In the Mix

'This week, I'ave mostly been levelling Alchemy...'

I mentioned it before, but on Friday I finally bit the bullet and unlearned Mining on the Druid. This was after nearly three hours of herbing where I filled an entire 24 slot bag with herbs, and gathered ONE FROST LOTUS :( It's been hard times finding the Loti for several weeks now, and as a result I realised that if I'm only going to have a few piles of mats to use for flasks, I need a Flask Specialist. Yes, I could have unlearnt my Transmute Specialisation on W, but in the last three days I've seen SEVEN gems: a four proc Saturday, and a two proc on Sunday. With those kind of numbers I think a second Alchemist is not a bad idea.

Having managed to get to 100/150 with not too much effort it occured to me I was going to need some fish: Oily Blackmouth, Firefin Snapper and Stonescale Eels all being fairly vital for low levelling. With this in mind I got W out this morning, and headed for Ferelas. I fished solidly for 45 minutes and stayed well ahead of the spawns, so decided to fly to Gadgetzan (so I could pick up the recipe for the Philosopher's Stone) and do a quick sweep of the coast of Tanaris:

It's all excitement in the fast-paced World Of Fishing...

The biggest surprise for me was the fifteen points I put on my fishing skill (397-412) in an hour and a half. As fishing nodes now guarantee a catch if you land your bobber inside them, it was a particuarly satisfying exercise. I am sorely tempted to get W to 450 (which would be my second toon maxxed in Fishing) simply because I really enjoy it. I've always been a bit odd in this regard (I was fishing in Vanilla and for a VERY long time I was the only person in Guild with a maxxed score) but there's something about the water and the chance to haul in something surprising that never gets old. It makes me think I really need to try and do the Fishing Derby in Northrend or the Extravaganza in STV at some point, just because.

It was a good session: 60 Blackmouth, 40 plus Firefins and at least the same number of Eels. I also fished up 12 Mithril-Bound Chests which I will crack open on my bankalt shortly which should have a decent amount of cloth, leather and greens to DE (though having said that greens are selling for good money, all these people levelling) They're all sitting in my mailbox just waiting for me to convert them to Alchemy skill points... so if you will excuse me, I am off to Do More Alchemy...

The Glory Days

Standing Guard at Snowfall

It's official: PvP is great again.

For me at least, Arenas kinda sucked all the life and fun out of the entire PvP experience. It became too much about the gear and not enough about enjoying the game. To do PvP you needed to be Pro: top notch gear, imba friends, hours of practice for quick bursts of adrenaline and rewards that, although impressive, did not seem enough for all the work needed to get them. If you did BG's they were slow, frustrating and ultimately depressing if you were Alliance in my Battlegroup. When Blizzard announced the XP gain in Battlegrounds and the changes to each area a bit of me silently /cheered and hoped that finally there'd be some love for the people who play their game in PvE and take PvP as a hobby. As it stands, I've yet to be disappointed.

Losing a game is no longer a loss when everything sub L80 has a benefit. My Shaman's been PvP-ing pretty much constantly for the last three levels between questing, and it's 325 kinds of awesome. I'm getting honor I can save to buy some very useful (and relevant) L213 items once I hit 80 (so what if they have resilience as a stat, it gives me a head start over the items I'm already wearing), which will supplement my existing PvE gears (the pile in the bank of crafted epics and AH-bought items is growing nicely) As I fight my way through the BG's I pick up a pretty steady stream of Achievements as I go, and yes they are working as just that, a way of making me feel I am progressing. My XP gain is frankly immense (so much so I find myself thinking Blizzard may nerf AV, nearly 19,000 XP per tower captured with rested seems too good to be true) However by far my most important gain while doing this my skill in healing. My reaction times are faster, I'm thinking in a more group-orientated way, and PvP is making me better. I can feel it happening, and when I've been healing in 5 mans I know that the skills I've picked up in AV, AB and in WSG especially are helping me to make a better character. I cannot state this fact enough.

There is a downside: PvP doesn't make you money. However, this is SUCH a minor issue for me, as I have plenty of other characters who can do dailies and supplement my needs while levelling, that I find myself thinking that the cash doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm having way too much fun to care anyway!

There's also moments of utter brilliance and comedy, moments which make you just feel GOOD, and I love the fact this game can inspire such emotional responses. There was the Strand of the Ancients game that we won with five seconds to spare with a display of utter teamwork from a group of random players as to make you wonder why it's taken this long for people to work out what to do. Or there was that AB match which we won with no-one in the party higher than 75 with higher-levelled opposition, and by 200 resources, where three people took the time to whisper me and to thank me for my superlative healing. That makes a girl feel good.

The best moments however are in AV. I'm in the same battlegroup as the German servers, who's reputation as battlers is pretty legendary. You get the Germans in your BG and you KNOW you're in for a long fight, in the middle of the map with no ground given. To make matters worse the Horde have started forming insanely organised premades, headed by 5 or 6 L80's who forge ahead and cap everything, leaving lower levels to guard the captures. Yesterday, 30 of us camped out in the Hall of Stormpike as a last ditch attempt to stop one such group. I got half of my Loyal Defender achievement in one hit. It's possibly the most fun I've had in a BG for a LONG time, and I'm not even 80 yet.

The word is spreading: I've seen an increasing number of 80's in my Guild in Battlegrounds or in WG, and it's not simply for the gear or the Achievements. More than ever before PvP his a great way to let off steam, or play your character and improve their skills if you have limited playtime. Wait times are down, enjoyment is up. Blizzard did exactly the right thing when they updated the PvP options, and I for one hope that things continue in this vein.

Long live PvP!

Not Quite Enough

So, here is my damage from last night's foray into Ulduar. The 4% is how far we got the X002 Deconstructinator to before he enraged and owned our asses.

I died fifteen times. It was hugely frustrating but at the same time immensely satisfying to be making up our own strategy again for the first time. I have absolutely NO idea how you would be able to do this in 10 man Naxx gear (as has been said is possible by Mr G. Crawler this weekend) unless those people are infinitely better players than I am, because I was at my limit. The entire two and a bit hours, and it STILL wasn't enough :(

Looking at my numbers, and considering what everyone else was outputting, I surmise I'm about 500dps short. So, last night I made some changes:

I have repecced to 57/0/14, which gives me the Master Shapeshifter buff (+4% damage) and Omen of Clarity (chance of free cast) I've put three points in Celestial Focus (+3% spell haste) and removed Dreamstate, instead throwing a point into Intensity (17% of mana regen continues while casting) I have found a combination of gear that lifts me above 1850 damage, but (sadly) is gonna need Snapper Extreme (+30 hit) to push me to cap, so I lose the extra spell damage but gain 400 health.

Will it be enough? I'll let you know on Tuesday when we go back to try and make it 2/14 in Ulduar.

In other news...

Yes, that's W's Lock spells there. The new dailies at the Tournament (plus the Sons quests) were enough to get her almost to 80, the last couple of bars happened in a Halls of Lightning. She's still wearing the vast majority of her 70 gear but can still pull enough dps for Heroics. Next step is to actually get her into some :p

So, that's three of the family levelled. I have NO idea who I'm going to do next...

The Golden Age

When I started this Blog, one of the things I wanted to avoid was what I politely refer to in Guild as willy-waving. This may seem odd as a) I do not HAVE a willy and b) I wouldn't feel like waving it even if I did own one (in a jar perhaps) and at this point I should probably stop right there and properly explain the metaphor. I am not a big fan of people who like to exhibit their superiority. I do not like those who feel that they are better than everyone else because they have Item X or have Achievement Y. Life is all about what you want, not what others say you need. Except in a Game, where normally it's about maths and random numbers.

However, my numbers look pretty good right now, and I wanted to share. So I'm going to.


Via the wonder that is Be Imba, my gear scores are frankly as good as they are ever likely to be. I've worked hard to get here, and frankly I'm pretty bloody pleased. No showing off, not waving ANYTHING at ANYBODY.

This makes me happy. So I decided to share.

M the Shammy has arrived and passed L60 with some speed. I would predict at this rate she's gonna zoom towards 70 and then grind to a halt, so I think the next project is likely to be the Warlock to 80, possibly before Ulduar hits. First of all I need to FINALLY finish the Starting area quests...