I have decided to move my blog to a new home:
http://theshadowtroll.wordpress.com
I realized the name 'Brattgaming' was too general and didn't suit my blog's focus. I also prefer wordpress.com as it seems to offer more functionality.
Please check the new blog for any future updates.
Thanks
Chris
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Why I love to Mind Flay
- We can literally fire lazer beams from the palm of our hands. What else do you want from a spell?!
- This spell reduces the movement speed of your target by 50% whilst pumping out some heavy damage. People often undervalue how useful this can be. In PvP you can use this spell in so many different ways and the fact that you are dealing damage can often be just an added bonus. Mind Flay can save your healer friend from being killed by that Arms Warrior or it can slow an enemy down as he tries to approach you whilst your DoTs tick away at his HP. Mind Flay is amazing in PvP!
- Refreshing Shadow Word: Pain whilst dealing damage = profit
- It is actually one of the cheapest spells to use in terms of mana compared to how much damage it can deal.
- Melting of faces
Some of you may notice that you are accidentally recasting mind flay before the previous mind flay had finished. This means you are missing out on the last 'tick' of damage and therefore wasting time and mana. This macro can help:
#showtooltip Mind Flay
/cast [nochanneling:Mind Flay] Mind Flay
This allows you to spam your mind flay spell without allowing yourself to cast until the previous spell has finished channeling.
Monday, 18 January 2010
Quick update
I've now completely finished with Hellfire Peninsula and actually covered 5 levels in that one zone with a few dungeons runs in between. I'm now level 63 and heading to Zangarmarsh to look at giant mushrooms, slay countless naga and chase those annoying broken space goats.
I'm actually also starting to work on a guest post for the Pugnacious Priest and I am excited to see how that works out. I also need to do some work on the layout of this blog and make it look a little bit snazzy, because at the moment it looks fairly bland.
If you want to find out anymore information about the Undergeared project, Gevlon has uploaded a post regarding a few dungeon runs some of our level 80s have now completed. Check it out here.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Level 60 means Dispersion and Wings!
Reaching level 60 means I now have access to two very important things, both of which make my life a hell of a lot easier:
Being able to use a flying mount at level 60 instead of 70 is so great when leveling through Outland. Anyone who has leveled trough Outland will understand how frustrating it can be to have to fight your way through packs of mobs to reach a quest item instead of flying over them and collecting it. Unfortunately I can't afford to use an Epic flying mount just yet because I have put very little thought into gold making. To be honest I am far too used to making gold using maxed out professions such as Enchanting or Inscription. I am selling everything I find whilst leveling but apart from that I am not really worrying about gold too much.
Dispersion is one of the spells I have been looking forward to since I started this character and I have now gained it via the Shadow talent tree. It solves two problems shadow priests may find whilst leveling: Survivability and Mana regen. Combine this spell with the Glyph of Dispersion and you will see a huge change in your leveling experience. I no longer have to worry about mana after every fight and I o longer have to worry about getting squashed when I pull too many enemies or have to face an elite mob. As I mentioned on Friday this spell no longer looks quite as awesome but I am willing to forgive Blizzard simply because it makes my leveling process so much easier.
Flying Mount
Being able to use a flying mount at level 60 instead of 70 is so great when leveling through Outland. Anyone who has leveled trough Outland will understand how frustrating it can be to have to fight your way through packs of mobs to reach a quest item instead of flying over them and collecting it. Unfortunately I can't afford to use an Epic flying mount just yet because I have put very little thought into gold making. To be honest I am far too used to making gold using maxed out professions such as Enchanting or Inscription. I am selling everything I find whilst leveling but apart from that I am not really worrying about gold too much.Dispersion
Dispersion is one of the spells I have been looking forward to since I started this character and I have now gained it via the Shadow talent tree. It solves two problems shadow priests may find whilst leveling: Survivability and Mana regen. Combine this spell with the Glyph of Dispersion and you will see a huge change in your leveling experience. I no longer have to worry about mana after every fight and I o longer have to worry about getting squashed when I pull too many enemies or have to face an elite mob. As I mentioned on Friday this spell no longer looks quite as awesome but I am willing to forgive Blizzard simply because it makes my leveling process so much easier.Through the Dark Portal!
I finally hit level 58 and forced myself not to cheer when I realized I could leave the old world quests behind. I made my way to Undercity and cleared my bags, leaving a few essential items: My trusty Mining Pick, a few potions and my hearthstone. Then I happily cleared out my quest log leaving a blank page ready for Outland. Finally I made sure all my professions were ready (300+) and wasted too much gold getting the last few points for my Jewelcrafting. I was now ready to head through the Dark Portal!
Outland awaits! A magical world of strange looking quest reward gear, demons and flying mounts.
Extra note: Don't forget you can now use a portal from any major city to teleport directly to the Dark Portal. You don't need to actually travel to the Blasted Lands anymore.
Friday, 15 January 2010
25 things I hope get Cataclysmed!
I'm currently level 56 and quickly coming to the end of my Azeroth leveling (I intend to hit Outland the moment I ding 58). Although I will always remember Azeroth with fond memories I am happy to reach some TBC content and leave behind several very annoying parts of the 'Classic' WoW. So as the title of this post suggests here are twenty-five things I have noticed whilst leveling in Azeroth that I really hope get changed in Cataclysm:
1. Weird gear with very random stats
2. The "Find every page of this book" quests
3. Long and confusing dungeon designs (BRD anyone?)
4. The "Travel to the other continent and give this letter to my friend" quests
5. Scenic flight path routes
6. Horrid profession related quests
7. Horrid class related quests
8. Horrid quests
9. Weapon Masters
10. Gnomeregan
11. Confusing quest descriptions
12. Awkward dungeon quests that your party won't help you with (Try explaining that Sunken Temple quest to a random PuG!)
13. Overpriced old world items on the Auction House
14. Quests that require overpriced old world items
15. Wishing you could start at level 58 like those pesky Death Knights
16. Spending so much time traveling before you get your first mount
17. Horrible escort quests (I'm thinking about that turtle in Tanaris who only moves at walking speed and expects you to take him to the opposite corner of the zone. Damn turtles)
18. Having little to no mana regen as a Shadowpriest and then watching a ret paladin solo the entire zone.
19. The Plaguelands
20. Vendors in the middle of nowhere selling the recipe you need
21. Pointless factions (Ravenholdt?)
22. Barrens chat
23. Quests mobs with awful drop/respawn rates
24. Some of the more outdated graphics
25. Thrall's armor (How can he lead the Horde in level 30 greens?!!?)
If I am completely honest all the points I have mentioned are what make old world content so classic and when the Cataclysm hits Azeroth it will be a very exciting time to play but thinking about it makes me all nostalgic.
So what things do you want to get Cataclysmed? I've focused on things that I noticed whilst leveling but feel free to mention anything you want to see Deathwing's arrival change!
Forum Post Friday
Each Friday I will pick a forum post from the World of Warcraft EU forums and discuss it. I will pick the post from anywhere within these forums depending on what I find interesting, funny or just rather annoying.
Please click here to read today's forum post.
Summary
This post is one of many that you find in the 'General Discussion' section of the forums. It is just a fun forum post that is trying to engage the community with a topic that doesn't involve hate towards the Blizzard devs or other players. This post asks you to name your favourite spell animation, nice and simple.
My opinion
If you had asked me this before patch 3.3 I would have said Dispersion without a doubt. What can be more cool than a dark cloud of shadowy awesome? Well
apparently it was too cool for WoW and it has now been changed so that you can still see the player model within the dispersion.
So instead I will pick Shadowform just because it makes everything it touches look awesome. When mounted you will notice that both yourself and your mount will now be covered by Shadowform and if you have a passenger then he/she will also be in Shadowform (no matter what race/class).
Interesting Replies
Rhecksa writes:
"Death Grip.
Who doesn't like shooting Unholy Lightning at enemies and yoink them towards you."Burden writes:
"The person on the other end."
Vaneras (Blizzard Poster) writes:
"Hmm... Hard to pick one out of so many really cool ones :-)
I really like those spells that strike enemies from the sky, like if they were shot by an orbital defence satellite or something... Holy Fire, Moonfire and Starfire are great examples of such spells, but if I am forced to pick only one of them I would probably go for Holy Fire :-)"
Dairyfresh writes:
"I vote for Moonfire.
ION CANNON!"
ION CANNON!"
What is your favourite spell animation? Leave a comment explaining why!
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Gear score
Love it or hate it, Gear score is one of the most widely discussed addons currently used within World of Warcraft. I have just been listening to the Hunting Lodge Podcast where they interview the creator of Gear score and talk about the addon and how it has evolved within the community. Click here to check out the podcast episode for yourself.
I don't personally use this addon and I'm skeptical of how a lot of people treat it but I found this interview very interesting. Arxkanite the creator of this addon actually describes the Gea rscore perfectly when he says:
"With the exclusion of trinkets the gear score will increase your performance the higher it is, however it may not increase you performance in the direction you want it to. For example an item may have more stamina but create less DPS so it will increase you performance in terms of longevity or survivability but may not increase your DPS. So you need to pick the direction in which you want gear score to improve your performance."
I really like this quote as it shows that gear score is not designed to prove that your gear is the best for whatever role you play but instead it shows you in a very general way how much your gear is effecting your performance. If you use gear score please remember this and don't lose the habit of judging gear yourself, it is great that this addon can give you a basic idea of how your gear works but it is down to you to really fine tune your stats and gear choices.
Question of the Day:
How much emphasis do you put on Gear score?
Do you use it?
Would you kick someone from your party/raid because of a low Gear score?
I don't personally use this addon and I'm skeptical of how a lot of people treat it but I found this interview very interesting. Arxkanite the creator of this addon actually describes the Gea rscore perfectly when he says:
"With the exclusion of trinkets the gear score will increase your performance the higher it is, however it may not increase you performance in the direction you want it to. For example an item may have more stamina but create less DPS so it will increase you performance in terms of longevity or survivability but may not increase your DPS. So you need to pick the direction in which you want gear score to improve your performance."
I really like this quote as it shows that gear score is not designed to prove that your gear is the best for whatever role you play but instead it shows you in a very general way how much your gear is effecting your performance. If you use gear score please remember this and don't lose the habit of judging gear yourself, it is great that this addon can give you a basic idea of how your gear works but it is down to you to really fine tune your stats and gear choices.
Question of the Day:
How much emphasis do you put on Gear score?
Do you use it?
Would you kick someone from your party/raid because of a low Gear score?
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Crazy day
I've had a little bit of a crazy day so I don't really have time for a post today. I'll just give quick update on the leveling:
I'm level 43 at the moment and currently looking for the next quest zone to dive into. I'm not really taking advantage of the LFG system that much because it takes around 15 minutes to get into a group, my mana regen still sucks compare to other caster DPS and well my spec is designed for questing/soloing for the most part. When I do fancy a dungeon or have the quests for something I usually queue up whilst questing in a zone and then just jump in when I find a group.
I chose to work Improved Psychic Scream and Silence into my spec for questing just because they really help when tackling particular types of mobs and although most people avoid these talents whilst questing I would rather be able to control each fight than increase my damage or mana regen slightly. Its only three talent points anyway but I like having the option to silence a last minute heal or Fear a group of mobs to escape.
I should have plenty of time tomorrow (its 2AM so technically its today I guess) for a decent post and sorry for the rushed update.
I'm level 43 at the moment and currently looking for the next quest zone to dive into. I'm not really taking advantage of the LFG system that much because it takes around 15 minutes to get into a group, my mana regen still sucks compare to other caster DPS and well my spec is designed for questing/soloing for the most part. When I do fancy a dungeon or have the quests for something I usually queue up whilst questing in a zone and then just jump in when I find a group.
I chose to work Improved Psychic Scream and Silence into my spec for questing just because they really help when tackling particular types of mobs and although most people avoid these talents whilst questing I would rather be able to control each fight than increase my damage or mana regen slightly. Its only three talent points anyway but I like having the option to silence a last minute heal or Fear a group of mobs to escape.
I should have plenty of time tomorrow (its 2AM so technically its today I guess) for a decent post and sorry for the rushed update.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Shadowform!
So I hit level 40 last night and finally picked up the most iconic spell of a shadowpriest: Shadowform!
Shadowform now has one of the largest descriptions I've ever seen for a single spell and I'm going to take a look at what it means exactly.
That description can seem a little overwhelming to a new shadowpriest and although everyone understands that it is good, not everyone can fully explain why. Also take a look at the mana cost to put Shadowform up, its not cheap so always remember that when dropping Shadowform for a quick heal or two. However the mana cost is actually a lot less than it used to be before patch 3.3 and should not be overlooked when you think providing some off heals may be useful.
Damage Increase / Damage Reduction
Ok the first part of the descrption is probably the most straightforward. Having Shadowform increases all shadow damage that you do by 15% and reduces all the damage you will take by 15%. Nice and easy, this spell will make you hit harder and take more hits.
Threat Reduction
All threat generated is reduced by 30%. As I mentioned before, being a shadowpriest means you will put out some pretty constant damage as well as group healing, which means that you may attract a little more attention from your enemies than you would like. A flat 30% threat reduction will help compensate this and let you breathe a little easier when you start melting faces in PvE.
Cannot cast Holy spells
This is the biggest disadvantage to a priest using Shadowform. You cannot use any holy spells apart from curse disease/abolish disease. This means that if you want to heal you will need to drop Shadowform. Dropping Shadowform means that you will lose all the advantage it provides until you recast it. When you recast Shadowform you will be using a fair amount of mana and wasting a Global Cooldown. So always assess whether dropping Shadowform is essential or not. However don't be afraid to drop it when needed as you can often save your own life or a member in your party / raid. When playing in PvP you will need to drop Shadowform more often depending on what situation you are presented with.
Increased DoT crits
This part of shadowform is awesome on so many levels! Allowing your DoT spells to crit for 100% increased damage will vastly improve your DPS if you have some decent crit rating. Remember this increased crit damage will only take place when the player has Shadowform up and you really will see some awesome damage. It is also a god send in PvP when you see your DoTs crit just as you prepare a Mind Blast.
Haste now helps Devouring Plague / Vampiric Touch
This is a rather new addition to Shadowform and it is the reason that many Shadowpriests now love haste. By stacking haste you can make your DP/VT spells do the same amount of damage in a shorter amount of time and thus increase your DPS drastically. Haste is a great stat to have and it provides all sorts of benefits. One of these being the time it takes for your Global Cooldown is reduced and this will let you use your spells and abilities that much faster. Haste can be extremely useful once you get the balance right with your other stats and I will be looking at this at a later time.
So as you may have noticed, I love Shadowform and this will make my leveling process a little easier from now on. Also don't forget, Shadowform makes everything look bad-ass.
Shadowform now has one of the largest descriptions I've ever seen for a single spell and I'm going to take a look at what it means exactly.
That description can seem a little overwhelming to a new shadowpriest and although everyone understands that it is good, not everyone can fully explain why. Also take a look at the mana cost to put Shadowform up, its not cheap so always remember that when dropping Shadowform for a quick heal or two. However the mana cost is actually a lot less than it used to be before patch 3.3 and should not be overlooked when you think providing some off heals may be useful.
Damage Increase / Damage Reduction
Ok the first part of the descrption is probably the most straightforward. Having Shadowform increases all shadow damage that you do by 15% and reduces all the damage you will take by 15%. Nice and easy, this spell will make you hit harder and take more hits.
Threat Reduction
All threat generated is reduced by 30%. As I mentioned before, being a shadowpriest means you will put out some pretty constant damage as well as group healing, which means that you may attract a little more attention from your enemies than you would like. A flat 30% threat reduction will help compensate this and let you breathe a little easier when you start melting faces in PvE.
Cannot cast Holy spells
This is the biggest disadvantage to a priest using Shadowform. You cannot use any holy spells apart from curse disease/abolish disease. This means that if you want to heal you will need to drop Shadowform. Dropping Shadowform means that you will lose all the advantage it provides until you recast it. When you recast Shadowform you will be using a fair amount of mana and wasting a Global Cooldown. So always assess whether dropping Shadowform is essential or not. However don't be afraid to drop it when needed as you can often save your own life or a member in your party / raid. When playing in PvP you will need to drop Shadowform more often depending on what situation you are presented with.
Increased DoT crits
This part of shadowform is awesome on so many levels! Allowing your DoT spells to crit for 100% increased damage will vastly improve your DPS if you have some decent crit rating. Remember this increased crit damage will only take place when the player has Shadowform up and you really will see some awesome damage. It is also a god send in PvP when you see your DoTs crit just as you prepare a Mind Blast.
Haste now helps Devouring Plague / Vampiric Touch
This is a rather new addition to Shadowform and it is the reason that many Shadowpriests now love haste. By stacking haste you can make your DP/VT spells do the same amount of damage in a shorter amount of time and thus increase your DPS drastically. Haste is a great stat to have and it provides all sorts of benefits. One of these being the time it takes for your Global Cooldown is reduced and this will let you use your spells and abilities that much faster. Haste can be extremely useful once you get the balance right with your other stats and I will be looking at this at a later time.
So as you may have noticed, I love Shadowform and this will make my leveling process a little easier from now on. Also don't forget, Shadowform makes everything look bad-ass.
Off Topic - Avatar
Ok this post is not WoW related yet I really want to quickly talk 
about Avatar the sci-fi film that has instantly been a hit worldwide and broken all sorts of box office records.
I have just watched the film at a local IMAX 3D cinema and the entire experience was amazing. For the entire 2 1/2 hours I felt like I was part of the story and the 3D effect was so captivating. If you have the option to watch this film in IMAX 3D I would implore you to consider it, the film was meant to be watched in this way and you will not regret your decision. That being said the film is not just a 3D gimmick, it has a really great story that lets you empathize with each character and will draw you into the film however you choose to watch it.
The plot is nothing groundbreaking and features a lot of similarities to films like Pocahontas where the main character chooses to side with the native people he finds rather than the 'evil' invaders that he was once part of. However the way in which the film is displayed will suck you into this new world of stunning scenery and awesome creatures. The Cinematography is so fantastic that you won't even notice the transition between live action and CGI content. The director James Cameron delayed the creation of Avatar until he thought technology could produce the effect he wanted and I think that is a fantastic mind frame to be in when producing such a film. I have a lot of respect for the people that created Avatar and I can't wait to see the promised sequel!
For a great review of this film and various others check out the Movielicious podcast hosted by some awesome people also involved in the WoW community. The link to the Avatar episode is here.
Avatar. Go watch it!
about Avatar the sci-fi film that has instantly been a hit worldwide and broken all sorts of box office records.I have just watched the film at a local IMAX 3D cinema and the entire experience was amazing. For the entire 2 1/2 hours I felt like I was part of the story and the 3D effect was so captivating. If you have the option to watch this film in IMAX 3D I would implore you to consider it, the film was meant to be watched in this way and you will not regret your decision. That being said the film is not just a 3D gimmick, it has a really great story that lets you empathize with each character and will draw you into the film however you choose to watch it.
The plot is nothing groundbreaking and features a lot of similarities to films like Pocahontas where the main character chooses to side with the native people he finds rather than the 'evil' invaders that he was once part of. However the way in which the film is displayed will suck you into this new world of stunning scenery and awesome creatures. The Cinematography is so fantastic that you won't even notice the transition between live action and CGI content. The director James Cameron delayed the creation of Avatar until he thought technology could produce the effect he wanted and I think that is a fantastic mind frame to be in when producing such a film. I have a lot of respect for the people that created Avatar and I can't wait to see the promised sequel!
For a great review of this film and various others check out the Movielicious podcast hosted by some awesome people also involved in the WoW community. The link to the Avatar episode is here.
Avatar. Go watch it!
Sunday, 10 January 2010
My Professions
As you will know if you have read the previous posts within this blog I am a member of the Undergeared project. This means the the profession bonuses I can obtain are extremely important. I don't really have the luxury to pick these professions because I like them or I know I can make some easy gold using them. I have to pick them because of stats, pure and simple.
Whilst leveling I have the professions Mining and Jewelcrafting, which is obviously not what I intend to start raiding with. Jewelcrafting is a great choice for me and in terms of stats alone it will provide 60 Spellpower or the equivalent in whatever stats I need. The bonus from this profession is higher for me that usual because part of the Undergeared rules state that I can only use blue quality gems unless I am a Jewelcrafter in which case I can use my three Dragon Eyes within my gear. The Jewelrafting trinekts are not currently useful to me but the stat increase from the Dragon Eyes makes it possibly the 'best' profession I can take.
I am using Mining as my other profession whilst I level to help me with my Jewelcrafting and to provide some extra gold when needed. I wouldn't ever recommend starting on a new server from scratch without at least on gathering profession. However my problem at the moment is deciding what exactly I should take as my second profession once I hit level 80 and I am to ready to start taking part in the Undergeared raids. My current options are:
Alchemy
This profession provides a flat increase of 47 spellpower from Mixology (improved effect of flasks). This is not impressive when compared to the other profession but Alchemy also provides the following trinket:
Mercurial Alchemist's Stone (trinket, 59 Spellpower, 50 Haste Rating & 40% improved effect of mana/health potions)
I cannot really write this profession off until I know which trinkets I will want to use at level 80. I have not completed a 'Best in Blue Slot' gear list yet, so it will be interesting to see how it compares.
Engineering
This profession is always interesting to compare, as it doesn't provide a flat stat bonus as such. Instead it has a series of items that can be very useful in the right hands. First of all we have the epic helm (this can be used as it is engineering only) and that provides the following stats:
Visage Liquification Goggles
Once again I will need to compare these to the blue equivalent and then look a the stat differences and see just how useful they will be. Either way this will definitely be an upgrade and gives me access to an ilevel 200 epic quality item.
Hyperspeed Accelerators (340 Haste on use)
This attachment to my gloves will provide me with 350 Haste every minute with 12 seconds of uptime. This equates to:
(340 haste*12 seconds)/60 seconds = 68 passive haste (if used every cooldown)
This blows all the other glove enchants out of the water and is a great attachment. It is also worth considering that it is off the Global Cooldown and can be combined with other abilities such as Troll Berserking to become extremely useful.
I also would like to compare this to the DPS increase that the Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket (1000 Damage on use) would give. As I need to see how much the haste would effect my DPS considering my gear will not be that great.
I also need to look at my hit rating when I have geared up to see if the Nitro Boots attachment is worth obtaining (24 Critical Strike compared to the enchant that provides 12 Critical Strike and 12 Hit Rating). Not to mention the fact that I could include Saronite Bombs into my rotation to possibly increase my DPS. As you can tell I need to put a lot of work into evaluating this profession. Oh and hell, Engineering is fun!
Inscription
Finally Inscription provides a flat increase of 52 Spellpower & 5 Critical Strike Rating when comparing the Inscription shoulder enchant to the Lesser Sons of Hodir enchatn that we are allowed to make use of.
It may prove that this flat stat increase is the most useful and I look forward to grabbing a full set of gear so I can compare.
I apologize that this post may seem rather random but I just wanted to show the ideas I am having for my second profession and why it is more complicated than it may seem to decide!
Whilst leveling I have the professions Mining and Jewelcrafting, which is obviously not what I intend to start raiding with. Jewelcrafting is a great choice for me and in terms of stats alone it will provide 60 Spellpower or the equivalent in whatever stats I need. The bonus from this profession is higher for me that usual because part of the Undergeared rules state that I can only use blue quality gems unless I am a Jewelcrafter in which case I can use my three Dragon Eyes within my gear. The Jewelrafting trinekts are not currently useful to me but the stat increase from the Dragon Eyes makes it possibly the 'best' profession I can take.
I am using Mining as my other profession whilst I level to help me with my Jewelcrafting and to provide some extra gold when needed. I wouldn't ever recommend starting on a new server from scratch without at least on gathering profession. However my problem at the moment is deciding what exactly I should take as my second profession once I hit level 80 and I am to ready to start taking part in the Undergeared raids. My current options are:
Alchemy
This profession provides a flat increase of 47 spellpower from Mixology (improved effect of flasks). This is not impressive when compared to the other profession but Alchemy also provides the following trinket:
Mercurial Alchemist's Stone (trinket, 59 Spellpower, 50 Haste Rating & 40% improved effect of mana/health potions)
I cannot really write this profession off until I know which trinkets I will want to use at level 80. I have not completed a 'Best in Blue Slot' gear list yet, so it will be interesting to see how it compares.
Engineering
This profession is always interesting to compare, as it doesn't provide a flat stat bonus as such. Instead it has a series of items that can be very useful in the right hands. First of all we have the epic helm (this can be used as it is engineering only) and that provides the following stats:
Visage Liquification Goggles
Once again I will need to compare these to the blue equivalent and then look a the stat differences and see just how useful they will be. Either way this will definitely be an upgrade and gives me access to an ilevel 200 epic quality item.
Hyperspeed Accelerators (340 Haste on use)
This attachment to my gloves will provide me with 350 Haste every minute with 12 seconds of uptime. This equates to:
(340 haste*12 seconds)/60 seconds = 68 passive haste (if used every cooldown)
This blows all the other glove enchants out of the water and is a great attachment. It is also worth considering that it is off the Global Cooldown and can be combined with other abilities such as Troll Berserking to become extremely useful.
I also would like to compare this to the DPS increase that the Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket (1000 Damage on use) would give. As I need to see how much the haste would effect my DPS considering my gear will not be that great.
I also need to look at my hit rating when I have geared up to see if the Nitro Boots attachment is worth obtaining (24 Critical Strike compared to the enchant that provides 12 Critical Strike and 12 Hit Rating). Not to mention the fact that I could include Saronite Bombs into my rotation to possibly increase my DPS. As you can tell I need to put a lot of work into evaluating this profession. Oh and hell, Engineering is fun!
Inscription
Finally Inscription provides a flat increase of 52 Spellpower & 5 Critical Strike Rating when comparing the Inscription shoulder enchant to the Lesser Sons of Hodir enchatn that we are allowed to make use of.
It may prove that this flat stat increase is the most useful and I look forward to grabbing a full set of gear so I can compare.
I apologize that this post may seem rather random but I just wanted to show the ideas I am having for my second profession and why it is more complicated than it may seem to decide!
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Ten quick tips for leveling a Shadowpriest
Ok as I have mentioned, I am currently in the process of leveling a new Shadow Priest. I thought I would share some really quick tips that I think are essential whilst leveling:
1. Get a wand - This should not be underrated. As a shadowpriest, you will have a lot of mana issues during the early levels and the entire process can be hell unless you have a backup. Get a wand as early as possible and maintain it. Possibly one of the most important items you will have whilst leveling.
2. Inner Fire - is awesome. Keep it up at all times or you will get pounded by any melee opposition. It has only 20 charges (unless you improve this in the discipline tree) and often needs to be refreshed.
3. Power Word Shield - is even more awesome. This spell is the difference between happy shadowpriests with full HP and unhappy shadowpriests running back to their corpse in spirit form.
4. You're a hybrid act like it! - You have the option to heal yourself at any time if needed. Don't get bogged down in your damage dealing and forget you can heal yourself or other party members and do a damn good job. This applies to questing and even more so to instances.
5. Psychic Scream - is a lifesaver. However use it as a last resort or if you are very confident of your surroundings. Fearing mobs can often create bigger problems when you accidentally aggro too many.
6. Dot and Run - You may look a little silly but you can easily kite mobs (or players) and maintain your instant cast DoTs on them. Let them chase you whilst you chuckle at their lack of HP. You usually need some space for this to work vs mobs but it is often a way of beating higher level or even elite mobs.
7. Mana is not your friend - Until you obtain spells such as Shadowfiend and Dispersion you will not have the best mana regen in the world. For this reason make sure you always have a stockpile of water and mana potions. They will make your life so much easier.
8. Spirit Tap - Probably one of the most important talents to pick. Get this straight away and don't be afraid to use gear that has plenty of spirit whilst leveling. The same goes for Improved Spirit Tap. Anything that gives you mana or makes you use less of it is a definite yes!
9. Use a threat meter - Whilst in low level dungeons a decent Shadowpriest can easily run into some threat issues during instance runs. Semi decent DPS + Group healing (Vampiric embrace) may land you in some trouble. A threat meter such as Omen is always handy.
10. Enjoy it - Shadow is a great spec and should therefore be enjoyed. Try questing , running instances or battlegrounds and make sure you do what feels fun. There may be parts where you find it tough but ultimately it will improve your gameplay when you overcome each challenge.
1. Get a wand - This should not be underrated. As a shadowpriest, you will have a lot of mana issues during the early levels and the entire process can be hell unless you have a backup. Get a wand as early as possible and maintain it. Possibly one of the most important items you will have whilst leveling.
2. Inner Fire - is awesome. Keep it up at all times or you will get pounded by any melee opposition. It has only 20 charges (unless you improve this in the discipline tree) and often needs to be refreshed.
3. Power Word Shield - is even more awesome. This spell is the difference between happy shadowpriests with full HP and unhappy shadowpriests running back to their corpse in spirit form.
4. You're a hybrid act like it! - You have the option to heal yourself at any time if needed. Don't get bogged down in your damage dealing and forget you can heal yourself or other party members and do a damn good job. This applies to questing and even more so to instances.
5. Psychic Scream - is a lifesaver. However use it as a last resort or if you are very confident of your surroundings. Fearing mobs can often create bigger problems when you accidentally aggro too many.
6. Dot and Run - You may look a little silly but you can easily kite mobs (or players) and maintain your instant cast DoTs on them. Let them chase you whilst you chuckle at their lack of HP. You usually need some space for this to work vs mobs but it is often a way of beating higher level or even elite mobs.
7. Mana is not your friend - Until you obtain spells such as Shadowfiend and Dispersion you will not have the best mana regen in the world. For this reason make sure you always have a stockpile of water and mana potions. They will make your life so much easier.
8. Spirit Tap - Probably one of the most important talents to pick. Get this straight away and don't be afraid to use gear that has plenty of spirit whilst leveling. The same goes for Improved Spirit Tap. Anything that gives you mana or makes you use less of it is a definite yes!
9. Use a threat meter - Whilst in low level dungeons a decent Shadowpriest can easily run into some threat issues during instance runs. Semi decent DPS + Group healing (Vampiric embrace) may land you in some trouble. A threat meter such as Omen is always handy.
10. Enjoy it - Shadow is a great spec and should therefore be enjoyed. Try questing , running instances or battlegrounds and make sure you do what feels fun. There may be parts where you find it tough but ultimately it will improve your gameplay when you overcome each challenge.
Friday, 8 January 2010
Forum Post Fridays
Each Friday I will pick a forum post from the World of Warcraft EU forums and discuss it. I will pick the post from anywhere within these forums depending on what I find interesting, funny or just rather annoying.
Please click here to check out today's forum post.
Summary
The original post focuses on a number of reasons why he/she HATES the new disenchanting option available in dungeons. The main reasoning is that the enchanting profession was difficult to level up and has been fairly useless to make gold with up until WOTLK. However the new disenchant option means that enchanting mats are much more freely available and people will no longer pay stupid amounts of gold for his/her enchanted vellums.
This post does not offer anything new but simply repeats what some enchanters already seem to think.
My opinion
I have read far too many of these types of forums posts and they all seem to offer the same idea:
This idea drive me crazy and I wish people would take a step back and think about it. The fact that the enchanting materials are now cheaper does not mean people do not need enchants. In my opinion it means more people will want to buy enchants than previously.
The OP mentioned enchanting vellums (scrolls) to sell so I will focus on that idea for a moment. I have often done exactly the same process when I had a maxed out enchanter and the process is extremely simple. You buy enchanting materials and the necessary vellum and then you enchant it. Work out how much you have spent and then add a percentage to that price to figure out how much you will sell it for. For example:
(Enchanting Materials+Vellum) x 120% = Price to sell on the Auction House
If your prices change then you will still make the exact same percentage profit from each sale. Enchanting materials are definitely cheaper at the moment and therefore the price you sell each scroll at will now be lower. However epic gear has never been so available in the history of this game and therefore the market for scrolls is now larger. This means you will be selling more scrolls for slightly less profit. So what is the problem?
Interesting Replies
Lobotomy writes:
"Moneymaking is up to players, not something that Blizzard has to fix because it can't be done. While you work for a full day and get 200g in tips, I actually don't respond to people that whisper me for enchants. I never advertise, I just make scrolls and put on AH, selling scrolls for around 4k per day with making auctions once or twice. A recent favourite was selling two accuracy scrolls for 981g each, costing me each 320g to make.
Enchanting makes money. Certain enchanters don't make money though, Blizzard can't fix enchanters."
I think his final point is great, the fact that you are not making money on the Auction House or by using your professions is not often Blizzard's fault. You need to reevaluate your own money making strategies.
Daelwroth writes:
"I used to make alot of money from greeding on items in Heroics, then if I won them, disenchant them into mats, and sell those on AH. It was my way of money-making with enchanting, but the money made dropped by 25% if not more."
This reply proves my point. Relying on the luck of a roll to sell materials that may or may not change in price is never going to be a constant income. Relying compeltely on one method when there are so many available and then blaming the 'system' is just aggravating. Also greeding on items and not telling his group that he could help them with disenchants is just greedy in my opinion, but that is the choice of the enchanter.
Melech writes:
Please click here to check out today's forum post.
Summary
The original post focuses on a number of reasons why he/she HATES the new disenchanting option available in dungeons. The main reasoning is that the enchanting profession was difficult to level up and has been fairly useless to make gold with up until WOTLK. However the new disenchant option means that enchanting mats are much more freely available and people will no longer pay stupid amounts of gold for his/her enchanted vellums.
This post does not offer anything new but simply repeats what some enchanters already seem to think.
My opinion
I have read far too many of these types of forums posts and they all seem to offer the same idea:
"I can't make money because enchanting materials are cheap."
This idea drive me crazy and I wish people would take a step back and think about it. The fact that the enchanting materials are now cheaper does not mean people do not need enchants. In my opinion it means more people will want to buy enchants than previously.
The OP mentioned enchanting vellums (scrolls) to sell so I will focus on that idea for a moment. I have often done exactly the same process when I had a maxed out enchanter and the process is extremely simple. You buy enchanting materials and the necessary vellum and then you enchant it. Work out how much you have spent and then add a percentage to that price to figure out how much you will sell it for. For example:
(Enchanting Materials+Vellum) x 120% = Price to sell on the Auction House
If your prices change then you will still make the exact same percentage profit from each sale. Enchanting materials are definitely cheaper at the moment and therefore the price you sell each scroll at will now be lower. However epic gear has never been so available in the history of this game and therefore the market for scrolls is now larger. This means you will be selling more scrolls for slightly less profit. So what is the problem?
Interesting Replies
Lobotomy writes:
"Moneymaking is up to players, not something that Blizzard has to fix because it can't be done. While you work for a full day and get 200g in tips, I actually don't respond to people that whisper me for enchants. I never advertise, I just make scrolls and put on AH, selling scrolls for around 4k per day with making auctions once or twice. A recent favourite was selling two accuracy scrolls for 981g each, costing me each 320g to make.
Enchanting makes money. Certain enchanters don't make money though, Blizzard can't fix enchanters."
I think his final point is great, the fact that you are not making money on the Auction House or by using your professions is not often Blizzard's fault. You need to reevaluate your own money making strategies.
Daelwroth writes:
"I used to make alot of money from greeding on items in Heroics, then if I won them, disenchant them into mats, and sell those on AH. It was my way of money-making with enchanting, but the money made dropped by 25% if not more."
This reply proves my point. Relying on the luck of a roll to sell materials that may or may not change in price is never going to be a constant income. Relying compeltely on one method when there are so many available and then blaming the 'system' is just aggravating. Also greeding on items and not telling his group that he could help them with disenchants is just greedy in my opinion, but that is the choice of the enchanter.
Melech writes:
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Shadowpriest Racials
As you know I started my new Shadowpriest as a proud member of the Troll race. I thought it might be interesting to go over each of the races a Shadowpriest can play and look at the various racials that may affect your choice.
Alliance
With the exception of Draenei, I would say that the Alliance racials are more useful for the PvP side of World of Warcraft. You can currently choose to play any of the Alliance races apart from Gnomes. Lets be honest, you wouldn't really want a Gnome Shadowpriest anyway.
Human
Arguably the best PvP racial at this moment in time, Every Man for Himself means that you will not need to have a PvP Trinket to break out of any movement impairing effects (Polymorph, Fear, Hammer of Justice etc). This means that not only can you use this skill whenever you may need it but also you do not need to waste a Trinket slot on the PvP Trinket in PvP situations. This will allow you to pick another trinket that you would not usually be able to equip.
Perception is another great PvP racial, it is now a passive ability. This means that you will constantly have improved stealth detection and have a much better chance of spotting those sneaky rogues / feral druids before they strike. The passive ability equates to 5 stealth detection at all times and that means you will see any stealthed player as if you were 1 level higher than them. This may sound odd but if you imagine looking at a lower level rogue whilst they are stealthed, they are easier to spot.
The Human Spirit racial is a 3% buff to your total spirit. This is a nice bonus to your shadowpriest but not a game changer. The racial used to be considerably higher and offered a 10% increase to your spirit, however this was considered to high and was later nerfed. Yes thats right, Blizzard nerfed the human spirit :< href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20599">increase to their reputation gains which is always going to be useful. Any human player will receive 10% additional reputation from quests, killing mobs or playing in battlegrounds. Whilst this racial is not going to improve your end-game DPS or make you a better PvPer, it makes life a little easier and is a welcome addition.
All in all, I personally think the Human Shadowpriest is the single best for any kind of Player vs Player situation when looking solely at racial abilities. It also provides a great range of different racials that any kind of player will enjoy. If you are looking for the best PvP combination then the Human Shadowpriest is for you. Alternatively if you are looking for a race that will provide advantages in all types of your gameplay then you can't go wrong with a Human.
Dwarf
Dwarf Shadowpriests have the ability to use Stoneform allowing them to remove all poisons, diseases and bleeding effects from themselves. Shadowpriests can already remove diseases from themselves but being able to get rid of any bleeding and poisons instantly is pretty damn useful. However this does have a 2 minute cooldown and therefore must be used at the right time. Although I would say this ability is mainly aimed at PvP it does have some uses in PvE to remove a raid wide poison effect from yourself and save your healer the trouble. I'm sure you guys and girls can think of times when a racial like this could have saved you and your repair bill.
However apart from Stoneform, Dwarf Shadowpriests don't have much joy with racial abilities. Sure they have a pretty nifty Frost Resistance that you will probably never really notice and finding treasure is great if it wasn't so useless in Northrend. Personally I would never pick a dwarf on racials alone and I really hope they get some love in Cataclysm.
Night Elf
Night Elves would be considered fairly weak in terms of racials if it wasn't
for Shadowmeld. Not only does that racial begin with the word 'Shadow' it is also incredibly useful to all types of players. This ability instantly stealthes the player and takes them out of combat, although you cannot move whilst stealthed this simple ability offers several important advantages.
You can use it in PvE to leave combat and stay stealthed directly before a raid wipe and then pop out of shadowmeld and ressurect the raid when the boss / raid trash has reset position. This will not only make other players happy but it will keep your repair bill nice and low. If you manage to attract the attention of an enemy NPC then you can use Shadowmeld to reset your threat and return the attention of the NPC to the tank. In some situation in both PvE and PvP you will be able to use Shadowmeld to leave combat and then drink to replenish your mana. When attemptign this please remember that you will break the stealth once you begin drinking and so you will need to attempt this at the right time and place. Shadowmeld has some other great uses like avoiding an enemy spellcast or avoiding enemy players in battleground / World PvP but I won't go into detail about these.
Other than Shadowmeld, the Night Elf racials offer very little to a Shadowpriest. Faster travel in ghost form and Nature Resistance are not going to change your gameplay. Quickness may be considered useful in PvP if you combine it with other factors but once again its not really going to be the difference between Gladiator and Challenger.
Draenei
I would say that Draenei players have the "best" racial ability for a PvE
Shadowpriest. Heroic Presence increases your chance to hit with spells by 1%. Unless you have raided as a DPS class before then you will probably be thinking that sounds useless. I will quickly explain how this works:
For every player the spell hit cap is 17%. This means if you have 17% hit then you will not miss any current raid boss or mob with your spells. Shadowpriests usually pick the talents Misery and Shadow Focus, which means that they now only need 11% hit. If you are a Draenei Shadowpriest you will only need 10% hit to reach the 'hit cap' where you will no longer miss the target you are fighting. It is almost always considered correct to reach the hit cap through your gear stats and then you can think about other stats you may want on your gear. This 1% hit offered by the racial simply means that you can reach the hit cap easier and then focus on more stats that will increase your DPS.
Draenei players also receive a Shadow Resistance racial that when coupled with your Shadow Resistance buff, may actually be considered pretty great in PvP. Finally Gift of the Naaru is an instant cast HoT that heals the player for 1235 health over 15 seconds. However as far as I am aware it does actually break Shadowform even though it is a racial, therefore it is only useful when you intend to lose Shadowform to heal yourself. It is a nice little extra HoT but it would be a hell of a lot more useful to us if it didn't drop our lovely Shadowform.
Horde
The Horde currently only have three options for rolling a Priest, but the racials they offer are pretty interesting.
Undead
Will of the Forsaken has always been debated when looking at PvP
and the different racial abilities that can be used. It has recently taken a nerf and shares a separate 45 second cooldown with the PvP Trinket. A lot of people are upset by this change and think this reduces the benefit of the racial considerably. For a shadowpriest I still think its great in any PvP scenario. In my opinion, if you use the right timing and put a little thought into when and what you use your PvP Trinket/WOTF with then it can still be an exceptional racial. This is without mentioning that Priests already have the option to use Fear Ward and the right player in the right situation can mitigate a whole chain of Crowd Control. Getting nerfed blows, but you need to think about how to adapt to these nerfs to really improve your gameplay in my opinion.
I think that Cannibalize is a very underrated racial as it allows Shadowpriests to heal themselves without breaking Shadowform which is such an advantage in certain situations. Also nothing says "I win" like eating the corpse of your opponent. Pretty much a PvP / soloing racial but still a great little ability that looks awesome. Shadow Resistance when combined with your own Shadow Protection is always a bonus and Underwater Breathing is well...better than nothing.
Undead Shadowpriests make a really great PvP choice for their racials but are lacking in the PvE department.
Troll
Players that pick Troll Shadowpriests receive some really great racials.
Most importantly the Beserking ability that increases casting speed by 20% every 3 minutes. This is a great ability in itself and is only made better by the fact that the recent haste changes mean that Shadowpriests now receive some great benefits from stacking haste. In my opinion this is the best PvE racial available to a Shadowpriest at the moment. It is more difficult to state how useful it is in PvP because you are always adapting to your opponent. However this ability will allow you to increase your burst damage or throw some really quick heals depending on the situation. Definitely a great racial for whatever your playstyle.
Passive abilities such as Beast Slaying and Da Voodoo Shuffle are actually incredibly useful to Shadowpriests and help make the Troll a great choice for both PvE and PvP content. I picked a troll for my own shadowpriest and I am very pleased with the racial abilities he offers.
Blood Elf
The Blood Elf has two racials worth having a look at. First off is Arcane Torrent which silences all nearby enemies and provides 6% of your base mana. The mana regen may be pretty useful when soloing or leveling but is not really going to be that useful in PvE where most Shadowpriests don't have any real mana issues if they have their rotation and gear planned out carefully. Where this racial ability really shines is within PvP, this ability is off the GCD (Global Cooldown) and the two second silence can work wonders. Combine this ability with the Shadowpriest spell Silence and you are looking at some serious PvP benefits.
The other racial you might want to take a look at is Arcane Resistance which similar to the other racials of its type may offer certain advantages in PvP.
The Blood Elf Shadowpriest can be great in PvP when looking at the racials alone, but simialr to the Undead it holds no real advantage in a PvE scenario.
Conclusion
In conclusion to this post, I want to mention something very important. The information I have provided is purely looking at racial abilities and how they can be useful. However WoW characters are not just a set of numbers on a DPS meter or just an Arena Rating, they represent yourself in the game and therefore try not to pick your character because someone told you to. Racial abilities are great but they are not going to make or break the game for you, so never be afraid to pick a class / race combination that isn't considered the "best". Pick your race because you like it.
I picked my troll because he dances like a pro.
Alliance
With the exception of Draenei, I would say that the Alliance racials are more useful for the PvP side of World of Warcraft. You can currently choose to play any of the Alliance races apart from Gnomes. Lets be honest, you wouldn't really want a Gnome Shadowpriest anyway.
Human
Arguably the best PvP racial at this moment in time, Every Man for Himself means that you will not need to have a PvP Trinket to break out of any movement impairing effects (Polymorph, Fear, Hammer of Justice etc). This means that not only can you use this skill whenever you may need it but also you do not need to waste a Trinket slot on the PvP Trinket in PvP situations. This will allow you to pick another trinket that you would not usually be able to equip.
Perception is another great PvP racial, it is now a passive ability. This means that you will constantly have improved stealth detection and have a much better chance of spotting those sneaky rogues / feral druids before they strike. The passive ability equates to 5 stealth detection at all times and that means you will see any stealthed player as if you were 1 level higher than them. This may sound odd but if you imagine looking at a lower level rogue whilst they are stealthed, they are easier to spot.
The Human Spirit racial is a 3% buff to your total spirit. This is a nice bonus to your shadowpriest but not a game changer. The racial used to be considerably higher and offered a 10% increase to your spirit, however this was considered to high and was later nerfed. Yes thats right, Blizzard nerfed the human spirit :< href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20599">increase to their reputation gains which is always going to be useful. Any human player will receive 10% additional reputation from quests, killing mobs or playing in battlegrounds. Whilst this racial is not going to improve your end-game DPS or make you a better PvPer, it makes life a little easier and is a welcome addition.
All in all, I personally think the Human Shadowpriest is the single best for any kind of Player vs Player situation when looking solely at racial abilities. It also provides a great range of different racials that any kind of player will enjoy. If you are looking for the best PvP combination then the Human Shadowpriest is for you. Alternatively if you are looking for a race that will provide advantages in all types of your gameplay then you can't go wrong with a Human.
Dwarf
Dwarf Shadowpriests have the ability to use Stoneform allowing them to remove all poisons, diseases and bleeding effects from themselves. Shadowpriests can already remove diseases from themselves but being able to get rid of any bleeding and poisons instantly is pretty damn useful. However this does have a 2 minute cooldown and therefore must be used at the right time. Although I would say this ability is mainly aimed at PvP it does have some uses in PvE to remove a raid wide poison effect from yourself and save your healer the trouble. I'm sure you guys and girls can think of times when a racial like this could have saved you and your repair bill.
However apart from Stoneform, Dwarf Shadowpriests don't have much joy with racial abilities. Sure they have a pretty nifty Frost Resistance that you will probably never really notice and finding treasure is great if it wasn't so useless in Northrend. Personally I would never pick a dwarf on racials alone and I really hope they get some love in Cataclysm.
Night Elf
Night Elves would be considered fairly weak in terms of racials if it wasn't
for Shadowmeld. Not only does that racial begin with the word 'Shadow' it is also incredibly useful to all types of players. This ability instantly stealthes the player and takes them out of combat, although you cannot move whilst stealthed this simple ability offers several important advantages.You can use it in PvE to leave combat and stay stealthed directly before a raid wipe and then pop out of shadowmeld and ressurect the raid when the boss / raid trash has reset position. This will not only make other players happy but it will keep your repair bill nice and low. If you manage to attract the attention of an enemy NPC then you can use Shadowmeld to reset your threat and return the attention of the NPC to the tank. In some situation in both PvE and PvP you will be able to use Shadowmeld to leave combat and then drink to replenish your mana. When attemptign this please remember that you will break the stealth once you begin drinking and so you will need to attempt this at the right time and place. Shadowmeld has some other great uses like avoiding an enemy spellcast or avoiding enemy players in battleground / World PvP but I won't go into detail about these.
Other than Shadowmeld, the Night Elf racials offer very little to a Shadowpriest. Faster travel in ghost form and Nature Resistance are not going to change your gameplay. Quickness may be considered useful in PvP if you combine it with other factors but once again its not really going to be the difference between Gladiator and Challenger.
Draenei
I would say that Draenei players have the "best" racial ability for a PvE
Shadowpriest. Heroic Presence increases your chance to hit with spells by 1%. Unless you have raided as a DPS class before then you will probably be thinking that sounds useless. I will quickly explain how this works:For every player the spell hit cap is 17%. This means if you have 17% hit then you will not miss any current raid boss or mob with your spells. Shadowpriests usually pick the talents Misery and Shadow Focus, which means that they now only need 11% hit. If you are a Draenei Shadowpriest you will only need 10% hit to reach the 'hit cap' where you will no longer miss the target you are fighting. It is almost always considered correct to reach the hit cap through your gear stats and then you can think about other stats you may want on your gear. This 1% hit offered by the racial simply means that you can reach the hit cap easier and then focus on more stats that will increase your DPS.
Draenei players also receive a Shadow Resistance racial that when coupled with your Shadow Resistance buff, may actually be considered pretty great in PvP. Finally Gift of the Naaru is an instant cast HoT that heals the player for 1235 health over 15 seconds. However as far as I am aware it does actually break Shadowform even though it is a racial, therefore it is only useful when you intend to lose Shadowform to heal yourself. It is a nice little extra HoT but it would be a hell of a lot more useful to us if it didn't drop our lovely Shadowform.
Horde
The Horde currently only have three options for rolling a Priest, but the racials they offer are pretty interesting.
Undead
Will of the Forsaken has always been debated when looking at PvP
and the different racial abilities that can be used. It has recently taken a nerf and shares a separate 45 second cooldown with the PvP Trinket. A lot of people are upset by this change and think this reduces the benefit of the racial considerably. For a shadowpriest I still think its great in any PvP scenario. In my opinion, if you use the right timing and put a little thought into when and what you use your PvP Trinket/WOTF with then it can still be an exceptional racial. This is without mentioning that Priests already have the option to use Fear Ward and the right player in the right situation can mitigate a whole chain of Crowd Control. Getting nerfed blows, but you need to think about how to adapt to these nerfs to really improve your gameplay in my opinion.I think that Cannibalize is a very underrated racial as it allows Shadowpriests to heal themselves without breaking Shadowform which is such an advantage in certain situations. Also nothing says "I win" like eating the corpse of your opponent. Pretty much a PvP / soloing racial but still a great little ability that looks awesome. Shadow Resistance when combined with your own Shadow Protection is always a bonus and Underwater Breathing is well...better than nothing.
Undead Shadowpriests make a really great PvP choice for their racials but are lacking in the PvE department.
Troll
Players that pick Troll Shadowpriests receive some really great racials.
Most importantly the Beserking ability that increases casting speed by 20% every 3 minutes. This is a great ability in itself and is only made better by the fact that the recent haste changes mean that Shadowpriests now receive some great benefits from stacking haste. In my opinion this is the best PvE racial available to a Shadowpriest at the moment. It is more difficult to state how useful it is in PvP because you are always adapting to your opponent. However this ability will allow you to increase your burst damage or throw some really quick heals depending on the situation. Definitely a great racial for whatever your playstyle.Passive abilities such as Beast Slaying and Da Voodoo Shuffle are actually incredibly useful to Shadowpriests and help make the Troll a great choice for both PvE and PvP content. I picked a troll for my own shadowpriest and I am very pleased with the racial abilities he offers.
Blood Elf
The Blood Elf has two racials worth having a look at. First off is Arcane Torrent which silences all nearby enemies and provides 6% of your base mana. The mana regen may be pretty useful when soloing or leveling but is not really going to be that useful in PvE where most Shadowpriests don't have any real mana issues if they have their rotation and gear planned out carefully. Where this racial ability really shines is within PvP, this ability is off the GCD (Global Cooldown) and the two second silence can work wonders. Combine this ability with the Shadowpriest spell Silence and you are looking at some serious PvP benefits.
The other racial you might want to take a look at is Arcane Resistance which similar to the other racials of its type may offer certain advantages in PvP.
The Blood Elf Shadowpriest can be great in PvP when looking at the racials alone, but simialr to the Undead it holds no real advantage in a PvE scenario.
Conclusion
In conclusion to this post, I want to mention something very important. The information I have provided is purely looking at racial abilities and how they can be useful. However WoW characters are not just a set of numbers on a DPS meter or just an Arena Rating, they represent yourself in the game and therefore try not to pick your character because someone told you to. Racial abilities are great but they are not going to make or break the game for you, so never be afraid to pick a class / race combination that isn't considered the "best". Pick your race because you like it.
I picked my troll because he dances like a pro.
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Mind Flay and a Mount
Level 20 is great. I can move faster and fire a laser beam from my hands. Level 20 is great.
When I noticed I was less than 1 bar of XP from level 20 I decided to treat myself to a Warsong Gulch and after waiting a couple of minutes I entered and instantly won. I was actually pretty disappointed to win so quickly as it meant I was no longer level 19 and if I joined another game I would be the lowest level possible in that bracket. I quickly got over that fact when I realized I could now go and purchase my very own raptor mount and no longer have to walk everywhere. I still can't quite get used to level 20 mounts. Back in my day... never mind.
My leveling spec so far is purely shadow and I am focusing on anything that either increases my damage or makes me more mana efficient. When hitting level 20 I get the chance to obtain the Mind Flay spell which is one that all Shadow Priests love. It does some pretty decent damage and importantly it slows your target by 50%. This is great for any kind of solo activity and lets be honest, lasers are just fun.
Check back tomorrow for some of my best advice for leveling a shadow priest!
When I noticed I was less than 1 bar of XP from level 20 I decided to treat myself to a Warsong Gulch and after waiting a couple of minutes I entered and instantly won. I was actually pretty disappointed to win so quickly as it meant I was no longer level 19 and if I joined another game I would be the lowest level possible in that bracket. I quickly got over that fact when I realized I could now go and purchase my very own raptor mount and no longer have to walk everywhere. I still can't quite get used to level 20 mounts. Back in my day... never mind.
My leveling spec so far is purely shadow and I am focusing on anything that either increases my damage or makes me more mana efficient. When hitting level 20 I get the chance to obtain the Mind Flay spell which is one that all Shadow Priests love. It does some pretty decent damage and importantly it slows your target by 50%. This is great for any kind of solo activity and lets be honest, lasers are just fun.
Check back tomorrow for some of my best advice for leveling a shadow priest!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Why hello there!
....and welcome to my very first post.
I will save you the effort of reading any personal introductions and instead introduce someone much more important than myself.
Please meet Farenz, the level 16 Troll Shadowpriest. I apologize about the above picture, but at this point in time I don't have any alternative than wearing a loincloth. Today I joined the upcoming Undergeared project which is being led by Gevlon the Greedy Goblin. Please click either of those links to find out more as I do not wish to repeat the information he has already provided. Basically the idea is to complete all WOTLK content in only blue quality gear (sounds mad, right?).
As you can see I have started a completely new character to join in with the fun and I am in the process of leveling my way up to 80. I already have a few level 80 characters but to be honest I was not enjoying them as much as I used to and I relish the chance to level up from scratch and hopefully obtain a character I will use for a long time to come.
Anyway I want to keep this post from being too long. At the moment this blog will be used to write about my World of Warcraft experience, from the undergeared project to making gold. I don't really know where the blog will end up but I'm excited to find out.
I will save you the effort of reading any personal introductions and instead introduce someone much more important than myself.
Please meet Farenz, the level 16 Troll Shadowpriest. I apologize about the above picture, but at this point in time I don't have any alternative than wearing a loincloth. Today I joined the upcoming Undergeared project which is being led by Gevlon the Greedy Goblin. Please click either of those links to find out more as I do not wish to repeat the information he has already provided. Basically the idea is to complete all WOTLK content in only blue quality gear (sounds mad, right?).
As you can see I have started a completely new character to join in with the fun and I am in the process of leveling my way up to 80. I already have a few level 80 characters but to be honest I was not enjoying them as much as I used to and I relish the chance to level up from scratch and hopefully obtain a character I will use for a long time to come.
Anyway I want to keep this post from being too long. At the moment this blog will be used to write about my World of Warcraft experience, from the undergeared project to making gold. I don't really know where the blog will end up but I'm excited to find out.
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