Rogue Talent Specs for 4.0.1

Welcome fellow Rogues!  

 Here are the recommended talent specs as provided by Aldriana over at Elitist Jerks.  If you have never been to the EJ website, then I strongly recommend browsing their forums. 

Recommended Assassination Spec   31/2/3

My notes: Most of my time using a Mutilate build has been spent in battlegrounds and arenas so I cannot say much about raiding with this setup. 

Recommended Combat Spec 2/31/3

My notes: My preferred raiding spec as well.  I have raided as Combat since my first forays into Karazhan.  I like Improved Sprint and Blade Twisting over the other filler talents if focusing on pure PvE content.  Blade Twisting acts as pseudo Crippling Poison as Combat Rogues will normally have Deadly/Instant poisons equipped without weapon swapping.  Improved Sprint is even better for getting OUT OF THE FIRE especially if snared which I get the feeling will happen a lot in Cataclysm content.

With the loss of Armor Pen, Rupture is back in the Combat rotation along with the new Revealing Strike ability.  So those that wanted a more interesting button pushing style for this spec apparently received his or her wish.  A bit of frustration may be found with juggling combo points by working RS around a glyphed Sinister Strike.  RS grants a 15 second debuff on the target so it does not have to be used immediately before an Eviscerate or a Rupture.  For example a rogue with glyphed SS with three combo points and no RS debuff on the target procs an extra combo point on the next SS for a total of five combo points.  Now the rogue loses the combo point granted by RS.  This can be avoided by using RS for the first combo point leading up to a rupture or eviscerate.

Recommended Subtlety Spec 3/2/31

My notes: I have never given the Sub spec a try, even when HAT was bugged in our favor in the early days of the WotLK content so therefore I cannot give any good personal insight to this spec and its rotation cycle.

Step into the Arena, Shrielkul!

Hi all!  Servers still down?  Looking for something to do?  A blog to read?  Well, here I am.  It has been about a month since my last post.   I realize I am not that prolific of a blogger, but at least I was posting at a rate of at least once a week if not two or three times a week.  Now my posting rate has dropped down to almost one a month.  Why?  I can come up with about a dozen different excuses, but the honest answer is a lack of motivation.  However, last week I did something I would like to offer commentary on.  Arenas!

For the first time in my WoW playing career my rogue has stepped in the world of rated arena play with the start of season 8.  I  joined two fellow guildies on a 3vs3 team.  Royji, a mage, and Popefaks, a discipline spec priest, and I competed in about fifty rated matches last week.  Our win/loss record was close to 50% which isn’t too shabby in my opinion for having someone inexperienced with Arena play on the team.  Thanks for the matches guys, and I look forward to the rest of the season.  Hopefully we’ll end up with some nice PvP gear and titles after it’s all said and done.

On the PvE side of things, not much news to share.  Due to work and other RL obligations, my schedule still only permits me to raid one evening a week or sometimes two depending on what I can get worked out.  This has really limited my time in ICC which so far is a fun and challenging raid.  My other level 80 toons I have, my paladin and priest, have sat idle.  They are fun if I want something different to do from my rogue, but they aren’t toons I really want to concentrate on.  They hardly ever see any raid action anyways unless it’s for the weekly that happens in one of the early WotLK raids.  My goal for them originally was to have those toons be raid capable to help out fill any guild runs so in a sense then, mission accomplished.

My buddy Raquoon over at Shield and Armor whispered me in-game about an idea for our blogs; however, he whispered this at about two o’clock in the morning which by then I am usually falling asleep at the keyboard that late so I didn’t get a chance to hear what his idea was.  Guess we’ll see during the usual raid time tonight.

Now where was I? Ah yes.

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone.  Work has picked up a bit the past few days.  The time I spend on the computer is pretty much spent doing whatever I can on WoW before I log off for day if it’s a work day.

First, I’d like to toot my horn by announcing that I got my priest alt to level 80 last week.  Finally!  This is my third level 80 character.  It also means I now have a toon for all three roles; DPS, tank, and healer.  My priest is a bit under geared at the moment as the LFG Dungeon Finder tool won’t let her heal H ToC5 due to her gear score.  I will rectify this after a solid week of chain healing the lesser heroics.

Also, I have a couple of “for fun” projects I have bouncing around inside my head that I would very much like to start putting down to pen and paper.  They are very much in the early stages of pre-planning, but I hope to set aside some time in the very near future to make them a reality.  I will let one slip that one of the projects is another work of WoW fan fiction.  The other I am keeping very close to the chest, but I hope readers and my fellow guildies get a kick out of it when they see it.

A couple of things have gone on both in-game and IRL that have not been fun experiencing.  Sometimes things just don’t go as planned, or catch up with us in due time.  The piece of advice that I try to go by is to persevere.  If things continue badly, then all I can say is at least you wasn’t this guy. . .

As December Ends

It has been awhile since my last post mostly due to patch 3.3 keeping me pretty busy, and with the holidays going on IRL as well.  I have to say that this patch has one of my favorite improvements in the game, the new LFG Dungeon tool.  It works great for all levels, and the teleport straight to the instance option makes things go by very quickly. 

I say it works great for all levels, but so far groups running the low level instances (Deadmines, Shadowfang Keep, etc) have been kind of rough.  The common issue I see is there are no dedicated tanks at those levels since no one has dual-specs and doesn’t level in protection trees.  The best chance for a good tank is the druid who is more often than not leveling in the feral tree.  Another issue more on my end is that playing an unfamiliar class/role ups the ante on the difficulty level.  I am currently leveling a hunter to play in the low level dungeons.  A combination of a limited spellbook and pet management (when to keep on passive/defensive) are some of the difficulties I’m having with the class, but I find the sound of gunfire in-game to be oddly satisfying.  I also equipped my toon with an Azure Silk Hood mostly because there’s not much in the way of head-gear with stats at these levels, but also for the aesthetic reason that it makes my dwarf hunter kind of  look like a Rifleman unit from Warcraft 3. 

Things are much better at higher levels.  Either players at this level are much more wise, or they are alts as evident by how much heirloom gear they are wearing.  My priest, who just hit level 79 yesterday, as benefited from the new LFG tool greatly.  I was surprised to discover that running random regular Northrend dungeons awards two Emblems of Triumph the first time.  Subsequent random dungeons only award gold and some experience points.  My priest alt, Shrylia, has exclusively been delegated to healing these runs which I don’t mind as I wanted the practice before attempting healing a heroic.  I am glad I did because I think I am just now getting the hang of priest healing at higher levels.  At first, I was trying to use healing spells like a paladin (flash, flash, flash, big heal), but I quickly found that not to be working so well as I was constantly going OOM.  I found a much more efficient and effective combination in Renew and Prayer of Mending.  I admit that I don’t research alts nearly as much as I do my main mostly because I don’t have the time, and they most likely will never raid.  I think my paladin saw action in Naxxramas twice prior to patch 3.2.

Speaking of the paladin, he has also benefitted from the new LFG tool.  He is getting some nice upgrades due to all the emblems he is raking in as a tank.  It takes him about five seconds to be placed in a random group as opposed to my main which takes at least ten minutes for him to go through the queue.  The only surprising thing about my paladin so far is that no one has mentioned that he is still using this.  Yeah, trinket drops have been scarce as ToC5 has been rather unkind to my paladin.  At the very least, if a trinket doesn’t drop for him, he will have enough badges to get one pretty quickly.

That is mostly this whole past month in a nutshell for me in-game other than rocking ICC10 and 25 on my main with the guild.  I hope others are finding the LFG tool to be just as useful and fun as I have.  I also want to take a this opportunity to thank everyone who has viewed my blog as WordPress is telling me I have been getting a lot of views lately.  Thanks all, and Happy Raiding!

Mythology Assaults Lich King’s Citadel!

    The battle at Icecrown Citadel has begun with Mythology leading the way.  The initial fighting began as the Argent Crusade laid siege to the citadel’s front gates.  Shortly following this action, small teams of heroes from Mythology accompanied Lady Jaina Proudmore through areas around the Citadel such as the Forge of Souls, the Pit of Saron, and the Lich King’s private chambers of the Halls of Reflection where the Lich King himself appeared.  Lady Proudmore confronted the Lich King alone as her accompanying champions were engaged in waves of Scourge led by deathknight commanders Falric and Marwyn.  The two deathknights were defeated, but the Lich King proved too powerful for Lady Proudmore, who called for a retreat from the Lich King’s grasp.  The Lich King pursued the escaping group through a hidden passage that lead to a deadend, but salvation appeared in the form of the Alliance gunship The Skybreaker. 

     Later in the day, the small teams regrouped into a larger force to begin an excursion inside the citadel’s front gates.  The Ashen Verdict, a combination of the Argent Crusade and Knights of the Ebon Blade master craftsmen, had secured a staging area just inside the gates.  Before beginning the assault, the heroes from Mythology along with the dwarf Muradin Bronzebeard, discovered a startling revelation, Highlord Bolvar Fordragon is still alive and captured by the Scourge.  The force then began their attack which they then encountered the liches Lord Morrowgar and Lady Deathwhisper.  After defeating these horrors, the strikeforce joined up with The Skybreaker to assist in the ascent up the citadel, but the Horde’s gunship, Orgrim’s Hammer, interfered by engaging The Skybreaker in an epic gunship battle.  The heroes of the Alliance won the day, but the action caused a delay in the assault’s progess.

    What other horrors will Mythology encounter as they continue into the Lich King’s sanctum?  Will they be able to rescue Bolvar Fordragon in time before he is Scourged?  Stay tuned for more news from the frontlines in the continuing coverage of “The Fall of the Lich King”.

Preparing for Patch 3.3

Many sources are saying the new content patch will come out tomorrow, and I mostly agree due to the fact that we have not had the usual Tuesday morning maintainance in the past two weeks.  There are a few things in the upcoming patch that I am looking forward to, most notably the change to Deadly Poison.  I will comment over the changes to rogues, and I will also throw in my two cents about some new features in the game.  My own comments will be in yellow text.

Rogues

• New! (11/17): Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.  This will be a very good boost to every Rogue’s DPS.  All those DP procs that did nothing but refresh the DP stack are no longer wasted.  This makes the weapon swapping add-on obsolete.
• Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.  A good change for those new rogues as it does give a better idea what new rogues are in for as they level.  After playing a high-end rogue for so long, going back to a rogue just starting  out feels strange when you have nothing in the offhand slot. 
• Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.  Another good change for beginning rogues.  Just to be clear of any confusion that may be out there, this change means every rogue now has same stealth as a level 80 rogue does now.  The first rank of stealth that is currently in game before this patch only allows new rogues to move at 50% of regular movement speed while in stealth mode.
• Assassination
  • New! (11/17): Improved Poisons: Bonus chance to trigger Deadly Poison from this talent increased.  This along with the previous noted change to DP is gong to be huge for a mutilate rogue’s overall damage.
  • Murder: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.  Another buff for mutilate spec.  I guess everything in the new Icecrown instances and raids is undead so have fun in their paladins.
• Subtlety
  • Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
  • Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.  These changes are due to the new rules about cooldowns in arenas.  I have never played arenas since I am a more PvE oriented player who causally spends some time in BGs.

 

As December begins

Today will be a quick post as the servers are still up this morning.  I agree with my buddy, Raquoon, that the next patch will be dropping soon since this is the second week in a row without the regular Tuesday morning maintainance period.  This will likely be my only week to test some changes I have made on my rogue.

I feel that my rogue has been underperforming as of late.  I am averaging between 5k -5.5k DPS on encounters where I am allowed to deal damage freely with very little interference from having to move out of trouble.  Now this is DPS is nothing to sneeze at and is satisfactory for the current content that is out there; however, I believe that I can do better.  One issue is that a couple of slots have not been upgraded, most notably my main hand weapon, Razorscale Talon.  Replacing that weapon will definitely give my DPS a good boost.  Until then, something I can actively do to increase my DPS is to look at my spec and gem choices.  I have made a slight change in the Assassination tree of my talent build by putting points in Improved Eviscerate instead of Blood Splatter.  This change has been augmented by more Armor Penetration gems than Attack Power gems.  I am hoping these two changes will see an increase to my rogue’s performance in raids.

I have logged onto my Paladin tank more often lately.  He is woefully undergeared and basically will stay so until I take time to farm heroics for badges.  This isn’t a big issue as I do not raid with him anyways, but it would still be nice to have a decently geared tank for backup.  I have him dual-specced into Holy, but the gear for that is in even worse shape.

My priestess, Shrylia, is still quest grinding it out on the final leg of the road to 80.  She is equipped with the +exp heirloom chest and shoulder pieces so all it will take is to do the quest lines for the Sons of Hodir faction to open up as well as the Knights of the Ebon Blade faction.  I intend for her to be a backup raid healer, but I have a feeling she may see more raid time as DPS as I am not as confident about raid healing.  That is if she sees any raid time at all as more than likely she will go the same way as my paladin.

Finally, I have been bitten with a small case of “leveling the lowbie hunter alt” bug.  The last time I tried a hunter it did not go well as I thought the first ten levels before you get a pet were down right awful.  I learned a few tricks though thanks to some videos posted by Big Red Kitty on the Project Lore website* and these tactics make the first ten levels of hunter leveling not only a breeze, but very fun to play.

*- The website is still active, but I think the guys who made the Project Lore videos have stopped playing WoW.  If you haven’t seen them already check them out as they are entertaining, especially their little trek to the Deadmines as Horde toons.

Twilight Vanquishers!

Congratulations are in order to all that attended our clear of Obsidian Sanctum with three drakes up!  Toty was the lucky winner of the Reins of the Twilight Drake.  The encounter was cleared after only four or five attempts through the use of a zerging (rush) strategy.  A special shout out to the healers and the raid leader for making it happen. 

One of the key things about this strategy is that absolutely no DPS can die to flame walls or void zones.  A crucial moment is the first flame wall as the first void zone comes at nearly the same time.  Melee classes need to be especially cautious as the first void zone seemingly targets them first every time.  The void zone can be very difficult to spot in the midst of all the spell effects flashing on the screen.  As long as the healers can keep the main tank up and the DPS play flawlessly with their movements while maximizing their damage output, then this strategy is pure win.

This was a great decision for the guild to attempt this encounter.  The achievement earned for clearing this is a major accomplishment as it is one of the toughest fights in the game.  So kick back, relax, and enjoy the holiday week, Mythology.  Let the celebrations begin!

Guild Event – Jousting Tournament

 

Saturday!! Saturday!! Saturday!!

 

Mythology Jousting

 

Tournament

November 14, 2009, Tournament start: 12:00 p.m. (server)

Argent Tournament Grounds in Icecrown

10 Gold Entry Fee – 100% Payout

 

Tournament Format:

            The preliminary rounds will consist of a round-robin format with jousters divided as evenly as possible amongst multiple groups.  Groups are determined by a /roll 1-100 done by entrants prior to tournament start.  Jousters who win a match receive a match point.  Jousters must win 50% of their matches in their group in order to advance to the next round.  The preliminary rounds will continue until we are down to 8 contestants at which the tournament format switches to a bracket style playoff.  Players will be seeded according to the amount of match points they have obtained throughout the entire tournament (any ties will be resolved by a /roll 1-100 with the higher roll receiving the higher tournament seed.) 

*In the event there are an odd number of entrants, the two lowest rolls prior to tournament start will face off in an eliminator match.  The winner will be allowed to compete.  The eliminated will receive a full refund of their tournament entry fee.

Tournament Rules:

            This tournament is only open to all current Mythology guild members.
            Each entrant is only allowed to register one character in the tournament.
            All matches will take place in the Argent Valiant’s Ring (far western ring on grounds).

Match Rules:

            Each match consists of one duel with the winner receiving a match point.
            Jousters start with mount at full health and max shields prior to every match.

Registration:

Pre-registration can be done by sending in-game mail to Shrielkul prior to Saturday.
Registrations start on the day of the tournament at 11 a.m. server which is done by sending in-game whisper to Shrielkul.
Entry fees are due @ 12 p.m. server.  Failure to submit entry fee will disqualify the entrant from competition.  No Exceptions!

 

Prizes!

            The prize pool, funded by the entry fees will be broken down as follows:
            1^st – 40%
            2^nd – 20%
            3^rd – 18%
            4^th – 12%

            The final four will also receive an uncut epic quality gem.
            The final eight will be awarded a flask of their choice x2.

            *All prizes will be sent via in-game mail after competition has concluded.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Hi all!  Just a quick post summarizing the weekend today.  I actually put a lot of hours at work in this week despite business still being on the stale side so my WoW time was kind of limited, but still logged in enough time to do dailies and level my priest.  I also went in some guild pre-made battleground groups which was a blast.

I have got the Argent Tournament dailies down to a precise science on Shrielkul.  The only one that gives me fits though is Battle Before the Citadel.  It is not matter of beating those Commanders in a joust, but finding enough room to fight them without aggravating other nearby mounted baddies.  The annoyance factor is increased by those scouts who take down your shields.  Maybe thats why I usually see people LFG for that daily even though on the surface it can be done solo.

My priest, Shrylia, is still quest grinding it out on the road to level 80.  Currently, she is at level 75 and questing in Zul’Drak.  The leveling is going fine with the heirloom shoulders and chest armor pieces combined with the experience boost from being rested.  The thing is though all weekend long anytime I have logged on my priest and started doing quests no matter what time of day it is I start to get drowsy at the computer.  It happens only on my priest too so I guess I am going to have to go out and find some NoDoze to help get to 80 on that toon.  My compliments to all those who have leveled priests as I’ve found it to be a long, rough road to the level cap.  I’m already looking forward to picking another class to start leveling just for fun.

Finally, for the first time in months, I have done battlegrounds again.  A group in the guild has started making pre-mades for the BG’s so I decided to join them for a couple before I went in to work yesterday.  I have never actually done full group pre-mades before, only just a couple of friends and myself.  A pre-made group in a battleground is a completely different experience, especially one equipped with Vent.  It was a blast.  We handily won a WSG nearly fast enough to get the achievement, and then won well-played game of EotS.  I look forward to running more BGs with my fellow guildies soon.

That is it for this weekend.  Some things coming up to look forward to is the in-game event I mentioned before will be coming up very soon.  I hoping to create some buzz with this and that will be something fun for everybody to participate in.  Also, I have another fan fiction currently in the drafting stages, but I hope to be able to post it Friday for everyone’s casual reading pleasure.

As always, thanks for checking out my blog!  Later all!