The Turkinator November 24, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in Achievments.1 comment so far
Pro tip for those who are trying, but failing on your Turkinator acheivment (the one where you have to kill 40 turkeys) -
Well, first, dont do it in elwynn. Go to trisfal or redridge. Find a little secluded spot that you and maybe one other is farming.
The real tip, however, is to wait until there are only 10 seconds left on your timer before you kill your next turkey – if you kill your turkeys any faster than this, they will not respawn properly, and you will run out of turkeys!
L2Ret – The Stats and Gem Superpost November 23, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in L2 Ret.1 comment so far
Stats can be confusing. I get it. But as a ret paladin, you don’t get to make some of the mistakes that others make. Spellpower? Nope. ArmPen? Hell no. So read on to see how you can maximize your DPS.
The Stats You Should Be Concerned With
Ok, so ret paladins have 9 basic stats that we play with:
Agility
Attack Power (AP)
Armor Penetration (ArmPen)
Crit
Expertise
Haste
Hit
Strength
Spell Power (SP)
Understanding How Ecnounters Work
Before we can rank the stats, we need to know how you do damage, and how encounters work.
When you attack, your damage is based off of how much Attack Power and Spell Power you have. Yup, that’s all. White swing, Holy Wrath, Consecrate, they are all based off of either AP, SP, or some combination there of.
So, you would think that AP and SP should be top priority, right?
Wrong.
When you are talented appropriately, and using Blessing of Kings (which no raid should be without), one point in Strength is worth (approximately) 2.6 AP.
Yup, people, I just identified your super stat for you.
But beyond that, you also need a healthy dose of Crit. You see, Ret Paladins are built around Crits. Two of our primary talents is entirely crit based (just like certain DK builds), Vengeance and Righteous Vengeance.
And, of course, we can’t forget about Hit and Expertise. If you can’t hit anything, you can’t do any damage.
What I am trying to get at, is ret, more than any other spec, is a balancing act. You need to fine tune your gear more than anyone, and sometimes that means giving up an upgrade because you will loose hit cap.
Ranking The Stats
Just like any other spec, there is a certain priority on how you rank the stats. Ret’s stats are ranked as such:
Strength > Hit > Crit > AP > Agility > Expertise > Haste > ArmPen > SP
In the intrest of full disclosure, Many of the top sites, including EJ put Hit above STR in priority and Expertise just below STR, where I have put hit. I, personally, think that is silly. Let me explain.
Hit is a major player in your gear. You should be at hit cap, no doubt. If you aren’t, it’s going to devastate your DPS (mostly through lost judgements). But, that being said, I have found that if you are close to your cap (within 50 or so points), you really stop noticing the benefits of hit (that is until you hit the cap), and you ALWAYS have a greater DPS gain with 10 points of STR vs. 10 points of Hit.
For expertise, expertise is a secondary stat on gear always. All expertise does for Ret is Remove Dodges from the hit table. I am running with 17 expertise (9 below cap) and I have a MUCH less than 1% dodge rate, no matter what the math says. Sometimes theory crafting only takes you so far.
Bringing It All Together: The Hard And Fast Rules Of Playing Ret
Alright, so we bring it all together. When gear selecting, always use the above ranking system. If something has equal STR, but a healthy dose of Crit instead of ArmPen, go with the Crit piece.
If you have a neck that has 110 AP and 69 STR (all other stats being equal) go with the STR piece.
Never EVER gem or enchant for Armor Pen, or Expertise. Armor Pen is a junk stat (I don’t know why some Paladins are just riddled with these gems??!?!?!), and Expertise will come naturally with gear. If you read EJ and forums like it, they will say get Expertise capped ASAP. For anyone but the most cutting edged guilds, this is a mistake. The DPS you would loose (from all of that STR and AP loss) does not account for the gain you would receive from the Expertise cap. Remember – they get to pick and choose their gear. You most likely don’t have that luxury. Just let it come naturally.
You need to be hit capped. 267 is the cap without the Draenei racial, about 230 with it. I always run with 230, because I always have a Draenei (is that the most painful word you have ever spelled, or what? Sheesh) with me. It’s part of my raid makeup. But if you don’t, you need to be at, or really close to 267. Remember what I said though, when you are really close, (within 50 points) its ok to stop gemming and enchanting for Hit. You will get more bang for your gold by going with STR. Plus T9 is just stacked with hit everywhere. You will be capped in no time just by running heroics.
Don’t ever, ever, EVAR get gear with SP on it. I only added it to the ranks because, yes, technically SP does give a minor bump to your DPS. But it is insignificant compared to even ArmPen. However, if you find yourself in a raid with no food (shame on you!) and all you can get your grubby mits on are some SP food from your healer, then munch on that. It is better than NOTHING, though not by much.
Gemming and Chanting
Chants should always be Attack Power, or hit. Cloak should be agility. Chest – Stats. Feet – if you ABSOLUTELY need the hit, then icewalker, otherwise go with the AP. Know, however, that icewalker (and the hit enchant to gloves) is selling your DPS soul to the hit gods.
Meta Gems
The one and only meta you should be using: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond.
Yes, you CAN be using chaotic skyflare. But in order to activate that gem, you will loose aLOT of STR.
Gems in General
STR STR STR STR STR STR
That is your guidelines. Anything with STR on it, preferably ONLY STR. I don’t gem to match sockets. It generally drops your DPS. But if you are a stickler, find your STR gems that are combos, and use the above ranking chart. A STR gem with Crit is good, a STR gem with SP is garbage (Yes, I know STR and SP gems don’t exist. This is an illustrative model).
To activate your meta, one Bold Cardinal Ruby, One Sovereign Dreadstone, one Rigid King’s Amber if you are not hit capped. If you are Hit capped, pop an Inscribed Ametrine in.
But The Hit Cap…. IT SUCKS!
LOL at you. You are right. Hit cap sucks. Especially if you raided 10 mans between Naxx and Ulduar before the gear reset. The upper tier of Naxx and lower tier of Ulduar for 10 mans had NO hit on the gear. I literally had to hold on to iLvL 200 pieces when I had 219 pieces, just for the hit rating.
Anyway, that is not helping you.
Yes, hit rating sucks. If you are not at hit cap do the following:
Replace AP glove enchant with hit, feel sad on the inside.
Still not at hit cap?
Replace AP feet enchant with Icewalker, cry on the inside.
Still not at hit cap?
Replace gems with Hit gems. Know that you have sold your soul to the hit gods, and die on the inside.
Remember, when you get within 50 points of hit cap or so, then you can STOP replacing your gems. But, DO replace those enchants.
Boss Spotlight: Onyxia November 16, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in 10 Man Raiding, Boss Spotlight.3 comments
Onyxia, especially 10 man, requires extreme coordination among your raid group. This is a divide and conquer type fight, and one that will really expose the weaknesses in your raid.
Core Mechanics
- AMG! Adds!
- Healer Under Attack!
- Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid!
- Team Coordination
- Pay The **** Attention!
Initial Information
Onyxia is a three phase fight. As you enter the room at the blue spot, ony will be at the red spot, resting as if she is not about to be slain. At each of the arrow locations, there are caves with eggs in them. These are the whelp caves. They are very bad.
You will need a minimum of two tanks on 10 man – one for whelps one for leet adds. Three for 25 – one for each whelp cave, and one for the leet adds.
Git’ er Done!
Fire resist, from at least one pally is pretty essential, especially if the group is undergeared. Rember, this is a T9 fight.
Upon engaging Ony, the tank will need to pull her to the back wall (red spot) with her tail to the blue spot. Get her into position as quickly as you can. While the tank is positioning, the DPS needs to hold off. She is easy to pull from the tank. Once the tank has aggro, and is stationary at the back wall, then you may open up.
Positioning on the first phase is key. She does a tail swipe, as well as a frontal cleave. Melee DPS must find that sweet spot, as well as ranged. If someone gets swiped into a whelp cave, it will spawn adds, and can quickly spell doom for your raid.
At 65% or so Ony will move into phase two. In phase two, ony will run back away from the tank to the blue spot – where you came in. She will then take into the air. During phase two, only ranged DPS will be able to attack ony.
When Ony moves to the second phase, you will need to STOP all DPS. If you continue to dps, you will get aggro from one of the many adds that spawn. Right at the start of phase two (shortly after she takes to the air) whelps will spawn from each of the whelp caves. All raid members should stack onto the whelp tank, and remain there until the whelp tank has aggro. Then burn the first adds down.
Once the first whelp wave is down, once every 45 seconds or so, a new wave will spawn. You will need at least one AoE DPS to AoE those down.
Also, after the first whelp spawn, large elite adds will spawn from the entrance – the blue spot. DPS (typically Melee) should be assigned to down them. Usually, you need two DPS there (for ten man) 3-4 on 25. These adds MUST go down ASAP. If you manage to get two leets, it often spells doom for the raid. Also, these leet adds do an AoE fire attack. Melee should be wise and look at the cast bar, and run when it starts to cast. It can easily one-shot lesser geared players. Because of this, the leets should be tanked near where they spawn, at the entrance.
Whatever DPS is not assigned to whelps and/or the leet adds must be constantly pounding on Onyxia.
If the adds are not enough for you, periodically she will do a deep breath. This is a AoE fire attack, but it can be avoided. When she calls out that she is about to do a deep breath, look up and see which way she is pointed. She will deep breath the ground in the direction she is pointed from where she is at until she flies all the way over to the other side of the room – basically a straight beeline from one side of the room to the other.
At 40% Ony will move into phase three.
When she moves into phase three, Ony will land and make a beeline right for the tank that was tanking her in phase one. Contrary to her build at lvl 60, she does not reset aggro when in the air.
You will need to mop up any adds quickly, while you resume the fight against Ony, however, no more will spawn (unless you get knocked into the whelp caves).
The first thing that ony will do when she lands is a raidwide fear. She will do this periodically throughout the fight as well. If you have a preist, fear ward should be placed on the MT. Otherwise, a tremor totem is very helpful as well. If you dont have any of those…. You are just going to have to eat the fears, and cry on the inside. Because of the fears, ony should be tanked at the blue spot for phase three, with her back to the raid.
During phase three, the cave floor will occasionally errupt with lava. Do not stand on any cracks, and you will be fine. Else the healers will scream at you and hate you for all eternity.
Fight ends with Ony’s death.
Alternative Strats
Ummmm. This is a pretty straightforward fight (though a bit complicated). Really, this is the only way to down her.
Pro-Tip
My 10 man raid group was struggling on this for a while. It is absolutely key for everyone to be alive in 10 man the whole time. Love your healers. Give them cookies.
Also, if the transition from phase 2 to phase 3 is giving you trouble, try having the whelp tank be your “MT” and tank ony for the first and last phase. The whelps hit a lot lighter and can be killed faster if there are adds still up when she grounds. If the MT is the leet tank, your healers are going to have a pain in the rear keeping them up.
Notes For Ret
Contrary to conventions, you do not HAVE to be assigned to the big leet adds. As you well know, recent changes have made you into an AoE powerhouse (that is, if you chose to talent into SoC – and if you didn’t, you need to visit a respec trainer immediately). You can just as easily move to the whelps.
If you ARE assigned to the leet adds, just be aware of their fire blast. It can easily one shot lesser geared pally’s. Move out of it and your healers will be the ones giving YOU cookies.
Notes For Holy
You, of course, will be assigned to tank duty. In 10 man in particular, you will probably need to strike a good range balance in between the leet adds and the whelp adds. This range is often too long for your beacon, but you can help out with the other tank as needed (not to mention raid).
The biggest issue that you are going to have is the deep breaths – especially if you are healing the leet tank. Bad luck is bad, but often the AoE fire attack off of the leet and the deep breath co-inside with one another. If this happens, you may have to bubble and eat the deep breath, while healing the tank through both attacks. Mobility + AOE OMGWTFBBQ Damage = Not a happy holy pally.
Also, watch out for the transition to phase three. Fear is bad, mmmmkay?
Notes For Prot
Sorry Prot – you are the whelp tank. You are best suited for this with your consecrate constantly generating aoe threat.
If you find (on 10 man) you are having trouble getting all the whelps, try this: Move to one cave and drop consecrate right before they spawn. This will aggro them to you while they are escaping. Run to the other side and use your other tools to pick up the other whelps. Move back to the center and drop consecrate to solidify your aggro before your whelp DPS opens up to clear them out.
My Passings With The Supernatural November 11, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in Off-Topic.add a comment
Hello Internets!
Im not feeling so well today. I had a migraine last night that just would not stop, and I have what I call “swollen head syndrome” today. Anyone who has every had a serious migraine knows what this feels like – it literally feels like your head is swollen and full of water and heavy and groggy, and all kinds of tired.
In any event, I am not in a very creative mood, so I thought I would post about something that I wrote on facebook, and had a few “What???!?!?” reactions. These are a few personal accounts, and they are not in any way WoW related, so you may feel like skipping this. Please keep comments courteous, I will answer any questions, so long as they are reasonable. It is a long post though, so be careful of the crit effect from this wall of text 
I recently went and saw Paranormal Activity. It is being heralded across the interwebs as one of the scariest movies of all time. I definitely think it ranks really high. However, the movie was a bit more personal for me.
(****** Warning – potential spoilers******)
As you may or may not know, it does involve a couple (in particular, the woman) being haunted (or more accurately, stalked) by a demon. I won’t spoil the end, but I will say that the guy got what he deserved.
Anyway, the movie is very personal (I still have nightmares), because I was haunted before.
Yes, people, I truly do believe that I was (and maybe still am) haunted.
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
I do believe that there are forces unseen in this world. Demons, ghosts, angels, spirits, all of these words are ways to describe them. I also believe that whether or not you belive in them, they can still effect you.
My First Encounter
Let me start by giving just a smidge of a background. My first encounter was when I was 7. My mom had married my stepfather when I was 5 (That is a WHOLE other story). My Step Dad’s father was really sick. He had colon cancer, and basically hung on by a thread for almost two years. The man terrified me whenever we went to see him. I don’t know what it was. Even today, thinking back, I get the shivers. I just couldn’t keep it together even long enough to sit on his lap before I would just freak out and run as fast and as far as I could.
Anyway, he was really sick for two years. The night that the time came for him to pass, he had been in the hospital for almost two weeks. My mom and my step father had been by his side for almost the whole two weeks. My grandmother was babysitting me. The night that he did pass, it was quiet in the neighborhood. I didn’t even know he had passed, as my parents had not come home from the hospital.
About 1AM in the morning (shortly after he had passed) I awoke to someone whispering my name at the foot of my bed. I am not talking gentle whispers of sweet nothings. I am talking, a near yell of a whisper. Whispering as hard as you can without using your voice. Being young and completely terrified, I did not move while this continued for about half hour. After about half hour, I just couldnt take it any more I ran. I ran to my grandmother, who didn’t know what was going on. That event prompted me to start listening to music at night.
The Haunted House
Although that night was burned into my memory for eternity (I had a lot of trouble sleeping after that), I was actually left alone for a while. Life went on, and we moved constantly. By my count we had moved 11 times from the start of my 5th grade till just after 7th grade started.
Anyway, 7th grade we moved to a beautiful house (I would LOVE to have owned that house at one point) that was built in the 1800’s. It was a former horse ranch, situated on 80 acres of land (which is absolutely massive). The one problem – it was in the middle of nowhere. It was a 1.5 hour trip to school (and I was the last pickup, so it was straight to school), and because of the route back home, it was a 3.5 hour bus ride home (homework was almost always done on the way home). To go into “town” it was about an hour if you sped to get to the outskirts of civilization.
In any event, this is where the haunting started again. To be fair, I can’t honestly say that it was the same entity, or different. But I can say, that house had multiple entities in it.
Shortly after we moved in, we started hearing footsteps. Things started getting moved, just like in the movie. At first it was just things getting moved from the desk to the floor. Near the end, it was more extreme (hang in there, that story is incoming).
My first experience, I was woken up due to being cold. That house was extremely cold and drafty. I also had to go to the bathroom. So, I got up and went to my door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a person, a young boy, in particular, standing outside in the cold. I turned to get a look at it, and I never did make out his face. He was standing just outside of my window, completely naked (but covering himself). I had an immense feeling of compassion and sadness (but at the same time, fear, of course). I watched for about 3 maybe four seconds, and then he just disappeared. Freaked, of course, I ran to the bathroom, and stayed up for the rest of the night.
My second experience there was completely innocuous. It was in broad daylight. I had been raking and cleaning the immense door yard. I noticed a man just walk from the garage area to the row of trees. Oddly enough, although unsettling, he did not scare me. I didnt ever see his face (like the boy, it was fuzzy), but he was dressed in a civil war garb. I went investigating, and he was gone. No footprints in the dirt and dust.
We had house guests a few weeks later. One of them actually had been scared to come back, because he had a story about something that happened. Apparently, the last time that he was at our house, he left late. As he was leaving, going through our driveway (which was long, and full of trees), he had seen this apparition that I had seen earlier – the civil war guy. He looked down to make sure his door was locked, and looked back up. The person was gone, but looking out the rearview mirror, he saw this spirit’s shadow in his brake lights. At that very moment, while he was telling us his story, in the front room, there was a loud noise. It was as if someone (or something) had dropped something really heavy on the floor. We never did figure out what that noise was.
Keep in mind, that we had not told anyone about our encounters up to this point. Our guest described the guy that I had seen a few weeks earlier exactly to what I had described. However, our guest had exactly the opposite feeling. He said that he was scared out of his wits – that the spirit (or whatever) was after him for whatever reason.
My final experience was several months later. My mom had a bad case of H. Pylori (ulcer causing stomach bacteria from undercooked meat), and she was extremely sick from the medication. They had taken her into the hospital, and I was left all alone. I was extremely nervous. About midnight, I was watching TV and a brush from on top of the television was knocked off the TV and sent flying to the middle of the room. It didnt just fall off, it was forcefully pushed. Shortly after that (not 5 minutes) the entire area – inside, outside - was lit up like daylight for about 30 seconds. I dont know what the cause was, it freaked me the hell out though, and I ended up sitting back on the couch, shivering, until my family came home several hours later.
Soon After that, we moved from that house to one in town (thank god, civilization!), but next to a cemetery. I know, I know, Cliche horror movie in the making, but it really isn’t too bad.
The High School Years
Eventually, I stated high school My freshman year was hell, I was the geek that no one talked to. Fortunately, that dissipated as the months went on. Eventually, I got a group of friends, and some of them were into Wicca. You know, the whole spell casting, paganistic religion. While I didn’t really get into the religion with them (everyone to their own, and such), but I was keenly interested in the Tarot.
Over my sophomore years I learned how to read Tarot, and yes, I do believe that they work (I even have my own set of cards, testy as they may be). I also learned about other Tarot-Like divination. One, in particular, was called “guardian angel” cards.
Now, just so you understand, by the rules of Tarot, you are not supposed to use anyone else’s deck without their permission (a story, I will shortly get to). But, these were close friends, I always had permission, especially since they were my friends.
One long lunch period in my junior year, I was learning about these Guardian Angel cards. Supposedly they are just like tarot, but they are guided by a person’s guardian angel, rather than divination, or “fate.” While shuffling the deck, I realized that I had shuffled the deck backwards (i.e. some were face down, some were face up). Realizing the mistake I had just made, my friend and I looked up and kind of sighed together. At that moment, I felt a deep sense of calm, and just closed my eyes for a split second. My friend said that I also smirked at the same time. I don’t remember that, but you never know. I looked down at the cards, and they had all been re-arranged properly, and back in proper order (its not as simple to say it is Ace to King, but think that). Keep in mind this all happened in a split second. The cards never left my grasp. I can easily tell you that is the most benevolent thing I have ever felt in my life. Completely at peace, completely calm, I was never afraid.
Finally, I end with a mild story (comparatively). It was my senior year. I should have known better, but my Step father and a friend (brother from another mother, really close friend), wanted to play with a Ouija board. It was late, my mom and sister were out (watching a movie, if I recall). It was rainy and stormy, but there was a street light outside our house, so it was never really dark at our house.
Anyway, we were trying to get the thing to move for 20 minutes or so, while sitting around the kitchen table. It really wasn’t doing anything. My father then started acting really stupid, and started cursing at the board, asking questions that should not be asked. Knowing wiccan friends, I knew there were certain things that you never EVER ask or tell a Ouija board. Well, these are the things that he was spitting out to the board. It must have pissed something off. After about 5 minutes of this, I was getting really nervous. Without warning, the cursor shot to the edge of the board (though not landing on anything), and I saw a shadow pass across our front window, as if someone or something passed in front of them.
Anyone who has believes they have seen a ghost will tell you that it is an immensely intense experience. It tends to creep you out. But normally, you get a feeling as to if the ghost is benevolent or malevolent.
I can tell you in that split second that the Ouija board moved and I saw the shadow, I have never been more terrified in my life. It wasn’t just a creep factor. It was fear.
I, of course, was the only one who saw it, but I can tell you that I cracked the board in half and trashed it while my father was investigating the front yard (which came up with nothing, of course). I think I still owe my friend for that board, LOL.
Anyway, I hope that it was at least an interesting read. I honestly believe that all of the above happened to me due to some supernatural thing – be it a spirit, demon, ghost, apparition, whatever you want to call it. I am not asking you to judge. I just wrote this as an interesting topic. Again, I will answer any reasonable question. Please keep the comments courteous.
I am happy to say, however, that I have not had any experiences since the last Ouija, but boy did that movie ever bring back some memories… And not necessarily in a good way.
No NaNo Here November 10, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in Blogging.add a comment
So, for all of you who have been wondering just what the heck in this NaNoBloWriMo and NaNoWriMo stuff is – basically its “National November (blog) Writing Month.” I will not be participating.
Basically, it challenges bloggers to post something every day. Or, if you go the standard writing way, to write a book with certain restrictions in the month of November.
I am not participating, not because I am boycotting it or anything, but rather because it just does not fit my writing style. I am somewhat a perfectionist. And I do not want to be forced… No, scratch that… I don’t want to force YOU to read something that I don’t think is up to my standards. If that means that it takes 2 or 3 days to write, so be it.
Posting, for posting’s sake is just not my idea of blogging.
Why Can’t We Get A Set Like…. November 9, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in RAAAAAAAANT!, The Art of Wow.2 comments
This?
This is a perfect embodyment of what I think all of T10 should have looked like – Class Evoking, yet slightly sinister. It looks like the shaman has picked up the skill of one of the lichiepoo’s minions and bent it to his own will. And the shoulders… Epic.
Obligatory Paladin PvP Post, Pre-3.3 November 9, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in PvP.3 comments
Okie Dokie. So, most of the changes on the PTR for 3.3 have been squarely aimed at PvP. So I thought that I would take the time out and address what is going on in PvP from a Ret side of things.
Currently, Ret has been relegated to a purely support role. What I mean by that is we are buffbots and drainbots.
Simply put, there are three major weaknesses that are currently preventing Ret from becoming any significant force in PvP.
- Lack of a gap closer
I have whined about this in the past, but nothing has really changed here. If we are trapped/snared/slowed/cursed/whatever the game is pretty much over for us. The only thing that we have is Judgement of Justice – and that really isn’t a gap closer, no matter what blizz says. If we are 15 yards away, use that judgement, we are still 15 yards away. We can now run 30% faster than them, but by the time that we catch up (assuming that we are not snared again, which is what any reasonable PvP’er would do), we have lost the effect. Against hunters, druids, shamen, we are absolutely helpless. Add to the fact that Ret MUST use judgement of wisdom for the mana, and you have a lame duck for anyone with a brain.
- Lack of a reliable stun (on a reasonable cooldown)
We have one. Thats it. And it has a minute long cooldown. It takes a really well placed stun to do anything functional with our stun. Many people end up using the stun as an artificial gap closer. This is bad design, I am sorry to say. There is something to be said for utilizing all the tools you have, but when you are using one essential tool in place of another, its just bad.
One thing that is often overlooked is the redesign of random stuns. Don’t get me wrong, I like the removal at the beginning of Lich King. But it really hurt Ret PvP. For those of you who don’t understand what I am going on about – Maces used to have a random stun component to them. It would sap you for something on the order of half a second. And what paladin wasn’t wielding a mace in PvP because of that? With that removal, it significantly hurt Ret PvP – without a reliable, short cooldown stun we relied on the random short duration stuns. Now that we are missing that… Well, its not very easy to time ONE stun per fight.
- Complete lack of any meaningful burst
Ret’s at one point were the king of burst damage, and it did need to be tuned down. (Yes an honest to goodness Ret agreed with the general community for a nerf.) But now we are lame ducks. Against healers, even with a well placed stun, we are very unlikely to take them down. I dueled with a Resto Druid the other day, he was decently well geared. I could not, for the life of me, down him. It ended up being a drain match, which he won, because I had to keep healing myself. But this is what ret is right now. Just extra pressure on the healer. That’s it. You just hit on the healer until someone comes and helps you burst him down.
Many people have said that Ret survivability is a problem. Right now, pre-3.3 it is not. I think we are right there in the sweet spot. But that is WITHOUT a Sacred Shield nerf. I was hoping that the change would not go through, and I am glad that it didn’t. Take SS away from a Ret, and you have… Well, I don’t like PvP all that much to begin with, but I can’t imagine even the hardcore liking it after a change like that. It would literally nuke ret survivability.
Let me take the time to mention the LoH issue as well. LoH as a Ret is two key things – a quick “Oh CRAP!!!!” button, and, for those who use it intellegently, an instant mana button (and not just for me… my team mates as well). The current iteration of this spell on the PTR is going to cause forbearance on whoever you use it on. That means, no casting it on pally tanks… ever. You will also have to coordinate with your holy pally and let him know when you are going to dish it out and to whom. It may cause a delay in that instant “Oh Crap!” moment, and that is what I am primarily worried about.
But for PvP – It really dosen’t matter. It will force the paladin to choose between extra instant health, or defense, which I don’t think is a bad thing. Intelligent play should be intelligent play.
T10 Curveball November 5, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in Gear, The Art of Wow.3 comments
This just from blizz’s official site. Apparently the datamined pics from MMO-Champion are incorrect. Above you will find the actual pally T10 armor. Not that it is much better.
Well, I shouldnt say that. It definately invokes a paladin better. Its got pseudo wings attached to the front straps of the shoulders. And they are glowy. But they are a bit shapely.
Overall the set looks like something sinister that has been purified by the paladin. Look at the helm (ignore that it looks like a lighter, even more so with the glowy crystal at the top) – it looks like a demon that has a holy crystal shoved in its head. I think this is about where the paladin-ey feeling stops though.
I don’t like the shoulders. Typically the shoulders are the setpeice for the whole design. This looks too much like the PvP set. And who would wear shoulders that high into battle? sure it protects the head but it virtually blinds you. A paladin may be heavily armored, but they (across most fantasy games) are typically geared for mobility.
Im glad they went with a white color and not the red/steel/rust from T8 though. That was just horrid.
All in all, not a set that I think will be memorable – much like most of paladin tier sets.
EDIT:
This just in: blizz made a goof and posted the pvp set and not the pve. The above graphic is the next arena set. The picture I posted several days back with lava flowing out our shoulders is the correct T10 graphics….
Uncategorized….. November 4, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in Social.9 comments
Bumblesbounc is about the most interesting person that I know. She is an ordained minister, she has a garden as big as my entire backyard, she is a carpenter (of sorts) and is making a checkerboard on to one of her tables. She often comes back with interesting tales about what she ate or canned fresh out of her garden, and endlessly taunts me because I hate bratwurst (Bleah!). She has 6 (7?) grandchildren, and every night at 10 server, she has “mom time” in which she chats with her mom, either IM or over the phone. She is also competing with me to try and getloremaster first (which I think she probably will).
Joe, who I know by Tutunkommon in game, is very intelligent. He is writing his own game. He hardly ever plays his main anymore, because the playstyle does not fit with his RP vision for the character – that which corrupts the mind and soul from the inside out. He plays the game with his lovely wife, Nephratiti. She is an absolute sweetheart who I would do almost anything for (not to mention that she is a very talented photographer). Tut is our resident multiboxer, and he is actually pretty good at it. He did a custom questline for our second guild anniversary with his shaman. It was hilarious, and I cannot wait to see it next year.
Lorgrath lives somewhere over on the east coast (boston, I think). If you ask him about his car, I am sure you will get a 15 minute description about how he has modified this or that on it. He also runs a blog (aquatic-eden.com). If I had the space, I would totally set up a few aquariums on his site.
There is one thing that I think we all fall victim to in this game – ignoring the person on the other side of the keyboard. We all have our own agenda in the game, and that is fine. But WoW, by its nature, is very conducive to bringing so many people together from other walks of life, that if we are all just raiding Icecrown Citadel and nothing else, we are going to miss a fantastic opportunity to get to know people that you would not normally socialize with.
Tamarind is incredibly practical, and I mean that in a good way. He (she? I am still trying to sort that out. Every time I think I have it, Tam will say the opposite.) has that kind of practical approach to the game (and his blog) that tells the person that he really does know what he is doing, or talking about. He is very eloquent, and has a unique perspective on WoW, and sometimes even life in general. But he is too sheepish to write an introduction about himself
Miscianna and Zurelone are married, and continue to play in game. They were, perhaps, some of my first friends in game. Z is hilarious, and any time he is in vent, we often spend just as long talking about boss strats as we do just busting out laughing. Miscianna is a gifted photographer. I facebook with them (well, as often as I facebook, LOL) outside of wow. One day I hope to take a flight up to Canada to visit them and meet them in person. They are family to me.
When I took my first history class in college, learing about things past, I lamented about the death of the American Oral History. Everything we learn now is from books and instructors, in a sterile learning environment. We are quizzed, tested, drilled on facts, dates, times, people. I was fortunate enough to live with my great grandparent for a short time. We would often talk, play cards, boardgames, anything so that us children were not sat in front of the television. Often it was about things I didn’t understand, but looking back now, they were very wise people. I wish I could bring them back (no not Arthas style ) and talk to them, listening to the wisdom they have etched into their bones. Many times, I end up just chatting back and forth with my guildies, in a similar manner, listening to their wisdom, knowing that I have truly learned something that really meant something to someone. It may be as simple as “don’t burn the pot roast when the mother in law is town, she will smell it a mile away” to as complex as canning and baking instructions. Not to mention the valuable life lessons that they impart.
Bindi is another guildie that I facebook with. She is a real estate agent, and before I got into WoW, I come to find out that she was actually in (just passing through) my hometown. Remarkably she sounds just like my late grandmother. You couldnt find a nicer person – she would give her clothes off her toon to help you if she could. And she is a dammed good mage to boot.
Yarsh is one one of the best hunters that I know. He still does not get BM hunters (he is Surv/MM), but he knows his stuff. I may talk a lot of trash, but I hardly ever catch up to him in DPS. He is also my “state the obvious” person when we are raiding, because often times when I am raid leading, I cant see the forest for the trees.
Hotroyalty and Prancess I met with my first raid group. They are great people to raid with and endlessly funny. Raids would not be the same without them. They are both vet techs at the same vet down in San Diego, and often chatter about which dog or cat was in serious trouble.
Jinxie is one of the closest friends I have in WoW. We always chat it up in whispers outside of guild chat (which can lead to some hilarious mis-types when we are carrying on too many conversations). She is another person that I consider family. We live but 3 hours away, and I still have not met her in person. This is something I absolutely must do. We lived through major guild drama together (not to discount what everyone else was going through at that time, but both Jinx and I were targeted specifically by the same person), and we have a unique understanding of one another. I can tell her anything, and she can tell me anything. My day is always that much brighter when she is online.
Too often, I think, we as people try to categorize everything. Everything and everyone must have a label and sorted out. I am not naive, I know that if I said to knock it off right now, no one would do it. It’s built into us from an early age. we are taught not to talk to strangers, don’t be a bad boy like little Johnny, don’t be a looser dropout like Sue. WoW takes that to the extreme – you are a hunter. Beyond that you are a beastmaster hunter. Beyond that you are a casual beast master hunter. That may be an alt. That may be an alt of an alt. You bought that toon off of eBay? You are terribad. You are a member of a failpug.
However, I know one thing. If I have to be a “Hardcore” player to get into the best groups, raid with the best teams; If being “Hardcore” means that everything I have typed above will be reduced to “Jinxie, Miscianna, Zurelone, Joe, and Bumblesbounc are all casuals, they will never get anywhere, and Yarsh, Lor, Hot, and Tab are all great players but have restricted game time, so they are going no where,” then I have one thing to say:
Long live us casuals.
World of Gated Content Craft November 20, 2009
Posted by Firespirit in 10 Man Raiding, Social Commentary on Blizz.1 comment so far
I’m sure many of you have heard the announcement of how Icecrown Citadel is panned out. Basically, there are 6 unique, gated methods being used to gate the content from ICC:
-Each “wing” of the place will be released individually, at least SEVERAL weeks apart
-You must defeat all the bosses in each wing before moving to the next wing
-You must defeat the hardest normal bosses before accessing normal Lichiepoo
-You must defeat normal Lichiepoo before unlocking ANY heroic encounters
-You must defeat all heroic bosses before accessing heroic Lichiepoo
-In both the heroic and normal versions, the hardest of the bosses (last 4), and Lichiepoo will all have extremely limited number of attempts before locking them out each week.
So, what does this mean for the WoW raiding community?
Well, that depends. A couple of things spring to mind. First, and foremost, they want the most bang for the buck. They want this one patch to last as long as possible. I can easily see ICC lasting several months. Long term, however, I think it means that, just like with sunwell, “whoops! expansion is not as close as we think, so we need more time!” With normal ICC lasting about 4 months (I’m predicting one wing per month), that easily buys them 6-8 months (or so they think) before people are completely exhausted with ICC Heroic.
Secondly, I think they are trying to force us raiders to see EVERY bit of the content that they are providing. Instead, like ulduar, of beelining it straight to yoggy, they are going to force us to down each and every boss in there. And like it.
Finally, I think they are trying to make up for lackluster raiding throughout the entire xpack – but particularly the latest, ToC. If they gate it, they are going to get a constant “ohh, shiny!” *starry eyes* response. What better way to end an xpack, widely reviewed as the best game blizz has ever put out, with a raid that will get shining reviews, not once but 4 times. Think of it as blizz saying “you know, this is our crowning achievment in raid design. I want you to do it all before you bust through the doors and take down Lich King, then get bored with content.”
I guess what I am getting at is, this just totally feels… artificial. It feels to me like an artifical way to drag out endgame so that they have more time to work on cataclysm, which is a shame. The fact that Daelo, the lead encounter had to come on the message boards to explain it, even so far as to say things such as “this represents that ashen verdict’s limited resources” hammers the artifical feel home. I want the content to speak for itself, not the designers to speak for the content.
Remeber Blizz, “I want more” does not always translate to “Wow, they liked it so much, they want more.” Sometimes “I want more” is just “I want what you promised me, but I don’t want you to hand feed it to me morsel by morsel.”
Ultimately, no matter how great ICC is, in hindsight, I think that it will be tainted by this horrifyingly artificial gating mechanism.