Decisions!

This Blog will be a bit personal in nature, but in game stuff. I do want to apologize for not fixing some of the posts I had previous, I was cleaning up some tags and deleted a few very popular posts.


Before I begin, I really have to say how fun ZA is to do again. I really missed and it. I found ZG pretty rough. The poison boss is SO unforgiving. I read a few posts HATING it and others loving that they spent hours in a 5 man....thanking blizz for rough content...WOW!

Progression vs comfort-

Summer is coming, 4.1 is upon us and 4.2 is right around the corner. I'm sitting at 7/12 and have been for about a month. Why? We haven't raided! Sure we have had some half ass attempts, some fill in guildies for those who missed.

Some of the highlights; our top DPS got hurt and isn't playing, our newly promoted Holy Pally took a break; the raid leader has some seriously bad RL issues getting in the way of his attendance, and it seems the rest of the raiders are content with where we are. We seem to struggle on farm fights more and more and it is causing some to get short and snappy.

I am almost exalted, I'm very fond of the guild, I feel at home. I, feel, comfortable.

This silly, time consuming game and its effects on me. I'm very competitive by nature. I feel like I'm missing out, but leaving would be letting people down. Wouldn't it? or are they letting me down by not playing to their potential? By not showing up?
These guys count on me, they have helped gear me but we do barley better than some pugs. Not saying they are at the skill level of pugs but the ambition the, the drive and the attendance is something pugs can accomplish or the most casual guilds who just "wanna have fun raiding together". My original guild that I raided with split apart, 5 friends went to another guild. They are the most casual, savagely unaware players I've played with are further ahead than I am in progression. This hurts my pride bone a tad!

I fear if I stay put, I'll never see the content I want, in fact I know I won't. I will not buy my way to a title or achievement when it comes to raiding. I can do it on my own, or I think I can. The problem is, no one needs tanks. I feel I've pinned myself in a bad spot.

I got a tell yesterday from a lvl 75 toon. He was from the #3 guild on server, a top 1500 guild worldwide. They need a tank, problem is they are 7/12....Heroic! Doh! I would be skipping 12 whole bosses and working on new fights at the heroic level. Could I do it, sure...I think. I'd make mistakes, but is that what this guild is looking for? They told me, they are looking for someone situational aware, someone knows their class and reliable. I can do all that...

I hate change, I hate making mistakes, I love to raid, I want to progress....I don't know...

DK solo's Yogg-Saron

I seen this and couldn't believe it. Just 3 short tiers (2 1/2 really, was ToC even a tier? :P ) a Blood Spec'd DK goes into Ulduar and solo's the final boss. He burnt down the brain phase amazingly in one phase. That means he did more DPS than guilds of that tier did in three phases. (source)


Below is the video, simply AMAZING! Gratz sir, on such a great accomplishment.


(Cached version)

Zul'Aman and Zul'Grub Video guide

4.1 hits you monitor today and here is some strat vids that will help you familiarize yourself with the revamped for 5 man raid instances. After I get my feet wet, I'll throw up a strat guide for these 2 places because as this goes live it's sure to be different.

I am happy, excite and eagerly waiting to log on today, thank you to Yogscast for doing such a wonderful job as always (source)Love the lady gaga reference at 7:08
Zal'Aman
http://www.icy-veins.com/zul-aman-heroic-dungeon Thanks Icy Veins


Zul' Grub (source)
http://www.icy-veins.com/zul-gurub-heroic-dungeon Thanks Icy Viends

The 4.1 Tanking Source!

**This is a repost, I lost the original. I will be fixing the links later.

The 4.1 tanking source!
Whats in a patch....well with 4.1 there is a ton!

I wanted to take some time and put a little list together for the upcoming changes to 4.1 for tanks other notes and gearing for 4.1 as a tank. (Source)

Paladin changes-

The big one, Word of Glory now has a 20 second cool down, making our rotation slightly more static and not allowing us a walking heal any time we need. The ultimate effect will be seen later as 4.2 enters but unless you are doing hard modes, most people are on par gear wise with content and this will get better as ZA and ZG gear start hitting the Org/SW hangers.

Divine Guardian now has a 3 minute cool down. Up from two minutes. Again, non game breaking but still adds periods of AoE damage to us.

Sacred Duty can no proc off Avengers Shield and Judgements....o.O extra damage and threat. Is that a problem at all for anyone?

Minor changes/fixes:

Righteous Fury now lasts thru death, Avengers Shield can NOT be blocked any longer.

Holy can talent into doing away with WoG's 20 second cool down.Walk in the Light is the talent they will be taking I'm sure.

The Rise of the Zandalari (return of ZA and ZG)- Blizz has installed a separate que for these two places and require a ilvl of 346 to enter. (oh how I wish that PVP gear didn't count)

If you follow my blog at all you know I'm really excited about this. I really loved ZA at level 70, it was a true challenge. I guess my only real concern is the fact these won't be run to see the brilliance of the instance or even the challenge that we faced at T5 and below in TBC but they will now be loot pinatas. Yes I said that, the ilvl is going to be lower but now we will see the trade trolls light up on how they are now geared better than XYZ and this now means they are better. I can also see trade /2 LFM for ZA/ZG 356 ilvl, pst!

Gear upgrade for 4.1~
I can't wait to see these place again, so on the topic of gear I'll give my opinion on these pieces.

Head- Spiritshield Mask - Avoidance at best, missing mastery and...Stats we like. It does have the ZA look to it thou.

Neck - Amulet of Protection - Dodge and Mastery, nice survivability in a sorely neglected area.

Shoulder - Pauldrons of Sacrifice - Better than tier unless its your 4pc bonus, on par with the other drops. Nice filler.

Chest - Battleplate of the Amani Empire - Dodge and Exp, the crafted BoE is probably a better choice.

Hands - Bone Plate Handguards - Again, avoidance set maybe. With VP being easier to aquire the T11 set are a better option.

Waist - Coils of Hate - Base stats of the crafted one make it better, the mastery is a tad better. Overall this isn't too bad.

Pants - Added new option.
Shield - Shield of the Blood God - Looks cool. The "added" gem socket for the crafted one still puts this ahead on all charts for me...that's just me thou.

Weapon -Bloodlord's Protector- No mastery, slightly less stats and damage than the raid drops, upgrade dependant with the 346 drop you have.

Overall this isn't bad. Crafted still looks better for most slots even in the non-tanking selections. So far there isn't a ring, trinket or wrist selection. I'm still scratching my head about the pant selection. (source)
Tank Differences:

Death Knight-

Battle Rez for all DK's, costs 50 runic power on CD with other forms of rez's.

Blood shield only works in blood presence.

Death strike's healing doesn't generate threat.

Druids -

Lacerate now increase damage instead of threat.

Swipe (bear) now increase damage done instead of threat gen and is on a 3 second CD instead of 6seconds.

Savage Defense - in essence - Now absorbs damage based on 35% of the attack power of the druid and modified by mastery, lasts 10 seconds and there are no charges.

Warrior - I think Blizz redesigned the entire class, the highlights as I know and understand them.

Rallying Cry - a 20% INCREASE to all members HP's for 10 seconds. 30 yard radius and has a 3 minute CD and...on the same CD as Last stand.

Mastery now allows shield block to an Aura that reduces 20% of magic damage for 6 seconds (talented).

Gag order now lowers the CD of heroic throw by 30 seconds.

There is a ton of other stuff that warriors had changed. Please see patch notes.

The rest of the best -

Flask of Stoneskin now has its stam increase to 450 up from 300.

Guild tabard will now increase your guild rep.

Guild challenges award rep to the guild for completion of the challenge.

There is a now built in Recruitment tool for those looking for a guild and those who are recruiting.

CALL TO ARMS - implemented to lower que wait times. If you que for the role they are looking for you get a bag of goodies that is account bound.

Resurrecting players can now be done with out targeting them. No more corpse hunting.

Prot PVP

Prot PVP

I've been slightly bored lately so I've been PVP'n. I've run in to the players we all complain about in 5 man pugs that are in BG's as well. I'll never understand why people fight on the roads, or cap a flage/base and leave. To me it seems crazy that happens.

I PVP as Prot even in BG's. I find I'm very hard to kill but I still can't pull off great damage. I'll explain Prot PVP like this, its a marathon and not a sprint. I'm doing PVP for fun and some honor which I'll talk about later.If I was doing arena I'd respec but as for now, i'm in PVP spec.

To PVP -
A few things will help you out:

-our mastery is junk. Very few times do you take enough physical damage to justify needing to stack mastery.

- Wear Ret gear

- Hit cap is around 5% and Exp is 18 and I'm good for non miss on a level 85 toon.

- Do not gem res, get PVP gear and go for str and crit

- Change glyphs to: Judgement, WoG for extra heals and SoT or Crusader strike. for your primes. For Majors Ascetic Crusader and Rebuke and single target AS. For minor there are very little choices that will increase damage. And the glyphs I mentioned are only going to help and won't be game breaking.
-Have fun, PVP is really a great tool to learn how to use your classes abilities, and use of CD's.
-You will not be able to kill a PVP geared frost mage who wants to kite you, don't DO IT. Look for help...lol

Now a final thing, honor is changing in 4.1 but as of now, gaining honor is SUPER slow. Its far worse than gringing JP and if you happen to be on the wrong faction in you group, honor gains can be slow.

Dk Solos TWO Cata heroic bosses

Yes folks you seen that title correctly. A blood DK went to Stonecore and managed to solo two bosses at the same time. To me, this, takes tremendous skill, but it begs the question is the DK self heal now too much?

Is there a nerf bat going to be smacking this class soon? My tanking partner is a DK and I like he can help himself this much but with the 4.1 WoG nerf coming up soon, is the pally getting the short end of the stick. Our heal is being brought down to earth with a 20 second cool down and we lose an option in our "rotation" that blizz told us would be less solid and more proc based.

Without further rambling, enjoy:

Blizz's response to Call to Arms!

This should calm the angry mob a bit. The wave of bitching that came from this was probably overwhelming on something Blizz felt was a decent way to try to fix the LFG system. So much so that it sent them scrambling for a fix. This is a step in the right direction, things that fall in the bag will be BOA so you can send them to your main while you pug with an alt.

I honestly don't think this is going to fix the que times or the shortage but it might just slow down the "why do tanks get extra" feeling that was sweeping the Internet.

I do again applaud Blizz for trying to do something with LFD and the backlash I'm sure they felt.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Source)



We’ve been following discussions and reading feedback on the Dungeon Finder Call to Arms feature, and appreciate everyone’s opinions on the topic. We wanted to share a few items though that supplement the recent announcement:


The additional reward for completing the Dungeon Finder Call to Arms (called the Satchel of Exotic Mysteries) will be Bind on Account; able to be freely sent to other characters on your account once you receive it.


An error existed in the announcement regarding flasks and potions being picked based on your spec. This is not the case. If someone earns a Satchel of Exotic Mysteries, and if it rolls the random chance to provide a potion or flask, it will be a randomly selected. This helps ensure a broad array of available flasks and potions for all characters.


We also wanted to clarify, mounts that have a possibility to be found in a Satchel of Exotic Mysteries are found with the same rarity as if you had slain the dungeon boss that normally drops them.

Call to Arms: Tanks!

Is this the fix we need? I'm not sure, but one thing is certain, having a shield is going to make the tidal wave of tears much easier to ride, heck I can even use my mace as a paddle for when it slows down.



In patch 4.1 we'll be introducing Dungeon Finder: Call to Arms, a new system intended to lower queue times. Call to Arms will automatically detect which class role is currently the least represented in the queue, and offer them additional rewards for entering the Dungeon Finder queue and completing a random level-85 Heroic dungeon.

Any time the Dungeon Finder queue is longer than a few minutes for level-85 Heroics, the Call to Arms system kicks in and determines which role is the least represented. In the case of tanking being the least represented role, the "Call to Arms: Tanks" icon will display in the Dungeon Finder UI menu where class roles are selected, and will also display on the UI when the queue pops and you are selected to enter a dungeon. Regardless of your role, you'll always be able to see which role currently has been Called to Arms, if any. (source)

I don't know what to think of this. I can see on the "we are trying to fix it front" that is could be a good thing. After spending just a few minutest browsing the web, I can see resentment and angst.
 
Reason for LFD tank shortage:
-Blizz has still designed fights with minimal tanks. Of course there is a lack of tanks, most 25 man encounters only requre two.
-The /2 LFG for random heroics is gone, now everyone thinks, due in part to anonimity, they can act like an asshole while in said dungeon.
-Gear is not tank specific any longer, if something has mastery on it, a tank and a DPS can use it. This makes gearing tanks up harder. DPS still need on tanks gear.
- CC is past its need now. Very few pulls need CC even at this stage of the game. If you mark a mob for CC, you are lucky if the DPS does it, you can almost guarntee someone is going to break it early.
 
Again, is Call to Arms going to fix the tank shortage? it might lessen the blow of some of the long ques, but I can say that most good tanks are geared up and don't do randoms. I don't think this is going to put an influx of your "real" tanks back in ques. It will however put those w/duel specs and others racing to get their tank to 85 now in ques, causing more agravation. What I mean by real tanks is those who care about the tanking job, those who want to tank for their enjoyment in the game, not those who "OS that for muh tankz set" and only do it to que faster.
 
Lots of posts I've read say tanking is easy and shocker, these are posted from DPS toons. Is tanking hard? Not really, what is hard is dealing with the 12 year olds who join a group and make everyone elses life hell. As a tank you need to set the pace, mark, CC and control the group. You have in mind your healers mana and your cooldowns. You also have 3 others who's sole job is to put up big numbers and tell you how to do your job. Thats the hard part.
 
Thank you Blizz for trying, I'm not sure this will help and from the out cry it seems that this is not what others want but at least you are giving it a go.
 
What is your impression of this change? Good or bad? What would you do to change the shortage? Tanks, are you going to que?

Cata vs ICC Raiding; which is harder?

When I wanted to Blog about this I figured it would be pretty simple to say T11 content is much more of a challenge than ICC was. Why? I did the raids, I lived the wipes, I know what I went through. What I have discovered is, comparing the two is APPLES AND ORANGES!

Why am I doing this? Well, first I don't want to just fill the Blog up with numbers, nor do I want to give you graphs that prove my point. I made my rounds of the Blogs I read from time to time. I went to a very dismal place that was made popular by clearing content with blue gear. A feat that is pretty amazing, but since that, basic venom has come from that Blog every time I read it. This isn't I hate, because my Blog doesn't have the readers he does or anything like that. I doubt I ever have that following, not something I strive for. I also wouldn't want a following established by acting like a hard ass or a curmudgeon. If the tag line of your Blog is being unsocial in a social place, problems run deep. I can only hope for that persons sake, it is an act or a persona they made up due to the anonymity of the net being able to hide the true you.

ICC-was gated and upon reaching heroic level, there was a max attempt limit.It also had probably the easiest fight ever in game (the boat) and maybe the hardest in the history of the game(H-LK Paragon didn't down him w/o the 5% buff). The Tier went for close to a year and gave us an Arua and by the third month we started getting 5% buffs. When we arrived at the Citadel gates on 12-2-11 we were sporting 258 gear, 4pc T9 was about as easy as the cooking daily. On top of this, we were able to run 10 and 25 man in the same week Most fights were tested over and over so there wasn't a ton of bugs.

Cata-(T11) We had to level and get used to newer talent trees. Gear was not handed out like candy and 10/25 man content was one or the other. It isn't gated at all, but there is three different raids to choose from. Reaching 346ilvl was tough, and some BiS pieces were even lower ilvl. While no fight is unbeatable, most have been challenging and very PUG unfriendly. Tier pieces are harder to come by and the 2 and 4 set bonuses aren't ground breaking. No fight is the boat either, there are no gimme's.

Ok now for some numbers (source) and (source), yes I know I said I wouldn't fill you up with this but I need to show why I think what I do.

ICC: Marrowgar: 84,136 guilds killed this boss, only 50,887 did it on heroic.

LK: 48,523 killed him on 10 man  5664 on heroic10 man.
Sindragosa:  62,950 killed her and only 21,323 killed her on heroic.
**Lets make the assumption every 25 man guild killed these 3 boss on 10 man at least once.

T11 3pk of raids: Magmaw 47,983 have killed him. 2316 have done it on heroic. (10 man only)

** wowprogress lists 47,983 as 100% of the guilds ranked.

Cho'gall: 20449 have killed him and only 98 have killed him on heroic.

Nefarian: 11,252 have killed him and 240 on heroic.

Sinestra: 37 yes 37 have killed her on heroic.

T11 3pk 25 man content: Magmaw 4358 have killed him, 1470 on heroic.
Cho'gall: 4041 on reg, 198 on heroic.
Nefarian: 3379 on reg, 330 on heroic.
Sinestra: 111 only 1.4% of registered guild have downed her.


---ICC had gimme bosses, groups that had raided together, free loot and the ability to do the same raid twice per week.
---T11 has several raids, healers who had mana issues, gear issues and you had to level, with many guilds suffering from 10/25 splits and finding new raiders.
---IMHO this tier of raiding for an opening Xpac tier offers a wide variety and lots of challenge. Making it all and all harder.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on T10 vs T11? Nerf or pre-nerf change your mind? Let me know.

Why I blog!

This is something I have wondered about. I mean, sure I enjoy playing the game, I'm not on a ton, I don't consider myself a guru of any class or spec, I'm not a tremendous theorycrafter, I am not even a 'leet player in a top tier guild. What do I have to offer?

I'm a very completive guy by nature, I wear my emotions on my sleeve and other cool metaphors that you can insert there. I guess this is me giving back, or a way to allow me to share my time and experiences within a mini world we all enjoy. This allows me to connect with others who share in my experiences. It isn't like I can tell my wife that my spec was broken today and her have any idea as to what I'm talking about. I really don't think that I can say, "honey, my guild server transferred today, wait, what, do, you, mean I need to cook dinner now". Blogging allows me to get my story out there and not get looked at like I'm wearing an aluminum hat in front of my family.

So where does me completive come into play with blogging. My favorite part of the game is raiding, as a Paladin, and a tank. Like anything else in my life I have ever done, competing in a raid against the environment drives me to be better. Makes me want to succeed! Blogging leads to this by allowing me to give insight to what I've figured out.

If any of you read Maintankadin, you know Theck, I think anyone who plays a tank at any level more than as a Pug troll knows of Theck. I'm about as big a fan of his as anyone is anywhere. I can't believe someone can wrap their head around something so in-depth about a pixilated game. Yet, he makes my eyes bleed and head hurt, it takes me several attempts at his writings to understand what he said and the sad part is, he probably breaks it down to a level he thinks is juvenile. This is like a pro basketball player playing in your local 3vs3 tourney at the local YMCA, no matter how simple he makes his work for us to understand, it is still pretty complex and overwhelms most.

This is where I come in, or so I think. After reading his work, what others say of his work and putting what he says into action, I finally figure it out. Yes, I truly do understand what he said after I read, reread and practice. Just like in a sport, it finally hits you, and then you can pass on what you have picked up. Being the only pally tank in the last 3 guilds I've raided with, this is my sounding board. I use my blog as a place to coach, help and even understand what I've learned. Its a trickle down effect.

Lastly blogging is a community amongst a community, the water cooler of the internet. It allows non average (I don't say that like a prude or in a 'leet sense) gamer or WoW player a place to see what others who think like they do, who have common interests as they do to communicate and associate with each other. Blogging is something I enjoy and I hope my readers do too. I'm not sure how followed I am, I get about 40 hits a day on the average of 4 minutes or so, I'm guessing that there are a few out there who in the very least click on my page and walk away from the computer...lol

Why do you blog? I'd love to hear...