Three Druid Noob

Nap Time?

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:50:00 +0000

One Month ago I Resurected my Feral Druid with a Thirty Day Game Card and hit North Rend. Today that Thirty Days ran out. Thirty Days is a long time. A lot can happen in thirty days. Beld told me he leveled his Warrior from 70 to 80 in 2 days. How did I do in 30 Days you ask?

Week One.

When I decided to start playing again, I knew I would be limited to a few hours a week. In the first week I actually managed to play a few times. It was OK. It wasn't great, just OK. I managed to get to about 90% through Level 70. Not to bad. I was happy with that.

Week Two?

Week Two, where do I start.... Well I didn't. I had a few things get in my way. Uni started back and what spare time I did have I spent with my Family.

Week Three?

I'm starting too see a pattern here. Again I don't manage to set aside any time for wow.

Week Four?

ZZZzzzzzz. Four weeks of wow. I didn't even manage level 71.

What Now?

I still like the idea of playing Wow. I still like reading all of my Wow Blogs that I subscibe to. It's just that given the choice, I would prefer to spend time with my family. For now, my beloved blog is going to have a Nap. I hope I will be back to it and to wow but time will tell.

Until then, Keep up your Adventures and I will contiinue to read about them.

All the Best,

Razorbax.

Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:18:00 +0000

I have talked about it before, but one of my top memories from back in Vanilla was when I Tanked Ony as a Feral Druid. This was just shortly after 1.8 when Feral's finally became useful. I still have the fraps of it at home.

Then.

Back then, Onyxia was a great encounter on so many levels. There was a full bodied quest line required to get Keyed and the encounter itself was fun and you didn't need to spend 4 hours at it.

Now.

At the end of BC, there was a Dreamstate Druid who solo'd Onyxia. I also have some friends who quite easily Duo and Solo it just for kicks. It even used to be a great money maker.

Soon?

Wow.com has just scooped the information about the Return of Onyxia in patch 3.2.2. Personally I can't wait to see what they do with this.

GJ Bliz!

Razorbax

Another Day, another Template

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Yep, That's right. Even though I have only had the new template for a few months, I decided to change it again. It is nearly where I want it to be. I just have to learn a bit more about hacking Blogger Template.

Enjoy

Razorbax

PS. I would love to hear what you think.

Dream Group

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:20:00 +0000

I have often thought about how I would play if all I did was Multi-Box. If by some strange twist of fate, I became a full time Warcraft Player. Personally, I would like to try and get the most out of the game that I could. I think you would have to in order to stay interested and not Burn Out.

PVE and/or PVP?

My main focus would be PVE. I have never really gotten into PVP. Truth be told, I am pretty crappy in PVP as well. I get all anxious and I am a sore loser. I don't mean that I say anything mean to anyone the beats me, I just get really annoyed and pissed off. So it’s easier to just stay away;).

Dual-Boxing to 5-Boxing?

If I am going to Play PVE, then the best way to do that is to 5-Box. Now I don't mean to play solo all the time, but it is easy to just drop a toon and replace it with a rl character. I could end up doing instances with just a single toon or all 5 with anything in between.

Classes?

Well to start with, I would have at least one of class. In fact I would have between Three and Five of Every Class. My goal would be to table every possible PVE combination in a 5-Man group.

Tanks?

To start with, I would have one of each Tank Class, Druid, Warrior, Paladin and Death Knight. And just to mix it up a little, I would also add a Hunter and a Warlock, since they have Tanking Pets.

DPS's?

I can keep this nice and simple. Three of every single class.

Healers?

Now I am going to complicate things just a little here. I will start of with one of each Healer, Druid, Priest, Shaman and Paladin. I will add to this a Discipline Priest and a Shadow Priest. I think the Discipline Spec is a viable PVE healer. The real stretch is the shadow Priest. I would love to see if four Shadow Priests could heal a Paladin Tank.

Results?

Forty Two characters spread across 5 accounts. I think if you were to actually do this, you would use RAF to get the most out of your levelling and plan who to Grant Levels with. Thankfully its almost free to get those DK's to level 60 so that simplifies things a little bit. I would say you would end up spending some cash on some transfers as well. The main thing however, you can now field any possible PVE group and at the very least, farm heroic's with four viable and full groups and dailies with six 5-mans and four 3-Mans.

What would you do?

Razorbax

Mini-Update

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:01:00 +0000

I have been rather busy with RL over the last week and it looks like continuing for at least another week, so in the mean time, let me share with you a couple of Druid Blogs I read.

Ice Dragon over at Druid Main plays a Resto Druid and a small list of alts.
Delleyntar over at Resto Druid Dell again plays Resto and makes Signatures in her spare time.

Alaron over at The Fluid Druid writes about the Flexibility of Druids and likes to play all specs.

Kae over at Dreambound Druid plays a Resto main and Bear/Kitty alt.
Greylo over at Grey Matter is one of those Mutant Chicken Druids.

Finally, Averna over at Nerf this Druid has, and i quote, Another Resto Druid Blog....

Now to finish with a Postcard....

Achievements for Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:23:00 +0000

For the last few days I have been working on an achievements Widget for Blogger. Wordpress has a plug-in but there is just nothing for Blogger. There is even interest over at Blog Azeroth. I am not going to let it stop me. If I can't find something premade, I will try and do it myself.

Work in Progress.

I started by looking at the importing my characters achievement URL from Armory into Excel.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-achievements.xml?r=Nagrand&cn=Razorbaxftw

I found the information I was after, which was the id and title of the achievement tree. This is what the XML Looks like.

achievement categoryId="169" dateCompleted="2009-07-14T09:01:00+10:00" desc="Become a Grand Master in first aid." icon="spell_holy_sealofsacrifice" id="135" points="10" title="Grand Master in First Aid"

Learning Java and XML.

I now had to learn how to pull data out of an XML sheet and display it in HTML. Java looks like the way to go. I experimented a lot with the code and finally came up with the information I was after. After three days of work on this, I have however, hit a stumbling block. I can get the code to work in a webpage by itself, but it won’t work as a HTML/Java Gadget.

Want to Help?

I made a post over at the Dual Boxing forum, since there are a lot of programmers that participate, so if you want to help out or offer any advise, check the post out here and either reply or leave a comment here.

Razorbax

Postcards from Azeroth

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Digg n Buffd in Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:11:00 +0000

I have recently added both Digg and Buffd into my Blogger Template. It took a bit of playing around but I finally got it to appear how I wanted it to. The main issue I had was I wanted to show the Digg and Buffd counts on both my main page, which contains the summary posts, and also on the individual post pages. This is what I ended up with.

The Code.

Firstly, I apologise for not entering the Text of this code, I could not for the life of me work out how to convert it to HTML without blogger killing it. Anyway, let’s go through the segments of the code. The Blue part is for framing it where I want it. The Red part is for Digg. The Green part is for Buffd.

1.0 This places the icons on the right side of the page.
2.0 This is the variables for the Digg java script.
2.1 The URL that will be used. Using data:post.url ensures you are using the URL of the specific posts.
2.2 This is for the compact view. Delete it if you want the Bigger Icon.
3.0 Here is the Script for Buffd.
3.1 Here is the URL that will work with Buffd.

There we have it.

I chose to place it before the line that said the following.

div class='post-footer'

As long as you back up your original template first, it’s easy enough to play around with the formatting.

Razorbax

Postcards from Azeroth

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:03:00 +0000

Games within Games

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:11:00 +0000

There are quite a few games you can run in Warcraft as Mod's. The ones I have seen are usually limited to either solo play or One vs. One. Where are the group games? Well, after reading a post from a little Gnome, I had a great Idea.... AFL, the Mod!

How would it work?

This could get a little complex, but here we go. We will use a Raid Group to get the configuration right. Firstly, you would need a playing field. This would need to either be based on a Set Location, using co-ordinates to workout everyone’s positions, or you would need ten volunteers to actually stand around the field to define it. Alternatively you could simply use six people and not worry about boundaries. Let’s go with the six people to make things easier. Place three people each into groups three and four. One person represents the Goal and the Other two people represent the Points. So the Points stand on either side of their Goal. We then have a 7th player, the Umpire (aka Raid Leader) sitting in group five.

The Teams.

The teams would consist of five players each, divided into Group One and Group Two in the Raid. We will use a simplified version of the Positions. The Three Positions will be Centre, Forward (two players) and Back (two players). The Centre's will be the Team Captains, and they would need Raid Assist. They will define which player holds which position using the Mod to do so. This is how it would look.

Roles?

The Centre's and Forward's are going for the Goal, while the Back's are Defending the Goal. The two goals should be a good distance away from each other to make for better games. The Mod would come with its own "Vehicle Bar" with various abilities based on if you have the ball and your position. This would be things like, Handball, Kick to Player, Kick for Goal, Mark and Tackle. You could also add something like Punch, with the Ref having a % chance of catching you and giving the other team a free kick.

The Mod

The Mod would work out what happens when you do a particular action. For example if you kick the ball to another player, who is being defended, there would be a % chance of the ball going to the other player. Go for a Goal and you have a % chance to score a goal based on the Distance and if there are defenders in the way. There would also be a % chance for it to miss the Goal and score a point or even for the defender to "touch it" and it goes through for a point. To start the game, the Umpire would "Bounce" the ball and it would go to a random team based on the timing that they use the "Mark" ability.

The Ball?

You could even use a actual football. The Mod would control who gets the ball thrown to them. Now I am sure to any non-Australians reading this, you are either very confused or asleep, but I am sure this Mod could be developed to suit Hockey, Soccer (aka football) or Rugby.

Class abilities?

To make things interesting you could use certain class abilities, Dash, Sprint, Intercept, Bubble etc to make things even more interesting and add the element of Team Composition to the whole equation.

Thoughts?

Even though I am not into AFL all that much, I think this would make a pretty cool Mod. So if you know any Developers out there, why not give them a nudge;)

Razorbax

Wow.com Multi-Boxing

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:47:00 +0000

Turpster from Wow Insider has an informative article on Multiboxing, RAF Style.

Watch out in the comments for the Puppet Post....

Action Bars Part Three

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:06:00 +0000

In Part One and Part Two, I spoke about using Macro's to add a Shift or CTRL Modifier onto the action bars to fit more functionality into the your Action Bars. Now I am going to look at Custom Paging and how we can use Bartender4's Custom State Headers.

What is a Custom State Header?

I'm glad you asked...

The Custom State Header in Bartender4 allows you to control the paging and the visibility of bars by using any macro conditions supported by WoW.

Basically what it allows you to do is control the paging and visibility of your Action Bars with simple conditions. It's just like writing a /cast macro but instead of using the Spell name, you use the Action Bar number.

The Code?

At first glance, this can look pretty complex, but here it is.

[Nostance]1;[Nostance,Mod:Shift]2;[Nostance,Mod:CTRL]3;[Stance:1]4;[Stance:1,Mod:Shift]5;[Stance:3]6;[Stance:3,Mod:Shift]7;[Stance:3,stealth]8;0

Let's start by breaking down each condition and explain what it's doing.

[Nostance]1;
This line isn’t really required but basically if you have no Stance, Caster Form, it will page to Bar 1.

[Nostance,Mod:Shift]2;
If you are in Caster Form with the Shift key down, page to Bar 2.

[Nostance,Mod:CTRL]3;
If you are in Caster Form with the CTRL key down, page to Bar 3.

[Stance:1]4;
If you are in Bear Form, page to Bar 4.

[Stance:1,Mod:Shift]5;
If you are in Bear Form with the Shift key down, page to Bar 5.

[Stance:3]6;
If you are in Cat Form, page to Bar 6.

[Stance:3,Mod:Shift]7;
If you are in Cat Form with the Shift key down, page to Bar 7.

[Stance:3,Stealth]8;
If you are in Cat Form and Prowling, page to Bar 8.

0
If no other condition has been met, do not page the Action Bar.

Please Sir, I want some more!

There are a lot of options available when it comes to Custom State Headers. You can have your action bar change based on your Target being Hostile or Friendly, In a Party or Raid, In Combat, and even based on your current Spec(Dual Specs). Here is some more information on Custom State Headers, Macro Conditions and Stances.

Conclusion?

There are a few factors that will assist in choosing if you should use Conditional Macro's or Custom State Headers. Custom State Headers require more Action Bars. As you can see from my example, I am using the first eight Action Bars, only leaving me with 2 more bars for the rest of my UI. If I also wanted to introduce Action Bars based on my Dual Spec, I would use every Action Bar on just 10 buttons. The issue with Conditional Macro's is the can be somewhat limited. For example it can be difficult to get Autoattack and a Spell cast in the same macro when using Modifiers. You also need to initially write the Macro and then change it whenever you make a change.

I will leave the decision to you.

EDIT: Looks like a few things didn't work. Here is the new code and I will explain the differences.

[Stance:0,nomodifier]1;[Stance:0,Modifier:Shift]2;[Stance:0,Modifier:CTRL]3;[Stance:1,nomodifier]4;[Stance:1,Modifier:Shift]5;[Stance:3,nomodifier]6;[Stance:3,Modifier:Shift]7;[Stance:3,stealth]8;0

1. Mod didn't work, use Modifier.
2. Nostance didn’t work, used stance:0
3. The conditions are read from left to right and stop when a condition is met, therefore had to use "nomodifier".
4. If "Nomodifier" doesn't work, I will reverse the order and put the Shift/CTRL arguments first.
5. Fingers Crossed.

EDIT2: Looks like a few things still do not work. Here is the new code and I will explain the differences. Hopefully it will all work now.

[Bonusbar:3,Nomodifier]4;[Bonusbar:3,Modifier:Shift]5;[Bonusbar:1,Nomodifier]6;[Bonusbar:1,Modifier:Shift]7;[Bonusbar:1,Stealth]8;[Nomodifier]1;[Modifier:Shift]2;[Modifier:CTRL]3;1

1. Stance:1 (Bear) did not work, replace with Bonusbar:3.
2. Stance:3 (Cat) did not work, replace with Bonusbar:1.
3. Stance:0 (Caster) did not work, moved to the end with no stance argument, just Nomodifier or Modifier.

Razorbax

Game Commander Pro

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:20:00 +0000

Game Commander Pro is a new application on the Multi-Boxing scene. It has some great features like GUI Macro Creation. Check it out.

My New Pet

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:48:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my minipost, I decided to pick up a Ghost Saber for Razorbang. Over the weekend I started the grind to get it. It turns out it was not quite as easy as I thought and I learnt a few things on the way.

Level 19.

I started the search when I was still level 19. I had read that the Ghost Sabers are either level 19 or 20, so I thought I would go for the odds. As it turned out, by the time I found my Saber, I was already level 20. That's a good thing as the Saber I found was level 20.

No Pet?

Since you cannot tame a new pet when you already have a pet, the first thing I did was dismiss my existing pet. This turned out to be a big issue. I am quite the Hunter Noob and killing the Naga's in the area became very time consuming.

Dismissing Pets.

I decided that I could have a pet on Passive and just dismiss it when the Saber spawned. I figured this would be a good solution. It turned out OK in the end.

The Grind.

My guess is I circled the camp around 50 times and looted about 10 or 15 figurines until the Saber finally spawned. When it did spawn, I was a little too slow in dismissing my pet and I was already down to 70% health by the time I started taming. As a result I died with about half a second to go.

Corpse Run.

I had no idea if the Saber would despawn or when, though I had read they did despawn at some time. I ran as fast as a corpse can, back to my body. As I resurrected, I saw the Saber fade from view. Thinking I had missed my chance, but not ready to give up, I quickly Ate and Drank up.

Tame Beast.

As I walked down the hill to where my corpse say, I really thought I had missed out. It appears my little Ghost Saber can stealth. This time I was ready for it and I got my little kitty.

Next Time?

Train level 20 skills and get Freezing Trap.

Razorbax

The Early Bird...

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:43:00 +0000

I had planned to Upgrade my Feral Druids account and apply a game card on the 15th when I get paid. As part of that plan, I wanted to see what characters I had and which servers they were on. I also wanted to look at the Scroll of Resurrection to see if I could pass on some free time to a friend. While checking this out, I logged into account management and found something rather interesting....

WotLK Free Trial.

It seems that there is a free 10 day trial available. The best part of this was I was able to activate all four accounts, sell of junk and gather my gold. I managed to scrape up around 500g. I was also able to empty out my mail boxes, which is required if I plan to transfer additional toons later on.

UI Setup.

The other bonus was being able to setup my UI in advance. When I had planned to start playing, Beld was going to join me. I could imagine that we would waste the majority of our first night just setting up my UI. Now all I have to do is Transfer my toon and copy a folder or two.

Medivh!

I plan to play on Medivh when I return. Though I have some good RL Friends on Nagrand, they raid and I really don’t see myself getting any real enjoyment with their toons carrying me through everything. I still have a few characters sitting on Medivh, so once I had finished setting up FTW, I logged onto Medivh. I still have a 20 Warrior, 16 Hunter and 40 Rogue. I have always wanted to get the hunter up so I decided I would use my Hunter as my Alt when Beld can't play. I managed to get three levels thanks to some guildies doing VC and Stockades Runs for their alts.

Not what I Thought.

While I was reading up on Paid Character Transfers I stumbled across this little gem.

Customers with expansion accounts cannot transfer characters to a non-expansion account. The reverse is accepted.

Now I always thought that if I was to transfer a toon from one of my other accounts, I would not only need to activate it, I would need the Xpack as well. Not the case. Though I am not sure if I need to activate the other account, it seems like I don't, at least I don't have to pay for a wasted Xpack.

Thoughts?

I am not completely happy with the Action Bar setup that I planned out. I think it may take some getting used to. As with most things I do, this blog included, I guess its just a Work in Progress.....

Razorbax

Ghost Saber

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:03:00 +0000

My little Hunter is going after her Ghost Saber.

Pre-Raid Bear Tanking Gear Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:56:00 +0000

In part two of this guide, we will continue from Waist's through to Relics. It should be noted that I am looking at this from my own casual point of view. It is interesting that you can get close to BiS with some BoE Items. Though to do this you need a lot of gold....

Waist:

[Death-warmed Belt] (8500g)

Tank: 39648.3

[Titan-forged Belt of Triumph] (15 Wintergrasp Mark of Honor)

Tank: 35860.3

[Deadly Gladiator's Belt of Triumph] (49,600 Honor points -- as good as Titan-forged, and a lot easier to get)

Tank: 36696.1

[Trollwoven Girdle] (crafted, mats 300g, good if you need Expertise)

Tank: 33339.9

[Batrider's Cord] (drop in Heroic DtK)

Tank: 27634.1

[Polar Cord] (crafted, mats 200g, has long-term utility for your STA set)

Tank: 32393.7

Initially I will go for the [Polar Cord] and then upgrade to a [Trollwoven Girdle], Keeping the [Polar Cord] for Stamina Set.

Legs:

[Proto-hide Leggings] -- (BoE drop from Heroic Ulduar (Razorscale), about 5k on the AH. Nice if you can afford them! Good purchase--close to BiS, and a big upgrade over the next-best option)

Tank: 55347.6

[Gored Hide Legguards] (drop in Heroic Gundrak)

Tank: 46032.8

[Mind-Expanding Leggings] (Kirin Tor Revered)

Tank: 44767.1

[Chain Gang Legguards] (BoE, about 80g)

Tank: 42425.8

[Leggings of Visceral Strikes] (crafted, mats 50g)

Tank: 38373.1

[Eviscerator's Legguards] (crafted, mats 50g)

Tank: 38748.9

I am going to go with the [Chain Gang Legguards] here though I may pickup [Eviscerator's Legguards] or [Mind-Expanding Leggings] for a Mitigation Set as well.

Feet:

[Footpads of Silence] (Too Much Gold)

Tank: 42072.0

[Deadly Gladiator's Boots of Triumph] (49,600 Honor points)

Tank: 39398.2

[Titan-forged Boots of Triumph] (15 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor -- nearly as good, harder to get than Deadly Gladiator's)

Tank: 35901.6

[Boots of the Neverending Path] (Argent Crusade Exalted)

Tank: 30892.4

[Treads of the Earnest Squire]/[Treads of Nimble Evasion] (10 Champion's Seal from Argent Tournament)

Tank: 30977.5

[Polar Boots] (crafted, mats 150g, has long-term utility for your STA set)

Tank: 35642.2

[Polar Boots] are my first choice here, and as usual these can be retained for a Stamina Set. I may be tempted to try for [Titan-forged Boots of Triumph] since 15 Marks is between 5 and 15 games.

Fingers:

[Signet of Winter] (BoE from Ulduar 10, roughly 2000g on the AH)

Tank: 17428.5

[Keystone Great-Ring] (drop in Heroic DtK)

Tank: 16150.9

[Titanium Earthguard Ring] (crafted, mats <1,500g, less threat but better survival than [Hemorrhaging Circle])

Tank:

[Hemorrhaging Circle] (drop in Heroic Gundrak, more threat but worse survival than [Titanium Earthguard Ring])

Tank: 15592.0

[Titanium Impact Band] (crafted, mats 1,500g -- only buy this if you are filthy rich or want it for a DPS set, as you will replace it in Heroics)

Tank: 12915.0

[Titanium Frostguard Ring] (crafted, mats 200g -- good for long-term in STA set)

Tank: 12892.8

[Ring of Earthen Might] (crafted, mats 50g)

Tank: 11602.8

[Signet of Bridenbrad] (quest reward in Icecrown -- only get this if you really can't afford the [Titanium Earthguard Ring] and don't want the [Titanium Frostguard Ring])

Tank: 9871.0

Damn, there are a lot of choices here. [Titanium Frostguard Ring] and [Ring of Earthen Might] are the cheap choices, however I will look at [Titanium Impact Band] or [Titanium Earthguard Ring] if I have the cash.

Trinket

[Darkmoon Card: Greatness] AGI version (Inscription, 4000g-6000g, BiS -- you must buy this at some point, might as well be now)

Tank: 26637.0

[Figurine - Monarch Crab]

Tank: 11438.4

[Figurine - Ruby Hare]

Tank: 11685.6

[Essence of Gossamer] (drops in Heroic AN)

Tank: 11100.0

[Commendation of Kael'thas] (drops in the level 70 Heroic Magister's Terrace)

Tank: 8149.7

[Valor Medal of the First War] (40 Emblems of Heroism)

Tank: 8122.8

[Seal of the Pantheon] (drops in normal Halls of Lightning)

Tank: 5187.0

[Offering of Sacrifice] (drops in Heroic Gundrak)

Tank: 3465.0

Now we have a nice bonus for being a Jewel Crafter, [Figurine - Monarch Crab] and [Figurine - Ruby Hare] are easy choices for me while I save for the [Darkmoon Card: Greatness]

Weapon:

[Silvery Sylvan Stave]/ [Staff of Feral Furies] (25 Champion's Seals from Argent Tournament)

Choice is over rated!

Relics

[Idol of Perspicacious Attacks] (30 Venture Coins -- takes about 30 minutes total)

[Idol of Terror] (20 Badge of Justice)

Since I already have my [Idol of Terror], I'll stick with that.

Factions:

1. Grind Argent Crusade to Revered first, for the helm enchant ([Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector]).

2. Then grind Wyrmrest Accord to Exalted or Grind 800 gold for the bracers.

3. Grind Knights of the Ebon Blade to Exalted for the chest.

References

The Above information was compiled from the following thread from Elitist Jerks and Tank Points are from Emmerald's Bear Mitigation List.

In closing it is interesting to note that some items from BC still have some value in WotLK.

Razorbax

Poke

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:01:00 +0000

Druid Main has a great post on Leveling Tactics. Covering RAF, bag slots, class considerations, UI's and Starting Area's. Check it out here.

Pre-Raid Bear Tanking Gear Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:08:00 +0000

After going through the various faction rewards available, I thought I would now go through all the items available to a Pre-Raid Druid Tank. I am looking at this from my own casual point of view. In this first part we will go from Head to Hands.

Head:

[Titan-forged Leather Helm of Triumph] (40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor)
Tank: 46931.2
[Hateful Gladiator's Dragonhide Helm] (49,600 Honor points -- basically as good as Titan-Forged, and easier to acquire)
Tank: 47806.8
[Helm of Cheated Fate] (drop in Heroic Gundrak)
Tank: 38797.1
[Headguard of Retaliation] (quest in normal Utgarde Pinnacle)
Tank: 38257.8
[Eviscerator's Facemask] (crafted, 50g)
Tank: 37280.4

Even though [Eviscerator's Facemask] is at the bottom of the list, I think this is the best choice for me initially. Hopefully I will be able to run the occasional instance and may get a chance to get [Headguard of Retaliation].

Neck:

[Titanium Earthguard Chain] (crafted, mats 1,500g)
Tank: 15375.2
[Chained Military Gorget] (25 Emblem of Heroism)
Tank: 14426.3
[Susurrating Shell Necklace]>/[Choker of Feral Fury] (10 Champion's Seal from Argent Tournament)
Tank: 11169.8

The [Susurrating Shell Necklace] is an easy choice to make. Depending on how much gold I have, I may look at the [Titanium Earthguard Chain]

Shoulders:

[Trollwoven Spaulders] (crafted, mats 250g)
Tank: 38963.1
[Eviscerator's Shoulderpads] (crafted, mats 50g)
Tank: 31055.1

For around 250G, [Trollwoven Spaulders] are the easy choice.

Back:

[Shawl of the Shattered Giant] (crafted, mats 3000g)
Tank: 22212.3
[Durable Nerubhide Cape] (crafted, mats 200g)
Tank: 20851.0

There is no way I could spend 3000G on a cloak that isn’t really that much better, so I will stick with the [Durable Nerubhide Cape].

Chest:

[Titan-forged Leather Tunic of Triumph] (40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor)
Tank: 54597.0
[Darkheart Chestguard] (Knights of the Ebon Blade exalted)
Tank: 45762.8
[Polar Vest] (crafted, mats 250g -- has long-term use for your STA set)
Tank: 50352.2

Emmeralds List puts the [Polar Vest] above the [Darkheart Chestguard]. I tend to agree, but I will probably end up going for both, however the [Polar Vest] will be first and I will retain it for Stamina Gear regardless.

Wrist:

[Deadly Gladiator's Armwraps of Triumph] (31,600 Honor points)
Tank: 26890.7
[Wristwraps of the Cutthroat] (800g, probably not worth it compared to Deadly Gladiator's)
Tank: 23191.7
[Dragonfriend Bracers] (Wyrmrest Accord Exalted)
Tank: 23321.1
[Eviscerator's Bindings] (crafted, mats 40g)
Tank: 20419.8

There is not much in it here. I will initially get the [Eviscerator's Bindings] and then either [Wristwraps of the Cutthroat] or [Dragonfriend Bracers] depending on Gold/Faction Progress.

Hands:

[Gloves of Fast Reactions] -- BoE drop from Heroic Naxxramas (Sapphiron), currently about 1k-2.5k on the AH.
Tank: 36454.4
[Heroes' Dreamwalker Handgrips] (60 Emblems of Heroism)
Tank: 33981.3
[Handwraps of Preserved History] (quest in normal CoT: Strat)
Tank: 30573.7
[Eviscerator's Gauntlets] (Crafted BoE, 60g)
Tank: 28118.1

I have to say, the Eviscerator's Battlegear is such a handy set to help gear up. I will go with the [Eviscerator's Gauntlets] until I can get the [Gloves of Fast Reactions] for a nice price.

References

The Above information was compiled from the following thread from Elitist Jerks and Tank Points are from Emmerald's Bear Mitigation List.

Razorbax

Northrend Faction's Gear Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:05:00 +0000

In part two of this guide I will continue to list all the factions and any Feral Gear available as a reward. As before, I will use Emmeralds Feral Druid List to compare the reward with available BOE Upgrades. I will try to include at least one Rare and one Epic item. Let's Continue where we left off....

The Kalu'ak

Friendly

Design: Seer's Dark Jade (Not Feral)

Honored

Whale-Skin Breastplate
Tank: 33259.0 DPS: 270.5
Upgrades:
Darkheart Chestguard
Tank: 45762.8 DPS: 488.3
Polar Vest
Tank: 50352.2 DPS: N/A
Eviscerator's Chestguard
Tank: 41685.9 DPS: 339.2

Design: Defender's Shadow Crystal (Not Feral)

Revered

Whale-Stick Harpoon
Tank: 39481.4 DPS: 2017.1
Upgrades:
Stave of Shrouded Mysteries
Tank: 41547.7 DPS: 2072.6
Titansteel Destroyer
Tank: 37994.0 DPS: 2576.9
Silvery Sylvan Stave (Requires 25 Champions Seals)
Tank: 54279.8 DPS: 2684.4

Exalted

Mastercraft Kali'ak Fishing Pole
Tank: N/A Cat: N/A
Just a nice fishing pole....

The Oracles

Friendly

Design: Vivid Dark Jade

Revered

Design: Sundered Forest Emerald (Not Feral)

Glitterscale Wrap
Tank: 27240.2 DPS: 259.6
Upgrades:
Death-warmed Belt
Tank: 39648.3 DPS: 507.5
Ley-Whelphide Belt
Tank: 29251.8 DPS: 294.1

Exalted

Oracle Talisman of Ablution (Farming)
Tank: 1412.9 DPS: 128.7
Upgrades: Nearly Everything.

The Sons of Hodir

Honored

Lesser Inscription of the Axe (Shoulder DPS)

Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle (Shoulder Tank)

Spalders of the Frozen Knives
Tank: 28443.5 DPS: 243.4
Upgrades:
Spalders of Egotism
Tank: 36426.9 DPS: 416.6
Trollwoven Spaulders
Tank: 38963.1 DPS: 322.8
Eviscerator's Shoulderpads
Tank: 31055.1 FPS: 250.7

Exalted

Greater Inscription of the Axe (Shoulder DPS)

Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle (Shoulder Tank)

Design: Smooth Autumn's Glow

The Wyrmrest Accord

Honored

Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions
Tank: 17028.7 DPS: 107.5
Upgrades:
Shawl of the Shattered Giants
Tank 22212.3 DPS: 351.5
Cloak of Holy Extermination
Tank: 17819.0 DPS: 181.1
Cloak of Bloodies Waters
Tank: 12377.1 DPS: 204.2

Exalted

Dragon Friend Braces
Tank: 23321.1 DPS: 285.2
Upgrades:
Wristwraps of the Cutthroat
Tank: 23191.7 DPS: 298.4

Design: Glimmering Monarch Topaz (Not Feral)

Well, that is all the faction's taken care off. Until next time.

Razorbax

Poke

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:58:00 +0000

BBB has a great post on Bear Spec's and Rotations. Perfect timing, saves me from looking at it;). Go check it out here...

Northrend Faction's Gear Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:35:00 +0000

In my Quest to hit Northrend, it’s time to look at the items that can be obtained through Factions. Some of these items may be available immediately, although the good ones will require some Rep Grinding. To start out, I am going to list all the factions and any Feral Gear available as a reward.

Upgrades?

I will then use Emmeralds Feral Druid List to compare the reward with available BOE Upgrades. I will try to include at least one Rare and one Epic item. I am also listing JC items, just because I can. Let's Get Started.

Argent Crusade.

Honored

Cloak of Holy Extermination
Tank: 17819.0 DPS: 181.1
Upgrades:
Shawl of the Shattered Giants
Tank 22212.3 DPS: 351.5
Cloak of Bloodies Waters
Tank: 12377.1 DPS: 204.2

Revered

Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector

Argent Skeleton Crusher
Tank: ~36940.7 DPS: ~2300
Upgrades:
Titansteel Destroyer
Tank: 37994.0 DPS: 2576.9
Silvery Sylvan Stave (Requires 25 Champions Seals)
Tank: 54279.8 DPS: 2684.4

Design: Guardian's Twilight Opal

Exalted

Boots of the Neverending Path
Tank: 30892.4 DPS: 332.4
Upgrades:
Footpads of Silence
Tank: 42072.0 DPS: 520.3
Jormscale Footpads
Tank: 30284.1 DPS: 263.5

Frenzy Heart Tribe

Friendly

Design: Reckless Huge Citrine (Not Feral)

Revered

Azure Strappy Pants
Tank: 35799.7 DPS: 368.8
Upgrades:
Proto-hide Leggings
Tank: 55347.6 DPS: 671.8
Eviscerator's Legguards
Tank: 38748.9 DPS: 339.2
Leggings of Visceral Strikes
Tank: 38373.1 DPS: 387.1

Design: Jagged Forest Emerald

Exalted

Frenzyheart Insignia of Fury
Tank: 0 DPS: 85.6
Upgrades: Nearly Everything.

Kirin Tor

Revered

Mind-Expanding Leggings
Tank: 44767.1 DPS: 422.5
Upgrades:
Proto-hide Leggings
Tank: 55347.6 DPS: 671.8

Stave of Shrouded Mysteries
Tank: 41547.7 DPS: 2072.6
Upgrades:
Titansteel Destroyer
Tank: 37994.0 DPS: 2576.9
Silvery Sylvan Stave (Requires 25 Champions Seals)
Tank: 54279.8 DPS: 2684.4

Design: Runed Scarlet Ruby (Not Feral)

Knights of the Ebon Blade

Revered

Arcanum of Torment (DPS)

Design: Wicked Monarch Topaz

Exalted

Darkheart Chestguard
Tank: 45762.8 DPS: 488.3
Upgrades:
Polar Vest
Tank: 50352.2 DPS: N/A

Design: Glowing Twilight Opal (Not Feral)

That will do for Part One. In the Next part I will finish off the other four Northrend Faction's.

Razorbax

Action Bars Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:41:00 +0000

In Part 1 we looked at planning and initial setup of the Action Bars. We have covered the Caster form. Now it's time to look at the feral forms.

Bear Form.

My goal here is to fit all my Bear Form abilities into 10 action buttons. Bear Form is probably the easiest one to do as it has the least amount of abilities. Let’s go through them one at a time.

Q. Taunts

/cast [mod:shift] Challenging Roar; Growl

Cast Growl or Challenging Roar with Shift.

E. Berserk/Survival Instincts

/cast [mod:shift] Survival Insticts; Berserk

Cast Berserk or Survival Instincts with Shift.

MM. Bash
Cast Bash.

M3. Faerie Fire (Feral)
Cast Faerie Fire (Feral).

1. Feral Charge - Bear
Cast Feral Charge - Bear.

2. Swipe
Cast Swipe.

3. Mangle/Maul

/cast [mod:shift] Maul; mangle (bear) ()

Cast Mangle or Maul with Shift.

4. Lacerate
Cast Lacerate.

5. Enrage/Frenzied Regeneration

/cast [mod:shift] Frenzied Regeneration; Enrage

Cast Enrage or Frenzied Regeneration with Shift.

6. Bark Skin
Cast Bark Skin.

Cat Form.

While Cat Form has a few more abilities to fit on the Action Bar, there is still plenty of room. I decided to use the primary bar for normal(Combo Point) attacks and the Shift Mod for Finishing Movies. Where possible I have tried to match abilities, for instance, Rip and Rake are together. So let’s get to right into it.

Q. Cower/Dash

/cast [mod:shift] Dash; Cower

Cast Cower or Dash with Shift.

E. Berserk/Survival Insticts

/cast [mod:shift] Survival Instincts; Berserk

Cast Berserk or Survival Instincts with Shift.

MM. Prowl

/cast [combat] Shadowmeld; [noform:3] !Cat Form; [form, nocombat] !Prowl

If you are in combat, Shadowmeld and then Cat Form, then if you are in Cat Form, Prowl.

M3. Faerie Fire (Feral)
Cast Faerie Fire (Feral).

1. Feral Charge - Cat/Savage Roar

/cast [mod:shift] Savage Roar; Feral Charge - Cat

Cast Feral Charge - Cat or Savage Roar with Shift.

2. Swipe (Cat)/Ferocious Bite
/cast [mod:shift] Ferocious Bite; Swipe (Cat)
Cast Swipe (Cat) or Ferocious Bite with Shift.

3. Mangle/Shred

/cast [mod:shift] Shred; Mangle (Cat) ()

Cast Mangle or Shred with Shift.

4. Rip/Rake

/cast [mod:shift] Rake; Rip

Cast Rip or Rake with Shift.

5. Tiger's Fury/Maim

/cast [mod:shift] Maim; Tiger's Fury

Cast Tiger's Fury or Maim with Shift.

6. Bark Skin
Cast Bark Skin.

Cat Form Prowling.

The final page bar to configure is for when I am Prowling. For this one I don’t need any Macro's at all. So here we go.

Q. Dash
Cast Dash.

E. Berserk
Cast Berserk.

MM. Un-Prowl
Removes Prowl.

M3. Faerie Fire (Feral)
Cast Faerie Fire (Feral).

1. Feral Charge - Cat
Cast Feral Charge - Cat.

2. Pounce
Cast Pounce.

3. Shred
Cast Shred.

4. Ravage
Cast Ravage.

5. Tiger's Fury
Cast Tiger's Fury

6. Bark Skin
Cast Bark Skin.

Functional Keys.

I don't mean Function Keys like F1, what I mean is keys that have a similar function. You will notice for instance the 4 key. In all my feral forms it is used for a DoT. My Middle Mouse is used as a form of escape, wither Prowling, getting out of Combat or Stunning. The one thing I try to do is match up abilities as closely as I can. This way I really only need to remember the function of 10 to 15 keys instead of 60 to 80 keys that I have set up.

Disclaimer.

It is important to remember that I am not actually in game at the moment. All this is based on my memory of BC and browsing through WowHead. I may have missed out on some abilities and I may have included useless ones as well.

As always your feedback and comments are greatly appreciated.

Razorbax

minipost

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Gnomeaggedon has been invaded by Wonzy!

Why not pop in and say "Hi"?

Action Bars Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Razorbax) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:02:00 +0000

The next part of my setup planning is focused on the Action Bars. Since I will probably be using Taeo's UI my Action Bars will be using Bartender 4.

Planning.

I talked about planning your action bars in this article. Since I am not Multi-Boxing, I will be using my Merc Stealth Keyboard. I have chosen to compress as many abilities as I can into as few keys as possible. I will use four action bar pages(Caster, Bear, Cat and Stealth) as my Primary action bar and use a half of another action bar for my forms. I have chosen to use an action bar for Forms since I plan to Macro some Forms.

Key Bindings.

My Primary action bar will have the keys from 1 to 6 as well as Q, E, Mouse3 and Middle Mouse. My shifting bar will use the keys 7 through to 11(there is an 11 key on the Merc Stealth).

Caster Form.

In Caster Form I like to have my Balance Spells at the ready, and my Healing Spells available while still having access to Buffs. Now thats a lot of keys to bind. Instead I will use Macro's with Modifiers to simplify this. Balance Spells will be un modified, Healing Spells will use Shift and Buffs will use CTRL. Here is a listing of each Key and the Ability/Macro I plan to use. Each Macro will have a first line of #show tooltip.

Q. Natures Grasp/Cyclone

/cast [mod:shift] Cyclone; Nature's Grasp

Cast Natures Grasp or Cyclone with Shift.

E. Abolish Poison/Remove Curse

/cast [mod:shift] Remove Curse; Abolish Poison

Cast Abolish Poison or Remove Curse with Shift.

MM. Shadowmeld
Cast Shadowmeld.

M3. Faerie Fire
Cast Faerie Fire

1. Attack/Lifebloom/Thorns.

/cast [mod:shift] Lifebloom;[mod:crtl] thorns
/startattack

Cast Autoattack, Lifebloom with Shift or Thorns with CTRL.

2. Wrath/Rejuv/MotW

/cast [mod:shift] Rejuvenation ;[mod:crtl] mark of the wild; wrath

Cast Wrath, Rejuv with Shift or MotW with CTRL.

3. MF/Nourish/GitW

/cast [mod:shift] Nourish;[mod:crtl] gift of the wild; moon fire

Cast MF, Nourish with Shift or GotW with CRTL.

4. SF/Regrowth/Hibernate

/cast [mod:shift] Regrowth;[mod:crtl] hibernate; star fire

Cast Star Fire, Regrowth with Shift or Hibernate with CTRL.

5. Roots/Wild Growth

/cast [mod:shift] Wild Growth; Entangling Roots

Cast Entangling Roots or Wild Growth with Shift.

6. Hurricane/Tranquility

/stopcasting
/cast Barkskin
/cast [mod:shift] Tranquility; Hurricane

Cast Barkskin with Hurricane or Tranquility with Shift.

7. Flight/Travel

/stopcasting
/cast [swimming] Aquatic Form;
/cast [indoors] Cat Form;
/cast [flyable,nocombat] Swift Flight Form;
/cast [combat,outdoors] Travel Form;
/use [nocombat,outdoors,noswimming,noflyable] MOUNTNAME;
/dismount [mounted]

Aquatic if swimming, Cat if indoors, Flight Form if Out of Combat/Outside, Travel if Combat/Outside, Mount if no flying and dismount if nothing else.

8. Bear Form

9. Cat Form

10. Travel Form

11. Caster Form

/cancelform

Cancels any form.

Unbound. Ressurect

/cast [combat] Rebirth ; Revive

Ressurect your Target, in-combat or not.

Next we will look at my Feral Forms, but that can await another day.

Razorbax