Warlock 100% Hit

Finally, the Cataclysm Edition for Level 85.

You have zero DPS when you are dead. Staring at the floor of the dungeon admiring how much detail Blizzard put into the room. You are trying to avoid that one percent wipe. Since you are a fantastic DPSer you know how to stay alive. A Shadow Bolt leaves your fingers, but your screen shows…

Miss

Well that is not good. You have to HIT the boss to DPS the boss.

For warlocks (all casters, I guess that includes mages... but whatever) it is really easy… we have to pay attention to the hit rating on our gear.

WoWpedia.com tells us that no matter what level our chance to hit and miss is the following.

Boss level	Chance to Hit	Chance to Miss
+2 (5-man)	94%	6%
+3 (10/25-man)	83%	17%

Today you can reach 100% hit. If you reach the hit cap it is possible for your spells to never miss. (Prior to 3.0 you would hit cap at 99%.) Warlocks did have talents to increase your hit percent (Suppression and Cataclysm), but as of 4.0.1 there are no more talents hit increase.

You will need to stack hit rating to reduce your miss chance further in your gear and augments.

Each percentage of hit requires 102.446 hit rating at level 85. To hit cap you will need to round up so that you have 100% hit or more.

Chance to Miss	Hit Rating	Hit Cap Rating
1%	102.45	103
2%	204.89	205
3%	307.34	308
4%	409.78	410
5%	512.23	513
6%	614.68	615
7%	717.12	718
8%	819.57	820
9%	922.01	923
10%	1024.46	1025
11%	1126.91	1127
12%	1229.35	1230
13%	1331.80	1332
14%	1434.24	1435
15%	1536.69	1537
16%	1639.14	1640
17%	1741.58	1742

So what is your hit rating goal at level 85? It depends. *grin*

Goal – 5 mans
We need enough hit to overcome a 6% miss rate. From the above table that is a 615 hit cap rating.

Goal – 10/25 mans
We need enough hit to overcome a 17% miss rate. From the above table that is a 1742 hit cap rating.

Boss level	Chance to Miss	Hit Cap Rating
+2 (5-man)	6%	615
+3 (10/25-man)	17%	1742

Keep in mind what your personal situation is when you play. Pick the number that is right for your game time. Anyone who tells you that 17% is the ONLY hit cap is W.R.O.N.G. and now you know why.

Also NOT having a 100% hit rate is not bad. We survived all of BC at level 70 being at 99%. Lots and lots of bosses died in that time. Don't sweat about it. If you do, you will start stinking up the place. I have enough trouble with all the undead locks around here. They need to keep their mucus to themselves is all I am saying.

ICC Bosses Rogue: Combat or Mutilate

Husband (The Rogue) and I were having lunch this weekend and we started chatting about his gear and specs.

He has enjoyed Combat for most of the Wrath expansion. Granted Mutilate was the highest DPS spec. Except Mutilate weapons were the weapons that were being drooled over by other rogues. He could pick up the best Combat weapons with less difficulty.

Design your rogue around the weapons you can get.

Then something happened… and the other three rogues vanished. SO … not only did he have some of the best Combat weapons in the game… but in two weeks he had a matched set of Lungbreaker (Heroic). (Since then I taunt the last occasionally raiding rogue with the fact that we have sharded the dagger 4 times.)

The Rogue now has two DPS sets of gear from ICC 25 for Combat and Mutilate. I thought it was interesting on how he uses them on each of the ICC Bosses.

(Yes. I pulled out a notepad and scratched down notes during lunch with Husband. That is normal right?)

Things my Rogue wanted me to point out:
• Heroic vs. Regular doesn’t make a real difference. It is the boss fight mechanics that determine the decision.
• Learn to Strafe.
• Control your debuffs.
• Utilize your random buffs.
• Tricks, Cloak of Shadow, and Feint:
o Should be understood.
o If not, you are not using your rogue to the fullest.
o If not using them you should not be playing a rogue.


Icecrown Citadel
Lower Spire

Lord Marrowgar – Either spec – We make all but hunters stand in melee. Someone calls out “On HUNTER” and range is responsible for the Bone Spike. For Mutilate the spikes go down so fast the debuffs on the boss should not drop off.

Lady Deathwhisper – Combat – Add swapping.

Gunship Battle – Combat – Add swapping.

Deathbringer Saurfang – Mutilate – Kick butt. Sometimes (rarely) on one add on Heroic to assist but back on boss before debuff drops.

The Plagueworks

Festergut – Mutilate

Rotface – Mutilate

Professor Putricide – Combat
 
The Crimson Hall

Blood Prince Council (Valanar, Keleseth and Taldaram) – Combat

Blood-Queen Lana'thel – Mutilate

Frostwing Halls

Valithria Dreamwalker – Combat – Save Blade Flury and Killing Spree for Suppressors. On second Blazing Skeleton use Adrenallen Rush, because others typically use their cooldowns on the first one. Always kick Risen Archmage (Mages). (BTW. Warlocks should be using Curse of Tongue on Mages.)

Sindragosa – Depends on where you or the raid is having trouble. – It is harder on Mutilate. The Air Phase and Ice Blocks makes you have to restart your DPS build up. Use Combat if the trouble is in the last phase. Use the Combat ability Adrenalin Rush when Heroism/Bloodlust is up and on Ice Blocks, particularly if raid team is getting behind on Ice Blocks.

The Frozen Throne

The Lich King – Combat – Primarily for the burst DPS for the Val'kyrs in phase 2.

Your Healers Know

They make decisions constantly on who lives and who dies. This is their role in a raid. And when tanks go down or when key utility players need to stay up, you maybe on your own.

• Can you use your Healthstone when needed?
• Can you reduce your overall damage intake?
• Can you avoid unnecessary damage?
• Can you pot if you need to?
• Can you be self sufficient until the raid healers get stabilized?

As DPS you will quickly learn where you are on that list.

We all have bad nights. I am prone to bad moments. I die. But before I ever blame a healer I evaluate the last moments before my death.

• Was a tank dead?
• Was my designated raid healer dead?
• Was the capability of that raid healer high enough to keep me up when the raid goes wrong?
• Was I standing where I was not too?
• Was I having a brain fart?

After EVERY death I recommend reading your combat log. And if necessary get an addon that records for you the last few actions before your death. (I have not used an addon in a while so I don’t have one to recommend.)

If you are a caster and see you got cleaved for 76K… yea… no healer could prevent that. It was a completely a YOU problem. What? Oh? You say the tank died? Was your Shatter on cooldown? I recommend sending it back to the Rogue who might be able to Evasion tank for 15 seconds. A quick moving Druid might Rebirth a tank in that time. Just because it didn’t work eight times you tried Shattering it doesn’t mean that ninth time it will. But how do you know until you try?

The encounter AOE killed you with a 9K tick and 2K overkill? Was your Healthstone used? Did you use a Health Pot? Did your designated raid healer die? Was your raid healer helping a priority target because their healer went down, like a tank healer? Were you out of range of your designated healer?

etc….

There are a lot of questions after each death. “I didn’t get a heal.” is not a reason to die if there were options and you didn’t use them.

“Can I survive.” is the ultimate game.

For me, this is my game. If we down a new boss and I am not alive at the end it is extremely bitter sweet for me. To take the bitterness out, I make sure I used all my resources so at least I tried to stay alive as long as possible. If that didn’t occur, I research the ability used to kill me. Making sure the likelihood of that same mistake is lowered.

Your healers KNOW if you are prone to death. When things are going wrong they also KNOW if they “waste” a heal on DPS they quickly mentally prioritize to those who will use the time to extra advantage.

Matticus had a post documenting the mentality of a healer when things start going wrong. There are a lot of things you can do to help your healers. Knowing this is what is going on in your healer's head, I ask how can I help.

I am not one of the last DPS standing because I am known for standing in fire, get hit by goo, am out of range, or DPSing random targets.

I KNOW my healers heal me. I also KNOW that if I am having a horrible night, dieing every fight, I get healer whispers “Is everything all right?” That is not normal for me and they are reevaluating my heal priority. They KNOW. They Know. They know.

Loremaster AKA Hydra is not doing it but happy to push others into it

I know people in this time of pre-expansion summer are doing Loremaster. For this expansion we know that the world is changing and many want to experience to the fullest.

My friend Ratters has been running around questing and killing. He is completing Loremaster prior to Cataclysm using wowhead.com.

We were talking about how he was doing it. He is using wowhead.com to keep track of your progress. I really liked the idea of being able to access what quests you have left outside of the game. If you have a 15 min break at work, waiting for something or you are not at your wow computer it lets you plan ahead for the 45 minutes you may get to run tonight.

I also really liked the idea of being able to click though on wowhead.com site for the quest mobs to kill, availability of quest comments, and ease of sorting and searching quests using a browser.

If I actually was inclined to quest … I am sure I could flush out my thoughts on the use of wowhead.com for Loremaster.

Yes, I bugged Ratters for weeks to post something so I could link it to you. Hope it helps and maybe gives you an additional option.

Hit Calculator

Wow heroes has a simple little hit calculator. You can find it here.

We should all know how to calculate warlock hit rating.This confirms it and gives a quick check of raid buffs you should look out for to increase your hit rating.

My Rogue is constantly jabbering on about hit rating. As a melee class they have a hit cap for their specials and then for their white damage. When designing your gear you have to decide early what your goals are for hit.

It is very easy to use. I looked at the information on warlocks, hunters, and rogues so the data should be good for all classes. If your perception of hit is different from the tool check if you can back calculate what they are doing. Sometimes you can find things you are missing that way.

First Thoughts on Sindragosa

We now get a chance to kill the big dragon on the log-in screen. If this is not a sufficient reason for you to want to kill her think of it this way. Who do you see when you are DCed? Sindragosa

RAWR

Tankspot has some variations of boss placement. My tanks placed Sindragosa to the left of the stairs. At the point where the stairs end and the platform starts.

As ranged DPS you don’t have to worry about the Cleave, Tail Smash, and Frost Breath. As in all dragons there is just no reason for us to be in front or behind.

Unchained Magic… *growls* we will get back to that one.

Icy Grip sucks you into melee range of her. She then casts Blistering Cold. After the 5 second cast there is an AOE that kills anyone in a 25 yard area.

Demonic Portal is your friend. Put your portal out in ranged and after getting gripped you can port back to it.

Don’t rely on only your portal. You can portal on the run. MOVE. Portal. Then Move some more.

I had no problem at all in the first 10 attempts. I was caught once standing on my portal still to close, so I learned to keep moving. It happened because the tank needed to move the dragon and I didn’t adjust my portal placement.

Then there were the next few attempts. I kept moving … but started dieing from being to close. My portal failed and so I had to run like everyone else.

I needed to minimize my flight time when Icy Gripped. As we wiped and wiped I apparently was moving as FAR AWAY FROM ALL THE SMELLY RAIDERS as I could. I was at my max range. Really, it was nine guys running around for over two hours. I shoved some frost lotus (I know it is expensive but it was for a good cause) into my nose. Getting closer to the dragon shaved off flight time of the grip, giving me the 0.5 sec I needed to make the last few steps out of the AOE of death.

*sigh* Unchained Magic.

When you get Unchained Magic every time you cast you get one stack of Instability debuff on you. Each Stack will deal 2,000 damage when it falls off after 8 seconds after not casting. (No, you cannot just continually cast. It expires automatically after 30 seconds.)

Work with your healers. Initially I was allowing 5-6 stacks on me before waiting the 8 seconds for the debuff to drop off. Eventually we moved that to 8-9 stacks.

Every SB, Haunt, UA, Corr, CoA, and even a Life Tap will add a stack. I think even portaling to your Demonic Circle puts a buff on you. Our job is DPS. Standing there starring at dragon butt is not an option. Attacking with your wand does not put Instability stacks on you. Yea, I totally wand the dragon, that was more DPS then standing there.

Then there is an Air Phase. It is raid awareness. Raiders who are marked with the Frost Beacon and then Iced Tombed place themselves where the rest of the raid can line of sight the Frost Bombs.

I am a player that does not always look at the fight head on. I constantly mess with my camera angle and how far I am zoomed in or out. I also look at my toon from the side or even above. It is imperative for you to make a straight line from the Frost Bomb to the Ice Tomb to the top of your head.

To keep my trinket buffs up I DPS the Tombs only a bit. We had melee work on them.

An unexpected hard part was actually the transition from phase 2 (air phase) back to phase 1 (ground phase).

Affliction warlock DPS has to be ramped up. Our dots need to start ticking. By the time the dragon lands… all your work is gone. So I got a lot of time to learn to be efficient at starting the DPS cycle.

At 35% you go into the last ground phase. Sindragosa has all the same ground phase abilities but adds Mystic Buffet. Pretty much making you useless if you get Unchained Magic cast on you. You also get an Ice Tomb on a player that will help you manage your debuff stacks.

If raiders are not good with their spacing or they don’t anticipate where bad things can happen phase 3 is hard. Everyone needs to have controlled movement. Everyone needs to manage their debuffs.

I got to the point that if I had Unchained Magic it was more important that I do nothing so I survived at the end of the 30 seconds, than any DPS I could contribute at that point. Figure out what the debuffs look like and manage them accordingly.

A girl can only take so many 2%, 3% 7% wipes until the dragon finally dies. I did more damage then the other lock, completely must have been all the wanding I did (inserted only to annoy the other lock.)

With a dead dragon… we went after the Lich King.

[RL] What is the difference between real raiders and us?
[RL] They know how to get to the next boss.

We ran around. Went up and down elevators. Went around in circles. Crossed paths.

From Sindragosa’s room, turn left, go up the ramp. There is an elevator which puts you in a hallway facing the val’kyr room. Avoid the val’kyr as you run to the center transport that is now working. It takes you directly to the Lich King.

We got him to around 82% before we died a painful but swift death.

ICC Fun with Kilrogg

So…

Yea…

Bored warlocks are … bored.

If you are curious like I am…

Eye of Kilrogg DOES NOT agro trash.

Eye of Kilrogg DOES agro the boss.

Next time the RL goes /afk I will check out Lady Deathwhisper.

Wow Head’s Completion Tracker

There is a new wowhead.com feature called Completion Tracker. It is in bata but looks really smooth.

You can find how to use it here on the wowhead.com site. You simply download the wowhead client and it will collect the information when you log into your character.

It adds mounts, companions, recipes, and quests to your profile on wowhead.com. Ratter showed me this new feature. I have yet to mess with it beyond clicking around his information.

Here is Hydra’s without the added information.
Here is Ratshag’s with the added information.

You are able to see all the data outside of wow. In great wowhead fashion it is easy to sort, search, and click around in.

My first thought was the easy to click on tabs will help for planning the next steps you need to do to complete Loremaster. *cough* Oathbreaker *cough*

How I Stopped Keyboard Turning

While poking around one of the guild forums I found an old post about keyboard turning. There was a link to a wow.com topic.

I started out as a keyboard turner.

The games I initially played on the PC were not first person shooters, but strategy games. If I wanted to shoot something I would do that on my console games.

Even on the Warcraft site it immediately encourages keyboard turning by saying “Use the W, A, S, D keys to move around the world.”

So that is what I did…

Then I quickly figured out I needed to strafe. Keeping what I was attacking in front of me. It let me watch the fight in more detail.

The wow.com article linked to wikipedia which had an animation to show just how dps can move around a target.

First, I key-bound the left strafe to the Q key and right strafe to the E key. This enabled me to move forward at a 45 degree angle at a running pace, to exclusively strafe, and to move more effectively.

I ran into a big problem quickly. Holding down ability keys 1-0 plus moving was a pain. In a tough battle I was crossing my hands over. I was looking at keys to hit the buttons. It was still a mess. Plus I was not utilizing my right hand, my most dominate, efficiently.

Next, I moved off all movement keys onto my ten key. I added as a secondary key-binding to movements the 7, 8, 9, 4, 5, and 6 keys. This worked extremely well.

This is actually how the Rogue plays. He has always been faster with the 10 key. You can key-bind all your movement to your right hand, this includes jump. This frees up a significant amount of buttons for abilities using your left hand. ProTip don’t use the Num Lock or Esc as a key binding, that is just silliness. So this worked out extremely well.

The problem I was having with the 10 key was jump shots on my hunters. I would actually lift my hand off the 10 key onto the mouse and then execute the shot then move my hand back. Again the back and forth would cause me to loose my spot on the 10-key making me look down to adjust my finger positioning.

Then, I started to move with my mouse. I had a standard two button mouse with a scroll wheel. I key-bound autorun to the scroll click, so I could be lazy and not always hold down both buttons. I was back to using the Q and E key to strafe, plus the S key for back. Ugg. That was not going to work either.

Finally, I am at the point of using me the Belkin n52te and Razor Lachesis. Both peripherals come with buttons galore. Both of which I didn’t expect to change my game as much as they did.

I use the movement pad on the n52 to strafe. I use the mouse to move my character and camera angle. I autorun with the scroll wheel click. I back up with the center top button. And my genius was when I key-bound the M key for map to the center bottom button.

Only time I touch the keyboard now is to type. So yes, when Hydra is not moving or hopping around it is because I am typing someone. Unfortunately, concentrating on the keyboard for typing has not improved my spelling or grammar.

With all this work to move it is no wonder why I get so pissed when I get caught in the fire. On that note, I will still laugh at you if you back up out of the fire. If you are lucky I will not call you out in vent for doing it.

Keypad Belkin n52te

Consider the Belkin n52te SpeedPad for that last minute gift for the gamer on your list. I first heard about this from Nibbles.

One day completely redoing my Warcraft keybindings in frustration, I realized this would help a lot. So I asked for one last holiday season. Then Husband jumped on the wagon and asked for the identical gift. A year later I could not game without it.

It was pretty easy to set up.

Pairing the keypad with the addon Dominos has made Warcraft keybinding easy. Not only easy but this last year has been so much more comfortable.

Now it did take me about two weeks to get use too. After that initial settling in period it has been instinctive to use. Plus any tinkering has all been in the addon in-game.

Before I had about 12 keys easy assessable. Plus I would constantly have to reset my hand position because I would get off by a key. I don't have that issue because of my hand sits comfortably on the palm pad.

I have the n52te set up with 33 keys set up. Nibbles set hers up here. If I get to it I will tell you how I have it set up. I have it set up a little bit different. My Tab, Ctrl, and Alt set up to the left. 

It is always good to evaluate the amount of time you do something. Then look if you can do something to enhance your experience. I never would have thought I would buy a keypad. But with how much Warcraft we now play, I highly recommend looking into something like computer accessories.

I am now an Amazon Affiliate! I am sure I will mess with it some more down the road. The first thing I listed was the Belkin n52te. I use to approve affiliates from another online retailer. Now feels very full circle.

Addon: Too Many Addons

While poking around my new guild forums I came across a great discussion on managing addons.

The problem is prior to raid having individuals log out to deselect non-essential addons for raiding and log back in. If you happen to forget to do this your frame rates would plummet to the single digits during a fight.

A solution is the addon Too Many Addons. You open the interface with /TMA. You can then make profiles for addons you want to set up for at the time.I installed it and it was very intuitive to set up. You can load profiles from characters on other realms. If you have pre-raid routine you can also set up a macro to one click with “/TMA aProfileName”.

My raiding profile eliminates any questing, auction, trade skill, and data addons I use. It only includes those addons I use for my UI, DBM, and anything needed to make killing easier. While raiding I truly don’t care that a guildie just picked Kingsblood in STV.

My general profile contains most of my addons, with a few exceptions.

My bank characters profile includes UI and banking related addons. It doesn’t include the only-for-use-in-raiding addons. This helps with loading between characters.

The addon had an “Always Load These Addons” profile. This should overwrite all selections in the other profiles. The must have in the profile is Too Many Addons itself checked. You will want to be able to get back to modify selections even if you want to disable it all.

If I have a new warlock I can easily import profiles from Hydra from a drop down menu. This makes setting up characters a little bit easier.

Frozen Halls Short Boss Explanations

With patch 3.3 we were given three 5-man dungeons in the Icecrown Citadel called the Frozen Halls. You can find the entrance to all three and the summoning stone on the upper path to the west. With these new dungeons we were also given the new LFM, or Looking for More tool.

You initially must complete the dungeons in order to open the next ones.
1. The Forge of Souls (FoS)
2. Pit of Saron (PoS)
3. Halls of Reflection (HoR)

There is an optional quest you can pick up in Dalaran. I never made it to Dalaran before heading over to the new dungeons. So I can attest that you can pick up the quest line start just at the entrance of The Forge of Souls.

I don’t ever pug. But I wanted to give it a chance with the new system. I really like the new system. Particularly the idea if you get in a bad random one you can get into another one to still finish your daily. So far I have been really lucky. I must thank Xxl of Nazgrel for two great runs.

The key to any encounter can be having someone who could sum up the fights in a quick paragraph. This paragraph should highlight the group killers or tricky game mechanics. So here is my attempt to do that here. There should be just enough for a copy and paste at the right times. Please let me know of anything needs to be added or changed.

The Forge of Souls
Bronjahm
It is mostly shadow damage. Tank kites boss away from sphere. DPS with Drain Soul move away from boss. Kill the sphere spawn. At 30% is Soulstorm, stay in the middle. Healer, a feared target will take a lot of damage if they get into the Soulstorm.

The Devourer of Souls
Tank and Spank. Interrupt as many Phantom Blasts as possible. Stay away from adds when they spawn, you cannot target them. Don’t stand in stuff. Healer, the person with Mirrored Soul will be taking a lot of damage.

Pit of Saron
Forgemaster Garfrost
Tank and Spank. It is mostly frost damage. Boss throws boulders doing damage when they land. Once boulders land they can be used to line of site the boss letting your Permafrost stack debuff drop off.

Krick and Ick
When he emotes "close" get out of melee range. If you get targeted kite the boss. Watch for poison clouds. Stay away from exploding bad orbs. Don’t stand in stuff.

Gauntlet
Stay out of dropped runes (like Hodir). Tank agro to first giant. Don’t DPS until tank has giant THEN kill everything. The giant is about half way. Tank at the medallion on the ground. Move together to end of hall. Again no dps until tank has adds.

Scourgelord Tyrannus
Tank be ready to pick him up. Keep spread out. Move if you're targeted. DPS with Overlord’s Brand needs to STOP DPS. You kill the tank. Healer with brand try to minimize healing (heals boss), but don’t let us die.

Halls of Reflection
Falric and Marwyn
Tank up front. Let tank get mobs. Kill the priest mob first. Don’t pull agro. Healer watch feared group members they can take a lot of damage. Stay out of stuff.

The Lich King
Run! Tank to stay up front. Let tank get mobs. Kill casters first. Stay together. Don’t pull agro. Kill stuff. Keep moving as soon as the wall is down!

Addon: Power Aura with Death Knight Goodness

“I wish I knew when Horn of Winter dropped off so I knew when to reapply.” ~ My DK tank sighed at me. Fear not! *dramatically points into the air* At this point I proceeded to praise the value of Power Aura.

This addon is more useful then you think it is. The trick is just start messing with it and then you will find all types of ways to use it. I find looking at how other classes use addon gives me ideas on how to use them myself.

Addon Downloads:
Power Auras Classic
Dual Specs enabled version (based on v2.6.0) (which may break in patch since it is a fan update.)

Nibuca over at Mystic Chicanery had a great explanation on how to use Power Auras. There is even a video of it in action.

Garwulf over at the Huntsmans Lodge has an extensive list of how he uses Power Auras for hunters. For my hunter I have incorporated some but not to the extent he lists.

The configuration window for Power Auras can be opened by typing /powa.

From there start becoming one with your aura.

My Death Knight tank then proceeded to make a bunch. I bugged him to share (… and then sat on the email for two weeks.)Other then a yelling at a Shammie for some totem that messed with buffs not stacking everything is working as intended.

Freezing Fog buff:
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu1; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu0.3843137254902; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; multiids:st; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Frost_ArcticWinds; size:nu1.7999999523163; torsion:nu1; stance:nu10; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; combat:nu0; customname:st; timer:bofalse; mine:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; anim2:nu0; textaura:bofalse; party:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; target:bofalse; exact:botrue; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; threshold:nu50; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu1; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu5; buffname:stFreezing Fog; inverse:bofalse; opt1:nu0; r:nu0.25882352941176; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu-30; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1

Killing Machine buff:
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu1; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu0.13333333333333; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; multiids:st; icon:stInterface\Icons\INV_Sword_122; size:nu1.2599999904633; torsion:nu1; stance:nu10; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; combat:nu0; customname:st; timer:bofalse; mine:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; anim2:nu0; textaura:bofalse; party:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; target:bofalse; exact:bofalse; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; threshold:nu50; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu23; buffname:stKill; inverse:bofalse; opt1:nu0; r:nu0.058823529411765; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu-30; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1

Horn of Winter buff (only warns when in combat):
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu1; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu0.13333333333333; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; multiids:st; icon:stInterface\Icons\INV_Sword_122; size:nu1.2599999904633; torsion:nu1; stance:nu10; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; combat:nu0; customname:st; timer:bofalse; mine:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; anim2:nu0; textaura:bofalse; party:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; target:bofalse; exact:bofalse; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; threshold:nu50; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu23; buffname:stKill; inverse:bofalse; opt1:nu0; r:nu0.058823529411765; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu-30; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1

Runic Power above 60% (only warns when in combat):
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.29411764705882; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu0.10980392156863; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; multiids:st; icon:stInterface\icons\Spell_fire_meteorstorm; size:nu0.75999999046326; torsion:nu1; stance:nu10; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; combat:nu1; customname:st; timer:bofalse; mine:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; anim2:nu0; textaura:bofalse; party:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; target:bofalse; exact:bofalse; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu10; threshold:nu70; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu20; buffname:st???; inverse:bofalse; opt1:nu0; r:nu0.20392156862745; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu-87; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1

Runic Power above 90% (only warns when in combat):
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu1; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu0.094117647058824; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; multiids:st; icon:stInterface\icons\Spell_fire_meteorstorm; size:nu0.75; torsion:nu1; stance:nu10; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; combat:nu1; customname:st; timer:bofalse; mine:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; anim2:nu0; textaura:bofalse; party:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; target:bofalse; exact:bofalse; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu10; threshold:nu90; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu20; buffname:st???; inverse:bofalse; opt1:nu0; r:nu0.76078431372549; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu-87; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1

DoTimer Self-Tip

Removing raid wide buffs in DoTimer addon. For lock and druid I only have a few items on my do not show list or blocked list.Open up the Addon menu under Interface. Under DoTimer Filters add to the Blocked Types field anything you want to never show. Press enter once you are done typing in the name accurately. For me the spelling and typing challenged, it may take a moment to get correct.

For me I want to keep the list short. The current items are:

• replenishment
• detect invisibility
• unending breath
• mark of the wild
• gift of the wild

There might be a better way to do this task. I don’t want to remove all buffs. Just the few listed and this has works just fine.

How I Hit Cap

I received a comment a while back and have been mulling it over.

Elarya said...

So... Realistically speaking, what do you suggest? I'm in a guild where having two sets of gear just isn't really possible (I'd be so damn low on DKP...). Carrying around gems to plop into sockets? Better question would be, what do YOU do?

First thing I am going to say is this…

Being Hit Cap is NOT important.

*ducks quickly* Look we got through vanilla WoW and BC with a 1% miss rate. During those years bosses died.

What you need to decide is what your acceptable risk to miss, 1%, 2%, 5% or never?

I accept risk. A lot of that is because my preferred spec is Affliction. I question my own Hit gear choices when I am Destruction. (No, I will not go into those conversations with myself. I always win.)

Here are my thoughts on things for Hit.

Gemming for Hit?
NEVER! MORE SPELL POWER! It is what we are here for. All of my gear is socketed for spell power. I ignore the socket “bonus” on gear, unless it is spell power. Even if the bonus is spell power, I would do the math to see if I get more spell power with my normal gems.

The ONLY time I don’t socket for spell power is to activate my meta gem in my helm. That is the time I would socket hit or even spirit.

Food buff for Hit?
Not even on my list of options. The increased spell power spread over all the spells that do hit would be a better investment. (I put this in so I can giggle at it.)

Gear swap for Hit?
Yes. Don’t think of your hit gear as a “set”. You are NOT looking for swapping out ALL your gear. That would not be optimal. Spending all your DKP on a second set of gear for only one stat is also far beyond optimal.

At most, I have swapped out four pieces for hit, gloves, waist, trinket, and off-hand. Spend DKP on key hit gear. Trinkets like the Dying Curse or Living Flame are a good investment.

I still am using my Ward of the Violet Citadel bought for 25 Emblem of Heroism. I am waiting to replace it with Leviathan Fueling Manual. It is the one piece I still swap for the extra hit.

Talent for Hit?
Suppression. Love it, hold it, tuck it in at night. If you are low in hit, for three talent points you can increase your hit chance by 3%. That is a deal! 50% off. Get it now!

If as a lock you are looking a little priestly in the gear department. This talent will save you some face. I am still low on gear hit then I like, so I still use three talent points in suppression.

Raid make up for Hit?
This is where it gets tricky. YOU have to be paying attention. Are you Horde or Alliance? Is there magical buffs from other classes? Each and every raid is different. Plan for YOUR most likely scenario.

Here is what I am doing.
Hydra is not Hit Capped. This is by CHOICE. I choose to live the wild un-hit capped life.

Goal is 17% hit. I have 3 talent points into Suppression. To be capped I would need 14% hit.

As alliance I have the potential of the Draenei racial of Heroic Presence. Do I think Draenei are going to be in my raids? *scans past raid make ups* Yes. That allows me to take into account 1% more hit from a party buff. To be capped I would need 13% hit.

No shadow priest and no moonkins in most of my raids. Taking those into account would not be reliable.

I prefer to be running between 11-12% hit. Right now I am raiding with 10.48% hit. I feel that is low. But I kill things nicely with even that low of hit. I even miss once in a while.

I have played at a training dummy for hours putting on and taking off hit gear. Then I tested hit in raids. I understand when I miss I am under hit capped and why. It is the WHY and preplanning that you need to do so you feel comfortable with your stats.

If someone asked me “Are you hit capped?” I would still say yes. For my situation I am, just low. *grin*

Drain Soul Note

Drain Soul will get soul shards off training dummies.
…
OK.
…
[Insert dead wood joke here]
Whatever.

To those that say wood has a life on its own apparently Warcraft agrees with you.

On a more practical note, shard farming can now be combined with testing time.

Screenshots the WoW Way

Screenshots in-game are easy. You press one key and your shot is saved inside a folder automatically. I didn't even look on how to figure this out until I dinged level 70, since then I have taken thousands of shots.

On your keyboard, typically on the upper right, is a “Print Screen” key. Some keyboards you only need to hit this key. Other keyboards you will have to turn on and off the function key to make it work.

While running the World of Warcraft game hit the print screen key to take an in-game screenshot. When you do yellow type with the words “Screen Captured” should flash on your screen.

If you would like to take a shot without your user interface (UI) that is easy too. Type the keys Alt+Z will hide your UI. When you want it back you type Alt+Z again.

That is it. A shot is now saved.

But where is the image?

In your World of Warcraft program file there will be folder called Screenshots. If everything is at the default places it is at “C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Screenshots”.

Within the screenshot folder are jpg files of what was on your screen when the print screen key was pressed.

Now you can modify the image to your delight!

I take screenshots to remind myself of potential blog posts. Sometimes they actually make it into a post, other times it is a pure reminder. I also keep the original unchanged and edit a copy just in case I, you know, mess it up.

Discount at the Counter

Spring Break. Not mine, but players.

Any holiday brings out the sellers who quest and gather. They take those items toss them up on the auction house for "just want to get rid of prices".

Times like these I stock up on raw materials for raiding, selling, or later crafting. We are not talking much later to sell either. A week after a holiday and I can get a 50-100% profit.

Frost Lotus is the first on my list. In December I stocked up buying out any that was 6 gold or less. The going rate on my server is 17 gold. Nice little discount. I am looking forward to restocking and making a profit on that one item.

Hmmm... what else should I be looking for pre-3.1.

Twisted Nether Ads Up ...Again

I have an updated Twisted Nether Blogcast Ad rotator. It is back on my side bar (if anyone noticed that it even vanished, which is over there --> )The ads broke not that long ago. Fimlys has now sent me updated code and all looks good.

The below bloggers are listed. Many have helped answer my nub questions about other classes. They have also helped me figure out ways to improve and test what I am doing in groups and raids. Some make me laugh IRL from some of the things they say in Blog Azeroth chat. Above all they are passionate about WoW.

I recommend you taking some time to check them out… even if not all of them cannot be gifted to be a warlock.

Twisted Nether Blogcast
Asleep at the WoW
Casual WoW
Trizophenie
Need More Rage
Mystic Chicanery
Kestrel's Aerie
World of Warcraft Wanderings
Bind on Equip
The Stoppable Force
Resto 4 Life
I Sheep Things
The Big Bear Butt
Too Many Annas
Leafshine: Lust for Flower
NE Hunter L4Mobs, PST!
UnHealer
Lady Jess
Gun Loving Dwarf Chick
The Druid Team
Banana Shoulders

My Add-ons

“It would be nice if you'd make a post about what add-ons you are using. Could you do that?” –Jakob

WIT (Warlock-in-Training) Jakob asked this as a very nice comment. WIT Jakob is now called a WIT because he made me giggle. No worries Jakob we are all WITs.

Normally I would ignore and not answer. But decided that I could call WIT Jakob a WIT and that would make me laugh more. Plus he was not the first to ask. With add-ons post 3.0 out a while things have stabilized in the add-on area.

I use wowmatrix.com program to update all my add-ons. Some people do not like it, but I update two computers. During a big patch day this has saved me from taking things and throwing them out a window. It is up to your own research on if you like it to use it or not.

Before I use any add-on I go to the actually developer site or if not found to the download site. I scan issues, bugs, and last few update notes. This gives me an idea if it will be around for a while, currently being updated, if things are just getting refined, etc.

Presenting my very long list…

Interface:

XPerl – I love it. Having my toon, target, target of target shown below my character is something I have gotten very use too.
Chatter – An easy to use and modify chat window. Two things it does for me is the ability to copy text and change height and width easily.
RicoMiniMap – Gives me a square, can modify position, and I can change the size of the minimap.

Class Specific:

Necrosis (warlock only)– Gives me my most used warlock abilities a click or two away. I use it to make SS, stones, or summon my minions including other raid/party members. *grin*
Nudge (hunter) – Shows when my hunters are in range of target.
RuneWatch (death knight only) – To help me figure out how to play my Death Knight.

Tools During Battles:

Omen – Tank aggro here I come!
Proximo – Used in Arenas I am not as good as other players so this helps me keep track of who I am up against.
Recount – Damage meter to see my …well… damage.
Deadly Boss Mod – Yes. We know and love it for the dungeon and raids. I like it for battlegrounds also.
DotTimer – This is finally back to being as customizable as I liked it. I am constantly changing it a bit here and there. This is where my eyes are at in a fight.

Additional Info:

Fubar (+plugins) – I am not all that excited about. I used titan panel pre-wrath. I had it showing the gold I had on the current character and the drop down showed total. Currently I am looking at total gold, but I want only gold on the current toon shown. But over all not so bad.
Atlas & AtlasLoot – Atlas give me ingame dungeon maps…since I still get lost in Gnomeregon and Wailing Caverns.
Auctioneer Advanced –If Auctioneer suddenly no longer existed… I would seriously have to consider if I was going to continue to play WoW or not.
EasyMail – Empties my mail box with one click.
Enchantrix – It is part of the full Auctioneer suite. This tells me what things may disenchant into.
DoubleWide – Makes my quest pane into two larger easier to read areas.
TomTom – This shows me my coordinates when I am out and about. Used with LightHeaded and put a big arrow in the direction I should be going. I love this add-on.
LiveStock – Mount and non-combat pet randomizer. Really easy to use and highly recommend it.
RatingBuster – In game gear calculator, I use it as a guide for gear comparison. Only you can determine with your other gear if it is an actual upgrade.
Outfitter – Lots of fun for my toons. I wait till they are max level or gear has stabilized.
LightHeaded – wowhead.com in game. Partnered with TomTom (clickable blue coordinates) I can get less lost in questing.
TourGuide – I use this to level alts. Partnered with LightHeaded and TomTom the three make leveling easy.
LoggerHead – Turns on and off my combat log. Unfortunately I have it turned on somewhere over Theramore Isle and when I fly over it always turn on. I have yet been able to figure out how to fix that. Otherwise it does exactly what I need it to do.

...and I am still looking at some other add-ons.