Feb 26

Hortus posted today that another version of Life Tap will be implemented on an upcoming PTR build (which, by the way, means that this isn’t the last build–have to wait some more for 2.4). I don’t know what the change will be yet, but I do know that warlocks all over are complaining like crazy about the previous Life Tap nerf!

Related posts:

1. Another Change due to PvP Balancing
2. Big 2.4 PTR Changes!
3. Patch 2.4
4. New WoW Model Viewer Works with 3.x
5. WotLK in Closed Alpha, or So They Say

Feb 26

My hunter, Sidara, hit level 54 just the other day. I’m getting closer and closer to level 58, the level you can head through the Dark Portal and into Outland. So my question, then, is should I, or should I wait until level 60? There are arguments for both sides.

If you go to Outland at level 58, those last two levels come extremely fast. With the 2.3 XP change and the increased experience offered by Outland quests and mobs, it won’t take as long to hit 60 as it would if I stayed in old world Azeroth. However, if I stay in the old world and level in, say, Winterspring or Silithus, the beginning Outland quests will be easier, and the quests I would have done 58-60 could be done in my 60s, leaving more quests to do once I hit 70, and questing at 70 is a great way to earn money.

So, what do you think? Hit Outland at 58, or be patient for another day or two and hold out until 60?

Related posts:

1. My Decision about Outland
2. Welcome to Outland! Again.
3. Can I Make It?
4. Patch 2.3 and the Experience Curve
5. BA Shared Topic: Preparing for Wrath of the Lich King

Feb 25

My highest level character is a warlock, and I’ve finally been hit by the recent trend over at Blizzard HQ to make changes to spells and talents to balance out PvP, quoting that the PvE game will “not notice a significant” difference. So what is it this time? Life Tap.

Before 2.4, Life Tap would take X health and convert it to X mana. Now, it’ll take 15% of base health and convert it to 15% of base mana. That means a smaller return on my mana for a larger chunk of my health. I haven’t tested this on the PTR yet, but I don’t think I’ll like this one too much–unless they change warlock itemization to include less staina and more intellect, which means that I’ll get more mana when using Life Tap due to 15% of my base mana being larger.

Related posts:

1. New Life Tap Getting Another Look?
2. My Favorite WotLK Change So Far
3. Big 2.4 PTR Changes!
4. Paid Name Change
5. Patch 2.4

Feb 21

A long time ago, I created a rogue named Sidara. Later, I created a hunter name Allania. It has become apparent to me recently that Allania will be my main; I also play Sidara, but not very often. But I liked the name Sidara better, for various reasons. Enter paid name changes.

You can pay $10 to change the name of any of your characters to any other available name. Afterwards, the old name is not availble for 90 days, and you cannot change that character’s name again for 90 days. This makes it time consuming (two 90-day cooldowns) to switch two characters names. Luckily, I posted my conundrum in the forums and a nice blue post helped me out.

You can read the post for yourself, but in the end, my hunter is now named Sidara and my rogue will be named something else. I know it sounds silly to some of you to pay $10 simply to change a character’s name, but to someone like me who is into the lore and roleplaying, it’s not much at all.

Related posts:

1. My Favorite WotLK Change So Far
2. Moving Forward
3. My Plans for WotLK and Beyond
4. The Big 5-0
5. New Life Tap Getting Another Look?

Feb 20

It’s a long, sort-of-fun sort-of-annoying quest line, but I decided to try and get a Sprite Darter non-combat pet. I love the little things in the game, and this type of thing is one of them.

Even though the questing to get this little guy is a bit intensive, the experience you gain is pretty nice, and the pet is pretty unique. (It’s a pretty obscure quest chain that starts in Feralas–does anyone go there anymore? Aparrently I do!) You can tell something in the game is pretty unique, because people keep whispering “Where’d you get that?”

Along those lines, I recently also got [Dartol's Rod of Transformation] on the same character. I love shopping the auction house and going to the bank/mailbox and seeing everyone look at you like, “Eh?” Tons of people whisper me then, too, “How do you get Furbolg Form?” Actually, the item is used for a quest, but if you don’t accept the quest to take it back to the original quest-giver, you can keep the rod without a quest clogging up your quest log. And it has unlimited charges!

What’s even funnier is the amount of people who have this thing! Tons of people have walked up to me, turned to face me, and next thing you know they’re a furbolg twin! So funny. I like to craft it in too, because the animations aren’t complete–as soon as you start to make something, you freeze completely! Tons of fun.

Related posts:

1. Into the Beta
2. New Stuff in Kara
3. Turbo-Charged Flying Machines
4. I Love Being a Feral Druid
5. 2.4.3

Feb 19

Patch 2.4 just keep evolving before our eyes. Among the latest news is that [Primal Nether]s and [Nether Vortex]es won’t be bind on pickup anymore. This has sparked controversy both to and for the change, but it looks like it’s gonna stay in, so we’ll see how it plays out.

In other news, I downloaded the PTR client and tested out my hunter, and the pet pathing problems I’ve been having seem to have been fixed. Man, here’s hoping, cause it’s starting to get painful.

Related posts:

1. Pets Walking into Combat
2. Other Great WoW Blogs – Hunter
3. Mods for 2.4 Coming Around
4. Another Change due to PvP Balancing
5. My Addon: Nice Try

Feb 19

Well, I’ve pretty much decided that my hunter will be my main character. So I’ve been pushing out the levels, and last night I finally hit 50. Not a huge milestone, but a milestone, none-the-less. Sad thing was, there were no big skills. I put one extra point into the Marksmanship tree, so I didn’t even get the 41-point MM spell. And for hunters, level 60 isn’t really that great either–you just get Tranquilizing Shot, which for a level 60 spell, isn’t that great. Used to be practically required for raiding, but not anymore.

Oh well.  I’m just looking forward to heading to Outland! …again.

Related posts:

1. My Decision about Outland
2. Outland at 58 or 60?
3. My Plans for WotLK and Beyond
4. Why I Love Druids
5. New Stuff in Kara

Feb 19

WOW Insider did a great article on how to quit your guild if you’re unhappy, covering both what not to do and what to do to make it as drama free as possible. An excellent read, unless you’re sure you’ll always be in your current guild!

Related posts:

1. Other Great WoW Blogs – Hunter
2. Even a Single Kara Pugger
3. Most Incredible Machinima Ever
4. That’s a Lot of Honorable Kills
5. WotLK in Closed Alpha, or So They Say

Feb 16

I found this on the World of Warcraft forums, and thought I would pee my pants I was laughing so hard.You can view the original post, but I’ve copied it here for better readability.

You raid with these people. You work with these people. These people are closer than your family. You should worry.

Read more… »

Related posts:

1. Changes to Debuffs, Buffs, and Raid Stacking
2. Patch 2.4: People are Far Too Optimistic
3. PUGs
4. So You’re Off to BT/Hyjal: A Guide by Gragnarth
5. Why Gearing for Naxx Matters to Me

Feb 14

Man I really hate PUGs. Well, late me try that again: I hate most PUGs. I’ve been in PUGged instances that went better than most guild runs. Those folks are now on my friends list. But I’ve been in PUGs that really sucked, too. Like my most recent Stockades run…

I was playing around in SW on my hunter when I saw the call go out: “LF1M healer for Stocks.” Except without capital letters. And no punctuation. And actually I think “healer” and “Stocks” were spelled wrong. Anyway.

I had a level 23 druid with a healing “set” (just some low level stuff with +int and +spi instead of my +stam and +agil I was in at the time). So I whisper, and they accepted. I logged, hearthed, grabbed my heaing stuff and headed in.

Immediately, it became aparrent the tank couldn’t hold aggro against more than one mob. Luckily, the DPS focused on one mob, so that was okay, but I was pulling aggro with rejuvenation, the most threat-friendly spell I knew. Then, we we got to the boss, the hunter wanted his pet to tank it. Why? We have a warrior. He can tank it. I think.

So anyway, we finally make it through the instance, the tank barely waiting for the mana classes, the hunter insisting on tanking every major boss, and the shaman barely casting a spell at all. And when we get to the end–get this–the tank says “good group,” and everyone agrees!

This is why I have NotesUNeed. They go on it, I go about my way. But man I hate PUGs…

Related posts:

1. Two Pugs Enter: Stupidity vs. Ignorance
2. A Day of (Mostly) Good PuGs
3. Why Can’t I Decide?
4. My Decision about Outland
5. Moving Forward