A lucky end to the year :)

Post by Catriona R
Well I think 2013 ended rather nicely on the loot front; I've not
played much for a bit but had a run round Timeless isle tonight, and
after having killed Spirit of Jadefire what feels like dozens and
dozens of times over the past couple of months (I am so sick of that
cave), it finally dropped the pet for me. At last!!
As if that wasn't good enough, a few mins later I went to Huolon, not
at all expecting the mount (frankly with my mount luck I never even
considered it), saw a flash of purple as I looted quickly to get out
of the lightning pool, expected a timeless BoA piece... then looked
closer at my chatlog. "You are flippin kidding me!" I said out loud...
yep, it was the mount! :-D My bf was a bit jealous, but as I pointed
out, he can't ride the thing anyway, and he hates repgrinds so he'd
never get round to getting the skill; I meanwhile *can* ride it and am
very much enjoying it right now - I don't normally like the cloud
serpents so much but it's nice to get a rareish one :-)
Hope you all have a loot-filled new year! :-)

*****************
*Congratulations*
*****************

Peter T.

2014-01-01 01:13:46 UTC

I just logged and checked Rattleskew. I need technique: glyph of
skeleton from this dude so he is on farm (less than 1% drop rate
according to wowhead). I really hoped it would drop tonight as a
pleasant present. but no.
Anyway. 2013 has been a fun year in wow land. And I really dont
understand those who says Pandaria "sux superior". Its a pretty fun
expansion which easily outbeats wrath and BC in lore, life and gameplay. :)

--
Peter T.

<https://elite.frontier.co.uk/>

Catriona R

2014-01-01 01:33:31 UTC

Post by Peter T.
I just logged and checked Rattleskew. I need technique: glyph of
skeleton from this dude so he is on farm (less than 1% drop rate
according to wowhead). I really hoped it would drop tonight as a
pleasant present. but no.

:-(

Post by Peter T.
Anyway. 2013 has been a fun year in wow land. And I really dont
understand those who says Pandaria "sux superior". Its a pretty fun
expansion which easily outbeats wrath and BC in lore, life and gameplay. :)

I think it's maybe down to playstyle; those complaining seem mainly to
be hardcore raider types who don't appreciate all the added content
for those of us who enjoy the more casual side of things. For me, it's
a fantastic expansion; I'm slightly running out of steam now, after
over a year, but even so, that just means it's time to level my
Alliance alts (I need a draenei 90 in time for WoD!), and I still have
fun with max lvl stuff too; I haven't even cleared SoO yet, burned out
a tad getting my cloak so just didn't bother with LFR, I'll get there
soon enough!

Peter T.

2014-01-01 04:53:10 UTC

I think it's maybe down to playstyle; those complaining seem mainly to
be hardcore raider types who don't appreciate all the added content

When I check those who is bitching about panda world I sometimes check
their possible alts on wowprogress and guildox. So far none of them has
killed more than the first boss on normal + a few bosses on flex. Its
just noobs (like me) who just bitches about everything. =)

--
Peter T.

<https://elite.frontier.co.uk/>

Catriona R

2014-01-01 13:58:37 UTC

I think it's maybe down to playstyle; those complaining seem mainly to
be hardcore raider types who don't appreciate all the added content

Ok, those who like to make themselves appear like hardcore raiders by
the way they talk then lol :-) And yeah, often those who say the game
is "too easy" have never done any of the hard content, hmm...

I have to say I have nothing to complain about in this expansion,
except perhaps that they overreacted to the people who don't like
dailies; Timeless Isle is a little too lacking in structure for my
liking. Sure, it's fun but I just get bored without any objectives to
work on, and the 1 daily and 2 weekly quests aren't really interesting
at all. Golden Lotus gating was too much, yep (although I didn't mind
on my main, I never bothered with it on alts), but they've swung a bit
far the other way now, I only hope they get a balance in WoD, with
options for everyone!

unknown

2014-01-01 17:22:10 UTC

I think it's maybe down to playstyle; those complaining seem mainly to
be hardcore raider types who don't appreciate all the added content

Well, they could always try Ironman..if they really want it to be hard.
Mostly 'too easy' means too easy for other people to get where I am so I
don't feel quite as magnificent.

Hitting Pandaland having skiped half of deepholm and all of Uldum ,
apart from one visit
and only done up to the portal quests in twilight it *is* pretty hard,
particularly for a plate wearer in 3 or 4 pieces of xp cloth.

The arms warrior hasn't had to bandage for ages and is now churning
through its First Aid levelling production almost as fast as it can make
it.

Which is probably not a bad thing, they would vendor anyway.
That and groups of linked casters just eat up a solo warrior.
Whilst initially the fastest it was the last to arrive.
Part of that is the immense quantity of intellect plate, partly because
xp cloth doesn't bother cloth and leather wearers.

Since the very first thing they get is a 2H that doubles dps you just
know it is going to be rough.
But it *is* fun, having to use strategy, tactics, observation, cunning,
guile , and speed enchants and effect for the running away.

of course the only *real* plan and strategy for a warrior is to go in
with a Jenkins flag up using the kamikazi doctrine, my respawn rate is
faster than yours nyanya :-)

It is very pretty, the music is nice, no more down the rabbit hole full
of ghoulies.
No, don't tell me it changes.

I look forward to spending some time in the orchards, pitting my
fighting cockroaches against the local wildlife, once not being
endlessly ganked by 4 hardplate mobs and 6 casters at a time.

Catriona R

2014-01-01 18:32:03 UTC

On Thu, 02 Jan 2014 03:52:10 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |

Post by unknown
Well, they could always try Ironman..if they really want it to be hard.

Done that ;-) I'm surprised how very few make it to high lvls there
tbh, seems it's more about risk management though, since I made it and
don't regard myself as that skilled a player, just careful :-) I
thought my making it was down to picking an easy class, but only one
other player has taken a warlock even to the 80s, so maybe it's not so
easy as I thought, who knows.

Post by unknown
Mostly 'too easy' means too easy for other people to get where I am so I
don't feel quite as magnificent.

Sounds right, yep. Every time anything becomes even a little more
accessible to the rest of us, I enjoy laughing at the screaming
tantrums on the forums. it's not like it should even hurt the hardcore
elite if other people get to see the same content, watered down to an
easier level, getting significantly lower quality gear from it... but
apparently that's a really terrible thing. Right.

Post by unknown
Hitting Pandaland having skiped half of deepholm and all of Uldum ,
apart from one visit
and only done up to the portal quests in twilight it *is* pretty hard,
particularly for a plate wearer in 3 or 4 pieces of xp cloth.

Well worth finding a vendor in your quest hubs that sells gear, helps
a lot! The Pandaria mobs are indeed miles harder than Cataclysm ones
if you're lowgeared; they're ok when you find some gear though. Hope
you do each of the Cata zones once through btw, there's some
interesting storylines in them.

Post by unknown
The arms warrior hasn't had to bandage for ages and is now churning
through its First Aid levelling production almost as fast as it can make
it.

Ah, the joys of being melee, yep - gear seems to make the biggest
difference there. I'm levelling a rogue at preset and I'm alright,
thanks to leeching poison and recuperate, but rogues used to go
through bandages no end, I'm so glad they finally have some
self-healing!

Post by unknown
of course the only *real* plan and strategy for a warrior is to go in
with a Jenkins flag up using the kamikazi doctrine, my respawn rate is
faster than yours nyanya :-)

Lol :-P

Post by unknown
It is very pretty, the music is nice, no more down the rabbit hole full
of ghoulies.
No, don't tell me it changes.

Stays nice for the first few zones anyway; I love the atmosphere of
Pandaria, lovely peaceful place... when we arrive, at least.

Post by unknown
I look forward to spending some time in the orchards, pitting my
fighting cockroaches against the local wildlife, once not being
endlessly ganked by 4 hardplate mobs and 6 casters at a time.

Hehe, should get better as you gear up :-)

unknown

2014-01-01 21:49:46 UTC

Post by Catriona R
On Thu, 02 Jan 2014 03:52:10 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |

Oh, my, goodness ,me

I forgot about that THANKS :-)

facepalm,facepalm,facepalm
I am the king of fools, tragic one-eyed 'stay on the rails and get the
job done' mindless grinding :-)

unknown

2014-01-02 14:39:47 UTC

Post by Catriona R
Hehe, should get better as you gear up :-)

Well they all have bought gear now, there were quite a few bought items
from lvl 80 still around.
Vendor gear gives about 40% more whackpower and mitigation and health
over the levelling greens and blues.
So double the static survivability, about 3 times the active
survivability since there is more time to handle spikes.

BUT there is something screwy in those sets that supports my paranoid
theory about how blizzard hates warriors :-)

Everyone is around the same health.
The warlock which treats other chars health pool as his own has more
health than the arms warrior.
The dk, well it is a dk, if you kill it then it just gets annoyed.

The warrior , is just rolling bandages for tomorrow.
Even though it now has some healing compared to the others it really
is paltry coming off a very average health pool .

The druid self heals 6k/5 passively,let alone its spells and leader of
the pack adds 8k/5 or so passive procs making it 2k/sec in melee. Thats
nearly 2 windwool bandages a minute, passively.

Not that it really matters all that much, somehow I managed to fight up
the first tower on the old gear without dying much anyway. Just softly
softly slowly slowly. Only multiple groups of 3-4 warlocks with imps
were a pain. And it is still the same player playing, hardly some great
injustice to the poor downtrodden warriors of the world :-)

Catriona R

2014-01-02 15:21:25 UTC

On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 01:09:47 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |

Post by unknown
Well they all have bought gear now, there were quite a few bought items
from lvl 80 still around.
Vendor gear gives about 40% more whackpower and mitigation and health
over the levelling greens and blues.
So double the static survivability, about 3 times the active
survivability since there is more time to handle spikes.

That sounds a lot better! I don't tend to need to replace more than
the odd piece on my characters who've been in pandaria so far, as
they'd all been playing at 85 first, but when a few of my lower lvl
characters get there 'll make very good use of those vendors I think.

Post by unknown
BUT there is something screwy in those sets that supports my paranoid
theory about how blizzard hates warriors :-)
Everyone is around the same health.
The warlock which treats other chars health pool as his own has more
health than the arms warrior.
The dk, well it is a dk, if you kill it then it just gets annoyed.

Warlocks have a passive spell which gives them 10% health, plus
castable Dark Intent which is 10% stamina, that might explain the
healthpool differences? I often see warlocks with mindbogglingly high
healthpools then realise it's a warlock, their gear isn't that insane
(seen some 800-900k health ones... wouldn't surprise me if the highest
gear ones can hit 1 million by now)

unknown

2014-01-02 16:20:32 UTC

Post by Catriona R
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 01:09:47 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |

144k with 130k without dark intent , still vs 120k for the warrior (ish,
logged out now) with the vendor gear. I do set up passives in
preference to actives.

I would expect sets of 'basic gear' to reflect some of the designers
intent.
Not that a particular point reflects the endgame.
Maybe it is just 'that will do you for now'.
Very likely the endgame right now was pretty much set THEN they did the
entry gear.

Bascially warriors are supposed to come with a healer in tow. And then
there is pvp.

One on one I think arm warrior could probably cut a dk or single bossish
mob down but on their own against stacked mobs and casters they are
toast. Against the druid or warlock 1 on 1 it would tapdance up and down
their spines.
Rock paper scissors, lots of scissors out there in pve land.
If you want flying pixels and panic play warrior if you like symphonies
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 play warlock, druid, dk anything but warrior

Of course it could just possibly be I am incompetent :-)

[ meaning I may get better, but it may take quite a long time :-) ]

Catriona R

2014-01-02 16:33:14 UTC

On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 02:50:32 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |

Post by Catriona R
Warlocks have a passive spell which gives them 10% health, plus
castable Dark Intent which is 10% stamina, that might explain the
healthpool differences? I often see warlocks with mindbogglingly high
healthpools then realise it's a warlock, their gear isn't that insane
(seen some 800-900k health ones... wouldn't surprise me if the highest
gear ones can hit 1 million by now)

144k with 130k without dark intent , still vs 120k for the warrior (ish,
logged out now) with the vendor gear. I do set up passives in
preference to actives.

Sounds right, you'll still have passive fel armor giving 10% health,
so there's your 10k health difference :-)

I've always struggled with warrior as a class so can't really comment
more on it - it just never works well for me, I always wish I'd made
some other alt my engineer, since it's the only profession I don't
have maxed, due to not having been able to drag the warrior up to lvl
85 yet...

unknown

2014-01-03 02:03:08 UTC

Post by Catriona R
Sounds right, you'll still have passive fel armor giving 10% health,
so there's your 10k health difference :-)

Still, the warriors easy mode welfare gear isn't as good as just about
every other chars welfare gear. It is a tragedy I tell you, the universe
weeps over this injustice:-)

Post by Catriona R
I've always struggled with warrior as a class so can't really comment
more on it - it just never works well for me, I always wish I'd made
some other alt my engineer, since it's the only profession I don't
have maxed, due to not having been able to drag the warrior up to lvl
85 yet...

The fact a completionist ironman finds a warrior engineer painful is
comment enough.

I can really pick them.
That was my first character first craft profession leveled and first 70.
I tend to level it first , it has to observe carefully, scout out the
land. If it can get through anything else will find only disoriented
stragglers.

Catriona R

2014-01-03 09:23:38 UTC

On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 12:33:08 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |

The fact a completionist ironman finds a warrior engineer painful is
comment enough.

Well this goes back to vanilla, and plenty other people have no
problem with the class, so it's likely just me, rather than a
statement on its current playability - I don't think I've even tried
it in MoP tbh :-)

Post by unknown
I can really pick them.
That was my first character first craft profession leveled and first 70.
I tend to level it first , it has to observe carefully, scout out the
land. If it can get through anything else will find only disoriented
stragglers.

My first character was a rogue, and they used to be about as bad; the
self-healing added recently has made it so much less painful!

unknown

2014-01-03 17:47:14 UTC

Post by Catriona R
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 12:33:08 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |
Well this goes back to vanilla, and plenty other people have no
problem with the class, so it's likely just me, rather than a
statement on its current playability - I don't think I've even tried
it in MoP tbh :-)

My first character was a rogue, and they used to be about as bad; the
self-healing added recently has made it so much less painful!

Oh you don't have to convince me, I know it is really just my pet gripe.
I could always just not play the warrior, nobody forces me to play it.
But being the first char I feel like I am neglecting it somehow if I
don't make sure it is at least progressed.
I am their commander, they die at my command, it is my responsibility
to ensure they have the best resources I can manage and their complaints
are addressed. Even if they don't exist :-)

Seeing what fresh injustice has been heaped on warriors is my arbitrary
and limited perspective measure of the state of the game and therefore
biased and unfair.

Catriona R

2014-01-05 00:49:00 UTC

On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 09:23:38 +0000, Catriona R

Post by Catriona R
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 12:33:08 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |

The fact a completionist ironman finds a warrior engineer painful is
comment enough.

Well actually, I have tried it today, hadn't meant to but my bf's
umpteenth alt is passing by and figured I may as well tag the warrior
along on some Cataclysm dungeon runs for free exp... then I realised
I'd looted half a matching set that looked kinda good so off I went
into transmog mode ;-)

Anyway, did some questing and it's actually pretty fun and very
easymode at present, Colossus smash is often 50% of the mob's health
and they never live long enough to do much dmg. Ok, this is still
Cataclysm (in Uldum at present), I expect Pandaria to get tougher, but
at present it feels rather like my deathknight was at the same level;
ie, pretty overpowered, and a bit bored because I never get to
actually bother with a rotation, just mash any old thing that's off cd
and it works lol.

Gear *may* be a part of it, since I'm wearing 2/3 blues (albeit
several are tank spec so my secondary stats aren't that good), but my
weapon is a green from Hyjal, and that's usually a pretty key item, so
I'm not as overpowered as I could be on that front. it'll be
interesting to see how it goes as I get higher, if I don't get bored
(which I probably will).

Spec is Arms btw, maybe if you're Fury that's different! I used to be
Fury and never really got along with it, no matter what I tried, Arms
suits me far better, even though I used to hate 2h weapon specs
because of the slow attack speed (hey, I started my WoW life as a
rogue ;-)), but these days there's enough buttons to press that it's
not too bad!

unknown

2014-01-05 04:33:57 UTC

Post by Catriona R
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 09:23:38 +0000, Catriona R

Post by Catriona R
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 12:33:08 +1030, | || ||| ||||| || |

The fact a completionist ironman finds a warrior engineer painful is
comment enough.

Well actually, I have tried it today, hadn't meant to but my bf's
umpteenth alt is passing by and figured I may as well tag the warrior
along on some Cataclysm dungeon runs for free exp... then I realised
I'd looted half a matching set that looked kinda good so off I went
into transmog mode ;-)
Anyway, did some questing and it's actually pretty fun and very
easymode at present, Colossus smash is often 50% of the mob's health
and they never live long enough to do much dmg. Ok, this is still
Cataclysm (in Uldum at present), I expect Pandaria to get tougher, but
at present it feels rather like my deathknight was at the same level;
ie, pretty overpowered, and a bit bored because I never get to
actually bother with a rotation, just mash any old thing that's off cd
and it works lol.
Gear *may* be a part of it, since I'm wearing 2/3 blues (albeit
several are tank spec so my secondary stats aren't that good), but my
weapon is a green from Hyjal, and that's usually a pretty key item, so
I'm not as overpowered as I could be on that front. it'll be
interesting to see how it goes as I get higher, if I don't get bored
(which I probably will).
Spec is Arms btw, maybe if you're Fury that's different! I used to be
Fury and never really got along with it, no matter what I tried, Arms
suits me far better, even though I used to hate 2h weapon specs
because of the slow attack speed (hey, I started my WoW life as a
rogue ;-)), but these days there's enough buttons to press that it's
not too bad!

It is arms.
Oh it is survivable enough, it did clear the intial panda quest hub in
cata greens and quest blues, a few still hyjal, before DOH! vendor gear
and the others followed through.
Easy mode compared with leveling years back, only quite a bit more grind
and care needed in comparison to the other classes and only when you
rotate 3 other in the same area quickly.
Hyjal,deepholm, all of cata really were quick and easy, apart from bugs
and disconnects. Now it is panda ->400 gear it is getting to be similar.

No groups needed, even the '3-man' quests have mostly disappeared.
Just keep smashing and slamming and topping up with victory rush.
1 button macro is all that is needed for most 2-3 mob groups.
next to it another button for more extreme situations.
But, if it stalls in 3 or 4 mobs with casters and gets behind on the
heals it is very quickly dead unless you manage to get some stuns or
fears off. The stay-where-you-are glyphs are good so they don't run about.

Peter T.

2014-01-03 11:29:51 UTC

Post by unknown
The fact a completionist ironman finds a warrior engineer painful is
comment enough.

Im curious! What is this Ironman youre talking about? When I read it
the first time I thought you were talking about triathlon. hehe..

--
Peter T.

<https://elite.frontier.co.uk/>

Catriona R

2014-01-03 15:25:46 UTC

Post by unknown
The fact a completionist ironman finds a warrior engineer painful is
comment enough.

Im curious! What is this Ironman youre talking about? When I read it
the first time I thought you were talking about triathlon. hehe..

Ironman Challenge, something a bunch of bored people came up with in
Cataclysm to put some challenge into levelling. Basically: no gear
with stats on it, no talents, no spec, no buffs, no grouping - and no
dying. It's possible but takes a lot of patience!

http://wowironman.com/ - more have reached 90 now than made it to 85
during Cata, I think. The number of hunters there is no surprise, I'm
surprised I'm still the only warlock to have made it though, as other
than no feign death, it's a very good class; you just have to be a bit
more careful not to take risks as you can't escape combat easily if it
goes wrong.

Peter T.

2014-01-03 18:59:22 UTC

Post by Peter T.
Im curious! What is this Ironman youre talking about? When I read it
the first time I thought you were talking about triathlon. hehe..

Oh yes. That one. First time I read about was in BC, I think. It
wasnt called an Ironman at that time.

--
Peter T.

<https://elite.frontier.co.uk/>

Peter T.

2014-01-03 19:01:32 UTC

Post by Peter T.
Im curious! What is this Ironman youre talking about? When I read it
the first time I thought you were talking about triathlon. hehe..

Oh yes. That one. First time I read about was in BC, I think. It
wasnt called an Ironman at that time.

The player who did it that time, did it completely naked and with a
warrior class. Im not sure if he died or not while levelling.

--
Peter T.

<https://elite.frontier.co.uk/>

Catriona R

2014-01-03 19:07:53 UTC

Post by Peter T.
Im curious! What is this Ironman youre talking about? When I read it
the first time I thought you were talking about triathlon. hehe..

Oh yes. That one. First time I read about was in BC, I think. It
wasnt called an Ironman at that time.

The player who did it that time, did it completely naked and with a
warrior class. Im not sure if he died or not while levelling.

Ahh yeah, Gutrot, he died a lot iirc, but was running to different
"rules" to the ironmen, he had no armour or weapons (think he had a
couple of rings and trinkets), but did have talents, while we have no
talents but do allow grey armour and weapons (weapons help melee
anyway, don't do anything for casters!). Warrior is one of the
toughest classes for ironman, I can imagine it's even worse with no
weapon, damage must be nonexistent.

Lewis

2014-01-03 20:15:27 UTC

Post by Peter T.
Im curious! What is this Ironman youre talking about? When I read it
the first time I thought you were talking about triathlon. hehe..

Oh yes. That one. First time I read about was in BC, I think. It
wasnt called an Ironman at that time.

As far a s I know, Ironman has always been called Ironman, though there
are some other related ways to play. Pacifist got quite a lot of
coverage back in vanilla and BC.

It used to be you could do quite well in battlegrounds with pacificst by
not joining the raid group.

--
I want a party where all the women wear new dresses and all the men
drink beer. -- Jason Gaes

Catriona R

2014-01-03 23:19:16 UTC

On Fri, 3 Jan 2014 20:15:27 +0000 (UTC), Lewis

Post by Lewis
As far a s I know, Ironman has always been called Ironman, though there
are some other related ways to play. Pacifist got quite a lot of
coverage back in vanilla and BC.

A few of us on the ironman forum rolled pacifist ironmen; same rules
as regular ironman but professions are allowed (usually they aren't),
and killing isn't. Don't think anyone's got higher than the 20s yet,
takes a fair bit of dedication to pick flowers for much longer!

Talking of flowerpicking, I was reading earlier about a lvl 80
Pandaren... who is still neutral. Seemingly herbing on the Wandering
isle still gives exp! That must take forever, peacebloom and the like
must be really really low exp at his lvl...

Catriona R

2014-01-03 00:40:20 UTC

And a lucky beginning to 2014 - I was bored and had a headache so
couldn't be bothered with anything that required thinking; I'd been in
Northrend helping my bf with group quests, so thought I'd have a shot
at fishing for the sewer rat in Dalaran. Now, I spent hours and hours
fishing for that thing back in Wrath, no luck. I've occasionally spent
the odd hour there since when I've been passing by, no luck. Well it
took over an hour again tonight, but 374 casts in (if I'm counting my
bagful of junk fish right), it dropped! Finally! :-)

Next up, three more fish pets to catch in Pandaria (I got one while
going for a Nat Pagle daily fish)... at least going for those I catch
things I can cook into actually current food that might be sellable
though!

Lancelet

2014-01-05 09:11:37 UTC

Hey all,

The end of year was lucky for me, too, as I can now shout "Come, Midnight,
let's disperse this petty rabble!" when I mount.

I had my alts (well, the one I was not playing at least) camping at the
entrance of Karazhan, and the others chars would sometimes travel there. It
makes the count to 140 mounts, but I'm not sure which ones I'll try next. I
was never very consistent to mount farming, except for the old Zul'Gurub
tiger.

About the repgrind for cloud serpent, with the eggs on the island, it's not
very long if you are alone doing it.

Catriona R

2014-01-05 13:35:46 UTC