Class Officer Input

In my guild, Rogue Angels, I'm the Druid Class Officer. I have been for some time now, although not much has been required of me...or any of the other class officers for that matter...until now...

Our Guild recently expanded and raid time has become a nightmarish tell-hell for our Guild Leader and Raid Leaders while they are trying to form proper raid composition, send out invites, get to the raid location, think, etc. So, our GM has asked what he needed to ask a long time ago...that we Class Officers step up and take some of the responsibility. Our new duties are to:

1. Talk with each member of our class and get to know them.
2. Find out their raiding goals.
3. Evaluate their gear and experience level to ascertain where they fit in raids (i.e. Kara, ZA, 25 mans, etc.).
4. Advise on gear upgrades, talent specs, enchants, etc.
5. Coordinate who gets in what and which raid.

All that seems pretty easy, but I thought I'd ask you all...what would you want from your Class Officer? We're still a casual raiding guild; meaning we raid 3-4 times a week for 4 hours. However, we are needing to get a bit more serious about coordination and the gear/experience level of those we take as we venture into 25 man raids. So...just so I can make sure I'm not forgetting an important aspect of helping my fellow guildie Druids...gimme input!

Added to Blog Roll

After seeing Adventures in Azeroth's post today, I decided that updating my blog roll would be a more productive means of procrastination on the post I'm thinking about then just surfing. So, I've added quite a few new...or, at least, new to my site...Druid blogs. Sadly, a lot of them I've had on my Google Reader for some time...they just hadn't yet made it here. Be sure to check them all out!

Also, I didn't go through and cull the ones that have been inactive. I guess I'm hoping they will come back and post more.

Powershifting

Patch 2.3 brought us the ability to instantly switch forms or, for this article switch to the same form, thereby enabling us to Powershift!

Powershifting Explained

On the first tier of the Resto...yes, I said Resto...tree is a talent called Furor. With 5 points spent in this talent, you get a 100% chance of gaining 10 rage when shifting to Bear form and 40 energy when shifting to Cat form.

Powershifting is when a Druid takes advantage of the energy/rage gained by shifting out and back in to the same form.

First off, I know I mostly write about the tanking aspect of our Feral abilities, but powershifting is mainly used in our kitty form. However, if you're rage starved, powershifting works for Bear form as well, so we will discuss both.

Powershifting Tools

Before we get into the dynamics of powershifting for Cat and Bear, lets first cover some tools to help you optimize your powershifting.

Since shifting forms requires mana, it is a must that you have some sort of add on that shows you how much mana you have. Let me tell you, it's quite embarrassing to be in the heat of battle, being awesome with your powershift skills, and then oops, you go to powershift and don't have enough mana to go back into form...then you have to stand there...in all our Cow-ish (or Elf-sih) glory, beating on the mob with your staff, and praying that Omen of Clarity procs before anyone sees you out of form. I can tell you with all certainty that when that happens...Omen of Clarity does not proc. Ever.

A few addons to help you keep an eye on your mana are Druid Bars, Simple Druid Bar, or Metahud, which is what I use (although I've noticed the mana bar is a bit buggy sometimes). I'm sure there are many other addons that show our mana bar while in form that you can look for so, experiment with several until you find one that you like.

Along with having a visual of your available mana pool, knowing when your next energy 'tick' is up is beneficial as well. We generate 20 energy every 2 seconds (if you search energy on WoWwiki, they say 30 energy every 2 seconds...I wish!!!). Since we want to optimize our energy gained and spend as little mana as possible, knowing if you're at the beginning or end of that 2 second tick in imperative. Some addons for keeping an eye on that 'tick' are Energy Watch v2, Energy Watch Countdown, or Energy Ticker. I haven't yet found my preferred mod for this as I'm still experimenting.

Powershift Cat!

Shifting out and back into Cat form gives you 40 energy. This is not instant, though, as I've found there is a bit of delay, about 1 second, from when you powershift to when that precious 40 energy shows up on your bar. Since we normally gain 20 energy every 2 seconds; powershifting gives us twice as much energy in half the time. Basically, it's a 30 energy gain if you're at the beginning of your energy tick and a 20 energy gain if you're at the end.

This extra energy can boost your DPS. I'll quote from Elitist Jerks Feral Druid Mega Thread:

Over the course of two minutes or so, you should easily get around 125 energy (5 shifts worth, minus a few per shift for "imperfect" shifts) if you pay attention. 125/42 = ~3 extra shreds (126). 3 shreds at around 1500 damage each = 4500 extra damage without crits, or ~10000 damage with (40-80 DPS or so), plus 3-6 combo points (probably another 20-30 dps on it's own). Total DPS gain of around 70-80 or so, which is pretty nice.

An increase of 70-80 damage per second over a 2 minute period is very nice! Granted, do to mana, you won't be able to powershift every time you're at zero energy on long boss fights, but you will still be able to boost your DPS output considerably.

For me, if I'm at the beginning of an energy tick, I don't mind powershifting if I have 10 or less energy. However, if I'm at the end of the tick, it doesn't seem worthwhile unless I'm at or dang close to zero.

The macro for powershifting in cat form is very simple:

/cancelform
/cast cat form
/y Powershift Cat!

The last line is optional and only adds a bit of silliness to, what I consider, a serious DPS increasing maneuver. It's fun to use in PvE, however I would advise against it while PvPing unless you just feel it necessary to taunt the enemy and see if they can 'catch' you in that split second of vulnerability.

Powershift Bear!

You should rarely need to use powershifting in Bear form. The times that I have found it to be beneficial are when I'm rage starved, rooted, or needing a healing potion/healthstone.

When your in a situation where your not generating enough rage, powershifting can give that little boost to help keep aggro. This typically happens if you have over 30% dodge and you're running a non-heroic instance...heck, I've even had trouble generating rage in heroic instances. In these situations, powershifting can help get you a tiny bit of rage. It's not a cure all, but it sure helps when that third mob runs off to munch on your healer...powershift and charge it.

Yes, while tanking you are more vulnerable during a powershift than when you're shredding a mob from behind in cat form and there is more risk to doing this maneuver while tanking. However, if you're rage starved, it's because you're not getting hit enough and you're over geared for what you're doing. So, it's not going to hurt you much...if at all...to powershift.

There are also times when you get rooted and the mob runs off to either used ranged abilities on you or to munch on someone else. Powershifting is the fastest way to get out of your root and back onto the baddie.

Then, there are those times when you are challenged and you see your health getting lower and your healer is either dead, out of mana, or just unable to keep up. In these situations, powershifting with the addition of using a healing potion or health stone is called for. However, if you have a lot of rage, be sure to use Frenzied Regeneration before you powershift as you will lose that large pool of rage when shifting. Karthis over at Of Teeth and Claws wrote about using potions and stones in his Pots & Stones article. Please see his article for more information on using pots and stones as well as the macros for such. As for the basic powershifting macro...

/cancelform
/cast dire bear form
/y Powershift Bear!

Again, the last line is purely optional. ;)

Powershift...Oops!

A word of warning...do not powershift while in the midst of a global cooldown. If you do, you will come out of your current form and be left standing in either your Cow or Elf form. Not good and very frustrating when you're trying to optimize your play. Along with checking my mana, energy tick or rage status, I also glance down at my abilties to see where my GCD is before powershifting. Make this a habit!

Powershifting Consideration

If you're raiding and might be called upon to heal, Innervate, combat rez, etc. then be careful with how much you use your powershifting skills. Yes, it's fun to do...and I know sometimes it's easy to get caught up in damage meters and how you rate...but damage is not why Druids are brought to raids. If your raid leader wants pure melee DPS, they will bring a Rogue, not you. We are brought to raids because of our versatility. In one person, the raid gets a tank/off tank, an off healer, DPS, a combat rez, and an Innervate. If you spend all your mana powershifting so you can rank high on the damage meters, then you won't have the mana to combat rez the healer when you've got the boss down to 10%. So, use powershifting wisely.

He saves lives, I just know it!!

Several days ago I posted that I had finally fished up Mr. Pinchy and that my first two 'uses' both gave me Mr. Pinchy's Gift which contained 5 Super Healing Potions and 4 Super Mana Potions each.

But, lets go back in time a bit...say 9 months or so back...I had recently hit level 70 and now that the leveling race was over, I had time for new obsessions. Since we had also begun working...or should I say struggling...in Kara, I decided to work on raising my fishing skill to get buff food and, hopefully, obtain the elusive Magical Crawdad Pet. Around the same time, our main hunter was fishing as well and we were sorta racing to get our fishing skill capped. I say sorta because he started to race and then gave up. ;p Anyway, since I only cook in real life, I would mail him all my fish so he could cook them up for me and the guild. One day, after receiving a net full of stinky fish in the mail, he sent me a tell. Our conversation went a little bit like this...

Yagi whispers: Good grief, that's a lot of fish...you must be capped by now!
Mooire whispers: Well, I have to get Mr. Pinchy! We won't beat the Shade without him!!

Let me interrupt the conversation a bit to say that at this point we had hit a wall with the Shade. We could clear to him, but we'd wipe over and over on him.

Mooire whispers: I'm doing this for our raid success!!!
Yagi whispers: He saves lives, I just know it!!!!
Mooire whispers: Of course he does...he IS magical after all!!!

Now, I know Yagi was being a bit sarcastic with his statement there, but I love it nonetheless.

So, Tuesday was my third and final usage of Mr. Pinchy. As soon as I logged in, I clicked on him and what did I get?

You receive Magical Crawdad Box.

Yippy!!!! :D

Thankfully, we were able to get past the Shade a long time ago without the need for a Magical Crawdad in attendance, but as we're embarking into 25 man raids now, I think I got him just in time, because...

He saves lives, I just know it!

Blame it on Chain Factor

Earlier this week I posted that I had a light work week and would have some articles for you all to read. My intentions were good, but then I found Chain Factor. It's an interesting little game to pass the time and let me tell ya...it can pass the time. O.O I think my obsession with it is waining though, so you all can have me back now. ;p

Thanksgiving News

Well, we made it through the Thanksgiving weekend. Although we only had one dinner to do, it was at our house so we had all the prerequisite shopping, cleaning, and cooking to attend to. So, what I had hopped would be a WoW filled long weekend didn't really turn out as such.

Thursday...I'm not too sure what happened to Thursday...I know we napped a lot. We did find a bit of time in the evening to play our baby Warlock and Pally combo. We're in our early to mid 30's and opted to quest in STV rather than the new 2.3 location that I can't even recall the name of...our hope was that everyone would be there and STV wouldn't be the gank zone we all know and hate. Actually, it wasn't too bad. We did get ganked a little bit...don't those level 60-70 players have anything better to do than go to a level 30-40 zone and kill babies? Sheesh, get a life...go farm or earn rep or do dailies...if you must PvP, then stir up shit in higher level zones where you can pick on someone your own size!!!

I also got an afternoon of fishing in on Friday and finally caught Mr. Pinchy!!! I immediately used him and was bestowed with Mr. Pinchy's Gift which contained 5 Super Healing Potions and 4 Super Mana Potions. Boo! Then, on Sunday, the cooldown was up and upon use, I got Mr. Pinchy's Gift...again...with the exact same number of potions. Double Boo!! I still have one more use on Tuesday...keep your fingers crossed that he'll give me the Magical Crawdad Box on that use.

Saturday was our Thanksgiving dinner, so no play time. But we did get to play most of Sunday. We did our Arenas in the morning and finished 1337...even though it's not a good score, it does spell leet!! Then, after lunch, we did a full clear of Kara in under 4 hours and netted 22 badges! Yippy!! I now have enough to get Slikk's Cloak of Placation. I also finally got Drape of the Dark Reavers for my kitty set...which sorely needs some upgrades. After our dinner break, we had our Gruul's run which went well and then off to do our Herioc Daily which was Arcatraz. We opted to skip the first boss, so the run ended up getting us 3 badges and then another 2 for the quest turn in. Overall, a 27 badge day....not too bad. Hopefully soon I'll be able to upgrade some kitty items as well.

Oddly, this is a slow work week for me...hopefully, I'll be able to do a few better, more informative posts. But, first, I will need to plan out my next few item aquisitions. Tomorrow, I should have close to 4k arena points and I need to decide which 2 pieces I want to buy. I'm pretty set on getting the Vengeful Gladiator's Dragonhide Tunic for my Bear set, although I want to run a few numbers before finally committing myself to that purchase. The Vestments of Hibernation rank higher on the calculations I did last month, but, as I'm close to the armor cap as well as having a healthy dodge rating, the Stamina and Hit rating on the Vengeful chest piece seem more beneficial. My plan, if viable, is the use to gems that are good for both Bear and Kitty and use that chest piece for both forms, then buy a second Vengeful item for Kitty use...keeping only 2 T4 pieces for Kitty form, but still using 4 T4 pieces for Bear for that 1400 armor bonus...but again, must run numbers first....

** Edited to change time frame of Kara...my hubby told me it was just under 4 hours, not 3.

Got Mojo?

Last night, in Zul' Aman, I finally got Mojo!!! Actually, I got him twice while using up the 10 Hex Sticks I got so we would have Amani Charms for our Lynx boss attempt.

I didn't keep track of how many Hex Sticks it took overall to get the little toad, but I'm going to estimate around 30. Also, it was interesting that all the sticks I used on the side of the pond facing the entrance never netted a frog. However, when I used the 10 from last night, I was on the other side of the pond...over the bridge, of sorts. I got him on the sixth and eighth stick...so, I don't know if that side of the pond is luckier or not, but if you've been trying and haven't yet gotten him, go over the water!

It also might have to do with the fact that I've used the most sticks on that instance run. Perhaps you have to 'free' X many people before you get the frog pet. Or, perhaps it's random and I'm trying to apply too much method to the madness. ;p

Also, everywhere I have read states that the frog comes from a vendor that you 'free'. This is incorrect. When you use the Hex Stick on the frog, it turns into a larger, blue frog that hops to you and jumps into your pack. It's all automatic; no looting charm boxes or talking to vendors and hoping you see him in the window.

Good luck on getting your Mojo!

Dire Bear Form versus Nalorakk

Are you ready to Ruuuummmmmmbbbbllllleeeeeee??????

The first boss encounter in Zul'aman is generally considered to be Nalorakk. He's the Amani Bear lord and has two different aspects; his normal form and his bear form.

His normal form does a mangle which causes 100% additional damage from bleeds, a surge (similar to Attumen), and a brutal swipe which causes 14k damage split by up to 2 targets. This makes it imperative that both tanks remain in front to split the damage.

His Bear form does a Lacerating Slash which causes a bleed of 1735 every 2 seconds, a Rend Flesh which bleeds 2335 every 1 second, and a Deafening Roar which deals 1200-1400 damage and silences everyone for 2 seconds.

Since the normal form applies a mangle and the bear form does bleed damage, it is required that two people tank this boss and each one take a different form. So, I guess, really, I should title this Dire Bear Form and Warrior versus Nalorakk...but, well, that's too long and ruins the Bear on Bear action that the title implies...unless it's two Druids tanking and then that would be a Bear threesome... o.O

Anyway, either aspect is tankable by a Druid. However, if you don't have a huge health base (17k+ buffed) or you have a weak healer or two in the group and no Resto Druid for HoTs then you're better off tanking the normal aspect.

I've had the pleasure of tanking Nalorakk three times for our guild. The first time, I was responsible for tanking his Bear aspect while our guild leader tanked the normal aspect. Other than my untimely disconnect on the first try, it went well and we downed him on the second attempt. (I wrote about that in a previous post.)

However, on our second venture to Zul' Aman, with the same two tanks, we had difficulties. We kept wiping around the 60 or 40% point during a silence. Our previous run, we had a Druid, Pally, and Shaman healing. All three were well geared and good at their jobs. However, on our second venture, we had 2 pallies and 1 shaman...again, good and well geared (the new pally was probably a bit undergeared tho)...I think the key was having a resto Druid and those awesome HoTs to keep me alive during their silence while those mega bleeds ticked away. After several wipes, our tank had to go so he brought in one of the tanks from the guild we recently absorbed. The new tank suggested we switch aspects and it went very smooth after that...it also helped that the new tank had a tonne of health and could take a beating.

Our third time, I tanked the normal aspect again (what happened to all our resto Druids? We had 3) and after a few wipes we eventually downed him. However, on these various attempts, I did learn a few things to make sure the fight went as smoothly as possible.

Tanking Nalorakk is, for the most part, tank and spank. You also want to make sure both of the tanks are in front, especially when he's in his normal form so the Brutal Swipe is divided between them...all other melee DPS should be behind him.

However, the key to this fight is taunting. When Nalorakk changes forms, the other tank needs to taunt him to take over. It's very helpful to have a mod that alerts you when the change is about to happen. The mod I have gives me a 5 second warning. When I see the warning pop up, I stop using any abilities and begin mentally counting down so I can time my taunt with the change. The main reason I stop using abilities is I don't want to be in the midst of a global cooldown from an attack when I need to taunt. That one second delay can be disastrous. Also, that five seconds of no special attacks will allow your rage to accumulate which will enable you to immediately build as much threat as possible after you've taunted as you want to make sure you keep aggro. After you taunt, the alternate tank will still be very close to your threat level. As both tanks as switching back and forth and staying within a couple percent of each other on threat, it's also a good idea that when the other tank taunts and takes aggro, you stop attacking to let him have a chance to leap ahead on threat.

After I start my 5 second count down, I hit my taunt right as he's changing forms. It's important to watch for those funny exclamation signs as there is that odd chance that Nalorakk will resist your taunt. In the three runs (several fights each run), this has happened to me twice. (Clearly, I need more +hit!) The first time proved disastrous as he stayed on our Warrior and he got both the bleeds along with the Mangle. He didn't last long. However, the second time this happened, I was ready...I had my little mouse hovered over my Challenging Roar and clicked that when I didn't see my taunt land. This is our 'back up' on this fight. Always be ready to use this ability if you see that your basic taunt, Growl, is resisted. As soon as you have Nalorakk's undivided attention, lay in with Mangles, Lacerates, and Mauls...also, don't forget about Faerie Fire and Demoralizing Roar.

Again, with the exception of taunting your aspect as soon as possible, the fight is tank and spank. When the other tank is tanking his aspect, you can pop out of form to Innervate. If you've been tanking his normal aspect and need to pop out while he's in bear form to Innervate a healer, beware of the Deafening Roar which will Silence you. If you were tanking the Bear form and pop out to Innervate during his normal aspect, first wait until your bleeds have ticked off and try to time it after a Brutal Swipe. You shouldn't need to combat rez in this fight because if anyone bites the dust it will be one of the tanks. If your other tank does meet his demise, just run down to the stairs and the event will reset and you can avoid a wipe.

Barkskin in Animal Form?

I thought I had read somewhere...can't remember where...that Barkskin was going to be castable in Bear and Cat form. I tested this last night and was popped out of form. So, clearly, either I dreamed it or it's not in yet.

Did anyone else hear about this or know anything or should I just accept that, perhaps, I was hallucinating?

New stuff

Well, I did manage to log in during the day today and pick my 30 glowcaps to get my Tiny Spore Bat. ZOMG!!! He is sooo tiny and absolutely adorable!!!!! If you haven't considered this pet, I suggest you do. Honestly, if I had not already been revered, I probably would not have considered him, but after seeing him, he is a definate must have even if you have to grind rep.

I also purchased my new Idol of Terror today. I have yet to use it as I was kitty in Kara tonight. But, I now have 11 more badges to save for more goodies!

Second Night of 2.3

After my hubby updated my video drivers, I went in game to piddle around and see if I had any more blue screen crashes as I had the night before. My plan was to spend this test period picking Glowcaps for my Tiny Spore Bat pet. However, one of my favorite healers asked me to help with the BEM 'intro' quests...the ones that get you to Neutral so you can begin the daily quests.

After warning them that I'm testing video drivers and that I can't guarantee my stability, they assured me they didn't care, "You tanked just fine last night after you crashed." Well, ok!

So, again, I didn't get to collect my glowcaps to get my new pet but I did earn healer rep. ;) (Am I exalted yet?) After helping them, it was dinner time and then logging back in for our second night of Zul' Aman.

So, we enter into ZA again and venture up to Akil'zon, the eagle boss. We had several unsuccessful attempts before deciding to give Jan'alai, the dragonhawk boss, a try. We got about half way through the trash to him before we 'hit our wall'. Wow, the trash is challenging! After a few wipes there, we decided to go back to Akil'zon.

Actually, I think taking the mini distraction to Jan'alai was a good idea as our new attempts at Akil'zon were better and more focused. Even though we were doing better, our healers were running out of mana. We had two well geared healers for the raid, however our third was a 'fill-in alt' healer and just wasn't geared well enough for ZA. However, this is where it got good for me...

Someone suggested that, perhaps, I off-heal to help out. O.O Eeep! But, then my husband pointed out that I was 3rd on the damage meters so, they decided against that. Then, I mentioned that when I Innervated Ledde in the middle of the fight, my cooldown had 2 mins remaining when we wiped. I then suggest that I Innervate our undergeared healer on the first electrical storm, then toward the end of the fight the cooldown will be up and I could Innervate Ledde then. Then, someone else suggested that on the 2nd or 3rd electrical storm, I also pop out and cast Tranquility to help out. Good idea!! Why didn't I, the Druid, think of that? So, along with my 2 new additional tasks, we Soulstoned the undergeared healer so he'd have an insta-rez and made sure Ledde's ank and my combat rez was up and charged in for another try.

The first two attempts with the new plan didn't work out so well. Although, it was more of a timing issue with moving to the right spot during the storm. However, the third attempt was like a well oiled machine. I popped out on the first storm and Innervated our healer. Then on the second storm, I cast Tranquility. All the while, doing my kitty DPS and running to the callapse point during the storm and giving Ledde a countdown of my Innervate cooldown so he could budget his mana. When we had Akil'zon down to 3%, our Warlock died and I was frantically asking my husband if I should rez him...but, he said no, the boss is almost dead, you need to be DPSing. So, I stayed in kitty form even though I felt bad for not rezzing Souldrain and soon enough Akil'zon was dead!!

"Ledde, 30 seconds on Innervate!"

Yep, we finished him off before my innervate cooldown was up!

All in all, it was a fun fight. I really enjoy it when I have more than 'just tanking' or 'just dpsing' to do. Popping out of form to perform an additional role adds variety and danger to the fight not to mention just plain being more useful to the raid and adding that additional value that makes hybrid classes shine.

After we were done with Akil'zon, we called it a night. However, as I had promised to help another of our healers with a Blade's Edge quest, we still had a late night of playing. But, we earned more healer rep! Why don't I have a reputation bar for that faction on my rep page? ;p

First Night of 2.3

After my hubby updated all my add-ons (thanks sweetie!), I logged in and was immediately invited to one of our Zul' Aman groups. I ran to the bank and withdrew my 114 badges, which I'd been saving up, and trotted off to G'eras to purchase my Band of the Swift Paw, which replaces my tattered Umberhowl's Collar, and Waistguard of the Great Beast to replace my Girdle of Treachery. Yippy! I'm good to go...wait, I need gems now!

I quickly run back to the bank and deposit my remaining badges and then run to the mailbox to log so I can log in my AH character. As soon as I log...Blue Screen. Crap. I patiently...ok, not so patiently, wait for the memory dump and then for my machine to reboot...thankfully, my gaming machine doesn't have a bunch of stuff to load so it reboots quickly. I log back in, mail myself some gems and then log Moo back on.

Already, they're chomping at the bit to get going...but...tiny spore bat pet...must get! /sigh I worked sooo hard...ok, not so hard...for exhausted and I want him! But, alas, my new pet will have to wait. Instead, I make sure I'm repaired and have 60 Wild Quillvine on me (better to be overstocked than run out) and accept my summons.

I run into the instance and await Yagi's entrance to the game. Yagi is our guild's jewelcrafter...we have others...but, I like Yagi and he carves all my gems...he also cooks all the fish and crawdad's I fish up as well. Anyway, I end up standing there, gems in pack, tapping my foot...WTF is Yagi?!?! Poor Yagi is stuck in download hell and by the time we're ready to go, he's still in the download screen. I quickly check my new, gemless, items and, according to my DruidTips add-on, they are better than my old items even without the gems so I put them on anyway.

As we're waiting, I see a fella and run up to talk to him (can you say ADD?) and he says some stuff in return...which I didn't even read...and then he runs to a gong and starts banging on it. Immediately, Ledde starts asking me, "What did you do?" "Ummm....nothin'." /feigns innocence Then, the next thing I know...the other guys (more ADD) are banging on the gong as well. Then I hear Swiftlight say, "Come bang on this gong! Nothing will happen, we need at least 5 to do it!" "Ok!!"

/bang
/bang
/bang

Ooops...the gates open. Baklor, our guild leader says, "You better not be doing anything I'm gonna miss." as he's out at the summoning stone with the other half of the raid. Then, two mobs run out...pfft...two mobs, we got this...I run up and nab them...then, a wave of mobs come pouring out...then another wave...then death and laughter.

So, after that little boo boo, we shape up, wait for the rest of the raid, and clear our way to the first boss, Nalorakk. We begin our first try at him, which was going smoothly until I blue screened. Rut roh. Baklor takes over tanking both aspects (he was tanking the troll aspect and I was tanking the bear aspect), but after a while, he's just taking too much damage from all the debuffs and dies. However, I was still in game...doing white damage... and still have quite a bit of threat and continued to tank for some time...unfortunately, not long enough for them to down him.

As soon as I get back in, we start the fight again and quickly succeed. Yippy! Our first Zul' Aman boss! He drops a Pally helm which Swiftlight got as well as one badge for each of us. Also, in the course of clearing trash, we got a couple of the Amani Hex Sticks which everyone let me and Aquenzi loot first so we could, hopefully, get a pet frog. Aquenzi and I rush down to the pond as soon as Nalorakk is dead and wave our sticks at a couple of frogs and they leave us some little charms in stead of Mojo. :( Later as the night proceed with much whining and pleeding from both Aquenzi and I, they all agreed to let she and I loot all the Amani Hex Sticks. Unfortunately, neither of us got the little toad.

We then head over to Akil'Zon and begin clearing the patrol and other trash. We're quickly spotted by the runner who runs up the ramp and alerts everything and then the gauntlet begins. The first time, we stayed at the bottom and slowly began working our way up trying to kill everything, but it becomes to overwhelming and we die. Then, on our next attempt, we try moving up the ramp quickly picking up the elite mobs as we go, but, again, it becomes too overwhelming. We then decide to take the methodical approach and kill the two elites, then the two adds from behind then the next two elites, then adds from behind and so on while ignoring the birds...again, too overwhelming. Then we decided to mount up, ride to that first guy on the stairs (tempest dood? I can't remember his name, but for the sake of this post he is now called tempest dood) and take him out and then deal with the other trash. That didn't work either. We try the methodical approach one more time. Then, we decide to just mount up, run past everything...even the boss...and die on the landing to the right of Akil'Zon and see if we can rez up. We all made it up and promptly died. Then Ledde anked to see if he could rez us...he can! Oh, wait, he's in combat...oh, out of combat...no, in combat...wait, out of combat! He gets us all rezzed up, we buff, then tip toe past the boss and make our way down to kill the tempest dood...he's not there. So, we start clearing the pairs of elites then make our way back up to kill Akil'Zon. We have several attempts at him. Our best one got him down to 52%, but then it got late and we had to call it a night.

If anyone has a strat on the gauntlet ramp, please let me know! Running up worked, but it bugged the event and might be deemed an exploit and I'd rather do it the 'legal' way.

All in all, it was a fun night. I really enjoyed getting to run and learn something new. I also absolutely LOVE insta shift!!! One second Bear and poof, instantly kitty!

Hopefully, after work, I'll be able to find some time to collect my glowcaps and buy my tiny spore bat. I also need to decide what gems I want for my new gear. I had some I had planned on, but since the wrists are the best ones in the game, I decided to get the best gem possible rather than the good one I had intended, which is just one step below, but might as well get the best now and save that gem for something else that is more of an 'interim' piece.

Emmerald Gear Lists Draft

Emmerald has released a draft of his gear lists on this post on his forums. They are heavily Disclaimered (is that a word?) as he does not feel they are in their final stage. Also, the links to the webpages we all know and love will not be updated until Emmerald has put his seal of approval on his new lists. He did post a downloadable zip file that contains html documents we can view in our browsers of the current version of his work.

Update to Rawr Beta 8 Post

After playing with Rawr Beta 8 and attempting to add new items, I've found it's quite buggy. If you enter in an ID that Rawr can not find in the Armory database, it asks if you'd like to add it yourself. This is a wonderful addition! However, it's buggy as hell. After keying in all the pertinent data and saving it...for some reason, all it saves is the item name and ID number...and it saves it under the 'Head' slot...even if you told it wrists...and all the stats that you enter in disappear...gone. I did discover that if I go in and edit the item and change/add one thing at a time it will save the new info, but that's quite tedious...and, as entering in new items is tedious in and of its self, it becomes tedium squared.

So, if having to enter in each value one at a time wasn't a pain...after I finally got Band of the Swift Paw entered in properly, it's rating was lower than Umberhowl's Collar...and yes, I had a gem equiped. But, even without a gem, it's armor, stamina, and agility are all higher.

/sigh

Guess I'll wait till the patch is done and import everything and hope it works better that way.

Rawr Beta 8

So, it's patch day! And, already I've attempted to download new items from the amory with Rawr. Unfortunately, it has yet to find any new items (it's about 10:30 central time). However, with the new Beta 8 version of Rawr you can now manually enter brand new items!

So for those of you who don't have the patience to wait for the patch to finish, then download the new items all at once...those who must have their new gear choices now, Now, NOW. The new Beta version of Rawr will give you that with just a wee bit of time and effort!

Sings, "I'm too sexy for my pants...too sexy for my pants..."

Recently, we brought in some people from another guild and we had more than enough wanting to run Gruuls last night, which is a nice change from having to beg people to sign up and come. Also, the new people we got are experienced as well as a nice bunch of folks. Yippy!

So, we all head off to Gruul's Lair. We kill the trash and begin working on High King. We down him with only 1 reset. The healer assigned to heal me and our other Druid tank didn't know where I was tanking Kiggler and before he could find me I died...even with a Frenzied Regeneration. It wasn't his fault though. We all thought he knew were I was going to be so no one told him.

We then cleared the trash to Gruuls and with much discussion and instruction, finally proceeded on our attack. Unfortunately, I didn't get to off tank as I usually do...which was a little scary as I had to DPS and I've never had to DPS and worry about where to run and where to hide and safe rocks and all that stuff. Oh noez! But, my hubby, who plays a rogue, took me under his wing and talked me though it very nicely and calmly...which really helps when I'm already nervous...and I was pleased that I stayed alive for most of the time.

It did take us four tries to down Gruul...along with one trash re-clear because one of our raiders went afk after a wipe and was gone for 15 minutes...WTF?


Mini-Rant:
If you need to go AFK in a raid, be sure to announce it before you go. I understand emergencies come up (he never said if it was an emergency or not), but at least say something...anything. Also, if possible, RUN BACK before going AFK. Especially when you die in Gruul's room as we can't rez you from there and we can't even buff because you're not up. At least if you run back and then go AFK, we can buff and regen mana and all that stuff while we wait. Also, if it's going to be a prolonged AFK, say something and ask if you need to excuse yourself from the raid so we're not standing around wondering where you are and what happened.
/end rant

So, on our forth try, we finally down him. He dropped the Eye of Gruul, Gronn-Stitched Girdle, Leggings of the Fallen Defender, and Leggings of the Fallen Champion. Normally, our guild leader distributes the T4 items first. However, tonight, he begins with the Eye of Gruul and the Gronn-Stitched Girdle. I think he was hoping I'd bid for the Girdle and then he'd have a chance at the T4 legs. I may ride the short bus, but I wasn't born yesterday. ;p Finally, we got to the legs and I put in my bid. Since I had the most DPK amassed, I got them! Yippy!!

Getting the legs put me in the 4 piece set bonus category. My armor is now over 31k. :) Now I'm going to have to assess my gear purchases with the new patch again to account for my new pants. I'll be doing that tomorrow though as I have to work today...which I am now running late for!!

/runs off to work

Lewt Cardz

Yes, I felt the need to be leet with my title.  But, loot cards are fun and when I used just plain ole Loot Cards as the title it looked way too boring...so, I spiced it up a bit. 

Honestly, all I really know about the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game is that it has loot cards!  Little cards with little codes that you go to the site and turn into an extremely long code that you then have to type into a window to Landro Longshot in Booty Bay.  Do they not know that Booty Bay is the PvP capital of Azeroth?  Or perhaps it's their private little joke...yes, put loot cards in but make them type in a code that's 30 characters long to a vender in the highest PvP gank zone in the game!  Well, all I have to say to them is cut and paste for teh win!!!111one1.

Oops, got a little distracted with my rant there...so, where was I...yes, the WoW TCG has loot cards!  I'm sure all those other cards have uses too, but I only care about the loot ones as those are the only cards usable in the MMO we all love and play.

Hero's of Azeroth

The first set of loot cards came out with the Hero's of Azeroth set.  This set included the Saltwater Snapjaw card which gives the in game turtle mount (normal running speed), the Thunderhead Hippogryph card which gives the Hippogryph Hatchling pet, and the Landro Longshot card which gives the Tabard of Flame.  These cards are still available in booster sets or purchased individually through eBay...which is how I got my Hippogryph Hatchling a long time ago.  For fun, I checked the current ebay prices.

Card Name	Card Loot	ebay Price (US)
Saltwater Snapjaw	Turtle Mount	70-200
Thunderhead Hippogryph	Hippogryph Hatchling	20-50
Landro Longshot	Tabard of Flame	3-30

 

As with any auction price, you can watch ebay to get the best price possible.  These prices were just the average of what I saw as low bid price and high buyout price respectively.  I'm glad to see that the Hippogryph prices have come down quite a bit since I purchased mine.  At that time, the range was $40 with buyouts of $80 and I counted myself lucky that I got it for around $35 after watching and waiting for a week or so.

Through the Dark Portal

The second set of loot cards came out in the Through the Dark Portal set and includes Rest and Relaxation which gives an in game picnic basket, King Mukla card which gives the in game pet, Bananas, and Fortune Telling which gives the Imp in a Ball who can tell your fortune!

Card Name	Card Loot	ebay Prince (US)
Rest and Relaxation	Picnic Basket	1-40
King Mukla	Bananas	10-75
Fortune Telling	Imp in a Ball	50-80

 

The only item in this set I have is the in game pet Bananas and he is one of my favorite pets.  His price has gone down some as well.  I think I paid around $40 for him several months ago.  The only other item I would like in this set is the Imp in a Ball and it's nice to see that the prices have dropped on him as well.  Last I looked (when shopping for Bananas) he was running $80-125.

Fires of Outland

The third set of loot cards are in the Fires of Outland set.  This is the first set that does not have an in game pet.  What were they thinking?  Instead of a cute little pet, they gave us Goblin Gumbo card which gives you a Goblin Gumbo Kettle, Gone Fishin' card which gives you an in game fishing chair, and the Spectral Tiger card which gives a really cool in game mount.

Card Name	Card Loot	ebay Price (US)
Goblin Gumbo	Goblin Gumbo Kettle	1-30
Gone Fishin'	Fishing Chair	10-65
Spectral Tiger	Spectral Tiger Mount	200-600

 

March of the Legion

Lastly, we have the March of the Legion set which is coming out mid November and, in my opinion, has the best set of loot cards available.  This set includes the Paper Airplane card which gives you a manual that makes two different kinds of airplanes; a small zeppelin or a small flying machine that you can throw at other players.  Also in this set is the Robotic Homing Chicken card which gives an in game pet...but not just any ordinary in game pet...a chicken!  With Rockets!  Who sometimes explodes!  Along with the airplanes and chicken with rockets, we also get a dragon kite from the Kiting card!

On a lark, I checked ebay, even though the cards are not yet out, and was stunned to see that you can 'pre-order' them.  Here is what you can expect to pay...

Card Name	Card Loot	ebay Pre-Order Price (US)
Paper Airplane	Paper Airplane Manual	30
Robotic Homing Chicken	Rocket Chicken pet	50-100
Kiting	Dragon Kite	100-150

 

Honestly, this is the first set where I would like to have all three cards.  In fact, they'd make great stocking stuffers for Christmas!

/pokes her husband.

Actually, that's a good thought for all of you who play with your significant other or who have children who play.  Any of the loot cards would make great prezzies.  :)

ebay and Non-Loot Card Warning

If you shop for the loot cards on ebay or elsewhere, be sure to read the descriptions carefully.  Along with the loot cards that have the scratch off codes there are also exact versions of the loot cards without the scratch off code.  Make sure the one you bid on has the undamaged scratch off code.  Also, be sure to check on the seller to make sure he is reputable before bidding.

Heroic Marathon Weekend!

With the announcment of 2.3 going live on November 13th, my husband and I are planning a Heroic Marathon Weekend. We've been working on Heroics for the last couple of weeks to earn badges to buy all our goodies...but, as I've only got 85 in the bank, I have many, many more to get...to bad G'eras doesn't take credit cards...

The client I had scheduled for tomorrow canceled so I will spend the day cooking soup, lasagna, and mini frittatas to get us through the long hours of Heroic fun. Hopefully between all that, I'll have time to map out my tank gear goals and set a plan of what items and in what order I'll be getting.

I've also got a couple posts in the works that I should be able to complete tomorrow as well.

So, what will you all be doing this weekend in preperation for 2.3?

** edited to change chili to lasagna

Short Bus to Underbog

So, last night we throw together a Heroic Underbog run...well, really, it was supposed to be Heroic Slave Pens and then Heroic Underbog, but our healer and I talked the guys into doing Underbog first so we could get Hibiscus for rep and, ultimately, a pet. Anyway, we head on out to Coilfang Reservoir in eager anticipation of ending the night with 8 badges and a pocket full of Hibiscus. That was before we realized we'd taken the short bus there.

You know those nights...you're running a familiar instance...you have 5 good, strong players...they all know their class and roles well...they all have good gear...except for, perhaps, grabbing the padded T4 helm instead of the real T4 helm.

We were all touched by stoopid last night...I'll even be honest and say the padding was probably thickest in my helmet as I know I made 3-4 dumb mistakes. Whatever it was, it was contagious because we all had it. Here is a list of some of our retardedness:

1. Ranged DPS standing in the Bog Giant patrol path while we are working on a group of mobs.
2. Tank (I guess that would be me!) building threat on target #2 instead of target #1 and not even noticing.
3. Our other pet enthusiest trying to ninja pick some Hibiscus and...oops, aggro!
4. Hunter Misdirecting onto his own pet...bye bye Nibbler!
5. Mistiming pulls and getting the patrol with the group. (Those firefly bugs are hard to judge on speed!)
6. Rogue getting caught by lag and, therefore, a patrol while sneaking in for a sap.
7. Probably a couple other various items due to general stoopidness.

Thankfully, we all knew we were 'not with it' that evening and laughed about it. Oddly, though, as each thing happened and we'd acknowledge our own stupidness and resolve to 'put our game face on' it seemed to just keep happening. One of those 'off' nights, I suppose...

Needless to say, we only did Underbog last night. We did make it all the way through...probably because all of us are too stuborn to give up. So, we ended the night with 4 badges instead of 8 and our healer got around 20 or so Hibiscus. I let her have all mine as she's further from Exalted than I am...plus, she got the brunt of all the 'bad' stuff...I swear there is code in the game that says, "When things go wrong, kill the healer first!"

So, if you head out to Coilfang Reservoir be careful to stay far away from the short bus route and double check your helm before you go!

Gear List Updated...finally...

I finally added the requested items to the 2.3 Bear Gear Assessment list. Added items are as follows:

• Vindicator's Dragonhide items; wrists, waist, and feet.
• Vindicator's Leather items; wrists, waist, and feet.
• Veteran's Dragonhide items; wrists, waist, and feet.
• Veteran's Leather items; wrists, waist, and feet.
• Belt of Natural Power
• Boots of Natural Grace

Please see the original post linked above to see their score.

Update!

Sorry I haven't posted the last few days. Work has been a bit hectic with month end stuff and my clients seem to think I should get stuff done in a timely manner. Don't they know I have blogs to post...or is it posts to blog? Anyway, I guess I don't get paid to blog...so, until that happens, the end/beginning of the month will be a bit sparse... and we won't even get into what will happen when year end gets here. /cry

I do have a list of 10 or so things I want to write about...I'd give you a preview of what they are, but the last time I did that I didn't write about any of those things because that rebellious 'I don't wanna do what I have to do' streak kicked in and, even though I didn't have to write about them, I felt like since I said them I had to and then, therefor, didn't want to. So, for your sake, no preview. ;p

I will say that I do intend to update the 2.3 gear list this weekend to add in the PvP items and the other items you all have asked about. I apologize for it taking so long, but after working with spreadsheets for my clients, spreadsheets for gear haven't sounded all that fun...well, really, it does...but sitting at the computer hasn't. ;p

As far as WoW goes, I've been running as many heroics as I can squeeze in...unfortunately, it's been mostly in kitty form. Our guild leader has brought his Warrior out of retirement as he wants to go back to tanking for Zul' Aman and since he's one of my favorite people to run instances with and my very favorite tank, I gladly make the sacrifice to give up tanking to have him in the group. :)

I did main tank Kara this week. In fact, the first half I was sorta the only tank. We did have a Warrior, but he wasn't prot. Which, honestly, wasn't a big deal except for Moroes...and even the problem there was sorta our fault as we didn't explain thoroughly to him what was intended (we thought he had used the technique we'd been using lately). The last several months we've had a shortage of Priests in our Kara runs so we've gotten in the habit of having the tank and off-tank keep aggro on Moroes and two of the adds. Not a big deal, really. Basically, I'd moonfire one of the adds while the other tank either Moonfired or, if a Warrior, shot his gun or whatever he uses to start the pull, then we switch to Moroes and use Swipe or whatever the Warrior's multi-mob attack move is to keep the two mobs on us. Typically, it works like a dream, but Tuesday, it didn't. Everytime I got blinded, he ran off and bashed on one of our squishies. Thankfully, I always had plenty of rage to Charge him once my blind was up and move him back into place. It wasn't too horrible as we did down him on the first try even though we only had 4 people left alive...it certainly made for a much more fun event! Is it bad that the times I enjoy most are when things go terribly wrong and we somehow pull through?

We did have to get our Guild Leader to tank Nightbane and Prince though. A Warrior's stance dance to avoid the fear is too invaluable with Nightbane and, until the Horde gets a fear ward, I won't be able to tank him. We did try me three times on Prince, but at around 40% he'd hit me with several successive crushing blows and I never seemed to be able to time my trinkets properly...maybe if I wasn't on anti-histamines I could have, but oh well. ;p

My Sporeggar rep is coming along nicely. I'm at around 48% to exhausted...errr...exalted without really working at it. I did check the Auction House for Hibiscus, but at 1g a piece, I didn't bother buying any.

So, there is my wee update...sorry if I sounded tired, but, well, I am. ;p And, normally I'd put all those nice little links for abilties and such and probably would have even looked up the Warrior abilities I referenced and other things, but, well, I'm tired so you'll just have to live without all that right now. ;p