Post-Cataclysm Release Plans - A Timeline

Sometimes, even good things can come back and bite you right in the ass.  Here is my example.  I had vertical gastric sleeve surgery in October, a surgery that I desperately needed.  (Lost about 85 lbs already) However, to have this surgery, I had to take two weeks off during October.  This left me with barely any leave at all.  This in turn means that I won't be able to take off the week after Cataclysm to level my druid to 85.  This also means that I have to be a little more careful about how I plan to level.

Here are the facts that I think are going to hold true when trying to level in Cataclysm.  Fact 1: LFD will be the quickest way to level if you get instant queues.  Fact 2: If you do not have instant queues, questing while waiting on LFD will be the quickest way to level.  Fact 3: Expect wipes in LFD due to overzealous DPS who can't define what a CC is much less how to use it.

So, with these facts in mind, here is my timeline for leveling after Cataclysm is released.

Day Before - I have the Argent Tourney tabard and did all the Argent Tourney dailies right there, which equals about 9 quests.  I'm going to log out in the inn there so when I get back in game, I can immediately turn those quest in.

Day of Release- Assuming that we are not getting "World Server is Down" every 5 minutes, turn in all the Argent Tourney quest, then hearth to Stormwind and start flying.  My first goal is to find all the dungeons in Cataclysm.  There are several guides on how to find all the dungeons.  The guide I personally would recommend is http://bit.ly/gtdHos. Here are the pics from the site as well for you to look at.

I would recommend this for everybody, DPS, tanks, or healers, because you will want to queue for those while you are questing according to fact 2.  Once I find all the dungeons, it is time to decide which one I want to do.  Since my second leveled character is my mage, I will get to do the quest with her since I will be waiting for queues.  For my druid, I can tank and will tank LFDs to get the instant queues since it will be the fastest way to level per fact 1.  I will play from 5:30 EST until Midnight EST stopping only for dinner and talking to my girlfriend. Log out in an inn or just stay in Stormwind anyway and put up needed goods on the AH.  Send greens to my mage for disenchanting. Day 1 Goal: 81.

Day After Release - Work, then playing from 5:30 EST until Midnight EST with same stops.  Day 2 Goal: 82, halfway to 83.

2 Days After Release - Work, then playing from 5:30 EST until Midnight EST with same stops.  Day 3 Goal: 84.

3 Days After Release - Work, then playing from 5:30 EST until Midnight EST with same stops.  Day 4 Goal: 85.

Now, I have not seen the leveling curve in Cataclysm so this may not even be possible.  However, I'm think that one level a day should be reasonable doing LFD. Worst case this would be doubled to a level every 2 days.  Again, with fact 3, I'm not accounting for wipes due to stupid DPS who thinks that this is still Wrath of the Lich King. 

4 Days After Release - Weekend so I will spend a lot of time playing. (Under the assumption that I'm not hanging out with my girlfriend.  She comes before WoW.) I need to make my first Justice Point's purchases before I start doing heroics.  I may even do this ahead of time since I plan to be Justice Points capped prior to Cataclysm.  Later this week, I will put out a list of what my purchases with Justice Points will be.  Random heroics to try to gear up.  Also, I need to level my professions during this time.  I will do Leatherworking first since it will give me gear I actually need for PvE and PvP then I will hit Jewelcrafting.

5 Days After Release - More Weekend.  More Heroics.  More Gearing Up for Raiding.  More leveling professions.

6 Days After Release - Work, then heroics, justice points spending, getting raiding gear, and leveling professions.

1 Week After Release - Stepping into the first raids with at least 10 members of our guild.

As I said, this may not even be possible, but this would be the ideal I would like to happen.  I'm sure my plans will get shattered to pieces once I figure out how long it takes to get a level.  But this is what I'm hoping.  It may not even be possible.  However, I see some advantages to doing it this way.  The main advantage is that the LFD will have some of the best possible gear anyway.  So while I'm leveling (levels 80-83) I'm gonna be going for tank gear to make me a better tank.  The last two levels, I'm gonna be going for moonkin gear to start gearing up for raids at least.  Also, it will help me learn the LFD instances when I step into the heroics.  A lot of people questing up to level 85 won't have a chance to run those instances until they start heroics.  It will give me a knowledge of those mechanics and will be able to help the heroic LFD groups I get in.

I know everybody is going to have different plans for when Cataclysm releases in one week, however, for my druid, I think this is going to end up being the best way for me to level.

Also, just a reminder.  The moonkin hatchling is out in the pet store.  If you want the most adorable pet in game right now, go get it.

Deathwing Caused .......

This was one of the running jokes that I saw around patch 4.0.3a that Deathwing caused certain things, which was mostly bugs in the game.  So since we are one week past patch 4.0.3a, let me go through some things Deathwing caused.

1) Moonkins to Forget How To Automatically Shapeshift When Mounting - Somehow, I can mount in bear form and cat form.  However, if I try to mount up in moonkin form, I have to shapeshift out manually then mount up. 

2) Major Cities To Get Lag - Have you been to Stormwind lately?  I would have thought that since Horde and Alliance are once again split up that we would see lag improve.  I am getting the same FPS that I got in Dalaran in Stormwind.  Maybe only slightly better.

3) Wrynn to Become a Douchebag Again - Seriously.  A dragon comes by and destroys your city and one of the first things you do is built a monument to yourself.  You are a douchebag.  And I'm even Alliance and I'm calling you a douchebag.  But at least we don't have Garrosh.

4) Northrend to Empty Out - Unless you are leveling (and why are you leveling right now anyway), there is nobody in Northrend right now.  It didn't ever really happen in Outland because they had DKs who went there immediately.  

5) Getting to Current Raids a Little More Difficult - No portals equals no hearthstones set in Dalaran which means you either need a summon or a mage portal.  That is why I'm glad I got my Argent Tourney tabard to at least get to Northtrend without having to set my hearth there.

6) Everything to Get Prettier - Ok, this is more Blizzard and not so much Deathwing, but everything looks better.  The graphics engine has been improved drastically.  Even with heavier lag like in Stormwind, it just looks really good.

7) Leslie Nelson's Death - I can only assume that the sudden death of the greatest spoof comedy actor of all time was caused by Deathwing.  OJ Simpson couldn't cause his death and he is an (alleged) murderer.  Only the evil of Deathwing was able to bring down Leslie Nelson. 

8) Beattles Being on iTunes - Nobody could convince Yoko Ono to let the Beattles music be on iTunes but Deathwing himself.  I'm sure every company has been trying to get their music for year, but Steve Jobs unleashed Deathwing to "convince" Yoko on letting the music come to iTunes.

9) Kenny vs. Spenny Ending - Yes, this has hit me the most hard until Leslie Nelson died.  My favorite Canadian TV show, Kenny vs. Spenny, is ending its run after 6 seasons and 87 episodes.  Although I live in the US, I have all 6 seasons on DVD and will find a way to get the Christmas special in the US.  Good luck to both of them.

10) A Whole New World, A New Fantastic Point of View - Don't believe me, check out the NPC comic from last Friday. 

Also, why can't tailors have two person carpets?  That would be awesome.  You could literally recreate Aladin in game.

I'm sure there were a bunch of other things that Deathwing caused, but most of them are annoying bugs. (Hello purple walls in Isle of Conquest)  But now, we have 1 week until the release of Cataclysm.  I'm Honor capped.  I'm going to get Justice capped this week or at least close since the first normal dungeon each day gives 75 justice points.  Hopefully, this week, I will give you my Justice Points level 85 spending list for my moonkin before next week.

What Next For the WoW Mobile App? I Have Some Ideas

With the WoW mobile app, we already have 3D armory access, auction house, and probably guild chat coming in the very near future.  So what should be the next feature that I think would be a great feature for the app.  I have a few ideas.

1) Out of Game Mail Management - Now, admittingly, 95% of my mail is from the AH so it is a non-issue.  However, people would communicate more through the mail system if people could get their mail out of game.  Need someone extra for a raid who is away from the computer, just in mail game them or guild chat them.

2) Crafting - Do you get tired of just having your character make X number of items while the bar is slowly moving across?  I know I do with my professions.  Since the mobile AH part of the app already looks in your bags, they should find a way to open your professioins and know what you can craft and you just make it with a press of a button.  Then, you can even post it in the AH immediately.

3) Battle.Net Integration - Why should I have to be logged into a game to see what my friends are doing?  In fact, I'm surprised this hasn't happened yet.  Show your RealID friends in game and you can message them from the app.

4) Account Management - Want to rename your character?  Or go ahead and set up a faction change for when you get home?  How about send an e-mail to yourself for a recruit a friend account?  All of these things should be possible on the mobile app?  Even if it just redirects you to the main site, this should be possible.

5) Guild Bank Access - Running late for a raid and need to get your flask, food, etc.  No problem.  You could just use the mobile app to pull out your flask and mail them to yourself to pick up.  Saves a little time.

6) Beastiary - This could be a feature that the mobile app could be used for even in game.  They already produce bestiaries to sell in book form.  Why not build it into the mobile app?

I'm sure there are probably a lot more features that would be great to have in the WoW Mobile App in order to make it seem more like our worth to pay the $2.99 for the monthly access.

Happy Thanksgiving From Redhawk's Gaze

Happy Thanksgiving from Redhawk's Gaze.  May your feast be delicious and your after dinner drops be legendary.

The Documented and Undocumented Changes of the Shattering

Thanks to Asros for this caption.

Yes, the Shattering did occured yesterday and did it ever bring some changes.  Here are a few of the changes that I personally have noticed, some that were in the patch notes and some that were not in the patch notes.

1) I Loled at Noobs in Dalaran - If you were looking for a little bit of entertainment last night, the only place you had to be was in Dalaran.  Oh the bitching and the moaning about the portals being gone.  I even heard one person threaten to go set the Blizzard HQ on fire. (Note:  This is not a threat from me, I'm just repeating what someone else said.)  Oh poor noobs, if only you would do something as simple as read.  The patch notes all along have been saying the portals would be gone.  I talked about it last month on this very blog.  If you can't bother to read the patch notes ahead of time, you deserve to QQ.

2) Flying Anywhere in Dalaran - Did you notice that you can fly anywhere in Dalaran now.  It was kind of nice just being able to take off and fly anywhere in there.  It will be even nicer when we can do it in our home cities.

3) Faction City Tabards - Are you planning on leveling a new toon in Cataclysm? (And let's be honest, who isn't)  Well, now you can raise your reputation with your home cities with the new faction city tabards.  Thankfully, my main is already exalted with all the current cities but it may help my alts.  Also, this will only work for level 1-60 dungeons, not above that.

4) New Fishing and Cooking Dailies - This was kind of exciting.  In Stormwind, there are new fishing and cooking dailies that offer some great rewards.  For doing the fishing daily, you get +1 skillpoint in fishing, some gold, and a bag of treasures.  For doing the cooking daily, you get +1 skillpoint if you are not 450 cooking, some gold, and the new cooking award.  You can look at some of the new rewards for those cooking awards.  There are new level 450 cooking recipes plus you can preview up to 525 cooking rewards.  I did not see the new equivalent of the fish feast yet, but I'm sure there will be some cooking recipe for it.

5) Damn You, Chaotic Skyflare Diamond - If you are a DPSer, you may have noticed a very cruel thing happened to you yesterday.  Your meta bonus did not change but how you activate it certainly did.  The new activation is "You must have more blue gems then red gems."  Now, it seems easy enough.  Just use Purified Dreadstones until you have more blue gems then red gems present.  Hold on.  It is not that simple.  Mix colored gems count for both colors.  So in this case, purple diamonds count for both red and blue.  So if you thought about changing to Purified Dreadstones, you better be ready to make one of your red gems a straight blue gem and make all your other red gems Purified, because that is the only way you activate your bonus.  For moonkins, this is especially terrible because the only blue gems are + Spirit or + Hit, which for us are the same damn thing.  So what did I do.  After wasting gold buying Titanium Powder to get the Purified Dreadstone recipe since I'm 450 jewelcrafting, I decided to use the Tireless Skyflare Diamond, which is +21 intellect plus a minor run speed increase.  Since I'm mainly PvPing with my moonkin, having a little extra speed never hurt anybody.  Plus, it is a much easier meta to activate.  Also, get ready for metas in Cataclysm, because they are just as complicated.

6) PvP Grouping - If you have been running organized 10/15 man battlegrounds in anticipation of Cataclysm's rated battlegrounds, prepare to be disappointed.  Apparently on non-rated BGs, you can only group up in groups of 5.  So if you were hoping to get practice with your guild for 10/15 man PvP, sorry.  It is kind of hard to tell if this was a bug or intended, but I have a feeling it was intended.

7) Hunter's Pets Remember How to Dash - In what may be in my top two pieces of humor from the patch notes, Blizzard noted that hunter's pets won't forget how to dash anymore.  I could just see before this that a pet was just sitting there being very lazy.  Then the hunter says go get him and the pet just walks over leisurely, says "O Hai" to the mob, and starts biting it.

8) Warlocks Get Shattered, but Only for 12% - I can't take credit for the title, but I found it funny.  If you looked at the warlocks notes in the patch notes, they probably took the brunt of the nerf bat.  Ever single one of their abilites was reduced by 12%.  I have a warlock alt in the 60s and I'm not happy about it either.  It is just funny that it was 12% across the board.

9) Seige Vehicles Move Really Fast - The gnomes and goblins must be competing who can come up with the fastest seige vehicles because the speed on these things have been pumped up.  Another premade group I was running with won Strand of the Ancients in less than 2 minutes.  Yes, we were better coordinated than most, but even that is ridiculous. 

10) Can't Mount in Druid Forms - Apparently, druids can only mount up if you are in caster form.  Not moonkin form.  Not bear form.  Not even cat form.  I really hope this is a bug that will be fixed but if not, this sucks.

11) Wintergrasp is Kind of Boring Now - I don't know if it was just everybody so excited to go see the new areas or what, but we didn't even field a group of 40 last night for Wintergrasp.  We defended the keep still, but it was really disappointing. 

12) Mages Are Being Too Nice - The mages on my server were giving portals for tips.  I wanted to take every single one of them, shake them, slap them once, and then tell them what mistake they are making.  Mages could be charging 20 gold per portal per person right now because people can't fly there yet.  Plus, people leveling professions still need to get to Dalaran as well.  Count in the fact that Pilgram's Bounty is going on and you could make loads of money with portals right now.

13) Stormwind = New Barren's Chat - Now that everybody is in Stormwind, I heard discussions in regular chat that I never want to hear again.  If you are in Stormwind, please for the love of God, stop.

14) New Cultural References - Near the new fishing daily, you can hear the conversation of people talking about fishing.  Someone said their dad could catch more fish than this other person's dad.  The girl who spoke said, "He would have to cross streams to fish.  I  have heard crossing streams isn't good."  Great Ghostbuster's reference.

15) Hearthstones - This may have been a bug for me only, but check where your hearthstone is set.  I set all my current character's hearths in Stormwind Trade District.  I logged on to my druid and found my hearth had been changed to Teldrassil.  Again, may have been a bug, but it wasn't game breaking. 

It's the End of Azeroth As We Know It

Note:  I'm not an RPer.  I am not an RP writer.  However, with this momentous occassion of the Shattering happening today, I'm going to try to be an RP writer.  Plus, I have this awesome picture I took in game and immediately started thinking of a story to go with it.  Don't expect this often or possibly ever again.

Redhawks contemplating what tomorrow holds.

As I rode my gnome made rocket around Darkshore looking to take the precious eggs from the crazed moonkins, I thought of the irony.  A stronger moonkin killing his breathern for something as simple as an egg.  Eggs that may become valuable in the near future.  I knew the Feast of Winter Veil was coming and the demand for this eggs would be high, as always.  However, something different drove me this time.  Something was not as it seemed.

I have seen the cultist in Stormwind, proclaiming the end of the world.  And while I joined with the King of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn, to silence these dissenters, something about their message rang true.  Being a druid, I have an inant connection to the earth and something was not sitting right.  I could feel the elements around me even starting to turn against me.  Every Typhoon I cast seemed it was seconds away from returning to me.  I knew it wouldn't since I have long been able to control this ability, but it didn't seem right.  The earth under me seemed to be breaking.  Quakes all over Azeroth have been occurring and have been getting stronger and stronger as the days went on. 

Then, the elements started invading the cities.  Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth. No major city seemed safe from there terror.  We held them at bay, but we lost many while fighting those elements.  My gnome, dwarf, and human breathern, slain in the streets.  My beloved Darnassus  had been spared, thankfully.  With ever element I killed, I could almost hear the name of their master, Deathwing.

We have suspected Deathwing was planning something for a while.  In Northrend, we helped the Wyrmrest Accord defeat the evil Halion and Sartharion.  Halion mentioned in his defeat that what we have done would not change the master's return.  It was the first we have heard of this master.  We wondered who this master was.  In my mind, there was no question.  It was Deathwing.

If the cultist rumors were true.  If Halion was correct.  If even the elements seemed to speak his name, Deathwing would return.  As I gazed over the ocean, looking at the sunset in Darkshore, I thought if this would be the last sunset many in Azeroth would see.  I knew he was close.  Maybe even that night, Deathwing would rise and shatter Azeroth completely. 

For myself, I was not concerned about my safety or the safety of my friends.  We have brought about the Lich King's demise.  We had beaten an Old God.  We have proven ourselves strong adventurers.  I knew not what tomorrow held, but I did know that my friends and my brothers in arms would see this mighty dragon destroyed.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.  Just as he has shattered Azeroth, we in turn will shatter him.        

Boss Mechanics I Wouldn't Mind Seeing Again

As we get ready to see Azeroth torn up tomorrow, according to MMO Champion, I feel like going back in my almost 3 years of playing WoW and go through what were some of my favorite boss mechanics that I would like to see again.  There are some mechanics I never hope to see again. (Defile, I'm looking at you.)  However, there are some very interesting mechanics I would like to see in some boss fights again.  Here are a few of my favorites.

1) No Aggro Table - Not so much in the style of Faction Champions in Trial of the Crusader, but more like the mechnanics in Karazhan with Shade of Aran.  There was a lot of raid wide damage going out, everybody had to be able to protect themselves somehow, and everybody had to be on their toes.  It was a lot of fun to try and DPS that boss as cat and would love to do something as moonkin with it.

2) Lasers - Netherspite in Karazhan may be my favorite raid boss of all time.  Why you ask?  His mechanics with lasers were absolutely awesome.  You had to split your 10 man raid with 6 members standing in the laser as specific times.  Also, people like tanks couldn't stand in a laser too long without killing themselves so they had to weave in and out.  It was so much fun to play with.

3) Water - Although I did not ever get a chance to fight The Lurker, I have looked at videos and it seems like an incredibly fun fight where diving under the water is actually a mechanic in a fight.  It makes it better than just moving out of the way of exploding floors, etc.

4)  Malygos-Like Fights - Pretty much any element from the Malygos fight, I would love to see again.  Whether it is taking his buffs to running under shields to flying around on disks to air combat done correctly, any mechanic in that fight could easily be repeatable and would be fun.

5) Random Raid Bosses - Although this was kind of done in Violet Hold and Trial of the Champion, I'm thinking more in line with the Opera Event in Karazhan (Notice a pattern of my favorite raid mechanics?).  3 different bosses with 3 different mechanics.  And while the mechanics of the individual fights were nothing really different, the fact that you didn't know which one you would have until it announces it made it a lot of fun.

6) Healing Raid Bosses - As weird as it seems, the most unique fight in ICC was Dreamwalker.  I would definitely not mind seeing bosses where you either heal a friendly mob or the only way to damage the boss would be to heal it.   

7) Time Limit - Done really well with the Blood Quarter weekly in ICC and in Zul'Aman, I would love to see extra bonuses for doing something in a certain time limit.  In Zul'aman, it was a cool exclusive mount.  In ICC, it was JPs with a chance of gems or gear.  If you make the reward worth it, time limits are awesome.  Plus, it doesn't fail the raid, you just miss out on getting a cool reward.

8) Ulduar-Like Hard Modes - Please, let us get away from switching it in a menu.  Let the players do something to actually make it harder.  Push a button.  Don't kill the other drakes.  Clear a channel in a certain time limit.  Don't use helpers.  Something that makes a hard mode feel like a hard mode. 

4.0.1 Feral Tanking and Threat Building

It has been a while since I have done a feral tanking blog post, but I have been trying to tank a little more in anticipation of leveling in Cataclysm and getting used to the 4.0.1 changes.  And unfortunately, swipe spam does not work anymore.  Neither does putting Maul with all of your abilities.  They have actually done this with all the tanking classes to make it harder to just AoE tank. (Consecration has a long cooldown.  So does Death and Decay) So since you have lost two major spammable threat builders, what do you do now?  Here is what I have been doing to hold aggro in 5 mans as well as a rundown of stats important for bears right now.

AOE Trash

If Feral Charge is up, I will charge into a group if possible.  Some groups aren't possible so with those, I pull with Faerie Fire.  While I'm charging in, I will Faerie Fire the first target.  From there, if the group is around me, I will Swipe.   From there, I will Tab target the next target and hit Mangle.  I will then Tab target the next target and hit 3 Lacerate.  By then, Swipe should be up again.  I repeat this until every target has Mangle and 3 Lacerate on them, although if DPS is sufficient, I get nowhere close.

Bosses

I Feral Charge in and put up Faerie Fire.  Then I hit Mangle.  Then I stack my Lacerate up to 3.  Then I use Pulverize, which clears my 3 stack of Lacerate.  I reapply my Lacerate up to 3.  If Pulverize drops off, I reapply Pulverize.  If Beserk procs, I hit Mangle.  Mangle is still a great threat builder and should be used on cooldown.  Swipe should be used if adds spawn, like Prince Keleseth in Utgarde Keep.  Maul should only be used if you have a lot of rage.  If you have low rage, use Faerie Fire to help with a little bit of threat.

You still will get overzealous DPS who want to try to win Omen.  If that is the case, you still have Taunt and Challanging Roar as aggro capturers as well.

Stats

Most of this information, I have gotten from Kalon at Think Tank (see blog list).  Since all extra armor is gone from leather pieces now, we basically want to use the highest armor, highest stamina, and highest agility pieces we can.  All 3 of these things all come as we get better armor.  A 4T10 277 bear is going to have more stamina, armor, and agility than a 4T10 264 bear.  The major stats that we are looking for are in this order. 

1) Hit/Expertise - We need to make sure that we are hit capped so that we are not missing our abilities.  A missed ability could make the difference between your DPS pulling or you holding aggro.  Expertise is along the same line.  It makes sure that your attacks do not miss.  If you are hit capped but not expertised capped, I would reforge hit into expertise if possible.  Vice versa is true as well if you are expertised capped but not hit capped.

2) Stamina - Stamina is still the king of tanking.  While agility does help with dodge rating, critical strike chance, etc, there is diminishing returns and you will eventually get hit by something.  That is where having high enough stamina becomes important.  This is still the major thing you gem for in 4.0.1.

3) Agility - Agility helps critical strike chance, which helps with Savage Defense procs, and dodge rating, which increases our effective health.  While we should gem stamina, there are a few enchants that have agility, for example, cloaks.  Agility is now a much better stat, especially when combined with mastery.

4) Mastery - With reforging, we could do a lot of fun stuff with mastery.  The bear's mastery is that increases the size of your Savage Defense by 4% per mastery point.  If you have excess hit and excess expertise, I would highly recommend changing some of that hit/expertise to mastery (since you can't reforge it into stamina, agility, or armor anyway).

5) Armor - The only reason it is down this far is because armor gets better as we get better gear.  I would not gem or enchant for armor though.

So hopefully, this will get you started tanking post 4.0.1. and into Cataclysm, because I'm fairly certain the quick level way will be through the LFD, especially with them putting the quest givers right at the entrance of the instance. 

Redhawk's 1st Twitter Chat

Much like Blizzard has done in the past, I have put out the call for questions over Twitter.  They could be about WoW, druids, or even personal questions.  And, boy, did people come through on this one.  So, sit back, relax, and get ready Redhawk's Twitter Chat. (F.Y.I.  This is not my normal blogging.  Come back tomorrow if you want normal Redhawk's Gaze material.  This is a lot of sarcasm and can be very explicit.  Very, very explicit actually.)

1) Why Are You So Adorable? - Look at your moonkin, now at me, now back at your moonkin, now back at me.  Your moonkin is not me, but he could smell like me with Old Northrend Spice.  Look down, now back up, Old Northrend Spice has turned into gold coins.  Look again, and it has become an epic two handed staff.  I'm on a 310% flying mount. (Whistling)

2) Why Do These Entertaining People Never Apply to My Guild?  - Small guide.  How to get psychos to apply to your guild.  Step 1:  Make sure your GM is a well known priest blogger.  Step 2:  Have him put calls out for PvPers and PvEers.  Step 3:  Hope they are heavy alcoholics or massive drug users.  Step 4:  ????? Step 5: Profit

3) Cats or Dogs? - Come on.  What do I use on my site all the time.  Cats obviously.  You feed them, change their litter, and pet them every so often and they love you.  Or, at the very least, tolerate you while they plan world domination.

4) Mages or Warlocks?  - Mages.  I like my lock alot and drain tanking is a lot of fun, but mages are getting heroism with Time Warp.  They win.  Plus, I'm gonna find a way to do a machinima version of Rocky Horror Picture Show with all gnome mages.

5) Why is there no cow level? - Play Tauren.  Trust me, there is a cow level.  Or just be Alliance and go and kill their leader.  Then it really is a cow level.

6) Why don't druids have a cow form? - Well, first of all, the forms have to have distinguishing features, like breast.  There are no breast on moonkin form, cat form, or bear form.  So, they can't make cows because cows have utters and they couldn't show those without getting an M rating.

7) What is your quest? - To rescue the princess from a pig like creature by getting the Triforce.  Unfortunately, WoW does not have princesses, pig like creatures, or a Triforce, so it will be a while before I can do that.  So, in the meantime, I guess it would be too get as many pretty purple pieces of gear as I can and be a general badass moonkin in both PvE and PvP.

8) Why are night elfs bad? - Because Avatar came out after WoW.  If James Cameron got his hands on the night elfs first, everybody would want to be a night elf.

9) How many points would a hunter get for mounting a moonkin's antlers? - Two.  One up his ass and one in his crotch.  And count your blessings you only got two.  That means we didn't push it in far enough.

10) How do you know you are "doing it right"? - Moaning from her is usually a good start.  In all seriousness though, if bosses are dieing, people are living, and we are progressing, I am doing it right.

11) Was that in fact "what she said"?  - No, her mouth was full so it was more like afjlkafjlfjalkfjalkf;ja;fjf.

12) It's almost a wipe, you & 1 other raid member are trying to kill the boss. Who's by your side? - I'm hoping and praying it is a tank.  Unfotunately, that is not usually the way it works so I'm gonna go with Viktory, one of our healers. 

13) How bad IS @bruherd's beard? - Here is a pic if you don't remember Bruherd:

Bruherd is the non-moonkin in the pic highlighting the lack of privates.  On a scale of badness, I rate it a 3.  Compared to some of the people at Blizzcon, that beard is nowhere near terrible.

14) When will we have guild housing?  How much closet space will there be? Once we have it, is it inappropriate to still run Closet Gnome? - Guild housing will come out in patch 3000.0.1 when the player base has dropped below 5,000 players.  Closet space is dependent on the model of guild house you have.  The models will  be dungeon, castle, mansion, and San Francisco loft.  I will let you determine how much closet space is in each.  And yes, you will still need Closet Gnome.  Just find one that likes being in the closet to begin with.  I personally would name my closet gnome Tom Cruise.  That way, I could say, "Tom Cruise, you need to come out of the closet."

15) Boxers, briefs, commando? - Normal day, boxers.  Unless it is laundry day, then it may be briefs.  However, when sleeping at night, it is all commando.

16) What is your favorite holiday moment? - I don't really do WoW holidays although I do get a kick out of killing the Headless Horsemen every day.  My favorite holiday moment in real life is probably when we are putting up the Christmas tree as a family and playing Christmas music.  Just as long as it is not the NSYNC Christmas Album that my sister had at one time.

17) Do you believe achievements need to go account wide?  No.  I might have sang a different tune if my main didn't get Glory of the Icecrown Raider on 10 and 25 man.  However, I think Blizzard should add something in the achievements menu that lets you see and link the achievements from other characters on that account.

18) Duel-speccing in arenas in Diablo 3? - Probably not.  They mentioned during Blizzcon that they don't care about balance in arenas.  I am sure, just like in WoW, some theorycrafter will come up with the best arena spec for the demon hunter, but it won't mean anything.

19) Diablo 3 arenas as an esport? - No.  Since Blizzard said they won't balance it, they can't make it an esport.  I'm sure someone could come up with a mod for Diablo 3 that would balance it, but it just doesn't seem interesting enough to become an esport.  Plus, they already have WoW arenas which is a great esport.

20) What is your favorite color?  - Garnet as in my alma mater's colors garnet and black.  Did I mention that the SC Gamecocks are SEC East champions this year.  Also, let me show you the coolest moonkin in the world.

If they allow different moonkin colors, I'm making my moonkin red just like Cocky.

21) Why are  you not putting duel speccing in Diablo 3? - Because I'm not a producer of the game. 

22) Are they going to focus on PvP in Diablo 3? - No, it is an addon on the side, not a major part of the game.

23) You understand they made me sit through the Diablo 3 Q & A, right? - Yes, Bruherd, I understand.  95% of the people who get up and ask questions at those Blizzcon Q & A's are morons.

24) Do you think Vince Vaugn is hilarious? - I like Wedding Crashers and Dodgeball, so I would have to say I like some of his movies and he is funny.  He has also made some stinkers though. (Hello Fred Claus)

25) What is your favorite cut of steak and what part of the cow druid can I get it from? - I love a nicely done medium rare Prime Rib, which is right below the chest armor on a Tauren, at least according to Yahoo Answers.

26) Favorite yellow fruit? - I can only think of one and it is a banana, but to be honest, I'm not too wild about bananas.

27) What would you name your succubus? - Veronica.  And props if you know what this is a reference too.  I will give you a hint, it is one of my favorite TV shows.  The only way you could kill her is you have to sing "There's Got to Be a Morning After" backwards.

28) If I was tamable, would I be cunning, ferocity, or tenacity? - I would probably be cunning due to the fact that moonkins are adorable (see question 1) and we are not really tenacious.  But as LeetSauced pointed out, my GF does already have me tamed and in her stable.

29) Is your mom an account wide achievement or do I need to do it on each toon? - My mom is a rare elite.  You would have a better chance of finding the Time Lost Protodrake than my mom.  And, yes, you have to do her on each toon?  Plus she takes 10,000 gold from your character or permadeletes them if you don't have enough, so enter at your own risk.

30) When will Diablo 4 be released? - Given 11 years between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 plus add on 5 years for the new IP, you are looking at 2026.  Of course, that is assuming we all survive 2012.  My opinion on 2012.  Don't be in Mexico that day. 

31) Favorite podcast you have not been a drunken fool on? - Probably Raid Warning since I was on their roundtable.  I also want to take this time to say if there are any podcast that would like me on, I'm pretty much open.

32) What hot chick do you wish raided with us?  - My girlfriend would be the obvious answer, but I wouldn't mind if Felicia Day raided with our team.  But she has to wear the outfit from the "Do You Want to Date My Avatar?" video.

33) Beiber? Yes/No/Murloc? - No, although attacked by a group of murlocs would be awesome.  Or Cthulhu to pop his head off.

34) If I name my moonkin hatchling Red, will it defile my leg? - No, baby moonkins do not have sex drives.  They just try to fly and look cute.  I would be more concerned about you trying to defile the moonkin hatchling.  But watch out when he becomes a teen moonkin.  He will defile anything that moves.  FYI. Blizzard, make a lil' LK that cast defile on small critters.  Either that or does the shadow thing that tosses them sky high.  It will be flying critters.

And that is all folks.  Thanks for the people who submitted questions.  It was a lot of fun to answer them and maybe a few months into Cataclysm, I will do one again.

Rapid WoW News - Prelude to the Shattering

Today's post is just gonna be WoW news and opinion as we get close to the release of Cataclysm:

1) Elemental Invasion Starts - With what little time I played around on the PTR, this is where the fun starts in Phase 4.  Elementals attack the cities and you will need everybody around to be able to kill them.  It starts off easy with non-elities.  Then you get the elite level 80 mobs.  Finally, once everything is calmed down, you get to fight the 4 bosses in 5 man groups.  Apparently gear is 251, so if you just hit 80, probably not a bad thing to do.

2) Patch 4.0.3 - God, I hope the background downloader did its job and has downloaded majority of the patch.  If not, I'm gonna go to Filefront and get the 1GB file.  Anyway, this sets up for the true Cataclysm, which is 4.0.3a. (Which is basically where they flip the switch and the entire world gets broken apart, a.k.a The Shattering.)  If there is any pertinent druid changes, you will see a second post from me today.  The only thing I saw was they are making Sunfire scale correctly with haste now.

3) Murloc Steins  - Looks cool, but I don't drink out of steins.  Especially ones that look more like decorative pieces.

4) Dial In Authenticator - For cheap bastards without smart phones who think $6.99 is just a tad too expensive.  Now, there really is no excuse.  Authenticate your stuff.

5) Blizzcon Pre-Sale Items Not Shipped - While I personally did not get anything from the Blizzcon pre-sale online, a lot of people I follow on Twitter did.  Blizzard, get your shit together.  It has been almost a month past Blizzcon.  People need their stuff.

6) Russian Gets All WoW Achievements - Good for you.  Now, you can spend 3 weeks away from your mother. 

7) Cataclysm Race Changes Day 1 - As much as I would love to start with a level 80 worgen, I'm gonna wait because you know when Cataclysm hits, their will be hundreds of thousands of people who want to race change with the new race/class combinations. Plus, I want to see Worgen racials before I decide to change or not.

8) 25 vs. 25 Rated Bracket Gone - Too bad, I was looking forward to rated AV and IoC with 25 guildies.

9) Diablo 3 Possibly to Consoles - Not so much WoW news, but cool for PS3 and Xbox 360 owners.  Sorry, Wii owners, I don't think Diablo 3 will run on your console.

10) Moonkin Hatchling - Ain't it the most adorable thing you ever seen.  Just look at it.  LOOK AT IT SO THAT YOUR HEAD WILL EXPLODE FROM THE CUTE.  They even try to fly.  Silly moonkins, moonkins can't fly.  All of us adult moonkins have tried to at least once.  This is definitely a day one purchase from the Blizzard store for me.  Maybe both of them if you can.

3 Week Gameplan - Final Things to Do In Wrath That Every Raider/PvPer Should Do

Looking at the calendar, tomorrow will be three weeks away from Cataclysm.  Our guild has ceased raiding until after the expansion to allow us to focus on getting ready for Cataclysm. So what should you do if you are raider to get ready for the next expansion that is possible in the next 3 weeks?  Here is my list of things:

1) Justice Points Capped - I would run heroics/PUG raids until you get up to 4k Justice Points.  Doing that will allow you to get at least two pieces of gear when you hit 85.  This should be easy for tanks and healers with relatively quick queues.  DPS, try to find yourself a pocket tank or healer from your guild.

2) Honor Points Capped - Now that I have been accepted into our rated battleground team, I would really like to be honor capped before the expansion, which is also 4k.  We are running premades with mostly guildies and a few PUGs to advertise our rated battleground group.

3) Level Professions Up to 425 At Least - My moonkin's professions (Jewelcrafting and Leatherworking) are both at 450, but I have a few alts that at least need to be at 425 going into the expansion.  This will allow you to level up your profession while you are questing or LFDing.  Also, armor makers should know that they will be able to build the first set of level 85 PvP gear, which will help you as well going into rated battlegrounds.

4) Start Collecting Raw Profession Materials - After expansions, you generally see the price of raw materials from the previous expansion, like uncut green and blue gems, enchanting dust or essences, cloth, leather, ore, etc., go up in price substantially.  Unless you can make something you know without a shadow of a doubt that will sell in the next 3 weeks, don't make it.  I will direct you to Just My Two Copper for a much bigger list of what to hold and sell.

5) Get Pertinent Alts to Level 75 (Preferably Level 78) - After getting my moonkin honor and justice points capped, I need to level my DK up 3 levels to level 75 and my paladin 10 levels up to level 75.  Main reason is because my DK is my skinner/herbalist and my paladin is my inscriptionist.  They are what I would call pertinent alts.  If they will be able to assist your main's professions, for example my DKs skinning helping my moonkin's leatherworking, then they need to be in a place to get professions as soon as possible.  If you can get them to level 78 before that, it will be even better since they can step into Cataclysm content immediately.

6) Get Other Max Level Alts Justice/Honor Capped - This will be the if I have time thing to do before Cataclysm.  If I have time, I would like to make sure my mage is Justice and Honor Points capped.

7) Close Achievements That Are Possible - I have my Glory of the Icecrown Raider for both 10 and 25 mans, so I have no real incentive to step foot back in ICC.  However, if I see a group doing 10 man HMs Ulduar and I can get Ignis, Mimiron, and General, you bet your ass I would jump on it to get another drake.  Don't chase ones that you are far away from since you could use your time much more efficiently right now.

I'm sure that every person has some individual goals that they would love to accomplish prior to Cataclysm.  However, these are the things that I feel every raider or rated battleground PvPer should be doing up to Cataclysm.

Sunday Humor: Ghostcrawler Tamable Beast

I woke up this morning and checking my Facebook after the University of South Carolina's big win last night against Florida and saw the MMO-Champion feed this morning where they apparently have a new beast at level 85 you can tame. 

Yes, the one, the only, the greatest community manager ever (25 year game card please), Ghostcrawler is a rare, elite level 85 mob that is tamable by hunters.  The funniest of Ghostcrawler's abilities is the "Nerfbat" which reduces your abilities "to the ground".  However, I thought of some other awesome abilities that would be awesome for this mob to have.

- Summon Moose: When below 20% health, he summons a moose to aid him in his attacking.  After taming, he can summon a moose mount for the hunter.  All other classes scream "HUNTERS ARE OP" when you pass them on the moose mount.

- Away, Unwashed Masses: Can fear your character.  Silences, stuns, and snares all at the same time.

- On a Boat: When below 5% health, Ghostcrawler heads to the closest boat, jumps in, and starts leaving.  Must kill/tame him before he gets to the boat.

- Pally Debuff: Immune to any paladin abilities. 

- Ban Hammer:  He uses this at 1%.  If this ability is not interrupted, you will immediately be disconnected and will not be able to sign on for 3 hours on that account.

- QQ More: Makes you blind and you start emoting crying emotions.  Last 5 seconds unless you are a paladin and it last 30 minutes, but you can't hit him anyway.

What Moonkins Bring to PvP

Kitty PvP At Its Best

Blog Azeroth is doing a shared topic this week about what your class brings to raids.  I hope by reading this blog, you have seen all the benefits of bringing a moonkin to raids means in terms of crit buffs, armor debuffs with Faerie Fire, damage output, etc. 

This past week on the last day of raiding for this expansion, I got my 25 man Glory of the Icecrown Raider drake, which I hope to have a pic up in the screenshots section soon.  This means up until Cataclysm I have two goals.  Max out Justice Points and max out Honor Points.  My guild has started doing organized 15 man BGs to get ready for rated BGs in Cataclysm.  While I haven't decided whether I'm going to apply to the rated BG group, I have found out what moonkins can bring to a rated battleground PvP setting. 

1) Pseudo-Glass Cannon - The term "glass cannon" usually refers to clothies, like mages, who can bring incredible amount of damage but can be killed relatively easily.  Moonkins are a different class that I like to call a pseudo-glass cannon.  We can pump out a lot of damage with Starfall, Starsurge, DoTs, Wrath, and Starfire.  However, we can also heal ourselves, have more armor than clothies, and have a mechanic that damages melee if they hit us with Thorns.  That is why I'm using my PvE gear in our PvP battleground matches.  I can survive so that I don't need resilience but I can still pump out the damage. 

2) Typhoon - A situational spell in PvE becomes an incredible spell in PvP, especially with the fun things you can do with it.  I love being at Lumber Mill in AB and just waiting for someone to start capping the flag.   A second later, they haven't capped it and they are flying off the cliff praying to their diety of choice that they survive the fall.  In addition, to the knockback, it also has a snare effect that slows them down incredibly.

3) Entangling Roots + Solar Beam = Dead Casters - Ideally, this would be used against healers, but would work with any casters.  One of the things I have loved doing is finding the healer in a group, casting Entangling Roots followed by Solar Beam and you have a useless healer that will die quickly.

4) Solar Beam In General - This has so many great uses.  If you see one of your melee guys against a caster, cast Solar Beam on their opponent and they are dead.  You can also use it on choke points.  My favorite was the path leading down in Isle of Conquest to the Docks.  You set it up right before the end of the road and meet the enemy before they get down and they go down easily.    Although a guildie would disagree with me, Solar Beam has very situational use in a PvE setting.  At level 85, it may be a better tool with a couple more points to work with, but I would much rather get higher damage boosting talents in PvE.  That is why I have dropped my feral tank for the time being for a moonkin PvP talent spec.  I may drop my moonkin PvE set for a while so I can tank some heroics for Justice Points and for leveling, but we will see about that.

5) The Potential of Wild Mushrooms - While I don't know how they will finally work, I can imagine some awesome potential in PvP for Wild Mushrooms.  Imagine you are in Warsong Gulch.  You set up three mushrooms by the tunnel entrance to your base.  The flag carrier uses a different path to get in, but they try running out the tunnel.  Detonate those mushrooms plus add in the talent that makes the mushrooms create a area of slow and you have an incredible PvP tool.  Think about the possibilites in AV, the road to LM or GM in AB, by the gates in SotA.  So many awesome possibilites.

And this is not including all our normal PvE benefits including MotW, critical strike bonuses, DoTs, Faerie Fire, and even Rebirth in rated battlegrounds.  So I encourage you in the last few days of this expansion to try out BGs.  If you are on Ner'zhul, you can come in on the Conquest BG pre-mades, where we are owning the 15 man BGs.  If you really love our premades, I would recommend applying for the rated BGs team in Cataclysm.  

   

Finding The Right Guild For You

Yesterday, I talked about the pitfalls that can occur when filling out guild applications.  But guilds work both ways.  Not only does the guild have to find out if you are right for them, but you have to find a guild right for you.  So you may be asking what questions should I ask myself when looking for a guild.  Here is a list of questions you need to think about?

1) What times can I raid? - This is extremely important.  If you know that you prefer to raid in the evening, you have to find a guild that runs on your schedule.  If you can only raid two days a week, you have to find a guild that only raids two days a week.  You have to set aside what times during the week you can raid.  Some of the most hardcore guilds I have seen raid 3 hours a night, 6 nights a week.  I would never apply to such a guild because I don't want to raid that much.  I like our current 3 night a week schedule for 3 - 3.5 hours per night.   

2) What style of raiding do you like? - It is just a fact of life that some people cannot handle the rigors of hardcore progression raiding, which is fine.  I like to seperate guilds into three types.  Hardcore, semi-hardcore, and casual.  Hardcore guilds are guilds that optimize performance and ability.  If you are not doing your job, you don't raid.  Period.  If you get butthurt about being told to sit for a progression raid, hardcore raiding is likely not for you.  Semi-hardcore is people who are focused on progression but also focus a little more on the people.  If you earned your raid spot, you have earned it and it is yours.  The only way you would lose it is if you stop showing up altogether.  These guilds tend to get all the content done but may never progress into things like hardmodes, etc.    Casual is just as it sounds.  It is extremely laid back and they focus more on being a group of people/friends over progression.  You may be given advice here but you will probably not be told to sit out on fights.  They will teach you or drag you a long, but you will be there.  I have tried all of them and I can seriously say that I love hardcore raiding.  We don't raid all the time but when we do, we are focused on getting down content.

3) What type of people do you like? - This goes a little in hand with the style of raiding, but it is also different enough to make you think about it.  If you prefer G to PG-13 humor/language, some guilds are not gonna be for you.  Some guilds will advertise that they are family friendly, which is great if you have children who want to raid/play with you.  Other guilds will drop "fuck" like there is no tomorrow and they will shout and yell at people in raids, etc.  If you do not prefer that type of humor/language, some guilds won't be for you. 

4) What do you want to focus on? - There are a lot of PvP guilds and a whole lot more PvE guilds.  If you want to focus on PvP, a strict PvE guild is likely not for you.  If you want to focus on PvE, PvP guilds won't provide what you are looking for.  What I think you are going to see going into Cataclysm is that more guilds will start doing both organized PvE and PvP, which our guild is starting to do to get gear, achievements, guild bonuses, etc. especially with the rated battlegrounds starting.

5) Where are you with your gear? - I put this down far on the list for a couple reasons.  One, you can always get better gear.  Two, depending on the type of guild, this may be less of an issue.  If you just hit 80 today and you have quest/dungeon blues and greens, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to apply to a "Light of Dawn" guild who has cleared out all the hardmodes.  They are going to tell you to get better gear and comeback.  Even some guilds are more strict and unless you are mostly in 264 gear, they won't let you into their guild.  Find out where their guild requirements are.  Some guilds do use GearScore (Why? I don't know.).  Others will at least want you to be in somewhat current gear and then test you in a raid setting, which is the better way to do it.

6) Where is your life currently and in the near future? - Seems weird to ask this, but it is important.  If you are going to be starting a job in a month, you need to find out what your hours are going to be to see if it matches your set raid times.  If you just had a child, you probably want to break from raiding for a while to help take care of the child, who may be up during your raid hours.  Progression raiding is not just about the current, it is about the future.  Most progression guilds consider new members an investment.  They may not be the best geared or the highest DPS at the time, but they put time in downing bosses, getting you gear, etc. to make it so that you will be a benefit to them.  If you know your life is about to change and it may take you away from raiding, just wait and see where you are.

7) How do you handle criticism? - Again, this is far down on the list because I hope this is an answer you already know from your friends, family, and work.  If you can't handle criticism, even harsh at times, hardcore progression raiding may not be for you.  As I mentioned before, hardcore guilds try to maximize everything.  If you don't like being told you have the wrong spec or are gemmed incorrectly or are not using your spells/abilities properly, you may want to find a semi-hardcore/casual guild. 

8) How is your computer?  - It seems silly, but it is important.  Is your computer build to handle 25 man raiding?  If not, there are still hardcore progression oriented 10 man guilds you can join.  But a lot of older computers have problems with frequent disconnects, lag, slow frames per second, etc.  that actually affect performance.  I try to aim with my computer to run at ~ 20-30 FPS with a latency between 200 - 300 ms.  If it is not in that range, I may say I have to sit because of lag.  Nothing worse then wiping a raid because you disconnect or you are lagging severely. 

9) Are you willing to research? - The more hardcore a guild is, the more they expect you to know your class inside and out.  In addition, a lot of guilds do not give explanations of fights.  They say watch this video, read this thread on TankSpot, and come prepared.  If you are not willing to research fights and your class, you are probably not suited for hardcore progression raiding.

10) Are you willing to farm? - Are you willing to get gold, flask, enchants, gems, etc. as quickly as possible when needed?  Some guilds provide some of these things.  My guild provides flasks, enchants, and uncut epic gems.  We have to provide money for our own repairs.    However, some guilds tell you to bring your own stuff.  As a note, you should always be prepared to bring your own stuff regardless of what type of guild you are in.  It is just proper and polite.  If you aren't willing to do enough farming to get your own flask, enchants, gems, repairs, etc., then that guild may not be for you.  I'm not saying find a guild that provides all that stuff for you since you should get it yourself, but if you want to find a guild that has perks for raiders, you can.  Even more so with the guild leveling system coming out in Cataclysm. 

These are my top questions to ask yourself when looking for a guild.  It has provided a lot of guidance to me over the years of playing this game and are questions that I ask constantly when I have been looking for a guild.

How NOT To Get Into a Raiding Guild

Having now been in Conquest for almost 9 months, which is my longest guild stent ever, I have seen lots of applications.  And while I'm not on the committee who decides who gets to join our raiding team or not, I have seen a lot in applications that can kill you before you even get a trial.  What I want to go through is what will kill your chances of getting into our raiding guild before you even get started in the first place.

1) Not filling out the application template - Here is an example of an app that was told to reapp correctly.  Names have been taken out to protect the guilty.

I am a 5.6k gs boomkin, I am 11/12 in ICC 10 with some HM down, I have done Blood Queen on heroic. I would love to join and hope to hear more soon. ****** is my name and I am on Nerzhul

Our guild was nice enough to tell him about the app but some raiding guilds will not be nice about it.  Why?  Because it shows inability to study and an inability to follow directions.  That is two of the worst qualities in a raider in a progression oriented raiding guild.

2) Incorrectly filling out the application template - An example:

28) Attach or link to a recent screenshot of your UI in Dalaran while you mouse over the game menu icon. Bonus: Include your raid frames. Please see the attached example: I'll need to get back to you on that one. MY UI is broken atm due to uninstalling some things. I will take a SS once it is back to its normal format.

You know the saying you never get a second chance at a first impression.  This is a perfect example of how not to make a good impression.  Fixing a UI could literally take an hour to get it in a presentable format.  If you can't delay applying one hour to make sure you fix your UI or you log out in your PvE gear, then you likely won't have what it takes to make it as a progression raider.  If you can't take time to prepare yourself when applying for a guild, you won't take time before raiding to prepare yourself.

3) Insulting people in your application - Example:

Tell us one joke that you find hilarious (if that's too much pressure, any joke you find funny will do). Women's rights

Oh, the stir this caused on this guy's app.  Once he was in the guild, we found out that this was not a joke for this guy.  He was dead serious.  He ended up insulting our feral tank, which is probably one of the reasons she ended up leaving the guild and slowed our progression down.  Now don't get me wrong, there is a fine line between joking and insulting.  If you know the person fairly well in game, you can joke like this.  If you are apping to a raiding guild, you probably shouldn't since you do not know these people.  He was eventually let go from the guild because of his attitude.

4) Short answers to questions on application - An example.  Be warned, this is a long one.

Main Character (include class and spec): *******
Alts (include class and spec): ******
Real First Name: ******
Age: **
Location: *****

2) Have you read the guild charter and loot council FAQ? Do you agree with them?
Yes

3) Why are you interested in joining *******?
High end raiding guild

4) If applicable, tell us why you left your last guild(s).
I server changed and im in a pvp guild now i want to be in a raiding guild

5) Do you know any current ******* members who will vouch for you? If so, nope new to the server but ive talked to ******

6) Please tell us about any previous raiding experience in WoW.
LK experience

7) Pleas tell us about any previous leadership experience in WoW.
Ive lead raids for my former guild on ***********

8) What do you want out of your playing time?
Good time and progression

9) Are you able to make all of ******** raid times (Mon, Tues, Thurs 6-9 PST) on a regular basis?
Yes

10) Are you able to listen and speak on Ventrilo?
Yes

11) Approximately what percentage of raids do you plan to attend?
100%

12) Please describe your computer/internet setup and indicate whether you tend to have lag or connectivity issues.
No problem

13) Are you willing to occupy a bench slot (online and still available to sub in) when needed?
If its needed I will but I'd much rather be a core raider and earn the spot

14) In your opinion, what do skilled players of your class and spec contribute to 25-man raiding?
Misery high DPS some sort of healing

15) What do you, as an individual, bring to raids that distinguishes you from average players? Here’s your chance to convince us that we need YOU for our team.
I've read and learned everything about my class

16) If you had to name your favorite movie at the moment what would it be? Why?
Friday Night Lights

17) What mods do you use, and why do you like them?
Recount, Deadly Boss Mods, ,
Pitbull, Bartender, Quartz, Dotimer

All set-up like ***** (<3) UI in his post on *******.

18) Tell us one joke that you find hilarious (if that's too much pressure, any joke you find funny will do).
Lol not really a joke guy kinda just a smartass sarcastic guy

19) Is there anything else you want us to consider in reviewing your application?
Nothing special just wanna be in a high end raiding guild and earn my spot

This applicant ended up being accepted into a guild by the other faction, but the point remains.  If you can't take time to give in depth answers to an application, it shows a lack of communication, a lack of following instructions which occurs several times in this app, and a lack of caring about your ability to raid.  If you character is good, go into depth about what you bring to the table.  Short one line sentences tell us nothing about you.

5) Showing an unwillingness to learn - You can fill out an application correctly, but alot of guilds are going to want you to explain your gemming, enchants, reforging, etc.  Some want you to do it on the application.  Others may ask you after you apply.  Here is an example of what not to do:
 

Rogue Member of Our Guild: First things first, Which spec is your pve spec? I ask this because they are both incorrect for min/maxxing as combat, I suggest you go read up on elitist jerks if you are serious about applying.

Applicant: My second spec was an inside joke with a few friends for some PVP. My first spec is my PvE I was testing today which I recently changed from having 3 points in RS in the sub tree. You seem to think I have no idea what I'm doing, obviously you are mistaken. I'm well aware of what needs to be put in for a viable combat spec. Since the patch I've been testing things. Thank you for your input but I will pass on going to those forums.

First off, if you are not even willing to go to the site where pretty much all theorycrafting is done for every single class, it shows an unwillingness to learn about your class.  I visit EJ all the time to find the latest theorycrafting.  Also, you can test things, but don't assume you are automatically correct either.  Also, if someone who is currently raiding as the same class as you tells you there is a problem, you better check it out and not insulting the person who has been raiding for a long time.

6) Not communicating back - We have had applicants who have just applied to the guild and never come back to check on their app.  The application was filled out correctly and thoroughly, but they never just came back.  Even if you are accepted by another guild, it is common courtesy to go back to the guilds you applied to and say I was accepted by another guild and I'm withdrawing my app.  Not saying that makes it look like you are burning bridges that you probably shouldn't.  What if the guild you were accepted to collapses next week?  Guess who is not gonna take you.  The people you filled out an app with and did not communicate back with.

7) Applying for things not needed - Most raiding guilds have sites that tell you what there current needs are.  If you are a resto/balance druid and they need a feral cat, you are probably not applying to the right guild.  My guild thankfully has an open door policy.  We take exceptional recruits of any class.  (I should also mention at this time that my guild, Conquest, is currently recruiting for Cataclysm raiding and rated PvP, something we have just started.  See the link on the side.)  Just find a guild that needs a resto/balance druid and apply there.  Also, pay attention to Twitter because some guild leaders will announce on Twitter that they are recruiting.  I have seen probably 30 announcements for people recruiting for guilds on Twitter.  That is how I first applied to Conquest.  I saw @matticus put a call out for ranged DPS and I applied and got in.  I had to prove myself before I came in on progression fights, but that is what new applicants have to do. 

These are some of the major errors that I see in applicants.  Don't do these things and you will at least get your foot in the door.  Now from there, it is up to you.  You have to perform and you have to compete.  You are going to have 9 or 24 other people who are expecting you to do your job correctly and to the best of your ability based on gear and experience.  If you do it, you will get on the raid team of your choice.

The Beauty of Justice Points in Wrath

This weekend was a WoW weekend with the girlfriend working.  Besides trying to finish leveling up my DK's herbalism and skinning, I also got to work on my pally's inscription some. (F.Y.I Just My Two Copper was right, this is a gold mine, even at the early glyph stages.  Plus, you get 3 skill points per glyph. I have made about 2k gold on my pally since picking up Inscription and it is only at skill 374.)  I also got to do VoA on my druid over this weekend in my starting pursuit to be at 4k Justice Points prior to Cataclysm.  It was in VoA that I saw the beauty I haven't seen in Justice Points before.

Prior to 4.0.1, most VoA groups went like this.  We go in and kill Toravon for the Frost badges.  In 25 man, we may do the fire guy just to get some PvP gear or help a lower level alt.  They were quick runs, but we usually left two to three bosses up.

After 4.0.1, this changed.  We actually did all 4 bosses to get Justice Points and Honor Points. (Remember that the VoA bosses drop Honor Points as well.)  And I forgot how much fun Emelon was.  I mean Archevon is still the tank and spank he always was and in mostly heroic ICC 25 man gear, he went down like a little bitch.  But it was great to do all 4 bosses again.  Then I realized why Blizzard went with Justice Points instead of continuing Emblems.

If Blizzard continued Emblems, there would be no reason to do optional bosses.  Now, when Valor points come out, this may happen again.  However, all the Valor points get converted to Justice points when the next tier opens up, so you still have incentive to do all the bosses in a raid because the current Tier of gear also drops to being bought with Justice points.  Skipping bosses will only be an option for the highest level of raiders in Cataclysm, but even right now, you should be wanting to do all the bosses in a raid to get those Justice points.  There are only two raids I can think of right now that have optional bosses, which would be Ulduar and VoA, but you should be wanting to do all the bosses you can right now just to hit the Justice Points cap.

Oh Blizzard, You Soothe Us and Then Rip Our Hearts Out

Well, well, well Blizzard.  Almost a month after 4.0.1, you still manage to surprise me a little and it is something I have not seen anybody pick up on until last night.  Here is what happened:

Last night, we were on 25 man LK doing "Been Waiting a Long Time For This".  We only had one hunter. (Hi Loganw!!!)  We were trying to find out how to take off the enrage off of the Shambling Horrors.  Looking through our spellbook, another druid saw that we had a small change to one of our talents.

Soothe - Removes an Enrage effect from a target

Now before, we would never cast Soothe.  We always had hunters to take off enrage effects.  Looking at the history of it, this was changed in 4.0.1 to make it useful for druids.  It is also castable in any form which means feral tanks can remove an enrage effect and make it a lot easier to tank. And, yes, Soothe works against the Shambling Horrors.

This means that as of 4.0.1, druids now have an interrupt (Solar Beam), a silence (Solar Beam), a snare (Typhoon unglyphed), a knockback (Typhoon unglyphed), a melee CC (Entangling Roots), a beast CC (Hibernate), and an enrage remover (Soothe).  Druids are becoming more and more of a nice CC/utility tool. 

However, as soon as Blizzard gave us something new and awesome like a tool to remove enrages, they have to change it a little.  Currently, it is an instant cast.  In the latest beta patch, they changed it to a 1.5 second cast.  Now, I don't know yet if it will be modified by haste to come down to a single GCD since I have heard we have insane amounts of haste at 85.  If it does, it will make it better.  If not, then hunters will have an even bigger advantage when taking enrage off of enemies although they can take enrage off of three subjects at once now.

So, the next time you need the enrage off of something and you don't have a rogue or hunter, just remember that as a druid, you can also remove that enrage effect now.

My Level 80 Moonkin 4.0.1 Guide - A Quick and Dirty Guide for Moonkins

Note:  All of this guide comes from my research of other blogs/sites.  I would refer you to them for a more in depth discussion of things from this guide.  Check out the blog links on the side or under the WoW Blog Links tab.

Spec: Hopefully, I will find a better link to the graphical version, but this is my current spec highlighted.  I'm sorry, this is MicroArmory and it sucks balls.  Ignore the glyphs.  Those are not the correct glyphs because again, MicroArmory sucks.

Stat Priority:  Remember that all spirit is converted to hit so while it is priority number 1, it is not difficult.

Hit/Spirit to 446 Hit (17%) > Intellect/Spellpower > Haste > Critical Strike Rating

Main reason behind this is haste will reduce the cast time of Wrath, Starfire, and Starsurge and allow you get more Eclipses.  In addition, higher haste will increase the number of Insect Swarm/Moonfire ticks which also equals more Shooting Stars which means more instant Starsurges.  Also, notice I did not put Mastery in this list.  For the time, you should not gem or reforge your gear for mastery.  Wait until 85.  This guide is just for a level 80 raiding moonkin.

Caps:  Before 4.0.1, I said go for the caps of hit, soft haste, and Lunar Crit.  While the hit cap is still incredibly important, there is no haste or Lunar Crit Cap.  You want as much haste and crit as possible because it will improve everything with haste having a slight lead over crit.

UI Changes: Thank goodness Eclipse is not a random proc anymore.  We can actually control our own Eclipses thanks to the new Eclipse bar.  While the Blizzard eclipse bar is nice, if you use any type of raid frames, you will want to get BalancePowerTracker, which is a movable Eclipse bar that has the nice additional feature of telling you when your next Wrath, Starfire, or Starsurge will proc the next Eclipse so that you know to immediately start changing as soon as it hits.  There is also a couple of additional instances where you will do actions based on Solar or Lunar Eclipses, but we will get to those.

Gemming/Enchants:  While some recommend changing the head and shoulder enchants, I tend to agree with Qieth from Qieth's Quips on this because I would much rather have critical strike versus spirit unless you are not at the hit cap.  We still only go for bonuses of +7 spellpower or greater.  Red should be straight intellect.  Yellow should be Intellect + Haste.  Blue should be Intellect + Spirit .  Remeber that you need at least two blue gems to activate our meta gem.  Of course, we only should be using epic gems because you can get 4T10 by just running instances now.  Otherwise, enchant like before focusing on spellpower and haste.  And yes, Tuskarr's Vitality is still preferred over Icewalker.

Glyphs:  I will update when I get a chance to get to somewhere I can actually see my real glyphs and not this MicroArmory crap.

Spells and Their Uses

- Faerie Fire: You can be nice and cast it if there is no feral druid tank in your group, but since it doesn't provide a hit bonus, it is not as much of a priority.  In addition, your feral will appreciate you not casting it because it can help more with their threat if they are tanking.

- Moonfire:  If you liked Moonfire prior to 4.0.1, you will love Moonfire after.  Not only is Moonfire a DoT that should be started at both the beginning of the fight and after each Eclipse proc, but you will want to cast it on the move because it becomes an instant nuke.  Not as powerful as Starsurge, Wrath, or Starfire, but still good damage. Remember that Moonfire is for Lunar Eclipses and non-Eclipse time periods.

- Sunfire:  You may have noticed that when you proc a Solar Eclipse, your Moonfire button changes.  This is the Solar Eclipse version of Moonfire.  Same rules apply though in terms of when to cast it.

- Insect Swarm: Pretty much the same rules as Moonfire.  Cast it at the beginning of the fight and when you proc and Eclipse.  Do not cast this while on the move unless you just procced an Eclipse.  While casting it when you proc a Lunar Eclipse is important, you will definitely want to cast it when you proc a Solar Eclipse.  The damage on Insect Swarm is absolutely insane when you have a Solar Eclipse up.

- Force of Nature (Treants): In my rotation, I'm not changing too much on how the Treants are used.  I still use them at the beginning of the fight and in the middle of a fight if it takes that long.  The one difference is that if I can hold them until a Solar Eclipse, I will because they do more damage during a Solar Eclipse.

- Starfall: Although it was nerfed slightly because we don't get splash damage anymore, this is still an insanely powerful spell, even more so if used during a Lunar Eclipse.  That should actually be the goal with Starfall is to use it exclusively during a Lunar Eclipse.  Now, there are some instances where you might want to use it in a non-Lunar Eclipse, like breaking ice blocks during HM Sindy, but if you can, wait until you have a Lunar Eclipse.

- Starsurge: Our newest castable nuke that has two uses.  First off, this spell will work with either a Solar or a Lunar Eclipse so you will want to cast it on cooldown.  Second, this becomes an instant cast when Shooting Stars is procced by your Insect Swarm or Moonfire/Sunfire, making it something that can even be cast on the move.  This is part of the reason why you want to cast Moonfire/Sunfire when moving because it increases the chance to proc Shooting Stars and get an instant Starsurge.

- Wrath: Has not really changed.  This is how we move from a Solar Eclipse to a Lunar Eclipse. (Right to left on the Eclipse bar.

- Starfire: Has not really changed.  This is how we move from a Lunar Eclipse to a Solar Eclipse. (Left to right on the Eclipse bar.

- Typhoon: Same use basically.  Knockback with a stun.  Usable in certain circumstances like LK but should not always be cast unless you want to piss off your tank and melee DPS.

- Hurricane: Our AoE trash spell.  Its damage is increased if you have a Solar Eclipse.

Now that we have gone through all the spells, let's add them together for certain circumstances.

AoE Trash:  Try to stay in a Solar Eclipse and cast Hurricane.  Can Starsurge if you get a Shooting Stars proc.  If you are on your way to a boss, at least start trying to move towards a Lunar Eclipse by casting Starsurge/Wrath. If safe, you can cast Starfall, but use cautiously.

Single Target Trash: Use this to move towards a Lunar Eclipse.  If I can, I like to start bosses in or a few seconds from a Lunar Eclipse to get a Starfall off quickly.

Bosses:  I start to set up Treants before the pull.  Once the pull starts, I cast Treants and throw up my DoTs, Insect Swarm and Moonfire.  You use to worry about having Earth and Moon on first, but you will get it quickly enough.  Then Starsurge is my first spell because I want to get as many Starsurges in as possible since it is one of our faster casting spells.  From there, it is all dependant on the circumstances.

Non-Eclipse: Start casting the nuke to move it the appropriate direction with the arrow.  If arrow is moving from Lunar side to Solar side, I cast Starfire.  If arrow is moving from Solar to Lunar side, I cast Wrath.  Starsurge on cooldown or Shooting Stars proc.  If DoTs fall off, don't refresh because you will hit an Eclipse soon.

Lunar Eclipse: First, refresh DoTs before anything.  Second, cast Starfall if it is off cooldown, which is should be or is close to since it is only 1 minute when glyphed, which it should be.  Then I start casting Starfire to move it towards a Solar Eclipse.  Starsurge on cooldown or Shooting Stars proc.

Solar Eclipse:  First, refresh DoTs before anything, especially Insect Swarm.  Second, cast Treants if off cooldown.  Then I start casting Wrath to move it towards a Lunar Eclipse.  Starsuge on cooldown or Shooting Stars proc.

Moving: Spam Moonfire/Sunfire and cast Starsurge only on Shooting Star procs. Can cast Insect Swarm if the DoT falls off, but don't spam.

Use Typhoon in circumstances when necessary.

Hopefully, you will find this guide necessary to get you started on doing moonkin.  I have had several people asking me for a moonkin guide.  I have never done a full one like this but hopefully it will help some.