October 24th, 2011 by Setta

 

Here’s our images of the kills of Alysrazor and Majordomo Staghelm.

Our kill crew: Setta, Donavaan, Keary, Brewna, Sekikaze, Santile, Kyrizha, Ainimas, Raveion, Loiraine and Ravik.

10 Man, Boss, Firelands, Freelance Tax Collector, FTC, Kill, News, Patch 4.2, Raid

September 27th, 2011 by Setta

Whoa nelly.  Lots of changes incoming.  Here’s the Tier 13 set pieces, be aware none of these are set in stone.

Also, check out MMO-Champion for some interesting class changes.  Big AoE changes, and significant Pally healing changes.

 

Death Knight

• Blood, 2P — When an attack drops your health below 35%, one of your Blood Runes will immediately activate and convert into a Death Rune for the next 20 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 45 sec.
• Blood, 4P — Your Vampiric Blood ability also affects all party and raid members for 50% of the effect it has on you.

 

• DPS, 2P — Sudden Doom has a 30% chance and Rime has a 60% chance to grant 2 charges when triggered instead of 1.
• DPS, 4P — Runic Empowerment has a 25% chance and Runic Corruption has a 40% chance to also grant 710 mastery rating for 12 sec when activated.

Druid

• Balance, 2P — Insect Swarm increases all damage done by your Starfire, Starsurge, and Wrath spells against that target by 3%.
• Balance, 4P — Starsurge generates 100% extra Lunar or Solar energy while Eclipse is not active.

 

• Feral, 2P — While Berserk is active, Savage Defense absorbs are 100% larger, and your Blood in the Water talent now causes Ferocious Bite to refresh the duration of your Rip on targets with 60% or less health.
• Feral, 4P — Frenzied Regeneration also affects all raid and party members, and your Stampede talent now grants two charges after using Feral Charge (Cat).

 

• Restoration, 2P — After using Innervate, the mana cost of your healing spells is reduced by 25% for 15 sec.
• Restoration, 4P — Your Rejuvenation and Regrowth spells have a 10% chance to Timeslip and have double the normal duration.

Hunter

• 2P — Steady Shot and Cobra Shot generate double the amount of focus.
• 4P — Your Arcane Shot ability has a chance to grant 25% haste to you and your pet for 10 sec.

Mage

• 2P — Your damaging spells have a 30% chance to grant Stolen Time, increasing your haste rating by 50 for 30 sec and stacking up to 10 times. When Arcane Power, Combustion, or Icy Veins expires, all stacks of Stolen Time are lost.
• 4P — Each stack of Stolen Time also reduces the cooldown of Arcane Power by 3 sec, Combustion by 4 sec, and Icy Veins by 6 sec.

Paladin

• Holy, 2P — After using Divine Favor, the mana cost of your healing spells is reduced by 25% for 15 sec.
• Holy, 4P — Increases the healing done by your Holy Radiance spell by 20%.

 

• Protection, 2P — Your Judgement ability now also grants a physical absorb shield equal to 30% of the damage it dealt.
• Protection, 4P — Reduces the cooldown of Divine Guardian by 60 sec and increases the radius of its effect by 70 yards.

 

• Retribution, 2P — Your Judgement ability has a 50% chance to generate 1 Holy Power.
• Retribution, 4P — While Zealotry is active your abilities deal 12% more damage.

Priest

• Healer, 2P — After using Power Infusion or Lightwell, the mana cost of your healing spells is reduced by 25% for [10|15] sec. (10 sec for Discipline, 15 for non-Discipline.)
• Healer, 4P — Your Power Word: Shield has a 10% chance to absorb 100% additional damage, and the cooldown of your Holy Word abilities is reduced by 20%.

 

• Shadow, 2P — Shadow Word: Death deals an additional 55% damage, and you no longer take damage from your own Shadow Word: Death when the target fails to die.
• Shadow, 4P — Your Shadowfiend and Shadowy Apparitions have a 100% chance to grant you 3 Shadow Orbs each time they deal damage.

Rogue

• 2P — After triggering Tricks of the Trade, your abilities cost 20% less energy for 6 sec.
• 4P — Increases the duration of Shadow Dance by 2 sec, Adrenaline Rush by 3 sec, and Vendetta by 9 sec.

Shaman

• Elemental, 2P — Elemental Mastery also grants you 400 mastery rating 15 sec.
• Elemental, 4P — Each time Elemental Overload triggers, you gain 200 haste rating for 4 sec, stacking up to 3 times.

 

• Enhancement, 2P — While you have any stacks of Maelstrom Weapon, your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and healing spells deal 20% more healing or damage.
• Enhancement, 4P — Your Feral Spirits have a 45% chance to grant you a charge of Maelstrom Weapon each time they deal damage.

 

• Restoration, 2P — After using Mana Tide Totem, the cost of your healing spells are reduced by 25% for 15 sec.
• Restoration, 4P — Increases the duration of Spiritwalker’s Grace by 5 sec, and you gain 30% haste while Spiritwalker’s grace is active.

Warlock

• 2P — The duration of your Doomguard and Infernal summons is increased by [15|45] sec and the cooldown of of those spells is reduced by 4 min. (45 for Demonology, 15 for non-Demonology.)
• 4P — Soulburn grants a 10% increase to your spell power for 10 sec.

Warrior

• Protection, 2P — Your Revenge ability now also grants a physical absorption shield equal to 20% of the damage done by Revenge.
• Protection, 4P — Your Shield Wall ability now grants 50% of its effect to all party and raid members.

 

• DPS, 2P — Heroic Strike costs 10 less rage while Inner Rage is active.
• DPS, 4P — Your Execute critical strikes have a 20% chance to refresh the duration of Colossus Smash.

September 20th, 2011 by Setta

New hotfixes have been applied!  Here’s a list of what will be affecting us (Source):

Dungeons & Raids

Firelands

• Hell Hound Rend Flesh damage has been reduced by 25%.
• The damage multiplier granted by energy to Unstable Magma has been reduced by 50%.
• Alysrazor
  • Health and damage have been reduced by 25% on normal difficulty. Health and damage have been reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
  • Alysrazor now drops 1 additional feather in 10-player mode and 2 additional feathers in 25-player mode in all cycles.
  • The Wings of Flame buff duration on Alysrazor is now uniformly 30 seconds.
  • Alysrazor’s Fiery Tornados now move slower.
• Baleroc
  • Health and damage have been reduced by 25% on normal difficulty. Health and damage have been reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
  • Baleroc now swings 25% slower while Decimation Blade is active.
  • The duration of Tormented has been reduced on normal difficulty.
• Beth’tilac
  • Beth’tilac’s health and damage have been reduced by 15% on both normal and Heroic difficulty.
• Lord Rhyolith
  • Health and damage have been reduced by 15% on both normal and Heroic difficulty.
  • The health and damage of additional enemies in this encounter have been reduced by 15% on both normal and Heroic difficulty.
• Majordomo Fandral Staghelm
  • Health and damage have been reduced by 25% on normal difficulty. Health and damage has been reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
  • Druid of the Flame have had their health reduced by 15%, and Sunfire damage reduced by 25% on both difficulties.
  • The health and melee damage of Spirit of the Flame have been reduced by 25% on normal difficulty, and reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
• Ragnaros
  • Ragnaros’ health and damage have been reduced by 25% on normal difficulty.
  • Ragnaros’ damage has been reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
  • Magma Trap damage has been reduced on all difficulties.
  • The health and damage of additional enemies in this encounter have been reduced by 25% on normal difficulty and 15% on Heroic difficulty.
  • Wrath of Ragnaros now knocks targets up, but not back, on normal difficulty.
• Shannox
  • Health and damage have been reduced by 15% on both normal and Heroic difficulty.
  • Riplimb’s health has been reduced by 15%.
  • Rageface’s health has been reduced by 15%.
  • Magma Flare damage and Hurl Spear damage have been reduced by 15% on both difficulties

10 Man, 4.2, Firelands, Hotfix, Patch 4.2

September 20th, 2011 by Setta

 

Congratulations team!  Another boss added to the list of pre-nerf bosses FTC defeated!  This puts us back at rank 32 our server, which is a great achievement considering our raiding schedule.  Magnificent effort everyone, nerfs hit today so we’ll be clearing faster through the firelands.

Those present for the kill (in no order):  Setta, Santile, Donavaan, Raveion, Brewna, Keary, Kyrizha, Ravik, Ainimas, Loraine and Sekikaze.  Great job everyone!

10 Man, 4.2, Baleroc, Boss, Firelands, Freelance Tax Collector, FTC, Guild, Kill, Raid

September 13th, 2011 by Setta

So it appears we’re running a bit behind Blizzard’s schedule of boss completion.  From their posts in the forums:

With the final showdown against Deathwing approaching, we’ve been keeping a close eye on players’ progress through the current Firelands raid content. Before patch 4.3 is released, we want groups who are working on Heroic-difficulty content to be able to get as close to Ragnaros as possible, and we want players who are tackling normal progression to be able to experience as many of the encounters as they can. To achieve these goals, we’ll be toning down the difficulty of both normal and Heroic raids through hotfixes in the coming weeks. In general, we plan to reduce health and damage of all raid bosses in both normal and Heroic Firelands by around the same percentage we brought difficulty down for the original Cataclysm raids when Rage of the Firelands (patch 4.2) was released.

We’re looking forward to seeing more groups of players face off against the Fire Lord in the weeks ahead. However, before we make these changes, we want to give everyone a final shot at the bosses at their current difficulty level — so this is a heads up that we’re planning to apply the difficulty hotfixes beginning the week of September 19.

Looks like we’ll need to speed up the pace a bit.

August 18th, 2011 by Setta

 

For those of you that were present for the kills, we were going to attempt the bird next.  I’ve discovered that’s not necessary so I believe Baleroc will be our next target.  Study up!

10 Man, Baleroc, Boss, Firelands, Freelance Tax Collector, FTC, Raid

August 17th, 2011 by Setta

Shannox

 

Lord Rhyolith

 

Beth’tilac

 

Those present for the kills (in no order):  Setta, Santile, Donavaan, Raveion, Brewna, Keary, Kyrizha, Ravik, Ainimas, Jaqulyn and Sekikaze.  Great job everyone!

This officially puts us at 26th (25th 10 mans) on the server!!

10 Man, 4.2, Beth'tilac, Boss, Firelands, Freelance Tax Collector, FTC, Guild, Kill, Lord Rhyolith, News, Raid, Shannox

August 17th, 2011 by Setta

So it’s been a while since I’ve said anything here but the newest hotfix is worth mentioning.

As far as our progression is going, we’re still doing well and will have Lord Rhyolith in the next week.  Great job team!

On to the hotfixes:

• Threat
• Threat generation for all tanks has been increased to 500%, up from 300%. This applies to warriors in Defensive Stance, death knights in Blood Presence, druids in Bear Form, and paladins with Righteous Fury.
• Vengeance should no longer be generated when damage is fully absorbed by damage shields. When the shield breaks from damage or damage is partially absorbed, the amount of Vengeance generated is equal to the full amount of damage taken (including the damage absorbed.)
• More information can be found in our latest Dev Watercooler.

These changes while simple are amazing in my mind.  Some folks really like threat as a mechanic, but as a five year tank veteran, I hate it.  To be honest, threat is either there or not.  It’s not a terribly exciting mechanic:  If you pull threat, you’re dead.  If not, you live.  Tanks, after the initial 30 seconds, have almost no chance of actually losing threat anyway so it’s just that first 30 seconds that ever matter.

As said in the Watercooler discussion, threat has quickly become a stat that most folks don’t pay attention to and really is an outdated concept.  Overall I’m looking forward to the change that will make tanking more focused on what we do: absorbing hits from the boss and mitigating damage.

Also, some interesting patch notes for a hotfix – Rhyolith was nerfed bigtime.

Lord Rhyolith

10 Man, 4.2, Firelands, Lord Ryholith, Patch Notes, Rhyolith, Tank, Tanking

June 22nd, 2011 by Setta

Let’s talk gear shop.  In 4.2 we’re going to have several new ways of acquiring gear, above and beyond the natural collection of all Tier 11 gear through Justice Points.

First off:  Complete Hyjal Quests. This is mandatory in order to continue on with the 4.2 conversion.  Make sure you’ve done all the quests here so you’re not caught off-guard.

The next part consists of dailies combined with quest choices.  It breaks down into this:

1. Complete Stage 1 by doing all six quests and gathering 20 MotWT (Marks of the World Tree) to complete Calling for Reinforcements.  There are three daily quests at this stage, granting 4 MotWT per day.  You will need a minimum of three days to complete this stage.
2. Complete Stage 2 by doing all three quests and gathering 150 MotWT to unlock additional dailies from either The Shadow Wardens or Druids of the Talon.  Which one you choose is up to you, in the end to advance to the vendors you will need to complete both.   There are seven daily quests at this stage (including previous stage), granting 14 MoTWT per day.  You will need a minimum of ten days to complete this stage.
3. Use The Shadow Wardens or Druids of the Talon to gather 150 MotWT in order to unlock the other half of quests.  This will take less time as either one will open up several additional quests resulting 22 MotWT per day.  Additional MotWT can be gathered from Anren and Tholo and/or the Fire Lasher dailies.  You will need a minimum of seven days to complete this section.
4. At this point you have will have completed both the Druids and Wardens sections and now have the choice of opening up a vendor of your choice.  These quests (Calling the Ancients, Additional Armaments and Filling the Moonwell) each require 125 MotWT.  With the previous sections you can earn 30+ MotWT per day.  You will need a minimum of 5 days to earn a vendor.
5. Enjoy the vendor loot you have unlocked!

Gear Through Crafting

Let’s talk weapons.  In 4.2, there will be a weapon available for every class.  This means if you don’t have a weapon then you’ll have one going into 4.2.  Likely these patterns will be sold by the new vendors in 4.2.  Let’s see how these will affect our raid, noting that everyone should be upgrading because the costs involved in doing so can be gathered prior to the patch actually going out.  Hunters please notice you have two weapons you’ll want rather than only one.  Everyone should start gathering for these items.

Tanks

Setta: Unbreakable Guardian

Donavaan: Masterwork Elementium Deathblade

Healers

Sekikaze: Lightforged Elementium Hammer

Brewna: Lightforged Elementium Hammer

Keary: Lightforged Elementium Hammer

DPS

Santile: Brainsplinter

Raveion: Masterwork Elementium Spellblade

Jaqulyn: Extreme-Impact Hole Puncher and Witch-Hunter’s Harvester

Ainimas: Extreme-Impact Hole Puncher and Witch-Hunter’s Harvester

Ravik: Masterwork Elementium Deathblade

Gear Through Vendors (WowHead Link)

With those out of the way, we can talk about gear obtained through the dailies by unlock the vendors and purchasing them.  Each vendor first requires the player to go through a quest chain that will ultimately lead to spending 125 Marks of the World Tree on a specific vendor.  All vendors can be unlocked, but which comes first is the question.

Blacksmiths and Engineers: You will want to unlock Damek Bloombeard (Quest: Additional Armaments) in order to get all the plans / schematics so our guild can get the weapons we need.

Tanks (Setta & Donavaan): You will want to first unlock Varlan Highbough (Quest: Calling the Ancients) as this will unlock two tank rings and a tanking relic.

Caster DPS (Raveion): You will want to first unlock Damek Bloombeard (Quest: Additional Armaments) as it will provide two pieces.  Each other vendor will give one piece.

Caster Healer (Keary, Brewna and Sekikaze): Keary and Brewna have the choice between Damek Bloombeard (Quest: Additional Armaments) and Ayla Shadowstorm (Quest: Filling the Moonwell) as both award two pieces.  Sekikaze will want Damek Bloombeard (Quest: Additional Armaments) as he will provide three pieces (along with the patterns).

Ranged DPS (Jaqulyn and Ainimas): Any of the three will work as they all provide one piece of gear.

Melee DPS (Santile and Ravik): Santile can choose any of the three as they all provide one piece.  Ravik will want either Damek Bloombeard (Quest: Additional Armaments) or Varlan Highbough (Quest: Calling the Ancients) as they both provide two pieces.

Gear Through Valor Points (MMO-Champion Link)

In this sense, everyone needs the same amount of VP to complete their goals:  10,500 VP.  This will take a minimum 11 weeks to obtain all this gear with the current weekly cap.

Pieces obtainable through VP

• Tier 12 Chest (2200 VP)
• Tier 12 Legs (2200 VP)
• Tier 12 Hands (1650 VP)
• Wrists (1250 VP)
• Neck (1250 VP)
• Finger (1250 VP)
• Relic / Thrown / Wand (700 VP).

Gear Through Avengers of Hyjal Reputation (MMO-Champion Link)

Each spec can gain a Ring, Trinket, Waist and Back piece from the reputation gain in that order from Exalted to Friendly.  This reputation can only be gained within the Firelands Raid and all pieces ore 378 with the exception of the ring which is 391.  Naturally spellcasters can double up on the trinket and ring options if they find them suitable as one is DPS and one is spirit.

 

That about sums up this post!  I know it was a long one, hope it was helpful.  The rest of the gear can be obtained through raiding Firelands directly.  I will create a post entailing all of the gear for each person obtainable and where from when I have time.

10 Man, 4.2, Death Knight, Druid, Firelands, Freelance Tax Collector, FTC, Gearing, Guides, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Patch 4.2, Raid, Rogue, Shaman

June 21st, 2011 by Setta

Nefarian is down!  That leaves us at 11/12 bosses dead, only one left is Al’Akir!  We’ll be smashing against him on Monday next week.  Be prepared, look up the fight!  Great job everyone on killing the brother and sister pair.

Midsummer

In other news, Midsummer has arrived.  For those of you curious, yes this means new equipment from the Frost Lord.  The new loot is below:

The Frost Lord’s War Cloak

The Frost Lord’s Battle Shroud

Shroud of Winter’s Chill

Cloak of the Frigid Winds

Icebound Cloak

Frostscythe of Lord Ahune

10 Man, Blackwing Descent, Boss, Freelance Tax Collector, FTC, Kill, Nefarian