The Hazards of Deathbringer's Will

I recently managed to get my greedy little hands on Deathbringer's Will. Since having it I have discovered a few things that future users should be aware of.

1. All other dps (save casters) will either hate or envy you. Learn to live with it.

2. You have no control over when or what shape shift will occur. So yes this trinket WILL make you look fat.

3. Shape shifting into a Vrykul will make you unable to use mounts until you remove the buff. (Taunka and Dwarf form seems to works fine.) There is a simple macro you can add to deal with this issue.

#showtooltip mount(s) of choice
/cancelaura Agility of the Vrykul
/cancelaura Speed of the Vrykul
/use mount(s) of choice


4. The shifted shapes are ALL male so if you play a female character you will see your gender specific titles spamming every time you shape shift.

5. Sometimes as the result of the shape shift you will notice it appears as if your weapon is missing. It is still there but for whatever reason not visible. DON'T PANIC! 

6. This trinket can proc off of Sap WITH OUT BREAKING STEALTH. Yeah I know, not really a hazard but good to know and even funnier to watch since the idea of a Tauren or Vrykul sneaking is completely foreign.

7. Shape shifting can cause distraction.... DANCING TAUREN ROGUE!!! (Ok, maybe just for me but I laugh every time I turn into a Taunka and prefer it to the Vrykul procs since I get to do the Peanut butter Jelly dance.) I have also had group members freak at finding a "Tauren" in their Alliance dungeon.

8. Shape shifting changes your size, this will effect your positioning, especially if you proc while casting Killing Spree. (Poor Gnome rogue friend of mine got stuck when he transformed into a Taunka.)

9. If you are trying to judge when this trinket will proc it appears to have a 105 sec internal cool down with about a 30% proc rate. (Again not a hazard but good to know.)

10. Rogues do NOT get the Iron Dwarf proc which gives Armor Pen. (Cry)

Know Your Rogue Lore: Deathstalker Visceri

Deathstalker Visceri is one of the Argent Grand Champions from Trial of the Champion. This individual is the essence of "divided loyalties".  For the Horde he represents the Undercity within the Sunreaver Pavilion.  Specifically he sends players off to get weapons from the various " Water Ladies" as well as starting and ending the Undercity Valliant quests.

Many fail to make note of his Title, it means more than just an identification of his class. Visceri is a DEATHSTALKER. You remember these guys?  The Deathstalker's were Varimathras' elite collection of assassins and spies who assisted in the work the Royal Apothecary was doing with the New Plague. Usually by keeping any information concerning it from getting out to the REST of the Horde. After the Battle for the Undercity there was much question as to WHO exactly these guys were loyal to, Sylvanas or someone else? Visceri ended up in Northrend working with the Argent Crusade and representing the Forsaken. The question then becomes, did he come of his own violation, looking for a fresh start or was he SENT for some OTHER purpose?

When the Argent Tournament was FIRST introduced Visceri was dressed in warrior plate garb. This changed when the actual Arena was finished and he is now appropriately dressed in Deadly Gladiator's Vestments. It is his WEAPONS that are the most intriguing. He is sporting a pair of Spinal Destroyers. These daggers can only be obtained by Horde, who may purchase them with Champion's Seals. Usually when you see a weapon there will be others using the same model but different colors. This is not the case for this particular dagger, it is unique. The bones along the upper edge seem fitting for an Undead who always has his spine poking out.

Visceri's fighting style is identical to his Alliance counterpart Lana Stouthammer. While in our present state of being over geared for encounters his Poison Bottle is not QUITE as deadly as it use to be, it can still be an annoyance. Many players still fail to avoid the deadly green goo which rapidly ticks away at their health. If you don't have a poison cleanser in your group it is best to just avoid them all together. His Fan of Knives was also not be as damaging as it once was, though he still favors this move.

Visceri still manages to hold on to his secrets and for the time seems pleased to be competing in the Tournament forcing players to joust despite how much they may hate it. What more could a Forsaken ask for?

Rep: The Ashen Verdict

Well here we are, at the end of this LONG series. To be honest I never realized just how long this would end up being. I started this whole thing back when getting any information about Rogues was few and far between. Not wanting to break a routine I was attempting to establish I came up with the idea of doing a series to keep me busy. This topic was suggested by a guildmate who was looking for a quick reference while working on their Exalted achievement. Since I already HAD that achievement they figured I should be willing to share. It started out fine, but by the time I got to the Burning Crusade I was getting a little bored with it, which reflected in my writing. So without further adieu lets discuss the final faction we have available to us.

The Ashen Verdict is a collection of the greatest fighters and craftsmen selected from the Argent Crusade and Ebon Blade ranks. Together, under the combined leadership of Tirion Fordring and Darion Mograine they have broken through the gates of Icecrown Citadel and established a base they call Light's Hammer. It is here that players will discover a collection of individuals who can provide them with items specifically crafted for their class in exchange for Emblems of Frost. These items can later be returned for upgrading with the addition of a Mark of Sanctification located in 25 man or Heroic modes.

In the tradition of the Brood of Nozdormu from AQ 40 and The Violet Eye of Karazhan players are allowed to select a ring which can be upgraded as their reputation with the faction improves. The first is granted by Darion Mograine at friendly reputation. Unlike the previous two factions however the Ashen Verdict has an additional ring to select from beyond the traditional Tank, Healer, Spell Dps and Physical Dps Agility, a Physical Dps ring based on STRENGTH. In addition to this, where in the past if you mistakenly selected the wrong ring or chose to change your specs you were stuck until you hit the exalted reputation cap, the Ashen Verdict allows you to trade your ring at any time for the simple cost of 200g.

While progressing into Icecrown they have also discovered that the Scourge have created a way to refine Saronite or at the very least have a unique mine within the Citadel which produces Primordial Saronite. This ore can be randomly located on any of the bosses within the 25 man raid or purchased with Emblems of Frost from specific vendors. Craftsmen can present ore to Alchemist Finklestein stationed at Light's Hammer in exchange for Patterns or Plans which teach them how to work with this substance. Many of the items they will be able to create are considered some of the best in the game for many classes making it a worthwhile endeavor to secure them.

Gaining reputation for this faction is a simple matter of grinding your way through Icecrown Citadel killing undead mobs and bosses. Some of the greatest reputation gains come from setting off various traps scattered through out the Citadel and the mobs those traps release. When Icecrown Citadel was first introduced many players would farm the mobs preceding the first boss to obtain their rings without locking themselves to a specific instance id. However the reputation gains provided by this were quickly reduced to slow this trend.

So there we have it, for the time being this series is at an end. I am sure I will revisit it when Cataclysm comes out but for now I can take a well deserved break. As to what I will be discussing on Tuesdays, that is still somewhat up in the air. For now I plan to keep it open ended, leaving my only series the Know Your Rogue Lore each Thursday.

Happy Grinding!

Cataclysm Raid Changes

Blizzard dropped a bombshell today in their release of changes to how they are planning to handle both loot and raid progression in at least the first portion of Cataclysm.

combining all raid sizes and difficulties into a single lockout. 10- and 25-player modes of a single raid will share the same lockout. You can defeat each raid boss once per week per character. Normal versus Heroic mode will be chosen on a per-boss basis in Cataclysm raids, the same way it works in Icecrown Citadel. Obviously the raid lockout change doesn't apply in pure Icecrown terms though, as this change goes hand-in-hand with a few other changes to raid progression in Cataclysm.

In other words you will only be able to do a raid once a week per toon and will need to decide if you want to do it in 10 or 25. This is going to KILL the 25 man pugs we are seeing today and also greatly limit the amount of gear and badge framing we see in more progressed guilds.

We're designing and balancing raids so that the difficulty between 10- and 25-player versions of each difficulty will be as close as possible to each other as we can achieve. That closeness in difficulty also means that we'll have bosses dropping the same items in 10- and 25-player raids of each difficulty. They'll have the same name and same stats; they are in fact the exact same items. Choosing Heroic mode will drop a scaled-up version of those items. Our hope is that players will be able to associate bosses with their loot tables and even associate specific artwork with specific item names to a far greater extent than today.

Dungeon Difficulty and Rewards
10- and 25-player (normal difficulty) -- Very similar to one another in difficulty; drop the exact same items as each other.
10- and 25-player (Heroic difficulty) -- Very similar to one another in difficulty; drop more powerful versions of the normal-difficulty items. 

Not that long ago there was a huge debate on Wow.com regarding just this issue. Eliah Hecht brought forth the premise that 25 man raids should not drop better loot than 10 mans. Well he is getting his wish. Now we have to see if the response is as predicted. The end of 25 man raiding. There reason for this change is as follows:

We of course recognize the logistical realities of organizing larger groups of people, so while the loot quality will not change, 25-player versions will drop a higher quantity of loot per player (items, but also badges, and even gold), making it a more efficient route if you're able to gather the people. The raid designers are designing encounters with these changes in mind, and the class designers are making class changes to help make 10-person groups easier to build. Running 25-player raids will be a bit more lucrative, as should be expected, but if for a week or two you need to do 10s because half the guild is away on vacation, you can do that and not suffer a dramatic loss to your ability to get the items you want.

It is this next bit that has me holding out for hope though.

We recognize that very long raids can be a barrier for some players, but we also want to provide enough encounters for the experience to feel epic. For the first few raid tiers, our plan is to provide multiple smaller raids. Instead of one raid with eleven bosses, you might have a five-boss raid as well as a six-boss raid. All of these bosses would drop the same item level gear, but the dungeons themselves being different environments will provide some variety in location and visual style, as well as separate raid lockouts. Think of how you could raid Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep separately, but you might still want to hit both every week.

It sounds like when Cata hits we will have several SMALLER raids available to us. So you could potentially do one each night OR if you were like some guilds I know, clear all of them in a single night then run alt nights the rest of the week.

We do like how gating bosses over time allows the community to focus on individual encounters instead of just racing to the end boss, so we're likely to keep that design moving forward. We don't plan to impose attempt limitations again though, except maybe in cases of rare optional bosses (like Algalon). Heroic mode may not be open from day one, but will become available after defeating normal mode perhaps as little as once or twice.

Not exactly clear on what they are going for here. They like gated encounters but not the limits? I am guessing they are going for like they did with ICC, you can't hit heroic until you have cleared it on normal.

In terms of tuning, we want groups to be able to jump into the first raids pretty quickly, but we also don't want them to overshadow the Heroic 5-player dungeons and more powerful quest rewards. We'll be designing the first few raid zones assuming that players have accumulated some blue gear from dungeons, crafted equipment, or quest rewards. In general, we want you and your guild members to participate in and enjoy the level up experience.

This bit sounds like the "introductory raids" are going to play out like Nax did. Those who hit 85 will be able to step right in wearing their higher level raiding gear and whatever crafted or Heroic items they pick up on the way. The big question is going to be: Are guilds going to even bother trying to form up 25 mans and the headaches those can produce when they can get the same items with fewer players?

The response of course has been a similar to what Mr Hecht encountered. For smaller guilds this could be a blessing. Larger progression guilds may find themselves in trouble and even worse the unguilded. At this point I can't see how you will be able to raid WITHOUT being a part of a guild. Perhaps this is part of the point as they are also reworking the ways guilds function in Cata as well.

If you haven't taken the time to check out the original post by Blizzard and the ensuing responses it is located here.

Vanished Rogue

The insistent banging just would not let up. I have to admit I was rather surprised that our local Jehovah's Witnesses were being this persistent so I washed my hands and headed to the front door. It wasn't someone in a suit on the other side however.

"Where in Azeroth have you been!?!?!" Daraia burst through like a storm cloud, arms flailing as she turned on me. "It has been a WEEK, a WEEK!" Her glove clad finger grinding into my chest, she continued. "You left me in Dalaran to fend off herds of star ponies, their obnoxious owners and temper tantrum throwing robots for a WEEK!" Stopping abruptly Daraia stepped back, surveying her now dust covered glove, then looking me up and down in bemusement. "What is that."

"Sweatpants and a denim shirt?" I replied, pushing my filthy baseball cap further back over my tangled hair.

"Sweatpants? Why would you choose to wear pants you KNOW will make you sweat?" Before I can answer she waves dismissively and continues on. "That isn't what I meant anyway. The white and gray stuff all over you...you look like you fell into something."

Looking down I realize what she is talking about. "Oh, that is just cement, plaster and paint. I have been kinda busy this week with my kitchen and bathrooms."

Daraia pulls back swiftly, putting her hands behind her back. "Since when did we join the Defias? I'm a Scribe not a Mason thank you very much! I have no intention of power leveling another trade. It was painful enough the last time!"

Briefly the idea of informing her about Archeology passes through my mind only to be dismissed. She is ticked off enough with me as it is.  "Listen I am just trying to get this taken care of while I can, before my kids are out of school for the summer and underfoot. I should be back to the regularly scheduled program by Children's Week."

"I don't think you realize what you are subjecting me to here... you left me in Dalaran!" Daraia interjects. "I have to listen to TRADE chat all the time and deal with drunken Elves and Draenei who think they belong on top of mailboxes." Arms crossing she continues to glare at me. "Couldn't you at least log on and put me somewhere else? I haven't darkened the door of a dungeon all WEEK!"

By this point I am beginning to realize just how tired I am. That is the problem when you stop doing physical labor you hardly notice your fatigue until your muscles start screaming at you. "Ok Dar, I will do my best to get on more regularly this week but it is going to still be a little bit before I can get back to our routine. Can you accept that?"

Reluctantly she nods. "I'm going to hold you to that. You fail to show up and I will be back here again. I am sure your neighbors would LOVE to know why someone dressed like me is showing up at your door." Pausing briefly she narrows her eyes in contemplation before continuing. "I refuse to go back to Dalaran though, you can find me at the Argent Tournament. At least there I sit back and mock Paletress." With that final threat she touched her tabard clad chest and vanished.

If you could design a gear set

The other night while gazing forlornly at my Leaper clad self I got to thinking about the upcoming Cataclysm expansion and what horrors the designers have in store for us as our next tier set. Now I am no artist but if I could design the next tier I think I know exactly how I would like it to look.

Start with the helm. None of this pickled heads stuff, could we please go back to the simple designs of yesteryear? Quite frankly I wish our next tier helm looked like either a simple cloth mask, you know like VanCleef wears or a close fitting Ninja mask. Something similar to what we had for our FIRST two tiers. I'll be honest I LIKED the look of the old Nightslayer Cover (minus the huge collar) so something like that. The Bloodfang Hood is nice as well but they have already reused it.

For the shoulders I want something that looks like I am carrying extra weapons rather than attempting to be a hunter and wear my most recent kill as clothing. Now I LIKED the little pouches that were on the VanCleef set, (it was the perfect place for storing extra poisons) so incorporate something like that along the front. For the over all look though, a design like the Bonescythe Pauldrons or even the less well supplied Shoulderpads of the Silvermoon Retainer is more my style. My only desire would be that the daggers appeared a little more like rounded throwing daggers rather than arrow heads. Now I know some throwing knives ARE that pointed, but I really prefer the look of something like those below. Stack them two deep, larger in the bottom, smaller on the top scaling down as they move down the shoulder, now THAT is how a rogue shoulder should look. 

The chest piece was the part of the set that really gave me the most headache. Part of me REALLY likes the look of a turtleneck, something that covers from the top of the neck to the wrists. Then place the leather armor over it as if the leather is attached to a wool undershirt. On the other hand the VanCleef Breastplate has become one of my favorites. So I was considering was something that was sleeveless (that way I can still wear my Wound Dressings or Antiseptic-Soaked Dressing) and laced up the sides. The other thing I liked about that set was that it went a bit longer down the torso, all the way to the upper thighs. If I am going to have a sleeveless shirt, why not have some belly exposed as well? Though with a tabard you can't see it ANYWAY so why bother with exposed belly? In the end my preference is for a high neck with short cap sleeves. Take the leather pieces and outline the chest area with lacing along the edges similar to how it was done for the VanCleef set. Also have it go longer down the leg, onto the thigh area with pouches on the lower portion for storing poisons and such.

The pants were the easiest piece for me to visualize. They need to go ALL THE WAY to the ankle, none of this carpi or holey knee crap. Matching daggers strapped to the outer portion of both thighs, similar in look to the throwing daggers from the shoulders, with visible stitching along the seams. The straps holding the daggers in place would be reminiscent of those on the VanCleef Legplates. Keep them simple and hugging the leg.

The gloves were another piece I debated about. Really it comes down to open fingers or closed? Now earliest pieces like the Nightslayer gloves only exposed the tips of the fingers, basically from the last knuckle. My personal preference would be for them to expose most of the finger, more like weight training or cycling gloves. My other thought was for them to be shorter, to the wrist. Why? Think about it, how often do you actually SEE your bracers? You don't unless you take off your gloves they are usually COMPLETELY covered. So have the gloves stop just below the bracer, with laces along the top.

Now originally tier sets contained the bracers, belt and boots. Now a days this is no longer the case but the designs are still uniform through out. So I also considered our "accessory" pieces. Even though with the exception of the boots they are generally smaller and less viable I still want them to look like they belong to the set.

The bracers are rather frustrating because they are so seldom seen. With sorter gloves you can actually ENJOY the look of the bracers which should be close fitting with lacing along the inner arm and stitched trim at the top and bottom. Have them fit from the wrist to just below the elbow and they would be perfect.

The belt I envision would closely resemble a utility belt. LOTS of little pouches laced closed, going the full length, with the buckle being over lapping leather straps laced up at the middle. Yeah, I know I have a thing for storage, what can I say?

I never really cared for the ninja looking boots or even worse the ones that looked like toe socks. So a nice rounded toe with a cuff at the top, just below the knee. Have it fit close to the body, none of the snow boot looking ones. That is how the boots should fit.

Few other things I haven't mentioned, stats, sockets and coloration. Since we know Cataclysm will be containing changes, beyond the classic Agility and Stamina I have no clue how important things like Haste will be (though I am guessing it will be something we really want) so I am holding off on the itemization for now. I would love to stick sockets on EVERYTHING but then you start getting into the whole "over powered" thing, beyond that there is talk that some of the gems colors will be changing so it is hard to predict what color combination we will be going after. One thing is for sure, I want the sockets and socket bonuses to work well. I am rather tired of always needing gems that don't benefit my socket bonus at all, they just feel wasted at that point. Black or dark gray needs to be the base color, from there silver, gold, red, brown or blue would all work fine as accent colors. (Just not all at once.)  I rather liked it when the sets had a uniform look but the specific item levels had different color combinations.

So what about you? If you could create a look for your next tier set what would YOU like to see?

Herd of Star Ponies

So yesterday Blizzard made two new items available in their store. Of course the internet and trade chat are full of individuals expressing either their excitement or disdain over the choice. Name calling abounds on both sides. Records are being set as we speak.

The major focus is on the much anticipated Celestral Steed. When MMO Champion first data mined this the majority of people assumed it would be the reward for downing Algalon in Ulduar in Hard Mode. While it would have made two drop mounts in one large instance the precedence for that had been set WAY back in Vanilla WoW with Zul'Grub. (Though the Tiger and Raptor mounts are rare drops.) Well Ulduar has come and gone, so much so that unless it happens to have the weekly random boss kill in it few even bother to darken its doors. No Star Pony. At this point the assumption being made was that perhaps it would make its appearance as part of the new trading card game. Again precedence has been set in that.

Then (to some) the unthinkable happens. Blizzard announces that the mount people have been discussing for MONTHS is going to be SOLD for REAL MONEY at the Blizzard Store. It will be a BoA item which scales with riding scale and the fastest mount that character happens to already have. (Meaning if you have a 310 speed it will ALSO go 310.) In addition to that like the Headless Horseman's mount it can serve both as a land AND a flying mount.

Achievement mongers are up in arms. This was suppose to be another "cool" mount exclusively for THEM. Altaholics are drooling because for $25 they can mount EVERY TOON THEY HAVE with a NICE looking mount. No rep grinding required. Those of us who don't have the spare cash to purchase one are left with four options, convince someone ELSE to purchase it for you, brave purchasing one with in game gold from someone who offers up a key (hello new hacker opportunity), wait until we have the cash or just go without and try to ignore the herd of star ponies over running Dalaran. As a mount collector it has been a difficult pill to swallow but I will just have to wait. Spending $25 dollars on a vanity item while neck deep in a kitchen and double bath renovation is just NOT going to happen.

Yes, the steed IS a useful item in that it CAN be used by ALL your characters. Lets face it, it certainly looks different from the mounts you can use as a lower level that don't involve LUCK from the trading card game, even LARGER investments on Ebay (hello, ANOTHER hacker/scam opportunity) or attempting to get a friend to join up with you and level. The last option causing some to just purchase yet ANOTHER account. Now the major difference with all these others is that THOSE mounts are only good for a SINGLE character. Here we are getting something that ALL our characters both present AND future can use.(Worgen on star ponies.....Twilight again?)

Now as a mount collector I will say this. I want it for my collection but as others have stated this is going to be a mount that becomes redundant quickly if you are only after it to "be cool". I had to laugh when I logged on yesterday and our guild was busy discussing it. One player was giving a count by count run down on their position in the cue. Another (who is ALSO a mount collector) was complaining that it really looked funny with his Night Elf so he was sticking to his Spectral Tiger. A third was attempting to talk everyone ELSE out of buying one because he wanted to be the only one in the guild WITH it. (Unfortunately for him about 5 people already HAD it and were busy flying circles around each other outside Dalaran.) The vast majority were on the fence as to purchasing it or not.

After seeing it in game, my opinion is that it doesn't look as nice as it does on a dark background showing off all the detail. If I can ever get one I would most likely only use it at night time.

Beyond that, for those who are screaming about "micro transactions and slippery slope" I want you to consider something. Which would you prefer: a raise in subscription fees or Blizzard getting their extra money via convenience services and vanity items? We have been playing this game for FIVE years. In that time the subscription fee has not increased ONE CENT. At the same time the player base and expectations of those players has risen extensively. I would rather have those with the disposable income covering the additional expenses keeping Activision happy so they leave the REST of Blizzard alone to focus on the games I enjoy playing. They are a BUSINESS first, they are not required to give a percentage of their proceeds to some charity so that you can then claim that is the only reason you are making the investment.



Now the Lil'XT vanity pet just hasn't received much notice because of the focus on the Celestial Steed. A couple of our pet collectors immediately picked him up. When I saw the video I though "how CUTE" then we had three in the raid last night and my attitude was "shut him UP". Like the Pandaren Monk  the noise can quickly get on your nerves. While it is awesome that they are making the pets more interactive (I do like the fact that the XT pet will destroy any train set it comes in contact with.) for those who like to have vanity pets out during raids or instances it can cause issues. He is also much LARGER than previous vanity pets I have seen, almost as tall as a gnome and in one raid I saw one that was human size. I don't know if they scale with their owners, had something put on them or what but confusing him with a small plate wearer in the heat of battle could prove interesting.