Druidic Muse

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-06-23T19:15:00.002-04:00

It's summer. Normally, it's not supposed to be this busy.

But it is. Working 35 hours a week, and racing to Loremaster achievement, level 80 and Flame Warden a la the Midsummer Festival has me absent from this blog.

Add that to the fact that I discovered the Public Test Realm (PTR) and I'm more than set.

What I've been up to in WoW is Loremaster achievements in Outland. I just completed my 5th of 7 achievements in Blades Edges Mts, after 4-5 level 80s guildies helped me with a slew of group quests I needed to complete. That and farming apexis shards to summon bosses, which was surprisingly not that bad. BEM is definitely the most intensive Loremaster achievement yet, and the second one that I was unable to solo (the first being Nagrand, with the same issues).

I have to say, even though I haven't been in Northrend yet, I'm level 73. All quests are green, which means quick completion while surprisingly good exp.

And then I did the entire Midsummer Festival achievement in about 4 hours, give or take an hour. Yep, I'm a Flame Warden. Love the title. Much better than "the Noble"...why did collecting eggs make me "noble" again?

So yeah, I've been busy. And it will only get crazier.

~Ithilior

Eliah Hecht- The Passing of the Forms

2009-06-10T19:46:00.006-04:00

Eliah Hecht at WoW.com makes an interesting point- these bear and cat forms we've lived in, stared at, shifted into, been killed out of and everything in between, will be no more once patch 3.2. rolls around.

Personally...for cat form, yes, it's a sad parting, though one where you know something better is coming. Not to mention the fact that one of the cat forms looks practically identical except newer, more polygons, updated and...well, better. So, this passing is more like a transformation than anything else.

But, as for bear form.....

BEGONE, ye furry beast, as I will never miss thee again!

(It was the eyes....I never liked the scrunched-up eyes.)

~Ithilior

Need A Hand?

2009-06-10T19:20:00.004-04:00

My Guild Master linked this item in guild chat last night: Spare Hand

Bring on the puns.

Apparently you get one from pickpocketing certain undead mobs in Northrend. The best comment I've heard about that comes from spitfire6006006, in the item's comments on this item on Wowhead:

"you have to be pretty skilled to pickpocket a hand...

~Ithilior

Cats, Lions and Bears - My Take On The New Druid Forms

2009-06-09T11:47:00.012-04:00

Ahhhh....

For years, the long-awaited question for druids was when they (rather, "we", I should say) would get updated forms, especially customizable forms.

Well, the wait is over. Click on the picture to be taken to a high-res photo of all the forms. (By the way, don't make the mistake I made the first time I saw it and think that there are 6 forms per type, with the old form staying in there. Once Patch 3.2. rolls around, you will never see it again :P.)

I've been waiting for all the info on all forms and how they correlate to hair/skin tone color (of Night Elves/Tauren, respectively) before posting something about them. Well, they're all out now, so here's my take on all the forms, and my guess on representation in the druid community.

P.S. Whenever I say "brown/brown", I mean brown fur, brown eyes. "Red/brown" = Red fur, brown eyes.

Tauren Cat Forms (top left):

Leathery-brown fur, green eyes, white horns - A good start, although probably not my first choice. Resembles Scar from the Lion King. That being said, green eyes on brown isn't my favorite color combination. I suspect a tie for 4th in representation with the brown/brown model.

Yellow fur, green eyes - Very nice. Looks like a lion- gotta love the red horns too. 3rd highest representation, my guess.

Black fur, red eyes - Favorite. (Edit: I previously said this form looked like Scar from the Lion King, but Scar has brown fur, not black. So, he resembles brown/green more than black/red- thanks Tae!) I predict we'll see this one most frequently a week after 3.2 releases.

Brown fur, purple eyes - Unique, but just good, not outstanding. A tie for 4th in representation with brown/green. (Edit: Didn't notice purple eyes before, thought they were brown. Helps my feelings about this one- good call again, Tae!)

White fur, blue eyes - Very unique, very, very cool. Sort of the albino or elderly Tauren form. I think this will be just a little less popular than the black/red form.

Tauren Bear Forms (top right):

Yellow fur, green eyes - It's an awesome model, but the others are much more stunning. I predict 5th representation on druid forms.

Black fur, white eyes - Crazy awesome. Great color scheme, very fiercesome. Combined with the fantastic black/red cat form, this will have the highest representation.

Brown fur, brown eyes - An all-around solid model. Very much resembles the original Tauren bear model (lower middle), but has better fur, claws and eyes. I predict 3rd, with a very respectable showing. You can't go wrong with this model.

Blue fur, brown eyes - A great model, but the color scheme means that it'll probably be one that less people take. 4th place in representation.

White fur, brown eyes - A brilliant form, for all the polar-bear-loving Tauren druids. Combined with the excellent white/blue cat form model, I also say 2nd in representation.

Night Elf Bear Forms (lower left):

Light purple fur, yellow eyes - A solid form in line with the purple Night Elven tradition. This one's tough to call, as it looks much the same as brown/blue. I give it 4th because the green mane looks a little out of place on the brown/blue model.

White fur, yellow eyes - Probably the best form of the bunch, imitating a polar bear. As a currently white-haired night elf druid, I give it the 1st and highest representation.

Brown fur, yellow eyes - Again, solid, but not outstanding. I give it average, 3rd representation.

Brown fur, blue eyes - This is also really hard to call. I'm not excited about the green mane, but I do like the blue eyes- I don't think the druid community's take will be too different overall, and I see people tending to go towards purple/yellow over this one because of the mane, so 5th and lowest representation.

Blue fur, blue eyes - This is pretty cool. It's not black, but it's as close as Night Elves are going to get. Because of how different it looks from the other forms, I give it 2nd.

Night Elf Cat Forms (lower right):

Purple fur, purple eyes - A great form, kinda terrifying, actually. I give it 3rd, even though it really is a great form.

White fur, yellow eyes - I was loving the white bear form, but the pink mane is enough to make me gag (I'm a guy, so that's probably part of it). It definitely looks feminine, which is a shame for guys who want to play or RP older Night Elf male characters- I predict a higher showing with female players, but 5th overall.

Black fur, pink eyes - Another great and fearsome form. Fur looks fantastic, color scheme is excellent. I predict 1st representation based on the excellent dark blue bear form it's paired with.

Pink fur, green eyes - An excellent form that, like purple/purple, will probably go 4th because there are better cat forms. A good problem to have.

Blue fur, blue eyes - The 2nd best, and because it's almost exactly like the original form, I definitely would say that a lot of people will fall back on this one if they don't like pink or purple. 2nd highest representation.

Let me know what you think- which forms do think will have the highest representation?

~Ithilior

I Love My Yeti

2009-06-03T19:03:00.007-04:00

Favorite item in my bank from original classic content and classic Loremaster achievements:

Mechanical Yeti

If you've ever seen one walking around, or especially done the quest, you'll know why :P. If you haven't seen one, click the video below.

That is all.

~Ithilior

5-Mans: Healing Normal 5-Mans When You're Specced For DPS (Feral or Balance)

2009-06-03T01:33:00.010-04:00

You really shouldn't be doing this. Ever.

But, it did happen to me while leveling in Hellfire Pennisula as a Level 64 Druid. The zone was simply empty of healers (the group had been trying for half an hour in 1. General chat to find one), and finally convinced me via /who -> /whisper Ithilior to come and heal HC: Blood Furnace for them, even though I was specced Feral DPS with 4.5k mana.

Read: 6 2k heal Healing Touches and I'm OOM.

I made this lack of healing perfectly clear to them, and asked if I could go respec to Restoration first (I had only feral dps/tanking gear at the time, so gear was a major issue too). I felt that if I could spec for it, I could blunt the mana problem with boosted healing and Tranquil Spirit, and since we had a full group that was high level for the instance, I figured we'd be fine then.

Well, they were in a hurry and thought I'd be fine healing while not specced for it.

Catch-22 city.

So, I went as the primary healer while specced for melee DPS, and learned a lot about making the most of mana when you have precious little. And quite frankly, the only reason this worked was because our dwarf warrior tank was excellent. Very rarely did he let go of aggro, he was near the top in DPS and his damage mitigation was very high, making my job that much easier. We survived the instance with only one wipe (when said warrior pulled 18 mobs in the next-to-final room instead of 3- only mistake of the run). I was pretty darn proud of that.

Here's what I would suggest doing as a druid when healing a 5-man when specced for something other than healing, even though I strongly don't recommend doing it at ALL:

1. Make sure your tank and party are proactively using their cooldowns. Make sure they know you have a limited amount of heals, and that they should be using their defensive and healing cooldowns more proactively than normal to keep themselves alive until you can keep them alive.

2. No one should pull threat off the tank! Look, Druids who aren't specced to heal have Tranquility and that's it for party-wide healing. If there's more than one target taking damage because a DPS pulled aggro off the tank, that means you have to spread your heals and mana around, and increases the chance that you'll go OOM before the battle is over, leading to someone's death.

3. Avoid party-wide damage as much as possible. This is similar to #2 - make sure the rest of your party is taking as little as damage as possible. This means watching out for AoE enemy spells and avoiding them to provide as much survivability as possible. Sometimes it's just not possible, and when this happens, throw up HoTs (Heal over Times) such as Rejuvenation or Lifebloom (or both) on everyone taking damage, while trying to save mana for your tank.

4. Don't overheal! This is vital. No matter what your level, know beforehand how much your heals do, and don't start casting them until there will be no overhealing. This means don't be throwing up your HoTs, or especially Healing Touch (a mana hog) until your target is missing that much health. You just won't have the mana to spare.

5. Avoid using big heals until your party really needs them. Your big heals also cost a LOT unspecced. Don't use Healing Touch until you need to recover a lot of health that your HoTs can't keep up with.

And lastly...

6. Tell your party to wait. Go spec Restoration. Get your healing gear. Seriously. You might be able to get away with this in some normal dungeons like I did, but I don't recommend it at all. I was fortunate, and as a matter of etiquette, don't ever do this without your party's knowledge and OK (like I said, they were desperate). And definitely don't even offer to do this in a heroic run. You'll either get laughed at or rejected from the run, because you wouldn't be able to keep up on the healing anyways. Be smart.

But, if you ever find yourself in that position because your party is THAT desperate, your server is empty and they're in a hurry, that's what I recommend.

Good hunting.

~Ithilior

Achievement Pointers: Loremaster of Kalimdor & Eastern Kingdoms

2009-06-02T18:49:00.009-04:00

Well, I got Loremaster of Kalimdor on 5/16/09, and then Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms on 5/23/09 (proof below)…

Achievements

It was a blast, and great to experience more of the lore. It’s a tough deal though, so here are some pointers to getting this done, as well as some druid-only tips:

1. Be thorough and systematic. Go zone by zone and sweep through, finding all the quest givers you can and completing them as you go. Once you’ve done this, you should end up with no less than 625 quests, more likely probably pushing close to 650. If you’re not over 600 quests first pass, you’re not being thorough enough.

Do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT, do quests randomly or switch zones midway through. Being bored is not an excuse. You will hate yourself if you switch in the middle, because odds are you won’t remember what you’ve done.

Completely explore every zone to make sure you aren’t missing quest givers. It is very easy to get the exploration achievements while burning through Loremaster achievements.

2. Keep track of the zones you’ve cleared. This is vital. Know which zones you have finished all the quests you could find, and which ones you haven’t cleared yet. Be aware that you won’t clear all the quests in a zone first try, and that’s OK. Hit all the obvious places in the zone, and then mark it as done. You’ll come back with a fine-toothed comb (i.e. wowhead.com) later.

3. Quest givers are USUALLY clumped. In other words, if you miss a whole town, settlement or cave where there are 2 or more quest givers, you may miss between 2-6 quests on average depending on how long the chain is. It goes back to #1- be thorough, explore every area and it will save you time later.

4. However, many quests givers are randomly found in the wilderness, not in cities, towns or settlements. They are hard to find- this is why I recommend you do the Explorer of Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms achievement at the same time. If you get this achievement at the same time, odds are that you’ll leave a lot less quests unfound in the zone.

5. Ignore raid quests unless you are going on a classic raid. There are roughly 730 doable quests in Kalimdor by my estimation (no more than 750 on the high end), and there are a few raid quests here and there. They’re almost always in the same zone the raid is in (i.e. Sithilus mainly), and can be avoided unless you’re in a guild that does classic raids. If not, don’t sweat it- you don’t need them. That being said, you need to be that much more thorough.

(I have heard that some classic raid quests don’t count, but have not been able to confirm this.)

6. Repeatable quests do NOT, I repeat do NOT count! Any quest that is repeatable DOES NOT COUNT. Do not bother. 700 quests takes a long time, and plus, you can make better money and/or gear in BC and Wrath content- trust me, your time is better spent elsewhere. When in doubt, search for the quest on wowhead.com and look in the comments. Without fail, I have yet to see a quest on wowhead where someone did not comment about whether it counted towards the achievement or not.

7. Some quests are started by items. You’ve seen in before- the “This Item Starts A Quest” tag on an item. These are usually easy and quick turn-ins that often start new quest chains. Once you’ve completed your first sweep of zones, I’d move to these quests. Look them up on wowhead.com and search all quests, filtering the results by “Starts from” -> “Item”. Do all these next.

8. A few quests are started by items without an explanation point quest marker. A notable example is the dead dwarf by the Thousand Needles lift (going to the Barrens). You pick up his notebook which starts a quest, though there is no yellow exclamation point marking that it is a quest. Be aware that these quests do exist, though they are rare.

9. Do all cloth turn-ins at your faction’s capital cities. Every capital city has 4 cloth turn-ins (60 wool, silk, mageweave and runecloth). While they can be semi-expensive if you don’t have the cloth (10-15g for the runecloth on the AH), it’s 8 free quests for Kalimdor, and 12 free quests for Eastern Kingdoms. This put me within striking range of both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, where I would otherwise have had to go looking for more obscure quests to finish it. Do them. They’re easy to find.

10. Be aware- Kalimdor is harder than Eastern Kingdoms. There are just less quests, and they’re harder to find. If you’re thorough, you’ll find about 20-30 more than you need in Eastern Kingdoms.

A particular Druid-only tip: Don’t do what I did with my first Druid at the beginning of BC and spec Balance. It’s a lot better than it was, but it still not the best mass questing spec. Spec Feral for massive questing, because in addition to the Feral Swiftness speed bonus, you’ll only have to deal with replenishing health, instead of both HP and mana. It just makes for faster questing.

And…if you spec Resto, I can’t help you. If you do, good luck with that. As Indiana Jones once said, “You’re gonna need it.”

Here are some helpful links that helped me with specific quests in each continent (below).

A list of hard to find quests from WoW forums: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=89481109&sid=1

Read the comments on the links below to get tips on this achievement:

http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=1680#comments

http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=1676#comments

And finally, a video I made celebrating my LoK achievement (no video for LoEK yet):

Loremaster of Kalimdor!!

Good luck with this achievement, and good hunting.

~Ithilior

P.S. Yes, I really did this achievement without QuestHelper or Carbonite. Just the way I like it .

P.P.S. I will be posting new blog posts both here and on my WoW.com profile. I own both blogs/profiles, and thought this would be a good guide to put here as well.

Welcome to Druidic Muse!

2009-06-02T11:25:00.001-04:00

Hey, I’m your host, Ithilior, and welcome to the new WoW Druid blog, Druidic Theory!

More blogging to come, but just a public service announcement first- keep your comments civil and lively. I won’t tolerate personal attacks or boredom, so have fun.

I can promise a guide I wrote for Loremaster of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms coming today sometime! More on that later…

~Ithilior