Boomkins FTW!

I haven't been working on Bigfncow much lately.  He did ding 40, which was very nice and I have my fast mount now which is even better.  I'll get back to leveling him (and using vigilance!) this weekend.

I've been using my time to get the 4-piece T9 bomkin set for Nozekrusher.  Huh?  Why do that?  I'm much more popular (and comfortable) either healing or tanking? Well, that's all basically true.  But we have a dearth of ranged DPS in my guild and that's causing us to get stuck on Lady Deathwhisper.  And while we don't have an exact surplus of healers, I'll be able to swap out for that fight at least.

So I ground out heroic after heroic until I got my pieces, bought the 245 bracelet and took the rest from my healing kit.

....and realized that I had no idol and no trinkets.

Still though, I was hit capped (264) and soft haste capped (420 or so) and a nice crit of around 25%

Just to get my feet wet, I ran some non-heroics with our GM and another officer (our GM is dusting off her druid tank and the officer is just 77 on an alt).  And all I can say is wow.  Just...wow.  After running two regulars, I queued up for a heroic and got VH and topped the charts.  It was a BLAST!  How did I not know that DPSing was so much fun?

And then this morning?  Me and my tanking brewfest trinket and the blue dragon (I love that trinket) got sent to Halls of Reflection.  Then Forge of Souls.  And I more than held my own, if I do say so myself.  Folks really appreciate a druid decursing and abolishing poison all over the place too.  No drops from those places, though I did get the Spark of Life in HoS and I actually went back and picked up the Badge of Justice Idol and trinket.  Not OP, but better than nothing.

Anyway, I'm very very happy with my boomkinness and I hope I get to use it soon and often!

What's the time limit on a blog?

I'm asking because, in the past year, we've lost several prominent WoW blogs and WoW.com has seen major changes as well with writers leaving and many columns receiving facelifts.  It makes me wonder if this isn't the beginning of some sort of sea change with WoW - that maybe folks are starting to ...
tire? (no)
burn out? (no)
get bored with? (no)
have real life intrude? (no)
change and have different interests/priorities after playing for years? (close but not quite)

none of the above exclusively but all of the above combined?  (YES!  Not very eloquent, but effective nonetheless).

The World of Warcraft attracts an incredibly diverse player base.  It's worldwide, financially accessible, has something to attract a 5 year old up through retirees.  But while that base will stay the same - there will always be some mom helping her 5-year old with the character creation screen or clicking on the fishing bobber and grandparents will keep creating toons to play with their grandkids - individual players are constantly changing.  In fact, they're often going through major life changes that drastically change how (or even if) they play WoW.  And if they blog about their playing?  The impact is much more visible. 

Let's look at a few hypothetical examples:

First, take the stereotypical teenager who is playing the game.  Let's say he was 17 when Vanilla WoW released.  He had plenty of time to devote to playing his last year in high school and then goes off to college where he still maintains a heavy play schedule, but takes a course or two that encourages him to create and maintain a blog.  The blog gains a readership and he continues writing throughout his undergrad years. 

But now he's graduating and either pondering the heavier workload of grad-school, or starting a career and family or what-have-you.  Now he wants to write about his newer interests - music or the city he lives in, etc.  He realizes his WoW writing has stopped being a passion and turned into more of a ... habit.  And he moves on. 


Next, let's take the example of someone who starts playing in their 20s.  She has a good job, but isn't married yet.  She uses WoW for fun, but also figure it's cheaper to spend a couple nights a week playing than going out to the bars/movies/etc.  After all, money is tight!  She starts a blog because her guildies always come to her for advice and tips and she feels she has a unique voice. 


But as Vanilla turned into BC and into Wrath, she has fiancee whom she wants to spend more time with.  Her career has progressed and she wants to spend more time with her friends.  Her playing time dwindles and she realizes she's not as current with the latest theorycrafting.  And she's ok with that.  She still plays, but not as much. 


One more example (I promise) - a young married couple play WoW together and create a funny, hip blog they both write.  It's very popular and even some mainstream media take notice and feature the 'gaming couple.'  When the wife discovers she's pregnant, they both vow to keep playing and writing, but of course, kids change everything.  They quickly realize that they can't keep up their previous commitments and leave WoW to raise their family. 


Five years is very easy to say and when we do, it seems like a short period of time.  But when speaking about real life?  It's not.  It can go by in a flash, but it's hard to avoid major events.  Teenagers leave high school and go to college (and turn 21).  People fall in love and get married and have kids and get divorced (sometimes within the same 5 years). 


And that's not even taking into account the changes WoW has undergone since launch.  While they have definitely provided fodder for blogging, they may also have gradually and ultimately turned some writers off. 

With all that, it's easy to see why/how so many prominent blogs have folded up tent or gone on hiatus this year.

And with all that, let's not forget that there are still some great blogs out there and tremendous writing at wow.com as well.  But I get the feeling we need to enjoy them while we can before they move on to bigger and better things.  Plus we have new blogs popping up all the time :) 

I dunno, though.  I get the feeling that the past two years were the Golden Age of WoW writing and as those responsible for that greatness move on...I don't know what will happen.  I don't know if WoW will lose players because there they read less about the game and don't get motivated to try the latest build/add-on/strategy.  WoW would be less accessible outside the actual game which would give players more opportunities to find other ways to occupy their time. 

Which is all great more diversity in our lives and hobbies and occupations make us better, more rounded people.  But it'll be interesting to see it happen nonetheless. 

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into things. 

Warrior Quests

I haven't run many instances since my last post.  Mainly because I didn't had much time for BigF but also because I wanted to work on the warrior specific quests, specifically Essences of Exile.  I was also at 225 for my First Aid, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone in the Arathi Highlands.

Wrong.

First, it seems you need to be 35 to get the quest Triage for first aid.  I was 34 when I looked - a fresh 34.

Second, the elemental exiles I had to kill?  They were either a very deep orange 38 or a bright red 39.  No problem, says I, I've been killing red mobs on a regular basis.  I'M PROT!

Y'ever notice that there's a difference between mobs that are the same level?  I mean, I understand that they should and do have different abilities and attacks and such, but some you can kill easily while others just eat your lunch?  That's the case here on several levels.  I have killed mobs in the upper 30s with relative ease before, even as a 33 myself.  These guys, especially the 39s were very different.  Still, I managed to cull enough 38s and barely survive enough 39s to get the necessary 8 cresting charms with just a few deaths.  The drop rate for the charms isn't that great, but I figured it was good XP so I didn't mind.  Then I moved on to the thundering charms.  And hit a wall.  Well, not a wall exactly, more like a gale force wind.  These air elementals have ranged attacks that make it very difficult to pull them away from their compatriots.  Plus the drop rate still sucks.  I find my self eating/bandaging/lifeblooming during or after every pull which makes for some VERY slow going.  And I haven't even touched the burning guys yet.

As I was writing this post, I did notice that the charms can be bought on the AH, or farmed by a higher level toon.  I may check out their prices and see how much they cost.  But I won't spend too much, though.  I did finally ding 35 so hopefully the mobs will be just that much easier to kill now.

Then I'm going back to the dungeon.

Good Times in Scarlet Monastery

I had some fun last night in SM.  Fun because firstly, it's not Gnomer.  Second, I had two guildies with me.  The first was our GM Winnie who is leveling a mage.  She levels her toons very very fast.  When I last saw her mage, she was in the early 20s when I logged on last night, she was 30.  I wanted to run a few with her before she blew past my warrior a left him eating dust.  So we queued up and got the Graveyard.  I don't mind GY, necessarily, it's a quick, easy run but it's almost too quick, if you know what I mean.  Sure, we get more loot sacks here, but I don't need another set of gloves or another damn caster neckpiece (seriouisly, SP and Int on 3 straight bags, nary a +crit or +str to be seen).  I want XP and GY tends to just whet my appetite.

Anyway, halfway through our first run, Bullwark our main tank wants to join us on his rogue.  Great, I say, welcome aboard and be prepared to have your brain picked.  So he switches over and since he's 34, and Winnie's mage is 30, we can't do a random together.  So I sign us up for SM Library which is on all of our screens.  While we're waiting I bombard poor Bull with question after question, do tanks use slam (no, use heroic strike instead) what about rend (no) when do we become not rage starved (when we get hit more) so then what is my priority of rage use (thunderclap first, then cleave spam and refreshing TC if AOE threat is needed) what about sunder (use it if you're losing threat, but 1-2 stacks should be sufficient).  And on and on.  I think I made his ears bleed.

We made two runs through SM Library that came off without a hitch and each of us dinging (well Winnie dinged when she turned in a quest after the second run). 

But..the one drawback to SM?  At least so far in my 5-6 GY and 2 Library runs?  Lots of caster gear, not so much for tanking/melee folks :(

Let the Lepors Have It!

Yes, I'm talking about Gnomeregan.  Man is that place horrid!  I ran it twice this weekend and on a third, I...
I ....
I bailed.  
I pulled an Occulus.
I saw those damn steam pipes in the loading screen and when I zoned in, I left and took the debuff.  
I wish I could say I'm sorry or that I feel guilty.  But the truth is, I'm not.  I want to have fun with the game and Gnomer is definitely NOT fun.  Plus, I'm hopeful that the rest of the party, after losing the tank dissipated and the toons found a nice happy RFD run instead.  

So what's my beef with the Gnome city?  Let me regale you with my tale:

On my first run through, I was actually happy to see it come up.  It was, after all, a new dungeon for me and I had just read a simple strategy - somewhere (wow.com, maybe?) in passing - keep moving left and don't jump.  

Well my first group had a couple folks who wanted to jump.  So we did.  And we got lost.  And wiped.  And on the run back in, realized that when you jump, it's basically as if you have to start over.  So we jumped again, only this time landed on a pile of mobs who killed our half-healthed selves.  We start again and actually make progress (I think, we're still lost in my mind, and just killing random mobs).  The jumpers say we're close to the end when we lose two people.  The two new folks don't know where we are at and don't know about jumping, so they die.   And that's when I left the group.  I had just had it and didn't see us finishing up.  

My second try was better only in that we finished.  And that was thanks to a remarkable group of folks (whom I've forgotten, I need to write down names/servers for this stuff).  We zone in and the mage immediately says "uhg, I hate this place."  We all laugh, but start moving.  We have a warrior, though, who keeps charging ahead and pulling, regardless of healer mana or even a rez.  I finally tell him that I'd do the pulling and he responds that he wants to.  I say then he should equip his shield and I'll dps.  The lock in our group chimes in saying that he has no shield.  I say that I'll pull then.  The warrior keeps saying he can pull and why can't he pull and someone, gratefully, initiates a kick vote which succeeds.  The lock leaves with his buddy and we quickly get two more folks and continue on and make good progress.  One of the new folks leaves the group for no reason that I could see and so we get a new DPS.  He's making his way to us, but dies in the 'safe zone.'  (Is that zone safe just for allies?  If so, then that's just not fair.  If there's a quest or something we need to do, then, that still sucks.)  Anyway, we go back and rez him and we still continue on. 


Somewhere near the end, the healer dies.  Not sure how, I think a pat came wandering out from a hallway intersection.  The mage also dies, but 2 locks survive and I.  The healer tells the mage not to release, he'll run back and rez.  See, that's why we stuck this run out, we were all in this together.  If I took a wrong turn, they corrected me and I didn't get huffy.  They also didn't correct me like an asshat either, which helps.  The mage, who hated this place, didn't let it affect him - he just kept plugging and doing well.  


Well, the healer released and ran back...and found mobs.  Vanilla Dungeons respawn?  Really?  How was that ever a good idea?  So the mage releases and joins the healer and they realize the entire place respawned, not just a few pats.  Ugh.  The three of us start making our way back to the priest/mage and they start (slowly) coming back to us.  Forutnately it was a nice mixture - the mage could survive and kill things, if slowly and the locks and I were able to make decent progress back, thanks to healthstones!  


Finally, my group rounded a corner and ran into a pat.  Unfortunately, we hadn't fully healed from our last fight, so things were grim.  Then we saw  "There they are!" in party chat and at the other end of the corridor were the other two.  I started making a beeline towards them and everyone typing "HEAL THE TANK."  I was down to, well, I couldn't see my health bar anymore when our healer got in a big heal that saved us all.  After that ordeal, the mage reiterated that he hated this instance.  We all agreed.  


We finished up with no other problems, but it was still 90 minutes in there.  I haven't been back since. 

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!

Movin' On Up

I hit lvl23 last night and I'm making solid progress.  Not as fast as others I know, but I'm not sure how much time they're putting in either.  The most pleasant surprise so far has been the variety of dungeons I'm running.  I was dreading the prospect of being sent to the same place over and over again.  That, happily, has not been the case.  After running RFC five times in a row (not as bad as it sounds, most were quick final boss-only runs), I've been sent to WC three times, Deadmines twice and last night I hit Blackfathom Depths for the first time.

My theory for this is that I've been leveling so quickly (at least one ding per dungeon), that I'm quickly moving through my available dungeons and 'opening' new ones.  I really, really, hope this is true.  For one thing, I like the pace I've been going - a dungeon 2-3 times is sufficient before it starts to get redundant.  For another, I hope this system lasts up through Sunken Temple.  I hate that place.

The loot bags (Satchel of Helpful Goods) dropped two more cloaks for me, one was for casters (stoopid pallys) and the was dps-y, but not OMG-so.  As the link details, the satchels are broken down into levels, depending on your level.  Each level has loot that fills two slots (i.e. waist and back) and the item has random stats.  So at level 30, I'll be seeing lots of neck pieces and gloves.  The 40's will be sparse tho since they give shoulder pieces and rings.  I highly doubt they'll have anything better than my heirlooms.  Though on the other hand, maybe a pure tanking shoulder may have an edge... we'll see.