Thursday 27 March 2008

2.4 Is now...

Hey guys! Sorry for the long delay since my last post, but I've been busy in-game with a few things and then the patch was almost out and I wanted to wait until I'd seen some of the new stuff properly and had a few things to actually write about for a change!

Anyway as all of you know - 2.4 is out and boy its been a rush so far!

But before we get to all the new stuff lets talk about a few things that happened before the patch was out.

I did it! I hit 375 Engineering and made my Epic Flying Engineering mount! Way cool!

Other than that - we didnt do very much - I did a few instances with my warlock, and got a few upgrades for him etc etc...

Then yesterday the patch hit!

I did 2 things:

1 - Bought 2 Nether Vortex's with the badges I'd stored up and crafted my Stormherald. Its packing Executioner now and it rocks!

2 - Started a few of the daily quests and poked my nose around the new island - I'm pretty impressed - it was so laggy there last night though - i waited to do my quests till early this morning so i didnt have any problems.

Also last night Rage entered Mount Hyjal which was really cool!!! We had a lengthy explanation from the raid leader then tried out the trash and as we'd done so well we tried the first boss: Rage Winterchill. We got him down to 24% before we had a wipe and started again. This time we got him down!

Brilliant! He was a walk in the park. The trash was easy we took them down with ease.

We then started the 2nd encounter leading to the 2nd boss who both times we tried him got him down to 25% before a there was a problem with the infernals and the infernal tank carked it.

But all in all a good day for the guild. I got 2 new pieces in 1 day as well which was nice, my mace and this baby:

Choker of Serrated Blades
Neck
+37 Stamina
Equip: Increases Attack Power by 70.
Equipe: You attacks ignore 175 of your opponents armor.

Pretty sweet! Add that to the +840 Armor ignoring i get from executioner which proc's quite a lot thats 1015 armor ignoring i get! Nice! I'm not 100% sure if this works in PvP the same way or if Resiliance lowers this figure.

Here are a couple of pics for you showing us down'ing Winterchill and my new mace!!



Tuesday 18 March 2008

Closer and closer..

Hey peeps.

A few things to update you guys on so i'll get straight to it!

Last night after work i quickly got logged onto Starslayer and got those last 3 bars full and Dinged 70!!!!

Quickly followed by me respec'ing SL/SL for survival in PvP.....yeah right...more on that later!

We went into TK:Eye and cleared 3/4 bosses. Nothing interesting to report other than the Paladin tank who was taking care of the adds on A'lar kept getting killed on the transition from phase 1 to 2. So we had a few forced wipes there, but got him down eventually. But it delayed the raid enough that we didnt get a couple of cracks at Kael'thas.

So after I logged my Warlock, picked up the Daily Battle Ground quest in Alterac Valley, and signed up. Oh My God...

Having only been 70 for 5 minutes i was easy pickings for pretty much anything! Also I've never taken a castery type into the battlegrounds before, so that didnt help.

In the end the Alliance one by default as the horde ran out of Re-inforcements. I managed to pick up 1200 Honor and logged for the night.

I died a LOT. But I managed to kill a few people as well. I need to work out how to play this dude in pvp cos i was having a lot of fun when i was able to kill stuff!

I dueled a mage in our guild in full epics from TK/SSC and beat him! It was quite funny actually.

No WoW for me tonight, The guild are going to TK to take on kael - Good luck to them! Fingers crossed they get him down.

Monday 17 March 2008

Weekend of Warcraft...

Hey peeps. Hope you all had a good weekend.

My girlfriend is away visiting her parents for 6 day so I've had a very busy WoW weekender.

So Friday is not a scheduled raid night any more so I found myself staring at my logon screen. What should I do. Starslayer was just into 67, but I should go do something that generates some money right? Well I logged Starslayer anyway and decided to level up his herbalism. I got him up to 180 before i got bored of it and just started doing the quests he had is his log.

Saturday I carried on where I'd left off, but had to leave him at just 68 to go get my hair cut. When I got back Fire was invited into a non-alt badge run to Kara. We cleared the place in just over 3 and a half hours. Nice! I even got some nice tanking bracers and a nice neck item with hit rating on it which i might play with.

After that I logged back to Starslayer and hit up a few instances.

I also started the Kara key quest. Got the first Fragment from shadow labs, and the second Fragment from Steamvaults! So he just needs his mount and 70 to get to arcatraz for the third keyfragment!

Yesterday I worked hard on this guy, managed to get to 69 with ease doing quests and instances.

Last night i helped the guild-master, Kuta, get his shadow-priest the first key in Shadow-labs. This was my 3rd visit to the place in 1 day. Twice with Starslayer, and once with Firelight for the daily heroic(which by the way took almost as long as a full Karazhan clear!)

Anyway on the last run I got the Robes of Oblivion which was a real result! Quite happy about that I can tell you! Gwindle was rockin' those Robes for quite some time, so its nice to get them where they belong finally.

Anyway it was 1:15 in the morning and i had to be up for work so I tore myself away leaving Starslayer screaming "NOOOO!!! Only 3 bars!!!!"

Yep! Only 3 bars from 70! Quite excited!! This weekend is gonna be filled with warlock PvP ownage with any luck! I'm quite excited! obviously i'm going to get splatted at the start, but i'm determined to get this dude some welfare epixxx!!

Tempest Keep this evening.. I'm really hoping that we get 4x Nether Vortex's drop so i can craft my Stormherald!! None dropping in SSC was really annoying last week.

My auto-download client downloaded patch 2.4 at the weekend.....all 260mb's of it. So therefore is 2.4 closer than a lot of people think? MMO-Champion said the same... I do hope its sooner rather than later....

Friday 14 March 2008

Deep Thunder...

Hey guys!

A few updates today for you guys!

I've finished faming mats for Thunder, crafted the bugger last night. Then we went into SSC and cleared 5/6 leaving only Vashj.

I was really annoyed as not one single nether vortex dropped!! NOT ONE!

So I was quite annoyed as I was ready to get the final product made and use it this weekend.

However I did manage to get a primal nether from a heroic Slave Pens after the raid and crafted Deep Thunder.

Now after i created i helped a guildie-alt in Auchenai Crypts. Not once did the stun proc. Does it only work on Players?

I tried it again this morning on mobs doing a couple of dailys and still nothing...not one "mace stun effect" seemed to proc from this weapon.

What did surprise me is how this mace is better than my axe: Trollbane. Even without an enchant. I think i might slap Savagery on this for the time being till i can get the vortex's as its probably going to be a couple of weeks before I can get them all.

Which brings us onto a good question: When is 2.4 Coming out.

Someone speculated last night that it wont be till June/July time as the patch includes that Mid-Summer Festival thing. I think this might be correct as when i was last on the PTR that event was in full swing. Unless they were just testing it? If this is the case...how annoying!

But it does give people plenty of time to gather things such as badges etc. Especially as i spent 60 of the buggers last night on nethers. But getting back 60 badges is only 2.5 kara runs. No big deal for our guild. In fact i'm going tonight!

But is there anything I really need from the badge gear? And how long will it take our server to open up the vendor....Kinda makes you wonder if all the effort of collecting badges will be worth it. Quite a few people seem to be under the impression that they'll be able to get hold of these items as soon as 2.4 comes out.....*rolls eyes*

Time will tell...

Tuesday 11 March 2008

The Long Dusty Road...

Morning Peeps!

Its been a few days since the last update but thankfully there's not much to tell...

The usual lack level of progression in raids, we're owning bosses we had slow fights on such as Karathress and A'lar, and last night we got to phase 4 on Kael'thas which was brilliant progress. I even got my hands on the Legendary Axe!! That was cool.

I've made my decision with regards to my blacksmithing and gone the path of Master Mace-smith.

To get the Storm Herald I need to make and upgrade Thunder, to Deep Thunder, then Deep Thunder to Storm Herald.

Thunder needs:

20x Primal Air
20x Primal Water
6x Hardened Adamantite Bars
12x Khorium Bars

Deep Thunder needs:

10x Primal Mana
8x Primal Nether

Storm Herald needs:

5x Nether Vortex

Now I started farming this morning. I got half an hour early to do so!

I hit Nagrand for the Primal Airs and farmed for 1 hour.

I got 11 Primal Airs (and 2 blue items that i popped on the AH!)

So thats pretty good going for 1 hours grinding.

I love being an engineer! Such a good investment that proffession change was.

Anyway so tonight i'm gonna do the same till i get all the primal air's then hit Zangarmarsh for the Primal Waters. I'm trying to think what mobs drop Motes of Water in Zangarmarsh...most seem to just drop motes of life. I'm sure there are some water elementals somewhere...

So once i have the Water its on to Netherstorm to farm 10 Primal Mana's. Aside from the gas-clouds there are plenty of mana beings out there to kill so shouldn't be too hard to get 10 Primals.

I already have 1 Primal Nether in the bank, and 68 Badges of Justice. Now i could buy the nethers, but i'm going to try and get some the normal way, but its just a lot for work to get 7 primals...i mean the drop rate isnt 100% from the bosses in Heroics...

So I think i'm just going to get 2 badges and buy the Nethers from the badge vendor.

Then that just leaves me with the Nether Vortex's.

I have 1 that i got last night in the raid. I also am owed one by one of the guildies. That leaves me needed to get 3 from raid drops or buying them when 2.4 comes out.

I just hope i'm present in raids with the warrior, and we get a lot of vortex's!!

If i get lucky i might have this crafted in a week.

Then I've got to farm mats for Executioner.

God knows what they are.

Here's the Vital Statistics for Stormherald:

Stormherald
386-579 Damage
127.0 Damage Per Second
+42 Strength
+42 Agility
+61 Stamina
Chance on Hit: Stuns Target for 4 sec.

I'm going to start making pots on my warlock to sell as well - that is a very lucrative business. Its just finding the time to do everything I need!!!

I need more time to do stuff! Sometimes I wish I didnt have to work! Dont we all.

So i should definatly have Deep Thunder crafted tonight maybe... Just need 2 Badges...

Where can I get 2 badges from quick.... Bugger it..

Friday 7 March 2008

Forward Thinking....My Plan.

Hey peeps! Hows everyone doing today?

I've not done any raiding the last couple days bar a 3/4 visit to TK which were un-eventful gear grinding for guildies.

Anyway I've been thinking about what to do recently...i'm getting a little bored of things here and there, but have loved getting my warlock up close to 70.

He's 67 now, so not long to go before I can get him into the 70 BG's and start getting his Season 1 welfare epics.

To this end I'm going to take a 1 or 2 week break from raiding. I need a break.

This will be amazing fun i think...I wont have to re-spec Firelight for a couple of weeks and get his Mace-smithing up as well.

I think every hard-core raider that has to guggle in RL commitments as well eventually sucumbs to a little bit of burn-out.

The Christmas break was a god-send for me. I was able to grind gold for my epic mount, and then get to exalted with Netherwing. This was a big acheivement for me.

If there is a nice reward at the end i can set my sights on the goal and put myself into the grind and accomplish things quickly and efficiently.

Lets see what pans out..

I dont want to miss trips into Hyjal and Black Temple....

Wednesday 5 March 2008

2 Days - 2 Upgrades!

Hey Peeps!
This is one happy paladin right here!!
I got a 2nd Upgrade(ish) in 2 days last night!!!
Krakken-Heart Breastplate
1728 Armor
+61 Strength
+43 Agility
+42 Stamina
+6 All Stats (enchant i put on it!)
Equip: Improves hit rating by 30.

I'm well chuffed!!
Oh hang! That means Rage downed Vashj for the 2nd time! And this time I was there!

Woohoo!!
/collects quest item.
Just Kael to go now...oooh we're so close i can almost smell it.
Here's a pic of my standing in Ironforge wearing my Warrior Tier 5 look-a-like gear:
The Meanest-most-badass pala this side of Azeroth.

/flex

Looking good eh.

Well I'm happy! I know technically its not really an upgrade from my Armorsmithing breastplate, but its almost the same, and the /use option on the old breastplate was kinda worthless at a stagering 30 minutes cool-down. I mean 150 Strength for 20 seconds is just 330 Attack Power or there abouts - just like my trinkets.....

So now i have to decide...Swordsmith or Macesmith...

The top-end Sword is really nice for PvE, but the mace is awesome in PvP...

I think I'll go for the mace...and slap executioner on it so that it does really well in PvE as well.

Maybe I'll make 2 Maces... One with Executioner on it for PVE, and one with Mongoose or Savegery on it for PvP....Can you have 2 of these items? Or are they unique...

The chest wasnt/isnt Unique. So I should be ok.

Or i'll just use Trollbane for PVE....gah.....I cant decide!

After the raid last night I logged my Warlock, Starslayer, and went back to Nagrand to finish off the quests I had there.

One of the ones I had was to do the Forge Camp quests to kill some elites.

The quest says I should do it with 3 people, but i remembered something I read on Yet Another Warlock Nerf about the Elite Felguards that protect the area. So I sent in my Felguard, cast Curse of Shadows on the Elite and Enslaved him!

Wow this guy has a LOT of hit points. He owned this quest with ease! Every now-and-again i'd have to leave him alone and run away so i could either let him die so he didnt kill me, or reset to his original position. Then I'd re-enslave him and off I'd go!

One part of the quest was to go and get some plans from the Master Engineer. I did the same thing and enslaved a nearby felguard and went in. He went down after a minute or so and i noticed something:

4.5k XP! From 1 mob! LOOOOOOL!!!!

I've got like 3 bars to level my lock to 67...i'm just gonna go and grind that Master Planner! I hope he's on a quick respawn timer!!

Warlock's Own!!

Also can anyone tell me why Blogspots editor freaks out how i have written the text in here when i insert a picture.....Its really annoying.

Tuesday 4 March 2008

Severe Lack of Upgrades...QQ

Hey people!!

Don't you just LOVE Tuesdays? No? I suppose you're right...they are a bit crappy...

Oh well only 3 days to the weekend!

Anyways the raid geared itself for a SSC Clearance once more.

In we went...All bosses taken down in 1 go (but no vashj we ended early for the night - she's getting fried tonight)

Leotheras didnt drop the talisman again.

Karathress didnt drop the Mace again.

I suppose i got a consolation prize from Lurker:

Ancestral Ring of Conquest
+32 Strength
+21 Agility
+30 Stamina

This is a really nice upgrade from my A'dal's Command i had (from sha'tar rep)

I also got the plans for the red-belt of battle!! So i bid on a vortex. (and won it)

I'm going to try getting a few of these babies to make a couple of these belts. They sell nicely i think and the mats are not too expensive. (5 Hardened Adamantite Bars, 10 Primal Fire and 2 Nether Vortex)

When 2.4 comes out i can buy a couple of the vortex's and craft a couple of these belts to make some nice cash and maybe I can get epics flight for both my alts.

Or I'll spend the cash switching my blacksmithing to Swordsmith...Gah I want that MACE!?!!!!!!

Last night i was in the top 5 of the DPS charts for the whole instance which was just brilliant as usual. On bosses my dps isnt as amazing sadly even with Wind Fury as all the locks/mages get time to pull out the big hits where as my damage is more on a constant level all the time. Sadly that constant isnt amazing...but I'm there as a utility - any damage i do is a bonus! But i got a few pats on the back last night from the top brass so I'm happy!

Tonight we go for Vashj...And i get to hopefully pickup the first of the two quest items for the Hyjal/BT attunement And lets hope for that plate chest she drops! *crosses fingers*

Monday 3 March 2008

Weekend Update...

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend.

Not a great deal to report really on the raiding side of things... I've learnt some more about the executioner enchant so i'm really eager to get that World Breaker and give it a try. Tonight we're going to clear SSC so who knows...I might get lucky.

I was playing on my warlock most of the weekend, he's now level 66 packing over 500 spell damage already.

I took some time to level his Alchemy too - this was quite easy and relatively cheap.

He's now sitting on 363 alchemy i think and can make super mana and healing potions, and strenght and draenic wisdom pots too. Should save me a packet!

Just need to level his herbalism next.

I've now got toons with the following profession maxed (or close to it):

Firelight: 375 Armorsmith and 370 Engineer.

Gwindle: 375 Herbalism and 375 Enchanter.

Starslayer: 363 Alchemy and 147 herbalism.

My level 29 Rogue is Skinner/Leatherworker and my 21 Priest is Herb/Alchemy. But both of those are low level. Although my priest is 225 Alchemy - Maxed for her level. I might drop it though...in favour of tailoring....nah..thats a bad idea.

I'll make her a transmute expert or something....Starslayer is going to be a flask expert. He's gonna make me some nice flasks....oooh yeah!

I wonder if there's an alchemy quest..

I took Firelight into kara on friday night for a full clear - with a rag-tag group with no casters at all (apart from healers obviously) apart from an elemental shaman who was so lucky as it was her first time there - she got pretty much *all* the caster loot! I think she walked out with 6 or 7 epics!! Anyway I just went along for the badges, and swapped out to Gwindle for the Nightbane fight incase the spell damage chest dropped. I wish I'd swapped her out for Prince as well as the dagger dropped...bah....typical.

Reading the latest Blizzcast dialogue (as i cant listen to it at work) i see you'll be able to buy season 1/2 arena gear with tier 4 and 5 (and 6) tokens! I wonder if this will cause problem with dkp bidding...As i'm DPS Spec i can bid for tokens when i want to try to get better items for raids...The pvp items are very good for raid damage for me, the only draw back being some of the items have a lack of Hit Rating. I definatly think that I'll be getting the season 2 shoulders this way, as it means i wont have to waste arena points on them.

Speaking of which - I should get my Season 3 chest this week!! Bring on Wednesday morning.

Next on my To buy list is the season 3 legs.

Currently I have:

Season 1 Shoulders
Season 3 Helm
Season 3 Gloves
Vindicator bracers.

I need to farm some more Battle Grounds really. I need to buy the level 70 trinket. My level 60 one is ok, but having to wait 5 mins instead of 2 mins for the Cool down to be over is a bit of a pain! I think i just need 6 or 7k honor to get that. So i AM going to be doing the BG's till i get it...yes..i am...100%....i wont get bored of it after 5 minutes and give up..no......Hey look a donut...