Out on the West Coast

Been fun watching the 3v3 tournaments at BlizCcon 2010. Some really amazing matches. It makes me understand the allure of televised sports… watching others do what I cannot from the comfort of my home. *snicker*

Wonder if Blizzard notices/cares about the caster dominance and Druids being the preferred healer. There was one PMR team that made it to the third round yet the pressure matches were all ranged casters. Personally I favor LSD since I love the burst and utility of 3.x Elemental Shaman. Yet DML has also been amazing. Watching the second match of the Top Bracker (*aAa*/LSD) versus Lower Bracket (Complexity.Red/DML). Co.Red actually lost to *aAa* in the upper bracket, 0-3. See if they come back for the $75k.

On a completely shallow note I love how all the competitors are pasty white boys and Asians. Hate to be the creepy old guy, but there are a few really cute ones. Have to say my top three are:

1. Jenõ "Lopaay" Tanos (LightZ CaMerA ActioN/Fra?)
2. Fabio "Jamesbond" Nardelli (*aAa*/Ita)
3. Romain "Hrk" Neveu (*aAa*/Fra)

Long, Strange #4

Finally! Picked up the only item Aenara needed for more than a year from the Inn Keeper in Westguard Keep… the damn Hallowed Helm for Sinister Calling. Picked up Hallowed Be Thy Name and What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been.

Was down in Howling Fjord to finish up I've Toured the Fjord. Working on The Summit of Storm Peaks while watching 3v3 PvP at BlizzCon. Got Into the Basin done late last night so only Icecrown: The Final Goal remains for Loremaster of Northrend.

Shadow Power

It's been almost a month since I encountered the Twin Terrors Shix-Feathermoon and Carverll-Feathermoon in Warsong Gulch. The two of them kept half the alliance idiots at the graveyard while the Horde ran flags with rapidity. They were nothing short of amazing. Poor Martini had to endure being farmed for a rez or two while figuring this menace out.

Discipline is such a strong Arena/BG spec I had lost touch with Shadow. Namely, I didn't know Dispersion is so OP now. With the glyph, they get 1/3 of their mana back and reduce damage by 90% every minute. Then there's Psychic Horror, an instant CC from huge range with a nice after-effect for melee opponents. Top it all off with the newly huge ranged Mind Flay. Shadow is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

While that's probably surmountable in 2v2s, these two worked very well together, bringing suffering to my random group. Looking over their gear it was all readily accessible emblem armor and PvE weapons/trinkets. Their specs weren't the same so I'll have to look into the variations. Actually found a very tight (20/0/51) on Amyth-Darkspear that interests me. It seems really strange not to see Shadow Power in there but it sorta makes sense when the three evil DoTs are not enhanced by it. Mind Flay is channeled, Mind Blast has a cast time and a cooldown, and Shadow Word: Death has huge cooldown with conditional back-last—all bad things.

It all looks possible given my current means. Yet I've decided to level my bank/auctioneer Faerawr instead of good old Sloosh. Sloosh already has some gear and all, but I want Engineering. There's no way I'm dropping Sloosh's Tailoring or Enchanting. I'll also keep Sloosh healing in PvE, whereas Faerawr will be PvP Disc and PvP Shadow.

Funny. I remember being so disappointed when Blizzard took stun procs out of the Shadow tree. Doesn't seem to matter anymore though. Heh. See what happens!

Priestly Talents Refresh

Kevanassa found my old Priest spec notes and got riled up, contesting a few of my assertions. And it's true. I've needed to revisit it for a while. For instance: Mindflay. The novely of being Disc with Mindflay has nearly worn off. Mainly Sloosh would use it while waiting for Fear's 30-second cooldown eon. If a melee was on a fleeing Hennesy she would slow them down. With Hamstring/Crippling/Wing Clip and/or resists, it's not terribly effective. In fact, lately she would resort to Mind Control as it's amusing and effective to break their momentum, throw them off the bridge or move them away from their team mate.

So yeah. It's time to retire my Mindflay Disc spec (48/2/11) so I reviewed some other specs. Started at WoWWiki.

Disc PvP Healer (47/14/0)
A build with increased survivability. Strong buffs, including Pain Suppression and Power Infusion. Mana Burn is the strongest spell to use against opponents if you get caught in a 1v1 situation. A .5 second Mass Dispel, as well as Improved Power Word: Shield, Reflective Shield, and Healing Focus make this a very effective healing build in PvP.

Divine Fury makes no sense to me. In PvP Flash Heals are best for non-instant healing. 1.5 seconds of breathing room is hard to get as it is, but 2.5 seconds is way too long. Inspiration is also of dubious value since the significant boost on cloth is nearly as meaningless as it would be for plate. It might help Feral druids yet that's three points with a pretty narrow use. Those three points should have gone to Blessed Recovery.

How would I fix this build? Give up both DF and Inspiration along with Holy Nova in favor of five points in Mental Agility (Disc is so mana intensive, let's keep those Shields, Prayers of Mending, and Renew cheap!) and a full five points in Silent Resolve. The remaining three points are a tough call. Absolution is nice to make those dispels even cheaper along with lightening the heavy cost off Mass Dispel. The three points would also be useful in Spell Warding to trim off 6% of all spell damage. Personally I would put the final three points in Blackout. Getting a 3 second stun for spamming 23 mana rank 1 Shadow Word: Pain is godly.

The only lingering problem is Enlightenment. On the surface, simultaneously boosting Stamina, Intelligence, and Spirit sounds wondrous. Yet I've read commentary that's convinced me a 5% stat gain for five points is a nominal benefit at best, even with 2.4's changes to Spirit. It would be wise to take two of those points to max Blackout. As above, the remaining three points could go either into Absolution or Spell Warding. With the focus on Disc PvP healing, Absolution makes most sense.

PvP "Face Melter" (17/0/44)
This build is a pure PvP build. The build is only slightly viable for raiding, but in the new arena system, as well as normal PvP, it will truly "melt faces."

Beautiful. I hate losing Shadow Power's +15% crit, but this spec makes perfect sense to me. It's a pity Sloosh never seems to fill a DPS slot.

Common Disc PvP Healer (livelong build) (41/20/0)
This build seems to be the best current build for PvP priest healers as it allows you to take plenty of hits while still doing your job. This build is also the most popular among the 25th and up top rated priests in 2v2 3v3 and 5v5!

Once again a slant towards the big heals with Divine Fury and Improved Healing. While it would be wonderful to have Blessed Recovery, this much Holy makes little sense to me in BGs and even less in Arenas. These points belong back over in Disc for Improved Power Word: Shield and Reflective Shields.

I think the spec would make sense for main healing in a 5v5, yet I see it in 2v2. The 9th 2v2 rated team in my battle group and on my server is actually a Priest and a Warlock. The Priest uses a variant of the livelong build above. But they are Dwarf and Gnome while Hennesy and Sloosh are both Human. Perception doesn't compete with Stoneform and Escape Artist.

Another Priest a few slots down was pretty close to livelong yet he worked in Blessed Recovery and, of all things, Improved Inner Fire; at least he had the shields. Kevanassa mentioned playing with IIF and felt the same way I do—useless. Maybe in the buffed armor of full Vengeful (which he does have) I'd consider it, but I'm still dubious.

My Dwarf Priest is still 59 and it might be worthwhile getting him to 70 to let Sloosh retire from PVP. I would miss the lovely Spirit bonus, but it would be worth losing Feedback and Perception for Stoneform and Chastise while retaining Desperate Prayer. Alliances sucks in BGs so badly I'm not sure I'd have the patience to re-farm all the Vindicator gear. It might work if I kept him in the 59 bracket for a while though. It's less honor but there are a enough Alliance twinks for wins which would mean more tokens/honor in the long run.

Anyway. I'm going to ask Kev for some feedback around this Disc spec (51/5/5). Want to hold onto Blackout and the initial points in Holy. I like the shields and I'm going for Improved Spirit since it helps me and Hennesy (so long as it doesn't get dispelled, heh). In the interim, I have two green gems to replace and a few enchants to get done.

Arena First

Sloosh and Hennesy are still struggling in the 1600s but it finally happened: Druid/Warrior team downed!



Hennesy noted that I was doing unnecessary pole dancing. A Warrior or Rogue pinning me down would follow me out of his LoS so he couldn't assist me. With Nightal on my ass, I parked against the corner of the Ruins of Lordaeron's center obstacle and focused on keeping myself alive while throwing occasional instant heals when Hennesy was in range. After Pain Supression's brief respite I didn't last long, but Erwynn died seconds later. Nightal was at 40% health yet Hennesy managed to finish with 7% health. I cheered rather loudly.

The most amusing fight was when we dipped down to 1596. We were pitted against a dual Frost mage team. I threw Power Infusion on Hennesy then went into full rabbit mode. Got their pets on me in the center of the field then chain dispelled my way to a corner. Pretty sure they didn't get a single Ice Lance crit on me though I was down to 20% health once behind the pillar. Hennesy had them dead seconds later.

Ended the day 5-5 with a 1649 rating. Going to start gearing up Aenara for PvP I guess. Druids are still too powerful with Swiftmended massive heals, Nature's Swiftness of anything, ultra CC, an AoE heal that isn't affected by LoS, a HoT that heals when dispelled, and immunity to polymorph/snare. For me the biggest losses will be Mana Burn and Dispel, but I'm sure I can adjust. I don't think Hennesy is happy about playing a Warrior but it might work out.

Sunday Morning Killings

6-4
1. Penny Arcade: ?, ?, ?; -15 (1585)
2. B U R N: Eronwe, Xade, Bloodscalp; +13 ()
3. Grilled Pringles N Chees: Silenttreble, Tume, Suramar; +16 ()
4. Tobacconist: Cymraeg, Cherek, Stormscale; -17 ()
5. HuDr: Coldhart, Torekrage, Bloodscalp; +14 ()
6. Quicken: Draknov, Sassar, Feathermoon; -15 ()
7. The Other Half is Killing; Andostre, Khiva, Crushridge; +11 ()
8. We Ebayd; Onslot, Zurii, Stormscale; -17 ()
9. Not so glissy; Fyrrkynn, Unsere, Daggerspine; +15 ()
10. Not so glissy; Fyrrkynn, Unsere, Daggerspine; +13 (1618)

Over the Weekend

Hennesy and Sloosh ravaged the Arena this weekend. Only lost one match to Taranor (NE Priest, 44/17/0) and Kithaya (HU Mage, 17/0/44) because Sloosh didn't LoS a series of Mana Burns from Taranor. We won one then they won one. Wish there was one more match to prove who was truly ownting. Started out with a 1499 and ended with a 1599 rating.

With a personal rating of 1623, Sloosh might get the season three shoulders and weapon before the season ends. She currently has 70 Badges saved up so they will probably be going towards a Battlemaster's Perseverance. Personally I'm not sure that trinket is worth it; I wish Kevanassa was around to discuss it. The only honor piece left to grind is a Medallion of the Alliance, which is such a relief. Remaining honor will be squirreled away for season four off-set pieces.

Gearing Fearce with the basics is pretty much complete. Rounded things out over the weekend by picking up the Breastplate of the Warbringer. Of the four recommended chest pieces, it's probably the weakest but it brought defense up to 488. The quest line to complete it was pretty easy to do with Sloosh on autofollow to help with the healing and wand DPS. Got going on the Kara key by doing the silly starter quests then having Ladaron and Rool help run through the Shadow Labyrinth for the first key.

Been doing some Alterac Valley and Eye of the Storm with Fearce for honor and tokens. Finally have enough to pick up a Gladiator's Cleaver only to decide against it once in the Champion's Hall. Need to review the rest of the gear available as that axe will not help tanking whereas something else might. Maybe. Noticing that caster equipment has variety (Druids and Shaman have three sets, for instance) while Warriors have only one. Sucks.

The Dreaded Priest Re-spec

Kevanassa gave me a great Holy/Disc spec (18/43/0) that let Sloosh raid and PvP without spending 100g to switch every week. Healing was fully buffed allowing me to spam low rank flash heals for impressive numbers. Yet I had incredible survivability in BGs and the Arena. Kev even snuck in Holy Nova which is wonderful for catching stealthers or preventing flag/banner caps. Yet as Sloosh gained more Arena and Vindicator gear I've lamented the steady decline in +healing. It made me realize that the switch from Holy was inevitable.

Kev also provided me with a PvP Disc spec (46/11/0) that is slightly different from the “standard (41/20/0)” seen so often on Arena disc priests, even on the Priest builds at WoWWiki. He skips Silent Resolve, Absolution, Mental Agility, Improved Healing, Improved Renew, Divine Fury and Focused Will to pick up Enlightenment, Reflective Shield, and Improved Power Word: Shield. I won't try Kev's because I don't see PW:S as viable in PvP—especially without Silent Resolve. I also like to have renews extended when they're so efficient with Mental Agility.

I wasn't interested in the standard either because I don't fully trust the Improved Healing/Divine Fury combo. Kev is a firm believer in flash heals and I heartily agree. I also wanted to pick up Enlightenment for the stat boost. Was looking over Kev's current spec (18/43/0) and it makes no sense to me. Light on the Disc and really scattered around the Holy tree. Looked around Samarahh's spec (50/11/0) which had potential except that he fell into the same PW:S trap.

Came across a “Unorthodox Disc Priest Arena Build (43/5/13) on WoWWikki. It also has the damn PW:S combo without Silent Resolve. Got to thinking. Normally in the middle of stun lock I only get SW:P and SW:D off while trying to get instant health stuff off. Which means I'm just staying alive without really hurting my attacker, hoping for someone else to come by and save me. Having my shield damage as well would be handy. But the +healing is going down so the shield won't reflect that much. Reading some feedback in the forums does make me want to try it despite my misgivings.

The idea of working in some shadow was very compelling. Mind Flay's range is limited but the effect is handy. Blackout is also a wonderful wild card to have in the arsenal. They put too many points in Shadow Focus considering that it is not a Shadow spec. So I came up with this spec (45/5/11). Getting Divine Spirit back, trying out the reflective shield, bit of renew, and the dash of Shadow all on the heavy Disc base. See how it goes…

Ogres Get Some Priest and Warrior Action

Sloosh is looking pretty silly with season three gloves and hood while the rest is season one, but that's okay. She's sitting at 367 resilience and I haven't socketed the new hood yet. I was hoping to hit 400 for the weekend but I couldn't muster the willpower to overcome the boredom of PvPing. See what I can get down over the weekend.



Instead of being focused on Sloosh, Fearce has gotten the attention this week. In my current circle of friends we're lacking a tank so I've been motivated. Made some real progress. Got a run through The Mechanar done on Tuesday where I picked up a Thoriumweave Cloak and the key fragment for How to Break Into the Arcatraz. Last night I suggested to Ladaron and Rool we get our Ogri'la quests done. I brought both Sloosh and Fearce along then we picked up a random Paladin, Apeec, who was begging for a group by the quest-giver ogre. Turns out we need five people for one of the summons so it worked out well.

Once we were crowned and checking out Ogri'La, Ladaron and Rool had to take off so I decided to see what the drop rate on apexis crystals was—not so great. It took probably twenty-five kills to get the ten I needed for the initial quest. I suppose that ratio isn't bad, but with Fearce being Protection and Sloosh a robot, it's slow going. I did get a Depleted Staff to drop in my little farming session. With fifty crystals it becomes a tradeable Flaming Quartz Staff which seems a waste of crystals at the moment.

After turning in the crystals I hearthed back to Shattrath and decided to join a Bot pug with Fearce. I was a little dubious with two hunters, a DPS warrior, and a tree Druid but we managed to do quite well. I've gotten quite familiar with The Botanica over the last week so I got them to push to the end. Was very fortunate to pick up the Aegis of the Sunbird that I've wanted for a while now plus the Revenger that I probably won't use. The defensive stats on the Crystalline Kopesh are still too compelling. Managed to down Warp Splinter so I got the Arcatraz key made plus picked up the Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard. Going to enchant the cloak with armor though I'm not sure on the shield. Extra block might be the way to go but more health is always a good thing.

The Warrior gear checklist is looking pretty good. Once Fearce picks up a breastplate, another ring, and some trinkets she'll be ready to tank some ass. *snicker* Kind of wish I'd tracked her progress over the last week as it would really illustrate what little life I have outside of Azeroth.

Last Few Days

Friday was pretty uneventful. Rool, Samarahh, and Ladaron all needed some Eye of the Storm marks so we grouped up to suffer together for a while. We actually did win three games of the ten we played so it wasn't as bad as usual. I plan on replacing Sloosh's Light's Justice last so these tokens will chill in the bank for a while.

Saturday I was up early so I worked in some Alterac Valley honor for Sloosh until Emogoblin pulled me away for a run through Uldaman. I used Aenara for the bulk of it then brought in Glitter to get past the two summoning stones.

Had some real life get in the way so I wasn't able to get back on until the evening. There weren't enough people around for Karazhan so jumped right into the arena with Sloosh, Hennesy, and Kidknux. We are coming together a lot better plus we're all over 300 resilience now but there's still work to be done. Played thirteen games, winning six and ending with a 1475 rating. Then won two games with Sloosh and Hennesy putting us at 1499.

Then there were suddenly enough people online for 5v5s so we switched over. Started with the primary team of Sloosh, Hennesy, Rannixx, Artemiis, and Flavie. Initially we were in the low 1400s and stomped into the 1500s, where we were smacked back down. Flavie is still very poorly geared so he didn't add so much. Sloosh is still heavy Holy and Hennesy is deep into Affliction so we also realized that we need to respec over the next week. Still… was a good dynamic and very fun. Won six, lost four, and ended with 1487.

Our “alternate” 5v5 has me on Decimate with Contagent, Rool, Ladaron, and Samarahh. Contagent and I are the best geared for that team, which isn't saying much, so winning two and losing eight wasn't a big surprise. Ended with a 1378.

Sunday morning did more of the usual honor grind. Azjol-Nerub's PvP daily was kindly Alterac Valley so I try to switch through all of my 60+ characters. In fact, it got me into a new strategy for the games where I basically AFK out if we're still dicking around after ten minutes. I let that character's deserter buff decay while I queue up with another. This is very easy to do with seven characters to play, though I did feel some pangs of guilt over leaving the next player who got sucked into a no-honor game. Blizzard really needs to fix that. After a certain reinforcements threshold (like <50), new players should not be zoning in.

After doing some real life stuff I got back on with Fearce. Picked up all three pieces of the Felsteel tanking set from the AH. Also went through my bank cleaning out the accumulated crap only to find I already had the Sha'tari Wrought Armguards and Sha'tari Wrought Greaves I had on my “To Do” list. Got +8sta armor kits on all three items that could accept them then had Glitter make up green gems for all the sockets after Sloosh enchanted the bracers with +7sta. This is all stuff that needs to be upgraded so I'm not commiting quality enchants.

Decided to try pugging The Steamvault and The Botanica via the LFG tool. Got an invite for a Bot group after a while then we waited another thirty minutes for a healer. Finally get going when the Hunter disconnects. Then the Shaman had to leave for Kara. Then the Pally leaves when he realizes it's not Heroic. Finally asked Rool and Ladaron if they'd come help so the switch off of their alts but the Moonkin decide to head. I was getting depressed at this point so I gave it five minutes before calling the whole thing and working on Ogri'la. But we found a mage then managed to clear the whole place. Still no shield but I did pick up the Warhelm of the Bold.

Finished out the night with two more rousing losses in Arathi Basin, which Rool and Ladaron were kind enough to join me for, to get the last tokens I needed for Sloosh's Vindicator's Mooncloth Belt. Once they logged off I went back to AV to get the last ~3.5k honor I needed. Woke up this morning to find I had gotten exactly 4000 honor so Sloosh's resilience went from 303 to 334—very nice! With this weekend's Arena points I will be getting Vengeful Gladiator's Mooncloth Hood tomorrow which means 371 resilience!! Can survive three mêlée pounding on me now so can hardly wait to hit 400. *evil lol*