How was your weekend?

Oh mine was fine, thanks. Why, you ask?

Because I finally killed Blackheart the Inciter!!!

That’s right. He’s dead.

Now, this might not sound like a big deal to you uber folk out there, but for anyone who’s been following my blog you know that this is a big accomplishment for me. Now I just hope I can do it again! Because he didn’t drop the Adamantine Figurine which I want.

Incidentally, I also killed Murmur. Here’s proof:

I know, I know. “He dies the same way as Ragnaros, that’s not cool anymore you nub.” Shut up. Nobody can deny the cool-factor of seeing a huge elemental behemoth fall to it’s death and leave behind a huge friggin weapon.

Here’s a tip for those of you who may still be having trouble tanking Blackheart: after he does his little MC nonsense, DO NOT DPS until the tank regains a bit of aggro. This helps the tank IMMENSELY because the tank doesn’t have to run all over the goddamn place chasing Blackheart around.

In other news, Natasya is now level 17. I didn’t get to play her too much this weekend because I was too busy running instances, finishing quests, and spending tons of gold. Thodin is now the proud owner of Legguards of the Resolute Defender (with Clefthide Leg Armor for good measure), Grom’tor’s Charge, Sha’tari Wrought Armguards, Sha’tari Wrought Greaves (still need to get some good gems and an enchant to make these good to wear), and Tenacious Earthstorm Diamond that I won’t socket until I’m very ready (it wasn’t cheap).

Well that’s it for now. Hope everyone had a great Monday!

TGIF!

Ain’t that the friggin’ truth?

Another week passes, another weekend begins.  Thus, the cycle continues.  A year ago this day I would have started drinking by 3pmat the latest, in order to get ready for senior’s last night out.  The rest of the weekend would have been a blur.  And it would have been great.  This year, however, I’m no longer a senior in college, so I have to find other ways to pass the time on the weekend.  Luckily, I have WoW (Note:  I also still have beer, but I can’t start drinking until at least 5pm).

So plans for this weekend… 

On Thodin I need to finish quests in SMV so I can get Grom’tor’s Charge.  That’ll take a good while.  I also plan on running Shadow Labs until I can beat the damn place.  I will have firey vengeance for all the pain and frustration Blackheart the Inciter has caused me and my friends.

I want to try to get Natasya to level 20 and above if I can.  She needs a new pet, too.  I trained a bear (named him Baloo) because… I wanted a bear.  But I think she really needs a cat.  A bear is good for tanking and all, but when I’m leveling I want to be able to tear through things in seconds, which is what cats are for.  The only cats around her at the moment are on Azuremyst Isle, which kinda sucks because she’s level 15 and they’re level 9 at most, so they’d be trailing a bit behind.  Mayhaps I’ll keep the bear until I’m done with the noob lands and grab a kitty when I head to the mainland.  Who knows.  But getting to level 20+, that is a necessity.

I haven’t spent much time at all over on Velen with Gitr and Co., and I feel bad about it.  I’ll probably head back over there for a wee bit as well.

In other news, I’ve been toying around with a new UI lately, and I finally got it set up pretty decent. 

I switched to FuBar instead of Titan, and I haven’t quite yet decided whether or not it’s better than Titan.  Sometimes I think that all the extra UI changes I make are unnecessary.  I moved the map down to the lower right corner instead of top right corner; I don’t know why.  I tried moving the character panels down to the middle of my screen right above my buttons (on the bottom), and I changed the party layout so it went across the top of my screen; again, I have no idea why I would do such things.  It ended up being a horrible idea anyway, and I went back to the default layout (though I still use Xperl unit frames ftw!).

The only two UI changes that actually help/affect the way I play the game (instead of being convenient changes that make things faster, more accessible, etc) are Bartender and MetaHud.  I’m kind of disappointed that I’ve come to rely so much on MetaHud, because I like the fact that most of my addons are things I could live without, but MetaHud makes my “info at a glance” life so much easier, it sucks playing without it.  Bartender I could technically live without, but the way I have my main attack buttons is just so convenient and makes stuff so much easier to click on.  Two rows of six bars is a lot more compact than one long row of 12.  I don’t have to move my mouse around as much.

I’ll post some screenshots of my new UI soon, and if everything sticks I’ll make the necessary changes to the Addons/UI page.

So what about you people out there in Intarweb land?  What are your plans for the weekend?  Have any specific goals in mind?

Intervene

One of the new BC warrior skills is Intervene.  Acquired at level 70, Intervene does this:

Run at high speed towards a party member, intercepting the next melee or ranged attack made against them.

Pretty straightforward, but damn near impossible to get to work right.  It basically stems from the fact that you need to be targetting the party member in order to use the skill.  So in the heat of battle this requires you to either A. press F in order to “assist” the mob you’re fighting in order to target the party member he’s about to kill and cast Intervene, or B. click on your target’s target and then cast Intervene.

These are both really twitchy and in terms of “holy shit he’s gonna die” reaction times, they’re quite time consuming.

I think (hope) I’ve found the answer.  I did a search and came across a couple of macros that allow you to easily use Intervene.  I hate macros.  I can’t figure out how to make them work, and I don’t see why they’re even necessary.  But in this case, I might make an exception.  For those who are wondering, here’s the macro command:

/cast [nostance:2] Defensive Stance; [help] Intervene; [target=targettarget, help] Intervene

Apparently this macro will put you in Def Stance (why wouldn’t you be?), or do nothing if you’re already in Def Stance; then it will check to see if the target is friendly, and if so, it will Intervene; if the target is not friendly, it will target the target’s target (say that three times fast), check to see if he is friendly (which he should be) and Intervene.

Seems like a good idea to me.  Now, I’m at work, so I obviously haven’t had a chance to try this out yet.  But I intend to try it ASAP, and I will let you know how it turns out.

Any warriors out there have some input?

Off Topic

I’ve tried not to post anything non-WoW related, because I have another blog for that, and if you’re interested you can read it.  But we’re all gamers here, so I think we can all agree:

Jack Thompson is a moron.

That is all.

Monday Morning (sorta) Update

I’m proud to announce that I’ve joined the WoW blogging ranks over on Velen.  My newest alt is Thodia, blood elf huntress.  I have no cool pics or anything because she’s only level 6 right now.  I already started a hunter alt, so choosing another hunter might not have been the best choice in terms of variety.  But 1. she’s a blood elf not a draenei, and 2. she’s Horde.  So it’ll be a different path to 70 (if I ever get there, someday perhaps). 

I don’t know how much I’m going to be playing on Velen, because I still have a lot of stuff I want/need to do with Thodin over on Lothar.  By the way, do I have any readers from Lothar?  Say hi!

In other news, I finally got my ass in gear and made progress on my Karazhan key.  I ran Old Hillsbrad and got attuned for Black Morass, so I can knock that out of the way when I get there.  I tried to get the first fragment from Shadow Labs, but we couldn’t get past Blackheart the Inciter.  Does anyone have any tips on how to fight this guy?  Well, to put it more precisely,

How the crap do you tank a guy who constantly wipes aggro, does ridiculous knockbacks, and charges all over the damn room?  Seriously, I’d like to know.

I know, tank him against a wall.  Sure that’s all well and good for the first 20 seconds or so before he does his first mind control fiesta, but after that it turns into a shitshow.  He runs after everyone, I chase him around (or intercept if I can get it to work) and try to regain aggro, but by that time I’m not anywhere near a wall so he knocks me back and the whole process starts over again.  I consider myself a good tank, I know what I’m doing; but on a boss that wipes aggro every friggin three seconds and never stays in one place, it gets a little tough after a while.  I have a sad feeling that I’m never going to get past this asshole, because I’m usually always the tank, and if its something that I’m doing wrong, who knows when I’ll get it right.

We got him down to 8% once, and would have taken him down if the healer wasn’t dead.  It was just me at the end, popping whatever cooldowns and potions I could, and executing the shit out of him.  I got him from 11% to 8%, but it wasn’t enough to kill the bastard.  I guess it’s probably just gonna take a bit more practice. 

Oh well, that’s all for now.  I’ll probably have pics and updates from Velen sometime soon. 

P.S.  If you live in New England, specifically Massachusetts, get your ass outside right now and enjoy this beautiful weather.  I’m about ready to quit my stupid office job just so I can go sit in the sun.

Warrior Guide Update

Check out the newest installment to The Warrior’s Path.

I present to you, Tanking for Dummies.

Every warrior can tank, even if they’re not talent specced for it.  Every warrior has the defensive stance (unless you didn’t complete the quest back in the day in which case you should really just quit the game).  Every warrior has the skill to use a sword and board.  Every warrior has the essential abilities that I’ve talked about in order to tank. 

Not every warrior can tank as well as every other warrior, but they can sure as hell try.

One of the things that helps me be a good tank even when I’m Arms specced is the knowledge that I am a good tank.  What I may lack in talents and gear, I make up for in confidence in my abilities and knowledge of my class.  And honestly, that’s a big part of what you need to tank the under 70 five man dungeons while leveling.

Go check it out and be sure to let me know how much it sucks and/or doesn’t suck!

How goes it?

Thodin has recently completed two quest lines for some phat lootz.

Last night a few real life buddies and I finished the A Ghost in the Machine questline and I picked up a nice helm.  I socketed it with two Inscribed Noble Topaz (+4 crit and +4 str) and some other gem that I can’t remember right now that gives +4 str and +4 stam.  I pretty much pimped it out.

The other day I also finished the Damaged Mask series of quests.  It starts with a drop you get off of Fel Corruptors in Blade’s Edge and ends with killing the Hound-Master which was pretty much cake (I had myself, a 70 hunter, and a 68 shadow priest, and a bunch of Ancient Helper friends).  I had a decision to make on this one, should I go with Natasha’s Choker for DPS or Natasha’s Battle Chain for tanking?  In the end I went with the battle chain, because I’m starting to get more into the tanking role now that I’m 70, and until I can get the Steam-Hinge Chain of Valor and 490 def, this is a pretty little tanking necklace.

I’ve started the Karazhan key quests, though I keep getting sidetracked so I haven’t even been able to finish the first two quests in Deadwind Pass.  What a slacker I am.

In altish news, Natasya hasn’t seen much play time this week.  Lord knows how much she will see in the coming weeks, because I think I’m going to roll an alt over on Velen to have some fun with Gitr and the rest of the WoW bloggers gang.  I hate leveling Hordeside, the Barrens kills me!  I’ll let you know when I actually do start this new alt.  Hi, my name is Thodin, and I’m an altoholic.

Well that’s all for now.  Be sure to tune in next time when I’ll tell you the meaning of life.

My first guide!

As you may have noticed, there’s a new link under the Guides page.  This is because I’ve decided to start writing my first guide.  It’s not much right now, I’ve only had time to write up the first part so far.  I’m mostly writing this at work and I do have other things I need to get done (stupid job).

This is intended to just give some good advice to noob level 60 warriors taking their baby steps in Outland.  Although, after writing it, I realized that the first part of the guide can actually apply to any Outland first-timers.

Here’s an excerpt:

I figure that someone who has already undertaken the task of getting their warrior from 60-70 might have a handle on how to go about doing this again next time. But who knows, maybe you’ll find some helpful tips.

I also figure that someone who had the time and experience to get full BWL or Naxx loot probably knows what they’re doing; and therefore might even know more about playing a warrior than I do.

Finally, you might call yourself a casual player, maybe you don’t even have a guild.  Or, if you do have a guild, all of your guildies are too busy playing with their level 70 friends to run your noobish ass through Hellfire Ramparts. That’s what I’m here for.  You’re probably not just interested in getting to 70 as fast as humanly possible.  That’s ok too. You may even want to “stop and smell the roses” and have some fun along the way. For that, I applaud you. 

Click here to read the rest of The Warrior’s Path: To 60 and Beyond!

Please let me know what you think of this first part.  Any feedback would be awesome, because then I’ll know what to do or not to do for the next parts (and next guides).  Seriously, I’d appreciate it. 

Devs Doom Devastate

WoW Insider reports that all the warriors out there who were pissing their pants in glee at the damage Devastate was putting out on the PTR are in for quite a letdown.

The change to Devastate in 2.1 is being reverted and will not be a change for the patch once it goes live. We’ve done some additional damage testing and the output is in far excess of what we had thought it would provide.

Apparently in the patch, Devastate while duel wielding would cause you to hit with both of your weapons for a big chunk of damage (big for a prot warrior, anyway).  I know a few warriors in my guild who were testing the patch seemed very excited at this change.  But alas, it is not to be.

It’s funny how one poster from the forums puts it.

OMG, so we’ve been nerfed before we were even buffed?!

LAWL.

Thodin’s Journal: 3rd Entry

Telaar,
Nagrand

There’s almost nothin’ more satisfyin’ than ogre huntin’.  It’s one of me favorite passtimes.  So you can imagine how excited I got when I heard that a town in Nagrand had an ogre problem.  If there’s one problem Thodin Steelhammer is good at solvin’, it’s the ogre problem.

Good ol’ Hemet Nessingwary told me ’bout the ogres and pointed me in the right direction.  Hemet and I go way back, t’was I who helped him slay a troublesome kitty in Stranglethorn Vale, so it was a mighty big pleasure to see him out here.  I helped him slaughter some of the local beasties (he sure does like to tell other people what to hunt, I’ll tell ye that) and then he sent me off to Telaar.  Not before giving me a present tho, his own gun.  A most generous dwarf, he is.

So I set off for Telaar and soon enough I was met by the local warden, Iolo (quite tha odd name, if ye ask me).  I’ve come across some of these “broken” before, both by words and by axe.  These ones, they call themselves the Kurenai, seem all right by me.  Apparently the brutes had been attacking Telaar for a a spell, and I was just what the witchdoctor ordered.  Iolo told me where I could find the ogres in question.  He also told me to save any warbeads I came across, somethin’ about he wanted me to prove my deeds.  Bah!  Did he not realize I’d be covered in their wretched stink, and that’d be proof enough?

A few days, gallons of ogre blood, and a few hundred of those warbeads later, I had solved Telaar’s ogre problem. 

If you can say anything about the Kurenai, say that they’re a grateful folk.  They gave me a new talbuk stag to ride, and not a moment too soon says I, for me trusty goat had definitely seen better days and was in for a break.  A mighty fine beast, the talbuk, by the way. 

If that wasn’t enough, they pronounced me an honorary Kurenai.  I can’t even try to pronounce the Kurenai word, but it translates to Ogresbane.

Has a nice ring to it, dontcha think?  Ogresbane, a powerful word be that.  They say me name will live on in legend with their people for generations.  That just warms a dwarf’s heart; damn near brings a tear to me eye.  Well, it’d bring a tear to me eye if mayhap I was one of them prissy night elves.  Bahahaha.  Hoo boy, ok.  Sorry ’bout that.  Haha.  Whooo…

Well, me friends, that’s all for now.