The World Through My Window 05/12/08

Ran several PuG Heroics over the weekend enough to add about another 30 Badges of Justice with minor problems PuGing. That puts me up at 62 Badges. Through doing some the SSO Dailies also picked up 4 Badges of Justice which was quite surprising to say the least. And after heading over to the Badge Vendor. I had and idea of what I would like to pick up and I could not for the life of me decide what to spend 60 Badges on.

I now have a new gear problem, which is not enough Defense Rating. My gear is now starving to maintain 490 Defense for Kara level Tanking depending how I'm wearing my gear. Equipting any of the new SSO Exalted Shields over my Crest of Shattar also causes me to loose a bit of Defense as well though I've picked up both. Quite a bit of Dodge but not enough Defense. However I have a few options which is to craft my New Alchemy Trinket: Guardian's Alchemy Stone from being SSO Exalted. Would be nice if that Trinket has some Stamina as well on it vs just Defense Rating. That give as much as +54 Defense, but I'll loose about 520HP with my usual Netherwing Trinket. I can re-enchant my Badge Cloak for the new Defense Enchant of +12 but loose a bit of Dodge Rating.

Impending gear defense problems with just not having enough defense to pick up any Badge piece as yet. However I still do have good gear to Tank Kara+ with all my different gear pieces. However considering that I'm not really in a raid status either for Kara or beyond at this point for now and for obvious reasons, not likely I'm going to pick up anything much with lots of defense on it. Especially since most the Badge vendor stuff for Paladins in the gear pieces I need for Galo don't have much Defense vs more Expertise which I can use as well. So either I get that new Alchemy Guardian's Alchemist Stone Trinket crafted or re-enchant my cloak for +12 Defense Rating to make up the deficit. That's also if one can find a enchanter with the new Enchant Cloak Steelweave enchant which drops from MgT.

In other news I had Belt of the Guardian crafted as alternative gear for AoEing stuff as I need it in my gear sets. Had a Blacksmith from one the T6 guild on server with the pattern craft it. Cost me about 1200g total with mats and crafting fee. The Nether Vortex costs alone was around 600g. Investment in alternative gear to Girdle of the Protector for Boss tanking.


PuGing MgT
Finally got to do a complete run of MgT to do the Quest and to do the Heroic unlock quest. Kinda funny since well Exalted with SSO. But anyway I decided to PuG, how else am I going to get it done, can't rely on friends always to be around anyway. So while out doing some Dailies and just in LFG watching what's going on for activity as usual, heard a group was looking for a Tank. So said I would do it. Random PuG but nothing new for me.

So we had 2 Rogues, Holy Priest, Mage and myself the Tank. I'm not going to recount my entire first time through the instance. I found it really nice looking Instance and pretty place. Really like Silvermoon City. After a while I realize MgT is really like Shattered Halls in reverse. Shattered Halls has lots of Melee mobs, Protection Paladin heaven tanking there. MgT is just lots of casters which sucks. Casters are a challenge to say the least to deal with when Tanking. So Instead of saying it sucks with so many casters and spell damage on Tank, I rather say I find the place challenging with so many heavy Trash packs of casters.

So not many in the PuG had done the Instance before except one person in group. We wiped a few times due to not quite knowing which mob to CC and which mob does exactly what. Not much situational awareness here as yet. With so many casters the adds don't seem very forgiving if you get extra adds. Running regular MgT for the first time does feel almost like running Heroics, feels that way to me. Wiped on first boss since in clearing one side of the room trash group we somehow aggro the 1st boss at same time. But 2nd time we got him easily which seems just like last boss of Steamvault, just killing the crystal when he starts to channel from it. We got 2nd boss in one try, although I did find that consecrating don't work too well on the boss which causes lots of feedback damage with the debuff.

The 3rd boss and group was kinda fun. Took a while for us to decide what to do. I can't recount the names of all the adds with the 3 Boss since first time seeing them all. But think we had a Etherial looking guy, a small Demon, The Boss Priestess, a Naga, A Demon (Hunter) and a Ravager. I took the Ravager and cast Turn Evil on the Demon or Hunter Demon whichever it is. A focus Macro would be nice for casting Turn Evil. Hard to remember how that fight all went but it was over very fast with 2 Rogues and a Mage after two the adds were sapped and one sheep by the mage. I'm sure on Heroics this fight be most interesting. But one thing I did find is its best Not to engage the boss inside the room they are in. Best to pull them all the way back into the courtyard to avoid extra adds. As if a Paladin cast Turn Evil just like being Warlock feared got a good chance that mob will run into another add patrol on other side of courtyard. It happened that's how I figured that out and not fun when it happens. All a learning experience which make you the wiser the next time in instance.

We got to Kael'thas but the adds going into his room sucks as its hard to see without aggro on the group and kinda seem best to pull them around the corner out the room. Kael'thas was fun though. We wiped once the first time due to tanking Kael'thas and having the Phoenix stuck to me due to consecrating as much as I tried to avoid aggroing the bird. DPS just could not pull the bird away so that wipped up with all the damage from both. Second time through both phases we got him down to 1700 HP before we wiped. Did help being able to heal a dps or two while in he air swimming away from the orbs. After that both Rogues had to go to raid as both are in same guild. Healer had to go for dinner. So Mage got a few replacement guildies from his guild. A Holy Paladin, Shadow Priest and a Hunter. This time fight went much much faster with Mage on Phoenix which was not a problem for me consecrating on Kael'thas. I just healed whenever I was in the air avoiding orbs. But fight was over very quickly. I can tell packing lots of DPS here makes a big difference in this fight as well.

Kael'thas dropped a Phoenix Hatchling and some Epic Plate Boots. Hunter won the roll on for the Hachling. Was fun and challenging Instance. Got my quest done with the PuG group and got my Heroic unlock completed. Based on that first Instance run Yeah I can tell on Heroics it would be challenging you really need Allot of CC in that Instance as well as packing Allot of DPS on Kael'thas to get him down fast. I can't see MgT being on my list of favorite Heroics to do once I pick up the 3 items I need there. Not my recommendation either for a starter lvl 70 Instance either for a new 70. Neither can I see myself totally PuGing MgT on Heroics in a complete random PuG having run and PuGed the Regular version.

I love to PuG some things, but MgT I imagine would be a headache with some players that can be too impatient and a shot fuse when things go wrong. I can't see speed running that place on Heroics either for a Tank. I'll have to break out my friends list to run Heroic MgT to say the least and to pick up the 3 things I need there.

The Ring

Saw someone flashing this ring piece in Trade over the weekend. I found it a bit funny since I also remember there is "The 1 Ring" with 1 digit stats you sometime see as a Lowbie and that sells on AH for quite a high amount. So I screenshot the link.

So I wondered for a sec where does this "The 2 Ring" comes from. Well from "Old Man Barlo" in one the random Bags of Fishing Treasures you get from doing the fishing quests. Imagine that. Another reason to do them fishing quests. You might just get lucky. I guess in WotLK since Blizz have a sence of humor we'll see "The 3 Ring" maybe, can only wonder if it will have 3 digit stats.

Legendary Heroes

My recently created guild Legendary Heroes which is a PvE guild is coming along though slow coming for now, but that's fine. In a way its like a project to maybe get to build something for a change and see where the winds take it as a challenge. I'm not sure how great of a GM I'll make but I know I can lead and I think I'll do fine and in time. At least hope so.

Its taken quite a bit of effort and in some ways a distraction to maybe spending time running Heroics maybe. But its something different for a pace in WoW and at least I get to hopefully build something in preps for WotLK and do current game content as we get there.

So far I've created a guild charter and still working on it as work in progress. I created a Tabard which looks cool in design. Also figured out easily how to create guild ranks or modify them and created a guild bank for the guild with now 5 tabs. I think that's more tabs than most new guilds have but got to spend money on something. So that cost me in total around 4850g for 5 tabs with different levels of access tied to guild ranks. I'm far from broke to say the least.

For now now really as much a guild, just a bit of members lvl 10+ to 40 or so with about 36 members. Finding good quality members over time takes time and will have to go through quite a bit to get to find the good ones kinda like mining for Diamonds. I'm patient so not a big deal if things go slow for now building a guild from the ground up. I'm not chasing after this current endgame but the next so with that mindset I can take my time a bit with things as we get there. Dealing with new members especially lowbies is not the easiest thing in the world or WoW. Its a challenge to say the least in more than one ways. But its something different as far as WoW is.

I've being spending allot of time reading through various forums over at Tankspot and on the WoW forums as well. Lots of research reading, something I do allot of anyway. For now just setting sail I guess. Its something different for sure. I have time to plan and work towards the new expansion and maybe level up a new 70 maybe in the process.

Gamespy WotLK Interview with Blizzard

I just saw this over at WoWInsider earlier that Gamespy recently had a exclusive interviewed with Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan about WotLK and about Death Knights. Its Interesting with a bit of details about the coming of Death Knights and how they somewhat going to work as tanks. Think cross of Magical tank with a feel of Fury Warrior and Enhancement Shaman kinda if you can imagine with ability to summon creatures and cast DoT diseases and all the rune magic stuff.

Anyway I rather you read the article your self as well as watch all the video clips of the WotLK scenery. WotLK has some amazing and spectacular scenery to check out all the exclusive clips as well as the 10 min video clip interview of Jeff Kaplan.

I'm guaranteed to roll a Death Knight and roll him all the way to lvl 80, but that's well after my Paladin has first gotten to lvl 80 in the new content. Updated: Also read Matticus review of all the hubub.

Article Link:
Gamespy exclusive of WotLK with Blizzard.

Death Knight class revealed via WoWInsider.

Will Imbed the Streaming Video's here also. HI-RES Version a better view.

Shattered Sun Offensive Exalted.

After starting on the reputation grind late after the patch and a bit behind when I was on short leave, I'm now Exalted with Shattered Sun Offensive. Exalted from just grinding out the Daily Quests. I'm glad that JOB of grinding those reps is over!
For putting in all that effort, I better get some reward. So Yeah, how about a Title Please! So I was graciously awarded one Pronto for my speedy work and minor 1K gold donation as a benefactor to worthy cause in preserving my lovely Elf Land. Gee Thanks. Then off I went to that Vendor lady to check out her goods and picked up all the goodies. A new SSO Tabard which is really nice, Shields (both), Necklaces, Alchemy Recipes for Trinkets.

Just glad the grind is over I can go back to doing normal stuff and doing dailies whenever I feel like it. Now just need to go on a buying spree for some Nether Vortexes to make me some new Trinkets.