Beacon of Light

The Move

2009-05-09T22:06:00.003-04:00

For anyone interested in following me still, I have moved as I had stated before.

If you wish to read my new site and the things I will be posting there, head HERE.

Thank you for reading here, and I hope any readers I do have will head over to my new site and continue to read there.

Thanks and see ya there!

Changes

2009-05-08T01:00:00.002-04:00

Well, I haven't been able to post recently because of Finals at school and me having to write 12321380324239 papers of varying lengths. Spring is a crazy time for college students.

Anywho, SUMMER IS HERE! That means free time for WoW and blogging.

Due to my guild's need for competent DPS (especially ranged....we have some damn fine rogues) I have switched my main character to my hunter, and it has been a blast. We already had enough healers for Ulduar25, so I sacrificed my beloved paladin and first main to help out the guild. It has been great fun, though, and I don't regret the decision. I still heal on Senor (as I did tonight in a Ulduar10 group the guild had thrown together).

Well, with this change, I have decided to start fresh and create a new blog, as the paladin theme here seems unfit for how things have worked out for me in game. I will be starting a new blog, not just about huntering but about WoW in general. I will begin working on this probably tomorrow if I have some free time, so if you read here (not sure how many of you there are), stay tuned for a link over to the new blog.

Thanks for anyone who has followed, and I'll see you soon!

Senor

Ulduar

2009-04-21T23:04:00.002-04:00

Well, my guild hit 25 man Ulduar on Sunday for the first time.

Flame Leviathan is a fun fight, and it only took our guild 2 attempts to get him down. He dropped a new enchant (which I am not quite sure the use of is yet) that I won the roll on, and even a fragment of the new legendary, which our resto shaman won the roll on. Congratulations to him!

We tried XT-002 for an hour and a half after that, but to no avail. At first, it seemed that our healing wasn't sufficient, but we quickly found that our DPS wasn't doing the job. We healed through tantrum and everything just fine, but we didn't make the enrage timer. We decided to call it for the night, and try again last night.

It didn't go much better. We still managed to live through most of the fight, but the DPS just wasn't there. We then tried Razorscale, and we just couldn't get it after all of those wipes on XT, and decided to break until this week to keep everyone from hating Ulduar so early on.

On the bright side, ARENA SEASON 6! My mage friend, Agney, and myself are doing 2v2. We are both pretty new to arena, so I don't expect to be competing at high levels, but it is fun and even after 12 games today I can already see improvement. I am playing as ret to provide a double-burst composition. I would play as holy, but I find Ret much more fun to play in PvP. Forget min/maxing....ENJOY THE GAME!

First Impressions

2009-04-16T06:17:00.002-04:00

Well, 3.1 has been pretty solid (at least for me) so far, after they took forever to implement it on Tuesday. Here is what I think so far.

Ulduar

Haven't been yet, but tonight is our guild's first 25 man so I'll see it soon. I've heard it is definitely a step up from Naxx, and that the trash can be surprisingly tough. I hope it is a challenge and that my guild will be up for it. Progression raiding is much different than the farming we have been doing for the past couple months.

Dual Specs

LOVE THIS. I can heal a heroic, then go do dailies and switch to Ret (which is so good, especially now since Excorcism works on all targets). I haven't had the chance to DPS an instance as Ret yet, but I think the results would be damn good. Also, the Ret tree is THIN. I used 51 points in it and had all of the talents I wanted, and had 15 left over that I had no idea what to do with. I ended up picking up the pvp talents and going down the protection tree. There just isn't that much to the Ret tree right now.

On my hunter, I dummy tested (briefly) all three specs, and decided to switch it up for a while and go MM/BM. All three specs were pretty even in DPS, and while I like SV, I wanted to try something new. Picked up a wolf pet, as well, since their furious howl is now hunter and pet only, which means it stacks with other AP buffs. As BM, it gives me 300~ AP for 20 seconds with only 8 seconds of downtime, so the wolf seems the way to go.

Argent Tournament

I'm finishing up my last daily now to get the required 15 Aspirant Seals, so I'll be starting on the Valiant stuff hopefully. I like the dailies, they are quick, and the mounted combat seems somewhat interesting, although I suck at it personally. Overall, I think this will be a great event and only get better as it progresses.

What are your impressions of 3.1 so far? How is Ulduar for those of you that have been?

3.1 is here

2009-04-14T09:24:00.002-04:00

Well, it's finally here. Patch 3.1. Ulduar, dual specs, the Argent Tournament, swimming mounts and new fishing dailies.

I'm excited, but I'm also curious. Personally, I have never been part of a guild that is going to try and progress quickly through conent. Plus, I have never gone into an instance where there is little written about the strategies of the bosses in the raid. There is definitely Ulduar information, obviously, but not to the extent that there was information about Naxx when I started raiding (a little later than most) that. It's going to be a new experience for me to be with a guild that is pushing for progression on raid nights, not just farming the same bosses every week.

I'm also curious as to how my guild will handle the trasition. No more playing alts, no more being late for raids...everything seems like it's going to be back in order after a little down time. Raids are also starting earlier, which is going to keep some people out of them unfortunately. Also, how are we going to decide who goes on 10 man runs? I'm assuming we will have 2, maybe 3 groups going, but who is in what group? We have been running 25 mans for months now, and reverting back to 10 mans will be different. We still plan to run 25 mans on our regular raid nights, Sunday/Monday, but the 10 mans have me wondering.

That said, my guild will be fine. We will probably not compete for any server firsts (as there are a couple of guilds on my server that I know will be there all night tonight and tomorrow and the rest of the week), but I know we will progress fairly quickly and keep everyone happy. I'm hopingi the DKP resets, personally, but I doubt it's going to happen. We have too many people who have obnoxious amounts of it because of farming Naxx25 after they were all geared up, and it would be these 10-12 people ALWAYS getting gear in Ulduar before anyone else, who joined a little later, like myself. We'll see.

Dual specs is incredible. I simply can't wait. Holy/Ret for my paladin. Probably PvP Ret, but most retribution specs can go either way without too much trouble. I never minded paying to 50g to respec. It was the GLYPHS that annoyed me to hell. Replacing them every time, then getting my old ones back again...those days are finally over and I'm exstatic about it.

I'm curious as to what will happen to Naxx10, and possible Naxx25/Malygos. I already see OS being shunned by most people (my guild hasn't run it in over a month), and now people are just dropping Naxx completely and focusing on Ulduar, which is understandable I guess. My guild hasn't killed Maly25 yet, mostly because we have had one good night of attempts and that is it. But, we cancelled our Maly25 night immediately when Ulduar was announced for today, and I'm sure it is going to get left aside while we push through Ulduar. Then again, people were running Karazhan well into BC, so I'm sure Naxx will still be pugged or run or whatever.

If all of this seems crazy to you, it probably is. I have personally never been an active raider who has cleared most content and been waiting for a new raid. I've done Naxx, Maly10, and OS, and I have Valorous/ilvl213 items all over my character. I even have my hunter in some 10 man epics. I've never been in this position before, and it's interesting to me, if not a little scary in some ways. It's very weird to think of the gear I just worked hard for and spent a lot of DKP on is now going to get replaced, but that is the game right? It all works out, and I'm curious to see how it plays out for me and my guild.

Anyone else nervous/curious/(insert feeling here) about the patch? Why?

Top 10 Bosses in WoW (from my PoV)

2009-04-10T22:25:00.005-04:00

Here are my Top 10 bosses in WoW. This isn't an official list, it is my opinion, based on different reasons. You may certainly disagree or share your favorite bosses in the comments, and I encourage you to do so!

Honorable Mentions:

Gluth (10 man, as ONLY a hunter)

As you may know from previous posts, kiting Zombie Chow on 10 man Gluth on my hunter is my favorite thing to do in the game right now.

Mekgineer Thermaplugg

Yeah, Gnomeregan is obnoxiously long and full of trash, but it was great, and this boss was no different. Who's on button duty?

Malygos

This fight is tough, but its great. I love doing it (even though I've only completed it once). Tons going on, damage buffs, bubbles, pressure, and riding dragons at the end. It's great when it all comes together.

The List:

10. Nightbane

The first of 2 Kara bosses on here. I liked this fight because of how tough it was. The fight was long and really made you focus for more than 2 mins to get him down. GET OUT OF CHARRED EARTH! STACK UP! SPREAD OUT! TURN HIM! Lots of yelling in vent, lots of pressure. Loved it.

9. Herald Volazj

The first time you fight this guy (if you haven't read up on it) is chaos, but its great. "Why are you guys attacking me?!?!?!" It's a great mechanic. No other explanation necessary.

8. Onyxia

I never fought her at 60, but she was the first raid boss I ever killed, at level 64. She's a huge dragon, breaths fire, and has a tail swipe. This is what WoW is about at it's roots, and fighting a giant dragon was awesome. Plus I soloed her and got 163g for it (before they nerfed that).

7. Princess Theredras

"Woah, shes HUGE! and gross lookin." That is everyone's reaction when seeing her for the first time, and after fighting through Maraudon (which took seemingly forever), she was a tough fight for appropriate level players.

6. Big Bad Wolf

I am a huge fan of the Red Riding Hood theme, and telling someone to run around in a circle dressed in a little gnome costume never gets old. The other Opera events are "meh," but this one really shines.

5. Thaddius

This fight is a giant check on the mental capabilities of your raid. I like it because of not only the HUGE damage people can put out, but because it requires everyone to be on their game. One person can ruin it for everyone, so it holds people accountable for their actions. PAY ATTENTION!

4. Sapphiron

The room is cool, the spawn animation is cool, and the fight is cool. Hiding behind iceblocks to avoid huge damage? Awesome. It's fun as a healer (but stressful) too, which probably makes me partial.

3. Mr. Smite

My personal favorite boss in the Deadmines. It's really the first fight where anything different happens. It's still tank and spank, but the first time he stuns you and runs to his chest, you are like "what the hell? what is he doing!?" Plus, as alliance, he's the first giant Tauren I saw, which was really cool.

2. Heigan the Unclean
Ah, the dance. It's priceless. It's fun, but challenging (especially at first), and I love the fact that even if half the raid dies, you still have a chance. The first time my (old) guild downed him on 10 man, I was solo healing our tank, OT, and one dps for 14 mins before Heigan fell.

1. Mograine/Whitemane

Scarlet Monastery, for a lot of players, is both a pain in the ass and a ton of fun. I ran it so many times, but hated it because of the ridiculous run to get there as alliance! And, there were always horde outside ready to attack. But, when we did get in there, this fight was a hell of a lot of fun. "Yay, we killed the boss!....oh wait? who is this b***h? OH SHIT!" Killing a warrior like Mograine only to find out that his woman was rezzing him and now you had to fight BOTH was a crazy feeling, and it was essentially the first "event" style boss that I remember fighting.

My "Elevator Pitch"

2009-04-10T21:08:00.003-04:00

Well, it seems to be the "thing to do." The 31 days to a better blog challenge is working it's way around the blogosphere, and it seems only natural for me to join the party.

Except, I'm not doing it just because others are. I like writing, and to write about the game which I enjoy most is great. I am getting more visitors, and would like to really improve this blog as much as I can, both for you readers and for myself.

So, here is my "30 second, 'dis is what I got for ya, read it and wheep Elevator pitch" for Beacon of Light:

Essentially, this is the musings of my time in Azeroth. I've played a Holy Paladin since early 2007, when I reached level 35 and said "screw protection, I am trying something new." Yes, I leveled from 35 to 70, then 80 as holy, and it was a damn fun ride.

Here you will find my experiences, opinions, and rants about how the World of Warcraft works and evolves. I am mainly a casual (what does THAT mean?) raider, but as you can see from my previous posts I like to explore and dabble in other things, which I am not so good at. PvP, Raid Bosses, Healing tips, add-on questions, strategies, and even a little bit about a certain Hunter alt. All of that will be here, hopefully in a readable, interesting way.

I don't theorycraft, and you won't see me analyzing a piece of gear for min/max purposes and things like that. Other people do and will do that much better than I ever could.

I write about how I enjoy (and sometimes don't enjoy) the game. I'll never forget my first time in Deadmines, with my level 37 hunter friend (in RL) and his level 40 warrior buddy running my through. I'll never forget re-rolling to my paladin with said hunter friend (who rolled a mage) and being so damn happy to be able to wear mail armor. The Paladin and Mage that were rolled are now our mains, and with another RL friend playing an 80 warlock and a brother with an 80 warrior, we make a damn good team and always have a blast doing whatever it is we do.

Nor will I EVER forget the first time (at level 28) that I ran into horde territory with said friend warlock. He was level 20 and had to hit the Barrens for his Sucubus. We were scared sh**less, but amazed by this area we had never seen. That moment, I think, hooked me into the game.

It is these kinds of stories and musings that you will find here. For me, the game isn't about numbers, but about the experiences with friends (real life or in game), good or bad. That is what makes the game interesting and dynamic, and I hope to convey that as I continue to try and blog about Azeroth and my time in it.

My Love/Hate Relationship w/ Wintergrasp

2009-04-09T18:00:00.022-04:00

Ya know, Wintergrasp is great. Siege vehicles, lots of honor, destructible buildings, and incentives. I love it.

But, Wintergrasp sucks. People don't understand it. Siege vehicles, unlimited amount of players, lag, no role for healers.

Alright, Wintergrasp. You are great, but you suck at the same time.

I love riding in a siege vehicle, hurling fireballs at walls and knocking back hordies with my knock-back thingamajigger. I love getting 3k honor even if we lose (often in 10 mins or less, which makes the honor/hr unbelievably worth it). I love killing Archavon for easy Emblems and a chance at Tier 7/S5 gear. It's great.

But I hate (HATE) when people don't understand how to win. Running around on your mount is near useless when you are trying to capture it. Get in a vehicle and attack the walls please. I hate Siege vehicles and HAVING to use them for "PvP." It's not about my player skill, its about how well I can mash 1 or 2 buttons and aim a boulder at a wall. I hate how, as a healer most of the time, I can't really do ANYTHING to help out my teammates except for be in a vehicle. I can't heal the vehicles, either. When my vehicle gets destroyed, I am out in the open for 29 hordies to destroy and I can't do anything to any of them, even with Tenacity.

And Tenacity! Oh Tenacity...how I hate thee. Tenacity "levels the playing field" right? WRONG. I don't care if I have 70k health! I am surrounded by 30+ horde instantly, and no amount of health is going to get me out of a chain of stuns and crits.

My server is heavily (not as heavily as some) horde favored. Last I knew, it was about 3:1. The number of raiding/PvPing level 80s is much more unbalanced in my experience. I don't care how many stacks of Tenacity I and my teammates have, we are outnumbered every time. Every. Single. Time. Generally, we get somewhere around 30-35 people fighting for Wintergrasp, depending on the time that can reach 50-55.

The problem is the number of Horde that show up for the fight. During off times, when we have 20-30, they generally come in with 60-70 people and just utterly destroy usl During peak times, when we can maybe get 50, they show up with well over 100 people. No amount of tenacity is going to help us when we have that many people burning down our vehicles. Its just not going to happen.

So, Wintergrasp, I will continue to endure your painfully fun, yet annoying, game for the good honor and Commendations in hopes of someday being at least a little competitive in the Arenas.

P.S. - Tenacity sucks.

PvP?

2009-04-07T13:57:00.002-04:00

Normally, I'm not big on PvP. I've never done well in Arenas, and never really enjoyed the BGs. Recently, however, I've been PvPing quite a bit in my free time. I respecced Ret for arenas last week, and with an arms warrior friend we won 5 of 8 arena matches, which is about the most success I've had in Arenas in my time playing WoW.

So, with this high-flying feeling of success, I've been playing as Ret in my non-raid days and running BGs, Wintergrasp, etc. to get honor and work on getting some PvP gear. It's been fun...much more fun than it used to be playing as Holy.

So, I've been trying something different lately. And I encourage you to do the same. It keeps the game fresh, and you might end up enjoying something you never thought you would.

The Weekend

2009-04-02T22:16:00.002-04:00

Well, I got lucky on a Naxx 10 run that my guild threw together and got some T7 shoulders and chestpiece on my hunter during the run. I was doing about 2.5k dps throughout, which I was pretty happy with. I volunteered (begged?) the druid leading the raid to let me kite Gluth. I absolutely LOVE doing it...it's so much fun. Probably one of my favorite things to do in game right now, as weird as that sounds.

I also respecced Ret to do some arenas with an old warrior friend of mine, and we suprisingly went 5-3 in the 8 games we played. I've never been a fan of arena (or been any good at it), but it felt good to win some games. I didn't have any ret pvp gear either, so if I can collect some of that over the next couple weeks we may be able to stick around 1500 or so. That would be an accomplishment for me.

I seem to be getting a few readers (maybe because I'm starting to post on other blogs? I dunno), but I appreciate you guys coming here and reading my stuff, even if you don't comment. I'm going to be away this weekend visiting my girlfriend who I haven't seen in over a month, so I'll be back posting probably Sunday night or Monday.

Thanks again all! Enjoy your weekends, in Azeroth or otherwise.

Adios

2009-03-30T16:33:00.003-04:00

Well, BRK went away for the weekend, and when I typed in the URL to his site today to check out how he was doing and if he had posted anything new, I was completely shocked to find his Farewell Post.

He has inspired me (and certainly so many others) in so many ways. Not just in Azeroth, but in life too, and this is no different. He is taking (at least) a 3 month break by the looks of the post, planning to rededicate himself to his family. I applaud him with unbridled vigor, as he embarks on perhaps the most important quest of all: raising a family and maintaining a loving marriage.

WoW is a hobby, and as many of his commentors (210 and counting, which I'm sure is a record of some kind) have already said the obvious: RL>WoW. Always.

He inspired me to level my hunter, and is the reason I no longer play like a huntard, even at level 80. His blog was the first WoW blog I came across, not knowing even what blogging was or how someone could blog so much about the game I enjoyed playing. I was in awe, and still am at his astounding knowledge, wit, and humor. He kept things light, fun, and informative, and every post made me either laugh or go "aha!" in a way that nobody else could.

As a paladin (which you preached to hate (: ) and as a new fellow hunter, I salute both you and your decision, BRK. You will be sorely missed by most everyone who plays the game, as you can see in the comments on your post. Good luck, and may everything work out for you and your loved ones. I hope you can return to the community one day with a new sense of balance.

Adios, good sir.

//EDIT//

BRK's Farewell Post has garnered over 750 comments since it was posted yesterday. This is a true testament to the vast amount of players and readers alike that he had an affect on, all of whom wish him nothing but the best.

Hit

2009-03-30T12:00:00.003-04:00

Hit Rating.

Ya need it, there is no way around it.

Of course, on my paladin, its useless for me (unless I am Ret, which is rare.)

But on my hunter, its causing me to pull my hair out! Everytime I get a new upgrade, I have to look at my hit rating and rework some gems to make sure I am hit capped. This usually costs atleast 100g to redo it all and make sure my stats are where they need to be.

Thankfully my paladin doesn't have to deal with that.

Screw you hit rating.

Gluth

2009-03-29T12:33:00.002-04:00

Playing my hunter lately, I had an old guildie (and good friend) ask me if I could help his guild with their progression through Naxx10, mainly by kiting the Chow on Gluth. I immediately accepted, and went to YouTube to watch a video on how to do it as a hunter.

Lay down a frost trap, run around in a circle, shoot new zombies.

It was great fun. Much better than just pumping out DPS or spamming heals on people. It was fun to use some long lost abilities, and do something useful and necessary that wasn't just "pewpew."

I wish Blizzard would put more mechanics like this into fights. Priests are needed for Faerlina or Razuvious, and the kiting on Gluth is really cool to do. But other than that, there isn't much else.

I did a fine job kiting, and I had a blast doing it. Gluth was downed, and I got my T7 leg token to boot. We downed Thaddius right after, and then I graciously bowed out of the raid so they could bring in a 3rd healer for Sapphiron.

Anyone else love Gluth or kited his Chow before?

What happened to tier sets?

2009-03-24T14:07:00.002-04:00

Well, news is out that the non-set pieces that are dropping in Ulduar are the same models as the Tier 8 set pieces. The holy paladin Tier 8 shoulders will share the model with the other plate healing shoulders that drop in Ulduar.

Blizzard claims this is to prevent people whining about the "clown" syndrome that occurred in BC. While the colors may not match, at least most of your armor will match in a model sense, making your look "cohesive and clean."

Nobody wants their character to look foolish, or be wearing blue shoulders, a white cloak, red boots and a bright yellow chestpiece. But seriously...matching models? What has happened to the Tier sets?

I wasn't raiding before BC came out, but I remember walking into IF or SW and seeing a paladin wearing Judgement or a warrior in his Wrath set was awesome to see, and I knew that they raided and I knew that they were wearing the best gear. Obviously, Tier sets have come a long way since level 60. Those sets were for any spec of the class, and now of course we have specialized sets for different specs and such, which is obviously a good thing.

But, now the only difference between the Tier 8 sets and the rest of the gear in Ulduar is going to essentially be color. This seems ridiculous to me.

Also, weren't the Tier sets in Vanilla WoW the best in slots most of the time? People strived for them, not only for looks but also because they were simply the best items you could have. The epics you got along the way were great, but they were there only until that coveted tier piece dropped that you could snag. Now, at least for Holy Paladins, 3 of the Valorous pieces are really "best in slot," but using a fourth is a good idea for the 5% mana reduction on Holy Light.

So I ask, then, What happened to Tier sets?

I'm Back

2009-03-22T16:49:00.003-04:00

First, let me apologize for the disappearance. I have been incredibly busy for the last month or so, and posting has been something I've had to put on the back burner. Things have settled down now, and I am going to be putting up a post every 1-2 days from this point forward.

Updates from Azeroth:

My hunter has just hit 80. I've been playing him quite a bit for a little change of pace, and its been great. Survival is definitely OP. I just hit 80 yesterday, and while I only have a few different pieces, I put out 2k DPS on 10 man OS last night after hitting 80 yesterday morning.

I joined a new guild, which only raids Sunday/Monday nights. This has given me some extra time on the Hunter, hence him being up to 80. The guild is great, and has Naxx 25 cleared. Last week we cleared the place out up to KT, and we wiped on him at 13k health left. It was miserable, but we were already 30 mins past our raid time, so we called it. He's goin down this week for sure.

So, in summary, I am back, and I will be posting more regularly while I try to balance my game time with my end of the semester workload.

Luck

2009-02-17T08:47:00.002-05:00

Get to Revered with the Oracles.

Buy mysterious Egg.

Open it 7 days later ---> Green Proto Drake.

First try.

Buy second mysterious Egg.

Open last night ---> Green Proto Drake.

Again.

So far, I'm 2 for 2 on proto drakes in my Oracle Eggs.

Sadly, I had to throw away the second one, as I can't sell it or use it.

The odds of this? I'm not sure they even exist.

In other notes, I did pug Naxx 10 last night, and had a chance to finally play around with the new Divine Plea. Surprisingly, I still used it quite a bit. You have to compensate for your 50% loss in healing by using some bigger heals, but in the end you still get quite a bit of mana back. I'm going to continue to use it in mana-intensive fights.

Drakes and Shields

2009-02-10T14:35:00.003-05:00

I finally got Maexxna to drop her shield the other day. It's great, and is definitely an upgrade from the shield available from the emblem vendors.

And, lucky as I am, I got the Green Proto-Drake from my very first Oracle egg! I couldn't believe it...I was waiting all week for that thing to hatch, and when I opened it I near fell out of my chair when I saw the purple writing.

Sorry to those of you that have had trouble getting this from your eggs. I am truly lucky in regards to this, even though my loot rolls in Naxx are hardly ever luck-worthy.

Flying on this thing around Sholazar or Icecrown for ore while listening to the new Fray CD has become one of my favorite parts of the game lately. It's relaxing, profitable, and downright fun.

Bye Bye, Crazy Mana Regen

2009-02-05T17:50:00.002-05:00

Well, the changes to mana regen across the board are all over the forums today, as well as all over the blogs. For the actual words from Bornakk, check the link to Banana Shoulders.

Divine Plea is getting nerfed. Instead of losing 20% of your healing while it is active, the number is being upped to 50%. The devs say they want it to be a decision for Holy Paladins, rather than a "use on every CD" ability. It was apparently originially intended for Protection/Retribution.

On Heigan the other night, we had 4 people left alive after the second "dance." Me healing, a Ret pally, a Prot pally, and our MT warrior. I was able to heal the rest of the fight (very little damage actually), and end at nearly full mana because of Divine Plea. The fight took 15 minutes, but we got it done, and I easily solo healed it with absolutely zero mana issues. Without Divine Plea, it probably would have still been possible, but certainly mana would have been a more pressing issue.

This change could be huge. In fights like Heigan, there is minimal damage being done, so Divine Plea can still play a roll, esepcially if you have others healers alive with you. In fights like Patchwerk, where you probably cannot stop healing for even a couple of seconds, mana becomes much more of an issue. Mana pots are down to 1 per fight, illumination only goes so far, and you may not have Innervate/Replenishment (although Innervate will be nerfed a bit too because of the changes to "spirit based" mana regen) in your 10 man group. Mana regen is getting tougher, but luckily paladins have been optimal in this area, so a nerf like this may just bring us back down to "good."

Blizzard also says that they design things around Replenishment, even in 10 man situations. My group that I run with honestly has no ret paladin, survival hunter, or shadow priests. If they are to design encounters around the assumption that Replenishment is in the raid somewhere, then I may be having more mana issues in future encounters. They have stated they are looking at adding Replenishment to more classes, which could help, but we'll just have to wait and see how this and other changes go down in the 3.1 patch.

(And, for the record, we Safety Danced our way to an easy Heigan kill this week, even with a new DK in the raid group)

I Want A Mammoth!

2009-02-02T15:29:00.003-05:00

It's official.

I have decided to save my gold. 16000 gold to be exact.

I want a Traveler's Tundra Mammoth.

I already have epic flying. I have bought some epic gear from the AH. I have helped my brother gear up his warrior. I have nothing to spend my gold on. So I am saving.

My hunter is 73, and I plan to completely grind to 80 on him simply by killing/skinning beasts. That's it. Some quests, some instances, but mostly skinning, which is incredibly profitable.

I have been mining my ass off, farming eternals to smelt Titansteel bars.

As of right now, I am still about 10000 gold short, and it will take some time for me to save up for it. But it's just so cool, and I want one so badly, that I am willing to penny pinch and wait for it.

I can't wait.

Just cuz you can, doesn't mean you HAVE TO.

2009-01-30T09:59:00.002-05:00

This might seem obvious to some (maybe most) people, but I figured I would put this little information out there anyway.

I'm a paladin. I can wear plate. However, that doesn't mean I HAVE TO wear plate!

Currently, I am wearing 2 pieces of mail gear (because every boss we kill in Naxx flat out refuses to drop plate healing gear). The boots and legs are great for healers, whether they normally wear mail or not. My group having no shamans in it, I immediately snatched these up.

This can be true for hunters too. While Blizzard has done much better at putting intellect on the mail hunter/shaman gear, sometimes a piece of leather is much better than the piece of mail that you are wearing. This may not be true in the end game, but especially while leveling it can be.

Now, Paladins are capable to wearing leather and cloth too, but I personally don't like to. With the spellpower changes, a piece of cloth is going to be worthwhile for any caster, and I'll leave those to my mages or priests who need upgrades first.

Bottom line: wear the gear that makes you a better player and upgrades your gear. Don't get hung up on the "plate, leather, mail, cloth" classification (to an extent) and focus on the stats you need.

Lunar Festival

2009-01-25T10:10:00.004-05:00

Well, it's been a busy first weekend back here at school. I had some friends come visit, so my play time was way down. Nothing today, so I'll hop back into Azeroth and maybe try to get some of the Elder achievements done. After I really got into the Hallows End achievements (and got the "the Hallowed" title), I really haven't been able to push myself into the others. Winter's Veil required some Ogri'la stuff, which I wasn't going to go back and start since I hadn't done it at 70 at all. The Lunar Festival seems fairly easy as far as achievements go, and I love getting 83 alliance rep every time I find one, so I may push for finding all 75 of them. Could be close enough to get me a tiger mount from Darnassus. Who knows.

I finished off the Argent Champion title late Thursday night, after Naxx. I did get the Chivalric Chestguard, which I am probably actually going to wear instead of my T7 piece! Its disappointing that they failed completely to put spell crit on the holy paladin T7, but I'd rather that than Mp5 any day, and will probably gem up the non set piece and wear it instead. The only thing that may keep me from switching is the 10% crit chance to Holy Shock from the set bonus. More Holy Shock crits means more instant Flashes and more 1 second Holy lights, which is never a bad thing. I'll be testing both out in some heroics today and tomorrow and see what the differences are and if one really is better than the other.

Happy Elder hunting to you all!

2009-01-22T00:32:00.002-05:00

I have no idea what to call this post. Oh well.

A real life friend of mine who was in our guild (and topping our DPS meters in our 10 mans) has left our guild and joined one of the top 3 raiding guilds on my server (which isn't much on the Underbog, but they are certainly ahead of my guild in numbers and progression). He wants to see more 25 man content and plays regularly with people from the guild anyway. It's his decision, and if that is what he wants then he should do it. I wish him luck. It's not like we wont group up or do fun stuff together.

I have been thinking of switching guilds, much like him, but have come to the conclusion that it won't make my play time any more enjoyable. My guild is progressing through Naxx 10. It's not top end raiding in the slightest, but we are doing it together and everyone is downing bosses for the first time in our raids. The guild my friend is joining has been there and done that. I would rather be with a group of friends and progress as a guild and be an integral part of the progression than join a top end guild and tag along with people that have done it all before. That's just me.

I also started a small guild on my server, as I have started a new mage alt. After making her and questing the starting zone, I realized how many brand new players there were around. I decided I would start up a guild to help these people out and get them some friends/connections on the server. I am going to level the mage ( probably slowly), and help the guildies out, setting up "run nights" where I'll hop on my paladin and run some people through instances. I'm trying to provide a place for newbies to be able to ask questions, maybe get some help, and level together. I hope it works out.

Back to School

2009-01-18T23:49:00.002-05:00

Well, I am back at my college today, getting ready to start the new semester and everything. Such a blast.

Game wise, my guild did go into Naxx a few days ago, and we cleared the Arachnid Quarter. Some quick reflexes by our two tanks trading taunts helped us get by Maexxna. No good pally loot from any of the three bosses, but our resident priest healer picked up a couple of good cloth pieces.

We did attempt Patchwerk a few times. First time, not nearly enough DPS. Second time, a littler closer. Third time, somehow our MT didn't know about the enrage at 5%, and proceeded to flip out about the "bugged encounter" and how he enraged earlier the DBM was saying he was going to. Needless to say, that was the closest we got.

It seems the last 5% shouldn't be too bad if the tank uses Shield Wall/Last Stand, but we couldn't get it to work. Who knows what was going on.

That fight seems to be made for holy paladins to heal. The OT was taking more damage (lesser gear and lesser HP, and the hateful strikes come quick), so I healed him with Beacon on the MT, and the other paladin did the opposite. It worked out pretty well, as the tanks stayed alive. I had no mana issues, using Divine Plea on every cooldown (which you really should do in every boss fight) and having mana pots to back me once per fight. A ret pally with Replenishment never hurts either.

Is it really that easy?

2009-01-15T11:27:00.002-05:00

A couple of bloggers (Coriel over at Blessing of Kings and Tobold on his blog) have recently been commenting on the difficulty of the end game and the overall accessibility of it.

Personally, Naxx isn't really easy for my guild or myself. The strategies are complex to some people. Anub'Rehkan is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and it only took my guild 3 or 4 tries to down him. Faerlina wasn't too bad, and we got her on the second try. But Maexxna was trouble, because of her enrage and web ability. We simple couldn't get past that 30% enrage. We didn't go any further last time we were there, but it certainly wasn't EASY. It was a challenge, especially because we had 4 or 5 people that had never raided on any level before.

Obviously for those that raided in SSC/BT/SWP, Naxx is going to be easier. Naxx is the ENTRY LEVEL raid. This really isn't the "end-game" per se. Its the beginning of the raiding in Wrath, not the end. Nobody is downing Arthas or the major bosses of the game yet. How many people cleared Karazhan during BC? A lot. Sure, it wasn't until after the place was nerfed a little and people starting gearing up more through badges and such, but a lot of people got through Karazhan. Why shouldn't a lot of people get through Naxx too? Yes, it is early in the game. Do you think people are going to be clearing Icecrown Citadel left and right? Just because a guild clears Naxxramas this month doesn't mean they will be able to waltz through Icecrown. The top notch guilds, like Ensidia, are going to clear stuff quickly. It's inevitable, and quite frankly measuring progress based on these people would be ridiculous.

My guild heads back into Naxx tonight, trying to get down that damn spider. I'm not expecting us to get it the first time through, but I would like to clear another new boss too. We'll see.

Bottom line: for some people, Naxx is easy as pie, and congratulations to you for clearing the place already and farming it. But for others (and probably the majority) it really isn't as super easy as it is being made out to be. I agree the end game shouldn't be for everyone, and I think Ulduar and further raids will jump up a notch in difficulty, which is probably a good thing.

Stepping Down

2009-01-11T19:26:00.002-05:00

I have decided to remove myself from the Raid Leader position of my guild, after an incident that occurred the other night. I had scheduled a Vault run, which would get badges for people while also getting a couple of our 80s some T7 stuff that would help them gear up a little. But, my GM (our MT) pulled himself and 2 of our DPS into a Naxx pug that not everyone could go to. So my scheduled Vault run was effectively ignored. Why am I raid leader? I'm not going to be if my scheduled events are going to be ignored like that. The officers of my guild subsequently decided (without my input) that there was a need for 2 raid leaders to discuss and schedule things. The new RL actually has more experience with the current content than I do, which is great.

Needless to say, after this little situation, I stepped down. I still like the guild, and want to give it a chance as a simple raider and regular member. I will leave the inner workings to someone else who feels like dealing with all of the crap that comes with it.

No new gear updates or anything like that, with the exception of the fact that I am now saving Emblems for a trinket, because the green quest reward I have had since 74 needs to be replaced. Quickly. Anyone have any ideas for trinkets that are out there? I have a blue one from the early icecrown quests, but that is all I have been able to find.

Guild First

2009-01-07T11:12:00.003-05:00

Well, my guild was planning on doing Archavon last night, but of course by the time everyone was online we had lost Wintergrasp. So we decided to try Sartharion 10 man. We had 8 guildies in the group, and pug'd a Death Knight and a mage for DPS. We one shotted the dragons surrounding Sartharion (which was excellent since it was the first time for atleast half of us). After a few wipes on Sartharion himself (one when he reached 180k), we finally downed him with no deaths. It was a great feeling to have the guild succeed at something as a team.

The mage in our guild picked up his T7 gloves, one of our preists picked up a nice neck, and I got the Satchel of Spoils, which had 5 Emblems in it. That put me at exactly 80 Emblems, which I used to FINALLY buy my T7 chestpiece. The 2 piece set bonus there is incredible. Look at it! 10% increased Holy Shock crit chance. That means more healing, more procs of Infusion of Light, which means quicker Flashes and Holy Lights. I'm excited to see how it plays out in a heroic tonight.

Yesterday, since I had the day off, I also got a couple of other things accomplished. I finished the Exploring achievements (damn you Kalimdor), and also hit exalted with the Wyrmrest Accord and bought myself the beautiful Red Drake mount. I think I'll work on the Kirin Tor rep next, if for nothing but the head enchant. The Ebon Blade really has nothing for me at this point.

Gear/Namecalling

2009-01-05T19:56:00.004-05:00

This isn't about elementary school spit-spats, it's about the roles of people in my guild (and maybe many guilds, who knows.)

As the raid leader for my guild (although I hate the title, because I work closely with my GM to plan things and get things going), I have had the somewhat un-enviable job of telling people they need to gear up a little before they join a Naxx group or something like it. You can't just ding 80 and start healing (especially) Naxx 10.

A priest in my group yesterday, who is now 79 and only 2 bars from 80, was told by our GM that she needs to have 1300-1400 plus healing to start healing in Naxx. She said she had about 1100 right now, but she started going on about how "if you won't let me go, how can I gear up?"

I don't know if this is a result of the fact that Karazhan was easy late in BC. I was one of those people that went from dinging 70 and never having run a heroic to healing a Kara group that was outgearing the place, which helped me gear up quickly. Maybe this priest had the same experience.

But you can't just expect to hit 80 and raid. As much as it may suck, you need to run regular 80 dungeons, especially as a healer. You can't just jump into heroics right away (unless maybe you are DPS, but you know my feelings on that). You need to gain reputation by doing dailies and taking what little rep the regular dungeons give. Once you get a few pieces from Oculus/Strat/HoL, and maybe a few crafted/rep gear pieces, you can start doing the easy heroics like Nexus.

She also said to me "well you are raid leader, so you are going to be 'top heals'." What does that mean? I have 1630 bonus healing right now, by far the most in my guild at the moment. But what does "top heals" mean? And it's because I am the raid leader? I hate these labels...I'm not going to take the healing loot just because I am raid leader and have the most bonus heals. We don't have a "main healer" or "off-healer." Why label people and make someone feel superior or inferior to others? Everyone contributes to the raid, and if they don't then we look for a replacement the next time. If I pull 2000 HPS and this priest only does 1700, what am I going to do? Deny her loot or kick her out of the raid? That's just ridiculous im my opinion, and that is why I hate assigning titles to people. It causes resentment and animosity that we just don't need.

I'm not saying labels are all bad. Having a designated main and off tank are essential, and I may assign myself to the main tank and have others raid heal. Being the raid leader has nothing to do with my skill as a healer, but more to my commitment and planning skills.

It sucks having to be the bad guy sometimes, but people need to do the work that I had to do to get geared up, especially as a tank or healer. It's not like the end of BC. You have to do all the dungeons, maybe (GASP!) multiple times to get the gear you need to start heroics/raids. The expansion certainly is more accessible (and easier to an extent), but it still requires a commitment to access that easier content.

It's Been A While....

2009-01-04T19:19:00.002-05:00

Well, sorry about the lack of posts recently. Lots of family stuff to do, family visiting, and working lately. So is life.

Lately, I have been pretty relaxed as far as playing goes. I have started exploring on my Paladin (got all of Eastern Kingdoms done, but that was easy as I quested there when I leveled. Kalimdor is going to suck.), while simultaneously mining everything I see so I can send it to my new warlock twink so she can level mining by smelting in the cities. Hard to argue with the mining health buff.

Hopefully tonight my guild can get back into Naxx, and hopefully clear the two bosses we cleared before and maybe a couple others. I have geared up a little, and my brother (our off tank) is finally at 540 defense. We'll see how it goes!

Happy playing to all of you.

COME ON!

2008-12-31T16:20:00.004-05:00

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....

2008-12-31T00:33:00.003-05:00

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?

2008-12-29T00:40:00.002-05:00

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.....

2008-12-28T20:57:00.002-05:00

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....

2008-12-27T00:56:00.003-05:00

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?!

2008-12-26T10:01:00.002-05:00

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

2008-12-25T10:35:00.001-05:00

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...

2008-12-23T13:33:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-12-21T22:28:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-19T21:34:00.002-05:00

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 . . .

2008-12-19T16:22:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-17T15:59:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-16T12:13:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-12-15T15:34:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-12-14T15:15:00.002-05:00

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

2008-12-13T02:14:00.003-05:00

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....

2008-12-12T13:46:00.002-05:00

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....

2008-12-12T03:27:00.000-05:00

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

2008-12-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

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

2008-12-11T02:29:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-12-11T01:33:00.000-05:00

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!