Release day! The Key to Reality is now available
10 months ago
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Happy Holidays!!
Merry Christmas from me to you and yours. Hope this holiday season is bright and cheerful for all of you -- and I hope you get a chance to PWN all that is PWN-worthy!! Take care. I'll be back with more regular posts next week.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Important Stats to your Paladin
tSo. What are the most important stats to you as a paladin? Well, of course it depends on what you are doing and how you are doing it.
Quite simply you can break it up into talent specs and say this:
Holy needs Intellect.
Protection needs Stamina.
Retribution needs Strength.
Those ARE the most important stats for those specs. But that's a bit oversimplified -- those stats are the most important for those specs when your toon is AT or NEAR level limit. And of course, there are hardly ever only one stat that you want to pay attention to.
PROTECTION
Protection, the spec that I am most familiar with really does want to stack on the stamina -- both for survivability and also because of the wonderful Touched by the Light talent (which you can get, at the earliest at level 50). This talent takes 10/20/30% of you stamina and turns it into spell power and since most of our talents use spell power that's a great bonus.
After stamina, though, where do you go? Well that depends on what you are going for: uncrittable or just awesome. If you intend to tank anything in heroics and/or raids you need to work towards the uncrittable number which is 535 defense in heroics and 540 in raids. If you are purely a soloer and/or you only do normal instance runs the next stat you want to stack is strength (although if you are tanking ANY instance getting high defense will heighten your survivability greatly).
Strength is great for us as well because it ups our white melee damage on auto swings greatly but when you get Shield of the Righteous the damage it causes works off of block value which is calculated off of strength. The more strength you have, the more Holy damage SotR does.
So, just to clarify: your basic important stats for protection are stamina, defense and strength -- some people will argue that defense is more important, at least initially, than stamina, but really the two come hand in hand and you need certain amounts of both in order to survive your encounters. Additionally, Intellect is always nice, and it's not something you should scoff at, but with our basic talents and skills, even if we don't have ANY +int, we should still be doing pretty well with our mana.
RETRIBUTION
Strength is the first and foremost among the stats to stack for a retadin. No question, no arguments. After strength, there are some differing ideas.
+Hit. In my opinion, this should be your next stat to be looking for. You want to be "hit capped" so that every time you swing that big old 2-hander of yours, it actually hits something. In order to be hit capped you need at least 8% (or 9% depending on who you ask). And the hit rating you need is apparently 262. There is still some debate on the ACTUAL FACTUAL numbers, but you get the idea. Testing is always ongoing at Elitist Jerks.
After +hit, I believe you should be for +crit. That way each time you hit, which should be always, you have a much better chance of doing double damage. My understanding is that you should have a minimum of 20% to crit. Really, just pile on the +crit and some Agility if you can -- +crit is more important as it gives you a higher percentage for less points than agility will.
Finally, as a retadin, you'll want a bunch of stamina in order to survive the occasional hit and also wide range AOE spells. Armor will not mitigate this, so pile on the stamina as well.
HOLY
First off, you are a caster now so you need mana up the wahzoo. Pile on the Intellect first and foremost -- this charges up your mana pool, gives you a higher crit rating with your spells and through the nifty Holy Guidance talent, (at level 45 minimum) raises your spellpower by 4/8/12/16/20% of your intellect. Go INT go.
See this post by Banana Shoulders: I totally agree.
After that there is some discussion about what you might want next. It kinda depends on what you are trying to do. If you are trying to heal, then you want to use your healing talents to their fullest -- and many of those talents work off of spell criticals. So pile on +crit first.
If you are just questing or doing something else in an odd way as a holy paladin (I'm not judging) you might want to pile on the MP5 as a secondary stat in order to keep your drink time down.
After that -- probably stamina. It's always nice to survive that one shot that gets through your threat management team. (Not that it ever happens.)
There is the matter of +haste for Holy paladins, but from what I've read it really isn't going to do much for you. Pick it up if you'd like, but if you've really got enough +crit and intellect, the haste won't matter that much -- you'll be kickin arse all over the place.
So yeah, there ya go. As always you can check out the official WoW forums, Elitest Jerks, maintankadin or the forums at wowhead for more information or more opinions.
Enjoy.
Quite simply you can break it up into talent specs and say this:
Holy needs Intellect.
Protection needs Stamina.
Retribution needs Strength.
Those ARE the most important stats for those specs. But that's a bit oversimplified -- those stats are the most important for those specs when your toon is AT or NEAR level limit. And of course, there are hardly ever only one stat that you want to pay attention to.
PROTECTION
Protection, the spec that I am most familiar with really does want to stack on the stamina -- both for survivability and also because of the wonderful Touched by the Light talent (which you can get, at the earliest at level 50). This talent takes 10/20/30% of you stamina and turns it into spell power and since most of our talents use spell power that's a great bonus.
After stamina, though, where do you go? Well that depends on what you are going for: uncrittable or just awesome. If you intend to tank anything in heroics and/or raids you need to work towards the uncrittable number which is 535 defense in heroics and 540 in raids. If you are purely a soloer and/or you only do normal instance runs the next stat you want to stack is strength (although if you are tanking ANY instance getting high defense will heighten your survivability greatly).
Strength is great for us as well because it ups our white melee damage on auto swings greatly but when you get Shield of the Righteous the damage it causes works off of block value which is calculated off of strength. The more strength you have, the more Holy damage SotR does.
So, just to clarify: your basic important stats for protection are stamina, defense and strength -- some people will argue that defense is more important, at least initially, than stamina, but really the two come hand in hand and you need certain amounts of both in order to survive your encounters. Additionally, Intellect is always nice, and it's not something you should scoff at, but with our basic talents and skills, even if we don't have ANY +int, we should still be doing pretty well with our mana.
RETRIBUTION
Strength is the first and foremost among the stats to stack for a retadin. No question, no arguments. After strength, there are some differing ideas.
+Hit. In my opinion, this should be your next stat to be looking for. You want to be "hit capped" so that every time you swing that big old 2-hander of yours, it actually hits something. In order to be hit capped you need at least 8% (or 9% depending on who you ask). And the hit rating you need is apparently 262. There is still some debate on the ACTUAL FACTUAL numbers, but you get the idea. Testing is always ongoing at Elitist Jerks.
After +hit, I believe you should be for +crit. That way each time you hit, which should be always, you have a much better chance of doing double damage. My understanding is that you should have a minimum of 20% to crit. Really, just pile on the +crit and some Agility if you can -- +crit is more important as it gives you a higher percentage for less points than agility will.
Finally, as a retadin, you'll want a bunch of stamina in order to survive the occasional hit and also wide range AOE spells. Armor will not mitigate this, so pile on the stamina as well.
HOLY
First off, you are a caster now so you need mana up the wahzoo. Pile on the Intellect first and foremost -- this charges up your mana pool, gives you a higher crit rating with your spells and through the nifty Holy Guidance talent, (at level 45 minimum) raises your spellpower by 4/8/12/16/20% of your intellect. Go INT go.
See this post by Banana Shoulders: I totally agree.
After that there is some discussion about what you might want next. It kinda depends on what you are trying to do. If you are trying to heal, then you want to use your healing talents to their fullest -- and many of those talents work off of spell criticals. So pile on +crit first.
If you are just questing or doing something else in an odd way as a holy paladin (I'm not judging) you might want to pile on the MP5 as a secondary stat in order to keep your drink time down.
After that -- probably stamina. It's always nice to survive that one shot that gets through your threat management team. (Not that it ever happens.)
There is the matter of +haste for Holy paladins, but from what I've read it really isn't going to do much for you. Pick it up if you'd like, but if you've really got enough +crit and intellect, the haste won't matter that much -- you'll be kickin arse all over the place.
So yeah, there ya go. As always you can check out the official WoW forums, Elitest Jerks, maintankadin or the forums at wowhead for more information or more opinions.
Enjoy.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Gnomeregon
Walked into Gnomer, a level 25ish instance and spanked the final boss in there. I was actually surprised at how quickly the fight went. Yeah, I know I'm over twice the level for that instance, but I still thought he might put up more of a fight.
Am cleaning up instance achievements for vanilla WoW. Also ran naked into Orgrimmar in order to kill the boss of Ragefire Chasm -- got killed by an 80 mage looking like a gnomish elf right before the zone-in. And last night I spanked Wailing Caverns as well -- it's annoying how easy you can get lost in there when you aren't clearing out all the mobs.
Earlier last week I took down all the bosses in Blackrock Depths in solo mode. That was kinda fun -- especially with all the trouble those guys used to pose when 60 was the level cap.
Next up: Shadowfang Keep -- just killed Arugal in Northrend the other day, so it might be nice to kill him again, for the first time (at least according to the achievements page).
Hopefully I'll remember to record some of the stuff -- I keep forgetting that it's even there as it stands now. =(
Am cleaning up instance achievements for vanilla WoW. Also ran naked into Orgrimmar in order to kill the boss of Ragefire Chasm -- got killed by an 80 mage looking like a gnomish elf right before the zone-in. And last night I spanked Wailing Caverns as well -- it's annoying how easy you can get lost in there when you aren't clearing out all the mobs.
Earlier last week I took down all the bosses in Blackrock Depths in solo mode. That was kinda fun -- especially with all the trouble those guys used to pose when 60 was the level cap.
Next up: Shadowfang Keep -- just killed Arugal in Northrend the other day, so it might be nice to kill him again, for the first time (at least according to the achievements page).
Hopefully I'll remember to record some of the stuff -- I keep forgetting that it's even there as it stands now. =(
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Pick Up Groups
I am, really, not a fan of PUGs. That said, I really love it when I finish an instance run with a PUG and it went well -- that means that, against all odds, people paid attention, listened to strategies and played well and we finished. How often does that happen?
As a tank (or a healer to some extent) you are saved certain problems that DPSers have to contend with when it comes to PUGs. Tanks are usually the ones that are running the show, with marking and "going". They can make the run as quick or as slow as they like (excepting for people dropping group because they don't like the pace). Plus, as tank, you are usually the leader, or can be made the leader quite easily ("Hey, make me lead, I gotta mark.") and can kick unruly or truly evil players at your discretion.
Last night I ran The Amphitheater of Anguish with a PUG, didn't put it together, didn't even pay attention to roles and levels or gear and it was smooth, like a baby's bottom. Granted the fights aren't all that hard, but still -- it was very nice to know that you can count on most players who are in their mid-70s to pull together for a few quick fights in order to attain mucho XP and perhaps some decent gear.
I was surprised and delighted at how little communication was needed or, really, desired for this event. We all pretty much knew our jobs (tank, healz, dps, dps, dps) and the fights are pretty straight forward tank and spank. Seriously, though, I think I may have exchanged 2 sentences with the other players after the invite, and that was "Rdy?" on the first fight and "Thanks alot all. Seeya around."
Normally at the end of an instance run, even when I was a healer I had a standard farewell that included a "good job" and "fun" -- but most importantly I would let most if not all the players in my group know that they could call on me anytime to tank (or heal). Truly if it was a good group and if I'm available then I will tank for almost any instance I am leveled for. It's good practice and it gets me introduced to more and more players (fairly new to this server) and, more importantly, more HEALERS. It's always nice to have a friends list full of healers as a tank, because, as we all know, it's not so hard to find DPS.
In the end, unless you have a good group of friends that are always on at the same time, or a nice big guild, you will have to PUG at some point or another in your progression to level cap. I find that if you go into it with a positive attitude and do your best things have a way, most times, of working themselves out. This is not to say that a 4 hour Gnomer run can't end in total disaster, with players coming in and going out and finally after the fifth wipe people just giving up, BUT I find, especially with the short and seemingly easy instances in Northrend this is the exception, not the rule.
Happy hunting.
As a tank (or a healer to some extent) you are saved certain problems that DPSers have to contend with when it comes to PUGs. Tanks are usually the ones that are running the show, with marking and "going". They can make the run as quick or as slow as they like (excepting for people dropping group because they don't like the pace). Plus, as tank, you are usually the leader, or can be made the leader quite easily ("Hey, make me lead, I gotta mark.") and can kick unruly or truly evil players at your discretion.
Last night I ran The Amphitheater of Anguish with a PUG, didn't put it together, didn't even pay attention to roles and levels or gear and it was smooth, like a baby's bottom. Granted the fights aren't all that hard, but still -- it was very nice to know that you can count on most players who are in their mid-70s to pull together for a few quick fights in order to attain mucho XP and perhaps some decent gear.
I was surprised and delighted at how little communication was needed or, really, desired for this event. We all pretty much knew our jobs (tank, healz, dps, dps, dps) and the fights are pretty straight forward tank and spank. Seriously, though, I think I may have exchanged 2 sentences with the other players after the invite, and that was "Rdy?" on the first fight and "Thanks alot all. Seeya around."
Normally at the end of an instance run, even when I was a healer I had a standard farewell that included a "good job" and "fun" -- but most importantly I would let most if not all the players in my group know that they could call on me anytime to tank (or heal). Truly if it was a good group and if I'm available then I will tank for almost any instance I am leveled for. It's good practice and it gets me introduced to more and more players (fairly new to this server) and, more importantly, more HEALERS. It's always nice to have a friends list full of healers as a tank, because, as we all know, it's not so hard to find DPS.
In the end, unless you have a good group of friends that are always on at the same time, or a nice big guild, you will have to PUG at some point or another in your progression to level cap. I find that if you go into it with a positive attitude and do your best things have a way, most times, of working themselves out. This is not to say that a 4 hour Gnomer run can't end in total disaster, with players coming in and going out and finally after the fifth wipe people just giving up, BUT I find, especially with the short and seemingly easy instances in Northrend this is the exception, not the rule.
Happy hunting.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Getting Closer All the Time
I just dinged 77 last night. Got my Cold Weather Flying and added some new gear. I have reached a point where the uncrittable-at-80 idea is within sight.
My defense is now 496 with my tanking gear on and I have 15,978 HP. Very nice. With the help of people over at maintankadin, as well as Kaliban's Loot List, I really feel like I will make my goal of uncrittable VERY soon after hitting 80.
GEARING IN WotLK.
I must say that this expansion makes it quite easy to gear up. In TBC I spent weeks farming 70 instances before I felt like I was ready to head into heroics. Now it feels like a very steady progression, and that provided I pay attention the least bit, I can readily find doable quests and instances that will provide me with the gear I need to be competitive (with other tanks for that slot) and viable in heroics and, at some point, raids.
My defense is now 496 with my tanking gear on and I have 15,978 HP. Very nice. With the help of people over at maintankadin, as well as Kaliban's Loot List, I really feel like I will make my goal of uncrittable VERY soon after hitting 80.
GEARING IN WotLK.
I must say that this expansion makes it quite easy to gear up. In TBC I spent weeks farming 70 instances before I felt like I was ready to head into heroics. Now it feels like a very steady progression, and that provided I pay attention the least bit, I can readily find doable quests and instances that will provide me with the gear I need to be competitive (with other tanks for that slot) and viable in heroics and, at some point, raids.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Why I Love Being a Paladin
I really enjoy the paladin class. I've been playing a paladin for just under 4 years now and I've taken a character in every class to at least 20, but never loved anything like I love the toughness and flexibility of the paladin.
Below you will see one of my very favorite reasons for being a paladin. The Bubble.
This is my character, Knales jumping out of the sewer outlet in the floating city of Dalaran and surviving. I love the bubble.
I am often getting from one point to the other by jumping off cliffs (especially in Howling Fjord). I love the uber down elevator that paladins can pull off.
I must admit though, there have been a few times that I have leapt from a huge height only to have been in Forbearance, and unable to bubble up. Splat.
Cheers.
Below you will see one of my very favorite reasons for being a paladin. The Bubble.
This is my character, Knales jumping out of the sewer outlet in the floating city of Dalaran and surviving. I love the bubble.
I am often getting from one point to the other by jumping off cliffs (especially in Howling Fjord). I love the uber down elevator that paladins can pull off.
I must admit though, there have been a few times that I have leapt from a huge height only to have been in Forbearance, and unable to bubble up. Splat.
Cheers.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Public Test Realm Notes
The new patch notes are out for 3.0.8 and there are some major changes all around. And some interesting things for us Paladins.
All in all, I think this is a nice set of changes for Paladins. I'm very excited and can't wait for this to go live.
Paladins
- Avenging Wrath: Divine Shield, Divine Protection, and Hand of Protection, and Avenging Wrath cannot be used within 30 seconds of each other anymore. Forbearance removed from Avenging Wrath.
- Divine Protection: The penalty has been removed.
- Divine Shield: The penalty has been changed so that all damage done is reduced by 50% in place of an attack speed penalty.
- Hand of Reckoning(NEW): Available on trainers at level 16. It’s a 30 yard range taunt that causes Holy damage.
- Judgements of the Pure: This Holy talent now increases the damage done by Seals and Judgements.
- Judgement of Wisdom: Now returns a percentage of base mana instead of a percentage of max mana.
- Sacred Duty: Interaction with Divine Shield and Divine Protection removed, but stamina bonus increased.
All in all, I think this is a nice set of changes for Paladins. I'm very excited and can't wait for this to go live.
Paid Character Re-Customization
So this is the latest breaking news. If you visit any WoW related site today, you will most likely be seeing this as a big headline.
My feelings on this are pretty straightforward -- meh.
I kinda don't care that much. I think that the in-game Barbershop was cool enough. Changing everything else is just cake to me.
The only thing that I can really think of to use this for is my girlfriend. She is not a fan of the leveling grind and so perhaps I could give her one of my alts and she can make it look the way she wants. That way I might be able to get her interested through the much cooler quests in Northrend. And maybe we can finally play together. (Even then it's not a guarantee.)
That's about it.
I actually spend a lot of time working through the different faces, hairstyles, skins and so forth before I'm ready to finalize my characters. I always choose male toons, I don't like pretending to be something I'm not and I don't enjoy the idea of staring at this female toon's ass for 80 levels -- it's feels too lecherous.
All in all I think this is probably a good thing. It lets people make some changes that perhaps they've been wanting to make for a while now, and it, along with all the other paid changes, gives Blizzard another line of income.
Hopefully this, and the other paid changes, will ensure that real microtransactions for items and in-game gold will never happen. That, in my mind, would truly ruin this game.
FACTION CHANGES
On a slightly different note, I would really like to see the ability to change factions. Much like is done in Everquest. I don't think it should be something you pay for though, but a long and difficult questline involving becoming gaining reputation to Exalted with a specific neutral faction. A questline to become a traitor to your faction, and then the need to raise your reputation to at least Honored with the new faction before you can get regular quests from that factions questgivers. And, of course, this should not be available until level 60 or higher.
I think if you looked at what might be the reality of life in Azeroth, you would find people who would naturally gravitate to other ways of being, ways of thinking -- these people might just decide that even though they were born Tauren, they might agree with the gnomish way of life (although that is a highly amusing thought).
My feelings on this are pretty straightforward -- meh.
I kinda don't care that much. I think that the in-game Barbershop was cool enough. Changing everything else is just cake to me.
The only thing that I can really think of to use this for is my girlfriend. She is not a fan of the leveling grind and so perhaps I could give her one of my alts and she can make it look the way she wants. That way I might be able to get her interested through the much cooler quests in Northrend. And maybe we can finally play together. (Even then it's not a guarantee.)
That's about it.
I actually spend a lot of time working through the different faces, hairstyles, skins and so forth before I'm ready to finalize my characters. I always choose male toons, I don't like pretending to be something I'm not and I don't enjoy the idea of staring at this female toon's ass for 80 levels -- it's feels too lecherous.
CAN I CHANGE KNALES TO LOOK LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME?
All in all I think this is probably a good thing. It lets people make some changes that perhaps they've been wanting to make for a while now, and it, along with all the other paid changes, gives Blizzard another line of income.
Hopefully this, and the other paid changes, will ensure that real microtransactions for items and in-game gold will never happen. That, in my mind, would truly ruin this game.
FACTION CHANGES
On a slightly different note, I would really like to see the ability to change factions. Much like is done in Everquest. I don't think it should be something you pay for though, but a long and difficult questline involving becoming gaining reputation to Exalted with a specific neutral faction. A questline to become a traitor to your faction, and then the need to raise your reputation to at least Honored with the new faction before you can get regular quests from that factions questgivers. And, of course, this should not be available until level 60 or higher.
I think if you looked at what might be the reality of life in Azeroth, you would find people who would naturally gravitate to other ways of being, ways of thinking -- these people might just decide that even though they were born Tauren, they might agree with the gnomish way of life (although that is a highly amusing thought).
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wrathgate Questline = Awesomesauce!
For any of you who have not leveled at all in Dragonblight -- DO IT!
There is a extremely long, but highly entertaining questline called Wrathgate in which you get to participate in the battle against the Lich King on a personal level.
At the end of the questline you get an achievement as well as a wonderful cinematic cutscene that shows a great battle and Arthas, the Lich King himself, makes an appearance.
I really can't recommend this questline enough. Not only is it great XP, great lore and great fun, but you get nice Achievement at the end -- and it gets you closer to the Dragonblight zone quest Achievement as well.
This is taken from forum text at Wowhead.
For the Alliance! Here are the quest steps you need to go through for this achievement. "Optional" quests are those that can be done with the main quests with little to no extra effort.
I cannot recommend enough that you take the time to read the quest text. Seriously, this is one of the best questlines in the game, hands down. It's worth taking the extra time to read everything.
Part 1:
1) The Lost Courier
2) Of Traitors and Treason
3) High Commander Halford Wyrmbane
4) Naxxramas and the Fall of Wintergarde
5) Flight of the Wintergarde Defender
6) Return to the High Commander
At this point, the High Commander will give you two quests.
Part 2a:
1) Rescue from Town Square (optional: The Fate of the Dead)
2) Find Durkon!
3) The Noble's Crypt
4) Secrets of the Scourge (obtained from the tome to the right of Necrolord Amarion)
5) Mystery of the Tome
6) Understanding the Language of Death
7) A Righteous Sermon
Part 2b:
1) The Demo-gnome
2) The Search for Slinkin (optional: The Bleeding Ore and Not in Our Mine)
3) Leave Nothing to Chance
4) Understanding the Scourge War Machine
Then, everything meets up again at the High Commander, and you go back to one line of quests.
Part 3:
1) Into Hostile Territory
2) Steamtank Surprise
3) Scattered to the Wind
4) The Chain Gun And You
5) Plunderbeard Must Be Found! (optional: Breaking Off A Piece)
6) Plunderbeard's Journal
7) Chasing Icestorm: The 7th Legion Front
8) Chasing Icestorm: Thel'zan's Phylactery
9) Finality
Part 4:
1) An End And A Beginning
2) To Fordragon Hold!
3) Audience With The Dragon Queen
4) Galakrond and the Scourge
5) On Ruby Wings
6) Return To Angrathar
As soon as you complete the last quest, you will be shown the Wrath Gate cinematic, and when it's over, you'll receive the achievement. If you want to finish the questline, it's only five more quests:
1) Reborn From The Ashes
2) Fate, Up Against Your Will
3) A Royal Coup
4) The Killing Time
5) The Battle For The Undercity
There is a extremely long, but highly entertaining questline called Wrathgate in which you get to participate in the battle against the Lich King on a personal level.
At the end of the questline you get an achievement as well as a wonderful cinematic cutscene that shows a great battle and Arthas, the Lich King himself, makes an appearance.
I really can't recommend this questline enough. Not only is it great XP, great lore and great fun, but you get nice Achievement at the end -- and it gets you closer to the Dragonblight zone quest Achievement as well.
This is taken from forum text at Wowhead.
For the Alliance! Here are the quest steps you need to go through for this achievement. "Optional" quests are those that can be done with the main quests with little to no extra effort.
I cannot recommend enough that you take the time to read the quest text. Seriously, this is one of the best questlines in the game, hands down. It's worth taking the extra time to read everything.
Part 1:
1) The Lost Courier
2) Of Traitors and Treason
3) High Commander Halford Wyrmbane
4) Naxxramas and the Fall of Wintergarde
5) Flight of the Wintergarde Defender
6) Return to the High Commander
At this point, the High Commander will give you two quests.
Part 2a:
1) Rescue from Town Square (optional: The Fate of the Dead)
2) Find Durkon!
3) The Noble's Crypt
4) Secrets of the Scourge (obtained from the tome to the right of Necrolord Amarion)
5) Mystery of the Tome
6) Understanding the Language of Death
7) A Righteous Sermon
Part 2b:
1) The Demo-gnome
2) The Search for Slinkin (optional: The Bleeding Ore and Not in Our Mine)
3) Leave Nothing to Chance
4) Understanding the Scourge War Machine
Then, everything meets up again at the High Commander, and you go back to one line of quests.
Part 3:
1) Into Hostile Territory
2) Steamtank Surprise
3) Scattered to the Wind
4) The Chain Gun And You
5) Plunderbeard Must Be Found! (optional: Breaking Off A Piece)
6) Plunderbeard's Journal
7) Chasing Icestorm: The 7th Legion Front
8) Chasing Icestorm: Thel'zan's Phylactery
9) Finality
Part 4:
1) An End And A Beginning
2) To Fordragon Hold!
3) Audience With The Dragon Queen
4) Galakrond and the Scourge
5) On Ruby Wings
6) Return To Angrathar
As soon as you complete the last quest, you will be shown the Wrath Gate cinematic, and when it's over, you'll receive the achievement. If you want to finish the questline, it's only five more quests:
1) Reborn From The Ashes
2) Fate, Up Against Your Will
3) A Royal Coup
4) The Killing Time
5) The Battle For The Undercity
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Healadins. Christmas is early!
No, I don't mean that healing has been fixed, or that you've now got some uber sweet HoT or AOE healz. Nothing that awesome.
Over at Banana Shoulders is a nice article about level cap gearing BEFORE entering into raids and such. It is a little heavy on Heroics drops and badge rewards, but in the alternatives sections are nice "entry level" pieces that anyone should have access to without too much farming or grinding.
Hopefully this can help all you Holy Pallys out. Have fun out there.
Over at Banana Shoulders is a nice article about level cap gearing BEFORE entering into raids and such. It is a little heavy on Heroics drops and badge rewards, but in the alternatives sections are nice "entry level" pieces that anyone should have access to without too much farming or grinding.
Hopefully this can help all you Holy Pallys out. Have fun out there.
Monday, December 8, 2008
D ... a ... l ... a ... r ... a ... n
ZOMG! My paladin made his first trip to Dalaran the other night and it was a mess.
I started out in Dragonblight, had just finished AN and had recently dinged 73 so I thought I might go back to vanilla Wow and get some training and hit the Auction house. Well, my hearthstone was still set to Shattrath because getting to Howling Fjord from there was no big shakes. Portal to Ironforge, then fly to Menethil Harbor, hop on boat, boom. But getting anywhere else with flight times and such was going to be a major pain in the butt. So, let's go to Dalaran.
I whispered a high level mage in Dragonblight, offered a meager tip and they agreed. I met up with them and clicked on the portal that was created. ............... Two minutes later I arrived in Dalaran, sort of. I could not even turn my character in a circle without lag jumps and snags.
Seeing that lag was going to be an issue I changed my video settings to their lowest and tried again. Barely was there an improvement. It ended up taking me about 20 minutes with all the stuttering to get from the arrival room to the flight point and then to the Alliance city portals. Sheesh.
Now, I know that my video card is not the best, but it's not all bad either. I know that I could have more RAM, but here's the thing. ALL OTHER ASPECTS OF WOW WORK GREAT. Why should I have to upgrade my machine just for one small part of the game?
So, could Blizzard do something about this? Honestly I do not know. I wish they would. I found my first experience in DALARAN ( a place I've been wanting to go to since my little hordie hunter -- first toon -- flew past it from the Undercity to ... somewhere). I was really excited to see what the big city had to offer.
What Dalaran offered to me was disappointment and despair. I wanted to leave so badly. And I did. I truly felt like some po-dunk hick from the sticks who made their first trip to NYC in their mid-forties and couldn't handle all the stuff. Except this time, it was not me who could not handle it -- it was my machine and/or the WoW server.
Yuck.
By the way -- in order to help with the lag issues, I set my hearthstone to the sewers, where it seems, many fewer players are found. My lag issues are slightly better -- but I still need to come up to the city for the flight master and the other city portals. Either way, I guess I'll get by for now.
I started out in Dragonblight, had just finished AN and had recently dinged 73 so I thought I might go back to vanilla Wow and get some training and hit the Auction house. Well, my hearthstone was still set to Shattrath because getting to Howling Fjord from there was no big shakes. Portal to Ironforge, then fly to Menethil Harbor, hop on boat, boom. But getting anywhere else with flight times and such was going to be a major pain in the butt. So, let's go to Dalaran.
I whispered a high level mage in Dragonblight, offered a meager tip and they agreed. I met up with them and clicked on the portal that was created. ............... Two minutes later I arrived in Dalaran, sort of. I could not even turn my character in a circle without lag jumps and snags.
Seeing that lag was going to be an issue I changed my video settings to their lowest and tried again. Barely was there an improvement. It ended up taking me about 20 minutes with all the stuttering to get from the arrival room to the flight point and then to the Alliance city portals. Sheesh.
Now, I know that my video card is not the best, but it's not all bad either. I know that I could have more RAM, but here's the thing. ALL OTHER ASPECTS OF WOW WORK GREAT. Why should I have to upgrade my machine just for one small part of the game?
So, could Blizzard do something about this? Honestly I do not know. I wish they would. I found my first experience in DALARAN ( a place I've been wanting to go to since my little hordie hunter -- first toon -- flew past it from the Undercity to ... somewhere). I was really excited to see what the big city had to offer.
What Dalaran offered to me was disappointment and despair. I wanted to leave so badly. And I did. I truly felt like some po-dunk hick from the sticks who made their first trip to NYC in their mid-forties and couldn't handle all the stuff. Except this time, it was not me who could not handle it -- it was my machine and/or the WoW server.
Yuck.
By the way -- in order to help with the lag issues, I set my hearthstone to the sewers, where it seems, many fewer players are found. My lag issues are slightly better -- but I still need to come up to the city for the flight master and the other city portals. Either way, I guess I'll get by for now.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Tankadins Attention Please
Quick post.
Over on Honor's Code is a great article on what you need in order to tank high level content: how to become uncrittable, how to make all the hits you take blocks (block capping), hit capping (so you never miss) and Expertise (so you can't be dodged or parried).
They also mention a link to maintankadin, which I will give you here, that tells you how to become uncrittable through quest rewards and reputation rewards only. No drops needed.
Some sweet news for tankadins.
Enjoy.
Over on Honor's Code is a great article on what you need in order to tank high level content: how to become uncrittable, how to make all the hits you take blocks (block capping), hit capping (so you never miss) and Expertise (so you can't be dodged or parried).
They also mention a link to maintankadin, which I will give you here, that tells you how to become uncrittable through quest rewards and reputation rewards only. No drops needed.
Some sweet news for tankadins.
Enjoy.
My Favorite Addons, Part Two (Neato)
This is a continuation of my discussion of addons. The addons below are ones that I have found very fun and/or useful at times, but that I can live without if I need to. Enjoy.
Recount.
This is a damage meter. It can measure your dps in a fight or over a long period of time, tell you how much damage you or party/raid members do in total, and you can spam it to any chat channel you want. There is a ton of functionality to this addon, much more than most people have time to figure out.
Gatherer.
If you are an herbalist or a miner then you freakin need this addon. Every time you tap a node it records where you are in the world and how much of whatever you get out of the node. Then on your main map or mini-map you will have little pins telling you where to go to get all those mats. I absolutely love it -- but if you're a skinner or tailor, you're SOL. Sorry.
OmniCC.
This is a cooldown counter. Instead of watching your action bars closely for that nice little animation to finish, you get nice big numbers counting down, telling you exactly when you can button mash that spell again. It's great for maximizing your spells and their cooldowns. I find that it really helps me to get in a rythmn with my spell rotations.
Wardrobe. OR Outfitter.
Both of these do basically the same thing -- help you to keep track of your gear. If you're like me you have a few extra pieces of armor in your bags, some with more stamina, others with more intellect or whatever. You can assign those armor pieces to sets and then switch back and forth almost instantly. One set for Solo Questing, another for Group Tanking. Shazam. I personally find Outfitter to be a little easier to work with, but that seems to be personal preference.
RatingBuster.
This mod helps you to decide which pieces to equip and which to discard. Sometimes it's hard to decide if the trade off between 2 points of stamina and 6 points of strength is worth it. This addon will tell you how many hit points you are losing and how much attack power and blocking you are gaining. You still need to make that decision, but at least you are much better informed now.
DeadlyBossMods.
Anyone who raids needs this addon. Or something so similar as to be nearly indistinguishable. This has internal timers to let you know when something important is going to happen in raid boss fights -- and it tells you about it. When a boss and his internal timer have decided it's time to cast NUKE BOMB FRENZY which will kill everyone in line of sight, DBM will give you a heads up. "Hey, NUKE BOMB FRENZY is about to be cast, get moving or you are toast!" Or something like that. Most raiding groups call this a MUST HAVE.
There are a couple of decent places to find your new addons. Some that you find will have websites of their own, and that's where you'll find the best information, but you'll really want to shop around a little and the clearing house websites are really quite good. I have always used the Curse Gaming website, but there are a few others out there: WoW Interface, WoW UI at World of War.net, and also don't forget to use WowWiki, they have a nice Addon page too.
Recount.
This is a damage meter. It can measure your dps in a fight or over a long period of time, tell you how much damage you or party/raid members do in total, and you can spam it to any chat channel you want. There is a ton of functionality to this addon, much more than most people have time to figure out.
Gatherer.
If you are an herbalist or a miner then you freakin need this addon. Every time you tap a node it records where you are in the world and how much of whatever you get out of the node. Then on your main map or mini-map you will have little pins telling you where to go to get all those mats. I absolutely love it -- but if you're a skinner or tailor, you're SOL. Sorry.
OmniCC.
This is a cooldown counter. Instead of watching your action bars closely for that nice little animation to finish, you get nice big numbers counting down, telling you exactly when you can button mash that spell again. It's great for maximizing your spells and their cooldowns. I find that it really helps me to get in a rythmn with my spell rotations.
Wardrobe. OR Outfitter.
Both of these do basically the same thing -- help you to keep track of your gear. If you're like me you have a few extra pieces of armor in your bags, some with more stamina, others with more intellect or whatever. You can assign those armor pieces to sets and then switch back and forth almost instantly. One set for Solo Questing, another for Group Tanking. Shazam. I personally find Outfitter to be a little easier to work with, but that seems to be personal preference.
RatingBuster.
This mod helps you to decide which pieces to equip and which to discard. Sometimes it's hard to decide if the trade off between 2 points of stamina and 6 points of strength is worth it. This addon will tell you how many hit points you are losing and how much attack power and blocking you are gaining. You still need to make that decision, but at least you are much better informed now.
DeadlyBossMods.
Anyone who raids needs this addon. Or something so similar as to be nearly indistinguishable. This has internal timers to let you know when something important is going to happen in raid boss fights -- and it tells you about it. When a boss and his internal timer have decided it's time to cast NUKE BOMB FRENZY which will kill everyone in line of sight, DBM will give you a heads up. "Hey, NUKE BOMB FRENZY is about to be cast, get moving or you are toast!" Or something like that. Most raiding groups call this a MUST HAVE.
There are a couple of decent places to find your new addons. Some that you find will have websites of their own, and that's where you'll find the best information, but you'll really want to shop around a little and the clearing house websites are really quite good. I have always used the Curse Gaming website, but there are a few others out there: WoW Interface, WoW UI at World of War.net, and also don't forget to use WowWiki, they have a nice Addon page too.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Funnest Instance Ever!
Last night I discovered my favorite instance in World of Warcraft. It's also one of the hardest to pronounce. As soon as you hit 72-73 you need to go to Azjol-Nerub!
Admittedly we had an awesome group setup. Me, tankadin 73, retadin 72, healadin 77 and 2 boomkins -- both 73. Nothing squishie there.
This is truly an instance to love. There are 3 bosses, hardly any trash mobs and little to no distance between the three. We seriously completed it (my first time) in under 30 minutes and came away with some very nice quest rewards: Expelling Gauntlets and Greaves of the Traitor. I spammed my new items to guild chat and another tank in our guild who is 76 now was shocked -- his stuff was of lesser uberness! He had skipped Dragonblight altogether. Yikes. Needless to say, he was rolling through there with a PUG of his own within 20 minutes.
Usually I tend to do a little research on an instance before I walk through the doors, especially when I'm tanking, but this time I happened to ding 73 right in front of the AN entrance and had just picked up both quests. I figured I would put myself out there in LFG and while waiting, look up the boss fights and see what is the what.
Less than 3 minutes later I was in a full group and summoning.
Really, it was quite easy. It seems that the whole point of the instance is to fly through it quickly so as not to get overwhelmed by the constantly spawning Nerubians. I'm not going to go into strategies because there don't seem to be any -- we just tanked and spanked the whole instance. Although the last boss fight is rather long so mana conservation is probably a good idea.
Have fun and get in there.
Admittedly we had an awesome group setup. Me, tankadin 73, retadin 72, healadin 77 and 2 boomkins -- both 73. Nothing squishie there.
This is truly an instance to love. There are 3 bosses, hardly any trash mobs and little to no distance between the three. We seriously completed it (my first time) in under 30 minutes and came away with some very nice quest rewards: Expelling Gauntlets and Greaves of the Traitor. I spammed my new items to guild chat and another tank in our guild who is 76 now was shocked -- his stuff was of lesser uberness! He had skipped Dragonblight altogether. Yikes. Needless to say, he was rolling through there with a PUG of his own within 20 minutes.
Usually I tend to do a little research on an instance before I walk through the doors, especially when I'm tanking, but this time I happened to ding 73 right in front of the AN entrance and had just picked up both quests. I figured I would put myself out there in LFG and while waiting, look up the boss fights and see what is the what.
Less than 3 minutes later I was in a full group and summoning.
Really, it was quite easy. It seems that the whole point of the instance is to fly through it quickly so as not to get overwhelmed by the constantly spawning Nerubians. I'm not going to go into strategies because there don't seem to be any -- we just tanked and spanked the whole instance. Although the last boss fight is rather long so mana conservation is probably a good idea.
Have fun and get in there.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
My Favorite Addons, Part One (NEEDED)
Today I would like to discuss addons. While there are those out there that say that addons are cheating, it is my belief that if Blizzard didn't want us using them to make our lives easier or more enjoyable, then they wouldn't have allowed us to enable and use them, plus, come on they can really make things better!
There are a couple of decent places to find your new addons. Some that you find will have websites of their own, and that's where you'll find the best information, but you'll really want to shop around a little and the clearing house websites are really quite good. I have always used the Curse Gaming website, but there are a few others out there: WoW Interface, WoW UI at World of War.net, and also don't forget to use WowWiki, they have a nice Addon page too.
Titan Panel.
This is something that I just can't live without. I set it so that it only shows the bar, fully transparent on the top, and it always shows me some great information instantly. How much gold I currently have, where I am in the world by name and zone as well as coordinates, what the percentage of damage has been done to my equipment and approximately how much it will cost to repair, how much room I have in my bags (although you CAN set this to show on your bags icon through the normal UI), if I'm playing my hunter how much ammo I have left and many many more little tidbits of information. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Auctioneer.
Another addon I can't live without. This addon will scan the entire auction house (when you tell it to) and can do 2 major things that I really love. First it will help you to sell your stuff. It will analyze trends and suggest good prices to sell any items that you have in your bags. Secondly you can set it so that it will tell you that good price information for items as you acquire them out in the world. If all those quest rewards are vendor trash to you, it will tell you how much vendors will pay for them so you can get the most cash out of those rewards. There are so many different ways to use Auctioneer, different settings and it has a bunch of sub-addons that do a whole variety of things. Do check it out.
(Personally I only have Auctioneer fully activated on my bank character as I feel it slows down my UI on my main.)
Healbot Cont.
I absolutely love this addon. Even though I don't do much healing anymore it simplifies any healing that I do need to do. Just one button click and it will automatically decide which heal to give me at any given point and it can be set to cast any number of spells with certain modifiers (hold down alt+click and BUBBLE). You can also set it to remind you when buffs are about to run out and then, a simple click will recast those buffs on the correct people. You can also change the look of Healbot in so many ways, plus it has various skins included with the download. This addon takes a little work to get it set just the way you want, but once you have it, you'll wonder how you lived without it.
Omen.
If you're a tank, like I am, then you need a threat meter. There are 2 main threat meters available: Omen and KLH. I use Omen because of it's ease of setup. Right out of the box it seems to work perfectly to me. Now I know that there are tons of ways to get it going and all threat meters really only shine fully when all members of your party or raid are using, but if you are tanking and don't have a threat meter, you are wasting valuable time and thought processing unnecessarily. Get it! Got it? Good.
There are a couple of decent places to find your new addons. Some that you find will have websites of their own, and that's where you'll find the best information, but you'll really want to shop around a little and the clearing house websites are really quite good. I have always used the Curse Gaming website, but there are a few others out there: WoW Interface, WoW UI at World of War.net, and also don't forget to use WowWiki, they have a nice Addon page too.
Titan Panel.
This is something that I just can't live without. I set it so that it only shows the bar, fully transparent on the top, and it always shows me some great information instantly. How much gold I currently have, where I am in the world by name and zone as well as coordinates, what the percentage of damage has been done to my equipment and approximately how much it will cost to repair, how much room I have in my bags (although you CAN set this to show on your bags icon through the normal UI), if I'm playing my hunter how much ammo I have left and many many more little tidbits of information. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Auctioneer.
Another addon I can't live without. This addon will scan the entire auction house (when you tell it to) and can do 2 major things that I really love. First it will help you to sell your stuff. It will analyze trends and suggest good prices to sell any items that you have in your bags. Secondly you can set it so that it will tell you that good price information for items as you acquire them out in the world. If all those quest rewards are vendor trash to you, it will tell you how much vendors will pay for them so you can get the most cash out of those rewards. There are so many different ways to use Auctioneer, different settings and it has a bunch of sub-addons that do a whole variety of things. Do check it out.
(Personally I only have Auctioneer fully activated on my bank character as I feel it slows down my UI on my main.)
Healbot Cont.
I absolutely love this addon. Even though I don't do much healing anymore it simplifies any healing that I do need to do. Just one button click and it will automatically decide which heal to give me at any given point and it can be set to cast any number of spells with certain modifiers (hold down alt+click and BUBBLE). You can also set it to remind you when buffs are about to run out and then, a simple click will recast those buffs on the correct people. You can also change the look of Healbot in so many ways, plus it has various skins included with the download. This addon takes a little work to get it set just the way you want, but once you have it, you'll wonder how you lived without it.
Omen.
If you're a tank, like I am, then you need a threat meter. There are 2 main threat meters available: Omen and KLH. I use Omen because of it's ease of setup. Right out of the box it seems to work perfectly to me. Now I know that there are tons of ways to get it going and all threat meters really only shine fully when all members of your party or raid are using, but if you are tanking and don't have a threat meter, you are wasting valuable time and thought processing unnecessarily. Get it! Got it? Good.
Monday, December 1, 2008
So You Say You Want A .... ?
This post is about gearing. Some people work their way through levels by questing, taking what gear drops or the quest rewards and calling themselves lucky. Others troll the Auction House every chance they get and spend all their money for an extra point or two (I have to admit that sometimes I'm that person -- still don't have my epic flying mount).
Then there are the special people who do some research and find the next greatest piece of armor or weapon from where ever it may be (quest reward, reputation or drop from instance boss, etc.).
I would like to share with you 2 places you can always go.
1) Kaliban's Loot List.
This is a great place to find loot from quests to zones to instance drops and you can tailor it to your specific spec or class (not just paladin's). I use this all the time, and have since mid Burning Crusade.
2) The Official World of Warcraft Armory.
This is a great place to look up upgrades to your current armor. Yes, I know that when you hit the "Find an Upgrade" button you often get pages of stuff that you are unable or unwilling to get -- under most circumstances, however, there is something that makes this site extremely worth it. The FILTER button. Hit that filter button and go to town changing the results that you have. I can specify that I'm a paladin who is looking for tanking gear, and that I only want to see trinkets that are available to my toon between levels 71 and 73. Now you've got results that you really want -- and unless they are random drops you can find out who gives them, or which quest using Wowhead. I like it ... lots.
Now there are probably other places to find where to go for gear. WoW Insider has been giving up tips in gearing for the paladin starting out in Northrend here.
I personally have decided to mostly stick with questing in Howling Fjord in the beginning, but will do a few select quests in Borean Tundra for some nice stamina gear.
Then there are the special people who do some research and find the next greatest piece of armor or weapon from where ever it may be (quest reward, reputation or drop from instance boss, etc.).
I would like to share with you 2 places you can always go.
1) Kaliban's Loot List.
This is a great place to find loot from quests to zones to instance drops and you can tailor it to your specific spec or class (not just paladin's). I use this all the time, and have since mid Burning Crusade.
2) The Official World of Warcraft Armory.
This is a great place to look up upgrades to your current armor. Yes, I know that when you hit the "Find an Upgrade" button you often get pages of stuff that you are unable or unwilling to get -- under most circumstances, however, there is something that makes this site extremely worth it. The FILTER button. Hit that filter button and go to town changing the results that you have. I can specify that I'm a paladin who is looking for tanking gear, and that I only want to see trinkets that are available to my toon between levels 71 and 73. Now you've got results that you really want -- and unless they are random drops you can find out who gives them, or which quest using Wowhead. I like it ... lots.
Now there are probably other places to find where to go for gear. WoW Insider has been giving up tips in gearing for the paladin starting out in Northrend here.
I personally have decided to mostly stick with questing in Howling Fjord in the beginning, but will do a few select quests in Borean Tundra for some nice stamina gear.
Newly New
Because there are so few paladin blogs, and even less that are worth reading, I thought I might try my hand at writing my own.
I have been playing WoW since before there were Battlegrounds and that entire time my main has been a paladin. I love the class. I have respecced my paladin at least 50 times, possibly more because I really like experimenting with a little point here and a little point there.
Right now my paladin, Knales on the Norgannon (US) server is Protection and I imagine that he will level as prot. Feel free to look him up on the Armory and send me thoughts and comments. Sometimes I miss things, but I think I've got most of the ideas on how to play this class.
Before I get too far I want to say that there are a few places that I go to for paladin information.
Maintankadin. (Great forum site for all things tanking -- focused on paladin tanks, but TONS of stuff -- T-shirts too.)
Blessing of Kings. (Decent all around paladin site, one of the only real paladin bloggers out there.)
WowInsider's The Light and How to Swing It. (Quite informative, but I wish they posted more often.)
Elitist Jerks. (Probably the best place to find more info than you really wanted on your class and how it works -- this link goes to the Paladin forums area.)
I will start a blogroll with these links and more when I can figure out how to do so.
I have been playing WoW since before there were Battlegrounds and that entire time my main has been a paladin. I love the class. I have respecced my paladin at least 50 times, possibly more because I really like experimenting with a little point here and a little point there.
Right now my paladin, Knales on the Norgannon (US) server is Protection and I imagine that he will level as prot. Feel free to look him up on the Armory and send me thoughts and comments. Sometimes I miss things, but I think I've got most of the ideas on how to play this class.
Before I get too far I want to say that there are a few places that I go to for paladin information.
Maintankadin. (Great forum site for all things tanking -- focused on paladin tanks, but TONS of stuff -- T-shirts too.)
Blessing of Kings. (Decent all around paladin site, one of the only real paladin bloggers out there.)
WowInsider's The Light and How to Swing It. (Quite informative, but I wish they posted more often.)
Elitist Jerks. (Probably the best place to find more info than you really wanted on your class and how it works -- this link goes to the Paladin forums area.)
I will start a blogroll with these links and more when I can figure out how to do so.
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