Frustration.

I like the new LFR system… it’s nice and great and all that, but it’s also downright frustrating.  I’ve had a legendary gem sitting in my bags for well over a month now and I still have nothing to put in it…  I’ve had the 6k valor done for two weeks and I’m a Silvershard Mines victory away from getting the prismatic socket.

Every person I know that can use the 2h weapon off Sha of Fear in Terrace has it – including my husband for his offspec.  And yet, I still can’t get my hands on it… and other than blowing a coin on Elegon last night, all my coins have been going to Sha of Fear for weeks…

We cleared MGV for the first time last night and we’ll be going again Friday [healers work schedule permitting] to work on the second boss in HoF.  I’m really satisfied with our raid’s progress… but there again, I’m a long way away from being able to get the Sha Touched weapon on normal, even with the Terrace bosses being reportedly easier than the Heart of Fear ones.

Why not put it in my OS weapon?  Well… I do have a Sha Touched weapon for “offspec”, but it’s a 1h weapon and I’m a 2h frost dps for offspec with absolutely no interest in changing right now.  Two hand frost dps feels right to me and I’m actually making headway…  DPSing has long frustrated me and finding something I can make work and actually sustain nearly 45-50k dps in [60k sometimes in LFR] is pretty good for me.  Making that change now seems silly especially when I don’t like the aesthetics of dual wield dps.

Even worse, I’ve been using my tanking weapon for my OS…  That’s just how bad drop rates have been for me on two handers.  Then there’s the whole, ‘I’m not throwing a 10k gold gem into my offspec’.

I’ll be glad when the drop rate increases… and hopefully that will work for me within a week or two if I can’t snag the weapon beforehand.  Of course by the time I do, it’ll likely be useless…  That’s just my luck.

But the frustration has been bad enough that I’ve just had no drive to go through the PVP battlegrounds to finish the Wrathion questline.  I killed the boss in Krasarang when a guild group was doing it.  I won the Kotmogu when hubby finished the valor grind and wanted to queue…  and I’ve queued with him the few times he’s gone in Mines.  I know in the next patch we’ll get a meta gem for our troubles… but that’s a lot more work away as is.  And we likely still have a few weeks of this patch.

Anyway, one more coin to spend for the week… when I do my weekly Terrace queue with Ven.  Maybe RNG will finally decide to like me.  Or not.  Probably not.

ETA: I queued up with Ven for Silvershard Mines tonight and won…  So the Wrathion Part 2 questline is done and I have a socket and a gem sitting in my bags waiting for a weapon

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RNG Treats Me Right

It’s been a good few days…  I seem to have the luck this weekend!

Friday night we did a bunch of Molten Core runs to try and get me the Harbinger of Flame pet from the Sulfuron Harbinger.  Venoym’s alt went in and got it, after about 10 of my toons had gone through with no luck.

Saturday morning, before leaving for the day, I finished the apprentice questline and got “I am the Master Now”.  Saturday night we did LFR and I got the item I’ve been wanting for weeks… the sword off Elegon.  I still need to get the Sha Touched Weapon, but that’ll come eventually [I hope].

Because I got the weapon, I got Mystically Epic

Mystically Epic!

Now there are only a couple things I need in LFR.

On a whim, I got into the bidding war for the Blood Soaked Invitations and to my shock, won one.  It’s going to put off getting my first JC mount for about a month [based on personal gold totals I want to maintain] but I felt like it was worth it and I joined BigBearButt in fighting and cheering on the competitiors.  I made Rank 4 in the Brawler’s guild today .  Rank 7 is going to take a LOT of work… and figuring out how to dps as a frost death knight.

Oh, as Bear says in his post, Venoym and I have joined his guild, along with a few friends of ours.

I retrieve my invitation, in total shock. The Orc there cheered at me when I got the achievement!

Bear cheers me on while I fight a bad guy!

This afternoon, while Ven, LittleVen and a friend were grilling burgers and hot dogs, I saw an advertisement for a Darkmoon Rabbit raid, which I almost passed on as it was almost lunch time.  I’m sure glad I didn’t.

I WON IT! Darkmoon Rabbit!

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Mists of Pandaria

Askevar is 90… hit it Friday in fact [with Venoym].  This was the fastest and hardest we’ve ever pushed to level.  I know a lot of people like to savor initially, but we both prefer to just get our main to 90 and worry about savoring later with alts.  That’s why they exist after all?  Anyway, Askevar’s main set is going along well.  I do a couple scenarios a day as well as a heroic or two in the evening.  All my pieces, save a 442 blue ring, are 450 or better, with several 463 items.  I’m doing my daily rep grinds and I’ve maxed all my professions both primary [Inscription/Jewelcrafting] and Secondary [Archaeology, First Aid, Cooking, Fishing] and I got access to the end food for the Way of the Oven [aka the tank tree].  I also have all my on server alts parked at Halfhill to farm various veggies to max the other ways or to create the max Oven food.  By the way, if you do this, the Outpost Zhu flightpoint in Krasanger is the one that connects the Jade Forest initial town to Halfhill.

For that matter, I’ve now maxed out every profession on my account except Blacksmithing and Skinning.  Suffice to say, our guild has the heirloom legs already, and not just through my efforts either.  Sadly they are only good through 85, which I think is a little silly, but I was able to buy a pair for my level 20 monk.  Oh, we also have the guild shirts because a group running scenarios last night saw we were only two away and decided to finish.  They’re kinda cute but you can’t see it with my armor on [as it should be for a tank].

My offset gear is crap [its unholy now, gave up frost] and a quarter to half the pieces are still level 85 stuff that I need to replace, but, on the flipside, I’m quite a hardy tank right now.

Honestly, I don’t see any of my alts getting to 90 very quickly.  I’ve got 2 at 86 – my bank alt/gatherer and my horde pally [the horde pally would net me 2 account achievements].  With our guild not even discussing raiding for another two weeks, I might get one leveled but who knows?  My main priority, as always, is going to be getting Askevar’s tank set raid ready – everything else is bonus.

Sundays have become achievement night and due to lack of interest from our guild [a lot of people are still busy leveling and that's alright], we’ve been pulling from cross realm friends.  We’ve gotten a lot done though and we’ve had a blast doing it.  We even managed to 9 man Heroic Chimaeron just before MoP hit – with 3 healers, 2 tanks and the rest dps – and that’s what we managed to get… we had intended to 2 heal, but with everyone wanting to try out their mainspec, extra heals never hurt .

 

I will admit, at times the dailies feel almost endless, but once I get the reputations to max, I’ll be gold.  I’m already revered with Order of the Cloud Serpent and well into honored with most of the rest so it’ll get there  And I’m not finding these dailies near as painful as some have been in the past either.

 

Goldwise – I’ve already spent a ton between buying the Grand Expedition Yak and speed leveling some professions.  Despite that, I’ve actually managed to make money on Askevar and I’ll make back the rest and then some when I level the alts, so it’ll all work out.  Hey, don’t look at me that way… I saved and ground for that Yak for several months before MoP dropped and I’m darn proud of it!  There is nothing like achieving a goal you set out to complete.

 

Speaking of achievements, for the first time since I was maining a warlock, I have finally passed my husband in total achievement points.  Now, so it’s said, that won’t last as he’ll do all those achievements and catch right back up… but for once it’s nice to be ahead!

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Preparing for MoP as a Tank:

The key to surviving an expansion without completely going insane is to manage your expectations.  Expect it to suck and you dread the drop date.  Expect it to be the neatest thing since sliced bread and you’re bound to be disappointed.

For the tank, while the rules may change and your abilities may change your job stays the same.  You are the one taking the hits so the rest of your team is able to do their job and take down the mobs.  You are the protector, or in Leverage lingo – the hitter.

Now I’ll be honest right here and say that I have spent basically no time on the PTR.  I have done very little in terms of actually getting ready to have Askevar be able to seamlessly do her job when the prepatch hits on the 28th.  It sounds like we’re heading back to the Burning Crusade school of tanking – where the tank has to be hit to get threat and the more they get hit, the more threat they generate.  What this likely means is that tanks are going to need a moment to wrangle aggro.  [That conclusion is based completely on what LITTLE I have heard and read btw, so may not be accurate].  And this whole active mitigation thing?  Sounds a lot like what I’m already doing.

Yes, I know things are going to change… but after surviving so many expansions hitting, it loses it’s upset factor in many ways.  Just creates headaches.

I’ve proven to my guild that I’ll do what it takes to get my job done and then some.  My guildies have proven that they’ll do the same and have my back.  I feel like we’re in a good place

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It was a GREAT night :)

So, Heroic Yor’sahj died.  Took us about 10 pulls last night I think?

I’ll grant that the buff was up another five percent, but we would have done it anyway.  We are the 20th guild on the server to down Heroic Yorsahj and the 18th to down him on 10 man.  I don’t usually get hung up on server rankings… as a casual guild you can’t really do that, but that’s freaking awesome!

We tried to follow a couple different strategies, but we ended up having to craft our own, pulling from several different guides on what oozes to hit.  Our hunter was having issues being up under the boss and dpsing… it kept telling him that his target wasn’t in front of him [silly glitches]; so we moved him to managing the mana voids and we were able to keep the rest of the dps off of it except when we needed to pop one.

Our healers were beastly.  Our pally healer micromanaged healing on purple phases to exquisite detail.  Our druid healer had everyone topped back off once the debuff was gone.  [Our priesty healer went shadow and was doing a great job with the rest of the deeps ]

What Ven and I really loved was the fact that everyone had some input about one of the first couple of wipes… about problems they were having or foreseeing.  Ven took all that in, made a decision and everyone went with it.  It turned our 50% wipes immediately into 20% wipes .  As raid leaders we can’t see every problem people or having, or how the healing is, so input is fantastic.  But when it comes time, Ven makes a decision and we do it  I’ve told him he’s crazy for ideas more than once.  However, I went with his decision only to find it worked.

The funniest thing about the kill?  Our guild vent died.  But the raid took that as a challenge rather than a detriment!  Venoym had gone dps, so he just marked himself and they followed him to the ooze he’d selected.  Everyone did their job to perfection!

To say we were jazzed after that would be an understatement.  We had already gotten H-Morchok, had a silly wipe on regular Zonozz and one shot Hagara, H-Ultraxion and boat.  The raid chatter got a little silly but hey… killing a new boss does that.

I actually need to do a post about my Heroic Ultraxion strategy as a death knight tank because I do a couple things that are completely counter-intuitive to being a tank [at least in my estimation] but I may do that later today.

I’m so proud of you guys!  FAN-TAS-TIC job!

 

Yay for Multishot

 

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Achievementy Week [Image Heavy Post]

I’ve felt a little off this week and so I’ve devoted the time I’m online to grinding those few annoying achievements I hate [ie: rep grinding].

But first, look who I found out at Netherwing Ledge!

 

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The Funniest Thing I’ve Ever Seen in LFR

We did the back half of LFR tonight and got in there, got to spine.  We realized then that one of our “healers” was dpsing rather than healing.  Another healer DC’d and never came back and I think a third one died.  We had like 3 amals get killed  without exploding because dps wouldn’t stop and ultimately wiped.  Our guild asked for a raid kick on the healing priest being shadow as well as the dc’d healer, so we could move forward.

This priest then begins to bless me out for “being the last healer”

Cut out duplicate lines and the rest of the healing meter in my SS:

 

I do realize that six heals can be OP for some fights… but you really should do the job you’re queued for and queue for the job[s] you’re willing to do.  Because what happens when a healer dc’s mid fight or one dies freakishly?

And you may want to know who you’re screaming at when you rage.  But thanks for the giggles.  The guildies that were with me were cackling madly at this.

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DEATHWING IS DEAD!

We killed 8/8 tonight in 3 hours!  WOOT!  What a Valentine’s present to ourselves!

Group Makeup:
Tanks: Paladin/Death Knight
Healers: Paladin/Druid/Holy Priest
DPS: Paladin/Rogue/Hunter/Mage/Priest

 

Gratz guys and fantastic job!  Go Firestorm!

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Brag Post – We Be 7/8

 

Not bad for a casual guild who raids 2 nights a week, three hours each

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DK Tank Basics: Gemming and Enchanting

There have been a few people interested in this information of late, so I thought I’d write up a post

Gemming:
Meta – Austere Shadowspirit Diamond [81 stam/2% armor]
Yellow –  Fractured Amberjewel [40 mastery]
Red –  Fine Ember Topaz [20 parry/20 mastery]
Blue – Puissant Dream Emerald [20 mastery/30 stam]

Enchants:
Helm –  Arcanum of the Earthen Ring – purchased from the Earthen Ring quartermaster in Vashjir
Shoulders –  Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz – purchased from the Therazane Vendor in Deepholm [or the Inscription from the inscription profession if you have that]
Cloak – Protection [250 armor] – materials are Hypnotic dust x8 and Greater Celestial Essence x3
Chest – Greater Stamina [Hypnotic Dust x10, Heavenly Shard x4, Maelstrom Crystal x2] OR Peerless Stats [Heavenly Shard x3, Maelstrom Crystal x3]  Cheap alternates: Mighty Stats [Lesser Celestial Essence x2] or Stamina [Hypnotic Dust x5, Lesser Celestial Essence x1]
Bracers – Superior Dodge [Greater Celestial Essence x5, Volatile Air x1]
Gloves – Greater Mastery [Hypnotic Dust x10, Greater Celestial Essence x5, Maelstrom Crystal x2].  Cheap alternate: Mastery [Hypnotic Dust x1, Lesser Celestial Essence x1]
Pants – Drakehide Leg Armor.  Cheap Alternate: Twilight Leg Armor [still has agility, but this is an alternative if you're just gearing - just remember that agility does nothing for you].
Boots – Mastery [Hypnotic Dust x10, Greater Celestial Essence x3].  Cheap Alternate: Earthen Vitality [Hypnotic Dust x2]

Weapon –  Rune of Swordshattering.  This provides 4% parry as opposed to the 2% stamina of Stoneskin Gargoyle.  Both are options though I typically see the Swordshattering on more geared tanks and the Stoneskin Gargoyle on newer to 85 tanks.  Personally, I’d recommend starting with the Swordshattering.

While the debate still rages in some circles on what death knights should stack, I recommend, as I always have, a balanced approach.  You don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket with reference to the important stats.  And the amount you have of each will go up as you gear up.  The stats to focus on [in no particular order] are Mastery, Dodge, Parry.  Hit and Expertise are nice where you can get them but are something you won’t need to touch with gemming or enchanting.

I’m NOT a number cruncher in terms of theorycrafting.  I read ideas and try out what makes sense and approach things with a balanced eye.  I’m a casual raider, not hardcore and I’ve been told by the healers I’ve worked with that I’m solid and not squishy [I chat with my healers occasionally to make sure I'm not making their job difficult].  In terms of what I run in defense stats, I like to keep at least 13% dodge and 20% parry.  I also like what mastery I can get without sacrificing other stats and that goes up probably most markedly in terms of the three as you attain gear.

Please do gem and enchant your gear [even if you use cheap alternatives]!  That can actually make a marked difference.

Thanks for reading

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