Questing in the new world

I've been questing and exploring on my dwarf shaman, so far I've done Dun Murough, Loch Modan, and Wetlands.  I've also completed the following dungeons - Wailing Caverns, Blackfathom Depths, The Stockade, Scarlet Monastry - Graveyard, Gnomergan & Deadmines.  In the days since the Shattering, between questing and dungeon runs, I've reached level 29 without using any Heirloom gear.  Leveling speed is a lot faster and smoother with the quest hubs and each hub linking to the next.

One hint for the dungeon quests, if the quest givers don't move forward with you.  Teleport out and back into the dungeon, and you'll be back at the beginning with the quest givers.

Quest gear and dungeon drops are generally better than most of the random items drops and will generally have an option that will match you spec, so you'll be ready for for most encounters.

I'm really enjoying working on my shaman.  I've decided to level as enhancement, and the melee style is enjoyable.  Now that i know Nova blast, I'm having to work in dropping at least a fire totem when facing a group of mobs. 

Have fun, and explore the world.

It's a brand new world

The Shattering has happened and the world has changed.  One of the biggest changes is new starting areas for all the races except the Draenei and the Blood Elves, which had a couple of small tweaks mainly dealing with the class trainers and the addition of a trainer the can teach all the professions.

Here are the my impressions of the Level 1-5 areas:

     Orc/Dwarf/Night Elf - The quests flow smoother but all in all, very similar to the original areas.  Orcs are introduced to conflict with the humans early on here.  Big change for the Night Elves is the Moonwell quests actually have a spirit show up and tell you the history, instead of you reading it.

     Human - Completely redone, brings to the fore the conflict between the humans and the orcs.

     Troll - Very well done.  You can background on the retaking of the isles talking to some of the NPCs, as well as facing the Sea Witch from WC III, with Vol'jin before heading to Sen'jin village.

     Gnome - The other new starting area, it is also well done.  Mekkatorgue shows what happened at the end of the retaking of Gnomergan, and the story picks up from there.  The hardest part is facing the boss at the end of the quest zone before heading Kharanos.  It helps to have friends to deal with the mobs that spawn as you use Mekkatorgue's special abilities.

     Tauren - You get to see of the changes brought about by the Grimtotem attack, as well as a seemingly larger Quillboar presence.  The quests go lot a faster, and the overall size of the zone feels smaller.

     Forsaken - While several of the quests are similar to the orginal quests for the area, the story is updated to reflect the changes brought about by the fall of the Lich King, and Sylvanus's recruiting of the Vrykul.  You get to see that several of the newly risen dead are not accepting of their new state, leading to them become mindless undead or forming groups that stand against the Forsaken.  Excellent storyline here.

Take some time to check out the new starting areas and see the new lore.  Also the equipment you receive from the various quests, have a more uniform appearance, looking like the belong together.

Have fun.

Strumwulf

Pilgrim's Feast

Azeroth's version of Thanksgiving is upon us again.  As with most holidays there are a variety of achievements to earn and quests to do.  One thing that sets this holiday apart from the others, is that it offers characters a way to advance their cooking proffession from 1 to 300 with little effort.  You buy a recipe book from the one of the event vendors, which has 5 recipes for stuffing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and turkey.  Everything except the turkey can be bought from one of the vendors.  If you have already learned cooking and its above level 300, all you need to do is buy 25 to 30 of each ingredient to be able to finish each quest.  If you are starting cooking you will need to look at what skill level you learn each recipe at and buy enough ingredients to get you to the next level.  For example, spiced bread will get you to skill level 50, and spiced bread stuffing will allow to get to level 100, when you learn the next recipe.  Remember to visit the cooking trainer as your skill goes up to learn more recipes and skill bars.

Have fun,

Strumwulf

Elemental Invasion

The final part of the Elemental Invasion has begun.  The events are a little tricky to start out, but once you have cleared the cities you can queue up to face one of 4 different bosses (2 will be available at a time).  There is a quest available from either Varian or Magni for the Alliance to defeat the boss, which is turned in back at Ironforge or Stormwind (Haven't done Horde side for this part, so you'll have info about that section elsewhere).  You get ilevel 251 gear (initial Tier 10 equivalent) from the bosses, so if you have some level 80 characters that haven't run ICC yet, here's a chance to get some new gear.

Good Luck and have fun.

Strumwulf

Scepter of the Endless Sands

I reached Neutral with the Brood of Nozdromu earlier this week, and started the quests for the Scepter of the Endless Sands.  Yesterday, I finished the Red Shard & Green Shard quests with the help of my guild.  I also want to thank Jinfive, the Tauren Druid for helping out when I summoned Eranikus on top of him.

Now I need to finish up collecting the sections of the book for the Blue Shard, and I'll finish up the questline before Cataclysm hits.

Edit:  Ran Molten Core tonight with my friend, Brian to get the the chapter of Draconic for Dummies vol 2 from Ragnaros.  Now i just need to hit up Onyxia for the chapter, she has and I'll be done with this portion.

Alchemy Humor

I'm leveling Alchemy on Ksenjia, my Priest, and I see that the elixir of detect undead is made from Arthas' Tears.

It's a little funny to that the main ingredient in this potion is named after the Lich King.

Elemental Invasion Part II

The second set of quests for the Elemental Invasion has appeared.  The Alliance get 3 new quests, while the Horde get 2 new quests.   The 1st quest is finding and defending a courier delivering a mysterious package from Northrend.  The courier is next to the southwest Zepplin tower for the Horde, and near the docks on the left side of the harbor in Stormwind.  You defend the courier from a elementals summoned by a Twillight Cultist riding a black drake.  You are given 3 new abilities to counter the elementals summoned.   These abilities make it so charcters of any level can complete the quest.  Just keep an eye on the three portals to see what elemental spawns, and use the appropriate ability to banish them.  Once done, you take the tablets back to Orgrimmar or Ironforge.  The 2nd quest is to pacify 20 elementals in Ironforge or Orgimmar.  I found that this quest was a lot quicker on Horde side. The extra Alliance quest is a feeder quest from Stormwind, sending you to Ironforge where you get the 2nd quest.    


All in all another fun set of quests to do as Catacylsm approaches.  You get some XP and money, and exposure to the developing storyline.  


Have fun and see you around.

Elemental Invasion begins

The elemental invasion has begun.  If you don't know what's going on, there is a great post about the event at:  http://ravenholdtmanor.blogspot.com/ 

You can also find info over at Wowhead and Wowpedia.  

Go out and see what is leading up to the world changing.

A Note of Caution, finding the elemental rifts can be a pain, they spawn at random times at one of several points in the various zones.  If you destroy a rift in a zone appropriate for your level, you can get a daily quest from the mysterious object that appears when the rift is destroyed, which is turned to an Earthern Ring emissary in one of the capital cities.  Also if you destroy a rift of each element, you will get a Feat of Strength.

The Dreamer Awakens

In the new fanart posted to the Blizzard Gallery, there is an excellent image of Ysera in her Night Elf form:

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/community/fanart/index.html#1139

Speaker of dragons, I've been working on the rep for Brood of Nozdromu, finally got out of hated,  Couple of AQ40 runs, and the rep quest, and I'll be able to work on the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline.  I'm going to try and finish it before patch 4.0.3 hits.

Horseman falls Again

Strumwulf acquired the Headless Horseman's Reins on Monday, so both my 80's have the mount now.

The Horseman Falls

Yesterday, Yekaterina picked up the Reigns of the Headless Horse, and now rides the skys on the Headless Horseman's Mount.

Blizzcon Day 2 - Art Panel

The art panel was a blast.  We got a preview of art from the various new zones, a glimpse at how the art team develops the props that each faction uses, dungeon building, as well as a look at the new opening screen.

Blizzcon Day 1 Away

First day is off to a start.  Chris Metzen had a great intro.  Geeks rule.  The Dungeon and Raid panel gave out some good info, and a preview of some the raids and dungeon coming in 4.1.  The Lore and quest panel gave out a lot of hints and spoilers in their Q&A.  The entries in the costume and dance contests were great.  Looking forward to tomorrow.

Patch 4.0.1 Suggestions.

So far, so good.  I tried out a few of my characters, and here are some suggestions to help you get your characters up to speed.

1) Get your glyphs.  Review all of the glyphs for your class and see which ones you want to use based on your spec.

2) Visit the class trainer.  No matter what level you are, you probably have at least 1 new skill to learn.

3) Review all your spells and abilities.  A lot of spells and abilities have had some type of change done to them.  Your are playing a whole new class essentially.

4) Respec.  All of your talents have been zeroized and all the trees are brand new.

5) Be patient.  If your performance is not at the level it was before the patch, Blizzard will see this and make adjustments.  You can also post on the offical forums and describe what you are seeing.  Make sure you include as much detail as possible.  What you were doing, what abilities you used, etc.   Just saying you are doing less damage, for example, will not be very helpful.

6) Have fun.  Everything is changing. Take some time and learn the game anew.

Welcome to a new world

Patch 4.0.1 drops tonight, and almost everything changes.  All the class, profession, equipment mechanics change.  Sometime between Thanksgiving and Dec 7, we'll see patch 4.0.3 drop which will change the appearance of the world and redo all the quests.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to trying out all my characters with the new class abilities, and talents.

Character progression -

Strumwulf has reached 350 in engineering, and is starting on the Northrend recipes.
Ksenjai is learning Inscription, and is rocketing through it with the help of Kiriann, who is leveling and picking herbs along the way.
Paksenarrion has joined the Scryers and is working on her leatherworking and enchanting.
Greigol has become Yekaterina and still plugging at at the Dalaran dailies.
Karmag has reached level 71, and Honored with the Kulak.


Hope everyone has a good night, and fun adventuring on the morrow.

Bad Girl III

An excellent pic of Valeera Saguinar by Shiramune.

http://shiramune.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d17ko3e

Achievements

I've picked up several achievements for my characters this weekend.  Strumwulf finally made it into Zul'Gurub and took down Hakkar for the Raid Achievement and finished up Classic Raider, as well as defeating Malygos to earn his Champion of the Frozen North title.  He also made his way through the Scarlet Monastery, Wailing Caverns and Ragefire Chasm to earn the Classic Dungeonmaster achievement.  He's 370 of 700 quests into earning the Kalimdor Loremaster.

Paksenarrion reached level 60, and Karmag, my new Orc Death Knight reached 70.   I'm working on getting Karmag to level 75 so I can finish the Echo Isles event before it goes away.

Greigol fished up a Giant Rat from the Dalaran Sewers.

Have fun and exciting travels.

Bad Girl II

From the Blizzard Fan Art Page.

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/community/fanart/index.html#1116

Bad Girl

Browsing through the EU concept art, and found this picture.  She's so bad, that she's good.

http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/community/conceptart/#376

Still No Beta

Still haven't gotten a Beta key, but I've hoped onto the PTR to check out the changes coming with patch 4.0.1.  I have to say the new UI features are great.  The spellbook layout is very useful, being able to see what spell is available and when is an excellent change.  The additional tabs for professions and pets in the spell book are handy.   I really like how you see the names of each pet and mount. 

More to come later.

A Dark and Stormy Day

I live on Okinawa and this week started out with a Tropical Storm hitting the island.  So as the storm hit the island, I got to stay home from work.  Since I couldn't go anywhere, I spent the day playing WOW, and watching season 1 of Eureka.  Great Show by the way,  go watch it. Anyway, I've managed to finish Loremaster of the Eastern Kingdoms on that day.   I'm going to start working on the rest of the Kalimdor quests soon (300 of 700 completed).

I also did a lot of raiding this week,  I completed Magtheridon's Lair, Gruul's Lair, Zul'Aman, Molten Core, Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, Karazhan, as well doing some heroic Icecrown citadel (10-man). 

I also finished up questing in Hellfire Peninsula, giving me the first step for Loremaster of Outlands.  I've also been busy working on professions and their associated acheivements.  I got cooking up to 350, so I could start the Dalaran cooking dailies, and got Chef d'Partie, the Dalaran cooking Reward, Grand Master Cook, Skills to the pay the bills, & as a side note picked up Ultimate Triage, dropping a frostweave bandage on guild member after a duel.  I dropped Inscription a couple of weeks ago and started working on Engineering.  I really like the different items I can make, and I'm really looking forward to the changes coming to Engineering in Cataclysm.  The changes coming to Inscription look interesting as well, so I need to decide if I'm to go have one of my alts relearn the proffession before Cataclysm or just wait and have my Worgen learn it. 

I finished up the coin fishing achievements done on Greigol, my Paladin, so he now has his Titanium Seal, and working the jewelcrafting dailies to get all the cuts, very slow going.  Paksenarrion, my warrior, reached level 56, and completed the Black Rock Depths achievement yesterday.  A problem with the LFD system, especially in dungeons they split up like BRD is letting the party know which boss they need to find and kill to get the bag.  Leveling enchanting has been slow going, but I've gotten into the Outland enchants now and it's starting to go faster. 

News in the Wind

Almost down with Loremaster of the Eastern Kingdom, I have over 600 quests done and plenty of quests to still pick up, especially since I haven't touch the starting areas yet.   Need to finish the quest lines in Zul'Drak and start Grizzly Hill to get Loremaster of Northrend.  Outlands and Kalimdor both have a lot of work to do.

Dropped Inscription and picked up Engineering yesterday.  I'm already at Journeyman using the mats I previously collected/made on my hunter, plus a couple of runs through Loch Modan and Westfall to pick up copper.  In related note, finished up the third OOX quest and got the mechanical chicken pet.

Daria Fanfiction - Grendel Vivant

Here is some scenes I wrote for a Daria/Grendel Crossover, just follow the link below.  It's also posted over at the PPMB.

Grendel Vivant

Note: Updated story link to point to my Deviant Art page

Blog Azeroth Shared Topic - How is your Class Viewed

There is a new shared topic up on the Blog Azeroth Forums.  Asking how you think your class is viewed by the various NPCs in the game.  Here is my take on how Strumwulf, my Death Knight is viewed.

Greetings fellow traveler, my name is Strumwulf.  I am a Death Knight in the service of the Alliance.  I was recently asked by an acquaintance how the people of the world view me.    So I’ve decided to report on what I’ve experienced.

From the moment, I left the Lich King’s service at Light’s Hope Chapel, the common people and the guards of the various towns and cities have reacted with hate and disgust.  I am a reminder of what they have lost to the Horde and the Scourge.  Even with Varian’s Wrynn declaration, I’m still barely tolerated. 

The innkeepers, flight masters and various vendors pay me little mind, beyond offering the services they have, and as word of my service has reached their ears, I’ve been offered discounts on goods and repairs.

I’ve gotten various reactions from the people who are asking for help across Azeroth and Outlands.  In the areas closest to the capital cities or areas hit hardest by the scourge, the people were for the most part were gruff and short-tempered.  They would give a task, grudging hand over the promised reward and send me on my way with barely a word.  On the other hand, the people from places like Duskwood were initially cautious of me, but they were so short-handed fending off attacks from the worgen and scourge that any help was a welcome relief.    Organizations like the Argent Dawn and the Cenarion Circle, welcomed my assistance as if it was their due.   

I was first truely welcomed with open arms in the Outlands where the Sons of Lothar were more concerned with how well my blades could cut down the demons and orcs populating Hellfire peninsula, then where or how I learned how to fight. 

Upon returning to Northrend, I was known as a hero and was thrown into the front lines.  People were asking for my help left and right or telling me where someone was who need assistance.   The Red and Green Dragons warily worked with me, something about being outside the cycle of life.  The Black dragons saw me as tool to throw at a problem, and the Bronzes were inscrutable in their reasons and decisions. 

Working with the Ebon Blade again was coming home after a long absence.  The Argent Crusade treated me a boon companion, as did the Frostborn.  The Kirin Tor had little regard for me, beyond that I could complete the tasks that they set forth.

This is what I’ve seen and experienced, what have you seen?

Back to business

Haven't been playing very much Warcraft the last few weeks, between work and building a new desktop it has been hectic.  Trying to finish up the Loremaster achievements before Catacylsm strikes, and finished up the Howling Fjord quests earlier last week, broke 600 quests complete for the Eastern Kingdoms, and started working on quests in Ungoro Carter for Kalimdor Loremaster.  Patchwerk was the weekly for Skywall, and I got the Make Quick Work Achievement for taking him down.  I also finished the Tirion Fordring quest in Eastern and Western Plaguelands, as well as doing Strumwulf's first Baron run in Stratholme.  Didn't get the mount though.

I've also started playing Starcraft II.  I'm having a good time playing through the campaign, and learning about the different units and the tech development as I play each mission.

Here is a nice screenshot from one of the Howling Fjord quests that goes well with Strumwulf's name:

Strumwulf as a Wolf

What I've been up to

Last couple of weeks have been slow in game, no raiding, and generally just logging in long enough to clear my mailboxes, and repost items on the Auction House, and do my dailies, as well as the occasional quest.  Real life has been busy and my motivation to play hasn't been there.  My desktop computer decided to stop working, and it's been an adventure figuring what's wrong with and deciding if I wanted to try and fix, or get a new computer.  I decided to try to fix the computer, but because I didn't take the time to research what I actually needed to fix, and what could actually fit in the current case, fixing the computer has turned into building a new computer.  I'd get one thing, find out it didn't fit or work with the old computer, and go get a new part to match the part I just bought.  I've learned a lot about building computers over this time.  Sometimes you just have to get your hands into the guts of a project to really learn.

Wrapping up the Fires

Well, I finished the Midsummer Fest achievements on Strumwulf.  Paksenarron reached level 50 and managed to extinguish all the Horde Fires in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.  I managed to gain a level on my shaman, Sialina, but she didn't get to see very many fires or places along the way.

Strumwulf also got the achievements for 2000 quests, completing the quests in  Sholozar Basin & Nesingwary's Northrend quests. As well as completing all of the Frenzyheart dailies.  I should reach exalted with them in about 2 weeks, then I switch to the Oracles and starting trying to get the green proto-drake for Strumwulf.  Strumwulf acquired the pony for his Argent Tournament Squire and picked up a Ring of the Kirin Tor.   This should make working on the Eastern Kingdom and Kalimdor Loremaster a bit easier.

My Week in WoW or Fun playing with Fire

Been a busy week both in game and in real life.  In game, I've been working on getting all my low-level characters (they range from level 16 to 48) through Midsummer Fest.  My warrior and priest have completed Honoring the flames of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, and my mage has completed the Eastern Kingdoms.  I'm going to try and get my Hunter and Shaman done this week.  Strumwulf, my Death Knight, has completed Honoring the flames of Azeroth, and hit the Northrend fires as well.  He has also stolen all the Horde capitol city fires.  Just need to get the rest of the Horde fires for the Holiday achievement.
In working to get the capital city fires, I tried using the zeppelins and had the guards knock me off the boat with their attacks.  Also, I couldn't use the teleporter between Silvermoon City and Undercity.  I don't remember if this was possible for Midsummer Fest before, but I know for Brewfest, you could buy the clothes you needed for an achievement, go do the achievement and then sell them back to the vendor and get you tokens back.  That is not possible for this Midsummer Fest.

On the raiding side of the game, I got a look at 10-man Lich King.  We managed to get the phase 2, before wiping.  I'm sure in the next couple weeks, Keepers of the Mushroom will figure it out and take Arthas down.

Meeting Flameheart

A small RP Scene I put together to explain how Strumwulf acquired his Blazing Hippogryph.

Strumwulf walked through the portal from Dalaran to Darnassus to enjoy some downtime from the assault on Icecrown Citadel. After checking on the sale of ore, weapons and armor, he had collected in his latest excursion into Icecrown, Strumwulf headed down to Rut'theran Village to head over to the main land. There was always someone asking for some task to be completed, and even if he couldn’t use most of the rewards, he usually found something interesting about the people living in an area or who used to live there. On occasion, he encounter something or someone who would spark a memory from his life before Arthas’s service.


As he walked past the Hippogryph stables, Erelas rushed out to meet him. “My young friend, come speak with me for a bit. I have something for you.”


Since he was in no hurry, Strumwulf decided he would see what the Night Elf wanted and followed him back to the stables. Erelas enthused, “I’ve just finished the training of the latest group of hippogryph hatchlings, and one of them has a quite rare appearance. Since you have helped me so much with retrieving the eggs from the ogres, I decided you needed a better reward than those trinkets that Curgle gives out.”


“Does this hippogryph have a name?” Strumwulf asked.


“His name means Flameheart in your tongue.” Erelas replied.


With that, Strumwulf took a look inside the stables to see this hippogryph that had Erelas so excited. There were several different hippogryphs in the stable, ones with the coloring of the Cenarion Expedition’s & the Argent’s Crusade’s War hippogryphs, as well as the hippogryph’s used to fly between the areas that the Night Elves controlled. At the end of the stable stood a hippogryph with dark red and yellow coloring and its hooves and the tips of its tail feathers were aflame.

Strumwulf walked up to Flameheart, then looking into its eyes gave a small bow. After a second, Flameheart returned the bow and walked up to Strumwulf and ran it’s beak through his hair before nuzzling him.

After a few seconds, Strumwulf said, “Come on Flameheart, let’s see what you can do,” as he lead the hippogryph outside. Once outside, Strumwulf climb onto Flameheart’s back, and then with little urging the pair was skyborne and heading for the top of Teldrassil with a trail for flame behind them.

Achievements in Warcraft.

     Still working on the Eastern Kingdom and Kalimdor Loremaster Achievements, between quests in Booty Bay and the raceway in Thousand Needles, Strumwulf has raised his goblin reps up to honored.  He's also completed the Frenzyheart/Oracle quest chain and choosen to go work for the Frenzyheart tribe for the time being.
     Raiding has been slow for the last few weeks, but I got into a 10-man ICC run with my guild last night, and completed the Blood and Plague Wings, and attempted Sindragosa.  We also did Heroic Gunship.
     Been working on raising Strumwulf's cooking skill, as well as leveling  Ksenja's alchemy, Paksennarion's Leatherworking and Enchanting, and Kiriann's Herbalism and Tailoring.  Modrun's been working on his engineering, but I need to do some leveling on him so I can advance his skill.  Strumwulf and Greigol have been working on getting the remaining recipes for Inscription and Jewelcrafting respectively.
     Strumwulf has been hitting the Argent Tournament dailies as well, so he can get the pony for his squire.  This will help as i get further into Loremaster and doing classic dungeon runs.

New Mount

I got a box of the new set of TCG cards and got a Blazing Hippogryph card.  So Strumwulf is now flying around on one.  It is a very nice looking mount.

Acheivements

I working on Eastern Kingdoms Loremaster, and finally reached Exalted with the Gnomes.  With that, I earned Exalted Champion of the Gnomergan, Exalted Champion of the Alliance, and Exalted Argent Champion of the Alliance, as well The Diplomat.  Anyway back to the questing, 400 to go to finish Eastern Kingdoms, then I head over to Kalimdor.

Progress

Yesterday, I finished up the quests to get Shadow's Edge, and one of my guild's 10 man teams downed Sindragosa and made their first attempt on Arthas.

Guild Progression Update

Tonight, I was part of the 25 man ICC run that took Professer Putricide down.  This is the 2nd time for the guild and my first.  So grats to everyone there, and thanks for helping me finish the Plagueworks achievement. This puts us at 9 of 12 bosses down, leaving the Blood Queen, Sindragosa and Arthas to defeat.

Warcraft DPS - Death Knight

Since I posted my old paladin version of this idea, I decided to post a Death Knight version, since my main is now my DK.




My Answers to a Blog meme about World of Warcraft DPS

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary DPS?
Strumwulf, Blood DK

What is your primary DPSing environment? (i.e. raids, PvP, 5 mans)
25 Man Raids/solo questing

What is your favorite DPS spell/ability for your class and why?
Death Coil, allows you to tag another mob quickly as you finish a fight.

What DPS spell do you use least for your class and why?
Army of the Dead, not many encounters allow for good use of it.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your DPS class and why?
Limited only by GCD on the runes, and the quick build-up of runic power allows Death Knights to get into the fight quickly, and stay there.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your DPS class and why?
Switching targets if you haven't been applying your diseases and spreading them.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best DPS assignment for you?
Single target

What DPS class do you enjoy DPSing with most and why?
I like working with all the classes. But I prefer to have a good player, instead of any specific class.

What DPS class do you enjoy DPSing with least and why?
None

What is your worst habit as a DPS?
Focusing on a single target, and not watching the raid/group envirnoment.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while DPSing?
People not following the raid leader's instructions.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other DPS? 
Blood DKs are well balanced as a DPS class/spec right now.  

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a DPS?
Recount, group feedback, and how well did the encounter go (i.e., did we wipe, finish with a few losses, a lot of losses, etc.).

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?
That death knights are overpowered and easy to play.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new DPSers of your class to learn?
Gearing and stat allocation.  Applying and keeping up the diseases on the mobs.

What DPS class do you feel you understand least?
Warlocks and hunters

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in DPS?
Omen, recount. Macros tying Rune Strike to my other strikes.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?
Strength is always good, but you need to get Hit capped to be truly effective. Expertise cap is good, but only after hit.  Don't be afraid to try out a different gearing/spec and see how you perform.  I'm definitely looking forward to Catacylsm, where gearing and talent spec will be a different ball game.

Warcraft DPS - Paladin

I orginally posted this over on my facebook page, now I'm reposted it here.


My Answers to a Blog meme about World of Warcraft DPS

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary DPS?
Greigol, Retribution Paladin

What is your primary DPSing environment? (i.e. raids, PvP, 5 mans)
10 Man Raids/solo questing

What is your favorite DPS spell/ability for your class and why?
Hand of Reckoning, it's a great to start a fight when solo. Even if you don't get the damage, it gets the opponent to come to you.

What DPS spell do you use least for your class and why?
Holy Wrath. Very situational, and a mana hog.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your DPS class and why?
Don't need any build-up to use our abilities, and the ability to heal and other utility keep yes and our team in the fight.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your DPS class and why?
Limited by total mana, and mana regen. having to switch targets in a fight also put's a damper on our dps.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best DPS assignment for you?
Single target or AOE threat.

What DPS class do you enjoy DPSing with most and why?
I like working with all the classes. But I prefer to have a good player, instead of any specific class.

What DPS class do you enjoy DPSing with least and why?
None

What is your worst habit as a DPS?
Focusing on a single target, and not watching the raid/group envirnoment.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while DPSing?
People not following the raid leader's instructions.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other DPS?
I think ret paladins are pretty well balanced right know. I have know problems keeping up with most other dps.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a DPS?
Recount, and group feedback.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?
That playing the class well is just pushing keys, no skill needed.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new DPSers of your class to learn?
Gearing and stat allocation. Learning when to use our utlity in the midst of a fight.

What DPS class do you feel you understand least?
Warlocks and hunters, haven't tried handling a pet.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in DPS?
Omen, recount. Macros trying my on-use items to Avenging Wrath.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?
Strength is always good, but you need to get Hit capped to be truly effective. Expertise cap is good, but only after hit. 

Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: Leveling 1-10

I just finished getting my new Draenei Priest to level 10, and I've had a fun time doing it.

First off, as a priest you start with two spells:  Lesser Heal & Smite.  And you can hit up the trainer and learn Power Word: Fortitude, right away.  I was able to handle all the mobs in the starting area with Smite.  The quests in the Draenei starting are well-connected and flow well, plus it was easy to kill mobs for extra xp.

Level 4 - I picked up Shadow Word: Pain, and this DoT made handling mobs that much faster.

Level 6 - Power Word: Shield is a great spell.  I would throw Shadow Word: Pain at a target, pop Power Word: Shield, then wail on them with Smite.  Just from my experience with this spell, I've decided to level this toon as Discipline.  I also moved to Azure Watch and started working on the quests there.  I also caught the end of Noblegarden, and was able to do the quests for that, and found the Spring Rabbit's Foot.

The furbolg questline in Azure Watch is one of more fun and interesting one's in the game.  I like how each of the totems gives a different ability for a short period to get you to the next totem.   Be careful once you reach the final totems, the furbolg here will aggro on you, they patrol and call their friends.

Level 8 - Picked up Fade and Renew from the trainer.  Haven't had any use for Fade yet, but renew is useful in soloing questing.

Level 10 - Learned Mind Blast and new rank of Lesser Heal.

If you haven't done the Draenei starting area yet, you should try it out.

Death Knight Class Preview

As everyone who plays World of Warcraft knows, the Class Previews came out this last week.  Today, I'm going to take a look at the Death Knight Preview.  The actual preview can be found at:  http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=20677630322&sid=1


New Spells -
     Outbreak -  I see this mainly be used by tanks when switching targets.
     Necrotic Strike -  This will be mainly used in PVP, especially arenas, and a little on battlegrounds.  I don't see much use for the healing absorbation ability in PVE, outside of encounters like faction champs in TOC.
     Dark Simulcrum - This looks like a lot of fun for both tanks and dps.  Sending a copy of your opponent's last spell back at them is FTW.

Rune System Change - not too sure how this is going work.  Going to have to wait until Beta or release, to see how it works.

Talent Change - Big change for DKs is Blood will be the Tanking tree, and Frost and Unholy will be DPS.  Consolidating tanking into blood will make class balancing easier, especially with the new Mastery system.  I currently play Blood DPS, so I am little concerned about where 2-handed DPS will end up.  Guess, I'll have to learn to play again.

Mastery Systems -  I like the system overall, especially with them saying they will be removing a lot of talents, that are required to take to increase dps or survivability.  The DK bonuses don't really stand out, but we still need to see them in play.

Guild Achievements

Last night, my guild (Keepers of the Mushroom) on Skywall took down Rotface and Festergut in 25 man ICC.  Also, my guildmate, Argaio, completed the 1st quest to get Shadowmourne, and is now running around with Shadow's Edge.

Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: World of Awecraft

One of the things that stand-out in my memory as a moment that showed how awesome WoW is, was in Vanilla, when someone kited a dragon to Stormwind.  People came out of the woodwork to fight this guy, and eventually kill him.  Even though I was only level 20 - 30, it felt like I was taking part in something greater.

Nightmare

Prompt from http://toomanyannas.com/feature/friday-ficlet-nightmares/



Strumwulf jolted from sleep with a scream of rage and pain on his lips. He froze his body to stifle the burning agony that radiated from all of his limbs.  Catching his breath, Strumwulf took a look around to determine where he was. The sight of the snow-covered entrance to the Timbermaw tunnels, brought back to mind where he was, and what he had been doing.  Shame churned in his soul, as he failed in his self-appointed duty, and fallen asleep waiting for Winterfall furbolg.  It was rare that he slept these days, and even rarer that he dreamed. What he remembered was glimpses of black and grey dwarven faces, being burned and crushed, then it all starting over, and a name, "Windsor".

Perhaps it was time to return to Stormwind, then head on to Blackrock.  This nightmare was the most he remembered of his past before being raised in Arthas' service. Perhaps Trias, would have a clue for him to follow.

Hello

I've decided to join the blogosphere. I'll write about World of Warcraft, stories I've read, and stories I've written.