Saturday, September 20

Journey to the Grim Guzzler

[Update: As Andrea points out in the comments below, just take a right when you enter BRD, kill the three Dark Irons, click the box, pull the handle, and you'll end up right in front of Coren. Sheesh! If you need the exercise, though, keep reading. -Fri]

It's BREWFEST! Yeah!

Not my all time favorite Azerothian holiday (that'll be coming in October), but it sure is a fun one. And Bliz was kind enough to enhance it a little bit from last year. This year, ya gotta go after a boss in Blackrock Depths to get a cool mount. Or a lusty bar wench to help out by throwing beer at your enemies. I'm not much into mounts (me and Bruce have been together way too long), but a combat companion that tosses beer stiens? Too fun!

When I was but a wee lil' Warrior I blew past BRD. Only went in there at level twice, I think. Never even got half way through, and definately never got to The Grim Guzzler. That's where the Brewfest boss you have to kill is located. Nice bar, too, if you like 'em shady and with booze that'll literally sets you on fire. My kinda place. :)

Anyhoo, since then I located it, of course. But it took awhile. I ran through BRD for hours trying to find it. Didn't have the Shadowforge Key, either. So I finally figured out a needed that, and then I spent another good while wandering around in the Depths until I stumbled onto the bar. Then awhile after that I stumbled out. By the way, don't try crossing those bridges over all that lava while you're hammered four different ways from Tuesday. Not Good. :P

So, for Brestfest this year I thought I'd share the route in pictures and video. These aren't great, but they'll getcha there if you've never been. Don't forget to sneak behind the bar and sample some of the Brewmaster's experiments. Strongest booze in the game. Wow.

Directions to the Grim Guzzler

These direction assume you have the Shadowforge Key. I'm kinda also assuming you know how to get to Blackrock Depths. In the screenshots and video, I've cleared some mobs to make it easier to get through. In particular, just before you enter the Guzzler, there's four elite fire elementals that hit pretty hard. Pull 'em two at a time and they aren't too much trouble.

You don't have to fight your way through everything unless you really wanna. At level 70, the aggro circle is pretty small and you shouldn't need to fight too much. Watch out, though. Most mobs in here run when they get low on health. Don't let 'em get away or you'll have a real fight on your hands.

And yah, I made a wrong turn in the video. Bite me. :P



Detention Block

From the entrance to the dungeon, go straight forward into the large cavern.

Take the left most tunnel.

Use the Shadowforge Key to open the East Garrison door.

East Garrison

On the lower level of East Garrison, unlock the door above by right clicking
on the giant lock mechanism in the lower portion of the room.
It's like Tomb Raider on easy mode!

Go up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs go leftish (northeast) and follow the passage.

The door should now be open. Continue down the passage to the next room.

West Garrison

Take a right and turn into the passage on the right, heading north.

The Manufactory

Go straight across the room until you get past the last pillar.
Directly ahead will be Golem Lord Argelmach.

Turn right (east) and head for Shadowforge City

Cross the bridge, take out the fire elementals and go into the Grim Guzzler.

The Grim Guzzler

The Grim Guzzler, Lower Level.

Coren Direbrew.

The Grim Guzzler, Upper Level

Don't forget to kill some mobs on your way out, if you're in the mood. They drop Dark Iron Scraps for Argent Dawn rep, and Dark Iron Residue for Thorium Brotherhood rep. The Brotherhood's rep vendor is located here in the Grim Guzzler, as well.

Happy Brewfest!

-Fri

Sunday, September 7

Building a Better Arms Warrior, Round 1

It's that time... :)

Time to start looking at that old MS Arms build and begin retro-fitting it for Patch 3.0. I know, things will still change between now and then. But it's not much longer. I hope.

I'm sure there's plenty of discussion and Warrior theory crafting going on out there. And I ain't gonna read it. I'll do it m'self thank you. :) Well, okay, I'll read it eventually. But for now I'm gonna have fun with some of the changes and new stuff and not let some stuffy number cruncher ruin it for me.

These are the builds I've come up with. Two are just for fun to try stuff out. Probably day one and day two builds after 3.0 goes live. The third is probably closer to what I'll end up with for awhile.

For reference: The original MS Arms Build

STANDARD WRATH SPOILER WARNING
If ya don't want ANYTHING about Wrath, then don't read any further.

Fun Build

This one is just to test out some of the new stuff. It does not take the new bleed stuff, but otherwise gets most of the new Arms changes. This isn't for testing or anything. It's just to take some of it out for a spin and have some fun.

Bleed Build

This one is trying out all the new bleed effects and boosts. Is Rend a viable tool now? Maybe. I'm not reading that formula very well, but it looks like it's based on AP, Weapon Damage, and Weapon Speed??? And if you Enrage it's even better??? If so, gonna hafta to play with combinations of bleed effects and Enrage stuff to see how big it can be. I'm thinking this is gonna work. We're gonna find out very soon.

New MS Arms Build

Iron Will is now 3 talent points instead of 5. Forces taking one of the usually skipped over 2/3 pointers. For utility, I went with Improved Thunderclap for 2 points. Some may prefer a couple points in Improved Heroic Strike. I've never needed Improved Charge, but if you're having trouble with Rage at the start of a fight, it might work.

Because Impale and Deep Wounds have switched places, you're no longer required to take Deep Wounds. While it'll probably be awesome for a Bleed Warrior build, I'm skipping it for now to put points elsewhere.

Death Wish is, of course, gone and replaced with Sweeping Strikes. I think this is gonna be great, but we'll see. Anyhoo, ya have to take it to get to Mortal Strike so in it goes. Mortal Strike without the one second cool down? Gonna take some getting use to. Compensated for by increasing the damage.

Blood Frenzy moved way down the tree. Since I'm not taking Deep Wounds, won't need it anyhow. Not sure if Strength of Arms will be worth it or not, but I'm not going to say no to 4% more Strength and Health. Took it.

One of the biggest changes for MS Warriors? Toughness and Last Stand bump down a tier. Ouch! Incite is great, but doesn't help this build much. It'd bump up Thunderclap a bit, and if you went with Improved Heroic Strike instead it might be worth considering. Anticipation, on the other hand, looks pretty groovy. As good as Toughness? Probably not, but in addition to Toughness it'll certainly do. Take Toughness for 4 as well, though, on account of the nifty new ability to reduce the effect of movement hampering abilities. I like!

Debated very hard about taking Sudden Death. And if the build ends up Rage heavy, it'll be worth it. For now, though, I'm gonna stick with Toughness. The movement thingie is just too tasty.

So, over all I think MS Warriors are getting a win out of this one, so far. Not nearly the beefy upgrades others have seen, but we're already pretty beefy. Yah, I'd like to see more and maybe we will. But for 3.0, it'll do. And no QQ, this time. :)

So... whatcha got planned for 3.0???

-Fri

PS And yah, I'm adding complete random and unrelated pictures to my posts because... I can. :P