Will the folks at WarcraftEmpireOnline also re-post my blogpost saying that they are ripping my content without credit?
Acknowledge the use by Name and URL, or friggin stop guys. Its one thing to re-post, its another to call somebody anonymous.
This week a few friends left for new guilds, some went to new (old) servers, and one friend stopped playing.
Farewell, happy to have shared the time together. Will see you again soon.
The 3.12 went from PTR to live, and before I ranted about it having an affect on DPS I thought it best to at least try an instance. After all we’re all used to and accept that 60% of blog posts are rants about something. (I want to save my rants for politics and clams changes)
Well after a 10 man run in Ulduar I can say for certain that the Tier set adjustment from 10 RP to 5 RP is a nurf, and had a noticeable affect on my Death Knight’s performance. Nurf confirmed.
Q. But how serious is the nurf?
A. Not breaking, but easy to feel.
I’m guessing it dropped approx 250 dps, but don’t have a wide enough spread of data to back that opinion.
The real affect was the change in what abilities are used when. Previously I could sneak Death Coils in and keep Unholy Blight ticking easily, without too much stress. I could keep the Gargoyle well fed on RP at the same time as doing a normal set of strikes.
Not any more. Now I will learn to plan ahead a lot more in my Rune Power usage, and to accept that swinging with white damage hits is ok. Previously there was an ability to be clicked every time the GCD was available. Now I watch the regen of runes, to get my next best strike or power; and
I know that it was enough for me to think that I was not performing as well as I should and but good enough for me to still be worth taking along.
I should know, I get white line fever in spades. It goes like this:
You’re starting the fight, strategy pinging around your skull as the Tanks run in. First phase watch threat, second phase get the adds, etc. Your adrenaline is ramping up, and Omen ticks your name onto the meter. Combat begins. Fun; sweet blood-thirsty fun.
Move, strike, move, strike, strike, kill. Turn, new target, strike, strike….and it all fades to a white line.
Next thing you know a guildmate is screaming over vent, you’re up to your neck in aggro, and you’re standing in a void zone/fire/glyph thing. Damn it!
Whiteline fever strikes again.
It happens to most folks who get distracted for whatever reason, so this post is half confession of what I do wrong, and half call to action. Any screw-up in a run can be bad, and nobody likes to be that person. If you’re a DPS role and find yourself getting white-line fever, please read a few tips below on what works to keep me from getting too absorbed in the thrill.
Because I am an alt-a-holic with a short attention span….I started a toon on a server where I have no others, and was worried about the cash flow. Initially it sucked not having any cash for the 35-50 silver items that would make questing a little easier.
Now that I’ve spend a little while leveling Herbalism to around 170 and Inscription to 150, gold is not an issue. Some very cheap Glyphs sell well. 20 minutes of farming can make you 8-10g. For a low level toon that is a frigging fortune. There is no excuse for gold begging. Continue reading
There are a few comments on my blog about the “best rotation” for a spec, and a few times I’ve asked this question, often receiving a complex answer. So here and now I say there is no such thing as a fixed best rotation.
Critics: Huh, TyphoonAndrew you idiot, I always use [a][b][b][c][a], and it rocks, you’re wrong!
Me: No pal. That is just what works now when you’re doing a tank and spank. Read below for why you need to think deeper.
Most wow classes have a few abilities that are straight out fire and forget. Other abilities are better when used in a particular order, or used after a number of other affect have been applied. And a few quirky ones have internal cool-downs, shared cool-downs, and best used with powers from other classes. eg. Using Hysteria with Heroism is godlike, and Inner Focus with Devouring Plague is nice too.
This creates the expectation (and a good one) that you should use some abilities together in the “right” order and/or right time for maximum affect. This also means that as a player if you’re aiming for best performance, then you’re going to have to understand the abilities and how they mix, so you can best decide what to do. And that is the key difference between sayings a rotation is best, or knowing that a series of affects is optimal, but then being able to adapt to other situations when they occur. Those who just learn the a+b+c formula will always be limited by a lack of true understanding when compared to somebody who learns the detail of their powers.
For the sake of giving it a name, lets call this adaptive style of play Opportunistic Rotation; which is really saying the opportunity to use power with a set of rules that establish priority. Continue reading
I saw a YouTube video of the first part of the Algalon encounter in Ulduar. This is a major spoiler, but damn – it looks fantastic. I want to see this for my self one day. Hard work? Yep, I’m ready (but maybe not prepared…).
Never mind he’s hard mode only, or that we’re only 8 bosses in for 10 man. This is a true goal worthy of aiming at. I love the fact its damn hard to get to, and its even better that nobody anywhere has downed him. The enounter looks drool worthy.
Damn funny blog, in a silly way. Coffee with Sargeras. Has more good posts that you can point a stick at, and some magic in the same light of KT’s cat; and also some just strange mind bending stuff.
Go Read, I spent 30 minutes last night just scrolling through chuckling.
No major theme for this post, just a series of stuff that I found, saw, or experienced over the last week. Read more about bad pugs, WoW Ripoffs, Mortigen’s titles, and 10m vs 25m below.
MMO Champion has the 3.1.2 planned changes, (which are on PTR?) and one thing in particular pisses me off. [Rant incoming]
Death Knights
Why in hell change the RP return from the Tier 4 DPS bonus?
This is an awesome set bonus, that was valuable for all DK specs. The RP generation was not overpowered. Consider that every Death Knight spec has to use RP in core abilities in whatever role that are doing. RP generation is pivotal. For Death Knights its the same as mana, except we don’t get it for standing still in a passive manner, we need to use abilities to get RP.
The RP buff helped the Unholy ability Gargoyle a lot. It made Gargoyle a good choice, rather than a somewhat difficult gimmick. With a RP reduction the likelihood of Gargoyle being up for its potential full duration is lower, and that means overall dps is reduced. Most fights have movement, unexpected stuff, strange affects and that makes RP generation a tad less easy.
So DKs get a nurf in our current best gear, which reduces our contribution to progression, and in no way changes the expectation by others that Death Knights should be able to be a solid dps class. Its a nurf to Death Knights just when we’re doing the hardest content, fucking stupid.
(And don’t bother with a QQ comment on the blog, you’ll get deleted. The asshat knows who he is, and knows his comments never see the light of day.)
Oh, but wait TyphoonAndrew – your T8 bonus is increased! Isn’t that OK?
No. It might be nice to raise the dps on a set that almost nobody has, and I have no idea how good the T8 bonus is. But I know exactly how useful and diverse the T7 is, and thats why I’m pissed.
I suspect that the reason for this is that we’re all reading that DKs are better off keeping the 4 set bonus from T7 instead of T8 – so now they nurf one, and increase the other. Now that would be a really shitty thing to do, and basically a screw up.
Can somebody tell me where the justification is for this change? In detail?
Some tooltip information got changed as well for Death Knights, but only to reflect what we already read about in the last patch, so no big deal..
TyphoonAndrew's - Eye of the Storm 