WoW in 2009

What did you do in the World of Warcraft in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Well probably my biggest thing was becoming a ret paladin.  Before 2009, I was a holy priest.  For me, this has definitely made the game more fun.  I was bored of my priest, I didn’t like the way holy was going (still don’t – my priest is now Disc and loving it) and I needed a change.  Not only is ret more fun, but I am far, far better at it than I was as a priest.  I know where every single part of my utility is and I think I used it all on our Faction Champions 10 hard mode kill last night. It suits my move with the mouse, use abilities with the keyboard style very well.

What was your favorite new place that you visited?
This is a tough one.  If this was the best place in Wrath, I would say Dragonblight.  I just love the look of the zone, especially the snowy parts around Stars Rest.  The music is great there too.  But strictly speaking I went there in 2008.  So for 2009 I would have to say ICC.  Its like Ulduar, with better lore.

What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
I would like to get a raid achievement mount.  Not going to happen in 2009 now, but lets hope 2010 sees one coming my way.  If nothing else I guess I’ll get the Black Drake from OS3D but in particular, I want a Frost Wyrm.  When that big dragon first appeared on our login screens I thought it was the coolest thing ever.  I want one of those for myself.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Helping to set up Dreamstate and get it to 4/5 in TotGC in 3 weeks.  This has just been awesome.  I enjoy every kill we’ve managed because we, as a group, have really earned it.  In no way can I take the credit for this, but I have put some work into getting things running and so a little piece of this is an achievement for me.  Hoping for big things in the new year.  Once we all sober up again.

What was your biggest failure?
Not leaving a guild that made me miserable long before we finally parted ways.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I love the new LFG system.  I have three alts and trying to farm badges on them was a nightmare.  In particular, trying to farm them on Arianrhodd who isn’t in the kind of guild that supports farming.  Now she is seeing a real opportunity to get gear and see other content.  And I am getting the challenge of learning how to play her.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
Trying to please people who just can’t be pleased.  The loot whores and whiners of this world.  Whatever I gave was never enough.  Actually, its taken me over a year to learn that lesson.  Glad I have.

What was your favorite WoW blog or podcast?
Damn this is a hard question.  I fail at picking my absolute favourite.  So I’m going to mention several here.

World of Matticus and World of Snarkcraft – these got me reading blogs in the first place and though I don’t play a priest any more, I still read and enjoy these.

The Suicidal Zebra – though he has stopped posting for a while, this is a great blog and the guy who linked my blog the first time, for which I am eternally grateful.  This, along with Honor’s Code and Divine Plea, make up my trinity of best pala blogs.

Big Bear Butt and The Pink Pigtail Inn – Intelligent blogs written by smart people which constantly offer me insight into the game.

I Like Bubbles, Death Goddess and Aspect of the Hare – fun blogs, which I always look forward to reading.

And I’m sure there are other wonderful blogs I am completely forgetting!  Morrighan fails at decisive answers.

Tell us a valuable WoW lesson you learned in 2009.
To value your friends more than anything else in this game.  Some people might see that as selfish or clannish.  But my friends in this game are what make it fun.  They are why I play.  And especially I want to say a huge thank you to those that formed Dreamstate and included me within it.  You’ve made me a very happy ret paladin.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

ICC Lower Spire (10 and 25 Normal) Crib Sheet

Heres the tactics.  These are designed to be fast tactics that can be read quickly or pinned up by your PC.  There are links to further tactics and videos at the bottom.

Lord Marrowgar

Phase 1

• Tanks hug and keep him facing away from the raid for Sabre Lash. 10 man = 2 tanks, 25 man = 3 tanks.
• DPS and healers stand in a semi circle and stay fairly close to maximise healing and Bone Spike Graveyard dps.
• Ranged take out spikes, with melee helping if needed.
• All move out of Cold Flame (blue stuff).

Phase 2

• Run!
• Spread out along the walls, moving away if he comes towards you.
• You still need to stay out of Cold Flame (blue stuff).
• When this phase ends aggro is reset so don’t use DoTs and stop dps at the end.  Tanks need to grab him fast.

Lady Deathwhisper

Phase 1

• 10 man = 2 tanks, 25 man = 2 tanks.
• Lady Deathwhisper casts Shadow Bolt, Death and Decay and, on 25 man, Dominate Mind (cc players who are mind controlled).
• Adds spawn every 60s.  These are relatively harmless unless Empowered, Transformed or Reanimated.  Any treated add is a priority.
• Cult Adherents have a shield that makes them immune to casters and cast AoE when Empowered.  These are best taken out by physical dps.  Reanimated Adherents are immune to caster damage.
• Cult Fanatics hit hard and should be kited, especially when Deformed.  These are best taken out by caster dps because getting close to them is risky.  Reanimated Fanatics are immune to physical dps.
• Split DPS between adds and the boss to take down the mana shield.  How you do this depends on your raid makeup.  In 10 man we had 2 physical, 2 caster, 2 shield killers.

Phase 2

• Tanks need to switch Lady Deathwhisper when Touch of Insignificance reaches ~3 stacks (depending on your threat/dps).
• Lady Deathwhisper now casts Frostbolt and Frost Volley instead of Shadowbolt.  Interrupt Frostbolt every time.
• Avoid the ghosts.

Icecrown Gunship

• All aboard.  If you aren’t on the ship when it leaves, theres no way of picking you up.
• 10 man = 2 tanks, 25 man = 2 tanks.  One for the invaders, one for the mage team.
• Assign 2 (1o man) or 4 (25 man) Cannoneers.  They should use Cannon Blast to take out the Axethrowers and generate Heat.  Then, BEFORE reaching maximum Heat,  use Incinerating Blast to nuke the enemy ship.  If you reach maximum Heat you overheat and are locked out for 5s.  These people should be in cannons at all times.
• Split dps and healers between the mage team and the invader team.  Melee are best on mages, whilst ranged are best on invaders.
• The mage team should watch for the spawn of a Battle Mage.  This mage will channel a spell that freezes your cannons.  Use jetpacks to fly to the enemy ship (tank first).  The tank and healer manage the enemy commander, whilst the dps kill the mage.  Then immediately fly back and help with invaders.
• The invader team should control the invading mobs.  The only ability of note is that the Sergeants do a whirlwind (Bladestorm).  Stay out of this.  Invaders gain stacking buffs if not killed quickly.
• Don’t get hit by rockets (a big flashing target appears on the ground).

Deathbringer Saurfang

• 10 man = 2 tanks.  25 man = 2 tanks.
• The key to this fight is to minimise the Blood Points Saurfang gains. Having the boss go below 50% before the first Mark is used is a good goal for a kill.
• Tanks split and stand on the corners of the platform to ensure 12 yards between melee and the free tank.
• Ranged spread around the room, 12 yards apart, with healers placed strategically to cover the raid.
• Saurfang gains Blood Points from:
  • Blood Nova – an AoE that hits 1 target plus everyone in a 12y range (2BP per target).  Prefers ranged.
  • Boiling Blood – a 24s DoT (8BP total).
  • Rune of Blood – casts on a tank and gains 1 BP and leaches health for each swing.  Tanks should taunt as soon as its applied to the other tank.
  • Every melee hit by a Blood Beast (1BP).  These spawn every 40s and need to be slowed, kited and killed by ranged.  Tanks and melee should take care not to aggro them.
• When Saurfang reaches 100 BP he casts Mark of the Fallen Champion.  This is a DoT that does significant damage to 1 player and gives Saurfang 1BP per melee attack.  If a player dies with this, Saurfang heals for 5% of his total health.  The debuff survives through death.  This Mark is the built in enrage timer.  In the last 20% of the fight, having a dps off heal is better than anyone dying from this (more important in 10 man).
• Also, Saurfang does a Frenzy every so often.  It is good to Disarm or use other debuffs to reduce his attacks at this point.

Links:

Lord Marrowgar
Wowiki tactics
Tankspot video and tactics

Lady Deathwhisper
Wowiki tactics
Tankspot video and tactics

Icecrown Gunship
Wowiki tactics
Tankspot video and tactics

Deathbring Saurfang
Wowiki tactics
Tankspot video and tactics

The next wing of ICC to be launched will be the Plagueworks containing Festergut, Rotface and Professor Putricide.

Retribution paladins in patch 3.3

So its here. Icecrown Citadel, the Fall of the Lich King. I have to say I have been looking forward to this patch more than any other. I am really enjoying the game right now. My new guild, Dreamstate, has a great atmosphere and has renewed my enthusiasm for raiding. Our raids so far (we are only a week old!) have been smooth. A whole bunch of us got Glory of the Hero this week and several more should get it over the next week or so.

What does a new guild do in patch 3.3?
Lots of things! This is the Dreamstate to do list:

• Start ICC. There’s no reason for us to wait – we’re still busy recruiting to get a last couple of people for hard modes (what we really need right now is a shaman!) but we already have players to raid normal modes. That’s on for tomorrow.
• Today, given the HIGH likelihood of random disconnects, server lag and getting stuck trying to do something that looked perfectly reasonable at the time (using vehicles on a ramp, trying to enter a raid), we’ve gone for TotC 10 farming and the new weekly raid!  A great deal of fun was had by all.
• Help some of our new members get some lootz. We’ve been really lucky and a few old friends have come back to WoW to play with us. They are a bit behind on gear, but that’s something we can easily fix!
• Get everyone Glory of the Hero.  Yes I know this isn’t part of the new patch, but many people helped me and now I shall help them!
• Have fun!

That last part is the most important.

Ok. Enough with the rambling. About that gear list…?
Its in progress. I’ve not forgotten you! I’ll start with a series of slot posts and then update the whole shebang at the end. That way you’ll get something useful sooner rather than later. However, RL is fairly hectic at the moment. I anticipate having the big list completed before the new year, with the individual posts coming between now and then.

I’ll give you a few useful things now, that won’t appear in the later math (based on ‘received wisdom’ from the ret pala community:

• 2P tier 10 = ~3% dps increase. Get it!
• 4P tier 10 = ~5% dps increase and is likely to be part of BiS.
• The new tier 10 libram becomes better than the tier 9 libram after 39 seconds. Given that the tier 9 libram only works with Seal of Vengeance, this leaves a small gap in which the tier 9 libram is still the best option.  Hang onto it and keep it in mind.

So has anything really changed for retribution this patch?

Tier Set Bonus Rotation Juggling
We’re now going to play a new game, called tier set bonus rotation juggling. Current thinking seems to be:

• Anything before you get 2P tier 9:
  Hammer of Wrath > Crusader Strike > Judgement > Divine Storm > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
• Then, once you have 2P tier 9 (fairly easy from today onwards given that Emblems of Triumph will be so freely available) then Judgement moves all the way up the list to your first priority:
  Judgement > Hammer of Wrath > Crusader Strike > Divine Storm > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
• This is now complicated by the addition of tier 10 bonuses, specifically the 2P set bonus that supports Divine Storm. When you start running with 2P tier 9 and 2P tier 10 Divine Storm will move up your list, and you want to go for:
  Judgement > Divine Storm > Hammer of Wrath > Crusader Strike > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
• Then, to keep you on your toes, when you get 4P tier 10, you need to drop Judgement back down the list since you no longer have the extra boost to that from 2P tier 9. However, 4P tier 10 affects Judgements and Seals, so the whole thing gets jiggled around anyway, and you’ll end up with:
  Divine Storm > Crusader Strike > Judgement > Hammer of Wrath > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy Wrath

So count those set bonuses up and choose your best option.

Talent Specs
The other change you might need to think about is your build. Divine Sacrifice has been heavily nerfed. You now have the problem that to get a talent that looks even remotely like the DSac of old, you need to sacrifice DPS points somewhere. What I’ve read says NO! DSac is gone. So your utility choices are now Vindication, Improved Blessing of Might and Aura Mastery. AM is questionable. Since I didn’t have DSac anyway I will not be changing my build at this point. I’ll stick with Vindication and Imp BoM. If I find a fight where AM would help, I’ll spec into that (I had the same approach to DSac).

Dreamstate and too much work

So its been a while since I posted.  I have some stuff in the works but I’ve been majorly busy at work the last few weeks and that won’t end a while, which is putting a dent in the time and energy I have for blogging.  I hope to be posting more often soon, but for now its going to be a bit patchy.

Also, I’m now a brand new guild called Dreamstate.  Its got some very nice and very skilled players in it.  We’re just looking for a couple more people who want to run 10 man hard modes.  Preferably a resto shaman and a priest.  Its a friendly guild full of nice people and we have quite a bit of hard mode experience including several with TotGC 10 already under their belt.  We’re on the Darksorrow EU server.