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AddOn Spotlight: Altoholic originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The rewards for patch 3.3’s new Kalu’ak Fishing Derby have been announced – read below for details. This is useful for contestants:

“Because of the increased concentration of fish [Pygmy Suckerfish], you have an increased chance to catch a shark from fishing pools.”

This pool skill change is more interesting:

“Don’t forget, in patch 3.3.0 you never catch trash from fishing pools, regardless of skill.”

Never catch junk from a pool, even at skill 1. Kalu’ak Fishing Derby rewards below.

Dread Pirate Ring
Binds on Account
Unique-Equipped
Finger
+34 Stamina
Requires level 1 to 80 (80)
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 53.
Equip: Improves hit rating by 29.
Equip: Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 5%.

Boots of the Bay
Binds When Picked Up
Feet
Requires Fishing (200)
Equip: Increased Fishing +15.
Use: Whisks you away to the finest drinking establishment in Booty Bay. (1 Day Cooldown)

For more information, read the Kalu’ak Fishing Derby page, or discuss on the forums.

From 3.3 patch notes:

“The all-new Kalu’ak Fishing Derby, a test of fishing skill with a healthy dash of luck, has come to Northrend! Every Wednesday beginning at 8 PM players can try to catch the elusive Blacktip Shark. Elder Clearwater sits in Dalaran for one hour awaiting the return of the quickest, most experienced fisher to bring him this shark. This champion fisher will be rewarded in-kind for returning with the first catch. Those who aren’t able to return with the first catch will still receive just reward for getting the Blacktip Shark to Elder Clearwater before he takes his leave. It is said that these sharks’ favorite meal are the bite-sized Pygmy Suckerfish. Perhaps a hook in their waters will do the trick.”

Via Twitter (thanks DarkMime64):

“Up for grabs – a new heirloom ring!”

Read on for further quest information.

Based on the MMO-Champion database (which is based on raw, often incomplete data): The Blacktip Shark (Binds when picked up, unique, 1 hour duration) is an objective of 2 quests:

• Soul of the Kalu’ak – Rewards either a finger or a cloth foot item. Plus 175 Kalu’ak reputation. Both items are new and unknown. Speculation that the finger item is the heirloom ring.
• Better Luck Next Time – Rewards a normal Bag of Fishing Treasures and 125 Kalu’ak reputation.

Both quests are flagged “daily”, although that may simply be a method of limiting repeat attempts to win. Speculation is that the first quest is for the winner, and the second quest if for everyone else that turns in the fish during the Derby. Please keep discussing it on the forums.

On the patch 3.3 Public Test Realm, Dalaran’s Inscription Supplier sells a limited supply of recipes to create “techniques”:

• Technique: Glyph of Eternal Water – Inscription 250, for level 50 Mage – Your Summon Water Elemental now lasts indefinitely, but your Water Elemental can no longer cast Freeze.
• Technique: Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation – Inscription 375, for level 15 Druid – Your haste now reduces the time between the periodic healing ticks of your Rejuvenation spell.
• Technique: Glyph of Quick Decay – Inscription 375, for level 15 Warlock – Your haste now reduces the time between periodic damage ticks of your Corruption spell.

All 3 should require Snowfall Ink and Resilient Parchment to make. Update: The recipes can now be learnt.

Patch 3.3 (currently being tested) seems to introduce a new contest – the Kalu’ak Fishing Derby. Currently it is scheduled for Wednesday 20:00 (realm time). Winning the contest awards the “Master Angler” achievement. This means you can gain Salty by winning either the Stranglethorn or Kalu’ak contests. Update: The contest appears to not yet be available. Forum discussion. Also lurking in patch 3.3 is a new spell for Enchant Gloves – Angler (+5 fishing skill, requires Infinite Dust and 3 Ethereal Oil). Source unknown.

Patch 3.3 (currently being tested) will make it even easier to skill-up after cooking skill 400: Almost all recipes that use Northern Spices will remain yellow (good chance of a skill-up) until skill 450. See Wowhead for a full list of recipes.

A new group scroll has appeared on the patch 3.2.2 PTR: Runescroll of Stamina is trained at 440 Inscription skill. The recipe is green (low chance of a skill-up) until at least 450. Each use of the recipe requires 1 Snowfall Ink and 5 Resilient Parchment, and makes 5 “Runescroll of Fortitude”. These scrolls require level 80 to use, but can be traded. Using the scroll increases Stamina by 165 for all party and raid members for 1 hour. This Stamina bonus acts like a normal scroll buff.

The first details of Cataclysm’s new secondary profession, Archaeology, were revealed at BlizzCon. Many Archaeology techniques sound a lot like Inscription: Archaeology allows ancient glyphs to be filled. And you may recall that “deciphering” was an Inscription skill that briefly appeared during beta testing. Why is Archaeology a new secondary profession, and not a continuation of Inscription?

Importance of Glyphs

Why can scribes not make anything very unique? Blizzard responded (Jon LeCraft, I assume):

“We don’t ever really want to make a glyph very difficult to get, because they’re so core to gameplay. People think they can’t play if they can’t get a glyph.”

If you cannot find a Jewelcrafter that can cut a particular rare gem, you can find a more common cut. If you can’t buy that Titansteel Destroyer at auction, there are alternative weapons. You loose some “stats”. You loose some advantage over your enemies. But that is not crippling.

In contrast, if you cannot get a specific glyph, there are no similar alternatives. This can be crippling. For example, a special mage (warlock) without Glyph of Shadowflame cannot use Shadowflame to slow approaching enemies. In some PvP situations, that glyph has become fundamental to survival. There is not an alternative, common “Lesser Glyph of Shadowflame”, that gives a 60% speed reduction. The choice is either 0% or the full 70%.

The Path of the Titans, and the new Ancient Glyph, may be similarly “core to gameplay”: Everyone will want to try and gain those new benefits.

Demand for Glyphs

Inscription’s glyphs are rarely changed: Dual-specs mean that noticeable fresh demand for new glyphs tends to only occur when there have been major class changes. This is frustrating for Scribes, many of whom found the Inscription profession very rewarding at the outset, but now find far fewer people are asking for their services.

I expect the same pattern with the Path of the Titans: At the start, many people will want to improve or change their paths. But once they have completed that, they will not continually make further changes. At least, not until the next major patch changes the benefits of different paths, or adds new paths.

Evolution of Professions

The Path of the Titans is far more personal than most professions: It’s all about you. It’s a way to change you. The benefits are personal.

Over the last few years, personal professional benefits have become far more important.

How many people trained Jewelcrafting because prismatic Jewelcrafter-only gems gave more options than other profession personal benefits? And then dropped it when patch 3.2 removed the prismatic status from Jewelcrafter-only gems? Or, in the Burning Crusade, trained Leatherworking simply to maintain drum-rotations during raid boss fights?

Years ago, when Ragnaros was still feared, the main personal benefit of a profession was the ability to craft enough Fire Resist gear to get your guild through the fight.

New crafters probably don’t realise how much professions have already changed.

Archaeology

Archaeology evolves from Inscription. Archaeology’s features might have been part of the Inscription profession. But they are not. Instead Archaeology is a new secondary profession:

• The Path of the Titans is too important to everyone.
• Improvements are too much of a “once only” purchase to keep a primary profession busy.
• Even more than other professions, Archaeology’s benefits are personal.

Good to know “Old Crafty” is still plotting his escape from Orgrimmar:

“Big changes to fishing that I cannot talk about yet… We’re going to make it more fun!”

Perhaps based on Animal Crossing – you’d be able to see different types of fish, and cast so that the bobber lands near the fish you want (thanks Mike).

With the Cataclysm, maximum personal fishing skill will rise to 525, with a new “Illustrious” rank. And water appears to move more.

WoW’s 3rd expansion will add Archaeology as a new secondary profession. Few details yet, but it will allow you to, “unearth valuable artifacts and earn unique rewards.”

You will be able to explore ruins around Azeroth and recover “notes” or artefacts that have been exposed by the cataclysm. Gather several similar notes in your journal (pictured below), and then decipher these in a “minigame” or quest (undecided). This will gives different rewards – vanity pets, instant travel to dungeon, titles, recipes for other professions.

Artifacts can be given to a cult, to gain a glyph that fits your Ancient Glyph slot. These glyphs are not part of Inscription. They are part of the Path of the Titans, a new customisation/progression system. Gaining all these ancient glyphs is “gated, not grindy”.

Below is a mock-up of the archaeology journal:

(Source: Blizzard/DirectTV.)