Good evening,
For the last few patches, Warlocks pretty much remained untouched since we pretty much stayed awesome since the release of MoP.
I remember when I first hopped into Beta and discovered a new spell for destruction called Fire and Brimstone, I got confused. I tried it out. It felt weak. It was weak at level 85. I found as my stat-pool went up, this spell really shone like...fire.
The Old
As we know, Fire and Brimstone (FaB) is one of the core components of our AOE damage and essentially duplicates our incinerate, immolate, and conflagrate to all mobs within a small radius. Previously, we would have to trigger FaB for each cast, and sometimes if you trigger FaB too fast the effect won't register and you essentially end up casting a single target version of whatever you were casting.
The New
The new FaB essentially gives us what I like to think of as our AOE Stance. As long as we have an ember, all our duplicatable spells cast will remain FaB'd. I found that this small change increased my AOE dps by a LOT. Not that AOE dps really matters for what we are doing with the exception of perhaps being able to be really OP for Tortos' bats.
The new FaB just lets us set and forget, and for fights with more than 10 mobs we are officially stronger than a hunter's ridiculously overpowered Improved Serpent Sting, and even frost mages. Yes, frost mages, the single most over-powered class ever to set foot in PVE and PVP can not even hold a candle to FaB (unless they are 20 ilvl higher than you).Oh, you did 350,000 dps on those slimes, well I did 800,000. Almost a million. TO the point where the tank couldn't keep aggro. And you know that if within our current system where a tank, who merely needs to exist can not keep aggro, you are probably powerful.
The new FaB lets us perform our single target rotation on all mobs, no more casting FaB after each cast, you just let it roll. Make sure to cast rain of fire first as this spell still does not know to hit multiple mobs on a fresh pull.(Also, be mindful of our havoc/shadowburn opportunities, and keep up rain of fire. Remember to always maximize every moment of dps as a practise of good habit).
That's all I wanted to say today. An interesting observation. We are pretty good for single target, we shine for multi-target, but before there would always be a stray hunter who would do massive dps on 10+ mobs. But not anymore.
Truny of the Fire and Brimstone
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
Raiding With Leashes 2
Good evening,
I was never a hard-core companion pet collector on the get-go of my epic journey across Azeroth. It wasn't until the Celestial Dragon had been implemented that I strived to up my pet count and "achieve" that astral little bugger.
Raiding with leashes (1) was a great idea, it gets newer folks a reason other than transmogging into older raids, and gives creates free "content".
On the inception of the first Raiding With Leashes, I got really excited for Raiding With Leashes 2, since I had really really wanted an Abyssal pet ever since fighting the trainer in Felwood. So on Tuesday, the first thing I did was ignore Lorewalker Cho and his problems, and headed straight to Karazhan. I was quite lucky, I got every pet but the Big Bad Wolf, then had zero luck in Tempest Keep and zero luck in Serpent Shrine Caverns.
No worries, I have 11 toons who can run this shit. I run them all through, hoping to sell off or give away duplicates. Two duplicates in Kara, one pet in Serpent Shrine Cavern, and 2 stupid Dragonhawks in Tempest Keep. Astromancer Solarian and the Fel Reaver hate me apparently.
It appears the drop rate is extremely low for content that is so trivial. A mechanic to keep us coming back? Now the drop rates seem totally fine if you for a moment pretend that all these raids were "current" again and that these pets are truly "rare". In our pride of thinking ourselves powerful and entitled, we forget that some things are truly "rare" and that we actually have a shot of running Tempest Keep 11 times a week is a blessing (of sorts).
So now, I look forward to the server reset, I have no more useful characters who can clear Astromancer effectively (the 2nd pet I really really want is the Voidlord).
Oh, another note regarding the Unborn Valkyr, I spent a lot of time ignoring Loremaster Cho's stuff and just flew around like a crazy person all over Northrend. Surprisingly there were more people camping the "spawns" listed among various places of the internet than flying around like a crazy person. I do believe the spawn is truly random and I will make a new post on how I actually found mine all alone in Dragonblight. (With pics, I've been slacking with pics).
Anyways, be patient, and engage your guildies to collect and trade, because you know once that achievement pops, the halls of Karazhan will once again grow dark, its longing thirst for your attention will be muffled by the noise of all the other stuff you have to do.
Truny the Raids With Leashes
I was never a hard-core companion pet collector on the get-go of my epic journey across Azeroth. It wasn't until the Celestial Dragon had been implemented that I strived to up my pet count and "achieve" that astral little bugger.
Raiding with leashes (1) was a great idea, it gets newer folks a reason other than transmogging into older raids, and gives creates free "content".
On the inception of the first Raiding With Leashes, I got really excited for Raiding With Leashes 2, since I had really really wanted an Abyssal pet ever since fighting the trainer in Felwood. So on Tuesday, the first thing I did was ignore Lorewalker Cho and his problems, and headed straight to Karazhan. I was quite lucky, I got every pet but the Big Bad Wolf, then had zero luck in Tempest Keep and zero luck in Serpent Shrine Caverns.
No worries, I have 11 toons who can run this shit. I run them all through, hoping to sell off or give away duplicates. Two duplicates in Kara, one pet in Serpent Shrine Cavern, and 2 stupid Dragonhawks in Tempest Keep. Astromancer Solarian and the Fel Reaver hate me apparently.
It appears the drop rate is extremely low for content that is so trivial. A mechanic to keep us coming back? Now the drop rates seem totally fine if you for a moment pretend that all these raids were "current" again and that these pets are truly "rare". In our pride of thinking ourselves powerful and entitled, we forget that some things are truly "rare" and that we actually have a shot of running Tempest Keep 11 times a week is a blessing (of sorts).
So now, I look forward to the server reset, I have no more useful characters who can clear Astromancer effectively (the 2nd pet I really really want is the Voidlord).
Oh, another note regarding the Unborn Valkyr, I spent a lot of time ignoring Loremaster Cho's stuff and just flew around like a crazy person all over Northrend. Surprisingly there were more people camping the "spawns" listed among various places of the internet than flying around like a crazy person. I do believe the spawn is truly random and I will make a new post on how I actually found mine all alone in Dragonblight. (With pics, I've been slacking with pics).
Anyways, be patient, and engage your guildies to collect and trade, because you know once that achievement pops, the halls of Karazhan will once again grow dark, its longing thirst for your attention will be muffled by the noise of all the other stuff you have to do.
Truny the Raids With Leashes
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Megaera's Slumber
Rest in peace you multi-headed beast of frost, bile, and flame. We downed her, er..it last night and we've been getting lots of Thunderforged gear. I won two pieces of Thunderforged in a single run. Unbelievable right?
We're taking a break this week but will promptly start attempts at kicking Ji-Kun's feathery ass. This should be made a bit easier with the VP upgrades coming back this week.
On the LFR side, I have been having horrible "luck", but then again I think I've filled almost every slot from doing regular raiding. Well I'll be damned.
I also found that one thing I haven't been talking much about is what spurred this blog to begin with: raiding as a warlock.
Over the past couple of years a lot of great resource sites with beautiful graphics and layouts and accurate info popped up and I just didn't feel the need to talk about encounters or mechanics as they pretty much lay everything out. What I can still do is humanize the experience as I have been attempting to do with my LFR guides. What you will see and what to expect.
I am by no means a "good" player, as only those in the top 10 guilds in the world qualify for this prestige. Most of us are just "average".
On Demonology
Ah my once favourite and exclusive spec. I went Demo for one of our Megaera pulls and I actually managed to pull the same numbers as if I were destro. I find this amusing since the last time I was Demo seriously was waaaay back in early Cata.
There's just a few points about the spec that just doesn't "feel" right.
I know I have mentioned this many many times before but I found that I enjoy seeing a small amount of large numbers, rather than a large amount of small numbers. It makes internal mental calculations that much easier. For example, I know my Shadowburn hits on average for 250k and crits anywhere from 400k to 650k. If I havoc this, I can then forecast the amount of damage I will do, or can do. It's easy, two numbers.
Now with Demo or even Affliction, how am I supposed to calculate all my potential dot ticks/crits and also my demon damage? It's not efficient, and in turn it becomes not fun (I'm weird right?)
With Demo, rather than bursting high numbers, it's a steady stream of medium numbers.
Then there's the "Demon" aspect. Metamorphosis is great with the new mechanic, depending on how many fury resources you have generating, you may be able to stay in demon form for a very long time. The only thing is...Touch of Chaos doesn't look very interesting.
I've always been compelled at becoming very adept at the demonic fury dancing and juggling, managing my dots while juggling Meta uptime while my Dark Soul is on cooldown, but Touch of Chaos, while being an instant cast spell is just...boring.
What am I doing? Throwing a shadowy yo-yo at the enemy? How about changing the animation to a black/green shadowy chain lightning type animation. Something more malefic. Something with more oomph.
Visual feedback is a very important component to game design and where some spells lack any effect (think lightning bolt for shamans, which looks like a weak limp ribbon), some are pretty awesome (think chain lightning, where each crackle and impact is felt, or chaos bolt).
This has actually been bugging me since Beta and deserves a separate section that I just must get out of my system once and for all.
What's Wrong with Touch of Chaos
Ok, so the current animation for Touch of Chaos...it is like a purple beam that lashes from you to the opponent. Well, it kind of bounces. Well, it just sort of returns to you. Where's the impact? What am I touching? (Their no-no parts obviously)
Am I draining something from them? It doesn't look very drain-y. Why does it come back? Is it a lash? A whip? Whips crack, with great impact and I don't see a crack (except in their no-no parts). Why is there no sound? This is my great cooldown, and within this cooldown we are....spamming this weird purple yo-yo?
What I expect is something along the lines of the elemental shaman. I actually have a secret level 90 elemental shaman I never talk about. He is only whispered about.
Anyways, think of an elemental shaman's "Ascendance" cooldown. You turn into an elemental and you get to spam Lava Burst. Ok so what? Well, Lava Burst has a really awesome visual. It's a giant surge of lava that always crits, and with its clever animation, it looks like it slowly (for a fraction of a second) surges out of you then propels forward at great speed.
Now let's look at Touch of Chaos. You just spam it until your fury bar disappears and you are left feeling empty, disappointed. You are subconsciously discouraged from even wanting to enter Meta, since you know your core ability is kind of boring. (This also applies to the shaman's new lightning bolt, you know...the limp ribbon).
There could be many ways to improve this simple skill. Perhaps give it a demonic slash animation that tears at the enemy with a glowing purple cross, with a simple slashing sound, or maybe a fel whip, or perhaps a dark pulse of demonic energy. Something impactful.
I've travelled the entirety of Azeroth, and solicited many groups for "Felguard Transmog" to equip my Blagroon with beautiful 2-hander weapons, but perhaps this visual enhancement has been eclipse by a far greater one; of how Touch of Chaos looks sucky.
So there you go. How would you redesign Touch of Chaos?
And Peace Out!
Truny the Touching No No Bits
We're taking a break this week but will promptly start attempts at kicking Ji-Kun's feathery ass. This should be made a bit easier with the VP upgrades coming back this week.
On the LFR side, I have been having horrible "luck", but then again I think I've filled almost every slot from doing regular raiding. Well I'll be damned.
I also found that one thing I haven't been talking much about is what spurred this blog to begin with: raiding as a warlock.
Over the past couple of years a lot of great resource sites with beautiful graphics and layouts and accurate info popped up and I just didn't feel the need to talk about encounters or mechanics as they pretty much lay everything out. What I can still do is humanize the experience as I have been attempting to do with my LFR guides. What you will see and what to expect.
I am by no means a "good" player, as only those in the top 10 guilds in the world qualify for this prestige. Most of us are just "average".
On Demonology
Ah my once favourite and exclusive spec. I went Demo for one of our Megaera pulls and I actually managed to pull the same numbers as if I were destro. I find this amusing since the last time I was Demo seriously was waaaay back in early Cata.
There's just a few points about the spec that just doesn't "feel" right.
I know I have mentioned this many many times before but I found that I enjoy seeing a small amount of large numbers, rather than a large amount of small numbers. It makes internal mental calculations that much easier. For example, I know my Shadowburn hits on average for 250k and crits anywhere from 400k to 650k. If I havoc this, I can then forecast the amount of damage I will do, or can do. It's easy, two numbers.
Now with Demo or even Affliction, how am I supposed to calculate all my potential dot ticks/crits and also my demon damage? It's not efficient, and in turn it becomes not fun (I'm weird right?)
With Demo, rather than bursting high numbers, it's a steady stream of medium numbers.
Then there's the "Demon" aspect. Metamorphosis is great with the new mechanic, depending on how many fury resources you have generating, you may be able to stay in demon form for a very long time. The only thing is...Touch of Chaos doesn't look very interesting.
I've always been compelled at becoming very adept at the demonic fury dancing and juggling, managing my dots while juggling Meta uptime while my Dark Soul is on cooldown, but Touch of Chaos, while being an instant cast spell is just...boring.
What am I doing? Throwing a shadowy yo-yo at the enemy? How about changing the animation to a black/green shadowy chain lightning type animation. Something more malefic. Something with more oomph.
Visual feedback is a very important component to game design and where some spells lack any effect (think lightning bolt for shamans, which looks like a weak limp ribbon), some are pretty awesome (think chain lightning, where each crackle and impact is felt, or chaos bolt).
This has actually been bugging me since Beta and deserves a separate section that I just must get out of my system once and for all.
What's Wrong with Touch of Chaos
Ok, so the current animation for Touch of Chaos...it is like a purple beam that lashes from you to the opponent. Well, it kind of bounces. Well, it just sort of returns to you. Where's the impact? What am I touching? (Their no-no parts obviously)
Am I draining something from them? It doesn't look very drain-y. Why does it come back? Is it a lash? A whip? Whips crack, with great impact and I don't see a crack (except in their no-no parts). Why is there no sound? This is my great cooldown, and within this cooldown we are....spamming this weird purple yo-yo?
What I expect is something along the lines of the elemental shaman. I actually have a secret level 90 elemental shaman I never talk about. He is only whispered about.
Anyways, think of an elemental shaman's "Ascendance" cooldown. You turn into an elemental and you get to spam Lava Burst. Ok so what? Well, Lava Burst has a really awesome visual. It's a giant surge of lava that always crits, and with its clever animation, it looks like it slowly (for a fraction of a second) surges out of you then propels forward at great speed.
Now let's look at Touch of Chaos. You just spam it until your fury bar disappears and you are left feeling empty, disappointed. You are subconsciously discouraged from even wanting to enter Meta, since you know your core ability is kind of boring. (This also applies to the shaman's new lightning bolt, you know...the limp ribbon).
There could be many ways to improve this simple skill. Perhaps give it a demonic slash animation that tears at the enemy with a glowing purple cross, with a simple slashing sound, or maybe a fel whip, or perhaps a dark pulse of demonic energy. Something impactful.
I've travelled the entirety of Azeroth, and solicited many groups for "Felguard Transmog" to equip my Blagroon with beautiful 2-hander weapons, but perhaps this visual enhancement has been eclipse by a far greater one; of how Touch of Chaos looks sucky.
So there you go. How would you redesign Touch of Chaos?
And Peace Out!
Truny the Touching No No Bits
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Deadly Cycle of LFR
Evening!
I made a realization last night after coming out of another LFR set empty-handed: There is actually nothing left "to do" but LFR for end-game. And we just have to accept that this is what we have for "content".
Ok wait, we do raid. But other than raiding, there's nothing else but LFR. This actually makes sense. Otherwise, there's really nothing left "to do" but log in for raiding.
So I've taken a look at what I call the Deadly Cycle (of content consumption) and applied it out to LFR. We view LFR as a waste of time, a time sink to keep us playing. The devs see it as supplemental entertainment, keep the masses satiated because they hunger for content.
Ok let's use a concrete example: The Wrathion Legendary quest chain.
Unless you are in a top guild, I am going to bet that you've maximized your LFR use to first finish off your RNG based sigils, then used LFR for the Sha, and LFR for secrets, and also runestones. I sure have, as our group is probably looking at our first Megaera kill this week and aren't even close to the 3rd wing yet.
So how do the players react to feeling "forced" into LFR to do stuff? How many times have you personally said to yourself "Just let X drop, or let X quest be finished so I never have to do this again".
This is quite distressing for developers, I understand. Whoa, so they just want everything immediately and will completely stop doing whatever it is we gave them and want more? Timing and cost constraints anyone?
Players: Why are you forcing me into redundant LFR with a bunch of not-so optimal players where I am rewarded with nothing for my efforts? Rewarding based on luck is bull-shit, that afk paladin won his full tier whereas all I got was gold and I was top dps for every fight! Those like me should be rewarded for additional effort and never have to do this again! The only other way to progress is just to do this bull-shit all over again next week cause of the crappy drop rates.
Devs: So we design you this raid and you only want to do it once ever?
Players: Yes. Give me all my sigils, secrets, runestones on the get-go. 100% drop rate.
Devs: Then what are you going to do? Go back to your farm in the valley?
Players: Uh...no?
Devs: It's RNG, try again next week.
Players: But LFR is not even enjoyable. I end up doing 12% of the damage or 35% of the total heals every week and get rewarded with what? Gold.
Devs: The system doesn't care how much you contributed, you are just an over-achiever. Go afk or hold back, then you won't feel so entitled.
Players: Ahh I see...
And thus, this player now just auto-follows the tank during trash and puts in minimal effort on boss fights, which triggers the decline of overall LFR quality, as if it could get any lower. And to finish off the cycle, once they are done, they find they actually have nothing to do, level and ALT and complain about the same thing all over again.
Conclusion:
Despite how you were raised, this is what I have taught myself, that you will not be rewarded for performance in LFR. Or WILL WE? (Dramatic to be continued)
Truny the Underperformer
I made a realization last night after coming out of another LFR set empty-handed: There is actually nothing left "to do" but LFR for end-game. And we just have to accept that this is what we have for "content".
Ok wait, we do raid. But other than raiding, there's nothing else but LFR. This actually makes sense. Otherwise, there's really nothing left "to do" but log in for raiding.
So I've taken a look at what I call the Deadly Cycle (of content consumption) and applied it out to LFR. We view LFR as a waste of time, a time sink to keep us playing. The devs see it as supplemental entertainment, keep the masses satiated because they hunger for content.
Ok let's use a concrete example: The Wrathion Legendary quest chain.
Unless you are in a top guild, I am going to bet that you've maximized your LFR use to first finish off your RNG based sigils, then used LFR for the Sha, and LFR for secrets, and also runestones. I sure have, as our group is probably looking at our first Megaera kill this week and aren't even close to the 3rd wing yet.
So how do the players react to feeling "forced" into LFR to do stuff? How many times have you personally said to yourself "Just let X drop, or let X quest be finished so I never have to do this again".
This is quite distressing for developers, I understand. Whoa, so they just want everything immediately and will completely stop doing whatever it is we gave them and want more? Timing and cost constraints anyone?
Players: Why are you forcing me into redundant LFR with a bunch of not-so optimal players where I am rewarded with nothing for my efforts? Rewarding based on luck is bull-shit, that afk paladin won his full tier whereas all I got was gold and I was top dps for every fight! Those like me should be rewarded for additional effort and never have to do this again! The only other way to progress is just to do this bull-shit all over again next week cause of the crappy drop rates.
Devs: So we design you this raid and you only want to do it once ever?
Players: Yes. Give me all my sigils, secrets, runestones on the get-go. 100% drop rate.
Devs: Then what are you going to do? Go back to your farm in the valley?
Players: Uh...no?
Devs: It's RNG, try again next week.
Players: But LFR is not even enjoyable. I end up doing 12% of the damage or 35% of the total heals every week and get rewarded with what? Gold.
Devs: The system doesn't care how much you contributed, you are just an over-achiever. Go afk or hold back, then you won't feel so entitled.
Players: Ahh I see...
And thus, this player now just auto-follows the tank during trash and puts in minimal effort on boss fights, which triggers the decline of overall LFR quality, as if it could get any lower. And to finish off the cycle, once they are done, they find they actually have nothing to do, level and ALT and complain about the same thing all over again.
Conclusion:
Despite how you were raised, this is what I have taught myself, that you will not be rewarded for performance in LFR. Or WILL WE? (Dramatic to be continued)
Truny the Underperformer
Thursday, May 9, 2013
May Update
Oh hello,
I'd just like to say that my middle exam for my accounting program has finally passed! This means that I am FREE until mid-September! And thus, I shall promise that henceforth all my posts (except this one) will be accompanied with pictures! (This probably means I won't make anymore posts cause I'm still lazy).
Anyways. We've been downing Tortos consistently and are once again "working" on Megara, trying to get our heads in order. Otherwise, despite only having downed FOUR measley bosses apparently we're still 39th on the server? That's...kinda weird and scary and re-assuring. I mean, we only really get in 4.5 effective hours of raiding per week. That's just...interesting.
Well, I don't have much to say except ..oh! can I bitch about RNG raid drops?
Alright.
So last week I was left with 19/20 secrets of the empire. So shitty. I do all my LFRs early in the week so by the time we raid on Sunday and Monday I really have very little incentive to do anything except rack up my kill counts on regular. I'm usually VP capped, have nothing to spend VP on and oh nevermind.
So this week I managed to get my last secret on Horridon and got the hell out of that LFR, vowing to never do LFR on my warlock ever again.
Guess what Wrathion wants me to do next?
That's right. Get random drops off the last six bosses. Well, since we're not there yet on regular, this is a task for LFR. Now, if the legendary chain won't begin again until 5.4, I technically have all of 5.3 to finish this. Maybe we'll be working on the last half by then and I won't have to use LFR. But then again I'd like to get this out of the way and NOT do LFR. Bah!
The 3rd part is easy enough, as long as 10 people are alive you can carry the dead folk through Durumu but trying to get a FRESH queue for the 4th wing is near impossible. There's just no time. And Lei Shen's drops suck! Why? Why are you sending us back into LFR when it's quite obvious that not a lot of ...oh wait.
Then in due time will we finish this. Honestly we've been over-geared for the first few wings probably since launch. We don't really need upgrades, right? Do I, as a destro warlock really need a mini bloodlust that sometimes brings my incinerate down to a 0.70 second cast time? That's just silly.
Anyways, more pictures! I need to put up a guide on Serving Souls.
Truny the Soul Server
I'd just like to say that my middle exam for my accounting program has finally passed! This means that I am FREE until mid-September! And thus, I shall promise that henceforth all my posts (except this one) will be accompanied with pictures! (This probably means I won't make anymore posts cause I'm still lazy).
Anyways. We've been downing Tortos consistently and are once again "working" on Megara, trying to get our heads in order. Otherwise, despite only having downed FOUR measley bosses apparently we're still 39th on the server? That's...kinda weird and scary and re-assuring. I mean, we only really get in 4.5 effective hours of raiding per week. That's just...interesting.
Well, I don't have much to say except ..oh! can I bitch about RNG raid drops?
Alright.
So last week I was left with 19/20 secrets of the empire. So shitty. I do all my LFRs early in the week so by the time we raid on Sunday and Monday I really have very little incentive to do anything except rack up my kill counts on regular. I'm usually VP capped, have nothing to spend VP on and oh nevermind.
So this week I managed to get my last secret on Horridon and got the hell out of that LFR, vowing to never do LFR on my warlock ever again.
Guess what Wrathion wants me to do next?
That's right. Get random drops off the last six bosses. Well, since we're not there yet on regular, this is a task for LFR. Now, if the legendary chain won't begin again until 5.4, I technically have all of 5.3 to finish this. Maybe we'll be working on the last half by then and I won't have to use LFR. But then again I'd like to get this out of the way and NOT do LFR. Bah!
The 3rd part is easy enough, as long as 10 people are alive you can carry the dead folk through Durumu but trying to get a FRESH queue for the 4th wing is near impossible. There's just no time. And Lei Shen's drops suck! Why? Why are you sending us back into LFR when it's quite obvious that not a lot of ...oh wait.
Then in due time will we finish this. Honestly we've been over-geared for the first few wings probably since launch. We don't really need upgrades, right? Do I, as a destro warlock really need a mini bloodlust that sometimes brings my incinerate down to a 0.70 second cast time? That's just silly.
Anyways, more pictures! I need to put up a guide on Serving Souls.
Truny the Soul Server
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