Adventures of a Dwarf Priest

Well it is almost the big day!  Expansion release days are always exciting but I’m also prepared for the servers to be unavailable.  However they might be getting better at it because I don’t recall WOTLK being to disruptive.  I think we got the major issues out of the way now thanks to the early shattering anyways.

I’ve continued to really enjoy Cosain.  You might notice I added him to my side bar so people can watch my progress.  I plan to alternate with Laneer, Cosain and Seun once the expansion starts.  I think I’m going to stick with Seun for my DPS fun because I find Arcane so enjoyable.  I never got that kind of satisfaction from DPS with Laneer though I didn’t do too bad it just isn’t as fun.  I’m going to stick to healing of course, I have no idea what I’ll do with my second spec, maybe I’ll change my mind later   I don’t believe I will have any issues leveling in my current Disc spec.

I’ve gone prot with Cosain because I want to learn to tank.  I think that would be an interesting part of the game I haven’t really done.  I did it occasionally when Inien and I played Horde on Akama with my Druid but not enough to really get a feel for it.  With Cosain’s gear it isn’t like leveling is harder thanks to his inheritance from Laneer

I’m also looking forward to leveling Laneer again. I always enjoyed the process of leveling.  I’m looking forward to Archaeology too!  More pets and all sorts of neat things, very Dwarf like too   New 5 mans are going to be great too as I’ve mentioned those are always my favorite.

I also got good news yesterday Amazon told me that my Cataclysm CE was upgraded to release day delivery so I should be logging in to Cataclysm officially on launch day after all

Well the world was shattered today, and what a shattering it was!  I spent some time running around a good part of the eastern kingdom and saw so many changes.  First off everything just looks more amazing.  You can definitely see the texture work done here.  It seems to have been done game wide because even Dalaran was looking more spiffy.  There were the obvious changes like the Loch Modan damn has broken and all the water leaked down into the wetlands.

While walking around you notice there are tons more flight paths which should make things nice for the newbies as we start all creating alts I noticed tons of quest hubs everywhere and quests all over.  I heard many people talking about the very detailed stories being told in each zone.  The leveling experience is definitely nice it seems.

After running around some of my old haunts I decided yes I wanted to go with a Dwarf Warrior not a Worgen.  Not to mention I’ll have Cataclysm a little late so this gives me something to do still   So I created him as you see here.  He is the great Cosain, the mighty Dwarf Warrior and Protector!  He of course benefits greatly from his much older and friendly rich Uncle Dwarf Laneer.  So he was outfitted with the finest weapons and armor, bags and of course some gold to help him on his way   There is something very satisfying about laying this big ass axe into a trogg

So he is on his way now, already has two achievements, for getting over 15 pets already of course   Tomorrow is another day!

Man I missed the boat on that Anniversary.  It really is today, how perfect is that timing to coincide with path Tuesday?   Man I can’t believe it is 6 years already!  For 6 years Blizzard has managed to keep me entertained.  I wonder how many years WoW will go on for?  I’m sure there are people who thought it wouldn’t make it this long.  Blizzard has done an amazing job keeping the game fresh and changing.

Of course this Anniversary is pretty incredible because it brings us the Shattering.  The largest single change to the world Blizzard has ever done.  I’m looking forward to creating my first alt in 3 years.  I’m planning on race changing my other alts to Dwarves too   Go Dwarf Mages and Warlocks!

I’m pretty excited about logging in today and seeing everything.  I hope the patch goes better than I expect it to go

I hope everyone has a great WoW Anniversary, and Patch day!

Well tomorrow brings the Shattering upon us!  I totally thought they would do it on the anniversary but I guess they went with the normal patch day   This is such a huge change that will change the game forever.  We are not strangers to change of course with the 4.x updates dramatically changing our classes, items and game play aspects of the game.  Now come the major physical changes to the world as Deathwing reeks his havoc upon the world.

I think about the only thing I’m really going to miss and maybe a bit peeved about is the portals are going away   It is a small thing but I’ve got used to a world in which I was bound by no mage to have  speedy travel.  As a man with limited play time these days I am totally going to miss these portals.  They have served me well for sure.  I removed my bind from Shattrath before logging and stuck myself in IF for now.  I still have my ring that will return me to Dalaran, not that it will be terribly useful now

I took a visit to Loch Modan for some reflection on my life in WoW.  I’ve been playing this game for 6 years now, the longest I’ve played anything now surpassing EQ.  Especially since I never really stopped playing WoW like I would do with EQ.   Some of my earliest memories of WoW center around Loch Modan.  I remember the first time I walked through the mountains as I transitioned from Dun Morogh’s snowy mountains to the lush green areas in Loch Modan.  I remember the first time I walked into Thelsamar.  I love the Dwarves, and I love this zone.  I would have to say it is my favorite zone in all of WoW.

I went over the Grim Batol in the wetlands to grab a shot before the changes.  I know this becomes one of the first raid areas so I just figured I’d take one last peep.  I remember Inien and I fought our way over here just to see it one time knowing that there was nothing actually here

Inien popped on and we ended up taking one last visit to ZG to see if we couldn’t snag the Tiger/Raptor mounts.  We were not successful as always of course but we gave it a shot   We also ran Sethekk Halls for the birdie mount for me, and ran over to MGT to see if we couldn’t get the chicken mount

Inien and I decided to drop by Auberdine to say good bye as this zone gets totally trashed I know.  I’ve done all the quests here a few times, I found it a very painful area and it probably needed to be smashed   We’ll see how it turns out now after things tomorrow

I settled in over at the inn in IF with Inien for our last supper   I log now and await for what tomorrow will bring.  WoW will be for ever changed, which means a lot to someone who has played WoW as long as I have.  I will miss my game but look forward to a bright future. While the Shattering, and Cataclysm in general will be quite the negative impact on the world perhaps it is just the shake up we all need?  I hope you all survive the coming of Deathwing, may we all survive the shattering and come out stronger in the end!

Let me close out with a few more photos I took of Loch Modan after dark

Man I’ve been a busy guy.  Most of the time I’m too tired to play WoW lately.  Been easier for me to keep up with everything from twitter than update the site.  Terrible I know, I hope to squeeze out time for 4.x though.  I had been up since 3 but got on to get a good bye 3.x screenshot in.  There were a few trees having some festivities on the steps celebrating their last hours in that form before it becomes a Cooldown.

It started growing into quite a celebration.  I got out my little tree to be festive with them.  It is funny how many people have no idea what is about to happen tomorrow.  They were just talking about it and people kept being surprise about what was changing.  I wonder how many people are going to get caught off guard by the enormous changes to the game that will be in tomorrow.

• 31 point talent trees and specialization system
• changes in resources for warriors, deathknights, paladins, hunters, and warlocks
• Stats are going away or changing what they do
• tons of spell and ability changes
• no more spell ranks

Just to name a few   We should have all the necessary things now for whatever pre-cataclysm events Blizzard has planned for us   Plus updated graphics!  The game is as pretty as usual especially rendered on my new computer

I’m pretty excited about 4.01, and cataclysm in particular.  I have plans to make a new alt for the first time in 3 years I think, a warrior   I’m looking forward to leveling in the new redesigned world.  I’m also looking forward to archaeology for my pet collecting needs   Lots to look forward too!  I got my CE ordered to join my other 3

Hope everyone enjoys 4.x!

I haven’t got to log on last week at all, just for a little bit on Thursday while I was waiting for the fedex guy who was delivering my new computer and some on Saturday night.

Speaking of my new computer, it is awesome!  So far it has been pretty easy going with it.  I got it all setup and running SC2 the first day, which looks fantastic turned up full blast   I’ve installed a few other games, STO and Dawn of Discovery.  I got WoW installed but didn’t really get to tackle getting it configured until the weekend.  Then I ended up working again which disrupted that.  In the end I decided to tune my UI a little so I spent a lot of time fiddling with addons.  It isn’t quite done yet but I’ve got a usable UI.

Got in a 25man raid with Inien on Saturday.  I had kind of an annoying headache from working that day but I was bound and determined to do something fun.  Inien keeps trying to resolve his graphics problems in raids.  His card which is just as fast as mine should be rocking WoW but there is some sort of odd bug keeping it from doing it.  We wondered if I was going to have the same problem.  He has the ATI 5870 and I ended up going with the Nvidia 480.  To my relief with WoW settings maxed on ultra the card kept my framerate at a constant 60fps except in the largest of AOE spam where it dropped to about 45.

It looks fantastic fully turned up as well.  I should be ready for any Cataclysm improvements now as well.  With vsync turned on it only pushing the card about 40%.  I initially had ideas of over clocking everything but it is all so fast I’m not sure I am going to even bother at this point   Completed the remaining part of my plan yesterday getting a DVI KVM (which cost way too much) and a wireless adapter for the PC as the internet sharing thing I was doing with the Mac was causing some funky things.  Now I just got to get my keyboard squared away so I can take screenshots

Anyways hoping to have some adventures this week.  Need to try and get the weekly done today and some VOA’s if possible.  Hoping to pick up my 4 piece bonus by the end of the week!

Still waiting on my cataclysm invite, none yet though at least we have had lots of great info coming out lately. The new 31pt talents have been interesting but still need a lot of work. Very interested in seeing how the smite mechanics they added in disc work out. I even got one of my questions answered about it in yesterdays dev chat!

Q. I’m excited about the Smite mechanic in Disc. Are you going to do anything about hit so that mechanic can be effective?
A. We had a talent to give you a bunch of spell hit in a beta build, but spell hit on your offensive spells is a hard sell in the new talent model. But yes, we want to do something about spell hit for the Discipline Archangel specialization, possibly move up Twisting Faith to a tier that Discipline can obtain it in Shadow (so your spirit would convert to hit as Discipline/Shadow sub-specialization).

I’ve still mostly been working only goblin factions lately and farming gold. Also picking up stuff here and there for my future worgen warrior. Decided on a new name for him, Cosain which in Irish means to protect. Also trying to pickup frost badges when I can each day to grab my 4piece bonus and get to the stupid 5500gs so I can try the new ruby sanctum.

I’ve been super busy but still finding time for WoW, but have been neglecting my site recently   If you follow my twitter feed though I have been posting there!  I’ll try to do better!  I’m trying to do too many things right now I think

Anyways some pretty exciting news yesterday about the redesign of the talent system.  They have this whole new system worked out and ready to appear in the next beta push! (Which I’m still not in btw )  I think they hit the nail on the head with this new specialization concept.  Especially the part about making the class FEEL like the spec they choose very early on by presenting them a tree defining ability at level 10.

I was telling Inien again last night that I am glad I have continued to wait to start learning anything about Warriors (my new worgen) with this much stuff in flux.  There is so much changing, from the gear, to the stats, to the talents that its going to be a new game.  Not to mention the world!  Speaking of which I’ve watched a lot of videos of the new world and Blizzard has done an amazing job on the new and old zones.  This expansion has got to be the most epic expansion ever created.

I’m very excited to see what they do with Disc after cleaning it up.  I hope Power Word: Barrier is still there because I still believed that would be a fun spell!  I was also saw mention of Penance being the Disc defining ability given to level 10s, which means we may get something new at the top of our tree which should be interesting.  I just hope they stick with the overall theme of Disc, speed and absorption.

Just a quick update on what I’ve been up to lately.  I’ve mostly been working on my gold supplies and farming rep for my non-exalted factions.  I’ve also tried to keep a slow and steady income of frost badges coming.  I’ve managed to get my two piece bonus on T10 and pickup a few other odds and ends.  I am working towards getting the 4 piece bonus then I’ll likely go for one of the trinkets or the tailoring patterns depending on how things are at that point.

I managed to get the new pet they put on Ahune before he went away, and also bought the two plush pets baby Gryphon and Wyvern.  I know it is a sickness   Every once in a while Inien goes with me to beat up the folks in ZG to try and get the last Raptor I don’t have.  I also do a lot of fishing in the sewers still for my rat.  I still have a few pets I need to get other places, like the phoenix in MGT.  I’m currently running with 124 pets now, woot!

This week has been crazy for me!  I’ve been going into work early(even for me!) doing some upgrades to prepare for a big upgrade next week.  So even though I was stressed and could really use some WoW time I was too tired usually to play   I got on tonight though and played a little, talked to Inien on skype.

I did my random first thing, Inien had just finished so I went alone and ended up in someones already started UP.  It is interesting how you get dropped right on the group now, I don’t know when they changed that but it is convenient.  I’m going to guess the other healer left because they couldn’t deal with healing the tank.  At first glance I couldn’t tell who was the tank by HP because we all had about the same amount.    It turned out a really poorly geared Feral DPS Druid was tanking in a Cat spec, and Cat gear

This of course made things interesting to heal but I didn’t have a problem keeping him alive, I am after all awesome   The Shaman in the group was asking me if it was hard to heal him, and I just said it was “interesting”.   The Shaman seemed impressed with my healing ability and kept asking questions about my spec and gear.  We made it through the instance though, no one died and I got that out of the way.

I then went to my Argent Tournament dailies which I’ve started doing again.  Inien was doing them too and we did some of them together.  I was able to get enough seals tonight to get my 25 Talbard and get that achievement!  I found out after I did that one of the guildies has been trying to catch up to my achievement score, I have the second best in my guild and the only reason I’m behind is because I don’t raid as much   So now I’ve got to step it up to hold my 2nd place   Going to have to try and knock out some of the easy ones I still have in general and maybe PvP and Fishing.

Ok,  now onto my big worries.  Inien kept reminding me nothing is close to being done, and I realize that but I see too much thought behind the new Disc tree to not be worried.  It looks to me at first glance they have refocused the tree back towards PvP again!  You can see the talent preview over at MMO-Champion.

I’m talking of course of Atonement, Penitence, Evangelism, and Arcangel.  They are great names, and even cool talents they allow you to do some damage and be healing as well. It is unclear to me if this is thought it will work in PvE or not?  It could be interesting but I don’t think they have ever mixed those two things for PvE before.  Atonement could be interesting letting you heal the tank and melee dps with some of your damage.  The more I thought about it after talking to Inien the more I began to see it as modeled after the damaging healers in some of the MMOs that have come out recently.

So basically now I’m more fascinated than stressed out about it and wish I had a beta invite to try it   With the changes to Disc and Holy, it is possible to get all the new Damage talents in Holy and Disc, all the way to the increased range.  So now I’m thinking you could go with a Disc build that looks like this and it might be an interesting PvE build where you would be tossing out damage and heal/shields.

BETA, where art thou!

I have been reading the WoW forums more lately despite the usual headache it can give you some times.  I ran across a post in the Cataclysm forum that Zarhym replied too. The title was Cataclysm: WoW Killer.  Now when I first read that I thought it could be both a positive or a negative post, of course this is the WoW forums so I knew it must be negative.  But I’d like to take a second to argue the other way.

World of Warcraft has been the number one MMO for quite some time now.  From the very beginning they managed to bring an audience that no one dreamed possible.  Since those early days many MMO’s have come out to try and recreate the success of WoW, or to some how take some from it.  Every time a new MMO is about to release there is all sorts of forum posts about how it is the next WoW Killer.  Warhammer Online was one such game which everyone was sure would bring WoW down, as was Age of Conan.   These games would always show some limited success but WoW lived on.  All the things that makes WoW great, they just couldn’t match.  It was hard for them to compete against years of fine tuning that WoW has done.

My reason for bring this up is I believe Cataclysm is THE WoW Killer.  Cataclysm will finally be the one game to one up WoW.  You might say to yourself, well “Laneer Catalcysm is WoW.”  However if you have been following the info coming you can see just how much they are changing.  Yes there will be some aspects of our old game there, but everything about WoW is pretty much changing.  They are modifying nearly every item, changing quests, the landscape everywhere, spells, talents, trade skills.  Nothing in this expansion seems to be escaping the great cataclysm.

Now this is just my opinion, but I think this is all for the better.  Admittedly I am a Blizzard fanboy, but I think the success of this game speaks for itself.  I am very impressed with all the refinement coming in Cataclysm.  I admire Blizzard very much for taking on such a monumental task such as this.  I am not sure that any other company would have been gutsy enough to try and do so much at once.    I have enjoyed WoW going on 6 years now.  It has come a long way from those early days with each expansion building on the next.  Cataclysm seems to be a compilation of all the lessons learned from each stage of WoW.  So without a doubt I believe we finally have a WoW Killer.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

The WoW Killer!