*yawns, stretches*
Hiya folks.
For any of you that do read this blog and may have noticed my absense, my dearest apologies. I've been so busy since I moved, mostly in the arena (lol) of finding a job (which I still don't have) and tutoring on the side (check out my French blog for details) that I just haven't had as much time to myself as of late.
I've even been neglecting Facebook, you guys. It's that bad.
Anyway, today's post is brought to you by the letter T.
T stands for TALENT TREES, THEY RELEASED THE TALENT TREES FOR CATACLYSM!
*throws confetti*
Luckily for me, and for you other pewpewchickens out there, they released the druid talents in the first wave for once. And let me just tell you, I couldn't be happier with the direction they're going with balance PVP.
Let me break it down for you:
* They're giving us a silence and another knockback.
* There is a flat spell damage reduction talent that is accessible in the resto tree.
* There is a talent tied to Force of Nature now that upon the death of your treants, leave a zone that will slow enemies.
I am so happy for our class right now.
Now, having only about 12 hours to tinker with the talents, I came up with a preliminary recommended spec come level 85. This is, of course, subject to change.
55/0/21
MmmhmhmhmhHAHAHAHAHA.
*cough*
This sample talent spec grabs all of the new juicy PVP talents. I left out one of the new mana regen talents, but this spec has some room for movement if necessary. Since I'm not 85 yet, I have no idea just how mana-starved we will be. I already sorta struggle with mana in arena if it takes a long time, so we will just have to see!
SO EXCITING!
I'll leave the post there so you may digest the new awesomeness morsel by morsel. I hope to keep this updated more now that I have a solid grasp on my available time to blog.
Oh, and wish me luck in trying to find a job. It's a scarily stupid market out there nowadays.
Peace and starfall!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Random post about BGs
Ever since I've gotten into the swing of PVP, I have become more aware that my guildies have shown more interest in doing PVP-related things. I'd like to think of myself as a trendsetter, even though I'm likely just slow to notice things.
I've been running more Premades with some guildies (mostly my fiancé's rogue, friend's DK, aforementioned other moonkin and sometimes my GL, with sometimes enough people to just completely dominate WSG over and over and over again), and they are so much fun. I used to do premade BGs a lot when I was resto, and back in Vanilla content (yeah, I know, I've been playing this game too long), but moonkin PVP has been somehow more enjoyable for me.
In WSG premades, either I or the DK tend to be the FCs. This isn't new or shocking. Druids are natural flag carriers. Glyph of barkskin works wonders for carrying the flag as a moonkin, since we can run across the field with our pocket healer, pop barkskin if we run headlong into a group of the opposite faction, and suddenly I'm a tank. Especially when you take into account my almost 1100 resilience, and semi-suicidal tendencies in PVP.
As a side note, a quick kudos needs to be given to those brave soldiers who heal flag carriers such as myself. Healers in BGs in general just make me so happy. You truly need to have some kind of giving quality to heal in battlegrounds, since healing essentially stamps a giant target sticker on your head.
As our premade team, we've also gone into Strand of the Ancients and Arathi Basin a lot. In Strand, if you have any sense of organization among your team, you are probably going to win.
Let me tell you a little something about moonkins in SotA. It's in the form of an equation.
Moonkin + Empty Siege Vehicle gunner position + starfall and trees + typhoon = almost completely-defended vehicle.
Our AoE skills truly shine in SotA, they really do! Moonkins are fantastic siege defenders. In a SotA I did two days ago with my little premade team, I hopped into someone's siege engine...and we barreled through two doors. Having typhoon on a 17 second cooldown really really helps. Hurricane too. Heck, starfa--I think you see where I'm going with this.
Coming up, the much sought-after (I'm sure) post about enchants, and links I like.
I've been running more Premades with some guildies (mostly my fiancé's rogue, friend's DK, aforementioned other moonkin and sometimes my GL, with sometimes enough people to just completely dominate WSG over and over and over again), and they are so much fun. I used to do premade BGs a lot when I was resto, and back in Vanilla content (yeah, I know, I've been playing this game too long), but moonkin PVP has been somehow more enjoyable for me.
In WSG premades, either I or the DK tend to be the FCs. This isn't new or shocking. Druids are natural flag carriers. Glyph of barkskin works wonders for carrying the flag as a moonkin, since we can run across the field with our pocket healer, pop barkskin if we run headlong into a group of the opposite faction, and suddenly I'm a tank. Especially when you take into account my almost 1100 resilience, and semi-suicidal tendencies in PVP.
As a side note, a quick kudos needs to be given to those brave soldiers who heal flag carriers such as myself. Healers in BGs in general just make me so happy. You truly need to have some kind of giving quality to heal in battlegrounds, since healing essentially stamps a giant target sticker on your head.
As our premade team, we've also gone into Strand of the Ancients and Arathi Basin a lot. In Strand, if you have any sense of organization among your team, you are probably going to win.
Let me tell you a little something about moonkins in SotA. It's in the form of an equation.
Moonkin + Empty Siege Vehicle gunner position + starfall and trees + typhoon = almost completely-defended vehicle.
Our AoE skills truly shine in SotA, they really do! Moonkins are fantastic siege defenders. In a SotA I did two days ago with my little premade team, I hopped into someone's siege engine...and we barreled through two doors. Having typhoon on a 17 second cooldown really really helps. Hurricane too. Heck, starfa--I think you see where I'm going with this.
Coming up, the much sought-after (I'm sure) post about enchants, and links I like.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Countering BG Negativity
Stop me if you've seen this before.
Randomguy-Server: WOW ALLIANCE SUCKS AT BGS
Pubescentguy-Server: UR MOM
Pubescentguysfriend-Server: lololol srsly, reroll horde
Blitzguy-Server: WE'RE BLITZING, YEAH
Debbiedowner-Server: WTG FUCKING SCRUBS, WE JUST LOST
Yeah, I can go on.
I know I said I'd do my next post on enchants for moonkins, but I've done SO MANY moonkin-related posts in a row that I want to hop back onto my soapbox and talk about BG negativity.
It's bloody rampant.
A combination of faction apathy and being stuck in a certain strategic rut leads to battleground chats that are remarkably similar to that listed above. I would like to propose a few strategies for NOT UNLEASHING TOTAL RAEG at your faction.
Yes, this post is mildly facetious, and these strategies may come across as condescending or patronizing, but the fact of the matter is, there is absolutely no gain (see that again - no gain) in verbally abusing others in bgchat, or anywhere else for that matter. And, to be honest, when people treat others like garbage, the end result is that the person attacked is going to feel mildly like garbage.
I'm just going to get right into it.
1) Use neutral language
In a situation where you might bark orders at someone, such as distributing strategic placements at the beginning of AB or EotS or the like, language is KEY. Instead of approaching a BG going "okay fuckers, this is how we're going to do this", enter the BG and simply add to the strategies floating around.
BAD:
"Okay assholes, group 1 go to LM, group 2 to GM and if I see anyone going to blacksmith before we have stables, you're all fucking newbs."
GOOD:
"Group 1 - LM, Group 2 - GM, cap stables before BS, stick around until your flag caps."
Look how non-combattive the second one is. You won't provoke anyone, you won't be provoked (since if anyone decides to be snarky after sending out instructions in that neutral manner, it's their loss to do so), and at least a small chunk of the BG might pay attention.
2) Positive reinforcement
This seems simple enough, but goddamn does it work.
Say your team has just caught three bases in EotS. The fight is rough, horde might still be plaguing one of the bases, but a simple "good job, keep it up, guard if you can" is going to go a long way.
Positive reinforcement especially works when your team is losing.
That's not a typo.
When your side is the one losing, that's when negativity is most bred. This is the part where you see insults slinging, people getting called out for "sucking", etc. Praise the small achievements that happen in this time. For example, an AV Blitz goes south, and quickly becomes a turtle on both sides. This is a prime situation where your side might get really pissed. As a team player, you can take charge in a situation like this and act in a positive fashion. Propose a secondary strategy ("it's okay, it's okay, let's defend the bunkers and try to grab mines for resources" "great job getting the mines guys") and win or lose, you might evade some of the rampant insult-flinging.
Then again, you can't change people - that's not what this post is trying to do. If someone is going to be an asshole, they're going to be an asshole. But these simple strategies might help your PERSONAL experience in BGs as you grind your way to your next personal milestone. A positive mindset in battlegrounds can take you a long way.
/climbs off soapbox
Friday, April 16, 2010
Links I like - Arena Junkies
Now.
Far be it for me to throw you directly into the lion's den, but I need to give credit where it is due.
Arena Junkies, if you can ignore the RAEGING TESTOSTERONE OUTPUT, is a very informative site devoted to...well, arenas.
As long as you have a skin thick enough to endure the comments.
There are sections devoted to specs, macros, strategies, rankings (if your epeen decides it needs stroking), and in general, it's a massive wiki-style site, so you're going to get some hits, like their page on Druid Macros (though some are out of date), and misses, such as the singular moonkin spec listed among the druid specs. I can't bring myself to agree with some of the talent choices, and it's not exactly rated very well among the masses.
Ignore all the haters, though; moonkin arena is alive and thriving. I have seen no less than a dozen comps with moonkins in every bracket.
Anyway. Arena Junkies is a good generic arena site. In general, it is very informative, particularly in the strategies section. Go check it out, but use protection.
Far be it for me to throw you directly into the lion's den, but I need to give credit where it is due.
Arena Junkies, if you can ignore the RAEGING TESTOSTERONE OUTPUT, is a very informative site devoted to...well, arenas.
As long as you have a skin thick enough to endure the comments.
There are sections devoted to specs, macros, strategies, rankings (if your epeen decides it needs stroking), and in general, it's a massive wiki-style site, so you're going to get some hits, like their page on Druid Macros (though some are out of date), and misses, such as the singular moonkin spec listed among the druid specs. I can't bring myself to agree with some of the talent choices, and it's not exactly rated very well among the masses.
Ignore all the haters, though; moonkin arena is alive and thriving. I have seen no less than a dozen comps with moonkins in every bracket.
Anyway. Arena Junkies is a good generic arena site. In general, it is very informative, particularly in the strategies section. Go check it out, but use protection.
Gear, Part 2: Gems
This post comes at the heels of an apt conversation held with another moonkin/resto in my raiding team. We held a few premade WSGs, in which he decided to stay moonkin for the pwnage factor. After we finished in there, he asked me why I hadn't enchanted my cloak (I hadn't the heart to say BECAUSE I AM LAZY) and what gems I use.
Well, this post is for you, aspiring PVP laserchicken.
Gems:
I actually struggled with this myself for a while. Is it better to gem flat resil, flat spellpower, flat spell pen, flat stamina, what? In my opinion, one is better off gemming for spellpower and spellpower/resilience, particularly once your gear set is almost complete. Personally, I have a combination of resil, spellpower, and spellpower/resil WITH ONLY ONE gem that happens to be spellpower/stamina, and that was used to push me over a certain HP milestone which I can't remember right this second.
You can leave a couple blue gem sockets open (better blue for the socket bonus, tbh, to help get back stats you miss) to gem spell penetration.
What *is* spell penetration, you ask? And how much of it do I need?
Spell penetration on WoWWiki
As the article states, every point of spell penetration counteracts a point of resistance. 50 is a solid minimum if you don't expect to PVP much, or if you only PVP casually. Something between 75 and 130 seems to be more reasonable if you do arenas. I personally have been skimping out on gemming/enchanting spell pen because I'm going to be getting some upgrades soon, and I'm a cheapass. But I have 40 spell pen right now, and that is actually a noticeable difference.
So in summary:
* spellpower or spellpower/resil are solid gems
* gem flat resil only if you feel you're behind on anti-squishiness
* save a couple blue sockets for spell penetration
META!
Before you go coughing up dough for some of these meta options, swing by your local Wintergrasp and get them for stone keeper's shards instead. You're welcome.
There are many many options, and frankly...most of them are great depending on what you centrally do in PVP. I personally use the Forlorn Starflare Diamond, as keeping me silenced is a bad idea. I got this gem specifically because I do a lot of arenas. In 2v2, if I get silenced, my partner is in critical danger. If I were exclusively doing BGs, or only 5s, I imagine I would get Tireless Starflare Diamond instead for the run increase.
There are gems there that increase your crit and add these wonderful things, but I find foremost that the spellpower is lacking in a lot of PVP gear. I am aiming to bring my spellpower back up to about 2900-3000 in caster form before I switch my meta. When I do, I'm going to probably switch it to Impassive Starflare Diamond for the crit and reduced fear duration.
Bear in mind that most of my specs listed in this post do not include eclipse, our primary reason to stack crit. Food for thought!
Your mileage, as always, may vary. There are quite a few options here as opposed to PVE (Chaotic Skyflare Diamond or bust), so play around, see what works for you.
I don't want to bog you down with information, so enchants will come in another post. Coming up: enchants, and links I like.
Well, this post is for you, aspiring PVP laserchicken.
Gems:
I actually struggled with this myself for a while. Is it better to gem flat resil, flat spellpower, flat spell pen, flat stamina, what? In my opinion, one is better off gemming for spellpower and spellpower/resilience, particularly once your gear set is almost complete. Personally, I have a combination of resil, spellpower, and spellpower/resil WITH ONLY ONE gem that happens to be spellpower/stamina, and that was used to push me over a certain HP milestone which I can't remember right this second.
You can leave a couple blue gem sockets open (better blue for the socket bonus, tbh, to help get back stats you miss) to gem spell penetration.
What *is* spell penetration, you ask? And how much of it do I need?
Spell penetration on WoWWiki
In PvP, good spell penetration values are 54 (to counter unimproved Mark of the Wild, 75 if the druid spent two points in Improved Mark of the Wild) and 130 (to counter various single-school resistance buffs, such as the Paladin's resistance auras); these are usually enough. 50 will often do for 'occasional' PvP.
As the article states, every point of spell penetration counteracts a point of resistance. 50 is a solid minimum if you don't expect to PVP much, or if you only PVP casually. Something between 75 and 130 seems to be more reasonable if you do arenas. I personally have been skimping out on gemming/enchanting spell pen because I'm going to be getting some upgrades soon, and I'm a cheapass. But I have 40 spell pen right now, and that is actually a noticeable difference.
So in summary:
* spellpower or spellpower/resil are solid gems
* gem flat resil only if you feel you're behind on anti-squishiness
* save a couple blue sockets for spell penetration
META!
Before you go coughing up dough for some of these meta options, swing by your local Wintergrasp and get them for stone keeper's shards instead. You're welcome.
There are many many options, and frankly...most of them are great depending on what you centrally do in PVP. I personally use the Forlorn Starflare Diamond, as keeping me silenced is a bad idea. I got this gem specifically because I do a lot of arenas. In 2v2, if I get silenced, my partner is in critical danger. If I were exclusively doing BGs, or only 5s, I imagine I would get Tireless Starflare Diamond instead for the run increase.
There are gems there that increase your crit and add these wonderful things, but I find foremost that the spellpower is lacking in a lot of PVP gear. I am aiming to bring my spellpower back up to about 2900-3000 in caster form before I switch my meta. When I do, I'm going to probably switch it to Impassive Starflare Diamond for the crit and reduced fear duration.
Bear in mind that most of my specs listed in this post do not include eclipse, our primary reason to stack crit. Food for thought!
Your mileage, as always, may vary. There are quite a few options here as opposed to PVE (Chaotic Skyflare Diamond or bust), so play around, see what works for you.
I don't want to bog you down with information, so enchants will come in another post. Coming up: enchants, and links I like.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Gear, Part 1
When you first start to PVP, it's easy to get overwhelmed.
No, literally. When you have like 17k life, you are generally targeted first. No resilience can make for a frustrating time in PVP, and you tend to spend a lot of time chatting up the spirit healer.
They don't say much, but they seem nice.
Anyway.
It's fairly easy nowadays to get the gear necessary to begin to feel...less squishy in the face of impending doom. But where do you start?
I was faced with this difficulty when I got back into PVPing. With the mismatched bits of PVP gear that I DID have, I had around 400 resil, and I had downgraded from my 264 epics from PVE to free ilvl 200 PVP pieces that I had stored in my bank.
This is my general arbitrary advice on a priority order for the process of gearing up as a moonkin.
1) TRINKET.
This should come as a no-brainer. It is my honest solid opinion that getting some incarnation of the PVP trinket (the one with flat resil that breaks you out of moving impairments) is a very good idea. The highest ilvl trinket to date is this one, and though its cost may seem intimidating, I highly recommend getting this first.
Why? First of all, it's 153 resilience more than you had before. Second, a PVP trinket is absolutely essential. You won't believe how often you will use this trinket, especially in arenas.
The exception to this would be if you already have one of the lesser ilvl trinkets, which would bump this down the priority chain. But if you already have a PVP trinket with some resil, you probably don't need this guide.
2) Furious (or in the future - the easiest attainable set via emblems or honor)
You can currently buy the entire furious set with badges. If you were a PVE junkie like me, this means that you can painlessly run heroics until you get enough for the full set, and not have to worry about breaking the ice with the spirit healer.
2a) 2 2pc set bonuses
This only applies to hybrid classes, essentially. Lucky you!
If you're going to go the way of getting furious super duper duper quick, you may want to consider this option. For a long time, I had two pieces of the resto furious set to go alongside my three pieces of the boomkin furious set. Why? Because the two piece set bonuses stack. That is an easy extra 200 resilience until you get to a reasonable amount. I personally waited until I could buy the relentless shoulders with honor and arena points before swapping out my 2pc set bonus for resto. This is also because I gained a shit-ton of resil with relentless, and I got a further upgrade that helped with the resilience deficiency.
3) Wrathful accessories!
OMG you need accessories to match your set of pwnage. Until you get rating, the only wrathful-level accessories available are the cloaks, rings, neck and bracers. Belt and boots need at least 1200 (1400 for the boots, iirc). These accessories are an EASY boost to resil, but not completely necessary until you get set pieces out of the way.
Not going to do arena? Worried you can't get a good belt or set of boots? Well the relentless vendor is RIGHT BEHIND YOU. For just a little less honor and resil, you can get the belt and boots no problem. I have the relentless belt right now, but I'm saving for the wrathful boots now that I have the rating for them.
Soon enough, you will have all the gear necessary to be the panzerkin you have always wanted to be in PVP.
Next post will be about GEMS AND ENCHANTS. See you soon!
No, literally. When you have like 17k life, you are generally targeted first. No resilience can make for a frustrating time in PVP, and you tend to spend a lot of time chatting up the spirit healer.
They don't say much, but they seem nice.
Anyway.
It's fairly easy nowadays to get the gear necessary to begin to feel...less squishy in the face of impending doom. But where do you start?
I was faced with this difficulty when I got back into PVPing. With the mismatched bits of PVP gear that I DID have, I had around 400 resil, and I had downgraded from my 264 epics from PVE to free ilvl 200 PVP pieces that I had stored in my bank.
This is my general arbitrary advice on a priority order for the process of gearing up as a moonkin.
1) TRINKET.
This should come as a no-brainer. It is my honest solid opinion that getting some incarnation of the PVP trinket (the one with flat resil that breaks you out of moving impairments) is a very good idea. The highest ilvl trinket to date is this one, and though its cost may seem intimidating, I highly recommend getting this first.
Why? First of all, it's 153 resilience more than you had before. Second, a PVP trinket is absolutely essential. You won't believe how often you will use this trinket, especially in arenas.
The exception to this would be if you already have one of the lesser ilvl trinkets, which would bump this down the priority chain. But if you already have a PVP trinket with some resil, you probably don't need this guide.
2) Furious (or in the future - the easiest attainable set via emblems or honor)
You can currently buy the entire furious set with badges. If you were a PVE junkie like me, this means that you can painlessly run heroics until you get enough for the full set, and not have to worry about breaking the ice with the spirit healer.
2a) 2 2pc set bonuses
This only applies to hybrid classes, essentially. Lucky you!
If you're going to go the way of getting furious super duper duper quick, you may want to consider this option. For a long time, I had two pieces of the resto furious set to go alongside my three pieces of the boomkin furious set. Why? Because the two piece set bonuses stack. That is an easy extra 200 resilience until you get to a reasonable amount. I personally waited until I could buy the relentless shoulders with honor and arena points before swapping out my 2pc set bonus for resto. This is also because I gained a shit-ton of resil with relentless, and I got a further upgrade that helped with the resilience deficiency.
3) Wrathful accessories!
OMG you need accessories to match your set of pwnage. Until you get rating, the only wrathful-level accessories available are the cloaks, rings, neck and bracers. Belt and boots need at least 1200 (1400 for the boots, iirc). These accessories are an EASY boost to resil, but not completely necessary until you get set pieces out of the way.
Not going to do arena? Worried you can't get a good belt or set of boots? Well the relentless vendor is RIGHT BEHIND YOU. For just a little less honor and resil, you can get the belt and boots no problem. I have the relentless belt right now, but I'm saving for the wrathful boots now that I have the rating for them.
Soon enough, you will have all the gear necessary to be the panzerkin you have always wanted to be in PVP.
Next post will be about GEMS AND ENCHANTS. See you soon!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Petite Pause, With What's to Come
Hiya folks. :D
Been kinda busy over the past week, which hasn't really helped my blogging productivity. So this post is going to serve as a small interim until early next week (probably Monday) when I will resume my musings on Moonkins in PVP.
This is a list of themed posts that are to come:
* Gearing as a PVPing Moonkin - What PVE pieces to keep, if any? Quick and dirty ways to raise your resilience quickly. Gearing priorities.
* Achievement how-tos (or how-probably tos) for Moonkins going for Battlemaster (like yours truly)
* Tips on how to avoid FEELING LIKE RAEG in BGs
In the meantime, I will be writing a very important exam this weekend, so if you're reading this, wish me luck!
Until Monday!
Been kinda busy over the past week, which hasn't really helped my blogging productivity. So this post is going to serve as a small interim until early next week (probably Monday) when I will resume my musings on Moonkins in PVP.
This is a list of themed posts that are to come:
* Gearing as a PVPing Moonkin - What PVE pieces to keep, if any? Quick and dirty ways to raise your resilience quickly. Gearing priorities.
* Achievement how-tos (or how-probably tos) for Moonkins going for Battlemaster (like yours truly)
* Tips on how to avoid FEELING LIKE RAEG in BGs
In the meantime, I will be writing a very important exam this weekend, so if you're reading this, wish me luck!
Until Monday!
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