Pimp Mah Build!

I like WoW.com's returning feature Pimp My Profile.  It gives some expert advice to folks in need and while doing so, also provides great information to a wide readership that they can incorporate on their own.

I'd been meaning to talk about my build for awhile now, but, well, honestly, at lvl23, I don't have much of a build to talk about yet!  Actually, I think that's all the more reason to talk about what I have.  There is plenty of discussion on full blown 80 builds - dps, pvp, raiding, etc.  But I'm hard pressed to find any talk about creating your build from the ground up.  And not just for warriors, but for all classes.  So periodically, I'll take some time to discuss where my build is at, why I put points where they are, and where I plan on going with my next several points.

Here's my lvl23 build.  I wanted to do three things right off the bat:

1. Improve my rage input/output - Shield Specialization and Improved TC do this.  I use TC a lot so, the cheaper the better.  It also strikes me that getting 5 rage every time I block or dodge should give me a decent rage income.  Note - I'm still constantly rage starved, but I guess it's not as bad as it could be.  
2. Lay a solid tanking foundation - damage mitigation is essential to any tank and Anticipation helps with that.  As a druid tank, I know the value of dodge!  Plus, it boosts my chances of getting another 5 rage!
3. Get Last Stand - Most tank classes have something similar (stoopid pallies make my absolute conditional).  Anyway, it's a nice 'oh crap' button and I really like that I get it so early in my build. 

So that's how I got to where I am at.  Looking forward, the expected way to go is through Toughness, but I'm not so sure.  I think I'm going to improve my damage output for the next few talents.  Incite will take me down to the next tier.  From there, I'm not sure yet.  I'm torn on Improved Revenge, though.  On the one hand, 20% damage boost for two points is very, very attractive.  On the other hand, the stun proc smacks of PvP and confuses me.  It mitigates incoming damage, obviously, but I think it would also slow my rage generation and the little hiccup the stun would cause might interrupt the flow of battle.  So I'm not sure and only time will tell.  I've got three levels to decide!

It's Level 15!

OK, so that's settled, LFG kicks in at 15. My guess is that while RFC is level 13 for horde toons, Blizzard is keeping the bar at 15 so all toons have the same starting point (allied folks can't access RFC - located in the middle of Orgrimmar - until they reach or near 80).

Anyway, I joined LFG (tank/DPS) and spent about 20 minutes running around Mulgore picking flowers, breaking rocks, and killing harpies. I finally did get into an RFC group and it went very well, the folks were friendly and shared their quests. Most also had some heirloom gear as well, so they had experience.  Best of all, the healer we had (shaman) was from my server!  He also said he was planning on LFG'ing extensively, so hopefully we can run together.  Plus, I won the bracers! This was a huge jump for me because, well, honestly, I was still wearing white bracers, maybe even grey.  Oh yea, I also ding'ed 16 when I turned in the shared quests. 

Funniest part of the run?  The hunter ran out of arrows.  Seriously.  I couldn't make that up if I tried.  Well, I could, but it would be too cliche.  We all laughed and told him to melee away.  Then he said his DPS would be low and we pointed out that it would still be higher than shooting an empty bow.  All good natured and all fun.  I realized I miss low level instances where mages need on green staves with strength because everyone else passed and the +stam is still an upgrade over whatever they had, and different folks at different levels can lead to very interesting results.  I think I'm gonna enjoy this expirment. 

The only drawback?  No officers from my guild were on when I hit 15 to add me up :(  We have an policy of alts being 15 before they're added.

Why I'm Here

Hello everyone and welcome to Hooves & Horns.  I'm starting this blog mostly to track my efforts to level my new warrior, Bigfncow entirely through WoW's LFG system.  He's not my only toon, though, so I may write on other topics from time to time.  

While Bigfncow is new, I'm not starting from scratch.  He does have the heirloom chest and shoulder pieces, a full set of netherweave bags, and 10g to get rolling.  I may kit him out with the heirloom trinket as well, but I don't think I'll get him a weapon.  I want him to learn and level as many different types of weapons as possible because, well, because he can!  


So, what's the inspiration for all this?  Well, the LFG system, released with patch 3.3 is obviously a huge motivator.  It makes running instances so much easier and quicker.  Well, at least the Northrend instances.  I don't have any experience with running dungeons from BC or Vanilla WoW (yet).  And instances are my favorite part of the game.  I've done the quests over and over and over and over again.  So I know the quests.  I'm not a big BG'er (in no small part that whatever faction/server combo I join seems to be the whipping boy of the battlegroup).  

Now, why a warrior?  Well the key with the LFG, though, is to be able to heal or tank.  If you're a pure DPS, the waits are dramatically reduced, but they're still there.  Healers and tanks, though?  ZOOOM! right into the instance.    As you can see from above, I have two druids - both can heal and one can tank.  I love druids (obviously) but I wanted something different.  I've tried DKs several times and I'm just ...meh... about them.  I'm not sure why, they just never took ahold of me.  Oddly enough, I think it may be because I skipped 55 levels and didn't have a chance to 'grow' with my toon, learning new skills every two levels and such.  In any event, DKs were out.  I thought about palladins as well, and while they do hold a good degree of appeal to me, I wanted a warrior.  I wanted to be the basic, prototypical tank.  I wanted to wear plate and use a shield and look badass.  So, a warrior it was.  


What race though?  I was tempted to go gnome.  I've always wanted a gnome - they look funny and I like those starting quests.  But in the end, I went through the other extreme and chose Tauren.  Why?  Because I want to tank and being a tank means needing lots of health points and Tauren get a 5% base health boost.  Plus, that whole badass part from above?  Tauren pull that off with ease.  We're big, we're broad, and we glower.  Plus, I enjoy their starting zones too. 


So I created Bigfncow and ran him up to level 12 last night.  When he dings 13, I can queue up for Ragefire Chasm and from there, no more quests.  Well, I'll take quests for the dungeons if folks can share them, of course.  But if/while I wait for groups to form, I'll be picking my flowers and mining my ore and killing random mobs for lewt/cloth/rep whichever I need at the moment.  


So wish me luck, and check back often!