Heroism

I've been doing a few heroics. My gear is slowly improving. I still need a lot of cloth to level my Tailoring, but at least I am making progress. I crafted my Magnificent Flying Carpet last thing tonight. Can't wait to take that bad boy for a spin around Northrend.

My Enchanting has also improved. I just hope to be able to enchant more gear with orange recipes for guaranteed points. ;)

We did Black Temple again tonight but failed to get the Illidari Council down. I kept losing aggro on High Nethermancer Zerevor when he became immune to magic attacks. I guess I needed to pull him as far to the left as I could, but it just wasn't happening.

At least I hit Revered with Ashtongue Deathsworn. That much closer to another Exalted faction. :)

Here is my current pre-raid gear layout:
Head
Encircling Burnished Gold Chains
Dark Runic Mantle
Back
Egg Sac Robes
Wrists
Gloves of Distorted Time
Girdle of Bane
Breeches of the Caller
Stone-Worn Footwraps
Ring 1
Ring 2
Trinket 1
Trinket 2
Flameheart Spell Scalpel
Prison Manifest
Rod of the Fallen Monarch

I should get Naxxramas upgrades eventually, but will do my best to save Emblems of Heroism to get badge gear. Two more badges and I get the 50 Badge Achievement, too. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Black Borean Blight

I played my Death Knight a bit yesterday, with my brother on his warrior. He was already level 71, having done some of Borean Tundra.

I started on Borean Tundra myself on Thursday night, but only made it to the D.E.H.T.A encampment. Together, we started on Howling Fjord quests and finished up to the end of the first Explorers' League hub.

We grinded humanoids for about five mins so I could push out my last 1.5% and ding 71. No new spells for DKs at 71! At least I am getting gear upgrades. >.<

I continued my questing in Borean Tundra and completed Coldarra. Next is Fizzcrank Airstrip.

I started on Zul'Drak with my Mage, after a bit of Icecrown AoE cloth farming (and a few deaths). In Zul'Drak, I did this quest. Good fun, albeit a little buggy.

I want to finish each of these zones completely to try and build my reputation with the various factions up, which I will push to exalted through wearing their tabards in instances and doing daily quests.

See my Reputation Dailies guide.

We had a Black Temple raid again tonight. We had a few attempts at Illidan, but couldn't get past phases 3 and 4 (which alternate).

I started questing with my Priest, only to realise that levelling as Holy would be torturous. I respecced to Shadow and have been enjoying it immensely. I'm tempted once again to play as Shadow at level 80. ;)

I really have to push Gaiwyn to 80 and try to get as many gear replacements as I can in the next three days. We plan to start on 10-man Naxxramas raiding this Thursday, and I want in on the action. ;)

Watch for my Pre-Raiding Caster Gear guide.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Factionblight Temple

My guild, <Exiles> ran Black Temple last night. It was my first time to go in there. We cleared up to the Illidari Council, of whom we had two quick attempts before finishing for the evening. The toughest fight was by far Gurtogg Bloodboil. Surprisingly, despite the lack of Shadow Resist gear across the raid of 23 players, Mother Shahraz was very easy.

We will probably be attempting the Illidari Council again tonight. Hopefully we can get all the way to Illidan! We are all over level 70, with even a couple of 80s, but it is still good to be raiding; even if T6 content is past its prime.

Gaiwyn is level 75. I am still questing through Dragonblight -- in fact, I am probably barely even halfway through quests there. Then again, I could be quite far into it and almost ready to hit up Azjol-Nerub.

I hope to continue working on Azeroth factions, Outland factions and Northrend factions. Check out this character comparison. Click Character and then Reputation -- or look at their wealth: 100,000g from auctions. :o

I wish I was that much of an auction king. Sheesh.　See their standalone Reputation page: 39 oldschool factions at exalted. ;)

More Dragonblight after work. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Blizzcon '08

Here I am, sitting in a hotel in Chiba, Tokyo, waiting to go to the Tokyo Game Show 2008; while across the other side of the world, Blizzcon is taking place. The opportunity presented to me is amazing; the TGS is going to be freaking awesome.

But this blog is about my biggest timesink: World of Warcraft. And what better time to talk about WoW than now, when Blizzcon is happening.

If you've been keeping track of everything that has been going on -- Diablo and Starcraft aside -- then you probably don't want to re-read what you already know. If you don't know what is going on, head over to MMO-Champion and read the last couple of days' posts. There is a lot of information to take in; and a lot of screenshots to gaze at.

The game is going to take on a whole lot more meaning and will be very refreshing for those that want to stick around for the expansion -- which I assume will be most players. Despite all the QQing about players' main classes and about how OP all the other classes are, things do seem to be progressing -- and be receiving their polish -- quite nicely.

Some features and changes worth noting:
Dual-spec system
To be introduced in a post-release patch, the dual-spec system will allow players to respec at anytime but during an arena match (and, I assume, in the middle of a battleground). This brings a whole new dynamic to the game; especially for hybrid classes, whose roles could change at the press of a button.

The biggest issue I see with this is not one of abuse but rather one of setup. Unless you can also save button configuration, respeccing on the fly will be a wee bit of a nightmare -- in terms of key skill configuration and placement. But I'm sure that the functionality and flexibility will outweigh the encumbrance of skill inaccessibility and re-placement (shuffling).

Raid-wide buffs
Now that classes' buffs will affect the whole raid, juggling classes and finding class "balance" will be much easier. Blizzard have also made it so that you don't HAVE to take any particular class or spec in order to have a successful raid. This is great news, as you can have many more options open to you in terms of who attends a raid and who is sidelined.

They want it to be a matter of bringing a skilled player; not bringing a specific class.

Achievements
This cool addition to the game is going to be a great timesink feature for obsessive players like myself. I know that there are some achievements -- especially particular Feats of Strength -- that I will never reach. But I -- and I'm sure many other players -- will get a lot more fulfilment out of the game in trying to accomplish these tangible goals.

It's not just a matter of getting the points or gaining a unique title; it is the knowledge that you have achieved something that the game has to offer. This will mean repeating old content to a degree, but I am fine with that. Some of it is content that has not been visited for a long time!

I look forward to running Molten Core again after all these years; just as I look forward to clearing Mt Hyjal and Black Temple for the first time. ;)

Keep an eye out for more announcements at Blizzcon and anything else that heralds the release of the expansion.

We're now in the final weeks before WotLK becomes a reality. Anticipation blooms abundantly.

The Tokyo Game Show awaits! Yosha!

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore