Archive for April, 2007
04.30.07
Posted in Tatia at 3:43 pm by Nibuca
Tatia ended the weekend at level 45. One of the trainings gave her Hammer of Wrath. OMG the immense happiness given by being able to fling a holy-glowey hammer through the air. Rawr!
Tatia (Pally), Zaramina(Mage), Sibiy(Hunter) and Klee(Hunter) tackled and took down Uldaman. I think I died once. Zaramina died many many times. She’s such a little aggro magnet. I felt bad.. I guess this means I’m not an effective tank. To be fair, the Hunters were higher level than Zara and myself.. and their pets tanked more than I did. I just didn’t have enough threat to hold them too me. Add to that, I was both Main Tank and Main Heal. Not so good.
I will say the worst part about dying was not the dying but the running back into the instance. Since I’d never been to Uldaman before I was just following the others. When I died, I was the only person.. and I didn’t know how to get back to the instance. I wasted a good 10 minutes wandering around the mines in ghost form. (I think I’ve got it figured out now)
I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that I suck as a healer. I suspect it’s mostly from lack of practice.. but I’m not 100% sure I want to be a good healer. Tanking is tons of fun. I’m not so sure that healing is as much fun.
We also completed the Sprite Darter Hatchling Quest. I think I will call mine “Pookie”. I was right, they flutter around at ankle level.. unless you’re a gnome.. on a gnome they’re fluttering around at almost shoulder level. I am so leveling up a gnome just for that reason 
I think tonight we’re going to tackle Zul’Farak. The end of last night was gathering together all seven of the quests so we could be ready to go tonight.
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Posted in UI at 8:36 am by Nibuca
Here’s my UI as I’m working with it now:
Read the rest of this entry »
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04.27.07
Posted in Bawk Bawk at 8:59 am by Nibuca
Last night I started a new horde-side warlock alt. I’ve heard that Warlocks are easy but that’s not why I choose that class. I wanted a self-sufficient non-pally alt who could pick flowers for my horde-side Pally main (Illyah) who is an Alchemist. With DoTs + pet + self-healing the Warlock seemed like the best bet.
I’ve read that with a warlock you can “just roll your face around on the keyboard and kill stuff”. Though I don’t think it was quite -that- easy it does seem fairly quick so far. I miss my heals.. but I think I get something like that in a couple more levels.. I also want to be able to heal my pet.. but I also think that’s coming in a few levels. Other than that.. PetAttack, DoT, DoT, DoT, Fear. Really liking fear.. wish my Pally could fear.. when the feared mobs come back with friends.. 
all the more XP.
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Posted in Musings at 8:06 am by Nibuca
OOh.. another goodie to look out for:
[Six Demon Bag]
A little bit random.. but it seems to have at least a 50% chance of a ranged spell.. and you can use it at level 46. Rawr!
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Posted in Musings at 7:45 am by Nibuca
I spotted this on the World of Warcraft Paladin forum. I about laughed myself sick.
WoW Forums -> You know you prot grind too much …
- When your shield has better DPS than your sword
- When you fight 4 mobs with your camera flipped to look behind you, dragging your mobs over to pick up a 5th
- When you finish a kill quest in three pulls
- When you hope for runners (they’ll bring more back to you)
- when your biggest problem is clicking on mobs to loot them because their corpses are all piled on top of eachother.
- When you’re more proud of the -number- of mobs you killed at one time than the biggest crit you got on them.
- Click to read more
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04.26.07
Posted in Theorycraft at 10:25 am by Nibuca
Where we’re going:
From the Warcraft Forums
A Level 70 Paladin is tanking a Level 73 Boss.
The Paladin has 490 Defence Skill.
The Paladin is speced 10 points into Retribution, granting 5% Parry chance from talents.
His gear provides an additional 94.5 Dodge Rating and 39.5 Block Rating.
The ability Holy Shield is active.
The ability Redoubt is active.
Miss - 5% Base + (0.04(Defence skill - Weapon Skill) = 5.6% chance to miss
Dodge - 7.01% Base (from stats) + 5.6% from Gear = 12.61% chance to dodge
Parry - 10% Base (with talents) + 0.6% from Defense = 10.6% chance to Parry
Block 5% Base + 5.6% from Gear + 65% from HS and Redoubt = 75.6% chance to Block
(4.41% chance to Block lost due to going over 100% total values on the table previous to it)
Critical Reduced to 0% chance due to Defence
Crushing Blow Pushed off the Table completely.
ordinary hit Pushed off the Table completely.
Totals:
28.81% chance to completely avoid damage (through the attack missing, being dodged, or being parried)
All other possibilities are for the attack to be blocked. Blocked attacks cannot crit or be Crushing Blows. All damaging attacks will be Blocked ones as no other option exists within the parameters of the Combat Table.
Useful item:
[Libram of Repentance] Lvl 70
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04.23.07
Posted in Tatia at 2:42 pm by Nibuca
Last night I was killing Skullsplitter Trolls for their tusks in STV. It wasn’t terribly difficult.. I was able to take on 3-4 at a time easily. It seems like there were a lot of other players on that quest at the same time. I was competing with a Draenei Shaman, and Bloodspary, a blood Elf Paladin, to tag the kills.
I haven’t really seen many other paladins in action. Because we were competing for kills I got to observe “Bloodspray” up close and personal. It’s the first time I’ve tried to identify someone else’s strategy just by the spell animations. Bloodspray had a few animations I just didn’t recognize. After a while I realized he was Retribution spec. A quick glance over at the Warcraft Armoury confirms it (Bloodspray 42 0/0/33) (Wow, this -so- feels like stalking).
In general I was taking on 2-3 mobs at a time. If the group included a caster I’d target them first, then ax-throwers, then warriors.
At all times I had the Retribution Aura up (additional holy damage when the baddie hits me), Improved Righteous Fury (causes more threat and reduces damage), Thorium Shield Spikes (~20-30 points of damage on a block). I’d occationally throw up Holy Shield.. but not so much.. at this time it doesn’t seem to be doing very much.
If I was feeling very low on mana I put on a Blessing of Wisdom(+20 mana/5 seconds).. otherwise I was using Blessing of Sanctuary (Reduces damage by 7 and causes 14 holy damage to the baddies when I block).
Against the casters I used Judgement of Light/Wisdom** and Seal of Justice. The Seal of Justice sometimes procs a stun which would interrupt their spell casting. When I saw them casting a heal on themselves I’d toss off a Hammer of Justice (stun target for a few seconds). When they got down to very low health I’d judge Seal of Justice so they wouldn’t run away (Judgement of Justice, AKA: “Don’t you go nowhere” debuff) and then go back to Seal of Justice.
Against the ax-throwers and Warriors I used Judgement of Light/Wisdom**, and Seal of Light/Wisdom**. When they got to very low health I’d Judge Justice to keep the from running. Then I’d go back to Seal of Light/Wisdom**.
** Light: chance to heal me when I hit the baddie, Wisdom: chance to give me mana when I hit the baddie (depending on whether I needed mana or health)
If the fight was taking too long I’d occationally do a Judgement of Righteousness (direct holy damage) or consecrate. These sped up the fight at a cost of lots of mana.
In most cases if I left out the consecrate and kept the Judgement of Righteousness down to a minimum I found that against 3 opponents I usually ended the very long and drawn out battle with full health and 75%-80% mana (without ever having to bubble or heal)
Bloodspray, on the other hand, was taking on one to two mobs.. judging the hell out of them, thowing heals on himself and seemed to end each fight very quickly.. but at only 1/2 health/mana (or less).
I wonder which is faster… slow fights with little between fight down time.. or fast fights with longer between fight down time?
I kind of wish he’d been Alliance side so we could chat about strategy.. ah well.
Anyone want to comment? Is there a Pally strategy that I’m missing?
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Posted in Tatia at 1:02 pm by Nibuca
I’ve read that a lot of people hate questing in Stranglethorn Vale. On PVP servers it’s an invitation to “gankage”.
Since I’m not on a PVP server The only problems I see are:
- It’s huge and the only flight point is down at the very very southern tip in Booty Bay. If you need to go to the northern part it’s either a long run from Booty Bay or an almost equally long run from the Darkshire flight point or from the Westfall flight point.
- No faction auction house. The Neutral AH is nice when selling pages of the Green Hills of Stranglethorn or if you’re transferring something to the other side.. but it’s fairly useless if you actually need to buy gear.
- The only merchants are in either Booty Bay, Nessingwary’s or the Rebel camp. Makes it hard to sell the prodigious amount of vendor crap.
- The only mailbox is in Booty Bay. This makes it hard to cycle usable crap out to either a bank toon or a crafting toon. Full bags while you’re in the north part of SVT necessitate either a hearth or a very long run.
These things combined with the “Green hills of Strangle-Bag” means that I’m spending alot of time perfecting my bag clutter reduction.
Other than that I’ve found the critters to be a little boring.. but the killing has been fairly steady. There’s a nice amount of critters even if they don’t seem very imaginative.
Tatia dinged 42 last night. Along the way I took a little bit of time here and there to skill up Cooking (295/300), First Aid (238/300) and Enchanting (215/225). I plan to skill up fishing after the 2.1 patch (anything that makes it go faster/less annoying is good)(though the only reason I’m skilling it up is for the cooking possibilities). Skinning is skilled up as far as I can currently. Baddies I can kill are currently green for skinning. I still skin everything (money on the ground) but I’m rarely seeing a skill up. I’m sure this skill will increase as I move into higher level mobs.
On my way to 70 various guildies have brought in alts along the way. With the move into the 40s the group has changed again. It’s still Tatia (Pally 42) and Zaramina(mage 42). But Tanuur(Shaman 39) is changing into a PVP toon.. so Grimr (his player) brought in Sibiy (Hunter 46) instead (he was also the player for Bankenstein and Baldwyne). Tonight we’re also picking up Thorskiall (Hunter 40), another West Kingdom guildie.
I wonder what Big Red Kitty would have to say about grouping with multiple hunters…
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04.20.07
Posted in Musings at 2:55 pm by Nibuca
“Ten thousand years before the orcs and humans clashed in their First War, the world of Azeroth cradled only one massive continent, surrounded by the sea. That landmass, known as Kalimdor, was home to a number of disparate races and creatures, all vying for survival amongst the savage elements of the waking world. At the dark continent’s center was a mysterious lake of incandescent energies. The lake, which would later be called the Well of Eternity, was the true heart of the world’s magic and natural power. Drawing its energies from the infinite Great Dark beyond the world, the Well acted as a mystical fount, sending its potent energies out across the world to nourish life in all its wondrous forms.” - WoWWiki
Long long ago…
So there’s this big Well see.. elves are fascinated by it.. and learn arcane magic because of it. They attracts the attention of big baddies roaming the ether of the Warcraft-o-verse (Burning Legion) and to repel the baddies the well is blown up (The Sundering) transforming some elves into Satry and others into Naga. (I believe this is also where they initially lost thier immortality.)
Some surviving elves adopted druidism and outlawed the practice of arcane magics (Night Elves). They eventually exiled the arcane magic using elves who sail off to the Eastern Kingdom (High Elves) and establish their own civilization.
Night elves go on to pour vials of water taken from the original Well of Eternity on the top of a mountain (Mount Hyjal) and plant a -really- big tree (Nordrassil) (granting the Night Elves immortality again) and then blow it up (ending their immortality)(also implies that Nordrassil is the reason Night Elves have wisp form)… The tree -may- be healing.. but it’s currently inaccessable so its status is unknown. They then go on to plant an even bigger tree (Teldrassil) (which doesn’t give them immortality) and use that for their base of operations.
The High elves sail off to their new land.. and eventually established the kingdom of Quel’Thalas and setup lines of Runestones to protect their use of arcane energies from the Burning Legion (though how a simple line of fancy stones across the southern border of thier new land was sufficient to keep out a big baddie force cruising through the ether of the Warcraft-o-verse is beyond me). The high elves then used one of their vials from the original Well of Eternity to create the Sunwell. Since their not all touch-feely about nature they don’t plant a tree. BUT they do get to siphon energy out of the Sunwell feeding their arcane magic addiction.
Eventually this new well of power attracts the eyes of new baddies (Human Prince Arthas Menethil and the Scourge). They burned the forests in the south of Eversong, befouled the Sunwell (by using its energies to re-animate Kel’Thesad), and then blew it up (recurring theme with elves). The undead then killed the High Elven King and a majority of Silvermoon’s population.
Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider rallied the survivors and renamed them the sin’dorei, or “blood elves”, in honor of those who had fallen to the Scourge and swore to avenge their race.
At this point the “blood elves” are part of the Alliance.
Five years ago…
Kael is living happily in Dalaran. Arathas invades and destroys Silvermoon (killing Kael’s dad). Kael meets with Grand Marshal Garithos at Dalaran who sends Kael to repair some arcane observatories. Kael leaves to do this but finds that the shipyard at Lordamere Lake was in ruins so he had no way to get to the observatories. Lady Vashj, a naga, arrives and offers Kael some ships to use. He accepts, repairs the observatories.. but when he tells Garithos about borrowing Vashj’s ships, Garithos blows a fuse. Garithos warns that he will not tolerate treason and then leaves Kael in charge of Dalaran.
Later Garithos sends an Emissary telling Kael that Kael needs to go defend the observatories from an undead attack. The emissary also sends all of the non-elf troops away from Kael. This leaves Kael with insufficient troops to defeat the undead. The undead attack, Kael is almost overwhelmed and Vashj shows up to save Kael’s butt.
Garithos shows up, catching Kael with Vashj, and arrests Kael on a charge of treason and consorting with the enemy (the nagas). Vashj crawls through the sewer of the Dungeons of Dalaran and frees Kael and his people. She then takes them through Kel’Thuzad’s (the guy whose re-animation as a lich destroyed the Sunwell) interdimensional portal to the Outlands to eventually meet up with Illidan.
Illidan promises Kael that if the blood elves join with him he’ll make sure they are kept in constant supply of the arcane energies they need to sate thier addiction.
Kael sends Rommath back to Quel’Thalas with word of this agreement.
Everybody heads back to Azeroth.. and we have this big fight in Northrend where Arathas ends up getting possessed by (and becoming one with) the Lich King and Illidan gets defeated. Vashj and Kael snatch up Illidan and high-tail it back to the Outlands.
Ya but, why did the blood elves side with the Horde? And how do they justify imprisoning a Na’aru in the basement of the Paladin training room? And where did they get that Na’aru? Hrm. A little birdy told me the “alligning with Horde” is explained with a quest at ~level 20 but I haven’t completed it yet. Maybe I’ll know soon.
As for the Na’aru… there’s something about that Na’aru being the keeper for “Tempest Keep”.. and the Exodar being a wing of the keep that the Draenei hoisted to escape from Outlands… and something about Blood Elves sabatoging that hoist.. but I -really- don’t know the details. Still digging though.
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04.17.07
Posted in Musings at 1:47 pm by Nibuca
When I choose “paladin” I wasn’t actually thinking “hmm I’d like to be a melee healer with no ability to use ranged attacks”. I was thinking of an ideal. Ideally I believe Blizzard is tweaking/buffing/nerfing Paladins to get them to fit an ideal.
My ideal:
A Paladin aspires to be a knight. That is she embodies the knightly virtues.
Temperance, Justice, Honesty, Courage, Humility, Loyalty, Magnanimity, Courtesy, Largess, Franchise, Prowess, Faith
We are a self-sufficient force who survives through our faith and careful reasoned strategy. We should not “spam” an attack because that implies a frantic attitude toward battle. Through our faith we are able to channel the Holy Light and bring about healing.
We are not the toon you will find “quaffing a pint at the local pub”. We do not use “Rage” or other hot emotions to power us. We use cold reason and the light of justice.
We do not consort with demons or channel other arcane, elemental or natural arts as those are the paths to evil.
We do not “sneak” or back stab because that isn’t forthright. We do not fire from range because that implies that we need an advantage that could not be found by standing face-to-face and exchanging blows.
We embody the knight ideal and we suffer from the knightly downfalls. We are egotistical to a fault. We will not ask for help until it is too late.
The qustion is: Does my ideal match Blizzard’s ideal? No idea.
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