2010

Explaining Yourself

stargrace September 4, 2010 9Comments

Dril made a really good point in his comments yesterday – I am using a warlock build that is optimized for AoE damage, and it’s affliction / demonology based 38/33/0 which is for most an ‘odd’ build. Typically people will either put at least 51 in affliction, or go the other way and put at least 51 in destruction. The important part is that this spec works for me, and it works really well. No, I don’t compare to raid geared people but they also don’t completely blow me away either. I’ve already had to justify my play style once and I find it really amusing. Someone in an instance asked me why I was bothering to use my mana drain spell because it ‘does nothing’ to the mob. Well, I was at 0 mana, and the healer was almost out of power, so instead of siphoning my health away and creating more of an issue I slapped some dots on the mob and mana drained. They laughed at me for it.

Last I checked, I’m the one who pays for my account, and thus I’ll play however I want. There’s nothing people seem to want to do more in WoW then tell you how to play your class because of COURSE they can play it better then you. One person told me in a random regular dungeon (before level 80) that I was a fool for rolling on an item with mana regen on it (even though they, the healer, already had said item. I rolled with a mage and if myself or the mage had not rolled on it the item would have went for greed). Their comment stuck with me so much that I stopped rolling on everything all together, even if it was an upgrade. You can NOT let other people tell you how to play the game.

I did a lot of instances yesterday. I completed Heroic Nexus, Gundrak, The Violet Hold, Halls of Stone, Trial of the Champion, and Halls of Lightning. I obtained enough shards to purchase a really nice wand, as well as a piece of set gear – Gul’dan’s Gloves of Conquest. I have almost 300 stone keeper’s shards, and I’m working towards my second piece of gear which will either be a robe or pants. I’m thinking pants since mine are quite abysmal. It’s 50 shards for the pants, and the robe. 30 for the shoulders I want which will give me my four set bonus which is not too bad. The helm I’ll be getting from another merchant, for 75 shards (it has a meta slot, but no set bonus). Instances are finally not stressful for me as a warlock instead of a priest. I feel like I’ve found a great class that suits my play style, and I’m really enjoying myself.

I managed to work on my engineering some yesterday as well, and it’s sitting at a comfortable 281. My mining still has quite a ways to go, 101 and I haven’t bothered to work on it. It’s nice to be out of the level grind, and work on things at a slower pace, and goofy achievements.

I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend! Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

Now The Game Really Starts (So They Say)

stargrace September 3, 2010 5Comments

I indulged in my gaming yesterday, having completed everything that required my attention here at home. The weather has been absolutely miserable (42c or 108f) and I’ve been under the weather this week so I decided why not. I spent almost the entire day questing in Icecrown. This area has a LOT of quests. In order to get the quest achievement for it you’re required to complete at least 140 quests within the zone. Yesterday I managed to get 120 of those done – and I also dinged level 80. That’s right, I went from 77 to 80 in that one area there were so many quests.

I racked up so many achievements I lost count. First came the level 80 one (woot), then I did a few randoms. Utgarde Pinnacle (fun instance), The Oculus (instance I dislike the most where you spend most of it flying around on dragons and getting lost), and The Culling of Stratholme (another fun one where you’re a human for most of it). I also racked up my first 100 Stone Keeper’s shards and indulged in a few extra mounts to get the achievement for owning 10 of them. ‘

I was incredibly excited to have hit level 80 and be able to join my friends in their reindeer games. My gear isn’t quite up to par (snickers) for the harder things, but my gs (gear score) is slightly over 3k, so it’s not horrible either. I only mention this because the game itself decides whether or not you have the gear to enter some instances. Leveling up my warlock and doing dungeons has taught me one very neat thing – gs does NOT equal skill. In most instances I retain the 1st or 2nd spot on the parse, being well below where others are gear wise (this depends on encounters, on single target I typically fall to the 3rd spot). Last night a dps spec’d paladin with a gs of almost 6k was in our dungeon for Stratholme, and I managed to keep very close to his dps, if not beating him once or twice. No, parse is not everything. No, gear score is not everything – but these are small indications to me personally on how well I know my character, and how well I play the class.

Mages give me a run for my money, or used to at least. I’ve not really had any issues with them since I hit 80 but I haven’t done any heroics so I’m not sure if that will change. I do have an odd talent built, but it really seems to work for me and as long as it does, I’ll keep using it.

Apparently this is when the real game begins. There are lots of little things I want to work on (silly things, like achievements, fishing, cooking) and I’m looking forward to them all. Most of all, I’m glad that the massive quest grind I did in order to get from 71-80 is completed. I’m pretty sure I OD’d on questing yesterday and I need a little break from it.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

A Nice Pair of.. Assets.

stargrace September 2, 2010 1Comment

Quests that morph you into some other race for a given amount of time are great. Over the years I’ve been practically everything, and the only down side to this is that they very rarely take my characters sex into consideration. I have been transformed into a male more times then I can remember, in other words. It was incredibly nice to come across this quest last night that turned my entire group into massive blue women, for once. Pictured above is myself smushing my flying mount, as well as Toargo – who has a wonderful set of assets. Ah, and his pug, of course. Can’t forget the pug. I want one of those so bad.

As others suggested I’ve been sticking it out with the warlock, attempting to gain one level a day (if I get more that’s just a bonus, but it’s happened so rarely I don’t expect it) through questing. A sure indication that I’m really (really) enjoying the warlock is the number of quests she’s completed. For a little break I decided to do some fishing in the Dalaran sewers yesterday and managed to fish up the giant rat companion. Another achievement obtained. Since WoW lacks housing, I’ve been working on finding other methods to personalize my characters. To make them more then just ‘toons’ and turn them into more personal characters. Minxes (my warlock) has decided she has a thing for the vanity pets that you can obtain in game. My collection so far is slightly over 25, adding the phoenix from the heroic magister’s terrace the day before yesterday. They serve no real purpose but they are fun to collect.

That all being said – the warlock is 77, and almost 78. Sticking with the leveling is paying off, and questing instead of trying to dungeon grind is certainly the way to go from 71+.

Now if only I could find a talent build that I enjoy more then the others. I’ve tried a LOT of different builds, and have no idea which one is ‘best’ for PvE dungeons at level 80. Right now I’ve taken a Seeds of Corruption spec that works on AoE damage, and it’s a 38/33/0 spread between affliction and demonology. I know a lot of warlocks go 0/13/51 in destruction, but for some reason I just can’t seem to pull off the parses with that talent spread. With the one I’m using, on 3+ targets I’m usually around 4-7k and around 1k on single targets (at level 77 mind you). I guess I’ll just keep experimenting until I find a spread that works for me.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Feeling Like a Hero

stargrace September 1, 2010 3Comments

I’m not a very big quest person, as much as I may try to be. I get into my moods where I’ll spend a day grinding them out but after that one day I want a week off so I can do something else. As an indication to how much I am enjoying the warlock – I’ve been questing on her. Not just questing but questing a LOT. I finished the achievement for all 130 quests in Dragonblight yesterday, which finished up with the amazing chain pictured above. I was sent back with Thrall and Sylvanas Windrunner (pictured above) to take the Undercity back. I LOVED this quest. It was great. Imagine you’re sent back to Freeport after it lay in ruins to battle the void and free Lucan D’Lere. Imagine there’s a Freeport version of this quest and then a Qeynos version. It’s quests like these that make me feel like a hero. As though I am actually helping to change the tides in favor of my side.

Sure, thousands of other players are walking that exact same hero path that I am – but the method in which these quests are implemented still leave me with that warm fuzzy feeling. It was great. I wanted to stand up and scream ‘For the Horde!’ – except my neighbors were home and well. Yeah.

The warlock? Level 76. Only FOUR more levels to go! I’m excited. Of course that’s still countless numbers of quests to complete, but I’m getting used to it, slowly.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Pets – Are they REALLY Worth It?

stargrace August 31, 2010 3Comments

This post is for Abapad (or as I call him Abba Pad) and Mezzthak. I love you guys, I really do – but we have to talk. You (that’s right, this time it was you not me) almost caused my group to wipe in the wee hours of the morning while I was doing a random dungeon. I’m starting to wonder (after being called all sorts of not-so-pleasant-names) if you’re worth having around.

I have two major issues with warlock pets. Number one, when I jump off of a ledge in a dungeon they decide that the best way to reach me is to run right through an encounter of mobs that we’ve just avoided – thus pulling them right to the group. How helpful (this is where the name calling came into play). This is incredibly annoying because it’s rare that a group takes a straight and flat path through a dungeon. Especially if they’ve been there once or twice. Not to mention there are some zones that just encourage you to drop down.

Unless I install some sort of shock system that reminds me to un-summon my pet every time I look at a ledge, I doubt I’ll avoid wiping my group any time soon.

The other annoyance is that in order to summon my pets (the majority of them at least) I need a soulshard. I keep 32 of these on me pretty constantly. I use them for pets, spells, soulstones, healthstones, etc. Every time I lose a pet, I need another one to call in the reinforcements. Losing pets from dumb things like me jumping off of a ledge – or from me falling down a big dark hole like a few instances have, is frustrating.

The rest of my small list of grievances are pretty typical. I remember to set my pet to passive (just like EQ2) so I don’t go inadvertently pulling something I shouldn’t be, or have my pet run after something I’d rather it not run after. If that one little glitch about jumping after me worked, things would be so much easier. So what do you say, abapad, mezzthak? Can we work something out here..

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!