Friday, December 5, 2008

Mana Tide - To-do List for the Level 80 Resto Shaman.



 
 

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via World of Matticus by Matticus on 12/5/08

This is a guest post written by Devon.

guest-post Prologue

Click the link above fellow totemites, let the rejoicing begin. This position of power ensures Shaman buffs in the future (and hopefully a college football playoff); not even Blizzard can tell this guy "no". Damn government just can't keep its hands off, but in this case I'll keep my trap zipped.

In preparation for the shaman revolution and my PvE aspirations I've compiled a quick gear list and to-do list for the chain healer in all of us. This can, and should, be started at late level 77 and 78. The goal is not to make heroics manageable, but to make you one of the best resto shamans in your guild regardless of your time in Naxx.

Print it out, tack it to your wall, and let it do the thinking for you. You know you want to.

*Steps 0-0.5 are preliminary. The rest should be completed every day until your desired epeen loot level is achieved.

Step 0:

Get your freak spec on.

Before respeccing I suggest getting your Icecrown quest achievement. It will get you the Cannoneer's Morale trinket, Knights of the Ebon Blade rep, and Argent Crusade rep. Searing totem just doesn't kill as fast as ye ol' Stormstrike.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=hZ0xxIZxMezVxogkrIRt is my recommendation.

The 16 points in Enhancement are very solid. The following build has the restoration tree must-haves, everything else is just gravy (or filler you pessimists):

Must have talents click here.

Head over to the AH and grab your Glyph of Chain Heal, Water Mastery, Earth Living Weapon, and Water Shield. You should have already had the latter Boudreaux.

This oh-@#^& macro free of charge from elitistjerks.com:

#showtooltip Nature's Swiftness

/stopcasting

/use 13

/use 14

/cast Nature's Swiftness

/Cast Tidal Force

/cast Healing Wave

With this and rip-tide I've had no heroic troubles. This has the over-zealous rogue seal of approval.

Step 0.5

Where the little guy gets his totem.

Grizzly D. Adams will give you Totem of the Bay.

Dis one, it's da best. Get 30 of these.

Step 1

What's with the fat guard standing on the quest giver? Go do your Wyrmrest Dailies everyday until you are Exalted for the Grips of Fierce Pronouncements.

- Drake Hunt at the Nexus. Raelastrasz 33, 34 coords. The harpoon has ridiclous range. If you don't have your flying mount I recommend the western platform.

- Defending Wyrmrest Temple at Wyrmrest Temple. The quest-giver is on the MIDDLE level of the temple. As with all dailies practice makes perfect, but I recommend renew and the sprint (press 4) every time they are up. For those going for time note that it only takes one dot and one flame breath to kill the drakes, pwn and move on. Happy hunting.

- Aces High. See comments here.

Step 2

Knights of the Ebon Blade make me think of emo kids at my high school.

Ebon Blade Dailies everyday until you are Exalted for your Kilt of Dark Mercy.

Icecrown dailies:

Repeatable Quest:

Step 3

Troll Pa'troll everyday until Exalted with Argent Dawn for your Signet of Hopeful Light.

The Troll Patrol quest is given in the Argent Stand of Zul'Drak. 3 of them are very easy, the quest form Alchemist Finklestein WOULD be difficult if you didn't have this mod: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/easyserum.aspx

You get a bonus for doing Troll Pa'troll in less than 20 minutes, there should be time to spare using this mod.

Step 4

No moar dailies, so sayeth my sanity.

All in all I spend about 1.5 hours doing dailies. I try to keep my play time at less than three hours a day for personal reasons so another 0.5 - 1.5 hours lets me run an instance or two (good riddance UBRS). In addition to the loot list below I recommend doing the daily regular or daily heroic instances for the reputation and emblems of heroism. Much of the gear you get in this step each day will be a place holder for crafted epics listed in Step 5. Start with the Wyrmrest Tabard since those dailies require longer flights between quests.

Step 5

Ok, I can haz gold now.

As money permits purchase the following items or their respective mats as they show up on the AH:

Revenant's Breastplate (Leatherworking): 12 Heavy Borean Leather, 12 Eternal Water, 1 Frozen Orb

Revenant's Treads (Leatherworking): 10 Heavy Borean Leather, 10 Eternal Water, 1 Frozen Orb

Titansteel Guardian (Blacksmithing) - 6 Saronite Bars, 6 Titansteel Bars, 2 Frozen Orb

I haven't gotten my guardian yet because I'm scurd of handing a stranger that many mats. Guild blacksmith has a wifey, no chance for me there. The two revenant's pieces cost me about 1000 gold, which you should have after all that questing you did RIGHT? Quick aside: Lesser Healing Wave and its associated glyph rocks my healing socks.

Regards,

Devon

***SECURITY FOOTER*** :: Thanks for reading a post from World of Matticus!

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take."
- Wayne Gretzky

Guest Post: Mana Tide - To-do List for the Level 80 Resto Shaman.


 
 

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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Ten Things: Wintergrasp



 
 

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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Wrath 101: The Sons of Hodir (Shoulder enchants)



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Alex Ziebart on 12/2/08

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The Sons of Hodir is arguably one of the most important reputations in Wrath of the Lich King due to the items they offer. They're the only faction in Northrend that offers shoulder enchantments for PvE, in rare and epic flavors. Casters? Melee? Healers? Tanks? The Sons of Hodir have all of your shoulder enchants.

The quest chain to completely open up the Sons of Hodir rep grind is long. Really, really long. It's long in the good way, though. It's epic, and part of the chain is quite possibly one of the most fun quests in Wrath, and is as close to God of War as you're going to get in WoW. 'God of War in WoW!?' is what you're probably thinking. My answer to that? Yes. It's freaking awesome.

Continue reading Wrath 101: The Sons of Hodir

WoW InsiderWrath 101: The Sons of Hodir originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Badge err… Emblem of Heroism Pick Order from Tanktips



 
 

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via TankingTips.com by admin on 11/28/08

Well before we go all crazy with saying who's more important than who, let's take a look at our line up from most to least expensive to purchase with Emblems of Heroism. (These are attainable from Heroics, Daily Heroic Quests and the current 10 man raids)

1. The Chain

Chained Military Gorget gets the nod as the number 1 pick not only because it's the cheapest, but also because it simply has inadequate competition. Even though there's a number of similar level epic items, none are quite as well itemized for early progression as this one. If you already have made Titanium Earthguard Chain then you may consider pushing this one down on the list, but it is still better, so you'll want to pick up the Gorget regardless. I should also note that you'll still want to grab Medallion of the Disgraced when it crosses your path for a Block Value set. It's not better nor worse than the Emblem neckpiece, just different.

2. The Chest

We jump from the cheapest emblem item to the most expensive with our 2nd choice being Chestguard of the Lost Protector with turns into this. There's only one other similar level epic chestpiece and it's just not as good. (nor as accessible by a long shot) Obviously since this item is attainable via raiding if your guild is within striking distance of Gluth you may consider holding off on picking up this item at all and instead choose to acquire it that way.

3. The Grips

Still at the hefty mark of 60 emblems, Gloves of the Lost Protector ala Heroes' Dreadnaught Handguards get the nod for the 3rd spot even with a lot of other epic quality gloves to choose from. They get this spot because they're simply a whole lot better than the rest and completing the 2 piece T7 set bonus is definitely nothing to scoff at. That being said, these puppies can be acquired via killing Sartharion in 10 man mode and as a result, may move down the list on your priorities if your guild is already consistently killing him. (which with zero drakes up, is fairly easy)

4. The Tube

Coming in at 4th place not because it's especially bad, but simply because it's predecessors are better. Waistguard of Living Iron is an excellent belt with really no other like piece. (You'll still want to get Waistguard of the Tutor down the road though for your Block Value set) While you're making your way down the list though, I implore you to acquire Ancient Aligned Girdle from Anub'arak in Azjol-Nerub until you've got the Emblems to pick up the superior piece.

5. The Toy

The 5th and final (yes, final) piece I'll be recommending you snag is Valor Medal of the First War otherwise known as the big brother of the ubiquitous pocketwatch that we all loved at 70. Due to a more challenging Defense level required to reach uncrittable (540), you won't necessarily be able to use this immediately which is part of the reason it's so far down on the list. Nonetheless, it's a very nice trinket that you should pick up and will certainly utilize once your Defense allows.

The Shield…

Time for the potentially controversial part…

Don't pick up the Shield. Why?

The Shield has two relatively easy to obtain competitors that are nearly identical.

Now certainly, if your luck is bad in Stratholme, you can't afford the Shield Wall and you've made it this far down the list by all means take it, but between you and me… let's just hope that's not the case.

…and that's a wrap! Look for the Emblem of Valor pick order in the near future too!


 
 

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Friday, November 28, 2008

Scattered Shots: Reputation rewards for Hunters in Wrath of the Lich King



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Daniel Whitcomb on 11/27/08

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! You didn't think Scattered Shots was taking the day off, did you? Hopefully, there's enough of you who aren't completely zonked out on turkey, ham, or beef to read this.

So by now, I figure most of you are well on your way to 80, and are probably starting to ask yourself: Which reputation should I grind first? There's tons of ways to choose, be it roleplaying who your character would align themselves with or choosing the one that's easiest to grind. One of the most popular and most effective though, is pretty simple: Asking yourself which one has the best loot. Today's Scattered Shots will center around that last one.

If you're still not sure how to grind reputation in Northrend, or forgot where the quartermasters are, be sure to check out our Wrath 101 post on reputations, as well as our post on the Wolvar and Oracles of Sholozar Basin. Once you've done that, or if you remember the basics, read on!

Continue reading Scattered Shots: Reputation rewards for Hunters in Wrath of the Lich King

WoW InsiderScattered Shots: Reputation rewards for Hunters in Wrath of the Lich King originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Four year anniversary pet and feat of strength achievement



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Adam Holisky on 11/22/08

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Those of us waking up today and tomorrow will log into Azeroth and find in our mailboxes a little Baby Blizzard Bear non-combat pet. This pet will also give you a feat of strength achievement celebrating World of Warcraft's four years online.

This is a nice little way for Blizzard to thank all of us for spending years in the game. With over 11 million people playing WoW, and Wrath becoming a hit overnight, there's definitely a lot of celebrating to do over at Blizzard HQ.

The little bear that you get looks a like a small version of the BlizzCon Polar Bear Mount those of us lucky enough to attend BlizzCon this year got. It's a perfect traveling companion for you as you adventure around Northrend.

Edit:
The pet is active on US, EU, and Oceanic servers.

Thanks to Mangowire for sending us the pics you see below.

WoW InsiderFour year anniversary pet and feat of strength achievement originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Death Knight creation bug solution



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Adam Holisky on 11/12/08

Filed under: , ,

There is a bug currently affecting the creation of Death Knights after you have installed Wrath of the Lich King.

If you get an error when creating the Death Knight, and you have met the requirements of having a level 55 character on the server in which you're creating the Death Knight, just make a new level 1 character first.

After that character is created, you can then create your Death Knight without any more problems.

I have to wonder how the bug came to be, and why they weren't able to fix it. We probably won't know either of those answers. But at least we have a quick and dirty fix.

Happy Northrending!

WoW InsiderDeath Knight creation bug solution originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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