3.3.3 The Frozen Orb Loot Ninja Cries

I am not someone who runs allot of heroic randoms. Usually if I do so, it's with guild- not PUGs. I do have the title and puppy on my shaman – "The Patient", but mainly because I'm a pet fanatic. There was a blue post today about patch 3.3.3. Like most folks who keep tabs on the upcoming changes know, the frozen orbs will be a new currency. For what you may ask? For frost lotus, eternals, and a pattern if you are a tailor, as well as runed orbs and crusader orbs – Frozo the Renowned is your one stop shop.

While working on the achievement, and also, running random heroics on my priest (she needs emblems), I've come across the all too often person who waits until everyone has rolled greed, and then needs the orb, and /leave on the group. Before Frozo rumors abounded and the upcoming changes, this was mildly annoying. Due to the changes, frozen orbs have jumped in value and price.

Apparently Blizzard has seen a rash of this type of behavior because in 3.3.3, where these changes are implemented, the Frozen Orb will only be able to be greed rolled on or at least according to this blue post. Fear no more, the Frozen Orb Loot Ninja will have to be fair- at least for the orbs.

Through the Looking Glass

In WotLK, people choose to spend their time doing different things on off-nights (non raid nights). For us, we put together all types of runs. Typically we have one or two ICC 10 mans up, as well as an alt/main of ToC or Ulduar. Then, about every two or three weeks, we have an old world run. "Old World" runs are basically any raids prior to Wrath of the Lich King. Last month, several folks finished up their "Classic Raider" achievement.

ROFL'stomping through these instances – facing the bosses that I still remember wiping and spending time – learning the mechanics, with the greatest of ease. It was fun to see Ragnaros again – on a character that hadn't stepped in there before, or Black Wing Liar. I think the best part of the last Old World run was actually doing AQ 40. I remember when this place was released. (The server lag was HORRIBLE.) Seeing armor pieces drop that used to be a status symbol in Vanilla WoW, the raid team gets a little of the epic feel the boss used to present, even while the boss's appearance reminds most as being Yogg's predecessor just from his appearance. And let's not forget BUG MOUNTS!

The real key here is community. While not everyone comes, or people come on new toons, it's a blast. The whole point is not only to get your achievements, but to sit back and have a good time. Execution can still be a requirement but it's just a matter of letting folks who didn't play in "Vanilla" WoW see content that they missed. Burning Crusade players are often referred to as "BC Babies" which really makes me wonder what Wrath players are going to be called. On the agenda this month: Outlands Raider Achievement!

A Matter of Timing

The pros and cons of raid locks out- dare to mention this word on a guild forum and watch opinions fly! Lock outs…this was something folks did not have to contemplate when running a guild in Burning Crusade. It's a tool for guilds short on time to be able to implement; it can give a casual guild more face time on the boss. It's a tough decision to make as far as any guild management goes- but in a progression based guild, sometimes it is necessary.

The Cons of Lock Outs

There go the easy emblems, the fast pace, and the loot (even though you may be disenchanting most of it). Currently, clearing two wings in a night is very doable, and I imagine as some of the raiders get more experienced, three wings will be a solid possibility. Most of the speed has to do with efficiency and familiarity; it also never fails that most resets signups abound.

The Pros of Lock Outs

The issue comes to looking ahead- some folks need time to get a boss down. Composition can be a real pain in the ass – especially if you end up with a few folks out on vacation/real life at the same time. Not only does a lock out give you time to focus on a specific boss, it can also afford you time to go back and achieve some things in prior content that you haven't done. In some ways, it gives more time.

The argument of upgrades are available is pretty valid – but it's completely random if it drops or not. I think the decision is never made lightly, but I also believe that it brings up a solid question of why do YOU raid? It's a simple question – do you raid just for purples? Do you raid because you are a boss kill junkie? Do you like to see new content?

Yes, wiping can be horrible. It can demoralize a guild quickly- but the big picture – "are you making progress?"- has to be assessed as the encounter continues. Killing the boss the first time, or succeeding, after putting forth effort to learn, adjust, compensate, and achievement – well, much like Vin Diesel's XXX, " I live for this shit".

For me, it isn't about the epics, or the loot, but the experience. Knowing that I was a part of a larger picture and together we accomplished something- this is why I raid. Sure, badges are nice, loot is phat, and gear scores (if you look at trade) are requirements for the simplest things- but it's the thrill of the kill for me. So, in my own opinion, if it means a lock out to accomplish it – so be it.

Gearing your offspec - just for fun or priority

As we see the en-masse running of heroics for Embalms and as more and more guild push further into ICC you start seeing people who's offspec is gathering a nice set of gear. This happens for many reasons especially after your guild can clear the front of ICC in one raid nite.

How do you handle the distribution of the offspec gear and what happens when your offspec starts to be as good geared as your main spec?? Does this mean your raid role should switch to let the best geared / best played toons have the raid spot??

It's a tough question to answer especially when you factor in VoA now with its T10 gear dropping from 10/25 man instances now. You might be a tank in VoA 10 in your class and the tier drops and no one else can use it so - BAM!!!! you get phat lootz for your offspec. Now you start looking at the T10 badge pieces a little more closely now. If you get the legs , that saves you 90 frost badges so it makes getting that 2 piece T10 all the easier.

Sometimes you gear the offspec to run the heroics and you start to find out that wow , it is easier to dps cause all I have to do is pew pew the mobs!!!! So you gear up and now you want to start to raid as your offspec , does your guild give you slot as DPS just because you slogged thru the BC muck with them as a tank?? Interesting question.

However you handle the gearing of offspec toons , you have to remember that people like to play classes that are fun for them and when that fun and magic wears off , it gets to be a drag. Healers and tanks can attest to this as they usually suffer the fastest and greatest burnout of any of the classes.

Hopefully as Mastery comes into play with Cataclysm things will be defined a bit better and some of the so called " hybrid" classes will have to choose a pigeonhole to go into or risk gimping their dps / play style.

Here is looking forward to those changes.

Where the metal meets the meat - Strength of the Wrynn or no??

So the latest raid nerf has been put into effect , Strength of the Wrynn for the Alliance folks , in ICC that is a raid-wide 5% buff. Appereantly this buff will stack up to 30%. Blizzard has implemented this so more guilds will have access to kill the Lich King or at least see that content.

The forum and community QQ about this is harsh but I think you need to look at Marketing 101 to see why Blizzard is doing it. Lets look at some numbers:

1. About 11 million people pay to play WoW. At $15 a head you are looking at a monthly revenue stream of approx $165 million dollars a month, again this is A MONTH.

2. Out of those 11 million people it is estimated that less than 1% are the hardcore , elitest raiders that get realm /world firsts and do the hard modes. Again less then 1% so lets just say for clarity , 1 million people or a monthly revenue stream of $15 million dollars a month from those people.

So given these two principles above , you dont have to be a marketing wizard to see that the majority of your monthly revenue comes from the average to above average players. These are the people that can clear the 1st wing of ICC but can't get the 2nd one down , or maybe they cant get the last boss in the first wing down either. These are the people who skipped Yogg and Alagron in Ulduar because ToC came out and it was way easier to do. Did they do hard mode ToC (ToGC) ?? No they probably did not attempt it.

With the ICC raid wide buff you have the ability to take it off and continue on like the good old days when you raiding MC was srs buizness. Somehow this is not good enough for that 1% as they feel slighted by Blizzard because now people can down the LK and get those shiny purple pixels they worked so hard to get before the ICC raid buff. Does that make their kill less special?? No I don't think that is does in the least.

This raid buff is made to make a GAME more enjoyable to the people that make the largest customer base , and the #1 rule in business is the customer is ALWAYS right. I am sure that a $150 million worth of right is going to have more sway than $15 million.

There has always been the dis-equality in the game of those that are "elitest" and those that are not , along with the middle grounders who fail in between. That is just the way life is as well and unlike our school systems that give every kid a trophy for participating no matter how bad they suck at it , Blizzard is saying here is way to show the difference where the metal meets the meat.

I think this is a good change and the only thing I would recommend is a way to track achievements with the buff turned on or off so you know how someone cleared ICC and that is where you can get your sense of satisfaction .

How is your guild going to handle the buff??

Balancing Act – Game Time with Real Life

In this guild, it's one of things we pride ourselves on – having a life, and still seeing end game content. We come forward with a set of expectations, which sometimes seem harsh, but policies are there for a reason. Some people play all the time. Others play for a bit here and there. Still other people log in for raids only, and remain lurkers are the website.

In game, you see several folks in guild with multiple 80s. There are usually random heroics in process, PUG raids happening for 10 man content (or 25 man for alts), and even old world content. It's important to remember though, this is a game. Yes we all play with very real and dear people but it's also very important to remember the people in your day to day life outside of the game. It isn't overly healthy to be inside all of the time or to isolate yourself to a virtual world, even if real people share it with you.

The raid roster allows for real life to throw a curve ball, and still survive intact. It isn't always a fun job trying to walk that line but it's a necessary one. As you move forward, just remember, the real life things you skip now to play a game are memories that you cannot reclaim- so make sure you enjoy ALL aspects of your time.

Cataclysm Changes on the way

If you have a pulse in WoW right now , you have heard all the buzz about the changes coming about in the next release , Cataclysm. These changes are a hot topic on many forums and WoW is using a daily Blue post to release and discuss these changes.

Additionally the next WoW Patch 3.3.3 has some pre-Cataclysm world events in it similar to the world events that happened for WotLK. Remember going to the Eastern Plaguelands and finding those stones and fighting the horde of undead?? For me that was a fun event and a time to really enjoy the power of the now OP prot pally. I remember a mage from my guild and myself finding one ofthe stones and just laying waste to the NPC enmasse. Good times.

I would encourge you to head over to WoW.com and check out the patch notes and get up on all the upcoming changes in the next release.

As my schedule has changed and I am no longer able to maintain the required attendance for a raid spot , I have started to raid on my other toons and ended up moving my warrior (prot / fury dps) to another guild so that I can still raid. This guild is a smaller guild focusing on 10man content. I can honestly say it has been a blast. I have been dps as fury and it is pretty fun. I still end up tanking on the warrior and last nite I was tasked with the job of kiting the Big Ooze on Rotface. Now I had done this on my pally on 25's before so I was familiar with the task, but on the warrior I was worried about keeping threat on the Big Ooze cause I lacked the ranged tools of a pally.

So we put in about 9 attempts at Rotface last nite , each one getting better and better as I refined the method for kiting the Big Ooze. We got him down to about 8% on our best attempt before we ended up calling the raid. Overall this is the guilds 15th shot on the boss so 8% is not too bad at all.

It got me to thinking about what can I do to make this strat work and showed my that sometimes we are too quick to pigeonhole classes into roles and not think outside the box. I had to put Vigilance on the tank healer so they would not pull with healing aggro. I used my throwing weapon on the Big Ooze , I would use Heroic Throw when not on CD. I would try to Thunderclap at max range and of course I would use my Taunt to keep aggro. After a couple of try's we added a misdirect macro from a hunter to help keep aggro as well. Definately feel that we got him the next time we go in based on our progress this week.

Hopefully my schedule with change so that I can get back into the 25's but for now , I am content to step into the 10's on all of my toons and gather those hard to get Frost badges.