Frosty the Deathknight was a jolly happy soul

Those of you who have known me for some time will understand my deep love of odd or non normal specs for a class.  I love the challenge of making a looked down upon rotation work, and I actually giggle when I can show that given the right player, any spec of any class can be useful in most situations.  With that said let me introduce you to Digory my frosty Deathknight. 

Let me take a quick step back before heading in to deep.  When the mention of the Death Knight class was introduced by blizzard I was one who . . well . . .I did not care really.  To me it sounded dark and foreboding, nothing like any of the characters I like to play.  Then they said you could tank or DPS with them.  Tank?  Without a shield?  pffft, the protection paladin side of me said.  I did not have any intention of playing one. 

Until I got my beta key.  While jumping for joy at the prospect of testing out Paravel, my restoration druid, on the beta I quickly found I had to wait and wait and wait for the character copy to go through.  So . . what to do. 

Shoot. . Ill roll a DK and see what all the fuss is about. .Ill probably hate it.

The opening quest set and starter zone I have to say and others have was . . . FAN STINKING TASTIC!  Oh my word. . By the end of my 58th level Digory, his name on the beta as well, had not only received a awesome armor set, but he had been redeemed!  W00t for character/life changing events.  But that is another story for another time, and I promise a few that I will post the RP side on the blog soon.

While playing my death knight I went with the frost tree.  Every one would cry out in /general, lrn2ply noob, every one knows blood is for dps, unholy is for pet and ice if for tanking!  I was worried at first, I had no intention of tanking with Digory seeing I have a perfectly good tankadin in Valimonde.  But, don't laugh, for rp purposes Digory had to stay frost.  And I am glad.

Frost is starting to prove itself as a viable DPS build.  I started reading articles and watching videos about frost.  The most information I gained was from a great post "Frosty DPS Discussion" over at Elitist Jerks.  You can head over and read all the discussion.  Some great information on builds and attack rotations.

Right now I am not shooting for many stats but attack power and strength.  It seems that quest rewards have been good to me and at the moment I am starting to see some fantastic numbers.  Last night my guild went into Nexus.  Our levels where all close.  DK 72, Tank 72, Marks Hunter 72, Disc Priest, 72, and a 78 Ret Pally. 

As we started the instance I worked hard to not pull agro, hit the tanks target and start my rotation of:

PS -> IT -> BS -> BS -> OB -> FS
PS -> IT -> OB -> OB -> FS

And here is what I saw at the end of the night. . To say I was happy would be an understatement:



At level 72 (I dinged 73 after the run and doing the Wrathgate event.  RPFIT!) I can say I am loving my frost Death Knight.  For a person who would normally get a DPS fix from my ranged hunter or mage, doing damage up close and personal is exciting and new.

As for a spec that is not looked favorably upon by others. . Well BOOYA!  Love doing cool things with the uncool!  But I will be uncool again as I run around and find more and more Frosty DK's.  Its Awesome, and why I love this game!

So, if you want to push the boundaries, if you want to have fun, if you want to be the type of person to show those who laugh at you that you can be good, no great!  Then try a spec others say sucks.  Give it a try, if you don't like it, its only a few gold to go back to the cookie cutter.

QQ More Noob – WoW and Church

A friend asked me last night. "So, you don't like emo do you?"  My answer was, "No, is it to much to want people to learn how to adjust to real life and not expect everything on a plate?"  And it got me thinking.  Right now is an example of lots of over privileged people crying that the world is ending because something they "CHOOSE" to do is being impacted by REAL WORLD issues beyond the control of the programmers.

For those of my readers who do not know what is happening, well, World of Warcraft is launching its second major expansion tonight.  In the process of getting ready a lot of changes have been made to the game system, a system that I think far to many people take for granted.  You know, the same people who have no idea the work that goes into that Hot Mocha they just ordered at Starbucks.  The same people that if you ask them where milk comes from they will answer, "the store."

In a game with over 11 million subscribers it becomes a hotbed of whiners and QQers (For those not up on the lingo, just isolate the QQ and tell me what you see.  *smile* )  Not only does Blizzard have to balance the customer support nightmare but they have to make sure things go smooth tonight with the launch. 

Ok, so some hiccups nailed them when they applied whatever implantations of the software server side yesterday.  Ok they spent all day, and even part of today with the servers down to make sure people end up happy.  I would HATE to be in the shoes of the technician who are trying to get things back up.  Especially when EMO kids are complaining.

I had a little spar with someone on the official forums.  I made a simple comment about how I would rather have the down time when it happen than come home from Gamestop tonight, load the game and not be able to enter Northrend.  The reply I got was, and I paraphrase:

"OMG Blizzard SUCKS!.  I pay $14.95 a month to play this game.  I expect my cell phone, cable TV . . . blah blah blah.  to work. . .Blizzard is the worst!"   

I would have laughed but this attitude just struck a raw nerve.  Here is a person, who thinks the world owes them something, complaining because their life is impacted for a short time.  The feeling is that his "INTITLEMENT" gives them the right to make over reaching over generalizations.  And we wont even talk about the laps of common sense.  Ok maybe a little.. . Just that morning our Comcast Cable went out. Had no Internet for the first 6 hours of the day   O.o  IT WAS THE END OF THE WORLD   /slit

But I digress. 

The issue is not that Blizzard has failed.  heh, I dare anyone to show us that they could run things any better.   .  .  . *still waiting*

The issue is that people need to relax, enjoy life, go outside some times, and enjoy what is around them.  Realize that things happen and we just have to deal.  Do we always like it when a storm comes through and knocks out power for 2 days?  Heck no. . But do we look back at the quality time we had with our family when we could not hide in a corner with a T.V. or computer or . . . Oh yea.

So, to all the emo QQ'ers who are going to quit the game over this.  I have one thing to say.

There's the door. 

*smile*  I know. . mean. . But serious!

And now for those expecting something about the church, after all, I did put it in the title.  Well, just reread the article, replace the word Blizzard with your churches name and wala. . . .

Let's not be emo QQing noobs anymore!

/rant

Grr, I lied, Turning Rant back on after talking to a guild mate in Gtalk Dori, before posting this.

One thing that REALY disappoints me is that some of the very same people who where yelling the sky was falling and they where going to quit took advantage of a glitch when the servers did come up.

Once servers rolled online apparently you could purchase select PvP gear that used to require a high personal rating.  The price was messed up, most likely from a careless oversight in the rush to restore databases.  So when people found out they did they told Blizzard about it so it could be fixed.  WRONG

The took a virtual ROCK and tossed it through the window of the department store and walked off with the item, all the time justifying it by saying Blizzard sucked and made them wait to get back online.

ARGGG.  Ok. . I'm going to finish now before this becomes a novel on the social ills of idiots.

Love you all. . .its going to be a good day no matter what :)

Can't Level Past 70 without WotLK

While reading blue posts I got a conformation that you will NOT be able to level past 70 without the expansion.

Taar asks:

Will I be able to start leveling past 70 at midnight on Thursday, even if I do not have the expansion yet?
- Taar

Nethaera responds:

Unpossible.

http://blue.mmo-champion.com/1/12454631457-level-to-80-without-wotlk.html

Midnight WoTLK Release - Ill Be There

For those of you in the WoW universe you know that Wrath of the Lich King is coming out tomorrow at midnight.  Bethany and I will be at the Gamestop in Yuba City at 10 PM 1070 Harter Rd # 102.  If you happen to be in Northern California, and by chance going to be in Yuba City, come say hi.

Is Arthas Closer? Extended Maintenance Time

Blizzards has posted a note on the log on screen.

We encountered some issues and need to extend the maintenance.  We currently estimate that all realms will be playable by approximately 1:00pm PST.  Thank you for your patience.

I am speculating that we will see the next large pre expansion event.  It only makes since after the popular plague.  I do hope so. . I'm getting bored. . Need more fun story line driven fun.

Pre Expansion Blues - What do I do?

I'ts Monday.  Enough said.

I spent most of last night reading forums, reviewing WoWjutsu, and checking realm list creation dates and data center data locations in an attempt to try and find a place to call home for the expansion.  I tell you, its not easy.

Here is my delima, and please excuse any rambling as it has been a rambling weekend.  I am currently playing my main, Paravel, on the PvE Misha US server.  Tanya and I came to Misha after leaving Earthern Ring.  The reasons we left ER are not really important, but the size and age of ER was a factor in our departure.  

We found ourselves on Misha because we had just been introduced to some local people through Todd, the former pastor at Cooper Ave Baptist Church in Yuba City.  Todd and I hooked up when he first moved into our area.  When I resigned First Baptist Live Oak we gravitated to Cooper.  (See, I'm rambling)  Back to Misha. 

While Todd was pastor at Cooper he found out one of the members and her husband played wow.  So they hooked up.  At the time I was involved in raiding with a great raiding group on ER in the SaSu raiding alliance.  Todd knew that the husband was struggling with raiding and guilds on Misha and possibly looking for a place to transfer.  His joining us was not to be.  As fate would have it we left ER and went to Misha mainly they where there.  It turns out that Tanya and Michelle knew each other from when they where youth growing up in the same area.

Blizzcon: Ghostcrawler is not a HAWT Chick!

Time for class descusion.

First.  Ghostcrawler is NOT a gril.  The room exploded in laughter.

Best line ever about the new buff system

"We want to get back to where you bring the player and not the class."

The new buffing system now affects the whole raid.  So now it will take fewer buffers to fill out the group and leave room for others to come. You know, like your friends.

We now have 4 main tank classes.

• Warrior


• Paladin


• Druid


• Death Knight

Another confirmation of dual spec from Ghostcrawler.  He said it should not be complicated, no running back into town.  You will not be able to switch on the fly like in an arena.

Another great quote.  "Dont nerf me bro!"

Want to know how to make gold in WoW?

2+2=Inscription

 

Thats how.

/discuse

Patch Just in the Nick of Time

Repost of http://wehatepugs.com/blog/paravel/2008/10/02/patch-just-nick-time

Wowinsider posted about an official speculative release date for the 3.0.2 content patch.   Blizzard poster Nethaera. posted this little bit of information on the first. 

Lady S Has a New Look!

Ok, I admit I'm a lore junky and it never sat well that Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, you know, the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken?  Well anyway, in game she is portrayed by a Night Elf model.  Some hoped that when Blood Elfs, more in line with stature and looks of High Elves, where introduced in Burning Crusade that they would change her model since she is a High Elf.  But No. . Not until now.

[caption id="attachment_164" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lady S in her 3 Faces"][/caption]

I first caught wind of the changes on the wowinsider post this morning. As you can see that in patch 8982 she looks more like a world boss than ever.  And boy does she still have attitude.  What do you think of the new look?
 


I think the new model looks more fitting from a lore stand and world boss point of view.

The Nerf Bat Falls!

The beta giveth and the beta taketh away.

Resto Druid Changes

8962 hit the beta servers today and some things changed.

First, all the going on and on about Flourish, now called Wild growth has been touched. You know that supper awesome aoe heal they gave us that would heal 2212 over 7 seconds! Well now it will only heal 469 over 7 seconds. Its not 2K heal but it is still usable.

Pha, over at Resto4Life seems to think that this may get turned down by most resto's come live time.  And she just might be right considering its overall output to mana cost is now not worth the effort for some situations.

Mounts, Mounts, Mounts!

So I log in and what do I find in Stormwind?  This!



A Woolly Mammoth Mount!  Apparently it cost like 15000 gold from some guy that was swamped by players in Dalaran.  I think Ill pass, but wow it looks cool!

If you thought the engineer  helicopters where a noise problem, wait until you hear all the motorcyles.  Yep, choper mounts.  And they are 2 seaters!  The best news is they are crafted by an engineer, BUT you do not need to be an engineer to use them.

Resto Tree, I think I LOVE You!

I FINALY got a chance to get on the beta servers . . and play.  The lag had been so bad this weekend that it was impossible to do anything.  So when all the kids went back to school I took the opportunity to log in on Monday to check it out again.

>[LFG] Izak: Looking for a healer for Nexus.
>[LFG] Paravel: I'd love to come give it a try, although I have not been in there yet.
>[LFG] Izak: I take it your resto?
>[LGF] Paravel: Yep
> Izak /invite Paravel
> /accept invite

And that is how it began.  My first Northrend instance, and first chance to heal with my new spec.  At first I was a little frustrated at loosing some of the spells I used to have in the balance tree.  They made it possible for me to be resto and solo or PvP.  Now it looked like I was being left out in the cold only to heal.  At honestly at this point the jury is still out. . but as for healing.  OH WOW!  But I should start with some basics.

WotLK Release Announced - 11/13/08

It's official.  Apparently Blizz last night allowed WoWhead to post this new shiny front page.  More news has come down the pipe as the release of the Collectors Edition has also been released.  And there was much rejoicing in the streets!

What does all this mean?  It means that Warhammer has some competition.  I have to admit that the pre-expansion blues have set in, and set in hard.  Before Burning Crusade was released many players became disinterested in the game.  Their was not much of a point in pushing for gear or raiding because new content was coming out.  And in hind site we were right.  No one runs the old raid content anymore with the occasional "nostalgia" runs for old time sake.  During the wait for the expansion stage servers became ghost towns.

Now with WotLK on its way you can see the same effect on the live servers.  I have stoped raiding, partialy due to moving realms and other issues but largely because I do not want to get deeper into SSC or BT right now with so much new on the horizon.  I have started to make plans for new things like new professions, instances, specs.  I cant WAIT to take Paravel into an instance or raid and heal.  The new healing tools druids have look amazing!!!  But the beta servers are so laggy I cant test them :(  Soon!

So now we have just a around two months to get ready.  And I'm glad.  With the next content patch on the PTR's we will get a jump start on some of the new features of the game.

Its time to play ladies and gentleman! (it's also time for me to finish development on a new drupal based guild/casual raiding site *smile*)

Oh, and did I mention Collectors Edition? *smile*

Resto Druid Talent Build Test No. 1. 16/0/55

Well, my brain hurts a little after taking Paravel's spec from the live server. 19/0/42 and some new things in Lich with a 16/0/55

I'm a little worried about loosing from the balance tree.  This is where I got my ability to solo from.  But with some of the new survivability things added to the resto tree we might be able to hold our own.  We shall see.  Ill load Paravel up and give it a test.

Improved Tree of Life adds a nice bonus to our armor.

Death Knight Story = Lore Giggle Fit!

Ok, I have to admit I was one of the guys who had little to no interest in a Death Knight, the new hero class in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft.  To me I have enough on my plate to worry about my 4 70's getting to 80 and seeing new content.  AND I was not to keen on the idea of being this "evil" guy who got his kicks out of running around killing things without mercy. . .

BUT was I surprised!

You start as a level 55 Death Knight in the starter zone. .er . . instance.  The first thing that made me fall over in a lore moment was as soon as I finished my intro camera swoop animation that WoW is known for to explain the story, I found myself face to face with the Lich King himself!  Can you say Teh Awesome?

You then begin your quests to learn how to be a Death Knight.  To make a long story short.  (to late) You will be 58 when done and ready to hit outland, or Eastern Plauge Land when done.

(SPOILER ALLERT PAST THIS POINT)

WotLK - I'm IN! W00t!

Thanks to a friend I got a beta key!  w00t!  Paravel is on the server and im downloading.  Get ready for some Resto Druid info!  YES!!!