WoW-support and something fishy!

 This week I was forced to invoke Blizz-support three times! I have qualms about contacting support in WoW because 2 years ago I had a toon named Blizzvictim. It was an inside joke as I had started a guild with some friends that all had names regarding their addiction to Blizzware. Even the guild had a reference to failure because of Blizzard. It was all for shits and giggles and nothing ever came of it, apart from a lot of LOL tells as we made our way through the gameworld.

At some point, a dick was whisping people with fake GM-messages telling people that their account was compromised and they had to log on to X-website to have their account "confirmed". If you smell a nigerian con-artist here, you're on the mark. So, I write down the con's name and the URL he was referring to and wrote a ticket, notifying support about this puke. A few hours later, I'm happily grinding Coursers in Stonetalon when I get contacted by a GM. I repeat the information to him about the con and it it takes a while for him to come back to me. But when he does, he tells me my name is not in line with the guidelines and that I'm to be issued a forced, but free of cost, namechange.

This upset me, of course. So I ask him if this is my thanks for doing my duty as a legit gamer and Blizzard customer. He never answered that question, but repeats what he has in store for me and has the gall to wish me much fun in my ongoing adventures in Azeroth. I thanked him for nothing and logged off and on to get the namechange over with. I changed my name to Iwashelpful and tried to pick up where I left off, but the toon was spoiled for me. A few days later I deleted her and took a break from WoW for a while.

This was a weird week. First I needed to contact Support because of the bugged Gilneas Battle, that rolls you back to the start of the quest each time you defeat Sylvanas. I did everything I could think off before going to Support, because, you know, it's Blizzard Support and the memory of that day when I was forcefed a namechange as thanks made me hesistant to come near Support again. But the GM helping me out was very professional, knew his stuff and was friendly and pleasant to deal with.

Then I get 2 whispers by a con-artist trying to pass himself off as a GM. Now you should know that Blizzard has implemented a special window that pops up when a GM contacts you. This window is unlike any other window in the client. In fact, the GM opens a new private-channel to talk to you and the GM also has a distinctive logo instead of a normal name in alphas. So when you try to pass yourself off as a GM in WoW you immedeately give yourself away as a fraud! The first whisp I just ignored. Cons are stupid, but generally smart enough to not whisp you again. This dude prolly was a con-trainee, or an intern at "wesuckatcrime.org" or other, because the next day, that same guy whisps me again. So, his chance at life is now forfeit and I open a ticket to support to warn them about this guy. Within the hour(!), A GM contacts me and thanks me for the heads up, assures me that my information is passed on with priority, informs if I enjoy my game and wishes me a good day! I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.

The third time I needed support was for a quest in Ashenvale I couldn't finish because Horde has raided Astranaar earlier, killing all questgivers. The questgivers respawned but one didn't play his part anymore, cutting me off from continuing the quest-chain I was on and blocking other quests that would open up as a result too. I opened a ticket and notified Support of the problem. After some time, the now familiar GM-window pops up and a GM wishes me a fine day, confirms that the questgiver is on strike and resets him. Again I'm addressed respectfully and the GM is friendly and all around pleasant to deal with.

When I went to Battle,net to follow up on the tickets to confirm them answered (Not needed, but by now I felt I should show them the courtesy of doing so.), I also could fill out a questionaire about Support. This is in no way required and it is a rather muted link on the page even. I filled out the questionaire and gave them a glowing review. Really, this kind of support is what you want when you're a customer. They were correct, helpful, polite and pleasant and they did the right things. I know it's the job of a GM to be all that, but doing a job and performing a job are two different things. They restored my faith in WoW-support at least.

Today I found something weird. When you take out the fishing-skill in WoW, you level it up like all other skills, by repeatingly doing it. Your skill rises until you're too good to fish in a given spot. You have to move on to another spot, in a higher level area to gain skill again. I was goofing off in IF, chatting in /trade and half-heartedly fishing in the Forlorn Cavern. Mostly because there you combine fishing and cooking because of the fish you can catch there can take you from 1 point in cooking to 130 points. Couple that with the gain in fishing skill and you'll understand how efficient the Forlorn Cavern is. Both my cooking and fishing for this toon, a Gnome Mage where basically nill. As I was shooting the breeze in /trade (which actually was multi-person discussion about PvE/PvP gear that was conducted civilly, no joke!), I noticed something... I didn't outlevel the Forlorn Cavern! Every two fish I catched granted me a skillpoint in fishing, so I decided to see when I eventually would outlevel the place. It never happened. In three hours I went from 1 fishing to 300 fishing with no signs of slowing down! I'm thinking about returning to the Forlorn Cavern tomorrow and see if I can get fishing done for this Mage. Who knows, I might even get Old Ironjaw out of the deal!

I think I have a schematic for the support-toons I need:

1) level a herbalist/alchemist to at least Shadow Oil, the pot I need for my current prowess in Leatherworking. (Currently started, a Nelf Druid)

2) level a miner/blacksmith for some weapons and mail gear that can be used by hunters and rogues and to support an Enchanter. (Dreanei Warrior)

3) level a herbalist/scribe. Just to cut out the middleman here. Glyphs are insanely priced, which makes levelling your own scribe viable. (This will be a DK. Thinking of a Draenei here)

4) Level a tailor/enchanter. Having your own Enchanter is also economics really. Tailor so she can make her own clothes to a point.  Human Warlock.

5) level a miner/engineer. Not really needed, but it saves me from paying through the nose for a Mekgineer chopper. Gnome Mage.

The order isn't random. 1 is a druid, meaning that she'll need leather armor. And my hunter is a skinner/leatherworker who can help out there. The warrior needs mail/plate armor and weapons. Being self supporting is key (albeit up to a point, you level too fast in WoW to be really helpful at the start), but the Blacksmith can also be of use to the hunter and other classes that can use swords. The scribe DK follows the blacksmith because the DK uses plate and needs weapons. To slow her down I'll start her new life off in the Dreanei starter-area and take her from the top, possibly following the same path as the Loremaster. Throughout her stay in the old world, she won't need armor or weapons and having her staying in the old world as long as possible gives me ample time to build my blacksmith levels without pressure while expanding herbalism/scribing without more overhead than the cost for her trade. Win! The Enchanter follows the DK because by that time the Blacksmith will be high enough to make her rods without problem and her beinga tailor helps not only herself, but also the last support-toon I need; the Gnome Mage Engineer.

I'm thinking that if I rotate arbitrarily between the classes until such time they catch up with the hunter (excluding the DK, who will be just levelling professions and basically having a free pass), I'll basically have a well oiled machine in place that can handle anything without the need to shell out gold coins like they're worthless. I hope I discover other fuin things like the Forlorn Cavern. That place makes fishing a snap, next to perfectly boosting cooking too!