World of Warcraft General Discussion

[Bosstone]

Yeah, the Worgen are suffering from the same thing that afflicted the Draenei. The males are meaty, strong, but non-sexual, while the females appear to be sex in a digitigrade bottle. I can’t say I mind as much as other folk, but it is a little blatant.

Grats on the good run, Guns.

I’m starting to resign myself to the likelihood that I won’t see ICC. I simply don’t have the cash reserves to be able to ignore dailies in favor of heroics and raid PUGs, and dailies take up nearly all my free time during the week. I’ve got the sinking feeling that by the time I get my gear up to TOC level, Cataclysm will be right around the corner. I’m debating instead whether to turn my attention to generating as much cash as I possibly can, practicing Pally healing and maybe tanking, and keep a low profile so that I’m not already burned out when Cataclysm hits.

[Infovore]

@Shot_From_Guns

I have to say, it was an awesome fight to be tanking. There was something just so… epic about it. The whole time I was standing there, I couldn’t stop thinking, “Holy shit, the ***Lich fucking King ***is trying to bash my face in right now. And I’m *taking *it.”

I remember feeling the same way when my tank did it–especially since my DK alt tank actually got the achievement before my main mage (sort of a misnomer–my DK is geared almost as well as my mage, so he’s not really an alt…but still! I’m tanking the Lich King! And it’s working! I completely understand )

I wish I didn’t love my mage so much–there’s something just so satisfying about tanking–about knowing that it’s just you (and your healers) between the big bad scary thing and all the soft squishy raid members. It’s a rush.

1.) Gem for Hit to the cap. That will be 17% total hit, minus any talents you have to reduce that total. (The Frost tree has a talent that adds to Hit for all spells, while Arcane has one that does it just for Arcane spells. So Arcane Mages–who probably have both the Arcane and Frost Hit-related talents–will need the least hit, Frost will need a middling amount, and a Fire Mage will need the most.)

Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention Hit. You do want to be Hit capped. It’s been so long since I’ve had to gem for that, I forgot that newer mages are going to have to worry about it. Mea culpa. That will be your first priority.

2.) Pick your meta gem. I forget which one you want, but my Mage has it. (Look up Smarati the Undead Mage on Eldre’Thalas.)

You’ll want the Chaotic Skyflare (Skyfire? I can never remember the different names between the 70 and 80 gem) Diamond. That’s by far the best meta for mages.

Awesomely done! Those are two of the only three our 25-man team is missing, too. They’ve been beating their heads against Putricide and having problems with getting the right people online–a combination of RL issues + people not wanting to log on when all it means is wiping for a couple of hours. Sigh.

Our guild is in the same place. We’re very close to a Putricide kill (got him down to like 8% numerous times last night) and then we’re going to focus on Sindragosa as well. I’m looking forward to it. The hard mode kills are fun, and very satisfying.

And yes, congratulations to Daedelus!

Side note: I love that achievement, just 'cause it proves that I’m not the only person who constantly reads Mystic Buffet as the thing you eat rather than the thing that hits you. (Oddly, I don’t have the same problem with other buffets in the game.)

You’re not the only one. Although I have to admit that (even though it’s spelled differently) I occasionally get an image of Jimmy with a wand in one hand and a margarita in the other. Mystic Buffett.

I really don’t know what the hell is up with them. I haven’t even seen the models yet–I went “yuck” as soon as I saw the leaked Hallow’s End masks, before they were even an official race. The male Worgen don’t bother me at all, probably because they’re not so overtly sexualized.

Yeah, same here. It really pisses me off that every female character in the game has to have very large and noticeable boobs–even the ones where it doesn’t make sense. Haven’t they ever seen a female wolf? No boobs. The only female who doesn’t look ridiculous that way is the blood elf, who actually looks proportional. As others have mentioned, the female worgen don’t even look like wolves. They look like foxes or deer. Can’t they look menacing instead of sexy? Sheesh!

[Shot_From_Guns]

(ETA: This was @Bosstone.)

So it goes, coming late into an expansion. Look at it this way–in Cata, you’ll be coming in on the ground floor with everyone else. That’s how it worked for me, with TBC versus Wrath. In BC, I just saw a lot of Kara, only one run each of Mag and Gruul, and only a couple of partial ZA runs. Then in Wrath, I hopped up to on-and-off hardcore raiding.

[Bosstone]

@winterhawk11

Yeah, same here. It really pisses me off that every female character in the game has to have very large and noticeable boobs–even the ones where it doesn’t make sense.

Go play City of Heroes for a week. I guarantee you that after that, the WoW models will look positively restrained.

[Bosstone]

@Shot_From_Guns

So it goes, coming late into an expansion. Look at it this way–in Cata, you’ll be coming in on the ground floor with everyone else. That’s how it worked for me, with TBC versus Wrath. In BC, I just saw a lot of Kara, only one run each of Mag and Gruul, and only a couple of partial ZA runs. Then in Wrath, I hopped up to on-and-off hardcore raiding.

True enough. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m excited to be able to start an expansion with max-level characters.

On the upside, if I do forgo gear and instead go straight for the money-making, I can sink my Frosts into Primordial Saronite and my Triumphs into Crusader Orbs. In the short term I can save up a good chunk.

[Tom_Scud]

Is there even a vague ETA on Cataclysm yet?

I’m tantalyzingly close to actually being able to do ICC on my toon, but … just … not … quite … yet.

[Mister_Rik]

Well I think the female worgen look kind of cool.

@Skammer

I had almost given up on the Dal fishing dailies – I already have the weather-beaten fishing hat, jeweled fishing pole and high test eternium fishing line, and I hadn’t gotten anything of much value for a long time – a handful of gold if I was lucky. But Monday night I got the Sand Crawler pet! I didn’t even know that existed. Now I’m 63/75 of the way to the “L’il Game Hunter” achievement. If only I could get that stupid rat from the sewers…!

My mage got a Tiny Titanium Lockbox, something I’ve never seen before despite doing the daily hundreds of times. Unfortunately, the only lvl 80 rogue I’ve seen in her guild has a lockpicking skill of 152.

My mage also had a couple of her worst RDF experiences yet. Got Halls of Lightning. We got to the first boss, General Bjarngrim. Tank pulled … and left the group. Wipe. I don’t know if the tank was griefing or if he got DC’d at the worst possible moment, but it sucked either way. New tank was awesome though, and we flew the rest of the way through. The healer was incredible as well - during the Loken fight I was taking damage 3k-5k at a time yet the healer managed to keep me and everyone else alive through it.

Then she got Halls of Stone, which is not one of my favorites on my mage. I swear I was grouped with a bunch of middle-schoolers (I was resisting the urge to ask, "Don’t you kids have school? Why are you playing WoW at midnight on a school night?). Only the tank seemed semi-mature (aside from myself, of course ). Tank had to yell at the healer: “Healers do NOT pull!” One of the DPS, a DK with a gearscore of 5k+, I swear just followed the group around and did next to nothing (tank yelling, "Hey, DO SOMETHING or we kick you! DK answering back, “LOL it’s a heroic, not ICC!”) So we were basically 4-manning the instance. And the healer was complete fail; gearscore of over 5500, yet insisted on standing way too close to the fights and died himself three times (I checked the death stats after the run: Healer and one of the DPS - 3 deaths each; tank 2 deaths, me and the other DPS 1 death each. Mind you, I had the only gearscore in the group under 4k). After we wiped on the final boss, the warrior DPS sat there in party chat going, “rez plz”, which prompted a Dungeon Etiquette 101 lecture from the tank, “When we wipe we all run back. Dungeon Etiquette 101.” I pointed out, “The graveyard is like 10 feet from the entrance, dude.”

Also, Nexus. While the run and group weren’t bad, I just want to say how much I hate Grand Magus Telestra. I get really frustrated with bosses I can’t do a damn thing against. The fight went like this for me: 1) start casting 2) halfway through cast bar, get grabbed by magic tentacles and get whipped all over the room.

The one heroic I ran on my paladin, Culling of Stratholme, wasn’t a whole lot better. We got to the point where we meet Arthas at the Town Hall, everybody ran inside and got in position … and the tank left, for no apparent reason. The wait for a new tank meant we missed the optional, drake-dropping boss. The new tank made a heroic effort to get us to that boss in time, but we missed it by mere seconds.

Quest achievement status:

The Seeker: 2971/3000
Loremaster of Kalimdor: 657/700

ETA: Oh yeah, I happened to be logged in the other day when I saw the announcement of (not exact wording) “Server First! Eternal Reign has defeated the Lich King on 25-player heroic mode!”

[Bosstone]

@Tom_Scud

Is there even a vague ETA on Cataclysm yet?

Current speculation based on the beta timeline is November, same as Lich King. There’s been no official release date, but November is a strong consensus.

[Shot_From_Guns]

Tom, AFAIK, all we know is “sometime in 2010.” My guess is no earlier than late summer, and probably on the same late fall timeline as Wrath.

BT: For your non-Frost badges, be sure to check whether Crusader Orbs or epic gems would be a better investment. I’m honestly not sure where prices are at now. Also, as far as stockpiling cash goes, keep in mind that whatever you save up now will indubitably be worth quite a bit less at level 85. We get more inflation with every expansion.

[Infovore]

@Bosstone

Current speculation based on the beta timeline is November, same as Lich King. There’s been no official release date, but November is a strong consensus.

I would be willing to bet a lot of money that it won’t come out before Blizzcon, and that’s at the end of October. So November is a pretty good bet.

[Bosstone]

@Shot_From_Guns

BT: For your non-Frost badges, be sure to check whether Crusader Orbs or epic gems would be a better investment. I’m honestly not sure where prices are at now.

Good point, I forget about the gems. Equal worth though, I think. Offhand, IIRC, Crusader Orbs go for about 120-150 and cost 15 Triumph to acquire, while cut epic gems go from 100-200 and cost 10-20 badges. Worth investigating. I also plan to turn my boomkin into a PVP toon, which will help buy epics.

Also, as far as stockpiling cash goes, keep in mind that whatever you save up now will indubitably be worth quite a bit less at level 85. We get more inflation with every expansion.

True enough, but having 5-10k gold at release will IMO be more useful than having 500g and 245+ gear.

[Shot_From_Guns]

Don’t forget: Gems are worth even more cut, and I’m a JC. Corey already sends me stacks full of Cardinal Rubies to cut; I’d be happy to cut raw gems for you to add to their sale value.

ETA: As of right now, I can cut at least the following Wrath gems:

**Majestic Zircon: **Solid
**Eye of Zul: **Enduring, Jagged
**Ametrine: **Etched, Reckless
**Dreadstone: **Guardian’s, Purified, Sovereign
**Cardinal Ruby: **Bold, Bright, Delicate, Fractured, Precise, Runed
**King’s Amber: **Brilliant, Mystic, Quick, Rigid, Thick
**Prismatic: **Nightmare Tear
**Meta: **Austere, Beaming, Bracing, Chaotic, Destructive, Effulgent, Eternal, Persistent, Powerful, Relentless, Swift, Thundering, Tireless

[Tom_Scud]

@Mister_Rik

My mage also had a couple of her worst RDF experiences yet. Got Halls of Lightning. We got to the first boss, General Bjarngrim. Tank pulled … and left the group. Wipe. I don’t know if the tank was griefing or if he got DC’d at the worst possible moment, but it sucked either way.

Definite grief. (I had a tank do that to me once, in UP, just as Skadi dropped down from the sky. Laugh was on him though, because we managed to take him down anyway.)

[Bosstone]

@Shot_From_Guns

Don’t forget: Gems are worth even more cut, and I’m a JC. Corey already sends me stacks full of Cardinal Rubies to cut; I’d be happy to cut raw gems for you to add to their sale value.

@Bosstone

Offhand, IIRC, Crusader Orbs go for about 120-150 and cost 15 Triumph to acquire, while cut epic gems go from 100-200 and cost 10-20 badges. Worth investigating.

[Shot_From_Guns]

What, you expect me to actually *read *all those words? You’re lucky if I hit every 7th one.

[Skammer]

@Bosstone

I’m starting to resign myself to the likelihood that I won’t see ICC. I simply don’t have the cash reserves to be able to ignore dailies in favor of heroics and raid PUGs, and dailies take up nearly all my free time during the week.

What do you need all that cash for? Kene is pretty much completely funded by the drops from heroics and pug raids (and the occasionally fishing daily). That goes to pay for repairs, flasks and the occasional gem. He never seems to get above 1,000 gold, but he doesn’t really need it either. It would be nice to have piles of cash, but you don’t need it to raid.

[Ferret_Herder]

@Tom_Scud

Definite grief. (I had a tank do that to me once, in UP, just as Skadi dropped down from the sky. Laugh was on him though, because we managed to take him down anyway.)

Yeah, I had that happen on the first Nexus boss, and a healer drop group right as we engaged Garfrost in HPoS. Jerks.

Weird one last night - got into a HHoR group as my boomkin, and things went very bad during one of the initial waves. Healer died, I battle-rezzed but the tank died right after that, then we all wiped. Healer dropped group, and one of the other DPS said something like, “It’s all right, we know this is rough to tank” and the other guy and I typed our agreement. Tank was quiet. We requeued, got another healer, then the tank says (only slightly paraphrased) “F*ck all of you” and drops group. WTF.

Oh, and hooray for tanks charging on ahead - got into a HPoS group last night, again with my boomkin. The tank is some dude from my server, I don’t know him. We jump down off that overhang at the start and end up pulling too many, somehow - we get the patrolling necro and his skellies plus the big skeleton, and the necro standing behind the group also gets aggro’d somehow. By the end of the fight, the next skeleton in line is also with us. The healer dies, repops (being a shaman), dies again, I B-rez her, I die, and another DPS (S-Priest I think) dies before the end of the fight. Everyone who has a mana bar is low in it, and the healer is pretty beat up. I sit down to mana up, the shadow priest tosses a heal on herself, and a big skeleton from the level below sees her as healing aggro+low health aggro and charges up. Meanwhile the tank had just ran on past to engage the skeleton ahead. The healer was low mana. The big skeleton kills the DPS and I, and I see that the healer then the others ahead die as well. The DPS I was with drops group, and I follow suit. What a cluster…

[Shot_From_Guns]

@Skammer

What do you need all that cash for? Kene is pretty much completely funded by the drops from heroics and pug raids (and the occasionally fishing daily). That goes to pay for repairs, flasks and the occasional gem. He never seems to get above 1,000 gold, but he doesn’t really need it either. It would be nice to have piles of cash, but you don’t need it to raid.

I think BT’s point was that because he didn’t have the time to commit to gearing up and then finding a guild to raid ICC, he’d instead put his efforts towards stockpiling cash for Cata. Not that he thought he’d need all the money to raid ICC.

[Mister_Rik]

Gemming my mage: Thanks for the tips! So far her only gemmable gear is her chest, shoulders, and gloves, but the T9 hat is next on her list of Triumph purchases, so I’ll look at her meta gem at that time. Last night I popped a SP gem into her gloves, and replaced one of the INT gems I’d already put in her chest with a SP gem.

Oh yeah, for the Wintergrasp players: did those weekly quests in there recently get changed to dailies? Or is there a regular reset day on them? Because I did them on my mage on Monday, and then when I went to WG on Tuesday to exchange some Stone Keeper’s Shards I saw they were available again.

I kind of aggravated myself with those weeklies on my paladin - the first time I did them was on a Tuesday, and one Tuesday I skipped them so that I could move them to Sunday, which is my most consistent day off from work. I did them one Sunday … and then completely spaced them off the following Sunday and ended up doing them on Monday. Grr.

[Bosstone]

@Skammer

What do you need all that cash for?

That’s actually a good question that deserved some thought. Right now I’m feeling cash-starved because I’m trying to accelerate my gear acquisition and profession capability; I still need to buy at least one trinket for my Holy spec, I’m trying to find good deals on 245+ BOE gear, I want a Battered Hilt (or wanted, anyway, reconsidering now), and the occasional Damaged Necklace or Titanium Powders to turn in for more Jewelcrafting Tokens. Plus I want to be able to fund leveling toons; my level 68 will want Epic Flight eventually, and will need lots and lots of Dream Shards for Enchanting formulas. But honestly, other than funding lowbies, none of that is strictly necessary, and can be gotten solely through quick JC dailies and constant PUGging.

Aside from all that, I prefer to have a reserve on hand in case of something unexpected I want to buy, and I figure the more money I have on hand at the start of Cataclysm, the better prepared I’ll be to jump right into raids and such without worrying too much about any initial costs that we might not know about yet.

Really, though, my options for long-term pursuits, as I see them, are:

1. Gear up through heroics and raids
2. Make a boatload of money through dailies and marketeering
3. PVP (this is looking more and more attractive the more I think on it)
4. Level new toons
5. Find something to do other than WoW (haha, right)