Mmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Taste that patchy goodness. It's like giant piece of warm apple pie with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream next to it. The only bad thing is there isn't an infinite amount of pie and ice cream.
So it's been quite a while since I talked about anything, but frankly I've been busy for a while, didn't have anything worth mentioning for a while, started to feel burnt-out on Wow ever so slightly. So I cut back my play time quite a bit. Part of this was due to some of my firends not being on as much when I'm on anymore so it lowers my motivation to be on most nights.
The last time I was talking about WoW I'm pretty sure I was still enhancement, Ulduar hadn't been released, and the Argent Tournament didn't exist. So basically everything has changed. I'm now Elemental/Resto dual spec(woo go dual spec!), Ulduar is definitely released, and the Argent Tournament has there colliseum done even.
But on with the patchy goodness.
First I have to admit I'm loving the new totem system that Blizzard set up for shamans. It is close to being my favorite thing about 3.2. Definitely my favorite thing about shaman improvements but not quite best thing overall. I can now have 3 preset totem sets for each spec and can switch between them between pulls. And now that I realize it i could probably access them all directly from my spell book. The only downside that I have noticed is I had gotten used to having a grid of all my totems on my screen so I could drop what I needed as I saw fit and with the new one I only see my set of 4 totems. But with the new patch I disabled my totem grid, partially to prevent issues and partially to force myself to use the new system. I quickly discovered that I can't switch out totems in my set while I'm in combat, which truthfully is kind of annoying. With my grid it was there ready to be clicked at all times, but with this new interface I can pick my set before the pull and stick with those 4 totems.
Now I know you're thinking, "Well you could throw some totems on your action bars for the extras you need" which is true and I have done that with 2 or 3 totems that I need for specific situations, but the fact that I can click open the list of options in combat, yet I cannot select a different totem for that slot during combat makes me feel like the game is taunting me. It almost infuriates me as much as a rogue stun-locking me in PVP and kiling me before i have a chance to move. Anyways, I think the only thing I would do to improve the system a little bit is to allow swapping out totems in combat. It probably has somethign to do with the way they intend it to work though.
What I love about it is i can cast all 4 totems at once. No more waiting on 4 cooldowns to start dealing damage, no more dropping a totem between each cast. It's drop and go. Time to move? Totemic recall and then drop in the new spot and go. Mobile fights are so much better for me now. That means I have much more time to DPS and that means Bosses die faster. I've also found myself pulling aggro a little bit more so I'm actually using wind shear a little bit more now, especailly since it doens't share cooldowns with my flame shock. Overall plenty of elemental goodness. It would also be great for enhancment now that i think about it. I may repec ele/enhancement, but I tend to run more heorics with resto since groups always need a healer.
As for the rest of the patch, let me say there is a ton of stuff that will keep me occupied and has refueled my desire to play, which is exactly what Blizzard wants. Here's a list of the stuff I can remember that I'm excited about:
- New Argent Tournament Dailies
- New Argent Tournament Dungeons and Raids
- New Gear for the masses
- Emblems of Heroism and Valor now Emblems of Conquest
- New horde only Ravasuar Mount
- 8 new Raptor companions
I love all of these changes. In fact I really like the Emblem change since it means I can now buy a couple new tier pieces buy grinding heroics. I love 5 man heroics in Northrend. Outland...not so much. Bad memories of people not wanting me as dps due to not having any crowd control. Good thing Blizzard gave us cc when we hit 80, and basically had no use for it since dungeons don't have nearly as much trash as they used to. But I'm already well on my way to getting some new gear and that is exciting. It will definitely help out with guild runs in Ulduar. But it also gives me more of a reason to try and get some more of the achievements for those heorics too, since people are coming back to the 5-mans to get some gear.
As for the Argent tournament dungeons I've completed the 5 man normal and heroic dungeons and I enjoy the format. Do a little jousting, beat some guys into submission, and show the Black Knight who is boss once again. I tried the first boss in a 10 man heroic and got trounced but I know a little about how that will go now too.
As for new Raptor companions, I'm excited. I've already gotten the one i can buy, and I'mworking on getting the one from WC, but farming for the rare mobs is going to be annoying since everyone will be camping them. I may have to get lucky on some 3-4am time frame when virtually no one is on. But I'm slowly getting closer to getting my pet fawn. I think i'm within 11 pets.
Well I'm off for now. Got a lot of things to accomplish form now until I go to sleep. Let the lightning flow!
