Warlock Quickies

Two quick Warlock notes as an addendum to my 3.0 Impressions post.

First of all, while on Defensive, pets will automatically attack any target you cast on. They will stay on the first target unless you tell them otherwise. Nifty.

Secondly, I'm half retarded. It took me two weeks to find out about the stone changes. Here's the new Spellstone and Firestone. This is awesome. I wonder how much Spellpower that 1% translates into. I used to roll with a Firestone for the proc just for the heck of it, but it will be nice to equip a wand again. I was excited when they changed the stones from off-hand items, and now I'm even more excited. The loss of the Spellstone for PVP will take some getting used to, though.

Sam vs the Undead

Took Sam out for some Deadite bashing last night.

Twenty minutes later, I was done. Yeah, I'm hardcore.

Decided to head over to Kalimdor. I figured, since most people would be too lazy to hop on a boat and would rather just fly from EPL to wherever was being invaded, the Western concinent would be less populated. Of course, as usual, I was right. Upon arriving in Theramore, I saw that a necropolis had just appeared in Winterspring and hauled Warlock butt over there. I found an invasion point that was unoccupied by any players and went to town. I was there for about twenty minutes. I got two rare spawns. the first dropped Mail pants, the second my Cloth. By then, I had about 40 runes, more than enough to get what I wanted, so I went on my merry little way. Completed the quest, got my gloves and picked up a tabard for the Hell of it. No sense in getting the shoulders or body piece, they would be major downgrades from my Shadoweave set.

Event complete, as far as I'm concerned.

Interesting note: Denarian member "SquidMage" noticed that the necropolis outside Stormwind seems to be slowly descending. Nice catch! I'll be sure to keep my eye on it.

October Musings

I've planned to do a "random thoughts" post to end every month. I may be a little swamped at work this week, so October's is a bit early.

• When major changes are made to a game, and one class is clearly more powerful than others by a large margin, any changes made are called "fixes." "Nerfs" are changes made to long-standing abilities that have been decided to be too powerful after long periods of testing.
  
• I'm glad they brought the Scourge Invasion back, but now EVERYBODY has a Tabard of the Argent Dawn. Ralken has been holding on to his for over 2 years, and I was proud to be one of the few to have the achievement.
  
• I wonder how the Paladin FIXES will affect Protection.
  
• Philadelphia may fall of the face of the Earth is the Phillies win the World Series.
  
• Why does FOX insist on showing the Simpsons Halloween special AFTER the holiday every year? I know baseball gets in the way, but I'm sure they can find a spot in the schedule for a special showing.
  
• I wish I could afford the new Guitar Hero.
  
• Or Fable
  
• Or Fallout
  
• Seriously, I've had "Bad" and "Mr. Crowley" stuck in my head for over a week.
  
• I really miss Totemus.
  
• Jackie Chan could totally beat up Jet Li.
  
• What is Gamestop thinking giving away a level 60 weapon to any stupid kid that preorders Call of Duty?
  
• Inscription was way too easy to level. Not that I'm complaining.\
  
• Gurren Lagann is one of the best animes I've seen in a few years. Too bad it will be ending soon.
  
• I'm glad Heroes has shown they can still be one of the best shows on TV.
  
• Maelstrom Weapon WILL be nerfed. Yes, that's a nerf. Bliz has said they are happy with its current function.
  

In case I don't get a chance to post again this week, Happy Halloween everyone!

Shaman 3.0 Impressions

Holy Space Goats, Batman!

3.0 Shamans are amazing. Dare I say, as Enhancement, I may be a little TOO powerful.

Haddar is level 64, specced full Enhancement, geared in Outland greens, questing in Terokkar. Typical attack rotation is Stormstrike -> Earth Shock -> Lava Lash -> Earth Shock/Lightning Bolt. If anything's alive after that, it's a miracle. Most fights don't even make it that far.

Enhancement Shamans can be summed up in one word: Hybrid. I know, "Aren't all Shamans, Paladins and Droods hybrids?"

NO!

Droods as a class are hybrids. They can tank, melee DPS, range DPS and heal. Same with Paladins minus the range and Shamans minus the tanking. Now, that's a CLASS hybrid. I'm looking at it as a GAMEPLAY hybrid. Droods, Paladins, and Ele/Resto Shamans perform one kind of combat. Boomkins and Elemental Shamans aren't going in to melee along with their casting. Healers just heal. Tankadins and Retadins deal melee and holy damage, sure. But most of that is procs, very little actual spellcasting. Enhancement Shamans are the only build in the game that can effectively melee and cast offensive spells. And, damn, it's fun.

The addition of Lava Lash pushes Shamans to use Flametongue on their offhand weapons. This, of course, gives a nice bonus to Spellpower for those Shocks. Also, Flametongue now deals nice damage of its own. Testing at level 70 has shown that dual-Windfury is still the top-DPS until Wrath, I don't care. First of all, I cry every time my offhand steals my Windfury proc. More importantly, Flametongue is just more FUN.

Mana is a non-issue. With the change to Shamanistic Focus, Shamans are much more consistent with their mana usage, since it's no longer crit-based. Water Shield is now trainable at level 20, which is a big win, especially with the glyph. Of course, Shamanistic Rage is still there when you need it.

Ah, but Mana is not the only thing we can regen now! Feral Spirit, in addition to being full of awesome and tons of fun, will regen your health with each attack. Get a couple adds? Summon these babies and it's not a problem.

The one thing that puzzles me about Enhancement is Maelstrom weapon. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun talent. I love launching instant Lightning Bolts. I have to wonder, though, is it a little TOO powerful? This thing is active pretty much all the time. Bliz has said that they balanced it for 2-handed weapons, and they agree it procs a little too often, but they have also said that Shamans are having fun with it, so they're going to leave it as is for now. Now, I'm sure that's dev-speak for "expect a nerf in the future." One must wonder, though: Why would they balance a deep Enhancement talent for 2-handed weapons? Anybody with this talent will be dual-wielding. I'll be keeping a close eye on this talent in the future.

All in all, Shaman was the most fun I've had with any class pre-3.0, and now it's even MORE fun. Anyone who hasn't rolled one yet should give it a try. That pre-40 dead zone is a little more manageable now, it would seem.

Monkey Business Explained

Well, after some research I found out what's going on with Eldrar.

First the bad news. Growl is completely hosed at the moment. Many Hunters are as helpless as I am. Guess I better put Raptor Strike back on my action bar. I would assume Bliz will have this fixed shortly.

How about some good news? Thunderstomp is more intelligent than me. Thunderstomp is programmed to only autocast when the gorilla is fighting 2 or more mobs. Why didn't I think of that?