Light's Vengeance

Project Achievements: Westfall

2009-08-14T00:03:00.003-04:00

I thought it would be a good idea to get some focus on my playtime. As such, I am picking out an achievement and working to complete it. It may be better if I spent the time to figure out what achievements can be done concurrently so I can get them done faster, however, I am prone to losing focus on things and I have hard time multitasking like that. So, one achievement at a time.

The first one I want to get done is the achievement for Quests. And since Tyrol was parked in Stormwind, I figured I should start there. At first I was just going to collect all the quests in Stormwind, but I started to realize that my quest log was going to get real full, real quick. So I ended up with a quest that took me to Westfall, and I am going to knock out all the quests there and move on.

Its interesting going back there. A lot of nostalgia for me in that area. I remember taking one of my first characters over there and doing a lot of questing. She was a Night Elf Priest named Inwe. I remember thinking how hard the zone was and how big it was! I also remember wasting a lot of time swimming from Westfall to Booty Bay for no reason. The world of Azeroth seemed so large and I wanted to see all of it, so off I went.

I may yet get sidetracked though. I have always wanted to Solo Onyxia and I have never gotten around to it. I take that back. I tried once on Solerian, but I failed miserably. Then again, that was around level 75. With five more levels and better gear on Tyrol, it should be easier. The reason for this though, is I read a post on Doofy The Paladin (here) that Blizzard might be doing something with Onyxia soon that would not allow me to solo her. So I am probably going to take a crack at her soon.

Aside from that minor detour, I should be able to stay on track. And I will probably do that once I have exhausted the Westfall quests. Wish me luck.

May the Light embrace you.

Making the right choice.

2009-08-13T00:45:00.005-04:00

VS.

So now my account is active again (see my last post), and I am left with a decision. I can and will make time for only one character. That's it. The question is, which one? I have two that I can choose from at this point, Tyrol and Solerian. I really don't want to start from scratch and I want to keep playing as a paladin.

Anyway, comparing armory for the two of them it would seem that Tyrol is the obvious choice. However, I really like Solerian and I like the server (or at least I did when I quit, I can't imagine that its changed much at this point). I also think Solerian just looks cooler. But, Tyrol has more gear, more achievements, and a bit more money.

Then there are some things that are a little less important, like lore and cities. I actually really enjoy the Horde lore. They are painted as the bad guys a lot, but I think that on the whole, they are a group of races comprised of those who got the short end of the stick. The Blood Elves got screwed when Arthas came through. The Horde had been screwed by the Humans on many occasions. The Undead are victims of an incurable disease, and are ruthlessly hunted for it. The Trolls are the last survivors of their clan. And they have proven to be reliable and loyal to the Horde. The only ones who weren't screwed over were the Tauren. They just picked a side for the most part.

The Alliance doesn't seem to be as interesting from that perspective, although they are making the back story for the Dwarves pretty neat now.

Then there are the cities. The Horde has Orgrimmar, Undercity, and Silvermoon. I really like those places, they each have their charms. In contrast, the Alliance has Ironforge. That is the only place I like. Stormwind is ok, but I don't love it. I also tend to like the Horde areas in Northrend better. They pull me in and make me want to hang out there.

So I guess it really only comes down to those things. And its easier to get excited about playing if you are excited about what you are looking at and who you are going to be playing with. However, I am very proud of the progress I have made with Tyrol, and I would hate to throw that away. However, since Blizz has announced that they will be allowing faction swaps in the near future, I think it may be a good idea to ride it out with Tyrol and switch her over once it becomes available. In the meantime, I can work on cleaning up all the Alliance quests and doing the Alliance specific achievements. I would assume that they would carry over once the faction swap takes place.

So I guess there is only one thing to say.

FOR THE HORDE!!! (eventually)

The journey starts anew.

2009-08-12T01:46:00.003-04:00

So I was playing hooky from work the other day to get some homework done and I found that I was having trouble concentrating on learning how to make loops in VB. So, being that nerd that I am, decided that I should reinstall the 8800GT I had laying around.

The story with that is, it used to be in my computer. I bought it as an upgrade from the integrated turd that cam with the motherboard. I was actually very pleased with it, especially since it was only like $99 bucks.

So one day I am sitting around typing up something and I was getting distracted by the really really loud sound coming from computer. It sounded like a Dirt Devil that was spinning a little too fast. So I messed around with the computer for a while and I noticed that the CPU fan was running really really hard. I then noticed that 8800GT was giving off tons of heat. I thought that maybe the heat generated by the video card was making the CPU hotter, which in turn made the CPU fan turn faster to try and cool down the baking piece of silicon under it.

So I pulled the card, and no difference. Then I thought "Well maybe I need to let this thing cool off for a few hours before drawing a conclusion." So I shut the whole thing down and probably watched a movie or Robot Chicken or something. I came back later, and the damn thing was still loud as hell. After lots and lots pondering and checking things, and searching forums, I somehow figured out that the problem was actually the CPU fan settings in BIOS. I changed those around and voila! Quiet computer.

However, at this point everything was nicely buttoned up and I couldn't be bothered with reinstalling the video card. Hell, I hadn't PLAYED a game for months, so what good would it do?

But it always bothered me that it was laying in a drawer when it really should have been in my computer. Which brings us back to Monday.

So there I am bored and I reinstall the card to kill some time. After a BIOS update and driver install, everything thing was working great. Except, it served no purpose. I had one game on my computer, Diablo 2. And really, anything now can run Diablo 2 like it was Minesweeper. So the video card is doing me no good at all. Unless....

Unless.... no. Well maybe. Hmmm.... well, World of Warcraft did run really well on that card. And, I wouldn't mind taking a trip down memory lane, I reasoned. So I reinstalled Warcraft and reactived my sub. I played for six hours on a level 23 (now 24) Night Elf Druid I had laying around. In that time I realized that I really couldn't play properly without my game pad installed. Everything felt... off.

So I dug out the old Saitek Cyborg Commander Pro and dusted it off. And of course the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean was playing in the background. You know the one where you first see Jack Sparrow? No? Well pretend its some epic theme music. Anyway, I dusted off the old game pad and gave it quick clean with a monitor wipe to get some of the crud off of it, and then plugged it into the PC. Its red glow immediately fired up. I had already downloaded the drivers and software, so within minutes I was ready to program.

I remembered more or less how it was setup before as well, so getting it programmed took about 10 minutes. I loaded my new profile and fired up Warcraft again to see how she felt. Night and day. Now it felt like I remember. Now it felt like it was supposed to. Movement was quick and fluid, hotkeys accessible, and I felt comfortable. And yet. I was still missing something.

Addons. When I quite there were about 20 different addons that I used. I needed them back. I had to dig them out of my memory though, and a lot has changed in a few months time. Some of them have stopped being maintained, others have been replaced by better things. My core addons were still there though. X-Perl, Dominoes, WIM, Carbonite Quest, Recount, Omen, Auctioneer, Reagent Restocker, and LightHeaded. That was enough to get me back in the game. I am sure I will remember more, and think of new ones, but those are the ones that I needed.

So graphics card installed, game installed, gamepad installed, and addons installed. I am back in the game. But this time it will be different. I will be playing on my Paladins, Tyrol and Solerian (I need to decide soon who to actually use, kinda torn). Same as before. But this time, I will not sit around and focus on catching up. I am going to do things that I want to do. There is so much the Blizzard has put in this game. Most of it will go unseen by most. And why? Phat lewt? Purples? Server firsts? I don't care about any of that. I want to see the game and experience as much of it as I can. I am not going to struggle to become good enough to start raiding and burn up all my free time trying to get there. I can easily do 5-mans as it is. But more importantly, I am a very good soloist. And that is what I will spend most of my time doing. Conquering the game on my own. Beholden to no ones demands or time tables or wants and needs other than my own.

One of the biggest time wasters I experienced in this game was getting a group together and getting everyone to the same place to get started. Of course, this usually means pugging. Very rarely did I have a full group of people that I knew doing Heroics with me. It would have been nice though. In any case, I am going to try and get as many achievements as possible. And I only plan on working on this when I am bored. If I start noticing that I am logging on the first thing when I get up in the morning, then I am going to have to rethink this whole thing. I refuse to get that caught up in a game again. But, $15 bucks a month to have a good way to blow off some steam or kill some time whenever I want to... seems like a good deal to me.

What have I done....

2009-08-11T17:04:00.001-04:00

Its on. Again.

Hanging up my armor....

2009-06-15T00:43:00.003-04:00

Well, as you can tell, I have not been posting much on here. Partly due to the fact that I have not had a subscription for quite some time (at least 2 months, probably longer, I just cant remember) and I really haven't played very much even before my sub ran out. I think I have just reached a point where I want to do more and achieve some personal goals as well as continue to keep my grades up in school. I also like spending more time with my daughter than more time grinding mobs. Not that I mind grinding mobs, but somethings are more important.

Oddly, I am still wrapped up in the lore quite a bit. I have the WoW comic book delivered to me every month, and I am considering picking up the Ashbringer graphic novel and the Lich King book. I have also started playing Diablo II again. Of course, that game is not demanding on time at all, and it can easily be played in chunks of time, or when you are bored. And right now, that is exactly what I need if I want to play a game.

In any case, I have started up a new blog called Work It Paleo. The idea is to try to chronical my endeavor to reach some level of fitness. The title may or may not be appropriate at this point though since I am not eating a strict Paleo diet. Anyway, if you are interested in continuing to follow me, come on over. Otherwise, thanks to all who read this blog and may you be happy and successful in your real and virtual lives.

Random post

2009-04-16T06:27:00.003-04:00

Ok so it's three minutes before I get out off of work and I am bored to tears! Nothing paladin like going on here. Honestly, my sub has been dead for a while now. I know, its a sad thing. I haven't even played EVE for almost two weeks. I think I am at a point where I just need something fun as a distraction, like the upcoming Diablo game, or the little bouts of DOW2 I like to run.

I should probably install COD4 too. I know its old, but I would like to give it a try on the computer rather than playing it on the PS3. Something about FPS games with a controller is.... unnatural!

Anyway, I have been busy with school. I am actually doing really well this quarter as opposed to my horrible Autumn quarter and mediocre Winter quarter. I don't think it was a WoW issue though, so don't think that is where I am heading.

Well that is it for now! Three minutes are up!

School and Distractions

2009-03-19T00:20:00.003-04:00

So you may have noticed my blog has been slipping. I blame this squarely on two things:

1) School - It has to be done and has been really really time consuming for the last few weeks. I did manage to finish the website project. You are welcome to check it out at IAmPaladin.com. Its is nothing impressive, and the info is stuff that most of you know. Some of it is a bit off too and needs tweaking/clarification. It also needs to be prettied up a good bit.

I would say though, that for my first actual website, its not completely and utterly horrible :P At least everything seems to work!

2) Other Games - so what have I been doing when not working, going to school, or taking care of the cutest baby ever (ok maybe I am a little biased on that one :P)? I have been playing either Street Fighter 4, Dawn of War 2, or EVE Online.

Street Fighter 4 is just awesome! My Ken is pretty good. They made Zangief usable by the masses (awesome!), and C. Viper is awesome! I like the game bunches and the online play is really fun and easy to get into.

Dawn of War 2 is okay. It is very very fast paced and its really not about building up your base and getting resources. Its about combat and managing your units. To me, that is what RTS games SHOULD be about, not "Look at how cool my buildings are!" So in that respect, DoW2 is great!

The voice acting is really good too, especially the Orks. They crack me up all the time and are my favorite race to play, although I think that I may actually be more effective with the Tyranids.

What the game doesn't do very well, in my opinion, is help you control your troops. For being based around unit management, it doesn't do much to help you manage your units and move from group to group quickly. Either that or I am missing something. If they did include tools to make unit management faster and easier, they certainly don't make it obvious and they do not explain it. It is still fun though!

Lastly is EVE Online. GASP! Okay okay... close your mouths already. I just installed it today. The last two times I tried playing this game I got bored quickly within a month. Then again, I was over whelmed when the first time around. There were really no tutorials in the beginning and the learning curve was really really really steep.

Second time around was winter of 2007. The learning curve was still steep, but only really really instead of really really really. The difference was an enhanced tutorial system. I was very excited about the game the second time around, but that is about when all my friends and my brother were firing up WoW again, and I couldn't resist. So I dumped EVE for WoW and hadn't looked back up to now.

So what is different now? I don't know. I really never got to play the game much and I have always had a thing for space. I also found that I have had more fun in WoW playing the auction house and exploring old dungeons I have never seen. Sounds a lot like what I imagine I would be doing in EVE; buying, selling, and flying around space, with a little combat thrown in for good measure.

I don't think I will be canceling my WoW sub quit yet, but I will give EVE a good shakedown. I think I should give it at least three months of play time due to the ramp up time in EVE.

So we will see what happens. I think there is a good chance I will be bored out of my skull, but I hope I am pleasantly surprised.

And school is also out til the 30th... WOO HOO!!!!

Just for Fun

2009-02-15T18:11:00.001-05:00

Epic!

Where is the damned loop!?

2009-02-10T05:59:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I am out of the loop for sure..... apparently there are a bunch of pally changes coming down the pipe. Perhaps I will find some time tomorrow to research and elaborate.

Of course, lately I haven't even had time to play! Damned school and work.... *grumble grumble*. I would like to squeeze a little playtime in this weekend so I can do the Lunar Fest achievements. They only come once a year after all.....

New Spell On The Block

2009-02-03T22:07:00.002-05:00

Paladins rejoice! After nearly 5 years since the release of World of Warcraft, we finally get a pulling tool. One that isn’t our face. Yes indeed, Hand of Reckoning is here. There is no question that this is going to change the way that we play. Flying mobs will no longer be the bane of our existence, warlocks and mages will no longer beat us to tagging a kill, and we won’t HAVE to dump a bunch of mana with either Holy Shock or Avenger’s Shield. Really, it’s a buff for everyone involved. Some specs more then others though. Let’s take a look.

Holy:

Yeah, the new Hand spell is super cheap to throw out, but Holy Shock is still very mana efficient considering the amount of damage that it does. And let’s face it, if you are trying to get a mobs attention, you are probably trying to kill it anyway. So front loading a lot of the damage before it gets near you is always a good thing.

The only thing that Holy Shock lacks is range. At 20 yards max, it can get you a little too close to the action sometimes. As such, you should keep Hand of Reckoning on your toolbar.

Verdict: The new spell is useful, but the old standby of Holy Shock will see more use.

Protection:

This is a HUGE deal for prot paladins. Hand of Reckoning is more then just a pulling tool; it’s a single target taunt AND a single target pull. Of the four classes capable of tanking, Paladins have been the only ones that have lacked both.

Granted there has always been Avenger’s Shield, but using that can risk hitting up to three targets when you just want one. And when you need to grab a mob from your off-tank, usually you don’t want to snag three with Righteous Defense. Granted, paladins are great at multi target tanking, but sometimes one more is just too many.

Verdict: Best thing to happen since sliced bread and plate armor.

Retribution:

Before this change, ret paladins had only Judgement to pull with. At a mere 10 yard range, you might as well have head butted the mob to get their attention. Especially considering that most mobs seem to have an aggro radius a good bit larger then 10 yards.

Ret paladins have been left with either dynamite or boomerangs for pulling. Neither one is a good option. Most ret paladins have adjusted to this limitation and have had to learn to analyze a situation very closely before going in. This is not a bad thing, but when your target is 70 feet in the air, no amount of planning is going to bring it down.

Really, the biggest challenge for veteran ret paladins will be remembering that Hand of Reckoning exists.

Verdict: The toolkit is now complete, putting them on par with every other class and spec in the game… if they remember to use it.

With your powers combined.....

2009-01-22T04:34:00.002-05:00

I am Captain Website! Oh hai! Yeah so really the things that are combining here are going to be school and WoW.

Yeaiknowrite!

I am taking a class right now called Writing for the Web. The final project is to create a website with 5 pages. The content is entirely up to the student, and it can be about anything. The instructor would prefer that you are excited about whatever you make your website on.

I said "So I could make a website about Paladins in World of Warcraft?"

"Yes."

"Oh ok, I will think of something else.... HEY! You said yes!"

"Yeah that is fine. I just hope this game has enough to write 5 pages of web content on. If you have trouble with that, let me know early so you can change your project."

"I think I can manage."

So guess what? I am going to do my take on a Paladin-centric website. Most likely leaning heavy toward ret. I know there are plenty of websites that will cover this stuff already, but I have a few of my own ideas for it. This should be a freakin' blast! And I can play WoW and claim that I am doing research! Double win!

What happened to my DK?

2009-01-16T02:10:00.002-05:00

I will tell you.... there are too F@%#ING many of them! And its not because its the Flavor of the Month class. Its because they are kinda awesome! I can guarantee that there will be tons and tons of DKs well into the next expansion. So, I don't see a need for another one. And right now, I have my hands full with my two pallys, so maybe I will work on Amadis later. For now, he can look cool at the character select screen.

You must have control!

2009-01-15T06:15:00.005-05:00

It's about time I made the post on my control setup. Euripides @ CriticalQQ has posted on how he does things with his mage. My original inspiration for this post came Ferraro @ Paladin Schmaladin, which kinda covers all pallies. So I figure I should get my post out there.

This setup is really geared toward ret paladins. Although, it is easily swapped around for holy or prot with minimal movement of the main hotkeys. Also, my Dominoes setup is made to closely mimic the layout of my keypad. I am a visual person, so it helps me remember where things are.

My setup differs from a lot people in that I use a peripheral pad (the Saitek Cyborg/Pro Gamer Command Unit) to do almost everything. The one pictured above is what I use, well pretty close anyway. Mine is the Cyborg version with a different color scheme, but that is irrelevant. I also make use of a Logitech G5 mouse and a Logitech G11 keyboard. The mouse, I don't think I could do without it. The keyboard, well my bro gave it to me because I needed a keyboard, and he had this laying around. As long as the damned thing types, I could care less what keyboard I have.

So lets look at the main part of my control scheme, the Saitek Command Unit. I have this thing mentally broken down into sections:

-Top Row: This is where I put buttons that I need to hit quickly, but not often. Left to Right is Arcane Torrent/GoTN, Divine Plea, Trinket, Repentance
-Second Row: This is the workhorse row. The things I need to hit fast and often are here. L to R is CS, Judgement, DS, HoW
-Third Row: Easier to reach then the top row, so I put a lot of spells on here that are used almost as much as the second row. L to R is HoJ, Seal of Choice, Consecrate, Exorcism
-Fourth Row: This row is a little tricky to reach, so stuff that gets used on occasion goes here. L to R is Turn Evil, Reserved for Hand of Reckoning, Holy Wrath
-Palm: Easy to smash when things get hairy. Lay on Hands.
-Left Vertical Row: The top "button" isn't a button. Its a switch to change the key layout. I leave mine on Red (top position). Down from there is Jump, Vent, Divine Shield
-Thumb Area: I use the hat for movement. Top button is Flash of Light, bottom is Wings/Trinket Macro

So that is the Saitek. Next is the mouse. The only thing special here are the center mouse button for HoF, page forward button for Cleanse, and page back button for auto-run.

I had tried the Belkin N52Ti right after my first Saitek wore out last month. I couldn't get used to it. It looks comfy, but in practice the giant hump is really limiting. The D-Pad, with or without the stick attachment, is too stiff, which makes it distracting. The scroll wheel is pretty useless since I can't think of a reason why you need one on the pad when there will be one on most mice. Really, the most positive part of the Belkin pad is that short throw keys, which would be awesome on the Saitek. Also the interface is a little nicer for setting up key binds on the Belkin. However, the Saitek one isn't too bad either, you just have to take the time figure it out. The Saitek programming software is also a lot better at setting up combo keys like CTRL+1 and macros (which are kinda useless in WoW, in my opinion).

All in all, I think the Saitek is awesome, and its fairly cheap compared to the competition. And there you have it, my control setup and a bonus review. Enjoy!

She's back........

2009-01-12T13:51:00.008-05:00

[Ghostcrawler]
"Ghostcrawler, Real Name, No Gimmicks..."

[Record Scratches]

[Beat Changes]

Two cat form druids go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside.
Two cat form druids go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside.

[Kikidas]
Wooo!

[Female Voice]
"Ooooohhhhh!"

[Kikidas]

Guess who's back, back again
K is back, tell a friend
Guess who's back, guess who's back,
guess who's back, guess who's back,
guess who's back, guess who's back,
guess who's back...

I've created a monsta, 'cause nobody wants to
See Kvasira no more, they want Kikidas,
I'm a DOT giver.
Well, if you want Kiki, this is what I'll give ye
A little bit of DD, maybe Shadow Cleave
Some Siphon Life you gonna die quicker
Then a shock when I get Holy Shocked at the boss
By the Pally when I'm not cooperating
When I'm rockin' the aggro table while I’m DPSing "Hey!"
You see what’s going on I’m Immolating
'Cause I'm back, Hey that DKs Desecrating!
I know that you got a job Mr. Tanky
But your threat’s not the problem keep Consecrating
So the D-E-Vs won't let me be,
Or let me be me so let me see
They tried to shut me down in WSG
But it feels so empty without me.
So come on Imp, do your Phase Shift
Back flip
Use your wit and I’ll cackle a bit,
And get ready 'cause this shits about to get heavy
I just popped all my trinkets, "Fuck you Skadi!"

Chorus:
Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody just follow me
'Cause we need a little warlocky,
'Cause it feels so empty without me
I said this looks like a job for me
So everybody just follow me
'Cause we need a little warlocky,
'Cause it feels so empty without me

Little hellions, mobs feelin' rebellious
Embarrassed, their hit points won’t get’em through this
They start feelin' like critters, helpless,
'Then someone comes along on a Dreadsteed and yells "BITCH!"
A Demonologist, Succubi are sexy, she started Seducing,
Now try all that Retribution
Here’s a Shadowbolt,
Your gonna feel a jolt and a little harassed,
As a matter of fact, a Death Coil is coming after your ass
And your gonna die faster, I’m speccing Affliction tree
Gonna snag Contagion then Eradication, and what about Improved Curse of Agony?
Well I'm back (Da Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) fix your busted gear
Now look out cause I’m about to Haunt and Fear
My way to HKs, it's so easy I need a beer
To wash down the taste of your QQ tears
I'm speculating, contemplating respeccing
Unstable Affliction might be good for questing
"Testing: Fel Vitality!?"
I have no apprehension cause I got Suppresion
Looks like the Rogue is gonna hide from me,
But that’s ok, I just Banished his Tree

(Chorus)

Verse 3:
A DOT here, a Curse there,
I gotta prepare cause here comes a Bear, is that a Druid with hair?
Oh crap! My Hunter dropped a Flare and there’s a Rogue hiding behind that chair
Thinking I don’t know where, lets see how he likes Howl of Terror,
And Moorabi?, roflpwns are my hobby,
You’re a translucent wooly mammoth who’s a little snobby
You don't stand a chance in this land of cold
Let go, it's over, just give us your gold!
Now let's go, just give me a portal
And I got a Soul Stone, I’m practically immortal
I been ignored, hanging out here in the Howling Fjord
And now Prince Arthas is out of his gourd
But looky here, I’m on the loading screen
Everybody only wants to DPS
But I specialize in dealing death
But it's just me I'm just obscene
Though I'm not the first queen of warlockery
I am the worst thing since jabberwocky,
To do fel magic so selfishly
And use it to get myself wealthy! (Hey!)
There's a concept that works
20 million Death Knights have emerged
But no matta how many DKs are in LFG
It'll be so empty without me

Level 80: Planning

2009-01-06T23:36:00.007-05:00

Ok, well once I figure out what is going on with my digital camera, I am going to do a post on my control setup. Inspiration for that is courtesy Ferraro. For now though, I am going to put out some thoughts on pre-raid planning for my ret pally, Tyrol. Yeah my boy needs some attention. I haven't logged on to him to actually play for weeks! Solerian has been getting a lot of my time. In any case, I will level Solerian some more, but I would like to make a little progress on my OG pally. I mean hell he is already 80!

Time for me is starting to come at a bit of a premium. I have a lot to do, and not nearly enough time to do it. From my baby girl, to school, to work, to friends, to WoW, there is just too much to do. To make matters worse, it would seem that there are about as many things to do in WoW. Rep, professions, gear, and earning some money would be enough. And then there are achievements to boot! And to me, it can get overwhelming, especially since I have a habit of flying by the seat of my pants. So, I need a plan. And that is something I can do outside the game. So first things first. I need to prioritize:

-Gear up for Heroics
-Gear up for PVP
-Level up my Enchanting to at least 410
-Drop engineering, decide on a new secondary profession, level accordingly to a minimum of 410

So from there, I know the first thing I am going to look at is my PvE gear. My PvE gear is pretty sad right now. I sport low crit, high hit, and no expertise. So what are we aiming for?

-As much Strength as possible
-Hit rating needs to be at 230 approx (woot for Heroic Presence!)
-Expertise rating needs to be at 214 approx
-Crit should be in the mid 20% range at least. Obviously the more crit the better, but it has to be balanced
-Armor Penetration and Haste are going to be ignored for now, avoided even. Per Elitist Jerks, they don't do much for us anyway, and I feel that it would be wasted item budget at this stage of the game

So with that in mind, lets find some easy upgrades for my current equipment. Keep in mind, this gear is going to try to avoid any heroic Dungeon or Raid.

Head: None at the Moment
Neck: The Severed Noose of Westwind - Icecrown Quest Chain
Shoulder: Spaulders of the Giant Lords - Sons of Hodir Revered
Back: Cloak of Bloodied Waters - BoE Drop (hopefully I can spot it in the AH)
Chest: Whalebone Carapace - The Kalu'ak
Wrist: Vengeance Bindings - BS Crafted
Hand: Astrid's Riding Gloves - Storm Peaks Quest Chain
Waist: None at the moment
Legs: Cold-Blood Legplates - Storm Peaks Quest Chain
Feet: Death-Inured Sabatons - Knights of the Ebon Blade Exalted
Ring: Ring of Scarlet Shadows - JC Crafted
Ring: None at the Moment
Trinket: Crusader's Locket - In the bank I think
Trinket: Not Sure
Weapon: Runeblade of Demonstrable Power - Knights of the Ebon Blade Revered
Libram: None at the Moment

Next post, we will look at enchants, gems, and armor kits for this gear.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T00:32:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year!!

So I have been kinda busy, and kinda not. I have got absolutely nowhere with my new post-op Draenei pally, Tyrol. There are two reasons for this.

1) My Horde pally, Solerian
2) Crappy Saitek Pro Gamer Command Unit

So I have been working on my Horde paladin a lot as of late. I have a good guild and I have meet some cool people on Azjol (talking to you Clael, Priestzorz, and Tenderyara). I have been getting a lot of encouragement from them to keep leveling up, and they really need to a Ret paladin to fill groups out (my how the tables have turned). As it turns out, I am pretty good at DPS. So yeah, there is a huge timesink. I am only 75 too, so there is a bit more leveling that needs to be done.

However, I had planned on spending a few days working on Tyrol to try and get the rep grind started with the Sons of Hodir, and to work on my Wyrmrest faction. I wanted to get moving into Heroics as well. I also wanted to get the Merrymaker title, which would have involved a little time.

As it turns out though, my Saitek pad had taken a crap just as i was going to start working on Tyrol. I tried to use my brothers Belkin N52TE, but it was awkward. I have been using the Saitek for over a year and it worked well, right until the analog stick decided to die. So I had to find one (which I was able to find a new one on Amazon) and then I had to wait for it to come in.

Now that I have a new one, I can comfortably play again. I know, I know, I shouldn't need a peripheral game pad to play WoW. The keyboard should be enough. But the Saitek is what I use, and I love it. I can't stand the keyboard anymore for WoW. I tried at the request of Clael, but it just wasn't working.

Of course, my vacation is over so I am back to work. School is also starting back up Monday. So this is going to leave me a lot less time to play. Especially since I will actually have to pay attention for this set of classes. I have also started exercising a bit too. I have resolved to lose at least 20 lbs by the end of the year as well as get in better cardiovascular condition. So, that means less WoW.

On the upside, that should help prevent the dreaded WoW burnout since I won't have time to play as much.

For the next post, I think I am going to look into adding *gasp* content to my blog! So maybe something about Ret DPS. I have no idea what to discuss that hasn't been touched on yet, but I will think of something.

Pack mule?

2008-12-12T00:00:00.002-05:00

Pack Mule ?

* Pack Mule -- Summons a pack mule, giving you access to any bank items for 3 min. The mule may only be summoned once.
* Summon Faithful Mule -- Summons your faithful pack mule, giving you access to any bank items for 3 min.

OMFG!!! I hope this goes in! Go here for more info.

Fun for All!!!!!!!

2008-12-11T03:35:00.002-05:00

Enjoy!!

Time to change it up!

2008-12-11T01:37:00.004-05:00

Well after reading this from Doofy, I think its about time Dradis went under the knife... so to speak. I had heard rumors from some of you guys about his, and looks like you guys were on the money! It will also give me a chance to pick a new skin color and I may even do a name change. Whenever I think of my little Dradis, I always think of a woman. That won't do.

So I have been trying to think up some new names. Here is what I have come up with:

Dais
Sekhmet
Ruyvivar
Aucassin
Suren
Devivar
Geste
Palantinus
Eran
Tyr

Hopefully one of those is free. If not, sticking with the name Dradis won't be the end of the world, but it will feel a little... weird.

On a different note, I have been working on leveling up Ryukyu on my brother's server. Let me tell you, leveling as Ret is soooooo easy now. I rarely drop below 90% health and mana. I think the reason for that is the lack of Divine Storm. The excess mana means I can hit those Art of War procs every single time they are up. Also, if I have to burn up extra mana for Consecrate, Bubble, in fight heals, or whatever, I don't have to stop and drink because I get surplus mana from JotW right now. No Divine Storm means lots of extra mana. Its a great thing. At level 54 its really not needed either. I put out about 210 dps right now on average. Its not great, but its more then enough to mow down old world mobs and not think twice about it. I also had been running around without any glyphs. I just added Glyph of Judgement and Glyph of Seal of Command right before I logged off. I should see at least a small DPS increase off of those. Anyway, I will report back on the leveling front once I get past 60.

By the way, once Ryukyu gets past 62, he will be only the second character that I would have leveled from 1-62. Lets hope I can stick it out with him to see him through to 80. After all, the game is a bit a easier now as far as rep and such goes, so it should allow me to play two characters at the same time without much of hassle. And since I work third shift, there is no danger of me ever getting into a hardcore raiding schedule, so it should work out. If not, then I will have to pick a toon... again.

Last thing. I am thinking about replacing my venerable Saitek Gaming Pad (link), with this new offering from Logitech. What do we think?

Ding 51!!!!

2008-12-09T01:24:00.004-05:00

Did Blizz take my levels away? What the hell is this ding 51 stuff? Well I have started leveling my Horde Pally again. I think I just like to level. Also, I have always wanted to see things from the Horde side. So far, the quests are very different (unless its neutral like Steamwheedle Cartel or something). The art direction is very different too, as well as how the different races seem to interact with each other.

Alliance, for the most part, is very cohesive and there is a decent amount of trust among among the races. The humans might have a slight superiority complex. For the most part though, no race is overly concerned about the other. They all also seem to have the same goals. Mainly, stop Arthas and maybe squash the Horde.

Horde is a bit different. No cohesive goals. No cohesive plan other then the Alliance has to die. Arthas should probably be killed too because he insulted Thrall's mom. The Forsaken want *EVERYONE* dead, only to be raised again at a later time. The blood elves want their land and maybe some kind of gum to help with their mana addiction. The Orcs and Trolls seem to just want to be left alone, maybe the Tauren too. No one trusts the Forsaken, I would venture a guess that they don't even trust each other.

All this stuff manifests itself, to some extent, in the quests that are done. When you get done with Tarren Mill, you just leave thinking that those Undead a-holes are up to no good. You get done in Feralas and you think to yourself, I would not want to anger the Tauren, they WILL hunt you down. That is about as far as I have gotten on the Horde side, but I expect things like that to continue through Outland and especially Northrend.

So maybe I like leveling because I like the story, even if I have heard it a few times before. That, and I haven't done all of the quests, I haven't seen all the zones, and I haven't seen everything from both sides yet. And yes, I will probably be one of those people LFG for SWP/MH/BT/SSC just because I have never seen them either. Chances are that I won't see them, because no one is ever interested in running old stuff, but hey, a guys gotta try!

And yes, I am OCD for some Pally action. Don't get me wrong, I like other classes. In fact I have a bunch of alts that are different classes. But my best chances for long term success/sustained interest seem to lie with Paladins. And I thought I was done leveling for a while. But, I think that more applies to leveling in Northrend on the Alliance side. This is different, at least a little bit. I am also in no hurry to progress quickly on Dradis. I really don't want to get burned out and disinterested in WoW becuase I am pushing to hard to fast. I don't want to be progressed so far right now that I am waiting on the next content patch for something to do. Not my idea of a good time. C'est la vie.

Ding 80!!!!

2008-12-07T23:47:00.003-05:00

Well I hit 80 on Friday afternoon! It was a great feeling. But, now its more questing still. I would like to finish everything in Northrend. Then I am going to work back through Outland and Azeroth for the Loremaster achievement. I have managed to come within 1 point of the defense cap, so that makes me happy. I need to go look for upgrades so I can start collecting those as well. Ahhhh.... 80. Now the rest of the game starts again.

Oh yeah, I got my Black War Bear mount. It is awesome! I pugged with a group ranging from 70-80. Went pretty well, and it was a lot of fun! And school is out for a while, so time to game game game until Jan 5th when school starts back up again. Oh yeah, I changed my major to Web Development. I am excited!

Go go Pally Bear Mount!!!

Ding 79!

2008-12-04T22:59:00.002-05:00

Woot! Dinged 79 on my Pally earlier this morning. Still chugging along to 80. Should hit that tomorrow morning. So far I have cleared out Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, and Grizzly Hills. I am almost done with Zul'Drak too. Then I am heading to Icecrown for some hot quest rewards.

I have leveled Prot most of the way. I have to say that I don't think there will be anything easier to level then a Prot Pally. In fact, the only quest I ended up needing a group for was the last three parts of Amphitheater of Anguish. I solo'd the first three parts. Everything else requiring a group has been done easily on my own. That is a huge time saver! I also rarely need to stop for anything. There is virtually no downtime thanks to Divine Plea. That is possibly the best spell I have seen for Paladins overall. Thank you Blizz!!

DK will be next to 80. I am not in a big hurry for that though. I think I am about done with leveling for a little while. I can't wait to tank some instances though! That will be interesting as I have little experience as a tank.

I did join a new guild today as well. They know I am a tank nub, but they seem more then happy to train me. We will see how it goes.

Almost done with exams too. Woot! Then I will have a two week vacation over Christmas!

/excited

More Paladin Craziness......

2008-11-26T04:35:00.004-05:00

I'm mad I tell you! MAD!! Why? Cause I started a new Dwarf Paladin. Yeah I know, I just deleted a level 8 Draenei Paladin. I was pissed off when I did that, mainly at Blizz for jerking me around so much with the changes. Changes that really didn't amount to much in actual use, although I still don't agree with the way they are doing things, I am learning to deal with it better. Change is the nature of the game, and I just can't abandon a character because I am feeling pissy.

Anyway. So you may be asking why I would want to level another Paladin when Dradis is already level 71. Well the answer is simple, as much as I like to look at her ass, I am tired of running around as a girl and I don't like the way that armor looks on her. Everything ends up really small, not quite as bad as a Belf chick, but almost. So I am going for something more.... errr manly I guess? That and I am tired of the /flirts and the always being asked if I am a girl or not, and then when I say "No", I get the "Why are you playing a girl then?" response. So there you have it. Purely asthetic. That and I want to compare Pally tanking to DK tanking. So how am I going to level up Mr. Stoneforge? First 13 points are going into Ret to get Pursuit of Justice. The rest will be filling out the Prot tree. So basically I will leveling Prot after level 22. If it doesn't work out very well, then I will go with the tried and true Ret leveling, but I would like to give Prot leveling a second go around with all the recent updates.

At this point, Amadis is my main. He has fought hard for it, and he has earned it. The mechanics are awesome. Easy to level with, good DPS and lots and lots of options with specs. Maybe too many. I have already dumped over 500g in respecs, but then again I am learning the class still. Currently I have what I consider to be an Unholy Tank spec. We will see how it works out, but I am a little concerned with tanking. The lack of a shield means that I have to rely on pure avoidance, which from what I can tell will never get anywhere near 102.4%, but I could be wrong. The added stat of block really really helps to cover that gap. And yes, I know crushing blows will not be an issue. But if 102.4% is still obtainable, then I can see at least Pally and Warrior tanks working for it, which means that DKs will have to be able to match them in some way in order to avoid being second string. If Pallys/Warriors are easier to keep going during a fight, then DKs will be second string for sure, and I don't want to see that happen.

Granted, Bear tanks don't have block OR parry, just dodge and miss. Then again, they really don't have to put a lot of gear into getting uncrittable since they can basically talent for that. That means they can dump a bunch of their stats into dodge, which also happens to be the cheapest avoidance stat that you can get (block rating being the cheapest of all tank stats, but that is not an option for Bears or DKs). They also have a much larger health pool then DKs, but they have fewer emergency buttons from what I have seen. DKs have a lot of short cooldown tricks, but it looks like they will have to be used all the time, so I can't really call them 'emergency buttons' since most of them will have a high uptime. Hell, i think that Icebound Fortitude will have almost as much uptime as a Warrior's Shield Block. Then again, I am no authority on any tank class, so take all of that with a grain of salt and a trip to Tankspot.com.

I do think that DKs will be able to tank. I just don't want to be in the situation where someone would take my DK as a tank just because they have no other options at the moment. That would be a crappy situation. I have also seen that its going to be challenging to get to 540 defense. I am all for a challenge, makes things interesting. I just don't want it to be the case where overcoming the 540 hurdle will put us behind the other three tanks who don't have to work as hard for it.

I would also like to understand effective health, or EH. I don't know how that differs from your normal health pool. Is there a formula for this? Filters at work prevent me from checking on it. Also, I understand that DKs will have the smallest health pool, does this translate to the least EH as well? That could make healers a little nervous.

Even if tanking doesn't work out for some reason, DPS is freaking fun as a DK! So there is always that. I would have no problem DPSing in a group. Its just that I have always wanted to tank, and the DK seems like it would be a lot of fun to tank with, assuming its on level with the rest of the pack, and not just a "filler tank". Basically I don't want to have my DK in the same position as my Paladin at 2.0. That would suck. Of course at that point, I don't think Bears were that well received either. In any case, we will see how it pans out. I guess the best way to find out is to have Jendreka, the Healy Shaman, heal me on a run and see how it feels to him. Having been a healer myself at one point, the fight is only going to last as long as the healer has mana. If the healer has to use all their big heals all the time, then they will be OOM fast and you will be dead as soon as that happens. That's just my take on it.

On the upside, TPS and holding aggro does not look like it will be a problem. My DPS is great, and AoE situations are just fun with a DK. Between DnD, Pest, Blood Boil, and Unholy Blight, drool. So at least that is a hurdle that will not need to be overcome by any DK.

Upon further thought, this won't quite be an apples to apples comparision between the Pally and DK since the Pally is a dwarf and the DK is a human. Should be close enough though, so I am not too worried about it. Besides, I never had a dwarf before and they seem like good fun. The whole Scottish voice and obsession with drinking makes me chuckle. Variety is the spice of life.

Back to work and studying.

Suffer well.

Level 73!

2008-11-23T22:39:00.004-05:00

Woot! Dinged 73 earlier this morning. I have almost finished all but four quests in Dragonblight. I need to review WoWhead to see what I missed. Dragonblight is by far my favorite zone in the game at the moment. Its a very epic place between the storyline and the scenery. You get to see crazy Ysera even! And the Wrathgate, OMFG!!!! I won't say what happens, but I hope there is more of this stuff. And after I figure out what quests I missed and get honored with the dragons, then I am heading over to Howling Fjord.

I am still Blood specced, but On A Pale Horse was too much to live without, so I am Blood/Unholy now.

Blog posts are still going to be slow. I have a lot on my plate right now. Thanksgiving, school, family, leveling Amadis, its a lot to do. The blog is going to take a back seat, but I will get at least one post in per week. Have no fear, they will have as little actual content as always. I have also been toying around doing an RP story for Amadis. Inspired by the one and only Ratshag! Actually Khol Drake's "A Stab in the Dark" had me thinking about it first, but Ratters just about gave me that extra nudge. We will see.

Leveling my DK

2008-11-21T01:36:00.003-05:00

Well I am about to hit 71. I think it should only take about an hour when I get home. I have tried out each spec, mostly switching between Blood and Unholy. I know that most would go Unholy for leveling, if for nothing else then On A Pale Horse. However, I am currently using a 44/17/0 build. Let me tell you, it friggen rocks! I smash things like you wouldn't believe. I specced into all DPS talents, so I don't think this build will be real good for tanking. However, some of the strong points of what I have come up with are:

- Blood Aura for health regen while in Unholy Presence
- Haste Haste Haste
- Lots of RP
- Lots of Health Regen
- Awesome single target DPS
- Oddly, my AOE DPS is not too much different from Unholy. Just have to spam Blood Boil instead waiting for RP for Unholy Blight.
- I don't miss the Gargoyle or Unholy Blight too much since they really sucked down the RP, especially the Gargoyle
- I do miss the Ghoul, but the Bloodworms are good company too

All in all, I will be sticking with this spec through 80. I miss On A Pale Horse a lot, but I like the feel of this spec a lot, and that more then makes up for it. Also, several classes are missing a talent/ability that gives a mounted movement speed increase, so I am in no worse position than they are.

Amadis is definately my new main. I will level up the Warlock and the Paladin later. If you haven't rolled a Death Knight yet, you should. If you are busy leveling your main though, of course wait til later. But I feel that you will be doing yourself a disservice if you don't roll one at some point to see the storyline.

Borean Tundra, not terribly exciting. I was kinda awestruck when I first landed there, but overall, I don't care for the zone to much. That being said, I really like Coldarra. It just looks cool and the whole dragon thing over there is awesome. Aside from that area though, Borean Tundra is just somewhere for me to get a few levels. I have heard really good things about Howling Fjord though, so that is where I am heading next.

Suffer well.