Monthly Archives: March 2012

In an attempt to gear up a couple of characters I’ve been running through the “new” Heroics again. (End Time, Hour of Twilight and Well of Eternity.) There are a few things that I see there nearly every run that frustrate me to no end. You know, the kind of things that people should know by now since almost everyone have been there a few times.

Echo of Jaina - Hardly anyone seems to know what to do with the Flarecore. I don’t know how many times I’ve given up and ran across it as the tank, dragging the boss along with me. The most interesting time was together with a newly dinged 85 guildie who came along to heal me. Everyone except the two of us died to the exploding Flarecore. I refused to wipe though (I can be very stubborn when annoyed), and so my guildie and I kept on going. I’d detonate the flarecores and it took us a while, but eventually the boss died.

Echo of Baine - Come on people why will you not pick up the totem and toss it back to him?! 50% more damage taken by the boss for 20 seconds is kind of too good to pass on.

The first boss in Well of Eternity (Peroth’arn) – I always tell the group that I will wait for 10-15 stacks of the buff that makes us do more damage in the stealth phase, then I – as the tank – will run in and be found. Most of the times we never make it to 10 stacks because someone else gets found.

Queen Azshara - Why is it that I as the tank usually end up having to run over and silence her when I generally have at least two DPS in the party who could? Is your dps too precious to you to spare a second to keep us all from being mind controlled?

Do you have any pet peeves in the new Heroics (or the old ones for that matter)?

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This past Monday the NDA was lifted on Mists of Pandaria and we were flooded with information. A couple of days later the Beta started and the floodgates are definitely open. I signed up for the Annual Pass, but I’m not among the lucky people who got in the first wave. Hopefully soon though. In the meantime I have plenty of things to do in game to keep me busy though.

I’m not going to go through everything that’s been announced, because a lot of people already have (I’ve had a busy week and haven’t had time to write until now). I’ll just touch on a few things that I’m looking forward to/am thinking about.

Female Pandaren Model

Female Pandaren Model

They finally released the female Pandaren model, and it doesn’t look half bad. I’m interested to eventually see it in action with casting and fighting since I hear it has nice animations. She could have been a little bit rounder, but I won’t complain too much because she still looks quite nice. I’m a bit on the fence about the red panda version. It seems a bit strange to me that there would be female ones and not male ones, but I won’t make a big deal out of it.

Female Pandaren Concept Art

When seeing the concept art though there are a few things that strike me. 1) I’d love for my Pandaren to show a little bit of fang like that. 2) Please, Blizzard we really need the game to have a pair of mismatched shoes! That looks so awesome! I want to wear mismatched shoes, please!

Warlock Thoughts

From what I’ve been seeing so far Warlocks are changing quite a bit in MoP. In fact, so far Blizzard have said that Warlock is the class that has changed the most. Looking at a live stream of the Beta they sure looked somewhat OP at the moment, something which I’m sure will change by release. That said, I’m hoping that they will still be good. Unless something changes very much, it also looks like Warlocks might once again be able to tank parts of some fights – something I’ve missed. I loved being the Warlock tank in TBC!

Our new demons (that we get if we spec into Grimoire of Supremacy) are currently huge on Beta servers. I am quite sure that is definitely a bug though. Something else that is huge is Shadowflame, something I sincerely hope doesn’t change because it looks absolutely awesome!

Once I get into Beta myself, I will give more information about the Warlock changes.

Mists of Pandaria Thoughts

There’s quite a few new factions coming in MoP, 7 new zones and several new things to do such as pet battles and a faction that lets us run our own farm. Now, I’ll be honest pet battles never interested me, and I have never played Farmville. That said, I’m actually quite liking the idea of a farm of my own.

The scenery looks beautiful and I can’t wait to get there and start leveling once the expansion hits. Judging from what we’ve seen so far there will be plenty of things to do once we hit level cap, even outside of raiding. Something that almost worry me to some extent since I’m not sure I’ll have the time to play with both my Alliance guild and my Horde guild with all those things to do. I may have to just focus on one character, at least for the first few months.

Beta or No Beta

There have been a lot of complaining since the Beta opened due to the fact that about 1 million people signed up for the Annual Pass and most of them were expecting to get in on the first day. Due to the overwhelming response to the AP that’s obviously not possible, and not everyone is happy about this. All Annual Pass holders will still get it, but it’s going to take time. Maybe a bit more time than some are willing to wait. (I’ll admit, while I can fully understand that not everyone can get into Beta at the same time, I’m a bit sad that I’m not in it yet. In due time though.. in due time.)

There are a lot of arguments about whether Blizzard told us we’d be in the moment Beta started or not. I guess in a way they did, but I never counted on it. Saying that we will be in Beta once it’s up to me is saying that there will be a Beta and we will be in it (at some point) when (while) it’s up. Which still holds true.

I also don’t understand the argument that people are putting forward that they paid for the Beta. If your only reason to get the Annual Pass was to get into the Beta, then I’m sorry – but it probably wasn’t the best idea. For me, I got the Annual Pass because I would have continued playing WoW for another year anyway, and I don’t pay a dime more (or even sooner) than I would have anyway since you don’t pay the full year up front (or at least I didn’t). The Beta, mount and Diablo 3 are all extra perks for me. Whatever the yearly WoW cost is, it’s the same now as it was before I signed up for the Annual Pass.

In the end, for me, I save money since I would have bought D3. For people who were planning to let their subscription lapse and/or not buying D3 though – then the Annual Pass probably wasn’t as valuable money wise. But I don’t know. I would just personally never have paid anyone for a Beta invite. If I’d not known I would continue playing I would never have signed up.

Most people understand what a Beta is. A buggy test version of the game where not all content is even always available. But I’ve read people complaining who are saying it’s early access or talking about it like it’s a demo. It’s not. Nothing you do on a Beta will be transferred over to your actual game account. If you hit 90 on Beta and get lots of awesome achievements and rewards, they will never leave the Beta. It’s also buggy and has a lot of downtime. Beta is an interesting experience for sure, but it’s not something that should be considered early access or a demo.

In the end; yes it’s a shame that we’re not all in there yet even if we bought Annual Pass. But it’s not even been up for a week yet, and I’m sure we’ll eventually get in. Sure, we’d all like to get in as soon as possible, but unless there’s something specific you want from it (like I want to write about the Warlock changes, as I’m sure other bloggers have similar things they want to do) it’s really nothing to be longing so desperately for.

I’m always very careful with Beta, because I don’t want to see too much or do too much to the point where I either don’t want to do it again for the actual release or I get frustrated because I got all these nice things and I will “lose” it since it’s just a test version and no the real game.

So what will I do when I do get into the Beta? I’m going to try out a Monk because I want to know if I will put the time towards it once the expansion is released. So I will play one for 10-20 levels to get a feel for if I enjoy it or not. Then I may have a look at how a few things are looking/work that I am curious about. Last (but not least), I will check out the changes to Warlocks.

If/when you get into Beta – what are your plans?

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I have mixed feelings about Archaeology and have had since it was introduced. The general idea behind it is fine, and I can even deal with the randomness of the items you find and the fact that it’s pure luck getting the items that you really want. There are a few things that bother me though.

Multiple Characters

The very “grindy” nature of Archaeology makes it very unappealing to skill up on more than one character. Yet you only share the BoAs with your other characters. No one really wants to do all the work to skill up Archaeology more than once, but if you – like me – want the Vial of the Sands recipe.. You have to do it on an Alchemist alt as well as your main (unless you’re lucky enough to have Alchemy on your main).

Since I doubt Blizzard would ever allow Archaeology to be a shared profession between all of your characters, I wish that they would at least make the recipe BoA. Then I could do all my Archaeology on my main, but still have a chance at the recipe.

Outdated Gear

I really like the BoAs that you can get through Archaeology, but I think it’s a shame that they were outdated after the first patch. Now all they’re good for it when your alt hits 85, for the few days between that ding and you getting into the new heroic dungeons where you quickly replace them with 378 gear.

Considering the amount of time that goes into getting the BoAs, it just seems a shame that they’re so useless these days. While I don’t think they should receive an automatic update, it would be nice if we could discover an upgrade through Archaeology. The upgrade would require the same as a new item (as in collecting enough fragments), and then your item could be upgraded to a higher ilevel with better stats. It wouldn’t have to be raid level, but at least the current level of the heroic dungeons (so 378 now, 353 in the previous patch).

It would just be nice to be able to still use the items throughout the expansion, even if just on alts. As it stands, they’re useful for such a short span of time, even on alts.

What are your thoughts on Archaeology? Do you like it the way it is now or do you think some improvements could be made?

Now I shall go back to trying for the Vial recipe on my alt.. and watch her get all the goodies I so desperately want for my main.

Update: About four hours after writing this post I finally got it; the recipe. Now I can do Archaeology on my main instead in the future, for the achievements and mounts/pets. It took me a total of 210 Tol’Vir solves, out of those 23 were canopic jars. Now I have to get my mats for my drake!

My recipe!

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So Much To Do, So Little Time

I started my new job a week ago and while I don’t work full days, I find myself exhausted enough after to not manage to do anything useful. Or even play WoW at times. There’s just so much I still want to do in WoW, I just need to find the time and energy to do it!

My Bucket List:

• Do LFR and/or Heroics on three characters for upgrades (for alts or off-spec for my Paladin) every week.
• Raid with two guilds every week.
• Finish leveling the four characters on my Horde server (currently at 70, 65, 61 and 11).
• Skill up and sort out professions for above mentioned Horde characters.
• Finish leveling the new Druid on my Alliance server (currently at level 80).
• Skill up Herbalism and Mining on the Alliance Druid.
• Various achievements and farming to be done on my main, the Warlock.

It may not seem like that much, but it feels like a lot at the moment when I have little energy. Part of me also wants to re-do my Alliance Paladin as a Draenei (meaning I’d have to delete and level her from scratch). I’m considering cutting down the list of Horde characters though. It’s my alt server and all I really need is a farmer (Herbing and Mining) and a character with Alchemy and Jewelcrafting so that I can supply my Paladin with the important bits for her raiding.

Splurging

This weekend I spent the most gold I ever have on one item in WoW. I bought my Warlock the Crimson Deathcharger, a mount I’ve been wanting for ages. There’s just something special about having an undead horse as a Warlock. Sure, I should be going for the demonic steeds, but come on – this horse looks awesome!

I love you, Crimson Deathcharger

On Raiding And Other Such Things

As I’ve mentioned before we’ve had some roster issues in my guild lately (and by lately I mean the last few months), which means that we sometimes have to change things around depending on who we can pick up from friends/PUGs. This has led me so far to both heal and tank Heroic Morchok. Ironically I have yet to kill him on my main, the Warlock. I’m not complaining though, I just want to make sure my guild gets through the content, and as long as I get to see it as well I don’t really care which character it’s on.

Part of me enjoys the change of pace in playing a different role. I suspect that is why I raid with my friend’s guild on a Holy Paladin on Saturdays. It’s a nice change from my regular DPS role. Now of course I’ve also healed it on my Holy Priest, and tanked it on my Death Knight. (Boy was I nervous on the Death Knight, since it was the first boss I ever tanked in there, ever!)

Also, as a side note. I just want to say how awesome it is to be a Priest on Zon’ozz. (This is in LFR of course, where you can just dispel everyone willy-nilly without caring about their positions.)

Pandaren Female Teaser

Today Blizzard sent us a teaser image showing us the silhouette of the Pandaren female. I’m not sure what I think about it yet. It’s not quite what I was hoping for, but it promises that it might be better than the Worgen. Until we actually see it’s face and everything though, it’s really difficult to say.

Blizzard's Teaser Silhouette

To be fair, ever since I saw it I’ve been wanting Blizzard to do something along the lines of what Smirgow drew. That’s how a female Pandaren should look!

My preference..

I was looking at all of the various comments on MMO-C after the announcement and some people seem to be quite optimistic about the silhouette, while others were whining that it was too fat, too unattractive. Others again said it was just a Dwarf female reskin. While I suspect it might be based off of the Dwarf female skeleton, it’s not that close to it to bother me. I quite like the Dwarf females in game. Or I would, if it wasn’t for their weirdly square faces. Their bodies are fine and their animations are nice. (I love the floating braids when casting!)

I really don’t think it would hurt anyone to have a chunky, cute Pandaren female in the game. As long as Blizzard doesn’t make her too skinny (which she doesn’t seem to be looking at the silhouette), I guess I shouldn’t complain too much though. Still, I’d really prefer the version deawn by Smirgow.

What’s your take on the Pandaren female silhouette? Are you dreading or looking forward to when we get to see her revealed?

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When it comes to wearing PvP gear in Heroic dungeons it’s not something I generally approve of. However, I can deal with people wearing a few pieces now and then, especially in the slots where it can be difficult getting PvE gear (like shoulders and head). When I zone into a dungeon though to find my tank in full PvP gear I am not happy.

Out of the roles that benefit the most from PvE gear tanks are the clear winners. A dps in PvP gear may do less dps, a healer in PvP gear might go oom and have less throughput. Both are frustrating, but then you have a tank in PvP gear, and it’s like healing wet paper.

A lot of tanks who queue for dungeons wearing PvP gear either don’t care or don’t understand how bad their gear really is for tanking. Resilience really doesn’t help you in PvE (it used to a bit, but it was changed some time ago I believe), and PvP gear lacks the secondary stats that are so important for tanks; ie. dodge/parry and to some extent mastery (since I realise some PvP gear do have Mastery). Your health might look mighty fine, but you will take a lot of damage when you don’t have dodge and parry.

I entered a dungeon the other day on my Holy Paladin, finding myself at the second boss in End Time. The previous healer had obviously left. As we started the boss fight I noticed that my Warrior tank was taking an insane amount of damage. To keep him alive I had to, literally, spam Divine Light. After the boss died I inspected him only to find that the only piece of actual tank gear he was wearing was his shield.

Sure, he had a lot of health (200k ish), but that doesn’t help when each hit seems to take half of it off. I kept him alive, but my Paladin is decently geared from Dragon Soul and Firelands. I imagine that had I been on one of my lesser geared healers he would have died quicker than I could spam my highest heal (or I’d have gone oom doing so and he’d have died anyway).

I realise that it’s tempting to queue as tank for the quicker queues, but please, please queue as dps while still wearing full PvP gear. Get some tank gear and then queue as tank!

Ironically the tank boots dropped off the boss in this instance and this “well-geared” tank decided to pass them. Yes, you read that right. He passed on the tank loot. Because apparently he felt that his PvP gear was good enough for him.

If you’ll excuse me, I will now go cry in a corner about the world we play in where PvP gear apparently is adequate tank gear to the point where we can pass on actual tank gear…

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