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Monday, December 10, 2007
WoW Journal - 10-December-2007
Apart from fiddling with my hardware, I spent a lot of time this weekend just playing World of Warcraft, spread over three different characters: warrior, priest, and mage.
My warrior did mostly group activities, besides the solo daily quests. I finally got around to kill Terokk and finish that quest. But as the other group members also had a store of time-lost scrolls or offerings, I ended up killing Terokk three times, and the group even killed him a fourth time with another tank from the guild who needed him too. We got one epic cloak, but not for me, and of course I also gained oodles of Skyguard reputation. That made me hit exalted, and so I now own a nether ray epic flying mount. 160 gold just for show, the nether ray actually has less functionality than the normal epic flying mount, as it can't gallop on the ground, it always flies. Might be an advantage, as you don't have to hit space to take off any more, but in some situations I was using the flying mount to ride. I would love if Blizzard let people *ride* the flying mount in old Azeroth, and just not let them take off, instead of blocking usage outright.
I only visited one dungeon with my warrior this weekend, Sethekk halls. That was insofar funny as three of the other players repeatedly had problems getting out of the line of sight of the arcane explosions of Talon King Ikiss. On the third try the three of them were again dead, Ikiss was still more than half alive, and only me and the shadow priest were still around. But I kept his aggro, and Ikiss wasted a lot of time polymorphing the priest. The priest launched quick heals whenever he wasn't a sheep, keeping me alive, and I kept whittling Ikiss' life down. We both managed to avoid his arcane explosions all of the time, and after a rather long fight we actually won. You *can* two-man Talon King Ikiss, it just takes a while. :)
I did another group quest with my warrior, Zuluhed the Whacked, which opened up the Netherwing daily quests to me. That was a severe disappointment. In comparison to the Skyguard and Ogri'la daily quests, the Netherwing dailies are a boring grind. And there are no reputation rewards except for another epic flying mount with a different look and no added features. Compare for example having to kill 15 demons for Ogri'la for 12 gold and rep with having to kill about 80 creatures for the same Netherwing reward (40 crystals with about 1 crytal per 2 kills). I think I'll do each Netherwing quest once and then forget about it. Having two level 70s I have enough daily quests available to be able to choose.
Speaking of which, my priest got honored with Ogri'la this weekend, which enables him to do the Banish More Demons daily quest. I did that quest with both my warrior and my priest in short succession, and it is depressing how much better the holy priest is at soloing than the protection warrior. The priest kills the mobs in half the time, and thanks to the bubble ends up taking less damage than the warrior. I don't even need consumables to refill my mana thanks to the shadowfiend pet, while the tank uses a lot of bandages and cooked food between fights. I know that arms warriors are shining in PvP and solo PvE. But as you saw I usually do group activities with my warrior, for which he needs to be tank spec'd. And I can't respec several times a day depending on the situation. Other classes, who can solo well in their best group talent build, have a definitive advantage here. Blizzard should try to find special protection warrior skills to add which improve his damage output in solo PvE, without making dps warriors even more powerful in PvP. I'm a bit worried what is going to happen to warriors when the Death Knight comes around. Druids and paladins are already good alternatives to tanking in many group situations, and adding another tank class with better damage capabilities pushes the protection warrior into a "only good for raid tanking" niche. Well, to improve the situation I'll start gathering both dps and tanking gear for my warrior now, even if that means I'll have to roll need more often. Still not willing to respec, but maybe getting some better damage gear will already help a bit.
My mage leveled up to 35 this weekend, doing quests in Hillsbrad and Thousand Needles mostly. I think I'll do some more of those, and wait until I'm level 36 before moving to Dustwallow Marsh and trying the new quests there. But first the level 35 allowed me to raise the cap on all my tradeskills, so I was busy all evening doing tailoring and disenchanting, using up over 720 runecloth I had stored on some bank alt. I'm close to 300 tailoring now, and then I'll be busy a while to reach 300 enchanting. I also want to do the cooking and first aid quests to get those skills up as well. It's so nice to have lots of plans to what to do next.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:19 AM Permanent Link
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The Netherwing quests ramp up as you gain reputation. I usually got more than enough crystals from mining and by the time I got to the collection quests in the mine I had a steady surplus of crystals. Just wait until you get your booterang and get to race Mulverick & Ichman.. The races are plain non-repeatable quests, though. There is also a non-repeatable quest where you have to solo a Man'ari who is surrounded by relatively tough (but non-elite) mobs at Nagrand's Dark Portal.
I agree with shalkis, there are some extremely fun races once you hit honored with the Netherwing. All you have to do is get to friendly first, then some good daily quests open up. (I like the Booterang quest, where you have to "motivate" lazy peons to work)
To get to friendly I recommend just collecting the ores/herbs/skins and doing a "a slow death". The other Quests from Yarzil are a pain in the ***. Just hope for a couple of Netherwing eggs. Pick up the Crystals along the way but don't bother grinding mobs until you have 40.
Since I hit friendly I am doing the kill-quest and the collecting quest in the mines. On the surface I kick lazy peons butts. By the time I am done with that I have collected enough Nethercite ore to turn that quest in too. Every couple of days I turn in the Crystals.
Note: I do these for money so your mileage may vary
If you want to take a look at the dailies visit http://www.wowwiki.com/Netherwing
To get to friendly I recommend just collecting the ores/herbs/skins and doing a "a slow death". The other Quests from Yarzil are a pain in the ***. Just hope for a couple of Netherwing eggs. Pick up the Crystals along the way but don't bother grinding mobs until you have 40.
Since I hit friendly I am doing the kill-quest and the collecting quest in the mines. On the surface I kick lazy peons butts. By the time I am done with that I have collected enough Nethercite ore to turn that quest in too. Every couple of days I turn in the Crystals.
Note: I do these for money so your mileage may vary
If you want to take a look at the dailies visit http://www.wowwiki.com/Netherwing
# posted by 
: 10/12/07 11:11
: 10/12/07 11:11
the nether ray does 'run' it just has no real animation for it, however if you're on the ground it only runs at 100% speed as opposed to its 280% flight.
also the netherwing quests get good around friendly, before that it is a boring grindfest
also the netherwing quests get good around friendly, before that it is a boring grindfest
Collecting the ore from the mine carts is very easy, and you can get a daily to kill nasties in the mine (and they drop crystals), so you will have 3 quests on the go at the same time.
The booterang quest is very similar to the one in the Orc starting area - get the lazy peons back to work.
Just grinding crystals on the surface is pretty unrewarding, and I would not bother with the poisoning the peons quest, or the intercepting the flyers quest, either.
The booterang quest is very similar to the one in the Orc starting area - get the lazy peons back to work.
Just grinding crystals on the surface is pretty unrewarding, and I would not bother with the poisoning the peons quest, or the intercepting the flyers quest, either.
# posted by : 10/12/07 11:55
: 10/12/07 11:55
I have never understood the high cost of respeccing. It hampers people's freedom to experiment with their characters and prevents changing specs to suit the job they are doing on a day to day basis.
Lotros costs for changing traits (a bit like WOW talents) is high and and if memory serves the cost of changing talents in WOW is even higher. Certainly more than enough to dissuade folk from changin talents on a daily basis. Guild wars on the other hand evolved to allow completely free respeccing every time you are in a town and in my opinion it adds greatly to the game. It becomes a matter of experimentation and skill to choose the right setup for a given mission and because it costs so little people are willing to try out many new combinations. In games with high respec costs people fall into a few "cookie cutter" builds.
I am not suggesting that folk should be allowed respec in mid battle. Every time they are in a town or perhaps at a trainer would work. You would still need to accumulate gear for the different roles a chaarcter has and learn to play in different roles.
Lotros costs for changing traits (a bit like WOW talents) is high and and if memory serves the cost of changing talents in WOW is even higher. Certainly more than enough to dissuade folk from changin talents on a daily basis. Guild wars on the other hand evolved to allow completely free respeccing every time you are in a town and in my opinion it adds greatly to the game. It becomes a matter of experimentation and skill to choose the right setup for a given mission and because it costs so little people are willing to try out many new combinations. In games with high respec costs people fall into a few "cookie cutter" builds.
I am not suggesting that folk should be allowed respec in mid battle. Every time they are in a town or perhaps at a trainer would work. You would still need to accumulate gear for the different roles a chaarcter has and learn to play in different roles.
I feel your pain as a prot warrior. I'm about to hit 70, and I am NOT looking forward to soloing.
You'll enjoy Dustwallow, I think. I'm interested to read your opinions - for me, it was amongst the best-designed zones I've played.
You'll enjoy Dustwallow, I think. I'm interested to read your opinions - for me, it was amongst the best-designed zones I've played.
Blizz has said they are looking at options to increase a prot warrior's ability to solo effectively in their tanking gear, similar to what they did with healers. I don't think they can do the exact same thing and convert a percentage of their +defense into offensive stats, though, because prot warriors do still do damage when tanking. Healers usually only heal. It would make a prot warrior an absolute beast in almost every situation. I'm anxious to see what they come up with.
In the meantime, there are ways to maximize your effectiveness at soloing with your warrior. You're on the right track by gathering as much damage gear as you can. Essentially what you want to do is equip a shield, equip +shield block value gear where you have it, and use regular +strength and +crit dps gear everywhere else. Use that with a slow 1H weapon in Battle Stance and you'll be fine. Shield Slam like normal (but with a lot more crits), use Overpower when it's up, and spam Devastate the rest of the time (which will hit harder with a slower weapon). Then Execute, Charge to the next target, and hit Victory Rush. Staying in Battle Stance allows you do all of this w/o stance dancing, and you can still Shield Bash or Spell Reflect against casters. You'll be surprised how fast stuff goes down using this setup. This is also how I pvp with my prot warrior.
In the meantime, there are ways to maximize your effectiveness at soloing with your warrior. You're on the right track by gathering as much damage gear as you can. Essentially what you want to do is equip a shield, equip +shield block value gear where you have it, and use regular +strength and +crit dps gear everywhere else. Use that with a slow 1H weapon in Battle Stance and you'll be fine. Shield Slam like normal (but with a lot more crits), use Overpower when it's up, and spam Devastate the rest of the time (which will hit harder with a slower weapon). Then Execute, Charge to the next target, and hit Victory Rush. Staying in Battle Stance allows you do all of this w/o stance dancing, and you can still Shield Bash or Spell Reflect against casters. You'll be surprised how fast stuff goes down using this setup. This is also how I pvp with my prot warrior.
# posted by : 10/12/07 16:18
: 10/12/07 16:18
Wow -- two-man Talon King Ikiss. Grats!
Recently a WoW-playing friend of mine (male) got matched up with another WoW player (female) through an online dating service. Since she's horde, and he's alliance, they would have to re-roll to play together. I suggested they play a paladin and druid because those classes are true hybrids, being able to tank, DPS, and heal. So they can take turns trying each role. What would you recommend for couples new to WoW or new to each other? :)
Recently a WoW-playing friend of mine (male) got matched up with another WoW player (female) through an online dating service. Since she's horde, and he's alliance, they would have to re-roll to play together. I suggested they play a paladin and druid because those classes are true hybrids, being able to tank, DPS, and heal. So they can take turns trying each role. What would you recommend for couples new to WoW or new to each other? :)
Actually I'd have recommended they play a priest and a warrior.
The priest and warrior can spec for DPS if they want and if they decide to be tank and healer they have to two hardest to fill roles already done.
Druids are great I played one for 2 years but sometimes it is hard to get a 5 man with a druid as healer because you don't have an Out of Combat Ress. For raiding thats never a problem.
The priest and warrior can spec for DPS if they want and if they decide to be tank and healer they have to two hardest to fill roles already done.
Druids are great I played one for 2 years but sometimes it is hard to get a 5 man with a druid as healer because you don't have an Out of Combat Ress. For raiding thats never a problem.
Ikiss is actually easier 2-manning him. our guild did it with a warrior/druid combo. it is just easier to not have to worry about the other three. it does take a while though because the warrior isn't putting out that much dps.
i get so tired of dailies though. especially on my prot warrior. i usually group up with a guildy just to slam through them faster.
my hunter on the other hand can get the dailies done in 30 min (not on nether dailies yet).
i get so tired of dailies though. especially on my prot warrior. i usually group up with a guildy just to slam through them faster.
my hunter on the other hand can get the dailies done in 30 min (not on nether dailies yet).
I can only reiterate what those before me have said: the initial Netherwing quests DO suck. The ones to get to friendly are painful. After I hit friendly, I never did them again. As for the "collect 40 crystals" daily. I just keep that in my log and turn it in when I get the crystals. I don't go actively searching for them.
Once you hit friendly, you get much better quests and such. Eventually you'll get to make a booterang, head to the mines, as well as do races which are awesome.
I'd highly suggest taking that rep to exalted, if not for seeing the other quests you get at the different reps, but to see the final cutscene.
Once you hit friendly, you get much better quests and such. Eventually you'll get to make a booterang, head to the mines, as well as do races which are awesome.
I'd highly suggest taking that rep to exalted, if not for seeing the other quests you get at the different reps, but to see the final cutscene.
# posted by : 10/12/07 17:18
: 10/12/07 17:18
Am I the only one who doesn't have problems soloing as a full pro-specced warrior? I see so many complaints, and I don't understand it. When soloing, I just use Itemrack to put on my dps gear which is roughly (going by memory):
dual wield (72 dps claw + 62 dps sword)
9900 hp
5800 armor
1200 atk power unbuffed
19% crit
+60 hit (not that great)
That's all from quest blues - haven't been lucky in Kara to get dps gear.
All I do is keep battle shout up, charge in, spam devastate until in execute range. In the end, I do about 450 dps and lose about 10% of my hp each fight. Every once in a while, I get a lucky crit string and hit 700 dps or eat a whiff string and suffer 250 dps. On average, I only have to bandage or eat every 8-10 fights. I'm not feeling all of your pain here.
I've tried the crystal forged 2-hd axe in lieu of dual-wield, and I often find myself rage-starved. I usually only do 250 dps with that. Also, devastate is a nice dps boost that makes a 1-hd weapon much nicer that a 2-hdr.
Don't do as suggested above: 1-hdr + shield. That doesn't generate enough rage to keep spamming devastate. Sure, a big shield slam is nice, but you'll do less dps, because you can't continually spam devastate.
Try that, Tobold, and see if that's any better. If you have gotten rid of all your dps gear from quests, you can load up simply from the AH. Your purchase preference should be: ragesteel plate (not too expensive) > "of the beast" plate > "of the bear" plate. Load up on all of that and you'd have similar stats to what I have.
mm
dual wield (72 dps claw + 62 dps sword)
9900 hp
5800 armor
1200 atk power unbuffed
19% crit
+60 hit (not that great)
That's all from quest blues - haven't been lucky in Kara to get dps gear.
All I do is keep battle shout up, charge in, spam devastate until in execute range. In the end, I do about 450 dps and lose about 10% of my hp each fight. Every once in a while, I get a lucky crit string and hit 700 dps or eat a whiff string and suffer 250 dps. On average, I only have to bandage or eat every 8-10 fights. I'm not feeling all of your pain here.
I've tried the crystal forged 2-hd axe in lieu of dual-wield, and I often find myself rage-starved. I usually only do 250 dps with that. Also, devastate is a nice dps boost that makes a 1-hd weapon much nicer that a 2-hdr.
Don't do as suggested above: 1-hdr + shield. That doesn't generate enough rage to keep spamming devastate. Sure, a big shield slam is nice, but you'll do less dps, because you can't continually spam devastate.
Try that, Tobold, and see if that's any better. If you have gotten rid of all your dps gear from quests, you can load up simply from the AH. Your purchase preference should be: ragesteel plate (not too expensive) > "of the beast" plate > "of the bear" plate. Load up on all of that and you'd have similar stats to what I have.
mm
# posted by : 10/12/07 17:18
: 10/12/07 17:18
I agree with the 2x 1H weapons. I would also recommend using Beserker Stance for Beserker Rage and Whirlwind, both great DPS even for prot warriors. I also have a slow 1H enchanted with Battlemaster, which heals me often for around 250 health. Do not use Bloodrage, as sacrificing your health isn't necessary to build up rage, you can get the same amount in one or two hits on a mob. Spam Devastate and Heroic Strike, they're on separate cooldowns, and if you have multiple mobs, use Whirlwind and Cleave instead.
Maybe you want to try a Hybridspecc. If you put 11 points into protection (down to imp. shield block) you could choose to use up your other points in arms (down to MS) or fury. The result would be a warrior that dishes out nearly as much damage as a pure Off-Warrior. Your handicap in tanking would be that you need more time to get enough inital aggro. If your group understands this and gives you some time before beating the hell out of the mob, you should still do fine.
# posted by : 10/12/07 19:08
: 10/12/07 19:08
Dual-wielding in Berserker stance as a prot warrior definitely does greater damage then 1H + shield, but I've tried both and still prefer the shield. Less downtime and being able to spell reflect casters is a big bonus. My health bar barely moves using this setup. I only have rage problems if the mobs are 3+ levels below me. In that case definitely go Berserker and DW.
But I also play on a pvp server, so I prefer keeping my health as high as possible while grinding to discourage anyone from taking a cheap shot at me. Try both methods and see what you like better. Either one will make prot grinding easy enough to avoid having to respec or use an alt to grind.
But I also play on a pvp server, so I prefer keeping my health as high as possible while grinding to discourage anyone from taking a cheap shot at me. Try both methods and see what you like better. Either one will make prot grinding easy enough to avoid having to respec or use an alt to grind.
# posted by : 11/12/07 01:32
: 11/12/07 01:32
On the other hand I'm levelling my lv36 prot warrior with 1h+shield combo: I drop 2-3 level higher mobs to complete 2-4 level higher quests and generate more exp that way. Also the loot is generally better suited this way, so IMO it's not as impossible in at least here at the lower end to level up as prot.
Either that or I have been just lucky with my first real toons.
Copra
Either that or I have been just lucky with my first real toons.
Copra
copra you won't notice how bad leveling a protection spec warrior is till you hit endgame and then start leveling an alt.
I did the same thing with my resto druid. Ignorance is indeed Bliss in WOW.
I didn't realize how much harder it was till I started a hunter alt. for leveling and grinding hunters are indeed EZ mode.
Just enjoy and as hard as it is run as many instances as you can while leveling and your tanking skill will be that much better.
I did the same thing with my resto druid. Ignorance is indeed Bliss in WOW.
I didn't realize how much harder it was till I started a hunter alt. for leveling and grinding hunters are indeed EZ mode.
Just enjoy and as hard as it is run as many instances as you can while leveling and your tanking skill will be that much better.
Sam, my main is lv44 full feral druid atm, and I'm currently having more fun with my prot specced warrior than with the druid... Somehow it seems that the progression is totally stalled and there is no real continuity to the druid levelling at that point. With the warrior, however, the class quest is the driving force at the moment.
Oh yes, I can down a couple of levels higher mobs with the druid, too, but it's way easier with the warr, making it the preferred way to proceed. IMO that leads to completing higher level quests earlier and thus giving more exp in general.
I try to find as many opportunities for instances and I want to be ready to tank as effectively as possible. Thanks for the pep talk there, Sam!
Copra
PS. Made a level on that warr yesterday: 36-37 in about 2 hours... My way or the high way?
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Oh yes, I can down a couple of levels higher mobs with the druid, too, but it's way easier with the warr, making it the preferred way to proceed. IMO that leads to completing higher level quests earlier and thus giving more exp in general.
I try to find as many opportunities for instances and I want to be ready to tank as effectively as possible. Thanks for the pep talk there, Sam!
Copra
PS. Made a level on that warr yesterday: 36-37 in about 2 hours... My way or the high way?
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