Wednesday 14 November 2012

No Way But The Hard Way



Cooking and First Aid have always been fairly easy to level in World of Warcraft. These 2 secondary professions could easily be progressed via the random drops in the expansion levelling process. The key components are cloth and meat, which are always in abundant supply or alternatively for those with a bigger budget, they could be levelled via the Auction House in a matter of minutes.

Fishing and Archaeology take a far more leisurely approach, but have been significantly streamlined over the years with daily quests for fishing and more fragments per digsite in the case of archaeology.

First Aid is still as easy as ever but the new grindy profession is Cooking with the new ‘Way of’ system. Levelling from 1-525 is now a one stop shop, but 525 to Zen is a different kettle of fish.

It is only 2 days ago, I was espousing the need to only do the parts of the game that you want to, and yet I am here today to complain about the jumbled mess I am in, trying to complete all 6 ‘Way of’ at the same time. The figures below tell their own story.
 


Total Ingredients to Complete all 6 Way of
 
Brew
Grill
Oven
Pot
Steamer
Wok
Total
100 Year Soy Sauce
5
5
5
5
5
5
30
Ginseng
25
 
 
 
 
 
25
Green Cabbage
250
 
 
 
 
 
250
Jade Squash
65
 
 
 
250
 
315
Witchberries
315
 
 
 
 
 
315
Jade Lungfish
 
13
 
25
 
 
38
Raw Crab Meat
 
50
 
 
 
 
50
Raw Tiger Steak
 
25
 
 
 
 
25
Redbelly Mandarin
 
50
 
 
 
 
50
Striped Melon
 
65
 
 
 
 
65
White Turnip
 
250
 
 
 
 
250
Krasarang Paddlefish
 
 
76
 
 
 
76
Mogu Pumpkin
 
 
250
 
 
 
250
Raw Turtle Meat
 
 
50
13
 
 
63
Wildfowl Breast
 
 
25
 
50
13
88
Juicycrunch Carrot
 
 
 
315
 
50
365
Mushan Ribs
 
 
 
50
 
 
50
Reef Octopus
 
 
 
50
 
13
63
Emperor Salmon
 
 
 
 
63
 
63
Giant Mantis Shrimp
 
 
 
 
25
50
75
Scallions
 
 
 
 
65
 
65
Crocolisk Belly
 
 
 
 
 
50
50
Red Blossom Leek
 
 
 
 
 
250
250

There are 22 items involved so that is potentially 22 bag slots or nearly an entire bag devoted to the basic ingredients, and that is before you start making the end product. Of these items only 2 are purchased, these items are Ginseng and 100 Year Soy Sauce.

Vegetables


Vegetables can of course be grown on the farm or alternatively a bag of 25 can be purchased with an Ironpaw Token.
 

Green Cabbage
250
Jade Squash
315
Witchberries
315
Striped Melon
65
White Turnip
250
Mogu Pumpkin
250
Juicycrunch Carrot
365
Scallions
65
Red Blossom Leek
250

Although at first glance the figures look on the high side, it is quite easy to achieve when the farm is in full operation with 16 slots. The downside is the opportunity cost of not growing Motes of Harmony.

Meat


Meat is the by-product of killing beasts and you will naturally accrue a sizable stash through levelling and daily questing. It could be argued that 88 is a lot of birds to kill.
 

Raw Crab Meat
50
Raw Tiger Steak
25
Raw Turtle Meat
63
Wildfowl Breast
88
Mushan Ribs
50
Crocolisk Belly
50


Fish


Fish is the result of fishing (duh), and in my opinion is the part where the ‘Way of’ system falls down. These appear to be very large quantities of fish, and in particular 75 Giant Mantis shrimp.

Jade Lungfish
38
Redbelly Mandarin
50
Krasarang Paddlefish
76
Reef Octopus
63
Emperor Salmon
63
Giant Mantis Shrimp
75

For anybody who has gone off in search of the fabled Giant Mantis Shrimp, there are not many pools available and you will spend plenty of time flying around the coast of Pandaria looking for them.
Fishing and Cooking have always had a symbiotic relationship but there was nearly always an alternative. Now the budding chef must also be a fisherman, and quite frankly this is another grind on top of our other grinds. In many respects it mirrors the issue of gating reputation behind another reputation; it is double trouble and will only lead to more complaints and extra discontent.

Blizzard has to traverse the rocky road between content and repetition, and at the moment repetition is winning.

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