I'm just fallin from grace...

Majeure reconsiders her plans to become Warbabe of the Horde.

Um.. the zombie event has been a great deal of fun. If you've enjoyed as much as I... here's another book recommendation. Everyone I know who's read it has loved it. With the exception of Melvin, who has no taste.

Let's see... over 15k gold now. I should be set fer expansion.


Mage thoughts...

Fingers of frost was not what I thought it would be... its so much more... exploitable. You can get that double tap in quite easily, so you get three hits with bonus crit. And that damn insta cast fireball procs like a madman. I tend to miss most of em.

Shammy thoughts...

Yeah, I ran recount, and beat up onna dummy. Lava Lash with a flametongue offhand increases damage over double windfury by a noticable amount. Now I'm gettin into cooldown issues... between stormstrike, lava lash, shock and maelstrom lightning bolts, ima getting abilities pop before I can press the keys. Maybe a shot rotation macro would help...

Also... I found out why my white damage seemed so high... elemental devastation, the elemental tree talent that gives +9% melee crit with for 7 seconds following a spell crit, does not apply to windfury hits, stormstrike or lava lash. Just to regular melee hits. My regular melee crit rate after testing is about 33%. My special attacks are around 24%. That should tell you how often elemental devastation is up... 3 points well spent.

Hunter thoughts.

Never disengage when yuir fightin a frost mage on top of a mountain peak.

You should be dancing, yeah!

First... Amazon.com has a sale on select albums every weekend. Last week they had the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. Um... be prepared for bizzare blog post titles ahead.

Second... can anyone give me a link to something that explains how to set up a RSS feed for a blogspot site? I've looked before, and couldn't find a damn thing. :(

Third. I respecced ice. Ripper, you little bastard, you never told me they made blizzard able to crit. OMFG. I aint goin back. Frozen heart forever! (I had a run where I got over 88% sustained crit rate on Blizzard...)

Fourth. Mabd got herself a gorilla. And NOW I understand what kill command is for...

Fifth. I really resent enhancement shammydom. Ima gonna finish up all my Outland quests this weekend, respec resto, and not look back.

Sixth... flametongue buff stacks with dual wield. Flametongue glyph stacks with dual wield. Considering how crappy the top of elemental is... this might mean something if blizz ever puts offhand spell weapons in the game.

Seventh. Thundering strikes now affect spell as well as melee crit chances. Itsa tier 2 enhance shammy talent. 5 points = +5% crit. I was able to get unbound's spell crit to 28% with double stacked flametongue. And her spell power over 900 with her crappy enhance gear... I really doan know what to make of this. But whatever build... you really wanna put some points in the first coupla tiers of enhance now.

Eighth. Melvin loves his fire mage, but is muttering about goin frost. Magebert went back to the POM/Pyro build. I doan know what to do about these two. Anyway... melvin claims that the chance for hot streak to proc is greatly enhanced when you get a chance to shoot an ally in the back. Take it for what it's worth.

Ninth. Melvin is deeply dissatisfied with his elemental shammy. Melvin doesn't bother with flametongue. And he put all 61 points into that crappy tree...

Tenth. "Melvin, have I told you how damn much gold Ima makin offa inscription?"
"YES. Every freaking time you talk to me!"

Over 12k gold now, my peeps. Now if i can just enroll all these zombies into my pyramid scheme.

Lookin fer my hot stuff...

I told Dammy that I was runnin enhance shammy figures, and he asked me fer a post. Plz note... my gear is pretty terrible. I really need to reenchant moongoose.... And two of the blue pvp set... the shame...

First... if you've been playin a shammy fer a while...

Take a good, damn long look at all yuir totems now.

Strength of earth now gives agil as well as str. While, with the recent nerf to str (now str = 1AP, instead of 2), you get exactly the same amount of +ap... you also get about 2-2.5% melee crit offa the agil (depending on if you specced the imp totem talent.)

Windfury totem now helps us. A LOT. +16% attack speed, +20% if you have imp totems. Normally, my melee damage is a lot closer to my windfury damage. Note, this screen shot is one of a few dozen I took after messing with diff totems, etc...

Flametongue totem... etc. Almost 200 +spell power.

Anyway... dammy, that 16.5% of damage offa lightning bolt... thats all maelstrom weapon. Note the count. On different iterations, I was throwin 4 bolts fer every 5 earth shocks I threw... so we're lookin at a maelstrom proc (5 stack) about every 7-9 seconds. This can be a light bolt... or it can be a healing wave. Either way... its all good. You aint goin down til you run outta mana.

Which comes to that other talent... static shields... other people have noted that this talent only seems to proc offa regular melee attacks.. not windfury or spells. And this... just isnt worth it. Not when you can pop up a water shield and be throwin a 3k heal at yourself every 9 secs. (Note that the RNG loves messin with Maelstrom... I had weird results pop up) You can see from the screenshot... about 5% (this test was without the LS glyph) damage isnt worth givin up the mana of water shield. And if your gettin beat on... keepin mana up for heals or light bolts would seem a better deal...

Spirit wolves... about 175 dps fer my char base. I don't know if they scale with AP or SP. However... they DO get totem benefits. Str of Earth and Windfury will boost DPS to about 225. I need to find a way to test their healing function.

Lava lash? I should play with it... but I really don't like the look. Plus, anything that makes an offhand attack will screw up windfury procs.

Imp stormstrike? While I like the decreased SS time (and note that the screen doesnt show WF procs offa SS... when doin rotation, try to time SS to land right after a melee attack that DIDNT proc WF... this will do wonders for damage...) the additional nature charges are now useless. You really can't apply more then 4 sources of nature damage to the target over 8 seconds unless they're beating on you and you have light shield up.

Static shields... if you need the dps boost, use the regular shield. You'll have to refresh it more often, but if you need the dps that badly, you aint worrying about mana. Otherwise, stick with water shield. Inna raid, static shields seems counter productive. The minor DPS increase interferes with effective mana regeneration. And in Pvp... well, assa enhance shammy, I really don't like yuir odds either way, so lets leave it at that.

Things I left outta this build... the group buff talent... I'll respec and take it, 10% more AP really boosts about 65% of my damage. Meh... moar messin around to do...

Now take it back...

Just a few screen shots...

What do I need to do to make revered with SMC? Storm the gates of hell? Check.




Yeah, allies... try to get this. Just you try...







First mammoth sighting!







K, yeah, I DID love a squirrel... but I was drunk, and looking for a ram.






Biggest change to the game so far... damn I love bein able to wolf on water...






What the path to the Headless Horseman looks like for alliance on a pvp server. And yeah, suckit. I died enough times just tryin to fish in Stormwind, you evil bastards.





Otherwise, you wouldn't believe me.

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

So, I went a little nuts. OK... a lot nuts. But I DID WARN PEOPLE. And no one listened, cuz no one ever listens.

One of the sadder jokes from my job at the store... every so often we'd have to close for some reason or another. And then we'd put a sign up on the locked doors... "CLOSED TIL"

I always made fun of whoever wrote the sign, sayin "Why make the sign? You'll just have to teach the bastards how to read..."

Anyway, the signs were there for insane herbage action following the introduction of glyphs. And, oh boy... first of all, glyphs are unlike any other crafting talent. The best glyphs aren't necessarily the glpyhs made with the highest level mats. Every damn ret paladin needs Glyph of Crusader Strike, and Glyph of Seal of Command. The first uses blindweed/sungrass level herbs, only the second uses outlands level herbage. Of the two, crusader strike is sellin much, much better. (30g each, and I could get more.. why 30g? Cuz there were none at the AH, and people started beggin to buy em at that price)

Blindweed and sungrass are sellin fer 50g a stack. So is kingsblood. I bought a lot of that fer 5g a stack just last week...

To this point, I've made 2k offa herbs and glyphs. And yes, glyphs are actually selling for more than the herbs required to make them. AND I have about 1k in auctions still up. As well asa ton of mats left to set up friends.

There are few things as addicting as checkin yuir auctions. Even when its only virtual money... its still pretty damn nice.

I was too weak to give in, too strong too lose...

Inscription at 250.

Downloaded the patch last night... was unable to get on the server.

Woke up, bright and early... got on, started leveling inscription.

World crashes...

Get back on, level some more...

World crashes...

Get back on....

Server goin down message...

Take a shower, get back on, start leveling again...

World crashes...

Get back on, put up 70 auctions of herbs and glyphs, world crashes, go to work...

Still doan know about mage... frost would seem the smart choice, but glyph of arcane missiles extends range another 5'

This would make them have a range of 41. And Arcane missiles witha range of 41 are just pure goodness.

If words could make wishes come true

So, ah, have you read Harry Potter?

One thing I tend to dislike about book lists is that they pretty much tell me what I already know. I mean, yeah, I've read all these. The trick issa book list of books people would enjoy that not everyone has read. And, since Ima who I am, it can't just be a book list. So, here, in honor of patch day... stuff gamers would like.

BOOKS

The Compleat Traveller in Black.

Um... the finest of existential fantasty. If you like this, check out Shockwave Rider as well, Brunner's response to the 60's pop psychology hit Future Shock. Oh, a teaser? The main character has to grant the first wish you make in his presence. He has a choice as to whether to grant the second...

The Vampire Genevieve

Set in the warhammer universe. If ya like angsty vampires, this is the best thing yuil ever read. Recently rereleased... I lent my copy to Melvin, and he couldn't understand what was goin on. Higher praise I cannot give. The author is a pretty interesting figure in his own right, I've mentioned him before...

Ima not gonna mention C. S. Freidman or Guy Gavriel Kay. They get mentioned enough. But if you haven't ready anything by them, it would be worth doin so...

The Book of Jhereg

James Bond inna fantasy setting? I realized how sneaky good the author was on the third book, when the main character mentions how important the number 17 is. I check the book. 17 chapters. I check the first two... each of them has 17 chapters...

He wrote a book where the chapters each had three parts. A one line introduction, the lines together telling the story of the main character casting a spell. A few paragraphs about the main character's childhood. And then the story itself, which begins and ends with the casting of a spell, and the blood of a god.

Then there was the one where every chapter started with a line from a laundry list... the latest book is out in hardback... gonna be a long wait.

Illegal Aliens

They rereleased it! The funniest sci fi satire of all time! Um... Phil Foglio and Nick Pollatta. How to describe? Aliens make first contact with Earth.. AND ARE NOT PREPARED!

The Damned (series)

Allen Dean Foster... the flip side of illegal aliens. The universe is in the middle of a massive war between a race of psychers that can mind control, who want to bring all sentient life together in a effort to transcend sentience, and everyone else, who don't want to lose free will. The problem? No true sentient can bear the thought of violence. Only a handful can actually take up arms, even in the face of an ultimate threat.

Then they find humanity.

MOVIES

Night Watch

A russian vampire movie. And remember kiddies... russians doan really believe in happy endings.

Gruz 200

No link on this, its not out in the states yet. I've only managed to watch about 2/3 of it via other sources... um... it's another russian movie by a director that got pissed off at Putin's infatuation with the soviet past. The title refers to the material (zinc) that the russian army made coffins outta to ship home their dead. And its about a serial killer who is tormenting a girl in an attempt to prove to her that there is no god... just as socialism tells us... (and when I say torment... I mean... well, again, no happy endings...)

Three O'Clock High

Kinda a cult classic now. Bombed when it came out in the 80's due to the unintentional drug reference. (It's actually a reference to High Noon, with whom it share a plot...) Kid has to meet a bully fer a fight at the end of the school day. Funny funny funny.

My Man Godfrey

My favorite screwball comedy. Of all time. Produced at the height of the depression, a ditzy rich socialite goes on a scavenger hunt for "a forgotten man." Which, indeed, she ends up finding.

ANIME

Please Save My Earth

Its dated, it really has no ending.. but its one of the saddest things I've ever seen. About obsessive love and redemption.