I've come to the somewhat disappointing conclusion that if I want to raid in Cataclysm I will have to re-roll a healer or tank. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of playing the one true class I love and actually know how to play (rogue). This Rogue has almost 200 days played, half of which is during this expansion. Having almost 100 days played at level 80 is probably only something a few percent of players can claim, so to say I love my rogue is probably an understatement. Unfortunately, this does not translate to getting a spot in a raid. Being better at your class than someone else is at theirs, or putting more effort in to your character means very little in 10 man raids. The priority is get 2 tanks and 2 or 3 healers, and then fill in 5-6 spots with DPS.
So where do I go from here. The best bet is clearly to have a Pala or Druid, and spec Tank/Healer. Almost guaranteed a spot like this. The plus side is skill is not highly desired, but only preferable. I've played with various average tanks who are carried by Rogues or Hunter mis-direcets to generate threat because they don't have any idea to do it themselves. As long as you down the boss, no one is going to question your lack of skills. Healing is probably slightly harder, but then one good healer than carry poor ones.
The situation in 25 man raiding is far more fluid. The difficulty is harder so tanks and healers do need more skill. The amount of 25 man guilds available is also much higher, so it's easy to drift into one that suits your play style. Finding good 10 man guilds is next to impossible without getting into serious casual terriorty. I'd say on my realm there are maybe 5 strict 10 man progression raiding guilds. Changing guilds may be an option over re-rolling, but for me it's not easy or preferable.
The final solution to getting raid slots is creating my own guild, which is a major headache. I could probably string together a very good raid team, but I'd have to question my own leadership skills. I do semi-regularly lead raids, and I'm the type of person who gets very easily stressed out. Yesterday I kicked a friend out of a raid because he went AFK for 5 minutes, which I regretted when he returned. My edgyness makes a five minute AFK seem like hours.
I have a few months now to decide if I should continue raiding in the expansion or not. I enjoy raiding immensely but I'm not a casual player and hate being treated like one. At the same time I'm very dedicated to 10 man raiding, which is by its very nature seen as casual. I do have serveral close friends on my realm, and in the end it may have to be a group decision on where we carry on in the coming months. At least I have this blog to express my opinions without censorship, always nice to blow of a little steam. Interesting times!
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Making money with Dirge
These days my interest with raiding seems to be diminishing due to various dramas and my biggest goals seem to be leveling alts for money. A wise investment seems to be starting the Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest chain. This is a very long quest chain, which at one point offers an Epic cooking recipe (the only one in the game). It's very likely that this chain and recipe will no longer be available once the pre-Cataclysm patch hits live realms. Currently on my server this recipe sells for anything between 3-8000 gold and it's very rare to see it. With Cataclysm inflation taken into account, and the chances of this recipe being removed from the game, I can really see it hitting 20,000g. Even if the chain is not removed, the value should remain high. Now I have three characters who could still get this recipe (my main is a Realm First Chef, with every recipe learned, including this one), and potentially 12 others who could after leveling them to 60. The real trouble is you need a load of Brood of Nozdormu rep (neutral) to be able to progress the quest chain, which is probably a few weeks of AQ40 grinding, so doing this on more than two charcters is very tedious for me. I will most likely attempt to get the recipe on my 80 Shammy and 71 Druid, and forget the rest. I would reccomend people attempting this on all your charcters, because for four hours work the pay off is very good, whether you sell the recipe now or hold on to it for later.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Top 5 films of 2009
I went to watch Sherlock Holmes yesterday, and it was a entertaining film. Solid action film, kept watchable by a great performance by Robert Downey Jr.
Unlike most years, 2009's top 5 only took a few minutes to work out. The quality of films was poor last year, and I went to the cinema less regularly so I missed some films that are meant to be good. Also the UK usually gets the Oscar hyped films later than the US, so we have yet to see Up In the Air, Precious, Lovely Bones, Invictus, and others.
So here is my list;
5. Star Trek: I don't like Star Trek, Star Wars was always my thing as a kid. The nine year old version of me might just change his mind if JJ Abrams can make a few more of these films! This film is just fun, not much more to say really. I really hope this film doesn't get overlooked, because if it wasn't for Avatar this would be the best Sci-Fi film in years.
4. Inglourious Basterds: Tarantino's critics have really been coming out of the woodwork in the last few years, despite the merits of his last few films none of them have appealed as widely as Pulp Fiction. The slight missteps result in this near masterpiece. The opening scene is probably the most tense scene I have ever sat through in the cinema. The acting is engrossing. The scene between lead character Shosanna unwittingly coming into contact with the Nazi who killed her family over a dinner table is horrifying. The end is a violent and bloody. It's the Tarantino you've been waiting for.
3. Avatar: Everyone should know about this film by now, and in years to come surely it will be remembered like the original Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Indian Jones or Lord of the Rings films. Finally this generation has a film to call it's own. Technically this is the biggest breakthrough in cinema since the Matrix. Despite my lukewarm review last week, this film is something you'll be thinking about for weeks to come if you enjoyed it in it's full IMAX glory.
2. Michael Jackson's This Is It: January 16th 2010 I was to see Michael Jackson in concert for the first time, sadly it was not to be. This diary of his last few days is spectacular. It's evident as far as showmanship goes, these concerts would blow Madonna, U2, Coldplay, et al out of the water. If you want to hang with the King of Pop in massive arena concerts, this is a lesson in how to do it. The budget was enormous, for a simple Earth Song performance he had hired out the Avatar creators and the results are amazing. Not only do we get an insight on the greatest show that never was, we actually get to see an intimate picture of Jackson the workaholic and boss, something he did not reveal to the public and we get a rare glimpse because of his untimely demise. Love him or hate him, he was the greatest of all time, and Paul McCartney wishes he could lace the boots of this legend.
George Carlin sums it up best.
1. Up: This is really the film Pixar has been trying to make since they started. Since the original Toy Story, I feel like they have been attempting to make a film that can live up to something Hayao Miyazaki would be proud of. Most of their efforts have been very good (with the exception of the sub-par Cars) and Wall-E came especially close. This film can be enjoyed by someone even as heartless as me! The opening act of the film introduces us to childhood friends Carl and Ellie, who fall in love, get married, buy a house, dream of adventuring in South America, grow old together....and then before their wishes come true Ellie dies. After wallowing in his misery, and being threatened with eviction from his home, Carl decides to literally fly his own house to Paradise Falls, where Ellie had longed to go. Without revealing too much, we find out how Carl comes to terms with the loss of his wife by making new relationships outside the crutch Ellie gave him. All of this in an American animated kids film? It really is something special.
2009 was not a vintage year, but the best films were ones that I will remember for many years to come, all worth repeat viewings. Hopefully 2010 will be good enough for me to write a Top 10!
Unlike most years, 2009's top 5 only took a few minutes to work out. The quality of films was poor last year, and I went to the cinema less regularly so I missed some films that are meant to be good. Also the UK usually gets the Oscar hyped films later than the US, so we have yet to see Up In the Air, Precious, Lovely Bones, Invictus, and others.
So here is my list;
5. Star Trek: I don't like Star Trek, Star Wars was always my thing as a kid. The nine year old version of me might just change his mind if JJ Abrams can make a few more of these films! This film is just fun, not much more to say really. I really hope this film doesn't get overlooked, because if it wasn't for Avatar this would be the best Sci-Fi film in years.
4. Inglourious Basterds: Tarantino's critics have really been coming out of the woodwork in the last few years, despite the merits of his last few films none of them have appealed as widely as Pulp Fiction. The slight missteps result in this near masterpiece. The opening scene is probably the most tense scene I have ever sat through in the cinema. The acting is engrossing. The scene between lead character Shosanna unwittingly coming into contact with the Nazi who killed her family over a dinner table is horrifying. The end is a violent and bloody. It's the Tarantino you've been waiting for.
3. Avatar: Everyone should know about this film by now, and in years to come surely it will be remembered like the original Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Indian Jones or Lord of the Rings films. Finally this generation has a film to call it's own. Technically this is the biggest breakthrough in cinema since the Matrix. Despite my lukewarm review last week, this film is something you'll be thinking about for weeks to come if you enjoyed it in it's full IMAX glory.
2. Michael Jackson's This Is It: January 16th 2010 I was to see Michael Jackson in concert for the first time, sadly it was not to be. This diary of his last few days is spectacular. It's evident as far as showmanship goes, these concerts would blow Madonna, U2, Coldplay, et al out of the water. If you want to hang with the King of Pop in massive arena concerts, this is a lesson in how to do it. The budget was enormous, for a simple Earth Song performance he had hired out the Avatar creators and the results are amazing. Not only do we get an insight on the greatest show that never was, we actually get to see an intimate picture of Jackson the workaholic and boss, something he did not reveal to the public and we get a rare glimpse because of his untimely demise. Love him or hate him, he was the greatest of all time, and Paul McCartney wishes he could lace the boots of this legend.
George Carlin sums it up best.
1. Up: This is really the film Pixar has been trying to make since they started. Since the original Toy Story, I feel like they have been attempting to make a film that can live up to something Hayao Miyazaki would be proud of. Most of their efforts have been very good (with the exception of the sub-par Cars) and Wall-E came especially close. This film can be enjoyed by someone even as heartless as me! The opening act of the film introduces us to childhood friends Carl and Ellie, who fall in love, get married, buy a house, dream of adventuring in South America, grow old together....and then before their wishes come true Ellie dies. After wallowing in his misery, and being threatened with eviction from his home, Carl decides to literally fly his own house to Paradise Falls, where Ellie had longed to go. Without revealing too much, we find out how Carl comes to terms with the loss of his wife by making new relationships outside the crutch Ellie gave him. All of this in an American animated kids film? It really is something special.
2009 was not a vintage year, but the best films were ones that I will remember for many years to come, all worth repeat viewings. Hopefully 2010 will be good enough for me to write a Top 10!
Triumph badges
I know some friends with hundreds of triumph badges unused, which is a real waste as you could make some nice gold of them at the very least. There does seem to be a huge build up of these with the dungeon finder and almost nothing to spend them on. For me it's either spend them on gems to sell or buy more Bind-on-Account gear. I'm most likely going to have to move my mage to my second account, so I plan to take at least BOA shoulders and chest of the Cloth, Plate and Leather variety. So far I've only bought the plate, and will use the leather and cloth I have on my first account to transfer over. Shouldn't really take me long to re-buy cloth and leather on the original account though, obviously I'll go for the cloth first because at least every class can equip them. After I've completed getting all my alts to 60, it might be a good idea to have the characters spread between the two accounts I plan to keep depending on armour type, although this could be an expensive solution. I already have to move 6 characters! Blizzard is making great money off all the extra features it's added over the last year.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Multi-box update
My four rogues are now Level 31, and have a long slog to get to 40 by continuous runs of Scarlet Monastery Cathedral. I'm happy that I can keep them in one location for the next 9 levels, but with work starting soon I must make some progress soon. After I get to the level 40 milestone, the real trouble begins. Multiple runs of Zul'Furak will be agony, and things don't get too much easier after that either. I'm happy with the progress so far though, but overall the day I get to 60 will be a relief. Boosting with a rogue is not brilliant, when I previously did recruit-a-friend, my guildie was using his druid which made life easier. Soon I will start having to stop for food breaks in the instances I attempt, I'd rather pay someone for the boosts really.
End of year targets
My end of year target before patch 3.3 was to hit 50K gold by years close, I smashed this and topped off with 67K gold. This puts me right on target for 75K I aim to have by the expansion. Realistically I should change this one hundred thousand, but the motivation really is not there. Hopefully this gold should see me through the early months of the expansion, I need it to;
- Fund powerleveling six professions.
- Fund epic BOE and Crafted epics on my main (including any darkmoon trinket).
- Fund any gold sinks Blizzard put in (think Cold weather flying, Tundra Mammoth, Chopper).
- Possibly fund a realm first (got one in Wrath).
If I look at it in that sense I needed about 50K for Wrath (Tundra, Chopper, Darkmoon Trinket, Kirin'Tor ring being the main ones). Maybe 75,000 is not enough for Cataclysm, but it should make my life relatively easy. For many people it is an insane amount of money already, but I want to enjoy the new expansion without any of the artificial barriers Blizzard put in place to slow down our progress (i.e. pay for another months WoW) which ultimately do tarnish the experience for me; I wan't the best stuff and I want it now! 150K is a perfect amount.
That said Happy New Year to all the cool people in my guild, friends and anyone who might be reading this.
- Fund powerleveling six professions.
- Fund epic BOE and Crafted epics on my main (including any darkmoon trinket).
- Fund any gold sinks Blizzard put in (think Cold weather flying, Tundra Mammoth, Chopper).
- Possibly fund a realm first (got one in Wrath).
If I look at it in that sense I needed about 50K for Wrath (Tundra, Chopper, Darkmoon Trinket, Kirin'Tor ring being the main ones). Maybe 75,000 is not enough for Cataclysm, but it should make my life relatively easy. For many people it is an insane amount of money already, but I want to enjoy the new expansion without any of the artificial barriers Blizzard put in place to slow down our progress (i.e. pay for another months WoW) which ultimately do tarnish the experience for me; I wan't the best stuff and I want it now! 150K is a perfect amount.
That said Happy New Year to all the cool people in my guild, friends and anyone who might be reading this.
DKP is a necessary evil
Need-Greed loot systems in any progress guild is a total disaster of a situation, and is bound to cause problems. DKP is by no means perfect, but then what loot system is? What DKP does encourage is attendance, and help gear dedicated members. But then it is in the officers best interest to keep a system which rewards them; all officers are healers/tanks leaving the DPS rank and file members scrapping it out. Drama following is inevitable.
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