Wake Up Call

Quite by accident, I stumbled onto this post. By the time I finished reading it, it felt like I was hit by a truck. Certain truths had hit way too close to home...

Now, I'm certainly no leader of a end-game raiding guild; I'm not even in such a guild but the behavior described sounds way too familiar. It's not the first time I've read such 'Spent too much time on WoW, so bai bai' posts but I've always managed to brush it off as 'Yeah, that's not happening to me'...

But for some reason, this post struck a nerve. Looking at it objectively, I think it's because like the author, we both have a obsessive-compulsive personality. While I've never admitted it to anyone, deep down, I've always know it. When I get obsessed/engrossed in something (previous examples had included Magic: The Gathering, other games like Diablo, Diablo 2, Starcraft, Warcraft) I could literally put all things aside and keep going at it. Somehow, the little voice in my head tells me that this is wrong and I should stop. But then a louder one would be urging me to kill one more mob, finish that last quest, go up one more level... Every waking hour (including those at work) would be spent on the thing in question. If I wasn't playing it, I was reading up on it.

I have a wonderful wife and two beautiful kids but so often, I take them for granted. Looking back, I have only ever had two major fights with my wife. The first time was over Diablo 2 and the second was over WoW. I had deleted Diablo 2 after that fight and scaled back my WoW time after the second. Why didn't I delete WoW? Because my friends 'needed' me. What I had forgotten even then was my wife and kids needed me more...

I think my wife has pretty much accepted that this is how it is, but I cannot help but feel that it's just not fair to her to have a husband who is not there for her so often.

Even looking back at this blog, I look at the amount of time I had spent researching specs and gear, during my spare time, and cannot help but feel that perhaps I should have spent some of that time improving myself in some ways... Brush up on some skills that would have an impact on my career and my life or maybe even trying to get fit.

Knowing myself, even if I quit now, it's quite likely only a matter of time before I find something new to obsess over. However, having really stared into the abyss, I really hope to break out of this cycle. Spend more time with my family and bond with them.

So, this is after all, my swansong... When next I have access to the servers, I will be disposing of my pixels and then delete all my characters so there is no coming back. Drastic, but cold turkey is still sometimes the best solution for an addiction.

While I might sound regretful of the time I had put into WoW, what I don't regret are the people I wouldn't have met otherwise. Gary, Li Lian, Hah Ping, Chin Kok, and Michael from the Job One gang. Omy, Mathe from the old VVL/Artifice crew. Even new acquaintances like Meg through this blog. I really hope that I'll be able to keep in contact with them, even as we are likely to drift apart.

If you are still reading this, it's not a call for all to quit and 'Save Yourself'! Let me clarify it again. For people who have the discipline and control, it is a nice form of escapism from the harsh realities of life, no different from a good book or movie. But in my case, it's become a dangerous form of addiction.

So to all my dear friends who may or may not read this, I bid thee farewell...

Blog Azeroth - Shared Topic

Just got involved with Blog Azeroth, which is a forum collecting people who blog about WoW. A community effort that is being put together is for everyone to blog about a shared topic, which this week is "What do you enjoy about the class you play the most?". This may not be too apparent, but the class in question here is the Warlock.

In actual fact, I hated the warlock. I was leveling a lock and a shaman together when I first started and somehow, me and lock never clicked. I got frustrated at pulling aggro from bluey, having troubles with more than one mobs which my shaman could solo with ease. I had a cookie-cutter SM/Ruin spec so I figured the class was just wrong.

Then one day, I finally found out what drain tanking combined with fear bombing was (I think it was in some forum post) and it finally all clicked together. Suddenly, my lock was doing things he really had no business doing. And it was fun!

In the end, I guess that's what I enjoy about the lock. As long as you were creative about it, there are very few quests or elite mobs that cannot be solo'ed, even at the appropriate level and especially when demons are involved. :)

Getting Ready for the Temple...

With already Panda asking for Temple for his warrior and Ara 2-3 levels away from 50, Shev got the attention again last night for the final push to 50 and the completion of Tanaris quests. The first objective of 50 was easy since I was just a few thousand xp away; one quest did the trick. I disrupted the Tanaris grinding to sort out the pre-quest for the Temple class quest which was grinding out 20 Minion's Scourgestone. By the time I got my 20, I was halfway to 51! Love the new 'enhanced pre-60 xp'!

I dinged 51 finishing up Tanaris and have parked my character at Hillsbard, ready to push into Hinterlands. Maybe, next time Ara is online, we could group up and finish the Jinthal grind.

I wanted to check something regarding her spec this morning when I noticed this in Shev's armory... Now, for Shev, I tend to log out in one of her pretty dress (which is Lovely Purple Dress at the moment) but I certainly didn't expect that helm...

Woof Woof

I don't know any girl (or guy, for that matter) who gets excited at being able to morph into a dead dog, but Shev's certainly one happy gal.

Yup, Level 20 & Ghost Wolf time! No more running on her hoofs for this Draenei. To celebrate, I was tempted to run from Exodar to Blood Watch, but in the end, I wasn't that excited and just did the run to the flight master.

(Although, on my (retired) Tauren Shaman, when he reached 40 (my first 40 at that time), I rode my spanking new Kodo all the way from Bloodhoof Village to Crossroads. When I had enough for the epic Kodo, I rode it from Bloodhoof Village back to Orgrimmar...)

The other Shev (the Blood Elf Pally) is also in sight of a milestone of her own. Level 50, which opens up the class quest for Sunken Temple (unlike the Ally Pallys and the other classes, we don't have a choice, but the trinket is pretty nice). Hope to wrap up Tanaris quickly (just a few more quests to go), toodle over to Hinterlands, grab the Temple quests and then time to bug guildies to get their alts up and running for the Temple!

First Contact

Yup, that's Meg. After being on the server on and off, we finally met each other. Quite surprisingly, I got a group invite, and before I knew it, Shev had made it to Shattrah! Who needs the Lunar New Year teleporters when you have a lock for a friend. :)

After getting my stone set, I was all ready to take the portal back to Exodar and continue the grind when I got another surprise!

Wow...

Now, I've got a Warlock as well. Granted, he's not the PvP bent, but I'm certain they have no castable Stuns and no Silences. Yes, properly talented, our Rain of Fire, Hellfire and Soul Fire spells can cause stuns, but I didn't see those being cast. The demon dog with Spell Lock was nowhere to be seen either. But, stunned I was. & speechless.

Well, she might not have exotic tails or panties from Frederick's from Azeroth but she's one stunning lady, that's for sure. :)

Tanking the Labs

Well, finally did get the Shadow Labyrinth run under Eld's belt... Now, since he is a prot warrior, I had to tank the instance... Not a problem... Yeah, right...

Well, we wiped, a few times... Quite a few times were due to my fault... We really had a lot of problems with the big room before Blackheart the Inciter when I was doing the pull and trying to handle multi-mobs and Grandmaster Vorpil while I mastered the kiting. I've only done these as a DPS and well, it takes a bit more effort than it looks... But quite amazingly, we managed to one-shot Murmur... I'll attribute that to the great healing rather than my tanking... None of the tanking stuff dropped, but at least the quest reward ain't too shabby...

What I really had a problem with was tanking of multiple mobs... I need to be able to switch targets faster and apply Devastate & the various aggro gaining moves to increase aggro. By the end of the run, think it was better but still needs lots of work... Always room for more improvement, I guess...

Another thing I had problem with was mobs that Fear. I really should look at what stance-dancing/berserker rage should be done. Fear Ward helps but I won't always have a Priest.

N00B!!!

Yes... I'm a n00b...

I mentioned that I had 487 defense on Eld? Actually, it's more like 494... Why?

I got some pants from a quest yesterday which looks like they could be a minor upgrade to my grinding/questing pants. However, when I moused over them, I realised they had tanking stats... On closer inspection, I realised that somewhere along the line, I had mixed up my tanking pants with my grinding pants, wearing my +crit pants while tanking & my +def pants while grinding... Wonderful...

After correcting that mistake, yes, it's official... Eld is uncrittable... Weeee...

(But if anyone asks in-game, I was wearing +crit for the aggro generation... I SWEAR!!!)

AV Grind

With yesterday's daily PvP quest being AV on Shadowsong, Gren ventured in for the grind. Ever since the buff on Bal & Vann, it's put a crimp on the Horde strategy of minimal defense, full on zerg prevalent on Reckoning. Now, the AVs we win are the ones where some effort is put into defending or the allies have more AFKers than we do...

While most can argue that the buff isn't that great, it's enough of a speedbump for the Horde offensive that it takes them just a little bit longer to make it to SP, letting Ally win the foot race...

Is it game-breaking for Horde as many are claiming? Not really. I still maintain that the Horde base is a lot more defensible, as long as there are people who want to defend it. Hunters, and properly talented Mages, and Locks on the towers have a very good defensive field of fire. Even if they get hit by the incoming offense, they can take a couple of steps back into the flag room to bandage, using LOS to make themselves safe. Now, put melee a bit behind the gate, with Frost Traps, about six to eight Horde can hold the gates against just about anything besides a full-on zerg of the entire ally offense.

Is the Bridge of Death in Dun Baldar a pain? Yes. But ten Ally cannot hold the Bridge & both bunkers, mainly because players at the bunkers do not have the range to hit Horde on the bridge. But, most players can't be bothered to think this far... *shrug*

Anyway, Gren opened her account with 8 straight losses. I got bored with many simply not trying so I went off to do some quest grinding on my warrior for cash and Consortium rep. Just before I logged off for the night, I ran one last AV, which I think had more than half Ally AFK. That's because we won without them capping any towers, with our D bogging them down trying to cap and hold the RH graveyard (the epic trinket was fun. Res at FW, trinket back to keep and continue to harass... lol).

Anyway, saw this in the Official Forums today.

In our continued efforts to support fair gameplay in World of Warcraft and to provide a positive experience for players, we are currently taking steps to ensure fair and enjoyable competition in the Battlegrounds. Starting immediately, we will be issuing warnings and penalties, including suspensions and the removal of Honor points and recently acquired Honor rewards, for non-participation in Battleground games. We are taking action against thousands of accounts immediately, and will continue to monitor these situations and regularly take action against violators. If you encounter a player in a Battleground who is intentionally not participating in the battle for an extended period of time, please help us track the situation and report the player as AFK. For information on how to complete an in-game AFK report, please go here: (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds/info.html). All reports will be thoroughly investigated, and corrective action will only be taken if the violation is confirmed. Thank you for your support and best of luck to you in all of your games in the Battlegrounds!

- Bornakk 11/1/08

This sounds like they will be keeping track of the number of AFK flags you accumulate. Too many and they will clamp down on you. If that's the case, hopefully it'll lead to less AFKing. At the moment, it doesn't seem to have helped. But when a few of the serial AFKavers get hit, maybe things will improve...

2.3.3

Bug Fix... Yawn... No Wow for tonight then...

No more Ghosts...

Through a hotfix we’ve recently removed the ability to tame a Grimtotem Spirit Guide. Players who have already gone through the trouble of taming the creature will be able to keep them unchanged. This hotfix only removes the possibility to tame this creature from here on.

The removal of the spirit guide has been debated within design discussions for a while now as to what impact the pet and its precedent has on the game.
The unintended nature of the taming, the undead status of the guide, appearance of the wolf in relation to the feel of the hunter class, and the complex processes of taming were all issues touched upon and discussed.

Ultimately the discussions brought us to the conclusion that this should not be a permanent addition to the pet selection available to hunters; however, those that have already tamed them should be allowed to keep them due to their efforts in obtaining one.

- Drysc 15/1/07

A bit slow to notice this, but it's official. No more taming of the Ghost Wolf...

I did procrastinate on this forever and now, it's not possible anymore... While it's not something game breaking, hunters on the internet are getting up in arms over this 'stealth-nerf'.

Frankly, I'm puzzled that Blizz actually took the effort to sit down and brainstorm this thing through... This is especially since that the 'ghost' effect really had no effect in the game. It doesn't make it harder to see/target in PvP. It doesn't allow the pet to take less damage or do more damage. It just had the distinction of being different.

It takes a lot of effort to get; both in terms of the effort and gold required to gather the required gear/gem and the effort to level it to 70. It's the latter which had given me cause to procrastinate about it. I once tried to level a pet 10 levels below me, and it sucked bad. I cannot imagine having to do it for the wolf, but there are people who will.

In the end, is the nerf good? Actually, I think it is. It gives those who have done it something special to be happy about. For those who missed it, too bad... :p But look on the bright side, you saved 100+G... ;)

Closer... Closer...

487...

That's what Eld's defense is after getting Dabiri's Enigma... Just a little bit more... A Shadow Labs run should be enough with the wrist reward. Yes, I know I'm slow... Time to put some more effort in... :p

Hey, might just get lucky with it and get the trinket as well...

If I get the shoulders as well, then it's time to go buy the lottery...

MIA?

Not really... But it's been a crazy week at work and home so not much time to update...

WoW-wise, not much happened, except for some leveling with the alts. Shev (the hordie one) managed to get some instance runs in, with Zul'Farak and Mara under her belt. Tris is also coming along nicely... With the new 'enhanced' leveling, both of them are quickly out-stripping the levels of the area they are in and it looks like a lot of areas will be skipped on their way to 60.

With the impending Chinese (or Lunar) New Year, I've decided to roll the other Ally alts so they can take advantage of the New Year portals to get the flight paths for the other capitals. That's what I managed to do for Shev and Tris last year and it really helps in the running about... So here's the three Level 6s...


Marthrak's the Priest, Elainith's the Rogue and Visala's the Mage. Might be awhile before they level though... :p

Gruul's Lair

West has struck a deal with another guild to do join Gruul's Lair runs...

It's a US-based guild, so meeting part way, the run will start at midnight... :p

Anyway, following on from my time-honoured tradition of counting chickens before they are hatched, these are the loot to look out for in there.

Shoulder: Voidheart Mantle (High King Maulgar) A side-grade to the Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders, but until I get more spell hit, worth trading the 9 damage for the 11 spell hit rating (which is about 0.87%). Good also for the 2-piece bonus.
Waist: Belt of Divine Inspiration (High King Maulgar) This is more of a side-grade to Girdle of Ruination but might be worth considering if there is somewhere better that I can stick the Runed Ornate Ruby
Legs: Voidheart Leggings (Gruul the Dragonkiller) Another side-grade, to the Fel Infused Leggings in terms of damage. But again, for the spell hit and the 2-piece, it is certainly worth considering.

Main Hand: Bloodmaw Magus-Blade (Gruul the Dragonkiller)

On the (unlikely) chance that my poor (severly undergeared) warrior is required...

Shoulder: Warbringer Shoulderguards (High King Maulgar)
Legs: Warbringer Legguards (Gruul the Dragonkiller) The legs from badges are better, so, it depends on which I can get first. Set bonuses will also come into consideration, of course.

Shield: Aldori Legacy Defender (Gruul the Dragonkiller)

One thing to do to prepare for it is to go get the Flasks using Shards. Unstable Flask of the Sorceror for Mart and Unstable Flask of the Beast for Eld.

You Call THAT a Buff?

Did a couple of AVs last night and quite disappointed in the supposed AV buff. Mainly because it made just about no difference...

We won both games and in the second, it was a close one, so we pulled with two towers still up. Van still went down... So, nothing seems to have changed?

Irregardless of how it is right now, AV is supposed to be a PvP battleground. Yet, it's quite possible to win it, without killing a single player. So, how can it be changed? I'm not sure the old epic 10 hour AVs were that great. For one, it makes the gathering of AV Marks impossible. I like the reinforcement idea, but perhaps Blizz should take that idea further... Firstly, Reinforcements should only be reduced by killing other players. Burning of Towers/Bunkers should not reduce Reinforcements. Then Reinforcements can affect how the 'end-game' plays out. Here are some of my ideas.

Reinforcements buff Van/Drek
One idea is to tie Van/Drek's HP directly to the amount of Reinforcements left for their respective faction. eg. Say Van has 400,000 HP at the start of the BG, with 600 Reinforcements on both sides. When there are 300 Reinforcements left, he will have 200,000 HP, and so on. It can be linear, or reverse logarithmic or whatever. The point is, the more Ally swine you kill, the weaker Van is...

Another possibility is to make it such that Van has some uber abilities, that he will lose as the number of reinforcements tick down. I'll even go as far as suggest that above 350 Reinforcements, Van should have a 'Pally bubble' which cannot be dispelled.

Reinforcements really do Reinforce Van/Drek
In addition to the four warmasters/marshalls, perhaps there should be more NPCs in the room. I'll suggest 4 marshalls who shall despawn based on the number of reinforcements left. Each will despawn when reinforcements drop below 300, 250, 200, and 150 respectively.

Make the defense/burning of Towers/Bunkers Count
Take out the NPCs in the towers/bunkers. If your players are not going to defend them, don't depend on NPCs to do it either. This might have the effect of making the four towers/bunkers in the middle of the map as generally 'given' to the other faction. However, if we buff the tower marshalls/warmasters enough that it makes sense to hold your towers, smart players will begin to actively defend them.

Also, give them greater spell effects that can affect the defense of Van/Drek. Be it in the form of AOE heals, AOE damage to the entire room, etc.

These are just some ideas off the top of my head... I should probably put them in the Suggestions forum, but way too lazy... :p

Anyway, Mart also managed a Heroic Mech run for the 6 badges. It was really funny. We started as 2 pallys, 3 locks, when one of the lock realised he cannot get the key as he is only friendly with Sha'tar (he hasn't dinged 70 for that long...) So, we put out the call for a DPS and got a Ret pally; ie a 2 lock, 3 pally team... We were a bit messy but we got the job done. Killing the fire witch was really messy, with the tank losing aggro at like 3%, and she proceeded to 1-2 shot the healer and the other pally, leaving the 2 locks standing to take her down...

2.3.2

No WoW last night, due to maintenance and the upgrading to 2.3.2. Looking at the changes, the following stand-out...

PvP

• Warmasters/marshals in Alterac Valley now increase each other’s maximum health and damage by 20%. This is a stacking effect.

Nice change. It makes capping and burning the bunkers/towers more imperative now. I've seen succesful kills of Van with up to two Marshalls still active. From now on, defending capped bunkers needs a serious looking at. Re-taking of capped towers can put a serious dent in being ready for pulling Van.

Hunters

• Pet leveling speed has been increased.

Nice for those who tame pets of significant lower level than them (Spirit Wolf?). Maybe it's time to throw lots of money at getting the Spirit Wolf? :p

Mages

• Cold Snap (Frost) cooldown reduced. It is now in the Ice Block position in the talent tree. This ability will no longer reset the cooldown on Fire Ward.


• Ice Block (Frost) is now available on the trainer to all mages at level 30.


• Icy Veins (NEW Frost Talent) decreases casting time of all spells by 20% and increases the chance your chilling effects will freeze the target by 10%. Lasts 20 sec. 3 min cooldown. It is now in the Cold Snap position in the talent tree.

Very nice for Mages and really nice for Frosties... Oh wait... I don't have a Mage...

Shaman

• Lightning Shield mana cost reduced.

Nice. Lightning Shield is a good cheap source of DPS which just got cheaper!

User Interface

• You can now see raid members on the minimap as dark blue dots in addition to party members which still display as light blue dots.

I like this one. It helps in BG as the radar can be quite misleading on whether there are raid members near by. I've been using a 'mini-Map' for this but it's a bit too small to be able to see the details required.

Of course, there are still a whole bunch of known bugs in 2.3.2. Nothing truly gamebreaking, but it looks like there will be a 2.3.3.

Shaman Talents

How do you choose your talents? Most people look for cookie-cutter builds and apply them. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, since hundreds of people have debated and ‘done the maths’ to find a good optimum spread of points to min-max your damage output. However, unless you are also in a cookie-cutter situation (ie being the MT in a X-man raid guild, etc), that cookie-cutter spec might not fit you to a T, and talents which were considered weaker might warrant a second look.

So, that’s the approach I’m going to take with my Shaman’s talents. Yes, she is at level 11, but I’m not going for the “haphazard, ad hoc, pick talents as you go” approach either.

I’ve already decided on Enhancement. Resto levelling is probably an exercise in frustration and having levelled a (retired) Tauren Shaman to 60 in Elemental, I thought of giving Enhancement a try. Also, pre-60, most of your gear just doesn’t really support Elemental that well. In addition, being able to use two-handed weapons right off the bat should make Enhancement a much easier time to level with.

Now, Shev’s situation on Bloodhoof is that she will likely be levelling a lot on her own. I’ve got no illusions about the viability of finding groups, especially for ‘Old World’ dungeons in my timezone so talents picked should emphasise her ability to do damage while soloing.

So, what do we have on the Enhancement tree?

At Tier 1, both talents are decent but hardly something to get too excited about. Previously, Shield Specialisation is attractive, since most of the damage you take is Melee and until you could take the two-handed weapon talents, you will use a Shield a lot. Now, with Shev already packing a two-handed mace, it’s unlikely if she’ll ever use a Shield. Furthermore, Ancestral Knowledge helps (a little bit) with the mana pool, the bane of Shaman.

The next five points are easy. Melee is the workhorse damage providers and Thundering Strikes boost it nicely.

Now, rather than pick something from Tier 3 next, I’m going to go with 3 points to Improved Lightning Shield. Lightning Shield is cheap, ‘passive’ damage and should always be active. Improving the damage for just 3 points is a good investment.

The next point will go to Shamanistic Focus; with the excellent synergy with Thundering Strikes.

We’ll need one more point to get to Flurry, another workhorse of Enhancement. Guardian Totems are out; the bonus you get is largely irrelevant. Improved Ghost Wolf helps to get out of tricky situations. Anticipation reduces the amount of melee damage taken and Enhancing Totems make the Strength of Earth and Grace of Air totems better. I picked Enhancing Totems because Strength of Earth totems are useful even when soloing (when there are a number of mobs in pulling range, drop totem and pull them one by one) and both totems are great in parties (if there is such a situation).

So, one to Enhancing Totems, and five to Flurry, brings us to Tier 5. Elemental Weapons boost the buffs we give to our weapons and should be next on the list. For the next point, I’ll go back to Enhancing Totems to max it out. Spirit Weapons get the next point. The threat reductions while partying is good but the main draw is that it’s the pre-requisite to dual wield.

Five points to boost your melee damage by 10%? Weapon Mastery is a given. Mental Quickness is really attractive, since it helps to boost your spell casting using your melee stats, but Weapon Mastery is that much more superior.

At Tier 7, the first point should go to Dual Wield. The next point should be put into Stormstrike to provide an immediate boost to your DPS. Dual Wield Specialisation will take the next three; hitting helps in your DPS… ;)

Unleashed Rage is a nice buff when grouped with other melee characters but even for solo, it’s still good DPS.

Shamanistic Rage is an interesting choice. In a group/raid scenario, it’s a must have for it provides the shaman with the longevity needed. In a solo scenario, it’s good for topping up the mana pool, which reduces down-time. Whether to take this talent largely depends on where the other twenty points go. What ‘killer Tier 5 talent’ will you have to give up taking Shamanistic Rage?

It’s either Elemental Fury (Elemental) or Nature’s Swiftness (Restoration). Without the talents and the gear to back it up, Elemental Fury is largely wasted, since it needs to crit to get the bonus. I find Nature’s Swiftness as largely an ‘Oh Sh*t!’ button. Pop it for either an instant heal or Spirit Wolf. Honestly, I feel that Shamanistic Rage will get a lot more use than either of these two, so the 41st point will be that.

Now, with 20 more, it’s time to look at the other trees. Elemental is nice but with most of my gear supporting melee, my spells will still be weak, compared to melee. I’m inclined to go with Restoration as I’ll need to heal myself now and then and some of the talents do complement Enhancement.

I’ve gone with Tidal Focus for the Tier 1 talent. Healing Wave is rather inefficient and likely to be used more in after combat healing. As a healbot, Improved Healing Wave would be nice, but I’ve opted for more help on the mana pool front.

OK, Improved Reincarnation sucks. There is absolutely no reason to take it. If your group is wiping that often that THIS makes a difference, maybe it’s time to look for a new group. Ancestral Healing provides a nice armor buff but as mentioned, most of my healing is expected to be out of combat. I’ve loved dropping totems so I’ll dump the next five points into Totemic Focus.

Nature’s Guidance is a nice complement to the +hit required to counter the inherent misses from dual wielding. More from talents means less required from gear… ;)

The remaining seven points are a bit of a toss-up. Under consideration are Mental Quickness (from Enhancement), Healing Focus, Tidal Mastery and possibly Totemic Mastery. If you consider Mental Quickness and Tidal Mastery, Mental Quickness will likely give your spells more oomph. Increasing the radius of Totems make totem placement easier and offers more flexibility in mobile encounters. So, the spread will be three to Mental Quickness, one to Totemic Mastery and three to Healing Focus.

That corresponds to this talent spread. Of course, I'm not committed this to stone and will change based on whatever wind blows along and changes my mind... :)

Welcome to the Dark Side

Come roll Bloodhoof and twink out at 59. :P

With an invitation like that, who can say no? So, say hi, to Shev's 'evil' twin, a Level 10 Shaman on Bloodhoof!



I'll probably be alternating her with Shev the pally & Tris to get the most out of Rested XP. So, it's going to be awhile before they hit the level cap (or even the twinking cap as Megan so kindly suggested... Depending on how it goes, I might also make a start on the other ally alts...

Mart also got in on about half a Kara run. Finally saw Moroes (fun!) as well as Maiden (not quite so fun) and Oz (a good laugh). With finally enough badges, I managed to toss the old quest reward blue and upgraded the off-hand to this little beaut...



Here's hoping for more great loot! ;)

Hello, Unwashed Masses?

I've made attempts at leveling ally characters before but somehow, I've never gotten them past level 20.

However, I've recently wanted to try out some of the other classes a bit more (I think I've tried every class to at least lvl 20 but never really followed through on them... :p) and since having to delete mules on Shadowsong is a pain, these other toons will need to be on another server. So, I thought it might be an idea to roll them as Alliance.

Following on from trying to keep unique race/class combos, I've got the 5 ally races to match to the Mage, Rogue, Shaman & Priest class.

Of the four, the Shaman has to be rolled on a Draenei, so that's settled. For the rest, the Priest class is the one affected the most by race, so I thought to settle that next.

The Night Elf Level 10 spell is fairly pointless. I intend to go Shadow, so it's not like I have a lack of DPS spells. On the other hand, Humans and Dwarves get Desperate Prayer which will have it's uses in clutch situations.

The Night Elf Level 20 spell (Elune's Grace) is a bit more useful, reducing chance to hit by melee and range by 20% for 15 sec. The Human (Feedback) and Dwarf (Chastise) spells are both situational in nature, with Feedback only useful against casters and Chastise useful against Humanoids. I think in both PvE and PvP, Feedback will have limited usage, although it might shine in Arena. However, having a stun spell in Chastise will probably be more useful, espacially since all PvPers are Humanoids and in PvE, Humanoids are the ones that usually run... So, for priest, Dwarf will be the race of choice.

Now, since I definitely want a Night Elf character, that means she will have to be the Rogue, since they can't be Mages. The increase to dodge and stealth racials also provide some synergy.

Finally, for Mage, it's between Humans and Gnomes. Gnomes bring with them Escape Artist, but Mages have Blink to achieve that, although the 5% Int buff is nice. Humans don't bring much racial synergy to the Mage class as well but at least there's Diplomacy... :p

So, final call is as follows:
Draenei Shaman
Human Mage
Night Elf Rogue
Dwarf Priest

Last thing is to find them a home. I'm tempted to go with Drenden, home to BigRedKitty since it sounds like a nice place to plant the flag. I'll need to check on the population size (and presence of login queues) but if that's ok, then time to roll and choose the pretty faces.

Zul'Aman

Since West is trying out this instance, I might be able to go 'for the ride'... So, have been reading up on the bosses and these are some of the loot worth looking out for. These are considered as upgrades over Kara loot.

Warlock
Head: Hood of Hexing (Hex Lord Malacrass)
Ring: Signet of Ancient Magics (Akil'zon)
Ring: Mana Attuned Band (3rd Chest in Timed Event)
Trinket: Hex Shrunken Head (Hex Lord Malacrass)

Main Hand: Wub's Cursed Hexblade (Jan'alai)

Warrior
Head: Battleworn Tuskguard (Hex Lord Malacrass)
Shoulder: Pauldrons of Stone Resolve (1st Chest in Timed Event)
Chest: Chestguard of the Warlord (Zul'jin)
Feet: Jungle Stompers (Nalorakk) These are more of a sidegrade to Boots of Elusion, which offers more avoidance, whereas this offers more Shield Block.
Trinket: Ancient Aqir Artifact (Zul'jin)

Main Hand: Cleaver of the Unforgiving (Zul'jin)
Shield: Bulwark of the Amani Empire (Jan'alai)

Happy New Year!

So what were you doing when the clock struck 12?

We were right in the middle of downing Grand Warlock Nethekurse... Hahaha... What a way to spend New Year!