So long since my last post, been very busy with the expansion.
First off, the expansion is absolutely fantastic. I am having so much fun on almost all levels. There is tons to do, I have a list of stuff a mile long, most of which I probably won't get to till summer time, if then.
Where to start, I really need to blog more often, keep these things shorter.
When the expansion went live I created a nelf DK named Wafflés. Which goes to show that I am far too impulsive since 1 week later I was tired of the name and had it changed to Chickenpox. I also should have gone Dranei, far better for DPS; nelfs are now for tanking, but the chance to flip when I jump was too much for me.
Out of the gates Ellevis (Wichita) and I leaped ahead of the DK crowd thanks to the Recruit-A-Friend bonus triple XP to 60. Usually you finish the DK starting area at 58, we were 60, almost 61.
We made really good time and were into Northrend by Friday night I think, possibly Saturday, hard to remember I was very tired; 45 minute catnap over 36 hours. I know that despite trying to move quite fast thruogh Outland, we were not trying for a server first. We were 2nd & 3rd for DK levelling on the Alliance side, we knew this because the guy that was in the lead kept whispering to find out if we were gonna take a break soon, he didn't believe us when we said we were not trying for the server first. Additionally, I found it amazing how many people whispered me that I needed to get a life, even after I had only been playing my DK for a day. I think people really need to worry less about what other people are doing, none of their damn business IMO.
Anyway, the quests in Northrend were a lot of fun, they really introduced some fun mechanics amongst the kill x of y quests, made it much more enjoyable for the most part. I really enjoyed Howling Fjord, Sholozar Basin and especially Dragonblight, epic stories there. I haven't gone into Storm Peaks yet but I am looking forward to it very much since I love the Titans stuff.
I did some instances along the way, but I did them with higher level people for the most part since my levelling fell off after the weekend was over and I had to go back to work. I tried not to do too many so they would be fresher when I did heroics at 80. That being said, heroics at 80 are a lot of fun, I love the achievements they have put into each instance; makes them more challenging and gives you something to shoot for.
Now, about the DK class: I really wish I had gotten farther than 63 during the beta, it would've saved me so much money respeccing during live. I have respecced at least 10 times already possibly more. When I reached 80 I specced Blood, it was a fun spec that did good DPS and wasn't too complicated. Last night I respecced Unholy. Wow, what a difference, I expected my AOE DPS to increase which it did, tremendously. I didn't expect quite as large a difference in my single target DPS however. My personal best single target DPS was on Patchwerk in Naxx, I beat that last night doing Heroics on almost every fight, stationary or not. I was getting a little worried, not so much about viability but about dissappointment in my class and my ability as a melee DPS'er, last night washed that all away, so much fun.
Professions, where do I start. I had planned to level mining as I went through Outland, that didn't happen. I went back and through smelting was bale to level into Northrend ores pretty quickly, when I was about 76, and maxed soon thereafter. I then started levelling Engineering, which I got to about 400. I have now changed my profession plans (what a shock, waffles anyone ?) and I will be going Herbalism - Inscription. To that end, I have dropped Engineering and have levelled Herbing to ~400 now I think. I will drop mining once I have enough herbs to level Inscription and once I have enough Titansteel to have someone make me the DPS helm.
I have so many plans that I have no time for, Fishing, finish levelling Cooking (stuck at 390ish), old world rep and Achievements. In the months before the expansion I racked up so many Achievements on Rhubarb that I am itching to do it again on Chickenpox, but I have been busy doing Professions and Heroics, trying to gear for raids.
Speaking of Raids: Naxx is very cool, I wasn't even 60 before vanilla Wow moved on, so I actually never stepped foot inside Naxx before last weekend. It was a lot of fun, I like that there is very little trash between bosses, at least where we went. I posted a personal best on Patchwerk and received Heroes Inc's first epic raiding drop in WotLK, Plate DPS gloves "Gauntlets of Combined Strength", (which is ironic since I have had horrible luck in Heroics with drops.) Of course this led to me passing on my Tier 7 gloves when they dropped from Sartharion the next night, my Tiered item drought goes on (I have never had a Tiered piece of gear, not on Brambles, Rhubarb and so far on Chickenpox.) Chamber of Aspects is fun as well, interesting fight, not difficult but the potential is there when leaving the other dragons up. Congratulations to Lakini who won the Tier 7 gauntlets.
Well this has gone on way too long, I will try to post more often just so I dont have to spend hours recapping.
Chickenpox has been crit by WotLK.
Chickenpox is happy.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Final To-Do List
9 Days remaining, wow only 9 days. I wish I had all 9 to get ready. In truth I only have 4 of those days without any committments (I'm sure my wife will change that). 4 days to get everything in order. Probably not gonna happen. Here's what's left to do.
1) Final decision on a DK name / race. Name choices are: Chickenpox (maybe a little too serious, most of my names are more erratic), Roobarb (Continuity with my pally, almost named my young dog this name, possibly feel too much like Ferth) or Wâffles (leaning more towards this but I'm hesitant about the non-standard character). Race will be either Nelf, Dranei or Human. I love the Dranei, can't make a wrong choice here; Human's have easily the best racials, they just jump like retards; Nelfs have good tanking racials, but I don't plan on main tanking, but they flip when they jump !!!.
2) UI. What a pickle. I did a rework on my UI in the summer and ended up hating it, I should never trust my first instincts. I've been playtesting some compilations trying to figure out what I like and dislike and now I have to put this all together. Also, I would like to find a rune addon for the DK, however since the beta is going offline tonite, I have to find one tonite that I like.
3) Professions. Still with the professions, no choice has been made. I had decided Engineering but I am leaning away from that. I am leaning toward JC and Inscription I have basically no mats ready for either. Yeah !!!! Lots of prep work to be done. I have most of the mats I need for Cooking but I need to see where I am lacking.
4) Plan for staying awake for 4 days without dying. I have booked the 13th and 14th off from work and the wife knows I will barely acknowledge her thru the weekend. Perhaps a mainline for coffee and red Bull as well as a catheter will be necessary. We'll see.
Anyway, the big thing is it is only 9 days. I am very excited. Very.
Chickenpox / Wâffles / Roobarb has been killed by Anticipation / Preparation.
1) Final decision on a DK name / race. Name choices are: Chickenpox (maybe a little too serious, most of my names are more erratic), Roobarb (Continuity with my pally, almost named my young dog this name, possibly feel too much like Ferth) or Wâffles (leaning more towards this but I'm hesitant about the non-standard character). Race will be either Nelf, Dranei or Human. I love the Dranei, can't make a wrong choice here; Human's have easily the best racials, they just jump like retards; Nelfs have good tanking racials, but I don't plan on main tanking, but they flip when they jump !!!.
2) UI. What a pickle. I did a rework on my UI in the summer and ended up hating it, I should never trust my first instincts. I've been playtesting some compilations trying to figure out what I like and dislike and now I have to put this all together. Also, I would like to find a rune addon for the DK, however since the beta is going offline tonite, I have to find one tonite that I like.
3) Professions. Still with the professions, no choice has been made. I had decided Engineering but I am leaning away from that. I am leaning toward JC and Inscription I have basically no mats ready for either. Yeah !!!! Lots of prep work to be done. I have most of the mats I need for Cooking but I need to see where I am lacking.
4) Plan for staying awake for 4 days without dying. I have booked the 13th and 14th off from work and the wife knows I will barely acknowledge her thru the weekend. Perhaps a mainline for coffee and red Bull as well as a catheter will be necessary. We'll see.
Anyway, the big thing is it is only 9 days. I am very excited. Very.
Chickenpox / Wâffles / Roobarb has been killed by Anticipation / Preparation.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
So it seems I'm a Whore
To put it simply, Achievements are Da - Bomb !!!
As I expected, following 3.0.2 going live, I have become an Achievement whore (and so have many members of Heroes Inc I may add). Fishing, Cooking(soon), PVP, Exploring, Quests, Instances, etc, etc, etc. I love them all. Hands down, the best addition to WoW ever.
Surprisingly, I expected Achievements to tip the scales in Rhubarb's favor but it has actually been the opposite. I am looking forward to starting from scratch on Chickenpox and getting all those beautiful little Achievements again. I have eaten all the Waffles, they are no more. (Unless I get some really cool pet/mount drops.)
Now, the expansion is just over 3 weeks away. *Cringe* I am so not prepared. I still have to pick my professions for the DK. Hey, I found some more waffles. I am currently thinking about Mining, JC'ing, Inscription, Engg, Alchemy, and in my darker moments BS'ing.
I love Engineering, it is relatively easy to level, has fun cool stuff (in theory) but it is lacking again so far in Wrath. In TBC, Engg turned into a gathering skill with cool Goggles and a Roflcopter. Engg has some interesting stuff for Wrath but nothing that can compete with other professions. That being said I am not, nor have I ever been much of a min/maxer; I play what I find fun so I will likely be taking Engineering again on my 3rd character. Maybe Goblin this time though. Hmmmm.
Mining seems like a logical addition to Engg if I go that way, but Rhubarb is a Miner and will be my 2nd character to 80, I will also possibly be dropping Engg from Rhub in favor of Herbing if I decide to take Inscription.
So many waffles. Only 3 weeks to eat them all. Gonna get a belly ache.
Chickenpox has been crit by Waffles.
As I expected, following 3.0.2 going live, I have become an Achievement whore (and so have many members of Heroes Inc I may add). Fishing, Cooking(soon), PVP, Exploring, Quests, Instances, etc, etc, etc. I love them all. Hands down, the best addition to WoW ever.
Surprisingly, I expected Achievements to tip the scales in Rhubarb's favor but it has actually been the opposite. I am looking forward to starting from scratch on Chickenpox and getting all those beautiful little Achievements again. I have eaten all the Waffles, they are no more. (Unless I get some really cool pet/mount drops.)
Now, the expansion is just over 3 weeks away. *Cringe* I am so not prepared. I still have to pick my professions for the DK. Hey, I found some more waffles. I am currently thinking about Mining, JC'ing, Inscription, Engg, Alchemy, and in my darker moments BS'ing.
I love Engineering, it is relatively easy to level, has fun cool stuff (in theory) but it is lacking again so far in Wrath. In TBC, Engg turned into a gathering skill with cool Goggles and a Roflcopter. Engg has some interesting stuff for Wrath but nothing that can compete with other professions. That being said I am not, nor have I ever been much of a min/maxer; I play what I find fun so I will likely be taking Engineering again on my 3rd character. Maybe Goblin this time though. Hmmmm.
Mining seems like a logical addition to Engg if I go that way, but Rhubarb is a Miner and will be my 2nd character to 80, I will also possibly be dropping Engg from Rhub in favor of Herbing if I decide to take Inscription.
So many waffles. Only 3 weeks to eat them all. Gonna get a belly ache.
Chickenpox has been crit by Waffles.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Waffles
Some days I hate my brain.
So there I was, testing the DK, having a grand ole time and then BAM I start considering my Pally. I have tested Rhubarb in Beta, although only very briefly, and I have found the combat changes much more engaging than before. It is now more than simple auto-swing with a seal on and Crusader Striking every 6 seconds. I now have 2 instant attacks one of which is an AOE, I can cast Judgement every cooldown without running out of mana in 2 fights, and I can actually cast a heal or two that heal for more than a pittance and don't run me out of mana. In summation, the Pally, Ret specifically, has become what I had originally hoped for from the DK. This is not to say that I am dissappointed with DeathKnights, quite the opposite in fact, they are very entertaining and hold a lot of appeal. I am going to try and do a comparison in the next few paragraphs, hopefully people will comment and help me choose.
First I'll set the stage, this is how WOTLK will begin for me. I will be creating Chickenpox (female Dranei DK with a sexy tail wag) and levelling like a banshee with (insert Wichita's DK's name) to 68 at which time we will head for Northrend. This will be the choosing point, I will either continue levelling Chickenpox to 80 or I will switch to Rhubarb and level her to 80. Now for the considerations:
PVE DPS: This will be my primary consideration since that is my main goal with the expansion raiding 10 mans with Heroes. Both classes are melee DPS, both have some buffing utility, and both classes/specs have another player in Heroes (Wichita/DK, Jag/Ret pally). Blizzard has stated that all DPS specs should be roughly equal and that is good enough for me.
Tanking: Although this is not my primary objective, I always prefer to at least be prepared, to the best of my ability, to use my character to its utmost potential. This means I will have a tanking set for whichever character I choose. I flirted with Prot tanking, but I remained undergeared and found it difficult since I was always running with people that overgeared me by a large margin and would pull aggro from me (Wichita, Lakini, Origami come to mind.) DK tanking seems very cooldown based with threat generated by DPS which I would be familiar with being a DPSer I would hope. Pallies have been given some interesting new toys as well which look very interesting to me. Heroes will have a dedicated main tanks including a Pally tank so the most I would be doing would be offtanking occasionally, which is fine, but I will be prepared to pitch in and tank for some 5-mans or heroics.
Healing: Obviously the Pally wins this category, the question becomes how much does healing matter. I healed for a while with my Pally and I enjoyed the experience. I don't want to be a main healer but same as with the Tanking aspect I will not neglect a large function of my class, therefore I will put together a healing set. It would be nice to not call off a scheduled run because we were 1 healer short of going.
PVP: Those who know me know that this is not a huge concern for me. I am primarily a PVE person and that is not likely to change with Wrath. However, I would like to have the option available to me should I decide to engage in some PVP. This is a difficult area currently since Ret pallies are destroying everyone in Beta and on the PTR, but I suspect they will be corrected somewhat this week. I will than be concerned that they have been nerfed and cannot compete in PVE. The pally class seems very well designed for PVP and if they have been made viable I would probably lean to the Pally in PVP, but than again PVP is not my main goal. Also, I have not tried the DK in PVP at all, they could be more fun and effective than I realize.
Professions: The DK has no professions, Rhubarb has mining and Engineering at 375. I am having trouble choosing professions for Chickenpox, and I have come to question Engineering in Wrath. I think that Mining is going to be necessary for any of the professions I would probably choose; Engg, JC'ing or BS'ing. Therefore Rhubarb probably only has the edge in mining but it is large. Ideally, I would level Mining to 300 on Chickenpox before heading to Hellfire so I could level Mining with my character, but this would require spending time in Azeroth before heading to Outland and slowing down my levelling.
Achievements: When Wichita and I played City of heroes they came out with things called Badges. They were very similiara to Achievements but harder to get since there was no feedback on how to get them, this was later solved by the interwebz. Overnight Wich and I became badge whores, we had to find them all. I am salivating over the Achievement system in Wrath and will probably be spending the 4 weeks between 3.0.2 and Wrath collecting Badges like a mother. Chickenpox will have no reputations, no areas explored, no early quests done, no history. I will have to spend a considerable amount of time rectifying this matter, and some things will not be able to be done, such as TBC rep that can only be gained in 5-mans, unless of course they can be soloed.
I think that a lot of the reason I am waffling is due to the Achievements, which in all honesty are fluff, but fluff that I know I will enjoy collecting. I may also be finding the idea of starting over with a new character a little daunting and I am just getting cold feet, not sure.
I have 5 weeks to decide, bloody hell.
Chickenpox has been stunned by Rhubarb.
So there I was, testing the DK, having a grand ole time and then BAM I start considering my Pally. I have tested Rhubarb in Beta, although only very briefly, and I have found the combat changes much more engaging than before. It is now more than simple auto-swing with a seal on and Crusader Striking every 6 seconds. I now have 2 instant attacks one of which is an AOE, I can cast Judgement every cooldown without running out of mana in 2 fights, and I can actually cast a heal or two that heal for more than a pittance and don't run me out of mana. In summation, the Pally, Ret specifically, has become what I had originally hoped for from the DK. This is not to say that I am dissappointed with DeathKnights, quite the opposite in fact, they are very entertaining and hold a lot of appeal. I am going to try and do a comparison in the next few paragraphs, hopefully people will comment and help me choose.
First I'll set the stage, this is how WOTLK will begin for me. I will be creating Chickenpox (female Dranei DK with a sexy tail wag) and levelling like a banshee with (insert Wichita's DK's name) to 68 at which time we will head for Northrend. This will be the choosing point, I will either continue levelling Chickenpox to 80 or I will switch to Rhubarb and level her to 80. Now for the considerations:
PVE DPS: This will be my primary consideration since that is my main goal with the expansion raiding 10 mans with Heroes. Both classes are melee DPS, both have some buffing utility, and both classes/specs have another player in Heroes (Wichita/DK, Jag/Ret pally). Blizzard has stated that all DPS specs should be roughly equal and that is good enough for me.
Tanking: Although this is not my primary objective, I always prefer to at least be prepared, to the best of my ability, to use my character to its utmost potential. This means I will have a tanking set for whichever character I choose. I flirted with Prot tanking, but I remained undergeared and found it difficult since I was always running with people that overgeared me by a large margin and would pull aggro from me (Wichita, Lakini, Origami come to mind.) DK tanking seems very cooldown based with threat generated by DPS which I would be familiar with being a DPSer I would hope. Pallies have been given some interesting new toys as well which look very interesting to me. Heroes will have a dedicated main tanks including a Pally tank so the most I would be doing would be offtanking occasionally, which is fine, but I will be prepared to pitch in and tank for some 5-mans or heroics.
Healing: Obviously the Pally wins this category, the question becomes how much does healing matter. I healed for a while with my Pally and I enjoyed the experience. I don't want to be a main healer but same as with the Tanking aspect I will not neglect a large function of my class, therefore I will put together a healing set. It would be nice to not call off a scheduled run because we were 1 healer short of going.
PVP: Those who know me know that this is not a huge concern for me. I am primarily a PVE person and that is not likely to change with Wrath. However, I would like to have the option available to me should I decide to engage in some PVP. This is a difficult area currently since Ret pallies are destroying everyone in Beta and on the PTR, but I suspect they will be corrected somewhat this week. I will than be concerned that they have been nerfed and cannot compete in PVE. The pally class seems very well designed for PVP and if they have been made viable I would probably lean to the Pally in PVP, but than again PVP is not my main goal. Also, I have not tried the DK in PVP at all, they could be more fun and effective than I realize.
Professions: The DK has no professions, Rhubarb has mining and Engineering at 375. I am having trouble choosing professions for Chickenpox, and I have come to question Engineering in Wrath. I think that Mining is going to be necessary for any of the professions I would probably choose; Engg, JC'ing or BS'ing. Therefore Rhubarb probably only has the edge in mining but it is large. Ideally, I would level Mining to 300 on Chickenpox before heading to Hellfire so I could level Mining with my character, but this would require spending time in Azeroth before heading to Outland and slowing down my levelling.
Achievements: When Wichita and I played City of heroes they came out with things called Badges. They were very similiara to Achievements but harder to get since there was no feedback on how to get them, this was later solved by the interwebz. Overnight Wich and I became badge whores, we had to find them all. I am salivating over the Achievement system in Wrath and will probably be spending the 4 weeks between 3.0.2 and Wrath collecting Badges like a mother. Chickenpox will have no reputations, no areas explored, no early quests done, no history. I will have to spend a considerable amount of time rectifying this matter, and some things will not be able to be done, such as TBC rep that can only be gained in 5-mans, unless of course they can be soloed.
I think that a lot of the reason I am waffling is due to the Achievements, which in all honesty are fluff, but fluff that I know I will enjoy collecting. I may also be finding the idea of starting over with a new character a little daunting and I am just getting cold feet, not sure.
I have 5 weeks to decide, bloody hell.
Chickenpox has been stunned by Rhubarb.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Two Birds, One Stone, and 6 Weeks
Ok, 1 month since my last post, what has changed ?
We have a release date, Nov 13, this is of course news to absolutely noone that will ever read this but whatever.
I have a beta key !! Again, probably news to noone, but maybe not. I have been testing various aspects, mostly DeathKnights. I have been reluctant to start into Nothrend very far, I don't want to preview much of the new levelling content so it will be fresh for launch.
Recently there was a discussion amongst Heroes Inc about whether the guild or some members would reroll Horde before WOTLK goes live. I was a proponent of this idea because I was/am bored of the live servers and rarely if ever log on. For myself I wanted to see the quests and stories from the Horde side as from level 45 through TBC they are a complete mystery to me. The beta invite has afforded me a rare opportunity, I created a Belf DK on the Beta PVE server so I could get a feel for the new class, see the Horde TBC questlines and to some extent not get burnt out doing quests that I would be redoing come launch day. Win, win, win.
Now to actual DK data:
The DK starting area is really well done, you get introduced to the class gradually and you are not so overwhelmed by the available options starting as a level 55 character since you acquire talent points as quest rewards. The gear you start with is very good and will last you quite a while in outlands, it also looks really cool. I wont go into any details so as not to spoil the experience for anyone.
The levelling is pretty quick, you exit the starting area at 58 or just shy of it. You can definitely go straight to Hellfire since the starting gear is good enough that you wont have the difficulties that the other classes do going to Hellfire before 60. The levelling curve is currently accelerated from 60-70 by about 30-40%, I think Blizzard is still tuning this but I will try and keep tabs on it. I am currently 62 and about 20% toward 63 and I still have lots of quests to do in Hellfire and I have not ran any instances. I suspect I will leave Hellfire at 63. Of the gear I started receiving at 55, I have replaced the gloves and the chestpiece, oh and my weapon although that was more of a sidegrade. I have tried all three specs to some extent, I have not tried Dual Wielding yet due to a lack of decent 1-handed weapons.
Blood:
This is the Energizer bunny tree, no downtime. All the self healing in this tree along with good damage equals non-stop killing. This is currently how I am specced and I am enjoying it a lot. I also think of it as DK-light, not because it is less powerful but because it the least complicated of all 3 trees. Dancing rune weapon is really cool, but pretty much useless while levelling.
Frost:
Has a lot of utility and emergency buttons, unfortunately does the least damage and does not the self healing of blood, currently underpowered compared to the other 2 trees although the last patch (8982) brought it closer. This was the tree I was most looking forward to and still am from a tanking perspective (although I am not looking for a main tanking job), but it is playing a little lackluster currently. Hopefully this is just due to the damage being a little lower and when this balanced (hopefully) the tree will prove to be more fun.
Unholy:
Unholy has a lot of very cool toys, does the most damage and is the probably the fastest way to level since AOE'ing is rediculous. With access to 4 diseases at 60, a permenant ghoul, Bone Shield, and Wandering Plague being very broken with a large amount of mobs this spec chews through enemies, especially when you can AOE. There is more buttons to push, is more complicated, especially when AOE'ing so I would recommend going Blood for a few levels to get used to the basics before switching back to try this tree. I will respec to this tree the next time I log onto the Beta in order to test out the AOE before Wandering Plague is nerfed. I love having a controllable, permanent ghoul. Very handy.
I am enjoying the DK quite a bit, and I am looking forward to making Chickenpox my main. I will try and keep posting my experience in Beta up until launch day.
Chickenpox has been killed by Chickenpox.
We have a release date, Nov 13, this is of course news to absolutely noone that will ever read this but whatever.
I have a beta key !! Again, probably news to noone, but maybe not. I have been testing various aspects, mostly DeathKnights. I have been reluctant to start into Nothrend very far, I don't want to preview much of the new levelling content so it will be fresh for launch.
Recently there was a discussion amongst Heroes Inc about whether the guild or some members would reroll Horde before WOTLK goes live. I was a proponent of this idea because I was/am bored of the live servers and rarely if ever log on. For myself I wanted to see the quests and stories from the Horde side as from level 45 through TBC they are a complete mystery to me. The beta invite has afforded me a rare opportunity, I created a Belf DK on the Beta PVE server so I could get a feel for the new class, see the Horde TBC questlines and to some extent not get burnt out doing quests that I would be redoing come launch day. Win, win, win.
Now to actual DK data:
The DK starting area is really well done, you get introduced to the class gradually and you are not so overwhelmed by the available options starting as a level 55 character since you acquire talent points as quest rewards. The gear you start with is very good and will last you quite a while in outlands, it also looks really cool. I wont go into any details so as not to spoil the experience for anyone.
The levelling is pretty quick, you exit the starting area at 58 or just shy of it. You can definitely go straight to Hellfire since the starting gear is good enough that you wont have the difficulties that the other classes do going to Hellfire before 60. The levelling curve is currently accelerated from 60-70 by about 30-40%, I think Blizzard is still tuning this but I will try and keep tabs on it. I am currently 62 and about 20% toward 63 and I still have lots of quests to do in Hellfire and I have not ran any instances. I suspect I will leave Hellfire at 63. Of the gear I started receiving at 55, I have replaced the gloves and the chestpiece, oh and my weapon although that was more of a sidegrade. I have tried all three specs to some extent, I have not tried Dual Wielding yet due to a lack of decent 1-handed weapons.
Blood:
This is the Energizer bunny tree, no downtime. All the self healing in this tree along with good damage equals non-stop killing. This is currently how I am specced and I am enjoying it a lot. I also think of it as DK-light, not because it is less powerful but because it the least complicated of all 3 trees. Dancing rune weapon is really cool, but pretty much useless while levelling.
Frost:
Has a lot of utility and emergency buttons, unfortunately does the least damage and does not the self healing of blood, currently underpowered compared to the other 2 trees although the last patch (8982) brought it closer. This was the tree I was most looking forward to and still am from a tanking perspective (although I am not looking for a main tanking job), but it is playing a little lackluster currently. Hopefully this is just due to the damage being a little lower and when this balanced (hopefully) the tree will prove to be more fun.
Unholy:
Unholy has a lot of very cool toys, does the most damage and is the probably the fastest way to level since AOE'ing is rediculous. With access to 4 diseases at 60, a permenant ghoul, Bone Shield, and Wandering Plague being very broken with a large amount of mobs this spec chews through enemies, especially when you can AOE. There is more buttons to push, is more complicated, especially when AOE'ing so I would recommend going Blood for a few levels to get used to the basics before switching back to try this tree. I will respec to this tree the next time I log onto the Beta in order to test out the AOE before Wandering Plague is nerfed. I love having a controllable, permanent ghoul. Very handy.
I am enjoying the DK quite a bit, and I am looking forward to making Chickenpox my main. I will try and keep posting my experience in Beta up until launch day.
Chickenpox has been killed by Chickenpox.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Biding Time
Man does the waiting game suck !! Without a beta key I have nothing to write about. However, in the interest of keeping my reader happy, I will attempt to ramble on about something.
First, the Deathknight. They are looking fantastic, without a beta key I can only watch videos and read postings but I am still very excited and looking forward to racing Chickenpox through to 80. I am completely torn however, I can't decide which spec to take. To make it worse I can't even eliminate one !! All three trees are looking fantastic, fun and different from each other. I dont intend to respec for a bit after I get going, probably not till Northrend at least, although with the DK teleport spell I can probably do it quite quick so as not to lose any down time. I will probably start off Blood or Unholy, Blood for zero downtime with self-healing or Unholy for great AOE, although Frost is looking like it has good AOE as well. See, very confusing.
Also, there is the matter of professions. I have gone on record saying that I will be taking Engineering and Inscription. Well, I'm not so sure anymore. Blacksmithing is looking great but very scary to level. We have a lot of people in Heroes interested in levelling Inscription and they will be at 375 before WOTLK hits due to the preview patch so I think I will pass on that. I have been thinking about taking Mining to supplement BSmithing if I take it, but I would want to be at 300 when I hit Outland to make levelling it less of a pain, but I also want ~zero downtime (I don't want to spend a day or two in Azeroth mining low ores.) What's a guy to do ?? I could level JCing but I have one at 375 already and its not like a JCer needs to go out and farm much. I guess I just need to wait and see what some of the BOP recipes provide before deciding which I should take but that leaves me less time to farm up mats. Oh, well. I should have a month or two regardless. Which brings me to my next point, how to retain my interest for 2 more months.
Fynn: I finally levelled my rogue to 70 and have been BGing like crazy to get PVP gear. I have noticed I have more fun in BG's with the rogue than I ever have before but I definitely notice the gear gap. I am far too squishy and I hit like a wet noodle most of the time, although getting the Merciless fist weapon helped a lot. My brief intro to the arena did not go well, I found I had a lot of trouble with my UI and there is far too many buttons to push as a rogue for my pseudo bind/click style to keep up with. I also sucked, but I have no love for 2v2 maybe 5v5 will feel more fun to me.
Hunter (no name yet): Although I have a 25 hunter, I hate the name she has so I will be starting a new one in hopes of reaching 60 quickly. I am going to hop on the bandwagon and tame a Devilsaur and someday in the far future a Rhino. I will probably start this next week and hopefully hit 60 before the patch 3.0.2 goes live.
Sonar (level 60 Druid): Have no plans for this character but remains an option to level if I get bored.
When patch 3.0.2 goes live everyone will be able to test out the new talents on their mains and somewhat decide on specs and stuff. I, however, will not be able to do this since my main does not exist yet. I could start a character with the same name that will ultimately become deleted but that would be only for RP purposes and thats not my style. I will have to pick a character or two and try out some of the new talents in the unlikely event that the DK does not appeal to me. I can only hope that if that is the case, I find out via a beta key and not after levelling to 80.
Chickenpox has been killed by Impatience.
First, the Deathknight. They are looking fantastic, without a beta key I can only watch videos and read postings but I am still very excited and looking forward to racing Chickenpox through to 80. I am completely torn however, I can't decide which spec to take. To make it worse I can't even eliminate one !! All three trees are looking fantastic, fun and different from each other. I dont intend to respec for a bit after I get going, probably not till Northrend at least, although with the DK teleport spell I can probably do it quite quick so as not to lose any down time. I will probably start off Blood or Unholy, Blood for zero downtime with self-healing or Unholy for great AOE, although Frost is looking like it has good AOE as well. See, very confusing.
Also, there is the matter of professions. I have gone on record saying that I will be taking Engineering and Inscription. Well, I'm not so sure anymore. Blacksmithing is looking great but very scary to level. We have a lot of people in Heroes interested in levelling Inscription and they will be at 375 before WOTLK hits due to the preview patch so I think I will pass on that. I have been thinking about taking Mining to supplement BSmithing if I take it, but I would want to be at 300 when I hit Outland to make levelling it less of a pain, but I also want ~zero downtime (I don't want to spend a day or two in Azeroth mining low ores.) What's a guy to do ?? I could level JCing but I have one at 375 already and its not like a JCer needs to go out and farm much. I guess I just need to wait and see what some of the BOP recipes provide before deciding which I should take but that leaves me less time to farm up mats. Oh, well. I should have a month or two regardless. Which brings me to my next point, how to retain my interest for 2 more months.
Fynn: I finally levelled my rogue to 70 and have been BGing like crazy to get PVP gear. I have noticed I have more fun in BG's with the rogue than I ever have before but I definitely notice the gear gap. I am far too squishy and I hit like a wet noodle most of the time, although getting the Merciless fist weapon helped a lot. My brief intro to the arena did not go well, I found I had a lot of trouble with my UI and there is far too many buttons to push as a rogue for my pseudo bind/click style to keep up with. I also sucked, but I have no love for 2v2 maybe 5v5 will feel more fun to me.
Hunter (no name yet): Although I have a 25 hunter, I hate the name she has so I will be starting a new one in hopes of reaching 60 quickly. I am going to hop on the bandwagon and tame a Devilsaur and someday in the far future a Rhino. I will probably start this next week and hopefully hit 60 before the patch 3.0.2 goes live.
Sonar (level 60 Druid): Have no plans for this character but remains an option to level if I get bored.
When patch 3.0.2 goes live everyone will be able to test out the new talents on their mains and somewhat decide on specs and stuff. I, however, will not be able to do this since my main does not exist yet. I could start a character with the same name that will ultimately become deleted but that would be only for RP purposes and thats not my style. I will have to pick a character or two and try out some of the new talents in the unlikely event that the DK does not appeal to me. I can only hope that if that is the case, I find out via a beta key and not after levelling to 80.
Chickenpox has been killed by Impatience.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Choice Made
So even though ret pallies are the bullies and gankers of the WOTLK beta right now, I have decided that my main will be a deathknight. Chickenpox will live !!!
Theres been some discussion on the Heroes Inc boards about the DK in PVP which has led me to really consider how I would go about playing a DK in BG's and arenas. All 3 specs have things that look appealing for PVP, Frost and unholy in arenas, blood would be hella fun in a bg, and any of them would be a blast for world PVP. My goal was to play a character that I wouldn't mind PVPing with so I could include myself in all of Heroes' activities; but now I find myself excited about the prospect. How bizarre. So even if by some miracle ret pallies remain the gods they currently are, I will be switching my main to Chickenpox and trying to level like a freight train.
You have been pwned by Chickenpox.
Theres been some discussion on the Heroes Inc boards about the DK in PVP which has led me to really consider how I would go about playing a DK in BG's and arenas. All 3 specs have things that look appealing for PVP, Frost and unholy in arenas, blood would be hella fun in a bg, and any of them would be a blast for world PVP. My goal was to play a character that I wouldn't mind PVPing with so I could include myself in all of Heroes' activities; but now I find myself excited about the prospect. How bizarre. So even if by some miracle ret pallies remain the gods they currently are, I will be switching my main to Chickenpox and trying to level like a freight train.
You have been pwned by Chickenpox.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Pets & Mounts Huzzah
Probably the best change I've seen in a long time. Pets (non-combat) and mounts are being changed into spells that you learn and a special tab will be put into your spellbook. Finally, collector's such as myself will no longer have to find space for the multitude of pets or mounts that we have collected. I usually roll with about 6-10 small pets in my bag at any time, this will be an enormous space savings. Woot.
Chickenpox has cast Mechanical Squirrel.
Mechanical Squirrel has crit.
Chickenpox has been killed by Mechanical Squirrel.
Chickenpox has cast Mechanical Squirrel.
Mechanical Squirrel has crit.
Chickenpox has been killed by Mechanical Squirrel.
Runeswapping ...... Denied
As an addendum to yesterday's post where I said I was concerned about runeswapping, Blue has came out and said that as of now the plan is to use 2 of each rune instead of customizing. While that is a little dissappointing I'm glad that it is known and now I can move on knowing my limitations. This should make balancing the DK much easier, but hopefully they will work on improving the talent trees so that they work together better since we will be forced to use skills from all 3 trees.
From observation Frost seems to suffer the most from the 2/2/2 rune configuration so I hope they work on it next, as I really liked the look of it from early Alpha leaks. Several skills got nerfed when beta opened and the lack of frost runes really hurt the spec. Of course all of this just conjecture at the moment since I have no beta key. Phooey.
*edit* I also forgot to mention that Blizzard is reducing the levelling requirements from 60-70, currently the reduction is ~30%. Hopefully this stays, it'll make levelling my DK that much easier (probably about 30% easier ;P). However, this will lessen the only significant barrier to the world being flooded with DK's. I don't expect to be unique but hopefully some variety is retained.
You have been bored by Chickenpox.
From observation Frost seems to suffer the most from the 2/2/2 rune configuration so I hope they work on it next, as I really liked the look of it from early Alpha leaks. Several skills got nerfed when beta opened and the lack of frost runes really hurt the spec. Of course all of this just conjecture at the moment since I have no beta key. Phooey.
*edit* I also forgot to mention that Blizzard is reducing the levelling requirements from 60-70, currently the reduction is ~30%. Hopefully this stays, it'll make levelling my DK that much easier (probably about 30% easier ;P). However, this will lessen the only significant barrier to the world being flooded with DK's. I don't expect to be unique but hopefully some variety is retained.
You have been bored by Chickenpox.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Beta has begun, so much confusion
So it has been several days since beta began and I have had a chance to digest lots of tasty info. I don't understand all of it since I have no beta key (YET!!). I have basically been ignoring the mage stuff, I guess that means I am REALLY uninterested in progressing Brambles. I've been looking over the Pally and DK details as closely as I can. Unfortunately, I have concerns about both and am actually very excited about both. So without further adieu:
Pally Stuff:
I am going to focus on the Ret changes as that would be what I would spec toward. I have tried my hand (albiet briefly) at Pally tanking and while I had a small amount of success with it, it didn'y feel natural to me and so I look at the Pally as DPS/Heal hybrid. I will leave the Prot changes to Honors who has a definite gift for it.
Looking at the talents alone Ret looks very viable especially in PVE, PVP I have no real idea but I doubt they are worse off than they are now. The mana issues appear to be history, although there may be a bug or two, and the seal/judgement system has been changed in such a way that makes perfect sense to me, I love it. I'm not ecstatic that Seal of Casino is still around but now that allies have access to Seal of Blood (Martyr) and Seal of Righteousness may be more viable I have less complaints about that. Another instant cast damage ability will also make fighting with the pally less dull. Also, preliminary glances suggest that the Shockadin spec may be more viable as well a Spell-damage Ret build may be finally possible (something I wanted to do in TBC but was never able to do).
The biggest question for me about pallies is gearing. The devs have said that Ret pallies will be sharing gear with warriors and DK's, and the AP -> SP talent enforces that opinion. However, with no intelligence where is the mana pool coming from ? Now, it may be that the mana return from Judgement of the Wise is good enough to compensate for a very small mana pool, but I am still concerned. Also, currently Ret pallies are getting ridiculous damage from judging Seal of Command, as high as 17k I have heard. Now the math from talents actually backs it up so I'm guessing that changes will be made. I haven't looked as closely at the Holy talents so I will not comment on them yet.
Death Knight:
The biggest concern I have for the DK is that it appears you are no longer able to customize the runes on your weapon. For those that don't know, many DK abilities use runes as the cost, they have 3 types: Blood, Frost & Unholy. Several DK spells cost 1 or more runes and when used they take 10 seconds (untalented) to be ready for use again. Now, it was said by the devs that you would be able to customize the runes on your blade which promised great flexibility and customization for your play style. The current setup (in beta 2/2/2) is all you are allowed, 2 of each rune. I am hoping that they are only doing this for testing purposes as the 2/2/2 configuration allows the use of all the DK's abilities.
I won't go into much detail about how the trees are looking since this is a new class in beta and I know that tweaks will be coming. Currently from comments and videos, blood looks ungodly awesome and efficient, Frost is weak and cumbersome, and unholy is very, very cool. I expect Blood will be nerfed a bit, Frost will be buffed and unholy will stay about the same. As for DK tanking, I will definitely be considering this and have been thinking about spells/talents to use for threat generation and mitigation. I was and still am very excited about his class because I could immediately see how certain ability/talent combinations could be used effectively for leveling/PVE DPS/PVP and tanking. I was/am excited by the amount options available to me. I am a little less excited right now due to the lack of rune customization but as I said I am hoping that is for testing alone and it will be available, maybe at a higher level.
One thing is for sure, I will have a class (maybe 2) that I will be excited to level to 80 and contribute to the Heroes Inc raiding effort. I am drooling over the 10 man progression idea and the idea of seeing all the available content with the friends I have made, and probably new ones too (the way it is with mmo's, some leave some stay some join). So in conclusion:
BETA KEYZ PLZ!!!
*ahem* thank you, that is all.
You have been killed by Chickenpox.
Pally Stuff:
I am going to focus on the Ret changes as that would be what I would spec toward. I have tried my hand (albiet briefly) at Pally tanking and while I had a small amount of success with it, it didn'y feel natural to me and so I look at the Pally as DPS/Heal hybrid. I will leave the Prot changes to Honors who has a definite gift for it.
Looking at the talents alone Ret looks very viable especially in PVE, PVP I have no real idea but I doubt they are worse off than they are now. The mana issues appear to be history, although there may be a bug or two, and the seal/judgement system has been changed in such a way that makes perfect sense to me, I love it. I'm not ecstatic that Seal of Casino is still around but now that allies have access to Seal of Blood (Martyr) and Seal of Righteousness may be more viable I have less complaints about that. Another instant cast damage ability will also make fighting with the pally less dull. Also, preliminary glances suggest that the Shockadin spec may be more viable as well a Spell-damage Ret build may be finally possible (something I wanted to do in TBC but was never able to do).
The biggest question for me about pallies is gearing. The devs have said that Ret pallies will be sharing gear with warriors and DK's, and the AP -> SP talent enforces that opinion. However, with no intelligence where is the mana pool coming from ? Now, it may be that the mana return from Judgement of the Wise is good enough to compensate for a very small mana pool, but I am still concerned. Also, currently Ret pallies are getting ridiculous damage from judging Seal of Command, as high as 17k I have heard. Now the math from talents actually backs it up so I'm guessing that changes will be made. I haven't looked as closely at the Holy talents so I will not comment on them yet.
Death Knight:
The biggest concern I have for the DK is that it appears you are no longer able to customize the runes on your weapon. For those that don't know, many DK abilities use runes as the cost, they have 3 types: Blood, Frost & Unholy. Several DK spells cost 1 or more runes and when used they take 10 seconds (untalented) to be ready for use again. Now, it was said by the devs that you would be able to customize the runes on your blade which promised great flexibility and customization for your play style. The current setup (in beta 2/2/2) is all you are allowed, 2 of each rune. I am hoping that they are only doing this for testing purposes as the 2/2/2 configuration allows the use of all the DK's abilities.
I won't go into much detail about how the trees are looking since this is a new class in beta and I know that tweaks will be coming. Currently from comments and videos, blood looks ungodly awesome and efficient, Frost is weak and cumbersome, and unholy is very, very cool. I expect Blood will be nerfed a bit, Frost will be buffed and unholy will stay about the same. As for DK tanking, I will definitely be considering this and have been thinking about spells/talents to use for threat generation and mitigation. I was and still am very excited about his class because I could immediately see how certain ability/talent combinations could be used effectively for leveling/PVE DPS/PVP and tanking. I was/am excited by the amount options available to me. I am a little less excited right now due to the lack of rune customization but as I said I am hoping that is for testing alone and it will be available, maybe at a higher level.
One thing is for sure, I will have a class (maybe 2) that I will be excited to level to 80 and contribute to the Heroes Inc raiding effort. I am drooling over the 10 man progression idea and the idea of seeing all the available content with the friends I have made, and probably new ones too (the way it is with mmo's, some leave some stay some join). So in conclusion:
BETA KEYZ PLZ!!!
*ahem* thank you, that is all.
You have been killed by Chickenpox.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Goodbye Ret/Holy/Prot Pally & Arcane/Ice Mage, Hello DK
I thought for the opening post I would try to explain why I will be foregoing my established characters in favor of the great unknown. I have two decently geared 70's, a Mage (currently Frost) and a Pally (Holy or Ret with some Prot gear), I also have a 63 Rogue and a 60 Druid, either of which (or both) I could have at 70 in time for the expansion.
I'll start with the mage. I don't maind raiding with Brambles, I understand the class, I can improvise when needed and I know how to gear and DPS. My favorite spec is by far arcane, which looks to be receiving some interesting things in the expansion, although an elemental build will most likely be the spreadsheet favorite. Since I am now finished school and have become a full-time working stiff, I probably won't have quite as much time to play as I would like, so I am hoping to have 1 main that I enjoy both PVE and PVP with. The big problem with the mage is the fact that I hate PVPing with it. Even with a Frost spec I just don't enjoy it.
Now the pally. I originally joined Heroes Inc as the token Ret pally. Unfortunately I soon discovered that Ret pallies were broken, and not really feasible for Alliance. (Damn SoB). I switched my raiding main to Brambles and that went well for a while. At some point our guild had a deficit of healers and I respecced Rhubarb to Holy and healed for quite a long time. I tried out prot and build a tank set, had some success and some not-success, lol. *Hats off to Honorshammer, he made it look so easy.... it wasn't* When Ret got a little buff, I tried it out again and there was definite improvement, however to be most viable raiding ret pallies need to gear up with PVP gear. So into the BG's I went, at times it was fun and I had some success, but I found pally PVP boring with very few spells to use and a VERY small mana pool. I am still waiting on the new stuff for pallies in WOTLK which may still persuade me to keep Rhubarb as my main, but I am very doubtful.
As for Fynn, and Sonar my Rogue and Druid, I'll say this: I have no reason being a rogue, I wanted to gank people and I find I'm too lazy or timid. Rogues have to be jack*sses and I apparently don't fit the bill. As for the druid, it is very appealing as I do love the hybrid playstyle but I lost interest in levelling it and our guild is very druid heavy as it is.
When the Deathknight was announced last summer, Wichita mentioned to me that it seemed right up my alley, a melee class with spellcasting, and I was quite excited. As I delved into the alpha information I have become more excited, I have made build after build utilizing all 3 trees: blood, frost and unholy for both melee dps (2H and DW) and tanking. I am currently planning on going 2H Blood for levelling but Frost/Unholy looks fun too. I will be updating my preferences as more info comes out and *finger-crossing* I get into the beta.
The main downside to rolling a Deathknight for my main is that while my guildies will start the expansion at 70, I will be trucking from 55. I will have to work very hard to catch up or at least not fall too far behind. I have begun making some preparations to speed my levelling to at least move ahead of the herd of DK's that will be rolled when the expansion goes live.
My Deathknight will be a female Dranei named Chickenpox. I currently plan to be an engineer and the 2nd profession is undecided at the moment. I will have mats for 375 enggineering/cooking/first aid all stockpiled and ready to go. Also I plan to have ~10k in gold waiting for epic mount hotness.
The hardest part is the waiting, I anticipate the expansion will be in about 3 months which leaves plenty of time to get everything ready. In future posts I will be expounding on my plans for raiding, PVPing, professions, and how I am going to go about collecting mass amounts of non-combat pets. Wish I could transfer from Brambles *sigh*.
One last comment: I chose my name based on what I want people to see in their combat log after I killed them.
You have been killed by Chickenpox.
Pinkeye was taken.
I'll start with the mage. I don't maind raiding with Brambles, I understand the class, I can improvise when needed and I know how to gear and DPS. My favorite spec is by far arcane, which looks to be receiving some interesting things in the expansion, although an elemental build will most likely be the spreadsheet favorite. Since I am now finished school and have become a full-time working stiff, I probably won't have quite as much time to play as I would like, so I am hoping to have 1 main that I enjoy both PVE and PVP with. The big problem with the mage is the fact that I hate PVPing with it. Even with a Frost spec I just don't enjoy it.
Now the pally. I originally joined Heroes Inc as the token Ret pally. Unfortunately I soon discovered that Ret pallies were broken, and not really feasible for Alliance. (Damn SoB). I switched my raiding main to Brambles and that went well for a while. At some point our guild had a deficit of healers and I respecced Rhubarb to Holy and healed for quite a long time. I tried out prot and build a tank set, had some success and some not-success, lol. *Hats off to Honorshammer, he made it look so easy.... it wasn't* When Ret got a little buff, I tried it out again and there was definite improvement, however to be most viable raiding ret pallies need to gear up with PVP gear. So into the BG's I went, at times it was fun and I had some success, but I found pally PVP boring with very few spells to use and a VERY small mana pool. I am still waiting on the new stuff for pallies in WOTLK which may still persuade me to keep Rhubarb as my main, but I am very doubtful.
As for Fynn, and Sonar my Rogue and Druid, I'll say this: I have no reason being a rogue, I wanted to gank people and I find I'm too lazy or timid. Rogues have to be jack*sses and I apparently don't fit the bill. As for the druid, it is very appealing as I do love the hybrid playstyle but I lost interest in levelling it and our guild is very druid heavy as it is.
When the Deathknight was announced last summer, Wichita mentioned to me that it seemed right up my alley, a melee class with spellcasting, and I was quite excited. As I delved into the alpha information I have become more excited, I have made build after build utilizing all 3 trees: blood, frost and unholy for both melee dps (2H and DW) and tanking. I am currently planning on going 2H Blood for levelling but Frost/Unholy looks fun too. I will be updating my preferences as more info comes out and *finger-crossing* I get into the beta.
The main downside to rolling a Deathknight for my main is that while my guildies will start the expansion at 70, I will be trucking from 55. I will have to work very hard to catch up or at least not fall too far behind. I have begun making some preparations to speed my levelling to at least move ahead of the herd of DK's that will be rolled when the expansion goes live.
My Deathknight will be a female Dranei named Chickenpox. I currently plan to be an engineer and the 2nd profession is undecided at the moment. I will have mats for 375 enggineering/cooking/first aid all stockpiled and ready to go. Also I plan to have ~10k in gold waiting for epic mount hotness.
The hardest part is the waiting, I anticipate the expansion will be in about 3 months which leaves plenty of time to get everything ready. In future posts I will be expounding on my plans for raiding, PVPing, professions, and how I am going to go about collecting mass amounts of non-combat pets. Wish I could transfer from Brambles *sigh*.
One last comment: I chose my name based on what I want people to see in their combat log after I killed them.
You have been killed by Chickenpox.
Pinkeye was taken.
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