Merry Christmas to You.

Hey, its really been a while. Thanks for always stopping by even when I wasn't quite here.

Just want to wish you all a enjoyable and Merry Christmas or Happy Winter Veil wherever you are. As always have a safe holiday season as well.

Screenshot Files: 77-80 Grinding...

Just stuff from my Beta Files. During Beta found this spot at Malykriss: The Vile area in Icecrown to be the best grind spot of any the last two zones for lvl 77-80 grind if you like to grind stuff. I remember a quest sends you there to check something in the area. Area not named on the zone map but its just north of Icecrown Citadel where the huge chunk of metal suspends in the air with chains overhead and gargoyle's guard the area along with Aboms at the entrance. But its all undead mobs that respawn very fast. From Beta remember the mobs spawn there in less than 30 sec and real nice to grind for fun or XP. They are other areas in Icecrown but this I remember was the absolute best for easy XP.

Related: WotLK Beta. Somewhere in Northrend

A wired grind spot in Storm Peaks just east of and outside of Brunnhildar Village where the lvl 80 Brunnhildar mobs path attacking the frost giants. If you just happen to be standing in the right area you will be in the middle of all their paths and end up you can just park and pile up mobs non stop for XP with barely time to loot. Don't think its really a grind spot, but the mobs runs that path back and forth and just happen to find it by accident in Beta as such just standing around mounted in the area.


Elemental Mobs/Spirits

lots of various Elemental mobs or Spirits on the Western edge of Sholazar Basin or "The Stormwright's" I think its called.
Sholazar Basin. The very Western edge of the zone is only accessible by flying mount and all the various mobs there are Elemental/Spirit mobs which yields various Crystallized elements of Crystallized Air, Water and can't remember what else mobs spawn there on the shelf. But the shelf runs the entire length edge of the zones with mobs.

Some Crystallized Fire you can find in Borean Tundra from the Fire elemental mobs there also in the northern part of the zone. Grizzly Hills zone have some Elemental Spirits in the eastern part of the zone where the rune mobs are that also drop Crystallized Air I remember also. There are several caves in The Storm Peaks zone that have various Spirit mobs that drop Crystallized elements of various sorts also if you like to explore. If you mine allot you can get the rest of many the other Crystallized Elements to make Eternal Air, Water or whatever else. Just stuff I remembered in Beta from all the many screenshots.

Edit: Western Edge not Eastern Sholzar Basin.

Have Fun in Northrend!

I know the new expansion launches tonight. How could one not know or be aware of it. I had even ordered the CE set myself some months ago at my local Game Stop. But anyway times have changed and at this point have not being playing the game. Irregardless I may still pick up the game as i'm sure to eventually play it at some point again. However at this point just want to wish you all well in Northrend whatever you choose to do when you get there.

No I didn't re-roll anything. I just haven't being playing the game for my own reasons or have quit playing at this point. I did cancel both my accounts since not playing as well. Players do quit and some eventually get resurrected just like in Raids. In WoW death is never permanent unless you just about completely delete your character account and maybe your blog as well. I did delete everything else except to my character and give away all the money my characters had so flat broke since don't need it now anyway not playing. But I'm keeping the blog though :)

Just choosing to do other things in my free time for now at this point and fine with it. I still read some blogs in my free time as that's much easier to do. But not that much reasons to blog much not playing the game as well. But the game will always be there till that point I feel like getting back around to it if nothing better game wise. A much different game I'm sure by then, though i've already done the leveling game once already to Northrend having played and leveled in Beta.

Wishing you all lots of new Fun and Adventure in Northrend. Hold onto your Wallets and don't go broke on the new Continent because their will be plenty of stuff to take all your money in Northrend. Right now just enjoying my 6 weeks of much needed vacation off from work. Too bad I won't be playing WoW though in that time. At some point in the future... perhaps if nothing better!

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point is a Best Seller Book by Malcolm Gladwell. Its one of my many favorite Books and one of many of the books I've read when I used to actually read lots of actual "Books". These days I've tend to read many blogs. The sad thing is I can't remember the last time I read a actual real Book recently either.

"The Tipping Point is that Magic Moment when an Idea, Trend, or Social Behavior crosses a threshold, Tips and Spread like Wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate".

We all make million of choices everyday, many subconsciously. Everyday many of those thoughts or choices tip one way or the other followed by a choice which leads to an action or a thought of some kind. Sometimes its weighing the choices on a balance scale with a game perhaps.

I believe at some point something whatever it may be in the grand scheme of all things something will cause your or I to reach your own Tipping Point in whatever those millions of collective thoughts are. At that point things begin to change. I've reached mine.


Dear Silvermoon,

My faith is with me no more. It has kept me going this long in your service. I've proudly served you as a dedicated son of these lands of our people. I've traveled far in service of our land and of our people who have suffered so greatly for far so long. Fame, Fortune and Honor I've found in my great service. Faith in the Light bestowed upon me has guided me through countless battles.

I have reached my End! I can go no further in my service of our great city and people. My steadfast dedication is no longer with me. My faith now fails me. Disillusion fills the emptiness that remains. I can no longer perform my duties as a honorable Blood Knight in your service.

To Silvermoon I leave my cold steel righteous Sword, my Shield of faith, my Divine Armor in thy keeping. My loyal companion Charger I return to thy stables. All thy gathered wealth I've instructed be donated to charity for greater good.

I have met the enemy and have fulfilled my service commission. With great sadness it pains me to acknowledge I can serve you proudly no more in my present condition. I shall take my long over due and much needed leave to wonder portals to other lands and realms. I know not if I will ever return.


Son of Silvermoon
Galoheart
Ardent Defender


One day your time will come! In the journey of "My Life and Times...." and with my most beloved and dedicated Paladin. I've chosen to end my journey here.

Being a Alchemist in WotLK

If you've done Alchemy up to 350+ one does not have to tell you how to be a Alchemist. Anyway all the new recipes you can learn from the new trainers in the starter areas and later in Dalaran. If your a Herbalist as well those are your 4 most valuable herbs that you need to constantly flower pick when seen or spotted for your self to do constant Alchemy Research as a Alchemist to discover new Potions/Elixirs/Flasks under the new discovery system. Can be valuable to sell if your a Herbalist and not a Alchemist as well.

So if your a smart Alchemist you should stock up on those herbs if anything and on every cooldown do Alchemy Research to discover something new with the side effect of some new potions created. The faster you do that on every cooldown the faster you will have all the new to play with Potions/Elixirs/Flasks. That also means the earlier you can use or sell some your new brews in the new economy and make some money. Helps to be good at making money as well in skills selling your stuff.

If your a Alchemist with good economic skills and a have mining or a pocket miner. You can do well burning up that Transmute on every cooldown (4 days) to make lots of Titanium. It will be heavily used in lots of things especially in making Titansteel and other valuables. Of course one does need to constantly pay attention to your economy Supply, Demand and Over Supply & Demand can help or hurt your wallet. Be smart.

Mining
Cobalt will be found everywhere just about. Saronite can be found in Scholazar Basin (lots) and the last 2 zones. Exploring caves are always nice (tip).

WotLK 70-80 All that Green Gear.

It will be new and fun times leveling in WotLK and with reset of entire server Economy. One of the things you will collect from 70-80 is lots and lots of green gear drop. The more stuff you kill the more of it you will tend to collect. What will you decide to do with all that green gear?

Well one the options if you so choose after picking up all that green gear is after you have a bit of a collection of it to have your guild Enchanter or a Enchanting friend DE it all for mats: Shards and Essences. Obviously you will need enchants to enchant your new rocking lvl 78+ gear and all those future 80 Blues and Epics. You don't want to be at the mercy of the AH trying to look for Essences and Shards at the beginning of WotLK or having to pay high prices.

They may not be any and if they are any you may be paying high prices for them. From 70-80 in Beta every piece of green gear I collected I had them just sent to an alt and latter when I found a good enchanter I just had him mass DE all of the gear and paid him in some the mats since he needed mats more than I did for his profession. I never had any problem getting any mats for any of my Beta gear to get it enchanted due to that. Hardest thing was finding a Enchanter that was skilled to do the enchanting since most weren't as leveled up as yet. So in all that lvl 71-80 gear I had collected quite a bit of the new WotLK mats in:

Dream Shards
Small Dream Shard
Infinite Dust
Greater Cosmic Essence
Lesser Cosmic Essence

As well Planar Essence and Arcane Dust from all the 68-70 green gear that dropped in the starter zones as well. You may need the money and choose to sell or vendor the gear all up to you. But one idea is just to DE it all since your going to need new Enchanting mats anyway and quite a bit of it to look all shinny and glowing. Just a thought.

Paladins: Nerf, Nerf, Nerf, Nerf, Nerfs!

Our class just got Nerfed yet again! When will this cursed Nerfing nightmare ever finally end?

What will the next Class Wide Nerf be for?

I'm not sure I can stand another Class Wide Nerf due to PvP affecting PvE. I'm just a PvE player, I don't even do PvP.

It's beyond stupid now.

A Guide, leveling 70-80 in WotLK

Well somewhat. Could just never get around to writing this somewhat guide as long as it has sat in my draft folder. But though I write this somewhat to make some readers life easier to some degree based on my leveling experience from Beta up to 80. Its from my perspective and experience in Beta as a Horde player mostly. Overall leveling in WotLK will be more Fun overall and much easier than leveling in tBC with nicely designed zones. However you choose to level in WotLK is entirely up to you and what you like.

Their are two Starter Zones as indicated in previous post. But you will be amazed of how many people won't know how to get to Northrend especially if you were in Beta with how many players that seem to keep asking in Trade chat. Helps to read your Patch notes when your doing all that downloading.

Trainers
After you arrive in Northrend at either of the landing areas in the Starter Zone you will find the area packed with quests all around. You will also find among the quest givers many if not most of the profession trainers for various professions. Some can also be found at the other Quest areas in the Starter Zones as well. One of the obvious first things you want to do is get training for whatever specific profession you have and get all the new recipes. For cooking if I remember you will want to just go ahead and pick up the quest which allows you to get training later also. Later on leveling up you will find all Trainers for every profession in Dalaran. Mages at lvl 71 can learn Portal spell which allows them to port to Dalaran easily.

Quests & Questing
Questing is really easy and somewhat focused in the areas you usually get quests to go to so pretty easy. If this hasn’t changed much from Beta to WotLK one thing you will find is collecting X of Y for such quests is changed much and doesn't take long to get for such quests. Very high drop rates for such quests on items and really doesn't take any time at all. But many quests are just different overall than tBC and often many have different objective for quests. Much easier and fun quests are overall. As well some quests also give reputation for various major factions of the zone area. Quests also give LOTS of XP in Northrend as well much more than in Outland and often quick to do. Much easier than just grinding Instances which really don't have that much trash for XP either and usually short.

From 70-77 you will be using ground mounts as they are no flying on the continent of Northrend until the player hits lvl 77 at which time you can purchase Cold Weather Flying in Dalaran on the flight pad or in Scholazar Basin at the Flight Master for 1000g. I think the Flying Quest was removed. Anyway you will be making use of ground mount allot that’s just the way it is for WotLK.

Starter Zones.
The starter area I spent the most time in was Howling Fjord so my view is from there. There are several quest hubs and flight paths in either of the starter zones. I know in Howling Fjord almost all the quests are targeted to specific areas usually for objectives to complete quests so its usually back and forth to specific areas. It’s pretty easy to quickly complete most the quests in a quest area if they are not that many and often the follow up quests just send you off to the other area as usual.

In Howling Fjord for Horde one the first quest giver you want to do quest for is High Executor Anselm who is real obvious to find and gives a series of several quests as well several quests leads back to him. However he does at some point completing several series of quest chains give you the quest for Utgarde Keep the first Northrend Dungeon at 70 and which does give various quests item rewards. You'll want to do all the quests he gives first if you can. I’m sure it’s the same for Alliance as well. Whatever quests you do after that in that area is up to you.

At Warsong Hold in Borean Tundra for the Horde there are allot of quests right in the landing area as well at the Horde stronghold. At some point later a bit later on doing all the quests there you will get a quest among all the others from High Overlord Saurfang which eventually returns you to Orgrimmar to Thrall which leads to the Battle for Undercity for a very Epic quest line. It’s a ton of Epic fun. But if you’re doing all the quests there immediately in Warsong Hold you will eventually pick it up. I'm not sure what the Alliance version of this is.

Borean Tundra: Amber Ledge
Wondering outside of Warsong Hold into Borean Tundra you will want to make your way up to Amber Ledge and If I remember their is a quests that also sends you there as well. However you want to get there to Amber Ledge start doing the quest chains with the Kirin Tor faction and the wizards which eventually allows you to get the quest from Surristrasz the Elite Flight Master dragon to reach the Nexus Coldarra area where the Nexus is as its otherwise inaccessible to get there.

Borean Tundra: Nexus Coldarra
At the Nexus Coldarra in the protective bubble dome there are some really nice and fun quests and quests which eventually leads to the Nexus Dungeon itself. The Nexus is a 71-73 Dungeon. Some Instance quest there have some nice Quest rewards especially some nice Plate shoulders if I remember. Completing all the quests in the area give lots of XP. Beyond that it’s all up to you after you leave there. You can complete most of the Howling Fjord area quests and then start doing the Nexus area quests if you like. However it can be easy if your just doing quests in Howling Fjord for example and some guildie/group doing quests in Borean Tundra or Nexus area needs you for a group and summons you straight to the Nexus area too.

If you ever get summoned straight to the Nexus Instance and not having done the quest to get there to the Coldarra, best is exit the dungeon and pickup the Flight Path outside at the quest area to the Coldarra. Or you will have to do the quests in Borean Tundra to get back there for the Flight Path. That was how I got to the Nexus in Beta since a Pug group needed a Tank while I was questing in Howling Fjord, which saved me having to do all the previous quests to get to the Nexus Coldarra area. All up to the player whatever they choose. The dungeon for The Oculus lvl 80 is also located inside the Nexus as well.

Howling Fjord
There are several quests hubs here and easy to navigate to. But overall there are enough quests in Howling Fjord where you can hit level 72 at least or more. Was kind of different in Beta as the XP requirement for leveling kept changing quite a bit in Beta back and forth. Anyway doing the Quests in Howling Fjord will eventually send you to Dragonblight which open up quests in that area and not available there until you get the quest to do so in that zone. The Tuskarr area has some really nice quests and its also a faction The Kalu'ak as well on the Kamagua Island south east of Howling Fjord which are all fun. Quests give reps for that faction also and one the first faction that have faction gear you can earn. Both Utgarde Keep lvl 70 and Utgarde Pinnacle lvl 80 are located in Howling Fjord at the same dungeon.

Completing all the quests there eventually you get sent later on to the next quest zone area for the Tuskarr's at a different quest point in Dragonblight as well. You want to do all the quests there which easily get you Honored. They have some faction gear at their QM you can pick up though not usable till around lvl 76. A nice chest piece for Tanks you can easily obtain.

However if you also have the option as well if you are too crowded in either of the starter zone doing quests to head to Grizzly Hills which is a really lush and beautiful forested area and pick up and do quests there. Grizzly Hill also have some PvP areas also. But It’s also a lvl 72+ area. There are quests available as a lvl 70 that you can pick up there in the zone quest areas. However mobs range from lvl 72-75. Really nice zone though.

Other Zones.
Beyond the Starter Zones questing spreads out from there as to the choice of zones you like to quest in. For me I went from Howling Fjord from 70-72. Dragonblight around 72-74. I skipped most of Grizzly Hills but there are nice quests there as well. Did Zul'Drak from 74-75/76. Sholazar Basin from 75/76 to 77 and from 77-80 in Icecrown/Storm Peaks though it was almost entirely in Icecrown Zone. All zones have some really fun quests.

Dragonblight
Dragonblight have some really nice and fun quests after the starter zones and again most the quests are focused for completion in specific areas. The zone is the home of the Wyrmrest Accord faction also. There is a ton of fun quests that involve the Scarlet Crusade at New Hearthglen that you will do in the area as well for questing and reps as well to Icemist Village to fight undead spiders invasion. All the quests for the Wyrmrest Accord faction at Wyrmrest Temple you will want to do to at least earn all the faction reps which goes along way to picking up some really nice faction gear leveling at Honored and later on at Revered. As well they have daily quests also for reps. But quests in Dragonblight are fun as well. Dungeons Azjol Nerub 72-74, Ahn'Kahet 73-75, Chamber of Aspects lvl 80, and Naxxrasmas lvl 80 are all located here.

Zul'Drak
At around lvl 74 you can start heading to Zul'Drak as quests there in the zone don't really open up before that. On the passageway route from Dragonblight to Zul'Drak at Lights Trust you will pick up a few quests at a Agent Crusade outpost and upon quick completion will send you to The Argent Crusade outpost at Light's Breach in Zul'Drak. Zul'Drak is an ancient troll city the entire zone. Questing in Zul'Drak is really fun and there you will gain reps with The Argent Crusade at the various outpost and eventually The Knights of the Ebon Blade at Ebon Watch to the far east of the zone. You want to do all the quests at Light's Breach as one quest is a elite quests which has some nice Blue weapon reward and has one the first and best Blue Tanking weapon upgrade in WotLK that will last a while also.

There is really allot of quests here in the zone for each faction and you will want to do all the quests for the reps as both faction has some nice gear rewards. As well Argent Dawn has daily quests here as well and Flight Paths. One Flight Path here has to be unlocked also if I remember. But there is allot of Plate gear in the Zone as well from all the various quests. There is just allot of quests here in the zone and lots of nice rewards as well as quests that lead to two of the Dungeons in the zone. Zul'Drak seem to start out with lower, mid and upper city zone quests. Upper being the last and harder part of the zone to the far North where the other Instance Dungeon is.

In Zul'Drak you will also find the new Ring of Blood similiar to the one in Nagrand, but with a huge new Amphitheater. I think the quest there is available around lvl 75 or so from the goblin inside there and its really fun to do in a group and have some nice Blue reward weapons also. Lots of fun. Dungeons for Drak'Tharon Keep and Gundrak are both located here.

Scholazar Basin
Around lvl 75/76 or so it’s all up to you as you can if you so choose continue to complete the zone quests or head off to the next zone of Scholazar Basin if you want a zone change or after completing the zone. Sholazar Basin is a bit similar to Un'Goro but more safari like as it’s a bit tropical and really nice zone as well. There is also a Quest in Dalaran at that level that sends you there also on the Flight Pad. There is various plate gear to be found here as well and some really nice quests overall and lots of lore quests to be found here also. Very fun zone overall with variation of quests in a relatively large zone.

Icecrown & Storm Peaks
Beyond that, at lvl 77 quests become available in Icecrown with Knights of the Ebon Blade and The Argent Crusade for lots of faction quests and reps. Its all your choice here but at this point you really need to have your Flying Mount as well for either zones. Here questing gets allot more fun and lots of nice gear and item pieces to pickup with both factions. I'll probably say you can do whichever of these faction quests first that means more to you in reps as they are many. Both faction have some really nice gear rewards as well but The Argent Crusade with the Helm Enchant for Tanks at Revered and some nice plate.

You also have the option to quest in Storm Peaks which has lots of fun quests and a huge zone but it’s all in what you like. There is a quest in the sewers of Dalaran with a goblin that sends you to Storm Peaks if I remember to start questing there. In Icecrown some Flight Paths don't become available until you do the various quests to unlock the areas. In Storm Peaks you will find the massive Uldular dungeon complex for Hall of Stones lvl 77-79 and Hall of Lightning lvl 80.

Dalaran
You won't initially entering Northrend be able to get to Dalaran unlil lvl 74 via a quest in the zone. However Mages at lvl 71 are able to pick up the Portal spell to Dalaran and if your lucky you want a guildie mage or a friendly mage to get you a Portal to Dalaran as soon as they can for all the reasons in the world. Getting to Dalaran you will want to set that Hearthstone as it makes it much easier to get to everywhere else from there. But once in Dalaran you have access to all the portals back to every major city in Azeroth and to Outland as well. All the trainers and vendors of every kind are also there in Dalaran as well. There is one Dungeon in Dalaran for the Violet Hold which is a lvl 75-77 Dungeon for which you pick up a quest outside the Dungeon in Dalaran. As well daily quests for new Cooking Recipes and Dungeons can be picked up there in Dalaran as well.

Beyond that after reaching Icecrown or Storm Peaks it’s just a matter of time getting to 80 questing or Instancing to get there. You want to really hit up all the dungeons leveling but especially the lvl 76+ Dungeons as they are some really nice dungeon loot drop and the lvl 78-80 Dungeons especially for some really nice Blue gear for gearing at lvl 80 and beyond. Faction reps will become obvious as your gaining them with whichever faction but do check each faction QM to see what you may need to pick up or whenever you can pick up needed items.

This post is much longer than I ever though it would be as well.

Related Post:
WotLK Beta - Tabard and Faction Reputation
WotLK Beta: Current Tank Gear at Lvl 80 and 540 Defense

Northrend: Zul'Drak and Sholazar Basin

Zul'Drak 74-77 zone.

Sholazar Basin 75-78 zone.

Northrend: Grizzly Hills and Dragonblight

Grizzly Hill 72-75 zone.

Dragonblight Lvl 71-74 zone.

WotLK Starter Zones in Northrend

There are two lvl 70 starter zones to choose from. All up to the individual player whichever zone they choose to start at in Northrend. Borean Tundra in the West of Northrend continent. Starter area for Horde is Warsong Hold accessible via Zeppelin from Orgrimmar. For Alliance Valiance Keep via Stormwind Harbor.

Howling Fjord zone in the East of Northrend continent. Starter area for Horde is Vengeance Landing via Zeppling just outside Undercity the new one. Alliance starter area at Valgarde via Menethil Harbor.

Which area you choose to start at is entirely up to you the player and what you personally like. There are nice quests in either areas especially the immediate starter landing areas. My opinion wont be real balance here though if you want my best opinion for a overall starter zone Howling Fjord is my better choice for a overall fun, nicer feel, more enjoyable and better looking zone. Just my unbiased and unbalanced opinion. However whichever you choose is up to you. Just hope everyone else goes to Borean Tundra due to easy access from Orgrimmar and Stormwind and clog the starter area up there for good reason. Feel free to give yours.

Sharpening Stones & Oils

Was cruising the Forums and saw this post. Discontinued for WotLK all Sharpening Stones and Oils for weapons buff.

Two Weeks to WotLK, Where Will You Be?

Thirteen days to WotLK launch and that time is ticking away fast. So you ready for the new expansion yet and will you be getting the game. Where will you be when on November 13th when WotLK launch?

Just about ready short of taking down my PC cleaning my drive which still have to do this week. I'll probably be at a Game Stop at midnight in my local area of Raleigh NC. Hope the weather is good as well.

WoW Forum Changes

According to Nethaera a Blizzard Blue the WoW forums has undergone quite a bit of changes and no longer separated by each particular class forums, but separated now into the three different role forums.

The WoW forums and for WotLK is now separated into Tanking, Healing and Damage Dealing role forums for more diverse class discussions and mechanics across all classes for greater feedback. Individual Class forums will soon be closed. This has been hinted to by Ghostcrawler for some time now as well with all the Beta discussions, so guess he flexed his muscle again. So heads up on the forum changes and with all your hot links since it affects all players as well. I'm sure it will still be the bad forums as usual probably a bit more unless its now more moderated by Blizzard with all the idiotic postings and trolling.

Edit: Blizzard now says they will keep the Individual class forums.

Scourge Invasion Mobs now Give Argent Dawn reps

Was out leveling up my Herbalism on my Hunter and run into one the attack areas and started killing the Scourge Invasion mobs for fun. Noticed they now give 10 Argent Dawn reps each for killing any of the Scourge mobs along with the Necrotic Runes which seem to drop more often now. This must have very recently changed. But they now give reps as well as they also now drop several quests also since I picked up like 4 quests. The Shadow of Doom which you summons I know gives 100 reps if killed and 30 Runes of loot which it did give before, just all the mobs now give reps it seems.

Since had the place all to my self for quite a while racked up almost 3K reps with the Argent Dawn alone their all by myself and a bunch of Necrotic Runes till I was out of ammo. So more places and mobs to get Argent Dawn reps from if your grinding it as well as Baron runs in Stratholme.

Screenshot - Northrend

Map of Northrend and its zones and various access points in zones.

This is the Flight Master map of almost all unlocked Flight Paths in Northrend with most of the Flight Paths to various zones all over Northrend. Thing to note is some Flight Paths are not unlocked in later zones until you do some area level specific quests to unlock a Flight Master or convert the zone to specific faction control.

I took this map screenshot on my Hunter since its missing all the other Flight Paths like the one above. However this is how much excessive Air Travel via Flight Paths can cost you in Northrend if you like to excessive Air Travel via Flight Paths before lvl 77. So heads up.

However their is a tip in this last map. The Flight Paths is from one starter zone to the next on both side of the continent. My Hunter is lvl 70 for all these specific Flight Paths across the bottom of the continent in the last map above. I specifically took this screenshot for a reason. So you can easily figure out what the tip is.

Loose Ends

As time before the expansion looms I'm just taking the time to get things done mostly that I personally like to get done. Not that much really left to do that I feel I need to really get done that I really consider priority for me at this point in game now since I stopped playing Beta some time ago.

Argent Dawn reps grind is done which was a big one and a big reason I quit playing Beta. Started leveling up Mining and already leveled mining up to 375 yesterday so that's now done as well also. Its now left to level up Herbalism on my Hunter but servers are down for maintenance so no head start on that as yet.

I've only done the Scourge Invasion attack event once and the quest for one day which was last day grinding the Argent Dawn reps. In that first and only time I've done the Invasion event fighting back the scourge I collected 95 Runes which allowed me to pick up the Argent Dawn Tabard and all the available Trinkets as well and Runes to spare. That was before all the crazy PvP in the area with Alliance and Horde as well trying to tag all the mobs. So haven't done any more of the invasion since I've got everything needed with the Runes. But it would have been nice if Blizzard could have made the Runes turn in for Reps as well for Argent Dawn for those that can use the reps. Do hear if you equip the Argent Dawn commission trinket you can collect scougestones though.

Haven't gone out my way to do much with any Achievements other than what just happens naturally been busy. Most stuff I can do whenever I feel the need or bored in some way though rare. Other thing for me are just priority to do. I've sold off most of my Inventory assets on AH across my 10 personal Guild Banks on my Banker Alts which took quite a bit of time to unload without much loss. But majority of that was sold before I went into Beta as well when prices where much higher on AH Economy. Inventory load is now minimal that its no longer a issue. I had one of our guild Enchanter DE several hundred pieces of geen gear from all my grinds for lots of dust, essence and shards, didn't care much for the money just the mats.

Some those mats will be valuable to have on hand and use leveling up to 80 in WotLK on gear for enchants all the way to 80 like Arcane Dusts, Large Prismatic Shards, Small Prismatic Shards (few) and Greater Planar Essences. And for DK's as well when they are leveling if have excess. I've kept some Arcane Tomes because you will still need shoulder enchants leveling as only thing better in Beta is from faction grind. Instead of DE or vendoring I've kept all lvl 60+ Plate gear and items with str/stam/defense/AP on it because gear like that will go at high price when DK's are leveling up on AH or if I feel the need to level a DK at some point. So have abit of that kind of gear in inventory that doesn't bother me to keep and still valuable.

I think after finishing leveling up Herbalism I can consider all my priority goals all done. Achievements I'll focus on to do whenever I feel like doing them because before Achievements I usually made my own goals and do them as needed and not because Blizzard put them there in Achievements to keep me busy in a time sink of their own. Though they are now their as a achievement guide. But until WotLK come out I'll probably just do dailies not that I need to either or whatever and just Bank more gold for the Warchest. Having more gold on hand is a good thing in WotLK especially as a Tank. But before I do that probably take down my Mac PC and clean everything off my drive and reload everything else and WoW and redo my UI as well.

At this point I'm just in a preparation mode for the next expansion finishing up loose ends and anything else done is just for fun as time counts down for the next two weeks.

Profession Change: Herbalism to Mining

Having finished grinding out my Argent Dawn reps went ahead and dropped Herbalism which I've had with Alchemy for forever. But for WotLK made a tough decision and picked up Mining. So started leveling Mining up to keep rolling with getting things done vs playing around and killing time with Scourge Invasion events just being focused.

So far have Mining up to just over 200. When I'm done will have my lvl 70 Hunter drop Mining for Herbalism, so its a character profession switch mostly. Almost all my time is spent on my Paladin and my Hunter is just for fun times and laid back activity. Since I'm going to need to Mine a bit of Ore for some Plate crafting needs, Transmutations (Titansteel) and more (AH profiting) I prefer to have it on the character I play all the time to drain Northrend of precious Ore farming which I'm relatively good at.

Considering also having Mining with Alchemy I can burn 2 cooldowns in WotLK making Titanium Bar with Alchemy which seem rare to find Mining based on my time in Beta. As well making Titansteel Bar with Mining which I also figure will be expensive and likely profitable. As well the HP buff from Mining will benefit me more as a Tank anyway vs Herbalism which will have my Hunter pickup and level after leveling up mining to maintain my Alchemy needs. I've never found I use the Herbalism buff much anyway mostly forget its even there.

Edit: Completed leveling up Mining to 375 on my Paladin.

Argent Dawn Exalted

Scourge Invasion event Boss.

Well finally got rid of my migraine headache caused by all the nerfing. Anyway since hadn't had much time to play last week was able to get things in perspective and focused on working on my goal of getting my Argent Dawn reps done. So on Saturday after two more full clear undead runs of Stratholme was already sitting on enough reps to finally reach Exalted with the Argent Dawn.

With the Scouge Invasion in EPL it was fun to fend off attacks for a while with a guildie and even get some Argent Dawn reps surprisingly killing the spawn mobs and for some the new Argent Dawn quest. However looking at things I figure though fun as the Invasion event was just seem was wasting abit of time with my goal still looming in mind. So headed off to solo grind Stratholme and disregarded the few Argent Dawn quests I had. Rather than run around and do the few remaining quests, I went and did what I'm good at "Grinding" with a goal in mind. I can grind anything easily if I have a good reason to.

Started with around 7K or so reps at Revered and was thinking would have to do about 10 more runs or so of Stratholme grinding out the Reps. That would of been a fair amount of runs. However did a Baron timed run again for the Reps/Scourgestones clearing the entire place of undead everywhere for all the Scourgestones and Runecloth as well. Baron never did drop his mount through all the runs, bummer! Also did see the special undead boss for the Scourge event Balzaphon as well which was new who dropped 2 Scougestones instead of one it seemed.

After turning all those Scourgestones in to Argent Dawn and getting more Valor Tokens for the turn in it re-occurred to me I had a bag full of tokens and I could turn the Valor Tokens in to get more reps. I was sitting on about 130 or so Valor Tokens which when turned in to the Argent Dawn gave 100 reps for each token. I almost forgot about those. So promptly turned them all in which gave around 13K reps and just short of a few hundred reps to reach Exalted. That was cool and shorten my grind by lots! Only one more Baron run and with full undead clear had more than enough reps at Scourgestones turn in to get Exalted with the Argent Dawn. That also at same time gave me 10 Factions Exalted with the Argent Dawn and then Silvermoon Exalted with more a ton load of Runecloth turn in at about 15k worth of reps. That's allot of Runecloth as well collected on countless runs for the grind.

So that puts me at one half of the "Argent Champion" title complete. The other half is with The Argent Crusade faction in WotLK which is more fun and much easier to complete for the Argent Champion title. It felt great to be finally exalted because those Necromancer and Shadowcasters casters in Stratholme are just evil bastards and thank god for HotR to make it much easier and bearable as those casters totally make your life miserable. They Suck! Otherwise its a grind only a Paladin can love to AoE clear all the undead.

Does feel great as did take some effort to get half the title grind complete missing out on all the other events going on with the Headless Horsemen and such. Lots of titles are easy to get for achievements some easier than others and not care for many. But a Champion of killing undead and removing them from Azeroth is one I can be proud of having.

Argent Dawn & Solo Baron rep runs.
I really didn't do a great deal of quests. But did do all the quests from the NPC's at Light Hope Chapel that gave high reps. Rest was all a solo grind of Stratholme for time sake purging the entire place of undead. I made the Baron timed event every time other than the very first time on the grind for the extra Argent Dawn reps on the Baron usually always with at least 10 mins to spare on the 45 min timer.

What worked for me was after going through the gate to start the timed event run to go immediately left hugging the wall, clear casters and get the first boss Nerub'enkan and clear the necropolis of the Acolytes. Then re track back hugging the wall to go to the right avoiding the casters to go to the other two bosses Baroness and then Maleki. Clear the necropolis again each and then the gate opens to the Baron where you have to clear all the Aboms and a few more undead in the gauntlet before the Baron. Doing that solo I always had more than 10 mins to spare as long as no caster mob problems.

Edited: Last section.

Loosing the Dedicated Faith..

All this class nerfing and knee jerk reaction by Blizzard to entire Paladin class vs pin point problem fixing have finally given me a super damn migraine the size of Texas. I hate getting migraine headache worst than anything. If you ever had one you know whats its like. I get them maybe once or twice a year with high mental activity. Its a day later and I still have this forsaken headache and I'm still upset another reason why i probably still have it triggered by all this damn nerfing.

I'm going to be honest that I'm starting to really loose all my faith in Blizzard & the Devs when it comes to Paladins as a entire class. Whether in fixing the various problems of the class or of each respected tree with PvE and PvP implications or nerfing the entire class to fix one spec it all sucks. Though I can do it, I sure don't want to fight tooth and nail to have to grind all the way to 80.

I can only hope many of these changes don't go live. But for me it doesn't matter anymore the damage is done and even my eyes hurt from this triggered migraine as well. When I woke up today still with this cursed headache It dawned on me that my days may be coming to a end. I remember the feeling I had when I knew I would soon quit Secondlife which I played before starting WoW. Their is no alternate to my main. Their is no recrossing the bridge to reroll some other class and there is no hidden alt to switch to and no desire to play another. I've being dedicated to playing my one character out of passion for my class for a very long time. And when that passion is finally gone so will my faith and all else of my Life and Times.

Beta Build Patch 9138 - SUCKS!!

New Beta Build Patch notes are out and you can see the entire Patch list over at MMO-Champion as its very long.

It damn Sucks!!! I just don't get it why the entire Paladin class keep getting all these damn nerfs especially to all our Judgements and Seals which are being nerfed to nothing. If Blizzard have a specific issue fix that specific issue but the entire class? Even our mana return been nerfed into the ground. I know there are some threat issues that needed to be pinpointed and addressed specifically but damn come on here. This is gonna suck a bit for raids and especially for Protection Soloing ability as well which I do care about as well.

I just don't damn get Blizzard and the Devs sometimes. Is the rest of the Paladin class paying the price of the damage that Rets have being doing? Why all these nerfs across the board on the entire class. It just damn SUCKS!!

Our Best Days seem to be over and it may have all being played all in Beta. We seems to be the most nerfed class overall. I don't really QQ, but with these recent changes to the class Blizzard you can Kiss my Ass!

There are really much better things I can be doing with my time and its starting to look very convincing.

Its a World Event, Get Over It!

Seem like some players complain for everything! And with 10+ Million people playing WoW quite a few will complain for just about anything or for the sake of complaining just to complain. In playing a game of fun for fun, some players just can't seem to enjoy the fun that's currently taking place with the sinister evil that's currently plaguing and infesting all over Azeroth.

Its a World event, once in a blue moon interruption of daily life in Azeroth. Yet some players can't seem to be happy that its just not life as usual and enjoy the daily changing of events with the launching of the new game expansion. Your suppose to enjoy the fun which ever way you choose to enjoy it, on which ever side of the event you choose to participate. If you choose to participate or not to participate its all your choice whichever way you choose. But its a World event in Azeroth and understand that it is someone sinister evil plan to turn Azeroth upside down. Your just caught in all the crossfire.

If you choose to have fun carrying out someone else's sinister evil plans, don't get upset when someone else decides to attempt and try to cleanse or stop you. Their is no real script here. Yes some will still be idiots as usual. But if evil is making its way across the land someone has to try and do something if you are the one carrying it out, wouldn't you if you could? Would life happen as usual if evil was running rampant everywhere? Probably not. So quest givers and flight masters are all caught up in the good fight as well. But... But I wana turn my quest in, no fair. Who said life is..

You know..... if tomorrow if somehow a huge and really massive chunk of rock come streaming from outer space and fell somewhere on this earth and throw masses of earth up into the atmosphere for a catastrophic global event. Trust me, tomorrow wouldn't be life as usual for you, me or anyone else on this planet by any means. Any you probably won't stay playing WoW as usual like you do everyday either.

Get over it and have some fun. And if that evil come my way I'm going to use Righteous Fury on it with full Holy Vengeance. That's my fun in sinister times.

Sinister Evil Invades Azeroth

So it's began and probably the evil plot of the Lich King to take over Azeroth by spreading his infectious plague all over Azeroth. Hmm fun times to be of Holy origins. I guess its up to the Argent Dawn as well the Priests and Paladin of the world to save Azeroth from total Scourge infestation by this conspiracy.

Scourge: Don't Cleanse me Bro!

Exorcism No?

Hmm, Fun Times. Best is yet to come of World Event I'm sure.

In Service of The Argent Dawn.

Yeah MIA. I little break is good. Kinda in service of The Argent Dawn at the moment. My guildies been running all over the place dinging Achievements over and over and getting their Jenkins title as well as daily kills of the Horseman. Seem like I'm on another planet, because I've been locked away in the East & Western Plaguelands as well as Stratholme for awhile just grinding reps for The Argent Dawn. Just focusing on my task at hand with the Argent Dawn for faction reps.

Needless to say haven't being playing any WotLK Beta for awhile as seen enough and kinda busy with other things of priority. Currently focused on grinding reps for the "The Argent Champion" title for Exalted Argent Dawn/ The Argent Crusade for WotLK. Grinding Argent Dawn reps can be brutal grind just running lots of Stratholme on one long grind. Well currently at Revered. Got about 13K more to Exalted to end the brutal grind. Getting reps for the Argent Crusade will be much easier and fun. However MIA In Plaguelands!

MIA

Just being MIA for a few days really in a obvious way. Work and stuff working days and nights back and forth loaded up with caffeine all the time makes one a bit tired at times so just being catching a break otherwise. As well haven't really played any WoW much for days. But I'm here around the office reading other blogs and stuff may work on a draft later of something. Knows patch 3.0 hits today as well and it wont have all or every Beta changes in them either.


Paladin on Patch 3.0
Lore on Paladin Paladinning

Honor's Code on Preparing your Tankadin for Patch 3.0 guides.

Inscription and Leveling the New Profession

Banana Shoulders writes a great blog and has a great guide list for leveling the new Profession of Inscription for WotLK which arrives as of patch 3.0 when it goes live. It looks to be a fun profession or for a Alt as well. So here is the links so you can head over there and get cracking for a head start in preparation.

Inscription Guide Leveling

Inscription Leveling Guide V1.2

If your a Herbalist like me get cracking picking flowers and making profit because Inscription will not be cheap. Glyphs are also not cheap either in Beta either. Hell Alchemy may get even more expensive if anything or profitable.

A Future with PvE Arenas? Blizzard Please Implement!

Zul'Dark Amphitheater.

This was suggested on the Beta forums as PvE Arenas and would be a great idea for the PvE game as well as it relates to Arenas which already have its own PvP Arena game.

Being able to have your own 5 man team and go one and one with scaled lvl 80 Elite Dungeon Bosses from any Dungeon of WoW or of other kinds and their crew if any sounds like Fun & Win in a Arena style setting of some sort. Blizzard seems to think its a cool idea as well and could very well have some slim possibility of getting implemented in the game at some point maybe. Would be very Fun if it happened. As its not too far different from the concept of Ring of Blood concept in Nagrand and Zul'Drak but with some kind Arena style group ratings fighting lovable and despised Bosses and their crew. With Phasing technology that could be even easier to implement as well for groups in such a setting or if different settings are needed.

Guild Crap!

I haven't spent a great deal of time on the live servers since in Beta. But I've logged on at times here and there to chat a little with some members of my Guild and other Officers that I know about how Beta is going and among the other things some people in the Guild asks. At times I've continue and done a few runs of ZA while in Beta by logging in just for the run if I had signed up for it. Otherwise I'm not on the live servers that much or on for any other raids.

So i logged in tonight while the Beta servers are down for the new Patch to see what my guild is up to. A few guild members I knew asked how things were going or with X class. Out of nowhere some unknown Hunter in the guild I've never met or know in any way starts giving me crap. Crap about me being in Beta and not spending time on the live server helping my guild. Crap that being in Beta I'm not even really helping my guild by being in Beta. Crap that because I'm in Beta and that does not mean jack in helping the guild progress or get ready for WotLK. Crap that i seem to be better than everyone else because I'm in Beta whatever else crap he kept saying.

I'm like...."wtf".... who the hell is this that giving me crap just because I'm in Beta and we clearly don't know each other at all in this new guild member. I've never done a run with him or seen before. So for several mins we had great green walls of text between me and some Hunter I don't even know. As well one or two other guildies in the mix as well with the Hunter none of which I knew in any way either being new members. Some the other veteran guildies clearly tried to stay out of it and a few asking the Hunter to cut it. But overall this guy seem to be clearly upset because I'm in Beta. As well as me spending time in Beta vs being on the live server to help him out or whatever else the guild may or may not need.

Why would anyone need crap like that or have to put up with it. Because I'm clearly helping my guild by being in Beta with whatever knowledge I may have the benefit of knowing about WotLK as well as playing my class. Clearly this Huntard thinks otherwise. Now I'm very laid back and cool headed. No other Senior Officers were on, so I just emailed the Warrior GM our guild MT and told him whats up and tell him to deal with it. So before I blow a gasket in /gchat I just decided to call it a night and log off. Why the hell am I getting crap for being in Beta. Too bad I don't do rants here even as the editor.

Frozen Wrath is upon Us!

Not much happened over the weekend as i didn't play much of Beta. For what i did play i just went and did some Ice Fishing to see what was there but otherwise i just went exploring over the various zones abit finding new things. WotLK looms everyday closer and closer everyday and the Wrath can be felt.

The Financial stock market is in metldown as well as the global financial markets. The Azeroth economy as well is in meltdown mode as speculators and others alike dump their excess inventory in preparation for WotLK. Players are doing other things than raiding and finishing leveling Alts and such. But the Wrath is already here and being felt in Azeroth and the World as well.

WotLK will be here in full effect in just barely over 30 days. The time to prepare is NOW. The time to finish getting your Azerothian lifestyle in order is NOW. Don't wait till it's too late to get the most important things YOU personally need to get done later. If you haven't started as yet, better start getting it done NOW being prepared to face the frozen Wrath of Northrend.

Don't wait, get things done NOW! Finish getting all your needed Achievements worked out NOW, not Later.


Future Blog Posts:
1. Leveling in WotLK 70-80.
2. What I learned from WotLK Beta.
3. How not to go Broke in WotLK.
4. Profiting in WotLK.

Sreenshots WotLK Beta: Good Eats!

Nothing like being in a Party and and among your skills as a Tank your also professionally skilled as a top Chef Cook from trainer and thus dropping a big stuffed meal for a Great Feast with some Good Eats ( I like FN too) of a party buff. And if your a top Fisherman you can drop a Fish Feast if properly Chef trained as well. However the Fish meal is nowhere to be seen as yet and what Paladin wont want a meal like that to work off swinging Sword & Board or a giant Hammer.

Easy way to make friends right out the door and set your self apart especially when you hear some Mages don't even give food and water. So pays to have a few Good Eats in your bag.

WotLK Beta: Current Tank Gear at lvl 80 and 540 Defense.

Mostly making this list for myself and future reference or to later update it for reference. Current gear at lvl 80 in WotLK Beta with minimum 21K+ HP, 5644 Mana, 540+ Defense (Uncrittable) depending on which Trinkets used. All gear enchanted with minimum of lvl 70 Enchants and some WotLK Enchants as obtainable as most are just way to expensive in Beta.

Helm
The Crusader's Resolution. Quest Item with The Argent Crusade in Icecrown. Enchanted with Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector from Argent Crusade Revered.

Neck
Burning Skull Pendant. Unknown Heroic Drop I luckily picked up on AH at astronomical price. This was upgraded from the Amulet of Deflected Blows I had picked up also from Utgarde Pinnacle lvl 80 Dungeon.

Shoulder
Crusader's Square Pauldrons. Dungeon BoE Item drop from any mob in regular Cot - Stratholme lvl 78-80 Dungeon. Enchant Greater Inscription of the Knight (Scryer Enchant). Upgrade enchant would be Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle from Sons of Hodir Faction Honored.


Cloak
Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions. Faction: The Wyrmrest Accord - Honored. Enchant Cloak - Titanweave.

Chest
Reanimated Armor. Dungeon Boss Item drop from Utgarde Pinnacle lvl 80 Dungeon. Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health.

Bracer
Svala's Bloodied Shackles. Dungeon Item drop from Utgarde Pinnacle lvl 80 Dungeon. Enchant Bracer - Major Defense.

Glove
Daunting Handguards. BS Crafted Item. Enchant Gloves - Armsman.

Waist
Tempered Saronite Belt. BS Crafted Item. Has a Eternal Belt Buckle socket added. I put a +21 Stamina gem in the Belt Buckle. Upgrade Belt would be from dungeon The Oculus: Girdle of Obscuring.

Leggings
Special Issue Legplates. Faction: The Argent Crusade Honored. Enchanted with Jormungar Leg Armor Kit. Bloodstone Gem. (Current)
Daunting Legplates. Previous leggings from BS crafted before upgrade.

Boots
Slaughterhouse Sabatons. Dungeon Boss Item drop from Cot - Stratholme lvl 78-80 Dungeon. Enchant Boots - Greater Fortitude.

Ring 1
Solid Platinum Band. Dungeon Quest reward Item from quest to Gundrak lvl 76-78 Dungeon in Zul'Drak .

Ring 2
Dragonflight Great-Ring. Dungeon Boss Item drop from The Oculus lvl 80 Dungeon.

Trinkets
Crusader's Locket. Quest Item reward in Icecrown on Argent Crusade quest.

Scarab of Isanoth. Quest Item reward in Dragonsblight.

Horn of Argent Fury. Quest Item reward in Zul'Drak on Argent Crusade quest.

Seal of the Pantheon. Dungeon Boss Item drop from Halls of Lightning lvl 80 Dungeon in Storm Peaks.

Indestructible Alchemist Stone. Alchemy Crafted at lvl 75.

1H Weapon
Eternally Folded Blade. Dungeon Boss Item drop from Halls of Lightning lvl 80 Dungeon in Storm Peaks. Enchant Weapon - Potency. The WotLK upgrade enchant to this enchant seems really mislabeled with AP vs a new Strength upgrade enchant for WotLK. Good WotLK Enchants as also very hard to try and get with mats that require a epic item DE for shards also. Better than no enchant at all.

Shield
Titansteel Shield Wall. BS Crafted Item. Enchant Shield - Exceptional Stamina. This shield replaced my BS crafted Saronite Bulwark.

Libram
Libram of Repentance. Upgrade Libram of Obstruction with 15 Emblems of Heroism to purchase in Dalaran.

This post is linked on side bar and will continue to be updated as necessary!

If you plan ahead in WotLK having some mats can make things easier eg Arcane Tomes for Shoulder. Saving all green gear while leveling to get DE for Dusts, Shards and Essences. AH prices were astronomical in Beta. I had actually saved up every piece of green BoE gear collected in Beta from 70-80 sent to my alt and later had them all DE by a enchanter for mats which made it easier for me to afford and obtain gear enchants.

Confidence in the Light or Just Doom and Gloom?

That is once Valiant "Crusader of the Light" above that through his valiant effort hang on the brink of death hanging on with his dare life as you attempt to to save one Valiant Crusader on a mighty quest (Argent Crusade Quest). He had more confidence in your ability to save him as a stranger than most Paladins have in their class being given a chance of being fixed or being better than it was before. Very awesome quest by the way!.

So according to the very unscientific Poll we had with asked: Do you have Confidence that the Paladin Class will be Fixed? We had a total of 144 participants excluding myself (Thanks for Participating :) as well for the results:

Yes: 79 (54%)
No: 43 (29%)
Don't Care: 22 (15%)

Seems more people have some confidence we will be be a better class than we were before in tBC come WotLK or have some Hope In The Light. I have confidence that the class will be much better than it was before in tBC as well that the Devs are trying to fix things in this expansion more so than previously where they hampered things.

I'm not saying I expect the class and each spec to get everything it asked for as Paladins do ask for a Ton of things with endless QQing on the Forums or Beta forums. I don't expect that Protection Paladins as a whole will be equal to Protection Warriors who hold the benchmark bar for Tanks but do hope the differences are small. I do expect us to be close with the ability to perform well with a player being a skilled Tank in a good group and can rise above his shortcomings whatever they are.

Having said that their are min/max guilds and players in WoW and their will continue to be those players who continue to crunch numbers and min/max every way conceivable because that's what they do. I'm sure if some can squeeze a nickle out of a quarter as it relates to the game they would if they could. But I think we will be OK despite the short comings here and there. As their will always be some things designed the way they are as designed by Blizzard because its their game.

I'm only here to play their successful game, not to tell them how to remake their own game but do provide constructive feedback though as well. But I do have confidence we will be better off. I guess I'm a bit optimistic vs being constantly pessimistic that the sky is always falling ever sec on the Paladin class with a need to QQ about every detail. But then again I don't spend my time QQing either nor do I ever do it on this blog either. Its not all gloom and doom before WotLK. We will be better off this time around, but that's just my take being optimistic with some confidence of things. Of course I'm more than sure some may not think that way. As some is looking out for their own class self interest.

WotLK Beta: UnCrittable in Beta?

With all the Beta testing of content. How hard is it to get to 540 Defense? The Uncrittable cap seem to be 540 Defense or 690 Defense Rating at least which gets you to the Uncrittable level at 80 by a lvl 83 Boss. As well the only big defense cap you seem to have to worry about for WotLK as well for a Paladin or Warrior Tank.

That didn't seem to be all that hard to get to in my opinion if you've given it some effort and done some fairly easy quests, the Dungeons themselves and the quests they give. As well Dungeon Quests does give some really nice item rewards. Also including a few pieces of BS crafted gear if needed, much of which I already had on already. That's pretty much all I did and just focusing on improving gear pieces really which are all blue in every slot except one or two AP trinkets just switching them around. Currently at 20.7 HP and 5734 mana in the screenshot.

I have all the gear enchanted yet not all the very best enchants as yet due to mats cost in Beta at astronomical levels and ability to obtain some mats. The hardest thing to obtain was getting the Epic Shield crafted which I wrote about previously which took a bit of effort getting some mats and some farming. Then transmuting over days to get the required mats from that. Not very hard it was all around but nothing like crunching numbers trying to get to 102.4% with gear for uncrittable and uncrushable in tBC.

Recent Patch Changes.
With the recent Patch Hammer of the Righteous (HotR) now does 4 x Character Sheet DPS which is still based off of having a high weapons dps. The spell still read as previous and has not being updated as yet in the tool tip. That DPS is modified by AP as well from buffs. Seal of Corruption/Vengeance has had some damage reduction change of some sort done to it again but most noticeable in the ticks which previously ticked for 10 now ticks for 5 on a target. I'm just really clueless with that change to say the least.

I've heard Sacred Shield may have being changed though the spell tool tip is unchanged but I haven't tested it to be able to tell. Devine Plea now has a 15 sec duration vs 10 sec and seem to affect Holy Paladins more but I do notice the change as Protect as well.

*If I have time will update this with the gear pieces I have on.

Screenshots WotLK Beta: The Oculus

The Oculus is a very cool instance apart of the Nexus Coldarra and very different as well. Probably the coolest and most unique Instance I've seen so far. You fight trash mobs and then Bosses on a series of individual levitating Ring Platforms or Bands. Clearing each set of Band Platform then a Boss going upward as you do so.

Whats unique is you get to command special Drake mounts each with different abilities to move from Platform Bands and fight other airborne trash mobs. This Instance is very cool.

WotLK Beta: Grouping with Other Classes.

So far with all the new class changes I've had a chance to run or group with some of all the classes though not all. I can't say I've being in a group with a Shadow Priest or a DPS Warrior usually. But All my groups are PuGs. I'm not apart of any guild in Northrend just liking to go it alone and do other things as i feel so instancing are all random groups and invites.

Most the classes from that are in tBC I'm pretty much used to. Some classes more than others in a 5 man group as a Protection just works much better with some classes than others. Its a bit different seeing a Shaman with wolfs along in a fight and wondering where they came from as the tank, as bit different that is. But most classes seem the usual. Rets seem to work well in a groups that I'm in but that's still hard to tell when you can be busy tanking and learning Dungeons and mob tactics.

Biggest class so far getting used to is probably with Death Knights because they are new and experiences are new with the class. Some Dungeons I've been in groups with 2 Rets for dps or one group I had 3 Death Knights a Hunter and a Priest. That's a bit different there with multiple of one class in a group of 5. Working with a good Death Knight seems fun with at least one DK in a 5 man group based on how my Paladin AoE works tanking.

Its has being sometime of a challenge sometimes AV Shield pulling a group of mobs then start heading towards the mob closing the distance only to have some DK Death Grip it from right where the mob was before I got to it and then having to run back to where I was. As the tank that has more than often being a bit annoying to deal with. Sometime I think of it ahead of time marked a Caster in a group, AV Shield the Caster and have the DK yank the mob from where it was pulling the rest of the group that was shielded. However, I still find this a bit annoying or annoying to deal with in however I decide to pull a group in more than one ways.

However I'm still getting used to being in groups with DK's as they do add a bit to a group as well as with buffs. Two DK in a group is bit much to deal with and three DK's though can seem like fun, to me is more of a challenge to deal with with all the uncontrolled AoE being tossed or spammed around in the groups that I've been in and sometime without regard to the target mob. One good DK in a group seems to work well with a balance of other classes in groups that I've tanked with beyond that its one DK to many for me as a usual 5 man group.

Their will be allot of DK's in WotLK and few will be really good at first learning the class or being as experienced as the other more well known classes. Many will have to learn to work with other classes in how they play. With so many new DK's can only hope they don't end up with some stigma like Hunters have in WoW learning to group and work with other classes.