Another evening sat in the catacombs at Butlins Covent Garden. Tonight, I've so far discovered that its now impossible to buy a coffee in this locale after 9pm, and that I should have brought my own (they took away our machine recently). I could buy a cold beer in any number of nearby locations, as my last ten years bank statements will testify, but this doesn't help in the staying awake, taking care of business stakes...
I have also discovered how to use the terribly clever electric flying system (tm) I spend half my life using in a more efficient way, and it doesnt surprise me in the slightest that I have been using it cackhandedly for the past 18 months. The control surface is the least intuitive thing ever invented, and would test the patience of Job. I have still been better at this gubbins than my colleagues through persistence, now I'm just going to make the flown scenery do magic tricks and pour the drinks. I go into large Fit Up mode the day after tomorrow, so we will see how this new knowledge pays off then.
Having settled for warm coca cola after a brief smoke on the terrace, all is well here. Covent Garden Piazza when there's nobody there is pretty special, and the clear sky is very good. the "heat wave" we have been experiencing is taking its bow, and hopefully it'll settle down to something pleasant for working in. Today we walked from Canary wharf all the way home, in order to look at some of the old river buildings from the industrial past. It took 3 hours, including stopping to admire the view a lot, and have chips outside the marine police headquarters in Wapping. I need to do more of this business I think, as this city seems to be changing all the time, and you never know what you're going to see.
Earlier this evening I was having a pretty good time in WSG where a few weeks patience is paying off in the 19 bracket, and minor celebrity status beckons (It would appear there aren't that many mages who bother to play regularly or tool up). Not quite the celebrity afforded hunters like Silks of Hellscream, who is truly incredible, and has WSG nailed, or in fact any of the other members of his guild The Borg, who I have seen in action. I feel a bit like Louis Theroux or Michael Palin on my travels through the world of Twinkcraft. Wandering through, bemused that there's all these long term guys, really avid about what they're doing; and hosts of wannabes, guys who go in at level ten to start getting honour, and are more at home in the battleground than anywhere else. I can't believe there are players levelling a character to nineteen, and then getting the Diplomat title on that character. I don't know how you do that, but I've now seen it (I guess you just buy all the repeat quest items, for weeks). I've seen quite a few Nobles too, which I thought was good going initially, but then it turns out its just a de rigeur title to have. The philosophy seems to be that if something is possible at nineteen, you should have achieved it, whether it has a bearing on your crit rating or not. It is not viewed as an exploit, nor a cheat, it is merely a wierd exploration of what the game has to offer, by people who like the cultish status this devotion to detail affords you. Its a substrata of the game mined out by nerds, for nerds, and as such, its very appealing!
in other news, Pvp with the paladin got a little stale at the weekend, although I was in a clumsy mood all day saturday, and the AV I got stuck into Sunday was a silver lining on the cloud. 2 wins in quick succession, with me taking 2 graveyards, which was unusually proactive when there were so many melee to heal. Another slice of fried gold was winning my first duel. Then my second duel, then losing the third, then winning the fourth and losing duels five, six and seven in order to learn a bit about whats happening, and demonstrate how easy druids make it look! I almost manage to look good at Retribution, I do know the order of things, but I'm chronically slow with my reactions after certain spells, and frankly I deserve all the pastings I get. My thanks to Etharil for the lesson:-) Interestingly, I wasn't wearing any of my gladiator gear at the time, and it only furthered my disillusionment with wearing all pvp gear. My attack power is dangerously low in that stuff, and while the Crit is moderate, and the Resillience is obviously lovely, what's the point if you can't punch half as hard as your raiding set? As for the healer kit, I am happy with it, as the survivablility is crucial, and the Spell power and output is reasonable. There's also class specific set bonuses to improve things. Maybe repeating the dueling exercise in the other set would provide a useful illustration of the differences. Particularly if someone crafts me an anti-cyclone hat...
I have gained 2 levels on the mid 30s Warrior too over the weekend, but its softly softly there, as he is only really for fun and games. the "Charge" never gets old, and as a herbalist with an extra HoT and lots of healing potions, I just melee from one end of Arathi Highlands to the other, barely pausing for breath. He's also cooking and fishing king, supplying the mage, and finding interesting things to AH, like dumb recipes for completists, and odd mats. I levelled this guy to artisan fishing before I got there with Noah, so Fishing is just part of the character, in the unconscious Roleplayer state I tend to view them. Untrue to my own words, I havent done any instances with this guy, and I don't think I will get around to it either. my rotation is still very hit and miss, and I keep changing my mind about spec and rage management. I guess I should look up the cookie cutter levelling guide, like the one on Tankspot I remember reading ages ago, but I can't be bothered. He's still caining the raptors, so I don't mind if he's a bit slower than the average.
Monday, 1 June 2009
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
10/18 and all's clean...
Setting off for Stranglethorn Vale over the next few weeks. Am working night shifts, so Ive got ample opportunity to plan a few things, like levelling my alts more efficiently (i.e, working out what levels I can get decent crafted gear at beforehand, what zones to stop and catch up on fishing, etc), and getting the fishing hat for the teenage (rampage) mage.
I do shed loads of fishing. I love it. Theres nothing like winding down with a bit of fishing. I like real life fishing, but as the Thames in central London is a tricky river to fish safely, Wow is a good second. Put the radio on, open the Red Stripe or get a coffee, and just fly from pool to pool. from Dal to Sholazar, then Harold Lanes pond in Borean, then Grizlly Hills. In an hour, youll have more fish feast than you could get through on a host of wipes. And plenty of Salmon for your healers is always nice.
I don't do shed loads of dailies. I can't bring myself to lately. I read plenty of gear about the average income and gains on doing 10 dailies, or doing the whole of the argent tournament fandango, but I just can't get into it. Ive only got exalted with the Oracles, and that was because I liked the business with the 7 day egg and killing hordes of bad racoons with Consecrate and Gemstones.
The new outfit option that Blizz has built is very good. Its pleasing to have one less thing to update. Its only Bartender 4 that's really game changing for me now. The AH is fairly obvious without auctioneer, and Omen is merely icing on Blizzards own cake. I should download the Boss mods, but my laptop is struggling with the improved graphics of Wrath, so I'll leave it to those with towers and big screens to call the routes and manouevres. on this front, I'm not PvE orientated by dint of my RL schedule, but it is good to get in the 10man team and hand out a little justice to a target that isnt trying to run around you in a circle.
Have just discovered a new blog about Retribution Paladins in PVP. Its by some guy called Hofflerand, and its awesome. Truly everything you ever wanted to know about why Rets do what they do, mostly in their smug Blood Elf way. I will link it here later. Its amazing, an arena junkie writing really well, from the very top of the table in season 6. This guy makes you want to hang up your hammer, even more than the other melee classes (apart from you, warriors) already do.
I do shed loads of fishing. I love it. Theres nothing like winding down with a bit of fishing. I like real life fishing, but as the Thames in central London is a tricky river to fish safely, Wow is a good second. Put the radio on, open the Red Stripe or get a coffee, and just fly from pool to pool. from Dal to Sholazar, then Harold Lanes pond in Borean, then Grizlly Hills. In an hour, youll have more fish feast than you could get through on a host of wipes. And plenty of Salmon for your healers is always nice.
I don't do shed loads of dailies. I can't bring myself to lately. I read plenty of gear about the average income and gains on doing 10 dailies, or doing the whole of the argent tournament fandango, but I just can't get into it. Ive only got exalted with the Oracles, and that was because I liked the business with the 7 day egg and killing hordes of bad racoons with Consecrate and Gemstones.
The new outfit option that Blizz has built is very good. Its pleasing to have one less thing to update. Its only Bartender 4 that's really game changing for me now. The AH is fairly obvious without auctioneer, and Omen is merely icing on Blizzards own cake. I should download the Boss mods, but my laptop is struggling with the improved graphics of Wrath, so I'll leave it to those with towers and big screens to call the routes and manouevres. on this front, I'm not PvE orientated by dint of my RL schedule, but it is good to get in the 10man team and hand out a little justice to a target that isnt trying to run around you in a circle.
Have just discovered a new blog about Retribution Paladins in PVP. Its by some guy called Hofflerand, and its awesome. Truly everything you ever wanted to know about why Rets do what they do, mostly in their smug Blood Elf way. I will link it here later. Its amazing, an arena junkie writing really well, from the very top of the table in season 6. This guy makes you want to hang up your hammer, even more than the other melee classes (apart from you, warriors) already do.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Old-school BattleGround fun and games
Its time to put fingers to keyboard again as I've got Battle Grounds on my mind. I wrote about Strand of the Ancients when it was fresh and new, and I am a little sad that I havent really kept up with current thinking on that theatre of war, as I have been on something of an odyssey involving the other ones.
My favourite BG at the present time is Arathi Basin, and I have finally made it to friendly with the league of Arathor, which seems (bizarrely) like something of a milestone, even though it affects nothing at the moment. I have the easy achievements for all the BGs now, and am working on AB and WSG quite a bit, trying to get to the minutiae of the tactics involved. The Basin can be really awesome when you roll the opponent before you at the start of the match, which is technically quite easy if you've got some heavy hitters or fast movers, and the optimum situation is where you have forced them all into respawning at one end, and just contain them for the 2 minutes you need to win if you've got all 5 flags capped. In my first 15 games of last month, 10 games went more or less like this, which is heady stuff in our battlegroup. It has been more mixed recently, but AB provides the most interesting variety of situations to be in; Will the base you've chosen to guard or assault become the flag you spend the whole twenty minutes fighting for? Will the stealthy operative, who you are guarding the flag with, actually be looking at you when you get jumped? Is this Shaman any good at healing, and therefore nearly impossible to kill, or will he just die really easily, as it seems 70% of shamans do? can you respawn in time to defend the flag you died at? Or will the assaulted flag switch sides, and force you to quantum leap back to Stables, waking up dazed and confused, miles from the target... Questions, questions.
The battle for Warsong Gulch offers you none of these complexities. The question here is often; are we going to be beaten with big sticks, or do we get to do the beating? There is no subtlety to it really, but it is still a game worth playing. The main business, i.e, the business of getting the your flagcarrier on the roof and then chasing the enemy flag carrier is something that up until very recently I found really perplexing, but only because it is not carefully explained that in order to capture a flag, the enemy cannot be carrying yours. Its very simple, and it must seem so obvious to those who were around when the bgs were just kicking off, but for many who turn up in WSG looking for a punchup it is easy to assume that the business with the flags is just a cheeky footrace - who ever caps theirs first scores the goal. As I never carry flags, the primary evidence never presented itself to me otherwise.
Slowly, I am building a suit of gear (my Retribution pvp set, outfitter tag fans) with Krakenoah that is expressly for the purpose of carrying flags, and I intend to spend one sunday in WSG chasing the Ironman achievement. Three flags in a row in one quick, smash and grab game. I only pvp as Ret for this purpose, and find healing and fighting at range far more satisfying. Partly because I switch targets in a slightly clunky way, and don't do the jumpy dancing quite as well as most of Magtheridon do. My main interest in WSG currently lies in the 10 to 19 bracket where my mage is doing very nicely. As a fire mage with a 1000 hp at lvl 19, I am working on all the achievements, starting with the defender titles, as defence is a game I really enjoy, and a mage is the best equipped to deal with it in many ways. I wish I had a bit more speed perhaps, but crowd control and AoE are hilariously effective sometimes, particularly when I've got surprise (or a good rogue bodyguard) on my side.
I've never held an opinion on twinking before, however, the Horde are always well equipped, and the culture of twinking is alive and well on our battlegroup, so I feel the small amount of gold I've spent on this process is well spent. Were the players and the games not there, I'd sack it and probably level the mage. Also, the Gulch comes down to one-on-one so often that I think it is the easiest way to test yourself as a player, particularly in the 19 bracket when all you've got is 5 spells and no "nuclear" capability. I've indulged in a few of the classic protocols for twink characters too, by maxing his professions to 150, and enchanting the best blues I can find. I've even been for a wander round Shadowfang Keep looking for classic items, but that was more with an eye to recouping my costs than shopping. I have had so little time for the game in the last 2 months, compared to most of last year, that doing some of the generic fun stuff, like builidng a twink, or equipping your banker with a dinner suit, has actually been fun, and accessible with not much time on your hands.
I am still trying to picture how a WSG premade ought to go. You don't see many advertised these days, but I feel like I might try to kick one off soon, once I've worked out the class balance I'd like to see. I might have to build a premade for the Ironman run, and even then it would be better if is built from people I know. At 19, you wouldn't need as many healer types as you'd need at 80, where I think you want 3 melee dps (me, I like Cats, but Rogues or DKs would be the trad choice), 1 Hunter and 2 Priests as your attack group, and 2 Paladins, 2 Mages or Locks as your defence team. To be honest, at 80, you could probably have 8 locks and a couple of feral druids and do really well, and the druids would only be there for the occasional burst of speed and flavour. Some of the pundits are saying that Locks aren't as overpowering as they used to be, but they are still the ones for really putting you on the ropes. Multiple fears and DoTs will take out 90% of the regular BG crowd. The availability of the battlemasters trinkets in 3.1 could provide an answer to this, but then the Lock might well be wearing hers too.
I realise now that there wasn't much of a point to this article, other than as a counterpoint to the things I read which morosely describe the BGs as dead in the water, and a lot of the guff you get in the trade channel from kids so hyped up on cola they can't concentrate on doing anything else but dancing in Ironforge and bickering over the price of vanity pets. I think that the low level grounds are excellent, and given a proper chance, can demonstrate the variety of the game and let you practise a few new ideas. To get the same experience outside of WoW, you could probably go paintballing with strangers, but that's generally more expensive and will almost definitely involve leaving the house. Alterac Valley is more problematic to defend as a "good time", because whilst it is more of an interesting tactical war than all of the others, Its very hard to get the numbers in there to make it worthwhile, and it will be a 10 versus 40 whitewash nearly every time. When it is balanced, the way that the numbers go in reverse to the other BGs is fascinating, and the little mini quests and wing commander missions business is great for the feel of the thing. I hope we see some renewed interest in it in a future patch. I'm halfway through revered with the Stormpike, so I will almost certainly be returning at some point, if only to get my Exalted ticket, and get hailed in my home city. I may have to do it soon anyway, as that little quest and scene happens so little these days they'll probably remove it and no one will notice.
My favourite BG at the present time is Arathi Basin, and I have finally made it to friendly with the league of Arathor, which seems (bizarrely) like something of a milestone, even though it affects nothing at the moment. I have the easy achievements for all the BGs now, and am working on AB and WSG quite a bit, trying to get to the minutiae of the tactics involved. The Basin can be really awesome when you roll the opponent before you at the start of the match, which is technically quite easy if you've got some heavy hitters or fast movers, and the optimum situation is where you have forced them all into respawning at one end, and just contain them for the 2 minutes you need to win if you've got all 5 flags capped. In my first 15 games of last month, 10 games went more or less like this, which is heady stuff in our battlegroup. It has been more mixed recently, but AB provides the most interesting variety of situations to be in; Will the base you've chosen to guard or assault become the flag you spend the whole twenty minutes fighting for? Will the stealthy operative, who you are guarding the flag with, actually be looking at you when you get jumped? Is this Shaman any good at healing, and therefore nearly impossible to kill, or will he just die really easily, as it seems 70% of shamans do? can you respawn in time to defend the flag you died at? Or will the assaulted flag switch sides, and force you to quantum leap back to Stables, waking up dazed and confused, miles from the target... Questions, questions.
The battle for Warsong Gulch offers you none of these complexities. The question here is often; are we going to be beaten with big sticks, or do we get to do the beating? There is no subtlety to it really, but it is still a game worth playing. The main business, i.e, the business of getting the your flagcarrier on the roof and then chasing the enemy flag carrier is something that up until very recently I found really perplexing, but only because it is not carefully explained that in order to capture a flag, the enemy cannot be carrying yours. Its very simple, and it must seem so obvious to those who were around when the bgs were just kicking off, but for many who turn up in WSG looking for a punchup it is easy to assume that the business with the flags is just a cheeky footrace - who ever caps theirs first scores the goal. As I never carry flags, the primary evidence never presented itself to me otherwise.
Slowly, I am building a suit of gear (my Retribution pvp set, outfitter tag fans) with Krakenoah that is expressly for the purpose of carrying flags, and I intend to spend one sunday in WSG chasing the Ironman achievement. Three flags in a row in one quick, smash and grab game. I only pvp as Ret for this purpose, and find healing and fighting at range far more satisfying. Partly because I switch targets in a slightly clunky way, and don't do the jumpy dancing quite as well as most of Magtheridon do. My main interest in WSG currently lies in the 10 to 19 bracket where my mage is doing very nicely. As a fire mage with a 1000 hp at lvl 19, I am working on all the achievements, starting with the defender titles, as defence is a game I really enjoy, and a mage is the best equipped to deal with it in many ways. I wish I had a bit more speed perhaps, but crowd control and AoE are hilariously effective sometimes, particularly when I've got surprise (or a good rogue bodyguard) on my side.
I've never held an opinion on twinking before, however, the Horde are always well equipped, and the culture of twinking is alive and well on our battlegroup, so I feel the small amount of gold I've spent on this process is well spent. Were the players and the games not there, I'd sack it and probably level the mage. Also, the Gulch comes down to one-on-one so often that I think it is the easiest way to test yourself as a player, particularly in the 19 bracket when all you've got is 5 spells and no "nuclear" capability. I've indulged in a few of the classic protocols for twink characters too, by maxing his professions to 150, and enchanting the best blues I can find. I've even been for a wander round Shadowfang Keep looking for classic items, but that was more with an eye to recouping my costs than shopping. I have had so little time for the game in the last 2 months, compared to most of last year, that doing some of the generic fun stuff, like builidng a twink, or equipping your banker with a dinner suit, has actually been fun, and accessible with not much time on your hands.
I am still trying to picture how a WSG premade ought to go. You don't see many advertised these days, but I feel like I might try to kick one off soon, once I've worked out the class balance I'd like to see. I might have to build a premade for the Ironman run, and even then it would be better if is built from people I know. At 19, you wouldn't need as many healer types as you'd need at 80, where I think you want 3 melee dps (me, I like Cats, but Rogues or DKs would be the trad choice), 1 Hunter and 2 Priests as your attack group, and 2 Paladins, 2 Mages or Locks as your defence team. To be honest, at 80, you could probably have 8 locks and a couple of feral druids and do really well, and the druids would only be there for the occasional burst of speed and flavour. Some of the pundits are saying that Locks aren't as overpowering as they used to be, but they are still the ones for really putting you on the ropes. Multiple fears and DoTs will take out 90% of the regular BG crowd. The availability of the battlemasters trinkets in 3.1 could provide an answer to this, but then the Lock might well be wearing hers too.
I realise now that there wasn't much of a point to this article, other than as a counterpoint to the things I read which morosely describe the BGs as dead in the water, and a lot of the guff you get in the trade channel from kids so hyped up on cola they can't concentrate on doing anything else but dancing in Ironforge and bickering over the price of vanity pets. I think that the low level grounds are excellent, and given a proper chance, can demonstrate the variety of the game and let you practise a few new ideas. To get the same experience outside of WoW, you could probably go paintballing with strangers, but that's generally more expensive and will almost definitely involve leaving the house. Alterac Valley is more problematic to defend as a "good time", because whilst it is more of an interesting tactical war than all of the others, Its very hard to get the numbers in there to make it worthwhile, and it will be a 10 versus 40 whitewash nearly every time. When it is balanced, the way that the numbers go in reverse to the other BGs is fascinating, and the little mini quests and wing commander missions business is great for the feel of the thing. I hope we see some renewed interest in it in a future patch. I'm halfway through revered with the Stormpike, so I will almost certainly be returning at some point, if only to get my Exalted ticket, and get hailed in my home city. I may have to do it soon anyway, as that little quest and scene happens so little these days they'll probably remove it and no one will notice.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
A strange night underground
Situation: I need 3 elders in Northrend high-end 5mans to get my first real title for my main. Reality: I have to pug these dungeons to do this. Last night, I managed to invisibility pot my way into Halls of Stone to get that one. truly awesome but this option is not available in larger dungeons. I then get whispered by some dude who wants dps in gundrak normal. Wierd, but i say no, I'm a tank. later I try to get into Gundrak on my own to inspect the invis. option here, but then get more whispers form someone else in the first guy's team to come dps.
Oh, well if you insist. So in we go, and 40 minutes later I feel like I've cleared the dungeon for them (making the 78 warrior tank's job a nightmare in the process i think), doing the highest dps and off-healing to keep the shaman alive on boss fights.
Now I discover, in an empty GunDrak, that the elder only appears in the optional room on Heroic setting. Brilliant, an easter egg. So I find my brother on his 2k hunter main, my guild's top priest, an excellent mage, and Im ready to rock GD heroic. our preferred exguildy DPS druid is AFK, which is a shame, as a run might have cleared a little (imaginary) bad air here, but there we go. I get a stack of whispers from dps, as everyone loves heroics these days, but decide on a ret paladin, as I've yet to meet one that i like. He turns out to be sound as a pound, and is inch perfect at Ret dps. unfortunately, I don't think he's going to want me on his friends list now.
First trash pulls... perfect. First Boss, position good, wipe at 1%. oh, well, we'll take 2nd boss to make first boss easier. Trash pulls over the humps... perfect. Patrol picked up on second pull, no problem. Elementals... slightly chaotic doorway fight, no problem. Second Boss?
First attempt? Rubbish. More Acid pools than floor to stand in, can't stand still for a minute, can't seem to keep the elemental phase threat at all, hunter and mage getting one shotted in moments. hmm. Second attempt: same deal. Priest gets a bit more acidic attention if anything. Third attempt: same again, but less running about from us two paladins, and took maybe forty seconds longer to wipe. hmmm.
At this point, I hate tanking. I deeply loathe it. There's nothing on earth that can prevent me from feeling like its my fault, despite the fact that I've never been here before. In Wotlk, you aren't really allowed to learn on the job, and when you're on other people's time, in a dungeon where youre mostly there to get a non dungeon achievement, not managing to get a boss down is just dreadful. We acknowledge that fourth attempt is last attempt, and plunge into it. It takes about a minute longer, and I think I now know how this encounter is supposed to go. Unfortunately, I'm now too disappointed with my own performance, with GunDrak metamorphosis bosses, with being a tank, with getting a time-limited Meta-achievement and definitely with having a group repair bill of 200G to ever want to go back.
My thanks and apologies to the guys who were there, and here's to next years Lunar Festival, when I might even have a few pieces of tier 7 gear, and hopefully I get the blasted elder by doing DPS duties for some other tank.
Next post. more optimism:-)
Oh, well if you insist. So in we go, and 40 minutes later I feel like I've cleared the dungeon for them (making the 78 warrior tank's job a nightmare in the process i think), doing the highest dps and off-healing to keep the shaman alive on boss fights.
Now I discover, in an empty GunDrak, that the elder only appears in the optional room on Heroic setting. Brilliant, an easter egg. So I find my brother on his 2k hunter main, my guild's top priest, an excellent mage, and Im ready to rock GD heroic. our preferred exguildy DPS druid is AFK, which is a shame, as a run might have cleared a little (imaginary) bad air here, but there we go. I get a stack of whispers from dps, as everyone loves heroics these days, but decide on a ret paladin, as I've yet to meet one that i like. He turns out to be sound as a pound, and is inch perfect at Ret dps. unfortunately, I don't think he's going to want me on his friends list now.
First trash pulls... perfect. First Boss, position good, wipe at 1%. oh, well, we'll take 2nd boss to make first boss easier. Trash pulls over the humps... perfect. Patrol picked up on second pull, no problem. Elementals... slightly chaotic doorway fight, no problem. Second Boss?
First attempt? Rubbish. More Acid pools than floor to stand in, can't stand still for a minute, can't seem to keep the elemental phase threat at all, hunter and mage getting one shotted in moments. hmm. Second attempt: same deal. Priest gets a bit more acidic attention if anything. Third attempt: same again, but less running about from us two paladins, and took maybe forty seconds longer to wipe. hmmm.
At this point, I hate tanking. I deeply loathe it. There's nothing on earth that can prevent me from feeling like its my fault, despite the fact that I've never been here before. In Wotlk, you aren't really allowed to learn on the job, and when you're on other people's time, in a dungeon where youre mostly there to get a non dungeon achievement, not managing to get a boss down is just dreadful. We acknowledge that fourth attempt is last attempt, and plunge into it. It takes about a minute longer, and I think I now know how this encounter is supposed to go. Unfortunately, I'm now too disappointed with my own performance, with GunDrak metamorphosis bosses, with being a tank, with getting a time-limited Meta-achievement and definitely with having a group repair bill of 200G to ever want to go back.
My thanks and apologies to the guys who were there, and here's to next years Lunar Festival, when I might even have a few pieces of tier 7 gear, and hopefully I get the blasted elder by doing DPS duties for some other tank.
Next post. more optimism:-)
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Patch 3.08 and other shenanigans
Paladins now have a single target taunt. Woohoo! It does one point of damage, and you can use it every eight seconds. I never used our original taunt spell, because I have real trouble switching targets, and "righteous defence" required you to target the friendly player you wanted to taunt off. Hell, I keep targeting the hunter pet enough as it is. Fortunately, my AOE covers a lot of this problem, and makes up for a lot of missing hit rating on most fights.
The main order of the day is Hybrid specs. I have been trying out a few ideas in pvp lately, In an attempt to improve my heal game, and I am currently running with a Holy defence spec (something like 41/30/0) I have holy shock for spam and good mana for holy light. My healer gear set is almost as useful as my tank set now, but I definitely need to practise in pve scenarios… Paladins are still only single target healers with a few group gimmicks, but I’m definitely up for some healing. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to stare at boss crotch any more. It also looks like February will include a few guild 10mans, and Healers are traditionally in short supply. It has also taken me a few weeks to tune my raid addon panels to show me everything I need, and I am fairly confident with it now.
Wintergrasp has also been on the agenda, partly out of fascination for a BG that is recruiting only from our server. There’s no Magtheridon premade here, and that is a balance bonus already. You see a lot of the same faces again and again, and different flavours of the same whining and complaining every time. I am desperate to work out a useful defensive strategy, as defence is where the alliance really falls down. You can’t defend something by letting everybody do their own thing - that is for certain. I think the answer lies in mass AOE, a team of mages by the central doors would take out the rush team and vehicles that horde always manage to convene. They win by moving in one big pack, and I think AOE on their unit would solve it.
The average player is always looking to reduce any fight in a battleground to single combat, as that is what the game is set up for, and focus fire does get most things killed faster, however, I think that more indiscriminate fallout damage is how Wintergrasp can be won. The vehicles do still die quickly, even after their recent patch buff, and if some one is huddled against a door, they might take at least two ticks of a consecrate or similar before they skip out of it. The other key thing is getting to the south towers. It’s very unpopular, but they do have a significant effect on the game, and should be taken out or defended as a matter of urgency. At the minute, I am getting stomped on in these territorities, but hey, a few minutes distraction for an Orc DK is one less of them in the fortress. I found two titanium veins whilst away from the fort this week, so I consider it profitable in one sense at least.
In Achievementsville, I am now only 5 elders off the title of Elder. These last few venerable holy men (and cows) are in five Northrend dungeons, having ridden my way to all the others (and soloed UK and The Nexus as far as necessary). I was also only 2k off the 300k healing in any BG achievement “damage control” in a WSG today, and I am gutted to have not got it. Bites at that particular cherry are few and far between in today’s very black and white affairs, you’re typically either in a Zerg team, or you’re waiting for resurrection it seems. Oh well. I have another 2 weeks to get the elders, so here’s to a new title for the spring.
The main order of the day is Hybrid specs. I have been trying out a few ideas in pvp lately, In an attempt to improve my heal game, and I am currently running with a Holy defence spec (something like 41/30/0) I have holy shock for spam and good mana for holy light. My healer gear set is almost as useful as my tank set now, but I definitely need to practise in pve scenarios… Paladins are still only single target healers with a few group gimmicks, but I’m definitely up for some healing. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to stare at boss crotch any more. It also looks like February will include a few guild 10mans, and Healers are traditionally in short supply. It has also taken me a few weeks to tune my raid addon panels to show me everything I need, and I am fairly confident with it now.
Wintergrasp has also been on the agenda, partly out of fascination for a BG that is recruiting only from our server. There’s no Magtheridon premade here, and that is a balance bonus already. You see a lot of the same faces again and again, and different flavours of the same whining and complaining every time. I am desperate to work out a useful defensive strategy, as defence is where the alliance really falls down. You can’t defend something by letting everybody do their own thing - that is for certain. I think the answer lies in mass AOE, a team of mages by the central doors would take out the rush team and vehicles that horde always manage to convene. They win by moving in one big pack, and I think AOE on their unit would solve it.
The average player is always looking to reduce any fight in a battleground to single combat, as that is what the game is set up for, and focus fire does get most things killed faster, however, I think that more indiscriminate fallout damage is how Wintergrasp can be won. The vehicles do still die quickly, even after their recent patch buff, and if some one is huddled against a door, they might take at least two ticks of a consecrate or similar before they skip out of it. The other key thing is getting to the south towers. It’s very unpopular, but they do have a significant effect on the game, and should be taken out or defended as a matter of urgency. At the minute, I am getting stomped on in these territorities, but hey, a few minutes distraction for an Orc DK is one less of them in the fortress. I found two titanium veins whilst away from the fort this week, so I consider it profitable in one sense at least.
In Achievementsville, I am now only 5 elders off the title of Elder. These last few venerable holy men (and cows) are in five Northrend dungeons, having ridden my way to all the others (and soloed UK and The Nexus as far as necessary). I was also only 2k off the 300k healing in any BG achievement “damage control” in a WSG today, and I am gutted to have not got it. Bites at that particular cherry are few and far between in today’s very black and white affairs, you’re typically either in a Zerg team, or you’re waiting for resurrection it seems. Oh well. I have another 2 weeks to get the elders, so here’s to a new title for the spring.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
I love Strand Of The Ancients...
Me and my Stormpike Ram have been running around the Strand of The Ancients a lot lately (Rams feel like they go quicker if you name them, incidentally, so mine is called Kenny Wilkins) . I've run through a lot of Alterac Valley, but now I have easily outdone myself in terms of gametime spent in one area, chasing a certain goal. I have all the achievements you will get if you aren't chasing achievements, and I'm proud of my abilities with a turret cannon. I got the "artillery expert" (100 vehicles destroyed with a cannon) in less than 20 games, which I feel is right on the money.
To begin a match, you are dropped on a boat on the open sea, with a Paladin and a Death knight for company. then, invariably a shaman will arrive, and it is brought home to you how much PVP relies on the awkward classes to make up the numbers. I thrive in PVP because of things that don't matter in PVE. A Holy paladin who's got more armour than the other healers, and a big Hammer of Justice shaped interrupt I'd never otherwise use.
my regular (or dayjob) spec of protection paladin is probably the most useless class in the battlegrounds, because our high end PVE game relies on a certain rotation heavy finger style, and a lot of static fighting, moving the camera and shuffling to find the inch perfect position in any given room, temple, glacier field, et cetera. Having a gazillion HP doesnt really help either, because people focus fire upon you any way, and theres no Resillience on anything you might choose to wear, (there used to be an odd prot pvp selection at 70, but now there really isn't one).
I'd like to digress here and say that the best class for the battlegrounds hands down is Druid, and I don't think that will ever change. I love it when we get a good alliance druid on the side, spamming moonfire, or doing that shapeshifting, healing-running-away thing. They make fantastic lynchpins in any protracted melee. I often have to remind myself that druids are all one class. Having defended a mine (for what felt like days) in Arathi with a stealthed, impossibly fast cat, and rolled in open combat with boomkins who only shapeshift in desperation, and been killed by a Tauren High Warlord who shifted through everything while he tore massive chunks out of me at a leisurely pace(I have a lot of respect for Mukharn, who defines a Horde Druid with too much time on his hands for me). Also, a lot of people don't like Tauren catform for the way it looks, but I personally feel that is the best graphics for feeling humiliated, like you're just a squeaky toy played with a bored animal, Its something about the dull facial expression.
So, you're on the boat. and it gets into dock, and if youve got a DK on board, you're off across the water with Path of Frost (wheee!), and into a tank and off up the slope. The Horde, if they are organised at this point, will destroy your vehicle before you've even started driving (I didnt even know this was possible for my first 30 games). If they are not organised, or have all gone to one side of the map, then there is no reason not to get through the first wall, and probably through the second, in that first tank. I feel, personally, if youre a DPS, you shouldn't be driving. You almost definitely shouldn't take a cannon when you're on defence. the dps output of the gun, and the offensive throughput of the vehicle, is much lower than what you should be capable of as a dps character. The exception being one of the mediocre Death Knights rolling Strand these days. You guys need to have more than Death Grip hotkeyed, and you're probably better off in the designated driver seat. Better yet finish levelling you're Hunter main, and go back to that.
Getting through the walls is easy. Provided you make it past the bends after walls 2 and 3, and across the long stretch of open ground that is the Courtyard of the Ancients, getting the walls down is straightforward. It should also be noted that once the final door is down, you have won, as the click on the titan relic is not like Wintergrasp, where you have to channel it, and any cooldown you've got - even if your vehicle is taken out - will get your hands on the prize.
The trick to getting round the bends is to keep driving, and if you aren't in the first vehicle straight off the beach, to roll through with a buddy vehicle as two targets will split their focus. If you're feeling chatty, or like handing out orders to the anonymous fourteen helpers you theoretically have, people defending the tank are worth their weight in S5 gear, getting in the way of any arcane Mages for example, or slowing down any BE Paladins chasing the tank. The tanks dont really stand up to a lot of punishment, but they will brazen through the cannon fire, if its only the cannons they have to worry about. Personally, I think this is one of the best planned bits of "balance" that Blizzard came up with in Northrend. Tanks are easily beaten if you work as a team, but not so if you take the more familiar path of solo engagement, merely hoping that the rest of your team joins in the same melee as you.
The most successful thing to do, research is telling me, is to drive through one side of the map with all the vehicles. This can feel a bit dull for anyone who disembarks on the side thats being ignored, but it is guaranteed to get the first gate down, and make good time on the second gate. If the Horde have split their forces, then their time will be lost regrouping, and your tanks with the longest journey can defend the first two tanks, and keep the demolition going as the first two fall apart like clown cars.
Typically, once the first gate is down in this manner, you then have a large melee in front of gate two, and people become despondent and go and take the first level gate that was deliberately ignored, as if this might somehow help. It doesnt help, and it is not economical to do this. there may be a small honor gain (unsure whether gates destroyed count towards anything so far) but you are far better off taking graveyards on level 2, and keeping up the pressure on the second gate. If you had halfway decent drivers in the first 4 cars, then gate 2 should go down very quickly. A decent driver is one who doesnt stop, and doesn't weave about trying to fire at pedestrians. I had a go at this, because I think my aim and timing are quite good, but have grown out of it now. Tanks are for walls, and are useless if not driving straight at the wall. Also note that the siege weapon has no effect on pedestrians, even the ones stood right in front of you. This again differs from Wintergrasp, where the siege weapon on the big Humvee will thump people and cause a knockback (although even this has strict criteria for enemy position in order to make contact).
You can have two passengers in each vehicle, and these guys need to be ranged DPS, because they can fire from the vehicle and usefully clear a path. I've only managed to get a mage in the chair for this once or twice, but it was utterly brilliant, and we cained it through 3 walls and took the relic like we were popping to the shops. If its developed into a big, slow moving melee in front of gate two, I like to jump into a passenger seat sometimes, and heal DPS from that temporarily secure position. If I'm in a passenger seat, I also like to be carrying a seaforium charge, as occasionally I will get to the drop off point even if the vehicle does not. Even more occasionally, you get 15 horde players who don't know that the seaforium exists, and don't bother to defuse it. On the whole, seaforium is one of those things that 90% of the player base can ignore, like the mines in Alterac Valley, and it will really have no effect on play. In abstract, for instance when they were developing the ideas before release, they could be game changing. I find it interesting that there are 3 achievements relating to extensive use of seaforium, but I don't think anyone apart from anally retentive rogues are going to get anywhere near achieving them. Unless nobody sees you dropping it until the last second, that seaforium isn't going off, and you probably arent going to get close enough on foot to do the dirty any way...
"I say Trevor, whats that guy still on his bear doing?... why, he must be lost, or indulging in some horseplay! hahaha get him someone!... no, wait, hes dropped off a small item, I wonder what that is?" is not how its going to go. Nope, the guy in the turret leading you with the scope is actively looking for you, and he or his mate will take you down, or simply jump out and hit defuse in the leisurely 10 seconds they have to do it in. I like to think that the Horde are all on the CB going "Charlie charlie delta, we have a breaker on a welfare bear at gate two, proceeeding to the hard deck to put him in neutral" as calm as you like.
The only thing to remember is that the quicker we get to the relic, the less time the opposition have to get to the relic. As Alliance always go first, we have the natural advantage here, as we will always have twelve minutes, and the Horde will have whatever time we give them. This is great news!
In the first round, they are fighting to give themselves time, and we are fighting for the relic. If we get to the relic with seven minutes on the clock, they have only five minutes to do it in. It takes five minutes without any opposition whatsoever, and if you can take out their first two vehicles, then they aren't getting to the relic. I really like this maths. These, as a proud alliance player, are good odds. If you do restrict them to five minutes, it is merely a duckshoot, and we all go home with another 1000 honour. 38 like this and I've got my Hateful Gladiators faux crystal tumblers, or bathtowel set.
I would recommend Strand of The Ancients to anyone, Its quick, there are explosions, and I rarely walk away with less than 600 honor for my twenty minutes. Furthermore, come Patch 3.08 I think we are going to get things to spend the marks on, and there will be even more seaforium available to get through the last two gates. Jump right in and kill a Death Knight today.
To begin a match, you are dropped on a boat on the open sea, with a Paladin and a Death knight for company. then, invariably a shaman will arrive, and it is brought home to you how much PVP relies on the awkward classes to make up the numbers. I thrive in PVP because of things that don't matter in PVE. A Holy paladin who's got more armour than the other healers, and a big Hammer of Justice shaped interrupt I'd never otherwise use.
my regular (or dayjob) spec of protection paladin is probably the most useless class in the battlegrounds, because our high end PVE game relies on a certain rotation heavy finger style, and a lot of static fighting, moving the camera and shuffling to find the inch perfect position in any given room, temple, glacier field, et cetera. Having a gazillion HP doesnt really help either, because people focus fire upon you any way, and theres no Resillience on anything you might choose to wear, (there used to be an odd prot pvp selection at 70, but now there really isn't one).
I'd like to digress here and say that the best class for the battlegrounds hands down is Druid, and I don't think that will ever change. I love it when we get a good alliance druid on the side, spamming moonfire, or doing that shapeshifting, healing-running-away thing. They make fantastic lynchpins in any protracted melee. I often have to remind myself that druids are all one class. Having defended a mine (for what felt like days) in Arathi with a stealthed, impossibly fast cat, and rolled in open combat with boomkins who only shapeshift in desperation, and been killed by a Tauren High Warlord who shifted through everything while he tore massive chunks out of me at a leisurely pace(I have a lot of respect for Mukharn, who defines a Horde Druid with too much time on his hands for me). Also, a lot of people don't like Tauren catform for the way it looks, but I personally feel that is the best graphics for feeling humiliated, like you're just a squeaky toy played with a bored animal, Its something about the dull facial expression.
So, you're on the boat. and it gets into dock, and if youve got a DK on board, you're off across the water with Path of Frost (wheee!), and into a tank and off up the slope. The Horde, if they are organised at this point, will destroy your vehicle before you've even started driving (I didnt even know this was possible for my first 30 games). If they are not organised, or have all gone to one side of the map, then there is no reason not to get through the first wall, and probably through the second, in that first tank. I feel, personally, if youre a DPS, you shouldn't be driving. You almost definitely shouldn't take a cannon when you're on defence. the dps output of the gun, and the offensive throughput of the vehicle, is much lower than what you should be capable of as a dps character. The exception being one of the mediocre Death Knights rolling Strand these days. You guys need to have more than Death Grip hotkeyed, and you're probably better off in the designated driver seat. Better yet finish levelling you're Hunter main, and go back to that.
Getting through the walls is easy. Provided you make it past the bends after walls 2 and 3, and across the long stretch of open ground that is the Courtyard of the Ancients, getting the walls down is straightforward. It should also be noted that once the final door is down, you have won, as the click on the titan relic is not like Wintergrasp, where you have to channel it, and any cooldown you've got - even if your vehicle is taken out - will get your hands on the prize.
The trick to getting round the bends is to keep driving, and if you aren't in the first vehicle straight off the beach, to roll through with a buddy vehicle as two targets will split their focus. If you're feeling chatty, or like handing out orders to the anonymous fourteen helpers you theoretically have, people defending the tank are worth their weight in S5 gear, getting in the way of any arcane Mages for example, or slowing down any BE Paladins chasing the tank. The tanks dont really stand up to a lot of punishment, but they will brazen through the cannon fire, if its only the cannons they have to worry about. Personally, I think this is one of the best planned bits of "balance" that Blizzard came up with in Northrend. Tanks are easily beaten if you work as a team, but not so if you take the more familiar path of solo engagement, merely hoping that the rest of your team joins in the same melee as you.
The most successful thing to do, research is telling me, is to drive through one side of the map with all the vehicles. This can feel a bit dull for anyone who disembarks on the side thats being ignored, but it is guaranteed to get the first gate down, and make good time on the second gate. If the Horde have split their forces, then their time will be lost regrouping, and your tanks with the longest journey can defend the first two tanks, and keep the demolition going as the first two fall apart like clown cars.
Typically, once the first gate is down in this manner, you then have a large melee in front of gate two, and people become despondent and go and take the first level gate that was deliberately ignored, as if this might somehow help. It doesnt help, and it is not economical to do this. there may be a small honor gain (unsure whether gates destroyed count towards anything so far) but you are far better off taking graveyards on level 2, and keeping up the pressure on the second gate. If you had halfway decent drivers in the first 4 cars, then gate 2 should go down very quickly. A decent driver is one who doesnt stop, and doesn't weave about trying to fire at pedestrians. I had a go at this, because I think my aim and timing are quite good, but have grown out of it now. Tanks are for walls, and are useless if not driving straight at the wall. Also note that the siege weapon has no effect on pedestrians, even the ones stood right in front of you. This again differs from Wintergrasp, where the siege weapon on the big Humvee will thump people and cause a knockback (although even this has strict criteria for enemy position in order to make contact).
You can have two passengers in each vehicle, and these guys need to be ranged DPS, because they can fire from the vehicle and usefully clear a path. I've only managed to get a mage in the chair for this once or twice, but it was utterly brilliant, and we cained it through 3 walls and took the relic like we were popping to the shops. If its developed into a big, slow moving melee in front of gate two, I like to jump into a passenger seat sometimes, and heal DPS from that temporarily secure position. If I'm in a passenger seat, I also like to be carrying a seaforium charge, as occasionally I will get to the drop off point even if the vehicle does not. Even more occasionally, you get 15 horde players who don't know that the seaforium exists, and don't bother to defuse it. On the whole, seaforium is one of those things that 90% of the player base can ignore, like the mines in Alterac Valley, and it will really have no effect on play. In abstract, for instance when they were developing the ideas before release, they could be game changing. I find it interesting that there are 3 achievements relating to extensive use of seaforium, but I don't think anyone apart from anally retentive rogues are going to get anywhere near achieving them. Unless nobody sees you dropping it until the last second, that seaforium isn't going off, and you probably arent going to get close enough on foot to do the dirty any way...
"I say Trevor, whats that guy still on his bear doing?... why, he must be lost, or indulging in some horseplay! hahaha get him someone!... no, wait, hes dropped off a small item, I wonder what that is?" is not how its going to go. Nope, the guy in the turret leading you with the scope is actively looking for you, and he or his mate will take you down, or simply jump out and hit defuse in the leisurely 10 seconds they have to do it in. I like to think that the Horde are all on the CB going "Charlie charlie delta, we have a breaker on a welfare bear at gate two, proceeeding to the hard deck to put him in neutral" as calm as you like.
The only thing to remember is that the quicker we get to the relic, the less time the opposition have to get to the relic. As Alliance always go first, we have the natural advantage here, as we will always have twelve minutes, and the Horde will have whatever time we give them. This is great news!
In the first round, they are fighting to give themselves time, and we are fighting for the relic. If we get to the relic with seven minutes on the clock, they have only five minutes to do it in. It takes five minutes without any opposition whatsoever, and if you can take out their first two vehicles, then they aren't getting to the relic. I really like this maths. These, as a proud alliance player, are good odds. If you do restrict them to five minutes, it is merely a duckshoot, and we all go home with another 1000 honour. 38 like this and I've got my Hateful Gladiators faux crystal tumblers, or bathtowel set.
I would recommend Strand of The Ancients to anyone, Its quick, there are explosions, and I rarely walk away with less than 600 honor for my twenty minutes. Furthermore, come Patch 3.08 I think we are going to get things to spend the marks on, and there will be even more seaforium available to get through the last two gates. Jump right in and kill a Death Knight today.
Sunday, 14 December 2008
The Top of the World
Things have changed for the better since I wrote the bulk of the articles that started this blog. We now have Wrath of the Lich King, and the continent of Northrend, where everything is dealt with on a massive scale, my armour has been better quality right from the word go (I have mainly blues and an epic tank shield, only a month after release), and every action feels like it will have an impact on events. This last feeling is down to "phasing" where parts of the world change for you after the completion of certain quests. Its truly awesome to be swept along by a story, and quest chains don't feel like such a drag any more.
Being a paladin is still a huge draw for me, and I still haven't managed to spend more than a week with an alt or achieve an alt higher than level 29. I have also taken on the challenges of mass PVP in the battlegrounds, and for such activities I have respecced to healer. I am now regularly changing specs to either be a Tank or a PVP Healer, and I have built a wardrobe which has a full outfit for both occasions.
Northrend has assisted me greatly in this. Not only did I keep everything which might have been of use as I went along, so I could study it in leisure at 80, but the Blacksmith craftable gear is wonderfully diverse compared to how it used to be. you can now make a decent starter Tank set, a plate PVE Healer set and a resillience heavy plate healer set. Hurrah! I can now craft myself 200 resillience? excellent. this means I might survive the first ten seconds of a rogue or warlock encounter and therefore live to bubble, cleanse or otherwise find assistance.
On the PVE front, I have had some success tanking in Northrend, and hope to get stuck into Heroics and Naxx as the time allows. I have the gear, and I think that on a good day, I have the fingers and awareness for it too. This aspect of the game i would most like to enjoy with friends and associates from my guild, and as many are still in the late 70s, and have rep grinds and levelling to preoccupy them, I am happy to go heal strangers and fish up Dragonfin in the mean time. I am less keen to tank pugs, as my gear is going to take more damage, and it is harder to analyse what may be going wrong when you're knee deep in mobs or keeping a boss turning.
Being a paladin is still a huge draw for me, and I still haven't managed to spend more than a week with an alt or achieve an alt higher than level 29. I have also taken on the challenges of mass PVP in the battlegrounds, and for such activities I have respecced to healer. I am now regularly changing specs to either be a Tank or a PVP Healer, and I have built a wardrobe which has a full outfit for both occasions.
Northrend has assisted me greatly in this. Not only did I keep everything which might have been of use as I went along, so I could study it in leisure at 80, but the Blacksmith craftable gear is wonderfully diverse compared to how it used to be. you can now make a decent starter Tank set, a plate PVE Healer set and a resillience heavy plate healer set. Hurrah! I can now craft myself 200 resillience? excellent. this means I might survive the first ten seconds of a rogue or warlock encounter and therefore live to bubble, cleanse or otherwise find assistance.
On the PVE front, I have had some success tanking in Northrend, and hope to get stuck into Heroics and Naxx as the time allows. I have the gear, and I think that on a good day, I have the fingers and awareness for it too. This aspect of the game i would most like to enjoy with friends and associates from my guild, and as many are still in the late 70s, and have rep grinds and levelling to preoccupy them, I am happy to go heal strangers and fish up Dragonfin in the mean time. I am less keen to tank pugs, as my gear is going to take more damage, and it is harder to analyse what may be going wrong when you're knee deep in mobs or keeping a boss turning.
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