Ding 72!

Use Them Trinkets!

Big Bear Butt has a great post today about creating a macro to fire off your DPS trinkets everytime they are off cooldown. It goes step by step on creating the macro and even if you've never even opened up the macro panel before, I think it would be very easy to follow. Bear Bear writes in a very approachable manner and has a great sense of humor to boot.

If, like your humble author, you are leveling as a DPS spec (say Retribution) that you haven't played much, these little nuances of playing the spec are something you may not have picked up on yet (I know I hadn't).

Level 72

I'm still questing in Howling Fjord, and hit level 72 over the weekend. Right now Honors is based out of Fort Wildervar. I've been pursuing a chain that leads to a battle against Runed Stone Giants and Iron Dwarves. Part of Honorshammer character's background is something of a vendetta against the Dark Iron dwarves and he doesn't see much difference between the Dark Irons and these Drawves he's met in Northrend.

At one point in the chain, you are tasked with bringing down 4 of the Runed Stone Giants. Now I mention that here because the Runed Stone Giants are Level 70 Elites. At first, I wasn't sure if I could take a level 70 Elite by myself. Sure, if I was still Protection spec, I wouldn't have blinked an eye, but I'm a bit squishier as Ret.

The main danger they pose is from an ability called Dark Rune, which is a stacking DoT and after a couple of applications can really start to hurt. By using Divine Shield, Hammer of Justice and Cleanse, I was able to keep the DoT under control and solo the giants. If you are a class with a range attack, I advise you keep these guys at range and kill them quickly.

I received my first 'breadcrumb' quest for Dragonblight and I'm excited to be going there tonight. I've heard great things about the zone.

Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom

Whilst I was out questing, I received an invite from a buddy of mine to go to Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom. They had already cleared out the first two bosses and were heading towards the back end. After I made sure he was looking for Deeps and not a tank, I accepted.

Ahn'kahet is simply beautiful. From the architecture to the models, everything looks and feels right. It was amazing.

I was the lowest guy in the group at 72. We had a 74 Warrior from a guild I had never heard of tanking. Then we had a 73 Hunter, a 74 Druid and my buddies 74 Shaman.

We only had one wipe, which I caused by standing too close to an approaching patrol and pulling them. I owned up to the mistake even though no one had blamed me, and everyone seemed to still be in good spirits.

We took down the 3rd boss who would randomly float into the air and then activate an add to come attack us. It felt a little bit like the final fight in Uldaman.

He dropped a Battlechest of the Twilight Chill. It's actually pretty close in stats with my Tier 6 chest. But the differences are easily made up by the 3 sockets on the T6 chest. I don't anticipate replacing my Tier 6 chest until I can purchase a Breastplate of the Solemn Council from the Wyrmcrest Accord at Revered. In addition there are two upgrades in Heroics, Zigguarat Imprinted Chestguard from Heroic Drak'tharon Keep and Sun-Emblazoned Chestplate from Heroic Halls of Stone. In my mind, part of being a responsible player is knowing what is and what isn't an upgrade so you know what loot you need before it's in the loot window.

(Is there any interest in my publishing my 'loot list' showing what upgrades I'm after and where they are?)

Even if the Battlechest had been an upgrade, I would have felt like I needed to pass for the Warrior who was tanking for this group.

I mean I got invited to a run halfway through and you could tell this wasn't the first time this particular Warrior had run this instance. He may have even been running specifically for that chest. He didn't know me from Adam. He didn't know I had been a tank, or that I was going Protection when I hit 75. I was just a random Ret Paladin that the Resto Shaman in the group happened to know.

We moved on to the last boss. He was a lot of fun. He spawns a copy of each of your team mates. Like the Inner Demons in Leotheras encounter, you are the only one who can initially kill your team mates. I repented the Hunter, and took down the Warrior. Then I moved over and smackdown the Druid. I used Hammer of Justice to stop the Shaman from healing. Once they were dealt with, I went to the Hunter who was kind enough to melee me.

Once your adds are down, you are able to see and kill any adds that your party members are still engaged with. DPSers need to burn through their adds quickly so they can go help the healers and to a less extent the tanks.

It was a very fun mechanic and I enjoyed the fight very much.

Professions

I also received my first couple of Stone Keeper's Shards which I can use to purchase some rare Jewelcrafting patterns.

So far I haven't really done anything about leveling my Jewelcrafting or Engineering. I need to wait until I have time to run my Hunter around and mine some ore. I've been concentrating almost exclusively on leveling Honorshammer. I feel like I'm falling behind already.

I'll try to take some screenshots tonight. I've been really slack about taking screenshots. I just get so wrapped up in playing that I forget.

Comments

The quest with the Runed Stone Giants was a fun one. I did mine in conjunction with the quest where you pick up a "neutral" giant and go smash an NPC bad guy. I decided to forego turning in that quest, and used my giant minion against the elites. I don't know how much damage they do (I didn't bother to check the log), but every little bit helps!

I, also, am an engineer - and stuck at 410 because anything that will give ticks requires Saronite bars. I want my motorcycle!
Ragar said…
Just so you know when you start working on Jewelcrafting: save at least one Chalcedony for the first JC quest in Dalaran. I made the mistake of burning through all of mine for a couple extra points and it took another three stacks of ore to get one. Once you've got that, then you can start the JC dailies for all those recipes. Might as well start now, since it looked like at least a couple months worth of dailies are necessary for all those cuts.
Unknown said…
I can confirm that there is some interest in seeing the upgrade loot list. I think that they spark very informative discussions, especially at this level of gear progression.
Anonymous said…
What I would do if an off-spec BoP item drops that you want is to wait to see if the on-spec person Needs it. If they don't, ask the group if people are okay with you Needing it. I always think it is better for somebody in the group to make use of an item, even if it isn't for their main spec, than for it to be vendored.
Anonymous said…
Yep! I would like to see your upgrade list as well since I am stuck behind Nazi Web Filters until Thursday.

Glam of Proudmore
Anonymous said…
Would also like to see the loot list, please?
Anonymous said…
A loot list sounds like a great idea... is it more of an upgrades for you guide or a gearing guide for Naxxramas? Either one, honestly would be very helpful to the Paladin community.

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