Death Knight PvP

 Death Knight, PvP  1 Response »
Nov 262008
 

Death Knight PvP at level 80, from the beta. Siege Vehicles! ’nuff said.

I haven’t started a DK yet. Yeah, I know, I’m bad. I did play one for awhile in the beta and I’m looking forward to it, but I think I’m going to get my Rogue up to 80, first. I haven’t had much time to play recently and I’m only level 73.

So. DKs and PvP. What do you think of them as they stand, now?

Are they the overall destruction machine of choice? Or strong against casters and Ok against others? Or…? Are they the Gankers or the Gankees?

For the one or two of you (like me) who haven’t started your Death Knight yet and want a leg up, the free leveling guide to the DK starter area is still up.

Death Knight Leveling Guide

 Death Knight  6 Responses »
Oct 292008
 

Planning to play a Death Knight when Wrath goes live? Or are you going to give it a couple of weeks to let the hordes move on?

If you are going to join the Deathknight horde (at any time) then you might want to check out this free DK leveling guide (a PDF) that covers the DK starting area. Both Horde and Alliance will be using the same area, just in case you didn’t know, so this guide applies equally to both sides. (By the way – I didn’t write the guide.)

When I was running my DK through that area some weeks back there were a number of people asking “Where’s the…?” “How do I…” etc.  So I think that a lot of people will find this to be useful. Download it here and save to your disk.

Update 7/14/2012: The guide was put together by Shawn of Extreme leveling, but he is no longer offering guides.

If you want a killer leveling guide that will take your DK (or any class) from start to whatever the level cap is when you read this, then give Zygor a close look.

The Retribution Paladin – Massive Pwnage and Nerf Bait

 Paladin  10 Responses »
Oct 202008
 

Lots of us have encountered this scene in the battlegrounds (BGs:) There’s the Pally, let’s start working on him. I’tll take awhile, but…. WTF!?! (appear at spirit healer)

About That Squishing Noise…

Yes, right now is the time of the Retribution Paladin. They’re lean, mean, squishing machines laying waste to anyone who stands in their way. I don’t play a Pally, my 40 is collecting dust right now, but I’ve been on the receiving end of a few of them in the BGs. It’s not bad if I can land a dismantle and they don’t bubble, but otherwise? I’ve never been slaughtered quite so quickly.

Not that I know what I’m doing, but sheesh.

I’m of two minds on this, especially for long time players. For ages Pallies have been underpowered in some areas and the subject of much complaining from their fans (and which class hasn’t?) so it’s kinda cool that they are now the destruction/murder machine of choice. On the other hand, since I play a Rogue… 😉

My kid has been playing Paladins and Warriors since the original beta, claims they are his favorite classes, and has complained about their damage and abilities for as long as he’s been playing them. I tease him about being a masochist, since those are his classes of choice and their damage has traditionally been …lacking. I’ve also been kidding him about how he must hate the current situation with the Ret. Pally running roughshod over everything.

Word has it that in the Wrath of the Lich King beta test characters were balanced for level 80, but that too little testing was done at the lower levels. The call from dead and envious players, since the 3.0 patch on the 14th, has been heard and the official word is that the nerf is coming (which will make my kid happy. I think. )

Supposedly the nerf is going to clip the burst damage, but will leave longer term DPS about the same. We’ll see. Buffs and nerfs (and patches) usually have their fair share of unintended side-effects.

So What’s the Word?

This post pretty much covers what the fuss is about:

Retribution Paladins: Fair and Balanced – So I tried my hand as a Retribution Paladin this weekend. I had heard all the complaints about how overpowered Retribution was at the moment, so I thought I would get some first hand experience for myself. …

WoWinsider notes the the coming changes are aimed at PvP Paladins and will leave PvE pretty much (in theory) unchanged. It also has a Ret build for PvE types. I’m going to log into my rust covered Pally right now and play with them for a few.

Patch 3.0.2 primer for Retribution Paladins – Retribution deals so much pain that we’ve sent the rest of player base running to Ghostcrawler crying for a nerf. And we’re getting nerfed. To the ground. Don’t panic. The changes are really, mostly aimed at PvP Paladins — okay, …

Movie time – Pally testing from the 3.02 patch:

Mp 3.0.2 patch paladin retribution Overpowered ? – Category: PvP Summary: My paladin testing out patch 3.0.2 and retribution paladins are pretty overpowered. *…

Here’s a good analysis of the Ret Paladin from Blessings of Kings:

Are Retribution Paladins Overpowered? – Half the challenge of playing a Ret paladin is actually getting to melee range. It’s not like Retribution can Charge or Stealth or Death Grip. If a player lets a Ret paladin get in range, she has already lost half the battle. …

Zuggy (a hardcore PvPer) has some blue posts on Blizzard’s thoughts about the incoming nerfs:

Retribution Paladin Nerfs Incoming – There’s no denying that retribution paladins are insanely overpowered and fortunately (or unfortunately depending…) the nerf stick was officially confirmed earlier this evening. While there are some needed changes to the class to …

And SpoonCraft has details on some of the specific nerfs:

Retribution Paladin Changes Coming Soon (Oct. 17th) – As I stated yesterday, we are happy with Ret’s PvE damage and sustatined damage in PvP, but were concerned that the burst damage in PvP could be too high. We discussed this for literally hours yesterday, which was certainly not the …

So what are your thoughts on the Retribution Pallies and their current or upcoming states?

Class Talent Changes for the 3.0 (Pe-WotLK) Patch

 Classes  Comments Off on Class Talent Changes for the 3.0 (Pe-WotLK) Patch
Oct 142008
 

The Patch has landed.

1.2 gigs of data, wow. Not so bad if you’ve been playing regularly, the background downloaded already has it. If you’ve taken a break for awhile, well… 🙂

From the new splash screen when you log in to the modified talents and trees to the new Inscription skill, there are a lot of changes here. Check out the Latest Patch Notes for details. Also keep in mind that the patch has probably broken at least some of your addons. I referred to that previously and linked to an addon update list.

So what I’ve put together here is a collection of posts regarding the new talents and builds. I did this previously (Level 80 WoW Talents And Builds) and this new post links to new and, hopefully, updated info.

Dual Talent Builds and What’s Not in This Patch:

Dual Talent Specs – At last — “…And my personal favorite: Dual Talent Specs. This new feature should be added to the game in one of the content patches following the release of Wotlk. Hopefully in Patch 3.1.” What does that mean? It means you’ll be able to save 2 different Talent Specs for your characters, and that you’ll be able to switch between the two as much as you want, any time you want, besides while in combat or in arenas.

Breaking News: Patch 3.0.2 will not contain all major class changes – There were spells and abilities missing, talents not enumerated, and generally the notes looked as if they were lifted from a version of the game done a few weeks ago. Apparently this was intentional. Ghostcrawler made a post moments …

Class Talent Discussions:

Hunters: BigRedKitty: 3.0.2 Hunter talent trees – The major purpose of this column is to give you, the WoW Insider reader, a point of reference. You know our writing, you know our play-style. You should know our limitations and the areas at which we’re not too shabby. …

Warlocks: Patch 3.0.2 primer for Warlocks – In fact, out of all the 11-point talents, Soul Link is the only one that should give us any pause for thought. Considering that for about a month, we can only allocate up to 10 points in another tree if we choose to get a 51-point …

Mages: Mage WotLK Talents & Developer Q & A – She has done a great job already working with many of classes and now she’s finally making it to the mage class, particularly the information regarding the new spell frostfire bolt. Initially I really didn’t understand the purpose of …

Priests: Spiritual Guidance: Patch 3.0.2 – Holy and Disc Priest talent review – This post will cover all of the new Holy and Discipline talents that will be accessible when the patch becomes live. Not only that, I’ve offered up some suggestions on different builds to remain raid viable (at least to the rare few …

Shaman: Going Resto in Three-point-Oh – New Talent: Cleanse Spirit (Requires 5 points in purification and 30 points in Restoration) – 1 point – Cleanse the spirit of a friendly target, removing 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 curse effect. Shaman get an all-in-one …

Warriors: The Care and Feeding of Warriors: The Door Swings Open Pt 1 – Honestly, the difficulty here is not in finding good protection talents you can spec into, it’s in picking which ones to talk to you about now. Some of these talents (like Gag Order) only get really good once you have abilities you …

Ferals: 3.0.2 for Feral Druids – In a few hours, when the servers come back up, patch 3.0.2 is going to hit, and WoW will change drastically. Every tree is get revamped to a greater or lesser extent, and extended up to 51-point talents. The Feral tree changes, …

Rogues: Four Seasons of TBC, Rogue 3.0 Specs – However, without prep which mutilate doesn’t get until WOTLK, the spec is severely lacking in outs and terrible at catching mages, one of the most dominant classes in 3.0. For offensive comps, perhaps a prep spec is still worth …

Paladin: Prot Paladin Talent Build – Block hurts them afterall. We’ll see. Lastly no Holy, nothing in the Ret tree beyond the above, and as the levels tick toward 80, they’ll all get spent in the Prot tree. Tagged: build, Paladin, pally, prot, talent.

Tankadin Preparing Your Tankadin for Patch 3.0: Part 3: Changed Tools – 10/8 – Part 3: Changes to Existing Talents and Spells 10/9 – Part 4: New Talents, and suggested Trees 10/10 – Part 5: The New Threat Rotation or 96969 10/11 – Part 6: Threat Stats for Protection Paladins and Tank Gear Reitemization …

That should be enough to chew on for now. Feel free to comment or, if you like the post, use the share buttons below.

PS: Wrath is bringing a lot of changes and Northrend is a pretty good sized place with a lot going on. Take a good look at the Killer Guides’ Wrath of the Lich King guide – It will make your trek to 80 much easier and much more lucrative.

Death Knight Talents, Builds, and Notes

 Death Knight, wrath of the lich king  Comments Off on Death Knight Talents, Builds, and Notes
Oct 022008
 

Death Knights, the heavy metal (plate) wearing Hero Class of [tag-tec]Wrath of the Lich King[/tag-tec], are probably going to be the most played class once people load Wrath onto their systems.

As it stands, their ability trees are blood, frost, and unholy. They generate runic power and use it to power their big smash attacks. Blizzard sees them as tanks for caster mobs, which brings about interesting PvP thoughts, but they’re solid in the DPS department and should be a blast to solo.

Talents? Builds? Powers? Well… All their talents and abilities are still being run through the beta grinder and will be buffed, nerfed, and kicked around until Bliz is happy enough with their status. Since they’re getting a lot of attention from the Devs I assume that the “happy enough” state will actually occur.

If you’re one of the few whole will actually be playing one of these death machines then you might want to check ouit some of the “How the [tag-del]Death Knight[/tag-del] Stands Right Now” posts below. Keep in mind that there will be changes between now and the Wrath release date.

Edit: While you’re here grab this free Death Knight Leveling Guide. It’s a PDF and it covers the DK starter area (levels 55-58.)

This first is advice to raiding DKs from a Druid:

Tips for new Death Knights from a fellow melee, part 1 – I’ve healed a lot of Death Knight tanks, and tanked for a lot of Death Knight DPS. Most of you seem like cool people, so I say this with sincere love in my little Druid heart and a touch of worry over what will happen in November: …

Zuggy covers Death Knight presences and powers:

Death Knight Abilities and Spells – Death Knight Presences Death Knight presences can be best described as equivalent to warrior stances. There are 3 stances a death knight may enter. Blood Presence – Increases damage done by 15% and heals the Death Knight by 2% of damage …

An Update on current talents and DPS:

Death Knight Discussions/Changes for Wrath of the Lich King (Oct 2nd) – Frost tree to get some buffs Disease damage went down a little, which will lower’s Unholy’s overall dps. Dancing Rune Weapon was doing a huge portion of blood’s dps. We thought it was cooler to let it hit hard but be out less often. …

More on DK changes and where they stand, now:

9014 Beta Build and More – As always, our friends over at WotLKwiki where quick to post the Death Knight changes. Here they are, I’ll add any other changes I find in a future post. 9014 Death Knight Changes. Blood. Bloody Vengeance – No longer increases frost and …

More DK Changes and Commentary:

New Beta Patch: Death Knight Changes – Runic Focus – Description changed to : “Unlike most casters, a Death Knight’s spells cause double damage on critical hits.” Unholy. Death and Decay – Damage Increased (Now Rank 4 – 62 Damage) (Old Rank 4 – 52 Damage) …

Here’s a free Death Knight prep guide. (Look for the button in the middle of the red text.) It’s not a talent or leveling guide, rather it gives info on recommended gear as you level to 70, as well as a number of other tips. You can also pre-order the full Death Knight guide from the same page.

Free Death Knight Prep Guide

 Death Knight  6 Responses »
Oct 012008
 

I’ve heard rumors, here and there, that one or two people are planning on playing a Death Knight when Wrath of the Lich King arrives.

Update, 10/31 – The free DK Prep Guide guide is no longer available, sorry. That was out of my control.  However, there is another freebie, below.

As for he prep guide It’s been incorporated into the full Death Knight Guide, by the Killer Guides team. In addition to the prep guide, you get info on talents, builds, strategies, leveling, gold, PvP, and everything else you need to be the most brutal Death Knight that you can be.

Check out that guide here, and then check out their screaming deal, 20 WoW guides for the price of 3.

The freebie is a leveling guide for the Death Knight starter area (covering levels 55-58.) For those of you have have played several DKs through that area (in the beta) well, you won’t find this interesting.

For the rest of you who want a step by step walkthough of all the quests, where to go, what to do, etc., you’ll want this guide. It’ll save you a lot of time getting through the new area. Click here to get yours.

Just in case this is true you might want to check out this freebie, the Death Knight Prep Guide.

It’s not a leveling or skill guide. It is a guide to potions, gear, and a few other things you’ll want to do to get your Death Knight 100% ready to go for Outlands and Northrend. Buy them and store them now, while they’re cheap.

Hunter Pets in Wrath of the LK

 Hunters, wrath of the lich king  1 Response »
Aug 282008
 

[tag-tec]Wrath of the Lich King[/tag-tec] is going to do some interesting things to pets, especially in terms of leveling your pet and loyalty ratings.

Big Red Kitty has the story. WotLK Beta, Pet Winners and Losers

For example:

Bats Sonic Blast. What makes this two-second stun better than everything other pets’ is the uber-short cooldown. If you’re mana-draining hunter in a 5v5 team and your primary target is the paladin, it’ll be hard to choose a better pet than a Bat to interupt that paladin’s heals.

So if you play a Hunter, or you’re being played by one, or you want to know about that odd pet that’s going to be attacking you in the BGs, or you want to know more about the new pet leveling system, then check it out.

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