Microblog: Character Inspiration
New Transmog Pages
When Nighthold came out and I realized I was missing several pieces that only dropped in Emerald Nightmare, I decided to compile a list of where I can get all the monk and dh tier 19 models so that I know exactly what to spend my bonus roll tokens on.
Also, with the new Armor 2.0 models that don’t always display well on Wowhead (with all the cool knickknacks on the boots and gloves), I wanted to take my own pictures to remind me how pretty they are.
There’s also going to be the new Transmog Sets UI coming in 7.2, so I wanted to get ahead of the game and track them before Blizzard does.
So I wrote up some pages on the class guides with Tier 19 models. Eventually I’ll expand it to include all transmog this expansion, including lookalikes and questing gear.
Monk
Demon Hunter
Microblog: Talent Choice Equation
Long time readers might be familiar with how I chose talent recommendations, and might know that it’s a little different than most guides out there. I think what surprises most is that I don’t rely on sims. They’re a part of the equation, but not the last word. I value many other things when it comes to talents.
In no particular order:
- Utility
- Ease of use
- Generality
- Personal preference
- Popularity
- Variety
- Sims & Logs
That’s just for recommendations in my guide. When making actual talent choices in game, there’s an important #1 addition: fight mechanics.
Utility
Talents are more than just the damage / healing / damage reduction benefits, there’s always something more. As tanks, we are especially well served by being able to trade objective benefits for subjective ones.
Ease of Use
We are not computers, so in contrast to sims, anything that doesn’t demand extra attention gains some points from me. Just having a talent that doesn’t serve as an extra distraction while learning a fight is a powerful thing, even if that talent might not be the final choice when you kill the boss.
Example: Light Brewing, Agonizing Flames
Generality
Some talents are really strong in niche situations, and others are just modestly strong in all situations. In a guide, since I have no way of knowing what content you’re trying to tackle, I’m going to lean toward recommending general talents.
Example: Healing Elixirs, Feast of Souls
Personal Preference
I don’t know what other people like, but there are a few talents I’m just fond of. I can’t completely separate my own biases from this blog, nor do I really want to.
Example: Felblade, Chi Torpedo
Popularity
Keeping in mind my own bias, sometimes I’ll adjust my talent recommendations based on what the community as a whole prefers, even if it’s not my favorite thing. Just because I don’t like a talent doesn’t mean it’s a bad recommendation for others.
Example: Last Resort, Blackout Combo
Variety
Sometimes I recommend talents because I love finding uses for all of them. Even if there’s a super-niche talent, I want to find a case where it’s valuable and talk about it.
Example: Elusive Dance, Concentrated Sigils
Simulations / Logs
Sometimes the numbers speak for themselves, and even the utility benefits of some talents are overshadowed by poor simming and logging.
Example: Special Delivery (before the latest buffs to its siblings)
My Experience with Vengeance and Gul’dan
For the most part in this expansion, I’ve been able to use my monk and dh interchangeably. Sure, there have been some situations where one was a bit stronger than the other, but I could cover those weaknesses with some adjustments in strategy or toolkit and it worked out fine. But when we hit heroic Gul’dan this week, that was the first time I ever swapped out one character for the other for progression.
Microblog: Un-identity Talents
I wrote a while back about talents that I cling to because I just kinda like them. There are also talents I avoid, because I just kinda don’t.
Most of the talents I avoid are just fine balance-wise. Often, they’re even part of the cookie cutter spec most people take. And that’s great! I want them to be viable talents, for other people.
On my monk, I never take Black Ox Brew. It’s a favored talent of that tier for other people, but it doesn’t contribute to my ideal brewmaster, which is one that manages resources from second to second. I mean, I just really love the other two choices, and they’re how I want to play. (I also tend to avoid on-use talents if I can because I’m terrible/lazy.)
There’s also Blackout Combo, which is a fantastic talent that I don’t enjoy all that much. Many people do enjoy it, and I’m glad it exists. But again, it doesn’t contribute to my brewmaster ideal in the same way the other choices do. I want to manage my stagger to extremes! Either by making it really big, or purifying it really small. Stagger is my drug, and while Blackout Combo does effect it indirectly, it’s not quite the same level of excitement for me.
On my demon hunter, I hardly ever take Spirit Bomb. This historically was an unpopular talent, but even now that it’s buffed I still not be super excited about it because I don’t really feel a need for sustained leech on my DH.
I also rarely take Last Resort, another strong, popular talent! Because the way I play, I hardly ever make simple mistakes that can be recovered from with a heal to 30% and extra hp. No, the mistakes that kill me are catastrophic, usually when I fail to use Demon Spikes when I clearly should have, or if I stand in something, or mis-taunt. Last Resort doesn’t save me from those, so I pick one of the other choices instead.
I still use these talents from time to time, but I don’t enjoy them as much as the other choices.
A Brief History of Me – Stumbling into Progression
As we approach my 10 year anniversary of playing World of Warcraft, I thought I’d take a step back and do some reminiscing. Many years ago I wrote about how I started playing this game, from The Burning Crusade to the middle of Wrath. Here’s where that post ended:
Power Word Awesome was the last guild I ever felt a strong social connection with. I’m still Facebook friends with some of them. I met quite a few members at Blizzcon ’09. We went out for spaghetti and I discussed if I would race change to a troll druid when Cataclysm dropped. It was wonderful.
But sadly, real life events forced me to transfer. But that’s for another time…
Continue reading “A Brief History of Me – Stumbling into Progression”
New Nighthold Tanking Guide!
The tanking guide is up for normal and heroic Nighthold. As always, I’ll be updating over the next few weeks as I learn these fights, simplifying where I can, correcting what I got wrong, and filling in the “notes” tabs with talent builds and class-specific tips.
Nighthold Tanking Guide
Microblog: Underdog
I enjoy my class better when it isn’t the best. I might even enjoy it the most if they’re the worst. It usually means that I’ll be challenged a bit more, and I crave challenge of the sort where I just have to play tighter to survive. The way balance works in this game, it’s unlikely that any (perceived) balance issues will actually hurt my chances at progress.
I like being sort of uncommon. This is true in for many of my choices, too, including talents and cosmetics. I regularly change my demon horns if I see too many people with the same ones. There are so many vengeance demon hunters strolling around Dalaran, Lazier is but one among many nearly-identical demon-elves. But on my brewmaster, I’m special. There’s not so many of us, and I like that.
Flavor-of-the-month population surges aren’t my thing, either. I like my little group of people that enjoy the class for what it is, not the ones who felt required by their raid to reroll to it.
Most of the time I don’t even realize there was an imbalance, and I still did just fine! I tend to not pay attention to population or rankings at all until I get multiple questions about it. I’ll never be one to reroll for balance reasons.
Vengeance 7.1.5 Survival Guide
Overview
- 10% physical damage reduction was moved from Demon Spikes to passive, making us more sturdy when Demon Spikes isn’t active. We also got a stamina buff to help manage burst.
- Metamorphosis was greatly buffed, and now offers an armor increase and guaranteed Soul Fragments from Shear.
- Many talents got rebalanced. Expect to re-evaluate most talent tiers, especially tier 7 (Last Resort, Demonic Infusion, Soul Barrier).
- Item level should be more important in deciding whether items, especially rings and necklaces, are an upgrade.
- Many lackluster legendaries got buffed.
Brewmaster 7.1.5 Survival Guide
Overview
- New talents in the level 75 defensive tier! (Healing Elixir, Mystic Vitality, Dampen Harm) You should swap that talent tier around much more often now.
- Re-balanced numbers for some underused talents. You should experiment with them. (Elusive Dance, Gift of the Mists, Niuzao, Rushing Jade Wind, Ring of Peace)
- Item level should be more important in deciding whether items, especially rings and necklaces, are an upgrade.
- Many lackluster legendaries got buffed.