Spilling the Blood of Blood Elves...

As for PvP stories from the weekend, I owned a level 65 Undead Warlock on my level 62 Human Mage a few times. It was a combination of this guy being a horrible Warlock and my new Frost spec is great against the DoTs.

My brother and I were in Hellfire Penninsula on our level 62 Human Mages when we saw three level 60 Blood Elves. They consisted of a Paladin, Mage, & Hunter. The Hunter was the closest when *he* started the fight, so I did my Water Ele > Frost Bolt > Ranged Frost Nova, while my brother just spammed his "Death Macro", as he calls it. The macro just consist of PoM > Arcane Power > Pyro, but that plus my ranged Frost Nova / Bolt combo was enough to down the hunter before the Paladin could heal.

We were able to instantly turn the fight into a 2 v 2. I figured they had the upper hand with the Paladin, but we ended up victorious with a Sheep on the Paladin, and a Counter Spell on the Mage's Polymorph.

It was nice getting to PvP against the new Horde race. I am going to miss my Improved Counter Spell against all the new Horde Paladins since it was the perfect way to prevent Divine Intervention (a.k.a. "the bubble")

Character Update

I leveled my Blood Elf (also named Keystone) Warlock to level 10.
The other Keystone, the Human Mage, reached level 63.

I respecced my level 49 Night Elf Druid to Feral and I've been testing him in BG's.
I've also been trying to master the Protection Tree on my level 60 Dwarf Paladin.

I looted two good drops and sold them for probably less than I could have, but it was the Crusader Enchant, and the high level blue scope that adds +7 damage, the name slips my memory. I sold both items for a total of 150g. That's not bad for a weekend of fluff leveling.

Thoughts on PvP Rewards...

Before I give my opinion on the current system of PvP rewards, I would like to tell you about something that recently happened to me.

I was at "The Stadium" in Hellfire Peninsula the other night with some Alliance friends trying to help them get a few kills for PvP marks. Our whole group bit the dust to a few level 70 horde and I took the ol' "auto-run" back to corpse method. By the time I ressed, my whole team had moved to the other capture point.

I was about to res when I saw a level 64 Orc Rogue around my corpse, so I moved into distance, ressed, then sheeped. I casted my Frost Armor, Ice Barrier, Bandaged, Evocation, then he came out of sheep and vanished. I start to Rank 1 Arcane Explosion to reveal him, but no luck.

To make a long story short, the fight was underway between me and this rogue when a level 70 Human Mage drops from the sky and wails on this rogue that I was in the process of beating.

I think to myself, "that's cool, he flew down to save the day, even thou I didn't need saving". I gave him an obsolete "thank you", and he returned with a, "stfu noob, and stop stealing marks from people that do 80% of the damage!"

Ok, what did he just say? Is this guy retarded? This person dropped out of the sky into MY fight and basically tried to take the mark from me, but he was pissed that I did the killing blow and received the mark?

I don't care about the marks, I enjoy the competition from PvP and the challenge of a human opponent. I saw this guy was part of a mega-guild on the server and it made more sense. I'm not trying to stereotype, but most of the mega-guild people I meet have a very arrogant attitude.

I like the idea that Blizzard is trying to reward PvP players for their non-raiding agendas, but I don't like that it breeds an unhealthy competition between faction members. This guy is Alliance, and I'm Alliance, there should be no tension about who gets the kill.

I'd like to see a minor change to where anyone that did damage would get a PvP mark, but I know this would be hard because of the exploit possibilities, but just make a level requirement or something.

Oh, and I haven't forgot the screenshots, they're coming! I promise!!!

Attack of the Flying Mage!!!

I really didn't care too much for the thought of flying mounts; I recall the let down of flying classes I've played before in games like Anarchy Online & Shadowbane.

That all changed last night...

I was running to Hellfire Ramparts to meet with my group. I was almost there when I noticed all their bars suddenly greyed out with the soon-to-follow cries of, "Stupid level 70 Mage".

I'm anxious to try a Counter Spell > Sheep combo on this sucker, so I run to where my group just died on top of the bridge leading to Ramparts. I look around and see nothing but dead corpses.

I think to myself, "Hrmm, he couldn't have gone far...", but then I heard something, something I haven't heard before in the world of Azeroth. I slowley turned around to see an Undead Mage gently hovering in the air next to the bridge.

The Undead Mage slowley lowered himself to the ground to dismount and immidiately started a Polymorph cast. Still being stunned by the intimidation of the flying beast, all I could think to do was turn and blink into the instance.

...I want a flying mount!

I've since been wondering where this will lead PvP and what elements will we soon start to see with the new variable of flying mounts added into the equation?

Just for information purposes, it's something like 1,000g for a regular flying mount and 5,000g for an epic one.

WTS lvl 60 Paladin!!!

I logged on my Paladin this weekend to help a friend in STV. I haven't played my Paladin in ages, so I had no clue what I was doing, but it still doesn't excuse the following event...

I wonder off for a second and a Blood Elf Mage kills my Night Elf Druid friend, so I mount up and intercept the Mage. The Belf Mage blinks away and I use Avenger Shield to slow her down, she then ice blocks. Her blink won't be ready till a few seconds after the block, and I know this so I move in for the stun and she cancels Ice Block and Frost Novas me at a distance and runs until blink is ready. *sigh*

She makes it past the guards with 3% health and I yell out in frustration. I start to drink to regain the mana lost during the chase, but before I finish, here she comes with a low level Belf Hunter & Belf Paladin.

To make a long disgusting story short, these three were able to kite my level 60 Dwarf Paladin to death. I logged off and swore never to log on a melee class again, because chasing people down is not my thing.

I jumped on my Human Mage and headed to STV; I only found the Belf Hunter, so I kill him a couple times to take out my Paladin frustration. After the second time, he doesn't res. I think to myself, "ooo, maybe he's getting his main so we can have a real fight".

I was right, before I knew it there was a level 61 Tauren Druid charging me in Bear Form. I immidiately blink out of the stun, then I Frost Nova > Cone of Cold > Fireblast > Water Ele > Ice Block > Rinse & Repeat.

**note** My Water Ele is broke and won't cast his "Freeze" spell.

I easily take this Druid down and decide it was time to move on and forget the stupid Paladin ordeal. This is why I would love to see class respecs.

Hellfire Ramparts / Blood Furnace?

I ran Hellfire Rampart & Blood Furnace over the weekend and I noticed there weren't many caster drops off the bosses. I saw various Mail / Plate drops, but no cloth gear.

I'm curious to see the loot tables now; I wonder what the cloth drop ratio is compared to other armor.

Also, just a tip to everyone out there that plays a DPS class... learn to use light DPS when you have a Paladin / Druid tank. These classes can tank just fine, but they're not warriors, so it does help them by not unleashing your triple Aim Shot / PoM Pyro combo right off the bat. I'm Frost Specced with Winter's Chill, so I just dump a couple rank 1 Frost Bolts to build up my crit chance, then I unleash my DPS.

I have some great screen shots of my runs, which I 'promise' to post since I've downloaded

IRfanview

at work and I can transfer the screen shots via a thumb drive.

Rested XP, ahhh!

I just had a simple thought, I say simple, but in reality my mind is much like a gnomish engineering shop with a lot of gears and gadgets. Anyways, I was thinking there should be a rested bonus for other portions of the game.

A couple things come to mind...

1) Honor
2) Reputation
3) Coin Drops
4) Profession Skills
5) Weapon Skills
6) Talent Respec Cost

I can't think of anything else at the moment, but since I'm a casual player with a 60 hour a week obligation, I would love to stay on par with the hardcore gamers.

Can anyone think of any other portions of the game that would benefit from rest?

Kinless' Addon List

Eollin & Aroe,

I found a perfect list of addons for you two thanks to Kinless, just follow the link and be sure to thank the kind gentleman for his list! Thanks Kinless!

Kinless' Addon List

A Slow Night...

I didn't get to play much last night due to work issues; however, I did get to make my first Outland 5-man instance run.

The instance is called "Hellfire Citadel" (HC), and it's located directly in the center of Hellfire Peninsula. This instance is great for Mages, Rogues, & Warlocks because of the Humanoid / Demon mobs that can be Sheeped, Sapped, or Banished.

Our group consisted of (2) Frost Mages, (1) Warlock, (1) Warrior, and (1) Priest. This class make-up worked great because we were able to double sheep and stack Winter's Chill on the same target.

There were no cloth drops at all, unless you count the +32 stamina green back piece.
The stamina was an upgrade over my back piece, but I'm all about +damage since I'm a Mage.

Not that we had a bad tank, but I have to mention that Frost Block is the answer to horrible tanks. I can't count the times I died as a fire Mage because the tank couldn't regain aggro (I would only scorch, and I had Burning Soul, so I wasn't generating that much threat).

That's about all that happened last night, and since I'll be at work for the next 26 hours, yes that's right, I said twenty six, I won't be able to play.

I know you all like to get your PvP story fix, so please head over to BRK's blog for a nice Moonkin Revenge story...

BRK's Moonkin Revenge Story

I'm in love... with the frost tree!

That's right folks, I respecced last night to 51 frost. To give you an idea of the awesomeness that is the Frost Mage, let me run your through my first PvP encounter as my new cold spec, brrrr.

I hit an AB match right away to look for the first horde I could find. I quickly spotted an Orc Hunter and proceeded to intercept him; I blink into the Hunter and Frost Nova, he quickly Scatter Shots me.

I happen to come out of Scatter Shot before the Frost Nova wears off, I then Cone of Cold > Fireblast > Summon Water Ele > Ice Block...

My Water Elemental is pounding this Hunter for 500 damage Frostbolts while I'm Ice Blocked and waiting for my CoC & Fireblast cooldowns to expire. I imediately have the Water Elemental freeze the hunter right as I come out of Ice Block and I cast Cone of Cold > Fireblast.

...dead

I solo'd the Marksmen Orc Hunter and had 90% health & 80% mana left, crazy... huh?

Anyone out there have some other strategies for a Frost Mage?

Alliance Leveling Guide

Here's the link to that "Alliance Leveling Guide" that I told you about...

http://wow-pro.com/node/601 < Alliance

http://wow-pro.com/node/880 < Horde

**note** This is not my guide in any way, shape, or form; this is only a link to the guide.
**edit** Added the link to the Horde guide.

No Death Penalty = No QQ?

I flew to Felwood to help a level 57 Night Elf Druid friend. I went on my 60 Mage to help him kill quest mobs for faster quest completion. While I was there I wondered away from him for a bit and found two horde on the road.

These two consisted of a level 52 Orc Hunter & 50 Undead Warlock. I figured it would be a good fight since both of their classes have the upper hand on a Mage, so it wasn't a total gank. I proceeded to score a lucky crit on the hunter and practically one-shotted him, then I dance with the Warlock a bit and end up killing him / her.

I /bowed to them both and mounted up and went on my merry way (I don't corpse camp, it's not my thing). Then, about 5 mins later, I receive a /tell from a level 19 Human Paladin, obviously the Warlock, complaining to me about how I'm a horrible PvP'er for letting the two of them get me to 50% health.

Now I could have gone into explicit detail about how I'm arcane specced and I have half ass gear with low stamina, but I thought it wasn't worth it. So I just told the lock "good fight" and left it at that. Well this Warlock must have been on the rag, because he / she would not let it drop and continued on and on about the ordeal.

I was fed up and told her that it *IS* a PvP server and that there is *NO* death penalty except for the 30 second corpse run, and of course I added the ever controversial, "Less QQ, more Pew Pew". ^^

To bring this post to a close, and a point, do you think some people overreact to death in this game, and do you think some of these people have never experienced a game with much harsher death penalties? I come from UO, so I don't worry about death in WoW...

Warlock: Fun Fun Fun!

I was attacked by a level 37 Orc Hunter last night in Duskwood. Good times.

So let me set the scene... It's me, a 29 Human Warlock, and my IRL friend on his 28 Night Elf Druid. As we're running down the road we suddenly see a level 37 Orc Hunter approaching us fast from behind. My buddy ask if we should coninue to run since we're almost to town, but I know how fast Aspect of the Cheetah is, and how much faster it is if Beast Specced.

I make the decesion to make a stand and instructed my buddy to "just heal me". The Orc Hunter starts to attack me first since I'm the deadly DPS clothie class (makes sense), but he failed to lay a trap before I feared him and waisted his scatter shot on my Druid friend.

After he was feared I casted Immolate > Curse of Agony > Corruption > Siphon Life > Fear > Drain Life > Instant Cast Shadow Bolt > Dead...

Oh, and his pet was Hybernated the whole time.

I did see my buddy snag one or two Moonfires, but most DPS came from me and my Succubus. I hadn't really noticed the 1337 powah of Warlocks until now. When I saw how fast I took out that Hunter, I knew Warlock was the class for me (secondary to Mage, of course)

I'm looking forward to playing my Warlock tonight, but only after I snag 1,000 honor in BG's to get my Epic Shoulders.

Idea: Class Respecs

This idea probably wouldn't sit well with Blizzard since it has the potential to reduce the life expectancy of the game for a player. If a player could change classes for a fee instead of rerolling, then they could experience all the classes faster, thus ending rerolls, and maybe even subscriptions.

The idea is to allow someone to respec the class of one of their characters for some sort of fee. The price would have to be high to prevent constant class changes throughout the community. I would suggest the price even be something like 29.99 usd.

I would like this idea since I have a level 60 paladin that could gag a maggot with the dust he's collected from not being played. I know I can just as easily reroll to any class I want, but I hate to see the 60 levels I put into him go to waist...

Anyways, that's just a random idea that I had, and as for the paladin, he has been replaced with a human warlock.

Mage: Update

I have obtained the Field Marshal's robe for Keystone, and I'm only 3k honor away from the shoulders. I'm going to stop the PvP grind after those two items and concentrate on leveling.

I'm torn between specs thou. I'm pretty much tired of "Slow" and the Arcane tree in general. I was thinking about going Frost since I've never really tried it, but I saw a PvP video from Chopstik (Kalecgos server) and it made fire look pretty nifty, although he has engineering to make up for the lack of Improved Counterspell and the Zanelorian Hero Charm to make up for the lack of Arcane Power.

I am a damage monger and I have no problem surviving with a non-frost spec, since I am the world's best kite'r. I will turn and run at the sign of a loss or the sign of being outnumbered, and I usually live to eat / drink. I see a lot of mages just standing there while they get beat on and they complain about survival...? Duh!

I'm 99.8% positive that I'll be respeccing to a 51 point fire build tonight.
When I get home from work I'll post a link to the PvP and my soon-to-be fire spec.

Idea: Player Killing in WoW

The thing I miss the most from Ultima Online is the Player Killing. For those of you that did not play UO, this did not mean attacking your sworn enemy in a very consensual, no-death penalty setting. In Ultima Online you could attack your fellow players whenever, save the UO:R instant guard kills.

This game feature actually made for a friendlier environment, at least on the Siege Perilous server where you could only have ONE character, and that was your ONLY persona; to become an outcast dickhead without friends was horrid because you couldn't just log on an alt to make new ones.

All this brings me to my idea for World of Warcraft, a feature that allows for players to attack their own faction members within a murderer system. The system could be, numbers subject to change, three kills would turn a player into a murderer, which at that point they would be unable to communicate with their own faction, but would be able to communicate with 'other' murderers... even opposite faction murderers. A vision of Gnomes and Taurens holding hands over a corpse comes to mind...

This would, in a sense, add a third faction to the game. These murderers would be able to communicate with each other only, and would have their own outpost and towns.

The murder counts you gain from killing your own faction would deteriorate over time. This way, you could squeeze in a kill on that jackass that ninja'd the item you've been waiting for without becoming a murderer.

This is just something I thought of to improve the world PvP, since murderers would be out in the world looking for people.

What about you, do you have any ideas to improve PvP, or some other element in World of Warcraft?

Happy New Year

The new year is upon us, and it's only a short time till the expansion.

I've been reading a lot about avoiding the PvP equipment upgrades since they'll be replaced when the expansion comes out. My thoughts on that would be, if it's an upgrade, then why pass it up at all? At level 20 did you not upgrade your level 5 equipment because you'll be level 30 eventually? My point is, gearing out your character is a journey, not a destination.

Play the game, have fun, and upgrade as you play. On that same note, I wouldn't recommend grinding your life away to PvP to achieve the entire set, because it is true, that it will be replaced shortly after the expansion. The word on the street is that the PvP weps will last you the longest.

I myself am only upgrading two pieces of equipment with PvP gear and that's the Chest & Shoulders. I picked these two for upgrades because, A) I have horrid equipment in those slots right now, and B) The Robe & Shoulders are the most visible equipment, so while I may not technically 'be' geared out, I'll at least look like I am ^^

Any thoughts on PvP gear? Has anyone heard about, or has seen the level 70 PvP rewards?