Righteous Defense is righteously dense.

Why do I have to create a macro for it? 

 /cast [help] Righteous Defense; [target=targettarget] Righteous Defense

Wait, a little background.

There we were.  Honorus, my Paladin, and Effilda, my wife’s Mage.  We’re in the Hinterlands, and we’re doing quests.  We’ve wrapped a few up and decide, I decide, to tackle getting us hammers from the Altar of Zul.  I’m level 46, my wife is 44.  We work our way up the steps of the altar, it’s not that easy.  Those casters pack a punch.  But, anyway, we reach the top.  I see our target.  A level 50, sigh, and a couple others.  I assume they’re the same level as what we’re fighting already.  Yellow, and not orange, to us.  Ah, no.

To our credit we actually kill one of the three that come at us, the 50 we want to sheep is resisting my wife’s spell, and we’re borked twice.  (Casters versus Pally sucks.)  Having not played my Pally in a while, I don’t find my “Lay On Hands” spell quickly enough.  Or my Bubble shield.  The wife’s taking a pounding and I try to use Righteous Defense.  But that means I have to untarget the enemies and target her to cast it.  Upon which 3 mobs targeting her would switch to me.  Alas, that doesn’t work. Imminent death isn’t the time for careful target selection.  We try twice and then ride off, simply turn in the quests we’d done, ding 47 and 45 respectively, and call that a wrap.

I’ve now got the macro prepared.

But should I have to create a macro for this spell?

Casting Righteous Defense on a target will pull up to 3 enemies attacking that target and have them attack the casting Paladin.  That sounds downright glorious, don’t it?

And without a macro, there is only one scenario I can see how this is supposed to work.

You’re an Old Style Healbot from pre-TBC.  You’ve probably got a tank targeted for healing.  Heal, heal, heal your plate armored heart out.  I guess, when the crap hits the shinola and your tank is going down, you cast Righteous Defense, rather than a heal, and take up the mob.  Why not?  You’ve got plate.  You’re a tank.  Right?  But do you really want 3 mobs on you.  This “taunt” ability works on 3 targets.  Sure hope you brought your +healing plate because if that mob’s taken out your tank, he’s going to take out a Clothadin.

This wouldn’t work if you were tanking, and you didn’t have the macro, since you’d have a bit of a time trying to find your loose mobs target, since you’ve got a handful of them, right?, and then target that target, then cast your RD and get the loose mob back.  Is the “target of target” frame supposed to make that easy?  When you’re faced with a mob, are you expected to cycle through enemies, find the one targeting something they shouldn’t have targeted, retarget that target, and cast the spell? 

You must be running a grayed out instance too, because in a Heroic, clothies are one-shotted.  You don’t have time to cycle through the mobs and check out what’s up with them, their lives, what movies did they recently see, and what the hell they’re pounding on with intent to kill.  Yeah, the clothies need to let the Paladin secure Aggro, guarantee it, and it’s easy enough for them to do with consecration, and at that point why even bother having a spell like Righteous Defense?

You know, in the old days, when you had 2 mobs to deal with, maybe.  Those weren’t the days of 4 Centurians and 1 Captain all loose on you.  Or those Bog bugs in CFR.  TBC Trash Mobs come in mobs.

It’s broken if I have to use a macro.

And if we all have to use that macro, or one like it, then why isn’t it simply built into the functionality of the spell?  Or, why not just give Paladins a 3 target Taunt?  Yes, I understand how “Righteous Defense” is supposed to work in fairy tales and story books.  But in-game, it requires some adjustment.

And, yes, I use X-Perl.  I could have cast the spell targeting her party frame.  It just seems ackward to do it that way.  Maybe it’s intended to be that way.  I don’t know.  Seems dumb to me.

 

Retreads. Crafting at it’s finest?

You look marvelous.  You look like me. 

So there I am.  In the Aldor Bank in Shattrath City.

I see a Draenei sporting some really cool looking shoulders.  I always see the Paladin version of the crafting plans in the Auction House that would craft those.  Dawnsteel Pauldrons or some such.  They look very regal with a large glowing gem in them.  Then, later, I saw a Warrior actually wearing them.  Huh?  On inspection I see the Warrior is wearing Swiftsteel Shoulders.  Same exact look as the Paladin version, other than color.  Now my Warrior has been waiting a long time to even see those plans for sale in the Auction House.  Hasn’t yet.

Anyway, this Draenei with those shoulders.  I look at the rest of his gear, and he’s a Shaman.  Huh?  He’s wearing Paladin/Warrior shoulders??  But no!  There’s a craftable (I guess) Mail version of the same dang shoulders.  Just crafted by Leatherworkers and not Blacksmiths.

Hey, hey.  Now we need several Clothie versions, crafted by Tailors, for the EXACT SAME SHOULDERS ONLY THE COLOR IS DIFFERENT.

C’mon.  It’s nice looking shoulder armor.  And I’m one for the aesthetics of things.  I’m also one for the suitablitity of the look for the environment.

It’s already bad enough that all Shamans at a particular raiding level wear identical gear.  (Except Enhancement and Resto that have their Tier set, and then have Hunter and Resto gear too.)  But, otherwise, everyone is wearing identical looking gear for their class, regardless of their spec, and regardless of their faction.  And the Arena sets are identical with the Tier sets.

Truly one of the biggest thrills of the days gone by was playing a class the other faction did not have.  When you saw a Shaman with those lightning rod shoulders from the first Elements set, you knew they were Horde.  That was Horde gear.  And that cool Paladin set, with the books on their shoulders?  Alliance.

When they showed us the first images of the Expansion, with the new races, and the Blood Elf Paladin in that Paladin gear, in that Alliance gear, it was all over.  No longer did the Factions have distinct looking gear.  (It was already bad enough that all Warriors got Valor gear, Horde and Alliance.  At least the PvP armors looked very faction specific.)

And at least the classes were going to continue to look different.  Right?

WRONG.  Those shoulders are proof that soon all players will look the same if Blizzard keeps up with their Retread policy.  Just colored different, but wearing the same armor on different frames.

I want Horde to have Horde only plans.  I want Amani Troll Shoulderguards to only be worn by Horde.  Preferably only worn by Trolls.  Those were the shoulders the Shamans could get out of the Arathi Basin.

Or is it too late.  Have the lunatics taken over the asylum and have far too many decisions been made leading us to a World of Warcraft that’s becoming a very indistinct muddle of everything?  We’re all going to be oatmeal, and we’ll all taste the same.  We’ll all have crowd control (because it sucks being the one class without any), we’ll all have ranged abilities (Hammer of Wrath and Avenger’s Shield anyone?), we’ll all look the same (Dawnsteel/Swiftsteel/Shoulders of Lightning Reflexes, so when’s the cloth version coming??).

Ya know, that’s one of the joys of playing the beginning levels.  You are fully in your story and in the lore.  (But, on the other hand, why are the spacefaring Draenei stumbling out of their spaceship escape pods with stone axes and clubs? And yet the Blood Elves are still crafting Sin’Dorei gear.  The level 5 vendor weapons look really cool.  Too bad it’ll all be replaced by level 20 with stone clubs from the Barrens.)

Anyway, where was I.  Please hire some more designers.  Or please put a stop to the flow of retreads.  Looking the same because there’s only 5 different armor shapes is the same as looking the same because there’s 100 different armors that have 5 different armors shapes.

And it’s why I still like my Pauldrons of Furious Elements from the vendor in Shattrath.  It’s got the Amani Trolls of Zul’Aman look, and it’s for Shamans.  And since most Alliance Shamans raid as Enhancement, and most Shamans raid as Restorations, I’m one of the few actually wearing those things.  And they remind me of the glory days, where a Shaman looked like a Shaman, and they looked Horde.

 

Shared Topic – What would you add to WotLK?

Blog Azeroth’s shared topic looked interesting.

If I could add 1 thing, what would I add to the WotLK expansion?

That’s a tough one.  The one thing?  One?

Well, if it were just one:

For every instance, add 2 more of the same level and difficulty, just locate it somewhere else in a different environment and decked out with different story and place in the lore.  We’ve got the Scarlet Monastery.  Great.  Thanks.  Been there.  Done that.  Done that.  Done that.  No, done that.  No, seriously done that.  Stop done that.  Uh, done that.  Wait… Done that.  And done that.         Done (STOP!)  Except you can’t really stop, can you.  This is where you *will* go in your 30′s.  If you’re an Enhancement Shaman this is where you will go.  If it’s your second Shaman it’s where you’ll go.  If it’s… Get the picture?  How about: Van Cleef wasn’t the final boss in the Defias saga.  He’s not smart enough to be a real boss.  And who was he building that ship for?  Somebody located out in the islands south of the Maelstrom.  An all new set of zones in which to adventure.  And find out the true leader behind the Defias.  Or simply the next in line.

Rather than having us “run” Scarlet Monastery multiple times, have us pay Van Cleef’s Rat Bastard boss a visit instead.  And discover more lore.  And more of the world. And what connection do the Bloodsail Pirates have with Kul Tiras?  And either of them to the Defias?  Hmm.

One thing I’d want to see is more mid-level content.

But if I could make a list of things:

Give Draenei Shamans their own spirit animal form.  We saw it in the beginning quests where they got cat form.  Give the Draenei Shamans Ghost Cat form.  (Not my idea, this is an old one I saw floated a long time ago.)

Give Shamans proper crowd control.  Thrall wasn’t a Druid.  He was a Shaman.  And he controlled the elements.  And he had the earth working for him.  Quicksand.  Elemental Prison.  Whirlwind.

And since I’ve seen Paladins, Warriors, and Druids all tanking mid-level end-game content, it would seem the tanking abilities are fine.  Some are better than others in certain circumstances, and that’s exactly how it should be.  Cause if everyone ought to be able to tank equally, then I want my Fury Warrior and my Fire Mage to tank equally well as well.  Fair, no?

Deathknights.  I’m sorry.  Why aren’t these folks in their own faction?  The Faction of the Damned?  Like half the WoW population wouldn’t love to join the Scourge?  I mean, do we really need to see Gnome Deathknights having picnics out in the Barrens under umbrellas?  Because we will.  Goofy spunky pink haired Gnome DEATHKNIGHTS.  Death.  Scourge.  Does that equate with Gnomeness?  At some point everyone will be able to do everything and we’ll all be the same.  (And that will be Game Over.)

More Factions perhaps?  Let players join the Scourge (starting area in the plaguelands somewhere, Skeletons, Zombies, and Necromancers) *or* the Burning Legion (starting area in Nagrand at one of the demon camps, Felguards, Succubi, Infernals, Warlocks).  Two new Factions.  Four total, all fighting against and amongst each other.  And don’t forget the Highborn Naga and Satyrs work for the Burning Legion.  Maybe their area should start underwater (why not?) in the Maelstrom.

More variety in the Battlegrounds.

And how about Blizzard make one or two more armor models?  You know how utterly cheap a decision it was to equip the draenei in SSC with 1) Horde Warrior level 60 rare pvp gear, and 2) the same hammer model, with glow, from a) Molten Core, and 2) Ring of Blood event reward.  Stop recycling your armor and weapon sets!  And, like someone once mentioned, Ironforge, and places like it, are beginning to look like a Power Ranger conference.  Can you add more glow.  More.  MORE!  MORE GLOW IS BETTER!  No, not really.  Glow should be very, very special.  Now it’s dispensed like those free real estate brochures.

Well, that’s enough.  I’m sure we, all of us, could go on and on about how our changes would make a better WoW.  But that’s Blizzard’s job, and why they’ve got the big brains and dollars to make the changes they think best.

Seriously though.  Gnome Deathknights having picnics under umbrellas with pink hairdos? … Your game will have been hijacked by the folks over at the asylum.

 

Zomg. What a screenshot.

I’m there doing a quest in Shadowmoon Valley with Arcarius.  It’s the one where you have to retrieve a rotten egg.  Anyway, if you get a bad one, not the rotten egg they want, you’ll get sick.  And you’ll occasionally hurl.  A lot.

It’s an amusing graphic.  So amusing I thought it was worth a screenshot.  But this is what I snapped trying to get the viewpoint right.

That’s my Raptor looking very, very businesslike.  Mid leap and shred.  Pretty cool.

As an aside, I think I’ve mentioned I just dinged 70 with Arcarius?  Well, if I didn’t, I did.  Ding 70 that is.

Like any good 70 I travelled to Medivh’s place, Karazhan, and started the quest chain for access.

I did it with a Protection Warrior.  And with an Enhancement Shaman.  It wasn’t easy fighting all those ghosts.  Not easy at all.

With a hunter?  Piece of cake.  Absolute cake walk collecting those water samples and ghost essences.  As for gear, I’ve done no instances past Ramparts and I’m still wearing my level 60 epic pvp shoulders for crying out loud.  Quest reward and crafted (mid-level crafted at that) gear, and now that I’ve got flight… Easy mode.

 

Two more firsts (for me).

Alar and Void Reaver down.  Nice.  I never dreamt I’d be facing these guys.

Note the Broken disguise.  I’m working for Akama here.

A little freelance work for Akama.

And I much, much prefer the fights in TK versus SSC.  #7 on the DPS charts, so not too shabby.  The fights here much more amenable to an Elemental Shaman it seems, with nothing immune to nature.

 

Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s my Shaman.

So there Stormsoul is.  Taking part in an “All but the Lady V” clear of Serpentshrine Cavern in just over 3 hours last night.

Gearwise he’s pretty much in epics.  Three pieces of T4: gloves, helm, and leggings.  Three more pieces of that psuedo-T5 from the badges vendor: belt, boots, shoulders.  My epic bracers are from a Heroic, but the iLevel is only 110.  My last blue item is the DS3 chest armor.  I’ve got the best shield before Black Temple or Mount Hyjal.  I’ve pretty much got the best one-hander before BT and MH.  I’m nicely geared.

Seeing the damage meters last night, there were four broad groups of people.  And they pretty much stayed within range of each other, and otherwise distinct from the other bands.  Top Tier: Folks in some/all Tier 5 gear.  My Tier: T4 or so.  The Tanks.  And the Healers.  And we’re talking pretty large jumps in output for each band.

Now there’s Shamans above me, and below me.  The Enhancement Shamans are rocking the place.*  The Resto Shamans are doing their thing.  And then there’s me.  What do I have access to, as an Elemental, at this stage in the content?  There is no +Spell Damage mail armor.  None.  Not in SSC, not in TK.  There are no +Spell Damage weapons that a Shaman can use, and no +Spell Damage shield a Shaman could use.  I can get the T5 tokens now and otherwise badges gear by running Karazhan.  (Which folks don’t want to do except maybe gearing alts and new folks, new folks getting priority.)

But the Shamans above me and the Shamans below me have twice the gear options.  The Enhancement Shamans have all the +Attack Power Hunter gear that drops in SSC/TK to improve themselves with, in addition to their T5 pieces.  The Resto Shammys have all the +Healing gear that drops in SSC/TK in addition to their T5 pieces.  As an Elemental Shaman I have to compete with them for the T5 pieces, and they have access to other pieces.  That appears to be a distinct decision on Blizzards part.  And to that I ask “What the hell, Blizz.  Again???”

1-60 you went Enhancement to level up.  Blizzard admits that.  60-70 is also Enhancement, though you do have access to the DS3 gear, which is either +Spell Damage (Tidefury) or +Attack Power (Desolation).  There was also the +Spell Damage (psuedo-Earthfury) and +Healing (psuedo-Ten Storms) in the Normals and Heroics.  Ah, so Blizzard expects 60-70 to be open to any Shaman type.  There’s +Healing mail, +Attack Power mail (not just for hunters because they have their own too), *and* +Spell damage mail drops and quest rewards.

But once you hit Karazhan it’s either +Attack Power, +Healing, or the Tier gear.  Which means twice the opportunities to gear up an Enhancement Shaman and the Resto Shaman versus an Elemental Shaman.  That’s Karazhan, and now SSC/TK.  They get regular drops, and the Tier token drops to gear up with.  Elemental only get Tier token drops.

It’s wierd.  I’m actually banking +AP gear from SSC now for an Enhancement set.  I’ve probably got an all epics set for Enhancement now.  It’s just too wierd why the gear drops in this fashion.  It’s almost like Blizzard expects the end-content Shaman to be either Enhancement or Restoration.  Not Elemental.

Damn it.  DID I MISS THE MEMO AGAIN??!

*Too, there’s three kinds of mobs in SSC that really keep an Elemental Shaman from damage output.  One is the Damage Immune mob.  Half of the Hydross fight is against a nature resistant Boss and his adds.  Half of the fight I’m dropping flame shocks and magma totems.  My damage output on that fight is pretty bad.

Then there’s the silencing trash mob.  No matter how far back, I’m getting silenced, and the tremor totem is no cure for it.  Over and over.

Then there’s the spell reflecting mob.  Great.  The Naga is loaded up with so many dots I fail to notice the little one that looks like a moonfire dot with a counter on it.  Spell reflect.  (The guardians in Karazhan have this, but that’s just one of three modes they can be in, and there aren’t that many of them.)

How does this affect an Enhancement Shaman?  Really rather little.  How does this affect me?  Very much so.

I seriously hope The Eye in Tempest Keep isn’t more of the same.  Otherwise it’ll be “Goodbye Elemental spec, hello Enhancement spec.

I’ve got a question for you guys.  What’s it like for Shamans in your end-game raids?  What do you see as the “best spec for end-game?”

 

“You’ve come a long way, baby.” Part 3.

Droonda.  Dragonslayer.

Nightbane.

Netherspite.

Of course all the rest of Karazhan as well.

You’ve come a long way, baby. 

 

How did you come up with your character names?

Blog Azeroth, the home away from home for WoW Bloggers posed this question this week. (There’ll be weekly topics we all post about. That’s cool, two-fold. One, it gives a topic to work on, and it gives us a common theme so it’s like we’re all at the same party talking about the same thing.)

My first character was named Kinless. Single, unattached, I thought it sounded broody, yet strong. Perfect for a Night Elf Hunter. Irony entered about level 40 when I was invited to join a guild called The Kindred. At one point Blizzard changed his name on me. I logged on and he had a totally different name. I don’t know what they thought was wrong with Kinless. So I wrote them an e-mail, explained how it was an epithet much like King Edward I was called “Longshanks”. I promptly got my name back. But on transferring servers to be closer to the wife’s characters, and off a high population, lots of wait times to log in, server, I had to pick a new name, though Kinless wasn’t taken, and so picked Arcarius, kind of high latin for archer.

Next up, Darkhand. In keeping with the Night Elf lore and their two-part names, and after having played some time and gotten into it. It’s a kind of common name though. I thought it was a good name for a rogue. I got a few whispers of “You stole my name,” so I knew I was on to something.

Greenclaw. My green haired Night Elf Druid. Two-part name, claw since I was going to be clawing a lot of things in my feral life. When I see a Greanclaw decked out in Tier 5 gear I know I had a hit. (I wonder if I could sell the name to her (him, no doubt) for, oh, 2000 gold or so. Would I do it? Hmmm. Yeah, there’s lot of good names out there yet to be born.)

Honorus. That’s what I named my Human Paladin. I swear, it’s after the Roman Emperor by that name. I thought it sounded imperial and haughty. It certainly didn’t mean to be “Honor Us,” but, then again, that’s good too. My first Human Paladin I named Bohemond. That’s the nickname of a Norman adventurer who’s family had taken over Sicily and parts of southern Italy. It had something to do with being a giant.

Msaker. My Orc Warrior. He was born “Oddity.” I figured since Orcs weren’t native to Azeroth, they were from another planet. And then I was thinking of the David Bowie song, Space Oddity. And it wasn’t taken. The wife named her Orc Droonda. (So far the only Droonda in the game.) On transferring servers I couldn’t remain Oddity, don’t know why, it wasn’t taken, and thus Msaker was born. No, it’s not Ms. Aker. Msaker is Armenian, and supposedly pronounced just like it’s spelled (Huh?), for “Carnivore”. This was the epithet of one of their kings, Ashot, way, way back. I did name a Druid Msaker once. (The feral, canines, thing.)

I’ve got Draenei named Exilarch (i.e. leader of the exile, which they are), a warrior, and Sha’tar (born of the light, per lore), a Paladin. Another Draenei I named Aechemenas. Or something like that. For the Persion founder of the dynasty that included Cyrus the great.

My Blood Elves I named Sunblade (Paladin), Sunstriker (Mage), and Archivist (another Mage). The first two are lore related (the good elven two-part names), and the second whimsy. And, sadly, L33tskillzpwnzu was already taken. (That would have been another name full of irony.) Maybe in it’s Latin form?

Anyway, I base my names on a couple things. Two actually.: The Lore. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. That’d be, of course, World of Warcraft lore. And Drizzztx and xDrizzztxx and zDrixxxtz were already taken. (I kid, again.) History. I’ve got a reasonable knowledge of history, ancient to modern, and this ties me to that, albeit vicariously through just a name. Picking a name appropriate to the class. Okay, three. Whimsy. Ala Archivist, Kinless (though grounded in a historical style), and Oddity. Darbanville, my priest, would fall under whimsy (Cat Stevens song lady), but also lore, since a lot of the Lordaeron walking dead have names like this.

To be honest I could just keep going and going. The name means something, and it’s important. And it’s as much part of a character as the color of their hair and the gear they’re wearing.

 

Not bad at all.

So, last night, the start of the new raiding season.  7:30-11:00 Mo, Tue, Wed, and Thurs.  (Of course that’s T, W, Th, and Mo.)

First stop was back to Serpentshrine Cavern.  Last week they’d gone in twice.  Two bosses first night, two bosses second night, the third boss we attempted the second night proving too tough, too late.  Last night?  Two bosses, then the one who’d given us such trouble the week before, Leo the Blind, and then two more.  Five, meaning we’d cleared all but the Lady Vashj in SSC, starting at 7:30, or a little later actually, ending around 10:30, earlier than expected.  Go us!

I’ll back up slightly, and mention that Monday night I was there when we downed the first three bosses in Zul’Aman in an impromptu run.  Bear, Eagle, and Lynx.  I left and they then killed the Dragonhawk boss as well.  And before SSC last night they were back in, not sure how they did.

What’s cool is I’d never been in Zul’Aman before.  Very cool.  Zul’Gurub but set in a tropical-like Oregon.  I liked it a lot.

So, tonight, it’ll probably be Tempest Keep.  And I’ve never been there either.  Sounds like fun.

 

I’ve been kind of quiet.

Raids and alts have been keeping me busy.

As I alluded to earlier, I transferred servers to find a guild with friendly raid times in my own time zone. Success. It really didn’t hurt that they started SSC and TK. And very lucky for me that Blackhoof, now called Stormsoul, was SSC ready. My first instance run with them we faced off against the Lady Vashj. It was a learning experience, if you know what I mean. Anyway, this week I got to be with them from the start of the instance. On the first night we got Hydross the Unstable and The Lurker Below. On the next night we got the Fathomlord Karathress and Morogrim Tidewalker. Tonight we will get Leotheras the Blind, and square off against the Lady V again. Now I haven’t been with them to Tempest Keep’s The Eye yet, but they’ve gotten 4 of the 5 bosses down there as well. They are really pushing to get to the Black Temple and Mount Hyjal before Blizzard swings open the gates, so to speak, with the next patch. This is absolutely fun, exciting stuff. I’m loving it because raiding at this level is like raiding Blackwing Lair pre-TBC. And that’s where I’d left off with Darkhoof (aka Blackhoof, now Stormsoul).

They can do near-full clears of both SSC and TK in one night. But this last week’s participation was kind of spotty, enough folks, just not enough tanks or healers. But what did they do in between the SSC runs? Karazhan.

First off Stormsoul got in on a group. We got through the Curator and called it a night. This was the One Tank, Two Rogue run. Anyway, last night the call came out to complete it by downing the Prince. (They’d already gone back in once before and gotten to the Prince, but did not kill the Prince.) When they mentioned the raid id# I signed back up. They were missing a healer. DROOONDA!! “Invite Droonda. She’s a healer.” I whisper the raid leader. Droonda’s coming along too. Cool beans. This guild takes the “Tank him wherever, and move to avoid the infernals” approach. This works. (And makes marking the 30 yard person even more important.) I do like the niche better since our first shot at the Prince and upon the first enfeeble, and infernal drops on the group and kills them, a wipe. Second go we had four infernals down, but we never had to move and the Prince dropped like a rock. The Light’s Justice drops. (And some T4 helmet token for Mage, Hunter, and something.) We’ve got two Restoration Shamans along. The first rolls a 27. Droonda’s got it for sure! She rolls a 28. TWENTYEIGHT! woot. Hey, hey! The lovely Droonda, Orc Shaman Princess, has picked up a very nice healing mace.

The other Karazhan run I’d gone on was with Msaker. That’s my “Retired Tank, let me DPS now,” Fury Warrior. Who tried the “Slam Build” with Gorehowl and found it very timing intensive. “Stand still so I can whack ya!” Trouble is Astral Flares don’t listen well. So now he’s the more typical “Fury Build” with Rampage and Flurry and all the good stuff. (And with one more Karazhan run he’ll have enough badges to upgrade The Planar Edge to The Black Planar Edge. That and dagger off the Prince himself and he’s not doing too bad.) Anyway, on Msaker’s run, it was a full clear, minus the dragons, and he made it to #3 on the DPS spot. I’m okay with that, and I’m working on the upgrades to improve that. Right now I’m using the 3 pieces of the Ragesteel set, and still using the Doomplate Chestpiece. Getting the t4 gloves and helm shouldn’t be a problem. (And I might not have mentioned it, but if the guild gets 25 folks wanting to do it, Gruul’s Lair is cleared in half an hour. Stormsoul’s second raid run with them was to Gruul’s Lair where he won the t4 leggings/kilt.)

On the alts front we’re starting a crew of them on Earthen Ring. So far we’re:

Twoaxes (Tauren Warrior) with Fivefaces (Tauren Druid)

Legrim (Forsaken Rogue) with Lamort (Forsaken Warlock)

Kruel (Orc Warlock) with Oggra (Orc Warrior)

Sunblade (Blood Elf Paladin) with Loriandel (Blood Elf Mage)

Zydeco (Troll Hunter) with … someone not yet born

(Yes, I am powerless against the beginning-game in World of Warcraft, and must create Alts to breath. Happily, I’m seeing the end-game as well.)

Anyway, that’s what’s up with me at the moment.

P.S. Let me add this about my new guild. They take the “structured chaos” approach. There is no raid schedule other than “We raid 4 nights a week. Be there.” And then they mention the nights, and the times, the raiders are expected to be present ready to go. There are no more planned runs for Karazhan or the other “Tier 4″ places. These just happen as filler for gearing up alts and new people. They’re very much about learning new content, and their fallback/reward is doing the instances they’re comfortable with. And their raiding times just got even better for the wife and I, being 7:30 to 11. And they’re very good about stopping at quitting time. They do play late, I’ve been there till 1 a.m. once with them, a weekend night, but their raids don’t go past quitting time.