My thoughts on the Press-released Cataclysm information.

This post is going to be a general kind of thing and not very related to Paladins, but I feel the need to QQ/Cheer! For those of you who have not been paying attention, here's some copy pasta for you, direct from MMO-Champion.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Path of the Titans is gone
The whole Path of the Titans idea has been removed from the game. It will no longer rely on Archeology or on any kind of PvE/PvP progression and instead Blizzard will just introduce a new type of glyphs: Medium Glyphs.

Medium Glyphs will add a "fun factor" to abilities, and it wouldn't be surprising to see something similar to the Fortification or Breakthrough glyphs first previewed during Blizzcon 2009. (But probably not these exact glyphs, a lot of stuff happened since last year)

Guild Talents are gone
The guild talents are gone and your guild now gets extra bonuses depending on its level. There are 25 levels and each level will automatically reward with more cool stuff. The leveling process remains unchanged and your guild will gain experience through PvP, Dungeon and Raid progression, questing, etc ...

Guild currency has also been removed and rewards will just be "unlocked" after you reach a specific level or complete a guild achievement. Once a reward is unlocked, members will be able to purchase it with gold. Some of the rewards include guild tabards, mounts, heirlooms, and it looks like you will finally be able to have a guild tabard on your mount. (Just like the Argent Tournament banners)

New members of a guild won't be able to buy everything directly, they will have to contribute to the progression of the guild before they can access the top rewards. Each time a player helps towards the leveling he will gain reputation with the guild, the best rewards will require players to be exalted with their guild before they can buy it.

Archeology will be less important
With the Path of the Titans gone, Archeology will become a "true" secondary profession and you won't really have to level it anymore. However it will still be used to let you get cosmetic/optional items, get more information on the game's lore, and ultimately it looks like we can expect rewards similar to fishing. (Nothing mandatory, but you'll be happy when you actually find something)

Information gathered from other sites:

• You will find two types of items: Common Artifacts will give you more information on the lore of a race, and might be used in some kind of collection game. Rare items will give you usable items, most of them will be cosmetic but some of them will have actual effects. (Details on Wowhead)

Raids & Dungeons Split
Raid leaders will be able to split an ongoing 25-man raid into up to three 10-man raids. Those 10-man raids will be able to continue from that point on, with bosses already down.

So far it looks like it won't be possible to merge 10-man raids into 25-man raids, for obvious reasons.

Information gathered from other sites:

• Raid IDs should be much more flexible. You will be able to join any raid as long as it doesn't have any bosses up that you have already killed. (Details on Wowhead)
• There will be more Algalon-style encounters—ultra-hard optional bosses for hardcore players only. (Details on Wowhead)

Rated Battlegrounds
Rated battlegrounds will be available for pre-mades of 10, 15 and 25-player sizes. The amount of Conquest points rewarded will be capped so that players who enjoy both arenas and rated battlegrounds don't feel they have to prioritize one over the other.

Information gathered from other sites:

• The classic Honor titles will be coming back and rewarded to the top teams each season. (Details on WoR)
• The "Gladiator" equivalent teams will also receive epic ground mounts. Ground mounts because they want to reward something you can ride in the battleground and be proud of / show off. (Details on WoR)

Grim Batol Raid
The Grim Batol raid instance will be called the Bastion of Twilight, and you get to fight Cho'gall as the end boss! If you manage to defeat him in Heroic Mode, an "horrific secret will be revealed when he dies".

Information gathered from other sites:

• This is an entry-level raid, just like Naxxramas in WotLK. (Details on Wowhead)
• It will feature 5 bosses, and an Algalon-style optional and ultra-hard boss. (The "horrific" secret?) (Details on Wowhead)

Skywall Raid
As expected, Al'akir will be the end boss of the Skywall raid instance.

Information gathered from other sites:

• Bosses will include a djinn, a storm dragon, and a lesser elemental lord. (Details on Wowhead)
• You will be able to use regular flying mounts to fly from platform to platform. (Details on Wowhead)
• It looks really good. Really. (Details on Wowhead)

Deepholm
Princess Therazane (yes, that's her) will be a questgiver in Deepholm, in a similar experience to the Sons of Hodir's questline in Storm Peaks.

Information gathered from other sites:

• The Ogrim's Hammer has crashed in the zone and the Skybreaker is still in the air. One of the questline will require you to find out what happened. (Details on Wowhead)

Heroic Deadmines / Shadowfang Keep
Heroic versions of classic instances might not be ready for the release of Cataclysm and will be shipped in content patch instead.

Old world changes
There are a more details on old world changes, especially capital cities.

Information gathered from other sites:

• Stormwind has been completely redesigned to accomodate flying mounts. The Park of Stormwind has been destroyed by Deathwing and the Dwarven District now hosts a Bank and an Auction House. (Details on Wowhead)
• Orgrimmar has been redesigned as well: Garrosh is the new Warchief and is located in the center of Orgrimmar, not in the Valley of Wisdom. Goblins have their own area, the Valley of Wisdom becomes a Tauren district, and there is now a back gate leading directly into Azshara. (Details on Wowhead)

Miscellaneous Changes/Information

• Wrath of the Lich King had 1000 Quests, Cataclysm has over 3000.
• The current heirlooms will stop growing after level 80. There will be a whole new crop of heirlooms for Cataclysm. Goblins and Worgen will be able to start using heirlooms immediately at launch. (Details on Wowhead)

Alright. Let's start from the top...


Path of the Titans is GONE?! That sounded goddamned epic, and it's a real shame for it to have just disappeared like that. I suppose it depends just what exactly these medium glyphs will be though, but still, the whole Archaeology/PotT thing sounded like it was going to add some real interactive customization to the game, and not just "Hey! You've gained a level. Here's a talent point."

To me it sounds like they just got lazy and caved in under the weight of it all and how immense it is what they're trying to achieve in Cataclysm. Maybe we'll see PotT return in the next expansion, but for now, It's sad to have lost it.

The change regarding Archaeology though sounds quite nice, depending on just what exactly Archaeology will entail. If it's a grind-fest much like Fishing is now, I suspect a fair amount of people won't level it, but it sounds like they want the rewards to be more cosmetic, which sounds dynamite for RPers. Thanks, if so, Blizzard! Not exactly what we wanted but these little things are nice.

Guild Talents was nice, when I first heard it. It sounded like it would add some real customization around what your guild is based on, whether it be a PvP, PvE, RP, or just a social/levelling guild, but sadly it is now no more and by the sounds of it, all guilds will be recieving the same rewards depending on their level. I am glad new members wont be able to just leech off of these rewards, though, and will have to participate in the guild and earn those rewards themselves.

The Raiding changes sound great, except for the 25 man splitting into 10 man change, which I thought they were going to stop people doing. It's frustrating that they refuse to make two seperate paths for guilds, 25 man strict and 10 man strict. Instead, 25 man raiding teams will STILL have an advantage over 10 man raiding teams, simply because they earn loot faster via 10 mans. That's fine if they stick to 25 mans, but then going into 10 mans with all their shiny new loot? Bah, I say. Bah!

Rated Battlegrounds sound... completely, and utterly awesome. I haven't got much to say on the subject, but I can't wait to become Grand Marshall Arannia/High Warlord Sariella. :D

The changes regarding all the Raiding and Dungeon instances sound fine. It's disappointing that Heroic Shadowfang Keep and Heroic The Deadmines won't be available straight away but they haven't abandoned them (yet), which is exciting and I am somewhat thankful for.

I will be commenting on the Paladin related info (if there is any) if it's released shortly, and I look forward to them with anticipation.

New Look

Site has a new look. I wanted to add some more color to it without getting rid of the pinkness. I love pink!

Not quite sure about the layout. It may change. The background, too.

EDIT: The banner is uncentered now. :(

EDIT2: Banner fixed. :D

More ICC10, and Cleavage.

Since my initial ICC10 run with my previous guild, Assurance, I've now found myself in a position within the realms best raiding guild (Not mega awesome on a world scale or anything but it's just an RP realm, what do you expect?) . Only as a social, mind you, but I figured I'd get more raiding action there, than in a social raiding guild. I AM still raiding with Assurance, however, in their 10 man ICC, and since last time, we've cleared Dreamwalker (awesome fun fight), Blood Prince Council, and Blood Queen Lana'thel. No notable drops since Solace, though I did get some cleavage-mail, as shown below!

 Boobies!

Chestguard of Siphoned Spirits is the item in question, gemmed with the usual (*3 +20 Intellect Gems) and enchanted with Powerful Stats. I THINK it's a moderate upgrade over my previous item, Ensorcelled Nerubian Breastplate, though the mp5 hit worries me and I'm not sure if the additional haste is worth it. (Arannia is currently sitting at 649 haste rating with her new chest.) If anyone could maybe gimme the thumbs up or some insight into why it's better/worse, I'd appriciate it, stat balancing was never my strong point, all I know is "STACK INTELLECT", and since the intellect upgrade is so minor... mmm.

That about wraps it up. Still trying to replace my goddamned Protective Barricade of the Light with Protector of Frigid Souls, and I'm begining to feel dirty running normal Pit of Saron over and over again despite the rest of my gear. Ergh.

Comments, suggestions, thoughts, troll-attempts and cash may be sent to

blonde and dangerous at live dot ie

Or, of course, posted in the comments section under this post.

Thanks for reading!

New gear, ICC10 Raid, and Solace!

Hello!

So, a few days have passed, and Arannia has progressed a little. Other than the legplates she recieved in my PuG, since, she has also obtained these Sister's Handshrouds, and her first piece of tier 10.1 in her guilds ICC10!

The gloves I'm not completely thrilled about. They were an upgrade over Tier 9 but they're still itemized terribly. Whilst Holy Paladins arguably gain the most usage from Hit rating, it's still not a very powerful stat for us at ALL. Thankfully it comes complete with Haste, which is delicious, but I can see it being replaced very quickly by even Crit+mp5 gloves of an equal ilevel, potentially, depending on the balance of Mp5 VS Crit.

Tier 10 Shoulders however I am extremely pleased by. They're not itemized great but they're 1 of 2 pieces I aim to get to obtain my 2 set bonus (which is ridiculously overpowered, by the way). I've already got the setbonus on Sariella so I'm skilled in the usage of it.

The raid itself did quite nicely and I felt I did extremely well in comparison to the rest of the group, easily fitting in nicely and fufilling my role as best I could. We progressed nicely and got as far as Professor Putricide with no wipes, and wiped only twice on PP before downing him, something I am both pleased and disappointed by, as I would have liked to learn that fight a bit better, but no doubt I'll recieve another opportunity next week!

The next part of ICC10 is schedueled for tomorrow - I do not intend to attend. I try to avoid raiding on weekends where possible, as I like to kick my feet up and relax, or even occasionally do some casual, easymode PuGs.

...speaking of which...

Solace of the Defeated. Oh yeah, it's mine. I did not make the same mistake as I did on Sariella this time! I DID lose the roll to a holy priest, but luckily for me the fool already had one stored in his bank! And as it was unique... went to me as the second highest roll. :-D

It's a sick trinket. Fully stacked it provides 128 Mp5 (and it's easy to stack. I combat-buff Greater Blessings on the most represented class if it drops off to get it back up ASAP) AND 150 spell power. These two buffs put together outweigh the intellect + equip bonus I would obtain from ALMOST any other trinket, but it'll likely be my best-in-slot in terms of what I'll likely be able to do by the end of Wrath, and it'll never, ever be replaced. I am using it alongside Talisman of Resurgance at the moment, another trinket I never intend to replace with anything else I'll be able to obtain.

That about wraps it up for now! Comments, suggestions, thoughts, troll-attempts and cash may be sent to

blonde and dangerous at live dot ie

Thanks for reading!

Bonus screenshot, by the way, since this post lacks in the visual department:

Gosh, I love my overpowered PC.

Arannia - Very Currently.

Hai! Just a brief update, I did an ICC10 sooner than I'd expected. I PuGGed it, infact!

I had originally joined a PuG, and spent a while waiting for people to come join us. Unfortunately, the raid leader turned out to be an asshole (Linked because naming and shaming is allowed here. \o/)

He AFKed just as the raid entered the instance, intending to slyly skip the Marrowgar trash. I cottoned on fairly quickly.


[R][80:Arannia]: Yeah, uh, guys? Raid leader is playing us for fools and expects us to clear the trash for him. I say we ditch his lazy ass and you all whisper me after quitting raid.

So, there I was, raid leading this random bunch. I did have to make a bit of a raid composition change, as we had ONE RANGED DPS. I facepalmed upon realization of this. We also had a Prot Paladin who seemed to completely forget the fact that Paladins have had Single-Target-10-Minute-Blessings since at MOST level 20.

Anyway, raid went well and I got myself some Corrupted Silverplate Leggings off of Marrowgar too! (Enchanted with Sapphire Spellthread and gemmed for Cheese.)

I've Gone and Made a Mess. (10 player) and Storming the Citadel (10 player) achieved!

Arannia - Currently

So, yes! Arannia, my current "most played" Paladin, as of a week ago. She started off in mostly blues and greens but already I've obtained some nice items, the best of which were Bind on Equip and rather expensive considering I didn't have any decent money grinding outlets, like dailies as Retribution, or Mining and such.

The Bind on Equip items she has are what I consider to be the Best in Slot pieces pre-raiding. (I haven't done ANY raiding as of yet. Well, one fail TotC25 PuG that I called off at Anub'arak, and I didn't obtain any gear from it.)

Ensorcelled Nerubian Breastplate enchanted with Powerful Stats and gemmed with three Brilliant King's Amber. (I have considered changing that enchant to Exceptional Mana or Greater Mana Restoration as these are what I deem to be the best enchants for geared Paladins, however, I am neither geared, and the extra 11 stamina (buffed) and minimal amount of armor just about tip Powerful Stats over.)

It's also mail. Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? Yeah. For all you non-Paladins out there who don't share my pain, most of the plate gear for holydins, especially in Ulduar and ICC, is complete junk. Complete. And utter. Junk. Haste and Mp5 items are king, and there are very few pieces of plate with these stats in the correct allocation. So Arannia is going to be sporting a lot of mail in the weeks to come. Drops permitting and fingers crossed, at least.

The other two pieces of Bind on Equip gear I've found for her, thankfully ARE plate, and very nice pieces at that.

Sunforged Bracers, Enchanted with Exceptional Intellect and gemmed with a Brilliant Dragon's Eye (Arannia here very recently just hit the level of jewelcrafting required to make these!)

Plate Girdle of Righteousness, with a Belt Buckle, gemmed with three Brilliant King's Ambers.

The rest of her BoP gear was mostly obtained from the new 5 man instances, or purchased with Emblem of Triumphs.

Her spec is currently indistinguishable from Sariella's PvE spec, Shock, Horror, and will probably stay like that depending on the requirements of my guild.

I am currently also building a Protection Off-spec, if only to make late night instance queues less long, and potentially to help out the guild in certain situations, though I doubt they'll ever require their soon-to-be-best-healer (Hurr) to respec to a tank spec they'll never be that comfortable with (I've tanked before. I was good at it, but... I just hated it. Didn't feel comfortable at all.).

Pieces of gear I intend to obtain within the next few weeks, gold permitting, are Earthsoul Boots, and Leggings of Woven Death. Puresteel Legplates are also an option as I am a miner and can farm the majority of the materials, however, the stat allocation (leaning more toward critical strike rating than haste) is not as good.

Thanks for reading! First ICC raid coming up tomorrow, more news about that then.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions can be posted here, or emailed to me if you prefer at

blonde and dangerous at live dot ie

For the Light!

Arannia and Sariella- A Brief History

I've decided to skip the intended RP posts as I believe RP is beyond the ultimate scope and intention of this blog. For anyone thoroughly interested in at least Sariella's RP, I'll redirect you here (but y'all come back now!).

I will be referencing a lot of RP IN this post but I won't be going into great detail about any of it, more just about how it influenced me today, and why it lead to the creation of Sariella, blah blah blah.

Instead, we're jumping ahead to cover my other other paladin. Arannia!

Arannia was the original Paladin, the brood mother if you will of my state of addiction and relative masochism for holy paladins. Originally I had absolutely no intention for her other than "play the fucking game and don't be like all these raiding losers".

First, I spent a great, great deal of my time in Goldshire. I actually miss these days. They were sheer bliss. Ignorance and such. Back when I could roleplay absolutely anything and no one (I also role played with) had a bad word to say about it. Of course, these people were the multiple bastard son's and daughters of Jaina/Sylvanas/Kael'thas's more sluttier, demon-fiddling days (You know. Those days.). And yes, I totally did just call Kael'thas a slut.

I eventually moved on from Goldshire and found a home with a guild called Sanctus Justicia. This lasted a fair long time, and I had room to develop from a demon-impregnated, half-angel (Yes, seriously) to a more realistic, more capable roleplayer. If still rubbish.

It was during my stay in Sanctus Justicia that I met my old friends Alashka and Karthan, who I've had about the best out-of-guild roleplaying (and OOC) fun with to this day. We all levelled together from the tender levels of 30 something to late 60 something. Karthan then mysteriously vanished, but Alashka and Arannia were to remain good friends for quite some time.

I also joined an AWESOME guild called The Scarlet Flame. These guys simply rocked the house. They had to be the best bunch of RPers this side of the Red/Blue divide on The Sha'tar, and will never be trumped for the things they did for it's members. I devote a lot of love to these guys, but sadly, Age of Conan killed us upon it's release, so we disbanded, more or less. :-(

Then, upon dinging level 70, I discovered the Shockadin. It was now I was starting to discover PvE and PvP, and whilst RP still took a primary amount of time of my WoW time, I adored my spec, and the play style. I took it for granted too, something I am extremely sorry for, today.

When Wrath hit, I was still very much in love with RP. So much so that I started considering branching out, looking at things across the border, at Horde. When the opportunity to roleplay a young trainee Blood Knight under her Master Soraya Dwin'urdrenn arose, I jumped at the opportunity. Sariella was born.

I'd intended to keep RPing on Arannia. I didn't. She was more or less abandoned as soon was I got her to 80 and decided to respec Retribution. (Ugh.)

Instead, I'd levelled Sariella. By the time she'd gotten to 80, she already had better gear than Arannia, so I'd decided Sariella was my new main. I started raiding almost as soon as possible, briefly before patch 3.1 hit, so I was somewhat into Naxxramas at that point when Ulduar landed. Then I got hardcore and stopped RPing for a bit. D'oh!

These days, Sariella is now in an RP guild, Dagger and Totem, and Arannia is now in a raiding guild! As of uh... yesterday. She'll probably be the character I primarily reference from now on in terms of PvE discussion,

As you can probably tell in the provided pic, her gear is pretty baseline, which I actually quite like for now. It gives me something to shoot for. First ICC on her coming on Wednesday, I'll be sure to post how it went here!

Thoughts, comments, suggestions can be posted here, or emailed to me if you prefer at

blonde and dangerous at live dot ie

...

What? Don't look at me like that.

EDIT: Oh. Congratulate me for [The Argent Champion] by the way. \o/