Guild Stuff
This past weekend with my priest's guild was a little disappointing. Our Ulduar 10 plans for Saturday fell through due to low attendance. Then our Ulduar 25 plans for Sunday also fell through. Even though there were more people on than the day before, still not enough for 25. And our two main raid leaders were unable to play, which made it difficult to coordinate anything. In the end, we did ToC 10 yesterday evening -- more about that below.
It's an interesting study of human behavior. Our two raid leaders are aggressive, charismatic, motivated guys. They are able to get people talking and moving. When they're not around, very little gets done. My fear is that the main one is not going to be around much because of school. And the other one might end up leaving the guild because he's anxious to progress.
My mage's guild went to Ulduar on Friday. We got down four bosses -- Flame Leviathan, Decunstructor, Kologarn and Auriaya. We made a handful of attempts at Hodir and a couple at Ignis. But, we couldn't get either of them down. It was a fun run, though frustrating toward the end. I enjoy playing with those guys.
Trial of the Crusader (10)
As I mentioned above, we did ToC10 last night. The toughest encounter was the PvP style one. We died several times. On the final attempt, they switched the kill order (Priest first) and I kept further back, except when running in to cast Psychic Scream. Those changes in tactics worked and we sailed through it. I think I was part of the cause of the initial wipes. I had been standing too close to the action and was killed by the various AoE abilities the mobs were using.
I got the Binding Light trinket. Though I'm not convinced that it is better than the Majestic Dragon Figurine. I've been wearing the latter for months. I suppose the trinket will only be better if I use the on-use ability intelligently. The problem is, with my priest I don't even remember to use Inner Focus. I'll have to get more diligent about using cooldown abilities. Otherwise, they're a waste.
Naxx 10
Since my guild's plans to run Ulduar on Saturday night fell through, I healed the 2nd half of Naxx 10 for a friend's guild (the mother of one of our raid leaders). That was a fun easy run, and it was good to get familiar with a few members in her guild. They're #7 on our server, so it's good to rub elbows with them.
I made one huge mistake...I stood on the wrong side on Thaddius and wiped the raid. I felt HORRIBLE. The only consolation was that everyone admitted that this guild does it backward compared to all other guilds. But, honestly, it was my own fault. As soon as the polarity shifted, I blanked. I couldn't remember which side to go on. Oh well, the next attempt went without a hitch.
One good thing about going to Naxx -- I was able to test out the setting in Grid to give me a visual clue on the toon that has frost blast on them. A few days ago I mentioned that I had stupidly set it up as a Buff, so it didn't show up. Now that it was set up as a Debuff, it worked perfectly. Big red box on the name...easy to see who to throw the heal on. KT went smoothly.
Alt Leveling
I leveled my shaman a little more until I was called to heal Naxx.
Miscellaneous
I received an in-game mail message from my old guild leader this weekend. He and I have maintained a friendly relationship after the guild split up. So, this message took me by surprise. He asked me if I remembered a while ago having accepted an invite to do an instance but then later removing myself so I could go to a raid instead. I responded telling him I don't remember that exact instance, but I have done that on a few occasions when I know I'm not critical to the event. I think he expected an apology. He's not getting one. Whenever I have removed myself from invites, I have done so well ahead of time. It's my prerogative to change my plans if a more interesting invite comes along. It's better than not removing myself and just blowing off the invite.
He hasn't responded to my response. So, I suspect he's angry at me. I'm not going to play that game with him. He's a good guy, but he's got so many darned rules and expectations of people's behavior. He needs to lighten up.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
August 27, 2009
Miscellaneous
Yesterday was one of my most enjoyable days in WoW in a while. There were no raids scheduled, so no pressure. No drama in any of my guilds. I spent most of my time on my priest. I gathered a group of guildies together and we ran through three heroics. Nice, easy, fun.
I got enough emblems to buy a Sash of Potent Incantations. I had been reluctant to buy any of the emblem items because none seemed like a tremendous upgrade from my current equipment. But, the only other use for them would be for Runed Orbs. I'm not sure I'm on a mission yet to work toward those. So, I decided to take it one step at a time. Buy the emblem items...then start saving for Runed Orbs. Each item is an upgrade, even if only minor. If nothing else, my gear score will be higher.
We're scheduled to finish Ulduar 10 on Saturday (gotta love the new feature to extend raids) and Naxx 25 on Sunday.
Yesterday was one of my most enjoyable days in WoW in a while. There were no raids scheduled, so no pressure. No drama in any of my guilds. I spent most of my time on my priest. I gathered a group of guildies together and we ran through three heroics. Nice, easy, fun.
I got enough emblems to buy a Sash of Potent Incantations. I had been reluctant to buy any of the emblem items because none seemed like a tremendous upgrade from my current equipment. But, the only other use for them would be for Runed Orbs. I'm not sure I'm on a mission yet to work toward those. So, I decided to take it one step at a time. Buy the emblem items...then start saving for Runed Orbs. Each item is an upgrade, even if only minor. If nothing else, my gear score will be higher.
We're scheduled to finish Ulduar 10 on Saturday (gotta love the new feature to extend raids) and Naxx 25 on Sunday.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
August 26, 2009
Guild Stuff
Just a quick post to note that yesterday my mage's guild divided due to disagreements within the officer ranks. I followed to the new guild, having no real ties to the people that remained behind. I'm not really touched emotionally by the change, since I really only know the dozen or so people that moved to the new guild. But, I know others are shaken up by the whole situation.
My priest's guild is kind of quiet so far this week. Some of the key players returned to school on Monday, so I knew there would be a lull. I hope it's temporary and that we get back into raiding. A few people joined the guild yesterday, so maybe we'll get to more 25-man content soon.
Just a quick post to note that yesterday my mage's guild divided due to disagreements within the officer ranks. I followed to the new guild, having no real ties to the people that remained behind. I'm not really touched emotionally by the change, since I really only know the dozen or so people that moved to the new guild. But, I know others are shaken up by the whole situation.
My priest's guild is kind of quiet so far this week. Some of the key players returned to school on Monday, so I knew there would be a lull. I hope it's temporary and that we get back into raiding. A few people joined the guild yesterday, so maybe we'll get to more 25-man content soon.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
August 25, 2009
Guild
Raiding guild
This past Sunday we did a full clear of 25-man Naxx. It went relatively smoothly. I topped the healing charts with the lowest amount of overhealing, so I felt good about that. I had added KT's "Frost Blast" debuff into Grid, so I had hoped to be able to react much more quickly when it came up. But, unfortunately, I realized midway into the fight that I had set it up as a buff, not a debuff. Oh well, next time. lol
I was on an alt yesterday and saw one of my guildies advertising in trade for our raiding guild. It felt really odd. Until now, I've been in completely casual guilds. Invites were given to people based on positive interaction out and about. This is the first time I've been in a guild that openly advertises for members. It made me feel strange. The good thing is that I know it's an awesome group of talented folks, so it's not a sign that we're losers. :)
Alt Leveling
When not in Naxx, I spent most of my time on my Shaman and my Pally. Plugging along.
Tonight I'll be on my main for an OS25 run. I might not stay on long after that though. Feeling kinda tired today. Busy busy busy at work.
Raiding guild
This past Sunday we did a full clear of 25-man Naxx. It went relatively smoothly. I topped the healing charts with the lowest amount of overhealing, so I felt good about that. I had added KT's "Frost Blast" debuff into Grid, so I had hoped to be able to react much more quickly when it came up. But, unfortunately, I realized midway into the fight that I had set it up as a buff, not a debuff. Oh well, next time. lol
I was on an alt yesterday and saw one of my guildies advertising in trade for our raiding guild. It felt really odd. Until now, I've been in completely casual guilds. Invites were given to people based on positive interaction out and about. This is the first time I've been in a guild that openly advertises for members. It made me feel strange. The good thing is that I know it's an awesome group of talented folks, so it's not a sign that we're losers. :)
Alt Leveling
When not in Naxx, I spent most of my time on my Shaman and my Pally. Plugging along.
Tonight I'll be on my main for an OS25 run. I might not stay on long after that though. Feeling kinda tired today. Busy busy busy at work.
Friday, August 21, 2009
August 21, 2009
I now have enough of the Ulduar 10 tier pieces to benefit from the set bonus. Interestingly enough, it is an increase in the crit chance of Prayer of Healing. That's a spell I rarely use because it takes so long to cast. I use it as part of my healing strategy on Loatheb, but besides that, rarely.
Well...after reading around on various sites, I realized I was ignoring a talent that lowers the cast time on PoH -- Serendipity. I was feeling like an idiot for wasting this talent until I realized that it's because they changed it completely in some patch and I hadn't noticed. It used to be a mana regen talent.
Anyway...I made some changes to my spec to cut down on the cost of PoH and Prayer of Mending. I also added a setting in Power Auras to alert me when I had Serendipity charges built up. Then on Wednesday I tried out the new spec. I'm embarrassed to admit that I caused a wipe on the first boss in Heroic ToC because (a) I forgot to switch from the lance back to my equipment, and (b) I was focusing too much on Serendipity and not on actual healing.
But...once I settled into a routine I got the hang of using Serendipity charges. I think I've already seen an improvement in my effectiveness.
Ulduar
We went back to Ulduar on Tuesday and Wednesday. Fresh run. New bosses we got down were:
During the run I got a few drops: Waist: Binding of the Dragon Matriarch, Wand: Nurturing Touch (which has an awesome appearance), Dagger: Plasma Foil (I didn't win the roll for it, but the mage who did, gave it to me when he realized it wasn't better than his current weapon. Gotta love the ability to trade BoPs!).
I also earned enough emblems to get my tier chest: Conquerer's Robe of Sanctification. I'm not 100% sure it's an actual upgrade from the Embrace of Madness that I'm currently wearing. Once I gem and enchant it I'll see. The highest level gems available at this point are really expensive though, so it's painful to buy the gems without being 100% sure it's the direction I want to go. Currently I don't know of a site that allows equipment experimentation including the newest gems. Those I've used in the past still don't recognize the new gems. :(
More About Changes for My Priest
As I mentioned above, I changed my spec for my priest. She's still Holy, but I switched a few talents around to reflect how I actually play. For example, I had Test of Faith. It's a really good talent if you're dealing with people at below 50% often. It's good for tank healing and it shines when healing after Gluth uses his Decimate ability. But, I'm rarely the main tank healer and Gluth is only one out of dozens of encounters. So, it wasn't doing me much good.
My new build is this, with the glyphs: Flash Heal, Circle of Healing and Guardian Spirit. Each of the glyphs are extremely useful to me, especially the ability to cast Guardian Spirit more often.
I still might change my spec again in the future. Mental Agility is very attractive, considering how many of my spells are instant casts (PoM, Renew, CoH, PWS, Guardian Spirit). But, with the new focus on Flash Heal/Binding Heal and Prayer of Healing in order to use Serendipity, I might find I use the instant ones less and less. Time will tell.
One other aspect is gemming. I have been checking out the equipment and gem choices that another priest has made. He's the one who suggested I apply to his big raiding guild while with me in Naxx a few weeks ago. I noticed that he doesn't stack Spirit at all. His gems are all Spell Power and Intellect. He has Mental Agility to help lower the cost of instant spells. But, I wonder if there's something about Intellect I'm missing. Did its mechanic change with a recent patch? So hard to keep up! I do see how stacking Intellect could be really helpful for the General Vezax encounter. It's all about having more mana, not mana regen. But I can't imagine making gem choices based on one single encounter. Hmm...I'll have to find out more about that.
Well...after reading around on various sites, I realized I was ignoring a talent that lowers the cast time on PoH -- Serendipity. I was feeling like an idiot for wasting this talent until I realized that it's because they changed it completely in some patch and I hadn't noticed. It used to be a mana regen talent.
Anyway...I made some changes to my spec to cut down on the cost of PoH and Prayer of Mending. I also added a setting in Power Auras to alert me when I had Serendipity charges built up. Then on Wednesday I tried out the new spec. I'm embarrassed to admit that I caused a wipe on the first boss in Heroic ToC because (a) I forgot to switch from the lance back to my equipment, and (b) I was focusing too much on Serendipity and not on actual healing.
But...once I settled into a routine I got the hang of using Serendipity charges. I think I've already seen an improvement in my effectiveness.
Ulduar
We went back to Ulduar on Tuesday and Wednesday. Fresh run. New bosses we got down were:
- Freya -- One shot! It went much more smoothly than our other attempts.
- Mimiron -- Also one shot! We changed our positioning and it made all the difference.
- General Vezax -- We wiped a few times. But, once we realized our biggest enemy was being too close together when he does his life leeching ability, we changed our positioning and breezed through it. It was incredible how we finished the fight. I had only enough mana left to cast one more Renew. I cast that renew on the tank then started wanding the boss. Moments later, he fell. Had I not saved mana for that last renew, I think we would have lost. That was close...and FUN!
During the run I got a few drops: Waist: Binding of the Dragon Matriarch, Wand: Nurturing Touch (which has an awesome appearance), Dagger: Plasma Foil (I didn't win the roll for it, but the mage who did, gave it to me when he realized it wasn't better than his current weapon. Gotta love the ability to trade BoPs!).
I also earned enough emblems to get my tier chest: Conquerer's Robe of Sanctification. I'm not 100% sure it's an actual upgrade from the Embrace of Madness that I'm currently wearing. Once I gem and enchant it I'll see. The highest level gems available at this point are really expensive though, so it's painful to buy the gems without being 100% sure it's the direction I want to go. Currently I don't know of a site that allows equipment experimentation including the newest gems. Those I've used in the past still don't recognize the new gems. :(
More About Changes for My Priest
As I mentioned above, I changed my spec for my priest. She's still Holy, but I switched a few talents around to reflect how I actually play. For example, I had Test of Faith. It's a really good talent if you're dealing with people at below 50% often. It's good for tank healing and it shines when healing after Gluth uses his Decimate ability. But, I'm rarely the main tank healer and Gluth is only one out of dozens of encounters. So, it wasn't doing me much good.
My new build is this, with the glyphs: Flash Heal, Circle of Healing and Guardian Spirit. Each of the glyphs are extremely useful to me, especially the ability to cast Guardian Spirit more often.
I still might change my spec again in the future. Mental Agility is very attractive, considering how many of my spells are instant casts (PoM, Renew, CoH, PWS, Guardian Spirit). But, with the new focus on Flash Heal/Binding Heal and Prayer of Healing in order to use Serendipity, I might find I use the instant ones less and less. Time will tell.
One other aspect is gemming. I have been checking out the equipment and gem choices that another priest has made. He's the one who suggested I apply to his big raiding guild while with me in Naxx a few weeks ago. I noticed that he doesn't stack Spirit at all. His gems are all Spell Power and Intellect. He has Mental Agility to help lower the cost of instant spells. But, I wonder if there's something about Intellect I'm missing. Did its mechanic change with a recent patch? So hard to keep up! I do see how stacking Intellect could be really helpful for the General Vezax encounter. It's all about having more mana, not mana regen. But I can't imagine making gem choices based on one single encounter. Hmm...I'll have to find out more about that.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
August 18, 2009
Alt Fever, Baby!
Out of the blue I've gotten alt fever again. Just when I was thinking I couldn't live through the level grind one more time, I bought a couple more heirloom items and shipped them off to an alt. This mostly came about because I was trying to decide what to do with all my Emblems of Heroism. There are many things to buy, but in the end, I decided to use them on items that cannot be purchased any other way -- heirloom items.
So...suddenly my Pally and my Shaman have gained a few levels. They're both sharing the Bloodied Arcanite Reaper, the Tattered Dreadmist Mantle and the Swift Hand of Justice. I also own the Discerning Eye of the Beast, but I'm too lazy to switch it back and forth with my druid.
Shaman -- Leveling the Shaman is fun. I'm not 100% sure if I'm playing her "right" or not, but I'm doing OK. I've only died a few times and only when I get unexpected adds. I've learned to use Stoneclaw Totem whenever I get overwhelmed. It works wells for distracting adds so I can focus on one at a time.
Pally -- The Pally is more mindless. I can pretty much hack and slash my way through most encounters. Makes it easy to watch TV while playing her. Just cast Judgement of Light then allow auto-attack to do its work. Refresh the judgment as needed. Rinse and repeat.
Druid -- I played my druid again last night. I really do want to get her to 80 and dual spec Resto / Balance. I found a ZF group and finished a bunch of quests in there. I was really happy with my DPS and survivability. Also, someone who was new to the game banged the gong before we had killed the adds around the pool of water. So, Gahz'Rilla was summoned sooner than expected. We survived due to luck and a little bit of skill. The Priest healer died so I dropped Moonkin form and switched to healing. That made the difference. The nice thing is that healing spells rely on most of the stats that my Moonkin relies on. So I'm a decent off-healer -- better than I would be if my main spec were Feral.
Warlock -- Poor guy. I've been ignoring him. But, as I said in a previous post, I pretty much met my goals with him. So, I'm OK with not focusing on him as much as the others at this point.
Guild
So my priest's guild went back to Ulduar on Sunday, hoping to get down Freya before the reset. Unfortunately, we couldn't assemble the entire group. One interesting thing to note: One of my old guild members who is in this guild with me was complaining that he never gets invites to Ulduar runs. He was complaining that they apparently do them ad-hoc instead of scheduling them. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the runs are actually planned, but he's not getting the invites. Then, on Sunday when we were sitting there waiting for the final two DPS to come on, someone suggested that we invite the complainer just to fill the spot. There were moans and reluctance to invite him. I waited quietly to see why they didn't want to, but they never came out and said it. Then, finally when they decided to give in and invite him, he declined saying that he was saved. Ugh.
We're going back to Ulduar tonight. I'm not sure if we'll start fresh or extend last week's raid. I kinda want to start fresh so I can get drops. But, it would be nice to progress.
Out of the blue I've gotten alt fever again. Just when I was thinking I couldn't live through the level grind one more time, I bought a couple more heirloom items and shipped them off to an alt. This mostly came about because I was trying to decide what to do with all my Emblems of Heroism. There are many things to buy, but in the end, I decided to use them on items that cannot be purchased any other way -- heirloom items.
So...suddenly my Pally and my Shaman have gained a few levels. They're both sharing the Bloodied Arcanite Reaper, the Tattered Dreadmist Mantle and the Swift Hand of Justice. I also own the Discerning Eye of the Beast, but I'm too lazy to switch it back and forth with my druid.
Shaman -- Leveling the Shaman is fun. I'm not 100% sure if I'm playing her "right" or not, but I'm doing OK. I've only died a few times and only when I get unexpected adds. I've learned to use Stoneclaw Totem whenever I get overwhelmed. It works wells for distracting adds so I can focus on one at a time.
Pally -- The Pally is more mindless. I can pretty much hack and slash my way through most encounters. Makes it easy to watch TV while playing her. Just cast Judgement of Light then allow auto-attack to do its work. Refresh the judgment as needed. Rinse and repeat.
Druid -- I played my druid again last night. I really do want to get her to 80 and dual spec Resto / Balance. I found a ZF group and finished a bunch of quests in there. I was really happy with my DPS and survivability. Also, someone who was new to the game banged the gong before we had killed the adds around the pool of water. So, Gahz'Rilla was summoned sooner than expected. We survived due to luck and a little bit of skill. The Priest healer died so I dropped Moonkin form and switched to healing. That made the difference. The nice thing is that healing spells rely on most of the stats that my Moonkin relies on. So I'm a decent off-healer -- better than I would be if my main spec were Feral.
Warlock -- Poor guy. I've been ignoring him. But, as I said in a previous post, I pretty much met my goals with him. So, I'm OK with not focusing on him as much as the others at this point.
Guild
So my priest's guild went back to Ulduar on Sunday, hoping to get down Freya before the reset. Unfortunately, we couldn't assemble the entire group. One interesting thing to note: One of my old guild members who is in this guild with me was complaining that he never gets invites to Ulduar runs. He was complaining that they apparently do them ad-hoc instead of scheduling them. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the runs are actually planned, but he's not getting the invites. Then, on Sunday when we were sitting there waiting for the final two DPS to come on, someone suggested that we invite the complainer just to fill the spot. There were moans and reluctance to invite him. I waited quietly to see why they didn't want to, but they never came out and said it. Then, finally when they decided to give in and invite him, he declined saying that he was saved. Ugh.
We're going back to Ulduar tonight. I'm not sure if we'll start fresh or extend last week's raid. I kinda want to start fresh so I can get drops. But, it would be nice to progress.
Friday, August 14, 2009
August 14, 2009
Ulduar
Let me start off by saying, I am so happy that I put my priest into this new guild. I've enjoyed raiding with them a lot so far.
Last night we returned to Ulduar. We got down
I got three drops too! Combustion Bracers -- although they have +hit on them, they were still an all around upgrade for me. Cloak of the Dormant Blaze and the tier legs. My stats in general have gone up, though my overall mana regen has lowered slightly.
A few weeks ago I was in a group with a priest from one of the top guilds on the server. He pointed out that my build, though good, was mana intensive. He suggested I check out his if I was having mana problems. I've done so and might change mine tonight to see if it makes a difference. His is here. I can see very quickly how it will improve things for me. I use instant spells quite a bit of the time (Renew, Prayer of Mending and Circle of Healing). Mental Agility should really help out. Also, a few of the talents in my build are not really doing me any good, considering how rarely I cast the spells they benefit. I'm excited about seeing how it goes.
Warlock
Not much to say about my warlock. I did dailies and a ToC with him.
Paladin
I was out ill yesterday so I spent some time during the day leveling my Paladin. I was initially only going to use up her rest XP then log out, but I got hooked. I ended up raising her 5 levels. It seems that as much as I think I'm not going to enjoy the leveling process, I end up getting sucked into it. :-) She's wearing the cloth heirloom shoulders. They're not really itemized to help her out, but at least they give her the 10% increase in XP.
She might be the next one I level to 80. But then again, my Shaman and my Druid are looking interesting to me too. :-)
Let me start off by saying, I am so happy that I put my priest into this new guild. I've enjoyed raiding with them a lot so far.
Last night we returned to Ulduar. We got down
- Flame Leviathan
- Razorscale
- Ignis the Furnace Master
- XT-002 Deconstructor
- The Assembly of Iron
- Kologarn
- Hodir
- Thorim
I got three drops too! Combustion Bracers -- although they have +hit on them, they were still an all around upgrade for me. Cloak of the Dormant Blaze and the tier legs. My stats in general have gone up, though my overall mana regen has lowered slightly.
A few weeks ago I was in a group with a priest from one of the top guilds on the server. He pointed out that my build, though good, was mana intensive. He suggested I check out his if I was having mana problems. I've done so and might change mine tonight to see if it makes a difference. His is here. I can see very quickly how it will improve things for me. I use instant spells quite a bit of the time (Renew, Prayer of Mending and Circle of Healing). Mental Agility should really help out. Also, a few of the talents in my build are not really doing me any good, considering how rarely I cast the spells they benefit. I'm excited about seeing how it goes.
Warlock
Not much to say about my warlock. I did dailies and a ToC with him.
Paladin
I was out ill yesterday so I spent some time during the day leveling my Paladin. I was initially only going to use up her rest XP then log out, but I got hooked. I ended up raising her 5 levels. It seems that as much as I think I'm not going to enjoy the leveling process, I end up getting sucked into it. :-) She's wearing the cloth heirloom shoulders. They're not really itemized to help her out, but at least they give her the 10% increase in XP.
She might be the next one I level to 80. But then again, my Shaman and my Druid are looking interesting to me too. :-)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
August 11, 2009
Ulduar
I went to 10-man Ulduar last night with my new guild. We two-person healed it, which was an interesting challenge, considering I don't have Ulduar gear yet. Having done Flame Leviathan several times, and hating gimmicky fights in which you drive vehicles or use special mounts, I was happy to see that they had already beaten a few bosses on a previous trip in. We started at the Shattered Walkway and did three encounters:
Iron Council
Thorim
Hodir
I had a ton of fun. Originally I had planned on only playing for a couple hours. I ended up playing for four hours, going to bed at 2:00 a.m. I have no complaints. It was the most fun I've had in a while. I love learning new fights. I didn't get any drops -- come to think of it, I've never gotten a drop in Ulduar -- but that's no problem. It was fun! And drops will come in time.
I especially enjoyed the Hodir fight. It was quite a challenge as a healer to watch the tank's health, to watch for runes for falling snow and to stand near a fire. Situational awareness at its finest.
This new raid lockout extension option that came with 3.2 is interesting. We didn't finish the whole instance, so tonight we can choose either to let the raid ID reset or to extend it and continue to work our way through. It's a nice option. Not sure which one they'll decide to do. But it will be fun, regardless.
I went to 10-man Ulduar last night with my new guild. We two-person healed it, which was an interesting challenge, considering I don't have Ulduar gear yet. Having done Flame Leviathan several times, and hating gimmicky fights in which you drive vehicles or use special mounts, I was happy to see that they had already beaten a few bosses on a previous trip in. We started at the Shattered Walkway and did three encounters:
Iron Council
Thorim
Hodir
I had a ton of fun. Originally I had planned on only playing for a couple hours. I ended up playing for four hours, going to bed at 2:00 a.m. I have no complaints. It was the most fun I've had in a while. I love learning new fights. I didn't get any drops -- come to think of it, I've never gotten a drop in Ulduar -- but that's no problem. It was fun! And drops will come in time.
I especially enjoyed the Hodir fight. It was quite a challenge as a healer to watch the tank's health, to watch for runes for falling snow and to stand near a fire. Situational awareness at its finest.
This new raid lockout extension option that came with 3.2 is interesting. We didn't finish the whole instance, so tonight we can choose either to let the raid ID reset or to extend it and continue to work our way through. It's a nice option. Not sure which one they'll decide to do. But it will be fun, regardless.
Monday, August 10, 2009
August 10, 2009
What's with the free epics?
I'm on the fence about this situation. The Trial of Champions on regular mode is incredibly easy. (Yes, since I last wrote, I've figured out the strategies so now the fights are easy.) Every boss drops epic items and you can repeat the instance countless times. So...what took weeks in heroic dungeons and Naxx is now possible in just a few days in ToC.
On the one hand, this is great. My warlock has already won three epics in ToC. I can potentially get him as well geared as my mage without ever stepping foot in Naxx. As a casual, non-guilded toon, this situation is perfect. I can run ToC multiple times and walk away with epics that would have otherwise taken me months to get. My little gnome with the mohawk isn't complaining.
On the other hand, my mage went from being well geared to mediocre geared over night. After months of running Naxx on her, I had been really happy with her gear progression. Now, after only a week or so with the new patch, people running ToC match her or have passed her.
I know I'm sounding like an elite player at this point. I hate players with the "You shouldn't get easily that which I worked hard to get" attitude. We all deserve to have fun and to experience the game -- casual or hard core. We should all have a chance at the fun stuff.
So...what's my issue with it? I think it's the number of purples that drop. In a regular lvl 80 instance, all the drops are blue until the final boss. And, as far as I remember, the final boss drops only one epic. So, why did they change that formula with ToC? By doing so, they're handing out epics right and left, cheapening their value.
Hmmm...still on the fence.
Guild
I joined a guild with my priest this past weekend. It's a guild in which there are a few members I know. Some from an old guild of mine. They're progression oriented yet casual. My first 25-man Naxx with them was on Saturday. I must admit, I was shocked by the amount of profanity they spewed. I'm not a prude...but this was excessive. I'll go on a few more runs with them to see if they're always like that. Then I'll decide whether or not to stay.
One real good thing was that I got my Valorous shoulders finally! I'm happy about getting them, despite the fact that they're no longer the best shoulders out there. They're pretty and I've looked forward to them for months. Woo hoo!
I'm on the fence about this situation. The Trial of Champions on regular mode is incredibly easy. (Yes, since I last wrote, I've figured out the strategies so now the fights are easy.) Every boss drops epic items and you can repeat the instance countless times. So...what took weeks in heroic dungeons and Naxx is now possible in just a few days in ToC.
On the one hand, this is great. My warlock has already won three epics in ToC. I can potentially get him as well geared as my mage without ever stepping foot in Naxx. As a casual, non-guilded toon, this situation is perfect. I can run ToC multiple times and walk away with epics that would have otherwise taken me months to get. My little gnome with the mohawk isn't complaining.
On the other hand, my mage went from being well geared to mediocre geared over night. After months of running Naxx on her, I had been really happy with her gear progression. Now, after only a week or so with the new patch, people running ToC match her or have passed her.
I know I'm sounding like an elite player at this point. I hate players with the "You shouldn't get easily that which I worked hard to get" attitude. We all deserve to have fun and to experience the game -- casual or hard core. We should all have a chance at the fun stuff.
So...what's my issue with it? I think it's the number of purples that drop. In a regular lvl 80 instance, all the drops are blue until the final boss. And, as far as I remember, the final boss drops only one epic. So, why did they change that formula with ToC? By doing so, they're handing out epics right and left, cheapening their value.
Hmmm...still on the fence.
Guild
I joined a guild with my priest this past weekend. It's a guild in which there are a few members I know. Some from an old guild of mine. They're progression oriented yet casual. My first 25-man Naxx with them was on Saturday. I must admit, I was shocked by the amount of profanity they spewed. I'm not a prude...but this was excessive. I'll go on a few more runs with them to see if they're always like that. Then I'll decide whether or not to stay.
One real good thing was that I got my Valorous shoulders finally! I'm happy about getting them, despite the fact that they're no longer the best shoulders out there. They're pretty and I've looked forward to them for months. Woo hoo!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
August 5, 2009
Patch 3.2 Has Hit!
Patch 3.2 hit last night and the post-patch experience began. Lag, log in problems, etc. But I won't focus on that, like others do. It's expected and not noteworthy in the least.
What was noteworthy was the Argent Tournament. Yet another area on the map that I had never been to. Sheesh! Where have I been all these months? I was on my mage, content in my faster flight speed and looking forward to our Naxx run when someone in guild said, "who wants to check out the new instance?" Um...huh? OK, I'll admit I've been remiss in reading WoWInsider (or WoW.com, as it is now called). So I haven't been keeping up to date . But I'm really surprised I hadn't noticed that a new instance was coming!
We gathered 10 guildies and were off to the Tournie. The area is cool looking...reminds me of the fairgrounds near where I grew up. After discussing the new Dungeon and Raid settings options, we decided we should do the 10-man raid version, not Heroic. OK...so we wiped. Yeah, a few times. But we had fun doing so. I love the new gimic of the adds jumping on people's backs. That was cute.
After a few wipes, we decided to try the 5-man regular. I know elite players will turn their noses up at me for saying this, but it was hard! First, I'm just not good at encounters that require me to work with a pet. I'm just not. No two ways about it. No question. Nope, nuh uh. I suck at it. So the first part, where you have to joust the enemy, it felt like chaos to me. And, even though we all died, we actually got past that phase. (I'll have to read up on it to understand the logic of that.) But, moving on...the rest of the instance was pretty much standard stuff. Our druid healer was constantly running low on mana...and we were only on the 5-man regular! Holy mana, Batman! We finished it and were disappointed to see only ilvl 200 items. This was way harder than any of the regular 5-man dungeons. How could the purples be the same quality?
Despite finding the regular version challenging, we tried doing the heroic version. Ugh! Even worse, as one would expect. We wiped on the jousting, causing it to reset. Then we wiped again, but made it past the phase. WTF? I just don't understand that. Then the first encounter with the three representatives of the Horde cities? Wipe fest again. We called it a night after 3 wipes.
Oy vey! Either we were just not getting the stategies, or these dungeons are tuned much tougher than the other lvl 80 dungeons. I'll have to do some reading...
Other stuff?
I didn't spend any time on my other toons. Because of the patch problems, I got a late start. So the little time I had was spent on my mage with the new content.
Not sure if I'll play again tonight. The first part of the So You Think You Can Dance finale is tonight. I can't wait to see all the performances.
Patch 3.2 hit last night and the post-patch experience began. Lag, log in problems, etc. But I won't focus on that, like others do. It's expected and not noteworthy in the least.
What was noteworthy was the Argent Tournament. Yet another area on the map that I had never been to. Sheesh! Where have I been all these months? I was on my mage, content in my faster flight speed and looking forward to our Naxx run when someone in guild said, "who wants to check out the new instance?" Um...huh? OK, I'll admit I've been remiss in reading WoWInsider (or WoW.com, as it is now called). So I haven't been keeping up to date . But I'm really surprised I hadn't noticed that a new instance was coming!
We gathered 10 guildies and were off to the Tournie. The area is cool looking...reminds me of the fairgrounds near where I grew up. After discussing the new Dungeon and Raid settings options, we decided we should do the 10-man raid version, not Heroic. OK...so we wiped. Yeah, a few times. But we had fun doing so. I love the new gimic of the adds jumping on people's backs. That was cute.
After a few wipes, we decided to try the 5-man regular. I know elite players will turn their noses up at me for saying this, but it was hard! First, I'm just not good at encounters that require me to work with a pet. I'm just not. No two ways about it. No question. Nope, nuh uh. I suck at it. So the first part, where you have to joust the enemy, it felt like chaos to me. And, even though we all died, we actually got past that phase. (I'll have to read up on it to understand the logic of that.) But, moving on...the rest of the instance was pretty much standard stuff. Our druid healer was constantly running low on mana...and we were only on the 5-man regular! Holy mana, Batman! We finished it and were disappointed to see only ilvl 200 items. This was way harder than any of the regular 5-man dungeons. How could the purples be the same quality?
Despite finding the regular version challenging, we tried doing the heroic version. Ugh! Even worse, as one would expect. We wiped on the jousting, causing it to reset. Then we wiped again, but made it past the phase. WTF? I just don't understand that. Then the first encounter with the three representatives of the Horde cities? Wipe fest again. We called it a night after 3 wipes.
Oy vey! Either we were just not getting the stategies, or these dungeons are tuned much tougher than the other lvl 80 dungeons. I'll have to do some reading...
Other stuff?
I didn't spend any time on my other toons. Because of the patch problems, I got a late start. So the little time I had was spent on my mage with the new content.
Not sure if I'll play again tonight. The first part of the So You Think You Can Dance finale is tonight. I can't wait to see all the performances.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
August 4, 2009
Last night held a surprising turn for me. I logged into my mage to see if anything was going on in the guild. It was fairly quiet and there were no events on the calendar. I asked if anyone wanted to run a heroic, but no one was interested.
So, I switched to my priest to do her fishing and cooking dailies. I hadn't even finished the mushroom gathering in town before I received a random whisper asking if I wanted to heal 25-man Naxx. I hadn't intended to spend much time playing last night, but it was the first invite I had received in a while. So, I accepted.
Over an hour later (ugh!), they filled the raid and we were off! They had already cleared Arachnid and Construct up to Gluth. We ran through the pipe, dropped down and went after that big dog. Wipe#1 - No one had been assigned to take care of the zombies.
The rest of the run was like that. Wipe after wipe -- often on trash. The people in the guild were loud, obnoxius, silly and unfocused. It was enough to drive one crazy! But, the biggest surprise....we finished it. We wiped first on KT only because someone aggroed the entire room. On the second try we got him down, no sweat. Fun fun! So...I guess despite their lack of focus (some were clearly smoking pot and drinking), they knew their stuff. Of course, many were geared in Ulduar gear, so they out-geared the instance.
Which brings me to the point about this being an interesting turn. A few people noticed I was guildless last night. Two outright invited me to their guilds. The third suggested I apply to theirs because, "You're really good." Of course, the one I'm interested in the most is that last one. Human nature, I suppose. We don't want what's easy to get. We're intrigued by those things we have to work for. Go to a bar and get surrounded by men? Feh! Get away! See the man across the room that doesn't do more than glance at you? Dream about him for nights to come.
Decision making time. Do I accept a guild invite with people I know but might not be clearing content? Or do I apply to a more serious guild and play that whole game?
Stay tuned.
Oh...I got a few drops. One was an amulet, but it is not showing up on the armory. I think it was this.
The second was a staff called Damnation. According to WoWhead, it's the best staff for holy priests. It might be a good staff, but it lowers my SP and Spirit. Maybe after I enchant it, I'll like it better. I sure do like the way it looks. :) I wore it for a few fights last night just because of the way it looks, despite lowering my key stats a little.
The third piece was the Touch of Horror, a wand that was definitely an upgrade.
Good night, though it went very late. The people were annoying me so much that I was tempted a few times to call it quits. But, I'm glad I stuck it out.
So, I switched to my priest to do her fishing and cooking dailies. I hadn't even finished the mushroom gathering in town before I received a random whisper asking if I wanted to heal 25-man Naxx. I hadn't intended to spend much time playing last night, but it was the first invite I had received in a while. So, I accepted.
Over an hour later (ugh!), they filled the raid and we were off! They had already cleared Arachnid and Construct up to Gluth. We ran through the pipe, dropped down and went after that big dog. Wipe#1 - No one had been assigned to take care of the zombies.
The rest of the run was like that. Wipe after wipe -- often on trash. The people in the guild were loud, obnoxius, silly and unfocused. It was enough to drive one crazy! But, the biggest surprise....we finished it. We wiped first on KT only because someone aggroed the entire room. On the second try we got him down, no sweat. Fun fun! So...I guess despite their lack of focus (some were clearly smoking pot and drinking), they knew their stuff. Of course, many were geared in Ulduar gear, so they out-geared the instance.
Which brings me to the point about this being an interesting turn. A few people noticed I was guildless last night. Two outright invited me to their guilds. The third suggested I apply to theirs because, "You're really good." Of course, the one I'm interested in the most is that last one. Human nature, I suppose. We don't want what's easy to get. We're intrigued by those things we have to work for. Go to a bar and get surrounded by men? Feh! Get away! See the man across the room that doesn't do more than glance at you? Dream about him for nights to come.
Decision making time. Do I accept a guild invite with people I know but might not be clearing content? Or do I apply to a more serious guild and play that whole game?
Stay tuned.
Oh...I got a few drops. One was an amulet, but it is not showing up on the armory. I think it was this.
The second was a staff called Damnation. According to WoWhead, it's the best staff for holy priests. It might be a good staff, but it lowers my SP and Spirit. Maybe after I enchant it, I'll like it better. I sure do like the way it looks. :) I wore it for a few fights last night just because of the way it looks, despite lowering my key stats a little.
The third piece was the Touch of Horror, a wand that was definitely an upgrade.
Good night, though it went very late. The people were annoying me so much that I was tempted a few times to call it quits. But, I'm glad I stuck it out.
Monday, August 3, 2009
August 3, 2009
It has been a while since I made an entry here. I've been very busy at work and have not had a lot of motivation to play lately. And thus, no reason to write. But...let's see if I can summarize what has gone on in WoW since I last wrote.
Warlock Leveling
I reached lvl 80 on my warlock last week. The last few levels seemed to take forever, until I realized it was because I wasn't playing more than an hour or two at a time, 2-3 days a week. It also was fairly difficult to find groups to run dungeons with. So most of my gear and xp was coming from quests.
One memorable dungeon run was in Violet Hold. It was with a really bad Prot Pally who couldn't (1) keep aggro, (2) react quickly enough to the opening of portals, (3) use Consecrate. A shadow priest and I were having a real hard time, constantly drawing aggro. We would hold off dpsing for longer than normal, allowing the "tank" extra time to gain aggro. But it didn't work. Bad PuGs are a dime a dozen. But what made this one special was that at one point we were about to wipe and I was the last one standing. The mob was coming after me. I was an inch from death when Haunt flew back at me, healing me for just enough to stay alive. All my dots on the mobs hit and it fell. Power to the warlocks!!!!! I scratched my imp's neck while the other ran back into the instance. We ended up wiping again and losing the whole thing, but I still hold that memory fondly.
The good thing about the extra questing to 80 was that I went further into the Icecrown quests than I have on any other toon. On my mage and priest, I hit 80 in Storm Peaks and/or early Ice Crown then went right to heroics and raiding. Since my warlock is guildless (or, I should say, he's my bank alt and sole member of his own guild), finding groups to do instances with has been hard -- as I noted above. So, I continued questing in Icecrown and found out there actually were dailies there! =)
Now, I've flown around Icecrown a zillion times on my priest, looking for ore. But, in all that time, I never, ever, ever saw Onslaught Harbor. Imagine my surprise when I went to Death's Rise and picked up a quest that sent me to an area in the ocean. A whole new area!!! And the cloth drop rate there, astounding! So, I can say that everything happened for a reason. I needed a place to farm cloth and I needed to experience new content. I got both at the same time!
Speaking of farming cloth...I made a flying carpet! Tons o' fun! =) I remembered a friend of mine in my old guild showing me his when he first created it. I had wanted ever since to have my own. I was pleasantly surprise to see that my legs didn't dangle below it like my friend's legs did. I wonder if that's because I'm a gnome or if it's something they have changed at some point.
Oh...and that reminds me of a post I made in May about my goals. Here's the portion for my warlock:
Warlock
Level him to 80. - Done
Get into at least one raid. - Done but not done. (see below)
Get him to max Tailoring - Almost -- 431
Make a carpet mount. - Done
So, I'm doing pretty well. I think the reason I initially said "max tailoring" was because I thought I couldn't make a carpet until reaching 450. I was happy to see I could make it at 420 or somewhere around there. I'll have to look at the tailoring recipes to see if maxing it is even worth it.
As for the goal of getting into at least one raid...well, I did get into a Naxx run, but I don't consider that goal officially met. I was farming cloth in Onslaught Harbor when I saw a message in LFG for a DPS to join an in-progress Naxx run. "Must know all fights". Well, if nothing else, I know all the fights in Naxx backwards and forwards. So, I got an invite. They were on Thaddius. We went to take down the first two mobs and wiped immediately because the left side pulled the mob too far from the charge. Clearly they had tried it a few times before I joined because after only that one wipe, they decided to go to Military. At Instructor we wiped a first time due to mistakes on the tanks' part. We tried again but wiped...I'm not sure why on that try. Then they chose to call it quits. So...I got into a raid, which theoretically satisfies that goal. But, it really wasn't a good enough experience for me to mark it off my list just yet.
Two interesting things came out of that run.
First Ninja Experience
One more experience on my warlock. I saw, for the first time that I can remember, an evil ninja last night. It was an Heroic Nexus run. The lead was a very good tank. We sailed through it easily. On each of the drops he kept reminding everyone that he could DE. But he didn't overdo it by needing on them or anything. Then, when we got to the final boss, after the fight started he switched to Master Loot. We all missed it, of course, because it was lost in the chat screen. After the kill, he took everything and said, "That's why I'm an excellent tank. I f*ing steal sh*t. He left...with all of us just standing there saying "wtf".
Something tells me this wasn't the first ninja I have experienced. But, this was definitely memorable because it was so blatant. I logged and couldn't play for the rest of the night because I was so bothered by that.
Other stuff
I have played my other toons only a handful of times in the last month. The one time I played my priest recently I got the mount from the CoS timed run. That was fun!
Warlock Leveling
I reached lvl 80 on my warlock last week. The last few levels seemed to take forever, until I realized it was because I wasn't playing more than an hour or two at a time, 2-3 days a week. It also was fairly difficult to find groups to run dungeons with. So most of my gear and xp was coming from quests.
One memorable dungeon run was in Violet Hold. It was with a really bad Prot Pally who couldn't (1) keep aggro, (2) react quickly enough to the opening of portals, (3) use Consecrate. A shadow priest and I were having a real hard time, constantly drawing aggro. We would hold off dpsing for longer than normal, allowing the "tank" extra time to gain aggro. But it didn't work. Bad PuGs are a dime a dozen. But what made this one special was that at one point we were about to wipe and I was the last one standing. The mob was coming after me. I was an inch from death when Haunt flew back at me, healing me for just enough to stay alive. All my dots on the mobs hit and it fell. Power to the warlocks!!!!! I scratched my imp's neck while the other ran back into the instance. We ended up wiping again and losing the whole thing, but I still hold that memory fondly.
The good thing about the extra questing to 80 was that I went further into the Icecrown quests than I have on any other toon. On my mage and priest, I hit 80 in Storm Peaks and/or early Ice Crown then went right to heroics and raiding. Since my warlock is guildless (or, I should say, he's my bank alt and sole member of his own guild), finding groups to do instances with has been hard -- as I noted above. So, I continued questing in Icecrown and found out there actually were dailies there! =)
Now, I've flown around Icecrown a zillion times on my priest, looking for ore. But, in all that time, I never, ever, ever saw Onslaught Harbor. Imagine my surprise when I went to Death's Rise and picked up a quest that sent me to an area in the ocean. A whole new area!!! And the cloth drop rate there, astounding! So, I can say that everything happened for a reason. I needed a place to farm cloth and I needed to experience new content. I got both at the same time!
Speaking of farming cloth...I made a flying carpet! Tons o' fun! =) I remembered a friend of mine in my old guild showing me his when he first created it. I had wanted ever since to have my own. I was pleasantly surprise to see that my legs didn't dangle below it like my friend's legs did. I wonder if that's because I'm a gnome or if it's something they have changed at some point.
Oh...and that reminds me of a post I made in May about my goals. Here's the portion for my warlock:
Warlock
Level him to 80. - Done
Get into at least one raid. - Done but not done. (see below)
Get him to max Tailoring - Almost -- 431
Make a carpet mount. - Done
So, I'm doing pretty well. I think the reason I initially said "max tailoring" was because I thought I couldn't make a carpet until reaching 450. I was happy to see I could make it at 420 or somewhere around there. I'll have to look at the tailoring recipes to see if maxing it is even worth it.
As for the goal of getting into at least one raid...well, I did get into a Naxx run, but I don't consider that goal officially met. I was farming cloth in Onslaught Harbor when I saw a message in LFG for a DPS to join an in-progress Naxx run. "Must know all fights". Well, if nothing else, I know all the fights in Naxx backwards and forwards. So, I got an invite. They were on Thaddius. We went to take down the first two mobs and wiped immediately because the left side pulled the mob too far from the charge. Clearly they had tried it a few times before I joined because after only that one wipe, they decided to go to Military. At Instructor we wiped a first time due to mistakes on the tanks' part. We tried again but wiped...I'm not sure why on that try. Then they chose to call it quits. So...I got into a raid, which theoretically satisfies that goal. But, it really wasn't a good enough experience for me to mark it off my list just yet.
Two interesting things came out of that run.
- I realized how spoiled I was on my priest and mage. My priest, just by virtue of being a healer, got into Naxx fairly easily and was able to perform well enough. When my mage hit 80 I made a point of getting +hit gear and was able to get into Naxx fairly quickly. Both had the benefit of being in a guild and having support from the members. My warlock, on the other hand, doesn't have enough hit yet to do raids. I barely did any damage while I was in Naxx. A completely different experience. I've been tempted to switch ownership of my bank guild to another toon so I can join a guild on my warlock. But, so far I've resisted that. I'm enjoying the challenge and perspective I'm getting from being guildless and friendless.
- While on Instructor another warlock in the group yelled at me to stop using Drain Soul. I was surprised. Instructor was at 3%; all of my dots were up; Shadow Embrace had two...um...charges or whatever that word is. Why not use Drain Soul? I whispered the warlock asking that, stating that it was doing 4x damage at that point. But he never responded. And...the raid was abandoned a few minutes later. I'll have to look into that. Perhaps Drain Soul is just not used by raiding warlocks? Or maybe just on Instructor because he has so many hit points or something? I hate not knowing the whys and wherefores of things like that.
First Ninja Experience
One more experience on my warlock. I saw, for the first time that I can remember, an evil ninja last night. It was an Heroic Nexus run. The lead was a very good tank. We sailed through it easily. On each of the drops he kept reminding everyone that he could DE. But he didn't overdo it by needing on them or anything. Then, when we got to the final boss, after the fight started he switched to Master Loot. We all missed it, of course, because it was lost in the chat screen. After the kill, he took everything and said, "That's why I'm an excellent tank. I f*ing steal sh*t. He left...with all of us just standing there saying "wtf".
Something tells me this wasn't the first ninja I have experienced. But, this was definitely memorable because it was so blatant. I logged and couldn't play for the rest of the night because I was so bothered by that.
Other stuff
I have played my other toons only a handful of times in the last month. The one time I played my priest recently I got the mount from the CoS timed run. That was fun!
Level Check
Level check as of today:
| Death Knight | Unholy | 72 |
| Druid | Balance | 47 |
| Hunter | BM | 71 |
| Mage | Arcane | 80 |
| Paladin | (no talents) | 7 |
| Priest | Holy | 80 |
| Rogue | (no talents) | 29 |
| Shaman | (no talents) | 18 |
| Warlock | Affliction | 80 (+17) |
| Warrior | (no talents) | 34 |
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