The Frozen Throne

Firstly, I'd like to recap my recent play experiences. I have been playing three toons: my mage, my priest and my warrior.

I finished Sholazar Basin with Gaiwyn, to gain the achievements Into the Basin and Loremaster of Northrend, the latter of which granted me the tailoring recipe for Deathchill Cloak. Being Frostfire is proving to be both powerful and fun. 13K Frostfire Bolt crits are crazy.

Ilyaena is level 77 and still melting faces. I got Fo' Shizzle My Grizzle and moved onto Sholazar Basin, but having recently done it with Gaiwyn makes me want to take a break from that zone for a little while. One option is to bite the bullet and simply start questing in Zul'drak; another is to play another toon aside from my warrior.

I have been making steady progress with Zlaenya. I got her to level 72, and she also has Cold Weather Flying, which helps immensely. Dragonblight is frequently feeling my fury. Warriors are fun!

Another thing I have been doing is trying to buy up Cobalt Ore at a reasonable price. So far I have smithed a lot of items with Nick's warrior and disenchanted them. I just have to work out which enchants are best to sell at the auction house to turn a pretty profit.

With the Lich King solidifying his hold on Northrend even more and the argent champions doing all in their power to overcome the scourge, the epic battle within Icecrown Citadel looms ever closer.

The patch notes will no doubt be updated regularly, but as it stands there are some nice changes incoming. Let's take a look at what patch 3.3 is likely to offer:

Firstly, the instances that we have been holding our breath for: Icecrown Citadel's raids and five-man wings. I would absolutely love to have the chance to experience Tier 10 content, but since my mage is still in T7 and I don't have the slightest chance of having enough time to raid, let alone do the latest heroics, I guess I'll just have to settle for watching videos and drooling over images of gear and encounter screenshots. So far, things are looking rather delectable.

Class changes are indeed improvements, too.

The changes to Improved Scorch are long overdue, where stacking is no longer required to gain the 5% spell crit increase. And there is a new glyph to make a mage's Water Elemental more of a pet; perhaps much like the indefinite up-time of a Death Knight's ghoul. The introduction of this glyph alone is making me second guess my recent move away from frost.

Speaking of Death Knights, we knew it was coming, but the changes to Scourge Strike should finally make it worth having as your primary talent again. Wave goodbye to Obliterate, if you are Unholy. Thank goodness. >.>

Some of the changes for shadow priests are very nice, too. Changes to haste, more mana regen and a greater bonus to shadow will increase overall performance.

Finally, new achievements are worth looking at, even if I will never be given the chance to attempt any of them. Titles like I'm on a Boat (that single from The Lonely Island, m*thaf*cka) and I've Gone and Made a Mess (a tribute to Moroes) made me chuckle.

There's also the latest Feat of Strength: It's Over Nine Thousand! Self-explanatory >.<

Keep an eye out for talent updates and other upcoming changes as the PTR continues to drive forward in its endeavour to prepare us for the storming of that final bastion that stands between Northrend's finest and the obliteration of the scourge once and for all.

I can't wait to see how the Lich King's long awaited defeat is decisively delivered!

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

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

Titanic Lightning Rods of Supreme Brilliance

I finished Dragonblight last night and started on Grizzly Hills tonight.

Dinged 77 and got my Cold Weather Flying. Ah, it's good to be able to fly again!

I flew around the rest of the Northrend zones. Words like 'epic' and 'amazing' fail to describe the splendour and incredible magnitude and magnificence of this continent. Such varied environments; such humongous structures; such an amazing array of creatures; and such extreme activity everywhere.

I really love the Titan lore and Storm Peaks captures so much of this across its mountainous terrain: giant structures built into the mountains; rune-inscribed golems roaming the mountain crags and paths; huge temple structures that bring a new definition to monolithic architecture.

I couldn't capture in my screenshots the scope of all there is to see, but I can say that I was in absolute awe of the superb job the design team have done in every gigantic zone. There is so much to see and it all takes your breath away.

Take the time to fly around Icecrown, Storm Peaks, Sholazar Basin and Crystalsong Forest -- and actually look at everything. You won't be disappointed.

Gundrak, Zul'drak

A Huge Crater in Zul'drak

Steps to the Zul'drak Plateau

Crystalsong is Breathtakingly Beautiful

Beware the Creatures of Icecrown

Before logging off, I decided to try and find a good spot to farm Frostweave Cloth. I am going to need hundreds of them to get my Tailoring up. I tried a spot in Icecrown, but the mobs there are level 80, so I would recommend waiting until level 79 and grinding out your last level there if you are after cloth, like me.

I also went to Zul'drak. Just outside of the Argent Crusade area, there is an ongoing undead event. You can kill a number of mobs at once, with a decent droprate on cloth. The downside of this is that the respawns are pretty haphazard and sometimes you can't get out of combat. I had a couple of close calls and had to run for my life a couple of times.

One bonus of killing the undead mobs, though, is that one of them dropped a Manual: Heavy Frostweave Bandage for me.

I intend to continue questing in Grizzly Hills and then probably Zul'drak until reaching 79, when I will do my Frostweave stint and hopefully be able to craft my Magnificent Flying Carpet at Level 80. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

More Blighting

Almost completed Dragonblight.

Level 76.

Alexstrasza, Queen of Dragons

If you haven't already, you have to see the cut scene at the Wrathgate. :o

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

Ding: 74

Cleared Howling Fjord and ventured into Dragonblight. After anchoring myself to an inn and doing a few necessary quests, I was teleported to Dalaran, where I learned Portal: Dalaran. :)

Gaiwyn is now 75% into level 74.

I decided to finish off To All The Squirrels I've Loved Before. I had missed the Ram in Loch Modan -- very hard to find them -- and the Borean Frog. Not sure how I missed that one, as I was in Borean Tundra for so long.

At the same time, I decided to finish off Explore Borean Tundra. All I had to explore was Garrosh's Landing (not having been there while questing in Borean Tundra was an oversight on my part). With that done, I revisited Howling Fjord to get the last place there, Vengeance Landing, to get Explore Howling Fjord.

Three achievements in the space of half an hour. Not bad. ;)

Time to spend some money and level Tailoring!

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore