Next Steps

Earlier in the week I said my goodbye's to the toons on my realm and passed off any usable items/money to them. My departure this round is more personal as I am not freezing my main but rather removing it from existence.

I did this by deleting its presence entirely from the realm-space. I started with my alts then moved to my main. It was *painful* but took steps to ensure that this was recorded for sentimental purposes by screen capturing the content. I took the liberty of posting it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K75g6DHbtC0

Regards,
TJ

End of the Line...

All,

it is with some regret that I will no longer be posting to this journal. I canceled my account effective as of March 5th and will be dispersing whatever remaining possessions to key people on the Uther realm. My reasons for "hanging it up" is dual fold, and listed below (not in any order):

1) The game has gotten to repetitious and is a serious time drain. Over the past 3+ years of WoW'ing, I've put in approximately 74 days (approx. $800 bucks in subscription fees) into this game. Try to put this into perspective - I could have had advanced in the name of productivity in a number of fronts including but not limited to - a) developing a start-up business to generate residual income, b) started a second language, c) start learning violin or trumpet, d) sell guns and made lots of money, etc.

2) Blizzard's game play experience has greatly diverged from where I think it should have evolved to. Again this is just my humble opinion based on my observations - particularly around the time the 1st and 2nd XP's came out. If I were to try and sum this up, I'd say

• Blizzard homogenized most class abilities to the point beyond recognition.
  
• 2nd XP only - plate classes rule (DK/RP). I can't figure out what shit Blizzard was smoking when they made/reworked these classes - amazing DPS output, superb defensive capability and literally no downside.
  

This isn't a rant/qq at Blizzard - I have no regrets playing this game. Its just the end of the line for me.

All the best,
TJ

My Evolving Keybinds Revisited...

In my opinion, one of the most coveted things rogues rarely disclose is their keybind layout. I mean who wants to advertise how they took you down with a minimal amount of effort as a result, in part, of a well laid out keybind setup. Rogues, in my opinion, stand out from other WoW classes because we have to manipulate several offensive and defensive maneuvers well to survive in PVP (you'll see what I mean below). If there are other classes that have similar setup in depth as I have, please feel free to post it - I'd be most interested in seeing it.

Before I go over my setup, you should recognize as I do that everyones hands are different as are the mouse and keyboard that they use. My layout below is in no way depicting a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Its intended rather to document my evolving layout and hopefully stir up some interest...


Stealth Mode: 8 keybinds total
1 > ambush
2 > garrote
3 > gouge
4 > pick pockets
5 > macro for improved sap (I'll go over this macro in another post)
6> cheap shot
sA > Disarm traps
sE > Preparation

Combat Mode: 24 keybinds total
(note s depicts SHIFT key, m mouse key)
1> shiv
2> macro for sinister strike
3> gouge
4> evis
5> macro for mutilate
6> kidney shot
sA > fan of knives
sC > kick
sV > every man for himself
sQ > thistle tea
sR > rupture
sD > dismantle
sF > envenom
sH > runic heal pot / health stone for arena
sG > macro for bandage self
sT > blind
s3 > evasion
s2 > SnD
s1 > distract
s4 > vanish
` > stealth
sE > preparation
m4 > cloak of shadows
m5 > sprint

I'll review my Macro's that I use in the next post - enjoy...

Review of Deep Assassin build for Raiding

Over the past week, I tried a variation in the Assassin tree which reportedly lends itself to raiding. Its a 51/13/7 build (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0gfoexoVboIzAo0xV0hZxb). It leverages Hunger for Blood (HFB), along with Cut to the Chase for refreshing Slice-n-Dice (SnD) to its 5 point maximum. In this post, I wanted to discuss its gains/weaknesses from an overall playing experience. Additionally, I've included my own comments about its viability in PVE/PVP, however, this is just my own feelings about it.

Once I got this build setup properly, I hit the dummy targets over near SI:7 and put up my DPS meter. In this scenario, I loaded my blades with inst/deadly poisons and primed HFB to its 3 point maximum. In order to sustain maximum DPS output, you have to keep up your HFB and SnD. Here is what I typically do to maintain this:

1) Opener - you should get anywhere between 4-5 on Combo Points (CB). I typically use Rupture then Shiv followed by a Mutilate.

2) SnD - get this up, then use your normal attacks. When you're SnD gets low, use Eviscerate to bring it to its 5 point maximum (20 secs)

3) While your refreshing SnD, wait for the Mutilate cycle to hit (60+ energy) then execute it

4) Check HFB for expiry and refresh to its 29 sec maximum

5) Rinse / Repeat - but make sure you keep an eye on your expiry timers on HFB, and SnD while at the same time refreshing them and hitting your Mutilate cycles. There are probably add-ons from wow-curse that can aid in keeping track of this. Its important to remember your raid cycles will revolve around building mutiliate, followed by either another mutilate or Evis / HFB reprime. You shouldn't be using any other offensive maneuvers during this cycle.

With a little practice you'll get the swing of this as it does require thought about its execution. So getting back to my experiment, after a few minutes of doing this on those target dummies (the master type), I noticed my damage meters shot up several hundred points going from a measly 1100 dps to like 1600 dps - w00t.

Ok now for the real test. I went into a PUG for AN in heroic mode. I noticed some improvement in my overall dps but problems arose that made it increasingly difficult to keep up SnD + HFB. For example, several situations required me to move around a lot compounded by having to shift between targets periodically. This is on top of the typical defensive countermeasures that a rogue has to employ such as (evasion, vanish, cloak of shadows, etc.) To me, this *greatly* adds to the overall complexity of keeping your Mutilate cycles up along with HFB + SnD. Needless to say, I am not overly enthusiastic about this builds viability in a raid setting. I will admit that heroic AN is tougher than most Northrend heroics but irrespective of that, the aforementioned variables exist in other Heroics as well.

Because I primarily do PVP/PVE stuff, I wanted to feel out this builds usefulness in each specific context. To keep this short, I found it largely ineffective in PVP/PVE as I simply either didn't have the desire to keep priming my HFB or by the time I opened on NPC's the target was down already. For now I switched back to my 41/5/25 build. I might look at a deep combat build at a later time but am hoping Blizzard implements a multi-talent spec option in game without paying for it.

Regards,
TJ

The Beginning of the End...

I hit 80th level about two weeks ago while questing in Icecrown. I was happy that I didn't have to level anymore but realized that this is it - I won't be leveling my main anymore...ever. The good thing is that there are lots of things to do, all with relatively little time investment.

So basically I have decided to break up my time in three areas:

1) Completing as many Icecrown + StormPeak quests - I really don't need to do IC but am enjoying the story line as it ties back to Arthas. I need to do StormPeaks so that I can grind out my rep. and get the shoulder enchants with the Son's of Hodir. Questing will obviously help maintain upkeep on my repairs and other miscellaneous expenses. Its been said there are on average 550 quests per zone in Northrend (whew).

2) Guild Raiding - Will be running whatever comes my way from Northrend thats level 80. This will aid in gear'ing me up as my DPS output is somewhat below par at the moment. This is partially caused by my talent spec being a Mut/Sub variant with lots of burst damage output and survivability measures for pvp. Luckily my guild doesn't require me to respec. I am considering a hybrid spec between PVP/PVE but don't want to incur any expenses at this time - I heard the next patch 3.0.8 may not have the mulit-talent spec. capability - might be buckwheats for me until then.

3) PVP - I recently started to PVP again in the BG's. Although it was nice to get back into this, its somewhat overwhelming since the whole gameplay feel has changed. Everything seems to move more quickly and with the introduction of DK's, a new twist to the gameplay has been factored in. I recently noticed my Thistle tea gets a -20 point energy reduction at 80 (booooo). As far as Arena, I bought a 2's team charter and will most likely start running rated matches this week. I will also be continuing skirmishes as a warm up prior to doing the rated team matchups. I don't want to rush into Arena too quickly until I start collecting better gear.

Cheers,
TJ

WOTLK - Nearing the End...

I just leveled to 79 tonight and started looking for gear to replace my S1-S3 pvp gear. To my surprise, there is one particularly insane leather-working recipe for pvp rogues that come stacked with crit-rating, attack power, and resilience, not to mention an abundant amount of base points in Agi/Stam.

The set is named the Eviscerator (an 8 piece set) and can be easily made or bought depending on your profession set, or who you know. In my case, I make decent money so I just said f*** it - I bought several pieces along with a respective entry level WOTLK enchants to boot. What I found astounding were the materials used to make this stuff - they can be easily harvested/bought if you so choose - and I mean EASY. The materials in pre BC took an insane amount of grinding/questing/partying to get measely table scraps. This works well for me as I am limited time wise on steady game play but I do recognize many oversights with Blizzard's casual game design which I will not get into - its just too lengthy of a topic.

Next steps my main (not necessarily in any order):

1. leveling to 80 (questing/grinding - the usual churn)
   
2. max out primary/secondary professions alchemy and lock picking
   
3. max out combat areas such as throwing stuff and daggers
   
4. get some higher end gear starting with my daggers and/or neck piece (its the only 70 item I have left)

The journey to 80 is nearing its end...onto 80.

WOTLK Combat Conversions...

Found this on the web somewhere - it looks legit however we'll know more about the true numbers for level 80 later on.. enjoy

WOTLK Initial Thoughts and Impressions...

It's been some time from my last update so I thought I'd journal my initial impressions of the second WoW expansion pack (XP). Being only 1 month in to the XP, I'll limit my thoughts mostly on PVE. At the time of this writing I've only been able to hit 75 so my experiences thus far are limited. I'll defer my comments on PVP since I am waiting to hit 80. I've rated each of the categories below on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best, 1 being abysmal)...

Questing (rating 4):
The quests themselves are much improved from the first XP. There seems to be much more integration between the storyline and quests available. A stellar example of this is the quest line that starts in Dragonblight and ends at the gates of the Ice Crown followed by a fantastic assault on Undercity. There are, I will add, cut-scenes which are really enjoyable to watch and enhance the overall pve game experience. I was living out my MJ dreams during the Undercity assault. Aside from the DB quests, there seem to be a LOT of PVP based daily's in Grizzly Hills which provides some much needed variety. Without giving things away, there are notably many more quests that involve mounted creatures on land/air. In Borjean Tundra, there's even a group of Druids that seek the elimination of Nesingwary (the hunter from Nagrand) which is kind of interesting - continuing a storyline between XP1 and XP2.

I would have given it a solid 5 but I did come across a few quests that were completely ridiculous - namely the "Riding the Red Rocket" and one other that I can't recollect the name where you need to either drop 20+ gp on an engineer'd part of know someone who can make it.


Landscapes and Creature Modeling (rating 5):
in one word..fantastic! The folks at Blizzard did a remarkable job at creating beautiful landscapes... if you look closely at the details, they made a lot of enhancements around fire, smoke, waterfalls, magics, etc... The layouts of each zone is unique but in some way has a feel as if they are part of the same land mass (Northrend). Creature modeling seems to be much improved. Mob's have more facial detail and seem less toon'ish. The most important thing for me was that it didn't require me to upgrade my hardware but improved enough to take notice.

Class Diversity: (rating 1):
Having played many online RPG's and MMO's (including an extensive paper and die RPG run), I have found some things that were fairly consistent: In a group setting, spell caster/Healer classes were relatively weak in melee range, had exceptionally low durability and armor, but were ultra-powerful when defended properly in the backdrop. Then you had your close range melee classes, which had medium to exceptional armor, were ultra powerful in close range single point melee. And then you had your hybrid classes, that were either a combination of ranged/melee or melee/casting which had greater utility in small group settings.

This to me, translates to tighter integration and a more enjoyable playing experience as you are dependent upon your other classes to do what they are supposed to do. You see this to some extent in group/dungeon/raid settings in WoW, however Blizzard took this in what I think is the wrong direction. Blizzard decided to blend class attributes from class to another. For example, several classes have the ability to do *single-point melee* DPS that equals or exceeds some top end raiding rogues. A great example of this are the new Death Knight's (DK's) or Retribution Pallys. Lots of DPS potential, great defensive capability - no down side. Even on the rogue side I've seen another manifestation with the introduction of Cloak of Shadows, giving them some magical defense capability, followed by Killing spree - what now rogues have multi-target AOE capability? I realize that Blizz is trying to give classes better play survivability in PVP but I don't think it was done correctly.

Conclusion:
So far I am enjoying the overall game experience of PVE, barring a few minor quest annoyances. Blizzard is one of those game companies that I have no regrets plunking down loot on - despite our gross differences in class diversity, I found the second XP well worth trying out. I'll post an update, when I go full PVP - there are some general concerns with aforementioned classes however I'll give it a go.

PVP Status Check and Next Steps

In absence of a better title, I wanted to leave some personal notes regarding my overall PVP status in areas such as BG, Arena, thoughts about the Mutilate spec., and my current guild/realm status:

My overall PVP progression has been exciting to say the least. After settling on a key-bind layout, combat maneuvers and a fair amount of practice, I've been able to amass slightly over 6K of HP, several PVP items ranging in quality from S1 to S3 and have gained some valuable insight into PVP-land. I have also gained insight into other classes strengths/weaknesses as this is an essential element in PVP game-play.

As far as the specific areas of PVP-land (Arena/BG), my strategy up to this point is designate 1/2 nights a week for Arena, 3-4 nights for BG and perform dailys to raise capital when my loot supply is low.

I created a new Arena team "Cows in da hood" which was created out of a news incident observed on a podcast a few weeks back about some cows going buck wild in a remote neighborhood out in the mid-west - my description doesn't give it any justice whatsoever. I was able to bring on 2 Shaman from an earlier Areana team. I'm really happy they decided to join as we've played before in Arena and have developed a good rhythm with them. We also have a new hunter but am seeking 2 more to complete the team composition.

As far as the mutilate spec, its wicked evil. With the combo point build up of Seal-Fate + Initiative, I'm able to rack up CP's fairly quickly. I am also utilizing finisher's more effectively based on the class I am up against. One in particular that I am particularly fond of is Envenom as it appears to mitigate armor completely. I also use rupture on occasion but its dependent on if I want to be near the target or back off. One slight annoyance with the assassin build - its a positional talent which means you have to be behind your target to get off a mutilate. Some PVP'ers (not many) spot that out and try to keep their backs away from my front side.

I still want to try ShS build as this is the only talent build configuration I haven't tried as of yet. The only drag here is I hear this build works best with higher damage based weapons coupled with Hemo + lots of attack power which might mean I may need to get a new set of weapons.

One more note - I left my guild - it basically disbanded. I wish all members, class leads and GM the best of luck.

I don't think I'll be in a guild going forward - I switched to the dark side.

PVP Key Binds

Hello again,

I'm hooked on PVP'ing (Both Arena and BG) and have recently made the switch to a mutilate spec (43/0/18) - to accommodate for the faster game play, I had to remap all my key bindings. Previously (in PVE-land) I didn't have to worry about that split second key sequence but now I do.

This is a first cut so it will probably go through some minor modifications as I feel it out - unfortunately there are roughly 24 key bindings that I have to commit to memory so its no doubt that this will take some time before it becomes 2nd nature.

COMBAT
1 shiv
2 sinister strike
3 gouge
4 eviscerate
5 mutilate
6 cheapshot

SHIFT KEY STUFF (denoted s)
sC kick
sA Thistle Tea
sR slice-n-dice
sS Expose armor
sD rupture
sF envenom
s1 Distract
s2 Sprint
s3 Evasion
s4 cloak of shadows
s5 Vanish
s` Cold blood

MISC
` stealth
mouse3 deadly throw
s + m3 = throw
sV insignia of alliance
sG macro - quick bandage

STEALTH
1 ambush
2 garrote
3 sap
4 pickpockets
5 shiv
6 cheap shot

Note: I have to work on repositioning the s2 key - I have to shift my hands to get to this key combo. Also I had to move my escape key to the right side of the keyboard as I am constantly hitting it during battle.

Later on, I'll post some observations about the mutilate spec - still feeling it out.

Regards,
TJ

Time off...

I've been away from W0W for some time due to life's consistent time constraints - I don't know how some of my peeps do it (yes they have kids and full time jobs).

Basically I've made some decisions about what to do and when to do them based on these constraints:

1. Starting to PVP - this has changed dramatically since I last went into BG or Arena - the queue times are drastically down and the in/out times seem to have went down as well. This works well for me since I can't be on a schedule (its all adhoc) and I don't have much steady time to be on WoW - approx 1, 2 hours in a clip.

2. Getting my Epic - about 60% through collections and am running the 3,4,5 man group quests in BEM, SMV and NS - if I get a good group, we're basically going to roll through 4/5 of these in a clip - thats not bad l00t in one setting.

3. Rep building - need to get revered with some factions and considering exalted for 1/2 factions based on rep. rewards - some of them are real sweet such as skyguard.

4. Potion Mastery - I still need to run through bot and get my potion mastery - this will greatly increase my ability to make pots in quantity on occasion. I hope to get this before my epic as farming for herbs will no doubt be much quicker.

5. Skill Building - need to boost up fishing/cooking, as well as swords and thrown skills. Most of my other areas are max'd out already.

As for raiding, well this is not a focus area right now - its not the actual runtime through the instance that gets me its the setup, and the commitment to the scheduled time that I can't seem to fit in - oh well - luckily Bliz has provided enough rewards in BG/Arena to minimize the urge to raid.

More to come...

TJ

Combat Ratings: Level 70 Conversions

The following is actually an excerpt from the Blizz forums regarding the Combat Rating system at 70th level - I posted this here as a quick reference point for me :)

I should have a new rogue post up shortly...

Combat Ratings conversions at level 70 (rounded to 1 decimal point):

Weapon Skill Rating: 3.9 rating grants 1 skill point
Defense Rating: 2.4 rating grants 1 defense skill
Dodge Rating: 18.9 rating grants 1% dodge
Parry Rating: 31.5 rating grants 1% parry
Block Rating: 7.9 rating grants 1% block chance
Hit Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% hit chance
Spell Hit Rating: 12.6 rating grants 1% spell hit chance
Critical Strike Rating: 22.1 rating grants 1% critical strike chance
Spell Critical Strike Rating: 22.1 rating grants 1% spell critical strike chance
Haste Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% haste
Spell Haste Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% spell haste
Resilience Rating: 39.4 rating grants 1% less chance of being struck by any type of critical strike, and 2% less damage taken from critical strikes

Regards,
TheJackal

Pre-BC initial thoughts

BC is here in all its media-hype glory.

I was chatting with peeps from my guild the other night as it dawned on me that the expansion set will invariably effect our current raid schedule going forward. Let me explain:

1) There are no more 40-man raid's - probably due to either a lack of interest or from people complaining that its too much of a of a time commitment to attain top-end gear. Personally, I do set aside 1 raid night a week, however, the reality is that it doesn't lend itself to attaining top end gear in a reasonable time frame. Seriously, to do Naxx, its recommended to get the top-end gear from AQ40/BWL but in order to do those, its recommended to get the top-end gear from Ony/MC, but in order to do those, and so on and so on.

2) Two new races with *much* improved starting abilities than pre-bc races. Ok Blizz, nice job here; you have cleverly created an attractive incentive for players that already have 60 mains/alts, to start new characters from these new races. I can't say for sure, but I would imagine that some of our higher ranking guild members (officers and the like) will be gravitating towards these new races which means their availability with their main/alts will be somewhat diminished.

3) I think that the guild concept will change to some degree to smaller *clicks* that will be running 5-mans ad nauseam. So if you don't have any guildies that like instancing with you then you might find yourself S-O-L with doing these in-guild.

Regards,
TheJackal

Ony's Lair

So last night I turned in the elemental deck at Darkmoon Faire in return for my epic trinket. This compliments a few other trinkets in my possession but haven't had a chance to see how often it procs for nature damage.

Due to the 2.0.3 rogue talent refund (thanks bliz) I respec'd last night to a 31/2/18 build prior to entering Onyxia's lair. Talk about bad timing - I now have a spec that does quick burst damage thanks to SF but had to restrain myself since aggro control is key for phase 1.

As for Ony, we ended up wiping due to a number of reasons ranging from low head count (28) to not executing phase 2 effectively. On a positive, our guild is still in learning mode but has been making substantial progress getting closer to phase 3. As we attune more guildies and get the headcount higher, this will sail us past phase 3.

Some other comments on patch 2.0.3. Targeting was a big problem in Ony's and wasn't working properly. This was seriously messing up heals, and other castable's. Hopefully we'll see a patch for the patch real soon :)

Official 2.0.3 Rogue changes...

Ok so my timing was a bit off - 2.0.3 kicked in post weekly maintenance as the *official* class changes for the rogue class are:

Class Changes:
• Due to various talent changes, Rogues will have all talent points refunded.
• "Evasion" (Rank 2) now reduces the chance that ranged attacks will hit the Rogue by 25%, reduced from 50%. It is now available at level 50.
• The "Cloak of Shadows" cooldown has been reduced to 1 min, from 2 min. Now a trainable ability at level 66.
• "Shadowstep" (New Subtlety Talent) attempts to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy. Your next "Ambush", "Backstab" or "Garrote" ability is increased by 20% and lasts 10 sec. This is only usable while stealthed.
• "Premeditation" (Subtlety Talent) has had its range increased to 30 yards.
• "Preparation" now only resets the cooldown of the "Evasion", "Sprint", "Vanish", "Cold Blood", "Adrenaline Rush" and "Premeditation" abilities.
• "Wound Poison" now causes damage and reduces all healing by 10%, stacks up to 5 times.
• The Cooldown for "Blind" has been reduced to 3 min, from 5 min.
• There is no longer a random chance the effect of "Sap" will end (i.e. removed the heartbeat resist check). The effect will still end early when the target is damaged.
• Each rank of "Weapon Expertise"now provides 5 weapon skill.
• "Surprise Attacks" now increases the damage from "Sinister Strike", "Backstab", "Shiv" and "Gouge" by 10% instead of 8%.
• Resisted spells will no longer break "Stealth"/"Vanish".
• Combo points added to a target should not be reset until you add a combo point to a different target.

Items:
• The energy gained from "Thistle Tea" now decreases with levels past 40 :(

Bug fixes:
• Updated the tooltip on "Cloak of Shadows" with the additional line, "Does not remove effects that prevent you from using Cloak of Shadows."
• The rogue Assassination Talent "Quick Recovery" will no longer refund energy back to the Rogue if a finishing move is partially blocked.
• A "Vanished" rogue will no longer be taken out of their "vanished state" when they resist a spell.
• The rogue Assasination talent "Find Weakness" will now work properly with the finishing move "Deadly Throw".
• Using the rogue ability "Mutilate" when not behind your target will no longer initiate combat.
• The rogue ability "Slice and Dice" will no longer be reported twice in floating combat text when used.
• "Mind-Numbing Poison" will no longer stack with both "Curse of Tongues" and "Slow".

Due to the free respec for 2.0.3, thinking of respec'ing to the following talent build 31/2/18:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/rogue/talents.html?
3050231055001005010000200000000000000000000005502030300000000000000

Note: you'll need to paste the link together above - for some reason it gets truncated as a whole.

TheJackal

Undocumented 2.0.3 Changes

A bit dated but some semi-recent *un-official* changes to the rogue class coming up in 2.0.3:

-Shadowstep as 41 Talent Point
-Imp Sap switched out with Elusiveness
-Imp backstab and imp SnD have switched places.
-Imp Sap is now a 2 point talent - 50%/100%
-Surprise attack is now 10% and finishing move can no longer be dodged
-Weapon expertise changed to +10 weapon skill.
-Combo points preserved on previous target if target is changed during combat.
-Evasion (Rank 2) now trainable.
-Stealth Animation Fixed. 

Welcome...

This will be one in a series of journal entries focusing on Warcraft (WoW), Rogues, and my personal game progression. Please check back soon for new posts.

Regards,
Sneaky Assassin (aka The Jackal)