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How To Find Cataclysm Instance Entrances

Been meaning to make my own copy of this Wowhead blog entry for a while. Just in case something bad happens…

Blackrock Caverns


Grim Batol


Halls of Origination


The Stonecore


Lost City of the Tol'vir


The Vortex Pinnacle


Throne of the Tides

Blood DK Tanking

Every form of self-healing was nerfed in 4.0.3a. After some reading this largely due to PvP impacts at 85. In general, all healers took a hit. So naturally classes that had some form of self-healing became over-powered. This is Blizzard's response. It sure seems painful now but maybe it will work out in five levels. *sigh* I commented as such on this thread.

Found a decent thread on DK Tanking by someone who has been in the beta a while and even wrote a sim. More to do. But… there's always the Warrior or Paladin… :)

This Was Completely Unexpected

NO WAY! The patch is taking longer than initially expected? WHAT? *smirk*

Shattered

OH NOES! Sindragosa is gone! There's a big flaming birdie sitting on a castle. We prolly should kill it…

Fill In Appropriate Boxes

Found this anger on the WoW Mage Forums:

You win blizzard I give up on mage... 11/16/2010 11:07:14 PM PST
Moncheche

Okay....so this patch we are nerfed again....yet in a BG a pallies shield is crit hitting me for 6k when he is lvl 75. A rogue is dominating BG from lvl 10 on.....and now I blink is so bugged I cannot blink out of any of the 1000 stuns you give other classes....so I quit....3 lvls from 80 and I am so sick of this. Whenever mages get a boost up to the damage that we should be doing you listen to ever other class and nerf us. Don't worry about 29 rogues ambushing in BGs for 3k...no that is not a problem, the problem is a mage at 77 has a spell that at 2.5 sec cast time might crit for 5k. Don't worry about pallies one shotting people with the shield at 29....nope....mages can possibly get the time to get 4 AB stored up. You wanna make things fair?? Okay how about this....

1. Any stun....don't care if it is a pally hammer or sap or cheap shot or kidney shot or charge or (seeing the point here?) gets immediately dropped when you damage the stunned victim.
2. Drop the saving grace from vanish and make it a 50's spell....heck you made Blizzard that high!
3. FIX BLINK!! It has been bugged since day 1....
4. If you are going to reduce our damage then reduce our casting time
5. Let spellsteal steal any buff...not limited to (OMG you cannot steal a pally bubble)....

I could go on....but why? Seriously....you ain't going to fix it...so I just going to lvl a pally, lock or rogue since those classes are apparantly all you care about

Naturally he gets a few "WTF are you talking about?!" to which he replies:

I wish...I really wish it was something that I am not seeing or doing....

It might even be the fact that I am not lvl 80.....but when you get so fed up with not being able to do anything until lvl 80...it gets depressing.

Life in this game starts at lvl 1, not 80. Pre-80 you aren't going to BG....period. Oh sure you can, but don't expect to do anything. Either your dead before you can get the spell off...or whatever you are casting at is dead before the spell goes off. This even applies to dungeons as well. Sure on Bosses we get some decent DPS, but trash mobs you aren't going to touch with anything but instant cast.

There isn't a class that I can duel pre-80 that won't stomp a mudhole in me, unless that person is either afk or braindead.

Warriors.....we cannot get away from, might gain a few secs if your frost spec'd....but thats it.

Rogues....forget it....ambush, vanish, ambush....your dead

Pally...don't try, your either fighting a stun/shield, or a holy one that just uses his seals to heal himself up without being able to counterspell it.

Priest...dot you up, fear, heal, repeat

Druid...Cat form....then see rogues entry

Locks.....you aren't getting a non-instant spell off....forget it

DK....about the same as warriors, just a lil faster to grave

Shaman....well our aoes hit everything.....oh wait....totems don't take aoes since they aren't...wait....why again wouldn't a totem get hit with an aoe....oh right....totems are apparently in a magical world where aoe hit everything but them.

hunters.....ya i got poly off on pet....but now I'm dead.....oh I got the hunter poly'd.....but now I'm dead from the pet....


So again....without bringing UI's or any outside programs into the game....how does a mage survive??

The following response could definitely come in handy!

Aeriya

Dear:
[ x ] Moron
[ x ] Loser
[ ] Ganker
[ ] 12 Year Old
[ ] Twink
[ ] Troll
[ ] Level 2 Alt
[ ] l337 d00d
[ x ] Whiner
[ x] Fruit of the Stupid Tree
[ ] Other

You are being flamed because:
[ ] YOU DIDN'T READ THE STICKIES.
[ ] You forgot to search.
[ ] You posted a "Class is Overpowered" thread.
[ x ] You need to learn to play your class.
[ x ] You need to learn to play the game.
[ x ] You have no concept of class balance.
[ x ] You're just an idiot.
[ x ] You posted a Omg-i-got-killed thread.
[ x ] Your model brain is defective, leave until you have one that works.
[ ] You have an unhealthy fixation on horses.
[ ] You lost a fight to my class and came here to cry about it.
[ ] Someone told you my class was easy to beat, you found out otherwise, and now you're complaining.
[ x ] You posted a total lack of understanding about my class.
[ x] You posted a total lack of understanding about your class.
[ ] You don't know which forum to post in.
[ x] You made a ridiculous claim.
[ x ] I don't like your tone of voice.
[ ] You fell from "the tree."
[ ] You posted false information.
[ x ] You just plain suck.
[x ] Your balls are only of random weight.
[ ] YOU POSTED A MESSAGE ALL WRITTEN IN CAPS.
[ ] You are not civilized enough to post in these forums.
[ ] You mispeled evry sengle wurd.
[x ] Youhavenotlearnedthe?pointofpuncuationsuch?asspacingcommasandper?iods.
[ ] You are too stupid to argue with.
[ ] You are extraordinarily bad at [detecting ()/posting ()] sarcasm.

In punishment, you must:
[ ] Play a paladin to level 80.
[ ] /delete yourself
[ ] Suffer at least three nerfs.
[ ] Play a FULL prot spec Warrior to 80.
[ ] Drink out of a spitoon.
[ x] Fetch me a shrubbery.
[ ] Go aggro the murloc.
[ ] Spend an entire day in Barrens general chat.
[ ] Apologize to everybody on this forum.
[ xxxxxxxxxxxx ] Get to 80. Then QQ
[ ] All of the above.

In closing, I'd like to say:
[ x ] Learn to play
[ x ] Never post again.
[ ] I've found more intelligent things floating in the toilet.
[x ] STFU.
[ ] Learn to post.
[ ] Learn to read.
[ x ] No one cares.
[ ]Post this nonsense with your main.
[ ] Tranny scum!
[ ] The Paladin forums are that way ------>
[ ] All of the above.

Thank you, have a nice day.

Falling Out

Heard great things about the Fallout games yet I've never tried any of them. Found a site that features "Revived" versions of the first two games. Torrenting them now…

Out in It

Aenara decided to finish up Dinner Impossible. Needed Strand, Eye, and AV. Lost them all, of course, but it wasn't too bad. Was actually top damage in Strand, tied for second on kills. Sort of surprising yet maybe not. Moonkin are incredibly versatile and rather annoying to face.


Look at that. Horde had the rest of the damage. *sigh* Rated BGs are going to be wonderful. So tired of the slack-ass Alliance fools in our battlegroup. At least we still own Wintergrasp. *snicker*

They Can Do That??

Whoa! Found a Rogue who has the 80 inscription on his BoA shoulders!! The Armory doesn't indicate if it's active or not. Hrm. The Horde Rogue isn't on Martini's account, but the Horde Druid is…

Ready for Phase 2!

Took care of Tripping the Rifts on Aenara and Favor at the following spots in Northrend:

• Earth: Grizzly Hills, Zeb'Halak (15.7, 36.1) [lvl74]
• Fire: Zul Drak, Reliquary of Pain (32.3, 45.7)
• Water: Icecrown, Deathspeaker's Watch (60.4, 21.9)
• Wind: Sholozar Basin, Savage Thicket (48.1, 25.4)

Rifts and Chords

Using Wowhead's Pre-Launch Events guide to try to get the rifts Feat of Strength out of the way.

Definitely a Day of the Dead

Was up a little bit late last night making use of the final few moments of Call to Arms: Arathi Basin on the Horde Rogue. I haven't laughed and ganked that hard in ages.

It began on the Exodar server when Pro finally hit level 36. Decided to try some Warsong Gulch. Her gear is quite horrible yet I hoped the level might be enough to not get insta-gibbed. Boy was I wrong. Rogues were eating my cookies left and right.

I had heard in Aenara's guild that Rogues were the scourge of the lower brackets and that's sure not an understatement. They mentioned mutilate so I spec'd that on Unpleasant yet it didn't seem that OP. Dragonsblitz and Gorestep showed me the error of my ways... it was Subtlety that was insanity. I thought the problem was not having Flare yet it would be useless against Shadowstep. While they could see my traps at 32 they couldn't disarm them. Yet it didn't help me much.

There is incredible synergy at very low levels in the Subtley tree:

• Shadowstep (25 yd range, Instant) Causes you to step through the shadows and appear behind an enemy target. Your next Ambush or Garrote delivered within 10 sec will deal 30% additional damage, and your movement speed is increased by 70% for 3 sec.
• Master of Subtlety (Passive) Attacks made while stealthed and for 6 seconds after breaking stealth cause an additional 10% damage.
• Sinister Calling (Passive) Increases your total Agility by 25% and increases the percentage damage bonus of Backstab and Hemorrhage by an additional 25%.
• Improved Ambush (Rank 3) Increases the critical strike chance of your Ambush ability by 60% and its damage by 15%.
• Waylay (Rank 2) Your Ambush and Backstab hits have a 100% chance to unbalance a target, increasing the time between their melee and ranged attacks by 20%, and reducing movement speed by 50% for 8 sec.
• Opportunity (Rank 3) Increases the damage dealt with your Backstab, Mutilate, Garrote and Ambush abilities by 30%.
• Hemorrhage (35 Energy, Melee Range, Instant, Requires Melee Weapon) An instant strike that deals 110% weapon damage (159.5% if a dagger is equipped) and causes the target to take 30% additional damage from bleed effects for 1 min. Awards 1 combo point.
• Ambush (60 Energy, Melee Range, Instant, Requires Melee Weapon, Requires Stealth) Ambush the target, causing 190% weapon damage plus (330 * 1.9) to the target (274.93% plus (330 * 2.75) if a dagger is equipped). Must be stealthed and behind the target. Awards 2 combo points.

It's a lot to take in yet it plays incredibly well. And it's all available to a Rogue at 29. In fact most of it is available through the 20s, with Hemorrhage and Waylay or Opportunity coming at the end. In the 30s it's ridiculous.

Core talents and abilities aside, one Prime, one Major, and one Minor glyph slot become available at level 25. And there are some really sweet ones available to compliment the devastation:

• Glyph of Hemorrhage (Prime Glyph, Requires Level 29) Your Hemorrhage ability also causes the target to bleed, dealing 40% of the direct strike's damage over 24 sec.
• Glyph of Backstab (Prime Glyph, Requires Level 25) Your Backstab critical strikes grant you 5 energy.
• Glyph of Eviscerate (Prime Glyph, Requires Level 25) Increases the critical strike chance of Eviscerate by 10%.
• Glyph of Ambush (Major Glyph, Item Level 25) Increases the range on Ambush by 5 yards.
• Glyph of Gouge (Major Glyph, Requires Level 25) Your Gouge ability no longer requires that the target be facing you.
• Glyph of Vanish (Major Glyph, Requires Level 25) Increases the duration of your Vanish effect by 2 sec.
• Glyph of Sprint (Major Glyph, Requires Level 25) Increases the movement speed of your Sprint ability by an additional 30%.
• Glyph of Blurred Speed (Minor Glyph, Requires Level 25) Enables you to walk on water while your Sprint ability is active.

So many great choices! Hemorrhage would be useful against other rogues and druids, keeping them out of stealth. Ambush and Backstab are expensive moves so Backstab, when landing, would get you a little extra for another. Eviscerate would help ensure a big finisher (if needed, heh). Ambush would make Ambushing a mounted target is even easier. Since Blind isn't available until 34, Gouge could fill the gap. Vanish would give you more breathing room to escape with. Sprint would help you escape while Blurred Speed would make escape in Arathi Basin easier. Wow! Naturally I logged out and went back to Azjol-Nerub. After respecing for 53s, I threw Unpleasant out there to see what was what.

It went as well as all the whining indicated. It was astonishing the damage that was unleashed. Unfortunately I was half-way through 29, so after a win and a loss, I leveled into the 30 bracket. It is always rough to be at the bottom of the bracket plus other players often jeer at the flotsam dragging the team down, but I was on a rush and had to see what could be done. I managed to deal out more death than I expected. Unfortunately it's easy for the higher-level enemies to see through stealth so I had to be at the top of my game. The kills I got were a real testament to skill and timing. The best one I got was at level 31 where I one shot a 39 Warlock that was mounting up. She had over 1600 health which didn't seem to even be there. For a kill like that to be possible with an eight level disparity definitely says there something out of wack. Yet I understand it must be rough on Blizzard to balance a class through their level progression. Glad I got all this down for posterity as I'm sure something will get hot fixed.

While the rogue is fierce, it's not all a cake walk. All the usual requirements are there… catch someone unaware with as few friends around as possible while your cooldowns are all ready and theirs are down. And as at all the lower brackets the BoA gear can make an incredible difference. Currently the worst targets are the DoT casters and the mail-wearers. If you don't one-shot them things get dicey. While Shadow Priests are painful, 4.x Warlocks are devastating. Bane of Doom can now be cast on players. It lasts FOREVER (one minute, heh) and does a TON of damage. A quick reacting paladin that survives will usually Lay on Hands then try to slam a Hammer of Justice on you. Those two have been the most troublesome survivors of a failed one-shot for me.

As realization has dawned on everyone the play-style has suffered. Rogues summarily ignore flag groups and swim out mid-field looking for targets. So there were a few games that ended 0-0 because no one could survive the onslaught since no one would support the flag carrier. Lot of people leaving games in a huff but whatever. I am there to gank not help the team. *snicker* I am just one of the sharks looking for chum.

Went out to Hammerfall to grab Defiler's Leather Boots. Since the Inherited Insignia of the Alliance doesn't translate from Alliance to Horde I had to grab an Insignia of the Horde for 55 honor points. Still need to decide on glyphs then it's time to see what the fields of battle are like today.