I've been Frost since Beta - I wasn't in beta mind you, but I had already decided on my tank spec. I liked Frost because it seemed to be all about control...that and it wasn't a popular spec, of which I like being the underdog (underdog spec) and making it shine. So before patch 3.0.8 goes live (hurry up and go live!) I wanted to try out the Boneshield/Unholy tanking first hand.
I had a few specs in mind, but I decided on a 5/11/53 to test out instead of the more common 9/11/51 that a lot of Unholy DK's are using. Some of the key changes that I like in my build is the 3% increase of Strength from Ravenous Dead and the 2/2 in Unholy Command (which I use for my 2nd taunt).
So far I have noticed two things with respecing into Unholy 1. My DPS has increased and 2. My survivability has increased. I did some of my own testing using WWS in regards to Frost vs Unholy pre-Boneshield nerf and as expected, I mitigate a lot more damage as Unholy but as Frost I avoided more incoming attacks but took more damage - and took a lot more spell damage. Now, this is the same conclusion that is pretty common knowledge for Deathknights who read more then the WoW live forums - seriously, why do people in the LFG channel think that Frost is the "tank" spec? -. Now my only question is how will 3.0.8 impact me and my spec? Keep in mind that I roll with a Disicpline Priest all the time so my Boneshield uptimes are much higher then the average DK.
With the new Runeforge, new tanking Sword and the changes to the Tempered Titansteel Helm (getting a blue and a meta gem socket) I think Unholy will still be a better spec for me (hrmm, do I need to change my blog template to a more greenish theme because I'm Unholy now?). The only thing that I am thinking about is do I keep 11 points deep into Frost? Lichborn is nice, there's no denying it but seeing that a lot of Unholy and now Blood tanks that are in the 25 man raids are stating that it's not that needed...that those points can be better spent else where. And truth be told I can see where they're coming from, I rarely use it between IBF and Boneshield and Lichborne is a 25% Miss Rate on MELEE attacks, so it doesn't do much for spell damage. If I did drop it I would probably go with a 13/5/53 build which would help my TPS on single targets and also give me a self heal to take the place of Lichborne.
I actually find it amazing (in a good way) that a few points here and there really determine a build. I really like it in the fact that it allows you to customize your build to your play style. Take for example myself, I am with a Disc Priest all the time and when I run groups I am more then likely always with an Enhancement Shaman - Thus if I was still Frost my Icy Talons wouldn't stack.
Thursday, December 11, 2008 Upcoming Deathknight Changes
If you haven't seen them yet, here they are!
From Ghostcrawler: We have talked about making some of these changes and wanted to provide more details. You should be able to try these out yourselves on the PTR before they go live.
Our reason for most of these changes should be obvious, but some common themes are:
-- Making tanking still rely on cooldowns, but rely on them a little less.
-- Make Blood a more attractive spec, and particularly for tanking.
-- Chill out some of the defensive capabilities all DKs have in PvP.
-- Avoid having to use Death and Decay as an out-of-combat runic power generator.
1) Rune Strike -- damage decreased from 200% to 150% but threat increased to 150% from 100%.
This was changed because RS was the "Rogue Killer", and far be it for a class to kill a Rogue so it's damage was modified. This change is indifferent to me as a Tank I feel that the threat increase is rather nice.
2) All multi-rune abilities generate 15 runic power.
Eh
3) Anti-Magic Shell -- cooldown lowered to 45 sec from 60 sec.
This is hot, completely hot. DK's were suppose to be the spell tank and this ability not only helps that, but really will help out in PvP. I really like this change.
4) The healing of Blood Aura, Blood Presence and Death Pact has been doubled.
I'm not a Blood DK and I'm not in Blood Presence much, but for when I group with Lorren this will be hot...beyond hot, sexy hot.
I like the fact that Blizz is trying to make the Blood tree more appealing and make all three trees have their special niche.
5) Bone Shield -- mitigation reduced from 40% to 20%.
BS was shown to scale extremely well as your avoidance went up -- too well. I knew, along with many others, that a nerf to BS was coming. However, down to 20% was a bit too drastic, I was looking at 30% personally. There are some early numbers also showing that with BS nerf along with IBF nerf that Unholy falls behind Frost in tanking. Looking forward to seeing this in action to get more solid numbers out of it.
6) Icebound Fortitude – now reduces damage by 20% instead of 50%. The amount of damage reduced increases with bonus Defense (to about 35% for 540 Defense, but it can go higher). The stun immunity is intended to be its primary role in PvP.
This one I'm trying to take in stride - yet another PvE nerf because of PvP. I think Blizz needs to decide what type of game they want, PvE or PvP then attempt to balance for that type and whatever happens to the other aspect of the game happens.
Now, as a tank I'll always have 540 Defense, however when I do choose to PvP, and I'm in PvP gear, my Defense will be significantly lower as PvP gear has resilience instead of Defense...not so hot.
7) Frost Presence -- bonus armor increased from 60 to 80% and magic damage reduction increased from 5 to 15%. We wanted to reduce the effectiveness of cooldowns but bring up base mitigation to reduce damage spikiness.
This was the main tanking buff that GC mentioned on briefly a few weeks ago. My only fear is that I don't want to tank like a Bear - IE shit ton of armor.
8) Corpse Explosion -- damage increased substantially, added 5 sec cooldown, and changed cost to 40 runic power.
CE is now useful! Yeee!
9) Heart Strike – we overhauled this ability. It no longer has a haste debuff but will now be able to strike two targets like a cleave. It still hits for more than Blood Strike, but you can still use Blood Strike if e.g. you don’t want to break CC.
Never spec'd Blood I don't have any in depth analysis on this, however the word of mouth from my Blood buddies is that they are excited to see HS get an overhall.
10) Horn of Winter -- now has no cost and grants 10 runic power in addition to its stat buff, but has a 30 sec cooldown.
I like this one as well...hoping to see that the glyph will add duration onto it as it is only a 2 minute buff.
11) Night of the Dead -- now grants 40/70% passive area spell avoidance to your pet in addition to its current effects.
NC
12) Outbreak – this talent no longer receive bonus damage from Pestilence. The bonus from Plague Strike and Blood Boil has been increased slightly.
NC
13) Bloody Strikes – the bonus damage from Pestilence has been moved here to help Blood AE slightly.
Which in turns lowers Unholy AoE damage...slightly, but a nerf to Unholy.
14) Pestilence -- no longer has a 10 sec cooldown.
HOT!
15) Raise Dead -- now split into two spells: Raise Dead now raises a ghoul or pet ghoul (if talented). Raise Ally now raises a fallen party member (at no reagent cost).
NC
16) New runeforge rune -- Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle (two-handed only) now grants 25 Defense and 2% Stamina.
Ok, granted the 4% Parry scales better then the 25 Defense - BUT! With this rune we can gem for other stats - dodge, parry, sta or go in for gear that has slightly less Defense on it because we have it covered on our weapon.
17) Shadow of Death -- duration reduced from 45 seconds to 25 seconds.
NC
18) Unholy Blight, Dancing Rune Weapon and Hungering Cold – cost reduced from 60 to 40 runic power.
HC = Still useless for PvE, has some PvP applications now.
19) Vampiric Blood -- in addition to its current effects, also adds 20% health temporarily.
More Blood buffness!
20) Will of the Necropolis -- now reduces the damage of any attack that takes the DK below 35% health by 5 /10/15% instead of boosting armor when wounded
NC
21) Many death knight glyphs have been changed. In many cases the negative consequences were removed.
This is a great addition as the Major Glyphs for DK's really sucked...really really bad. And not just a few of them, almost all of them.
22) New death knight sigils are now available, primarily from vendors, including a tanking-oriented sigil.
WOOHOO! I simply cannot wait for these! It's about time is all I can say!
From Ghostcrawler: We have talked about making some of these changes and wanted to provide more details. You should be able to try these out yourselves on the PTR before they go live.
Our reason for most of these changes should be obvious, but some common themes are:
-- Making tanking still rely on cooldowns, but rely on them a little less.
-- Make Blood a more attractive spec, and particularly for tanking.
-- Chill out some of the defensive capabilities all DKs have in PvP.
-- Avoid having to use Death and Decay as an out-of-combat runic power generator.
1) Rune Strike -- damage decreased from 200% to 150% but threat increased to 150% from 100%.
This was changed because RS was the "Rogue Killer", and far be it for a class to kill a Rogue so it's damage was modified. This change is indifferent to me as a Tank I feel that the threat increase is rather nice.
2) All multi-rune abilities generate 15 runic power.
Eh
3) Anti-Magic Shell -- cooldown lowered to 45 sec from 60 sec.
This is hot, completely hot. DK's were suppose to be the spell tank and this ability not only helps that, but really will help out in PvP. I really like this change.
4) The healing of Blood Aura, Blood Presence and Death Pact has been doubled.
I'm not a Blood DK and I'm not in Blood Presence much, but for when I group with Lorren this will be hot...beyond hot, sexy hot.
I like the fact that Blizz is trying to make the Blood tree more appealing and make all three trees have their special niche.
5) Bone Shield -- mitigation reduced from 40% to 20%.
BS was shown to scale extremely well as your avoidance went up -- too well. I knew, along with many others, that a nerf to BS was coming. However, down to 20% was a bit too drastic, I was looking at 30% personally. There are some early numbers also showing that with BS nerf along with IBF nerf that Unholy falls behind Frost in tanking. Looking forward to seeing this in action to get more solid numbers out of it.
6) Icebound Fortitude – now reduces damage by 20% instead of 50%. The amount of damage reduced increases with bonus Defense (to about 35% for 540 Defense, but it can go higher). The stun immunity is intended to be its primary role in PvP.
This one I'm trying to take in stride - yet another PvE nerf because of PvP. I think Blizz needs to decide what type of game they want, PvE or PvP then attempt to balance for that type and whatever happens to the other aspect of the game happens.
Now, as a tank I'll always have 540 Defense, however when I do choose to PvP, and I'm in PvP gear, my Defense will be significantly lower as PvP gear has resilience instead of Defense...not so hot.
7) Frost Presence -- bonus armor increased from 60 to 80% and magic damage reduction increased from 5 to 15%. We wanted to reduce the effectiveness of cooldowns but bring up base mitigation to reduce damage spikiness.
This was the main tanking buff that GC mentioned on briefly a few weeks ago. My only fear is that I don't want to tank like a Bear - IE shit ton of armor.
8) Corpse Explosion -- damage increased substantially, added 5 sec cooldown, and changed cost to 40 runic power.
CE is now useful! Yeee!
9) Heart Strike – we overhauled this ability. It no longer has a haste debuff but will now be able to strike two targets like a cleave. It still hits for more than Blood Strike, but you can still use Blood Strike if e.g. you don’t want to break CC.
Never spec'd Blood I don't have any in depth analysis on this, however the word of mouth from my Blood buddies is that they are excited to see HS get an overhall.
10) Horn of Winter -- now has no cost and grants 10 runic power in addition to its stat buff, but has a 30 sec cooldown.
I like this one as well...hoping to see that the glyph will add duration onto it as it is only a 2 minute buff.
11) Night of the Dead -- now grants 40/70% passive area spell avoidance to your pet in addition to its current effects.
NC
12) Outbreak – this talent no longer receive bonus damage from Pestilence. The bonus from Plague Strike and Blood Boil has been increased slightly.
NC
13) Bloody Strikes – the bonus damage from Pestilence has been moved here to help Blood AE slightly.
Which in turns lowers Unholy AoE damage...slightly, but a nerf to Unholy.
14) Pestilence -- no longer has a 10 sec cooldown.
HOT!
15) Raise Dead -- now split into two spells: Raise Dead now raises a ghoul or pet ghoul (if talented). Raise Ally now raises a fallen party member (at no reagent cost).
NC
16) New runeforge rune -- Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle (two-handed only) now grants 25 Defense and 2% Stamina.
Ok, granted the 4% Parry scales better then the 25 Defense - BUT! With this rune we can gem for other stats - dodge, parry, sta or go in for gear that has slightly less Defense on it because we have it covered on our weapon.
17) Shadow of Death -- duration reduced from 45 seconds to 25 seconds.
NC
18) Unholy Blight, Dancing Rune Weapon and Hungering Cold – cost reduced from 60 to 40 runic power.
HC = Still useless for PvE, has some PvP applications now.
19) Vampiric Blood -- in addition to its current effects, also adds 20% health temporarily.
More Blood buffness!
20) Will of the Necropolis -- now reduces the damage of any attack that takes the DK below 35% health by 5 /10/15% instead of boosting armor when wounded
NC
21) Many death knight glyphs have been changed. In many cases the negative consequences were removed.
This is a great addition as the Major Glyphs for DK's really sucked...really really bad. And not just a few of them, almost all of them.
22) New death knight sigils are now available, primarily from vendors, including a tanking-oriented sigil.
WOOHOO! I simply cannot wait for these! It's about time is all I can say!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 Hungering Cold...
Great name isn't it? I think so, which is why I made it the title of my Deathknight blog. However as an endline ability it's lacking...severly.
Purges the earth around the Death Knight of all heat. Enemies within 10 yards are trapped in ice, preventing them from performing any action for 10 sec and infecting them with Frost Fever. Enemies are considered Frozen, but any damage other than diseases will break the ice.
60 Runic Power, Instant, 1 min cooldown
This is Frost's 51 talent...looks decent on paper doesn't it? Well, in actual practice it's completely useless, not even worth the 1 point that it would take to get it because it doesn't have any situations where it would help.
Think about it...
Frost is the rune starved spec, to be able to have 60 Runic Power to use it you'd need to spec 3/3 Runic Power Mastery and 2/2 Chill of the Grave. So that's 5 points to even make it remotely possible to use. Now, take into account that it will break on any damage other then DK diseases and it becomes useless.
PvE Aspect- Heavy Runic Power cost, great way to spread Frost Fever except for the fact that Icy Touch (0 Runic Power, 1 Frost Rune) + Pestilence (0 Runic Power, 1 Blood Rune) is a must easier and faster way to spread Frost Fever. Specially as a Frost Deathknight you'll have Blood of the North so in essence it's more or less like spending 1 Blood Rune. I may not be a number cruncher like the guys over on EJ, but 1 Blood Rune > 60 Runic Power + 5 Talent Points.
PvP Aspect- Looks nice in PvP as a way to CC the opposition...oh wait...Runic Power cost again! As a Frost PvP DK you'll be spending your RP on Frost and Rune Strike...so again it fails.
My thoughts on making this end-line talent viable are...
Ok, the red circle is the group encounter, I then pull them back to the blue X and Hungering Cold the group, CC'ing all of them. I then Icy Touch a single mob from the encounter and bring it back to green X for my group can beat it down. Rinse and repeat as needed.
This would make HC situational in the fact that it couldn't be used for raiding, and would be used mostly for pulling group encounters. Keep in mind that as a Deathknight we have huge aoe abilities, so this would only be used in situations where we could not live while 4+ NPCs are beating on us.
Here's the meat of this post - A lot of classes got "situational" end line 51 talent points in Wrath. Hungering Cold cannot even be classified as that. It's an ability that is completely useless because of the Runic Power along with the fact that it breaks on everything but diseases. I don't mind situational end-line abilities...just make sure there are situations in which they should be used for.
Purges the earth around the Death Knight of all heat. Enemies within 10 yards are trapped in ice, preventing them from performing any action for 10 sec and infecting them with Frost Fever. Enemies are considered Frozen, but any damage other than diseases will break the ice.60 Runic Power, Instant, 1 min cooldown
This is Frost's 51 talent...looks decent on paper doesn't it? Well, in actual practice it's completely useless, not even worth the 1 point that it would take to get it because it doesn't have any situations where it would help.
Think about it...
Frost is the rune starved spec, to be able to have 60 Runic Power to use it you'd need to spec 3/3 Runic Power Mastery and 2/2 Chill of the Grave. So that's 5 points to even make it remotely possible to use. Now, take into account that it will break on any damage other then DK diseases and it becomes useless.
PvE Aspect- Heavy Runic Power cost, great way to spread Frost Fever except for the fact that Icy Touch (0 Runic Power, 1 Frost Rune) + Pestilence (0 Runic Power, 1 Blood Rune) is a must easier and faster way to spread Frost Fever. Specially as a Frost Deathknight you'll have Blood of the North so in essence it's more or less like spending 1 Blood Rune. I may not be a number cruncher like the guys over on EJ, but 1 Blood Rune > 60 Runic Power + 5 Talent Points.
PvP Aspect- Looks nice in PvP as a way to CC the opposition...oh wait...Runic Power cost again! As a Frost PvP DK you'll be spending your RP on Frost and Rune Strike...so again it fails.
My thoughts on making this end-line talent viable are...
Make Hungering Cold cost 0 RP...yeah that's right. Now this would help with PvE but could put a dimishing returns on the PvP aspect. PvP isn't balanced so why make PvE suffer because of it? As a tank I could then use it for when I need to CC group encounters if my AoE DPS of my party members is weak. Refer to the below diagram...(don't make fun of my Paint skillz!)
Ok, the red circle is the group encounter, I then pull them back to the blue X and Hungering Cold the group, CC'ing all of them. I then Icy Touch a single mob from the encounter and bring it back to green X for my group can beat it down. Rinse and repeat as needed.This would make HC situational in the fact that it couldn't be used for raiding, and would be used mostly for pulling group encounters. Keep in mind that as a Deathknight we have huge aoe abilities, so this would only be used in situations where we could not live while 4+ NPCs are beating on us.
Here's the meat of this post - A lot of classes got "situational" end line 51 talent points in Wrath. Hungering Cold cannot even be classified as that. It's an ability that is completely useless because of the Runic Power along with the fact that it breaks on everything but diseases. I don't mind situational end-line abilities...just make sure there are situations in which they should be used for.
Thursday, December 4, 2008 Deathknights, Tanking and You
So, I'm only level 73 but Khaeli and I have decided to take it slow and explore and quest in both Howling Fjord and the Borean Tundra. We aren't going to race to level cap like we did in EQ2 just to be stuck running other people through questlines and instances...we're actually enjoying ourselves! What a concept!
Now, throughout the early 70s I've ran into so many Deathknights not really knowing how to use their abilities, how to spec themselves - throwing points into every which direction and in general, not knowing how to tank. So here is my tanking guide for the low 70s Deathknight, I'll probably make another for when I turn 80 if I still see the complete lack of knowledge out there.
First off, lets talk about talent specs. At this level in the game it really doesn't matter but we're looking at the bigger picture here. I favor a heavy Frost build (if you couldn't tell by the name of this blog). Here is my armory page with my current spec. As I have my hockey helmet on snuggly, I have been viewing the live forums and have come to think of myself as a broken record when I see topics like "Frost tank spec help" as people are not putting points into the basic abilities. If you are serious about Frost tanking here is my list of MUST TAKE abilities in the Frost tree...
Frigid Deathplate- This is not a 3% Dodge or Parry, this is a solid 3% miss...it's huge! However I have been seeing a lot of Frost tank builds not picking this up...their thought process "Well it's not that much, only 3%".
Unbreakable Armor- I have yet to see a tank build not take it, Unbreakable Armor is to Frost tanking as Corn is to midwest farmers.
Toughness- 5/5/5 is the standard Tank build...it's not going to change, use it, love it, embrace it.
Tundra Stalker- If you go Deep Frost and don't get Tundra Stalker you're entire spec is fail...seriously 10% increase in spells & abilities that have FF (and you should have all your targets under FF 90%+ of the time) AND 5 Expertise...no brainer right?
Icy Touch/Talons Talents- If all you are doing is raiding end game and roll with an Enhance Shammy I would say don't bother as Wind Fury totem and Icy Talons don't stack. However, for a lot of us, the Echance Shammys are few and far between, so this is a solid pickup.
Frost Aura- No it doesn't stack with the Druid's MotW buff, however it also includes some resists that motw doesn't touch. DK's are suppose to mitigate spell damage more so then the other tank types, and this is one of the abilities in the Frost tree that make is possible.
Acclimation- You'll find people bashing this talent all over the live forums, but the reality is, it stacks quickly...it's situational, but when those situations arise often you'll be happy to have it.
Guile of Gorefiend- Lets pretend that it doesn't have any DPS boost at all...it increases the duration of Icebound Fortitude, which alone is worth the 3 points into it.
Where you spend your points from there on out is personal preference, just don't put them into Killing Machine as a tank or DPS really. We are not a white damage class, so it's a waste of 5 points that could be better spent else where. As to which Frost build is better...well I'm still trying out a few myself. Crunching some numbers to see if I do a 51 Frost build while picking up Shadow of Death (2% STA & STR increase) from Unholy to boost my HP.
2 Handers vs Duel Wielding
There are a shit-ton of posts on the live forums regarding this hot topic. Lots of mis-informed people stating that DW sucks without really knowing the reason why. It's viable, but your survivability will decrease while doing so. And since as a tank your main job is to survive, DW kind of starts to fade. There are some great on-going threads regarding duel wielding as a DK tank that can be found at Deathknight.info here, but also there are some great charts made by Berthold on Elitist Jerks that can be found below or at Elitist Jerks here.
Conclusion: 2H > DW
Now, Bliz may change things as they are mixing up some of the DK tanking mechanics as GC himself mentioned that DK's are taking too much of a beating for their liking. The specifics of such are still unknown but I am eagerly awaiting to read what their plans are.
Now, throughout the early 70s I've ran into so many Deathknights not really knowing how to use their abilities, how to spec themselves - throwing points into every which direction and in general, not knowing how to tank. So here is my tanking guide for the low 70s Deathknight, I'll probably make another for when I turn 80 if I still see the complete lack of knowledge out there.
First off, lets talk about talent specs. At this level in the game it really doesn't matter but we're looking at the bigger picture here. I favor a heavy Frost build (if you couldn't tell by the name of this blog). Here is my armory page with my current spec. As I have my hockey helmet on snuggly, I have been viewing the live forums and have come to think of myself as a broken record when I see topics like "Frost tank spec help" as people are not putting points into the basic abilities. If you are serious about Frost tanking here is my list of MUST TAKE abilities in the Frost tree...
Frigid Deathplate- This is not a 3% Dodge or Parry, this is a solid 3% miss...it's huge! However I have been seeing a lot of Frost tank builds not picking this up...their thought process "Well it's not that much, only 3%".
Unbreakable Armor- I have yet to see a tank build not take it, Unbreakable Armor is to Frost tanking as Corn is to midwest farmers.
Toughness- 5/5/5 is the standard Tank build...it's not going to change, use it, love it, embrace it.
Tundra Stalker- If you go Deep Frost and don't get Tundra Stalker you're entire spec is fail...seriously 10% increase in spells & abilities that have FF (and you should have all your targets under FF 90%+ of the time) AND 5 Expertise...no brainer right?
Icy Touch/Talons Talents- If all you are doing is raiding end game and roll with an Enhance Shammy I would say don't bother as Wind Fury totem and Icy Talons don't stack. However, for a lot of us, the Echance Shammys are few and far between, so this is a solid pickup.
Frost Aura- No it doesn't stack with the Druid's MotW buff, however it also includes some resists that motw doesn't touch. DK's are suppose to mitigate spell damage more so then the other tank types, and this is one of the abilities in the Frost tree that make is possible.
Acclimation- You'll find people bashing this talent all over the live forums, but the reality is, it stacks quickly...it's situational, but when those situations arise often you'll be happy to have it.
Guile of Gorefiend- Lets pretend that it doesn't have any DPS boost at all...it increases the duration of Icebound Fortitude, which alone is worth the 3 points into it.
Where you spend your points from there on out is personal preference, just don't put them into Killing Machine as a tank or DPS really. We are not a white damage class, so it's a waste of 5 points that could be better spent else where. As to which Frost build is better...well I'm still trying out a few myself. Crunching some numbers to see if I do a 51 Frost build while picking up Shadow of Death (2% STA & STR increase) from Unholy to boost my HP.
2 Handers vs Duel Wielding
There are a shit-ton of posts on the live forums regarding this hot topic. Lots of mis-informed people stating that DW sucks without really knowing the reason why. It's viable, but your survivability will decrease while doing so. And since as a tank your main job is to survive, DW kind of starts to fade. There are some great on-going threads regarding duel wielding as a DK tank that can be found at Deathknight.info here, but also there are some great charts made by Berthold on Elitist Jerks that can be found below or at Elitist Jerks here.
Conclusion: 2H > DW
Now, Bliz may change things as they are mixing up some of the DK tanking mechanics as GC himself mentioned that DK's are taking too much of a beating for their liking. The specifics of such are still unknown but I am eagerly awaiting to read what their plans are.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 Deathtards
So in a previous entry I commented on how happy I was to get away from the stereotype of the "Huntard" and one reader replied that it's not something that you can just leave behind in a class. I switched how I have my comments shown on my blog so I can't go back to quote it. I will say that they are completely right.
Deathtards is the name I will call all the stupid DK's running around. I mean, I understand it's a new class, and not everyone was in beta (I wasn't!) and so there is going to be a learning curve. But c'mon people! Read what the ability you are so frantically spamming actually does! And if you aren't entirely sure how it should be used and when...ask. There are many resources available to a new DK- I'd like to promote deathknight.info right now, and to stay away from the live forums unless you dig the ole hockey helmet out of the closet. Seriously, it's a place where all the Deathtards gather and boast who's the bigger idiot while trying to sound like they are the expert in their class.
Anyways, after running some dungeons over the past weekend I have become an alcoholic...well, a wannabe one at least. One of the first runs Khaeli and I did was a Sethekk Halls, now we have always hated this dungeons, on KnK v1.0 we only ran it once. I was 65 or 66 at the time, so there was no way that I could successfully tank it at that level but were pleased to find a level 70 Warrior in the looking for group channel. To fill out the group we snagged another DK and another Priest to heal. Khaeli and I were both amazed at the HP and Mana of this other priest, only to find out that he may have had the mana, but had no idea how to use it. The level 70 Warrior was a kid playing a female night elf (orignal I know!) and was in full greens with about as much HP as I did. This is when the Warrior suggested that since I'm Frost I tank...because Frost is the tanking spec...riiiight. The run itself wasn't too bad, few deaths here and there and only one or two wipes, not bad considering the healer, tank and the other DK who died every pull because he had to blow his entire load in 5 seconds. It wasn't until we were on the last named that things went south. The Warrior and Deathknight were talking and the DK said that he couldn't tank at all as Unholy and Boneshield wasn't a tanking talent. It was then that the Warrior said that a level 67 Frost Deathknight had more armor then he had in an earlier run and that the Frost tree was the tank tree because of the armor boost (Frost has an armor boost?!). I tried to explain a few things to them both...but there is no use trying to explain to idiots that they are in fact, an idiot. So here's your sign Mr. Unholy Deathtard!
Next we move to Slave Pens, now this is a dungeon that we have always enjoyed so we will run it a few more times yet...it's fun! Now for this run it was Khaeli, and four other Deathknights...the more common group setup thus far. This one went better then Seth Halls after I booted the Deathtard who would Death Grip my target, wouldn't let me pull encounters back (when there's fearing mobs in an encounter you really don't want to tank it next to another encounter - tip of the day!) and he managed to agro mobs we weren't even pulling, but rather passing. When the tard Death Gripped the first name I told Khaeli not to heal him and to just watch him die...we both did with a satisfied smile on our faces. After that I quickly /uninvite Deathtard and we continued on our merry way.
Basically, welcome to the age of Deathtards. May your booting them out of the group be as enjoyable time as I had.
Deathtards is the name I will call all the stupid DK's running around. I mean, I understand it's a new class, and not everyone was in beta (I wasn't!) and so there is going to be a learning curve. But c'mon people! Read what the ability you are so frantically spamming actually does! And if you aren't entirely sure how it should be used and when...ask. There are many resources available to a new DK- I'd like to promote deathknight.info right now, and to stay away from the live forums unless you dig the ole hockey helmet out of the closet. Seriously, it's a place where all the Deathtards gather and boast who's the bigger idiot while trying to sound like they are the expert in their class.
Anyways, after running some dungeons over the past weekend I have become an alcoholic...well, a wannabe one at least. One of the first runs Khaeli and I did was a Sethekk Halls, now we have always hated this dungeons, on KnK v1.0 we only ran it once. I was 65 or 66 at the time, so there was no way that I could successfully tank it at that level but were pleased to find a level 70 Warrior in the looking for group channel. To fill out the group we snagged another DK and another Priest to heal. Khaeli and I were both amazed at the HP and Mana of this other priest, only to find out that he may have had the mana, but had no idea how to use it. The level 70 Warrior was a kid playing a female night elf (orignal I know!) and was in full greens with about as much HP as I did. This is when the Warrior suggested that since I'm Frost I tank...because Frost is the tanking spec...riiiight. The run itself wasn't too bad, few deaths here and there and only one or two wipes, not bad considering the healer, tank and the other DK who died every pull because he had to blow his entire load in 5 seconds. It wasn't until we were on the last named that things went south. The Warrior and Deathknight were talking and the DK said that he couldn't tank at all as Unholy and Boneshield wasn't a tanking talent. It was then that the Warrior said that a level 67 Frost Deathknight had more armor then he had in an earlier run and that the Frost tree was the tank tree because of the armor boost (Frost has an armor boost?!). I tried to explain a few things to them both...but there is no use trying to explain to idiots that they are in fact, an idiot. So here's your sign Mr. Unholy Deathtard!
Next we move to Slave Pens, now this is a dungeon that we have always enjoyed so we will run it a few more times yet...it's fun! Now for this run it was Khaeli, and four other Deathknights...the more common group setup thus far. This one went better then Seth Halls after I booted the Deathtard who would Death Grip my target, wouldn't let me pull encounters back (when there's fearing mobs in an encounter you really don't want to tank it next to another encounter - tip of the day!) and he managed to agro mobs we weren't even pulling, but rather passing. When the tard Death Gripped the first name I told Khaeli not to heal him and to just watch him die...we both did with a satisfied smile on our faces. After that I quickly /uninvite Deathtard and we continued on our merry way.
Basically, welcome to the age of Deathtards. May your booting them out of the group be as enjoyable time as I had.
Thursday, November 20, 2008 I'm not lost and I don't need directions!
Earlier this week I went to get my dog's nails cut during lunch. A co-worker told me about this fantastic little place that was 10 minutes away that was really cheap and that I could just walk in, no appointment needed. Perfect! So I pulled up their address on Google Maps and it was on 8th Street right off of highway 12...sounds easy enough.
So here I am on 12 and I should have seen 8th Street by now but I hadn't so I keep going and see that I'm pass 7th Street. I continue on thinking maybe I saw the map wrong or something until I hit 5th Street. So I turn around and go back down on 12 and see that there is a lack of 8th Street. So here I am, circling this little area for about 20 minutes but refuse to stop into one of the many gas stations, restaurants, and other small businesses that cover the area. I did end up finding the place, but the street wasn't labeled 8th Street, instead it was labeled as "Crow River Drive" on the sign.
With the above example in mind, it's really not too surprising that I refuse to read another person's guide on how to level quickly up through the Outlands and into Northrend to hit 80 within days. I mean that is my ultimate goal...to hit 80 yet for some reason I just will not read from another person how to get there. Will it save me some time and probably a headache or two? It sure will...but so would have just running into a gas station and asking if the UFO's beamed up 8th Street.
I'll eventually get to 80, with Thottbot's help of course. Knowing me it won't take too much longer then reading an expert guide on how to level quickly, because after all it's pretty common sesne. Questing > Grinding, Yellow Quests > Green Quests and so on and so forth. So for this MMO Champion here I will grab my nuts with one hand, and let them lead me to where I need to go.
So here I am on 12 and I should have seen 8th Street by now but I hadn't so I keep going and see that I'm pass 7th Street. I continue on thinking maybe I saw the map wrong or something until I hit 5th Street. So I turn around and go back down on 12 and see that there is a lack of 8th Street. So here I am, circling this little area for about 20 minutes but refuse to stop into one of the many gas stations, restaurants, and other small businesses that cover the area. I did end up finding the place, but the street wasn't labeled 8th Street, instead it was labeled as "Crow River Drive" on the sign.
With the above example in mind, it's really not too surprising that I refuse to read another person's guide on how to level quickly up through the Outlands and into Northrend to hit 80 within days. I mean that is my ultimate goal...to hit 80 yet for some reason I just will not read from another person how to get there. Will it save me some time and probably a headache or two? It sure will...but so would have just running into a gas station and asking if the UFO's beamed up 8th Street.
I'll eventually get to 80, with Thottbot's help of course. Knowing me it won't take too much longer then reading an expert guide on how to level quickly, because after all it's pretty common sesne. Questing > Grinding, Yellow Quests > Green Quests and so on and so forth. So for this MMO Champion here I will grab my nuts with one hand, and let them lead me to where I need to go.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 The Trek to Stormwind
So this is part two of my two part series about my initial thoughts of the Deathknight quest line. Again, I stress to those that don't even have an interest in the class to at least go through the series of quests.Khaeli however decided to take my advice and had the final quest bug out on her...you know the one...where the Lich King admits that he just used his Deathknights for fodder and we (the DK's) break free from his grasp...not like that's important or anything!
Anyways, like the first part this is also going to have its fair share of pictures as I am a visual person and honestly some of the images from the starting area is just pure /sexleg. Seriously...
The picture above is where you get transformed into a giant eyeball and have to float around the town investigating different aspects of the village...while trying not to get shot down by archers. For awhile there I was just having too much fun floating around as a big giant blue ball of energy that I kinda forgot about the little brown things in the distance that were streaming towards me. Granted I didn't die from them, but lets just say this was one of the harder quests as I get distracted easily.
This is part of the final battle where the Lich King comes down and announces that he screwed over his Deathknights. For those that didn't get to see this part, it was simply pimp. Here are a few more screenshots of the event for you poor poor souls...should think about /deleting and remaking your DK!You can try to phase out some of the extremely noobish DK names you see in the screenshots.
Damn Lich King...
So here we are, completely lost as our Lord and Master just threw us to the wolves...so where the hell do we go now?
To STORMWIND! Yes! We'll be accepted there!
Damn Humans...But here we are, Welcome to Stormwind!
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