COME ON!

Everyone always talks about tanks and healers. The tank isn't defense capped for the raid/heroic? Kick 'em. The healer is in greens and only has 13k mana? Kick 'em.

What about the DPS?

Four Pieces of Gear:

Infantry Assault Blade
Woven Steel Necklace
Screeching Cape
Boots of the Portal Guardian

Nice gear, right? Guess who was wearing all 4 when I joined a group for Heroic UK?

Go ahead, guess.

Yepp, you guessed it. A hunter.

Why should I put up with this as a healer? This guy is wasting gear and wasting my time by showing up for an instance like this. I don't even want to get started on how much he needs to learn about being a hunter. To put into perspective his awefulness, we had a feral druid tanking, and a protection paladin in the party (WTF did I get myself into....we did clear the place but jeez). On the second boss fight, the Protection paladin did 1130DPS, and Mr. Defensewearinghunter did a wonderful 938. IN A HEROIC! Check out BRK. Please.

Then, I get a VH group going with the same protection paladin and druid, and the same Titan's Grip warrior (who did 2000dps and definitely held is own) from the UK run. We pull in a mage in mostly epic gear, with enchants, and some pieces of his T7. He does 1350DPS. Why is that acceptable? It isn't. If you are running heroics, and especially if you are in epic gear, you need to focus and do some strong DPS. 1500+ is not unreasonable to ask for. The more DPS, the faster the fights, and less time you give me to run out of mana or someone else to die. If you are new to heroics, just getting your feet wet, I can understand if it takes time to gear up and such. But this guy clearly had experience, and definitely ahd the gear.

DPS....please do your job. Just like you don't want a sub-par tank or healer making things difficult, we don't want sub-par DPS making our jobs more difficult. Everyone should be held accountable for what they are supposed to be doing, not just the easily blamable, "point your finger at this guy" healer or tank.

/endrant


//EDIT//

On a happier note, please enjoy New Year's Eve, however you choose to spend it. Be safe, have fun, and enjoy the festivities tonight, whether it be in Azeroth, NYC, or at home with family and friends. Happy New Year.

Tier 7? Yessir....

Well, I was helping my Guild Leader get a group together for 10 man Archavon, because we finally had Wintergrasp when some of the guildies were on, and I got a whisper from a Death Knight that he had a group going and had extra people from his guild. We decided to merge together, and we did the 25 man version.

The Heroic version is a flat out DPS race, because the boss enrages after 5 minutes and one shots everyone in about 5 seconds flat. We wiped the first time with Archavon having 87k health left, and then downed him on the second try literally one second before he enraged.

And, luckily for me (being the only holy paladin in the raid group), I went back home to Dalaran with the shiny new Valorous Redemption Gloves. I slapped some spellpower on them and bought a nice gem to get cut, but I just cannot find a JC on my server that cuts Royal Twilight Opal. It's frustrating, but who CARES! Tier 7 baby....can't complain.

And, I have decided to save up my Emblems for the T7 chestpiece, which is a killer 80 Emblems of Heroism. But, it will all be worth it when I get there, and I already have 42 saved up. Who doesn't love when Gundrak is the Heroic Daily and you get 7 badges from one run, plus a nice little achievement? Great fun.

W.A.T.W?

Where.
Are.
The.
Warlocks?

I have to be honest, I have never been fond of playing one. My highest one is 20, and its an alt on a different realm than my main server.

But honestly....have they all died out? I can't tell you the last time I grouped with one...it was definitely before the expansion. My friend played a warlock at 70 and even got into some 25 man raiding with it after the "lolpatch" nerf. But, after getting it to 73, he's essentially done with it, and leveling a DK through Outland. I had one in my Naxx group last night for about 3 minutes, but he left after he realized we weren't going to be raiding for 4+ hours.

Is something wrong with the class? Last I knew (which wasn't much), they were getting this cool new Metamorphosis spell that turns them into a demon! And now...when I do a /who warlock when I log in at night, I get maybe 10 results. Maybe it's just because my server is low pop, but I dunno.

Anyone else experiencing this? What's the reason?

Naxx 10.....

Well, when I logged in last night to get ready for Archavon, we didn't have control of Wintergrasp (which is of course necessary for entering the raid zone). So, while I waited for the next battle to start, I flew out to Sholazar to farm some saronite. I am working on my Wyrmrest rep now, after getting exalted with the Argent Crusade, and need to get some money to buy me one of those awesome red drakes. Sholazar is literally a gold mine. If I fly around the zone for 30 minutes, I pick up almost 50 Saronite ore, which nets be somewhere between 60-75g on my server, not counting the titanium I pick up if I am lucky. If you mine, get out to Sholazar and mine your heart out.

So, I tried to help win back Wintergrasp, but the Horde were there in incredible numbers (they outnumber us 3 to 1 on the server I believe), and they successfully defended it. My guild run was nixed, but I convinced my guild leader to give Naxx 10 a shot. We had 5 guldies in the run, picked up 5 good players, and headed into the Arachnid Quarter. It was awesome to see Naxxramas. We only downed the first two bosses, and it took some time because everyone in my guild was brand new to the place (and my brother, who was off tanking, had never raided before at all). Maexxna was bad on the first attempt, but after that we picked up the strategy.

Now, this boss is annoying to me. The web isn't so bad when she isn't enraged, and the resto druid we had with us was tremendous at keeping up his HoTs. But, when she is enraged, it becomes damn near impossible, as we found out, to keep the tank up during an 8 second incapacitate (which I can't even bubble out of!). We failed over and over, and it became too late for anyone to want to keep trying. We are going back soon (maybe tonight) to give it another shot.

Anyone have any tips for this boss? It seems the DPS just has to destroy her before the web comes, because when it does, healing is impossible and she destroys the tank. Maybe Vault will be available to us tonight and we can give that a try.

Busy Day....

Well, today was sort of a day off for me, and I had a ton of time to play. I ran a few heroics, and also did 25 man Sartharion with a guild from my server. It was a great experience. Two pally tokens dropped, but I rolled my usual 25 on both and lost terribly. What did I get for loot today?

[Sabatons of Erekem] from Heroic Violet Hold (we got the easy bosses this time). No spell crit, but 31 mp5 is hard to argue with, along with the other stats and the socket.

Also, with all these heroics I was running, I FINALLY got to exalted with the Argent Crusade, and picked up two epics!

[Helm of Purified Thoughts] and [Signet of Hopeful Light], both of which were huge upgrades for me.

I have reached 1500 spellpower, and my crit rating is around 28%.

I thought Sartharion was a cool fight, and we only wiped once before people learned how to avoid the flame waves. I lead the fight in healing, doing almost 2400 HPS, which far outhealed the second healer, who did about 1700. Beacon of Light and Judgement of Light in a 25 man raid makes for a lot of healing, which I'm sure some of was definitely Overhealing, but the 2400 HPS looks pretty good to me.

Tomorrow, my guild finally breaks into some raiding of our own (with some PuGs as we wait for everyone to reach 80). We are doing 10 man Archavon, which is a pretty easy encounter that I have done before. But, I will be Raid Leader from this point on, so I have to be sharp. Any tips for this fight and being a raid leader in general? Anyone have experience?

WHAT?!

Well, over the last few days, I have managed to gather up enough Emblems of Heroism for a nice epic shield, which I am really excited about. It was the first piece of "Emblem" gear that I was looking to get, and now I will probably save up for the T7 chestpiece, which is a whopping 80 Emblems. I would go for the gloves, but I got some great spell crit gloves from Heroic Nexus. Yesterday I ran Nexus again, but lost the roll on the epic mace to a balance druid that claimed to be resto for his main spec. It hurt a little, but it IS just gear, and what is the use of arguing with the guy over some in-game mace that I can just get the next time I run it with my guidies? It's not worth it, and congrats to the guy that got it.

I have broken over 1400 healing, which I have heard is what you need to start doing Naxx 10. There was a group going yesterday evening, looking for a healer and some DPS. I had a Ret pally and my frost mage friend in a group already, and asked the guy if he wanted us to join in and help out. I know this guy, not in real life, but from my very first Karazhan run, in which he, as a holy pally with exceptional gear and a great attitude, lead a PuG we had to a full clear, all 11 bosses, only wiping twice. It was a great experience, and I really had a lot of respect for this player. But yesterday, he saw that I was friends with another player in the game, and apparently had some "major issues" with that player from a real life situation, and flat out told me that I couldn't come because of my association with this person.

Now, was a really bummed out about not being able to get into Naxx? I'll admit I was, it would have been great. But the part that got me is why. Apparently, because I know this person in a GAME, and he did something to this guy in real life, I am just as bad of a person. He was judging me because of this, which I just couldn't believe. I don't know this other player outside of the game. I don't know ANYTHING about this apparent situation. And yet, this guy wouldn't have anything to do with except for trash talking me and calling me out. Needless to say, the respect I once had for him as a player is now gone.

This is a game. Keep your real life issues where they should be: in real life. There is no place for this high school bullshit in this game.

Personally, no love lost here. I won't be grouping with the guy, and I am damn sure he doesn't want to group with me. And, like I said, missing out on Naxx was a bummer. But the way it happened is what really got me. It does, however, make you appreciate the good people you have met in-game, and the friends you have made through it. Keep those people around, because there just might be an ass-hat waiting around the corner.

Happy Holidays

Whatever you do with or without your families today, I hope you enjoy it. It's a great time of year, and make sure to let the people in your life know that you care about them in some way.

Oh, and don't forget to log in for just a couple of minutes to pick up your present under the tree!

Enjoy the day everyone.

Why...

1. Do I love Warrior tanks more than any other? With all of this emphasis on the new DK tanks and the abilities of the pally/druid tanks, I think some people forget about the warriors, who I still think are the best tanks in the game to heal. Nothing beats a good old sword and shield weildin' warrior.

2. Do so many fights require my group to do the river dance while somersaulting through hoola-hoops of fire to succeed? I'm not saying every fight should be pure tank n' spank, but the amount of movement needed these days can be annoying when the majority of the fights that require it. I love the gear check fights, because they usually don't make me run around in circles.

3. Are hunters so crazy in the DPS department right now? I've only played to 71 on mine, but in the Utgarde Keep run I did with him two days ago, I was doing almost 1000dps throughout the run, over 100dps ahead of the kara-geared 71 mage that was in our group and the 73 mage that came along as well. Yes, hunters are getting nerfed, but from what little I have seen, it sort of needed to happen.

4. Do 79 mages in my regular HoL run only do 700dps?! We failed miserably in that place, struggling through everything, even trash, and eventually failing on Loken 3 times. It was terrible to heal, terrible to watch, and every pull felt like a chore. I took my 78 mage friend (now 80) to SW and had him go all out on the raid boss dummy, and he did 900dps. It's not a knock against mages, just something that bugs me when we get a boss to 20k health twice in a row and the DPS is only doing 700. C'mon.

5. Are tanks and healers the only focus? DPS IS IMPORTANT! GOOD, STRONG DPS is important. Yes, tanks and healers need gear, because without them the DPS is nothing. But, if the DPS is lacking, the fights are going to last longer, and even the best geared healers and tanks can't last forever. DPS has just as much obligation to be geared, pay attention, and do a good job in an instance. It's not only important, but its necessary for success, whether it be in 5 mans, heroics, or any raid. Everyone needs to do their job and do it well.

/end rant

SNOW!

Snow everywhere...not only did my town get 6-8 inches two days ago, but today we got probably another foot of snow! Completely buried.

In other news, I have been doing little on my paladin lately. Just running one heroic per day on average, collecting some Emblems. I have gathered up 19 of them, only 16 shy of the shield I have my eye on. It's hard to argue spending the 35 badges on such an upgrade to one of the best shields in the game at the moment. I personally am going right for it.

While I wait for my guildies to reach 80 (currently have 6 or 7 80s in the guild, with many reaching the 77-78 area recently), I have been running instances on my hunter, who is now 71. I have to say, while I love healing and would never want to do anything else on my paladin, my hunter is fun as hell to DPS with in dungeons. I would love to get him to 80 in the next month or two and have a chance to run heroics and raids with him, if only just to see these instances from a different perspective.

Does anyone have an alt they absolutely love to play? I would never part with my paladin, but the hunter has a special place. He's always been my highest alt, and I don't think any of my other level 20s characters are going to ever surpass him.

200

Heroic Culling of Stratholme? Done. Had a great group, plowed through it, and had no problems with Arthas (which I think anyone who has run that instance knows is simply amazing), and I got myself some more Emblems of Heroism.

Oh, and I got my first ilvl200 item! The so fresh, so clean Pauldrons of Destiny! No crit on these, but nice spellpower and good mp5, which I wish was crit but will definitely accept. I did, however, make up some crit with one of the Sons of Hodir shoulder inscriptions. I also found a pretty cheap Patina Coated Breastplate on the AH, so I picked that up and am currently saving up some enchanting mats so I can slap the new mp5 enchant on that. Good day gear-wise, but also a good day for confidence in healing heroics.

This Guy . . .

Well, back under a snowstorm again up here in NH! And more coming on Sunday, too. But, that means more time for WoW as I am essentially snowed into my house because of the road situation.

I ran heroic VH last night. It was my first heroic, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how well my paladin held up in the healing department. We cleared the Core Hound boss first, but then wiped on the ridiculous Void boss. I guess he "Void Shifts" people, making them have to kill some adds before the 15 second debuff expires. This didn't happen to me, because I bubbled when I first got the DoT that precedes it, but our DPS just didn't kill the adds quickly enough while they were Shifted. But, we cleared back through the portals again, and ended up downing him the second time. LOTS of AoE healing would have helped for that fight, but we pallys aren't great at that, even though we are definitely better than we used to be. It was tough, and I consider it one of the best healing jobs I have done in a while. Cyanigosa was easy enough, and I completed my first Wrath heroic, with the Defenseless achievement to boot.

Hopefully I'll get to do some more heroics tonight and tomorrow while I stay inside, away from the snow. Has anyone else done the Zuramat fight in Heroic VH?

Me and the Lady Dragon

OK, so I had planned with my guild to run the Oculus last night, and we had to wait for our tank for a little while because he had some visitors. Anyway, I was bored enough, and decided "Well, let's go try and solo Onyxia." I had read an article about a Shaman and a discipline Priest each soloing her, and decided I would try for myself. I could not take video, but I did get some screen shots, which I may post later.

It took me 53 minutes, but I did it! The air phase took quite a while, since I had to AoE down whelps and run around trying to find Onyxia in the air so I could hit her and get her down to 40%. It was fun, though. The ground phase was just like fighting any other mob, so it wasn't that difficult. With Fire Resistance Aura up, her fire damage was negligible, and I kept Sacred Shield up most of the time to keep my health near full. I never ran out of mana because of Divine Plea and Seal of Wisdom. Just using the paladin abilities.

For my efforts? 163 gold, a warrior and rogue T2 helmet, some random blues, and an 18 slot bag. Not a bad haul, among another epic cloak and the head (which I had already turned in before). If you are bored some day, I suggest you give it a shot. Certain classes probably can't do it, like mages or rogues, just because of their inability to heal themselves. But it is definitely a challenge for anyone willing to try.

And, we did get that Oculus run in, and I got myself a new chestpiece. Not the plate one I was looking for, but a very nice mail one that I will probably wear until I can get the plate. It was a ncie instance, but we had some trouble with it because none of us had ever been there before. The third boss wiped us a couple of times until we realized that I could just heal through the frost trap, and we killed him the next attempt. The kiting around the ring just took too much effort and caused confusion, so the tank just tanked near one pillar and the ranged dps stood near the other. Worked out great. The dragon fight at the end was cool, but that also took us a couple of tries to get used to the mechanics. I definitely think the next time we go through will be much easier. All in all, a pretty good instance, and has some pretty good loot for everyone.

PS - I also won the roll on the Winter Hat! Ya for Winter's Veil....even though I'm not that interested in it this year. Still a bit burned out from all those Halloween achievements I did for that title. Who's loving the holiday this year?

Tuesday Morning

Well, since it is maintenance day, I took some time to re-evaluate my healing spec now that I am finally at 80. I normally go right to Blessing of Kings after I finish out the Holy Tree, but I took a look at the Retribution tree after I read a couple of articles about the spell crit talents that were available there. I finally decided on a 51/2/18 build that takes advantage of the crit while still keeping some utility of Blessing of Kings.

I think it is absolutely great for every paladin to spec down into the Retribution tree because there is 8% spell crit available, which is hard to argue with. Conviction will give you 5% for 5 points, and Sanctified Seals will give you 3% for 3 points. Using the two leftover, I put 2 points into Kings and Imp. Kings to get a 4% stat increase.

Overall, I still have a somewhat useful buff for the tanks out there, with 4% stat increase, but now have an additional 8% crit for my heals, which is incredible.

Anyone have an spec suggestions? Any changes? What are you going with to heal at 80?

80!

I woke up this morning, logged in, and started questing. I was only about 40% away from 80, and at about 1:30....DING! I was really excited, and I got to see more of the Icecrown zone while doing it. I did a quest that involved me fighting Illidan as Arthas, which was cool. One thing I really like is the visibility of the Lich King in the expansion. When Illidan was introduced, there was nothing but him sitting in Black Temple waiting to be killed. Arthas makes appearances in many (if not all) of the Northrend Zones, and it's great. Plus, you get to hang around with crazy lore figures like Darion Mograine and Tirion Fordring. I'm loving it.

Last night I finished the Sons of Hodir questline (it's like 33 quests), and actually hit honored with them, so I now have the rare shoulder enchants available. Most people start at neutral after completing the questline, but with the Human racial bonus I was only about 2k rep away from honored, which I picked up quickly doing a couple of the dailies and such. There are a couple quests in the chain that grant 22000 reputation, which is meant to bring you to neutral. But, with the human 10% increase, you get an extra 4.4k rep, which brings you into friendly. This is most definitely the biggest benefit to the racial bonus that I have seen in my playing days.

Tonight I'll try to hit up the daily dungeon to keep working on my rep with the Argent Crusade, since I don't think I'll be heroic ready after freshly hitting 80. And I finally reached the 5k gold I needed for epic flying! And with a 300g loan from my friend I was able to buy myself a Swift Blue Gryphon, and it's awesome.

And, Zach Yonson over at WoWInsider has posted up what I think is a great gear guide for Holy Paladins once you hit 80. He focuses on Crit Rating, which I definitely think is more important than haste and mp5, but he also has a haste-focused article posted up too, which is linked in his article.

Charged Up...

I finally got out of my college yesterday and made it home. The normally 45 minute drive took me well over an hour because of the iced over trees and debris in the roads. But, I made it, and I'm here for nearly 5 week of vacation. However, I still didn't have power at home! My house hovered around 48-50 degrees, I slept with 3 comforters, and went to bed at a ridiculous 9:30 simply because there was nothing to do in the darkness of the night. Crazy.

But, I went to work today, and shortly after my dad informed me via text message that power had come back to our neighborhood. I hit 79 on Friday, and was bummed out when I couldn't push for 80 when I got home yesterday.

So now I am going to go enjoy some homemade apple pie and some Patriots football, then go for 80! Hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying the weekend....anyone else caught up in this mess in the northeast?

Leveling Holy: Some Tips from Me

Alright, here we go! It's comin' at ya hard. It's comin' at ya fast. It's!.....SENORNOCHE'S TIPS FOR HOLY LEVELING!

Ok, first thing is first. Holy paladins will not kill a target faster than a retribution paladin, but we CAN kill four or five or even 7 mobs at once faster than a lot of people can (except maybe mages, those AOE kings). If you have the right talents, and you use the correct spells/aura, then you can pull 5+ mobs and come out with full health, half your mana, and a bunch of dead things laying around you.

The talents I'm talking about? Very simple. There are two of them. First is Improved Concentration Aura. This, with 3 points invested, adds 15% to your Concentration Aura, adding up to 50% reduction to the amount of pushback. Couple this with Spiritual Focus, which gives your two healing spells a 70% reduction to the amount of pushback. So, adding those together, you have a 120% reduction to the amount of pushback from damaging attacks. Essentially, your healing spells cannot suffer any pushback whatsoever. They can still be interrupted, but not pushed back. Now, the Imp Concentration aura is actually unnecessary, because without it you still have 105%. BUT, with the Improved talent, you also get 30% reduction of the duration of any interrupts or silences.

So what does all this mean? Well, if you are pulling 5 or 6 mobs to you at once, you are getting hit a LOT. Paladins are perfect for this situation. We wear plate, we can heal ourselves, we have an AoE spell, and MOST importantly, with these talents, our healing can't be interrupted!

I have to say, I use Seal of Wisdom 100% of the time while I am leveling, and I always judge Light. Seal of Wisdom will give you mana every time you hit something, and if you judge Light on what you are hitting, you will get healed for a small amount every time you hit that mob.

Pull 4 or 5 mobs, lay down consecrate, and judge Light on the first target. Use Holy Shock, keep judging, and keep consecrate up. Heal yourself between consecrates as you need to, and before you know it, you will have 5 dead mobs laying on the ground, waiting to be looted.

Now, I am not saying Holy is the best leveling spec for a paladin. Retribution is going to kill things much faster than we normally will, but we are built (and talented) to be able to AoE grind things in this fashion. I love Holy, so I couldn't respec for the leveling. I wanted to be able to heal instances, which is what I love most. This method uses many of your abilities as a holy paladin. Use the abilities you have! Play around with them and find out which ones work best for you and the way you like to play. This uses some good abilities and paladin mechanics to help ease the pain as leveling as a healer.

Now get out there and AoE those mobs!

Oh Stormy Days....

So, even though my finals ended yesterday, I am essentially iced in here at my college. Luckily, I do have power here at school, so I can pass the time playing some WoW and watching the TBS Breakroom (man I love the Toolman and the Heffernans).

Later today I'll probably post up some helpful tips (at least from my point of view) for leveling as a Holy paladin. Good luck to all of you in the Northeast!

Eh...Argent Crusade It Is....

OK, so I looked around for the reputation rewards available, and I realized something. The Argent Crusade has a couple of incredible healer pieces, and since I got that mace from the Culling of Stratholme, I decided to go for the Argent Crusade reputation first. So, from this point forward, until I reach exalted, I will be rockin' the Argent Crusade tabard in all of my instance runs. What is so great about the AC? What great gear are they offering me?

This.
And This.

The ring is very nice. I would rather have spell crit on it than haste, but haste isn't a TERRIBLE stat to have either. It's epic, its got gobs of intellect and spellpower, and most importantly, it only costs about 30g.

The headpiece is simply incredible. I mean LOOK AT THAT THING! Its got tons of stamina for extra survivability. Its got loads of intellect, which helps our spellpower, mana, and spell crit. It has a nice meta socket and another blue socket, 45 crit rating, and a ridiculous 84 spellpower. This thing is my new goal. I'm only 78 right now, but I am working toward that helmet. Even Siha over on Banana Shoulders has this bad boy listed as the top pre-Naxx plate healing helmet.

So, unless you are in dire need of a healing mace or are incredibly hungry for that Red Drake (and can afford it), I would go for the Argent Crusade. They even have some nice pants available at honored, and the epic healing gear at exalted is just too good to pass up. You can always get that Drake later. . . right?

Up next: some tips for leveling as a holy paladin!

Maces, Bears, and Icecrown

Well, I had my last final today at 1pm, and am not heading back home until tomorrow afternoon, so I got some great WoW time in this afternoon.

I spent a couple of hours questing in Icecrown today, and I have to say, the zone is AMAZING. The quests are great, the lore is awesome, I really like the phasing, and I upgraded two of my gear pieces with new blues. Gotta love it.

Last night, I was in a group to kill all of the Horde leaders, and we downed the Silvermoon guy (can't remember his name), then Cairne Bloodhoof, and then Thrall. All three went down without a hitch, but needless to say by the time we got to Undercity the Horde (who outnumber us about 3 to 1 on the server) had built up an ample defense. Luckily, this afternoon, my group reformed and we downed Sylvanas with a little luck. She's a toughie, ya know. BUT! We got our letter from King Wrynn, got the achievement, and I am definitely enjoying my new mount!

And finally, my guildies and I hit up Culling of Stratholme. I was excited to see this place, and while I did enjoy it, I wasn't really blown away. There is a lot going on, and it was nice to see Stratholme before it got utterly destroyed. I do have to say, though, that Arthas just bugged me. Yeah, we know he kills innocent people, blah, blah, blah. But, the way he performed in the instance was ridiculous. He even died at one point, then after we got him to respawn (after fighting back to where he died), he kept aggroing all of the little skeletons and wouldn't keep walking forward so we could kill Malganis. Just ridiculous. Something has to be done about this guys AI. And, we did clear the instance, get the achievement, and I got a brand new mace, and slapped on the 50 spellpower enchant.

I also dinged 78! Now I can start running the 80 level dungeons for reputation and can start looking at reputation rewards from the various factions. I really liked what little taste I got of the championing system too. I'm working on the Wyrmrest Accord, simply because they have a great mace and a nice head enchant for healers. While I have been favoring Crit rating over mana per 5 so far, its hard to argue with that combination of rewards from one faction. And of course, you have to consider the Red Drake for reaching exalted. I don't have epic flying yet, but I am working hard toward it, and expect to reach the 5000g mark within the next couple of weeks.

WoW Plastic Surgery

Well, it looks like Blizzard has finally caved in to all those requests for a paid character customization feature. For a small fee of $15, you can change your characters hair color, facial features, skin color, and even his/her gender.

I don't know how I feel about this. Hair changes are already in the game because of the barber shop, which I think was a cool little feature. However, the gender thing really gets me. That huge, crazy-lookin' Tauren Warrior you used to know? He's now a female. I know it would be weird if my friend switched his mage over to the female gender. It's hard to wrap your head around a change like that.

While I personally won't be participating in this (I am very happy with my oddly shaped human male character), I can see how some people might want to make use of it. You can't change your race, which I think would be going too far, but I guess if people will spend the money on it, then it's going to be part of the game. Anyone planning on changing some things about their character?

Hello!

After reading many WoW blogs in the last couple of weeks, I have decided to give my own a shot!

I play a Holy Paladin, Senornoche, on The Underbog. This blog will focus on my experiences in the World of Warcraft, which will naturally focus on playing a Holy Paladin, but also focus on the game in general. I have been playing my paladin for nearly 2 years now, starting him about a month after I got into the game. I have been Holy since level 37, and have never looked back. I love paladins. I love paladin tanks. I love paladin healers. And I love all of those lovely retribution paladins out there! (although to a lesser extent). I also dabble in playing a hunter, thanks somewhat to BigRedKitty and his intense love for the class.

Thanks to anyone who reads! Whether it be once, or whether you return again and again, thank you. Happy playing!