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Another one bites the dust
First Tobold, and now Mastgrr of Paladin Sucks has exited Azeroth.Before you yell at us for saying the sky is falling (again), that's not what we're saying at all. WoW has lasted for a long time for a lot of people-- more than almost any other videogame out there (in some cases, ever). For some people, including this first round of bloggers, it's run its course. Just because they're quitting doesn't mean the end of the world (of Warcraft) is upon us. In fact, it doesn't even mean the blogging is over-- Tobold quit a week and a half ago, and he's still blogging about WoW. My guess is that both bloggers will be back when the next expansion hits.But then again, it's kind of sad that these WoW veterans are stepping out of the game. At least it's productive-- Tobold quit partly because of attunements, and they were lifted the next day. Maybe now that Pally Sucks is RIP, that ret Paladin review will come sooner than we think.
Raiding progress, minus attunements
Players have pretty much /cheered across the board about the removal of attunements from Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep yesterday-- even the Blizzard curmudgeons over at PaladinSucks nodded in approval.But as Elizabeth asks on the WoW Livejournal, what exactly does this mean? Can your guild change this weekend's Gruul run into a raid on The Eye? Can guilds skip over Karazhan and Heroics now, and just head straight to Serpentshrine? Will we see Void Reaver dropped by most guilds quicker than Isiah Washington from Gray's Anatomy?Unfortunately, the answer to those questions is probably no. True, the removal of attunements does mean that more guilds can head into SSC and Tempest Keep right away (instead of waiting for 25 of their members to get attuned), but the bosses in both of the big raids aren't real forgiving unless your guild has already seen a few Kara clears, a few successful Gruul raids, and hopefully even a Magtheridon raid or two as well. Just as a reference, Void Reaver, the first boss in The Eye, requires about three or four tanks in the raid, and easily hits for 7k in the space of a few seconds. Likewise, Hydross, the first boss in Serpentshrine, is not nice to raids-- his adds hit for about 5-6k, and he enrages within 10 minutes.But on the other hand, if you have run Kara, Gruul, and Mag a few times, most guilds are saying you'll have no problem at all with Void Reaver, so guilds who are ready already will definitely benefit from the attunements opening up for all. But if you're still stuck on Curator or Shade of Aran, you likely won't get much out of SSC or TK except a repair bill and a bit of perspective. You'll need to gear up before tackling the bigger stuff.
Paladin solos Blood Furnace
Well color me impressed. While the rest of us are talking about soloing Stratholme and UBRS, Compactd of Bloodscalp isn't bothering-- he's already turning the Outland instances into solo material. He's walked all over Blood Furnace (he says it took him 2 hours), all by his lonesome.I'm no expert on Pally specs or gear, but if his gear currently on the Armory is any indication, he's specced holy, but geared like a DPSadin, with 674 spell damage. He's wearing a Shaman helm, strangely enough, and while I don't know if he actually carried it through BF with him, he's also running with the Six Demon Bag. Surely a spell damage trinket would be better than that, right?But I guess you can't complain with results. Next up: Slave Pens?[ via Paladin Sucks ]
Number breakdown on classes in 5v5 arenas
Our good friends at Paladin Sucks point to this very interesting breakdown of classes in all the 5v5 area teams over 2000 arena rating. Can you guess which classes are winning the Arena PvP game?The answer surprised me: it's warriors. For all of their bellyaching, warriors are cutting through the opposition in the arena-- they make up almost 20% of all the players with teams above 2000 arena rating. And next on the list, surprisingly enough, is paladins-- with 33, they're 18% of the winning players. And maybe most surprising, Druids and Warlocks, the two teams who seem to dominate in PvP, are bringing up the rear in terms of players, with a measly 4% and 3% respectively.Now, this makes no distinction about what these players are actually doing in these teams-- when I go into the arena with my Shaman, it seems that all I'm doing mostly is trying to stay alive, and warriors with a healer behind them are very, very good at that. I believe the numbers came from the Armory (where you can sort by rating, but only by battlegroup), but whoever wrote it up didn't say where the numbers came from. I've reprinted the full list of classes with the number of players in teams with an arena rating of over 2000 after the jump, for the benefit of those of you at work.
The speculation begins... again
Too soon? Too bad.The paint hasn't even dried (or, in some cases, been applied) on the Burning Crusade, but players have already begun speculating about the next expansion pack-- the one Blizzard said would come a year from now. It's not all completely unfounded-- a CM has hinted (ok, he was joking) at Uldum finally showing up, but this is the videogame industry, so if there's any chance at all that something might come out in the next century (Duke Nukem, anyone), players are talking about how cool it will be.Besides the Uldum guess, a lot of players say Northrend and Arthas, but it's true that Blizzard has said a few times that that's another few expansions away. Personally, I'm throwing my hat in the "back to the seas" camp-- I think we'll see what's in the middle of the map, and maybe get some swimming mounts. Or maybe some new races? Maybe Murlocs or Naga will make a show as player characters eventually. Paladinsucks is in on the speculation, but as usually, they're only concerned about how their shiny Paladin selves will look.Ok, ok, so we haven't even opened the plastic wrap on the Burning Crusade yet. Feel free to go back to running Hellfire Citadel and getting to 70. But know that as soon as a year from now (snicker), we could all be doing it all over again.
Paladin tips from Pallysucks
I personally think Paladinsucks is at its best when they're angry and foaming at the mouth. While it's usually about changes to the Paladin class, lately the changes to their class have been pretty good. So today they've got something else to rant about: Paladins who, well, suck.If you can make it through all the caps and frustration, there's some pretty good rookie tips for playing a Pally in there: if cloth in your party or raid is getting beat up, use Blessing of Protection on them. If you're CC'd with Frost Nova in PVP, don't just stand there-- cast Cleanse or Blessing of Freedom. Out of mana? You better have Judgement or even just Seal of Wisdom up and running. And while it seems as basic as finding your trainer, a few Pallys still mess this up: if other healers are out of mana, and you've got some left, it doesn't matter how far you specced into the Retribution tree-- start spamming that Flash of Light (or the heal of your choice-- unpowered healing is better than nothing).Unlike MastGrr, I won't yell, but while everyone thinks of Pallys for their surviveability, they actually have a lot of tools they should be using to help the raid out as well. If you're a Pally just starting out, or haven't picked up on some of the more complex subtleties of the class yet, these are some great tips.
Clever and eye-catching title
Reference to personal experience playing the game. Insightful judgement based on that experience. Small joke, probably involving Chuck Norris.Mention of reading about same on Paladin Sucks, and presentation of link not only to that blog, but to original forum thread that inspired post. Witty comment about how some players have been posting on the forum for too long. Acknowledgement that thread is pretty darn funny anyway.Reference to use of same technique in other media. Quick expression that post concept may be too confusing? Suggestion that commenters continue discussion in same fashion. Final witty comment to close post.
