Raid Warning Podcast & Guests on TNB

The guys over on Raid Warning are visiting Fimlys and I on Twisted Nether Blogcast live tomorrow night. It should be a fun interview.

Also, they have asked me to be a part of their Lock and Awe: Warlock Roundtable. Go over there and ask a bunch of questions so we don't start killing every critter in reach. (bahaha *wipes tear* Not like we were not going to kill them anyway.)

Raiding Warlocks 4.0.1 Pre-Cataclysm

With Cataclysm out in less then two months. There is better things for the community at large to be doing...

Like figuring out a list of changes 4.0.1 does to our gear, mounts, gems, glyphs, Mastery, and any number of things. ...

And if I was a better blogger I would create that list for you...

That is not going to happen just now.

But I will pass on somethings Faidwen has been posting in my Guilds forums to "help" out the locks. (I think it is a devious plan to keep warlocks in raid so he doesn't have to summon raiders or make Soul Wells.)

• 4.0 Pre-Cataclysm Raiding LINK to Elitist Jerks
• Common 4.0.1 builds by popularity LINK
• Guardians ONLY attack a target with a BANE spell, so make certain they are active before summoning. A snapshot of your stats are taken and used when summoning, so act accordingly. They also are effected by ALL buffs etc... Heroism :)
• DoT clipping has been removed. You cannot clip a DoT any more!

Nerfs and Buffs will continue. So don't get to set on anything right now. Ride this out and focus your time on figuring out broader things then exact specs and gear, because you will have to re-figure it out in under two months.

Patch 4.0.1 Rock Our World

Cataclysm is starting. We were told last week that December 7th is the release date of the next expansion. Today was the release of the EXTREMELY large patch of 4.0.1.

What to expect to be broken:

• Your internet will lag because you are downloading MB after MB of data.
• Addons will not be recognizable.
• The UI will completely change.
• Guild UI has been updated.
• Professions have been tweaked.
• Your gear stats will look the same but be completely different.
• Change in Riad lockout.

There are a WHOLE bunch more things. This is the start of “World of Warcraft 2.0.”

Oh… and did I mention that your Lock will have completely different playability with the new shard mechanic. It is so simply stated in the notes. I see some time on a Training Dummy in the spare minutes I get to play WoW in my future.

Warlocks
• There is now a new spell fly-out UI feature for warlock pets. Clicking on this single button will open up the list of available pets to summon.
• Soul Shards have been removed from the game as items. Instead, they now exist as a resource system necessary for using, or altering the mechanics of certain spells.

Good luck to you. May the computer and internet gremlins /ignore you today.

We are all going to need it.

TNB Blizzcon Meetup Oct 22

I will be at the TNB Blizzcon Meetup on Friday, Oct 22, 2010. The party is at Bubba Gump Shrimp starting at 9 PM in Anaheim.

Get details on the TNB Blizzcon Meetup on the site.

We will be giving away lots of prizes. Though I would think meeting me in the flesh was a great enough incentive to show up. If you are attending Blizzcon or are in the area come by and say hello to all the bloggers that will be there.

I look forward to seeing you drunk and singing!

Spawn Arrived Early

You may have noticed that I have been /AFK for a few weeks now. If you listened to Twisted Nether Blogcast you would know why.

September 21, 2010 the Spawn decided to arrive. She is healthy and a really good baby.

Right now she likes to be up at raid times so we will see how much of that I will be able to do. Wednesday I was able to work on hardmode Putricide with her lying on my chest. But that only lasted for about an hour. It was one hour longer then I thought I would get in.

I am around. If you need to contact me leave a message here, by twitter @HydRAWR, or by email HydRAWR at gmail dot com.

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.

Zul’Gurub Vanishes in Cataclysm. Farm it!

This will take the mounts and pet with it.

Zul'Gurub is gone as a raid instance come Cataclysm. ~Valnoth

It was confirmed this week. Over 18 months ago I wrote a post on farming ZG for the mounts and mage book. The only change I would make is add a fourth goal...the pet

4. Razzashi Hatchling

Razzashi Hatchling

This pet sells for a lot of gold. But beyond that with the removal of the raid the mobs that drop this pet will vanish.

In the area of Bloodlord Mandokir are 3 packs of 6 Razzashi Raptors . Then just outside his area is a smattering of the raptors with trolls.

If you are there for the mounts I would highly recommend killing the raptors too. If you want to farm the pet *shiver* go to the raptors and kill them and reset the instance as many times as you want. 

Me? I might just pay a fortune on the Auction House to pick myself up one. Or at least keep my eye out for one to resell after Cataclysm.