Tanuviel's Casual Adventures

The Karazhan hurdle and other raiding issues

2007-09-05T14:43:00.000+02:00

I have not being raiding much since TBC came out. I was a more of a "hardcore" raider before the expansion. Then I got into a mild burn out phase and basically stopped raiding. It really was not for me as I was trying to balance RL with game life. Also, I really felt there was a disproportionate amount of dedication needed to actually beat the content. Not really in term of ability and knowledge of your class, but in term of scheduled time to play: if you had 5 hours a night for 5 nights a week to dedicate to raiding you were all set. You could apply and being accepted in hard core guilds and eventually move trough the content. Getting epics in the process was not an easy tasks as a 40 men raiding group take quite a bit of time to gear up.

With TBC and the introduction of 10 and 25 limits raid content the idea was to open up to more "casual" guilds the ability to access raid content. The fundamental design idea is that having a smaller group to organize lower at least the logistics barrier to entry as supposedly make the logistics aspect of raiding lees of a nightmare. Still, the progression is dictated by the time you invest to learn the fight and execute them properly. You don’t really need genius or very good players, you need time. In the current raiding system time invested = boss killing = phat epix. It is as simple as that.

So, once again, if you want to raid and see elite content, you need to be ready to invest "structured" time to the game. This is fine and feasible if you are able to strike a balance between this and your RL needs. You can probably devote 2 or 3 nights a week (which to me is still a lot of scheduled time) to raiding and see some content. Unfortunately, though, I still believe that in the current Blizzard design philosophy of end game content "casual" and "raiding" don’t go too well together.

I have been watching some recent videos and reading some interviews with Mr. Tigole from Blizzard. Tigole essentially explained how great is Karazhan as entry level raiding content and he explained this success by referring to the fact that lots and lots of people are running the instance. Basically, he says, Kara is a success because it is the most ran instance in the game and at any given prime time you will find most of the 70s in a given server trying to kill Curator or whatever. Great point, Tigole! Unfortunately, he forgets to mention that maybe it is like that because Karazhan is essentially a big hurdle in raid progression. You cannot access more advanced content because you will need the gear from Kara to do it. Not only that, but you will need 15 more people to run the following raid content. This is an issues for most of the guild out there, especially more casual friendly guilds, because in order to move from Kara to 25 men content they will have to keep two different Kara groups running at the same time within the same guild. This is not as easy as it could seem. In conclusion Kara is “successful” because it “has” to be like that, there is no other way.

Now, let’s assume that your guild is “successfully” running Kara with a stable group of player that have put the time and frustration to learn the fights and progress. Let’s also assume they have been even farming the place and now they are ready to move up the content, at least gear wise. They now need 15 more people like them. So, the only options available for them will be to either recruit more people and help them gear up – which will take a lot of time and dedication by the current people - or merge/make raiding alliance with other guilds. So what is likely to happen in this situation? In simple terms: Guild Drama.

When I joined my guild I did it because it seemed a mature group of people that wanted to enjoy the game and progress with a casual approach and a friendly atmosphere. Yesterday the guild merged with another - more hard core - guild in order to "progress faster" and do "25 men raids". As a stand alone guild we were not able to move away from the Karazhan hurdle and sometime we could not even run the 10 men for lack of specific class - namely healers - willing to raid Kara again and again. I still like most of the people in my old guild and I can't say how the situation will evolve. But there is a big risk that the more hard core elements in each guild will move further in the content, creating a progressive "gear divide" between them - who will be more and more geared up - and the rest of the people - who will feel more and more "class b" players and in the end will have to either leave to find other guilds at their level or suck it up hoping for a back up slot in the elite group.

Vacation Time!

2007-07-26T17:55:00.000+02:00

Finally, I am going on vacation for a couple of weeks! So I will not see much WoW or computers in general for this time. To whoever is going on vacation for the summer I wish you the best time! Will see you soon.

Heroic Gear for the Feral Druid

2007-07-26T17:49:00.000+02:00

Heroic dungeon runs are becoming more and more popular in my server. I have to say that Blizzard had a brilliant idea with the introduction of those and I believe heroics can be a very solid alternative or complement to raiding for the casual wow gamer. I have already talked about those in a previous post, discussing some general tips about how to approach them. The latest patch nerfed the heroic dungeon a bit – which I believe is a welcome change especially for the more casual player. They are not trivial at all as you might read in some of the forum posts, but they are challenging “as intended” and provide many opportunities for improving your feral gear.

There are two types of upgraded gear you can get from heroics: epic drops and gear you can buy using “Badges of Justice”. I will talk about both. First, we will take a look at the best epic feral gear that drops as static loot. Then we will list the gear you can buy with the badges.

The Drop Items

Feral Staff of Lashing (2H, +588 Feral AP, +36 Strength, +35 Agility, 300 Armor, +34 Stamina). This is a very nice feral weapon, on par with Earthwarden in my opinion. It drops in The Botanica, from Warp Splinter with approximately a 25% drop rate. If you don’t have Earthwarden you might want to go after this. I did already the whole grind with Cenarion, so I might not go after this one for now. I actually want a DPS feral weapon, such as Terestian's Stranglestaff, but that is Kara, so out of the topic of this discussion.

Mantle of Shadowy Embrace (Shoulder, 262 Armor, +39 Agility, +33 Stamina, +34 AP). I like this shoulder piece. It is somehow on par of Shoulderpads of Assassination, especially because of the gem slots on this last one. It drops with approximately 25% rate from Keli'dan the Breaker, in the The Blood Furnace.

Forestheart Bracers (Bracers, 237 Armor, +18 Strength, +18 Agility, +27 Stamina, +16 Intellect). Nice feral piece, especially for tanking, with more agility and stamina than Umberhowl's Collar. It drops from Warchief Kargath Bladefist in the The Shattered Halls, with approximately 25% rate.

Nightfall Wristguards (Bracers, 153 Armor, +24 Agility, +46 AP, +22 Stamina). Great DPS piece. It drops from Epoch Hunter in the Caverns of Time, Old Hillsbard Foothills. The instance is probably not one of the easiest in heroic mode, but if you are after cat dps you might want to try and get them.

Tree-Mender's Belt (Belt, 406 Armor, +27 Strength, +27 Agility, +22 Stamina, +21 Intellect). I really like this one, it is a great feral piece overall. For tanking in particular it gives you over 2000 armor and a good agility/dodge boost. It drops in Hellfire Ramparts, after you kill the last boss and loot the chest, with around 25% rate. Considering that Ramparts is probably one of the first Heroic you will do along with Slave Pen, you should definitely go after this. I know I am.

Girdle of the Deathdealer (Belt, 196 Armor, +28 Stamina, +28 Agility, +20 Hit, +56 AP). This is a great cat/dps item, better than any specialized blue you can get. It drops from Aeonus, in The Black Morass with a 25% drop rate.

Forestwalker Kilt (Leg, 459 Armor, +33 Strength, +26 Agility, +24 Stamina, +27 Intellect). This is another great feral/hybrid piece. It drops from Nexus-Prince Shaffar in Mana Tombs – around 20% drop rate. For tanking I think this is on par with Heavy Clefthoof Leggings, but for dps/cat and for a more hybrid/support role those are simply great. Unfortunately this piece drops from one of the less popular heroic dungeon as apparently Mana Tombs heroic is a nightmare. I have not been there yet myself, so I cant really comment.

Midnight Legguards (Leg, 305 Armor, +30 Stamina, +27 Crit, +17 Hit, +64 AP) is a dps piece with 3 red sockets. It drops from Quagmirran in The Slave Pen – 25% rate. Considering that you will probably do Slave Pen heroic quite a bit, these might be worth to take.

Barkchip Boots (Feet, 352 Armor, +24 Strength, +24 Agility, +36 Stamina, +21 Intellect). This is a very nice feral/hybrid item. For bear tanking I still like Heavy Clefthoof Boots, as with gems you can push your stamina quite high. But if you have already over 415 defense, Barkchip Boots gives you more dodge and AP, therefore more avoidance and damage/aggro. This piece drops in The Underbog, from The Black stalker, last boss. Drop rate is about 25%.

Shadowstep Striders (Feet, 240 Armor, +31 Agility, +30 Stamina, +54 AP). Nice dps gear, but to be honest there are better items you can get. Beside Barkchip Boots, you can try to go to Kara and get either … or … . But again, this is out of the topic. This drops from Harbinger Skyriss in The Arcatraz. The point is this is not a piece I will die for, especially considering the clearing of Alcatraz, heroic…

Eye of the Stalker (Ring, +31 Stamina, +60 AP) is a ring that drops in Underbog from the Black Stalker, 25% drop rate. To be honest it can be used but it is not really specialized for either tanking or dps. It might be used situationally.

There is a special mob in Mana Tombs that can only be killed in heroic mode, Yor. This special mob has a very low - less than 1%! – chance to drops interesting rings for a feral druid. One is Yor's Revenge (Ring, 190 Armor, +30 Stamina, + 20 Defense Rating ) it’s a great feral tanking piece. The other is Nexus-Prince's Ring of Balance (Ring, +20 Strength, +19 Agility, +30 Stamina) is another great feral piece. Unfortunately the drop rate is so low that farming for these might actually be simply… crazy, especially when you can get rings on par or better much more easily.

The Vendor Items

Here are the “Badges” items, which can be bought from G’eras in Shattrath City:

Cowl of Beastly Rage (Head, 423 Armor, +29 Strength, +26 Agility, +27 Stamina, +20 Intellect, 50 badges). This is a great feral piece. For tanking, it will be a good substitution for my Stylin' Purple Hat, for increased armor and overall feral versatility.

Mask of the Deceiver (Head, 283 Armor, +32 Agility, +36 Stamina, +16 Hit, +64 AP, 50 badges). DPS piece, more for rogues. It is not very distant from Helm of the Claw, but still an upgrade.

Necklace of the Juggernaut (Neck, +19 Agility, +33 Stamina, +22 Defense, 25 badges). This is one of the best neck piece for feral tanking. I still have Strength of the Untamed and this will be a nice upgrade.

Choker of Vile Intent (Neck, +20 Agility, +18 Stamina, +18 Hit, +42 AP, 25 badges). This is a great DPS piece. The + hit is a bonus for sustained dps in raid/group.

Blood Knight War Cloak (Back, 93 Armor, +22 Stamina, +23 Agility, +48 AP, 25 badges) A nice dps back piece, a little better than my Capacitus' Cloak of Calibration.

Everbloom Idol (Idol, Increases the damage dealt by Shred by 88, 15 badges) is a dps idol you can by from G’eras. It is a specialized cat piece. Not sure I will spend my badges for this.

Ring of Arathi Warlords (Ring, +24 Stamina, +23 Crit, +46 AP, 25 badges) is a good piece if you are after crits. Not so good for sustained damage. There are better dps ring in my opinion for feral druids, such as Overseer's Signet for example or – even better - A'dal's Command.

Ring of Unyielding Force (Ring, 294 Armor, +31 Stamina, +22 Defense, 25 badges) is a great tanking ring. This one paired with Violet Signet – which you should be able to get after a few Kara runs even if you don’t progress to fast – will contribute greatly to you tanking ability in bear form: you get armor, stamina and defense all in a nice package.

Finally, Bloodlust Brooch is a very nice dps trinket (Equip: Increases attack power by 72, Use: Increases attack power by 278 for 20 sec ) you can buy from the G’eras in Shattrath for 41 badges.

So, in conclusion there is a lot of great feral gear to be obtained by running heroics. I hope I did not miss any important piece. If I did please let me know. There are also a bunch of epic gems dropping in Heroics. I am not going to list them all here but there are many specialized for both tanking and dps. Also, I want to mention a great guide to heroics published by Tinker on the official forum. You should definitely check that out. Enjoy!

Azuarc's Alliance Leveling Guide

2007-07-06T10:59:00.000+02:00

It has been a while since my last post. Unfortunately Real Life has not been very generous in the last few weeks and I did not really have lots of time or inspiration to write. But, here I am. Anyways, back to the topic.

Leveling - and how to do it - has always been one of the most popular topics among WoW players, especially when it comes to alts and how to level them in some efficient way. For the Alliance side (the one I played mostly exclusively) there are a few guides out there to help in the process. One of the most well known – and free - is Jame's Alliance leveling guide. I have used this one in more than one occasion and it works pretty well, although it currently stops at level 60.

The other day, I was browsing the net and I found a fairly new Alliance Leveling Guide by Azuarc at Allakhazam. I just found it, so I can't really say that is actually good or better than others but I am intrigued by the fact that I have actually used other guides by Azuarc in the past and I have found them to be very entertaining. I remember - almost 2 years ago! - going trough his Noobs guide and his STV "hole" guide and I really enjoyed them not only for the useful information but also for his writing style. The guide is currently organized in a Prelude with general tips on leveling and 16 “Acts” to take you from level 12 to level 59. It is quite massive and Azuarc is planning to publish the next “Acts” for levelling in the Outlands. If you expect a super efficient “powerleveling” guide, you might want to look elsewhere - for example Azuarc does not use any coordinates reference system to speed up questing. But if you are looking for a companion for a more relaxed yet still efficient leveling process then it might be worthwhile to give it a try. I will probably do it with my new warrior alt.

The Build Mine: Druids

2007-06-04T17:45:00.000+02:00

There is a very interesting post at The Build Mine about Druid's Talent Builds. The author is data mining information about all the possible talent builds at level 70, based on over 30,000 Druids within the first million characters. You can check it out yourself, but what is interesting is that most druids are feral, followed by restoration specs. Balance seems not to be that popular. Within each main specialization, there is quite a bit of variety. Enjoy!

New Druid Blog

2007-05-11T17:10:00.000+02:00

I just wanted to welcome Maimed to the druid blog community. Eilianna has just started but the blog looks very nice and there are already a few interesting posts. She has recently respec resto from feral. It will be interesting to see the world from different druidic perspective. Welcome Eilianna!

Heroic Instances in TBC: Tips and Suggestions

2007-05-08T19:35:00.000+02:00

If you have done all the level 70 instances at least a few times and gathered already most of the gear you wanted from quests and static drops you might want to consider starting the exploration of the Heroic level instances. Heroic Instances have most of the same features and mobs of their normal version, only a lot harder in term of mobs power. What you get by doing them in this painful way is reputation with the main faction of the instance, an epic drop from the final boss and “Badges of Justice” from each boss. When you have collected enough of them you can buy epic quality items from a vendor in Shattrath City. Prices vary depending on the specific item you want, but you will need to do a few run trough an heroic dungeon before you can buy any of them. The design intention is to have end-game content and gear progression without the need of raiding.

First of all it is important to know that in order to enter an heroic dungeon each member of the party need to be at least Revered with the appropriate faction and get a special key to enter. Also, heroic mode is on a daily timer so you cannot run the same instance more than once per day.

Ok, I got that. But what practical suggestions can we provide here to the ones that are approaching Heroics for the first time? Here they go:

1. There is not really a difficulty progression among heroics. Having said that, there is quite a general consensus about the fact that some of them can be more easily accessible from a reputation stand point (Colifang comes to mind) and really easier to complete than others. For example on the easier spectrum there are places such as Slave Pen, Rampart, Underbog as opposed to Alcatraz, Mana Tomb and Black Morass. I also believe that your group composition make for a harder or an easier trip. If the objective is Badges farming, your best bet is probably to do over and over The Mechanar – 5 badges in a short (hopefully) run.

2. Group composition and Crowd Control is a key factor of success. What you want is a balanced group with enough diversity and CC capabilities. I have written a piece about the importance of CC and focused fire. You can read it here. Also, you might want to possibly run the place with the same group over and over so that you develop a “group thinking” approach and become more and more efficient.

3. Gear is very important. Before you go heroics, make sure you have already the best gear you can get from the normal instances, the quests and the other gear acquiring methods you have chosen to gear up your character. Also, make sure you have already in place the best enchantments you can get for the appropriate slot as well as the best gems you can buy/make

4. Out of the possible attributes you can value, stamina can really help your survivability in heroics, especially if you are a melee. Stamina is a better option than, for example, resistant gear as it is more generally useful regardless of the type of damage you are facing.

5. Finally, consumable play a role and can help a lot especially at the beginning of the learning process. Elixirs, potions, food buffs, etc. can all help significantly so make sure you have them with you.

In summary, heroics are an interesting - and somehow casual – end-game PVE content option to be explored. With patch 2.1 some will be fine tuned (nerfed) and the drops will be better. Also, the list of the items you can buy with the badges will be extended. This might be another good reason to try them out. Pelase feel free to share your experiences with the heroic instances in TBC.

EDIT: the day after this post, wowinsider posted an article with good tips on the topic. Also you can find a good guide here. Some similarities and some new reccomandations. Have fun!

Alchemy Specializations and me

2007-04-20T17:19:00.000+02:00

I have been an Alchemist with Tanuviel since level 5. This - like many other crafting professions - is not a money-making profession. If you want to make money, just stick with 2 gathering professions (mining/skinning being the most lucrative pair in my opinion).

I became an Alchemist mostly because I liked the idea to buff up Tanuviel for levelling as well as other characters I was playing with. Potions and elixir are good for everyone and some of the things you can do in alchemy are components of other crafting professions, and because of that they sell. Also I used a lot of pots in WSG battleground when I had fun being the main target of Hordes in my flag carrier runs. So when the expansion came out I just decided to stick with it and with my Herbalism gathering profession. In my opinion TBC offers – in general - improved crafting professions with the opportunity to get some decent gear through crafting. There are some very interesting BoP items you can make with most crafting professions – Alchemist’s Stone come to mind for example. They are still a money sink - especially during the levelling process - but at least you can get some valuable gear and/or enhancement out of it.

In TBC, every alchemist at level 68 and with at least 325 sill points can chose one of 3 Alchemy Specializations: Trasmutations, Elixir/Flasks and Potions. The specialization gives the crafter a chance to create 1-4 additional crafted item for a possible total of 5 every time the crafting is performed. For example, if you are making a Super Mana Potion and you are specialized in Potions, you have a chance to make up to 4 more potions with the same materials. In order to specialize you have to complete a specific quest for the specialization you want to specialize. Only one spec is possible.

I decided to go with Potions with Tanuviel, also considering the changes that are going to be implemented in the next patch. With the next patch, the usage of Elixirs and Flasks has been significantly nerfed, especially for raiders. In 2.1 the elixirs have been categorized as “Guardian” (defensive effects) or “Battle” (offensive effect) and every individual could only have one Flask or 2 Elixirs (one guardian and one battle) active at any given time. This clearly limits the future demand for those products. Potions, on the other end, are not going to be nerfed and overall I found that demand for Mana and Healing pots is still strong, as well as for the Protection ones. Transmutations are too expensive for my taste and they do not rely on Herbalism to be performed, therefore don’t optimize the gathering profession I have. Finally, the quest to become a master of Potions gives 250 Cenarion Rep, and every bit count in my journey to exalted.

Tanuviel’s Pre-Raid Cat DPS Gear List for the (almost) casual player

2007-04-13T16:52:00.000+02:00

Inspired by a great bear tanking gear list compiled by Amanna, I wanted to share the pre-raid cat dps gear list I am working on for Tanuviel. I know Amanna is currently working on a similar list and it will be interesting to compare what we come up with in the end. I did my research mostly using the fantastic tool created by Emmerald, the Feral Gear List, and other general resources. Where possible I also highlighted what additional enhancements (enchants and/or gems) I have picked for the items. Hope it will useful for some of you.

Head

Helm of the Claw is my choice for this slot. It is a solid DPS piece and is pretty easy to obtain. It is a reward for The Warlord's Hideout , a quest that requires you to go into the Steam Vaults and slain the final boss.

This piece has 2 gems slots. In the yellow one I have already put an Inscribed Flame Spessarite. For the meta slot I will probably go with Swift Windfire Diamond. This gem can be obtained turning in Spirit Shards in Terokkar Forest, and it is cheaper than buying a crafted one.

Finally, I have already enchanted this piece with a Glyph of Ferocity, obtainable by the Cenarion vendor at Revered.

With all this, the Helm will give the feral fighter 237 Armor, +25 Agility, +3 Strenght, +21 Stamina, +4 Resilience Rating, +30 hit rating, +3 crit rating + 120 AP and a Minor Run Speed Increase. Not bad for just one piece.

Neck

My choice here is Natasha's Pack Collar. This is a very good feral piece obtainable by completing the chain that starts with Damaged Mask in Blade's Edge Mountains. The first steps of the chain can be soloed, but then you need at least a partner. I did the whole chain with a fellow druid and we were able to finish it with no major problems. One other reason you want to do this chain is that it gives you Cenarion reputation.

Shoulder

I went for Expedition Scout's Epaulets, a quest reward for Fel Embers, in Shattered Halls. I will put an Inscription of the Blade on it for a +13 crit rating, but I am still not honored with my friends, The Scryers.

Back

For this slot I really like Capacitus' Cloak of Calibration, a piece of gear with all 3 the main feral stats. It can be found in The Mechanar, from the Cache of the Legion that you can open after killing the 2 miniboss. Drop rate seems to be around 15%... Once I get this I will go with a Greater Agility enchant for a +12 Agi bonus on it.

Waiting for the drop, an alternative is the Nomad's Woven Cloak, a quest reward for an elite quest in Nagrand, Bring Me The Egg!. I did this quest at 70 and with flying form the only hard part is the final elite fight.

Chest

I bought a Chestguard of the Talon from the AH. For around 50g you can get a very good feral piece. I actually use this also for tanking 5 men instances. I still need to enchant it, and will go for an Exceptional Stats enchant. This is not a really cheap enchant, but +6 to all stats is a good enhancement for the feral fighter.

Wrists

I have Spymistress's Wristguards for this slot. It is a quest reward from a short chain in Shadow Lab. As you will probably do this instance anyways for Kara attunement you might as well do this quest and get the piece. I put Enchant Bracer – Brawn and Don Amancio's Heart in the gem slot. In cat form this piece only gives me +68 AP.

I also really like Ferocious Bands, a green reward for Escape from the Staging Grounds a quest in Netherstorm. It is probably one of the best feral piece for the slot. I did this quest and it is easily soloable at 70.

Hands

The piece that I like the most is Gloves of the Unbound, a drop from Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates in the Alcatraz. Drop rate is around 19%. Here you can put gems such as Don Amancio's Heart and boost AP significantly.

I was also very lucky in my very first The Black Morass run, and a pair of Handgrips of Assassination dropped. I am currently using this for dps, enhanced by Enchant Gloves - Major Strength.

Before the drop, I did buy and use a pair of Fel Leather Gloves.

Waist

Socrethar's Girdle seems one of the best dps item for the slot. It is the end of a quest chain that starts from Manaforge B'naar and then move to Kick Them While They're Down and finally you get the item after completing Turning Point. I will go after this soon.

I also like Kirin'Var Scout's Belt, a green reward for another chain quest in Netherstorm.

Legs

The best dps piece for this slot is definetly Clefthoof Hide Leggings. This is a quest reward for a chain quest in Blade's Edge Mountains. For the final 2 steps of the quest line you will need a group. I did this with a rogue, a mage and a priest with me tanking, all level 70. We did not have any problem completing it. If you are serious about cat dps this is a must have piece.

Once I got them, I looked for a leatherworker and bought a Cobrahide Leg Armor. Be prepared, this is not a cheap enhancement. I spent 120g for it. But the + 40 AP and the + 10 Crit rating make a difference.

Feet

For this slot I bought a pair of Fel Leather Boots and I am using them right now with basic gems. I really want to test these in instances as the lack of Stamina is a concern for me. Even if you are dpsing, in many boss encounters you will need HP and this piece does not help much. For solo grinding is great.

As an alternative more instancing oriented I like The Master's Treads, a BoE item that I should look for in the AH. I am sure it is not going to be cheap, but it looks like a solid alternative.

If you want to try and go Hellfire Ramparts, Heroic there is also Silent-Strider Kneeboots, a drop from Omor the Unscarred.

My enchantment of choice for this slot is Enchant Boots – Dexterity.

Rings

One of the best feral dps ring is Overseer's Signet. The problem with this is that it is only available to Aldor faction, so unfortunately I can’t have it.

A solid alternative is Acrobat's Mark of the Sha'tar, quest reward for a chain in Shadowmoon. The quest line starts from a drop, The Journal of Val'zareq dropped by Val'zareq the Conqueror. I have not done this quest yet so I can’t really give any particular suggestion on this one.

If you are aiming for an epic piece, A'dal's Command is for you. It provides a great combination of feral stats. The only problem is that you need to be Exalted with The Sha’tar, and that is a pretty long journey I am afraid.

Another good dps piece to go after is Slayer's Mark of the Redemption, a quest reward from a chain starting with The Path of Conquest, in Shadowmoon valley.

Finally, there is also a green quest reward to be considered while working on better gear, Protectorate Assassin's Ring. The quest starts from a drop, the Vial of Void Horror Ooze, from an elite mob Congealed Void Horror in Netherstorm.

Trinkets

One of the best dps in the game is currently Hourglass of the Unraveller. This is a 17% drop from Temporus in The Black Morass. I did a few run of this instance for Kara attunement, but I was not lucky enough. I will probably have another chance while helping guildies in the attunement process.

I do have Bladefist's Breadth, a reward from the quest Overlord in Hellfire, and Abacus of Violent Odds, a 13.5% drop from Pathaleon the Calculator, the final boss in The Mechanar.

My objective thought is Alchemist's Stone, one of the best trinket for any feral fighter.

Feral Weapon

A very good feral dps weapon is Dreamer's Dragonstaff. This beauty drops with 14.9% from Thorngrin the Tender in The Botanica. I will definetly go after this soon.

In the meantime, I am currently working on the final step of the chain quest that starts from The Ethereum in Netherstorm. I am at the final step and I just need a team to complete it. The reward is Fleshling Simulation Staff, great dps weapon in my opinion, especially for instancing dps.

Wildcaller is another great quest reward weapon that I will probably go after. The quest chain is in Shadowmoon and it starts from Karabor Training Grounds. Once this chain is completed, there are 3 follow ups: Against All Odds, Against the Illidari, and Against the Legion. Once you have completed those, you can go on with Illidan's Pupil. Then you will be sent to The Shadow Lab to kill Blackheart the Inciter and retrive The Book of Fel Names. Finally you will have to assemble a team for the very last piece of the chain, Varedis Must Be Stopped. A lot of work, but the reward is outstanding.

For a pure dps feral weapon I will go with Enchant 2H Weapon – Savagery. This will give you +70 AP. Enchant 2H Weapon - Major Agility is another option, but it is more expensive and I would put this on a tanking weapon instead, such as Earthwarden.

Idol

The all-purpose feral idol of choice is Idol of the Wild. If you don’t have this one yet you have to go get it. It is a reward from a early quest in Hellfire, Colossal Menace. This is probably the idol you will keep equipped most of the time.

For specialized dps actions you might also want to consider the following ones.

The Idol of Feral Shadows will add damage to your Rip ability. This is really very situational as you will probably use Rip only during boss fight in instances and raids. This idol drops with 17.6% prob from Zereketh the Unbound, the void boss in the Alcatraz.

The Idol of Savagery will add damage to your Claw and Rake abilities. Like most feral druids, I basically retired Claw as with the same energy cost I can use Mangle. I use Rake quite a bit thought both for quick combo point building and bleeding damage. To get this idol you need to do some World PvP action in order to obtain Mark of Honor Hold.

Final Comments

I really hope this list will help someone else in the gearing process for higher end content. I am aware that the items mentioned in here might not necessary be the absolute best you can get, but are definetly a great starting point for the casual player. I also wanted to give some indication about enanchements for your gear as they play a big role in optimizing results. Your feedback and comments are more than welcome.

Game Mechanics: Primary Attributes for the Feral Fighter

2007-04-12T19:24:00.000+02:00

For the feral fighter the 3 main attributes are Strength, Agility and Stamina. The first thing to remember is that certain feral talents will have an effect on how those attributes work and therefore this should be considered in choosing your gear. Lets see how.

Strength

Strength is directly related to the attack power and therefore to the damage inflicted by your attacks. Each point of Str increases the melee attack power by 2 in all forms. So for example, 7 points of Str translate into 14 attack power which is equal to 1 DPS of white damage. Simply put, more attack power equal more damage.

There are two feral talents that have an impact on strength and other attributes. Hearth of the Wild (HotW) increases Str by 20% in cat form and Survival of the Fittest (SotF) increases Str (and other attributes) by 3% in all feral forms. What this mean is that if you are a feral fighter, each point of Str will actually give you a bigger contribution to attack power than the general 2 points. In particular the cat form is where you get the most out of it: 1 Str = 2,472 AP. In bear form the effect is minimal: 1 Str=2,06. The logical conclusion is that it is more convenient as a feral fighter oriented to a cat/dps role to invest in Str as oppose to direct AP.

Agility

Agility is another very important attribute for the feral fighter, for both tanking and dps. Agility affects a number of factors:

Increases the druid armor (1 Agi = 2 Armor). This is clearly a plus, especially for tanking even thought the armor contribution is not affected by bear armor multiplier.
Increases the chance to score a critical hit (25 Agi = 1% Crit). This is of course important for dps, but for tanking as well as more damage helps keep aggro on you. Also, critting will proc Improved Leader of The Pack, for a 4% of the total health healing. Not bad.
Increases the chance to dodge significantly (14.5 Agi = 1% dodge). Important for every melee fighter, but for tanking it is particularly important.
Finally, Agi add directly to AP in cat form: when in cat 1 Agi = 1 AP.

Stamina

Stamina simply adds hit points to the feral fighter and it is a key attribute for bear tanking. In general, 1 Sta = 10 Hit Points, but once again the feral talents helps boosting the health contribution of this attribute.

Hearth of the Wild (HotW) increases Sta by 20% in bear form and Survival of the Fittest (SotF) increases Sta (and other attributes) by 3% in all feral forms. What this means is that while in bear form (+25% Sta), and with both those feral talents each point of Sta is equal to 15.45 HP.

In conclusion all 3 attributes are very important to the feral fighter, but it is also important to understand how the forms and the special feral talents work with them in order to maximize their contribution and chose items and enchants accordingly.

I can now fly high and fast

2007-04-11T16:02:00.000+02:00

So, I did it. I gathered all the financial resources I could and bought the epic flying skill and mount. It is fantastic! In my previous post I was wondering about spending 5.200g for it, but now that I can go arount the outlands at the speed of light I really think it was worthed. The gold came mostly from farming herbs, selling pots and cloths, disenchanting boe crap and selling enchanting material (my retired mage does that). Another big help came from questing gold reward. In my levelling process I basically skipped many quests in Nagrand and all the ones in the higher zones such as Shadowmoon Valley. Doing quests at 70 can be a very lucrative thing to do as you can average around 10-12g per turn ins in additions to the drops involved in the process. Now I am broke, but the increased movement speed allows me to gather herbs and questing much faster. The questing efficiency is something I did not considered in its full potential.

How do you go after gear?

2007-04-10T16:48:00.000+02:00

Once you hit your level cap in WoW, the only way for your character to improve is by acquiring new and more powerful gear. With improved gear comes more power and opportunities for advancement. Unfortunately getting gear is not always easy and it requires “resources” – the main resource to put in is usually your time, but gold and luck play a role too. But it also requires a plan.

So once I hit 70 with Tanuviel, I thought about what kind of character I wanted to be and what kind of items/gear I would therefore need to best accomplish my game goals. Out of the 3 main roles a druid can play in this game (caster, healer, feral fighter) I wanted to be a feral fighter and therefore I would have to go after gear that would help me accomplishing the tanking/dps roles the best. I also thought that I would first go after bear tanking items, as I love to tank in instances and it is actually easier to find a spot in a group if you are willing and able to tank.

So, I started thinking about what type of items were there for me and for my role as feral fighter. The interesting thing is that in doing this exercise I found myself screening the items not only based on their intrinsic characteristics (armor, stats, bonuses, etc. ), but mostly based on their acquisition mechanisms, the way by which I could actually get the gear. So I tried to identify all the possible Gear Acquisition Mechanisms and I ranked them based on my personal preference, a mix of criteria that include fun, known results, accessibility, cost, time spent in repetitive grinding, etc. Nothing objective, but I found it useful and wanted to share.

1. Quest Rewards
This is by far my preferred way to go after the gear I need. Not only because it gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you finally get the item, but also because you can actually have fun doing it. The quest chains can be very long and require different steps, but the reward is there for you when you finally complete them, it is not just a random thing. You are in charge. You know what it takes and you can reasonably go after it and expect to finally get what you wanted. Most of the items Tanuviel is using are quests rewards: Staff of Beasts, Supple Leather Boots, Ash Tempered Legguards, Manimal's Cinch, Umberhowl's Collar, Verdant Gloves and more.

2. Buying form the AH
Buying BoE gear from the AH or from other player is a very convenient way to acquire gear. It is like going shopping. There are two main variables here: availability and cost. Some world drops as well as some crafted items are pretty rare and can be very expensive. I did buy a few items for Tanuviel: Heavy Clefthoof Vest (for tanking), Chestguard of the Talon (for soloing/dps), Braxxis' Staff of Slumber, Stylin' Purple Hat. I am thinking about completing the Clefthoof set (legs and boots) and test it in bear form to see if it is actually better than the other pieces I have already.

3. Crafting
Crafting items can be a good and some how fun acquiring mechanism. Crafting a rare or epic item can actually be considered a sort of quest. The other side of the coin – the hard one - is that usually crafting a rare/epic item requires either a hard-to-get recipe or a hard-to-get set of mats which in turn require luck and/or time for farming rep, mats, or gold or a combination of those. For example, Tanuviel is an Herbalist/Alchemist so there is not much crafting there. Still, one of the items in the radar for him is the Alchemist's Stone. This is a very good feral item for the trinket slot. Unfortunately to get the recipe you need to be Revered with The Sha'tar and the mats will probably cost over 500g.

4. Reputation Rewards
Reputation rewards can be an interesting way to get gear your character. It can take a long time to get to the required level, but you know that if you get there you will have what you want. The key here I believe is to chose wisely and focus your effort. You cannot efficiently please all these weird people in Azeroth! For example, for Tanuviel I am currently focused on The Sha’tar for the Alchemist’s Stone, but mostly I am after Cenarion rep for Earthwarden. I will post something in the near future about this.

5. Battleground PvP Rewards
I did some PvP with the new honor system introduced with 2.0 and it is fun and you can get some interesting gear with your earned honor points. For Tanuviel I am strongly considering Grand Marshal's Dragonhide Spaulders, particularly because of the lack of significantly better alternatives for the shoulder slot. In addition, the gems will help in making those even more “feral”. The Arena rewards are really outstanding, but I do not see myself competing with the pros for that type of items.

6. Drops from Bosses
This one I don’t like too much because it really depends on luck: you can run an instance 100 times and never get the item you need. If you are lucky good for you, but chance are you will have to do the same thing over and over again – and this is poor design and not a fun thing to do. But I do have a couple of items in this category: Thoriumweave Cloak and Iron Band of the Unbreakable. I will run the instances where the bosses that drop those are, but I dont want to do it over and over again.

7. Raiding
This is currently my least preferred category of gear acquiring mechanism, but unfortunately the only way to progress in the game after a certain point. Hard core raiding with the current system requires a lot of time commitment, organization and preparation. I used to be in a hardcore raiding guild with my now retired mage but I don’t think I want to do that again. Having a second job in a virtual world it is not really my idea of a “fun” thing to do. By the way, I really don’t understand Blizzard for developing content that most of their customer will never see… but this is a different topic. I sure dream about Tier 5, 6, 7 etc… and maybe I will get a few pieces with a casual raiding schedule, but most likely I will not see many of these. And I am fine with that. Something raid-content related that I am after with Tanuviel thought is the Violet Signet . This is actually a quest reward you get when you become friendly with The Violet Eye, which should be done in the attunement process for Karazhan. After that we will see.

Back to the Outlands

2007-04-10T13:34:00.000+02:00

After a short break, here I am, back to Azeroth. If you ever want to take a serious break from your virtual and RL adventures I would strongly recommend the Maldives: a little paradise on earth, that vaguely remind me the coast along Tanaris, only with better food.

Getting Married, In Real Life

2007-03-23T19:00:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, March 24th 2007 I will be getting married. It is a big deal and I can't really explain how happy I am. The day after my wife and I will leave for our honeymoon. The Maldives are waiting for us. So for a couple of weeks I will not be posting on my blog. I will be busy with other matters. :) I hope to see you when I am back, as a married man.

Instancing: Crowd Control

2007-03-22T15:00:00.000+01:00

I have been doing some instance with my guildies recently. We went to Shattered Halls and Steamvaults and I think I never wiped in a 5 men instance so much as we did in those runs. I have done Steamvaults a few times before and even with the worst pug I was able to progress more smoothly than with my guild group. No, the problem is not that they (we) suck, but the problem was group composition and almost non existent crowd control. Instead of filling the party with a balance of classes that could provide Crowd Control utility we insisted in trying anyways and the repair bill went up. Brutally.

Crowd Control (CC) is more than ever a very important aspect of every instance. It has always been important, but now with places that require 6-7 mobs pulls and possibly Heroic instances you really need to make CC not an art, but a science. So, I would like to analyze what kind of CC tools are there.

In this examination, I am not considering short term stuns and incapacitating attack as they are not really reliable in order to accomplish what CC is suppose to do: reducing the effectiveness of the opponent force by keeping one or more of them out of combat for a significant amount of time. Now, what significant means depends on how fast your group is in taking advantage of the reduced strength of the opponents, but for the sake of the discussion let's say that anything that last less than 10 seconds it is not a reliable form of CC.

Also, a separate discussion could be done for types of CC based on fear effects, as the option of using this forms of CC is subject to the possible risks of aggroing additional mobs.

Finally, off-tanking (OT) cannot really be considered CC in this discussion as in reality even if can be used to keep opponents busy and hence out of combat, it requires the full use of at least one party member - or a pet - and most likely healing resources and therefore it does not provide a significant competitive advantage.

So let's see what each class has to offer.

Mage

Polymorph. Transforms the enemy into a sheep - or some other nice farm animals such as pigs, cows and… turtles - , forcing it to wander around for up to 50 sec. While wandering, the sheep cannot attack or cast spells but will regenerate very quickly. Any damage will transform the target back into its normal form. Only one target can be polymorphed at a time. Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters. In my opinion, this is by far the most efficient and effective CC tool in the market. Longest duration, can be done and redone in and out of combat, and it is effective on both humanoids and beasts, which are possibly the most common type of mobs around. Simply put, the Ferrari of the CC. This is also one of the reason why I think a mage should always be in a balanced instance group: not for dps, but for CC utility.

Rogue

Sap. Incapacitates the target for up to 45 sec. Must be stealthed. Only works on Humanoids that are not in combat. Any damage caused will revive the target. Only 1 target may be sapped at a time. Now this one it is really effective with the talent Improved Sap, which allows the rogue to return to stealth mode after hitting the mob. In combination with Polymorph, this can really shine in giving you a distinctive advantage, providing a long and reliable CC effect. Unfortunately it only works on Humanoids and can only be used before the pull, with out of combat mobs.

Rogues can also use Blind as a very temporary CC tool. It is usually used in PVP and to be honest I have never seen this one used extensively for instance runs, but it can be done. This ability blinds the target, causing it to wander disoriented for up to 10 sec. Any damage caused will remove the effect.

Hunter

Freezing Trap. Place a frost trap that freezes the first enemy that approaches, preventing all action for up to 20 sec. Any damage caused will break the ice. Trap will exist for 60 sec. Only one trap can be active at a time. Now, I like this one a lot. It works on any type of mobs, plus with recent changes it can be done and redone during combat. The only problem is that the cooldown is 30 seconds and the duration is 20 seconds. I think there are talents in the Survival path thought that can increase the duration of the trap and decreasing the cooldown, making this a potentially very effective tool for permanent CC.

Some hunters can also use Wyvern Sting. This is a survival talent-only ability. A stinging shot that puts the target to sleep for 12 sec. Any damage will cancel the effect. When the target wakes up, the Sting causes 942 Nature damage over 12 sec. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on the target at a time. To be honest I have never seen this one in an instance. Maybe because not many hunters specialize in Survival, but still this is potentially quite useful, especially if combined with the trap. With this and the trap, a hunter alone could keep 2 mobs out of combat for over 10 seconds.

Druid

Hibernate. Forces the enemy target to sleep for up to 40 sec. Any damage will awaken the target. Only one target can be forced to hibernate at a time. Only works on Beasts and Dragonkin. Please note that this is the only type of CC that works on Dragonkin. Also, it can be used in and/or out of combat. Very effective but often forgotten.

Druids could also use Entangling Roots. This is used mostly in solo and PVP, it roots the target in place and causes 351 Nature damage over 27 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Unfortunately this is only useable outdoors, and this is a big issue as all the instances are indoor - or considered as such. I remember I have seen something about some changes coming up in a future patch by which instances with outdoor will actually being considered outdoor for the purpose of this, but I am not really sure about it.

Warlock

Banish. Banishes the enemy target, preventing all action but making it invulnerable for up to 30 sec. Only one target can be banished at a time. Only works on Demons and Elementals. This one is very situational as it only works on very specific mobs, but when it can be used it is very effective as can be done and redone in and out of combat. This for example makes the fight against the first boss in Steamvaults a piece of cake.

Seduction. This is an ability of the Succubus, one of the lock's pet. It seduces the target, preventing all actions for up to 15 sec. Any damage caused will remove the effect. Only works against Humanoids. To be honest, I have not seen locks using Succubus in instances for a very long time. Probably there is better return, even from a CC point of you, to have a VW off tanking. Locks please comment on this.

Warlocks can also Enslave Demon, but I understand this is possibly a very situational CC tool.

Priest

Mind Control. This one is a lot of fun. It controls a humanoid mind up to level 62, but increases the time between attacks by 25%. Lasts up to 60 sec. Despite what the description says, the priest can control mobs higher than 62, so this is actually a very viable CC tool in many BC instances.

Shackle Undead. Shackles the target undead enemy for up to 50 sec. The shackled unit is unable to move, attack or cast spells. Any damage caused will release the target. Only one target can be shackled at a time. This is very powerful if you are in an undead place. It has a long duration and thus giving effective room for action. I remember having our priest using this all the time in Scholo and Strat.

As we can see many classes can provide some kind of CC utility to the party and the composition of the team should be optimized with this is mind if you want to be effective in instances. In two words, one should not only think about tanking, healing and dpsing, but also about crowdcontrolling.

Instancing: Level 70 Instances Ranked by Difficulty

2007-03-22T11:55:00.000+01:00

There is an interesting piece over at Relmstein that describes the level 70 instances in term of their difficulty level, from easiest to hardest. According to his ranking, the easiest one is Old Hillsbrad Foothills and the hardest one is The Black Morass. I have not visited all the instances available at level 70 with Tanuviel, so I can't really comment on the ranking. For example I went 3 times with pugs to Old Hillsbrad Foothills and I was never able to finish it and I went one time to Shadow Lab and we did it fast and without any problem. I also strongly believe that each of them can be a piece of cake or a nightmare depending on your group composition, talent spec, gear and, of course, the quality of the players. So it is always hard to be consistent in this type of exercise. Still, I thought it was a very informative reading – and a compass for progression before raids and heroics.

Is That Epic Flight Worth The Money?

2007-03-21T17:57:00.000+01:00

Druids are special. Druids can fly. At level 68 you go to your trainer, spend 7 gold and 29 silver and - puff! - you can shapeshift into a Storm Crow and fly at +60% of your running speed. Of course you have to be in the Outlands to use this form, but you are able to fly before reaching level 70 and you get your raiding skill for free – yes, for free! - saving over 800g in training and 100g in buying a flying mount. That is simply awesome and, believe me if have not done that, flying like that is really, really cool.

Blizzard announced that they are releasing an epic flying form with the next patch, but this time it ain’t free. It is not clear what will be required to get this epic mount but it is confirmed that you will have to have the epic raiding skill as a prerequisite and that costs 5,000g. That is a lot of money, almost as expensive as a first class ticket from Rome to Los Angeles - if Alitalia had a direct flight.

As it is today, there is not really any place in the Outland you cannot reach with your basic flying capabilities and for normal movement across the different areas you can still use the traditional public transportation. Granted, with an epic mount you could fly at +280% speed which I believe it would be amazing to do, but at the same time I wonder if this is worth the money.

From a financial stand point the only advantage I can see is that flying that fast will help you gathering resources faster – if you are a miner or an herbalist. I don’t think it will help you gathering that much faster thought, definitely not 280% faster. So, let’s assume you spend 2 gaming hours a week gathering for money, and let’s assume you are able to gather on average 100g worth of material with a normal flying mount. Again, let’s assume that the epic flying mount will increase your gathering efficiency by 100%, therefore the net improvement of your cash flow from gathering with an epic mount in a month will be on average around 400g. If this is the case, then a simple payback calculation – i.e. how much time you will need to repay your investment - will tell us that in order to repay the investment you will need over 12 months (real time) of average gathering.

If you invest more time in gathering, then the payback could be much shorter than that, but still you cannot expect an immediate return. To have a complete picture, one should then evaluate the costs and the possible payback of other investments, such as items, buffs and enchants. But I am not going into that. I only wanted to share my doubts about gathering, saving, etc. to buy that flying thing as soon as possible versus spending my time and money in power enhancements.

What do you guys think?

A Nice Gift

2007-03-21T14:26:00.000+01:00

I like my new guild. And I like my new guildies. One of them last night /w me and said “Hey Tanu, do you have Gift of the Wild (rank 3) yet?” and I say “Not really...” And he goes “Well then a have a little Gift for you. I am going to send it in the mail. Have fun with it!” And I go “Ok… Thank you!”. Now this is usually how good guildies are, but I just joined the guild and it is nice to receive such a warm welcome.

Now let's talk a little about this Gift that you all get when partying with your fellow druids. Gift of the Wild is the group version of the super buff Mark of the Wild. It is learned from dropped books that can be usually bought at the local AH and it requires reagents that can be bought at the local reagent vendor. There are 3 different level of this buff that can be learned at level 50, 60 and 70 respectively. The buff last for 60 minutes and increase Armor, Attributes and Resistance of all party members.

Gift of the Wild Rank 3, the last possible upgrade of the spell, gives 340 armor, 14 points to all attributes and 25 resistance to all schools of magic to all party members. If I was a resto druid I would have probably put 5 points into Improved Mark of the Wild, a first tier resto talent, increasing the benefits by 35% and giving 459 armor, 18.9 attributes and 33.75 resistance. Not bad for a little gift, not bad at all.

Gearing Up For Bear Tanking: Umberhowl's Collar

2007-03-21T11:42:00.000+01:00

Last night I finally completed a long chain quest in Shadowmoon Valley and got this great piece of super feral gear: Umberhowl's Collar. This is possible one of the best feral piece you can get for you bear. From an armor perspective there is simply not better piece in the game at the moment. In addition the stats bonus are quite nice. There are not slots for gems but to be honest I am fine with that. So how do you get this little piece? Well, you need to do a quite long chain quest in Shadowmoon Valley.

The quest is called The Cipher of Damnation and apparently it is also a prerequisite for the attunement process to The Eye in Tempest Keep and Mount Hyjal in Caverns of Time. So you better do it even if you are not after the gear.

The whole thing starts with a quest called The Hand of Gul'Dan that will take you trough a few errands in the Valley that you can solo no problem. I strongly suggest doing this chain because in the process you also get Manimal's Cinch, possible the best belt piece for feral tanking in the game – and yes, it is a green!

Once this is done the chain will diverge in three separate quest lines, all given to you by Oronok, the guy who lives at his farm in the north of the area. Please note that each quest can be done independently. One of the quest is Borak, Son of Oronok . If you are after the bracer piece you want to do this one. There are many different steps – that you can do alone – but in the end you will need to kill Ruul the Darkener, a 71 elite Blood Elf with 110,000 HP that goes around on a dragon. For this you definitely need help, no matter how good your feral fight skills are.

So I asked for help and got some guild mates to help. We downed him with a party of 3 made by a resto druid, a fire mage and a feral druid (me) tanking. The fight itself was long but we really did not have any problems. I tanked and never lost aggro while the mage was dpsing and the druid was healing. Tank and Spank. And that was it. The only thing I guess it is to make sure you fight away from the other little mobs in the area as aggroing one of them during the long fight could have been a distraction, at least. Once Ruul is dead you just loot him and go back to Borak who in turn send you to Oronok again and ... bang, you get the piece.

I Am Amazed...

2007-03-21T10:47:00.000+01:00

Well, I am amazed by this amazing thing that is the internet and by how powerful it is in creating communities at the speed of light. I basically posted my first post just a few hours ago and Damh over at Big Red Kitty took note. This is so cool... thank you Damh. The new kid on the block is a happy kid today :). By the way, I discovered his blog only recently but I have to say I really like it: great humor, informative posts, interesting comments and if I ever wanted to level and have fun with that hunter of mine I will definitely go there for inspiration and guidance. One of my daily wow readings. I strongly recommend it.

Game Mechanics: Damage Reduction

2007-03-20T15:39:00.000+01:00

I have been playing this game for quite a bit now, but there are things that I never really researched or study in deep before. So, mostly for my own benefit, I will try to touch base on some key game mechanics in this blog and summarize how they affect the feral druid. The first topic I would like to discuss is armor and damage reduction, as I am into Bear Tanking a lot recently. In doing those game mechanics analysis I will rely heavily on wowwiki and other research site. So thanks in advance to all that contribute to those. You are great! So let's start.

Armor is the main attribute in reducing the physical damage you take as a bear tank. The highest the armor, the highest the proportion of damage you eliminate when the mobs hit you. The proportion of damage you can reduce is not a static figure but depends on the level of the opponent. The same amount of armor will reduce a different amount of damage depending on what level is the attacker. The general formula for bear armor is:

Armor = 2 * Agility + gear armor * (400% Bear Armor Bonus) + magic armor

It is important to remember that bear armor bonus (+400%) and Thick Hide bonus only apply to "gear armor" and not to other source of armor. Magic armor refers to any additional armor you can get from any additional buffs such as spells, potion, armor kit, etc. Also note that every point of Agi will increase armor by 2. So this is another reason you might want to stack on Agi as a bear tank.

Armor damage reduction is capped at 75%. So no matter how much armor you have, if you reach the 75% cap that is it, no more damage mitigation benefit from your armor. So, how much armor do you need to cap the benefit? Well, it depends on the level of the opponent you are facing. There are interesting formulas and graphs you can check at this link, but if you prefer general guidelines, then let's imagine you are fighting a level 70 opponent:

- to get a 50% damage reduction you will need around 10.5 k armor
- to get a 60% damage reduction you will need around 15.8 k armor
- to get a 70% damage reduction you will need around 24.6 k armor
- to get a 75% damage reduction you will need around 31.7 k armor (this is 31.700!)

If the level of the mob is higher, you will need more armor. So for example, in order to cap damage reduction if you are fighting a level 73 mob you will need to reach the whooping armor number of 35.8k. THAT is a lot of armor...

I am not sure I will try to gear up that much on armor though. I am not even sure it is possible with the current available gear. I have been gathering pre-raid bear tanking gear for a while and even though I am far from finished I am at around 20k in bear form- buffed. I will try to get to around 25k with some of the pieces I am missing and see how it goes with that.

Comments more than welcome.

Why playing a Druid

2007-03-20T12:02:00.000+01:00

In WoW there are a numbers of fun classes to play with. I have tried a few but recently I am really focusing on my druid, Tanuviel. The class have been redesign with TBC to actually give druids the possibility to specialize effectively in one of 3 different roles: caster, healer and feral fighter. I chose to go Feral and even with the recent "nerfs" of the latest patch I still believe it is a very viable and fun class to play.

When I first raided with my mage before the expansion, druids were basically healers with a few pieces of gear for other specs. All the dungeon and raiding sets were designed with an healing role in mind and basically a druid would had to specresto in order to be considered for any raiding guild. I believe that TBC has changed this and now feral druids can actually have a role in raids.

Soloing with a feral druid is a lot of fun: cats are great for fast dps and grinding and bears can actually hold a fight with a number of mobs at once and even face though elites by themselves. in 5 men istances I have already played many times as Main Tank and as DPS. In both roles I was able to hold the roles and have fun with it.

So I am really looking forward to experiencing what a feral druid can do in 10 and 25 men raids.

The First Post

2007-03-20T12:00:00.000+01:00

Here I am. Another WoW blogger. In all honesty there is probably no need for another blog on the addictive game from Blizzard but here I am starting one. I have been a gamer for a good part of my life but WoW is the first MMORPG ( Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games ) I ever played.

When I first started in spring 2005 I played a NE rogue - what else! - for a while and then levelled a warrior up to 60 and after that a mage and a druid, Tanuviel. With my mage I have seen some of the so called 'end-game' content pre TBC - ZG, MC, Onyx, BWL - but I would not consider myself an hardcore player. Unfortunately - or I should really say fortunately :) - I have a challenging job, a family and a few personal projects I am working on at the moment so WoW has to fit in this picture.

In any event, I love this game.