For the cuase world of warcraft raid for the cure

because I have a friend who is a survivor

http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/11/02/announcement-world-of-warcraft-raid-for-the-cure/

For the now

I have canceled my WoW account for now. need to spend more time with my girls. may be back if/when I can find balance

Shermaan gets some karma

Interwoven Scale Bracers

So rare that I get to play Shermaan in an instance. Last night I saw a PuG calling for 2 more DPS for Heroic Nexus. I could not type a reply fast enough. all in all had a hell of a good time. first 2 bosses went down fast. The general in ice and the Lady that splits into 3 a few times in the battle. Then we take a breather. someone puts there toon just a littel to close to a mob, with the tank and one dps afk it was a clean and fast wipe. to funny. we all get back and this time someone get’s in the agro of the pattrol. Me and one of the warriors die, but the group recovers. all in all a fun group. not to intense. and on the last boss these beauties drop.

for not getting to play shermaan much game karma was on my side last night. a group of 4 plate wearing monsters and one mail wearing tank. I even hit greed on these instead of need as I was a guest to the group. everyone passed and let me have them. Even though I did not write down the names of the toons in that group I want to thank them again for the run. And as shermaan is a leather worker I put the fur lining in these that grants 114 attack power.

Duel spec

So finally the shadow priest can go holy and hit a few more raids. The holy pally can spec retibution and level and quest easier. Hunters and Warlocks can choose between doing damage one way, and doing damage another way…. Okay so not all classes benifit from the duel spec.

We have had  duel spec now for a while. and it benifits some more then others. Even though I have to charaters that could benifit from duel spec I have found at the cost of pixilated gold that I do not. 

When I log in as Hanhar I am a toon that pulls agro and does my best to keep everyone else from taking damage. I duel spec’d him. I tried Ret as it is closer to Prot and I could get away with some of the gear I had. But I was unable to get into the ret mode. and a healadin just does not work for me.

Sonied I could duel spec, but I heal with her. I am in a mind set that just does not play well with balancing damage to agro pull. and clothies are just to squishy.

Shermaan can, well he just does not have a lot of choice here.

The other problem I have with the duel spec is that sonied is a enchanter. Now there is less lickly a chance that she will get items to dis-enchant items, This leads to fewer mat’s for her to roll for at the end of a run. Don’t get  me wrong if an item can be used it is better used then DE’d. How ever now it is more costly to level enchanting.

Duel spec is nice, I am not convinced that it was needed. I do not see the added balance to the game.

Not a stich of cloth left

Playing my healer last night. Got into a PuG with a death knight from our guild for heroic Nexus. The tank was a well equipt warrior. This guy was on a mission. we ripped through the whole thing in 35 mintues with 2 wipes. mainly I did not have time to recover mana before he was off to the next mob.  For a clothy haveing 21 g repair that was high. How ever not all or even most of that repair bill was from Heroic Nexus.  We had tried a heroic Drak thorn keep earlier, and were unable to get past the first boss.  One of the DPS was putting out 491 DPS. and the snakes were blowing right by the tank to have a bit of me. Over all a fun night.

Earlier Me the DK and a Tank warrior from our guild hit Heroic Upgarde keep. Had a mage bail after my computer crashed out of WoW in the room with the dragons. I can understand leaving a group because they keep wiping, but right as the tank started the melee my system D/C’d and I logged back in just in time to see my toon take her killing blow. and this is where I meet the Tank/DPS Druid and Hunter that we tried to do H DTK with. 

Also found out that one of the most annoying people to talk trash on the trade chanelle lives in the same city as me. small world. I have got to say, if you ever want to find out how your play is. get in a group that is above your gear level/play level and go for a ride. Wicked fun

Dusting off and polishing the Tank

I got a chance to play Hanhar last night. For a change I could find healers but no tanks. Was only reg HoL. but had fun. Again it was Me and Relentluss the Death Knight. and a healer that might have been just a hair low for it. and one nasty bad pull that lead to a wipe on the first boss. The only thing Hanhar got out of it was Rep with Kin’ tor (probably spelled that wrong), and a good fast run. every thing in that one went smoth.

on the up side Han is now honored with the son’s of hordir. and has the lower level shoulder inscription.

What I do find interesting is the different playing styles. and the different healing abilities for the classes. we had a shaman healer. I have to say they do a good job. I think I like the priest better.

as for healing. I also took sonied in Culling of Stratholm. and for the first time I used Heal Bot. this is an addon that if you do healing and have not heard about or used then I highly recomend it. I was actualy able to keep the entire party at full health 90% of the time and no wipes. still working out the spells on it to what mouse click but it rocked. and when I raid I will beable to heal the entire party not just my group. the interface is easy to position and is not distrating in combat in my opinion.

we are as a guild about to start heroics and 10-man raids. So hopfuly some new and fun post’s are to come

Hall of Lightning — A new tank and a good group

Last night I was playing my healer Sonied. I got into a PUG (Pick Up Group). Got invited by a hunter that was in a group with a death knight (DK) of the damage sort. Then we got a DK for a tank and a DK from my guild, Me and the tank are level 80, the others are 78-79.  What made this fun and interesting at the same time was that this was the first time the tank had done HoL and he was also newish to the tanking. I could get into all the number and specs of the tank or of my healer but that is not what this one is about.

My main toon is Hanhar, He is a Palidan Tank. My tin can dwarf. So I learned with him how to tank and what kind of gear was needed. Spell rotation and agro managment. Me and Hanhar have a few group wipes under our belt to say the least. So when we wiped at the first boss for the second time I had no problem.  I talked with the tank and gave some suggestions, then after a few times of getting the timing right and me putting a few enchantments on his gear we took out the first boss. then we went through the pit with the elementals. cleared that with out to much trouble. The secong boss, and the name is just not sticking with me. Was the giant boss at the anvil. cleared the trash and gave the tank a few pointers. and it went off like a thing of beauty. no one died and he fell in short order. Then came the hall with the gaurds that come to life. cleaned it out and moved on through more trash to the third boss. this is the air elemetnal boss with lightning. One wipe because of bad timeing, but we pulled it off by the skin of our teeth.  Now in all fairness a few of these wipes were due to me having a chat line open, so that when I was hitting keys to target some one to heal it was not working, Call it a new to healing fo paw. the trip to loken only on wipe. some priest clothy healer got to close to the Whirlwind attack and that added another wipe.  Then came Loken, and in one try we pulled him down, Lost the tank and my DK from our guild but we did it. Loot was lack luster. but the experiance was enjoyable.

I know there are Hard core players out there that if the PuG wipe 2 or 3 times they would leave. But this group just kept at it and we made it. Plus I know where the tank was coming from. and as I had a mentor terrythehulk to give me pointers on gear and tanking, I felt that I gave a little back. also made a friend who I will run with again.

I think sometimes we loose track of the fact that it is just a game, and competitiveness take over. and for some groups this is not only good but needed. But there is also a need for experienced people to help out others, regardless of if they are in your guild or not. and to offer help not just give it.  There will always, or at least hopefully be newbee’s in WoW, other wise the game will be come stagnant. Beyond questing there is the social aspect of the game.  We may go by our character names and maybe even an on-line persona for the true roll players. but these still build into a community. Now I am not saying I am a WoW wise man, there will always be more for me to learn and that is what I like about the game, but it was gratifying to help another like I was helped.

as to my absence from my blog, Like one of the greatest bloggers in wow I ever had the pleasure of reading (BRK you will be misses) I had to look into my priorities, and personal issue with alcohol. I put my girls first with my wife. and until my little ones go to bed it is very wow-light if at all. but then me and my wife get on and go to azeroth.

I look forward to the many people I will meet in wow!

Server: Tanaris Toons: Hanhar;Shermaan;Sonied Guild: Wolfsong. If you are ever around stop by and say high.

Spring in Colorado.

So it looks like it will be a cold snowy weekend, I hope to bet my Preist to lvl 80 so I can get back to Hanhar.  He is falling behind in gear. Must start some 10 man raids. Also bought the dual speck for Hanhar.  made the second spec DPS. I did not research best builds, thought I would run with what I setup and see how I do. Mogha is going to off tank for Hanhar in the 10 raids. Hopefully we can get a wintergrasp off this weekend. I have to say the new patch does not seem to have affect Hanhar in any strange way. Sonied was bosted. more spell power and more mana. Looking forward to healing with that toon also. Next I will build a gnome warlock. I know so far from Plate warer. but I find the change in tactics fun.  With hanhar I would walk into a mob of 3-4 at my level and had no problem. Playing a Holy priest I have to pull them 1-2 at a time. wandering mob means death.  Still not sure what to do with my Death Knight. there are so many of them on the server and our guild is DK heavy. You all have a good weekend and I hope to put a TCD adventure blog by saterday.

Tank like a chicken

Okay so the other day I had my clothie healz in VH (Violet Hold). A new person to tanking with a DK (death knight) was doing well. Until we hit Xevozz.This boss is a pain. I was trying to explain the way to tank him and my description just was not good enough. We had a Discipline priest with us and I asked if he could heal. Then I asked the Tank if he want me to show him what I was talking about. 

It is like this. you tank him like a chicken. well a coward. once you grab agro walk backwards around the top level so the spawns cannot catch you.  to top it off Vroar joined our guild. Good guy and I look forward to many runs with him.  Now back to the pub to get the chicken feathers out of my armor and have a brew.

Tanking Heroic Violet Hold

One of the funner dungeons I feel. fast paced and moderatly chanlanging.  My gears has gotten better for sure. titian steal treads, helm among other goodies. Weapon is a bit slow but had good defence. http://www.wow-heroes.com/index.php?zone=us&server=Tanaris&name=hanhar . Need to work on my posting links.  the only down side t0 VH is that if you wipe at or after the second boss you have to start all over again and other then rep you get nothing until you get to the boss\es that you have not defeated. Bringing a great feast to the party is also a good way to start of a PuG. Has a good group for it lastnight also. wiped twice /bummer. but the group was upbeat and we just kept it going. would have loved to run another instance with that group, but it was late when we finished. so for now back to Dalaran and some good stout.  and a word of advice for tanks. get your cooking and fishing maxed. netle fish make great tanking food.