Frustrations

I am having to level my Frost Mage to level 50 because she is the tailor and we need netherweave bags without buying them big time.  I need level 50 to advance and she is almost 46.  Since the big patch she is so underpowered I’ve had people whispering to me in dungeons asking if the class has been nerfed 😦    She might as well trade in her Cone of Cold for a Cone of Shame.   If you look at guides for the class trying to develop a good strategy and rotation they are as always all for level 85 and talk about skills I don’t have.  Not so useful.  I have been just alternating between Frostfire Bolt and Frost Bolt because they do the most damage, tossing in Ice Lance now and then to finish things off.

I was so desperate, I tried out the Arcane Specialization (again I haven’t any of the skills the guides recommend) and tested various rotations on the little pony-dog creatures in the Eastern Plaguelands.  Dead dead dead, no matter the rotation.  It might be that my character from another realm just isn’t properly equipped as part of the problem, but eek.  I switched her to Frost and much better survival.  Argh I say.

My right hand man has been unable to play at all since the patch because of terribly distorted graphics.  We have tried every posted solution.  Put in two tickets.  First ticket just went away, no response.  Waiting on the second one.

I dislike the new loot drop system where you pick up anything in a area all at once. I see what it is trying to do but frequently because of some sort of landscape or clipping type issues you can pick nothing up.

I’m feeling like I don’t like any of the classes since the patch.  I dislike the Talent and Specialization changes.

Pandaria is next week and I’m not looking forward to it because who knows what additional problems that will bring?  This is the first time I have thought the game is buggy as anything for many reasons.  So much for “Polish”.

Feral Cat

I’ve liked Druid best for some time now and in my Blackwater Raiders set of characters I’ve played Feral Cat.  I’ve decided to push that character forward so I can try the scenarios which are not avalable till level 85.  It will take a fair bit since I’m just short of level 64.  My Earthen Ring 73 Druid may be a better bet except that I stopped playing those characters when I realized I really didn’t know how to play any class well and I decided to create a new set from the ground up and learn from scratch.  As I have caught up in levels with my Earthen Ring counterparts I have fixed what I could on them stats and armor wise then sent them into the dungeons to try out their skills.  My Earthen Ring character has armor that emphasizes the wrong stats and I have to move my leatherworker forward there in order to outfit her properly.  Sigh.

In any case, this is the order of my Feral Cat toolbar:

Wild Charge

Tiger’s Fury

Mangle

Rake

Rip

Ferocious Bite

Shred

Thrash

Swipe

Beserk (Use when available)

Savage Roar (Use when available)

King of the Jungle and Survival Instincts are on the second bar and have not been used by me yet. (Except I accidentally hit King of the Jungle and couldn’t figure out why my cat was suddenly wearing a dress and headpiece).

I played through several dungeons last night successfully so I think the rotation is good.

At one point the tank poofed right away as tanks do, and they asked me to be a bear till a new one was found.  Well, you can change but you have like four moves and none are really useful to keep you going as a tank.  I thought my days of having people ask me to switch to bear were done but agh.  After that dungeon I decided to switch to Guardian as a secondary talent so I could at least do it if needed.  I could not choose it for love or money.  Once Feral Cat was chosen as a primary it would only let me choose Restoration as a secondary.  I tried to read up on this to see if I was doing something wrong but could see no mention anywhere.  I don’t know if my cat is bugged or what.  I paid several times to completely reset specializations to be sure but nooo.    What is the use of having four specializations if you can’t choose between all of them?

 

After consulting the usual sources I chose these Talents:

Wild Charge

Nature’s Swiftness

Typhoon

Incarnation

Have not selected Glyphs yet.  I know I am keeping Rebirth however because it is so useful in a group to bring someone back while in combat.

I despise the new travel form.  It seems slow and ungainly and hops like a huge bunny.

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!