honors-code
Latest
Tank opportunities in the late endgame
I've been tangling with the tough issue of tanking again lately -- I have finally leveled up my paladin to 80, and ideally, the plan is to jump in as a dual specced tank and healer when patch 3.3 hits. All LFG all the time, eventually headed to higher level raiding. But Honor's Code has a good post up this weekend about the trouble that many tanks are facing lately -- they say that while there's lots of tanking to be had in the early endgame (every 5-man and heroic group out there needs a tank), the available positions narrow down as you get farther up. By the time you're reaching Icecrown (which I would like to do someday), there are so relatively few guilds raiding there and so few serious tanking spots within those guilds that you either have to be a really great tank, know someone who's in charge, or be ready to switch off to another spec or alt when necessary. In essence, they're saying there's a glass ceiling for tanks. Once you reach a certain point, it's hard to find even the opportunity to be a solid tank.
The Daily Quest: Pets, podcasts and more
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Episode 11 of the Hunting Party Podcast is available for download! The team lineup for the MLG tournament in Anaheim upcoming in just a couple short weeks has been officially announced. Mania's Arcania speculates on how many new hunter pet families we'll get in Cataclysm, or if we'll get any at all. Episode 64 of the Twisted Nether Blogcast is in a round table format, featuring bloggers Graylo (Gray Matter), Honorshammer (Honor's Code), Matticus (World of Matticus), Saresa (Destructive Reach) and Stoneybaby (Big Hit Box). Speaking of Honor's Code, the blog has started a series on setting up a UI for Protection Paladin. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
A macro for stacking parry or dodge
I haven't played a tank in a while, so I haven't had to mess with stats at endgame for a long time. Though my paladin is slowly getting there, so this little macro over at Honor's Code might come in handy. Parry and dodge are very similar abilities -- both of them help you to completely avoid damage from bosses as a tank. But they do have a very few important differences (Parry speeds up your next attack swing, and is affected by diminishing returns at higher levels of the stat), so when you're gearing up at endgame, you want to make sure to balance them out in the right way.
The Daily Quest: Keep watching the skies
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Starman over at Casual Raid Leader has a great post about taking negative feedback during raids / WoW, everyone should read this and link it to their guildies! A great post from Defeat Dragons on making your recruitment work. It was Flow Chart Friday over at I Like Bubbles. Honors Code talks about the uphill battle for a fresh level 80 tank. Healing Death Knights can be "fun," and Rolling Hots gives it a go. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Long live the Queen
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Be warned, if you don't like loud noises or are currently somewhere that loud noise is unacceptable, the first 4 minutes and 55 seconds of the latest Yogscast (above) is not for you. However, the rest? Gold. The launch of the brand new Magecraft.org has been making waves around the blogs, so all of you Mages out there should give their forums a look! NoStockUI takes a look at eight addons aimed at professions. Episode 47 of the Twisted Nether Blogcast is up for download, this time around it features the author behind Honor's Code! And Two Rogues has a guide to gearing up for PvP as a freshly 80 Rogue. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Post Mother's Day Quests
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.There's really no reason that the above photo needed to be included in today's Daily Quest, other than the sheer awesomeness that was SNL last weekend. Honor's Code has a good story about how that little extra push helped down Vezax. A good read for those working on him, or thinking about working on him. Twisted Nether Blogcast is having a t-shirt design contest for their trip to BlizzCon. Win a 60-day game card! Too Many Annas asks: are your problems healer caused? Does your mother play a Shaman? If so, she will love Lodur's Restoration Shaman - Best in Slot for Patch 3.1. Shields Up! takes a look at the loot council distribution method. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Go cheetah, get banana
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.The blogs are still aflame with Ulduar excitement, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. I'll be heading back in there myself tonight, and these guys probably will be, too! The Yogscast has released their latest video, a nearly flawless strategy for Freya, which you can watch above. This Yogscast is second only to their How To: M'uru. Spicytuna takes a look at Razorscale from a Frost Mage's point of view. Honor's Code knocked down Ignis and the Iron Council, now they're looking forward to what's next! Less QQ, More PewPew continues their Ulduar video series, this time with Kologarn. Startin' a Ruckus is trying out a brand new Holy build in Ulduar and has some thoughts on the matter. Fel Fire has cleared through Mimiron on Ulduar10, but Ulduar25 hasn't been quite as smooth. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Ulduar
Despite all of the instance server problems last night, a number of bloggers throughout the community marched into Ulduar to give the place a whirl on live realms for the first time. We Wipe On Trash downed a few bosses. They also, amusingly, wiped on some trash. Luckily, that trash was hotfixed today. Honor's Code had a whole lot of fun figuring out Flame Leviathan. If you haven't tried that boss out yet yourself, it might be worth reading before you do. First hand experiences are even better than regular ol' strategy posts sometimes. Hoof n' Healz came to the realization that Naxxramas made him a worse player, and Ulduar trash surprised him a little bit. I fear that most of my raid will come to that same realization tonight when we give the place a whirl. Of Teeth and Claws is just a little bitter about the current state of the game, and hopes Ulduar will revive the endgame.
The Daily Quest: Paladins, Rogues and Bank Alts, oh my!
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Honor's Code takes a look at how they'll be utilizing the dual spec system as a Protection Paladin in Ulduar and begins assembling a patch 3.1 talent build. Do you enjoy Buddhist's over-the-top PvP videos, such as Ming Must Die? RogueRogue.com is (probably) proud to present: Six Silent Shadows. Be warned, this video contains some vulgar language. Okay, maybe a lot of vulgar language. Consider it NSFW. With all the hoopla around the Blizzard Authenticator lately, you may be interested in The Stoppable Force's walkthrough of the activation process. Our own Paladins discussed which judgement does what, but Blessing of Kings tells you the who, when and why about optimizing judgements. Skrooge is on a quest: Make 25,000 gold in as little time as possible, using only the auction house. His quest began with only three things: Auctioneer Advanced, 100g, and a tuxedo. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Checking your caps: Defense, Block, Hit, Expertise
Honor's Code has a great post up about the secondary gear stats that often get overlooked in favor of the main attributes. Everyone knows that Hunters need Agility and Warriors need Strength, but after that, things tend to get a little fuzzy -- just what does Expertise or Hit do for you? HC breaks it down from a Pally perspective, but what they say about these stats is helpful for any class that has to deal with attacking the bad guys.Defense comes first -- defense rating, for tanks, allows you to make sure that bosses can't crit you. Each class has its own defense cap, and the cap has changed from 70 to 80, so you'll have to keep an eye out for your own cap when you get that far. Block is next -- a high Block rating means you're pushing other attack options off the table when you're hit, so that when something does hit you, you block the damage on it. Both of those stats are mainly for tanks -- other classes, who aren't getting hit, won't have to worry about them at all.But Hit and Expertise you will have to worry about if you're DPS -- Hit will make sure that you don't miss your target (the fewer misses you have, the higher your DPS), and Expertise makes sure that those hits don't become dodges or parries. This is tough stuff, and it shows up much earlier in Wrath, it seems, than it did in Burning Crusade, But the good news is that there's a lot of help around -- Honor's Code offers a great overview for what everything means, and from there, you can search our site or others for what you need to know about each stat and how it works with your class.
