For Great Honor…

Two PvP-ish notes:

Just an FYI, although the Battle Standard of Coordination(Horde/Alliance) does not work for Rep or XP gained from questing, it does work for honor gained from questing.  So any quests that award honor, make sure to throw this sucker down.

A change that I just found out about, that others might want to know about as well, PvP stats no longer count towards an items ilevel budget.  So if you get an ilevel 522 item with honor it would have the same amount of primary and secondary stats as a PvE ilevel 522 item, plus some PvP Power.  So, if you end up with your hands on a PvP item for some reason, if it is an upgrade to a PvE piece, it will be an upgrade in to that piece in PvE content as well.

I’m sure some folks knew these, but I thought I would spread the wealth. 🙂

 

 

Fun with search terms…

So, in looking at my site stats I peruse the search terms from time to time to see what folks are interested in.  Usually they are normal enough, but lets see what interesting ones we got as well.

“how to go to lights hope chapel in a druid?”

In a druid?  As in inside???

Well, assuming that’s a typo, you can ride a druid in travel form who is using the Glyph of the Stag.  Hmmm.  Then there’s always Vial of the Sands and Heart of the Nightwing.

But in?  Well, the only way I know is to be an opposing faction when the druid is in bear form and hope he doesn’t end up in the woods first. 😉

The rest are mostly PvP searches, which makes sense, given my recent postings.

BTW, for the folks looking for low level PvP vendors:

Down for Maintenance…

The servers are down, but will be back real soon(tm), which means…it’s Tuesday!

I think I’m down for maintenance today too so instead, I give you linkage.

Svengaly/Kaylex over at Power Word: Heal, is working on a new series: PvP for Noobs, which is going over the basics of all the WoW battlegrounds for first time PvPers, which ties in nicely with my very much more niche-like PvP theme lately.  As of writing this post she’s got Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin up, but that link should cover them all as she posts them.

So if you’re new to the battleground scene, go check it out.

Alaron over at the Fluid Druid, goes over a bunch of the class changes and shows you how to be ready for The THUNDER THRONE!

And a quick update after all, because that is not as much linkage as I thought.

Last night finished getting my banker death knight out of the starting quests, so she can start auctioning and banking.  And actually finally got around to ordering MoP.  I think my wife and I are going to level a Monk Duo together.  (Yay for quality time with the Missus!)

Am I the only one who feels the need to build a vast trade network of alts so that I might have access to “ALL THE CRAFTY THINGS?”  Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

Hmmm.  Dunno what came over me there.  Anyway, see you in Azeroth.  (When it’s back up.)

I’ve found my spot… (In Arathi Basin)

As the basketball chant goes “De-fense!  De-fense!”

There in the basin of Arathi, I lay stealthed beneath the banner of the Horde, showing we claim this land as ours.  Tucked around a nearby corner, somewhat out of site is my guilds banner.  (Bestowing extra honor and rep, doncha know.)  There I lay in wait, hidden, ready to destroy any who might attempt to take this piece of land from us.  I watch others run down the road, aiming for glory.  Glory may go to those who are after the other flags, but in defense and holding this one the honor is mine!

I know people say it all the time, “Don’t fight in the road!  Defend!”  It’s excellent advice and a great way to get honor.  Add in the 50% honorable defender bonus for any “kills” and you don’t have to be remotely close to get kill credit btw.  I know I see both buffs when I am defending.  I’m not entirely sure if Battle Standard of Coordination is stacking with the honorable defender bonus.  And if it is, whether or not it’s additive or multiplicative or what.  (But I figure it doesn’t hurt.)  That said, over Sat & Sun, I went 2-4 in AB matches; however, despite losing 2 to 1, I walked with 279 honor in those 6 matches and only very rarely did a flag I was defending ever flip..  (Only 17 killing blows out of 232 honorable kills in those 6, btw.  I actually didn’t really see a whole lot of action.)

So, find a base in AB let us see you be the D!  There’s both honor and profit in it!  And every battle-ground could use a few good defenders.

And if there are any priests reading…mind control them off the cliff.  I’m just sayin!

Patch 5.2…nah, that doesn’t affect me. Druid PvP in the BG sub-30.

5.2 has dropped today.  And honestly, I’m mostly apathetic.  Why? Because there’s only really one change that effects me, because I am not remotely, raid, rated BG or arena ready currently.

“Players in low level battlegrounds will have their effective level raised to the maximum level allowed in that battleground bracket. Players’ base stats and spells are scaled accordingly and are treated as the same level when determining hits, misses, and critical effect chance.”

I’m not quite sure how that is going to pan out.  I know it is an anti-twink measure.  (Which I’m all for considering I had a level 29 rogue hit me for almost 2/3rds of my health.)  But there is always the law of unintended consequences and I feel someone better geared than me will still eat me alive and it won’t really matter.  I guess time will tell.  Onto the real post though.

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So you want to experience the world of PvP as a feral druid?  See what it’s like battling that other faction through the levels? I thought I might go into the life of a pvp feral on a new server with no heirlooms 1 – 30 today.

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First of all, expect to die…a lot.

I’m level 27 and have played in 38 battlgrounds so far.

Warsong Gulch:
Record 10-14.
Deaths: 127.

Arathi Basin:
Record 9-5.
Deaths: 54.

Overall:
Record: 19-19
BG Deaths: 181 (out of 197 total)

That is correct.  I average almost 5 deaths a BG.  And after 26 levels (only 16 of which could I participate in BGs.) my deaths in BGs are over 10x that what I’ve accrued in PvE.  And I have an advantage, I’m a stealthy.  They can’t always find me to kill me.

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Gear:

So the PvP route is full of fun and profit! (laughs)  Or at least the first part.  😉

Lets look at the honor gear through the levels.

Level 1 – 9: Sayeth the Blizzard, “N00b, stay out of the BGs!”

Level 10 – 17: You have exactly one honor gear item you can buy during these levels that is useful, unless you somehow get some tons of honor quickly. (Insignia of the Horde or Insignia of the Alliance)  Don’t get me wrong, this is a highly important item to have, but you’re not exactly bustling with gear at this point.  I ended up questing in the Ghostlands to get Tranquillen rep items, as good gear is hard to find.

Level 18 – 27: Finally, you can spend your hard earned honor on gear.  As a Feral Horde Druid here are the options available to you.  All require level 18 unless otherwise noted.

Scout’s Medallion: ilvl 23, +6 AGI, +2 Stam, Cost 20 Honor.  A good little piece itemized well.

Advisor’s Ring: ilvl 23, +2 Stam, +4 Int, +6 Spir. Cost: 20 honor. Casty, skip it.

Legionnaire’s Band: ilvl 23, +4 Str, +4 Agi, +2 Stam. Cost: 20 honor. I miss the days we could double dip AGI & STR. Still, this one is one to get.

Battle Healer’s Cloak: ilvl 23, +4 Stam, +4 Int, +2 Spir. Cost: 20 honor. Casty, skip it.

Scout’s Blade: ilvl 23, 15.2 DPS, +4 AGI, +2 Stam. Cost: 70 honor. You’ll have to remove the filters if you want to see this one on the vendor. The stats are better itemized for us, but since weapon DPS is such a big deal and the lack of DPS off hands I ended up going with:

Advisor’s Gnarled Staff: ilvl 23, 19.8 DPS, +8 Stam, +4 Int, +8 Spirit. Cost: 70 honor. Obviously not ideal, but the DPS is hard to beat at this level and that is an ok chunk of stam.

The only level 20 item is:

Rune of Perfection: +4 Stam, +10 Hit. Cost: 20 Honor. Eh, it’s a trinket, which are extremely hard to come by at this level, even if they are just stat stick trinkets.

All but the insignia are available from your Friendly Neighborhood Warsong/Silverwing Supply Officers.  (Kelm Hargunth for Horde and Illiyana Moonblaze for the Alliance)

So, if you get what I did that will put you at a grand total of 150 honor to spend before level 28.  If you’re only BGing, that will leave a ton of open gear slots and a ton of honor left over.  (I’m planning on eventually getting heirlooms with the honor, because I’ll have enough to do so before I can get full sets of gear.)

*****

Level 28 will get you mostly upgrades to the items listed above.  To upgrade to the ilvl 33 versions of the Scout’s Medallion, Legionnaire’s Band & Advisor’s Gnarled Staff will run you 175 honor.

Added to the line-up at level 28 you can add feet and waist (there are casty versions too, skip ’em):

Defiler’s Leather Girdle: ilvl 33, 95 Armor (+12 Bonus Armor), +12 Agi, +4 Stam. Cost: 45 Honor.  Great itemization for us.

Defiler’s Leather Boots: ilvl 33, 113 Armor (+12 Bonus Armor), +7 Agi, +8 Stam. Run speed boost. Cost: 45 Honor.  Great itemization for us and a run speed boost to boot!

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Level 30 gives you a couple of new options.

Sergeant’s Cloak: ilvl 35, 67 Armor (+16 Bonus Armor), +9 Stam. Cost: 40 Honor. Unless your current cloak has no AGI, probably not worth the upgrade.

Defiler’s Talisman: ilvl 33. Absorbs 0 to 302 physical damage. Lasts 15 sec. I think I actually like the stat stick better on instinct. But if someone were to show me why this was better, I wouldn’t argue.

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Honestly, on a low level PvP toon you’re gonna have to quest or AH to get gear.  It’s just not available on a purely PvP basis.

I was going to suggest getting a PvP weapon with your excess honor, only to do my research and realize there is no PvP Agi two-handed weapon…~headdesk~

That means to get a non-PvP weapon, it takes converting the honor to justice.  Whic would make the Burnished Warden Staff or Repurposed Lava Dredger cost 5250 honor. 😦

I guess that means the Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders are the way to go with any excess honor.  (Or maybe trade goods to make money.)  I am thoroughly floored at the fact there isn’t a good PvP weapon heirloom for us.   The fact that there is a one hand casty item is beside the point, there are plenty of good off hands for casters.  There are 6 off-hands items in the entire game that have Agility, all of which have 3 or less AGI on them.

If you wanted a PvP weapon with resilience, I would more than likely suggest going, as I did above, with the casty version.  Grand Staff of Jordan, at level 30, it has more than twice the resilience and stamina of the Sharpened Scarlet Kris, the DPS is much higher, more than making for the fact we’re trading AGI for hit and spellpower.  (And you can heal yourself better to boot.)

So there is my ramble down the route of sub-30 PvP gear.  I’ll probably break these up into smaller chunks going forward.  But take from this what you will.  (And get Blizz to give us some Heirloom PvP Weapon Love!)

I’m a slacker kitty…

First of all, somehow I missed the obvious choice for my fist glyph in my last post, Glyph of Savagery.  30% damage boost without having to get combo points first in PvP.  Yah, that’s the obvious pvp answer.

Although, I found it an interesting look on File Under Feral’s post about movement speed buffs.  Granted, the soonest I’d be able to get the stacking version of the movement speed “enchant” is level 28 with the Defiler’s Leather Boots, which just so happens to have it baked in.

Although, I’m still more leaning towards Wild Charge over Feline Swiftness, despite the stacking.  It just feels a little more versatile.  I still got 2 levels to decide though.

So, now to tie the title into this post, lol.  I went into my first four BGs last night and got my rear handed to me pretty well.  (Lessee, no money, no heirlooms, 7 empty gear slots and the filled ones have 3 greens and 5 whites, yah I expected it.)  I went 1-3 and probably was a non-factor in most rounds.  (Although, in the AB we won, I thought I did pretty decent keeping folks off the flag at least.)  And after the faction switch since being Alliance since 2010, I have to think long and hard about who actually has the lead, which is weird.

But those aren’t the reasons I’m a slacker.  The reason I’m a slacker is I took no notes for XP gained and length of the battles.  I got REFlex to help with some of this.  But without me recording the amount of XP, that doesn’t help anyway.  And for some reason it didn’t record the time on 3 of the 4 matches.

I’m going to try and keep a notepad or something by the computer to see what I got, going forward.  Will keep you updated!

Although, with as squishy as I’ve been, I’ve been pondering Guardian PvP…

Coming Out of Retirement…

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

So I am back, with a new toon, a new faction and a new race, but still absolutely, positively 100% feral druid.

In order to keep my self diagnosed OCD just slightly in check, I’ve decided focus on just one aspect of the game.  To that end, my newest toon is Brewah, the troll, feral, pvp druid!  (I’ve been a cow and a nelf.  Went from Allies to Horde to Allies and back to Horde, and for the first time ever now on a PvP server.)

Alrighty, so I putz around questing to level 5 last night, because you can’t pvp until level 10.  This morning, I decide to do a little bit of research in leveling via battlegrounds and figure out the new changes to the class.

Wow, I’m just a bit behind.

Alrighty, so I wander over to WoWHead to look at speccing options.  Ummm.  That’s different than when I was raiding Firelands last.  GC said he wanted hard choices between the talents, it looks like he made it happen.

Tier 1 looked really difficult, until I found out the tooltip shown for Wild Charge was not the only effect.  Blink, while in travel form while the flag carrier?  Yus please!  (I’ll be leveling while in BGs, so I figure I’ll be a flag carrier quite often.  Although, my role in the 10 – 14 bracket seems…confusing.)

I’m guessing I should just go with gathering professions for now, to get the stat boosts and make money until a higher level.  (Plus a little XP while I’m waiting for the queue to pop doesn’t hurt.)

And then glyphs:  Glyph of Dash or Glyph of Prowl or Glyph of Shred?  Hmmm.  I do love sneaking around and the movement penalty is a PITA.  I’m gonna have to think on this prowl for now.

But this should get me up to 30 and I will continue with this once I get closer to 30.

I had a series of posts a couple years back on leveling through BGs.  I will start taking stats again to see what it is like in the current environment and keep ya’ll updated on that as well.

See ya’ll in Azeroth!

A Question for the Arena Veterans…

Not that addons are make or break in most content.  One of the best healers I know uses only the default Blizz raid frames for healing.  (DBM and other addons yes, but no grid or the like.)  So what addons do you find have the biggest impact in arena?

Musings on My Feral Druid PvP Spec

Fallenleaves provided me a link yesterday about running feral in arenas, which I haven’t had a chance to review yet, but I’ve been rolling my approach around in my head.

My original approach to arenas was to play like a rogue and stun lock the kill target.  Pounce, mangle, ravage, maim, generate a couple cp, get the dots ticking, shift, bash, and hope to finish them off shortly after.  And that might still be a good idea on healers.  However, on my twos team, I noticed how quickly that would go to the wayside.

While stuns are still part of the picture, looking at the overall picture, dots and survivability go hand in hand.  The longer I can keep myself up, obviously, the longer my dots have to work.

So I’m taking a good hard look at my talent tree.  Currently I’m running with this talent tree for arena.

To me, the notable items missed are:

Primal Madness: Without 4pc T10 for bears, this is a fairly useless PvE talent.  If you play smart in PvE, you’re in little danger of capping energy and the extra 20 energy just isn’t worth it on a long fight.  In Arenas however, with stuns and roots and etc, energy capping is a very real possibility and that extra energy over a two minute fight could prove invaluable.

Natural Reaction: If I’m at a point where I’m going bear in the arena, that means I definitely need some survivability at that point and 12% less damage taken seems very appealing to that concept.  (Usually means I’m popping frenzied regeneration to up my health as well.)  With the exception of two melee on me, in that scenario, I go bear to pop berzerk and watch them drop. 😉  (Going one on one with a rogue who had more heath than me at the end of a 2s match and winning by going bear before popping back to kitty is suh-weet!)

Perseverance: I’m currently running 1/3 in this talent, but damn those extra two points seem appealing especially after writing “The longer I can keep myself up, obviously, the longer my dots have to work.”  This is the talent I think is bugging me the most to not have 3/3 I just don’t know where the hell to pull the points from.

Thoughts?  Opinions?  See something I missed?

A Feral Cat Loose in the Arena

So, I’m pretty bad at this point, but I hope to get better and see what my furry butt can do in the land of Arenas.  I hear over and over that the arenas are not the place for ferals and maybe they’re right.  But that doesn’t mean I still won’t give it a go.

My first week started off rather unceremoniously.  1-10 in matches in 3v3.  Our win was our first game, the doors opened and there was no one there. But with some tinkering, we’ve decided to go 2 boom and 1 feral and are gearing the booms up.  I’m excited about this week and know we can beat the 1-10 this time around. 🙂

My twos on the other hand, was an exciting start.  We’re going feral and spriest with the appropriate name, “Moar Dots!”  We walked into the arena and got our asses handed to us our first game.  I could hear the frustration in my fiancée’s voice.  She was frustrated and this may not go for long.  But then, the amazing thing happened, we won the next game.  And that followed by a few very close games in a row.  Our hands were shaking, our hearts were pounding, what a rush.  My sweetie (a tailor) whipped herself up a set of crafted resilience gear and we were at it again!  12 matches in and we were 5-7.  Not outstanding, but it was a lot of fun and we were, ya’ know, not losing them all!  There was I think 3 matches out of the 12 that weren’t close, including our first one ever.

We decided to go for one or two more Monday night right before bed.  That was a bad idea.  As the beds waited us, our minds were not as sharp as the afternoon matches we had done before.  The first was close, the second we were destroyed.  So, my first piece of arena advice is, don’t do it when you’re tired.  If slow reaction time is rough on everyone in pve, it’s doubly so in pvp, when you don’t know the what is coming.

The nice thing, to me, about pvp lately is the time commitment.  (I’ve been running a lot of bgs too.)  I can generally know approximately how long it’s going to run.  When I’m facing a heroic, I know I could be facing anywhere from 1 to 4 hours.  Arenas are super quick and I know in most cases BGs are going to run me less than a half hour.

Anyway, time for me to go farm up some leather for my Boomkin 3s. 🙂  Although as a side note, I almost wish we could change our team name on that.  “Boom Chicka Boom” or “Cat in the Henhouse” seems more appropriate. 🙂