Legendary Drama

Ever since this orange mace came out with Ulduar, it's always been the subject of much debate.

• Who's gonna get it?
• How do we decide who gets it?
  
• Is it worth it?
• Can we make it?
• Why didn't so-and-so get it?
• Do we really have to farm it?

When Ulduar was the biggest, baddest instance out there - there was no question about it, you had to farm the legendary or try to if your progression wasn't up there.

Now that there are two raid instances out above Ulduar's loot level, many people even question the worth of a legendary mace's presence in the raid. There is a tremendous time involved to farm the necessary amount of shards on top of the needing to be in a guild able to kill Yogg Saron to make the mace.

This is even harder when you take into account all the different raids one can complete in the week that all give out item level loot equivalent or higher than that or 25 man Ulduar.

And on top of that, all heroics reward Triumph Emblems, which can buy 245 item level gear. Though some guild's like Larisa's don't mind farming it even now, many guilds have members that are unwilling to farm it or go back to Ulduar.

So with all that in mind, why is it that people still get mad over who gets the shards?

Before Cataclysm Comes!

Everyone is talking about Cataclysm but I don't really want to get too much in the know because I still remember questing in Howling Fjord and just enjoying it so much! Everything was so new and it was just like "wooooowwww" to me so I want to be able to experience that again in Cataclysm. I was such a tourist and I unashamedly loved it!

Anyway, people may have started to lose interest in WoW due to the end of the expansion coming up and summertime fever but I have a bunch of things I still want to do before Cataclysm comes out. I have no clue if I will get to everything but I will certainly try.

1. Get over 9000 achievement points - I am around 8400 achievement points atm.
2. Get a Solace trinket to play around with
3. Get a new weapon! And a whole bunch of other gear on my list
4. Complete ToGC 25 - all I have left is Anub'arak
5. Level an alt to 80. Currently, my DK is at 70 and my priest is in her 40s so we'll see which one is going to hit 80 first! =X
6. Get maxed mining on one of my alts.
7. Try to complete the legendary. This is likely going to stay a dream. I actually have a better chance of getting Shadow's Edge than getting the legendary T.T (I already have the 2 quest items)
8. Aim for the Ironbound Protodrake!
9. Maybe the 10 man Frostwyrm? Likely another pipedream as I don't do 10 mans regularly enough =(
10. Hit 100k gold on my paladin for Cataclysm (only 50k right now).
11. Freaking kill Archimonde! (Only TBC raid boss I have NOT killed)
12. Get a bridle for my squire! 
13. See 25 man Algalon and try to kill him! 
14. Get exalted with Consortium and Lower City 
15. Get Loremaster before Azeroth gets destroyed

What is your to-do list?

Glory of the Hero & Ulduar Achievements

At long last! My bf surprised me with this when I logged on. I was only missing 20 min Occulus. He's so sweet *sparkles in eyes*

I love that it is red, I can finally put away my green proto drake =)

So far, the new 10 man guild has been doing well though we still need to recruit more people for a more stable roster. Easier said than done, of course.

However, we have cleared 10 man Ulduar (except for Algalon) and done a bunch of hard modes. Our newest Achievement was I Choose You, Steelbreaker and I got the quest item! I can't wait to work towards unlocking Algalon =D

Till next time!

Leaving My 25 man Raiding Guild

I was reading random blog entries about guilds such as giving negative or positive feedback and it made me feel quite off put about my guild. I was relatively happy when I first got invited into guild because it was an actual raiding guild rather than the previous dictatorship ruled guild that I had come from. We downed stuff in Naxx, Malygos and Sartharion with relatively few hiccuups (though some such as failed 25 man 3D) along the way. It is when Ulduar came out that our weaknesses as a guild became glaringly apparent.

Now, I understand that everyone plays this game to have fun.

But.

When you are in a guild that raids, it is important to remember that you are part of a team. Being part of a team means you need to carry your weight. Even if you cannot, the point is to try.

Don't wipe the raid. Don't stand in crap. Stand in stuff. Don't pull aggro, do have enough threat. Don't have connection issues. Don't run OOR of healers. Don't stack up, do stack up. Follow instructions and play your role.

Your reward is the loot that the entire raid earned together. Teamwork, it's a beautiful thing - a symphony of harmony at its apex.

Screenshot Update

I haven't had the desire to post recently since a lot of real life issues came up along with in game. Our guild has been trying to get our 3rd raid night going but so far the 3rd night has been used to farm 25 man Naxx on mostly guild runs with a few puggers.

As a guild, I feel our progression has been good but outside of our 2 raid nights on Tuesday and Thursday, most people will not sign on so we have basically no 10 man runs going on and if there are, we can only do them for 1 day if we even have the right people on. As a casual guild, we are really well off but with Ulduar out, those that are poor raiders really look all the more poorer in the new content.

Anyway enough of that, I'm going to make this a pretty fluffy post today since I don't have the concentration to do the intellect for paladin post I had been planning. So screenshots galore coming right up!

On my server Horde side, there is only 1 guild that has cleared Yogg Saron I believe (with a 2nd guild working on it) and I had the pleasure of seeing the hilariously freaky looking T8 rogue helm. This screenshot fails to capture the kookiness of the new T8 helm.

Ulduar Paladin Checklist, Part III

Warning! Long post ahead!

So I didn't expect there to be a Part III but I was writing my gear list and it got longer and longer with all my additional comments so here is Part III =X Parts I & II here if you missed them.

Gear, continued

Weapon: Replacing Hammer of the Astral Plane +42 crit/+31 haste/+461 SP/+44 int

• 
  
  Turning Tide -5 crit/+17 haste/+59 SP/+6 int Perfect itemization right here. Only thing better is the legendary!
  
• 
  
  Runescribed Blade +10 crit/-31 haste/+89 SP/+7 int With so much haste on Ulduar gear, maybe having a weapon with a lot of crit is the way to go, plus that spell power upgrade is nothing to sneeze at =X There is spirit on this weapon though so let the priests/druids/locks/mages get this weapon first if they need it as they benefit more from spirit than us paladins.
  
• 
  
  Guiding Star -42 crit/+18 haste/+89 SP/+4 int Loss in crit but in this case, the sheer gain in SP can tip the scale in favor of this as an upgrade.
• 
  Torch of Holy Fire -42 crit/+17 haste/+59 SP/+3 int The Guiding star is better so I'm sort of meh about this weapon.
  
• Furious Gladiator's Salvation -31 crit/-31 haste/+131 SP/+10 int (Dazzling Forest Emerald) So no crit or haste but even more SP gain than the legendary! Well, I still wouldn't use this weapon personally but if you can make up for the loss of haste and crit elsewhere, this weapon can be a great asset for you.
• Constellus -13 crit/-31 haste/+131 SP/+9 int (Dazzling Forest Emerald) The sheer gain of SP might make the loss of crit and haste worth it but I feel the next weapon on the list is better despite it being a lower item level.
  
• Aesuga, Hand of the Ardent Champion +3 crit/-9 haste/+89 SP/+21 int (Brilliant Autumn's Glow) Negligible loss of haste for other stats, =)
  
• Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings +5 crit/+15 haste/+126 SP/+10 int Legendary, baby!!! Perfect paladin itemization and a nice proc! New BIS for sure.

Ulduar Paladin Check List, Part II

Warning Long post ahead!!

So in Part I, I talked a bit about my spec, glyphing, gemming and macros. The biggest part supporting a holy paladin's ability to heal is the gear though. The gear that we choose ultimately allows us to fulfill our roles in raids as healers. I am of the school of thought that paladins should go for intellect with a balance of crit and haste!

Keep in mind that once you get to ~50% crit and 5-600 haste, each point of crit/haste you stack beyond that will not improve your healing ability as much. Thus, you can treat crit and haste as having a “cap” so to speak. There is no cap to intellect stacking though since it increases spell power, crit and your mana pool! I'm currently wanting to hit 30k raid buffed mana but as of now, I am stuck at 29.5k raid buffed if I wear certain trinkets.

On a side note, I dislike mp5 very much so though I will not discount it entirely but I will not focus my entire gear set around stacking it exclusively. Meaning that if a particular piece of gear that I am using has it, then whatever but I will not specifically seek out gear solely for it having mp5. So let's get to it!

Gear

I am listing items from highest to lowest preference. Net gains or losses are being compared to the item being replaced. The only stats considered are crit, haste, SP and int in that order.

Ulduar Paladin Checklist, Part I

So since Ulduar is out, I wanted to do a more comprehensive analysis of the gear out there along with detailing some of the reasoning behind my spec/glyphs/gemming. I wound up writing a long post so I'm going to split it up so it is more manageable to read.

Gems

I will be listing in order of preference from highest to lowest. I don't have the new epic gems included as they are not widely available at this time.

Ulduar So Far

So I managed to hit Ulduar late Tuesday night with my guild. We had a lot of people sign on and sadly some people that normally raided with us logged due to the instability. We still managed a 25 man roster though we had to sit out a good DPS warrior as he logged on a bit late.

I saw a lot of other guilds outside of Ulduar. Excitement ran high as people chattered on vent. Our poor lock couldn't get a summon and other people were wondering why they were not being summoned despite their repeated requests. Seems like there were also a lot of other guilds outside the instance as well.

When we finally managed to all zone in, it was pretty late. Our GM and RL were also basically discussing via vent how to do the raid strat for Flame Leviathan and listing all the boss' abilities. The explanations took quite a while and I feel most of the raiders, myself included, started to zone out and stop paying attention. When it came time to attempt Flame Leviathan, all of us zerged him and got him down to ~40% but we wiped due to the Overload. It took us about 3 tries. Hilariously, on the successful attempt, my boyfriend was to be loaded into the catapault but the driver aimed it wrong and my boyfriend died! LOL! Kind of funny. I was on a bike, tarring and slowing down the boss. Quite fun to zoom around on that bike.

Razorscale was the hardest fight so far I had to heal, worse than 25 man OS 3d as it was really really hectic avoiding the flames along with the random fire bombs that rained from above as well as healing through the chain lightnings. Sorry no screenshots as I was too busy running around healing =X

My boyfriend and I also tried to get the new boss in Vault the next day but the server crashed on us and the entire raid got stuck while clearing the trash right before the boss. When we all finally came back in, the raid basically evaporated. Very frustrating.

Well I hope we get to down Razorscale and move on to more bosses in Ulduar. It feels refreshing to see new content despite all the bugs and server problems.


See you guys in Ulduar!

Ulduar!

Boy I sure am glad I made a comprehensive list for myself to refer to since Ulduar is out a tad earlier than I expected.

Kind of funny how things panned out. First people were like, "Oh it's a distinct possibility that Ulduar will be out this week." Then it became, "Oh, the patch is probably going to hit this week" and now it's like "PATCH COMING OUTTTT OMGGG!!"

Hahah, well we have been waiting quite a while for this patch so it was only a matter of time.

Anyway, I'm betting I don't update as often as I will probably be raiding content!

No clue as to what my guild has decided yet with the legendary. I sense some potential drama there. I'll keep you guys posted =)

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

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. =(

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!)
  

Legendary Weapon

Omg, they are implementing a legendary weapon for all the classes that can heal! It looks damn nice too, better than Turning Tide *drool*
The only thing is it seems you need to collect 40 fragments to finally get an item you turn in for a quest to receive it, so it requires alot of time and energy to collect all fragments. So it seems it potentially represents a problem in terms of loot distribution, considering the amount of time it will take to gain enough fragments for 1 weapon. Thus, many guilds will have to predetermine who will have the right to the legendary weapon beforehand regardless of loot system in place in said guild. I sense upcoming drama -.-