Goblins: what class (Cataclysm)

I’ve been fiddling around on the Beta trying to work out what class to go for – because after all, I only have one character slot left – I have 7 at 80, a banker, a new warlock and …  the space.

So far I have tried a hunter (got up to 21, but somehow lost interest) – I’ve levelled two of those to 80, and hardly play on the one I still have.  I have tried the warrior, but my levelling seems to be so much slower than in other classes – it took 2 hours,19 mins to get to the same stage on the warrior as it did on therogue – with 1 hour 44, 42 – same quest, both level 8, neither had heirlooms.

Another priest?  hmm – find it hard to believe that any goblin could have priestly inclinations, given our natural inclinations towards making money at every opportunity.  Another mage?  Also not my favourite solo levelling class.  Rogue it is then…

Taking my girl to get a haircut in Orgrimmar, I was struck by the descriptions in the barber shop.  And the colours…

If you get a new hair colour, only the ponytail changes colour.  Must be something to do with really bad roots…

 

 

Patch 4.0.1 – Cataclysm starts now!

To be honest, I think that the blog will take a back seat for the next few weeks, as I struggle to get to grips with the new mechanics…

Let’s see, after hours of download yesterday, a complete wipe of my addon folder and some new downloads later, I have several key addons not working/not updated.

I have several missing glyphs – most of them have been destroyed.

I have re-configured the Power Auras for 2 characters, bought some T10 for my new rogue, attempted two heroics as DPS, gemmed and enchanted the new stuff (almost). I have configured clique for the priest only (2 specs)

Noticed that my hunter now needs new gems, made one spec for my mage, made a dodgy feral dps spec and a dodgy heal spec for my druid, made a DPS spec for my DK, and gone round sholazar a few times hoovering up the herbs so I can persuade a willing scribe to make the missing glyphs on *all* of them…

My plans over the next week are to attempt to fill in the missing holes in the addons, get a few more glyphs made up, practice heals and dps on the priest, practice dps on the mage and rogue.

Just possibly, I might try and play on the other toons a bit, just so that I know what the buttons do now… but the immediate priority is the priest, rogue and mage…

As for the emblems – well, I spent some on my rogue – and there is still one or two more items to get – but just about everyone else is going to keep their emblems in the bank – unless I get close to the cap – and I’ll worry about that when it happens. Getting emblems (points) now will be a happy by-product of learning to play again. And I can see how the money is going to be useful, given the costs of the next expansion…

Wrathful endings « Paw Prints at the Portal

Wrathful endings « Paw Prints at the Portal.

I was going to leave a comment on this post, but it looked like it was being a bit long.

If you look at raiding as getting better and better gear, then there is definitely no point in farming raids considering that Cataclysm will drop in a few weeks now – with the possible exception of raid-level trinkets,  most of the gear you are getting will be replaced by quest blues and greens in Cataclysm – what is BiS at the moment for the current ceiling of encounter will very certainly not be BiS in the new game.

If you consider raiding as being about beating encounters – and the loot that drops as being the means to doing so, then raiding is still a valid activity.  The achievements still happen, the drakes are still available, the group fun is still worth having – and working towards having a cohesive group of guildmates is worth doing – in Cataclysm, the guild rewards will depend significantly on how well the guild does, and you will progress faster and gain more personal rewards, the more reputation you have with your guild – so working as a group together is getting the groundwork in, as far as I can see.

Raiding is also, in itself, a skill. And playing your class is a skill – not merely whether you are one of the three main basic roles, which is one thing, but the peculiarities of your specific class and even your spec. I am thrilled to see my rogue having a chance at raiding – the gear might be a nice upgrade, and lead to abilities/rotations being much easier to obtain – but I am also thrillled to see her in ICC heroics – something that can teach me how to rogue a lot better than solo questing, where I either kill things, or die in the process, because – they are facing me and pounding me – not something for which a rogue is ideally suited. The more I play, the more I think I am learning – and raid experience is totally different on her – feels strangely fresh to be doing an encounter that is almost snoozeworthy on Cress, because she has seen it as healer for months and months.

And that’s another thing – the next patch that drops is going to be a real change for us all – we will have new talent trees, new specs to learn about – I can really see how doing old content with new specs will be good – time to test out rotations within the safety of easily conquered dungeons, where the incomplete nature of a spec can be forgiven slightly more than when we face cataclysm dungeons, which are made for people with different stats on gear, and different specs.

So, Wrath is dying – and soon the end of the world will be nigh – and maybe taking a back seat is a good plan – now is a good time for a raid break, if you need one – a good time to give the family care and attention, to make up for a total immersion in December as you level like a loon, but there is still a point to being present – there are skills to be learned on alts, there are skills to be learned even on your main specs, especially after the patch hits.

There’s time to mess about on the Beta, looking at the sights, trying out new skills, new quests, new races and zones, before it all gets grimly serious and we chafe at the bit at the starting gate and pinch each other’s mobs and stay up until silly o’clock just because that’s the only time the mobs spawn and are not bagged by someone else…

Time to relax a bit, have a bit of fun raiding. Get everyone their Kingslayer title that’s not got it, get a few more badges and bits of gold – those flying lessons are expensive, you know

Rogue 80: Rogue 80 Hit Caps

Rogue 80: Rogue 80 Hit Caps.

Now I have my combat-specced rogue at 80, I am working on gear.

I am gemming constantly for agility, and looking for drops that have agility and arpen on them.

I have enchanted for agility and have chosen the icewalker enchant for my boots, to increase my +hit chance and my crit rating.

I believe that this posts suggests that although the melee hit cap is 8% (as expected) my 5/5 precision helps make my effective melee hit cap 3%.

However my poison hit cap is 17% (less 5% this is 12%).

I am currently sitting on 10.8% hit from my gear, so this means I am within shouting distance of the poison hit cap – at 15.8%.  Add a draenai and I am very close.  Or add a shadowpriest and I am capped.

My current rotation (plan) is to Sinister Strike to 5 combat points, then Slice and Dice, then Sinister Strike to 5 and then rupture.   Then sinister strike until 5 points and if it is not dead,  then Eviscerate.

The thing is, I am not yet at the point where I have got my CDs under control.  I sometimes end up with SnD dropping, because I was too busy watching the combat points number, or without energy.  Also, I have not effectively worked out a multi-target strategy that seems effective – other than hitting tricks to tank and charging in with FoK or Killing Spree.  If things die too fast, then I cannot follow the combat point rotation above, because I barely get 3 Sinister Strikes in (with blade Flurry that is slightly better, but the comabt points do not seem to add up any faster).  I am leaning towards a 1 point SnD starter, then as many CPs as I can before a rupture, so long as it is not dead yet.

My DPS is a little ineffectual.  Against the dummy I can get up to 2900 – using the single target rotation.  But it is not yet fixed in my internal timing system yet, as to which ability is about to go.

One of the things I am trying to train myself atm is to always have tricks on CD.  And to try and interrupt as much as possible – I think I need some alteration of my action bars to make it slightly easier – perhaps a keybind or two.  It gets a lot easier when I remember the fights and what to expect.  There is probably an interrupt addon out there that makes it slightly more easy than the default interface.  But practice has to make it easier.

So, practicing in heroics (preferably ICC ones) is what I really want to do with Neuri – the badges will soon turn into badges of super-duperness with the next patch badge-conversion system – so I shall get an effective triumph=> Frost badge conversion.  So nothing wasted there then.  But the real thing I am trying to achieve is practice.  And apart from working on the target dummy (which very obligingly stays still and does not attempt to eat me) this seems the best way.  Because 3K DPS is way too low now for my gear level – I’m fairly sure it should be heading towards 5K+ – there are a few pieces of ilvl 200 in there, but I’m pretty sure more could be squeezed out of the kit if I really understood what I was doing.