More Confessions of the Sidetracked Warlock

In an ineffective show of protest against the state of Warlocks everywhere (and mostly because we're currently on a "guild afk" from raiding), I spent the weekend on my Death Knight, Decedereful. She's my little Kate Beckinsale/Wesley Snipes wannabe. If you don't get those two references, I'm sorry. Here's a little hint: I'm blood spec and love swords of all types. Also, see the picture to the left for a clever view of my little BAB (that's Bada$$ B!tch, I just shortened it DC style). Wow, far too many non-WoW references there, but you get the point.

Sometimes things need killing and apparently right now my 'lock won't cut it. He's like the Diet Coke of Evil, unfortunately (I'm rockin' the movie refs today, am I not?). This is where she comes in, a whirl of blades and blood, taking on far too many mobs for her level. You know, generally behaving noobishly (solo, mind you, never in groups. I'm too good to lower myself to huntard levels).

In any case, the extended play time has me almost to 68 and ready for an early date with Northrend. As I was playing, I decided that this little hellion is getting to 80. I'm such a 'lock lover that I have never leveled any other alt past, oh say 22. I've never really had the alt-urge. I mean, I've tried all of the other classes just for fun, getting most to around 20-ish and stopping, but never really had the urge to go the distance (Field of Dreams style there).
Obviously, a DK to 80 is kind of cheating since I'm not really "going the distance", but still, it is something.

To me, making the commitment to max level a character necessitates a certain amount of knowledge about the class. I mean, I have to be geared and specced appropriately so as not to look like a dunce. I need to make sure I have the right stats and rotation to make the most of my character. I don't do this crap at 22, only as I get to 80.

As a side note, a separate issue for me wanting to get my BAB up to snuff is that our guild could probably use the extra tank. I don't really want to tank, DPS is my style all the way, but the utility is there. I absolutely refuse to heal (too much "light" in that), so I'll fix me up a tank and say I done my duty. 'nuff said about that.

This brings me to the little tidbit buried in today's rantings. Namely, hit and expertise capping for Death Knights. As a Warlock, we know the importance of being hit capped. Thus, what do I need as a DK was one of my first questions. Thankfully, Skeleton Jack over at the website of the same name has already done a wondrous post on the subject. Reading this nets me three (two new) numbers:

1. 446 to cap spell hit (but we already knew this one)
2. 263 to cap melee hit
3. 99 expertise rating to cap (with Blood talents and racials)

I'm not quite sure what I want to shoot for again. Since this character may be used as more of an off tank, I'll have to start learning tanking stats too. Mostly I'm going to want Stam, Agil, and Parry for that (DK's cannot block). Then we get into Def capping too, and I am already beyond my area of expertise. I need to talk to the lovely miss Fuubaar for more on that. Maybe I'll have her gear me if I can beg well enough...

The bottom line here is that, for now, I'm gonna go for some uber DPS to try and fill the void my 'lock is leaving me with right now. To do this, I'll have to hit those caps and then throw on a bunch of Strength and Attack Power. I'm shooting for more of a balanced character gear out, so I may just go for a decent amount of armor along with my DPS stats to make me able to take a few hits without switching gear (Off Tanking ftw?). We'll see how it goes. The good thing is, with a blood DK talent, armor converts lightly to AP, so its not totally a wasted effort. I'll let y'all know if it turns out cool, otherwise I'll keep it to myself :-).

Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to a new Warlocky-type blog I've come across from Sideshow and Syrana. The site is very pretty and hints at a promise of future tales of warlockery (I particularly enjoyed this post right here, great stats). We are the few, the proud, and must stick together until we get the fixes we so dearly need and can reclaim our rightful spot atop damage charts everywhere.

So, woot for new Warlock Blogs, and check out Sideshow and Syrana's site.

Aside: You may notice that I finally updated my blog list. The top one I try to keep for Warlock (and now Death Knight) related sites (keeping in line with what I try to write about). The bottom one is just general WoW stuff that I usually read daily. Also, I'm not sure I ever pointed it out, but I added that little WoW headlines thing at the top because I think its funny. Feel free to offer suggestions, as I try to update it from time to time with some new material.