28 Patches Later

Fun to watch.
But really kinda creepy....
Can't wait to see what happens next.

PUG'd Out

or Bringing Up Number Two

Arggghh. The realms are down for emergency maintenance. Darned lag and arena issues....

That's OK though it gives me a few moments to write a little update on the gang.

Fin has been working hard running PUG heroics, and we all know what a crap shoot that is. My experiences have been pretty positive though and I attribute that to the fact that he is a healer.

Here are some of the drops that he is sporting: Helm of Anomalus, Cape of Seething Steam, Gavel of the Fleshcrafter, Annhyld's Ring, and a Band of Guile.

For crafted epics I have been using Earthgiving Boots, and Earthgiving Legguards, and I am currently gathering materials for one Wispcloak.

Gathering the mats is kinda fun, I am currently working on gathering 100 clams to purchase a Siren's Tear from the Murloc Ahlurglgr in Borean Tundra.

Being a little tired with Pugs I decided it was time to start bringing up my second character. It looks like my Death Knight Bert will be the next to make the jump to Northrend.

Leveling has never been faster. I left Bert at Falcon Watch with about half of the Hellfire Peninsula quests finished. When I was done with Hellfire Bert was almost halfway through level 64 so I went ahead and skipped the Zangarmarsh and Terrokar Forest zones and went right to Nagrand.

The Nesingwary quests, half of the Garador, and Throne of the Elements quests have Bert at level 66. It is time to research DK tanking specs. I'd like to have that picked out by level 70 so I can be fully familiar with how the mechanics work when I try to start running level 80 dungeons.

Well, realms seem to be back up.

I'll keep you updated on my progress. I am also working on a post about how to use the Routes add on. Big Bear Butt mentioned it on his blog (I can't seem to find the post though), and I have fallen in love with it.

More later.

Its like learning a whole new class!

Or: Holy Crap!!! This isn't your average whack-a-mole scenario!

One of my goals is to be able to heal with my druid Fin. I have several reasons for this, the current top three are:

• My guild needs a healer
• I'd like to experience the game from all three class perspectives
  
• I'd like to see the endgame content and it is the most needed class in the game

My big hope is that Blizz will eventually implement the Dual Spec ability allowing Hybrid classes to swap between healing and either dps or tanking without having to go through the trip back to our trainers.

Being a Bear Tank is a lot of fun, but with the mass of Death Knights moving into the endgame I believe that the number of tanks in the game will be increased quite a bit.

So in anticipation of a new healing spec I have been reading up on a few Resto-Blogs, namely Resto4Life, 4 Healz, and Casual WoW.

Holy Crap!!!! If you think BRK throws you a lot of mind bending math and tips you need to read up on HoT Druids.... It is enough to send me back to Vik and Kaylee never to return.

One post did start to get things going for me though, and ironically it was written by Byaghro from Casual WoW as a guest post on 4 Healz.

You can read the full article here.

It is actually an article about the changes to Nourish and Regrowth in WotLK, but there were a few jewels that helped me immensely.

Basically the info that I needed (this is for any other Bear Tanks wanting to try healing) boils down to this lovely paragraph:

The tank is the only person really taking any damage (minor splash damage on the melee dps). Lifebloom is being kept on the tank, as is Rejuvenation. For healing the melee, since it is manageable damage being taken for this scenario, Wild Growth fits the bill perfectly. But wait, the tank is still taking pretty massive damage, and you need to keep some other, strong, direct heal in the mix to make sure they don't get too low.

Ahhhh! A starting point to work from.
That little beauty can be put on a post it and stuck to my screen while I learn how to heal 5 man instances.

Thank you Byahgro, you saved my brain!

Dairy: Finegas

Homesick.
I've just completed a tour through Hellfire Peninsula in the Outlands. It is a harsh place where the very land has been burned red, and the roads are paved with the bones of the Dranaei Broken.

Harsh to say the least. The Horde's primary outpost Thrallmar is pinned between incoming Demons, and the Alliance fort Honor Hold. Much of my questing involved investigating and irradicating corrupted Fel Orcs.

The war from the Old World is still very evident here as both Alliance and Horde members constantly vie over three structures near the middle of the territory. The battles are fierce, though sometime they seem senseless.

All the while I've been dodging a massive mechanical that the locals call the Fel Reaver. The Reavers patrol the land ready to crush any that come in their path. My stealth abilities have been crucial to my success in this land.

In the middle of all this is a giant fortress called Hellfire Citidal. A massive fort that houses several Demon Bosses from a faction called The Shattered Hand.

As a Tauren and a Druid I would rather spend my efforts trying to heal this land and banish these Demons.

In the West of the peninsula I discovered an offshoot of the Cenarian Circle that goes by the name of the Cenarian Expedition. After working with these people a while they entrusted me with a letter to be delivered to their main outpost in a land even further to the west. They called it Zangarmarsh.

If it holds up to it's name it should be a welcome respite from Hellfire Peninsula. I find myself thinking of Thunder Bluff more and more. Was I right to follow my desire to see these Outlands that so many Heroes have been telling stories of?

Time will tell.

I miss the plains.

Fin's First Bling!

Finegas got his first gem-able item this morning. I picked up a Band of the Victor from Battlecryer Blackeye, the Thrallmar pvp reward vendor.

This rare level ring is very easy to come by even at level 60. All you need to do is complete the daily pvp quest Hellfire Fortifications five times.

The quest has you capture the Stadium, Broken Hill, and The Overlook all of which are in the center of Hellfire Peninsula. Each time you complete the quest you will receive 3 Marks of Thrallmar, and the ring will cost you 15 marks.

It is very easy to complete these while doing your normal quests in this zone. Basically you enable your pvp flag and stand inside the structure until your faction's flag appears.

If you get lucky and have some successful pvp encounters while doing this quest you will get your ring even faster.

As a hopeful tanking bear I chose the ring which gives the bonus to my critical strikes and attack power, there is an equivalent ring for casters and healers.

I chose to use a Shifting Nightseye as a gem. This purple gem fits in any blue or red gem slot and splits my bonus to Stamina (for added health), and Agility (+4 for armor, crit rating, attack power, and health). The gem itself set me back 35 gold, but now that Fin is transmuting Arcanite Bars and selling raid level potions I'm not sweating it too much.

Feral Druid Gear List

or Gearing for Karazhan and beyond.

I will be updating this list as I learn more about druid gear. Anything with an asterisk is something I have acquired and am happy to use. Hover on the link to see the WoWHead tooltip. Click on it to be taken to the WoWHead page regarding the items.

The purpose of this post is for me to create a reference list of the important gear for me to acquire on my way to level 70 and on into the endgame. Right now I am using Big Bear Butt Blogger and Kaliban's Loot Lists as my resources, in addition to my own finds as I play.

My goal is to be a good tank in instances.

I am not so worried about gear from Kara or above at this point so this list will be limited to the gear that will allow a druid to start tanking in Kara and/or be ready to move into the expansion.

For professions I will likely go Engineering for the tanking gear, and Alchemy for cash flow.

Idols
* Idol of the Wild - (QR) Level 63 This is listed as a 2 person quest, but I was able to solo it at 62 in bear form with some creative use of rooting and moonfire.

Weapons
*Braxxis Staff of Slumber - (AH) Level 64 Keep an eye on the AH. I got this item at 46% of its normal listed price.

Armor
Stylin' Purple Hat - (AH) Level 69
Deathblow X11 Goggles (Created) - Level 62, Engineering Level 350

Manimal's Cinch - (QR) Level 68, Shadowmoon Valley
Belt of Natural Power - (AH) Level 70

*Necklace of the Deep - (AH) Level 65 Again, I found this item at a significant discount just by looking for it now and then as I was leveling up.

Bogstrok Scale Cloak -(QR) Level 64, Slave Pens
Cloak of the Valient Defender - (QR) Level 67, Netherstorm

*Band of the Victor - (pvp) - Level 60, Hellfire Peninsula
Delicate Eternium Ring - (AH) - Level 70

Trinkets
*Charm of Alacrity - (QR) Level 61, Hellfire Peninsula
*Regal Protectorate - (QR) Level 58, Hellfire Peninsula
Badge of Tenacity - (AH) Level 70
Goblin Rocket Launcher - (Created) Engineering Level 350
Gnomish Poultryizer - (Created) Engineering Level 340

Gems
*Shifting Nightseye, Purple