Microsoft to buy WOW/Blizzard/Activision!

In a shocking move, Microsoft will purchase WOW's parent company for about $70B U.S.D, according to many sources the head of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, is unclear if he is staying at the head of the company after the final approval of the sale is complete. 

According to Reuters, this is the biggest gaming deal in the industry's history. This would lead to approximately 17% of all gamers using one of the new conglomerates at Microsoft brands. 

What are your thoughts on what impact this will have on World of Warcraft and other beloved Blizzard games? Will this be the end of WOW or could the addition of Microsoft revamp the love for the game that seems to be slowly losing it's base?

Tier 15, Already?

5.2 on the PTR soon.

So this expansion seems to be rolling right along. We have tons of info already on (MMO) about the patch notes and the view of the new Tier armor. I'm not a really big fan of the T15 pally set. It lacks, um...well it lacks, I'll leave it at that, although the yellow looks better than the other two colors.
 To be fair, I'm never a really big fan when I see a picture of them, but live and around town they look much better. Season 13 armor set is viewable too but that is horrid and I won't waste your time linking that.

I'll hit on the highlights for the upcoming info so far:

• We get another faction and quest area. 
• New raid with 12 normal bosses and a heroic only.
• World bosses will spawn faster and we have a new one incoming.
• Warlocks now FINALLY (um, we will see about this) get green flames! Really, its only been around for 4 years but now you can have it too.
• New player models.
• PVP JC only gems.
• Farm changes-  
• Buy the farm - You are able to purchase your farm from Yoon which makes your farm an inn essentially and you will also receive orders to gain rep with the faction that places that order.
• You can purchase a seed bag that allows you to plant 4 at a time. 
• Special crops yield has been increased.
• When you master plow virmen will pop up stunned and at 30% health.
• Wild crops will be LESS!

Paladin changes- (sources)

 Paladin  -

• Hand of Purity now reduces all incoming damage by 10% in addition to its other effects.
• Eternal Flame periodic heal now provides 100% more healing when self-cast.
• Judgment now costs 5% of base mana.
• Protection
  • The base damage of Consecration has been increased by 789%, and it now scales less efficiently with attack power by approximately 11%.

Random Thoughts

4.0.3 is out!

I logged on today for the first time in about a week. I've been sick and my guild has decided to stop raiding til Cata.

The pre cata event has started and its much better than the pre wrath event, at lease IMO. No everyone is getting turned into a zombie and infecting the city. That was PITA towards the end. Now Blizz is just kind of forcing us to fight this invasion by removing mail boxes, bankers, vendors...etc. I can see as the gear is gobbled up (see what I did there, turkey day is coming soon lol) no one will do this invasion event any longer. I guess we will see.

Here is a loot list and more description on the bosses.

Tanking it
I logged on to Chasey and decided to try this out, beside I want to hit JP cap pre cata if I can. I started with the very pretty Crown Princess Theradras, she is beautiful isn't she folks? I had a DPS/Threat set on and still have about 52k and roughly 99% unhittable in this set up. I died! I used every cooldown I had and I still died, so this says a few things, I can't solo this boss and the healer was pretty bad. Why do I say such a thing?

I jumped on Khasey, my newly crowned DK80 and I tanked her with out issue. Yes I know the fight but that really means nothing on this boss, I have 32k buffed HP and I lived...LOL

I did however get [Reins of the Blue Drake]I have always wanted that mount.

Vengeance is bad
I'm not really in love with this mechanic. If you aren't getting hit you aren't generating threat like you need to in a raid environment. I' a pretty decent tank...I THINK... but we were doing HLDW and having a taunt immune boss, you need to use every trick in the book to get threat back and if you aren't getting hit you don't have damage output to grab it back. I went for a ton of the fight w/o aggro on her and until she hit me we had DPS jumping ahead of me alot of the fight. I've seen a few other instances of Vengeance not really allowing you to get a good aggro lead. I can see a few misses by the boss on you at the start of a fight cause you to struggle to hold aggro for a while.

Pally threat is OP
We did Hsauerfang last week and my GL and DK tank was tanking this with me. It was really tough to tank for the simple fact I was generating soooooo much threat I had to stop attacking completely. No attacks at all. He outgears me and is really a good tank too. As far as DK's go I haven't seen many better. We wiped once due to the aggro I drew. Yes I said sorry and tried harder to not attack.

A good guide
I found a really good guide on the instance from Cata and a few great tips to level fast. I thought I'd share this with you all.
Here it is! With a few tips to boot, I got this site/info from Maintankadin.com but I really can't find the thread any longer, I'd link it but I can't find it so sorry. I'm not stealing info only sharing :D

No-lifer tips:
• Crank Up the AC – Warm, stuffy environments accelerate mental fatigue.
• Cold Water – Splash some on your face and the pulse area of your wrists. Drinking an ice-cold glass of water can also help to wake you up.
• Chew Sugar-Free Peppermint Gum – It won’t rot your teeth and it will generate just enough physical activity to keep you awake. Strong peppermint flavors seem to work best.
• Turn On All the Lights – Darkness promotes sleepiness. Turn on every light in the room.
• Pull Down on Your Earlobes – This may sound strange, but pulling down on your earlobes can help you stay awake and alert when you’re feeling drowsy. Just try it.
• Nutritious Low Carb Snacks – Low carb fruits such as raspberries, apples, oranges, and grapefruits are great energy boosters. Heaping scoops of spicy salsa on a few small crackers is another goodie. Stay away from meats, breads and dairy products.
• Read up on all dungeon tactics.

If I don't post before, everyone have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Random thoughts

Play style~
Most have settled in nicely. The stupid questions are gone from trade. Gems/mats have come down in price. We are now holding for Dec 7th and the release of Cata.

What a wild ride Wrath has been. From a reused intro raid that was more than doable in TBC gear to a filler raid that had no trash and made you stand in the same room. Don't get me wrong, Wrath was not all bad, it had great points and some not so great.

Wrath Babies- its a term I've heard used a bit now and then. Its defined in the Urban Dictionary as:

A World of Warcraft player who began playing the game during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion (13-Nov-2008 to 07-Dec-2010). This type of player is characterized by a lack of experience in difficult content and a sense of entitlement to epics without putting forth any actual time or effort. Most likely to quit shortly after the launch of Cataclysm. The following behavior may also qualify someone as a wrath baby: - Leaves a group after one wipe. - Has never used crowd control and probably doesn't even have it on their action bars. - Complains about the GearScore of group members, unless his own GearScore happens to be lower. - Checks GearScore and/or achievement before inviting people into a PUG, especially for simple runs. - Cannot find an instance portal even when given directions. - Thinks that Sunwell Plateau should be easymode at level 80. - Favorite class is Death Knight. - Uses AoE during every pull. - Starts running heroics immediately after reaching max level.

Or:

In World of Warcraft, refers to a player that plays with the Wrath of the Lich King attitude - AoE everything, what is threat, what is Crowd Control, and expects epics to be handed to them on a silver platter for free.

That is so spot on. There is a serious rope Blizz wants to walk with players have the correct gear to run the current content without farming the old stuff to gear others but I think Wrath may have taken "FREE EPIX" to a new level. Lets hope Cata fixes that.

I think I'm cursed~

No not the  add-on site. I took a break from raiding with starting school and my schedule being way to hectic to devote the time. My guild and its leaders have done a awesome job keeping raiding, bringing in decent people and holding the guild together. BRAVO to the officers and members of Jinx and best of all they let me stay and do my thing. I appreciate that.

Now to the curse...
I have been back for a few weeks I think. Showing every time I can. I still have class on Thursday nite so thats a no go. The raids I've been to have been wipe fests, working on just cleaning up content and learning your class. They have been tolerant but the deaths keep adding up. Well on my two days I didn't make it we downed HLDW and HPP...I have spent so many hours with those fights and I don't show and what happens...they go get them. Good for us and them but booo for me and not being there when it mattered.

Briefly~

Khasey, My DK hit 80. Gear is going to be an issue. I refuse to put out alot of money in gear this close to patch and alas....I am not on a server that has a huge crafter base. My plan is to get her geared enough that she won't be two shot in Cata and easy the leveling so I can have a crafter. So maybe a week or two of heroics will put me nicely in what I need. Oh....do any of you realize how crazy it is to be a tank in a heroic and have at mage have more HP's than you? It doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy.

The Gem market has come back down to its regular level and hit around the 100g mark. Gems were nice money makers there for a bit.

I will say thou, undercutters are brutal lately. Brief observation thou...
How not to rune the market... Lets say you have a red gem on the AH and its listed at the market price. Then some brilliant donkey comes by and lists his red gem for 20g cheaper trying to make a quick sell which is what the WoW AH usually is. If that gem doesn't sell right away the next guy trying to make quick gold will under cut him.I seen this on my server and literlly it killed the market for red gems overnite. I listed my gems for 139g (I was the cheapest by 5s) went for a drink, came back and there 2 listed for 20g cheaper. I have watched the trend and it really has never recovered from that point. Yes it did float up a bit but 100g to 120g has been average since that point on.