Addons for next week

EDIT: I'm keeping this post up to date as I'll be directing people to it for info about my UI setup.

New Versions of stuff I'm using

• Bartender 3 - replacing Bartender 2, which I'm currently enjoying
• AG Unit Frames
• oCB - simple cast bar replacement
• Prat - All purpose chat mod
• ElkBuffBar - Much nicer looking buff/debuff timers
• OneBag and OneBank - as it sounds, consolidates your bags and bank.
• GMail - Simply an Ace2'd version of CTMailMod.
• FuBar - Says it's updated... But kept throwing errors last night.
• ClearFont - simply replaces the default font in WoW to a much easier to read font.

Stuff that sounds interesting but I haven't played with yet.

• Clique - As benecast and the like are going the way of the dodo, I think click casting is what we're left with
• KC_Items - Looks like an ACE'd version of Auctioneer. I'll definitely give it a look-see.
• ACE UI - cause comand line entry just plain sucks.
  

Stuff I really want replaced, but haven't found yet (well, I know where they are, but haven't found a WoW 2.0 version).

• TheoryCraft - Such a great program. I love having the average damage for my abilities visible on my buttons. For healing it makes it much easier to select the right heal based on the damage sustained on my target.
  

I know there are lots that I"m leaving out, but that'll have to wait.

EDIT (12/13) - I am still getting a ton of errors form the addons on my laptop, having to disable several of them. I managed to get the Auctioneer beta, so I'm back to my usual AH routine. KC Items was nice, but I just couldn't manage to get it set up right. Bottom Scanner, packed with Auctioneer, is interesting, but I think it ultimately needs more work before I'll really try to mess with it.

What is particularly odd about this is that I get different errors after copying the addons folder directly from my Desktop. I'm not sure what is going on there, but may kill most of my saved variables folder and see if that helps.

Pwnd in RFC

Now, I don't generally like to use 'l33t' speak, but I do feel it is appropriate in this instance. Last night Nascere (level 14 priest), Lugnut (level 14 Warrior), and Coberg (level 15 Hunter) tried RFC and got our butts kicked. None of us were well geared nor highly skilled at our class. The hunter's pet did a majority of the tanking, so Lugnut was short on Rage. We could handle the single and double pulls, but at three we wiped. My mana bar would run out about 3/4 of the way through the fight and I had many dead pets on my conscience :P N0t to mention a plethora of wipes or sprints to the instance portal. I am also responsible for training about 15 Troggs to us while getting ready to clear the cavern where the dead Tauren is...

Wrapped a few quests up with Laic but 40 still eludes me. I think I may have to just plug away and ignore everything else for a bit. Moved him over to Swamp of Sorrows as I read there is a decent quest chain there. If all else fails I'll just find a grind and do it.

WoW 2.0 is now announced for next Tuesday. I'm quite anxious for it as it looks to offer a TON of new stuff. Perhaps not new content (aka instances), but with new talents and spells it will feel like a content rich patch. I am really looking forward to an in-combat Wyvern Sting with Laic. Just think it will be sweet.

What part of the patch are you, faithful reader, excited about? Talent changes, UI changes, macro changes, new spells, new honor system, or something completely different?

So close...just couldn't finish

So, I hopefully will ding 40 tonight with Laic. I planned on doing so last night but I hit a batch of very low motivation and after being in game for an hour while accomplishing NOTHING I gave up and logged off. Tonight is RP night and I am looking forward to some RFC goodness with Nascere. I have main healed very few instances so it will still be an educational experience for me. I am also not using any of the 'healer' addons as I want to learn to do it before WoW 2.0 lands. As I type this it occurs to me that I'm really learning to heal on my level 14 toon and not on my level 36. Just haven't done that much grouping with Repentant...

Speaking of WoW 2.0, I logged onto the test servers this AM just to play around a bit. After looking at the talents in front of me, Sakuran will be going 41/5/5 for PvP goodness until the expansion when she will be respeccing for something in a combat sword build, probably 11/40/0. Talent point at 61 would go to Surprise attacks and then go towards filling out the Assassination tree. I would imagine that I'll spec back to daggers when I hit 70. Swords>daggers for grinding, but daggers>swords for PvP.

Laic will certainly be going for 40 points in survival. The change to Aimed Shots just doesn't make it that important anymore (that change being that it resets your shot timer), it'll still be nice for an opening strike, but you'll not be seeing it used in combat anymore. I'm really looking forward to Wyvern Sting, which in BC can be used in combat. Got an add? Put it to sleep for 12 seconds, lay a trap and have a half dead mob by the time it gets to you. Also looks like my pet is getting a decent buff. Will have to really look at the numbers, but off the top of my head I'd say that the armor was up by about 200 points. Has anyone seen what the conversion is on hunter stats to pet buff?

On burnout, distractions, and the Burning Crusade

So, I write this post after playing very little in the last week. A nice 4 day weekend would usually mean lots of WoW for me, but not so. In my last post I mentioned that I got my Wii on Wednesday, best console ever. I played it pretty exclusively Thursday and Friday. After literally huting my arms play Rayman Raving Rabbids I did take a bit of a break and play some WoW Friday night.

I have been enjoying my Forsaken Priest, Nascere who is now level 14. I think the quests in undead zone are about the only newb ones I haven't worked on, so that was a pleasent change. It's also odd to play on a server where you don't have piles of gold. I actually couldn't afford all my spells at level 14. 12s a piece and 5 spells means one broke priest. I find it shocking that I may need to start farming at level 14 :P

Later on that night I ended up assisting with a Deadmines run. Now, I could have just grabbed Sakuran and cleared it for the group, but instead I brought repentant and focused on healing. It was a decent run with minimal deaths until we got trained twice in a row heading up to VC. As it was very late I called it a night.

Saturday I went out of town to do some Christmas shopping and get our car looked at. Spent more money than planned, which is always fun, discovered that nobody on the face of the planet carries the Wii Nunchuk. That evening I logged Nascere for a bit finishing up a few quests.

Sunday after church I logged onto Lamentation and grouped with a buddy of mine, Reverenddan. We worked on the quest on the way to Menthil where they have you kill some orcs. Good fun. He's just learning to tank and pull so it was a bloody affair. Doesn't help that I go DPS crazy either... After that I logged Sakuran to run him through the stockades for a quest he had. Do I need to mention that I love 1-shot ambushing mobs? Lastly spent an hour or so on Laic questing in Arathi Highlands.

Later that evenging I went back to Lamentation to group with my buddy and actually got my wife to log Saian, her Warlock. The three of us made short work of the gnolls north of Lakeshire. After my wife logged (sleepy girl), Reverenddan and I spent forever working on the Redridge Goulash. I've got to say that the drop rates on the Though Condor Meat suck, plain and simple. Why, oh why, do those quest items have what feels like a 7% drop rate?

As I mentioned in my title, I'm feeling a bit of WoW burnout. I'm not really interested in doing anything with Sakuran as BC is just around the corner. Levelling alts is okay, but it feels kinda like work. Honestly I'm having a lot more fun with the Wii, so wouldn't be very surprised if I put WoW on the back burner till BC, or at least this new patch.

Thinking about patch builds

Okay, as the patch is coming soon, I'm trying to think about what builds I go with once I have to respec. It also makes sense to plan these out till 70, so that's where I'll be doing with that

• Sakuran will likely go 31/15/5 at 60 I'd level to 31/25/5 and likely respec depending on what my guild is doing at the time.
  
• Repentant who is at 36 will go 0/0/26 with a goal of 20/0/41 at 70.
• Laic, whose talents are a mess right now will go 0/0/29 with a goal of 0/21/40.

Those are the only of my characters that I've really given much thought to. As far as my Shaman, Warrior, and Mage are concerned what do the experts out there suggest for a level 70 build?

Illness, Guitar Hero 2, a Hunter, a Priest, and my Wii

Okay, so been pretty crazy in RL recently. My son was very sick all of last week, had to take him to the ER and everything. Doing better now, but then my wife and I got sick, so fun all around.

Got Guitar Hero 2 for my birthday, I forget how much fun that game is. Two-player coop with Lead/Rhythm/Bass tracks is a blast, not to mention variable difficulties. So I can practice the Lead line on Expert while my wife tags along on Easy Bass. Should be a good time for a while. Don't knock Freebird, it's insanely hard there at the end.

Haven't played Sakuran much at all. I'm sure she'll lose Rank 8 today, which is fine. Been spending most of my time on Laic, got him from level 36 to nearly 39 in the last week. I would like him to hit 50 before BC lands, though that may be difficult. Never underestimate how freaking easy it is to grind with a hunter. Hunter's Mark-> Pet Attack->Aimed Shot-> Serpent Sting-> Feign Death-> Autoshot. Works every time.

Started a Forsaken Priest on our RP server, named Nascere. Backstory:

I was beautiful...once...

I have few memories of my life then...mostly I see images like a painting...my families estate...the Temple of the Light... Some things I only remember as a feeling, like the first time I saw the Light...such warmth and comfort... I was beautiful then, not that such things were important to me...but it is easier to be humble when you have it all...

When the Plauge came I saw my friends and family succumb...I fought with such ferocity I have never known...little difference it made... I spent an eternity as a slave to the Lich King, all I can recall from that time is the compulsion...the rage...the hunger... All my faith and training in the Light could not prepare me for that... For that eternity I saw not the Light, I felt not it's warmth, just the compulsion...

Upon awakening recently the compulsion was gone, though the aches of hunger remain... The Light is distant, though I can again catch a glimmer of it... I have wandered a great while in this shell... Where once I was beautiful, I am now little better than the mindless corpses that shamble about in graveyards on moonless nights, still slaves to the Lich King...still bound by the compulsion...

I have stuggled to feel the Light again...to feel it's warmth... Though I can still call upon the Light, it's power is no longer the comfort it once was... I can feel the power flow through my body...but it is no longer warm...no longer comforting... Perhaps as my very body and existance have been perverted by the Lich King...can he have perverted the Light against me? I know not the answers to such things...but I intend to find them...

I once walked in the Light, comforted by its warmth...and I have walked in the Shadow bound by the compulsion...now I walk between them, neither warmed by the Light nor bound in the Shadow... I exist in the penumbral regions...where scholars have yet to walk.

I was beautiful once...now I am Forsaken

Pretty fun playing new quests as this is offically my highest Forsaken character at level 9. I hope to get her to level 12 tonight so that I can join the RFC run that we're doing. Only played that instance once, and that was with Didgeridoo at level 21. Bit overpowered.

Lastly, my sister and her husband stood in line for 12 hours for the Wii on Saturday. As they are very nice people, they picked on up for me along with the new Zelda game. I will have to delay my gratification until Wednesday after work as they live 4 hours away and won't be here till then. Oh, the anticipation is killing me!

Having not owned a Nintendo system since the SNES (Gameboys not withstanding), I look forward to the simple pleasures of console gaming. Was hoping that Red Steel would get better reviews, but it looks like a rental at best. Seems odd that the reveiew are consistently at 50% or 75%, with little in between. So, guess you'll like it or hate it...

Second lastly: Blizzard did something odd this AM, not all servers went down for service, roughly half of them only received a rolling restart at 5 AM PST. I realy hope this is a sign of things to come as it would be nice to play on Tuesday mornings before work, least in some capacity. I know it sounds really sad to be upset about one morning of downtime, when I'm only really able to play for 30 min before work...

/castsequence

Okay, this has to be one of the better posts on the Blizzard forums right now. It talks about all the new, cool things we get to do with our macros. If you scroll down to the 4th post though, you get ot discover this little gem:

/castsequence [options] reset=#/target/combat spell1, spell2, spell3

Yes, I am in love with this. This macro will simply give a button you can mash to cast a series of spells. Sophisticated? No. Effective? Yes.

The classes that gain the most benefit from this feature are those who utilize spell 'combos' a great deal. Though any class can find use for this I anticipate Shamans and Warlocks utilizing this to highest effect.

Why? Both classes use spell 'cycles' a great deal. Shamans habitually throw a great deal of totems, and frequently the same ones. This macro will give them one button to mash to 'stomp' their totems. Warlocks use a large number of spells on enemies upon entering combat, this will let them mash one button for all of their DOTs.

Other uses I can see vary on class. When Sakuran was combat specced it would have been nice to mash one button to cast Evasion, Blade Flurry, and Adrenaline Rush for pure mayhem. Repentant seems to cast the same three spells at the start of every encounter: Power Word: Shield, Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Flay, Wand. Button mashing would simplify that.

One of the example that was mentioned in the original post was mages mashing Frost Nova and Blink. For PvP I am dreading that combo... Though a lazy rogue could have his stun lock broken into a couple of buttons

• /castsequence reset=combat/target Cheap Shot, Sinister Strike, Gouge
  
• /castsequence reset=combat/target Kidney Shot, Backstab, Blind

And so on and so forth. So, yeah, I can't wait for BC. Acutally, I can't wait for this next patch which is coming SOON!!! Okay, maybe like a month, but that works for me.

Regurgitation 11-16-06

• Life in Azeroth is trying to cut back a little...
• Mystic Worlds talks about why she plays WoW and how different that is from why her son plays.
• Gitr talks about WoW Addiction, seems to be trend around the blogosphere.
• Mark of the Wild has some musing on PvP post WoW 2.0.
  

Regurgitation 11-15-06

• Blessing of Kings got some decent loot recently.
• Gitr dinged 37 last night.
• Kinless contemplates what to do now that the PTRs are up.
• Mark of the Wild hits Rank 7 with Phaser.
• The Many Relms of Relmstein laments a ninja looter.
• Inner Fire on enjoying raids.
• 
  

Regurgitation 11-14-06

I had originally planned this post to be on Friday of last week, so there's a lot of content.

• Mystic Worlds is on the final stretch to 60, and later dinged.
  
• Life in Azeroth has a lengthy post on "Old School Priests"
• Mark of Wild hits Rank 7 and dings 60.
• AFK Gamer has a series of "Where in the WoW" which I normally don't post, but this is a very cool one that I wasn't aware of.
• Frostbolt has another raid roundup and talks about swapping professions.
• Gitr talks about dinging 36 and hits the big time!
• Mark of the Wild posts an Eye of the Storm preview.
• Inner Fire talks about Shadow Priests in raids. As I'm leveling a Shadow Priest, I found it very informative.

What brings you here?

So, as Gitr and Inner Fire have both asked, I too am asking: Why are you here? I guess I see my blog as a place for me to write down my thoughts about Warcraft, point out things I'm reading about Warcraft, and toss out ideas that I have. I'm curious though if people's expectations different a great deal from what I'm providing. So, please, let me know what you're here!

Been gone

Sorry for the absence. My son has been very sick, though doing better now, so haven't been at work to post anything.

Also been playing Final Fantasy XII which is a blast, best game in the series IMHO.

Hit Rank 7 with Sakuran, so now the big decision of whether or not to continue to grind Honor with her. Also took Laic to Rank 1, been fun playing AB with him, though at 36 with mediocre gear his use is limited.

Hopefully get a decent sized post out soon, but wanted to let everyone know that I'm not dead and haven't quit WoW, which from the blogs perspective is the same thing...

Oh, to be a n00b again

So, I got a buddy of mine to pick up WoW. He's never done a MMO before, and isn't very familiar with the universe. Last night I spent my game time showing him around and it really struck me how much I miss being new to the game.

Most of what I did was help him with quests and 'coach' him in the game. I also gave him a bit of a tour of the eastern continent. As he is a human I ran him up to Stormwind, took the Tram to Ironforge, and flew back to Stormwind. Yeah, it's a short tour, but remember how cool all that stuff was the first time you did it?

I made a point of telling him to look up while taking the tram. I remember being blown away with how cool that first ride was, now it just feels tedious. Before getting on the Gryphon back to SW I explained to him what we were going to do and he replied "Flyyyy???". I had forgot how cool it was to fly from SW to IF, how scary the Burning Steppes and Searing Gorge were, how 'accomplished' I felt when I actually made it there with Sakuran. Now, I don't even think about it.

It's kind of frustrating to realize how those little things are what got me 'into' WoW, and now I don't even see them. I actually called my wife over and made her watch my first IF-SW flight. It was soooo cool. I remember the first time I went to SW from Goldshire, I literally stopped and stood in awe of the statues. Now, I'm usually auto-running and can't wait to hit the AH.

Sigh...

There are so many things that I remember being blown away by in Warcraft, and now it just feels so...normal.

EDIT: What were some of the things that made your jaw drop when you first started playing? Share below, I think it would interesting to figure out if there are some 'common' things that just floored everyone.

Regurgitation 11-9-06

• Gitr offers Part 2 of his Priests Guide to Deadmines and posts his wishlist.
• Mystic Worlds talks about pre-BC endgame boredom.
• Team Kinless runs into a rough PvP night.
  

  Enough with the Horde losses! Or, if you are going to keep losing, do so consistently! Team Kinless for the win!

• Tobold talks about the lengthened leveling curve in BC.
  

Regurgitation 11-08-06

• Inner Fire finished her Priest Healing Guide.
• WoW Insider has some interesting information on PvP statistics, including average rank per class and amount of time spent in-game per rank.
• Blessing of Kings offers further analysis on SoC vs SotC.
  

  Some commenters have questioned the tradeoff in the last post. I don't deny that you do give up a significant amount of damage by not using SoC. To my mind, though, the added flexibility and regeneration of SotC make up for it.

  Frostbolt talks about downing Patchwork.
• Gitr offers the start of a Priest's Guide to Healing Deadmines and an example of how not to endear yourself to your Priest.
• Mark of the Wild rakes up the DK's in Lakeshire:
  

  Well your server is going to be offline for 36 hours, so what do you do? I say rack up a bunch of DKs on your old toon!

• Tales of a WoW Addict has fun with a Warlock Alt.
  
• Tobold talks about the differences between PvE builds and PvP builds and then advocates for a cheaper respec cost.
  

Rank 7...actually no...Rank 6, still

Well, I was pretty sure that my title today would be "Rank 7 FTW", but when I logged on to check my rank, I was 95% though Rank 6. I'm pretty bummed as I was really looking forward to getting a few pieces of my PvP armor. Ah, another week...

I'm currently contemplating if I still want to try and hit Rank 8. At my current pace (~90,000 honor last week) it will take me three weeks. That being said, I'm thinking that it might be nice to do anything in game aside from BG's with Sakuran.

So, Rank 7 next week for sure, beyond that...who knows...

Regurgitation 11-07-06

Going to do something a bit different. I'll post regurgitation after my morning reading, rather than waiting for the end of the day. Anything that pops during the day will get queued for tomorrow's post. It's too easy for me to forget to actually publish the post before I leave from work. If you can think of a better way for me to do this, let me know. Oh, and I"m quoting, when appropriate, from the posts I'm linking to now, give it a bit more of a chunky feel.

• Blessing of Kings challenges the notion that slow weapons are better for paladins.
  

  It's for these reasons that I feel that Seal of the Crusader is actually the best Seal for a raiding paladin. It's not as spectacular as Seal of Command, but it is far more consistent, and allows a paladin to use her other abilities to larger effect.
  

• Gitr's WoW Blog is down at the moment. The RSS feed seems to still work though, here's what I got off his last post, since you can't go view it...
  

  I broke the stinking theme AGAIN!! After all that work, too. I’m getting a parse error for an extra ‘**DESCRIPTION**#8217; on a line that doesn’t have an ‘**DESCRIPTION**#8217; and it’s really ticking me off. So I’m switching to this theme. It’s really cool, except for the issue that it is supposed to be 3-columns. So, it will be up and down and colors all funky, but should get better all day long. When the blogroll splits into my categories and slides over from underneath the other column, you know I’m learning something.

  My car is running on 3 cylinders today after a spark plug gasket blew yesterday, so it’s time to replace the whole kit. I’ll be leaving after lunch, so we’ll see how much blogging I get done.

• Kinless contemplates AV, Black Dragon Scales, and bots. I actually typed boats the first time, but that would be just wrong...
  
• Mark of Wild contemplates what to do with extended down time.
• Stropp discusses Warcraft addiction:
  

  What would I be doing if I didn’t play WoW?

  I guess I’d be watching a lot more TV, I think a lot of other WoWers would be doing this if they quit.

  I’d probably go out and buy a couple of other games that I’ve had my eye on. I might read a little more.

  I doubt if I’d go out socialising much more than I already do. I’m a bit of a home-body anyway, playing a game or not playing it wouldn’t change that.

• Tobold has more BC beta goodness:
  

  [T]he Burning Crusade challenges my perception of what exactly a level is. I might be "leveling" twice as fast as I thought, depending on how you define it.

• Zenos and Zarina sound like they may be phasing out of Warcraft.

BG screenshots from last weekend

A few screenshots from the last weekend. Certainly not a complete detailing of my weekend, but the highlights.

• A very long, but ultimately successful WSG.
  
  
• A longish AV.
  
  
• A shortish AV.
  
  
• A losing AB, but what was fun about this is that I ran straight to the farm, stealthed, beat up a mage, capped the flag, beat up the mage again, then got swarmed by the Horde. Gotta love cold-blood ambush.
  
  
• Was able to fill out a partial premade who proceeded to whump the opposition. Pretty sure this was the same premade I group with last week.
  
  
• Then I caught them in WSG and enjoyed winning with them again.
  
  
• Lastly a PUG WSG where the Alliance actually played to win, and, well, won.
  
  

Regurgitation 11-06-06

Another weekend update.

• Frostbolt has another raid round up and shows off a bit :P.
• Gitr has Staff of Jordan lust, and rounds has some good blog roundups.
• Kinless dings Exalted with his third character, and here I am bragging about hitting it for the first time.
• Relmstein has a WoW class wishlist. Necromancer FTW!
• Stropp has a rough Molten Core run and unbearable queues.
• Tales of a WoW Addict has a new layout.
• Tobold responds to Warcraft Addiction and major leveling nerf in beta.
• World of Warcraft Addict talks about, wait for it, Warcraft addiction.
• Zenos and Zarina talk about a guild schism.
• Inner Fire talks about professions and an RP Raid (I know, oxymoron :P)
• WoW Insider offer a preview of Nagrand and also discusses the grinding nerf.

Role Play

Okay, after being inspired by Kinless' Chronicles I've got my guild doing a RP night on Twisting Nether. I'm kinda nervous about it, because as much experience as I have with RP games, I'm not a very good at RP. I'm great at coming up with backstory, but being IC is really hard for me. That being said it looks like a lot of people are interested in it, posting the backstories on the forums and such. I'm hopeful that it will be another fun thing for the guild to do together.

That being said, here's part 1 on my Tauren Shaman Magankan:

Magankan, a Shaman of the Skychaster Tribe.

At first impression, Magankan appears older than he really is. While barely out of his adolescence, Magankan has seen more than many Tauren twice his age. Somewhat cold in affect with a distant gaze, Magankan often comes across as aloof, which is not the case. Rather, Magankan has seen the death of those close to him and that sense of loss is never far from him.

Magankan was named after a Great Tauren of the Skychaser tribe. Long before the formation of the Horde, before the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth, before even the Orcs came from beyond the Dark Portal; the Tauren warred with the foul Centaur. While the Tauren had Strength and Honor on their side, the centaur perverted nature and used it as a weapon, nay a slave.

The mightiest of the Tauren Shaman, Magankan, called out to the uncorrupted spirits of the land and asked them to strike down the foul Centaur that balance might be restored. That day fire and stone rained from the sky and destroyed the bulk of the centaur forces. However, the cost of vicotry was more than Magankan could bear. Many spirits had sacrificed themselves that they might free their bretheren from corruption. Those that remained always felt the searing heat of that flame and the weight of that stone. All of Magankan's descendants shared a charred black hide, that they might never forget the sacrifices that were made that day.

The young Magankan was raised with the knowledge that his was part of a noble line. His parents strove to live up to the expectations of their heritage. It was only natural that when the centaur rose up again, this time in a land known as Desolace, his parents were among the first to go and push back the Centaur. Again the Skychaser stopped the centaur, though also with great cost. Both of Magankan's parents fell to the centaur, though not before taking a great many with them.

Yes, it's kinda cheesy, but hey, it's my toon :P Anytime I role play I end up with some dark depressed character and I really suck and playing mopey, you'd think I'd learn from my mistakes, but people just don't do that. If we did, Cowboys wouldn't wear cotton pants.

Return of the laptop

So, my laptop arrived today, which I am very excited about. As much fun as I'm having with PvP, I think I actually have more fun playing a level 5 Druid with my wife's level 5 Shaman. It's very nice being able to play the game with her instead of just staring at the computer while she goes about her evening.

Oh, and WoW while laying in bed with insomnia is not to be underestimated :P. Though who knows if WoW is helping or causing my insomnia. Much like the great line in Twin Peaks:

James: Why did you start smoking?
Donna: It helps relieve tension.
James: When did you get so tense?
Donna: When I started smoking.

Something along those lines, though no doubt I'm butchering the line. As I mentioned before though, PvP with the laptop is a mixed bag. AB and WSG run okay, but AV is almost out of the question, certainly can't try to play D with it.

Backstabber!

Well, I went ahead and respecced for backstab and, I've got to say, I love it. I ended up with 31/8/12, and have no regrets. It's amazing how much it is making me relearn my class. As I was leveling I never really used daggers, think I specced swords from level 15, so I never really messed with backstab and gouge. Now that I am using it, WOW, what fun :P

Playstyle for a sword rogue is really quite simple, use your opener, mash the Sinister Strike button till you have 5CP and pop your finisher. Rinse, repeat. Now I've got to actually PAY ATTENTION while playing: Cheap Shot, Sinister Strike, Gouge, restealth, Ambush, Kidney Shot, Backstab... It's L2P all over again!

Oh, and seem to be much more effective in PvP, it's much easier for me to solo opponents and I'm occasionally able to take out two, provided my sap holds on the first.

Regurgitation 11-3-06

• Blessing of Kings bemoans a lack of Paladin drops.
• Gitr: [sarcasm]Are guns bad?[/sarcasm]. Also had some PvP fun last night. In addition, offers an [sarcasm]apology[/sarcasm] regarding a previous post. So many posts in one day :P
  
• Tobold talks about the lack of real skill needed in leveling tradeskills.
• Inner Fire offers a Priest's Guide to Molten Core.
• Adventures of Aeigelus offers the Guide to Hunters in Raids/Dungeons.
  

AV Exalted - so close...

So, Sakuran is less that 800 points away from AV exalted. I was expecting to hit it last night, but had one of those AV's where nobody turned in their loot. For anyone out there who does AV, if you don't plan on porting and dropping stuff off, DON'T LOOT. A lot of rep comes from people turning that stuff, and as far as I can tell, everyone in the raid benefits from it. So, please, turn in your loot if you are looting.

That being said, tonight better mean AV exalted. I plan on buying Don Julio's Band and the mount right off the bat and then grabbing The Lobotomizer when I have a bit more gold. After grabbing the dagger, I'm thinking of respecing for backstab, but I'm not quite sure. I've never played as a Backstab Rogue, and am not sure if I'll adapt very well. I love Seal Fate though, so I'll certainly be trying to keep that...

Currently leaning towards 30/8/13. I'll gain a real high chance of critting on Backstab and Ambush, for lots of damage. I'm going to lose a lot of white damage, Riposte, and Blade Flurry. Now that I think some more, prehaps 31/8/12 is better... So much to think about...

Regurgitation 11-2-06

Working away from my desk this afternoon, so here's what I've got. Bit shorter than usual...

• Gitr talks about leveling in the low 30's.
• Mark of the Wild has a great post on getting to know your guild.
• Mystic Worlds talks about Alterac Valley.

Thank you Gitr

After being mentioned as one of Gitr's top 7+1 Warcraft Blogs I had a pretty significant increase in traffic. Has as many unique visitors (who accepted the cookie) yesterday as the prior three days and as many page loads as I'd had all week. Pretty amazing what one post can do to your page count.

That being said it was pretty humbling being mentioned in the same paragraph as the blogs I'm reading daily. I'll try to keep the content coming.

Regurgitation 11-1-06

• Frostbolt recounts the last few raids, and may be taking an unwilling break from raiding.
• Gitr is grinding away. Also has a list of his Top 7+1 Warcraft Blogs. Pretty elite company there :P
  
• Kinless discusses the future of PvP rewards.
• As does Tobold
• AFK Gamer designs the ultimate MMO city.
• Relmstein talks about Fear.
  

Shock and Horror - Victory in AB and WSG

Yes, you read that title right. Won AB (which if fairly unusual) and WSG (which is very rare) in the same day. Was a crazy night.

• Victory in AB.
  
  
• Victory in WSG.
  
• Xelzozier and I guarding a flag.
  
  
• Mythor and I screwing around in SW.
  
  

Unfortunately I had to give up my AV queue for the WSG victory, so no CE turn in for me...