Big Weekend

This past weekend was huuuge on the GTD front, both from a guild perspective and a personal in-game goal perspective. First, let's talk about our guild's First Full Karazhan clear!

On Tuesday we did our usual "first half" clear through Curator, no issues, no wipes, all good. Then Friday we one-shotted Aran, collected our free epics from Chess and proceeded to Prince.

Prince, what a PITA.

After several attempts, we just couldn't seem to pull it off... between super-unlucky infernal drops and being a little light on DPS, we had to call it and regroup on Sunday.

/recruit Mages,Warlocks,Hunters

Sunday rolls around and we're one DPS short, but luckily a guildy knew a very-well geared Mage who graciously agreed to come. :) Our guest's abilities and strategy advice proved invaluable the rest of the night.

First we one-shotted Illhoof, /target Demon Chains ftw. Our offtank picked up a very nice cloak, grats! Then we went to visit Netherspite, a boss that the guild has maybe downed once? Not that it's particularly hard, it's just VERY gadgety. Beams, phases, aggro resets, it just takes a bit of coordination. After a few tries we got the timing down and he fell. :)

Feeling good, we went up the tower to re-visit Prince and tried the usual tanking spot, far left against the wall. Bad luck with infernals and range issues had us looking for a new tactic, so we made another attempt with the Pandadin tank along the right wall, with ranged in the doorway. This time we got lucky and were able to apply enough DPS, Prince downed!

Our guest had the urn to summon Nightbane, so even though it was late and not many of us had done the fight before, we crammed on the strategy and... one-shot big nasty Bane. /cheer! Even made out with some nice hunter loot.

By this point, I had 103 Badges of Justice... just 2 shy of Vanir's Lolfist. Out-of-the-blue I got a /w from a friend-lister and off I went to Heroic Blood Furnace. It was a bit of a struggle (putting it mildly), but we persisted and made it through.

/beeline Isle of Quel'Danas
/buy Vanir's Right Fist of Brutali-tay
/apply Mongoose

Since buying Vanir's freed up the honor I'd been saving for the PvP fist (no longer needed), tonight I'll be able to replace my last blue item with this one. Woot!

Ciribrus the Durid Alt also managed exalted with Shattered Sun Offensive and has just over 3k gold, working towards epic flight... maybe in a few weeks?

In other RL news, the Seahawks got crushed by the freakin' Bills. /cry

Karazhan Loot Watch List

Even though Wrath is only a few months away, those of us still running KZ for fun and profit will likely be able to continue using our epics into the first few levels of Northrend, making raiding as worthwhile as ever. So better late than never, below is a list of Karazhan loot to watch for as an Enhancement Shaman!

Disclaimer
A few months ago I would have left out the "hunter loot," but with upcoming changes to how we get our attack power, having Intellect will no longer be as worthless as it is today. Also your mileage will vary depending on what you already have and have access to - for example, some crafted and PvP epics will definitely outrank items listed below. Use EP and RatingBuster to determine what works for you!

Now on to the list!

Trash Mobs

• Grips of Deftness and Zierhut's Lost Treads - normally we like leather because it often comes with stuff like hit/crit, but these gloves and boots have decent raw stats and may be an upgrade for whatever you're currently wearing.
• Belt of the Tracker - pass on this for hunters in your group, but take it in lieu of disenchanting and bank it. Depending on what gear you have when Wrath hits, you may gain some attack power from Intellect.

Attumen

• Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation - gem it with two +8 strength gems and you're good-to-go!
• Stalker's War Bands - hunter loot, but has decent stats and may be less huntery after Wrath hits. I still have these as nothing better have come along yet.
• Worgen Claw Necklace - nice balance of stats and comes with hit rating. A solid entry-level raiding piece.

Moroes

• Edgewalker Longboots - nice stats, sockets, hit rating, a definite upgrade from Zierhut's.
• Royal Cloak of Arathi Kings - seems tailor-made for Burning Crusade-era Enhancement Shaman. Strength, Stamina, hit rating = win. Slap on an agility enchant.
• Formula: Mongoose - this drop gets special mention because dual-Mongoose on your weapons are considered best until super high-end raiding (T6/Sunwell).

Maiden

• Bracers of Maliciousness - leave this for kitty druids, otherwise take 'em if they're an upgrade.
• Gloves of Quickening - hunter loot, but with two pure strength gems they're not bad.

Opera

• Big Bad Wolf's Paw - ugliest weapon in the game, but decent stats and nice slow speed will tide you over until you can get a PvP or badge weapon.
• Romulo's Poison Vial - there are way better trinkets for us, but if everyone passes, take it - especially if you're low on hit rating as it may improve DPS on boss fights.
• Beastmaw Pauldrons - more hunter loot, but take it if it's an upgrade.

Curator

• Gloves of the Fallen Champion -> Cyclone Gauntlets - not the best gloves out there (I like Felfury Gauntlets), but it's your first piece of official T4, so grats! It also gets better with the set bonuses, so /roll away. (You can also exchange the token for PvP gloves if you're into that sort of thing.)
• Garona's Signet Ring - almost missed this one (thanks Mend Pet), a very decent compliment to your Violet Eye quest reward ring.
  

Illhoof

• Fool's Bane - PvP and badge weapons are better, but this is very decent if you have neither.
• Girdle of the Prowler - sigh, more hunter loot, maybe take it for Wrath.

Aran

• Rapscallion Boots - kitty druid boots, but a nice amount of attack power.
• Steelspine Faceguard - yet again more hunter loot, take it in lieu of DE.
• Drape of the Dark Reavers - a very nice cloak, will tide you over until you can farm mats/gold for the Cloak of Darkness (Leatherworking recipe available to those exalted with Karazhan's faction, the Violet Eye).
• Saberclaw Talisman - kinda meh, the easily-attainable SSO necklace is better, but this still may be an upgrade in the meantime.

Chess

• Bladed Shoulderpads of the Merciless - argh, been waiting for these to drop for a while! AP, crit, hit, sockets, it's all good. And they're rated above the T4 shoulders for us enhancers.
• Girdle of Treachery - kinda kitty or rogue, but may be an upgrade - at least the two red sockets (which should always be filled with pure strength gems) will get you the agility bonus.
• Fiend Slayer Boots - huntery, but not terrible with the two gem slots.
• Mithril Chain of Heroism - raw stats FTW. Maybe slightly better than the SSO neck if you aren't Exalted with Aldorks yet.

Netherspite

• Cowl of Defiance - 100 attack powah, gotta love that. Oh, and hit and other stats too!
• Skulker's Greaves - itemized for ferals, but has decent stats and three sockets.
• Rip-Flayer Leggings - lots of Int and MP5 make these hunter loot, but three slots would serve you well with all strength gems until Wrath arrives.
• Mithril Band of the Unscarred - more raw stats FTW.

Prince

• The Decapitator - still a very nice weapon, but has since been out-itemized by S2 PvP and badge weapons.
• Farstrider Wildercloak - there are likely far better blue-quality cloaks out there, but if it drops, no one wants it and it's an upgrade, I guess /roll on it. Totally meh.
• Ring of a Thousand Marks - another very nice compliment to you Violet Eye ring, has all the good stuff on it.
• Helm of the Fallen Champion -> Cyclone Helm - grats on your next piece of T4! The 2-piece set bonus grants an additional 12 strength from your totem - not great, but not terrible.

Nightbane

• Chestguard of the Conniver - looks to be a fairly decent piece, if you can wrestle it away from rogues and cat druids. Even better though, is the Shadowprowler's Chestguard with it's 3 slots, another LW pattern available at the Violet Eye quartermaster.
• Ferocious Swift-Kickers - decent boots given the two gem slots, and they visually match the rest of our T4 stuff.
• Scaled Breastplate of Carnage - healthy does of Int makes this a hunter piece (do I sound like a broken record yet?) but may come in handy in preparation for Wrath.

That's it for now, happy hunting!

Has WoW Jumped the Shark?

MMO Champion is reporting the confirmation of a new mechanical mount for Wrath of the Lich King, "the Hog."

OK, I'm not a hardcore RP'er or anything, but to me, this is a fairly significant break in the fourth wall, blurring the lines between WoW and real life. It's a question of suspended disbelief, a literary tool that helps us immerse ourselves when watching movies or playing video games.

You might argue that the current flying mount is a roflcopter with jet engines attached, but at least 1) it comes from existing Warcraft lore and 2) nothing designed like that would actually fly in our world, so it still "fits" the genre IMO.

There are tons of different directions Blizzard could have gone with this - there are lots of great steampunk and DaVinci-esque inspirations a mechanical land mount could have taken on. To me, a recreating a motorcycle just shows a distinct lack of imagination.

Flying carpets, on the other hand, get the Shamantic thumbs-up.

On Endgame Jewelcrafting

When I pull up teh beloved Shaman on the armory and examine him in all his T4ish-ness, I see (count 'em!) one epic Jewelcrafting trinket that he uses for raiding.

One. Uno. Ichi.

...and it's a Rogue item. >.<

Most of his gems are Bold Living Rubies, all of which were bought off the auction house since the pattern itself sold for ridiculous amounts on the AH. Also, I tended to level his JC'ing in spurts since mats took a while to accumulate, so he never really benefited from crafting his own wares, either. Sure, he made some money with JC'ing, but also spent a lot of money leveling it.

This is all in stark contrast to Leatherworking/Skinning, which I have on teh Durid. While leveling up, I generally also leveled LW since mats were readily available - which meant Ciribrus wore much of what he crafted. From an arpee perspective, I like the idea that he makes his own stuffs.

Currently at level 68.9, he's well on-track to be able to craft the complete Windhawk armor set before hitting 70. This means right-off-the-bat, he'll be able to equip three crafted epics and get a huge jumpstart on raiding/heroics.

With Wrath approaching, the question is:
"Should I stay or should I go now?"

Do I put trust in Blizzard to make endgame Jewelcrafting more like a primary profession? Or do I powerlevel him to 350 in something else now, in preparation for Wrath's endgame?

Hmm...

Who Sez Chickens Can't Fly?

Obsessive compulsive disorder hard work and focus got Ciribrus to level 68 yesterday, and with that came Flight Form - woot! The first thing I did was take a running leap off Aldor Rise, hitting shift-F (my flying mount hotkey) halfway down. Insta-cast FTW! I think I'll be enjoying this new virtual sport (Base Jumping), but also sure that at some point, I'll attempt it with the wrong character and go splat. Heh.

And having been spoiled by epic flight on Exelus, I now have another thing to obsess over work towards: Swift Flight Form. Boo that I can't work on that quest chain until 70!

In other news, Ciribrus also ran regular Mana Tombs as healer yesterday - overall I think it went fairly well... just one wipe on an overpull and then another during the escort quest. Oops. -_- Keeping the Pally tank up with HOTs was fairly easy to do, but the insta-cast Healing Touch w/Nature's Swiftness definitely came in handy once or twice. The DPS was a little wobbly though, under-geared and under-leveled - complete with an AFK rogue who readily admitted (proudly!?!) to alt-tabbing out during trash after I caught him standing still on multiple pulls. Ugh. Congrats on making my ignore list, jerky.

But, as my capable and patient guildy tank reminded me, "it's only Mana Tombs." :)

Shamantic Lull

Not too much has been going on in the world of Exelus... funding Ciribrus' leatherworking endeavors (need moar Thick Clefthoof Leather, plskthx) and the occasional heroic/Kara is about all he's up to. AV weekend came and went, and I totally flaked on grinding honor for that PvP fist, opting instead to practice battle medic'ing with Ciri and gaining 10k honor for him in the process.

Although yesterday while doing dailies, I did notice an Elemental Shaman running around two-shotting mobs on the Isle. Upon inspection I saw the expected purple haze of gear, but was pretty impressed nonetheless. Maybe Ex will try out Elemental on his way to 80? ...or not, as I just heard a rumor about a 2.9 speed green axe in the beta. 0.o WTB!

Speaking of which, have you seen the new weapon designs? Awesome.

Notes to Drood Self

When on healing duty, do not enter an instance without plenty of:

• water
• mana potions
• reagents

Do not:

• forget to Innervate self
• forget to battle rez when appropriate
• allow major pulls to start with Nature's Swiftness on cooldown

So much to remembers... >.<

Buuut, Ciribrus now has Lifebloom after dinging 64. Woot!