Mourne plays WOW

Greater Inscription of Faith

2007-08-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

I finally reached exalted with Aldor this week and got this:

Greater Inscription of Faith
Binds when picked up
Requires Level 70
Requires The Aldor - Exalted
Use: Permanently adds up to 33 healing and 4 mana per 5 sec. to a shoulder slot item. Does not stack with other enchantments for the selected equipment slot.

It wasnt as expensive an I had expected to level thanks to Bloodbelch who mailed me several Marks of Sargeras and Fel Armaments when he heard that I needed them. I just wish there was something else from Aldor exalted that I could use.

here we come

2007-08-22T04:43:00.000-07:00

After the guilds Kara run last night Dspawn and I decided to try our hand at some more 2 man pvp. It was late but we were able to squeeze in 6 matches and go 5-1. This brought the team rating up to 1565. Our only loss was the last match vs. a decked out mage/warlock combo that we had beat the game before handily. This time they had a better game plan and were able to get me down right before the mage died leaving Dspawn 1 vs. 1 with the other warlock. Unfortunately Dspawn had 1/3 life and the other warlock had 2/3 life. Dspawn almost pulled out the miracle but in the end he died with the other warlock at <5% life.

I am just 8k honor away from the epic pvp trinket that will give me +35 resilience and a self heal for when im silenced.

They say that the top 10% of the battle group gets a epic dragon at the end of the season. With a 1565 rating we are in the 9000 range it says. On the top 150 teams in my battle group it shows number 159 as having a 950 rating. Does that mean that 1850+ at the end of the season will prob get a dragon?

great filler inner

2007-08-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

Mt brother Sulfur is on Vacation so I asked a guildie of ours, Dspawn http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Baelgun&n=Dspawn, to fill in on the 2 man while he is out. We kicked ass and went 9-3 and got the team back up above 1500 rating.

Dspawn has some nice gear and is specced "caster eater". Our strat was to mount up and charge the enemy team with me in front to try and get aggro. I would then drop my wrath of air totem that gave us +101 damage and healing and click bloodlust while Dspawn went to work burning them down. With his fear, dots, fel hunter, health stones for both of us, detect invisibility for both of us, and my totems and heals we were able to defeat just about any team we faced. We went 3-3 while we were getting used to each others style of play and then went on a 6 game win streak at the end.

guild bank coming

2007-08-20T04:47:00.001-07:00

from WOW Insider

Guild banks are now scheduled for Patch 2.3

Guild banks were initially intended to go live with the Burning Crusade launch. Apparently Blizzard wasn't happy with them and postponed their implementation until "a later date." That date has been confirmed by a blue on the WoW Europe forums as Patch 2.3.

According to this preview article, guild banks are designed so that every member of the guild can deposit or withdraw cash or items. Limits on transactions can be set so a new recruit doesn't walk off with all the good stuff. Also, all activity will be viewable by the guild so the guild officers can't keep the best things for themselves without everyone else knowing.

My favorite feature of the new guild bank system is the ability to use guild funds when paying for repair costs. A new button will appear on all repair NPCs and repair-bots. This function can also be set by the guild leader to work for only certain ranks within the organization.

Soon we'll be saying goodbye to the guild mules and hello to an era where guild resources are viewable, if not available, to all.

new gloves

2007-08-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got my first piece of Merciless Gladiator gear:

Merciless Gladiator's Ringmail Gauntlets
Binds when picked up
Hands Mail
596 Armor
+43 Stamina
+20 Intellect
Durability 50 / 50
Classes: Shaman
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 22 (1.0%).
Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 22 (0.6%).
Equip: Increases the critical effect chance of your Lesser Healing Wave by 2%.
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 70.

I slapped a +35 healing enchant on it. I have 200 points left over, so I just need 1600 more for the pants and my second +35 resilience bonus.

This week I will be mining for gold that I can spend on leveling my Aldor rep to exalted.

Broke but happy

2007-08-12T07:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I finally got my enchanting up to 360 enchanting and so today I was able to enchant my rings with +12 damage and healing finally. It cost me about 500 gold do enchant the rings but it was worth it and it got me 4 skillups. I am not going to bother leveling enchanting the rest of the way to 375 until I have a reason too since we already have 2 guild 375 enchanters. I can now begin spending all my gold on leveling Aldor rep from revered to exalted so that I can get the improved shoulder enchant. Thank god for mining!

Pretty slow week for the blog this week but that’s because all I have done is mine and make gold for leveling enchanting and the mats for the ring enchants.

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 2.2.0

2007-08-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

0. World of Warcraft PTR Patch 2.2.0 |
The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/underdev/testrealm.html

General
Resilience Rating: The reduction to the percent chance to get a critical strike now also reduces the damage dealt by damage over time effects by the same percentage.

Corrected the damage modifier calculation for Resilience when the attacker has bonus critical strike damage.

Power Regeneration: Any effect which triggers a change in your rate of power regeneration (Mana, Rage, Energy, Focus) will now cause an immediate reward of some power at the old rate of increase, and then begin new “ticks” of power at the new rate approximately 2 seconds later. This was done to improve functionality of abilities such as Evocation and Innervate so that they did not have wasted “ticks”.

Mac Movie Capture: the Mac client can now capture in-game video to QuickTime movie files using a configurable choice of codec, resolution, and frame rate. Two new entries have been added to the Key Bindings dialog for start/stop recording and for cancellation of a recording. For more detailed configuration options please see the Mac Options panel in game. Mac OS X 10.4.9 and QuickTime 7.1.6 or better are required. Not all machines have enough performance to smoothly capture video at high frame rates; end user experimentation will be required to find appropriate settings for each system.

Pets are now affected by Paladin greater blessings.

Non-combat pets may not be selected as the target for spells or abilities.

Being attacked by guardians, such as summoned Treants, will no longer automatically causes neutral guards to attack you.

Meeting Stones can no longer be used to summon players that do not meet the level requirements.

PvP
Arenas
Items that are indicated as quest items in their tooltips and have a “use” or “equip” ability will not work in PvP arenas.

Druids
Cat Form (Night Elf) melee attack range was too short compared to Tauren Cat Form and other attack ranges. It has been increased.

Cyclone: It is no longer possible to Cyclone two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.

Cyclone: Paladin Auras, Trueshot Aura, and Aspect of the Pack will now be automatically reactivated when Cyclone wears off of a victim who had one of the abilities active.

Enrage: If this buff is clicked off early, the armor penalty it causes will now be removed as well.

Enrage and Furor should no longer initiate combat, though it will prevent rage decay for the duration.

Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible to have Entangling Roots on two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.

Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible to have more than one rank of this spell active on a player.

Force of Nature: Using this spell in a neutral town will no longer cause its victim to be attacked by town guards. It also will no longer cause nearby party members to lose stealth.

Hibernate and Entangling Roots duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.

Hurricane: This spell is now affected by area damage caps. Its bonus damage coefficients have also been increased.

Hurricane: A tooltip error in rank 3 has been corrected.

Lacerate: The damage from this ability will now stack properly when two different characters are applying Lacerate to a target.

Mangle: The duration remaining graphic will now display properly for Mangle after it has been refreshed on a target. It will also no longer sometimes apply the Mangle debuff to nearby targets when the Mangle victim is killed by Mangle.

Nature's Grasp: This ability can now trigger while the Druid is sitting.

Tree of Life: The party aura from this shapeshift now extends the full 40-yard radius as stated in the tooltip.

Hunters
Aspect of the Cheetah: This ability will now cause Hunters to become dazed when struck while sitting.

Aspect of the Pack: This ability will now cause party members to become dazed when struck while sitting.

Aspect of the Viper: This ability has received a slight redesign. The amount of mana regained will increase as the Hunter’s percentage of mana remaining decreases. At about 60% mana, it is equivalent to the previous version of Aspect of the Viper. Below that margin, it is better (up to twice as much mana as the old version); while above that margin, it will be less effective. The mana regained never drops below 10% of intellect every 5 sec. or goes above 50% of intellect every 5 sec.

Freezing Trap and Scare Beast duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.

Hunter's Mark: The duration remaining graphic will now display properly for Hunter's Mark after it has been refreshed on a target, and will properly consume mana when recasting it to refresh its duration.

Kill Command will not charge the hunter mana if their pet is on passive.

Misdirection: Items used while Misdirection is active will now consume a charge correctly.

Steady Shot: The tooltip stating the percentage of Attack Power gained by Steady Shot was inaccurate and has been corrected. The damage remains unchanged.

Volley: This spell is now affected by area damage caps. Its bonus damage coefficients have also been increased. It also correctly consumes charges of Misdirection.

Mages
Arcane Missiles: Some procs were not triggered by this spell and now will be (such as Eye of Magtheridon). The tooltip for this spell will now update correctly when a Mage is affected by spell haste.

Blizzard: This spell is now affected by area damage caps. Its bonus damage coefficients have also been increased.

Dragon's Breath: The movement-slowing component of this spell is now properly considered a Snare. Immunity and clearing effects will now work properly with it.

Frost Nova: This spell is now affected correctly by area damage caps.

Molten Armor: This armor can now be triggered while the Mage is sitting.

Polymorph duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.

Slow: It is no longer sometimes possible to Slow two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.

Spell Steal now receives the proper amount of points from a stacked aura.

Paladins
Blessing of Freedom cooldown increased to 25 seconds.

Blessing of Protection: This spell can no longer be cast on others when stunned. It can only be cast on self (to break the stun) under those circumstances.

Blessing of Kings, Light, Might, Salvation, Sanctuary and Wisdom increased to 10 minutes.

Blessing of Sacrifice now has a 1-minute cooldown.

Consecration will now properly hit large creatures.

Greater Blessing of Kings, Light, Might, Salvation, Sanctuary and Wisdom increased to 30 minutes.

Guardian's Favor now increases duration of Blessing of Freedom by 2/4 seconds.

Eye for an Eye: This ability can now trigger while the Paladin is sitting.

Hammer of Wrath cast time reduced to .5 seconds, global cooldown reduced to .5 seconds.

Illumination: Paladins will now correctly gain mana from this ability if they sit down to drink right after a healing crit, and receiving mana from this ability will no longer cause a Paladin who is sitting to stand up.

Judgement: The Judgement spells will no longer cause triggered effects to go off twice.

Redoubt: This ability can now trigger while the Paladin is sitting.

Reckoning: This ability can now trigger while the Paladin is sitting.

Righteous Defense: In some cases this ability would fail to work properly when the Paladin casting it had just been crowd controlled by a creature. That is now fixed.

Seal of Righteousness: The tooltip for this ability has been improved. It now displays a different number for one-handed weapons and two-handed weapons, and adjusts to the speed of your current weapon. It displays a single number, rather than a range of numbers for different handedness and speeds.

Seal of Vengeance: The damage from this ability will now stack properly when two different characters are applying Seal of Vengeance effects to a target.

Seal of Vengeance duration increased to 15 seconds. In addition, when Seal of Vengeance strikes a target that already has 5 applications you will cause instant Holy damage.

Priests
Focused Power: This talent now increases the hit chance of all components of Mass Dispel correctly.

Inner Focus: This ability will no longer lose charges when Shadowguard or Touch of Weakness is triggered.

Lightwell: The heals from this ability are now increased by the bonus healing effects on the Priest.

Mass Dispel: The portion of this spell that removes immunity effects (Blessing of Protection, Ice Block, etc.), now has a chance to be resisted, and will display correctly to the combat log. It will no longer cause Rogues and Druids in Cat Form to lose stealth.

Mind Control: Creatures immune to this spell will now cause an immediate error message rather than make it seem like the spell succeeded with no effect.

Mind Control duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.

Pain Suppression: This talent will now reduce the chance for any buff on the Priest to be dispelled, rather than reduce the chance of dispelling buffs cast while it is active.

Prayer of Mending: This spell can no longer jump to an Imp with Phase Shift active. It will also no longer cause the healed target to stand up.

Prayer of Mending: This ability will now be triggered when a player takes damage from effects placed on friendly targets.

Shadowguard: This ability will now work properly even when the Priest is stunned, fleeing, or incapacitated.

Shackle Undead: It is no longer possible to have Shackle Undead on two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.

Surge of Light: This ability now properly grants its effects to one and only one casting of Smite each time it activates. Interaction issues with Inner Focus have been fixed.

Touch of Weakness: This ability will now trigger properly if struck while mounted.

Rogues
Blade Flurry: This ability will now do damage to secondary targets when the primary target takes no damage due to a damage shield (such as Power Word: Shield).

Master of Subtlety: The bonus damage from this talent is now properly removed when a Rogue loses stealth from zoning.

Sap: It is no longer possible to Sap two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.

Sap duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.

Sword Specialization: This talent’s free extra attacks can no longer trigger additional extra attacks.

Shaman
Earthbind Totem: This totem will no longer break Rogue stealth.

Earth Shield: It is no longer possible to Earth Shield two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.

Elemental Focus: The free spell triggered by a Lightning Overload will no longer consume this effect.

Flametongue Weapon: Damage lowered slightly on rank 6 so that it is never better than rank 7.

Focused Mind (Restoration) now reduces duration of Silence/Interrupt mechanics by 10/20/30%.

Lightning Shield: This ability will now work properly even when the Shaman is stunned, fleeing, or incapacitated.

Nature's Guardian: This ability can now trigger while the Shaman is sitting.

Totems: Totems that grant only friendly beneficial effects will no longer trigger attacks from neutral city guards.

Warlocks
Banish, Seduction, Enslave Demon and Fear duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.

Drain Life: The tooltip for this spell will now update correctly when a Warlock is affected by spell haste.

Inferno: This spell will now cause the Infernal's attacks to put the Warlock into combat with neutral town guards.

Intercept (Felguard) will now cause damage to targets that are immune to stun.

Nether Protection: This ability can now trigger while the Warlock is sitting.

Nightfall: This ability can now trigger while the Warlock is sitting.

Rain of Fire: This spell is now affected by area damage caps. Its bonus damage coefficients have also been increased.

Seed of Corruption: Dead targets will no longer be erroneously counted toward the damage cap on this spell.

Shadow Embrace: The effect from this talent will no longer last indefinitely if applied while charmed by an NPC.

Warriors
A Warrior's Overpower will properly become available when one of his Sword Specialization procs is dodged by another player.

Bloodrage should no longer initiate combat, though it will prevent rage decay for the duration.

Bloodrage: Warriors no longer remain in combat indefinitely if this ability is active while zoning.

Devastate: The duration remaining graphic will now display properly for Sunder Armor after it has been refreshed on a target by Devastate.

Intercept will now cause damage to targets that are immune to stun.

Sword Specialization: This talent’s free extra attacks can no longer trigger additional extra attacks.

Items
Adamantite Bound Chest: This chest found in the outdoor world now contain level-appropriate loot.

Adamantite Bound Chest: These chests will no longer contain Adamantite Bars.

Adamantite Figurine: This item is no longer affected by global cooldowns.

Airman's Ribbon of Gallantry: The tooltip for this item now lists the effect duration.

Avatar Raiment Set: The set bonus for Renew now increases the duration of Renew by 3 seconds instead of increasing the target's resistance.

Black Qiraji Battletank: It is no longer possible to cast a spell while boarding this mount.

Blazefury Medallion: This item will no longer trigger against targets affected by Sap.

Blue Ogre Brew: This item now gives an error message when you attempt to use it outside of the Blade's Edge Plateaus.

Cerebral Cortex Compound: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Characters with a full inventory who turn in a Deathwing Brood Cloak to Sky Commander Keller in exchange for an Apexis Crystal will now receive the crystal in the mail.

Corrected the sound made by many items when moved in players' inventories.

Corruptor Raiment Set: The pet healing bonus from this set is now triggered from damage dealt instead of damage received, at a lower percentage. Damage over time spells will trigger it correctly.

Corruptor Raiment: The heal from this set bonus can no longer be a critical heal.

Crown of the Sun: This item now makes the correct sound when moved in inventory.

Crystalweave Bracers: This item now makes the correct sound when moved in inventory.

Darkmoon Card: Madness: This item will no longer trigger from using Demonic Sacrifice on a pet.

Darkmoon Card: Crusade: This item can no longer trigger from Mind Soothe, Soothe Animal, or Mind Vision.

Deathmantle Armor Pieces: These items now make the correct sound when moved in inventory.

Defiler's Plate Spaulders: Honor cost of this item corrected to its intended value.

Design: Mystic Dawnstone: This recipe for a +8 resilience-rating gem will now always have a copy on the vendor initially when Halaa is captured by a faction and when the vendor restocks.

Enriched Terocone Juice: Using this item will no longer trigger a cooldown for using all other food and drink. Its purchase price has also been corrected.

Essence Infused Mushroom: This item can now be disenchanted.

Faceplate of the Impenetrable: This item now makes the correct sound when moved in inventory.

Fel Reaver’s Piston: This item will no longer be triggered by the healing generated by Vampiric Embrace.

Figurine of the Colossus: This item is no longer affected by global cooldowns.

Figurine of the Colossus: This item is now useable when the user has no mana.

Flasks: Various tooltips have been adjusted for consistency.

Formula: Enchant Chest - Major Resilience: Corrected a tooltip error.

Formula: Enchant Cloak - Dodge: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Lower City Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.

Formula: Enchant Cloak - Greater Fire Resistance: The reagents required for this recipe have been adjusted to better match the level 70 content.

Formula: Enchant Cloak - Greater Nature Resistance: The reagents required for this recipe have been adjusted to better match the level 70 content.

Formula: Enchant Cloak - Stealth: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.

Formula: Enchant Cloak - Subtlety: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Thrallmar Quartermaster and Honor Hold Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.

Formula: Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Keepers of Time Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.

Formula: Enchant Gloves - Threat: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Sha'tar Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.

Formula: Enchant Weapon - Greater Agility: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Violet Eye vendor.

Gizzard Gum: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Greater Rune of Warding: Due to persistent bugs with its design, this item has been redesigned for patch 2.2. It now enchants a piece of chest armor so it has a chance per hit of giving you physical damage absorption.

Grips of Silent Justice: This item now makes the correct sound when moved in inventory.

Ground Scorpok Assay: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Heavy Fel Iron Chest: These chests found in the outdoor world now contain level-appropriate loot.

Incarnate Raiment Set: The Flexibility buff from this set is no longer removed by taking damage.

Kronk's Grab Bag: This bag will now always contain some item.

Insignia of the Alliance: This item now indicates it removes effects instead of dispelling them.

Insignia of the Horde: This item now indicates it removes effects instead of dispelling them.

Leggings of Beast Mastery: The stamina and armor granted by this item for your pet have been increased.

Leggings of Divine Retribution: This item now makes the correct sound when moved in inventory.

Lesser Rune of Warding: Due to persistent bugs with its design, this item has been redesigned for patch 2.2. It now enchants a piece of chest armor so it has a chance per hit of giving you physical damage absorption.

Lionheart Champion: This item now has a sound effect on its proc.

Lionheart Executioner: This item now has a sound effect on its proc.

Lung Juice Cocktail: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Mark of Defiance: This item is now triggered from landing harmful spells on a target, instead of just direct-damage spells.

Marshal's Silk Cuffs: Critical strike rating on this item now the same as General's Silk Cuffs.

Medallion of the Alliance: This item now indicates it removes effects instead of dispelling them.

Medallion of the Horde: This item now indicates it removes effects instead of dispelling them.

Merciless Gladiator’s Barrier: This spell damage shield has been added to the arena vendor.

Merciless Gladiator’s Legguards: This item now appears as a kilt.

Merciless Gladiator's Plate Helm: The melee hit rating on this item has been changed to hit rating (it now applies to melee and ranged).

Merciless Gladiator's Plate Helm will now properly hide facial hair.

Merciless Gladiator’s Redoubt: This healing shield has been added to the arena vendor.

Merciless Gladiator’s Ringmail Helm: This item will no longer disable hair from being displayed.

Merciless Gladiator’s Leather Spaulders: Critical strike rating was too low and has been fixed.

Merciless Gladiator's Touch of Defeat: This item now has a fire shoot animation to match its damage type.

Mr. Pinchy: Items received from Mr. Pinchy when your inventory is full will now be mailed to you.

Netherblade armor now has the correct sounds associated with it.

Oil of Immolation: Tooltip error corrected.

Pendant of the Violet Eye: This item will now trigger properly from spells that cost a percentage of base mana.

Power Infused Mushroom: This item can now be disenchanted.

Red Ogre Brew: This item now gives an error message when you attempt to use it outside of the Blade's Edge Plateaus.

Rift Stalker Armor: The pet healing set bonus now heals for a percentage of damage dealt by the Hunter.

R.O.I.D.S.: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Sagefish Delight: The buff from this item has been modified to work the same as all other mana per 5 buffs, including display correctly on the character sheet.

Schematic: Fused Wiring: Vendors who sell this recipe will now properly restock it after a period of time.

Sheen of Zanza: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Shiny Red Apple: Druids in animal forms can no longer eat this food item.

Shuriken of Negation: Item level and stats increased to match other items in from Gruul.

Six Demon Bag: The damage spells cast by this item no longer benefit from a player’s bonus spell damage effects.

Skyguard Rations: Tooltip error corrected.

Skyguard Silver Cross: The tooltip for this item now lists the effect duration.

Smoked Sagefish: The buff from this item has been modified to work the same as all other mana per 5 buffs, including display correctly on the character sheet.

Spirit of Zanza: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Spyglass of the Hidden Fleet: This item is now useable by shapeshifted Druids.

Staff of Natural Fury: Tooltip clarified to indicate it reduces the base mana cost of shapeshifts, not the final cost.

Stormstout: Corrected the tooltip due to capitalization inconsistency.

Swiftness of Zanza: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Talon of Al'ar: The bonus damage to all Shot abilities now provides the full bonus to Scatter Shot and Silencing Shot.

Talasite Owl: The effect from this item will now last its intended full duration.

The blood elf paladin quest reward Scourgebane now works against demons as well as undead.

Trappings of the Unseen Path Set: The buff on your pet from this set bonus will no longer appear to be constantly running out and refreshing.

Trogg Ale: Corrected the tooltip due to capitalization inconsistency.

Unstable Talasite: The tooltip on this gem now indicates it counts as blue and yellow, and it behaves accordingly.

Veteran’s Scaled Belt: Stats have been adjusted to correct budget.

Veteran’s Scaled Greaves: Stats have been adjusted to correct budget.

Voidheart Set: The tooltips for the two-piece bonuses have been adjusted slightly so that there is no longer a blank set bonus. The functionality of the set bonus was unchanged.

Warbringer Armor Set: The bonus from Revenge will now apply correctly to Shield Slam.

Wild Draenish Vest: This item now makes the correct sound when moved in inventory.

Windrider Mounts: These items now make the correct sound when moved in inventory.

Winterfall Firewater: This item's tooltip now indicates it counts as an elixir.

Wolfshead Helm: This helm will no longer give twice the rage it was intended to give.

World Breaker: The bonus from this item being triggered will no longer fade before it can provide its benefit.

Professions
Various crafting recipes have been added to the Violet Eye faction vendor.

Triggered Effects: Tradeskill recipes will no longer trigger items that are designed to be triggered by only combat spells.

Blacksmithing
Changed the set bonuses afforded by Fel Iron Plate to increased hit chance and Strength.

Enchanting
Nexus Transformation: This recipe to transform a Nexus Crystal into a Small Prismatic Shard has been added to some Enchanting trainers.

Small Prismatic Shards: This recipe to transform a Large Prismatic Shard into 3 Small Prismatic Shards has been added to some Enchanting trainers.

Large Prismatic Shard: It is no longer possible to gain skill points in Enchanting from this recipe.

Quests
During the quest, "The Smallest Creatures", the marmot's stealth ability is working once again.

Firewing Warlocks are less likely to want to engage in melee combat.

Fixed an issue wherein a character with a darkrune would not be able to turn it in to Gahk in return for a crystalforged darkrune unless they first completed the daily quest "Banish More Demons" that day.

In the Bad Medicine quest in Stranglethorn, Jungle Remedies can now be found on Jungle Fighters.

In Hillsbrad, additional Syndicate Papers were added to the Corahn's Dagger subzone Syndicate camp. Quest text was changed to reflect this.

Mawg Grimshot's flavor events have been fixed.

Resolved issues with Obsidia, Rivendark, Insidion, and Furywing sometimes not responding to their eggs being used.

The duration of the Apexis Relic and Apexis Monument beams was slightly reduced, to more easily separate 2 back-to-back beams.

The following Quest Objects will no longer briefly despawn when looted: Mythology of the Titans, Compendium of the Fallen, Maiden's Folly Charts, Maiden's Folly Log, Spirit of Silverpine Charts, Spirit of Silverpine Log.

Various issues breaking the "Showdown" quest fight have been resolved.

Dungeons and Raids

Caverns of Time- Battle of Mount Hyjal

Faction and loot rewards has been added to non-boss mobs in the Battle of Mount Hyjal raid event. The faction awarded by bosses has been decreased to balance this.

Caverns of Time- Escape from Durnholde Keep

When the limit on Thrall respawns after event failure has been reached, the Epoch Hunter will now properly despawn.

Human Illusion: This effect in Old Hillsbrad will no longer be applied to Dwarf and Human Priests when they exit Shadowform.

Karazhan

Nightbane's Distracting Ash can now be removed with Cloak of Shadows.

Tinhead in Karazhan is now immune to bleeds.

Scholomance

Ras Frostwhisper's Frost Armor Chilled effect is now properly classified as a snare mechanic.

Tempest Keep: Mechanar

Raging Flames in the Nethermancer Sepethrea encounter have had their movement speed reduced slightly in heroic mode.

Tempest Keep: The Eye

The spells cast by High Astromancer Solarian have been extensively reworked. Wrath of the Astromancer is a now completely different in function. Mark of the Astromancer has been renamed to Light of the Astromancer and no longer reduces Arcane resistance. A player's Arcane Resistance now also provides normal damage mitigation to Solarian's spells.

User Interface
Improved the handling of items with charges on the action bar.

Fixed an issue where moveable frames would end up off screen after changing either to or from a widescreen resolution.

Fixed an issue where moveable frames would end up off screen after changing the UI scale.

Fixed issue where font strings would get clipped when the UI was scaled.

The pitchLimit console command has been re-enabled.

If you specify a target for a spell cast in a macro that does not exist, it will show an error instead of defaulting to your current target.

Conditional macros with multiple targets will use the appropriate context sensitive target for visual range feedback.

Conditional macro processing has been greatly optimized.

Macros with specific cast targets will no longer cast on your current target if the specified target doesn’t exist.

For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

World Environment
The following old-world factions have had their acquisition rate significantly increased: Cenarion Circle, Argent Dawn, Timbermaw Hold.

Adjusted Yowler's level down to 20 (from 25).

Adjusted the level of Redridge Bashers and Alphas.

Arcane Missiles: When cast by creatures, this spell will now properly cause activation of pets set to defensive mode.

Azuregos: The tooltip on this creature's Frost Breath now correctly indicates Frozen rather than impairing movement.

Chieftain Mummaki: This creature can now be pickpocketed.

Doctor Maleficus: This creature can now be pickpocketed.

Dragonmaw Peon: The creature now has the correct pickpocket loot.

Fixed an improper dialog option on Carolyn Ward, a Rogue Trainer in Undercity, when the player's Lockpicking was 300-324.

Highlord Mastrogonde: This creature now always drops at least a good quality item.

Minor Fairbreeze Village fixes: The general goods vendor was moved from home to the lower inn, the pet vendor was moved from the upper inn to home, the upper inn is now flagged as an inn.

Mo’arg Doomsmith: This creature now drops Marks of Sargeras rather than Marks of Kil’jaeden.

Monstrous Kaliri: This creature now has loot.

Quest target Fel Spirits are now considered undead.

Vindicator Aeus in the Aldor bank is no longer attackable by players who are members of the Scryer faction.

Sethekk Ravenguard: The Howling Screech from this creature is now properly considered a Snare, and is clearable by Escape Artist and other abilities that remove Snares.

Skettis Windwalker: The Cyclone effect from this creature can now be cleared by PvP trinkets and Bestial Wrath/The Beast Within.

Skulloc Soulgrinder in Blade's Edge now correctly summons Sundered Ghosts to aid him in battle.

Void Reaver: The Arcane Orb ability used by this creature will now correctly Daze players affected by Aspect of the Pack or Aspect of the Cheetah.

Wyrmcult Blackwhelp: This creature now can be skinned but can no longer be pickpocketed.

Mac
Additional graphic optimization utilizing AltiVec for PowerPC-Mac and SSE for Intel-Mac. This provides some performance benefit on systems where vertex animation shaders are either unavailable or disabled (recommended on systems with Intel integrated video).

Mac Options dialog has been added to the primary options panel. This dialog offers configuration options for any features that are presently unique to the Mac client, such as iTunes Remote and Movie Capture.

New iTunes Remote configuration options have been added to the Mac Options panel.

Bug Fixes
Pets will no longer chase players that Vanish.

Stacked items will no longer disappear from a player’s inventory when zoning multiple times.

The WoW client on Windows no longer defaults to 800x600 video resolution if the WoW resolution is higher than the desktop resolution when going from fullscreen mode to windowed mode.

The Temple Concubine's polymorph no longer has the pig icon appearing when it sheeps a player but now shows the proper sheep icon.

Player using ranged attacks while under the shapeshift effects of the spell: Torment of the Worgen, will now play attack animations

The Toxic Spore Bats in the Lady Vashj encounter will now properly despawn if the raid party wipes.

Toxic Spores in the Lady Vashj encounter can no longer kill phase shifted imps.

Anzu can no longer be kited far from his spawn point and will properly leash.

The Doomguard Punisher will no longer hit players not involved in the Legion Ring Event.

Dressing room models for females are now showing the correct head when transformed into a Fel Orc via the Dragonmaw Illusion.

The trash pulls in the Grand Promenade will now shut off after the Blood Elf Council are killed.

Players can now accept daily quests even after their daily quest limit has been reached.

learning to fly

2007-08-09T04:48:00.000-07:00

Sulfur respecced to marksman at the beginning of the week since just about all he does right now is PVP. He wanted to give it a good try now that he has some decent gear and will be getting the arena crossbow in a couple of weeks. We love it so far but it will take him a few weeks to get into the swing of things with it.

We did our 10 two man pvp matches last night and didn’t expect much since he was running the new spec. We finished at 3-7 which is a little disappointing but not unexpected with a new spec.

I got the blue pvp chest yesterday:

Grand Marshal's Ringmail Chestguard
Binds when picked up
Chest Mail
652 Armor
+34 Stamina
+22 Intellect
Red Socket
Yellow Socket
Yellow Socket
Socket Bonus: +4 Spell Critical Strike Rating
Durability 120 / 120
Classes: Shaman
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 18 (0.8%).
Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 18 (0.5%).
Equip: Restores 5 mana per 5 sec.
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 31.

I immediately popped in 3 blue level gems and put the +6 to all stats on it since I couldn’t find anyone to do the resilience enchant yet and needed the skillup.

I should be getting the epic trinket this weekend and the Arena gloves Tuesday.

what we learned from blizzcon

2007-08-07T05:06:00.000-07:00

copying this word for word from WOW Insider for my readers behind Firewalls at work-Mourne

Here it is-- a comprehensive, one-post guide to everything we learned at BlizzCon 2007. From Alleria to Zul'Aman, it's all here. Everything we know about Death Knights, Wrath of the Lich King, what's happening in Azeroth between now and the next expansion release, what Blizzard thinks about midlevel content, and how they're going to deal with the AFKers in Alterac.

From top to bottom, in alphabetical order, here's every single new thing WoW Insider learned (and confirmed-- no speculation here) in Anaheim this weekend. If you have questions or additions, add them below, and I'll either update the list, or answer them to the best of my knowledge. Enjoy.
-Alchemy

Change coming to daily Transmute cooldown-- will make it reset like a raid instance
Discoveries will be easier to get
-Alterac Valley

AFKers are a huge problem and "will be dealt with," "going to be dealt with," "We have plans for those people."
Players won't spawn in the cave until there is nowhere else to spawn
Players will report AFKers, and when enough reports have gone down, AFKers will get a debuff that only disappears when they enter combat. When they don't, they get another debuff that keeps them from gaining honor that BG.
Honor distribution will change-- more honor towards the end of the BG
Pulling mechanics will change-- no more solo Vandar Stormpike pull
Group queuing in AV will return

-Arena PvP

New arena and gear coming in Season 3
DoTs will be affected by resilience in 2.3
Map gimmicks (ie Cyclones) are a bad idea, no more of those
Rating requirement will be necessary to buy an arena weapon, so no more saving up points just for the weapon
Fear isn't overpowered in 5v5, though it may be in 3v3 and 2v2
In Season 3, season 1 gear will become available through the regular honor system (thanks, Aurdon)
-Arthas Menethil

Is not dead-- we may be able to separate him from the Lich King
We will have interaction with him the whole time in Northrend, as early as 70

Wants to turn players against the Alliance and the Horde just as he was turned against his own people
Sylvanas and/or Jaina will probably join the actual fight against him
Will do something really bad to Azeroth to send the Alliance and Horde after him

"Every player, raider, grouper, soloer will ultimately determine whether he is defeated or whether he takes over."
Arthas had a sister? She may come into play

-Battlegrounds

New BG coming in the expansion, will be 15v15 and take about 30-40 minutes to complete
Will include siege weapons, which are player-controlled and can destroy certain buildings
"Meat Wagons," "Ballistas," and "Catapults" are all listed as examples

No name announced yet
BGs are created as "Warcraft III meets Battlefield 1942"
Alterac Valley was originally non-instanced, as Lake Wintergrasp will be

Flag in EOTS was originally a 5th mobile objective
Considering making variable sizes of battlegrounds-- playing same BG as a 15v15 or a 20v20
Guild Battlegrounds are being considered, as well as a guild rating for each BG
-Cooking

Daily quests coming in 2.3
New recipes: Food that buffs melee and spell crit.
Shockcops-- like Dragonbreath Chili, but with lightning damage
-Death Knight

WoW's first Hero Class
Like an Anti-Paladin, can tank with 2h or dual wield (no shields)
Wears plate, likes bladed weapons (runeswords and runeaxes)

Will use a Rune resource system rather than Mana, Rage, or Energy-- choose six Blood, Frost, or Unholy runes out of combat that can be consumed for spells, or refreshed by spells and abilities

Will have their own mount and itemization
Will be Alliance and Horde, "unlocked" via a long quest at level 80, and that quest will supposedly explain how players can become Death Knights
Once unlocked, starts off at a higher level (55, 60, 70, not sure yet)

Spell: Army of the Dead: Summons ghouls. Not a pet class, but some abilities like that.
Available to all races

-Druids

Moonkin itemization will get better
Moonkin mana is being examined
Decurse and Cure Poison coming in Treeform

-Engineering

Will be able to craft a new flying machine
Going to "get some love"
Working on "reducing the selfishness" of the profession

-Enchanting

New enchant: Executioner. Occasionally ignore 840 of your opponent's armor. Power comparable to Mongoose.

-Hero Classes

Death Knight will be the only one in the new expansion
More are coming-- the idea is to put all WCIII Heroes in eventually
Will be a completely separate character-- the devs said players who upgraded their character felt they were losing something by doing so
Will start at a higher level and with "pretty good" gear

No additions to character slot numbers

-Hunters

Legendary ranged weapon coming
Hunters having to buy two arena weapons is a problem, and prices are being reconsidered
Hunter mana is being examined
Hunter arena representation is being examined for 2.3

-Inscription

New profession in WotLK
Inscribe spells and abilities with extra power (example: Fireball gets knockback or extra damage)
Create completely new items (not scrolls)
Another side of inscription that is not yet announced
-Jewelcrafting

Jewelcrafter only gems: +12 Spell Crit Y, +26 Healing R, +18 Stam B. Made from blue gems.
New recipe: Steady Talasite, +4 Resilience and +4 Stam Y/B. Meant to raise prices of Talasite on AH.
-Lake Wintergrasp

Non-instanced PvP zone in Northrend
Will have multiple objectives (like AV), siege weapons, and a persistent effect (like the Spirit Towers)

-Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain

Rocks!
-Machinima

Illegal Danish 2, "Escape from Orgrimmar," was delayed because of the WSVG, should be out in the next two weeks
-Mages

Water and Food factories (like the soulwell) are incoming
-Miscellaneous

Some people have far too much time on their hands
Profession daily quests coming, cooking quests coming in 2.3, fishing probably soon after that
Free spell damage for healers coming on items
Spirit is being re-examined, maybe adding more mana regen to it for next expansion
1-60 and 1-70 leveling time should be made to go faster
New Caverns of Time instance coming soon, before the expansion
One more raid dungeon, including six more bosses, coming in BC-- very likely the Sunwell

Naxx will play a part in the next expansion, so players may get another chance to see it
Also considering another 5 man before the expansion
Midlevel content and making old dungeons heroic is not seen as a priority by Blizzard
Refer-a-friend may make it easier for friends to play by offering leveled characters
-Northrend

Will not be all snow and ice
Has been planned since before WoW was released

Will have more zones than Outland, since no new race means more time for content (map they showed us had 10 zones, but not finalized)
Dalaran will be the "Shattrath of the North," a huge city hovering over the center
Flying mounts will be useable
New races: Taunka (anti-Tauren, control the land instead of worship it), Tuskarr (nomadic Walrus fishermen), Iron Dwarves, Vrykul (giant vampiric Vikings)
Instances: Utgarde Keep (Vrykul castle), Ulduor (Titan instance)
Two points of entry (so no chokepoint like HFP)
Howling Fjord: has Utgarde Keep, huge cliffs, two levels, ships, Daggercap Bay
Borean Tundra: Tuskarr, Naga are there melting half the ice, inspired by Easter Island, Warsong Hold, Gnome town (with airstrips)
Grizzly Hills: Furbolgs, Grizzlemaw, redwood forest feel, also Dwarven city called Durn Rhodan (sp?)
Dragonblight: Where dragons go to die, huge dragon skeletons, ice caves (with new shader system)

-NPCs/Lore

No plans for Garona Halforcen yet, but Metzen would like (personally) for her to get jiggy with Thrall
Garrosh Hellscream will go into Northrend (to the Orc fortress at Warsong Hold) and maybe start to be a little more like his father

Turalyon and Alleria will return
The Kirin Tor has moved Dalaran to hover above Northrend (it was always planned by Blizzard that the city would fly, although where it would go is pretty new)
No current plans for Argent Dawn to appear in Northrend
The Burning Legion isn't dead yet, but we may see more progress against it before the expansion (in content patches)
Brann Bronzebeard will be a big part of the Alliance campaign in Northrend
Tirion Fordring and the Ashbringer will make an appearance in the expansion
Forsaken will finally get their own architecture, and will be introducing their own plague against the Scourge
Malygos is back and fighting a campaign against magic, Kirin Tor (and Rhonin) will oppose, as will the Red Dragonflight (Alexstrasza!)

Nerubians will be messing around with that "Old God" seen in Warcraft III
Emerald Nightmare not coming yet
-Paladins

Season 3 arena set has resilience on it. Old sets won't be changed, because players bought those as is.
Paladin stats will be rearranged. Reliance on spell damage will specifically be lessened.

-Priests

Lolightwell will be looked at, get better scaling from gear
Circle of Healing will also be examined, should be improved

**Fear ward will finally be spread around in the expansion** (I'll make that bold and starred for emphasis :) )

-Rogues

Rogue mobility in PvP, especially Arenas, is an issue and is being looked at
Sap is useless in arenas, so that utility is being looked at
-Shaman

Shamanistic Rage will reduce damage taken by 30% when it's on, as well as its previous mana-regenerating effect.
New talent: Shamanistic Focus. Seems to occupy the place of the previous Two-Handed Axes and Maces talent. Reads as follows: Rank 1/1: After landing a melee critical strike, you enter a Focused state. The focused state reduces the mana cost of your next shock spell by 60%.
Mental Quickness increases spell damage and healing [thanks, csulok] by 30% of your AP (for 3/3 talent points) as well as its previous instant-cast cost reduction effect.
Evaluating CC options for Shaman in 71-80.
Mana Spring Totem will be buffed.
-Tailoring

Frostweave is the new cloth in Northrend
-UI/Addons

Blizzard wants to bring popular addons into the UI: versions of KTM, Item Rack and Deadly Boss Mods should be incoming
-Warcraft: The Movie

Legendary Pictures wants it to be a tentpole movie
Released in 2009
Will be more of a combination/reimagining of events in Warcraft
Thrall will make an appearance, as will other Warcraft heroes
There will be a new lead character, probably Human (boo!)
Live action, director and cast not yet picked
Rating obviously not picked, but will not be G or PG. This is Warcraft, not World of Pillow-fightcraft.
"Absolutely a war movie"- 300, Braveheart, Gladiator
Teldrassil will make an appearance
-Warrior

Protection DPS being examined
-Wrath of the Lich King

Raises level cap to 80
No release date yet, besides when it's done, of course
Will open up Northrend
May require Burning Crusade to play
There will be a closed beta, and a number of different ways to get into it
+1/3 new recipes were added in BC, and same will be added in WotLK
New avatar hairstyles, skin colors, and will be able to change existing ones
Learned a lot from attunements in BC-- looking at making that easier, including having one person attune a whole guild
-Zul'Aman

Is Indiana Jones-themed
Full of un-polymorphable Amani'shi trolls, including Flame casters, and Crocolisk handlers

Lots of waterfalls, carved stone altars, and a lagoon area

Drop: Dagger of Bad Mojo: 98.6 DPS, +21 Agility, increase AP by 40, ignore 154 armor
Drop: Jin'rohk, The Great Apocalypse -- hi stam + haste sword
Sets for Rogues, Moonkin, DPS Warriors, and Elemental Shamans
20 minutes "Sacrifice" timers start when you zone in
Hex Lord Malacrass gets stronger as sacrifices get... sacrificed

Nalorakk: Lynx boss, Akil'Zon: Eagle boss, Halazzi: Bear boss, Jan'Alai: Dragonhawk boss

We got the 5 man done for the week

2007-08-07T04:51:00.000-07:00

We were able to get the 5 man arena team together last night to get in our 10 matches. We went 2-8 again which means that team is slowly improving just by getting the gear. We do have a great time in the 5 man. No one expect to win so we get in vent and start talking trash and laughing at each other with the occasional pat on the back when we win. It’s very much a lesson in humility..lol.

Sulfur respecced to Marksman last week since 90% of his play time is PVP oriented nowadays he wanted to play around with it in the arena for a few weeks and see what he thinks. I know he was real happy to get hawk eye range back as well as to get silencing shot for the first time. With the arena crossbow coming up in a few more weeks he figured his gear was getting good enough now to take advantage of some of the marksman pvp perks. Ill get him to make a post in the near future telling his likes/dislikes of the new spec. From his comments last night I think he likes it but hasn’t gotten totally comfortable with it yet, which is to be expected. We will do the 2 man stuff for the first time Wed night with his new spec and see how it goes.

Over the next seven days I will be getting 3 pvp upgrades so I am pretty excited about that. I am just a few more AV matches away from not needing anymore BGs until season 3!

This weeks 2vs2 pvp

2007-08-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well this week was a little dissapointing. We went 4-6 overall with a couple of very close ones that came down to the wire.

Sulfur is putting out outstanding damage and im hard as hell to kill but the higher we go the gear factor is definintely present. Once we get above 1500 the teams are remarkably better. When we are below 1500 we win 65-70% of the matches. Once we get above 1500 we lose half our matches or worse.

For example: We started the day at 1509 rating and won our first 3 matches. This shot us up to 1549 rating. We then proceeded to lose 6 matches in a row before winning our last match after we dropped below 1500 again. Im not going to use this as an excuse but we did get the crappy bridge map that we hate a total of 7 out of the 10 matches. That map is terrible for hunters do to Line of Site issues.

We are definitely not discouraged we are just starting to see how important gear is as we move up. In about a month we should see significant enough upgrades to climb past 1600. We will see how it goes.

2 healers=dead attumen

2007-08-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

So last night we were short 1 healer for Kara and decided to give it a shot with just me and a priest. Long story short we killed Attumen on our second try. All this pvp healing gear is really starting to add up in PVE as well. I have about 1350 healing in PVE gear now and I guess it is starting to show. I would not have believed that just 2 of us could heal in that long of a boss fight at this time but we did it! To be fair our offtank is a feral druid who once Attumen and midnight combined slapped an innervate on me and then helped us heal the last third of the fight in his tanking set. Finally got one of our main tanks a Kara epic. I get just as excited when one of the tanks that I have to heal gets an epic as when I get one..lol. It makes my job easier and feels like I just got upgraded.

Last nights drops:
Vambraces of Courage
Binds when picked up
Wrist Plate
634 Armor
+33 Stamina
Yellow Socket
Socket Bonus: +2 Dodge Rating
Durability 55 / 55
Requires Level 70
Equip: Increases defense rating by +15 (6.3)
Equip: Increases the block value of your shield by 33.

Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation
Binds when picked up
Hands Leather
228 Armor
+35 Agility
+22 Stamina
Red Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: Critical Strike Rating +3
Durability 40 / 40
Requires Level 70
Equip: Increases attack power by 42

We called the raid there and went and helped get some of our newer 70s keyed for Kara. I healed a short romp into Arcatraz to get the third key frag for one member. Some others escorted Thrall and/or did a Black Morass run.

dedication

2007-08-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

I got a kick out of this off of a WOW Insider post>

5 man quick update

2007-07-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

We got the 5 man reset last night and went 1-9 just in time to get get about 350 arena points today. I am 2 weeks away from the epic arena gloves and Sulfur is 3 weeks away from the big daddy crossbow. Weve decided to reset the team every week because 200 gold is nothing to one of our rich members(thank you Bloodbelch you are a gentleman and a scholar..reported).

I got enchanting up to 360 taday so i just need to gather the mats for the +12 damage and healing ring enchants now as well as get some more gold now that im down to 300 again.

The week in review

2007-07-30T04:38:00.000-07:00

Not alot happened last week but here goes.

Sulfurs and my 2 man arena team had a 5-5 week and managed to stay above 1500 rating for the week. Sulfur got his blue pvp chest piece and put 1 epic pvp gem and 2 nice blue gems in it. We are currently looking for someone to do the +15 resilience chest enchant for him.

I was getting burned out on battle grounds and since all i have left to get is the blue pvp chest piece and the epic trinket I decided to farm gold and level enchanting last week. I started the week with 600 gold and enchanting at about 250. I ended the week with 800 gold and 355 enchanting. I was able to give several guildies free brawn, assault, and plus 12 agility to cloak enchants while leveling it. I have the plans for +12 damage and healing to ring enchants. It requires 260 enchanting so just 5 more points to go and I will have +24 damage and healing to both my pve and my pvp sets. Later on I will get the +20 healing ring enchant.

We have had several key members on vacation this week so we were only able to kill Moross this week in Kara.

Sulfur is still just a Black Morass run away from being keyed and joining us in Kara so we are hoping to get that knocked out tonight.

Dear gods of nice loot,

I have been very good this year. As you know I am revered with the Keepers of Time and have run black morass 10+ times now. I think I am due for the following to drop:

Scarab of the Infinite Cycle
Binds when picked up
Unique
Trinket
Requires Level 70
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 70.
Equip: Your direct healing and heal over time spells have a chance to increase your spell haste rating by 320 for 6 secs.

As this will probably be one of my last black morass runs and youve given this to every other healer that I have ever known I hope you can see it in your hearts to let me have this. As per our normal arrangement I will agree to continue not even seeing 1 resto shaman piece of loot drop in Karazhan even though I am revered with them as well.

half and half

2007-07-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

Last night we ran 10 matches of the 2 man and we went 5-5. It should have been 6-4 but i decided to dps when i should have healed but hell we all make mistakes. We finished the night at around 1515.

Two matches of interest:
In one match we faced a warlock/rogue combo. They were very nicely geared but Sulfur was able to kill the warlock just seconds before he died leaving me vs the rogue. We fought an epic 2 minute battle form there with the rogue bandaging during a blind as well as using a healthstone. In the end I was able to finally kill him with 5% life left and barely any mana at all(thank you mana tide totem).

In another match vs a rogue/mage combo the opposing team did as awesome job of freezing us in place and blinding Sulfur. However as usuall Sulfurs cat Chaos came through and solo killed the mage while we were CC. Sulfur didnt even know the mage was dead until we won the match due to him being CC for most of it..LOL.

I got enchanting up to 335 and was able to enchant Sulfurs gloves and bracers with assault and his cloak with +12 agility. I need to run some Tempest Keep runs because im 4k rep away from Sha tra revered and the +20 healing ring enchant that i want to get when I get the enchanting up to 375.

This week I am working on enchanting and making money because I am down to 300 gold. If I get enough I will begin buying Aldor rep so I can start the march to exhaulted and the better shoulder enchant. I am 2k away from revered at this time.

resilience 101

2007-07-25T04:41:00.000-07:00

Posted by Sulfur

Me and Naarl were talking at work today about WoW and the topic of resilience came up. We were wondering if resilience had any purpose in PVE. I have been under the impression that it was practically worthless in PVE, and after speaking with Mourne it seems that is the concensus. Well, I'm glad to say that after doing some research we were wrong. This was taken off wow-wiki, my favorite WoW resource. Has some good info for you number crunchers out there, and some interesting info pertaining to Feral Druids in particular.

Resilience

Resilience is a rating introduced with patch 2.0, which reduces the effects of all types of critical hits (both, melee or spell crits from players or mobs). x percent of resilience will reduce the enemy chance to land a critical hit by by x%, and also reduce the damage taken from critical hits by 2x%. PvE tanks usually have high enough +defense values so that mobs won't crit them at all, thus in PvE this is not an important statistic for warriors, but for druids this is another story, see note below.

Rating Effect Requires
Level 60 Level 70
Resilience -1% crit, -2% crit dmg 25 39.4

Note: For feral tanking druids resilience can be usefull instead of defense to reach crit immunity, 2.6% crit to overcome at lvl 70 with Survival of the Fittest.

60 defense rating = (-1%crit,+1%miss,+1%dodge+1%perry,+1%block)
39.4 resilience rating = (-1%crit,-2%crit damage)
14.7 agi = (+1%dodge,+0.58%crit,+29.4 armor)

The conclusion is that if your goal is to become a crit immune druid you can swap 60 defense rating with 39.4 resilience rating + 29.4 agi. This is because (1%miss and 1%dodge) = 2%dodge, see also Attack Table for this. So this tradeoff gives you the same crit immunity and gives even slightly better damage mitigation because of the use of Agility. This trade off is also good for the extra crit and armor, which are both useful for feral tanks. Looking at normal stats of defense rating and resilience on armor and weapons it is easier to get crit immunity through resilience then through defense. This is not true for Warriors as they can Block and Parry and therefor get much more benefit from defense rating than feral druids.

5 man pvp

2007-07-25T04:32:00.000-07:00

This is a day late but i got busy at work:

Monday night our 5 man got together and pulled out a 2-8 record which is our best week to date. We got a total of 320 arena points this week and are in the process of resetting the team back to 1500 for next week.

Sulfur got his blue pvp chestpiece and we discovered that the epic pvp gems are unique. He had bought 2 for his chestpiece so we will have to save 1 for his epic arena chest.

I got my enchanting up to 320 last night. So tonight i will be giving Sulfur the +25 attack power gloves and bracers enchant(assault) as well as the +12 agility cloak enchant.

We will prob be doing the 2 man arena tonight so ill update tomorrow how it goes.

On a non WOW note: I am totally loving the game Overlord http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overlord_(2007_video_game) on the xbox 360. It is very addictive and tons of fun. Two big thumbs up.

Big Bad Wolf down!

2007-07-23T04:34:00.000-07:00

The guild got our first boss past Moross down last night. We were laughing so hard on our first attempt we failed at 5%. We killed him on our second try. Its a very easy fight but also easily the funniest boss fight to date for me. Drops were:

Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle
Binds when picked up
Gun
149 - 278 Damage Speed 2.70
(79.1 damage per second)
+15 Agility
Durability 90 / 90
Requires Level 70
Equip: Increases attack power by 32.

I got my pvp ring on Sunday morning.

Veteran's Band of Salvation
Binds when picked up
Unique
Finger
+30 Stamina
+17 Intellect
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 22 (0.6%).
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 44.
Equip: Restores 5 mana per 5 sec.

I also got revered with Kara last night and got that epic ring upgrade as well.

Violet Signet
Binds when picked up
Unique
Finger
+22 Stamina
+22 Intellect
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 17 (0.8%).
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 28.

Sulfur should be getting his new blue pvp chest today. We also made 2 attempts at black morass to finally get his Kara key done. We had a great group but my internet went down the middle of the first attempt and the main tank forgot to put his shield on for the second try(he was dual wielding for trash to work his dagger skil up). We got a good laugh out of that but no key. We will try to give it another go tonight.

Will try to get the 5 man pvp group together tonight as well.

even stevens

2007-07-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

Well after getting the new shield and belt we had our first 2 man pvp session of the week. We went 4-6. One of those losses sulfur forgot to res his pet though and we prob would have won that one. It may just be my first experience at 1500+ but the teams were a hell of allot better this week. We will be doing another 10 matches this weekend to see if we can get back up closer to 1600 rating than 1500.

I will be getting the epic pvp ring this weekend and after that all I have left from regular pvp rewards is the epic trinket and blue pvp chest piece that i will get the +15 resilience enchant added to. Sulfur has purchased 2 or 3 of the epic pvp gems already and is now 9k honor away from his blue pvp chest piece that he will put those gems in. Hes also half way to getting the arena 88 dps crossbow.

I am really looking forward to being done with the battle grounds for a while. It will be nice to have everything from there so that i can focus on arena, raiding 2 nights a week, and getting alchemy up to 375 from 300.

two new epics!

2007-07-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

RAWR!

Just got these this morning.

Merciless Gladiators Shield Wall
5727 Armor
152 block
+48 stamina
+31 resilience

Veterans Ringmail Girdle
537 armor
+39 stamina
+27 intellect
+26 spell crit
+27 resilience
+59 healing

I had to stay up until midnight doing AV to get the honor needed for the belt. I got the 40 AB tokens needed for it over the weekend. In my pvp gear I am now up to:

Health:8500
mana:8891
armor:10128
resilience:224
+ healing:1228

We were able to reset the 5 man back to 1500 this week so I got the last 270 arena points needed for the shield with some change left. Now I will begin saving the Arena points for the epic gloves and legs so that i can get another resilience bonus and blow past the +300 resilience mark.

As far as honor rewards I will now begin saving for the epic trinket and ring. I should be able to get both in the next week or so. After them all thats left is the blue pvp chest piece and a +15 resilience chest enchant.

Sulfur and I got in some more matches after our 9-1 start to finish the week at a very respectable 14-6. Hopefully with the new gear we can repeat that this week. Sulfur has been saving his points for the blue pvp chest as well as the epic pvp gems to put in it. He should have all that done around Thursday.

9 and 1

2007-07-13T04:28:00.000-07:00

Thats right. You guessed it. week 5 2 man results are 9 wins and 1 loss. we went from 1440 to 1550. This is our first time above 1500 and we are pumped! Next week we have some very nice upgrades coming. Mainly my arena shield.

It was a crazy night where all the stars lined up for us i guess. We beat them all: warrior/pally, hunter/shaman, warlock teams, etc. The only team we didnt face was the dreaded hunter/priest(you didnt need that mana did you big guy?)

One very memorable fight had us up against a enhance shaman/warlock combo. Sulfur and his pet died at the same time as the warlock leaving me vs the shaman. We fought for over a minute before he went oom(thank you mana tide totem and 9k mana plus Sulfurs earlier mana drains). I just kept earth shield up, fire totem down, and frost shocked him every 5 seconds when i wasnt healing.

The only loss was against a rogue/hunter combo that we usually own since they dont have healing. however they got off the perfect stun/crit combo that killed me less than a second before my heal completed. I just have to survive the initial burst against those teams and then its over. usually sulfur takes out the hunter with his pet and throws a scatter shot on the rogue when it gets hairy and then at worst has a 1 on 1 vs the rogue and destroys him. but like i said everything went right for them.

Next week is the big week. we feel with the last few upcoming epics we will be able to start the climb. We will see if we are right.

Oh and Sulfur is thinking of getting a fraps type program going again so we can film and play some of our best fights on this site each week. Is fraps still the best choice for this? its been a while. Thanks.

new boots

2007-07-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I ran about 15-20 Eye Of the Storm matches. I needed the tokens for my pvp epic boots. Horde seemed to win 60+ percent of the time on that day. I did the usual find the biggest baddest warrior and just followed him around dropping windfury and strength of earth totems right as he charged a group and then just went to healing him. One particular warrior was one of the best geared I have ever run with. He a I almost single handedly held the middle while our team ran in the flag over and over. We won by about 400 points. Good times.

I was then able to get these beauties:

Veterans Ringmail Sabatons
656 armor
+39 stam
+27 int
+26 spell crit
+27 resilience
+59 healing

So I am now at 7500 armor, 166 resilience, and 8200 life with 1208 healing in my PVP gear.

A couple of times yesterday I was in group combat and a rogue would jump me. After 15 seconds of my life bar not moving(love the earth shield) they moved on to easier prey while I just kept my warrior up while throwing in a chain heal when there was other teammates with the warrior.

Today I am going to try to level enchanting up from 250-300 and start working on the epic pvp belt.

We also did a Karazan run to dust off the cobwebs from the july vacation week(no raids). We got Attumen down and then called it a night. After the run I got +stam added to my new boots and plus armor added to the cloak i got recently as well.

More week 4 pvp

2007-07-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

So it was AV weekend and I really racked up some honor. I got the epic pvp necklace and will be getting the epic pvp boots in the next day or two. I should be getting the epic arena shield next Tuesday as well. I am off for the next 2 weeks so I should be able to finish up the last 4 pvp honor rewards I want and be done with the battle grounds for a while. I am getting burned out with BGs but loving arena still.

Sulfur and I got a few more 2 man matches in over the weekend and ended the week at 17-18. So we are just a couple of pieces away from winning more than we lose.

Last night our guilds main tank logged in after being gone for 2 weeks for vacation and immediately whispered me asking if I still needed one last Shattered Halls run to hit revered. Yes please! We through a run together and last night I finally got my +35 healing head enchant, and nice upgraded blue pve ring, and my first heroic key. Good times!

Today I need to do some mineing runs for some gold for new enchants as well as getting the EOTS and AB tokens I need.

Off to the grind!

Its not lacking any meat...

2007-07-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

LOL and here I was thinking I was the only dirty minded person on earth. I was telling this coworker about the Quiznos commercial and how shocked I was the first time I saw it. I actually had to rewind it on TiVo and watch it several times. The wife and I both found it hilarious. Especially her laugh at the end. That has got to be one of the best HeeHaw laughs of all time. If she's an actor(which im 99% sure she is) she did a great job of acting like she embarrassed herself when she realized what she had just said. It was def one of those "I cant believe they just said that on TV" moments.

http://digg.com/videos/comedy/Quiznos_Commercial_It_s_not_lacking_any_meat_What_were_they_thinking

Horde and AV musings

2007-07-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

A guildie and I were talking on our guild forum about our AV matches. We both stumbled onto the same conclusions:

1)horde usually wins about 10% of our battlegroups AV matches at any given time
2)AV is about getting honor so we dont mind because its not uncommon for us to lose and have more honor than the winning alliance team.
3)after 7 pm on weekdays its not uncommon for horde to suddenly start winning +50% and 3-5 wins in a row arent uncommon
4)during the regular AV weekends horde wins about 10% like during the weekdays but during AV bonus weekends Horde wins 30+%

I pulled these numbers out of my ass FYI but we both agreed they were prob close.

Maybe theres less AFKers after 7 for horde on weekends. Maybe theres more afkers for alliance after 7 and on weekends. Whenever an AV AFKer starts chatting up the raid channel they almost always claim they are doing homework while playing. This very limited amount of data implies that most AFKers are young enough to be at an age that has homework. Ive seen people throw out numbers that Horde tend to be an older player base on averge which I have no idea if its true or not. But it looks really cool to add all those made up numbers and say afkers=kids=horde wins more at homework time and after bed time.

See what I did There?

OK my head hurts now so back to the grind.

Eye Of The Storm

2007-07-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

So I needed 19 more Eye Of The Storm tokens to get my epic PVP boots. Since Sulfur wasn't on I ran solo for the night. I believe EOTS is my favorite BG. The honor isn't as good as AV which is why I run AV for honor and the other BGs for tokens but it is definitely action packed.

When I'm by myself in BGs as a resto shaman I just look for the biggest, meanest MS warrior I can find with he best epic 2 hander I can find. I then follow him around making him a god. Its allot of fun and easy mode against pug scrub teams. I just have earth shield on myself and stay glued to the warrior. When he charges I drop windfury totem and cast bloodlust. I have seen a decked out warrior charge 5 people with me healing him, cast fear, and then dismantle the whole group. I also steadily drop grounding totems to absorb all big slow cast magic attacks I can. Me and one decked out warrior can usually ride from flag taking them if its against an unorganized team.

The warriors are always thankful and say so. However the biggest praise I get is from classes not used to getting heals. I was guarding the flag in EOS with a 3 minute mage. 2 rogues jumped us and I just chain healed the mage while he froze them in p,lace and aoed them to death. They then came with 3 rogues. He sheeped 1 and we did the same thing. They then came with 5 or 6 rogues and we died. He gave me a /w rogue much? and we both had a good laugh. He raved about my healing but it wasn't a big deal he just wasn't used to getting heals.

Heals win BGs.

Its AV weekend so im at 16k honor now. I should be able to get 2 PVP EPIX! this weekend. Prob the boots and the neck. Next week I am off from work and will go for the belt, epic ring, and the epic trinket.

Week 4 PVP

2007-07-05T06:15:00.001-07:00

So yesterday Sulfur and I had some free time and decided to see if we could get in more than 10 arena matches to get in some good practice. I am happy to announce that we are up to mediocre! We went 12-12 which we are VERY happy with. I really feel at this time that with better gear we will be able to win 65-75% of our matches.

Sulfur now has the pvp head and shoulders. He was going to get the chest piece but we found out its 30 AB tokens so it will be another week or so on that so he got the shoulders. The funny thing is that the blue hunter pvp set is the same as the shaman blue pvp set as far as looks go. So now our opponents think they are seeing double as 2 orcs from the same guild come charging out wearing the same gear! LOL I guess it may be a slight advantage. I now have the blue head and shoulders, the pvp trinket, and the epic pvp bracers. I will be getting the epic pvp boots or belt tomorrow.

After our 24 matches yesterday we discussed our Arena points. We came to the conclusion that I should wait on getting the +425 healing mace in favor of getting the Arena shield followed by the Arena gloves and Legs. I am a tank in these matches and several times yesterday I died right as one of our opponents died leaving sulfur a 1 on 1. He one about half of these but its obvious that more durability for me will be much more important than 200 more healing. The shield alone will give me +25 resilience+2200 armor!+200 life. Then the gloves will give me 200 more armor+2% to crypt on my fast heal+25 resilience+200 life. The legs will give me a ton more stats as well AND the +35 arena resilience 2 piece bonus. So ill be able to get the shield a week from Tuesday hopefully. Then I can get the gloves and legs over the next 2 months. At that point I will go from 120 resilience(now) to 250+ resilience, 7500 armor to almost 11k armor, and from 8k life to 9500+ life. I can then focus on the big daddy healing mace.

I am loving my survivability. At this point a warrior has to have a nice epic weapon to even be a threat to me. We went up against a priest/warrior and the warrior had just the blue pvp BOE axe that sulfur uses that has 95dps and 50 stamina on it. Man he couldn't even hurt me. My earth shield alone healed me for more than he was dealing. I was able to completely ignore him and focus on the priest with Sulfur. I can REALLY tell the difference if the warrior has a 100+ dps epic weapon. I have to chain heal myself while sulfur kills the other guy and I cant help. Im really hoping that when I get decked out these epic warriors are as easy to deal with as the blue geared warriors we are facing now. Here's hoping!

Enchanting is up to 250 BTW. Its pretty easy to level so far but I hear it gets allot more expensive.

Slow night

2007-07-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

Not much to report on from last night. I just ran a ton of AV matches. I should be able to get my blue pvp pants Thursday. I'm off work WED for the 4th and will have most of the day to play until we have to go to the Wife's Boss's house for dinner/fireworks. I have a spell thread(the healing one) sitting in the bank for it already.

Sulfur got his blue PVP helm this morning. Last night he got the Meta gem that gives +12 agility/+3% crit damage as well as the other gem for it that gives +4 agil/+6 stam. We found out that the gems that match 2 color slots also count as both colors to meet the meta gem requirements to activate. I.E..He needed 1 red and 1 blue(?) to activate it. so he put the +4 agil/+6 stam gem into the headpieces red slot and it counted as 1 red and 1 blue(?). He was going to buy the chest first but found out the chest needed 30 AB tokens not 30 AV(DOH!). So he bought the helm that cost AV tokens. We need everything eventually anyways.

I checked my Arena points this morning and I am half way to my big daddy +425 healing mace(my current one is +225 so that mace will give me 1300+ healing in PVP gear and 1500+ healing in PVE gear). About 5 more weeks and that baby is mine!

We will do our 10 Arena matches tonight and I will report here tomorrow how it goes.

Enchanting up to 200

2007-07-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

So as I said I was going to do last week I dropped skinning and pickup enchanting this weekend. I was able to get it up to about 200 with very low cost so far. I just solod RFC and the little instance by crossroads for a few hours and DEd everything. This got me up to about 40 and gave me a decent startup amount of mats. I was able to then use the mats from the DEing to get to about 60. I then spent about 30 gold total buying all the trainer recipes as I leveled as well as buying a bunch of cheap low end chanting ingredients.

I just bought:
1) 1 bracer
2) 1 chest piece
3) 1 boots
4) 1 cloak
5) 1 shield

I then just enchanted these over and over with whatever the cheapest red enchant was until I got to 200. Finding the expert enchanter over by redridge mountains was a bit of a pain but I found him and then wrote down the coordinates(man what the hell was blizzard thinking).

Luckily the next enchanter is in hellfire I believe and I wont have to go to Uldaman to get to him/her like people used to.

Just 25 more points and ill be able to DE level 70 blues. I think its 275 for level 70 epics but don't quote me on that.

PVP Weekend

2007-07-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I ran AV a ton of times and this morning I was able to purchase my epic pvp cloak. This gets my stats up to about 120 resilience, 8k life, and 1100 healing. Im really noticing the resilience in the BGS. Man I felt almost indestructable..lol.

When I am solo PVPing I start inspecting all the warriors at the beginning of the match and find the most decked out one with the best 2 hander out of the group. I then just follow him around dropping windfury totem and healing him and more or less making him into a god. I needed 7 AB tokens to get the cloak so during one of the AB matches I found a warrior decked out and carying the lionheart sword or whatever its called. Man, we were able to charge groups of 2-4 alliance and just destroy them. He and I just rode from point to point destroying their defense and moving on while our team capped and defended what we destroyed. It was awesome. Towards the end we were up 4-1 on caps and 1800-500 score so we stopped and guarded and began to chit chat. He couldnt stop praising my play enough. We also were laughing about how fast some of the opponents had died with sword spec proc+winfury proc+my bloodlust. Man it felt good to be on the giving end of that kind of damage.

Sulfur will be getting his new chestpiece tomorrow so we can then do our 10 matches for the new week on the 2 man. The guild 5 man went 3-7 this week so its improving each week as well. I wasnt in any of the matches but Sulfur was in 3 and 2 of the 3 total wins were while he was playing. As stated before our guilds 5 man is just a place for our beginner pvpers to start out getting 300+ arena points a week. We will soon be to the point where a couple of the 2 and 3 man teams will be getting more points than the 5 man because of nice ratings. At that point those players will drop from the 5 man and we will move in new 70 pvpers to get them started. So we never expect the current 5 man team to be good. It is just a springboard to start off everyones arena career. We reset the team every 2 weeks for 200 gold so that it will always pull in 275-350 points a week.

Our Moroes Strat

2007-06-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

Our strategy is a little bit different then some others. we took ideas from several sources and had to adapt them for our guild. We have no Paladins at this time to clean the garrote. we are horde and have no dwarfs that can self clean either. so we just have to deal with garrote except for our 1 frost mage who can freeze themselves out of it.

1)we have 2 priests so we shackle 2 adds
2)the MT and OT tank Moroes and 1 soft hitting add(i.e. the prot warrior add). This works great because the add is not very smart and will hit them breaking them out of blind and gouge that Moroes puts on them. (I also drop a poison cleansing totem because blind is considered a poison and this cleans it)
3)we burn down one add
4)we burn down one of the shackles
5)the priest whose shackle we just burned down shackles the add on the tanks(i.e. the prot warrior) as soon as we burn down the second add
6)we now kill moroes and have 2 shackled
7)we kill the 2 shackled

we kill the priests first because they mana burn our healers mana fast so they have to die quick!

This is a mixture of all kinds of strats and believe me we tried everything..lol

We also soul stone one or both of our priests depending on if we have 2 warlocks or not.

My chain heal is AWESOME in this fight for healing the tank and 2 others who are being garroted. I start using that once we get the first 2 adds down.

Your mileage may vary depending on your raids makeup and if you have a paladin and some dwarfs this fight seems like it would be easy mode since garrote is the main issue in this long fight.

Moroes Down!

2007-06-29T04:45:00.000-07:00

So after 3 weeks in Kara we finally got Moroes down! We are a very casual guild and we raid Kara on Thurs and Sunday evenings from 6-10. We downed Attuman on our first night in like most guilds. We then worked on getting him down each week while getting all our raiders their book for the quest out of the room near Maiden. We then began working on Moroes about 3 runs ago.

Last Sunday we got him down to 20% twice and 10% once. So we felt confident that we would get him this week. It wasn't pretty but we got him on the first try. I got lucky and was never garroted plus we had 2 warlocks so both our priests were soul stoned. At the end both priests had died twice and there were just 4 of us alive after Moroes dropped and we still had to kill 2 elite adds. I was the only healer left and was OOM! luckily my 2nd mana pot timer and my second mana tide totem timer came available right then and I was able to get to about 5k mana in a few seconds. I put another earth shield on our Off Tank(main tank was down) and dropped my fire elemental totem and began healing. Everyone cheered when they saw the much needed for dps elemental join the fray. It was pretty cool.

Here's the loot that dropped last night. We only have one Pally in guild >60 and he's almost 70 so we DEd the pally drop. On the bright side I got one of the 2 void crystals that came from the DE and those sell for about 35-45 on my server.

Moroes

Boots of Valiance
Binds when picked up
Feet
Plate
997 Armor
+28 Stamina
+28 Intellect
Durability 75 / 75
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 25 (1.1%).
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 55.

Signet of Unshakable Faith
Binds when picked up
Held In Off-hand
+19 Stamina
+21 Intellect
+22 Spirit
Requires Level 70
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 37.

Attumen the Huntsman

Worgen Claw Necklace
Binds when picked up
Unique
Neck
+20 Agility
+21 Stamina
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves hit rating by 17 (1.1%).
Equip: Increases attack power by 42.

Steelhawk Crossbow
Binds when picked up
Crossbow
155 - 288 Damage
Speed 2.80
(79.1 damage per second)
Durability 90 / 90
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves hit rating by 16 (1.0%).
Equip: Increases attack power by 30.

Arena Points and Rankings Calculators

2007-06-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Added 2 new links that i found over at Geekboys. The first is an Arena points calculator and the other shows the 2, 3, and 5 man rankings. Hopefully they will get the season 2 data updated soon.

AV and enchanting

2007-06-28T05:46:00.001-07:00

So last night I did about 3 hours worth of AV matches. I should be at about 5k honor today. My guild has our Kara raids on Thursdays and Sundays so no PVP tonight. I should be able to get enough honor Friday and Saturday to get the Epic PVP cloak on Sunday. Sulfur should be getting his blue pvp chest around that time as well. He are trying to do our 10 pvp matches on Tuesdays so that we can try to get at least 1 pvp upgrade a week before the next match. This will give us the chance to slightly improve before each weeks match. Seems to be working so far.

I am currently saving up so that I can drop skinning and pick up enchanting. Right now im 375 mining/375 skinning. Mining is my money maker. Skinning was great when I was leveling and skinning all the time. However I always knew that at 70 I would pick up something more useful. Im going enchanting mainly so that I can get the 2 +20 healing ring enchants. It will also allow me to make my own mana oils that I use all the time in Kara as well as DE items on 5 mans with the guild. I got some great advice over at http://bigredkitty.blogspot.com/2007/06/jeebuz-wednesdays-come-quickly.html in the comments section. Looks like ill just farm a low lvl instance to start out. DE those greens and then use those mats. Should take less than an hour to get the first stem done. I also have an enchanting 1-300 guide from the wow forums that I will follow. Im going to try to get to 300 this weekend. Ill then level it a little each week until 375 and the ring enchants.

Week 3 Arena

2007-06-27T05:58:00.000-07:00

Woot!

So last night Sulfur and I started our third week of 2 man Arena and it was awesome.

recap:
week 1-goal 1 wins-went 1-9(goal accomplished)
week 2-goal 2 wins-went 2-8(goal accomplished)
week 3-goal 3 wins-went 5-5(goal obliterated!)

So i got my +20 resilience pvp trinket yesterday before our 10 matches. Sulfur got his pvp shoulders and put blue gems and the aldor enchant on them sunday night.

Those 2 upgrades plus our growing knowledge of arena pvp strategies really payed off! We were hoping for 3 wins and went 5-5! We were ecstatic.

Things have really started to come together. We actually beat a pally/warrior combo and barely missed beating a second.

Also, with sulfurs pet being able to become immune to fear for 30 seconds plus my bloodlust that cat tears through any cloth wearer in seconds!

We finally learned to fight the warrior/pally teams and now at least have a starting game plan for almost every team we face. Against us any team with a non dps pally has a very hard time killing me through my earth shield. Sulfur and his pet open up on the pally while i tank their dps person and try to get them into the freezing trap. This gives me a few seconds to run forward and do 2 instant spell attacks and make the pally bubble. Sulfur also keeps mana drain on the pally. While the pally is bubbled sulfur and pet go off on the warrior beating on me. If it gets rough sulfur scatter shots the warrior and buys me time to get off a big heal. Then the pally unbubbles and sulfur and pet go back to draining/dpsing the pally. The pally has to heal the warrior back up asap after his bubbble. With the mana drains and the strain of bubbling+healing himself back up these lower end pallys are usually about out of mana and die pretty quickly. After the pally dies sulfur places a trap right on the warrior and we heal up and then finish him. That is the perfect scenario anyways. Obviously we have to adjust on the fly.

Against warlock or shadow priest teams we just pick one cloth wearer and make sulfurs cat immune to all CC for 30 seconds and i cast bloodlust. They die very easily at this level. I am sure they will get much harder. In fact I know they will.

The one team of note that we are having trouble with is the marksman hunter/mage combo. They burn sulfur down too fast for me to heal even with my grounding totem. Hopefully as we get closer to 10k life and 300 resilience we can learn to overcome these. We can usually get the mage out about the same time as sulfur dies. However i get owned 1 vs 1 against a decent hunter.

So far our team is well rounded and can adjust to most combos we face. Will see how it goes next week!

Goals for next week:
1)sulfur is saving honor for the blue pvp chest piece. This one piece will give him about 65 more resilience! 15 resilience for chest+15 resilience for chest enchant+35 resilience 2 piece bonus=65 resilience + he already has the shoulders=about 80 resilience
2)i will be buying the epic pvp cloak in a couple of days. That will get me to about 8k life and about 125 resilience(I'm at work and cant get to armory behind this firewall to check for exact numbers)

Notes: Man I am really noticing the effects of resilience as i get more and more! With my earth shield plus 100+ resilience I am able to shrug off 1 rogue or warrior(if they aren't geared to the teeth better than me). And with the trinket i finally have the anti CC we need to keep me from being just CC the whole match against certain teams. I used the trinket in almost every match. 1 match i was down to 10% life and was stunned by a pally/rogue combo that were both on me. Sulfur had the rogue down to 10% life and the pally was at less than half mana. I trinketted out of the stun and got off a heal and applied a fresh earth shield before being restunned. The rogue then died and we dismantled the pally 2 vs 1.

Things are coming together! We started the week at 1385(about) and finished our 10 matches at somewhere around 1418. So we are moving in the right direction.

Real men of Genius

2007-06-26T13:43:00.001-07:00

Thanks to sulfur for coming up with the idea for this one. i took it and ran with it.

Real Men or Azeroth
(Real men of Aaaaaazeroth)

Today we salute you Mr Alterac Valley AFKer
(Mr AV AFKer!)

A true Hero knows that there is no try
(you took that literally)

You know that revenge is a dish best served cold
(Jesus, I almost forgot to jump that time)

With the spacebar in one hand and the TV remote
in the other, you find the time to walk by your pc every 3 1/2 minutes
for days on end
(I hope we win this one!)

So heres to you Mr Alterac Valley AFKer! Only you could
think of the drinking bird thingy from the simpsons as your
next big upgrade
(Mr Alterac Valley AFKer)

Tired!

2007-06-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

Well Sulfur wanted to get in our 10 matches in arena tonight since he got the hunter pvp shoulders sunday night. He also got the Aldor shoulder enchant put on them and 2 blue gems. So Last night i needed 4k more honor to get my much needed PVP trinket. Long story short: i was up until midnight to get the last few honor points needed so that i can buy it today when i get home from work before our matches.

This trinket will finally give me a reliable CC in the 2 man arenas. Most of the times teams come after me and i basically pvp tank them while Sulfur tries to kill one before they kill me. However we run into issues with smart teams that would CC me and then kill him first. He obviously doesnt have near the survivability as i do and can be killed while im sheeped or sapped if they can kick out some really good dps. This trinket will also give me 15 resilience and get me to 100 resilience. Ive got a long ways to go but im getting there. i cant wait to have 10k life and 300 resilience!

Next ill be focusing on getting the epic pvp cloak. It will be a huge pvp upgrade and will get me over the 8k life beginners hump. Sulfur is right under 8k life at this time as well. He is saving for the blue PVP chestpice that will be a huge pvp upgrae as well. It will give him the resilience of the new chest, the +35 2 piece resilience bonus, 300-400 life that his current blue chest doesnt have and a little armore. He will also get the +15 resilience to chest enchant if we can find someone to do it. So with one item he will go from 15 resilience to 90 resilience. Hehe, pretty nice!

Ill post tomorrow how our 10 matches go tonight. We are hoping for 3 wins but i think 2 is more resonable. We havent improved a ton gearwise this week but we will see. Heres hoping!

Week Two Arena

2007-06-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

Im going to start out by posting the last couple of weeks worth of posts that I had posted at another site before I made my blog. So the following from from my second week of 2 man arena PVP:

so week 2 in pvp for sulfur and I. our goal in week 2 was to get 2 wins and we achieved it. we went 2-8. we also had a couple where a little more gear would have won it for us. so as we gear up the wins will keep improving.

ill be getting my pvp trinket in the next couple of days and sulfur will be getting his pvp shoulders+aldor enchant this week. i will also be getting the thrallmar revered +35 healing/7 mp5 head enchant this week after 1 more shattered halls run.

so this coming week we will try for 3 wins.

notes: scattershot rox for pvp! sulfur dropped his 41st bm point so he could get scattershot. it worked great! we had 1 fight where it came down to sulfur(a brand new 70) and an epicced out rogue who put out unbelievable burst damage being the only 2 left standing. sulfur was able to scattershot him and bandage half way back up before losing a heartbreaker.

our gameplan is basically:
1)sick pet on healer or softest target if no healer and sulfur starts shooting the hell out of him
2)i try to get their main dps guy into the freezing trap
3)once hes trapped i have a few seconds to get off 2 instant attacks on the guy sulfur +pet is bombarding. this usually kills them or gets them into panic mode
4)sulfur+pet finishhes the guy whuile i go back to tanking main dps
5)once guy is dead sulfur scatters the one on me and i quickly heal us all up to full and we finish him. thats our gameplan anyways.

we had an awesome 15 minute fight against a pally/druid combo. they couldnt put out enough dps to kill us. we could not out dps 2 healers enough to kill them. sulfur had just gotten the pally OOM when i ran out of mana and died. they were both horde and on our server so after the match we all bowed to each other and laughed about what a crazy awesome match that was.

sulfur then did his favorite trick of hovering over all the people signing up for BGS, flying up a mile into the air, and dropping to his death among the crowd to freak people out. i think theres something wrong with him...

oh we also had an AV match where this really talkative jerk was barking orders(mage) so sulfur kept redirecting everything onto him and killing him. it was hillarious! we were giggling like little girls in vent.

So this brings us up to this week dear reader. From here on out the posts will be current instead of from previous weeks.

Week One 2 man Arena

2007-06-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Im going to start out by posting the last couple of weeks worth of posts that I had posted at another site before I made my blog. So the following from from my first week of 2 man arena PVP:

Sulfur and i started our 2 man team last night so we could get our weekly arena points. we werent expecting to win any with a brand new 70 and me with only 2 pieces of pvp gear but we surprised ourselves and won 1 out of the 10 as well as missing 1 by a sliver when me and a rogue fought for over a minute and he killed me with less than 5% of his life left after resisting my last frost shock(he may have used COS there not sure).

we were competative in almost all the matches except one or two where me not having the pvp trinket really hurt us(sheep/sap) we do great against the teams with rogue but lose out to ms warrior teams. also teams with a pally are tuff for us as well. we just basically make them come to us and use his range + pet on one of them and try to coax the other into the frost trap before going all out on the non frost trapped one. we then go into kite mode.

if the patch goes through today ill be getting my epic pvp bracers tonight and then the cloak and trinket sometime this week. sulfur will be getting his shoulders and helm over the next week as well. once we get a decent amount of pvp gear with resilience on both of us we should do very decent at the 2 mans.

Hello!

2007-06-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hello,

My name is Mourne and I play an Orc Resto Shaman on the Baelgun server. My brother and I both hit 70 in the last few months. Before that i played a lvl 60 rogue on alliance side. I took a break from WOW after a year and a half last June. I came back and rolled horde this Jan after a 7 month break when Burning Crusade came out. I played the dps class for a year and a half or so and this time I wanted to be a PVP healer as well as a raiding healer. My brother played a warrior last time and this time chose a hunter so he could do some DPS this time around. We both really enjoy the classes we have chosen.

Our guild just started Karazhan 2 weeks ago and are working on Moroes. We raid 2 nights a week and are VERY casual. We killed the huntsman on our first night and last night got Moroes down to 20% twice and 10% on the last attempt so he will be going down this week. The 3 healers are 2 priests and myself. All 3 of us are decently geared with 1260(me)-1400 healing.

My brother hit 70 a few weeks back so the 2 of us finally got to start our 2 man arena team 2 weeks ago. We didnt expect to win any since hes a brand new 70 and i only have 2 pvp pieces but we surprised ourselves and went 1-9 with a couple of really close ones. We had a blast!

Last week we had a little more experience and went 2-8 which was our goal, This week we will try for 3. We are running BGs as fast as we can on non raid nights to gear up.

Ive been 70 for a few months so I have my epic flying mount and as a miner + epic flying mount i can make some good gold so when he got to 70 I bought him a few epics to get our arena team jump started. So he has the 2 handed Axe that all pvp hunters use. He also has the epic BM BOE epic pants as well as the 75 dps Khoruim destroyer crafted gun. He just picked up his pvp shoulders this morning so we are getting there slowly but surely.

I have a very decent pve set and for pvp have the blue pvp head and shoulders along with the epic pvp bracers. Im about 3k honor away from the new pvp trinket and that will be a big help in 2 man arenas. Right now if I get CC we lose.

So this blog will be an ongoing tale of mine and my brothers Arena PVP journey from noobs to hopefully half decent as we gear up as well as a tidbit here and there about how our guild is progressing in raid content.

Enjoy the ride and thanks for reading!