You get free blues for running randoms at below 80? Cool! I’ve been meaning to try out the system on my 72 DK, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Are the blues useful/relevant to the character, or just random?
Nice job! Congratulations!
Specifically, for non-Lich King dungeons. Random Lich King dungeons below 80 give you 2 Emblems of Triumph, just like random Heroics after your first one. As far as I’m aware, the blues you get are indeed relevant to your character. I ought to give it a shot on my mage, but I think I’m going to wait until 40 so I can get a DPS spec alongside my Frost leveling spec.
Grats to all and sundry on your various and respective bits of exciting news!
I’m personally tired ('cause I stayed up a bit later than I should have to do it) but thrilled that my Mage hit 74 last night! This was the last big pre-80 milestone I was looking forward to, since it’s at 74 that you can learn how to make a portal to Dalaran. She’s also picked up a nice smattering of gear from running dungeons with the awesome, awesome LFG feature–so far, lots of UK, with one or two each of Nexus, AN, and OK.
I’m kind of sad I was never around for the days of Rogue tanks.
IMO, anybody who has any kind of dispel effect should use it any time they see that they can, on any fight, regardless of their role in that group, unless they’re told otherwise. This applies especially to DPS–since there are three of you in a five-man group, with the same or better proportions for 10- and 25-mans, one DPS GCD spent on a dispel is going to have a proportionately lower drop in output than one healing GCD or one tanking GCD.
Do you have the “Preview Talent Points” option enabled? It’s a good one to turn on, because you don’t have to pay for a respec because of one misclick, but it does mean that you have to hit that extra confirmation button at the bottom of your Talent window before they’re actually locked in and active.
Not entirely accurate. The first time you run any Heroic on any day, you will be locked into that instance as you normally would (i.e., after you kill the first boss), regardless of how you entered it (random LFG, dungeon-specific LFG, or the old-fashioned “make a group and zone in” way). After that, using the random Heroic LFG feature *may *assign you to a dungeon you have already run, but it generally tends to prioritize instances for which you are not already locked out. You *can *get the same Heroic more than once (my pocket healer is going insane because he’s constantly being sent to Oc, which he hates), but there are no guarantees.
Oh noooooes. Hope the birthday is soon, or you can gift yourself early.
ToC is a nice fast run, **IF **you can get the group for it. With good, well geared players it’s pretty faceroll, but you have to have people who know what they’re doing.
The thing about the Snaplashers is that they slow/snare themselves.
You must select at least one, and you can select up to three, depending on your class. As a Paladin, you probably had all three roles open, since you could theoretically spec for any of them. However, you should only select a role that you know you can perform well–one that you are specced into and have the gear for. Being a Ret Paladin with a shield and a 1H weapon in your bags does NOT make you a tank.
Your role is assigned by the LFG matcher. If you are not prepared to perform the role, don’t sign up for it.
Imagine how big a hit your pride would have taken if you couldn’t even make it through the trash packs. 
Go try again, as the Hot Hot DPS you should be, and though you might wait in the queue a bit longer, I guarantee you’ll get a much more welcoming response.
I love Google’s cache. For anyone else who can’t see this from work, here’s what it says:
I know it applies to the Champions, and it might to the Valiants as well–different races have different techniques. God fucking forbid that the NPCs have abilities that work the same way as yours. Some of them, e.g., can break your shields with their melee attack, just to give an example. So some races will be easier to defeat, and some will require different strategies.
It happens sometimes. No clue what causes it–I haven’t seen any correlation. Sometimes you keep riding past them, and sometimes your mount does a 180.
This is exactly why I suggest waiting to release until someone has looted or everyone has agreed to wait until you run back. You can roll on loot while you’re dead-but-not-released, so sometimes that’s the best option, as it doesn’t require morons to hold onto their itchy trigger fingers.
What constitutes “good gear”? Triumph badge gear is “good gear,” and it doesn’t require any skill to acquire–just time.
You mean the ones after the tunnel, before Jface McWhatshername who bubbles and floats in the air? The trick to those is to use the stairs to LOS-pull the mobs. Have everyone stay up on the landing where you emerge from the tunnel, preferably right in front of the tunnel exit. You run down, grab a mob (a ranged attack works well here), then run back up to your group. The entire pack, including casters, will follow you, because they can’t see you to hit you until they get to the top of the stairs. Then, you tank them at the top of the stairs 'til dead, then repeat with the next pack. Don’t be afraid to clear the whole floor this way, even if it means a bit of running for you.
IME, people are very hesitant to tell you that they don’t know a fight, even when they’re explicitly prompted before a fight. Spending ten seconds to tell people the basics for their particular role is better than spending way more time running back, plus the gold for repairs.
As a long time mage, I can assure you that Frost is fine for dungeon DPS. It’s not the world’s greatest raiding spec (though as of 3.3 it is viable again), but for dungeons it’s just fine and won’t cause anybody to look at you funny for substandard DPS.
Thank you.
Yeah, but I’d like to try Arcane for my primary DPS when not soloing. After starting and stopping no less than 4 mages, who were all aborted by level 20 at the latest, I’m getting rather tired of Frostbolt. 
Well, not crappy gear, definitely. Checking over his stats (I forgot how to spell his mangled name) I see mostly 232 ilvl gear, some 245 and 219. A couple pieces are definite ToC10 drops, so people had to put up with him there at least twice. All enchants except one are at max recommended type. Over 25000 armor and 36000 health unbuffed.
Heehee. I hear you.
It always amuses me to hear which classes people just don’t seem to enjoy, no matter how many times they try. For me it’s shamans and druids. Partly because all of my characters are blood elves, but I only managed to get a shaman to level 8 (he was an orc) before giving up, and I’ve tried three or four druids, all of whom I lost interest in prior to level 20. On the other hand, I love DKs and mages. Priests, hunters, warriors and paladins are fun. Warlocks are okay but I never really felt the “OMG OP!!!” thing that a lot of lock-levelers claim, and even though my first serious main was a rogue, I can’t seem to get my mind around the rogue playstyle.
First of all, I think you get items for a specific slot or two depending on your level range – so in your 20’s you might get either a necklace or gloves every time, for example. So far, I’ve been able to use any item that I’ve been awarded, but it hasn’t always been an upgrade. For example, a few runs ago I won some kind of gloves “of the Sorcerer” which I mentioned above. Later I won the same gloves “of Stamina.” Extra stam is always nice but I didn’t want to give up the +Int and +SP for a little bit more Stamina.
Also: I got put in H Oculus with my priest this weekend and everyone else dropped the group within 10 seconds. Fine with me though, it’s by far my least favorite. I never minded OK - that last fight is always really fun.
See, that’s the weird thing. I like mages. I want a level 80 mage. But for various reasons I just keep having to give up on them. My current one hit 30 last night and that’s the highest I’ve ever gotten one. I’m stoked to have so many talent points available.
I am a full-fledged Druid player, though, first and foremost. The funny thing is I resisted playing Druids for the longest time. I read up on them and just…it never clicked. Finally I decided I was going to try one, Damn It, and…wow. I thought I liked Paladins, and I do (my first 80 was a Pally), but Druids are so much more of what I want out of a class than Paladins that there’s no contest.
Hunters and Warriors are okay in my book, no special love or hate for them. Shamans and Rogues…I want to like them, Shamans especially, but I get bored before level 20 (whereas I adore Cat Form on my Druid, go figure). Haven’t tried a Priest yet, though I’d like to. Haven’t really tried a Warlock yet, but I’m not on board with the thematics and mechanics. I doubt I’ll ever be interested. Same for the Death Knight: I’ve played a couple through the starting zone, but quickly got bored of them. I just don’t like them much.
I think when Cataclysm comes out I’m going to have heirlooms ready to power up a Worgen Druid. The only thing better than having a Druid is having two Druids. 
That’s the way I feel about DKs. I’ve got an 80 DK on my main server (really, he’s getting to be as much my main as my mage is–they’re kind of co-mains, and RP-wise they’re father and son) but I still miss my friends on my old server, so what did I do? Started up another DK on that server and have him up to 72 already. I can’t really sustain interest in leveling a character unless I like them as a person (I’m not really an RPer in-game, but I am a writer), so my rationale for the new DK, who has the same name as my mage, is that he’s an alternate-universe version of the mage after he was killed by the Scourge and raised up as a DK. So far it’s working and sustaining my interest. This one is going to be primarily DPS, though (at least that’s the plan…I do so enjoy tanking that it might change when he hits 80). I’ve got a backstory for him (he’s a very bitter guy–as a mage he’s a serious magic snob, so to have that taken away from him…he’s definitely got a score to settle with the Lich King).
BTW, apropos of nothing, I’m planning to start an immersive RP guild with him when he hits 80–a guild designed for folks who have raiding mains but want someplace to RP on alts. It won’t be a super active guild, more of a sidebar thing. I’ll be looking for people who have a good grasp of IC vs. OOC, so some of the RP can be more serious/gritty/etc. while the players can hash out storylines in the OOC channel. Also, folks who can write well. If anybody here thinks this sounds interesting, let me know. Would love to have some SDMB folks in it–either low-level fresh rerolls or DKs (probably wouldn’t be worthwhile to transfer, since it won’t be a very active guild most of the time. Might be more active in its online forums, though ).
Re: Cataclysm–I have a dilemma. I do like the look of the Worgen, but I’m Horde through and through. And I can’t see myself leveling a Goblin. 
Not really into little green Ferengi. I’ll probably dabble at a Worgen character, but I doubt he’ll get higher than level 20 or so.
I’m the same way in City of Heroes, since it’s pretty much impossible to create a character there without fleshing them out beyond their powers, but for WoW I just need to like the name. I refuse to come up with some trite crap like “Heelzforu” or something (although I have “Wintaur” reserved for my eventual Tauren Paladin :D), and I usually try to go for something that sounds good. Oddly, that says something in how much I like Druids, as I’m not really happy with my Druid’s name (Nahren), even though it’s very Tauren.
As for Cataclysm, you could always look at creating one of the new race/class combos. Sort of difficult if you’re already a DK fan, but hey.
Major Hordie here, and I’ve already reserved my future goblin shaman’s name (by making a lvl 1 char with the name, who will be deleted immediately before character creation). Goblins always crack me the hell up, and I went with goblin engineering on my hunter, saying it was the “Blow Shit Up” division of engineering.
On the name - my husband will often greet guildies logging in by typing “Hawaya” (How are ya?) in guild chat. I’ve frequently joked with the guild that it looks like a Tauren first name, but decided it can extend to the goblins as well.
Tymizmuny
I used the new random dungeon tool this weekend.
I took my newly minted level 80 (and very undergeared) Rogue into a nonheoric dungeon. Got the “Lucky old Sun” on a greed roll. Nifty.
For me it’s druids and rogues, and to a lesser extent, priests. I’ve rolled a total of four druids, and never gotten one past level 25; I just seem to lose interest in them by that point. Rogues … never gotten one higher than 20. I simply don’t enjoy/can’t wrap my head around the Energy mechanic (which is also part of my problem with druids - they’re only so-so as casters, and cat form uses Energy). And my priests always seem to hit something of a huge speedbump around level 21-22, regardless of which level-appropriate zone I’m trying to level them in. That and the fact that PW: Shield has such a short duration (compared to the mage’s Mana Shield) and even past level 20 I still have to keep stopping to drink after every other mob, so I have survivability issues with them to go along with the boredom of spending more time sitting around drinking than I do fighting.
I like my enhancement shaman, but she’s just sort of been sitting there at lvl 32 for a while now.
But I just love love love my ret paladins. My main is a lvl 80 human ret pally on Lightbringer, and my “other main” is a lvl 72 belf ret pally on Cairne. I love my draenei Arms warrior (currently lvl 55) and my draenei Fire mage (lvl 47). Both of those are a lot of fun to play. OTOH, over on Cairne I also have an undead Frost mage (level 23) and orc Arms warrior (lvl 30) that haven’t been nearly as much fun as their Alliance counterparts. I’ll grant, though, that even my draenei mage wasn’t a ton of fun until I got her past 30, and then started getting really fun after 40 (it was rather gratifying last night when she was successfully taking on mobs a couple levels higher than her). My orc warrior just feels ineffectual compared to my draenei when she was the same level, but I’m putting a lot of that down to simple gear issues. My draenei warrior had several advantages: a level 80 toon with plenty of gold on the same server, being in my “vanity guild” with access to the GB and all the gear and gold therein, and a good AH. The Alliance AH on Lightbringer is, sorry to say, vastly better than the Horde AH on Cairne. The Lightbringer/Alliance AH consistently has 500-600 “pages” of stuff, compared to 300-400 for Cairne/Horde; when I go to the AH to try to upgrade my orc’s gear, the choices are sadly very limited, and when I have found a great piece of gear for him, he hasn’t been able to afford it. Criminy, he’s lvl 30 and still running around in mostly low-level BS crafted gear because that’s the best he’s been able to buy. Hopefully, now that Keliraeda, my belf pally, is in Northrend and has some gold, she can schlep some gold to him and get him geared up a little better. Though that’s going to have to wait, since she still needs to pay for Artisan riding and Cold Weather Flying.
Huh. I thought that was just me. I am by no means an RPer (far from it, in fact). In retrospect, I haven’t gotten a character past 25 or so without some basic back story in my head.
For whatever reason, in game after game, I always end up playing a pet class. The first toon that had any traction was my lock, and he’s still my main. It bugged me that through out BC my pet was summoned once per wipe, or every 30 minutes to give me a buff.
I can’t stand melee only classes. The heavily armored ones always feel so clumsy, and the light armored ones are boring (either rng dependent or risk adverse). Wierdly, I don’t mind tanking in the slightest, but dps at reasonable level just stresses me out in melee. I’ve never gotten a rouge above level 20.
I love my priest (my main) and I had fun levelling my rogue to 78 (but don’t play her much anymore). My pally tank (59) is fun too.
The only class I tried and didn’t really like was hunter - only got to about 24. I do like my lock, so far, but I feel kind of limited being a pure dps class.
I’ve decided I really like healing, but I still can’t get inspired to roll a Druid. I’m quite tempted to try a Shaman or Holy paladin sometime, though.
My Undead Mage has the vast majority of her points in Frost (look up Smarati on Eldre’Thalas), including a lot that are great for soloing but pretty useless in dungeons, and so far I’ve been blowing just about everybody out of the water in 5-mans. The only people who’ve out DPS’d me outlevel me by at least a few levels, and I’ve done considerably more damage than a number of people who I was lower level than. The new Glyph of Eternal Water is full of awesome.
I’m going to guess that tanking is probably an off-spec for him. IME, nobody tanking TOC10 on any kind of regular basis would still be wearing 219s.
I did that for a Worgen. A horribly punnish Worgen. (Worgenlefay. IIRC, my friend has Worgenfreeman.)
It’s actually a pretty common thing, from what I understand. Even of people who don’t RP their character at all, don’t want to RP, hate RP, think RP is stupid, many or most of them have in the back of their heads some idea of who their characters are.