Merry Christmas

A day late and a dollar short but hey, who ever said bloggers were punctual (Its 12:30 here). Merry Christmas everyone!

Time to find out....

Its time I had a talk with some of my guildies about what our plans are for raiding. I have been looking at the roster and we are looking to be 1 tank heavy and 1 healer short, now we have 2 tanks that also have healers and our other tank has dps and is very new to tanking. I don't want to sound egotistical when I say this but I have been tank number 1 for a while now, but it appears I may have to take a backseat on the tanking and become one of our healers, now I don't have a problem with this in theory. I like healing I leveled as ret spec but was healing in almost all the 5mans we did and leveled up to 70 as holy, where I fell into tanking and I like that too. I am going to have to discuss this with a bunch of my friends and see what they think are the best options. I know from a few of them they view me as a tank first and would rather I was tanking on all the runs, I also know that I would probably have to respec away from disc on my priest or go resto with my druid (which has crossed my mind a time or two), neither of which is my preferred style, although I have never specced resto on my druid so I have no experience with it and may really just need to try it and I may switch to it because I want to I don't know. I am planning on trying it out just because I never have and am curious to how it plays (and running around as a tree looks fun). This is all speculation right now but I know it is going to start coming up because some of the group have been chomping at the bit to start getting into Naxx. Shir was actually in Naxx last night because she knows quite a few high end raiders and was able to get through the whole place, Gratz to her. I just hope she doesn't get bored waiting for the rest of us. I have to work twice as hard as a tank because the gear is so spread out and so specific that with bad luck on droprates (Loken is taunting me) I am always a step behind dps getting gear. This causes 2 problems, 1 I can't get runs with pugs because they only take the top geared tanks, and 2 it holds my guild back because they can't progress if I can't tank certain instances. I really like our guild we are small but we all get along really well and I don't want to lose people because we are not doing anything but if we don't have the right group makeup or we just don't have the gear I am not going to tell somebody not to go if they get a good opportunity to actually make progress. This doesn't even bring up the fact that if I have to switch to a healing role then we have to wait longer as the other tanks get geared up and I level and gear up my healer. Anyway that turned into a rant and that wasn't what I meant it to be but oh well. I will update my progress on what our plans are when I find out (hopefully soon).

Following the masses

I was reading through the blogroll today and noticed that everybody was posting on a meme about who there first commenter was and so I went back and looked and found it was the esteemed blogger from WOWBlogger who happened to post on a short post I did about the summer slowdown in WOW with some good advice of going outside. Thanks


WOWBlogger


Its always nice to know somebody is listening to my ramblings

Dec 15th already

I can't believe Christmas is in 10 days. I was lucky enough to get all my shopping done this weekend so very little to report on the WOW front(minus the fact that I am getting really tired of the Halls of Lightning, if Loken doesn't drop my trinket soon I may give up all hope). I am in serious need of more motivation to finish wrapping presents because I still need to head over to my parents and help my Mom with the Christmas explosion (I'll post pics). I am getting some extended time off due to the holidays and slow downs at work so I hope to see if I can get in a pug Naxx10 over the holidays so I can formulate a strategy for the guild to use when we start running it. We had a much easier time running kara after a few of us had gotten some runs in so that it was much easier to explain the fights to less people.

My discipline spec and rotation

I have been leveling my priest of late with the new shortage on healers with the influx of new tanks and dps from the deathknights. I will probably spec him CoH if I get him into any raids but for leveling and 5mans I am finding discipline to be my spec of choice. I have heard there are not a lot of great guides to specs and rotations and glyphs for this out there so I thought I would throw my hat into the ring, if you have any suggestions or contradictions to my post please let me know. I will start with my discipline choices (Just a note this is a PVE spec I don't PVP with my priest so if you see some points that you think are mandatory its probably because I deem them to PVP for my healing build which is my priority)

58/0/3
Discipline tree
Tier 1
Twin Disciplines: 5/5
Good for damage and healing good for everyone as far as I can tell
Tier 2
Improved Inner Fire: 3/3
Always good for leveling as more charges means its more set and forget but with the change to inner fire buffing spellpower you are going to want to have this buff on at all times and increasing it by 15% only makes it better
Improved Power Word: Fortitude: 2/2
I think this is the most powerful buff in the game honestly, and making it better only makes sense to help with our inherent squishieness
Tier 3
Meditation: 3/3
The real reason to spec discipline. almost all priests are going to go this far just for this 30% mana regen while casting, yes please!
Inner Focus: 1/1
Hmm, a free spell with 25% increase to crit yeah I'm taking that and using it every cooldown
Improved Power Word: Shield: 3/3
The true power of Discipline is in the power of your shields, you can kill most things without ever losing your bubble (even 2-3 mobs usually just means I have to cast buble twice) This is mandatory!! good for soloing and splash damage in instances
Tier 4
Mental Agility: 5/5
10% less mana for all instant cast spells (shield and renew staples of discipline)
Tier 5
Divine Spirit: 1/1
Was the talent behind the term "Divine spirit priest" a good buff for us with meditation, more spirit more mana regen, and a great buff for druids, warlocks, and arane mages
Improved Divine Spirit: 2/2
Making a good talent great, and even more so in Northrend, if its cloth it has spirit and if it has spirit it means 100% more spellpower, gotta have it!!
Mental Strength: 5/5
15% more Intellect, more mana, more crit, more regen all good things
Tier 6
Enlightenment: 5/5
More Stam, Spirit and Haste all good things take it and enjoy
Focused Power: 2/2
2 points 4% more damage and healing sounds good to me
Tier 7
Power Infusion: 1/1
Not as clear a buff as it used to be but I think its actually better overall, cast on yourself whenever its up and casters you group with will thank you everytime your nice enough to buff them with it.
Reflective Shield: 3/3
Just awesome for leveling they hit you almost half of the damage they would have done hits them instead, if you keep your shield up all the time this is a must have for leveling yeah for free damage
Tier 8
Rapture: 5/5
You heal you get mana back, you shield someone taking damage (including yourself) you get mana back your going to be doing those things anyway might as well get mana back while doing them
Tier 9
Divine Aegis: 3/3
More damage absorption is always a good thing and since tanks are putting out so much more threat from damage, This shouldn't hurt warriors and druids building rage and keeping aggro
Pain Suppression: 1/1
Someone pull ag from the tank who is much squishier pain suppression is the answer for all those warriors with no ag drop and ret pallies who's bubble always seems to be on cooldown or have forbearance. Also good if you happen to pull too many and can't bubble because of weakened soul
Grace: 2/2
Lets see so I heal the tank and he takes less damage and I heal better yeah that sounds good to me.
Tier 10
Borrowed Time: 5/5
So after I bubble someone I get to cast faster, and the more spellpower I get (which is my primary stat the more my shield absorbs for yes I think I will take that.
Tier 11
Penance: 1/1
The damage numbers may look a little lackluster but it is very effective and I use it almost every cooldown healing or soloing.
Shadow Tree
Tier 1
Spirit Tap: 3/3
You mean after I kill something I regen 50% of my mana while casting and it stacks with Meditation ok if you insist.

As I level the rest of my points will be spent in Holy, with Improved Renew and either 2 points in Holy Specialization so I can get Divine Fury, or 5 in Holy Specialization and 2 in Aspiration over in Discipline. I'm not sure yet.

On my spell rotation, its usually a pretty simple bubble, Holy Light, Penance, Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, Smite, Shadow Word: Death. If they are not ready for SW: Death at that point I usually just Mind Blast or Smite again. But with some decent gear and all the mana regen available I never worry about mana and stuff dies really quickly, I am usually looking at 10 seconds left of bubble when I loot.

Glyphs on the way to 80
As you only get major glyphs before 80 I recommend
Glyph of Power word: Shield
More free heals is awesome
Glyph of Renew
More powerful renew is better even if you have to cast it more often
For minors its really what you feel like but I recommend
Glyph of Levitate
Bag space!!
Glyph of Shadowfiend
Just in case
Glyph of Fortitude
Helpful on rebuffing and less downtime drinking
Your mileage may vary

Well thats about everything if you have any other questions or some suggestions please feel free!!
/end Wall of text

Hunter nerfs or Thanks Ghostcrawler!!

I didn't know what I was going to post today, but as luck (bad of course) would have it the mighty ghostcrawler saves the day. So a little analysis of what BRK is calling the great hunter nerf of 2008. I will say that I do think hunter dps is a little high and could use some tuning, I also have to say that they still suffer in PVP and I doubt nerfing damage output is going to help much on that end. Also as my friend the frog would say BUFF ROGUES!! (in PVE only they still stunlock me into the ground, grr)

1) Steady Shot – now only gains 10% of attack power as damage (down from 20%).

A significant nerf but probably understandable we'll see if its too much

2) Volley – reduced the damage by about 30% for all ranks. Note that AE damage from many classes is very high right now and we are looking at all of them. Volley in particular had reached the point where some hunters were using it to the exclusion of most other attacks.

A hugely disappointing nerf because for my undergeared hunter it was really the only way I could keep up with overgeared groups damage wise. The encounters are all easy enough to aoe down so we are using the best ability we have to compete (or dominate as the case may be) I will say it was overpowered but 30% is alot.

3) Readiness – no longer affects the cooldown of Bestial Wrath.

Making it useless for BM hunters, You're going to see alot more exotic pets because of this nerf

4) Deterrence – has been completely overhauled. It now allows you to deflect 100% of incoming melee or spell damage for 5 seconds, but prevents you from attacking while active. You still must be facing the attacker to deflect the damage (this is a limitation we are trying and might end up removing). 60 sec cooldown.

A direction oriented buff, but really limited against our biggest threats rogues

5) Kill Shot – cooldown reduced to 15 sec (from 35 sec).

A helpful buff in PVE and PVP only good things here

6) Kindred Spirits – now only grants 3/6/9/12/15% pet damage.

Finally a nerf that seems in line with the issues but with the other nerfs could hurt

7) Serpent’s Swiftness – now only grants 2/4/6/8/10% bonus attack speed to pet.

Again a nerf thats not too bad by itself but when with everything else???

8) All hunter pet abilities with a cooldown longer than 30 sec have been moved off the global cooldown.

This is a buff that should have been in already but oh well take what you can get

9) Growl— threat generation increased by 20% (same for Voidwalker Torment).

This is basically to make up for all the damage they took away so they can still hold some aggro, it looks like a buff (for warlocks it is, sort of Voidwalker only??) but it really is just a coverup

10) Call of the Wild – now benefits only the hunter and his or her pet.

Wow that just sucks, one pet class removed from raiding

11) Rake and Scorpid Poison – slightly nerfed to bring them into line with other pet abilities.

Hard to say how bad of nerf this is without testing

12) Spirit Strike – reduced the period on the dot so it will work better with Longevity.

Just a bug fix for those lucky enough to snag a Spirit Beast

13) Improved Tracking – now benefits damage to all included creature types as long as you are tracking one of them. You don’t have to swap around what you are tracking as much.

This is a buff anyway you look at it. This keeps you from babysitting your mark as much

14) Aspect of the Wild – now raid-wide.

This is just putting it inline with all other similar abilities, a bug-fix

Well, I might just have to level my hunter up before all these get put in, I am a little disgruntled that they are going to test these beforehand unlike the insta-nerf that paladins received but oh well. Definitely going to be logging onto the PTR when it is open.

Looking for Upgrades

Well, it took me a little while to figure out what to post about. I don't have a lot to mention character wise. Got my priest to 71, specced him out full discipline (well 57/4/0 but you know what I mean). Its actually been fun I really like penance for both healing and damage. I figure it never hurts to have another healer around and this way I don't have to respec my boomkin (although I may just to try tree healing a couple times, call me odd but I like healing). Ok, so on to my point. I am looking for upgrades for my tank and trying to find the most painless things to get so I can get up to 25k health as I wait on the cooldown on my titansteel (grrr). I look at 25k health as the baseline for heroics right now so that's my goal ,as well as getting defense capped but that's a given. Well form my trinket post you know of my desire for the trinket, 1 run done no trinket (humph). I also am going to try to get an Utgarde pinnacle run since there is a nice chest reward from the quest giver in there. I find it kind of odd that the only blue upgrade from that quest drops in that instance too so if you get it on that first run the quest is worthless to you but oh well either way that will be a good run (say a prayer the bracers drop too). What is really tough is the lack of good tanking weapons. There are three from heroics and 1 in Naxx10 and that's it for me since I don't plan on running Naxx25 (which only has 2 more so its not like its some huge thing). Seems like more oddity in tanking drops but that as been a common theme so far. So I guess I'll be running a few more of the eighty dungeons and hoping for a couple drops and getting some enchants from a friendly enchanter to push me the rest of the way.

uh yeah..

Murloc costumes are funny

I never posted that I hit 80 did I? Oops, I did in fact hit 80 along with the frog. Now we are patiently (or in the frogs case not so patiently) waiting for the rest of our guild to catch up. I don't want to act like they are not trying or anything or that we are the super elites (we are not, trust me). We just had a lot of free time available right when the expansion came out so we played alot and leveled up fast. There are quite a few over level 75 and closing in so it won''t be along wait to get into heroics but if a couple people level up quicker we might run a couple pugs to help gear up and ease the runs on those leveling up. Also as I always tell the frog that what alts are for (and in his defense he has got a DK he has pushed pretty hard, he just hates leveling and quests).

Also I added a picture from one of those fun quests in the fjord you may have heard of.



oh and my DK

What do you say?

Today a friend of mine called me and told me some news. He had decided to quit the game. Not just that though, he had went to all of his characters, sold off all his gear and items, deleted all his characters and gave all the gold to one of our guild members. I didn't have much time to talk and neither did he but I didn't know what to say, I still don't. Now this is someone who has been playing much longer than me. I have been in for a little more than a year and a half while he started nearly at launch. He was the first person I knew who played even before I knew what he was talking about. I am not totally surprised that he decided to do this, he has been increasingly uninterested in playing lately. I am still enjoying myself so I don't see me doing this anytime soon. He is also an emotional person, and having known him personally for over 10 years, I know he has a tendency to overreact to things. I am wondering if this is just a reaction to his inability to find a focus in game or if there is some bigger issue. If he is really just ready to give it up then I say good for him, knowing when to quit something, even a video game, is a good sign and if you are not having any fun whats the point right. I just don't know what to say, and since I plan to keep playing I wonder if this will effect how much we talk and hang out. I guess we'll just have to see.