Shamanic Duplication

No this isn’t a dupe scam, it’s a sad tale of character duplication because I can’t be parted from my Enhancement Shammy.

The problem is that I want to try an Elemental build. The poor Enhancement shaman is a bit of a gimp, he fails at PvP due to being out-damaged by rogues and fury warriors, and totems prove pathetic in moving fights…… so it is time to try a Elemental. The issue here is getting all that shiny new gear…. ugh….. additionally I love my dual-axe-wielding threshing machine in PvE.

The only option I have really is to start a new Shammy…. so enter Axecite (bad pun, but you try creating a good name on one of the earlier servers)…. and let’s kit up my little shammy with a levelling suit.

PS A levelling suit is white items (so they won’t soulbind) enchanted and patched till they sparkle. Ever seen a level 1 character with over 500 hp, chances are it’s wearing a levelling suit. In this instance I’ve focused on Strength, Agility, and Stamina Enchants and Clefthide Leggings patch (+30 Stam, +10 Agil).

Tankadin FTW!

Yesterday was my first experience tanking with a Paladin, and by the gods they rock! Having now experienced end-content with both a warrior and a paladin functioning as a Tank I have to say that Paladins are in many ways superior.

First and foremost forget the idea that you have mana… you don’t, you have a blue rage bar, and with the amount of demons in Outlands [and I assume Undead near the frozen throne] you have some great pulling power in the form of exorcism. In the first second of combat you can generate 2000+ damage or almost double that in threat.

Of course a Paladin does lose power when it comes to gear. Avoidance is about the same as with a warrior as it is gear orientated, but you lose physical DPS by picking up gear with + spell damage. If there is any gear out there with both Strength & Spell damage I’ve yet to spot it. Some folks recommend a +spell damage weapon so you can concentrate on avoidance gear.

My conundrum is a simple one. I need 100% avoidance across the board… but its only block that gives holy damage back to the attacker from holy shield… parry and dodge stop me from getting hit, which is how Paladins deal most of their lovely holy damage.

Ret Aura + Blessing of Sanctuary + Holy Shield + Shield Spike + Consecration does some nice damage to those around you. Blessing of Sanctuary is swapped out with Seal of Righteouness after they’ve been Judged by Crusader on one-man fights.

Here comes the (repair) pain

All the way to the (now insignificant) marker of level 60 it’s all about the experience. Then all that changes once you hit outlands, now it’s all about the gold.

You have to repair that expensive upgraded equipment (because you haven’t upgraded you gear since hitting 51 as outlands greens were “just around the corner”) and for that you need gold….. lots of gold.

So where is the best place to farm? You could consult a  gold-farming guide for “an easy 49.95 one-off cash payment” or you could just head out with your gathering skills and get collecting. I have lots of options, I could skin (but have to save the skins for my leatherworker), I could mine (but what about my blacksmith & Engineer & Jeweller?), in the end it comes down to vendor trash… and I’m starting to think that Nagarad has the answer. All those wee little beasties drop tails, and horns, and hooves that make some cash, and the green drops make passable vendor fodder too.

 My guild-mate has the daily-quest rotation all worked out for gold farming but I’m not that organized. So off I go to slaughter Bambi, it beats the horrific Mount quests that my Tankadin has to do.

Dwarf in Heat

There is da dwarf… all wrapped in metal for easy bake’in… and I think to myself “frostshock to snap freeze in da goodness, or earthshock to tenderise hard dwarf meat?” I kill da dwarf, and more come…. good eat’in dat day.

   

Down a dark hole

Recently I’ve been going over all the old dungeons, often as a 70, just to help guild mates get their alts up or to farm greens and cloth. I have to say that some of the dungeons are real stinkers… Wailing Caverns for instance is a loooong and bring run that is only saved by the storyline (an RP guild can make it fun), Blackfathom Deeps, however is a nice, ‘punchy’ little run with decent variation. Unlike the Deadmines both runs are heavy in non-humanoids, so don’t expect to get rich on cloth and cash-drops.

 Of course now I’m dragging folks into Black Rock Depths, my favourite dungeon due to the spectacular scenery. In time we shall conquer all and we’ll have enough 70’s for a real dungeon run in the outlands, so looking forward to all those lovely blue and purple goodies…….

Forgive me father for I can’t sin

There is a sad, pathetic, little part of me that thinks that something is missing in my existence. It’s not a big thing, and the niggling feeling only hits me occasionally, but today it struck again.

The urge to mind-control.

It has been suggested that I level a priest to assist in the subjugation of an endangered mystical species (the ghost wolf), but all I can think of is mind control… the urge to run an alliance scumbag off a high bridge.

I know that such tantalizing powers are unlikely to ever be mine, the idea of levelling a priest fills me with dread akin to being stark naked in front of angry, man-hating lesbians armed with cheese graters and lemon halves… but still.

 

The urge to mind-control.

 When I play I like to either run around with friends, or go on a solo killing spree, but whatever the nightly game I’m first and foremost a melee monkey. My Shaman is Enhancement, my Rogue is Combat, and my Paladin is Retribution. I’ve git mages who stay put when engaged in melee and just pump arcane-missile down their attackers throats, and even my Warlock runs in to deliver a good, old-fashioned, staff derived smack-down every now and then. Sitting back and just healing is the 9^th circle of hell for me….

“Oh my God, it’s full of stars”

I just noticed I can look at our guildbank online through the armory. Will the wonders never cease?

Lamentations

Game Direction 

I liked having to explore the world just to get my next level of profession, I liked the fact that sometimes I would have to bite the bullet and ask for aid in fighting elite mobs to get my next quest piece. Most of all I liked that I had to know my class skills so I would have the skills necessary to solo all those elite mobs. It took time to grind, sure, but in that time I used all my skills and I L2P.Now it is too easy, its all about the numbers, and while the complete uber-geek without a life could grind to 60 in a week or two, it now seems like everyone is at a high level and has no idea what their class can do or what their role in a raid is. Please Blitz, bring back the burn, sure some people like a game without challenge, where little skills is necessary, where you never die; but they can always play Paladins.

Battlegrounds There was a time when horde roamed across the Alterac Valley, casually slaying everything in their path in their mad, disorganized rush to kill Van. Those days have passed now on Twisting Nether, the valley is quiet now, the silence broken only by the occasional bleat from a goat as it is sodomized by a NPC dwarf patrol. It is only rarely that the great gates open and the horde sally forth to bring death and destruction to their foe.

It is however a changed horde. There is no mindless charge to kill the ‘pinkies’, no wild dash in a random direction while screaming the fearsome war cry “w00t”. Instead the horde advances, takes a bunker, takes a graveyard, shanks Balinda, takes a bunker then advances like a weight watchers convention seeing a waffle stand. Nothing stands before that wave, and those alliance waffles go down. The horde values its time in the valley these days, we play smart, people take defensive positions and attacks are coordinated.

This boycott has been the best thing that has happened to Battle Grounds in a long time. Thank you, you snivelling, limp-wristed, whiners…. you’ve made this old player very happy now that AV is worth playing again. 

Silthus Revisited

AKA running around in circles in the dessert is just STUPID

 With our alts rapidly approaching outlands it was time to farm some semi-viable equipment for them so I, in my infinite wisdom, decide to go farm Silthus (and the Twighlight Cult in particular) for blues and greens.

In hindesight, perhaps not the most effective method of attaining gear. While the auction-house is somewhat lean of late, simply running in circles squishing cultists, to get a head, shoulder, and body piece, to summon the Templars, to get three abyssal crest, to take to a NPC to fashion into a medallion, to summon a Duke (with another set of the gear) is proving somewhat labourious. I’m seriously considering heading back to squish the plagueland trolls, or to outlands to get the cash to buy the good stuff.

Draeni Shaman my shapely blue posterior!

Draenei? What the hell is a Draenei? How dare this horned,  cloven hoofed, monstrosity call down the elements upon me!

It looks like a demon, and it smells like a demon, its gotta be a damned demon and with demons there is only one option, kill it, eat it, and read its entrails.