Remember back in the day when hitting level 80 meant an entire new game of questing and grinding for gear. Finding a good group in order to do a dungeon. Well, things have changed a bit. Flyv wrote a post of his new Disc Priest turning level 80 and within 6 days he has a gear score of 4480. (By the way Flyv, congrats on rolls a Disc Priest, that’s my main toon’s class as well.) You’re post is pretty accurate.

With the new dungeon finder it is easier than ever to gear up a new level 80 for end game content therefore nerfing and making obsolete many dungeons we use to grind for gear in. It is definitely easy to get gear as a new level 80, especially if you’re a healer because it is much easier to get in a random. Q’s are very short.Now you can do randoms until you have all the triumph badge you need to buy good gear. I think Blizzard knows this and it is one of the reasons that Cataclysm is coming out.

Like many things we do in life sometimes we need a break and then come back into our old habits. Players frequently take a hiatus from MMORPGs when they believe they have completed most of the things there are to do in the game. We all know those people that have about 4 level 80 characters and love the game but at some point without new content the game begins to get boring. A post by Frostbolt on his blog says just that about his own experience with returning to the World of Warcraft. Blizzard is starting to recognize that players are leaving the game; sometimes for a few months, sometimes forever. This is why Blizzard is literately changing the entire World of Warcraft game for Cataclysm. This is a tricky undertaking. On one hand you have many players that like the game the way it is but on the other hand you have the old players that want all new adventures.

So, let’s not kid ourselves, the number of changes that Blizzard is doing with this new expansion literately changes the entire game.

• Quests will be added / deleted / changed
• Graphics will be improved (especially in water)
• World maps and environment will be different
• Game mechanics will change (dispell mechanics, spell power, mana regeneration, etc)

These changes will affect a lot of people not only in the game but outside of the game as well. Consider all the leveling guides and warcraft guides that are out there today. They are still usefull and up-to-date right now but as soon as cataclysm releases ALL of those guides will need to be updated. That is not an easy undertaking. Leveling guides are VERY useful for powerleveling a character and that will be missing for probably 2 to 3 months following the release of Cataclysm. So if you want to powerlevel to level 80 then you may want to do that before Cataclysm comes out, because once it does you will not be able to use them for a while.

Well, last night filled me with mixed emotions about my PvP skills. I have good Relentless and Wraithful gear and even a level 1700 Wraithful Wand and yet I still finding it hard to hit the 1800 bracket. We started late last night (of, so it was more like 4:00am central time) and my partner and I got pwned match after match bringing our rating from 1716 to 1669. I was so tired and dissappoint I didn’t know what to do. On the positive note though my 5s team went up to 1709 and we have been doing much better.

I still think my using Healbot to heal may be the root cause of my performance. I just can’t figure out how to heal myself and my target without it. I find myself too fixated on the healbot health bar and buffs and I “miss” other opportunities. Now, if I don’t pay as much attention to the health bars and focus on dps, mana burning, and dispelling targets then I find myself not keeping up with healing and we lose the match. Maybe I just need more practice, I’m not sure what it is but I’m going to figure it out.

Here are some little things I learned that are worth mentioning:

1.) Turn on Enemy Titlebars and cast bars in the interface options. As you see from the screenshot below you can see where an enemy is even behind LOS items such as the tome in the center.

2.) Dispel Ret Pallies down and they don’t hurt nearly as much. Also, ALWAYS have your Power Word: Shield on when fighting but especially a ret pally because they gain mana as they damage you.

3.) If you’re partner is a Rogue or Feral Druid be sure to use Power Word: Shield on them jsut before they go in for the strike. Any AoE damage taken by Power Word: Shield will not un-stealth the rogue or Feral Druid so they won’t lose the element of surprise.

Okay, I love funny WoW videos; but I mean the funny ones, not just the silly ones. Some of them aren’t even funny, they’re about as cute as a stomach pump. Anyway, I’m going to start a collection of funny WoW videos. Please share yours or some that you have seen that you think are funny too.

#1.) Leroy Jenkins (A Classic)

#2.) Onyxia Video

3.) WoW News

4.) Life of a Ninja

5.)Warcrack (Peein’ In a Bottle) – World of Warcraft parody