Unsolicited Advice

Legendaries have an interesting effect on on people. Each of those orange items are by design meant to be rare. As a result they can elicit greed, envy, and a multitude of other undesirable vices. When the Rogue only legendaries were announced for Dragon Soul an interesting thing happened. Suddenly everyone and their cousin was dusting off their long ignored or neglected Rogue alt and attempting to get them into Dragon Soul to start the quest.

The vast majority I spoke with knew little to nothing about what the actual quest entailed, only that they could get "a pair of daggers".  About half gave up after no more than hearing they would have to pay 10k as well as solo bosses with 200 and 300k health respectively. I don't know WHY they thought since these were for "rogues" only it would suddenly translate into "cheap". We may use Cheap Shot but come on guys really? The first part really isn't to bad and for someone with a rogue alt, if they actually wanted to invest SOME work, you could get Fear and Vengeance with a minimum of fuss.

However just because you have the first set of quest daggers doesn't mean that they will be the best items for you to use.  It all depends on what spec you are running and what you are doing. Our community has been especially blessed over the years with the spreadsheets we have had at our disposal. Thus allowing us to know precisely what we should do to get the optimal dps from our characters. Thus comes my little rant.

Each week our guild goes into LFR as kinda a break. A chance to gear up alts, spend time together as both raid teams and just RELAX in a larger raid setting. Frankly when we are doing 10 mans, while it is FUN, you have to focus, etc.  This last session we headed in and as happens from time to time had a rather loud individual join us as one of the other LFR members. Now this member was NOT a Rogue, nor did he play one as his main. He was a healer. I WAS the Top of the dps meter at the time when we had this conversation as well. But he decided to inform me that "my weapons were wrong".

Now I am always willing to listen, you never know when you might learn something helpful. So I said "Oh really?" He then proceeded to tell me how I should be using BOTH daggers as Combat because of the proc on Fear and Vengence.  I responded with "according to my spreadsheet I lose about 300 dps using Fear over No'Kaled, the Elements of Death" my current main hand. (Now granted I couldn't remember the specific numbers of the dps difference at the time but I knew it was over 300 dps the last time I checked.) He then proceeded to lecture me the DURATION of the raid about how I was wrong and didn't know what I was talking about. After determining that this individual did not play a rogue as his main, nor was he familiar with Shadowcraft or Elitistjerks I then proceeded to no longer respond. I just didn't see the point.

Unsolicited advice has its place. If I see a rogue struggling I will check to see if they are using the correct poisons, gems, etc. However there is a correct way to give it and opening up with "You are doing such and such Wrong" is generally not the best. Try instead "Why are you..." For example "Why are you tanking in your Chief's hat?" The response can range (at least in our guild) from "Opps! Forgot to change after making feasts!" to "Because we are going to Taste the Rainbow tonight and I wanted to be prepared!" People are generally more willing to listen to what you have to say when you start with a question and invite conversation rather than an attack.  This is even more so when you are on a character of another class, say an alt.

Know Your Rogue Lore: Asira Dawnslayer

The reasons individuals become involved with the Twilight's Hammer are numerous. Archbishop Benedictus turned his back on the Light and become the Twilight Father out of despair after seeing Deathwing's face. Others just like the idea of anarchy and chaos. While still more are drawn to the idea of power or death.

Asira Sunbright would have been your average blood elf blade-for-hire, winning some small acclaim in the gladiatorial ring if Cho'gall had not taken notice of her.  At first when approached for some small jobs she was hesitant. The Twilight's Hammer didn't have the best reputation as employers. Not that they weren't generous, or their tasks challenging. It was just that they their handlers tended to be rather unstable.  Eventually greed over came her miss givings.

Eventually Asira's close and continued association to the corrosive influence of the Twilight's Hammer began to impact her personally.  The jobs became less about the money and more about the thrill, the challenge, the death itself.  The transformation from hired hand to fully committed member came when she chose to change her name to "Dawnslayer".  A major step in elf society, signalling something essence altering had occurred within an individual's life, making their previous exsistence "dead".

By this time she had become an assassin of note within the Cult, frequently gaining both the highest fees as well as the most sensitive assignments.  When we first encounter her or even learn of her existence it is because she has been given the task of eliminating Thrall and retrieving the Dragon Soul as he makes his way across Dragonblight during his journey to Wrymrest Temple. Time is rapidly running out for the Twilight's Hammer and it is interesting that only now do they think to send a rogue in to do what rogues are best at, take out a single target and snatch up an item. It only goes to show how mad these guys are.

Sadly, Asira chooses to confront Thrall and his escort out in the open and from the front, never a rogue's strongest position. In addition she is out numbered six to one. Perhaps all of her time spent in the Twilight's Hammers company has instilled a false sense of superiority, or she has just gotten cocky on her past success. About they only ones she manages to irritate are the casters as she puts her tools to use tossing her version of smoke bomb and has still been able to maintain the ability to silence with a thrown knife. Yet she never uses the major tool of rogues....stealth. As a result her career ends at the hands of Thrall and his companions far from her birthplace at Silvermoon.

For those of you who may be interested in replicating her look for transmogrification purposes.  She is using a pair of Uhn'agh Fash, the Darkest Betrayal off of  Cho'gall in Bastion of Twilight.  Her helmet is the Deadly Gladiator's Leather Helm and the rest is a recolored Ruthless Gladiator's set, however her boots seem to be the plate version not leather.  Her cloak come from completing the quest in Ulduar "All Is Well that Ends Well" and delivering the Reply-code Alpha to Rhonin in Dalaran.

Digging in the Closet

Well the patch is here and with it the long anticipated transmogrification. I actually started digging through my vast collection of past gear sets a while ago. As the best laid plans of mice and men have a tendency to go awry so have my grand intentions.  Thanksgiving Day the Platewearer decided to sneak onto my blog and discovered I had over 15 partially competed posts. Between that and the gentle chiding of my guild mates I managed to get back to it and get at least THIS one finished for today.

I always knew which tier set I would be using as my primary transmog set. Tier 9. Or as the Platewearer refers to it, my "Dominatrix set". For some strange reason this is a guild favorite on Daraia, though I always wore the Wound Dressing with it.  My daggers are no issue either as I still have my Dirk of the Night Watch and Steel Bladebreaker, both of which I have always loved the looks of. I think my fondness of this particular set has grown out of the fact that while wearing it I felt the most "Alliance".  That and the colors went well with our guild's tabard.

Now I just have to figure out what to do about my sword, and axe. I have yet to really find one I like. While I have had ones over the years such as Vis'kag the Bloodletter, that I still possess, my fondness is more for the memories it invokes than for the esthetics of the actually weapon. I am afraid I tend to be rather old school with my weapons. I prefer them to look like some thing I would actually be able to USE rather than something that would knock me over if I attempted to carry them in real life.  This tends to limit me rather severely. Though....if fist weapons become viable for combat again Calamity's Grasp WILL come out, that thing was one of the FEW fist weapons I thought look cool.

Void storage is going to be my new best friend though as I now have a place to put all these accumulated items. Somethings like Tier 8 I deleted with great glee but others like my old Nightslayer,  Slayer and Bonescythe among others sure do take up a lot of room I would prefer to use for other things rather than shipping items back and forth between my various bank alts. 

So what about the rest of you pack rats? Are you enjoying the freedom that this closet rummage is giving you? I know I sure am glad I get to actually get to keep some of my items now rather than be forced to decide what must be purged and what can be kept. The pixel memories are mine.

Holy Tier Batman!

So we have been informed that our Tier 13 has the distinction of being inspired by the cape crusader because "A 'bat-themed' armor set for rogues seems like a no-brainer." Really?  Come on guys. With the model a male blood elf it is hard to tell exactly how pointy the helm is. Let alone guess if the costume for females will more closely resemble Batgirl's than Batman's.

If I ignore the pop culture inspiration and just take the armor set as it for itself, it isn't bad. Browns, blacks and grays have always been my favorite color scheme for rogue armor. I also like the open handed design of the gloves. The bat heads on the shoulders look a little more like toxic murlocs to me though. The name of the set is not bad either "The Blackfang" sounds more like a spider than a bat but is well fitting of a rogue set.


With transmogrification coming does it really matter if you love or hate the new design? What we really care about is the set bonuses and it is still to early to see what those will be. So the Batman Theme song will be running through my head whenever I get a piece. I think I can resist the urge to macro in "Bam!" and "Pow!" (Yes, I know it is old school but that is always what I think of when I think of Batman, not the newer stuff.)

Now we just have to see what our Legendary daggers look like.

The Library and Other Mementos

In real life as well as in game I can be a bit of a pack rat. This is offset however by the fact that I do have my limits. Once things reach the point of "Clutter" I get overwhelmed with what my Husband calls "Purge fits" where I start going through and asking myself "why do I still have this?" This week's Blog Azeroth shared Topic from Feraltree was "What mementos have you kept and why?"

Through all the purges, all the levels, the expansions, one thing has remained, carefully protected, tended and at times added to. My Library. It all started when I got my  A Steamy Romance Novel while Pick Pocketing in Outland. I had just suffered a hack and lost my previous treasures of tier gear and other items. As a result those novels have always held a special place in my heart as a pick me up. In addition to that I recall tormenting certain former guild members with them by reading them aloud over vent. Along with the original I also have the A Steamy Romance Novel: Forbidden Love (which is my favorite of the series) and A Steamy Romance Novel: Northern Exposure. If we were ever to get character housing they would need their own special place of honor in it.

Closely related to my library is a off hand item I have that I got this expansion with my new trade Inscription called Rituals of the New Moon. I actually have five of them as each will transform you into a different variation of wolf. It looks like a book, but as a rogue I can't really use them since I really have to have a weapon in my off hand and while hitting someone over the head with a book SOUNDS like a fund idea, they really are not one of our weapons of choice. I still keep them as mementos however. From time to time pulling them out to play at being a shammy.

Two other highly treasured pieces in my bags are my Orb of the Sin'dorei and Orb of  Deception. I actually carry these two with me at all times. The main reason is that I have always hated the human dance moves so whenever a dance party breaks out it is nice to have other options. The same with our jokes and flirts, they are just BAD. As much as people complain about racials I just wish they would fix our lameness in those areas. I know, I know the rest effect game play rather than aesthetics but still, most likely it will get fixed about the same time as the human male hair lip.

I have so many "Costume" pieces from all the seasonal events I don't even know where to start. I try to tell myself I am not a clothes horse but then I just have to gloss over the Bloodsail Buccaneer's Uniform and Admiral's Hat. Then I have my Undead Slayer's set, Argent Warhorn trinket, Haunted Memento and Monster Slayer's Kit from the Zombie invasion, do EACH of my characters REALLY need a full set of these? Apparently so.

Then I have my other little "trinkets" and I don't mean just the Barov Peasant Caller, Defender of the Timbermaw, and Seal of the Dawn. I still have my Banner of Provocation and Extra-Dimensional Ghost Revealer from when I was working on my Darkmantle gear back in Vanilla. There is also my Seal of Ascension, Scepter of Celebras, and Mallet of Zul'Farrak. Why do I keep these? Once they were used to summon things or open specific doors. Now they are pretty much useless trash....but I can't seem to toss them. The big reason being I remember just how much time and effort was invested in obtaining them in the FIRST place.

So while I might be able to justify keeping my Decahedral Dwarven and Worn Troll Dice for nights we do RP raids. I may even get away with my Happy Fun Rock, Voodoo Skull and Huge Snowballs saying I need them for ammo against annoying guild mates. Why do I keep all this stuff? Because sometimes just looking at makes me smile. Seeing them brings back the memories of when I first got it, or playing with it lighten the mood. That is why these items are called "Mementos" and why some Pack Rats stuff their bags full of them.

Dangers of Killing Spree

Soooo....last night we went into ICC and I discovered something, Killing Spree ANYWHERE on the gang blanks leading to the upper halls is a BAD idea.

This is what it looks like from the top

and this is what it looks like after you have been flung off the edge and land at the bottom

might I just add, it is a LONG fall.

On a brighter note I FINALLY got an upgraded dagger for my Assassination set. Heartpierce. I also managed to pick up Band of the Bone Colossus. It was very nice to actually get some upgrades for what is suppose to be my MAIN spec that I haven't been able to use it much because my Combat set is so much better.

Gear vs Skill

For a very long time now people have equated gear with skill in WoW. If you were running around in raid level gear then you must have raid level abilities right? Well, yeah to a point. In Vanilla WoW having high level gear was not so much about SKILL as TIME. If you wanted to sport epic level gear you needed to have hours a day to focus on either PvP, raiding or at the very least earning money. Forty man raids were HUGE investments. To rank up in PvP battle grounds took not only WINNING but countless hours for battle time.

When Burning Crusade was introduced so was a level of play that was more "casual friendly". While you could STILL tell just by looking who participated in end game raiding or intense Pvp, those who may have had the time in College had now moved on to jobs and family.  This change allowed many of them to continue to push the envelope without having to completely sacrifice real life. Raids could now be done with only 10 or 25 people in just a few hours a night. A badge system was introduced in which you could obtain gear from doing Heroic dungeons only. By the end of Burning Crusade you could also obtain raid level gear with out ever setting foot in an actual raid. The concept of "farming Heroics" was born.

Enter Wrath and suddenly EVERYONE is able to sport raid level gear without ever setting foot in an actual raid. For some this was extremely annoying as they could no longer tell just by LOOKING at an individual what they were capable of. Raids suddenly became puggable so you no longer had to dedicate HOURS of  game time to seeing content. But there was a problem here. As gear became more accessible being KNOWLEDGEABLE about what to do with that gear didn't necessarily scale.  Many people today use gear score to determine if someone is capable of a raid but you can still have individuals in GREAT gear who fail to  perform to that level. This is because they never learned how to work as part of a team or the finer points of playing their character. Case in point I was in a VOA the other day with a mage who had a gear score of at least 2300 but was doing UNDER 1000k dps. Quick leveling and lack of knowledge shows.

The good thing about the over abundance of gear is that raiding guilds no longer have to deal with individuals who cause difficulty for their teams. They can EASILY find someone equivalently geared OR gear up someone else who is a better fit without adversely effecting their raid schedule. If the only reason a person has kept a raid spot before this was they provided a specific desirable buff, raid leaders can now look instead at getting someone in there who pays attention and knows what they are doing without causing drama.

While gear has its place it will only get you so far. Blizzard has leveled the playing field in a way. Those who started playing this game 5 years ago no longer have to "retire" from raiding because of time constraints. At the same time your ability to utilize your characters will get you MUCH further. Sure a lot of pug leaders will ask your gear score to see if you are at a specific level Blizzard has stated an instance is designed for. By doing this they can usually ASSUME you SHOULD be capable performing. At the same time individuals like Gevon can push the envelop by attempting those SAME instances with individuals "Undergeared" but TALENTED and COMMITTED enough to get every last bit out of them.

Now not all people enjoy this type of game play. Personally I PREFER to go into an encounter blind, figure it out with my team mates and over come it. However I know that MANY in my guild do not....they don't like "failure" they want "easy wins", to go in knowing that success will come QUICKLY. Delayed gratification is a foreign and uncomfortable concept for them. I remember one former guild member telling me "three wipes is to many". My attitude is "No, look at wipes as learning opportunities." If you want to sing the song of progression, the chorus is full of wipes. There was a time when raid leaders couldn't rely on places like Tankspot and Bosskillers to educate players before they ever see an encounter.

Now when you are PUGGING you can't EXPECT people to have that dedication, there is no "team" there. I HAVE been a part of a few that WERE able to press on and over come but they are rare and most of us were at least FAMILIAR with one another. So pugs will generally take the EASIEST manor in which to judge, which translates into gear score and achievements. Why? Because they want the GUARANTEE of success. Nothing annoys me more than when I see a pug leader who demands a specific achievement and gear score only to discover that they themselves do not meet it. All they are looking for at that point is to have others carry them through and your raid is most likely due to failure.

When it all comes down to it I really do believe that Blizzard is attempting to make SKILL more important than GEAR. As gear becomes more available to the average player, more are capable of enjoying the instances and raids they have designed. On the other hand TALENTED players can go further by pushing the envelope more rapidly than in the past. We have become jaded by forgetting that we have been playing this game for a long time too. WE have developed tools that allow us to learn more rapidly as well in the form of spreadsheets, Addons, and Blogs. I can't quite buy the line that Blizzard is totally making the game easier. While they ARE making it more ACCESSIBLE to the player base that has CHANGED over the years,  many of us have grown beyond the stage where we have endless hours to spend raiding or pvping and all that demands. (Like cash for repairs.) The raids they have introduced are also requiring a GREAT deal more awareness and movement by the player base. How many raid encounters can you think of where all you do is stand there and "pew pew" away?

I know some of the self proclaimed "hard core" gamers will disagree. As far as they are concerned WoW has gotten TO EASY! I can easily live with them disagreeing with me as I will never qualify as an "Elitest Jerk" cracking hard modes shortly after they become available. My style is to get to the end but enjoy the journey there. Consider this though, when Yoggy and the Lich King were first introduced how many of those "Top Players" PRACTICED on PTR every time they could or at the very least were checking out every BIT of information they could find on those encounters before hand? In addition to that how many of them did "alt runs" first so that their timers were not adversely effected while they learned an encounter?  How much is it that the game has gotten easier verses the top players have gotten SMARTER and more able to find ways to get around the limits Blizzard sets?

Recently Blizzard announced that 10 and 25 man raids will now share a lock out. In addition to this both 10 and 25 man raids will share the same loot table. They also stated that we can expect to have several raids available to us when Cataclysm begins, all of relatively limited length, say 5 or 6 bosses total each. If you go with the thesis that it is more about SKILL than GEAR then Raid Leaders stating "we will be looking at taking our BEST players rather than scrounging to fill a raid" further pushes this idea. "Terribad Ninjas" are going to have a MUCH harder time finding raids to scam especially as the number of Pug raids dramatically decreases. Being a member of a guild is DEFINITELY going to be something people will see as a necessity. Hopefully these two changes alone will assist individuals in discovering enjoyable game play as they progress. The idea of being able to have raids filled with people you ENJOY and that know what they are doing certainly has great appeal doesn't it?

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)

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!

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?

The State of Epics

An interesting thing happened to me today while doing my Daily Heroic. A Bind on Equip epic dropped, and I didn't even pay attention, I just saw "lvl 200 epic" and hit the DE button...worse I won. The rest of the group screamed "You could have sold that!!" And I noticed that my response was....ambivalence. I just didn't care that I had just disenchanted an epic...it has just become so common place in our lives at this point. Sure I might have been able to sell it on the AH for a couple hundred gold, but really I make that every day just from doing daily quests. Taking the time to go back to the old world to post a level 200 epic on auction house with at least 4 others of the same type just didn't appeal to me in the slightest.

When I first stated playing WoW over four years ago epics were the types of things only the most dedicated players could possibly possess. You spent hours raiding or doing PvP to gain matching sets of epic gear. The only other option was the RARE BoE epic drop which sold for thousands of gold on the auction house. Having an epic MEANT something in those days, they were quite frankly status symbols. When you saw someone walk by wearing matching gear sets you KNEW that this was a SERIOUS player.

Now a days we have epics coming out of our ears. The color purple means nothing to us anymore. Instead the focus is all on the item level. With item level the thought is the higher the better. The only problem is the vast majority of our epics look EXACTLY alike so unless you are the type of person who inspects every person you encounter you have no CLUE if the person you are running with is sporting level 251 or 277 gear.

Now I AM a girl so I enjoy having my outfits "match" as much as the next person. Wandering around looking like you just raided the rag bag or were blessed with someone's hand me downs isn't appealing to say the least. At the same time, looking back the set of Pvp gear I had in Vanilla Wow it meant A LOT more to me than ANY of my tier 10 has. (And this isn't just due to the Leaper look of tier 10 either.) I knew I had EARNED that gear by spending 4+ hours a day running battlegrounds. Even my DROP epics meant more....to this day I STILL have fond memories of Vis'kag the Bloodletter and the Bloodfang Hood some of the few PvE epics I had at that point.

Then we entered Burning Crusade. All those pieces I had used for about a year or more were suddenly being replaced with GREENS!?!? OH THE HORROR!! I would cringe inside as I was forced to DESTROY those pieces that had almost become extensions of myself. Once more I looked like a walking rag bag, even worse since it seemed every upgrade pair of pants I got was sporting holes in the knees. At that time we all couldn't fathom it, were epics loosing their luster? By the time Burning Crusade ended many saw the writing on the wall, it really wasn't that difficult for the most CASUAL player to be sporting gear almost equivalent to the highest levels and most dedicated play.

As time has progressed full sets of epics are now being replaced every few months. We don't have time to get attached to any one piece, at most we just complain about how each new set looks or peruse the stats with sheets of Best in Slot gear. As this expansion winds down Blizzard has told us that the gear we get from ICC should last us for a while into Cataclysm. I am going to assume they mean like Tier 6 lasted into Wrath, meaning no one was really replacing any of it until they level capped again.

A part of me is rather pleased that at least THIS set of gear MAY last me for a few MONTHS rather than weeks (even if I don't care for the look of it) another part of me wonders if with this explosion of epics, we all lost sight of what it means to truly ACCOMPLISH something. To feel like we really EARNED a piece. Yeah, every piece of gear gotten from running heroic randoms WAS earned, and yeah, people are pleased with each new piece acquired, but the over all thrill of the achievement seems gone.

I know the elitist jerks have been spouting for a while that all these epics lessens THEIR accomplishments, but it is more than that. By lowering the playing field so much they have lessened ALL of our accomplishments. Sometimes the shiny things handed out so freely are not what people really NEED even if they say they do. Sometimes it is the knowledge that they worked HARD to get what they have acquired.

If I were a Raid Boss

I started this post for the shared topic for Blog Azeroth almost three weeks ago, but due to real life hassles was never able to finish it the way I wanted to. Since I enjoyed writing it so much I finally decided if I didn't just post what I had it would go the way of many others and just get deleted. The question was in essence: If you were a raid boss what kind would you be? An easy loot farm or a guild breaker? What abilities would you have and of course what loot would you drop?

I thought about the things I enjoyed having as part of an instance....like the suppression room in Blackwing Lair or the traps scattered about Icecrown Citadel.  In addition to that every mind control boss I have ever dealt with and the screams of my guild mates when Daraia begins stun locking them before mowing them down....yes...these were the things that HAD to be included when determining the type of raid boss she would be.

I just couldn't have Daraia be "evil". Suddenly deciding she wanted to destroy or control all of Azeroth was just to out of character. So I am afraid she had to fall into the role of "Brainwashed Victim", something along the line of the Keepers from Ulduar. Daraia was more likely to be someone sent in advance to gather information then disappeared. When you discover her she is no longer in control of herself. Once you defeat and "free" her then she helps you by showing you how to get further into the instance via hidden passages as well as providing information about the other bosses. (Similar to the role Brann played in Ulduar.)

What about the instance itself? Something about old mansions left in ruin, draped in shadow and mystery just appeals to me. So the instance would need to be something along those lines, full of side rooms, stair cases and passages players would be unsure of, traps scattered EVERYWHERE. What types of traps? A variety, some that would slow your movement speed, some that would summons mobs, some that would close doors or send gates crashing down on you, separating party members until you located the release. The idea would be to make the journey TO the boss as much a part of the adventure as the boss encounter itself.

What about the fight itself? It would be divided into two phases. At the beginning she would be fighting with her daggers before vanishing at 50% health to enter phase two. When she reemerges she would have switched to swords and reset her aggro. Poisons would also have to be evident through out ("Pooh clouds" as I call them, as I am known for yelling at guild mates to "get out of the POOH!") Tanks would need to be constantly repositioning as Daraia would continuously be attempting to get BEHIND them while attacking.

Abilities-

Dismantle - Disarms and/or removes all carried equipment from her main target for 10 seconds. May occur every minute.

Stun lock - A physical move which incapacitates a random party member in melee range for approximately 10 seconds.

Fan of Knives - During phase one sprays all players within a 10 yard radius with 1000 physical damage, inflicts them with a dispellable damage over time poison of 1000 damage per second. In phase two the physical damage increases to 1500 damage.

Poison Ink - 30 yard Missile which slows movement speed and places a 1000 dispellable damage over time poison on players caught in the 5 yard spray.

Vanish - Steps into the shadows, resetting aggro, occurs when she reaches 50% health.

Killing Spree - During phase two every minute she will step into the shadows to deal five 1000 to 3000 damage blows every .5 seconds in a 10 yard radius before returning to her primary target.

Quotes -
Aggro -
"Focus up! Let the fun begin!"

Vanish -
"Now where did I put those...."

Killing Player -
"One more down."
"For shame, you nicked my weapon."
"You really should have been more careful."

Wipe -
"Such a disappointment."

Defeat -
"You've done it! I'm myself again, Thank you!"

Loot -
 
I thought about a mount but it would have to be black and to make sense it couldn't be more than a recolored copy of something I already had so that got rejected in favor of a 32 slot Black Bag of Tricks. Before I took up inscription my nick name in raids was "The Pack Mule" since I was usually the only one with any bag space.

Weapons, a fast dagger is a MUST along with a nice SLOW sword with high damage. Something reminiscent of the weapons from ToC in look. I can't stand swords that look like they could fall apart if you blew on them to hard or daggers that more closely resemble misshapen bones than a means of inflicting harm.

Since all the drops can't be for rogues I figure a nice Book of Blackmail as an off hand for the healers, and a wand called The Golden Quill as a nod to Dar's inscription for the dps casters. The book just seems fitting as I don't know a healer who hasn't at one time or another blackmailed SOMEONE with the threat "behave or you won't get any heals from me." I would LOVE IT if the wand could look like a huge yellow feather, to have arcane magic coming out of something like just makes me smile.

For the tanks a blue and black cloak called Royal Cloak of Ravenholdt as a testament to Daraia's heritage. Since tanks are always complaining there are never enough tanking cloaks out there and the Ravenholdt colors of blue and black look cool no mater what class of tank you play.

Daraia's Loot Chest would not be complete with out one specific item. The Magic Mirror, a trinket that would allow you to look like anyone you chose for 10 minutes with a 1 hour cool down. I LOVE these types of items and this would be my dream one.

So that is the type of Raid Boss I think Dar would be. So what do you think? Does it sound like a fun fight to you or the type of boss who would earn "female dog" nicknames?

Know Your Rogue Lore: Linzi Redgrin

Our diminutive topic of today's Know Your Rogue Lore is another member of the infamous Player NPC gang of Dalaran. Named after the euphemism for a slit throat, Linzi Redgrin seems to enjoy spending her days stalking Horde players.

She wanders the streets and shops but seldom speaks to anyone save at one of her two favorite hang outs. The first is the Ledgierdemain Lodge, where she can be seen speaking to the inn keeper and setting up her  hearth stone. Her second most popular location is The Bank of Dalaran, or as players more commonly refer to it  "The Horde Bank". There she often will visit the guild bank vault before logging out. We can only hope it is to make a deposit and not to ninja it clean.

Dressed in Merciless Gladiator's Vestments Linzi makes no apology that the death of Horde is something she strives for. Despite this she is IMMENSELY popular with players who often follow her around commenting on how "cute" she is. (Much to her GREAT disgust as with Dalaran's armistice she can not respond directly.)  She is also known to show up in multiple locations as once, so don't be TOO shocked if you see her step into the Ledgierdemain Lodge only to watch her walk out of the Bank a moment later.

Rep: Explorers' League

Also known as the Explorers' Guild this Dwarven lead branch of the Alliance Vanguard is really more interested in pursuing their personal agenda of uncovering the origins of the dwarven people than going after the Lich King. However since their research has managed to provided the Alliance with detailed maps, along analysis of all new resources discovered, they do not begrudge them their obsession.

Headquartered out of the Hall of Explorers in Ironforge the Explorers' League has been around since the very beginning of the World of Warcraft on line game and can be found scattered across every part of the globe even reaching into Outland. However it was only with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion that players gained the opportunity to finally earn reputation with this faction. (Much to the joy of many of us.) But prior to patch 3.3 it was NOT easy.

While you will find Explorers' League members scattered all about Northrend, reputation providing quests are located in only two zones, Howling Fjord and Storm Peaks. Of the 36 quests this faction gives only ONE is a daily, Steel Gate Patrol. Thankfully it is a low level one. So prior to patch 3.3 if you wanted to reach exalted reputation with this faction you could expect to do Steel Gate Patrol about 122 times. (That was if you were human, non humans it was even more.) Thankfully that is no longer an issue. Players will now get this reputation as spill over from doing Argent Tournament Daily quests as well as from running level 80 dungeons.

Does this mean that when you enter the Hall of Explorers after you've reach exalted they will greet you with great enthusiasm? Sorry, no. As one commenter put it: "I just try to imagine their indifference as stunned silence."
Lets say you want to try to fit in, look more like the most famous of the Explorers' Leagues Members Brann Bronzebeard. What would you need? It is actually rather simple. The basic uniform consists of a Russet Hat, Rugged Trapper's Shirt, Rugged Trapper's Pants, Rugged Trapper's Boots, and a Thick cloth belt.

In all honesty it looks very similar to my fishing outfit but that is neither here nor there.

Hot Fix Nerfs

Today when I got on to do my daily dungeon for my Frost Badges I finished my run and did a quick check of my Recount as usual. I about fell out of my chair...what happened to my dps? Granted I was running with out any buffs but it shouldn't have been THAT low.

Tonight for my husband's Birthday run he decided to he wanted to do Black Temple so we 15 manned it. Again I finish the run, looked at the numbers and almost cry...WHAT HAPPENED?!?! I check and find THIS lovely piece of information:

As many of you have suspected, we think rogue damage is too high. We will be making hotfixes to lower the maximum damage output of Assassination and Combat rogues. The Combat nerf will be slight. Both specs should still do just fine on damage meters (assuming skill, gear etc.) but shouldn't be beating out other specs to such a large degree.

The thing that bothers me the most is this post was made AFTER the Hot fix had ALREADY been implemented.  At least the one regarding the rogues. If they are going to Nerf us at LEAST have the decency to TELL us about it. Not AFTER the fact.

So what all got nerfed?

• The base damage bonus from Hunger for Blood has been reduced from 10% to 5%.
  
  
• The bonus damage rogues gain from attack power for poisons has been decreased. This applies to Instant Poison, Deadly Poison, and Wound Poison.

The only NICE thing we got out of this hot fix was that Stealthed rogues should no longer trigger traps in Ice Crown Citadel from long range and that is a debatable as one of my FAVORITE jobs in ICC was to break the traps. With Cloak of shadows I could just wipe the aoe and sprint away so the tanks could pick up the Statues.

My guess is this change is going to force us to be looking at Agility again over Attack Power...yet ANOTHER re gem....come on guys this is getting stinking EXPENSIVE and I have access to free gems via PvP. But complete regems every week is ridiculous. I am not a big one on QQing and I will leave it to the experts at EJ's to figure out all the math but even I can see this is going to be causing us some head aches.

Know Your Rogue Lore: Lana Stouthammer

I debated long and hard as to who I wanted to discuss as our last lore figure of the year. Finally I centered in on Lana Stouthammer. Lana is a confusing individual who came into existence in patch 3.1 because while she is an Alliance NPC her image for the Alliance is VERY different than it is for the Horde. Alliance players might not even be aware that she IS a rogue while Horde players are VERY aware of this. So lets take a look at her dual personality.

For Alliance players this was the Lana Stouthammer we were first introduced to as a Valiant quest giver for Ironforge. You will notice she is sporting Pally Tier 6. She is also a red head with a pony tail. This was later changed when the Argent Tournament Coliseum itself was opened with patch 3.2. (Though I think few people noticed as many of us had already gotten beyond the point of doing her quests.)

This is the Lana Stouthammer Alliance players will encounter today. Note she is NOW a double braided brunette sporting the rogue set of the Furious Gladiator Leather Armor from Arena Season 6 with two Aledar's Battlestar's and the all important Eye patch. (This is a different one than the classic Eye of Rend model and I haven't had any luck finding an exact match. Be sure once I do I will up date this as it looks sweet and I would love to get my hands on one.)

Again for Alliance Players Lana is the Champion for Ironforge and gives out Six Valiant quests for them.

A Valiant of Ironforge

A Valiant's Charge

A Blade Fit for a Champion

A Worthy Weapon

The Edge of Winter

The Valiant's Challenge

On a side note if you haven't managed to get to exalted reputation with Ironforge before this time it is always a good idea to just continue to do these quests until you almost reach it before you complete The Valiant's Challenge because once you become a Champion with Ironforge the other quests disappears as do their large reputation gaining benefits.

For Horde Players Lana is a frustrating joke, since as ALL players KNOW there ARE no Female Dwarf Rogues. So when they first encounter her in the Trial of the Champion they often mistake her for a hunter.

Lana will randomly appear as one of the three Alliance Champions during the Horde version of the Trial of the Champion five man dungeon. In this encounter she has several different abilities. The first phase is the joust phase in which she is mounted on her trusty Ram and can do charge, shield breaker and if a player is dis mounted, trample, stunning the player and causing them additional damage. It is the second phase for which she is most hated.

In phase two Lana shows two common rogue abilities plus an additional one that many rogues wish they had access to. The first is the classic Eviserate but unlike the rest of us she has no need to build up combo points. The second is Fan of Knives which she uses liberally. The final is a move called Poison Bottle which is an instant and has a 30 yard radius. It is this final move more than any others that has her so hated. She will fling this about and if you fail to move out of it the results can be disastrous especially for clothies.

Well that wraps us up for this year. I hope you all have enjoy this as much as I have researching and writing them. Again if any of you have specific rogues you would like me to cover please feel free to let me know!

Have a great and blessed New Year everyone!

What I did for Christmas

So yesterday was Christmas and from a WoW stand point you really can't do much because you SHOULD be focusing on your family. With four children that is most certainly the case so the majority of the day was spent with them running around seeing relatives, opening gifts and over all just getting stressed out.

Coming home with a mountain of new distractions for them was a WONDERFUL thing. (Legos and Matchbox are God's gift to parents if you didn't know better, providing you don't get anything TO huge and complicated.) By 6:30 two of them were so worn out they put THEMSELVES to bed and the other two popped in one of the new movies they had gotten to watch while they had a lego war in the Rec. Room.

This left the Hubby and I the WHOLE EVENING to just play. Now my Christmas gift from my hubby this year was a new Keyboard. Finally something more advanced than my usual $10 logitic that does the job but has to be replaced every year. I got a Merc and I LOVE IT!!

 Yeah, it isn't the latest and greatest as it was first introduced three years ago. Sure it isn't illuminated like it's upgraded stealth version. But it is the first actually GAMING keyboard I have ever owned and I am amazed at how quickly I have adapted to it. Now I should clarify that a bit. I have adapted on Daraia. With her this keyboard just SINGS. My fingers can reach each of the key bindings easily with few miss strokes even from the beginning. My priest and hunter on the other hand...yeah not so much but I know it will come with time and practice.

 So we popped on line and picked up our Winter Veil Gifts from under the Christmas Tree. The long awaited Red Rider Air Riffle had arrived and now we could all do the long anticipated achievement BBKing. For Rogues this achievement is pretty easy. Stealth in, take your shot, sprint and vanish but for the vast majority not so much. Thus began my frustration. I got my first two off with out a hitch but I figured I would save Orgimmar for last as I knew that would be the most difficult.

The problem is that large groups of people had decided if you all just group up into a raid and GO to the city you should be able to do BOTH the BB King achievement AND the For the Alliance one. The result? A free for all BRAWL at Thunder Bluff. Now I don't know how long of a respawn timer they have on the faction leaders but after 45 minutes of waiting for Cairne to respawn I gave up in frustration for the night.

Since I hadn't done my daily Heroic yet I checked within guild to see if there was any interest and proceeded to get those out of the way for both Daraia and my Hunter. It was only 8, a whole night ahead of us. Our tank Enok had to call it to go do more family things so I pleaded with the plate wearer of the family to come tank for us. Reason being I had noticed the quality of pug tanks had drastically reduced over the holidays and since I was now running on my PRIEST I really would prefer a more relaxed run.

He agreed to ONE run with myself and two other guild mates but then he was DONE he said. Well we qued in and picked up Whiskerfree from Nathrezim. One quick Heroic Halls of Lightning later Whisker asked if we were going to be doing anymore and would mind if he tagged along. He had no IDEA what he would set in motion.

One of the reasons my hubby hates to run heroics is that he is ALWAYS OOM due to being so over geared. Well He agreed to do another but THIS time he wanted to try to do it wearing his Santa hat and suit. Since he was STILL over defense cap and almost 40k health even in THIS get up we all agreed. We popped back into the que and headed into Heroic Utgarde Keep. Again a nice smooth run, but by this time Hubby was in the mood. He asked for a quick break before we headed back in and when we next qued up and headed into Heroic Old Kingdom we were greeted with such pulling macros as:

"Santa knows that you've been naughty"

"Here is some coal in your stocking"

"What?!? No Milk and Cookies?"

"Santa is coming to YOUR town"

Since Old Kingdom has one of the Winter Hat drops the mage in the group Kena got into the act as well. Soon we were seeing "Let it snow, let is snow, let it snow" whenever she cast blizzard.

Therigwin decided that the Santa suit wasn't offering enough of a challenge. So his NEXT idea was to do the run COMPLETELY SMASHED. Off we went and thankfully ended up in Heroic Violet Hold as we had to direct him with "Center Top" or "Bottom Left" so he knew where the portals spawned as he could see absolutely NOTHING on his screen but blur.

Needless to say it was one of the most enjoyable chain heroic runs I have participated in for a VERY long time. Wither we will make it a holiday tradition or not we will have to see. I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas!

Know Your Rogue Lore: Greatfather Winter

With it being Winter Veil I thought we would take a bit of a break and look one of the major lore figures of the season. For the Alliance that is Greatfather Winter. (The Horde version is called Great-father Winter but he is really nothing more than a commercial copy and we will get into that in a bit.)

So who is this guy and where did he come from?

The ORIGINAL Greatfather Winter is Hodir. The guy who many a player curse his son's as they grind their reputation for their shoulder enchants. For the Dwarves or "Earthen" as they were originally created by the Titians the Father figure to the Frost Giants was one of the few ghostly memories they had of their past as they celebrated the coming winter each year. Hodir himself refers to the Veil of Winter when you encounter him in Ulduar stating "The veil of winter will protect you champions!"

When the "curse of flesh" hit the earthen and they migrated south from Northrend the idea of the Titians and their watchers slowly morphed into legend and fairy tail. Eventually Hodir became "Greatfather Winter" the mythical being who walked Azeroth, in his wake would fall a wintery cloak of snow. Dwarves being what they are, would welcome the seasonal changes with a day of feasts and parties.

Next enter the goblins. Those harbingers of all things commercial and money making. In the idea of Greatfather Winter the Goblin's of Smoky Pastures saw a money making opportunity and they took it. Even better it only required one season of hard work and the rest of the year to prepare and enjoy the fruits of their labors. As a result they took the IDEA of Greatfather Winter and EXPANDED it. Turning it into the season of commercialize gift giving that we know today. They were even able to introduce this concept to the HORDE replacing the DWARVEN Greatfather Winter with an Orc they called Great-father Winter who serves exactly the same function. As no one is adverse to gifts and fun the Horde embraced this new tradition with open arms.

To further "de-mystify" Greatfather Winter Smoky pastures has turned him into nothing more than a Cookie and milk eating, gift giving symbol. His origins and significance lost to all but a very few. Even those who take the time to ATTEMPT to look into the history of Winter Veil will often find it more shrouded in mystery and myth than fact.

Now lets say for the sake of holiday spirit you wanted to DRESS like Greatfather Winter this season. Could you do it? Why yes, yes you could. But it would take you a bit of effort and would most likely be something you would need to create a specific character to do as some of the items are BoP. (My suggestion would be a Male Dwarf or Orc for obvious reasons.)

Greatfather Winter's Costume seems to consist of the following items:
Flarecore Robe
Dusky Belt
Snowhide Bracers
Red Hands of the Thunderlord
Winter Boots
Furbolg Medicine Pouch

(Many thanks to Kirina who came up with this list)

I hope you all have enjoyed this seasonal "Know Your Rogue Lore". I plan to be back to a more regular blogging schedule once all my little minions are back in school. For now the plan is to post "pre written" posts for my series with an occasional bit I may SOMEHOW manage to write up around all the holiday bussel that happens in a home with four children.

Merry Christmas!!

Know Your Rogue Lore: Yili

With Patch 3.3 hitting I couldn't pass up the chance to look at one of our NEWEST rogue lore introductions. Yili is going to be VERY important to all of the Alliance raiders as she serves the important function of being our gear vendor. But who is she and what do we know about her?

A gnome rogue she proved herself in the Argent Crusade Tournament to become part of the elite strike team going into Ice Crown Citadel called The Ashen Verdict. Lead by none other than such greats as Tirion Fordring and Darion Mograine the group is also joined by Muradin Bronzebeard.

Due to her diminutive size it is easy to miss Yili when you enter the Light's Hammer section of Ice Crown Citadel. She is located at the VERY end of a line of vendors on the right hand side platform as you enter the instance. She is dressed in the Tier 10 armor with Steel Bladebreaker in her left hand but her MAIN hand weapon is a CASTER dagger of all things the Blade of Tarasque (thank you Kryssa for identifying that for me!) Why? No clue.

Just as with previous patches gear can be purchased with emblems, the price is Emblems of Frost. However there is a difference this time around. To upgrade your piece you need to have cleared the IC on Normal FIRST before you gain access to the Heroic instance encounters. Then the final boss of each wing drops a token which can be used to get the upgraded gear. So while the pieces might cost you a bit you should get to use it for a while before you are trading it out.

Rogue Loot 3.3

These lists are not in any way conclusive but what has been discovered so far.

The Frozen Hall is broken into three separate instances (think Scarlet Monastery) but similar to Caverns of Time's Old Hillsbrad to Black Morass progression you have to complete them in a certain order. (At least the first time you do it.) Progression is as follows: you begin in the Forge of Souls with either Lady Proudmore (Alliance) or Lady Sylvanas (Horde) as your guide. This instance only contains two bosses, Bronjahm the Godfather of Souls and the Devourer of Souls.

After completing the Forge of Souls you are ported to the second wing, the Pit of Saron. From now on you will be able to port directly to the Pit whenever you desire from the portal room. Here again you meet up with either of the ladies and continue on for the three boss fight encounters this instance has to offer. The first is Forgemaster Garfost, followed by a SET of bosses Ick & Krick then concluding with Scourgelord Tyrannus.While you encounter Tyrannus soon after you enter the instance you need to complete the others before you will be able to face him.

Once you are rescued from Sindragosa at the end of Pit of Saron you can move on to the final wing of the Frozen Halls, the Lich King's private quarters. Called the Halls of Reflection it is very similar to Black Morass in how the fight goes, waves of adds with three boss encounters. The first is with Falric, the second Marwyn and then finally the Lich King himself.

From the Normal Ice Crown Citadel Dungeon: The Frozen Hall will come the following items that rogues might find useful:

Accursed Crawling Cape -Drops off final boss in Forge of Souls
Bewildering Shoulderpads- Drops off first boss in Forge of Souls
Carpal Tunnelers - Drops off second boss in Halls of Reflection
Crypt Fiend Slayer - Bow from the chest you receive after completing Halls of Reflection successfully.
Flayer's Black Belt - Drops off first boss in Pit of Saron
Ghoulslicer - Main hand Sword drops off first boss in Halls of Reflection
Hate-Forged Cleaver - Main hand Axe from the chest you receive after completing Halls of Reflection
Heartshiver - Main hand Dagger off of final boss in Forge of Souls
Krick's Beetle Stabber - Off hand dagger from the second set of bosses in Pit of Saron
Rimebane Riffle - Gun from final boss in Pit of Saron
Ring of Carnelian - Drops from first boss in Pit of Saron
Shaggy Wyrmleather Leggings - Drops off the final boss in Pit of Saron

From the Heroic version we can expect to discover the following items:
Band of Stained Souls - Ring from final boss in Pit of Saron
Barbed Ymirheim Choker - Necklace from the first boss in Pit of Saron
Black Icicle - Main hand mace from completing Halls of Reflection
Blighted Leather Footpads - Again from completing Halls of Reflection
Blood Weeper - Main hand dagger from second boss in Forge of Souls
Chewed Leather Wristguards - Drops off the second set of bosses in Pit of Saron
Choking Hauberk - Comes from the second boss in Halls of Reflection
Felglacier Bolter - Crossbow from the second set of bosses in Pit of Saron
Fleshwork Leggings - Drops from final boss in Pit of Saron
Frayed Scoundrel's Cap - Comes from the final boss in Forge of Souls
Liar's Tongue - Off hand sword from chest at completing the Halls of Reflection
Needle-Encrusted Scorpion - Trinket from final boss in Forge of Souls
Nighttime - Main hand axe from first boss in Forge of Souls
Papa's Brand New Knife - Throwing weapon from first boss in Forge of Souls
Seven-Fingered Claws - Fist weapon Main hand from TRASH in Forge of Souls
Spaulders of Black Betrayal - Comes from the first boss in Halls of Reflection
Unsharpened Ice Razor - Off hand Dagger TRASH drop from Pit of Saron

The Raid portion of Ice Crown Citadel will be released in five separate sections (think Sunwell) but this time the opening of each is controlled by Blizzard rather than the efforts of a server as a whole.

The first wing is called The Lower Spire and contains four boss encounters. Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, the much discussed Gunship Battle, with Deathbringer Saurfang concluding this wing. The Plagueworks contain three boss encounters, Festergut, Rotface and Professor Putricide. The third wing is called the Crimson Hall but only contains two boss encounters but the first is actually a group of three, the Blood Prince Council is made up of Prince Keleseth, Prince Taldaram and Prince Valanar. The final boss of this wing is Blood-Queen Lana'thel. Frostwing Hall again only contains two boss encounters, Valithria Dreamwalker (which is a unique fight in that you are actually attempting to HEAL her rather than KILL her) and Sindragosa. The final wing is none other than the Frozen Throne itself with only The Lich King as an encounter.

Like The Trial of the Crusader raid Ice Crown has three levels of gear which can be obtained from Normal 10 man raid encounters, Heroic 10 man/Normal 25 man Raids or Heroic 25 man. What is DIFFERENT is that this time rather than having separate lock outs for each the Raid leader can switch from Normal to Heroic WITHIN the encounter thereby only effecting the specific encounter and loot table. This Raid will also drop a new type of emblem called the Emblem of Frost. Like previously these can also be obtained by doing a daily dungeon or by the newly implemented weekly raid quests.

Gear purchasable with Emblems of the Frost:
Cat Burglar's Grips 
Herkuml War Token - Trinket
Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape
Shadow Seeker's Tunic
Shrapnel Star - Throwing weapon
Vengeful Noose - Necklace

Also like Karazhan there are quest/reputation rewards you can achieve for completing the instance from a new faction called the Ashen Verdict. These will include rings as well as craft patterns. The Ring that rogues will be going after is the Ashen Band of Vengeance.

There is also the much discussed Quel'Delar quest chain which contains such rewards as the Cudgel of Furious Justice. 

Normal 10 man drops the following items:

Bone Warden's Splitter -  Off hand Axe from first boss in the Lower Spire
Frost Giant's Cleaver - Main hand Axe from the Gunship Battle
Gutbuster - Main hand Mace from first boss in the second wing.
Plague-Soaked Leather Leggings - Again from the first boss of the second wing
Saurgang's Cold-Forged Band - Of course drops off the final boss of the Lower Spire
Scourge Stranglers - Shoulders from final boss of Lower Spire
Shadowblade's Battlegear - Obtainable with Emblems of the Frost
Shawl of the Nerubian Silk - Cloak from first boss in Lower Spire

Heroic 10 Man/Normal 25 drops the following items:

Band of the Colossus -  Comes from first boss in Lower Spire
Black Bruise - Fist weapon from first boss in Plagueworks wing
Bloodvenom Blade - Sword from final boss in Lower Spire
Deathbringer's Will - Trinket from final boss in Lowe Spire
Frost Giant's Cleaver - Axe from Gunship Battle HEROIC ONLY
Gangrenous Leggings - Drops from first boss in Plagueworks wing
Ikfirus's Sack of Wonder - Chest piece from Gunship Battle
Scourge Stranglers - Shoulders final boss in Plagueworks HEROIC ONLY
Scourgeborne Waraxe - From Gunship Battle
Shadowvault Slayer's Cloak - Gunship Battle
Stakethrower - Gun from final boss in the Crimson Hall on HEROIC ONLY
Wodin's Lucky Necklace - Trash drop

Heroic 25 will of course drop the very BEST gear, things that have been discovered so far are:

Bloodvenom Blade - Final boss in Lower Spire
Deathbringer's Will - Trinket off final boss in Lower Spire
Toskk's Maximized Wristguards -  Final Boss in Lower Spire

Newest Crafted Gear -
Bladeborn Leggings - Leatherworking drop pattern
Footpads of Impending Death - Leatherworking drop pattern

Of course we can not forget the newest upgrade to the Runed Band of the Kirin Tor.

So that is it, that is all we know of certain of so far. MMO Champion of course has data mined a whole lot more but as to where exactly those pieces may be located? That is still up in the air.