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Hybrid Theory: Three parts awesome, one part me
Each week, Jason Lotito contributes Hybrid Theory, a new column on hybrid classes in World of Warcraft.I've never written an article about myself. I've never thought about what I should say if I was introducing. Despite being confident in my ideas (some call this arrogance), I'm actually quite humble about my accomplishments. I didn't want to start my column with an introduction. I wanted to show you exactly what it is you were going to get rather than just talk about what I intended you would get. Actions speak louder than words, though in this case, my words were my actions. Frankly, my first article was a smashing success.But now it's time for me to introduce myself to you. To give you an understanding of whom I am, where I come from, and my experiences as a player.
Phat Loot Phriday: Fang of the Leviathan
I was really bummed out the other day that shaman can't use swords-- Mana Wrath dropped for us in Mechanar, and I really wanted to use it for spell damage gear. Oh well, guess I'll have to level up my mage. And while I was looking around for encouragement, I found this sweet caster blade.Name: Fang of the LeviathanType: Epic Main-hand SwordDamage/Speed: 23-125 / 1.80 (41.3 DPS)Abilities: Right now: +13 Stamina, +13 Intellect, +14 spell crit, and +187 spell damage and healing After 2.1: +28 Stamina, +19 Intellect, +20 spell crit, and a whopping +209 spell damage and healing, which makes this currently the highest +spell damage weapon in the entire game. Careful, you got a little drool on you there. Those stats are, of course subject to change, but no matter what, this is one of the nicest caster blades in the game. There are a few floating around with more spell crit (and one BoE Epic with a really nice proc on it), but for pure +damage, this is probably the one you should be dreaming about. Until we see what comes out of the Black Temple, anyway. How to Get It: All you've got to do is kill Leotheras the Blind, a demon hunter boss in Serpentshrine Caverns. The fight apparently isn't that tough if you're already raiding at that level, but it does have some cool elements to it-- the boss splits into his human and demon forms at 15%, and throughout the fight, his demon half will summon a few raid members' "inner demons." Those are dopplegangers that you have to fight and kill before the boss flips back to human, otherwise those raiders become mind controlled for 10 minutes. Wacky stuff, but a few guilds are rolling through there now, and more all the time.Anyway, down Leo, and there's about a 15% chance this'll drop for you.Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 12g 34s 13c. Disenchants (probably-- obviously no one has gotten rid of it yet) into a Void Crystal.
Alts and alts and alts, oh my!
I probably play World of Warcraft way too much. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right? My addiction stems from not being happy with one character, or two, or three... I have 7 characters leveling in the Outlands right now, two of which are raiding Karazhan. Why can't I stick with just one and work on it until it's the best of the best? Because I love my alts! I created my first alt when my primary character, a Hunter, hit level 52. I'm not entirely sure why I did so, but it probably had something to do with having out-leveled my friends by about 20 levels and wanting to help them without hindering our playing experience. My first alt was a Warlock, who I took to 60 first, becoming my first instance grinding and raiding main character. The hunter stood on standby for a while, until my guild had Molten Core on farm-mode, upon which I took him to 60 and brought him in for our alt runs. He was one of the first to complete the Lok'delar/Rhok'delar/Lamina quest in our guild, which he still has (at least, until I dust him off and bring him out of retirement). After a few months with them, I met other people who played on a different server, and they needed main tanks for their progression. So I was off and running with a Warrior, who was level 60 in a matter of a few weeks. I helped that guild progress through Blackwing Lair when I took my first burnout hiatus. It took a few months of enjoying other things, more real-life than virtual, when I was feeling the pangs of withdrawal and logged back in.
To shield or not to shield? Rage is the question.
The forums are abuzz with the debate on when to use the ability "Power Word: Shield" on the tank in your group. The original poster on the forum asked why pre-shielding the tank was looked down upon, and the response was abundant! Warriors and feral Druid tanks need to generate rage to use their abilities to generate the rage required to hold a mob's agro so that it doesn't run rampant in the group, slaughtering the squishies. They generate rage by being hit by a mob and also by hitting the mob as well. In order to be a raid/heroic tank, you have to have your mitigation and avoidance up to a point that you're almost always dodging, parrying, or blocking, in order to not die from a single hit, but in turn that will decrease the amount of rage you can generate. "Power Word: Shield" only decreases the rage generated, while not protecting the tank from that much damage. On boss mobs, it gets even more tricky. In order to successfully hold (most) bosses, you have to front-load your agro and maintain that agro lead throughout the fight. This means that they need an abundance of rage up-front in order to establish that agro, and they also need time to build up that buffer to keep them ahead. Most tanks only need a few seconds to accomplish that, but the shield just prolongs that time. This also hinders the raid on fights where time is a factor. For example, the old Kazzak enraged after 3 minutes of fighting (he probably still does), and every second of dps counted.
A summary of shaman super skills
A few days ago, I was playing on my shaman and received a strange tell from a GM in-game. "Excuse me, player, but you've been reported for using an exploit in the game." WHAT?!? I've been playing since day 1, and have never used anything but approved mods. What on Earth could I have been reported for doing?? "The person reported you using an exploit to walk on water." "But, I'm a shaman," I said. "I have a spell that allows me to do it...it's called water walking...you guys put it in the game!"Needless to say, the GM and I had a good laugh at the ignorant party's expense, and (s)he only had to contact me because that was their job. I decided therein to write this article to help alleviate said ignorance of the true abilities of our totem-wielding friends, by giving a little update to the lesser known abilities.Now, there is an ongoing debate of the potential and versatility of shamans: how much they lack, how overpowered they are, and the proper plural form of shaman. But, being a class that was lesser-played until the recent addition of their ranks to the alliance, many people were unaware of what they can truly do.
Around Azeroth: Flying draenei!
Draenei don't naturally fly, as best I can tell. They don't, after all, have wings or any other obvious mechanisms of flight. However, reader Genso of Hyjal sends in this shot of what can only be described as a flying draenei. He claims it's some sort of quest, but I'm not so sure -- who knows what kind of technology those crafty draenei brought with them to Azeroth... Watch out, draenei, I'm on to your secrets!Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Behold, the power of moonkin
I agree with myrch over on Livejournal-- there's been a spec creeping up in the DPS charts lately that we might not have expected to get there. Slowly but surely, these players have been finding a niche of gear, talents, and class choice and exploiting it to the fullest. While their class is known for the other two specs, a third is definitely coming to light as one of the best DPSers in the game. The class is druid, and the spec... is moonkin.Laugh if you want (and I certainly do when I see that dance), but moonkin (or Balance-specced) druids are doing well for themselves lately. Druid tanks have been getting all the press because of the new feral gear in Outland (and more recently, a few solid nerfs), but moonkin have been slowly building up their buffs, and using the best gear in both cloth and leather to max out their DPS. While the spec is really meant for PvP, it seems, they can definitely shine in PvE-- everyone loves Innervate, of course, but moonkin give that great crit bonus that adds a lot to any DPS raid group (definitely useful for Shaman, too, despite the Clearcasting nerf). They've got a nice armor bonus, so while they have to really be careful about managing aggro (they so far have no threat-reducing abilities), they can still take a few hits, and they have a few nice roots (Cyclone and the Tauren War Stomp, and Entangling Roots if they happen to be outside) that can hold things down until the tank intercepts. Not to mention that if need be, they're just a gear change and a shapechange away from becoming respectable offhealers, if not main healers.Myrch lays out what moonkin need to do to really shine-- they've got to really concentrate their focus and load up on the spell damage gear (a guildie of mine, a moonkin who routinely fights mages and hunters for the top DPS spot, often wears cloth just for the spell damage), add a little mp5 to the stuff they wear, and of course watch that aggro. But more and more, we're seeing that a well-geared, well-played moonkin is a really great class to have along in almost any situation.
Guardian pets need a mind of their own
This forums thread points out something interesting about player "guardians." Not pets-- guardians like Shadowfiend (which a priest I know called his shadowfriend), the druids' treants, and my shaman's totem elementals. After players wonder why shadowfiends keep breaking shackles, Neth says something that made me do a double-take: shadowfiends, as guardians, have an actual AI that is supposed to go after non crowd-controlled targets first.That's news to me. I haven't spent a ton of time around shadowfiends, but in my experience, shaman and mage elementals and other "uncontrollable" pets (that's why they're called guardians) tend to go after anything that happens to be close to them. That's why they don't get popped when there's sheep or shackles around-- my guild could have used that fire elemental DPS on Moroes, but because it was so important to keep those shackles up, I've been saving the elemental for later. If there really is an AI (and if it works-- even Neth agrees that may not be the case at this point, though she says the shadowfiends on the PTR are supposed to be doing things right), then maybe we can start trusting summoned guardians not to touch CC'd targets until it's OK to do so.Of course, there's other ways around it-- normally, I just don't pop my pets out until I'm sure there's no more CC left to break, but my pets are leashed to my totem, so with careful positioning, I can still avoid CC. And I believe both mage and druid guardians are targeted-- they open fire on whatever you've got targeted at the time, right? But I'd love a little AI, or at least a little control, in something like my Searing Totem. If there's a CC'd target out there, it's not worth the trouble to drop it even for the extra DPS.
Breakfast Topic: Who's healing you?
There's plenty of room for argument on the topic of "best healer" in the game. And with some big changes coming to paladins in the upcoming 2.1 patch, the debate will only intensify. We've got priests with their versatile array of healing spells; paladins with their excellent mana efficiency and great buffs; druids with HoT domination and in-combat rez; and shamans with powerful (but difficult to use) totem buffs and self-rez as wipe protection. We could spend all day arguing the pros and cons of each class in a raid or small-group setting without coming to a conclusion!But let's overlook the debate for now and just ask this basic question: who's actually out there healing you? A priest? A paladin? A druid? A shaman? A rogue with a good supply of bandages?
PTR notes: Not-so-Clearcasting for Shamans
By now, you've probably at least heard (perhaps in haiku form) that shamans are facing a serious nerf in the upcoming patch. As a Resto/Elemental shaman, I figured I'd take a few minutes to lay out for you just what we, your trusty totem-dropping buddies, will be facing.Y'see, there's this ability called Clearcasting. Mages, priests, shaman, and druids can all get it under certain specs-- it basically gives you a mana-free spell every few casts, the percentage of which changes by class. Mages at full spec get a 10% chance, Druids get it as a chance on melee attack, and priests get it as a usable ability (with a 3 minute cooldown).Now, this talent is especially useful for Shaman, since we are notoriously mana inefficient-- supposedly, that's our tradeoff for being able to melee, heal, and cast damage spells. Way back when, the Clearcasting talent (in the Elemental tree) had a standard rate of 10%, but just recently, in 2.0.10, it was changed to anytime we got a critical spell hit.That's huge. But it's also what the devs apparently didn't like.
Forum post of the day: Shaman issues in haiku
In a sharp break from the normal way of expressing oneself on the forums (you know, via extensive use of capslock and ascii art), a number of shamans are expressing their problems potetically via haiku. Never has it been more interesting and downright pleasent to read about class complaints. I think my favorite must be this one by poster Vapid for its inclusion of traditional imagery: Shaman drop to ground Like the Spring Cherry Blossom When faced with stunlock So take a look -- or try your hand writing some shaman haiku of your own. (Remember, it's 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables.)
My herbalism trainer is so disappointed
Ok, I'll admit it. I'm a slacker.My resto shaman is definitely my main, and he's very, very helpful-- he can heal like a priest, DPS close to a mage (or at least a well geared moonkin), and he's even got Mana Tide totem and that always useful Earth Shield. But one thing he doesn't have... is a 375 profession.He's an herb/alch, and therein lies the rub: I can't collect anything. Skinning, I'm great at-- I've gotten multiple toons to 375 skinning, just because it's so easy to take a second after a kill to skin. First aid, I rock, because there's so much cloth around-- my 63 rogue is already at 375. But mining and herbalism, I just can't seem to get done. By the time I level out of a zone, I haven't picked up enough herbs to get my skill up, and eventually I'm leveling near herbs that are red to me. Now I'm leveling a blood elf mage, and she's having the same problem with jewelcrafting-- I'm not finding the mine nodes on my normal journey, and as a result I'm falling behind.A high end guild would probably have kicked me out by now for not bringing potions to raids (fortunately, my guild is very forgiving). But it is wrong of me to show up to a raid empty-handed just because I've been lazy. So what's the problem here? Am I missing some secret method of collecting as I level up? I do forget to turn on my tracking sometimes, although I know there are addons out there that will help with that. Unfortunately, since I've already hit 70, it looks like I'm just going to have to go back and grind it out, but maybe that's the best way to do it. Did you level your collecting profession while you were leveling or did you do it all in one big run? And what tips do you have for me to keep me from slacking off in the future?
Blue Notes: Shaman dispel poison and a web designer opening
A long-standing bug regarding Shaman having difficulty curing Rogue poisons will finally be squashed, though not until 2.1.0. From Ommra:Ok, so I had the wrong information on when this bug was fixed. Apparently it didn't get fixed in the last patch (as you noticed), but will get fixed in 2.1.0 instead. The change will be that the difficulty of dispelling the rogue's poison is based on the level of the player instead of the level of the weapon the poison is applied to. That makes sense, but I have trouble seeing how weapon level is ever going to be higher than player level, making this almost look like a nerf on the face of things. I'm sure it's not, though -- anyone want to explain?In other news, perhaps Blizz took my jab at their web design on Sunday a little too seriously -- they're now on the lookout for a new web designer:Blizzard Entertainment has an immediate opening for a Web Designer. The ideal candidate is well versed in HTML, JavaScript, and Photoshop and experienced in all manner of web-design elements, such as the design and layout of buttons, links, menus, and text. The Web Designer's primary duties will be to help design and implement the HTML pages for our growing websites. A lot of focus will be spent on supporting existing and future Blizzard titles. The Web Designer will also be responsible for daily web updates and maintenance of existing Blizzard sites. The ideal candidate will also have a strong working knowledge of Blizzard games. For more information on this position, please view the job description at: http://www.blizzard.com/jobopp/web-designer.shtml
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 ]
One tank to rule them all? Devs say no.
As a healer, I feel like I get a decent view on tank performance. And by now I've had a chance to heal for all three primary tanking classes: Warrior, Paladin, and Druid. From my point of view, both a Paladin and a Druid make excellent tanks when specced for it; in fact, in BC I'd say they tank better than a Warrior. Post-patch, if I had to pick a ranking, I'd say Pally > Druid > Warrior (Druid would've been on top pre-patch), but that really depends on player, gear, and environment. I asked a few guildies (a shadow Priest, experienced in pulling aggro, and a player who's tanked as both a Pally and a Warrior both made themselves available for extended comment; one more each of Druid, Pallie, and Warrior gave quick shout-ins), and here's what emerged (combined with my own observations):
Breakfast Topic: When Shaman go OOM
In a longish thread on fixing the Shaman class yesterday, Tseric stopped by to comment on concerns that Shaman are mana-inefficient and can't do much of anything while OOM. I find it fairly informative regarding the devs' stance on Shaman and mana, so I'll quote it in full:While I can't really comment on your suggestions, there are a couple points which I'd like to address from what I know. I can certainly take the remaining feedback from the thread, at any rate. ;) Q u o t e:Shaman need more mana regeneration. Once their mana runs out there's not much they can do.Mana efficiency for Shaman has always been on the low side. You might be arguing one of the defining characteristics of the class. However, they are also a melee class, so they can do more without mana than a mage or priest. At the base, you can apply the quoted statement to any mana-using class, but at the same time Shaman do not come out at the bottom of that pile.
Blue Notes: Pallies and Shaman are not for (that much) DPS
We have a couple items of note from Tseric as regards everyone's favorite hybrid classes that don't start with D. First off, Tseric defines a Paladin's role as: A healing/tank hybrid. Every class needs some capacity to deal damage, as that is the primary component for the solo game, but Paladins have always placed fairly low on the damage spectrum. Rogues define the baseline measurement and, on average, all classes fall below that baseline. Now, in certain cases some classes may exceed that baseline, whether they be a Mage in a particular raid encounter or a Fury Warrior having a good run in a BG, but on average that is the way damage is arranged. Burst damage and big crits are harder to control and design from a development perspective, due to the number of random or unpredictable elements in any formula. Therefore, crit-based abilities and burst damage tends to see more fine tuning and tweaking than sustainable damage. As far as tanking and healing, the Paladin has been given plenty of tools for healing and threat gain/management. I didn't actually know that Rogues were meant to be top damage, though that makes sense given that they're the most likely class to take damage in a party situation (besides the tank, of course).
Stealthing while clinking: Rogues in chainmail
Way back when, I found a post on the forum that suggested that Shaman should get temporary, summoned pets to use, and when I said it'd be a great idea, you guys laughed at me. And yet, come the expansion, we get those fun little Elemental Totems to play around with. So while you might laugh at this suggestion at first, think about it for a second before you say I'm crazy: Let's give Rogues mail!Guize on Skullcrusher has come up with what I think is a very interesting solution to the problem of endgame survivability for Rogues (we'll put PvP aside for a second and just talk about PvE for now). Currently, as players have said before, Rogues are a liability in most endgame raids-- yes, they can dish out damage, but considering how many endgame bosses pour out AoE, Rogues often end up to be more of a drain on the healers than anything else. I'm sure Cloak of Shadows has helped that a little bit (I haven't got too much experience with it yet, as my Rogue is only 61), but the fact is that while tanks can take it, Rogues take a beating more than any other class (ok, maybe healers take a worse beating, but that's only in a bad party).Enter Guize's suggestion of a 31-point Combat talent that allows Rogues to wear mail armor (alternately, to avoid having to add tons of new agility mail gear, he says it could just be a talent that bumps up armor from items). That would let PvE Rogues not be so squishy when asked to be right up there on the front lines of melee, and it would help out healers a whole lot, especially on the 25 and even 40 man instances.Now, in terms of PvP, I have to admit it seems a little unbalanced at first, considering that rogues are basically killing machines. But remember, too, that magic ignores armor-- Warlocks and Priests will still be able to DoT and fear just as much as they did before (and Cloak of Shadows is more of a problem for them anyway, and it's already in the game). There is, of course, the problem that it's really hard to be stealthy when all that mail armor would be clinking around, but if you want to finally give rogues a chance against the endgame AoE bosses, giving them the option to wear mail would definitely do it.
Breakfast Topic: Best class to solo with?
Though I can't find the link, I'm almost sure we've covered this before, but not with the changes after the expansion.Reader Will dropped a tip (thanks!) saying he has almost reached 70 with his Hunter, and really enjoyed playing his way up because Hunters are so good at soloing. I have to agree-- I haven't played anything as relaxing to solo as a Hunter, just send the pet, throw autoshot on, toss in a few arcane shots or stings for good measure, loot and repeat.His guildies say if he rolls a new alt, it should be a Rogue. Personally, I think Warlocks are a great class to be a solo artist with, but Druids certainly have been making headway lately. Will also wonders about builds-- I've had a great time soloing with my shadow Priest, but I've heard holy priests are a pain to solo (my resto Shaman has certainly been more annoying than a few other alts I've had).Because Blizzard has done so much to make almost every class viable solo, I'm sure everyone's got an opinion. Share yours and help Will out here.
Phat Loot Phriday: Retainer's Blade
Last week on PLP, we took a look at a great Aldor item, and this week it's Scyer time. By now, you've probably learned (if you've visited Shattrath City) that players get to choose one of two factions to follow, and each has its own items, recipes and rewards to try for. From the Scryer side comes this very fast, very excellent offhand dagger.Name: Retainer's BladeType: Epic One-Hand DaggerDamage / Speed: 94-142, 1.50 (78.7 DPS)Abilities: +21 Agility, +21 Stamina This is a terrific dagger for anyone who needs a fast offhand for procs-- dual wielding Shaman will benefit from it, but Rogues will probably get the most out of it, with the extra Agi and Stamina, not to mention the 1.50 speed that applies poisons almost faster than you can keep them on. And it can't hurt for Fury warriors either, especially if you've already grinded the rep necessary. How to Get It: Just like Aldor last week, you've got to do Scryer quests and bring them the turnins they ask for all the way to Exalted. You can find what you need to do by poking around the Scryer area in Shattrath, but mostly it'll involve getting Firewing and Sunfury Signets (and, eventually, Arcane Tomes) from killing various Blood Elves around Terrokar Forest. Once you've made your way to Exalted, head towards the Scryer Quartermaster in Shattrath, but here's the kicker: bring some cash with you. A lot of it, actually. This baby will set you back 198 gold and change.Getting Rid of It: When you find an upgrade (which might be tough if you're not looking in the right places-- this baby is one of the highest DPS offhand daggers in the game), a vendor will take it off your hands for 39g 74s 25c.
