WoW

A Warrior, Shaman, and Mage Walk Into A Dungeon.. #WoW

stargrace May 10, 2011 0Comment

I’ve been learning to tank. I know, scary thought. I decided to create a warrior and team up with two guild mates, one is playing a shaman healer and the other is playing a mage (or a warlock depending on what levels we need). Over the last few days we managed to complete 7 guild achievements, dungeon runs. We started with Ragefire since we were level 15, and then before I could blink my warrior had hit level 24. I’m brand new at tanking, I’ve done two instances on my paladin, but I’ve never played a warrior. I wanted something new and since I pride myself on knowing my characters it’s been quite an experience. A few things I’ve learned from my dungeon runs.

• 90% of people will never ever assist you. The majority in fact will specifically target the mob that you are not targeting, just so they can get smacked around a bit. Letting them die a few times by not taking aggro back will (in most cases) remedy this.
• All hunters want to be tanks. They like to let loose their arrows (or bullets) just as you’re about to pull something, and pull for you. Sending polite tells to remedy this is a bad idea that results in the hunter doing something else aggravating like calling you a ‘carebear’ or training your group.
• New paladins rarely know what any of their spells do and quite frequently enter battle with their threat increasing buff on while they’re dpsing. If you’re grouped with a paladin who keeps taking aggro from you try checking their buffs, it’s a yellow symbol and pretty easy to spot.
• It only takes running Shadowfang Keep 4 times to become an absolute expert at it and to be able to run it with your eyes closed.

I do have to admit, playing with a guild group makes tanking far more tolerable. Even though two people are still a part of a PUG via the LFD tool, I know that two members will have patience while I fumble my way through the dungeon. The results yesterday were pretty good. I had fun (gasp) and I’m looking forward to future dungeons!

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

4.1 Arrives #WoW #WorldofWarcraft

stargrace April 27, 2011 0Comment

I wasn’t expecting the big 4.1 to hit yesterday, but hit it did along with a lot of issues which are being hotfixed this morning. As with any major patch there were all of the now outdated UI addons that had to be updated, and while most of mine are there are still some which are not. This patch added a few key things that I am really pleased to see. Number one would have to be the new looking for guild interface. While EQ2 does have a LFGuild tool – it doesn’t allow players to communicate and apply to a guild that they see in the window unless there’s an officer online currently recruiting. The tool also does not allow players to see what level the guild is, something I find very handy. I applied to a casual guild on my warlock, and left a little blurb about what I was looking for. My other characters are already in a pretty nice guild, level 25 and casual but also do some light raiding and other organized events. I wish leveling a guild solo was more of an option (a la EQ2) but blizzard makes this just about impossible, or at least impossible to earn the achievements because you need to have a group majority of guild mates in with you. Don’t get me wrong, I love my guilds, just some times I like things quiet, too.

Guild challenges were also put in, which I do not really like. There are three types, one requires you to kill one boss of a level appropriate zone and your guild bank will receive 1,000g (each week). The second is to do 7 group dungeons in a guild group, your guild bank earns 250g for that one. The final is PvP and you earn 500g for that one. My problem is that this coin just goes into the guild bank for – for what purpose? Whatever the guild leader decides? For their own personal use? To cover repair costs? I have no idea. I still feel that sort of money is a large amount – but I realize I’m probably wrong.

With this patch also came the rise of the Zandalari, two revamped instances for level 85 characters who have an item level of 346 or higher – which I do not. In fact I doubt I even come close. I am excited about exploring them eventually but for now I’ll be content to listen to everyone else talk about it.

Dungeon finder: call to arms was also implemented. This is the incentive program to get queues to move faster. There are some restrictions on it: “to be eligible for the additional rewards you must solo queue for a random level-85 Heroic in the role that is currently being Called to Arms, and complete the dungeon by killing the final boss” – so I haven’t had any experience with it yet. I do like the idea of rare mounts being a reward, but I dislike that once again WoW focuses entirely on the end game.

A LOT of class changes too place, fixes, and updates. So if you want to read up on what else changed be sure to head over to the patch notes. In the mean time I’m having fun just doing my thing. The paladin is now level 36 and I’m having no issues healing my way through dungeons. Hopefully I can keep that up, but we’ll just have to see. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I Ain’t Afraid of No PUG #WoW #WorldOfWarcraft

stargrace April 26, 2011 3Comments

I’m interested in seeing how the latest changes to the LFD tool bring about faster queue times (especially for DPS) – I don’t think they actually will, even with an extra incentives. What I personally think will happen is that all of those people who really want to play DPS but are too impatient to wait for groups will suddenly decide they are healers / tanks and queue up, creating larger issues for groups. Issues like not being spec’d properly, and not having the right gear. I see it all the time on my priest; tanks who are wearing no tank gear but only PvP gear, or paladins who want to heal but they’re not wearing any int / spirit gear. I’d rather this not happen but honestly I don’t hold very much faith in it.

I’ve been playing my (now) 33 paladin, who is holy spec’d with a protection off spec. I carry around two complete sets of gear depending on what I think I’ll be doing. I haven’t picked up any glyhps yet because that’s the crafting I’ve decided to pick up and I didn’t want to spend too much cash on it. I have done a lot of pick up groups on all of my characters, every time I play World of Warcraft, and I haven’t had too many horror stories. I mean, I have the usual ones where no one pays attention to the tank and runs around crazy doing their own thing. I’ve met some rude people, and I’ve voted people out (though I myself have not been voted out of a group yet). I refuse to let other people dictate whether or not I will have fun in a game. I’ve also had some wonderful groups where the players were patient and listened, and we had no issues. I typically play a healer in all PUGs, on my discipline spec’d 85 priest or my druid / shaman / paladin who are all also spec’d as healers as their main spec. I have tanked a little on the paladin, but it really depends on my mood, I’ve just never really been one to want to tank in any game it’s certainly not WoW or LFD tool specific.

This is the highest I’ve managed to level a paladin, although I have tried many times in the past. I want to stick it out for once – my one concern is my healing abilities later on when things get difficult. I have no idea if paladins can still measure up or not. I suppose we’ll just have to see!

If you happen to play on Argent Dawn be sure to look me up, I’m typically on Velours (the paladin) or Ellithia (85 priest), Minxes (83 warlock), or a handful of smaller alts. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!