Ninja! ?

T: Why did you NEED that roll?

D: no answer

T: You realize that was a caster staff? And you can’t use staves?

D: but no one else needed.

Oh dear. I don’t pick up on these things too often because I don’t have the loot-rolls in my chat box. I always click Greed, and on the rare occasions i don’t I open a bag to see if I won. It keeps the text spam low as our guild leader gets upset when we ‘ignore’ his chatting because its lost in loot/party spam.

The hunter was screaming “Ninja” (talk about a role reversal) but what i had stumbled upon was a genuine new player. Over the course of this run I’d be explaining TPS vs DPS, raid icons, and what stats the player should be looking for.

Three wings of Dire Maw, and the player kept getting better and better… the one thing I couldn’t help with was the rotation, no idea what warriors have on their bars these days.

Still, not a bad run. Three wings, three levels.

 

Long Lost Update

A long time ago, on a server far, far away a guild went into melt-down.

The guild was based on RL friendships, and when they exploded, so too did the guild. The online downside of this was that all those 80’s kind of went to waste. My tank is still out there in 80 Epics, never to see Mt Hyjal, the shaman (as nerfed as Elemental has been) doesn’t get the joy of being lost at sea. Worst of all my other servers are getting the login love, and my Alliance have overtaken my Hordies.

I feel dirty

No more. I had left them there, untouched in the hope that maybe things would repair themselves. Definitely not going to happen after all this time, so time to wake up the Troll, Orc and Blood Elf and get cracking………………. wonder if the guild got deleted?

 

Might be posting again semi-regularly.

Vampire Chronicle Reset

Shriveled souls wrapped in blood drenched flesh are all that remain of the humans that have become Kindred, yet even the dead can die…..  

Australia’s Kindred population Vampire: the Requiem is getting a re-boot. With rule changes related to challenges, and experience accrual coming in everyone gets to pack their favorite bloodsucker off to parts unknown or have them fall to the killer flu sweeping the world.

Our Camarilla chronicle isn’t at an end, but the characters are, and a whole new generation gets to come in to a continent devoid of vampires.

Sounds a bit dire, but for those of us that have characters that have been active for a while we get a massive experience benefit, Membership Class x 10 and + 3 per month the character was active.

So this time I’m two-gunning it, entering the game with two distinctly different character concepts so I can fully explore the game (mostly via email this time around). I have the fearless hedonist, out for fun at any cost, and the political monster, promoting the faith of the fallen.

WoW World Events

Rabbit

There are events in WoW that make sense. The sumnmer and winter festivals can all be tied in with the worlds lore, childrens week makes an excellent tie-in to a war torn world where orphans must be the norm rather then the exception. Brewfest? I can certainly see how a world in conflict would turn this into a major event. Now we have Noblegarden.

Between Noblegarden and Valentines……… I mean seriously WTF? How on earth does finding chocolate eggs, EXPLODING chocolate eggs laid by a pink montreme evolve? I get that people like Easter, but people also like WoW because it isn’t the real world, so why, oh why, do we have to drag every half-arsed, commercially created festival into WoW?

Okay maybe I’m bitter because it 250+ eggs before my dress dropped. That was with my horde shaman, which I guess makes sense, we horde are being penalized for taking up such a wimpy, gay, festival. My Night Elf Death Knight (don’t get me started on how DK’s screw with the Lore) got the achievements in record time however. maybe the intrinsic girlishness of the festival meshes well with an undead killing-machine that bounces on the spot in spontaneous moments of sickly cuteness….

Then of course is the nasty rumour that Blizzard is taking Drakes away from the achievements. Way to screw the casual gamer, the PvPer and the explorer. Remember folks, if you’re not a raider you’re apparently a ‘lesser’ player.

Dumbing down WoW

Okay I get it, Arena is where its at, e-peen vs, e-peen with QQ for the loser. Its Blizzards baby and the holy grail of Warcraft is the eternally shifting class balances that keeps people interested and desperately trying to level the superclass of the month. No biggie; its obvious that the PvE game has be relegated to a simple, ‘how-you-get-to-Arena-and-End-Raids-process’ and that its been made so simple that a six year old could do it between naps.

I get it. PvP is the Blizzard cash cow. It’s what most of the players want, and its where all of the development focus goes. That doesn’t mean I haven’t got an axe to grind though… in fact I have many axes, swords, and daggers and I have a surplus of whetstones to boot!

Do you know why?

You probably do but I’m going to tell you anyway. Because nothing friggin sells, nothing sells because the levelling process happens so quickly and easily that you never have to gear up. The sporadic quest greens you get are more then enough to push you along in turbo-levelling mode, and heavens forbid that you actually might have to complete more then 50% of the quests in a zone before you DING!

Remember when the quests sent us to strange new places, funky new bits of scenery and pop-reference? Remember when you followed a quest chain for the story rather then abandoned it halfway along because it went grey? Remember when levelling gave a sense of accomplishment rather then the mildly irritating calculations of X more till level 80?

Zul-frak had a hammer once, you had to go to an out-of-the-way but extremely scenic area call hinterlands to get it… in order to summon the mommy hydra. Now? Just ring the damn gong… who needs to go to a place that looks cool and who needs an item that makes this a living world rather then just a long version of mario-kart. Mauradaron (crappiest dungeon ever, but that’s not the point) you no longer have to slog through those first two painful areas to get the sceptre that allows you to start at the halfway point from then on. Yes the instance is easier now, yes it’s less annoying. Downside is that there is less of a sense of achievement, and content is simply ignored.

I know WoW has never been exactly challenging, but we don’t have to be spoon fed every-bloody-thing. There were once cool quests to get class-specific powers and items. There were elite zones outside dungeons Horde and Alliance were distinct. Now the new-and-improved World of Warcraft is far more vanilla then Vanilla WoW ever was….

Sweet leaping jebus blizzard! I come here to immerse myself in a game world, to escape from life. If I wanted to battle other humans in a small area without story or context I’d play a FPS. If I wanted to spend all my time getting the right set of gear for the right encounter I’d play Dress-Up Barbie. Sure Arena’s are nice, but why does WoW have to become another starcraft. Lots of combat but no world to speak of.

Give me back my fantasy world, give me something to challenge me, give me back my MMORPG.

3.1 First Impressions

Kudos, as always, to Blizzard for the new content… but could you please stop fucking up the old content?

Remember Nessingwary? Remember the Epic quests to single-handedly put entire species on the endangered list?

Remember the feel of being the animal worlds’ equivalent of a Reaper hyped up on Caffeine after a really bad day reaping?

Guess what…. nerfed.

That’s right Nessingwary has been castrated because we all know that WoW players are fluffy little vegetarians girls that faint at the idea of a skinning profession and are all card carrying members of PETA in real life. (no offence meant to the actual fluffy little vegetarian girls…. of whom I’m quite fond)

But still… what’s next? No more mining skills because it encourages the exploitation of mother earth…err… I mean mother Azeroth. Oh no… Don’t rain of fire on that marauding pack of murlocs, there might be a rare red-spotted swamp gurgler leading them.

For the love of god…. (troll gods of course)… what’s next? The quest to castrate Nessingwary? Lead Thrall to elocution lessons? Take 20 pink ribbons and cure the new King of his misogynistic tendencies?

I’ll tell you what’s next.

• The hunter class is being eliminated due to its exploitation of animals.

• Dwarven females are going to be encouraged to play naked because they should be ‘proud of who they are‘

• Trolls and undead will be hidden away because of their cannibalistic tendencies

• Both factions will make peace with the burning legion because they are ‘just misunderstood‘

• Gnomes will only be allowed to quest in male/female pairs so that they can’t fall prey to their homoerotic urges (we’ve all seen Lord of the Rings)

• … and death knights will have their ‘rise-from-the-dead-as-a-ghoul‘ ability removed in case it offends fundamental Christians… oh wait… already happened.

I feel so violated….

So actual changes… Talent trees have been dumbed down, grinding has been reduced, RET Paladins still need a serious Nerf, classes are still unbalanced, classes are loosing more and more individuality despite the unbalance issues, old crafted gear that no one will ever buy has been upgraded, Unholy DK’s got a nerf (mentioned in the last bullet point) that removes  the only ability that differentiated them from a cut-&-paste Paladin clone.

But its really Nessingwary that chafes my ass….

Repost on CC from Holy Hammers

There’s been a lot of rambling about crowd control and Paladins. Some people (mostly ones not playing paladins) complain that Tankadins are always smashing their cc and generally not cooperating.

The reasons for this are many, and varied. However I haven’t seen a good post about when cc is good for a Tankadin, so I’ve decided to continue that trend by writing a bad post about when cc is useful for a Tankadin.

The situations where a Pally needs cc are limited.

1. Fighting two big critters at a time. By this I mean when the group is supposed to be pulling only a single massive mob to pound on and gets two with a miss-pull or patrol. In this instance cc away as the big guy can probably dish out more damage then a poorly geared pally can handle.

2. The mobs are casters. Casters don’t spend time pounding on the Pally physically. That means the pally isn’t doing damage to them, and the damage they are doing with spells is probably eating a hole in the Pally’s hit points. CC these buggers, the Pally will get less manna from healing, but it will make the healers happy.

3. Runners. Runners are bad okay. If the Pally can pull ’em back great and he’ll probably do so and break your cc at the same time. Just don’t sheep runners, we spent all that time pounding them to the edge of death so that they flee in terror, there is no point just letting them heal up in wool-form.

Northrend Gear

I am not a happy bubble-boy.

No…. not at ALL.

Granted the gear from Outlands made me look like a evil boss from Tron that never made the final cut. My shield of golden faces, my chest of shiny silver, and pants of electric blue… but now 😦

Now I look like a damn extra from 13th warrior. A stone Axe, what the hell is with that? I’ve gone from enchanted crystal and the occasional light-saber, to freaking stone age thumper… and this is an upgrade?

Grrr… and as for plate gear in general… I mean I know Death Knights are all the rage, and they must have been high in the developers minds as they wrote the new content, but they might have spared a thought for the poor prot pally, I mean we still tank too.

Where are you now?

_

The Shaman (78) saunters across the makers playground in search of wee beasties to feed his ever hungry guild. Skins are harvested by axe, mace, dagger and fist weapon, a moment of conflict and then the peace of yet another successful hunt. Unsuspecting beasts from the gentle long-neck to the vicious proto-drake fall in a flurry of blows. Alone but for the ghostly wolves that lope at her side, and the occasional elemental servant summoned to assist, she is master of all she surveys. A veritable weapon master, a whirling dervish of death she stands unchallenged, INVINC.. *SPLAT* …… “damn rogues”.

The Warlock (65) master of demonic forces and destructive energies, meanders across the gentle slopes of Nagrand like death itself has come to this land. It is a purposeless journey, and along the way animal and humanoid alike feels the touch of Fel energies and seconds later is cast into the bottomless darkness of final death. Glee fills orcish eyes as demonic agents rend flesh, and souls are casually ripped apart. This is where he comes to relax in the peace and [Curse of Agony] [Corruption] [Shadow Bolt] [Shadow bolt] sudden stillness of the verdant plains. There isn’t a soul to bother him, at least not any more, and he can stop to pick the flowers at his leisure. All is well for the orc, nothing can stand in his *YANK* *SPLAT* ….. “damn death knights”.

The Paladin (72), wielder of the light and reluctant protector of all that is good stands uncomfortably on the shores of Northrend. It has been a long journey to get here, and the knowledge that he and his entire order have been manipulated, despite the good intentions, does not sit well with him. At the heart of this land lies Arthus, and without he and the other blood knights this abomination will bring death to his beloved city and his people once more. Silvermoon must be protected, the pinnacle of magical and cultural development can not be snuffed out by a pathetic human, no matter how much necromantic energy swells their power. Yet this new land irks him, the primitive garb he has been forced to scavenge is but a poor reflection of the glorious gear liberated in outlands, his crystal hammer replaced by crude axe as he seeks to carve a path to the foot of the frozen throne. Soon he will…. *STAB*… huh? *STAB* *STAB* *STAB* *STAB* “light damned backstabbing rogues can’t even wait the 5 minutes it takes to cut this opponent down”. *STAB* *STAB* He mutters a sigh and [Divine Shield] [Holy Light] leaves the area before the unexpected conflict causes him to perspire excessively.

Animated by fell necromancy, embraced by unholy power, the Death Knight (61) drives across the tormented wastes of Hellfire Peninsular. Any that stand in her path fall, those that move aside are left unharmed. She is not here to bring simple slaughter, as soothing as that would be, there is a purpose here. She carves a path towards acceptance, to earn her place within the horde so that they might, in turn, clear her a path to Arthus so she can repay him for his ‘gift’ of unending torment. There is no mercy here, nothing but determination and … *YANK* *CLANG* “oh look another Death Knight (65) volunteers to feed this homicidal rage” [Strangulate] [Icy Touch] [Plague Strike] [Blood Strike] “don’t flee brother” … [Death Grip]… [Blood Strike] [Scourge Strike] … a burning desire for revenge in her march to the Ice Crown Citadel.

There we have the progression of my big four.

Enhancement Shaman, unstoppable PvE machine.

Demonic Warlock, unstoppable PvE machine.

Protection Paladin, completely stoppable.

Unholy Death Knight, unstoppable machine.

I have loved all the QQ going on about how OP the death knight is, and where does all this whine originate? The Rogues of course. The only class with the RP and mechanics to make ganking their No. 1 game activity have finally got competition. No longer can they see a red bar (be it eating in a secluded location, engaged in combat with multiple combatants, or motionless as their player contemplates the map) and be guaranteed of  free honor points.

Loving this new expansion 🙂

Unholy Bloody Cold!

Death Knight is Murloc for “Happy in the pants”.

It’s true, I swear on the mottled hides of the elder Gods we didn’t consume!

Of course it also means over-confident smear on the road in some languages too.

Picture this, a slightly preoccupied Death Knight (60 Unholy) stands motionless in the Badlands, surrounded by whelps. Maybe she is staring at the ancient monoliths, perhaps she is contemplating her fall into death and damnation, maybe her controller is getting a coffee.

Into this picturesque scene wanders a hostile DK (67 Blood). Our heroine in awoken from her contemplations by a coil of purple eldritch ‘come hither’ and a fast approaching 7 feet of enchanted, razor sharp, steel.

Unholy DK reduced to 50% health before her ‘controller’ manages to leap into the hot-seat [without dumping scalding coffee into his crotch or across the keyboard]. In the ensuing melee the attacker is reduced to half of their life, and our heroine bites the dust, temporarily. 

Unholy remember.

This is your best friend….. and its also you….. sometimes…..

Between the expendable ghoulish side-kick and the DK crawling forth once more as an enraged … um…. un-undead? re-dead? whatever….. the attacker is summarily slain and (just for kicks) exploded.

Gotta love unholy.  

That is a pure Holy build at 60. Conventional wisdom suggest that Blood is DPS for PvE, Frost is Tanking, and Unholy is DPS for PvP.

Bugger conventional wisdom, my number 2 death knight is sitting pretty with a 19/16/16 build with more being shoved into the blood tree as I progress. Death Knights have got to be the class (with the possible exception of Rogues) where it looks to me as if spreading talents around all three trees can be a boon.

Now I’m not crunching DPS number here, I’m looking at sheer survivability in PvP & PvE situations as I only play on PvP servers. Blood = Parry increase & stat increases. Frost = Toughness & speed increases.  Holy = Dodge, stat increases & longer lasting diseases.

Now I’ve jut got to play with dual-wielding. Sadly I’m not sure it’ going to work too well.