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Insider Trader is your weekly inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.
Amid all the hubbub over impending patch 2.3 changes, crafters could conceivably feel a little left out – that is, unless you're a fisher. Fishers (who tend to be a pretty chill crew, anyway) are already contentedly casting their lines with several small but relatively pleasing changes from patch 2.2. Newly announced improvements for patch 2.3 broadened those placid smiles into all-out grins as fishers anticipate a smoother, more user-friendly fishing experience.
Already in place is a fix to the problem introduced in patch 2.1, in which the bobber timing at the end of a cast period was preventing all but the quickest clickers from landing a catch. In the same line of Not Earthshattering But Basically Sweet™ changes, fishing lines now appear as you cast them, saving lots of time when you're waiting on schools. And the tool tip for the Aquadynamic Fish Attractor has been officially changed to indicate its new 10-minute duration, so fishers can quit losing sleep over whether or not the duration was an unintended buff they'd find whisked away some cold morning on the shores of Azshara.
Blizzard would like your fishing screenshots to help fill out their World of Warcraft Guide. If your screenshot is chosen, your character name and screenshot will be displayed in the guide.
So if you aspire to have your fishing or in-game photography skills on display, submit your screenshot to the Royal Photographic Society of Azeroth. There is a long list of guidelines to follow as well as a submission form at that link.
I took the above screenshot from the current fishing page in the guide. My personal request is to not take any more fishing pics with that creepy kid in it. Three of the "candid" fishing shots on that page include that boy. The Horde is rather unrepresented on the fishing page as well.
Hopefully taking screenshots while you fish will make the process slightly less boring. Good luck!
Every Friday, Insider Trader slips you the inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.
Nerf fishers – kicked back in their comfy Fishing Chairs, they definitely corner the market on chillin' with style. In honor of the upcoming three-day Labor Day weekend, we take a look at the newest way to hang with style (and psst, you don't actually have to be fishing to use this tip). At the other end of the spectrum, for those of you who demand crunchy bits, we've dug up some efficiency tips for hard-working enchanters. So whether you choose to spend Labor Day kicking back on the beaches of Stranglethorn or toiling in town over a hot disenchanting window, read on for Insider Trader's Labor Day special.
First up: the Fishing Chair. Available only via a special loot-coded version of the "Gone Fishin'" card from the WoW trading card set "Through the Dark Portal," this card seems to inspire some remarkable player enthusiasm. To quote wowhead.com's particularly eloquent description: "The Fishing Chair provides the discerning angler with a comfy place to rest his laurels and store his refreshing beverage of choice. The item is usable from the inventory and does not need to be equipped. Using the Fishing Chair opens a nice-looking folding chair with attached umbrella and drink holder. The umbrella's lining is decorated with a pattern of worm-baited hooks, very thoughtfully. The Fishing Chair works the same as a chair in any inn and can be sat in by clicking on it. While seated you can eat, drink or fish."
But it's not just fishers who are putting the Fishing Chair to good use ...
We are back at our happy little camp of the power source spot in the press area to liveblog the WoW Professions and Items panel with Tom Chilton, Travis Day and Jon LeCraft.
Updated: This post has been cleaned up and extensively added to after it was partially eaten by a technical error.
Fishing is probably the strangest implementation of activity in WoW-- there's really nothing like it (well, except everything-- it's basically clicking in a certain place at a certain time, and when aren't you doing that in this game?). But for all its boring qualities, players are still fascinated with it. Blizzard has hit on that weird balance of positive reinforcement-- it's boring, but gives just enough reward to keep you doing it.
And so it's not surprising that, once again, players are asking for fishing to be made "more fun." What that means, no one is really sure-- they could add better rewards, or make it a less boring minigame, or just make it require less attention (all other professions don't require any attention to be paid).
Lo and behold, Drysc actually acknowledges that there's something wrong with fishing-- something that has to do with the unquantifiable quantity known as "fun." But what it is, even Blizzard doesn't seem to know-- they added nodes to fishing to join a bit of exploration with it, but once you've found a node, it's just back to that same old clicking. Drysc suggests that real fishing is just as boring for some people, and that's why not everyone likes fishing in WoW, either.
My personal preference would be to put more into the fishing minigame-- catch different fish at different times of the day, or use different lures to attract various catches. Either that or make the skill involved something other than "waiting"-- maybe a meter where you have to click when the bar reaches a certain point. There's lots of reasons to fish, and that's why people still do it. But there's no question that sitting there waiting for the bobber to bounce needs more cowbell fun.
While some may argue that World of Warcraft doesn't have enough professions, there are enough choices to leave any new player at a loss when it comes to selecting one for the first time. So today we're going to discuss the good and bad of the game's ten primary professions and six secondary professions -- and hopefully give you the knowledge to make some informed decisions next time you need to chose a profession for yourself.
Interested in knowing a bit more about the game's professions? Keep reading! Want to tell us which professions you find the most useful (and why)? Leave us a comment!
Insider Trader is your weekly inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.
This week, Insider Trader offers up two insider tips, one for frustrated fishers and another for level 29 PvPers searching for the strongest possible gear.
Fishing means chilling with some good music, a tall drink and a chat window full of the latest guild gossip -- or at least, it used to. As of patch 2.1, fishers were transported back into twitch-gaming mode if they hoped to snag catches at the end of the fishing timer. It's all about the splash; when you hear a splash while fishing, you've hooked a fish and can click to either loot or "miss" it. It used to be that you could reach the end of the fishing timer with no splash/hook. You could look away from your fishing timer while fishing, as long as you were quick about getting back to the bobber when you heard the splash. If there was no splash, you most likely lost a little time until you noticed you hadn't heard anything and looked back over to re-cast ... But no lost fish. No harm, no foul.
Post-2.1, there's always a splash at the end of the timer. Sounds great, right? Always a splash, always a hook and an opportunity for a catch? Unfortunately, there's now no time for a catch on end-of-timer hooks unless you click the bobber at exactly the same moment as the splash – requiring you to watch that timer like a hawk and click right on time. The bobber vanishes simultaneously with the splash, instead of fading out and giving you time to react to the splash. While it's still possible to catch (or miss) the fish with a perfectly timed click, frustration seems just as common. And the it sure ruins the peaceful, laid-back aspect of fishing.
No word on whether or not the grace period for fishing will be reinstated. For now, if you're dead-set on catching every available fish, bring your game face and prepare to keep your eye glued to the timer bar.
I had read the news that, in patch 2.1, many more fish would be added to the waters of Azeroth and Outland, so that every time you cast a line in, one of them would bite. So, as I leveled up my draenei hunter, dreaming of one day becoming great like my hero (with a Big Red Lizard or something), I thought, "I'll just wait until after patch 2.1 to start fishing! Then I'll be able to get a bite every time, and level up my fishing a lot faster!" So, soon after the patch came out, I found myself questing along the shoreline of Feralas and wishing I could fish up all those schools of valuable fish and boxes of floating treasure. "Well, self," I said to myself, "Now's the time to give fishing a try!"
I was so wrong. Fishing is still astoundingly boring. After about two hours of fishing in Darnassus with lures, from a skill level of 1, I reached a mind-numbingly dull skill level 19. The abominable sense of wasting time shocked me all over again. Usually your fish will bite, only to get away! Often, your fish will bite within the last 0.2 seconds of your fishing cast time, and latency makes your click on the bait come after the cast time is finished. You actually have to click the bobbing bait thingy before you hear the splashy sound in order to have a chance at catching it.
So there I was, staring like a hawk at my computer screen, ready to click in the last split seconds of the cast time, dreading another "your fish got away!" message, and thinking, "This should be better! How would I improve it?" Then, suddenly, I remembered a certain piece of Blizzard fan art I had seen (which still makes me chuckle whenever I see it) and I suddenly sensed the tremor of monstrous ideas rising up from the depths of my subconscious.
Brilliant fishing improvement ideas after the jump. Don't forget to see the larger version of this art, too!
Reader Roastbeef (and sidekick Sandwich) send in this tranquil shot of an evening of fishing out in the Barrens. Yes, I know it's the only place to find Deviant fish (and thus make the yummy Savory Deviant Delight), but I have to think this screenshot only appears tranquil because the chat window isn't visible.
Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth.
We've covered a few noncombat pets here before, but this is the weirdest noncombat pet you've ever seen. If you're a fisherman, this is the reason to get to 375, and if you're not, this is the reason to train it anyway. We mentioned him way back in beta, but he's worth another look.
Name: Mr. Pinchy (also known variously as Furious Mr. Pinchy or Benevolent Mr. Pinchy-- you'll see) Type: Noncombat pet... unless he choses to combat you Damage: 180-230 or N/A Abilities:
Mr. Pinchy is not just a lobster (although he's named after one on the Simpsons)-- he's a magical crawdad, and he grants wishes! That's right, on use, this crawdad will grant you one of five wishes:
1) The most common result is an item in your inventory called "Mr. Pinchy's Gift"-- once unwrapped, it gives you 5 Super Health and 5 Super Mana potions.
2) Sometimes he will give Mr. Pinchy's Blessing, a buff that lasts for two hours (even through death) and grants a whopping 1200 HP.
3) Sometimes he'll help you himself, and transform into a huge Benevolent Mr. Pinchy that acts as a guardian for about 15 mins.
4) And sometimes he'll get pissed off at you, become Furious Mr. Pinchy, and try to beat you up.
5) But the best wish he can grant is an actual, permanent, BoP noncombat pet named Magical Crawdad. This one's rare, but it's been known to happen.
You get three wishes with every Mr. Pinchy, but there's a two-day cooldown between each. Mr. Pinchys aren't unique, but they do share a cooldown.
How to Get It: Mr. Pinchy can only be fished up, and only out of those special fishing holes (only reachable by a flying mount) in Terrokar Forest-- the lake in the Mountains west of Stonebreaker Hold, the lake south of Allerian Stronghold, and the lake around the Arrakoa capital of Skettis, to the east of Auchindouin. In those lakes, you want to fish in "Highland Mixed Schools"-- fishing in the regular water will get you fish, but there's no chance of Mr. Pinchy.
To fish in the water at all, you'll need a fishing skill of 430 to even throw your line out, so you'll have to pick up some +skill equipment to head up there. Fish will also drop off of your line if your skill is less than 525, so really you want to be up around there if you want to catch fish with any speed. Here's the bad news: each pool gives about 3 or 4 catches, and Mr. Pinchy shows up about every 500 catches-- a .2% rate. That's a whole lotta fishin'.
The WoW Fishing Guide has this and lots more strategy on how to get a Mr. Pinchy in your bags. Good luck out there, fellow anglers.
Getting Rid of It: Mr. Pinchy will of course disappear when you've used up your three wishes. If you're lucky enough to get a Magical Crawdad Box, that will sell for a measly 25s.
The chance of a discovery occurring while making potions has been substantially increased.
Elixirs now stack in two categories, Battle (Offensive) and Guardian (Defensive) Elixirs. You can only have one of each type of Elixir up at a time. As a result Elixirs now stack with class abilities such as "Arcane Intellect."
Elixirs now stack to 20.
Four new defensive elixirs have been added. Two are on trainers, one is in Halaa and one is in Cenarion Expedition.
"Flask of Petrification" can no longer be turned off during its duration, but it now will clear all threat from all monsters for the duration of the effect. Though monsters may reacquire you after the effect ends.
Cooldown time on "Earthstorm" and "Skyfire Diamond" transmutes has been reduced to 1 day.
"Invulnerability" potions now stop the first 120 damage per hit for 8 seconds, rather than making the imbiber physically immune.
The major protection potions made by Alchemy now require more "Mana Thistle" and vials, but create 5 potions instead of just one.
"Fel Strength" elixirs now work correctly with elixir mastery.
"Elemental Absorption" potions now have a 2 minute duration rather than the 60 min duration they used to have.
Alchemy transmute of "Heart of Fire" to "Elemental Fire" changed to 15 minute cooldown.
Reagent costs and potency of all flasks has been reduced.
The cost of "Imbued Vials" has been reduced.
The chance to find a "Fel Lotus" while picking an herb has been increased.
"Juju Chill" and "Juju Ember" are now considered Guardian Elixirs and do not stack with other resistance buffs.
"Juju Flurry" is now considered a Battle Elixir and has been converted from haste to haste rating.
"Ground Scorpok Assay","Juju Might","Juju Power", "Lung Juice Cocktail", and R.O.I.D.S are now considered Battle Elixirs.
"Crystal Force", "Crystal Ward","Gizzard Gum", "Infallible Mind","Juju Escape", "Juju Guile", "Sheen of Zanza" and Swiftness of Zanza are all now considered Guardian Elixirs.
"Sheen of Zanza" is now considered a Guardian Elixir. Stamina and Spirit bonuses have been reduced to 25.
"Elixir of Fortitude" now correctly displays its name in its buff tooltip.
The "Alchemist's Stone" bonus now works on potions that restore both health and mana.
Professions have been on the drawing board for changes for a good while, but until now Blizz have been very tight-lipped about what specific modifications they might be making. No more! Nethaera has posted a nice preview of changes that are being made to many professions for "the next content patch," i.e. 2.1 (The Black Temple). Before I go into detail, note that Neth said her post "does not contain all of the upcoming changes, but instead gives a brief look at what is to come," so bank on more surprises to come. Anyway, this round is mostly buffs and new recipes, with a major nerf to alchemy.
Full post copied after the jump as usual, but here's the changes I found more interesting:
Alchemy: Elixirs now stack in two categories, Battle (Offensive) and Guardian (Defensive) Elixirs. You can only have one of each type of Elixir up at a time. As a result Elixirs now stack with class abilities such as "Arcane Intellect." I totally called this (as did many others, I'm sure). The intended effect is obviously to reduce the maximum possible effect of consumables in raids and other such situations, and this will go a long way towards producing that effect, without hurting alchemists too much (in my opinion).
Engineering: "Seaforium" now opens locked chests as well as locked doors. About time; having to skip locked chests if I didn't have a rogue in the party has been annoying. But will Powerful Seaforium Charges open the top-level locked chests, or are we going to see new seaforium?
Engineering: 11 new epic goggles have been introduced at 350 engineering skill and are available from the trainer. They range from cloth to plate, and have a variety of stats to appeal to most talent specs. This is probably the biggest change to any profession. I've always loved the goggles Engineering had to offer, and now engineers have something epic to work towards. Exciting!
Fishing: The fishing timer has been reduced from 30 to 20 seconds and it now takes less time to fish. Sweet! I always though 30 seconds was a bit too long. But on the down side, Fishing has been removed from Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley -- what, you mean I have to actually fight now?!
Jewelcrafting: The jewelcrafting UI now has gems split up by color so it is easier to find gems of a specific color to create. This is long-overdue; Blizz's profession UIs are so primitive it's not even funny. I would recommend ATSW as a replacement, but it tends to crash my client sometimes. Now where's my gem category in the AH?
Jewelcrafting: Jewelcrafters can make two new melee oriented meta gems. One is found randomly as a world drop and the other sold by the <Faction> reputation vendor. Definitely needed -- but what do they mean by <Faction>? Scryer or Aldor? HH or Thrallmar? Any faction?
Jewelcrafting: New recipes have been added that use the Jaggal and Shadow Pearls. Time to stop vendoring those, I guess.
Skinning: Skinning higher level creatures will give more leather; you will no longer get a single leather scrap. Good, it was getting silly.
Blogger Chris Heald of antiarc.net has a Wii remote and likes to go fishing in WoW. So when he found out (I didn't know this) that the Wii remote is really just a bluetooth device, he figured he could work out some way to combine the two. First, he got Chrono Trigger (omg great game) working, and then, with the use of a GlovePIE script, he set up a way to actually fish in Azeroth, Wii-style. Pretty freakin' cool.
But the best part is that he's actually posted the script online, so if you've got a Wii controller sitting around, you could very easily do this yourself. Just make sure your computer can receive bluetooth (adapters are cheap if you don't already have one), download and get GlovePIE running (it's free), input Chris' script, and you should be set.
We've seen WoW on the Wii controller before, and our only concern was that the controller was pretty limited in actually playing the game. But fishing is the perfect venue for a motion controller like the Wii-- the controls are simple and don't require text input or complicated sequences. From the video, it looks like Chris' hack works perfectly. Great job, Chris, and very cool.
The idea of a profession system isn't unique to WoW. Most MMOs have some sort of crafting available to their players, usually with a high degree of risk -- you can fail and lose your materials, or even take damage or die. By comparison, WoW's profession system is forgiving. You always succeed at making things and never lose mats. But a lot of people still don't like professions, and consider them a waste of time and money -- particularly crafting professions like leatherworking and engineering, where there's not that much of a market for the products in end-game.
Personally, I love professions. One of my favorite things about starting an alt is looking through the professions and figuring out which one I should level up. My main is alchemy/herbalism, which I adore because it gives me a way to help a group as a rogue. My recently resurrected warlock alt is tailoring and extremely low-level mining, which I'm having fun leveling up to BC standards. The next alt I make will probably get jewelcrafting just so I can try it out.
Do you like the profession system? Which professions do you think can use improvement, and which are the most fun to level?
Fishing is widely considered the most boring secondary profession. You sit there, you wait for the bob, you click. You sit there, you wait for the bob, you click. The most you usually get are lucrative stonescale eels and the occasional bolt of runecloth. But sometimes, fishing can throw up something so awesome you have to bow down to its glory.
Enter Mr. Pinchy.
Roopert of the "OMG Zone Out" guild fished up a Mr. Pinchy in a deserted area of Outlands in November. Mr. Pinchy, named after Homer's pet lobster from the Simpsons, grants the bearer three wishes on a two-day cooldown. The wishes can turn out good ... or very, very bad. On the good side, you can receive a crawdad non-combat pet, a "Benevolent Mr. Pinchy" temporary combat pet, a box of potions, or a free two-hour death-proof 1200 health buff! If Mr. Pinchy is not in a good mood, however, you might have to fight a level 60 or 70 version of him.
I'm glad that Blizzard is throwing some neat, funny stuff into professions like fishing -- and I may have to get a Mr. Pinchy of my own someday when I really need that 1200 health.
(Note: I know the picture is of Dr. Zoidberg. I couldn't find a Mr. Pinchy screencap, and more Dr. Zoidberg is always a good thing.)
Amid all the hubbub over impending patch 2.3 changes, crafters could conceivably feel a little left out – that is, unless you're a fisher. Fishers (who tend to be a pretty chill crew, anyway) are already contentedly casting their lines with several small but relatively pleasing changes from patch 2.2. Newly announced improvements for patch 2.3 broadened those placid smiles into all-out grins as fishers anticipate a smoother, more user-friendly fishing experience. 
Nerf fishers – kicked back in their comfy Fishing Chairs, they definitely corner the market on chillin' with style. In honor of the upcoming three-day Labor Day weekend, we take a look at the newest way to hang with style (and psst, you don't actually have to be fishing to use this tip). At the other end of the spectrum, for those of you who demand crunchy bits, we've dug up some efficiency tips for hard-working enchanters. So whether you choose to spend Labor Day kicking back on the beaches of Stranglethorn or toiling in town over a hot disenchanting window, read on for Insider Trader's Labor Day special.
Fishing is probably the strangest implementation of activity in WoW-- there's really nothing like it (well, except everything-- it's basically clicking in a certain place at a certain time, and when aren't you doing that in this game?). But for all 
While some may argue that World of Warcraft doesn't have enough professions, there are enough choices to leave any new player at a loss when it comes to selecting one for the first time. So today we're going to discuss the good and bad of the game's ten primary professions and six secondary professions -- and hopefully give you the knowledge to make some informed decisions next time you need to chose a profession for yourself.
And hot on the heels of 
Fishing is widely considered the most boring secondary profession. You sit there, you wait for the bob, you click. You sit there, you wait for the bob, you click. The most you usually get are lucrative stonescale eels and the occasional bolt of runecloth. But sometimes, fishing can throw up something so awesome you have to bow down to its glory.
