I Blame Koris

Who's Koris you ask? Well, let me explain a little.

In this lovely screenshot (don't judge my UI back then) we have Koris trying to drag Ignis back to our afk group at the top of his ramp. As you can probably tell, he's not going to make it much further. This is an example of a Koris of the facepulling, aggro stealing, tanking with a level 13 green shield variety. He's the pocket-tank I talk about from time to time, even though his main spec is facesmashing.

By now, you're probably asking yourself "So what did Koris do THIS time?" Do not fear good readers, I shall explain.

In all honesty, it's not entirely Koris's fault. I logged on at midnight to just clean up some auction stuff, and 3 friends suckered me into joining them for a few heroics. They're all collecting badges and gear for Koris's Herald of the Titans run, and I still needed several achievements for my Glory of the Hero, so it was a good plan.

After a few runs, and a few achievements later, they were stopping because Koris had set up a 10 Ulduar hardmode group to go collect them some more gear for Herald. I offered to take my little druid, since she could use the gear and achievements, and was soon in raid. I casually mentioned that if we just so happened to get to Mim and Yogg, I'd like to bring in my big druid since those were the only two HMs I needed for my Rusted, but didn't think much of it. It was already 1 am, and I didn't think we'd mow through the other bosses fast enough for people to want to do Firefighter and Yogg+1 that late.

Boy... that'll teach me not to underestimate the sleep deprivation of raiders again. After slaughtering XT, someone pips up with the suggestion to go kill Algalon. Now, I realize he's old news to quite a few, but I've never even seen the boss before. Quickly switch to big druid, and listen to instructions while not panicking about what my framerate is going to do during this fight. So of course we one-shot him and very nearly get the no-deaths achievement.

Swapped back to little druid, and we skipped our way through the next bosses. It was my first time being in Freya's room with an herbalist, and let me just say, holy hell. That's a lot of flowers. By this point, it's closing in on 4am, and I'm expecting us to just do normal for the final 3 bosses. But nooooo, mister raidleading Koris announces that we're gonna do Firefighter, so I switch druid's again.

Firefighter, with credit for Champion of Ulduar. /flex

I've blogged before about my special problems with Yogg. Fortunately, tonight, the clouds decided to behave. No DC's, no stupid people, no surprises. 9 minutes later, he was dead and 5 months after we first started on it, I finally had my Glory of the Ulduar Raider done.

But like I said, it's all Koris's fault. Without him, last night I would have just logged on, done auctions, and gone to sleep at a reasonable hour. Instead, my little druid is well on her way to Champion of Ulduar, over halfway done with her rusted proto, and picked up several pieces of gear. As for my big druid, only missing 3 for my red proto, 2 bosses for Champion of Uld, and is now . Oh right, this too.

<3 Koris

That's not god, that's your tank. And he's angry.

That title has absolutely nothing to do with this post. But it's catchy. So it's staying.

If you've been following me on Twitter, or reading the blog, you might have noticed that the majority of my WoW time has been spent on alts lately, and not on raiding.

There's a reason for that unfortunately.

My computer is, and always has been, a complete and total pile of crap. Ever want to see what 25 man raids look like on 2 fps? Yeah, didn't think so.

Since the launch of Wrath, I've been able to overcompensate for my computer being so terrible by knowing my class and role backwards and forwards, spending hours reading and watching vids about the encounter, and doing what I can to overgear the fights.

As Resurgence treks further and further into 25 Icecrown however, it's been getting more and more apparent that my plan is no longer working. I remember looking at the healing reports from a Blood Queen attempt and being so disgusted and angry that I just had to walk away from my computer.

Ya know the times where you're just so freaking tired of something that you want to cry? Yeah, that's been these past several weeks. Tuesday I logged on before the raid and I thought 'I hope I end up waitlisted tonight'. When you're beginning to dread raiding, something's wrong.

I'm a good raider, and I personally think I'm a pretty damn good healer. But sometimes there's things that you just can't control.

So until I'm able to afford an upgraded computer, I've decided to step back from progression 25 man raiding. Unfortunately, with how our 10s are currently set up, that means I'm likely to not be included in the progression 10 raids as well. It sucks, I'm not happy, and I've tried everything else I can think of, but that's the way it is.

To clarify, I'm not leaving the game. I'm not going to quit blogging. I'm not stopping raiding. Things will just be different.

So, without raiding, it looks like I'm going to be spending a good bit of time on my alts, both on Stonemaul and the dabbling I've done on Feathermoon. I've also got a few achievements I'd like to finish up on Khiow, and hoping to finally get the Guardian of Cenarius on Khilana. I'm still going to kill Arthas before Cata, it'll just be a bit further down the road than I'd like. But yeah, this will be a few months of leveling.

=(

*kicks computer*

Gearing Your Sapling: Part 2

Part two of my gear list. If you missed it, head back over to part 1 which covered Weapons through Chest.

The big differences between this and the first part is I'm no longer including a link for the boss that drops each item. That took up a pretty large chunk of time, and it didn't seem that it ended up being very helpful.

As a reminder, this is primarily to get a resto druid raid ready. If you're looking for a total start-from-scratch list, check out Angelya's post here. Her list has quite a few items that didn't make my top 5, so may be more helpful for some of you =)

Bracers

Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers - BoE crafted by Tailors

Moonshadow Armguards - BoE crafted by Leatherworkers

Ghostly Wristwraps - Trash drop in the heroic Frozen Halls instances (Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, Halls of Reflection)

Wristguards of Subterranean Moss - Drops from Ick (2nd boss of normal Pit of Saron)

Cuffs of the Shadow Ascendant - BoE purchased with 60 Emblems of Valor.

Cuffs of Winged Levitation - Drops from Cache of Eregos (Spawns after defeating 4th boss of heroic Oculus)

Hands

Runetotem's Handguards of Conquest - Purchased for 30 Emblems of Triumph at vendor at the Argent Tournament

Essence of Desire - Drops from Devourer of Souls (2nd boss of heroic Forge of Souls)

Suspiciously Soft Gloves - Drops from Marwyn (2nd boss of heroic Halls of Reflection)

Marwyn's Macabre Fingertips - Drops from Falric (1st boss of normal Halls of Reflection)

Gloves of Dismal Fortune - Drops from chest that spawns after defeating either 2nd boss in normal Trial of the Champion.

Belt

Braid of Salt and Fire - Drops from Ick (2nd boss of heroic Pit of Saron)

Strip of Remorse - Drops from The Captain's Chest (Spawns after defeating the gauntlet in heroic Halls of Reflection)

Binding of the Tranquil Glade - Drops from the Champion's Cache (Spawns after defeating 1st boss of normal Trial of the Champion)

The Confessor's Binding - Drops from Confessor's Cache (Spawns after defeating Paletress, possible 2nd boss, in normal Trial of the Champion)

Sash of Blood Removal - Drops from Gal'darah (4th boss in heroic Gundrak)

Legs

Runetotem's Leggings of Conquest - Purchased for 50 Emblems of Triumph at vendor at the Argent Tournament.

Leggings of the Snowy Bramble - Drops from the Champion's Cache (Spawns after defeating 1st boss of heroic Trial of the Champion)

Rimewoven Silks - Drops from Scourgelord Tyrannus (3rd boss of normal Pit of Saron)

Leggings of the Haggard Apprentice - Drops from chest that spawns after defeating either 2nd boss in normal Trial of the Champion.

Leggings of the Winged Serpent - Drops from The Prophet Tharon'ja (4th boss of heroic Drak'Tharon Keep)

Feet

Spellslinger's Slippers - BoE crafted by tailors

Prelate's Snowshoes - Drops from Scourgelord Tyrannus (3rd boss of heroic Pit of Saron)

Ice-Steeped Sandals - Drops from Forgemaster Garfrost (1st boss of normal Pit of Saron)

Sandals of Crimson Fury - Purchased at Wyrmrest Temple at Exalted with the Wyrmrest Accord.

Cleric's Linen Shoes - Drop from the commander (1st boss in heroic Nexus, faction specific)

Rings

Band of the Invoker - Purchased for 35 Emblems of Triumph from vendors in Dalaran or at the Argent Tournament

Heartmender Circle - Purchased for 35 Emblems of Triumph from vendors in Dalaran or at the Argent Tournament

Oath of Empress Zoe - Drops from The Captain's Chest (Spawns after defeating the gauntlet in heroic Halls of Reflection)

Band of Channeled Magic - Purchased for 25 Emblems of Valor from several vendors in Dalaran (Easiest place will be the emblem room in your faction's area)

Spiteful Signet - Drops from Devourer of Souls (2nd boss of normal Forge of Souls)

Band of Guile - Drops from Dark Runed Chest (Spawns after defeating Mal'Ganis in heroic Culling of Stratholme)

Annhylde's Ring - Drops from Ingvar the Plunderer (3rd boss in heroic Utgarde Keep)

Signet of Purity - Drops from Eadric's Cache (Spawns after defeating Eadric, possible 2nd boss, in normal Trial of the Champion)

Signet of Hopeful Light - Purchased at the Argent Vanguard at Exalted with the Argent Crusade.

Titanium Spellshock Ring - BoE crafted by Jewelcrafters

Ring of the Frenzied Wolvar - Drops from Gortok Palehoof (2nd boss in heroic Utgarde Pinnacle)

Trinkets

Ephemeral Snowflake - Drops from Marwyn (2nd boss of heroic Halls of Reflection)

Nevermelting Ice Crystal - Drops from Scourgelord Tyrannus (3rd boss of heroic Pit of Saron)

Je'Tze's Bell - BoE world drop

Darkmoon Card: Greatness - BoE quest reward from the Nobles Deck

Darkmoon Card: Illusion - BoE quest reward from the Prisms Deck

The Egg of Mortal Essence - Purchased for 40 Emblems of Heroism from several vendors in Dalaran (Easiest place will be the emblem room in your faction's area)

Spark of Life - Drops from Sjonnir The Ironshaper (Final boss in heroic Halls of Stone)

Talisman of Troll Divinity - Drops from The Prophet Tharon'ja (4th boss of heroic Drak'Tharon Keep)

Forge Ember - Drops from Sjonnir The Ironshaper (Final boss in heroic Halls of Stone)

Soul Preserver - Drops from Dark Runed Chest (Spawns after defeating Mal'Ganis in normal Culling of Stratholme)

Account Security

A raider getting hacked is bad. Even without worrying about the guild bank, their own characters' gear, gold, and such are probably toast, at least till a GM can hopefully restore them.

But you're special, you haven't been hacked. No worries, right?

Bullshit. Doubt anyone that's been hacked ever thought they'd lose their account. No matter what your security is right now, there's probably something more you can do to keep your info safe.

So, you can go read over Blizz's Security Checklist. Some basic info about things you can do to keep your account/computer safe, as well as links for things you want more details on.

But, if for some reason or another, you still get your account stolen, you need to know what to do next.

First, try to get in touch with an officer. Text someone, hop in vent, log into a second account in game and whisper them. Let them know what's going on, and keep them updated throughout the process.

Then, start on the nice shiny blue guide Blizzard so lovingly made up for us because they're also so tired of this crap.

3 main places you may need to contact at Blizzard are:

• Call Billing if any information has been changed on the account: 1 (800) 59-BLIZZARD. This includes password, e-mail, or info with an authenticator.
  
• Open a ticket in game to a GM explaining what you know so far. If you can't get in game, get a friend to, just make sure that the name of one of your characters is in the ticket.
• If you think that whoever is on your account is using it to do Bad Things, e-mail Account Admin with what info you have, so that they have that on file if any reports are sent in: wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com

Now that you've gotten the ball rolling, take some time to figure out exactly how this happened, and how to fix whatever caused it. Blizz's link on types of thefts may help. A post on the CS forum has much more detail, and it may be a bit overwhelming, but if you're having trouble finding the root of the problem I'd check it out.

There's a massive post on the CS forum with most of this info and some more, check it out for more questions.

Want to save yourself most of this trouble? Just get the authenticator already. That said, even with one, don't get careless. Your WoW account likely isn't the only sensitive info on your computer. Bye bye CC info?

OMFG There's a Chick in Vent!

-.-

While most things related to being a female and playing online games have been covered in blog posts over and over, the one I've found to be the most annoying and frequent seems to be a little underwritten.

If you're a girl raider, you probably have experienced something similar. You're in a raid, getting ready to (or in the process of) kicking ass. For some reason or another though, you find it necessary to speak up in vent. If you're in a good guild run, not a big deal normally. In a PuG... Oh dear =(

A recent example perhaps. Was doing ToC 25 on the little druid this past week with a PuG I joined at Twins. We downed them and moved onto Anub. As we were charging in, tank starting to throw things at the boss, I realized no one had mentioned ice. Here, I was faced with two choices:

1. Assume the raid all knows what they're doing, and a ranged dps or three is already planning to take care of that little problem. 
2. Assume that this is in fact a Stonemaul PuG, and that we're all going to die horrible deaths screaming in agony. 

Pretty obvious choice eh? So little old me speaks up in vent. "Who's knocking down the ice?" A few seconds of silence, then: "Are you a white chick?" "Um, maybe?" "Oh good. I've been trying to find one on WoW all day."

First of all, come on. We're in a raid fight, and I'm asking an important question. Secondly, WTF? If you were going for hitting sexist and racist in one sentence, you might have made it there. And I had to ask my question again -.-

And for the record, we did die horrible deaths screaming in agony. Ever seen a tree scream? I't's not pretty.

To be fair, the blame isn't always on the 12 year old boys that freak out in vent when they hear a voice that's higher than theirs. The girl that spends the entire raid flirting with various people in vent? Yeah, you've probably encountered her too.

In yet another 25 ToC pug, this one a few months back, there was such a woman girl. From the moment she logged into vent, she was giggling at every 'amusing' comment one of the boys made, and dropping flirtatious lines left and right. It was obviously annoying some, but enough of the group found her entertaining, and so she kept on.

For the unaware, this type of girl is often bad. And not good bad, I mean bad like dying to fire on Gormok. And then poison on the worms. AND trample on Icehowl. (And yes, she did get 2 battlerezzes. Did you know it was possible for someone to bat their eyelashes verbally? I'm pretty sure that's what happened.)

At this point, I was so ashamed of my gender that I was considering a sex change. Not really. But there was no way in hell I was going to talk in vent after everyone being subjected to this stunning example of the fairer sex. I mean, it would take alot. Such as no one doing interrupts on JarJar. >.>

If there's one good thing about being a woman in voice chat, it's that everyone shuts up when you start talking.

So got JarJar interrupts handled, and I retreat back to my little silent hidey spot. Except when people were calling out different and just plain wrong orders on Faction Champs. So again little Khi steps up and starts doing what I do best: Ordering people around. FC died, and I managed to stay silent for the rest of the run.

After the raid, one of the pugs sent me a tell remarking on the fact that I was such a different example of a female raider than the one that had taken up most of the attention that night. But what he didn't seem to get is that the majority of the women that play WoW are normal players. Anyone that tries to say that girls are worse/better at this game is pretty full of it. Or trying to start something.

That said, the girl players that seem to get the most attention are those like our little pug damsel of my distress. Making a bad name for all us kick ass ladies =(


TL;DR
The boys and the girls need to grow up a bit sometimes.


Mini-rambling-not-quite-rant-done.

And yes Koris, that is the girl you're thinking of. Good news she seems to have disappeared since them =)

Smallish Update

Due to epic failure on the part of ATT, after getting back from the holidays, I had one day of fun before the internet died for 2.5 weeks. I'll skip the rage here, but maaaan that sucked >.< Sadly, that, combined with sporadic raid attendance during the hols means that I've been bumped from raider to waitlist-er. So, with ICC being conquered by other adventurers, had a bit of time on my hands =\ The good news is I've gotten quite a bit done since getting back online Tuesday.

With Khiow, other than Emblems of Frost, there's not a whole lot of progress I can do without a raid. I'll be crafting him the ICC boots early next week, and I think I'll have enough badges for the T10 helm on Tuesday. Other than one random heroic a day though, he's not seeing much action. *sadface*

Khite still had a bit of gear to get from Triumph badges, but looks like I'm done with that now. There are still 2 pieces outa Halls of Reflection she could use, but other than that, she's in the same situation as Khiow. Need more raids =\

And that brings us to the main reason for this post... Little druid Khilana *grin* And yes, she is my second 80 druid. On the same server. And yup, she's a tree too. Her offspec is kitty while Khiow's is boomkin, so a little different. I got her from 77 to 80 this week, and I've been getting her gear and sneaking into raids since then. She killed the Twins, and almost Anub (fucking 3% wipe with a pug) in ToC 25, and has been very very rapidly getting gear. I think I'll have my 4 piece T9 later today.

I know Blizzard wanted to make it easier for us to gear up new players or alts, but I think they made it a bit too easy. Khilana's been 80 for 2 days, and she's almost ready for ToC10/Uld25. And that's with only 1 crafted/BoE item. Don't misunderstand me... For me right now, this is fun. It rocks. I've got epics coming out my ass. But it's not really a challenge. When I hit 70 back in BC, it was weeks later that I got my first epic. And I had to work for that. But now? It's like they're candy.

I dunno. I like many of the changes that Blizz has made over the years, but I'm getting to the point where I want more of a challenge with some things. The hardest thing about most raids is fighting my computer =\ When they first made the changes with Emblems of Conquest dropping everywhere, I liked the idea in general, but thought they should have only bumped it one rank. IE, Valors drop everywhere, but EoC were still restricted to Uld 25, and EoT only coming from ToC. And now, with Triumphs everywhere, I'm going back to that idea. Conquest badges now would be a good stepping stone, but require people to still spend some time, effort, and blood to get ready for progression raiding.

*shrug* Just my opinions. What do ya'll think? If you've hit 80 since 3.3, how have you liked the gearing process? If you've had new players join your raiding team, do you think the lack of difficulty has been a good thing or a bad thing? Cake or pie?

...
Dammit.
Now I want cake.

Recommended Reading: Week of 11-22

As I'm expecting 3.3 to hit tomorrow or next week, I've been trying to significantly lower the amount of time I've spent on WoW for the past few days... It's working, but now I'm getting bored >.>

But fortunately for us, not everyone has decided to take a break, and some interesting blog posts have been shared this week.

Many of us trees have off specs, though they might be a little less loved, the furry or feathery sides of us need attention too. Over at the Big Bear Butt Blogger, BBB posted a little guide on how to get some starting gear for a bear tank. Graylo at Grey Matter did the digging for us, and found some blue posts on the 3.3 moonkin changes, and gave us his take on the matter.

Speaking of 3.3, Lissanna over at Restokin is taking a survey to help her get a good idea of the audience before she updates her healing guide. She also posted some potential talent builds once the patch hits with some discussion on each.

Since it seems quite a few of us missed it, Blizz will be adding new Kirin Tor rings in the patch. They'll be iLvl 251, and pretty nice. While we're on the subject of new items, I did a little review of trinkets that will be available for us trees through Icecrown. Last but not least on the subject of 3.3 changes, a forum post over at Plus Heal has a pretty nice discussion on glyph choices.

And finally, a little fun... Keredria over at Tree of Life found a website that will figure out the personality type of your blog. Pretty cool, eh?

On a different note, though I did a pretty extensive one on 3.2, I'm not planning to do a big post or series of posts on 3.3 for trees. Just about everything has been covered somewhere, and I just don't know that I have the time right now to spend hours and hours researching and linking and writing. That said, if we end up with 18 hours of downtime and I'm just itching to do something WoW related, one might show up >.>

3.3 Items: Tasty Tree Trinkets

*Warning: Wall of text incoming. Be prepared*

I'm only including trinkets that I think are truly GOOD for resto druids. There are some that are decent, and perhaps even good with odd gear or spec combinations, but my list is based on what the majority of raiding trees will be looking for. My personal preference is normally towards reliable trinkets, where the effect is not based on a chance proc or on use. I don't always get my wish, but you may find this list biased that way just a little =)

The Pretties

Ephemeral Snowflake
Let me mop up a little drool here...
First, the haste use effect is very nice. I've been hoping for a reliable haste trinket, but an on use is not a bad choice here. What makes this trinket truly amazing is the mana restore, which procs off of EACH TICK of our heals, including overheals. According to a WoWHead commenter,

for example: means wildgrowth with glyph gives 6 targets a hot which ticks every second for seven seconds:
wildgrowth = 643 mana
trinket returns: 7 * 6 * 11 mana = 462 mana

A 6 target healing spell that costs less than 200 mana? *fwibble* Unless I get to the gear point where mana is insignificant and my haste is higher than I'd like, I'd consider this one of the BiS trinkets. And one of the best things about it, this trinket drops from one of the 5 man heroic instance. Anyone should be able to obtain this, so good luck with the drop =)

Nevermelting Ice Crystal
This one I'm a little iffy on still. It's easy to obtain, dropping from one of the 5 man heroics, and has a decent amount of spell power. While the on use effect is going to be pretty underpowered in most situations, with 4pc T9, it becomes vastly more appealing. For a tree with the 4 set bonus that's not having mana issues, this could be a very nice trinket, but I think I'll be leaving it taking up bagspace myself. I honestly expect to see the CD on the use lowered a bit, or perhaps the effect itself buffed slightly, but even then it's not quite as appealing in most situations or gear levels.

Althor's Abacus
Depending on how this proc works, this is either going to end up being a BiS trinket for many, or a very situational trinket. IF this can proc from WG, IF it is a smart heal and will try to land on someone that actually needs the health, or IF the internal CD is reasonable, this could be great. Unfortunately, there seem to be too many unknowns still. At worst, this will be something I'd pick up to use on heavy raid damage fights. At best, I'll be fighting most of our healers to try and pick it up. This looks to drop from 25 man Gunship battle, so it will be available with the first stage of the content release, but hopefully we'll see some testing results soon.

Show of Faith
Or any of it's previous incarnations (Je'Tze's Bell, Sif's Remembrance). This has been a popular trinket model for all of Wrath, but lately I've been seeing more and more trees replacing it with different choices. That said, it is still a good trinket if you're lucky enough to find one available. The Show is from 25 Yogg +1 or +0, Sif's is off of 10 Thorim HM, and the Bell can be picked up off your local auction house for a few Kg on most servers. This provides approximately 65-80 Mp5, so keep that in mind when comparing against your other options.

Solace of the Fallen
In comparison, the normal version of this trinket provides a reliable 128 Mp5. The heroic version is even more amazing, but not everyone is lucky enough to have that available *Innocent whistle* If needed, the normal and heroic versions of this trinket do stack, but most of us won't need that much Mp5. It is a very very shiny trinket, and most 25 raiding guilds are killing Jaraxxus on a pretty regular basis, so not the most difficult to obtain.

Spark of Hope
Even though spirit is no longer the chocolate that it was for us trees, it is still one of our most powerful stats. The Spark grants about 20 spellpower and 250 mp5 for us, and while it's not one of the best trinkets out there, it is a decent choice for a 10 raiding resto, or a tree that's having some serious mana issues.

Gnome... It's what's for dinner.

The Unmentionables

Now, time for a little fun. These next two are trinkets that are currently not quite nice enough to make my list, but I'd not be shocked to see changed.

Purified Lunar Dust
Currently, compared to even the normal version of the Solace, this is a pretty disappointing trinket. If it ends up having a 45 second CD, even with the 19 iLvl difference this is going to give lower Mp5 and only 3 more spell power. I expect to either see this buffed pretty significantly, or the internal CD made very short. That said, it is obtainable through Emblems of Frost, which will make it a decent choice for some raiders.

Sliver of Pure Ice
Currently, the Mp5 from this trinket will typically match what you'd be getting from the Show of Faith, and that's only if the player is activating the use effect on cooldown each time. Even if it does end up getting buffed to be competitive, I'm not particularly fond of the mana pot type use, but it could end up being a decent option for 10 man raiders. As of this writing, it seems that it's drop location is still unknown, so it may end up that this trinket isn't even available for a good while after the first stage of Icecrown Citadel opens.


TL; DR
"Khi, just quit jabbering and tell me what trinkets to pick!"
Well, it's always going to depend on your gear, spec, the encounter, and you're role. That said, basic ideas...

10m Raiders
Ephemeral Snowflake
Sif's Remembrance
Nevermelting Ice Crystal

25m Raiders
Ephemeral Snowflake
Solace of the Fallen
Althor's Abacus

5 Years Later...

Well, it's the 5th Anniversary of the World of Warcraft. Some of us have been around since the beginning, some of us have been here just a few short months.

The game itself has changed, grown, and evolved into something that at times barely resembles the original game that so many started to play. One of the main draws to WoW has always been it's dungeon and raid system. A baby character can begin their journey into instances before they even hit level 10, and characters at max level can spend hours upon hours combating the powerful evils that plague Azeroth.

Levels 1 - 30 

The early stages of Vanilla WoW have always been more about learning your character's class and abilities, and about the world itself. My favorite instance early on would probably be Deadmines. The instance is easy enough that characters can complete it on level, but it still encourages players to make cautious pulls at times, and work together as a team in order to overcome the encounters. For any Alliance character that's taken the time, the quest chains that end in Deadmines reveal some fascinating lore that continues to be relevant to the game for a long long time.


Levels 31-60

This was honestly a difficult choice... I really love some of the instances and raids in here, but there are several true stand outs. Scarlet Monastery is an amazing place for a character to level, and the different wings allows a group to choose where they next adventure. Maraudon is still the most beautiful instance in the game, and the length of it truly makes a group feel they have accomplished something great when finally killing Princess.

However, even with all of that, Blackrock Depths is the most epic 5 man instance in the game. Even now, it is the longest 5 man in the entire game, and has more bosses than most raids. You are here, in the empire of the Dark Iron dwarves, trudging your way to their leader to attempt to end some of the corruption. It's a long, hard, frustrating instance, but with a group that's willing to work for it and stick around, probably still my favorite instance in the entire game.

Outland

With the release of Blizzard's first expansion for the World of Warcraft, in addition to new races, a new profession, and 10 more levels for a character to gain, an entire new world and it's dungeon's was made available. The Tempest Keep instances were all fun, but challenging in their own ways. Magister's Terrace and Sunwell, even after they were nerfed, were designed well to challenge those that tried to take them on. Kara is still an amazing instance, with a great storyline and variety of encounters. Nearly all raids of the Burning Crusade expansion are epic in their proportions, and by introducing the 25 and 10 player raiding, Blizzard made it so that more than just a tiny portion of the playerbase was able to step foot inside.

All of that said, the Caverns of Time instances, with the method they introduced of letting players witness and participate in historical events, were some of the best dungeons we've seen in the game so far. The 5 mans were interesting, challenging, but still fun for anyone that was prepared to tackle their evils. The Battle for Mount Hyjal was just amazing, and so different than anything most players had encountered before. And, love it or hate it, the attunement process did limit those able to venture inside to the select elite that were able to defeat the very worst of the tier beforehand, making them believe that they had fully earned their right to take on the evils of the past.

Northrend and Beyond


Now, it's your turn! What is your favorite instance or raid of the current expansion? What are some things you'd be excited to see introduced in Cataclysm? What makes a dungeon amazing, or terrible, in your opinion?

All images here were borrowed from WoWWiki =)

Why Yogg is Still Hard When I Outgear him by a Ton

So, for anyone who's not done Yogg before, he has several phases that are all decently complicated, and that's without hardmode.

However, even though I've killed him several times over, I find phase 1 to be very very very hard sometimes.

Main goal in phase 1, don't hit the clouds. There are evil green clouds that float their way sinisterly around the room. When you touch one, it spawns an add that attempts to slaughter your raid. One probably won't be successful. If two clouds are bumped, most raids are gonna be making a corpse run.

Now, for a player that's done the fight several times, avoiding the clouds becomes fairly simple. Unless you've got a special computer.

This is where a screenshot would be great, but I'll do my best...

The clouds lie.

The clouds that show up on my screen are not in the same places that they really are. So I'll be running through empty space and causing adds to spawn, all while seeing other people running through 3-4 clouds and nothing happening.

Makes for a great attempt. >.<

Luckily, if I realize it at the beginning of the fight (IE, when I see the tank running through 3 clouds on his way to Sara) I can just hide by the door and do nothing for all of phase 1.

And really, I need to find better things to do when I've sat myself for a raid >.>

LF Guild: Let's App!

Before we get going, if you haven't, check out my first post about joining a guild here. That covers some details of what exactly may be looked at on your character, and so some things you can do BEFORE applying to improve your chances.

First, make sure that you've read the guild's rules. Spend some time poking around their website for any other information that's available. In addition to being very very important information, these may also give you a heads up if the guild is right for you. Speak with an officer or other long term guild member if you have any questions.

Make sure that you are geared appropriately for the content that they are working on. If you're a fresh 80, don't app to a guild that's progressing through 25ToGC. You're going to do nothing but embarrass yourself and frustrate the members of that raiding team. *Occasionally, you'll come across a guild that is so desperate to find a certain class or spec that they're willing to take the time to gear them up. If you're lucky enough to find such a need, be prepared to work your butt off and earn your place. However, NEVER assume this is the case unless it's explicitly stated.*

Now, to the fun part =D

Copy the application questions and paste them into a word processor of your choice. It helps to answer them all here, and then once you're finished, submit it through whatever process you were asked to. If it's a fill in the blank webform, just paste your answers in. If you were asked to e-mail the finished app to an officer, paste the entire thing (questions and answers).

Treat your guild application like a job application. Remember, you're trying to show them that you would be a valuable member for their raiding team.

Fill out each and every question completely. If there's a question that you are unable to answer, at least explain why. Remember, more detail is better than less.

8) We require full personal buffs for progression raids. What consumables (flasks, potions, stat foods) do you use in raids?

Yes

This, is a bad answer. Good answer to the same question?

8) We require full personal buffs for progression raids. What consumables (flasks, potions, stat foods) do you use in raids?

I use Flask of the Frost Wyrm, warlock firestone, Fel Armor, Fish Feast (if one isn't provided then Firecracker Salmon)

Make it a priority to log out in your raiding gear and spec. If you apply to a high end raiding guild as a mage, and constantly log out in your PvP gear, they're eventually going to tire of trying to catch you at the right time and just move on to the next applicant.

Be honest! Most questions on your app have ways of being verified, and lies can get very very nasty when the truth comes out.


One very common question is about guild histories. Here, you want to be honest, but not gossipy. If you left your previous guild because you and the GM got into a screaming fight in vent, a good way to word your reasoning for leaving might be "Unresolvable difference of opinion with leadership." If you're specifically asked for more info, then provide it, but keep things polite. A general guideline, try to keep it something that would not destroy your relationships with any former guild mates if they were to see it.  Showing that you can treat everyone with respect, even those you don't get along with, can be a good plus for any applicant.

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you probably have come across some of my posts about the very ugly implosion of Narrschkeit. Even though there were hard feelings on both side after I finally left, I did my very best in my app to not talk shit about them.

With Khiow, only former guild was Narrschkeit. It essentially came down to the fact that my goals for the raiding group and guild at a whole were very different from most of the other officers and a large chunk of the raiders. 

 Another common question is in regards to references/guild members that can vouch for you. Read such a question very very carefully. If it is simply asking if there is anyone that has run with you before, feel free to list anyone that you remember. However, most forms will ask for someone that can provide a reference. Just like a job application, they're looking for someone that can tell them honest, but good things about you. Always always always ask before putting a player's name down.

For example, Resurgence recently had an app where the player put down several names in his 'Vouch For Me' question, and at least 2 of those commented on the thread stating that the only times they had ever run with the app they were absolutely terrible and had an awful attitude. Didn't do much for his odds methinks =\

Now, you've answered all the questions, spellchecked the entire form, proofread it for any stupid typos. You're almost ready to send in your totally awesome application of doom.

WAIT!

Are you in a guild right now? Unless it's just a bank guild, there's something you should consider. It's always going to depend on the specific situation, but if you want to do your best not to burn your bridges, I believe it's a very good idea to speak with your guild leader or another officer before submitting an application elsewhere. Do your best to speak with a very reasonable and level headed player when at all possible. Let them know basically why you no longer wish to be in your current guild, tell them that you have been looking and you're planning to apply to a different guild, and explain that you are letting them know so that they have some info on what's happening and can start making any preparations they need to.

For example, if you're the main tank of your 25m guild, that raiding team needs as much advanced notice as possible to start shuffling players and gear in order to have someone ready to fill that vital role once you are no longer there.

 Now, your turn! What are some things you've run into as an applicant or as a guild member that can help/hurt in the application process?

25 Heroic Beasts

FINALLY, after weeks of working on them and wiping over and over and changing strats and people and blech... They're dead.

JarJar didn't go down tonight, but we made a large bit of progress on him. We'll see about next week ^.~

Raidy, Yoggy, Bloggy

 We've been working on 25ToGC for a few weeks after clearing the normal mode, and Northrend Beasts will die soon. I think.  As I write this, I'm currently on the wait list and listening to attempts in Vent. Was sat since my internet today + the server lag we've had the last few days = fail, but it's alright. I can be a sexy tree out here by the vendors.

In other progress though, our late night 10 Ulduar group has been regularly making it to Yogg even though it's largely an alt group. This week, we had a fresh night to work on it and teach all us newbies the fight.





Oh look, he's dead!

I think that only one piece of loot even went for an offspec, but that's okay... The fight was fun once I knew what I was doing =D


Been working on Hallow's End, but Khiow is still short a squashling, Khilana short a toothpick, and Khite needs to do the grindy stuff and find a squashling.

Finally, some news about the future of this blog. Currently, the druid, resto in particular, area of the blogosphere (Yes, I think I made that word up. Bite me) has an amazing set of writers and a large selection of blogs. The negative side to that is a large majority of the posts I get ideas for have been done several times over. For example, the day after some 3.3 patch notes were released and the T10 models posted, half the druid blogs on my blog roll had similar posts about them. They were all a bit different, and unique to their writers, but still the same topic. Leadership however, the other area I have been blogging about, is something I'm getting almost no inspiration about as I'm no longer in a leadership position =)

So, with all of that, this blog, as you've seen recently, is going to be much more a blog about my personal adventures in game. I still will have some druid, raiding, or general leadership posts from time to time, but not as often.

And now, the secret! All of that said, I believe I have found an area of the WoW blogging community that has been touched on very little and that I feel I know a good bit about. I'm attempting to get it fully set up and some basic posts up before I start referring people that way, but keep an eye out =)

Update and teh Alcohol

Biggest news is I finally left my guild... I really like many of the people in , and that's one of the reasons I left quite a few alts including my 80 DK in guild. I spent about a week really researching other raiding guilds on our server, and several caught my eye. 

Last Sunday a friend in   asked me to come heal their 10m Ulduar alt run. Apparently they've been low on trees, and I made a pretty good impression, as the GM contacted my friend a few days later and asked him to convince me to apply. Made me a very very happy tree, especially as that was my first choice guild. Of course, the pressure's really on now, especially as I don't have a single piece of gear above Ulduar 10, and they're working on Uld 25 HM and ToGC 25. 


In other news...

Tips for Tanks

I'm still here! Sorry for the lack of posts these few weeks, but RL and in-game responsibilities have hit in full force, and blogging was one area that got it's time significantly cut down. (And seriously, Cure Disease should take care of the flu. Just sayin')

Also, I need your help! As a follow up to my post about guild app checking, I would like to do a real review of an 80 resto druid. Looking for someone that's possibly new to 80, new to the raiding scene, or perhaps took a break and is just now trying to really get their character geared up and ready to kick some ass. If you'd be interested in being a lab rat, please let me know either through a comment or e-mail, and we'll discuss some details =)

And now, on with the show!

Er, post.

Right.

/stealth