Sideshow & Syrana

A few days ago I was checking auctions on Caponikus.  I saw an interesting ad for enchants and thought it was a joke at first.  Well, it still may have been a joke, but it showed up a few more times in trade.  I figured I might as well screenshot it and share it with all of you:

As a reward for reaching 200 posts, I’m going to follow Capwn’s example:

Ok, so I’m not really goin’ out fishin’, but I am going to enjoy a little R&R.

Lay Your Weary Head to Rest

At the beginning of January I wrote a post speculating on the State of the Warlock and feeling as though I was headed for the endangered species list.  Unfortunately, it looks like I am on there.  I can handle that… being special… just as long as we don’t become extinct.  I really, really love playing my warlock!

At the end of said post (if you didn’t catch it, you can go skim it if you want quick), I questioned if there was a decline and why this was so.  Some people claim warlocks are broken, nerfed, too complicated, too easy, etc. etc.  I’d also made a decision to revisit this topic once I hit 80 to see if there has been any change or not.  It has been 2 months since that other post, so let’s take a look, shall we?

Now, I apologize that I had not taken screenies of the stats at that time, so I will copy over the text with the population information for easier comparison:

Overall Eitrigg (Horde and Alliance) “warlocks and rogues are tied at 8%.”

Eitrigg Horde side, warlocks are considered to be tied for 3rd of the most represented classes.  Huh.  Death Knights still top the charts at a whopping 19%.  Hunters are second with 15%, but warlocks are tied with paladins at 10%.

So what do the numbers look like now?

7 7 7 - The new number of evil?

I got these figures from Warcraft Realms.  Granted, the Eitrigg census warns that there has been a lack of Horde side data uploaded in the past 2 weeks, but all three ways I looked at it showed warlocks steady at 7% among level 80s.  Now, don’t get too excited just yet.  When I wrote the last post, I was looking at levels 10-80.  Although, when I bring up 10-80 the numbers are not much different.  Warcraft Realms show 8% over all servers, both factions; 8% for Eitrigg, both factions; and 9% Eitrigg Horde.

What this is showing is that there aren’t a lot of warlocks being  leveled to 80 since the representation drops at 80.  This is sad to see.  Very sad indeed.  It can’t be because we suck, can it?

Don’t You Cry No More

Guildie: Why dps as a clothie if you can wear plate?

Syrana: I’m eviler in cloth.  No one expects the squishies.

There have certainly been speculations about warlock DPS.  And we have heard that Blizz is working on us (and those darn soul shards!).  We also know that Blizz intends for pure DPS classes, like ourselves, to be rockin’ the top of the meters.  Now, I know meters aren’t everything.  I also know that putting up numbers can be heavily influenced by who is in your group.  But, my first attempt at a heroic (with others that are geared for it while I know I was NOT) less than 24 hours after dinging 80 gave me some hope because I know there is room for improvement with gear and enchants/gems.  Now, for this chart, please keep in mind that we did not clear Heroic Violet Hold.  We got stuck with the 2 hardest bosses spawning and decided to call it after wiping on the 2nd boss instead of going through the first one ALL over again.  So, considering the running and stuff I had to do on the first boss…

Not too bad, amirite?  This was before the upgrades I have now and NO enchants.  I had very little hit at that point.  Since that attempt, I’ve crafted Ebonweave Gloves and Wintry Hat of Doom.  (I’d link all that, but you can see ‘em on the right by hoverin’ over my armory stuff if ya want.)  I also got a new belt from the Wyrmrest and a new cloak from the Kirin Tor.  I’ve also gotten a few enchants.  I mean, honestly, I didn’t go in there with all level 80 equivalent gear on.  Yes, basically all blues – but quest blues and crafted blues…. and not much of anything from instances.

Are warlocks gear dependent for top numbers? Uhh, yes.  And a good rotation makes a difference too.  There’s some great info over at the Warlock’s Den on gearing for hit cap in Wrath.  The other raiding gear guides don’t appear to be updated for Wrath, unless I was looking in the wrong place.  But the hit guide should definitely be helpful for me, at least!

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

Just wanted to give a couple updates!  I’ve tackled a few more zones in Northrend, so we’re on the way to finishing those quest achievements up and getting closer and closer to “the Seeker.” I also hit revered with the Oracles and was called a savior or somesuch.  I bought my first egg and am waiting anxiously for it to hatch.  I’m close to maxing out tailoring and getting closer and closer on alchemy.  (Thank you, Noc, for the herbs!)

Let’s see…oh! I also hit honored with Sons of Hodir and despise that stupid spear.  I want to stab the developer of that daily quest in the eyes with that spear.  I read up on it and followed the suggested strategy and still seem to have issues with my grip before getting to Phase 2.  I can get the bastard down to 30ish%…. grrrr.

I think that was all I wanted to update on.  If not, I’ll make another post!

Oh! Thank you, Fin, for helping me to farm eternal shadows in Wintergrasp.  I have enough for my ebonweave robe…now to wait patiently to utilize mine and others’ cloth cooldowns!  It was also my first time really going into Wintergrasp to battle.  Unfortunately, I showed up shortly before the Alliance finished bashin’ the door in.

Now I’m done!

Ah yes, it’s that time of year again: Lunar Festival.  The time to honor the ancestors of Azeroth.  Be it friend or foe, these Elders deserve some respect at least once a year.  And boy do they dish out some good rep!  Thank you, Elders, for helping me work towards my 2009 gaming goals!

To all the moons I've loved before...

So, I’m trying to knock out some of these Lunar Festival achievements.  But, sadly, I will not be able to complete them all for the Elder title until next year.  What?! Yeah, I know.  Well, since I’m still taking my sweet time leveling to 80 it is neigh impossible for me to visit every Elder, (all 75 of them! Yipes!) since one of them likes to hang out with a heroic-only boss up nort’ der hey.

Fire hazard!

I easily completed the fireworks and firecrackers achievements on Saturday.  For some reason though, the first round of firecrackers didn’t count.  So, like any good pyro, I bought another stack to set off right away!

Syrana did acquire the pink dress last year as well as the dress tailoring pattern.  She still had 10 coins in her bank, so I promptly headed to Moonglade via the exclusive teleporting invitation (oh, anyone can get one? Bah!) to purchase the green dress and the pants suit pattern.

Elder Tour 2009

I’m not sure when or how Blizz started tracking what Elders Syrana visited last year, but about half of the Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms Elders were already checked off.  Oddly enough, Syrana only had the 10 Coins achievement.  Now, if I had 10 in the bank, bought a dress last year for 5 and the pattern for 5, that would be a total of 20.  But, the progress for the 25 Coins only said “10.”  Bah.

Sideshow, on the other hand, had some coins in his bank, but none of the Elders were checked off in his achievements section.  No sweat, since I could visit them again for another coin and more rep!  Sideshow, Kelinarra, and I started the Kalimdor tour to get some of them, fetching me the 25 Coins achievement.  We also helped Kelinarra (at level 43 now, yay!) get some flight paths in Feralas, Tanaris, Un’Goro, and Silithus while on our tour.  (And I’m truly, truly sorry that the big dino got you.)  We have more to go, but this festival lasts until February 12th, so I’m not going to rush it.  If you are looking for a handy-dandy Elder guide, check this one out at wowwiki.

Honoring Thy Alt

I’ve been working on Alynedarra, my hunter, a bit more recently.  She made it to level 75 last night! I also decided to start her Elder tour.  Now, Aly has a purple dress from 2 years ago.  She also still had 3 coins in her bank.  None of the Elders were marked off in her achievements list.  I honestly cannot remember if I played her during Lunar Festival last year.  I’m thinking I was too focused on Syrana at that time and Aly was left on the wayside.

Fishing Goal Update

You know… I think Syrana just might become an expert fisherwoman by the end of the year!  Syrana has caught over 100 Fish now and has broken 100 fishing skill!

What a day, huh? Two patches today!  That’s right, I said two: WoW and the U.S. Government had some updates for us today.  With both patches come changes:  some we’ll like and some we won’t.  Overall, we can just hope for the best that things will get balanced out.

The Good, The Bad, and The Mustard

I’m not going to go into a real deep discussion about Patch 3.0.8.  Plenty of others have covered this indepth and I don’t want to rehash too much.  I just wanted to comment on a few things.

• Tapping: As an Affliction Warlock, all I can really say is “YAY!”  That’s right, no more stealing my mobs after I DoT them up! (This had occurred again last night.  So glad to be rid of this!)
• Ritual of Summoning: I’m glad I won’t have to use a shard per summon, but really a “meh” change in my opinion.
• Bug fix of a wild mustard plant in Dalaran: I am SOOO glad this has been fixed.  You don’t know how much that mustard in the ground by that rock was driving me insane when doing that cooking daily.
• Alchemy Northrend Discovery cooldown reduced: Good I think, if I can ever get my herbalist alt to catch up.  It sucks no longer having my old herb dealer.
• Fewer bolts of frostweave cloth required per bolt of imbued frostweave: Yay.  Now let’s get that cost per stack to drop a bit, shall we?
• Some neglected creatures in Icecrown have found the contents of their pockets: This one just made me giggle.
• 1 Click Mining: My priest will be thankful.  Her arms are weak.

So that’s really all I have to say about Patch 3.0.8.

But for you RockBand lovers out there – did you enjoy today’s download content (DLC)?  I was quite thrilled to finally see some Godsmack, and can only hope it means more to come!