Boomkin Blog

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The Druid, the Mage and the Shaman

Hey all!

Aerthson is at lv 57. I have to make myself quit playing him so Sugars and I can hit Hellfire at the same time one weekend. Rested xp is worth it right?! I like that Druid.

Spent some time playing with my wife's hunter. Since she started playing again I leveled a pally alongside her hunter. I feel "meh" about pallys... not sure it's my thing but I like being able to heal and bubble. She outleveled my pally while I was busy with Herk so when she caught up to mage I started hanging with her on him.

Fri night we decided to hit up WSG as I was 29 and she was 28. This is when I came to the realization that mage's are not my bag baby. I like playing him and I could prbly PvE with him but I am SOL on PvPing with him. I kept going down like Mabd does in arena. I was laughing at myself at how badly I played.

Interestingly enough I have come to the realization that it does NOT matter what you play in a BG (unless maybe a pally). If 7 of those people decide to notice you, they are gonna kick the shit out of you be it warrior or mage.

Things I noticed in BGs about mages...

1) Don't sheep anything aint worth the time or mana cuz some fool gonna hit the sheep.

2) The other side don't like it when you Frost Nova their flag carrier.

3) The other side don't like it when you Forst Nova the people chasing your flag carrier.

4) Shamans suck for mages... or I just suck.

5) Warriors ARE a pain in the ass to stop and they do NOT go down like bitches. Who knew?

6) I hate Warlocks >.<

The Shaman

Never played one til yesterday.

Sweet monkeys! They are nasty!

When looking for a good race for my shammy, I happened upon Wowwiki which is pushing the Trolls. Trolls? I say. I looked at em again... played around with some skins... went Orc.

Let's face it, Orcs are cool. I have an Orc Hunter but that was just too easy. Thrall's an Orc Shaman and he wears plate! I wanna wear plate >.<

Got Shammy to 10 in about 4 hours and then had to log and get some arena in with Herk. The shammy plays similar to warrior. Instead of charge you have lightining bolt, instead of MS you have Earthshock. The totems are very cool and useful. Earthbind... run off... healing wave... run back in. DPS with a 2H and spells! /whack /whack.

Loving the shammy so far.

New post! How to escape from a ?? Rogue as a Druid.

Sorry about not posting... fam was sick and holidays were crazy!

So Aerthson is now 55. I have really enjoyed playing the boomkin and my best mate Ray has a 50 lock named Sugars that I have been running with. We haven't really got into much PvP action tho. Course who wants to take on a Boomkin/Lock unless you are 70 and can one shot them?

So Sugars logged and I am up late. I decide to finish out Un'goro which at 55 I still have not completed. This gives me hopes of getting the alts up. Not that hunter tho... Hunter is just a silly class anyways.

Going to finish Chasing Amy and escort her mechanical monkey self back to the refuge. I had already done everything else a coupla nights ago. Didn't start escort cuz of ally all over the place. When I get close to the cave I see 4 ally... I cursor to see levels and what not and bam ?? rogue. Sigh... He sees me... here he comes. /turn Kodo /haul ass

His epic is much fast than my Kodo Geo so I know I don't have much time. Running from a Rogue is slightly harder since they have that whole sprint thing. Also, he touches me... I'm dead.

One of the funnest things about the Druid is his ability to NOT die. But our treehugger friend has a problem in this ?? rogue chasing him.

Off the to left directly south of the cave is a tar pit that is lengthy... The thoughts are going through my head about rogues... "Can't Cheetah either he has 50% run speed... wait a tic!!! I have 50% swim speed!!"

I angle to the tar pit and jump in with him on my tail. I turn into that porpus thing whatever the hell it is and take off! Jump out the other side and /cheetah my ass gone.

Did I stop to see if he made it out the tar?

Sure did!

A good 50 yards away I turn and go Cat and stealth. I look a bit... get a bit closer... he is actually swimming around the tar pit like I hid in there?!

Aerthson 1/ ?? Rogue 0

/logoff Aerthson
/logon Herk

/tap Rogue
/y Meet Overpower you prick!!

Dead Rogue!

Now where are your friends who thought they were getting a free ride?

/adds notch
/adds another notch
/kill rogue again
/tired of adding notches

In loving memory...

Earlier this year an author I have read since I was 15 (I am now 31) passed away.

There are many things to be said about Robert Jordan. I like most of his fans love his WoT series.

A small background on my WoT reading.

I was able to read 1-4 pretty much back to back. After the first 4 I had to wait like everyone else who had started reading them at roughly the same point.

When the new WoT book would come out I would be in the bookstore getting it in hardback no matter where I was financially at the time. You see, like all WoT fans, the characters in those book mean something to me.

I have read a fair amount of fantasy and I am starting to be able to tell the good from the great. Renoobed has been a really big help where this is concerned. He started giving me the greats like Guy Gavriel Kay, Steven Brust and Glen Cook.

I am not afraid to admit that I, like some other fans, thought the series start slacking badly after Lord of Chaos.

I though the ending of Winter's Heart showed promise. I liked the idea him cleansing Saidin by using the evil from Shadar Logoth which was an evil the Dark One had nothing to do with and that his minions feared. The idea of the two evils negating the other was great for me. Holding them bound by Saidar which Saidin couldn't break out of was a creative imo.

Crossroads of Twilight should have gone fast and felt like more.

Knife of Dreams is close to being back to what I considered the great form of the first 4 books.

When Knife of Dreams was getting ready to be released, I met someone who was reading Crossroads of Twilight and I shared my opinion that it was a lesser volume of the series. We talked a lot about the series and he really got me interested again for what was going to happen in KOD. So, I started rereading the novels. I was rereading Eye of the World when Katrina struck New Orleans. I live in Baton Rouge and was out of power for about 2-3 days while reading the bleakness of that first run/chase sequence and for some reason the whole book was heightened for me by what had just happened.

I read all the novels back to back. The story flowed better for me when I was able to read it that way. I was not jonesing for a fix of what if anything would happen. I realized that I had fallen into the trap of wanting to know what happened, who lived, who died and I wanted to know NOW! It gave me a false impression of the series going to hell.

Also, when I reread the books, I realized I still cared for the characters. Perhaps I cared for them more now then I did when I was younger. Maybe for nostalgia reasons or because I was about to be a new father... I have seen cynicism run rampant in those who are older than me. I have seen my father question movies for realism's sake to such a degree that I just get so confused and have to make fun of him... (Example: Dad, "That Jedi could not do that!" Son, "If you are going to go so far as to admit him a "Jedi" why not just suspend the rest of disbelief.")
It's this kind of thing I wanted to make sure I skipped being a father. I want my son to share my sense of wonder. I want him to feel the rush as Rand learns he is the Dragon Reborn. I want him to feel the uncertainity when Rand realizes what it means to be not only a man channeling tainted Saidin but what it feels like to be man with the fate of the world on his shoulders.

Feeling these thing are only felt for most through books. However, I think they hold a special place for teaching oneself too.

Thanks Mr. Jordan! I don't know what else to say. Thanks for the memories, thanks for letting me ferret out something I wanted to be as a father. Yes, your books did that for me. I was constantly thinking what my son would think of these books when he read them even as I, myself, was rereading them.

When I found out RJ was sick, I had no idea what he had. Even after reading the name of it. But, I knew it was bad. I did my usual Wiki search and found out how bad. I felt very sad for him and his wife and family but what do you do?! I'm a fan and your books, hence you, have meant so much to me but I can't even send any thanks (would feel wrong to me) help (Not a doctor and you have the money) fan letter (he gets thousands). So I waited. Along with many other fans. I felt guilty when someone else told me he had passed. I had not been checking Dragonmount regularly and to tell the truth I am kind of a shut in when it comes to grief.

What brought all this up again for me was the announcement that A Memory of Light will indeed be made. It seems that an author, one Brandon Sanderson, has been tapped to write it. I fully intend on getting Mr. Sanderson's novels so that I can see his work. However, I have no doubt he will do the novel justice because he was handpicked by Harriet who is Mr. Jordan's wife. Harriet has been Mr. Jordans editor for the WoT. If anyone knows who should complete his legacy, it would be her.

Hearing the news reinvigerated me once again. Also, it has me thinking of my son again. Now, Brandon and Robert Jordan are not related but it is nice to see that something someone has worked so hard at will not be left unfinished.

Thank you Mr. Jordan for the sense of wonder.

Thank you Mrs. Jordan for seeing that wonder continue.

Thank you Mr. Sanderson for stepping up to some really really big shoes to help the wonder in it's time of need.

To Connor, may your sense of wonder endure as mine has. It will be one thing I strive for in being your father. Right now, you are busy with Choo-Choos and Winnie the Pooh, but one day you will be sitting in your bed waiting for a bedtime story and you will hear...

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose.... The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time. But it was a beginning."

New Arena stuff...

So I have been reading a bit on Arena Warriors... coupla on liners.


1) Save your rage and call out when you are about to burst on a target starting with MS.

Something I had not thought about. Our healer Taz does a really decent job of keeping me alive. I think I should save up the rage on certain teams and wait for burst. My thinking so far is... wait for burst on Priests/ Druids because the seem to be the ones that just BARELY get away from me.

2) Intercept/ Pummel not just a pummel on your target.

Shooting across the screen to intercept/pummel the paladin or other caster I am not on could really really throw of someone's game. They really aren't expecting it because I am not in their face.

3) Intercept/Disarm

Used for those who are killing my poor hunter. Rogues very rarely have immunity to Disarm same as warriors. I am thinking in my low ass bracket of 1450-1500 that us warr/rogue types are stacking AP stuff not... don't take my weapon away.

4) Piercing Howl

I do this one.

5) Be more aware of the fighting style.

When we were losing to those rog/warr teams I really really should have Thunderclapped them for poor Mabd.

Back to reading.

Ganked in Ashenvale! Ganked Rules went out the window >.<

So there I was late a night playing wow with my wife.

She has recently started playing a hunter and is just in awe of the nastiness that is the hunter class these days. See she has a 70 priest she really dont play anymore. She has only ever played healing classes. I tried for the longest time to get her to play a hunter... wouldn't do it.

So one night, I come in and find the baby sleeping and her playing. She's playing an Orc hunter on some random PvP server. WTF!!

You get your ass over to lightninghoof where I can help you out. She does and starts a BELF hunter... something about the way Orcs run or some such was her reasoning for picking the silly race of BELF but meh.

Onward

I pick up a pally so I can play with her. After about 2 weeks of playing with her we hit lv19 and I tell her I am switching toons to play my mage. She asks why?

My reasoning... Pallys are good for two things... tanking and healing. I, personally, have never seen a DPS pally. I take that back... I have met those who claim to be one. I think he was excited when getting only 10% behind the hunter's pet.

Back to tank/healing... I have Herk (Tank) and I have Aerthson (Tank/Healing/DPS). At 70 and 49 respectively, I don't feel the need to play another hybrid of the two.

My mage!

I suck at playing mages. I can't wrap my mind aroung the whole cloth armor business and wind up dead more often than not. But! He looks cool and I like the Pyroblast bit. So...

Our post story!

Last night we are going through Ashenvale.

While waiting on her to catch up, I am grinding a little and BAM (Rogue gank) lv 34 guts my lv 26 mage... sigh... run back.

While heading to Zoram... we see a lv25 rogue... payback!!!! /Cast polymorph! /Cast Pyroblast
Vengeance!

Why am I dead?... why are you dead?!

Check combat log... who is this?! a lv53 warrior!! sigh

Rez

Warrior camps us... >.<

/logoff
/logon Herk
/sharpen axe
/execute lv53 gnome warrior

/logoff
/logon mage

Keep running... get ganked by lv53 warr, lv53 rogue, lv63 mage. Get camped

/logoff
/logon Herk

/y EVERYONE MUST NOW DIE!!

And they did... I escorted my lovely wife straight through Astranaar. The only one I left alive in that village was the Grypon Master.

Kill all allies that come my way... be it lv18-70. I ran into the Inn and whirlwinded everyone dead. I ran out only to have the 63 mage casting at me... ate him... To see a lv 70 lock dot me... ate him... To see a 70rogue come at me with some more guards!

/cast Retaliation

ate all of them

To see that lv 18 priest run away in fear

/cast Intercept

one shotted!

No one was safe!

Herk has rage problem!

I know I went against the rules I had outlined but ya know... sometimes... everyone gotta die >.<

Arathi Basin Weekend!

Now that the anguish that is WSG weekend has passed, we can get to winning Arathi Basin!

Start:

If you are 6 short when those gates open... HOPE you q'd for AV at the same time >.<

Given equal starting numbers, the following is what I notice as working very well.

As Horde, we have far easier access to Blacksmith(BS) than Alliance does. Using this, we rush BS, Lumber Mill (LM) and Farm.

Rushing Farm is a no brainer. Rushing BS is a must. I have Macro'd the following.

/bg GROUP 1 take BS!
/bg GROUP 2 take LM!
/bg GROUP 3 take Farm!
/bg GROUP 3 only needs 2 people to defend farm at this time. 1 Person from Group 3 go to BS. 2 People from group 3 go to LM.

Here are my reasonings:

LM is almost always the first contact. Alliance get there the same time we do. BS is usually second and there are scrapping runs on Farm.

I usually, when I feel like leading AB, stay at LM. I can see the entire map save the Mine. WE DO NOT GIVE A F(#$ ABOUT THE MINE, right? I defend LM with 1 other. Usually, I will try and get a pally or shammy to hang with me but I will take whatever. I have noticed that Alliance really really feel BS is key 80% of the games I play. If they can't get that they will go via Mine to Farm.

The initial burst... So you should have 7 people at LM at the start and 6 at BS with 2 defenders at the Farm. This should be enough to take any and all people coming at these nodes. What about Zerging you ask? Sure, it could happen. It doesn't happen very often where they Zerg with all 15. I have never seen Alliance take Horde in equal amounts. If you have 7 at LM and they have 7... we win. If we have 7 at LM and they have 10, they are not getting BS away from us and can't do a real assault on Farm if they have left defenders at the Stables.

Side Note: Jumping off LM to help BS faster!

THIS DOES NOT WORK!! If you control LM and you jump to your death heading towards BS, you REZ at LM!

By the time Alliance has been stomped into the ground at LM. You need to start leading the battle from your perch. I like to look at the map and BITCH out whoever I see went to MINE cuz they got bored or didn't pay attention.

Look... I used not to BITCH in channel, but if you don't take an active role in BG's you can lose real quick. Even if that acting role is a response "I am on Def too! Meeting at IB with you!" it helps people to know that there is coordination and solidarity.

So then,

We control BS, LM, and Farm. What next?

The Zerg starts.

Alliance will try and overrun you. This is why YOU STAY YOUR POST AND DEFEND! You do not need to 5 cap to win... I really shouldn't have to talk about the MINE at this point do I? 5 people at each of the bases guarantees no caps at least til reinforcements get there. You will never be taking on more than 11 in my experience because the usually leave 2 defenders at Stables and that Stupid MINE! 5v11 gives at least 20 secs for the fresh 6 ( Sending 3 from LM and BS each) to get there and finish clean up.

What if the Zerg wins?! and takes Farm!!

Look people... it happens. If all 15 just have to have Farm.... take Stables! But! kept your triangle until you have a nice lead of 500-600. After this kinda of lead their morale is down and they are gonna start leaving. After 600-700 lead you can start going Offense and capping other place because you have enough time to get whatever is taken back.

I'll tell you after this kind of lead... they will DEFEND their 2 bases to the death and beyond... very little will they go around and try and backdoor with more than 3-4, but you have left at least 2 people as defenders for harassment purposes right?

Horde Wins!

Other notes of interest.

FIGHT ON THE FLAG!

DO NOT GIVE CHASE! Let them go somewhere else!

FIGHT ON THE FLAG DOES NOT MEAN "LET HUNTERS ANS MAGES AND LOCKS TAKE YOU FROM RANGE!"

IF YOU ARE LEADING... FIGHT... BUT STAY AT LM. You are no defense.

DO NOT CHARGE INTO 5 ALLIANCE ALONE... this is not Heroic... it is STUPID! Go find the group that is rezzing or head to where they are heading.

USE THE MINIMAP!

USE DEBUFFS WARRIORS! DEMO SHOUT/ THUNDERCLAP/ PIERCING HOWL... THESE REALLY HELP OUT IN A BG.

LOVE THE FEAR BOMB! RESPECT THE FEAR BOMB!

IT IS OK TO USE RETALIATION/ SHIELD WALL/ RECKLESSNESS in a BG! I PROMISE!

Side note ( it is especially ok when used to take out a priest or druid)

GOOD LUCK and HAPPY HONOR FARMING :)