Is A Joke.
I was wondering if there was a reason behind the BC raid nerf, or not. And after last night I'm sure that if there IS a reason then it has nothing to do with raid balance.
I remember when I first started Karazhan, and how my guild had problems with it (it's been nerfed several times since). We got through it and seriously started hitting the 25 mans and after that I pretty much stopped going b/c I was rarely online at times people still did it. Then about 6 months later, well into T5, I finally went back and was shocked at how different it was. They weren't assigning off tanks or single targeting--they just AOEd shit left and right. Stuff died so fast that you could barely get a 3 second spell of before stuff died. And all of those encounters which used to require some careful execution now merely consisted of running inside and AOEing.
That is now the new Black Temple. It's 25-man Karazhan. The only boss that still took more than a minute or two for us to kill was Council (that took us 5). And the only time we wiped was when our MT DCed along with 3-4 others at the same time on Illidan. When we rezzed, we proceeded to kill him in 1 metamorphosis.
As a fire mage, I had 0 mana problems. I couldn't use it fast enough. DPS basically varied between 1200 to 2400 depending on my crit rating and Hot Streak. Everyone's DPS was higher, the average jumped from 1200 to 1800. And I'm sure everyone was acting sub-par as they adjusted to the new rotations and talents. I certainly improved a lot over the course of the raid, which took a little over 2 hours from start to finish.
Despite being a joke, last night was also probably the most fun I've had in a raid in a long time. It was extremely fast paced, and while all of the encounters were easier, they also all felt different because of the way we were doing them. I was very, very happy with it and can't wait to see more of Sunwell.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Mage Builds!
Oh, I almost forgot. With patch 3.0.2 comes the new talent trees. And with that I had to make some choices. Fire, Arcane, or Frost.
Well, with my new T6 pieces Arcane looses some of it's luster (especially with the changes to AB and the nerfing of 2-piece T5). And to me it seemed a simple choice considering that we got new Fireball and Frostbolt spells (and a new Arcane Missile, but that doesn't cover it).
So the choice was between Fire and Frost. And since I'm fire right now I decided to stick with it for the start. And that left me with some difficult choices. The two obvious ones were 11/50/0, or 0/50/11. At 70, you just don't have enough talents to hit everything, so no matter what you do you have to make some concessions.
It really came down to the choice of IV + Elemental Precision vs. Focus Magic + Arcane Concentration (hmm, I think that's wrong, but I can't look it up right now)
Now, IV is a great talent, an awesome addition to the mage class. And obviously Elemental Precision is extremely important (still annoyed they moved that to T2). But Fire now completely relies on crit rating for high damage output. Without it, the new Fire tree isn't that much better than the old one. Or to put it another way, in my short tests on the targets in IF yesterday, my fire DPS was sustaining about 1200 when I wasn't getting double crits, but was sustaining 1800 when I could.
If this works out, I might not switch to frost until Wrath hits. I'm almost certainly going to spec Frost for leveling (the spec kicks ass for leveling, and will do so even more with the WE for extra mana regen).
Not sure what to think about Arcane yet, so for the moment I'm avoiding it though that may not last long. I'm personally interested in what they do with that spec. The Devs have said they intend to do something with it, so hopefully they can fix some of it's current problems. As it is, I think Arcane is just too situational and reactionary to be fun over a long fight even if I could keep up in DPS with it.
Now IV is a great talent, but Fire now really relies on crits for it's damage output, so to me Focus Magic still made more sense.
So, I specced 11/50/0
Well, with my new T6 pieces Arcane looses some of it's luster (especially with the changes to AB and the nerfing of 2-piece T5). And to me it seemed a simple choice considering that we got new Fireball and Frostbolt spells (and a new Arcane Missile, but that doesn't cover it).
So the choice was between Fire and Frost. And since I'm fire right now I decided to stick with it for the start. And that left me with some difficult choices. The two obvious ones were 11/50/0, or 0/50/11. At 70, you just don't have enough talents to hit everything, so no matter what you do you have to make some concessions.
It really came down to the choice of IV + Elemental Precision vs. Focus Magic + Arcane Concentration (hmm, I think that's wrong, but I can't look it up right now)
Now, IV is a great talent, an awesome addition to the mage class. And obviously Elemental Precision is extremely important (still annoyed they moved that to T2). But Fire now completely relies on crit rating for high damage output. Without it, the new Fire tree isn't that much better than the old one. Or to put it another way, in my short tests on the targets in IF yesterday, my fire DPS was sustaining about 1200 when I wasn't getting double crits, but was sustaining 1800 when I could.
If this works out, I might not switch to frost until Wrath hits. I'm almost certainly going to spec Frost for leveling (the spec kicks ass for leveling, and will do so even more with the WE for extra mana regen).
Not sure what to think about Arcane yet, so for the moment I'm avoiding it though that may not last long. I'm personally interested in what they do with that spec. The Devs have said they intend to do something with it, so hopefully they can fix some of it's current problems. As it is, I think Arcane is just too situational and reactionary to be fun over a long fight even if I could keep up in DPS with it.
Now IV is a great talent, but Fire now really relies on crits for it's damage output, so to me Focus Magic still made more sense.
So, I specced 11/50/0
Patch Day 1 & 2!
Well, I haven't been blogging lots (this is still just for fun). And my interest in WOW has been rising again with the release of the new patch, which I knew would happen. So far it's been an interesting experience.
Patch Day 1
The install went pretty well, but I'm running Vista and it re-installed the entire WOW app to the \public folder...wierd, but interesting.
After the install...my server was down. In fact it was down until about 11 PM that night (though interestingly SOME people were able to get online, for me the server never even appeared in the list for me to choose it. I spent a little time puttering around on a scrub character on another server just to check out the new Stormwind, but other than that I had a lot of fun watching Iron Man on BD!
Patch Day 2
I was really hoping that we'd raid last night. And so after I get home the first thing I do is try to get online. World Server Down! Yeah. Apparently Outlands, and Eastern Kingdoms were down most of yesterday. Kalimdor was still up, and eventually Eastern Kingdoms too, but Outlands didn't come back online until after 8:30. So, no raid. Well, I did manage to get into the final stages of an MC run which was interesting. The frost mage that went sustained 8000 DPS on Ragnaros and even though I was fire-specced with 11/50/0 I was critting him for 10k (apparently Rag takes double damage vs. frost?)
After that, I was going to spend some time on my Horde mage, but ended up getting on my 62 Druid instead when Outlands came back online after being down 8 hours. The leveling speed is definitely faster, and I managed to make 63 pretty quickly compared to what it used to take. My Feral Kitty's DPS was also much higher by about 100 DPS. Managed to pick up a few useful quest pieces too with some Hit on it, so my hit rating is now sitting at 64.
Tonight, hopefully the guild will actually raid. I want to get some practice with the new spec, and see how I perform. I also want to see if the BC raid nerf actually speeds up the runs, or if it really is just necessary to make it through the raids now.
Patch Day 1
The install went pretty well, but I'm running Vista and it re-installed the entire WOW app to the \public folder...wierd, but interesting.
After the install...my server was down. In fact it was down until about 11 PM that night (though interestingly SOME people were able to get online, for me the server never even appeared in the list for me to choose it. I spent a little time puttering around on a scrub character on another server just to check out the new Stormwind, but other than that I had a lot of fun watching Iron Man on BD!
Patch Day 2
I was really hoping that we'd raid last night. And so after I get home the first thing I do is try to get online. World Server Down! Yeah. Apparently Outlands, and Eastern Kingdoms were down most of yesterday. Kalimdor was still up, and eventually Eastern Kingdoms too, but Outlands didn't come back online until after 8:30. So, no raid. Well, I did manage to get into the final stages of an MC run which was interesting. The frost mage that went sustained 8000 DPS on Ragnaros and even though I was fire-specced with 11/50/0 I was critting him for 10k (apparently Rag takes double damage vs. frost?)
After that, I was going to spend some time on my Horde mage, but ended up getting on my 62 Druid instead when Outlands came back online after being down 8 hours. The leveling speed is definitely faster, and I managed to make 63 pretty quickly compared to what it used to take. My Feral Kitty's DPS was also much higher by about 100 DPS. Managed to pick up a few useful quest pieces too with some Hit on it, so my hit rating is now sitting at 64.
Tonight, hopefully the guild will actually raid. I want to get some practice with the new spec, and see how I perform. I also want to see if the BC raid nerf actually speeds up the runs, or if it really is just necessary to make it through the raids now.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Fringe
So I watched the pilot episode of Fringe yesterday. It was one of the new shows I was hoping to watch this year, but so far this is the first chance I had to watch it. Caught it on Hulu, which is actually a pretty good way to watch a TV series, though there are a few things I don't like about it.
The pilot involved the release of a bio-terrorist weapon, some sort of 'virus' released on an airplane which caused the flesh of the passengers to dissolve. A multi-agency task force is created to explore this, and the main character is a female FBI agent involved in the investigation. It becomes personal when her partner and secret lover is infected with the same virus after tracking the culprit.
I had high hopes for the show, but honestly I'm not sure it lived up to them. I liked the concept of a conspiracy show regarding technology run amuck. Certainly there was the undertone of the threat of a rapidly approaching technological singularity, which isn't really stated in the show but is certainly hinted at. (The concept of a technological singularity as a doomsday scenario is an interesting one to me).
Unfortunately, I had a hard time liking the characters. And while the spooky technology and conspiracy stuff was good, the investigative work and methods for assembling the various characters of the show seemed rather...dumb.
Seriously, ok the FBI agent is in love, which causes her to grasp at any straw to try to save her lover; yet she finds a wacky scientist who may be involved by doing a google search for a 'flesh eating virus'? (or whatever). And hes in an insane asylum? And her boss (who seems to hate her) lets her run with it? But tells her she can't see him because he's not allowed to see visitors unless they are immediate family...even when it's a case of national security? um, what?
And the son, whom she tricks into getting her to help him, is an ass for the most part. Yet, he has to be the scientist's guardian, so he's now stuck with them and involved? And considering how blind she was to accept that she was told no matter how crazy, at the end she is the 'sceptic'?
I don't get it.
The fact is, the show didn't do a very good job establishing the premise. No motivations were given. And the characters are so loosely connected as to make the whole situation unbelievable. And at the end, she becomes part of this super secret investigation regarding the pattern...after it turns out that her lover, who she risked everything to save, was a bad guy.
Now, I'm not saying that its terrible. The actual show might be OK. But the setup just plain sucked. And I just didn't like any of the characters...at all. The FBI agent was bland. The crazy-scientist...too crazy (but the best and most interesting of the bunch), the son was a dick, the boss was a bigger dick. And no one else mattered.
Oh well. JJ Abrams normally knocks pilot episodes out of the park (the pilot for Alias is one of the best pilot episodes of all time, and Lost's pilot kicked ass)..but this was a definite foul ball. Not quite a miss, but nowhere close to a home run.
The pilot involved the release of a bio-terrorist weapon, some sort of 'virus' released on an airplane which caused the flesh of the passengers to dissolve. A multi-agency task force is created to explore this, and the main character is a female FBI agent involved in the investigation. It becomes personal when her partner and secret lover is infected with the same virus after tracking the culprit.
I had high hopes for the show, but honestly I'm not sure it lived up to them. I liked the concept of a conspiracy show regarding technology run amuck. Certainly there was the undertone of the threat of a rapidly approaching technological singularity, which isn't really stated in the show but is certainly hinted at. (The concept of a technological singularity as a doomsday scenario is an interesting one to me).
Unfortunately, I had a hard time liking the characters. And while the spooky technology and conspiracy stuff was good, the investigative work and methods for assembling the various characters of the show seemed rather...dumb.
Seriously, ok the FBI agent is in love, which causes her to grasp at any straw to try to save her lover; yet she finds a wacky scientist who may be involved by doing a google search for a 'flesh eating virus'? (or whatever). And hes in an insane asylum? And her boss (who seems to hate her) lets her run with it? But tells her she can't see him because he's not allowed to see visitors unless they are immediate family...even when it's a case of national security? um, what?
And the son, whom she tricks into getting her to help him, is an ass for the most part. Yet, he has to be the scientist's guardian, so he's now stuck with them and involved? And considering how blind she was to accept that she was told no matter how crazy, at the end she is the 'sceptic'?
I don't get it.
The fact is, the show didn't do a very good job establishing the premise. No motivations were given. And the characters are so loosely connected as to make the whole situation unbelievable. And at the end, she becomes part of this super secret investigation regarding the pattern...after it turns out that her lover, who she risked everything to save, was a bad guy.
Now, I'm not saying that its terrible. The actual show might be OK. But the setup just plain sucked. And I just didn't like any of the characters...at all. The FBI agent was bland. The crazy-scientist...too crazy (but the best and most interesting of the bunch), the son was a dick, the boss was a bigger dick. And no one else mattered.
Oh well. JJ Abrams normally knocks pilot episodes out of the park (the pilot for Alias is one of the best pilot episodes of all time, and Lost's pilot kicked ass)..but this was a definite foul ball. Not quite a miss, but nowhere close to a home run.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
T6
Well, over the last 2 weeks I have picked up 2 T6 pieces: the legs, and the chest...giving me the first opportunity to spec something other than Arcane in a LONG time.
And just in the nick of time too, since Arcane gets demolished as a spec in just one week.
Still, I'm curious to see what happens this week with the raid. My guild, which has certainly been going through expansion blues, turned it around this week with a pretty solid outing. Wednesday BT to Council; Thursday MH to Archimonde; Friday 1 shot council, 1 shot illidan, and 6 shot Archimonde (don't ask me why this guild has so much trouble with Archi). Last night they did not raid sunwell b/c they didn't have enough people show up.
So it's not done yet. This is the last regular raid week before the BC Raid Nerf and 3.0.2 goes live. I'm still not convinced on what spec to pick for live next week...Fire? Arcane w/ an Abar rotation? Or Frost? 3 weeks ago the choices seemed clear, but now I'm not so sure anymore.
At least now I've got a replacement for T5 before it's arcane bonus gets nerfed to oblivion.
And just in the nick of time too, since Arcane gets demolished as a spec in just one week.
Still, I'm curious to see what happens this week with the raid. My guild, which has certainly been going through expansion blues, turned it around this week with a pretty solid outing. Wednesday BT to Council; Thursday MH to Archimonde; Friday 1 shot council, 1 shot illidan, and 6 shot Archimonde (don't ask me why this guild has so much trouble with Archi). Last night they did not raid sunwell b/c they didn't have enough people show up.
So it's not done yet. This is the last regular raid week before the BC Raid Nerf and 3.0.2 goes live. I'm still not convinced on what spec to pick for live next week...Fire? Arcane w/ an Abar rotation? Or Frost? 3 weeks ago the choices seemed clear, but now I'm not so sure anymore.
At least now I've got a replacement for T5 before it's arcane bonus gets nerfed to oblivion.
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