I had this fantastic post planned about why I chose to be a druid in World of Warcraft. It was going to be good, I promise you. You'd have felt a bond with me; connected in a way you never had before. We might have even virtually hugged.
But then I stumbled upon something on my server last night. I cannot simply describe it as anything less than an abomination upon mankind. "Heinous" is not a strong enough word. Some of these ill feelings may also stem from jealousy. I won't admit it if they are, though.
As a Druid bear, two trinkets right now ought to make your balls shrivel (and if you don't have balls, just pretend you feel them shriveling up and tightening against your body). Defender's Code and Darkmoon Card: Greatness. Sure, there are other trinkets that are good, too, but these two beauties are so hard to come by and so powerful, how could you not want to hold them, forever caressing their soft skin?
I've been lucky to have gotten a Defender's Code drop. What I've not been so lucky to get is a a profession that helps me achieve the nobles deck. So, the only way for me to get this trinket is to do one of the following:
1) Buy the mats and have Doublevision's alt craft me a random card and pray I get a full deck eventually.
2) Buy the nobles cards from the auction house or trade chat.
3) Buy the full deck from the auction hour or trade chat.
Let me address these in order. Option number one makes the most sense. Double's a lifelong friend of mine and has said he'd have no problem crafting the cards for me. Of course, though, I'll be getting all sorts of random cards from each crafting and am not guaranteed a nobles card. The Nobles deck is by far the best for just about any class, so I foresee having a tough time selling cards that aren't nobles. The mats, in total, equate to about 750g on my server. This is the cheapest option, though maybe not in the long run if my luck isn't so lucky.
Option two caters to my American blood best. I want it and I want it now. So I just simply drop my currency on the cards and dance all the way to the Darkmoon Faire. The cards on my server go for 1500 to 2000 gold buyout on the auction house. Second cheapest option.
Option three is really just an extension of option two. However, remember that "abomination of mankind" I spoke of earlier? Yeah, it took me a while to get there, but option three specifically addresses this.
31000 gold buyout.
Darkmoon Card: Greatness.
On my server.
I had to pick my jaw up off of the floor.
Some people may have this kind of gold laying around their pockets, just waiting to be spent. I do not. And I'd like to consider myself well off when it comes to WoW gold. But 31000 gold is something I wish I had right now.
Now let's just say I opted for option two and paid 2000g a card. That comes to 16000g. That's a lot of gold. And surely it's an inflated price. I would like to meet the sucker, err... buyer that spends 31000g on that deck, though. I just know that sucker... err, buyer, sadly, won't be me.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
12/30/08
12/29/08
The Ease of It
A month ago I'd be hard pressed to state that Lich King's content was "easy." I was wiping multiple times in Heroics and my 10-man Naxx group couldn't topple Instructor Razuvious, explicitly marketed as being "the easiest boss in all of Naxxramas." No, I felt that the content was challenging enough and would tide me over well until the Ulduar content patch hit.
Fast forward to today where I've had two back-to-back complete runs of Heroic Naxxramas, am in possession of two pieces of tier 7.5, and the only challenge I face now is whether or not the healz I bring in with me to 10-man Naxx are competent enough to finish the job. Lich King's endgame content is too easy. There, I said it.
By the time I started playing WoW, guilds had already cleared Blacktemple and were fastidiously progressing in Sunwell Plateau. Though that's not to say that I didn't hear of the challenges that awaited people in the Sunwell. Either way, to this date, I still have never completed Blacktemple or Serpetshrine Cavern. Karazhan took some time and certainly was not bested by me within three weeks. So, I'm certainly not the best of the best in any shape, way, or form.
Yet here I am sitting happily upon my spoils of war. Defender's Code, Staff of the Plague Beast, and T7.5 Helm all rest easily on my loins. Sure I may not have Origin of Nightmares yet, but it is only a matter of time.
Really, the point I'm trying to make is that I am blowing through the content and acquiring wicked gear at an unprecedented rate. Sure, luck has a big part in the gear acquisitions, but not in terms of how me and my guild is progressing. And remember, this is the same guild that could not even complete Blacktemple, even after Patch 3.0.
Lich King is, simply put, retardo-easy. Malygos being the exception, but even then I'm sure his defeat will be right around the corner for my lackluster guildmates.
One last point to make. It took me nearly three months of continued Karazhan runs to acquire Tier 4 helm. And it only took me one Heroic Naxx run to get T7.5 helm. ><
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
Fast forward to today where I've had two back-to-back complete runs of Heroic Naxxramas, am in possession of two pieces of tier 7.5, and the only challenge I face now is whether or not the healz I bring in with me to 10-man Naxx are competent enough to finish the job. Lich King's endgame content is too easy. There, I said it.
By the time I started playing WoW, guilds had already cleared Blacktemple and were fastidiously progressing in Sunwell Plateau. Though that's not to say that I didn't hear of the challenges that awaited people in the Sunwell. Either way, to this date, I still have never completed Blacktemple or Serpetshrine Cavern. Karazhan took some time and certainly was not bested by me within three weeks. So, I'm certainly not the best of the best in any shape, way, or form.
Yet here I am sitting happily upon my spoils of war. Defender's Code, Staff of the Plague Beast, and T7.5 Helm all rest easily on my loins. Sure I may not have Origin of Nightmares yet, but it is only a matter of time.
Really, the point I'm trying to make is that I am blowing through the content and acquiring wicked gear at an unprecedented rate. Sure, luck has a big part in the gear acquisitions, but not in terms of how me and my guild is progressing. And remember, this is the same guild that could not even complete Blacktemple, even after Patch 3.0.
Lich King is, simply put, retardo-easy. Malygos being the exception, but even then I'm sure his defeat will be right around the corner for my lackluster guildmates.
One last point to make. It took me nearly three months of continued Karazhan runs to acquire Tier 4 helm. And it only took me one Heroic Naxx run to get T7.5 helm. ><
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
12/24/08
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Take this time to relish in the one thing greater than World of Warcraft:
Your family.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
Take this time to relish in the one thing greater than World of Warcraft:
Your family.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
12/18/08
D-Day Version 3.0.8
Your realm may be abuzz with talk of what the latest WoW patch brings. Version 3.0.8 hit the Public Test Realm last week and brings about a number of discussed changes to the druid class. The patch notes can be found here.
The biggest change to look forward to (or fear, depending on how you still stand) is the armor change. It's been discussed to death from here to the end of the internet, but it will soon be final. No more bonus armor from trinkets, rings, and staves.
I've already been preparing for this change, while still maintaining gear that allows me to be beastly currently.
For starters, I've replaced Badge of Tenacity with Essence of Gossamer. I find that Gossamer is an excellent trinket pre-3.0.8 patch and post. The 111 Stamina is a hefty stat and should offset the loss in bonus armor from Tenacity. The only thing I miss is that I relied heavily upon Tenacity to make it easier on the healers' job during some Naxx fights. That and Gossamer seems like it never procs.
Though I still lug around Enraged Feral Staff (the armor bonus can't be beat), I've Staff of Trickery sitting in my bank. As discussed previously, the bonus armor makes this blue much more desirable than the Staff. Trickery drops from H VH and shouldn't be too difficult to acquire. You may want to get started on acquiring this, if needed, before the patch goes live. Though any Naxx staff will trump trickery.
I know I've been trying to mask my famous identity from this blog. For this purpose, though, I must subject myself to a league of paparazzi. More important than me discussing a few key changes I've made to my bear, it's more important to give a real world example of the kind of changes us bears can expect from the latest patch.
My WoW Armory profile is here, for gear reference.
I now currently have 29660 armor.
With the new armor changes I now have 32114.
Your mileage may vary, but Ghostcrawler was right. This is a mild buff. And when I say "mild," I mean "almost 3k armor for free?!" I'd say an 8.27% increase is more than a mild buff.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
The biggest change to look forward to (or fear, depending on how you still stand) is the armor change. It's been discussed to death from here to the end of the internet, but it will soon be final. No more bonus armor from trinkets, rings, and staves.
I've already been preparing for this change, while still maintaining gear that allows me to be beastly currently.
For starters, I've replaced Badge of Tenacity with Essence of Gossamer. I find that Gossamer is an excellent trinket pre-3.0.8 patch and post. The 111 Stamina is a hefty stat and should offset the loss in bonus armor from Tenacity. The only thing I miss is that I relied heavily upon Tenacity to make it easier on the healers' job during some Naxx fights. That and Gossamer seems like it never procs.
Though I still lug around Enraged Feral Staff (the armor bonus can't be beat), I've Staff of Trickery sitting in my bank. As discussed previously, the bonus armor makes this blue much more desirable than the Staff. Trickery drops from H VH and shouldn't be too difficult to acquire. You may want to get started on acquiring this, if needed, before the patch goes live. Though any Naxx staff will trump trickery.
I know I've been trying to mask my famous identity from this blog. For this purpose, though, I must subject myself to a league of paparazzi. More important than me discussing a few key changes I've made to my bear, it's more important to give a real world example of the kind of changes us bears can expect from the latest patch.
My WoW Armory profile is here, for gear reference.
I now currently have 29660 armor.
With the new armor changes I now have 32114.
Your mileage may vary, but Ghostcrawler was right. This is a mild buff. And when I say "mild," I mean "almost 3k armor for free?!" I'd say an 8.27% increase is more than a mild buff.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
12/11/08
Heigan the Hobo
Wow. No one ever said blogging would be easy. I just never figured it'd be this hard. Work's been rather busy, so I've not been able to devote the time I've wanted to this blog. But fear not! I've had a post cooking up for some time now!
I would imagine you have started tanking Naxx. And if you're luckier then me, you've completed Naxx. My guild is having some problems, but that's another post for another time. First off, let me say that I love Naxxramas. The instance is fun, challenging, and the different strategies on the bosses always has me looking forward to the encounters.
One encounter I love, not only because he drops Staff of the Plaguebeast, but also because it's so unique, is Heigan the Unclean. It's a simple fight once you know the mechanics, but I am finding guildmates that still have a tough time with Heigan. WoWwiki has a good strategy (read it, it's good!), but I'd like to expand upon what they've already relayed.
The Heigan battleground can be separated into four zones. Each zone is a safe spot for when he does his mass AOE that bubbles up from the floor. Area 1 and Area 4 of his AE are straight-forward. Area 1 is right by the entrance and area 4 is the farthest zone away. In the below image keep your party below the line. I often tank Heigan parallel to the line. When you and your party goes back to this area during Phase two, be sure to not travel too far below the line. This will make transitioning to area 2 tough, as you will have more ground to cover.
There are some key focal points in area 2 and 3, though, that will make this fight easier. I find directing fellow players to these stones will help them with establishing the right safe zone for each AOE.
This circular stone, closest to the entrance, is an excellent landmark. I've highlighted it in yellow. As you can see in the picture, there is a natural green outline that makes this an easily identifiable safe spot
Area 3 has a similar stone that I run to every time. It's easy to distinguish through all of the chaos. It's not dissimilar to area 2's stone.
Area four is simply beyond the safe zone in area 3.
All in all, Heigan is an easy and straight-forward fight. The biggest challenge is simply knowing where to be at the right time. During Phase two he unleashes his AOE a lot quicker, so it's a matter of moving from safe spot to spot in quick succession. After one or two tries, and reading my blog, you'll be on to victory in no time. :D
If you're like me, you'll go 0 for 3 in Staff of the Plaguebeast dropping.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
I would imagine you have started tanking Naxx. And if you're luckier then me, you've completed Naxx. My guild is having some problems, but that's another post for another time. First off, let me say that I love Naxxramas. The instance is fun, challenging, and the different strategies on the bosses always has me looking forward to the encounters.
One encounter I love, not only because he drops Staff of the Plaguebeast, but also because it's so unique, is Heigan the Unclean. It's a simple fight once you know the mechanics, but I am finding guildmates that still have a tough time with Heigan. WoWwiki has a good strategy (read it, it's good!), but I'd like to expand upon what they've already relayed.
The Heigan battleground can be separated into four zones. Each zone is a safe spot for when he does his mass AOE that bubbles up from the floor. Area 1 and Area 4 of his AE are straight-forward. Area 1 is right by the entrance and area 4 is the farthest zone away. In the below image keep your party below the line. I often tank Heigan parallel to the line. When you and your party goes back to this area during Phase two, be sure to not travel too far below the line. This will make transitioning to area 2 tough, as you will have more ground to cover.
There are some key focal points in area 2 and 3, though, that will make this fight easier. I find directing fellow players to these stones will help them with establishing the right safe zone for each AOE.
This circular stone, closest to the entrance, is an excellent landmark. I've highlighted it in yellow. As you can see in the picture, there is a natural green outline that makes this an easily identifiable safe spot
Area 3 has a similar stone that I run to every time. It's easy to distinguish through all of the chaos. It's not dissimilar to area 2's stone.
Area four is simply beyond the safe zone in area 3.
All in all, Heigan is an easy and straight-forward fight. The biggest challenge is simply knowing where to be at the right time. During Phase two he unleashes his AOE a lot quicker, so it's a matter of moving from safe spot to spot in quick succession. After one or two tries, and reading my blog, you'll be on to victory in no time. :D
If you're like me, you'll go 0 for 3 in Staff of the Plaguebeast dropping.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
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