Jewelcrafting Gems 101

So I was on Pazima was doing the daily research cool down for the top level gems. I decided to do the research on the 'Suns Radiance'. Once I'd done it I looked at the chat screen to see what gem I had learnt to do when it said I had learnt a green gem pattern. I know I haven't learnt all of the gems for every single colour but I was thinking that I had several to choose from to do, if I knew what ones I hadn't finished learning then I wouldn't just get a random colour. I had a look round to see if there was a list of all the ones there are to learn so I could cross reference it with what I had.

Turns out some helpful soul on Wowhead had done just that but in a round about way.

Rather than flicking through every page to see what there is, I decided to list them here for ease (for me and anyone else who may find it handy to see it all in one place) and with an indicator of what you are making/learning.

Blue Gems: Cuts

• Ridged River's Heart - +320 Hit


• Stormy River's Heart - +160 PvP Power


• Sparkling River's Heart - +320 Spirit


• Solid River's Heart - +240 Stamina

Red Gems: Cuts

• Delicate Primordial Ruby - +160 Agility


• Precise Primordial Ruby - +320 Expertise


• Brilliant Primordial Ruby - +160 Intellect


• Flashing Primordial Ruby - +320 Parry


• Bold Primordial Ruby - +160 Strength

Yellow Gems: Cuts

• Smooth Sun's Radiance - +320 Critical Strike


• Subtle Sun's Radiance - +320 Dodge


• Quick Sun's Radiance - +320 Haste


• Fractured Sun's Radiance - +320 Mastery


• Mystic Sun's Radiance - +160 PvP Resilience

Hybrid Gems -

Orange Gems: Cuts

• Deadly Vermillion Onyx - +80 Agility +160 Critical Strike


• Crafty Vermillion Onyx - +160 Expertise +160 Critical Strike


• Potent Vermillion Onyx - +80 Intellect +160 Critical Strike


• Inscribed Vermillion Onyx - +80 Strength +160 Critical Strike


• Polished Vermillion Onyx - +80 Agility+160 Dodge


• Resolute Vermillion Onyx - +160 Expertise +160 Dodge


• Stalwart Vermillion Onyx - + 160 Parry +160 Dodge


• Champion's Vermillion Onyx - +80 Strength +160 Dodge


• Deft Vermillion Onyx - +80 Agility +160 Haste


• Wicked Vermillion Onyx - +160 Expertise +160 Haste


• Reckless Vermillion Onyx - +80 Intellect +160 Haste


• Fierce Vermillion Onyx - +80 Strength +160 Haste


• Adept Vermillion Onyx - +80 Agility +160 Mastery


• Keen Vermillion Onyx - +160 Expertise +160 Mastery


• Artful Vermillion Onyx - +80 Intellect +160 Mastery


• Fine Vermillion Onyx - +160 Parry +160 Mastery


• Skillful Vermillion Onyx - +80 Strength +160 Mastery


• Lucent Vermillion Onyx - +80 Agility +80 PvP Resilience


• Tenuous Vermillion Onyx - +160 Expertise +80 PvP Resilience


• Willful Vermillion Onyx - +80 Intellect +80 PvP Resilience


• Splendid Vermillion Onyx - +160 Parry +80 PvP Resilience


• Resplendent Vermillion Onyx - +80 Strength +80 PvP Resilience

Purple Gems: Cuts

• Glinting Imperial Amethyst - +80 Agility +160 Hit


• Accurate Imperial Amethyst - +160 Expertise +160 Hit


• Veiled Imperial Amethyst - +80 Intellect +160 Hit


• Retaliating Imperial Amethyst - +160 Parry +160 Hit


• Etched Imperial Amethyst - +80 Strength +160 Hit


• Mysterious Imperial Amethyst - +80 Intellect +80 PvP Power


• Purified Imperial Amethyst - +80 Intellect +80 Spirit


• Shifting Imperial Amethyst - +80 Agility +120 Stamina


• Guardian's Imperial Amethyst - +160 Expertise +120 Stamina


• Timeless Imperial Amethyst - +80 Intellect +120 Stamina


• Defender's Imperial Amethyst - +160 Parry +120 Stamina


• Sovereign Imperial Amethyst - +80 Strength +120 Stamina


• Tense Imperial Amethyst - +80 Strength +80 PvP Power


• Assassin's Imperial Amethyst - +80 Agility +80 PvP Power

Green Gems: Cuts

• Misty Wild Jade - +160 Spirit +160 Critical Strike


• Piercing Wild Jade - +160 Critical Strike +160 Hit


• Lightning Wild Jade - +160 Haste +160 Hit


• Sensei's Wild Jade - +160 Hit +160 Mastery


• Effulgent Wild Jade - +80 PvP Power +160 Mastery


• Zen Wild Jade - +160 Spirit +160 Mastery


• Balanced Wild Jade - +160 Hit +80 PvP Resilience


• Vivid Wild Jade - +80 PvP Power +80 PvP Resilience


• Turbid Wild Jade - +160 Spirit +80 PvP Resilience


• Radiant Wild Jade - +160 Critical Strike +80 PvP Power


• Shattered Wild Jade - +160 Haste +80 PvP Power


• Energized Wild Jade - +160 Haste +160 Spirit


• Jagged Wild Jade - +160 Critical Strike +120 Stamina


• Regal Wild Jade - +160 Dodge +120 Stamina


• Forceful Wild Jade - +160 Haste +120 Stamina


• Confounded Wild Jade - +160 Hit +120 Stamina


• Puissant Wild Jade - +160 Mastery +120 Stamina


• Steady Wild Jade - +80 PvP Resilience +120 Stamina


• Nimble Wild Jade - +160 Hit +160 Dodge

I was somewhat surprised to see how many different cuts for the hybrid gems there actually were. It always look less on the JC page in game, having to type them all out makes you appreciate just how customisable they really are for the set up you are looking to create for your gear.

For those that didn't know, the hybrids are a result of a combination of the parent gems stats.

So the basic Primary gems are:

Hit rating, PvP Power, Spirit, Stamina

Expertise, Agility, Intellect, Strength, Parry

Critical Strike, Haste, Mastery, Dodge, PvP Resilience

When you get the hybrid gems it is essentially the colour you end up with if you mixed the two primary/parent colours together. This makes it an easy indicator to see what sockets you can put it in to keep your socket bonus. The stats from these are however, half of what you would find on the parent gem.

So for example, if you take a gem I use on Zionxi; Deadly Vermillion Onyx. +80 Agility +160 Critical Strike

Parent gems are:
Delicate Primordial Ruby - +160 Agility
Smooth Sun's Radiance - +320 Critical Strike

Red and yellow make orange, red and blue make purple and blue and yellow make green.
Using the little list just above, if you were looking for a gem that had Critical Strike (yellow) and Stamina (blue), you would look for a green gem. It just so happens that the gem you would be looking for is Jagged Wild Jade. The tables below may help sorting through for what you need.

Banwave 2013

So it appears that quite a lot of people got kicked off the EU servers for using bots. When I read that the first thing that springs to mind is battlegrounds. When you get feared instantly while you're casting something. It was interesting to see the forum thread that was linked in GC by Aska. There seems to be more than one thread like this on the service forums.

Some of the bits from players/friends of players: Most complaining that it was raiders that got banned. Main tanks, officers, the DPS.







Then you get the odd person who points out that the use of bots is probably why their tanks, dps are so 'pro' and therefore got the boot.



And there is the person who 'sees nothing wrong' with using it. Possibly from the level 1 Ocr they are posting with, they use it, got banned, and are trying to 'explain' why they don't think people should get banned for using it.



Followed up by the person who points out the exact reason why they should get the boot...



And then the reply, which is hilarious. I'm sure people with only one arm can still use a 16 button mouse... They clearly haven't failed at life because of being one limb short... It is beginning to look like Ohpewpew got banned for using a bot. Great justifying the use of it right there *slowclap*

Even the Greens were bemused by the sheer scale of the ban.



And then the rest of us. Those that play as nature intended. Making oopsies and stupid mistakes because we are human but managing to get by just fine... and relishing in the fact its going to hopefully be a level playing field once more.



The masses then went to the forums of exploit/hack/bot websites to try and see what was going on. The website was taken out by this poster alas, they were already reported (probably by someone pissed off that they had been caught out)



There was also this, on another thread started by someone who was bitching that their friend had been booted off. They were saying that the person 'doesn't know how to use the chat screen or configure their interface' trying to establish that there is no way in hell the person would know how to use a bot. Further down, this person chucks their two cents in. When can you get banned for farming? When you use a bot to do it for you perhaps? And of course they are never going to tell you that they are only in the core team due to their amazing performance, which is all down to a bot...



Thankfully, no one in my guilds raid teams has been binned by Blizzard. We all make mistakes but we learn from them. Im not sure how using a bot would make you a better player as you don't have to do anything? Seems a bit pointless to just need to move around and something else plays the game for you. (I had to google what a bot for WoW was) I know I'm far from being at the top of my game. Isn't that the whole point though? Being able to keep doing things until you master it (and then Blizz makes a change so you have to master it all over again) rather than having something do it for you. Must be like riding a bike with stabilisers all your life because it makes you stay upright easier... if you took them off you just wouldn't be able to ride at all, wheres the achievement in that?

Having a look through the websites that are trying to discover who/why/how the banwave went down, it seems to be several thousand of players being caught out (here) another tread on the same website has someone asking how likely they are to get banned and someone replying 'not likely at all, unless you play PvP...' further down the reports of players being banned start flooding in. Its sad to see posts like this:



They don't know how to play their class as they can't do it for themselves. They need it to be able to focus on boss mechanics??? So without this they wouldn't know Garroshs elbow from his arsehole? Or to them is the only part of boss mechanics is where to stand? This may just be me, but surely this would never work properly? The amount of times I've been in a raid group and we have had to switch around who does what and when, to make sure that everything is as mess free as it can be. If you're firing off spells willy-nilly that the bot thinks is best but isn't what the RL is asking for surely must be a recipe for disaster and an eventual raid kick, which means... you actually suck at playing... (possibly why you used a bot in the first place!)

Titan Runestones

I'm on the last leg of the legendary questline. The current grind is getting annoying. Now I don't mind a bit of lfr fun but having to do it all relentlessly three times over is getting a bit, well... soul destroying. The only consolation I have is that Le Shen and Sha of Pride drop one every week and as you only need 12 thats only 6 weeks to need to keep doing it. (for butt-hurt over it, look here)

Six weeks of lfr...

Six weeks...

Six...

Thats a long time. The queue time on Dragonmaw during the day is about an hour for each raid. Then if you are spectacularly unlucky (as I clearly was when SoO lfr first appeared) then you could be in one wing for FOUR HOURS. I think most people in there were just smacking the keyboard with their mouse and hoping for the best.

Im currently sitting on 4 runestones. So four weeks if I'm unlucky. Then I have to kill Celestials. Which can't be any worse than the god damn forge scenario, infuriating at best, abandon-worthy at its worst. On the plus side, I was so far behind everyone else that I didn't need to wait for the forge to be 'opened up' before I could go in and do it.

For those of you who have wiped that devil of a place from your minds... heres a nice flashback for you...



This was very definitely a 'thank fuck' moment when I completed it. Would have been easier if I was still a Marksman hunter with my much missed Chimera Shot.

I was running with a lfr group to get the Sha of Pride (had a 'doh' moment when the runestone didn't drop as I had already had it when I ran it on flex earlier on in the week)

We had wiped quite a lot (well, a couple of times on this) and there was a lot of 'helpful' (code for instance chat rage) comments coming through. One which I loved and screen shotted was for the Sha of Pride and what happens when you get certain amounts of pride. EG: keep an eye on your bar and don't just stand there like a knob...



This was pure comedy gold. The amount of people who just stood there in the middle and didn't move was amazing and prompted this oscar worthy raid warning.

On the flip side, you get groups like this:


And then you get groups like this, spoiled by one person who thinks they know it all. (He/she wasn't even very good, the amount of adds left to wander around and then we are told to 'kill the adds you fking retards!')

My original message when I died after popping a couple of shots in Suns ass was: 'Sorry guys! Lagged out as someone pulled the boss right as I loaded in'





Maybe the dumb ass DK who can't read even the chat box they are typing in should have paid attention to Ghostcrawler:



So, after that, for now; I'm going to run lfr until I want to punch my screen and hope its all over soon!

Right where I need to be

I've been focusing on my professions as of late, wanting to get them maxed so I don't have to rely on the AH or other guildies. (A fine example of this is my gems. I could find them with Emava mining the ore, Pazima prospecting them but she didn't have the design needed to cut them so I would send them to Macnessa to do for me)

As I was killing random things on Zionxi, I would send the loot to Pazima to disenchant. This got me a lot of mysterious essence and the dust (whose name escapes me at the moment) but I needed the last lot of Cata mats to level up to be able to use my Pandaria mats. Farouche kindly lead me through a dungeon so I could collect some greens to do it (Grim Batol, which is now like a ghetto version of Ironforge) and one run gave me enough to do it. I'd gone from 498 or somewhere in that region to 600 in the space of 20 minutes. Now I don't need to fork out 180g on enchants. I can use that for repairs after Garrosh has killed me, again. It makes a big difference being able to craft them. Before it was a case of 'is it worth spending out as I might get an upgrade later on?' Now it's more 'ah fuck it, let's make 10, what I don't need I can keep/sell/deposit in the gb'

I also leveled up my mining on Emava. I'm currently languishing at 590 range. I need trillium to get any higher but as I can grow it I'm not in a real rush to go out there and find it. Ghost iron is what I'm looking for currently and for that reason I'm currently parked on Emava at Halfhill, nice and handy for running around mining and also so I can get to the Silken Fields for my Imperial Silk. It took me an age to get there as I got completely lost in the Jade Forest trying to find the road that took me to the Valley and then having to slink around so I didn't get eaten by packs of rabbits... Now I'm here I have four bits of farm to grow stuff on and access to everything I need. And while it would be nice to get to 90, I'm not planning on using her or Pazima for anything other than hard labour.

Zionxi has been somewhat forgotten with her professions. They are maxed but I often forget to make scrolls of wisdom to learn any more glyphs. The reason? To me inscription doesn't seem to have a use at the moment. Once you learn all the glyphs on a char then you don't need to buy them ever again. As most people will know at least one inscriptor you don't need to buy them from the ah. Yes I can make tome of the clear mind, so I don't need to hunt around for someone to sell it but then again, why have npcs sell it in the first place? Kinda makes it pointless for inscriptors as it's sold so cheaply from them, enchanting vellum is another one... cheaper and easier to buy it than to actually make it *sigh*

I did go rep hunting for the Golden Lotus faction and started killing Mogu. I got a key for a cache in the underground temple place in the Vale. As I worked my way through I got another key (result) and opened the boxes at the end with the cloud serpent. I got two new recipes for my cooking. Which then got me in a whole lot of bother as I started clicking on the bags of rice, saw that I needed it for one of my new recipes and then went off killing rares for the balsamic vinegar and went to buy the strawberries for the delightfully sounding Farmers Delight (see what I did there...? *wink*) and some other recipes. I don't know if I will keep going back to find more as it's a faff to get in there but it's something else to try and get when I have nothing pressing to do.

Christmas is over

The next time Christmas is here, so will WoD. The bosses in dungeons and raids got into the Christmas spirit (although they were not so 'giving' to just fall over and die)

It was a nice touch by the team at Blizzard. Nazgrim didn't seem so scary while trying to dissect your head when he had his santa hat on...

We could have bunny ears on them at easter perhaps?

For old times sake, as by next Christmas I don't want to be running many of these, here are two shots I remembered to take off bosses in their Christmas finery...

Flex for RT3

We had a flex run up on the calendar up for about two weeks with members of he guild who had expressed and interest in it  and then opened it out to the guild for any extras.

Luckily (or unluckily) RT2 were not raiding that night so we had plenty of people who knew what they were doing!

We were aiming for one wing as it was a late start. We got through what we wanted and had some fun on the way.

Immersius was a standard fight. Stack and spread. After the first spread and everyone ran back, the stacking got a little lax. Instead of 'standing on blue' it turned into 'stand on the platform marked blue' needless to say sha splashes were everywhere...

When we got to the Fallen Protectors, there was a bit of boss explaining for those who hadn't done much raiding. While Sylvia was doing this, a magical wood grew where we were standing.



It was pretty but it was missing something... Music and food!



Things got a bit out of hand at this point and it turned into a banquet rather than a picnic... While taking screen shots, Nessa accidentally popped heroism, and then we had the dubious task of eating everything in sight to clear the tables out of the way...









We got through this boss with only one person not paying attention to stacking. We trundled on to the next boss with Marvv running ahead doing the pulling. We arrived at the room you see when fighting that huge goblin thing in the scenarios. Norushen was awaiting our arrival so we buffed up and pulled.

The teams were arranged to go in and we started pulling the boss around. There were a few hairy moments with tank switching. People in the orbs got out fairly easily apart from poor JollyJane, who died and needed to be ressed so he could go in again. His son was very excited to be watching him in a raid and voiced his pleasure at seeing the boss go down over team speak. It was after this kill that we all seemed reluctant to go into 'The Wipe Room'

Eventually, after we had hung around the door a bit Marvv bit the bullet and went in. A few brave should followed. This room Sylvia has to poke us with sticks to get in and start clearing, even on normal. Everyone hates it and its a competition to see who can get in there and then survive.

Once the room was cleared Marvv explained the tactics to JollyJane, where to tank it, what to do with the prison etc...

When we started on it it was probably the least messy of all of the bosses. The stack, spread, rinse and repeat method is simple enough to execute and relatively pain free.

Once the boss was downed. Nessa managed to get two their piece chests, so she went to sort them out while we hung around outside. It turned into an exotic mount parade.






We then had a crack at Galakras, it was fairly late so we were not expecting much. We had cleared the trash and were waiting for the pull when the inevitable flirting started with that handsome devil Wrynn. It jumped from people to animals, where the line that even WoW is a bit fuzzy on was crossed....

New Lootz!

I've been joining RT2 for the progression runs on SoO. We have a Hunter in the main group, Roskva. Who is pretty much kitted out in Normal gear and so he has kindly allowed me to partake on certain bosses that he is not looking for gear from. This has meant that even though I'm running around with some LFR stuff I have now got mainly Flex and some Normal gear. There was a run that he was working for that I joined the full run for the night.

Everyone now knows that my connection is slower than Thrall in Escape from Durnholde Keep. If we have died, it's far quicker to res me than it is to wait for me to run in. It's a fine line between waiting for people to run it to res and just pressing the button to res. (often iI've clicked it just before someone says 'I'll res!' -.-) Anyway...

We were killing Galakras. I was in the tower group, I was instructed to jump in the first cannon as I was the lowest dps and start shooting the drakes. we got up and I was beaten to the cannon. This meant I was late getting to the other tower and was one shotted by a Beserker that was left wandering around on the stairs. Not my finest moment... and then the other started to die as well, we were so close to calling a wipe but the boss was down and only had a few k's of health left.

After the fight (they did manage it) I decided to run in. I heard the survving members and the ones who had run in far quicker than me on TS discussing loot.

"Oh! That's a nice bow for Zionxi!"

"I don't think she needs it"

"And it's warfordged!"

"She wont want that! disenchant!"

I was so close to getting back in "I'm running!" I hollered over TS

Once I was in I had Sylvia gz me and the bow arrived in my bags.

Holy. Shit.

Dagryn's Discarded Longbow



I did feel bad as a guildie Tsff had just made me a scope for my current bow only two days before. I was desperate to get this bad boy up and running properly. Now just to get rid of my stupid LFR stuff so I'm kitted out properly (kinda).

Instance chat rage

One of the things I love is the raging that goes on when you put a group of random players together.

I'd been on the receiving end a few times as a healer and it's quite funny looking back how angry people get over a game. Yes people, it is only a game. Sorry for any bubbles burst (unless you're a horde pally)



So first up we have this one. A fine example of tank rage. He pulled a whole room, got us all killed and then raged at the healer.



As you can see from the many, many skeletons; this little trip to the Isle of Giants wasn't as fun as it was supposed to be. This was our fifth attempt at it and from what was said in GC we were starting to need a good reason to stay.



This is where the Horde love to ignore ready checks and just go for it. And then kick the people who are not 'performing' regardless if they were ready or not. This resulted in a ninja pull, thankfully we got it down. (I did die in the process...)



Durumu. My most hated boss while leveling through ToT. This boss was a complete nightmare. This lfr challenge was many wipes punctuated by many kicks for being noobs/idiots/poor dps etc...