold it wont hurt to go check and get an easy boost.

Dungeons

Difficulty	Reward
Normal	Drops 346 ivl
Heroic	Drops 359 ilvl (requires 342 ilvl equipped to queue in Group Finder)
Mythic 0	Drops 372 ilvl

Running dungeons is one of the core elements of end game content and has been a staple for gearing up in WoW since it released. If you've followed my advice above, you should have a nice stack of Dungeon quests ready to go with maxed ilvl (item level) potential. These are going to be easy upgrades to start getting you out of those yucky greens and not to mention you will get upgrades from the dungeons themselves along the way. Just queue up in the Group Finder and it's off to the races.
Heroic will require you to have an average ilvl of 342 on your character to queue in the Group Finder. Mythic 0 has no Group Finder so you will need to look in to the Premade Groups section to see if you can score a spot unless you have friends who will run them with you. Mythic 0 will also have a weekly loot lockout, so don't go trying to farm the same one over and over for a particular item.

Crafted Gear

Professions are quite robust this time around and will definitely help with gearing early in an expansion. You can use Titan Training Matrix to boost ilvl of crafted items, and they have a chance to drop at the end of dungeons and from rares and world quests. The level of Matrix depends on the difficulty of the dungeon and the ilvl of the crafted item can be scaled higher with Quality procs. I highly recommend checking out this guide for details on your profession.

Item	Source	Gear
Titan Training Matrix I	Rares and World Quests	333-343 ilvl
Titan Training Matrix II	End of Normal Dungeons	346-356 ilvl
Titan Training Matrix III	End of Heroic Dungeons	359-369 ilvl
Titan Training Matrix IV	End of Mythic Dungeons	372-382 ilvl

You should be able to craft in to the 400's in the future via Spark of Ingenuity, which will be a gated resource you get when completing the campaign and every 2 weeks after. Always check your map in Valdrakken by the Engine of Innovation.

World Quests/Events

World Quests will be random quest icons scattered across your map that you can go complete for rewards. These rewards typically scale with your ilvl, so as you climb ilvl the rewards will increase to a cap of 385 ilvl. They are bi-weekly for the most part now so check the timer on it to see how much time you have to complete them. If you like PvP, turn on War Mode and you will get a couple extra that you otherwise would not have. Some if not all of them can be completed without actually doing any PvP.
Also, be sure to check your Adventure Guide frequently to make sure you're not missing out on any potential World Quests you may not have unlocked yet.
Dragonbane Keep, Grand Hunts, Trial of the Elements, Primal Storms, Trial of Flood, and Community Feast are a few events that can drop nice rewards, so be sure to check those off your list as well.
The Storm's Fury Event will be added Jan 24th that gives additional resources for 385 gear, a mount, toy, and battle pet so far. Will update as it goes live.
Allegiance to One in the Obsidian Citadel is a weekly quest that starts a quest chain with a bunch of other quests in the area that will generally require a few people to knock out. See more below under Reputation.
Be sure to check with Kazra or your Adventure Guide every reset for a weekly rotating Bonus Event quest that can give Normal to Heroic raid gear! It will typically be a quest to complete Mythic0 Dungeons or Timewalking Dungeons, but there are other quests in the rotation as well.
Aiding the Accord is your main Weekly Quest that rewards gear that scales with your current ilvl, past 400 ilvl. Some people wait until the end of the week to turn it in to maximize ilvl potential.
Here is an in-game checklist for Events and Rares (you will need the Weakauras addon).

DrakebreakeRaging Tempest Sets

There are two new 8pc sets than can be acquired via world content that provide set bonuses. The Drakebreaker set is from world PvP and starts at ilvl 366. It is made for PvP, so it will be Versatility heavy and have PvP set bonuses. These are sold for Bloody Tokens, which you can find in open world War Supply Chest drops, PvP kills, and PvP World Quests.
The Raging Tempest set is a PvE set and can be farmed from the Primal Storms world events mentioned above, giving 359 ilvl gear with set bonuses geared towards PvE.
Both of these sets can be upgraded to 385 ilvl, but it will be gated week to week so don't expect to have a full set of 385 quickly. The PvP set is sold from Fieldmaster Emberath and Malicia, and the PvE set is sold from Mythressa and Rethelshi.

Rares and Super Rares

Rares can be killed daily for a chance of up to 379 ilvl gear, and Super Rare loot can scale up to 392 ilvl. Be sure to check this guide so you can go find them. If you are having trouble with one, just create or search for a Premade Group in the Group Finder. Here is an in-game checklist for Events and Rares (you will need the Weakauras addon).

PvP

If you like PvP, simply spamming Bonus Battlegrounds in the Group Finder will yield Honor, which can be used to buy gear that can be upgraded from 340 ilvl to 366 ilvl. They will scale up to 411 in Arenas and Battlegrounds. Sometimes a PvP trinket is a nice addition to your PvE set early in an expansion and takes very little time investment. You can also just grab an item to fill a weak slot in a pinch.
Starting with Season 1 Rated matches will yield Conquest, which rewards 382 ilvl gear upgradeable to 408 ilvl. This is not for the faint of heart and keep in mind it will be Versatility heavy and upgrades will be locked by Rating, so don't beat your head against the desk trying to farm this.

Raid Finder (Looking for Raid, LFR)

In the Group Finder you will be able to run a tuned down version of Vault of the Incarnates raid. These are generally a faceroll and will be released in "wings" with the first one releasing Dec 19th, and Jan 2nd and 16th after that. It drops 376-385 ilvl depending on the boss and has a weekly loot lockout, but players should be able to trade you items if they already have an item that ilvl or higher in its slot. I use the addon Personal Loot Helper to help with this. There are also Unique items that are very rare and will be 6-7 ilvl higher, and some bosses will drop Tier gear.

World Bosses

These will be out with Season 1 release and drop 395 ilvl. There should almost always be groups forming on the Group Finder for them and they will rotate every week. Check this guide for more info on their drops and abilities.

Mythic Plus (M+) Dungeons

Mythic Plus has become a staple of end game content in itself, and many people play it to gear up for Raid or just play it all season without playing anything else. It not only provides great gear but you can also get a mount as well as instant teleports to all dungeons and a nice cosmetic item if you climb to a high enough Rating.
This gear can also be upgraded with Valor, which you will get from just playing M+, but will require certain Rating to unlock higher ilvl upgrades. You will also earn Great Vault gear. M+ has no loot lockout, so as long as someone has a key you can get loot from it. Be sure to check this guide if you're looking to tackle M+.

Keystone Level	End of Dungeon ilvl	Great Vault ilvl
2	376	382
3	376	385
4	379	385
5	379	389
6	382	389
7	385	392
8	385	395
9	389	395
10	392	398
11	392	402
12	392	405
13	392	408
14	395	408
15	398	411
16	398	415
17	402	415
18	402	418
19	405	418
20	405	421

Revival Catalyst

Much like the Creation Catalyst in Shadowlands, this feature will allow you to turn non-tier gear in to tier gear for your set bonuses. Tier Set Bonuses will be about the only "borrowed power" we get as for now, so be sure to work on this! Most groups will expect you to have your Tier Set not long after this is in the game, as it will be a significant boost of power to your character.

Reputation/Renown

I will not deep dive in to Reputation as it is kind of a "do everything" goal, but you will definitely want to get rep with the various factions to unlock rewards. This is pretty much done by just playing the game. Valdrakken is arguably the most important. Check this guide for more info on the major factions.
The Wrathion/Sabellian reputation at Obsidian Citadel (Waking Shores) and reputation at the Cobalt Assembly (Azure Span) will reward some nice gear so if you are up for a grind just look in the Group Finder under Premade for key/cobalt farms.

Raiding

I wont get too deep in the weeds on raiding either, but the item levels below depends on the boss, with final bosses dropping the higher ilvl, and you can also get Unique drops that are 6-7- ilvl higher. Some of these bosses also drop Tier set items mentioned above. Raiding will also add items to your Great Vault. Be sure to check this guide and your Adventure Guide in game for more info.

Difficulty	Rewards
Normal	389-398 ilvl
Heroic	402-411 ilvl
Mythic	415-424 ivl

If you are having trouble trying to find a raid group, join the wownoob Discord and see about getting in the weekly pug (pick up group)!

Conclusion

So that about wraps it up for me. With all of this at your fingertips, you should be able to get geared enough to raid or do whatever your heart desires until Season 2! Feel free to comment if I missed anything and I will update. Since there are typically a lot of gear questions in here if the mods would like to pin this until next season, by all means. Hope it helped and happy looting out there!
(Edited regularly for more helpful info as I come across it) (Added Primal Storms and Trial of Elements Events) (Added Weekly Bonus Quest) (Added Storm's Fury Event)

You can see Sabellian Quartermaster Location WoW following this video guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkfl7uP54Hw

You can see All Dragon Isles Renown Quartermaster Locations WoW Dragonflight following this video guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29\_YMrxiL-o

You can see Wrathion Quartermaster Reputation Vendor Location WoW following this video guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGHTTuKX7ZM

You can see Sabellian Reputation Vendor Location WoW following this video guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS3pQfPwmRY