The Lost Skill and Art of Target Crowd Control (CC)

That loose Hunter in (Shackle Undead), I CC'd It and without the Tank asking me to.

The ability to Crowd Control (CC) a loose target and mob in a Instance to the benefit of a Instance party seem to be a lost Art & Skill that's almost gone the way of the dinosaur. Maybe not quite, but it sure feels like it. But lets face it, quite allot of players today in WotLK era have no idea What (CC) is, How, When, Where or What CC they can use at their disposal if needed.

Crowd Control is simply the spells and ability that many players have from various classes to limit a mob target ability to engage in active combat or to incapacitate them in some way. That ability limit the amount of mobs in a group in active combat to make a chaotic situation much less chaotic and a bit more controlled for the person doing the pull which is Tank.

In age of WotLK expansion where Blizzard has made every dps class to AoE like rain, and all tanks have high threat AoE to just round up groups and AoE there is no real adverse effect to how a group is ever pulled and burned down. With most mobs in group pulls having no real deadly spells and abilities to lock down or counter for a more controlled pull its all AoE all the time every time.

There has been no emphasis through out WotLK on the real use of Crowd Control skills to any real degree in use by classes that have the utility which are almost every class. And in a way what that has done is that second natured utility skills that many players had in tBC they can barely remember how to use. Overall it used to make things interesting when you had to CC something once in a while. Some players cant remember how to CC. Some never players have no idea what the hell that even is let alone ever heard of it or know how to and when to use if they ever even had to.

This is one the thing Ive though about for some time as well. And even in my guild who has allot of newer player to WoW who was never around in the tBC era many of them have simply never heard of CC, or even know what it means or what to do. If you were around from the Vanilla and tBC era at this point in WoW your totally from the old school era of WoW. Back in the era of tBC at least you knew how to use CC if it was required and it was almost in every tBC dungeon/raid you went to. Most players knew how to use their skills or they often saw it in action or was called up at various point to lock down a target at some point.

Its no secret that tBC dungeon tactics was much different to WotLK era and that's totally by Blizzard design and many players wanting easier dungeons with less emphasis on CC and faster dungeon runs start to finish. Everything is for faster and easier instances. But there are always Cause & Effect when things change. With easier faster dungeons you have less trash, more AoE and when it comes to a mob CC target pull to make things interesting........ who cares! Its a AoE grind!

No longer you have the smart surgical pulls that many tanks has skills in with X target CC on pull to make a pull interesting. Most players don't want that it seems. But what's always easy and quicker don't always make it fun or overall good for the player from a skill point or game challenge. Where is the challenge when a Hunter as dps don't get to pull and trap or chain trap in a Dungeon or practice his art once in a while to feel valuable. Or a Mage to feel he/she can get to Polymorph something once in a while or other classes to use their utility skills.

I'm a bit torn at times as well when players want a dungeon to be over in 10 mins and only have to run in kill one pack of trash and then boss dungeon over. As a player I enjoy the challenge vs having it all been totally brain dead easy. Players seem to want things all to easy but that don't always make it fun. But the effect of things is that you have dungeons with less emphasis with barely any any form of CC use ability because the mobs in the trash pack are lol easy AoE.

I like to AoE as much as anyone being a Tank. Yet often I find it quite boring as well if you cant use some strategy given the group you have to execute pulls with some form of control or lock down of a target to make things interesting for the rest of the group.

I remember the fun times back in 5 mans back in tBC, the pull before the 2 boss in Shadow Labs fun times with that room. The pull with the Tempest and the Champions immediately after the giant crab boss in Slave Pens and the pulls going up the hill all the way to the last boss. The pulls in Tempest Keep Heroics fun times! The pulls at the beginning and all the way through Steamvault. Allot of players really hated that place :) and are not going to share that sentiment because of group combination some players always thought you had to have. For CC one form or another and people using them properly. People just needed to know how to play as a team and use their spills properly. Nor do many want to go back to that era either. Why? Because it was hard or seem like it was. I more less though it was a fun challenge the dungeon tactics required vs the almost brain dead era of WotLK where you AoE everything. And where new Tanks as well seem to learn that and believe thats how you do everything as well.

But tBC had more emphasis on players ability to use their CC skills/utility as a art more so than WotLK ever had. Its like the forgotten skills. The other day through some means the conversation came up in our guild and that lead to the topic of Crowd Control. And when I mentioned the ability to CC in guild chat, it became evident that with quite a few 80's and others in our guild they totally had no damn idea what I even meant. So I asked if they knew what Crowd Control is? And barely anyone even knew that either. That kinda shocked me a bit though not as expected either. But yet I would imagine if your at lvl 80 you have some idea what CC is right? Most players in my own guild even didn't know! And that started to make me wonder even more why is that? They never had to use their skills or even seem anyone else use it to any real value or in a group. In the age of AoE all the time every time, who needs CC is the general and overall thought. Why do others care or should have to learn how to properly use their utility skills? Often many those players get to a raid environment where it may be required but they fail at using their skills and cause you potential wipes.

One of our fairly geared Hunter I asked out of curiously if he knew how to chain trap? He never heard of it! He had no idea how and wondered why he even had to know how. He figured he can easily throw a arrow and drop it at the mobs position and have it trapped. Chain Traping, he had no clue though. The thing that bothered me a bit was I knew these things, but barely anyone in my guild did. Barely anyone in my guild been around before WotLK. When I talk about how it was in tBC in the old school days of WoW to them in chat its like talking about a forgotten era in WoW how it used to be.

In all the dungeon instances in all of WotLK I've ever personally been in. I have never seen a Mage Polymorph anything! I've never seen a Shaman Hex anything though I did use it a time or two leveling up my Shaman just to see what the spell does out of curiosity. I've seen a Rogue's Sap a target just playing around before a pull. I've never seen Repentance use ever by any other Paladin besides myself. I've never seen a Hunter ever successfully Freeze Trap anything at range or on aggro pull. I've never seen a Warlock Banish, Enslave or Seduce anything, I have no idea if they still even have the spell or if they even still have the Succubus. Never seen a Druid use CC anywhere. I seen a some Priest use Shackle Undead a few times at least at various places doing things. Overall not much CC have I ever seen other than what I've used on a Alt personally. But its kinda sad that's quite allot of classes with utility I've never ever seen spells used anywhere. Lost skill and art?

And to me when it comes to the ability to use CC it seems in WotLK even though not really required by content design by Blizzard, many don't seem to know how to avoid breaking the spell ability when cast if its even used either. Because everyone and every class now use AoE! Someone cast a CC, someone else immediately now breaks it. Sucks!

In the new ICC Heroics where its possible to use some form off CC I've seen the ghostly waves of trash tanked out in the open and in the alcove both. I've been there on my Paladin as tank and Ret dps on different occasions. I've also been there on my Shadow Priest as well. On every occasion been there I've used my own CC at least once minimum as dps. And the funny thing is almost every time I CC a target at range or close by out of AoE range, someone else almost immediately breaks it and often its not the tank. At times I've popped Repentance on the ghostly Hunter or a Mage at range just outside AoE range, someone breaks the CC almost immediately. I cast Shackle Undead on a target at range, it never last the duration of the spell barely 5 secs as someone else breaks target CC with AoE damage. I'm using my utility skills where its good to do so and very helpful to the tank and the healer both for a bit more control of chaos. But others just breaks it. But at least I thinking and using the abilities when necessary.

I have Repentance on my Ret Paladin as a macro that yells in chat I'm CCing a Target and which target so everyone sees the notice on cast of spell, people still break the CC every time! Same with Shackle Undead on macro and only yesterday of all the times I ever used it that someone didn't break the Shackle Undead. But it was quite funny in that when the other mobs were dead everyone was wondering why the that Hunter mob was standing there in Shackles before they finally decided to burn it down. What that did was help the healer out in that instance healing. And though the healer died in yesterdays run on the next waves of trash, we still managed to finish the waves of trash, kill the 2nd boss all with the healer dead. Was able to CC a mob, dot a target or two and hit a healing spell to get through trash then dps and heal the boss all while the healer was down for utility. Hell I found that more fun than anything but it was teamwork at that point to avoid a wipe with a healer down. You never know when you need to use other skills in playing as a team instead of just trying to top the damage meter all the time. Its good to have usable utility and know how to use as needed.

That deadly caster mob over in the far left distance, I CC'd it with (Repentance) without being asked.

The only other time I've managed to use CC and no one broke it is in the picture above. It was hard to try to take the shot while dpsing due to the lag as well. But I had the article in mind and I needed a active CC shot at work for this because it seem rare. No one else in the whole run used any form of CC ever on any the trash pull. Of course its easy to AoE everything right? But i do remember how many people got killed due to Ice Spikes across the floor as well from those same casters earlier. But its less chaos when CC is used and saves people from unnecessary death when you don't have a caster throwing Ice spikes across the floor killing people. As causing unnecessary healing to have to be done.

I remember in that same ICC pull we couldn't find the trap for the Bone Ward Giants mobs. And on pulling the large trash group before the first boss in ICC raid while pulling the trash one of the two remaining Giant Bone Ward mobs immediately popped and could be a potential wipe. I immediately popped Repentance on the caster in the distance since I knew he be casting the Ice Spikes across the floor constantly while trying to kill the large trash pack and the Giant Bone Ward mob. Not once only but twice successfully I used Repentance on that same caste to keep that mob locked down as Repentance was up. And who knows if the other giant in the alcove would pop as well. That saved a potential wipe and no one really died on the pull either. The thing was there were 3 Ret Paladins and a Hunter in that pug ICC run, yet none the others thought enough to CC a stray loose cannon mob.

CC isn't dead, few just remember how and when to use it or even why I believe. But its teamwork to use your utility to help and benefit your group to control the chaos. Often someone just blame the tank saying the tank didn't get the stray mob. But if you have the ability to lock down a mob on the fly with a usable form of CC which takes a second or two of utility then its your fault if you see it and never do anything about it. And if someone marking or tanking don't say to CC something loose, many just seem to possibly ignore the fact that they can do something as a team player and locked down a stray mob. Group play is a team effort! They'll probably do good dps on target, but its like not caring if loose mob kills someone else in the process or cause healer added work load enough that someone or more possibly dies.

As a player I like the challenge of interesting pulls, being able to execute it and mark my targets or CC if I have to. Yet I can AoE them all if I needed to, though more chaotic. Its a choice what one chooses to do somewhat given the group they have. Yet its good to practice your utility skills or know how to use them, you just never know where and when you will be required to use them. And when you do, you just stand out that much more than the next average player in your group who didn't think enough to use his/her ability.

Quel'Delar's Epic Quest in ScreenShots

Quel'Delar's reward for a dps Priest since well you cant wield the actual blade and Priests don't use Swords.

Its a very long Epic Quests that once started takes you through all 3 of the new IceCrown Citadel 5 man Instances to either gather some items or reforge some part of the Quel'Delar's blade. As well fight the blade in Halls of Reflection. Lots of lore all around. Even get to meet quite a few heroes and villains of lore all well known as well. Its a really awesome and time consuming quest but really fun that takes you to lots of places to complete.

I took over two dozen screenshots on the quest just for fun of lots of cool moments. I'm not going to put them all up. I'm also too lazy to detail the quest as well so i'm just going to do it in screenshots and all are in order to the next. Few shots are missing in between and those are all that takes you to the new heroics to complete some aspect of it. But just a few screenies of the Epic quest.

If and when you run any the new three IceCrown Citadel heroics this Battered Hilt can drop from any thing in the dungeon and even from the boss also if your so lucky to see it drop. This Hilt dropped for me of the last boss or 2nd boss in heroic Forge of Souls. This quest can be done by any class and rewards any class at the end with a weapon. So if the Hilt ever drops for you everyone roll need on it and that includes you. Don't let some smart ass try to talk you out of not rolling on it. Yeah some smart ass tried to as well in my random heroic Pug, but i won the roll and all was well fair and square.

Anyway Enjoy. I need to get back to playing the game.

You take it here the Battered Hilt if it ever drops for you and you know where that is by now.

Lots of interesting lore and lore i never knew about. Cool stuff.

That queen is a hottie!

You get to meet a few Heroes. As as a Blood Elf its great to actually get to meet some and not some the crazy ones we know of. You even get to give then a helping hand and get their blessing.

A trip to now well guarded the Sunwell.

Present and dip Quel'Delar's blade into the Sunwell.

All the Elfs seem to be happy I returned Quel'Delar and mumbled all kind of stuff in awe of Quel'Delar's return.

The Sunreavers are quite happy I completed all that task to complete and reforge Quel'Delar on its Epic quest.

Bummer Priests can't use swords so I can't actually wield Quel'Delar. So the Argent Crusade decide to reward me in fair trade with one their great great Epic Weapons and take Quel'Delar into their protection.

Epic Quest! You even get a Achievement for it too. How nice. Well can only hope a Battered Hilt drops for you too and maybe you get to do the quest and all. Don't let some jerk try to talk you out of rolling Need if you haven't gotten it yet. Some guy in my Pug wanted to bribe me for the Hilt when it dropped.

Why Do You Pull So Fast?

A nice and simple question and a fairly lengthy new thread I saw and read on my Blue Tracker asked by Skeletorrior on the WoW Forums: Why do Tanks Pull So Fast? The reason It caught my attention again was more so because just a few days ago I had a chat discussion with a few guildies that brought up the question in guild chat. More so especially since Patch 3.3 with the new LFG system and with many of them now running allot of random heroics.

So quite a few guildies chatted about it and their experience with the cross realms LFG system and their grouping with random players often many high HP tanks and super fast runs. I'm still a Tank at heart and though I've been on break from it for quite a few months I still know how I like to tanks and think I can understand the reasoning why many tanks like to pull so fast. So I tried to chat with my guildies to help them understand some perspective of from a Tanks view.

Since Patch 3.3 in the random LFG System I've been in groups as dps where Tanks pull at amazing speed from start to finish. Some have been crazy pulls the entire instance. Often many those runs were with Tanks around 38K+ HP and more but all fun to me.

Some my answer to that is just based on my own personal experience and just how I like to do things from my experience over time as a Tank. But as a Tank I hate standing around twiddling my thumb in a Instance! Its also one the things I really hate at times about raiding, all the waiting around as well also and dead time. When I get to the instance and we ready, its time to get going, keep moving and get it over with. And the faster its over with the quicker I can get that done and move on to the next thing to do whatever that may be I need to do.

I also like the momentum and keeping the momentum of things moving fast if possible or at a steady pace. As well the better I now a instance the faster its going to go and as long as the healer has mana or fairly enough I'm going to keep moving. Plus with Divine Plea as a Paladin it favors being in constant melee combat to keep Divine Plea up for mana regeneration.

Faster runs to me are much more fun and well as chain pulling and keeping a fight going. That's just more fun than constant and stop and go and waiting around. Kinda remind me of highway traffic and stop and go traffic. I hate stop and go traffic as well. I like to drive fast and move fast. Quite a few times I've been in group where the healer and dps was asking to go faster or someone wanted the run to go faster because they had other things to go do and wanted the run to be over as fast as possible. I'm going to pull as fast as I think the healer can keep up and keep people alive without wiping. I don't like unnecessary repairs either from dying if i can help it from a stupid wipe if I can avoid it.

From beginning of Instance run to the end I'm constantly paying attention or evaluating how well the healer is keeping things going on heals. More so at the beginning of the run. And as long as they doing a good job of it on heals and keeping up it sets the pace for me the rest of the instance I'll keep pulling moving things along rapidly. The more Pro to me the healer seems or the more trust I have in the healer to be on the ball the faster I'm going to go and the more fun I'll try to make the pulls and run for everyone. At times I've tried to pull fast or make things interesting to give the healer a healing workout and so they don't get bored healing either. But for me it all depends more on the healer than the dps. And as long as the healer can keep up on healing I'm going to keep pulling and moving fast as long as I'm comfortable as well with the group performance and nothing tricky about any pull I'm doing like in learning a new Instance and getting a feel for things.

The faster the better, the more fun it is. Sometimes your just in the zone pulling and keep going unless the healer signal for a break or something to slow down a bit. But the quicker the instance is over with the quicker that I as a Tank can get back to doing whatever it is I was doing. I don't like to waste time twiddling my thumb! The last few months I been enjoying playing dps for a change of pace and I enjoy it and the relaxation of it all. And even dpsing I enjoy things when the Tank as well picks up the pace and keep things moving at a good steady pace and the faster the more fun to me it is or challenging it can be.

It might be the same for you or it may be different reasons. But why do you pull so fast?

A Week In Screenshots Pugging LFG

Just a week in review on the Pug beat running random heroics on my Shadow Priest and so far my experience with it is overall Fun! Whats not fun is the Dalaran Lag! And all the people sitting around Dalaran twiddling their thumb while waiting for a group to pop and causing all that lag too and whatever else is causing it. Otherwise most the instance groups has been really fun and overall jerk free......... so far. That was one the fastest H HoL I can remember so far though it didn't beat that 4 man one I was in one time but that's another Pug tale.

Most of my addons have been updated, yet some of the ones I would like thats apart of my UI are not updated as yet but thats less annoying than Dalaran lag waiting for them to get updated.

Heroics since Patch 3.3 is All Business! Really? Yeap! No small talk, no one wants to chat. No one wants to hear you chat. Sometime people barely say Hello. And if they ever say Hello, that's as much as you'll ever hear the rest of the run. Get in, get it going, get on with it and get out as fast as you got in. All Business I guess.

I was in a heroic OK group. It was going fine. The Tank went afk before the second boss. Ok. He was afk at least 5 mins. One dps dropped out, then the other dps dropped out. Not long after I told the healer we should call it wth afk Tank, she agreed. Was about 9 mins by then and tank was still afk. I'm not bothered by having a degree of patience, It has served me well in other areas like tanking when I do. But many players don't and in this case the afk tank as way long on afking. If your prone to going afk, you probably wont have a group left or be in one the time you get back afking in the new grouping.

Most people I observe have been real courteous on entering groups and in groups. In my 100+ players I've pugged with no one has ever been kicked from a group. Most people have some decent form on dps.......so far. In ever group I've dropped a Gigantic Feast or one in one form or the other. Most people appreciate it for the buff even if it matters less if you over gear the instance. Some people do drop them or ask, but few people do. All good.

When the last boss dies and the last loot is rolled and resolved. People rarely say good by or appreciate the group, but some do. Many just drop the group as fast as they got in it and off to the nether. But some do say "hey good group", "fun run" or something. But for the vast majority I've seen its poof gone to the nether or back to their server. All Business and no small talk.

I did notice this when we ran a few heroics as our guild that with the group as it is when the lass boss was dead the leader can put the group back in the LFG que and instantly with a full ready group immediately was in another heroic. That worked for quite a few runs we did. So I can only presume if your in a good group and at the end people can elect to stay in group if they like or choose to and be quickly more ready to do a next random heroic. Could be much faster than dropping a group, leaving instance, porting and then re-entering the LFG que if you already have a good group for more heroic random runs. Worth trying if your there.

I have not had the chance to do the new heroic for ICC on regular since well, I've been to busy running random heroic in the new LFG system. But doing the random heroics with the guild we got heroic Forge of Souls. I got goose bumps because i had not seen any of the new 3 heroic yet on regular mode. Later on had really good group in random LFG since i ended up seeing heroic Forge of Souls like 3 times at least later. The new Instance just felt really Epic and was just too much fun. Even the trash felt Epic and fun. We wiped once on each boss but we got it down the second time. Those bosses are just fun and awesome fun it was!

Later on as I was rolling along in random Heroics I got heroic Pit of Saron. Oh no! I haven't seen this place on regular mode either. I had no idea what to expect or what to do. Well dps. Oh yeah. I just dpsed and try to stay out of anything below me. No one explained anything and I didn't really ask either to be that noob dps guy that don't already know the new Instance back to front and know everything already about every boss and boss ability like some people want to expect you to already know when you barely have had the chance to do it yet. No hadn't a clue what to expect. Seems like the ultimate fun in well not knowing what to expect.

We didn't wipe on any boss! And that was a bit of the highlight for me. And I really didn't understand the boss tactics or mechanics either. Even after the fight I kept wondering exactly what they did. I just ran out of stuff and away from stuff and tried to stay alive and keep dpsing. We did wipe on trash the only wipe in the instance Pit of Saron. We wiped once on the waves of trash right before the ice cave tunnel. Sound advice is kill the casters first. What really helps is the the mobs being marked as well to people know which ones to kill. But some the best instance I've ever seen in 5 man heroics period.

I have to say some the best groups Instance wise I've been in. And for doing 2 the new dungeon on heroics and never seen them on regular mode or know what to expect it was all a rush and awesome fun not knowing what to expect. As well the healer was damn impressive as we didn't wipe on any boss in Pit of Saron. Was so much fun.

DPSing as Shadow Priest

I'm still really refining dpsing as Shadow Priest but I guess more so in a party setting/instance/raid. DPSing as a Shadow Priest is really fun aside from any other class issue most people have of the class. Its kinda reminds me of a bullet train. I once lived in Japan for a few years when back in the military and got to rode a bullet train a few times very expensive ride but damn fast. The trains take a little while going along to ramp up to full speed, but once they do they moving ultra fast. So far been able to gear him up quite a bit, he even got 2 pieces of Teir 8.

To me comparing dps as Shadow to most other dps that start at full speed on hits it seems out the door it takes a little while to catch up dpsing moving along with other class. Shadow Priests don't have much burst with a bang like mages or any the fast burst high dps classes, they just have a bit of ramp up time to doing fairly good dps rolling with allot of dots and more dots on duration fights. And its the ramp up time that takes allot of the work to drop all them dots and the one you need up. And I guess that's how dps to me is as a Shadow Priest if I ever had to somewhat explain.

That ramp up time can seem to frustrate many with a spec with so little real burst, just lots of dots. Instancing on trash, burst classes can dish out the burst so fast that as Shadow stuff dies before you can really even drop any good meaningful dots and without much tick duration since well trash dies fast before dots have time to really tick. I guess with Patch 3.3 the haste change will help allot here but still the dpsing part of the class that can frustrate some where stuff dies so fast your dots have not much tick time and your dps output can loot low on trash and especially if there is allot of it. But overall I love the class spec as Shadow for what it is and the playstyle it is despite the short comings the class spec may have.

With that its the thing I been working at hard the most in any party setting. It takes allot of good effort to do really good dps as Shadow while having fun. I enjoy the spec and its very fun to me and its what i somehow wanted in something very different. I find it takes a bit of though to decide what you want to cast at times vs some class just hit button X and Y over and over. So its something different I enjoy and how the class plays which is much different to allot of the other classes or caster classes.

But trying to do good solid dps as Shadow takes work for a person that's dpsing as one as well. And to me if they are even close to topping the dps meter they are working their ass off to do it with allot of effort. And so far I been working my ass off to come close to topping them meters while keeping myself alive. And I guess thats some the fun I enjoy in Shadowing. Not just to play a class and dps, but learning to play a class well. And if i'm not topping the meter, im fine with that as i enjoy the class for what it is. But im going to do my best and work my ass off to out do the other dps that may be slacking at playing theirs.

Related Posts: Screenshots: The Patient One

Patch 3.3 and Day After

Well it was hell just trying to log into WoW on patch day. Even just trying to get connected to the game never seemed to happen and when you got pw logged in you still couldn't make it to your realm to get connected and was auto disconnected every time. I gave up after a while just didn't seem was going to get into the game. So much for my scheduled day off work!

Tried to log in later but still couldn't get into the game. I called it a night at that. Tried this morning to log in and still kept getting disconnected. Was eventually able to log into the game but kept getting disconnected when tried to log on realm. Had to log into the game again and tried to log onto a different realm I barely use and somehow that seemed to let me log on a realm and then log off that realm and relog back onto my normal realm. Not sure why but that pretty much seemed to work and worked every time after relog.

Did pick up the new Core Hound pet on all my alts since I had a Authenticated account ever since Blizzard had them. Don't everyone have account authenticators by now?

I just spend much the morning clearing up mail boxes for AH stuff mostly. There seem to be some changes with Quick Auctions 2 in being able to mass cancel items and specifically I guess Glyphs since they are so cheap to cancel all day long. Its kinda noted on the addon and a workaround listed as a notice if you use it so the notes are there. But its just harder to mass cancel stuff.

As well my Postal addon don't work and neither updated for clearing mailbox fast so had to manually remove a ton of glyphs from a few alts by clicking each one, which took forever. While doing that I did notice a change with mailbox as well. Before they used to be a 50 mail limit, but it seem now as you remove stuff from mail that the mailbox auto updates and add new mail you haven't as yet removed. Kinda nice. But nicer to get my stuff out the mailbox faster and not take forever too.

I did find the 3 new glyphs that were added to the game you can find in Dalaran at the glyph vendor but as learn able Techniques from the vendor item seller who sells the parchments. So if your a scribe you can pick them up there for a few gold as recipes. I saw some people had them on AH for as much as 200g the three new recipes.

Haven't had time to do much else since still have to update quite a bit of addons that needs updating even though downloaded a bit of them yesterday.

Hurray Patch 3.3 lands Today!

Can you say people are excited for the new patch that lands today. Probably cant get off work fast enough to boot up WoW to go try out the new patch.

With all the info and new stuff in the new patch and stuff to read and go over and all that I don't really have anything specific to put up on the blog. I'm glad I'm done leveling my alts, so my much long detour is over right before patch 3.3.

I'm just reading catching up on things in patch notes and changes, reading a few my favorite blogs and others and all that I haven't been able to keep up as much with for a while.

So I don't really feel like making a post atm about anything. Its my day off and just busy trying to update my addons and all that stuff.

As long as the patch install goes along well and not too many problems, I'm sure most people will be having a busy day playing around with all that's new in the patch and hitting up the new dungeons for ICC and LFG for random Heroic for marathon runs to rack up some new Emblems.

I'm sure I'll be out there somewhere...

Things to Do...

Its been a long while but need to take a trip down to the garage and pull the dust covers off that antique and rust plated P.Paladin and send him over to Overhauling for major tuning, rework for allot of armor plating upgrade.

Need to redo my Paladin Tanking UI. His UI is completely different to all my dps characters as his needs are just different. His UI has been untouched for months and so so last decade.

Wildcard: I been needing to clean my hard drive for some time and good time to do so. Been putting it off till I finished leveling my alts to 80. Means deleting everything on my drive and having to reinstall everything and and doing it all over and a major distraction to do. Soon probably. Sounds like allot of work reinstalling system, WoW, Addons, configuring addons etc. Thats allot of work!

For today, I get to play with the new patch and get exhausted running Heroics on marathon runs for Emblems. Do I take my Paladin, Shaman, Death Knight, Hunter, Shadow Priest for retooling and Emblems? Uhh. Life was so much simpler to decide on things when their was only one character to play my Paladin than a band of alts. More alts more problems!

I Know You Really Want It!

Yeap gaze upon that thing with total envy, as I know you want it. You have enough reasons to really want it just and one reason would do. I won't blame ya, I would want it too. I got both a dual spec Paladin and a DK that can use that. That weapon is AWESOME!

Quest for Shadowmourne the Legendary is only available in 25 man Icecrown Citadel raid and you also have to kill the Lick King to get it forged at the end of the quest chain. Good Luck on that Epic Journey! That sure cuts out the amount of people that will ever see that including myself since its a 25 man raid as well and i'm only likely if ever to see Icecrown in 10's.

If you want one good reason to 25 man raid Icecrown Citadel in patch 3.3, right there gazing upon that weapon is one good reason to slave away for quite sometime to try and wrap your hands around.

People will really mourne in envy you when they see you with it. What will you do to get your hands wrapped around your legendary? You know you want it right?

What would I do, hmmmm. If Zan my old fun ex Warrior buddy and former GM restarts playing WoW again and reforms the old guild back to 25 man's just a possibility I'll move servers and rejoin him. Just day dreaming, but thats what I would do. Doubt that will ever happen.

Reflections on 1000 Emblems

Some days you just going playing the game and something happens that make you reflect on how you've played the game. I've never quite like chasing Achievements. I like when things happen naturally and unexpectedly doing stuff as a surprise for doing whatever it is you were doing. And BAM it happens!

But the other day I hit a 1000 Emblems and I was totally surprised when it happened.
A guildie needed help with a Daily Heroic and couldn't find a tank. He knew I had one, and I didn't want to tank either for him the Heroic. I just didn't want to have to tank anything period! I didn't want to have to log on my Paladin and roll into a Heroic which I haven't stepped foot into for months. I was reluctant to tank to say the least. Ever been there? He was a good guildie and told his to see if he can find someone else since I was playing or leveling one my dps characters and it was what I played daily. So I said if you cant find any tank for Heroic in LFG or Trade I could tank it for you. Most reluctantly really!

Logging on to my Paladin felt a bit wired. I barely recognized my UI, I barely recognized my spells. I had to think for a while what they really did even though I knew what they did in general. But I had to reacquaint my mind with things. I though to my self, its been a while since I've been here. Hope i can remember how to swing a sword and shield. Sounds funny, but really it happened. I felt rusty beyond belief. Numerous reasons why I was reluctant to tank even for a guildie. Ever hate when someone ask you to do something you don't even want to do?

Anyway the guildie just needed me to tank for his group in Heroic DTK for the daily. I could of cared less about the Heroic, I just didn't want to have to play my Paladin. I'm still on vacation from sword and board. I still remember how to tank, but my tank reflexes were slow, i felt rusty going through the motions of things and thinking what this and that spell do and what to use. I could barely remember my macro's and how I had them set up to use. I had to think vs things been a reflex action to things. To most other people on the run I don't even think they could tell the difference though the run went fast. But I knew the difference in my performance.

So tanking Novos the Summoner I saw a flash on the screen for a Achievement. I barely noticed what it said since it was so sudden. But it said Achievement for 1000 Emblems. At that point I started reflecting on things. I thought wow 1000 Emblems really? Big deal some people got 2000+ Emblems since WotLK, most are really progression raiders on content with that much Emblems. WotLK dungeons been open a year now, so allot of time to rack up lots of Emblems/gear for players playing endgame content.

I kept thinking the whole time and reflecting on the achievement. For the most part none of my achievement really mean that much to me, I just don't care that much about them that much. But some do make me thing or reflect on things playing my character. This one made me reflect on my time up to now even though I was just taking my Paladin out for a spin to help a guildie out most reluctantly.

And when I really though about things with the Achievement, my total time playing WotLK on my Paladin is just 3 months including the time going from lvl 70-80. Sometimes Achievements alone don't always tell the whole story of a character or why or how you got to that point in time.

After coming back from my long hiatus since WotLK launched, my first Northrend Dungeon starting leveling from 70-80. I was right at lvl 70 then.

That was my first Heroic at lvl 80 while working on my gear. My guild at the time was busy running Naxx 25. They offered to help me gear up or come to Naxx and get somewhat easy gear. Our ubar Holy Priest Jimmy at the time even offered to heal my Heroic runs to help me out. Wasn't my style to get gear like that in raid, I like working for what I have. So I ran Heroic and geared up on my own while my guild ran Naxx 25 at the time for lots of Emblems.

Fairly geared up as one of our guild tank core that was my first time in Naxx and it was a Naxx 25 Raid. I was OT with my former guild buddy and GM our Warrior and another Paladin. A few more Emblems.

My first Northrend 10 man raid. Just a few Emblems.

On our weekly Naxx 25 guild raid progression we finally downed Sapphiron to some degree of effort on our third try or so it was. But raiding was taking a bit of toll on the guild and our GM in the effort. A few more Emblems though. Much drama went down after that raid and the guild fell apart soon after. Was a sad time playing WoW and for raid progression.

Around this point out guild Warrior and GM quit wow due to other guild members lack of dedication and weekly raid progression issues. So sadly guild broke up and I transferred server to a new server starting over. On new server I answered a call for a pugged Ulduar 10 man raid as the OT and got my first Ulduar 10 man progression kill. It felt hollow as it was without my old guild as well. But progression it was and a few more Emblems.

This was my last Heroic ran on my new server even though I was new to the server. I was just loosing all interest to swing my sword and board. The guild break up was rough! But a few more Emblems. Remembering back I didn't really run any more Heroics after since till hitting 1000 Emblems. I was starting over somewhat playing a alt Shaman and more.

Another pug Naxx 25 man raid on the new server. Was finally able to clear Naxx 25. It still felt hollow to complete Naxx 25, as it was in a pug and not with friends. But it was complete the raid dungeon. A bit more Emblems for the effort.

Another random pug on the new server for a Ulduar 10 man run. I was in Dalaran one night with nothing really to do on my new server. Need a OT for Ulduar then gtg. Why not! Hey I'm available. A few more Emblems. Total raid time in Ulduar 3.

After that raid that was the last time I progression raided, ran any heroics or played my Paladin to do anything worth while or just played my Paladin at all up until this point. Its been that long since I've really played my Paladin. So taking him on a around the block tank run I hit a 1000 Emblems for just 3 months of WotLK playtime.

So i reflected on that and things that have transpired since. I would imagine If I had kept raiding or kept at things I could of had double that amount of Emblems/gear and more in raid progression. It just wasn't my focus anymore to raid or stack up Emblems for gear. At some point I just made a choice to just not log in and do anything meaningful on my Paladin for focus. So hence my reluctance as well when the guildie asked me to Tank for his Heroic. I just didn't want to. But eventually I did.

I guess that's the story of my 1000 Emblems where Achievements never tell you the whole story of things or how you got there. I guess i reflected on that and how many patches its been since all that time or how much things have changed as well as class changes. Lots to reflect on as I did. I could of been further along I thought thinking of things and more Emblems and better gear for the count. However I don't have any regrets in the months that has passed since.

In patch 3.3 1000 Emblems can get you a ton of gear. I'm behind much in the gear curve now. I guess I'll need allot more Emblems now and loot luck to catch up. I guess that's something now to think about as well. I guess that Achievement made me reflect on all that. Funny how things are.

The Emblem QQ again...

WoW never cease to have its ups and down with players and their gear, their love of purple pixels and their complain over Blizzard making it easier or too easy for new raiders to get gear up into raiding to see the various content. As well as doing so diminishes their hard earn work and accomplishment.

"It increases the pool of people that are geared enough to raid, I have no problem with that. But it does worry me that it begins to open up the potential for even more poor raiders who don't know the fundamentals of raiding and don't want to learn. That is potentially problematic and is something that is already an issue in the game, things like this increase it.

But like I said, it makes it so that more people are available to do content, which, to me, is more fun. So I'm sort of torn."

Lulia - DK, Tankspot

I'm a bit torn as well, because I also agree with the statement above as well and I'm not even a active raider at the moment. The reason I'm torn is that like some and many players I do take some pride in actually checking in and putting in the work to earn anything I wear. Whatever the work is put the effort into getting it. I used to raid so i know what effort goes into it. In the end though its damn pixels and coding and I choose not to get attached to it, even if i worked for it. Because I'm always well aware things can and will change in and over time.

I'm a fairly highly skilled player and having not raided in months by choice I haven't been on the hunt to try and down bosses with a group of friends or enjoy the content raiding it and earning gear as the reward for beating the content encounters. I guess i decided for a while some time was better spend leveling up a few alts now vs later. As several of those alts have leveled up i too have put in the time to run them through Heroics and get them geared up to a satisfactory level for later raiding.

Does getting Emblems to purchase the vendor gear diminish the the time effort put in to earn my gear? I still had to put in time and effort to get the gear to gear up. What many will say its trivial content. But still a person has to put in time. Some casuals are too lazy to do that as well. Never in my history of the game have I as a player ever been carried by anyone through any content. I never payed for a run, never been run through any dungeon in the game leveling up. I geared up while leveling up through the content. I tuned my gear at 80 to do Heroics. Then did the content performing competently and earning every Emblem for the time doing the content to acquire gear for later raiding when I return to it.

Yeah its was fairly easy as a skilled player who been through it before, but one has to put in the time still. Many people are now earning gear that way as well for their entry as well as their second and third alts into raiding. Many the same people that going to QQ about Emblems are the same ones that will use it as well to quickly level up their alts in between the contents they are on.

I'm torn a bit because I know what its worth to work to earn something. Many Raiders get upset because they had to spend lots of time on the content and wipe a bit in between to doing it to earn their gear in the process for their Hey Look at Me and My Purples. And here come along Blizzard and change things giving and opening it up to more casual players to earn higher lvl tier gear without the same effort that they themselves had to endure to get. It shouldn't be any surprise to anyone that this is how WotLK has been all along with what Blizzard has openly said before with wanting everyone in some way to see or experience the content.

As a player I'm not attached to purples, its nice gear but in the end to me its all pixels and code. What some players cant seem to take some enjoyment in is that they did the content earlier than most got to experience it, they beat the content with their friends and guildies and earned the gear. They saw and beat it way before many casuals did. Some cant seem to take pleasure in that. To some its not ok when their newer lvl guild 80's or newer raiders look just as leet as they do with the same gear. Look the same but in no way skilled the same usually. That is not ok to them. Hey you didn't do the same work as I had to do, no fair and QQ more about it. Yeah I'm torn with you at times because i understand the process. But I'm not stuck on it either.

Blizzard wants everyone to see and experience the content so its not hard to expect sooner or later that things will get reset that more casual players will be able in some way at some point to earn higher level tier gear as the content gets older over time. Players alts end up benefiting from this greatly. And much so it will going into the soon to come next expansion. For some players its just not ok for new raiders to look like them in the same gear without the same effort that they put in. Some you raiders get carried on your raids, i have no illusion about that either.

Our young 10 man guild is just gearing up to soon do Naxx 10 as a young guild. While some players put in the time already to earn them some we have though that they didnt had to put in any real effort to get some decent gear as new 80's to start raiding. They were depending on being carried by better skilled and geared players. Yeah I was torn on that too and some the players had to be told that their gear totally sucked and go work on getting better gear along with their spec. Some players will still suck even if getting emblems are easier to earn and makes lousy skilled raiders.

Emblem change mean Its good for alts being able to gear up for fast entry into raiding. That don't in any way make new unskilled 80's good raiders. That's you and your guildies job to help make the new casuals in your guilds better raiders.

I'm a bit torn that that I can gear up my alts a bit faster into tier gear, I'm really torn about it. But don't be so surprised the next time Blizzard changes things in the future Emblem wise.

I Got It....Both!

Best way to ensure you get the drop you want is to do it with your guild if you can, at least your helping your own guildies out vs another. So three of us in our guild a Death Knight, Paladin and myself as the Shaman went and smack down the Brewfest Boss a while ago for todays run. Our young tank Paladin got himself the Stamina Trinket on the first go that he needed. On the second go the other AP Trinket dropped and our DK didn't need it though I had already passed on it. He didn't need it, so I ended picking it up on my Shaman. Great!

On the third go he dropped the new Mace Tankard. I got the Mace! It replaced my lvl 78 OH the Unholy Persuader on my Shaman which really needed replacing. I've been running H ToC almost daily and for the life of things i've never seen Aledar's Battlestar drop ever. If it ever did drop i'm sure I be unlucky enough to have a Rogue or a Druid in the group and loose the roll as well probably. But sweet I was able to get the Brewfest Mace and upgrade my Shaman OH which was much needed! I don't really care it looks like a Stein, as long as it can kick out dps. But it look even more humorous to be beating down a boss with a Stein or double Steins.

I relogged on my Paladin and did another go and our Death Knight got the Dodge Trinket that he needed.

Everyone was happy on our little guild run and a good day it was. Much better than doing it in a server PuG and at least the drops benefit someone in our little guild at least.

I be even happier if before Brewfest is over doing it with the guild daily I can get the other Mace for my Shaman.

Did you need it and did you get it? Probably some PuG horror stories out there already for someone that needed it and lost it i'm sure.

Updated 09/29/09: On the other daily runs of Brewfest Boss Coren so far with the guild smacking the boss daily the other Tankard mace I needed just wouldn't drop. Was getting worried and started to think I would have to pony up on AH and buy one listed at anywhere from 1k-2.5k on AH as insurance policy for one on my Shaman. Uhh. Prices on my server for Tankard maces float anywhere from 1000k bit to 1500 buyout and up to 3k so far. I just didn't feel like dropping the money unless I really had to though I kept a eye on the daily AH prices.

Voodoo curse be to Coren and so fortunately he has finally dropped the Tankard mace again on another guild run and I was able to pick it up. So I now dual wield double Tankard O' Terror maces on my Enhancement Shaman. My dps rocks dual wielding and slapping around a mob with those things! Woot!

Daily runs of Coren for Brewfest we have done with a few of out young 80's and almost everyone so far has got something they needed or all of the trinkets themselves. So great for guild runs to Coren daily. As well I picked up the Swift Brewfest Ram too from Coren on my Enhance Shaman. A Kodo Mount would have been better. But I'll take any mount as its better than no mount at all as well. only one other guildie was lucky enough so far to have seem or gotten the Kodo Mount so far for Brewfest. Like wise the Swift Ram as well, so far.