raiding
Latest
Easy Mode: Alliance or Horde?
While I don't personally subscribe to the theory that one faction is better than the other, they both have their advantages and disadvantages. My current main character is in an Alliance-side raiding guild, yet I'm considering the prospect of raiding for the other side and starting to think that, perhaps, my days in the Alliance really have been "easy mode." The key to this argument is, of course, the paladin - whose blessings can easily be applied across a whole raid of players (though each paladin may only have one blessing per player). Shaman totems, alternately, only buff those players within their group, and have a limited range (rendering them useless for fights that require movement) - and unless you're running a raid with 8 shamans, this means that some players simply won't have access to these buffs at all. So while Blessing of Salvation is something I've grown accustomed to, Tranquil Air Totem might not be something I should become too attached to. On the other hand, I'm enjoying the relative ease with which more organized Horde groups seem to be seceding in the Battlegrounds - though this is more likely to do with the specific groups I'm playing with than a faction imbalance. And, of course, this may change once I level into the 20-29 bracket for Warsong, as Ghost Wolf comes into play. Who do you think has it easy in Azeroth - Alliance or Horde?
C'Thun's Loot Table?
No, C'Thun has not been killed yet, but there are already rumors floating around as to what he might drop. Sure, there's no proof of any of this, but news of this nature seems to inevitably leak early - from Nefarian's loot tables to every set of patch notes. Casters will immediately be drawn to a new legendary item - a trinket dubbed The Piercing Eye of the Abyss. It gives an underwhelming bonus of 2% spell crit but also has the following interesting effect...Upon death, you have a chance to be possessed by the spirit of the Old God for 20 seconds. While possessed you cannot be attacked or targeted by any spells or effects and your damage spells deal bonus Shadow damage. When the effect ends, you die.While certainly interesting, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this item, or any other item that requires your death as a pre-requisite for usefulness.
Work or fun?
Compulsory nightly raids and a DKP system you can't understand without a PhD in mathematics (which, fortunately, your guild leader has)--WoW's endgame can get pretty serious, especially for top guilds. Gaming Steve posted recently on the similarities between WoW and a job, and what surprised me was the difference between these commenters' thoughts:When you end up playing for stats or the satisfaction of getting that one thing, instead of playing for fun, its not worth it. (Varsity, on GamingSteve.com)It can get pretty intense and demanding, but if you are working towards something you want, it makes it all worth it. (Lonin on Joystiq)It depends on whether you find the acquisition of the latest Tier 2 piece "fun" or not, I suppose; what side of the work/fun line do you play on?
