Friday, May 16, 2008
Woot, Kitty!
Wow... writing up a BRK event has it's perks. (Besides participating in it. Running of Da' Bulls was totally fun!) Lock and Roll got linked in BRK's most recent blog link list. Thanks BRK, we read you all the time. We're working on a Hunter-Lock post to put up at some point... you know, something along the lines of Warlocks are like hunters that instead of shooting devour your souls. It'll be uplifting and fill you with optimism, I promise.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Wrath of the information sharing
Evidently, Gamespy, (which I only remember from back in my days of CS), got the serious dish on WLK before most other sites. Alpha testing seems to be fun and exciting, and thanks to firewalls, I'm not reading any of their coverage. EXCEPT, thanks WoWinsider for not being part of my jobs firewall settings. Boo, Panda Gate Defender. In any event, here's a few tidbits that I've pulled off of their various articles and my thoughts on these:
"Flying Mounts are gone until level 77, at which point you will either complete a quest or a visit a trainer to be able to use them again. You will still not be able to use the mounts in the old world, so even though Naxxramas is on Azeroth, your flying mount will not be able to cross back over the sea to visit the old stomping grounds. The Old World was designed using too many graphical shortcuts in places people were not meant to access to allow flying mounts."
Interesting! Now, my question is... "Will you need epic flying before you can upgrade at 77?" Because I sure don't have epic flying skill on either of my toons at 70. If so... I better get grinding that money.
"The 5-man news really was expected, but the raid info is much more exciting:
*All raid dungeons will have both 10-man and 25-man versions
*The 10 and 25-man progressions will not depend on each other
*There will be no attunements or keys necessary for any raid
*The 25-man loot will be a tier higher than the 10-man loot
*The 10 and 25-man versions of the same raid will be on different timers so that each can be attempted on the same day by the same people"
Now this is crazy! No attunements, all raids can be played as 10-man. I think what this could do is really allow more access to raid content then has previously happened. I know that I've never really entered the raiding scene, mainly because of the attunements initially, but also the size of our guild. I couldn't see us ever getting up to 25 man, and so, we really didn't push hard to get to 10-man content either. But, with all raids being accessable, it might be interesting to push through into this raid content in the expansion.
"There are "vehicle" quests, where players drive a vehicle (planes, trucks, or even dragons) around to accomplish tasks"
Oooh, that sounds interesting. I always enjoyed the pilot the fel reaver quest in shadowmoon, so, this could be great! Also, the flying planes that battle each other and such... that sounds really neat!
Of course, there's a lot more info now about the death knight and how that will actually work. I'm definitely digging the NO quest to unlock. Seems like the only requirement is that you already have a level 55 or greater character. (check!) So... looks like even fewer people might not roll a DK.
So... are you excited about Wrath?!?! You bet I am. Let's get that beta going!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Medium Black Kitty!
So, I really want to heal too. I mean, I've got two ranged, DPS, caster classes up at the level cap with my mage and my lock, so I need to try something different. I just have found that I love grouping, but am not such a fan of doing dailies... well, daily. Now I'm leveling a new character, and while my original plan had been to level my hunter next, I feel that it's too similar to the role I'm already playing in groups that I wanted to find something new and different to bring to the party... or raid, as the case might be.
I'm leveling a druid. I've dinged 25, and am bars away from 26, and I plan on going resto endgame because I really want to be a tree. It seems like the cliche acting exercise, so how could I not want to actually be a tree? Of course, as my guild has pointed out many times, who in their right mind would actually level resto?
I'm sure some people would, but wouldn't you be sad about how horrible it is and how you can't seem to do anything all the time? Therefore, I'm taking the feral approach as espoused in BBB's guide: (here). Thanks Big Bear Butt. Now of course, he says Feral FTW... all the way. But of course, I want to heal. So I'm going to claw and stealth my way up to the high levels and then respec at the end.
Of course, gathering gear as I go along is important, and I'm enjoying collecting two sets so that I CAN actually heal in a group when I have that opportunity.
Since I do like PUGing, (for the most part), I think the druid is a good choice, because it allows me to fill any role they need. Ranged caster, healer, melee DPS or tank. I've been elated at the flexibility and can't wait to continue to progress. So, there may be a few more updates on how rahranan is doing in her progression towards the end of levels. Now if I can just ding her at 70 before WLK hits, we'll be all good.
I'm leveling a druid. I've dinged 25, and am bars away from 26, and I plan on going resto endgame because I really want to be a tree. It seems like the cliche acting exercise, so how could I not want to actually be a tree? Of course, as my guild has pointed out many times, who in their right mind would actually level resto?
I'm sure some people would, but wouldn't you be sad about how horrible it is and how you can't seem to do anything all the time? Therefore, I'm taking the feral approach as espoused in BBB's guide: (here). Thanks Big Bear Butt. Now of course, he says Feral FTW... all the way. But of course, I want to heal. So I'm going to claw and stealth my way up to the high levels and then respec at the end.
Of course, gathering gear as I go along is important, and I'm enjoying collecting two sets so that I CAN actually heal in a group when I have that opportunity.
Since I do like PUGing, (for the most part), I think the druid is a good choice, because it allows me to fill any role they need. Ranged caster, healer, melee DPS or tank. I've been elated at the flexibility and can't wait to continue to progress. So, there may be a few more updates on how rahranan is doing in her progression towards the end of levels. Now if I can just ding her at 70 before WLK hits, we'll be all good.
And that ain't no Bull
I, like around 400-600 other faithful readers of BigRedKitty ran in the Running of 'Da Bulls for Sharvan, a memorial event for a friend of Kitty which was ridiculously fun and successful. It's gotten tons of press. (That's from Wired... wow! Big deal Kitty!) And lots of bloggers have already written about it: (see here).
Unfortunately I wasn't able to complete the race, but I hung out for quite a while at the beginning, talking to people, cheering for kitty, mooing, etc. I was able to run to the Zep outside of Ogrim. but because I had disconnected my mouse from my laptop and was using my trackpad and the command key to move, I fell off when I tried to board, and then our company showed up anyway, so I had to abandon the event. I'm really bumed I missed the hogger raid though. Nothing like getting toasted by a few hundred cows!
Here's a pic I'm actually in!
Unfortunately I wasn't able to complete the race, but I hung out for quite a while at the beginning, talking to people, cheering for kitty, mooing, etc. I was able to run to the Zep outside of Ogrim. but because I had disconnected my mouse from my laptop and was using my trackpad and the command key to move, I fell off when I tried to board, and then our company showed up anyway, so I had to abandon the event. I'm really bumed I missed the hogger raid though. Nothing like getting toasted by a few hundred cows!
Here's a pic I'm actually in!
I'm in the B, at the very top, first one starting the curve. (So not part of the straight line, but one out!) I'm pretty stoked that I finally found this pic! Thanks ratshag!
In any event, I'm proud to have finally participated in something that shows how massive the M in MMORPG can be. Now of course, there are two M's there, but who's counting.
/moo
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Who's NOT going to roll a DK?
WLK seems to be getting closer and closer, and I've been reading lots about it on places like WoWinsider and the like, and their breakfast topic this morning talked about switching mains when the expac hits. This got me thinking as I read through the comments posted on the topic and as people continually mentioned how they were going to roll a death knight.
So, who's not going to roll a death knight?
There are so many interesting aspects to the class, at least as far as I can tell from what blizz has thrown our way so far.
1) The new mechanic - not rage, not mana, not combat points... runes. Neat.
2) They can tank, and we always need more tanks, and they'll start higher level, so it's not as far to go... Sounds promising.
3) They cast spells and stuff. I like spells... and casting.
This kind of hybrid appeal, plus the new mechanic for abilities is just so interesting that I'd imagine the VAST majority of people who buy the expac are going to be rolling one of these DKs. Especially since it is clear that you will not be converting one of your current characters into the DK, so there is no fear of loosing all that work with your main.
So, who do I think isn't going to roll a death knight.
1) People who don't buy the expac. Obviously, but I believe that like WLK, they are going to start to quickly be left behind by the game as blizz continues to develop content for the new levels and tweak things in the expansion, TBC and Vanilla will be left in the dust as $80 of investment to play the latest part of the game.
2) People who really don't want to tank. Tanking for me is... not a whole lot of fun. I've done it a few times at low levels and taken a couple characters to the mid 20s, grouped and tanked, and I just didn't find the same enjoyment in it as I did in the PewPew game. I think the idea of me getting hit stresses me out, and considering that's pretty key to being a tank, I'm thinking it's not for me. Even the allure of new mechanics, tempting though they may be don't really seem like enough to grab me. (Unless my guildies who all will roll one as soon as they can convince me that it's worth it).
3) People who don't like "evil" characters. If you are alliance, (because I think this would be less of a problem generally if you are already the "bad guys" on horde side), and have always stayed away from warlocks because they are "evil", I don't really see you picking up a death knight. Seems a little too dark for ya.
4) People who really want to progress on their mains and don't have the time to devote to alts will probably just stick with their main, and while they might unlock the ability to create a death knight, and technically create one, I don't see them going very far with it.
I wonder among those I know, who might be resisting the urge when WLK hits to summon upon the powers of darkness. We'll have to wait and see.
So, who's not going to roll a death knight?
There are so many interesting aspects to the class, at least as far as I can tell from what blizz has thrown our way so far.
1) The new mechanic - not rage, not mana, not combat points... runes. Neat.
2) They can tank, and we always need more tanks, and they'll start higher level, so it's not as far to go... Sounds promising.
3) They cast spells and stuff. I like spells... and casting.
This kind of hybrid appeal, plus the new mechanic for abilities is just so interesting that I'd imagine the VAST majority of people who buy the expac are going to be rolling one of these DKs. Especially since it is clear that you will not be converting one of your current characters into the DK, so there is no fear of loosing all that work with your main.
So, who do I think isn't going to roll a death knight.
1) People who don't buy the expac. Obviously, but I believe that like WLK, they are going to start to quickly be left behind by the game as blizz continues to develop content for the new levels and tweak things in the expansion, TBC and Vanilla will be left in the dust as $80 of investment to play the latest part of the game.
2) People who really don't want to tank. Tanking for me is... not a whole lot of fun. I've done it a few times at low levels and taken a couple characters to the mid 20s, grouped and tanked, and I just didn't find the same enjoyment in it as I did in the PewPew game. I think the idea of me getting hit stresses me out, and considering that's pretty key to being a tank, I'm thinking it's not for me. Even the allure of new mechanics, tempting though they may be don't really seem like enough to grab me. (Unless my guildies who all will roll one as soon as they can convince me that it's worth it).
3) People who don't like "evil" characters. If you are alliance, (because I think this would be less of a problem generally if you are already the "bad guys" on horde side), and have always stayed away from warlocks because they are "evil", I don't really see you picking up a death knight. Seems a little too dark for ya.
4) People who really want to progress on their mains and don't have the time to devote to alts will probably just stick with their main, and while they might unlock the ability to create a death knight, and technically create one, I don't see them going very far with it.
I wonder among those I know, who might be resisting the urge when WLK hits to summon upon the powers of darkness. We'll have to wait and see.
/combatlogon (WWS)
Trifectae has taken the leap into data analysis and are now recording runs with WWS. (Thanks Haru!) So, for the first time I can start taking a look at how I'm doing on my own time and without being logged into the game. Let's look at our first recorded instance that I was a part of and see what WoWWebStats is saying about me:
We ran Shadow Labs last Sunday and did a great job of taking the beast down. The only thing we didn't one shot was Murmur, which was unfortunate as I had to leave before the second attempt. We almost got it in there before I had a gig I had to play, but they took Murmur down after I left. More power to them!
Here's the anon. WWS report. I'm Shamshel. Topped the DPS for the instance, but what I'm really proud of is the first two boss fights. I think looking at these fights and the numbers shows where locks can really excel! Both Ambassador Hellmaw and Blackheart the Inciter have abilities that stop the group from being able to actively DPS them. Hellmaw fears periodically and Blackheart has, well, "fun". (Mind controlling and having you each attack each other). What a warlock can do in these fights, that's different from most other classes is keep attacking through these periods of time.
DOTs keep ticking even if you aren't casting them at the moment. Unlike mages who can rock out the burst damage, boss fights make warlocks shine. The longer the encounter goes on, the more damage you can rock out if you keep a steady rotation of DOTs up. You can see if you go to the individual fights for both Hellmaw and Blackheart, on Hellmaw, I was 45% of the damage with 100% DPS uptime. I did avoid a couple of the fears and while everyone else was being chased around, (our dr00d tank did a great job of holding agro, even when feared), I was able to keep refreshing my dots and SB in the downtime. Even when I got feared, I was able to keep 3-4 dots up for the duration of that time, so this REALLY increases the amount of damage you can do.
The same business happened on Blackheart, where funny enough, he died while we were mind controlled thanks to my dots ticking away at him. Though, we remained upset at each other and fighting for a few seconds. (In memory of good old Blackheart, I suppose?)
It is so important as a lock, especially with boss fights, that you do your best to refresh your dots as soon as they finish their duration time. My general rotation for a boss fight is:
Opening: Trinket + Amplify Curse + Curse of Doom
Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Siphon Life, Immolate
SB, SB
After two SBs you are going to have to refresh something. I avoid life tapping for quite a while and will generally try to time it with moments where I won't have to refresh a DOT for about 5 secs so that I can get in another SB or double tap if I'm really low on mana. However, if you are siphoning life without life tapping, you aren't really getting the most out of the healing capability of that which you could turn into more mana. I'm generally okay with this on the 5 man fights because my mana pool is large enough that I don't have to tap very often. I'd rather be OOM at the end of the fight, but have succeeded at keeping a constant stream of DPS on the boss the whole time than to still be full on mana and have my DPS suffer.
Once you start refreshing DOTs, fill your void with SB after SB, life tapping as needed but leaving space for refreshing DOTs. Watch your timer bars. (Quartz is great for this). If you've got 2 secs left before UA runs out, start casting it. Same with immolate. Try not to refresh CoA until right after it has actually expired because you don't want to miss out on the end of its damage. Since CoA becomes most powerful at the end, refreshing it early is a loss of potential damage.
One final note about the WWS report that should be made is I was by far the best geared player on the run. Most of the other toons were relatively newer minted 70s and so the fact that I was able to top the damage charts is expected, and frankly, there would have been a problem had I not. The whole group did a fantastic job. Our pally healer did a great job keeping everyone up and got several nice drops while we were there. Our BM hunter was chain trapping up a storm. Our newly converted Ret Pally had fantastic DPS, much to the shock of all those ret-haters out there and our dr00d tank did a great job holding agro throughout. Thanks to our other hunter too who helped come in and clean up on Murmur after we bit it the first time and I had to leave.
Here's looking forward to improved performance due to data analysis! Yay Webstats!
We ran Shadow Labs last Sunday and did a great job of taking the beast down. The only thing we didn't one shot was Murmur, which was unfortunate as I had to leave before the second attempt. We almost got it in there before I had a gig I had to play, but they took Murmur down after I left. More power to them!
Here's the anon. WWS report. I'm Shamshel. Topped the DPS for the instance, but what I'm really proud of is the first two boss fights. I think looking at these fights and the numbers shows where locks can really excel! Both Ambassador Hellmaw and Blackheart the Inciter have abilities that stop the group from being able to actively DPS them. Hellmaw fears periodically and Blackheart has, well, "fun". (Mind controlling and having you each attack each other). What a warlock can do in these fights, that's different from most other classes is keep attacking through these periods of time.
DOTs keep ticking even if you aren't casting them at the moment. Unlike mages who can rock out the burst damage, boss fights make warlocks shine. The longer the encounter goes on, the more damage you can rock out if you keep a steady rotation of DOTs up. You can see if you go to the individual fights for both Hellmaw and Blackheart, on Hellmaw, I was 45% of the damage with 100% DPS uptime. I did avoid a couple of the fears and while everyone else was being chased around, (our dr00d tank did a great job of holding agro, even when feared), I was able to keep refreshing my dots and SB in the downtime. Even when I got feared, I was able to keep 3-4 dots up for the duration of that time, so this REALLY increases the amount of damage you can do.
The same business happened on Blackheart, where funny enough, he died while we were mind controlled thanks to my dots ticking away at him. Though, we remained upset at each other and fighting for a few seconds. (In memory of good old Blackheart, I suppose?)
It is so important as a lock, especially with boss fights, that you do your best to refresh your dots as soon as they finish their duration time. My general rotation for a boss fight is:
Opening: Trinket + Amplify Curse + Curse of Doom
Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Siphon Life, Immolate
SB, SB
After two SBs you are going to have to refresh something. I avoid life tapping for quite a while and will generally try to time it with moments where I won't have to refresh a DOT for about 5 secs so that I can get in another SB or double tap if I'm really low on mana. However, if you are siphoning life without life tapping, you aren't really getting the most out of the healing capability of that which you could turn into more mana. I'm generally okay with this on the 5 man fights because my mana pool is large enough that I don't have to tap very often. I'd rather be OOM at the end of the fight, but have succeeded at keeping a constant stream of DPS on the boss the whole time than to still be full on mana and have my DPS suffer.
Once you start refreshing DOTs, fill your void with SB after SB, life tapping as needed but leaving space for refreshing DOTs. Watch your timer bars. (Quartz is great for this). If you've got 2 secs left before UA runs out, start casting it. Same with immolate. Try not to refresh CoA until right after it has actually expired because you don't want to miss out on the end of its damage. Since CoA becomes most powerful at the end, refreshing it early is a loss of potential damage.
One final note about the WWS report that should be made is I was by far the best geared player on the run. Most of the other toons were relatively newer minted 70s and so the fact that I was able to top the damage charts is expected, and frankly, there would have been a problem had I not. The whole group did a fantastic job. Our pally healer did a great job keeping everyone up and got several nice drops while we were there. Our BM hunter was chain trapping up a storm. Our newly converted Ret Pally had fantastic DPS, much to the shock of all those ret-haters out there and our dr00d tank did a great job holding agro throughout. Thanks to our other hunter too who helped come in and clean up on Murmur after we bit it the first time and I had to leave.
Here's looking forward to improved performance due to data analysis! Yay Webstats!
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