World of Warcraft General Discussion

[lizardling]

In addition to a good tank for H VH, you also need to have good DPS that can blow the hell out of the mobs before the next portal spawns. And yeah, the portal order is random. I’m constantly scanning the room to find the next blue swirly, not just waiting for the tank to pick it up. Also, if a portal group splits in two, I usually end up pet tanking and dragging them back to the tank.

This past weekend, I got to do a ton of raiding, which was a blast. A partial Naxx25 pug, and guild 10man Sarth0 and Uld10 (FL and XT).

In Naxx25, I got to watch the Safety Dance while eating floor on the second phase, but other than that I’m pleased to say I was giving the geared SV hunter in the raid some competition. I’m looking forward to our guild Naxx10 tonight since I can try NOT to die on the dance this time. (BTW, SFG, I got DXE working and you’re right, it’s pretty sweet)

We one-shot XT and got ‘Nerf Gravity Bombs’, which was pretty cool. I was on bomb bot duty with the OT/lock, and afterward the experienced healer and MT both complimented our group on the best add handling they’d seen, which made me all squee-y inside. (especially since I’m not on vent so I wind up constantly checking around me)

To those who pooh-pooh engineering, I have four words for you: HAND MOUNTED PYRO ROCKETS. KAHAHAHA.

[Goblinboy]

I got to do Trial of the Crusader 10 man and Onyxia 10 man this past weekend! First time, and I was the off tank. The group was made up of guildies who had done it before but were on their alts plus me. We blew through it pretty easily, with only one or two deaths in ToC, and one wipe in Ony. Funny how Ony can still wipe a group that can one shot Anub.

I’ve been gearing myself up strictly with badge gear, but have a pretty decent tank set, 35khp, all that good stuff. I got three pieces of armor from ToC and the new Obsidian Edged Sword from Ony. So it was a pretty good haul for me.

[Skammer]

What’s this update I have to download? On a Monday? It’s taking forever.

[lizardling]

@Skammer

What’s this update I have to download? On a Monday? It’s taking forever.

It’s a Blizz side issue. The link details the what and how to fix if you’re hitting issues.

http://www.wow.com/2009/11/09/wow-launcher-and-downloader-causing-validation-errors/

[Bosstone]

Damn you little blue bar! Finish updating so I can increase another blue bar in game!

[Tom_Scud]

So I have now done my first successful instance tank job; tanked a pug of pretty good players (I think they may have been each other’s guildies) through UK, and apart from forgetting to turn Frost Presence on early (it really throws me that my presences get turned off completely when I switch specs) which led to one very bad pull, it went pretty smoothly. I think I’m going to stick to the easier heroics (UK, Nexus, DTK primarily) and see how it goes from there.

But damn it was nice to jump into lfg and immediately get a group invite.

[Skammer]

Grats, Tom! It’ll be nice to have another tank in the guild, too – let me know if you’re ever short a healer.

I ran H UK last night with an awful tank - a druid who, for some bizarre reason, refused to use swipe. We kept telling him “spam swipe!” but he insisted it wouldn’t work, and kept warning everyone not to use AoE on groups or he would loose aggro (which he did, repeatedly). It didn’t help that the 'Lock was putting out 3.9k dps. That is, it didn’t help the aggro, but it helped us get through mobs a lot quicker. Just meant I had to heal the 'lock as much as the tank. Fortunately for them, I’m just that good..

I also got the purple iLvl 200 cloth shoulders to drop in regular ToC, which had been my last blue gear item. Now I have to decide what I’m going to use my Triumph emblems on – do I go ahead and get the shoulders still, or upgrade my trinkets, or wand? Those are all still level 200 items.

[Bosstone]

@Skammer

I ran H UK last night with an awful tank - a druid who, for some bizarre reason, refused to use swipe. We kept telling him “spam swipe!” but he insisted it wouldn’t work, and kept warning everyone not to use AoE on groups or he would loose aggro (which he did, repeatedly).

You’re breaking my heart, Fail-Druid.

More Fail-Druid strips (and some more).

[Tom_Scud]

@Skammer

I ran H UK last night with an awful tank - a druid who, for some bizarre reason, refused to use swipe. We kept telling him “spam swipe!” but he insisted it wouldn’t work, and kept warning everyone not to use AoE on groups or he would loose aggro (which he did, repeatedly).

That boggled me when you were talking about it last night in guild chat, and it still boggles me. What was he DOING? It would be like a DK refusing to put diseases on people. Or a priest refusing to heal with anything but Holy Nova. The stupid, it burns!

[Shot_From_Guns]

FUCK YOU, Blizz, for that random patch last night. You couldn’t wait ONE FUCKING DAY for fucking MAINTENANCE?! NoooOOooo, YOU had to push it on a MONDAY NIGHT. A Monday night where I was doing a 10-man Algalon run, so when my computer froze up before a pull, I was locked out of WoW when I rebooted. So we had to waste time dragging another tank in from halfway across the world while I tried everything in the fucking books to get my game to work again.

:smack::smack::smack::smack::smack:

Okay, I’m done now.

Grats to everybody on new gear and new kills!

@Mekhazzio

There is some order to the Violet Hold portals. Some portals only put out the single big dragonkin, and the others put out the groups

I may be mis-remembering, but I’m reasonably sure that any portal can be **either **a solo or a group. I’ve never really kept track, though, so I could be wrong.

@Jbone

I’m not sure if it will help, but if you can mark one of the guys and have the group kill that first it could buy you time to gather aggro on the rest.

Marking targets is a technique that’s largely fallen by the wayside in today’s AOE-fest method of trash-clearing, but it’s a godsend if your tank undergears your group. Just make sure you reinforce the kill order with the DPS and emphasize that they are not to hit anything other than the marked target until you say it’s okay.

@lizardling

Also, if a portal group splits in two, I usually end up pet tanking and dragging them back to the tank.

You’re awesome. Keep doing that!

I got DXE working and you’re right, it’s pretty sweet

Yay! I actually need to see what’s up with mine… the Phase Punch timer seemed a little bit off on 10-man Algalon last night.

afterward the experienced healer and MT both complimented our group on the best add handling they’d seen, which made me all squee-y inside. (especially since I’m not on vent so I wind up constantly checking around me)

Great job! Now get on Vent! (Seriously, do whatever you have to do to get on. Feel free to ask if there’s any specific problem you’re running into.)

@Goblinboy

Funny how Ony can still wipe a group that can one shot Anub.

I chalk it up to overconfidence. “Oh, it’s just Ony, I don’t have to pay attention to aggro or stay away from the tail or move out of the breath or switch to the big add when it’s up or stack on the add tank for whelps.” :smack:

@Tom_Scud

and apart from forgetting to turn Frost Presence on early

That’s the one nice thing about stances–if I’ve forgotten to switch into Defensive, my bars are completely different, so it’s immediately apparent as soon as I start fighting that I need to switch back.

@Skammer

Now I have to decide what I’m going to use my Triumph emblems on – do I go ahead and get the shoulders still, or upgrade my trinkets, or wand? Those are all still level 200 items.

IMO, you’re more likely to get better shoulders before you get a better trinket or wand. You can also get the benefits sooner if you first replace the items that cost fewer badges–one item that costs 25 badges and you’re actually using it will do you more good than an item that costs 50 badges that you have’t bought yet because you only have 40.

[Damuri_Ajashi]

We just did hard mode beasts last night for the first time and proceeded to chain wipe on Jaraxxus. It was a good night.

I agree with SFG, the first item you should get with triumph badges is probably your range slot item followed by a trinket (if its worth a damn, my resto druid one is not). The rings are also pretty nice. I would also save up a LOT of badges for Tier 9 items (on TOC 25, EVERY Boss drops a trophy so just keep that in mind, I decided to just get the 232 items and save my DKP for other stuff).

[Skammer]

Thanks for the advice; maybe I’ll pick up the wand – I’ll have a bunch left over and be well on my way to another item soon.

I can’t put it off any longer, I need to start pugging for Ony/ToC10 if I want to get any better.

[Ferret_Herder]

Any tips on raising weapon skill for the Master at Arms achievement? Feral druids (and non-fighting classes) have a tough time with this because they generally don’t raise weapon skill in combat. I’ve gotten my druid’s 1h mace/2h mace/staff/unarmed skills all up to the 390s, but those last few points are agonizingly slow! I’m having her fight at the top of the quarry around Warsong Hold, fighting the nerubians - she’s a LW/skinner too, so free leather from this. If she gets hurt, I pop a HoT spell when Clearcasting procs. I got fairly fast speed cheap weapons off the AH so I don’t hit too hard, and am not using Thorns. Is there anything else that will reliably help?

[Skammer]

Ferret, what I did on my priest was go down directly below Dalran and engage one of the Grove Walkers (they are around level 78) with a low-damage weapon. The Grove Walkers will periodically cast a HoT on themselves, and do not hit very hard. So the GW and I would stand there for 20-30 minutes, hitting each other while occasionally casting a heal on ourselves (or I would keep shield up).

I levelled up daggers, maces and unarmed this way (wands was already at 400).

[Bosstone]

@Ferret_Herder

Any tips on raising weapon skill for the Master at Arms achievement? Feral druids (and non-fighting classes) have a tough time with this because they generally don’t raise weapon skill in combat. I’ve gotten my druid’s 1h mace/2h mace/staff/unarmed skills all up to the 390s, but those last few points are agonizingly slow! I’m having her fight at the top of the quarry around Warsong Hold, fighting the nerubians - she’s a LW/skinner too, so free leather from this. If she gets hurt, I pop a HoT spell when Clearcasting procs. I got fairly fast speed cheap weapons off the AH so I don’t hit too hard, and am not using Thorns. Is there anything else that will reliably help?

Grove Walkers in Crystalsong Forest. They’re easily found just outside the Violet Stand. There aren’t many hostile enemies about, Grove Walkers don’t do an obscene amount of damage, and at 40-50% health they heal themselves with a Rejuvenation for 50% health. It takes a little bit of juggling to find a tactic to keep both your health and your mana up, but once you do you can beat on one for an hour, and they only die when you start hurting them fast enough that they cast more Rejuvs than they can regen mana. They run out of mana and die. But by then you’ll be up to about 375-390 weapon skill from one Grove Walker.

[Shot_From_Guns]

Int might help you level faster (debateable). Grab an Int buff from a Mage or get a scroll, put on Int gear if you have it, etc. Haste will also help.

Some people like using the Resto-Druid-looking mobs in Crystal Song forest, because they’ll cast HoTs on themselves, so you can keep hammering on the same one over and over.

Try to find the lowest-damage version you can of the weapon you want to level. I bought mine off of vendors in capital cities, mostly. Wowhead is handy here.

[Jbone]

@Ferret_Herder

Any tips on raising weapon skill for the Master at Arms achievement? Feral druids (and non-fighting classes) have a tough time with this because they generally don’t raise weapon skill in combat. I’ve gotten my druid’s 1h mace/2h mace/staff/unarmed skills all up to the 390s, but those last few points are agonizingly slow! I’m having her fight at the top of the quarry around Warsong Hold, fighting the nerubians - she’s a LW/skinner too, so free leather from this. If she gets hurt, I pop a HoT spell when Clearcasting procs. I got fairly fast speed cheap weapons off the AH so I don’t hit too hard, and am not using Thorns. Is there anything else that will reliably help?

The Grove Walkers are good, but I found them kind of boring fight. Definitely use it to get your main weapon skills up, but if you want a little more excitement I suggest the Dark Portal in Hellfire Peninsula. It’s great for leveling ranged because you won’t pull aggro from the other npcs. I made sure to buy a low-level vendor white vendor weapon so I never really did too much damage to the guys, but it still gave me the skill points.

[Clothahump]

Aarrgghhhh.

I just hit L70 on my primary toon, so it’s time to upgrade to Wrath of the Lich King. And the download is taking for-frickin-ever.

[Ferret_Herder]

Argh, I’d forgotten about those Grove Walkers. Thanks for the tips!

[Shot_From_Guns]

@Clothahump

I just hit L70 on my primary toon, so it’s time to upgrade to Wrath of the Lich King. And the download is taking for-frickin-ever.

It’s hyuuuuuuuuuuge. If you’d have asked, I’d have said “just buy the box.”

**GRATS **on 70!