tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74693204923901861872024-02-02T11:34:40.403-08:00Artisan ElitistWorld of Warcraft, paladin, raiding, community.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-22080346861113714322011-02-08T17:30:00.000-08:002011-02-08T17:52:53.479-08:00Time to say goodbye.You may remember last year, during Icecrown progress, that I spent weeks and months grinding for an achievement. Specifically, I wanted the title "Payce the Exalted". While nothing so ambitious as "the Insane", it still took months of grinding, doing dailies with more factions than my daily cap allowed, doing so many random heroics for nothing but rep that it got silly, killing some 43,000 pirates in Tanaris and the Barrens, farming heroics Ramparts and Blood Furnace for weeks. As far as pixelated content on a screen goes, it was <span style="font-style: italic;">hard work</span>. And through a series of posts, all containing the subtle updates of "(23/40 now)" or "Wooo! 30/40!" or the like. And finally, finally, I got there.<br /><br />I did it. I was Payce the Exalted. I was so immensely proud. I set out to do it, and <span style="font-style: italic;">I did it</span>.<br /><br />So when patch 4.0.6 hit the US realms earlier, and reports started flowing in over Twitter, forums and other media, that "the Exalted"-achievement now required 50 reputations to get - and that those having previously gotten it would lose it. That's right - they're stripping you of a PvE title you've honestly earned through hard work. It was even <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/157022/the-exalted-title">blue-posted</a> - it's gone;<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >"We also considered grandfathering in those who had already earned it but think that this title can be a unique testament to the continued efforts of reputation hunters and keep the same value as we introduce more reps and push the requirements up to match."</span><br /><br />Well, thank you, Bashiok, for considering to "grandfather in" all the hard work put in by those of us who genuinely care about these achievements. I really feel special now, you know? Not to mention valued as a user of this game - "if you wanna keep what you worked hard for and already actually earned, you're gonna have to work even harder". What is even scarier is the precedent this is setting; who's to say anything if "The Seeker" suddenly requires 5,000 quests or "Salty" suddenly requires 5,000 fish... starting, of course, at 1,001 since the achievement haven't really been tracking since you got that damned 1,000th fish? Suddenly, our achievements appear more as temporary tokens of something we're probably not done with come next expansion anyway. I'm not sure if I really like this change of direction.<br /><br />So tomorrow, I'm back to Twilight Vanquisher Payce. Or Starcaller Payce. Or Loremaster Payce. Or maybe just... Payce. Because it's not like the title I <span style="font-style: italic;">really wanted and gave my all for</span> isn't going to be available to me again for some time unless I give up my life to grind rep (again). So until such a time as I actually get my title back, here's a screenshot taken earlier this evening in the remains of Zul'Gurub, wearing my complete Soulforge armour.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijV5GvdElS3e8mCtJ_l9r_-9lXG4rZ1O5pv6yDnCQoIQXNoZvf-FhruMH2VPzKVpm-XCj_WKzdO5I7zfVLBtBWrq5pjREIgVfbKd6UjyJv988gE9_oo6kc-zRqwh4Zx-DAG0CX0Hf3LsOk/s1600/Exalted.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijV5GvdElS3e8mCtJ_l9r_-9lXG4rZ1O5pv6yDnCQoIQXNoZvf-FhruMH2VPzKVpm-XCj_WKzdO5I7zfVLBtBWrq5pjREIgVfbKd6UjyJv988gE9_oo6kc-zRqwh4Zx-DAG0CX0Hf3LsOk/s320/Exalted.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571500834237861970" border="0" /></a><br />Goodbye, Payce the Exalted. I shall miss you dearly.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-12079057426584133372011-01-27T04:20:00.000-08:002011-01-27T04:24:33.127-08:00The legacy of Wrath.As we progress into the third month of Cataclysm content, having seen and done the heroic dungeons and new zones, not to mention the raids, we're seeing a new trend spread: The notion of people quitting, either from burnout or lack of interest, or simply because of the game's increased difficulty level.<br /><br />I personally enjoy the new content immenesely. I do, however, more than understand the people who burn out - though the challenges are greater and the skill required is higher, it's still a grind involved. Not that World of Warcraft wasn't always a grind; whether it was badges of justice, resistance gear or gearscore don't matter. It was always a grind.<br /><br />So why does this one seem so much harder?<br /><br />The answer is, of course, because it is. The Wrath of The Lich King grind WAS signifigantly faster and easier at all tiers. I'm not buying into the whole "Wrath was too easy" argument, and I'm equally disinclined to jump on the "Cata is too hard" bandwagon. But there is a notable difference in here somewhere.<br /><br />The problems with Wrath, in my opinion, were mainly two things. Tier release dates (and the gating that followed), and gear being able to negate mechanics. Secrets of Ulduar was released around six months after the expansion went live, widely recognized as on of the best raids of all time. When 3.2 hit and Trial of the Crusader went live, less then four months later, Ulduar-level gear would already allow you to negate mechanics in the encounters, such as healing through Burning Bile on the Northrend beasts, or tanking the Mistresses on top of Jaraxxus with little risk of tank death.<br /><br />And another four months later, a fully gated Icecrown Citadel, where again, many mechanics could be outgeared on launch day (did you ever CC Deathwhisper's adds? did you ever move out of the Bonestorm itself, or did you just run from the blue shit on the floor?). And then we had a whole year of farming this hideously boring, uninventive but very pretty instance for gear - which even rose in value every other month from the Hellscream/Wrynn-buff.<br /><br />The preconception of Wrath being too easy is down to these issues mainly; partly, the easy aquisition of gear, but mainly, the absolute value of gear. Proper gear would allow you to stand in the fire and live - and anyone could get proper gear. And as we see in Cataclysm - where the fire WILL kill you and the non CC'ed caster WILL drain both your healer's mana as well as your tank's cooldowns. Wrath set a dangerous precedent for what was needed, and what was "skippable", and that notion has far and wide been the main culprit behind cries of "Cata is too hard". Because Cataclysm isn't in any way too hard.<br /><br />Yes, it's more time-consuming. Farming buff food and flasks alone is a chore now, the gear progress is considerably slower, and top end enchantes aren't readily available whenever you want. Yes, heroic dungeons are long and challenging. Yes, trash have huge health pools and require focus and the ability to interrupt. But unlike Wrath, most of this can be negated in even the most basic of gear - as long as you understand and adapt to the mechanics involved.<br /><br />The same thing applies to raiding. Learn the mechanics, and a lot of these fights are actually quite easy. Clearing Magmaw and Omnitron mainly in blues isn't at all a big deal when you know what to do, and know the value of a good interrupt at the cost of a few hundred DPS. And of course - as long as you move out of the damn fire.<br /><br />Just remember to flask and get the proper food buff. There's really no reason not to.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-12175668067508842622011-01-26T04:15:00.000-08:002011-01-26T05:00:10.725-08:00A shoutout to the Shifters.This week, we killed Cho'Gall, taking Paradigm Shift to an overall 10/12 bosses killed and a spot as the 7th ranked guild on our server. This might not sound overly impressive, and perhaps, given the time available so far and the progress made in this tier already, it isn't.<br /><br />But when he went down, we all cheered like a world first Illidan on our Mumble.<br /><br />Paradigm Shift was formed some three months ago. A server was picked almost at random, three people formed a guild, and posted ads on Tankspot and MMO-Champion that they were recruiting the right kind of people. The premise was 'quality over quantity'; an aim to be a guild for highly skilled players on a tight schedule, packing a 'hardcore' approach to raiding two nights a week. What really made the recruitment ads interesting, however, was the "About you"-section:<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">We expect our members to be mature, highly skilled, and above all pleasant to be around - we are spending a minimum of 8 hours a week with you, and given that most of us have to work with jerks, we don't want to game with them too. We have no patience for epeening, drama incitement or other unproductive behaviour – we’re on a limited schedule, so don’t waste our time. </span></span><br /><br />This kind of ad is obviously half suicidal, especially when recruiting mainly cross-server and even cross-faction and rerollers. It is also one of the best filters to ensure that applicants fit right in (granted, of course, they get past the hour-long voicechat interview) - we'd know in advance what to expect from everyone. So when Cataclysm hit live servers, we had around eight people that were considered our raid team - not even a full 10-man group. Ten day later, Magmaw laid dead (just in time for us to claim a pre-nerf kill - his trash were still tuned for 25-man groups at this point), and we took (of all things for a progression guild) two weeks off for christmas, only occasionally popping by Baradin Hold.<br /><br />Since then, we've had a total of seven guild raids, for a total of 28 hours raiding time. Due to the nature of our recruitment, we've not once had a full buff setup, and are melee-heavy like there's no tomorrow. We've laughed, we've cried, we've spent a full ten hours wiping on the Ascendant Council - that third phase is horrible with four melee - but we got them in the end. And now, standing at ten bosses killed, still badly undergeared, we're starting to unleash our full potential.<br /><br />So here's a shoutout to my guild: Our GM and raid leader Janari, always calm, collected and getting shit done. Maintank and auction house wizard Xcercs, holding aggro AND paying our repairs. Laníus, whose middle name IRL is Lightwell. Haiyden, whose progress above and beyond the call of duty is nothing short of spectacular. Risp, Chumana, Lunz and Denned, making fleas attractive since day 1. Keade, your Lifegrip and Levitate antics will go down in history (is your Inner Fire on you?). Kerric, I still only see male draenei, but I'm alive to see it - that's gotta count for something, right? Xiroh, Khalicha and Dagalar - you know we still love you, thanks for keeping the bench warm for the rest of us. And Gegnar. Dearly insane Gegnar. Karrling and Namiko - you may not be raiding anymore, but life is emptier without you. Thanks for coming with.<br /><br />My guild. My people. My friends. I've never enjoyed the MM part of MMO this much ever before. Here's to hardmodes.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-59559948891605452212011-01-19T04:06:00.000-08:002011-01-19T05:42:46.506-08:00Playing to win.I like sports. Well, some sports. I like football (proper football, mind you - not armoured rugby on a stopwatch), I enjoy the National Hockey League (go Devils!), I follow Le Tour dé France religiously every summer. And obviously, like your average glutton-for-punishment-sports-fan, I take sides. I enjoy watching "my" team win, and I get discouraged by seeing "my" team getting outplayed. It's about dignity, you know?<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">For me, it makes no difference whether I play my druid, my priest, or a class I've never played before, if it gets the job done. This game is first and foremost about progression and competition for me. To throw your question backwards: I do not get any pleasure from playing my main in a raid - I get pleasure from being there and killing bosses. I actually specifically enjoy the concept of transcending the traditional mindset of having a single character of a specific class and spec, although the practicalities can be annoying at times.</span><br />- Xaar, <paragon></span><br /><br />This week, several hotfixes were applied to heroic versions of certain bosses within the current tier. Among these were a change to Nefarian's <span style="font-style: italic;">Stolen Power</span> ability, rendering it now unable to affect certain DoTs that could be held rolling throughout the fight. Several changes were made to Atramedes as well, effectively putting an end to tanking him in the doorway (which has been something of a habit in certain circles of late).<br /><br />What makes these changes interesting, is that no one have actually killed Nefarian after the hotfix. The now infamous "Many druids! Handle it!"-strategy died with the "nerf" to Rip, rendering the boss now only killable through "real" damage output - which there are still, apparently, not enough of in your average top tier guild. Likewise, while the kill has been duplicated several times by several guilds post-fix, there is little doubt that Atramedes went down "too early", progression- and gear-wise, due to the possibility of negating key elements of the encounter through a flaw in the game code.<br /><br />No player or guild were banned for these kills, however - unlike the infamous Ensidia incident on normal Arthas 25, these design flaws were not considered to impact encounter difficulty to such an extent that it trivialized aspects of the overall challenge. I personally disagree with this, on the Atramedes incident specifically. Negating sound values is, to me, a far more serious offence than accidentally negating the Val'Kyr drop. Why? Because the Val'Kyr drop could already be negated by a class ability (the warlock portal), while the sound values effectively plays a part in the encounters soft enrage timer. Granted, losing all your DPS and healers certainly make an effective soft enrage timer, but this is true of any encounter - not the Val'Kyr alone.<br /><br />Let's for a moment head back to the world of sports, specifically the aspects of supporters, and their opinion on how things "should be". We've all seen charicature of slightly obese men wearing slightly too tight team shirts yelling "FOUL!" at the television set. Some of us read the Twitter notes, Facebook statuses and various blogs regarding the Contador/Schleck incident last year, which effectively settled the Tour over the course of 18 small seconds. And, with my target audience in mind, a fair few of you have probably read or even participated in bashing Paragon and Method the last few weeks.<br /><br />Because e-sport fans are, ladies and gentlemen, the absolute worst. What hooligans settle with breaking chairs across your back, the e-sports fan will "settle" with a flame, troll or insult, often of the most degenerate kind. The word "retard" is the new "idiot", exploits are the new fouls, and guilds are the new teams. And like every losing team's supporters, e-sport fans seems to forget that guilds - like teams - play to win.<br /><br />I would never bring 11 feral druids to a raid, even if I had the chance. I wouldn't stack affliction warlocks either, nor would I get all six paladins to glyph something in particular to chainstun an add. I do, however, understand why Paragon and Stars did - they play to win. Second place is, in the world of e-sports, first loser. Paragon killed Nefarian, like they did Anub'Arak, and like Ensidia did Hodir, through using existing buffs and abilities in a creative manner. It's what separates them - the performers - from us - the supporters; the ability to not only discover, but utilize game mechanics in such a manner that they ensure a win, even if they will get changed after Blizzard understands the flaw in the initial design.<br /><br />It's what separates the clever tricks from the outright cheating that's the issue here. Now that Sinestra is live, and the encounter is already being tuned a matter of days after she was first available, it's more important than ever to understand the difference between cheating, clever tricks and simple skill and perfect execution.<br /><br />Most of all, though - let's hope it never becomes an issue in the first place.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-2981319625755814712010-12-17T04:30:00.001-08:002010-12-17T05:06:10.221-08:00Heroics are too hard.I admit it - I read internet forums. I register and process QQ and whining about the state of the game on a daily basis. I occasionally QQ and whine myself, though I like to think my own negative output is on a more constructive level than "hurp derp nerf". I'll be the first to point out that the state of retribution is shameful at the moment, I'll also be the first to admit that yes, protection paladins are a bit squishy and could use more avoidance per point of rating, and I'll be the first to agree that the recent rebalancing of holy compeltely ruined a viable and dynamic way of playing the spec. In short, I'll gladly admit that paladins overall are in a somewhat uncomfortable state at the moment.<br /><br />I will, however, be the first to admit that paladins needed to be nerfed, to the ground, after ICC, and that the current rebalancing of the class is something that will even out given time. Our new mechanics are so completely fresh out of the box that we're almost at the same stage as death knights at Lich King-launch, and it took three whole patches and a complete redesign of one of the specs before they got them right. I trust paladins will get there, eventually.<br /><br />This post isn't about paladins, though - it's about the current state of heroic dungeons. We are 10 days into the expansion, and for the last, 5, 6 days, there have been a steady growth of complaints, criticism and pure, whiny QQ regarding the state of the current heroics. They are, apparently, too hard. I read reports from healers that tanks are taking too much damage, I read reports from DPS complaining that they aren't doing more DPS than they did in ICC, I read reports from tanks that CC makes it impossible for them to play their rotation properly. And all I can think is, "are we playing the same game?"<br /><br />Yes, the new heroics are hard. With an honorable exception of good Sir Steelbender in Blackrock Cavern, they are even deliciosly hard. Nowhere near unmanagably hard, however - in fact, some are disappointingly easy compared to the expectations of percieved hardness. I mention Steelbender mainly because he's been the only REAL cockblock I've encountered so far - his mechanics are extremely unwieldy, and takes a lot of practice and precision, and a fair bit of luck, to properly nail as a tank. But the rest?<br /><br />Throne of the Tides, one of my favourite instances, is a walk in the part. The Lost City of Tol'Vir likewise. Deadmines, where reports from beta suggested wiping for hours would be "the only way" was, apart from the complete randomness of a Super Mario mini-game, no harder than Halls of Lightning back in 3.0, and I'm still half waiting for the bosses in Shadowfang Keep to become hard. The boss that has in fact given me the most trouble so far is Altairus in the Vortex Pinnacle - and that was purely due to a fairly unbalanced set of DPS that could not learn how to position themselves for the life of them (fact - they kept dying), burning out the healer's mana and my cooldowns at a steady pace. When the idea of shifting winds and moving from breath weapons got through, however, it was a oneshot.<br /><br />Long story short, most of these encounters are easy. If only one of the five people in the group know what to do and take lead, it should be clean and clear all the way. CC the right mobs, open the nuke on the correct mob, interrupt casts. Don't pull aggro, don't die to shit on the floor. Wait for adds to be picked up, then nuke them, and if you still manage to get one one you... don't run AWAY from your tank. Calm it out. Focus.<br /><br />I will admit I've not gotten around to do heroic Grim Batol yet. From what I hear, it's MEAN. I can safely say, however, that compared to tanking heroic Magister's Terrace, Arcatraz and Shattered Halls, so far I'm stroking kittens in this expansion. These instances are not that hard. What they are, is awesome. I'm currently decked out in blues, and it's great.<br /><br />And Monday, we raid.<br /><br />*giggles maniacally*Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-28678398003728256562010-12-12T09:07:00.000-08:002010-12-12T09:33:10.073-08:00PayceUI v.4.0.1Interface update! Since Cataclysm drastically changed a lot of the core mechanics to the paladin class, I've spent some time tweaking and reforging my UI, and I think I've finally gotten a setup that I'm comfortable with. It has the appropriate amount of information, without cluttering and creating tunnelvision fields, and I'm growing very comfortable with it. I will obviously have to tweak a bit further when we go into heroic raids and such, to fit in further information blocks (atm, my BigWigs text warnings are between my grid and my action bars, and that won't work in a 25-man scenario), but overall I've found the design I want to continue using.<br /><br />Without further ado;<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZJrM-BgFjVW2u2OpP_TG9un29v3_E3Gx9wIt-OL0AkcF7Eq_WSSqLkfMjvbF-B_PamOWzIOhG9XIqMgj2gZrU7va27j7_2sHRXKWo-2mr5Wk0mX8PJuF6FDIuaMARYWyTjB5yl5_Om_9/s1600/PaceUI401.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZJrM-BgFjVW2u2OpP_TG9un29v3_E3Gx9wIt-OL0AkcF7Eq_WSSqLkfMjvbF-B_PamOWzIOhG9XIqMgj2gZrU7va27j7_2sHRXKWo-2mr5Wk0mX8PJuF6FDIuaMARYWyTjB5yl5_Om_9/s320/PaceUI401.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549845527553689330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(click to enlarge)<br /></span></span></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Combat text: </span>I use MSBT for my scrolling combat log, simply because I feel this is the tidiest and most accurate option. Left side is incoming heals and damage, right side is outgoing, center below my feet are important notifications and center above my character are every buff, debuff, resource gain and status change on my character mid-combat. The three red "Spell is not ready yet" is a permanent feature on my UI... I simply can't seem to get rid of them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Unit frames: </span>For my core unit frames, I use Shadowed. Left side is me, tight side is my target, and the box above is my target's target. Shadowed also provides the buff- and debuff frames ate the top left of the target frame. For my own buffs and debuffs, I use Classtimer to keep track of everything important - they are the blue bars above my own unit frames and the target of target frame respectively. Grid centered between the Shadowed frames tracks my party status, such as mana, threat and health. I prefer this option over threatplates, as it's generally faster with my playstyle.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Actionbars:</span> I use Bartender4, because it's simply the best. I also use ButtonFacade: Renaitre to add a more artistic look than the just the boring, regular squares. OmniCC tracks my cooldowns in a nice and handy way.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Corners: </span>Left corner is Prat for chat. Beats Chatter hands down in every single aspect there is. Right corner is Recount for damage meters, Omen for threat, and TipTac for advanced target information on mouseover.<br /><br />Not shown in the picture are Combuctor for bags and bank, and BigWigs for boss encounters. Apart from that, it's very much no addons to speak of - I like to keep my addon memory low, even if it means no sexy minimap and Blizzard's default aura- and buff trackers. I guess I'll survive.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-3837244302043178812010-12-06T04:43:00.000-08:002010-12-06T04:49:52.051-08:00Prep, prep, prep.- 6 salads<br />- 2 lasagnas<br />- a pound of salmon sushi<br />- 8 spring rolls<br />- two litres of fresh berry smoothies<br />- bottled water, Diet Red Bull and various Cokes<br />- some kiwifruits<br /><br />- 35 attack power flasks<br />- 80 strenght/stamina foods<br />- 40 hit/stamina foods<br />- 100 band aids<br />- 40 health pots<br />- 40 mana pots<br />- gear set up and reforged for levelling, not raiding<br /><br />You were saying, Illidan?Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-36616489307086599452010-11-29T19:03:00.000-08:002010-11-29T19:51:46.717-08:00Phayce transition.After spending some time getting well settled in my new guild, we this week started some careful raiding just to get to know each other. Voice communication, movement patterns, odd habits and curious quirks - all the little things that makes for a guild to be more than just a random group of people were being mapped out. It was great fun, but alas, it also gave me some reason for concern.<br /><br /><br />The trip went to Ulduar, as a fair few member still lacked the odd achievement for their proto-drakes, and we only had a few Starcallers as well. At Algalon, however, a previously voiced concern of mine quickly came to become a major issue; the current tankadin squishiness. I've complained earlier that threat comes at the cost of survivability, and as we met a boss that still hits like a freight train with no 30% buff to hide behind, this did indeed prove to be a costly truth. Our tank-rack for the night, somewhat ironically consisting of two paladins, were simply taking too much damage, and Big Bang transitions just proved too hard on our two healers. It was time to do something, and fast; our co-ordination and tactics were perfect, random deaths to melee swing was the one thing holding us back.<br /><br />So I offered to go retribution again.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLSym4f-uMom4S6ZKn2oayANBnfVqGuNFKQ786QJJYZZGarJUDZlcSwk-aETiQEx2ib1af2XPccA4kh2Ndy9xSdfhKelGAwXFsJvuFuFwJK5p8cUJfyqa4gST6XqeUmJRbdxE7JMg-tjYl/s1600/procadin.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLSym4f-uMom4S6ZKn2oayANBnfVqGuNFKQ786QJJYZZGarJUDZlcSwk-aETiQEx2ib1af2XPccA4kh2Ndy9xSdfhKelGAwXFsJvuFuFwJK5p8cUJfyqa4gST6XqeUmJRbdxE7JMg-tjYl/s320/procadin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545175854719760866" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Would YOU let this woman stab you?</span><br /></span></span></div><br />The first thing I notice is how different retribution actually play now, since I last tried. I was prepared for the difference to be vast, but what actually met me almost blew me away. My previous argument against retribution in it's current state still stands; it IS a demanding spec to play properly now, but due to the patience and focus needed rather than the actual execution of your pre-ordained setup. This, after having testet retribution over two raid nights (plus millions and millions of damage on the dummies), is still the case.<br /><br />What really bothers me, though, isn't the fact that from an ICC-habit of spamming something as fast as possible all the time, every time I now press something, I'm likely to spend the next half to one second waiting out a cooldown. The core thought of CS (Crusader Strike) - filler - CS - filler - CS - finisher (Templar's Verdict for now, though Inquisition is going to making my coming argument stand even firmer) works well in principle, but what doesn't work so well are the three RNG-factors; The Art of War, Divine Purpose, and Hand of Light.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">- The Art of War is a 20% chance on melee autoswings to proc for a free Exorcism doing 100% additional damage, not unlike it's ICC counterpart. The curious thing is that these Exorcisms hit harder than our finishers at the moment, and as such, have a considerably higher priority than Templar's Verdict on proc.<br /><br />- Hand of Light is again a proc on autoswings, this time providing you with a free finisher at full Holy Power strenght, without actually consuming Holy Power. An absolute no-brainer, you'd think - except it still falls behind Exorcism procs on the priority queue. Which is a rather large concern, seeing how this actually is our mastery, and that our gear will be loaded with said stat a few weeks from now.<br /><br />- And finally, Divine Purpose, which provides a 40% chance for all our fillers to grant an extra Holy Power. Which in theory is awesome, but in reality more often than not does nothing but add strain to you already proc-ridden priority.</span><br /><br />There are several problems here. The first and biggest being "dry streaks" - periods between procs being so long that you have to turn to Holy Wrath and Consecration for your fillers. You'll do a perfect rotation with minimum effort, however, your overall throughput is nowhere near competitive. Why? Because you only manage one finisher per six global cooldown.<br /><br />A more luxurious problem arises when everything procs at the same time. The Art of War and Hand of Light can and will proc at the single same autoswing, and if you're already at two or more Holy Power, you're suddenly clustered, making Exorcism - finisher - finisher - CS and so forth your priority. Excellent burst, no doubt, but alas, this almost inevitable causes a dry streak - especially if either ability procs for additional Holy Power, which will wither (by already being at max stock, having two attacks queued before you get to actually use your stock Holy Power) and diminish, while still counting as having procced.<br /><br />As will undoubtedly be pointed out, this evens out over the course of a bossfight, and after spending some hours at the training dummy, I can indeed confirm that it does stably even out. Training dummies do not, however, take into consideration movement, Holy Power used for Word of Glory, stuns/roots/fears and other impairing effects (that will grant an extra stack of Holy Power, just to rub it in). Neither does it explain why the co-efficients are completely off the mark. The Exorcism example is just one - even glyphed, Templar's Verdict hits for less than an unglyphed Shield of the Righteous does for protection, and Seal damage remain as dominant as ever.<br /><br />So I worry about the state of retribution. There have been many good sign that the spec is being taken seriously and being worked on, however, the current situation is not good. I have no belief at all that we can be competitive except for our buffs when facing off against Death Knights and fury Warriors, and that itself is a fearful prospect.<br /><br />I'll hopefully get to try out a full raid on heroic Halion (10) on Thursday - this should provide me with a few more answers regarding our state in a fully raidbuffed environment.<br /><br />Until then, however, it's the training dummies. I've got some procs to nail.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-18634686979235590282010-11-23T22:07:00.000-08:002010-11-23T22:21:18.687-08:00Last goodbyes.I don't usually do this, but <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/795706-Post-your-last-screenshot-u-ve-taken-before-Shattering%21">this thread</a> on the MMO-Champion forums caught my attention. Here are my own.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wU8dtPCPq9vA9Xw2rXpDHCZaKz0OaEY1jjS6dGJnG86tSF2y-Znn8YtsQUC5Jh4lvlrQgFnRXRgsTdvmukwm6HzBDiS6zju2MMFaDJPBqKDUO9zNWDZWFzRy-cQhKMGd4iTfUB0-F2Vd/s1600/Soulflay.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wU8dtPCPq9vA9Xw2rXpDHCZaKz0OaEY1jjS6dGJnG86tSF2y-Znn8YtsQUC5Jh4lvlrQgFnRXRgsTdvmukwm6HzBDiS6zju2MMFaDJPBqKDUO9zNWDZWFzRy-cQhKMGd4iTfUB0-F2Vd/s320/Soulflay.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542994301404459890" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxnoYZaqDHtF9uQwd6uRFJGlVBXy99SH_FOPxhbpfv042IqVGDIey1d0Q_6goL5voP0ev0_KmXAY_vAjQp_zev9obOoRnGFSXqMRFdlXpz3EvaW_HjbIHeW440HL9WTm6ukwEkCgTV-vR/s1600/taerar.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxnoYZaqDHtF9uQwd6uRFJGlVBXy99SH_FOPxhbpfv042IqVGDIey1d0Q_6goL5voP0ev0_KmXAY_vAjQp_zev9obOoRnGFSXqMRFdlXpz3EvaW_HjbIHeW440HL9WTm6ukwEkCgTV-vR/s320/taerar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542994404024714594" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkDiI_fiSjH8_QHgkRXRsyeTW5o0ZHn2_5EeL-fZYlj7A_zNgLOKOua62qoFXphrznp0N4NTmtSuzyA50xvsH1TXVmVh_-YHGOpGKJoQ760NfrqjaUFEbY0iGkhuEOiSGW2mnrpa_qfQu/s1600/park.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 236px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkDiI_fiSjH8_QHgkRXRsyeTW5o0ZHn2_5EeL-fZYlj7A_zNgLOKOua62qoFXphrznp0N4NTmtSuzyA50xvsH1TXVmVh_-YHGOpGKJoQ760NfrqjaUFEbY0iGkhuEOiSGW2mnrpa_qfQu/s320/park.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542994495741506210" border="0" /></a><br />Top to bottom;<br /><br />Payce's final ever Hakkar-kill didn't yield any Zin'Rokh - it did, however, prove that Hakkar and his trash isn't linked! During the entire fight they would come and go, occasionally lingering a bit while kneeling in front of the diety at the altar. I found it fitting that my last ever interaction with the inhabitants of the Gurubashi empire was their bowing down before the slayer of their God.<br /><br />While levelling Pox's mining in the Hinterlands, the yell emote rang across the zone that someone had engaged the nightmare dragon. Rushing to Seradane, I found a hunter and his bear busy dying to Taerar's minions. As he reset, I went as far I dared onto the portal dais to secure a final memory of something that will surely be deeply missed.<br /><br />And finally... the park. Hels, being my bank alt for the time being (Champion of the Naaru, Swift Zulian Tiger - some bank, huh?), took time off her busy schedule AH-mongering to spend a few minutes in a portion of Stormwind I always enjoyed, even through its apparent uselessness. The biggest romantics/nerds among us will undoubtedly recognize Linken's Sword of Mastery hanging at her hip.<br /><br />It's four hours until the servers are scheduled to go live here in Europe. It is four hours until nothing will ever be the same again.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-32726732779280692552010-11-21T20:09:00.000-08:002010-11-21T20:36:33.018-08:00Fare thee well, dear friend.As the rumours turn into reports, and the reports more and more frequently agree, it's fast becoming clear that this next reset, the Shattering is very likely to take place. And with it, the world is forever and irrevocably changed. The absolutely insane amount of new content is, in all fairness, slightly overwhelming; the task alone to wrap your head around everything seems almost like a full time job when you start looking at all the new stuff we are so generously being presented.<br /><br />But wait a minute. Who's that voice, silently crying at the back of my head, being relegated to but a distant memory?<br /><br />It's you, isn't it, Zul'Gurub, old friend? We've been through a lot, you and I. From our first small steps where you taught me how to deal with Jeklik's Greater Heals as a relatively fresh and uninformed paladin. How we discovered together that tanking Gahz'ranka in the water is the clever way not to take a truckload of fall damage every so often. How Jin'do would yell "Grats!" from the other end of the zone if you let Mandokir ding enough for one reset. How Hakkar would never really drop me that sword. How the tiger mount dropped for my bank alt that ONE time she went there.<br /><br />We go back a long way, you and I. Granted, like all relationships, we've had our quarrels - like that one time with the Soulflayers stealing my mana - but all in all, I look back at all our years together with warm affection. You and I, Zul'Gurub. We certainly had some good times.<br /><br />But now you're going away forever. And in my heart, I will miss you. I will miss your beauty, your ability to entertain me for hours on end, your amazingly curious inhabitants, whose curious habits could and would amaze and annoy like little other.<br /><br />Fare thee well, dear friend. Even though you're gone, your memory remains.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-33047549049938946732010-11-18T15:31:00.000-08:002010-11-18T16:20:00.800-08:00Places to visit.I've been a fan of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Female-Draenei/74387215158">female draenei</a> for a while, and with my <a href="http://artisanelitist.blogspot.com/2010/10/dear-blizzard-nerf-rock.html">previous rant about paladin threat values</a> fresh in mind, the choice of a full percent permanent hit rating as opposed to a situational 3 expertise fast became the deciding matter. As the reputation junkie I am, human Diplomacy were an obvious pro, and with rated battlegrounds on the horizon, the extra trinket slot is definitely going to be more than just a small asset.<br /><br />In comparison, the draenei heal is a HoT that over the course of 15 seconds ticks for less than non-critical Divine Light - whose casting time is approximately the same at the time for the first heal to tick from Gift. There's the obvious drawback of having to cast, of course, as opposed to applying an instant, but practically, the few chances where a Gift-heal would save your life, you're likely to have either Word of Glory or Lay on Hands available anyway. And even though I'm a jewelcrafter by trade, I never really saw the point of the racial increase to professions in the first place. I'm maxing them anyway - cheap points early in the skill-up progress is a more attractive prospect than expensive points later on.<br /><br />So what to choose? I did twist my head a fair bit, I even went as far as writing up random tables and rolling dice to try and help me decide. It didn't really help.<br /><br />In the end, I decided to go with draenei. Looking at the core attributes, they have a slightly higher base strength than humans, granted, at the cost of some agility, but still - for a paladin, strength is king. Furthermore, the static bonus to hit gives me one advantage over situational expertise - I can safely reforge excess hit into expertise without having to have fully balanced gearsets to compensate for varible stats following a weapon switch. And with the prospect of possibly tanking alongside another tankadin in Cataclysm, being able to change battlefield roles fast and dynamically means being able to do fast weapon/shield swaps midfight can prove an asset on certain fights, especially fights involving a strict enrage timer.<br /><br />And then there's the horn. And the tail. And the fact that Vidyala over at <a href="http://manalicious.wordpress.com/">Manaliciuous</a> (she might not know this yet) absolutely HAVE to draw me as a draenei.<br /><br />Ladies and gentlemen - meet the new and improved Payce.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0KGAhWx4BPepmJo47AA1lPi3OHuGw0vXgKLynsHNzqcIYUIHICbcDgeFWFeaSo_2T0NTSRYPipY5fTJ5aAaXKSt1Y6wq6yfUJZ_VKft8RSsXY42ajLPvudee8yKkYyUoytuvgj8XgLQ_/s1600/PayceDran.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 310px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0KGAhWx4BPepmJo47AA1lPi3OHuGw0vXgKLynsHNzqcIYUIHICbcDgeFWFeaSo_2T0NTSRYPipY5fTJ5aAaXKSt1Y6wq6yfUJZ_VKft8RSsXY42ajLPvudee8yKkYyUoytuvgj8XgLQ_/s320/PayceDran.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541048379896952130" border="0" /></a><br />I absolutely HAD to go back and whack this guy. Most people would vote the Fel Reaver as their most annoying ever ganking NPC, but this guy... oh, the trouble you've given me over the years. You scumbag. Eat fist.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlGpGTFr90LDt03Gm0qh-rulfF6Ys76QBPoZ5gY9nI9MyOgwZuISZUOVHDM3kVCBY45_Kqbr-so9kPxAAesBVCsPbfO9OCuB8qNWe5bFgZTpjsJWDn_UB06b3yUILWbR9PuRyrygGbjQsf/s1600/ForVidy.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlGpGTFr90LDt03Gm0qh-rulfF6Ys76QBPoZ5gY9nI9MyOgwZuISZUOVHDM3kVCBY45_Kqbr-so9kPxAAesBVCsPbfO9OCuB8qNWe5bFgZTpjsJWDn_UB06b3yUILWbR9PuRyrygGbjQsf/s320/ForVidy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541048575190305586" border="0" /></a>Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-41580131781568982922010-11-16T08:31:00.000-08:002010-11-16T08:51:50.926-08:00Payce goes... alliance?<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">or also known as the curious tale of WAHT IS THIS I DONT EVEN</span></span><br /><br />There's been precious few updates the last few weeks, I know. Apart from a fanboi'sh ramble about how Deathwing should REALLY die, I can't remember actually saying a single constructive thing about my class for at least ten days. And with just reason (or so I like to tell myself) - my guild died. Again.<br /><br />The problem was, of course, that I was an officer again, and being the lonely, last officer standing is pretty much the same as being a sniper in a bird's nest - your days are spent scouring for an out, and your rations are limited. You can't do this forever. And last Wednesday, during what was a supposed to be a Kingslayer run for the guildies that didn't already have the title, the glass toppled. The bubble burst. The dam flooded.<br /><br />Three people didn't show, specifically the main tank and two healers. Another healer was online, but not really ready to raid. Our hunter suddenly found herself out of gametime. Our mage, having had surgery, was kinda excused. And our warlock, who really did want to do this last attemt at getting a few more Kingslayers, had taken the night off work to give the guild priority. As the clock ticked 19:00 game time, I had three people online. And I decided I'd had enough. I've spent thousands of gold and even real world money on the guild's logistics, and when we try to arrange an achievement run for people having expressed a wish to get these achievements, only to have to pug seven players - then you realize that not only are you out of rations, but there's actually this funky back door out of the nest as well.<br /><br />So over the last week, I've scoured my own realm, countless other realms, their forums, their WoW-progress ratings, spent countless hours talking in chat across a ten-fold number of realms, reading guild websites, met what for this game must be considered an incredible amount of helpful people and positive responses. And what must be the fourteenth or fifteenth guild we'd talked to, we hit jackpot.<br /><br />So over the next few days, Payce will bring a few of her mates to Vek'nilash [EU], and re-align herself with the Alliance. It's a bit of a kick in the groin to once again have Varian as my king, and I will dearly miss Sylvanas and Vol'jin. On the other hand, I've met some great new people and made some new friends. So I guess it's a fair trade-off, all in all.<br /><br />Now to decide on the human v. draenei issue...Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-50930502691184956782010-11-08T19:33:00.000-08:002010-11-08T20:18:25.046-08:00...and then Buffy stakes Edward.<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Warning: This blog entry may or may not cause extremely subjective interpretations of lore, game mechanics, and the (not so) sacred bond between the two. Approach with caution.</span></span><br /><br />So yes. At first there was Raggy, which we needed Executus to summon for us after what in some cultures are referred to as a "severe beating". We didn't kill C'thun, he was merely hiding in Cho'Gall's stomach pouch like that snotty kangaroo kid from Winnie the Pooh. Hakkar is eternal, Kael'Thas redefined the word "setback", Maiev kills Illidan, Anweena banish Kil'Jaeden, Algalon found us funny and peculiar and let us live for that reason alone, Kel'Thuzad was nothing more than a taskmaster of the Lich King's armies but still survives not one, but TWO bar brawls up in that night club'ish lounge of his. And the Lich King. Oh, the Lich King. We both know the PWND us royally. I mean, honestly. He just let us take him down to 14% and go, "yeah, screw this, let's kill Tirion". Too bad he forgot about Terenas, huh. Had he only been clever and not demoted Falric and Marwyn to 5-man bosses, he'd at least have his back covered. But no. He had to go on that RP roll of his and thus, Tirion kills Arthas.<br /><br />So yeah. Long story short... when did we actually kill someone of importance? We don't do we? The World of Warcraft heroes are really only the pawns in the major game of boss chess, we do the grunt work and then some NPC with obvious vindicative issues killsteals. In fact... if we're to be really harsh, we've only really ever KILLED - deaded, murdered, un-life'd - three major lore characters (four if you count Magtheridon, but honestly, why would we?): Vashj, obviously. Her dying in Illidan's service was a major element of the Illidan saga. And then there's Nefarian and Onyxia. Yep. Deathwing's kids. No wonder he's pissed off and burning with rage. I mean, come on. His kids.<br /><br />So he's coming for us, and it's big and scary, and he sets fire to Auberdine (good riddance, by the way) by flying over it, he FLIES ACROSS THE PIER and it trashes the place. And let me tell you, having grown up in Goldshire, Auberdine is borderline metropolic. We're talking close to Brill proportions here. Huge. So obviously, Deathwing is one mean bastard. And he's angry. And on fire.<br /><br />How THE HELL are we going to beat that? My belief in item level 379 only goes that far, I'll tell you. Heroic loot is nice, and that stats on certain items like <a href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/60233/shard-of-woe/">this little fellow</a> only serves to increase my belief that we'll be armed to the teeth when we face him. But seriously... he's on fire. Voluntarily. Inside an armour crafted with more fire and dwarf "volunteers". AND he's huge. And he's pissed enough that he even resurrected those blasted kids of his to undeath. And to top it all off, Tirion's in Hearthglen and Anweena's dead.<br /><br />We're screwed.<br /><br />Unless...<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(this is where I go from rant to actual game-related content.)</span><br /><br />What if we were to actually have an end boss of an expansion be just that hard ingame? There's no honest reason for 10 or 25 player characters to beat Deathwing on their own. No way. Nuh-uh. Not buying it. In short, we need help. Like Thrall or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x15XKaLB3Ao">Alex</a>. I don't think it'll be a big shock to anyone if Thrall turns out to be the Tirion of Cataclysm, but I'm honestly not sure if that idea rubs my belly in a comfortable and delightful way. I'd much prefer to see him in a Brann Bronzebeard-esque sort of role, related to the elemental invasion rather than the actual black flight (and besides, us horde have had to put up with that fat, ugly dwarf for two years now, let us have the key NPC this time around, hmmm?)<br /><br />But what if the actual fight between Deathwing and Azeroth's Finest would be not a 10/25-man effort, but 11/26 - with Alexstrasza being the final raid member? An epic fight where Alex will have to "tank" Deathwing, requiring healing like any other tank or raid member, while the players will have to DPS down the boss while at the same time fighting massed waves of minibosses, trash gauntlets, environmental changes and of course Deathwing's own attacks against the raid? Designed and tuned correctly, it could be the most epic fight of the game thus far, yet still remaining hysterically challenging in a high end-environment. Just get <a href="%C3%82%C2%A8http://www.wowhead.com/npc=30489/morgan-day#comments">Morgan Day</a> on the case, and I predict an end boss worthy of praise even from the most anti-Blizzard Wrath Babies.<br /><br />Of course it'll never happen this way. Trivializing the player role in the encounter to the level that we don't actually get even the feeling that we kill him, just that we're Alex's army - it won't go down well with the PR department. But the idea of Alex and Deathwing battling it out in the burning skies above my head while tanking 37 Cultists and their insane black flight overlord under the flaming fires of Deathwing's wounds... it's an exciting prospect.<br /><br />Until then, Al'Akir looks he'll be quite high up there on my list of most memorable bosses in the game. I guess that's a start.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-6416577189762271982010-11-04T16:16:00.000-07:002010-11-04T16:24:45.210-07:00...Exodar doublet fellow?So we all pretty much know the Red Shirt Guy now. Some people still think insulting and slagging him is the only way to handle affairs such as these, other (most others, to be fair) simply shrug their shoulders and note that "it happened" without further ado, a fair few use the internet to hail the awesomeness of the Wildhammer Fact Checker, and how he wtf-pwn'd Blizzard.<br /><br />And then there are <a href="http://imperative-guild.com/">a select 24 people</a>, who simply go above and beyond the call of duty;<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">My officers and I tracked him down and sent him the invitation shortly after BlizzCon. We felt that,out of everyone in the U.S., he would get the most enjoyment being a part of the most epic battle that has ever been made in MMO's. He genuinely appreciated the meaning and lore behind Invincible, not just a "cool mount" to ride around. A lot of people have tried to make him feel bad or feel like a nerd, so we thought he should get the gear to feel totally badass.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> In addition to Invincible, he also got 3 heroic tokens, 5 normal tokens, Saurfang Bracers, Gunship Cloak, and Deathwhisperer dagger. He actually performed really well! He got targeted by defile a few times and managed to get it out each time. He also was targeted by the disease twice and handled it both times. He was a full participant in all fights and executed them all perfectly.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> It was great having him along. He's a really cool guy, and I'm sure he'll remember this experience for a while.</span><br /></span> <br />These are the words of <a href="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Zul%27jin&cn=Blacksen">Blacksen</a>, guild master of progression guild Imperative, posted in a flame thread on the MMO Champion forums. And all I can say (apart from "I SOOOOOOOO WANT THAT TOO!"), is; Thank you. Things like this gives me faith back in the World of Warcraft community. Proving that even a cutting edge hcLK25-farming guild has the humility and decency to see beyond themselves and create something of value to an entire community, and one happy camper in particular.<br /><br />Well done.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-56105467674822248502010-10-29T16:19:00.000-07:002010-11-18T15:40:35.249-08:00Paladin threat values.<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dear Blizzard,<br /><br />Nerf rock. Paper is OK.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Scissors.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">So</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> here we are again, with the nerf bat slamming down in our collective faces. And let's be honest, it wasn't really all that surprising this time around. My Shield of the Righteous at 3 Holy Power would occasianally critically hit for 25,000 damage. My Hammer of Wrath would steadily dish out a solid 16,000 damage at the very least when critically hitting - usually more. To further add to the image of our current power level - these are numbers experienced without wings, though I'll admit that I'm using Wrathful level PvP gear for my wrist (socketed and enchanted</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> stamina, mind you), neck and weapon (stamina gem and Blood Draining) slots, plus the 2-piece T10 retribution set bonus for 5-man instances. Overall though, these numbers are brutally high for a tanking contribution to the damage chart. The bat was already swinging, it was just a matter of time before it hit.<br /><br />Let's look at the exact changes to paladins being made in the latest beta build (13221, no silly codename this time around) - I've limited my quotations to the abilities that relate to protection specifically;<br /><br /></span><ul style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/2812//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/2812/" target="_blank">Holy Wrath</a> now </span><span style="font-size:85%;">scales </span><span style="font-size:85%;">from 61% of SpellPower, up from 30%. Base damage reduced by 22%, from 3122 to 2435.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/633//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/633/" target="_blank">Lay on Hands</a> no longer restores mana.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/24275//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/24275/" target="_blank">Hammer of Wrath</a> base damage has been reduced by 22%. From 4890-5404 to 3814-4215.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/31801//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/31801/" target="_blank">Seal of Truth</a> now scales from 12.85% of Attack Power and Spell Power (up from 12.5%) but now deals 15% weapon damage when stacked 5 times. Down from 16%.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/35395//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/35395/" target="_blank">Crusader Strike</a> now deals 115% weapon damage, down from 150%.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/31935//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/31935/" target="_blank">Avenger's Shield</a> now has a 15 sec cooldown, down from 24 sec.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/53600//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/53600/" target="_blank">Shield of the Righteous</a> now deals 609/1828/3656 damage depending on Holy Power. (Old - Deals 20%/60%/120% of Attack Power as damage)</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/84854//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/84854/" target="_blank">Shield of the Templar</a> no longer reduces the cooldown of Avenger's Shield. Now allows your Divine Plea to generate 1/2/3 Holy Power.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/85646//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/85646/" target="_blank">Guarded by the Light</a> now increases Word of Glory by 15/30%, down from 30/60%.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a rel="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/84635//tooltip/js" href="http://db.mmo-champion.com/s/84635/" target="_blank">Wrath of the Lightbringer</a> now increases the damage of Crusader Strike by 50% at Rank 1, up from 30%.</span></li></ul>So there you have it. An across-the-board downranking of our offensive co-efficients, making just about everything that's not Consecration and Hammer of the Righteous hit less as baseline. The updated tooltip for Wrath of the Lightbringer looks bugged atm, mind you - its likely that this talent will either be single rank, or it will retain it's 2-rank status at 50/100% increase.<br /><br />Technicalities aside - what will this mean for protection as a raiding spec? First of all, it means that our raid threat roof will be considerably lowered, unless the innate threat co-efficients are buffed to compensate for the loss of TPS through damage. Furthermore, I predict that pre-pull Divine Plea is going to be mandatory, as a 1HP-Shield of the Righteous, even to get up an early Holy Shield, is a waste of a GCD, threatwise. This effectively removes Divine Plea as an early combat cooldown for us, making mana efficiency paramount.<br /><br />Whether or not Crusader Strike is being nerfed or stays the same or is buffed is a bit of a toss-up at the moment. The uncertainty around said talent means we're not really sure what the outcome will be, except this - we simply CAN NOT afford Crusader Strikes to miss. No holy power, no threat - and if both resources are going to be as precious to us as it currently appears, then we have no choice than to make sure we're 100% certain our Crusader Strikes hit home. And that means the hit cap. Heavier still, it means the expertise hardcap.<br /><br />As of this beta build, the general consensus is that if you're not hitcapped, you reforge hit until you reach the hitcap. And when you're hitcapped, you reforge expertise until you reach the expertise hardcap. And as a tank, to reforge offensive stats, what do you sacrifice? Well, there really are only two secondary defensive stats left in the game, isn't there? Dodge and parry. That's right. As of this build, we are completely scrapping Blizzard's new lovechild mastery, our precious dodge and our dear parry for the sake of our threat. Because let's face it - without our threat, we don't need dodge and parry in the first place - our frost death knight friend, however, would kindly ask a loan of some mitigation if it's not too much bother?<br /><br />I was hoping this to be a minor nuisance, and perhaps som unadjusted numbers that would be tuned later on. It is, after all, beta, and like we agreed on quite early, a nerf was obviously coming. But then, the following morning, I read this:<br /><br /><ul style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Holy Shield will be changed to increase block value by 10% (40% total) instead of increasing block chance by 15%. Since this will cause Mastery to become more valuable, the amount of block granted by Mastery will be reduced to 2.25% block chance per point of Mastery, down from 3%.<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Paladin tanks are not intended to go cap block as fast as they can. It’s fine if you want to do that, but we don’t treat it as “the new defense cap” and we don’t balance paladins assuming they have a 100% block chance. That is something the community identified as being not only possible, but likely, and one of the reasons we changed the way block works for paladins.<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Guardian of Ancient Kings -- Damage reduction changed from 60% to 50%. Cooldown still 2 minutes (talented). Duration still 12 seconds.</span></li></ul>...say again? You're lessening our survivability, and practically forcing mastery down our throats to retain it - by not only making it near mandatory, but even lessening the value of it? Huh. How about that. We're already considered the "squishiest" of the four tank classes since 4.0.1 hit - we're apparently getting "roflstomped" by heroic Halion, Lich King and Lady Deathwhisper - and said "block cap" (102,4 - ((dodge+parry) + 15 (Holy Shield) + 5 (miss chance)) = "block cap") is nothing more than a natural response from the community to a change forced upon us by what was, in essence, a very strong and solid change to our gameplay mechanics in the first place.<br /><br />In short, we're getting less avoidance if we wanna have threat, we're getting less threat if we wanna have mitigation, and we're getting "roflstomped" without proper avoidance and mitigation, though without any threat, someone else is quite likely to get roflstomped before us in the first place. I quite feel like I'm back to playing warrior in Naxxramas again, balancing 11 stats to make sure my gear was good enough to both stay alive AND do my job in the raid. Is that REALLY what Blizzard wants to achieve with this? I have my doubts, and will expect some changes to these numbers eventually. Until then... I guess my healers will hate me immensely.<br /><br />Oh well.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-29352442928537698972010-10-25T15:19:00.000-07:002010-10-25T16:15:52.969-07:00Their law.So yes, Artisan Elitist's BlizzCon coverage 2010:<br /><br />- Metzen making me feel older than I actually am<br />- some stuff about a female Illidan with a crossbow fighting the devil<br />- some other stuff about SC2 being boring already and needing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_of_the_ancients">a new map</a><br />- THE e-sports scandal of the year<br /><br />Yes, you heard me. Payce blogs about PvP. No, seriously, I mean it. This post will, in fact, be centered around the theme of competitive arena. Gasp.<br /><br />So the thing is, the competing finalists <a href="http://www.sk-gaming.com/team/1604-compLexity">ComplexityRed</a> and <a href="http://www.team-aaa.com/">aAa</a> were tied what we call "closely". We are shown a display of intense teamwork through controlled bursts, insane mana management, kiting so clever you could brush your teeth with it and extraordinary survivability. ComplexityRed, with a priest/warlock/mage-setup built for massive burst and tactical control display an amazing offensive game, while aAa are more centered about defensive safety, sustained damage over time and the occasional burst to force cooldowns. The games are intensely tight and close, and as the 20 minute mark of game four is sounded, ComplexityRed is awarded the victory, giving them an overall 3-1 series win. The crowd obviously rejoice, and a lot of the home viewers (admittedly, myself included) is happy for them. It's always fun to see an offensive, solid team playing amazingly and achieveing through their A game what is conceived as a well earned victory.<br /><br />Except while they are celebrated on stage, handed their $75,000 cheque, something is amiss in the background. aAa have launched an appeal for a rematch, and the admins are investigating the matter. It appears as though the decicive death of aAa's warlock came AFTER the time limit, and that due to the time limit, their resto druid had stopped playing at the 20 minute mark. Logs show that this is in fact the case, and that at the time limit, all players are still alive - a draw. And due to Blizzard's current arena competition rules, draws are to be decided by overall damage done, where aAa does indeed beat ComplexityRed by around 10,000 damage. The tie is awarded to aAa and with the score now being 2-2, rather than 3-1, a fifth and final match is played.<br /><br />Without going into too much detail: the grand final is an insane display of skill. ComplexityRed's captain Sodah plays with a skill level beyond anything I've ever seen, the adrenaline pumping and blood bruising with every global cooldown. As a spectator, this is e-sports at the abslute highest level. It's not really worth describing - take the time instead to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfv2iM7f61o">see for yourself</a>. After an airtight 11 minute fight, aAa draws the longest straw, and wins the tie as ComplexityRed's warlock eventually goes down to the sustained pressure on ComplexityRed's resources. The new award ceremoney displays a smug aAa receving their prize money, and a ComplexityRed-team too gutted for words accepting their second prize.<br /><br />I don't want to be judgemental towards either team. I've admitted I enjoyed ComplexityRed's strategy and composition more - their offensive philosophy to the game is a pleasure to watch, and as a spectator, that is really what I'm after. While not going as far as saying they turtled, I will call countercomping on aAa. It's a legitimate strategy, and in the face of a potential $75,000 dollars, I understand all to well that countercomping is both effective and strategically smart. My gripe isn't with either team at all - they both chose their paths of action within every legal parameter there is. There were no cheating, and no bad sportsmanship at play.<br /><br />My gripe is with Blizzard.<br /><br />It's their game, and it's also their rules and their decicive judgement. Allowing themselves to not only announce a winner, but doing do without a full overview of the details in a game that went to the 20 minute mark, is not only sloppy, but reckless and disrespectful to those paying to watch the games, as well as the competitors themselves. Had this game been investigated further before the announcing of victors, we would have had 2-2 prior to any celebratory announcements, and an adrenaline-fuelled fifth final on equal grounds - and not one where one team had to fight back from the feeling of being literally gutted, while the other team have been given a boon of mercy with absolutely nothing to lose. I respect and understand aAa's posting a protest - it's within the rules, and it's the right, fair and honest thing to do when they'd been wronged. I only wish they weren't cheated of their victory in their first place.<br /><br />Eventually, this will come back to bite Blizzard's own arse. ComlpexityRed displeyed to the entire world what they're capable of, and with a the strong backing of <a href="http://www.sk-gaming.com/">SK Gaming</a>, they have every potential to fight back. The problem is that when these things happen, the credibility of the arranging party is drawn into doubt, and when said party in none other than the creator of the game itself - at their own convention, no less - I can't but wonder if Blizzard-hosted tournaments are ever going to be as good as sponsored, private leagues. More importantly, it posts doubt in the minds of the spectators, and most important of all, the performers, as to the validity of their results.<br /><br />This might prove to be a big problem for Blizzard in the long run, unless a swift and decicive reworking of their competitive arena rules are being issued to ensure nothing like this happens again.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-9604931091348269262010-10-24T15:59:00.000-07:002010-10-24T17:07:51.085-07:00So about this tank business.So here we are, at the brink of Cataclysm, and the question I hear more often than ANY others these days, is "<span style="font-style: italic;">What will you be plaing in Cataclysm? What should I be playing in Cataclysm?"</span>"<br /><br />For some, it's easy. My friend Ayms over at <a href="http://www.4thwallcomic.com/">4th Wall</a>, she'll be playing her priest. Hands down, no contest. My guildmate Gegnar, a.k.a. "the Mage" - well, take a guess. Chummie the death knight with Engineering and Jewelcrating on her profession tabs decided to level an alt - she needed a miner to feed her professions.<br /><br />Then there are the others. Like Mits. Last I heard, it was resto druid, but who knows? Holy paladins are dynamic, beast mastery is a viable hunter spec, after all, and ZOMG NERGASM Dark Simulacrum. It's not easy. My dear friend Rihn is torn between PvP disc, resto druid, protection warrior or one of his two level 80 warlocks. I heard this rumour that boomkin PvE is somewhat amusing as well.<br /><br />And oh, how I understand their internal quarrel. Up until recently, I was debating whether or not this blog shouldn't for the resurrection have to become a warrior blog. My old alliance warrior, my heart and soul through TBC, Naxxramas, Ulduar and Trial of the Crusader, looked increasingly interesting through both beta and PTR, the abilites presented and the new talents bringing back a lot of the feel of what I so dearly loved about TBC. So I finished up my loremaster, tossed my 45 euros at Blizzard and made her a (rather lovely) Forsaken.<br /><br />So the patch hit, and I started to play around, fixing my specs, getting some decent and easy-to-grab high level gear, and entering the odd heroic - only to realize that it wasn't really all that. The new abilities, by all means, they work. Spreading Rend with Thunder Claps, multistunning Charge, self-healing enough to make blood death knights weep in envy - it's all very nice and like I said, by all means - it works. Quite well, even.<br /><br />It just wasn't all that fun. To clarify - it did not live up to my expectations. The odd raidboss tanked for weekly just added more weight to the problem - after playing a retribution paladin at a higher than average skill level for almost a year, it simply didn't have that dynamic feel to it. Shield Slam procs, Revenge procs, Victory Rush procs, applying four debuffs, all while establing a threat threshold - it's not hard, by all means, but it grew dreary very fast. It felt kinda like this:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEPvWABd_fhts6AOMQSaOYRZ2IVGAeo4eRvExa1Aw8tZ_uMgdPss0uQ7BfP3djXBCLklDWEXP7I3XXKKXYj56iAGRCcZ4cCN0ZCORe4kR3ii7AHzWTAUlT1P7ENAG5tpcI8sNWuecy91z/s1600/lawnmove.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEPvWABd_fhts6AOMQSaOYRZ2IVGAeo4eRvExa1Aw8tZ_uMgdPss0uQ7BfP3djXBCLklDWEXP7I3XXKKXYj56iAGRCcZ4cCN0ZCORe4kR3ii7AHzWTAUlT1P7ENAG5tpcI8sNWuecy91z/s400/lawnmove.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531762416953459490" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So I quickly enough went back to retribution, only to find... that yes, we are still competitive, DPS-wise (I'd argue we're even better single-target DPS now, played right, due to the addition of Zealotry and Hammers during wings), and we're still bound to a fairly complex (not really) priority system that still demands attention to procs, stacking debuffs and even a good ol' Twisting-style proc bug to maximize our output. Rejoice, for we are... boring as hell, to be honest.<br /><br />And the culprit is this guy: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=25956">Sanctity of Battle (rank 1)</a>. Playing retribution at the moment is about one thing and one thing only - minimizing the time between you Crusader Strikes, till the point that your rotation becomes Crusader Strike - thing - Crusader Strike - thing - Crusader Strike - DINGDINGDING B000000M!!! - repeat. Essentialy, you want enough haste to get your Crusader Strike on a 3 second cooldown or else... well... there are those 0.3-0.5 seconds between the previous "thing" and next Crusader Strike going off cooldown which are generally not very entertaining. Borderline dreary, I'd go as far as saying. Waiting for Crusader Strike is boring, but inserting another ability is not only a DPS-loss, but messes up your rotation royally as well, as said ability is more than likely to be your next "thing" - as soon as you've waited out your 0.3 seconds for (say it with me) - Crusader Strike.<br /><br />And they removed the magic dispel from Cleanse as well! Are no things holy anymore?<br /><br />Certainly not my spec. I chose the best of two world - tank and paladin - and went protection for Cataclysm. It feels kinda like this:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVwKc7geLTHJejy6wpPFdeDM_52xV7-YePnHIyS1WNNhif9HpU5j0OylTjLotH3mexqa0WoiRyruOQ-b4vdr1RzsWdTdkXckC0BZ-gFQPoAURlsR-AQ0vdUgLJF9HkBYnYkrPBZla9Bvo9/s1600/lawn_mover3_thumb.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 327px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVwKc7geLTHJejy6wpPFdeDM_52xV7-YePnHIyS1WNNhif9HpU5j0OylTjLotH3mexqa0WoiRyruOQ-b4vdr1RzsWdTdkXckC0BZ-gFQPoAURlsR-AQ0vdUgLJF9HkBYnYkrPBZla9Bvo9/s400/lawn_mover3_thumb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531766429355617954" /></a><br /><br />I can live with that, I guess.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-55492485919155234382010-04-25T15:36:00.001-07:002010-04-25T15:37:49.735-07:00Random screenshot Sunday.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_8KWEHg0PBW3h3HkrtvDYOlqbwgmEwwdjNEhRC75XXfWgV4GI3wofshrDf7DBf7pxX8wxLnXVh3_Y8HV4YYE6aifPqhxYISeENHZW_mi30Cg5hNFfbxRDhIywNDs1pBywEGrKwBzOQDMb/s1600/DefileEid.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_8KWEHg0PBW3h3HkrtvDYOlqbwgmEwwdjNEhRC75XXfWgV4GI3wofshrDf7DBf7pxX8wxLnXVh3_Y8HV4YYE6aifPqhxYISeENHZW_mi30Cg5hNFfbxRDhIywNDs1pBywEGrKwBzOQDMb/s400/DefileEid.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464207720423690114" /></a><br />DEFILE ON M-- wait, why can't I move?Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-83917816175863502882010-04-23T03:41:00.000-07:002010-04-23T05:29:29.848-07:00Where itemization and retz don't agree.This week we finally managed to kill Sindragosa. After 10 or so hours of wiping, more dumbass positioning mistakes (yours truly most certainly not excluded) than I've seen since Netherspite and more than one rather unsubtle ragequit, she finally knelt down to a hilariously messy attempt which I believe our maintank still have a heart attack in progress from. We're 11/12 now - only big man left.<br /><br />When it came to rolling the loot, I won a pair of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=51783">new bracers</a>, the last piece of the pre-hardmode gearpuzzle for me. As you will notice, these bracers are indeed leather - as are my belt and crafted 264-boots. My rings are agility-based, even the Ashen Verdict one, my neck is the BoE 264-piece with agility on it and my cloak is the agility-back from Lord Marrowgar. In fact, apart from my 4-piece T10, only my weapon and chest are strength-based plate items.<br /><br />The sum of these parts amount to a grand total of around 5500 attack power, 49,98% melee crit chance, 33 expertise, 0,00% armor penetration, and my 3,50 speed weapon swings on 3,10 (with absolutely no buffs). I've previously ranted that ArP only affects around 35-40% of my total damage, and with that frame of mind, I'm quite pleased with my reaching 0,00% (even if replacing those 7 expertise over the cap with ArP would probably be a slight DPS-increase). My point to all this?<br /><br />I'm a paladin. Paladins traditionally wear plate. But looking at the Icecrown loot tables, the strength- and plate loot is stuffed to the brim with ArP, hit and expertise. I can only think of two plate pieces in the instance that does not have either of these stats on it - the bracers from Dreamwalker, and the chestpiece I'm currently using (for the record, the cloak from Gunship and neck from BQL, while not technically plate, is strenght loot with neither of the aforementioned stats as well). <br /><br />The problem, however, is not the plate having these stats in itself. The problem is that plate loot traditionally have more item points invested in stamina and armor on top of their offensive stats. Furthermore, they have only two green stats. And with itemlevels as high as we're having in ICC, that means each item will have a huge chunk of whatever stat goes on it. In short, if I were to wear plate only, I'd be overcapped to the point of ridicule on hit and expertise, I'd have enough ArP to be comparable to Death Knights, and I'd probably hover around 40% crit raid-buffed.<br /><br />Instead, I use leather loot, with less stamina than agility of the base stats, and three (rather than two) green stats. The amount of the itembudget that goes into a leather DPS item is a lot more focused around your offensive capabilities than your chances of survival - a paradox, really, as plate classes traditionally survive more damage than leather and mail classes in the first place. Of course there are leather items with hit, expertise and ArP on them, I even use a fair few to balance out my stats. But with the item level budget divided the way it is, these stats are far less dominating, making balancing them a much, much more tolerable job.<br /><br />The result more or less speaks for itself. 49,98% unbuffed crit is a figure you shouldn't be able to reach as retz. In places like VoA25 and either ToC instance, I regularly out-DPS other paladins of similar gearlevel if they are pure-plate, more often than not, I destroy them - even if their white damage is higher average than mine from all that ArP. I could of course be bold and attribute this to my absolute awesomeness of skill, but realistically, the difference lie in the gear, and the balance therein.<br /><br />I truly hope this is something that will get fixed in Cataclysm, even if I'm not around to see it. The first few signals are good - ArP being removed as a stat, and the new Mastery concept - but I suspect there's still some way to go. Item budgets will continue to increase, and the caps will necessarily have to be of such a nature that they are possible to reach in pre-raid gear. And as soon as the caps are filled, you need to balance the rest of the stats, making the cap loot on higher end gear less valuable - and thus replaceable by more or less anything with an offensive stat, if it's even a minor DPS upgrade. Because and upgrade is, after all, always an upgrade. If Mastery is to become so imporatant that you'll prefer to go over caps for it, I fear we'll fast spiral into another Sunwell/Icecrown-esque debuff that nerfs it at certain levels of mastery, simply because that for a stat to be THAT good, it will need to be massively powerful.<br /><br />I sincerely hope Blizzard has a plan for this, and that they have learned their lesson on loot from WotLK. I remain sceptical, but we shall see. Until then, I'll take my leather kinky and black, please.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-2543144217134166012010-04-21T16:16:00.000-07:002010-04-21T16:29:57.898-07:00Payce's UI.Not really by popular demand, but I've had a question or two about it, so here it is - my raid UI:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZse2H6F5op3n2uWnA40XaUlmZR09Lf_1FCTOhmDENGWfZki2kV6oC8BGXuLGg5shZvC0HDcluJuLrwtCRfeVt4fpn3aXUyA-THp2zo_h_qSKhwCNvZNpz02cz_LrWb8a3vyIIiJpctdJi/s1600/PayceUI.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZse2H6F5op3n2uWnA40XaUlmZR09Lf_1FCTOhmDENGWfZki2kV6oC8BGXuLGg5shZvC0HDcluJuLrwtCRfeVt4fpn3aXUyA-THp2zo_h_qSKhwCNvZNpz02cz_LrWb8a3vyIIiJpctdJi/s400/PayceUI.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462733897841289314" /></a><br />My unit frames are ShadowedUF and Grid, which makes up for most over my raid overview. I use a variety of grid options for information relay, such as GridMana for the mana bars on the right side. My buttons are Bartender, with a skin called ButtonFacade: Apathy. The cooldown counter you see inside the buttons are OmniCC - the SINGLE most important addon you will have for ret DPS. Above my portrait are some blue bars, these are Classtimer set up to track my procs and a few, selected buffs (you guessed it - seals and the blessings I cover).<br /><br />I prefer DBM over BigWigs and other bossmods, because it's more cutomizable. Combat text is MSBT, a true bitch to set up, but definitely worth it when you finally get it right. Very neat and tidy, and perfect for tracking health, mana, incoming/outgoing damage and heals. Recount and Omen are obvious choices for me, I've tried Skada but prefer these. Apart from Combuctor for inventory, I don't really have any "hidden" addons, so that's basically it - enjoy!Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-65336969385274476542010-04-13T00:07:00.001-07:002010-04-13T00:41:19.556-07:00Announcing my retirement.On May 25th, my game time runs out. I'm not planning to renew my subscription.<br /><br />Over the years in Azeroth, I've discovered and experienced vast amounts of joy, excitement, fun and achievement, chief among them still the Magtheridon kill which got me my Champion of the Naaru-title. I've experienced disappointment, let-down, bitterness and wrongdoing, the worst among them so bad that it had me ragequit not only a raid group, not only a guild, but an entire server. I've gotten to know a fair share of jerks, idiots, hatefulness and taken more blame and abuse than I suspect even rapists do in real life. I've also gotten to know a handful of brilliant, beautiful, amazing and wonderful people that I dearly love, friendships I will treasure for years and decades to come. It's been a rollercoaster-ride, and despite the occasional nausea, it's been awesome.<br /><br />But in the end, it's just a ride. And as I'm writing this, we're heading down the last steep fall before the station.<br /><br />There's still a ton of things I want to do in World of Warcraft. My exalted reputations are at 24/40, I've not killed Algalon or Arthas yet, my rusted proto-drake still lacks Vezax and Yoggy, I've not finished Loremaster on any of my characters, I've never done an Undying-run in Naxxramas. But over the last six months, I've tried alting, rerolling mains, changing my server, even changing my faction. And I realize that no matter how much fun I have in Azeroth, there's a whole other world out there I want to spend more time in. So after pondering since the announcement of Cataclysm what to play, and if to play it at all, I've decided that this is it.<br /><br />To everyone I played with, regardless of whether you suck, rule, fail, win, abuse, praise, hate, love, ninja or happily win that coveted something after weeks and weeks of losing out: Thank you. You've all been a part of the experience. Hope you enjoyed me as much as I enjoyed you.<br /><br />Payce out, mon.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-30842650790078843082010-04-11T15:45:00.000-07:002010-04-11T15:54:37.212-07:00How to Sindragosa.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikwxkG93YhFMnW2vF0wCtsuKMO5sycG_EwKRnyDDrUMkOlw70fQYGcofalpNN9q7vUqCxCAlhWgruzMufHmjsx7oMVU-vWcY0AY6bEDzitBuxijes6RKX4QkTBosL2yUjDL0R1qSi9lEMV/s1600/Sindralol.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikwxkG93YhFMnW2vF0wCtsuKMO5sycG_EwKRnyDDrUMkOlw70fQYGcofalpNN9q7vUqCxCAlhWgruzMufHmjsx7oMVU-vWcY0AY6bEDzitBuxijes6RKX4QkTBosL2yUjDL0R1qSi9lEMV/s400/Sindralol.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459015048595024274" /></a><br />So here's the deal. This fight is simple if you just focus, listen and watch your surroundings.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">PHASE 1:</span><br />Tank stands in tank spot. Melee stands in melee spot. Boss stands in bitch spot. Ranged stands in ranged spot. Warlock portal for easy getty out of shitty is on ranged spot. Let's all hug and be friends on our deisgnated spot, yes yes.<br /><br />When she does vacuum hoover evil, run behind line of not getting fucketh and remain unfucketh. As soon as fuckethness is over, run back to your spot. This is the spot I talked about in the previous paragraph, the ranged or melee spot.<br /><br />When not running someplace, stand on your spot. Very still. Do nukez or healz or whatever it is you do from your spot. Not from next to your spot. From your spot.<br /><br />Tanks have easy job, they can stay in their spot even when she does fuckethyness, for tanks have fun tricks called "cooldowns". Melee have these to, but will still get fucketh if they try something funny. So don't.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">PHASE 2:</span><br />Sometimes Sindra has to pass gas and flies off. Then everyone and their dog should run to ranged spot. Even tanky tank and melee people should stand on ranged spot. Ranged spot is the place that has a warlock portal on it sometimes. And probably around 5 people standing inside a tauren as well.<br /><br />When you stand here, you sometime get a skull or cross over your head. Then you run to the skull spot or the cross spot and stand really still there instead. But AH! Here comes the trick. Person with skull has to move to skull spot! And person with cross to cross spot! And not other way around! And when you stand here, you get a soda break. Win!<br /><br />The rest of the people still standing on ranged spot, should around now probably start looking for spots of ritualistic ice cream on floor. Get a sodadrinking person with a skull or cross, from here on referred to as "blockpeople", between you and icecream. This is because Sindra has gas and her ice cream is pretty bad so you don't want it really, as you'll get ill and die.<br /><br />It's a good idea for pro healz people to toss some hots on blockpeople just before the go from skull/cross-people to blockpeople. Not so pro healz can scratch arse instead.<br /><br />Do this four times. The second time around, you should probably start autoattacking the blockpeople you're behind. Fun with wands and staves! Fourth time she tempts with icecream, blockpeople are getting fed up so make sure to kill block fast cause Sindra is going be running to blockpeople soon too, since party is there.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">PHASE 3:</span><br />When bitch has done dance with blockpeople and ice cream three or so times, she gets pissy and starts doing shit on ground instead of in air. This time, she'll make blockpeople at random, so pro healz need to be fast on hot business when people gets skull.<br /><br />But AHAHAHA! HAH! Tricky thing! Skull people have to change between skull spot and cross spot! Tricky piece of action! First skull-person has to run to skull spot... then SECOND skull-person need to go to cross spot! And third skull-person... to skull spot! And fourth person... to cross spot! ZOMG! ALTERNATING! And it goes on throughout the rest of the fight! ZOMGZOMG!<br /><br />And you need to free blockpeople now as well too. But only at at pace that allows melee people to stand behind blockpeople and lose their stacks of nastiness that is bad for you and makes healz go "zomg noes". And there's still fuckethiness so no thinking you don't need to run. Haha! No. Run when fuckethy business looms.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">TL;DR</span><br />Stand in your fucking spot. Don't die to shit. Pay attention.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(Can you tell we had a bad wipe night?)</span>Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-24299218491567942272010-04-02T15:39:00.000-07:002010-04-02T16:20:44.949-07:00Is it too easy?So, we're still at 10/12 in Icecrown Citadel - the last weeks we've even taken a step back, having not finished Dreamwalker a single time since we first killed Blood Council. This is mostly due to personnel - I don't think we've fielded the same ten people once, ever - but I still feel that with the new and improved 10% Hellscream buff, we should have pushed further. These fights aren't HARD when you know what to do.<br /><br />And knowing what to do, is what we have strategies and tactics for. More often than not developed by cutting edge, top end guilds like Paragon, Ensidia and Mazrigos' very own The Legacy (represent). Guilds that face the boss for the first time, be it live or on the PTR, their tools for the job being combat logs and the ability to read and analyze patiently between attempts. When we zerg across Marrowgar these days, I still remember launch night - granted, he was bugged that night - when we wiped on him for a solid two hours. Resto druid went OOM, tank soaking was out of control, DPS too used to full nuke simply not being able to adapt to the idea of an aggrowipe.<br /><br />Was Marrowgar too hard that night? Hardly. Granted, he was bugged. But a fair few guilds got him by adapting and creating the now commonplace strategies of either standing hugged inside his hitbox, or divided to manipulate Bone Storm movement. Those tactics were fast spreading, more guilds and groups got him down, he was labelled "too easy". These days, PuGs are killing Arthas and certain hardmodes, and thus, they are labelled "too easy". In fact, the common thesis among the average World of Warcraft gamer is that the game overall is "too easy", regardless of what they themselves have killed or not.<br /><br />After Paragon's world first hard mode Arthas, their composition caused a lot of uproar. People felt insulted, almost cheated, that their class was left out. I got a mage community toting my left ear full, and my right ear is almost deaf already from the shaman community (ironically, the two definitive "flavour of the month"-classes from Tier 9, by the way). They all agree that since Paragon didn't use their class for the kill, they need to be buffed. Paragon's response to this?<br /><br />It's the hardest fight, ever. In the history of the game. A 13 minute encounter where a single error from one out of 25 players WILL cause you to wipe and go again. It took them 170 attempts to get it right. Imagine, if you will, spending half of those attempts learning the mechanics of the fight, trying and failing to learn positioning and timing, understanding to a pin exactly how, what and when. That still leaves 85 attempts - the other half - to get it right. In the history of this game, I can't think of a single boss encounter I've even done 85 times, let alone wiped on. Mimiron, perhaps? But even him, probably not more than 70-75 times overall. But on a fight that hard, you don't leave a single thing to chance. If warlocks do 50 better DPS, you bring warlocks. Because over 13 minutes, 50 DPS still adds up to 39,000 damage. There is no luck or extra push when you're operating on a level that hard. Only perfection.<br /><br />Oh, by the way, did I bring up Mimiron earlier? I did, didn't I? Fascinatingly, Muqq from Ensidia rates Mimiron v1.0 hardmode as harder than heroic Arthas. Apparently, Mimiron back then, in the gear they had, before the nerfs, was less RNG and more pure skill. Now, I've not done heroic Arthas, so I can't comment on that. But I've done heroic Mimiron, post-nerf in gear level a full tier and a half above his intended level, and it was HARD. Back when hardmode Anub fell in Tier 9, it was widely considered the hardest challenge due to the insane DPS required, at the right place, at the right time. The frost patch restriction, the need to AoE-stun the adds to even keep your offtank alive - it was HARD. And Yogg-saron without watcher aid? Stood for four months, Paragon then claiming he was the hardest boss ever.<br /><br />So the end boss for the last three tiers have been, for all intents and purposes, "the hardest boss ever". They even had a random guildkiller thrown into the fold, for good measure. In TBC, when people called for the hardest boss ever, they did not say "Vashj" or "Kael" or even "Illidan". They said "C'thun" all the way up to M'uru. And even then, most people rated C'thun as harder than Kil'jaeden. So TBC spawned one "hardest boss ever". Wrath of the Lich King spawned four - one of which is so hard that the ONLY guild ever to have killed him at the moment, finds it difficult to imagine him ever get topped in terms of perfection in challenge and difficulty.<br /><br />For all intents and purposed, the game is not too easy. The question is rather where your ambitions lie - and what you expect from the game. Because if you're reading this, I'm 99,7% certain - heroics Arthas is too difficult for you.<br /><br />---<br /><br />It was announced today that Eyonix has left Blizzard. An anonymous internet voice said in regard to this, that "There are people who shape, create, influence and develop. Apple would be the same without Steve Jobs, or Microsoft without Bill Gates".<br /><br />I have no further to add to that. Take care, Eyo. And shame on you for leaving us alone with GC.Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-42309579468071142212010-03-21T16:27:00.000-07:002010-03-21T16:34:19.521-07:00Random achievement screenshots.Icecrown progress is still at 10/12, reputations at 22/40, Algalon's still not dead and we still lack Vezax and Yoggy hardmodes. So what's been going on lately? Not much, to be honest. Been tweaking my gear a bit, doing random achievements, and little else. Some random screenshots, though, of some of the more joyful moments:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1OyKBh5qSVwsyK31VpJs8dqTwfrutTiCHbYhj38kwn3kMRwwsxgs9zqtY2_QtF3wj_tCO0g0Nl5phC-4PMiLmFzmno45nhdoRrmbzBs4zF39puHeHmKr5lVD1SwR2kofgLe1BU1MGJyV/s1600-h/KnuckleArms.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 369px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1OyKBh5qSVwsyK31VpJs8dqTwfrutTiCHbYhj38kwn3kMRwwsxgs9zqtY2_QtF3wj_tCO0g0Nl5phC-4PMiLmFzmno45nhdoRrmbzBs4zF39puHeHmKr5lVD1SwR2kofgLe1BU1MGJyV/s400/KnuckleArms.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451234213864374802" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPMIgrbzEfDB19XvIM4aAiLCV9sJkiOuqZrzq16YB-s1f6eymXWJ4PWXR9UP73qsCjVxQ0riUfb2kCOOgdSimkdLTpdCIKIlZKp6Z4fdT1vVCJKvkunNJloJt4eq_wwtSwp9lXgIQYAVaP/s1600-h/GloryHero.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 358px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPMIgrbzEfDB19XvIM4aAiLCV9sJkiOuqZrzq16YB-s1f6eymXWJ4PWXR9UP73qsCjVxQ0riUfb2kCOOgdSimkdLTpdCIKIlZKp6Z4fdT1vVCJKvkunNJloJt4eq_wwtSwp9lXgIQYAVaP/s400/GloryHero.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451234315836930370" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3KqUiFm90Md1gqg5irnVpY8VS3aLSy98zPlX7n7HYqv76rnP3ZD3_XaUv6MyHrnQqAIfVM_DKa1cLz-HxUdWxQraisUBvAXhkTj05e5ltwbSRjPaIlK-CnXIh5W0RJFocokO9hdBTz1_/s1600-h/RedProto.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3KqUiFm90Md1gqg5irnVpY8VS3aLSy98zPlX7n7HYqv76rnP3ZD3_XaUv6MyHrnQqAIfVM_DKa1cLz-HxUdWxQraisUBvAXhkTj05e5ltwbSRjPaIlK-CnXIh5W0RJFocokO9hdBTz1_/s400/RedProto.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451234443907248098" /></a>Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7469320492390186187.post-83343257493444929552010-03-19T01:37:00.000-07:002010-03-19T02:06:44.329-07:00The value of content.Last night, I was sitting in my dear friend Gegnar's room with my other dear friend, Grim. Geg was wiping on 25 man Lich King, we were watching. In between tries, we talked about World of Warcraft, more specifically how much gold we aim to have when Cataclysm go live, and how we're making it.<br /><br />My schtick is TBC enchanting materials. It's not a huge market, but I'm not a huge goblin either. I'll never have the insane amounts of gold other people have, and I'm fine with it.<br /><br />Both Geg and Grim, however, are in the epic gem business. Specifially, doing heroics for badges then trading them in for gem, as well as transmuting. It's a common market these days - not even in the glory days of jewelcrafting could you earn the amounts of hard cash a transmutation master can do these days. Cardinal Rubies proccing for 5? You've just earned 1000 gold in one minutes work. Jewelcrafters have it good, though - their may have to actually work their profession, but who else have a daily quest netting you 100 gold for killing a few mobs just outside Dalaran?<br /><br />What strikes me though, is how heroic instances have been reduced to farm spots for gold. Skipping as many bosses as possible for frost badges on multiple characters is the trend, instances lasting more than the 15 minutes you're on "cooldown" are considered a failure (unless, of course, it's Stratholme - in which case the tank will leave anyway). Geg pointed this out as well - he had been accused of being a whiner for suggesting skipping Krystallus and Maiden in Halls of Stone. While such accusations are out of line, his argument for suggesting it was that he just wanted his frost badges. A fair point, but it raises the question of what the value of content is.<br /><br />Let's consider for a moment <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/26/23767190994-the-warrior-model--cc-is-not-coming-back.html">Ghostcrawler's words of wisdom</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>In BC I spent a lot of time finishing up all of those Shadowmoon quests with blue rewards so that I could handle Karazhan. In Lich King many of us were in Naxx before we saw some of the heroic dungeons. By the time we got back to those dungeons, we totally overgeared them. </blockquote><br /><br />It may just be me, but does this seem... I don't know, like a bit of a waste to you? Wrath of the Lich King shipped with four raids: Naxxramas, which was undertuned and killed CC forever; Vault of Archavon, possibly the single biggest mistake Blizzard ever did with this game; Eye of Eternity, the worst boss design ever; and the Obsidian Sanctum, the easiest boss which at it's intended tier had one of the absolutely best hardmodes Blizzard ever designed. So of the four raids you had to work in, one was amazing on hardmode. The other had flaws. As content, their value was the loot - which in any case would outgear the quest rewards and loot from dungeons and heroic instances.<br /><br />My question is, what IS the value of content? Gegnar suggested heroics are measured in frost badges and epic gems from triumph badges. Ghostcrawler suggests skipping straight from dinging 80 to raids is acceptable. Grim, whose 13 heroics in a row on five separate level 80 characters culminated in a 1-boss Old Kingdom-run, insists he still find them interesting, yet don't mind skipping all but the end boss. We all agreed that the current system of "mandatory" frost badges means heroics is little more than a necessity to get better our intended target - raiding.<br /><br />I realize this inevitably happens with gear, and with gear values having spiralled out of control in this expansion, the insane overgearing we're currently experiencing is hard to stop. It gives me fears for Cataclysm, though - I sincerely hope we're not moving further into a system where the value of content is measured in badges, gold and gear, but the challenge involved. Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic.<br /><br />But didn't we sign up for this game because it looked FUN?Paycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12544123186458102847noreply@blogger.com1