Up Next – Naxx 10: The Undying

 

Hopefully, they have a nice selection of Conjured Strudels.

I’ll be giving this one a shot in about 4 hours’ time. Some of the folks from <Anathema> and I have assembled a fairly crack team to attempt this; we’ve cherry-picked players to fill specific raid roles, both in terms of what the class brings to the table and the skill of the player. It’s a rough thing to do, because I can say with certainty that there are more than 10 candidates for this – but we’re going to give at a try and see how it all goes, and if we pull it off – rotate those other good players through in the weeks ahead.

  I’m confident, though, that we’ll be able to pull this off. The only fights that really concern me are Kel’Thuzad, Gluth, Grobbulus and that stupid Heigan dance/fight. I suppose that Horsemen could be an issue as well, though it’s been said that only Rivendare needs to die before anyone else in order for the achievement to be complete. We’ll be doing Construct first to see how it goes, so if it gets borked right away – we’ll just try for other achievements instead. The group that we’re using consists of:

• Prot Warrior, Main Tank
• Feral Druid, Offtank / DPS
• Fury Warrior, Melee DPS
• Mutilate Rogue, Melee DPS
• Affliction Warlock, Ranged DPS
• Survival Hunter, Ranged DPS
• Arcane Mage, Ranged DPS
• Elemental Shaman, Ranged DPS / Offheal
• Holy Priest, Healer
• Resto Shaman (me!), Healer

  That given group covers a lot of buffs. Just running down the list, we have Mark of the Wild, Leader of the Pack, Commanding Shout, Blood Pact, Arcane Intellect, Replenishment, Fortitude, Shadow Protection, Spirit (whatever it’s called, my Priest is level 1!) and a double rack of totems to cover nearly everything (Totem of Wrath, Wrath of Air, Windfury, Strength of Earth, Stoneskin, and Double Mana Springs – unless we need poison Cleansing). In combat, the ranged / melee balance is perfect, interrupts are there, and we’ve got almost nothing that will overlap someone else’ buff. 2 Bloodlusts available, plus Guardian Spirit, Healthstones and every kind of Dispel in redundant quantities.

  On top of that, these are all players who are nearly completely geared out with 25 man loot. Each DPS player is pushing 3000 DPS or more, the Healers are running at around 2100 & 2300 spellpower before buffs, and every one of the players has at least 10 full clears of experience, if not more.

  It’s gonna be fun.

  Of course, there’s always the random issues to contend with. This is a lot of pressure, and stress can cause errors. Nobody wants to be the person that dies first and blows it for everyone. It’ll be even worse if that death is from disconnect boss.

  At any rate, I’m gonna try and make a little bit of personal history tonight. I’ll let you know Monday how it goes!

Elemental Shaman DPS Rotation

  I’m going to make this as simple as I possibly can. It’s really not much of a science, but it basically boils down to this, presented in super-sexy, easy-to-read format by me ‘n Microsoft Paint:

Easy as 1-2-3-4.

 

  Even simpler, you can probably macro this to make it nearly idiot proof. Something like:

• /cast Lava Burst
• /cast Chain Lightning
• /cast Lightning Bolt

  …Which should cause the cast to attempt Lava Burst first, fire off Chain Lightning if it’s on cooldown, and Lightning Bolt if *that* is on cooldown, too. Now, all you have to do is keep the Flame Shock debuff up and Thunderstorm whenever, and you’re golden. If you want to get more in-depth with the macro thing, add in these lines before the first one:

• /use (on use trinket, e.g Mark of the War Prisoner)
• /cast Elemental Mastery

  …Which would cause the macro to always use one of those if available for maximum uptime. Alternative methods could be placed that would cast those if you depressed the “shift” key while spamming the macro, for more control options – but I’m honestly pretty macro-simple for all of this, so I use the knucklehead version.

  Anyhow, I know it’s way more in-depth than that, so if you want the super-detailed version, I’d try looking it up at Elitist Jerks. From my own standpoint, the simple version works well enough to pump out over 3k DPS for me, so I’ll live with it!

Naxxramas Strategy: 25 Man Updates

  Most of the strategy stuff that I wrote – ok, all of it -was before I’d ventured into Naxx-25. Now that I’ve been able to spend several weeks grinding it out, here are some of the notable changes to the specific fights that vary from the 10-man versions.

Plague Wing

Noth the Plaguebringer

  Noth doesn’t do too much differently, he just does more of it. When he summons Skeletal adds, you’ll be getting enough that 2 tanks are going to be needed to pick them all up and hold them comfortably. One of the easier ways to make a tank’s life less complex is to position the majority of your raid on the side near his balcony. Thus, adds have a longer ways to run and more time for the tanks to acquire their targets.

  Noth will also blink occasionally while on the ground; in the old 40-man, this would wipe his aggro (and conceivably does so in 25 man as well). However, I haven’t noticed any real problems with him slipping off the Main Tank and onto another target after he does this, so I can’t confirm that the aggro dump is still there.

  What really becomes an issue with him in 25 man is decursing. Noth will now populate the debuff on up to 10 people at a time, and with only Druids and Shamans among the healing classes that can decurse, it’s difficult to catch them all without help. Be sure to notify all Mages and Moonkins that they will NEED to assist with decursing when it is up, and it should be smooth sailing. He’s really not any tougher than 10-man.

Heigan the Unclean

  There’s nothing different about him, aside from that fact that he takes positively FOREVER to down if you have more than half of your raid who doesn’t get the dancing aspect.

Loatheb

  Again, not much changes. Loatheb is still Loatheb. With 20 million health, though, you need to really lay into him in order to get him down before the Dooms start to overwhelm healers.

Arachnid Wing

Anub’Rekhan

  Fairly minor difference for him, in that the fight begins with 2 Crypt Guards already spawned. Simply pick them up with 2 tanks and DPS them into the dirt before turning your attention to the big fella. Other than that, the mechanics of the fight are unchanged. He spawns only one Crypt Guard at a time when they do appear in the fight, so no need to prepare for a pair of the nasties.

Grand Widow Faerlina

  This is one of two fights in Naxx-25 where you need a Priest, unless you want to just brute force it. Despite Blizzard’s oft-quoted policy shift to not require specific classes, they fail here. The reason is this difference in the mechanic used to dispel frenzy; where the adds would simply be killed in 10-man to accomplish this, in 25 man they must be mind controlled and made to kill themselves (via a special ability; I don’t have a Priest, so I don’t know the name but it’s apparently quite obvious in their pet bar). Note that there are 6 adds as well. 4 are of the MC / dispel frenzy variety, and the other 2 are just nuisance adds. Offtank those two and kill them first, or just have the tank hold them if that’s more convenient. Another offtank should hold the 4 (one type is a Worshipper, one a Follower. I honestly can’t recall which is which, but the number of each present is a giveaway). When she is about to frenzy, have a Priest Mind Control the add, then pop off its dispel / sacrifice ability the moment that she does. You should only have to do this 2 or 3 times for most raids before she’s dead.

  The other option is to simply offtank the adds and heal through her frenzy. Once it starts hitting, it will hit very hard and frequently, and she won’t have the ability expire through any means other than her death – so get a lot of healers spamming on the tank if you want this method – which will also get you the “Mamma said knock you out” achievement.

Maexxna

  Nothing much changes, though timing your Bloodlust / burn phase is far more crucial here as she will very frequently kill a tank during web spray while she is enraged. Get her to 31-33% or so, stop DPS until after a web spray, and then go bananas with every cooldown that you’ve got. Hopefully, you will only have to ride out one more web spray before she folds. Be prepared with every HoT, Earth Shield, Guardian Spirit, etc on your tank for that enraged web wrap and your odds of living through it go up exponentially. It may also help to have someone spamming cleanse poison as you emerge from that web wrap; if this can be done by a Moonkin or Ret Paladin, allowing the healers to queue up heals instead of the cleanse, it will help immensely as the Necrotic Poison debuff is substantial to deal with in this phase. Poison Cleansing Totem does not seem to remove it.

Construct Wing

Patchwerk

  I hate him in 25. While this is doable with 5 healers, 6 or more is recommended. He will need 3 tanks, one taking melee and 2 eating the Hateful Strikes. Hatefuls hit a TON in 25 man, somewhere around 20-25k a piece. Supposedly he’s bugged and hitting harder than he’s supposed to. Whatever the case, he’s a menace.

  There is some kind of an issue with Tauren tanks on him whereby the hitbox is too large and he can deal consecutive Hatefuls; this can be fixed with by consuming a Deviate Delight beforehand and you should do so if it is available.

  I’ve also used a strategy lately, as a Shaman healer, of requesting all three tanks remove and re-equip a piece of gear right before the pull to drop their health slightly. As he is pulled, I dump my instant cast Chain Heal macro, using Tidal Force for a near-guaranteed critical. That procs Ancestral Healing on all three tanks, +25% armor value. I feel like this helps significantly for the start of the fight, because the first 10 seconds are often the most critical. Healers are still spooling up their first cast in a lot of cases, and if he kills off a tank during this time, your fortunes just took a turn for the worse.

  Other than that, as a healer you should be gearing for longevity. Use the totem / libram / idol that “reduces cost of X by Y mana” over a higher throughput one, unless your mana is good enough to chain cast for 3 1/2 – 5 minutes. As a tank, just like 10 man, try to rotate through all of your available mitigation abilities so that something is always up.

  Despite all of this, there will be hiccups and issues where he gets a tank or two, and it’s invariably downhill from there. Just recover your wipe and try again if that’s the case, ol’ Patches is a real pain.

Grobbulus

  If anything, he’s easier on 25 because he goes down so fast. No new abilities, but be sure to save your Bloodlust for 30-35% as that’s when he will step up the frequency of his mutating injections, and that’s really the only potential issue with him – unless your raid still fails at dropping the clouds in a good spot. Most of the time, though, he isn’t even alive long enough to make a full revolution around the room.

Gluth

  While Gluth himself doesn’t do anything new, his Zombie Chow is a certifiable pain in the butt now. Instead of one grate spawning them, it’s three. You’ll likely need 3-5 people kiting to be safe, in case one is killed. Two healers should be able to keep the kiters up ok, though they may draw healing aggro frequently. As a healer, the easiest way to sort through the chaos and find who you should heal (the kiters) is just to look for the debuff icon in raid frames.

  Once your raid gets used to handling the legions of Chow in the room, it’s a fairly easy fight.

  Do take note as well, Gluth can be buggy about the drop-down. If a healer places some kind of a HoT on one of the tanks before you drop out of the pipe, he will frequently aggro to that healer as soon as they land and one-shot them (even if they drop a few seconds after the tanks). While it doesn’t happen all of the time, better to not risk it and just wait to start with direct healing when you land.

Thaddius

  Once again, no new abilities on this fight. The real challenge lies in choreography, as losing more than 5 people from the raid will reduce the stacking damage buff significantly enough that the enrage timer is very difficult to beat. 25 man Thaddius has over 30 million health, and 6 minutes to get him down. Make sure that people understand the movements between phases, execute them well,  DPS effectively and he should go down without too much trouble.

Military Wing

Instructor Razuvious

  Razuvious is a very different fight in 25 man. The mind control orbs are absent in this fight, and he now has four Understudies. The fight more or less requires that you have 2 Priests, minimum, to execute successfully. If your raid has only one Shadow Priest, it is beneficial for the non-Shadow Priest to equip some +hit gear for better Mind Controls. Additionally, all forms of Shadow Resistance – Paladin auras or Priest buffs – should be clicked off. This is because the MC’d Understudies can gain the protection debuff and it will increase the failure rate for the Mind Control “heartbeat” checks.

  Priests will Mind Control one add at a time, who will then tank the Instructor using the same strategies with the Bone Shield as in 10-man. He will more than likely kill 2-3 of the adds during the fight, so be prepared. Adds not currently being Mind Controlled should be held by the tanks a short distance away from Razuvious. It is important that the tanks pick up the adds as Mind Control breaks, because they will otherwise charge off into the raid and start killing healers, Mind Controllers, or anyone else. Be sure to allow enough distance between Razuvious’ tanked spot and the body of the raid in order to make sure that they can be picked up.

  Raid healing is intensive due to his shouts and Jagged Knives; if you have Shamans present, they are wonderful for handling this. Simply pick the targets for the Jagged Knife debuff as the start point for your Chain Heal and spam away. Anyone healing the Understudies may find it easiest to make a targeting macro, something like:

• /tar Instructor
• /assist

  This should cause you to change your healing focus to whomever he is beating on at the moment, as picking the correct Understudy from a crowd can be difficult, especially if large pets (like Devilsaurs) or Tauren are present near him.

  I’ve actually done this fight with 3 healers, myself as a Resto Shaman healing raid, and a Priest + Druid on Understudies. It was taxing, yes – but doable. Just be sure that you’re getting heals into the right places at the right times, keep the Understudies viable, and don’t let your Priests die to the DoT.

  Should you have no Priests, or if you like a challenge – this fight is supposedly doable with a quartet of Hunters spaced around the four corners and using Distracting Shot. Given the possibilities for one misstep and failure, I don’t really recommend this avenue. If you want to try it, there’s a video of the execution out there somewhere online – but I’m not responsible for your repair bills!

Gothik the Harvester

  Again, more or less similar to the 10 man version. Gothik himself is very easy, and once you get to him the fight is more or less won. The adds, particularly Dead Side, are far more difficult to contend with. Control of when the Riders are sent over is key, though the Dead Side should be careful not to get overwhelmed by the Trainees and their Arcane Explosion AOE. Stack more people on Dead Side as they will need the DPS help – my raids are usually 14 / 11. Each side should also have 2 tanks, though Live Side can have just about anyone, such as a Death Knight in Frost Presence, for the second tank.

The Four Horsemen

  Due to the increased health, the quick burn strategy is no longer possible. Additionally, Korth’azz and Rivendare will be traded between the front corners, so DPS must be divided between the two to absorb Meteors.

  To start with, appoint two high-health tanks and a healer for each to the back two, Blaumeux and Zeliek. They deal significant damage strikes, often 8-10,000 at a time – so the healers will need to be able to bring some heavy single-target heals. Paladins work very well, but defer to more experienced healers over class.

  In front, tanks #1 and 2 will be split off to their respective sides. Divide up the remaining DPS more or less evenly between the two sides, and healers as well. These two groups will be staying put on their respective sides until Korth’azz and Rivendare are down.

  On the pull, start it off the same as 10-man, and blow Bloodlust and all cooldowns to get as much damage into Korth’azz as possible. If you’re on the Rivendare group, save your cooldowns until Korth’azz arrives. His Meteor is the biggest concern for wipes, and so he is the priority kill target.

  When stacks reach 3, all tanks switch. The rear pairings will simply exchange sides and resume, with their Horsemen targeting the nearest foe (make sure it’s not the healer!). The forward tanks will run towards each other, taunt the opposing Horseman when in range, and return to their corners with him (Korth’azz goes to the Rivendare starting spot, and vice versa). This is the moment of vulnerability with regards to Korth’azz, as poor timing on this exchange can lead to a Meteor landing squarely on a tank during the switch. If that happens, it’s likely going to one-shot that tank and all hell breaks loose. Try to time the exchange right after a Meteor if possible to prevent this, or have 2-3 DPS (melee preferred) from each side run with their tanks to help absorb it, in case it falls.

  Once the mark stacks build to 3 again, repeat the switches. As long as nobody panics and everyone executes their movements precisely, the fight should be fairly easy. As Korth’azz and Rivendare die, people will migrate back to the rear Horsemen and ease the burden there – and they will all be on the ground in good time.

Frost Wyrm Lair

Sapphiron

  Most of his mechanics are exactly the same. The major difference, like Noth before him, is that decursers will need to be aware of more debuffs. He will cast Drain Life on up to 5 targets, and prompt removal is essential not only for the sake of keeping raiders alive, but preventing Sapphiron healing himself.

Kel’Thuzad

  Surprisingly, he’s remarkably similar to the 10-man version, with 2 notable differences.

  Firstly, he will now spawn 4 Guardians of Icecrown. Because of this, and the amount of damage that they deal, it is optimal that 2 tanks handle these, with each one picking up a pair. Keeping those tanks alive until the adds spawn, and then through that phase, is a crucial part of the fight. They aren’t really that dangerous in terms of burst damage, it’s more that healing tends to get lost in the shuffle with iceblocks, mana detonation and the like.

  The second new wrinkle in this fight is the Chains of Kel’Thuzad. He will periodically mind control two or three players who then gain a significant increase to their healing and damage; these players will also turn against the raid (or heal Kel’Thuzad, depending) and thus need to be CC’d as fast as possible. Have Sheep, Hex, Entangle and Fear all readily available, and Hunters would do well to leave Freezing Traps out regularly as well. Note particularly that Druids – especially Moonkin – are dangerous adds in this phase as they cannot be sheeped or hexxed. After about 10-15 seconds, the Mind Controlled player will regain control of their character and be able to return to the fight.

  Additionally, he will wipe aggro completely when he uses this ability. Be sure that your tank is allowed to re-establish it, should Kel’Thuzad’s position change.

  There are many horror stories about this ability. Personally, I was a part of a wipe when he got a hold of a particularly potent Moonkin. Said Moonkin promptly killed 3 healers (including me!) through Moonfire, Starfire and Hurricane – and that was the end of that attempt. The really scary one (and I don’t have a confirmation on this, but still…) was with a guild which had him at ~3% when he hit a Priest with the Chains – and the Priest put Guardian Spirit on Kel’Thuzad right before he reached zero health. I don’t think that the vent channel would be a place for children if that happened on one of our runs.

The index for the rest of the strats

Leveling, Naxx 25 and Heroic Sethekk Halls: What I’ve been up to lately

  As anyone who happens by here with any regularity may have noticed, i’ve been pretty remiss about posting the last 2 weeks. Write it off to general lazyness, though I suppose part of it relates to me being a little bit busier than usual during what my normal “writing time” might be. So, what’s going on with the crew?

Inyaki - lvl 55 – I’ve been grinding through a lot of content with him lately. Maybe it’s just because the levels come so ridiculously quickly, or maybe it’s because he’s still running Classic WoW content. At any rate, he’s pushing very close to Outlands now, and the joy of Titan’s Grip is on the near horizon. I’m pleased with his killing speed, as it makes the leveling grind go much easier and faster (obviously!); I’m relieved that he’s up to 300/300 on Mining / Blacksmithing now, since both of those professions absolutely suck to get from ~285-300. WTB more rested XP for this guy….

Zuggzug - lvl 66 – When I haven’t been grinding levels on Inyaki, I’ve been doing it with her. Zuggzug is my Death Knight; during the initial quest phase, I was leaning towards Unholy but never really got the hang of it, outside of facerolling. Before I hit Hellfire Peninsula, I respecced Blood. Oh- my – God. What a crazy delicious leveling spec that one has turned out to be. Truly, I’m convinced that leveling Blood in  Outlands takes nearly zero skill to do effectively, it’s so ridiculously easy. Pull mob – Frost thingy – plague thingy – Heart Strike / whatever until target dies. Repeat. The self-healing properties of the spec are so good, I rarely even need to eat. On top of that, several elite mobs that have been difficult to solo for other classes in the past, or required some well-planned technical execution to down solo, have been easy kills. I was able to one-shot Blacktalon the Savage, and the Leaders of the Bloodcrest /Darkcrest with almost no complications. Add to that, I can ride my mount across water to get places faster – you see where this is going. I’m gonna be 70 in no time.

  On a side note, I moved Zuggzug out of the guild in which everyone else is housed, Mediocrity in Motion, and into the Aussie guild that I’ve been raiding latenights with, Anathema. I was told that I needed a DKP alt in there to track stuff, which is no big deal – except that I don’t have space to roll a level 1 alt anymore, so I had to reapportion someone! Since everyone and their mother already has a DK, I chose her.

Eltorogrande - lvl 70 – Stagnant as ever, I haven’t done much with the Big Bull since WotLK. Some day, big fella. I’m gonna bail on my Gorilladin when I do, though. Chompychompy is coming back.

Bubbahotepp - lvl 71 – Haven’t done much with him either, from a leveling standpoint. However, my recent Sholazar Basin mining forays have led to a large amount of materiel being sent his way to prospect or make into disenchantables. As a result, he’s up over 430 Jewelcrafting now – but the lack of patterns in his repertoire is rather lame. At least he’s skilled enough to trigger the drops now, when he does get around to instancing again.

Noobz - lvl 75 – She’s coming out every now and then for a 5-man. Usually, it’s when someone in /g is asking for “1M DPS” for anything in the 73-78 range. I could probably level her at a decent clip if I put some focus time in on it, but I’ve been concentrating elsewhere lately. However, I have a bit of a gut feeling that I’ll be playing her a fair amount once she’s to 80.

Euskogudari - lvl 75 – It’s all I can do to stay disciplined and level him. I stick with it because I’m more or less envisioning him & Inyaki as my 2 Tanks once everyone is at 80 – I just need to make it happen. Now that Inyaki & Zuggzug are more or less out of rested XP, I’ll probably take him out for a spin and bleed off some of his.

Hiltzaile - lvl 80 – Kind of a disappointing Naxx night for her. Successful from the standpoint that all of the night 2 baddies (Military Wing + the last 2) got downed – but my DPS numbers were far beneath what I would deem acceptable. I’m thinking that I may have to respec Mut and see how it goes. Meter showings like this make me appreciate the stance that Negathle has taken with her Hunter – but then, I’m not so firmly attached to Combat like she is to MM since Hiltz is far from a main.

  Also, har-de-har luck on this run: I got 2 pieces of loot, the Helm of Vast Legions and the Nerubian Conqueror (by default). Coincidentally, that’s the two slots that I could craft good Engineering pieces for already. Sigh.

Ribeye - lvl 80 – Ribby has come out for a few tanking duties here and there, including a partial Naxx 10 run. He’s slowly rounding up to form – though admittedly would do so at a faster clip if I actually put some sustained effort into improving him. Even so, he’s a very serviceable Naxx-10 tank, and works well for OS 10 / 25 or VoA.

  What I *have* been doing lately with Ribby is this. So far, I’ve killed off Anzu about 8-9 times, though I haven’t really been keeping close track. Still no mount, but it *will* be mine someday soon. While the actual combat has been fairly easy, with only moderate challenges (becoming almost no challenge of you wait for Berserk to finish its cooldown between trash pulls), the really odd part about this is the drops that I have been getting. So far, I’ve had 3 BOE epics drop off the trash in his room and the pack of birds in the hallway prior (I stealth the rest of it). Lola’s Eve, Pants of Living Growth and a pattern for the Black Belt of Knowledge. This is doubly bizarre to me because I didn’t get a single BOE epic drop during the entire Burning Crusade expansion era, outside of group content. Add to that, I’ve also had 4 BOE Blue drops, and it’s a veritable treasure trove despite the lack of mount drops… but it WILL COME!

Manchego - lvl 80 – Manch is going bonkers lately. Still doing regular Naxx-25, and clearing every week. Though Kel’Thuzad still refuses to cooperate and drop that friggin mace for me, I’ve been able to fill out nearly every other slot in my gearing with the top item for the slot – or darn close. Decisions still to be made when I finally get a Malygos-25 kill in, should the chestpiece or gloves drop. I’ll have to get a set of 7.5 Resto legs should this circumstance arise, then decide which of those 2 items I’ll use, and which to forego. Small worry, though. Manch is currently over 2300 +healing with no totems or buffs (other than Earthliving Weapon), and all of the auxiliary stats are good too. Basically, she’s a front-line raid healer and I’m really enjoying playing her.

  As I’ve managed to acquire nearly all of the Resto pieces that I need so far, I’ve been able to fill out a lot of my Elemental set lately as well. Thanks to gems and enchants, I’m hitcapped at 367 (or is it 368? I’m not worried, either way) without the use of food to do it. I’ve also been able to reach that number without a lot of crappy items that I used to keep around just for the hit – Rune of Infinite Power, Dark Soldier Cape, Plush Sash of Guzbah and Voodoo Signet are all gone. I still have the good ol’ Mark of the War Prisoner in there, but whatever. You can’t win ‘em all! I respecced Ele for grins on a VoA run Tuesday and managed over 2900 DPS; considering that was no glyphs, and I actually improved my gear even more with the Girdle of Recuperation off Razuvious, I’m kind of curious what I could pump out over the course of a regular run sometime. Hopefully, I can convince the Elemental Shaman from my 25-runs to flip back to Resto (she was Resto when we started into Naxx-25) for a night, or maybe we’ll wind up with enough healers one night that I can try it. Either way, I’d like to get a WWS that I could break down and digest for my Elemental abilities at some point. Hoping that it might be a delicious “Naxx night #1″ report with Spider, Plague and Military – but we’ll see.

  Anyhow, that’s about it for now. I’m going to see how close I can get Inyaki to Outlands this weekend – it’ll be great to do all of those quests for the last time and never have to go back. Other than that, I’d be tickled if Kel’Thuzad drops the mace and/or shield this weekend. While my Elemental compatriot has dibs on the shield already (I have dibs on the mace, yay!), at least that would clear it for me to roll on the next drop and finish out with the “best in slot” set heading into 3.1.

Ding! One more 80 in the stable!

  Now that I’ve finally had a little bit of uninterrupted free time, I’ve been able to focus some time on “loose ends” – like leveling! With the baby crawling all over the place most days, I just haven’t been able to get any real windows of opportunity that I could make a concerted effort. Last night, though – at long last -

With an assist to Brann Bronzebeard...

  So, that makes 3 now. Next up, Paladin and Warlock – currently at 73 and 75, respectively. I think the Pally will be priority, despite the 2-level advantage for the ‘Lock and the slower leveling speed, since I would really like to get a plate-wearing 80 tank; with the Warrior still clocking in at level 47, he’s too far off for now – and I’m pretty ambivalent about yet another DK tank.

  I had been preparing for Hiltz to hit 80 for some time prior, investing in some pieces, trading for others, and crafting what I could as well. Consequently, she’s more or less ready to step into Naxx-10 and contribute right now, without running a single heroic. Yes, I’m still below the hit cap – 226 right now, but that will bump up 9 points with proper blue gems to replace the greens I shoved in there, and I can weasel another 40 from food to make 275 – more than enough to be effective. I think that I’ll try to find a Naxx-10 PuG Saturday morning if one is available and see how far in it gets, since even Plague + Spider wings is ok at this point.

  As to leveling the Paladin, I’m still kicking around the idea of going Ret to level; the alternative is AOE grinding the crap out of everything (and that’s more feasible than it sounds!). Eusko can easily walk into a place like Skorn, round up 8-12 mobs, and tank ‘em all into the dirt. The question is this: where is the most effective spot that I can do this at, because Skorn is really kind of beneath me. Ideally, I find somewhere with the following qualities:

• Melee mobs – very few (ideally, zero) spellcasters or ranged
• Limited to no stunning abilities
• No stacking debuffs that could be difficult to contend with
• High population density and respawn rate

  If I can find this sort of place – I’m thinking of The Avalanche Scourge in Sholazar Basin, but thats ~2 levels off – then I can just round ‘em up and consecrate / holy shield / etc the pack down. With rested XP, each mob is 1600 XP or more, so a 10-pull (which is stupidly easy with melee only) clears over 16k for the 1-2 minutes that it takes to down em and heal up afterwards. That’s substantially more than I can do questing, where I have to engage single targets all of the time, so I’m really seriously thinking about it. I ripped out 4+ bars in ~45 minutes this afternoon just pulling trash packs around Skorn, and accumulated a tidy bit of cloth (plus about 6 greens and a blue) for my trouble. I’m sure that I look a bit odd doing this, like I’ve done it by accident and I’m in distress or something, but I never even had to lay hands when I was grinding, so it’s more or less risk-free.

  Anyhow, that’s about it – full clear Naxx-25 slated for sat/sun nights, maybe this is the week for the Torch of Holy Fire – we’ll see!