Elkagorasa the Casual

Cynwise (see side-bar) has been working on various (Warlock) PVP posts. If you are at all nervous about the upcoming PVP portion of the Children's week achievement, check out Cynwise's post on the topic.

Felmyst Last night I joined a pug that was running several of the BC raids. (note: add as something to do when your regular ICC raid is canceled ). As a group of 11-20 of decently geared level 80s, we breazed through Gruul's Lair, we flew through TK, we had a minor hiccup in SSC, but Felmyst in Sunwell caused full wipes about 6 times. Our biggest hang-up with Felmyst is she does an aoe gas damage (similar to Skadi in UP) that you don't want to stand in. Difference is that this gas is a mind-control gas . First time we got hit, all but 2 people got hit, so we basically stood around wondering who to fight?? After another try or two, we got her down to 1%, then she went airborne. While airborne she is invincible. Raid leader believed that she could ONLY be killed after a full cycle of both phases. We finally managed to kill her without letting her ever leave the ground.So, use those haste trinkets and Potion of Speed and burn down her 4.5m health as quick as possible. un...

After a long day of adventuring, where's your favorite town to hang up your weapon, take off your boots or slippers and curl up with a glass of wine? ( Source ) {translated from orcish} I've read that "Home" is where your hearthstone is set. For me, home is Dalaran. Nothing like the comforts of the "Filthy Animal" to give an Orc warlock a place to prop up his feet. Dal is a happening place. Quick access to Orgrimmar (my second love) and quick and easy to grab a job or two that can be a bit challenging, let the young'ns fight in Thrallmar. Orgrimmar is were the money is to be made. Quick jaunt to the bank, auction house and two mailboxes in between. There's always a lot of people there showing off their gear, and young startups looking get a foot in the door. Recently, I was given an offer of relocating to Undercity, then Thunderbluff. Ugh! Both those cities confuse me, with all those bridges and spans and multiple levels. The undead stink like r...

I call myself a casual player. I do not belong to a dedicated raiding guild. I don't plan days of the week I'll play. I seldom play during the sunlight of the day. As my tag says, I am a Dad/Husband first, then work, then WoW. My enjoyable diversion while my family sleeps. Being casual has advantages. There are no expectations on timing. I play when I want, as long as I want. If I feel like doing PVP, heroic dailies or simply questing one day, I can. Chat with guildies, life is grand. With my current guild ( OOT ), comprises mostly of friends' alts and a few lingering primaries like myself. These friends have gone on to a dedicated raiding group, hitting ICC 2-4 times a week, sometimes in both 10/25 man content. Depending on the night, sometimes they can't fill their DPS ranks and I fill in . I have spent enough time and effort acquiring badges, that I have fairly decent gear. While I don't have experience with many of the bosses, I can typically fake it pretty ...

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperilled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperilled in every single battle. (source: Art of War) Zack Yonzon over at WoW.com's "The Art of War(cra ft)" , posted a short article on how to kill a warlock. I find that learning what other locks are doing as a class, is extremely helpful especially in a battlegrounds. For example, it is in an Alterac Valley, that I first saw a lock successfully topping the HK charts by Drain Tanking . Shortly afterwards, I keybound Drain Life to Shift+MouseUp and my deaths in battlegrounds has dropped. All warfare is based on deception One of the key elements that Zack builds his strategy is warlock identification by the Pet minion the lock is running with: Aff = felhound  Demo = felguard Destro = imp In my resent respec (to g...

The latest Blizzard background dropped on my workstation this morning and this got me excited for tomorrows maintenance cycle.  The red glow, twinkly lights, and scourge lantern, looks like a new boss for me. Is she going to be like the Violet Hold end boss and she transforms or will she stay in this warlock tier-6 winged form ? Personally, if she stays in this form, I hope she drops these wings... Ruby Sanctum? Tier 6- Malefic Raiment

Not too long ago, I wasn't too happy with any of the loot ranking sites. It bugs me when looking at gear, and either priest healy gear or crafted items is considered the BiS for Warlocks. Um, locks do not need mana/5, and we don't heal anything but ourselves and/or our minions. Today, I got a moment of inspiration and googled for LootRank Affliction Lock scales . I thought, if someone could do it for Pawn, someone probably did it for the LootRank site. I was happy to find on WowMDB (see Dec 17,2008 8AM), just that. It contains two different scales for various builds; each build contains a +hit and no hit. Yes, the scales are 1 1/2 years old (v3.0.3), but I feel better about these than the what is default with LootRank. For example, it states that my shoes are one below BiS (Heroic versions better) and that my next upgrade needs to be my weapons, trinket and/or belt (#24/50). one tough little gnome Another option is to take advantage of other people's Pawn scales....

I'll tell you a secret. I am watching you. I know when you visit, even though you don't leave me a comment. How? Blogger doesn't provide that functionality you ask?? Subscribe to Google Analytics . The primary function of Analytics is to help with those pesky Google AdWords ( and no, I won't be setting up adwords, I'll stick to less intrusive Amazon Associates links!), but also great for tracking what pages get hit, and how you came here. Here's the summary for the last two weeks.. So, while I love to read your comments to my posts, I am a fairly certain that I am not just talking to an empty room. Keep posting your comments, and I'll keep trying to find something else interesting to post.

OK, I just got the kids to bed, wife tucked away and logon to get a few late night hours of Warcraft in. Based on all my plans, there's this raid progression tonight and I am hoping to continue filling my spot. Darn, well, technical issues aside, I finally logon and well they didn't wait. Too many open seats and they've decided to fill my spot with an actually guildie (who probably didn't show last night because he didn't really care to play the first few bosses anyway). Now what to do? (also what I do when no raid is planned). Queue up for the Random Dungeon Take a run around Dalaran, see what quirky people are on tonight Stop by Marcia Chase, pickup fishing daily (if it's not that dreaded ghost fish). Do Fishing daily, often get back before spot in random dungeon. Turn in fishing quest, port to orgrimmar to check out auction house. Buy up all the underperforming items and flip my gems. Accept dungeon invite, then go back in front of queue as someone w...

I believe it can. I want to create a PowerAura that will track if the one of the following buffs is applied to my target. unholy death knight = Ebon Plaguebringer Boomkin = Earth and Moon Lock = Curse of Elements No chance to try my idea out last night as my Internets died yesterday.

 Last night, I was lucky enough to be asked to fill a DPS slot in a new (progression) ICC 25-man raid. The guild has a few members that I used to do heroics with, so they had some experience with me. This guild has been running ICC for awhile, but hasn't downed all the bosses yet. The beauty of joining an existing raiding group is that most of them have fairly decent gear (high 5500 -> 6100). I missed out on a few drops, simply because I didn't know how to bid on the first boss ( nice neck dropped). I was lucky enough to get the following: Corp'rethar Ceremonial Crown - This crazy helm has fire or green gases emitting from it. As Fulguralis mentioned, it is a bit 'hawt', but I also feel like batman. I got this for the minimum bid of "4 dkp". Plague Scientist's Boots - These boots dropped off the last plague wing boss we did, Festergut.(21dkp) Dark Coven Leggings - I was only 10 Frost badges away from 95 when I started the raid. By complet...

With the recent acquisition of the celestial steed, I am thinking again about floating mounts. See, I have the giant ostrich mount from the Blood Elf's. I like to sit in Dalaran on this mount, and squawk at people as they pass by me. This mount (riding it reminds me of the ostrich racing in Swiss Family Robinson ) is one of a few land mounts that have wings. I'd love to have Blizzard improve upon this goofy looking mount. When I jump from the top of the stairs while mounted on my Hawkstrider, I'd like to slow-fall to the bottom, no damage. Jump off a cliff, the hawkstrider pops it's wings and we fall gracefully to the bottom. Now this isn't a flying mount, I can't direct my fall, I simply get a buff until I float to the bottom. Where I'd use it: Questing - Need to get down to the bottom of an area, and don't want to run all the way around. PVP - Eye of Storm has Horde starting on top of giant cliff. You either jump down to ledge half way, or tak...

Ok, I plunked down the $25 for the Celestial Steed, but now I am almost embarassed to ride it. I now feel so, well, cheepened for it. Oooo, look at me, I bought a mount. I was too lazy to go grind for one, too cheep to purchase one in-game from the mount vendors. On the other hand, my level 29 alt, already has a ground, epic ground, flying and epic flying mount (when level appropriate and after the appropriate training). If I ever get the urge to level this toon, I no longer need to walk. I guess that alone is a nice buff. All my toons can ride, well except for my lvl 12 bank toon.

Blizzard has posted the Celestial Steed on their online store ! Yes, it's $25, but I absolutely want one! Of course, the Blizz store wants me to use my authenticator, which is at home... So, what do I have for lunch today?? Hmm, maybe some [ Fish Feast ]? Currently in Queue (11:30am)... Position: 22664 - Estimated time: 5 hours On the other hand, now you can pre-order Cataclysm on Amazon.com (see link). No release date yet. I like buying movies from Amazon as they show up on the same day or even day before they are released to the stores. No outrageous lines to get into, heck no driving to the store. Just placed my order...

Two new pets in flight is this months background. Checking the Blizzard store, they've posted two new purchasable pets. The pets are miniature versions of the faction taxis. Bonus or fault is they include a plush animal (in addition to the in-game pet). This increased the price from $10/each to $25/each. This is going to be a bit price prohibitive for me. Definitely not going to get both pets, like I had before. Gryphon   Wind Rider If you are not about to put down RL money on an in-game pet, go get your blue clockwork bot for sale from Jeppeto in Dalaran toy shop for about 40g.

Children's Week is coming up in about a month and you REALLY want your violet protodrake. One of the major sticking points for most people with this meta event is the PVP portion . I have several guildies who are already dreading the day this event rolls around. Fire when ready! Why do they dread it? PVP is different. PVP requires a different set of skills to play, and is totally unreliable, not at all like raiding. (No phases, no trash mobs, just kill or be killed.) Plus a typical battlegrounds fight is not at all like Wintergrasp. First off, PVP is more one-on-one fighting. Unlike leveling where the npc cast a predictable set of spells, or attacked a specific way, a decent PVP'r will aim for your weaknesses. You a tank/warrior? I'll try to keep you at a distance. You a caster? I'll try to keep you silent. Despite Blizzards best efforts, they are not going to get the randomness that is a human PVP player. Second, PVP is about survivability, not damage. The ...

Blizzard posted the tentative Warlock changes to happen in Cataclysm. While this is only the pre-pre-beta updates, it is very exciting to see that Blizzard is getting close to finalizing.  Here is my initial take on some of the key-points that I find interesting. Fel Flame (level 81) : Quick-hitting spell dealing Shadowfire damage. This is similar to the mage ability Frostfire Bolt, in that the lower of the two resistances (in this case shadow and fire) on your target will be used for calculating its damage. Additionally, Fel Flame refreshes the duration of Immolate and Unstable Affliction. Our goal for Fel Flame is to provide a spell that's good for mobility and for use by Destruction and Demonology specs . Also, did we mention it uses green fire? Yep. Instant cast.   Nice, but some discussion on the forums about what tree it will be in. Not sure if it will matter. We'll learn the spell at the Warlock trainer as one more spell (like Immolate Rank 12 and Corrupti...

As of late, I have all but quit running 5-man heroics. I still run my mandatory one dungeon a day, but when that's done no looking back. I have currently over 200 Triumph badges and nothing really pressing to spend them on. Raiding is still a future plan, but not really pressing to get anything going in guild. When I do start thinking about it, it only saddens me that I am missing out on all those Frost emblems . The UI: I have moved Drain Life from the end of the keyboard to 7. This has taken a bit of muscle memory to retrain my fingers, but is paying off.  First off, I live longer. Second, I am able to kill my target as I heal myself! What's not to love about that? Fear = Wheel Down - Now I flip through a crowd by going wheel down, , wheel down.. Ah yes, fear spamming.. No response, hit the same target twice to consume the fear ward . Melee attack response: Howl of Terror = Alt+Wheel Down, Death Coil = Wheel up, ShadowFlame = Shift+Wheel Up. Each of these have a coo...

With 3.3.3, Blizzard introduced the new Holiday Boss Finder . No longer need to coordinate with guildies, no longer get to grind through all their alts to attempt to get a drop of the festive holiday mount. So, when do we get to try this new HBF tool out?  Looking forward, it looks like first week of May, Children's Week, with  a quick run of UP . As mentioned in the forums, I'd have loved to see a new holiday " bunny " boss. Maybe dropping a random mount? The hopping motion would make you seasick, and may require a few chocolate eggs to power it...