Hot Topic: Flying
So I have seen a lot of people talking about the decision Blizzard made regarding flying, Basically for those out of the loop, Blizzard has decided that flying will NOT allow flying in Draenor and it sounded like they have no intention of allowing it in further expansions.
I have leveled 4 toons to 100 and personally I don’t mind being restricted to ground travel. Would I like to fly? Sure. However a lot of the content in draenor is best done without flying. The treasure chests in Nagrand is one example some of those are a nightmare to obtain. Glider’s Jumping from ledge to ledge etc. These would lose all the challenge if you could fly.
The garrison Stables Provide some nice perks, it allows you to remain mounted while gathering, it will also restrict you from getting dazed while riding. yes it does take up a large plot which a lot of people don’t have available.
People sometimes forget that Blizzard added flying in Silvermoon City and Eversong woods. same applies to the Exodar, Azuremyst Isle, or Bloodmyst Isle. I haven’t seen anyone complaining about this and these are the only zones Pre-MOP that you can’t fly in.
The Pandaren starting zone does not allow ANY mount, Including the heirloom chopper. Still no one complains about this fact.
We all leveled without flying and a lot of us can remember when there were no mounts until level 40. I think the problem here is that the WoW player base has become spoiled to flying and they now feel slighted because there is no flying.
If flying is a make or break point for you then you have lost most interest in the game before now.
WOD Healing
For some reason I haven’t been able to get into healing (Resto Druid) this expansion. Although not exactly sure I believe that it is the fact that I always seem to be in a catch-up mode. In MOP I was a competent healer until I got sidelined for my hunter. I was able to keep up with and outdo many of the other healers when needed.
My gear is decent not great but HM LFR level. I very rarely have problems with mana. The problem I am having is with power behind the heals. My heals seem very weak, I haven’t talked to any other resto druids so not sure if it is a druid problem or just me.
I have decided to give my healer a push and see what happens with a higher gear level. I know that LFR is a horrible way to judge HPS or DPS but I don’t feel like randomly sacrificing guildies so I can experiment. I am still enjoying being Horde but it was interesting to see how many fake friends you have.
For the HORDE!!!
I have been Alliance since the start of BC. I enjoyed my time as alliance but lately I have been Unsatisfied with my Guilds progression and the guildmaster’s ideals and mine were heading in separate direction.
The guild required that you use ventrillo and mumble (Depending who was leading) The people who had been in the guild for the long haul were getting shoved aside for the new players. The guilds raiding efforts changed to Kill butcher for guild gold reward and then done for the week. and Finally raid nights were being pushed aside for such intriguing events as lawn darts, costume contests etc.
Rather than find a new guild I decided it was time for a change. So I made the leap and moved all my major toons to Horde. I was nervous and had my doubts at first but now I have no regrets. I have found that there is a major maturity difference between the 2 factions (At least in my case) The game seems like a new game to me now and I am loving it.
The New Mount/pet run and Plans beyond
So for some reason I am drawn to the Pets/Mounts/Achievements again. So Daily and weekly I run a long route to attempt to get the ones I want.
Daily:
[ ] Utgarde Pinnacle Heroic: Reigns of the Blue Proto Drake
[ ] Quick tour of Storm Peaks, Looking for Time-Lost Proto Drake (Yeah right lol)
[ ] Shattrah for the Fishing Daily (Still missing 2 Crockolisks) **Quest must be Crocolisks in the City**
[ x ] Heroic Setthekk Halls for Reigns of the Raven Lord 02/09/15
[ ] Stratholme: Death Charger’s Reign’s
[ ] Heroic Zul Gurub: Swift Zulian Panther
[ ] Tour of Deepholm for Aeonaxx for phosphorescent Stone Drake
[ ] Check for “Lost in the Deep Daily” Still need to get Pebble
[ ] Heroic Stonecore for “Vitreous Stone Drake”
[ ] Heroic Vortex Pinnacle for “Drake of the North Wind”
[ ] Hyjal Molten front Dailies , Trying to get the Scorched Stone
[ ] Vashjr: Quick look for Reign’s of Posedius
Ok, I admit it, Blizzard did well.
The title says it all. This expansion has some major glaring flaws. But overall blizzard has done well.
*Garrisons are interesting and time consuming.
*The raids are challenging enough to be entertaining but not so hard that you cry when going in one.
* The scenery is well done.
* The quests have good chains.
Bad:
* Professions have been beaten into the ground. Raw materials are worthless
*The 3 crafted item limit seems stupid when you need 100 of a special crafting mat to make them.
*The flight paths are still not streamlined like they need to be.
I have levelled 3 toons to 100, Codex (Druid) Forzaken (Hunter) and druxus (Warlock) I haven’t done alot of healing yet. But I think Marksman spec on hunters is finally well balanced
The Pain of 6.0
So Patch 6.0 has been live for a week and my feelings on it are mixed. The button reduction has gone too far when you can maximize dps by hitting 1,2,3, repeatedly it dumb’s the game down too much.
The new character model’s look decent but the running motions are odd. They just don’t look natural.
The new outlines of Characters, NPC’s, and quest items makes the game that much easier because quality players can’t tell good from bad without a red outline.
Blizzard dropped the ball on the iron horde storyline. alliance and horde have the exact same quests but with different NPC’s
Forzaken-Hunter: I play Marksmanship so that is all I know. The loss of Serpent Sting, While minor has thrown off my dps a tad bit. The Sniper Training buff where you have to stand still I see as a Hindrance on movement intensive fights, The new sounds for Bow’s and Gun’s are a little too soft and I am still adjusting. Overall I am dissatisfied with the changes but they are workable.
Codex-Resto Druid: The loss of innervate could be a crippler. At the current time I am not running out of mana but I won’t know for sure until the new content is released. Symbiosis had it’s uses but is no great loss. The cast time on Wild Growth will make healers think for a second, and the 1 stack of lifebloom change is no change.
Druxus-Destro Warlock: There are no real game altering changes that I have noticed,
That is all I have at the one week point. Still figuring out the gear stats
Newest Addons
I have recently started using Details! instead of Recount. Details! has a cleaner UI, Can fit in a chat frame and allows you multiple windows. I have been using it for a few weeks now and it has proven generally Accurate. It also plays nice with Elvui.
Details can be found at : Details!.
Another Excellent addon and almost a must for the alt-o-holic is Saved Instances. This tracks lockouts, Justice, Valor, Tradeskills, and reminds you when you need to complete warforged seals. and It makes them viewable across all your characters.
Saved Instances can be found here: Saved Instances
My Mount Run
So in these quiet times before WoD I am working on getting some of the mounts I am missing, Would love to get the 200 mount achievement, Whenever I decide to run my mount run I pretty much go after these mainly
Heroic Sethekk Halls- Reins of the Raven Lord
Stratholme –Rivendare’s Deathcharger
Quick look for the Time-Lost proto Drake
Argent Tournament – Trying to get some of the ones I missed and all the dailies are an absolute joke at 90.
Tol Barad – Spectral Steed (I have the other one)
Deepholm- Aeonaxx – Phosphorescent Stone Drake
Stonecore – Slabhide – Reigns of the Vitreous Stone Drake
Vash’jir- Reign’s of Poseidus
Eye of Eternity (10 Man) – Reign’s of the Blue Drake
Utgarde Keep – Blue Proto Drake
Uldum – Reigns of the Grey Riding Camel— Got 09-29-14 #166
Easier Ones to Obtain:
Pvp:
– Black Battlestrider — Gotten #163
– Black War Elekk — Got 9-28-14 #165
– Black War Steed — Gotten #164
Sha’tari Skyguard:
– Blue Riding Nether Ray — Gotten #160
– Purple riding nether ray — Gotten #161
– Silver Riding Nether Ray –Gotten #162
Engineering:
Jewelcrafting:
Hospital blues
So due to unfortunate circumstances I have had to spend a few days in the local hospital. During this time i have thought about my gaming patterns.
Do i miss WOW, yes i miss raiding, However there is nothing else that really draws me back to the game right now. I think once I am back to 100% I am going to shift my focus to Star Trek Online and other non mainstream games. I also want to start streaming and making Youtube videos again. I have been playing some farming Simulator 13 multiplayer. I also have a huge backlog of steam games to take a legitimate look at. So at least i have a plan for what to do during my recuperation
Raid Team Stupidity
So my guild has had a 10 man “progression” raid team for about 3 months now. Honestly I do not see progression coming with only 1 1/2 night per week of raiding. Progression has Stopped to the point where the same bosses or less are downed each week.
The one thing I am completely at as loss about is how the raid team is determined. Myself and a few others maintain “Reserve” spots pretty much every week. In fact both my top toons are set to reserve. My Hunter and My Resto Druid. My hunter is in the top 3 of dps on the raids I have been to and my druid can hold its own at healing. So both my main toon are essentially waiting to see if I will be needed that week and I cannot raid otherwise.
Take this week for example; I am still on standby while 1 Healer has a guaranteed spot but hasn’t attended a raid in almost 2 months and signed up as a maybe. another healer is also a maybe. No DPS spot is open because a melee dps who joined last week and is lesser geared has a spot.
I have always through my career as a raid leader (before Mists of Pandaria) have always taken the most reliable people who can do the job, running with the same people every week is good for the teamwork aspect. Apparently there is a rule that you cannot have 2 of any class/spec in the raid. No 2 hunters no 2 restro druids etc.
I have sent the GM a message asking for some clarification and have not received an answer yet. The logic being used here is going to give me a brain aneurism
Dented Armor 