This is an old one, a very, very old one.

But I still remember the first time I saw it, as a series of pictures, not as a Youtube, and mailed it to my bud Manny.

Rememeber that, Manny? We’d only been playing for a little while, you on Kortenharig the short and hairy dwarf hunter, and me on the uber noob Windshadow the kitty drood. We saw this and we just about died laughing.

Anyway, maybe some of you have forgotten… maybe some of you have never seen it…

 If so… bless you. No sound needed, just pictures. Enjoy.

Okay, second favorite… Dax’s Pugging Kara Blues is still number one.

But we were chatting about WoW today, as we sat in folding chairs, watching our son play T-Ball, and she mentioned that while listening to the WoW Insider podcast on WC Radio (does it count as a shameless plug if I don’t link it? Nah, I think we’re cool) she enjoys listening to the songs that play before the show and during the break in the middle.

Well, heck, I never get to hear the music, I’m actually doing the show. I feel robbed. I want my live music!

She was telling me that she was listening last weekend, and before the latest episode about the Paris WWI, they played Dax’s song again. Woot Dax!

And then she said that as much as she loved that one, her other favorite that they play on WC Radio fairly often is a little something called Billie Maclure, that they just nailed the quests and even mentioned Hogger and it sounds just like….

Well, it was clear she really liked it.

So I went on out there and found it, just for her.

Here you go dear… love you!

It is my personal pleasure to direct all of you to the grand premiere of the new home of loldruid fun and games, The Road to Blizzcon!

Some are calling it a brand new webcomic, but I think that it is a much greater treasure.

 You see, the site is being done by two truly cool people, Doodlebug and Eustacious, and I am fortunate enough to be able to say that I have actually chatted with them both. They is like, teh uber leet coolness x500. I haz had a brush with greatness! Or at least some minor grooming.

The Road to Blizzcon will document the adventures of our two droods as they try to make their way from Azeroth to the epic coolness of Blizzcon.

I am certain that, quite often, hijinks will ensue.

Hijinks, I said!

So check it out, bookmark it, enjoy it… leave your crankiness at the door (I’ll certainly try) and just enjoy the light hearted druid fun!

My previous post came out of playing a lot of PvP over the last few weeks, as you have heard about ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.

I started by identifying Shadow Priest upgrades, seeing what a big jump the merciless Gladiator’s Spellblade was over my crafted Eternium Runed Blade, and decided to go for it.

Along the way, I encouraged Cassieann to join me and go for her Merciless Gladiator’s swords, because I knew from talking with every other Rogue we game with that the PvP swords just kick the hell out of the other options we have. And Shadowpanther.net agrees.

But then I started wondering… is there anything worth getting for my Druid? I knew I had just about the best gear I could get otherwise… but shoulders have always been my weak point.

So I went and checked them out, did my comparisons, and left Champion’s Hall flabbergasted. The Merciless shoulders are HOW good?

Now, I browse the Merciless gear for both my favorite 70s, and I see that, for example, the PvP cloth Bracers are equivalent to the Runed Spell Cuffs, or better… and wouldn’t cost me hard-earned Badges. I could take the Badges I’d earn and spend them on something else, like the Icon of the Silver Cresent.

So… what are my thoughts on all this?

It’s complete bullshit.

(more…)

I want to make sure my opinion of this goes on the record.

On my Feral Tank gear list, I list the Mantle of Shadowy Embrace, which drops from Keli’dan the Breaker in Heroic Blood Furnace, as the best Feral Tanking shoulders you can get, strictly from PvE, prior to 25 man raids and your Tier 4 Shoulders from High King Maulgor.

This is true. If you get these shoulders to drop for you, they will serve you… adequately.

HOWEVER.

The Merciless Gladiator’s Dragonhide Spaulders are now available to purchase for 11,250 Honor and 20 Arathi Basin Marks of Honor earned in the Battlegrounds. 

1,000 Honor a day is an easy goal that can be accomplished in an hour or so, assuming you are doing the daily PvP quest that adds a bonus of 418 Honor. 

If you choose, there is a repeatable quest that has you turn in 1 of each of the 4 types of Battleground Marks of Honor in exchange for 314 Honor. You can turn in this quest as many times in a day as you have Marks of Honor. You can grind losing BGs and turn in 4 marks in this quest ALL DAY LONG if you have the stomach for it. (Yes, the quest had been removed, but they brought it back in patch 2.4).

Therefore, as you can see, even participating in 4 failed battlegrounds will net you 1 of each type of Mark, and turning them in will get you 314 Honor. And this is on top of the Honor you are getting from playing in the BG itself.

If you are unfamiliar with the way Battleground rewards work, you get Honor for killing your opponents, you get a little bonus Honor for taking part in a losing battle, and you gain a nice big chunk of bonus Honor for winning the battle. You gain 1 Mark of Honor of the appropriate type if you lose, and 3 if you win. If you are in Alterac Valley, you get bonus Honor every time you are close by when a PvE boss gets downed. So beig on the offense can be… rewarding.

Each Battleground is different, but it has been my experience that, for an inexperienced player such as myself, taking part in Alterac Valley is most suited to PvE gear, as the bulk of the success is based on fighting and destroying PvE bosses (Captains, Lieutenants and Generals of the opposing faction). A Feral Tank with solid gear will be very welcome to tank and destroy these bosses. Remember this.

Also, Alterac Valley, even if you lose, will on the average net you more Honor per hour that the other BGs, unless the game turns turtle, pure defense on someone’s part.

Regardless of how you decide you enjoy playing, for about an hour to an hour and a half of PvP a day, you should be able to reach 1,000 Honor. If you make sure you play at least 1 Arathi Basin BG each day, then if you win at least 3 of them and lose the rest, in no more than 14 days you can have both the Honor AND the Arathi Basin Marks of Honor necessary to purchase the Merciless Gladiator’s Dragonhide Spaulders.

Think about that. One hour a day, for two weeks. And you are guaranteed to have the absolute best tanking shoulders you will ever see until the expansion comes out or you are past Karazhan and doing 25 man raids.

Without needing to use DKP. Or hoping for a lucky drop.

And without needing to organize 5 man Heroic instance runs. It’s a goal you can easily achieve solo.

Let’s look at these two pieces for a moment.

The Mantle of Shadowy Embrace has 262 Armor, +39 Agility, +33 Stamina and +34 Attack Power.

The Merciless Gladiator’s Dragonhide Spaulders have 377 Armor, +30 Strength, +21 Agility, +39 Stamina and +14 Intellect. They have +21 Resilience Rating, and two sockets. If you were to acquire a second piece of the set, say the Helm, then on top of the resilience the new piece already has, you’re getting the 2 piece set bonus of +35 Resilience. Welcome to damn near uncrittable already.

Assume you are trying to balance these two shoulders, and put Delicate Living Rubies in the two sockets for more Agility. That let’s you break even on Agility, or close to it, gives you more Stamina, you get twice the Attack Power from the Strength, a boatload more Armor, and the Resilience is all pure win to bring you closer to uncrittable. We’re not talking a little better than the best PvE shoulders prior to 25 mans, we’re talking a LOT better.

But.. the sockets give you flexibility. Instead of adding more Agility to increase your Dodge, you could put two Solid Stars of Elune in there, giving your shoulders +63 Stamina.

Shoulders with +63 Stamina. And 377 Armor. And +21 Resilience. And Hell, let’s throw a respectable +21 Agility on there.

Are you serious? It’s enough to make you weep.

So… you don’t like PvP?

Do you like to tank? Hmmm?

If so, then suck it up, PvP the bare minimum necessary, and get these damn shoulders.

I’m not kidding around anymore, just do it.

Oh… and don’t forget, that Honor is Honor, it doesn’t matter what level you are when you earn it. Marks are the same way. You’re not level 70 yet? It doesn’t matter, you can PvP in BGs at every level past what, 10? You can be earning Honor in little bitty chunks when you’re bored and climbing on up, and have all the Honor you could ever need ready and waiting for you.

So… you don’t like the asshats in BG chat?

Hey, I sympathise… I totally understand.

That, my friends, is the price you will pay to be a badass tank.