Blizzcon predictions

Another Blizzcon is upon us. The opening ceremony is only hours away. What do I think is going to happen?

1. Pandas......oh yeah, there will be Pandas.

2. A MASSIVE talent overhaul.

This is a win-win

First off, go read this.  Go ahead, I'll be here when you get back.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3300854#blog

Back?  Good, now my thoughts.

I've really got no problem with these changes, and let me explain why. . .

Threat multipliers

If you look at the state of the game, today, most agree that threat already doesn't matter. Either you have hit a mob and have threat on it, or you haven't hit a mob at all and don't have threat on it. The whole system is very binary right now (sure there are those first 2-3 GCDs of a fight where you may lose threat, but only if an ability misses).  Blizzard changing the base multiplier from 3x to 5x changes nothing except help low geared and new tanks hold threat against raid geared DPS.

This is a win-win.

Active defensive abilities

I don't know how many of you remember tanking as a paladin in BC. The name of the game was to keep Holy Shield up at all times or be one shot (and subsequently replaced by a warrior).

End of story.

The thought of adding more active (read button pushed) defensive abilities makes me a happy and more engaged tank. Anybody who can read a guide can put together an adequate gear set that will let them survive a boss fight right now.  But it will take a good player to use the right abilities at the right time.

This is a win-win.

Conclusion

Back in the day, you could tell a good tank from bad tank by their ability to not threatcap (or at least have a higher threatcap for) the DPS.  That is why I have already seen a lot of crying on forums about this change.  People are stuck in the notion that threat generation is the only way to show how skilled of a player you are as a tank.

I took up tanking 6 years ago because, when the chips are down and the shit hits the fan, I pride myself on being able to eek out those few extra seconds of survival that gets us that boss kill.  It feels good to do that now, imagine how much better it will feel when those few extra seconds were directly tied to how good of a player you are, and not your ability to follow Mr. Robot's gear suggestions.

Going forward, the good tanks will be separated from the bad not by threat, but by their ability to mitigate damage and survive a pull.  I welcome this change. 

The way I see it, anyone who is actually enjoys playing a tank should be praising these changes.

PVP, shadow style

I've never been a huge PVP'er in this game.  

I think that goes back to my early days in WoW levelling in STV on a PVP server.  Getting ganked by lvl 60 players while you are lvl 35-40 sucks.  What sucks more though, is that same lvl 60 character corpse camping you.  They are not even getting any HKs out of the deal.  You know they are just doing it to be a dick.  So, that may have soured me to PVP quite a bit, because I subconciously have always associated participating in PVP with being a dick.

Until now.

PVP'ing on my priest is a blast.  I'm not quite sure how I have missed the boat on melting faces with a shadow priest until now, but man is it fun.  

I may be late to this party, but I am hooked.

Considering that fact that priests wear cloth, I have amazing survivability, and the damage output is just mindboggling at times.  If I can get off three Mind Spikes, then you are toast.  Plain and simple.  Because those three Mind Spikes with be followed up with three instant cast nukes.  And, if you don't give me the time and space required to get off those three Mind Spikes, then I will just dot you up and keep you off of me by other means.

The classes I have the most trouble with are Frost mages (mostly because of their stupid pets) and Rogues (the good ones who keep me stunned).  But even against them, I have a 50-50 chance.

Now, I know I have a LONG way to go before I am actually good in PVP, but at least I am having fun while learning.

DXE? Can it really be you?

So I was perusing a thread over at Maintankadin about Boss Mods and it came up that DXE was updated and available for Cataclysm.

How did I miss this momentus event?

When I first started raiding during BC, I used Big Wigs. And I loved it. As far as I was concerned, Big Wigs was the only boss mod for me. Wrath came out, and all the way through Tier 7, I still used Big Wigs.

Then I changed guilds, and started raiding Ulduar-25. I was still using Big Wigs, but I quickly started noticing that Big Wigs gave me alerts that DBM wasn't giving, and vice-versa.

For instance: On the Kologarn fight in Ulduar, Big Wigs would make a big audible alert whenever the Kologarn tank had 2 stacks of "Crunch Armor". Basically, Big Wigs told me exactly when to taunt the boss. However, I learned that everyone else in the guild was using DBM, so I switched to DBM as well. At least that way, we would all be working with the same set of timers. After I switched to DBM, I screwed up the Kologarn fight the first time, because DBM didn't give me the "Crunch Armor" alert that Big Wigs did. Regardless, I liked a lot of the features of DBM, and stuck with it until well into ICC.

That is when I discovered Deus Vox Encounters (a.k.a. DXE). I instantly loved DXE. I liked the options interface better that DBM, the little "dock" with the boss health, the sounds (although they took a little getting used to), the 3D arrow, the whole "sh'bang". I got so used to the different sound alerts from the Lich King fight, that I still hear them in my sleep sometimes (quick, pickup the Raging Spirit before it kills someone!).

So, as I stated at the beginning of the post, DXE is available and up to date for Cataclysm. Guess what i am downloading as soon as I get home tonight?

I'll give you three guesses, but only the first one counts.

Two Months Gone

Wow.  It’s been two months since my last blog post.  Where does the time go?

Let’s see, what has happened since I last posted?

• Patch 4.2 has hit.
• Paladins got Holy Shield redesigned (which included lots of crying by the window lickers on the official forums).
• EF took another month+ off of raiding because of the persistent attendance issues.
• I have started playing my warrior a lot more, not because of any nerf to my paladin, but just because he is fun.
• I’ve also started doing a ton more PVP in the last couple of weeks (we’ll see how long that lasts).
• I finally power leveled my leatherworker to 525, so I can start providing my own leg armors now

EF did get back to raiding, and with the nerfs that came in 4.2, were able to down Cho’gall on only our second night working on him.What I am doing a lot of, is dailies.  I login every day and do my Molten Front dailies.  I tell you, the day I can stop healing Wounded Guardians of Hyjal cannot come soon enough.

The Heroes Return

After a forced hiatus of over a month and a half, due to attendance woes, Empyreal Fray fielded a raid team last night and actually raided. It felt good. It also felt a little odd. It has only been a month and a half but I know, at least on my part, that there was some serious rust that needed knocking off.

We started at Baradin Hold, where I momentarily forgot where my taunt button was. I'm not sure what happened there, but when it was time to taunt the boss off of the other tank, I instead hit my interrupt button, and then proceeded to question in my mind why the boss hadn't turned toward me. Luckily I figured it out before he did his big thing again.

Then we moved on to Blackwing Descent and proceeded to one-shot the big worm (Magmaw), the fours statues (Omnotron), and captain chemistry (Maloriak).

We did have to pug one DPS, a warrior, and he played pretty well. Although, he did get two pieces of gear off of three bosses and then, without much warning, left.

But such is the price of pugging.

Regardless, it was a great night, and it felt really good to be raiding again. Here's hoping that we can repeat tonight.

Of Trolls and new Tiers

I really need to get better at this blogging thing. I don't post anywhere near enough. Anywhoo . . .

Attendance is still our biggest problem in EF. We have picked up a couple of new players, but at the same time, lost a couple of our core raiders, so it was a zero-sum action. Anyone interested in joining a raiding team that is good, just perpetually short-handed?

Of Trolls

Cataclysm has done something that no other expansion has ever done before. It has continually made me feel sub-standard. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the harder content. It is just the virtual kick to the junk when you wipe in a 5-man. And let me tell you, I have been doing a lot of wiping in 5-mans of late.

Of the two new (new = recycled) troll instances, I have only seen Zul'Gurub. On raid nights, when we are short, we are just running random troll instances instead. I have queued for a random troll instance three times now, and have gotten Zul'Gurub each time. That also means, I have spent three nights in Zul'Gurub. I have yet to finish the instance. Not due to giving up, but just due to running out of time.

The boss mechanics are . . . unforgiving. Anyone who knows us EF people, we have traditionally been weak when it came to mechanics, and tended to just power through fights. In the Wrath era, that was possible, in Cataclysm, not so much. It is funny, most of the bosses we can one-shot (even on the first night). But others, whose mechanics are more brutal (like Zanzil) we wiped again and again on.

Tonight is another scheduled raid night, and while I am holding out hope that we will see 10 people online, I am planning on going back in and finally finishing Zul'Gurub.

New Tiers

Also, a few days ago, Blizzard released the new artwork for the Tier 12 Paladin gear. At first glance, I didn't like it at all. It doesn't even look like plate armor. It seems more like something a Warlock would wear. Much like Tier 10, as I have looked at it more and more, it has grown on me. At first glance, I didn't like Tier 10 either, but when it came time to get rid of it, it was hard. I had really come to love the look of the burning skulls on my shoulders. Maybe it will be the same with Tier 12. We will see.

I do recognize the similarities in style between Tier 12 and Tier 2. It very much has that Inquisitor feel to it again. This time with an added fiery theme.