Warriors have 2 DPS specs.  For a long time, though, people might argue they really didn’t.  When asked what spec to use for raiding DPS in the past, the answer was always simple:  Fury.  Going with an Arms build was an easy way to open yourself up to brilliant insults in the vein of “L2P.”  It was a cruel, cruel world for Arms warriors in PvE, forever relegated to the PvP spec.

When Wrath hit, people who loved the Arms play style had high hopes for the spec.  Fun new tools like Bladestorm and Sudden Death sounded like the perfect cure for a broken PvE spec.  Well, I can say from experience that Arms was huge, HUGE fun for the leveling game.  I wouldn’t take a warrior to 80 any other way.  In raiding though, it still took a backseat (way, way in the back) to a Fury spec.

3.1 hit, and everything changed.  Titan’s Grip took a mighty wallop from Ye Olde Nerf Bat.  At the same time, Arms got a healthy boost all around.  So now the question that hovers around the official boards and beyond is this:  Fury or Arms for raiding?

My simple answer is this:  Arms is better at lower gear levels, and Fury evens up and then pulls away as you approach BIS gear. 

For more details, let’s carry on and look at the strengths and weaknesses of each spec.

Arms Strengths

• Excellent single target DPS, some multi target DPS with Bladestorm and Sweeping Strikes
• Very, very active, many different “buttons to push” if you like that sort of thing
• You only need ONE uber two handed weapon
• Requires less expertise through gear to reach the cap

Arms Weaknesses

• Weaker (than fury) DPS in multi target situations
• Perhaps TOO active for some, long priority list (Rend, Execute, Overpower, Mortal Strike, Slam – in that order)
• You don’t look quite as cool with only ONE giant weapon

Fury Strengths

• Very, very good single target DPS – excellent multi target damage as well
• Active, but not quite as many things to keep track of (Whirlwind, Bloodthirst, Slam Proc, HS > 50 rage)
• Nothing looks quite as badass as a TG Fury Warrior with nice weapons

Fury Weaknesses

• Single target DPS less than Arms (at least at lower gear levels)
• Some consider the rotation boring
• Must gear and gem for more expertise
• Really need 2 excellent weapons to thrive

It’s like I said before, Arms, IMO, is better until you have some really nice gear for Fury.  If you’re just starting out raiding, or if you’re mostly wearing Naxx 10 gear or thereabouts, you’ll probably do better as an Arms warrior.  Arms spec relies a bit less on gear.  As gear improves, however, Fury catches up and eventually surpasses Arms.  Fury Warriors scale very, very well with gear, but it takes time to get there.  Let me give you a real world example.

Before 3.1, I out DPSd our Arms warrior every time.  Even when he had better gear, I out DPSd him.  Once I got better gear than him, it got even worse.  After 3.1, the story has changed.  Our gear right now is roughly equal, and he is almost always beating me.  You may look at my gear and say, “but you have some really nice gear.”  Yeah, I do, but one key piece is missing – a good off hand weapon. 

If my theory is correct, I should start to pass him again once I replace my crusty old Titansteel Destroyer. I believe that the real key to Fury Warrior DPS is how good BOTH your weapons are. The nerf, after all, was a direct hit to physical damage – and weapons have a HUGE impact on physical damage.

Try to take everything into account, however.  Arms and Fury are two very different playstyles.  As a Fury, I spend a lot more time waiting on cooldowns, where when I spec Arms, it’s everything I can to make sure I take advantage of every proc.  There is constantly some attack lit up that I could be using – it’s all about managing the GCD. 

Heck, there are quite a few raiding warriors that are actually using dual spec.  Some fights in Ulduar are more suited to Arms than Fury and vice versa.  If you really, really want to min/max, you too can go this route. 

Really, if you think about it, Blizzard did a nice job with these changes.  Arms is finally viable as a Raid DPS spec without totally destroying Fury.  Now we can actually choose a spec based on – wait for it – FUN!!

Before I get out of here, I believe I owe you guys a Power Auras setup export for Arms DPS.  Here it is – enjoy! It tracks your rend being up with a timer, and will let you know when Mortal Strike, Execute and Overpower are available. Thanks again to Drotara for teaching me the ways of Power Auras!

Post from: Part Time Druid

Arms vs Fury and Arms Power Auras Export

I love me some Power Auras.  If you don’t know what Power Auras is, it’s a mod that helps you keep track of things like skills being available, various procs and whatnot.  I picked up this mod awhile back, and finally have it set up to my liking.  I figure it would help to share with my readers my exact setup, as it has the convenient ability to import and export settings.  Hopefully this will give you that extra little edge.

First, download the mod itself here.  (I hate linking to Curse, but I just did!)  Power Auras is one of those mods that is very, very useful, but can also be very complex and difficult to get set up just right.  Well, thanks to Drotara at http://www.qqpewpew.com/, I finally got my setup all ironed out.  Without further adieu, let’s get to it.

Rather than give you the ugly strings of code this thing generates, I’ve uploaded a text file for you to download here. 

Now, get thee in WoW and open the mod by typing /powa.  Next, copy the text provided in any way you see fit, and then click the Import button.  Paste the text, hit ok, and voila!  I have mine set up to notify me of a few events and available skills.  You’ll get an icon for Bloodthirst, Whirlwind, and Execute when they are available when you are in combat.  You’ll also get a big flashy icon when Slam procs.  For raiding I also give icons for Death Wish and Recklessness availability. 

Here is a shot of what it looks like generally.  I tried my darndest to get as many of them as active at once as possible, but I’m just too darn tough nowadays.    You can see the icons for Bloodthirst and Whirlwind, as well as the Icon above my head for the Slam proc. 

Post from: Part Time Druid

Fury Warrior Power Auras Setup

Hello all.  Lot’s of happenings in the world of PTD, I have some upgrade stories, new levels of uberness, and a bit of a rant about my 10% less cool Fury Warrior.  Let’s get this started.

The Great Fury Warrior Nerf of 3.1

Titan’s Grip was one of the first "new" talents that sounded really freaking cool.  Be able to use TWO giant, badass 2-handers?  Sign me up!  Since it’s inception, though, it’s gone through a number of changes, tweaks, buffs and nerfs.  Blizzard just doesn’t seem to have a clue how to balance the talent.  I’m almost at the point where I wish they’d quit tinkering and just rework the 51 point fury talent completely. 

If you recall, when we first got to take this talent for a spin, it came with a hit penalty when wielding 2 two-handers.  It’s gone through quite a few iterations, and I’m not even sure where it started out.  I believe it was in the neighborhood of a 15% hit penalty for yellow (special) damage, then a straight 5% penalty to hit, and then finally it was removed completely.  Trying to actually remember the roadmap of changes to Titan’s Grip makes my head spin.

The newest change introduced in 3.1 gives Titan’s Grip a straight up 10% damage nerf. 

Should there be a penalty or nerf to Titan’s Grip?  If so is a straight damage nerf the best way to do that?

The answer to the first question is "yes," while whether a damage nerf was a good idea is more difficult.  If you look at the talent honestly, you would have to think that a penalty-less Titan’s Grip is an overpowered talent.  I think the difficulty, though, is determining just HOW overpowered it is.  You see, the Warrior class is, in my opinion, THE most gear dependent class in the game.  A poorly geared warrior can’t do anything, really, but that also means that we SCALE better than most with GOOD gear.

The issue is that if you looked at the TOP geared fury warriors in the game, they were often blowing other classes away on the damage meters.  Personally, I was consistently in the top 5 in 25 mans, and that was with sub-par weapons.  If I had a couple of BOH’s, I may have been leading the meters.  (Though at this point I’ll never know.) 

With this recent nerf, however, I’ve dropped a good 3 or 4 spots on the DPS hierarchy.  I still do solid DPS, and with some recent upgrades I’m sure to be climbing the meters again (more on those upgrades later.) 

My issue is this.  Were fury warriors nerfed based on the performance of the top geared warriors in WoW?  I’m a little afraid that just might be the case.

I’ve also heard the argument that warriors are a hybrid, and therefore should not be tops in damage.  Well, that makes sense, but where is the explanation for the Ret Pallys and Feral Druids I see at the top all the time post 3.1? 

Like I said, though, I’m happy with my damage output.  I guess I just don’t quite understand the reasoning, and in some ways feel a straight damage penalty was a lazy way to fix the problem.

Lucky Night With the RNG

On a lighter, happier note, my terribad luck with weapon drops came to a merciful end last week.  I was online doing some questing when a call went out for a DPS to fill Naxx 25, where they were on KT.  I had no plans to run it later that week, so I piped up and got ported in. 

It turned out to be the most profitable single, fill-in boss fight I’ve ever been a part of.    It was the first time that KT dropped the Betrayer of Humanity for our group, and guess who was on top of the SK list in that particular raid.  Wahooo!  It’s about freaking TIME I got rid of my crap Naxx 10 mace, Demise.

Now, I felt a tiny pang of guilt, having only gotten on for that one kill, but at the same time I had run Naxx many, many times with this group previously.  And we do use SK for a reason!  I am also a believer that if you took part in a boss kill, you have the right to roll on any loot that he should drop. 

And, just to make things even more profitable, I picked up my T 7.5 helm at the same time. 

80 Number 3

This is a testament to how much easier leveling is in Wrath than it was in BC.  I now have THREE, count them (3), level 80 toons.  My Druid, my Warrior, and now my Hunter.  Heck, it wasn’t until the tail end of BC’s reign that I got my 2nd level 70, and here I sit with 3 level 80s.  I know I could easily get more, as well!

But, as a more casual player, I’ve always been pretty heavily invested in alts.  If I only have a half hour, the best thing for me personally is to log on an alt and do a few quests.  I just can’t stand dailies, I’ve never been able to, and I’m not really an achievement junkie, either, so alts are it for me. 

Post from: Part Time Druid

Fury Warrior Nerf, Luck With the RNG, and 80 Number 3

This is another cross-post on Big Hit Box….check it out!

You’re here for info.  I’m here to try to help.  3.1 finally dawned on Azeroth, and there are a couple things I’d like to go over.  I won’t cover dual specs, tradeskills, or anything like that.  I’m cherry picking some stuff that I’m personally interested in, and hope you are too.

3.1 Fury Talents

First, let’s talk Fury specs.  Honestly, I don’t think a lot has changed.  The big, BIG thing to note, though, is the removal of Weapon Mastery from the fury tree.  For us Furies, it means it’s time to boost up that expertise.  In the old cap, you only had to get to 18 expertise, which equated to about 148 expertise rating.  Now, without the benefits of Weapon Mastery, you need to get to 26 expertise, which is 214 expertise rating.  That’s a sizable amount more of expertise you will need, and after getting hit capped for yellow damage, expertise is the next thing you want capped.

Seriously, cap expertise.  Do it now before you forget.

Anyhow, here is what I went with spec wise.  It’s pretty standard up and down.  You have a few play points here and there.  Like if you want to look cool on the trash DPS meters you could get Improved Cleave, but I didn’t bother.  Many of the points in arms are negotiable as well. 

Ulduar Weapon Drops

Now for the fun stuff!  I’ve been hurting a bit weapon wise.  I’ve had terrible luck in Naxx 25, and I’m still running around with Demise and the Titansteel Destroyer.

Thankfully, blizz has come to save the day with a handful of new weapons to shoot for, in both 10 and 25 man Ulduar.

10-Man Drops

Ironsoul – Drops from the Flame Leviathan

Very nice weapon, available from what I believe is the first boss in Ulduar.  Strength has always been a great stat for fury, but now that zerker stance boosts str and not AP, it’s even sweeter.  Armor penetration got a big boost in 3.1 as well, so this is another good side stat to shoot for.  The crit is also nice, and it’s overall DPS is even higher than Death’s Bite from Naxx 10.  I will be gunning for this from the start.  Fury DPS LFG Uld 10.

Stormedge – Drops from Hodir

Another solid weapon from Ulduar 10.  The hit is ok, but again we find a good amount of strength and some Armor Pen as a bonus.  The DPS is also solid.  This may be itemized more for an Arms warrior, but still a good weapon nonetheless.  Especially if you have been unlucky like I have. 

25-Man Drops

Worldcarver – Drops from Ignis the Furnace Master

Here we have our first weapon on the ?next level? in terms of DPS.  232.5 DPS is higher than the previous BIS, the Betrayer of Humanity.  Now, the stats make it more of a DK tanking weapon.  I don’t know a whole lot about that class/spec, but the stamina budget, expertise and haste scream out tank to me.  Still an excellent choice for a Fury Warrior if you’re still carting around old 186 DPS weapons like me.  I would probably pass it to a DK tank, but I’d roll about anyone else for it.  Strength again, some expertise to help us cap out, and some haste, which isn’t bad.

Rune Edge – Drops from the Iron Council

Another big 232.5 DPS.  If this had strength rather than agility, I would be MUCH more excited, but it’s still a great, great weapon.  (Hell, the Betrayer had agi and not str too!)  Crit, AP and Armor Pen are all high and very welcome.  Beware of hunters if this drops, try to distract or confuse them if possible.  Use the ?hey, wait for a spear? argument if necessary.

Voldrethar, Dark Blade of Oblivion – Drops from General Vezax

This is the present King of the Fury Hill in terms of weapons.  244.7 DPS, 999 max damage ? I think my head is about to explode.  Strength, 2 sockets, crit, armor pen – it’s a dream come true.  Expect to have lots of competition for this sword, it’s the bee’s knees.  Excuse me a second while I wipe the drool off my keyboard.

So there you have your new weapons to shoot for.  I think Blizz did a much better job of itemizing weapons this time around, the choices in Naxx just seemed a little too limited.  Keep in mind this list does not include loot from the last 2 bosses.  They are still a mystery to all.  I’m sure there’s a big nasty axe in there somewhere, with a DPS number over 250. 

WoW Matrix

To wrap things up, a big BOO to Curse and WoW Interface for blocking WoW Matrix.  Now, I understand there is money involved and whatnot, but can’t they work with WoW matrix in some way?  It really was by far the best updater.  Now I have to use the invasive Curse client, and then manually install my outlier addons that aren’t available on Curse.  I know it’s no HUGE deal, but I have a lot of addons.  WoW Matrix made everything cake, and Curse and WoW Interface have taken that away. 

So Boo to you Curse and WoW Interface!  A Pox on you and both your houses!

That’s all for now ? shouldn’t you be in Ulduar right now?

Post from: Part Time Druid

3.1 Roundup: Specs, Weapons and WoW Matrix

Yeah, I know.  It’s been awhile.  But you see I promised myself something when I first began writing this blog:  I will try my best NOT to write posts JUST to write posts.  It’s not like I have to clock in or whatnot, this is no job.  I write when I have something worthwhile to talk about, or at least I hope so.  Please don’t now inundate me with examples of crap posts from the past, as I’m sure I have many out there.   

With that out of the way, I can tell you that I indeed have something to talk about.  A couple of things, really. 

Bye Bye Maly

For starters, I’ve beaten WoW.  (Save the accolades for later, really.)  I’ve been raiding once a week for the past couple of months, and Friday night we finally accomplished the last real thing I had to accomplish, downing Malygos in 25 man.  Now I know there are things I have not done on my warrior, like OS25 for instance, but between my warrior and druid I’ve really done it all.  I’m itching for Ulduar now just like many of you are.  But I’ll get back to that in the second part of this post.

Back to Malygos – it took us a long time, and a lot of tries.  Overall the fight really isn’t that difficult.  It wasn’t long before we had phases 1 and 2 pegged.  Anyone who’s done Maly knows, however, that phase 3 is the rub. 

Individually, it’s not all that difficult.  Just keep your stack up, and stack as many as you can.  In a way I have some advantages in this area due to my experience with Resto Druiding.  For a long time I made my living on proper stack/HOT management. 

The problem is you have to get SO MANY people doing the same thing.  In other phases, in other fights, you can carry some people through who aren’t performing like everyone else.  In Maly your room for error is marginal at best.  You need most everyone to be handling their stacks RIGHT. 

In a way, it’s reminiscent of the Teron Gorefiend fight from Black Temple.  To take down Gorefiend, you had to play this itty bitty mini-game that Blizz had thrown in, and you needed everyone to be able to play it.  The same thing goes for Malygos.  At least here Blizz had the foresight to institute some in game training.  There is a daily quest near Transitus Shield, Aces High, that shows you how the drakes you will have to use for Maly work. 

I can’t say I’m a fan of that kind of boss fight, but it was very satisfying when we got it done.  Pics or it didn’t happen, I know?

There you go, proof.  Are you happy?  My apologies for the fairly crappy shot, it’s hard to get anything decent with 20+ drakes in the air and whatnot.  Don’t even get me started on the horrors of trying to loot the stupid chest thingy afterwards.  Ugh.  (On a side note, can we have a moratorium on any loot “boxes”?  I’d much rather always have a big old corpse to click on, where we can ALL get in!)

So goodnight Maly, it was fun?.ish.

Razor Thin Layers of Progression

My Fury Warrior (who is my present main, in case you haven’t heard) has pretty dang spiffy gear.  I finally got done with the dreaded Nobles Deck to get the Darkmoon Card: Greatness, I have several pieces of near BIS gear from 25 man Naxx, and I’m capped in everything useful and sport over 4k unbuffed AP.  But still, I have a pretty big problem. 

My frigging weapons.

I have Demise from 10 man Naxx and the Titansteel Destroyer.  Good weapons, sure, but overall they are really holding me back. 

The problem is that there are very few upgrades in this area.  There are four I’m looking at, to be exact, and to date I’ve only seen one of them drop, and that only once.  In case you are wondering, the four weapons are The Jawbone, Armageddon, Death’s Bite and the Betrayer of Humanity.  3 of them only come from 25 man Naxx, and the last comes from 10 man Naxx.  I can only raid once a week, and I do 25 man Naxx on that one day, and to this day I’ve only seen Armageddon drop, and that only once.  To add to the futility of trying to upgrade my weapons is the fact that I really need TWO in the long run, and there are usually 4 other people in each raid that would like the same drops.

Ugh.

So here I find myself on the narrowest of upgrade paths, and it’s disheartening.  This is why PTD gets bored, and why I find myself wondering what alt to level next.  It gets tough as you approach the upper echelons of gear, and fewer and fewer upgrades are appealing.  I need nothing from heroism badge gear (unless I start looking at tanking gear), and there aren’t many drops left in Naxx 25 that I’m interested in anymore.  I just want a new stinking weapon.  And then one more to boot.

So I keep on heading into Naxx 25, and hope every time that I get lucky.  I do my job, put out very good DPS, and approach most boss lootings as uneventful.

So why are there no good badge weapons?  Back in the BC days, there were some VERY nice weapons you could get with badges.  Now I see nothing at all.  Does Blizz have something against those of us who wield two-handers?  And then, just for kicks, did they say “hey, maybe we should make a class able to use TWO two-handers, and thereby magnify their frustration tenfold!”  I sure hope not. 

Thankfully, there look to be some good choices coming along in Ulduar.  Now where the heck is 3.1??

Post from: Part Time Druid

Bye Bye Maly and Razor Thin Layers of Progression

This’ll be my second cross post on Big Hit Box.  So be sure to check out their site as well, they got’s a good thing going!  I used to say I wouldn’t want to be part of any club that would have me as a member, but that turned out to be a lonely proposition.  Now on with the post!

Before I get to the juice, I’ll give a minor update about my guild situation.  I’m still flying solo, and it’s actually quite refreshing.  I’m still able to raid with the same people I was raiding with before.  Also, I was doing a ton of PUGing before, so this is really no different.  My friends list is really growing, too!  Heck, my first run post guild netted me my stupid epic legs from UK.  FINALLY!

Come Geared, or Don’t Come at All

In my estimation, the Warrior is the most gear dependent class in all of World of Warcraft.  (It’s one of the reasons I rated them at the bottom in my old Casual Class post!)  It doesn’t matter what spec you’re talking about either – Arms, Prot and Fury Warriors all rely on good gear to perform.  The good thing about that is that Warriors also SCALE better with gear than most other classes.  With my Druid, for instance, 20 points in spellpower or spirit here or there didn’t mean all that much, not so with the Warrior. 

There are many gear lists out there for Fury warriors, you can use Wowhead, Elitist Jerks, Tankspot, even the armory.  But if you’re fresh to level 80, and want to hit the ground running with your Fury Warrior, this is the guide for you.  No, it’s not about best in slot, it’s about the quickest route to competency.

You’ll notice a lot of Blacksmithing and other crafted stuff.  Blizzard made things a lot easier on us by making so many good recipes BoE, and largely did away with the old style BoP stuff.  It might be a good idea to take up Blacksmithing if you haven’t already, your extra gem slots will thank me later. 

Lastly, before we get going, remember to think about your overall gear picture as you’re making choices from the below.  You want a MINIMUM of 164 hit, which will make it so your specials (yellow damage) ALWAYS land.  Beyond 164 hit, I concentrated on Strength and AP personally, though there are those that would argue for stacking crit or expertise.  I’m no theorycrafter though, so ask someone else for the cookie cutter way to gear up. 

I’ll go slot by slot, starting at the top.

Head

This is one of those easy, cheesy slam dunk slots.  Blacksmiths make the Spiked Titansteel Helm, which will last you for a LONG time.  Nice bonuses to strength, hit and crit along with a meta and blue gem slot.  Money.  You really can’t do much better for a Fury warrior.  I’ve passed on 25 man drops to hold onto this – it’s that good.  Some day they’ll pry it off my cold, dead head (ewwww).  Have the mats ready at 80, trust me.  Oh, and if you don’t know already, go with the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond for your meta, and you may as well put a blue in that slot for the meta gem requirements.

Neck

You can easily go with more crafted goodness here with the Titanium Impact Choker, but I’ve never really been "sold" on this particular piece.  I like the socket, for sure, and the AP and Agil are nice, but not game changing.  I didn’t personally want to invest the mats in this, and used something easier to get – the Choker of Betrayal from a quest in Zul’Drak- until I got the badge neck. 

Shoulders

The head slot is easy, the shoulders slot just plain stinks.  It’s always been a tough slot to fill, and it was the same with my druid.  Do the guys at Blizz just not like shoulders, or what?  Anyhow, the easiest fill are probably the Savage Saronite Pauldrons, also from your local Blacksmith.  The resilience is essentially useless, but the strength and crit are decent.  They’ll do.  (Another option is the Mantle of Volkhan, if you turn out to need the hit.)

Cloak

Kind of a meh slot all around.  There are a lot of easy to obtain options, but none of them are particularly suited to a Fury Warrior.  But since I’m trying to make this easy, you could either go with the epic crafted Ice Striker’s Cloak, or go with the quest reward Cloak of the Buzzing Swarm.  Unless you’re awash in frozen orbs and primals, go with the quest reward to tide you over until you can pick something up down the line.  Maybe work on Argent Crusade rep at some point for the Cloak of Holy Extermination. 

Chest

This is one of the tougher slots to fill.  There are many, many good options as you start farming 80 instances and heroics, but before that things are a bit on the sparse side.  One option is the Battleplate of Unheard Ovation, a quest reward from Icecrown.  The strength is nice, and expertise is an important stat for a Fury Warrior.  This would tide you over at the beginning, and you should be questing in Icecrown to open up the Ebon Hold faction and dailies anyhow.

Wrist

Easy again.  Vengeance Bindings, no doubt.  Easy to make, weighted nicely for a Fury, and there’s not a whole lot else out there.  Heck, I’m still wearing these while I save for the badge bracers.  Find your local blacksmith.  Again.  Or maybe just take up Blacksmithing yourself, extra gem slots are awfully juicy!

Hands

Another kind of crap choice here in Spiked Cobalt Gauntlets, but at least they’re easy to get.  You can live with a green or two for now.    You could also try to get in a regular Strat group ASAP and pick up the Handwraps of Preserved History, though I may actually lean towards the crafted green in this head to head.  More AP and a little hit to help you along.

Belt

Surprise surprise, we need another blacksmith.  And hence we return for the Spiked Cobalt Belt.  But, if you did get yourself in a regular Strat group for those hands, maybe you’ll get lucky and the Spiked Metal Cilice drops.  Then you can make all kinds of Da Vinci Code jokes if you want to. 

Legs

If a top end guild owes you money, get them to take you on a 2 Drake OS10 for Belabored Legplates.  Otherwise, throw a few cobalt bars at a blacksmith and get Spiked Cobalt Legplates in return.  Oh, and I know what you’re saying about all this green cobalt stuff.  "Where’s the stamina?"  It’s really not all that important, really.  You go down like a cloth wearer if you get aggro from a raid boss anyway!

Boots

Spiked Titansteel Treads will work just fine, and the mats aren’t that bad.  They don’t excite me like the helm does, however, as they are pretty easily replaced when you hit exalted with Ebon Hold.  Boots of Dominance, another quest reward, will work if you want to save your titansteel bars.

Rings

There are so many options here, i won’t bother.  Though I guess picking up the Ring of Scarlet Shadows wouldn’t hurt.  Hit, Crit, AP and a slot.  You could even use this piece for that other blue gem to activate your meta.

Trinket

My first advice for the trinket slot is this:  spend your first 40 badges on the Mirror of Truth.  The trinket slot is quite hard to fill, and that trinket is so good that it’s worth it.  Before that, pick up the Crusader’s Locket from a quest, along with the First Mate’s Pocketwatch.  Underwhelming, I know…hence the Mirror.

Ranged

Hemet’s Trophy Gun is easy enough.  And it looks pretty cool.  I mean come on, it’s made out of some monster’s FACE!  I wouldn’t lose much sleep over this slot in any case.

Weapons

Weapons, weapons, weapons.  Our bread and butter.  I always love to upgrade my big bad 2 handers, the bigger and glowier the better.  It’s not easy to get 2 good ones, though.  For starters, make sure you do the "new" Ring of Blood event in Zul’Drak, as the De-Raged Waraxe is excellent to start out.  This is also an area where a good rep grind will pay off big time.  I didn’t do it this way the first time, but if I had to do it all over again, I’d start grinding Ebon Blade right away so I could pick up one or two Runeblades of Demonstrable Power.  And not just cause they have a long name.  I was using one of these in my off-hand until just last week.  And all you have to do is wear a stupid tabard and do some dailies.  Working on that is also a good idea for the above-mentioned boots.  You could also choose to do Argent Crusade rep first, as the Argent Skeleton Crusher is nice too.  The sword is just better.    An important thing to note about the Runeblade and Crusher is that neither are "unique equipped," so you can use one in each hand!  I really like how 2 Crushers look. 

If you want to jump right into epic weaponry, get a whole crapload of cash and/or titansteel bars and get the Titansteel Destroyer.  It will serve you well, though it is a little unremarkable for me as far as looks.  I like huge, pointy weapons with rotating crap and glowy effects.  The Destroyer looks like it was the leg off some crap throne somewhere.  Meh.  All that strength and a bunch of hit to boot?  PTD likes. 

This is by no means the "ultimate" list.  I have no illusions of some secret code of gear, and I’m sure I’ve left off some good options and posted some stupid ones.  It’s the nature of the beast.  So if you have a suggestion about something, throw it in the comments, I’d love to hear it.  If you follow this guide, you’ll be well on your way to a decent starter set, and can start grinding heroics for the "important" stuff.  Some day you too will be doing 5k+ DPS on Loatheb! 

Post from: Part Time Druid

Fresh Fury Warrior Gear Guide

Warning!!  Warning!!  PTD is spreading!  I’ve decided to do a little guest posting on Big Hit Box, a melee-centric WoW blog, and I went ahead and cross-posted this over there as well.  Be sure to drop by and add BHB to your reader! 

I don’t think I can even split hairs about it anymore.  My Warrior is my main.  It makes the title of the blog a tad bit deceptive, but hell, it’s my blog.  If BBB can spend his time writing about his hunter, I can surely write about my Warrior.  And I’m exceedingly confident that the Resto Druid Blog World has got that corner well covered.  Hell, is there any spec/class with more blogs devoted to it than Resto Druiding?  I really think not.  Maybe there is something about playing a Tree that lends itself to the analytical writing type.  I really don’t know.  I do know that Phaelia, Bellwhether, Leafy and many others have the whole Resto Druid blogging thing down pat.  They won’t miss me.  Much.

Though when I first hit 80 I went prot, a while back I switched to Fury adue to an overabundance of tanks in the guild.  (Strange, I know.)  And I can freely admit that I sucked at first.  I was barely breaking 1k DPS in my sorry Fury gear, as I hadn’t been picking up that stuff at all.  I languished somewhere below the tank on the damage meters my first few runs. 

Well, since then I’ve made huge strides in gear and skill, and can happily pump out 2300 or so DPS in heroics without much of a problem.  I can put out about 3k or so in a 25 man raid, with upwards of 3500 DPS on boss fights.  Not the best, to be sure, but not bad.  So in the interest of helping any other fresh fury warriors out, I’ll list five things you should know to help you avoid some of the problems I had in the beginning. 

1)  Don’t Level Fury

Ok, maybe I didn’t need this one.  I didn’t level Fury myself, that much you’d know if you read regularly.  I leveled Arms, and I’m a big proponent of the spec for leveling purposes.  For one thing, Arms is far FAR less gear dependent than Fury.  All you need for Arms is one good 2 hander.

To add to that, many of the plate DPS quest rewards are geared more towards a DK or an Arms spec warrior.  They normally favor crit over hit, which works great for an Arms warrior, but isn’t as big a priority for Fury.  You need a good deal of hit as a Fury warrior just to get your DPS off the ground.  At a bare minimum you need 164 hit rating, and that only serves to make sure all your specials will land.  A TG Fury warrior with only 164 hit will have very poor rage generation – and there’s nothing worse than a rage-starved Fury Warrior. 

Besides all that, Bladestorm, the 51 point Arms talent, is still perhaps my favorite warrior talent.  There’s nothing quite like mowing down 5 or 6 mobs in about 20 seconds.  Trust me, stick with Arms until 80, you won’t regret it.

2)  Don’t Spec Stupid

You don’t need to kid around as a Fury Warrior.  A lot of classes and specs have a good deal of variance.  Maybe they’ll have a Raid DPS spec or a 5 man DPS spec.  With Fury, there’s a fairly standard spec you can go with from the start.  18/53/0.  The Arms points are basically for Deep Wounds and 2 handed spec.  I’ve seen very small variants, like a 19/52/0 array, but for the most part 18/53/0 is the de facto spec for a Fury warrior.  So don’t go trying to get all fancy with a weird hybrid spec, the standard will give you all you want. 

3)  Learn to Love Your Threat Meter

It doesn’t matter which one you use, but make sure you’re using some kind of threat meter.  Fury Warriors can pump out a LOT of DPS, but at the same time they don’t have a Get Out of Jail Free card.  There are only two aggro dumps for a Fury Warrior, stop attacking or die. And nobody likes to stop attacking. You can’t Ice Block or Fade or Feign Death or even beg for mercy.  If you draw aggro in a heroic or raid, chances are you will die.  And don’t go thinking plate will save you, it doesn’t make you THAT much more resilient than any other DPS class.  You might last half a second longer than a clothie, but not much more.  So don’t be lazy, and watch the threat, Mister.

4)  Learn Your Rotation and Positioning

Like your spec, your skill rotation is pretty straightforward.  Whirlwind and Bloodthirst are your best friends, make sure you can use them whenever they are off cooldown.  After that, watch for instant Slam procs, and use them immediately (UNLESS WW or BT are off cooldown!)  If everything is on cooldown, and you’re sitting on 50 or more rage, go ahead and throw in a heroic strike on single targets or a cleave in multi mob situations.  So the hierarchy is WW –> BT –> Instant Slam –> HS/Cleave.  Rinse and repeat.

Now the Warrior is my first melee DPS class, so I had to learn positioning.  With my Hunter I just stayed at max range and went to town.  With the warrior I have to try to make sure I stay BEHIND the mobs as much as possible, ESPECIALLY if it’s a boss.  They can’t parry if you’re attacking from behind, and you’ll do more damage.  Be careful not to pull extra packs, but try to stay to the side or behind as much as possible.

5)  Don’t Expect Big Numbers Right Away

As I’ve already mentioned, Fury warriors are fairly gear dependent.  Some people consider them THE most gear dependent DPS class. As I mentioned before, my DPS sucked when I first respecced.  I didn’t have 2 good weapons to use, and I didn’t have a lot of hit, not to mention poor AP and crit numbers.  Now a good fury warrior CAN lead the damage meters, but only with really good gear.  You don’t get to pump out 2500 in crap gear like a DK – not everyone gets to be OP you know!    Expect your numbers to slowly ramp up as you gear up.

Now ABOUT that gear.  I won’t get too far into it, but here are a few pointers.  Focus on hit until you’re at least at 164 hit rating.  After that, while you shouldn’t flat out ignore hit, you don’t need to go out of your way to find it, it comes naturally on gear that you’ll want.  You also want a good deal of Strength, as we get 2 AP for every point of strength.   I almost ALWAYS gem for pure strength.  I’ll put +14 str gems in minor upgrades, and I make sure and plug in +16 str gems in the really good stuff.  Don’t focus on socket bonuses, chances are you’ll be wasting your time.  Once you get close to 4000 AP unbuffed, then you can start thinking about gemming for Crit instead of straight strength.  But 4k AP is a long way off at the beginning.   

For some easy upgrades, work on Ebon Hold rep.  They have a nice 2 handed sword at Revered that will serve you well, along with the AP helm enchant.  At exalted they have a very nice set of epic boots you can pick up.  The other easy avenue for upgrades is Blacksmithing.  The Spiked Titansteel Helm is one of the best helms you can get period, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to make.  You also might want the Spiked Titansteel Treads and you will surely want the Titansteel Destroyer.  Get those upgrades, and you’ll soon be rocking the DPS meters.

There you have it.  I’ve found playing a Fury Warrior quite enjoyable, and I don’t regret the switch from Prot spec at all.  In higher end guilds, Fury Warriors are often at the very top of the damage meters, and I can see why.  I’m putting out 3.5k+ on bosses right now, and I still have some significant holes in my gear.  I can’t wait to see what I can do when I REALLY get geared out!  It should be fun! 

Post from: Part Time Druid

Five Rules for the Fresh Fury Warrior

WoW is a game about carrots.  When you start out, there are a whole slew of different carrots you can chase.  One of the great things about WoW is how many carrots Blizzard managed to stuff into the game.  Instances, raids, PvP rewards, badge gear, vanity pets…there is just too dang much to list. 

But, things aren’t always perfect.  Just because there’s a whole mess of carrots, that doesn’t mean they can keep everyone interested.  Even fanboys like yours truly can get tired of the game.  I have been playing since the dawn of WoW, and even a little before, so it wouldn’t be surprising if I became a little burnt out.

But no, I am not tired of WoW.  Not yet.  I have, however, discovered a little something that irritates me.  As we go on, the paths of real progression grow ever narrower.  Before we really get into it, I’ll get into what I’ve been doing in game.

In Game Update

I do like to talk about what I’ve been up to in game, but I don’t wan to devote entire posts to it.  So from here on out I’ll try to separate these journalistic endeavors into an "In Game Update" within the body of larger posts.  If you don’t care what I’ve been up to, feel free to skip ahead to the next heading where I’ll get back to the meat of the post.

My Druid has essentially been functioning as a bank toon in Dalaran.  I am not done with the druid, and I’m happy to have a heroic ready healer in my back pocket, but he hasn’t been my focus.  Part of the reason is that I hate soloing with him, but the real crux is that I’m enjoying my warrior too dang much to log in my Druid.  If someone really needs a healer, I’m more than willing.

So let’s talk about that warrior.  I had been playing him as a tank for the first couple weeks after I hit 80.  I made great strides in his gear, and got him defense capped and comfortable tanking heroics.  I enjoy controlling the runs I am on, as it allows me the opportunity to pull like a madman.  I don’t like to mess around too much with long-winded explanations and stuff, I just like to roll in and blast stuff apart. 

The problem is that there are just too many tanks floating around my guild.  I was having an inordinately difficult time getting groups together.  Well, about 2 weeks back, someone was practically begging for a DPS to fill a heroic run.  While I had never really played as a fury warrior, the idea of slinging around two huge two handers was awfully enticing.  So I went ahead and took the plunge.  I made sure to let the tank know that my DPS gear sucked (and it truly did…I was using a two hander from a Borean Tundra questline for an offhand) and that I didn’t have a lot of experience.  He didn’t care, he needed a body.

So it was that my days as a Fury Warrior began, and I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever look back.  I am enjoying the hell out of the spec.  My DPS on that first run was admittedly poor, I was one of those chumps who couldn’t even keep up with the tank.

Well, a host of heroic runs and an investment in a whole mess of titansteel later, I began to see the true power of a Titan’s Grip Warrior.  I have probably four great pieces of gear, and a whole lot of filler everywhere else.  I’m still quite easily pushing 2k DPS in heroics, and have been as high as 2400.  That’s with mostly meh gear.  I can’t wait to see what happens when I upgrade my chest, boots, bracers, legs, and trinkets.  Visions of 3k DPS are dancing in my head.

So I find myself farming heroics as a DPS Warrior and having a grand old time.  I also found a late night group to run with, and can almost always find a heroic when I log on.  It’s great, and I only feel a little bad for my poor, neglected Druid.

More on Progression

When you first hit level 80 in WoW, it can be a little overwhelming trying to decide just what the heck you should do first.  Work on Hodir dailies for rep?  Grind instances or heroic instances for gear?  Do some PvP to grind for THAT gear?  Plan your eventual assault on Naxx?  There are many, many things you can do.  As you check things off that phantom list, however, your focus naturally narrows. 

I think that is where I often run into problems.  I’ve been a bit of an altoholic since I began the game.  I took way, way too long to get to 60, because I couldn’t stay focused on one character.  It wasn’t until quite recently that I figured out why I did that.

As my focus on progression narrows, I start to lose interest.  If I realize that to continue to improve I only have one or two choices, I start thinking about alts.  If I have to farm one or two heroics, and hope that ONE boss drops that ONE piece of loot that will really make a difference, I start to lose my nerve.  The trouble is multiplied if said drop or two comes from a raid instance.  Because then I have to make time or find a big old group of people to help me out.

Alts, on the other hand, can be a nice change of pace at that point.  You get your constant progression just from the act of leveling, and along with it you acquire new shiny gear, new skills, and perhaps work on a new tradeskill.  Suddenly all of these avenues for advancement are opened up to you again.

I can’t fault Blizzard for my particular form of dissatisfaction.  Like I said, they stuffed an awful big variety of carrots into WoW.  It just so happens that I have no real interest in a few of them.  PvP, for example, is something I wouldn’t get into, at least not on my server.  (If I want PvP, I’ll go to a PvP server…all or nothing there, if you ask me!  Hell, I even have a level 50 undead warrior on Warsong!)  I’ve also never gotten a lot of enjoyment out of dailies.  Yes, gold is great, but I prefer when it comes as a side effect of my natural adventures.  And yes, I know there is usually rep attached as well, but I’m not into rep grinds either. 

I also have to give Blizzard a lot of credit for the Achievement system.  This has helped alleviate my Progression Problem, as it gives me a lot of things I can do on my own for fun.  Soon I plan to go on a grand tour of old school instances.  There are still a few I have never seen, and it will be fun to go back and just destroy some of that old content. 

So What Can Be Done?

Sadly, I’m not smart enough to know.  It’s not a fault in the game, it’s just natural that as you go on, you have less to do, and your options narrow a bit.  Especially if you’re not interested in certain aspects of the game.  I wish I had some groundbreaking idea for the genre, some interesting way of keeping players occupied, but I don’t.  The only thing I could really come up with is this:  avoid making ONE drop from ONE boss in ONE heroic be the end-all for pre-raid gear.  I suppose it could be argued that its my own perception that makes those purple pants so precious.  The blue ones I have ain’t too shabby, but, well, they’re blue! 

Don’t take this post the wrong way.  I’m still enjoying the heckfire out of my Warrior, and I have plenty of work I can do on the Druid, not to mention my Hunter that languishes at 70, and my new DK.  Uh oh…there I go again….talking alts…

Post from: Part Time Druid

Ever Narrowing Paths of Progression

They said it couldn’t be done, but they were wrong.  PTD now has TWO max level toons.  If you recall, when Wrath hit I was busy leveling a Warrior who was in his early 60s.  At release, I played my druid as a Boomkin up to level 71, and I hated it.

HATED it.

Too scripted, too much of the same thing over and over.  Moonfire, Entangling Roots, Insect Swarm, Wrath, Starfire.  Rinse and repeat.  Ad infinitum.  Bleh.

But, that’s neither here nor there.  The boomkin spec soured me on the Druid for a bit, and I went back to my low 60s warrior, and leveled him all the way to 77.  Then I heard in guild that we were kind of hurting for healers, so back to the Druid I went, spec’d to Feral IMMEDIATELY and powered my way to 80, enjoying the whole ride.  I went back to Resto immediately, busted out my leaves, and started the heroic grind.  That’s when I remembered something I had all but forgotten –

Soloing as a Tree SUCKS

It may very well be the least fun you can have in WoW, and I mean that in all seriousness.  I’ve already established that I did not like the Boomkin spec.  Well, soloing as a Resto Druid is kind of like that, only without the big damage numbers and extra tricks.  It takes horrendously long to kill anything, and it is incredibly boring.  I can only hit my "2" key (Wrath) 1.5 million times before I tire of it. 

I can hear the counterpoints already.

"Yeah, but it sure is better than it USED to be, at least you have decent spellpower!"

Well, just because it’s BETTER doesn’t mean it’s good.  It still consists of crap repetition with crap damage.  Just because the damage is slightly less crappy doesn’t change much. 

"Well, I can take any mob one on one.  I literally cannot die."

To an extent, sure.  The good thing about soloing as a resto druid that’s nice is my ability to keep myself alive.  Basically forever.  Still, I’d trade survivability for some decent DPS in a heartbeat.

"Why do you need to solo anyway?  You can group at will!"

Sure I can, but that’s mostly based on instance runs.  I still need to be able to quest for cash, and I especially want to finish off the Northrend questing achievements.  I’ve cleared Borean, the Fjord, Dragonblight and Grizzly Hills thus far.  It’s hard to find a group for general questing, as it’s faster for nearly any class to quest alone.

Now, I don’t know how a lot of other solo centric class/spec combinations solo, but I know many of them got some new tricks.  Prot Warriors now have decent damage output AND can take many, many mobs on at a time.  Holy priests can gather a few mobs, shield, and Holy Nova them all to hell.  Resto Shammys still get Chain Lightning to throw around willy nilly.  Holy Pallys…well…I have a feeling they are in the same boat as Resto Druids.

So, enough about the Tree, let’s talk Warriors.

Tankin’ Ain’t Easy

I hit 80 with the Warrior 2 days ago while questing in Storm Peaks (much like his Druid cousin.)  Leveling him was both as easy and as enjoyable as leveling the Druid, perhaps even more so.  The quest design in Wrath is excellent, and it was just as enjoyable the second time around as it was the first. 

Anyhow, with the Warrior things are a little different.  My Druid had good BC end-game gear, and started out with a little advantage.  Heck, I still haven’t replaced a couple of my BC epics, (my belt and bracers) but I’m sure I soon will.  The Warrior, on the other hand, was a fresh 70 for the Wrath content.  So while a lot of you are just picking the most expensive quest reward to sell, I’ve had to equip most of that stuff you’ve thrown out. 

I also leveled him as a Blacksmith, which I believe turned out to be a good choice.  I’ve crafted a lot of good gear for myself as I leveled, and by 80 I had the whole Tempered Saronite tanking set, along with the Daunting Legplates and Daunting Handguards.  Heck, my whole tanking set, including my shield and weapon, came via crafting.

So I had a good but not great tanking set.  It put me around 19k unbuffed HPs, 20k armor, and 513 defense, and I respec’d right away to 15/5/51.  This is the in vogue "deep wounds" tanking build.  Supposedly it has all you need from the Prot tree for mitigation and such along with good DPS output. 

I wouldn’t know though, I just yank this kind of stuff of forums, I really do.

Thus far I have tanked UK, the Nexus, Azjol-Nerub, Drak’Tharon keep and HOL all on regular.  As of last night, I’ve also tanked UK in heroic mode.

Tanking is hard.  I don’t know if you know.  Sure, healing and DPS have their challenges, but in my estimation, tanking is the hardest job there is.  As a tank you have many expectation:

• Lead the run
• Mark targets
• Manage CC
• Pull
• Explain Boss fights
• Manage loot rules

And that’s before actually getting into the actual killing.  I won’t kid around, it’s tough to manage.  It’s hard to get the attention of 4 mobs and keep it.  It’s hard to hold aggro on four different mobs while bloodthirsty, frothing at the mouth, big number hunting DPS are chomping at the bit to let it all out to try and get the top spot in the damage meters.   

In the interest of comparison, here are the other people’s jobs:

DPS

• Kill stuff in the right order
• CC, maybe
• Accept everyone’s criticism for your poor DPS and/or poor aggro management

Healer

• Keep everyone alive
• Cure poison/decurse/etc.
• Accept everyone’s criticism of your lackluster healing abilities, and accept blame for any and all wipes

Now, you all know a healer is still my main.  You should also know that my main WAS a Hunter back before BC hit.  I’m not demeaning the role or difficulty of playing a healer or playing a DPS class.

I’m just telling you, that from my perspective, tanking is harder than both of those jobs.

And you know what?  I’m enjoying the hell out of it.  I liked that we succeeded in heroic UK the other night (and I’m happy that I got a decent tanking sword as well as a tanking ring).  I also enjoyed being front and center and heavily responsible for the group’s success.

I’ll be tanking more heroics, you can bet your Abyss Crystal on it.  To close, here is the Listos version of the post you have just read:  PTD has an 80 Resto Druid and an 80 Prot Warrior, soling as a tree sucks, and tanking is hard.  PTD out.

Post from: Part Time Druid

Tankin’ Ain’t Easy and Tree Druid Soloing SUCKS

The deed is all but done.  My Warrior is now officially higher up than my Druid.  Well, he’s not TECHNICALLY higher, as they are both 71.  The Warrior, however, is just a few bubbles from 72, while the Druid sits right at 71. 

So while I’ve been making this transition away from the character I have focused on for nearly two years, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering WHY I was making the switch.  I think I’m finally understanding the true reason for my switch.

I don’t like playing the game in a pre-scripted manner.  What I mean by that is I don’t like using a defined spell/ability rotation on mob after mob ad infinitum.  I’m an "in your face" kind of player.  I like to jump right in and get my hands dirty, and REACT to what is happening to me.  As a Boomkin, I was doing the same thing every time.  Here is how combat went with my Boomkin:

Moonfire –> Insect Swarm –> Wrath –> Starfire –> Moonfire and/or Wrath (depending on the mob’s remaining health)

I had fun at first, I really did.  It was such a huge improvement over my old Resto soloing style that I didn’t notice how boring it really was.  I enjoyed some of the big crits going off, and I enjoyed how fast things were going down.  But then, I noticed if I was tired I could literally nod off in the middle of combat.  I’m not even exaggerating.  I would FALL ASLEEP playing the Boomkin spec.

At the time I realized I was bored, I was right on the precipice of 71.  I finished off the level, and decided it was time for a change, at least temporarily.  The early areas were also VERY camped, so I liked the idea of heading back to my warrior who was in his early 60s in Outland.

So the abandonment of my Druid started slowly, a mere trickle.

I had a LOT of fun with the Warrior.  I had BEEN having fun with him since 3.02 dropped.  The new Arms spec was fierce!  I could take single mobs quickly, or I could take multiple mobs, especially once I got to the 51 point talent, Bladestorm.  You’ve all heard of my love for the Arms spec.  At the time I thought it was the huge weapons, the massive crits, and the shiny, bulky, beautiful plate armor.  All of those things were indeed a factor, but the real reason was the play style.

With the Warrior, every fight is different.  The only "rotation" with him starts at the very beginning.  After that, though, Warrior combat is purely reactive.  Overpower is up, use it.  Execute is up, use it.  Got an add – pop Demo shout, TC and Sweeping Strikes.  It’s not that I have a massive number of skills to keep track of, but I always have to be paying attention in combat to use them.  It’s not the mindless mashing of one or two keys, it’s a dance.

A dance of death.

That’s where I find myself now.  My old main, the Druid, is hanging out in the Valiance Keep Inn.  At this point, I’m not sure if I’ll ever seriously revisit him.  He had some great gear for the end of BC, and he saw a lot.  It just might be time for him to retire to a cabin out in Ashenvale, I don’t know.  One thing I am SURE of though, is that if I ever do decide to pick him back up, the first thing he will do is pay the 15 gold or whatever it is for a respec to Feral.

Boomkin, with all of its big crits and feathers, just is not for me. 

For now, though, I’m happy with where I am.  I took the Warrior out to Northrend just shy of level 70.  I waited until I could get mining to 375 with him, as I didn’t want to miss any cobalt nodes as I leveled.  He also has Blacksmithing up to 365, and is making the early Northrend armor.  One of the great things about him is he is a true level 70 newb.  Nearly every quest reward is an upgrade for him.  I listen to my guildies bemoan the drops and quest rewards that they have to vendor while I equip every one with gleeful anticipation. 

I’ll talk more of this later, though.  I’m keeping track of his gear progress to get an idea of how GREAT early Northrend gear is for a FRESH level 70.  Thanks for reading, now don’t you have some questing to do in Grizzly Hills?

Post from: Part Time Druid

Reactive Versus Scripted Play Styles