PATCH 3.3 WOOT!
Okay, that part is over. The rest of this entry will be more thought out and detailed.
Three new 5 man instances
We accidentally did these on heroic on the first night. I put together a group of five people, and after a quick look to see who they actually were, we were off.
Our guild is fairly large, I don't know everyone off the top of my head.
We had a Paladin Tank, a Shaman Healer, and a Paladin, a Hunter and Myself for DPS.
EXPECT SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
We entered the Forge of Souls, and turned in the quest there, and went on our way.
Let me tell you, having five people, all not knowing what was going on, not reading up on the strategies beforehand, was the most fun I've had in WoW in a long time.
The first boss was fairly easy, oh hey, a whirlwind that hurts us, well, get out of it silly!
Then the second boss. Oh the second boss of the Forge of Souls.
He was a little tougher. Especially since we didn't understand the whole soul link. Yeah, we finished that fight with two of the three DPS dead.
Oh, hey, NOW Jaina Proudmore arrives with the rest of the army. Thanks for the perfect timing.
Anywho, on to the next place. Through the portal and now we're in the Pit of Saron.
Well, look at that dragon, I wonder if he'll be tough to kill. Let's attack that sorcerer thing over there.
Oh, here's Jaina again, after we attack, again. Well, that army lasted long, and Tyrannus left to go somewhere else. Time to, oh hey, a quest! Free fifteen people, alrighty.
Well, we freed the people then made our way to Garfrost. Somehow we instinctively knew to hide behind the boulders, so he went down fast.
Then Ick and Krick. Wee! No, grab that one! THAT ONE!
Fun fight those two, just stay away and avoid the land mines and you're fine.
Oooooh, major pulls now, they take a while, but they go down.
Hey look it's Hodir cave. Sweet, ouch, that ice hit me, and I hit a chain reaction like a pinball going all the way to the bottom.
Oh, now the fight with the dragon. Oh, never mind, the dragon flew away, just this guy. We'll kill him.
Oh, he killed everyone. Well, off to find the place the Gnome talked about.
What's with the Gnome hate anyway? First Wilfred Fizzlebang, now this?
Well, we go in and we start the 10 waves of baddies, we end up wiping after the first boss. It takes a while to get back in. 10 minutes later we try again. We get in. We take down the next 5 waves, and move on.
Oh hey look, a big Skeleton.
EVIL OQ, KILL HIM.
I have a thing for killing the evil version of myself. I know we should probably kill the healer first, but it's personal.
Oooh, hey. The Lich King.
Run away! He gonna kill you!
First wave, a little bit of AOE makes me your man.
Second wall, more single taget, the big guys are tough.
Third wall, killing killing, holy cow he's getting close.
Fourth wall, it's waaay up there. We should be fine. Here come the ghouls. Man, they can jump far.
We kill them, then the Abominations, then the Witch Doctors. Fourth wall gone.
We run onto the ledge, and I was lucky enough to have my camera pointed off the edge of the cliff. Seeing the Skybreaker rise up out of nowhere was very cool.
Oh hey, they locked the Lich King in the tunnel. Well, that was fun.
I Love new content. I really do. Having content that is this cool to play through actually let's me Forgive Blizzard for slightly nerfing Balance Druids. That's fine, as long as you keep putting out stuff that's fun to play through.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Balance News, Tier changes
Okay, the guys over at MMO-Champion have again been the bearer of news. The stats for the Tier 10 set bonus are out, as well as an upcoming change in the Tier 8 bonus.
So there you have it. I trust the guys behind MMO-Champion, they're typically right on anything they post. I'm not going to say 100% of the time, but they're fairly reliable. Also, a change in the Tier 8 bonus for balance druids. If you're like me and have been holding on to this set for a while, this may make you want to finally upgrade.
- Item - Druid T10 Balance 4P Bonus - Your critical strikes from Starfire and Wrath cause the target languish for an additional 7% of your spell's damage over 4 sec. (Up from 5%)
So there you have it. I trust the guys behind MMO-Champion, they're typically right on anything they post. I'm not going to say 100% of the time, but they're fairly reliable. Also, a change in the Tier 8 bonus for balance druids. If you're like me and have been holding on to this set for a while, this may make you want to finally upgrade.
- Item - Druid T8 Balance 2P Bonus - Increases the bonus granted by Eclipse for Starfire and Wrath by 7%. (Down from 15%)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Balance News; Tier 10
So what's with Druids and horns anyway?
So, the guys over at MMO Champion dug up some info on the Tier 10 armor set for Druids. First off, they have a picture of the set, and the 2 piece and 4 piece bonus stats for it. The set bonus is quoted directly from their post.
So there you have it. If you're getting this set in the future, be sure to be specced into Omen of Clarity in the Restoration tree. Also, the 4 piece set bonus is obviously a filler, since there's no unit on the 6000, and 6000 seconds would mean no cool-down whatsoever.
Also, the look of this. The Cenarion and Stormrage set at level 60, the Malorne and Nordrassil set at level 70, The updated onyxia drop at level 80, and now this?
Why does blizzard keep throwing horns at druids anyway?
So, the guys over at MMO Champion dug up some info on the Tier 10 armor set for Druids. First off, they have a picture of the set, and the 2 piece and 4 piece bonus stats for it. The set bonus is quoted directly from their post.
- Item - Druid T10 Balance 2P Bonus - When you gain Clearcasting from your Omen of Clarity talent, you deal 10% additional Nature and Arcane damage for 6 sec.
- Item - Druid T10 Balance 4P Bonus - Reduces the cooldown on your Eclipse talent by 6000.
So there you have it. If you're getting this set in the future, be sure to be specced into Omen of Clarity in the Restoration tree. Also, the 4 piece set bonus is obviously a filler, since there's no unit on the 6000, and 6000 seconds would mean no cool-down whatsoever.
Also, the look of this. The Cenarion and Stormrage set at level 60, the Malorne and Nordrassil set at level 70, The updated onyxia drop at level 80, and now this?
Why does blizzard keep throwing horns at druids anyway?
Monday, November 16, 2009
Weekly update #1
Mimiron!
The Asylum never progressed all the way through Ulduar, 10 or 25 man. There were problems with people being on to run, getting raids together, and just really accomplishing anything over the last summer. After we rose from the proverbial ashes, we dusted ourselves off and gave uldy a few tries before Trial of the Crusader came out. Most of the Asylum wanted to move on to bigger and better things, leaving the unfinished Ulduar behind. Well, while most of our guild has moved past wanting to do Ulduar, there's a group of us that wants to see it until the bitter end.
We schedule our weeks ahead of time, so people can know what runs to expect in the upcoming week. However, that doesn't mean we're limited on what runs we can do, those are just the ones that we put up at the beginning of the week. People are free to pug runs that aren't on the schedule, especially if they have odd raid times. We'd prefer if you get some guildies that want to do it with you, but we won't complain too loudly if you pug it.
Now, this Ulduar run was just thrown together. The GM wanted to finish it and see the final boss, and a group of us agreed that we wanted to as well. Since we typically finish Onyxia as a guild (25 and two to three 10 mans) on Tuesday, and my 10 ToC group finishes on Wednesday, this leaves Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday for our 25 ToC that we're still working on.
This particular Monday night we didn't have anything planned, so we were persuaded into going into our extended 10 Ulduar to see what we could do. Well, we downed Mimiron for the first time, with 5 people up at the very end of the fight. A Shadow priest, who was the last range DPS, was the one that ended up killing the the head with only a few seconds left to spare.
Naturally, vent exploded. A lot of whoops, cheers and hollers filled everyone's ears as we all settled down for a picture to celebrate out victory.
See this happy group of ten people? This is just after downing Mimiron for the first time as a guild.
So there you have it folks, what our raiding schedule is like, and our first Mimiron kill.
Life is swell friends, life is swell.
The Asylum never progressed all the way through Ulduar, 10 or 25 man. There were problems with people being on to run, getting raids together, and just really accomplishing anything over the last summer. After we rose from the proverbial ashes, we dusted ourselves off and gave uldy a few tries before Trial of the Crusader came out. Most of the Asylum wanted to move on to bigger and better things, leaving the unfinished Ulduar behind. Well, while most of our guild has moved past wanting to do Ulduar, there's a group of us that wants to see it until the bitter end.
We schedule our weeks ahead of time, so people can know what runs to expect in the upcoming week. However, that doesn't mean we're limited on what runs we can do, those are just the ones that we put up at the beginning of the week. People are free to pug runs that aren't on the schedule, especially if they have odd raid times. We'd prefer if you get some guildies that want to do it with you, but we won't complain too loudly if you pug it.
Now, this Ulduar run was just thrown together. The GM wanted to finish it and see the final boss, and a group of us agreed that we wanted to as well. Since we typically finish Onyxia as a guild (25 and two to three 10 mans) on Tuesday, and my 10 ToC group finishes on Wednesday, this leaves Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday for our 25 ToC that we're still working on.
This particular Monday night we didn't have anything planned, so we were persuaded into going into our extended 10 Ulduar to see what we could do. Well, we downed Mimiron for the first time, with 5 people up at the very end of the fight. A Shadow priest, who was the last range DPS, was the one that ended up killing the the head with only a few seconds left to spare.
Naturally, vent exploded. A lot of whoops, cheers and hollers filled everyone's ears as we all settled down for a picture to celebrate out victory.
See this happy group of ten people? This is just after downing Mimiron for the first time as a guild.So there you have it folks, what our raiding schedule is like, and our first Mimiron kill.
Life is swell friends, life is swell.
druid heals from dat
hey its dat for my druid healing
To start off your druid spec plays a big part,
In my tree i have 14/0/57. The 14 is balance is for duration for the heals.
A big hint, stay away from healing touch, its more mana then regrowth and it heals for less. Start with hots at 90% health; hit them with two hots at the same time, regrowth and rejuvenation.
Edit by Oq: Look dat up on the armory, his character's name is Toreonalin.
A big hint, stay away from healing touch, its more mana then regrowth and it heals for less. Start with hots at 90% health; hit them with two hots at the same time, regrowth and rejuvenation.
Edit by Oq: Look dat up on the armory, his character's name is Toreonalin.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Balance: An Intro to me. (Moo)
The First Post
Basically this is the introduction post to this blog. I've seen other druid blogs around and I just don't see one that updates on any regular time-frame, or if they do I just don't think they do that great of a job. I'm not knocking the other blogs, and I'm not saying a good one doesn't exist, I'm just saying I haven't found one that catered to me all that well.
I play as an Alliance Moonkin with the guild Ascension Asylum on Blackwater Raiders. This blog will basically be guides to balance moonkins, info for different raids, and just general news and info that balance moonkins should know about upcoming content.
Just a few pointers ahead (I'm assuming you know nothing about this, so bear with me.)
Rotation:
The Eclipse talent is a must for all balance DPS moonkins. It's the talent that defines our rotation, and makes us the crit-chicken we are. Basically, when you crit with either Wrath or Starfire, your damage for the other spell is increased significantly, whether it's from a higher crit chance, or just increased bonus damage.
This defines our rotation. Basically our rotation is to keep our dots up (Moonfire and Insect Swarm), then spam one of our two nukes until eclipse procs, then spam the opposite. If eclipse procced on Wrath, you switch to spamming Starfire. Then continue to spam Starfire until eclipse procs again.
Gems:
Your meta gem should be the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond, then all other gems should be the +23 spellpiwer ruby, except for two blues/greens/purples. I use two Purified Dreadstones, +12 Spellpower and +10 Spirit. The two blues are used to meet the meta gem requirement.
Enchants:
Basically enchant your items with the most +Spellpower, +intellect, +haste, +spirit, that are available for that slot. My enchants are listed below.
Head: +30 Spellpower and +20 Crit
Back: +23 Haste
Chest: +10 All Stats
Bracers: +30 Spellpower
Staff: +81 Spellpower
Gloves: +28 Spellpower
Pants: +50 Spellpower and +20 Spirit
Boots: Tuskarr's Vitality, +15 Stamina and minor speed increase
*I chose Tuskarr's Vitality in this slot because of the extra run speed. It's a small boost (less than 10%), but it helps immensely in end game content. It's great for the damage that comes from fires (Gormok, Kologarn, Jarraxus in heroic), it's great for Hodir, it's great for Ony's deep breath. It basically helps more than you would think from just looking at the stats.
A little info on my Guild
Ascension Asylum is a casual progression raiding guild. Basically this boils down to this. We raid, we raid to see the content, but we don't throw temper tantrums if someone messes up, has real life issues, or if something crops up and they have to leave a raid. We care about end game content, yes. However, we also know that real life is more important than WoW, and that we play this game to have fun. After a few wipes on a new boss for us, we typically don't get distressed, and if we do after five wipes or more, we call the raid for the night and come back the next day.
In my opinion it's a great guild. We're fun loving, and we have a good time. That being said, we've had a few recruits that didn't quite mesh, and caused problems in guild. When this happens, it's always an officer vote on what to do with them. We're democratic, and we give everyone a fair shot.
If you're new to raiding in the guild, we always have emblem runs, and we help people out with gear choices and how to improve their DPS/Heals/tanking if they need help.
Now finally, my plans for this blog. I plan on updating this weekly with whatever news or things I find interesting/important relating to balance druids in WoW. I'll also post raiding updates and our strategies for how we did things. So be sure to check back for more.
Basically this is the introduction post to this blog. I've seen other druid blogs around and I just don't see one that updates on any regular time-frame, or if they do I just don't think they do that great of a job. I'm not knocking the other blogs, and I'm not saying a good one doesn't exist, I'm just saying I haven't found one that catered to me all that well.
I play as an Alliance Moonkin with the guild
Just a few pointers ahead (I'm assuming you know nothing about this, so bear with me.)
Rotation:
The Eclipse talent is a must for all balance DPS moonkins. It's the talent that defines our rotation, and makes us the crit-chicken we are. Basically, when you crit with either Wrath or Starfire, your damage for the other spell is increased significantly, whether it's from a higher crit chance, or just increased bonus damage.
This defines our rotation. Basically our rotation is to keep our dots up (Moonfire and Insect Swarm), then spam one of our two nukes until eclipse procs, then spam the opposite. If eclipse procced on Wrath, you switch to spamming Starfire. Then continue to spam Starfire until eclipse procs again.
Gems:
Your meta gem should be the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond, then all other gems should be the +23 spellpiwer ruby, except for two blues/greens/purples. I use two Purified Dreadstones, +12 Spellpower and +10 Spirit. The two blues are used to meet the meta gem requirement.
Enchants:
Basically enchant your items with the most +Spellpower, +intellect, +haste, +spirit, that are available for that slot. My enchants are listed below.
Head: +30 Spellpower and +20 Crit
Back: +23 Haste
Chest: +10 All Stats
Bracers: +30 Spellpower
Staff: +81 Spellpower
Gloves: +28 Spellpower
Pants: +50 Spellpower and +20 Spirit
Boots: Tuskarr's Vitality, +15 Stamina and minor speed increase
*I chose Tuskarr's Vitality in this slot because of the extra run speed. It's a small boost (less than 10%), but it helps immensely in end game content. It's great for the damage that comes from fires (Gormok, Kologarn, Jarraxus in heroic), it's great for Hodir, it's great for Ony's deep breath. It basically helps more than you would think from just looking at the stats.
A little info on my Guild
Ascension Asylum is a casual progression raiding guild. Basically this boils down to this. We raid, we raid to see the content, but we don't throw temper tantrums if someone messes up, has real life issues, or if something crops up and they have to leave a raid. We care about end game content, yes. However, we also know that real life is more important than WoW, and that we play this game to have fun. After a few wipes on a new boss for us, we typically don't get distressed, and if we do after five wipes or more, we call the raid for the night and come back the next day.
In my opinion it's a great guild. We're fun loving, and we have a good time. That being said, we've had a few recruits that didn't quite mesh, and caused problems in guild. When this happens, it's always an officer vote on what to do with them. We're democratic, and we give everyone a fair shot.
If you're new to raiding in the guild, we always have emblem runs, and we help people out with gear choices and how to improve their DPS/Heals/tanking if they need help.
Now finally, my plans for this blog. I plan on updating this weekly with whatever news or things I find interesting/important relating to balance druids in WoW. I'll also post raiding updates and our strategies for how we did things. So be sure to check back for more.
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