Collect some thoughts, write them down.
Had a slight achievement revival and made Pilgrim in the first 3 days of the festival. Took a break from shooting at things, and slipped back into the paladin shoes. Krakenoah the pilgrim. Tank spec in my PVP gear am now at about 30K unbuffed health. Tiddly by high end standards but still rather thrilling here, and comforting too, when your being shot to bits in your 12k attack-power mail at 75. particularly enjoyed the first day of the festival when all the achievement geeks logged on to get their stuff together. I didnt realise how many people on Nordrassil had got the Insane title. Too many. We may not have any world beating raiders or arena types, but we do have achievement chasing down to a fine art!
Depending on how my time breaks down this weekend, I might have a burst of levelling with Fear, and get to the hallowed 78 mark (at which point I can put on my crafted Resillience outfit, and offer some serious threat in the brackets). Saturday night is the annual Motorhead gig, and next week is the christmas Fitup in my home venue, so the playing I do in the next few days will be my lot for a couple of weeks. I had 3 days fitting up panto in East london last week, so Christmas is here for us in theatreland. Am currently at work purely to provide a ladder for a florist decorating a christmas tree in a foyer. I love these calls. I don't even have to foot the ladder, as I have a Casual in for that. This may be the worst attack of 'Health and Safety' I've seen all year, but its a close call...
Making the switch to a Gaming pad from my regular rather shit keyboard is pretty much done now too. I am developing some decent "twitch" with Fear, although you do have to stand still occasionally on a hunter more than you do on a paladin, I am learning to dance about all over again and loving it. Beastmaster hunting has been excellent through from 10 to 70 in the Battlegrounds, but now I'm having my ass handed to me by survivors and marksmen, so I may have to go back to the drawing board. It is amusing watching people trying to kill my raptor though, and he seems to hold people's attention quite well. I may well get dual spec for Fear, just because I love respeccing so much, and being BM is always going to be attractive for the big pet, but we will see. I was in WSG yesterday, howling down everything I had onto a Paladin, but he wasn't getting even remotely scratched. Now, he was 79 to my 75, but thats just not cricket is it? He was Protection Spec, with two druids backing him up (one of whom I took down, before you ask) and he was actually just invincible. We had a paladin, but he played like a lemon, so it was game over once this Blood Elf took the first flag. Unfortunately, we still played all the way to 25 minutes! Thats how it is in the brackets, and it's been very interesting time spent in them with Fear. At 39 its rogues, at 59 its Death Knights, at 79 its Paladins. Feels like 19 and 29, where a lot of the twinking goes on, is actually quite well balanced (and my apologies go out into the twisting Nether for all those guys watching me be truly bad at being a 19 rogue. Its tougher than it looks!). However, as mentioned above, at 78, I'm going back for his head. Oh, and that blasted Tauren Hunter who was on his team as well.
Have been playing a lot of Magic: the Gathering lately which has been very cool. two of my colleagues here at the house have got into it, and we've uncovered a web of people in their thirties who own cards but never seem to have played the game and are interested now we are! I have a lot of time for sit-down-at-a-table games, I still play a lot of BloodBowl and Space Hulk, as well as Scrabble and Carcassone, so getting back into MTG has been a treat. Last night we sat drinking in the bar at the Royal Festival Hall and played, and if that isn't a good combination of the convivial and the geeky, then I'm not sure what is... We're thinking of starting a league, but running that sort of thing requires a bit more than enthusiasm, so we'll wait and see.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Sunday, 1 November 2009
hunting, going to work, then hunting some more
I have had a testing week at work, with my rigging skills put under scrutiny, and a large, very blue set to make look as spiffing as possible. In some of my quiet moments, when the talk hasn't been the usual stage mix of taxes, the many times people have hurt themselves, or how big a thing can you lift, I have been thinking a bit about my hunter.
Levelling Fearwings is really good fun after almost 2 solid years as a paladin, with a bag full of paladin tricks, which often feels like the same tricks as anyone else in PVP, cos we're all here aren't we Terry? (and very soon Tauren are going to nail us all to the walls in their holy plate) I’ve rolled Fear to do battle with the Horde, in all of its forms, and in order to see some more of the old world before Cataclysm comes out. I will be levelling a dwarf shaman at some point, post expansion, and It will be nice to compare and contrast, and soak up the lore, of which we can all agree, there is ridiculous amounts.
For some reason, Fear seems to attract vast amounts of attention in the BGs though. Maybe it’s because I tend to jump in and return the flags. I also like to use my hunter bag of tricks to find people to target, and send the pet after them. Flagdragon kills dudes on his own, defending the roof of the base in the Gulch. How galling must that be, not even managing to beat the pet on his own? The excitement of that is worth every 2shot rogue death going. Interestingly, there are rogues who can 2 shot you in every bracket. (Mine has just got to 18, so one of them is going to be me very soon). I prefer “2shot” to “globalled” which is a term people think is interchangeable in blogs at the minute. “Globalled” refers to being killed in the space of one global cooldown, you actually don’t get this problem much outside the top end pvp, I happily get to watch plenty of cooldowns go by whilst I am stunned by targets 3 and 4, unable to do anything in my levelling gear, and my pet away on target 1.
I am now at 63, so deep in the doldrums of not being hard enough to do BG’s, and facing the world of Outland quests. There is an unbelievable amount of things to do in Outland, and I still haven’t managed to get through one of the “Do 90 quests” there yet, and this is my third time through. I seem to be a few levels above a quest chain by the time I complete it, partly because it is easier to just quest out of one hub, not follow the chains from place to place in exclusivity.
My main cause for concern is that I have been in a queue for AV every time I log on, for the whole of my playtime since 55, but not once has a match started. I am looking forward to AV, and getting some badges, and capping a few towers and running about, but apparently this isn’t for people in their 50’s and 60’s. I guess people want to run WSG for the quicker return on their investment. An HK is an HK, and sentinel’s medallions and swift runner’s weapons are a thing of joy. Who wants to be stood in a draughty tower in some snowbound valley when they can be tucked up nice and warm in a cosy flagroom with your mates?
Levelling Fearwings is really good fun after almost 2 solid years as a paladin, with a bag full of paladin tricks, which often feels like the same tricks as anyone else in PVP, cos we're all here aren't we Terry? (and very soon Tauren are going to nail us all to the walls in their holy plate) I’ve rolled Fear to do battle with the Horde, in all of its forms, and in order to see some more of the old world before Cataclysm comes out. I will be levelling a dwarf shaman at some point, post expansion, and It will be nice to compare and contrast, and soak up the lore, of which we can all agree, there is ridiculous amounts.
For some reason, Fear seems to attract vast amounts of attention in the BGs though. Maybe it’s because I tend to jump in and return the flags. I also like to use my hunter bag of tricks to find people to target, and send the pet after them. Flagdragon kills dudes on his own, defending the roof of the base in the Gulch. How galling must that be, not even managing to beat the pet on his own? The excitement of that is worth every 2shot rogue death going. Interestingly, there are rogues who can 2 shot you in every bracket. (Mine has just got to 18, so one of them is going to be me very soon). I prefer “2shot” to “globalled” which is a term people think is interchangeable in blogs at the minute. “Globalled” refers to being killed in the space of one global cooldown, you actually don’t get this problem much outside the top end pvp, I happily get to watch plenty of cooldowns go by whilst I am stunned by targets 3 and 4, unable to do anything in my levelling gear, and my pet away on target 1.
I am now at 63, so deep in the doldrums of not being hard enough to do BG’s, and facing the world of Outland quests. There is an unbelievable amount of things to do in Outland, and I still haven’t managed to get through one of the “Do 90 quests” there yet, and this is my third time through. I seem to be a few levels above a quest chain by the time I complete it, partly because it is easier to just quest out of one hub, not follow the chains from place to place in exclusivity.
My main cause for concern is that I have been in a queue for AV every time I log on, for the whole of my playtime since 55, but not once has a match started. I am looking forward to AV, and getting some badges, and capping a few towers and running about, but apparently this isn’t for people in their 50’s and 60’s. I guess people want to run WSG for the quicker return on their investment. An HK is an HK, and sentinel’s medallions and swift runner’s weapons are a thing of joy. Who wants to be stood in a draughty tower in some snowbound valley when they can be tucked up nice and warm in a cosy flagroom with your mates?
Saturday, 3 October 2009
On tanking and hunting and the march to Cataclysm
Huge relief to do okay last night, tanking on my main, and kill Archavon the Stone Watcher, by far my favourite "lore" character in the game.
I really enjoy the archavon fight, and its the only raid fight I've tanked before (so that's handy), and we killed him, even with our comedy DPS totals. My threat with Noah is massive compared to Lohengrin, and their gear is of a similar standard, so I think I will pursue tanking with both characters for the time being.
As my partner has found a good chunk of work on a show for the next 12 weeks, I will hopefully have quite a few more evenings to sort out dungeon runs on. With the plethora of stuff I am enjoying in game at the moment, I am quite looking forward to the autumn! Apart from getting stuck into more 5mans, Noah is now very comprehensively geared for pvp, having finally replaced my spiked titanium helm with the 213pvp version, so Battleground achievements are "on notice". Lohengrin is slowly finishing off Northrend quest achievements and running Wintergrasp for his pvp starter kit, and tanking bits and pieces for fun. Fear is barreling up to 40 and a fast mount, and really enjoying low levels Arathi Basin. Hunters completely rule in BGs, and it is easy to take charge of situations in the brackets before multiple pvp trinkets, with a fast Raptor and traps on every cooldown.
I think I might shell out to change fear's name. It was kind of funny at the time to have a silly pvp name. Going into BGs everyday, you get used to seeing names that are supposed to be dramatic sounding and slightly related to the mechanics of the game, things like painhammer or tremorkill, and I thought I would just go with the flow of that. I was also trying to think of something a little native american in etymological terms, but now it just looks a bit silly, and eventually I will probably spend a lot of time with this character, trying to nail casters in Eye of the Storm and Warsong, so I might change it now. I was tempted to name her after something theatrical again (I'm still absurdly pleased with Loh after all). On another realm I've rolled a pala called Chekhov, which could be contrived as a bit silly too, but is more ordinary sounding on a european battlegroup and maybe not as childish. It seemd perfect, when faced with the prospect of levelling pala again to be named after someone who wrote tedious one trick plays, as judgement and autoattack is easily as boring as the post imperial malaise of the russian hinterlands.
Another notable thing about Fearwings is that the plan was to have a flying pet for pvp in endgame (a big red bat from the plaguelands) and the Wings bit referred to that for me, but levelling with a raptor this part is lost...
On the subject of shelling out, Our tedious friends in Orange chat are now all about rerolling Horde, as paid faction change has gone live. It was interesting to discover that a few of our top Arena guys on Nord have gone Horde to make getting 2200 ratings far easier, but it all seems a bit silly to me. If you faction change on Nordrassil, you're going to be facing alliance BG teams from different servers, most of which, the armory will tell you, are doing quite well on the horde killing front, and have arena teams doing much better than us, which indicates guilds and premades who are going to kick your ass. As rated Battlegrounds are going to make a serious impact on who and where you fight next year, It seems daft to swap your pala to Blood Elf now.
Currently, I have it very vaguely in mind to switch Fear to another faction or server post Cataclysm. Partly for the experience, and partly because the last thing my guild really needs is another Hunter. Come Cataclysm, I hope to have my tanking house in order, in important ways that I really didn't when Wrath came out (and don't now, particularly where my control surface is concerned). Everyone will be taking a back seat to Noah for a few months at least, as we've got some speedy levelling to get done and hopefully some new pools to fish:-)
I really enjoy the archavon fight, and its the only raid fight I've tanked before (so that's handy), and we killed him, even with our comedy DPS totals. My threat with Noah is massive compared to Lohengrin, and their gear is of a similar standard, so I think I will pursue tanking with both characters for the time being.
As my partner has found a good chunk of work on a show for the next 12 weeks, I will hopefully have quite a few more evenings to sort out dungeon runs on. With the plethora of stuff I am enjoying in game at the moment, I am quite looking forward to the autumn! Apart from getting stuck into more 5mans, Noah is now very comprehensively geared for pvp, having finally replaced my spiked titanium helm with the 213pvp version, so Battleground achievements are "on notice". Lohengrin is slowly finishing off Northrend quest achievements and running Wintergrasp for his pvp starter kit, and tanking bits and pieces for fun. Fear is barreling up to 40 and a fast mount, and really enjoying low levels Arathi Basin. Hunters completely rule in BGs, and it is easy to take charge of situations in the brackets before multiple pvp trinkets, with a fast Raptor and traps on every cooldown.
I think I might shell out to change fear's name. It was kind of funny at the time to have a silly pvp name. Going into BGs everyday, you get used to seeing names that are supposed to be dramatic sounding and slightly related to the mechanics of the game, things like painhammer or tremorkill, and I thought I would just go with the flow of that. I was also trying to think of something a little native american in etymological terms, but now it just looks a bit silly, and eventually I will probably spend a lot of time with this character, trying to nail casters in Eye of the Storm and Warsong, so I might change it now. I was tempted to name her after something theatrical again (I'm still absurdly pleased with Loh after all). On another realm I've rolled a pala called Chekhov, which could be contrived as a bit silly too, but is more ordinary sounding on a european battlegroup and maybe not as childish. It seemd perfect, when faced with the prospect of levelling pala again to be named after someone who wrote tedious one trick plays, as judgement and autoattack is easily as boring as the post imperial malaise of the russian hinterlands.
Another notable thing about Fearwings is that the plan was to have a flying pet for pvp in endgame (a big red bat from the plaguelands) and the Wings bit referred to that for me, but levelling with a raptor this part is lost...
On the subject of shelling out, Our tedious friends in Orange chat are now all about rerolling Horde, as paid faction change has gone live. It was interesting to discover that a few of our top Arena guys on Nord have gone Horde to make getting 2200 ratings far easier, but it all seems a bit silly to me. If you faction change on Nordrassil, you're going to be facing alliance BG teams from different servers, most of which, the armory will tell you, are doing quite well on the horde killing front, and have arena teams doing much better than us, which indicates guilds and premades who are going to kick your ass. As rated Battlegrounds are going to make a serious impact on who and where you fight next year, It seems daft to swap your pala to Blood Elf now.
Currently, I have it very vaguely in mind to switch Fear to another faction or server post Cataclysm. Partly for the experience, and partly because the last thing my guild really needs is another Hunter. Come Cataclysm, I hope to have my tanking house in order, in important ways that I really didn't when Wrath came out (and don't now, particularly where my control surface is concerned). Everyone will be taking a back seat to Noah for a few months at least, as we've got some speedy levelling to get done and hopefully some new pools to fish:-)
Thursday, 24 September 2009
rambling business (unedited)
I just got paid. I went to see District 9, we had sushi for lunch, I bought not one but two new drills, and the latest Clutch album. Not a bad days work! This evening, whilst waiting for the show to finish, I've been reading Zardoz' WOW datamining blog, which has all sorts of interesting statistics culled from the WoW armoury, including which professions Blood Elves find most popular, and exactly which hunter pets are the most popular. I've learned that at patch 3.1, death knights were the most popular character, followed by paladins, while warlocks were least popular, followed by rogues. this is a bit mental really, and I'm sure that this balance changes all the time, and is probably changing as we speak. I guess I find it mental because when I first rolled pala, there wasn't that many of us around, and it seemd like everyone was a rogue. I gather that when WoW first came out, everyone rolled hunters, because they were prevalent in the advertising, and warriors, because, hell, warriors kick ass in every other game.
On Nordrassil, it seems like there is plenty of everything. If someone had asked me to hazard a guess at the least popular class, I would have said Warlock, but mostly because I think they are a bit of a pain to level, and its rare that a good one will show up in an alliance BG. A few Horde ones show up, but It feels like they're in a minority, and their channeling spells are very annoying, but not all that common a killing blow for me.
This week, I am starting to level the Hunter in some earnest, and enjoying it enormously. mid twenties and going strong, but you can get to the mid 20s blindfold these days. I hope to invest some time in running AB at the 29 bracket, it will be a good exercise in panic and CC rotations, and be something of a break from the fedexing around azeroth that I am currently doing. I have a wolf and a crab in the stable, and both are ace. I am trying to complete ach's as I go, fishing, cooking, exploring and pvp, so that I don't have to wander about when he is an 80 to get a respectable ach total. It is also adding another dimension to experience gain, and I hope to establish a kind of ach level for myself every few xp levels. For example, if you can have 200 points at 18-20, is it reasonable to double that by 30? (probably doable in exploration alone) or treble it? if you then treble it, then does that expansion curve continue? as more battlegrounds open up to you, more prof and dungeon ach's appear too.
Further questions arise from this thought process. Does keeping up with these give you an efficient framework for levelling too? by having to explore an area as soon as you are feasibly able too, do you find all the quests more efficiently, or are you likely to cover the ground more needlessly than just going about your business? If you're rolling BGs throughout the levelling process, does rolling enough of them to gain the easy ach's mean you have rolled enough to get the useful honor gear too? maybe. I suspect my answer to the last question is going to be keep the honor for 50 to 59 bracket, which is probably going to be the most boring, and I may have to get stuck into AV at 56,57 in order to avoid a lot of eastern plaguelands chaos. I spent far too much time there on Noah, and i just don't like it now, unless there's a scourge invasion going on:-)
In other news, we went into Trial of the Crusader the other day and after abandoning heroic mode, we did alright. It felt like my damage output sucked, being inconsistent beyond belief. (I still don't subscribe to recount, as I don't think I need any more excuses for changing my setups every few days) for the first fifteen minutes of attempts I was just trying to get back into PVE rotations, and trying to get my omen off my bars ( I recently moved all my bars up into centre of the screen, and kind of forgot about Omen in the BG focussed rejig). I can churn out damage alright, and my CDs were going well, but my positioning was shit, and therefore when i was connecting I was stealing threat or on the front of the boss, and when I wasn't connecting, I was of no real use. It panned out a bit after a short while, but then we were more or less done, as its such a short instance. I did really enjoy dpsing in an instance, and would kill to do more of it, particularly with friends, but I should spend a bit of time at the dummy getting my twitches in order, and not automatically flicking to anti cc spells, pointlessly self healing, or watching my buddies for shields and cleanses:-)
On Nordrassil, it seems like there is plenty of everything. If someone had asked me to hazard a guess at the least popular class, I would have said Warlock, but mostly because I think they are a bit of a pain to level, and its rare that a good one will show up in an alliance BG. A few Horde ones show up, but It feels like they're in a minority, and their channeling spells are very annoying, but not all that common a killing blow for me.
This week, I am starting to level the Hunter in some earnest, and enjoying it enormously. mid twenties and going strong, but you can get to the mid 20s blindfold these days. I hope to invest some time in running AB at the 29 bracket, it will be a good exercise in panic and CC rotations, and be something of a break from the fedexing around azeroth that I am currently doing. I have a wolf and a crab in the stable, and both are ace. I am trying to complete ach's as I go, fishing, cooking, exploring and pvp, so that I don't have to wander about when he is an 80 to get a respectable ach total. It is also adding another dimension to experience gain, and I hope to establish a kind of ach level for myself every few xp levels. For example, if you can have 200 points at 18-20, is it reasonable to double that by 30? (probably doable in exploration alone) or treble it? if you then treble it, then does that expansion curve continue? as more battlegrounds open up to you, more prof and dungeon ach's appear too.
Further questions arise from this thought process. Does keeping up with these give you an efficient framework for levelling too? by having to explore an area as soon as you are feasibly able too, do you find all the quests more efficiently, or are you likely to cover the ground more needlessly than just going about your business? If you're rolling BGs throughout the levelling process, does rolling enough of them to gain the easy ach's mean you have rolled enough to get the useful honor gear too? maybe. I suspect my answer to the last question is going to be keep the honor for 50 to 59 bracket, which is probably going to be the most boring, and I may have to get stuck into AV at 56,57 in order to avoid a lot of eastern plaguelands chaos. I spent far too much time there on Noah, and i just don't like it now, unless there's a scourge invasion going on:-)
In other news, we went into Trial of the Crusader the other day and after abandoning heroic mode, we did alright. It felt like my damage output sucked, being inconsistent beyond belief. (I still don't subscribe to recount, as I don't think I need any more excuses for changing my setups every few days) for the first fifteen minutes of attempts I was just trying to get back into PVE rotations, and trying to get my omen off my bars ( I recently moved all my bars up into centre of the screen, and kind of forgot about Omen in the BG focussed rejig). I can churn out damage alright, and my CDs were going well, but my positioning was shit, and therefore when i was connecting I was stealing threat or on the front of the boss, and when I wasn't connecting, I was of no real use. It panned out a bit after a short while, but then we were more or less done, as its such a short instance. I did really enjoy dpsing in an instance, and would kill to do more of it, particularly with friends, but I should spend a bit of time at the dummy getting my twitches in order, and not automatically flicking to anti cc spells, pointlessly self healing, or watching my buddies for shields and cleanses:-)
Saturday, 19 September 2009
On Spec
I will not mention fishing or levelling a warrior for no purpose in this post. I seem to mention it in all of them:-) I will mention Achievements, but then I like using them as yardsticks, in moderation.
Its time for my fortnightly experiment with talent specs. This weeks challenge, to get some burst going on with a survival based Protection spec in the BGs (for the express purpose of disarming bombs and gate fighting in IOC) and to build an arena, general purpose pvp spec for Lohengrin. Now I've got the Deadly Shoulders for it, its time to get some CC going on, some ghoul Stun maybe, and some general survival in the mix.
With Lohengrin, He's a blood presence kind of guy. It's like you're always judging Light in Blood presence, with regular green numbers appearing alongside the purple ones, and for me, this is working well in the tank setting. Heal per second for free, alongside the Damage per second is equalling useful threat per second. However, For PVP we need Damage over time, and a slack handful of suppression skills. I need to slow you down and keep constant damage going, not just hit you hard enough every ten seconds to keep your attention, I need to stop you, kill you, silence your mate, kill your other mate and distract his mate with my pet. Then do it again with very litle downtime, preferably stoping only to /flex.
In my blood spec, which is tank orientated, but will suffice for PVE damage output, I can hit you hard once or twice quite quick, stop you only once and If I'm lucky, get a disease up on you before I am silenced or stunned with semi-permanence. As a Death Knight with very few debuff removal tools, I am not going to win the melee game that a Paladin or a warrior might win (the first with the array of shield utility and proper self-healing, the second with berserker stance and multiple stuns and interrupts) so I need to slow you down and only come in to hit you with the situation in my favour; you moving slower, preferably with a pet on you, and my diseases, not only applied by means other than direct strike, but hitting harder for each tick (everyone's ressed up to the eyeballs these days aren't they?)
This all sounds good, and without going into individual talents, it seems Unholy is going to strengthen my pets and diseases quite a bit, and frost is going to make everyone move a lot slower for me.
I am not overly fond of having a ghoul to worry about (or at least I wasn't when levelling), but this is where I hope to make some use of macros in order to get the slime ball doing his work more efficiently. Having ghoul Leap and stun macro-ed together has got to be good for a laugh at the very least, “You, yes you over there! Stop casting and have some Leftoversgobbler for your trouble!”
We will see how this all works out. I like to mix things up a bit to see what we learn, and having never spent any time specced Unholy, it will at least be interesting to be move and cast quicker.
For Noah’s protection spec, it gets back to the idea of the PVP tank. There is a mistaken hope that survivability will actually triumph over all, partly based on how well Druids keep themselves up (and shamans too in my own travels). I believe this is mistaken because while its all very well to keep yourself up, while you're doing so, you're not keeping as many of your buddies up, and you're not really putting out a lot of damage. the odd Wrath in between heals is not much of a contribution in BGs, and half the time you may have been more useful chucking out damage and walking back from the graveyard same as the rest of us. Now, I appreciate having an opponent you just can't kill is a frustrating and demoralising experience, and being that tree or undead priest is a fun way to spend your afternoon, but unless you're a very good player, who can mix it up a bit and move very well, it feels very limited. The first mistake or series of spell misses you make, you're dead.
So, I am not going to be tank shaped for a theoretical survivability against players. I am mostly going to be tank for the very frequent Hammer of Justice stun, the ranged punch of Avengers Frisbee (or whatever it’s called) and to soak up the AOE vehicle damage floating around. The noisy cleave is going to be fairly useful too, and the overall "effective health" is going to of be benefit where there are healers for the inevitable end sequence castle defence. I will still have Hand of Freedom, and pursuit of Justice, but the downside of this spec will be losing Ret's Repentance, which is truly excellent when you can get it off where they actually aren't expecting it, but then this is a spec with a purpose, and I could always go back to the Hybrid BG spec for regular fun and games. On the whole, I don't really ever do exactly the same thing in any Battleground twice in a row. Depending on raid composition, Its nice to be able to heal when there's lots of melee on side, and melee when there are healers. On days where I'm spectacularly ham-fisted, it's nice to sit in a turret gun and lead Tauren:)
Having dual specs is excellent, as I was changing specs every few days before. To be able to experiment with different stuff in PVP, but still have a go-to Spec for Ret, should someone need me to, is ace. I have a very respectable Ret set in both raid stuff and horde beating stuff, and I spend enough time in a Divine Storm for things to be straightforward to switch to.
As I'm an achievements fan, I may also use having a tank spec for going back and completing a few BC dungeons. I haven't really had time enough spare for this type of thing recently, and completism isn't something I worry about, but I do feel that having come so far on Noah, and being quite a high achiever as it is, with all the profs, cooking and event ach's, maybe he should complete explorer and the old dungeonmasters and push for 4k. I'm in the top 10 of Lord's acheivers, why not consolidate that? Without any serious dungeon ach's under my belt, that’s not bad. My current favourite achievement? Isle of Conquest All Star. Far easier than any of the other "All Stars" but hell, it counts, and I got it in the BG I set out to get it in. For The Alliance!
Its time for my fortnightly experiment with talent specs. This weeks challenge, to get some burst going on with a survival based Protection spec in the BGs (for the express purpose of disarming bombs and gate fighting in IOC) and to build an arena, general purpose pvp spec for Lohengrin. Now I've got the Deadly Shoulders for it, its time to get some CC going on, some ghoul Stun maybe, and some general survival in the mix.
With Lohengrin, He's a blood presence kind of guy. It's like you're always judging Light in Blood presence, with regular green numbers appearing alongside the purple ones, and for me, this is working well in the tank setting. Heal per second for free, alongside the Damage per second is equalling useful threat per second. However, For PVP we need Damage over time, and a slack handful of suppression skills. I need to slow you down and keep constant damage going, not just hit you hard enough every ten seconds to keep your attention, I need to stop you, kill you, silence your mate, kill your other mate and distract his mate with my pet. Then do it again with very litle downtime, preferably stoping only to /flex.
In my blood spec, which is tank orientated, but will suffice for PVE damage output, I can hit you hard once or twice quite quick, stop you only once and If I'm lucky, get a disease up on you before I am silenced or stunned with semi-permanence. As a Death Knight with very few debuff removal tools, I am not going to win the melee game that a Paladin or a warrior might win (the first with the array of shield utility and proper self-healing, the second with berserker stance and multiple stuns and interrupts) so I need to slow you down and only come in to hit you with the situation in my favour; you moving slower, preferably with a pet on you, and my diseases, not only applied by means other than direct strike, but hitting harder for each tick (everyone's ressed up to the eyeballs these days aren't they?)
This all sounds good, and without going into individual talents, it seems Unholy is going to strengthen my pets and diseases quite a bit, and frost is going to make everyone move a lot slower for me.
I am not overly fond of having a ghoul to worry about (or at least I wasn't when levelling), but this is where I hope to make some use of macros in order to get the slime ball doing his work more efficiently. Having ghoul Leap and stun macro-ed together has got to be good for a laugh at the very least, “You, yes you over there! Stop casting and have some Leftoversgobbler for your trouble!”
We will see how this all works out. I like to mix things up a bit to see what we learn, and having never spent any time specced Unholy, it will at least be interesting to be move and cast quicker.
For Noah’s protection spec, it gets back to the idea of the PVP tank. There is a mistaken hope that survivability will actually triumph over all, partly based on how well Druids keep themselves up (and shamans too in my own travels). I believe this is mistaken because while its all very well to keep yourself up, while you're doing so, you're not keeping as many of your buddies up, and you're not really putting out a lot of damage. the odd Wrath in between heals is not much of a contribution in BGs, and half the time you may have been more useful chucking out damage and walking back from the graveyard same as the rest of us. Now, I appreciate having an opponent you just can't kill is a frustrating and demoralising experience, and being that tree or undead priest is a fun way to spend your afternoon, but unless you're a very good player, who can mix it up a bit and move very well, it feels very limited. The first mistake or series of spell misses you make, you're dead.
So, I am not going to be tank shaped for a theoretical survivability against players. I am mostly going to be tank for the very frequent Hammer of Justice stun, the ranged punch of Avengers Frisbee (or whatever it’s called) and to soak up the AOE vehicle damage floating around. The noisy cleave is going to be fairly useful too, and the overall "effective health" is going to of be benefit where there are healers for the inevitable end sequence castle defence. I will still have Hand of Freedom, and pursuit of Justice, but the downside of this spec will be losing Ret's Repentance, which is truly excellent when you can get it off where they actually aren't expecting it, but then this is a spec with a purpose, and I could always go back to the Hybrid BG spec for regular fun and games. On the whole, I don't really ever do exactly the same thing in any Battleground twice in a row. Depending on raid composition, Its nice to be able to heal when there's lots of melee on side, and melee when there are healers. On days where I'm spectacularly ham-fisted, it's nice to sit in a turret gun and lead Tauren:)
Having dual specs is excellent, as I was changing specs every few days before. To be able to experiment with different stuff in PVP, but still have a go-to Spec for Ret, should someone need me to, is ace. I have a very respectable Ret set in both raid stuff and horde beating stuff, and I spend enough time in a Divine Storm for things to be straightforward to switch to.
As I'm an achievements fan, I may also use having a tank spec for going back and completing a few BC dungeons. I haven't really had time enough spare for this type of thing recently, and completism isn't something I worry about, but I do feel that having come so far on Noah, and being quite a high achiever as it is, with all the profs, cooking and event ach's, maybe he should complete explorer and the old dungeonmasters and push for 4k. I'm in the top 10 of Lord's acheivers, why not consolidate that? Without any serious dungeon ach's under my belt, that’s not bad. My current favourite achievement? Isle of Conquest All Star. Far easier than any of the other "All Stars" but hell, it counts, and I got it in the BG I set out to get it in. For The Alliance!
new experiences and pointless Loquacity
Bang! Back to tanking with a vengeance last night. A slightly mental run round Utgarde Pinnacle on heroic, with about 8 wipes in total, and a half an hour exploration of the Eagle's Eye harpoon fight. I say run, it took 2 and a half hours. I am determined to press on with Death Knight tanking, as the numbers make sense more than paladin tanking for me, but I am not getting my rotation right consistently yet, and Death and Decay is the most annoying spell to cast, ever (the last thing I want to do whilst doing everything else is have to mouse click on the ground).
There are some glimmers of light here, as when it comes off, its fine, and single target stuff is easy enough. I think of single target threat maintenance as Tanking 101, and I'm about ready to qualify there. I also have made some headway with macros for the first time, and I kind of understand how all the spells work together, which I still scratch my head a little over with Pala tanking. Getting gear without doing Pugs has been fine (although I don’t excuse this antisocial behaviour), and I enjoy running around doing dailies with Loh, looking at quests with fresh eyes, and not feeling the "Paladin envy" I do with Noah. Practise will definitely make perfect here, and I hope to be able to tank more often as my reactions improve. onwards and upwards.
Inevitably, I am starting to build a PVP set with Loh, and have the start of the Gladiator gear. I got quite gripped with the notion of being "Lohengrin of the alliance" before the Cataclysm Expanson comes out, but this seems a bit far fetched really and I won't be pursuing it. I am absurdly pleased with 10K honor kills on the paladin, and doing that whole thing another 9 times, even with it getting easier through repetition, feels like a marathon that isn't worth running for its own sake. I will press for further PVP achievements, as nothing feels quite as good as getting those ones, but I will not be grinding HKs purely for the sake of it. I got “Capture the Flag” on my mage 2 days ago, and I did a victory lap of the flat it was such an unlikely thing to happen.
I leave that to guys like Xfolif. Nordrassil has its celebrity idiots, as well as its heroes, particularly where PVP is concerned. This guy is a paladin, playing mostly in protection spec, who has the "of the Alliance" title. He also has the worst case of verbal diarrhoea I have ever seen. It seemed particularly bad when Isle of Conquest was in its Honeymoon fortnight, with this guy giving it large in nearly every fight, at all times of day, on why the Alliance were so bad, why no one would ever do well, and why they should be listening to him. Now, I don’t really mind the Armchair generals, and guys who get frustrated because they think someone ought to be giving orders, and Hey, it might as well be them don’t strictly bother me. But Xfo would give it large on a premade, and always from the comfort of a stage left turret gun. He had a favourite armchair, even for his avatar. I have been in all the Battlegrounds with this guy now, and it always seems the same. Now, he must have worked a bit to get the 100,000 Kills, and had his fair share of BG blues, listening to others moaning on, but enough is enough really. I would quite like to interview him outside a BG setting, to see if I can get any sense out of the guy, to explain his contradictory motivations. He obviously wants to do well in BGs, but he undermines the slender starting confidence of every side he is ever in. Maybe I’ll try to talk to him.
I had another good example of pointless loquacity last night. Its about 1am server time, and I went into WSG on my 19 hunter, mostly for a bit of variety (we’re in hunter levelling central presently, with Heirloom shoulders full of win). Now, as traditional in the small hours, 19 bracket WSG is going on for lots of people, but not here, alliance side in the Raserai/Frenzy Battlegroup. There’s 4 of us versus 10 of them. Ah well, jump in, get some kills, run about for less than 10 minutes while they pull flags, no one’s really hurt, and the experience is still worthwhile. Unfortunately, this isn’t good enough for Hellscream warrior of the month, who bemoans that we are all rubbish, we aren’t working together, and because he hasn’t played his twink in 6 months he cannot singlehandedly win this. This guy is probably under the age of 15, but it still seems excessive, particularly as his last comment is along the lines of “your silence tells all” as no one else has bothered to respond to his meaningless diatribe. Honestly mate, move on, if you don’t wish to take your 15 minutes down time, then don’t type, just Kill. Experiment, go play hide and seek, try and play healer with bandages, anything. But please stop typing.
I am venting spleen myself now, but I would rather it was here where no one really minds (sat at work with nothing to do), than in orange or beige chat. On the flipside of doing a lot of BGs, you do get to meet some real heroes, and witness a few really great players in action. Topping the Nordrassil Arena rankings last season were guys from Gauntlet and NVM CLEAVE, and dudes like Bodymaster are really good to watch in Wintergrasp, if you can keep up next to them for a bit before you get drilled by people looking for an easier target! Early this week, we won a Wintergrasp in the afternoon in fairly organised style (northwest corner with tanks from west works every damn time, if you ask me) and one of the cleave teams who got Frost Wyrms for their efforts were sitting them on the steps of the fort, whilst the VOA Yukon goldrush was going on. “Respect to you!” As big hearted Caribbean sauce entrepreneur Levi Roots might say, were he in the position to comment on Warcraft arena ability, and particularly if he understood the paucity of talent apparently available on Nordrassil. That last sentiment is unfortunately backed up by the stats. Nord’s Arena rankings at the end of the last season showed only 3 or four alliance teams in every bracket. I take heart however, that those teams are in the top 10 of the rankings. Hope and high fives all round.
I seem a bit preoccupied with numbers today. Ninety percent of the time, I just really enjoy the scenery, and revel in each new bit of gear, and punch the air with every killing blow (particularly, if your Blood Elf, or a warlock, or any fight where it’s completely one on one!) I have the 1000 fish caught Ach on three characters (one of whom, my warrior has reached the late forties, but won’t ever get serious playtime now – “with all these melee dps you are truly spoiling us, ambassador”), but, having given this charming sub game time-filler a bit a bit of a break, have enjoyed fishing pools with my hunter this week (still hoping they make Scavenger a title…).
To close this post, I would like to give a few shout outs (in the style of Suggs looky likey hard man Tim Westwood, perhaps) to the Nordrassil guys who got the Celestial Defender “Realm first” this week. I really like the realmwide announcement when these things happen; the best one of which was first to 80 in that mental week after Wrath came out. Here’s to more of these before Cataclysm, and obviously when that gets here. My other shout out is to any guild mates who have to put up with me being a learner tank, or the “you are currently in spectator mode” paladin in any group setting. Many thanks, with love from the bottom of my pond.
There are some glimmers of light here, as when it comes off, its fine, and single target stuff is easy enough. I think of single target threat maintenance as Tanking 101, and I'm about ready to qualify there. I also have made some headway with macros for the first time, and I kind of understand how all the spells work together, which I still scratch my head a little over with Pala tanking. Getting gear without doing Pugs has been fine (although I don’t excuse this antisocial behaviour), and I enjoy running around doing dailies with Loh, looking at quests with fresh eyes, and not feeling the "Paladin envy" I do with Noah. Practise will definitely make perfect here, and I hope to be able to tank more often as my reactions improve. onwards and upwards.
Inevitably, I am starting to build a PVP set with Loh, and have the start of the Gladiator gear. I got quite gripped with the notion of being "Lohengrin of the alliance" before the Cataclysm Expanson comes out, but this seems a bit far fetched really and I won't be pursuing it. I am absurdly pleased with 10K honor kills on the paladin, and doing that whole thing another 9 times, even with it getting easier through repetition, feels like a marathon that isn't worth running for its own sake. I will press for further PVP achievements, as nothing feels quite as good as getting those ones, but I will not be grinding HKs purely for the sake of it. I got “Capture the Flag” on my mage 2 days ago, and I did a victory lap of the flat it was such an unlikely thing to happen.
I leave that to guys like Xfolif. Nordrassil has its celebrity idiots, as well as its heroes, particularly where PVP is concerned. This guy is a paladin, playing mostly in protection spec, who has the "of the Alliance" title. He also has the worst case of verbal diarrhoea I have ever seen. It seemed particularly bad when Isle of Conquest was in its Honeymoon fortnight, with this guy giving it large in nearly every fight, at all times of day, on why the Alliance were so bad, why no one would ever do well, and why they should be listening to him. Now, I don’t really mind the Armchair generals, and guys who get frustrated because they think someone ought to be giving orders, and Hey, it might as well be them don’t strictly bother me. But Xfo would give it large on a premade, and always from the comfort of a stage left turret gun. He had a favourite armchair, even for his avatar. I have been in all the Battlegrounds with this guy now, and it always seems the same. Now, he must have worked a bit to get the 100,000 Kills, and had his fair share of BG blues, listening to others moaning on, but enough is enough really. I would quite like to interview him outside a BG setting, to see if I can get any sense out of the guy, to explain his contradictory motivations. He obviously wants to do well in BGs, but he undermines the slender starting confidence of every side he is ever in. Maybe I’ll try to talk to him.
I had another good example of pointless loquacity last night. Its about 1am server time, and I went into WSG on my 19 hunter, mostly for a bit of variety (we’re in hunter levelling central presently, with Heirloom shoulders full of win). Now, as traditional in the small hours, 19 bracket WSG is going on for lots of people, but not here, alliance side in the Raserai/Frenzy Battlegroup. There’s 4 of us versus 10 of them. Ah well, jump in, get some kills, run about for less than 10 minutes while they pull flags, no one’s really hurt, and the experience is still worthwhile. Unfortunately, this isn’t good enough for Hellscream warrior of the month, who bemoans that we are all rubbish, we aren’t working together, and because he hasn’t played his twink in 6 months he cannot singlehandedly win this. This guy is probably under the age of 15, but it still seems excessive, particularly as his last comment is along the lines of “your silence tells all” as no one else has bothered to respond to his meaningless diatribe. Honestly mate, move on, if you don’t wish to take your 15 minutes down time, then don’t type, just Kill. Experiment, go play hide and seek, try and play healer with bandages, anything. But please stop typing.
I am venting spleen myself now, but I would rather it was here where no one really minds (sat at work with nothing to do), than in orange or beige chat. On the flipside of doing a lot of BGs, you do get to meet some real heroes, and witness a few really great players in action. Topping the Nordrassil Arena rankings last season were guys from Gauntlet and NVM CLEAVE, and dudes like Bodymaster are really good to watch in Wintergrasp, if you can keep up next to them for a bit before you get drilled by people looking for an easier target! Early this week, we won a Wintergrasp in the afternoon in fairly organised style (northwest corner with tanks from west works every damn time, if you ask me) and one of the cleave teams who got Frost Wyrms for their efforts were sitting them on the steps of the fort, whilst the VOA Yukon goldrush was going on. “Respect to you!” As big hearted Caribbean sauce entrepreneur Levi Roots might say, were he in the position to comment on Warcraft arena ability, and particularly if he understood the paucity of talent apparently available on Nordrassil. That last sentiment is unfortunately backed up by the stats. Nord’s Arena rankings at the end of the last season showed only 3 or four alliance teams in every bracket. I take heart however, that those teams are in the top 10 of the rankings. Hope and high fives all round.
I seem a bit preoccupied with numbers today. Ninety percent of the time, I just really enjoy the scenery, and revel in each new bit of gear, and punch the air with every killing blow (particularly, if your Blood Elf, or a warlock, or any fight where it’s completely one on one!) I have the 1000 fish caught Ach on three characters (one of whom, my warrior has reached the late forties, but won’t ever get serious playtime now – “with all these melee dps you are truly spoiling us, ambassador”), but, having given this charming sub game time-filler a bit a bit of a break, have enjoyed fishing pools with my hunter this week (still hoping they make Scavenger a title…).
To close this post, I would like to give a few shout outs (in the style of Suggs looky likey hard man Tim Westwood, perhaps) to the Nordrassil guys who got the Celestial Defender “Realm first” this week. I really like the realmwide announcement when these things happen; the best one of which was first to 80 in that mental week after Wrath came out. Here’s to more of these before Cataclysm, and obviously when that gets here. My other shout out is to any guild mates who have to put up with me being a learner tank, or the “you are currently in spectator mode” paladin in any group setting. Many thanks, with love from the bottom of my pond.
Monday, 1 June 2009
From the "Loggia" At S+4...
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.
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.
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.
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