WoW

Another One Joins The Ranks #WoW

stargrace September 21, 2012 0Comment

At the time of this post it’s 3 days, 16 hours, 35 minutes, and 56 seconds until Mists of Pandaria release. I decided that I should probably try to get my druid to 85. I’ve had the character for a very long time, but I had four other level 85 characters, and for some reason just couldn’t manage to stick with the druid long enough to level her. I’d get distracted by something else on another character, achievements, crafting, etc.

Once I hit 85 it was time to gear her up. What was the point with MOP just around the corner? Well, it’s just a personal preference of mine. Something I enjoy doing, too. So I took the lazy players method. I geared her up (to begin with) with player-crafted PvP gear, ilevel 377. My trinkets were holding me back from queuing for raids, but I was able to get into the heroic twilight dungeons. I purchased ilevel 397 wrist and feet (they’re sold for justice, and can be traded) and a cheap ilevel 359 weapon. I leveled up as feral but switched to balance and restoration even though I had never played a druid in a group or in either of those specs before.

Twilight dungeons were fairly easy, I’ve done them numerous times before and even though I was at the absolute bottom of every parse, I knew it was 100% due to my gear. The dungeons are great for loot and even for the quests offered within the zone. After running each one once, I was able to boost my ilevel to 372, and get rid of the majority of my pvp gear. This means I can queue for raids now, which I’ll be doing later tonight. There’s no way I wanted to experience LFRaid at 1am on a Thursday night. Things should be much better on a Friday night. This I’ve learned the hard way.

That brings the totals of my characters to: 85 priest (discipline/shadow), 85 shaman (enhancement/restoration), 85 warlock (Affliction/Destruction), and 85 paladin (retribution/holy). The druid doesn’t have a craft yet, and I’ll probably try to max that out before too long, simply because it’s a pleasure to have one of everything.

Aside from that bit of excitement, the guild I run ‘Dragon Flight’ also managed to inch our way to level 10. This means we can now purchase the heirloom cloaks which is a pretty big deal for us. Without the weekly caps, and with a large increase in earned experience things have been moving along quite well. It wasn’t that long ago that we were level 5, and had been for quite some time. I have grand hopes of eventually making it to level 25, but 10 is a good solid start for a guild of only 3 people.

I’m excited about MOP. Everyone has their own personal opinions about the game of course, but it’s got a number of aspects that appeal to me, and it meshes well with the other games that I play. I hope everyone has an amazing weekend, and happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

A Quiet LFRaid #WoW #WorldOfWarcraft

stargrace September 8, 2012 0Comment

Pre 5.0.4 players in LFRaid would typically roll for gear whether they actually needed it or not, so long as they could roll need, they would. Blizzard changed how loot was handled, and instead of physically rolling need or greed on a piece, players would perform a hidden roll and 4 walk away with loot while the rest end up with bags of gold (25g). If I heard complaining before, that’s nothing compared to the complaining that arises now. See, players can’t trade any of the loot they win, so even if you end up with a piece that’s completely useless to you you’re stuck with it. You also don’t get to see what anyone else wins, so there’s very little talking going on at all. You get your bag of loot (or coin) and there’s no waiting around for someone to vote on pieces, that’s it, you’re done. Leave the dungeon and go on your way.

I’m torn about the change myself. I appreciate that people can’t randomly roll need but I think Blizzard may as well just set up a line and say here you go, here’s your loot. It’s just not fun. Perhaps if the items were tradeable, and if the raid could see who ended up with what, things wouldn’t feel so sterile.

What do you think of the new loot changes? Let me know in comments!

5.0.4 What Did You Do To My Shaman.. #WoW #WorldOfWarcraft

stargrace September 3, 2012 5Comments

In my years of MMO gaming, I’ve seen a lot of changes. I’ve had to re-learn game mechanics time and time again, each new expansion, in multiple games. I’ve normally taken this with a grain of salt, after all we all learn to adjust and move on – but the latest WoW patch REALLY bugs me, on my shaman in specific.

Shaman used to drop down 4 totems at once, it was “their thing”. What they were known for. You would pick the totem that best fit the situation, and before you started healing or DPS you would place those totems. They could even act as markers, they were raid wide, and they were wonderful. 5.0.4 removed the majority of these totems. Instead of dropping four, you’ll probably only drop ONE constantly (as DPS), with a side order of another here and there. Instead of lasting 5 minutes, they last 10-40 seconds. Instead of having nice totem hotbars where you can make sets of totems to drop, you’ll need them all on your regular hotbars so that you can drop the right ones when you need them. What the totems themselves do has been changed. That nice +agi/str buff is gone. Sure, your flame / stone pets are still there but the class doesn’t FEEL the same, at all.

I spent a bit of time looking over my skills, saddened at how many they removed. They seem to have consolidated every class in some aspect. This is great for freeing up space on my hotbars, not so great for someone who spent a lot of time learning how to play the class to begin with.

I have poked my other characters to some degree. The priest plays pretty much the same except that I have switched over to two heal specs. There is a large difference between the holy and discipline specs now – the level 85 AoE heal all priests used to get is now restricted to holy only. It was annoying to try to heal in my discipline spec. It was also annoying to try to heal a 5 man dungeon in my holy spec. Dropping shadow was something I had been contemplating before the changes, so I don’t mind too much.

Speaking of raids. The new LFRaid loot changes are.. not fun. In fact the majority of players I’ve seen in game have been complaining about them. I told them if people didn’t constantly roll on things that they didn’t actually need, maybe this change wouldn’t have taken place. In other words, THIS is why we can’t have nice things. See, before the change people would just roll on whatever their class could equip, needed or not. Some times trades would go on, some times players would win double items from the same boss. In other words human nature took over and suddenly everyone became a pack of loot hungry mongrels. The new loot system auto distributes 4 pieces of gear to random raiders, and everyone else gets a bag of 25g. You don’t see who wins, and you can’t trade the loot. In other words, blizzard is very literally just handing you your loot and saying here you go. It makes for some very drab and boring raids, that’s for sure. No worries though, people have found other things in-raid to bicker and argue about since they can’t argue about the loot with one another.

Over all? I’m excited about MOP and the pet battles, and even leveling up. I’m not excited about any of my class changes, and the LFRaids are a bit annoying. I LOVE that my guild experience no longer has a cap and they’ve increased the amount of experience you earn for your guild. This has been a godsend to my small guild of 3 people. We’re closing in on level 7, and that’s something that took a few months in the past.

What are your thoughts of patch 5.0.4?

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Meet The Girls: Ellithia #WoW #WorldofWarcraft

stargrace August 24, 2012 0Comment

If I had a main in World of Warcraft, this would be her. Ellithia is my discipline priest, off spec flutters between holy and shadow depending on my mood. Discipline is great for single target big heals (ie: 5 man dungeons) and I use holy for raids (AoE heals). Shadow I use just when I’m out questing on my own though I am thinking of giving it up and having two heal specs instead.

Her professions are tailoring and enchanting, which is pretty typical for a priest because they are independent of one another and priests wear cloth. I’ve managed to max out all her other professions, and I have the most achievements on this character.  Even finished archaeology which took forever (but was also a lot of fun). Over 50 mounts, 95 pets, it’s the character I’m most ‘proud’ of and have put the most work into. I also spend a lot of time PvPing on this character, despite what a lot of people think, I do enjoy this aspect of WoW and always have. I’m even good at it.

Ellithia has a pretty boring background story. Both of her parents are hard working citizens of Stormwind City, and Ellithia was able to make the choice to become a priest on her own without any pressure. Her mother and father both love her with all of their hearts, and have never judged her or made her feel like less of a person. In fact they are incredibly proud of their daughter and all she has accomplished. Ellithia had a younger sister who was killed in a very unfortunate accident involving a cauldron of molten lava, but her family doesn’t speak about it. Her picture is kept on the mantle, where the family can see her every day.

Ellithia spends most of her days with her best friend Toargo, who is a dwarven warrior from Ironforge. They’ve been friends for a number of years now, and often fight the evils of Azeroth together, their latest conquests have taken them right before Deathwing where they of course emerged victorious.

Meet The Girls: Minxes #WoW #WorldofWarcraft

stargrace August 23, 2012 0Comment

Ah yes, my little warlock. The class that was completely over powered in the last expansion (Wrath of the Lich King) and that I have struggled so much with in Cataclysm. My main spec is Affliction (dots), and my off spec is demonology. I have a hard time parsing well on the warlock this expansion, it takes a lot of work unlike my other DPS classes. A lot of it is also related to how many mobs are in an encounter, and how long that encounter lasts. Quick fights are not the best of situations as I don’t exactly have a lot of burst damage, multi targets work well though.

Minxes is a gnome, and her professions include engineering (goblin) and mining. I love playing shorter races, and the gnome is just a handful of fun. In MOP warlocks go through a LOT of changes, it’s like playing an entire new class, so that should be interesting to learn. I played around with it some in the beta, but didn’t want to get too familiar, after all part of the fun of a new expansion is having to explore and learn about all the changes.

Minxes comes from a family of 40 – that is to say she lived and was raised at an orphanage, and she was constantly fighting and bickering with anyone who wouldn’t let her get her way. She pretty much (literally) climbed her way to the top, she would be the one standing on top of the roof waving around your most precious doll in order to get you to do her chores. She’s never mean for the sake of being mean, it’s more like she’s mischievous and being a gnome, that’s never going to end well.

She was always warned against the spells of the warlock, which is exactly why she became one. How dare someone tell her she shouldn’t or can’t do anything! That’s not the way she operates. Her best friend includes all of her minions, and she has very little patience for anyone else. At least they do what she says, even if while talking back on occasion.