GoodBye

This is my final post here on this blog. It has been fun but the real reason why I started this blog was to talk about everything over powered. Playing a Shaman now I truly see just how over powered the class has become and how much more powerful they will be in Cataclysm. If you see a Shaman crushing content, ganking you, or giving out leet heals. Stop and ask yourself.

Was that Skonged?!?

Rolling a new toon

Blizzard is removing perm tree form from Druids and turning tree of life into a trinket buff. YUUUK! Why oh why!?! forms are the core mechanic of the druid class provifing a all important perma buff to a druid and raid you never have to think about. Bad Blizzard! So in lieu of playing my druid and being forced to heal in cow form. I have decided to cash in my token emblems for heirloom gear for a Orc Enhancement Shaman duel spec resto. Playing a Shaman is fun fun fun and dare I say over powered. Even levelling a Paladin was not this easy. I get mana back 5 different ways! Utterly destroy groups of mobs and heal to my fullest potential in the same form! I choose orc because of the radials for pve/pvp. Extra damage from axes, extra pet damage, 15% stun reduction, and 2 min bonus damage/spell power. Orcs make the best Shamans!

I que as dps and healer for random low level dungeons and get insta enter dungeon messages. Healing as a Shaman is easy easy easy and very powerful. Way better and funer than my Pally/Priest every was. I wish I could convert my priest to an orc Shaman but that is not available right now. My Shaman is level 51 right now and should be heading to outland in 4 days and then northrend in another 4 days. I would guess another 18 days of casual play until I reach level 80 and here is where the real fun begins. My plan is to...

Ding 80 > learn new abilities > buy new glyphs > buy all healing gear I can on the AH > run heroics until I get about 3 pieces of gear and some decent upgrades > Join ICC 10 group and soak up all the healing/DPS mail.

This should take about 3 days from fresh 80 to ICC geared. The ICC buff coupled with overly geared DPS/Healers/Tanks will carry me into gear drop heaven. I will jump straight from Heroic gear to ICC gear same day. Also this will allow me to jump over every piece of content from naxx to TOC.

Patch 3.3.2 download mirrors - Don't do it

Patch 3.3.2 is launching

We have talked about patch security here at ETOP. So we won't be beating a undead horse here; only touching on the finer points of account security.

• Only download patches from Blizzard
• Never ever ever give out your password
• Spend $6 on an authenticator
• Don't use IE

Security is only as strong as you make it.

3.3.2 patch notes

3.3.2 patch notes

Dungeon and Raid
Icecrown Citadel

• The Scourge and the Lich King's last hold, Frostwing Hall will be added to the game. However, in order to enter the wing, the Ashen Verdict must shatter the barrier first.

Halls of Stone

• Since Brann Bronzebeard exercised constantly, he will walk faster during the escort.

Forge of Souls

• Devourer of Souls will cast Mirrored Soul less frequently.
• Trash mobs Spell Reflect abilities have been changed. It now has a cast time, 2 charges, and chance to reflect reduced to 75% from 100%

Nexus

• Anomalus casts Create Rift only once now. (Down from 3)

Ahn’Kahet: Old Kingdom

• Elder Nadox’s now spawns only one Ahn’kahar Guardian.
• Jedoga Shadowseeker air phase now only happens once.
• Some monsters between Jedoga Shadowseeker and Herad Volazj have been removed.

Pit of Saron

• Dead players are now able to enter the dungeon during Krick and Ick or Forgemaster Garfrost encounter.

Utgarde Pinnacle

• Players only need 3 harpoons to bring down Skadi’s drake during the encounter. (Down from 5)
• Svala Sorrowgrave now casts Rituals of Sword only once. (Down from 3)

Vault of Archavon

• Toravon the Icewatcher has been added to the Vault of Archavon. He awaits your challenge in both 10 and 25 man difficulty

Violet Hold

• New portals will open faster after players defeat bosses

Arena

• With brand new rewards, Season 8 is officially starting!

Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Balance

• Earth and Moon: This talent now increases your spell damage by 2/4/6% (Up from 1/2/3%)

Shaman (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Elemental

• Shamanism: This talent now increases your Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning spell damage by 4/8/12/16/20% (Up from 3/6/9/12/15%) and Lava Burst spell damage by 5/10/15/20/25% (Up from 4/8/12/16/20%)

Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Affliction

• Shadow Embrace: Now stacks 3 times (Up from 2) Healing reduction effect reduced to 2/4/8/10% (Down from 3/6/9/12/15%)

Demonology

• Demonic Pact: This talent now increases your spell damage by 2/4/6/8/10% (Up from 1/2/3/4/5%). The buff effect to the party or raid members is unchanged.

Destruction

• Conflagrate: Periodic Spell damage increased to 40% (Up from 20%)
• Empowered Imp: Damage done by imp increased to 10/20/30% (Up from 5/10/15%)
• Improved Shadow Bolt: Now increases Shadow Bolt damage 2/4/6/8/10% (Up from 1/2/3/4/5%)

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Protection

• Concussion Blow : Damage is decreased by 50%, but threat generated by this ability remains still.
• Devastate: Damage is increased to 120% (Up from 100%)
• Shield Slam: Damage increment from block value decreased, and starts to decrease from lower block value. If your gear is almost High-end, players won’t really recognize the change. In addition, threat generated by Shield Slam is increased by 30%
• Warbringer: This talent no longer allows Charge and Intercept to break roots or snares. Intervene remains unaffected.

Player Interface

• Party leader created by Dungeon finder is now called “Guide”
• Promoted players in raid now able to do Ready Check

Item

• Ashen Verdict Faction Ring now offers new ring to Strength dominant classes.
• Tier 10 Elemental Shaman set 4-pieces effect (redesigned): Whenever Lava burst successfully casted on the target, it increases Flame Shock duration by 6 sec

Looks to be an interesting patch.

Source: mmo-champion.com

A 1000 words.

Checked in on wow.com to see the drama, or lack there of, goings on. Looks like a certain someone is being voted down on their own site. I do love a good drama. Now that I no longer comment at about world of warcraft at wow.com; I get to watch it all unfold from the back of the room.

/gets popcorn

Tanks have the power

Every now and then I dust off the ol Paladin tank and take him for a spin around some heroics. My main goal is to get the instance over with asap. So I que up and instantly I am greeted with an enter instance button. Not like the 1 minute wait of the healer class or the 15 minute wait of the DPS que. Soon as I enter the instance and buff everyone I start chain pulling as long as the healer has mana. Sometimes I do get the "Hay let's go kill the extra bosses down there" comment. I usually reply with "Do that with your guild" or "I don't have time for that" or my favorite "We will after the last boss". Knowing full well I am jetting after the last boss. As the tank your job is to lead you group to victory. So slowing down to take out un-needed bosses is wasted time.

Hay if you don't like it have fun in the 15 minute que. :)

What are words for?

I read an interesting article on wow.com about in game chat in world of warcraft. So I thought I would comment on it over here. You know that way it can't be voted down or have my comment deleted for rocking the boat of the pro PC crowds. I guess some people can't take the blunt truth. The posting goes on to support niceness in game making sure not to ever bruise someone else sensitive feelings with such harsh abrasive words. Next the writers give tips on how to keep from grouping with and reporting/telling on someone for not being nice. Are you serious? Please do everyone a favor and get over yourself.

If you don't like someone in the group then put them on ignore and drop group. Simple as that. No need to get yer pants in a bunch over what was said. In fact if you engage in a conversation or stay in group you are relinquishing your right to be offended. In other words you don't have a leg to stand on.

Just move on and don't waste brain power on someone that is not worth your time.

So many alts...It's Warlock time!

Like many players of world of warcraft I have many many alts. My tank is a Paladin, Melee DPS is a Rogue, my Healer is a Druid, and my ranged DPS is going to be my Warlock. Even with the increase of XP and decrease of mob health leveling is just a grind to 80 and soon 85. This week I will be dusting off the old warlock, of all classes, to be my ranged DPS bringer of pain. Affliction was my spec of choice back when I raided Naxx 25 this time I want to go demonology for a few reasons...

1. Way more survivability
2. Access to stuns
3. Raid buffs
4. High damage and a lot of fun

The biggest complaint I had with affliction is lack of survivability. With demonology you get a pet to share damage with and oh yeah he can stun too. Demonology has to do with spell procs so your going to need a a mod like eventviwer to monitor procs.

Talent points and glyphs
Build with glyphs: 0/56/15 is the demonology warlock build right now. If you like you can switch points from improved demonic tactics to demonic empowerment for a little more pow.

Stats
Gem spell power and more spell power and then some more spell power.

Spell priority
Spells no longer have rotations but priorities.
1. Life tap and Metamorposis
2. Corruption
3. Immolate
4. Shadow bolt with incinerate when molten core procs
4a. Soul fire with target below 35% and esp when molten core procs

Demonology is no longer the pvp/utility only tree, but is now a raid viable option to warlocks. So have fun stormin the castle.

/facepalm

"Raids require a lot more work and can be substantially more complicated. Just because it's possible to farm Naxx or ToC in pugs right now doesn't mean the entire community can do it -- but the entire community can do random heroics (for the most part). There is also the problem of reforming the raids and finishing them at a later time."

*sigh*

Normally I would not even address such comments as this one. It's time to set some things straight to shed some light on this stone age way of thinking. Blizzard WANTS players to play together more. This is why leveling has only been raised to 85 in the next exp, tier 9/high end items are obtainable through heroics, and the biggest of all cross realm LFG tool. In fact the LFG tool is the first step to a LFR tool that auto ques raiders that met raid leaders specifications. Raids are no more complicated than heroics. Look, raid bosses usually have 4 mechanics to them.

1. Strong debuff that can wipe the raid
2. Fire/lava/acid that you should not stand in
3. Movement of raid group to avoid damage
4. Get on adds then back to boss

THAT IS IT! Nothing more complicated an average player could understand over vent in about 5 minutes.

Players have a hard time showing up on the same server for a raid. Cross realm would present no further problem than same realm raids. How about set the raid ID as a key and once the raid leader rejoins the raid que previous raiders can now use their raid key to join at a set time. I bet Blizzard developers are smart enough to put something like that in place.

*sigh /facepalm*

Cataclysm alpha

According to an ultra secret insider that has close connections Cataclysm alpha is launching today. But Skonged what does that mean for us? Sit right down and let me tell you the tale of Cataclysm...

Your gear your wearing now is going to be replaced with level 81 quest greens.
Level cap raised to 85
The old world will be remade
Alliance can play as wolf men and Horde can play as goblins
New second profession
Maybe some new dances this time Blizzard?

With the new LFG system and XP gained in BGs you can ding 85 without ever doing 1 quest. As of now I have 6, soon to be 7, level 80s. I do hate questing, as do 90% of the player base, so any way I can get around questing and still level fast is a welcome one. Questing does nothing but teach the player to kill mobs, find boxes, and deliver letters. If I designed quests I would make them story driven with fun objectives. The final stage of the quest line would grant you 20% of a level. As evident with the level cap only being raised 5 levels Blizzard reconizes the monotiny of questing. Reducing the amount of time to 85 is proof of that.

So when is Cataclysm coming out?
When it's ready is the lawyer answer from Blizzard, but here at ETOP we have top men on a release date. By our calculations of previous release dates, then dividing them by our 7th grade locker combination, Cataclysm should be released June 28th 2010. Honestly Blizzard's Alpha grade games are other companies beta grade and some even gold grade.

Can I get in on this Alpha?
No, not unless you work at Blizzard or are a friend/family member of someone at Blizzard.

If I can't play Alpha what about Beta?
You will get an official email from Blizzard if your so lucky.

Can't wait to make my OP Shaman Goblin.