Waldonnis

Many think I'm crazy for wanting to do this, but I managed to repeat my beta achievement of being the Realm-First Grand Master Angler!!!!! As a long-time fisherman in-game (and in real life), I was extremely proud of this accomplishment in beta and am even moreso now on Argent Dawn So, let it never be said that Clan Skullcrusher isn't first for something...because we now are

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King, many questions are certain to come up over and over...and over. To help everyone, those of us in beta decided to put together this Frequently Asked Questions list to help ease the transition and assist our Clan (and friends who stop by). General Expansion Information: At what level should I go to Northrend? Northrend is designed for characters that are level 68 or above. While you could probably get away with being there prior to that (and may even be able to kill some of the things there), most of the starting quests will not be available to you. How do I get to Northrend? New zepellin towers have been erected outside of Undercity and Orgrimmar, each taking you to one of the two "introductory" zones in Northrend. The zepellin tower oustide of Undercity is next to the existing tower and will carry you to Howling Fjord. The tower outside of Orgrimmar is west of the entrance (as you exit Orgrimmar, go to your right) and will carry you to Borean Tundra. Note that the Orgrimmar tower is in the opposite direction and quite far away from the existing tower. Two starter zones? Which do I pick? Do I have to do them both? To ease the strain on everyone, Blizzard was kind enough to make two different starter zones in Northrend. Each has its own terrain, quest flavour, and even different types of enemies compared to the other. Neither is "better" than the other, so it doesn't matter which you decide to go to. Also, you are not required to do both at all if you choose not to. The level curve is designed around the completion of only one of them. I noticed that there were instances in both Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord. Can I do both or does my choice of starter zones affect which I can do? There are indeed two instances designed for 70-72 players. The Nexus, located in the Coldarra section of Borean Tundra, and Utgarde Keep in Howling Fjord. While quests involving those instances are confined to their respective zones, you are not restricted at all from running both if you choose. Where do I go after I finish Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord? Your final quests in each will lead you into Dragonblight. After that, just go where the quests take you How about my professions? Are the trainers for those in both Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra? Yes, each of the two zones has trainers for all of the professions that can teach the new "Grand Master" level skills and recipes, including secondary professions. Not all of the trainers may be located in the initial areas of Vengeance Landing and Warsong Hold, though, so you may have to poke around the zones' towns to find them. Can I use my flying mount in Northrend? Not at first, but eventually you can and will actually be required to have one for Stormpeaks and Icecrown (non-epic is fine). At level 77, you may purchase the "Cold Weather Flying" skill from a trainer in Dalaran for 1000g base price. Like all costs, this reduces as your reputation increases with the Kirin Tor (for most players, it will be 950g by the time they are at that level). This may seem like a steep cost, but trust me, it is quite easy to make the gold to purchase this prior to 77 through questing. This decision was intentional and meant as a time sink, adds elements of danger again, as well as helping to spread the server's populations out a bit more. There's plenty of time to fly later, any way, so enjoy the scenery for a bit until you can fly again. Dalaran Information: I've heard a lot about Dalaran. Isn't that supposed to be in the Alterac Mountains? What is it and how do I get there? Dalaran is the home to the Kirin Tor, a group of powerful mages. It was previously located in the Alterac Mountains, protected by a magic dome, but the threat from the Lich King forced the Kirin Tor to relocate the city to Northrend (and set aside their isolationist ways) in order to help fight the Lich King's growing power. The city is now floating above Crystalsong Forest in Northrend. Access to Dalaran is restricted to players that have completed a quest line in Dragonblight, usually at level 74. Mages get a personal teleport spell at 71, but they do not get a portal spell for the city until level 74. Getting into Dalaran prior to completing the entry quest requires a mage portal or a warlock summon. Are there trainers in Dalaran? Portals to the cities too? What exactly is in that floating city? There are no class trainers in Dalaran except for mage trainers. Being an organisation of mages, it was natural that they would help instruct other mages, but they don't have any other class trainers in their ranks. There are, however, portals to all of the major cities (including Shattrath) located within the city. There are trainers for all professions though (as well as their respective specialties) located in Dalaran for easy access. One personal favour that I do ask is that players not pester level 74 mages for portals. There's no reason to rush to get to Dalaran and you will have access quickly enough anyway. Are there auction houses in Dalaran? How about banks? Nope, for similar reasons as to why Shattrath lacks one: Blizzard still intents on having players return to the old lands so they still have some degree of life left in them, and to promote trade within the original cities. On the other hand, Dalaran does include banks, guild storage, Arena/PvP Battlemasters, and portals to every faction city (including Shattrath). Death Knight Information: How do death knights work? Do I have to start at level one again? Any player that has a level 55+ character can create a death knight, but can only create one per realm. Death Knights begin their "lives" at level 55 and have a rather unique (and very fun) starting area. Unlike other classes, all death knights begin in the same starter area regardless of race selection. Starting at level 55 sounds great, but why aren't I just started at 58 so I can go into Outlands? Do I have to deal with the Plaguelands and Silithus again? Death knights may begin at 55, but by the time you complete the starting quest lines, a new death knight should be level 58 and ready for Outlands (complete with a really nice set of armour that's on par with tier 2-3). So let me get this straight, I have to do Outlands again? That will take forever... Actually, it shouldn't. The experience required to gain levels 60-70 has been reduced and should allow for much faster progression into Northrend for death knights. My personal observation was that most death knights hit level 68 and were ready for Northrend midway through Blade's Edge Mountains or even Nagrand questing. Death knights are supposed to be able to tank, but I can't use shields? How does that work? Death knights are designed to not require shields, and get some abilities and benefits to make up for not being able to use one. It may seem strange at first, but seeing (or being) a death knight tanking with a big two-handed weapon or dual-wielding will become more common before you know it. I see that death knights have spells. Do they need spell power gear too? While death knights do have spells and a portion of their damage comes from magical effects, spell power gear does nothing for a death knight. All death knight spell damage is tied to their attack power and strength. Do Alliance and Horde death knights level side-by-side at first? Thankfully, no. While the starting area is technically the same zone, each side sees only its own faction's players, so you won't have to compete with throngs of Alliance for quest targets. Do death knight professions start at 1 or do they get a break? Yes and no. First aid is automatically "gifted" to a death knight upon creation and leveled up to 275 skill. From that point on, the normal first aid skill progression is required. Primary crafting/gathering professions and the other secondary professions (cooking and fishing) all need to be learned and start at 1, like other classes.

Hehehe Compliments like that are always good to hear, especially as an elder and even moreso from outside sources. Perception of the guild and our Clanmates (both within and from outside) is something that we all take very seriously in the leadership circle and it's great to know that our reputation continues to be positive and that we make an "impact" per se on Argent Dawn. I quoted part Kadi's story because it's actually how many of us came to the guild initially. Folks like Baracko and even myself weren't always Crushers (I was unguilded, Bar was in another guild), but grew to feel at home with some of the fantastic people that we have here...so much so that it felt almost inevitable to join. Between the dedication to each other and seemingly unending generosity, it was just so easy to feel at home. I've met many people within Clan Skullcrusher that I consider to be good friends even out of the game (even if I never leave the house to visit them ). People like Maube, Uglutz, Katak, Bar, Scryll, Raeda...hell, there's too many to list...we've just been through and seen so much together that it wouldn't feel right if I didn't get to chat with them somehow. From our early days dominating PvP as a team to raiding with them now...as I've said many times, games come and go, but memories last much longer, and I've made plenty of those here with this crew so far I seem to continue to make new friends as we've grown and I'm very proud to be where I'm at. You are all a great group of people and I'm quite happy to be where I am I'm glad that you and Mali are enjoying being a member of our "little" family and as I've told Mali, we're certainly enjoying having you both around as well. You both add bunches of flair and humour to our ranks and our chat channels, which I enjoy seeing quite a bit. Going forward into Northrend, I'm looking forward to Clan Skullcrusher continuing to build on the reputation that we've all worked very hard to earn...and having lots of fun together along the way

Going forward, I have just one word to say.... KURINAXXRAMAS Okay, old joke, but still some comic value given how many people have been running pre-BC content

I'd like to thank the Academy...and all of the little gnomes that I stepped on to get where I am today...

"Who is that in the darkness? Show yourself!", Verissi exclaims nervously. A familiar voice echoes from the shadowy figure, "I am returning shortly. Prepare for my arrival, young one." "Father? FATHER??" Verissi snaps awake, her mouth even more dry than normal. "How could this be?", she mutters while wiping tears away. The sound of her father's voice and his silouette haunted her dreams more often lately...too often to be ignored any longer. She dons her favourite robe and quietly hurries into Waldonnis' tent. "I know that you are awake, Walter.", she quips, eyeballing her cousin suspiciously. Waldonnis pops one eye open and tries his best to stifle a grin. "I could never fool you, cousin." "That's because you never sleep while you are in camp." Verissi tries to smile, but the troubled look of her eyes prevents it from appearing sincere. "I...", she begins to speak, but Waldonnis speaks over her... "There's an odd chill in the air lately, cousin, and it is not the chill of a coming winter. A great and terrible power has awoken again in Azeroth and I think we both know what is coming." Waldonnis' forehead furrows as he sits up and looks directly into Verissi's eyes. "I feel it as well, Walter. I did not want to believe that it was true, but so much has happened lately that the signs can no longer be ignored. The Scourge attacks, heralds of the Lich King about Azeroth, and now Naxxramas has disappeared from the skies above the Plaguelands. I fear the return of the Lich King is upon us." Verissi shudders visibly at the mention of the Lich King. It seems so long ago that her former life ended. Now the memories are flooding back, as are her teenage fears. Waldonnis reaches out and places a hand on Verissi's shoulder in comfort, but his expression is still solemn...his gaze still unwavering. "We must face him again. He must pay for what he did to you...to us. Perhaps we should return to the Undercity soon and speak with Lady Sylvannas. I have no doubt that the Dark Lady sees this as well and is preparing her revenge. The time is upon us to finally repay our 'Prince' for what was done to us and the citizens of Stratholme." Verissi smiles weakly and grasps her cousin's hand. "Your wisdom continues to comfort me, Walter. Our friends, both in the Clan, and the combined forces of the Horde will no doubt answer the call. The Sin'dorei commitment is assured at the very least, and I am sure that Lady Sylvannas will secure the assistance of Thrall." "Indeed, dear cousin. Our time has come at last." Waldonnis sighs heavily, pulling back his hand and scratching his head. "On to other matters. What brings you to my tent this late, Verissina? Surely you did not come here with that sullen look on your face for nothing." Verissi's eyes dart to the ground, as she breathes in deeply. She's not sure that she wants to bring up her dreams again to her cousin, but she knows that was what brought her to his tent. "I had another dream, Walter...and you know who was in it." Her face follows her eyes, as she hangs her head with embarrassment. She feels like a child that desires her father's return so badly that she sees him in every shadow. Waldonnis stoops his head to meet her gaze. "I know, Verissina. Since your dreams started, I have been researching and performing some rituals to determine what happened to him. We were told that he was dead, but did they know for sure?" Waldonnis pauses, obviously debating on whether or not to reveal something. Verissi picks her head up quickly and peers at Waldonnis. "Say it, Walter. What do you know? Do not withhold anything from me. I am not a child any longer and certainly do not need a protector." Waldonnis shakes his head absently and begins... "My uncle, your father, did perish, but they never told us what followed that. The campaign against the Scourge cost many lives, as we both know, but it was not only the citizens that were infected by the plague. Many soldiers fell victim to it and...your father was amongst those that did..." Verissi gasps, "Are you implying that he is Forsaken now? If that is the case, where has he been all of..." Ignoring his cousin again, Waldonnis continues speaking. "We both know of his sworn oath to the Prince...that stated 'in life and in death'. I'm sure you recall this since he never ceased to lecture us about a man's word and the value of duty. Unfortunately, he fulfilled his oath and continued serving the Prince even after death...as a death knight." Verissi's mouth hangs agape, a look of shock replacing her formerly gloomy expression. "I do know that this is difficult to believe, dear cousin, but please allow me to continue. There is more," Waldonnis states slowly. Still too stunned to speak, Verissi can only nod. Waldonnis continues, "We both know of the death knights, and of the devastation they left in their wake during those times, so I will not detail his actions during those times. What I wish to tell you is that he has become strong enough to break away from the Lich King's control. He will still face some difficulties, but the Lich King's will is no longer powerful enough to maintain control over the Knights of the Ebon Hold." Waldonnis pauses again, making sure that his cousin's eyes are fixed on his. "My rituals have all indicated one thing with certainty..." "My uncle..." "Your father..." "Tyrandius, formerly in the service of Prince Arthas in both life and death..." "...is returning." Waldonnis abruptly stands up, his cousins eyes still following him. Verissi is still too stunned to speak, but manages to close her gaping mouth and muster a dry swallow. She knew her dreams were visions, but although her cousin comfirmed what should be joyous news for her, it was also bittersweet. "A death knight...", she thought. Would he be the same father that she knew? Waldonnis walks slowly to the tent's entrance, opening the flap slightly and peering out. "I must be honest, Verissina. I do not wish to see him return and you know my feelings. I will welcome him back, as we are family, but I have no love for that...man. He may return and bring honour to our family and possibly the Clan, but he will never redeem himself with me." Verissi stands up and touches her cousin's arm. "I wish I could change your feelings, but the two of you have always been at odds and I do understand your position, Walter. I ask no more of you than you are willing to give, but know this: he is my father, despite all that has happened and all that he has done in the service of Arthas. My feelings towards him will not be altered by you or anyone. You are my trusted and beloved cousin, however, and even despite this difference in feelings that we have for him, I still treasure your council and the closeness that we have always maintained. I sincerely hope that will never change." Waldonnis nods and turns to Verissi. "Now it is your wisdom and patience that comforts me, Verissina." The two cousins embrace for several minutes. Having grown up together, they had always shared a bond that others in the family never understood. Despite this rather large difference of opinion, it was obvious to both of them that their bond was still quite strong, which was sure to be comforting in the troubled times that surely lay ahead of them. "Before you go, Verissina,", Waldonnis says as their embrace ends, "there is one more matter that I wish to ask after. Have you heard any rumours about the return of th..." "...Kirin Tor?" Verissi snapped quickly, cutting off Waldonnis mid-sentence. "Odd that you should inquire about them at this time. I received word from Rodala's sister that the protective shell that encased Dalaran had disappeared...and with it, the entire city. I could not believe this at first and travelled to the Alterac Mountains myself to view the site. Upon arrival, I was greeted not by a shell or Dalaran, but by a large crater. This is almost certainly a sign that..." "...the rumours are true about Northrend and the Lich King." This time, it was Waldonnis' turn to interrupt. He ponders the confirmation solemnly for a moment, then nods. "We were once favoured by the Kirin Tor as humans, but now I fear we will be less welcome as Forsaken in their city. I will seek Lady Sylvannas' council on this as well. The combination of these events does not bode well at all. Between Naxxramas moving, Dalaran moving, and the return of...that abomination in Northrend, we must prepare ourselves for the difficult path ahead." "I should rest," Verissi says wearily, changing subjects, and turns to leave. Pausing as she opens the tent flap, she turns around and looks at her cousin with a faint, but honest smile. "Walter, thankee for..." "No need for appreciative words, dear cousin. Rest well knowing that your dreams are coming to pass, but be prepared for the days ahead." Waldonnis doesn't return his cousin's smile, but Verissi is relieved by his words. She heads back to her tent and drifts off into a dreamless sleep for the first time in several weeks.

*points at Molox* Dinner...er...I mean...traitor!

I'm actually bringing up a warrior now (Romala) and will probably hit Outlands today with her I must say, I'm having a bunch of fun with her and plan on pretty much dedicating her to PvP, much like Toba is. And I sympathise about the computer problems. My main computer died and I've been playing on a back-up machine for about a week now....it sucks

I'm still waiting to see the implementation before making many judgment on how "useful" it will be, but I do plan on keeping some specs on the side for many of "me". I already have most of the talents planned out, but they're fairly obvious. Verissi: frost and fire specs (aka "damage and...uh...damage) Waldy: affliction and destruction (same) Adranna: shadow and probably disc By and large, the rest of me will not require a second talent build. Toba will always be more PvP-oriented, so I don't really need another spec. Kelani is in a similar boat, being more PvE-oriented, and Hoofie will never not be all the bear he can be And I have absolutely no desire to ever be ret or prot on Jary. I think the only other thing I might have a second spec set up for is the death knight. The most solid tanking talents somewhat hinder personal damage, utility, and PvP. He will likely have a heavier-unholy spec on the side for when I feel like mixing it up in Wintergrasp or just out questing/farming.

I know a bunch of people that are planning on doing this...and honestly, I very much discourage turbo-grinding through Northrend. Past games and expansions have taught me one thing: the sooner that people blast through content, the sooner they're complaining about being bored. That and most of the time, they missed out on some of the really interesting story lines and silly things along the way. To make all of that worse, they frequently end up sitting around at cap level waiting for their friends to catch up or having a hard time finding reasons to log in before raids/PvP start going (as people catch up). Burn-out is pretty common as well when folks do this (always amazes me that people will burn-out on new instances within a month...because they chain-run them so much so quickly). Let's face it, Burning Crusade sat around for a long while and I think we all know a ton of people that were just plain tired of having nothing significant to do...there's no reason to expect much different this time around. So, basically, take your time and enjoy the journey. This isn't a race. People level at different paces and all of those raids or PvP will still be there if you take a bit longer. Even though I've been through nearly all of Northrend already, I still look forward to re-experiencing a lot of it rather than just rushing through it. My main plan is to level a death knight up first, then take care of the rest of my personal army based on what I feel like playing at the time. I'm not looking forward to dealing with Outlands for the eighth time, but it goes quickly enough and I still do enjoy quite a few of the questlines. Northrend's quests are significantly more varied, so that's where most of my fun will be, though

That would be fun and I hear this one will be interesting (not sure how it'll compare to TBC's yet). Too bad I can't log in and find out

My addendum (didn't read Holy's post before)... Mages can blink out of icebolt as well, so there's no need to have a trinket as a mage as long as you keep blink off cooldown so it's ready if the time comes. Ranged needs to swap to the infernals ASAP. If target switching is fast enough, they'll drop like the rocks that they are, but you cannot let them build up. Also, Waldy's rule of Aneth: if you have a skull over your head, you should probably be doing something different. In this case, run like hell towards the infernal tank IMMEDIATELY. That doesn't mean "oh let me finish this cast/swing/special", that means NOW. The raid should also spread out reasonably around Aneth's tanking spot to avoid the entire raid getting hit by swarms at once. This fight is infinitely easier with shadow resist gear, but since it's doubtful that many will have it, do what you can to aid your healers and bandage/potion/healthstone often. ...and when you're running don't go hug another raid member. Get away from everyone if your mana is running dry. Some classes are extremely prone to mana drains like Kaz'rogal's, so always keep an eyeball on your mana. Warlocks are probably the lowest maintenance on this fight, due to lifetap, but don't overburden your healers by tapping frivilously. Ranged dps should be at ABSOLUTE MAX RANGE and all totems should be dropped outside of the radius of his rain of fire (he can and will rain on totems). Best way to make sure you're in a good spot is to start farther away from him and move in until you can cast rather than starting too close and backing up. The rain hurts like hell and trust me, your raid mates will be very grumpy if you get them rained on (as will the healers). This is also another fight where, if you get a skull over your head, run immediately to the doomguard tank. Loose doomguards can and will wipe the raid due to frequent stuns and just ugly damage output from them on clothies/healers. Warlocks should position themselves between Azgalore and the doomguard tank so that they have the best shot at soulstoning healers (rather than chasing after them). I have a macro specifically for explaining Archimonde. In a nutshell: Avoid doomfire by running in a STRAIGHT LINE AWAY FROM ARCHIMONDE. Don't run in a circle, don't try to side-step it...just turn around and run away until you KNOW it's not following you any longer. Stay 20yds away from fire at all times. Getting feared into the fire is bad. Standing next to fire makes that likely, therefore, don't stand near fire. Move as a group. I cannot stress this enough. You need to be in range of your decursers at all times (grip WILL kill you otherwise) and also near any tremor totems that are dropped for fears. Don't be Joe Freelance...consider your group as your own personal WoW gang and always roll with your homies. For the love of Thrall, use the Tear BEFORE hitting the ground. Cratering is funny to watch, but incredibly detrimental to beating Archimonde. Don't wait until the last second either...better earlier than later. After some personal testing, it takes between 0.4 and 0.7secs for the tear buff to actually apply, so don't think you can just hit it and instantly float. Also, trees can and will disrupt the Tear buff, as will soul charges or grip ticks, so be very observant of your surroundings/debuffs. The biggest thing to remember: this isn't a dps nuke-a-thon. Archimonde will die with the dps output of a new Kara raid. The reason it requires more people is because not everyone can be actually damaging the boss at the same time. Play it safe and you will win. Agreed on all points, although cc-breaking is less important at this stage...considering I'd be the only mage if I can make it Fear is bad, though...don't even think about using it unless it's an infernal (a trash infernal...not the boss-related infernals). Holyssa is correct about that 6th wave of Azgalor trash as well...banishing does work well, but positioning the banished felpup is key. Best strategy is to mark your banish target with a symbol as the pack is running towards the group (keeps tanks from taunting or dps from jumping all over it), but stay behind the tank. As the packs runs up to engage, cast searing pain a few times on the felpup to get its attention (it will likely resist at least one of these anyway). What you want is for it to chew on you rather than running to the tank while it's not banished (makes it easy to reposition him if needed). Once he's close, banish him and KEEP HIM BANISHED. Once NPCs start beating on him, he'll die fast, so you need to be making sure he's not free from banish for more than about a second. Ideally, you want him to die in the entrance gap, but anywhere close to it should be fine. Don't even bother dps'ing if you're banishing, since your attention needs to be on that hound (he will break banish early at times and resist banish as well). Once that next wave comes in and the NPCs engage, you're free to let the banish go, although I preferred to wait until about 30% of the next pack's health was already knocked off before doing so. ONE BIG NOTE: I'll reiterate something here as well that not many probably know. The bosses in Hyjal were NOT affected by the health nerf in 3.0.x. Yes, class' damage/healing is up, so that helps, but don't expect to see bosses that just drop when you sneeze on them due to lowered health.

This isn't really true. The icebolt CAN be healed through, but it's not easy and requires that healers stay on their toes. Either way, it's not a *huge* deal whether or not you have the trinket, but if you do have one, bring it (preferably the 2min Medallion rather than the 5min Insignia since he can and will icebolt the same target more than once at times). People will likely die on Rage anyway simply due to not moving out of death and decay fast enough, so an icebolt death or two isn't a gigantic deal. My take: don't worry about it, Xiris. One thing that I've never tested or even checked on is whether or not grounding totem works on icebolt or not...

I don't think you should read so much between the lines. There are several things that could be done that certainly wouldn't splash over onto holy or protection (GC's favourite phrase with DKs was "we have lots of knobs we can turn", and it applies here as well). Bear in mind, this isn't pure ret vs. pure prot vs. pure holy...there were and are several hybrid (but ret-heavy) specs that are working too well, one of which resulted in the JoTW change in beta to base mana. Prior to that, there was a hybrid holy/ret build that literally was incapable of running out of mana in PvP/Arena (and even PvE). This is the kind of situation that needs to be avoided and, although it seems like a change like the JotW change back then was a class nerf, it wasn't...it still provided something that ret needed while not wholly overpowering one specific spec. It's a complicated situation and I don't envy the class designers at all on this one. On one hand, ret continues to suffer from mana problems in all aspects of gameplay at 80 with plate itemisation (or leather, which is frequently better itemised...same with warriors). On the other, you have a class that has an insane amount of burst damage under certain circumstances that needs to be toned down. So how would you accomplish toning things down while buffing mana...but without allowing the newfound mana push damage back up? Also, ret paladins *should* be effective enough at healing to handle main-helaing normal non-raid instances, so one would have to preserve that as well (which means making sure mana is suitable, as well as "healing tools" being available that don't suck and fit with the spec. It sucks as a problem to deal with. Let's hope they cherry-pick rather than just killing an ant with an A-bomb, so to speak. Also, holy has many more tools at their disposal than you give them credit for in normal solo PvE. The base judgment array certainly makes for most of it, along with holy shock, but it's grossly inefficient on single-targets. The real strength in holy solo'ing isn't against one mob...it's against several at once, an area that ret isn't as good at. They burst down a single target, we whittle away many at once. In fact, I rarely use holy shock at all during solo times unless I'm only dealing with a single mob and have no hopes of pulling more at once. Ordinarily, I prefer to grab 4-6 of them at once...why use some 15% of my mana on one mob when I can use 40% on six? On the subject of judgments in PvE raiding, there are times and places...and honestly, it's a waste of mana to judge the advisors when facing Kael'thas. They die insanely fast now and there is enough time for mana regen so that even a wisdom judgment would be wasteful (light is arguable, but I doubt any of our healers are having problems since there's little-to-no AoE damage). When to judge vs. when not to judge is really more of a science than it appears to be when it comes to raiding and holy paladins, and ultimately boils down to three factors: TTL of the mob(s)/duration of the fight, incoming damage to the raid, and raid composition. A somewhat side-line concern of mobility also comes into question, e.g. can you be in range to refresh your judgment (frequently not, but it's also why Thaladred is a waste even if he lived longer). If you can't, then you'll end up judging again, which leads to more mana, GCD, etc. As for our conversation last night, Kadi and I were on TS talking specifically about solo'ing a 5-man boss. In those cases, you already have a 73 mob beating on you...do you really need additional incoming damage from blood? Not to mention that we're far from crit-immune and don't have sanctuary, so any holy attempting that will almost be required to judge wisdom just due to the length of the fight. Now on to the holy side. Honestly, the changes weren't nearly as bad as they looked on paper. In fact, they're quite fun once you get used to them and work them into how you heal. Infusion of Light saved Kargoch's bacon in ZA last night after a really badly-timed silence, for instance (pure luck, but it made it exciting...and gives me a reason to not choose haste over crit now). While I would LOVE the original Bacon of Light back (from beta...when it actually worked), the new Bacon is actually incredibly useful and lets me not have to stress out as much on thrash-happy bosses. I've also found it fantastic for keeping my own butt alive on bosses like Malacrass (Bacon on me, heal everyone else) which just means one less person to heal and removes me from my standard "me > tanks > everyone else" priority list. Could we use some changes? Sure...but there are still 10 more talent points coming, some of which will really round out at least my build quite nicely by adding crit and helping my "solo/PvP abilities". Oh, side note: I stand where I do for Kael for a very, very specific tactical reason. If *anyone* gets closer, it obliterates that part of the strategy and we end up with a much more difficult-to-position Thaladred. If you insist on judging, do it as he walks by or away from you...not at you...and NEVER get closer than I'm standing to him in the beginning.

Read my lips: No new ta...doh, my lips just fell off.

The spider was stunning your junk...huh?

I'll only cover the fishing achievements that aren't obvious (I think we all know how to catch 1,000 fish) in this thread, but I'll happily add tips to achieving some of the others if needed. I've done all but a couple of them on beta and several on the live servers as well, so I've tried these techniques already myself and can confirm that they do work. The Lurker Above This achievement is completed when you fish up Lurker in Serpentshrine Cavern (Zangarmarsh, Coilfang Reservoir raid instance). Contrary to popular belief, this can be done completely by yourself and by any class, with three caveats: a) you will die, b) you will be saved to the instance (so if you have an SSC run later that week, be sure to go in first when that raid forms), and c) you need to be in a raid group with 10 other people at minimum to even gain entrance to the instance. Please be mindful of others and wait until you're outside of the instance before forming your group. Best tip that I can give is to group with others that also want the achievement, then just take turns going inside. Getting to Lurker's "platform" is no easy task without clearing the trash mobs above and with the "fish that will kill you" in the water, but it can be done if you get a few important items. Things you will need: Water walking elixirs - available from the fishing dailies, your local alchemist, or a friendly shaman. Something that lets you fall slowly - Parachute cloaks, Skyguard cloaks, the slow fall buff from Noggenfogger, even levitate or slow fall will work fine for this.Note: Priests only need levitate to complete this (no need for the elixirs for them either). The reason for the above items/abilities is that you need to safely land on top of the water and stay on top of the water while you run to Lurker's platform. If you go into the water, the fish will eat you quickly, so you want to avoid that at all costs. Lurker's platform location is hard to describe, so I'll defer to other sources on that one (Wowwiki or BossKillers usually have excellent maps). Getting there with the above items/abilities is easy, however. Just use your water walking elixir/ability THEN slow fall down to the water using whatever ability or item available from the list above. Once you are at Lurker's platform, just fish from the Strange Pool until he shows his ugly mug Deadliest Catch Before attempting this, you need to do a couple of things before even trying to fish up the big hydra. First off, you need to have completed Nat Pagle's Measuring Tape (quest - starting point is the tackle box in Zul'Gurub). Once this has been completed, Nat Pagle (Dustwallow Marsh) will allow you to buy Mudskunk Lures from him for fishing up Gahz'ranka. You can bypass this by having someone who has completed this already purchase the lure for you (they are not soulbound, 1g cost). Once you have the lure, simply form a raid group (one other person will do nicely), head into Zul'Gurub, and find some schools of Zulian Mudskunks (pools are named "Muddy Churning Waters"). You only need five mudskunks, but that will likely take 2-3 pools' worth of fishing and most pools will be located near fish and croc packs. Sadly, water walking doesn't work so well for this, but DOES work if you can avoid attracting attention from the fish. Please note that even at 70, the fish do have a decent-sized aggro radius, as do the crocs, but if you can keep the water walking going, you can fish from the pools without much problem. With five mudskunks in your inventory, simply go to Pagle's Point (northeast corner of the "river" in the centre; has tackle boxes and booze jugs laying around by the shore), equip your fishing pole, and use the mudskunk lure...then get out of dodge before Gahz whacks ya Outland Angler The pools are easy to find in Outland, but here's a short list: Brackish Mixed School - Zangarmarsh or Terokkar. Mudfish School - Nagrand Highland Mixed School - Terokkar (Skettis area or Lake Jorune) Bluefish School - Nagrand School of Darter - Terokkar (rivers) Sporefish School - Zangarmarsh The Scavenger Most of these are easy to find once you're in the right zone. There is an exception to this, but I'll go more into that below. There are often several zones that each of the wreckage types can be found in, but I'll list where I've reliably found them. Steam Pump Flotsam - Zangarmarsh (lakes with steam pumps - best is likely the biggest lake in the zone) Schooner Wreckage - Hillsbrad (southern coastal areas by the murlocs) Bloodsail Wreckage - Stranglethorn Vale (southern end of the zone...can sometimes be found in Booty Bay as well) Waterlogged Wreckage - Stonetalon Mountains (Windshear Crag lake or rivers leading from it) Floating Wreckage - This is the exception, since it can technically appear ANYWHERE that a fishing pool can be found. That being said, I have reliably found this off of the west coast of Feralas. If you do not spy one after one pass, fish all of the fish pools dry and you have a good chance that one will respawn as a Floating Wreckage. Old Crafty Can be fished up anywhere that you can fish in Orgrimmar (Valley of Honor or Valley of Spirits). May take a LOT of catches. Old Ironjaw Trickier to fish up as Horde, as he can only be caught in Ironforge, but it can be done. Best area that I've found to fish reasonably trouble-free in Ironforge is the Fornlorn Cavern area, since it only contains low-level profession trainers and is very lightly travelled. To get there, enter Ironforge from the front entrance and head left. You're likely to run into some guards and resistance along the way, so it may take a few deaths. Once you get there, however, stay towards the southern end of the lake and you should avoid the one guard that patrols by periodically (there's a small ledge under the water that you can stand on there). I also recommend using /lay once you get into your fishing spot to make yourself a bit harder to spot for Alliance that happen to be passing by. You can fishing while lying down, so it won't hinder your ability to do what you went there for. If you do get spotted and killed, run back and wait a few minutes to resurrect. Alliance players tend to have short attention spans and will leave within 5-10 minutes usually (being formerly Alliance, I can attest to this). Fishing Diplomat Fishing in Orgrimmar is easy, but Stormwind is considerably rougher. Getting into Stormwind can be done via the front entrance, but there are so many NPCs and guards along the way, it is often extremely painful to do so. The better way is to take the Deeprun Tram from Ironforge (head right once you enter Ironforge to get to the Tram entrance - it's a portal in Tinker Town area) right into Stormwind. If you stay in the tunnel a bit, your PvP flag will drop, but be aware that you will be re-flagged on entry to Stormwind. If you stick to the north side of town, you can usually avoid guards easily and just fish from any of the canals. New tip: You can also fish near the Stormwind Docks, which can be reached by swimming from Westfall for this achievement...and avoid Stormwind altogether. Credit to the fine folks at El's Extreme Anglin' for that tip. Wrath of the Lich King Fishing Achievements Northrend Angler This will be available once Wrath goes live, but I'll list the zones here now so people have an idea. Borean Man O'War School - Borean Tundra (most often coastal waters, but may be found in inland waters in some cases) Deep Sea Monsterbelly School - Northern Sea (a special zone that includes all "way offshore" areas of Northrend). This type of school requires well over 500 fishing skill, so bring lures even once capped. Dragonfin Angelfish School - Dragonblight (river at the eastern end of the zone and Lake Indu'le) Fangtooth Herring School - Howling Fjord (inland waters and rivers) Glacial Salmon School - Grizzly Hills (rivers) Glassfin Minnow School - Crystalsong Forest (river in the southern/southwestern areas in the zone) Imperial Manta Ray School - Dragonblight (inland and coastal waters) Moonglow Cuttlefish - Northern Sea (see the note given above about this zone and fishing skill required) Musselback Sculpin School - Borean Tundra (inland waters and the lake near Warsong Hold, which is the most reliable spot) Nettlefish School - Sholazar Basin (rivers and lake in the centre of the zone) I Smell A Giant Rat The Giant Rat is a companion pet that can be fished up in an area of Dalaran called "The Underbelly". This area is the sewers area in Dalaran and can be gotten into from the openings located at the northeastern and southwestern corners of Dalaran proper. A Penny For Your Thoughts/Silver in the City/There's Gold In That There Fountain/The Coin Master All of these achievements can be completed by fishing out of the (very small and hard to cast in) fountain located in the southeastern corner of Dalaran. If you can't find it right away, ask a friendly Dalaran citizen where to find the fishing trainer - the fountain is right behind him. If people want tips on the others that I haven't listed, I highly recommend visiting El's Extreme Anglin' website and forum, where most of us avid fishermen hang out regularly

Eek!! Hope you feel better! We do have a piece of good news...Kael'thas has been killed Good job tonight, all. Kael's all about execution, so the health nerf and buffs to our talents only help us make the fight shorter rather than win it for us. That being said, let's clean it up next week. A dead boss is always a good thing, but I know we can knock him out with less deaths next time around. I always ask if there are any questions, and nobody ever asks any...but yet, I still see some confusion as to where to stand in each phase and so forth. PLEASE catch up with me privately if you're bashful about asking anything with the entire group around. There are lots of little things that we could be doing to make things go smoother (making sure folks are clumped up to catch mind controls during phase 4, keeping staff-equippers located well, safer healer positioning, and so forth). Sadly, I've been a bit under the weather myself and the strain of having to scramble for replacements tapped the will out of me tonight for going over the finer points...my apologies there. Positives, though, are that everyone has seen the fight now and understands the phases better AND we've seen the big guy drop some robes Believe me, after you kill him a few times, it almost feels like it's hard to mess up. We'll get to that point in no time at this rate...and whap Vashj as well. Side note: I'm one of those people that always tries to improve (both myself and the raid tactics), so don't look at this as a "glass half empty" post I'm very happy and proud of the kill...I just want more of us to see it while standing up and know we can do it with less chaos, time involved, and pain

Now on to Lady Vashj... I couldn't find my link to a video for this one, but Vashj is no joke either. While not the five-phase mess that Kael can be, she still has her tricks and the fight is all about controlling chaos. Individual performance is stressed in this one, so be on your toes. Overall, if we can keep things coordinated well enough, we'll see some folks toting new hats afterwards The Macro..test it BEFORE the fight begins: /use Tainted Core /y <------- TAINTED CORE TO: %t ! ! ! /s <------- TAINTED CORE TO: %t ! ! ! /script SendChatMessage("!!! YOU HAVE THE CORE !!!", "WHISPER", nil, UnitName("target")); Much shorter batch of tips for Vashj: Phase 1: Easiest phase. The faster we get through this, the easier it is on healing overall. With what I saw last night, this one should be very quick. Root removals and tank swapping is key on this one, so if we happen to have paladins this evening, you've got your work cut out for you with HoF. Druids can shift out, but watch your mana (I'm talking to myself there ). Worst case, PvP trinkets can be helpful for tanks if absolutely needed. Rogues, be careful about cloaking frivilously. You may get out of roots, but have it on cooldown for Static Charge. Use your judgment on when to pop it, but also be careful. Nothing sucks worse than being entangled and static charged next to your tank with cloak on cooldown. If you're asploding from Static Charge, move away from other people. Healers need to heal anyone with Static Charge as well (it will kill them). Phase 2: Four words: STAY AWAY FROM STRIDERS. Seriously, they're the biggest things on the platform..."I didn't see it" just sounds silly once you see these things (they look like bigger versions of Boglash or the Black Stalker). Never throw the tainted core to the strider kiter....ever. Melee on the platform should keep an eyeball out for loose elementals and finish them off before they reach Vashj. Don't ignore the strider advice when doing so, though. Snares, roots, curse of exhaustion, even netherweave nets (tailors, there's a use for those) do work on striders. Use them if we need them. Stay away from the front of the naga while they're being tanked (for melee and ranged). They have a nasty cleave that hurts. Shaman and druid poison removal comes in very handy for poison spit from the tainted elementals...stay on your toes. Have your Tainted Core macro ready. This goes for everyone since roles have not been assigned yet and you never know if you'll have to deal with a core. Phase 3: Don't stand in bad stuff. In this case, it's green, so don't stand in green stuff. Any remaining elementals, striders, and naga from phase 2 need to be killed off ASAP before dps swaps over to Vashj. Same notes about entangle and static charge as phase 1. This phase is not much different from that one, except for the green bat poo. Bat control folks...just do your best. It's a lousy job and they fly out of range quickly, but anything you can do really, really helps to buy more time.

As I mentioned last night, check out the video that Tamzin and her guild made on Kael'thas: CLICKY. It has five phases, and each has their quirks, so it's important to at least know what everyone's roles are in the fight. And believe me, EVERYONE has to be on their toes for this one...the Eye version of Kael'thas is similar to Magister's Terrace, but he ate his Wheaties since then and has a few friends along for the ride this time. My tips from past experience: Phase 1 - Advisors (part 1): THERE IS NO TIME LIMIT IN PHASE 1. There's no need to rush through this phase, so don't get stupid about threat and try to ensure that each of Kael's minions dies near where we want them to. Don't stand near Thaladred...ever. If we call for dps to be off, dps needs to be off. This goes double for the engineer when his toy debuff is on a tank. A toy'ed tank going into phase 2 usually signals a wipe. Phase 2 - Weapons: I found that having macros ready for finding the weapon that you want to loot is helpful (you'll need to loot them ASAP once they die, and a few of them have VERY tiny circles to click on for looting, most often at the hilt). Bow: /tar Netherstrand Staff: /tar Staff Mace: /tar Cosmic Dagger: /tar Infinity Sword: /tar Warp Shield: /tar Phaseshift Axe: /tar Devastation (nobody usually picks this up, but Mal might want to play with it this time) [*]Save a spot on your action bars for using the weapon that you pick up, and this goes double for folks that loot/use the staff. Some of the weapons have an "on use" effect which will need to be triggered frequently and some of those have limited ranges, so keep that in mind if you are responsible for keeping those effects up on tanks or others. [*]Tanks, be sure to move the weapon you're tanking out of the AoE pack right before it dies so that we don't end up with a pile of weapons in one spot (making it hard to loot the ones that people want). This isn't easy, but do your best. [*]Rogue(s) need to be on their toes, both for interrupts and that stupid staff's abilities. Phase 3 - Advisors (Take 2): This time, we get all of them at once, so prepare for funtime. Hopefully, we killed them in good spots during phase 1 They should die more easily now with the weapon effects in play. ALWAYS keep an eyeball on where you are in relation to Thaladred. The same rule applies about standing near him from phase 1. Also, if he's chasing you, don't run near Capernian...ever. Tanks that get focused on by Thaladred while tanking another Advisor will need extra healing, so healers should be prepared. Sanguinar needs to die before the end of phase 3...time matters in this phase, unlike phase 1. I'm curious to see what they did with Kael's pyros, but prepare for the worst (especially healers). Phase 4 - The Big Guy: Anyone with the Infinity Blade needs to use it on mind controlled folks ASAP and please, don't go buck-wild on your raidmates when doing so. I suggest wing clip (hunters) or shiv (rogues...be sure to OH-equip that dagger, of course). Also, remember that it's a "chance on hit", so you may need to hit them a few times. Don't spread out too much to make it easier to get to you for removing mind controls. Crowd control (sheep, traps, etc) helps as well in pinning down the mind controlled folks so that the dagger folks can get to them before they can do too much damage to the rest of us. Kael's shield...kill it fast. Stay away from any phoenix that spawns, but kill it fast (ranged). Phase 5 - The Big Guy Again: Avoid clumping up. Don't fly too high or you'll crater when you land. Lots of AoE damage in this phase, so healers will be busy. Help them out by doing your part with bandages, healthstones, etc.

*interface asplode*

Quick note to everyone... PLEASE get your add-ons straightened out as much as possible before the raid begins. Standing around for 30mins because everyone and their weird uncle has some obscure add-on breaking is just not the way any of us would like to spend the evening. I've had to sit in raids for that long while two key members of a raid fixed their broken add-ons...and it sucked for the rest of the raid members. I do understand just how broken some of this stuff is, so I'm not asking for perfection (my entireUI is trashed, but I cobbled something together that works today)...just hoping to see folks in a "playable state" so we can attack things other than add-on bugs and a few trash mobs Nope, when the continent crashes, it seems to do a mini-rollback (I've run into this several times now)...so just try again when you can get back in

You'd be amazed at how many things like this either hit the Asian market or are at least faked/publicised to them to check interest (or to get laughs, in the case of fakes). If it is real, though, it's likely an interesting spin-off product to a market that eats stuff like this up. The Asian marketplace for video games and gadgets is HUGE, even across the various countries...not just China/Japan. Hell, I just may try to get ahold of this for my PSP should it hit the markets...I prefer oddball games when I'm just sitting around early in the morning or right before sleep time. Also, Blizzard's service to APAC is awful overall (one of the reasons they get so many perks in-game) aside from certain parts of China, so it wouldn't surprise me if they wanted to toss a product out there that could be played without requiring a good net connection. What makes me laugh, though, is how quickly something like this would be pirated in places like Thailand, which had a 99% piracy rate a few years back. Our joke was that we estimated that only 9 legitimate copies of Windows existed in the entire country at that time, which wasn't entirely far from the truth. Blizzard may turn a chunk of a profit with something like this, but it's fair to say that it won't be nearly as good as the online subscription model in many ways anyway.

This guy was definitely the "glass isn't just half-full, it's overfilled" type. The old salvation didn't increase dps for dps classes? That's laughable...REALLY laughable and entirely untrue. The way I see it, everything given, aside from Bacon of Light, just means more mana use with ZERO help on the mana regen front. Judgments, haste buffs, holy shock/HL use (which he somehow talks about like it's a guaranteed crit every time)...all mana sinks over time. Also, I don't see any mention of scaling adjustments, since of course there are none. Oh, let's not miss talking about some of the older talents like they were actually good. Reduced mana cost on cleanses = meh. I have the talent now and really could care less. It was more of a "need to put points somewhere" than something I actually liked. Same goes for some of the others. None of them are "good" per se, and certainly not good enough to be thrilled about or actually go for intentionally. *sighs* I really really want to like the changes to holy, but I just don't. Bacon of Light (yes, I spell this Bacon intentionally) is probably the best improvement overall, but I'm not convinced it's worth the talent point investment quite yet. I also really want to see the bright side here...I seriously do want to, but it's just not there. Maybe this will be a case of "works out better when played", but I'm doubting that.

I've never really considered any of "me" as a main, so I'll continue to just juggle between them depending on my mood or the task at hand. I'll likely do most of my heavier raiding as a death knight, but they'll all eventually make it up to 80. I never really plan out how I'm going to do post-expansion grinding character-wise...I have so many in my personal army because I enjoy the playstyle change that each brings.