Moon Queen

My eleventh alchemy discovery

2008-04-19T09:29:00.003+02:00

This is the last transmute discovery. Transmute primal mana into primal fire.
Now it's only Flask of Might Restoration left. Gogo!

Dailies Quest Tracker

2008-04-12T13:30:00.000+02:00

With the increase of 10 dailies per day to 25 in patch 2.4, this addon becomes so so handy.
The name of the SSO quests may be different from the ones you are doing. It is because this addon uses the quest name of the completed phase.
You can download Dailies Quest Tracker here. Enjoy!

Shattered Sun Offensive daily quests: you love and hate them

2008-04-12T13:29:00.001+02:00

The new faction Shatter Sun Offensive brought a lot of daily quests with them. All players participate in the capture of the Isle dynamically. Wowwiki and Wowhead forum has more information.

After my vacation, the sanctum and portal were completed on my server. I did all the dailies available and realized that some of them are very annoying. For example the high possibility of ganking ground in Hellfire and the presence of a raid boss. Here I ranked the difficulty of all the SSO dailies. Some are not available yet so it's an estimation from the quest description.

It takes around 30min to complete all * quests and around 1 hour to complete in addition a few ** quests on the Isle.

Name before slash is the permanent quest name after the completion.
Difficulty is ranked in five grade.
Number indicates amount of reputation gained upon completion.
Location and other information are in parentheses.

Phase 1
Gaining the Advantage ** 250 (Outland or TBC area)
Sunfury Attack Plans *** 250 (Netherstorm)
The Multiphase Survey * 250 (Nagrand)
Blood for Blood ** 250 (Hellfire)
Blast the Gateway ** 250 (Hellfire)

Further Conversions/Erratic Behavior ** 150
The Sanctum Wards ** 150

Phase 2
The Battle Must Go On/The Battle for the Sun's Reach Armory ** 250
The Air Strikes Must Continue/Distraction at the Dead Scar * 150

Maintaining the Sunwell Portal/Intercepting the Mana Cells **** 250 (low drop rate of the device and unconvenient location)
Know Your Ley lies * 250

Phase 3
Keeping the Enemy at Bay/Intercept the Reinforcements * 250
Crush the Dawnblade/Taking the Harbor ** 250

Don't Stop Now/Making Ready *** 250 (High ganking activity and low drop rate)
Ata'mal Armaments *** 350 (Shadowmoon Valley. Available after the completion of anvil and watch out the patrolling elite)

Phase 4
Rediscovering Your Roots/Discovering Your Roots * 350
Open for Business * 250

Your Continued Support/A Charitable Donation * 150
Disrupt the Green Coast ** 250
A Magnanimous Benefactor * 500

PvP rare set available again

2008-03-19T16:43:00.000+01:00

The PvP rare set was removed from battlemaster vendor when season 3 rolled out. Now they are renamed and back. These five pieces are available at the quartermaster when you reach honored reputation in five TBC faction, Honor Hold/Thramall, Cenarion Expedition, Lower City, Sha'tar and Keepers of Time.

If Season 4 didn't come out together with Wrath of the Lich King, would season 2 arena gear be available like the PvP rare set?

Everyone would be honored or close to honored when they ding 70, so this is another fast gear-up, mostly for PvP players. Since the cost for the whole set costs around 20g, I guess every fresh level 70 would be running in them.

Tier tokens can be used to purchase PvP arena gear
It is getting clear that, patch 2.4 will be a PvP crosses with PvE and a give-loot patch.

Is the Badge of justice reward system broken?

2008-03-13T01:20:00.004+01:00

Badge of justice was introduced in the expansion last year. During the year, Blizzard staff repeatedly said that they are satisfied with the system and will expand it.

They originally drop from bosses in Outland instance with heroic difficulty.
In order to enter heroic instances, individual player requires heroic key available at revered reputation for a certain faction.
In patch 2.3, the heroic key requirement is lowered to honored reputation. In addition, all bosses in Karazhan and Zul'Amen also drop them (two badges each). Daily quests in heroic instances also give two badges as reward.
As of patch 2.4, all raid bosses drops badge of justice also.
Total number of badges dropped per instance

For a certain number of badges, one can trade in for level 70 epic items. It works like a PvE equivalent to honor points and battleground marks. Or even some kind of in-game DKP.
Before patch 2.3, one can buy weapons, shields, offhands, rings, trinkets, cloaks, relics, and Fire Resistance gear. They are item level 110/115, which are similar to heroics and tier-4 instances.
Wrist, head, foot and hand slot items, as well as additional rings, cloaks and relics are added in patch 2.3. They are item level 128/133, which are superior to tier-4 but marginally inferior to tier-5.
In patch 2.4, they can also be used to purchase new equipment similar to tier-6 levels as well as epic gems. They are item level 141/146, which are basically on a par with tier-6 items.

Is the system broken?
When Maiden drop as many badges as Vashj or Illidan, I don't know what other word is better than "broken". Insane? Crazy? Or someone in Blizzard failed to do the math?

Comparing it with the PvP system, you get a static +10 in rating for every win in arena, regardless of the opponent team's rating. Does it sound fair?

When patch 2.4 hits, it won't surprise me to see players with heroic/Karazhan gear running with their new epic weapon, which is on a par with BT/MH drops.
If the season 3 arena weapon are so good that it requires personal rating to acquire, I don't think it makes sense to let a heroic and Karazhan player get a BT-level staff.

Can that be fixed?
Talking to (ranting with) a guildmate last night, we both think that some limitations have to be there in order to stop this madness.

One suggestion is to have different types of badges. Heroic and T4 instances would be one type. T5 instance can be another type and T6 instance is the third type. Then one can buy gear of the same level as where the badges are obtained.

Another suggestion is to link them with reputation. For example, Violet Eye revered to unlock the patch 2.3 items and Ashtongue Deathsworn revered for patch 2.4 items.

Third suggestion is to simply increase the number of badges drop in tier-5 and tier-6 instances. For example, TK and SSC will be 4 badges each boss whereas MH and BT bosses will drop 6 badges each. Last bosses in raid instances will always drop 1.5 times more badges, i.e. 6 badges from Kael'thas and Vashj whereas 9 badges from Achimonde and Illidan. (Meaning that a full TK will give 18 badges, full SSC 26 badges, full MH 33 badges and full BT 57 badges.)

I love badges and I'm not against making it easier for causal players to upgrade their gear. But seriously, Illidan drops as many badges as Maiden, seriously!

My tenth alchemy discovery

2008-03-04T19:36:00.002+01:00

Finally, after brewing 300+ potions and elixirs, it's turn for a discovery. I'm so happy. ^o^
One more off the list. Only Flask of Mighty Restoration and Transmute Mana to Fire left.

How to find a (new) raiding guild

2008-03-02T10:53:00.001+01:00

Recently, Aethel switched to another guild on another server. Here I would like to share some of my experience. It is not much different than job hunting to me. It's about matching your expectation and expertise to their need. If they have no obvious need, then it's your call to make them think they need you.

Do you want to raid? What contents do you want to see?
If you want to go raiding but you don't know about how guilds are progressing in the end-game content in your server, Wowjutsu is your answer. It records the loots from different boss kills and are rather updated.

What guild are you looking for?
Hopefully you have identified a few guilds, then you can start googling. Simply search with realm name and guild name. Most guilds have a forum or a webpage, and there you will find out approximately who they are.

Native language?
If they are written in a language you cannot understand, then that guild is off your list. If the guild speaks the same language as you, it might be good. There shouldn't be excuses of communication problem due to differences in English understanding. And people will have similar culture and values. However, the language can also be a limiting factor for progress and future recruitment.

Age limit?
The age limit can usually be found in the recruitment related threads.
There are both advantages and disadvantages.
Younger people would progress faster, raid more often but might also risk more drama and sudden quit.
Older people is more or less the opposite. However, age and maturity do not have direct relation. Read on the forum, talk to some people in that guild and go instances with them usually tells you more.

Causal or hardcore?
If you can find any links for DKP site or raiding schedule, you can see if they are active. Else Wowjutsu's loot-date would also give a hint.

Are they recruiting?
Looking further in the recruitment thread (most have), you will find the recruitment requirement and status.
If there is a vacancy for your class and your spec, that's a good news.
Most guilds accept unsolicited application, meaning that if your application is exceptional, they will consider it even they are full on that spot.

Do a brief check on Wowarmoy page and see if they have more than enough of your class. Some classes such as warlocks are extremely good grinding alts. If a guild has 10 warlocks, it doesn't directly translate to 10 warlock raiders. You will need to check/guess the ranks. The lowest rank is usually alts or new recruits. But which ranks are the active raiders? It's a guess. Most guilds have a rank for alts, so look for the highest rank with non-70s and then all the rank upward can be counted as active members.

Apply?
If you want to apply, always use their application template (if there's any). It will give a bad impression if they suspect you copy-and-paste another application. Also, some people (like me) consider it impolite and non-dedicated if one applys to many guilds at the same time.
If you have questions about anything about the guild, don't be shy and PM the officers. They are usually happy to help and answer. And you can get to feel how the guild is as well.

An extra point about finding a new realm, Wowjutsu is also a good place to start. I also recommend check it on Warcraft Census. It has some quite good statistics about the realms such as population, activity and alliance-to-horde ratio. Since I'm not a fan of ganking, I'd like a realm with more alliance than horde so I will be less-likely ganked (theorectically).

New badges items

2008-02-24T09:27:00.003+01:00

New Badge of Justice reward has been revealed on Wowhead. More badge farming is needed.

Let's compared them with the tier-6 sets:

Balance
Barbed Gloves of the Sage (75 BoJ) VS Thunderheart Handsguards
-2 spell damage, -21 spell crit, +3 spell hit, -2 stamina, same intellect, +3 spirit, -35 armor, same socket. Recommended.

Crystalwind Leggings (100 BoJ) VS Thunderheart Pants
-1 spell damage (or +1 incl. socket bonus), +7 spell crit, -20 spell hit, -3 stamina, -8 intellect, +5 spirit, +13 armor, +1 yellow socket. Highly recommended.

Embrace of Starlight (100 BoJ) VS Thunderheart Vest
-2 spell damage (or -7 incl. socket bonus), +11 spell crit, -17 spell hit, -8 stamina, -2 intellect, -1 spirit, same armor, 1 red vs 1 yellow & 2 blue sockets. Highly recommended, considering the difficulty to get a token.

Fused Nethergon Band (60 BoJ) is a nice upgrade for Ashyen's Gift. For 3 stamina, you get 7 more spell hit rating, 12 spell damage and 19 intellect. Highly recommended.

To be continued.

Patch 2.4: Instance

2008-02-21T23:31:00.002+01:00

The breaking news:

- The Sunwell Isle is now available for play. This area includes a new quest hub and 5-player and 25-player instances.
New instances are always exciting. My friend has tried out in the 5-man Magister's Terrace and it wasn't that hard, except for last boss aka Prince Kael'thas.

Other breaking news:

- Free entry to Mount Hyjal and Black Temple.
- Players can fight Lady Vashj and Prince Kael'thas now.
- A new title "Hand of A'dal" will be given to players who have completed the attunement quests for MH and BT.
This is a nerf on the raiding and it will encourage more causal raiding. It will help a lot of SSC/TK guilds to move on to MH and BT. Since majority of WoW subscribers are not hardcore raiders, this will probably keep many players happy and so are Blizzards' accountants.

Now the quests are just for the faction ring and/or the title.

I'm not excited of the above changes but these two are my favorites:

- Added Shattrath Flask of Pure Death and Shattrath Flask of Blinding Light to the reputation flask vendors in Shattrath.
Nice nice nice, but why does it take so long time for the alchemist in Shattrah to discover the recipe of these two flasks?

- Gems obtained through Heroic difficulty instances are no longer Unique-equipped.
This one I love. I no longer need to let the gem take a bag slot and wait for an upgrade to socket it. ^o^

- All 25- player raid bosses that drop set tokens will now drop an additional token!
So instead of 2x Hero, it will drop 3x Hero? I'm just kidding. It would be even better if they set it to drop one of each every time. The randomness of the game sometimes are just too buggy.

- Badges of Justice have been added to all raid bosses who did not previously have them!
Sweet, this can be a good motivation for farm raids. I can't wait for new badges reward items.

- Loot dropped by Doomlord Kazzak and Doomwalker has been changed to Bind on Equip.
I guess these items will be very expensive on AH, if I would be lucky enough to spot them on AH.

- Nether Vortex are no longer Bind on Pickup and can now be purchased from G’eras for 15 Badges of Justice!
- Primal Nether are no longer Bind on Pickup!
15 badges for vortex and 10 badges for nether, this will make it easier to let people get the BoE crafted gear. They only need to find a crafter. Will we see vortexs or nethers on AH? I think so, and I guess Primal Nether will cost around 80g, similar to what crafters are usually charging now. Since Nether Vortex costs 0.5 times more badges than nether, I guess it would be around 120g each.

Public Test Realm for patch 2.4

2008-02-20T08:59:00.006+01:00

Last week, I have been trying to copy my character to the public test realm (PTR). However the queue was long and full. Early on a morning, I finally managed to copy my characters to the PTR.

When I have downloaded and installed another patch update, it showed "Invalid Username or Password". I was using the same password for character copy and the password worked on live realm. Here's the explanation from Vaneras.

You may not be able to get onto the PTR if you have changed your password in the last 3 weeks. You can try to use an old password but there's no guarantee this will work.

It seems that I have bad luck. I changed my password few weeks ago and I cannot remember my old password. I change my password regularly in order to increase secruity. And part of the secruity is to protect or destroy any trace of your password. Now I can't login to PTR, because I am too cautious. It is just strange and bad luck. But I guess many other people are having the same problem. >:(

Nevertheless, my friend had his characters copied and been to Magister's Terrace a few times. Oh, I'm jealous but at least I could see it on his computer, or maybe even play his character a bit. ^^

I've moved.

2008-02-19T21:59:00.001+01:00

I've moved Aethel through paid character transfer. The move was smoother than I thought.
The whole process took less than an hour, which some friends warned it could take a few days. The approval process was estimated to take an hour but it actually took 5 min.
It raises my awareness as it is so easy and fast one can lose characters if the account was hecked.

I left an RP-PvP realm (Defias Brotherhood) to a PvP realm (Ravencrest).

Patch 2.4: The funky news

2008-02-17T22:59:00.000+01:00

- Monstrous Kaliri have learned how to chase players going straight up.
>> Skettis visitors, watch out!
- Female Draenei can no longer become stuck under a root in the tunnels leading to Blackfathom Deeps, Ashenvale.
>> Is that a horn problem?
- Saber/Tiger Mounts will now make footprints when walking backwards in snow.
>> I never noticed that, I'm probably quite blind or never walk backwards in AV.
- The Ratchet bank now has access to the Guild Vault.
>> Goblin-ran bank, they are just as reliable as their invention. Let's check Booty Bay.
- A mailbox has been added to the inn in Darnassus.
>> I hope this will increase the visitor count of the inn in Darnassus, though I doubt.
- There is no longer an area in Serpentine Cavern where using Field Repair Bot 74A will cause it to fall through the ground.
>> Is that like the little hole to reach the "smiley foundation" of Karazhan?

Lunar New Years 2008

2008-02-17T09:00:00.000+01:00

Happy Lunar New Year!
Lunar Festival is good time to collect reputation as well as the fancy items.
I have missed to get the crafting recipes last year, but this year I got all BoE recipes.

Now my engineer alt can learn to make Firework Launcher and Cluster Launcher and my tailoring friend (who didn't bother about those coins) can make the festival dress and festival suits. One can probably make a fortune with these BoE recipes a few months after the festival.

Also my shaman got a Festive Pink Dress, my paladin a Festive Black Pant Suit and my engineer warlock a Festive Blue Pant Suit. ^o^

Wowwiki has a walkthrough for how to visit all 50 Elders for horde and alliance. I didn't need so many coins, so I shortened it 20 and respective 10 coins.

My 20-Elder path:
Stormwind - The Park [21, 54]
Elwynn Forest - In Goldshire, behind blacksmith: [39, 63]
Westfall - Atop the Sentinel Hill tower: [56, 47]
> Fly gryphon to Nethergarde Keep (via Sentinel Hill)
Blasted Lands - Just North of the Dark Portal: [57, 54]
> Fly (via Nethergarde) or ride to Rebel Camp
Stranglethorn Vale - Outside Zul'Gurub zone-in: [53, 18]
Stranglethorn Vale - Above the bank in Booty Bay: [26, 76]
> Take the boat to Ratchet
The Barrens - In Ratchet, behind the bank: [62, 36]
The Barrens - Crossroads: [51, 30]
The Barrens - Camp Taurajo: [45, 57]
Mulgore - North end of Bloodhoof Village by bridge: [48, 53]
Thousand Needles - In Freewind Post: [45, 50]
Thousand Needles - In Shimmering Flats by Mirage Raceway: [79, 77]
Tanaris - In Gadgetzan: [51, 27]
Tanaris - Outside Uldum, far south Tanaris: [36, 80]
Un'goro Crater - By Slithering Scar, above ground: [50, 76]
Silithus - In Cenarion Hold: [50, 36]
> Hearth back to Shattrath and take the portal to Darnassuss.
Darnassus - in Cenarion Enclave: [33, 14]
Darkshore, Auberdine - East of the Hippogryph Master: [35, 48]
Ashenvale, Astranaar - in the gazebo near the hippogryph: [35, 49]
Felwood - North of Jaedenar: [37, 53]
> Teleport to Moonglade (Druid)

My 10-coin path:
Ironforge - Mystic Ward
Dun Morogh - In Kharanos by the inn: [46, 51]
Loch Modan - In Thelsamar: [33, 46]
> Fly to Stormwind
Stormwind - The Park [21, 54]
Elwynn Forest - In Goldshire, behind blacksmith: [39, 63]
Westfall - Atop the Sentinel Hill tower: [56, 47]
> Hearth back to Shattrath and take the portal to Darnassuss.
Darnassus - in Cenarion Enclave: [33, 14]
Darkshore, Auberdine - East of the Hippogryph Master: [35, 48]
Ashenvale, Astranaar - in the gazebo near the hippogryph: [35, 49]
Winterspring - In Everlook: [61, 37]
> Fly to Moonglade

Useful macros in SSC and TK

2008-02-11T10:39:00.000+01:00

After clearing both The Serpentshrine Cavern and The Eye in Tempest Keep, here is my little collection of useful macro for some bosses.

Leotheras the Blind
As a healer, the inner demon isn't really easy to kill. With the 30% damage on all healing items, it does help a bit. However, it is useful to let your healing squad knows that you are taken out of the fight and you plus your target needs some help. Channel 6 is my raiding healing channel and I usually heal the warlock tank. On one click, I send the message to the channel, get Barkskin up and equip my pew-pew weapon in order to nuke the demon faster. Barkskin is useful since the demon does mostly melee damage and no spell interruption means the demon dies faster.

#showtooltip
/6 ='.'= Aethel has inner demon. ='.'= Assist on warlock.
/cast barkskin
/equip Merciless Gladiator's War Staff
/equip Idol of the Avenger
/cancelform
/stopcasting

Lady Vashj
To fight her highness, the macros are mostly about the tainted cores. When I was moonkin and need to take care of tainted cores, I use the first macro to help me to save time in targeting and get full out asap, plus a fast whisper to the runner for grabbing a core or assist killing the water elementals at my location. The second one is a standard one for the core throwing, with a little touch of roleplaying.

#showtooltip
/tar tainted
/cast Moonfire
/w _____ Tainted one at NE.

#showtooltip
/use Tainted Core
/s %t, catch the tainted core!
/script SendChatMessage("!!! YOU HAVE THE CORE !!!", "WHISPER", "Common", UnitName("target"))

High Astromancer Solarian
Another standard macro for healers, but this time is mostly for paladins. I found that druids' HoT are great to top up the fall damage of the bomb carriers. Catch them before they go out of range and throw a lifebloom and a rejuvenation, then they will be in full health when they get back.

/tar High Astromancer Solarian
/assist
/cast Flash of Light

Kael'thas Sunstrider
The legendary weapon are very attractive, yet camouflage. Cosmic infuser, the healing mace, is tiny and very difficult to spot. Tanks use target macro to grab their weapon fast to tank it. Healer can use the macro to find and loot it. And even better, EQUIP it. It saves you time opening your inventory and locating it. Sometimes, I also pick up a staff and use the aura, so it is embedded in the macro too. Ideally, one could bind a spell in a macro with /use 16, which 16 is the main hand slot.

/tar cosmic
/equip [button:2] Cosmic Infuser
/equip Staff of Disintegration
/use Staff of Disintegration

My ninth alchemy discovery

2008-02-10T16:03:00.001+01:00

I made a lot of elixirs and potions, but the daily transmute keep ninja-ing the discovery chance, or it seems the transmute discovery has higher chance than flask ones. Not a very useful transmute discovery, but let's hope for better next time.

Thanks to Wowhead's new profession database, let's have a check list of my discoveries. One transmute, one flask and super rejuvenation potion to go. :D

7- Transmute: Primal Earth to Life
3- Transmute: Primal Fire to Mana
8- Transmute: Primal Life to Earth
__ Transmute: Primal Mana to Fire
5- Transmute: Primal Shadow to Water
9- Transmute: Primal Water to Shadow
6- Flask of Blinding Light
1- Flask of Fortification
__ Flask of Mighty Restoration
4- Flask of Pure Death
2- Flask of Relentless Assault
__ Super Rejuvenation Potion

Kael'thas Sunstrider no longer lives

2008-02-05T22:39:00.000+01:00

Yes! Finally after a few months of striving back in shape. Genesis has finally managed to kill Kael'thas Sunstrider!! "Say cheezz!"

Of course, we have to tell A'dal. Our own little gnome mage was the honorary messager.

And then a "shadow" of Kael'thas appeared and continued the lengthy talking before he was dead. (The blood elves are really a chatty race. 5% of the phase 1 is Kael'thas talking.)

And then it's party party dancing around the big flame in Shattrath!!

Handy resto druid macros

2008-02-02T22:48:00.000+01:00

I have macro on all the most used spells. Here is a few which have helped me in healing a lot.

First up, this one (1) links the trinket use to the spells and (2) saves your target finding.

#showtooltip Lifebloom
/use 13
/use 14
/cast [modifier:alt, target=player] Lifebloom; [help] Lifebloom; [target=targettarget] Lifebloom

(1) Change Lifebloom into Wrath, Tiger Fury or other spells. It saves the time to click two button at once. Slot 13 is the upper trinket, slot 14 is the lower one. The main advantage is that it saves time to change name of the trinkets when you have an upgrade or when you change trinkets for different encounters. If the trinket effects do not share the same cooldown, it will automatically use both. If it doesn't matter which one to use, then change /use to /userandom for randomly using one of them; else remove one of the lines and keep your favorite trinket use.
(2) The second part /cast line allow you to heal the target's target, which is very useful in battleground and the boss' current target. Else it works like a normal non-macro spell button; when you press Alt-button, you heal yourself.

Druids' combat ress are valuable. So every druid should have some sort macro or addon so that no two druids are combat ressing the same player. It will automatically say it in bubble and in raid chat who you are resurrecting and also a whisper to your ress target. However, the resurrection will not work if the target has released to graveyard.

#showtooltip
/stopmacro [harm]
/stopmacro [nodead]
/cast [help,dead] Rebirth
/s Resurrecting %t.
/ra Resurrecting %t.
/script SendChatMessage(" = Aethel is resurrecting you = but it won't work if you've released.", "WHISPER", "Common", UnitName("target"));

Druids are rather weak in fast heals but Nature's Swiftness is our friend. Basically, right-click it for instant big Healing Touch (you'll be shift out of tree automatically) or left-click it for instant Regrowth. Similar to the first macro; when you press Alt-button, you heal yourself.
When my shammy is going resto, I can just add "Healing Wave" to the end of this macro and then it will also work for her since the spell name is the same.

#showtooltip Nature's Swiftness
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/stopcasting
/cast [modifier:alt, button:2, target=player] Healing Touch; [button:2, help] Healing Touch; [modifier:alt, target=player] Regrowth; [help] Regrowth;

Tranquility is great when you are grouped with tanks and during big AoE damage. To make sure you get most out of it, right-click it for Barkskin, and then left-click for Tranquility. If you're sure you won't be interrupted, then simply left-click to save a global cooldown.

#showtooltip Tranquility
/cast [button:2] Barkskin; Tranquility

The last macro has been mentioned in a previous post. In short, get a staff with a lot of spirit, make a spirit enchant on it, and then right-click when you want to innervate yourself (auto switch staff) and left-click after your innervate or when you innervate someone else.

#showtooltip Innervate
/equip [button:2] Staff of Divine Infusion
/cast [button:2, target=player] Innervate; Innervate
/equip [nostance; button 1] Merciless Gladiator's War Staff
/equip [button:1] Light's Justice
/equip [button:1] Talisman of the Sun King

Must read: Simplified WoW Lore

2008-01-28T15:06:00.000+01:00

Dawnbow on US-Runetotem wrote a simplified WoW Lore on WoW forum.
This is a very comprehensive and read-friendly summary over the history of Warcraft.
Some people replied that not all the point were acurrate. But com'on, at least this guy tried to explain to newbies about the lore.
WoW is the only warcraft game I have ever played. I have tried to read through WoWwiki about the lores, but this really give me a general concept about how things are linked together. So to speak, the red thread along all the stories.
You might find out why gnomes are not smarter than they should, why trolls get so much love in their story and why the blood elves are so mean.
Thumbs up to Dawnbow!

The Legion will fall!

My eighth alchemy discovery

2008-01-27T12:03:00.000+01:00

Ten days after my transmute discovery of earth to life, I discovered the vice versa.
Anyway, it's a discovery. Cheers!

WTB Dual Wield for The Maelstrom's Fury

2008-01-19T09:55:00.000+01:00

The Maelstrom's Fury
Binds when picked up
One-Hand Dagger
37 - 111 Damage Speed 1.80
(41.3 damage per second)
+33 Stamina
+21 Intellect
Durability 75 / 75
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 22 (1% @ L70).
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 236.

It's one-hand and it's not unique. A shadow priest in my guild said he wanted to learn dual-wield in order to have it in both main hand and off-hand. ^o^
Dual-wielding with this might not give the best melee dps. But if I have a enchancement shaman raiding Black Temple, I will want it just for the look and because I can have it. Main hand Hammer of Judgement and off-hand this sword would work too.
Probably Blizzard will change that to main hand soon, since it's probably a mistake or a typo or to spoil the fun.

SmartBuff

2008-01-18T17:55:00.000+01:00

Randy Deluxe on The Instance, my favorite WoW-podcast, asked for a good buffing addon. Within one week he received lots of tips and a segment reply from Patrik. He recommended SmartBuffand I downloaded it immediately to try.
With PallyPower, Ise the tankadin can "bless" the entire battleground players. And now with SmartBuff, Aethel can also buff the entire battleground players with Mark of the wild. Before that, some random lucky players can get the buff, but now everyone in range can have that.
Also for raiding, I can buff the recently ressed players without scratching my head to remember who was dead.
There is some delay in detecting group buff, however I hope I can work around it when I'm more familiar with it.
PallyPower is still better in quick managing blessings since it shows time-left and who miss my blessings.
Except for paladins, this is a great mod!

My seventh alchemy discovery

2008-01-17T09:55:00.000+01:00

After a month of quietness, Bauhinia finally discovered Transmute Primal Earth to Primal Life. And I failed to take a screenshot.
I have been using transmute primal shadow to primal water when there isn't enough mats for transmute primal might. Since primal shadow is not fun to farm, I was very excited to discovery this transmute.
Though these two primals can be easily farmed through mining or herbalism, the value-added for this transmute is quite high.

[Edited: I managed to find the screenshot in a strangely sorted folder ^^ ]

Ghost wolf pet, no more.

2008-01-16T22:55:00.000+01:00

After patch 2.3 went live, ghost wolf was a hot hunter rare pet and it would be more rare now. Many hunters have tamed this almost-mission-impossible Grimtotem Spirit Guide (aka ghostwolf). Until recently CM Drysc announced that Blizzard has finally put a stop on it almost two months after the patch. Luckily, for those who has tamed one, they will not disappear.
The taming process was challenging since the ghost wolf will despawn in exactly 8 seconds. With taming beast spell lasts 20 sec. to cast, a hunter would need to increase spell haste through Mystic Skyfire Diamond proc and Drum of Battle or Shaman's Bloodlust.
I don't understand why Blizzard took away this challenging and fun taming possibility.
Luckily one of my guildmate has tamed one so I had a chance to adore its beauty.

(Picture courtesy via Mania's Arcania)

Patch 2.3.2: semi QQ post

2008-01-10T17:35:00.000+01:00

The patch 2.3.2 went live on January 8.
The good news are
- /timetest command can be used to test your computer performance
- Ravage will deal 35% more damage

The bad news are
- Lifebloom will no longer maintain the existing strength
- And all the Hallow End items were gone! Duration will be 14 days according to the calendar instead of game time.

I found my flying broom gone and the Tricky Treat on my mule gone too. But I manage to save some candies in the mailbox of my mule. Not all over yet. Yohoo!

Happy Holidays!

2008-01-01T13:18:00.000+01:00

Feast of Winter Viel was great fun as usual. I kept some Hot Apple Cider on a mule since it has a duration timer. However the mats for making them does not.
I had no luck in getting the Schematic: Snowmaster 9000 for my engineer alt, so I decided to buy one from AH for 30g.

Greatfather winter gave usa lot of non-combat pet: Red helper and Green helper, Snowman Kit, Jingling Bell Reindeer and the new Clockwork Rocket Bot.

One winter veil mystery, why poor Metzen is kidnapped every single year? There is some serious security issue. ^^

Recruiting: PvE guild (6/6 SSC, 3/4 TK)

2007-12-11T12:37:00.000+01:00

A PvE guild is recruiting raid-interested fear-not-wiping players.
Visit genesis.bsnet.se or contact Aethel for more information.
As I wrote in a previous post:

Gear is uncommon
Skill is rare
Tactics are epic
Focus is legendary
Patience is artifact

A sudden visit to WOWInsider led me to this article. As some have commented, it was a bit less than expected. Some of them are actually below my moral limit to do.
And then another article seems to match the feelings I had lately.

This was a sad week. Some people left the guild while we are still striving to progress. Then a few others and me became officers to hold up the guild while waiting for the other guild leader to return from his leave. In the mean time, we recruited three new members and will be actively recruiting. There is hope.
But let's take a Christmas break and do some Winter Veil stuff. ^^

My sixth alchemy discovery

2007-12-03T14:21:00.000+01:00

Oh! That's nice. Flask of Blinding Light! Aethel likes this a lot for damage dealing. What is left are Flask of Mighty Restoration, Flask of Supreme Power, and some more.

Bank Alt VS Guild Bank

2007-12-02T17:54:00.000+01:00

Most of the guild has at least one bank alt and now with guild vault in patch 2.3, is there still a need of a guild-bank alt.

Cost
Guild Vault:
100 gold for first 98 slots, 250 gold for second 98 slots, i.e 1.8g per slot.
Guild vault provides as many as 588 slots for 9350g, i.e. 16g per slot.

Bank Alt:
Bag slot in bank: 10s, 1g, 10g, 25g, 25g, 25g, 25g = 111 gold
Using 11 Netherweave Bag (16 slot) for 4 bag slots and 7 bank bag slots, 5x16 (bags and backpack) + 28 (bank) + 7x16 (bank bag) = 220 slot
Nethweave Bag costs around 8 gold each at auction house = 88 gold
Thus, 199 gold for 220 slots in bank alt, i.e. 1g per slot.

Guild bank alt costs a lot less per slot but the max slot limit is lower and it will occupy a character.

Accessibility
Guild Vault:
Guild master can permit as many as all members to access the guild bank.
Bank Alt:
Only the owner of that alt can access.

Guild vault is opened 24-7 in principle.

Level of control
Guild Vault:
Once permission are given, there is limited option of control over the deposition or withdrawal.
Bank Alt:
The owner of that alt has full control.

Bank alt can decide when, how and which items can be deposited and withdrawn.

Transparency
Guild Vault:
It depends on the permission given by the guild master. Usually everyone can look at it, therefore high transparency. Also, every deposit or withdrawal is logged.
Bank Alt:
Needless to say, low transparency.

While control was a issue for guild vault, the log pages are extremely useful for both control and transparency purposes.

Conclusions
Guild vault slots cost a lot and they cost more and more the more slots one purchase. However, its advantages are superior to the cost. The high accessibility and transparency (esp. the log pages) ease the management a lot. Good stuff costs.

If your bank alts has been selling things (such as flasks, potions, enchanting mats), guild vault should be able to replace this function if the trust level in the guild is high. For example, if I deposit a void crystal, and then withdraw 15g according to the guild price list. Then I withdraw five mana potions, and then deposit 10g (2g each).

For guild bank alt, the trust lies within the character owner. For guild vault, the trust lies amongst all guild members with access. If everyone is discipline, use common sense and follow the rules, the guild vault will ease the burden on officers a lot.

More general info on personal bank and guild bank.

My second transmute discovery

2007-11-30T17:32:00.000+01:00

It is a nice surprise. The price of these two primals on auction house are quite similar but most of the time primal water costs a few gold more. However, in terms of grinding, primal water is much easier to fish up from patches of pure water. A nice recipe to trigger more transmute discoveries.

Moon king/queen crowned (by Blessing of Protection)

2007-11-25T11:47:00.001+01:00

My new and cleaner UI

2007-11-25T11:34:00.000+01:00

After a few days of confusion, I finally got used to my new and cleaner UI. I tried to not make too many changes to ease my adaptation. My view is wider and everything has its place. A minor problem is the chat window might be covered by the tooltip sometimes, but I have learned not to mouseover something pointless.

Addons I used are mostly from Wowace:

General interface
- eePanel: the black area in the bottom
- simpleMinimap: movable and size-able minimap
- Bartender3: Movable and size-able actionbars
- TradeBar: Easy access to your professions
- FuBar: Easy access to diverse addons
- ag_Unitframes: Nice looking unitframes

- SanityBag: Database for all your characters' bank, bags, mailbox.

- CraftList2: Search what all your characters can craft

- CT_MapMod: Have been using it for long, like its simplicity

- FishingAce: Make catch-sound louder and autoloot your catch.
- RatingBuster: Like EQcompare, compare your equipment stats.
- WhisperFu: Keep a record of your incoming and outgoing whisper, even when you're AFK.
- MCPFu: Change your addon load or unload option without logging out

General combat related mods
- Chronometer: to keep track of my DoTs and HoTs
- Quartz: to check my latency and my DoTs/HoTs on a certain target or focus target
- Itemrack: One click gear switch. It is almost a must for hybrid classes to have.
- TotemTimers: For my shaman alt, very handy and useful.
- Recount: Like DamageMeter but better, it gives you concrete data to see what needs to be improved.
- RegenFu: I like mp5 but I like to have higher non-casting regen, it shows when you've passed the 5sec rule.

Raid related mods
- Omen: A must for raider
- BigWig: A must for raider
- oRA2: Main tanks and their targets, ress monitor
- Grid: An almost must for healers, especially raid healers.
- VisualHeal: An almost must for healers, it heals all healers to coordinate healing and minimize overhealing without talking or typing.
- Decursive: Easy to remove poison, decurse, cleanse, dispell etc
- PallyPower: If your pallies use it, then you can see their blessing assignment and ask the appropriate person.

My fourth alchemy discovery

2007-11-18T18:54:00.000+01:00

Yeah! Flask of Pure Death is Bauhinia's fourth alchemy discovery. Flask discovery is always nice. :D

Zul'Aman: server third clear

2007-11-17T22:37:00.000+01:00

Zul'jin is defeated. I went only to kill the last boss but he was fun fight. Then we went to use the Amani Hex Stick and a guildie got a frog Mojo and he in some way was changed to a frog while riding on his netherdrake. That's cute.

My first transmute discovery

2007-11-15T18:54:00.000+01:00

Bauhinia had her first transmute discovery. Transmute primal fire into primal mana is not generally useful. Better than nothing. ^^

One-click shapeshifting macro

2007-11-13T07:28:00.000+01:00

From patch 2.3, "cancelform" would not share global cooldown anymore. So with the following macro, you can shapeshift instantly between forms.

/stopcasting
/cancelform
/cast [button:2, modifier:shift] Moonkin form; [button:2] Tree of Life; [modifier:alt] Dire Bear Form; [modifier:shift] Cat form; [swimming] Aquatic Form; [flyable] Swift Flight Form;

Since Tree of Life form and Moonkin form would not co-exist, therefore, while resto-spec, shift-right-click to go to caster form; ans while balance-spec, right-click to go to caster form.

And you can jump out of cat or bear form, drink potions or use healthstones and instantly shift back.

/cancelform
/use Master Healthstone
/cast [modifier:shift] Cat form; Bear form

/cancelform
/use Super Health Potion
/cast [modifier:shift] Cat form; Bear form

Mechanical Chicken

2007-11-11T10:31:00.000+01:00

Ise proudly succeeded in rescuing three OOX homing robots. The gnomish engineer awarded him one of his own mechanical chicken.
Rescue OOX-09/HL!
Rescue OOX-17/TN!
Rescue OOX-22/FE!

Both Hinterlands and Tanaris has only two waves of attackers while three waves in Feralas. They are not hard to handle as long as there're no extra random mobs being aggroed. Most of them can be kited and then they lose interest in you. But it is part of the challenge to defeat them.

This chicken is a symbol of huge XP. Completing all the Find OOX and Rescue OOX quest will give 28,450 and a bonus 7,100 from the reward quest An OOX of Your Own, which makes a total of 35,550. ^o^

Solarian has fallen. Beware, Kael'thas.

2007-11-07T15:52:00.000+01:00

What a progress this week! After Vashj was slained, Genesis moved to Tempest Keep and defeated Solarian. The door to Kael'thas was opened. He and his assistants would stand too long.

Eye of the Dead

2007-11-07T14:40:00.000+01:00

In line with maximizing Lifebloom's bonus healing, I came across this baby.
An epic from Naxxramas that can beat almost every items from TBC. I didn't have much time working for Argent Dawn nor raiding before the portal was opened. If your next 5 spells were Lifeblooms, it can be stacked up to 320 heal/sec.

Essence of Martyr: Equip and use = 381 healing = 107 heal/sec
Eye of the Dead: Equip and use = up to 520 healing = up to 150 heal/sec
Living root of the Wildheart: Proc = 326 healing = 91 heal/sec

It seems there is one more reason to mobilize some forces to Blackwing's Lair and Naxxramas.

Lady Vashj is slained

2007-11-06T13:09:00.000+01:00

Lord Illidarin should be feeling the threat. As Lady Vashj, Queen was defeated by my guild - Genesis - last night, Cenarion Expedition shall gain back to the control over Coilfang Reservior. We are getting stronger. Next target is Kael'thas, Prince of Quel'thalas. She did a lot of nasty damage on us but we were well-prepared. The elementals, nagas and striders she summoned were not hard to handle. The poison which sporebats made were not that dangerous if one just pay attention into the situation.

From her dead body, I recovered Runetotem's Mantle. It has flowers growing on it. How sweet!

Living Root of the Wildheart - A good druid trinket?

2007-11-04T11:30:00.000+01:00

Yes! Absolutely. If you compare this trinket to another role-specific trinket, it might give a bit lower bonus. But, most importantly, it is a versatile 5-in-1 trinket. Every spells and attack would have 3% chance to proc it. If the proc rate or the duration would be increased, then it will overpower trinkets from the similar level.

The blessings are:
In caster form - Cenarion Blessing: +175 damage and healing
In bear form - Ursine Blessing: +4070 armor
In cat form - Feline Blessing: +64 strength
In moonkin form - Lunar Blessing: +209 damage
In tree form - Slyvan Blessing: +326 healing

Caster form:
The use is limited to, resto druids' day-to-day grinding or feral druids' help to heal up now and then.

Bear form:
With a swing timer of 2.5sec and a global cooldown of 1.5sec, 3% proc rate per min, so it should proc 1.92 times/min. Increasing armor by 4070 for 15 sec can be interpreted to 1953.6 armor/sec, which is 355.2 static armor with 5/5 thick hide. This could be an option if Shartuul (or people on your server) refuses to bring you Badge of Tenacity with 308 static armor. From a healer's point of view, this random proc rate won't save mana but increase overhealing. It would be better with some controllable trinkets like Moroe's Lucky Pocket Watch or Scarab of Displacement.

Math:
Proc rate/sec = (60/2.5 + 60/1.5)*3% = 1.92
Increse in armor/sec = 4070*15*1.92/60 = 1953.6
Estimated static armor bonus with Thick hide = 1953.6/550% = 355.2

Cat form:
With a swing timer of 1sec and a global cooldown of 1.5sec, 3% proc rate per min, so it should proc 3 times/min. Increasing strength by 64 for 15sec, can be interpreted into 48 strength i.e. static 96 attack power per sec. This is purely nice. The minor problem is the new Heart of the Wild change when 1 strength would become 2 attack power instead of 2.4 attack power. Therefore, with this trinket, one could focus more on pure attack power and agility.

Math:
Proc rate/sec = (60/1 + 60/1.5)*3% = 3
Increase in strength/sec = 64*15*3/60 = 48 = 96 attack power

Moonkin form:
The best spell rotation to trigger the proc would be IS, MF, Wrath, and then SF when crit or when proc to get the full bonus. Immediately after the proc and approx 2 sec before the blessing fades, MF to get the bonus on the ticks. The static spell damage increase is 62.7 compared to 68.8 from Icon of Silver Crescent. The druid trinket is not as good as that but it is still good.

Math:
Proc rate/sec = 60/1.5*3% = 1.2
Increase in damage = 209*15*1.2/60 = 62.7
Icon of Silver Cresent with a cooldown of 2min:
(43*120+155*20)/120 = 68.8

Tree of Life form:
As it said from description, "spells and attacks" which means melee-ing in tree form would also proc. I tried that this week and it almost doubled my proc rate. Without melee, it gives a static 97.8 healing which is inferior to 133.5 healing from Essence of the Martyr. However, with melee, the static bonus healing increases to 179.3, better than the Essence of the Martyr. If Omen of Clarity is up, the melee attack would grant clearcasting, thus increases the heal per mana also. If you happen to proc when Essence of the Martyr buff is up, then the bonus healing is 707! Cast on the main tank Lifebloom, Regrowth, Rejuvenation, and keep up the Lifebloom, since this around +200 heal/sec can be kept for a long time. ^o^

Math:
Without melee, assuming instant casts only:
Proc rate/sec = 60/1.5*3% = 1.2
Increase in healing = 326*15*1.2/60 = 97.8
With melee (Light's Justice 1.8s) with instant casts:
Proc rate/sec = (60/1.5 + 60/1.8)*3%= 2.2
Increase in healing = 326*15*2.2/60 = 179.3
Essence of the Martyr with a cooldown of 2min:
(84*120+297*20)/120=133.5

The proc rate is a bit low, but if that was increased to 3.5% or the duration extended to 20sec, then it would overpower other trinkets in the same level. In summary, the trinket is very good and versatile, especially for cats and meleeing trees.

Druid items on Patch 2.3 (Feral)

2007-11-03T14:13:00.000+01:00

Previously I discussed about the new items for druid from patch 2.3, here I continue with new the feral tanking gear.

There are only four new feral tanking items from the patch, and in my opinion one should go for all.

Chest: Vestments of hibernation gives strength and agility but you would lose the defense rating from Heavy Clefthoof Vest.
Feet: If you're a leatherworker, it is an imperative to make a pair of Boots of Natural Grace. Else, an upgrade from Heavy Clefthoof Boots or Zierhut's Lost Treads would be Footwraps of Wild Encroachment.
Hands: If you can't lay hand on the tier 4 gloves, Sorry, try out another department, ask the Arena goblin.
Head: Same as hands, if you didn't have luck for the tier 4 head, keep trying. Cowl of Beastly Rage is very nice but that's also 50 badges you can use for other parts.
Legs: Same as hands. :(
Shoulders: same as hands, again. :((
Waist: If you can find a leatherworker to make you a Belt of Natural Power, then you can save 60 badges for Waistguard of the Great Beast.
Wrist: Band of the Swift Paw, the best you can find from the PvE loots.

Blizzard really need to give druid tanks more itemizations. In summary, grind arena gear and heroics/Kara/ZA for BoJ, then save your DKP for the tier tokens.

How did Hallow's End end for you?

2007-11-01T11:50:00.000+01:00

Hallow's End is over now and I hope everyone got some gifts and candies.
I have got all three rings and sort of earned 25 Badge of Justice since Witching Band is exactly the same as Band of Halos.
I'm saving the candies in order to walk faster in ToL form.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to grind the lovely pet Sinister Squashing. I will have to wait until next year. And by then, I hope I'll have bag spaces fore these non-combat pets. Here are some pictures to share.

Flying on a broom. Caution: This is not very stable.

Tricked! You're a critter.

The male gnome and male troll mask are the best of all.

My favorite costumes are:
"You feel larger... and organer..." I'm an orange tree. ^^
Reaching the fish schools far off the coast has never been so easy, I'm in ghost costume.
Using hearthstone in wisp costume is quite cool, but I missed it while looking for a good angle.

Other costumes:

My second alchemy discovery

2007-10-31T12:28:00.000+01:00

Caught by surprise and thrilled with joy, Bauhinia discovered her second flask recipe. Two discoveries on two days, I guess it paid off all the work.

----------------
Filled in some missing information on Druid items on PTR 2.3.

Flying Machine and boots face change

2007-10-30T20:21:00.000+01:00

Lightning effect on the new flying machine, it's just so cool.

Did I gain some weight on PTR? Or is it just because my Forestlord Striders looks different on PTR (left) than on live(right)?

My first alchemy discovery

2007-10-30T13:39:00.000+01:00

Bauhinia has finally discovered a alchemy recipe: Flask of fortification.
She is proud to be a master alchemist with skill 375 and no specialization, at the experience level 50. The discovery rate of 0.1% as suggested estimate on wowwiki was more or less correct. This came as a pleasant surprise when she was brewing in Stormwind Auction House.

---------------------------
Last Saturday, I got the best whisper of the month from Deoradhain, my ever-pvp-counsellor, "do you want to join our premade?". I instantly replied "sure". After joining the premade and Teamspeak, I realized I missed them a lot. I was so pleasant to hear their voices again.
It was an AB-premade during an AV weekend, but I estimated we made as many honor as one can get from AV for the same amount of time. We won all except one, which was lost to a very close margain, 1950-2000. I would make an effort to join TTS premade every Saturday. Not just for the game, but mostly for the people.
May the Sun light your path!

Obituaries: Archbishop Benedictus and King Magni Bronzebeard

2007-10-28T09:06:00.000+01:00

Last night, the hordes sneaked into Stormwind City and killed Archbishop Benedictus after a few attempts. There were rumors I heard afterwards, but most of the alliance were not prepared. The guards formed a shield to fight against the evil but finally they failed.
After that, these disgusting hordes hijacked the Deeprun Tram, slaughtering every single person who entered the tram. Clearly they were aiming for Lord of Ironforge.
I took an alternative road to Ironforge but I was too late. The throne was empty, the King was gone. It left behind a pile of skeleton.
May Archbishop Benedictus and King Magni Bronzebeard rest in peace and be resurrected soon.

Druid items on PTR 2.3

2007-10-26T21:36:00.000+02:00

Looking through the new leather items that A'dal are selling on patch test realm, I can only confirmed that the items are between tier 4 and tier 5. There are:
4 items for chests (75 BoJ),
3 items for feet (60 BoJ, missing resto),
2 items for hand (60 BoJ, missing bear-feral and resto),
3 items for head (75 BoJ, missing bear-feral, resto's is a drop),
2 items for legs (75 BoJ, missing bear-feral and balance),
3 items for shoulders (60 BoJ, missing bear-feral),
4 items for waist (60 BoJ), and
4 items for wrist (60 BoJ).

Bear-Feral
Chest	Vestments of Hibernation	75
Feet	Footwraps of Wild Encroachment	60
Waist	Waistguard of the Great Beast	60
Wrist	Band of the Swift Paw	60
	Total	255 BoJ
Cat-Feral/Rogue
Chest	Shadowtooth Trollskin Cuirass	75
Feet	Nyn'jah's Tabi Boots	60
Hand	Trickster's Stickyfingers	60
Head	Grimgrin Faceguard	75
Legs	Shallow-grave Trousers	75
Shoulder	Shoulderpads of Dancing Blades	60
Waist	Bladeangel's Money Belt	60
Wrist	Master Assassin Wristwraps	60
	Total	525 BoJ
Moonkin-Balance
Chest	Blessed Elunite Coverings	75
Feet	Moon-walkers	60
Hand	Grasp of the Moonkin	60
Head	Mask of Primal Power	75
Shoulder	Pauldrons of Tribal Fury	60
Waist	Starfire Waistband	60
Wrist	Armwraps of the Kaldorei Protector	60
	Total	450 BoJ
Tree of Life-Restoration
Chest	Shimmer-pelt Vest	75
Head	Helm of Natural Regeneration (drop from Jan'alai in Zul'Aman)	-
Legs	Pants of Splendid Recovery	75
Shoulder	Gnarled Ironwood Pauldrons	60
Waist	Life-step Belt	60
Wrist	Gargon's Bracers Peaceful Slumber	60
	Total	330 BoJ

This is how the whole set looks like:

Here I compared the balance and resto gear and will get to the feral part soon. These new items are in-between Nordrassil (t5) and Malorne (t4) set. the biggest differences are the reduction of +spirit (no +spirit at all on BoJ moonkin gear) and the increase in Mp5 and spell haste rating for moonkin.

Balance:

Nordrassil Regalia
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder
Armor	1703	419	367	341	262	314
Stamina	160	36	37	35	26	26
Intellect	150	32	36	28	27	27
Spirit	114	25	26	24	23	16
Spell Damage	244	54	54	54	41	41
Spell Crit	92	17	26	25	24	-
Spell Hit	44	19	-	10	-	15
Mp5	7	-	7	-	-	-
Sockets	1m 3y 4b	1y 2b	1b	1m 1y	-	1y 1b

Malorne Regalia
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder
Armor	1540	379	332	308	237	284
Stamina	133	28	32	28	24	21
Intellect	142	27	35	29	27	24
Spirit	97	19	18	22	21	17
Spell Damage	195	46	44	36	33	36
Spell Crit	67	-	25	24	18	-
Spell Hit	19	19	-	-	-	-
Mp5	11	-	6	-	-	5
Sockets	1m 1r 3y 2b	2y 1b	-	1m 1r	-	1y 1b

Badge of Justice Reward - Leather spell damage (Ptr 2.3)
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder	cf. t5	cf. t4
Armor	1287	404		328	252	303	-49	79
Stamina	115	33		33	28	21	-8	14
Intellect	126	34		39	30	23	12	19
Spirit	0	-		-	-	-	-88	-79
Spell Damage	179	54		46	40	39	-11	28
Spell Crit	52	22		30	-	-	-14	10
Spell Hit	26	-		-	-	26	-18	7
Spell haste	25	-		-	25	-	25	20
Mp5	7	7		-	-	-	7	7
Sockets	3r 3y 1b	1y 1r 1b		1r 1y	-	1r 1y

Chest: The tier-chest carries spell hit which is over the BoJ chest.
Legs: There isn't any other choice than tier set, is there? Oh yeah, Arena Reward.
Head: Since the BoJ helm does not have meta socket for my favorite Insightful Earthstorm Diamond, I'd say the tier-helm is better.
Hand: BoJ hand of course. Imba spell haste rating and then spam Starfire. I would sacrifice spell hit on shoulder for the tier set bonus.
Shoulder: The hit rating is great, but it can be traded for the sake of set-bonus. Take both maybe?
Feet:Moon-walkers is a better choice over Naturewarden's Treads for its 23 spell hit. Socketed with Potent Noble Topaz for the spell crit or Glowing Nightseye for the stamina.
Waist: Starfire Waistband and Belt of the Crescent Moon are very hard to choose from. The former is good for mp5 while the latter is good for the spell haste rating.
Wrist:Elunite Empowered Bracers from Black Temple owns Armwraps of the Kaldorei Protector for the spell hit rating. However, the latter is still a nice upgrade from Windhawk Bracers or Bracers of the White Stag. If spell hit rating isn't the issue, then throw in a Runed Ornate Ruby on the Vindicator's Wyrmhide Bracers, then you have the best moonkin bracer in the game, for now.

Restoration:

Nordrassil Raiment
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder
Armor	1703	419	367	341	262	314
Stamina	165	36	37	40	26	26
Intellect	151	33	36	28	27	27
Spirit	129	31	27	31	24	16
Healing	461	103	101	103	77	77
Mp5	34	-	11	8	9	6
Sockets	1m 1y 6b	3 b	1 b	1m 1y	-	2b

Malorne Raiment
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder
Armor	1540	379	332	237	308	284
Stamina	127	28	30	22	28	19
Intellect	142	29	38	25	27	23
Spirit	119	25	26	24	25	19
Healing	370	88	84	62	68	68
Mp5	32	-	10	7	10	5
Sockets	1m 1r 1y 4b	1y 2b	-	1m 1r	-	2b

Badge of Justice Reward - Leather healing (Ptr 2.3)
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder	cf. t5	cf. t4
Armor	1388	404	353	328		303	-53	156
Stamina	118	34	30	33		21	-21	19
Intellect	137	35	40	39		23	113	22
Spirit	60	30	-	30		-	-45	-34
Healing	346	101	86	86		73	-38	49
Mp5	34	12	12	-		10	9	12
Sockets	3r 3y 2b	-	1r 1y 1b	1r 1y 1b		1r 1y

Chest: Mp5 on the BoJ chest over the sockets on t5.
Legs: Mp5 and sockets over the spirit on t5.
Head: Since the BoJ helm does not have meta socket for my favorite Insightful Earthstorm Diamond, I'd say the tier helm is better.
Hand: Tier set is your choice as it's better than Bark-Gloves of Ancient Wisdom.
Shoulder: Mp5 on BoJ shoulder over the spirit on t5.
Feet: No new items from ptr2.3. Enchanted Leather Sandals from Mount Hyjal is not much better than Orca-Hide Boots, except for the stamina.
Waist: Life-step Belt wins over Belt of Primal Majesty, which is a Dreamstate restokin belt with spell haste rating.
Wrist: Grove-Bands of Remulos for the mp5. The latter is useful to support the ToL aura if spirit is lacking in other armor pieces.

Next time I'll take a look at the feral gear.

Ornaments of Azerothian's Crusade

2007-10-26T17:18:00.000+02:00

From my experience in raiding, I found out that:

Gear is uncommon
Skill is rare
Tactics are epic
Focus is legendary
Patience is artifact

Therefore I made a set of jewelry which the raider would certainly love.

Next time, when someone did something really stupid, take a deep breath and let your negativity be defeated by you. Team spirit is the key in raiding. Think positive.

To create your wow items, visit http://www.wowitemcreator.com/create/item.html

Some more on PTR

2007-10-23T21:49:00.000+02:00

The new tracking system on PTR is really helpful. You can find banker, various vendors, trainers, quest giver or receiver, flight masters, etc. They are counted as "tracking" so you can't track beast, herbs, veins, etc at the same time.

One weird thing is my bottom-left action bar reseted to empty once I shapeshifted. And it didn't get back even when I shifted back to elf-form. It only came back when I died or log out. I hope there will be a hot fix for it soon.

My mailbox gave me some seasonal feelings. I got a pattern [Leatherworking: Winter Boots] and a cooking recipe:

Hot Apple Cider
Restores 7200 mana over 30 sec. Must remain seated while drinking. If you spend at least 10 seconds drinking you will become "well fed" and gain 20 Stamina and Spirit for 30 min. Standard alcohol.
1x Sparkling Apple Cider, 1x Holiday Spirits, 1x Holiday Spices

I guess this is for the coming Winter Veil celebration. It's a mana "well-fed" buff, I would definitely make a lot of these if there isn't any time limit on.

Tonight I went with some guildies to Zul'Aman for a look. It wasn't really a raid since people took their chance on PTR to try new spec and new gear, not prepared with flasks and addons and no real tactics. There were a lot of silly wipes, some were annoyed but for me it was fun to look at some new content. He's a big druid bear. When did trolls stole the book of druidic learnings?

Leatherworking on PTR 2.3

2007-10-23T09:14:00.001+02:00

On patch 2.3's PTR, there are a few new pattern for leatherworking. Hunters can finally get rid of their level 35 quiver or ammo pouch without grinding Consortium or Kurenai/Mag'har reputations.

Knothide Ammo Pouch (20 Slot)
Equip: Increase ranged attack speed by 15%
24x Knothide Leather, 1x Primal Air, 4x Rune Thread

Knothide Quiver (20 Slot)
Equip: Increase ranged attack speed by 15%
20x Knothide Leather, 30x Arakkoa Feather, 2x Rune Thread

Netherscale Ammo Pouch (24 Slot)
Equip: Increase ranged attack speed by 15%
12x Heavy Knothide Leather, 40x Nether Dragonscales, 12x Primal Earth, 1x Primal Nether

Quiver of a Thousand Feathers (24 Slot)
Equip: Increase ranged attack speed by 15%
8x Heavy Knothide Leather, 99x Light Feather, 2x Primal Air, 1x Primal Nether

The 24-slot seems to require a rather insane amount of rare items. It also seems to me that the mats for quivers less uncommon than for ammo pouches. Who would have kept Arakkoa feathers after getting honored from Lower City? While 99 light feathers are easy to grind from Westfall, 20 nether dragonscales are comparatively hard to get by.

Apart from these hunter items, there are two new armor kit patterns as well.

Heavy Knothide Armor Kit
Permanently increase the stamina of an item worm on head, chest, shoulders, legs, hands or feet by 10.
3x Heavy Knothide Leather

Glove Reinforcements
Permanently increase the armor on a pair of gloves by 240.
18x Heavy Knothide Leather, 14x Primal Earth, 1x Rune Thread

Note that Heavy Knothide Armor kit can be put on head and shoulders. (^_^)
Would other armor kits be also allowed to put on head and shoulders later? Though it might not be a big hit for most armor kits since the glyph and inscriptions are by far better, it would be a big boost for the resistant armor kit.
The glove 240-armor enchant is not very exciting since agility or threat would probably be better. Still it is a nice option to give different options for an enchant and a function (or financial support) for leatherworker.

Someone also found a leatherworking bag pattern, oh now I got that from a trainer for 1g20s.
Edited: Oh, did I forget about the drums? The world drop drums patterns (restoration and speed) are now available when revered with Kurenai/Mag'har. The cast time for drums of restoration, speed, battle and war are removed. See details for all professions.

Time for fun! Muhaha

2007-10-22T14:14:00.000+02:00

Raiding sometimes can be quite stressful. But I try to keep my spirit up observing the least expected part and enjoy them.
What is more fun than being losing control and do a bunch of stuff that you have never thought of? There's a time I couldn't kill my inner demon summoned by Leotheras The Blind, I was mind-controlled and attacked my mates with hurriance, moonfire, bear form and even healed Leotheras. lol
It reminds me of "Time for fun!", Shadow Lab second boss. The key of that encounter is "hope not to kill each other", while the situation is completely out of our hands.

Innervating with a +70spirit staff

2007-10-21T14:01:00.000+02:00

My enchanter shammy alt has finally reached level 50 and enchanting skill 300. She was honored with Thorium Brotherhood after a long grinding on Auction House and then she learned the Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spirit. And then she enchanted that on the Staff of Divine Infusion. Now I have this sweet +70 spirit staff for innervate.

To make it easier to switch weapon during battle, I made a macro so that I can right-click to innervate myself and switch to the spirit staff and left-click to switch back to the healing weapons or innervate someone else.

#showtooltip
/equip [button:2] Staff of Divine Infusion
/cast [button:2, target=player] Innervate; Innervate
/equip [button:1] Light's Justice
/equip [button:1] Windcaller's Orb

Since Moonkin and Tree of Life share the same stance (stance:5),
I would need to change that to Merciless Gladiator's War Staff when Aethel goes as moonqueen.

The Super Arakkoa

2007-10-21T13:48:00.000+02:00

Using the Shabby Arakkoa Disguise and carrying the Terokk's Shadowstaff, I became a super arakkoa flying in the air. ^_^
Before Patch 2.2, druids can shapeshift with this effect on, therefore I always flew as a "Super Arakkoa" in Terokkar Forest. It's a shame that this picture has become history. Still I'm keeping this disguise for the cool dance and other animations.

Panzerkin in action

2007-10-20T21:10:00.000+02:00

Druids can tank in bear, but how about as moonkin? Few months ago I get in touch of this Guide to Moonkin Tanking. Lithanial has tanked heroics and Karazhan as moonkin, and his gear is top-of-the-line and his skills is imba.
Last Sunday, there was a short of tank for the Kara run, so I took the opportunity to try out panzerkin tanking. I have been collecting gear since I read the guide, so luckily I have some defense rating and bonus armor gear. My main focus was to to increase mitigation. I took on some +armor and +resilience gear without losing too much +spell hit and +spell damage. My gear is not as good as Lithanial's, but it worked. The healers were awesome.
I think any class can off-tank too (though armor would be a plus), they just need to work even harder on the gear and skills.

My Choice of Panzerkin gear:
Head: Antlers of Malorne
Neck: Brooch of Unquenchable Fury (for the hit raiting)
Back: Glided Thorium Cloak
Shoulder: Shoulderpads of Assassination (should be improved)
Chest: Windhawk Hauberk (should be improved)
Wrist: Manimal's Cinch (should be improved)
Gloves: Gloves of Malorne
Waist: Umberhowl's Collar (should be improved)
Legs: Moonchild Leggings (should be improved)
Feet: Veterans Wyrmhide Boots
Rings: Shermanar Great-Ring and Veteran's Band of Dominance
Trinket: Icon of the Silver Crescent and Timelapse Shard
Relic: Idol of the Avenger
Weapon: Merciless Gladiator's War Staff

Treez

2007-10-20T13:09:00.000+02:00

Karathress - A healer's perspective

2007-10-20T09:20:00.000+02:00

This fight is not very different than other fights.
The main difference is the random damage a healer would take. A combo of shadow bolt or water bolt or multishot or spitfire has proven to be fatal.
As a druid healer, I always have HoTs on my targets so they very seldom go under 50% HP.
Therefore, the most important thing is to keep myself alive, healing up the damage taken and also overhealing the expected damage incoming.

An oom healer can bandage but a dead one definitely can't heal.

More guides on Bosskillers.

Juicy rings from the Headless Horseman

2007-10-19T15:29:00.000+02:00

Aethels says: Horseman rise...
Aethel says: Your time is nigh...
Aethel says: You felt death once...
Aethel says: Now, know demise!
Headless Horseman yells: It is over, your search is done! Let fate choose now, the righteous one.

This horseman each player can summon once a day. There isn't any save or limit on how many times you can participate. The fight is easy and very funny.
You can recover three rings, a plate helm, some broomsticks, a pumpkin helm, pumkin pet and a lot of candies. (Detailed info)
The Horseman's Signet Ring and Witching Band are comparable to those from Karazhan. If it's not free epics, what is it?

Cenarion Expedition's Hippogryph on PTR

2007-10-19T14:09:00.001+02:00

Hit rating caps

2007-10-19T14:09:00.000+02:00

Coriel summarized "Hit rating caps for bosses" on her blog.

The most notable points are
1. High caps for mages and paladins (164), and
2. Low caps for warlocks and shadow priests (76).

When I pointed out how little spell hit rating a shadow priest would need, a guildie pointed out that Focus Power is a deep discipline PvP talents, which PvE s-priest would never go for. But still a cap of 76 is less than half of what mages and paladins would need.

Can you feel the love of driud in Zul’Aman?

2007-10-19T12:30:00.000+02:00

I can't.

Salthem has promised that:

Itemisation across the board is due to get some love with the introduction of
further content in patch 2.3 and beyond. Balance druids are particularly getting
some better attention in Zul'Aman in 2.3.

Yet the loot tables from ZA are very disappointing. Where is “the attention”? Dan O'Halloran outlined the items for each druid spec on wowinsider but all the balance items are actually caster items. So moonkins will continue to roll against mages, shadow priest and warlocks. Sorry clothies. Bracer of White Stag (dropped by Attumen in Karazhan) will continue to be the only epic leather spell-damage drop before Black Tempel and Hyjal Summit.

As a leatherworker, I’m upset about the lack of craftable items for druids also. Leatherworking patterns dropped in T5 and T6 instances are biased. In SSC and TK, there are BoE belts and BoP boots for hunters, rogues, feral druids, enchancement and elemental shamans. In BT, there are BoE bracers and BoP shoulders for hunters, rogues, resto druids and resto shamans. The only spec which is missing in both places is, non-surprisingly, balance druids.

End with the ranting. The good news is the Badge of Justice rewards. There are the PvE rewards corresponding to PvP Honor rewards/Arena rewards. Every spec in every class can trade the badges for their desired items when they want.

Al'ar is defeated

2007-10-18T15:59:00.000+02:00

Last night, my guild - Genesis - had defeated the Pheonix God Al'ar situated inside the Tempest Keep in Netherstorm.
Al'ar is such a graceful pheonix and its colour is so astonishing.

So you thought no one saw you

2007-10-17T14:09:00.000+02:00

The guild hall is empty. Aethel walked around and took a seat at a corner. Scenes from the past flashed in front of her eyes.

Clifford dashed in with his full armor and he must be in a hurry.
Shacat did that same some other time. He dashed in and stopped suddenly. Zully left a few claw marks on the stone floor from the braking.
Leather balls were flying besides, over, in front and behind of Jomartion while he was talking. His patience threshold was challenged. Then Weick killed himself behind him, and I could almost hear his deep breathes.
Wasp was in a purple festival dress, and so was I. Same dress, well, it happens.
A mysterious mage came to the meeting, his face was hidden under his hood. When he lifted it, oh, that was Korgun.
Evocator stood beside Korgun and could not stand the flame. He took off his clothes but luckily not his guild tabard.
Gibknarf was in his heavy golden armor. He carried them with proud and dwarven muscle power.
Everyone formed a cirlce and Aethel was asked to stand in the middle. She was nervous. The officers announced her promotion, and members used their special abilities as celebration.

A tear slowly glided down her cheek. "See you around," she said and gently dried her tears.
Walking down the stairs, she wasn't sure where to go. She looked up to the sky and closed her eyes. The sun shined bright and dried her tears. She felt the warmth and took a moment to enjoy it in peace.

Suddenly someone poked her back with a dagger. Aethel picked up her staff and turned swiftly. The person had vanished. "I'll be watching you. Shape up!" a distant voice whispered.

-----------------------------------------------------------
The story was written for my departure of < The Tempered Sun > in order to join my boyfriend's guild < Genesis >. It was a difficult time for me to part with the friends I made there. TTS holds monthly guild meeting in the Dwarven District, Stormwind City. The meetings were very nice and friendly.

Elune's Makeover

2007-10-17T12:57:00.000+02:00

After a long and hard fight in the Outlands, a voice deep in Aethel's heart said, "Go home, to Moonglade. And you should talk to shan'do also."
Aethel walked through a portal to Shattrah City then packed her bag for a long distance teleport to Moonglade.

Every night is the same in Moonglade. Loganaar still stands beside the moonwell as he did when Aethel used to mediate and sing to Elune there.

"Thero'shan Aethel", says Loganaar, "welcome back to Moonglade."
Aethel salutes to Loganaar and says, "Shan'do Loganaar, Elune'adore."
"What brings you here?" Loganaar asks.
"I seek peace. This moonwell used to calm my mind. Everything was peaceful when I was with the Sisters, until the war."
"The Sisters of Elune still question me for teaching you the druidic ways sometimes. You are a trained and skillful druid now. I saw your potential and you confirmed my judgement."
"Yes, I think druid is my nature but I will never forget the teaching from the Sisters."
"That was indeed your advantage as a diplomat for Darnassus serving Pristess Tyrande Whisperwind and Arch Druid Fandral Staghelm at the same time."
"It was a nice experience as a diplomat. I made many friends of different races. Shan'do, everything changes when Doom Lord Kazzak opened the Dark portal. Then now I serve the Cenarion Expedition. The war is weary."
"Thero'shan, believe in yourself and believe in your friends. This is your call. You have learned a lot but there are still more for you to learn. You must not give up."
Aethel nods, "Anu'dora. I should get rested and then return to my position."
"Peace you should have here in Moonglade as always. You know where to find me when you need guidance. Kaldorei, your family is expecting you."
Aethel smiles and curtsies to Loganaar.
"Please send my regards to the Sisters. Asha'falah, shan'do."
"Peace be with you. Ande'thoras'ethil." Loganaar bows.
The Black War Tiger dashes to Aethel's home.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Translations:
Shan'do - Honored teacher
Thero'shan - Honored student
Elune'adore - Elune be with you
Kaldorei - Children of the stars
Anu'dora - Yes
Asha'falah - A farewell phrase
Ande'thoras'ethil - May your troubles be diminished

Originally published in The Tempered Sun website.