Just tell me who I need to beat up

Another day, another list of notes about different things we'll see when the gates of Ulduar open up. Normally we'd just look at these notes and see if we need to change anyone's spec/rotation/etc., but today we've got something awesome:

Cooking

• Cooking with Style - Obtain a Chef's Hat.

I will have that hat. I don't care what I need to do or who I need to kill - that hat will be mine!

There's probably some other stuff in there I should pay attention to, but I don't think any of it is more important than a new hat. Well, unless they give me a frying pan shield or something like that. I certainly wouldn't say no to some actual cooking utensils. You'd be amazed how difficult it is to make a proper feast with nothing but a fire and a pouch of spices.

Team Update: 3/23

Sorry for the lack of posts; it's been somewhat of a slow week on the adventuring front, combined with me being busy with paperwork. Not everything about the "dungeoneer for hire" business is glamorous.

Mordigg went on the guild Naxxramas run again and picked up a couple of pieces along with some Emblems of Valor to go towards some additional equipment.

Solannis and I mostly did our dailies during the week to chip away towards the extra gold we need to buy Medeleth's epic flight training. We could pool our money together and buy it now, but I'm not fond of breaking the bank for that when he's done leveling. Besides, since he doesn't have any gathering skills, it's kind of a low priority despite how much he complains about the speed.

Speaking of the lock, we managed to snag a couple more pieces from crafters and the auction house for Med since I haven't been able to line up any heroic work for him yet. In the meantime I've had him out doing jobs for the Sons of Hodir since he doesn't have that nifty "I'm a scribe and don't have to grind that rep" shoulder enchant. Right now he says he's at 1780 spell power and 156 hit rating self-buffed. I have no idea how that compares to other casters since I'm a melee-type guy, but it's better than where we started.

I did work with our resident boomkin some during the slow periods. Another few slow nights and he'll be ready to do something in Borean Tundra other than sit by the mailbox and wait for alchemy supplies.

I think until we hear more from the scouts up in Storm Peaks about Ulduar and how to get inside, it'll be fairly quiet on the raiding front for the next few weeks. I'll comment when something comes to mind, but if anyone's got any requests, we'd be glad to hear them. All of the replies I've seen so far have been to stories where I tried to be funny or some of the posts where me and the guys argued amongst ourselves, but if there's anything in particular tank-wise that people are dying to hear about, I'm open to suggestions. If all people want is us talking and/or arguing, then I can work on that too (I've got a post idea about what we 80s do when we're not the ones out in the field, but I'm trying to figure out if it'd only be funny to me).

Oh, and I do have one request if anyone reading this can help me out. I've been looking for a destruction warlock blog for Med to read through. I've got a few Affliction blogs bookmarked that he read through when he was using those builds back in Outland, but I haven't been able to find anything like that for destruction. We've looked at the normal research sites out there to tweak his rotations and all, but it's quite different to read mathematical proofs versus the commentary and opinions of someone who uses the build on a daily basis. So if someone out there can make a suggestion, I'd appreciate it and I'm sure Med would to, even if he'd die before admitting that he needed assistance.

We could field half of a 10-man

Ragar: That is, if we weren't limited by contract to only have one agent out in the field at any given time. Anyways, we've got a new member of the team that just finished their training and are getting prepared to go out and do some real work for the team. Per his request, I've agreed to allow him to introduce himself, so I'll let him take over (I'm gonna regret this...)

Medeleth: Greetings and salutations. I am Medeleth, your friendly neighborhood genius. In addition to the field exercises that he keeps pressing upon me when I'm trying to do real work, I’ve been asked by Ragar to help contribute to this blog project of his and to provide some of my own writings to share with the world. I had to agree of course - as a genius, it is my civic duty to help enlighten my fellow man. It also provides me with a new venue to show off the more recent developments from my research.

“Research?” you ask. Yes, I am a researcher. The majority of my time is spent delving into the secrets of the universe. Through pain-staking work and experimentation, I have unlocked the keys to the myriad mysteries of our modern world. The man you see before you is a student of the one true path to knowledge, the powers of creation and destruction themselves!

What? No, not fel magic! Engineering! Why you people focus on such things as “classes”, I will never understand... While it is true that I am a practitioner of the fel arts, that’s merely a side job of sorts to support my real work. Yes, there’s some research involved in that field as well, but it is mere child’s play to a genius like myself. I’ve already mastered all of the spells the trainers have come up with and I’ve tamed their most “fearsome” demon, so there’s no challenge left to thrill me in that field. However, I will admit that the warlock training does have its uses.

While I would prefer to spend the majority of my time in my lab discovering the answers to all of life’s mysteries, there are obstacles to this goal. Particularly irksome is acquiring resources for my work. Nothing in this modern world of ours is free, especially not the exotic items I require for my ground-breaking discoveries. It would be ideal if I could simply craft something to satisfy the shopkeeper’s need for shiny baubles, but alas their primitive minds cannot fathom the brilliance of my work and, as such, they will only offer me a pittance in exchange. As one cannot make any headway economically by selling their creations for less than the component costs, I am left to fall back on my warlock abilities to generate the income required to support my research.

Now that I’ve made a suitable introduction, I believe I can provide you, the readers, with an idea of what you will see in my future columns. The focus of my writing here shall be on engineering: my current research, recent findings, etc. It is my fondest wish that by showing you the mechanical wonders my craft is capable of, some of you may be inspired to conduct your own research. Perhaps one day we could discuss our research as peers and together we can pave the way to a brighter tomorrow for Azeroth. Additionally (and primarily because Ragar doesn’t know anyone else willing to write about this) I will give my thoughts on my secondary profession, though I will admit right now that any warlock writings are going to be from the perspective of “how does this affect me as an engineer?” I may capture souls and have the powers of flame and shadow at my beck and call, but I am first and foremost a scientist. Until next time, I bid you all farewell. Back to you, sir.

Ragar: I'm shocked. You managed to keep it just short of a novel.

Medeleth: Brevity has its place, but to provide a truly accurate representation of myself in this introduction, now was not such an occasion. Besides, it's not like you're going to run out of space any time soon. Remember which one of us is your technical support for this writing venture.

Ragar: Yeah, yeah, I remember. Back to the matter at hand though. Now that you're 80, we will have to set you up with some decent starting gear before you can start dungeon diving. Sol gave you those bracers from the Emblem of Valor guy and our priest buddy gave you those gloves, so that's at least a couple of decent pieces to go with your goggles. Are you planning on changing specs any time soon? Just so I know what I need to start shopping around for.

Medeleth: No, I believe my current talent allocation will suffice for any further excursions into the field you may demand of me. I will admit that I do miss the rotation style of Affliction to some degree, but Destruction has its own charms now that it's no longer casting Shadow Bolt from here to eternity. There's also somewhat of a parallel between it and the goblin engineers with whom I have associated. It's not quite as structured as true engineering, but there is a similarity. Now if I could somehow combine the two, then it would be another matter altogether. I'm making some headway into that field, but "someone" keeps interrupting me with requests to play adventurer or assassin or whatever someone's paying for that particular day.

Ragar: You know the rules - you're on the team, you're gonna contribute. Besides, we're supplying all of your materials anyways, seeing as how you dropped mining a while back.

Medeleth: I'm aware, I'm simply voicing my opinion. I feel my efforts would be better suited in my laboratory or poring over my notes, but I suppose if someone has to represent the team as artillery, I can't really fault you for sending me out. So when are you planning on pushing me out into some zombie-infested sepulcher or something to that effect?

Ragar: We'll see. I'm guessing that the guild won't be looking for a DPS from us for a while, so it'll probably just be heroics for the near future. Not a bad idea anyways since your gear could still use some improvement. I'll admit I don't know casters all that well, but I know you're not at hit cap and I'm guessing that 1612 spell power isn't gonna cut it for long. I'll give you a heads up once I've got something lined up for you.

Medeleth: I'll be waiting with bated breath...

Mordigg vs. Naxxramas, Round 2

Ragar: Tuesday's the day when me and Solannis' guild has their 25-man Naxxramas run scheduled every week. Per their request, Sol has been our team representative on these dungeon runs. Today though was different - the raid leader asked if Sol had any upgrades he was still looking for out of Naxx. Since Sol's pretty much down to one or two specific pieces and some sidegrades out of there, we were given the option of subbing someone in from the bench. I was tempted to take the spot myself, but since I've already had the chance to do a couple 25-man runs of my own, I gave them Mordigg. So Mord, how was your first 25-man?

Mordigg: Similar for the most part to the trips I've made into the 10-man version of the necropolis, though with a few exceptions. Mostly it was just dealing with larger pulls and having to work around multiple tanks.

Ragar: Pick up anything shiny?

Mordigg: I won a handful of upgrades. Some new shoulders, a breastplate, and a cloak. All three of which replaced some blue-quality pieces from quests or heroics. I lost a few points of my defense buffer, but overall my avoidance went up. I think I calculated something like 50.8% unbuffed, 60.8% with Blade Barrier up.

Ragar: Any thoughts about the experience? Some things you want to watch out for the next time you go?

Mordigg: For the most part I'm satisfied with my performance, though I'm far from perfect. When it was me and the off-tank pulling while the main tank distributed loot, I noticed that some of the DPS could pull off of me if they front-loaded a lot of damage onto a single target. I might be able to clean this up a bit rotation-wise, but I think part of it is just something I need to learn to deal with as a death knight. The majority of my threat generation for groups is built upon damage over time effects (i.e. Death and Decay, disease-based abilities like Howling Blast and Obliterate), whereas my burst threat is from Rune Strike and large Obliterate/Howling Blast hits. Rune Strike is most of my burst, but unfortunately it has two limiting factors - single target only and it goes off on my next melee swing. As someone who wields two-handed weapons, this makes my task somewhat difficult since that "on next swing" means that once I use Rune Strike, it's going to be at least three seconds before I make contact and three seconds in Naxxramas feels like an eternity. I can use some other abilities in the meantime, but having that strike hit faster would certainly make things so much easier.

Ragar: Let's see if we can fix anything on your end. How do you begin the pull?

Mordigg: Depending on whether I run into the pack or pull them to me, it'll be Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Pestilence to spread the diseases, and Death and Decay either before that set (drop it on or in front of a group I'm running towards) or after (Death Grip pull and the group's heading towards me). After that it's usually Howling Blast and a Blood Boil or a Pestilence on a different target to buy another few seconds on diseases and getting Death and Decay up as soon as I can.

Ragar: So not a lot of single-target threat then.

Mordigg: Usually I'll try and focus on that after the initial set of runes. Since there's a 10-second cooldown on each rune, I have to lock in threat on the pack quickly. Part of the problem is that Naxxramas is so AoE-heavy: grab the group, AoE everything down while the tanks hold it all. If someone's going all out on a single target when I'm trying to hold onto everything against warlocks chain-casting Seed of Corruption and hunters using Volley on everything in sight, there's not a whole lot I can do other than use Dark Command when it's available.

Ragar: True enough. Looking at your equipment, I think there are a few spots we can clean up that might help some though. Your bracers can be replaced with the ones sold for Emblems of Valor (I think Sol's almost got enough for another pair) and that green trinket desperately needs replaced with the Essence of Gossamer, so I'll try and set you up with some Azjol-Nerub runs. Of course, if I can get you signed up for a 10-man Naxxramas run in the meantime or get you into next week's 25-man run, you might get something better.

Mordigg: There's also Darkmoon Card: Greatness. That would be a sizeable tanking upgrade as well.

Ragar: Yes, but knowing our luck, we'll end up finishing two Chaos decks by the time we get those last two Nobles cards and I can't afford to pay for what we're missing since the lock's a level from being able to fly in Northrend. 60% speed flight is far from efficient, so you, me, and Sol are gonna have to start making some gold to fix that soon.

Mordigg: Oh joy, more daily quests...

Ragar: It's that or I have to listen to the lock complain about spending all that time flying around and not doing engineering research. It's worth the money to preserve my sanity.

Team Update: 3/7

Not a whole lot to report for myself the last few weeks: cooking dailies, farming ore, the usual. Mordigg spent most of the last few weeks gathering herbs to mill as he tries to make his Darkmoon Card: Greatness trinket; right now we've got the Prisms Deck made so Daikaja can get the Darkmoon Card: Illusion as a healing trinket, but the other decks are all sitting at five or six out of eight cards. He's also run a few more heroics for emblems towards his tier pieces, but really I just need to get him assigned to a 10-man Naxx run again.

Solannis finally got to take down Malygos (well, the 10-man version at least), so now he's got that new tanking neck he'd been looking for. Guild's still working on the bigger version of the fight, but it's something. Funny thing was, he got the achievement, but didn't get the Champion of the Frozen Wastes title. I took a look at his achievements and found the problem. Apparently he's never gone to Oculus; I suppose I'll have to fix that at some point and schedule him for a run one of these days. Since Sol's become our main field agent for raiding these days, he needs a title and until he gets to work and gets Chef, he'll have to settle for Champion of the Frozen Wastes. That or I could make him get Challenger again, but I'm guessing that suggestion won't go over well.

Most of the team's effort the last few weeks though has gone into two of our cloth-wearing members. Our senior engineer, Medeleth, has been making fairly good progress into Northrend. Granted, getting him to step out of the lab was a pain, but once I got it into his head that he wouldn't be able to upgrade his goggles or learn the secrets of the motorcycle without some legwork, he started burning through those quests in Borean Tundra. Earlier today he hit 74, so it shouldn't be too much longer before he catches up to the rest of us and we can start working on some gear for him.

The other clothie who's made some great progress would be our resident priest, Matheion. Up till now, we've never had a priest pass the 20 mark. They'd always end up running for the hills or vanishing from the face of Azeroth or something like that. Regardless, we've finally got a priest that's made it past the Barrens and through the proper application of heirloom items, craftable pieces from other members of the team, and the occasional threat, he'll make it to Northrend or die trying.

7 Questions for me and Sol

Aureilie tagged me in this question thing that's been going around, so I'll play along. I even talked Sol into doing it as well. Let's go ahead and get started.

1. What is your name, and where did it come from?

Ragar: Name's Ragar and, well, my name came from my parents. I think it was the name of some warrior they knew way back when, but I'm not sure.

Solannis: Solannis is an old family name, dating back generations to a magus of some considerable power. Admittedly naming a paladin after a master of the arcane may seem like a bit of a stretch, but the path of the paladin is a relatively new option for my people. I remember having to read some introductory magic textbooks as a child, so I imagine that's where my parents were trying to push me towards before this came along.

2. How old are you, and what is your birthday?

Ragar: 55. Birthday's the 3rd of November. If you need a gift idea, I'm partial to rum.

Solannis: I'm 84 and my birthday would be in September. Ragar and I might seem a bit old, but in perspective, it's about the same as your typical human/dwarf/etc. adventurer. Right after we were considered adults and finished our training, we started out in the field. Adult to tauren and blood elves just happens to be a bit older. Honestly when I hear how old most humans are, it still seems strange to me that their 20s are considered an adult age.

3. Are you in love, and with whom?

Solannis: No, too busy working.

Ragar: Nope, have you seen who I'm surrounded by on a daily basis? All of my time is spent working or trying to keep them from blowing themselves or someone else up (well, unless we're getting paid for it).

4. What is your favorite mount and why?

Ragar: Midnight, my faithful steed from Attumen in Karazhan. He just looks awesome.

Solannis: And he's the first horse that could ever hold a Tauren without snapping like a twig?

Ragar: That too.

Solannis: I'd say my Bronze Drake would be my favorite mount. It was the first time I'd ever tried tanking heroic Stratholme and I won the roll. I know quite a few people have it now, but it still looks classy and it's a good memento of a milestone in my tanking career.

5. Do you prefer a certain type of Azerothonian meal, and where do you get it from?

Ragar: Dragonfin Filet with a couple mugs from my trusty Brewfest Pony Keg. It doesn't get any better than that. As for where it's from, I catch the fish myself and the pony keg's from hours of running back and forth on rams and barking for various breweries until my voice gave out.

Solannis: Dragonfin is indeed quite good, but I prefer the variety of flavors offered by a Fish Feast. For the beverage, I find Kungaloosh goes quite well with most seafood. These are usually prepared by Ragar (I'm still working on the Fish Feast recipe), though there are a few chefs in the raid typically who come prepared for hungry adventurers.

6. You know those giant mushrooms in Zangarmarsh? What is your theory on how they came to be, and why are they so huge?

Ragar: Plants and fungi aren't really my thing, but I'd guess it's probably got something to do with either those Sporeggar guys. That or just the fact that it's a giant alien swamp, so they'll probably have some giant alien plants and mushrooms.

Solannis: I've seen various items on top of the mushrooms as I've flown past, so I suppose it's possible that they might have been grown on purpose by ancient orcs or something like that to serve as elevated housing for protection against predators. It's not really my area of expertise though, so I can't say with any certainty.

7. If you saw the Lich King walking towards you, what would you do?

Ragar: Take a nap while he gives another long speech just to portal away. Man, that guy loves the sound of his own voice... Now if this was in Icecrown Citadel, that's another matter. I'd be getting ready to charge in and fight. We may be contractors, but we're big supporters of the Argent Crusade and if a mission comes up to go into the Lich King's house, you bet we'll be signing up for the job.

Solannis: Ragar pretty much summed up my feelings on the matter, though I admit I'm probably a bit more eager to take down Arthas, what with him decimating most of Quel'Thalas to resurrect Kel'Thuzad, destroying the Sunwell that fed our need for arcane magic, turning one of our champions into a banshee, and a few other minor issues my people might have with him. There's also the matter of atonement on our behalf, since we're not exactly innocent ourselves. I don't regret the actions my people took in mastering the Light in defense against our enemies, but considering the events that have taken place since the Dark Portal reopened, we do have some obligation to make amends, if only for pride's sake.

8. (Dav added this one) Be honest, how many times have you used the Grizzly Hills outhouse without any real reason?

Ragar: There's an outhouse out there? Huh, didn't know about that.

Solannis: Was unaware of that as well, though admittedly I didn't really make it my quest to find new and unexplored restroom facilities in the wilderness while I was running around doing quests.