Ye Patch

Goofy Stag. Oh wait, I can give you a ride now!

I was able to log in briefly this morning.  I logged in all my characters in the two realms I play most to activate the cross realm pet feature.  Since I don’t have a sparkle pony or anything, I didn’t get any real big shiny. However, my level 73 druid had done the Winterspring cub quest from Winterspring to get that mount and my level 60 druid now has that available without having to do the 20 day long quest to get it.  Yay.

I chose my talents from the new trees somewhat wily nily and ended up paying to reset after finding I had chosen unwisely.  See the new tab/page above for World of Warcraft links for help making the choices before you spend gold on a reset.  Will deal with my glyphs when we return.

I took a screenshot of the new Druid Travel form the “stag”.  It looks like a monster antlered reindeer with bells and runs with a sort of bunny hop motion.  So much for swift.  I can choose a minor glyph that allows you to ride on my back. Useful for?  Take care and safe travels!

 

Prepping for Pandaria

Better late than never I’m reading up on the new expansion.  I’d like our teeny guild to be prepared to roar on in and have fun.  I think some of tomorrows class and glyph and talent changes will give us a heads up as to what we all need and what might sell.

There should be an influx of new and returning players with Pandaria, so if you are a resource gatherer, you may wish to stock up on lower level hides and herbs and cloth to sell for leveling Pandas.

I am going to get another bank tab for us because I’d like to have more space for those things and for cooking recipes and materials. 

I’d also like to do some recruiting and the first tab could have materials for new guildies such as potions and scrolls and other useful basics.

They are going to try to de-emphasize dungeons from what I read in Pandaria.  I love the cooperative nature of dungeons and am not so pleased but there will be “scenarios”  small instanced sequences you can join in without regard to filling any group role.  You will queue for these too but they will theoretically have short queues and you can be in and out between quests.

The cap will be removed from how many daily quests you can do.  This seems like a real grind to me, mouse on a wheel stuff that makes me buggy but we shall see.  It is apparently supposed to keep the level 85+ people from getting bored but zzzzzzzz.

 

Coming Tuesday August 28 Patch 5.0.4 A World of Changes

Less than a month before Mists of Pandaria is released the latest patch throws the game into a vast sea change.  Here is a list from WOW Insider detailing the big changes coming up:

http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/17/what-to-expect-from-patch-5-0-4/

The talent changes have been what I’ve been most interested in.  I did not know that Druids were picking up a new class specialization, Guardian.  This explains the INSANE NUMBER OF STINKING BEAR TANKS!

All class and talent changes that have been going on in the Mists of Pandaria beta will be available in WoW with patch 5.0.4. Because of this, all players will have their talent points refunded upon login on Aug. 28. Many of the old talents have simply been rolled into new character abilities, and new spells will be learned automatically, without having to visit a trainer. For druids, this means that your fourth class specialization, Guardian, will now be in effect.

Glyph changes will be rampant as well explaining why my glyphs have not been selling on the auction house.

No actual Pandaria content will be included, just UI and other systemic changes.

I’ll add games guides and tips from other sites here as I find them.

I will try to see in advance what the new Monk character needs and get it in the bank.  Also will make sure there are sufficient bags ready for new Pandas.  Yo ho!

Dank Dungeon Thoughts

My dungeon characters now span from level 23-50.  I notice the dungeons get longer and in some cases tougher than at the lower levels.  In many cases the players are better at playing their classes than you find in the lower levels.

Ban the Bears!

There are still too many bears.  At the lower levels Bear Tanks seem to be terrible 95% of the time.  At higher levels it is 50/50.  I feel sometimes that people like the druid class for its versatility and want to level up using dungeons and they can get in without waiting in a queue if they tank.  But they stink.  They don’t hold aggro so everyone takes damage and dies.  They hesitate to lead the way or charge to a group of mobs.  They take tons of damage and whine if they aren’t healed.  I think they haven’t the proper armor or skills or talents.  They never carry potions.  They keep switching to Cat Form.  Bah!

What I think of my own characters in dungeons:

Feral Cat          Super Good.  She does damage, takes little can bring back the tank in combat if he dies (though they never say thanks), adds a small buff to the group.

Priest    Switched to Holy and having much better luck keeping everyone healed except in cases where BAD BEARS cause all to die.  Not having mana problems for the most part, except if the tank grabs every mob in the place and you guessed it everyone takes damage and dies.

Hunter    Plays through really well. Almost too easy.  Pet is set not to grab aggro.  Good wolfie.  I do not grab aggro myself unlike 90% of the Hunters.  Dingle heads.

Rogue   Love the Rogue.  Fun to pickpocket. Need better daggers.  She also does not steal aggro.  Have never had a complaint about her.

Paladin   She is hard, I feel as if she should have better attacks.  I wanted her to be a Holy Paladin so in my mind I always want to heal which can get me in trouble.

Warlock   She doesn’t feel as if she contributes enough damage.  I tell myself her debuffs are useful but her spells are sooo long to cast.  Hate having to use the Imp which doesn’t fight well in my mind, but I find the other companions run off and get into trouble.

Mage  I like my Frost mage alot.  I have the hang of her spells pretty well. I also feel like she doesn’t do much damage and neither does her Water Elemental.  Still she cruises along.  Nobody ever complains she is puny so must be ok.

Warrior   She has changed to Arms from protection.  Tanking to tough for her.  Too many Hunters and steenkin Rogues stealing aggro!  As a Gnome she looks like she has trouble swinging her big sword.  I can’t see her in a pile of mobs.  She is tough, I will say that.

Shaman  Went Enhancement with her.  Need to learn rotation better.  People haven’t the wit to stand near her totems, but if they do, it is a really valuable skill to bring in to the dungeons.

Healers:

Having tried Healing and dropped two of my possible healers to other specs, I am easy on the healer.  I do have to say I would am happier to see a Priest Healer or a Shaman.  Druids bah.  They can’t keep up.  Oddly I don’t recall seeing a Holy Paladin.

Behavior:

I love groups that just stay with the business of clearing a dungeon.  Those that veer off into offensive remarks and stupid whiny battles over loot rolls are painful.