More Talent Builds

More free time in the office and more talent builds, for fun. v.3.1.9972.

Elemental Shaman (57/14/0)
I've been Elemental for so long, I could probably fill these talents out with my eyes closed; even with the changes.

Enhancement Shaman (11/60/0)
I want to give Enhancement another shot. There will still be the matter of collecting AP gear and some melee weapons.

Smite Priest (38/28/5)
I want to try this for fun, because it is so unique! I could go into an instance and tell people that I will be Smiting. And if they don't outdps me then they seriously have problems. :p Of course, off-healing would be no problem with this spec, either. Could prove to be fun soloing, too. :)

Balance Druid (58/0/13)
Seeing as I am going melee with so many toons, spellcasting as a Moonkin could be fun. It is also something I have never done, so will be interesting to try. ^^

My Paladin is level 68 now. I want to level Blacksmithing before heading into Northrend. I am thinking Howling Fjord when I do pick up questing again.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Build 9972

Testing in Ulduar continues, as do changes across the classes. 3.1 must be getting pretty close now. I'm not really that excited about it. Maybe because I play reasonably casually now and am mostly focusing on levelling my alts.

Paladin: Level 67. Enjoying the last vestiges of Nagrand.
Warrior: Level 66. Enjoying Nagrand quests, despite Dvaenya still being there.
Priest: Level 74. Love melting faces.
Death Knight: A handful of heroics down, so around 20 Emblems collected so far.
Mage: Uh, guess I gotta log in for a weapon enchant for Dvaenya's axe and my cloth cooldown... Not much else to do. :o

As for 3.1 builds, I am currently looking at going with the following specs - at least as one of my two possible specs, were I to purchase the dual-spec ability for any of my active toons:

Fire Mage (20/51/0)
Moving away from Frost and going neither Frostfire nor Arcane. With the changes to the Glyph of Molten Armor, it might just be worth it.

Fury Warrior (18/53/0)
Titan's Grip gives large bursts of rage, so I see both Anger Management and Improved Berserker Rage as unnecessary. Otherwise, I would not have enough points to take Bloodsurge.

Shadow Priest (14/0/57)
I decided to take Improved Vampiric Embrace and Psychic Horror. They will both be nice talents in heroics.

Retribution Paladin (12/5/54)
Not much I can say about this. The changes to Exorcism should make taking the glyph worthwhile. And the changes to the Glyph of Seal of Blood should make it worth taking, too.

Blood Death Knight (54/17/0)
Time for a change. I will no doubt have Unholy as my second spec (when I can afford dual-spec for him), but I am keen to try out Blood at level 80. Mark of Blood and Hysteria should both prove to be nice.

Mutilate Rogue (52/17/2)
Back to daggers?! Yup. Don't worry, I will still get some swords for my Combat spec. I am just keen to give Mutilate a shot again. At least, at 80 (when she gets there!).

So, where are the usual Hunter, Druid and Shaman builds? To tell the truth, I can't be bothered either playing with specs or playing them. I know I went to all the trouble of getting my Shammy his epic flyer at 70, but for now I have no intention of levelling him. ^^

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Vin Diesel Plays WoW

We interrupt this programme to bring you a very important message: Vin Diesel is a WoW player. :)

Oh, and the new Fast and Furious (finally, a real sequel) is coming out soon. And next year we should see the third Riddick instalment. Sweet.

More WoW postage later on this week. I've been playing a few alts. I'll report back on the progress of 3.1, too.

Peace.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

PTR Build 9704

Glyph changes, spell changes, v. 9704 talent build, and stats and set bonuses of Tier 8!

Check Bobouille's post for the lowdown on all of it.

The Mage Tier 8 4-piece bonus seems pretty lame. It would be nicer if it automatically cast again whatever spell you did on the proc. Take, for example, Brain Freeze (seeing as I am a Frost mage). If it procs, I will cast a free, instant Fireball. I would then have the time of a GCD to register whether Brain Freeze was consumed or if my bonus procced and it is still up. With all that goes on in raids, someone will probably have to make a mod that gives you a warning when your proc is not consumed; otherwise you are unlikely to react in time and will start casting your next Frostbolt -- which has a chance of proccing Brain Freeze again, and therefore you could be wasting your bonus.

I will never have Tier 8 gear, so this won't affect me either way, anyway.

Perhaps we will just have to wait and see how these bonuses pan out once the top guilds have geared up with Tier 8. The Death Knight ones look nice, at least. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Class Builds v.9684

3.1 is probably still a couple of weeks away, so there could still be minor changes to class talents before it goes live. However, I had a lot of free time in the office today, so put together builds for eight of the nine classes (all but Warlock, since I don't play one and therefore don't know enough about the class to put a build together).

These are all end-game builds aimed at running heroics rather than farming, questing or -- /shudder -- PvPing. I may never see most of my toons at level 80, but formulating possible builds is fun in itself.

Death Knight
17/0/54 Unholy

Druid
0/55/16 Feral Combat

Hunter
5/55/11 Marksmanship

Mage
18/0/53 Frost

Paladin
10/5/56 Retribution

Priest
14/0/57 Shadow

Rogue
15/51/5 Combat

Shaman
57/14/0 Elemental

Warrior
19/52/0 Fury

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Heroics at Last

I did two heroics with my DK yesterday. It was my first time to do heroics with him. Both went really well (same group). I got a chest upgrade, Breastplate of Undeath, which I still have to enchant. I was also doing a lot more DPS -- about 2k against bosses -- than the two casters (warlock and mage) who were in the party.

I'm hoping that the changes to Death Knight mechanics will not lower my DPS at all. It is nice to be able to do 2K with crappy blues. It just means that as I start to get better gear for him (Naxxramas purples, possibly?), his DPS will only improve. Good fun.

My Priest is level 73. I have made a small dent in Dragonblight and will continue questing there until at least the Wrathgate questline is done.

I hope to continue working towards at least heroic gear for Mordreth. Gearing up a melee toon as fun as a Death Knight makes the game enjoyable. :)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Death Knight Ding

MMO-Champion have put up a YouTube video showcasing Tier 8 armour.

My Death Knight is level 80. I will probably finish Icecrown with him, regardless. I also need to start doing heroics for gear upgrades and reputation. I equipped his Titansteel Destroyer. The funny thing is, his 2H mace skill is 1/400. It's a long grind ahead of me, full of misses. :p

As I said previously, I will probably level my Priest to 80 next. I'd better start saving cloth and stuff for crafting her level 78 gear. :o

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Almost Two Eighties

Just one more level for my beloved Death Knight. I am making good headway into Icecrown, and look forward to doing heroics; possibly starting next week!

I would like to get both my Warrior and Paladin up to at least 70, but Ilyaena is going to be the next alt I level to 80.

Having high level mining will be a bonus, although I heard that Alchemists can make a boatload of money at the moment. Might be time to level the Rogue...?

Apparently they are not making the changes to rage depletion on a stance change. This is disappointing for a levelling warrior. Still, Blizzard don't believe that stance dancing warrants this change. I guess it gives PvP warriors too much of an advantage or something, if they can switch to defensive to spell reflect and then back to 'zerker with little to no rage loss.

Also, apparently, Titan's Grip is getting the nerf bat again. This is just speculation as far as I am concerned, so I will keep my eyes open for a blue post regarding this possible upcoming change.

As for the raiding front, it is such a relief to not have to be on at any particular time to meet a commitment like raiding. I still want to experience Ulduar, but it just doesn't hold importance for me anymore. I play every day, but I am definitely a casual player now.

I look forward to doing more out of game activities and spending my time a bit more wisely. Productivity over entertainment; or something like that. :)

On another note, I was browsing my character armories and had to chuckle at my rogue's pvp statistics. The sheet is absolutely blank and yet she is wearing season 2 / season 3 arena gear. GG no statistic records pre 3.0. >.<

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

More Ulduar Testing

It looks like Ulduar boss testing is coming along nicely. On the US PTR realms we will be getting access to three more bosses this week. I haven't bothered logging into the test realms. I don't have any intention of dedicating myself to raiding, so don't really see the point.

My Death Knight is 78 and is wearing all his crafted and enchanted level 78 blue gear. My Warrior is still 65 but I am now dual wielding Honed Voidaxe and Warsong Howling Axe. Too bad my armour is so terrible. :(

The change to the hearthstone cooldown in 3.1 (from 60 mins to 30 mins) will be helpful. And the change to Lightweave Embroidery is good, too -- it is being changed to a chance on spellcast to increase spellpower by 250 for 15 sec.

With talent tree changes will come revision of my character builds. I will update the Character Overview post to reflect these changes after 3.1 goes live.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Will I See Ulduar?

As I continue to play my alts I am reminded that I enjoy levelling. There is no commitment to being somewhere at a particular time. I really do like playing casually more than being part of the raiding scene, week in and week out.

The game is my hobby. But I want it to be a hobby that doesn't consume me or dictate how my evening will play out. Everything should come before playing. That's the reality.

Who knows whether I will get to experience Ulduar when 3.1 goes live. But I'm not fussed. I didn't get T5, so I don't expect to get T8. Raiding is fun but it also prevents one from having ultimate flexibility. I can't live like that anymore.

As for my alts: well, my Death Knight is still 77 but I now have all of his 78 blue gear enchanted and ready to go, as well as Titansteel Destroyer ready for when he hits 80. Running heroics will suffice for gear, although I'm sure there will be opportunity to run Naxxramas casually with friends' alts, too.

My Priest is still level 72 but she has finished Borean Tundra, which means I will be hitting up Dragonblight next time I log her shadowy presence.

I've really been enjoying playing my Warrior. I am only halfway through Zangarmarsh but she is already level 65 -- caught up to my Paladin. I managed to get Warsong Howling Axe in just one run of Blood Furnace, and will get Honed Voidaxe as soon as the opportunity to do Ring of Blood presents itself.

I enchanted the axe with Greater Savagery and have another scroll sitting in my bags for the other one. The rest of my gear is terrible, but that should change as I venture into Northrend in three levels.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore