Honor's Code

I opted to stay Holy over the weekend. I ran around to many of the fires around Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, and payed a visit to Lorderon to steal their flame. For the most part the Horde left me alone and I was able to make a little cash. I also spent some time doing a little PVP. I've decided to start working a bit on my Retribution gear. I'd like to have the option to level to 80 as either Ret or Prot depending on how the zones are and how AoE friendly they might be. I leveled from 60 to 70 as Prot, and I've been Prot for my entire Burning Crusade career. The thought of a change is appealing to me. I don't know what it is, but I seem to be drawn to 'unpopular' specs. I don't really need to convince the entire WoW community that Prot or Ret Paladins can work. I just have to find 9 or 24 other people and convince them. In addition, there isn't much I can do to improve my Tank gear outside of raiding. However there are goals I can work towards with my

Last night started with me getting a whisper from my GM about going to Archimonde. I would have to spec Holy and heal because Archimonde is a one tank fight and Kee, our talented and well geared Warrior, would be that one tank. My GM was kind enough to pay for a +88 Healing Enchant to my healing mace. The mats for enchants on the Auction House on Altar of Storms have just been ridiculous lately. I went and laid out my 50g to respec, and eclipsed 1800 +healing with my full Holy spec. My gear is still in need of some work. So I get the invite and I'm just about ready to head to Caverns of Time when my internet connection goes out. I text my GM and let her know what's going on. I called my ISP and "gently" complained about my service going out. Didn't they know it was raid night? It turned out to be an area wide outage and they didn't have an E.T.A on a fix. I kept trying my connection every 15 minutes, and within about a half hour I was back up and running.

Last night, I was raiding again, back in good ole Mount Hyjal. I'll never forget the feeling of excitement and awe I had the first few times I went to Mount Hyjal. It saddens me some that that feeling has lessened with each week I venture in there. Email I got an email asking me about Kaz'Rogal's trash: well my first time in Hyjal and we one shot first two bosses! I think its a proud day for me. especially since the event was started by someone with 3 people out of the instance and half the raid unbuffed. During the first phase, 3rd wave our MT died and I was on point and picked up the adds and tanked the rest of the waves. I got whisper on how well I was doing in picking up adds. I was trinketing out of the frost attack with lighting speed, for which I got another comment on vent saying, "see you know what to do". I accredit this to your blog and also the Ardent Defender blog for showing the true meaning of being prepared and dedicated prot pally. During the

Another Monday night found Dominion not in need of my shield. They were working on Archimonde. I had read a couple of guides for playinga Holy Paladin, and waited dutifully by in Shattrah to see if I would need to go to Stormwind and respec. Ultimately, Dominion chose to take another healer, and my night was left open for the most part. I was told that the Officers didn't want me to have to respec Monday to heal, then repsec back to tank for Tuesday's clear of the first four bosses and then spec back to heal again on Thursday if Archimonde still wasn't dead. It was also brought up that they wanted to keep the raid as consistant as possible and I wouldn't be able to raid Wednesday night (which was true, and something they knew when they recruited me.) So I jumped on the Warrior for a little bit and listened into vent as Dominion threw their might at Archimonde. The plan was to not even DPS at first, just to stay alive for 3 minutes. They must have spent a good 20 m

Sunday was interesting. I was in my usual spot Sunday morning at Church. I don't talk about my faith much (at all) in the blog. I've made veiled references to it from time to time, and I've included some links in my sidebar, but I've never really talked about it much. I've always been told not to discuss religon or politics because of how volitile those subjects can be. I'm also concerned because I don't always live out my faith the way it's supposed to be lived out. In any number of ways, I've made a jerk of myself to people. If I've ever shown you kindness, compassion, and generosity, attribute that to my faith. If I've ever shown you malice, selfishness, pettyness (is that a word?), attribute that to my own self. I'm on a journey, and I haven't mastered everything my faith is trying to teach me. Wow, did I get off on a tangent or what? My faith and World of Warcraft don't usually cross paths very often (read never). T

After we killed Rage Winterchill on Thursday, I was able to loot my Time Lost Phylactery. I took it to Akama in the sewers near the Black Temple. He sent me back to Ad'al who sent me to Xiri. There I fought alongside Akama and Maiev Shadowsong, two of the heroes from Warcraft 3. It was one of those moments I truly relish in game. As is my nature, I charged in with the combined Scryer and Aldor forces. I love being In medias res, (Latin for "into the middle of things"). I quickly found myself killed by aggroing a dozen demons or so. Xiri rezzed and basically said, stand back and watch. Unfortunately, he has to yell to WHOLE zone what he's doing. Sure enough, here come the Horde. I really wish I had rolled on a PVE server sometimes. The biggest reason I rolled PVP was for Aoes who was on a PVP server at the time. So now I'm watching the battle unfold while trying to keep 3 Horde from killing me. Exciting stuff, let me tell you. I managed to stay alive long e

In Full Teir 4 Pose 1 Pose 2 Pose 3 Pose 4 Pose 5 2 pc Tier 5 Pose 1 Pose 2 Pose 3

I don't know if you've ever seen Figureprints . Basically, they can make a small statue or figure of your character in that looks just like your in game character right down to the equipment you are wearing. The real draw and appeal to me about a Figureprint is that years from now, when WoW is only a pleasant memory and we are playing WoW 2 or whatever, I'll have my Figureprint. It's sort of like WoW is a vacation. I've heard people complain about the time we put into tBC being wasted once Wrath comes out, or all the money we spend on WoW being wasted when Blizzard moves onto the next MMO. I don't see it that way. The fun, the entertainment was in the moment. We paid for hours and hours and entertainment When I took my family on vacation to Disney, I spent more on that week than I have on my entire WoW career, and do I have anything to 'show for it'? I have pictures (screenshots), and I have mementos / souvenirs. That's what this Figureprint would be

Tuesday night was interesting. We were going back to Tempest Keep to continue working on Kael'thalas. I figured we would want to kill Al'ar to reduce the amount of trash we needed to kill if we got respawns during our attempts on Kael. Since I needed Al'ar for the Ruse of the Ashtongue quest (part of the BT attunement chain), I explained the situation and I asked if I could go. We actually took a couple who needed the quest, and made our way to Tempest Keep. We were told that the raid would be subbing after Al'ar, and I figured that would mean me. I had done Al'ar with Mal Katai, but I didn't know how Dominion did it. Basically it was the same idea. I was gathering adds, and holding them. One of our Holy Paladins was healing with Righteous Fury on and Salv off so he would be the healer the adds wanted. He positioned himself close to me and we kept moving in a circle around Al'ar's room. A DPS Warrior would taunt one off and it would be killed. At one

I apologize for bothering you but I religiously read your blog and since you are the main reason I leveled a tanking pally I am looking to you for some guidance.  I am really stuck between which professions to choose to best benefit me as a tank.  Making money does not matter to me in the least since I have plenty of gathering and crafting alts for that.  I have pretty much narrowed my choices down to 3 but i can still not decide what 2 are the best.  Engineering, Enchanting, and Jewelcrafting. I have enough money right now to powerlevel whichever 2 I choose and since I am not looking at being a high end raider but more of a heroic, Kara, and Gruul kind of tank I am thinking that engineering is an easy choice for the head piece but I am really stuck on the other 2.  The ring enchants look good but on the other hand so do the 2 jewelcrafting BoP piece's (the defense one and the spell damage with stamina on it I was thinking would be good for threat boost) Any assistance you coul

This is the part of your day where you come to my humble little blog to read about whatever exciting adventures I had the previous night in WoW. Only I didn't have any exciting adventures last night. I came back from my mini WoW vacation all ready to go, and excited to be able to raid with my guild. I logged on earlier than usual to make sure I had everything I would need. During my vacation, the guild had started working on Kael'thalas. That is pretty cool. I was hoping to get an invite, but it wasn't to be. Instead, a trial Feral Druid was taken along with our usual MT and OT. At least I had the presence of mind not to make a jerk of myself. I simply whispered the Raid Leader to tell her I was available so I would get sub credit on DKP. I can understand wanting to keep the group the same from the previous evenings attempts on Kael, however, by my count, there were at least 3 or 4 new people in the raid. The raid leader preference was for Feral druids because they could do

It seems quite a few guys on the Tankspot boards were doing this 'shared topic' so I thought I'd throw my list out there. 10. The first time I walked into Stormwind. I had been playing the game for about a week, questing around Northshire Abby and around Goldshire when I got a quest to go to Stormwind. It was amazing. I was just in awesome as the music came up and I saw the statues of the Heroes, and the guard on his horse. Then I rounded the bend and suddenly there were people everywhere of every level, race and class. It was amazing. 9. Ding 70. I was soling Banthazar in Nagrand. I had taken special pride in the ability of Honorshammer to solo same level elites during his leveling time. So when I was close to 70, I went out to Nagrand and found Banthazar, the elite Clefthoof. I soloed him down for the ding. 8. My first time through the Dark Portal This was it. A new Expansion, a new World. I remember being spellbound for a good minute or so and just looking at the sky. It

"Maybe you just weren't meant to be a Paladin, Gerald." The two men sat on a cold stone bench in the courtyard of a great library. The speaker was older, his face was hard. The younger man looked up at him, his black hair just beginning to show hints of gray at its edges. "Do you really believe that, Tarsen?" The younger man asked. "It's your temper, Gerald. If you don't learn to control it, it will lead you to the path of the Shadow." "Something is not right here." Gerald began, "That group of refugees..." "were infected by the Plague," Tarsen cut him off, "or would you have given the Undead shelter behind our very walls!?!" "Individuals are to be quarantined for 30 days to see if they show signs of the plague!", Gerald rebutted. "Don't quote the Code to me, Squire Gerald! I taught you the Code, I taught you everything you know! You were given and order. An order that ca

Greetings I was hoping you might be able to shed some insight onto where I may have gone wrong or what I need to do to be success full in heroics, and lead my guild into Kara. Here is my gear: (armory link) 499 Def. 12k Armor 10k Health 57% Avoidance (w/o Holy Shield up) Seemed that I was meeting all the minimum requirements to head into KZ.  However last night did a Heroic Slave Pens run, and found it almost impossible for me to take 3 mobs at a time.  With a lack of CC running 2 shammy's in the group, we had ALOT of wipes, an almost 2 hour run to the end. I never felt so under geared, but I just don't see where I can up in gear without running heroics.  Is there something I have missed along the way? Thanks for your time, Zertlek of Khaz'goroth Those are about the stats that I started Heroics with. I can tell you, I couldn't handle 3 guys beating on me back them either. Not only do the mobs in Heroic Slave Pens hit relatively hard for a n

I got a question for you. It seems I am going to have to settle for being Off Tank for a bit as I just transferred servers. Are Pally Tanks doomed to OT? What can I do to my gear,enchants and gems to be the best add tanking, threat generating Off Tank I can be? Seik of Bleeding Hollow The reality of your situation and one that I didn't recognize quickly enough is that the guild you joined was likely a successful one which means they likely have some really good tanks. Wait for your opportunities, and be the very best tank and Raider you can. Try to run some 5 or 10 mans with your guild and be excellent in those environments as well. Paladins are not 'doomed' to Off Tanking. That said, Paladins are really well suited for tanking multiple mobs and for generating fast threat. That makes us an ideal choice for many Off Tanking situations. But do not think for a moment that Paladins can't Main Tank. Paladins (and Druids for that matter) have progression Main Tanked eve

There will not be many updates this week. I've got some exciting stuff going on in my other (some call it 'Real') life this week that is going to keep me away from the computer most nights. Basically, I won't be getting home most nights until at least 10pm. Assuming I went straight to computer, most raids and groups will have been formed and well under way. Blogging is great because you can look back a year later and see what you were doing. A year ago today, I was making my 7th run in Steam Vaults for my Devilshark Cape. I think it finally dropped on run 11 or 12. I still use that Cloak even today for Mt. Hyjal.

I resolved that when I was handed my Tier 6 gloves, I'd bust my beard to make sure everyone else who wanted T6 got theirs. Last night was the beginning of making good on that. We blast through Mount Hyjal, one shotting all 4 bosses. He dropped 3 Rogue tokens. I decided to try the 2 piece Tier 5 bonus with my Shoulders and Gloves, but I died on the first pull. I went back to my Tier 4 shoulders, but I kept my Tier 5 gloves. So you think you want to be a Paladin tank? Here's what my game typically looks like when I'm AoE tanking in Hyjal. I promise there's a dwarf in there somewhere. I was flawless on the pickups of the Doomguards on Azgalor. I would stand directly on top of the person with Doom and drop a Consecrate a couple of seconds before they died. The Doomguard would spawn, eat a tick of Consecrate and I had them. Then Vlad would taunt him off me. After my issues the week before I'm thinking she was spamming taunt to try to grab it as soon as it came up.

My Tankadin returned to Black Temple last night. We were much faster clearing trash. Gorefiend has the easiest trash we've seen thus far in BT. The trash produced about 4 epics, an epic Leatherworking pattern, and 5 or 6 Hearts of Darkness. We are building up our Hearts supply to make Shadow Resist gear that is needed to defeat Mother Sharaz. We spent much of the night wiping on Terron Gorefiend as various people in our raid figured out keybindings, bar mods, and how to control your ghost. I was only a ghost one time, and it was for a very brief as we were wiping. I can tell you from even that short experience, it's harder than it sounds. Of course part of my problem was that we were basically wiping and there were Constructs everywhere, however; the largest issue I had was simply not being familiar with controling the ghosts. I had no muscle memory of where the nukes, and slows were. I was trying to figure out how to control my character while at the same time figuring out

Long time readers of my blog may remember a post I did about a Gruul's Lair back in October. After the run, I ran into Stonegrad, who was a Protection Paladin in the most progressed guild on our server. At the time he had just obtained a Fang of the Leviathan off of Leotharas the Blind. I'm the dwarf standing next to him with my D3 shoulders (that I thought I'd never see drop) and my Eternium Greathelm off Opera. At the time I said "Maybe one day, I'll look like that, maybe not." Last night, I logged in and grabbed my T5 Shoulders from the vendor. I guess one day is today. I decided to go with hybrid gems (Parry/Stamina, and Dodge/Stamina) to get the stamina socket bonus. Here is the comparison of the T5 Shoulders to the T4 which I have been wearing for a very long time. It looks like the T5 is superior everywhere except for Block Value. Now this brings me to an interesting question. What do I wear for Mount Hyjal trash? I could wear my T5 gloves and Should

Sunday night was our DSS (Desperately Seeking Shoulders) run to Void Reaver. He is still 'bugged' in that Deadly Boss Mods will not announce where the Orbs are going. We discovered another bug with him. During two of our attempts he randomly went around killing a couple of people and chucking Orbs. The strange part was that he had no target (as shown in Target of Target). We had discovered last week that taunt sort of worked on him. It gave you aggro but didn't change his target. I had postulated that it was a bug in Omen. We tried the same thing Sunday with the Warriors taunting whenever the cool down was up. I threw my Righteous Defense (Paladin Taunt) in there as well, but every time I did, I saw an 'Immune' message come up. Omen didn't seem to give Righteous Defense the same aggro gains as it did Taunt. But we noticed some additional strange behavior on Sunday. He would change to a different tank than the one on top of the aggro list, or he would go after

[Please note that this post has nothing at all to do with WoW, Paladins, Tanking, or Epic Loot] I went and saw Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian with a group of friends over the weekend. I'm a huge fan of C.S. Lewis' writings, both fiction and non-fiction. In fact my #1 favorite book is a non fiction book written by C.S. Lewis, and I really enjoyed Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe when it was released. So you can imagine I was really looking forward to see the movie. There were some changes made to Prince Caspian from the book to adapt it for the movie, but the essence of the story was the same. How easy it was to fall in love again with Reepicheep, the valiant mouse. Some of the lines they gave him were priceless. We first meet him when he saves Prince Caspian Reepicheep : Choose your last words carefully, Telmarine. (Telmarines are the bad guys) Prince Caspian : You are a mouse. Reepicheep : I was hoping for something a little more ori

Come, come dear reader to the next episode in the life and times of a Paladin tank. Friday Night, I logged on and immediately got asked to tank a trash run of Black Temple to help farm up Hearts of Darkness. The guild has determined we need 150 Hearts of Darkness to make Shadow Resist gear for when we get to the Mother Sharaz fight. We have about 75 Hearts in the bank right now. I had previously committed to run Zul'Aman with some buddies from Heroes Inc. Friday is usually an off night for us, so I had anticipated being able to run with them. I explained that I had already made plans and went with my friends into Zul'Aman. We started off with Eagle. Despite the fact that I had failed in tanking him the week before Wichita put me as main tank on him again. This time it was flawless. We one shot him, activated the chest but didn't open it. Then we hauled freight to Bear Boss. Bear Boss was also one shot. I didn't have a single taunt resisted. Again, we activated the c