Waldonnis

Hoofstomper, feral druid: 10.2k armour You'd hardly catch me "DPSing as a feral druid"...more like tanking, as I've done many times already. I didn't find the post demeaning, though...just based on thinking that I fled from the Alliance to get away from (feral druid there as well...pre-review...and yes, I tried resto and hated it). I guess I won't subscribe to the "if you can heal, you should" philosophy until someone pays for my monthly subscription. At any rate, while I personally disagree as well with the tone, Sleyvas wants to establish a ZG raid and it's up to him to determine how he wants to construct it. If that means only the Holy Trinity (or hybrids that conform to those roles), so be it.

An undocumented change that I noticed the other day from the last patch or two was that warlock pets no longer slow down when you enter combat while mounted....I used to lose a ton of shards because of that. Not sure about the shared cooldown with healthstones and mana gems. They keep messing with our cooldowns so much that I feel like I spend more time in global cooldown or watching a timer than actually doing something. Word is that going from sitting to standing also triggers the global cooldown now, btw...bad for mana users that find time to drink/eat in PvP. The reduction in evocation's cooldown is great news, though, and means I'll actually be using it more often (nothing sucks quite like fighting Mags or Garr with evo on cooldown...it makes mana management less of a chore). No opinion whatsoever about the change to AM. The spell never did work very well, is a mana sinkhole, and they gutted it's one decent PvP use when they fixed the out of range thing. If they finally get around to making the mana cost be per missile rather than up-front, I'd still not use it often, but it would be easier to deal with the mana cost vs. range problems. Also, with the changes to aggro reduction, I'm not even sure AM will be as used in aggro-sensitive fights (usually any taunt-immune boss) now, so... If you end up making it on the test servers, keep us posted. I've heard radically different feedback about the mage changes and am curious to see what your opinion is.

We could at least try, but I'd prefer to not push too hard towards starting BWL or AQ40 until we're more comfortable in MC. We're within reach of Ragnaros at this point and don't think we need to get him down before attempting BWL/AQ40, but I'd personally prefer to get more people into MC for the experience and to get used to working in a larger raid (for those who haven't yet). We have many folks who haven't yet been into MC or are nearing 60 still. If we start pushing into BWL more, I'd be worried that MC may fall to the side a bit and they wouldn't have as many opportunities to get in. With many people having RL obligations that limit their raiding time, I'd be concerned about having one or two more raid nights added and even less time to dedicate to our own membership's needs (BRD/BRS runs, etc). That being said, I wouldn't mind at least trying a few new things on an off night if we can garner the interest...doesn't have to be a regular thing for now. I'm pretty confident as well that we could at least handle the first boss or two in AQ40 or give Razorgore a good go.

The answer: our side dies...a lot...repeatedly. Unfortunately, the game is gear-centric and just rehashing the same stats won't keep the powergamers around. 2 extra DPS on a new weapon only satisfies people for so long....and Blizzard couldn't seem to satisfy the "casual gamer" so they just redefined the term, apparently (anyone who's tried a 45-min Baron run knows what I mean...and conflag-happy Drakk is sometimes harder than Lucifron or Gehennas now). Also, introducing new instances means not only shuffling tactics, but requiring more from the participants, which often translates into more damage required and better healing...and thus begins the gear development treadmill. I don't like their approach either, but it seems to be working from a business perspective, so no use turning the game on its head to change it at this stage. I'm not overly concerned with these items, honestly. The expansion looms in the near future and we'll be seeing stuff that makes this gear as desirable as an Illusionary Rod once the level cap is raised. I do look at the loot and think it would be nice to have, but I doubt that I or my gear is ready for that place anyway...

LOL, great stuff, Scryll *grabs all of my hats* Hello, I'm Hoofstomper, and I'm a tank, so I ignore this message. Hello, I'm Waldonnis and I'm not sure if I'm included in this message. Hello, I'm Tobalaya and I approve of this message. Hello, I'm Verissi and I intend on chain-sheeping Scryll because of this message.

Dear player, We note that you have created a human character recently, after having several Horde characters. Congratulations and welcome to the Alliance! To ensure that you have a good experience on your Alliance human, please perform the following actions: * Call all of your friends and demand that they also create Alliance characters (gnomes preferred; experience is enhanced by selecting RP-friendly names such as "Anklebiter" and "PwntByMiniMe"; female night elves are also encouraged since they still don't account for half of the server population yet). * When entering a contested zone within the gaming world, be sure to only flag yourself for PvP after you have assembled no less than three times the numbers that you are facing. The Horde love facing hopeless odds, so please indulge them. You can further enhance their experience by sitting on top of their corpses after you have killed them, waiting for them to reappear in a weakened state, then kill them again immediately. * If at all possible, please do not use /pvp at all and, instead, just attack! Surprise is, after all, the key to success...even if your foe has been standing there watching you for 25 minutes! * While waiting for the Horde to flag first, be sure to repeatedly use /dance or, if you really want to enhance the experience, bind /chicken to a key and tape that key down. Horde players just love seeing the same two emotes over and over, so please help further their enjoyment as well. * Lastly, since you will be spending some time on the Alliance side, your Staff of Dominance will be feeling lonely. Please petition for it to be reassigned to Verissi. Thank you for your time in reading this and we hope you have a fantastic experience on your new Alliance character! ( Hehehe, I couldn't resist a little humour based on what I normally run into in PvP )

Hehehe, I'd love to have 1500+ normal frostbolts...

I always check the remainder of the group before using a reagent. If most of them have single-targets or their group buff is wearing off within the next 10 minutes, I'll go ahead and hit the whole group at once (which usually prompts another round of buffs anyway). Otherwise, it's single-target. Side note: if someone dies, buff them as they rez...makes life so much easier than seeing "need paw, fort" in raid chat seconds before a pull (or during combat). I'm not sure buffing assignments would really be beneficial enough...and still may burden some more than others if it's too strictly assigned (some groups tend to die more often, etc), but who knows. For me, it's not so much that I burn through so many reagents...it's that I see groups go unbuffed for over 5 minutes without anyone noticing...or seeing requests for a buff go unanswered until after I regain full mana AND handle ML duties. If we all have CT Raid, there's really no reason for any of this to happen since the buffs are plainly visible and the timers can be viewed. Basically, I'm just asking for buffing classes to be more watchful over their relative buff domains and be as proactive as possible. I watch *every* type of buff across the groups, personally...partially to cut down on the "group 5 needs fort...group 3 too...and 7" stuff, but also to make sure we as a raid have every advantage possible (plus, Maube can't watch everything herself ). But, if you think more coordination would benefit you, then pick out a few groups, declare them as yours to buff, and we can go from there. Other small tips for buffing: * Buff after a fight, not before one. We always have time while picking up the dead or dealing with loot where most of us are just standing around. Use that time to check buff timers, spot-buff, etc rather than waiting for everyone to be ready for the next pull. * Watch for dead people. Buffing them as they get up means they, and you, will be back at full health/mana with just one eating/drinking session rather than two....and allowing everyone to be ready to fight again sooner. * Don't overextend yourself. I'm violating this usually and buff too quickly...leading to being entirely mana-deprived for several minutes. Be ready for surprises if at all possible and save a bit of mana Just In Case...never know when a Lava Surger's going to come plowing through while you're at 58 mana

Hoofie, Verissi, and Waldonnis are available for your furry tanking or DPS needs this evening.

My rule of thumb is to bring one arcane powder per member of the raid, meaning one stack of powder for 20-man and two stacks for 40. Honestly, that's a ton of powder to go through in a single raid...enough to buff a 40-man raid 8 times over. Sounds like a lot, but it doesn't go as far as you'd think and outside of a 5- or 10-man raid, no one person (or two, in 40-man) should be buffing the entire raid. Some things to keep in mind when planning reagent purchasing are: * Raid duration - each brilliance buff, for instance, is 60mins, so if you're in MC for four hours, that means you'll go through 4 times as many powder as a one hour raid if you handled the buffs yourself. * Account for wipes - Never bring "just enough for a perfect run". Crap happens, so plan for it... * Fudge factor - I blow at least 2-3 powders per week due to group shuffling after I buff or people that are out of range/zone, so it's best to account for some waste as well. In context of MC, though, I can't say it strongly enough: bring reagents and do your part if you're a buffing class. There's no reason that so few of us should've gone through that many reagents even with the wipes if everyone was working together to keep the buffs going. I also see tons of requests for rebuffs in every single raid. While the single-targets may escape us all sometimes and drop, it's easy to monitor the status and duration of your buffs with CT Raid and reapply them when timers are about up. I can walk anyone through configuring CT Raid to show their buff types and explain how to check the timers if needed, so please ask before the raid if you'd like to learn more about that. For the buff recipients, please please PLEASE don't wait until your buff is gone to ask for another...a heads-up at 5mins left would be great so we can plan for the mana usage. I don't know about other classes, but to throw out an Arcane Brilliance costs me over 3k mana, so this isn't something I can just tap and keep going...and even single target AI isn't "cheap" mana-wise... Lastly, if we can all work together regarding buff work load, reagents, and watching our timers, everything goes much smoother and faster during the raid. I hate throwing up the "I'm oom" flag before a boss fight because I just buffed 7 groups...it's just a waste of time and would be unnecessary with a little bit of coordination.

We may do that anyway, Huato...especially if you roll a paladin

Hail, Ionas! Fantastic to have another restoration druid about...and glad to see you getting some great improvements gear-wise on your first night as a Crusher I'm so proud to see that we have feral, balance, and restoration druids in the guild...such a switch from my days on the "other side"

Just a note: Tobalaya's transmute is available as well. I'm holding off on selling transmutes until the guildies are more set for arcanite

Bahahahaha! Truly classic.

I would drink my Stratholme Holy Water, but I'm afraid I might spontaneously combust!

Verissi has the water and will bring it on both nights.

This doesn't happen already? I know a few mages with around +500 dmg before trinkets...roughly the damage of an unmodified rank 10 frostbolt...

YARRRR!!! And now, my birthday celebration recommendations, as told by smileys... Grab some buddies to go until you're Hopefully, you'll have enough to be and , just be sure not to after ! Also, when you get home, make sure not to all over your or she'll likely then and you'll have to on the couch.

That's one of the things that bugs me about this game. It's not like the hardcore raiding guilds don't already have their choice of several weapons/items from every instance in the game...they just keep adding to the list for them and leave the rest of the players to drool. Granted, these are nice items that actually deserve the purple names, but stack that on top of the spell ranks and so forth that are drop-only... What's more interesting is that the druid staff still favours restoration more than feral (and completely ignores balance AGAIN). +420 AP is very nice, but it completely lacks stats that would be important otherwise for a feral (agility and armor for cats/bears). The mage and warlock staves are great, though. Ah well, more epics...can't complain too much

Bah, you've got enough staves, Huato...save something for the rest of us! Hehehe. Seriously, though, I really like the druid staff, but wish it had some armor or at least agility. Guess I can't ask for too much, though and may stick with the Unyielding Maul for tanking (when I get it). The mage and warlock ones are just damn nice, though. Are these being added as epic quests for the classes or is this new loot from another OMGITSHARD40 instance?

Quit lying, Huato...you're just making excuses for being Mr. Facedown Hehehehe I'm glad that you had mentioned the lag problems earlier that night, Ziddi...when I saw that you were the bomb, I immediately moved sideways and away just in case you were still having the problems, and I noticed several others doing the same. In fact, that worked out very well for me on a few occasions with many people...since we got a bit too close to the wall several times. Lag happens in MC during many of the fights and some people are worse off than others in that respect, so we all understand when stuff like that happens. In the end, we cleaned Geddon's clock, so who cares anyway You did very well in there, especially considering the framerate problems!

Great run last night for sure! We made better time than ever before and did it with few casualties along the way...which paid off when we got to kill not only Geddon, but Shaz as well. And a huge congrats to Gromit for the Bindings...it'll take a ton of work and luck to finish off that blade, but it'll be worth it Now that the dancing smiley is out of the way, we can start looking ahead towards Friday and the weeks to come. For Friday, Maube's already talking about options for getting the water for summoning Majordomo Executus, which would give us some learning time on that encounter and possibly a shot at Ragnaros (who would've thought we'd be this far so quickly?). Looking forward, we would do well to build on last night's success and make it a goal to down Shaz every Wednesday night. This will give us more time on Friday to work through the Sulfuron, Majordomo, and Rags fights. We proved last night that we could handle picking up the pace, so I'm confident that we can be drifting into Rags' room within a week or two... Great job to everyone and, being the analytical person that I am, I can't help but be proud of how much this raid has gotten accomplished. Thinking back to our first issues with Lucifron and looking at last night...fantastic progress in a short amount of time and, most importantly, we haven't forgotten to have fun along the way Keep up the great work!

I usually park Wald in the mountain on Wednesdays and Fridays with a few shards...I can probably bring him on to summon a warlock and two others back, then swap back to Verissi and have the other warlock bring everyone else back....just a thought.

Verissi: 300 mining/Gnomish engineer Notable patterns: * Flawless arcanite rifle * Tranquil mechanical yeti * All mechanical pets except for the toad * Field repair bot * Dark iron bomb (can also smelt dark iron) * Bloodvine lens Waldonnis: 300 Tailor/Enchanter/Fishing/Cooking Notable enchants: * Fiery weapon * Icy weapon * Crusader * +15 agility to weapon * +25 agility to 2h weapon Notable patterns: * Robe of the Void (BoP, but can advise on the materials) * Mooncloth robe and bag * All felcloth pieces * Wisdom of the Timbermaw * Rich purple shirt * Felcloth bag and soul pouch (24- and 20-slot soul shard bags) * 20-slot herb bag ...and if it can be cooked, I can likely cook it... Hoofstomper: 300 skinning/Tribal leatherworking: Notable patterns: * Hide of the Wild * Both ironfeather pieces * Warbear harness and woolies * All devilsaur pieces * Spitfire and sandstalker bracers

Stats on Benediction: Benediction (Epic quality) Binds when picked up Unique Two-Hand Staff 134 - 222 Damage Speed 3.00 (59.3 damage per second) +10 Stamina +31 Intellect +12 Spirit +20 Shadow Resistance Classes: Priest Durability 120 / 120 Requires Level 60 Use: Calls forth Anathema. Equip: Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy spells by 2%. Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 106. Cooldown: 30 min 1 sec cast Item Level 75 ...and on Anathema: Anathema (Epic quality) Binds when picked up Unique Two-Hand Staff 134 - 222 Damage Speed 3.00 (59.3 damage per second) +22 Stamina +31 Intellect +20 Shadow Resistance Classes: Priest Durability 120 / 120 Requires Level 60 Use: Calls forth Benediction. Equip: Restores 7 mana per 5 sec. Equip: Increases damage done by Shadow spells and effects by up to 69. Cooldown: 30 min 1 sec cast Item Level 75