Pre-raid itemization

So I hit 80 a little while back; and so of course, the game changed.  The goal is less defined, more circuitous.  Paths expand from one to many.  If raid gear is inaccessible, don’t worry.  There are plenty of choices for itemization while you’re waiting for others to level or waiting to get in to that raiding guild.  Below is a quick gear list that will get you hit capped and nuking (hit > SP > crit/haste).  This is a PvE list, as I am not really in to the PvP game.

Head: Hat of Wintry Doom.  Good stats and +44 hit to boot.  If you’re a tailor, you learn this at 425.

Neck: Choker of Betrayal.  Easy to get and even has a socket.

Shoulders: I’m holding on to my T6, but Dark Runic Mantleis a BoE drop in Halls of Stone.

Chest: Ebonweave Robe will give more hit & pretty solid stats until you get T7.  If hit isn’t your concern (but hopefully it is), then Egg Sac Robes from Heroic Azjol-Nerub is pretty solid.

Hands: Ebonweave Gloves or Giant-Hair Woven Gloves from HoL.

Weapon & Offhand: Flameheart Spell Scalpel(from Kirin-Tor Revered) and Ward of the Violet Citadel (25 Emblems of Heroism)

That should get you going.

Veteran of the Wrathgate

I have a new way of thinking of WoW. 

Pre-Wrathgate and Post-Wrathgate.

If you don’t know what I’m referring to, I’m talking about the looooong questline in Dragonblight that leads you to the Wrathgate on the border of Dragonblight and Icecrown.  This is absolutely, hands-down, the coolest thing that I have experienced in the game to date.  I’m very tempted to spoil, but I won’t because it’s that cool.  Everyone needs to experience this fresh.

Wrath has displayed huge leaps in quest design, dungeon design, and story integration from past verisons of the game.  I think back to days spent in The Barrens grinding quests and how relatively uninteresting that was.  This has me very excited for whatever Blizzard has on the horizon.  If the leap from BC to Wrath is any indication, we are in store for some incredible gaming experiences.

I’ll BCing you…

Well, here we are a day before Lich King launches.  Honestly, it’s a little bittersweet.  So much time and effort has gone into getting as far as I have in the game.  During Dec. of last year, I suffered an injury which left me stuck at home for nearly 2 months.  During that time, eating microwave burritos (graciously delivered to me by my loving girlfriend) and nodding off in a Hydrocodone-induced stupor, there wasn’t much else to do but play WoW.  Sure, I wasn’t raiding Sunwell when it came out, but I got there eventually.  My point is, I’m gonna miss Outland and the whole of BC.  A great experience in all.  So below is a list of 5 things I’ll miss about The Burning Crusade:

1. Sporeggar.  I never got exalted with them, so I missed the little mushroom tabard.  Plus, those guys are cute.

Sporeggar

2. Shat’ar.  These guys always reminded me the things at the end of the The Dark Crystal when the Mystics & the Skeksis (who bare a strange resemblance to the Arakkoa) merged.

3. Shadowmoon Valley.  This was always my favorite zone because it seemed the most to me like another character than the other zones.  It was almost as if the area itself was an extension of the Burning Legion.

4. Sunwell Plateau.  This has to be the best-designed raid instance Blizzard has designed so far.  Everything about the place-from the lore, layout, and feel is bar-none.  It begins almost as a let-down because of how beautiful it is, but as it progresses it feels more and more epic.  Also, the boss fights here are the most fun and challenging of any other.

5. Shattrath.  Despite reducing my framerate to to a nub, I always found this city to be real cool.  I love the mutilayered aspect and the class struggles between Lower City and umm..upper city I guess.  The struggles between Aldor & Scryer is an interesting aspect as well, forcing you to choose an allegiance.  Struggles in the Sanctuary…

What will others miss about BC?  I know, we’ll have Death Knights still running that stuff, but it’s drawing it’s last breath.

I was a Zombie…

So, just like everyone else, I’ve been knee-deep in brains.  I LOVE the zombie invasion….

Apparantly people are bitching????  OK, this is fucking cool as hell.  If you are complaining, “wahhh, im trying to level and i keep getting killed by zombies, wahhh!”, then turn it off and dont play until until LK.  World events are awesome, and they’re short lived, so enjoy it while it’s here.

Also, you can get the quests in Eastern Plaguelands and get Necrotic Runes.  And use these to get some easy epics.  I got Blessed Pauldrons of Undead Slaying for my Shaman.  Cool stuff.

Also, been on super raid mode with the guild.  Trying to get these raids down before xpac.  So…we’ve killed Vashj twice, Kael’Thas twice, Illidan, and still can’t kill Archimonde.  We also went into Sunwell!!!  We got to Kalecgos, but were understaffed and got him to like, %60 before we wiped.

Visual gratification…

I’m in!

Well…I finally got on my server.  Super-laggy, but that’s OK.  Navigated through the mount issue (Double click on the icon for your mount in your bag, you’ll “learn” it and the “pet” tab will appear).  Was gonna get a haircut, so I go to ‘port to UC, and got stuck with the loading screen.  Which they’ve updated and it looks quite nice.  Guess I’ll try again in a bit….

Patch…I’m depending on you, son.

So my server’s down and I can’t play 3.0.2 on my characters, but I did go to UC on a lv.1 and checked out all the new stuff.

Acheivement UI – Awesome!  Can’t wait to get cracking in those.

I didn’t see the mount/token panel cause I didn’t have any to look at.

Barber shop – Yes!  I’m digging the Undead Conan hair.

Also, my addons won’t update either.  As in, the sites that you download them from aren’t working.  I’m assuming this is due to high server traffic, but I’m getting antsy.  With the Raid nerfs, BT is gonna fall!!!

Eye of Eternity gear

Here’s the set from EoE25 (I just named it)

Frostfire Garb

It looks alot like the Naxx gear.  I don’t know if this is just a placeholder model, but if not…man.

Break it down for me, fellahs…

The Blog Azeroth shared topic this week is “What do you wish your profession could do?”

Ever since I made my first Bolt of Linen Cloth, then regretted it, I have always wished that tailors could break down things into their components.  I’m sure this can be very handy, but my reasons for wanting it aren’t utilitarian, they’re conceptual.  Someone who specializes in something can do more than just construct things with resources, they can also deconstruct those things into their base resources.  An electrician doesn’t just wire houses for electricity, s/he also re-routes, disconnects, and optimizes existing wires for alternative uses.  True creative thinking looks beyond the obvious, “x number of these, plus y number of those equals z“.  It is much more interesting to look at the components of something and see how they can be rearranged and repurposed to fulfill an entirely different end.

Think of it as disenchanting for tailoring.  It can be called “Unravel”.  So lets say you’re out killing Sunfury dudes for your SSO dailies, and some green drops.  You can “unravel” that item into Bolts of Netherweave, Rune Thread, and I dont know….3 Arcane Dust.  Pretty cool, huh?

Professions can go very deep, and even become a central element of gameplay in WoW.  They’re more important than just making kick-knacks or gear for your character to use, they can become the primary element of your characters monetary value and earning power.  It only makes sense that you should be able to get in as deep as you can.

My 2 cents.

I’m DPSing with the man in the mirror

Check out this level 80 spell:

Nothing better!

Dear Tier

From MMO Champion.  Looks like we get a glimpse of Tier 7.  No word on the set bonuses, but this looks pretty promising.

UPDATE:  Here’s what it looks like.  Not too crazy about the headpiece.