Honor’s Code has a great post up about the secondary gear stats that often get overlooked in favor of the main attributes. Everyone knows that Hunters need Agility and Warriors need Strength, but after that, things tend to get a little fuzzy — just what does Expertise or Hit do for you? HC breaks it down from a Pally perspective, but what they say about these stats is helpful for any class that has to deal with attacking the bad guys.
Defense comes first — defense rating, for tanks, allows you to make sure that bosses can’t crit you. Each class has its own defense cap, and the cap has changed from 70 to 80, so you’ll have to keep an eye out for your own cap when you get that far. Block is next — a high Block rating means you’re pushing other attack options off the table when you’re hit, so that when something does hit you, you block the damage on it. Both of those stats are mainly for tanks — other classes, who aren’t getting hit, won’t have to worry about them at all.
But Hit and Expertise you will have to worry about if you’re DPS — Hit will make sure that you don’t miss your target (the fewer misses you have, the higher your DPS), and Expertise makes sure that those hits don’t become dodges or parries. This is tough stuff, and it shows up much earlier in Wrath, it seems, than it did in Burning Crusade, But the good news is that there’s a lot of help around — Honor’s Code offers a great overview for what everything means, and from there, you can search our site or others for what you need to know about each stat and how it works with your class.

Just a few questions today, because slow weekends are slow. Who wants to ask questions when you can be playing? Certainly not me. I will still answer questions, however. Let’s jump right in with ender’s question…
What, in your own opinion, is the easiest faction to start to grind on for rep as a new level 80? I know there is the “championing” but with dailies etc, what seems to be the easiest?
The first one you do is the easiest. Why? Because you’re not sick of running any of the Heroics yet, so it’s all fair game, heh. After that you lose a little drive. In all seriousness, the Ebon Blade seems the easiest so far. Not only do they have multiple massive quest chains in Icecrown, they also have 3 dailies you do in one little area, and the tabard you can wear in Heroics. If I tossed on my Ebon Blade tabard right after hitting Exalted with Wyrmrest, I think I’d be Ebon Blade exalted by now, too. I put on an Argent Crusade tabard instead and I’m only sitting in early Revered with them.
Your experiences may vary and I’m willing to bet our readers will have other opinions, and that’s totally fine. Heck, I think they should toss in their thoughts, too. It might help you pick and choose a little more, you know? Multiple opinions is great. I definitely think it’s the Ebon Blade, though.
Gartifarh asked…
One thing that always annoys me about helping out freinds level up in Northrend has been them on their 100% ground mounts or 60% flyers. To make this easier, are there any multi-passenger flying mounts? Or any plans to bring them in
I’m sure we’ll see these in the future but there aren’t any now as far as we know there are no plans to have them yet. A day or two ago someone asked about the aerial siege vehicles that were in Wintergrasp in beta, and this dovetails into that a little bit. They were there in beta, and one of them held more than one person. For some reason they disappeared, and I don’t think we know whether that was for technical reasons or for balance reasons. They didn’t like normal flight in Wintergrasp, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they just wanted to keep the battle grounded. Either way, they’ve tried to do it, and whether it was a success or not we’re not sure, but we know they’ve at least worked on it. It would not shock me to see an obscenely expensive multi-passenger flying mount one day.
When that day is? No idea.
Damatastre asked…
I just got my blacksmithing to 400 and learned the socket bracers and socket gloves recipes. I was curious to find out if there are any other available socketing recipes, so I searched wowwiki and came up with a socket for a one handed weapon. Unfortunately, there was no additional information on it. Is this recipe available for Blacksmiths to do? If so, do you have any idea where to find it
Blacksmiths get to add sockets to their own bracers and gloves. They also get to create Belt Buckles to sell to others, to add a socket to belts. The Socket One-Handed Weapon never made it into the game in a way that could be used, it was just seen in the game files. I’m not sure whether it even made it into beta or not, but I don’t think it did. I think they decided not to use that one and go with bracers/gloves instead, because all of the profession-unique ‘enchants’ overwrite real enchantments from enchanting. Would you really pass up something like Mongoose as a tank/melee for one more gem? In some cases sure, but most of the time you would just laugh at that and go get the real enchant instead of some +stamina gem.
Bracers/Gloves you’re pretty assuredly gonna go for the gem, since its a clear +stat upgrade over an enchantment. Weapons are a little more varied and unique. You can’t get something like Mongoose in a gem unless it’s a metagem, and being able to socket multiple metagems would be absurd considering how good some of them are.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer ‘em!

I was recently surfing the web for wow gold blogs when I came across a brand spanking new blog that looks pretty promising.
The site is the internet journal of an aspiring wow player who is trying to make as much gold as possible while leveling and still maintain a decent days /played. He’s not trying to break any records (there are none in this category) but he was curious enough to make a character alone on a new server and try his luck.
To help him out, I gave him a free copy of Markco’s Gold Guide (still in the editing process but I gave him the most recent draft) and I’m hoping that he’ll show everyone just how powerful this guide will be.
Have you tried making gold while leveling or did you give up from frustration?
Check out rush’s site: Warcraft Gold Rush.
Tell him what you think about his ‘quest.’
Here’s an example from Rush’ Blog:
“Character Creation: so I had to decide what class to level and I decided on a Troll warrior. I’ve got just about 1 of every class above level 15 except a warrior and paladin. I think mostly I’m just interested in seeing whether Prot is a viable leveling spec now.
My character’s name: Anthaknee of Onyxia (US)
I made a decision that while leveling this character I would not send him any money from a high level character nor run him through any instances with the help of a high level friend as that would ruin the numbers. I did however buy and send Anthaknee the Bind to account Heirloom shoulders that give the wearer 10% increased experience from mobs. He won’t find as many goodie items as a starter character would but I also just want to fly through these levels as fast as possible and see what kind of money can be made. I’m guessing a great amount.
————-
I’ll start with level 10 since before that you’ll probably fall asleep.Pre-level 10 is simple questing and selling all the greys that aren’t upgrades to your gear so you can afford the new abilities that come with levels.
By level 10 I had a nice stockpile of Boar’s Meat, Linen Cloth, Malachite, and all sorts of other goodies that I did not vendor trash(sell to a vendor). Any item that is white is an item that is used somewhere in the world of warcraft to do something for the player. Boar’s Meat sells surprisingly well on most servers. Hunters use it to feed their pets and keep them happy.
After a good amount of leveling in Durotar I headed to Orgrimmar to see Thrall, leader of the Horde!!!
Seriously though guys he had a quest for me… I’m serious… this isn’t a RP realm don’t worry.
Since I was in Org I now had the luxury of going to the Auction house for the first time. I, with my paltry 5 silver and 27 copper started placing all my white and green items on the AH for market value. I sold my boars meat for 50s per stack of 10. I’ve gotten 1g per stack before but that day they were 50s so that’s what I put them up for.
I put my auctions up and logged out for the night. We’ll see how well I do tomorrow evening.”

With the recent launch of the much anticipated Warhammer Online (WAR), the burning question in many World of Warcraft (WOW) gamers’ mind is how difficult the transition from playing WOW to WAR is going to be. In this article we will examine some of the fundamental differences and similarities between the worlds of WOW and WAR. Will the transition from one to the other be as seamless as many gamers hope it will be
Consider the story setting
One of most pronounced differences a WOW gamer will notice when entering the WAR world is the time frame and setting. In WAR, you are landing in the middle of an all out war of destruction and annihilation! The concept of peace is all but wishful thinking in the Warhammer Online world! If looking for trouble and a fight, there is plenty to find in World of Warcraft, however in most cases you need to go looking trouble. In WAR it is in your face, up close and personal! Even the graphic visual surroundings help to portray this difference in the world settings. The bright colors and cute bunny rabbits hopping around the countryside found in many areas of WOW have been replaced by dimly lit landscapes in WAR, showing the scars of devastation and destruction left by unending battles and blood shed.
Consider the plot
The overall plot of Warhammer Online is by most accounts much more sinister and evil than what exists in World of Warcraft. The forces of evil known as “Destruction” are made up of some very twisted and perverse races. Conversely the side of good or “Order” is deeply rooted in religion almost to the point of fanaticism. The line between what is “right” and “pure” verses “unjust” and “evil” appears to be much less defined in WAR than in WOW. In World of Warcraft the choice between playing the side of good or evil is pretty straight forward, whereas with Warhammer Online, things may not be as they first appear. Each side, “Order” or “Destruction” have their share of skeletons in their closet!
Consider playable classes
Although Warhammer Online does offer nearly twice the number of playable classes than World of Warcraft, the basic roles filled are essentially the same. You still have healers, tanks, melee dps and ranged dps. The race you decide to play will determine the classes available. So for example if you are used playing the role of a warrior in WOW, in WAR your options would be in the form of Ironbreaker, Black Orc, Swordmaster or Chosen. Obviously this is a rough comparison as each of the WAR characters has been “tweeked” with special racial abilities as well.
Consider rules of engagement
Rules of engagement or combat is very similar in most respects between WOW and WAR. The main noticeable difference is Warhammer Online combat appears to be slower than in World of Warcraft. This allows the defender more time to react to an attack and prepare an effective defense and possible counter attack back at his opponent. One of the most significant differences between WOW and WAR is in the area of player verses player combat (PVP). The role of PVP is much more important in Warhammer Online. In WOW, PVP is just another interesting option, whereas in WAR, only by doing PVP will you gain a special kind of experience called “reknown” that allows for unique tactics and character improvements not available anywhere else in the game.
Consider questing and leveling.
As in World of Warcraft, quest givers are NPCs marked with a symbol, (green circles in WAR verses yellow exclamation points in WOW), who will give you tasks to complete to help level. Warhammer Online also has several different categories of quest types available ranging from the tradition quest WOW players are used to gain experience, money, and/or booty up to an new type of quest called the “Public Quest” that requires players to band together to accomplish an unique objective based on the WAR storyline. Yet another interesting experience found in the WAR quests, is the Tome of Knowledge, which actually keeps a record of your quests woven into a story-like account.
Consider occupation
World of Warcraft Online