Monday, 29 June 2009

Is Spell Power Good For Palaldins?

I keep getting people getting to this blog with the search term "is spell power good for pallys"

So if you have got here with that search term then this post is for you.

First off, we need to identify what kind of pally you are? There are 6 types of Paladin.

  1. Protection

  2. Holy

  3. Retribution

  4. Shockadin

  5. Loladin

  6. Sheepadin


Lets take a look at them individually.

1. The Protection Paladin.
Yes, you need spellpower and lots of it. The more spellpower you have, the more effective Divine Shield is. This stat is second only to haste which you need to cap asap so that there is no risk of your divine shield wearing off before the hearthstone gets you safely out of that pug with the idiot wannabe tank mage and safely back to Dalaran.

Stack: Haste > Spell Power > Intelect > Spirit > Spell Pen.

2. The Holy Paladin.
Woah, You wanna stack spellpower? What spaceship did you arrive on? Everyone knows that for holy paladins the effective stat points ratio of Attack Power : Spellpower is 8.13 That means that you'd need 8.13 points of spellpower to replace 1 point of Attack Power. More AP means more healing from JoL.

Stack: Attack Power = Strength > Expertise > Armour Pen > Resilience

3. The Retribution Paladin.
Spellpower is a bit MEH for Rets, it does help your JoW give you a bit more mana back, but we don't need much mana. It's only really used for autoattacks and if you are using the correct rotation of Consecration -> Divine Intervention -> Divine Favour -> JoW then you should only be getting an auto attack in for 18.2% of your total dps.

Stack: Spirit > Frost Res > Spellpower > Haste

4. The Shockadin.
No, NO NOOO!! A bit like Holy Palas the effective stats point ratio to your primary stat (strength) is appalling. Here the Strength : Spellpower ration is 11.8! 12 points of SP instead of 1 point in Strength? I don't think so. Shockadins only want strength above anything else.

Stack: Strength > Everything

5. The Loladin.
This was the most prevalent kind of paladin in vanilla WoW but died out almost to extinction in TBC but slowly made a come back until it is second only to The Shockadin in Wrath. In vanilla WoW we didn't have spellpower, but that didn't matter as most loladins were 0-0-0 talented anyway. They were extinct in TBC and I haven't been able to find any references to them so I can't really comment.

With Wrath the ONLY way to spec a loladin is 31-17-23. As for stat priorities, there aren't any. Loladins need to pick up whatever stats from whatever kind of gear they can. Cloth and Leather spell pen items are generally considered to be slightly better than the rest. Mail fire res items are sometimes prioritised and some extravagant, some may say eccentric, loladins even wear plate, although their repair bills are something to behold!

The 2 main things to keep in mind if you're a Loladin are that you look good (putting Haris Pilton to shame) and to play like a idiot!

6. The Sheepadin.
Nah just joking, there is no such thing!

Sunday, 21 June 2009

Midsummer Festival Achievement Guide

So, your off to get the Flame Warden title?

Update: I had 4 times as many hits to this blog as usual and all the hits are coming to this page, so I'm going to make a quick update to tidy up the post.

Random Ravings.
And while I'm doing it I'll acknowledge Random Ravings as the source of most of the information I couln't be bothered to collate. I heard about the mess up from him and refound his post from last year which was useful then and indeed still is.

Did It Last Year?
The Good News is if you've done the festival before you are in luck, most of the achievements have been remembered from last year!

I only need to do the "Burning Hot Pole Dance" and the "Torch Juggler" achievements, and what's more? I already have all the "Midsummer Reveller" gear from last year.

The Bad News is that you currently cannot re-do the honouring, desecrating and stealing fires if you did it last year. Blizztards are aware of the issue and have even put it in the Breaking News section when you login to the game. They say a fix is in progress. Hmmph.

What this means is that if you don't have the gear saved from last year, or you blew your blossoms on the Dancing Flame Bird and the pet, then you can't possibly get enough blossoms to get all the gear you need. Oops!

I originally thought they were waiting for the Tuesday reset (There I go again, you can tell I'm from vanilla WoW, note to self: It's maintenance, they haven't had a reset since TBC started!), but I can't see it as a client issue, it must be a server issue, and it can't be that difficult to fix, so hot fix it Blizztards and let's get on with it. Grrr!

/rantover

Midsummer Redux.
You may want to check out my posts from last year also:
Tossing Off in the Midsummer.
Midsummer Madness.
Midsummer Madness II.

New to the Festival?
(Skip down if you don't want to see the extensive list of fire locations)

Here's what to do...

Hordie?
If your are horde then this route should just about make sense to you, obviously you won't be desecrating horde fires but honouring them. You don't want to honour the Alliance fires but desecrate them /spit and you don't want to be stealing your own flames, that would just be stupid!

Kill Three Birds With One Stone.
The three most time consuming achievements can all be done together, kind of. They involve travelling all around Azeroth and Outland. You don't need the fires in Northrend, yet.

The Fires of Azeroth - this is made up of the 3 honouring achievements (Honour the Flames of Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor and Outland) - lots of travelling (see below).

Desecration of the Horde - this is made up of the 3 desecration achievements (Desecrate the Flames of Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor and Outland) - lots of travelling (see below).

King of the Fire Festival - Steal the flames from Orgrimmar, ThunderBluff and Undercity (or Darnassus, Ironforge and Stormwind if you're Hordie!).

(Warning, I need to check the order of a couple of the flame descrates/honours but we're just about there!!)

So get moving, the best route to take is...

Kalimdor
Port to Darnassus
Honour Teldrassil (Rutheran Villlage)
(Horde: Steal Darnassus Flame)
Honour Darkshore (Just by Auberdine FP)
Honour Azuremyst Isle (West of Azure Watch)
Honour Bloodmyst Isle (South of Blood Watch)
Honour Winterspring (Everlook by A FP)
Desecrate Winterspring (Everlook by H FP)
Honour Ashenvale (South of Astranaar)
Desecrate Ashenvale (Splintertree Post)
Desecrate Durotar (South of Razor Hill)
Steal the Flame of Orgrimmar (Valley of Wisdom)
Desecrate The Barrens (North of Crossroads)
Desecrate Mulgore (South East of Bloodhoof Village)
Steal the Flame of Thunder Bluff (Spirit Rise)
Desecrate Stonetalon Mountains (Entrance to Sun Rock Retreat)
Honour Desolace (South of Nijel's Point)
Desecrate Desolace (South of Shadowprey Village)
Honour Feralas (West of Fethermoon Stronghold)
Desecrate Feralas (West of Camp Mojache)
Desecrate Thousand Needles (Near Back Entrance 42,53)
Honour Tanaris (Just outside Gadgetzan)
Desecrate Tanaris (Just outside Gadgetzan)
Honour Silithus (East of Cenrion Hold)
Desecrate Silithus (South West of Cenarion Hold)
Desecrate Dustwallow Marsh (West of Brackenwall Village 33,31)
Honour Dustwallow Marsh (North of Theramore)
Boat to Menethil

Eastern Kingdom
Honour Wetlands (North of Menethil)
Honour Arathi Highlands (North East of Refuge Pointe)
DesecrateArathi Highlands (South of Hammerfall)
Honour The Hinterlands (South of Aerie Peak)
Desecrate The Hinterlands (North of Revantusk Village)
Honour Hillsbrad Foothills (North of Southshore)
Desecrate Hillsbrad Foothills (South West of Tarren Mill)
Desecrate Silverpine Forest (East of The Sepulcher)
Desecrate Tirisfal Glades (West of Brill)
Steal the Undercity Flame (just inside)
Honour Western Plaguelands (Chillwind Camp)
Desecrate Ghostlands (North of Tranquillien)
Desecrate Eversong Woods (South of Ruins of Silvermoon - 46,50)
Hearthstone and Portal to Ironforge
Honour Dun Morogh (North of Kharanos)
(Horde: Steal Ironforge Flame)
Honour Loch Modan (North of Thelsamaar)
Desecrate Badlands (West of Kargath)
Honour Burning Steppes (North West of Morgan's Vigil)
Desecrate Burning Steppes (South West of Flame Crest)
Honour Redridge Mountains (West of Lakeshire Flight Path)
Honour Duskwood (West of Darkshire)
Honour Blasted Lands (West of Nethergarde Keep)
Desecrate Swamp of Sorrows (North of Stonard)
Honour Elwynn Forest (North East of Goldshire)
(Horde: Steal Stormwind Flame)
Honour Westfall (Sentinel Hill Flight Path)
DesecrateStranglethorn Vale (On beach East of Booty Bay)
Honour Stranglethorn Vale(On beach East of Booty Bay)
Hearthstone and portal to Shattrath

Outland
Honour Nagrand - West of Telaar(49.6,69.4)
Desecrate Nagrand - West of Garadar(51.1,33.9)
Desecrate Zangermarsh - East of Zabra'Jin(37,53) ish
Honour Blade's Edge Mountains - East of Sylvanaar(41.6,65.9)
Desecrate Blade's Edge Mountains - South of Thunderlord Stronghold(50.1,59.0)
Desecrate Netherstorm - South of Area 52(32.3,68.4)
Honour Netherstorm - North West of Area 52(31.2,62.6)
Honour Zangermarsh - South of Telredor(68.8,51.9)
Honour Hellfire Peninsula - East of Honour Hold(62.3,58.3)
Desecrate Hellfire Peninsula - South East of Thrallmar (57.2,41.9)
Desecrate Terokkar Forest - East of Stonebreaker Hold(51.9,43.1)
Honour Terokkar Forest - East of Allerian Stronghold(54.1,55.4)
Honour Shadowmoon Valley - Wildhammer Stronghold (39.7,54.2)
Desecrate Shadowmoon Valley - East of Shadowmoon Village(33.5,30.2)
Kill Ahune in The Slave Pens

Now you have finished your travelling go to Ironforge and get...

Mantle of the Fire Festival
Vestment of Summer
Sandals of Summer

... for a total of 400 Burning Blossom, you should have about 360 just from the honour and desecrate quests, then 75 in total for the 3 capitals and 20 for Ahune, so 455 before you even need to touch the dailies.

Now go click a pole and /dance ... wait 60 seconds and get your pole dancing achievement.

Dalaran Torch Juggling
Just one more achievement to go, you have to juggle 40 torches in 15 seconds :P

10 blossoms buys 10 juggling torches. YES, you only need TEN blossoms. You only need to catch 40, not actually possess forty.

Head to Dalaran. Turn all addons off, turn resolutions and effects right down, find a quiet spot in Dalaran and hopefully your L.A.G. should be sufficient to juggle just 10 torches...

The idea is that you throw 10 torches, by the time you throw the tenth torch the first one has landed and is back in your inventory so you can use it again.

Basically put the torches on a hot key and target the ground right underneath you and spam the hotkey then your left mouse button over and over again as fast as you can. Shouldn't take to long to get the achi... HW did it on the third attempt ... 37 ... 38 ... 40 .. BANG!! HotPants did it on the first!

Beer Gardens Are Not Just For Boozing.
I did it at the back of the Beer Garden, no-one was there, no stupid amounts of terrain detail and activity.

Flame Warden!
Grats on your new title, you are also 1 step closer to that Violet Proto Drake. I still have to do the Brewmaster AND Hallowed :(

Still Want to do Some Midsummer Crap?
Pop along and do the Northrend Fires, you never know, Blizzard might stick something in next year that could be helped by doing it now! Who Knows?

Besides, if you need blossoms for the gear for the Pole Dancing achievement and don't trust that BlizzTard inc. will fix it then these might just get you enough...

Dragonblight H: Agmar's Hammer 39,48
Dragonblight A: Wintergarde Keep 75,44
Borean Tundra H: Bor'gorok Outpost 51,12
Borean Tundra A: Fizzcrank Airstrip 55,20
Sholazar Basin H: River's Heart 47,62
Sholazar Basin A: River's Heart 48,66
Storm Peaks H: K3 40,86
Storm Peaks A: K3 42,87
Zul'Drak H: Argent Stand 43,71
Zul'Drak A: Argent Stand 41,61
Grizzly Hills H: Conquest Hold 19,62
Grizzly Hills A: Amberpine Lodge 34,61
Howling Fjord H: Camp Winterhoof 48,13
Howling Fjord A: Fort Wildervar 58,16
Crystalsong Forest H: Sunreaver's Command 80,53
Crystalsong Forest A: Windrunner's Overlook 78,75

I ripped these off Random Ravings again, so be kind and go read his post, it's much better written than mine!

Friday, 19 June 2009

Blizztards ... COCKS part deux!

On top of the previous post they have also nerfed Illumination AGAIN!!! It is now down to 30% mana return!!

For more nerfs read Galo and Gillien.

I'm really going to have to do a 3.2 post to cover all my thoughts on this, flying over Wintergrasp and Dullaran (also copyrighted) if you stay high enough? Quest creatures appearing on map??

O-FFS!!

Patch 3.2 - Exorcism with a Cast Time

OH FFS!!

The Blizztards (I'm gonna copyright that!) are putting a 1.5 second cast time on Exorcism...

...COCKS!

Thursday, 18 June 2009

A Post About Glyphs For Holy Paladins

Glyphs for Holy Paladins are, get this, Glyphs right ... that are used by (guess what?) ...

Holy Paladins!!

Incredible!

Stunning!

You'd never have guessed would you?

OK, OK less of the sarcasm, what should you Glyph as a Holy Paladin? Well, back to www.holypaladin.com for the answer.

Don't want to read all that? Just want my Summary? Well here it is, but I would seriously recommend heading over and having a look.

Major [Glyph of Holy Light] - Pally AoE healing - check!
Major [Glyph of Flash of Light] - 5% more FoL crits - Yippee!
Major [Glyph of Divinity] - Double mana return from Lay on Hands - Cool!
Minor [Glyph of the Wise] - something.
Minor [Glyph of Lay on Hands] - something else.
Minor [Glyph of Blessing of Wisdom] - longer normal self-cast BoW, I remember that one!

Mana Issue? Swap [Glyph of Flash of Light] for [Glyph of Seal of Wisdom] - Less mana cost or something!

Is this my glyph build? Fuck Knows. It's probably quite close!! What's my dual-spec ret glyph build? I know what that is...

Major Slot 1 - Empty!
Major Slot 2 - Empty!
Major Slot 3 - Empty!
Minor Slot 1 - Empty!
Minor Slot 2 - Empty!
Minor Slot 3 - Empty!

Oops!

Best Profession For Holy Paladin - The Answer.

OK guys, thanks for the thousands of comments here :P

I sifted through the multitudes of useful suggestions and distilled them down to the 2 best professions. I also had a little help from HolyPaladin.com and Galo's comment yesterday on Profession Changes in 3.2.

...and don't forget Archie, who got first post in the comments with the very same answer!

So the answer to my question, The Best Professions For a Holy Paladin ...

Jewelcrafting and Blacksmithing.

That is the summary, for the in-depth (kinda) analysis you need to go back to the original article.

Coming up next, a post about Holy Paladin Glyphs.

Wednesday, 17 June 2009

New Pally Mount and More Argent Tournament Rewards.

I just saw over on Galoheart's Ardent Defender blog that there will be a new Paladin Mount as a reward from the Argent Tournament when 3.2 hits.

Update: Flash of Moonfire and BoK are also carrying the story, probably others too, I haven't finished my daily blog dose.

Yeah, Yeah. Wait for the QQ'ing! Deal with it, Pallies can't wield staves, what's with that eh? It's not like we're weak; we can carry huge 2-handers around whilst wearing plate armour. We can wield polearms (stick with a blade on the end anyone?), but we can't equip just the stick? Pfff!

Not only that but other rewards too. I don't know what they are, I will have to check that web-sense blocked site when I get home :P

Bloody good job if you ask me, there better be a bloody healy mace to be had, that sword with +hit on it really pissed me off, yeah it was a spellpower upgrade (and probably stamina and intellect too) but all those i-points wasted on +hit made me cry.

Luckily HolyWarrior is Exalted Champion of the Alliance and still doing the odd daily for Champion's Seals so, just like Galo, has a nice head start ... hopefully ... unless they bring in a new token grind ... which wouldn't surprise me, the bastards!

Blog Review Slot - Diary of an (Ex?) WoW Addict

Well, it's not really going to be a review, as such, more of a link-back with a little bit of me rambling as usual!!

So, here's a blog that I read frequently, and thought was on my blogroll; turns out it either was and it got lost when I changed my blogroll over to the new* blogger blogroll widget or I've always gone there via entrecard**. We've exchanged comments in the past so nur***!!

Anyway, look at that, I've rambled already, best get to it.

DarkSaturn7 is her**** name and she resides at Diary of an (Ex?) WoW Addict. It is a very well laid out blog and easy to read. Not always about WoW, but then again nor is TJ!

Always a pleasure to visit, to see if that (Ex?) has become ex- again or keep up with her progress :)

You may have mysteriously disappeared from my blogroll, DS, but you are back there now!

Anyway, enough of the mutual back patting, time to look through my screenshots folder for some blog inspiration!

* It might not be that new, I only noticed it a few weeks ago!!
** If you're not a member join up, you can find some really good blogs through this site; just don't accept paid ads!
*** Said in childish voice; as in nur nur na nur nur!!
**** Assumption based on reference to bf in About Me page. Could be gay I suppose :P You got a problem with that? Deal with it or get off my blog :P

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

OK OK OK, I know I'm behind!

Yeah yeah, I'm a bit behind on my posts. HW hit argent crusade and Kirin Tor exaled recently, proper post to follow. He is now chasing Argent Crusade and will the work on Knights.

EB's tailoring goblin business is fucked, frostweave bags are now down to 69 gold, I mean come on, what fuckwad thinks a 28 gold loss per bag is good?

Even HotPants' gems are fecked :(

Goddam AH M&S on this server!

Anyway, proper post coming soon.

Friday, 12 June 2009

Faster regular Flying Mounts ... and at 60 Too!!

I saw this yesterday but Kim at World of Warcraft Wanderings reminded me of it today.

* Regular land mounts trainable at level 20 (was 30)
* Epic land mounts trainable at level 40 (was 60)
* Regular flying mounts trainable at level 60 (was 70)
* Regular flying mounts speed increased to a 150% gain (was 60%)

Yes, I am equally as bitter!

* Data shamelessly ripped from Kim.