Two Hearthstones Are Rad!

A long time ago, in a different WoW, one had to wait a whole hour for their hearthstone to cool down. These days, we are much more civilized. Our hearthstones require a mere 30 minutes until we can use them again. For very busy players, though, 30 minutes is still not soon enough. I am one of those players, and this is an ode to dual hearthstones.

Certain classes and professions have it easier than others.

Mages have their teleports to major cities. If you think about it, they probably have it the best in regards to transportation, at max level at least. Their teleports do cost a reagent but it's only 10 silver. On the other hand the biggest advantages of teleports are that they can be used at any time, regardless of cooldown, they can teleport the player to a variety of cities and they are independent of where the hearthstone is bound. Additionally, mages can make a good buck by selling teleports. So mages have it good. Jerks.
Hey, just kidding, I love mages m'kay?

Shaman have Astral Recall. It can be used independent of the hearthstone and it's on a 15 minute cooldown. A shaman can go crazy by applying a Glyph of Astral Recall, cutting down the cooldown to 7.5 minutes. Wow! Unfortunately, they can't bind the hearthstone to one inn and Astral Recall to another.

Death Knights have Portal: Acherus on a 1 minute (!!) cooldown. Unfortunately, once you get to Acherus, you still need to port somewhere else so I wouldn't say Death Knights have much of an advantage here. The only times when I find this useful is, of course, when my DK needs training or when he needs to go to the Eastern/Western Plaguelands.

Druids have Teleport: Moonglade with no cooldown but this teleport seems even less useful than what Death Knights have. Correct me if I'm wrong; druids are one of the few classes I haven't played yet and I'm not much of an expert on them.

Scribes can create Scrolls of Recall which are on a 20 minute cooldown, independent of the hearthstone cooldown but both are bound to the same location. In addition, they are rather costly if you need them several times a day.

A nice combination would be a Shaman with Glyph of Astral Recall and Inscription. Overkill much? Or a mage with Inscription.

For all others, Blizzard has blessed us with the Kirin Tor rings. My hunter uses both a Band of the Kirin Tor and an Inscribed Band of the Kirin Tor. I know, crazy, huh? Because I couldn't find anywhere online a mention whether these rings share the same cooldown, I just had to buy one and find out. Let me give it to you then: the DO share the same cooldown. Which means this was an almost-8000G experiment but the stats on the rings aren't bad at all.

The fact is, the first ring was worth every copper. I enjoy my second hearthstone so much, it's hard to describe in words. For example, from Dalaran I can port to Shattrath, grab the daily fishing quest which takes me to Hellfire Peninsula. I can fly to Hellfire and when I'm done with the quest, instead of flying back to Shattrath, I can hearth to Dalaran, port to Shattrath, hand in the quest and then hearth back to Dalaran from where I can fly or port to another destination.

So how valuable will this ring be in the next expansion? Won't it be useless then? Not really. For one thing, there's still a long way to go until the next expansion. For another, I wouldn't mind a ring of Teleport: Shattrath from Burning Crusade, on a different cooldown. Think about it: such a ring would not only give me instant access to the whole of Outland but also the whole of Azeroth, through the portals to the main cities located in Shattrath. In a future expansion, Teleport: Dalaran will give access to the whole of Northrend, Outland and Azeroth.

Thus, even if the Kirin Tor rings become obsolete stat-wise in a future expansion, I will still carry mine in the backpack. I will also advise any solo player who doesn't raid and can't find a better ring to get one of these if they can afford it. It's expensive but whatever makes life easier is worth it, in my opinion. Blizzard intended these rings to be gold sinks but to me they are investments. I wouldn't buy them as a Shaman, Mage or even Scribe if I can find better and cheaper rings on the AH, but for all else (unless you're a tank), I highly recommend them.