Holyssa

Holy crap. I may just level my hunter 2nd after Holyssa come expansion time after all. Throw a Core Hound model into the exotic pet roster (or even some some Silithids, which they can easily re-flag as beasts), and I am 100% sold.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53876 Epic fail at it's finest. People are paying big bucks just to get a taste of the chilly Scourge-packed north. Even sadder, some of those auctions actually sold. I wouldn't be surprised if these were the same people who used daddy's credit card to get them a Spectral Tiger or the gold to buy their way to an Amani Bear. ... *flies to Dragonblight & makes a snow angel*

I wish I knew such a journal existed sooner...I spent a good portion of my work day yesterday reading through it, and it's wonderful stuff mama K Happy Birthday!. I'll probably write a mini-review topic for each major quest line I encounter. Currently I'm working on chopping down Dragonblight chains, which are moving at a very quick pace, and will provide exotic screenies as I see fit.

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Least I wasn't AFK Happy Birthday! At least i'm not beating a dead horse. Face it - you're cursed Happy Birthday!

Least I wasn't AFK

During the initial pull, please spread the three Broken adds out. The mana burn they use is a semi-wide AoE effect, and it looked like people took unnecessary spike damage from the crap. Ascoli did excellent keeping Leo under control once he understood what to do (I've been keeping tabs on the man lately ). DPS just needs to avoid being trigger happy from the get-go, and lay on him as best as they can with what little time they got to work with once Ascoli is under attack. Searing totems...I know we are short on shammies compared to the previous raid composition, but they buy the tank just enough time to keep him under control even when one of his spells is resisted (which WILL happen, as per Holyssa's case long ago). Do what you can to keep them down!

If I may make a suggestion regarding Phase III of Reliquary (Essence of Anger)... It'd probably be better if I handle the floating stone face o'death during this phase. Why? Soul Scream causes 0.5 damage for every point of mana burned, right? With Holy's current mana pool (and Arcane Brilliance turned off), she's got 5700+...pretty average for a tankadin in T6 content who is usually capped at 6000ish. So that's roughly 2850 shadow damage right there if my math is correct, which will be made even more trivial if I burn through my pool via tanking spells. If anything, all I gotta worry about is the initial Shadow cone damage and crushing blows. And how is aggro handled on my end? Seethe, nubcookies! 1. Cal or Orcala gain initial aggro. I taunt off, and gain Seethe via the monster switching targets. DPS holds off until... 2. ...cooldowns aplenty are blown on my end (wings, Avenger's Shield, JC trinket for burst damage, and constant Judgement spam to drain my mana on purpose, casting Righteous Fury if critical heals give me too much due to Spiritual Attunement). Holy moves him into position. Count to 3 seconds or so in order for Holy to build up massive aggro & finish using her cooldowns. 3. If done properly, I should have well over 10k+ threat built up with all the opening burst damage being tossed post-taunt and Righteous Fury remaining active (+90% threat from spells). DPS can basically flip out. There's a giant wall of theorycrafting related to this idea here: http://www.failsafedesign.com/maintankadin...p?p=33420#33420

Sometimes it's best not to ask

I saw them. But the prices made me vomit in my mouth a little. Oh, want a good laugh? Onyxia gets killed by two ret pallies... ...in one minute. My god, I'm tempted to bust out my own ret gear, bring Kadi to Ony, and splatter the ol' dragon just for giggles.

Sorry this took so long, but with Funcom's neverending nerfbat swinging (rofl, dishonerable kill system), I finally had the time to hit the Uninstall button and kill this poorly disguised shagfest. But as promised, I took some photos before dragging the game out back & whacking it. Enjoy!! Even with a crappy video card, Hyboria doesn't look TOO bad. Here's Old Tarantia with the default settings: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture004.jpg Quite possibly the greatest quest item known to man. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture000.jpg Here's what Guild Recruitment posts usually look like: it's a mini hotlink that opens in a new window. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture005.jpg Robynn was probably the brightest person in the chat channel at the time... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture006.jpg After a good hour of battling snakes, half-naked thieves, warlocks, and giant komodo dragons, I save...a dog? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture001.jpg Tradeposts are all-in-one banks, mailboxes & Auction Houses. Oh, the spam flows like water too. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture007.jpg I wonder if he sells Feral Druids... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture010.jpg Wanna travel? Walk, sail, or ride. No exotic birds or portals here. Notice there's two ways to say "no" to the rather nice ferryman http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture011.jpg This doesn't look very protective. She's actually wearing pre-raid blues. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture012.jpg I'd Sap that. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture008.jpg My priest experiences a feeling of deja vu... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture013.jpg "Kalgan, please don't nerf me next pa--wait a minute..." http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture014.jpg You think WoW has crappy servers? Check THESE numbers out! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture015.jpg Holyssa can SO take him on. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture016.jpg A closeup of the King. Obviously he's got epix. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture017.jpg It took 2 minutes to grab this f**king plant because the collision box is so small. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture018.jpg This robe is amazingly made, but it's not for my class. "Tier-0" gear like this scales with level, so if you want an upgraded version, you gotta go back & farm it again. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture019.jpg Resource zones - take Un'goro, jam-pack it with nodes, and watch CGFs drool in unison. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture020.jpg This funny little stone is a placeholder for a guild city. Farm a fortune, build it, and QQ as people steamroll it in seconds. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture022.jpg "Do you feel a draft out here?" http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture023.jpg The Oasis is one of 3 instances that scale with level. Even the critters (see below) can pose a problem! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture024.jpg This guy is one of many solo-able 6-man bosses due to pathing glitches. Took me 10 minutes to defeat him with just my crossbow alone. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture025.jpg Next stop: Azeroth! I think... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/maj..._picture027.jpg

Something else has been bothering me...I got a mail from your mage regarding more gems, but I cannot open it. The letter is there, and I get a tooltip, but can't view the contents at all or retrieve attachments. I'll put in a bug report for it when I get out of work, but have you noticed any problems with the mail system on Beta?

Taking em down is one thing. Remembering the Hamfist Mantra ("Stay out of bad sh1t!") is another. It's ok! Although you'd cry if you knew what Curator & Netherspite dropped From now on, my WWS reports will be on the first page in my original post.

Yay, Holy can finally get her hair put up Dear Raptor Jesus please tell me they updated the JC trainer...my leftover mats are mocking me WTB a Cult of the Damned makeup kit...I wanna add evil facepaint to my orc & give him a deathly complexion. Too many Death Knights blend in with the warrior & paladin crowd.

*cheers* ((Was wondering when this section would pop up. I'll get the ball rolling)) Dragonblight is beautiful. Then again, what part of Northrend isn't? I'll bet even Icecrown itself is a spectacle for the eyes. But amidst this field of endless dead blue is a nasty stain of red, in the form of The Scarlet Onslaught. Upon entering Venomspite, a Forsaken village just on the southeast zone border, you can tell that our undead neighbors are hard at work with handling little annoyances outside of the camp, as well as preparing a full-scale assault on everyone's favorite religious fanatics. Questing started out dead simple: collect a few things here, kill a lot more there. Some of the collection quests, such as the one where you needed to steal armor and weapon racks, had a poorly spaced out respawn timer, and made for lots of running around in circles. Thankfully, mob repop timers were more forgiving than I imagined them to be, and I was able to grind at a reasonable pace while getting things done. Their ranks consisted of only a few specific mobs: the usual grunts, horse-bound knights (GRR! Random charge/knockback = bad!), and the most annoying of them all: Onslaught Raven Priests! These bad boys are very squishy, but extremely subtle: they do a long range spell that looks like spectral birds pecking you to death, and perform a channeled heal much like a mage's Evocation. All without making a peep, so it's easy to get jumped by these. Quests grew less tedious as the chains continued: from lobbing bombs at archery ballistas, setting boats on fire, stealing horses, and even stabbing a torturer with a branding iron, it was an amazing romp. Blizzard really outdid themselves. ...then came the one quest I'm sure most Forsaken fans would be dying to get a crack at (no pun intended): behead the High General Abbendis! As usual, I figure I'd go this one alone. Not like I had much of a choice...the zone was (literally) a ghost town, and the occasional world crash probably scared people off. The AH was also suffering an icky dry spell for potions. I knew I was gonna get my ass kicked, but since it was for a good reason - why the hell not? The cathedral was like walking into a hive. Well over 20 to 30 Scarlets crouched in prayer while kneeling to the lovely Abbendis. A single monstrous AoE pull took em out Holyssa-style, and I was surprised as to how quickly they all dropped with some clever use of Arcane torrent (for the Raven goons). The High General herself was no joke. So what does she do? Melee: hits baseline for 500-950 (can't tell if she crit, but I took tons of spike damage despite being well over the Defense cap via JC trinkets) on me, being a T5/T6 tank. Rather quick attack speed. Holy Shield: Perhaps I was smoking something, but she dealt Holy damage with every strike I made. She soaked up Reckoning procs like a sponge. Judgement of Righteousness: OUCH. 1400-2300, much like my own Judgement. Consecrate: You can see where I'm going here. Oh, this ticked for 700-900. (Hammer of Wrath?): I dunno what I did to piss this girl off, but at 20% life, she did an emote ("Behold the TRUE power of the Onslaught!"), and Kalea (who saved my bacon with her yummy heals) took a monster amount of damage - I think she went from full to 5% in one swoop, but a desperate Lay on Hands saved her. Bring a friend or two if you decide to test your luck on her. After a good 10 minutes of caving my mace into her skull, the High General was defeated, but her L80 companion, Admiral Barean Westwind decided to take the cowards way out & waltz out, with some very chilling words: "...I'll see you at Icecrown." Bah. He underestimates me. Severely. I just hope this doesn't spell a sudden end to the Crusade after ganking the High General...I'd love to see if Blizzard has more in store for these guys. Pics of the vicinity will be coming soon.

It's always fun to see things through other perspectives Eventually I'm going to create a mini-writeup on the Scarlet Onslaught quest chain. It's a jam-packed lorefest, LOTS of slaughtering, extremely fun (and not swarmed by elites ala Tyr's Hand) and relatively problem-free from start to finish. It really makes you ponder the question: how many ways CAN you slaughter a fanatic?

*bump* WWS for last night: http://wowwebstats.com/goemn12gfe4z1

Gorefiend Macros for The Gimped: Individual Spell Macros Macro #1 (Spirit Volley) <---don't include the parenthesis bit in the macro! /cast [target=pettarget] Spirit Volley Macro #2 (Spirit Chains) /cast [target=pettarget] Spirit Chains Macro #3 (Spirit Lance) /cast [target=pettarget] Spirit Lance Pros: Custom macros for each of the ghost's powers. Cons: Only useful if you have a custom UI or pet bar problems. Tab Cycling Macro: /script SetCVar("targetNearestDistance", 20) /targetenemy /cast Spirit Lance /script SetCVar("targetNearestDistance", 41) Pros: This will automatically cycle through all four ghosts, and shoot a Lance at each one once, providing they are within range. Cons: It's not very spammable due to the global cooldown on the Lance. Hit it once, time your cooldowns, then hit it again! Mouseover Macro /cast [target=mouseover] Spirit lance Pros: Bind the Lance to a mouse hotkey, and voila - all you gotta do is click and tab. Cons: Not very handy at the start of the fight unless you have a lot of free buttons, especially if you're a healer. EDIT: Added some clarification to some of the macros, fixed typos.

Hot damn that was a fun fight, but I think he somehow sensed that I played the Flash game way to much during work breaks, which is why I only got picked once for ghost duties. WAAAAGH! GJ folks! Bring some Asprin for Bloodboil next week

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/ - Talent Calculators got updated as of 7/23/08. EDIT: More complete Talent Changes listed at MMO-Champion. (7/25/08) Lots of stuff got new icons. They used the temporary lardball face for Hammer of the Righteous. I don't wanna put that on my hotbar! Damn. Improved Holy Shield now gives 10 charges total? I could get used to this. Avenger's Shield got a damage reduction, but 70% less mana cost. Pretty acceptable, since it's our #1 hallway-pulling mechanic. Guarded by the Light got sorta nerfed...is now a passive 30% (was 50%) mana cost reduction on Consecrate, Holy Wrath, and Avenger's Shield (with 2 ranks). It used to proc off of a parry/dodge. I can live with this, since it's a very nice mana conservation change, rather than having to pop Holy Shield & cross my fingers Kinda glad Blizzard is finally seeing that Mana conservation is a prot pally's major hurdle (if not one of many), but I'd still like to see little changes that make it less frustrating (IE - adding a Counterspell effect to Avenger's Shield or the new shield bash).

Good job on squishing Kiki...err, Lurker last night, but it looks like many people need to stop getting in the way of kraken vomit. If you don't have some kind of boss mod warning you of his abilities (WTF is wrong with you?), Lurker will ALWAYS flap his fins and shake just 3 seconds or so before the Spout...plenty of time to jump in EITHER side of the pool water and remain safe. http://www.wowwiki.com/Leotheras_the_Blind ^ Leo info. And some tips from a pally who main tanked him many moons ago... -Searing Totems rock. Lay them out in a small cluster on the ramp leading to him, and it will give the tank (Ascoli?) plenty of time to grab him. -Can't DPS your Inner Demon down? Casters should apply Wizard Oil, and throw some DPS pieces on without gimping their healing by too much. Remember: they take 65% more damage from Arcane, Holy (lol smite), and Nature attacks. If you can't kill the demon in time, it's a guaranteed death. -Conserve your Misdirect cooldown for when he leaves Demon Form, if you can help it. It's a b*tch to pick him up even with the totems helping out. -Something people did a lot when we hit 15% in the old raid was panic like we had butt pirates assaulting us. Sloppiness is NOT an option. Control DPS between Whirlwinds, top off the warlock tank, and common sense will help us pwn this crazy blind man. -Please watch the movie in my previous post. Study Leo's behavior so you can best plan ahead & avoid getting grazed by Whirlwind. That bleed effect hurts more than anything else!

If there is a Disc. priest among us with Pain Suppression, it will make Phase 2 ezmode. "Pain Suppression 8% of base mana 40 yd range Instant cast 3 min cooldown Instantly reduces a friendly target's threat by 5%, reduces all damage taken by 40% and increases resistance to Dispel mechanics by 65% for 8 sec."

I've been submitting reports like crazy for DK stuff (WTF @ my 5-minute PvP trinket!), but so far the class has given me a very positive outlook. Northrend itself has been rather good as well, and most of my feedback has been full of constructional criticism for the most part (have yet to run into any quest-breaking anomalies...*knock wood*). I'm dying to try out the new dungeon content, but with Karazhan occupying me on Sundays, it will be difficult to find myself more time (Saturday is really my only non-WoW day left, and I try to squeeze in as much Beta time as I can). So far, Blizzard has my approval. Seems like the developers learned a LOT from the tiny goofups they made during early BC, and it aches me to wait for the finished product

And as Bar posted earlier (ie - somewhere back on page 5...I'm trying to save the link from getting lost among the clutter), there is a nice movie by AD's Bradaek which shows exactly what happens when the constructs spawn, and how to deal with them. Watch it here, or I'll make Orcala sit on you & go AFK: *plays the game one more time before leaving work* >.>

MOAR NEWS! http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...=1&pageNo=1 By Nethaera: "We’re pleased to announce a convenient upgrade to the way that mounts and vanity pets are handled in Wrath of the Lich King. Players will be able to “learn” a mount or non-combat pet much like learning a spell, recipe, or new ability, and these creatures will then show up on a new Pet tab within the Character Info section of the interface. Players will be able to access and preview their learned mounts and vanity pets through this tab. Once learned, the pet icon or mount icon will no longer appear in bag spaces or bank spaces. This inventory space will be made available once again for other adventuring needs. Pets can still be set to hotkeys by dragging them to the hotkey bar, much like any other spell or ability." My god...the amount of bag space saved by this...so beautiful. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...amp;sid=2000#12 By Tigole: "Yes, we're planning on speeding up leveling in the 60-70 range. Keep the feedback coming. We are still adjusting it. Let us know what levels you are in what areas in this bracket." This game is getting better every time I read about it. Keep sending feedback for ezmode Death Knight levelling!