Waldonnis

In true "me" fashion, I'm exploring EVERYTHING that I can possibly get to (and getting teleported out of places that aren't finished yet ). I'll be keeping my blog updated about all kinds of things relating to beta, including some profession spotlights and death knight stuff. The link to my blog is at the bottom of my posts in my sig, but I'll post it here too: OMGL2PLAYNOOB. I've already added a bunch of screenshots on a distinct page on the blog (more are often added daily) and am preparing a short write-up about Inscription, the new profession. It's not quite finished, but I've spent most of the evening working on it trying to get a feel for it. I also plan on spotlighting some of the nifty changes they've made to the game in general, such as profession links (yes, you can link your entire profession's recipe list in ONE LINK!). I agree with Maube and Ug, though, the zones are enormous and the artwork is amazing. No recycled models this time around, it's all kinds of new and crazy models, with some being a bit larger than your character, and some very "epic, Warcraft-y" areas, like the siege area around Naxxramas. Keep an eye on my blog for more info and feel free to ask me to test stuff out if you have something specific on your mind. I do ask to please be considerate, though, and don't pester me when I'm in a raid

Expect some changes to occur, especially to the paladin abilities and trees. Blizzard made some statements right after the close of alpha about paladins and some plans for changes that don't jibe with the trees that have been mined so far, so I'm not counting on things staying the same. Also, there are definitely some changes slated for death knights and a few of the other classes that aren't reflected in the current build. In short, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)

Tips for any warlocks not tanking Leo, especially affliction: After his first transition, only use one round of dots and only during his demon phase (use shadowbolts otherwise). I found the aggro wipes after his whirlwinds to be painful otherwise and the timers don't quite match up to his transitions at times unless you're (often too) early on applying them. Be careful with ye ole "shadowbolt in the air" during whirlwinds. One of mine landed right after the aggro wipe and it was not good. For the love of Thrall, stay away from him during his whirlwind. The bleed is NASTY and you can't drain enough to offset it. While he does have an enrage timer, it's far better to be safe. Soul shatter will only buy you a threat reduction once per attempt, so don't get careless...and even then, it can (and often will if you're not hit-capped) get resisted. If you have a pet out and get an inner demon, don't let your pet engage the demon at all. I doubt they have fixed it, but in the past, if your pet got the killing blow on the inner demon, you got mind controlled (since you didn't kill it yourself). You can easily handle the demon on your own, so just forget you have a pet.

That was probably server lag. We had one AV last week where everyone was nearly invulnerable and it took at least 10 people to kill you before your health magically went back to full. The flags at the objectives and NPCs also never spawned, which made for a rather fun zerg-killfest for a bit, until it got tiring and I ate the deserter debuff. The funniest part was watching the Alliance mindlessly zerging the Relief Hut, not even bothering to notice that the graveyard flags weren't there...and the entire Horde team just waiting for them to arrive.

Several yays, lots of boos from me with this patch. I'm loving the new herb bag and it was long overdue (haven't seen a reasonable-sized herb bag since the AQ days). I also like the new sombrero, especially for shaman in ghost wolf Mechanics wise, making it such that armour self-buffs for mages and warlocks cannot be dispelled was good in my book. The two classes with the least armour in the game were often left with even less when you ran across a priest or shaman (which seemed like every five seconds lately). Mages especially benefit from this since mage armour offered a certain amount of magical protection, along with some regen benefits. Also, warlock curse reduction is fantastic. Merging the two means a pseudo-buff to those mages that weren't already in a warlock-heavy raid (is there such a thing?). It also makes handing out curse assignments much easier On the downside, the weapon swap GCD is bad for many classes, both in PvE and PvP. Spell surge enchants are nearly worthless now unless you have more than three people in your raid party with it (swapping was fantastic before). Seems like warriors would lose a bit of flexibility as well...I know I'll miss a near-instant swap-overpower even in the 20s bracket. Lastly, and most unfortunate to me, this absolutely KILLED paladin libram swapping, which I used very heavily to support the lackluster mana regen that the class suffers from. Libram swaps during casting to support certain spells or to trigger additional mp5 were common to many paladins. Due to the change, I'll likely be banking almost all of my librams and just sticking with one or maybe a situational second, rendering my other three entirely useless (including one purchased with BoJs). Finally, the rogue changes... I reflect on these aside from the rest since I have mixed feelings as a rogue and because so many people have entirely too much rage against rogues in PvP lately. I totally agree with the cheat death nerf. It was unbelievably overpowered in its former state, often allowing me to mow down an extra clothy in the few seconds I had left before corpsifying myself. I do not feel that it's working well enough in its post-patch state, however, to warrant the talent point cost, nor does it address the real issue behind the complaints: PvE-geared rogues in Arena will continue being incredibly strong simply due to their heavy damage output and better avoidance, not "simply" because of CD. In fact, it was theorycrafted pre-patch that CD starts functioning near its former form around 300+ resilience...I have that and it's nowhere NEAR what it was (I die to one white-damage hit after it procs now, so no chance to escape or deal a final blow at all). In all, it needs to be seriously evaluated and made fair to both sides...don't revert the change, but make it worth the talent point investment (and work as stated and/or NOT dependent on or affected by resilience). Cheat death aside, the Sinister Calling nerf was entirely uncalled for. Hemo is the main damage ability for a subtlety rogue and it wasn't out of control as it was (no hemo rogue was going to beat a comparably-geared combat swords rogue in PvE damage..ever...nor was it overpowering damage in PvP on its own). It's strange, first they nerfed hemo, then buffed it, now nerfed it again...I sure hope they can figure it out one of these years... Soooo...good and bad in many ways...many mixed feeling from the "Family of V"

Sent!

"Walter! Stop it!", Verissina giggled and shrieked, chasing Walter around the room. "Oh Ardral, he's so dreamy!", Walter said mockingly to his cousin as he evaded her attempts to catch him. He held her diary over his head, laughing as he ran. "You are so NOSY! One day, Walter Donnis, one day!", she playfully yelled. Finally catching her cousin, Verissina tackled Walter and both fell to the ground laughing. Wrenching the diary from his grasp, Verissina smirked and said "Wait until you fancy a young lady. Then it will be my turn to tease you." Walter straightened his clothing and sat up, still laughing. "Ah, dear cousin, that will be a lucky day indeed….for the young lady in question, of course", he said as he grinned. "You, my dear cousin, are incorrigible", she said still giggling. The two hugged and stood back up, further straightening their outfits. Walter Donnis, a boy of twelve years, loved his cousin Verissina dearly. Her family had taken him in at the age of five when his parents had been lost during an expedition for the King. Since those times, he had grown quite close to Verissina and saw her as a sister. She was four years older than he, but her heart was as light as a feather, always dancing about and no less playful than he was himself. He admired her and strove to model himself after her. He was especially enthralled with her magical abilities and wished he had such a talent. "What am I to do around here without you, cousin?" Walter inquired more seriously, but quipping "Without your diary, I will just have my study books to read." "If they gave an exam on my diary, you would get impeccable marks," she jokingly replied. "You should put more effort into your real studies, though. Mother was quite disappointed with the last report from your instructors. If you work hard, perhaps they will allow you to study with me in Dalaran in the next year or two." Waldonnis snapped back from a half-dreamlike state and sat by the fire thinking of the times following the recalled scene with his cousin… Walter Donnis, in his youth, was not a bad student. On the contrary, he had a talent for organization and recollection. He devoured information rapidly, often reading entire books in mere hours. He could recall even the most minute details months later as well. The headmaster at his academy recommended that Walter seek further training in the Stormwind library, where his pursuit of knowledge could further be encouraged and developed. Walter's interests were in magic, however, and despite his fascination with the subject, he always had trouble grasping it. He grew bored with schooling quickly and ignored his natural gifts, instead trying harder to chase his dream of being a powerful mage….at least until a messenger arrived to deliver news of Verissina's death. In the years following the news, he had turned inward, focusing solely on his books. Bitter disputes with his adoptive mother over Verissina's passing led to his leaving their estate and seeking solitude in a cottage near the fallen city of Stratholme. Years of solitude and the vision of his cousin lying dead twisted his mind and view of the world, his own adoptive family, and especially of the Alliance. Tales of Arthas' betrayal left him further scornful and he swore to bring pain and suffering to those whom he saw as having killed the one person he loved….his cousin Verissina. The messenger had said it was a training accident, but Walter never believed it, even less so after hearing of the happenings at Stratholme. His awe of magic was also corrupted, turning it from a youthful passion into a grim obsession. Unable to master the manipulation of the elements, the frustrated Walter delved into tomes that spoke of shadow and demons. With the newfound power of shadow magic and demons on his side, he cast aside his given name, Walter Donnis, and adopted the moniker 'Waldonnis'. He was no longer the playful boy, Walter, any longer; from that point on, he saw himself as Waldonnis, bringer of vengeance. He went forth to battle, week upon week, slaughtering as many Alliance footsoldiers as he could find, but found no solace in it. While remembering his old cottage, Waldonnis gazed deeply into the flickering fire, almost searching for some comfort in the shapes painted by the flames. Memories of his youth, and his corruption, haunted him still. "Walter, are you alright?" Verissi asked, obviously concerned. Waldonnis looked at her from across the camp fire, half-smiling, half-brooding in the past. "Yes, cousin," he replied, "I was just recalling times that are long behind us…when we were still…alive." "Walter, we are back together again and have been for quite some time. I know that look. You still have not accepted it all, have you?" Verissi sighed heavily, knowing her cousin still had not let his vendetta slip into the past. "We are not the same, Verissina. I am Waldonnis and you are Verissi. Both are a far cry from 'Walter' and 'Verissina'. We are but husks now, all due to the madness of the Alliance." He frowned angrily at the thought, nearly spitting out the word 'Alliance'. "I am no boy and you are certainly not the light-hearted girl you once were. They have changed us…this plague has changed us…forever." "Well, my hair may be different, but I still think Ardral was dreamy", she said with a youthful grin. With these words, they both laughed. She was the only one who could make Waldonnis smile so easily and she knew it. He looked over at his cousin and saw her as she once was for a brief moment. The plague had diminished her somewhat over the years, and her tone was more somber and flat in her 'unlife', but the lively human girl he grew up with shined through from time to time. He grasped her hand and said, "I am sorry, Verissina. It may take some time to truly accept the state of things, but I am trying. Enough about the past, I should rest for the night, as should you." "Indeed, dear Walter. Rest well." She touched his shoulder and they both headed to their tents to rest.

(( Waldonnis' story will mesh with Verissi's often, but I'll be posting them in different threads...enjoy blending them together as you read each Much more is coming...they're building to something, but you'll have to wait and see what that is ))

"Much time has passed, but soon I shall return, Verissina…" Verissi woke and leapt to her feet, shaking. Few amongst her current Clan knew of her history, and she could not recall ever revealing her human given name to any of them. "Verissina", yes, she was sure he said that in the dream. Only her cousin Waldonnis could possibly know, and even he would never be so cruel as to mimic that voice. "It cannot be him. It simply cannot. He was lost long ago…", she muttered and sat down to meditate, searching for an answer. A tide of memories flooded Verissi's mind as she conjured a vision of her former life… "Mother, I do not want to go! I would much rather stay with Walter and study my magic here!", Verissina exclaimed to Velindre in a huff. "And what of the celebrations and festivals that I will miss?" Velindre smiled and brushed her daughter's hair out of her eyes, "Your cousin Walter needs some time to study as well and he certainly will not do that with you always dragging him away from his books. Besides, your father will not settle for his only daughter becoming a simple debutante to be married off. We both know that he wishes you to follow his example in service to Lordaeron. Let us not forget how much you impressed the Archmagus at Dalaran. He was very anxious to see you study with them." Verissina scowled and absently tossed her hair back over her eyes. Gently patting her daughter on the head, Velindre urged her daughter, "Now go get dressed while I prepare for our dinner guests. Your father is coming home tonight and I am sure he would like to see the fine young lady that you have become since he was last home." Velindre watched as her daughter floated out of the room with the grace that only ladies of fine breeding exhibit. Verissina was barely a girl of sixteen years, but she took to manipulating magic…and the hearts of would-be suitors… as naturally as a fish swims through water. "She would be a fine Lady to a lucky Lord," Velindre sighed to herself, knowing that Verissina would never settle for the realities of such a choice. As much as she disagreed with her own husband's desire to see their daughter in the service of Lordaeron, Velindre could not help but recognize that Verissina's desire to leave home was growing…as was the desire to follow her father's military example. She may have denied wanting to leave, but Velindre knew the words were hollow. "Would he even know me? It has been so long…," Verissina thought as he returned to her room to bathe and pick out her dress for dinner. She was so nervous that she had begun to shake. Her father had been away for many years, serving as a lieutenant under Prince Arthas' command. His assignments rarely brought him close enough to home for family gatherings of any length. If it had not been for the required apprenticeship testing at Dalaran over a year ago, she would not have seen her father at all in the past two years. Even still, he had barely made eye contact with her during her testing, which upset her greatly. She hoped that she had not disappointed him. " I am sorry to disturb you, cousin, but we must speak immediately." Waldonnis' voice brought Verissi out of her meditation and back to the present. She opened her eyes to see her cousin sitting nearby, flipping through her diary. "You know better, Walter! Give that back! You may be older now, but you are still that nosy boy from our younger days." Verissi smirked at her cousin and snatched her diary out of Waldonnis' hands. Her smile dropped slowly as she notices the concern in her cousin's eyes. "Is there something wrong? What brings you here in the middle of the eve?" "Yes, and…well, I am not sure," he replied solemnly. "My meditations are troubled and my dreams more so. I believe that I heard the voice of…" "You heard him too?", Verissi quickly replied with surprise. "Could it be that he is still…alive? Could he be coming back home?" Waldonnis' brow furrowed. "I am not sure, cousin, but you know how I feel about him and what he forced you into. If it had not been for his insistence, you would have been spared from the plague…and what the Alliance 'training' did to you is equally unforgivable. I would just as soon kill him as hug him for what he did to you." Verissi bolted upright at her cousin's final sentence, leering at her cousin. "You and I both know that it was my choice, not his, to go to Dalaran to train. We have been over this too many times, Walter. I would never have been satisfied just being some Lady in a keep with nothing to do but brush my hair, waiting on my Lord's latest whim." Verissi tried to maintain her composure, but knew inside that she wasn't speaking the entire truth to her cousin. "Still, if it had not been for them…and him…", Waldonnis sneered and muttered to himself, then sighed heavily. "Let us just hope that you see him before I do if he shows his face in camp,", he spat bitterly. "You will do nothing to him, Walter, and that is that. You may be stronger now, but you need to forget the past," Verissi sternly replied. She knew her cousin would never change his mind nor accept the truth behind her past, but she would never stop trying to correct him. Even still, she knew it was futile and decided to turn the topic to a lighter subject. "Say, Walter, remember the magic lab we set up?" Waldonnis chuckled and grinned. "What I remember was how angry your mother was when you turned her beloved puppy into a pig. I doubt she took too kindly to her dresses dancing down the street on their own either." They both laughed and smiled at each other, recalling the simplicity of their youth. "We both should rest, Walter. Perhaps we are just haunted by echoes from our younger days. Besides, he was reported lost in Andorhal, so our dreams were probably simple fantasies." Verissi was still shaken, but tried to put up a convincing front with her words. She did not want her cousin to brood over something as unlikely as… "Echoes and fantasies indeed. Your wisdom has always exceeded my own, dear cousin. I am weary from battle and could probably use the rest" , Waldonnis relented, touching Verissi's shoulder. "Rest well, Verissina." "You as well, Walter," she replied smiling. As Waldonnis left her tent, she could not help but think of her father again. His voice speaking her human given name, "Verissina" echoed in her mind. It had been so long since she heard anyone but Waldonnis use her name that she had nearly convinced herself that it was a nickname. "Walter" and "Verissina" were names that her and her cousin had left behind them long ago, only to be used when they conversed in private. No longer were they the carefree children they once were. With a heavy sigh, Verissi curled up on her bed, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep…the sound of her father speaking her name haunting her as she did.

Good call and worth coordinating. If I'm there and have time, I usually judge whatever's not up (often light). Also, it may be preferable to select a healer with the 2pc T4 bonus to judge it for a little extra healing nudge, but any would do fine in a pinch.

Oh no, there are far worse things than a gnome on a kodo. Here's my worst nightmare as Hoofie...

Every so often, people ask why mounts or classes are restricted to only certain races. Rest assured, Blizzard does have some reasoning behind such strange rules. Without some restrictions, you just might see something like this riding through Shattrath...

Good chatting with ya the other night, even though I was distracted Sounds like progression is going well for you over there for ya and you seemed in good spirits as well, which is always good. Hope to hear from you more often!

Another solid night in Zul'Aman and a job well done! Seems like I made out like a bandit in there this time around, but I'm hoping we'll see more loot love for the rest of the raid next week As we all saw, Malacrass can be a pain in the Mala-ass (har har). For next week, try to bring anything that increases stamina or shadow resistance that won't overly hurt your damage or healing (crawdads are great, Netherwing trinkets, etc.) to give yourself a bit of extra padding. Shadow protection potions really don't work well, so don't bother with those...the "protection" offered will disappear within one spirit bolt session and leave you on cooldown for health potion use (I've tried a ton of tricks on this fight and never found one that made it "easy mode" at our gear level). We really did get a bad assortment of "friends" with Malacrass, so don't feel discouraged. The fight can be pretty intense, but we'll get him down!

Didn't he learn this in MC when you dragged him into the lava while he was afk?

Cal is correct...his hit box isn't that big...IT'S BIGGER!

Shadow bolts aren't instant, so it works in sequence as written. If the spells are modified by active buffs at the time of hit instead of cast, then the order doesn't matter as much (honestly, I'm not sure if they are with most spells). If they aren't, though, cast order is important. Something for me to look up... ...and I looked it up! Harne's correct and reversing the order might actually amount to a very tiny amount of extra "uptime" for the trinket (haste and cast time dependent, of course), so I'll be reversing the order in mine I can't believe that I didn't realise this earlier since I've been using this behaviour for over a month with my libram swaps on Jaryndis

Great tips on the fire, Benea, thanks! I also didn't think about the curse breaking the slow fall/levitate (doh!). I think we made some progress at getting everyone used to the way the fight works last night on our few attempts. Things I noticed that we need to improve: If doomfire is near you, move...and don't run in a circle around the raid, run straight away from Archimonde (saw a few people do this). I was lucky enough to be followed by doomfire while still mounted and getting to my spot on one attempt, which made it easy to stay away from it, but I haven't had a problem keeping ahead of it on foot either. If you're not sure whether or not doomfire is after you, move anyway until you know for sure and bear in mind what Benea said above: it can change targets, so always be aware of what it's doing and be ready to respond. For the Forsaken folks: Will of the Forsaken can also make you immune to fear if you use it *just* before the fear goes off (it's not just a reactive ability ). It lasts for five seconds, so you have a small amount of padding in case you mis-time it. If you're in doubt as to whether the timer is off or not, just wait to activate it until you're feared. Timing your Tear use is huge and again, if you need more time to practice, LET US KNOW. Saw a few die trying to practice, which I consider a good thing (since at least people were trying). Druids that are falling can reduce some fall damage by going cat, rogues already have reduced fall damage innate to the class, mages/priests have slow fall and levitate, paladins can bubble...but none of these things is a substitute for getting better with your Tear use timing. Learn it, practice it, put a sticky note on your forehead, or smear yourself in jelly if it'll help you...just make sure you can do it when the time comes I've said it already and will keep saying it: this fight is all about everyone staying alive. Trying to maximise your dps or squeeze off that one heal by staying in a few extra seconds before moving for a doomfire will not help. Ultimately, we're all just a portion of the overall raid and our individual contribution on this fight isn't as important as the overall management of the event. In short, you're more valuable alive and out of the action temporarily than you are when you're dead but managed that one cast. Watch the video to get an idea of how the encounter works and please read up on the abilities that Archimonde has as well. Every single one of us bears a portion of the responsibility for successes and failures, and part of that involves preparing ourselves for what we're going to face and knowing about what we might have to do as individuals. This becomes very important on fights like Teron Gorefiend, where preparation and practice by everyone will lead to earlier success. Side note and weekend homework: Start practicing on the Teron Gorefiend Simulator. Read up on what each ability does (Wowwiki has a decent explanation, but there's a better one on the Elitist Jerks forum) and get used to it. It's very difficult at first, but the simulator is actually harder than it will be in-game, so dealing with the constructs will be a cakewalk if you can master the simulator. I'll be posting macros soon to help with this fight and will happily pass on the things I learned while doing the simulator myself (yes, I've successfully completed it over 30 times and still keep practicing).

For macros, I have one for activating my trinket and casting a shadow bolt. If the trinket is currently down, it still casts a shadow bolt, so it's full of one-button win for optimising my trinket use. It gets a bit more complicated with two trinkets, but can still be done with a little reworking. Here's mine: #showtooltip Shadow Bolt /use Icon of the Silver Crescent /cast Shadow Bolt /script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); Line-by-line explanation for the macro impaired: #showtooltip Shadow Bolt Displays the tooltip for the Shadow Bolt spell (max rank). I have an add-on to display modified info about my spells, so I like seeing the proper tooltip for the spell itself when I mouse over it. /use Icon of the Silver Crescent Uses my trinket (Icon of the Silver Crescent). Type the name of your trinket here in place of that. For example, if I had the Hex Shrunken Head, the line would read "/use Hex Shrunken Head". There's another way to activate whatever trinket is in a specific slot regardless of name, but I prefer to specify since I do swap trinkets around in slots for certain fights. /cast Shadow Bolt Casts max-rank shadow bolt. /script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); Makes sure you don't see error info when the trinket's on cooldown. What you'll see on first use of this macro is your trinket activating seemingly while you're casting a shadow bolt. What actually happens is exactly what's specified in the macro: trinket activation, then casting, but with less overall latency. The same type of macro can be used for healing (or any) spells and trinket use by just substituting the trinket name in the above as well as changing the spell name. A modified version of this that incorporates icy veins for her frostbolts is used by Maube: #showtooltip Frostbolt /use Hex Shrunken Head /cast Icy Veins /cast Frostbolt /script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); I have many more macros, such as a one-click misdirection macro on Kelani that doesn't use the focus target, one to keep a target polymorphed/seduced/shackled without having to retarget (does use the focus target), and quite a few other utility macros for my various classes (mouseover lacerate macros, etc). If there's interest, just let me know and I'll post them or pass them along in-game.

Age-old Maube and Verissi raiding rule: if the raid is scheduled to start at 8pm, the fighting starts at 8pm. That means buffs are done, everyone is inside the instance, and we're ready to pull *at* that time. And remember, just because warlocks *can* summon into instances doesn't mean we're going to ( ), so show up early and be ready.

The best warlock spreadsheet that I've found is Leuler's at http://www.leulier.com/ which I've found to be fairly accurate and allows you to set up several sets of gear for comparisons (or upgrade order ideas) fairly easy. Getting it set up for talents and such isn't as easy as Cheeky's (and do not trust the default talent builds...some of them aren't that optimal), but once you get it set up, it's easy to see the effects of gear swaps and such on your damage. The only things I'm not convinced are too accurate are his haste calculations and the subsequent weighting of haste. It seems to be close, but not as close enough to be sure he's got it fully correct. I'll find out as I get more haste gear and do some testing, but it's weighting haste as my "most desirable stat" right now, which isn't agreeing with some testing that I've done (it's very close, but spell damage performs slightly better for me right now in my tests). As for mage spreadsheets, I've tried a bunch of them and they're all entirely too painful to use still. I'll continue to look around to find something good. For feral druids, I highly recommend downloading the latest beta build of Rawr (http://druid.wikispaces.com/Rawr). It's not quite so "predictive" as some of the spreadsheets, but it does do pretty well for ranking gear in a number of ways. It also lets you edit the gear list for gem combinations and see the effects compared to other gear for that slot. Rawr is actually coming along nicely for other class use as well (has several "models" included, like warlocks, paladins, and mages), but it should be used as more of a "rule of thumb", with spreadsheets being the better reference for specific things like rotations' effects on gear and vice versa. I have a holy paladin spreadsheet that I'm checking out now. If it's worthwhile, I'll post the link.

I can do the +6 stats to chest (with Waldy) and can make the Cobrahide kit (with Kelani...Kailand can also make them). The others I do not have, sadl. I have the worst luck with enchants that drop in instances...I either never see them or lose the rolls every single time

We did MUCH better than I expected for our first run through there together. A few of us have been running Zul'Aman for quite some time, but still learned a ton of new stuff about some of the patrols and how to better handle some of the more difficult pulls (some of which made the hardest trash suddenly stupid-easy). Honestly, I only really expected us to kill two bosses and just lightly try the others...three defied my expectations and I really think we could've gotten Akil'zon down if it weren't for some bad luck and a new encounter for so many. In all, it was a great night and I'm looking forward to next Friday, probably our first timed chest, and likely our first attempts at Malacrass in the next week or two at this rate Congratulations to Jiris on the robe (a huge upgrade and quite stylish), to Kaz for the very nice mail chest, and to Ascoli for the "Boots of Make Things Dead Faster"!

Yep, I initially wrote about the blink trick, but deleted it before posting. Depending on terrain, height, and timing, it can be VERY touchy as to whether or not it actually works. I know that I'm extremely experienced with using blink to avoid falling damage (so much so that I don't even bother carrying feathers), but I mess up my timing from time to time or fall victim to client-synch lag (literally). It's worth a try, but if it disorients you even more or you have no experience with it, don't even think about it until you get more practice. I'd rather not lose people because they're trying something for the first time and don't know the nuances...feather fall is far more familiar to most mages mechanically. FYI, iceblocking can help avoid some falling damage as well, if used at the right time. Blinking through the fire...now that's a handy tip that I didn't think of

Sloppy night tonight (myself included), but I'm happy we got Azgalor down The new group shuffling made for some interesting reports and we'll continue to tweak it as time goes on (I know one change already that needs to be made for Kaz'rogal next time). In all, though, we dealt with the adversity well enough and if we can down Azgalor when we're admittedly "not quite at our best" and with a key role replacement, we should blow by him next time. Looking at Archimonde, I'll reiterate STAY ALIVE! Now that you've seen the fires and how they work, spreading out is obviously important to avoid baking others. Everyone needs to practice using the Tear a few times and get used to the timing, so if you need a few extra moments to get that down, let us know. Don't just use it on a tiny drop and think you're okay either...one thing I've learned as a mage is that distances while you're falling can be very deceiving, leading to too early/late Tear use. Mages and priests should probably bring some feathers as well since it'll buy you some padding in case you click too early. That being said, our one quick attempt on Archimonde looked VERY promising. Damage output was better than I expected and if we can do as well next time, we'll be looking at his corpse saying "that was a boss?".