Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Shadow Talent Build

I'm finding it very difficult to find a decent Shadow build and from what I can tell, so have a lot of other people. Granted, Shadow is not my main spec (well, not anymore), but I still want to melt faces effectively when doing dailies, as DPS in a raid, or when some Horde jerkfaces come along and try to gank me.

From the various trees that I've looked at online in my research, I'm finding out that a lot of the Shadow builds are based on personal preference and what the player plans to do with the Priest. I'll admit, I had been hoping to find a reliable source who had crafted "the ultimate" Shadow build so I could copy it and be done. Unfortunately, I've gone AFK several times while browsing out-of-date and recent forums with no luck. Some people say full Shadow is the way to go, as in throwing all possible points into Shadow and the rest kind of willy-nilly wherever you want. I'm leaning towards the other theory, throwing about 14 points into Discipline and the rest strategically placed in Shadow.

Here's the website I finally decided to follow: http://hubpages.com/hub/Shadow-Priest-Talent-Guide,

and the build that he recommends:

Discipline
Twin Disciplines, 5/5
Improved Inner fire, 3/ 3
Improved Power Word: Fortitude, 2/ 2
Inner Focus, 1/1
Improved Power Word: Shield, 3/3

Shadow
Spirit Tap, 3/3
Improved Spirit Tap 2/2
Improved Shadow Word: Pain, 2/2
Shadow Focus, 3/3
Improved Mind Blast, 5/5
Mind Flay, 1/1
Veiled Shadows, 2/2
Shadow Reach, 2/2
Shadow Weaving, 3/3
Vampiric Embrace, 1/1
Improved vampiric Embrace, 2/2
Focused Mind, 3/3
Mind Melt, 2/2
Improved Devouring Plague, 3/3
ShadowForm, 1/1
Shadow Power, 5/5
Improved Shadowform, 2/2
Misery, 3/3
Vampirit Touch, 1/1
Pain and Suffering, 3/3
Twisted Faith, 5/5
Dispersion, 1/1

I'm going to give this build a try and see how I do. I'm not about to go pick fights with Horde, although that's not a bad idea, but I am going to go Shadow for a while and test it out.


Edit:
After using the build, I found that I had two talent points left over. I put one in Psychic Horror, just because I love that spell and it's very useful against melee enemies. I put the other point in Darkness, just because it never hurts to do extra damage.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Pix From Tonight's Raid

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I don't need to say anything else.





Except that clearly, I like being naked...

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Are your heals "Superior"?

Kady FINALLY got Superior today, lol even after getting several pieces of Naxx and Ulduar gear, she didn't have it until she replaced her wand. We ran a quick H AN, only wiped once (which is only because we fought the last boss almost the whole way through with four people, Dramanda got hit with pound and didn't survive), and I got the wand that we went in there for: Rod of the Fallen Monarch. Coincedently, I also got my 100th Emblem of Heroism on the last boss, lol so I got two achievements after one instance. It was pretty sweet.

Also,there's more dead body spamming in the Trade District, different website, same MO. It's rather annoying and I don't want to join the forums just to report it...

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Withdrawl...

So this is day number two without having played WoW. Yesterday (Friday), I had a long lunch with a friend shortly after waking up late (love sleeping in), then went straight to work, was exhausted, and went straight to bed. Today (Saturday), pretty much the same thing. Met up with a friend, grabbed some lunch, got my hair cut with said friend, hung out at friend's apartment watching True Blood, went to work, getting ready to go to bed. My poor Ladelyia will never have her Argent Hippogryph and Kady will never save up enough for swift flying because, let's face it, 3.2 is not coming any time soon. How do I know this? Because it'll come the Tuesday AFTER Kady has enough money the swift flying training, and Kady's not going to get that much money together for a long time. Especially since I keep buying mats for expensive enchants for gear I think I'm not going to replace, then what's the first thing I replace when I get to Naxx/Ulduar? The gear I just got the enchant for...Although, I think Ulduar gear is pretty safe to get good enchants on, since I'm just about caught up to the other clothies in our group, I have a couple of slots that are better in some cases... XD

Oh, saw a new kind of spam the other day in Stormwind. I've been searching high and low for a way to report it, and it may have already been taken care of for all I know, it has been two days, but let's see what you think:
I couldn't tell what the deal was at first, I was just like, "What are all these dead bodies doing here?" They all had the typical spammer names too "sdfsiho" and "greirngi", that stuff, like your cat just walked across the keyboard and accidently named your toon for you. Then I noticed that there was a pattern to the bodies, so I changed my camera angle and sure enough...

Even their website wasn't creative. If you're going to go to lengths like that to promote your website, at least have a good name!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Girls and WoW

(In no way do I represent all women who play video games, I'm merely stating my opinions, views, and observations based on my experience.)

I've been a video game enthusiast pretty much since my parents bought us a Sega Gensis for Christmas. Before being introduced to WoW, I played a majority of Nintendo games, definitely still a Nintendo Girl at heart. The Wii and the DS were definitely my systems of choice. WoW is my first MMORPG. I didn't get into the Xbox 360 or the whole play online with strangers part of the console systems. I liked games that challenged me not in how quickly I could diffuse a bomb while being shot at, but I enjoyed being challenged mentally. I loved Professor Layton and I'll be picking up the new on next month, I love Brain Age and Big Brain Academy. Tomb Raider has always been a favorite, depsite the fact that it was made for male players (seriously, Laura's hot, rich, adventurous, and single). What I loved about Tomb Raider was figuring out how to get through each level.

Games with storylines have always been kind of hit or miss with me. Sometimes I like my games to have a story where I can learn about the characters and there's a definite endpoint to get to, other times I like having an open-ended game like The Sims (looooove that game) just to mess around in. Now, there are plenty of girls out there who like first-person shooters and can't stand games that are "slow" with the action, just like there are plenty of guys who like the puzzle games. Every gamer is different and likes games based off their personality, not their gender. The games I like are due to my personality and what I consider fun, playing a WWII shoot 'em up online with fifteen strangers is just not one of them.

That's where WoW comes in. I've talked before about how I got into WoW (a friend mentioned that I might like it and I got addicted before I realized what happened), so I won't go into detail about that. I would like to talk about the aspects of WoW that appeal to me, and some of those that don't.

My biggest pet peeve with some video games is that you don't always have a choice of what your little avatar, your little representation of you The Player, is as far as gender goes. A lot of times, it's simply assumed that boys will play the game and there's no reason to have a girl character for the small minority of girls who might play. Sometimes this is due to the story, other times there really doesn't seem to be any reason at all. Some games the story doesn't seem like it would change if the character was a girl. I prefer to be gender nutral in a game rather than playing a boy (although I'm pretty much used to it having had to grow up with it), games like Age of Empires or The Sims where you're omnipotent are great for me because I'm me, I'm not some random boy character or girl character.

With WoW, every race has a male and female option for your character, I LOVE that. I love being able to be female in a game because I'm a female in real life. I don't have any male characters because I feel like I've paid my dues playing male characters growing up. That's just me though, I know plenty of people who are gender benders and play both male and female characters.

Another thing I enjoy is just how much there is to do in WoW, even after you reach level 80. There's plenty of questing and killing of things to do until you get to 80, so many chain quests and lore if you want to get your fill of story, and even if you don't feel like leveling, you can be a twink and just do Battlegrounds and other PvP stuff. After 80 there's dungeons and raids if that's your thing, dailies and the auction house if you want to make money, achievements to earn, mounts and pets to collect, professions to level, Wintergrasp if you need your PvP action, and so much else. I don't have to stop playing at level 80 because I've completed everything there is to complete, brand new doors open up at 80.

I love details. I love things like the apple core on the nightside table next to one of the beds in one of the inns of Dalaran. I love the pattern of the cobblestone streets in Stormwind. WoW is incredibly beautiful, even the places I think are ugly are still beautiful because there's no lack of details in every area. Have you ever been all the way up to the top of a tower in Dalaran and extended your viewing distance to see the whole city? It's gorgeous! Or even looked out from Wintergarde Keep over to Naxx with the viewing distances all the way up? The amount of devistation that you can see from the scourge is incredible. In every little detail, you can feel how much time and energy Blizzard's designers have put into this game. Their blood, sweat, and tears are almost palpable. Even the scenery is beautiful in The Barrens. The variety in styles of the zones is amazing. I have to say that Scholozar Basin and Stranglethorn Vale are my favorites, and my least favorite is Zul'Drak.

My motivation to level is directly related to how much I like the zone I'm in. I'd much rather quest in zones I like, so when I'm in a zone I don't like, you would think that I'd just quest as much as possible to get out of it, but really the opposite is true. I take my sweet time and drag my feet. Pretty much anything that has to do with undead, I don't like doing. I don't know what it is. I can play undead on other servers and be just fine, it has something to do with being Allince and having to deal with undead.

Alindras, on the otherhand, loves that stuff. She loves the Flame Laviathan fight in Ulduar whereas I could definitely do without it. Her first 80 is a warlock and her second is a DK. She loves playing the dark, evil characters. I like playing the pretty characters. In some ways, I'm very much a steriotype of a girl gamer, I like the vanity pets and collecting mounts and pretty clothes. I have two bank bags devoted on each of my 80's just for pretty clothes. But that's my personality. Nayana's not like that, Alindras isn't like that, not to the same extent as me anyway. Nayana likes playing a hunter because she can tame pets and give them cool names. I like being a hunter because I can have a pet that helps me fight.

The coolest thing about WoW is how much there is to do for every kind of player. There's plenty to do if you're a casual player or a hardcore, progression raider. If you love PvP you've got a whole slew of choices, if you can't stand PvP there are whole realms you can level on without being ganked at all. You can join a guild that fits your playing style or not join a guild at all. Our guild is made up of a group of friend who all knew each other in real life and got each other into the game. I said once that having our own guild was like going to the playground with your friends and finding out that you have it all to yourself. You can play exactly how you want, at your pace and style. You don't have to worry about what the other kids think or what's going on behind your back. We have the opportuinty as a guild to grown and learn together, without worrying about the reprocussion of our mistakes (other than complete wipes in raids, but with infinite lives, who the heck cares? Do dailies to pay for your repair bills and you're fine). I've heard of some guilds who, if you pug with them, and you make a mistake, not only do they kick you out of the group right then and there, but they actually go out of their way to make sure that no one ever picks you up as a pug and tell everyone how bad you are. Seriously? It's a game, we all pay the same amount of money to play (sure, some people pay more for custom keyboards or mice or multiple accounts, but the base price is the same for everyone), how are you going to purposely ruin someone else's gaming experience like that?

I realize that with the anonemity that we all enjoy, the bullys and jerks will show their true form, but I don't think I'll ever be able to wrap my head around why or how people can enjoy being mean. From my experience, letting the few random pugs know that I'm really a girl, most people think it's cool. A lot of times I'll meet other real girls (I have no reason to doubt them, though they could be faking I guess), most of the time I'm in a pug with all guys and they think it's cool that I play WoW with my husband (when I give away that detail too). I've read stories and I know these kinds of people are out there who don't like women, or don't like women gamers, who don't think girls can play any video games besides "Imagine Babyz", etc. Thankfully, I haven't had too much interaction with those people. I always feel my pug out before I decide whether or not to chat with them or just stay quiet and get the job done. Jerks make me angry, and if I end up in a pug with a jerk, a lot of times I just stay quiet unless they're picking a fight with someone else and we're not progressing because of it. If it gets bad I'll sacrifice being locked to a heroic and just leave because while they're free to say whatever they want and behave however they want (within Blizzard's policy for player behavoir), I'm also free to leave and not put up with that behavior.

So this post kind of turned into a bit of a rant, but my main point that I want to get across is that girl gamers are exactly the same as boy gamers, everyone has different interests and personalities. There aren't things in WoW that ONLY girls are interested in or ONLY guys are interested in, there are things for everyone, even me, the sometimes-steriotype, detail loving, picky video gamer (I only have a few games that are impulse buys, most of the games I have, I've researched and read about before buying them because I want to make sure that I'll enjoy every minute of the game). I think the sheer number of women who play WoW (both those who admit to being girls and those who wish to remain anonymous) speaks volumes about what Blizzard has done to create a game that appeals to such a huge demographic. Other video game developers should take notes when they starting thinking about creating games for everyone. The only thing I think Blizzard could do better is market more towards women.

The only commercial I've seen for WoW involving women was an awesome one from Mountain Dew (two women turn into a night elf and a troll and fight each other in a grocery store because one has Alliance Mountain Dew and the other has Horde Mountain Dew). I'd like to see more of those. I don't want to see the celebrity "what's your game" ones though, because while celebrities may sell to guys, I don't find that it appeals to me very much. I like that the Mountain Dew commercial had two normal women in it, they weren't celebrities, they weren't models, they were regular women, they looked like women that I could have been friends with. I think that's definitely a step in the right direction as far as advertising towards women goes. When you choose a celebrity to sell your product, you're assuming that I look up to that person or that I care about what that person thinks or says. Like the "I Play For Me" Nintendo DS commercials with Carrie Underwood, America Ferrera, and Liv Taylor. I do appreciate those women and their careers, seeing them playing their DS's in situations that I'll never ever be in really doesn't sell the product to me. America plays her DS on the TV set (or a movie set) in her make up chair, Carrie plays hers on her tour bus. The only one in a normal situation is Liv who plays in her bedroom and with a friend outside on a bench. I want to see normal women using the product, like in the Mountain Dew commercial. I want to see a mom purposely put her kids to bed early so she can raid Ulduar with her guild. I want to see a college student playing WoW in her dorm. I'd love to see a husband and wife team playing together on the couch or at the dinning room table. Those are commercials that grab and hold my interest and make me remember the product. Because, while girl gamers are the same as guys in-game, IRL there's definitely a different marketing strategy.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Kady is geared for Ulduar, happy day!

Kady and her "big brother" Garaba

This Wednesday, GoD's usual raid night, Kady will be entering Ulduar as our third healer! Yay! In our Naxx run last night to finish out the last quarter, Saph, and KT, I ended up with so much gear. I hit exalted with Wyrmrest Accord right before the run (I love running VH) Sandals of Crimson Fury and have them enchanted. Then, in Naxx, I picked up Resurgent Phantom Bindings, Gown of Blaumeux, Cloak of the Dying, and Cowl of Winged Fear. After Naxx, I had more than enough emblems to buy Lattice Choker of Light. I had intended to save for the token for the chestpiece, and I still will, but since I picked up that hot robe (it really is adorable on me, wouldn't have looked quite as good on Garaba who let me have it XD ) Contortion didn't drop at all in this whole run.

Hanging out in the Beer Garden in my sweet new gear :)

So tomorrow we head into Uduar, only Ladelyia won't be coming this time, Kady will. I've decided that Kady will be my main and Lade is now my alt. I've found out that I absolutely LOVE healing over DPS, especially in raids. I'll still play Lade a bunch, especially during holidays and to get pets and mounts, and do my best to keep her epic gear up-to-date. The nice thing about having two toons who are geared for Ulduar is that I can be flexible and bring DPS or an extra heals depending on what we need. What's nice is that Drenath is happy about not having to heal anymore and he can work on Heap, his warrior, so we've basically swapped places. Kady heals and Heap can DPS. So we're missing a role or have extra of something, we broke even XD

Friday, July 17, 2009

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Naxx will be mine, all mine, bwahaha!

Last night, we managed to take down Spider, Plague, and Construct. The last one we 9-manned because Super (my husband) had to head off to work. There were a couple of wipes this week also, but mostly individual deaths (including my own when I DC'ed during the Thadius fight, grr...). Kady got the token for the epic priest pants, yay, as well as a new ring (and I got another new ring today from CoS), I've only got a couple items left whose i-level is lower than 200. Ulduar is not that far away! :)

I had a difficult time healing CoS today, we wiped on the first boss and I felt bad because I couldn't get the right heals off fast enough. I ran out of mana later, thankfully I purchased Runic Mana Injector Kits off the AH eariler, and having a Runic Mana Injector helped a lot. I definitely think CoS is one I'll have to practice. One of the things I had trouble with was focusing while zombies were coming up from behind and attacking me. I have my bubble and Fade within easy reach, and believe me I was spamming them whenever I could, but I had trouble balancing healing with getting the adds off me and healing myself when necessary. I have a tendency not to look at my own health for long periods of time, which is definitely a bad habit that I need to work on.

I'll have more hunter info soon, I've just been stoked about healing Naxx and heroics that I've been having too much fun to go back to Ladelyia for much more than a couple dailies. We may end up doing 25-man Ulduar with BK this weekend, if that's the case, Ladelyia will definitely be the one that goes because she's properly geared.

Monday, July 13, 2009

I came, I saw, I healed.

Kady healed Naxx! We did Spider and Plague in one night with only two wipes (and one shouldn't count because it was to those stupid gargoyles in Plague...) and one was because me and my husband DC'ed in the middle of a boss fight. Not cool Comcast, not cool. But other than that we did really well considering how many alts we had in that group. It was me, Alendia came as his druid to heal, Alindras came as her DK to DPS (just until she gets some better gear, then she'll be tanking), and Drenath came as his warrior (off tank). So almost half the group was alts and only wiping twice (and they really shouldn't count anyway) is freaking awesome. I healed and LOVED it! I was worried at first, having only been DPS in Naxx before, but I was also worried about healing heroics and have been doing pretty well at that too, if I do say so.

I've decided that Kady will probably be my main now and Ladelyia will be my alt, but this isn't to say that I won't play both, I'll just prefer to heal. I'm hoping what this well enable me to do is go on multiple locks of Ulduar and Naxx, since I now have multiple geared 80's. So if our sister guild runs something and need an extra hand, I can bring my hunter and not worried about being locked out when our guild runs something. Kady has picked up some AMAZING gear over the last couple of days. I went ahead and spent emblems of heroism on Handbook of Obscure Remedies and with the help of the AH, a guildie or two with mining and a blacksmith from BK, I was able to have a Titansteel Guardian crafted for me in less than 24-hours. Garaba deemed me Naxx-worthy after getting the mace and off-hand. I got a new belt from trash mobs or one of the bosses, I can't remember. Lotheb dropped the token for the epic shoulders and I had zero competition since our warlock was playing her DK, Garaba has ones from Ulduar, and my hubby had gone to work. They are pretty sweet looking shoulders and Garaba is jealous because they didn't drop for him. I'm almost revered with Wyrmrest, so I'll be able to buy the Sandals of Crimson Fury from them soon to replace the ones I've got.

I ask Garaba how I did healing during Naxx and I think I may have scared him with my awesome healing skills because he made a comment about me stealing his job ;) Wouldn't hurt him to have a little competition anyway, he long ago beat me in the highest epeen competition we were having. He's miles ahead now, so at least this way I can give him a run for his money in dungeons and raids :) What's funny is, I'm pretty much as awesome as I am because of him. He showed me the mouse-over macros he uses, gave me tips for my action bar, introduced me to Grid, and helped me re-work my talent tree (it was really bad, I'm crap when it comes to picking talents for any of my toons). I was ok before all that, I could get through regular dungeons without the party wiping, but usually there were one or two casualties along the way. I got progressively better with each thing he showed me. So I'm definitely the healer I am today because of you Garaba :)

And if I do end up whooping your butt in heals, it's your own fault for making me this awesome XD

Sunday, July 12, 2009

WoW Comic Coming Soon!

The girls of Gates of Dawn started working on a comic yesterday during the "guild meeting" (which constituted the boys and Alindras playing D&D while Nayana and I played WoW, Guitar Hero, and took a nap XD).

A script was written and artwork is currently being drawn, we're hoping to post some of the comics here, or at least post links to them, in addition to posting a link to the blog wherever we do post the comics :)

Friday, July 10, 2009

Missing Leatherworking :(

When I do instances like VH on Kady, and there's not another skinner/leatherworker in the group, it pains me to see the number of corpses just littering the floor. For example:

The tank had to pull mobs through the corpse because we couldn't see them come out of the portal. This is what happens when you don't have a skinner and it makes me sad.

Chuck Norris and WoW

Found these on the forums:

Chuck Norris has 53,541 hitpoints, but he has never used one.

Chuck Norris is exalted with Naxxaramas.

Chuck Norris has 100% chance to crit.

When Kel’Thuzad mind-controls Chuck Norris the raid is instantly wiped.

Chuck Norris is hitcapped with no gear.

Chuck Norris gets the 5% AH cut.

Chuck Norris does not respec because he has every talent.

For Chuck Norris, DPS stands for “Deaths Per Second.”

Chuck Norris can tank all 4 horsemen simultaneously.

If Chuck Norris stands on “+” when he is “-“, Thaddius blows up.

In phase 3 of Malygos, Chuck Norris rides Sapphiron.

To reduce stress on the networks, Chuck Norris’s roundhouse kicks are considered instant death. Calculating and transmitting a number this large would require too much processing power and bandwidth.

Chuck Norris can get honorable kills off of ghosts.

Chuck Norris does a 3 minute clear of Naxx by giving Kel’Thuzad an atomic wedgie and pulling the entire instance.

It has been calculated that downing Chuck Norris would give you enough experience to be level 143. This would be considered “Beating WOW.”

One of Chuck Norris’s beard hairs disenchants into 301 void crystals, 542 dream shards, 899 greater cosmic essences, and 10,482 infinite dusts. Good luck getting one.

Chuck Norris always beats the tank in threat, but the mobs are too scared to attack him.

Chuck Norris never cools down.

Chuck Norris uses his BOEs for a month then decides if he wants to sell them.

Chuck Norris is the only human on the horde.

Chuck Norris’s first character was a death knight.

Chuck Norris can tank Instructor Razuvious.. on his tauren mage.

To Chuck Norris, “Air Phase” on Sapphiron is when his roundhouse kick causes Sapphiron’s corpse to go airborne.

Chuck Norris had to shave his beard to earn “The 100 Club” achievement.

Chuck Norris can buy from both factions on the AH and has built a business centered around arbitraging price differentials between the horde and alliance AH. His business is fully staffed by blizzard employees.

Chuck Norris can heal through the necrotic aura.

Chuck Norris can taunt Sapphiron.

Chuck Norris can break of out web wraps by flexing his biceps.

Chuck Norris has “Bigglesworth” as a companion pet.

Chuck Norris completed the “Amber void”, “Emerald void” and “Ruby void” achievements all in one run.

The Chuck Norris boss fight has 3 phases. 1. The pull phase, 2. The “Oh crap I’m retarded” phase, and 3. The roundhouse-kick to the face phase.

Chuck Norris skips phase 1 of Kel’Thuzad because its boring.

Chuck Norris has 3 primary professions.

Chuck Norris has a dedicated GM always on standby to process his tickets.

Chuck Norris does not get saved to instances.

Chuck Norris got his spectral tiger mount by beating up middle school students and stealing their cards.

Chuck Norris took a bio break during a 10-man 3d OS encounter.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Kady hit 80!

I just got Kady to hit 80 tonight and I'm super excited! I can't wait to take her into heroics and start gearing her for Naxx. The best part about our guild having already cleared Naxx several times on our mains means that we shouldn't have too much trouble getting alts geared and running them through at a reasonable rate. I'm sooo excited about being able to heal heroics and just sticking with the Holy spec. Currently, I'm reading blogs about talent trees and researching which heroics I want to focus on for gear. I'll write again once I've accumulated some knowledge, made some decisions, and hopefully add some more gear to my set :)

I spent somewhere around 200g on learning all my new spells and another couple hundred on level 80 shoulders and gloves from the AH, as well as some gems that I neglected to buy sooner for some other pieces. I love being an herbalist/alchemist, not to mention this being my second character, I haven't spent as much money as I did on my hunter, so even after having just gotten Cold Weather Flying only three levels ago, and dropping all this money after hitting 80, I still have over 1K gold to spare. My big thing now will be swift flying, after being spoiled and having it on my hunter for so long, regular flying seems sooooooo slow and I simply MUST raise another couple thousand gold for swift flying. The nice thing is that I've started the Argent Tournament dailies, in addition to the other Icecrown dailies, so I can have two level 80's working on dailies and earning money, which means Kady will get swift flying muuuuuuch faster than Ladelyia did and I won't have to borrow money from guildies ;)