WotLK build update

Build 8885 is up, and there's some interesting rogue stuff this time. (At last ffs) The first few talent changes are in. Nothing to get too excited about yet though. Assassination Skills * Mutilate no longer requires you to be behind the target. * Expose Armor: All ranks have had their armor reduction increased. * Envenom now increases the chance to apply poisons by 25% to targets for 1 sec plus an additional 1 sec per combo point in addition to its current effect. Talents * Master Poisoner (Tier 6) text clarified: Reduces the chance your poisons will be resisted by 5% and reduces the duration of all Poison effects applied to you by 25%. * Fleet Footed (Tier 5) reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15/30%. (Previously 25/50%) * Improved Expose Armor (Tier 3) now increases the duration of Expose Armor instead of increasing the armor penetration. * Improved Eviscerate (Tier 1) increases the damage done by Eviscerate by 7/14/20%. (Previously 5/10/15%) Subtlety Skills * *New Skill* Tricks of the Trade (Level 75): The current party or raid member becomes the target of your Tricks of the Trade. The threat caused by your next attack and all actions taken for 6 sec afterwards will be transferred to the target. In addition, all damage caused by the target is increased by 15% during this time. Talents * Honor Among Thieves (Tier 9) changed to: When anyone in your group critically hits with a damage or healing spell or ability, you have a 33/66/100% chance to gain a combo point on your current target. This effect cannot occur more than once every second. * Waylay (Tier 8 ) now reduces targets melee and ranged attack speed by 20% (Previously 30%) New Glyphs 3 new rogue glyphs released : * Glyph of Pick Pocket -- Increases the range of your Pick Pocket skill by 5 yards. * Glyph of Vanish -- Increases your movement speed by 30% while the Vanish effect is active. * Glyph of Blurred Speed -- You gain the ability to walk on water while your Sprint ability is active. See this earlier post for the other known glyphs. More changes More rogue changes will be coming in the near future. Blizzard is still working on it, and you can agree the changes thus far are far from earth shaking. Dismantle (the replacement skill for what was previously riposte) is trainable at level 20. Leatherworking getting even more BoP enchants. 120 AP on bracers for instance. Or 90 Stamina. That's 60 stats, when the regular enchants which are available are only 38 AP (19 stats) Meaning 60-19 = 41 stats. That's "one" whole stat more than enchanting! Bastards! Not to mention the whole leatherworking leg armor which is 31 stats extra as well. And the drums which give a huge boost as well. o_O I was under the impression they didn't want half the raid rolling leatherworking, but this is pretty crazy. 72 Stats... No idea how they'll match up the other professions to match that. Buff / debuff stacking changes A whole lot of good and a lot of bad buff stacking changes are being added for WotLK. Keep in mind that most long term buffs will now affect the "entire" raid though. The few which affect us directly: * Armor Debuff (Major): Acid Spit (exotic Hunter pet), Expose Armor, Sunder Armor * Healing Debuff: Wound Poison, Aimed Shot, Mortal Strike, Furious Attacks * Cast Speed Slow: Curse of Tongues, Slow, Mind-numbing Poison. * Physical Vulnerability Debuff: Blood Frenzy, (2nd Talent Spec TBA) About that physical vulnerability debuff, speculation suggests we'd get a similar effect that Arms warriors have in one of our trees. * Expose armor got increased in potency, and improved sunder armor changed to increase the duration length. * Wound poison no longer needs 5 stacks to get to it's optimal value. It's 50% from the first hit off. Further buff changes * Elemental shamans get the same aura as moonkin druids. * Fury warriors get the feral druid crit aura. * Rogues will probably get the arms warrior physical damage buff as mentioned earlier. * Hunters get sunder armor trough the use of their pets. (As do rogues) * Feral druids get a thunderclap attack speed lowering effect. * Paladins get the druid resto tree aura. And much more. The indirect nerfs however: Bloodlust/heroism have been changed to give a 2 min (or so) debuff on anyone who receives it, so it can no longer be chained on the raid with multiple shamans as easily. Much like the leatherworking tinnitus nerf. * Improved hunter's mark no longer affects melee. Wtf.. * Scorpid sting and insect swarm no longer stack. Means we indeed lose 2% evasion if we wanted to tank. * Windfury and icy talons(Deathknight ability) don't stack. * Blessing of might and battle shout no longer stack. * Leader of the pack doesn't stack with the new Rampage buff warriors get. * Improved faery fire no longer gives melee hit chance. Another nerf. * Ferocious Inspiration and Sanctified Retribution no longer stack. So all 'n all we've far from seen all the changes so far, yet blizzard keeps adding new surprising changes such as the Leatherworking change. The professions appear to be among the largest uncertainties still. There's also a FAQ for 3.0.2 up on the official forums you'll want to check out.

Rogue tanking 101 - In progress

Currently in progress: "Rogue tanking 101". It's another fairly large post, so it'll take a while to finish. Just tag the RSS and keep an eye on updates. If you hadn't already done so. Anyway, until I finish that post, I can at least direct you to a few relevant links on the subject:

Some form of tanking spec. Subtlety obviously.

Project Rogue Tank. by Downfall guild.

Shadowpanther's tanking armor list.

Reaching 100% avoidance, at the EJ forums.

Making a BC rogue tank, at the EJ forums.

The goddess is my shield by nhani. A bigger and much more detailed post on the rogue tanking subject will arrive in due time, but this should get you trough your day until then. Sadly I think it'll be a bit too late to be of a great lot of use. The WotLK 3.0.2 patch is coming in the next few weeks according to blizzard. This will most likely change our talent trees, as well as some of the buffs we can receive. Dodge tanking should still be possible though. Not to mention it'll be great for in pvp/arena if you can't be hit. For WotLK, building an evasion gear set will certainly be something I'll keep in mind while going trough WotLK. Even though blizzard seems to think otherwise. Quote: "We've learned a lot about itemization since then and certainly have no plans of going back to Sunwell Radiance. But don't expect to get 100% avoidance any time soon." Another issue, is the sunwell radiance buff which all mobs in sunwell have. They get +5% hit, and lower their target's (you) dodge chance by 20%. Meaning you'd need an additional 25% evasion. This simply is unreachable. So, while we'll be able to tank most of karazhan, serpentshrine, etc. Sunwell simply won't be an option. Something that could be a major issue however, is the threat changes in 3.0. As you may know salvation and likewise buffs will be removed. Tanks are "probably" going to have their threat modifier increased to compensate for this. e.g. a warrior will have +75% (example estimate) increased threat in defensive stance instead of +15% or whatever it is now. Rogues however, are not intended to be tanks, and thus have the same -29% threat that we've had for a long time. Threat thus will be quite difficult to keep vs the rest of the raid or whom most will have a 0% threat modifier. But that is for later concern. For now, the goal is to get 101.8% evasion. Which is 100% +3 x 0.6% for each level that a mob is above your own.

Base Dodge = 9.53% (Troll rogue)

Base Parry = 5%

Boss Miss Rate = 5% (Not a dual wielding boss)

Spec Avoidance = 10% (5% dodge, 5% parry)

Enchant Avoidance = 10.636626209%

Buff Avoidance = 19.1724625%

Sub Total Avoidance = 59,32% without gear 101.8 - 59,32 = 42,48% that you'd have to get from gear alone. Not impossible. WotLK Jewelcrafting The Dragon's eye cuts are no longer unique-equipped so you can use 3x +27 hit rating or 3x whatever you want. However, you're not limited to 3 of them in your equipment. Instead of the 7 gems x 7 stats = 49 stats, this puts them at a lowly 3x 7 stats = 21 stats. Hopefully you haven't dropped any professions to start JC yet ;) Blacksmithing is currently in the lead with 3 extra sockets, but things being as they are this is still beta and anything could change. ps: Give Cru a poke, it's thursday and he hasn't updated yet!

WotLK within a few weeks!

Or well, patch 3.0 to be more accurate. Which is technically WotLK, but no northrend. This is the patch which unleashes all the new talent trees, smooth energy regen, hunter pet talents, exotic pets and more. There might even be some new loot to be had. The 6 glyph options and new possibilities in our talent trees will surely allow some guilds to push forth some of the later TBC content a bit faster. Are you struggling with Illidan or Brutallus? An extra 100 DPS per player should sort you out just fine. A point of concern however, there's a good chance tinnitus, that debuff which nerfs leatherworking might also be coming with this patch. But at the same time, raid wide totems and buffs of several types. No more salvation or threat reducing buffs will be a large problem for some. No more potion chain chugging another. See this blue post for the official details. Quote : With the release of Wrath of the Lich King approaching, we wanted to provide you with some important information. In preparation for the expansion, we will be issuing a new content patch in the coming weeks. Much like the patch made available shortly before The Burning Crusade's release, this content patch is designed to bridge current game content with that of the expansion and will contain some exciting changes and additions. We have outlined some of the larger features scheduled to release with the patch below: * New class spells and talents * Stormwind Harbor * Barbershops in capital cities * New Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades * Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles * Guild calendar * Hunter pet skill revamp * New profession: Inscription As mentioned above, this is not a comprehensive list, just some of the major highlights. We’ll post the full patch notes as soon as they’re available. Regarding Inscription, please note that all Burning Crusade players will be able to select Inscription as one of their two professions and level up to a skill level of 375 with it. Upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King, players who purchase and install the expansion will be able to continue leveling in Inscription and the other professions beyond 375. Inscription? Yeah, apparently they'll make inscription available straight off the bat. This is a pretty good thing I think, so you can start training that skill now and not have to compete with hundreds of other level 70 players as well as newly made level 1's to get those low level herbs you so desperately need to level your new profession. The price of herbs might actually stay somewhat stable. It even looks quite likely that we'll be seeing some new inscriptions between level 1-70 while working on this new profession. I'm sure you remember Demonic runes : Permanently enchant your fireball spells to inflict up to 50 additional fire damage. The glyph does not seem to be in the beta right now, but it'd certainly be strange if there wasn't a similar glyph upon the release of 3.0. blizzard has been hiding many things from us... Be sure to have a look and see at the WotLK Wiki page for Inscription as well. Arena RESET? This is quite odd news, and blizzard is doing something that's not been done before. They are resetting / removing arena points. Don't worry, it won't happen right away with the patch, but as soon as you *ding* 71. Quote: Players who level past 70 will have their Arena points reset to 0 and be removed from all Arena teams in the level-70 bracket. (src) Linky Here's an interesting read for rogues and healers alike titled "the truth healers should not know". Good read check it out!

WotLK Combat Ratings

So, you've got your hit rating capped for level 70. All good. But, you've been wondering how much hit rating you'll need when WotLK comes around and you're at level 80? Well wonder no longer, here's the info you seek. Mind this info is tested for build 3.0.1.8714 (8/1/08) so it might still change before the actual 3.0 release. Still, this should be fairly accurate until then. You can find how much Hit rating you need at level 70 at this page on wowwiki. (With proper talents) Rogues need ~363 Hit rating to cap their hit chance against bosses. Hunters need 142 HR, Shamans 300/347 Depending whether you have Nature's guidance, Warriors 395 HR, Paladins 95 HR. Draenei need 15.77 HR less. If you have a Draenei or balance druid in your group or raid, you could reduce your required hit rating by another 15.77 or 47.31 Hit rating. Combat ratings at level 60-70-80:

Rating	Level 60	Level 70	Level 80
Expertise(-1% Dodge/Parry)	10	15.76923275	32.78998947
Defense Skill	1.5	2.365385056	4.918498039
Resilience	25	39.42308044	81.97497559
Dodge	12	18.92307854	39.34798813
Parry	15	23.65384674	49.18498611
Block	5	7.884614944	16.39499474
Hit	10	15.76923275	32.78998947
Spell Hit	8	12.61538506	26.23199272
Critical Strike	14	22.07692337	45.90598679
Spell Critical Strike	14	22.07692337	45.90598679
Haste	10	15.76923275	32.78998947
Spell Haste	10	15.76923275	32.78998947

Spell crit is the same for all classes:

Level	Spell crit per Int	Int for 1% Spell Crit
70	0.0125	80
80	0.006	166.6666709

Agility to melee crit conversion:

Classes	Crit per Agi (L70)	Lvl 80	Agi per 1% crit (Lvl 70)	Lvl 80
Warrior	0.0333	0.016	30.03003003	62.5
Paladin	0.0403	0.0192	24.81389578	52.08333333
Hunter	0.025	0.012	40	83.33333333
Rogue	0.025	0.012	40	83.33333333
Priest	0.0401	0.0192	24.93765586	52.08333333
Death Knight	0.0333	0.016	30.03003003	62.5
Shaman	0.025	0.012	40	83.33333333
Mage	0.0407	0.0196	24.57002457	51.02040816
Warlock	0.0412	0.0198	24.27184466	50.50505051
Druid	0.025	0.012	40	83.33333333

Source: EJ Forums.

New Beta Build

WotLK - Build 8820 A new build for WotLK has been put on the test servers early yesterday. This time the level cap got raised to 80, so new dungeon loot and items will be rolling around. Glyphs New rogue glyphs have been released, lets compare these to the predictions made earlier and see whether they match :

Glyph - Sap - Increases the duration of Sap by 10 sec.

Glyph - Evasion - Increases the duration of Evasion by 5 sec.

Glyph - Backstab - Increases the damage dealt by Backstab to stunned and incapacitated targets by 20%.

Glyph - Rupture - Increases the duration of Rupture by 5 sec.

Glyph - Eviscerate - Increases the critical strike chance of Eviscerate by 10%.

Glyph - Expose Armor - Increases the duration of Expose Armor by 10 sec.

Glyph - Feint - Reduces the energy cost of Feint by -10.

Glyph - Shiv - Reduces the energy cost of Shiv by -5.

Glyph - Deadly Throw - Increases the range on Deadly Throw by 5 yards.

Glyph - Hemorrhage - Increases the damage bonus against targets afflicted by Hemorrhage by 40%.

Glyph - Adrenaline Rush - Decreases the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush by 60 sec.

Glyph - Gouge - Reduces the power cost of Gouge by -10.

Glyph - Slice and Dice - Increases the duration of Slice and Dice by 3 sec.

Glyph - Sprint - Decreases the cooldown of Sprint by 60 sec.

Glyph - Garrote - Increases periodic damage dealt by Garrrote by 45%, but decreases the duration by 3 sec.

Glyph - Ambush - Increases the range on Ambush by 5 yards.

Glyph - Ghostly Strike - Increases the damage dealt by Ghostly Strike by 50% and the duration of its effect by 4 sec., but increases its cooldown by 10 sec. But that is not all! Nhani over at thoughts for food found a few more mentioned on the wow forums. The numbers look weird but the reason to that is likely that these are not finished yet.

Glyph - Reduces the energy cost of Blade Flurry by $56818s1%.

Glyph - Decreases the cooldown of Preparation by ${$56819m1/-60000} min.

Glyph - Increases the chance to trigger Crippling Poison by $56820s1%.

Glyph - Your Sinister Strike critical strikes have a $h% chance to add an additional combo point. Some of the predicted ones listed earlier:

Increases the duration of your slice and dice by 1-3 seconds. 3 seconds it is

Increases the duration of your garrote by 1-3 seconds. They actually reduced it.. hmm.

Increases the duration of your rupture by 1-3 seconds. 5 seconds is cool too

Increases the maximum number of hemo charges by 1-4. More damage while hemo is active, good for solo, useless for raids

Increases the damage done by your backstab to stunned and incapacitated targets by 20%. Bullseye

Your deadly throw slows the target by an additional 5%. Increased range instead, meh. PvP Loots

Blue armor for arena points

Epic armor for honor points

Blue weapons and items for arena points, page 2, page 3. 130.0 DPS. These should be compareable to the level 80 dungeon loot items.

Epic misc items for honor: necklaces, rings, cloaks, trinket. 84 resilience trinket, not bad. Still only 2 min cd though. Professions New blacksmith craftables, a nice high dps weapon and more. 143.3 DPS dagger for example. Over 30 recipes added. No new BoP items sadly, so there's still not much to compare to the other professions yet. A good, and much demanded item is being added however! The Gnomish Army Knife! (topleft) This item features a full combination of everything a true Mc.Gyver could ever wish for. Including a skinning knife, micro adjuster, mining pick, blacksmith hammer, arclight spanner and even a flint and tinder. Not only that, it can be used as a Jumper cable once every 30 mintes as well! Some skills Gouge is only one rank, and does damage based on your attack power. This was already the case. However it's gotten changed again to not give any more combo points. For soloing and single target pvp this is very annoying.... For multi target pvp and crowd control it's very useful however. You can keep all the combo points on your main target. Mace stun proc removed. Instead of 1-6% chance to stun your target mace spec now provides you with 2-10% increased damage from critical strikes. Bad for combat pvp specs, but a good alternative for PvE. Keep in mind there'll be plenty more changes to the rogue tree coming still. Blizzard is slacking and figured the warriors needed love first.... T_T Also in this patch Hunter, Mage and Warlock glyphs. Warrior Talent tree revision (huge buff) The first underwater vanity pet. A baby shark. Don't let it bite your toes! WoR and MMOC got the full list for you. And check WotLK Wiki for a more complete overview.

WotLK Cinematic trailer

The WotLK Cinematic (official) is up and available at the blizzard site. view it now. That looks a lot like the supposed mount that we might be getting. see here for pic. Though the dragon itself is most likely Sapphiron. Edit: George pointed out it may in fact be Sindragosa instead. This is only a tiny post other than that. Watch the movie and drool on it ! Hmm., sweeeet. ps: The Cru the Dwarf comic got updated this morning. Murloc cannon!

Busy busy

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy. Interesting movie, you should definitely go see it sometime. Work work It's going to be a long and slow week, deadlines pushing on plenty of sides and some things won't be kept waiting for. Guild is working on Kalecgos, any suggestions on tactics would be most welcome. The learning curve isn't so much the problem. Execution of the tactics however... whoo boy. It's a very unforgiving fight, miss a portal and you got trouble. Someone dies and you're likely to have a wipe later. Repair bills stacking high and frustration obviously not far behind. Had them on 11/13% though, but that's a one time thing so far. Still, better than many another guild. And we've managed to get a good few trash epics which is a reward in itself. Zug Zug Never knew Zug Zug had several meanings. Rant If you're going to whisper somebody who has no idea who the fuck you are, get to the point and don't expect an answer if all you're going to say is "hey" or "hi mate". If you're stupid enough to be looking for an enchanter in general chat, at least say which enchant you're looking for. And be decent enough to look up the mats on wowhead yourself. Bloody slackers. Linkage I recently added a new link into the wow webcomics list on the right. It's pretty cool, you should check it out. You know you want to. Poll Two new polls up. How many level 70 chars do you have? Got 5 myself now. Rogue as main, Hunter, Warlock, Shaman, and as of last week a Mage as well. Been working on a Druid next but he's "still" slacking around level 40. Closing the other poll : How many achievements are you aiming for? With WotLK we're getting to work on some achievements, some might not bother too much, some may want to get as many as possible. Opinions seem fairly evenly divided on the subject.

Gotta catch 'em all !! - 57 (38%)

I'll try to get most/some. - 57 (38%)

Can't be bothered with it. - 34 (22%)

Guest post, Shamanism for dummies

We had a guest post earlier this week on the rogue's howto, here's another one for your reading pleasure. He's also got an interesting comic page up. Perhaps more later? If you wish to make a guest post simply contact me here and let me know what you'd like to write. Shamanism for Dummies By: Joey Schouten a.k.a. Cryon / Obunaji, (Un)Plugged Gaming. Shamans. They seem so cute, nice and party buffing. And they are. Each spec buffs his/her respective colleagues in the same role nicely. As someone that played Elemental pre-TBC, Enhancement in TBC (was funnier to see pre-TBC as preformed by my former CL) and Resto both pre-TBC and now, I might be able to give pointers. However, I don't like to Theorycraft, I hate crunching numbers, so everything I know is by experience, just trying things out. That and common sense. I'm only covering Enhancement and Restortation, with Elemental only for totem choice. As a Shaman, you are a "Hybrid Class", this means that you can DPS or heal (But cannot tank). In reality, it means respec costs, multiple sets to lug around and flexibility. Make sure to pick up offspec (DPS set if healing, healing if DPS'ing) items to help improve those sets. Active buffing is your game with proccing buffs, Bloodlust and totems. You can also remove Poison and Disease effects. Enhancement This specialisation relies on melee DPS and windfury, but it's still buffing the group. Be sure to use totems like Windfury, Grace of Air and Strength of Earth. These are loved by the Melee Groups. Landing melee critical hits provides you with great bonuses coming from Flurry, Shamanistic Focus and Unleased Rage. Although squishy (if you PvE), it can deal damage well. Just stay away from the top of the aggro meter and out of harm's way, which is the hardest part of the spec. You like slow weapons of around 2.6-2.8 speed and should dual wield. This is because Windfury has a 3-second internal cooldown on it's procs. Because you dualwield, you might want to get some +hit rating to keep your from missing. Elemental The Pew Pew Caster. Mind the aggro meters. I'm not going to discuss this, since I don't know much about it. I used to though... over 2 years ago. Restoration This is the oldest viable PvE spec. Although I have seen Enhancement in Pre-TBC Molten core, with many deaths for that player as a result, resto was the way to go back then. Keep up Earth Shield and then spam Chain Heal alot. Although your single target heals are slow, you are a great raid healer. Resto certainly isn't the easiest spec, but it is the one that wins the game. Totems Totems are basically what makes a Shaman a Shaman. Okay, anyone can plant wooden sticks in the ground and call it a buff, but only Shamans may call theirs totems. They also vary from useless (like Sentry Totem) to useful (Windfury for melee group, anyone?). You have four flavors of totem, these being Air, Earth, Fire and Water, allowing you to have one of each group up at one time. Most totems last for two minutes (except for Grounding Totem, some fire ones, Earthbind Totem, Sentry Totem and Mana Tide totem), so you will need to recast those in fights to keep the effect up. So, what do you want to use? Well, it depends on both your own playing style and your party members. Often your members will ask for certain totems, but in raids it is a bit easier. Use the Cleansing Totems, Grounding Totem and Tremor Totem when needed. It may cut your DPS a bit, but it is worth it in terms of raid survival. This is what I can recommend, use your Elementals in emergency situations aswell. Melee group * Air: Either Windfury or Grace of Air Totem. It depends on your group members, Druids and Hunters can't use WF for example. Grounding Totem when needed. * Earth: Strength of Earth totem! It ups everyone's Strength, which is a good stat for AP. If fear is used, Tremor Totem is your friend. * Fire: Yeah... This is an useless group for Melee. Flametongue doesn't stack with Windfury, so that's a no. You can keep up a Searing Totem up though, if you want it to do a tiny (around 70) bit more DPS. * Water: Depends on the fight, if you need to help remove poisons or diseases, then use those totems. If not, use Mana Spring totem for mana, if needed. Healer group * Air: Wrath of Air totem. It ups your +healing and that of your group members. * Earth: Hug your Tremor Totem. * Fire: Don't bother. None of it will help your healing. Maybe the Frost Resistance Totem if needed. * Water: Mana Spring Totem and the Cleansing Totems if needed. Pew Pew Casters * Air: Wrath of Air... Again use Grounding if needed. If your aggro is too high, you could try nerfing it with Tranquil Air Totem. Don't use that if your MT is in your group and in range. * Earth: Tremor Totem versus Fear etc. (Would be nice to get a caster Earth totem) * Fire: Use Totem of Wrath. If you are Elemental, but lack this totem, then something is wrong. I've seen them without, don't leave the 5% spell crit unused. * Water: Same as before, Mana and Cleansing. Enchants and such Resto Shamans like +healing Enchants when possible. Else, take +mana or mp/5. Enhancement on the other hand wants dual Mongoose. Especially now Agi is the Shaman's AP stat since recently. Cobrascale leg patch is nice aswell. For both, make sure that you have *at least* 9k health (buffed is allowed) for some encounters. Stamina Enchants or food might help. Consumables Even your Shaman needs some culinary love. Food buffs, Guardian Elixirs and Battle Elixirs make nice buffs for your Shaman. But, as not all foods give the same buffs, let alone usable buffs for your specialisation, not all are a good choice. Also, you can only have one Food Buff, one Battle Elixir and one Guardian Elixir. What would we want then? Enhancement * Foods: Ravager Dog, Roasted Clefthoof, Spicy Crawdad * B. Elixir: Elixir of Major Agility, Onslaught Elixir, Elixir of the Mongoose, Elixir of Mastery * G. Elixir: Elixir of Major Mageblood Restoration * Foods: Golden Fish Sticks, Blackened Sporefish, Spicy Crawdad * B. Elixir: Elixir of Healing Power, Elixir of Mastery * G. Elixir: Elixir of Major Mageblood, Elixir of Dreanic Wisdom Elemental * Foods: Poached Bluefish/Blackened Basilisk/Crunchy Serpent, Blackened Sporefish, Spicy Crawdad * B. Elixir: Adept's Elixir, Elixir of Mastery * G. Elixir: Elixir of Major Mageblood, Elixir of Dreanic Wisdom You could also take Flasks, which take up both the Battle and Guardian Elixir buff slots. Minor Gear pointers If possible, get Mail armor. But don't be afraid to get cloth or leather if it improves your efficiency. Armor isn't a main stat for you since you don't tank. Feel free to exchange armor for stats... Unless you PvP. Then you will want the Armor. General PvE These are mainly for all raiders and shouldn't be anything new. Of course it has been said time and time again, but sometimes I feel that it still isn't common knowledge.

• Never forget to bring your reagents. You need Ankhs. It's a good idea to bring 2 stacks along (that's 20 Ankhs), in case someone else forgets. Watch out that you don't end up being the Reagent Vendor for your guild.
• Read up on Bosses. Unless you're confident that just staying behind the boss and nuking away as Enhancement or spamming heals as Resto will win you the game. Then you just need to learn it the hard way. Guilds often have their own tactics on their website. Don't rely on other people to tell you the tactics. It's your responsibility to be prepared.
• Chain Heal is mana efficient, but you can still find yourself OOM. Bring Mana Pots, although I assume that this is common knowledge.
• Mind your aggro. I have to be honest, everyone but me manages to pull aggro, to my own amazement. Still, you can wipe the raid by overaggroing. Winning on Omen means losing the game. Unless you're the tank (Shamans are the only hybrid class that cannot tank).
• This one should be obvious aswell, but listen to your raid leader. Even if what he comes up with is wrong or won't work, do it. If he tells you to jump off the bridge, do it. If it fails then, it's his/her fault, not yours. The reason why I am putting this in here is because some of the newer members in my guild don't listen as well.
• If your guild uses a VOIP system (like Teamspeak2 or Ventrilo), make sure you have it and have it working. If your guild uses Addons, like CT_RA, Omen etc. Get them! Keep them updated. You might not use them, but the raid most certainly does. So you do too.
• You don't need to top the Damage and Healing metres. Especially if that would mean overaggroing, death and wiping. If you do want to, keep it limited to your own class, since they are the only ones with the same spells.

On PvP In all honesty, I hardly ever win Arena matches. The only matchup that got me wins was Resto Shaman (me) with Beast Mastery Hunter. For this, I can reccomend that you keep switching Earth Shield to whomever needs it, pop Bloodlust when the Hunter needs it ofc, and stay alive. Or just multibox 5 Shamans. If you really want to go arena as Enhancement, get more than 10k health and 300 resilience. Then just pray. In Battlegrounds, as Resto, find a nice S4 warrior and heal him. He'll defend you if possible. Easy honor. As Enhancement, don't stray from your teammates. You're bound to run into three Warlocks if you do. That's it, if I haven't forgot anything. If you want to know more about Shamans, you might want to check this list of things you might want to know.

Another update

As some of you may be aware, the Blizzcon 2008 tickets were all sold out recently. Spooncraft informed me earlier though, that he's managed to get one of those tickets and is going to give it away rather than use it himself. If you're interested in getting one and estimate your chances low at getting one of the 3000 new tickets, you can sign up for the gift raffle on this page. Sign-ups valid between 10th of August and 1st of September 2008. Remember, free is always better than paying for it! New Beta Patch WotLK Beta patch - build 8788. There have been sightings of a new stat called Armor penetration Rating. What this entails is uncertain at this time. It would imply the weird 7 penetration = 1 stat will no longer hold true. It is fairly reasonable to assume normal armor penetration will be replaced by this stat. The result is that armor penetration will become a percentage rather than a fixed value. This is great news for clothies, less good news for warriors. Here's a a thread on the MMOC forums on the subject. There's a quest event called the Amphitheater of Anguish which appears to be the WotLK equivalent of the circle of blood in nagrand. One of the rewards is the Icier barbed spear, which is said to be 100% more chilling than the Ice Barbed Spear. Classes Big list for deathknights as usual. No changes for rogues, as usual. Although.... I think you'll have a snicker at this one. All spell ranks are now based on a certain percentage of your base mana pool. (Your total mana if you had zero intellect) What could this mean you may ask, I shall tell you. This means that Arcane explosion, rain of fire, consecration, frost nova, holy nova, blizzard and more Rank 1 spells now all cost "more mana" (bwhaha) than the highest level rank of that same spell. /glee Meaning you should see a lot less mages, paladins, priests etc running about spamming rank-1 spells to locate us rogues and druids. Isn't it lovely? *cough* Seriously though, we feel for you guys. Really. Sort of. Not. Just use the highest rank of that spell and you'll be fine. Jewelcrafting Jewelcrafting appears to have gotten a huge boost, and a serious number of epic bind on pickup gems. In specific the following will be quite entertaining to physical DPS classes: +27 Agi, +27 Hit Rating, +27 Crit Rating, +27 Haste Rating, +27 Expertise, +54 Attack Power, +189 Armor Penetration. That's right, no less than 7 gems that are useful! There's even a +27 Str one for you shamanistic and warrior types out there. The regular epic WotLK gems are currently valued at +20 stats per gem, so these JC-only gems are +7 stats worth each. 7 gems x 7 stats = 49 stats. Whoa batman, that means Jewelcrafting could be worth 9 stats more than Enchanting or Blacksmithing if it stays this way o_O? Time shall tell, since Jewelcrafting is also expected to receive trinkets and/or rings or necklaces that may be bind on pickup. Much like leatherworking, blacksmithing and tailoring obviously, but still. That's pretty hot so far. Not only that, these special gems are tri-color (prismatic) so they can be used in what would otherwise be a low value blue socket. Rumor goes that meta gems are getting their requirement removed, so you'll no longer need 2 blue, 2 red, 2 yellow to activate the Relentless Earthstorm or WotLK equivalent. Otherwise jewelcrafting would have been worth another 2 x 50% of an epic gem(20) extra = 2 x 10 stats. Blacksmithing Blacksmithing titansteel weapons got fixed. You can see them here. The ilvl seems to be 200 and there is 143.6 DPS on the one-handed weapon. HOWMUCHDIDYOUSAY? 143.6 DPS. By damn, that's going to blow certain weapons away. It also gives an "idea" regarding the first entry level epic weapons you'll probably find in naxxramas. More on that later I guess. Armorsmiths get to add a socket to their own gloves and bracers, weaponsmiths get to add a socket to each of their weapons. But you already knew this. Right? Tailoring You're getting a flying carpet, no kidding. And, as we could probably have expected a little, something seems to be going on in the direction of a tailor-only leg enchant. They currently are identical to the epic Brilliant Spellthread and epic Sapphire Spellthread. As listed here. We're also getting: 20 slot bags, 22 slot bags, 32 slot enchanting bag and a 32 slot soulshard bag. Beta Poll Are you in beta?

Noes :( - 110 (81%)

Yep! - 16 (11%)

Sold my key - 6 (4%)

What? - 3 (2%) More people who missed out on it than there were people who got in. Initially the percentage of players who didn't get into the beta was a lot lower though, after the second wave their number went up quite a bit. Six of you sold you key, how much did you get then hm?

Awesome

I'm currently getting this message on my google pages:

The bandwidth or page view limit for this site has been exceeded and the page cannot be viewed at this time. Once the site is below the limit, it will once again begin serving as normal.

As a result all the externally linked images and CSS are unable to load which mainly causes the CSS to mess up and be retarded and ugly. I'll fix it asap, can't do much from here. That's pretty annoying.... damnit. This is actually the firsts time this has happened and I had NO idea google actually had a data limit on it's pages, wtf guys. The total size on that google account is : You are currently using 1MB (1%) of your 100MB. almost nothing!


Update

OK, CSS is up and running again as I managed to upload a copy to tripod. Most of the images will have to wait until later though. Enjoy! According to google it should fix "itself" in a fairly short time however. Still, this won't do and I'll have to look for better options soon.


Update 2

Tripod doesn't like hotlinking it seems.... sigh...
Disabled top image and trying to link "both" css files now, so if one is not available, the other one should load in theory. This just got a "little" more annoying.

I'm open to suggestions, or offers of free image and css hosting.


Update 3

Aha! Turns out the "signature" I was using on several forums was producing a "lot" of hits. Disabled it for now, time to host _that_ image elsewhere at least. Account made on hotlinkfiles to host a "third" incarnation of the css while the bandwidth total goes down a bit. Picasaweb might be an option as well.

Beta profession update

Blizzard doesn't sit still, and neither a recently updated beta build has brought out some new profession stuff to expand the known list. Blacksmithing in special seems to have gotten a rather out of proportions buff compared to most professions. But, keep in mind that there's still a lot of things being added all the time. Other professions are likely to still be expanded to don't go around re-rolling all your professions just because of a single beta update. In short:

Herbalism gets a self heal.

Four new leg enchant patterns for tailoring as well as a BoP cloak enchant.

Blacksmiths to add sockets to belt, bracers and gloves.

Engineers get a cloak, belt, boot and glove enchant.

Meta gems listed on MMOC. Not bind on pickup, but still interesting.

More glyphs for Paladins, shamans and priests. Also the interface was changed. Engineering Source. SK gaming. And WoR.

Gloves: Hyperspeed Accelerators - Permanently attaches hyperspeed accelerators to a pair of gloves, allowing a skilled engineer to increase their haste rating by 340 for 8 sec.

Boots: Nitro Boosts - Permanently attaches overpowered nitro boosts to a pair of boots, allowing a skilled engineer to greatly increase run speed for 8 sec.

Cloak: Flexweave Underlay - Permanently attaches a flexweave underlay to a cloak, allowing a skilled engineer to turn the cloak into a parachute to fall slowly for 10 sec.

Belt: Personal Electromagnetic Pulse Generator - Permanently attaches a high-powered device to your belt, allowing you to stun nearby mechanicals.

Belt: Belt-Clipped Spynoculars - Permanently attaches a pair of spynoculars to your belt, allowing you to see far away.

Scopes: +40 hit rating, +40 crit rating. Seems my +30 hit rating scope from Molten Core is finally useless.

Trinket or gloves?: Gnomish Lightning Generator - zap 2250 to 2750 Nature damage. There's also a hand mounted rocket launcher alternative. (Goblin version I'd guess) Other engineering stuff includes a scrapbot and apparently the portable mailbox and auction house bot are also being added again. For some more info see WotLK Wiki. Tailoring No details on any BoP leg enchants for tailors yet unlike leatherworking, but that doesn't mean they won't be added at all. The 3 new cloak enchants appear to be useable by the tailor only. Leg enchants

Shining Spellthread - Increasing spell power by 35 and Spirit by 12.

Brilliant Spellthread - Increasing spell power by 50 and Spirit by 20.

Azure Spellthread - Increasing spell power by 35 and Stamina by 20.

Sapphire Spellthread - Increasing spell power by 50 and Stamina by 30. Lightweave Embroidery Embroiders a subtle pattern of light into your cloak, giving you a chance to cause an additional 800 to 1000 Holy damage when you damage an enemy with a spell. You can only embroider your own cloak and embroidering your cloak will cause it to become soulbound. Darkglow Embroidery Embroiders a magical pattern into your cloak, giving you a chance to restore 300 mana when you cast a spell. You can only embroider your own cloak and embroidering your cloak will cause it to become soulbound. Swordguard Embroidery Embroiders a magical pattern into your cloak, causing your damaging melee attacks to sometimes ignore 1000 of your target's armor. You can only embroider your own cloak and embroidering your cloak will cause it to become soulbound. Herbalism Herbalism get's a small self heal which should be a great boon for any arena players as well as anyone unable to heal themselves while grinding. E.g. rogues, warriors, mages. The skill heals more depending on the rank of your herbalism skill.

Wild Growth: Embrace the natural energies surrounding you, healing you for 2000 over 15 sec. (300/480/720/900/1200/2000 Depending on Rank). Instant, 5 min cooldown Blacksmithing Blacksmithing seems the most overpowered update. Two extra sockets on top of the two weapon sockets makes a total of 4 sockets, 4x20 stats = 80 stats. That's HUGE! According to this poster they are blacksmith only. Time will tell if it's a reliable source. The sockets are "colorless" and can be added to any item even if it already has sockets. The sockets do not award any bonus such as 3 stamina.

Bracer: Permanently add a socket to your bracers. Requires a level 60 or higher item.

Gloves: Permanently add a socket to your gloves. Requires a level 60 or higher item.

Belt: Titanium Belt Buckle, adds 1 socket to a belt. Seems to be a tradeable item. Update! from MMOC - BlizzCast 4:

Weaponsmiths can add sockets to weapons.

Armorsmiths can add sockets to the two mentioned armor slots.

Belt socket still believed to be tradeable. Seems blacksmithing will still be balanced around 2x20 stats like the other professions. ps: Tailoring gets a "tailor only" flying carpet mount!

Guest post, Rogue HowTo

About a week ago I posted it'd be interesting to have a guest post or few up. Out of three responses one has so far submitted an article. The other two haven't been too responsive yet... Hopefully we'll hear more soon! :) So, without further ado here's the post you were waiting for. How To: Prepare Your Rogue for a Raid by: Andy Salisbury, A Rogue's Eye View Raiding as a Rogue might seem like a simple affair. After all, all you’ve got to do is output the most damage you can without becoming a burden for your raid. But there are a few simple things you can do to get yourself ahead of the game. Keep in mind that Rogues are a very gear dependent class. Therefore, you've got to do the very best with what you've got. Enchant your gear!

Weapons: Mongoose Mongoose is always the best enchant for your weapons as a Rogue, PvE or PvP. Everything about its proc is worthwhile, and no matter what spec you are it’ll be beneficial. If you’re a Combat based spec, the extra attack speed from Mongoose will give you more Combat Potency procs, and having more energy means more damage. If you’re a dagger based build (Combat Daggers or Mutilate) the 120 agility that comes from the very same proc will give a huge boost to your crit.

Helm: Glyph of Ferocity

Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Vengeance or Greater Inscription of the Blade, depending on your faction.

Cloak: +12 Agility

Chest: +6 All Stats

Bracers: +24 Attack Power

Gloves: +15 Agility

Legs: Nethercobra Leg Armor

Boots: Surefooted I get asked about this one a lot, and the reasoning is simple: hit rating. You need it, and the closer to the hit cap (which is 363 hit rating) the better. Questions about hit cap? Be sure and read #3 in my guide to maximizing your DPS. Optional:

Rings: +4 All Stats Have consumables! Now that you've got your gear enchanted, make sure that you’ve got all your consumables ready! You’ll want to make sure that you always have some of these on hand:

Flask of Relentless Assault/ Shattrath Flask of Relentless Assault or Elixir of Major Agility

Haste Potion

Grilled Mudfish or Spicy Hot Talbuk (depends on your hit rating) Gathering all the consumables might not be the easiest thing in the world, but being a Rogue means that you can farm with virtually no downtime. Plus, farming the mats for these is your responsibility. It's your job to make sure that you're prepared. Don't worry if you're not an alchemist or a high level cook, if you get the mats there's bound to be someone in your guild that will make them for you. Know your spec! Now, let’s make sure that you’ve got your spec in order. No matter what your spec is (Combat Swords, Combat Daggers, Mutilate or Tri-Spec Hemo) there is an ideal rotation that you should follow in order to get the most damage out of your spec. Be sure to check out the Elitist Jerks forums to make sure that you know what yours is. Know the fights! As a Rogue your role is simple, do your job without becoming a liability. There are a lot of exciting boss fights to memorize in World of Warcraft, but learning them can be a bit daunting at times. Be sure to keep a guide site like BossKillers by your side, and you'll be golden. Watch movies too! Seeing the fight in action will give you a great frame of reference on what to do, so be sure and make your way over to Warcraft Movies and download a few. It's free, and absolutely worth your time. All right! It’s time to raid! Make sure that you’re online on time, and that you’ve completed all of the steps mentioned above. Apply your poisons (always Deadly Poison offhand and in the absence of a Windfury Totem, Instant Poison on the main hand) and make me proud!

Retroactive Achievements

The achievements are still under heavy review, blizzard is working on making sure that all the legacy achievements such as having killed nefarian, ragnaros, onyxia and other Pre-TBC and TBC bosses are all awarded correctly. As was shown before most achievements can only start working at the moment of the patch. Some are easily checked if you have the items / kill counts already in place. For legacy bosses this is a different matter, and as such blizzard is working on a method to ensure these are registered when the achievement system goes live. WoW Provider has a nice list of all the current achievements as well as a all the Talent trees for each previous patch. WoWHead also has a nice big list of all achievements. Notice that the factions are shown double however. For example there's the Classic Dungeonmaster achievement which requires you to complete every dungeon from level 10-60. Deadmines - Stratholme. And the Classic Raider achievement which requires you to complete Onyxia, Molten Core, ZG, TAQ and more. Naxx is not listed, as it will be moved to Northrend. Most such achievements can be awarded by the game by looking at your quest history. It knows which quests you completed. Such as the quest to kill the prince in Dire Maul, or Scarlet Monastery. Not all bosses have a quest to kill them however. Onyxia, Nefarian and C'thun for example are involved in some quests but these are not always available to all players. The bosses do drop an item which can be turned in for a reward and this quest will allow blizzard to track who has completed the achievement. Since the item is a single drop however, they are also adding the entire loot table of those last dungeon raid bosses. If you recently cleaned up your bank though.... you'll miss out. Quote Ok, for everything 25-person and above, we added the full loot table checks on BoP items - Gruul, Mag, Vashj, Kael, Illidan, Archimonde, Kil'Jaeden, Onyxia, Ragnaros, Nefarian, C'Thun Dungeon bosses and anything that requires less than 25 people will check any quests but no items. We can not check the Heroic Daily Quests or Dungeon Daily Quests as they are repeatable and not tracked accurately by our system. (Source)

Also, you have to have the items in your inventory or bank. If you deleted them you will not get credit and the GM's will not restore items for achievements.

Tier 4/5/6 Armor parts bought from BoP tokens dropping from bosses are also counted, you will get the achievement.

The Quel'Serrar quest counts for Onyxia. You don't even need the sword. The quest is good enough. Also : You will gain some rewards but the points are not spendable. Listings The good guys over at the EJ forums have put together a list of quests you could look at for all pre-TBC instances, as well as all the TBC instances. Having completed those quests, should in theory award you the achievement related to each of those instances. The items you'll have to gather yourself however. Also see: this post at MMOC. Basically if you've managed to do this quest, you're mostly set on all the pre-TBC raids up to silithus. It starts with this quest. Lots of farming, collect a head from BWL, more farming and a bunch of expensive materials. It's probably easier to just go back and actually _do_ those dungeons when you hit level 80. Onyxia should be soloable. TBH, blizzard should add an "ancient fruitcake" achievement. I still got several stacks of Graccu's Mince Meat Fruitcake from the very first wow christmas event. Surely that thing is hard as concrete by now. Even my hunter's boar doesn't want to eat it anymore, and that critter eats anything.

Random thoughts

Some Blog updates As you can see there's a little shoutbox up and added recently. You can leave some quick comments or nonsense in it. Outbrain is also up and running, and for those wondering why it was acting a bit strange earlier, Ori (one of the outbrain team) has left a response as to the reasons here. Apparently they had to do some expanding and maintenance to their data center. Also, I've been a little sneaky and inserted a link to us post somewhere in the archives. I'll add a link to it in the menu later. Random thoughts Ever wonder what the game would be like, if there were a few things different than what you're used to? Like :

What if vanity pets had to be cared for? Like those small digital pets. Also see Pet Rock.

What if WoW had a "hardcore" server, much like Diablo does. Where death is permanent. Obviously you should still be rezzable by players, but after 5 minutes your spirit would fly away never to return. Perhaps lock you out for a week straight, perhaps permanently.

What if Hardcore mode was available on PvP servers? What a lame thing ganking lowbies would be then eh?

What if WSG and Arathi Basin had a reinforcement system like Alterac Valley does.

What if WoW gold had zero value in the real world.

What if Blizzard hadn't added that silly Sunwell Radiance debuff.

What if Forum trolls would stop trollin' the blizzard forums?

What if Richard Garriott (maker of the Ultima Series) had joined the blizzard team instead of making Tabula Rasa?

What if Bill Roper hadn't left blizzard?

What if warriors could dual wield 2h weapons, oh wait...

What if there was a battleground where you could use flying mounts?

What if TBC was never released, would you still be farming Molten Core? Would you still be playing at all?

What if rogues actually had an active community manager on the blizzard forums who played the class?

What if loot wasn't Bind on Pickup?

What if it took 50x as long to get from level 1-70, much like Ragnarok Online does to keep you playing. (It took over a year for the first person to reach above lvl 90+ iirc)

What if Electronic Arts / Microsoft / SOE bought Blizzard/Vivendi/activision? Oh god please no!

What if you could learn the opposing faction's language, as was originally the intent.

How rare would female characters be, if you were assigned a character gender based on your actual gender? What if eh, how different would the game be? Olympic special There's a special rare pet you can get for winning a battleground during the Olympics. The event runs between August 8th and lasts until the 25th. Participating in a BG will give you the tabard, winning has a small chance to get the gold medal which can summon a rare pet. There's said to be about a 20% chance to get one when you win. For more info see MMOC The Drunk Duck Awards Your friendly neighborhood explosive and breast lovin' dwarf Cru is hoping you're curious enough to come over and vote for him at the Drunk Duck Awards 2008. You're not likely to see this comic linked on MMOC or WoR like Dark Legacy usually is. But he's expecting to reach 1.000.000 page views this monday already. Expect to see a special fan service soon!

Outbrain added

Just activated the outbrain rating plugin for this blog. So the 74% who have no idea what it is can look at it first hand. Heh.

WTF is outbrain? 47 (74%)

Yeah, might be nice. 11 (17%)

Don't care. 4 (6%)

No, it's crap. 1 (1%)

If it doesn't work out, I can always disable it later.
Seems they've been having a bit of slowdown with the service though.


Guest posts

Three responses so far have shown interest in making a guest post. There's always room for more. Keep an eye out for some showing up soon.

Guest post option

So, if you checked the previous post you'll see the investigate guest posting option. There's several topics I'd like to have a post on, info, or even whatever you think might be interesting to share with the readers of this blog. I'm not talking about a "zOmGwtfBBQ lolz hi guys!" sort of post, but actual well written interesting stuff. Some thoughts might be:

How to prepare your (insert class here) for raiding. Specs, talents, gear. Druid, rogue and hunter preferred but other classes are also fine.

How to be an awesome farmer with blue gear.

(Insert class here) pvp and arena, staying alive while your head is being bashed with an axe. Be creative basically. I'll list an open request for it on the Blog Azeroth forums as well. Lets see who will bite first :) If you're interested, just leave a comment even if you're not normally a blog writer. I'll review your submission, clean it up a bit, add some pictures (if you don't supply any) and it'll be up and viewable here with your name and link under it.

To-do list

My To-do list for the coming time.

* Work.
* More work.
* Remind friends I'm still alive.
* Buy food, Cook the food, eat the food.
* Complain about the damn heat.
* Smile because I got air conditioning in my bedroom.
* Curse because I don't have air conditioning in my living room.
* Get a haircut, it's been another half a year I guess.
* Clean the house, vacuum, water the "1" plant, etc.
* Clean out the storage room some time, guh it's a mess.
* Buy some shelves for my dvds and cds.
* Level mage from 68-70.
* Level druid from ~40 to 70.
* Harass guildies.
* Buy a faster computer, headset, mouse, etc.
* Get a bigger monitor, or find a RGB-5c cable so I can use the 19 inch CRT monster which has been rotting in storage.
* Hook up my stereo.
* Kill kalecgos.
* Make 20 slot bags for druid alt.
* Look for more WotLK info.
* Farm herbs to prepare for inscription.
* Flood auction house with some spare junk.
* Sell duplicate patterns and gems from guild bank.
* Arrange a magtheridon run to get the 16'th badge on wowjutsu.
* Recruit someone x-realm with a Raven mount to get the Anzu's master badge.
* Look into Guest posting at blog azeroth.
* Clean up the RRVS labels more, and move them to the menu. Remove labels widget.
* Sort trough a few thousand wallpapers and figure out which ones to upload today.
* Upload more wallpapers, create 480x272 sized PSP previews of them. Link them here, and complain about the speed of the image host. Which seems to be doing a good bit better lately.
* Contact a few dozen game developers and comic artists for permission to use their wallpapers
* Clean up the temporary links list at SP.
* Sort trough and cleanup my firefox bookmarks, must have been 4 years since I've done that last.
* Download some movies.
* Find time to watch the movies...
* Set up outbrain ratings.
* Approve PW ad requests when they show up.
* Approve EntreCard ad requests when they show up.
* Curse at google's slacking support.
* Create some more PW banners for SP and RRVS to use for campaigns.
* Start some PW campaigns.
* Look up my ISP's email service.
* Fix up some forum avatars of different sizes and upload it to pages.google.com
* Poke around on some forums.
* Post on this blog.
* Sleep, maybe, sometime?

So much to do, so little time.

So, what's keeping you busy then?

Draenei bar maid

A shameless plug, in a way. Ok maybe not quite a plug since I own this blog, but still pretty shameless don't you think? Anyway Cru the Dwarf has been working all day and night to bring you a little special treat. This time no nudity (or I wouldn't be able to post it here) but none the less a quite fancy wallpaper. With some luck we'll be seeing more of these in the near future. Be sure to drop off a hearty "thank you" at his site.

The comic itself as it's rated "M", and that's most definitely not short for Mondays only. So don't be a naughty kid and view it if you're not at least 16 or Deserous will give you some tentacle loving! While you're there don't forget to hit the vote button on his top web comics button as well.


Available as: 320x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x800, 1280x960, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1600x1000, 1600x1200, 1680x1050
Comic page: Cru the Dwarf
Copyright: Cru

Sad rich people

I'm sure you've heard the tale of the oil baron or whatever who bought the world's first rogue to dual wield Illidan's warglaives for about 7000 euros. (Over 10k$) Sick, and sort of sad since he got banned not long after for ToS violations which prohibit the unauthorized transfer of characters. See here. Then there's the girl who sold "herself" for 5000 in game gold. alternate link. That story had a happy ending though, she met the guy again for a second (non paid) date, and possibly more. And, now there's some rich fool from the UK who bought a WotLK beta key for no less than 652 euros (1022 dollah soldier boy). MMORPGs are big business. It's small wonder that hackers are so eager to leave a trojan on your system. Sadly the euro branch on that key protection device is still sold out. Possible WotLK Release Date It'll be Q4, according to Shacknews and Action Trip. Just don't take my word for it, wait for the blues to actually confirm it. Quote Blizzard Entertainment confirms that the long-awaited expansion pack World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is going to launch some time between October and December in 2008. "We have said that it will be coming out this year," Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said in a conference call. "I can tell you it's not coming the July to September quarter." Morhaime also had another interesting little thing to say. He explained how 40% of WoW subscribers who have left to try out Age of Conan have since returned. Yeah, I'll be they have. Again, Funcom's current situation really doesn't look too good. Now, that players are leaving the game to go back to the online sensation that is WoW, things are definitely not improving for the Norwegian developer. As for Blizzard, they are slowly gearing up for their annual BlizzCon event, which is scheduled to kick off on Oct. 10 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA, with tickets going on sale August 11. Hunters stable slots Two pet slots too cramped for you? Fear not, in WotLK you'll get two extra slots (post 24).