Daily Gear Check

Here's a World Quest checklist for gear upgrades.

• Emissarys
• Kul Tiras
• Stormsong
• Tiragarde
• Drust
•  Zandalar
• Voldun
• Nazmir
• Zuldazar
• Black Empire
• Vale
• Uldum
• Nazjatar
• Mechagon

Glitch to the rescue!

Ninefinger

I've been playing Glitch for a few days now. It's fun, in a really really, casual sort of way. Considering you can learn skills without ever even logging in to the game!

Give it a shot at Glitch.com.

Healing Burnout

I guess I am in a burnout stage. I log in to heal but I just can't bring myself to queue up. I don't know if it's boredom or what but I just can't seem to get into it. I should start reading up on Cata stuff. I know it's right around the corner. I guess I'll just have to start workign on the Shaman again...

Rocket Fire!

Okay, I gave it to Wilgron even though he doesn't have epic flying. He needed a good mount. And I felt this was more a Warlock mount than anyone else.

To pull or not to pull... a healer's perspective.

Okay, I've been healing in this here game for years (since the beginning I suppose). I have a Druid and a Priest running heroics and a Pally waiting in the wings at 71 so I am familiar with most aspects of healing.

I mainly stick to random dungeon pickup groups. As you can guess, the latest changes have been a great benefit to me in many ways. As a casual player I rarely get time for raids. This post is applies to pickup groups as raids always have a mechanism for this type of thing.

I've come across all kinds of Tanks and all kinds of DPS. One thing I've never understood is the agreement on when to pull and when to wait. Sometimes, rarely, but every once and a while this will be agreed upon in the beginning. Some times there will be the simple "r?" in party chat, other times it's just pull, pull, pull until someone says something. Here are the 3 methods I've seen.

• An agreement before the first pull on who sets the pace of the run. This is ideal but slows things down a little bit.
• The generic "r?" in party chat. This is bad because nobody EVER waits for everyone to respond.
• Pull, pull, pull until something bad happens or someone says "Wait a sec...". This is bad because something bad usually happens before anything changes.

The other day in Utgarde Pinnacle I was running with a particularly eager DK Tank (I know, hard to believe) and he runs like two rooms ahead and charges into a large group. Now we were outgeared for this instance in general but he pulled the whole room, around 8-10 mobs. By the time I get there he was dead and the Pally DPS was next in line. I backed away and with a little luck, melded successfully. I proceeded to apologize and rez people. The first thing he says is... "Wow, that sucked... I didn't get one heal.".

My suggestion to every tank or aspiring tank is to make a quick macro. If nothing else just use it in random pickup groups. It will save the party from much grief and your healer will thank you, I promise. If nothing else it can just say "/y The tank is pulling now...". If you want to get creative you can throw in an audible emote. This makes things great for that errant healer that might be watching the television while drinking or alt-tabbed out to browse applicable loot. It gives just enough warning that when the flesh starts to fall, a greater heal or a regrowth should be right behind.

Pandaren Monk and Mini K.T. Pets Live

Yes, I bought them both. It's a great deal considering how much people shell out for the card game pets. Besides, it's for charity!

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Well Blizzard has finally done it. After charging only for out-of-game services like faction changes and character customization, with the release of in-game pets on the Blizzard store, they've finally moved on to selling virtual items for real money. And there's a word, dirty in the mouths of some, that's floating around that some of you may not have heard or understood before: microtransactions. We wouldn't blame you -- some of our own staff didn't even know what they were just a little while ago. But with the decision to sell in-game items for straight cash, Blizzard has entered the fascinating and treacherous world of microtransactions. And if you're going to follow them off into this world, you might as well at least know what they're all about.

And so, we're here to help. Whether you've never heard of microtransactions before, you're convinced that they're the devil and that Blizzard has grown too greedy for their own good, or you can't wait to open up your wallet and get a Pandaren Monk to follow you around, let's take a second and look at the history of the microtransaction model, what it means that Blizzard made this decision, and what might happen to the game in the future.

Continue reading A WoW player's guide to microtransactions

Miss Medicina's Web Ring

This is a response to Medicina's Healing Questionnaire.

First of all let me say that I am a Disc Priest but I rarely have time to raid. I have a wife who works full time and 4 kids that keep me busy IRL. I haven't made it to anything outside of Naxx 25. When I do get to raid my guild has more than enough healing to keep things going. I am usually just along for the ride. So, that said, I am just providing my limited view of healing. I have done my share of Heroics but have very little large raid healing experience.

• What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer? Wilgrin, Disc/Holy Priest.
• What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans) 5 mans really. An occasional raid.
  
• What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why? Penance - just because it's fast, easy and pretty to look at =)
  
• What healing spell do you use least for your class and why? Divine Hymn - Same reason as Medicina I guess. Can't seem to find a situation for it.
  
• What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why? Single target non-stop healing. Between Penance and Flash Heals... I can dump a lot of heals quickly. If I can't heal through it, something is wrong (at least in heroics).
  
• What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why? Mana Recovery - With a huge mana pool, all we can do is sit and drink.
  
• In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you? Single target MT or OT.
  
• What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why? Holy Pally - They are great at keeping people alive when the fit hits the shan.
  
• What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why? Druids - Mainly cause I'm jealous =) I have one up in the 60s now so we'll see how that works out. I guess also because they utilize HoTs and they are hard to keep track of.
  
• What is your worst habit as a healer? Not keeping track of HoTs and not shielding enough.
  
• What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing? Over zealous DPS. Usually a hunter or a specific mage that pulls aggro.
  
• Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing? Yeah, it's improved greatly during Lich King.
• What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer? How smooth things go during the encounters. When the healing goes well things can be surprisingly calm and controlled.
  
• What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class? That we can't raid heal. It seems people think we can't AoE heal at all. Using the proper Glyphs, we have a decent amount of AoE heals and aside from crazy stuff
  
• What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn? Just healing the MT and ignoring everyone else. Or pulling aggro and not knowing what to do (fade, shield).
  
• If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)? Low healing output I guess. I don't have great gear and I am usually low in overall healing. I guess that comes with the territory too. I also don't keep my shield up enough.
  
• Haste or Crit and why? Balance just because I don't have a lot to choose from. I need a little more crit before I'd be happy enough to pass it up for haste.
• What healing class do you feel you understand least? Shamans by far. I just haven't played enough since they have been around.
  
• What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing? Grid and Clique. I wish Blizzard would work on getting ALL of their functionality into the default interface. It's really needed and practically there already. Oh, and a Shield-Me macro, but that's old and not really needed with Grid and Clique around.
  
• Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why? My gear isn't that great so I just work for a balance. I suppose I am working on crit at the moment but my other stats are lacking as well.

New 80 Hunter!

Meet Wilgrun, he is my latest level 80 character. He's my Dorf Huntard of course. It was a rough decision on who to raise to 80. Having 3 level 70s, a 60ish DK and a couple 56 characters I had a lot to choose from. It all came down to fun and grinding at this point. I have been trying to get some Heirloom gear to help in the process but used the old pre 3.2.2 AV runs instead. It only took a week to get to 77 and the rest was gravy. Maybe I can get some heirloom gear for my Pally next. That way I can pass it on to my DK if needed.

Now I just need to get into some Heroics for some gear. Being the ultimate casual player can make this difficult though. I need to map out where the best gear is and then be pretty careful on my selection. Every run counts when you're casual.

Quick Daily Quests

I've come to realize the quickest way to make money (legally) in Warcraft is to do the daily quests. Now, the trouble is, at level 80, many of them can take considerable time. I've noticed that the daily cooking and fishing quests have some that are quick and some that take longer. For instance "Jewel of the Sewers" can be done in a couple minutes, while the Ghost fish or the one from Wintergrasp can take much longer.

My goal here is to list quests that take just minutes but reward a good amount of gold. I'll try to list them in a route that makes sense as well.

1. Fishing, Jewel of the sewers
2. Cooking, Cheese for Glowergold or the wine quest.
3. Argent Tournament, Kill the 15 cult members.
4. Coming soon...

First Cataclysm Character

I'm trying to decide on my first character for Cataclysm. I'm thinking a Worgen warrior since I'm working on the Heirloom plate gear for my Pally right now. And he should easily be 80 by the time it comes out.

Weather Beaten Fishing Hat - MINE!

After years of searching I can finally claim the Weather Beaten Fishing Hat as my own.

Stratholme Exp Soaking

While leveling my paladin recently I was lucky enough to be able to soak some exp while a friend of mine did a few Baron runs in Stratholme. The piles of bodies were pretty impressive. No mount though... I guess that might mean more exp for me!

Warcraft Concert

I can't believe I've never seen this concert in the World's End Tavern (Shatt). There was a stand-up comedian this afternoon. I'll have to check out the Wowhead and see what other events they might host. It was a great show, even if it was a Horde band.

Glacial Salmon

Catching some Glacial Salmon in the Grizzly Hills. Only one more recipe for my Chef title and I need 450 skill to learn it. Time to make some Small Feasts.

Higher Learning

Here's Archmage Vargoth in his room atop the Violet Citadel. This is where you go to learn the pet from Higher Learning.

Lucky Fishing Hat

I finally got a fishing hat. It isn't the Weather Beaten Hat from the Fishing Daily quest like I have been wanting but it's a start. I'm starting to think I'll never get anything from the daily fishing quest. Everything that I want (the hat or any of the 4 pets) have managed to elude me. I would be willing to bet I've done that quest over a hundred times too.

I managed to get 34/40 at this weeks contest. It's the sole achievement keeping me from my "Salty" title now. I can't help but wonder how many people have won that contest with no plan whatsoever of getting the title. I just wish Blizzard would wise up and remove that requirement. Only having a maximum of 52 people a year with that title just seems extreme. I can't even imagine being on a different time zone from your server. I heard some Aussies have to do the contest on Monday morning.

Warcraft gets a little Slashdot luvin'

The Changing Face of World of Warcraft

Back in March Blizzard released patch 2.4 and significantly altered a good portion of the overall gameplay and provided a much more casual experience. Since then Blizzard has continued to make the game more approachable through new dungeons and removing attunements and other restrictions throughout the game. While this may open up a lot of new content to the masses and help the game's overall appeal, does this continuing trend promise to alienate the high-end players who thrive on new challenges? Should Blizzard care?