3D Armory

This is such a cool site! I don't know why I got such a kick out of it =X

On a short hiatus from posting as my real life obligations are kicking in along with 10 man raids coming up. I'll post when I can!

Till next time!

My plans for Ulduar: 3.1 guide

Warning! Long post ahead!

Ulduar 3.1 is going to come out soon it feels as they wrap up testing for the bosses. Alot of changes are coming to paladins, a lot of nerfs especially for holy paladins. Fair or not, these are all changes paladins either have to deal with, reroll or just quit WoW.

Adapt or die, plain and simple.

With that said, I'm trying to plan out what glyphs, spec and gear pieces I want once Ulduar goes live with random screenshots through out.

Like so =P

Currently, I'm in the midst of struggling to choose between prot or Holy-PVP as my 2nd spec for dual spec. I have the gear to be a decent OT in 10 man Ulduar but as my boyfriend and some regulars in our 10 mans inform me, I am not allowed to go prot. =X

Blog award!

Oh Em Gee! I got my very first ever blog award by WoW Fail Blog! And the reason is

"This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant."

*Blush* Well, now that I am done tooting my own horn, the truth of the matter is that this is a make-pretend award =X

Post soon!

Sorry! I haven't done much in terms of WoW. My guild hasn't progressed to 25 OS 3d and I haven't gotten that many new achievements recently. So hence, the lack of posting. Well, I'm coming up with one but it will take a little bit of work.

Anyway, I hope that you guys that stop by regularly try and say hi sometimes! =)

Till next time!

Failed Undying

So I just tried to do an Undying run. Tried. Needless to say, I am not :insertnamehere: the Undying.

We were on the very last boss of the last wing (Spider, Maexxna). The boss is literally at 1% health and we get webwrapped. The tank had no hots, healing debuff. We see his hp inch down down down and we come out of webwrap, but it's too late. MT dies and 2nd in aggro gets gibbed immediately (a lock). Everyone lets out a collective groan and 2 seconds later, Maaexxna goes down.

It was so demoralizing to do so well and be so close to getting the Undying that everyone just lost focus after that.

We actually wipe on Sapphiron because the MT died again as well as a healer dying because they hid behind an iceblock and wasn't out of line of sight (LOS). Our 2nd try, my boyfriend and another dps also died because they misjudged when to LOS during the air phase. We managed to get Sapphiron down but it was messy.

Then on to Kel'Thuzad. Oh boy, was that a mess.

Speed F*cker

I think I got him good, LOL

I've got a little case of the writer's block. I know all of you are positively salivating for my next blog entry so I'll try to work on it =P

Till next time! Enjoy the weekend!

Musings

To tell the truth, I've actually been feeling a little sad.

I used to be part of a very tight knit group of WoW friends but for whatever reasons, we are dwindling.

Thinking back on it though, people come and go in WoW just like in real life. Just because we play WoW not knowing how the other person looks like or what their real names are doesn't mean that the relationships we form with each other are not important.

As WoW players, we experience a sort of strange paradox. It is just a game and yet it is also not just a game.

We have to know how to have fun in WoW and not take it too seriously but at the same time, we can't take it completely easy and think that it doesn't matter what we do or say in the game because it is just a game.

So where are the boundaries? When are we too serious and when are we too carefree?

Screenshots

So ever since starting this blog, I got into the habit of screen shotting more often. I never used to screen shot even during moments that I wanted to remember. I don't even know why because I am basically catering to my boyfriend =X But even though my boyfriend is my only reader, I am glad that at least I got into the habit of screen shotting because of this blog.

Why am I thinking about this? Well, I came across my boyfriend's screenshot folder and as I sorted through them for the very few ones I had taken, I really became nolstalgic. All those screen shots, even if they were bad or boring, represented a snapshot in time and alot of times, I would be sharply brought back to the past and remember people or events.

That is why I really regret not having screen shots of much of my WoW "career" because with the passage of time, memories becomes blurry as if behind a thin veil. Screenshots are the photographs of WoW, they bring the distant memories out of the fog and let you reflect on the past, the present and the future.

Websites

When I first started playing WoW, I was only focused on leveling. As a noob, I was mostly left to my own devices after my boyfriend PLed me through the first 20 levels. Since he did it sporadically, I basically did most of the quests I had available through those first few levels so I didn't drop many quests because they were gray to me from being leveled too suddenly.

I did things the vanilla way - no add ons or anything. Until one day I had trouble with a quest, I forget which one, and my boyfriend says to me, "Why don't you just look it up on wowhead or thottbot?" to which I responded with a "Huh?! What is that?" Lol, I was such a noob. I would still read the quest summary but if I had trouble, I would go to thottbot usually.

I also remember my boyfriend showing me WoW Armory and asking me, "Isn't this cool?" but I kind of didn't understand what the big deal was since I was in greens and blues still leveling. Epics to me were like a galaxy away and everyone seemed to be in epics on armory. I didn't get why people would want to look up other people and kind of forgot about it.

The Undying

Warning: Long rant ahead!

So my guild very recently completed a 10 man Undying run. For those of you that do not know what I am talking about, this achievement means that whoever was in 10 man Naxx did not die on any of the bosses for that raid id. For those who completed this achievement, they get the privilege to display the new title, "the Undying," behind their character name. Many guilds use this title and the Heroic Naxx equivalent, "the Immortal," as a way to display their superiority.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't see anything wrong with being proud of having such an achievement under your belt because it isn't one that depends on random luck or grinding for massive amounts of time but is indicative of your own ability along with that of your group. However, having such an achievement available means there will be drama-rama.

Remember Zul'Aman?

That was THE 10 mans to do in TBC when it first came out. By then, Kara was a joke and many people thought at first it was supposed to be the next step up from Kara since it was a 10 mans. Dead wrong. You definitely needed gear beyond Kara or uberly skilled at your class if you were undergeared to clear ZA. Most likely it was guilds that did 25 mans that did ZA, not the casual family guilds that were only doing Kara.

The thing is that ZA didn't offer great gear, maybe some pieces that were really really nice but alot of the stuff wasn't that great and it looked horrible imo! So why did people want to do ZA?

They did it all for the bear.

Gear

It's sort of funny how much things change. I mean if you think about it, our character never really changes in physical looks unless you pay for it. What we wind up working for in WoW is for the pretty skin that the clothes, ie gear, our character wears in game. Sure said gear has pretty stats but what it comes down to are pretty pixels. And when it comes to tier sets, you start looking like alot of people. I feel like there was more variety in TBC. Well here is how my paladin looks now.

Here is how my paladin looked then, I actually still kept some of the stuff around. The picture on the right is what I used to look like mostly. Before I got the t6 shoulders though, I used to use the Mount Hyjal shoulders. It looked so gross I felt but I slowly got used to it. And yes, I did raid with my S4 stuff =X

Ulduar gear - Rant

Warning: Long rant ahead!

Well, we've been seeing alot of prospective items from the Ulduar bosses and I gotta say when it comes to the spell power plate, I am NOT impressed. Just because the level of the item is higher, it does not automatically make it attractive (see my previous post comparing plate heal boots currently available in game).

In fact, all of the items I have seen so far have mp5 on them and either have crit or haste not both. This irked paladins on the forums that many have posted complaints on the WoW forums about how elemental shaman gear is more attractive, subsequently leading to troll comments about how if our mana regen weren't OP then maybe mp5 would be more attractive to us. =(

Mounts

So everyone knows that there is an achievement for having a crapload of mounts. Having 50 mounts will earn you an albino drake and if you keep getting more, you will eventually get a Dragonhawk mount, with different colors depending on faction. I really really doubt I can actually get the 100 mounts that you need for the Dragonhawk mount but maybe the 50 mount drake is still possible for me. I believe I am at 30 something odd mounts right now. Here are some of my favorite mounts.

The Amani Bear is a reward you get for completing the timed chest even in Zul'Aman at level 70. It is no longer possible to get this mount. It is an ugly mount but it is more of a trophy than anything else, but I am still fond of it.

The black PVP Hawkstrider mount is very easy to get but I always liked the chicken mounts. My first epic ground mount was a Purple Hawkstrider my boyfriend bought me since at the time it was really expensive to get the Paladin mount for the quest.

Alts & Leveling

So even though I am level 80, it is my only high level character. I have a purgatory of characters doomed to be lowbies =X

I just never got into the leveling aspect of the game. Even with my paladin, it basically took me about a year of on and off leveling to hit the max level at the time, which was 70. Since my boyfriend had already been level 70, I was basically mostly left to my own devices though he did help power level me in the 1-30 and once I hit Outlands. Leveling to 80 in the expansion was the fastest I've ever leveled, which took about a week, but only because I had my boyfriend as my leveling partner this time around.
I also managed to do the Deathknight story line but if you complete that, your DK is only around level 58, a mere gain of 3 levels. Yet I had the ambition to level up BS (though not yet maxed) for my DK just because I thought it would be nice to be able to make myself belt buckles whenever I wanted. =X

Preparing for Ulduar

So everyone knows that Patch 3.1 is going to come out with ETA of 1-2 months. Right now we're being bombarded with news almost daily of class changes, item additions, boss strategies, etc. It is a little hectic to sort through all that.

Even if you keep up to date on everything, there is no guarantee you will know exactly what is in store for patch 3.1, so how can you prepare for when it goes live?

1. Keep raiding - right now content is very easy and completely puggable, there is no way you can't do at least one 25 man raid a week. Vault of Archavon, anyone? Ulduar is going to be a step up in difficulty and if you want to get through Ulduar, you need better gear. Even if you don't get the drops you want, you can always use the Emblems of Valor/Heroism to buy upgrades. Now's the time to push progression because you will be left behind in the dust when Ulduar is released. Who wants to do Malygos or Sartharion 3 drakes up when there is a whole new instance to explore and raid? No attunement too?! Exactly!
2. Do dailies - Dual spec is something that alot of people are excited about or nervous about, depending on who you ask. The thing is it costs 1000g! Also, if you want an upgrade of the Kirin Tor ring, it is an extra 1000g on top of the price you pay for the ring (if you don't have it already). There are also a ton of new glyphs that will come out and can be selling for exorbitant prices due to their initial rarity. No matter what you want to get from the many new things included in 3.1, it is always good to have some gold on hand for any purchases you might make.
3. Farm reputation - Have you always put off getting exalted with a faction you need to purchase an item from? Now is the time to do it. Sons of Hodir is practically a necessity as it gives you a shoulder enchant much cheaper than the TBC one along with gold from the dailies.
4. Farm badges - Sure there is a new badge coming out but does it mean that the old badges are not relevant? No way, with heroism badges you can buy frozen orbs along with rare quality gems for any gem sockets you get in gear. And I bet there will be new items for purchase with Emblems of Valor badges available in the future due to 10 man Ulduar dropping Valor badges.
5. Achievements - Come 3.1, the proto drake reward will be taken out for raiding achievements on heroic and normal difficulties. Now's the time to do all the achievements you were putting off!
6. Class changes: Research the changes your class will be going through and plan accordingly. Will your play style change drastically as a result or do you have to gear/gem differently? These are all things you can prepare for before Ulduar drops so you can hit the ground running.
   

These are some of the things I will be doing in preparation for Ulduar, namely raiding. What are some of your goals before 3.1 goes live?

Till next time!

Paladin changes for 3.1

Warning! Long entry ahead!

According to wowhead and numerous other sites, Paladins will have many changes. The ones affecting holy paladins are (my comments in red):

Skills:

• Sacred Shield: This effect cannot be cast on more than one friendly target at a time. (NO!!! Not my sacred shield!!! I love love love sacred shield!! I am one unhappy holy paladin -.-)
  
• Forbearance reduced to 2 min duration. (No real difference, just means I can use Hand spells on other people more often. I tend to only use DS on myself. )
• Warriors can now remove Divine Shield on paladins!!! (They are really bent on nerfing PVP for paladins -.- I guess holy paladins are now the new red headed stepchild of Blizzard instead of ret)
  
• Exorcism can now be used on all targets, but is now a guaranteed critical strike vs Undead and Demon type mobs. (This will make questing much faster)
• Hand of Sacrifice: The damage transferred by this ability is now capped by the Paladin’s health. (I guess this is to prevent people from taking advantage of this so that content won't be too easy, especially in combination with the next change)
• Auras will now persist through death and affect a 40 yard radius. (Since aura mastery got changed, about time they made our auras baseline 40 yards!)
  

UI & Miscellaneous thoughts

This was the UI I was using when I did 25 man Sartharion 2 drakes up. It was a new add on called SunnArt. Basically it converts your screen so the viewing area is not being covered up by action bars or add ons. It's easier to see the difference with a before and after what this add on does. I hate having to redo UIs and most likely I will since I plan on reformatting my laptop due to the low fps I was experiencing during this raid and today's raid.

Some items I got recently:

Healing Charts

So one of the WoW blogs I like to read is Siha's Banana Shoulders. One of her entries is about judging in raids for all paladin specs. I liked her post and agreed with most of what was said and hurriedly typed out a comment (plus a 2nd one because I forgot to say I raid with a crapload of paladins).

Then I realized that with my comment, I was basically saying I cared about the heal charts because retribution paladins have out healed the other holy paladins in some boss fights. Which she also griped against. Doh!

In an unthinking moment of commenting, I basically told her I didn't really read her blog entry along with saying something in a way that could be easily misunderstood. -.-

Let me illustrate the point I was trying to make then by looking at a WWS of a raid in my guild:Now before you think that all of my healing done is purely JoL, here is the breakdown of my healing for all the boss fights:

Pen Name

So yesterday we managed to get the 25 man OS 2 drake up achievement. I was pretty unhappy about my performance in yesterday's raid because my frame rate kept dipping unpredictably to less than 10 fps -.-

Well, I know I haven't introduced myself fully yet. I do play on a real live server in WoW, not a private server but I do not wish to divulge my character's name or server.

Why you ask? I suppose because I've always been a private person when it comes to my identity. I wish for some way to make my opinions known but I do not wish for any celebrity or notoriety. And with a post that I wrote like yesterday's entry, I think that there might be some backlash. Also, I would just like to post on my blog in the safety of anonymity.

I hope everyone still reads despite me not posting my character's information and trust that I am not talking out my ass =P

How Not to Pug

So even though I raid with my guild for 25 mans, when it comes to 10 mans, we have a lot of choices. We can run with guild or set up our own groups. As for me, though I really want the title, "The Undying," and I have been invited to guild runs to attempt this - I still have to pug. Why?

Well, basically to make a long story short, all of our WoW friends got separated into different guilds. There are 6 of us and if you do the math, 6 people a 10 man does not make =X

Therefore, we must pug.

UI Changes

So I downloaded a new add on called Spartan UI for a complete visual overhaul of my user interface (aka UI). I had been using the Blizzard default UI with a couple of other add ons but the usage of this new UI changes the look of my normal interface pretty drastically. It also came with bartender4 so the action bars could fit in with the modded look.

Woot woot!

Oh happy day! I bought myself Poignant Sabatons off the AH for 1800g buyout! Expensive, yes. Worth it? Definitely!

Woohoo, I match! Everything except for my helm but I never display it anyway =D

Till next time!