The Dragonslayers Ease

4.3 Feral Finery (LIVE edition)

Druids, Gear Wishlists, Raiding No Responses »

Dec 092011

So now that 4.3 has been live for a while, people have access to all the items and field test data is being assimilated in the community, various list updates needed to be made. The good news is that kitties stat priority still hasn’t really changed since 4.2, so if you were into the haste reforge, or the hit/exp cap with a balanced remainder, there is no real difference how you choose to go. The gear is the same no matter what stat you favour, just change your reforging

For those with no wish to paw through the listings, here is the BiS summary for heroic and normal raiders.

Quicklinks by slot

Head
Neck
Shoulders
Cloak
Chest
Bracers
Hands
Waist
Legs
Boots
Rings
Trinkets
Weapon
Relic

Head

Item

Where to get it

1. Deep Earth Headpiece Heroic

Token drops from Warmaster Blackhorn Heroic

2. Deep Earth Headpiece

Token drops from Warmaster Blackhorn

3. Nocturnal Gaze

2200 VPs

4. Obsidian Arborweave Headpiece Heroic

Vendors

5. Hood of Rampant Disdain Heroic

Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

6. Deep Earth Headpiece Raid Finder

Token drops from Warmaster Blackhorn Raid Finder

7. Obsidian Arborweave Headpiece

Token drops from Ragnaros – Firelands

8. Hood of Rampant Disdain

Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

9. Helm of Thorns

Mannoroth and Varo’then – Well of Eternity.

12. Stormrider’s Headpiece Heroic

Vendors

13. Membrane of C’Thun Heroic

Cho’gall – Bastion of Twilight

14. Stormrider’s Headpiece

Vendors

15. Tsanga’s Helm

Zone Drop – Bastion of Twilight

16. Agile Bio-Optic Killshades

Crafted – Engineering

17. Membrane of C’Thun

Cho’gall – Bastion of Twilight

Return to the top

Neck

Item

Where to get it

1. Cameo of Terrible Memories

1250 VPs

2. Choker of the Vanquished Lord Heroic

Cache of the Fire Lord – Firelands

3. Choker of the Vanquished Lord

Cache of the Fire Lord – Firelands

4. Necklace of Smoke Signals

Vendors

5. Necklace of Strife Heroic

Valiona – The Bastion of Twilight

6. Necklace of Strife

Valiona – The Bastion of Twilight

7. Don Rodrigo’s Fabulous Necklace

World Drop

Cameo of Terrible Memories is the only option this tier.

Return to the top

Shoulders

Item

Where to get it

1. Underdweller’s Spaulders Heroic

Morchok Heroic

2. Deep Earth Spaulders Heroic

Token drops from Hagara the Stormbinder Heroic

3. Underdweller’s Spaulders

Morchok

4. Deep Earth Spaulders

Token drops from Hagara the Stormbinder

5. Obsidian Arborweave Spaulders Heroic

Vendors

6. Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate Heroic

Baleroc – Firelands

7. Deep Earth Spaulders Raid Finder

Token drops from Hagara the Stormbinder Raid Finder

8. Underdweller’s Spaulders Raid Finder

Morchok Raid Finder

9. Obsidian Arborweave Spaulders

Vendors

10. Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate

Baleroc – Firelands

11. Desecrated Shoulderguards

Archbishop Benedictus – Hour of Twilight

12. Poison Protocol Pauldrons Heroic

Magmatron – Blackwing Descent

13. Stormrider’s Spaulders Heroic

Vendors

14. Poison Protocol Pauldrons

Magmatron – Blackwing Descent

15. Stormrider’s Spaulders

Vendors

Ultimately BiS here is the offset Underdweller’s Spaulders Heroic but the tier is pretty good too and not to be sniffed at if you need your 4 piece bonus asap.

Return to the top

Cloak

Item

Where to get it

1. Dreadfire Drape Heroic

Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

2. Batwing Cloak

1250 VPs

3. Dreadfire Drape

Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

4. Sleek Flamewrath Cloak

Reputation – Avengers of Hyjal: Friendly

5. Cloak of the Banshee Queen

Echo of Sylvanas – End Time

6. Cloak of Biting Chill Heroic

Maloriak – Blackwing Descent

7. Mantle of Doubt

Elemental Bonds: The Vow

8. Dory’s Finery

World Drop

9. Viewless Wings

Vendors

10. Cloak of Biting Chill

Maloriak – Blackwing Descent

Worth noting here that Rhyolith’s Dreadfire Drape Heroic is still BiS for this tier. The only other upgrade from normal mode Firelands to this tier is the VP Batwing Cloak.

Return to the top

Chest

Item

Where to get it

1. Deep Earth Raiment Heroic

Token drops from Ultraxion Heroic

2. Deep Earth Raiment

Token drops from Ultraxion

3. Shadowbinder Chestguard

2200 VPs

4. Obsidian Arborweave Raiment Heroic

Vendors

5. Breastplate of the Incendiary Soul Heroic

Baleroc – Firelands

6. Deep Earth Raiment Raid Finder

Token drops from Ultraxion Raid Finder

7. Obsidian Arborweave Raiment

2200 JPs

8. Breastplate of the Incendiary Soul

Baleroc – Firelands

9. Time Twisted Tunic

Murozond – End Time

10. Stormrider’s Raiment Heroic

Vendors

11. Sark of the Unwatched Heroic

Atramedes – Blackwing Descent

12. Stormrider’s Raiment

Vendors

13. Morrie’s Waywalker Wrap

World Drop

14. Sark of the Unwatched

Atramedes – Blackwing Descent

15. Assassin’s Chestplate

Crafted – Leatherworking

Return to the top

Bracers

Item

Where to get it

1. Shadow Wing Armbands Heroic

Warmaster Blackhorn Heroic

2. Bladeshadow Wristguards

Crafted – Leatherworking

3. Shadow Wing Armbands

Warmaster Blackhorn

4. Bracers of Manifold Pockets

1250 VPs

5. Shadow Wing Armbands Raid Finder

Warmaster Blackhorn Raid Finder

6. Flamebinder Bracers

Vendors

7. Parasitic Bands Heroic

Magmaw – Blackwing Descent

8. Parasitic Bands

Magmaw – Blackwing Descent

I suggest assembling mats for Bladeshadow Wristguards. Once you get these babies, you wont be upgrading again until heroic level Warmaster Blackhorn coughs up his Shadow Wing Armbands Heroic.

Return to the top

Hands

Item

Where to get it

1. Deep Earth Grips Heroic

Token drops from Warlord Zon’ozz Heroic

2. Deep Earth Grips

Token drops from Warlord Zon’ozz

3. Lightfinger Handwraps

1650 VPs

4. Obsidian Arborweave Grips Heroic

Vendors

5. Gloves of Dissolving Smoke Heroic

Shannox – Firelands

6. Deep Earth Grips Raid Finder

Token drops from Warlord Zon’ozz Raid Finder

7. Obsidian Arborweave Grips

Vendors

8. Clutches of Evil

Crafted – Leatherworking

9. Gloves of Dissolving Smoke

Shannox – Firelands

10. Gloves of the Hollow

Echo of… (either of first 2 bosses) – End Time

11. Double Attack Handguards Heroic

Chimaeron – Blackwing Descent

12. Stormrider’s Grips Heroic

Vendors

13. Aviana’s Grips

Molten Front vendor – Varlan Highbough

14. Double Attack Handguards

Chimaeron – Blackwing Descent

15. Stormrider’s Grips

Vendors

16. Liar’s Handwraps (Horde only)

Reputation – Dragonmaw Clan: Exalted

17. Stormbolt Gloves (Alliance only)

Reputation – Wildhammer Clan: Exalted

Return to the top

Waist

Item

Where to get it

1. Belt of Flayed Skin Heroic

Warlord Zon’ozz Heroic

2. Belt of Flayed Skin

Warlord Zon’ozz

3. Belt of Hidden Keys

1650 VPs

4. Nightblind Cinch

Normal Dragon Soul Trash Drop

5. Riplimb’s Lost Collar Heroic

Vendors

6. Belt of Flayed Skin Raid Finder

Warlord Zon’ozz Raid Finder

7. Belt of the Fallen Brood Heroic

Cache of the Broodmother – The Bastion of Twilight

8. Flamebinding Girdle

Reputation – Avengers of Hyjal: Honored

9. Riplimb’s Lost Collar

Zone Drop – Firelands

10. Peroth’arn’s Belt

Pero’tharn – Well of Eternity

11. Dispersing Belt Heroic

Elementium Monstrosity – The Bastion of Twilight

12. Belt of Nefarious Whispers

Crafted – Leatherworking

13. Dispersing Belt

Elementium Monstrosity – The Bastion of Twilight

14. Belt of a Thousand Gaping Mouths

Akma’hat – Uldum

Return to the top

Legs

Item

Where to get it

1. Deep Earth Legguards Heroic

Token drops from Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Heroic

2. Deep Earth Legguards

Token drops from Yor’sahj the Unsleeping

3. Bladeshadow Leggings

Crafted – Leatherworking

4. Obsidian Arborweave Legguards Heroic

Vendors

5. Cinderweb Leggings Heroic

Beth’tilac – Firelands

6. Deep Earth Legguards Raid Finder

Token drops from Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Raid Finder

7. Cinderweb Leggings

Beth’tilac – Firelands

8. Puppeteer’s Pantaloons

Queen Azshara – Well of Eternity

9. Obsidian Arborweave Legguards

Vendors

10. Stormrider’s Legguards Heroic

Vendors

11. Aberration’s Leggings Heroic

Maloriak – Blackwing Descent

12. Stormrider’s Legguards

Vendors

13. Aberration’s Leggings

Maloriak – Blackwing Descent

You may want to invest in Bladeshadow Leggings, although this slot will definitely ultimately be filled with a tier piece.

Return to the top

Boots

Item

Where to get it

1. Molten Blood Footpads Heroic

Spine of Deathwing Heroic

2. Interrogator’s Bloody Footpads Heroic

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Heroic

3. Molten Blood Footpads

Spine of Deathwing

4. Interrogator’s Bloody Footpads

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping

5. Rooftop Griptoes

1650 VPs

6. Sandals of Leaping Coals Heroic

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

7. Molten Blood Footpads Raid Finder

Spine of Deathwing Raid Finder

8. Interrogator’s Bloody Footpads Raid Finder

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Raid Finder

9. Treads of the Craft

Crafted – Leatherworking

10. Sandals of Leaping Coals

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

11. Wayfinder Boots

Arcurion – Hour of Twilight

12. Storm Rider’s Boots Heroic

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

13. Storm Rider’s Boots

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

14. Treads of Fleeting Joy

Vendors

Return to the top

Rings

Item

Where to get it

1. Seal of Primordial Shadow Heroic

All bosses except Deathwing Heroic

2. Signet of Grasping Mouths Heroic

Hagara the Stormbinder Heroic

3. Seal of Primordial Shadow

All bosses except Deathwing

4. Signet of Grasping Mouths

Hagara the Stormbinder

5. Emergency Descent Loop

1250 VPs

6. Viridian Signet of the Avengers

Reputation – Avengers of Hyjal: Exalted

7. Widow’s Kiss Heroic

Beth’tilac – Firelands

8. Seal of Primordial Shadow Raid Finder

All bosses except Deathwing Raid Finder

9. Signet of Grasping Mouths Raid Finder

Hagara the Stormbinder Raid Finder

10. Splintered Brimstone Seal

Vendors

11. Widow’s Kiss

Beth’tilac – Firelands

12. Mannoroth’s Signet

Mannoroth – Well of Eternity

13. Alurmi’s Ring

Documenting the Timeways

14. Lightning Conductor Band Heroic

Magmatron – Blackwing Descent

15. Matoclaw’s Band

Molten Front Vendor – Zen’Vorka

16. Band of Ghoulish Glee

Headless Horseman – Hallow’s End Event

17. Band of Glittering Lights

Molten Front Vendor – Ayla Shadowstorm

18. Lightning Conductor Band

Magmatron – Blackwing Descent

19. Signet of the Elder Council

Reputation – Earthen Ring: Exalted

20. Hornet-Sting Band

Vendors

21. Gilnean Ring of Ruination

World Drop

Return to the top

Trinkets

Item

Where to get it

1. Vial of Shadows Heroic

All Bosses Except Deathwing Heroic

2. Wrath of Unchaining Heroic

Spine of Deathwing Heroic

3. Vial of Shadows

All Bosses Except Deathwing

4. Wrath of Unchaining

Spine of Deathwing

5. Vial of Shadows Raid Finder

All Bosses Except Deathwing Raid Finder

6. Wrath of Unchaining Raid Finder

Spine of Deathwing Raid Finder

7. Starcatcher Compass Heroic

Warmaster Blackhorn Heroic

8. Starcatcher Compass

Warmaster Blackhorn

9. Kiroptyric Sigil

1650 VPs

10. Matrix Restabilizer Heroic

Cache of the Fire Lord – Firelands

11. The Hungerer Heroic

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

12. Matrix Restabilizer

Cache of the Fire Lord – Firelands

13. Starcatcher Compass Raid Finder

Warmaster Blackhorn Raid Finder

14. Ancient Petrified Seed

Reputation – Avengers of Hyjal: Revered

15. The Hungerer

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

16. Arrow of Time

Murozond – End Time

Tangedyn recently posted a Cat guide for 4.3. This is his trinket list. 1 and 2 are Heroic BiS, with 3 and 4 being BiS for normal mode Dragon Soul. 5,6 and 7 are equivalent, but 8 is a clear step up from 9, with 10 slightly below that. 11-14 are all on a par, and 15 and 16 together.

In my case, trinkets were hard to come by for me last tier, I’m stuck with Ancient Petrified Seed and Fluid Death (YES, I know ok…) /sadface

So I’m currently farming for Arrow of Time and I will probably buy Kiroptyric Sigil as soon as I can afford it, while praying another rogue doesnt take the next Vial of Shadows to drop…

Return to the top

Weapon

Item

Where to get it

1. Kiril, Fury of Beasts Heroic

Madness of Deathwing Heroic

2. Spire of Coagulated Globules Heroic

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Heroic

3. Kiril, Fury of Beasts

Madness of Deathwing

4. Spire of Coagulated Globules

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping

5. Fandral’s Flamescythe Heroic

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

6. Ranseur of Hatred Heroic

Vendors

7. Kiril, Fury of Beasts Raid Finder

Madness of Deathwing Raid Finder

8. Spire of Coagulated Globules Raid Finder

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Raid Finder

8. Fandral’s Flamescythe

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

9. Ranseur of Hatred

Zone Drop – Firelands

10. Thornwood Staff

Mannoroth and Varo’then – Well of Eternity.

11. Malevolence Heroic

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

12. Witch-Hunter’s Harvester

Crafted – Blacksmithing

13. Malevolence

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

14. Mobus’s Dripping Halberd

Mobus – Abyssal Depths

Testing shows Kiril has won out over Spire despite its lack of secondary stats. Heroic Firelands weapons are on a par with Kiril, Fury of Beasts Raid Finder, with Spire of Coagulated Globules Raid Finder slightly below. Normal Firelands weapons are on a par with Thornwood Staff

Return to the top

Relic

Item

Where to get it

1. Ripfang Relic

700 VPs

2. Covenant of the Flame Heroic

Vendors

3. Covenant of the Flame

Vendors

4. Relic of Elune’s Shadow

Molten Front Vendor – Ayla Shadowstorm

5. Relic of Golganneth

Vendors

Return to the top

TL:DR BiS List

Heroic

Head: Deep Earth Headpiece Heroic – Token drops from Warmaster Blackhorn Heroic

Neck: Cameo of Terrible Memories – 1250 VPs

Shoulders: Underdweller’s Spaulders Heroic – Morchok Heroic

Cloak: Dreadfire Drape Heroic – Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

Chest: Deep Earth Raiment Heroic – Token drops from Ultraxion Heroic

Bracers: Shadow Wing Armbands Heroic – Warmaster Blackhorn Heroic

Hands: Deep Earth Grips Heroic – Token drops from Warlord Zon’ozz Heroic

Waist: Belt of Flayed Skin Heroic – Warlord Zon’ozz Heroic

Legs: Deep Earth Legguards Heroic – Token drops from Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Heroic

Boots: Molten Blood Footpads Heroic – Spine of Deathwing Heroic

Ring 1: Seal of Primordial Shadow Heroic – All bosses except Deathwing Heroic

Ring 2: Signet of Grasping Mouths Heroic – Hagara the Stormbinder Heroic

Trinket 1: Vial of Shadows Heroic – All Bosses Except Deathwing Heroic

Trinket 2: Wrath of Unchaining Heroic – Spine of Deathwing Heroic

Weapon: Kiril, Fury of Beasts Heroic – Madness of Deathwing Heroic

Relic: Ripfang Relic – 700 VPs

Normal

Head: Deep Earth Headpiece – Token drops from Warmaster Blackhorn

Neck: Cameo of Terrible Memories – 1250 VPs

Shoulders: Underdweller’s Spaulders – Morchok

Cloak: Batwing Cloak – 1250 VPs

Chest: Deep Earth Raiment – Token drops from Ultraxion

Bracers: Bladeshadow Wristguards – Crafted – Leatherworking

Hands: Deep Earth Grips – Token drops from Warlord Zon’ozz

Waist: Belt of Flayed Skin – Warlord Zon’ozz

Legs: Deep Earth Legguards – Token drops from Yor’sahj the Unsleeping

Boots: Molten Blood Footpads – Spine of Deathwing

Ring 1: Seal of Primordial Shadow – All bosses except Deathwing

Ring 2: Signet of Grasping Mouths – Hagara the Stormbinder

Trinket 1: Vial of Shadows – All Bosses Except Deathwing

Trinket 2: Wrath of Unchaining – Spine of Deathwing

Weapon: Kiril, Fury of Beasts – Madness of Deathwing

Relic: Ripfang Relic – 700 VPs

Return to the top

That Pivotal Moment

Druids, Raiding, Warriors 4 Responses »

Nov 232011

I love playing my druid. From the time I rolled her as kitty back in late TBC around level 20 or so I have loved her (back then 1 – 20 was a HUGE pitA). Sleek and fast in cat form, big, fierce protector in bear form (wait, what? there are other specs??!?) Since the advent of dual specs I have mostly maintained a dual feral spec (we wont talk about my disastrous foray into tree ok Lil? ) MS kitty, OS bear.

Bear spec was mostly for heroics with friends in Wrath, until we hit ICC. There I really learnt to tank. I mostly pugged my way through ICC, my druid was not my main and thus could not join guild raids, but there was a regular 25 man pug on a Sunday run by the top Alliance guild, and I soon became a regular fixture. Wrath was a kitty’s time to shine, but even so I became known around for being that kitty with “teh sick deeps”, in spite of not being the best geared feral on the realm. One Sunday we were down a tank, so I said to the RL I would try it. Our regular pug tank could maintank and I would offtank. It was easy enough, after all raiding through there on 4 toons (at one point ) 10 and 25 man as often as possible meant I was extremely familiar with the fights and how and when to move. Thereafter I was the regular go-to girl for the RL when things werent going too well in the pug and he needed to pull a rabbit out the hat to move on. We never did down the Lich King as a pug, but we did regularly clear ICC to him in 4 hours on a Sunday, no mean feat, mixing in heroic bosses where appropriate. Good times

At the start of Cataclysm raiding, I made my druid my main and persisted in the dual feral spec. After glimpsing the difficulty of various bosses, I tweaked my cat spec a bit to not be a true hybrid, but to have a bit more survivability if I went bear in cat spec for any reason. The gear was close enough to true bear gearing that I could get away with tanking in cat spec/gear long enough to get the tank back up to where he needed to be, and prevent a wipe. It happened a few times in BWD and BoT that I managed to pull it off, but it hasnt happened for a while now. Until this last reset.

"You want a piece of me?" "Bring it ON!"

We started our raid week with heroic Shannox. In spite of having killed him 6 or 7 times on heroic now, we still occasionally have trouble with him. This week we were short healers, so our MT bear was roped into her OS healing role, and we ran with my fellow kitty Tsumecho (who will be known as Bob cos he doesnt like being a boy called Sue) as Shannox tank, and the warrior on the Riplimb mutt. It took Bob a try or two to get the movement down, it was his first time tanking Shannox, and then we settled in to kill him in earnest. But for some reason pivotal people were going down on a regular basis, the Rageface mages, the healers, people being in cleave range… It wasnt pretty and the raid leaders were getting more than a little frustrated. So we called a 10 min break for people to collect their heads and get back in the game.

Our first try after the break began well. We got him to below 50% and I glanced at my raid frames and thought, this is a great try, everyone is still up, we can do this now.

And then Bob went down.

What? Wait, let's talk this over.

Shannox turned to me and I must have gotten a lucky string of dodges in cat, which bought me enough time to go bear. Being mindful of his cleave, I began to turn him away from the raid, and the next thing I knew I was flying INTO the raid. One of the priests had life-gripped me! WTH??!? Instead of yelling out on vent to get out my way, I just focused on getting out of there as fast as possible. I noticed I was getting some heals so at least the healers had seen what I was doing, but I just wanted to get out of the raid, backwards of course.

I managed to make it back to the road where I had been before being pulled away, and Bob popped back up post battleres. Shannox turned and made for him. I made sure all was good threatwise before going back to cat and deepsing him down the last 20% or so. A collective sigh of relief was heard when he fell over and coughed up his purples, but I think mine was the loudest. It was a true hero-bear moment for me and I was just relieved to have pulled it off and gotten away with a kill from what seemed to be a certain wipe.

That pivotal moment where the right decision saved the day (or raid). Epic.

Ding Dong! The Boss is dead!

Thanks to Lithasola (ladybear) for being the bear model!

4.3 Feral Finery (PTR edition)

Druids, Gear Wishlists, Raiding No Responses »

Oct 302011

This post is now out of date! Please view the correct and updated lists here

*** Updated 24 November with known drop/purchase locations. Also worth noting here that Wowhead is missing several items from their database compared with MMO Champions loot tables. Once more is known I will update again. ***

In an attempt to get the jump on things Tier 13, here is the current gear available to ferals everywhere on the PTR, and soon hopefully to the live realms. This may change before the actual patch happens, and I will attempt to keep it as up to date as I can.

A few assumptions here… I am assuming that the secondary stat priorities aren’t going to change much for 4.3. As such this list is biased slightly in favour of capping hit and expertise, with Mastery , Haste and Crit following closely. I haven’t included PvP gear as I believe it is wasted stat budget to use it in PvE, and on my realm people use it to bump up their item level to access content they cant handle so I take no part in encouraging its use!

As always, what is better at the time depends on your own current gear, some items may prove better than others contrary to this list. The general trend seems to be that if you are in heroic Firelands gear, Raid Finder gear and 4.3 5 man heroic gear wont be an upgrade but pretty much anything from 4.3 normal raids, vendors and crafting (4.3 recipes) will be.

Caveat emptor.

Quicklinks by slot

Head
Neck
Shoulders
Cloak
Chest
Bracers
Hands
Waist
Legs
Boots
Rings
Trinkets
Weapon
Relic

Head

Item

Where to get it

1. Deep Earth Headpiece Heroic

Token drops from Warmaster Blackhorn Heroic

2. Nocturnal Gaze Heroic

TBC

3. Deep Earth Headpiece

Token drops from Warmaster Blackhorn

4. Nocturnal Gaze

2200 VPs

5. Obsidian Arborweave Headpiece Heroic

Vendors

6. Hood of Rampant Disdain Heroic

Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

7. Deep Earth Headpiece Raid Finder

Token drops from Warmaster Blackhorn Raid Finder

8. Nocturnal Gaze Raid Finder

TBC

9. Obsidian Arborweave Headpiece

Vendors

10. Hood of Rampant Disdain

Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

11. Helm of Thorns

TBC

12. Stormrider’s Headpiece Heroic

Vendors

13. Membrane of C’Thun Heroic

Cho’gall – Bastion of Twilight

14. Stormrider’s Headpiece

Vendors

15. Tsanga’s Helm

Zone Drop – Bastion of Twilight

16. Agile Bio-Optic Killshades

Crafted – Engineering

17. Membrane of C’Thun

Cho’gall – Bastion of Twilight

Return to the top

Neck

Item

Where to get it

1. Cameo of Terrible Memories Heroic

TBC

2. Cameo of Terrible Memories

1250 VPs

3. Choker of the Vanquished Lord Heroic

Cache of the Fire Lord – Firelands

4. Cameo of Terrible Memories Raid Finder

TBC

5. Choker of the Vanquished Lord

Cache of the Fire Lord – Firelands

6. Necklace of Smoke Signals

Vendors

7. Necklace of Strife Heroic

Valiona – The Bastion of Twilight

8. Necklace of Strife

Valiona – The Bastion of Twilight

9. Don Rodrigo’s Fabulous Necklace

World Drop

Return to the top

Shoulders

Item

Where to get it

1. Underdweller’s Spaulders Heroic

Morchok Heroic

2. Deep Earth Spaulders Heroic

Token drops from Hagara the Stormbinder Heroic

3. Deep Earth Spaulders

Token drops from Hagara the Stormbinder

4. Underdweller’s Spaulders

Morchok

5. Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate Heroic

Baleroc – Firelands

6. Underdweller’s Spaulders Raid Finder

Morchok Raid Finder

7. Deep Earth Spaulders Raid Finder

Token drops from Hagara the Stormbinder Raid Finder

8. Obsidian Arborweave Spaulders Heroic

Vendors

9. Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate

Baleroc – Firelands

10. Desecrated Shoulderguards

TBC

11. Obsidian Arborweave Spaulders

Vendors

12. Poison Protocol Pauldrons Heroic

Magmatron – Blackwing Descent

13. Stormrider’s Spaulders Heroic

Vendors

14. Poison Protocol Pauldrons

Magmatron – Blackwing Descent

15. Stormrider’s Spaulders

Vendors

Return to the top

Cloak

Item

Where to get it

1. Batwing Cloak Heroic

TBC

2. Dreadfire Drape Heroic

Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

3. Dreadfire Drape

Lord Rhyolith – Firelands

4. Batwing Cloak

1250 VPs

5. Batwing Cloak Raid Finder

TBC

6. Sleek Flamewrath Cloak

Reputation – Avengers of Hyjal: Friendly

7. Cloak of the Banshee Queen

TBC

8. Cloak of Biting Chill Heroic

Maloriak – Blackwing Descent

9. Mantle of Doubt

Elemental Bonds: The Vow

10. Dory’s Finery

World Drop

11. Viewless Wings

Vendors

12. Cloak of Biting Chill

Maloriak – Blackwing Descent

Worth noting here that Rhyolith’s Dreadfire Drape is equivalent to the 397 Batwing Cloak and the heroic 391 version is not far short of the 410 Batwing Cloak Heroic so if you can lay your paws on Dreadfire Drape Heroic now, you wont be replacing it for some time.

Return to the top

Chest

Item

Where to get it

1. Deep Earth Raiment Heroic

Token drops from Ultraxion Heroic

2. Shadowbinder Chestguard Heroic

TBC

3. Deep Earth Raiment

Token drops from Ultraxion

4. Shadowbinder Chestguard

2200 VPs

5. Obsidian Arborweave Raiment Heroic

Vendors

6. Breastplate of the Incendiary Soul Heroic

Baleroc – Firelands

7. Deep Earth Raiment Raid Finder

Token drops from Ultraxion Raid Finder

8. Shadowbinder Chestguard Raid Finder

TBC

9. Obsidian Arborweave Raiment

Vendors

10. Breastplate of the Incendiary Soul

Baleroc – Firelands

11. Time Twisted Tunic

TBC

12. Stormrider’s Raiment Heroic

Vendors

13. Sark of the Unwatched Heroic

Atramedes – Blackwing Descent

14. Stormrider’s Raiment

Vendors

15. Morrie’s Waywalker Wrap

World Drop

16. Sark of the Unwatched

Atramedes – Blackwing Descent

17. Assassin’s Chestplate

Crafted – Leatherworking

Return to the top

Bracers

Item

Where to get it

1. Shadow Wing Armbands Heroic

Warmaster Blackhorn Heroic

2. Bracers of Manifold Pockets Heroic

TBC

3. Bladeshadow Wristguards

Crafted – Leatherworking

4. Shadow Wing Armbands

Warmaster Blackhorn

5. Bracers of Manifold Pockets

1250 VPs

6. Shadow Wing Armbands Raid Finder

Warmaster Blackhorn Raid Finder

7. Bracers of Manifold Pockets Raid Finder

TBC

8. Flamebinder Bracers

Vendors

9. Parasitic Bands Heroic

Magmaw – Blackwing Descent

10. Parasitic Bands

Magmaw – Blackwing Descent

I suggest assembling mats for Bladeshadow Wristguards. Once you get these babies, you wont be upgrading again until heroic level 4.3 raids.

Return to the top

Hands

Item

Where to get it

1. Deep Earth Grips Heroic

Token drops from Warlord Zon’ozz Heroic

2. Lightfinger Handwraps Heroic

TBC

3. Deep Earth Grips

Token drops from Warlord Zon’ozz

4. Lightfinger Handwraps

1650 VPs

5. Gloves of Dissolving Smoke Heroic

Shannox – Firelands

6. Obsidian Arborweave Grips Heroic

Vendors

7. Deep Earth Grips Raid Finder

Token drops from Warlord Zon’ozz Raid Finder

8. Lightfinger Handwraps Raid Finder

TBC

9. Clutches of Evil

Crafted – Leatherworking

10. Gloves of Dissolving Smoke

Shannox – Firelands

11. Obsidian Arborweave Grips

Vendors

12. Gloves of the Hollow

TBC

13. Double Attack Handguards Heroic

Chimaeron – Blackwing Descent

14. Stormrider’s Grips Heroic

Vendors

15. Aviana’s Grips

Molten Front vendor – Varlan Highbough

16. Double Attack Handguards

Chimaeron – Blackwing Descent

17. Stormrider’s Grips

Vendors

18. Liar’s Handwraps (Horde only)

Reputation – Dragonmaw Clan: Exalted

19. Stormbolt Gloves (Alliance only)

Reputation – Wildhammer Clan: Exalted

Return to the top

Waist

Item

Where to get it

1. Belt of Flayed Skin Heroic

Warlord Zon’ozz Heroic

2. Belt of Hidden Keys Heroic

TBC

3. Belt of Flayed Skin

Warlord Zon’ozz

4. Belt of Hidden Keys

1650 VPs

5. Nightblind Cinch

TBC

6. Belt of Flayed Skin Raid Finder

Warlord Zon’ozz Raid Finder

7. Riplimb’s Lost Collar Heroic

Vendors

8. Belt of Hidden Keys Raid Finder

TBC

9. Belt of the Fallen Brood Heroic

Cache of the Broodmother – The Bastion of Twilight

10. Flamebinding Girdle

Reputation – Avengers of Hyjal: Honored

11. Riplimb’s Lost Collar

Zone Drop – Firelands

12. Peroth’arn’s Belt

TBC

13. Dispersing Belt Heroic

Elementium Monstrosity – The Bastion of Twilight

14. Belt of Nefarious Whispers

Crafted – Leatherworking

15. Dispersing Belt

Elementium Monstrosity – The Bastion of Twilight

16. Belt of a Thousand Gaping Mouths

Akma’hat – Uldum

Return to the top

Legs

Item

Where to get it

1. Deep Earth Legguards Heroic

Token drops from Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Heroic

2. Deep Earth Legguards

Token drops from Yor’sahj the Unsleeping

3. Bladeshadow Leggings

Crafted – Leatherworking

4. Cinderweb Leggings Heroic

Beth’tilac – Firelands

5. Obsidian Arborweave Legguards Heroic

Vendors

6. Deep Earth Legguards Raid Finder

Token drops from Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Raid Finder

7. Cinderweb Leggings

Beth’tilac – Firelands

8. Puppeteer’s Pantaloons

TBC

9. Obsidian Arborweave Legguards

Vendors

10. Stormrider’s Legguards Heroic

Vendors

11. Aberration’s Leggings Heroic

Maloriak – Blackwing Descent

12. Stormrider’s Legguards

Vendors

13. Aberration’s Leggings

Maloriak – Blackwing Descent

You may want to invest in Bladeshadow Leggings, although this slot will definitely ultimately be filled with a tier piece.

Return to the top

Boots

Item

Where to get it

1. Interrogator’s Bloody Footpads Heroic

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Heroic

2. Rooftop Griptoes Heroic

TBC

3. Molten Blood Footpads

Spine of Deathwing

4. Interrogator’s Bloody Footpads

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping

5. Rooftop Griptoes

1650 VPs

6. Molten Blood Footpads Raid Finder

Spine of Deathwing Raid Finder

7. Sandals of Leaping Coals Heroic

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

8. Interrogator’s Bloody Footpads Raid Finder

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Raid Finder

9. Rooftop Griptoes Raid Finder

TBC

10. Treads of the Craft

Crafted – Leatherworking

11. Sandals of Leaping Coals

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

12. Wayfinder Boots

TBC

13. Storm Rider’s Boots Heroic

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

14. Storm Rider’s Boots

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

15. Treads of Fleeting Joy

Vendors

Return to the top

Rings

Item

Where to get it

1. Seal of Primordial Shadow Heroic

All bosses except Deathwing Heroic

2. Signet of Grasping Mouths Heroic

Hagara the Stormbinder Heroic

3. Emergency Descent Loop Heroic

TBC

4. Seal of Primordial Shadow

All bosses except Deathwing

5. Signet of Grasping Mouths

Hagara the Stormbinder

6. Emergency Descent Loop

1250 VPs

7. Viridian Signet of the Avengers

Reputation – Avengers of Hyjal: Exalted

8. Seal of Primordial Shadow Raid Finder

All bosses except Deathwing Raid Finder

9. Signet of Grasping Mouths Raid Finder

Hagara the Stormbinder Raid Finder

10. Widow’s Kiss Heroic

Beth’tilac – Firelands

11. Emergency Descent Loop Raid Finder

TBC

12. Mannoroth’s Signet

TBC

13. Splintered Brimstone Seal

Vendors

14. Widow’s Kiss

Beth’tilac – Firelands

15. Alurmi’s Ring

Documenting the Timeways

16. Lightning Conductor Band Heroic

Magmatron – Blackwing Descent

17. Matoclaw’s Band

Molten Front Vendor – Zen’Vorka

18. Band of Ghoulish Glee

Headless Horseman – Hallow’s End Event

19. Band of Glittering Lights

Molten Front Vendor – Ayla Shadowstorm

20. Lightning Conductor Band

Magmatron – Blackwing Descent

21. Signet of the Elder Council

Reputation – Earthen Ring: Exalted

22. Hornet-Sting Band

Vendors

23. Gilnean Ring of Ruination

World Drop

Return to the top

Trinkets

Update Nov 18: Tangedyn recently posted a Cat guide for 4.3 See his rough ranking for trinkets at the bottom of his post.

Item

Where to get it

1. Starcatcher Compass Heroic

TBC

2. Vial of Shadows Heroic

All Bosses Except Deathwing Heroic

3. Matrix Restabilizer Heroic

Cache of the Fire Lord – Firelands

4. Starcatcher Compass

TBC

5. Vial of Shadows

All Bosses Except Deathwing

6. The Hungerer Heroic

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

7. Matrix Restabilizer

Cache of the Fire Lord – Firelands

8. Starcatcher Compass Raid Finder

TBC

9. Vial of Shadows Raid Finder

All Bosses Except Deathwing Raid Finder

10. Arrow of Time

TBC

11. The Hungerer

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

12. Essence of the Cyclone Heroic

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

13. Prestor’s Talisman of Machination Heroic

Nefarian – Blackwing Descent

14. Ricket’s Magnetic Fireball

Molten Front vendor – Damek Bloombeard

15. Darkmoon Card: Hurricane

Darkmoon Hurricane Deck – Darkmoon Faire

16. Essence of the Cyclone

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

17. Prestor’s Talisman of Machination

Nefarian – Blackwing Descent

18. Unheeded Warning

Zone Drop – The Bastion of Twilight

19. Kiroptyric Sigil Heroic

TBC

20. Kiroptyric Sigil

TBC

21. Kiroptyric Sigil Raid Finder

TBC

22. Ancient Petrified Seed

Reputation – Avengers of Hyjal: Revered

23. Coren’s Chilled Chromium Coaster

Coren Direbrew – Brewfest

24. Fluid Death

Vendors

25. Unsolvable Riddle

Reputation – Baradin’s Wardens: Exalted

This isn’t really a BiS list, more of a “this is what’s available” sort of list. I’m not pro enough on Wowhead to get it to take agility procs vs “on use” agility vs baseline agility into account in sorting, so take the ranking with a pinch of salt.

The Kiroptyric Sigil series seems to be similar to Ancient Petrified Seed from the previous tier, so it doesnt really deserve to be ranked as low as Wowhead has placed it. We also know that Ancient Petrified Seed is way better than Ricket’s Magnetic Fireball so take this sort of thing into account when upgrading your trinkets. I reckon it should be an upgrade from the normal Firelands trinkets but not necessarily from the heroic versions… Choose wisely young padawan.

Return to the top

Weapon

Item

Where to get it

1. Spire of Coagulated Globules Heroic

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Heroic

2. Spire of Coagulated Globules

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping

3. Kiril, Fury of Beasts

Madness of Deathwing

4. Fandral’s Flamescythe Heroic

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

5. Ranseur of Hatred Heroic

Vendors

6. Spire of Coagulated Globules Raid Finder

Yor’sahj the Unsleeping Raid Finder

7. Kiril, Fury of Beasts Raid Finder

Madness of Deathwing Raid Finder

8. Fandral’s Flamescythe

Majordomo Staghelm – Firelands

9. Thornwood Staff

TBC

10. Ranseur of Hatred

Zone Drop – Firelands

11. Malevolence Heroic

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

12. Witch-Hunter’s Harvester

Crafted – Blacksmithing

13. Malevolence

Halfus Wyrmbreaker – The Bastion of Twilight

14. Mobus’s Dripping Halberd

Mobus – Abyssal Depths

Note: I have been having a debate with some other kitties over at TFD about Spire of Coagulated Globules vs Kiril, Fury of Beasts as BiS for normal tier of raid. Until we get some hard data on the uptime of the Agility proc on Kiril, Fury of Beasts (wowhead doesn’t measure procs too well when sorting data), the Spire of Coagulated Globules still wins out, even when weighting heavily for weapon dps. Watch this space for updates tho.

Return to the top

Relic

Item

Where to get it

1. Ripfang Relic Heroic

TBC

2. Ripfang Relic

700 VPs

3. Covenant of the Flame Heroic

Vendors

4. Ripfang Relic Raid Finder

TBC

5. Covenant of the Flame

Vendors

6. Relic of Elune’s Shadow

Molten Front Vendor – Ayla Shadowstorm

7. Relic of Golganneth

Vendors

Return to the top

I HAZ FIREKITTY!!!

Druids, Raiding, Random mutterings No Responses »

Sep 202011

Yes I know I have been slacking on the posting front. I just haven’t had all that much to say really. For reasons posted elsewhere on this blog, summertime raiding is largely a hit and miss affair for me most of the time, and frustrated raider doth not a good blogger make. Add to that being sick on and off throughout the season, it led to a complete lack of inspiration. But today we have news!

On Sunday night Easy finally conquered all the internet demons that have been trolling us for the last 2 weeks of attempts to kill Staghelm, and knocked him over, 25 man style.

We have been working really hard in Firelands to attempt to keep our progression kills strictly 25, and are currently the only guild on LightbringerEU to have all our first kills as a 25 man raid group. We havent had as much of a slump as last year in ICC, but the odd cancelled raid, and necessity of getting a few old friends to help out on occasion hasnt made for the fastest progression out there, and we have been unwilling to down-size to 10 for the sake of progress, as all other guilds on our server have.

I’m not going to pretend that there haven’t been times when I was the one going “We should look at 10 mans”, but our officers have been adamant. And rightly so. We are a 25 man guild, that is how we roll. So progression hasnt been the fastest but who cares, we did it the Easy way.

But on to Staghelm. We clarified our strategy in the first week, and we progressed steadily towards a kill, working out each phase as we went along. By the end of last reset, we had our best attempt at 11%, and you could smell that kill in the air…

We went in with high hopes post maintenance on Wednesday with our first FL ID extension to date, only to get trolled by the worst sort of internet demons around. I think we had 5 proper tries the entire 3 hour raid, inbetween tank(s)/healers/dps DC-ing, and general weird lag spikes, resulting in blown up raid groups more often than not… it was a nightmare. Thursday, we didnt have enough healers to even think of pulling any serious attempts, so a 10 man group went in to get our mage his Branch of Nordrassil thing on his way to Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest, with the proviso that they didnt go anywhere near Staghelm. That went well, and we were set for serious stuff on Sunday night.

So we re-extended last weeks ID, and bonus, we had no conflicted IDs! Good start!

We had a few muttered “relogging”(s) after killing his trash, but amazingly the problems of earlier in the reset seemed to have all but disappeared. Around our 5th attempt we got him to 9% but there was some confusion as to when to run in, and we got a flame patch in the raid… I wanted to cry.

We tried again and again, and finally, around 11pm, everything fell into place, everyone moved as they were meant to, the whole raid was alive when we hit the last scorpion phase, and then he fell over! Many cries of relief and celebration were heard…

And then we saw loots! Yes, he coughed up his Fandral’s Flamescythe, and after enduring several underhanded (but good-natured) attempts to deny me firekitty (it is, after all, hunter loots… NOT), I finally got it in my sweaty little paws.

Happily, I can now say… I HAZ FIREKITTY!!!

Illusionary Fun

Random mutterings, Visual Effects No Responses »

Aug 172011

As an homage to the recent nerf of the Potion of Illusion buff, I present a series of screenshots depicting a wild few hours of fun I had with some friends.

Air seals! Now finally we can see what they look like!

The raiding council has spoken... there will be NO huntar loots today!

What is this... I don't even... how RUDE!!

I feel violated

A Mammoth task, carrying these 2 around

And lastly, we must, of course, have firecats!!

Firekittehs!

Cat fun in BoT courtesy of Elu, Lithasola and Fuuken.

Seal, drake and mammoth mayhem in SW courtesy of Tojad, Topazmace and Elu.

Firecats courtesy of Tojad and Elu. (Soon, my precioussss, sssoooooonn….)

IRL Crits and other assorted news

Random mutterings, Updates No Responses »

Aug 102011

So it’s been a bit quiet around the Ease lately. The bar has been closed for a bit due to various reasons, including that famously rumored and now confirmed to exist phenomenon called Real Life (now referred to as IRL, to separate it from Raid Leading (RL).

Warcraft subs and blog hosts don’t pay for themselves, and one is forced to take on other activities like work in order to fund those things we would rather be doing. And over 2 separate weeks I got crit in the face by work in a large way, leaving me time for little else but work and some dailies.

Inbetween those work weeks, seasonal changes smacked down and gave me a mean dose of flu, complete with fever, streaming nose, and bubbling chest. You get the picture I’m sure… it wasn’t pretty. When IRL crits, it tends to hit rather hard.

Anyway, I am back now, and have a few druid and paladin posts in the making, and some raiding stuff too. The bar is open for business.

Here, have a kitty.

The calm before the Firestorm

Druids, Paladins, Raiding No Responses »

Jun 282011

How do you deal with the waiting time in the week or so before a patch release? In early Wrath, I used to live on the WoWInsider website, trying to dredge every last bit of info about the patch as I could. But over the course of Icecrown, my obsessive reading got less, to the point where I seldom visit there now, except for very specific columns. Nowadays I prefer to spend more time ingame fiddling around on my toons than obsessively preparing for the next patch. So in the last few hours before the patch release, I am reflecting on my recent activities ingame.

Obviously, I am keeping an eye on the various druid forums and blogs to keep up to date with the kitty changes (finally!). But inbetween raiding on Sarri with her new guild, I havent spent all that much time on Elu at all. My main focus over the past week has been leveling my shaman to 85 and gearing him up. I’m testing out my theory that melee is my thing and theres no point in even trying to play a ranged toon at this time because I dont quite get it. Right now, my theory is proving correct.

I have around 11 days /played on the shaman, 2 of those /played days at 85. I cant say that ALL that time was spent leveling and gearing, I am a social whore ingame and I spend a LOT of time sitting around chatting to various people, even random players sometimes. But yes, it has taken me 48-ish play hours to gear my shaman for raiding, with an ilevel of 348 now. He still has green trinkets which brings the overall average down a bit, but just about everything else is JP/troll gear. Thankfully I have been reasonably lucky with drops, the ZA mace and ZG fist weapon make a nice combo (yes, he is enhance), I scored the Ahune cloak on his first visit there AND the Frostscythe (strictly for posing!!). I dont plan to raid heavily on him, I have a group of friends I join up with from time to time when they need a filler and thats what he will be doing.

Raiding with Sarri has been a bit piece-meal. The guild she joined is upsizing from 10 to 25, and with the summer slump that starts around this time, there arent always enough to make a full 25 group, so we run with 22 or so. No full clears but we have cleared BoT and BWD to the endbosses. We will see what tonight brings, being the last night pre-patch, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m sure after the patch raids will be filled pretty easily.

So all of this busy-ness, and then I still managed to get in a raid with Elu on Sunday. There’s nothing like not raiding with your friends all week, then jumping in the deep end on the one night you have available to join and raid-leading a fight most of them have completed but you haven’t… The objective of the evening was Al’Akir, 10 man version. Easy has killed him twice, both times on 25 man, and although Elu had been in various of the progression attempts, I hadn’t managed to join for any of the kills. So I did a bit of research and determined the way I thought would be easiest to get it done and we proceeded to fine-tune positioning through various wipes. For some reason the raid was seriously melee heavy, with one ranged at the start. It wasnt such a bad thing until we needed the stormlings killed… But one of the melee DCed permanently halfway through the evening, so we put a call out for assistance in guild chat. A healer offered to join, so we changed roles around, a tree went chicken (yay ranged!), paladin took over tank healing and the priest took over raid healing. By now we consistently hit P3 and were failing to clouds. Pro priest took over calling up, down, down, all the way down, up, etc and about half an hour before scheduled raid end Al dispersed to the winds and coughed up his purples, paladin healy pants and Protector tier helm. But most importantly, Defender of a Shattered World.

So all in all, I’m reasonably happy with where I have ended up with this tier. Yeah sure its not heroic progression or anything, but it is closure to a point. I would like the temporary Maloriak title at some point, and of course, Dragonslayer, for obvious reasons. But as long as Blizzard dont remove them immediately, I am sure those will come in time.

Roll on Firelands, it’s time for new content!!

Aaarrrgghhh!!

Paladins, Raiding, Retribution No Responses »

Jun 082011

So I said in my previous post I would be writing more about raiding, since I would hopefully be doing more of it. However, it seems the demons of the interwebz have it in for me

The guild I joined with Sarri is in the process of upsizing from 10 to 25 man, and as such is just not quite full. So we have had a few raids cancelled due to there not being enough people online. When we have managed to get a 25 man going, it has mostly been a lagfest from hell… It’s really weird since I have been through all these places on Elu with minimal issues, but Sarri just doesnt want to know about it… I have pared down my addons to only the stuff required for raiding, dbm etc, and they have only 1 addon different EPGP which is required by the new guild, and not by Easy. And since it is a late night raid guild, I really shouldn’t have latency issues as we are past premium time for internet and raid traffic congestion…

That said, I did manage to do BoT last night with Sarri, scored myself the shoulders from Halfus, and finally bit the bullet and bought the VP tier pants. So 2 very nice upgrades yesterday, hopefully this reset will be better and I can actually start showing them what I can do. For a change I’m not the only retadin in the raid, and it was nice to be able to measure myself against others. We came out pretty evens on double dragons, I wasn’t top ret but I did get caught in fabulous flames once (oops) and took a while to get across the twilight realm to the portal :-/ So I missed out on dps time there, otherwise I probably would have been higher… Anyway, I hope that spells the end of the latency issues, it really is frustrating.

I also got into an Easy raid on Elu early in the last reset, we went in for our second Nefarian kill. By the time I got into the raid, they had been working on him for an hour. The usual add tank wasnt able to raid that night and it’s a steep learning curve to get the positioning just right. We followed with more terrible attempts, flames covering the ground in P3… Classic scenario though, last try of the night, lets make it a good one! There I was, chewing on dragon butt in P3, keeping an eye out for flames… Nothing. I check Nef’s HP, the emo dragon is dropping fast… I check my raid frames, the whole raid is still up!

It was a flawless kill, a textbook P3. He fell over and coughed up his purples, nothing of interest for me but one step closer to my Defender title!

Heres to more raiding this reset!!!

The Grand Adventure

Druids, Paladins, Raiding, Random mutterings No Responses »

May 252011

When I began this blog, my intention was to write about the daily occurrences ingame that take my fancy. Like many other players a large part of my game time is taken up with raiding, yet I havent written anything about it. There is a very good reason for that, read on if you want to hear the story.

I joined Easy at the start of Wrath. Through all of TBC, Easy was one of the top ten guilds on Lightbringer, and one of the oldest. Easy was started the day the server opened, and despite having been through several management changes and a few upheavals, is still going strong. Our realm is not known for being one of the most progressive in the EU, but we like to raid and we like the challenges. It’s a good place to be. But I ramble…

At the time I joined, I was working predominantly day shifts with the occasional evening shift. This wasnt a problem then, as in Easy RL is always greater than WoW and you just didnt sign for raids if you knew you weren’t going to be available. You were expected to maintain a suitable activity level but if you were going away for some business related/RL reason, you posted about it on the forums so everyone knew you were just busy for a time and would return once that time was over. Mid-way through Wrath this changed. I got bumped to an evening shift which, when Daylight Savings Time was in effect, allowed me to make raids, but when it wasnt (as is the case now) I was over an hour late for start of raid and therefore couldn’t really join… Suffice to say, this frustrated me no end, and in order to get my raid fix I began pugging on my alts. I eventually got into a fairly stable and regular pug on Elu which included some of the alts of a few of the top guilds on Lightbringer, and we would regularly clear ICC to LK in an afternoon.

Then came the Cataclysm. It’s been fine so far, up until recently when, yes, once again the clocks changed and I found myself unable to attend guild raids. I missed our Nefarian kill due to not being able to be online at start, even though I was online when they killed him. I had done my fair share of wiping on him too, and it irked… badly…

So I was left examining my options. The problem was, I didnt really want to leave Easy. After 2 years there, these people are like family to me, we are comfortable with each others company, chill out on vent together, raid together, have some laughs together… for someone like me who works and lives far from friends and family, its a very good social environment and one I have come to rely on. Which brings me to my grand adventure.

After a few lengthy discussions with some officers and our GM, they agreed to let me take a toon out to join a late night raiding guild. Ordinarily this is against guild policy, to have a raiding toon in another guild, but they understand why and given that I will continue to commit Elu to raiding with Easy whenever I can, it seems to be a workable solution. Time will tell.

So yesterday, I removed Sarri from Easy, and joined Twilight. It was weird to see different names in guild chat, even though I do have a few friends there from TBC days and Sarri’s very first raiding guild, its a very scary thing. I dont know if it was the right decision or even a good decision but I dont think my sanity will survive another year of just-missed raids… Then I may as well quit, and I’m not ready to do that yet.

So, to sum up the great wall of text, I havent been posting on raiding because I havent been doing too much of it, and it has been frustrating me beyond belief, something I didnt want to carry over onto here. Hopefully now that will change and you should see a lot more on raiding from me shortly.

Onward the Grand Adventure!

A Warrior’s Story

Druids, Random mutterings, Warriors No Responses »

May 112011

It was a slow day at The Ease. I was in my favorite spot on the bar counter, that little corner down the end that gets a patch of sunlight around midday. Perfect place for a kitteh to get some power napping done before heading out to slay dragons with friends. The door crashed open and I opened an eye to see who had interrupted my nap so unceremoniously. It was my new friend, Ayahuascas, pro warrior tank and all-round nice lady. I stretched lazily, jumped down behind the bar, shifting to Night Elf form as I did so, and grinned at her. “So what can I get to ease your thirst today?”

“I’ve been hard at work since late last night,” she replied, “and I need something strong to clear my head and wake me up.”
“Ahh, I have just the thing,” I told her, “just got a new shipment yesterday.”
I poured her a shot of Cuergo’s Gold, and put the kettle on for some strong Black Coffee.
She tossed back the Cuergo’s and stood stock still for a moment. I began to get worried when she didnt move, then she looked up at me with a huge grin. “Whoa, that stuff KICKS!”
I smiled, poured the coffee and hopped over the bar to settle beside her for a chat. “So you’ve been busy? Tell me about this…”

She began…

I was out of work and hanging around Crystalsong Forest with my Boomie friend one morning and without warning this rogue pops up right behind us! Instinctively raising my shield to Shield Slam the daring rogue an idea came to me! The unique profile of this unfortunte to-be-zerged rogue remained on my shield and had this artistic look to it… and I leaned over and nudger the Rogue lying semi-unconscious on the floor with my foot and asked “Hey, you. I’ve seen you before. Where you from?” The rogue replied in a mutter… “Caaa… Caaarpe…. Noc… Nooc…” My eyes grew as large as my friend’s Boomie-Eyes upon the news that this was none other than an end-game content rogue we nuked to the ground! Wait ’til the others hear about this trophy! So I went home and put the shield up on my wall and decided to start “collecting”! Ahh just imagine! Some catchy phrase to sell these “Minted Carpe Rogue Profile Shields” ! Haha “Mint – Condition”. I ran through battlegrounds slamming into mages… plastering warlocks and druids getting all the jewelry nice ‘n stuck into my shield. The new profession: Minting. I now make lots of gold selling the shields to beginner and veteran tanks alike… as they chuckle before a fight with their Minted Makes.

“Wow, so tanks are actually buying these?” I was kinda curious. “I mean, I like to bear it up occasionally but I dont require a shield for it…”
“Yes,” she replied, “I am so busy filling orders I dont have time for much else right now…”
She showed me a pamphlet.

“Minted Shields – Guaranteed Authenticity. Have you got a class we haven’t Minted yet?”

Available in-store:

1) Undead Frost Mage – Features icicles and teeth on the border with rib cage minted into center. Accentuated with dried saliva.

2) Tauren Death Knight – Features two peepholes where the horns went through. Can be added for a small cost. Moo carved to prove authentic metals during forgery. If you turn the shield upside down, then right up again you’ll get the Tauren’s recorded Moo sound upon shield impact.

3) Female Orc Hunter – Features breast imprints minted with real chest hair attached to center for the authentic Hunter Fur Touch. Comes with blow up pet of your choice to attach to keyring on inside – used as battle jingle for intimidation.

4) Goblin Warlock – Features full goblin on shield with side profile minted in. Includes built-in Counter Curse Debuff that activates when you rattle the shield. Detachable, rechargeable Healthstone comes with the shield.

5) Custom Shields – Let us know who you’re looking for and we’ll make sure we get every spec to your liking!

Please note, Rogue Mintings take a little longer to execute – damn Vanish.

Confessions: It’s easy with Blood Elves, I just put a mirror on the shield face…. ’nuff said… “DONG!”

Remember you heard it here first folks. Minted shields, available now, guaranteed autheniticity!!

Thanks to Ayahuascas of RaidRoses for the story

Older Entries