Saturday 27 June 2009

The Culling of XII

I haven't been on Gowron for 2 weeks, schoolwork and other stuff prevented me from raiding, and if I don't raid, there's not much for Gowron to do. I did however followed the XII-forum, I am... or was... still an officer.

Friday it happened, the forum was flooding with quetsions, QQ, and surprise. Every member who was not online for a week or so, all socials, and some slackers where guildkicked. That included me.....

The reason it seems are logical, for some part. Their where a lot of slackers, and the guild needed a cleaning, but I have 2 big problems with how it went.

First of all, there was nothing in the officers-forum which pointed to this, no post was made as far as I know. There could have been a post on thursday (I didn't look at the forum on thursday), but to make such a big move in such a short time... mm well.

Second, all forum-access was revoked for the kicked people, except the recruiting-forum. So not only where a lot of people kicked from the guild who had been in XII for more then a year, they also couldn't use the forum anymore. It's like having a friend say, 'No, I don't want to play with you anymore' and then changing is phone-number. For some it feels like back-stabbing.

XII has always been a very open guild, descisions where often laid before the members before implemented, this action is completely against that. Actually, it seems XII now has evolved from a social raiding guild, towards a Hardcore raiding guild. I don't like that direction, but, I have been kicked, without any prior notice or explanation....

Because two ex-guildies also have blogs, I also learned that both Chemp and Healishna/Oriskhna left the guild last night after the Culling. Maybe some more will also leave, and if XII survives, well, only time will tell. I did get the message that when I am online I'll be reinvited, but I don't know if I should do that (it's on the public part of the xii-forum btw), I don't know if this is the XII I have been in for the past 1.5 years.

Two weeks ago, I was visited by a friend. His Ghostlands-name is Kemwer. Kemwer and me are responsible for the fact that XII actually became a raiding-guild. Around 13 months ago, while I was visiting him, we filled the Guild-Calendar (the addon :p) with raids for a whole month, from monday till friday. It was the beginning of a long and succesfull run through 25-man raid-instances for XII. But Kemwer left the game due to real life issues, and maybe because he knew where XII was going.

Two weeks ago, he opened his WoW-account, and he was playing a warrior. On a RP-server. Because I like playing with RL-friends, I also made a character there for some fun... a Draenai Paladin. Last week I got an achievement which I didn't have on any other character, Blackrock Dephts. So, probably Gowron will be shelved for the moment, and I will play with Ezrila (sounds familiar?).

Also, I will start an education to Bachelor in Education later this year, in chemistry and physics, so looking at this logical, raiding is not a real option. But I do feel a little bit cheated, ah well.

...times are a-changing...

and now I am off, Roskilde Festival in Danmark awaits...

Monday 22 June 2009

Exorcism

Well, there are a lot more litle changes coming up then I have mentioned. But you all know them by now. There's one thing I am concerned about though:

Exorcism, casting time increased by 1.5 seconds (up from instant).

For max level paladins, this is a small nerf, not that big, but have you recently levelled a Paladin??? I did, so a fast recap.

Level 1: Melee, Seal of Righteousness
Level 4: Judgement of Light
Level 20: Seal of Command, Exorcism
Level 44??: Hammer of Justice
Level 50: Crusader Strike
and some where along the line you get consecration, which you will hardly be using until you get Judgement of the wise at lvl40.

Up until lvl20, Like any other class, paldin-live is simple, not to many spells, just the basics. But at lvl20 you can get Seal of Command (if specced into retribution) and exorcism. Exorcism is a very big part of your damage, normal fights go like:
first 3 seconds, 2 swings, judgement and exorcism. Half of the life of mob gone.
wait 5 seconds (around 2 melee-swings in there), cast judgement. Mob probably dead, or almost...

Normally I would open with a judgement, so exorcism has 3% more chance to crit, now I have to cast a spell for 1.5sec. So against one mob, ok, not that much of a problem..but do the math if you are against multiple mobs, or chain-pulling. Casting times sucks for melee.

Luckily the new Seal of Command will counter this a little, but what Blizzard really should do is o make Crusader Strike available earlier, around level 35 or so. It doesn't do that much damage, and we really need to have some more buttons to push around that level. 30 levels just judging will not be enjoyable.

Thursday 18 June 2009

BOOM

Some news arrived on future paladin changes (besides the pony we will be getting)

Remember, all things are subject to change.

Everyone: Double the effect of bonus Block Value on everything but shields. This has to do with the upcoming, still unclear, changes on how Block works.

Protection

Ardent Defender:
No more leapfrogging it, damage that brings you from 40% till zero now will be reduced.
If a blow would kill you, it sets you to 30% Health, CD of 2 minutes.

Blessing of Sanctuary:
Possible Stamina-boost??

Vindication (ret-tree):
Current effect will be replaced with an ataack-power-debuff.

Finally, the change on AD we have all been screaming for. The fact that it was leapfroggable was a key-part in my descision last summer to skip it entirely, and with the current Big Hits, it also became less useable. No wait, there is more, we are now really pain-in-the-asses. Think you killed me, haha, I am back :p. With the recent buffing of Hammer of justice for tanks, this could be fun in PvP.

BoSanc getting a stamina-buff is nice, gief more stamina, and although a retri-talent, the new Vindication just screams PROT. wonder if it becomes a spell, to juggle into 969, or an effect.

Holy

Flash of Light:
It's a Regrowth :p, FoL will put a HoT on target, very nice.

Beacon of Light:
Now also your overhealing will be transferred. Maybe more BoL's on one tank.

Illumination:
..to the ground, baby. Again nerfed, but Replenishment maybe buffed.

Yeah, finally some raid-utility, and a freaking HoT. having Illumination being nerfed is probably logical, we never go OOM. But we have to wait and see if it actually works.

Retribution

Exorcism:
Will work on players again, but now has a cast time of 1.5 seconds.

The Art of War:
Besides getting an instant FoL, now also gives an instant Exorcism.

Crusader Strike:
CD reduced to 4 seconds, and damage lowered.

Seal of Blood/Martyr:
GONE, REMOVED

Seal of Vengeance/Corruption:
Will be buffed

Seal of Command:
Will be redesigned.

Ok, so, exorcism will have a cast time, but we will get instant-ones. So we have to choose, heal or damage. I want an Addon that screams Sun'Tzu :p. I don't think this is a big nerf to Exorcism, we can probably still use it every 20 seconds or so?? CD and damage lowered on Crusader Strike, so more buttons to push.

Seals are a-changing. They stated that Righteousness can remain a tanking-seal, but who uses that :p. But maybe the buff to corruption will work the other way for tanking. Removing the damage-yourself-seals is logical, Retri lost Spiritual Attunement, so damaging theirselves was not really fun anymore. And they will be redisgning Seal of casino..errr...Command. I hope the proc leaves, I am not a big fan of procs ;p. At the moment it's completely useless, and only intereseting for lower levels.



So, a lot of changes. Some are buffs, some are nerfs, but I think it's a bigger buff then nerf, for all trees. That can't be good.... Paladins being buffed more then nerfed, who was smoking Nederwiet :p

...but...it firsts has to pass the PTR-QQ-ing. Any one want to bet how many will actually make it live? Well I don't...

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Loose things

Well, I am still on hiatus from raiding. The end of the year brings a lot of schoolwork. All those marks to give to students. Maybe I can sign up next week, but in 2 weeks, I'll be going on a short vacation, Roskilde Festival in Denmark.

I play around 60 minutes/day now, mostly levelling rested alts. My priest is running around in STV, and my DK is skinning like crazy in Nagrand. I read somewhere that it is actually feasable to take a 66DK to Northrend, well 85% to go to see if that works.

My Mage is slowly levelling tailoring, and because I have a 80 herb-hunter as provider, he'll probably also level up alchemy soon. Mu own miner/JC-hunter is doing almost nothing. Sometimes making some gems. And Cloudbasher (52-druid) is gathering rested XP mostly. On the lower levels I have a 52-pally rocking in the Plaguelands, my 24-warrior with lvl27-gear waiting, and a warlock and my shammy-bank-char. Oh, and a 34-rogue :p

My warrior now has the BoA-daggers enchanted with crusade. The DPS of one dagger is more then any green 2-hander I can find for that level...and he is sporting 2. Double-proc Crusades FTW.

A guildie of mine also started blogging, and he is asking if it's still fun to raid. Well, I didn't raid the last 2 weeks, and maybe that's says enough. Maybe some fun has gone, but imho that's mostly due to the fact that we don't have a path paved out. If we kill Yogg (we are now on general), well then we need to start hard-modes.....

I still think hard-modes are a poor substitution to more dungeons. If we now completed Ulduar, we need to run it all again for the hard modes, to unlock an extra boss. The same setting all over again till the next big patch. I want more dungeons, less achievements please. Hell, why do you think I am levelling so many characters :p

Blizzards is seems to be doing less work for us... oh well, I am hoping that'll change.

And I reconfigured my boss-tanking-set. I let go of the goal to reach block-cap, and went full avoidance. In that set-up I am around 6% below Block-cap now, and with raid-buffs even less, maybe even reaching it. It's just not worth it anymore to go for block-cap if the damage reduction is too low, shaving of 1500 from a 25k hit... meh. Until they change block ofcourse.

Well, Tom Petty already wrote a line about that:

The future is wide open.

Saturday 6 June 2009

Legendary Gear

What do I still have in my bags which I am not using anymore:

Violet Signet of the Great Protector
Band of the Eternal Defender
The rings for Kara-rep, and BT-rep, when you hit exalted....

Frostwolf Insignia Rank 3
Medallion of the Horde
Both PvP, but the medaillion also was Mandotory for Archimonde

Drakefire Amulet
Seal of Ascension
Yeah, I am Onyxia-attuned :p, the ring is for...I don't remember, UBRS?

Phoenix-fire Band
I think you get this after completing the quest to kill Magtheridon

Blessed Medallion of Karabor
The reward for Killing Illidan

Sunblessed Breastplate
A little strange to keep it, but it is my only Sunwell gear :p

The Darkener's Grasp
Obtained from the quest-item that drops from Kael'Thas, one of the best necks for tankadins in TBC, and turning in the quest let's your name be shouted through Shattrah.

Moroes' Lucky Pocket Watch
DUH, like I am going to throw this away. I did wear that for more then a year.

Phoenix-Wing Cloak
Why keep this, it drops of the fire-bird in The Eye. But I was really glad I got that. And it looks nice.

Hammer of Judgement
Illidari Runeshield
My Old Mace and Board from the last days of TBC. After 3.0, they actually became my healing-stuff...

Violet Badge
The quest-reward if you kill Prince Malchezaar, just keeping it for sentimental reasons I guess, like most stuff.

Lightbringer Shoulderguards
The T6-shoulders, and I think the best-looking Pally-shoulders ever. One pad has a mace, and the other a Libram on it.

The Decapitator
Drops of Prince. And back in the day, a good pulling weapon on HKM, the 4 dudes in SSC, and Council. Exorcism could only hit undead/demons, so this was my only single-target-pull-mechanic.

Brewfest Pony Keg
The times we drinked from this before Scryer-Bank, after each new boss-kill :p

Slayer of Lifeless
A newer one, but imho, one of the best looking weapons. And you have to wear it on your back.

Mallet of Zul' Farrak
Useless now, but it has stats these days. Reminds me of my levelling days with Sceptre.

Argent War Horn
For fun, to call forth yer own Pally :p

Blackened Urn
Grey item these days. Was needed to summon Nightbane.

Yeh' kinya's Scroll
Used to summon Hakkar in the Sunken Temple.

Direbrew's Remote
Instant teleport to BRD, also Hilarious in raids sometimes.

Archmage Vargoth's Staff
Feeling alone, summon Vargoth :p

Haunted Memento
mmm, why do I keep this. It only lest a shadow follow you, if you are carrying it...

Brightbrew Charm
Summon your own bar-maid :p

Piccolo of the Flaming Fire
This is responsible for letting everyone dance.

Arcanite Ripper
Ok, this one is still in use, playing duets with Chemp.

Everlasting Underspore Frond
Well, it says it's everlasting... and I have a habit to forgetting drinks.

Iron Boot Flask
Become a Dwarf...

mmm, well, that is almost 2 bags off stuff, together with 2-3 tanking-sets, 2 healing-sets, and a retri-set, that are 8 bags. Add a bag for enchanting stuff, one for tabards, 2 for stuff you have to have with you all the times (food/pots/etc.). Already at 12...and I only have 12 bags...

Thursday 4 June 2009

Work

We had a post on our forum, where I discussed the fact that I sometimes cath student looking at the armory. The expression on the face of students is golden, when you make a remark on their Nelf warrior :p

Next is a quote from Calibean:

leaked chat from the corridor:
- damn, i think i aggroed my teacher yesterday
- how?
- dunno how, but he noticed i have a nelf warrior
- fk, we are going to wipe for days because of you nub! l2stealth omfg!
- stfu i think someone else ninjawhispered him!
- ...ye, you maybe right.. anyway, i hope the devs will nerf his lectures a bit in the next patch...


\

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Still Going

I had a strange and sad week. And because of that I really don't feel like raiding. My concentration wanders quickly, so it would not be fair to XII.

Mostly I did some levelling last week. My 28-priest, which I hadn't seen for months ;p, is now 36. My bank-char is deleted, and replaced by a lvl16 Tauren Warrior, and my first toon ever, a Dwarf Hunter, has been replaced by a-now-lvl10-warlock. And with 2 +10%experience shoulders levelling goes really well. All my low-level toons have skinning (more crit), and either herbalism or mining as proffessions. Well almost...

my Ghostland-characters
lvl10 Warlock : Skinning/Herbalism
lvl16 Shaman : Skinning/Herbalism (current bank-character)
lvl18 Warrior : Skinning/Herbalism
lvl34 Rogue : Skinning/Engineering
lvl36 Priest : Jewelcrafting/Mining (JC needs to be replaced by skinning)
lvl64 DK : Skinning/Leatherworking
lvl70 Mage : Tailoring/Alchemist
lvl72 Druid : Herbalism/Inscription
lvl80 Hunter : Jewelcrafting/Mining
lvl80 Paladin : Enchanting/Blacksmithing

So, 6 skinners, 4 flowerpickers, 2 rockseekers

Now, if i can level them all to 80.... yeah right :p

I do find the warrior interesting. 1 mob will be dead in seconds, 2 mobs will kill him.... and he eats bandages like crazy.