Addons: Equipment Manager Enhancements

The new(ish) Blizzard Equipment Manager is fine, the reality though is it is missing some of the key features that other outfitters have/had. Although i'm a bit of an addon junky I do prefer to use standard features where possible. When outfitter announced they would not be developing (that may have changed again since but who keeps up with it all) on the back of the changes to the terms of use dictated by Blizz I decided to give the Blizzard EM a go. This is a nice quick post to highlight a couple of small yet very nice addons by Tekkub that make the standard equipment manager more useable :)

EquipSetUpdater
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info13578-EquipSetUpdater.html

Basically this adds a new button to your Blizzard Equipment Manager for updating your sets, basically removes the annoying prompt warning you you're about to overwrite a set :)

Crossdresser
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info13577-Crossdresser.html

This is a great little addon, basically you set your default set for each spec and when you switch specs in the game it will auto enable that set. No more healing in moonkin gear for me!

Druid Skin Changes

Well I wont be able to grumble about anything Blizzard has or hasnt done. I am eager to see how the Tree forms can be changed if at all as it's based on hair color for bear form.

Posted last night not a day after my post about some of this stuff (I'm not so narrow minded to believe my blog had anything to do with it but it's nice to dream) ;

In our next major content patch, druids will find a host of new textures for two major forms, cat and bear. There will be five different designs for each of these forms for the Horde and Alliance. Night elves can choose to change their cat and bear look at any time by visiting the barber shop and changing their character's hair color, while tauren will be able to change which look they use by switching skin tones in the barber shop -- a new feature for tauren in the next major content patch. Given that there are more hair colors and skin tones than unique form looks, some colors and tones will overlap with these new textures. The hair and skin colors chosen will, in most cases, correspond with the color seen in the look of each form. Some similar colors that may share a particular cat texture will not necessarily share the same bear texture.

We'd like to share with you this new art for each form and faction in four installments. So without further ado, our first preview is for the five new textures of the tauren druid bear form. We'll also show the current form design so you can easily see the extra detail and textures of the new art. Work continues on new looks for the remaining druid forms and we hope to add them in future content patches.

Full story here: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/druid-forms.html

Update: Really sounds like tree is not in line for a change /sigh

New art for two druid forms, cat and bear, are coming in the next major content patch. As this has been a much-anticipated update for druids, we'd like to give you a first look at the fresh designs.

"Is Tree Form Fun?"

Well we had a vague question asked of us on the wow forums by Ghostcrawler and I thought I would take the time to quickly give my opinion on the matter; I am a little one sided because I really dont pvp that much so my points are more about making us trees feel special :)

"This is an open question to the community. Is druid Tree of Life form fun?"

He goes on to assure us (or torment us depending on how you look at it) that no major changes are on the way for us trees.

There were quite a few comments and suggestions, for my 2 cents worth the primary issue with Tree form is it's common, boring, ugly appearance. I personally have no problems that I cant dps in form etc but some do :)

my points as posted on the forums were;

• Post Death Effects - loved this idea, the concept that people can get a minor heal by standing near our body is pretty cool but doubt that will ever happen
  
• Some Old Look - the main thing i dislike about tree form is when running with multiple trees we all look the same.. makes me feel like a social sheep.
• Skin Customisation - the ability to customise our skins, hang stuff from our branches, have birds living in our limbs etc would be really cool.

The general feeling from a PVE point of view is that people love the healing style and idea of changing into a form however they would like to pretty themself up and be unique. For all the male troll hunters out their you can still find differences in appearances between them, not so with us poor druids.

These points really apply to druid in general, bear form, cat form and travel forms too :) I'd pay a stylist some money to give me the latest french branch styles :)

Ulduar 25 Man Quick Tips

Well I have spent a fair bit of time in Ulduar over the last week and have to say I'm impressed! Bliz has pulled out some tough content and interesting fights.

I thought I would post some quick tips for people out there;

Razorscale
Make sure you have your camera zoomed out as far as you can handle, if you havent already run this command in console

/script SetCVar("cameraDistanceMax", 25)
/script SetCVar("cameraDistanceMaxFactor", 2)

This will allow you to zoom your camera out a lot further than the default.

The reason you want this is that you can see the fireballs coming :) If your healing you can cast your big heals (or rejuv + swiftmend) on the people it's hitting to reduce the chances of double fireball deaths. Also selecting Razorscale can assist in working out when he's casting.

Matticus has posts a great little guide for the fight so I wont rehash perfection :P
http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/04/17/healing-ulduar-razorscale/

XT-002 Deconstructor
This one was pretty easy overall from a healing point of view just be aware of LoS if you are healing the bomb debuffs, our melee were running back up the stairs and I asked them to stick to the left hand side of the stair case so I could get to them without following them up.

Iron Council
Awareness is the key here I think, I suggest getting a module to show your Range (I suggest RangeDisplay) and set it to show Stormcaller Brundir as it's important to stay 40 yards away.

I set Brundir as my focus and have RangeDisplay show his range in the middle of my screen.

Ill post more as we work through the bosses :)

Other than that it's simple stay out of the crap on the ground and sky stuff :)

3.1 /sigh

well 3.1 hit, i updated all my mods, removed a couple that were causing issues, went to my local trainer and paid my 1000g for Duel Spec and then HIT ULDUAR!

1 shotted the first boss without too much drama (could see the lead up to the boss being boring after a while)

Then on our 2nd attempt on Razorscale and the server shutdown :(

On a plus I did note the following:

1. I managed to get myself 72 talent points (part of the reason for shutdown I'm sure)
2. Mana wasn't a massive issue for me so far so thats good news, I was keeping my LB up on a single tank without major concerns, will try for 2 tanks and see how that goes haha
   

Preparing for 3.1

Well 3.1 is finally here, I suggest you do the following:

1. Backup your Interface and WTF folders tonight (zip them up or something).
   
2. Run the BackgroundDownloader.exe from your wow folder tonight - this will download the patch, it's 700mb so if your expecting to jump straight into a raid tomorrow night (as my guild is) you'll need the patch down before you turn on your comp when you get home
3. Update your addons - do one tonight and then just before your raid starts up
4. Disable any modules not essential for your raiding (especially if they havent been updated). Luckily the majority of my mods are 3.1 ready :D

I'm really keen to see how the "Lifebloom Nerf of 2009" and the "Mana Nerf of 2009" really affects my gameplay. Again the mana one shouldnt have a BIG impact on me as I dont do the ooc5sr dance too often, but the Lifebloom changes (I said nerf above but it's not REALLY a nerf but a change to how it should be used) may affect me more. Time will tell!

Bring on Dual Specs!!!

Have a good night off. "Family Night" as some may say haha

Macro Basics

I thought I would post a quick guide on macro creation as this is something people may not have done before or understand.

Step 1 - Access Macros Screen
Hit Escape to see the game menu and click the "Macros" button



Step 2 - Create a New Macro
Click the "New" but and a new little window will appear


Step 3 - Name and Pick and Icon
type in a name that is meaningful for you and select an icon. If you pick the "?" the icon will be the default icon for the first spell\ability\object relevant in the macro.


Click "Okay" once that's done.

Step 4 - Create Your Macro
now this is the hard part, you can either work on your own or download one from websites.


Breaking down the example here;
#showtooltip will mean when you mouseover the macro it will should be Tooltip for the relevant spell. If you put a spell name in it will show that tip, if not will show the first spell\ability etc.

In this macro it will trigger the use of your trinkets if they are available and then cast Arcane Shot.

Step 5 - Add it to your hotbar
Easy peasy, just drag and drop the macro icon to the toolbar of choice, this can then be triggered via your hotkeys :)


Wowwiki has a vast range of macros that are both general and class specific so have a read of that :)

T8 Resto Piece Bonus

Well I was reading about this the other day and it's pretty cool stuff

Item - Druid T8 Restoration 2P Bonus -- Increases the healing done by your Swiftmend spell by 10%.

Item - Druid T8 Restoration 4P Bonus -- Your Rejuvenation spell also instantly heals your target for its periodic healing amount.

First time I read this I got a little excited as I thought the 4P was saying that it instant healed the total Rejuv amount then ticked but it is really just that the first tick is instant. So you are effectively getting a 1.5-2k instant heal then rejuv ticks as normal. Still tasty and something I'll be working towards come 3.1

Bliz Announces Druid & Mana Regen Changes

So some announcements yesterday/tonight for druids

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14910422662&sid=1

DRUID

• Savage Defense – this is a new passive ability. When a druid in Dire Bear form deals a melee critical strike, the druid gains a damage shield equal to 25% of their attack power. The next hit completely removes the shield regardless of how much damage was done

• Survival of the Fittest has had its bonus armor reduced to compensate for the above increase in damage mitigation.

• Faerie Fire (and similar debuffs) now reduces armor by 5%. See Sunder Armor in the warrior update below for additional details.

• Thorns and Nature’s Grasp can be cast in Tree of Life form.

• Survival Instincts now works in Moonkin form.

• Replenish – to avoid confusion, this talent has been renamed “Revitalize.” It now also works with Wild Growth.

• We are also looking at increasing the sustained (not burst) damage of feral druids in cat form.

Clearly bliz have some 'concerns' with feral druids right now and this patch is focussed on that, althought these are really draft notes and more could be in the mix too.

MANA REGEN CHANGES
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14910422908&sid=1

• Regeneration while not casting (outside of the “five second rule”) will be decreased. We think that (1) the ability to cast heal over time spells and then sit back and (2) benefitting from a clearcasting proc that also gets you out of the five second rule both provide too much mana regeneration, even over short time periods.
  
  
• To make this change, we are reducing mana regeneration granted by Spirit across the board. However we are also boosting the effects of talents such as Meditation that increase regeneration while casting. The net result should be that your regeneration while casting will stay about the same, but your not-casting regeneration will be reduced. This change will have little impact on dps casters, since they are basically always casting.
  
  
• The specific talents and abilities being boosted are: Arcane Meditation, Improved Spirit Tap, Intensity, Mage Armor, Meditation, Pyromaniac and Spirit Tap. Yes this makes these “mandatory” talents even more mandatory, if such a thing is possible.
  
  
• We are also taking a close look at clearcasting procs themselves. One likely outcome is to change them to an Innervate-like surge of mana so that the net benefit is the same, but healers won’t shift to out-of-casting regeneration so often.
  
  
• We balance around the assumption that even 10-player groups have someone offering Replenishment. To make this even easier on players we are likely to offer this ability to additional classes, as well as make sure that existing sources of Replenishment are more equitable.
  

So myself I think that the Mana Regen Nerf is more important to us Tree's as their is minimal changes currently planned for us.

Thorns and Nature’s Grasp in tree form could be cool but it's clearly not going to add much to the appeal of having a Tree in the group.

With the Mana Regen, I'm not all that happy that they are nerfing spirit - mp5 but I guess we have to suck it in. What it really means is that some of the rediculous overhealing will come to a stop and classes that are spam happy will have to actually learn to heal again, not a bad thing really.

I think overall the changes are fine, I suspect alot of QQ regarding spirit nerf but we'll see :D

Have a Good Day!

Food For Thought

Blizzard have a reported 8.5 million subscriptions. So lets do some maths...

8,500,000 * $20USD\month (approx) = $170,000,000 USD\month
Times that by 12 months = $2,040,000,000 per year

Makes me a little depressed actually