Our Girl Friday

Pre-Heroic Gears for Arms: Shoulders & Back

2011-02-05T11:04:00.001-06:00

Wow I fell behind on this one! Okay jumping right back in!

The Shoulder Look

Best: Pauldrons of the High Requiem - 1650 Justice Point is a little steep, but probably the first of the JP set you'll want to go after. Its got a massive amount of much needed Hit and Expertise. Red socket lets you pop in more Strength, or socket purple to help get that Meta Gem activated. These are such a good investment for Arms warriors, also, because it can reduce the amount of gemming you need to reach Hit cap (or a close proximity, see below).

2nd Choice: Bloodied Pyrium Shoulders - A PvP set of shoulders?!? Yup. Besides the massive Strength it's also loaded with Expertise. A lot of Arms Warrior worthy gear is loaded with Haste, so grabbing Expertise when possible is a good idea and it puts these shoulders on top. Visit your local blacksmith to get 'em.

Runner Up: Redsteel Shoulders - Nice for leveling (available at 82) and your initial Level 85 Dungeon forays, these are cheap from the AH and the Haste can be Reforged. You can even slap the shoulder enchant on them because you'll be getting the rep required for the lesser inscription pretty quick while questing through Deepholm.

Enchant: Greater Inscription of Jagged Stone from Therazane rep at Exalted. There's also a Lesser version that will tide you over until you finish the rep grind.

The Rug

In the cloak department we have a toss up, but here's how I puzzle it out.

Drape of Inimitable Fate - Yah, it's a Haste peice but a rug with Strength and Stam on it? Yes! Reforge the crap out of the Haste and take it! Unfortunately it's a random world BoE drop. It's going for as much as 10K gold on my realm. So a better option is probably . . .

Cloak of the Red Flight - The is a reward from the quest Battle of Life and Death in the Twilight Highlands. Another Strength and Stam cloak! And it's a quest item with Hit and Expertise. And the quest chain is so freakin' epic you're going to be doing it anyway. Epic quest or 10K gold? hmmmm.

Geordan's Cloak - This one drops off Siamat in the Lost City of the Tol'vir. So, this one has less Hit, but more Crit than the Cloak of the Red Flight. I wear it because my Hit is fine for now, but my Crit is horrible. But are you really picking up enough Crit to make it worth running LCT over and over to get it to drop?

Unless you have money to burn (or just get lucky) I'd rule out the Drape of Inimitable Fate. Between the two cloaks, I imagine most people will just take the Cloak of the Red Flight and be done with it. It's awesome, it does the job, no need to switch. If you get lucky enough to score Geordan's Cloak, though, take a look at your Hit.

Okay, you're not at cap, let's say, but that cap is set against raid bosses. At this point, is the only thing you're swishing on gonna be raid level bosses? If yes, are you going to be wearing this stuff to a raid? No. So, take the crit. See what I mean?

Enchant: Greater Critical Strike, or the cheaper Critical Strike. The massive difference in price makes Critical Strike look so much better. We're talking thousands of gold here, in many cases, for a meager 15 crit points? No thank you.

Next we'll look at bewb covers.

-Fri

Pre-Heroic Gears for Arms: Head & Neck

2011-01-16T12:55:00.001-06:00

PREVIOUS: Intro

These are the Arms Warrior worthy Head and neck items I'm lusting after at the moment.

Keep in mind that some of this stuff you probably won't actually be able to afford until you're already in heroics. But we'll all join hands and jump off that bridge when we get there. Even one JP piece is going to be nice, and the current set is quite lovely.

For the Noggin

Color is no longer important. A blue iLevel 333 helmet has the same stat budget as a green iLevel 333 helmet. Ignore the item's color. iLevel is important but even then some higher iLevel pieces aren't going to be optimal. So we buck the trend in pre-heroic gear by starting with... a green!?! Yes.

Redsteel Helm - Honestly, this Blacksmith crafted helm is the best noggin protector you can get pre-heroic. You can buy it at the AH at Level 83 and you're set all the way through per-heroic stuff. Meta-socket? Check. Red socket? Check. Piles of Strength and Stamina? Check. Crit and Expertise? Bonus! This was custom made for an Arms Warrior. Get it.

Helm of Easeful Death - You can get this one with 2200 Justice Points. Honestly, I'd keep the Redsteel Helm, get the JP shoulders first, and save this for later. It's got a heaping does of Expertise on it, but it's also loaded with Haste. And that just doesn't do us Arms Warriors a lot of good. Great for our Fury brothers and sisters... but they're kinda smelly. Save this for later and Reforge it when you get it.

Gem: Choatic Shadow Spirit Diamond and Bold Inferno Ruby
Enchant: Arcanum of the Wildhammer requires Revered with the Wildhammer Clan

Around the Neck

Gift of Nadun - A very nice neck piece that you can get when you're Exalted with Ramkahen. Reforge the Haste and this one will last quite awhile. My problem is that rep with Ramkahen is, like, third on my list. If I'm close to getting the better JP neck, will I get this? We'll see.

Pendant of Quiet Breath - A Strength and Stamina neck with Crit and Expertise? Yum! This is available for 1250 Justice points and I'm thinking it's a great investment. I'd still get the shoulders first, but this would be second on my list.

Seedling Pod - This is a drop in Halls of Origination from Ammunae. A solid iLevel 333 neck that will more than hold you over until you can get the JP neck. (There's a heroic version, as well.) Reforge the Haste and you're good to go.

Thinking It Over

Carefully consider the timing and if dropping gold or points on a piece is actually worth it. For example, if the Seedling Pod dropped for me in HO, I would even bother with the Gift of Nadun, and I might bump Pendant of Quiet Breath down my list a little for the JP stuff. On the other hand, if I hit Exalted with Ramkahen, I'd pass on the Seedling Pod, reforge the Gift of Nadun, and again bump the Pendant down in my JP priorities for a little while.

Really just depends on where you're at when the opportunity to get something crops up. Choose wisely. :)

-Fri

NEXT: Shoulders & Capes

Pre-Heroic Gears for Arms: Intro

2011-01-16T12:17:00.001-06:00

What to wear is of great concern to the fashionable Arms Warrior. In this series of posts we're gonna look at the different options for dressing up and accessorizing our toons prior to running Cataclysm heroics. Equiping some of this stuff should get you about ready, and in some cases even carry you through heroics.

Keep in mind that these posts are from a "casual" player's point of view.

Actually, let's take a quick aside...

I'm not using the term "casual" anymore. I refuse. I play as much, if not more, than most people that like to raid or arena. I know my class better than most of them, as well. I just don't have 4-6 hours at a stretch to sit in front of my computer. So, sorry Blizzard, but this emphasis on raiding and arena players "deserving" the best rewards is, quite frankly, a load of horse shit.

No more "casual." I'm calling these players the regular players. The ones that play WoW and enjoy it for the experience, the social aspect, and the beautiful world Blizzard has created. The people that actually appreciate WoW as more than just a video game to beat.

Okay, end soapbox. You're probably looking at this for Gear tips. So here we go...

Stat Priority

Strength, Hit Rating (cap = 8%), Expertise (cap = 26), Crit and Mastery (both are great, as much as you can get of both). Not recommending Haste or Agility for Arms Warriors at this point, but remember that can change. The next patch is going to mix things up a bit. A lot of Arms related gear has both stats, so if you get those that's fine.

Don't forget you can Reforge those Haste pieces to make them more better. :) Reforging Haste gear is also a hedge against changes coming in the next patch. If Haste becomes important, you can, um, unforge (?) them and you're set.

Gemming

Right now I'm thinking ignore the socket bonus on Gems. You'll want to load up with Bold Inferno Rubies 'cause Strength for Arms Warriors is still our #1 priority. If you need Hit, the Etched Demonseye is a good bet for Blue sockets. It can also help get that Chaotic Shadowspirit Diamond activated. (I think I read somewheres that that the gem requirements for that one are being reversed in the next patch, but can't remember where I read it. Maybe it was a dream. Can anyone confirm?)

Unfortunately, Crit and Mastery are hard to get on Plate gear at the moment, so if you must gem for them you can use the Inscribed Ember Topaz, or the Skillful Ember Topaz in your Yellow sockets.

Reputation Grinding

My personal plan, based on the enchants and gear available: Therazan and then Wildhammer. The former has the shoulder enchant, and the latter has the hat enchant. After that, I say "For the Camel!" but your mileage may vary.

Don't forget that quite possibly the only decent weapon you'll get pre or post heroic comes from Baradin's Wardens. So, that's probably one you'll want to grind daily in tandum with whatever else you're working on. (There's one from Archaeology and a crafted mace, as well.)

On Dungeons

Honestly, pre-heroics, the only real reasons to run the regular version of Cataclysm dungeons is for the Justice Points once a day and the practice. Both are good reasons, of course! But you won't be running them much for gear. There's a few peices that are awesomesauce, but mostly grab it if it's an upgrade to your quest qear. Otherwise, you'll be looking at crafting, reputation and JP vendor gear.

Regular Gearing

What's worth working toward? Do you absolutely have to have the full JP set just for completeness? Is it fun to get the gear you want or is the slight boost not worth the effort? Are you really going to drop an extra 2000g on an enchant that gives you a tiny little benefit?

It's up to you. Just have fun getting it. For the regular WoW player, getting there is the most important part. Looking good is an awesome bonus. :)

NEXT: Head & Neck

-Fri

Emergency Tank!: Or, When Things Go Really Wrong

2010-12-19T13:23:00.000-06:00

I've always been enamored with the idea of an Arms tank, not because I want to do it but because I think Arms Warrior is the best class/spec in all of WoW and we should be able to do everything and anything and be completely OP all the time. I still don't understand why we can't run up behind a tank and heal them. Really? I make an wicked good band-aid!

Ah well, you can't have everything . . .

So, three times so far in Cataclysm, I've had to take over the tank roll mid-fight. In one case, the healer went nuts and tried to top everyone off in Blackrock Caverns and promptly went OOM. One time in Stone Core when the tank pulled without any cc. And then last night the tank missed running into the 'lectric triangle in on the last boss in Vortex Pinnacle.

er... um.... yah... k.... Might would be good. Yah. And a freakin' nuke if ya got one.

In each case it was a good healer and good tanks. First time for all over them in those dungeons and after the initial mistake they learned and didn't repeat the error. In fact, everyone of those runs was freakin' awesome fun!

Things go all f#$ckity more often in Cata dungeons, so if you find yourself suddenly without a tank and the ball is passed to you, here's some thoughts for how be a backup quarterback.

The most important things to take care of, in order, are: Staying alive (Def Stance), getting everything under control (Challenging Shout, or Taunt), and then start hitting stuff to generate threat (Thunderclap and Sunder Armor being your initial priorities).

After that you can start getting fancy.

Well . . . That's not good.

#1. Pay Attention. The days of ignoring what's happening with the tank and the healer and just flailing away on bad guys are gone. Fugitaboutit. Two things you need to know all times: healer's mana and the tank's health. You need to combine these two things with what the healer is doing and what's going to happen to the tank next (for example: is she at quarter health and about to take a 40K shot in the noggin?).

You absolutely must know when the tank goes down. You have only a few seconds to react before everyone is dead. Anticipation is the first trick to pulling this off.

#2. Get into Defensive Stance. That's F2 normally. Do not tank from Battle Stance. You will die.

#3. You need a sword & board swap macro. In many cases you can tank with a 2-Hander, but it's not pleasant for the healer. So swap out for a shield and a one-Hander. You're gonna have trouble with making cute little threats quickly, so make it a fast weapon if possible, because you want to stack Sunder Armor (and hit Revenge whenever it comes up) as quickly as possible.

Here's an easy-peasy weapon swap macro, though there are all-in-one solutions out there. Type /macro into your chat to open the macro maker thingie.

/equip [nomodifier] Vir'naal Guardsman's Axe
/equip [nomodifier] Catapult Loading Scoop
/equip [modifier:shift] Axe of Earthly Sundering

Change the names of the items to whatever you have. (Just open your bag and shift click them to copy the name right into the macro and don't forget to update the macro when you get better gears.) Now when you click this button, it'll swap in your one-handed weapon and shield. Holding shift and clicking the button will bring back your 2 handed weapon.

No really! It's epic enough! It is! Really! AAAAAAAHHHH FUUUUUU . . .

#4. Keybind your basics. You need Challenging Shout, Taunt, Intimidating Shout, and Demoralizing Shout to get things under control. To keep them under control you'll need Thunderclap, Sunder Armor, Revenge, Shield Block, and Rend (particularly handy if you're using Blood & Thunder). Maybe Bladestorm will work but I've never gotten to the point where I could try it. Theoretically . . .

#5. Screw everyone, you first priority is to pry any mobs off your healer. You need to know which mobs are on your healer so that when you peel them off with Challenging Shout you can lock them down fast. Everyone else can wait.

#6. A warning macro is handy. Something like "/yell Friday is TANK. Heals on me! Shouting in 3... 2... 1..." I bind something like this to Shift-F2, so that when the bad stuff hits the fan I hit F2, Shift-F2, Challenging Shout (or Taunt on a boss fight), Weapon Swap.

All of this happens incredibly fast! Don't be surprised if it doesn't work, at all, the first few times you try it. Mainly, get into defensive stance and shout. Worry about staying alive and holding everything long enough for your healer to figure out what's happening.

Turtle, turtle, turtle, lalala!

Things to think about from an Arms Warrior what is not a tank (proper tanks already know this stuff):

Challenging Shout only lasts for 6 seconds and has a ten yard range. After that the mobs will go back to whatever devious plans they had before you scolded them. So, if you use it to pull multiple mobs, you need to stack threat on each target to continue to hold them. It also has a 3 minute cool down, so you won't get another shot at it. As an Arms warrior you might be able to stack threat using Sunder Armor on two or three targets at best. So prioritize quickly. Anything going after your healer, that is.

Taunt is better but only effects one target at a time. You can yank the target to you, smack it, and lock it down pretty effectively. Use this on boss fights, particularly. It also has an 8-second cool down, so after your initial shout, you can pick a high priority mob and lock him down quickly.

You have very little in the way of threat generation other than raw strength. Thunderclap works, but it's very easy for DPS to pull them off you if that's all you've hit the mobs with. If you're feeling fancy, macro or use an add-on to slap a raid marker on the one you want DPS to hit. Hopefully they see it before they die. Better, they figure out you're suddenly tanking and use target-of-target. Fingers crossed.

Thunderclap is also useful because you don't have the Dodge, Parry, and Block mitigation of a proper Protection Warrior. Thunderclap slows all the mobs down, making it easier to get a handle on them. It also decreases their attack speed, which can really help your healer out. If the opportunity presents itself, use Demoralizing Shout, as well. Popping Shield Wall is pretty much a must ASAP. It gives everyone a few seconds to change their underwear and figure out what's going on.

After running a dungeon, go back through and look around. Beautiful!

If you need a few moments to get your head around the issue, so to speak, Intimidating Shout can scatter 'em for a few seconds. Just be carefully not to send them running into another pack and make the situation worse. (You can glyph to fix this, but since you're not a proper tank that glyph is not really one an Arms warrior goes around packing for PvE stuff.) I'd really only use this on Boss-With-Adds type fights where there's no chance of bringing friends. Yelling for everyone to CC the crap out of everything is not a bad idea, though, just to buy time.

There's plenty more such as Spell Reflect and interrupting with Shield Bash. . . but those are super fancy moves that you probably aren't going to get a chance to use anyhow. If you PvP as Arms you're at an advantage here because you probably use all of this stuff already. If not, just practice a bit while you quest. Maybe jump in some PvP and just practice staying alive as long as possible in Defensive Stance. You'll get it.

There's no chance you're ever gonna be a proper tank playing Arms. You can however, use your wide variety of abilities and versatility to be the hero of the day in a pinch. Pay attention, practice using those abilities you rarely even think about, and stay calm. What's the worse thing that could happen? So you die a little. :)

-Fri

Yo' Mama!

Bonus Section: Selected Taunts from the old Tank days

"I can see your ass crack you worthless son/daughter of a Trogg!"

"I'm rubber you're glue, your frostbolt bounces off me and sticks on YOU!" /cast spell reflect

"Your Mama is SO FAT they call her Therazane, Part 2!"

The NEW Arms Warrior

2010-10-23T15:24:00.002-05:00

Stronger. Faster. More Experienced. Better.

The new Arms Warrior post Patch 4.01 is just a joy to play. Two years ago I though Blizzard made Arms even more fun to play when Wrath released, and now they've gone and done it again! But there will be plenty of time to rave about how freakin' awesome we are (again) later. Let's get into the juicy stuff...

A Spec is a Spec

Frist up we gotta look at Talent trees. With only 31 points per tree, I'm thinking this is the worse thing about 4.01/Cataclysm. With a few (mostly insignificant) variations, Blizz just basically said "Here's your spec... no picking any more."

No real big, honestly. Everybody wore the same spec before, so it wasn't like variety was in abundance. Sure you could choose something other than the optimal spec, but no one ever did. Now you'd have to work pretty hard to mess up your spec. Click randomly and you'll get something decent. I'm just a little disappointed that the designers couldn't come up with something better than "we give up, you get one spec and here it is."

So we'll all have the same basic spec, same basic gear, same basic glyphs, same basic enchants, with the same basic gems. I suppose you could say that it takes out the guesswork and lets you focus on playing more.

That little QQ aside, though, Arms got some wicked good talents. The little bit of customization you can do is pretty neat and adds a little flavor. Which is technically a lot more flavor than we had in Wrath, so we'll be happy about it.

All my awesome stuffs no good after Cata launches. Which means NEW stuffs!

Opening a Can of ...

Here's what I'm using pre-Cataclysm and why. It's working out pretty good. (This is going to be a long one, so settle in.)

I've removed Slam from my priorities list and replaced it with Heroic Strike and the occasional Cleave. Side by side, I'm not seeing the benefit of Slam at the moment. Spamming on a target dummy, I'm getting better numbers with Heroic Strike, and since it's instant cast now (thank God!), it's the perfect filler.

Opener: Battle Shout, Charge, Rend, Mortal Strike, and then Overpower. Demoralizing Shout if called for.

Priorities: Execute, Mortal Strike, Overpower, Heroic Strike. If Mortal Strike, then Overpower or Execute thanks to Lambs to the Slaughter. Keep Rend up with Thunderclap via Blood and Thunder. Follow Heroic Strike with another ASAP to take advantage of Incite. Rage burn or fill with Cleave on multimobs or Slam on single target. Keep Sweeping Strikes up on multiple mobs, but let it drop on single target. Bladestorm as soon as it's safe to do so and pop it as soon as it cools down.

Fun, eh? :)

Being Talented

So we have to put 31 points in Arms before we can go to the other trees. Easy enough. Spec straight to Bladestorm and you're good.

Starting on the first row, War Academy and Blitz. Field Dressing is an optional talent you can decide on later. War Academy for the 10% buff to Heroic Strike and Cleave. Blitz because it's initial Rage, and it's fun to stun that crap out of multiple targets at once. Just make sure your tank has them where he wants them BEFORE you Charge. K? kk.

Second row: Deep Wound and Drums of War. Deep Wounds because it's a super hot DoT! Drums of War because you're gonna be shouting a lot. No Second Wind or Tactical Mastery. Maybe Second Wind for a PvP build, but it doesn't look like it'll help much if you're stunned and getting stabby stabby in the butt from some over-caffeinated Rogue. Tactical Mastery is just a filler spot in the tree now and kinda disappointed Blizz didn't give some utility.

Now that Battle Stance has a component that decreases damage, the additional 5% you get from switching to Defensive stance isn't going to be needed much. If you need that little bit, something has gone seriously wrong. Berserker Stance same thing. The 5% increase in damage isn't worth the abilities you loose by swapping stances. Again, Blizz just kinda said "We give up, here ya go" and didn't really make Stance dancing sexy or even needed. Ah well.

Third row: Taste for Blood to get Overpower, Overpower, Overpower and more Overpower! Sweeping Strikes for those multi-mob pulls. Impale straight up buffing Mortal Strike and Overpower (and Slam if you're into that sort of thing). Imrpoved Hamstring if you want it. It's one of the "I like that" talents that's only necessary so you can get enough points to get to Bladestorm. If you PvP some, it's worth it. If not, you might pick something else.

Forth row: Deadly Calm and Blood Frenzy. Again, if you use Slam then this is an obvious one. If you don't, it frees up two points to play with somewhere else. Deadly calm is neat if you're running low on Rage, but I haven't had that problem yet. Maybe when Cata hits. Blood Frenzy for the bleed buff (and a wee bit of extra physical damage). Plus the little proc bonus of extra Rage from auto-attacks.

Fifth row: Lambs to the Slaughter and Juggernaut. LttS is an obvious one and affects your priorities. After you Mortal Strike, you definitely want to smash Overpower or Execute. This makes Mortal Strike coming before Overpower every chance you get, and it takes a little practice with Overpower proc'ing repeatedly thanks to Taste for Blood. Alas, Sudden Death isn't going to do anything until Colossus Smash becomes available, so skip it for now and pull in two points from your optional stuff after Cata launches.

Sixth Row: Wrecking Crew is a Duh one. Yes, have that please. Throwdown is just plain fun. Arms Warriors went from no interrupts to TWO interrupts in one patch?!? Yes, please and thank you!

And of course, Bladestorm, I love thy whirly goodness.

Other Trees

In Fury, I only took Cruelty because Friday is one mean bi... um, I mean it's a straight damage buff. The other two choices, Battle Trance and Blood Craze, just didn't do anything for me. Battle Trance if you're running low on Rage, I suppose. Blood Craze if you were trying to build a self repairing Warrior. Not so sure how that will work out, though, so we'll wait until Cata to entertain those two selections.

In Protection, I chose Incite because I'm using Heroic Strike so much. HS is doing so well right now, I just don't see any reason not to give it everything we can, even if I do start using Slam more. Blood and Thunder is just wicked. Being able to pop Rend up on multiple mobs with one button and keep it refreshed non-stop? That's blood rushing to your head and a thunderous Warrior-gasm!

Options

Blizz didn't leave us entirely without options, and I suppose that's the point. In the Arms Tree you're basically left with decisions to make about Field Dressing, Tactical Mastery, Second Wind, and Sudden Death. I took Field Dressing just because, as a Herbalist and Alchemist, I have several self heal abilities I pop all the time, and I'll take the free boost to healing effects as a bonus. Not necessary, at the moment, but it is a nice customization to tie in with my professions.

I also took Improved Slam because I do hit it occasionally and nothing in the the other two trees looked better. I took Improved Hamstring just for grins in the battle grounds. I'll more than likely be pulling four to six points from these optional ones when Cata arrives, but we'll jump off that troll bridge when we get there.

Wake up Friday! Fight! Wait... oh it's just the Headless Horseman. Dead in 49 seconds.

We'll talk about Glyphs some other time, but my current choices are on the linked Talent spec page at Wowhead.

For gems I'm sticking with straight Strength for now. No changes to Enchants. My gear has an aweful lot of Haste on it, which is fine, but I'm switching a lot of it, and a chunk of excess Hit, over to Mastery to see how good Strikes of Opportunity is going to be. So far, I like.

Like I said at the beginning, being an Arms Warrior is just too much fun. The priority rotation may look a little daunting, but it's quite easy when you get some practice with it. Having those options in combat is way more fun than some set rotation where you punch the same buttons over and over again in sequence.

Welcome to the New Arms Warrior. It's wicked good! :D

-Fri

Anatomy of a Wipe in 10 Easy Steps

2010-10-10T12:35:00.000-05:00

Following up on the last post . . .

Yes, another PoS wipe with one angry player going all nerd ragey and quitting the group.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think anyone should be wiping a lot in PoS. Seriously. It's not a terribly difficult dungeon run. My issue is with the person who causes the wipe in the first place, nerd rages, and still doesn't understand how the wipe happened.

The Story

Our random consisted of a DK tank, a Druid healer, a hunter (no idea what flavor), a mage (frost judging by all the ice being thrown around), and me in Arms.

Over all, a pretty solid group. The gear levels are pretty wide, so it's not going to be a walk through, but as long as everyone doesn't SIS*, we're good.

The wipe occurs on the hill. We set up for the first pull and the tank kindly marks the two fire guys that like to kill everyone instantly and suck the healer dry. Me and Hunter beeline for the skull, mage-boy hits the X first. I figure at least he hit a marked target, so we're good. The tank has to pull a mob off the mage and heath bars start dropping, but by then hunter and I can start aoe, so we mow the bad guys down. Easy enough.

So we pull the second group, and again Hunter and I are on the skull, but mage-boy is pounding away on random mob #4. He yanks aggro. The tank can't see him. Bam, down goes the Mage while the healer tries frantically to keep him and the tank up at the same time. The healer pulls aggro, and Bam down he goes. DK frantically tries to get it under control, hoping me and Hunter can just burn them down, but five mobs pounding away with no heals isn't gonna work. Down he goes.

Now hunter and I are popping cooldowns, I'm in Def trying to tank and half a second after the tank eats it, Hunter FDs. At this point I'm scrambling around for the Vanish key. Oh, wait, I don't have Vanish. I have... oh @#$! it.

WTF Happened

So why did this happen? Let's break it down.

On that particular pull it is absolutely essential to obliterate the two fire casting guys. Unless you have an ICC geared healer and/or tank, the damage output from that group of mobs will kill your tank fast and the healer just can only just barely keep him up. Thus, the tank marks the kill order and DPS follows the kill order.

Mage boy hit a mob the tank wasn't going to worry about. The tank had enough AoE threat on that target to hold him through normal healing, but not enough to keep aggro if someone started pounding the mob. The tank is concerned with holding the mobs that DPS is suppose to be hitting.

Mage boy is also standing practically on top of the mob he's unloading on, which increases his threat significantly! So naturally he pulled.

Now the tank is taking a massive amounts of damage, and the mage has joined him on the hit parade. As the tank turns to try to pull the mob off the mage, he starts taking shots in the ass, with no chance to Dodge or Perry, thus taking even more damage.

The healer, meantime, has gone from steady measured heals to panic spam heal mode. As he pours heal after heal into the mage and the tank at the same time, HoTs stacking up the longer the mage stays alive, he's dramatically increasing his threat. At this point, the healer is number two on the threat meter. Guess where that mob is going to go?

Now the healer is in a no-win situation. He can protect and heal himself. Or he can keep the tank up. Or he can try to do both. I can think of a few PvP healers that could pull this off. But most PvE healers are dead meat.

Now the tank has virtually no time to recover the stray mob. The healer takes a couple of shots, chooses to heal the tank, and down goes the healer. Probably faster than he thought possible. The tank is desperately trying to get everything under control when suddenly none of his buttons are working and his toon has decided to take a dirt nap.

This is how most wipes occur. They almost always start with DPS doing something they shouldn't be doing. Almost Every Single Time.

10 Step Program

Step 1. DPS pulls aggo.
Step 2. Healer heals DPS (increasing threat).
Step 3. Healer tosses massive panic heal to Tank (increasing threat).
Step 4. Healer has to decide to heal tank or DPS.
Step 5. Healer chooses to heal tank, chucking in some AoE heals (increasing threat).
Step 6. DPS dies.
Step 7. Healer is now tops on threat for that mob (and possibly others).
Step 8. Healer dies.
Step 9. Tank dies.
Step 10. Rest of the DPS dies.

Run back and try again.

In Wrath, in this senario, either the tank is expected to pick up the stray mob, or the healer is expected to drop threat or heal through the whole mess. DPS basically has no responsibility except to pour as much damage into the mobs as possible.

Prior to Wrath this wasn't the case. It started getting that way toward the end of BC. Now with Cataclysm changing everything back to the way it was, DPS is simply going to have to adjust.

Turn off your DPS meter. Turn on your Threat meter. Be prepared to survive.

No more free rides DPSers. Time to L2P.

Since we've been over proper DPSing a bajillion times, next time we're going to look at an old form of crowd control that hasn't been used in 5-mans since the early BC-era; it's called Off Tanking. In particular, Arms Warriors are looking like they might be pretty darn good at it!

-Fri

*Stand in S#&!

The Approahcing Train Wreck

2010-09-15T13:56:00.000-05:00

There's one coming. It's called Cataclysm 5-Man Dungeons. And we are all going to die. A lot.

The other night in Guild Chat we were discussing what we were going to do first when Cataclysm launches. Pretty basic stuff. "Imma start a Worgan!" "I'm going to make a Human Hunter!" "I'm going blast to 85 and check out the new zones!" and so on.

Me? I'm gonna barge, bully, bash and bone run my way to the dungeon entrances and start running the 5-mans.

I love them.

Solo'ing VC at 38 for Mount money!

Ever since Friday and I spent three hours in Deadmines at level 16 and didn't even get half way through. I'm not even sure we had a "tank." It was the brute force approach to dungeon running. Attack (not pull) one thing at a time and kill it, then go on to the next. Which of course didn't work. We'd get a multi-mob pull and all hell would break loose. Someone would yell "pat!" and the rest of us would look around going "who the hell is Pat?!?" We'd die, but we took two of the bastards with us! Run back and try again!

And yes, that was fun! By 20 Friday had tanked VC as DW Arms by stacking Agility. I didn't know what avoidance was, but not getting hit sounded like a great plan. She solo'd the instance at 30. In fact, that's how I made enough gold to buy my first mount!

So it doesn't matter how hard the dungeon is, it's just fun to run them. I don't mind wiping as long as everyone is getting along and having a good time. Who cares, right?

For the Pony!

I've been leveling up Rowen the Rogue a bit and enjoying the random dungeon finder. Old world instances need a LOT of love. Rowen basically tanked VC at 18. Most of the rest are a breeze with an even half-way competent crew. With the plethora of Wrath Babies running through them, they were pretty much like Northrend Dungeons. Pull, faceroll, pull, faceroll, stop for loot, repeat.

It's kind of funny to watch some newer players that are use to free T10 gear and small AoE pulls go all nerd rage when they suddenly pull 20 mobs in BRD and wipe. I LOL'd a lot. I didn't LOL so much when that tactic actually worked! Wha?!?

Then Rowen started this weekend on Outland Dungeons. Even nerfed as they are, they aren't easy to faceroll unless everybody does their job properly. You can't AoE the room full of mobs in Shattered Hells. You do and you die. Nerd rage ensues. It's not pretty.

On one run through Ramps we went through 4 dps and 2 healers and 2 tanks. On Ramps! SRS?!?

These people would quit the group after one wipe! I'm sorry but I don't have time to re-queue for 30 minutes just because some twit doesn't understand basic concepts of threat and aggro. Gah! Luckily, the groups tend to fill fast, but really.

I don't even have a problem with them not understand basic play mechanics. I love noobs. What I can't stand is the people that get all shitty about a wipe and then quit the group with no desire to understand why it happened in the first place! There's a difference between being ignorant and being an idiot. One is curable.

Enter Cataclysm. The devs have said that 5-mans in Cat will be between BC and Wrath in difficulty. If that works out, there's going to be quite a few players that are in for a rude shock. Commence the train wreck.

Wrath Babies I get. They might have picked up some basic dungeon group concepts if they ran heroics in greens and blues. They probably had a few experienced players to guide them through that. For the most part though, they quickly get to a place where they can slap on decent gear and run through Wrath dungeons with barely a breath. (Does anyone remember having to call for a bio in 5-mans?)

Learning about threat the hard way in SM Cath.

Don't get me wrong, I liked most of Wrath's 5-mans. But at a certain, early point, they just became badge runs. Nothing terribly wrong with that, I suppose, but at some point all you're doing is the same dailies and the same badge runs over and over again. That's less entertainment and more like a task. Blah.

I don't get the experienced players that have just gotten lazy. I see the Warrior tank that doesn't know what an LOS pull is and has no idea what I mean when I offer to cc the bomb dropping Technician. I get that. I see the Pally tank that DOES know what an LOS pull is and then charges in anyway, rounds up the whole room, and then stands there in the ooze and dies, all the while screaming "WHY IS NO ONE ATTACKING?!?"

Sorry, I don't want to get green ooze on my pretty new purple boots. Maybe you could scooch them over just a bit? Please? Thanks.

I just have a bad feeling that when (if?) they up the difficulty factor a notch or two in Cataclysm, there's going to be a lot more of this. The Outland dungeons have been nerfed to hell and in about two dozen runs I have yet to see a group make it all the way through intact, or I've come into the group as a filler.

L2P Fri! Be prepared! No Outland in your underwear!

I'm guilty of it, too. For the first time in years I got called to task by a tank in PoS for pulling aggro! Wha?!? He even had the gall to suggest I use the target of target feature!!! My first reaction was "Quit being such a lame ass tank, bitch!"

But he was right. We were never in any danger and I took a few shots to the melon and an heal or two. Yes, the tank was way below my gear level. I should have been adjusting my DPS to match his threat output. He was doing fine. (Controlling your DPS when spec'd Fury is not easy, but that's another post entirely.)

Guys, if you can't handle a wipe or two (or five), you need to get into some of the Outland dungeons and L2P. Serious. If you don't understand threat, aggro, when to use cc, when not to use AoE, what LOS is, etc. you're gonna be hurting come Cataclysm.

I know I'm taking Rowen's adventures as refresher course.

I suspect, though, that with the right group, Cat dungeons are gonna be monster fun, wipes and all. Bring on the train! :)

-Fri

For the.... Horde?!?

2010-08-29T11:26:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make.

I'm leveling a toon Horde-side.

I know, right?!?

Let me 'splain. . .

I've always liked PvP. Maybe more like a love/hate relationship would be a better description than "like." Playing a Warrior in PvP is tough. It takes patience and a lot of dying over and over to gear up before you're even remotely effective. It also takes a lot of calm, cool, methodical planning and maneuvering to be good at it.

Yah, that's not really me.


Neveron, Violet, and Shortbella pay a visit.

I can do it, but sometimes in PvP ya just wanna mash some heads and create mayhem in a "kill 'em all" induced frenzy.

So when I started leveling a Rogue, I naturally slipped into PvP with her. Hey, there's some good leveling gear available from honor that works well with the BoA stuff too! And OMG, a rogue is WAY more fun to play in PvP. Way! I use to hate rogues, but now I realize why. It's 'cause they have so much damn fun in Battlegrounds! Jealous!

The whole rogue thing was great. Then they turned on XP gains for Battlegrounds and I figured I'd heal my way to 80 on the Priest. Which was even MOAR fun than playing a rogue. Here we have the calm, cool of a Warrior combined with the HaHa-Gotcha of a Rogue and the intense challenge of keeping everyone around you upright and breathing while being focused 99.9% of the time.

New Title: Spike-killer Fridaymacfay.

So, some people at work started up the office guild again and I agreed to play. Unfortunately, they all play Horde. Gah! I mean, nothing wrong with the Horde, except you know... they're Horde!

I picked a Tauren cause they seemed the less Horde-like, to me. (Wow, they move slow. Feels like it, anywho.) And since I never tried one before, and I liked healing so much on the priest, I decided to try a Resto Druid.

The verdict: Fun. Way fun. Huge, mondo, Tauren-sized fun!

K, I still don't care for the whole Horde-experience thing. Nothing wrong with it, just not my bag of doughnuts. Playing through some areas from the other side, though, is very interesting. Now that leveling is fairly easy, I can pick and choose what quest lines to follow and then just random dungeon or PvP my way past those I don't care for.

In the face!

In the BGs, though, a druid is just four different kinds of WICKED! Literally. Focused? Bear! Not focused? Heal! Need to tear some ass? Kittah! Need to haul ass? Lil' Kittah! Druid in PvP is like a Swiss Army Knife with teeth!

In WSG, for example, I've flag carried as Prot before. That's like being an armored truck. Grab the flag and keep trudging along with Shield Wall and Shield Block and hope to hell you get heal or two as you trundle your way all the way home.

FC as a druid is just grins. Room full of defenders? HoT, HoT, HoT, Bear, grab the flag, get outside, little kitty all the way home, cap! There's a very good reason why you hate Druid FCs. :)

On D, just root the FC in place and you'll have "Not in My House" on your first battle!

I know that all this is something Druids have known for years. But if you've never even considered playing a Druid, give it a shot. Even if it's only for the fun in BGs. Definitely a quintessential WoW experience!

The proper attire for herbing.

If you switch factions, though, just remember which side you're playing for. Running along-side the human pally FC trying to figure out why you can't attack that stinkin' undead mage can be a bit embarrassing. Not that I've done that, of course, I'm just saying . . .

-Fri

Cata-Warriory Things I'm Excited About

2010-07-17T20:38:00.001-05:00

So I spent a month researching and writing the whole Arms Quirks thing and Blizzard goes and changes the whole damn thing! You would think I'd know better. So, scrap that...

That little frustration aside, though, I'm pretty excited about the changes they've shown so far for Arms Warriors in Cataclysm! All still very beta, subject to massive change, and spoiler warnings for the remaining of this post, blah blah blah.

In some respects (you might have to use a little biased imagination here), Arms Warriors are becoming the model for most other specs and class. What? Sure! Think of it this way:

Arms Warrior abilities have always been very proc-based. Because of this, you never really have a set, repeated rotation. You might have an opening that sets you up for a better chance of getting those procs, but mostly it's a set of priorities that change pretty radically when something does proc.

This way of playing makes an Arms Warrior feel more like actually fighting. You maneuver for advantage and when it shows itself, you shove your pointy stick right up it's wazoo. Taking advantage of split second opportunities (by chance or design) is what being a warrior in a fight is all about.

So far, it looks like Cataclysm is gonna bring that to a lot of classes. Arms Warriors don't look like they'll change that much, in that regard, and seem to be getting a little fun love from the developers, as well! Let's have a look where we're at so far.
Let me interject here and say that if anyone has a beta key, please send it to me because I Want It. Thanks.

First, I'm excited about two new playable abilities; Heroic Leap and Throwdown!

Heroic Leap was suppose to make it into Wrath, but got the axe. Apparently, Blizzard has tried again and might actually get it to work. At first, I thought this might be a fancy version of Charge. But oh no no no no. This is a real leap. You target a spot on the ground and WHAM! You leap over there. Heoroicly even! This has so many fun possibilities!

From the recent Twitter chat:

We're pretty happy with it so far. The version we have right now lets the warrior target where they want to leap, so they can use it as an escape tool as well. We all know paladins would never retreat from a battle, but warriors have been known to do so.

Retreat my ass! Jumpy little Belf Rogue trying to Sprint away? Heroic Leap. Land in front of him. Lop of his head. Fun! Blinky mage giving you fits? No problem! Heroic Leap. Land in front of him. Lop of his head. More Fun! Did the silly Shammy make the Bad Guy drop fire all around you, again? Heroic Leap-sauce! (And then lop off his head. Silly Shammy.) I like this ability already.

Throwdown is really just something they're messing with at this point, apparently. But it sure would be fun. The idea is an ability that would knock a Bad Guy to the ground for 5 seconds. Yes! Sure, we'll still have good old Pummel, but having something like this as an actual Arms Warrior ability would be wicked cool. Being able to knockemontheirass would be handy in both PvP and PvE. Win.

One ability we are trying out for Arms is "Throwdown," which lets them knock an opponent to the ground for five seconds. Since it's usable in Battle Stance, they can also use it as a Pummel in a pinch.

So, that's a lotta fun right there. We also have the new talent tree for Arms.

We get Mortal Strike, Anger Management, and Two Handed Weapon Specialization right off the bat at Level 10. Yes, Mortal Strike!

It's not really the iconic Arms Warrior ability anymore now that many classes have basically the same thing. And it is watered down considerably. Still, we'll probably have it before any other class does, and it is still very much part of being an Arms Warrior.

War Academy has Heroic Strike attached to it, as do several Arms-reachable talents in the Fury and Prot trees. Pretty good indicator that the new Heroic Strike will be used a lot more than it is now.

What will it be? Dunno. Can't wait to find out, though. See, to other classes Mortal Strike is the iconic Arms Warrior ability. To a real Warrior, though, Heroic Strike is the thing. We start with it, it's with us all the time. It is THE Warrior ability. It would be nice to have our old friend back and useful again!

For the record, I have no problem at all with Heroic Strike being on a Swing Timer. I like it, in fact. It's a Warriory ability! It simulates that timing and patience a warrior should have to unload the big smashass at just the right moment! It's a unique Warrior thing to be able to "cast" an ability, do something else, and then have the "cast" go off as the coup de grace.

Whatever they do to Heroic Strike, I hope they make it feel that way

The other fun thing I like so far is Field Dressing. So, combine that with Second Wind and, later, maybe Bloodcraze, and suddenly you've got a self-healing Warrior. It's not Pally-Power, mind you, but what caught my eye was how Field Dressing also improves all healing done.

So, PvP ability? Or.... drumroll.... Arms Tank?!?

I can see a build like this one being tuned to actually make an Arms Warrior tank-ish. With the right gear and stats. Maybe. It's interesting.

Just dreaming a little. :)

Regardless, it certainly looks like Blizz is giving Warriors a nice treatment in Cataclysm. Something different, but something distinctive that will, hopefully, continue the trend of making a Warrior feel like a Warrior.

Let's see what's next... Bring It!

-Fri

Arms Quirks: Introduction

2010-06-06T12:19:00.005-05:00

Is there really anything "bad" about being an Arms Warrior?!?

Of course not!

However, looking at those minor dings of imperfection couldn't hurt (much) and might just make us better Warriors. So, this isn't so much a QQ as it is a self improvement series.

As I'm sure is apparent by now, I'm not much of a gear-head. In fact, if the entire way gear was handled in WoW was changed to "what looks awesomesauce!" I'd be perfectly happy. I love my current armor, even if the pants have saddle bags (really?) and the shoulders and hat are a little too poky for my liking. Best looking set since the Grand Marshall stuff way back at 60. The Undead Slayer armor comes close, too, of course.

Anyhoo, I'm gonna focus mainly on abilities and how-to fighting for Arms in these posts. There's a few things about Arms that are tricky to pull off, and situations where you really, really need to be able to compensate for the dings in your armor.

We're gonna look at:

The Pretty Ballerina Bladestorm Nerf - Bladestorm can now be Disarmed. Really? I mean, really?

Stance Dancing - You still need macros to dance. Why? Good question but you still need them.

The Specialization Penalty - Why Arms Warriors are the only spec that gets "srprz! buttsecks!" every time you pick up a new shiny pointy stick.

Retaliation - The "Ha Ha right!" of Warrior abilities.

Interrupting - You don't have one, but you can get one for only $9.99 plus shipping and handling.

Gearing - Why is it so @$#%$ing hard to find a Trinket?!?

It takes a lot of work to be a good Arms Warrior. Let's get to it!

-Fri

Arms Quirks: A Night At the Ballet

2010-06-06T12:18:00.006-05:00

I suppose we have to start with what Adam Holinksy, the Warrior guru at WoW Insider, calls "The Pretty Balarina Nerf." As of Patch 3.3.3, Bladestorm is now be subject to disarm effects. So if anyone/everyone Disarms you, you'll just be "spinnin' like a fool with our sword on the ground."

Problem: Bladestorm can be disarmed.

Solution: Don't use it. Maybe Retaliation will make a comeback in level cap PvP? :)

This is one of those where someone at Blizzard found the nerf bat laying in a closet somewhere and said "Ooooo, we haven't smacked Arms Warriors in a long while... C'mere."

In PvE...

Doesn't really make much difference. Worse thing that can happen is a mob will disarm you and you'll drop a bit of DPS. Cliiiick it off and start over.

If you're really, really concerned about it, just memorize which mobs will randomly drop aggro off the tank and disarm a random party member. Then don't use Bladestorm around those mobs, or wait until the use the ability and then use Bladestorm. There's can't be more than a handful of mobs with that ability.

In PvP...

Not sure why Blizz decided to nerf Arms warriors in PvP, but this change was clearly directed that way. I wonder if we still get to use our fists? Did Somebody Order a Knuckle Sandwich!

Bladestorm wasn't that great in PvP to begin with since as soon as you used it everyone would focus you, run out of the way, and you'd have no way to defend yourself. It was a quick and dirty cc break if you needed it. It was good situationally, at best.

I've seen warriors, though, that just pop Bladestorm over and over again every time it pops. Bad!

So, Bladestorm was already a situational ability in PvP to begin with. You really can't just go all spinny whenever you want. If you're focused, you'll get smeared. And some form of cc on your targets is ideal. Waiting until that mage hits freezy feet and THEN Bladestorming is wonderful.

The nerf adds another level of awareness to using the ability. Now ya gots to watch out for any class that can disarm you. Other warriors and rogues being the main culprits.

For example, a Rogue can now just disarm you, follow along beside you slapping Sinister Strike, build up an ungodly number of combo points, and then face plant you in seconds. Not fun.

The only counter we have at this point is to use the ability when it's safe to do so:

* Only use when there's no one around that can Disarm you.

* Only use AFTER the bad guy has already used Disarm.

* Weapon Mastery might be something to consider for PvP, but since Bladestorm is only 6 seconds, it's unlikely to help as far as this situation goes. (An unmodified Disarm will drop to, what? Something like 5 seconds? Meh.)

* I"m completely shocked how many people don't KNOW that you can Disarm a Warrior in the midst of a Bladestorm! Shhhhh. Don't tell. ;)

That's about it.

So be smart about it.

-Fri

Tip: Ever get blown off a bridge or cliff by a Shammy? I hate that. As you go over, target the Shammy (or any nearby enemy) and start pounding Charge. As long as you don't go out of range, as soon as the blowback effect wears off (a couple of seconds), you'll charge right back on to solid ground AND stun the bastard at the same time! :) SPRZ!

Cat Prep? Sounds Painful

2010-06-03T22:14:00.000-05:00

So five months later here's another post. LOLblog! Sheesh.

Two things going on here with the lack of posties. One, of course, is the "real life." The other is a sad lack of anything inspiring to write about. I keep thinking "Yah, but there's still plenty of Arms Warrior stuff to write about!" And then realize ... not so much.

So I was poking around Blog Azeroth and they had their Friday 5 topic as "What you're doing to prepare for Cataclysm." And I said.... hmmmm.... What are I doing?

Well, first, freakin' waiting! I'm thinking not until November, though. Maybe October, but I bet November. Yeah, I hope I'm wrong and it's earlier...

Other than the waiting thing, this post turned into a what I'm doing UNTIL cataclysm:

1. I decided to see if I could gold cap. Something like 214,000 and change. So, Nev and Fri are churning out potions and lotions and glyphs and scrolls and such like crazy. It's a nice side project and, for the first time for me, going into an expansion with plenty of jingle will be kinda nice. (Started both of the last two completely broke!) The AH playing is kinda relaxing and beats the heck outta Farmville.

2. Toon leveling. Still slowly leveling up Rowan the Rogue. Not sure what this has to do with Cat 'cept that playing a Rogue in any new battlegrounds Blizz comes up with will be wicked fun. Cause playing a Rogue in battlegrounds is the most wicked fun you can have in a battleground except for...

3. Neveron hit 80, went Shadow for dungeon running and heals for battlegrounds. Healing battlegrounds is more fun than playing a Rogue. No really! Anyhoo, that was definitely a Cat prep so that we'll have a healer ready to go when the new 5-mans open up. Healing 5-mans in Wrath is like watching golf on the radio. Blah! And I'm not tanking any more. I'm done with it. Pthooey! (Right. Expect "Woe is the Tank" posts shortly after Cat hits.)

4. I have two open character slots. So one will be a Human Hunter. And the other will be a Worgen. But.... what shall the Worgen be?!? So, on a few other servers I'm trying some different classes and seeing what I like best. (Okay, we know she'll probably end up a Warrior, but it doesn't hurt to shop around. Maybe a Fury Fury Warrior... hmmmm....)

5. Raiding! What?!? Fri is raiding?!? Say it ain't so! Okay, not technically raiding. I do VoA once a week. Ony occasionally. The daily once in awhile. And every once in a blue moon I hitch a ride into TotC. So it's not really, really raiding. But if it gets me better shinnies to start Cat with it works for me.

Prep for Cat really won't start until we know more. Like what kinds of concrete changes will be there for Arms Warriors? What are the new Alchemy stuffs? What mats will we need? And so on and so forth. Just not a lot of details, so really preparing comes down to the basics. Have plenty of stuffs for the new toons and make it as easy as possible to focus on *playing* with the old toons.

Easy enough.

A nice patch would be nice while we wait, though.

-Fri

Friday's Super Quick Guide to Arms

2010-01-23T21:46:00.001-06:00

To get back in the spirit of things, here's a summery of what you need to Arms Warrior the easy way. This should suffice for the more casual or beginner Arms Warrior.

Arms is all about using a great big sharp pointy to poke lots of bad guys really hard and all at once. Yah, it's really, really fun. For true.

Leveling

Gear with Srength and Stamina. Hit and Crit if you should stumble across it. If you have the means, heirloom gear rocks. Get 'em.
Stick with the basic 57/14 Arms build as you level.
You can tank as Arms below 60 without much difficulty.
Use Dungeon Finder and Battlegrounds as much as you can stand. Both will keep you sexy all the way to 80.
Rep: Sons of Hodir, Knights of the Ebon Blade and do Argent Tournament as much as you can stand.
Random heroics until you're blue in the face and wearing the purdy armor.

The Stats

Hit Rating? 264 at Level 80.
Strength? Your main stat after you Hit Cap. All the Crit in the world won't do any good if you hit like a wet noodle.
Crit? As much as possible. Poleaxe spec helps. You'll be getting this from gear.
Armor Penetration? Is good if you're swords, but (and this is just me), I wouldn't give up Strength, Hit, Crit or Expertise for it.
Expertise? I wouldn't go out of my way. Gear up using a site like MaxDPS or GearWishList and it'll just magically be there.
Profession? Whatever you like. Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Engineering and Jewelcrafting are Warrior favs.

What to Wear

Sword or Poleaxe Specialization? Whichever you like. Use whatever is best and available. So, if that yummy sword drops and you're spec'd to Poleaxe, then roll your butt off on it and respec.
Gems? Hit until cap, then replace as soon as possible with Strength. If your gears Hit cap you, pretty red Strength rocks only, please.
Enchants? Berserking on your pokey stick. Arcanum of Torment on your noggin. Greater Inscription of the Axe on your shoulders. Major Agility on your rug. Powerful Stats on your bewbs. Greater Assault on your wrists and feets. Crusher on your hands. Thigh-high Icescale Leg Armor on your gams. Eternal Belt Buckle on your belt.
Glyphs? Majors: Mortal Strike, Execution, Rending. Minors: Battle, Bloodrage, Charge.

Fighting

DSIS = Don't Stand In Shit. If it's on the ground and hurty, get out of it.
Ass first. You should only hit things from behind the mob. If you see crotch, you're doing it wrong. Stand on the pet if it helps you get oriented.
Beware the ass pull. If you move behind the mob, watch out for ones that are close by. Your big butt will probably pull them over.
Proper Rotation? There isn't one. Arms Warriors have priorities instead of a rotation. Your priorities will change slightly depending on what kind of fight it is.
For trash, pop Sweeping Strikes as often as possible. Bladestorm whenever it's safe to do so. Preferably both at the same time.
In order of priority it's: Rend, Mortal Strike, Execute, Overpower, then Slam.
Reapply Rend ASAP after it falls off, but not before.
Stance? Battle. By the time you need the other two, you'll be way beyond this guide.

That's it. Fighting as an Arms Warrior takes some practice. There's lots of options. But that's kinda what makes it so fun. That and whirling around killing bunches of stuff with Bladestorm. Yah, that.

Now off with you! Go forth and Bladestorm mightily!

-Fri

BAK Happy Blog Day to Me!

2010-01-23T18:37:00.000-06:00

Really? Since august? /epicblogfail

Two years ago today Our Girl Friday started. Wow! I don't think I've ever done ANYHTING except play WoW for more than two years! Okay, it's not a consistent two years, but still...

What happen to bring me back was that lately I've been playing on the rogue, Friday's sister, Rowen. Rowen has been a bank alt for a long, long time and it's her turn. Fair is fair.

Oh, that and playing a combat rogue is so much fun it's freaky! Yes, playing the Shaman is so much fun it's freaky too. It's a lot of freaky fun going on here.

Anyhow, we're just about officially between xpacs, and the lure of the alt starts calling again. Fri's skills are all leveled, she's got absolutely gorgeous hot armor again (finally... WotK will be forever known as the xpac of the BORING leveling armor... almost miss the clown suits of BC... not quite, but almost), she's all quested out, and if she has to PuG more than one heroic a day anymore she might puke. She's still got a few more pieces of gearisms to grab, of course, and there's a few reps to grind, but mostly (unless she starts raiding regularly) she's coasting.

So Rowen's there and I start rogue'in it a bit, and turns out rogues aren't as bad as I thought. They're wicked fun in dungeons and PvP, and with the Dungeon Finder, gearing and leveling isn't the quest grind it use to be. In fact, she did ten level entirely in dungeons. Ha!

While I'll probably still be mean to people who play rogues... now I won't be as mean. :P

Anyhoo, we're random PuGing in SFK and someone in the group whispers "I love your blog." And I'm thinking, "Oh yah, I have a blog. Ooops." Which was kinda cool cause it's the first time in 2 years anyone's ever said anything in game about the blog. Ha!

Then like, the next day, someone whispers me on Fenris (again while I was playing on Rowen) and asks for some Arms Warrior advice and mentions the blog again. Granted, I'm probably not the best person to ask, but still it's kinda cool. And there is a horrible lack of Arms Warrior stuff on the web (though, what is there is fabulous).

So, it's the blog's birthday and I figured it would be a good time to start posting again. Nice to see ya and if you see a silly rogue named Rowen that needs to LTP in the lowbie randoms, give a wave. :)

-Fri

Catagasm

2009-08-21T21:09:00.004-05:00

OMG

Spent the entire morning pouring over Cataclysm stuffs. I don't even know what to say.

Oh, who am I kidding.

/GASM

Now, c'mon. How can Blizz release this sneak peak and expect me to go back to cold, undead infested Icecrown. Sheesh!

Dirty teases.

Reading over it, I wouldn't even know where to start! I mean, I have enough trouble deciding what to do when I sign in right now. :D Are ya gonna roll up a goblin or a worgen and try the new starter zones? Oh, how about a new race/class combo and run the new 1-60 quests??? Wait, you've got five (rumored slower) level on your main? How long can you wait before you absolutely, positively have to jump into Grim Batol or Hyjal? Been waiting to get in there for going on five years!!!! Heroic Deadmines AND Shadowfang?!? What's first? Gah!

Ahem

So what's in it for Warriors?

I was a little disappointed to hear that the human to worgen transformation will be purely cosmetic. It kinda makes sense, I suppose. They'd end up spending too much time getting people to use one or the other or designing situations where you'd want to switch. Like stances aren't bad enough. Basically, being in human form will be like wearing different cloths. All the action is done in Worgen form. That means no special bonuses for being in one form or the other.

The thing that caught my eye, for Warriors, is the removal of AP and ArP and Defense from gears. At first glance, that sounds divine. It means more gear with base stats like Strength and Agility and Stamina. Which means Warrior gear itemized for... well, Warriors. "Of the Bear" sort of stuff. (Remember those?) The end result is that Warriors will have higher Defense or Attack Power, or what have you, through the new talent system, rather than having to hunt down gear specifically for certain specific stats.

This one small change will solve the problem of a leveling Warrior constantly yo-yo'ing from being uber-awesome sauce to pond scum and back again every 5 levels.

Since certain professions will be able to customize the stats on gear (called "Reforging") it'll mean you can customize the gear a bit for what role you prefer, and still have the stats to be decent at the other role. Yes, that means slapping on a shield will make you a solid Arms tank. :) It also means, instead of carrying around four (or more!) sets of Armor, you'll be more likely to just carry two. One for DPS and one for Tanking. Joy!

As a purely hypothetical example, lets say a chest piece drops that has STR and STAM on it. K, but you're an Arms Warrior and right now you need STR and Agility to, say, increase your chance to Crit. So you reforge the piece to remove the STAM and swap it for Agility. You also pick up Dodge and Parry that will be useful for tanking. True, you're a softer tank, but you get hit less, too. And so on... (Just for illustration, not for real... and probably will work a lot differently, but ya get the idea.)

The new talent system looks interesting as well. Toons will be able to get bonuses and talents based on what you do in the game. That means that, over time, a casual player could ramp up their base stats without having to hunt down very specific gear that would be nearly impossible for them to get. The hardcore player is still gonna have way better gear and way better stats (and rightly so), but in theory, a casual player at level cap can enjoy the sense of accomplishment of seeing their character improve without the maniacal focus on just gear. Very good move on Blizzard's part.

Enough rambling though. Cataclysm is gonna be so much fun it'll be freaky. So far it sounds like everything a lot of other people (m'self included) have been dreaming of for a long time. Azeroth is getting a make over.

I better go do my hair.

-Fri

Little updates for 3.2

2009-08-17T20:14:00.007-05:00

I'm still going through stuffs from the patch. So far my verdict: Yes!

MOAR!

Mostly though, I've just been playing. No plan or anything like that. I find myself tanking almost all the time. I WANNA DPS! ARRRRR! And mostly old stuffs for guildies. I have posts for several things going about 3.2. Yah, most it will never see the light of a blog... but everything works its way in here eventually.

I am getting tired of the "look" of the blog, so once again, hang on while I move the furniture around. Could get messy here for awhile.

I'm terribly excited about some of the "leaked" information about the next expansion, but I'll wait for something more official to see what's what. I will, however, mention that if Blizzard does add some new class/race combinations AND add Worgen as a playable race, they'd better be adding some character slots.

I just don't want to go through the pain and suffering of having to delete any of my beloved alts for my shiny new Worgen Whatever and Human Hunter. That would be most sad. Oh, geez... what class can Worgen be? You mean I have to start thinking about that as well???

Oh, who I am kidding. Warrior. :)

Oh, yah we're still in Northrend... Ahem...

Alchemy is looking good but WAY over due for some "fun" stuff. Oh, don't get me wrong I like the useful stuff, and it's awesome! But fun stuff would be a Good Thing, as well.

The new Crusader quests are quite nice. The additional quests make the Argent Tournament a little more like Qual'Danas, but with, you know, ice and krakens and dead vikings guys and stuff. Some of the quests are similar, though not nearly as challanging. Solo'ing these is cake.

The new Dalaran Children's Week quest is cute. This is, unfortunately, a done-it before quest chain. Nothing new other than the locales to travel with and the orphan model. We'll keep our fingers crossed that Blizz updates the Children's Week quests next year.

What can I say about the new battleground. Fun? Amazing? Wicked? Parachute into the enemy fort sometime. I don't care if it's strategy or not... just do it cause it's fun as hell! :D Don't like the changes to Wintergrasp, though. I got passed over twice now. Annoying! The other BG changes are fine. Resilience still needs work, but is a little bit better. Arms warriors are still gonna get obliterated, but just not as fast now. Instead of six seconds, you've got like, say 10 seconds. Get your shouts off and take a dive for the team. /shrug

While I don't know, nor will likely ever know, anything about the new raid, the new Trial of the Champions dungeon is fun romp. If you like the Ring of Blood style quests (and who doesn't) you'll love this. Yes, jousting is required. So nah nah ptttttttpht to anyone who didn't spend the first two weeks of the Argent Tournament cussing at the game trying to learn to joust. :P

Seriously, as long as ya got at least three people that can at least stay close to the bad guys, and hold them still, you'll be fine. The rest of it is fun and the loots are great.

K, it's very obvious that Blizzard is giving everyone a leg up in an attempt to pile as many people into Icecrown as possible. I bet anyone who's run the Heroic Trial of the Champion (or at most 10-man, regular Trial of the Crusader) several times (and grabbed some emblem gear along the way) will be able to step into the beginning of the regular version of Icecrown Citadel, gear-wise.

Yes, this still feels like a move away from the "endgame" and big raids being the culmination of an expansion. If even a smidgen of the rumors about the next expansion are true, it'll be very interesting to see how Blizzard continues down this path.

Actually, it makes a lot of sense. But not in the way many players suspect... Hmmm... I'll follow up on those thoughts later. I gotta go play WoW.

-Fri

How I Missed the Patch, or Big Giant @#$! Kittens

2009-08-16T13:30:00.010-05:00

So, I get sick, get a promotion at work, work many many overtimes, stay sick, can't write in blog... don't even have the energy to play WoW. I mean really? F!@k kittens (NSFW).* Naturally, Blizz waits until then to release the patch. So, instead of writing something worthwhile about the patch and all, it's time for yet more random screen shots. Hooray! :D

Leveling a Holy Priest is easysauce! Just getcha one of these.
They work for random food drops and you just stand back
and soak up the XP. Win! :D

New cute hair! :D Ugly VC drops. :/

Level 20 mounts are genius! Now why do I suddenly have an
urge to park on a mailbox?

This boat has some of the prettiest views. Odd but true.

o/` She's just the girl, she's just the girl... The girl you want. o/`

Werk werk werk.

Payday in Stormwind. /sigh

AWWW! Baby murlock. Want!

Vi got her Black Warbear. FOR THE ALLIANCE!

Yes! I actually LIKE jousting. I may suck at dps, I can't tell the bad guy's
crap on the floor from the DK's crap on the floor, and I may spend most
of the rest of the dungeon face down on the floor... but that Crusader
title gets me into plenty of ToCs. :P

Who left the gate open?!? Damn kids.

-Fri

* I have no idea why that phrase makes me laugh so hard. Scout is bad! Bad bad bad! And I still laugh so hard I /cry and/or /spew. NSFW!

Fun with Google

2009-08-01T19:11:00.004-05:00

I have lots of draft stuff in progress, as usual, mostly commentary and whining and other stuff. So instead of working any of those to finish, I'm gonna do something completely different and SWIPE! again.

Pixelated Executioner has used his site traffic thing to find how people are finding his site. So last month I signed up for google Analytics, cause I thought that was a very neato idea. :D

This is stuff I find interesting. You? Maybe not so much. :P So, what we got?

The average time on site was 1 minute 4 seconds. Ouch. Course, a Ret Pally could kill a couple dozen other players in that time, so I guess it's not that bad. When you break it out and look at time spent when someone actually searches for a relevant page, though, it jumps up to over nine minutes. Which is enough time for a Warlock to solo Naxx with a VW, I believe. Much better.

Top ten pages in July were:

Main Page (Our Girl Friday)
Journy to the Grim Guzzler
Lazy Days in Dalaran
New Alt and Some Stuff
Bladestorm for Dum Dums
Flower Picking Plate Wearers in 3.2
Building a Better Arms Warrior, Part 2
Fun With Warriors: Heroic Strike
Large Burly Men Picking Flowers

I know that's only nine. Google lists two entries, one is "My Girl Friday" and the other as "Main Page." /shrug

After that the remainder (and several of the top ten) are all looking for Arms Warrior stuff. So I ran a search on google m'self and sure enough, there's really not a lot out there that's current. Pix's site comes up a lot. A few older guides that aren't quite up to date. That's about it!

Basically, most of mah blog's traffic comes from people looking for information about Arms Warriors and Alchemy/Herbalism. And directions to the Grim Guzzler. That's a kinda good thing to know.

Most links come from blogger or google. The blogs that sent traffic here, according to Analytics, were Awakening in Progress, Casual Hardcore, Warcraft Bloggers, Banana Shoulders, One WoW Warrior, and Tank Like a Girl. TYTYTYTYTYTYTYTY! :D

Quicky Q&A from the referral searches:

Q: How to get to the Grim Guzzler?
A: Here

Q: Linzy Blackbolt?
A: She teaches you Alchemy in Dalaran. Here go.

Q: Warriors like me?
A: Hope you found something... um... something...

Q: Warrior heroic dungeon ready?
A: I'm so sorry you got referred here, cause you definitely ended up in the wrong place! But... If you complete the quests in Zul'Drak, Storm Peaks, and Icecrown and run the regular 80 dungeons a few times each on the way, you can do heroics. Will you get to? Check with your guildies. Failing that, you'll have to PuG and that's difficult for a gearing Warrior. Most PuGs want thier warrior rough, buff, and WAY over geared. Good luck, though!

Q: Aesir's Edge for an Arms Warrior?
A: Oh hell yah! Again, sorry you ended up here, though. That's a weapon I'll never even come close to seeing. Go getcha some if ya can, though! Drops of the XT-002 thingie in Ulduar. Good luck and send pix when you get it!

Q: Andrea Kadomi?
A: She's right here. Go on. I'll wait.

Q: Are PuGs good or bad?
A: Evil incarnate. As my dear Sargent Major father always says, it's the biggest clusterf&ck you'll ever see. Which, of course, is what makes them so fun. Sometimes. When you're in the mood to put up with it. Warned.

Q: These search words: arms flowers hippy.
A: This brings up shopping and pictures of hippy chicks frolicking in flowers. I'm guessin' ya didn't get what you were looking for here, but try WoW anyway. It's good for the inner pacifist to let go and chop monsters into little bits every once and awhile. And there is flower picking, too!

Q: Arms Warriors resilience or dps?
A: DPS. For PvE and PvP, as it is right now. Even with piles of resilience, you're gonna die in about 8 seconds (literally, not being silly) in a fight with other players. You won't have time to be skilled, since you'll be dead before you get two or three swings off. Maybe with the changes in 3.2 coming up, resilience will be a better stat. I hope so! But as it is right now: DPS for both.

Q: Bladestorm? And Bladestorm threat?
A: Here. And no idea. Threat from Bladestorm will depend on damage modified by any threat reducing talents. Generally, though, give your tank a 6-9 seconds because you shouldn't Bladestorm at the beginning of a fight. Very bad things can happen. Like, ya know, /faceplant. You'll be putting up Rend, Battle Shout and Mortal Strike first anyhow, so don't worry too much about it. In PvP, you need to 1) have a full health bar cause when you start spinning like a top everyone on the other side with focus you instantly, 2) pop Recklessness first if you can, and 3) hamstring your target(s) BEFORE you pop Bladestorm otherwise they'll just run away. That's the short version.

Q: Elixir of Armor Piercing?
A: Crap. Taste like ass, too. Use this.

Q: Arms Warrior axe, mace, or sword?
Axe. If you're serious about DPS you need Poleaxe spec to get the crit rating you need. I use a sword cause I likes them, the one I have is really purdy, and I don't care what anyone thinks about it. But get an 2H axe if you're serious. Maybe, hopefully someday Blizz will come to its senses and combine the weapon specs into one called "Weapons Master" or something like that. It would be a Crit boost only talent on account many of our abilities rely on procs from Critical hits. Kinda makes way more sense. Oh, and Arms Warriors are the only Class/Spec that are punished for picking up a different weapon. Not only can you not use your shiny new toy to its full potential, but you have to pay 50g to respec at a trainer. Suckage.

Q: Friday Hardcore?
A: Has something to do with the bar scene. Sorry. Um, need directions to the Grim Guzzler?

Q: Is there a macro for Arms Warrior Revenge?
A: Cracksmoker.

Q: Learn to shake booty classes?
A: Um, here ya go. :)

People are funny.

-Fri

A Quicky Guide to Casual PvP

2009-07-26T11:58:00.003-05:00

The last week I've spent playing more PvP, of all things. Seriously, I was quit. I wasn't gonna do it anymore. I swear. After BC I was tired of it, and sick of the way it worked. It just wasn't fun anymore.

Well, okay, I got too serious and stopped having fun. Hard as I tried, I couldn't lighten up about it.

Then Wrath hit and I had things to do.

So now, with the last patch being largely about raiding, again, and the bit of stuff they threw to the rest of us is done, I started up playing Battlegrounds again. I've been able to keep a pretty casual attitude about it so far.

Birdfall posted a couple of interesting pieces that got me thinking. The first is about Scaling Back and taking a more "casual" mind set to the game. I can relate to that. I think this happened to me back just before Wrath launched, but it took me awhile to get it. The second post was about a little PvP encounter that made me smile.

Thinking of those two things got me thinking about how to do casual PvP, specially battlegrounds, my preferred PvP method. Sounds like a guide to me!

Casual PvP: My Definition

Casual PvP Does Mean: Serious play. A casual PvPer isn't interested in being "pro." You just want to have fun by enjoying the various forms of PvP. There's a visceral component to PvP that you just can't get in PvE. You like that. However, you are there to enjoy it, not stress about it.

Casual PvP Does Not Mean: Scrub. Casual players aren't there just to soak up honor. You DO take your roll in a battle seriously enough to want to do a good job. You do like the strategy aspects of a fight. You know, or are willing to learn, the ins and outs of PvP. You aren't going to quit and you absolutely make every effort to complete the objectives of the battle.

Some people are casual because the don't have a lot of time, some are casual because PvP is a mood thing for them, some are causal because they'd like to have fun rather than pump up their epeens (or QQ about having it deflated).

Like all so-called "casuals" they are here to PLAY, not work.

PvP Basics

* You're gonna die.

A lot. Unless you get really serious about it. Which defeats the whole point of Casual PvP. So you die a lot. Don't worry. There's no penalty for dying at the hands of another player except hanging out it a graveyard until you rez, or running back to your body. Try not to die, of course! The trick is not to get frustrated when you do die. A lot.

* Get Better

Just because you're casual it doesn't mean you're clueless. You need to know how to use your abilities in situational mode. In PvE you often have a set of priorities or even a rotation you follow. In PvP you can throw that all out the window. There's a lot of countering other player's moves involved and it takes place unpredictably and at lightning speed. So it takes practice.

* Have a point.

When you play, there should be a general direction for it. Learn, know and understand the objectives of a PvP encounter, where applicable. If you go into a battle and just flail around, you're not going to enjoy PvP much. There's a lot of teamwork involved in PvP, but there's a big personal component to it as well. Go in with the mindset that you're gonna play hard. The outcome may not matter... for casual PvPers it's getting there that's the fun part. But winning is the goal, so do that as much as possible. :)

* Loot is a bonus.

PvP loots that you can get from just honor are pretty good. But it's nothing like what you'll get from hardcore PvE or some of the hardcore PvP options. The PvP gear you get through casual play takes a long time to get and is pretty much good for PvP. Consider it a bonus, not a goal. The goal is a good time.

* Ignore

Use your ignore feature a lot. There's gonna be a lot of socially deficient, rude, obnoxious, epeen swearing morons, particularly in battlegrounds. Yes, on both Horde and Alliance sides. Set these people to ignore at the first signs of QQ. It makes PvP way more fun when you don't have that shit scrolling in your chat.

Dueling

Not my favorite PvP activity, mainly because it's largely the domain of the epeener. However, there is a marginal value in the activity if you're learning to PvP with your class. You can test out various things against different classes and see how they work. What works against a Druid isn't necessarily going to work against a Warlock. Dueling is practice. Assuming you can find a good practice partner.

It's 1-on-1, though. So the value is limited. In most real PvP the situations are very different and involved multiple payers. If you end up in a 1-on-1 slugfest with someone in a battleground, for example, you've probably done something wrong.

You'll be better served, and most likely have more fun, jumping into other forms of PvP.

Arena

I'm not a big fan, so I'm gonna kinda gloss over this. There are plenty of casual Arena players, and they do well and enjoy themselves. Mostly, though, you're gonna be doing it to spend some time with a small group of friends in PvP play.

Arena tends to be very focused. Because you're on a team, there also more expectations. That's not a bad thing, but be aware of the time commitment. It's not 25-man raids, but you still have to show up on time.

Arena is primarily the domain of hardcore players. Casual isn't going to get you up the ladder very far. However, you can get up far enough to get some nice loot! Everyone loves loot!

If you like the idea of small teams working together to defeat another small team in an enclosed environment, then Arena might be for you. Give a try at least. If you're having a good time, the loot and the ladder won't matter much to ya. They'll be nice bonuses.

World PvP

World PvP takes place out in the middle of a zone. No instancing, you just ride in and start fighting. Many of them have quirks or timers, but when you enter the zone it'll show the objectives at the top of your screen.

Wintergrasp is the de facto world PvP spot now-a-days. Even when the battle isn't going on, you might stop in there to finish up a daily quest, or to grind on the numerous Elementals out there. Regardless of why, there's always someone from the other faction present, and that often leads to a fight.

If you play on a PvE server, this can be quite exciting. Or annoying depending on how you look at it. It's better to look at it as exciting.

The battle itself is an awesome experience, particularly for those that prefer to play from a casual mindset. Tip: Get in a tank. Fun! :D

Most other world PvP is now focused in the Grizzly Hills. There's Outland and Old World spots, as well, but they are fairly empty now. Try them all, though, for a taste. I particularly like The Eastern Plaguelands in the Old World, and Naagrand and the Bone Wastes in Outland.

Battlegrounds

These are instanced, like a dungeon, and you have to get into a queue. Unlike World PvP, you're going in with people from your Battlegroup, not just your Realm. A Battlegroup is a collection of Realms that all fight together.

As far as casual friendly, the bigger the battleground the better when you're just starting out. Running with the group, helping other more experienced players, and getting a feel for the objectives is important, even for casual players. The smaller battlegrounds, however, offer a lot of fun, so don't hesitate to try them out when you're a little more familiar with the format.

Casual players in battlegrounds (or any PvP) are huge asset to more experienced players, but only if those casuals do what they're suppose to do. Most times, you'll have someone that will step up and issue orders. Follow these orders if you can. The plan may not work. But it'll work better if everyone plays along.

The most important thing to remember about battlegrounds is that you must be tuned into the objective. You need to be aware of what the group is doing and how your class fits into the big picture. That's what more experienced players will mean when they say you need to know your job (or less kindly "L2P!!! NOOB!").

Mostly this just takes some exposure to the battleground. Maybe a little reading on how it works. After you know this, though, you can get to the really fun part, which is doing what you can to win. Or at least lose without getting completely smashed. :)

Casual is PvP

Simply put, most PvP players are going to be causal. Some are just new and will learn. Some are pure experts, as good as the hardcore players. Some are really bad at it. The latter make great cannon fodder. :) Really, it's just about having fun. Like anything in the "casual mindset" it's not about pwn'ing some noob for epeen, or grabbing the latest and greatest gears. (Well, sometimes.) It's about playing. It is "just a game." But it's a game where you can have some serious fun, if you're inclined to think that way.

Go into PvP casually. Learn to casual well. Do it for fun. But mostly, go into it to PLAY.

-Fri

Casual Friday: Why PvP Still Sucks

2009-07-24T21:27:00.006-05:00

Because it's so freakin' fun, that's why! There's nothing more fun than being completely undergeared, getting completely pwn'd constantly, and running around not having any clue what going on... and having a blast doing it.

Attempt #2 to make a Casual Friday post on Friday. 15 Minutes or less... ready, set, go...

K, I haven't done any battlegrounds or anything PvPish since just before Wrath launched. It's been awhile. So, my guildmaster gets me going in Wintergrasp and it's meh. And then I turn down the graphics so it's not like fighting in soup (a really heavy bean and stuff filled soup, not that wimpy stuff). And I kinda take a few minutes to look at the map and figure out where things are . . .

Now I don't miss it if I can help it and I'm installing an add-on tonight to keep a timer up so I don't forget! It's total chaos!

As far as I can tell there's no way to actually win or loose. I mean, someone does win and someone does loose, but mostly it's people running around smacking each other... with BIG FREAKIN TANKS. Most battles boil down to who can build thier BIG FREAKIN TANKS up fast enough, and have enough players clever enough to actually go get one, and then pile everybody into one spot and run over the enemy players. It's wild and choatic and loads of fun.

Just turn down your graphics.

Best of all, if you're just a casual player looking for some grins, this is a great place to get lost in the crowd. Just stick with the crowd and do your thing... you'll be having fun in no time. And you can gets some nice gears to hand down to your alts in the form of heirloom items. Bonus!

I know there's a lot of people who are going to really, really dislike me saying that... :) But I don't care. If you're not having fun in a battle... g'away! Shoo! Scram!

The other one I'm enjoying most right now is Strand of the Ancients. It's fast, furious and focused. Yah there's some strategy here, but it's no Arathi Basin. It's more like the Alterac Valley zerg but both sides get a chance to try it... oh, with gates you have to knock down with, you guessed it, BIG FREAKIN TANKS.

This is an amzingly casual friendly BG. Just go where the big letters on the screen say to go and where all the dots are at. Can you find the Yellow Gate on the Map? Goooood! Go there when it says the Yellow Gate is Going Poof. Guess where you go if the Purple Gate is getting smashed? It's like battlegrounds for Dora the Explorer fans. Where do you go? Purple Gate! Where do you go? Purple Gate! Purple Gate! PUUUUUUUUUUUURPLE GATE! You'll never go the wrong way again! Yah, if you're playing against an assload of Pally's and DKs who pile up in front of the gates you're gonna get creamed. But you'll be having so much, you won't care.

Oh, and by all means, in either of these battles jump in a BIG FREAKIN TANK! It's only fun a few times every now and then. But it is fun and well worth the ride. Some of them even let you jump on them and shoot stuff without having to drive. Casual friendly? Oh I think so.

As always, a word of caution: Make liberal use of the ignore feature. There are some major buttholes in battlegrounds and they're horribly whiney and annoying. Ignore them and, if you can, run them over with a BIG FREAKIN TANK!

-Fri

Casual Friday: New Alt and some stuff

2009-07-17T23:40:00.006-05:00

I thought I try Casual Fridays again on, you know, Fridays. So now it's Sunday and I'm finally getting it published. HA! Best laid plans and all that. Maybe I should start writing this on Monday. Hmmmm....

Since I don't have anything important to say that wouldn't take more than two hours to finish writing (and then still not be important, of course) I thought I'd take up the Twitter habit, and some other bloggers habits (SWIPE!), of posting links to stuff I like. So just click and have fun dammit.

At the end, I wanna take a moment to introduce everyone to my new main alt, enhancement shammy Sunaris!

First, the blog posts I liked this week. Yah, the is very random and I'm probably missing a few. My apologies to the bloggers I skipped. Remember: my attention span is less than zero, so this'll be all the posts I liked until I get tired of copying and pasting links.

Flowchart Friday and In Which I Rant About Belts from I Like Bubbles. Warrior tanking AND fashion rant in the same week?!? Genius. As for the deh bewbs... to borrow a quote from Teri Hatcher when she was on Sienfeld: "Yes, they are real. And they're *magnificent!*"

7 Things I have learned about Specing from TankingTips. Great advice and he made up a word: "Specing." Make up words are the best!

Translating Blue from Tanking for Dummies. One of the best tank sites takes a pessimistic view of the Warrior Q&A posted by Blizz this week. Loved it! It's funny AND accurate. I'll be taking a more optimistic (sorta) look at it here in a bit, but Tarsus pretty much nails what a lot of other Warriors (inc m'self) were thinking when we read the Q&A.

Arms Elementary School from Pixelated Executioner continues the series looking at Level 30-39. If you're thinking of trying Arms warrior, READ PIX'S POST FIRST! This is the readme.txt for aspriing Arms Warriors. :)

Want to Buy a Tanking Dummy by Pretty in Plate. This is such a great idea I'm surprised it's not in the game. As it is, the only way to figure out how you're doing as a tank is to go out and do it. And get beat up a lot. Tanking dummies would be a nice addition.

I'm not the Kind of Hunter... from Escapist Scrawl. :D People are strange... Oh, and... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Smelling the Roses from Holy Discipline. Good advice, as well. Play as you wish. :)

This week's top pick: I Found a Newbie from Awakening in Progress. I still love newbies. :D

Now on to the Shammy Power!

Here she is.

I'm not quite into her hair yet, but I'll play with that at the Barber Shop. Apparently the Exodor doesn't have one?!? K.

I like moon shots. Dunno.

Yup, nother moon shot. I know they're spose to be Space Goats,
but the bottoms that match this top would have been WAY too furry.

The whole key to being a good Shaman is having as many glowy,
spinny, twirly, flappy and wipsy things on you as possible. So, yes
the moth is required.

RAWR!

Stop and enjoy a sunset occasionally.
(Just mind the bear that's about to bite your big, bouncy booty.)

Flower Picking Plate Wearers in 3.2 (So Far)

2009-07-05T13:32:00.009-05:00

Warriors themselves are not really getting any love in WoW 3.. We don't need it to be the most fun class to play, of course. :)

But the changes so far have been... meh to wtf?!? I won't even go there until after the patch. At this point, I'm taking a wait and see approach, even if my inclination is to rage and bitch and throw a fit. Ahem.

The more exciting changes for Warriors are coming in professions, and if you're a casual flower-picking plate wearer, things get really fun!

All subject to change of course. Some links are from the PTR version of WoWHead, so they'll break eventually. (And, let's face it, the chance of me going back and fixing 'em are pretty slim, so after 3.2 hits ya mights need to do a little searching. :P)

Alchemy

The first big news is that pots will now stack to 20. Ha! Okay, why not 100? Oh well, 20 will do. You'll be able to pack enough of those Indestructible and Speed Pots for several dungeon runs, extended questing, or long raids without having to refill.

Professionally speaking, it'll mean less runs to the bank alt to unload all those pots you've made for sellin'. And you can sell in bulk for larger at-once pricing. It won't necessarily change the per item cost, but it'll make it more convenient to rake in the golds.

On the other hand, maybe people will get so comfortable with the 20 stacks that they'll burn through them quicker. Which means they'll buy more. Selling is all psychology anyway. :)

/endwishfulthinking

The bennie ya get from Mixology is getting a boost, but no word as to what or how much yet. For Warriors, this is always huge. Any buff is a good buff. I'm hoping for more than just longer duration. A -3% or so increase to the effect would be nice. Popping a Deadly Strikes or Endless Rage and getting a bigger bonus would be wicked good for DPS warriors.

A new alchemy quest! "The recipe for transmuting a Cardinal Ruby can be learned from a quest, given by Linzy Blackbolt in Dalaran." Any time we get a new Alchemy quest is a good day. No, no daily yet. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for that one, but not getting expectations up. The quest, apparently, is just transmuting the other epic gem enchants. Meh. I hope they change that. Epic gem requires epic quest, not standing in front of the mailbox wiggling your fingers.

Not exactly sure why each profession doesn't have a daily quest or five. Hmmmmm.

Speaking of transmutes... Has transmutation become a viable specialization again? Not! We ARE getting new transmutes for epic gems. I read that the cool down is currently set to 20 hours (subject to change). Which is fine. Start grabbing those gems and eternals for the initial wave of jewel crafters wanting to cut them. Do it early cause miners are gonna be charging an arm and a leg for the raw gems after the patch hits. You'll want to farm up all your Crystallized what-have yous, as well.

Warrior alchemists will, obviously, want to set aside a bit of epic goodness for themselves. Banana Shoulders has an AWESOME guide to the new gems thus far. Be sure to check it out and plan your transmuting accordingly.

Tip: If you're going for the golds, take a good reading (using AuctionLite or r) for the next few weeks of which Rare quality gems sell best. The Epic versions of those will most likely be pretty popular.

Warriors will be mostly interested in:

Red: Bold (STR) and Precise (Expertise) Cardinal Ruby
Yellow: Rigid (Hit), Thick (Def) and Smooth (Crit) King's Amber
Blue: Solid (Stam) Majestic Zircon

There's also Orange, Green an Purple combo versions of the above, of course. I'll be transmuting up and getting cut some Smooth King's Amber because my Crit sucks so bad.

The mats you'll want to start stockpiling now are:

Gems: Scarlet Ruby, Sky Sapphire, Autumns Glow, Twilight Opal, Forest Emerald, Monarch Topaz

Eternals: Fire, Life, Shadow, Air.

At this point, no Eternal Water. And Life and Shadow are actually used in two of the new transmutes. Don't forget to check your transmute eternal-to-eternal thingie. If you have Herbalism, for example, you'll end up with piles of cheap Eternal Life, which can be transmuted into the rarer Fire and Shadow Eternals.

Flask of the North is the new Neverending Gobstopper for Alchemists. Weeee! Currently you need four Frost Lotus to make one. Expensive for non-herbalists, but you only have to make it once. It gives you a nice boost to either Spell Power, Attack Power, or Strength. No word yet on if this is a random effect or you can choose to make a specific type of flask. WoWhead lists one recipe that appears to be a random effect version, and then one each for SP, AP, or STR. I'm hoping for the latter. If so, Warriors will probably make both the AP and STR version, but again, ya only have to do one of each.

While this won't replace your main Flasks or Exlixir combo, it's a perfect buff for running dailies, PvP, questing or normal/heroic dungeons on the cheap. Save those Flasks for the big runs!

I do wish these were profession specific non-BoP items, though. I know that other Alchemists can make 'em, but they may not have Herbalism which makes getting Frost Lotus a bit expensive. So why can't I farm up the Frost Lotus and make one for them? Dunno.

Endless Healing Potion and Endless Mana Potion now gives 2700 to 4500 instead of 1680 to 2160. Can't use it in arenas any more. /fine. This is an awesome boost. This, combined with your Alchemist trinket and, if you have Herbalism, Lifeblood and add in built-in Warrior healing abilities... bah, who needs a healer any more! Ha!

Okay, I do. And I love each. and. every. one. of. you! Really. I was just kidding. Heal me. Please? :)

Finally, apparently rage potions can now be used by Druids. Didn't know they couldn't... but um, hey more business is more business. Hooray for ragey druids! :D

Herbalism

Lifeblood gets a boost. From 2000 over 5 second to 3600 over 5 seconds, currently. Yah! The patch notes also say that it scales slightly with maximum health. I imagine that'll be a small percentage that balances out the total percentage healed between toons with medium-range health and toons with high health. So... Warriors will obviously get a healthy boost from Lifeblood. (Sorry, first and final pun for this post.)

Yet More Wishful Thinking

For Alchemy, I'd still like to see a new application or two. For example, I still like the idea of salves and oils that can be applied temporarily to provide an item buff. Those are fun. Nothing huge that would be "required," of course. Or incense that can be burned to provide an AoE buff/debuff. I know Blizz got away from this sort of thing, but it always added flavor to the professions that I think is lacking now.

For Herbalism, the only thing I'd like to see is a few more nodes added, and/or maybe sorta a faster reswpan rate. Not much, mind you, but just a touch. All too often lately, with two professions using herbs now, herb prices make it impossible to justify making the finished materials.

I do Glyphs, on Neveron, and Pots and simply won't do them if the price per mat isn't right. Professionally speakin, it kinda kills the market for finished goods. Mats should certainly be profitable, but they shouldn't be more profitable than the final product!

I don't think, sometimes, Blizz is terribly interested in the WoW economy, but it is a fun aspect of the game for many. A little tweaking to make the material goods professions a little more profitable would be a Good Thing. Yes, the gatherers should make golds, too, of course. But going to the expense and time needed to level up a crafting profession should have much greater rewards. With associated difficulty and cost to get there, of course.

Anyhoo... Alchemy and Herbalism are offering a lot more for Warriors. That's always awesome. If the Crusade patch keeps going the way it is, Warriors in general are gonna be visiting the proctologist to remove the nerf bat. Sigh. So take what you can get where you can get it!

Oh, and I finally found a class I like almost as much as Warriors. Don't know why I didn't try it out a long, long time ago. Shaman! :D Yah, I made a baby Dranei Enhancement Shammy... and she's a blast! Very Warriory like, yet.... very different. Different is good sometimes. :)

-Fri

All Arms

2009-06-28T12:28:00.006-05:00

I've been Prot for... what? Five or six months now? Going back to Arms is a strange yet familiar experience. I'm not exactly sure yet where my thoughts on the current state of Arms Warriors is at. Prolly won't be for awhile. This is just some initial random impressions.

I made the switch last week. Although with dual specs and a good gear manager (I use Outfitter, FWIW), "making the switch" isn't terribly difficult in a technical sense. Thar's two areas, though, that do make it... strange. :)

First is the mental switch. The difference in how you play as an Arms Warrior and how you play as Protection Warrior is huge! Bigger than I thought six months ago. They could almost be two completely different classes. From strictly a causal perspective, going from Arms to Prot is a lot easier than the other way around.

I'm missing pieces, of course. I haven't done a lot of either in PvP, for example. For PvE, the roles are obviously different. I think a PvP Arms Warrior is (was, Pre-Wrath?) more similar to Prot in that the job is to survive and take focus while keeping your head out of your ass. Now, I'm not suggesting that Arms PvE firmly inserts thier head... but the scope of what you have to keep track of is less than that of a Prot Warrior. Arms PvE can actually focus in optimizing ability priority and the target in front of them while mainly worrying about not standing in some bad guy's excretions. A tank has to worry about that... and making sure everyone else is doing the same.

So the mental switch is one where an Arms Warrior is going to be more inward and focused on personal performance. A Prot still has to do that, to a degree, but has to me more aware of taking care of everyone else (or at least keeping track of them) at the same time. The click from Prot to Arms is a little more difficult, at least in the short term. I didn't think it would be.

I still run up to a group of mobs and TC the crap out of them when it'd be wiser to set them up for a Bladestorm first. Couple of close calls put an end to that non-sense in a hurry. :)

Oh, but for you less than uber-geared Warriors out there, like me... The rage generation from Arms is astonishing! I never could get the hang of it as Fury. Never had enough. As Prot it was always a "get it going" sort of thing you just put into your priority list. As Arms you don't really think about it. You swing, you have rage. You swing again, you have too much Rage. The hardest part is waiting for 3 second swing timer. :)

Second is gearing. Going from worshiping Def, Dodge, Bock, Parry, Expertise to Hit, Expertise, Crit, AP is a gear nightmare.

I kept a lot of the quest rewards from when I was finish off Stormpeaks and Icecrown. I also managed to have Sons of Hodir and Argent Crusade rep finished, and a Revered status with Ebon Blade, before the switch. So I didn't start scratch. But I'm still wearing a couple of Def peices and spent close to 1500g buying, gemming and enchanting.

It's not bad, mind you. It's just something you have to consider if you dual spec. Your gear needs just doubled. Buy big bags.

Consider: As prot you'll have two armor sets. Assuming a few pieces are interchangeable, you're going to end up with most of a bag full of extra gear: one for survival, one for threat. Maybe three since for survival you might have both an avoidance and a stam/armor set. You might also have a resistance set. Like I said, many pieces will be used in two or more of those sets, but it's still a lot of titan steel to lugging around.

As Arms, I don't know yet, but I can see two sets already. For one thing... I'm wearing freakin' leather!!! Yah, the best crit/hit enchanting gloves I could find so far are leather. Geez! From looking at gear lists, some of the best dps gear a mid level Arms Warrior can grab is leather and chain. Wild, eh? Luckily, most leather and chain has plenty of Stamina, but I can still see a need where I'll have to have a dps plate set, as well. And yah, I'll be spot tanking occasionally, so at the very least I'll be hauling around my lovey shield and super wicked loveittillidie nelf axe.

Oh, and don't forget the resilience set. Gah!

I haven't even gotten into the change in priorities for abilities, of course. Retraining your fingies to hit the right buttons takes a lot of practice. I didn't realize how out of practice I'd gotten. As Prot you can literally just sit in Def stance the whole time. Arms seems to sit mostly in Battle Stance. That's fine, but if you dual spec, you're switching one for the other. The only tip I can give here is make common buttons stay where they are. If TC is on a particularly button as Prot/Defensive Stance, leave it there for Arms/Battle Stance.

Common sense, but... yah, I moved it. Then moved it right back. :)

Anyhoo, Arms is just a load of fun. I started Wrath that way and gushed about how much fun Blizz had made the class/spec. And I'll gush even more. Prot is a great spec to be now, but Arms is all about being a fun killing machine.

I <3 being an Arms Warrior.

-Fri

LOLeveling, wut?!?

2009-06-22T11:46:00.005-05:00

I haven't had a lot of time to play WoW of late. Mostly dailies here and there. Playing a lot with guildies who are leveling up or leveling alts. Which is WAY fun! :D I was going to write about some f#$ktard in a Nexas PuG I joined that announced to the group "She can't tank!" But there's been more than enough bitching about idiots like that. How many "Oh I got in a bad PuG, woah is me" posts can I make? One more apparently. Besides, my witty retorte was "I can so, moron!" Drop group.

Not my proudest moment.

So I figured I might as well break down and talk about leveling.

Sigh.

I like leveling.

I know, I know. Weird right?

I like the old world quests. I like the flashy-light poof-ding of a level up. I like having that goal in front of me.

Now it's just too damn fast.

I'm perfectly aware that Blizzard has to provide some boosts. New people to the game aren't going to hang around long if they just want to get to level cap and it takes them three months or more to get there. Of course, current players that want to play at cap certainly aren't going to tolerate that.

Yah, yah. I don't care.

To me, WoW without the long leveling, and all the adventures that go with it, just looses a lot of its charm and experience. Both my new warriors (and every other alt I have), for example, have skipped entire zones! And the zones they are doing, they only get maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of the zone done before they grey out. Gah!

The problem with leveling was never really an issue of speed. K, for some people it is. But for many the root of the problem is that old world Azeroth is WAY overdue for a make over.

Blizzard seems to be catching on a bit. Faster leveling through more xp per kill/quest wasn't really the answer. That's just slapping on a bandaid without actually addressing the real problem.

The original quests are designed to a) get you out in the world and b) get you to grind a bit. It's a big world with lots of stuffs that needs killings. You run for 19 days to go to some far away place... then spend 19 more days killing everything there. In the meantime, 19 freaks with exclaimation points over their heads are sending you off to other far away places.

I like the exploration parts. I do like the send you to far away places quests. But it's probably not the best way to go about it anymore. Contrast with Northrend where all the aforementioned needy freaks are in the same themed place and actually seem to be conizant of each other. At least to the point where freak #1 gives you a quest that compliments what freak #2 is doing. You don't get the new ones based on what level you've attained, but rather what you've accomplished for said freaks.

It makes more sense. It makes questing more entertaining.

So why not redo Old Azeroth that way?

The next fix I'd put in is no more free xp just for killing random stuff. Scale it back and add more in-game methods of gaining xp faster for those that want to do that. Heirloom items are a perfect example, but I suspect some players would like more.

Why not have a turn in? Finish a quest, get a token to save up and turn in for either a bit more golds/silvers, a better piece of gear, OR xp. The quest rewards for old quests are mostly horrible. Take a page from Outland and Northrend and provide a way to get better stuffs while you level. It's more fun.

(On a side note: please please please add something like the old gear upgrade quests to Northrend. I know they were a pain. I know they were hard. But for those of us that don't raid... well, throw us a bone here. Doesn't have to be uber-stuff. Just unique and powerful enough to make it worthwhile! Something that's not a daily grind, very hard and lengthy to get and is two ilevels below the current raid with new quests to upgrade that stuff when new raids come out. Wouldn't be terribly difficult and getting cap'd casuals back into Outland and old Azeroth for some of the chains would be a blast. Oh and let us upgrade our rep gear through the same epic journey/quest process! please?)

The horse upgrade is brillant. It's what I mean when I say Blizz is finally getting it, as far their millions of casual players go. At least partially. Do you have any idea how much better and more fun Duskwood is when you can ride?!? Yes! No this does not make it "easier," per se. Well, in a way it does, but I don't count more fun and less of a drag as being "easier." Your mileage may vary. But yeah For The Pony!

Add more optional xp gains, as well. Why can't lower level crafters make xp gear? I mean there's zero market for their wares as it is, why not create one? Enchant Weapon Street Smart Brilliance: Grants 2% XP bonus, with a chance on hit to give +5% xp bonus for 1 minute, on use grants 10% xp bonus for 10 minutes with a 2 hour cooldown. I'd buy something like that at level 40. yah.

Reworking the old world would, of course, be a major undertaking. But it's one I think Blizzard/Activiaion would see HUGE dividends in more players playing more.

Make it fun and easy, guys. Make two or three changes/additions a week (or even a month) and let players hunt them down.

"What?!? There's a daily level 30-40 PvP quest in Hillsbrad now? No there's not! Wait.. yes there is! How cool is that?!?"

"No there's no goblin teleporter to the Southern Barrens from Crossroads, noob! You just have to run. What?!? Wait... WTF?!? Where'd that come from?"

A bet there's a billion fun little improvements Blizzard could make to the Old World. If done a bit at a time it would be more than doable.

The problem, as I see it, isn't leveling itself ... it's that the leveling hasn't kept up with the players. You don't need to make it easier. You just need to make it more interesting and entertaining. There's a difference.

-Fri

Rules of Rage for non-Warriors

2009-06-07T00:25:00.004-05:00

In an on going effort to bring The Light (and by "Light" I mean "Warrior Awesomesauce") to the unwashed classes, here's a quicky on Rage for the non-Warrior. Please feel free to contribute if'n I missed somethin'. (Which, let's face it, is pretty likely).

Rules of Rage (for non-Warriors)

1. Your Warrior IS Rage.

2. Everything your Warrior does requires Rage

3. Your Warrior is a sadist and likes to hit stuff to make Rage

4. Your Warrior is a masochist and likes to get hit by stuff to make Rage.

5. If your Warrior can not fill these basic needs, she gets no Rage. Sad Warrior.

6. Do anything to prevent your Warrior from fulfilling these basic needs and she gets no Rage. Angry Warrior!

Aggro
Warrior tanks need aggro so that stuff will hit them and, thus, make Rage. Lots of Rage lets her hit stuff back really, really hard. Don't ever do anything that would prevent a Warrior tank from getting hit. Some Warrior tanks are SO good at not getting hit that they will take off their pants so that they get hit more. This is "normal." Don't run away and/or ogle their butt.

Hitting

Damage Warriors do not need aggro, but they must be able to hit stuff to make rage. If you do something that prevents them from hitting stuff, they make no Rage and can not hit stuffs. Damage warriors REALLY like to hit stuffs. These are the boys and girls that, when children, were told by their teachers "We can't hit other people, sweetie" and thought "Sure I can! Watch!" THWACK!

Bubbles

Warriors like Bubbles. They do not deprive your Warrior of her Rage-fix. Bubble, preisty! Bubble!

Threat

Do not pull threat from your Warrior Tank, by accident, design, or stupidity. If you pull threat from your Warrior they will get less Rage. Less Rage means they will have less to pull threat back. Less threat for your Warrior means you will probably die. Your Warrior will then get threat back, makes lots and lots of Rage, and be very happy you are dead. Happy Warrior!

AoE

Only when your Warrior Tank asks for it. Which will be after they have lots and lots of threat and are punch drunk on Rage overload. AoE too early and you will take threat away. Taking threat away will make the Warrior have no Rage. Bad!

CC

Do not CC the Warrior's target. She will either break the CC and scoff at you, or will not be able to hit the target and, of course, get no Rage. She will, in either case, be very put out.

Pulls
Do not pull for your the Warrior unless asked. Your Warrior is wise and knows much more then you regarding the Tao of Pissing Off Bad Guys. You are an amatuer compared to your Warrior. A squeeky Padawan to her bitchy Jedi. Your Warrior is wisely plotting initial Rage and sorting out her masochistic/sadistic tendencies to generate more Rage. She'll pull when she's good and f&%@$#ing ready.

Did I miss anything?

:)

-Fri

A Warrior's Journy: Our Little Green Warrior

2009-05-31T12:47:00.009-05:00

K, I've been putting off ripping the current leveling experience in WoW for a couple weeks now. I'm gonna, don't worry, but first a little Little Warrior updating. Today we're doing Roxigar of Greymane.

Rox is doing awesome. At 18 he 3-person'd through Ragefire Chasm with an Undead Mage (15) and a Blood Elf Hunter (15). Along the way he picked up a nice pair of wrists that'll last a few levels. I'll get into it later, but he didn't go to RFC earlier because there a) wasn't enough time, and b) not a lot of reason to do it, as far as leveling goes. Both of which equate to a severe lack of people actually wanting to do it at level. Gah!

He also DPS'd through Wailing Caverns with a full party. Was gonna have him go as tank, but a Level 22 Prot Warrior show'd up and we let him take the lead. It was kinda fun to do melee DPS again, even at low level. Rage generation sucks though if you don't start spec'ing into it early. Seriously, the only way to get a decent amount of rage below 20, as a Prot Warrior, is to pull multiple mobs at once. Which is fine, it just feels off, prolly cause I always leveled Warriors as Arms or Fury.

Anyhoo, he got a new turtle shield out of WC, which was really neat, though the other one might be better for Prot. Take either. You gotta hunt the big turtle down, but it's worth it. The mail belt dropped, too. I though the other Warrior was gonna take it, so I passed. He thought I was gonna take it, so he passed. It ended up going to a Warlock for vendor junk. Ouch. Communication people! Comm-un-i-ca-tion.

Both instances are not ones I've done much before. Been run through RFC ages and ages ago. And of course, Friday(1) went through WC at level and solo'd it several times way back when. With the drops in there, and skinning and herbs, it's a great place to farm up some golds. Like VC, though, there's a whole lore behind them with nice lead in quest chains that set up the feel for future quests and lore. They are well worth taking the time to do properly. Don't pay for the run through. Enjoy the experience. Rox has one or two more forays into WC and is ready to head to Shadowfang and, hopefully, make the swim to Deadmines for some Cleefy fun. :)

Rox is also making friends fast. This is where a lot of the game has lost itself. Rant/QQ in a future post as well. But for a new leveling Warrior, my advice would be to hook up with as many people as you can, friend the good ones, and STAY IN TOUCH! One guy and I chatted about the WoW books and various lore for an hour waiting for the group to fill. The social aspect is a big part of the game. You don't have to do it anymore. But do it anyway.

Aside: We're both fans of the alternate WoW reality book series called War of the Ancients. I know, I know. True lore fiends deplore those books, but they were so much fun! Where do you think my little orc's name comes from? :)

Anyhoo...

Things to take away from Rox's experiences this week: Before we started RFC, the mage was pretty certain we'd at least need a healer. The hunter and I were all fired up to go with just the three of us (and it was getting late), so the mage went along with us. We did fine. Don't drink and dungeon. Wha? Yah I was enjoying a small adult beverage. Sheesh! I'm allowed once the kids are tucked away and it helps me relax when tanking. K, so I had two adult beverages and got REALLY relaxed... and face pulled 5 mobs and 2 pats. Wipe. The hunter was suddenly pretty sure we couldn't do it and we needed a healer. And the mage and I are all, naw, we're fine. I owned up to being a dummy, and we proceeded.

Good and bad and great players start to emerge at early levels. As a new Warrior you can watch this develop. If you're completely new, you can watch and learn. Both of these guys were obviously veteran WoW players. The mage may or may not have played a mage before, but he understood how a mage works, what a mage does, and had studied his abilities in that light. He also knew how a tank works and acted accordingly when he saw that I was, at the very least, a competent tank (even while under the influence... ahem).

So he wants to sheep pull a warlock, minion and two melee adds. No problem. He sees that when I grab aggro, I immediately back up and pull the melee out of Thunderclap range of the sheeped Warlock. It may seem obvious to a modern Warrior tank, but many new players aren't going to pick that trick up the first few times. I certainly didn't. I could tell that the mage was going to be a really good, even great mage.

The hunter, on the other hand, was obvious a very skilled player. He also knew the hunter class, at least well enough to use everything a hunter has at that level. But... He would run up and pull before I did. He'd pull mobs off me and pet tank them unncessarily. He'd switch targets mid-fight before the one he was on was down. No problem at all. He was skilled enough to do those things appropriately. But I'll bet he'll still be doing those things 60 levels from now, when it is never, ever appropriate. He's a good player. But unless he changes his understanding of how a group works together, he'll never be a great player.

So little warrior, learn to do it right, even if you don't have to.

At the end, the hunter got disco'd and the mage and I finished off the last boss. It was mildly tricky, but he knew what he was doing. It's just the boss and 2 adds. Nothing terribly fancy. He chain sheeped one of the adds and we burned the boss and the other add down. At that point I couldn't even see my health bar. No idea why I was still alive. But he just kept chain sheeping the add, I bandaged a tiny bit, popped Shield Block, and we finish the last add alive. Done.

Shiny new warriors, if you're doing okay and come up against something that's a little tricky, take a good long look at your abilities. There's probably something there, some sequence of abilities, that will work. If you try one thing, and fail, do it a different way. But not just randomly. Think about it. It'll work out.

Thinking things through and knowing what your abilities do is a huge part of playing your class later. For example, I tend to get into the habit of just taking damage and relying on my priority list when tanking in Wrath. Doing these lower level Warriors, with limited abilities, has gotten me using Shield Bash again! Okay, I use it on big Friday when it's absolutely necessary, of course. But if I didn't have to, I just didn't. Bad, Friday!

Get in the habit of using the right ability and the right time, even if it's not strictly necessary. That interrupt will save your booty many, many times. And being a Warrior is all about saving the booty.

-Fri

Casual Friday: Screenshot Cleaning

2009-05-29T22:52:00.007-05:00

This guy tried for over 2 hours. Looks like he made it. Course by the time he'd satisfied the peen he'd have been done. There's nothing wrong with having an epeen. Just don't let it slow you down.:D

Fashion Week: My new fishing outfit. I thieved this idea from a nelf in Dal.

Fashion Week #2: My new around town outfit. The top is from the walrus people.

Fashion Week#3: Coordinating weaponry is required. These helped me get the Knuckle Sandwich achievement this week. :D

For the Horde! I mean... we're going for the Horde!

Aw, a note from Wrynn. Sweet!

See?!? Told ya everyone wants to hug my baby Orc!

Dark Clan GM Voldar and his pew pew, pew pew, pew pew, pew pew lasers. Guy is a one man Star Wars.

My new toy. And YES is DOES come with batteries!

OMG My interface sucks!

Not bad for questing, but still...

I'm taking out X-Perl right now! Any suggestions? I hear Bulldog is nice.

-Fri

A Warrior's Journey: Meet the Warriors

2009-05-24T13:06:00.010-05:00

Two! Plural! Yes!

A long time ago, when I was PvP nuts, I rerolled Friday on a PvP server. At the time I was leveling other alts, as well, got burned out on the Alliance quests, and never got her past Level 10. So Friday2 just kinda sat there for, oh, a year and half, until now.

Leveling up Roxigar, my shiny new Orc Warrior, got me thinking about leveling Ally side, as well. Leveling two toons, one from each faction, and one each on a different type of server, seemed to fit this lil' "experience experiment" better. So now we're following two warriors' journeys.

Yah, I really did intend to talk about the leveling experience so far as well, and I will a bit. But first, lets meet our Warriors. :)

Roxigar

My baby Orc is growing up so fast! He's currently sitting at Level 17. This is, like, one of two male toons I've ever made. Hmmm... maybe third. I gotta lot of toons. Anyhow, I thought to add a little more mix to the experience experiment, I'll level one toon male, one toon female. So far no difference really. Fri gets invited to groups randomly a bit more than Rox does. Which doesn't make a lot of sense because... Rox Rocks!

He's big and green and strong and has a cute spiky mo-hawk all the Orc girls really go for. I bet blonde human mages would dig him, too. I don't see him really as a ladies man, though. I wonder why. :P He seems to be all about the adventuring. No ties. No guild. Going it alone for glory and honor... and gold.

He makes gold like crazy. Part of it, I'm sure, is the skinning and mining opportunities in the starter areas and the Barrens. I don't plan to spend a lot of golds on silly stuff for these toons. Mounts first. But I will be upgrading thier gears at least every two or three levels. Regardless, Rox isn't going to have any problem hitting the 100g mark by 30.

He's got skinning and mining for money. He's doing well financially, so far. He's outfitted mostly in greens and can easily quest 2 or 3 levels above. He's quickly by-passing the last half of the Barrens quests. Right now deciding if we should a) continue with the Barrens, b) head to straight to Stonetalen (which I've always wanted to play), or c) head for Silverpine/Hillsbrad (ditto).

Side note: Rox got into his first duel last night... and we got pwn'd hard by a Belf Pally. It was insane! I just kinda freaked out and couldn't even remember how to interrupt! Embarrassing. I'd better get my PvP shit together or Fri is gonna have a hard time of it eventually. He still hasn't done RFC or WC. Maybe tonight I can knock those out.

Orcs are obviously good tanks and warriors in general. When applied personally, the theory about knowing the quests making life easier works out. Rox does well, but he dies a LOT more than Fri does. I could do Westfall and Redridge with my eyes closed. Rox and I are in unexplored territory as we finish the Barrens and head into Stonetalon. It's very exciting. I can't recommend enough switching factions for a "new" experience if you haven't before. So far, Rox wins for getting closest to that "new to WoW" feeling.

Fridaymacfay

Ah, a comfort zone. That's what worried me about leveling the same toon through the same stuffs that the original went through. So Friday2 ends up on a PvP server. The quests and zones are comfortable and familiar. But there's always that added element of danger.

Of course, I just started in on Redridge (prolly skip most of it... sigh...), so I haven't been ganked or anything like that. My only run in with the Horde so far was outside of VC and, of course, none of us are flagged in Westfall. I'll know soon enough if being flagged all the time is a pain-in-the-ass or if it's actually is fun.

I suspect a little of both. In Redridge and Duskwood I imagine it'll just be a pain in the ass. Not a lot of level 16-25 something Horde running around in those areas. Which means any horde there will most likely just be higher levels epeen ganking low levels. That's pretty cowardly, but the nature of this kinda Realm, I s'pose (And yah, I'm perfectly aware that Alliance players do the same... that 80 Rogue at Crossroads killing the FP and Inn Keeper over and over was a grade-a bunghole). It'll be more interesting when she gets to more of the mixed areas. Hillsbrad or Stranglethorn? Hmmm...

Leveling Friday is easy-sauce. Just keep the gear updated and we fly through stuff. I really wanted to get all the VC quests (which is a blast at level), so I just stayed in Westfall. And suddenly she was Level 17 and hadn't even made the run to Redridge! Got that taken care of, but still haven't done VC. As embarrassing as it sounds, she also hasn't taken the tram yet. Gonna have to take her exploring soon or she'll be one of those toons with no flight points and always whining for a summons. I don't think so!

Money-wise, Friday isn't doing nearly as well as her green-skinned counterpart. Did you know Orcs weren't always green?!? Hmmm... anyhoo...

I think this has mostly to do with the fact that she runs straight to a quest, smashes it, then runs straight to the next one, without taking any time to stop and enjoy the scenery... or mine nodes, or kill a random animal for skins. Rox bumbles around trying to find stuff and, in the process, runs into Raptors and various other skin'able beasts that he has to fight to get where he's going. He stumbles onto mining nodes all the time. Friday knows the paths to where she's going already and how to avoid unnecessary fights. So unless it's in that path, she misses a lot of money opportunities.

On the other hand, she levels way faster. I had to stop playing her for a couple of days so Rox could catch up a bit. I'll take her out exploring and mining and skinning for a couple more days. That'll give Rox time to get a smidgen ahead level-wise, and get Fri some decent gear and a good bankroll.

It's interesting, but when you're leveling a new toon, the impulse is to just level as fast as you can. Use to be this was a good thing. You leveled slowly, so always pushing ahead made sense. Now you level so fast, you miss half of what's there! If you have a guild and some higher level alts available, that makes sense, particularly if you're just trying to get to the higher level stuff for some reason. But when you're out there on your own in the big, wide realm, ya gotta slow down and take care of business.

If you're just starting out on your Warriory path, do stop your questing long enough to level up your secondary professions. First Aid is a must for a Warrior. While doing pre-quests for WC on Rox the other night, he got stuck in combat. Ergo, he couldn't eat. Without First-Aid he'd have been stuck near the entrance portal with a looooong way to go back and very little healing.

Fishing and Cooking are almost necessary, as well. Cooking particularly. Don't waste a lot of money on enchants and such in vanilla WoW. By the time you need the enchant, you'll be replacing the gear anyhow. Cooking, however, can provide that nice buff ya need from time-to-time and it's free! Fishing is also handy because it's an easy way to get mats for leveling Cooking. See El's Extreme Anglin' guides for some great ideas on how to level both at the same time almost effortlessly.

Of course, you could always figure it out for yourself, and that's kinda fun too. :)

Next: Yet more rambling on leveling and why it's borked. Bad. Fix, Blizz ,Fix!

-Fri

For the Alliance!

2009-05-22T17:09:00.004-05:00

I've done the Horde bosses a couple of times. Well, all but the Tauren one. Never successfully, mind you, but they were just for fun "nothing else to do" kinda raids.

Well...

There's a group of Alliance on Fenris who have made something of an art form of raiding the Horde cities. This Saturday (it's no secret) they'll be leading huge 400+ raids into all four Horde capitals at once. Not sure why, except that they can. Which I can respect that. :)

I won't get to go on that one 'cause of work, but I did get to hook up with one of the raid leaders and his crew last night for a For the Alliance raid. I'd been hearing good things about Hardwarlock, his gang, and their success in leading various raids. So successful that my Horde friends on Fenris admitted that, when they know they're coming, they don't even bother putting up a fight anymore. I can see why.

All one shots. All Horde bosses in... a tiny bit over 54 minutes. :D

And no this wasn't at 3AM or anything ultra-shitty like that. This was at about 10pm realm time (Eastern US). Realm was at medium population at the time.

What was amazing was how well organized it was. With thier reputation, the raid filled in about 15 minutes. 10 minutes after that everyone was summoned, ported, mounted and at the gates of Theramore. The rest stops for each city were planned out and well palced. The raid leaders had every detail planned out from the starting place to the escape plan. Every tank knew specifically what to do and where to go. Every healer had their assignments. They used vent to give quick and concise strategy for the next city while in route. The raid assitants knew thier jobs. Everyone was calm, cool, and even funny. If something went wrong, they had a plan or a response for that as well.

Everyone did what they were told to do! Huge plus.

We just blew through it.

I was backup tank on Thrall (not needed). We did a four tank taunt-fest on Bloodhoof. The MT got dismounted going into Sylvanas, so I got to start that fight. And I got to MT on that Silvermoon guy. (Does anyone really ever remember his name?!?)

There was an explosion in the Black Bear population of Dalran shortly after. Go figure. :)

Very fun raid when done right. It's very fun when done wrong, as well, don't get me wrong. In fact, it's way more exciting when you're suddenly alone and being hunted through the streets of a Horde capitol with the entire city population pissed off and looking to tar and feather you (or worse). But when it goes exceptionally well... and there's bear in your mail box when you finish... well, that's pretty good, too. :D

-Fri

PS And yah we went so fast I couldn't even get a good screen shot. But I'm going again, soon!

A Warrior's Journey: Leaving the Nest

2009-05-17T14:48:00.001-05:00

I've leveled plenty of alts, mostly on the Alliance side. I've tried to level Horde alts. Shamans, warlocks, hunters, mages, even a rogue. I tried Trolls (funny), Undead (sick, but in a good way sometimes), Taurens (way too cute and fuzzy), and Belfs (no thanks, okay, bye bye).

I finally broke down and started up what I know best and what I like about the Horde. I made an Orc Warrior. :)

I love these guys.

Wha? Another warrior? Yah. I likes them. Why an Orc? I likes them, too. They're all green and growly and stuff and it's funny when they say "Lok'tar!" (No idea what that meant until now, but it's still fun to say.)

So I decided it'd be fun to write about the new Warrior leveling experience. Not technically. I'm no good at hardcore guides, how-tos, or anything like that. This is just the impressions that I get.

First thing I did was decide, after many, many moons, to start over completely. I've never really left Fenris. I've got a few toons on other servers, but they were all from when home was down. You know those annoying people that flood your home realm's starter area, take over /trade and dance nekkid on the mailbox when yours is the only realm up? That would be me. Sorry about that.

So, I switched realms and made a brand spankin' new level 1 Orc. This is about as close to the noob experience as you can get. Change factions, realms and roll.

The game is very different, at least for me, with absolutely no social circle, no guild to call on, no high level characters to get mail from, no resources. Just a mostly nekkid orc standing around in the desert. Kind of a deserted island feeling. Freaky.

I can't whisper a friend and say, "Hey it's Fri on an alt! Come kill this bad guy! PLEEEEEZ"

There's no "Hiya GM-type! It's Fri. Can you guild invite me. I needs golds!"

There's no way I'm leveling a crafting profession. I need money! I stayed in the starter area for awhile signing guildbank charters and made 5g. Whew. At least my Axe doesn't completely suck any more. Vanity is a huge motivator to sell your signature to any Belf that walk by. I'm not ashamed of that. You'd do it, too for an Axe with 7.8 dps. Ha!

Quest rewards in vanilla are terrible. Yes, that chest piece with twice the armor but with spirit on it IS better for your little warrior. Sad, but true. I'm still gonna save all my golds as best I can so I can get a mount at 30. Walking sucks. And yes, it's worse on the Horde side. Yes. Truth. Imagine runs as long as the Duskwood road for every.single.quest. And the gathering quests? Way worse than Westfall. Seriously. There are MILLIONS of beakless plainstriders in the Barrens. Millions of them.

Remember when managing rage was an important part of the game? I can't spam HS??? What's wrong with this damn game?!? Oh. I have to wait. I hate waiting. What level do I get Shield Slam? UHG!

Seeing the Barrens without having to ride like hell and check over your shoulder constantly is actually a treat. At sundown it's a quite fetching. Very African savanah looking. Wait...

That level 13 raptor did NOT just pwn me? No way. Arg! That's it, I'm buying armor, anyway. Hell with the mount. Three bone runs in a row is more than this little Orc can take. And I'm coming back for you Raptor-boy. Oh yes.

I keep giving Barrens guards a wide berth. Habits dying hard and all that.

Oh, crap. I forgot to train and buy a ranged weapon. Ogrimar is a looooong way away.

Run little Orc run!

So far so good... at least with skinning and mining I'm making enough money to keep my skills leveled. First time doing this I had to go grind gnolls constantly for coppers. Experience helps a little even when you're out on your own. Still... a guildie or two would be nice. Hmmmm...

I probably missed all the fun. So far, not a single person has spoken in the infamous Barrens Chat.

Next, how the leveling goes for a new Warrior.

Fri

Aggro for the non-Warrior

2009-05-10T21:14:00.008-05:00

So, I'm playing tourist in a Hyjal raid last night and we end up with, like, five freakin' tanks. Which might be fine at 70, but all of them were above that and three of us were 80. The MT was a really good, Naxx geared Pally. This was definitely a "Gee, haven't seen this, let's go on a tour" kinda run with several 70-suches hoping for a lil' gear boost in tow.

Biggest problem?

DKs pulling aggro. We also had a Mage that was WAY more geared than anyone else there and she was rocking the place. The difference was, she was trying REALLY hard not to pull aggro off the MT. The DKs were nuts. They died a lot.

I got to tank the second boss, and plenty of the trash, and I was working overtime to keep threat up. I don't raid, so maybe that's how it always is. Great practice, though, and lots of fun!

Regardless, it got me thinkin'. A disturbingly large number of players don't understand HOW a tank holds aggro. They may understand the basic principles of threat and aggro, but they don't get (or don't care to get) how it's done.

There's an important distinction in that line of thinking. It's the tank's job to generate threat. It's EVERYONE'S job to MANAGE threat. The tank can't manage your threat for you. We don't have those tools.

How does a Warrior tank generate threat? Here's an easy cheat sheet:

Attack Power

The stronger the tank, the more Attack Power (AP) they have. The more Attack Power they have the more threat they generate. Strong tank = lotsa threats. There's lots more to it than just Strength and AP, but it's a good start. Many Warrior abilities are based on AP.
Thing to Remember: If the Warrior's gear is several levels lower than yours, her AP is gonna be lower and she'll generate less threat than a tank at your gear level. Adjust accordingly.*

Shockwave

I've written about Shockwave before. It's the one where the tank stomps the ground and a big cone-shaped dust cloud shoots out in front of her.

Things to Remember: If the mob is outside the Shockwave cone, the Warrior gets no threat. Don't hit the mob outside the cone. This has a long cool down, 20 seconds unmodified.

Thunder Clap

This is the one where the tank stomps the group and lightning shoots out all around her in a circle. It generates threat and damage, which equals more threat. Many Warrior tanks have Improved Thunder Clap. Yah, Warrior tanks do a lot of stomping.

Things to Remember: If the big meanie is outside the circle, no threat. The base cool down is six seconds. If you out threat the Warrior, she can't use this again until it cools down. Be mindful of the timing.

Damage Shield

This one is based on Block Value. Check the Warrior's shield. The more block value they have, the better this works. It is a VERY GOOD, constant threat generator in melee. (Note that block value is not Block Rating. Different animals.)

This is one very few people actually get.

Things to Remember: The mob must be actually hitting the tank in melee for this to work. It doesn't work on caster mobs unless they hit the Warrior with their funny little sticks. More important, if the mob is hitting you, Damage Shield isn't generating any threat. Um, yah that would be a Bad Thing.

Timing
Warriors are subject to the GCD just like you. Unlike you, Warriors have few instant attacks.

Things to Remember: The best way to control threat is timing. Let the Warrior build up threat for as long as you can stand it. I grew up as DPS, so understand the ants-in-the-pants feeling. Zen a bit and let her do her job.

Position

Warriors' main threat generators are melee based and include Shield Slam (GCD, but can be proc'd), Revenge (proc), Heroic Strike (swing timer, check the weapon speed), and Concussion Blow (30 second cooldown and AP based). Thunderclap, Heroic Throw and Shockwave add a bit of range, but not much.

To Remember: If it's not in range, the Warrior isn't getting its attention. No touchy. Specially with anything AoE. Watch the AoE. Seriously. No, really.

Some final things to remember:

- If it's hitting you, stop hitting it. Just stop generating threat. Yes, your Warrior has panic buttons to equalize threat, but even then you've gotta give 'em a second or two to build it up before you start blasting away again.

- Never run away from your Warrior tank. Yes, your Warrior can run you down very quickly. But those chase 'em down abilities are on cool downs and it's better not to have to use them. Always move with the tank.

- If you cast, stay out of melee range. You generate way more threat in melee range than you do outside of melee range. I know, everyone wants to get close to the lovable, huggable Warrior. Understandable. But in a fight, give her some space.

- Warriors (all tanks, actually) prioritize. We prioritize threats, problems and abilities. Learn how your Warrior does this, talk to her about it, and listen when she points it out. Your Warrior is the best source of information. She's very smart and knows all about doing Warriory** things. :)

Remember these things and you'll find that, like magic, your adventures with Warrior tanks suddenly work flawlessly. Just like you nuke bad things in your own sweet way, just like you pew pew your lasers in your own joyous fashion, Warriors generate threat and hold aggro in their own unique way.

Get to know your Warrior a little better. It won't hurt.... much. :)

-Fri

* I'm not even getting into a fight about degrading oneself so horribly as to run with a lesser tank who's gear doesn't match or out do your own. I'm talking about reality here, not a little epeen fantasy world. :P

** YES! Warriory is a word. It is.

Shake Your Tank Booty

2009-05-07T14:05:00.008-05:00

Today's post is brought to you by Mr. Harry Belafonte, who has been shaking booties around the world for over 40 years. Jump in the line!

"She's a Hurricane in all Kinds of Weather"

There's all kinds of Warrior tanks in World of Warcraft, but there two types that people either love or want to rip their hair out: The stand and fight type, and the run in circles type. In my experience, Warrior tanks and Bears tend to be the stand and fight types. I've seen Warrior tanks that run around like the proverbial chickens with their heads cut off, though. Weirdos.

But...

Regardless of what kind of tank ya are, you have to be able to move. Many Warrior tanks might tend to like their mobs all lined up in nice neat little semi-circles for killin', but it usually doesn't work that way. Ya gotta move it.

So follow along with Mr Bellafonte in the background while we talk about how to shake your booty, Warrior style. :D

"You Jump in the Saddle Hold on to the Bridle!"

Positioning. It's one of the very first things and tank needs to learn. Positioning makes your job way easier, and sets consistency for the DPS who will be taking the bad guys down. It also protects the ranged casters and, of course, your favorite person in the whole world at that moment: Your Healer.

It starts with the initial pull. Whether you pull from range, have a misdirect, LoS pull, charge, or just go with the old fashioned face pull, you gotta get the mobs where they need to be for proper disposal.

A quick run down of our "jump in the saddle" options and how they affect a tank's moves. We'll save fine points of pulling for a later post.

Ranged Pull - You use your ranged weapon, or Heroic Throw, to hit a mob and hope the whole pack follows along. You stand where you are and let them come to you. As long as everyone in your party stands perfectly still and doesn't so much as hiccup, the mobs will line up on you and you can start beating on them.

Misdirect - You get where you want the mobs to be, but another player (a Hunter) pulls the mobs, then Misdirects them to you. Then you grab 'em. A more advanced option, granted, but useful on occasion, particularly when you need to be in a certain spot before the pull and getting there could be problematic with a mob train on you.

LoS (Line of Sight) Pull - You taunt or shoot a mob, then run like crazy around a corner. The mobs follow you around the corner and into your awaiting blood thirsty party members who dispatch the mobs in a disorderly fashion. It's a real shame mobs can't emote surprise. I call this the Tom & Jerry pull. :) Of course, the main reason for this is to deny LoS to ranged mobs forcing them to come to you.

Charge - You select a mob and charge it. Mobs will generally gather around you nicely. The benefit is you start with additional Rage and can organize things and establish aggro quickly.

Face Pull - You run up to a mob and smack him with something large and heavy. All other mobs jump on you. Usually chaos ensues. This is usually done by accident when a tank breaks a mob's aggro circle. Oops. You cover the mistake by announcing, quickly, /rw Face Pull! and insisting you "meant to do that."

Plenty of pluses and minuses to each pull type. What's important to understand, as far as how you move around the fight, is where the mobs will start out on each fight. The pull you use will set up the initial positioning. This takes a little practice.

A good pull will alleviate a lot of the necessity of running around the fight on trash pulls. On a boss pull, it puts the boss in the correct position for DPS to get in behind it easily, keeps the boss pointed away from the healer, and puts you in a position to grab adds quickly.

"Rock Your Body, Child!"

First step, after the pull, is to move the mobs properly. This should be like a well timed conga line. Two skills you need right off the bat: running sideways and back stepping.

The default for sideways running (sometimes called strafing, I believe /shrug) is to use the Q and E keys. You can set those to whatever is most comfortable. But do it. And practice it. You need to be able to do your primary threat moves and run sideways at the same time.

Why? Good question. Running sideways allows you to turn with your mouse, keeping the target in front of you. Turning your back on elite mobs or a boss is a Very Bad Thing. There are certainly times when you're going to have to do it, of course. But when you can, side run and circle around, keeping your side or front toward the mob(s).

Back stepping is as simple as pressing the S key (default). You need to do this to draw the mobs into formation, back up a step to use Shockwave, and to nudge the mobs a little bit further away from those pats that are coming up on you. You'll also use both these skills to make sure you're in LoS of your healer, of course. No LoS = No Heals. No Heals = Dead Tank. Sad. /cry

Combine the two techniques with mouse turning to face and position as you please. You do mouse turn, right? Well, if not, that makes three things ya need to learn to do.

"When She Wind Up She Bottom She Go Like a Rocket!"

I always prefer, if possible, to run through the mobs or boss and have them turn with me. Then I don't have to worry about where the DPS is, since they'll be facing the butt-side anyhow. In most cases, it also takes the healer out of any direct attack. The second benefit is that, god forbid, any pats come upon us, they'll either aggro on me, or they'll have to run past me, making it easy to grab 'em as they go by.

Charge and Warbringer are your friends for moving. Warrior tanks are the most mobile of tanks because of these abilities and the ability called Intervene. A Warrior tank can literally zoom around a fight and be right where they're needed. Don't forget to use all of your cc breaks, as well. Knowing how and when to use those can, literally, save the day.

The game really likes to throw things at tanks. Throw backs, stuns, aggro resets, caster spawns, multiple adds from all directions. It's nice when you can stand and fight in a hallway, but the most important fights almost always take place in a nice big open room with evil critters spread out in odd positions. You'll use Warbringer to get to another part of the fight quickly. And then reposition.

Intervene is for getting to someone in trouble quickly. Punch it, go like a rocket, taunt and reposition. All those mobs you were holding are gonna follow you, albeit a bit slower than you were going.

Wait! Friday, ya said "reposition" twice now!?! Yah. After you move your body around, ya gotta get everything back in order. That's where our first two skills, side running and back stepping, come in handy yet again. If you Intervene a mob on your healer, ya gotta pull said mobs away from the healer. The healer can't be casting inside melee range (generates way more threat). Now, one would hope they would move back out of range. Hope in one hand, and pee in the other. See which gets full faster.

In most cases, the healer simply can't (or won't) move. If they run, they'll aggro more mobs, move out of range, or break LoS to you and the rest of the group. All very Bad Things. You're gonna have to haul the mobs with you.

Just drag the mobs out of range so your healer can start doing his job again. Side run toward the previous group, then back step them into position along with their naughty friend. Once you're organized, everyone can get back to work.

"She Go Up in the Air Come Down In Slow Motion"

In the middle of a fight, when something goes wrong, it goes really wrong. Being able to move properly is the single most important skill a tank can have. Ya gotta go where you're needed, not where you want to be. There's even times where you won't be able to stand still at all! The horror!

You might have to run around in circles, rapidly Thunderclap'n away to snap aggro on multiple spawns. Can anyone say Halls of Stone. Gah! Other times, you MUST move or die. Jump on the Line for the Loken fight, for example, and walk him. Or running behind a pillar for Ingvar's Dark Smash. If you can't mouse turn and walk backwards and fight at the same time, you're toast.

There's plenty of times where you're tossed in the air and it seems like it takes forever to come down. Most of the time you'll just plant against a wall. Good positioning. But there's plenty of fights where that's just not gonna happen. Charge back in! Reposition.

Things to keep in mind while positioning/repositioning:

- If you can put your back to a wall, do. This prevents knock back attacks and keeps you in the action. In addition, if there's shite on the floor you can just side run along the wall to get out of it. (Don't gospel this, btw. If it makes more sense to fight in the open, then fight in the open!)

- Try to turn the mobs so that the butt-side faces your healer. This makes it easier for your DPS to get into position. It keeps any forward shootin' nasty crap from hitting your healer. It makes it easy to tell when someone else pulls aggro. If you see ass*, there's a problem.

- Macro intervene with a target and taunt/shield slam. When someone other than the tank has aggro, they should stop hitting the mob so that they don't override the tank's taunt. And if that's ever occurred while you're tanking, then congratulations, you're the first. When DPS or a healer starts getting hit, they tend to panic and start doing all kinds of crazy threat generating things. So be ready when you equalize threat to pile it on, fight and reposition at the same time. Macros is helpers.

- Use Warbringer. Constantly. All the times. Burn it till it hurts.

- Little steps backwards or to the side can dramatically change how the mobs line up. A step backward can spread 'em out, for example, so that they are easier to target. A little side step or two can pull the boss over enough to keep the healer from taking a shot in the melon. Little things matter.

- Don't be afraid to move. Walk right through other mobs and players to get to the one that's the problem. They'll follow you. No worries.

- Turn your graphics down. I know it ain't as purdy, and it bugs me too, but when you've got huge piles of FX going off, it's hard to see where everything is. To position properly you must be able to see. Turn it down and save pretty for those long, slow flights over the Fjord.

- Communicate. Tell your group how you pull. If you change, due to circumstances, tell them what you're doing. Macro "/rw Tank Repositioning!" and blast it when you need to rearrange the furniture.

* I fully understand and sympathize with the fact that, on some mobs, it's hard to tell the difference. Being a tank isn't easy.

Being able to move is one of a Warrior tank's best weapons. Learn it. Shake your tank booty and dance with the biggest, baddest bosses. Being skilled at moving and positioning properly takes practice, but it's a skill that will get you farther and be ginormously appreciated by everyone you group with.

'mon tanks! I believe you! Jump on the line! Rock your body in time! :D

-Fri

Alchemy Revelation

2009-05-03T21:50:00.003-05:00

I don't really write a lot about Alchemy and Herbalism, though I prolly should. It's pretty simple:

Pick the flower.

Make the pot.

Drink the pot.

Done.

Prolly why I like it. It's pretty simple and has some great bennies.

Course, like any profession in WoW it's got some complexities. Tracking which herb makes what, what you can make with what you got, and so on can get a little overwhelming. I'll take anything that simplifies.

My ideal add on Alchemy add-on would:

* Keep track of all Alchemy related mats across all toons.
* Show me a list of what I can make with on hands.
* Show me a list of what I can't make with on hands.
* Show me the best place to farm what I don't have (interface with Carbonite)
* Show me a list of recipes I have.
* Show me a full list of what I don't have (and where to get 'em).
* Calculate the going price of a mat versus finished product using Auction Lite pricing on mouse over.

Is that asking so much? Yah, I basically want an alchemist apprentice companion who does everything for me. And a personal cook. And a guy to go fishing for me. And why can't my Squire actually carry some of my crap?!? Great, you can carry my Champion flags around. Woopee. I carried several thousand pounds of horse and bird around in my backpack for years, you little whimp!

Anyhoo...

While browsing curse.com I found this one that at least helps a bit. It's called Revelation. When you use a key combo-mouse click, it pulls up a list of what you can make with a particular herb based on what you have on-hand in your bags. Is that snazzy or what?!?

So in the pic, you can see I can make the four pots I use regularly with two herbs and one vial. I use Crazy Alchemist's Potion, Elixir of Deadly Strikes, Elixir of Expertise, and Elixir of Mighty Fortitude. (I pre-mix Flask of Stoneblood for dungeon runnin'.) Without having to opening the trade window, I just select the one I want, click how many I want, mix, drink, done!

I can also drag my herb bag from the bank into a bag slot, do the key-mouse click thingie, and get an easy list of what I can make with on-hands before a run. Combine with Auction Lite and ya get a quick price comparison of mat stacks versus finished pot. Little maths involved, but not too terrible and way easier than doing the comparison by hand while scanning the AH.

Apparently works for other professions, as well... but who cares. :D

Gotta recommend this one for all hippy flower pickers out there. It's easy, small and an awesome interface addition.

-Fri

Nothin' Exciting

2009-05-03T14:53:00.006-05:00

Just some catchin' up on screen shots. Lots of drafts I'm workin' on but nothing ready yet...

New gold making opportunity.

This guy is just the BEST listener in the world!

Crazy lady? Lich King? That's not good.
(Fun fight, though. Specially when the healer gets the
sacrifice EVERY SINGLE TIME! LOL!)

Quick fun run with the big bugs.

Make that dead big bugs.

Lil' bit o' Fury fun before going back to Arms.
Want one of those!

Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt your "Private Time."

HoL and UP are two of my favorite dungeons.

Always a pleasure. Now, die scumbag.

Back to Arms! Yeah! Needs gears! Oh noes.

LOL! Funny glitch. Ram surfin', Vi!

Hail to the Queen! On your knees, Lich Bitch!

(World of) Warcraft: Snarks vs Trolls

2009-04-26T19:06:00.012-05:00

Awhile back I publicly berated Daniel Whitcomb of WoW Insider for being a troll. More specifically one of his posts about PvP in the Wrath beta, and the associated video, was an unnecessary troll. He tends to lean toward the controversial style of posting. At the very least, he seems to like putting up posts that make people think, or failing that, pushes their buttons and gets them riled up. Usually, that's awesome because it gets people more involved in the game. Occasionally, it's a pain in the ass.

But like a lot of things, there's two different kinds of trolls; there's your kind of troll and then there's my kind of troll. Today's he's my kind. :P

His latest post on WoW Insider is a firestorm amoung some of the uber-Wow players. It's titled "Varian Wrynn is Right" and is a response, of sorts, to Leslie Smith's post, on the same blog, titled "The State of the Horde and the Alliance." G'head and read 'em both. I'll wait. Don't hit the comments, though. I don't have all day here. Go back and read those later.

I don't usually like to get involved in this sort of stuff. What's become clearer over the last year, or so, particular in regards to Wrath, is that there is a rather vocal minority of WoW players that pretty much say everything there is out there to read. They tend to be hardcore, or at least very dedicated players. This makes sense, of course. The vast majority of players barely have time to play enough (to their liking) much less write in blogs and respond to forum posts. I find myself in that position frequently. Do I wanna play or write? Guess which one wins more often.

That leaves most of the "opinion" and perception of the state of things in WoW in the hands of a few people who, to be perfectly honest, tend to lemming through their views of certain matters. I do it. Frequently. Most of the time, it's great. It builds a sense of community and common shared experience. Sometimes it's not so great.

Yes, there's a point here. Sheesh!

K, G'head and read the comments to those posts 'cause I'm not writing here about the posts themselves so much as I'm addressing those comments. This'll take you awhile, so I'm gonna get a snack.

After reading those, and discounting the asinine QQ, you may have noticed three things about some of the comments.

Comment Type #1 - You read the comment and discover, after flipping back to the original post, that the commenter didn't actually address what was said. They simply restate the original argument to which Daniel had already stated and responded. No counter argument. These basically prove his point, intentionally or not. We can safely throw those out.

Comment Type #2 - These ones try to answer the general theme of the original post by either a) name calling, or b) pointing out something completely unrelated. In most cases both. The most common was to say Wrynn is a dull and cardboard cutout character with no originality and the Horde (and a few Alliance characters) are way better as far as back story and motivation. Yah, cause the "Noble Savage" concept is terribly original. How original is it to post the exact same thing over and over again in the same thread that's already been said exactly the same way by a couple of dozen other people!?! This is a standard and typical move in politics. It's also ignorant and cowardly (See? Name calling is EASY!).

Aside: "The Noble Savage" and the "Mistreated Warmonger Hero" are called archetypes. It's how you handle them that makes them special. Stories about a haunted house are pretty much as standard fare as you can get in horror writing, but Stephen King's The Shining still sold millions of copies and is one of the best horror novels ever written. For a video game, both the Horde/Thrall and the Alliance/Wrynn motivations in WoW are pretty good. They certainly fit and serve the game world archetypes quite well and drive certain aspects of game play in an enjoyable manner. I'm not saying it's Pulitzer material, but it's at bare minimum serviceable, and in many cases, leads to some wonderfully creative play.

Comment #3 - Our final category is the people who actually call Wrynn (a fictional character) a racist and a bigot. A couple even go out of their way to compare him to Hitler! I can't decide if these posts are funny, sad, or disturbing. The political tactic, however, is quite common. Say something outrageous enough, say it often enough, and it'll detract from the fact that you don't really have anything say at all, that your counter point is weak, and you have a mind like a steel sieve. "Cupcakes are delicious!" "Yeah, well you're a bigot cause you only eat cupcakes and not pie! Hitler ate cupcakes, too!" To these people, everyone they disagree with is a bigot, a racist, a hypocrite, or all of the above.

To these last group of people I'll only say: Please meet me in the BGs this weekend. You will, of course, come complete unarmed and naked. Yes, I'll gank you repeatedly for HKs, but at least you won't be a bigot, racist, or hypocrite.

Snarkiness aside, these three types are the most ludicrous of arguments. There are a couple of responses that are well thought out. For example, yes Wrynn may be "justified" in his motivations, but there's plenty of characters on the Horde side that are just as "justified." This, of course, is the real point here. Blizzard is pushing Azeroth, through it's main character's motivations, to war.

I'm probably too much of a Carebear to embrace that idea fully. I actually like the idea presented by several comments where players might have the option of actually joining the Argent Dawn/Crusade or Cenarian Circle as an inclusive faction. Some of my best memories of in-game moments are cooperation with the opposite faction! Probably wouldn't work in game, but it is a neat idea.

That's me personally, though. Friday?

Several commentors pointed out that the Forsaken, for instance, have a right to Lordearon because they were the original inhabitants. They just got killed and raised from the dead, broke free of the Lich King and set up in their new homes. And now their former loved ones want to destroy them and treat them as monsters!

Who can see the fallacy in that argument? :)

Yah. "Former loved ones." Put aside the stated Forsaken goal of destroying all life and making "them" like "us." (Remember, I rolled a Forsaken Warlock as my very first character *because* I wanted to play an evil character for a change. I've played those quests, and it's not some whoa is us oh we're so misunderstood motivation there. They really do want to kill you.)

Wh0 are all these "loved ones?"

They're the original inhabitants of Strom, Arathi, Alterac and Lordearon. The ones that were pushed out by Orc invasions, slaughtered and pushed out by the plagued legions of undead, watched their kingdoms, ancestral lands and height of their civilizations fall apart under political turmoil in the aftermath of war, and finally usurped by their now undead "loved ones" who want nothing more than to murder them mercilessly so that they can all enjoy being undead together.

Haven't these people ever seen a zombie movie?!? Have none of them read The Zombie Survival Guide? For cryin' out loud! When your loved ones turn into flesh-eating brain munchers, you buck up and put 'em down! That's the way it works. Sheesh!

:P

These displaced people don't have a claim that is, technically, even more valid than the Forsaken? I don't RP much, but the back story for Friday is that she is definitely one of these people. Why wouldn't she be fed up with the "peace" between the Horde and the Alliance that has, thus far, not gotten one tiny step toward resolution? Why wouldn't she follow a new, strong leader who wants to take down the groups who have piled indignity upon indignity on her people and people like her? Why wouldn't she want to jump in and take back what she and most of her kind think is rightfully theirs?

I am not my toon. I'm one of those people that doesn't project m'self into the game world with my toon as my avatar. I'm one of those people that sees my toons as companions, separate from m'self. And occasionally as dress up dolls, as well, but that's another post entirely. Friday's motivations are not necessarily mine. Friday and I would probably have a pretty good argument regarding the benefits of peace versus the morality of war with the Horde. Then she'd kick the crap out of me because, unfortunately, I am not my toon. :P

But it makes a great story motivation. And that's where Daniel Whitcomb's post excels. It points out the obvious story driving what Blizzard is doing for the Alliance. It's a story that, if you look at it from the perspective of characters, and not players, it makes perfect sense. Our characters probably have a greater awareness of what goes on in the world than the common citizen of the Horde or the Alliance. We *can* work together when necessary. But those prejudices and, most importantly, perceptions and motivation would still be there for those characters.

I think a lot of people who project themselves into the game, take the motivations of the fictional characters in the game a bit too seriously. I do, to an extent, or I wouldn't have written this WAY too long post. I also think some people bring their own real politics and beliefs into a fictional environment. That's a bit silly. But it doesn't change that fact that the characters, player and non-player, in WoW DO have certain perceptions and derive their motivations from those. Blizzard is using that with the Wrynn/Grom/Thrall/Jaina story lines to drive a story. Will it be war? Peace? Tragedy? A whole reworking of the games political dynamics?

Dunno. But I bet it'll be pretty good to play.

-Fri

Campers vs Sprinters and Bunny Love!

2009-04-26T13:19:00.005-05:00

At 12:01 this morning, the festivities began! It's Noblegarden! I was finishing off Argent Tournament dailies, so I arrived in Goldshire fashionably late.

Total Chaos!

After picking up the quests, and running through the forest like fools from previous years, Vi and I decide we'd try Azure Watch instead. If you need to jump locations for this one, bring a mage. They handy. :)

Once there, I sprinted around and grabbed eggs. Vi found a camp spot. And the fights started. Not between me and Vi, mind ya, but in General Chat.

The Campers start getting upset because Sprinters are rushing in and "ninja'ing" "their" eggs. The Sprinters start getting upset because the Campers aren't really "getting into the spirit" of an egg *hunt*. Much drama ensues. At least two of the three words that have no place in game are flying about with disturbing frequency. I don't pay attention to General much, so I was kinda shocked to see "fag/gay" and "retarded" thrown about so casually as insults. My guildies and the people I hang out in game just don't use those words like that. I mean I know they are used that way fequently... but they shouldn't. Over virtual eggs? That's just sad. Maybe I'm getting old. Ouch. I still listen to really loud Punk Rock while egg hunting. :D Maybe not too old yet.

Anyhow, when we first arrived at Azure Watch, much fun was being had. It was mostly Sprinters with a few disgruntled Campers. It started with the Sprinters using every manner of goofiness to trip each other up. Very much in fun, of course. Vi and I used Baby Spice on Campers quite a bit. :) The race for the eggs, though, was quite good natured, for the most part. Lots of, "Aw, you beat me" and "Race ya to the next one" and so on. The guy who sincerely apologized for his bunny mating mine, REPEATEDLY, was funny. Even if the rotten bunny boffer was better at grabbing eggs than I was. :)

This is definitely the most "adult" event Blizz has put on. I'm sure there will be some objections, but it's all in good grown-up fun. At one point, a Dranei Priest and I stood in front of the inn in Kronos. She bunny ear'd me and I bunny ear'd her with our Spring Flowers for the Shake Your Bunny Maker achievement. (Still gotta hunt over 18 Horde girls in Dal and a female Dorf is surprisingly hard to find at 3 AM. Huh.) Then we made flowers with our Spring Robes and alternated Lifeblood while an orgy of six bunnies cavorted and made piles of cute little baby bunnies in the flower beds. Hysterical!

The only strategy thing I can add is what we'll call Critical Camper Mass. :) Okay, in the grand argument over Campers vs Sprinters, I prolly lean to the Sprinters side. It's WAY more fun to race for the eggs than sit still staring at a bush for a couple of hours. On the other hand, I got way more eggs with the bush staring method. /shrug

When we first arrived in Azure Watch, there weren't that many people and most were Sprinters. As the night (morning, I suppose) went on, the Campers took over. By the time we decided to move on, there were no eggs for Sprinters, alas. Each spawn point had a least two or three people standing around it, clicking madly when the egg spawned. This was the same at each other location we went to. Critical Camper mass had been reached. I finally went to bed, but Vi stayed on and apparently pushed some people out of their camp spots through sheer determination and sleep deprivation.

During the day time, at least this early in the event, it's not even worth going unless you're willing to fight another Camper. That'll change, of course, so no worries. It was the same with the Invasion Points during the Scourge Invasion, for example. Lots of big, hardcore guild titles in the camp spots. As the week goes on, they'll finish their achievements and forget about it. That'll free up plenty of eggs. For now, I'm sticking with late night egg raiding. That's right. I've finally gone hardcore and am raiding all the week. Gonna pwn me some eggs. The benefits of being a grown up. I may pay for it in the morning, but I can set my own bed time. :)

I said earlier that Friday's luck has changed. It has! In one shot I got the Elegant Dress (do you know how long I've been trying to get THAT?!?), The Spring Dress, the pet and everything except the Spring Flowers (which I bought) and the Tux stuff. In about 3 hours or so. Don't think it's terribly easy, though. Vi looted close to 200 eggs and got the tux shirt. That's it. The good news is that if the RNG Goddess is cruel to you, at least you'll be getting the chocolates you'll need to buy the items. You do have to get the Elegant Dress as a drop for the Achievement, though. :/

For more strategy, hop over to Letters from Birdfall. She's got the best and most concise strats and tips I've read. Also, WoW Insider's Allison Roberts has an excellent guide to Noblegarden. They've more than covered the stuff you'll need to get The Noble title.

To me, though, Blizzard has really gone a lot further to making these holiday events loads more fun. I'll do the Achievement stuffs today, so I'll hafta letcha know how that goes. I'll take photos. Only a few vanity photos so far. :) Starting with the Fire Festival last year and followed up with a new an improved (and fun!) Brewfest, Noblegarden is loads of fun and the changes add a lot of flavor to the event.

Happy Egg Huntin' and Bunny Maker Shakin'!

-Fri

PS To the Dranei male wearing the Elegant Dress last night: Thanks a lot. I'll carry that image to my grave. Ouch. :P

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! :)

2009-04-22T01:43:00.003-05:00

All in one night!

Is this just the cutest little guy ever?!? Squire, title, t-shirt... horse, griffen, banner...
Stormwind fans rejoice!

I swear , if Blizzard doesn't make this mount and lance gettable I'll quit this stinkin' game!
The Black Knight fight is WAY too easy, but the achievement is funny.
Monty Python FTW!

Then I turned in the daily reg dungeon and DING!
I know, I know everyone has one...
but it took me a really, really long time, so shush!

So sleepy... gotta go... zonk!

-Fri

I <3 The Argent Tournament

2009-04-20T21:09:00.008-05:00

About four and half seconds before I hit Publish, this post was called "I love being mounted." Luckily, I realized that there might, just might, be a couple of freaks on the interwebs out there that might get the wrong idea. So, we get the less catchy title instead. :P

If you've followed this blog a bit, you prolly know that I'm an Argent Dawn fan. If you haven't then let me reiterate: I'm an Argent Dawn fan. I like the whole concept of the Argent Dawn. Pretty much all of it, 'cept it seems a little off that they let undead in. /shrug

Maybe it's just Alchemist Finklestein that ticks me off. Yah, I still hate that guy.

I first encountered the Argent Dawn way back when I started playing. How's that, you ask? Friday, you silly, you don't meet the Argent Dawn until you get to the Plaguelands! You can't meet them until you hit your mid-50s.

Well, when I hit level 21, I decided to go see Uther's Tomb. I started in Iron Forge and spent most of a day running and exploring. I didn't die once until I got within sight of the tomb. Thinking I'd made it that far I ran straight for it... and agrro'd about half of the Western Plaguelands.

So, after a quick bone run, I snuck in carefully when I saw a group of 60s clearing out the undead. Made it. Then in general chatter it starts...

"Why is there a 21 here?"
"lol some 21 over here!"
"Why she lost?"
"there's a 21 here looking for candles?!?"

And so on. No one spoke directly to me, of course, even when I asked for help. Just about me being there. :D Anyhoo, I had to get out. So I skirted around the mobs as best I could and when I reached the graveyard gates I ran for it. And aggro'd the other half of WPL.

So here I am running for my life down the road, passing 50-somethings and 60s with an undead choo choo right behind me. I come flying over the little rise and land right in the middle of the Chillwind Camp. (I didn't know it at the time, but those undead probably leashed long before I got to the camp. I wasn't turning around to check, though. Nope.)

I get the flight point and poke around a little. There's this nice, but kinda snotty, lady telling me I'm not good enough to join their little undead killing club. I decided right then and there that I would be good enough.

I've been fascinated with the Argent Dawn ever since.

Jump forward 59 levels, hard won exalted rep (pre-nerf mind you!), and a LOT of dead undead...

So... When the Argent Tournament was announced, needless to say I was, hmmm... how should we say? Giddy? Oh yah.

How is it? Freakin' awesome.

There's really not anything I don't like about it. I haven't cursed like a sailor at the computer screen since I played PvP heavily. Those Argent Valiants cheat like... cheaters!

Okay, it's probably glitched, but when they can charge and toss when they're standing right on top of you, it's just not right. I love that, because beatin' 'em is that much more fun.

Some quick tips (probably better out there):

* Bring your defense up to full before you start the fight. Being the rotten cheaters they are, they start the fight with two shields up. You might as well go three up.

* Stand and fight. Don't try to get distance and charge/toss at 'em. Let them do that. Just stand and wail on 'em until they turn to open some distance.

* When they DO open the distance, started pounding charge. You can usually get it in long before they do.

* As you finish the charge, turn in an arc, and toss at 'em to bring down another shield. If they get the toss off on you (usually) hit your shield right away and then close and start bashing 'em again. You'll have three up and they'll have either one or two.

It takes a while, but rinse and repeat until you win. Unless they cheat, of course. Dirty cheaters. Sometimes, when you charge, suddenly all your shields go down and their shield goes to full! Wut? Aw well, a come from behind is great. If not, grab another pony and stomp 'em hard the next time.

The quest chains are fun, but WAY too short. The "Lady of the Lake" quests are cute, but there's only three of them and they take awhile to do because of the traveling. I'd recommend doing two things at once on these. I herb along the way.

I do hope they add more quests. With regular mount combat. Yah! And longer chains to get rewards.

I won't hit Champion until a'morrow. But I'm likin' the Argent Tourny so far. The music and setting are classic knights and ladies-in-waiting style. They just really, really need to add more themed outfits....

Yah, I bought the Stormwind souvenir t-shirt.

:D

-Fri

Gaaaaah! WIPE! /facepalm

2009-04-19T15:26:00.007-05:00

Gah! It's been of week of freakin' errors! Errorserrrorserrors! Then I'm messing with the blog this morning and WHAM! I deleted all three of the What Kinda Warrior posts.

@#$%@#$!@!#!!!!

Luckily, google had 'em cached, so I was able to at least snag most of the text, sans the editing I'd done and the wonderful comments people had been leaving. Sigh.

So, super thanks to everyone that did comment. I am working quickly to incorporate the suggestions, changes, and corrections everyone made. Arms is updated as I write this and the other two will follow shortly. My apologies for the wipe. :/

Also, thank you to Pix at The Pixelated Executioner and Adam and WoW Insider for the linkage (and anyone else I didn't catch!). With additional apologies for the broken linkage.

I will try to have a NEW post up by tomorrow.

-Fri

Protection, The Rock and the Hard Place

2009-04-19T15:20:00.001-05:00

Protection, The Rock and the Hard Place
Revisited for WoW 3.x

Intro: What Kind of Warrior Shall I Be?
Part 1. Arms, Lords and Ladies of the Battlefield
Part 2. Fury, The Fast and the Furyious
Part 3. Protection, The Rock and the Hard Place

[Note: After rereading this for billionth time, they still need a ton of work. So much has changed and I've only really put a lot of time in Wrath on Protection spec. I can't wait to get back to Arms, but now that Dual specs are in I'm giving Fury a whirl first. So much more for me to learn. However, I've been sitting on these for, oh, ever and it's time to set 'em free. With reservations and promises to revise as much as possible. ;) What I hope is that I've got the flavor down and the specifics I can add in more as I go.]

Are you rough and tough and like to being up front, the point girl for the whole adventure? Dark dank places full of evil make you feel all squishy and excited inside? Do you just like to smash things in the face? Do you thrive on getting whispers every 30 seconds, begging you for assistance with some big bad baddie? Are you truly the original go-to-guy/girl? Do you just like armor with really big glowy shoulders?

Well... who doesn't?

Our final look at "What Kind of Warrior Shall I Be?" is at Protection. In many ways, these Warriors are The Warriors. The pure, front line soldiers. They're the ones that carry a big stick in one hand and a massive shield in the other, and stand toe-to-toe with the bad guy (or the bad guy's crotch, as the case may be).

Everyone is standing around the glowing stone. Excitement buzzes in the air. The adventure is about to begin! The gnome rogue tries to get nekkid and dance with the night elf hunter, who is ignoring him and who's cat is thinking "tasty treat." She's halfway flirting with the gorgeous paladin healer, who removes his helm long enough to straighten a single stray piece from his otherwise perfect hair. The frost mage is jumping up and down and running in circles. No one is exactly sure why. With the summoning done, they wait. The stone flares bright, blinding them momentarily. And out steps the biggest hunk of meat and metal any of them have ever seen.

The Warrior squints and takes in his surroundings and fellow adventurers in one glance. Every one shifts uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze. In less time than it takes to blink, he's already assessed and cataloged every strength, and every single weakness, of each person there. What can you do? What can't you do? Will you be a liability or an asset? You're not sure. He knows.

Everyone is still now, waiting for the Warrior to speak. Even a simple greeting would be good. His shield alone weighs more than you. The massive, magically enchanted weapon at his side glows menacingly. He holds his hefty helm under one arm like it's a loaf of bread. There's bits of gore from his last battle with the minions of the Lich King still splattered on his expansive shoulder guards. He's completely encased in Titansteel and has been fighting non-stop for three days. He smells a little off.

Not to worry. A little Old Spices thrown his way isn't going to offend this monster.

He trudges over to the night elf and looks straight at her chest. "Great," he says. "Can you hit anything with those." The night elf crosses her arms over her chest and glares. The warrior pats her giant cat on the head. "You'll do, though." The kitty purrs and the night elf, if possible, looks even more offended.

He moves on to the the gnome and says, "Disappear on me little man and I'll hunt you down and eat you myself." The gnome grins and salutes.

To the mage he says, "Try not to blow your load too soon." The mage just giggles.

He then stands toe to toe with the Pally. The Paladin crinkles his nose a little, but manages to hold his ground. "Just stay at the back, heal, and keep your yap shut. We'll be fine." The Paladin starts to retort... and then thinks better of it.

The warrior hefts his shield, pulls his sword and plods toward the evil lair. "Let's do this," he says softly.

This is the guy that has no fear. He walks into the scary place without batting an eye. He makes sure everyone is set. Then he charges into the group of vicious monsters. Suddenly dust and lightning explodes from around him and the mobs are standing there stunned out of their pants. With a mighty blow from his shield he smashes one in the face and the fight is on. He's very skilled at pissing off bad guys.

Think 300 with more armor. Protection warriors use their shield, sword and even their entire body to dish out death and destruction to their foes. These are the guys and girls that really are ten feet tall and bullet proof and can, literally, shoot lightning bolts out of their arse.

They come in all shapes and sizes, from the lithe Blood Elf to the hulking Orc. They have a wide variety of temperaments. Many are the calm, cool and collected type. Situational awareness is key to their success and survivability. They go with the flow and take care of business, magically appearing in the right spot and the right time when all seems lost. Others are hot heads or control freaks. Expectations are high and to impress this leader you have to be perfect. To this guy, precision and accuracy in a fight are simply what's expected. "Everyone does their job, no one quits, or I'll kill you myself."

These guys and girls are tanks, and if Warriors had a hero class, Protection Warriors would be it. They stand up to the bad guy and take the shots that would kill any other character. They get burned by fire, frozen solid, shot with arrows, pummeled with giant maces, stabbed with all manner of terrible implements, and tossed around like rag dolls by the biggest and baddest monsters in Azeroth and beyond. Then they get up, dust off and go back for more. Getting beaten up is what tanks live for.

They aren't just aggro dummies, though. To hold a group of nasties requires tremendous skill. They can dish out as much as they take. They know precisely where to strike and when to smash to completely obliterate an opponent. There's a huge difference between a good Protection Warrior and an Awesome Protection Warrior. The great ones can get the job done and lead their fellows to victory at the same time. In many ways, this is most trying Warrior type to play. If you want to test your mettle and skill, this is the spec to choose.

Are you a Protection Warrior?

The job is to be as bad ass and threatening as possible. Every enemy you encounter has to see you as the greatest threat to their personal well being. You have to leak "Danger" from your pores. You're the one other players will unconsciously scooch over a bit when you sit down at a table. Protection talents focus, to a large extent, on being threatening. Threat is a Protection Warrior's DPS. Knowing a few choice curses and creative insults about a monster's mother and a group of ogres, a gnome, and some sticky spider silk is handy as well.

Protection Warriors can take massive amounts of damage. Hits that would one-shot most classes are nothing to a Prot tank. This kind of Warrior is fast and agile, as well. Despite the impossibly heavy armor they wear, they can dodge, parry and block, using everything they have - sword, shield, arms, legs, toenails - to avoid damage. They know how to turn, how to position and how to roll with a fight to take less while dishing out more.

They're also incredibly strong. If there's a Superman or Wonder Woman of this game, it's Protection Warriors. Lifting a Mechanostrider over their head and tossing it would be child's play for these warriors. When they hit something, it generates all kinds of attention. These guys and girls dish out hurt in all kinds of interesting ways.

That sound like you? You're a Protection Warrior.

The Good Stuff

* I'm not afraid to say it, even with my obvious bias: Protection Warriors are the best tanks in the game. Always have been. Period. Argue if you like, but it won't change the fact. :) /trolloff

* You're invincible. Pretty much, anyhow. With a competent healer, a Protection Warrior can stay on their feet longer than any other class. Even without healing, if you're planning on taking down a Prot, you'll wanna bring a lunch. And maybe dinner, too. And a snack.

* Some of the best and most wicked Warrior abilities are in the Protection tree. Shield Slam is awesome. Sword & Board makes it better. Improved Thunderclap rocks. Spell Reflect is the ultimate "Ha!" Strip your enemies nekkid with Sunder/Devastate and then beat them stupid with Revenge. And what instrument of destruction wouldn't love Shockwave? Wargasm!

* High mobility. You can move around a fight quickly with abilities like Charge, Warbringer and Intervene. Taunt and Challenging shout, combined with Area of Effect abilities like Improved Thunderclap, Damage Shield and Shockwave, give you control of the flow of the battle and ensure all bad guy eyes are on you (and not your friends!).

* In most cases, you get first pick on loot. :) Everyone wants a well dressed tank.

The Bad Stuff

* These days? Not Much.

* If thrown into a DPS role, you will most like under-perform. You need to be front and center, hitting and getting hit to generate Rage, which allows you to use all those nifty abilities. You can't do that from behind the mob. This is very much the sort of spec you'll choose to be hitting things face first.

* To offset the "Best tank" comment above, I'll also throw in this: Protection Warrior is probably the hardest kind of tank to play. There's a wide variety of abilities that you have to learn to use at exactly the right time. It is somewhat unforgiving as a spec. Miss a sunder and someone could die very easily. Thunderclap too soon and your healer will pull aggro from the caster you missed. It's not really a class/spec you can play on auto pilot. Ya gotta be on top of it, all the time.

Leveling

Traditionally, leveling a Protection Warrior was . . . how shall we say? A pain in the ass? It was slow and took forever. Protection Warriors in the past were all about absorbing or mitigating damage while generating Threat. That's changed recently.

In many respects, Protection may (arguably) be the BEST leveling spec for a Warrior. Prots have great damage output now. Blizzard recently made a shift to Threat generation being more dependent on DPS. To make Prot tanks viable, they up'd the amount of DPS they can do. Poof! Leveling is easy-sauce now.

Simply round up a pile of mobs and beat them silly while you watch your health bar remain relatively unchanged. If you want to level or grind quickly and without a lot of down time, you won't go wrong with a Protection Warrior.

You should complete the quest for Defensive Stance (at Level 10) as soon as possible. For the most part, you'll just stay in Defensive Stance. You may switch to Battle Stance on occasion to boost DPS a bit, but you loose a lot of your abilities. Stance-wise, Protection Warriors are a bit limited because most of their best abilities are only available in that stance. No matter. They work fine in Def and the others are there for those situations where you'll need them.

Talent-wise, many leveling Prot Warriors will go to the Arms tree first, even if just for Deflection. You can start right in the Protection tree, though, and do fine. By the time you're hitting levels 30-40, you really start seeing the power and survivability of this tree.

Solo

Solo'ing is really nothing to a Prot Warrior. For a specialization that's designed to be group oriented, these days they do astonishingly well on their own.

Early on, if you go into the DEF tree at the start, you're just wicked tough and hard to kill. It won't take long for you to be rounding up two or three mobs at a time. By the mid levels, you've got all sorts of tricks up your sleeve to stay in the fight longer. You're killing mobs in groups and then going straight to the next batch without bothering to stop and heal. By the top levels, there's not a lot left that can touch you and you'll be solo'ing wild quest bosses that would crush other classes.

Groups (Questing/5-Mans)

Not a whole lot to say here. You're perfect for groups. In instances, you're required. If you prefer to play in a group, going Protection is the way to do it. You'll never be wanting for friends. :)

In groups your job is to keep all the nasties off the other players, and thus keep the other players alive. Grouping requires mastering skills and concepts such as pulling, holding aggro, threat rotations, and situational awareness.

For the most part, you get the hang of these concepts as you level, but practice makes a huge difference. No one likes a lazy tank.

Raiding

You'd think, by the same token, there would be people falling over themselves to get you into raids! Not so, unfortunately.

In raids, Prot Warriors are the best of the best. And to get into raids, you'd better be the best. If there's two slots open for a 10-man, there's going to be Druids, Death Knights, and Paladins all competing for those slots along side you. Of all the Warrior types, raiding as a Protection Warrior is probably the most challenging and competitive slot available. It requires a huge amount of skill, ability and even leadership to be a raid tank. Main Tank in a 25-man raid group is the top of the ladder for the Warrior class.

Just be the best and you'll be fine. :)

PvP

This part will probably change considerably as WoW continues to develop. It always does. As I write this, Protection is probably the best way to go if you're going to PvP with a Warrior. The simple explanation is survivability. With most other classes doing massive amounts of burst damage, Prot warriors are the only ones that can survive long enough to get anything done.

And killing DKs who are overzealous with Death Grip is all kinds of funny. :) Getting up close and personal in a fight with a Prot Warrior is a Very Bad Idea.

Your main tools are your mobility and ability to stun an opponent in quick succession. Many times this is just giving your burst happy teammates time to take the enemy down, but it works. The longer you stay on your feet, the better your chances. Prot Warriors have a wide variety of skills to defend against just about any sort of attack.

The "Types" of Protection Warriors

I'm a big believer in "the spec how you want" way of playing WoW, though you'll want to read the first post in this series about how I qualify that belief. Shop around for some of the "top" specs and study them when you're ready to get serious. All I'm going to talk about here are some general themes for Protection. I'll leave the math and perfect specs for those more qualified. No matter what spec you choose, you DO have to practice it. You have to use what talents you've taken to best advantage.

Each of the two spec's here are just demonstrations to show the idea, as well as give a general feel for what playing a Protection Warrior is like, and not necessarily optimal builds! Big. Grain. Of. Salt. Yum.

Your Basic Prot Warrior (15/3/51) - This is pretty much your standard, generic, does the job Protection spec. It's primary concern is loading the 51 points to the Protection tree and getting the big items. Then it takes Armored to the Teeth for a bit more punch and Deep Wounds, both of which help increase threat. This is also called the Deep Wounds Tank, or a Bleed Tank. You won't have many threat problems with this build.

The Balanced Protector (5/8/58) - This is probably the most popular Warrior tank build, and for good reason. It has an excellent balance of defensive and offensive capabilities. It takes all the major goodies from the Protection tree and adds on nice damage boosters from the Fury tree. This one offers up a few more survivability options to keep you on your feet longer.

The PvP Damage Tank (12/8/51) - This build offers up more damage, but maintains some of the situational and panic button survivability of the other two specs. It is often used in PvP builds. It is, of course, perfectly acceptable for basic tanking duties, as well.

More than any other Warrior class, though, I think tanks tweak and customize their builds to their play style. One tank may love the extra rage from Improved Charge, while another could care less and would much rather have more damage from Cruelty. Some tanks never bother with Last Stand, preferring to panic button with trinkets and such, while others swear it's saved their asses more times than they can count. And so on...

In addition, raid level tanks often spec specifically for certain encounters. So which bosses you'll be MT on and which you'll be OT on come into consideration. Which abilities better fit the mobs and bosses you'll be fighting? Raid tanks have a tough job because they'll often need to respec, re-glyph, and put on new cloths to fight in certain situations. While way outside the scope of this guide, careful study of both the encounters you'll be going into and the various specs, abilities, and techniques used to conquer those encounters, will be required.

To Protect and Defend!

Deciding to play a Protection Warrior is a big step. You're literally stepping into the leadership position, whether you intend to or not. No other Warrior type is more dependent on being tuned into the ebb and flow of a fight. While DPS Warriors may rely on situational awareness to kill stuff, it does tend to focus on what they're killing. A Protection Warrior has to have an expanded awareness, to be able to take in not only what's getting killed, but also keeping track of every other player at the same time. The up and down applies to a Prots game-life, as well. I've literally had nights where nothing went right and went to bed completely deflated and depressed. I've had just as many nights where everything went perfect and couldn't sleep because the whole experience was so full of awesome. Tanks are a passionate lot and they like it that way. This is the specialization for those Warriors that revel in the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory!

-Fri

Fury, The Fast and the Furyous

2009-04-19T15:18:00.001-05:00

Fury, The Fast and the Furyous
Revisited for WoW 3.x (Wrath of the Lich King)

Intro: What Kind of Warrior Shall I Be?
Part 1. Arms, Lord and Ladies of the Battlefield
Part 2. Fury, The Fast and the Furyous
Part 3. Protection, The Rock and the Hard Place

[Note: After rereading this for billionth time, they still need a ton of work. So much has changed and I've only really put a lot of time in Wrath on Protection spec. I can't wait to get back to Arms, but now that Dual specs are in I'm giving Fury a whirl first. So much more for me to learn. However, I've been sitting on these for, oh, ever and it's time to set 'em free. With reservations and promises to revise as much as possible. ;) What I hope is that I've got the flavor down and the specifics I can add in more as I go.]

You? You're mad, bad and dangerous. You're all kinds of contained wrath. Ya like it hard? Ya like it fast? Then maybe you're a Fury Warrior! But... you ask... Is it any good for PvE? What about the stigma of sucking for PvP? Will you ever get to raid? Why is that twinky gnome mage laughing at me???? Can I eat him for that?

Yes.

Our second look at "What kind of Warrior Should I Be?" is going to be at Fury and what you can expect if you go the way of the Zerker. This is the specialization that I've played the least so, as always, take it with a large does of skepticism until you've had a run at it yourself.

You know That Guy. The one who just stands there after the tank pulls the mobs in a dungeon. He is probably jumping up and down and spinning in place. Then, finally, he goes zooming off! And for the next few minutes, it seems like he's all over the place. The giant two-handed weapons are flying like crazy, an angry dwarf keeps materializing above his head, and he seems to be shouting an awful lot.

And then, just as you're getting into the swing of the fight... everything is dead. And That Guy is standing over a big pile of bodies, jumping up and down and spinning in place again. Usually he's laughing in a disturbing manner, or eating a sandwich. That's a Fury Warrior.

They aren't ADHD, they're just practicing restrained enthusiasm. They can dish out such high and consistent DPS that they have to put a pause in occasionally to keep from pulling aggro. They wield two blades at a time, and past level 60, they're very large two-handed blades thanks to Titan's Grip. They zoom and twirl around the fight using Intercept and Whirlwind. Bloodthirst chops enemies to itty bitty pieces and Rampage just adds the icing to the oops-you're-dead cake. All the screaming is the Warrior popping some pretty devastating SFX. But they aren't just wailing around in there being a spaz.

It may look chaotic but a good Fury Warrior is a shining example of precision. Everything he does is aimed at systematically building his capabilities to kill stuff. Every strike is timed and short-term buffed to perfection. The more the Fury Warrior swings, the more deadly he gets. It's probably true of any Warrior, but this is the one they're talking about when they say "Get too close and he'll pwn your face." Hard.

Are You A Fury Warrior?

Fury Warriors love to deal damage. They're very good at it, too. Fury talents tend to be oriented toward making weapon strikes faster and more potent. Fury Talents feature dual wielding specialization and buffs to enhance damage as they fight. In addition, all that screaming Fury Warriors do is because all the improvements to a Warrior's shouts are in this tree. If you like to kill mobs fast, and look good doing it, this is the spec!

The Fury Warrior an awesome adventurer. For going on epic quests, braving the wilds of Azeroth alone, or exploring a dank recess of Lower Blackrock with a party, the Fury Warrior is there, always ready to meet the next deadly challenge.

This Warrior isn't crazy, though. (Okay, some of them are...) They make tearing enemies into shreds an art form. It may look easy, but it requires a great deal of timing and precision. And, yes, for the truly great ones, a nice heap of talent as well.

Those whirling blades of death, spinning and whirling through a fight with a gleam in your eye, cheerfully and methodically cutting down anything that gets in your way...

Sound like fun? You're a Fury Warrior.

The Good Stuff

* Fury Warriors are all about dealing damage. And then they get serious about dealing damage. And once they're properly serious, then they get to work and do some damage. With the right gear and the right rotation, Fury Warriors ARE the DPS of the Warrior Class.

* Some of the best Warrior abilities and enhancements are in the Fury tree. From Cruelty to Rampage there aren't really any "bad" Fury Talents. Might be some that are better than others, but they're all good.

* Fury Warriors are the toughest DPS class in the game, sans self-healing abilities (and yah, they have a little bit of that, too!). They wear plate, and they usually gear at least some Stamina. They're often jokingly referred to as Rogues In Plate (RIP), but when you look at the way WoW has progressed, it's really the other way around. This is the original tough-guy.

* Two words: Titan's Grip. Two two-handed bad ass blades of destruction. What's not to like?

The Bad Stuff

* Tough they may be, but they aren't as tough as Arms or Protection Warriors. Fury Warriors tend to gear Haste (to swing faster), Hit (for accurancy), and Attack Power (for raw hitting power) rather than Resilience or Defense. The Fury Warrior isn't there to soak up damage, she's there to give it. She can take hit... but she's better at giving.

* Fury Warriors can tank, but they tend to be at the very bottom of the wish-list for that role. Building aggro will be very slow and the healing will have to be HoT and heavy. Sympathy is often given to the healer who has to keep a Fury Tank upright. :)

* Like all Warriors, Fury Warriors have limited crowd control. Fury Warriors do DPS. That's what they do. Kill it before it becomes a problem is the Fury Warrior way. That's appropriate sometimes... but many times, not so much.

Leveling

Many people consider Fury to be the choice for leveling a Warrior (regardless of what the final spec will be). Fury Warrior may spend more down time healing, but a solid amount of pots and high First Aid skill can help that along nicely. You do have to be pretty careful about taking on too much in one bite. Regardless, killing mobs fast is the way Fury Warriors do things and that makes leveling up a bit faster than the other two types of Warriors.

To start with, you'll want to go with a one-handed sword, axe, or mace and a shield. Most Fury Warriors duel wield. So your one-hand skill will need to be your top priority. At level 20 you can drop the shield and go with another shiny instrument of death in your other paw. At level 60, you can do it with two-handers. :D

There's two lines of thought to leveling, and I'm not particular to either myself. I've tried it both ways and it works both ways.

Way #1. You start in Arms. You're going to be taking some of these talents eventually anyhow. Improved Heroic Strike is just terribly handy when it's the only main attack you have. So you start by filling it in.

Way #2. You go straight into Fury and start with Cruelty. This gives you a better chance to crit, but it's still low enough, and your damage output is low enough, that it will only make a difference every once and while. On the other hand, it also gets you on the path to some of the great stuff further down the tree. AND when your damage output does improve and you've got gear that helps your crit chance, you've already got Cruelty stacking on there and it's all kinds of win win win.

I really don't think you can go wrong either way. If your first ten levels were mostly in black and white, and you want to hit things harder, fill in IHS first. You'll be able to get that HS off a little sooner. If you're doing fine and eager to get into the spec, start right in with Fury. Easy enough.

Solo

As mentioned, Fury is considered by many to be the "best" solo leveling spec, though there's plenty of Arms and Protection Warrior that would argue that. The ability to take most mobs down quickly, and to react to situations fast, helps a lot. Like all Warriors, Fury is still very much a stand, fight and either win or die class. With Fury it's mostly about "I get you, before you get me." Because of the talents you take in Fury, this actually works quite well.

When you solo, you'll discover very quickly that you need to pull with a ranged weapon, so start leveling the weapon of your choice early. When you've got multiple targets you'll fight very differently than when you fight against one. You may need to Sweeping Strike, Cleave and Piercing Howl multiple mobs while at the same time keeping Thunderclap and Demoralizing Shout on them to limit damage. In this respect, Fury Warriors get more complex. Doing all this while keep Bloodthirst and Rampage up can wear your fingers out. This is where a great deal of the fun comes in for most Fury Warriors.

I've said it before... no Warrior is "Easy Mode."

Using a Fury spec is easy. Being really good at it is extremely challenging.

Groups (Questing/5-Mans)

In a group, the Fury Warrior is a support role. Your main job is chop everything up into itty bitty pieces as quickly as possible. In group questing, you'll get in there and DPS. You make a good puller too, because you can hit back AND survive aggro for more than a few a seconds.

For running instances, Fury Warriors make great Main Assist (MA). This is where everyone sets their assist macro (or manually uses /assist [player]) to one player and then unloads everything on that player's target. Because the Fury Warrior is right there in the thick of it, all you have to do is hit the Tab key to cycle through the targets, while everyone else hits their assist key, and burns mobs down in a nice systematic order. Of course, you make great DPS working with someone else being MA as well!

And yes, in a pinch, you can quickly switch to off tank. So keep that shield handy and updated, because eventually it'll happen. :)

Raiding

Honestly, I've seen and read both ways on this one. On my Realm, raid guilds only want Fury Warriors. Others? Only want Arms. So, your mileage may vary somewhat. I think most raids want Fury Warriors for melee DPS. They're just better at it. Sometimes only slightly, but for top end raiders, slightly counts. Only the best make it. Fury is the best for that. So, yah, as a Fury Warrior, you've probably got as a good a shot as anyone to get a raid slot as any DPS Warrior.

PvP

Fury is no good for PvP. That's what you'll hear. Meadow muffins. Fury is fine for PvP. It's fun and quite functional and can add a lot to World PvP and Battlegrounds. The main thing to remember is that, in PvP, Fury is a support role, just like in a group. You're there to push as much DPS as you can, shout, slow, and generally wreck havok. If you get focused, you're toast. Rez and get back to work. It's a blast. :)

The "Types" of Fury

[Fury specs in testing. I'll letcha know. ;)]

Some to browse. These'll getcha started.

-Fri

Arms, Lords and Ladies of the Battlefield

2009-04-19T12:46:00.007-05:00

Arms, Lords and Ladies of the Battlefield
Revisited for WoW 3.x (Wrath of the Lich King)

Revised: 4/16/09, 4/19/09

Intro: What Kind of Warrior Shall I Be?
Part 1. Arms, Lords and Ladies of the Battlefield
Part 2. Fury, The Fast and the Furyious
Part 3. Protection, The Rock and the Hard Place

[Note: A special thanks to Pix and everyone else who has commented on these posts. I love the interactive nature of blogging and hope comments and suggestions of this series keep coming. My goal is to improve and update these entries continuously. Suggestions are always welcome. That, and well, I get it wrong a lot. :)]

So you wanna be an Arms Warrior? Need to know what roles they play in a party? What spec should you choose? Is it good for soloing? Can you raid? Can you PvP? Can I get through the game without people spitting on me???

The only time you'll get spit on is when you gank three enemy players in a row, or kill every mob in the area all at once. That's livable. :)

In part one of this "What Kind of Warrior Shall I Be?" series, we're going to take a look at Arms Warriors in World of Warcraft 3.x. Please take what I say here with a large grain of salt. I'm definitely not an expert, so all this is based on my experience, what I've read, and what I've talked about with other Warriors. There's plenty more to it than what's written here. I recommend reading the introduction to this series, first.

Anyone who's ever played a little PvP in World of Warcraft knows there's nothing more intimidating that seeing that HUGE Tauren Warrior with the giant glow-in-the-dark sword and massive shoulders come rushing out of the bushes. It's an imposing sight. Intentionally. What's worse, it's not just looks. Suddenly this beast is looming over you, you're stunned, he swings and a quarter of your health bar disappears. That's white damage from a powerful and enchanted 2-hander. It's the warm-up. He's just building up a bit more Rage.

The stun from his Charge ends and you turn to run as the second swing comes down and he starts spinning around like some demented top . . . and find yourself in black and white and staring at the Spirit Guide. Yah, you just got ganked hard. That second swing was the main event, also known as Improved Mortal Strike, followed up by a devastating Bladestorm. That's an MS Warrior.

And he's spec'd Arms.

Are You An Arms Warrior?

Arms warriors have a reputation for being top-end damage dealers. They are also the most versatile style of Warrior. All the weapon specializations are in the Arms talent tree. So you can get bonuses for wielding a two-hander AND get a bonus for sword, mace, axe or polearm, depending on what strikes your fancy. Anyone can "Grab a sword and fight the Horde" but Arms Warriors do it particularly well and, I like to think, with a certain amount of style. I might be a little biased. :)

In a fight the Arms Warrior is often center stage. Everyone on your side is relying on you to dish out death and take heaping spoonfuls of every type of damage. Every enemy is studiously figuring out how to take you down.

But it's not a rock star position.

In and out of the fight you're the calm, cool, unassuming master. You know what's going on around you all the time. You never let them see you sweat. Taunts, insults, spitting and the occasional tea-bag don't bother you in the least. A pile of mobs that would make a clothie wet themselves is nothing to you. You're cool. You're in control. You take everything in stride and do your job quietly and unassuming. And you're a killing machine because of it. You are truly a Zen master of death and, in your disciplined paws, your weapon is a living instrument of destruction.

That you? You're an Arms Warrior.

The Good Stuff

* Arms is, obviously, an excellent damage spec. Massive top-end damage and survivability are the keys. The ability to take focus and live through it, while doing something useful at the same time, are the hallmarks of an Arms talent build.

* Arms is all about enhancing a Warrior's ability to fight head-to-head and at close range. You can do damage, you can take damage (with the right gear), and you can debuff or slow opponents when necessary.

* Arms Warriors can fill multiple roles in a party and switch roles in the middle of battle very effectively. In a dungeon, you might be DPSing a mob, then suddenly need to slow one down, then switch into a temporary off-tank role, then quickly back to DPSing. This is child's play for an Arms Warrior and they're very effective at it.

* Arms warriors are the best multiple target melee dps class in the game right now. You can heap damage on 2-4 mobs at a time with awesome abilities like Sweeping Strikes, Cleave, Whirlwind and Bladestorm. You can slow and debuff multiple targets at once, as well.

* Arms Warriors are masters of their chosen weapon and know just where to strike for maximum effect. As such, they have the choice to apply a huge bleed debuff. While you're killing those multiple mobs at once you're also bleeding them out. Gruesome, but effective.
The Bad Stuff

* Arms does not do sustained DPS as effectively as Fury. The DPS is strong and consistent, but it's not quite as much and takes a little longer to get it going. This takes effect particularly at higher levels and with proper gearing. Under 60 there's not a huge difference. Some but not terrible. Over 70, and properly geared, the difference is definitely there. While Wrath has certainly fixed this somewhat, it could be a contributing factor in some fights, specially where you have to move a lot.

(Aside: At the start of Patch 3.1, Arms warriors are definitely closing this gap. It'll be difficult to tell for a bit, at the writing. It will scale up with gear. Whether it will scale down, as well, is unknown at the moment.)

* Arms can tank most mobs, but not all. They just don't have the damage mitigation and threat generation tools like a proper Protection Warrior. Resilience (protection against critical hits) is great for taking spell fire from multiple casters at once, and for staying upright while you Overpower some ADHD Rogue, but it's not as effective against mobs that'll squash you like a tin can on the first shot. Carry a good shield and some +DEF/+STAM Armor and tank when necessary, but you'll need to respec for the big fights.

* Arms Warriors are almost constantly in flux as Blizzard tweaks their abilities. This is probably true of most classes, but for Warriors, Arms and Fury get the most. This leads to many different tweaks you have to make to specific rotations and abilities, but also opens up plenty of new opportunities. For example, as I write this there's a bit of excitement about and Arms tanking build going around. Fun! Regardless, the basic flavor stays the same. Versatile and tough!

* Like all Warriors, you have limited crowd control. You can upgrade your crowd control abilities through Arms talents. But they are not really an effective form of cc because of the short duration. They can certainly help a fight when used properly, though. An Arms Warrior's best form of cc is their body and their ability to put damage up on multiple targets.

Leveling

Leveling an Arms Warrior is pretty easy. No, it's not nearly as fast or easy as some other classes. You want effortless leveling? Then Warrior isn't for you, anyway. We work for a living, soldier! You have to pick your fights somewhat. Or at least approach them with some thought. Mostly you can go in there and smack things around, but you'll need to use your brain a bit, too.

Early on you'll want to switch to a 2-hander (if you don't start with one) and start leveling that skill as soon as possible. You have to keep up with your 1-hand skill as well, because you'll want to be able to switch to sword and board when needed. At this point it won't matter which 2-hand weapon. If you like Axes, get an axe. Swords, Polearms, and Maces are available, so choose something you groove on. Many times it'll be whatever you can afford or drops first. You can change later, so no worries.

So, you're running through the forest and you see the lovely Night Elf girl, jumping and traipsing her way among the trees. She looks a little odd, she's lithe and agile but she has a huge sword strapped to her back. Suddenly, a pack of ugly dog men jump out and attack. You run to help, but before you get a few steps the elf shifts slightly and two of the mobs fall over dead. Another three seconds and two more are dead. Then she starts spinning around in a circle, that huge blade held before her, chopping through the dog boys like butter. When she stops, there's a nice, neat semi-circle of bodies laying at her feet. There's still two of the dog men left, but the elf continues on her happy little way. A few seconds later the remaining monsters clutch their throats and fall over dead, while you stand there gaping.

That's multiple target dps and those nasty bleed effects doing their work.

The most useful abilities you will use while leveling are the ones that let you increase damage against multiple targets. It's much easier to level when you can round up two or three mobs, mow them down and move on to the next batch.

I do recommend skipping the bleed effects at early levels. To me, the first priority is getting, enhancing and learning to use those base skills, including the multi-target abilities. You can always spec down to Bladestorm and then go back and enhance your specializations with bleed debuffs.

As, research and learn more about Arms, however, your mileage may vary. At some point, after level 60, you definitely want to take the bleeds unless there's a specific reason not too.

Solo

Arms is a great solo spec. Nice damage output, solid survivability. Like all Warriors, once you're in the fight your chances of escape are pretty low. It's stand and win, or stand and die. Arms has many tools to help the former. And occasionally, even offers the opportunity for some creative escapes. For example, slap Hamstring on 'em, pop into Defensive Stance, and run like hell!

Okay, so that's not terribly creative... but it'll save ya a repair bill and a bone run. :)

To solo well you'll want to take a ranged weapon as early as possible. Guns, crossbows and thrown weapons are available to Warriors. I like guns. Big guns. :) Engineers may want to take guns because you can make your own weapon and the ammunition for it. Blacksmith's will probably like thrown weapons early on because you can a) make some nice ones, and b) they don't run out of ammo.

Beyond Level 50 the Arms Warrior becomes a wicked solo killing machine. At 70, it's about improving your stats to be an even better killing machine. At some point (probably around 1000 AP and 75 Hit) you start mowing down any regular mob you come across while looking around for more. You start chain pulling the mobs, just to move things along.

Groups (Questing/5-Mans)

Arms is excellent if you group a lot. The ability to DPS and tank is a nice balance. If you like the balance, then this spec is better than the other two. If you prefer one or the other, then you'll want to look at Fury or Protection. Arms Warriors, however, offer many advantages to groups, so don't be afraid to offer up your services for dungeon runs and group questing.

For questing, there's not much an Arms Warrior can't do in a group. Slap on a shield and dance into Def if you need to hold aggro a bit. Break out the 2-hander if you need some extra DPS. Stay flexible and practice switching roles in combat. Use a stance macro or add-on to switch weapons/shield in mid-fight.

In a dungeon, you'll usually be tasked as DPS. OT (Off Tank) roles for warriors in 5-mans isn't used much any more, but MA (Main Assist) is and this is a great role for an Arms Warrior. If you're MT (Main Tank) you'll need a very good Healer. A good healer is one that understands threat and how to time their heals for best effect. Spam healing won't work with a Protection Warrior or Feral Druid bear, it certainly won't work with an Arms Warrior, so avoid healers that do that. You'll also have to have DPS that understands threat and how to fight with a Warrior Tank. (That's a whole other post.) Basically, your threat generation is going to be slower than a Prot Warrior, Prot Pally or Bear, and the party needs to understand how to deal with that.

Raiding

For raiding, it's really a toss up for Arms Warriors. You bring a lot of utility to a raid. The bleed debuffs alone can significantly increase the entire raid's dps on a boss, for example. You can also pump out respectably high dps. Whether you get into your raid group or not will largely depend on what your raid leader needs and what other classes are available. Which is pretty much true for any class/spec outside of dedicated healers and tanks.

The downside is that an Arms Warrior's main abilities can be handled by other classes. For example, it's true that an Arms Warrior is the best muti-mob dps'er available. But why bother with a melee dps'er that will need another raid member to heal them, when you can just tank those mobs and have ranged dps burn them down without taking any damage at all. Both techniques work, but the former is (as of this writing) easier to pull off than the latter. (The answer is that the Arms Warrior tanks and does dps at the same time. But that concept isn't quite there yet.)

That said, since Wrath of the Lich King, Arms Warriors are slowly gaining acceptance as a vital and important component in a raid. It's not a confidence thing. If you're chosen to go into a 10 or 25 man raid, get in there and show off. I think most raids will appreciate how useful an Arms Warrior is these days. :)

PvP

While Wrath changed PvP significantly, Arms is still a very powerful PvP spec. While it was terribly important back pre-Wrath, it's even more important now: You. Must. Dance. Being able to switch stances and weapons quickly and at the right time is now no longer optional for Arms Warriors (if it ever was). To be good in PvP, you'll have to work hard for it.

This is just commentary, of course, but I also think that Arms Warriors have been forced to think outside the box a bit now. You can't just run up to another player and smack 'em until they're dead. (I know - over simplification, but you get the idea.) You really have to set up situations to your advantage, which means being an even better player. For example, you can't just pop Bladestorm and expect to win. Your opponent will just step out of it. You have to get your opponent to burn cooldowns, stun 'em, and keep them from running first. Then Don't Panic! When everything's right, push the "I Win!" button.

While that sort of thing has always been true, and distinguishes the good from the truly great players, it really is forced on Arms Warriors. It requires brains and brawn. This is a thinking girl's kind of Warrior.

The "Types" of Arms

I'm a big believer in "the spec how you want" way of playing WoW, though you'll want to read the first post in this series about how I qualify that belief. Shop around for some of the "top" specs and study them when you're ready to get serious. All I'm going to talk about here are some general themes for Arms. I'll leave the math and perfect specs for those more qualified. No matter what spec you choose, you DO have to practice it. You have to use what talents you've taken to best advantage.

Each of the two spec's here are just demonstrations to show the idea, as well as give a general feel for what playing an Arms Warrior is like, and not optimal builds! Big. Grain. Of. Salt. Yum.

I'll add that, as of WoW 3.1, these build are slightly out of date. Again, just getting the flavor. Research for what's more current. And then research again, cause it'll change. Because of this, I've removed the build links to the post temporarily until things stabilize a bit and just throwing out some general theory.

The Swiss Army Knife with Teeth - This one focuses on utility first. The main focus is getting to Mortal Strike, Sudden Death, and Bladestorm as quickly as possible and then pick up enhancements to the core abilities. Take your Overpower enhancements. Go back, after hitting the big stuff, and pick up Rend, Impale and Deep Wounds. You might even pop a little in Defense if you find yourself in the GY a lot, though you sacrifice a lot to get to Anticipation, Last Stand, and Toughness. Probably too much unless you're tanking a lot. It makes a good all around leveling concept. You'll gear for Strength (AP), Hit and Crit, but you won't completely ignore Armor Penetration and Stamina.

Blood and Guts - This buildis a kind of a staple of Arms Warriors. The focus is on damage, primarily. It sacrifices survivability, but when you can bleed a target to death and chop 'em into little pieces before they barely get started, who cares? :) The main idea, though is to use Arms and Fury talents to increase Deep Wounds, Overpower, straight damage (STR, AP, Expertise, Hit, Armor Pen, anything that makes you hit better), and Crit.

You will notice that the main components of any Arms build are Improved Mortal Strike, Sudden Death, and Bladestorm. I'll also throw in Rend (though not necessarily Improved Rend), Improved Overpower, and Taste for Blood. Overpower is just too yummy to ignore, so grab it and enhance it early.

To Arms!

To be blunt about it, Arms is not particularly easy to play well. Yes, you can use the Arms abilities by just pushing buttons randomly (/faceroll) and do fairly well. To be truly good at it, though, requires a huge amount of practice and awareness. Playing an Arms Warrior will force you to be a much better player. The reason is, more than any other Warrior specialization, an Arms Warrior is played in a situational mode. You use the abilities that best suit the situation. I can't say enough that Arms is about utility.

Being able to calmly assess the situation and react accordingly is what Arms Warriors are all about, and they can adapt to just about any situation. On the Battlefield, in the Dungeon, or in the field, and Arms warrior is literally a master of each situation. No other melee class can switch roles and do it very well like an Arms Warrior. This is the specialization for the player that not only likes to do it all, but can do it all.

-Fri

What Kind of Warrior Shall I be? (3.0)

2009-04-13T16:36:00.002-05:00

What Kind of Warrior Shall I Be?
for WoW 3.x (Wrath of the Lich King)

Revised 4/16/09, 5/2/09

Intro: What Kind of Warrior Shall I Be?
Part 1. Arms, Lord and Ladies of the Battlefield
Part 2. Fury, The Fast and the Furyious
Part 3. Protection, The Rock and the Hard Place

I don't know why, but I get asked this question a lot. Usually by newer players, of course, so maybe that says something. We won't go there. It probably has to do with my hot and frequently changing hair style choices. Yup.

I do get asked "What kind of warrior should I be," or "What warrior spec is best," frequently enough that, awhile back, I started a post on the subject that turned into an unintentional series, with the Protection Warrior version never getting published. (It was Blizzards fault for changing everything in 3.0, I swear!) Now that I've been a-warriorin' in Wrath for a bit, I felt it was time to update it. Mainly because I still can't walk through Stormwind without the "can i ask u a ?" tell at least once or twice.

I still get a lot of "whar u get blak hors?" as well, but that's a totally different post.

Anyhoo, while a lot of the information in those original posts still works, what follows is the updated versions, including this introduction. I hope someone finds it useful, and welcome comments, corrections and enhancements on these thoughts.

Picking your Talent Specialization is very important for any class. You'll even get familiar with several different specs. I'll letcha in on a little secret... /whisper If you're just playin' WoW and having fun, with specific exceptions aside, it really doesn't matter. ;)

Of course it matters for those specific exceptions. If you're gonna do one thing primarily, then yes, you need to spec for that one thing. If you're going to tank raids, you need to spec Protection and you need to do it properly. If you're going to DPS instances you need to spec Fury or Arms. If you're going to fight in PvP then you'll probably seriously consider a spec that optimizes survivability and fast, hard damage.

That's what you'll read about most when you go to research "Warrior Theory." It's called min/max'ing. Which means minimizing bad stuff that can happen to your toon, while maximizing the bad stuff you can do to other toons. If you're creating a Warrior for one of those things, then you really need to read the spec guides and practice, practice, practice. The very high end of the game is unforgiving of mistakes in these roles. Perhaps a little less so in Wrath, but that will change as the expansion grows. So get that practice in now while you can.

The number of players that actually need one of the optimized specs and gear lists, however, are in the minority. Heavy, hardcore raiders need to spec appropriately. Arena fighters need to spec and gear to min/max. That's, what? Probably less than 10% of WoW's 11 million plus player-base?

In one play session I do a quest or two, farm for mats, run dailies, make a quick instance run, help guildies, play a few BGs, do a little world PvP, tank a wild boss, etc. Most players are like that and most players will have neither the resources nor patience to respec every other night. even with dual specs. You don't have to do that. When to respec is another discussion entirely, but for the time being, pick a Warrior spec that appeals to you and enjoy.

That's what this guide is about. It's not a How-To Warrior guide. This is intended to give you a rough idea of what to expect when you choose a particular Warrior talent specialization. The goal here is to give you a feel for each spec, rather than tell you which spec you need to take. Then you can make your own decision, based on what appeals to you as a player!

With the release of World of Warcraft 3.0, and Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard made Warriors fun again. By the end of The Burning Crusade, being a "good" warrior revolved around having precisely the right spec, exactly the same gear as every other Warrior, and using the correct and same ability rotation. While that is certainly emerging again, the gap between being a Good Player and a Rock Star has narrowed a little. You can literally now play whichever type of Warrior you like, how you like, and get good results . . . as long as you play well. There's still plenty of room to be a "bad" player. But it does come down to the player and (slightly) less about gear and talent spec.

That does not mean the gear and talents aren't important! You do need to carefully consider your talent build, and work hard to acquire good items that enhance that build. You can not spend your talent points willy-nilly on stuff that just looks good, crossing multiple trees on a whim. The talent trees are intentionally built to create a certain flavor of Warrior, with each Talent enhancing previous talents or trainable skills that type of Warrior is most likely to use. Without those talent trees, all Warriors would be bland carbon copies of each other. Blah!

There is a certain amount of "less about what you have and more about how you use it" in WoW these days. I think a lot of players, many Warriors included, got a shock when they entered WoW 3 and suddenly their gear no longer compensated for their inadequacies as players. They got mad about it, too. Fury Warriors who didn't understand threat and aggro. Arms Warriors who relied on their resilience and couldn't fight multiple targets at once effectively (guilty here, learned fast). Protection Warriors who thought all they needed was a little more AoE threat to be great.

Doesn't work that way. Just cause ya got it, doesn't mean you're good. There's still plenty of room for Blizzard to improve that concept, but the game is definitely heading that way. Getting great gear and sexy new items should be a reward because it's fun. It should not be a task, something you have to plod through to get to the fun part.

If you keep that mentality, you'll enjoy your play time as a Warrior regardless of what talent spec you're playing and what gear you're toting around. On the other hand, if you're only interested in toting around imaginary armor to enhance an imaginary epeen, this guide probably isn't for you. If you're interested in playing a Warrior and want to know what it's like, read on.

Of course, study and practice are the cornerstones of becoming truly great at any profession! With that in mind, take a look at the links on the right. These are starting places, but they'll lead you to all sort of information about being a Warrior in WoW. More importantly, though, as you browse through some of the sites (specially the blogs), you'll discover there are many different types of Warriors. Even if they have the same talents, in many respects they are very different from each other. Read what these players have to say about playing a Warrior. Take what works for you and leave what doesn't. You'll get the idea.

Most importantly, make being a Warrior fun... for YOU!

-Fri

Fun with Warriors: Heroic Strike

2009-04-12T19:49:00.008-05:00

In the Warrior world of late, there's been a lot of chattin' about Heroic Strike. Namely, that's it is a necessary pain in the ass. It is.

So, for our occasional look at Warrior abilities and how to use 'em (from a "casual" perspective?), I figured that it was a timely and useful topic to hit tonight.

I also retitled this "series" to Fun with Warriors . . . There's an excellent blog that now uses the Dummies moniker, so jump over there and check it out. My prattle will wait.

K.

The very first ability a Warrior gets to hit stuffs with is Heroic Strike. I remember my first time playing Friday, my pinky finger hovering over the HS key like I was drinking tea from a posh China cup, and waiting and waiting for the perfect time to smash it. Oh look, my rage bar is full now! I should be safe to sneak in at least one HS. Smack. Better wait for the next one, though. Might need it in an emergency! Them kobalds look nasty!

Nope. Once you've got the Rage, go nuts on it.

This is one of the things that made me love the way Friday fights. Smack it and she jumps up in the air, spins around, and brings her sword down on some poor freak's head. Whap! Love it!

This is an ability you'll use from Level 1 to Level 80 pretty much FOR.EV.ER. Once your rage gets up, just tap HS every swing.

What it does is something every Warrior already knows, since we grow up with it. It hits the bad guy really, really hard. It scales up to Rank 13. Tanks love it because it also piles on a respectable amount of Threat. At Rank 10 (Level 66) it also does extra damage to dazed targets.

Wait? Every Swing?

Yup.

'Spose I should explain a little better than that, eh?

First, in low Rage situations, you won't be using HS much. It overrides the normal damage from your swing (the stuff that shows up white, AKA a "white hit") and converts it into a special attack (the yellow damage). White = more rage. Yellow = no rage.

So when you use HS, you're burning rage and you're burning off your normal regular swing and converting it to a special attack. Hitting HS at the wrong time is the fastest way to Rage Starve yourself.

Example.

You have 20 Rage. You HS, which takes 15 (you can lower this but it's just an example.... sheesh!). You now have 5 Rage, your swing meter has reset and your Global Cooldown is ready. You can't Shield Slam! It needs 20 rage. So you have to wait for that next white hit to come in and give you more rage. Ooops. It only gave you 10 Rage. 'Nother wait. You're now 3 or more seconds in and you still haven't hit with your biggest shot. Your dps and threat are dropping like a stone as everyone around you is smashing bad guys with big hitting instant attacks! Threat WARNING! You look like a twit on Recount! Oh noes!

Rage starvation sucks. Misuse of HS is one of the ways to get there fast.

In my experience, I don't even start until around 50. Probably too conservative, but I despise it when Friday QQs "Not enough Rage!" She'll be bitchin' about being outta mana next... sheesh!

After you've hit your Rage sweet spot, though, you can't hit HS frequently enough. Watch your swing timer and keep HS lit at all times.

Won't that wear out my fingers?

Yes, it will. If you're not replacing your keyboard every few months because you've worn out your HS key, YNDIR. A warrior will usually come out of a dungeon physically exhausted. Or at the very least, with a hand cramp. It's one of the joys and pains of playing this class. :)

It's also the point of contention running among the WoW Warrior community at the moment. Namely that HS is a clunky mechanic that needs some Blizzard love. I disagree that HS is the problem, but the issue itself is certainly valid. One of the things that makes playing a warrior so interesting and entertaining is that you're managing a ton of abilities that have to be executed at just the right time to get good results. The problem is that, of late, it's a bit much. Adding in Heroic Strike makes it a lot much.

To manage it better, most Warriors use macros. You can find many useful ones at Tankspot and WoWwiki's Warrior macros pages.

A simple way is to either hot key HS conveniently, which is a lot of work hitting it every time, or macro it in combo with your basic rotation. For example, most Warriors tanks use Glyph of Revenge, which gives ya a Rage free HS after each Revenge strike. So we use a macro like this:

#showtooltip HeroicRevenge
/cast Heroic Strike
/cast Revenge

As long as you have 15+ rage (sans Improved Heroic Strike), you'll do Revenge and then Heroic Strike back-to-back. Nice and simple, lots of threat, lots of damages. Fun!

Well, because I hate doing macros on account I'm kinda lazy that way...

When I need to start the HS spam I just keep taping Revenge.

The trick is that when Revenge is not up, the macro just lights up HS. When Revenge is up, it does both. Since I'm hitting that key on my swing timer every 1.6 seconds, I don't even have to monitor Revenge. It's gonna go if it's up, it won't if it's not. Either way I get my HS in.

It simplifies things a bit. You do have to put up with your toon whining "That's not ready yet!" constantly, but you can turn that off. :)

There's probably more efficient ways to do it, of course. With this one simple trick, though, I literally more than doubled the number of Heroic Strikes I get in during a fight. I'm sure there's ways to do even better. (See macro sites above.)

Regardless of how you go about it, learn to use HS in high Rage situations. It's your Heroic friend!

-Fri

Casual Friday: Wrong!

2009-04-03T23:40:00.005-05:00

K, everyone who hates being wrong, raise your hand?

I see two of ya that didn't raise your hands... oh, okay, you play Paladins. Carry on.

I 'spect the rest of us actually are wrong occasionally and pretty much hate it.

I'm wrong fairly frequently, but I'm also pretty big on learning. It is, after all, one more method to drag my sorry self out of the wallowing cesspool of ignorance and into the glorious light of not-quite-as ignorant.

Settle down you two, I wasn't talking about that Light.

I got it wrong twice this week.

First, I had convinced m'self through f@!kidy maths that Hit was what I needed to continue my tankish journey of self improvement. WRONG!

Thanks to Darraxus the Warrior for pointing that one out. I did the maths again, this time while mostly awake, and read some stuff from some actual, well, you know... tanks. Sure enough, Expertise is better than Hit. In most cases, way better for a Warrior tank.

So, then I tried to rationalize it that I was whiffing too much and needed the Hit to connect. Well, yah, but after watching my actual combat performance, I'm getting dodged or parried more than I'm whiffing. And guess what solves that problem? Yup. And then after looking at gear for ages, I got it into my little noggin' that there wasn't any decent way for me to GET Expertise at my gear level, so I might as well gear for Hit. Wrong. I biased m'self when I settled on Hit being what I needed, so I automagically focused on that gear and ignored too much else.

All is well, though. Mine eyes hath seen the Glory. I shalt walk the straight and narrow of Expertise and I shalt not question those that doest know better.

K, not really, but pretend with me. I'm having an epiphe... epiffian... epiph... enlightened moment. :)

I also decided it was time to get to healing again, so I got Neveron when some guildies wanted to run their under-80 toons through UK. We had a Pally tank (Tilano), a DK (Violetfury), and a Fury Warrior (Natharan). We also pugged in another Pally.

So, I'm thinking that's just perfect. A little melee heavy, but that won't be much of a problem. I can heal this easy.

Cept our Pally decided to defer to the higher level Pally and let him tank. NP. Prot Pallys punch out more than enough DPS for this instance, and a higher level Pally will be easy peasy to heal. I've healed Prots before. You can sleep through most of the instance.

Ooops. He's not Prot. He's not Ret. He's Holy.

Ah well, plate is plate, right?

WRONG!

I've healed a Fury Warrior as tank and it's exciting. It's pretty much non-stop action from the heals end of things. A Holy Paly tanking is... even more exciting? :) Well, if having a coronary every time he gets crit is exciting, I s'pose.

Anyone who thinks Wrath is too easy just isn't trying hard enough. Try leveling a Holy Priest (with no gear) through Outland and Northrend. Try healing a Fury Warrior, and then go for hard mode with a Holy Pally taking Dark Smash. And both of 'em pulling aggro like a ping-pong ball. I was practically spamming the Holy Frisbee. Sounded like a freakin' pinball machine in there. BING! BING! BING! Easy, my ass.

No, not easy peasy. I was definitely wrong about that.

I learned that Prayer of Mending is your friend. I learned you can spam flash heal very fast if stand up at the keyboard while you yell at the GCD. I learned that the healer, when actually doing their job, doesn't really get to see much of anything except their heal bars. I learned that Pally's don't understand the concept of side run and keeping the bad guy's back to the healer (Gah!) and they don't ever take advice from Holy Priests. Okay, maybe that wasn't actually my bad. :D

Doesn't hurt to be wrong sometimes. Makes us better players. But only if we pull out our heads and fix it. Sometimes a skewed and skewered perspective is just what's needed. Here's to being wrong.

Doesn't mean I have to like it. Or that I wanna be a Pally sometimes. :)

-Fri

Feelin' Lucky?

2009-03-29T13:31:00.005-05:00

Friday is my first toon, as far as I'm concerned. Not technically, mind you. I mentioned before that my very first toon was an Undead Warlock with spiky hair. I thought it was very dark and goth and Punkish. But really, the Forsaken are mostly just grusome and twisted and too Metal for me.

Fri, though technically my second toon, was the one I really got into. So, put simply, that's why she's my main.

Unfortunately, she's also exceedinly unlucky.

RNG? Fuggitaboutit. Loot? None for Fri, thank you. Pick up 20 ears from mob-o-the-week with 44 ears each and with a drop rate of 90%? She'll have to kill 4000 to complete the quest. When I first started playing WoW, I ran VC over and over trying to get a particular sword to drop. Wanted two of them to dual wield. Nadda. Even after it was irrelevant, I kept running her through solo. Cleefy never dropped it for me, not once, that rotten, seaweed sucking, son of murloc bastard. Oh, I've seen it drop. Lots of times. Either didn't win the roll, or was running someone through that needed it.

This use to piss me off. Since maturing as a player, though, I don't even worry about it. If something isn't working I just go back later. Okay, technically I go kill the crap out of something until it's good and dead, let it respawn, and kill it good and dead again, just to take out my frustration. Lately, it's those elite giants that walk along the walls in Icecrown. But it's really the same sorta thing... Maturity = senseless slaughter, right?

What I've gotten better at is learning to do two or three things at once.

So if I can't find Shinys because some asshat Warlock, who runs in and grabs 'em while I'm killing all the giant, annoying snakes lurking about, took 'em all and I'm running around in the hot, steamy jungle in 200 lbs of armor with an idiot savant Shiny finder tagging along behind me... I just herb. Sure it takes me twice as long to complete the quest as most, but I come out of the dialy with 100g of herbs in my bags.

Ya gotta make luck work for ya, even if it's bad luck. :)

So you can imagine my surprise when in one day in HoL, Eternally Folded Blade dropped. Then in the next run (last night), Seal of the Pantheon dropped!

Wicked. :D

And now I are DEF capped enough to start buffing Hit and AP!!! Hooray!

Maybe Fri's luck is changing.

Maybe Alchemist Finklestein will finally just die.

Ah... dreams.

-Fri

* And yes, in that first screenshot those are our bones when our healer got silenced and we wiped on trash. Like that's never happened to you before... :P

Large, Burly Men Picking Flowers

2009-03-22T13:04:00.010-05:00

The big bad Warrior trudges through the icy landscape, cutting a swath through the evil undead with his mighty sword. The enemy seems endless, but our hero fights on. Blood, gore and bits of brains splatter his once pristine armor. Biceps bulging, he chops down two walking corpses with single, powerful blow and looks around for his next target when suddenly...

Ohhhhh! Pretty flowers!

Flower picking and mixing pots may not seem like the most Warriorly of professions, but there isn't a Warrior out there that doesn't use 'em. Whether you make 'em or buy 'em, you'll need to know about those pretty flowers and what wonderful concoctions can be brewed up with them!

I haven't done a lot with Alchemy and Herbalism since Wrath launched. Honestly, it's probably at bottom of the professions as far as interesting goes. Oh, sure we got all the regular stuff. Not much more than that, though.

One addition we did get was how we learn new mixes. Northrend Alchemy Research is a great addition and way better than the BC method of randomly learning a new Pot while making something. Alchemists picked up a neat passive ability called Mixology that doubles the duration and increases the effect of Elixirs, Potions and Flasks. Herbalists picked up Lifeblood, which is a nifty heal. Both are practical and useful skills. I just think both professions offer up the opportunity for some more fun, silly, and unusual applications, as well.

I use the term "pot" to refer to Elixirs, Flasks, and Potions, by the way. They are different and have different uses, but for a generic term, it'll do. I also equate Alchemy with Herbalism. One isn't complete without the other. I understand that you could certainly do one without the other, and that herbalism now supports a second profession. To me, though, the two are one and the same. :)

Herbalism is easy to level. Just pick stuff up off the ground and Ding! you're at level cap. Alchemy isn't terribly difficult either. There is a minor brick wall when you get near the end. You can't level the skill any further unless you do the transmutes. Minor annoyance, because you have to shop for the mats, but not terrible either.

One of the things I've always felt I should be doing with Alchemy and Herbalism is carry around the mats I need and mix on the fly. I never do, though. I usual end up with a big bag full of all sorts of weird crap I've mixed up thinking "Oh yah! I can definitely use that!" and then never actually use. Eventually, I burn them off while questing just to make room for one more stack of [miscellaneous bad guy body part]. So I sat down and made a carry list of stuff I'd actually use.

Brilliant, I know.

This is particularly true for Elixirs, which is the bulk of what you'd be mixing on the run. Potions are too situational, though being able to mix one when you need it just before a fight is handy. Flasks and Transmutes would require carrying too many mats. Most players will only use one type of Flask anyhow, so carrying the mats for them isn't economical, bag space-wise. In most cases, you'd pre-mix the particular Flasks you want and then hand 'em out and consume them prior to going adventuring.

Like me, you'll know you need to switch to carrying mats instead of the finished pot when you're filling a 20-slot bag with bottles of various fluids. Not good. :)

The Pretty Flowers

There are currently eight Northrend herbs. The vials you'll use are the Imbued and Enchanted Vials. A proper alchemist will carry one stack of Imbued pretty much all the time. Anything else, you'll probably only buy containers when you're pre-mixing.

Do you need to carry a particular herb?

I've started carrying enough to make the Elixirs and few pots I need plus anything my guildies might need. We're very magic dependent in Dark Clan, so I frequently need to make stuff to boost mana regen or spellpower and the like. Your mileage will vary, so look at what kind of groups you usually run with and you may be able to drop an herb from your bag.

Frost Lotus - only useful for making your Flasks and Alchemists Stones. Warrior Alchemists will probably end up making two of the latter: Indestructible Alchemist Stone and Mighty Alchemist Stone. I have both cause I don't have a better trinket to replace the Mighty one (damn you Loken!). Flasks always have a special reagent you have to use, like Pygmy Oil or a Crystalized something-or-other. Carrying all the mats would defeat the purpose, so Flasks are usually going to be pre-mix and carry. Basically, not a lot of reason to be carrying around Frost Lotus. Bank it.

Adder's Tongue - an excellent herb to consider carrying. Warrior's will mix up Elixir of Deadly Strikes and Elixir of Expertise. Unless you're capped on these two stats, these pots come in terribly handy. And who couldn't use an Expertise boost? You can also use it to make Elixir of Mighty Agility and Potion of Speed.

Deadnettle - might not carry this one around unless you really, really need to. It's used for Elixir of Lightning Speed, Elixir of Mighty Thoughts, Lesser Flask of Toughness, and Wrath Elixir. For a Warrior, Wrath Elixir is tempting, but there's a better one that doesn't require Deadnettle. You might need it for Elixir of Mighty Thoughts if you run with those magic wielding types a lot. If not, bank it.

Goldclover - Probably should carry two stacks of this. It's the most commonly used Northrend herb and is a reagent for 15! recipes. Nope, not gonna list 'em all. The most common thing you'll use it for is healing pots, of which I prefer Crazy Alchemist Potion. A heal plus a bonus. There's plenty of Warriory Elixirs that use it, too. Just carry it. It's your little yellow friend.

Icethorn - yes and no. If you're not at Def cap, then yes. This and Crystallized Life make Elixir of Mighty Defense, which frankly, you need if you're tanking under cap. The top end healing potion, Runic Healing Potion, also requires this, so if you prefer these you'll need Icethorn. I've never been willing to burn my potion cooldown on situational pots, but if you do, Indestructible Potion is excellent. Otherwise, you can safely bank this one.

Talandra's Rose - this one is worth carrying just for Elixir of Accuracy. Specially if you're like me and the ol' Hit rating sucketh. With this and a bit of Tiger Lily, you can be smacking stuff around properly. If you're packing Deadnettle, as well, your mana using friends will love you for Elixir of Mighty Thoughts and Elixir of Spirit. The best pot heal comes from the Rose. It's called Potion of Nightmares. One of these and a quick bandage will get you back in the action fairly quick. You might be a bit disturbed after, but you at least you'll be fighting quick. :)

Tiger Lily - One of the best. Another you won't want to leave home without. For Warrior's, Elixir of Mighty Strength, for spell casting friends, Spellpower Elixir. If Armor Penetration becomes more important, this one will also do Elixir of Armor Piercing. And, of course, you'll need it for Elixir of Accuracy, mentioned above.

When I know I'll be mixing for a group, I carry:

1 Endless Healing Potion
20 Adder's Tongue
20 Deadnettle
20 Goldclover*
20 Talandra's Rose
20 Tiger Lily

*I always run out of Goldclover, so prolly should start carrying more.

Which is 7 bag slots (including flasks). With these I can make at least 16 pots for a nice buff diversity. Two or three more slots increases that to close to thirty mixes. Much more economical than carrying around the individual pots.

If I'm not planning to be mixing on the move, I carry:

5 Elixir of Accuracy (Battle)
5 Elixir of Mighty Fortitude (Guardian)
5 Flask of Stoneblood (Both)
10 Crazy Alchemist's Potion

Once I'm hit capped, I'd switch to Elixir of Mighty Strength for the Battle Elixir. So, just for m'self I can run around with some nice buffs in only four bag slots. And all are dirt cheap to make for a flower pickin' Warrior.

Don't be ashamed to pause the head bashing for a moment to pick some flowers. Stop and smell the Talandra's Roses. They may laugh at you now, but they'll be kissing your plate-clad behind when it comes time to hand out the pots. :)

-Fri

REDHEDZ RULZ!

2009-03-15T13:18:00.010-05:00

Sorry about the leet. When I see that stuff I always think the person is being silly. Even if they aren't. Which has probably gotten me in trouble a few times, but if you talk that way, you really can't expect much. :) So I always use it silly...

I want to say thank you to Michael Gray over at WoWInsider for linking one my posts! Not my best or even coherent post, but it's still very neat to see Neveron's face on a major WoW site and .... wait a second... Nev?!?

Guys always post the blonde first. Sheesh! :D

Seriously, thank you Michael. The response was amazing, and some very good counters and supporters to what the original post was about. I really like that about blogging. Those last two posts were literally just a brain dump. They were pulled together from various thoughts I'd spewed out in draft. The responses to Michael's post really help refine my thinking on the matter of easy/hard, casual/hardcore. And I think that's a lot of what blogging of this sort is about.

There are plenty of downsides to being in a small family guild. The good outweighs the bad, of course. One of the difficult things is finding something to do when you're not in the mood to do something. When there's lots of people on, it's no problem to just tag along and have some companionship while playing. When there's no one on, or those that are on are doing something else, it's more problematic.

Since my work/life schedule gives me Sunday and Monday off, Saturday night is a good night for me to play. I can stay on a little later and sleep in a bit in the morning. Unfortunately, some people seem to have lives (the nerve!) and actually do things on Saturday night. So last night there's only three guildies on and two of them are puggin' Nexus on thier DK alts.

So I can PuG something m'self, but I'm not feeling in a very sociable mood. Never am after work. At least not where I want to interact with new people. I can run dailies, but when I got tired of that, I dropped down in Icecrown and started smacking elite giants around. Great, but not really into it. So I head out to Scholozar cause I never finished those quests, and it's a paradise for herbalists. But it didn't appeal. I also sat in guild chat and talked the two Nexus runners through a few fights they were having trouble with. Then it occured to me how much fun it use to be to solo dungeons. But none of the Outland stuff is appealing, and old world stuff wouldn't be any challenge at all. Pulling everything at once and killing it is amausing, but only once or twice.

I remembered I said there weren't any really great moments, for me, in BC. But that's not really true and probably a little too flippant. Because there are some great moments, and one of them is Caverns of Time! Escape from Durnholde is an awesome instance. Me and Thrall, tearing through Hillsbrad? Yah, that's sounds good.

So I grab guildie #3, Tilano, a leveling Prot Palladin. At 67 he wasn't going to be much help, but some nice Pally gear drops in there. In Dark Clan we don't have a standing policy against it, but there's a general feeling that Dungeons should be run at level. At bare minimum once, just for the experience and the learning opportunity. So we try not to do "run throughs." But we do occasionally, and in some cases it's quite fun.

CoT: Durn isn't terribly difficult post-nerf. But it's interesting and it is still a fun running fight. At one point I missed a runner and Thrall ran right into the Wave 3 of the initial mobs. He ate it before I could get everything under control. Otherwise, it was a stand and fight affair, but without healing or cc (Til did throw a heal my way every now and then, but a 67 Prot Pally throwing a heal on an 80 Prot Warrior is kinda like peeing on a forest fire), ya do have to pay attention and burn cool downs and self heals in the right order.

I was slightly disappointed with the boss nerfs. I literally was able to stand and tank 'n spank every boss with no danger of dying. The mob waves were more interesting, trying to down and interrupt two or three Wardens at a time, for example. Then the rifle guys give you that Hunter stun and everything aggros on Thrall (or your poor unfortunate Pally guild mate... oops.) As a bonus, I stopped running Outland instances to focus on PvP long before the Achievement system was in place, so doing these over kinda fills in the Achievement list.

I'm gonna try Black Morass next. Not sure I could solo that one, but it'll be fun to try. I know several guildies that don't have the achievement for that one yet, so might be a fun "Saturday Night Drunkcraft," event. Yes... we have Saturday Night Drunkcraft. Most of us don't actually get drunk (most), but it is a great time to get on the headsets and run something silly just for fun. There's usually a lot of laughing, wiping, cursing, off color commentary, and omg brb beer. It's kinda like Mystery Science Theater WoW Edition. Makes a nice break from playing too seriously.

If ya think WoW is too easy, or you get bored with it, there's plenty of ways to make it more interesting. Just because ya CAN do something a certain way, doesn't mean you have to do it that way. Run Heroic Nexus with three mages. Let a Prot Pally heal an instance. Run naked through Deadmines. Basically, make your own Hard Mode. It's a lot more entertaining than Polishing Hodir's Spear, again.

I can't wait to drop that freaky perv in Ulduar. There's motiviation for ya.

-Fri

PS Okay, running VC naked isn't exactly "Hard Mode" but...

Casual Friday: Hardcore and Easy

2009-03-09T19:14:00.000-05:00

I know it's Monday, so the title of this post isn't exactly right. Just work with me here. I'd post it on Friday, but I work those nights. This is a post about "casual" gaming. And I'm Friday. See what I did there? K.

I'm a casual WoW player.

There. I said it.

I never thought of myself as a casual. I'm pretty serious about playing well. K, I'm not particularly talented or anything, but I do study up on fights before I fight 'em... mostly. I practice priorities and rotations. I occasionally turn on Recount to see how I'm doing. I have Omen installed and keep it updated. I'm in a teeny, tiny guild that most nights would rather run alts through quest chain x... again. With the exception of latter, I may be silly sometimes, but I'm pretty serious about my play time. Mainly, I'm a "causal gamer" because I rarely have more than an hour or two to play a night... and, gasp! some nights not. at. all. Horrible, I know.

So what?

I may be casual WoW player by some standards, but I also have something many hardcore players seem to lack... I actually enjoy playing the game. It's not a job for me and if something or someone frustrates me in the game, I go do something else. That's actually kind of nice. I really, really don't want another job.

I thought about the no pain, no gain argument, of course. I mean you should have to work to get what you want. But... This is entertainment. Seriously. There's a difference between working hard and long hours to feed your kids and grinding the same instance 40 times for enough badges to buy a virtual sword. One is necessary and done with the expectation that it won't always be pleasent. The other is for fun. Getting there should be fun. So the no work, no gain argument doesn't hold for me. If you're working for it in game, it should be entertaining at the same time.

This all got me thinking about two things that I read about elsewheres around the Interwebs pretty much every, freakin' day.

First, that Wrath is too easy. Second, casual vs. hardcore players. There's been a ton written about both, and today I have the mildly burning need to chime in on the matter. I'll see a doctor about it tomorrow. Maybe those Argent Crusade legs are chaffing a bit.

Has Wrath really made the game easier? People that claim this sound like noobs. Not a big fan of that word, but seriously, anyone that claims Wrath is too easy either has a really bad memory or is completely new to the game. Of course it's easier!

For one, a huge portion of the WoW player base is experienced now. Very.

I remember level 5, taking my shiny new Warrior self out for a spin, and getting "pwn'd" by a buncha Defias nothings while trying to gather grapes. Repeatedly. Now I can take a shiny new level 5 Warrior and blow through that quest in five minutes. Easy peasy. Did those quests get too easy???

In a way, yes. There's been general nerfs to xp gained. By nerf I mean the xp went up. So you level faster, which makes you tougher, which makes questing easier. Dungeon bosses also have been nerfed serveral times to make them easier by lowering thier health. Even some wild mob bosses got nerfed. (Thankfully, the left Hogger alone... but of course, you can grind the extra level you need to solo him in, what, 30 minutes?)

More important, though, I got more experienced. I know how much a Warrior can take. I know how to use my stances. I know when to damage and when to defend. I know how to use all of the Warrior abilities, in the right order, to get the job done. I know how to pull. I know which target to take out first. I know what to do when a caster and minion are tossing fireballs at me.

My very first character was an Undead Warlock. (No, not Friday.) I spent a good portion of those opening quests dying(again) a lot while trying to level my dagger skill! I figure, if they gave it too me, it must be important! Yah, when I rolled a new warlock not too long ago, just for grins, I didn't bother. Just nuke 'em till they glow. Yah, it's "easier."

It's more than just having the quest memorized. When in Northrend, we also know quest mechanics. True, Wrath added a few new hitches, but those are mostly fun or annoying. The basics are the same. I can look at a cave full of mobs and know that I need to pull here, but over here I can Charge, and over there I need to close with and shut down that caster first, and right over there is the best place to pull that group so that elite doesn't aggro, and so on.

If I didn't know these things, these quests would be hard. Killing gnolls standing around a campfire in Westfall is pretty much the same as killing harpies floating around a tree in some frozen ravine in Storm Peaks. The gnolls kicked my big round ass several times, repeatedly. The harpies can't touch me. And it's not my not-so-wicked quest/crafted armor saving me. I just know how to do that kind of quest.

I still see dead bodies scattered around Northrend frequently. My first impression is, "WTF? How could you die on this quest? It's a freakin' buffalo!" But if you just stand in front of the buffalo and repeatedly hit Heroic Strike... well, you're gonna die when that wolf you didn't notice bites you in the ass.

The only other thing I'd point out here is that most people started Wrath after playing BC for most, if not all, of it's run. So you get to Northrend and yah, with gear that'll last you until 75-77, it's going to be fairly easy unless you're a complete doof. It's a lot more challenging if you blast through 58-68 (and not even finish a single zone!) and hit Northrend in Outland quest greens. It's actually balanced pretty well. It's not nearly as annoyingly difficult as some points in vanilla WoW, but it's not blow through it easy either. And more important, there's less figuring out how it's done (which you should already know) and more about being involved in what's going on. I like that a lot.

Northrend isn't too easy. We're just better. The design is better. So the counter argument is, "That just means Blizzard needs to make it harder! That's the point!" We'll yes, that's a point, but it doesn't mean that at all.

Blizz has a tried and true method for questing. It works. Mess with it too much and it stops working. There's only so much you can do inside those mechanics. Wrath is a huge leap forward in that regard. Some of the new mechanics work, but they really just add a touch of variety.

Blizz has gotten a step closer to perfecting their quest model. Quests that become available only when you've finish a prior set, instead of popping up at level. Quest chains that flow together better. Popping all quests for a related area in roughly the same place, instead of having to run around and gather them. Much nicer and more focus on actually doing the quests instead of worrying about which one to do. That's not making things easier, that's making things make sense.

Most of the Wrath is too easy arguments boil down to a dumbing down of quests and dungeons/raids. Please!

What would be "harder?" Tougher mobs? Within the quest model that doesn't make it harder, just astonishingly frustrating. Or maybe having mobs tighter packed where you can't move two feet in any direction without aggro'ing half the world. Oh wait, that would be World of Terokkar Forest. Gak!

Better mechanics? Sure, that would be great. Here's my thing, though... I've been sitting here for ten minutes tryin' to remember the most memorable quest chain or experience in Burning Crusade. Nothing. Maybe a few neat bits in Nagrand and Shadowmoon... Bonewastes with it's boss for every occasion (carried over in large part into Wrath)...

I remember many in original WoW. Little Pamela, anyone? And there's tons of "moments" that are amazing in Wrath. Maybe BC just didn't appeal to me as much. Probably, actually. Playing through it again on my Priest, though, it seems like there's a lot of grinding and quest-to-quest with nothing important happening.

Progression? Okay, originally it was very hard. Also mostly time based. I really have no problem with some things not being accessible to every player. "End game" stuff should be enjoyable by everyone, but there should be more beyond that. Those that can spend six hours a night, six days a week should definitely have stuff in the game for them, and yes that includes exclusive rewards and content. That's awesome. I'd play that much if I could!

But should that be the focus of the game? No. Absolutely not. The focus of the game should be on creating better and better (not harder or easier) experiences for the 11 million other players in the game. Top tier WoW raiding and PvP should become the sideline. The domain of the few and the proud. But not the primary focus of the game, nor the wish of every player.

Now we have a major patch coming through that was discouraging at first because the huge focus is going to be on one single "end game" raid. But you'll be able to do it 10-man style. The hard modes will be there. Sorry, but it's a brilliant solution to give "hard modes" for hard core gamers and normal modes for everyone else. More content open to more players without extending development time. Pretty slick idea. Still, a new raid wasn't terribly exciting regardless of it's cool factor.

No, Blizz has it covered. The Argent Tournament is, hands down, going to be the biggest addition to the game in 3.1. Yah dual spec will be neat. Some other additions. But this'll still be hot when Ulduar's not and long after we're saying "hey remember when you couldn't dual spec? Ah good times." Despite my QQ, I should have a little more faith. This looks like so much fun, for hard core and casual WoWers, it really should be overshadowing the new raid by a long shot. Most news that comes out about WoW is oriented toward hardcore gamers, but it's stuff like this that pays the bills at Activision. Expect to see more of it. I'm thinkin' it's gonna be awesome.

-Fri

PS I'm sticking the random pictures in this post now. And yes I changed the site again and hate it. I'll keep working on a new, more Spring/Summer design. Valentine's Day will have to work for now.

Does DPS Matter?

2009-03-02T18:53:00.005-06:00

Yes.

Kinda sounds like a silly question. The problem is, there's a significant number of players that don't understand the answer.

Yes, DPS is obviously important. Not enough AND too much.

I've played DPS for probably, oh, 90% of my WoW time. Tanking and healing these last couple of months have broadened my perspective on those two jobs, and provided some interesting personal insight into the role of DPS. I'm not terribly good at either, comparatively speakin'. But I'm learning some things about both. For example, despite how nonchalant they usually are about it, it's REALLY annoying when DPS pulls off the tank.

I'm not talking about the tank missing the pickup and DPS getting clobbered because of it. I'm not talking about a tank trying an instance they aren't ready for. I'm talking about DPS not paying attention to what's going on, between the tank and the healer particularly, and pulling aggro because of it.

This is where the "you need to hold aggo, you need better gear, dps needs to be as high as possible" QQ crowd get annoying. There's a huge difference between a tank that can't hold aggro and a tank that isn't allowed to hold aggro. Massive difference. Most of the time, it has nothing to do with gear. It always has to do with someone, somewhere not paying attention to what's going on.

With a few very specific exceptions aside, though, the vast majority of these situations result in DPS not knowing what's going on with the tank and the healer. The tank simply may not have the option (cool downs, sudden target priority shift, etc) to be able to put more threat up on your target. Time to back off. The healer may suddenly be faced (due to AoE or some spell killing gimmick) with a party down to quarter health. G'head and pull aggro in that situation. Not fun.

Why DPS Matters

One time, at band camp... um... Gundrak, I mean... I'm in a PUG with a Fury Warrior. He struts in all decked out still in his t5/t6 gear. We have a DK tank, a Mage and I'm DPSing as Arms in Northrend quest greens and blues. On the second pull in, I pull aggro off the tank with a Bladestorm. Just one mob. I shut everything down quickly. Tank re-established aggro with AoE and it was fine. I don't think anyone even noticed. And I started giving it an extra beat or two before I hit Bladestorm. DPS was fine for that instance. Taking it down a notch was well within acceptable range. Easy enough.

My dps, however, is running significantly behind the Fury Warrior. And I'm starting to watch the other Warrior closer and, sure enough, he's pulling at least one mob off the tank on every pull. About 8 pulls in, he eats it. Major face plant from a Whirlwind too early. Pulled all four mobs on himself and the healer barely had time to register the change before Fury boy was dead as a doornail. DK is cool, though. He re-establishes aggro, and me and the mage finish the pull.

So we're waiting for the other warrior to rez and he says, "Damn Friday don't you ever Bladestorm?"

Tempted to pull out Recount and show him how I'd Bladestorm on every single pull, but I resisted. Instead I says, "Of course! :D I just try not to do it too early. Otherwise, I might pull aggro and die. That would be embarrassing."

He kept his epeening mouth shut for the rest of the run.

All players have to understand is why DPS matters, not just that it does matter. The first is obvious: To get those mobs and bosses dead. Without sufficient DPS, your healer will run out of mana. When the healer runs outta mana, the tank runs out of health. Very bad things happen at that point.

The tank will control the mob's basic behavior. Aggro and positioning, being the two main jobs for the tank. But there's another level of control that is solely in the hands of DPS. This is the part where a lot of player's understanding falls apart.

The second reason DPS matters is that only the DPS team has control of the speed of the encounter. Too little is bad, but too much is usually worse. If DPS generates too much threat, either through direct attacks or AoE, they'll pull aggro. This in turn forces the healer to heal harder, increasing the healer's threat and burning through mana. As this is happening, the tank has to attempt to recover control over her aspect. Which means less threat put to general uses, burned cooldowns, and a general loss of control. That compounds the problem because the threat threshold on other targets, from the healer and DPS on the proper target, gets narrower and narrower.

Either the healer is going to pull because he's healing both the tank and a DPSer, or the healer is going to pull because the tank is slowly losing control, or the other DPS are going to pull, forcing more threat onto the healer, and sucking the mana right out.

That's the basic recipe for a huge majority of wipes.

Now, again, I'm not talking about situations where the tank screws up on the pull. Nor am I talking about situation where the tank just can't control the mobs. In both those cases, it's pretty cut and dry. Those kinds of wipes are very apparent. Either the tank is in an instance they aren't leveled/geared for, or they need to pull their head out their plate clad ass.

In my first run in Halls of Lightning, a PuG, we wiped like five times on the first boss. Gah! Three times were because someone wasn't paying attention, got to close to his path and pulled. Sigh. The other two times, though, were all me. I wasn't picking up the two adds he carried with him. It was horribly apparent what was going on. Yah, I felt like a noob. I pulled me head out, nabbed the two adds, and wham he went down smooth. You learn, you adapt.

DPS doing it wrong, though, doesn't have an immediate effect. It causes a cascading effect that ends in a wipe. It's easy, in these cases, to blame the tank or healer. The whiners will either blame the healer for not healing them ("Why were you taking melee damage in the first place?") or the tank for not holding aggro ("Why were you hitting the star when the skull is still up?") But when these situations occur, I guarantee it is NEVER EVER the healer or tank's fault. It's always DPS hit something that they weren't suppose to be hitting either directly or indirectly.

What all DPS (yes, I include myself) has to understand:

The group revolves around the tank/healer dynamic.

YES! And yes, the healer and tank aren't going anywhere without the DPS. And vice versa. The problem isn't teamwork. If the teamwork thing isn't there, no one's going anywhere anyway. That's entirely different post. You can't even get to proper teamwork, though, until DPS understands what's going on between the tank and the healer.

DPS Plate posted this ten commandments for all DPS melee folks. Actually most of it applies to ranged DPS as well. It's been much linked and I'm doing it again here because it's perfect. All of the in combat commandments are directly tied to the healer/tank.

Here's how healer/tank relationship applies to DPS and why:

1. The more damage you take, the more threat the healer generates. This in turn closes the threat gap between the healer and the tank. Believe me, there is nothing more terrifying for a tank than tabbing to a mob and seeing your healer's picture. That's panic time for a tank. I assure you, if building threat to put distance between herself and her healer means letting you, as DPS, eat it... well, we'll rez you after. Yes, a tank knows when you pull aggro, pretty much instantly, and yes, sometimes she'll let you have it if it means keeping her healer alive a few more seconds.

2. A good healer will heal the tank first. That's nothing personal. A good healer knows that if the tank goes down, the fight is done. They also know that many fights will finish successfully with one of the DPS down. Oh, and all those mobs you're not hitting hard? Guess where they're gonna aggro when the tank dies? Yah. So there's a little self preservation in the healer's priorities there.

3. Both of the above tie directly into the innate understanding between healers and tanks: namely, if one dies, the other dies. If the tank and healer die, your survivability as DPS drops dramatically. Thus, it is very much DPS's job to keep the healer and tank alive. See also, ten commandments linked above.

"If the tank dies, it's the healer's fault. If the healer dies, it's the tank's fault. It DPS dies, it's their own damn fault."

That glib saying is humorous, if not entirely accurate, but there a measure of truth to it, as well. DPS has to understand what's going on with the tank and healer. These two jobs are incredibly intense (yes, I can say from experience, way more so than DPS). If DPS is aware what's going on, they can make everything run smoother. Here's some thoughts:

1. Pay attention to the over all group health. If your healer is about to switch to group healing, your tank is going to get less. Compensate by doing everything you can to buy the healer and tank some time. Your recount rank be damned.

2. Pay attention to what your tank is hitting. When you switch targets, you should know at a glance how hard you can hit without pulling aggro. Your tank/healer don't give a f@#$ about your DPS ranking. To them, dead DPS = zero DPS. Your job is to kill stuffs. Their job is to keep you alive long enough to do it.

3. Know what your DPS is before you go into the dungeon. Then turn your DPS meter off. (Recount, for example, keeps working in the background, even if it's not visible.) There's nothing more annoying to a tank or a healer than someone popping a DPS meter into /p after a wipe. Fat lot of good that giant DPS did, eh? More important, you can analyze your DPS after the run. Then you'll know better where to make adjustment to your rotations for next time. If you're analyzing your DPS performance in combat, YDIW!

4. Related... your tank (and probably your healer) will know what your DPS is. If it's not enough, they'll letcha know. If it's too much, they'll letcha know that too. Don't worry about it. Get in there and kill stuff as fast as possible WHILE keeping yourself and everyone else alive. Your threat meter is WAY more important than your DPS meter. Always. No exceptions.

5. Know when to back off. Know when to pour it on. Slap the right gear on a blind monkey and he'll hit high on the DPS charts. Yah, I'm looking at you DKs. :P Which, again, is solely dependent on threat on target. Turn off the DPS meter, turn on the Threat meter.

Good DPS kills stuffs. Awesome DPS kills stuff properly. Being awesome DPS revolves entirely around understanding that the tank/healer relationship is more than just topping off her health bar and keeping the bad guys off him. It's for another post, but there's a lot more going on between a really excellent healer and an awesome tank. DPS is an integral part of that relationship.

The best DPS I've ever seen are the ones you barely notice unless you're looking for it. Yah, they're scoring high on the charts. That Frost Mage that can in combat cc at just the right moment to mitigate the spell damage coming in on the tank. The Arms Warrior that can hamstring the right mob in an emergency. The Rogue that peals off to keep sap up. The DK that Death Grips that wayward caster who's targeting the healer, pulls the mob to the tank and then backs off enough that the tank instantly pulls aggro. The Hunter or Lock who can off tank effectively with their pet/minion when everything goes to hell. All of which hurts their raw DPS number.

Those are Awesome DPSers.

They do it without a lot of recognition. Be that DPSer, anyway. And tanks and healers should notice and appreciate it more vocally. I always personally thank my healer or tank at the end of a run. I've made it a point lately to thank those DPSers, regardless of where they are on the DPS chart, who are doing it right because they understand the entire group dynamic, not just the "hold 'em still, heal, and kill 'em fast" part.

It is appreciated. :)

-Fri

Meet Friday and Neveron

2009-03-01T12:51:00.010-06:00

Pix tagged me for another of these. This one looks like fun, too. He did his as an interview with the toons, so I'm swiping that idea. :) Here goes.

1. What is your name, and where did it come from?

Friday: Friday Anne Macfay. My mother is a little odd. I was born on a Saturday. I get my love (and bit of skill I have) of herbalism from her. She said she just liked the way "Friday" sounds better than Saturday. "Betty" or "Jane" just never occurred to her.

Neveron: Neveron Galdis Tuustale. Friday twisted my family name to Tuesday to match hers when we were kids. It kinda stuck. Everything with Friday kinda twists (to her own worldview) and sticks (she wears her helmet too tight). And yes, her mother is a "bit" odd.

2. How old are you, and what is your birthday?

Friday: I'm 24. My birthday is just before Hollow's Eve.
Neveron: I'm 26. My birthday is the first day of Brewfest. Shuddap, Fri.
Friday: I thought that was when you were conceived?
Neveron: I shall smite thee mightily.
Friday: :P

3. Are you in love, and with whom?

Friday: King Wrynn. Hubba-hubba
Neveron: /blush
Friday: She loves Sven. You know, the hot guy with the tent out in Duskwood?
Neveron: FRIDAY! I do not!
Friday: /grin He does have a nice tent.
Neveron: OMG
Friday: K, sheesh. You don't love Sven. /w But she really does.
Neveron: /blush

4. What is your favorite mount, and why?

Friday: I've only ever had four mounts.
Neveron: Not what I heard.
Friday: Ha! :P Anyhoo, I have my first pony, Charlie. And my black warhorse, Bruce. And then I have two birds, one really awesome jet black but slow, and one really really fast. I don't really need any more. They poop a lot.
Neveron: Wow. That was gross, thanks. I just want to get the pheonix mount some day. I know priests aren't suppose to lust after things...
Friday: 'Cept Sven.
Neveron: Grrrrr. Ahem. That's just a really beautiful mount.
Friday: I'll tell ya what else is a beautiful...
Neveron: /facepalm
Friday: Nevermind. :)

5. Do you prefer a certain type of Azerothian meal, and where do you get it from?

Friday: Spicy Crawdads. Chocolate Cake. I make and fish the crawdads, m'self. I mooch chocolate cake where it may be found. No chocolate cake shall survive my awesome tankness. I can tank the hell out of a chocolate cake. I'm hungry now.
Neveron: /eyeroll Had to get her started on the cake, didn't ya? I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I've actually developed a taste for fish sticks. Someone needs to invent mac and cheese.
Friday: What?
Neveron: No idea where that came from. Probably your mother.
Friday: Hey, that's not... Okay, yah, prolly.

6. You know those giant mushrooms in Zangarmarsh? What is your theory on how they came to be, and why are they so huge?

Neveron: Friday went through there one time and she's so full of sh...
Friday: Hey! You're a Priestess of the Light, you can't talk like that.
Neveron: I can also melt someone's face off.
Friday: Okay. So you can talk like that.

7. If you saw the Lich King walking toward you, what would you do?

Friday: Tank him.
Neveron: He would die.
Friday: He took everything from our people. We'll be back to reclaim it after I stick my sword up his...
Neveron: We're not really big fans, if you can't tell.

Neveron: We've got to go.
Friday: Ya.
Neveron: Sorry, I've got an appointment.
Friday: With Sven? /grin
Neveron: No! I've got to have communion.
Fruday: With Sven.
Neveron: And then get to bed!
Friday: With Sven!
Neveron: /blush Stop it, I wasn't kidding about smiting mightily.
Friday: WITH SVEN!

Neveron storms out.

Friday: She loves him. :)
---

Edit: furgot to pick blogs to pass it on to: Weryl, Brackarn, and H. Ready.... steady.... go!

The 6th(s)

2009-02-22T12:45:00.009-06:00

This is kinda fun. Pix(Lelissa) at Pixelated Executioner tagged me for that 6th folder/6th pic thing going around. TY! (Click link, read all about Arms Warrior goodness and some great fiction as well!)

I don't actually have a 6th folder. I only have two screenshot folders. One is all pre-Wrath, and one started a few months before Wrath. I've no clue how they're sorted, so also gonna assume it doesn't matter. So to bend the rules a bit, a grabbed the 6th pic out of those two. I dunno what the rules are, anyway, so if this is a YDIW situation please let me know.

I'll still do it my way, of course, but you can let me know if ya like. :)

Unfortunately, nothing terribly exciting. No major raid bosses downed or massive achievements gotten. Fun, though, since I ended up spending an hour going through my old screenshots. Ah, memories... :)

Un'Goro days. Everything's so GREEN! Me and Violetvega... and Voldar is around somewhere. This was when I was in an even smaller family guild than Dark Clan. It was called the Defenders of Blackstone. No idea why. DC would have just started w/ Vi and Vo as founding members. This would been early 50s, maybe? Finally got a little payback on those stinkin' dino elites running around in there. And to think, now-a-days, hunters tame those! Tanked sans heals as Arms, btw, ftw! :D

Solo in Scholo again. A bit before Wrath I was sick of Outlands. So I decided to knuckle down and finish off that last bit of Argent Dawn rep. Which meant running Scholo and Strath over and over and over again. I thought the short hair was cute w/ that armor, but turned out to be just a phase. I did create an alt, a Rogue named Rowen, that looks exactly like that, though. She's hanging in Goldshire, I think. On the upside, it got me tons of greens to send to Neveron (my Priest) to DE for mats, which quick leveled her enchanting. Birds and stones, ya know?

Not far off from Argent Knight now. :D

What I like about these two pictures is the illustration of how our lil' toons get all grown up. From funny headgear and no pants hoping around the jungle, to decked out in black glowy armor like a bad girl. Will that S1 armor ever not look hot? Prolly not.

K, I'm spose to pick six bloggers to pass this on too. So... I pick...

One WoW Warrior
ORLY Factor
Paladinner
Tankette's Rambles
Azerothian Files
World of Furycraft

With the exception of Tankette's, I picked people I haven't seen a post from in a bit. :) Though I prolly picked a few that have already been picked. Easy post though...

Have fun and happy adventures!

-Fri

Warrior Love!

2009-02-15T18:52:00.005-06:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful "Love is in the Air" event and hope you found the love you wanted, be it a dark and mysterious Death Knight, some phat lootz, or that hot guy/girl in some far flung region of Azeroth that you'll never see again.) :D