Patch 2.doh

Patch 2.4 news is pretty big on the Shaman front, specifically in regards to PvP viability. Sadly, some of these changes translate to significant PvE nerfs. For example, even though Shamanistic Rage now increases mana regained from 15% to 30%, the duration of the ability is reduced by half. Doh! I often use this to mitigate damage during boss and AOE fights (SR reduces damage taken by 30%), so the reduced duration is a serious PvE nerf.

Flametongue (both weapon imbue and totem) now cause a debuff that lowers healing on the target by 50% during a 5-second refreshable duration. Again, great for PvP, but kinda meh for PvE except on certain fights when bosses take healing in some form. Ghost Wolf cast time reduced to 2 seconds, so conceivably a fully talented Improved GW will make it insta-cast, good for PvP and perhaps for a soloing non-Enhancement Shaman, I guess. For Enhancement those points are still better spent elsewhere.

And the biggie - ZOMG Karazahn attunement removed.

Shoulders

Have I mentioned that I'm obsessed with finding better shoulders? No doubt it's some form of epeenery, but my Netherstorm Shoulderguards of the Soldier just ain't cuttin' it. The stats are decent enough for an Enhancement Shaman, but they're undersized and look like an auction house green - because, they are, in fact, an auction house green.

Enter Patch 2.4, where we'll supposedly be able to buy a matched set of PvP-geared armor for a smidge of gold and rep. Throw in a few PvE gems and I should be ready to rock with some decent looking kit. Currently I have enough rep to get the shoulders and gloves, and with a few more Keepers of Time runs (3?) I'll have enough rep to get the skirt. Err, kilt? Then, it's either grinding Sha'tar or Honor Hold rep to get the 4-piece set bonus of a faster Stormstrike cooldown. Woot.

UPDATE: KoT revered!
UPDATE 2: All pieces only require Honored now?!

Keyed

Over the weekend I finished the Karazahn attunement, and now possess The Master's Key. Woot. I can haz raid?

Nope, not quite yet - the next big challenge is logistics. Being a relatively casual player, I usually can't really participate in my guild's regular Friday/Saturday night runs. Next quest: find a Kara group that can run Tues/Thurs nights. Hmm...

Endgame

Getting over the 70 hump felt like a huge accomplishment, but luckily there's still plenty to do:

Shadow Labs - Got my first Kara key frag last night, but it's really not an Enhancement-Shammy-friendly place... I got owned by our mind-controlled hunter (that was embarrassing), and then again on Murmur's sonic blast (twice). Ugh. Makes me consider respecc'ing Elem/Enh so I have more options for doing ranged DPS.

PvP - Finally entered Arathi Basin for the first time. The first match was haxored by the Horde: they had captured two nodes before our gates even opened. WTF, reported. The 2nd match was close but it seemed that everyone fell into place as far as knowing where they should be and what they should be doing. Four marks and a handful of honor kills, not bad for an hour of play. I always feel like PvP makes me a better PvE player anyway, so it's something I'll be doing more because...

Gear - I seem to be obsessed with getting better shoulders (and matching armor). After some research, Welfare Epics are starting to look nice - the Arena Season 1 rewards are decent, and it's conceivable that after a few weeks of occasional PvP I'll be able to build a nice set that I can gem for PvE, too.

Oh, and I'm still enamored with flying, but after re-amassing almost 1k gold after the flyer purchase, I don't think I'll be actively working on an epic flyer just yet - maybe after Wrath when income is likely to take another boost.

Ding 70

I thought reaching level 70 would be somewhat anti-climactic, but I was wrong. I managed to do it in Blade's Edge Mountains, leaving several unexplored zones ahead of me. Plus, my log is still half-full of skipped Outland instance quests. I'm starting to get the feeling like there's a whole new game opening up to me because...

...ZOMG I CAN FREAKIN' FLY.

With some frugality and discipline I managed to save enough to buy my regular flyer straight away, so the first thing I did was run over to Wildhammer Keep and pick up a badass Ebon Griffon. It even has that new griffon smell. Err, ok maybe not. A quick edit to BaudMount (auto-equipping Riding Crop FTW) and after setting up a new hotkey (Shift-F), I was airborne. Weeeee!

So Close

Once I dinged 69 I was happy to find I had a full bar of blue XP left. Most of you probably know this means I'll be earning double XP for every mob I down. Then it dawned on me, I was almost done. :(

Now, I know there's a ton left to do post-70: PvP, raiding, helping guildees, more raiding, saving for teh epix mount, but I'm still feeling weird about it.

Time to roll another alt!

UPDATE: six bubbles to go!

Mods

In general I like the idea of a clean, mostly-default UI, but there have been a few mods I've adopted because they make life in the World (of Warcraft) easier.

Yet Another Totem Addon (YATA) - a great mod that incorporates a configurable totem launcher with totem timers. My buttons bars were a mess prior to this.

Omen - the bane of every DPS class, threat. Omen lets you keep an eye on your own threat relative to everyone else in the party.

Quartz - replaces default cast bar and incorporates server lag. Allows you to get spells off a smidge quicker, and every second counts!

Clique - lets you click character portraits to cast spells without losing your current focus. I shift-left-click as Lesser Healing Wave and shift-right-click as Healing Wave. Also control-left and control-right for Cure Poison and Disease, respectively.

Baudmount - equips our shiny new Riding Crop onmount and re-equips DPS-boosting trinkets on dismount. Laziness FTW.

AutoprofitX - sells all gray vendor trash in one click. Handy.

Wowecon - a price database that relies on actual sales rather than scanning the AH for list prices. The only downside is that data is only collected from Wowecon users, so it can be a limited sampling.