Not Much Going On....

Not much happening in the World of Warcraft today, it seems, except the latest patch notes. They continue to change in preparation for the patch, which will probably happen next Tuesday. Mark your calendars!

'Bout Freaking Time

They finally changed the mechanics of mining. It's only 1 hit per node to get all the goodies.

Anthropologist Uses WoW Primates as Research

Using WoW for a research paper? Why not? Everyone seems to be doing it these days.

Missing Play Time

Servers are having horrid issues staying up. Beware.

Just in Case Your Cave Doesn't Have Cable....

This video is nothing but awesome-ness. By Percula. Flip over there for the HD version.


The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

Death Knight - ado

I hope everyone is having fun playing the new Borg....erm, I mean Death Knights.

Now don't rag on me. I've got one (or two) myself. I know how much fun they are, but they are also sort of annoying. I mean, while leveling in Outland, it's always "4 DK group LF healer" or some such. Also, while playing your Death Knight, it's a pain to get a group yourself. No one trusts them to tank much yet, and even then, they're annoyed that there are so many around and don't want you in their group.

Well, if you haven't figured out all the wrinkles of your favorite new bad guy yet, there's a nice write up over at Squidoo on them. Lots of info, including talent builds (some of which are featured on Elitist Jerks) and gear guides. Good info for those who want it.

Playing the Blues

I'm at lunch, playing with, I mean "by", myself again.

My lunch-buddy has sworn off WoW again, so I'm pretty much left to myself in our small, family guild. This happens every-so-often. We get a group of 10 or so steady players, all real-life friends, who like to play together. But as time goes by, the participation drops, then the playing time, and finally, they stop playing altogether. This seems to happen every 3 months or so. After about 3 months away, they'll come back for a few months and the process repeats.

I like playing with these folks. I enjoy spending my online time with my RL friends and family. But what do you do when they abandon you for half of each year? I could soldier on solo, but I really enjoy the social aspects of the game. I enjoy instancing, chatting, or just general bs'ing around. That's one of the reasons I used to enjoy our old server so much. It was a RP server, and if no one else was around, I could always find someone to strike up a conversation, even if it was an RP one.

This server we moved to at the start of 2008, at my friends' instigation, is a 'normal' server. Therefore, RP is a bad word here. I could join a new guild, but I guarantee as soon as I do that, and start to go up through their ranks, my RL friends will start playing again and I'll feel that I have to go back to them and will likely abandon my new guild. Get the feeling I've done this before? Yeah, it sucks.

I'll figure something out. I always do.

Monday Morning Blues

Well, my blissful 2 weeks of vacation came to a sudden halt early this-morning with the blaring of the alarm clock and the missus shoving me out of bed. C'est la vie.

During those 2 weeks, I did manage to level a spanking new Shaman to 46, when of course, I could get on. Did I work on any other character? Nope, no sir, not a bit. Yeah, I probably could have used that time more constructively to get my Death Knight, or my Paladin, or my Priest, or my Hunter to 80. I'm just lazy in a weird sort of way, I guess.

Waiting in Line

Things to do while waiting in queue to log in to your server:

1. Watch House
   That damn show's always on.
2. Read some Bill Shakespeare plays. There's tons to choose from.
3. Read Big Red Kitty, because he's always funny.
4. Do homework... Nah!
5. Pick on the missus as she also waits in the queue (always fun).
6. Review your spec build for the 400th time (Yep, still the same).
7. Channel surf to avoid telemarketing commercials. I'm liable to order something. Yeah, I'm looking at you, ShamWow.
8. Check work e-mail. Yeah, right!
9. Read Elitist Jerks for Enhancement Shammy tips.
10. Surf YouTube for the latest Disney videos for my kids.
    

Oh, look, only 20 minutes to go now. Joy.


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

The Voice of Pikachu

Like all good Barrens chat channels, we rarely talk about Warcraft, and spend a lot more time analyzing what I did to your mom last night or the merits of Chuck Norris.

Here's a good one. Ever wonder what the person who did the voice of Pikachu looked like? Neither did I, but someone sent me this link and it's pretty funny watching a that sound come out of a grown woman. Enjoy!


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

One Might Think....

With so much happening in the World of Warcraft, one might think I'd be tempted to just stay there and ignore the outside world...

...and you might be right.

Let's take a moment to review what's going on, shall we?

First, there seems to be a pretty big election coming up next week. I don't even want to start with what side of the fence everyone comes down on and why. All I can say is that everyone needs to stop drinking the cool-aid.

Second, the world is completely filled with idiots. Maybe this is bigger than my first point or even directly related to it, I don't know. It's probably common knowledge. I awoke to it recently, not because of any deep-seated revelation, but rather a sudden dawning. Guess I'm getting more cynical in my old age. I used to think that 90% of the people in the world were just "asleep at the wheel". Now I think that they're just complete morons. I'd go into my reasoning for this, but it would take too long and 90% of you wouldn't get it anyway.

Third, it's Halloween (Happy Halloween, btw). This means I'll be spending my evening trudging up and down neighborhoods with my kids while tons of soccer moms dressed like she-devils gallivant, trying to keep my eyes from bulging out and getting smacked by my wife. It's a trying time for any married male.

Fourth, there is nothing good on TV. I mean it. I'm so disappointed in the fall line-ups that I've taken to watching old reruns of House and NCIS (Abbey is hot). Even Heroes sucks. How disappointing is that?

Fifth, we're gearing up for Christmas here. Yep, that means I'll either spend the next 2 months watching the kids while the wife goes shopping, or I'll be along for the ride watching the kids while we go shopping with the wife. Joy.

Sixth, work is heating up. When other groups tend to be slowing down at the end of the year, my department is always busier. Why? Probably because everyone else is slow and has nothing better to do than to dump work on us.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.... My cynic seems to be either lightening up or slowing down.

At any rate, have a Happy Halloween and a safe one!


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

Long Time, No Bloggy

Since you last heard from me, my little ol' rogue is now 56, the priest is 64, and the pally is languishing at the Sunwell (at least until the expansion).

I've not been blogging because there is so very little to actually blog about. Sure, I could try to play keep-up with the fast and furious changes happening before Wrath, but why bother? It changes faster than I can type.

Bored? Yeah, still am. I left that little guild where I kept my pally because they really never did anything together. Never believe them when they advertise that they instance all the time. They lie.

I actually formed my own guild with some friends. We were all in another small guild together, but our guildmaster has since left/quit/gone-on-hiatus and no one had the ability to invite new people/alts or actually use the guild bank. Wasn't worth the effort of staying, so we formed our own. It's much easier to talk that way and we can actually party with other people. Imagine that! The novelty of it all.


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

Bored, Bored, Bored

I'm not quite this bored yet

Yeah, I gave in.

I "finished" my pally. He's 70, 490 def, and approaching 120% mitigation. He just needs some lovin' via instancing. For that, I'm waiting on the rest of my guild to catch up and want to do it. Soooooo, now I've got a ton of time on my hands.

I tried working on the rogue, and I got him to 41, but I just don't feel it. He bores me to tears. Maybe I'll spec him to subtlety or something more interesting. Combat Swords is very efficient, but is rather boring.

So, failing that, I tried working on my priest and "finish" levelling him. He's sitting at 62 and I really ought to just push on ahead to 70. Again, I'm just not feeling it. He's just not my idea of a good time. Maybe he'll get some love when my guildies get to his level. I'll probably respec him to holy and use him primarily in instancing or grouping.

I tried druid again, but you know how much fun they are to play until you get cat form. It's very similar to visiting the dentist without the benefit of painkiller or insurance. I'll re-visit him later.

Bored, I started another new character. He's a hunter. Yeah, I've got one hunter to 70 already, so what would I possibly need with a second? Beats me. I've been asking myself that same question. I suppose I'm just inspired by the pics of the motorcycles for engineers, so I'm working on this one as an engineer. Lame, but I did really enjoy playing my hunter the first time. We'll see how this one goes, or if he ends up in the delete file too.


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

From the Nimble Fingers of Ghostcrawler

My favorite dev, Ghostcrawler, had some new and interesting things to relate about Paladins in response to the feedback Bliz has been given.

Here's what she said:

Here are some things we are looking at right now. You may not agree with them all, but I will share them with you in the hopes of making you feel better about your class, and maybe even getting you excited again. I also can't promise they are final because it's still the sort of thing we're wrestling with, and I don't want to disappoint anyone if it doesn't work out or we change our minds. Okay, massive caveats out of the way:

• We'd like to do something else with Kings. I don't know that a core ability is the answer, but burying it deep in Prot, when Prot warriors would just as soon play with BoSanc, doesn't feel great either.
• We'd like to mess around with the top 2 tiers of all 3 trees, still encouraging you to cross-spec a little, but making that initial bite into the upper tier more tasty instead of just an icky appetizer to get the what you really want down deeper.
• I think Beacon of Light is starting to feel pretty good. It may be a little OP right now, but I think we can get it in a good place. (I'm sorry, but I don't know if you have the version I'm talking about or not.)
• We'd like to get Vengeance back to 3 stacks, because that just feels more fun than 2. I can almost assure you that it won't be at 15% total damage -- that is hugely generous for 5 talent points, and would normally be budgeted at more like 15 talent points. If I had to guess, it will end up at something like 3 talent points for 1 / 2 / 3% that stacks up to 3 times (so 9% at 3 stacks). That is still over-inflated for 3 talent points. I understand that your dps used to depend on Vengeance. We'll just have to buff it in other ways. Death Knights will get the exact same treatment, whatever it ends up being.
• JotW was changed to support the new party buff system and it needs to keep that role. That is one of the main reasons why a group would want to take a Ret pally over another dps class. I understand your mana was dependent on this ability. We'll just have to buff that in other ways as well. Having too many talents that just lower mana costs feel like a band-aid, so we'd rather not overdo that route. Instead we'd just like to make sure you have enough mana. The new Divine Plea is one mechanic here (it works more like Blood Rage than Evocate now), but it's not the only one.
• Deep Ret and deep Prot need 1 or 2 more cool talents. We'll carve out room by bundling or just swapping out some of the current talents.

I hope you take this little view into our current thought process in the spirit that it's given. Sometimes we regret talking about stuff that isn't final because it ends up coming back to bite us. But I also thought it wouldn't hurt to cheer you up a little either, so hopefully something I've said will do that.

Beautiful. I'm really hoping these changes help fix some of the bloat that infests all three trees.


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

Paladin Love

Paladins (especially Prot) are about to receive a heaping-helping of love, come 3.02. What am I talking about? I'm talking about me some Blessing of Sanctuary.

Yes, the red-headed step child of Protection Paladins everywhere. This once, much-maligned (and rightfully so) step you HAD to take to get Holy Shield is actually going to be useful in the future. Not only useful, it's going to be freaking amazing!

Places a Blessing on the friendly target, reducing damage taken from all sources by 3% for 10 min. In addition, when the target blocks, parries, or dodges a melee attack the target will gain 10 rage, 20 runic power, or 2% of maximum mana.

That's right, boys and girls, BoSanc will actually keep our little blue rage bars juiced. Not only that, but it will help give us a little more raid utility because we can give this pretty little buff to other tanks and have it not only be useful, but very welcome.

I'm looking more forward to Wrath now than ever.


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

Gots to Get Me One of Those

One word: Rhino.




Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

OK, Now What? Part Three

As Robin and my guildleaders pointed out, I missed the point of One-Handed Weapon Specialization entirely. Back to the drawing-board.

*sigh*

Oh, and it's 490 defense, not 415. No clue where I came up with that.


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

OK, Now What? Update

Alrighty then. I went ahead with my planned spec changes last night, and even with the loss of Reckoning, my dps did not drop significantly, though my survivability went way up.

At this point, my defense is too high at 421. While this isn't a problem, per se, I'm shooting for fair and balanced stats, so I need to drop this back down to 415, probably by regemming when I get the extra cash and the inclination to do so.

Running Recount, I did notice that on average about 58% of my damage is pure melee and 15% Holy Shield. My Seal/Judgment of Righteousness together only account for about 8%, which surprised me. My shield spike accounts for about as much damage as Seal of Righteousness, or about 5%. Third place went to Ret aura with 10%. So, I can switch to Seal/Judgment of Light or some other Seal/Judgment without feeling I'm losing significant dps, 'cause I'm not. (And when I say significant dps, I'm talking about maybe 10 or so. Prot pally dps is definitely something to sneeze at.)




Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

OK, Now What?

So I hit 66 on my Pally last night. I finally got the opportunity to dig some of that armor out of my bank that I've been holding onto for a while (most found with another character--I just kept it. And yes, I really do plan that far in advance.)

I'm sporting 413 defense, just in excess of 9500 armor and 8700 health. Not too shabby for 66 (the Armory apparently isn't completely up-to-date. It still shows 65.) Now I'm starting to see why protection specced Paladins opt out of Reckoning. You honestly get hit so little, that the chances of it proccing are very slim indeed.

So, I'm now looking at re-speccing into more of a "pure" protection build. I dug around and most point to this. That looks more-or-less like what I planned, but there are some differences that have me scratching my head.

In their build, one would forgo Blessing of Kings and Spell Warding in favor of One-Handed Weapon Specialization. I can't figure out why.

Blessing of Kings (BoK) is the most requested buff I have. I use it myself on a regular basis. That extra 10% to all stats is a beautiful thing and comes in handy when you know that you're going to be tanking something where just a little edge is all the difference between an impossible fight and a do-able one.

Spell Warding isn't much, but as Han said, "Short help is better than none, Chewie." That extra 4% less spell damage adds up pretty quickly when fighting multiple casters and bosses.

On the other hand, an extra 5% weapon damage sounds good on paper, but really it's kind of pointless IMHO. Let's face it, pally's don't hold agro with their damage. In fact, my damage is downright pitiful. In the areas like Nagrand, when Horde has the Halaa blessing and I do have the extra 5% damage, honestly I can't tell much of a difference. I mean, I might hit for 125 white damage ordinarily. Now I'm hitting for 131! Woohoo! I'm cooking with gas now, sweetheart!

Really, and for giving up Kings and Spell Warding, I'm not even getting that much. It's really only a 3% boost. So what gives? Hell, I'm probably getting a 3% damage boost from Kings anyway by bumping my stats 10%. Lord knows I'm getting much better mitigation, and isn't that the name of the game for prot pally's?


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

Mages Stunned Speachless, Film at Eleven

In a surprising statement, Koraa agreed with the Mage battlecry: Warlocks do too much damage.

Warlocks got to crazy land with the % modifiers to their damage output (specifically with Demonic Sacrafice), that's been toned down. Warlocks should never be able to out DPS a Mage with no pet out. Alike a Hunter, their pet should factor into their total damage output. Warlocks that sacrifice pretty much all utility talents should come very close to Mage DPS, but those who invest in group/raid utility should be lower.

I guess that makes Mages the new black.


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat