Friday, April 4, 2008

Stupid Omen bug

While running Underbog last night, we noticed a few problems.

1) Only fools run instances or BGs on laptops. Sure, badmouth me if you have a new Top-o-the-line laptop that doesn't slow to a crawl in heavy traffic. In AV, I can honestly say I'm chasing ghosts. My laptop is a dog. Any Honorable kills are purely accidental. Don't trust it in tight spots where seconds = lives. Main healer on Tank against Prince Malechhazar? Yea. Dead man walking come phase 3.

2) Omen was broke again. Yea I know. Check back every couple of minutes for an update patch to the patch. Still. That string of error messages was annoying. Also, where the Ruck is the minimize feature for Omen 2. Tell me Dat!

3) No blue caster loot. Mail >> Plate >>> Leather.... End of instance. Not even any greens. The dice were surely against me. If it weren't for the 1UP mushroom and the Everlast Everspore Frond.. I'd say it was a wasted trip. Thankfully, I cleaned up in incidental loot, Sanguiine Hibiscus, Knothide Leather, and Admantite ore. Yay me!


/rant off

When I'm 64

I love The Beatles.

I also love being 64. Holy crap that was fast!!

Blurred thru my 50's. They say that all xp is discounted 40% from level 20 to 60. They weren't kidding. Faction with Timbermaws was reduced by a whole step. Now you just need friendly for quests and within a couple turn ins, you're there. Ridiculously easy stuff. After felwood, I hit winterspring, Un-goro, Silithus, Winterspring, and found myself at level 58.

Well... The outlands are too much of a temptation.

I can say I should have held out at level 58, gotten my outlands gear, and pvp'ed my ass off. It was just TOO easy to make 58, 59, 60, 61, 62. Next thing I knew, I was in Zangarmarsh with a full quest log, a half dozen complete quests. All of my epic mount items, and looking for a team to do Dire Maul West.

Dam that epic mount. Dam that crazy fast levelling in Hellfire Penninsula. I kid you not. I counted every kill I needed for every item upgrade and I couldn't STOP myself from making level 59 after the first few items.

In my own defense, the Blue Quest chest-piece with 44 Spell Damage and 14 Spell crit is way overpowered. Especially since it has 18 STA and 13 INT. Add in a Knothide Armor kit, and you're golden. Now add the Destroyer's Mantle with +35 Spell damage, the Horde Only quest staff with +80 Spell damage, and a couple of other peices.

I went from 2800 Hp and 2400 mana at level 56.... to a bestial 5600 HP and 5500 Mana at level 62 with +331 spell Damage. Now I'm rocking 7k health, 8K mana, and +500 spell damage at level 64. Bestial amounts of growth.

There were 4 instance groups I did at 60, 62, 62, and 64. I had more HP than the tank and more Mana than the priest in every case. Sick amounts of upgrades available. All from quest gear and Sorceror items at the AH. Don't Enchant your gear, aside from Knothide Armor kits. +10 Spell crit to gloves was Too cheap to pass up. I had to get that.

You'll make level 70 quickly.

The next big jump is the blue gear from Durn / Ring of blood.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Level 50 Whammy

First place I saw a level 40 Whammy ( level 40 Player in a 30-39 BG) was on the horde side for AB. There, a Horse was a big help in getting to the flag first and getting an early cap. That, and the other side SUCKING so badly. We mopped up with an early 1400 to 300 lead. After that, no advantage was gonna help them. It was in the bag.

Next place was at level 50 by myself. This is how it works. Players level up from 20-26, or from 30-36 to get to that prime range for PvP. Being green and taking on Red or Skull level opponents is suicide in a battleground. It drags your team down. It helps the other side when they can 2 shot your frail ass. You WANT to be in the upper 3 levels of a 40-49 battleground. On your LAST que in that BG you want to be level 50.

You join a battleground que. Do a turn in in Ogrimarr / Stormwind / or wherever. Level up. Train and put on your armor upgrades ( plate / Epic / whatever ). Then join the battle. I was throwing around my 41 point curse and destroying people who didn't see that I was level 50. 1500 points + Silence is just plain eeevil on a priest or druid. It hurts BAD. Even when it isn't cleansed off, that Unstable Curse hurts you.

Was a fun time. We won the BG. Borat says it's "NICE SEXY TIME".

Now the grind from 50-58.

Can it be exponentially as fast??

The well runneth dry

No more PVP at 48-49

Well, that's all the honor I'm getting at level 48. Honor grinding in low levels is ridiculous. At the level 10-19 bracket, players get 1 honor per kill. At the end of the match, you get 12 honor for a win and 4 honor for a loss. Grind all day and you'll get 300 honor.

At level 70, you get several hundred honor a match. Grind all day and you could reach the 20,000 honor cap. The numbers speak volumes. Sure there are Tier 6 geared players dominating Warsong. Sure the teams are deadly fast and vicious. Don't think that the PVP game is getting easier. Just the honor is getting easier. The rewards are getting easier. The Gladiator charity epics are getting easier.

So? I'm taking the High Road at 70 and going my part.

Sure I'll get eaten by the Level 70 Demigods of PvP. In time, I'll gear up and become one of them. Then it'll be an even exchange. I'm for that.

Grind all day for a couple hundred honor? Meh. I'd rather explore all the rest that level 70 endgame has to offer. PvP, PvE, and the stuff in between.

48+ PvP grind

It's Not a grind. REALLY. It's fun. I can't say it isn't work.

Alliance opponents at 48 are smarter, better geared, and MUCH better organized. In Warsong Gulch, we've lost a couple times in a row. Even been dominated by coordinated teams farming the Graveyard for HKs while 7 others hid in the flag room waiting on an attack. Meanwhile, Offense can't get thru the 10 Alliance guys farming midfield for honor.

As far as AB goes, we win 75% of the matches. I've faced a few heavy hitters and taken a dirt nap, but that's been on those 5 on 2 assaults. Someone explain the fascination with taking the stables and leaving no one on Defense? If you can hem the Alliance into their GY and kill everything... Execute that plan. If you can't contain them, then dont' let a roaming pack of alliance get un-defended flags. The teams that coordinate defense WIN Arathi Basin. It's that simple. The "Zerg Reaction Force" isn't fast enough to re-take every flag. Even with mounts, you can't cross the battlefield and take the flag in 60 seconds.

AB By the Numbers

Massive Offense takes flags. Solid small Defense wins the game. Keep 3 to a flag on 3 flags. That leaves 6 people as a Zerg reaction force to harass and kill any roaming Alliance players on the BG Leader's command. If you want to run it slim, Leave 2 to a flag and keep 9 people as a Zerg unit. That unit better be able to take a 4th cap and harass the last base constantly.

Call em out. Two to Mines. Three from Stables to LM. One coming around LM to attack from behind. All these can be seen from the Blacksmith. Have a spotter. Keep a spotter at several locations. Rogues NEVER cross the whole battlefield in stealth. It takes too long. You'll normally see rogues + druids riding or running along before they hit your flag. They stealth up on the final approach. If you see a single shaman riding slowly, assume he has a rogue escort. Call them out.

Survival. If a large stealth squad hits your flag, Call how many INC and hold your ground. Not dying and keeping them off the flag is just as important as killing your attackers. Buying time, lets the available support come to your rescue. If the team decides that they deserted Stables to attack you, then you keep the 9 guys busy while your squad caps their "old base". This makes a 1 for 1 trade. Shitty, but you're the one guy they're willing to sacrifice. The longer you can keep them feared / kited / busy... the more time they waste killing you. Hopefully, your squad is using that time to get somewhere.

In Arathi Basin, it's all good. In Warsong, it's a toss up.

Vent. Ventrillo and Teamspeak. Frikkin marvellous. Typing out commands is great for a slide-show. Headsets are like Blue-Ray DVDs. Your reaction time is instant. The team moves faster when it's a pre-made bunch of guildies. No one questions orders. Everyone works to keep their buddies alive alot harder than they would complete strangers. We're not there yet. Still stuck in the stone-age with pugs below level 70.


Item buying.

Get as many tokens as you can and buy your level pvp gear or the next level above you. This way, as soon as you hit 48 or 58, you have your set pieces. Then, you're playing with the bonus immediately. I have the level 48 belt. I bought the L58 Belt & Boots from Arathi Highlands once I had the tokens. Then I bought the level 48 staff. Keep in mind quest rewards near level 58. The 2H caster quest staff form Hellfire Penninsula blows many Molten core epics away. Don't bother with a level 58 staff or 1H item. The defiler Lv 60 shoulders are geat. The shoudlers are 40 tokens ( easy ) and 8600 Honor. Eeeesh. That's alot of God-dammed honor.

The shoulders are great, but here's where logic goes astray. Level 58 Outlands greens are better than alot of level 60 Epic equipment. I may hold off on my 3rd set of Defiler's gear. It comes with a NICE +23 damage bonus being the 3rd piece. Still, there are some blue shoulders from Cenarion Expedition that rock socks for a long time. We'll see as we approach level 60. Let's grind out the 48s until the well runs dry.

Levelling thru 40

Whirlwind fast.

Getting from 40-48 was over in a heartbeat. That horse changes how you do things in HUGE ways. Distance to the next target, seconds now. Time between quest completion and returning to your quest giver, minutes. All this adds up to zero downtime.

Affliction Warlock with Improved Life-Tap, Improved Life-drain, and Dark pact? Yea. Free mana forever. I only stop to loot, skin, and mine. THAT'S IT.

As far as levelling up to 50 to get your felguard, meh. I'm sure its a powerful pet and able to crush foes with nary a thought. I still have two instant Fear spells, three Instant Dots, and 100% efficiency. I'm throwing away soul shards because I can't burn thru them fast enough.

The Badlands. 6 quests inside an hour. Made 2 levels there.

Fearalas. 3 quests .. Another level there.

Arathi Highlands. 4 quests... Another level.

I'm shipping materials and green items to my Level 10 warrior to put on the AH. WHY? His money is essentially mine. As a bonus, I don't have to return to a city, except to train. I just quickly log over and put up a stack of Iron ore, Mithril Bars, Mageweave, Coarse Stone, or some Gloves of the Eagle. A couple hours later, I log over, collect my gold, and keep grinding.

At 48, I'm poised with a couple Arathi Basin upgrades to hit the PVP brackets again.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Flaming Death!!

Okay, so the Warlock Lv40 mount isn't as monumental as it would appear. Still, you can't stare a gift-horse in the mouth. Especially mine! The push from level 38 to 40 took ONE gaming session. PvP time builds up lots of bonus XP. After facing twinked-out bloodthirsty Alliance killers, yetis and ogres were no match whatsoever. Okay, so I did get crushed by some ogres in the castle, but the respawn rate in Alterrac ruins was pretty nuts. Also, I was trying to blaze thru the castle without pausing to drink/eat to full mana. The quest was orange and intended for a group. Still, dying wasn't anything new to this warlock. As long as I accomplished the mission. I died trying to train out of the castle, btw. Not a smart plan. Just that anxiousness to get to level 40.

Soon enough, I turned in the Crown of Will, 3 ogre heads, 1 human head, another ogre head, and some necklace for the final push to 40. A very grisly set of contents, but XP is XP. I can roleplay the Horde delivery boy.

I could have gotten some more PVP in before hitting 40. Even some more tokens accumulated. But this dude is tired of walking. It's a free horse and the spurs cost me 55 silver + some time with a guildie.

Now I'm riding in Style. The level 40 gear + Howl of Terror are a huge upgrade in PvE grinding. I also have Dark Pact for nearly unlimited mana. Gonna focus on level 40-48 grind now. 4000 Kills safely under my belt.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Brackets

Now I should try to get as many tokens as possible before moving up to the next rank in the Battlegrounds. Level 48-49 players are a tough lot.

Battleground difficultys change by level

10-19 Twink Heavy

20-29 Sparse ( AB Opens up )

30-39 Twink Heavy

40-49 Unknown

50-59 Unknown ( AV Opens up )

60-70 Top Bracket Very tough
  • T4-T6 sets being used by raiding guilds
  • S1-S3 Arena Sets used by full-time PVP players
Lv70 Arena Battles No room to hide. No room for slack. Vent + a very good partner. Resilience and Stamina are king here. Otherwise you are critted to death quickly. Fully geared Arena Players are deadly. Currently, I'm three bracket changes from the top end. Looking forward to seeing the stratosphere of the Horde side of PvP.

3500 Kills -> 4k Kills

Yea. Back into the Lv38-40 bracket of PVP and the honor just flows like water.

The opponents hit harder. The twink gear is much better ( lv 35 + for all your juicy Outlands enchants ), and the players are much more experienced. I've had shamen rip me apart with dual mongoose and executioner on their axes. Also, the feared rogue duo stun-lock me into oblivion. Even had a hunter and his pet gun me down with Intimidation to seal the deal.

Dam I hate facing my own tactics for taking down a Warlock!

On the plus side, the opponents are harder. The victories are better earned. The fights are longer and I have more opportunities to inflict casualties. Fear and loathing among the Alliance. Yea. I'm down with that. Facing superior foes that just neutralize the Horde in WSG? Yea, we have our bad days too. All rogues and no healers. What can ya say? You're doomed to turtle and wait for the end.

Coordinating strikes in AB is also a great role that I get into. Not everyone listens, but I'm happy when ANYONE listens. As far as WSG, I'm willing to carry the flag and use potions to stay alive. I'll also escort someone else to the very end. I can jump into a crowd of enemy players to slow them down and give the FC time to escape. Fear and Curse of Exhaustion help lots.

Gear update. Better gloves and a Silver Spellthread enchant on my new pants. That boosts my +Damage to +70 with a big pool of STA and INT. Enough to stand toe-to-toe with most players.

Using a Spellthread enchant on legs makes your current gear MUCH better and the level 50 legs are only a few points better. So now the level 38 legs are set to last until lv 60 if needed.

Warlock Lore: OMG the freaking Spellstone Love! The tooltip LIES!! The item says its equipped but I always assumed it was in the offhand. Being a big 2H staff user, it wasn't much use. Then I tried it and the stone replaced my wand. OMG yes.

I had the Alliance flag and left the tunnel to face 6 casters that each put up 2 spells against me. In seconds I had 12 dots and no amount of heals would help me make it clear of the traffic jam. Click on the spellstone and POOF - I was debuff-free!

Tactics change: Howl of Terror at level 40 is a skill that would DEFINE the PVP Affliction lock role. Too bad I'd have to leave my bracket and move up again. Still, the next tier does come with a Free Horse. Gotta love a quick ride with flaming hooves. Pimpin!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Lv 38 and Back into BGs

Made 38 in no time flat. Xp rest-bonus is huge when you leave Ogrimarr only to PVP. The rest of my Arathi Basin tokens and WSG tokens bought some nice gear upgrades. Still debating on spending a large chunk of money on the Spellthread enchant on some new pants. +25 to All Spells and +15 STA? Yea. That's worth it I guess. I'm just a cheap non-twink .

All Twinked out? I'd have +20 Shadow dmg to gloves, Golden Spellthread, +30 Spell Damage to staff, and the finest gear known to man. Personally, I'm doing okay with my current gear. It wouldn't add more than +70 to my spell damage, but that's enough to kill a dude in some fights.

Friday, February 22, 2008

BG Combat Musings

Dying in the Battlegrounds is expected.

As a warlock, I'm not expecting a dedicated healer. Hell, if I get a renew or a druid heal over time (HoT) I'm doing handstands. My bandages, Food, and healthstone are enough to give me the time I need to do some damage, take a flag, or generally piss off the Alliance.

You're GONNA die. Make no mistake. Before you go, I would suggest that you use your mana/health to eliminate enemy players, contribute to the success of your team, or distract as many players away from the flag as possible.

Killing enemy players. DUH. Not my forte, but I've been known to put enough poisonous spells to ensure someone's demise. Usually, it's not so instant ( God bless Nightfall procs ), but enough to kill most players... even if they've killed me. That's revenge from beyond the grave.

Success of the team. Slow spell on a rogue/warrior duo chasing a priest. Fear off a druid tank ripping up a hunter. None of these casts hurt anyone, but they help your squad secure a flag or someone live thru a fight. Heck, I've kited two players around the Lumbermill while the rest of my team 1) backstabbed them to death and 2) capped the LM flag while they chased a wounded warlock trying for an easy HK.

Distraction. Smoke in the West, Fire in the East. Tsun Tsu and the Art of War. Look it up. GREAT Stuff. Written thousands of years ago by a Chineese thinker and still being taught at West Point.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Topping 2500

When you've killed 2500 people in WOW, they don't give you a medal. They give you a hundred medals from two battlefields. I have alot of gear waiting for me at 38, and don't want to get burnt out on PVP before re-start grinding honor in earnest. So today I did the daily PVP quest, and began the slow march from 36 to the 38-39 bracket.

Cheating in AB

Arathi Basin at 30-39.

The folks that prepare for the battleground bring potions, bandages, food, drink, and enchant their gear. As long as the enchants are under 20g total cost, you're considered golden for most engagements.

For those that get themselves +150 Health to chest, Boar's Vitality to Boots, +18 STA to shield, Nethercleft Armor kits, and a host of other items... You're the ones cheating. There's being prepared and there's bringing nuclear weapons to a gunfight. Good team balance and skill can beat a team of super-powered rogues on most days.

Factors that offset this huge advantage system? Certain enchants can ONLY be placed on characters over level 35. That mitigates how twinky you can get your character. Finally, the sheer number of abilities and powers available to all characters tends to neutralize the edge a level 19 twink can have versus a level 39 twink.

Twinking guarantees that you won't be 2 shot by another twink. That being said, we had a person ding 40 upon zoning into AB and somehow got onto his horse during the fight. Having the only horse in a 30-39 battleground? Yea that's freakin Cheating.

Since he was on our side, I'm thinking that's a 1 in 10,000 chance of occurrence. Let the man keep his horsey. I'm capping the Mines. We went onto win 730 to 2000 in AB. The horse wasn't that much of an edge. Just a nice bonus to have a quick response warrior.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

More than a Talent Choice

Affliction Warlocks are worlds more than just instant dots, long range curses, and annoyances on the battlefield. We're downright dangerous and very irritable.

To that effect, I had an idea to start over on the Horde side after 4 years of Alliance toons with a blood Elf Affliction Warlock.

A well timed curse can cripple a team. A well timed fear can neutralize a caster or stop a flag runner cold. Affliction spec lets you land spells with impunity