With Cataclysm coming up lots of people are making posts on what they want to see and the pros and cons to each thing. Most of it is more a want then a knowledge of what it will be as the information we have is limited but it still is interesting to read peoples discussion as long as it does not fall into the war of flames.
5 Man dungeons are a major point of discussion with many people wanting to see them be a bit more challenging like back in BC. Now I have never played back in BC when BC was end game but I have done dungeons while leveling with the LFD system and have seen many wipes in normal content BC dungeons. I chalk this up to WotLK and what it has taught everyone.
I see it from my first run through Deadmines on. All new tanks try to pull everything and have it AoEed down. Sad part is, at lower levels this is death calling. Tanks have so little to work with to keep aggro and DPS have so little to work with to reduce aggro meaning that everyone has aggro on everything all the time. While wipes in lower level dungeons are fewer they still happen with that mindset.
In BC dungeons this becomes a huge issue as the trash mobs are not push overs even to a group of 5 people in all BoA gear. They can not just be gathered up and AoEed down even after the tank gets more tanking skills and the DPS get more threat reduction skills. It is not the way the dungeons where made. They were made to have to use your brain once in a while. I was in one the other day on my baby priest where the tank kept having to yell to kill the totems first and no one ever listened so everyone was feared and everyone ran into more packs and sooner or later it was 10 or 12 mobs on us. The tank was great in picking them all up but with 10 packs on you there was no way any healer could keep up with that at level. Death was nearly instant for the tank and everyone else to follow. WotLK taught people to just kill, kill, kill and think of nothing else.
With the guild I was in the day the ICC 5 mans came out we went into them and talked strategy on each pull. I guess that is what the feeling was like back in the BC days. It was fun, I am a hunter and have tons of ability in this area that I never got to use. I learned to trap on the fly, to silence to draw a pack to the tank, many other little tricks. I do not think of myself as incredibly skilled at all but I do think of myself as competent. That is why I was able to learn that stuff quickly. Many are not sadly. They make my competent look extremely skilled which it is not. I worry about that should CC become a big part of the game again.
Shortly after that we were back into the AoE fest that WotLK had become. When first learning it we used CC and such because we did not know what to expect. In no time at all we outgeared it and we knew what each pack did so we no longer needed it and it was AoE time again.
WotLK has taught people the easy way and as sad as this sounds there is no going back after that. People are just way to stupid to be taught now. They only know one way and that is the fast burn. Look at every single group you get into when using the LFD when leveling. All you see are tanks pulling as much as possible even if they shouldn't be and DPS yelling pull, pull, pull and faster, faster, faster. Waiting for a healer to get mana is also something that never happens. Their theory is, I never had to wait on my healer at 80. See, they have been trained. While leveling a healer I learned that needing mana is a almost constant thing. At low levels I am out on one big pull. I also noticed that the tank does not care if I have 0 mana, he is going to pull the next 20 mobs anyway because it is my problem, I should be full on mana. Because I am low on mana is it my fault and I am a bad healer. If he dies because I have no mana to heal him, it is my fault. This is WotLK mentality because healers are never out of mana in LK 5 mans.
When Cataclysm comes out and they start asking people to pull as little as possible and to single target and CC people will just start yelling how bad the tank is because he can only take 3 mobs at a time and how bad the DPS is because they can only burn down 1 at a time. And then whenever someone dies it will be the healers fault because they ran out of mana when they should never have run out.
I will like that for a short time but it will take only a little time to learn and in the end it will turn out to be the exact same as it is now in WotLK. In a matter of no time we will be running through the same dungeons that were kicking our asses all over the place and AoEing everything down. Blizzard said they are trying to make sure that does not happen and I believe them, I believe that is their intention, I do not however believe they will do it. They could do it, they just won't.
Do you want to know why the dungeons will become a cake walk the second we start getting gear no matter how hard Blizzard tries? Sure you do and I will tell you with a little lesson in history that apparently Blizzard has not noticed yet.
When you moved up tiers of gear back in the day (yes I was not there but I can see the gear and I can read) the increase was minimal. You had something with +11 agility, the next tier had +12 or maybe even +13 agility on it now. The one after that had a huge +15 agility maybe. Things moved up slowly. That is why end game content was still hard even if you started to gear up a lot because the gear, while better, was not leagues better. It was better to make things slightly easier but not cake walk easy.
With WotLK you enter dungeons with things that have numbers like +50 agility, while in end game you have things with like +130 agility in the same slot. You where able to do the dungeon, sometimes easily, with that +50 gear so what do you think will happen with +130 agility gear? You will steam roll it because you are 4 and a half times stronger then you where back when it was easy to begin with. Everyone steam rolls things because Blizzard forgot how to scale things correctly. If the expansion started with items being +50 agility they should have ended with items being +60 agility, maybe +70 for end game heroic raid stuff. Not +130 stuff that you can get with badges that are given out like candy on halloween.
WotLK was not designed to be easy like it is, it just became easy because Blizzard forgot how to deck out gear. They think that they want to give us something to make it worth upgrading and they do not realize that we would be just as fast to get the +55 agility item to replace our +50 agility item as we are to get the +130 agility item to replace our +50 agility item.
This is why the Cataclysm dungeons will be laugh fests in a matter of no time just like the WotLK ones become laugh fests. Look at the itemization on gear now. If we are getting things with +250 agility then you can guess, at least if they will do as they did in WotLK and make it 4 1/2 times better later, we will be going into those same dungeons we have to use CC and pull small packs with +1125 agility on items and it will once again it will be a laugh fest.
So all this talk is nice, all this talk is fine and dandy but all this talk is pipe dreaming because no matter how great it seems and all those people saying "wow I love the return of CC" will be walking through there like an 80 walks through deadmines now. Unless Blizzard does something about scaling stats so they do not make "current" content trivial with each small update there is no way to stop this from happening. If +250 agility on 85 epics is how we start Cataclysm then how we end it at end game raiding before the next one comes out should not be more then +300 agility. Anything more then that will make all the current Cataclysm trivial way before the end of the Cataclysm cycle just like the gear in the WotLK cycle has made all heroics trivial now.
EDIT:
Some research to back up what I said. Taking agility off the shoulders to do it on one piece for all tiers as an example.
Agility on Hunter Shoulders:
Classic:
Tier 1 - +16 Agility
Tier 2 - +16 Agility
Tier 3 - +20 Agility
(This is why Classic content stayed challenging, little increase)
Stat jump = 25% From starting end game to ending end game.
Agility on Hunter Shoulders:
BC:
Tier 4 - 0 Agility
Tier 5 - +26 Agility
Tier 6 - +34 Agility
(Nice upgrade but not amazing huge leaving BC content challenging)
Stat jump = 31% From starting end game to ending end game.
Agility on Hunter Shoulders: WotLK:
Tier 7 - +58 Agility
Tier 7.5 - +66 Agility
Tier 8 - +60 Agility
Tier 8.5 - +65 Agility
Tier 9 -+81 Agility
Tier 9.25 - +93 Agility
Tier 9.5 - +106 Agility
Tier 10 - +107 Agility
Tier 10.25 -+120 Agility
Tier 10.5 - +136 Agility
(See how the numbers jumped so high? That is what made WotLK easy mode for earlier content)
Stat jump = 135% From starting end game to ending end game.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tips and Tricks: Saving Food
Leveling can be hard when it comes to making money. Let me rephrase that, Leveling can be hard when it comes to making money if you do not make the best of what you get while leveling.
You will be killing animals left and right. Some animals drop meat while other seems to be meatless animals. The ones with the meat will help you level your cooking but once you passed the need for that meat you will usually do one of two things with it. Cook it anyway because you use that food or vendor it.
Cook it if you need it, it is serving a purpose for you. If you do not need it do not vendor it. Save it up and sell it. Meat, even more so lower level meats, sell for quite a bit on the Auction House. Maybe not a lot for a level 80 but while leveling selling meat for 50 or 60 silver each can be a small fortune and surely more then vendoring it for a few copper.
Nearly all meats sell for a nice amount and some even go as high as 2-4 gold each. The best time to list your uncooked food for sale is early Saturday morning or even late Friday night. The reason for that is that many people like to level alts on the weekend and people with money that level alts never take the time to worry about getting the materials normally, they power level everything. If you have giant eggs left over that you do not need it is not unheard of for someone to buy a stack of them for 100 gold on a Saturday because they needed it for power leveling their cooking on an alt.
Some meats are even worth farming if you are in an area anyway. If the kill is quick for you and it is close to you and you are still getting good experience from it, go for it and kill it. It is win/win. You are there anyway, it was a quick kill that granted decent experience and it could very well drop something you can sell for a pretty penny.
A list of some of the meats I have noticed sell for those most on the AH: (may differ on different servers)
Raptor Flesh
Raptor Egg
Bear Flank
Giant Egg
Jaggal Clam Meat
Zesty Clam Meat
Tender Clam Meat
Talbuk Venison
Clefthoof Meat
Ravager Flesh
Those are some of the best while leveling that I have seen. However anything that can be sold is good to make an effort to sell. White items that are food are always going to be needed by someone that is trying to level cooking and do not think because the meat is not on any power leveling guide that it is not worth selling. Power leveling guides bring people out to farm those things exactly to sell for a high price. If I power level something I always go against the guide.
There are always secondary things you can do to level and you will get the meats cheaper. Lets say something requires bear meat and all the guides suggest that. Bear meat will be 1g each on the market but you could also get red wolf meat to level the same skill set but the guides do not mention that. Sometimes you will see the red wolf meat on the market for less then the bear beat and by that instead. So if you see bear meat for 1g and wolf for 90s you will buy the cheaper ones to power level. So that means even if red wolf meat is no on any leveling guides does not mean you can not make a nice amount selling it. Everything sells.
Once in Northrend nearly all meat is worth more then vendoring as many of the lower level meats you will come across are still used for end game like Rhino Meat, Chunk of Mammoth and other goodies that you first get the moment you step foot into Northrend. Never ever throw away any food anywhere. Sell it if you do not need it for yourself.
Just recently while leveling I decided to sell off some meat I had saved up on one of my characters that I was using to level cooking with. After I was done I sold all the extras, was not much, less then one 20 slot bag worth in my bank, and I ended up with 320 gold.
320 gold just from left over meat, at level 55 now, so when I get to outlands I got my mount, and some, paid for already from saving meat and not throwing it away. If you are making your first character this can be make or break. If you already have 5 80s and tons of gold, this is still worth doing. It takes no time what so ever to list something instead of throwing it away. Even if you are already at the gold cap would you just throw 320 gold away? I guess not. Making money by saving food should be done by everyone.
You will be killing animals left and right. Some animals drop meat while other seems to be meatless animals. The ones with the meat will help you level your cooking but once you passed the need for that meat you will usually do one of two things with it. Cook it anyway because you use that food or vendor it.
Cook it if you need it, it is serving a purpose for you. If you do not need it do not vendor it. Save it up and sell it. Meat, even more so lower level meats, sell for quite a bit on the Auction House. Maybe not a lot for a level 80 but while leveling selling meat for 50 or 60 silver each can be a small fortune and surely more then vendoring it for a few copper.
Nearly all meats sell for a nice amount and some even go as high as 2-4 gold each. The best time to list your uncooked food for sale is early Saturday morning or even late Friday night. The reason for that is that many people like to level alts on the weekend and people with money that level alts never take the time to worry about getting the materials normally, they power level everything. If you have giant eggs left over that you do not need it is not unheard of for someone to buy a stack of them for 100 gold on a Saturday because they needed it for power leveling their cooking on an alt.
Some meats are even worth farming if you are in an area anyway. If the kill is quick for you and it is close to you and you are still getting good experience from it, go for it and kill it. It is win/win. You are there anyway, it was a quick kill that granted decent experience and it could very well drop something you can sell for a pretty penny.
A list of some of the meats I have noticed sell for those most on the AH: (may differ on different servers)
Raptor Flesh
Raptor Egg
Bear Flank
Giant Egg
Jaggal Clam Meat
Zesty Clam Meat
Tender Clam Meat
Talbuk Venison
Clefthoof Meat
Ravager Flesh
Those are some of the best while leveling that I have seen. However anything that can be sold is good to make an effort to sell. White items that are food are always going to be needed by someone that is trying to level cooking and do not think because the meat is not on any power leveling guide that it is not worth selling. Power leveling guides bring people out to farm those things exactly to sell for a high price. If I power level something I always go against the guide.
There are always secondary things you can do to level and you will get the meats cheaper. Lets say something requires bear meat and all the guides suggest that. Bear meat will be 1g each on the market but you could also get red wolf meat to level the same skill set but the guides do not mention that. Sometimes you will see the red wolf meat on the market for less then the bear beat and by that instead. So if you see bear meat for 1g and wolf for 90s you will buy the cheaper ones to power level. So that means even if red wolf meat is no on any leveling guides does not mean you can not make a nice amount selling it. Everything sells.
Once in Northrend nearly all meat is worth more then vendoring as many of the lower level meats you will come across are still used for end game like Rhino Meat, Chunk of Mammoth and other goodies that you first get the moment you step foot into Northrend. Never ever throw away any food anywhere. Sell it if you do not need it for yourself.
Just recently while leveling I decided to sell off some meat I had saved up on one of my characters that I was using to level cooking with. After I was done I sold all the extras, was not much, less then one 20 slot bag worth in my bank, and I ended up with 320 gold.
320 gold just from left over meat, at level 55 now, so when I get to outlands I got my mount, and some, paid for already from saving meat and not throwing it away. If you are making your first character this can be make or break. If you already have 5 80s and tons of gold, this is still worth doing. It takes no time what so ever to list something instead of throwing it away. Even if you are already at the gold cap would you just throw 320 gold away? I guess not. Making money by saving food should be done by everyone.
Stop rolling on my gear!
No, it is not going to be a post because someone rolled on my gear. It is going to be a post about "My Gear" and what exactly makes something "My Gear". After the recent events of some half ass Rogue making a scene because a Hunter won a weapon he wanted calling it "My Gear" it made me think more about gear and how it is dictated who it is for. I also bring a whole new perspective to it having been leveling many different characters lately for the first time.
First things first about "My Gear". Unless it specifically stats something in the details like a few of the items from Lady Deathwhisper, Zod's Repeating Longbow says on ranged attack, so it is a hunter weapon as hunter are the only ranged attacker that can use it or Heartpierce says melee attack so it really would be of no help for a ranged person or a caster and Nibelung which says harmful spells which makes it for any caster that is not a healer. LDW is the perfect example of drops that fit the "My Gear" profile correctly.
While a Rogue can use Zod's and the stats are itemized for perfectly for that class it is not a Rogue weapon and a Rogue should never roll on it if there is a Hunter that needs it first. If no Hunters need it then a Rogue is more then welcome to have it. However, if I Hunter where to say that is "My Gear" they are 100% right.
The dagger is another good example. Personally I only see this as a Rogue or Feral Druid item but I am sure others could roll on it. A Priest could but I really do not see any reason a Priest should ever be hitting melee if they do attack at all. If a Priest rolls on it while there is a Rogue or Druid that needs it, they are wrong.
The staff is another great example that I know my Disc Priest would love for the stats. However, my Disc Priest would rarely if ever casts and harmful spells when it gets to the world of raiding. It is a healer so it really has no right to roll on that if any casters like a Boomkin, Shadow Priest, Mage, or Warlock might still need it. If none of them need it, then they can roll away.
The "My Gear" concept is when you think of something as something you have the right to roll on and another person does not. If a Mage and a Disc Priest rolls on that staff and the Mage yells, hey, that is "My Gear" they are right. It is the Mage's over the Disc Priest's because of the side effects of the item.
There are also the types of items that say Class:XXXX on them. I do not think it needs to be said that those items are only for specific classes only.
Any time an item is itemized where two people can use it then it is a free roll. A weapon with Agility and Stamina on it that 2 or more classes can use is open roll for all those classes, none of them have a right to say over the other that it is "My Gear". A weapon with Strength and Stamina has many classes that can roll on it and none of them have a right to say it is "My Gear" over the other.
I really hate people that claim someone is "My Gear" and start an issue because someone else rolled on something that was "My Gear". If both can use it and it is perfectly itemized for both then both have a right to roll on it. Lower levels I see everyone rolling need on everything no matter what. As long as they can wear it I really do not even care under level 40. After level 40 you have to start thinking of what is better for you stat wise and not just what can you wear.
Never ever use the words "My Gear" unless the gear is designed with your class in mind only. or something that is much more suited for you then it is for someone else. And no, just because you swing a weapon does not mean you have more right to it then a Hunter or a Druid that only uses it as a "Stat Stick". That stat stick will up their damage the same as the stat stick will up yours. Swinging it or not does not matter. Stats are stats no matter how you use the weapon and better ones are better.
First things first about "My Gear". Unless it specifically stats something in the details like a few of the items from Lady Deathwhisper, Zod's Repeating Longbow says on ranged attack, so it is a hunter weapon as hunter are the only ranged attacker that can use it or Heartpierce says melee attack so it really would be of no help for a ranged person or a caster and Nibelung which says harmful spells which makes it for any caster that is not a healer. LDW is the perfect example of drops that fit the "My Gear" profile correctly.
While a Rogue can use Zod's and the stats are itemized for perfectly for that class it is not a Rogue weapon and a Rogue should never roll on it if there is a Hunter that needs it first. If no Hunters need it then a Rogue is more then welcome to have it. However, if I Hunter where to say that is "My Gear" they are 100% right.
The dagger is another good example. Personally I only see this as a Rogue or Feral Druid item but I am sure others could roll on it. A Priest could but I really do not see any reason a Priest should ever be hitting melee if they do attack at all. If a Priest rolls on it while there is a Rogue or Druid that needs it, they are wrong.
The staff is another great example that I know my Disc Priest would love for the stats. However, my Disc Priest would rarely if ever casts and harmful spells when it gets to the world of raiding. It is a healer so it really has no right to roll on that if any casters like a Boomkin, Shadow Priest, Mage, or Warlock might still need it. If none of them need it, then they can roll away.
The "My Gear" concept is when you think of something as something you have the right to roll on and another person does not. If a Mage and a Disc Priest rolls on that staff and the Mage yells, hey, that is "My Gear" they are right. It is the Mage's over the Disc Priest's because of the side effects of the item.
There are also the types of items that say Class:XXXX on them. I do not think it needs to be said that those items are only for specific classes only.
Any time an item is itemized where two people can use it then it is a free roll. A weapon with Agility and Stamina on it that 2 or more classes can use is open roll for all those classes, none of them have a right to say over the other that it is "My Gear". A weapon with Strength and Stamina has many classes that can roll on it and none of them have a right to say it is "My Gear" over the other.
I really hate people that claim someone is "My Gear" and start an issue because someone else rolled on something that was "My Gear". If both can use it and it is perfectly itemized for both then both have a right to roll on it. Lower levels I see everyone rolling need on everything no matter what. As long as they can wear it I really do not even care under level 40. After level 40 you have to start thinking of what is better for you stat wise and not just what can you wear.
Never ever use the words "My Gear" unless the gear is designed with your class in mind only. or something that is much more suited for you then it is for someone else. And no, just because you swing a weapon does not mean you have more right to it then a Hunter or a Druid that only uses it as a "Stat Stick". That stat stick will up their damage the same as the stat stick will up yours. Swinging it or not does not matter. Stats are stats no matter how you use the weapon and better ones are better.
Monday, July 19, 2010
LFD: The Good.
I could have named this like the movie, the good, the bad and the ugly but for now all I want to write about is the good of it. I was actually having a conversation with someone yesterday about the LFD system and when the idea of a LFR system came up I said it could never work. A few minutes later I came up with an idea how a LFR would work. It would give you 1 random raid boss that you have killed at least 10 times before. That way, you get a group with people that all know the mechanics of that one fight. In me saying that I seemed to have forgotten why I liked the LFD tool and why my idea for LFR would be counter productive for what LFD tried to help with.
I only started playing a little over a year ago so me talking about the "old times" is like an 18 year old talking about back when "he was a kid". What was it? Like a week ago? Still, I remembered a bit about the old times trying to find the daily dungeon before the LFD tool came out.
I was one of those people that maybe took the game a little too serious to start out with. I never even considered trying to get into a group for a dungeon until I could buy enough BoE stuff to make myself viable in the dungeon. I also made sure everything was enchanted completely. It did not take long after hitting 80 to do that. Just a little elbow grease so to speak. I had read that 1200 is the bare minimum you should do in a dungeon and 1500 was good enough over all. So I was making sure I could do that.
I would only run the dungeons I knew where easy as hell like Nexus and Violet Hold because I was still learning my character and I knew where the entrance to them was. I had no clue where the entrances to HoL, HoS, UK, UP and some others even were. So when that was the daily I never even looked for a group. Did not want to look like a total noob when I asked how I needed to get there. If someone said LF 1 DPS, have summon then I would whisper. Otherwise, I did not do my dungeon that day.
On the days that it was a dungeon I knew well or one I knew how to get to it became a issue of how long I was willing to wait before I found someone willing to go with me. Some days I would sit and read trade waiting for someone to ask for a DPS for 3 or 4 hours. If I was lucky, when I found one they might take me. Might being the operative word there. Some times I would send a dozen people messages and they would give the spots to someone else. On a good week I would do my daily dungeon maybe 2 times. Gearing up like that was hell, pure hell.
Even after I joined a guild it was rare to see any people on to do the runs. They only came on before raid time to raid and the few times they did run the daily I would try to get in but they already had their in clicks of the same 5 people that ran together every day and you could not do it twice so even if they were willing to run again with me they couldn't.
I worked as hard as I could. Making money to buy BoEs. Reading about my rotation and class to know everything I needed to. Reading about the dungeons so I knew what to expect. Waiting n trade for hours on end hoping I can get into a group and still months later I had managed to save up enough for only one piece of badge gear. It sucked breaking in back then. Sucked big time.
So that is why I think the LFD tool is awesome in so many ways. Now the daily is not a set dungeon, just click and go wherever they send you. Now you do not need to know where the entrance is, it ports you in and it ports you out. Now I can get on with my life, doing dailies and farming or playing the AH and not have to worry about sitting in a city and reading trade waiting for someone to need me. Now if all the guild tanks have already did their daily they can still help you with your daily too. No more being turned down because your gear is soft or because you just hit 80 or any other reason people would come up with. No more being in a dungeon with three hunters. No more taking forever to gear up.
LFD made life a cake walk in gearing up. Now with one full free weekend and some effort you can get yourself into all T9 or better gear ready for the next step into T10. After one weekend you can stop into ICC and have top end gear with a good ICC 10 and ICC 25 run. Heck, if you have a lucky roll here and there you can find yourself having a gear score of 5300 or better in less then 2 days thanks to the new system.
Now that is good and that is bad. Some people can get carried through the randoms and gear up and still not know how to play but over all most people do learn something running that many dungeons even if they are not actively trying to learn something. Either way, one or two trash pulls into ICC and you will be able to see who knows their role and who doesn't.
It has not changed much for healers and tanks. Even bad ones got snapped up the old way instantly. They still do with the system as it is now. However for DPS it has been a godsend. I can gear up in no time now if I wanted to. All you need to do it click the query and go farming or doing dailies. In no time your dungeon will pop up and you are on your way to being better geared in one day then I was after 2 months. Also, now you do not need to do what I did and buy BoEs and enchant them. You can hit 80 in quest greeens and go straight into a dungeon. I think it went from one extreme to the other but I like it a lot. If it were not for this system I might still be a noob 80 that would never have seen the entrance of ICC until I out geared it from having cata gear. Well, maybe not. My guild was doing Ulduar when I joined it and that was just before ICC came out and we jumped right into there. But my point still stands. It made life a lot easier.
I only started playing a little over a year ago so me talking about the "old times" is like an 18 year old talking about back when "he was a kid". What was it? Like a week ago? Still, I remembered a bit about the old times trying to find the daily dungeon before the LFD tool came out.
I was one of those people that maybe took the game a little too serious to start out with. I never even considered trying to get into a group for a dungeon until I could buy enough BoE stuff to make myself viable in the dungeon. I also made sure everything was enchanted completely. It did not take long after hitting 80 to do that. Just a little elbow grease so to speak. I had read that 1200 is the bare minimum you should do in a dungeon and 1500 was good enough over all. So I was making sure I could do that.
I would only run the dungeons I knew where easy as hell like Nexus and Violet Hold because I was still learning my character and I knew where the entrance to them was. I had no clue where the entrances to HoL, HoS, UK, UP and some others even were. So when that was the daily I never even looked for a group. Did not want to look like a total noob when I asked how I needed to get there. If someone said LF 1 DPS, have summon then I would whisper. Otherwise, I did not do my dungeon that day.
On the days that it was a dungeon I knew well or one I knew how to get to it became a issue of how long I was willing to wait before I found someone willing to go with me. Some days I would sit and read trade waiting for someone to ask for a DPS for 3 or 4 hours. If I was lucky, when I found one they might take me. Might being the operative word there. Some times I would send a dozen people messages and they would give the spots to someone else. On a good week I would do my daily dungeon maybe 2 times. Gearing up like that was hell, pure hell.
Even after I joined a guild it was rare to see any people on to do the runs. They only came on before raid time to raid and the few times they did run the daily I would try to get in but they already had their in clicks of the same 5 people that ran together every day and you could not do it twice so even if they were willing to run again with me they couldn't.
I worked as hard as I could. Making money to buy BoEs. Reading about my rotation and class to know everything I needed to. Reading about the dungeons so I knew what to expect. Waiting n trade for hours on end hoping I can get into a group and still months later I had managed to save up enough for only one piece of badge gear. It sucked breaking in back then. Sucked big time.
So that is why I think the LFD tool is awesome in so many ways. Now the daily is not a set dungeon, just click and go wherever they send you. Now you do not need to know where the entrance is, it ports you in and it ports you out. Now I can get on with my life, doing dailies and farming or playing the AH and not have to worry about sitting in a city and reading trade waiting for someone to need me. Now if all the guild tanks have already did their daily they can still help you with your daily too. No more being turned down because your gear is soft or because you just hit 80 or any other reason people would come up with. No more being in a dungeon with three hunters. No more taking forever to gear up.
LFD made life a cake walk in gearing up. Now with one full free weekend and some effort you can get yourself into all T9 or better gear ready for the next step into T10. After one weekend you can stop into ICC and have top end gear with a good ICC 10 and ICC 25 run. Heck, if you have a lucky roll here and there you can find yourself having a gear score of 5300 or better in less then 2 days thanks to the new system.
Now that is good and that is bad. Some people can get carried through the randoms and gear up and still not know how to play but over all most people do learn something running that many dungeons even if they are not actively trying to learn something. Either way, one or two trash pulls into ICC and you will be able to see who knows their role and who doesn't.
It has not changed much for healers and tanks. Even bad ones got snapped up the old way instantly. They still do with the system as it is now. However for DPS it has been a godsend. I can gear up in no time now if I wanted to. All you need to do it click the query and go farming or doing dailies. In no time your dungeon will pop up and you are on your way to being better geared in one day then I was after 2 months. Also, now you do not need to do what I did and buy BoEs and enchant them. You can hit 80 in quest greeens and go straight into a dungeon. I think it went from one extreme to the other but I like it a lot. If it were not for this system I might still be a noob 80 that would never have seen the entrance of ICC until I out geared it from having cata gear. Well, maybe not. My guild was doing Ulduar when I joined it and that was just before ICC came out and we jumped right into there. But my point still stands. It made life a lot easier.
Mining Ore and Leveling my Shaman.
I decided to play my Shaman for a little bit this weekend. I had made 60 last weekend and figured I wanted to get to Outlands to do some questing but there were a few things that I needed to address first. I do not like letting professions lag behind when I move along and being I was leveling so fast on my Shaman that happened.
While my mining was close to where I needed it to be my blacksmith skill was very far behind. I could not quite go to Un'Goro yet being most of what is found there is Thorium and Rich Thorium. Thorium is 230 skill and Rich Thorium is 255 and I was only at 220. I took a few trips around Tanaris mining until I got it high enough to get into Un'Goro and then it was payday time.
Now I needed all the ore I was going to be getting so there was really no profit to be made here but for those that are looking to make money mining this is the place to be. I spent 1 hour 45 minutes making circles around Un'Goro. I was level 60 so was not picking up aggro anywhere and in that time only had to stop to fight 4 or 5 times at most. Mostly because they were sitting on my ore so they had to die.
In less then 2 hours doing circles I minded 524 Thorium, got 32 assorted gems and enough dense stone to build a castle. Now if you are looking to make money this is a nice way to go, less then 2 hours work and easily you have (depending on your server) 1500 gold or more in sell-able stuff. Not really bad when you think about it for a level 60.
For someone saving up for Epic flight could do this for a week, 1 hour per day, and have enough to buy the mount. I really do hate when I see people say they do not have money to buy the mount and could I loan it to them. Hey, not my fault you are lazy. Go make your own money.
Back to the point. I decided to mine it instead of buying it for a few reasons. One, to save 1500 gold, 2 hours seems a lot cheaper then spending the gold. The other was I needed to up my mining skill anyway. By the time I was done my mining was about 320 and I had more then enough Thorium to catch up on my Blacksmith skill.
I smelted all the Thorium into bars and started making things. Ran out of Mitril with about 20 skill levels to go before getting into Thorium items. I had tow options there. Go farm some or buy some. I checked the auction house and they were around 2 gold per. So it was better to buy then to farm. Unlike Thorium in Un'Goro there is no place to farm Mitril that easily. I bought enough to get up to where I needed to be and spent a few hundred along the way.
After a while of crafting the items I was all caught up on my skills and was Outland ready. I am just burning through Outlands. I am 63 already and not even done with Hellfire's quests yet. I might even end up skipping most of them.
Level an Enhancement Shaman through that area after doing a Disc Priest through the same area shows me why I love leveling attacking characters. While I do enjoy leveling my Priest I have to plan each pull a lot more and it takes a little bit of time to kill things. With the Shaman I rarely even get to cast my full rotation before things are dead. I fly up and land on something and a Storm Strike, Earth Shock and Lava Lash later it is dead and if it isn't it does not have more then a few seconds more to live. Chain pulling with a Shaman is fantastic. I use my proc build up to do a greater healing wave on myself as an instant being I really do not need the instant lightning bolt as I am killing things so fast and I just keep moving being I am never in need of mana or health. Between Watershield and Shamanistic Rage mana is rarely if ever an issue, that and I get to the 5 proc I need nearly instantly it seems.
I do need to find an addon to follow my shields and procs however. I notice I am missing a lot of procs and sometimes forget to put on a new shield being I am moving along so fast. I'll have to take a look around for one. I am sure one is out there. Either that or I will just get more used to paying attention to the procs and shields. Thing is, I hate having to look at my buffs all the time to follow these things.
I have noticed one interesting thing however. Even if my Shaman kills things in a quarter of the time my Priest did my Shaman does not have the same survivability that the Priest did. With the Priest at level 60 I could pull a 63 Elite and beat it no problem. With my Shaman, no such luck. Why is the healer better at soling elites? The shield. That is it, plan and simple. The shield stops the spells from being interrupted. If I need a heal it comes on instantly. With the Shaman, if I need a heal, it better not be a hard hitting fast hitting mob or I am dead. Happened to me with one Elite I fought. At 1/2 life I started to cast a heal. The heal never got off in time. I was dead because it hit so fast my heal could never be cast. It kept being slowed. I have to work on a tactic for dealing with that situation when I do not have a 5 proc built up to throw that instant heal on myself.
I like seeing how all the different characters work and really try to do them all to the best of my ability. I feel my Shaman still needs work if for any other reason then the fact I never leveled solo. Up to 60 I always leveled with someone else and that is so different.
While my mining was close to where I needed it to be my blacksmith skill was very far behind. I could not quite go to Un'Goro yet being most of what is found there is Thorium and Rich Thorium. Thorium is 230 skill and Rich Thorium is 255 and I was only at 220. I took a few trips around Tanaris mining until I got it high enough to get into Un'Goro and then it was payday time.
Now I needed all the ore I was going to be getting so there was really no profit to be made here but for those that are looking to make money mining this is the place to be. I spent 1 hour 45 minutes making circles around Un'Goro. I was level 60 so was not picking up aggro anywhere and in that time only had to stop to fight 4 or 5 times at most. Mostly because they were sitting on my ore so they had to die.
In less then 2 hours doing circles I minded 524 Thorium, got 32 assorted gems and enough dense stone to build a castle. Now if you are looking to make money this is a nice way to go, less then 2 hours work and easily you have (depending on your server) 1500 gold or more in sell-able stuff. Not really bad when you think about it for a level 60.
For someone saving up for Epic flight could do this for a week, 1 hour per day, and have enough to buy the mount. I really do hate when I see people say they do not have money to buy the mount and could I loan it to them. Hey, not my fault you are lazy. Go make your own money.
Back to the point. I decided to mine it instead of buying it for a few reasons. One, to save 1500 gold, 2 hours seems a lot cheaper then spending the gold. The other was I needed to up my mining skill anyway. By the time I was done my mining was about 320 and I had more then enough Thorium to catch up on my Blacksmith skill.
I smelted all the Thorium into bars and started making things. Ran out of Mitril with about 20 skill levels to go before getting into Thorium items. I had tow options there. Go farm some or buy some. I checked the auction house and they were around 2 gold per. So it was better to buy then to farm. Unlike Thorium in Un'Goro there is no place to farm Mitril that easily. I bought enough to get up to where I needed to be and spent a few hundred along the way.
After a while of crafting the items I was all caught up on my skills and was Outland ready. I am just burning through Outlands. I am 63 already and not even done with Hellfire's quests yet. I might even end up skipping most of them.
Level an Enhancement Shaman through that area after doing a Disc Priest through the same area shows me why I love leveling attacking characters. While I do enjoy leveling my Priest I have to plan each pull a lot more and it takes a little bit of time to kill things. With the Shaman I rarely even get to cast my full rotation before things are dead. I fly up and land on something and a Storm Strike, Earth Shock and Lava Lash later it is dead and if it isn't it does not have more then a few seconds more to live. Chain pulling with a Shaman is fantastic. I use my proc build up to do a greater healing wave on myself as an instant being I really do not need the instant lightning bolt as I am killing things so fast and I just keep moving being I am never in need of mana or health. Between Watershield and Shamanistic Rage mana is rarely if ever an issue, that and I get to the 5 proc I need nearly instantly it seems.
I do need to find an addon to follow my shields and procs however. I notice I am missing a lot of procs and sometimes forget to put on a new shield being I am moving along so fast. I'll have to take a look around for one. I am sure one is out there. Either that or I will just get more used to paying attention to the procs and shields. Thing is, I hate having to look at my buffs all the time to follow these things.
I have noticed one interesting thing however. Even if my Shaman kills things in a quarter of the time my Priest did my Shaman does not have the same survivability that the Priest did. With the Priest at level 60 I could pull a 63 Elite and beat it no problem. With my Shaman, no such luck. Why is the healer better at soling elites? The shield. That is it, plan and simple. The shield stops the spells from being interrupted. If I need a heal it comes on instantly. With the Shaman, if I need a heal, it better not be a hard hitting fast hitting mob or I am dead. Happened to me with one Elite I fought. At 1/2 life I started to cast a heal. The heal never got off in time. I was dead because it hit so fast my heal could never be cast. It kept being slowed. I have to work on a tactic for dealing with that situation when I do not have a 5 proc built up to throw that instant heal on myself.
I like seeing how all the different characters work and really try to do them all to the best of my ability. I feel my Shaman still needs work if for any other reason then the fact I never leveled solo. Up to 60 I always leveled with someone else and that is so different.
Friday, July 16, 2010
What a great story.
I just read something on the official forums that put a smile on my face and showed that sometimes even this grumpy elf can have a soft spot for a sweet story.
For some reason I just have this image of a mage making food and water over and over and opening windows to trade them. Maybe it is the role player inside of me that popped out for a minute but I can really picture this so well in my head and it is a cute image to imagine.
For all the jerkwads in this game, and there seem to be many, there are a few great people that help others and a few honest people that truly are appreciative of the help they are given. This kind of made my day.
there was this lvl 11 mage in ironforge asking trade for 5 silver. that was all she needed to buy a bag sh was looking at in AH, but she had sold everything she possibly could and all her gear was broke so she couldnt go farm for anything. so i went to the AH and bought her four frostweave bags and handed her 20 g. lol she tried so hard to make it up to me by giving me as much conjured food and water that she could make. i didnt want to tell her that at my lvl the food did no good and i couldnt even use the water.
now shes a guild member :D
For some reason I just have this image of a mage making food and water over and over and opening windows to trade them. Maybe it is the role player inside of me that popped out for a minute but I can really picture this so well in my head and it is a cute image to imagine.
For all the jerkwads in this game, and there seem to be many, there are a few great people that help others and a few honest people that truly are appreciative of the help they are given. This kind of made my day.
Who has the right to roll?
We had some serious drama in our raid last night all do to someone losing a roll on an item. Bloodvenom Blade dropped off Deathbringer Saurfang and someone that wanted it lost the roll. Now I know well enough about losing rolls. Never once have a went into a rage, more so in public view. Sure I have lost so many rolls in a row that I wanted to quit. I even joked about it in game saying at the rate I was going I would not get an upgrade until everyone else already had it and they had no option but to give it to me.
This was a totally different case. The guy that lost said it was wrong that he lost because... get this.
1) Hunters should not be rolling on Rogue weapons.
2) It is only a stat stick for him.
3) He had a better gear score and could do more with it.
4) He had better DPS and deserved it more then the other guy.
Addressing #1:
Okay, let me get this right. The hunter could not roll on it because it is a rogue weapon? Have you ever even played a hunter? Have you ever even looked at hunter gear in your life? How about inspected a hunter? Pick one, any one that is standing around Dalaran and inspect them and you will see that all hunters have a weapon that has agility and stamina. That sword had agility and stamina. All hunters need Attack Power. It has attack power. Armor Penetration is good for a hunter, even more so if they are MM. It has that too. Then as it's last stat it has Hit Rating. Everyone needs hit. What about a weapon that has all perfect hunter stats means that it is not a hunter weapon? What makes that a Rogue weapon more so then a hunter weapon? Rogues, Hunters, and Druids as well as Enhancement Shaman all have a right to say that is their weapon.
Addressing #2:
I want to write an entire article on the concept of a stat stick. Sure, it is only a stat stick for a hunter because he shoots with arrows or bullets but it does increase his damage done correct? What does it do for a rogue? It increases his damage done. So increased damage vs increased damage. Seems rather equal to me. It is as much a stat stick for a rogue as it is for a hunter. The only difference is the rogue swings it and the hunter has it looking pretty on his back.
Addressing #3:
The rogue thinks that because he has better gear he deserves it more. Where does this backwards thinking coming from? Because you need it less you need it more? I have no argument against this one. It is just way too stupid of a comment to even consider bitching about.
Addressing #4:
Wow, I wish it worked that way. I have seen hunters win marks left and right that I have out DPSed by 4-5K. I should have gotten the marks then being I had better DPS. You know what, it does not work that way. Sure, I could have done more with the marks but guess what? They won the roll. The guild is not filled with elitist assholes. We have a roll rule, whoever can actually use the item that wins the roll gets the item. Congrats on doing 10K DPS Mr. Rogue. Guess what, I, as a hunter as well have as much right to that weapon as you do and as the other hunter does. So being I toasted you on DPS my 3K I guess that means I should get it using your logic right? Fine, then give the thing to me (so we can follow your rules) and I will trade it to the hunter that actually won the roll. Hell, I am only using a 251 weapon and I did not roll on it. I could have claimed I needed it more then either of you. I passed because I do not need any hit. I also passed because the hunter needed it a hell of a lot more then I did.
So the rogue kept calling out the other hunter after that. In chat, on vent, making fun of his 7K DPS and telling him he had not rights rolling on a rogue weapon. Things like that. Finally the raid leader told him to shut the hell up. A few more comments later he finally stopped. In the middle of the trash on the way to Rotface the hunter says on vent. Stop harassing me in tells. The raid leader once again tells the guy to give it up and move on. After rot, when on fester he started all over again with his crap. So he got kicked from the raid instantly and decided to pull fester which in turn got him kicked from the guild as well.
This is why no one should be allowed to play the game unless they take a maturity test first. That was just immature to the fullest extent and I am glad to see the raid leader did the right thing and kicked him. Him pulling the boss before he left was uncalled for and that is more of a reason why he deserved a guild kick as well.
Have to love how people that are always talking about how great the guild is turn around instantly to say how much it sucks as soon as they get kicked. Of course you think it sucks, they kicked you. But if you think about it honestly, you kicked yourself by acting like a complete ass.
Let me end this by stating what could have summed this up instantly without all this writing if the rogue had even half a brain. A person that could use the item won the roll. The person that won the roll got the item. Shut the hell up and move along.
This was a totally different case. The guy that lost said it was wrong that he lost because... get this.
1) Hunters should not be rolling on Rogue weapons.
2) It is only a stat stick for him.
3) He had a better gear score and could do more with it.
4) He had better DPS and deserved it more then the other guy.
Addressing #1:
Okay, let me get this right. The hunter could not roll on it because it is a rogue weapon? Have you ever even played a hunter? Have you ever even looked at hunter gear in your life? How about inspected a hunter? Pick one, any one that is standing around Dalaran and inspect them and you will see that all hunters have a weapon that has agility and stamina. That sword had agility and stamina. All hunters need Attack Power. It has attack power. Armor Penetration is good for a hunter, even more so if they are MM. It has that too. Then as it's last stat it has Hit Rating. Everyone needs hit. What about a weapon that has all perfect hunter stats means that it is not a hunter weapon? What makes that a Rogue weapon more so then a hunter weapon? Rogues, Hunters, and Druids as well as Enhancement Shaman all have a right to say that is their weapon.
Addressing #2:
I want to write an entire article on the concept of a stat stick. Sure, it is only a stat stick for a hunter because he shoots with arrows or bullets but it does increase his damage done correct? What does it do for a rogue? It increases his damage done. So increased damage vs increased damage. Seems rather equal to me. It is as much a stat stick for a rogue as it is for a hunter. The only difference is the rogue swings it and the hunter has it looking pretty on his back.
Addressing #3:
The rogue thinks that because he has better gear he deserves it more. Where does this backwards thinking coming from? Because you need it less you need it more? I have no argument against this one. It is just way too stupid of a comment to even consider bitching about.
Addressing #4:
Wow, I wish it worked that way. I have seen hunters win marks left and right that I have out DPSed by 4-5K. I should have gotten the marks then being I had better DPS. You know what, it does not work that way. Sure, I could have done more with the marks but guess what? They won the roll. The guild is not filled with elitist assholes. We have a roll rule, whoever can actually use the item that wins the roll gets the item. Congrats on doing 10K DPS Mr. Rogue. Guess what, I, as a hunter as well have as much right to that weapon as you do and as the other hunter does. So being I toasted you on DPS my 3K I guess that means I should get it using your logic right? Fine, then give the thing to me (so we can follow your rules) and I will trade it to the hunter that actually won the roll. Hell, I am only using a 251 weapon and I did not roll on it. I could have claimed I needed it more then either of you. I passed because I do not need any hit. I also passed because the hunter needed it a hell of a lot more then I did.
So the rogue kept calling out the other hunter after that. In chat, on vent, making fun of his 7K DPS and telling him he had not rights rolling on a rogue weapon. Things like that. Finally the raid leader told him to shut the hell up. A few more comments later he finally stopped. In the middle of the trash on the way to Rotface the hunter says on vent. Stop harassing me in tells. The raid leader once again tells the guy to give it up and move on. After rot, when on fester he started all over again with his crap. So he got kicked from the raid instantly and decided to pull fester which in turn got him kicked from the guild as well.
This is why no one should be allowed to play the game unless they take a maturity test first. That was just immature to the fullest extent and I am glad to see the raid leader did the right thing and kicked him. Him pulling the boss before he left was uncalled for and that is more of a reason why he deserved a guild kick as well.
Have to love how people that are always talking about how great the guild is turn around instantly to say how much it sucks as soon as they get kicked. Of course you think it sucks, they kicked you. But if you think about it honestly, you kicked yourself by acting like a complete ass.
Let me end this by stating what could have summed this up instantly without all this writing if the rogue had even half a brain. A person that could use the item won the roll. The person that won the roll got the item. Shut the hell up and move along.
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