Here’s a listing of Heroics ranked by difficulty. I’ve been doing heroics lately and it’s been fun. So far I’ve only completed Violet Hold on heroic (on an Utgarde Pinnacle run now) and I enjoyed it.
Archive for December, 2008
Heroics ranked by difficulty
Dec 31
Glucose Equals Free Will
Dec 30
I found Scott Adams’ Glucose Equals Free Will 12/30/2008 entry really interesting. I know that sugar helps me focus, but I had assumed that it was an idiosyncrasy. Now I need to figure out a way to boost my focus without boosting my weight.
Aces High!
Dec 29
I finally found a daily that doesn’t immediately make me hate the faction associated with it! Aces High! is a daily quest that’s actually a lot easier and more fun in a group. It’s harder than the one at Wyrmrest temple but I enjoyed it a lot more. I think part of the fun is that it’s challenging but doable. I’m definitely going to be doing this one a lot. Now I need to find a fun one for those $#@%# Sons of Hodir.
The Chain Breaks
Dec 29
Well, I made it 201 days of doing about 20 minutes of dedicated exercise per day. I went from June 10 to December 27, 2008. What broke the chain was discouragement.
With the holidays here my regular routine has been broken and I haven’t been feeling up to doing much. Doing the hundred pushups has been very discouraging. I made it up to 60 pushups with a few snags but nothing serious. I’ve been stuck at sixty pushups for about a month now and I just can’t seem to make it past that. I did my exhaustion test yesterday and once again only hit 60. I kept putting off giving it another shot and woke up this morning realizing I’d only done about 10 minutes of exercise yesterday.
I plan to resume my daily exercise, I’m just not sure if I’m going to continue the hundred pushups program. Doing the pushups is starting to hurt a lot, which is not at all what I want from a fitness program. The lack of progress is frustrating. Maybe I’ll pause my hundred pushups for now, do another exercise program for a while, then think about coming back to it later.
Picking a New Realm
Dec 29
So you’ve been playing World of Warcraft for a while and have decided to make a fresh start and reroll on a new server. How do you decide which server will be right for you?
I’m assuming you’ve already decided on a server type, a faction, and have some idea of the play style and class(es) you enjoy. If not take a look at WoW Insider’s current WoW Rookie column. If you’re new to WoW, welcome here!
Server population affects a number of parts of the game. A more highly populated server will have more people to play with, but also more people competing for the same resources. WarcraftRealms is a census of the population on the different servers. Since it’s based on people submitting data rather than Blizzard numbers, it’s not 100% accurate but it can give you a pretty good picture of realm populations. If you’re playing on a PvP server, be sure to check out the Horde/Alliance ratio to have a rough idea of how often you’ll get ganked.
Your server’s time zone is also worth noting. If you want to play with others pick a server where prime time (roughly 6-11 PM) matches your play schedule. If not, pick one where it doesn’t.
These two factors should narrow you list down to a dozen servers or so. Now it’s time to dig down a little further.
If you’re interested in endgame PvE look at WoWProgress to see how progressed a server is. It will be easier to get into raiding on a server with many raiding guilds. If PvP is more your thing, look at SK Gaming’s Arena Rankings or Warcraft Realm’s Battlegrounds page. More teams/wins means more opportunities for you to get in on the fun.
Another factor to consider is the personality of your server. All servers will have loathsome jerks and terrific people. However, there are some servers where one or the other predominate. Take a look at the description for your server on WoWWiki’s Realms List. I shudder to recommend it, but it might be worth looking at the Official Realm Forums. You want to look at the reactions to announcements of accomplishments. Is the announcer congratulated or mocked?Hopefully this will give you some idea of the kinds of personalities you may be dealing with. Remember that mostly it’s the the scum of the server that post on the realm forums.
I hope this will help you in your search for a new server. Have fun!
(Inspired by Calling all Horde!! from Skeleton Jack)
Character Tracker
Dec 28
WoWProgress has a Possible Transferred/Renamed Characters Tracker. I was looking for this tool earlier and couldn’t find it. If you don’t want to be tracked when you transfer, you may want to look at changing as much about your character as you can (gear/talents/name).
Pawn Scales for Wrath
Dec 28
Here are the Pawn scales I’m using for my toons in Wrath of the Lich King. As always, Pawn is for quick comparisons, not for squeezing every last point out of your gear. Read Skeleton Jack’s post on Pawn for some of the things to watch out for. I have tweaked some of these scales and I have no strong theorycrafting proof behind their effectiveness.
A few more points to note:
1. Each rating is relative only to itself.
Some pawn users assume that if they have two strings, that the rating that has the higher value is what the gear is better for. This is NOT the case. You should only use a rating to compare two items together, rather than using ratings to determine what an item is better for. (Note: This rule can be counterfeit, but that requires balancing points)
2. A rating that gives you numbers in the 100’s is no better or worse than one that gives you points in the 10,000’s
Remember, this is a relative comparison tool. So 900 – 1000 may be better than 90,000 to 95,000.
3. Pawn doesn’t account for everything
Raid buffs, gear changing, and Talents factor in here as well. These are static values to help determine relative value, but raid buffs, talent changes, and changes from blizzard will affect the relative value of these statistics, so these strings will more than likely be dynamic.
Warrior
Protection
Balanced
(Pawn: v1: “Balanced”: CritRating=0.89, Agility=8.47, ExpertiseRating=9.22, DefenseRating=11.13, BlockValue=4.86, ArmorPenetration=1, Dps=3.56, Strength=3.84, ParryRating=8.24, BlockRating=8.42, DodgeRating=9.61, HitRating=1.98, Stamina=14.29, Armor=1, HasteRating=0.62, Ap=0.43 )
Survival
( Pawn: v1: “Survival”: BlockRating=8.49, Strength=2.91, ParryRating=8.56, Agility=8.02, ExpertiseRating=7.22, DefenseRating=11.61, Stamina=14.25, Armor=1, DodgeRating=10.09, BlockValue=4.98 )
Threat
( Pawn: v1: “Threat”: ArmorPenetration=4.54, CritRating=4.03, Dps=16.15, Strength=4.66, ParryRating=0.41, Agility=3.26, HitRating=9.56, HasteRating=3.02, ExpertiseRating=9.56, Ap=2 )
Based roughly on Elitist Jerks Tanking Spreadsheet. Needs to be edited for sockets.
( Pawn: v1: “Heavy”: RedSocket=16, CritRating=0.8, Strength=1, MetaSocket=8, ExpertiseRating=0.7, BlueSocket=16, YellowSocket=16, ColorlessSocket=16, HitRating=0.7, BlockValue=0.9 )
Based roughly on Matthew Rossi’s post,The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Heavy. This is for leveling as a Prot Warrior. Vene has a good post for Raid DPS as a Prot Warrior.
Fury
See this post for Fury Warriors.
Paladin
Mostly from this thread on Elitist Jerks.
Protection
Mitigation
( Pawn: v1: “ProtMit”: DodgeRating=18, BlockRating=1, Ap=1.2, CritRating=0.6, Strength=9.5, ParryRating=14.5, ExpertiseRating=1.5, Agility=14.5, HitRating=1.1, Stamina=19.1, Armor=1.2, SpellPower=0.8, DefenseRating=16.5, BlockValue=16.5 )
Threat
( Pawn: v1: “ProtThr”: Intellect=0.2, DodgeRating=15.1, BlockRating=0.9, Ap=4.7, CritRating=2.4, Strength=18.8, ParryRating=12.8, ExpertiseRating=6.1, Agility=12.2, HitRating=4.2, Stamina=16.8, Armor=1.1, SpellPower=3.1, DefenseRating=13.9, BlockValue=17.4 )
Holy
( Pawn: v1: “Holy”: Intellect=2.25, RedSocket=24, CritRating=1.1, MetaSocket=75, HasteRating=1, BlueSocket=14, Stamina=0.1, SpellPower=1.2, Mp5=2.5, YellowSocket=30 )
Shaman
Enhancement
Based on a run of EnhSim, DPS simulator
( Pawn: v1: “AEP Calc”: Intellect=1.14, CritRating=0.64, Agility=1.39, ExpertiseRating=0.67, OffHandDps=4.33, YellowSocket=32, ArmorPenetration=0.52, RedSocket=32, Strength=1, MetaSocket=16, HitRating=0.68, BlueSocket=32, MainHandDps=8.82, HasteRating=0.81, ColorlessSocket=32, Ap=1 )
Restoration
Based on this post.
( Pawn: v1: “Resto (EJ)”: Intellect=7, RedSocket=105, HasteRating=3, BlueSocket=86, YellowSocket=112, SpellPower=5, Mp5=10, CritRating=3 )
EDIT: There is something broken about these scales for weapons. Do not use them to decide which weapon to use.
Hunter
Beastmaster
( Pawn: v1: “Beast Mastery”: Intellect=7, RedSocket=128, CritRating=5, MetaSocket=168, HitRating=10, Agility=7, HasteRating=2, BlueSocket=128, YellowSocket=128, ArmorPenetration=6, Mp5=8, Ap=4 )
From this thread
Druid
Cat
( Pawn: v1: “Cat (Toskk)”: ArmorPenetration=1.0161, RedSocket=37.312, Strength=2.332, CritRating=0.83, ColorlessSocket=37.312, MetaSocket=103.21, FeralAp=1, Agility=1.6992, ExpertiseRating=1.0362, BlueSocket=18.66, YellowSocket=26.92, HitRating=1.0334, HasteRating=0.7236, Ap=1 )
From Flyv
Bear
( Pawn: v1: “Bear (Toskk)”: RedSocket=113.7, YellowSocket=101.3, ColorlessSocket=172.4, MetaSocket=329, Stamina=7.185, Agility=3.429, Health=0.411, BlueSocket=172.4, Armor=1.066, DefenseRating=1.885, DodgeRating=2.685, ExpertiseRating=1.306 )
From Flyv
Resto
( Pawn: v1: “Resto”: Intellect=5.79, HasteRating=2.87, CritRating=2.05, SpellPower=9.4, Spirit=5.13, Mp5=10 )
From this Elitist Jerks Post
Death Knight
Unholy
( Pawn: v1: “Unholy”: ArmorPenetration=0.544, RedSocket=39.7552, CritRating=1.12, Strength=2.4847, ColorlessSocket=39.7552, HasteRating=0.621, Agility=0.7336, HitRating=2.474, BlueSocket=17.3929, YellowSocket=25.2329, TwoHandDps=7.567, ExpertiseRating=1.391, Ap=1 )
Other
Other specs, Warlocks, Priests, Mages, and Rogues are out of luck here. I suggest Elitist Jerks as a starting point. Good luck in your search!
NOTE: No warranties, either express or implied, are hereby given. All software is supplied as is, without guarantee. The user assumes all responsibility for damages resulting from the use of these features, including, but not limited to, frustration, disgust, system abends, disk head-crashes, general malfeasance, floods, fires, shark attack, nerve gas, locust infestation, cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis, local electromagnetic disruptions, hydraulic brake system failure, invasion, hashing collisions, normal wear and tear of friction surfaces, comic radiation, inadvertent destruction of sensitive electronic components, windstorms, the Riders of Nazgul, infuriated chickens, malfunctioning mechanical or electrical sexual devices, premature activation of the distant early warning system, peasant uprisings, halitosis, artillery bombardment, explosions, cave-ins, and/or frogs falling from the sky.
Who Are My Characters?
Dec 27
I was talking with Jaimie yesterday about our Warcraft characters in a roleplaying sense. I don’t have much of a backstory for any of them, but I do have a decent idea of their personalities. It’s conversations such as these that have me considering an RP server if I reroll again.
Despite being a warrior that uses rage, Tristam is very calm. Solid and reliable are words that come to mind when I’m thinking about him. He doesn’t get angry and is very relaxed. He sees himself as the shield for the group. “Is a shield false and only a sword true?”
Merddyn is a warlock because it’s convenient and easy. He’s very self-centered and barely recognizes the existence of an outside world. He’s not looking to rule the world (far too much bother), he just wants what he wants and sees no reason why he shouldn’t just take it. “I’ve divided the world into two types of thing: The ones I can kill with impunity, and those I have to be more circumspect about.“
Anzu is a very angry shaman. I have no idea what he’s angry about. He quests so that he has a socially acceptable way to kill things. Merddyn will kill you if you get in his way, but otherwise doesn’t care about you. Anzu wants to kill you but won’t unless it’s acceptable to the Horde. “In the beginning, the Universe was created. This had made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.“
Early on, Andromache would have preferred to be an alliance paladin working with the Naaru rather than stealing the Light’s power. She wants to do what’s right. After having gone through Outlands, she has retained her strong moral and ethical sense, but no longer trusts the Naaru. “Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties – but right through every heart – and through all hearts.“
Arthemis wants to take things apart to see how they work. She’s chosen to be a hunter because people in cities tend to get upset when you take apart magical or mechanical things and you can’t quite put them back together. She’s happiest out on her own thinking. “Most things run on smoke. If it leaks out, they don’t work.”
As a druid, Emerys feels a deep connection with nature. He fits the stereotype of the hippie druid. He’s calm and quests because he wants to help maintain nature’s balance. “In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments – there are consequences.“
I don’t know why but I like having some idea of who the characters I play are.
Greedy goblin’s Booking post discusses bookkeeping. Unfortunately it’s not nearly as in depth as I’d like but it’s a useful reminder that doing bookkeeping will pay off. Now I need to bring myself to actually doing bookkeeping in WoW.
Bleep The Sons of Hodir
Dec 25
The Sons of Hodir rep grind is at least as annoying as I expected it to be. I’m barely into friendly and I hate them all. The quests are very poorly set up and allow for ninja looting of quest items. I’m going to be dropping a lot of cash at the Auction House buying rep. At least they could have given us two factions with shoulder enchants.
Merry Christmas!
Dec 25
Merry Christmas to all! We passed a very quiet Christmas Day. We spread our gift opening over three days.
We opened the presents from my in-laws on the twenty-third. The kids had fun playing with their toys that day and watching WALL-E. We really enjoyed it in theatre and I regretted not having picked it up for Christmas so I was thrilled when we opened the presents and saw it.
Christmas Eve we went to my parents’. We opened presents and ate snacks. It was a fun, relaxed afternoon. The kids were absolutely wired before bed and it took a long time to get to sleep. I set up an alarm at the top of the stairs to discourage anyone from heading down too early.
We opened the family gifts Christmas morning. I thought the kids would be up at five again but they didn’t get up till seven or so. They were very happy with their gifts. Do not buy MEGA-Bloks – they do not hold together well at all. It’s definitely worth paying the little bit extra for Lego. I got a Discworld book and a couple of Cook’s Illustrated Magazines to read. The kids played peacefully till evening.
Prot DPS Guide
Dec 24
Warrior Vene’s Quick and Dirty Pre-Naxx Prot DPS Guide gives some tips for when you have to DPS as a Prot warrior. This would also be useful for the daily quest grinds.
EDIT: Do NOT use this for questing. It hugely over values Hit and Expertise against mobs your level or lower. This is only for raiding. Follow Matthew Rossi’s ideas instead for questing or leveling.
Reputation Calculators
Dec 24
If you want to see what you can do to get your reputation up with a faction (and how quickly), reputation calculators are very useful. WoW Reputation Calculator was very useful in Burning Crusade, but doesn’t seem to have been updated much for Wrath. WoW Juju works in Wrath, but I really don’t like the way it looks. It’s useful stuff to know as more and more people hit the level 80 rep grinds.
Point 4 in Doofy’s Unsolicited World of Warcraft Predictions for 2009 is a good one. I know that I’d be tempted to go for two different tanking specs, or two different healing specs depending on the toon rather than spec for tanking and healing or tanking and DPS. If I was interested in PvP, I’d definitely have a PvP Spec and a PvE spec, which would leave my off-spec role abandoned again.
Random Boss Abilities
Dec 23
I like this idea from Tobold blogs from the hip – WoW Insider:
“Every boss in the raid dungeon gets between two and five random boss abilities, with no way to find out what the boss does except for fighting him.” I think it would make instancing and raiding a lot more interesting if bosses were more unpredictable. The downside would be that some of the more interesting scripted encounters would be taken out. Mind you even the most interesting scripted encounter gets dull after a couple times through.
Generac Guardian Automatic Standby Generator looks like something that would be very useful to have when we get our own home. This way we can keep playing WoW even in the worst of storms!
CrockPot Peanut Clusters
Dec 21
CrockPot Peanut Clusters looks very tasty. Unfortunately I don’t have the peanuts – maybe I’ll pick some up tomorrow and try this recipe. We’re supposed to bring some dessert type things somewhere I think.
Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush
Dec 20
Travel: Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush Makes Packing a Snap. This might be useful next time we go out to my in-laws. We keep getting better at gauging the space we need for traveling back and forth but a reminder never hurts.
Foxit Software eBook reader
Dec 20
Looks as though Foxit Software is going to be coming out with an eBook reader. If it supports PDF/text/HTML I’d at least consider it.
TechShop
Dec 20
It’s things such as this that make me wish I lived in a city – TechShop. I could learn a lot of the skills out here, but I’d have to find someone who was willing to teach me and someone I’d be willing to learn from. I find the someone more depersonalized atmosphere of a classroom to be more conducive to learning for me. I know that Home Depot offers some classes – maybe I could check into that one of these winters?