Weekend Warrior 18

In this Weekend Warrior, we are treated to Denarian completely destroying Northrend. Junior and I needed the group quests so we could get the achievement and our Deathchill Cloaks. We grabbed Blue Knugget and went to town.

There are very few things two Warlocks and a tank-specced Death Knight cannot demolish.

This guy doesn't seem so bad


This guy... oh...

Hey! I know him!

The first of many 5-man quests we rocked that night, The Admiral Revealed. This is a bit of a hard quest to find, as the chain starts from an item that can only be picked up during the Intelligence Gathering daily.


You know he's important if the Lich King shows up for no reason

Banshee's Revenge, another 5-man. This guy was tough and took us 2 tries. Our tank dropped early on in his first phase, but was able to fly back and bandage during the cutscene. Thanks, Bliz! This then leads to the Battle at Valhallas chain. We were able to complete all but the last fight there with just the three of us.

Several more 5-mans later, Junior and I had our Achievements.



I still need to do the freaking Amphitheater of Anguish before I get the meta.

However, I did manage to get my Inscription up enough to make my Iron-Bound Tome!



I also managed to get my Ebon Blade reputation to Revered, grabbing the Sterile Flesh-Handling Gloves.

All in all, a fantastic weekend!

Weekend Warrior 17

It's been a while since I posted a Weekend Warrior. Last time, we were helping Tirion Fordring hunt down Arthas' weakness.

He seems smaller

Although, he DOES bear a striking resemblance to a certain handsome fellow.

I don't remember Illidan showing up this much

Seriously, Arthas is popping up EVERYWHERE. While it's awesome that we get to see this major villain doing his business, it kind of loses its effect after a while. That being said, this is an AWESOME scene. It also proves one of my lore theories impossible.

And..... that's about it for progress. A pretty simple weekend.

Time for some more accomplishments, though!



Dagger of Lunar Purity, from the Argent Tournament. Yup, Welfare Epics for me. This thing is awesome and I dropped an Exceptional Spellpower on it. That glow was MADE for this weapon model. Self-buffed, my Spellpower is almost 1900, nice!

For the Hordies out there, the equivalent is Scalpel of the Royal Apothecary.



Magnificent Flying Carpet. Whee!

And, just for fun:



I rode around like that for quite a while. I even kept standing while Jousting.

Weekend Warrior 16

First of all, finally reached Valiant at the Argent Tournament.


The Valiant quests are a bit more fun than the Aspirant ones. Fighting the other Valiant NPCs is fun. Each one uses slightly different tactics. Make sure to head over to the opposite faction's Valiant ring to get the Lance A Lot achievement. Also, the Scourge jousters for the At Enemy's Gates quest are no joke. Running down their skeleton lackeys never stops being fun, though.

Now then, a little more Icecrown for you guys.

What's this for?

What's in the dome?

Nifty

The Infra-Green technology allows the goblins to have hidden bases in Icecrown. Tricky little things, those Goblins. Only one quest up here, though.

Seems simple enough

Wow, this one takes a little getting used to. You have 3 modes on this plane. One to drop bombs, one for air-to-air and one for damage control. You have to switch between the three for the bombing run, and it becomes a little overwhelming. Tons of fun, though. If you get shot down, they come pick you up and fly you right back. Unlocks dailies afterward.

Spooky

A cool little series of quests. You start by taking control of a shade. WoW's first stealth mission! Metal Gear Solid 5: Scourge of the North

Nice... eye...

Next step has you taking control of a Geist. This guy is awesome. He jumps better than Mario and takes no damage from falling, so feel free to hop around like a maniac while wreaking havoc on the Scourge.

The raising of Sindragosa

Their next match will be in a steel cage

The creepy ghost kid continues educating you about Illidan's power. Now, to exploit his weakness.

Finally:


A noob no longer!

3.1 Weekend Wrapup

Okay, I spent some time with my active characters this weekend.

First up, Tarmr the Death Knight.

This may sound insane, but even after all the balancing Bliz gave Death Knights this patch, T seems even STRONGER now. Granted, this is based upon leveling at 70.

Overall, my core abilities are about the same as they were before. The damage mechanics have been re-tuned, but for my playstyle, it seems to still be the same. I knew Diseaseless Blood and Icy Touch Spam were going to be done away with, so I played my DK "as intended."

Icy Touch is hitting for about 400 less than before. However, Plague Strike is hitting for about 600 MORE. One of Bliz's design goals with 3.1 was to get DKs to use all of their diseases. At least for Frost, that seems to have worked out.

Rime now procs off Obliterate instead of Icy Touch, which is great, since I use that skill more often.

Fallen Crusader was toned down to grant only half the Strength of before. However, it now procs much more often. Overall, I'd say this is a boost, at least in my experience. The extra healing from the more frequent procs is great for soloing. Razorice and Cinderglacier may prove to be the better option in pure-DPS scenarios, but I'm sticking with Fallen Crusader for now.

All things considered, 2-Handed Frost is a seriously solid build. I'll expand upon the tree in a future post.

Up next, Haddar the Shaman.

Not many changes to Enhancement this patch. Basically, they've just freed up a couple talent points. Unleashed Rage is now a 3-point talent instead of 5. Also, Improved Stormstrike strikes me as a PVP talent, so that's an extra 2 points to go around, as well.

Enhancement is still solid and way too much fun.

Expect a full 3.1 Enhancement post soon, as well.

Finally, Samodean, Warlock

I may be in the minority here, but I love the new Affliction. Survivability and efficiency while solo are way up.

I'd say DPS is about even. A while back, I ran a thorough DPS test. Compared to then, my DPS is up by about 200. I haven't made 200 DPS worth of upgrades in the interval, but the simpler rotation makes up for the rest. VERY happy. I could do even better with a pure-DPS talent build, but again, more on that another day.

Also, Sam hit up the tournament. Very cool, not nearly as many people there as I would have expected. There's plenty of sites out there with more in-depth coverage than I'll be able to provide, though. Very casual-friendly, however. 3 days of 3 dailies to get to Valiant, then only another 5 days for Champion. After that, the time investment merely depends on what you want out of it.

So, yeah, the big thing in this patch was Ulduar, but there's plenty for the rest of us to like, as well.

Weekend Warrior 15

More Icecrown!

I could start my own basketball team

Ebon Blade Prisoners. Lots of quests out here for Ebon Blade.


Gah!

They sure make them ugly out here.


I shouldn't have eaten lunch today


Well, he wasn't exactly pretty alive, either


He wins

Okay, no more horribly disgusting images. This questline is... disturbing. Fun, but just gross. In a good way.


Introducing the Necromancer class



He's Gone to Pieces, the most hilariously wrong quest I've ever done.


Hey, it's that guy again


My best Emperor Palpatine impression

I wonder where it leads?


Double-yoo tee eff?

I'm not going to explain this one. You'll have to figure it out for yourselves.


Hey, it's that... me?

Army of the Damned, in which we discover why we stand no chance against The Lich King.

Some good progress this weekend.



Honored with Knights of the Ebon Blade is very easy to get in Icecrown. This got me:



Score!

I also got to 415 Tailoring, which lets me make the blue-quality cloths. One nifty little perk I hadn't anticipated is that my Shadoweave Tailoring specialization from Burning Crusade allows me to make TWO Ebonweave per attempt. Now, I wonder if I can make all the Ebonweave I want, and then switch specializations, since the gear does not require a certain spec. Although, I seem to remember that the Tailoring specializations were not untrainable back in BC.

Icecrown continues on... next week...

Weeknd Warrior 14

Icecrown: The Final Goal

The Skybreaker

Icecrown is so infested with Scourge that the Alliance is unable to gain any ground. So, the major "town" in Icecrown is an airship.

Can someone explain to me how that thing stays airborne? I never trust Gnome Engineering.


What level do I have to reach to be tall?

The Ebon Watcher is none other than Darion Mograine. There is some interesting dialog between Mograine and Fordring regarding the differnece in tactics between The Argent Crusade and The Knights of the Ebon Blade.


Plagued

Oh, the lengths you'll go to in order to save this Crusader.


First Remulos


Then Alexstraza


Finally all the way to A'dal

Lots of traveling to do, but it pays off with a very cool scene.

What is this "Light" of which they speak? How many Paladins' souls must I drain to obtain it?


Flintlocke would be proud


What really grind my gears...

King of the Mountain, a very fun Daily. I almost don't hate this one.


Sauron?

The Lich King certainly has some powerful allies. Good thing I'm not carrying The Ring.

More Icecrown next week, got plenty more to go.

Shunday Shaman

Took a little time away from Sam this weekend to play my Shaman, Haddar.

I'm taking him through Borean Tundra, testing out Jame's Leveling Addon.

The addon works very well. Most of the chapters haven't been officially tested and still need some fine tuning. However, for anyone who has already done most of these quests, there is very little confusion. Once Jame tests and updates everything, the guide will be flawless.

One bit of advice for those wanting to use the mod. Make sure you're level 70 before starting in Borean. Jame takes you right to the DEHTA encampment as soon as Valiance Keep is clear, and those quests aren't available until 70. So, since those elitist Druids wouldn't give me the goods, I ground out that last 1/3 of 69 on the surrounding mammoths.

"That's right tree-huggers! I'll keep killing baby mammoths until you give me your quests!"

Haddar's blowing through the zone. Between the addon and the OMGWTF factor of Enhancement, the quests are flying by. Once I upgrade my gear, things will be even better. The jump in gear quality compared to my current Nagrand items is massive. I even got a useful Enhancement Relic, Totem of the Tundra. This thing is awesome, it procs about 50% of the time, which is a very nice DPS increase. Since I never made it to 70 before Wrath launched to get Stonebreaker's Totem, this is a great choice. It's actually one of the best Enhancement Totems available in the game right now.

Anyway, I'll be back next week with Sam's journey into Icecrown.

Weekend Warrior 13

Here we go, finishing up Storm Peaks!

Freaking Goblins...


Brann Bronzebeard, brother of King Magni Bronzebeard

This is a nifty little chain, similar to Archmage Vargoth's questline in Netherstorm.


I love Mechagnomes

Since I first saw them in Borean Tundra, I have loved this bit of lore. While it's cool to see the origins of Humans and Dwarves in Wrath, the Gnomish history is a great story that deserves more.


WIN


How do you kill THAT thing?


Why, with this of course!


Err... this!

Okay, I'll give a bit of strategy for this quest, The Iron Colossus. Some Denarian members have had difficulty, but I found it rather easy. The catch to this quest is you can only move while underground, and only attack above. Grab your worm and find the big guy. Get right up in his face and spam your two attack skills. It is imperative that you keep a 5 stack of the acid on, as it will be the majority of your damage in this fight. However, don't ignore your strike. Just sit there and soak up the hits until he starts to pound the ground. Then, submerge and move behind him. The burrow skill takes a second to activate, so be sure to hit it ASAP and DON'T hit it again thinking it didn't work. You have a small window to act in and you do NOT want to get hit by this attack. Once behind, emerge from the ground and continue attacking until his next pound. As long as you avoid his pounds, this is a easy win.


Now kill THIS


With THIS

Fervor of the Frostborn. This one is a little easier. Just throw the hammer and run like hell. The stun will wear off before the cooldown is up, so you want some space. After a couple throws, he'll go down.


Wha??

How did a pink-skinned Dwarf become King of the Frostborn? Yet another awesomely epic questline will reveal this.


Yet another unique combat experience

Now, lots of accomplishments to show off this week!





This gets me Ancestral Sinew Wristguards. Still gotta get to Exalted...



Next week we finally set foot in the dreaded Icecrown...