PvP and the lock

So I tried PvPing with the under-powered warlock in my quest greens and blues and... I only died once. I played AB and helped take and then defend the blacksmith. There's something very satisfying about cursing 4 different players, fear bombing and the sucking the life out of them until they're dead, dead, dead.

Want to hurry that toon to level 70. I want Vengeful Gladiator's Dreadweave Hood.

Yes. For the wings. /sigh.

Gear Analysis 11March08

I am sick. I think I finally got hit hard with the stupid flu that's been ripping through the office for the last few months. I am good for nothing much more than occupying my brain with thoughts not related to running to the bathroom in fear that what ever orifice is in need won't be able to hold "it" back. I must be sick, I don't even want to apologize for that. And, as luck would have it, I'm sick on maintenance day, so I can't even farm between bouts of spewage. /sigh.

I'm starting to love Be Imba!. I learned about it from BRK and have been using it ever since as a guide as to what I need to work on with my gear. There is a problem with the site and Wow's Armory site. I think Blizzard was upset that the site was so much cooler than anything they've done that they got pissy. No evidence of that, just a feeling. So, if you've not been to that site to check your character out, I'm not sure if it will work for you. When I go there, I have to click on the cached character link and it works. Here's Claz's analysis.



The graphic above shows the raid progression that Claz should be comfortable at and where the gear upgrades will be coming from. As you can see, according to this site, I'm almost ready for Gruul's Lair and Magtheridon's Lair and the gear upgrades for me are towards the end of Karazahn.

(Forgive this, I'm in a haze of fever daze and vomit stench...)
HOLY MOTHER OF THRALL

/cough

Ok, getting back to the task at hand. Sure, it's nice to know where I am with raid progression but what can I do to keep inching up? This site has a nice listing of unenchanted items and low-level items. How am I doing?



First off, you'll notice that it isn't listing my new boots, but the point still is made: I need enchants! Yes, I've already made a spreadsheet for the enchants and the mats that I need and I've been keeping an eye out for enchanters who can do these (a guildie got the Major Agility enchant for the weapon when we did a kara key frag run and decided to keep going). I won't be enchanting the Blackened Spear, though since I'm about two weeks from the Vengegul Gladiator's Waraxe.

Now, low level items. /sigh. You'll notice that Claz was cached with the Riding Crop in slot. This is less embarrassing than what I have been using (the name escapes me, but it is a green-level quest reward that ups my attack power a bit). But, with the links to upgrades I'll be able to direct my time better and I should be able to upgrade these items pretty quickly.

All in all, I'm pretty content with Claz's gear. Now, I just need to practice kiting and trapping...

Another short post- gear I gots

I just picked up the Fiend Slayer Boots from the chest event. Nice.

*Dur! Of course I meant Chess Event

I'm glad I didn't enchant my other boots!

On the road to T4 gear

Limited Warranty downed The Curator tonight, and lookie what I got: Demon Stalker Gauntlets.

Here is the anonymous report for the fight. I'll have to comment on it later but I will say that I'm not happy coming in #4. :(

Chess event is next. We're hoping to get to it tomorrow before the instance resets on Tuesday.

Changing your mind is expensive

Ok, so I was able to finally craft the Ebon Netherscale armor set and gem it all up to where I'm not embarassed anymore. The set seriously rocks and if you go to my cached version of Claz's Be Imba! profile (I think Blizzard is doing something to block these sites), you'll see that I'm firmly geared for Kara and Heroics.
But, you see, I didn't have the Primal Nether to craft the Netherdrake Helm, that was going to be my next item, but wasn't too terribly excited to farm it because it wasn't that big of an upgrade over the Dream-Wing Helm I was wearing. I turned to grinding money for the epic flight skill so that I can get that damn dragon mount (I haven't been this crazy over a mount since Amantara and my stupid grind for the Winterspring Frostsaber that I was about two weeks from getting before deleting her).
But then, I found out about the Storm Helm. Sweet mother of pearl! I asked around the guild to see if anyone could make me one, but no one had it. I went to the AH and saw that the recipe was 400 gold. GRRR. I couldn't expect the blacksmiths in the guild to drop that kind of cash for me, could I? No, not with a clear conscience.
So, I kept farming for the gold, thinking of the bad-ass looks of the that helm and how fugly the Netherdrak Helm is. But, I always looked at the plans on the bank alt whenever I was dropping of ores and one day it was 200 gold!
Without thinking twice I bought it and sent it to one of Limited Warranty's tanks with a message: "The mats will be with you soon, please, can I use one of your Nethers?"
Not only did he agree, but he offered to farm the Hardened Adamantite Bars for me.
So, now I'm broke again but almost have all the Primals I'll need. Then I need to grind money for the gems (I'm so hurting for stamina that I've plugged in some armor kits). Then, I can get back on track for the mount.
Why the title for this post? I really shouldn't have spent 500 gold on the Netherdrake Helm pattern. :(

Getting ready for Kara

1. PvP Boots. Just finished the last AV for the honor. I'll now have enough honor for the PvP Boots I want.


2. Food. I'm going to try to have 3 stacks of Warp Burgers for myself, 3 stacks of Kibler's Bits for Whiskers or Pixel (depends on if I want the kitty or the ravager), and a few stacks of various foods to share, mostly the ones that affect spell crits or whatever it is.


3. Potions. I have none. I need many healing and mana pots.


4. First Aid. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't leveled my first aid. I'm going to try to power level it.


5. Enchants. I think my gear is good enough now that I won't mind spending the gold on enchanting most of it, especially the feet and hands. I don't think I'll do anything with the other slots for now, unless I really suck it bad in Kara.


6. Research. I want to know all about the boss fights, especially the first three (I would be very, very surprised if we get past the first three. Not because we're not capable, but because this will be completely new to most of us). There's some good information at WoWwiki and there are videos out there (like BRK's)

I think that should get me reasonably ready to succeed in Karazahn. There's a lot of gold I'll need to farm in the next couple of days, especially for the enchantments, I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to get it all (I probably won't), but... I think it will be better to be a bit under prepared than to try and burn myself out getting to 100%.

Shiney new pants!

With a very kind and generous loan from a guildy (though I did farm 90% of the gold) I finally got Leggings of Beast Mastery. The ravager and I now fight to see who is top DPS. Part of it is that the pants slightly gimped my AP. I need to put on a Cobrahide Leg Armor (I don't have the rep for Nethercobra yet), and that might help it out a bit more.
Now, all I need is to buckle down and get my PvP boots and I'll be reasonably comfortable going into Kara.

Things I want (and sometimes get)

1. Leggings of Beast Mastery. Currently on the AH for 400gold. I have 100.


2. Recipe: Kibler's Bits. Just got from the cooking daily. YES!


3. Thrallmar reputation. I want: This and This.


4. Some new boots. I'm 3k honor away. I should just run Eye of the Storm over and over since I can stand that BG and it's the holiday weekend.


5. Sigh. Just... *sigh*


6. *DROOL*. But not a priority, I guess. And I need money for the riding skill.

And.... I'm back.

That was a bad weekend, life-wise and wow-wise, but I'm back. I respecced Claz back to Beastmaster and I'm so happy to be back to it that I don't think I'll ever change it. Well, I'm wondering what a BM/SV build would be like.

You see, yesterday we ran Heroic Ramparts and my traps are about as secure as a damp paper bag. Not to mention that I kept telling the pally tank that I can't peel my target off him when he uses Avenger's Shield to pull with a Consecration follow-up. Unfortunately, when he listened to me, he would mark the furthest target for trapping. Nine times out of ten that was a caster or archer. *sigh*

We also only took down the first boss and wiped a lot on the second. No loot dropped for me, either, except the Badge of Justice from Gargolmar.

But, you know what? I had a fricken blast running it. This is why I play Warcraft. I don't mind wiping time after time and paying 25 gold in repairs. I don't mind the frustration. We were learning and I was experiencing something that I hadn't before. I was a happy hunter.

But I also think I'll keep working on the PvP gear. This is probably some of the best gear available to me until Limited Warranty starts running heroics (and... maybe... Kara?) more often. Sure I can craft some nice stuff, but for most of it I need primal nethers, which means heroics. and I'm wondering if the PvP gear would be better. If so... maybe to make more money I should get two gathering professions after I gear up through PvP.

Ah well.

And, yes, I'm playing with my new Wowhead toys.

Zul'Gurub

Limited Warranty did a fun run raid on Zul'Gurub last night. We wanted to run it to get some raid experience as a group and to get any gear for some of our lower-level 60s. It was pretty rough, to tell you the truth, but not too bad considering most of the raid had never been there. We downed:

• Bat Boss


• Snake Boss


• Spider Boss


• Bloodlord


• Tiger Boss

The Panther Boss kicked our ass because by this time we were down to maybe twelve people and didn't have enough tanks to take the panther adds.

Gear? I have no idea who got what or even what dropped at all. I was raid leader and had enough on my plate trying to remember strategies and getting people to stay where they're supposed to stay before the boss pull. Ok- not enough time to get in too much depth, so another quick list of impressions:

1. When people say they're going to raid and they tart talking about how they'd rather be PvPing, just replace them; even if they're the main tank.


2. Bring a crap-ton of arrows/ammo.


3. If your guild's main tank isn't on, be prepared to AOE attack everything and rely on your level 70s' uber gear to kill and defeat pulls that would have mopped the ground with you at level 60


4. If a pally is in the raid and says "WTF" when you ask him to off-tank something... be afraid, be very afraid.


5. Buy a headset. People can't won't read instructions unless they're in th Raid Warning

But, all-in-all I think it was a good experience for people to see the frustrations of a raid, but the bosses went down so easily for us that we didn't get that awesome sense of accomplishment you get.


PS- I finally got the Crystalhide Handwraps. They went from 500gold to 390gold on the AH. I put in some +8 agil gems and viola! I'm one more step closer to being Kara-ready.

Gear progression

• Ranged weapon- Valanos' Longbow. Check


• Melee weapon- Crystal Forged War Axe. Check (though I want the Sonic Spear so bad!)


• Wrist, Waist Chest- Felstalker set. Check, check, check


• Legs- Beast Lord Leggings. I've not seen Leggings of Beast Mastery on the AH, so I'm not hopeful to get hold of them. *sigh*


• Hands- Crystalhide Handwraps are on the AH for 400 - 500 gold. I'm 20% of the way there. *double sigh*


• Shoulders- I got Gladiator's Chain Spaulders on Monday. VERY easy to get. Check


• Back- I bought Cloak of the Craft on the AH- 50 gold! Check


• Finger #1- We ran Botanica and I got Ring of Umbral Doom. I think that this is as good as or slightly better than BRK's suggestion of the Pathfinder's Ring, so I'm going to give it a Check

I still need to get the enchants on the "checked" items (except the axe, I'm going to make a stab or five for the sonic spear). I'm pretty happy with the way things are going with Claz's gear. I just need a LOT of gold to get the gems I want, the enchants and the gloves. But... I have the time, right?

Needed upgrades

The other night a guildie and I got a pug together to try the daily heroic Blood Furnace as a test to see where our gear progression is at. After the second pull, we realized we have a bit further to go. So, using the Armory for research, here's a list of what I think I need in order of importance:

Feet
Have: Duro Footgear
Should get: Not much choice of an upgrade until Kara with Ferocious Swift-Kickers except for the PvP boots Vindicator's Chain Sabatons . I'm glad that all I need to run is The Eye of the Storm since I'm not a big PvPer and this BG is still new to me.

Shoulders
Have: Dragonbone Shoulders
Should get: I'm glad I have a few more choices here. Scorpid-Sting Mantle from The Slave Pens, Beast Lord Mantle from The Steamvault (which I want anyway for the trap cool-down reduction for having two pieces).

Hmm. I guess I'm not doing too badly. I mean, a new attribute stick melee weapon would be nice, but I'm ok with what I have. Now I need to start saving money for enchants and better gems. I was farming for my epic leatherworking set, but until I can access the primal nethers I'm just wasting my time.

More progress with Claz

So, the day after Claz hit 70 I started the quest chains for the key for Shattered Halls and to get attuned to Karazahn. I just need to kill a fel reaver for Shattered Halls and I got the first Kara key fragment from Shadow Labyrinth. Not bad for day one of being at the level cap.

I need to start working on my Leatherworking and do the quest for the Dragonscale Leatherworking specialty to craft the Netherscale Armor set, but I think that's more long term. In fact, Mr. BRK himself assured me that the Beast Lord set would be fine enough to get me into Kara. Yes, BRK seems to read this blather.

Once the realm is back up, I'm going to see if I can pull a fel reaver to Thrallmar to see if the NPCs will kill it for me. ;)

Claz dings 70! Claz dings 70!!

That's right, today at about 11am (my time, not server time because I play on a server on the West Coast while I live in the midwest and there's no way I'm not an egotistical man) Claz dinged 70 while questing in Netherstorm. It was the quest where you take some orb and measure a manaforge just South of Area 52. I turned it in and *bang* dinged 70. And I announced it to Limited Warranty and everyone celebrated. You know, because I need ego stroking...

First thing I did was go to the bank and grab Valanos' Longbow that a guildie gave me. Then I realized that I needed to make myself a new quiver since I was using a gun. Had to farm 5 feathers and then I made it.

Then I hit the jackpot. A group was running The Steamvault and I got three upgrades: The Crystalforged War Axe, Earthwarden's Coif (I hate meta gems!) and... wait for it... Beast Lord Leggings! First piece of my Dungeon Set 3.

Not a bad day for old Claz, eh?

Next? I need to keep running Steamvaults for the Beast Lord legs, Botanica, The Shattered Halls (not just for the Beast Lord hands, but I want to rep stuff from Thrallmar) and The Mechanar.

I really want the Dungeon Set 3. I need to do more research to see if the Beast Lord stuff and the weapons from Thrallmar would get me ready for Karazhan. I might just be too lazy to research and ask the BRK Forums.

Today's runs in Steamvault really helped me get a better understanding of Crowd Control. It was horrible at first, but then it just clicked and there were three or four times where it went perfectly and I was pretty happy with it all.

Now I need to get Misdirection pulling down. The group I was with had feral druid tanks who preferred to use Feral Faerie Fire to pull, and, since I was half-panicked about trapping, I didn't suggest to let me experiment with pulls. Ah well, maybe I'll just go and practice it while grinding. I suspect that I need to find a macro to make it easier.

Ok- now I need to make some food.

Edit: And Claz got his first flying mount last night, too. Man, he's poor now.

The Underbog (1st of many times, I think)

Last night the guild ran The Underbog to get us noobs rep, exp and to gear us up. First off, Limited Warranty is one of the very few guilds that I've been part of that actually help you out. Sure, there are a lot of guilds that do help you, guilds that will craft stuff for you and loan you gold and are a fun group of people to chat with to help you through the tedium of farming mats to level your leather working and if you think about how you'll need to kill about 6,482,132 more Helboars just to get one more Fel Hide you'll go crazy and delete your character, donate your money and then switch sides on a new server... erm, never mind.

So, the guild ran us through Underbog and I like that we're doing these instances together. The tank and the healer are both level 70 and I'm sure they had more important things to do, but they're taking their time out to level and gear the rest of us so that we can start running the heroics and maybe take a stab at Kara. The most important thing that we're doing isn't getting the gear, exp and rep. We're learning how to work together.

Have you been in a guild where everyone is a solo artist and when you try to run stuff together you have no idea what the other people are going to do and you get the attitude of "F this, I'm going to make sure I live through this!" attitude? No, me either. *cough*

But I found myself starting to gel with the group. I started to learn how the tank/puller (until I get Misdirection, after which I'm going to convince them to let me do the pulling. See BRK's two posts on Misdirection for more info [pt.1] [pt.2])... Where was I? Oh yeah, I learned how the tank likes to pull and how the GM (an amazing Boomkin who can heal like nothing) will heal the pet (which made me more aware of keeping Mend Pet up, I don't want to be the cause of him going OOM).

Second of all, I really enjoyed myself. I really started to gain an instinctual feeling for the hunter class instead of having to process every decision and losing that 1 second to a decision rather than casting Intimidation so that Snookims can pull the mob off the druid long enough for the tank to peel him back.

Thirdly, and this is something that everyone learning their class needs to do, I asked for feedback from the GM. I did it in private chat, not because I was afraid people would rip me a new one, but because I wasn't interested in compliments or accolades, but in honest feedback. Bum told me that I need to work on my trapping and crowd control. A very fair assessment, one that I agree with 100%. So, I'll be reading more BRK (man, am I a fanboy yet?) and watching his videos and then practicing my crowd control.

Ok, who am I to scold people, what do I know since I'm still learning the hunter, and most of all, this is a game! But. When you're raiding everyone needs to know your role and shut your mouth. Nothing will kill a raid faster than someone not knowing how to change their play style for the raid's benefit, unless it's someone questioning the raid leader's decisions. Raids are not democracies. The minute you're in the instance, you need to be in a military-mindset and you follow the orders of the raid leader first, your class leader second, and no one else third. What does that have to do with the above? You cannot follow the orders of the RL or CL if you don't know your own class. The order to pull the Red "X" comes and you start fumbling for that macro or the order to trap the blue square comes and you set the trap too close to where they're going to AOE the other mobs, and what do you get? A lot of angry people, possible raid drama and you're going to be looked at in a different light.

And hunters, we're a dime a dozen- no, a dime a gross. If you mess up enough, your raid spot is going to go to someone who may not be as well geared as you but they know their class and it's role and can follow orders. And what's the point of wanting to raid if you find yourself on the back-up raid list or not on the list at all?

But Claz, what mad loot did you get?

• The Tracker's Belt (drop)


• Dark Cloak of the Marsh (quest reward)