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.

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! ;)

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)

At Least We Aren't The Worst

Well, the 3v3 team was formed with Xig & the boomkin and we notched up our 10 games this week... Very embarrassing... But, based on our (especially mine) gear, not too surprising... At least, we did win one game... :p

Hopefully, it'll be better next week as I gather more PvP gear... Should have enough honour by tonight to get the S1 chestpiece.

Over the weekend, Mart also finally got a peak at Kara, at the chess event and Prince. I ended up with this belt because no mages were in the raid and no disenchanters either... :p The 5 badges were really good though. Prince dropped the token for my T4 helm but I passed on it because it's not something I will use, not with my uber goggles.

All Your Bases Belong to Us - The Sequel

Well, I didn't think we could pull it off again, but we certainly did... Twice in a row! Not only that, but we bettered the effort by keeping Galv alive. I was with the Galv D group (ok... group is a bit generous... There were only 3, then 2 of us...) and after they cleared us, I thought Galv was a dead duck. After res, I went to help retake Iceblood Tower, and when I got back to see Galv as I noticed a few defenders still there and was surprised to see the half-naked Orc still running around...

Anyway, that was the last and only attempt to kill Galv and we sat there watching while the rest of the Defense capped the Towers, and our Offense slowly rolled the Ally Defense and killed Van...

Mart should have enough to get the gem after the honour calculation tonight. I've started Gren on the grind. I've bought the wrists using honour and marks banked from pre-TBC. Most of the S1 gear are side-grades (DPS-wise) but at least I get matching clothes... One thing I did realise is how LACKING her DPS and stats are... Mart was at least able to hold his own and Eld had the excuse that his gear was crap but he still had the stamina. However, Gren, poor Gren didn't have the stamina to go toe to toe with anyone who had some PvP gear & not enough DPS to kill them fast enough... :( Hope the situation will improve as her gear gets upgraded...

Sleepless

What a crazy night...

Great Idea
Heroic Mech run when the daily is for that.

Bad Idea
Heroic Mech run at 2am in the morning...

But, Great Idea > Bad Idea and I leapt at the chance to go... We were definitely not on top of our game (a few wipes here and there) but we finished the thing. So, 6 more badges for Mart and a Nether to boot... The drops were horrid but at least I got a Void Crystal out of it.

Now, if I can get a few more runs under the belt, I should be able to get my first item... :p

Check!

After mindless farming of PvPs, Primals...

Mart's PvP wrists, with socketed gem & the +15 spell dmg enchant? Check!



Eld's Gun, with the signature tank gem, Solid Star of Elune? Check!



Mart's Engineering Mount? Check!



OK... Confession... I farmed 22 Primal Fires... I gave up after that & bought the remaining four from the AH... :p

Next on the list is to start on those quests for Eld's gear. Have to try to get in the run on Crypts and Old Hillsbrad as well...

All Your Bases Belong to Us

Had an amazing AV game last night. Horde absolutely cleaned the house, burning all four Bunkers, holding all four towers, capped both mines and EVERY graveyard. Yup, we owned everything on the map! The only blemish was the loss of Galv, but hey, that's a pretty amazing achievement still. Big props to our D in that game.

Actually, I was really annoyed when someone had capped Snowfall since that & Aid Station were their only graveyards at that time so all the Ally were ressing at Aid Station. BUT they were so inept that we still overran the Aid Station, and capped it. In the end, the Snowfall cap just meant it was even more funny...

I also managed a good run of WSG games, with it being the PvP daily, netting the 20 marks needed for my wrists. In the end, it was a 6 wins with 3 losses run. There were a few turtles, but a few good games, including one where we came back from a 2-0 deficit. One interesting coincidence was this shaman who was in the same WSG as me 6 times in a row! Will still have to run a few more AVs to get the Honor for the gem...

Will now need to monitor the AH for a reasonably priced Veiled Noble Topaz. There were a bunch in there last I checked but the price wasn't right. If not, will need to start looking for a JC in /2. Similarly, will need to start farming the mats for the Spellpower Enchant. Sigh... More Primal Fires... Between this, the gun & the mount, I'm going to need 26 of them! In terms of priority, I'll say this first, then the gun, then the mount...

PvP Update

With a lot of AV farming runs, Eld has got his mits on the Shield and the mount. When I remember, I'll do an update on his Def and health. I'll really need to get some of the confirmed pieces enchanted, though.

Now, the next to go for the PvP grind is my lock, for his wrists (which, unfortunately, means a lot of WSG runs). At the same time, I'll farm the honor to buy the Runed Ornate Ruby to replace one of my red gems (probably on the Girdle) for the little increase in +dmg.

2.3 Released

Well, Blizz released 2.3 on schedule so servers were down last night. I've taken the opportunity to clean out the WTF folder since I haven't done that in awhile. Besides, I'll need to update all my add-ons anyway.

Anyway, list of things to do in 2.3...

All
Go to Dustwallow Marsh and get the new flight point in the Goblin Town

Warlock
Grind for mats for Flying Machine
Grind for the Repair Bot (Gan'arg Analyzers; Blade's Edge Mountain) and Arrow Maker (Sunfury Archers; Netherstorm) recipes

Pally
Relook at the Ret & Prot builds with a number of changes to talents in both trees

Warrior
Relook Talents with the change in Weapon Mastery and Deathwish.
Grind for the Leatherworking Bag Recipe (Ogres in Barrier Hills)
With the change in Tactical Mastery and approaching lvl 70, to relook at maybe Arms Tanking with Mortal Strike
Relook the items to make in light of the new LW receipes

Will also be updating the Rep requirements based on some of the new patterns available.

Epic Belt

Had my first full Heroics run, in Slave Pens and won the Nether with an amazing roll of 100! :)

I ended up buying the Primal Fires on the AH so I've got another upgrade!



You can also see the effect of the new add-on to change the fontset. Needs a bit of experimentation but for now, this font is a vast improvement over the default...

Epic Helm

Finally got a Nether; it dropped of Warp Splinter in normal Bot... Since no one else needed, I finally got my engineering helm made... :)

Woot!

Big night for Mart tonight...

First, managed to get the ring off the Headless Horseman (The Horseman's Signet Ring)... If I had missed it, it wouldn't have been too bad since there is an identical ring but this one with the pumpkin icon is just too cool...

Then, I managed to buy the pattern for the Girdle... Sure it set me back by 1000G but it's not like I had something to do with the money... :)

Now, I really need to get to those Nethers...

Spell Haste

Information is rather sketchy on this, but I think given is that there is little point in hasting something below 1.5 seconds, which is the Global Cooldown. Also, spell haste is calculated after talents.

Now, a few points to keep in mind.

• With Bane, the casting time for Immolate and Shadow Bolt are reduced by 0.5 seconds.
• The only spells I use in combat with casting time are Unstable Affliction (1.5 seconds), Immolate (1.5 seconds with Bane) and Shadow Bolt (2.5 seconds with Bane).

Obviously, it doesn't help with UA & Immolate. With Shadow Bolt, any more than 40% would be wasted. So, Spell Haste only helps one spell. Even though that is spammed during boss fights, I think that +dmg will still be better in the end as that will benefit all spells, including DOTs.

So, for locks (especially affliction locks), I'll rank it about equivalent to +crit. The benefits will be less than +dmg and +hit. Take it if offered, but don't sacrifice those stats for it.

2.3 Badges Highlights

Just to keep an eye on some of the stuff that I should be targetting for 2.3 Badge of Justice turn-ins.

Trinket (75 Badges)
Battlemaster's Audacity

Higher +dmg on equip than the Icon of the Silver Crest. It's good to pair together as both 'Use' abilities have different effect, although Audacity is more survival based, rather than boost to damage. Quagmirran's Eye is still nice, but the difference in +dmg might suggest that this and the Icon are likely to be the two trinkets.

Edit: This is the new PvP trinket. It can also be bought for 30,000 Honour Points and 40 AV Marks

Wand (25 Badges)
Carved Witch Doctor's Stick

Well, better than my current wand, so pretty much a given. The boost isn't that much so might KIV until I've upgraded the rest of the gear.

Hands (60 Badges)
Studious Wraps

Better than the Jaedenfire Gloves of Annihilation so easy decision.

For the rest (mainly the Wrist, Waist & Legs), I need to read up more on how Spell Haste works and if it is beneficial to locks. The off-hand looks to lose too much +dmg compared to the Orb so probably forgo that. The back is a PVP cloak so will skip that.

Edit: After looking at Spell Haste, will be giving the Wrist, Waist and Legs a miss.

Nerf Locks

Sometimes you don't need a smooth run to have fun...

We had a few wipes last night in SL, including a terrible feared mob pull the boss, and wiping to the 6 man trash clear. BUT, the fight with Murmur was memorable.

We had already wiped one time and it was getting late so it was the last attempt. Hunter died early so it was just Pally tanking, Drood was healing and me and mage were DPSing. At about 3-4%, the tank died... Oops... At the next Resonance, the druid & mage fell, 2%... I thought it's game over, since I had already popped my Healthstone and Health Pot. But was determined to go down fighting.

I was fortunate to be reasonably well-topped up with health but low on mana. So Life-tap, activated my trinket and proceeded to DOT & spam Shadowbolts. Another Resonance came in, was still standing (lock Stam ftw!) and Murmur was at 1%. A few more spam and just when I was about to tear my hair out in frustration for being so close, I realised no more black stuff was coming out of my hands and Murmur was no longer targetted... & a huge spear fell from the sky! Woot!

Of course, it was anti-climatic that my jumper cables failed and I spent like 5 minutes waiting for them to dodge respawns etc. to get enough back to summon the rest... But it was fun... :)

Staves

Not really a fan of them, since the +dmg from a Main Hand/Off-hand combo will always be higher (at the cost of raw stats).

However, the following might be useful in their appropriate circumstances

Before getting the Off-hand from Heroic badges:
Terokk's Shadowstaff (Sethekk Halls (H), Talon King Ikiss)

Before getting the dagger from Prince:
Staff of Infinite Mysteries (Karazhan, The Curator)

Heroics and Kara Upgrade

Did the research to see which heroic instance contains upgrades for Mart...

Waist: Glyph-Lined Sash (Mana-Tombs (H), Nexus-Prince Shaffar)
Ring: Cobalt Band of Tyrigosa (Mana-Tombs (H), Nexus-Prince Shaffar)
Trinket: Quagmirran's Eye (Slave Pens (H), Quagmirran)

Not much there...

The Cobalt Band is identical in stats to the ring from the Headless Horseman (as it was on the PTR). If I get that ring, then this ring is not that enticing...

The Girdle is also superior to the Sash, but no sign of the pattern yet.

Either way, time to run Shadow Labs to get Revered with Lower City for the key to Heroic Mana Tombs and time to start looking for Heroic Slave Pens runs.

The following gems (if they drop will be good as well)
Yellow/Red: Shining Fire Opal (The Mechanar (H), Mechano-Lord Capacitus, Pathaleon the Calculator or Nethermancer Sepethrea)
Blue/Red: Glowing Tanzanite (The Black Morass (H), Chrono Lord Deja, Temporus or Aeonus)

Similarly, the following are upgrades from Kara.

Back: Shadow-Cloak of Dalaran (Moroes)
Wrists: Bands of Nefarious Deeds (Maiden of Virtue)
Legs: Trial-Fire Trousers (Romulo, The Crone or The Big Bad Wolf)

Main Hand: Nathrezim Mindblade (Prince Malchezaar)

The following are good for the +hit on raids
Neck: Brooch of Unquenchable Fury (Moroes)
Back: Ruby Drape of the Mysticant (Prince Malchezaar)

Another Tick in the Box

Thanks to ex-SB'ers, and a couple of PUGs, I finally completed Arcatraz. After turning in the quests, that had actually left me 1000 rep short of Revered with Sha'tar. I was resigned to a run of one of the instances. But when I finished the Akama questline, I had a pleasent surprise with a 1000 rep with Sha'tar. Woot! Revered.

Main thing is this opens the possibility of Heroics for Mechanaar, which looks to be rather easy... :) Badges & Primal Nethers, here I come!

Screenshots

Some screenshots of the end-sequence...

Here we go...



Illidan Stormrage...



Oops... Found out...



Escape back to Shat...



Onyx Drake... :)