My first hunter-related post. It's about time I did something other then Shamans eh? This post is going to look at pets in general and what my favourite pairings are e.g Orc Huntards and Wolf pets. Don't mistake Hunter pets for those vanity pet companions you can get...a Hunter pet is an important part of the Hunter class and to be a Hunter, you must keep your pet alive and happy and always remember that a Hunter is all about being a pair. Let's have a look at what pets there are out there.
The Cunning Pets-These are Utility pets as such...I think of them as a "bag of tricks". They are best for PvP but can be used in instances too.
Bat-Nice 2 sec stun for PvP purposes. In my opinion, more useful than a Ravager. Looks best when paired with an Undead Hunter.
Bird Of Prey-The Disarm skill they have is handy against melee classes. The "eagles" look best with Human Hunters while the "owls" look best when by the side of Nelf Hunters.
Chimaera-If you're BM, this pet is the best PvP pet in my eyes. Looks best when paired with a Dwarf Hunter.
Dragonhawk-Their loss of an AoE attack has meant I don't rate these much anymore. Best pairing would be a Belf Hunter and a Dragonhawk.
Nether Ray-Nice pet for dealing with casters but I'm not a huge fan of them. Best paired with either a Belf or a Draenei.
Ravager-They used to be top notch for BC but sadly, they're ex-dps kings now and not too high on my list. Best to pair one with a Draenei Hunter.
Serpent-This is a pretty snazzy pet for PvP and you could have a nice Viper Sting-Poison Spit combo. Best to pair a Serpent with a Troll Hunter.
Silithid-The other Exotic pet...I just think Chimaera's beat them generally. I also didn't like their ADD nature. Best paired with a Nelf or a Tauren Hunter.
Spider-One of the better choices for Cunning. I also think the Outland/Northrend spideys look awesome. Best to pair one with a Worgen Hunter.
Sporebat-Well, this pet gets a very cool AoE debuff that can be handy for pretty much everything. Best pairing would be with a Belf Hunter.
Wind Serpent-One of my favourite Cunning pets look-wise. It also does nice dps for a Cunning pet too. Best pair would be a Serp and a Troll Hunter.
The Ferocity Pets-These are your dps pets and will probably see the most usage in instances/raids but some are useful for PvP too.
Carrion Bird-I don't really like these look-wise until Outland nor do I find their ability brilliant. Best paired with a Tauren Hunter.
Cat-The pet that you'll see the majority of Hunters using. The "lion" Cat pets are best paired with Orcs and the "tiger" pets are best paired with Nelfs.
Core Hound-One of the Exotics and a pretty useful one too. One of my favourite pets in general. Best paired up with a Worgen hunter.
Devilsaur-One of the best dps pets around providing you're BM. It's best to pair this T-Rex thang with a Troll or a Dwarf.
Hyena-Tendon Rip is a very useful skill for PvP and PvE. I think the best pairing would be a Goblin Hunter and a Hyena.
Moth-It's a shame you can't feed these cloth eh? Moths have a pretty handy ability and all but I could only see a Belf Hunter using these. Every other one would be an amusing pairing.
Raptor-If you're not BM, a Raptor is one of the best choices for dps. The best pairing is a Troll and a Raptor...no-brainer right?
Spirit Beast-Ah, the pets that are hard to find and get for yourself. The only one I'd want is Skoll. Skoll is more suited for an Orc while the other two are best paired with Nelfs.
Tallstrider-Well, Dust Cloud has situational use but I'm not overly keen on these as a pet. It's best to pair them up with a Tauren Hunter.
Wasp-They have a handy Fairie Fire type ability and I reckon they'd be good for PvP. Best to pair up with a Belf or a Human (kinda ironic cause most humans hate wasps in real life).
Wolf-One of the best Ferocity pets around to use (especially if you're not BM). As for pairing, it's a no-brainer...best to pair these up with an Orc.
The Tenacity Pets-These are your tank pets and they will be mainly used for soloing and for dealing with Elite mobs when talented for it.
Bear-Swipe's a pretty handy ability for a Tenacity pet and with Wrath, Bears became a good choice. Best to pair a Bear up with a Dwarf Hunter.
Boar-These used to be tied with Cats for popularity. However, nowadays...they are not so popular. Bless them. It's best to pair a Boar with an Orc or a Troll.
Crab-Their Pin ability is pretty handy and these are a great choice for a tank pet. Best choice for a pair? Goblin Hunter and Crab.
Crocolisk-Bad Attitude is a pretty handy skill. Combine it with Thunderstomp and your Croc is an aggro keeping machine. Best to pair it with an Orc Hunter.
Gorilla-No longer do they reign top as a "Gorilladin". Their Pummel makes them useful against casters but they aren't as great anymore. Best to pair it with a Human.
Rhino-I was sad to see Stampede changed from knockback to what it is now so they're less useful really. Best to pair it with a Dwarf.
Scorpid-I was really enjoying this pet until they nerfed this pet and made it rather useless. Best to pair it with a Troll.
Turtle-Once all Tenacity pets got Thunderstomp, Turtles became very useful cause they can reduce damage and now, they can get aggro easier. Best to pair with a Tauren.
Warp Stalker-Warp's a pretty cool spell really...it's Nightcrawler in a lizard form. With regards to pairs, best to pair this up with a Draenei.
Worm-Acid Spit is a pretty nice ability so if you're BM, this is worth considering as a good pet. Best to pair this up with a Worgen Hunter.
And there's the overview done. You'll notice that I've mentioned Worgen, Goblin, Human and Undead. This is because I can imagine certain pets going really well with those races even though they aren't out yet. I may have to update this if we get given any new pets for Cataclysm. I hope we do. Anyways, next up will be a Blizzcon related post then a post about my Huntard pets and why I have them.
I will end this post by giving some entertaining crab-related links.
CRAB DEMON!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mHKHKR8x6A
Barnaby, kill all the beggars in Ogrimmar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHOKTVc1gC0&feature=channel_page
I like to pinch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKyY6TIKpuw
Krabby is Full Of Win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U6hxNuzhaY
Thursday 27 August 2009
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Resto Shamans Bring People Closer Together...For Chain Healing.
My title is the truth...only Resto Shamans bring us closer together. Resto Druids are happy to let us drift apart because they can just show off their HoT skills. Therefore, Resto Shamans are better because they do not promote anti-social behaviour! Don't worry, I still love you, Resto Druids. And with the new Shaman combos being announced, I think I'll post my views on them in here and go back and slot them in the Enhance and Element Shaman blog posts I did too. So you're getting one blog post and two updated ones, you lucky readers! Anyway, let's take a look at the Resto Shaman.
Races
Alliance
Draenei-Resto Draenei Shamans works great for me. I always see Draenei as the race most likely to want to help others by healing them or keeping them alive and caring the most about if an ally dies or not. Therefore, Resto works well for them and I imagine the Draenei Shaman is happy when his group succeeds and no one dies around him due to his healing.
Dwarf-This is my least favourite spec for Dwarf Shamans. It's not that I think they're heartless and won't want to heal others and keep them alive (if I thought that, I wouldn't approve of Dwarf Priests after all). I just feel a Dwarf Shaman is more likely to want to use the Elements to attack with and Resto doesn't let him/her do that.
Horde
Goblin-Hmm, Goblins and Resto. I think it might work well but I imagine that the only reason a Goblin would heal others would be because he profits from it in some way if they are kept alive be it the chance of new loot, mooneh or simply because without them, the goblin dies. If I grow to enjoy the concept of Goblin Shamans more, I may consider this the next best spec after Enhance.
Orc-My least favourite of the Horde options when it comes to the Resto tree. I've made the Orc Shaman-Dwarf Shaman comparison before and that still stands when I look at Resto. Therefore, just look at what I said for Dwarves and that's what I'd say for Orc Shaman too.
Tauren-Tauren Shaman and the Resto tree are a great match for one another. The Tauren are all about protecting their allies and loyalty and standing by their fellow Hordies. Therefore, Resto lets them keep their allies alive which will give the Tauren Shaman a lot of personal satisfaction.
Troll-My favourite Horde choice if we're looking at Resto Shamans. To me, the Darkspear trolls Shaman wise would be fairly laid back and would be more inclined to standing back away from the fight instead of getting up close and personal so they are ideal for Elemental or Resto. I also think that the Trolls are one of the races most likely to enjoy healing their allies so when you put the two together, Resto fits them perfectly.
Abilities
Healing Wave-Us Shamans get to start off with our big one healing spell wise from the exciting level 1. This is the big single-target heal but you have to be aware that as the ranks get higher, cast time increases from 1.5 to 3.0 seconds. As a result of the lengthy casting time, it's best to start casting before the person you're targetting takes damage if you're expecting a hefty hit to come their way or to do it while the target is taking some damage but has a lot of health since while you're taking your time (3 seconds can be a long time!), that target is still getting hurt.
Ancestral Spirit-Pretty simple spell. Has an ally/friend died? Yes. Are you in combat? No. Well, be awesome and rez them then. And wait for them to thank you and tell you how awesome you truly are.
Cure Toxins-It was nice of Blizzard to combine Cure Poison and Cure Disease into this. Makes life much simpler really...now, I don't have to think about which toolbar key to press/click when I see a Disease or a Poison appear. I just use this spell and everything's a-okay. As a side note, if you're expecting a lot of diseases and/or poisons, you're better off saving mana by putting Cleansing Totem down.
Water Shield-Oh, Water Shield. How those water orbs make my day. This is the shield of choice for both Resto and Elemental Shamans thanks to the mana regen factor. If you've got Improved Shields (Enhance talent) and Improved Water Shield (Resto talent), it makes this shield a SUPER SHIELD! Also, I recommend getting the Water Mastery glyph...30% extra passive mana regen is a nice little bonus fo sho.
Lesser Healing Wave-Consider this your quick-fire healing spell. It's speedy but it's not good for your mana to just spam this. However, if you get the Glyph of LHW, you might find that you'll be better off for tank healing instead of raid healing. It's nice to see a bit of versatility given to us after BC made us well-known for Chain-Heal-spam-faces.
Earthliving Weapon-Not too much to say about this really...it's awesome if you're healing. If you're not, don't waste your time using this when there's Windfury or Flametongue sitting there waiting to be picked.
Reincarnation-Ah, the "shaman aggro dump"....I'm kidding, do not kill yourself to get rid of aggro. If you do, people will laugh at you. Anyway, this spell is awesome and it's main use is wipe recovery. You just have to love a self-rezzer who can then rez everyone else. Just be careful where you die otherwise your Reincarnation will be wasted. As a personal side note, I love when in PvP, someone kills you and they have only a tiny bit of health left and you use this and get your payback. Revenge is my Shaman's middle name....no really, he's called Ingredients Revenge Deathmoo.
Totemic Recall-Whilst levelling my Draenei Shaman, I've come to realise how much I love having this spell. You get this at level 30 and you'll be a better Shaman for it. Throw your totem foursome down to do their buff thing. Then when you're done, use this spell to "recycle" your totems and get some mana back. It also saves the environment too by not leaving your totems around to ruin the environment!
Chain Heal-This is a trademark Resto spell right here. Anytime you get some AoE damage, you zap your allies with this. I'd also recommend getting the glyph since that means you can heal 4 targets with this instead of 3 and that makes this spell even more glorious then it already is. And it's already pretty glorious. Anyway, point is....use this when you need to heal two or more people and make sure to get the glyph.
Tidal Force-I admittedly don't use this spell as much as I should do. It's pretty handy for increasing crit chance and healing in a tight spot but it's not perfect. In fact, some Resto Shaman complain that it's not as good as it could be because 20 seconds isn't a big enough window of opportunity and they find they only use 2 out of the 3 charges that's on offer to them. However, while it's not perfect, it's still a handy spell. Note to self, start using it more.
Nature's Swiftness-This spell is gold for Resto and Elemental Shamans. The spells it's best to use in combo with this spell would be Chain Heal or Healing Wave Resto wise. As for Elementals, take your pick from Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning.
Cleanse Spirit-Think of this as Cure Toxins only bigger, better and much more cooler. It's like having the Fonz instead of Richie on your toolbar.
Earth Shield-Stick this shield on yourself or someone else (usually the tank) and watch as they get healed every time they get attacked by the enemy. Your enemy heals them through their violence and you can sit back and be a little bit more relaxed about things.
Riptide-Last of the Resto tree talent spells...it's an instant heal with an added built in HoT. Fancy stuff really. I'm just glad that we finally got a HoT of some sort since HoT's are always handy for making healing easier. With the Tidal Waves talent, Riptide becomes handy for not only boosting Chain Heal but it also gives LHW a boost too. All in all, Riptide is fab.
Spirit Link-I was disappointed to see this spell go but I understand why it did. It caused Blizz a lot of problems and issues...and we got the handy Riptide so it wasn't all bad. However, a part of me would love to have this spell back..but how would it work without being overpowered? Well, I took some thinking time and this is what I came up with. Have Spirit Link only work on two targets (3 is too overpowered, I think) and it distributes damage between the two. However, it only has 3 charges (on both of the targets) and a lengthy cooldown so it can be broken by attacking either one of the Linked duo till all 3 charges are gone. Now, if that still seems too unfair, make it so that the Shaman links themself to the other target which will put the Shaman at a fair bit of risk. I think either version of SL would work out great and it doesn't seem too bad in my head. Hopefully, we'll see it make it's apperance some day in WOW.
And there you have it...my post on Resto Shamans. That's all three Shaman specs covered now. I can breathe a sigh of relief since I finally got round to finishing the Shaman specs after I constantly got sidetracked with posts about other things all the time. So you might be wondering...what's coming up next? Well, it will be one of two things. It will either be a blog post looking at all the Blizzcon info we got (which may actually come in two parts depending on the size) or a blog post looking at those things Hunters love...pets!
Either way, I hope you've enjoyed this post and the other two Shaman spec posts. If you haven't, feel free to tell me you found it boring/pointless in the comments okay? If enough people say it, I might just forget the spec related posts so feel free to leave your views in the comments section. So with all that written, I'll end the post with a Shaman related quote from the WC3 Shaman unit.
"You ever get hit by lightning where the sun don't shine?"
Races
Alliance
Draenei-Resto Draenei Shamans works great for me. I always see Draenei as the race most likely to want to help others by healing them or keeping them alive and caring the most about if an ally dies or not. Therefore, Resto works well for them and I imagine the Draenei Shaman is happy when his group succeeds and no one dies around him due to his healing.
Dwarf-This is my least favourite spec for Dwarf Shamans. It's not that I think they're heartless and won't want to heal others and keep them alive (if I thought that, I wouldn't approve of Dwarf Priests after all). I just feel a Dwarf Shaman is more likely to want to use the Elements to attack with and Resto doesn't let him/her do that.
Horde
Goblin-Hmm, Goblins and Resto. I think it might work well but I imagine that the only reason a Goblin would heal others would be because he profits from it in some way if they are kept alive be it the chance of new loot, mooneh or simply because without them, the goblin dies. If I grow to enjoy the concept of Goblin Shamans more, I may consider this the next best spec after Enhance.
Orc-My least favourite of the Horde options when it comes to the Resto tree. I've made the Orc Shaman-Dwarf Shaman comparison before and that still stands when I look at Resto. Therefore, just look at what I said for Dwarves and that's what I'd say for Orc Shaman too.
Tauren-Tauren Shaman and the Resto tree are a great match for one another. The Tauren are all about protecting their allies and loyalty and standing by their fellow Hordies. Therefore, Resto lets them keep their allies alive which will give the Tauren Shaman a lot of personal satisfaction.
Troll-My favourite Horde choice if we're looking at Resto Shamans. To me, the Darkspear trolls Shaman wise would be fairly laid back and would be more inclined to standing back away from the fight instead of getting up close and personal so they are ideal for Elemental or Resto. I also think that the Trolls are one of the races most likely to enjoy healing their allies so when you put the two together, Resto fits them perfectly.
Abilities
Healing Wave-Us Shamans get to start off with our big one healing spell wise from the exciting level 1. This is the big single-target heal but you have to be aware that as the ranks get higher, cast time increases from 1.5 to 3.0 seconds. As a result of the lengthy casting time, it's best to start casting before the person you're targetting takes damage if you're expecting a hefty hit to come their way or to do it while the target is taking some damage but has a lot of health since while you're taking your time (3 seconds can be a long time!), that target is still getting hurt.
Ancestral Spirit-Pretty simple spell. Has an ally/friend died? Yes. Are you in combat? No. Well, be awesome and rez them then. And wait for them to thank you and tell you how awesome you truly are.
Cure Toxins-It was nice of Blizzard to combine Cure Poison and Cure Disease into this. Makes life much simpler really...now, I don't have to think about which toolbar key to press/click when I see a Disease or a Poison appear. I just use this spell and everything's a-okay. As a side note, if you're expecting a lot of diseases and/or poisons, you're better off saving mana by putting Cleansing Totem down.
Water Shield-Oh, Water Shield. How those water orbs make my day. This is the shield of choice for both Resto and Elemental Shamans thanks to the mana regen factor. If you've got Improved Shields (Enhance talent) and Improved Water Shield (Resto talent), it makes this shield a SUPER SHIELD! Also, I recommend getting the Water Mastery glyph...30% extra passive mana regen is a nice little bonus fo sho.
Lesser Healing Wave-Consider this your quick-fire healing spell. It's speedy but it's not good for your mana to just spam this. However, if you get the Glyph of LHW, you might find that you'll be better off for tank healing instead of raid healing. It's nice to see a bit of versatility given to us after BC made us well-known for Chain-Heal-spam-faces.
Earthliving Weapon-Not too much to say about this really...it's awesome if you're healing. If you're not, don't waste your time using this when there's Windfury or Flametongue sitting there waiting to be picked.
Reincarnation-Ah, the "shaman aggro dump"....I'm kidding, do not kill yourself to get rid of aggro. If you do, people will laugh at you. Anyway, this spell is awesome and it's main use is wipe recovery. You just have to love a self-rezzer who can then rez everyone else. Just be careful where you die otherwise your Reincarnation will be wasted. As a personal side note, I love when in PvP, someone kills you and they have only a tiny bit of health left and you use this and get your payback. Revenge is my Shaman's middle name....no really, he's called Ingredients Revenge Deathmoo.
Totemic Recall-Whilst levelling my Draenei Shaman, I've come to realise how much I love having this spell. You get this at level 30 and you'll be a better Shaman for it. Throw your totem foursome down to do their buff thing. Then when you're done, use this spell to "recycle" your totems and get some mana back. It also saves the environment too by not leaving your totems around to ruin the environment!
Chain Heal-This is a trademark Resto spell right here. Anytime you get some AoE damage, you zap your allies with this. I'd also recommend getting the glyph since that means you can heal 4 targets with this instead of 3 and that makes this spell even more glorious then it already is. And it's already pretty glorious. Anyway, point is....use this when you need to heal two or more people and make sure to get the glyph.
Tidal Force-I admittedly don't use this spell as much as I should do. It's pretty handy for increasing crit chance and healing in a tight spot but it's not perfect. In fact, some Resto Shaman complain that it's not as good as it could be because 20 seconds isn't a big enough window of opportunity and they find they only use 2 out of the 3 charges that's on offer to them. However, while it's not perfect, it's still a handy spell. Note to self, start using it more.
Nature's Swiftness-This spell is gold for Resto and Elemental Shamans. The spells it's best to use in combo with this spell would be Chain Heal or Healing Wave Resto wise. As for Elementals, take your pick from Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning.
Cleanse Spirit-Think of this as Cure Toxins only bigger, better and much more cooler. It's like having the Fonz instead of Richie on your toolbar.
Earth Shield-Stick this shield on yourself or someone else (usually the tank) and watch as they get healed every time they get attacked by the enemy. Your enemy heals them through their violence and you can sit back and be a little bit more relaxed about things.
Riptide-Last of the Resto tree talent spells...it's an instant heal with an added built in HoT. Fancy stuff really. I'm just glad that we finally got a HoT of some sort since HoT's are always handy for making healing easier. With the Tidal Waves talent, Riptide becomes handy for not only boosting Chain Heal but it also gives LHW a boost too. All in all, Riptide is fab.
Spirit Link-I was disappointed to see this spell go but I understand why it did. It caused Blizz a lot of problems and issues...and we got the handy Riptide so it wasn't all bad. However, a part of me would love to have this spell back..but how would it work without being overpowered? Well, I took some thinking time and this is what I came up with. Have Spirit Link only work on two targets (3 is too overpowered, I think) and it distributes damage between the two. However, it only has 3 charges (on both of the targets) and a lengthy cooldown so it can be broken by attacking either one of the Linked duo till all 3 charges are gone. Now, if that still seems too unfair, make it so that the Shaman links themself to the other target which will put the Shaman at a fair bit of risk. I think either version of SL would work out great and it doesn't seem too bad in my head. Hopefully, we'll see it make it's apperance some day in WOW.
And there you have it...my post on Resto Shamans. That's all three Shaman specs covered now. I can breathe a sigh of relief since I finally got round to finishing the Shaman specs after I constantly got sidetracked with posts about other things all the time. So you might be wondering...what's coming up next? Well, it will be one of two things. It will either be a blog post looking at all the Blizzcon info we got (which may actually come in two parts depending on the size) or a blog post looking at those things Hunters love...pets!
Either way, I hope you've enjoyed this post and the other two Shaman spec posts. If you haven't, feel free to tell me you found it boring/pointless in the comments okay? If enough people say it, I might just forget the spec related posts so feel free to leave your views in the comments section. So with all that written, I'll end the post with a Shaman related quote from the WC3 Shaman unit.
"You ever get hit by lightning where the sun don't shine?"
Monday 24 August 2009
Generic Race & Class Ranking List Post. Every WOW Blog Needs One Right?
With the confirmation of Goblins and Worgen, I figured I'd update this post to include them in the Races List so my old blog post on this has been deleted. Since this is merely an update of a blog post, I don't consider this a "proper" blog post and therefore, the Resto Shaman one will be coming later today/tomorrow depending on when I find some spare time from revision and all. Also, as a pre-warning, I imagine I'll do an "update" race and class rank list post every time a new class or new races are announced so I'd expect to update this every time we get a new expansion. Anyway, here's the updated post.
RACES
Time to rank the races first. This is based more on their looks and their culture than other things like racial traits.
Tauren-Ah, the cows. The Tauren have always been awesome to me. Perhaps I have a slight bias because my first character was a Tauren Shaman...but I think it's mainly cause I really like their culture and their nomadic ways. Plus, I always used to love having Tauren in WC3. I loved their totem pole weapons. The Tauren are my favourites easily.
Gnome-Now, these were not always my favourite Ally race. That used to be either the Dwarves or the Draenei. However, over time, the Gnomes have really won me over. I enjoy their curious nature and I really hope that one day, the Gnomes get to retake Gnomeregan! Or...they could just build themselves a new city. Give them a bit of scrap and a week and we'll have a new capital city.
Orc-The greenies are my second favourite Hordey race. Sure, they have a bit of a naughty history (though the history is fascinating too) but Thrall is awesome and the Orcs are a formidable and admirable race and the "New Horde" Orcs are not like the old ones which were clearly evil with a capital E.
Dwarf-The dwarves are ace. They like to explore and they like to drink and they're pluckly fighters. What's not to like eh? Good things come in small packages...and that's why Gnome and Dwarves are my favourites on the Alliance.
Goblins-Well, I've always liked the Goblins for their profit-orientated ways. They have the Gnome's curiosity only instead of doing it just because they can, they do it because they can AND because it should give them lots of money! Also, you gotta admire the Gobling Sappers and all. Those green midgets are CRAZY!
Undead-The fun lovers of the Horde race. Only replace fun-lovers with can't-feel-fun-anymore-so-they-hate-the-living-and-are-lovers-of-plagues. *Breathe*...that was a bit of a mouthful. There's always an interesting recurring theme with the Undead and backstabbing the Horde at some point.
Night Elf-How the mighty have fallen. I used to really enjoy the Nelf side on WC3. Everything about them was fascinating to me. However, now...I've grown to enjoy them less than some of the other races. I think this is partially because most Nelfs that you see are men RP'ing female Nelfs just so they have some "eye candy". Whatever floats your boat...
Worgen-Well, Blizz clearly read my list, saw that Humans were last and went "Well...what about if they could TURN INTO WOLVES EH?" and that's how we got Worgen. Now, I know I'm gonna love these for two reasons. Firstly, they come from Gilneas, a place I've always found fascinating when I read about it and Blizz made me happy by making it finally explorable in Cataclysm. Secondly, I think it will be really interesting to play as one and try to keep hold of your humanity.
Troll-I'm slowly liking trolls more and more as I level up troll alts. However, there's one disappointing thing about the trolls. While I love their laid back attitude and the way they are, they need a better place to call "home" than the flimsy little village they currently have in Durotar. I really hope that they go and take over Echo Isles (since phasing could allow this to happen so high levels see this while low levels can still quest there).
Draenei-And we're on to the space goats. I used to love these blue guys but my best friend has managed to put me off of these a fair bit by spamming their /laugh and sounding like an overemotional woman describing their new-born baby when he describes the "squiddie widdies". Also, I find their love for the Light both admirable and dull because they always go on about the Light and the Naaru. They're the Jehovah's Witnesses of WOW.
Blood Elf-I really enjoyed the Belfs in WC3: Frozen Throne. However, they have also fallen down in my ranking due to WOW. Part of this is similar to the Nelf issue....most Belfs are females played by males so they have some "hot" pixels to fap over. Personally, I think that it's much easier to just use the Internet to find some porn but oh well. However, if you chose a female Belf for reasons outside of "something to look at", I salute you. I also am not overly keen on their mana addict nature. Go to rehab or something.
Human-These are last for a very simple reason. They are the most dull race that you can play as. After all, they resemble us. We don't really need to go to a fantasy MMO to go and RP as humans surely? It kinda takes away from the "fantasy" part. However, to the credit of the humans, they are a tenacious race that has managed to bounce back from every major war. A bit like real life humans then.
CLASSES
Time to rank the classes now. I don't hate any of the classes or anything but I naturally have a list in my head still to rank the classes.
Shaman-Easily my favourite class. Again, I know there's some bias cause my first character/main is a Shaman but I've just connected well with the class. I love the totems and the lore behind the totem quests (apart from that lame Air Totem quest for Horde where you just get it handed to you.). I enjoy the spells and I've enjoyed playing as Enhance greatly. I've also enjoyed the times I've tinkered around and played as Elemental or the times I've healed with Resto (though I really need to get more healing experience under my belt).
Hunter-Oh, how I love Hunters due to their pets. My second highest character is a Hunter and he's my Ally main. I love my BM spec and I'm really connected to my pets...I hate it when Spork (my pet bear) dies. I get guilt over his death and beg him for forgiveness (which he always does....pets are awesome). The traps and ranged attacks are a nice bonus too of course. I need to try out Survival at some point really (I'll do so when I can afford Dual Spec).
Warrior-The Warrior class takes third place. I've not tried Arms yet really but I enjoy my Fury Warrior a lot. Punching things is awesome (doesn't take a lot to please me). I also enjoy tanking with my Warr too and I hope to do more of that as I get higher. I enjoy the options given to me via my stances and I like that when a Warr has a shield, it feels like something that's really useful. I mean, just look at all the Shield related abilities a Warrior gets. I also admit that I'm a sucker for Titan's Grip and I look forward to the day that my Orc Warr has that talent.
Mage-Mages are the most enjoyable caster class to me by far. They are the most challenging and at times, you have to really be on the ball with them (particularly when you get swarmed). With their vast range of spells, I really enjoy levelling my Mage. Nothing like a good AoE or two to teach mobs a lesson. Turing mobs into sheep always makes me giggle a little too. Again, doesn't take much to please me.
Druid-Ah, one of the true "I can do everything" classes. Heal, tank, dps...they can do it all. What makes them interesting is their forms of course. Patch 3.2 will be making the bear and cat forms all pretty and stuff so that's a nice added bonus but my favourite form so far is my Moonkin form. I really enjoy being a Boomkin at the moment but I imagine when I level my Feral druid up, I'll enjoy the others just as much. One downside to the class is that it takes a lot of levels to really get used to it...I found that I struggled a fair bit for the first 20-30 levels but nowadays, I can really get my Druid groove on now that he's in the 40's.
Priest-First and foremost, I love Mind Control. It's one of my favourite spells EVAR. I just use it all the time for fun. I also really enjoy Priest healing and Shadow Priesting. I've only got major experience with a Shadow Priest but I've healed in a few instances and I find Priest healing to be really easy (it's as easy as Druid healing which can only be a good thing). The Priest used to be one of my least favourite classes but it's steadily climbed up to become one of my favourites. Now give me a minute while I go and Mind Control something *evil laugh*
Death Knight-Now, I know that DK's get a lot of hate for being "too OP" or "too easy to use". I agree that they can be easy to use though as nerfs keep coming each patch, the Death Knight becomes less OP and less easier to use. I love the DK starting quests and I really enjoy playing as a DK. Unholy is a lot of fun and Frost is no slouch either. As a side note, Death Grip always makes me grin. You'll notice the recurring "easily pleased" theme by now.
Warlock-I remember when Locks used to be a pain in the ass PvP wise. Nowadays, they aren't so bad. I really like the lore behind Warlocks and they get a ton of Lock-specific quests too. I also like how their demons are merely minions and can be sacrificed easily. I don't feel guilty when my Warlock minion dies, I just feel irritated at it cause it's left me to fend for myself. The only reason why the Warlock class isn't higher is mainly cause of how easy it is to play as one. I find it really easy to kill things and really hard to die so it can be boring to level my Lock.
Paladin-On to the Paladin class. Now, I like the lore behind Paladins a lot. However, gameplay wise, I find them to be much more dull then the other classes. I'm glad Ret Palas have finally become something besides LOLRET but Palas are now getting targetted as OP cause of their current state. I really want to level my Belf Pala up so I can try out tanking as a Pala. If I enjoy that, Paladin might go up higher on my list cause I find Retribution to be fun but a bit dull cause it's so easy to breeze through mobs now.
Rogue-Last but not least,Rogues. I really enjoy being stealthy and pickpocketing or using the Subt tree to pwn with Ambush. I'm also levelling a Combat Rog alongside my Subt one so I will see how that differs. I do enjoy the Rogue class but I find them a bit dull to play as and they are lower then the other classes because every other class has better lore. However, I've still got love for my stealthy friends!
So there you have it. There's my two lists. Now...a question for anyone who reads this.
What would be your race/class lists and why?
RACES
Time to rank the races first. This is based more on their looks and their culture than other things like racial traits.
Tauren-Ah, the cows. The Tauren have always been awesome to me. Perhaps I have a slight bias because my first character was a Tauren Shaman...but I think it's mainly cause I really like their culture and their nomadic ways. Plus, I always used to love having Tauren in WC3. I loved their totem pole weapons. The Tauren are my favourites easily.
Gnome-Now, these were not always my favourite Ally race. That used to be either the Dwarves or the Draenei. However, over time, the Gnomes have really won me over. I enjoy their curious nature and I really hope that one day, the Gnomes get to retake Gnomeregan! Or...they could just build themselves a new city. Give them a bit of scrap and a week and we'll have a new capital city.
Orc-The greenies are my second favourite Hordey race. Sure, they have a bit of a naughty history (though the history is fascinating too) but Thrall is awesome and the Orcs are a formidable and admirable race and the "New Horde" Orcs are not like the old ones which were clearly evil with a capital E.
Dwarf-The dwarves are ace. They like to explore and they like to drink and they're pluckly fighters. What's not to like eh? Good things come in small packages...and that's why Gnome and Dwarves are my favourites on the Alliance.
Goblins-Well, I've always liked the Goblins for their profit-orientated ways. They have the Gnome's curiosity only instead of doing it just because they can, they do it because they can AND because it should give them lots of money! Also, you gotta admire the Gobling Sappers and all. Those green midgets are CRAZY!
Undead-The fun lovers of the Horde race. Only replace fun-lovers with can't-feel-fun-anymore-so-they-hate-the-living-and-are-lovers-of-plagues. *Breathe*...that was a bit of a mouthful. There's always an interesting recurring theme with the Undead and backstabbing the Horde at some point.
Night Elf-How the mighty have fallen. I used to really enjoy the Nelf side on WC3. Everything about them was fascinating to me. However, now...I've grown to enjoy them less than some of the other races. I think this is partially because most Nelfs that you see are men RP'ing female Nelfs just so they have some "eye candy". Whatever floats your boat...
Worgen-Well, Blizz clearly read my list, saw that Humans were last and went "Well...what about if they could TURN INTO WOLVES EH?" and that's how we got Worgen. Now, I know I'm gonna love these for two reasons. Firstly, they come from Gilneas, a place I've always found fascinating when I read about it and Blizz made me happy by making it finally explorable in Cataclysm. Secondly, I think it will be really interesting to play as one and try to keep hold of your humanity.
Troll-I'm slowly liking trolls more and more as I level up troll alts. However, there's one disappointing thing about the trolls. While I love their laid back attitude and the way they are, they need a better place to call "home" than the flimsy little village they currently have in Durotar. I really hope that they go and take over Echo Isles (since phasing could allow this to happen so high levels see this while low levels can still quest there).
Draenei-And we're on to the space goats. I used to love these blue guys but my best friend has managed to put me off of these a fair bit by spamming their /laugh and sounding like an overemotional woman describing their new-born baby when he describes the "squiddie widdies". Also, I find their love for the Light both admirable and dull because they always go on about the Light and the Naaru. They're the Jehovah's Witnesses of WOW.
Blood Elf-I really enjoyed the Belfs in WC3: Frozen Throne. However, they have also fallen down in my ranking due to WOW. Part of this is similar to the Nelf issue....most Belfs are females played by males so they have some "hot" pixels to fap over. Personally, I think that it's much easier to just use the Internet to find some porn but oh well. However, if you chose a female Belf for reasons outside of "something to look at", I salute you. I also am not overly keen on their mana addict nature. Go to rehab or something.
Human-These are last for a very simple reason. They are the most dull race that you can play as. After all, they resemble us. We don't really need to go to a fantasy MMO to go and RP as humans surely? It kinda takes away from the "fantasy" part. However, to the credit of the humans, they are a tenacious race that has managed to bounce back from every major war. A bit like real life humans then.
CLASSES
Time to rank the classes now. I don't hate any of the classes or anything but I naturally have a list in my head still to rank the classes.
Shaman-Easily my favourite class. Again, I know there's some bias cause my first character/main is a Shaman but I've just connected well with the class. I love the totems and the lore behind the totem quests (apart from that lame Air Totem quest for Horde where you just get it handed to you.). I enjoy the spells and I've enjoyed playing as Enhance greatly. I've also enjoyed the times I've tinkered around and played as Elemental or the times I've healed with Resto (though I really need to get more healing experience under my belt).
Hunter-Oh, how I love Hunters due to their pets. My second highest character is a Hunter and he's my Ally main. I love my BM spec and I'm really connected to my pets...I hate it when Spork (my pet bear) dies. I get guilt over his death and beg him for forgiveness (which he always does....pets are awesome). The traps and ranged attacks are a nice bonus too of course. I need to try out Survival at some point really (I'll do so when I can afford Dual Spec).
Warrior-The Warrior class takes third place. I've not tried Arms yet really but I enjoy my Fury Warrior a lot. Punching things is awesome (doesn't take a lot to please me). I also enjoy tanking with my Warr too and I hope to do more of that as I get higher. I enjoy the options given to me via my stances and I like that when a Warr has a shield, it feels like something that's really useful. I mean, just look at all the Shield related abilities a Warrior gets. I also admit that I'm a sucker for Titan's Grip and I look forward to the day that my Orc Warr has that talent.
Mage-Mages are the most enjoyable caster class to me by far. They are the most challenging and at times, you have to really be on the ball with them (particularly when you get swarmed). With their vast range of spells, I really enjoy levelling my Mage. Nothing like a good AoE or two to teach mobs a lesson. Turing mobs into sheep always makes me giggle a little too. Again, doesn't take much to please me.
Druid-Ah, one of the true "I can do everything" classes. Heal, tank, dps...they can do it all. What makes them interesting is their forms of course. Patch 3.2 will be making the bear and cat forms all pretty and stuff so that's a nice added bonus but my favourite form so far is my Moonkin form. I really enjoy being a Boomkin at the moment but I imagine when I level my Feral druid up, I'll enjoy the others just as much. One downside to the class is that it takes a lot of levels to really get used to it...I found that I struggled a fair bit for the first 20-30 levels but nowadays, I can really get my Druid groove on now that he's in the 40's.
Priest-First and foremost, I love Mind Control. It's one of my favourite spells EVAR. I just use it all the time for fun. I also really enjoy Priest healing and Shadow Priesting. I've only got major experience with a Shadow Priest but I've healed in a few instances and I find Priest healing to be really easy (it's as easy as Druid healing which can only be a good thing). The Priest used to be one of my least favourite classes but it's steadily climbed up to become one of my favourites. Now give me a minute while I go and Mind Control something *evil laugh*
Death Knight-Now, I know that DK's get a lot of hate for being "too OP" or "too easy to use". I agree that they can be easy to use though as nerfs keep coming each patch, the Death Knight becomes less OP and less easier to use. I love the DK starting quests and I really enjoy playing as a DK. Unholy is a lot of fun and Frost is no slouch either. As a side note, Death Grip always makes me grin. You'll notice the recurring "easily pleased" theme by now.
Warlock-I remember when Locks used to be a pain in the ass PvP wise. Nowadays, they aren't so bad. I really like the lore behind Warlocks and they get a ton of Lock-specific quests too. I also like how their demons are merely minions and can be sacrificed easily. I don't feel guilty when my Warlock minion dies, I just feel irritated at it cause it's left me to fend for myself. The only reason why the Warlock class isn't higher is mainly cause of how easy it is to play as one. I find it really easy to kill things and really hard to die so it can be boring to level my Lock.
Paladin-On to the Paladin class. Now, I like the lore behind Paladins a lot. However, gameplay wise, I find them to be much more dull then the other classes. I'm glad Ret Palas have finally become something besides LOLRET but Palas are now getting targetted as OP cause of their current state. I really want to level my Belf Pala up so I can try out tanking as a Pala. If I enjoy that, Paladin might go up higher on my list cause I find Retribution to be fun but a bit dull cause it's so easy to breeze through mobs now.
Rogue-Last but not least,Rogues. I really enjoy being stealthy and pickpocketing or using the Subt tree to pwn with Ambush. I'm also levelling a Combat Rog alongside my Subt one so I will see how that differs. I do enjoy the Rogue class but I find them a bit dull to play as and they are lower then the other classes because every other class has better lore. However, I've still got love for my stealthy friends!
So there you have it. There's my two lists. Now...a question for anyone who reads this.
What would be your race/class lists and why?
Saturday 22 August 2009
Is That A Tasty Combo Or Does It Need More Ketchup?
It looks like a Blizzcon related post will come first in le blog. Sorry, Mr. Resto Shaman Post.
Now...I'm gonna wait till Blizzcon is over before I give a post looking at everything about the new expansion. Depending on how much info we get, it might even have to be split into two posts. However, I decided to get this post out the way first. What I'm going to do is look at all the new race/class combinations that we're getting in the next expansion and seeing whether it works or not in my head. So...let's see which ones are a Meat Feast Pizza (aka very tasty.If you're a vegan/vegetarian, you're probably shaking your head right now) and which ones are weaksauce.
Current Races
Belf Warrior-I understand why people want these. After all, every other race can be Warriors so why shouldn't the Belfs? Well, I don't view the Belfs as angry enough for Fury spec so I imagine they'll be similar to Nelfs in my eyes and only really viable for Protection or Arms from a character perspective. At first, I frowned upon Belfs as warriors but then I remembered spell breakers and demon hunters and I gave these a thumbs up.
Dwarf Mage-There's a lot of Mages coming our way in the expansion. Dwarf mages are fine to me...they were in the WOW beta and there are Dark Iron mages in the game. I don't think it's too much of a leap for some Ironforge dwarves to be interested in arcane magic and therefore, start learning it from their Gnome friends or their Human buddies.
Dwarf Shaman-Some people seem to have trouble accepting this one but I don't know why. Just go and look at the Wildhammer clan and you'll see that there are dwarf shamanz there. I presume the Ironforge dwarves will learn shaman ways from the Wildhammer and I hope it works like that instead of a cheap "learnt it from the Draenei" trick.
Gnome Priest-This makes me very happy cause Gnomes were the only race to lack a healer and I've never understood why they didn't have one cause they could just easily learn it off the Stormwind gang in the same way the Dwarves did. The Horde best watch out for ALL GNOME RAIDS OF MINIATURE DEATH AND TINY DOOM!
Human Hunter-Well, this isn't too hard to understand. In real life, humans love to have pets and look after them so I don't see why they can't be like that in WOW too. I'm glad the WOW Humans won't be able to do what some real life ones do....dress their pets up in horrible clothes that leaves the pet looking like it wants to kill itself.
Nelf Mage-This one has been causing debates. I understand why since the Nelfs have rejected Arcane magic from their society. The best way for it to work would be if the Nelf Mages all stem from the Highbourne that are located in Dire Maul since they would happily be all Magey. Otherwise, it relies on Nelf society accepting arcane magic again or some Nelfs accepting it but having to be tucked away and hidden like warlocks in other cities.
Orc Mage-Now, I was surprised to see this one. I didn't really see a huge need for Orc Mages. Now, I'm following the logic that's been given on forums and a Wow.com article on Orc Mages which suggests that Orc Mages have come about because they have decided to show some restraint/use less dangerous magic. I can see the thinking behind it but I'm not a fan of it and I don't view these as necessary so it's the first "no" class combo to me.
Tauren Paladin-At first, I didn't get why Tauren got these or Priests. However, with the new quest hinting to Tauren worshipping the Sun, it makes more sense to me so I'm happy to accept Tauren Palas. Expect to see a lot of "original" names like "Holycow" or "Holymoo" or names of that nature.
Tauren Priest-I can accept that via Sun worship, Priests are a viable option to the Tauren and therefore, I have no problem with it lorewise and all. However, personally speaking...I just don't see the Tauren as Priests. I can visualise them happily as Paladins but I can't say the same thing when I picture a Tauren Priest. It's not a "no" combo though because they make perfect sense due to the Sun worship that helps Palas to fit lore wise too...I just can't see Tauren as Priests characteristic wise ranting on about the Sun(Light) to everyone else as such.
Troll Druid-I'm happy to accept that Trolls can be druids via their worship of their own animal gods and therefore, I don't have any issues with this. It would be groovy for them to get different tanking/dps forms to the Tauren/Nelf druids and all but I understand that thinking like that could just be a big ball of wishful thinking.
Undead Hunter-Out of all the current race combos, this one is my least favourite of them all. I've seen the arguments that the Undead can learn how to be Hunters through their leader cause she's an awesome Ranger but people seem to be forgetting that Rangers are Marksmanship Huntards without the pet. However, putting that aside, my major gripe with this is that Hunters are meant to love and care for their pets. The Forsaken don't have emotions so they won't really love and care about any animals...even if it's their own partner in combat and they can't just view their pets as minions because that isn't the Hunter way. This is a big big big "no" choice for me.
Expansion Races
Goblin
DK-This is fine to me since I'm sure Goblins died somewhere along the way for Arthas to nab them for himself.
Hunter-This is fine and it will be interesting because the majority of Goblin Hunters will be focused on hunting for profit, I imagine.
Rogue-This is fine and works well since Goblin rogues could simply consider themselves to be mercenaries for hire and get the moonehs that way.
Warrior-This is fine since the Bruiser NPCS you see in the Goblin ports aren't too far off Warriors and Goblins are tough little things.
Mage-Hmm, I can see it to a degree but it's a bit hard imagining Goblins keeping a keen interest in learning magic. However, it works well enough.
Warlock-I can imagine this easier than Mages which sounds silly cause usually, Locks used to be Mages/Shamans. It works fine and that's what matters.
Shaman-And we come on to the Goblin "no" combo. I don't see it at all. How can a Goblin Shaman work exactly? I get that they could theoretically learn the Shaman ways from the other Horde races but I just can't picture any Goblin's wanting to learn how to be them. I mean, it requires patience and respect for the elements and other things. I doubt the profit-orientated Goblins can meet those requirements...the only way they can be Shamans in my head is if they somehow pay the elements to let them use them. Since that can't happen realistically, it's a big big big "no" combo.
Worgen
DK-It's fine. I imagine that Arthas killed some Worgen along the way while he was also killing Goblins.
Mage-It's fine since the Gilneas Worgen are humans after all who just happen to turn into werewolves because they're lucky like that.
Priest-It's fine because they are humans that turn into wolves and all. It would be interesting to see how a Worgen priest's faith would be considering they are cursed.
Warlock-It's fine because of the humans into wolves thing that keeps cropping up in my answers and you're probably bored of it by now.
Warrior-It's fine. See above if you need to know one reason why but the other is because their wolf form is just begging to kick some ass Warrior style.
Hunter-It's fine and all to have this. However, it will be a bit strange to see a werewolf running around with a pet of some sort. I wonder if the pet would get confused.
Rogue-It's sort of fine. I mean, it's not bad or anything. It's just a bit strange to have a Worgen size rogue really.
Druid-I know the Ally need one extra druid to make it fair...but Worgen? Really? I mean, I don't see it personally. I understand that they could theoretically learn it from the Nelf allies that seem to come and help them/invite them into the alliance (based on what I saw in a trailer). However, based on that logic, why can't the Stormwind humans learn how to be druids? I know you could argue that the Stormwind humans don't care too much about nature but I don't see why the Gilneas Worgen would either. This is a big big big "no" combo from me currently.
Out of the lot on the menu, there's only 4 weaksauce combos. The rest are tasty or go down okay with some alcohol. So let us eat, drink and be merry until the next blog post. Cheers!
Now...I'm gonna wait till Blizzcon is over before I give a post looking at everything about the new expansion. Depending on how much info we get, it might even have to be split into two posts. However, I decided to get this post out the way first. What I'm going to do is look at all the new race/class combinations that we're getting in the next expansion and seeing whether it works or not in my head. So...let's see which ones are a Meat Feast Pizza (aka very tasty.If you're a vegan/vegetarian, you're probably shaking your head right now) and which ones are weaksauce.
Current Races
Belf Warrior-I understand why people want these. After all, every other race can be Warriors so why shouldn't the Belfs? Well, I don't view the Belfs as angry enough for Fury spec so I imagine they'll be similar to Nelfs in my eyes and only really viable for Protection or Arms from a character perspective. At first, I frowned upon Belfs as warriors but then I remembered spell breakers and demon hunters and I gave these a thumbs up.
Dwarf Mage-There's a lot of Mages coming our way in the expansion. Dwarf mages are fine to me...they were in the WOW beta and there are Dark Iron mages in the game. I don't think it's too much of a leap for some Ironforge dwarves to be interested in arcane magic and therefore, start learning it from their Gnome friends or their Human buddies.
Dwarf Shaman-Some people seem to have trouble accepting this one but I don't know why. Just go and look at the Wildhammer clan and you'll see that there are dwarf shamanz there. I presume the Ironforge dwarves will learn shaman ways from the Wildhammer and I hope it works like that instead of a cheap "learnt it from the Draenei" trick.
Gnome Priest-This makes me very happy cause Gnomes were the only race to lack a healer and I've never understood why they didn't have one cause they could just easily learn it off the Stormwind gang in the same way the Dwarves did. The Horde best watch out for ALL GNOME RAIDS OF MINIATURE DEATH AND TINY DOOM!
Human Hunter-Well, this isn't too hard to understand. In real life, humans love to have pets and look after them so I don't see why they can't be like that in WOW too. I'm glad the WOW Humans won't be able to do what some real life ones do....dress their pets up in horrible clothes that leaves the pet looking like it wants to kill itself.
Nelf Mage-This one has been causing debates. I understand why since the Nelfs have rejected Arcane magic from their society. The best way for it to work would be if the Nelf Mages all stem from the Highbourne that are located in Dire Maul since they would happily be all Magey. Otherwise, it relies on Nelf society accepting arcane magic again or some Nelfs accepting it but having to be tucked away and hidden like warlocks in other cities.
Orc Mage-Now, I was surprised to see this one. I didn't really see a huge need for Orc Mages. Now, I'm following the logic that's been given on forums and a Wow.com article on Orc Mages which suggests that Orc Mages have come about because they have decided to show some restraint/use less dangerous magic. I can see the thinking behind it but I'm not a fan of it and I don't view these as necessary so it's the first "no" class combo to me.
Tauren Paladin-At first, I didn't get why Tauren got these or Priests. However, with the new quest hinting to Tauren worshipping the Sun, it makes more sense to me so I'm happy to accept Tauren Palas. Expect to see a lot of "original" names like "Holycow" or "Holymoo" or names of that nature.
Tauren Priest-I can accept that via Sun worship, Priests are a viable option to the Tauren and therefore, I have no problem with it lorewise and all. However, personally speaking...I just don't see the Tauren as Priests. I can visualise them happily as Paladins but I can't say the same thing when I picture a Tauren Priest. It's not a "no" combo though because they make perfect sense due to the Sun worship that helps Palas to fit lore wise too...I just can't see Tauren as Priests characteristic wise ranting on about the Sun(Light) to everyone else as such.
Troll Druid-I'm happy to accept that Trolls can be druids via their worship of their own animal gods and therefore, I don't have any issues with this. It would be groovy for them to get different tanking/dps forms to the Tauren/Nelf druids and all but I understand that thinking like that could just be a big ball of wishful thinking.
Undead Hunter-Out of all the current race combos, this one is my least favourite of them all. I've seen the arguments that the Undead can learn how to be Hunters through their leader cause she's an awesome Ranger but people seem to be forgetting that Rangers are Marksmanship Huntards without the pet. However, putting that aside, my major gripe with this is that Hunters are meant to love and care for their pets. The Forsaken don't have emotions so they won't really love and care about any animals...even if it's their own partner in combat and they can't just view their pets as minions because that isn't the Hunter way. This is a big big big "no" choice for me.
Expansion Races
Goblin
DK-This is fine to me since I'm sure Goblins died somewhere along the way for Arthas to nab them for himself.
Hunter-This is fine and it will be interesting because the majority of Goblin Hunters will be focused on hunting for profit, I imagine.
Rogue-This is fine and works well since Goblin rogues could simply consider themselves to be mercenaries for hire and get the moonehs that way.
Warrior-This is fine since the Bruiser NPCS you see in the Goblin ports aren't too far off Warriors and Goblins are tough little things.
Mage-Hmm, I can see it to a degree but it's a bit hard imagining Goblins keeping a keen interest in learning magic. However, it works well enough.
Warlock-I can imagine this easier than Mages which sounds silly cause usually, Locks used to be Mages/Shamans. It works fine and that's what matters.
Shaman-And we come on to the Goblin "no" combo. I don't see it at all. How can a Goblin Shaman work exactly? I get that they could theoretically learn the Shaman ways from the other Horde races but I just can't picture any Goblin's wanting to learn how to be them. I mean, it requires patience and respect for the elements and other things. I doubt the profit-orientated Goblins can meet those requirements...the only way they can be Shamans in my head is if they somehow pay the elements to let them use them. Since that can't happen realistically, it's a big big big "no" combo.
Worgen
DK-It's fine. I imagine that Arthas killed some Worgen along the way while he was also killing Goblins.
Mage-It's fine since the Gilneas Worgen are humans after all who just happen to turn into werewolves because they're lucky like that.
Priest-It's fine because they are humans that turn into wolves and all. It would be interesting to see how a Worgen priest's faith would be considering they are cursed.
Warlock-It's fine because of the humans into wolves thing that keeps cropping up in my answers and you're probably bored of it by now.
Warrior-It's fine. See above if you need to know one reason why but the other is because their wolf form is just begging to kick some ass Warrior style.
Hunter-It's fine and all to have this. However, it will be a bit strange to see a werewolf running around with a pet of some sort. I wonder if the pet would get confused.
Rogue-It's sort of fine. I mean, it's not bad or anything. It's just a bit strange to have a Worgen size rogue really.
Druid-I know the Ally need one extra druid to make it fair...but Worgen? Really? I mean, I don't see it personally. I understand that they could theoretically learn it from the Nelf allies that seem to come and help them/invite them into the alliance (based on what I saw in a trailer). However, based on that logic, why can't the Stormwind humans learn how to be druids? I know you could argue that the Stormwind humans don't care too much about nature but I don't see why the Gilneas Worgen would either. This is a big big big "no" combo from me currently.
Out of the lot on the menu, there's only 4 weaksauce combos. The rest are tasty or go down okay with some alcohol. So let us eat, drink and be merry until the next blog post. Cheers!
Monday 17 August 2009
Enhance Your Shaman's Stamina! Get A Bigger Mace! Drive the DPS Meters Wild!
My blog title is inspired by those irritating pop-up's/online ads that are all related to enlarging your penis and making it a MONSTER or a GIANT or a LEAN MEAN GRILLING MACHINE! I figured I'd just explain it on the off chance that someone reading this didn't get the blog title. However, I know that everyone who reads this blog has both a wonderful sense of humour and an amazing intellect so of course, you got it straight away. What was this blog post about again? Oh yeah, Enhancement. I guess I should stop wasting time buttering my audience up and get on with the show.
Races
Alliance
Draenei-Like I said before (in the Elemental Shaman post), I favour the Elemental and the Resto specs when it comes to Draenei. However, this doesn't mean I dislike Enhancement because the Draenei have the right physical build and the mental ability that it requires to channel the Elements and unleash them on the enemy in the form of something like Stormstrike. They suit all three specs...I just wouldn't have an Enhance Draenei Shaman.
Dwarf-Now, here's an Ally race perfect for the Enhance Shaman. I imagine a Dwarf Shaman will happily get stuck in (like the Orcs) and smack things really hard. As a result of this, Dwarf Shaman would be my favourite race for Enhancement.
Horde
Goblin-Well, putting the whole not-too-fond-of-Goblin-Shaman stoof aside...after a lot of thinking over it, I can see Goblins as Enhance Shaman. The Gnome Bruiser NPC's are pretty plucky and brave and I imagine a Goblin Shaman to be pretty similar only they can call upon the Elements to help too.
Orc-Now, Orcs are happy to get stuck in and therefore, Enhancement works well because it lets the Orc Shaman do that. However, I imagine that an Orc Shaman would have to be careful when fighting and smacking things because they wouldn't wanna lose themselves to rage so in my head, Orc Shamans would need to have a lot of self-control when choosing to go down the dual-wield path.
Tauren-This would be my favourite Horde race for Enhancement Shamans. They have the natual ability to patiently wait for the right moment to come along before letting rip with a powerful strike because it's in their nature to be patient and only use rage when necessary. Add on their physical prowess/ability and their and you can see why I reckon they're the best for Enhancement.
Troll-And now, we come on to the race I favour the least when it comes to the Enhance spec. I just don't view Trolls as being as physically strong/tough as the Orcs and the Taurens and they're a tiny bit on the scrawny side when you hold the three races in comparison. They have the mental ability and the patience, I just don't think they have enough physical oomph behind them to be as deadly as Orcs or Tauren when it comes to smacking things.
Abilities
Rockbiter Weapon-I know that in the good old vanilla days, you could use this enchant to help to get threat easier and as a result, Shamans could tank instances. And even in early BC, it gave Shamans a lot of extra dps and all. But sadly, times change and this talent has become an old fogey that Blizz shoved into an old folks home and left us to discuss the "good times" Rockbiter used to give us. Basically, it's used for levels 1-10 but after that, best to switch to Flame or Frost and accept that you'll never use Rockbiter again. Personally, I just want Blizzard to remove this from the game.
Lightning Shield-The Enhancement Shaman's shield of choice. With Static Shock (Enhance talent), it goes up to 9 charges and has a 6% chance of hitting the enemy with a charge when you melee. Add the LS glyph and the Improved Shields talent (Enhance again) and this shield packs a punch. A part of me would like to see LS castable on others (like in WC3) but with the Druid spell Thorns around, there isn't much point.
Flametongue Weapon-This is the weapon enchant all Shamans will use until level 30 unless healing an instance. After 30, Enhance Shamans ditch Flametongue for Windfury on their main weapons (they'll have Flametongue on their offhand for Lava Lash) while Elemental/Resto remain faithful to Flametongue due to it's spell damage buff.
Ghost Wolf-Now, when I was levelling my Shaman, mounts were unavailable until level 40 so I got to enjoy 20 levels with Ghost Wolf. Nowadays, you only get to enjoy 4 levels of Ghost Wolf travelling before you can get a mount. However, Ghost Wolf still gets to enjoy being used in PvP. Also, the best thing you can do as a Shaman is /dance in Ghost Wolf form. If you've yet to see this, go and do it with your Shaman or go and find a Shaman and ask them to do it for you. Go now! I'll wait for you to come back and we can carry on.
Frostbrand Weapon-The PvP enchant. If you're gonna PvP, this is usually the best one to have and it's a musthave if you have two points in Frozen Power from the Enhancement tree.
Water Breathing-If you're doing a lot of underwater quests, use this to make it easier. It's a shame that unlike Warlocks, we have to use a glyph slot to make this spell useable without reagents but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Far Sight-Well, here's a gimmick spell that I've yet to use much of. However, I imagine it could be used for things like Arathi Basin to check other bases. The cool thing about this spell is that you can Far Sight chain. If you learn how to do it right, it lets you explore in ways that no other class can. This spell proves that Shamans are actually vouyeristic stalkers.
Water Walking-Between the self-rezzing and this spell, it's not hard to understand the "Jesus was a Shaman" logic. Now, I'm a bit disappointed that DK's get this spell too (only it affects the group and it doesn't cost them anything in the form of reagents so it's much better) since before that, Shamans were unique in their water walking ways. However, what's done is done. Make sure to glyph up and get the Water Walking glyph.
Astral Recall-Now, this is a spell I love. Even though hearthstone wait times have been cut in half (down from 1 hour to 30 minutes), Shamans can still be happy in the knowledge that this spell lets us hearth every 15 minutes. The lazy side of me worships this spell.
Windfury Weapon-This is the DPS King enchant for Enhancement Shaman and it will be the one that will keep your main hand weapon warm at night. Always stick it on the main hand weapon and let Windfury do the rest.
Bloodlust/Heroism-This spell is often said to be the spell that can gurantee a raid spot for a Shaman. Now, I don't think it's THAT awesome but it is still very very very awesome. The strange thing is that you get a 10 minute Sated debuff yet the spell itself only has a five min cooldown. I believe that this was done to stop multiple Blood/Hero usage or something like that. And one last thing...this spell is awesome. Just thought I'd remind you so you don't forget it.
Stormstrike-One of the Enhance talent tree spells and one of two melee attack moves. Stormstrike is great because you get to hit things hard with some electrical force behind it. The added nature damage bonus buff that you get afterwards is the tasty icing on the very tasty cake.
Lava Lash-I was happy to see this move added in Patch 3.0.2 because it made the rotation of an Enhance Shaman a little bit more interesting. Also, it gave the Enhance tree a second melee attack move which is important because that's what the Enhance tree is all about...smacking things with the elements boosting your smacking. Stick flametongue on your offhand and Lava Lash anyone who stands in your way.
Shamanistic Rage-While it did have the mana regain element halved to 15%, it also had it's cooldown cut in half which is excellent. It means that you can have the buff up more often so you'll take 30% less damage more often in raids. Combine this with the stamina buff Shamans got in the recent patch and it boosts an Enhance Shaman's odds of living and makes them feel less squishy too.
Feral Spirit-Last but definitly not least...it's the spirit wolf spell! Now, these wolves are a life saver. I literally call one Life and the other Saver...that's how many times they've bailed me out of a sticky situation. I love them and I thank Blizz greatly for giving Enhance Shamans the talent. However, I would much rather see Feral Spirit be made a base spell so that all Shamans could use the wolves. Remove their healing-the-Shaman-every-time-they-hit-the-enemy aspect and make that a talent in the Enhance tree. That way, Resto Shamans won't be too OP with healing wolves and both Resto and Elemental can enjoy the power of the wolves too.
Totem Strike-This is my idea for a third instant attack because I think the Enhance Shaman could do with one more and then that will do. What I want the attack to be is basically where the Shaman summons a totem pole (the giant thing Cairne Bloodhoof holds or what the Tauren units from WC3 would hold) from thin air or it could be made up of four totems (since it's easy to drop a foursome thanks to the latest patch) and the Shaman then attacks with this totem pole once. It doesn't need to be anything fancy, just an extra attack to jazz things up a bit. If possible, it could do more damage if the Earth Shock debuff is on the enemy. This way, we get to see hardcore totem pole action which is something that I'm sure we all need to truly enjoy WOW.
And there you go...that's my Enhance Shaman done. Next to come will be a Resto Shaman post, a Hunter related post that will look at what pets I have or wish to have with my Huntards and a Blizzcon related post. I'm not sure as to which order they'll be in cause I've got to revise for my resits so I don't fail and all that. All I can say is...watch this space!
Races
Alliance
Draenei-Like I said before (in the Elemental Shaman post), I favour the Elemental and the Resto specs when it comes to Draenei. However, this doesn't mean I dislike Enhancement because the Draenei have the right physical build and the mental ability that it requires to channel the Elements and unleash them on the enemy in the form of something like Stormstrike. They suit all three specs...I just wouldn't have an Enhance Draenei Shaman.
Dwarf-Now, here's an Ally race perfect for the Enhance Shaman. I imagine a Dwarf Shaman will happily get stuck in (like the Orcs) and smack things really hard. As a result of this, Dwarf Shaman would be my favourite race for Enhancement.
Horde
Goblin-Well, putting the whole not-too-fond-of-Goblin-Shaman stoof aside...after a lot of thinking over it, I can see Goblins as Enhance Shaman. The Gnome Bruiser NPC's are pretty plucky and brave and I imagine a Goblin Shaman to be pretty similar only they can call upon the Elements to help too.
Orc-Now, Orcs are happy to get stuck in and therefore, Enhancement works well because it lets the Orc Shaman do that. However, I imagine that an Orc Shaman would have to be careful when fighting and smacking things because they wouldn't wanna lose themselves to rage so in my head, Orc Shamans would need to have a lot of self-control when choosing to go down the dual-wield path.
Tauren-This would be my favourite Horde race for Enhancement Shamans. They have the natual ability to patiently wait for the right moment to come along before letting rip with a powerful strike because it's in their nature to be patient and only use rage when necessary. Add on their physical prowess/ability and their and you can see why I reckon they're the best for Enhancement.
Troll-And now, we come on to the race I favour the least when it comes to the Enhance spec. I just don't view Trolls as being as physically strong/tough as the Orcs and the Taurens and they're a tiny bit on the scrawny side when you hold the three races in comparison. They have the mental ability and the patience, I just don't think they have enough physical oomph behind them to be as deadly as Orcs or Tauren when it comes to smacking things.
Abilities
Rockbiter Weapon-I know that in the good old vanilla days, you could use this enchant to help to get threat easier and as a result, Shamans could tank instances. And even in early BC, it gave Shamans a lot of extra dps and all. But sadly, times change and this talent has become an old fogey that Blizz shoved into an old folks home and left us to discuss the "good times" Rockbiter used to give us. Basically, it's used for levels 1-10 but after that, best to switch to Flame or Frost and accept that you'll never use Rockbiter again. Personally, I just want Blizzard to remove this from the game.
Lightning Shield-The Enhancement Shaman's shield of choice. With Static Shock (Enhance talent), it goes up to 9 charges and has a 6% chance of hitting the enemy with a charge when you melee. Add the LS glyph and the Improved Shields talent (Enhance again) and this shield packs a punch. A part of me would like to see LS castable on others (like in WC3) but with the Druid spell Thorns around, there isn't much point.
Flametongue Weapon-This is the weapon enchant all Shamans will use until level 30 unless healing an instance. After 30, Enhance Shamans ditch Flametongue for Windfury on their main weapons (they'll have Flametongue on their offhand for Lava Lash) while Elemental/Resto remain faithful to Flametongue due to it's spell damage buff.
Ghost Wolf-Now, when I was levelling my Shaman, mounts were unavailable until level 40 so I got to enjoy 20 levels with Ghost Wolf. Nowadays, you only get to enjoy 4 levels of Ghost Wolf travelling before you can get a mount. However, Ghost Wolf still gets to enjoy being used in PvP. Also, the best thing you can do as a Shaman is /dance in Ghost Wolf form. If you've yet to see this, go and do it with your Shaman or go and find a Shaman and ask them to do it for you. Go now! I'll wait for you to come back and we can carry on.
Frostbrand Weapon-The PvP enchant. If you're gonna PvP, this is usually the best one to have and it's a musthave if you have two points in Frozen Power from the Enhancement tree.
Water Breathing-If you're doing a lot of underwater quests, use this to make it easier. It's a shame that unlike Warlocks, we have to use a glyph slot to make this spell useable without reagents but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Far Sight-Well, here's a gimmick spell that I've yet to use much of. However, I imagine it could be used for things like Arathi Basin to check other bases. The cool thing about this spell is that you can Far Sight chain. If you learn how to do it right, it lets you explore in ways that no other class can. This spell proves that Shamans are actually vouyeristic stalkers.
Water Walking-Between the self-rezzing and this spell, it's not hard to understand the "Jesus was a Shaman" logic. Now, I'm a bit disappointed that DK's get this spell too (only it affects the group and it doesn't cost them anything in the form of reagents so it's much better) since before that, Shamans were unique in their water walking ways. However, what's done is done. Make sure to glyph up and get the Water Walking glyph.
Astral Recall-Now, this is a spell I love. Even though hearthstone wait times have been cut in half (down from 1 hour to 30 minutes), Shamans can still be happy in the knowledge that this spell lets us hearth every 15 minutes. The lazy side of me worships this spell.
Windfury Weapon-This is the DPS King enchant for Enhancement Shaman and it will be the one that will keep your main hand weapon warm at night. Always stick it on the main hand weapon and let Windfury do the rest.
Bloodlust/Heroism-This spell is often said to be the spell that can gurantee a raid spot for a Shaman. Now, I don't think it's THAT awesome but it is still very very very awesome. The strange thing is that you get a 10 minute Sated debuff yet the spell itself only has a five min cooldown. I believe that this was done to stop multiple Blood/Hero usage or something like that. And one last thing...this spell is awesome. Just thought I'd remind you so you don't forget it.
Stormstrike-One of the Enhance talent tree spells and one of two melee attack moves. Stormstrike is great because you get to hit things hard with some electrical force behind it. The added nature damage bonus buff that you get afterwards is the tasty icing on the very tasty cake.
Lava Lash-I was happy to see this move added in Patch 3.0.2 because it made the rotation of an Enhance Shaman a little bit more interesting. Also, it gave the Enhance tree a second melee attack move which is important because that's what the Enhance tree is all about...smacking things with the elements boosting your smacking. Stick flametongue on your offhand and Lava Lash anyone who stands in your way.
Shamanistic Rage-While it did have the mana regain element halved to 15%, it also had it's cooldown cut in half which is excellent. It means that you can have the buff up more often so you'll take 30% less damage more often in raids. Combine this with the stamina buff Shamans got in the recent patch and it boosts an Enhance Shaman's odds of living and makes them feel less squishy too.
Feral Spirit-Last but definitly not least...it's the spirit wolf spell! Now, these wolves are a life saver. I literally call one Life and the other Saver...that's how many times they've bailed me out of a sticky situation. I love them and I thank Blizz greatly for giving Enhance Shamans the talent. However, I would much rather see Feral Spirit be made a base spell so that all Shamans could use the wolves. Remove their healing-the-Shaman-every-time-they-hit-the-enemy aspect and make that a talent in the Enhance tree. That way, Resto Shamans won't be too OP with healing wolves and both Resto and Elemental can enjoy the power of the wolves too.
Totem Strike-This is my idea for a third instant attack because I think the Enhance Shaman could do with one more and then that will do. What I want the attack to be is basically where the Shaman summons a totem pole (the giant thing Cairne Bloodhoof holds or what the Tauren units from WC3 would hold) from thin air or it could be made up of four totems (since it's easy to drop a foursome thanks to the latest patch) and the Shaman then attacks with this totem pole once. It doesn't need to be anything fancy, just an extra attack to jazz things up a bit. If possible, it could do more damage if the Earth Shock debuff is on the enemy. This way, we get to see hardcore totem pole action which is something that I'm sure we all need to truly enjoy WOW.
And there you go...that's my Enhance Shaman done. Next to come will be a Resto Shaman post, a Hunter related post that will look at what pets I have or wish to have with my Huntards and a Blizzcon related post. I'm not sure as to which order they'll be in cause I've got to revise for my resits so I don't fail and all that. All I can say is...watch this space!
Saturday 15 August 2009
Ding Dong, The Levelling Is Dead!
Expect a lot of Wizard of Oz references...I don't know why, I'm just in the mood to do them after I wrote my blog title. Anyway, this post is here to let you know that I've walked the Yellow Brick Road and made it to the Emerald City. If you didn't get the metaphor, I finally got to level 80! Ding-a-ling time! And just like Dorothy in Emerald City, it's an exciting and nervous place to be at. I guess I'll have to get some Courage and start to gear up properly.
Okay, time to write about my feelings at dinging 80 for the first time. Like I said above, it comes with both excitement and nervousness and I'll explain why. Let's start with the excitement angle. It's good and fun and exciting because I know I'm one step closer to raiding and the endgame content and doing Heroics once I gear up. I'm glad that I managed to get to level 80 (all those who powerlevel are scoffing at me right now for feeling like it's an accomplishment) and it should be an exciting challenge to do all these instances to gear up and then to try and tackle the raids head on. This Scarecrow has a Brain now and he's excited at getting to use it and hopefully, he'll get to do so with his current guild.
However, there is a part of me that's acting like the Cowardly Lion. I mean...endgame is a bit of a scary thing and I could just horribly suck at raiding really. I know that it's about learning the ropes and all but what if I can't seem to do so? I'm also a bit worried about my laptop since it's not that great (I still love you though, Laptoppy) and at times, it can lag so that might be an issue. And finally, I might be expected to heal rather than dps. I've had a bit of practice heal-wise since I healed a bit of HoL last night (we wiped on Ionar once and the mage was a bit impatient/fearful that we'd wipe more when we came to Loken so he swapped to his priesty and I got to be dps after) and I healed a 4-man group for Nexus (we did fine till Keristrasza and then we just wiped a lot) but it's not really given me that much confidence yet so I need to work on that loads more.
Hopefully, as time goes on, I'll get some Heart and I won't be as nervous about the endgame. I imagine that if XXL (the guild I'm in) are supportive, that will alleviate worries too. Generally though, I'm excited to be level 80 finally with a character and I want to get out there and start slaying every Wicked Witch and winged monkey out there so I can get shiny gear. Now, close your eyes, tap your heels together three times and repeat after me.
"There's no place like endgame."
Okay, time to write about my feelings at dinging 80 for the first time. Like I said above, it comes with both excitement and nervousness and I'll explain why. Let's start with the excitement angle. It's good and fun and exciting because I know I'm one step closer to raiding and the endgame content and doing Heroics once I gear up. I'm glad that I managed to get to level 80 (all those who powerlevel are scoffing at me right now for feeling like it's an accomplishment) and it should be an exciting challenge to do all these instances to gear up and then to try and tackle the raids head on. This Scarecrow has a Brain now and he's excited at getting to use it and hopefully, he'll get to do so with his current guild.
However, there is a part of me that's acting like the Cowardly Lion. I mean...endgame is a bit of a scary thing and I could just horribly suck at raiding really. I know that it's about learning the ropes and all but what if I can't seem to do so? I'm also a bit worried about my laptop since it's not that great (I still love you though, Laptoppy) and at times, it can lag so that might be an issue. And finally, I might be expected to heal rather than dps. I've had a bit of practice heal-wise since I healed a bit of HoL last night (we wiped on Ionar once and the mage was a bit impatient/fearful that we'd wipe more when we came to Loken so he swapped to his priesty and I got to be dps after) and I healed a 4-man group for Nexus (we did fine till Keristrasza and then we just wiped a lot) but it's not really given me that much confidence yet so I need to work on that loads more.
Hopefully, as time goes on, I'll get some Heart and I won't be as nervous about the endgame. I imagine that if XXL (the guild I'm in) are supportive, that will alleviate worries too. Generally though, I'm excited to be level 80 finally with a character and I want to get out there and start slaying every Wicked Witch and winged monkey out there so I can get shiny gear. Now, close your eyes, tap your heels together three times and repeat after me.
"There's no place like endgame."
Wednesday 12 August 2009
Onyxia 2: Bigger, Badder And More Whelp-ier!
News just in....Onyxia will be making a return in Patch 3.2.2. I thought this was an elaborate joke at first till I realised that today isn't April Fool's Day. In fact, we're quite far off from April. So I'm going to take this as truth. And before I get into the Onyxia stuff, I just want to say to any picky people out there...I know "Whelp-ier" isn't a real term but it worked well and it made me giggle so there!
Anyway, ignoring all the obvious "setback" jokes that always get used when a boss makes a second appearance, Blizzard are rebooting Onyxia for their 5-year anniversary. It's going to be a permanent update of course with the usual 10 and 25 man modes. The gear itself will apparantly share models with the Tier 2 gear you used to get from Onyxia. Now...some people would think that Blizz are just being cheap by recyling Tier 2 gear and that they are just recycling old content. First, they bring back Naxx. Now, they bring back Onyxia. However, I like to think of it as a lovely present to all the WOW players out there and I shall explain why.
For those who actually raided against Onyxia and remember it well, this has a nostalgic feel to it all. Sure, you'll know the strategies and what to do against Onyxia...but I bet you'll still love facing Onyxia because it reminds you of "the good old days" which is something that older WOW players like to bring up time and time again. For those of us who haven't raided Onyxia (like myself), this gives us a chance to experience old content but in a challenging way. I'm glad that I'll get to face Onyxia the hard way (assuming that I'll enjoy raiding since I've yet to do serious raiding). However, this isn't pleasing everyone...there are some people out there who enjoy raiding at level 60 only (there's even guilds based around this idea too. Those crazy people!) and they feel that this is Blizzard forcing them to get expansions to enjoy this raid. Now, I see their point but personally, I'm still for it. I don't think there's a large enough number of people doing the level 60 raiding stuff and I feel that it's a shame to leave Onyxia loitering around trying to tell herself that she's still fearsome and powerful whilst she suffers yet another solo run.
So there's only one thing left to ponder over....is this a one-off or should we expect more old content to be updated? Now, I'm not taking this as a sign that they'll suddenly go and revamp everything and I'm just appreciating it for the fun little present that it is. However, if it works out well enough...it does show that there is potential for them to bring back some older raids to let us experience them since a lot of WOW players are ones that didn't get to experience the vanilla content beforehand. I'd love to take part in something like a heroic SM Cathedral run but I understand that it would take Blizz a lot of time and effort. I don't think they'll do any more revamping but I acknowledge that there's the possibility that they will.
And there's my thoughts on the 5-year anniversary gift. Personally, I think Blizzard are giving us a very tasty cake and I'm going to be there at the party with my cutlery happily watching as they serve it. I hope that those who read this will do the same instead of trying to find reasons to dislike the cake.
Onyxia party hats for everyone!
Anyway, ignoring all the obvious "setback" jokes that always get used when a boss makes a second appearance, Blizzard are rebooting Onyxia for their 5-year anniversary. It's going to be a permanent update of course with the usual 10 and 25 man modes. The gear itself will apparantly share models with the Tier 2 gear you used to get from Onyxia. Now...some people would think that Blizz are just being cheap by recyling Tier 2 gear and that they are just recycling old content. First, they bring back Naxx. Now, they bring back Onyxia. However, I like to think of it as a lovely present to all the WOW players out there and I shall explain why.
For those who actually raided against Onyxia and remember it well, this has a nostalgic feel to it all. Sure, you'll know the strategies and what to do against Onyxia...but I bet you'll still love facing Onyxia because it reminds you of "the good old days" which is something that older WOW players like to bring up time and time again. For those of us who haven't raided Onyxia (like myself), this gives us a chance to experience old content but in a challenging way. I'm glad that I'll get to face Onyxia the hard way (assuming that I'll enjoy raiding since I've yet to do serious raiding). However, this isn't pleasing everyone...there are some people out there who enjoy raiding at level 60 only (there's even guilds based around this idea too. Those crazy people!) and they feel that this is Blizzard forcing them to get expansions to enjoy this raid. Now, I see their point but personally, I'm still for it. I don't think there's a large enough number of people doing the level 60 raiding stuff and I feel that it's a shame to leave Onyxia loitering around trying to tell herself that she's still fearsome and powerful whilst she suffers yet another solo run.
So there's only one thing left to ponder over....is this a one-off or should we expect more old content to be updated? Now, I'm not taking this as a sign that they'll suddenly go and revamp everything and I'm just appreciating it for the fun little present that it is. However, if it works out well enough...it does show that there is potential for them to bring back some older raids to let us experience them since a lot of WOW players are ones that didn't get to experience the vanilla content beforehand. I'd love to take part in something like a heroic SM Cathedral run but I understand that it would take Blizz a lot of time and effort. I don't think they'll do any more revamping but I acknowledge that there's the possibility that they will.
And there's my thoughts on the 5-year anniversary gift. Personally, I think Blizzard are giving us a very tasty cake and I'm going to be there at the party with my cutlery happily watching as they serve it. I hope that those who read this will do the same instead of trying to find reasons to dislike the cake.
Onyxia party hats for everyone!
Tuesday 11 August 2009
Putting the MENTAL in Elemental.
Oh, Blizzard...I'm keeping my eye on you, you sneaky devils. I go away on holiday (camping in Wales) and I come back to find that 3.2 has made it's apperance! However, while I could make a 3.2-related post, I shall actually bring out a Shaman-related post like I've been saying I will for some time now. So no more distractions...here is a post that will look at Elemental Shamans!
Now, let me start with a warning. If you're looking for an expert post about rotations or the gear to get or the best spec EVER or how to do sexy uber amazing faceraping DPS...this is not the post for you. However, this post will give my viewpoint on the best race for an Elemental Shaman, the spells that come under the Elemental spellbook tab and you might even see my own ideas show up. However, bear in mind that it's all opinion opinion opinion and I'm not trying to be a Shaman guru. I just want to entertain myself and anyone else who reads this. So let's actually get to the Shaman stuff!
Races
Alliance
Draenei-Well, obviously I don't have a vast choice of race (thought it's up to two now with Cataclysm and all which is groovy) for the Alliance in terms of Shamans. However, I personally think Draenei's suit Elemental and Resto the most so I'm all for the spacegoats hurling lightning. This would be my preferred choice for an Ally Elemental Shaman.
Dwarf-Now...I compare Dwarf Shaman to Orc Shaman since that's how I imagine them to be. As a result, I see Dwarf Shaman best as Enhance or Elemental. While I think Enhance is the best spec for a Dwarfy Shaman, I would still be happy to see them zapping enemies with Chain Lightning or Thunderstorming enemies away from them.
Horde
Goblin-Well...I admit I'm not a huge fan of Goblins being Shaman but the idea of it is growing on me. However, it took me a while to think of what specs are best for them. With regards to Elemental, I think it works okay but this is my least favourite spec for Goblin Shamans. However, this could change when I see them in action or I know more lore-wise or I grow to like the Goblin Shaman more which would turn Goblins into the first "all-rounder" Shaman race for me.
Orc-This is my favourite Horde race for Elemental Shamans. Maybe I just spent too much time as Thrall on Warcraft 3...but to me, Orcs are the Shamans who are most in touch with the elements and they are the ones I love to see firing bolts left, right and centre.
Tauren-While I love the Tauren Shaman, I don't like Elemental for them so much. I know that they have the capabilities within them to be all PEWPEW with bolts but it's just not as cool to me as it is to see Orcs or Trolls firing lava and lightning. It's just my personal preference to leave the Elemental stuff to the other Horde Shaman.
Troll-While Orcs are my first choice, Trolls also look pretty funky using bolts and bursts. And I reckon Boltthrower is the perfect name for a Troll Elementalsham too...just throwing that out there. Kudos to those who know of the band name and therefore, get the joke.
Abilities
Lightning Bolt-This spell will be your bestest fwend. Don't fall out with it now because you don't get Lava Burst until level 75 so you need to have to learn to spam this spell. This is why Elemental Shamans are sometimes viewed as "turrets"...only these turrets can heal themselves, come back a second time and walk on water.
Earth Shock-Ah, Earth Shock has recently had a fancy 3.2 attack-speed reduction makeover which is pretty handy since Wind Shear already has interruption covered. However, Earth Shock tends to be more suited to the Enhance Shaman crowd. Elemental Shamans prefer to have Flame Shock as their friendly mascot.
Flame Shock-FS is the spell that went from C-list to A-list celebrity thanks to Lava Burst and the Glyph you get for Flame Shock. Get the Glyph and be a very happy Elemental bunny.
Purge-Purge is a very useful spell that has both PvP and PvE uses. However, you have to be careful in case the enemy has put on useless buffs as a Purge defense. Now, I understand that it can't have the movement speed reduce it had in WC3...but I'm curious as to why it isn't allowed to do damage to summoned units still.
Wind Shear-Renamed from Wind Shock for some reason (perhaps Wind Shock scared little kids or they just wanted to distance it from the Shocks. Nah, definitly too scary.) but it's now more useful then it was before because it doesn't share a cooldown with the Shock spells.
Frost Shock-FROST SHOCK! Now that's out of the way...this is the shock to use for PvP really or if you want to slow down a retreating mob. Otherwise, it just sits there with envy eyes aimed at Earth Shock and Flame Shock.
Call Of The Elements-One of three fancy new spells to go with that shiny totem bar gadget Shamans got in the latest patch. This button is my "Enhance Totem Gang" button and I'm just glad Blizzard finally gave us the ability to put a totem foursome down in one big swoosh.
Chain Lightning-Ah, Chain Lightning. It's the zap one, get two (three if glyphed) free deal. Total bargain! It's best to use when you want to AoE zap a few mobs because it's too mana costly to use it on just one single target. If you're going for PvP, I suggest getting the glyph. However, if you're a PvE type then there's probably better glyphs out there for you.
Call Of The Ancestors-This button is my "Resto Totem Gang" button. And once again, I thank Blizzard for saving us Shamans some time. Shamans, salute Patch 3.2!
Call Of The Spirits-Now, this button will probably be my "PvP Gang" button but since I don't PvP often, this button will probably be lonely for a while. Aww, I see a sob story coming soon..."The Tragic Story of the COTS Button."
Lava Burst-Lava Burst strolls in at level 75, taps the Elemental Shaman on the shoulder and gives them another buddy to use besides Lightning Bolt. Get the Glyph of Lava and the FS glyph and you'll soon be dancing with your Lav Burst and your Light Bolt in a rotation of love. I'm really glad that Elemental Shamans have something else to use besides Lightningspamz.
Hex-Ah, the spell to turn your enemy into Kermit's long lost cousin. I believe this was Blizz's way of soothing Shamans after they wouldn't be invited to places cause all they would get is "Sorry, need CC." Never fear, Hex is here! Okay...I wouldn't hail it as a champion spell but it's a nice breathing room spell. It has a lengthy cooldown of course but that's probably cause it doesn't heal the enemy (like Polymorph) and because it won't auto-break on damage. Hex mainly gets a big thumbs up for me cause I can go "I have CC!"
Elemental Mastery-Now, we come on to the talent tree spells. EM is a beautiful talent really. Instant cast LBolt, Lav Bur or CL? Yes please. Oh...and a 15% increase in crit for 15 seconds too? Double yes please!
Totem Of Wrath-Now...this talent has me undecided. On the one hand, it's clearly superior to Flametongue and you'll want this up to help you and others in your party/raid. But the downside is that you can't have any other fire totems up and that could make a dent into your dps since you don't have a lovely Sentry totem beside you firing away. I think that the best solution would be for ToW to put up a buff on the party/raid for a period of time and that lets the Shaman switch to another flame totem after to not have to sacrifice too much flame totem dps.
Thunderstorm-If you've seen the "Thunderfuck" vids, you'll know how you can have lots of fun with this spell in PvP. But does it have any use in PvE? Well, the mana recovery part is useful for PvE but you have to be careful with the knockback element. You don't want to pull more mobs with a mis-timed knockback after all. Now, my one small change to make it a little bit better for PVE would be to either make it give the Shaman a small dps buff for 10 seconds odd or make it so that it leaves all the mobs/players it hits with a "Charged" debuff or something that increases the damage they will take from CL or Light Bolt.
Earthquake-Now, there's a part of me that wants this spell in WOW because it's the Far Seer's ultimate move from WC3 and I used to enjoy doing it. But I also think it would be a handy Elemental only spell so my intentions are good. However, it took me a while to think of what a spell like this could offer. It can't destroy buildings of course (I pondered whether it could destroy siege weaponry but that seemed a bit OP) and I don't think an AoE movement debuff is that interesting. However, inspiriation hit me and I reckon that Earthquake should be an AoE that targets the ground in front of the Shaman or an area of ground of the Shaman's choosing and reduces the hit chance of all enemies located on the shaking ground by 10% or something like that. To balance this, it would have a reasonable cooldown and you can just get off the affected area too. This would force ranged attackers to move before they start firing again and I just think it gives the Elemental Shaman a nice Earth related spell.
Now, I know I could go into glyphs and the talent spec I would use but I don't think that's necessary right now. I can look at specs and glyphs in future posts after all. Instead, I'm gonna focus on the classes and the spells that they'd use in each spell tab for now and see if I can come up with ways to improve current spells or conjure up new ideas. I find that it's more interesting that way since I like to give my opinion on things and I don't feel I'm experienced enough yet to be acting like a Shamaster. See what I did there? Genius, I know. So, next up will be an Enhance Shaman related post followed by a Restoration Shaman one which will both follow a similar format to this one.
Hope you enjoyed reading this and stay tuned for the next blog post!
Now, let me start with a warning. If you're looking for an expert post about rotations or the gear to get or the best spec EVER or how to do sexy uber amazing faceraping DPS...this is not the post for you. However, this post will give my viewpoint on the best race for an Elemental Shaman, the spells that come under the Elemental spellbook tab and you might even see my own ideas show up. However, bear in mind that it's all opinion opinion opinion and I'm not trying to be a Shaman guru. I just want to entertain myself and anyone else who reads this. So let's actually get to the Shaman stuff!
Races
Alliance
Draenei-Well, obviously I don't have a vast choice of race (thought it's up to two now with Cataclysm and all which is groovy) for the Alliance in terms of Shamans. However, I personally think Draenei's suit Elemental and Resto the most so I'm all for the spacegoats hurling lightning. This would be my preferred choice for an Ally Elemental Shaman.
Dwarf-Now...I compare Dwarf Shaman to Orc Shaman since that's how I imagine them to be. As a result, I see Dwarf Shaman best as Enhance or Elemental. While I think Enhance is the best spec for a Dwarfy Shaman, I would still be happy to see them zapping enemies with Chain Lightning or Thunderstorming enemies away from them.
Horde
Goblin-Well...I admit I'm not a huge fan of Goblins being Shaman but the idea of it is growing on me. However, it took me a while to think of what specs are best for them. With regards to Elemental, I think it works okay but this is my least favourite spec for Goblin Shamans. However, this could change when I see them in action or I know more lore-wise or I grow to like the Goblin Shaman more which would turn Goblins into the first "all-rounder" Shaman race for me.
Orc-This is my favourite Horde race for Elemental Shamans. Maybe I just spent too much time as Thrall on Warcraft 3...but to me, Orcs are the Shamans who are most in touch with the elements and they are the ones I love to see firing bolts left, right and centre.
Tauren-While I love the Tauren Shaman, I don't like Elemental for them so much. I know that they have the capabilities within them to be all PEWPEW with bolts but it's just not as cool to me as it is to see Orcs or Trolls firing lava and lightning. It's just my personal preference to leave the Elemental stuff to the other Horde Shaman.
Troll-While Orcs are my first choice, Trolls also look pretty funky using bolts and bursts. And I reckon Boltthrower is the perfect name for a Troll Elementalsham too...just throwing that out there. Kudos to those who know of the band name and therefore, get the joke.
Abilities
Lightning Bolt-This spell will be your bestest fwend. Don't fall out with it now because you don't get Lava Burst until level 75 so you need to have to learn to spam this spell. This is why Elemental Shamans are sometimes viewed as "turrets"...only these turrets can heal themselves, come back a second time and walk on water.
Earth Shock-Ah, Earth Shock has recently had a fancy 3.2 attack-speed reduction makeover which is pretty handy since Wind Shear already has interruption covered. However, Earth Shock tends to be more suited to the Enhance Shaman crowd. Elemental Shamans prefer to have Flame Shock as their friendly mascot.
Flame Shock-FS is the spell that went from C-list to A-list celebrity thanks to Lava Burst and the Glyph you get for Flame Shock. Get the Glyph and be a very happy Elemental bunny.
Purge-Purge is a very useful spell that has both PvP and PvE uses. However, you have to be careful in case the enemy has put on useless buffs as a Purge defense. Now, I understand that it can't have the movement speed reduce it had in WC3...but I'm curious as to why it isn't allowed to do damage to summoned units still.
Wind Shear-Renamed from Wind Shock for some reason (perhaps Wind Shock scared little kids or they just wanted to distance it from the Shocks. Nah, definitly too scary.) but it's now more useful then it was before because it doesn't share a cooldown with the Shock spells.
Frost Shock-FROST SHOCK! Now that's out of the way...this is the shock to use for PvP really or if you want to slow down a retreating mob. Otherwise, it just sits there with envy eyes aimed at Earth Shock and Flame Shock.
Call Of The Elements-One of three fancy new spells to go with that shiny totem bar gadget Shamans got in the latest patch. This button is my "Enhance Totem Gang" button and I'm just glad Blizzard finally gave us the ability to put a totem foursome down in one big swoosh.
Chain Lightning-Ah, Chain Lightning. It's the zap one, get two (three if glyphed) free deal. Total bargain! It's best to use when you want to AoE zap a few mobs because it's too mana costly to use it on just one single target. If you're going for PvP, I suggest getting the glyph. However, if you're a PvE type then there's probably better glyphs out there for you.
Call Of The Ancestors-This button is my "Resto Totem Gang" button. And once again, I thank Blizzard for saving us Shamans some time. Shamans, salute Patch 3.2!
Call Of The Spirits-Now, this button will probably be my "PvP Gang" button but since I don't PvP often, this button will probably be lonely for a while. Aww, I see a sob story coming soon..."The Tragic Story of the COTS Button."
Lava Burst-Lava Burst strolls in at level 75, taps the Elemental Shaman on the shoulder and gives them another buddy to use besides Lightning Bolt. Get the Glyph of Lava and the FS glyph and you'll soon be dancing with your Lav Burst and your Light Bolt in a rotation of love. I'm really glad that Elemental Shamans have something else to use besides Lightningspamz.
Hex-Ah, the spell to turn your enemy into Kermit's long lost cousin. I believe this was Blizz's way of soothing Shamans after they wouldn't be invited to places cause all they would get is "Sorry, need CC." Never fear, Hex is here! Okay...I wouldn't hail it as a champion spell but it's a nice breathing room spell. It has a lengthy cooldown of course but that's probably cause it doesn't heal the enemy (like Polymorph) and because it won't auto-break on damage. Hex mainly gets a big thumbs up for me cause I can go "I have CC!"
Elemental Mastery-Now, we come on to the talent tree spells. EM is a beautiful talent really. Instant cast LBolt, Lav Bur or CL? Yes please. Oh...and a 15% increase in crit for 15 seconds too? Double yes please!
Totem Of Wrath-Now...this talent has me undecided. On the one hand, it's clearly superior to Flametongue and you'll want this up to help you and others in your party/raid. But the downside is that you can't have any other fire totems up and that could make a dent into your dps since you don't have a lovely Sentry totem beside you firing away. I think that the best solution would be for ToW to put up a buff on the party/raid for a period of time and that lets the Shaman switch to another flame totem after to not have to sacrifice too much flame totem dps.
Thunderstorm-If you've seen the "Thunderfuck" vids, you'll know how you can have lots of fun with this spell in PvP. But does it have any use in PvE? Well, the mana recovery part is useful for PvE but you have to be careful with the knockback element. You don't want to pull more mobs with a mis-timed knockback after all. Now, my one small change to make it a little bit better for PVE would be to either make it give the Shaman a small dps buff for 10 seconds odd or make it so that it leaves all the mobs/players it hits with a "Charged" debuff or something that increases the damage they will take from CL or Light Bolt.
Earthquake-Now, there's a part of me that wants this spell in WOW because it's the Far Seer's ultimate move from WC3 and I used to enjoy doing it. But I also think it would be a handy Elemental only spell so my intentions are good. However, it took me a while to think of what a spell like this could offer. It can't destroy buildings of course (I pondered whether it could destroy siege weaponry but that seemed a bit OP) and I don't think an AoE movement debuff is that interesting. However, inspiriation hit me and I reckon that Earthquake should be an AoE that targets the ground in front of the Shaman or an area of ground of the Shaman's choosing and reduces the hit chance of all enemies located on the shaking ground by 10% or something like that. To balance this, it would have a reasonable cooldown and you can just get off the affected area too. This would force ranged attackers to move before they start firing again and I just think it gives the Elemental Shaman a nice Earth related spell.
Now, I know I could go into glyphs and the talent spec I would use but I don't think that's necessary right now. I can look at specs and glyphs in future posts after all. Instead, I'm gonna focus on the classes and the spells that they'd use in each spell tab for now and see if I can come up with ways to improve current spells or conjure up new ideas. I find that it's more interesting that way since I like to give my opinion on things and I don't feel I'm experienced enough yet to be acting like a Shamaster. See what I did there? Genius, I know. So, next up will be an Enhance Shaman related post followed by a Restoration Shaman one which will both follow a similar format to this one.
Hope you enjoyed reading this and stay tuned for the next blog post!
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