Wowbrief: paladin

Showing posts with label paladin. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

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

Friday, March 6, 2009

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

Monday, March 2, 2009

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

Friday, November 7, 2008

Pally Power

Because I decided to level my Paladin's Enchanting, I ended up playing her last night. I was surprised at how much Paladins have changed. It confused the heck out of me to see three different Judgements and then realise that the whole dynamic of judging and sealing has changed.

After spending a long time altering my layout as I quested (and mucking around for ages making a mount / Crusader Aura macro that works), I realise that I'm still going to have to go back and change things around to benefit me the best both for tanking and while soloing. I still have mana issues while questing, so this is something I will just have to sort out as I get used to playing again.

Incidentally, I blew a whole lot of Enchanting mats on levelling her Enchanting to 345. I need more Large Prismatic Shards to push it to 350, and then it will be just a matter of either making Void Spheres or getting Enchanting drops as I continue to level, and applying those for skillups. GG two Enchanters. ;)

Dvaenya is level 64. How I will respec tonight is: 0/51/4. I've been reading a little about how to actually play a Protection specced Paladin well. I knew the basics, but seeing as I play so many classes it can be hard to come to grips with everything you should know in order to be a good player with each given class.

At level 66 I get Seal of Corruption, which should make a difference to tanking / killing stuff.

I'm still having fun with my Warrior. She is level 42 now. I will get Ripsaw from ZF, which I can wield at level 45, and continue replacing gear from the AH and from each instance I zip into as she levels.

I may also replace my Curve-bladed Ripper at level 48 with an Axe of Rin'ji. Maybe.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Monday, October 27, 2008

Crazy Numbers

I haven't been playing my paladin, but when I do start up again, I hope to push to 70 as quickly as possible. In the meantime, check out my current XP. How is this even possible? The probability blows my mind. :o

I got her enchanting to 300 but need to work on getting her blacksmithing up. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Build 9014

The latest build gives us a few changes to every class. Check the updated talents. I will have to log onto the beta tonight and see how different an elemental build (frostfire) is now.

Honour is not going to be reset, but items at level 80 will be much more expensive. Still, if you are sitting on 70,000 honour when the expansion is released you will definitely have the advantage (I'm sure the honour cap will have to be raised to compensate for the price rise, as will the honour gain rate at 80).

More in-game models have been revamped.

Varimathras, grimmer than ever before

Alexstrasza, lookin' hot

I've been levelling a warrior recently. There is no possible way I will get her to level 70 (or even level 60) by the time that WotLK is released. But I can at least have fun in my spare time levelling her. Of course, it means that time is taken away from my Paladin, but I am having second thoughts about taking a Paladin to level 80. Mage, Rogue, Priest, Shaman and Death Knight will be enough. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Sunday, September 28, 2008

8982 Builds

Death Knight
54/17/0 Blood DPS

Druid
0/55/16 Feral Combat DPS

Hunter
0/59/12 Marksmanship

Mage
20/51/0 Deep Fire

Paladin
0/58/13 Protection

Priest
14/57/0 Holy

Rogue
53/0/18 PvP Mutilate

Shaman
56/5/10 Elemental DPS

Warrior
0/63/8 Fury DPS

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Glyphs Continued

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Updated Builds

I do not have the time to test all of these proposed builds, but this is just a compilation of what interests me, and a preview of how I may spec my toons according to the current talent trees.

Death Knight
54/17/0 Dual Wield Blood DPS

Key Blood Talents
Subversion
Bladed Armor
Dark Conviction
Bloody Strikes
Veteran of the Third War
Bloody Vengeance
Abomination's Might
Heart Strike
Might of Mograine
Blood Gorged

Key Frost Talents
Black Ice
Nerves of Cold Steel
Annihilation

Druid
0/52/19 Feral Combat Cat DPS

Key Feral Combat Talents
Savage Fury
Sharpened Claws
Shredding Attacks
Predatory Strikes
Primal Fury
Heart of the Wild
Leader of the Pack
Predatory Instincts
Mangle
Rend and Tear

Key Restoration Talents
Naturalist
Omen of Clarity
Master Shapeshifter

Hunter
0/63/8 Marksmanship

Key Marksmanship Talents
Lethal Shot
Careful Aim
Improved Hunter's Mark
Mortal Shots
Aimed Shot
Ranged Weapon Specialization
Piercing Shots
Trueshot Aura
Wild Quiver
Improved Steady Shot
Marked for Death
Chimera Shot

Key Survival Talents
Improved Tracking

Mage
0/53/18 or 20/51/0 Deep Fire

Key Fire Talents
Improved Fireball
Ignite
Pyroblast
Burning Soul
Improved Scorch
Playing with Fire
Critical Mass
Fire Power
Pyromaniac
Molten Fury
Empowered Fireball
Hot Streak
Burnout

20/0/51 Deep Frost

Key Frost Talents
Improved Frostbolt
Ice Shards
Elemental Precision
Piercing Ice
Icy Veins
Frost Channeling
Cold Snap
Winter's Chill
Arctic Winds
Empowered Frostbolt
Fingers of Frost
Summon Water Elemental
Chilled to the Bone
Deep Freeze

Key Arcane Talents
Arcane Concentration
Focus Magic
Arcane Meditation

Paladin
0/56/15 Protection

Key Protection Talents
Anticipation
Toughness
Reckoning
One-handed Weapon Specialization
Holy Shield
Ardent Defender
Redoubt
Combat Expertise
Avenger's Shield
Hammer of the Righteous

Key Retribution Talents
Deflection
Conviction

Priest
14/0/57 PvE Shadow

Key Discipline Talents
Twin Disciplines
Inner Focus
Meditation

Key Shadow Talents
Improved Spirit Tap
Shadow Affinity
Improved Shadow Word: Pain
Shadow Focus
Mind Flay
Shadow Weaving
Vampiric Embrace
Focused Mind
Mind Melt
Darkness
Shadowform
Shadow Power
Misery
Vampiric Touch
Pain and Suffering
Twisted Faith
Dispersion

Rogue
52/19/0 or 53/0/18 PvP Mutilate

Key Assassination Talents
Malice
Puncturing Wounds
Lethality
Vile Poisons
Cold Blood
Seal Fate
Deadly Brew
Find Weakness
Master Poisoner
Mutilate
Hunger for Blood

20/0/51 PvP Shadow Dance

Key Subtlety Talents
Master of Deception
Camouflage
Serrated Blades
Initiative
Preparation
Dirty Deeds
Hemorrhage
Deadliness
Premeditation
Cheat Death
Sinister Calling
Shadowstep
Shadow Dance

Shaman
0/8/63 PvE Restoration

Key Restoration Talents
Improved Healing Wave
Tidal Force
Healing Grace
Tidal Mastery
Healing Way
Purification
Mana Tide Totem
Blessing of the Eternals
Improved Chain Heal
Nature's Blessing
Earth Shield
Tidal Waves
Riptide

Warrior
15/56/0 Fury DPS

Key Fury Talents
Armored to the Teeth
Cruelty
Commanding Presence
Dual Wield Specialization
Enrage
Precision
Death Wish
Flurry
Bloodthirst
Improved Berserker Stance
Rampage
Titan's Grip

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Testing, Testing

Although I wasn't able to get any sort of recount system to function, I was able to test out both my rogue and priest. I specced my priest into shadow and headed to Howling Fjord. I didn't do much, as I haven't got any mods running and it was very laggy. What I did find out is that a. Shadow does decent damage; and b. Healing is still pretty good because of the addition of the attribute, spellpower. It will take me a while to get used to playing a shadow priest again. I look forward to levelling on live.

Next, I specced my rogue to mutilate. Some things have changed, and some things have been added. Gouge and Kick must be relearned, as these have changed in some way. Also, you can no longer make poisons; you have to purchase them from a vendor. Crippling and Mind-Numbing are no longer ranked, either.

There is a new talent, Dismantle. My rogue also has a new Herbalism talent, Lifeblood. And finally, there is a new PvP trinket replacement talent, Every Man for Himself. Anything that replaces a trinket is good!

I went to Borean Tundra this time. It's where I took my mage when I first tried the beta. I must say, mutilate does pretty amazing damage. There's a lot going on at once, and the change to mana / energy / rage regeneration makes things a little tricky at first, but I do know that with mutilate, poisons are just crazy. Also, Hunger for Blood and Cut to the Chase are just amazing talents. You can keep the Enrage effect up pretty much indefinitely. It refreshes to a 3 stack of 30sec if you do it once while the three stacks are still active -- and you don't even notice the 30 energy cost. You don't even have to attack the target you select to refresh it. ;)

Slice and Dice is very easy to keep up, as you simply need to Envenom or Eviscerate your target to renew it. And since you will always have Deadly Poison ticking on your target because of Deadly Brew, you can Envenom just about whenever you like.

I think that with the change of dynamics, if I was to stick with mutilate, it would take a wee bit to get used to, in terms of energy management and skill rotations.

I headed back to SW and respecced combat. I don't have very good weapons, but even taking that into account, there was a noticeable decrease in DPS. I think that either I fail at being a combat rogue or it just isn't as good as mutilate. Once I have tried out a Shadow Dance build, I will have a better idea of what I want to spec when the expansion goes live. For now, I am strongly leaning towards mutilate.

For now, I want to continue levelling my paladin on live and maybe explore a little bit on beta. I don't want to do a whole lot of quests because then they won't be as fun when it all goes live. Also, the default game interface is very lacklustre. It's hard to play without my addons and ui customisation.

I have yet to try out frost or arcane on my mage, and still have to try some level 80 builds with the premades I transferred. So much to do, so little time!

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Death Knight Reservation

Last night, I did a Slave Pens run with my paladin and did a few quests in Zangarmarsh. Questing solo as a protection paladin is incredibly tedious. You take a long time to kill anything, and you have to drink after just about every fight. The advantage is that you can take on three mobs at once, but even that can be intense in "dps" gear.

Today, I sent everything from my bank toon to Gaiwyn, sold all her bags, sent the gold over, and proceeded to delete the toon. She had ten days, fifteen hours of play time.

With my free slot, I reserved my Death Knight name: Mordreth. I can't wait to roll on the live servers and level him! And yes, he will be an Aerthas clone:

They call him Mordreth

Well, back to sorting through everything that was once stored in my bank toon's many slots. :/

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Friday, September 12, 2008

Tier 7!

So much Naxxramas gear has been coming out. /drool

It is easier to see from the stats the direction that game mechanics have taken for Lich King.

Naxxramas 10-man Tier 7 Sets

Mage Tier 7 Set

Shadow Priest Tier 7 Set

Rogue Tier 7 Set

Resto Shaman Tier 7 Set

Prot Paladin Tier 7 Set

DPS Warrior Tier 7 Set

Hunter Tier 7 Set

Naxxramas 25-man Tier 7 Sets

Mage Tier 7 Set

Shadow Priest Tier 7 Set

Rogue Tier 7 Set

Resto Shaman Tier 7 Set

Prot Paladin Tier 7 Set

DPS Warrior Tier 7 Set

Hunter Tier 7 Set

There are some more upcoming priest changes, too. Source.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Return of the Player

When I get back in-game, there are a few things that I intend to do.

Mage

Reach Exalted reputation with Gnomeregan Exiles, Ironforge and Stormwind.
Quest with Wintersaber Trainers to reach Exalted reputation and get Reins of the Winterspring Frostsaber.
Reach Exalted reputation with Timbermaw Hold and Thorium Brotherhood.
Raid Zul'Gurub, Onyxia's Lair, Molten Core, Blackwing Lair and Temple of Ahn'Qiraj for Achievements, to reach Exalted reputation with Zandalar Tribe and Hydraxian Waterlords, and to get both Arcanist Regalia (Tier 1 Raid Set) and Netherwind Regalia (Tier 2 Raid Set) again -- this may have to wait for the pre-expansion patch.
Level Fishing and Cooking professions -- which makes me wonder: what level NPC will teach you how to be a Grand Master of any given profession?

Priest

Get attuned for Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
Speed mine materials for my Shaman's epic flyer.
Respec PvE healing.

Rogue

Get enough honour for Merciless Gladiator's Slicer.
Respec Hemo Swords until the expansion.

Shaman

Get attuned for Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
Level his Engineering to 375.
Craft his Turbo-Charged Flying Machine.

Druid

Get attuned for Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
Reach Exalted reputation with Shattered Sun Offensive.

Paladin

Reach Level 70.
Get attuned for Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
Level her Blacksmithing to 375.
Wait to level Enchanting -- might get Inscription instead with the pre-expansion patch.

Warrior

Roll a Warrior and level her as far as I can by the release of the expansion.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me. I think the most important thing is levelling my Paladin to 70 and getting my Shaman's Epic Flying Mount.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Three More Epics

As yet, we don't know what the raid tokens will be called. However, some of the loot can now be accessed.

Gloves of Glistening Runes

These drop in Heroic Nexus. My mage would kill for these. XD

Naxxramas 10 Badge Loot Healer Shield

Even though it has yet to be named, it looks freaking cool. My shaman would probably kill for this if he were resto.

Naxxramas 10 Badge Loot Tank Shield

Another unnamed piece of Naxxramas loot. Paladin. Kill. Enough said. ;)

I hope that they will release information pertaining to the names of the new tokens, the new gear and the equivalent Badges of Justice that will be in the expansion. I reckon that Badge of Eternity would fit, but some people are saying Badge of Honor -- sounds too PvP-ish to me.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Thursday, August 21, 2008

An Interview and Some Lore

On Lore. The OP was asking about NPCs / structures and their movement around the place according to Warcraft lore. The blue post addresses the movement of Naxxramas and Dalaran, as well as how Alliance get more Ashbringer / Arthas type lore than Horde. He also mentions the Warcraft fiction, such as comic books and such that have been written with reference to the worlds and their lore.

Quote

"By the way, regarding Naxxramas, I just wanted to confirm that this would only be moved to Northrend and the level 60 version will not be available anymore. It's likely there won't be any achievements relating to the old Naxxramas, except there might be something related to Atiesh."

Tom Chilton (aka Kalgan, Lead Game Designer) and J. Allen Brack (Production Director) were interviewed at gamona.de:

Quote

How is the beta going ? Is everything alright?
T.C. - Things are definitely going very well, we've got a lot of very good feedbacks through the beta process. We've been making a lot of changes and improvements based on the feedback but overall it's coming along very well.

The beta servers have been very unstable in the last days, is there any improvement ?
J.A.B - We've got our server team who is looking into all problems, the point of our beta process is to actually figure out what problems we have and get them all fixed before we do the big release.

Is there any plan to open more beta realms ?
T.C. - We do actually have plans to start up a realm that has premade characters at level 80, the reason being that we're going to want to give players another opportunity to test some of the end game content without having to go through the leveling process. We can probably do that near the end of the beta process but it might be on a different server, this isn't decided for sure.

When do you plan to open more instances and rise the level cap to level 80 ?
T.C. - Each time we do another patch on the beta we try to open up new content for the players. [...] I don't know if we'll be able to patch this week while we're being here in Europe but that should be coming very soon.
J.A.B - For each patch we try to evaluate how much content do we have, is it time to give players the chance to open that up ? We're talking internally about when it is time to rise us up to level 80 but we're getting close.

Why didn't you separate PvE from PvP more?
T.C. - We made that decision because prior to The Burning Crusade, what we found as people increase their gear they die quicker because PvE gear is specialized gear. For DPS classes as an example it is designed to do the most damage as possible in the shortest time as possible and it does not have a lot of survivability. If that's the best gear players have available, then what happens is they take that into PvP is that they die very quickly and there's not much time for their strategies to evolve. What we've found is that in PvP we had to create gear with balanced offensive capability and survivability and because of that we had to create this separate set of gear with the new stat called resilience to make sure fights lasted long enough so that they are interesting and have depth. [...] Well, certainly something that we want to do for Litch king is better crossover so that when you're doing PvE you are actually able to accumulate some PvP gear in case you decide to try out some PvP you'll have a good starting point. The same would go in reverse, if you're doing a lot of PvP, you might have a couple of really good items that you could use into PvE and do pretty well.

What about the paladin, is there any plans to nerf the DPS Paladin's damage from what it is on beta servers now?
T.C. - We are just now beginning on going through the heavy tuning phase, we really don't do that until the end of the beta generally, where we start going through all of the classes and finding the things that are way out of balance and there's no doubt right now that the ret paladins are doing a lot more damage than what we would expect.

Are you satisfied with how the death knight is going?
T.C. - Yeah, the death knight has been coming along very well, we've been getting a lot of good feedback from it, people seem to like the class, they seem to enjoy the starting experience very much, we really kind of put our heart into the death knight class, hopefully that's going to pan out.

What talent tree do you prefer on the death knights?
T.C. - Personally, I really enjoy the frost talents, but I believe all three trees are very strong, they all definitely all have a strong role to play.

What else do you plan? Are there any more instances coming?
T.C. - Well, certainly, there are a lot more instances we plan to release, CoT: Strath instance, Ulduar, a handful that we are play testing internally that are pretty much ready for players to see, should be one of the patches that come out any time now [...] but it should be rolling out there very quickly.

All the instances were very well designed, however, I consider it unfortunate that say, Azjol-Nerub only has three bosses, its very short.
T.C. - Most players would consider that a fortunate thing, we've been getting a lot of feedback in the past that some of the instances were taking too long, so we're going for the middle ground here, we want to have some diversity between the instances too, there are a lot of players that miss the old big dungeon crawls, like BRD, etc. We want to find ways to deliver that too, but ultimately I think the core experience is that players should be able to get through an instance in less than an hour. Its something that we're trying to be very conscious about in Wrath, unlike in Burning Crusade when we had the heroic instances, those take a very long time to get through, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours depending on your quality of gear. We're trying to make sure when Litch King comes out that when you do the heroic instances, it doesn't take as much time going through it as you did before.

But, we need the epic feeling from the Blackrock Depths too.
T.C. - We're trying to capture that too as much as possible.

How do you plan to balance the 10 and 25 man raid instances? Are there any changes in boss design?
T.C. - There definitely are changes in boss design, for example, not only do we have to have changes in boss design even to get it down to 25 from the way Naxx used to work, certainly in the past at level 60, the four horseman boss took eight different tanks for instance. There definitely has been design change, but the integrity of the encounter remains the same, you still have the four horsemen, they all are still there. The mechanics of the fight are different, you will tank them in different ways, the horsemen will be tanked by different classes, even non tanking classes, kinda like what we have done in the past with warlocks tanking. We have some mechanics like that in place so that we can maintain the integrity of the encounters even though the actual mechanics will be different.

Will Naxx still be one instance?
T.C. - It is still a single instance, it still has that epic feel.

When will Wrath be released?
T.C. - When its ready. Specifically, the fifth of when it's ready.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Talent Builds at Level 80

Despite the fact that skills and talents are constantly being tweaked, we do have a fair idea of what most classes' final trees will look like. As I currently have so much time around here, I felt like putting together my intended build for each character. For most of my characters, I will be respeccing into a different tree -- which should make the game more interesting.

Mage
Level 70 -- 2/48/11 -- Fire
Level 80 -- 53/0/18 -- Arcane Frost
My reasoning: I tried arcane for a while at 70 but it was just too mana intensive (a lot of downtime in heroics, even after the mana gem changes). I love fire for its DoT and mana efficiency while also putting out a steady stream of damage. However, I look forward to a change and believe that if I will be raiding at 80, arcane will benefit me the most in terms of overall damage and fun. With frost as my second school, I am also optimising my efficiency as a caster. Essentially, it's time for a change and the new talents provide me with the excuse to do so!

Priest
Level 70 -- 42/19/0 -- Arena Discipline
Level 80 -- 14/0/57 -- Shadow
My reasoning: I want to play as a PvE shadow priest. However, I might respec to my old holy build at release of the expansion and level to 80 as a healer, seeing as I have much better healing than damage gear. Still, levelling to 70 as a shadow priest was fine when it came to healing level 60-68 instances, so I guess I'll see at the time.

Rogue
Level 70 -- 49/0/12 -- PvP Mutilate
Level 80 --19/52/0 -- Combat Swords
Reasoning: Of course, I would have Remorseless Attacks as I levelled. I still intend to finish getting the honour to afford my Merciless Gladiator's Slicer so I can respec to hemo. However, I am contemplating not PvPing with my rogue at level 80, but rather having fun doing damage as a combat specced sword-wielding rogue. Once again, opportunity presents me with the excuse to change.

Hunter
Level 70 -- 5/53/3 -- Marksmanship
I have no plans to level him to 80.
Reasoning: Too much effort for a toon that I only really used for cooking and fishing (and dailies) -- even though I did level his leatherworking and got his epic set and a few more crafted epics for the sake of it. I think I will level those secondary professions with my mage between when I start playing again and the release of the expansion.

Shaman
Level 70 -- 41/0/20 -- Elemental
Level 80 -- 0/5/66 -- Restoration or 51/0/20 -- Elemental
Reasoning: I haven't tried a healing spec as a shaman. I have healed a bit as elemental and I really enjoy being a caster, so elemental suits me as a player. However, I can't decide at this point if I will try the whole restoration spec thing or stay elemental. With the changes to spell pushback, Eye of the Storm and Healing Focus will probably be reviewed, as well.

Druid
Level 70 -- 0/47/14 -- Feral Combat
I have no plans to level her to 80.
Reasoning: Levelling a druid was an experiment for me. I just wanted to see how playing a druid was. I must admit, I really enjoyed it (it was the fastest class to level). I might level her to 80 before the third expansion, but I really don't want to spend time levelling a toon I will barely play except to do dailies a little differently.

Paladin
Level 62 -- 0/51/2 -- Protection
Level 80 -- 0/63/8 -- Protection
Reasoning: I don't know why I took so long to roll and level a paladin. It was easy to quest alongside my friend as holy but when he stopped playing I had to go retribution. I didn't particularly like that spec, and since giving my warrior to my brother my only tank was my druid. I intend to level Dvaenya to 80 as my main tank toon -- and I am contemplating dropping enchanting for inscription, too. Prot pallies FTW!

No doubt as talents are altered between now and the release of WotLK, I will think more about these possible builds. I still want to respec into these particular trees for my toons, but some talents will possibly be juggled around a bit. I want to raid at level 80 with my mage and priest and run heroics with the other toons that I eventually level.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Monday, August 11, 2008

The Sage Completed

Continued from A Mage, a Priest and a Rogue Walk into an Inn...:

Unknown was just starting on Blackwing Lair when the guild leader invited me in. As is usual with joining a new guild, I was under a trial period to prove my dedication and commitment to the guild and to their progression as a raiding body. I fit right in, having found a new home, and was able to attend most raids -- more than the minimum weekly requirement.

We spent the next few months learning the boss encounters and progressing through BWL, while also continuing to clear Molten Core on a weekly basis -- more of us still required gear (I started out with just blues and I think I eventually acquired my full Arcanist set). At the same time, I kept up my PvP as much as I could, achieving rank 7, Knight-Captain. It turned out to be my limit, because I was too dedicated to the PvE elements of the game.

I rolled a warrior at some point and levelled him to 60 throughout that year. I eventually brought him along to alternate runs of Molten Core and Onyxia and got him some Might pieces and his T2 Helm.

Unlike my time as a hunter with BoV, I was present for all boss kills but Chromaggus. My most memorable game moment would have to be when we first killed Nefarian, the final boss for Blackwing Lair, on 10 October 2006. Teamspeak -- our choice of voice communication -- erupted, as everyone cheered and whooped for a couple of mins. It was both exhilirating and relieving and I will never forget that moment. My mage won the roll for the Head of Nefarian, which I handed in for my Master Dragonslayer's Orb.

A week following our first Nefarian kill, I was promoted from regular member to Mage Officer. We had started on the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj -- I could go on about the opening of the gates, our experiences in the 20-man, my grind to exalted with Cenarion Circle to acquire the Blade of Vaulted Secrets, and everything surrounding this time. But I won't. If you want to read a lot more indepth about my 2006 year and my experiences in the game, read my old blog's 2006 entires, as they detail a lot of what happened during the peak of my oldschool gameplay. Warning: plenty of images and detailed World of Warcraft play experience!

Suffice to say, we only managed to get Skeram down, and no other bosses. And when it came to Naxxramas, it was just too close to Christmas and the holiday period before the release of the expansion, so we didn't get even one boss down in that instance. I am immensely looking forward to the Northrend Naxxramas experience!

I did, however, level a rogue to 60, faster than any previous character. It was seven days total playtime, as compared to nine for my warrior. Levelling my fourth 60 before the expansion was an indication that I enjoyed the act of levelling toons. Something about hitting that next level and unlocking skills just appeals to me.

Come the release of The Burning Crusade, I levelled my mage to 70 in eight days. I had run instances with some friends from Ruined and another guildy who was levelling at my own breakneck pace. He beat me to 70 because on the night before I hit that final level, the servers went down. I was two bubbles from levelling and waited for about two hours, but it got too late, so I simply went to bed. When I logged in, guess who had hit 70 overnight. Oh well, I was the first guild member to get my epic flying mount!

What came after the expansion is somewhat tragic. Some of us got impatient and decided to venture off on our own to begin raiding the new content. Infusion was born and we launched into Karazhan in February 2007. We recruited and advanced and made ok progression. We eventually got the numbers to raid Gruul's Lair, but soon after that, interest waned, often not enough members were present to even fill two Karazhan groups, and Infusion dwindled and died.

What I regret the most is our hastiness in going back to raiding. We destroyed Unknown for no good reason but selfishness and impatience. Who knows what might have happened had we waited for enough people to level to 70 and taken things easy for a while. After the fall of Infusion, my PvE raiding went on a downhill slide. My mage went from guild to guild, but everywhere I went, we eventually came up against that brick wall where not enough people would log in for raids. What is it with undedicated people and not wanting to wipe to new content in order to learn and proceed?

I guess this all changed my mindset. As 2008 rolled around, I had levelled six characters to 70. Earlier this year, I gave my 70 warrior to my brother so he could PvP with him. As you can see from my Character List, I enjoy levelling toons almost as much as I used to enjoy raiding. That's not to say that I no longer enjoy raiding -- I love PvE content; it is what drives me in this game. I wish that I was under playable circumstances, but my subscription expired almost two months ago.

When I am able to, I will play again. I will finish levelling my paladin, get my shaman's epic flying mount, try and acquire exalted status with a few more factions on my mage, and possibly even level another toon. I've done the PvP thing a bit, but I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best arena or battlegrounds player. It's fun and challenging as both healer and dps in PvP, but I am wired for PvE content.

I look forward to levelling in Wrath of the Lich King and enjoying these last few months before the expansion is released. I hope that I will be able to raid at level 80 and that circumstances will not prevent me from enjoying regular gaming and monster slaying in the lands of Azeroth, Outland and Northrend.

My World is Warcraft.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Friday, August 8, 2008

Character Overview

Last edit
-Tuesday, 15th of February 2011 (Patch 4.0.6)
-Updated links
-Separated characters into sections and rearranged in order of importance and level
-Waiting for XML update to us.battle.net before replacing embedded character profiles and achievement feeds

Character Summaries

Main characters

Gaiwyn
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Ilyaena
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Selaena
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Alts

Elvanus
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Zlaenya
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Mordreth
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Baeryc
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Aedrianel
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Dvaenya
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Bank Toon

Kynthaea
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Gaiwyn of Proudmoore