The Lack of Posts

As I'm sure you know, I haven't been posting on this blog particularly frequently for the past few months, and part of the purpose of this post is that I figure I owe everyone who's bothered to take the time to subscribe to this blog an explanation of sorts. Since I'm sure you all probably have better things to do, I'll try to keep this post short and sweet.

There are three primary reasons for the lack of posts:

1. I moved, and in the process of moving I got lazy. Getting lazy resulted in not bothering to stay particularly organized, which led to misplacing the sheet of paper on which I had written down several sessions of brainstorming blog topics. Don't worry, I'll find it eventually. I know it's around here somewhere...
2. I became busy with non-WarCraft related things for a significant enough chunk of time to cause me to fall way behind on everything that has anything to do with WarCraft. Over the past few months, I've been trying to work my way through a massive backlog of news, blogs, forums, novels, short stories, comics, etc. etc. However, in the process of trying to play catch up, I neglected to keep moving forward with blog posts myself.
3. I haven't really been raiding progression content. Raiding is my muse—it's what motivates me to theorycraft and examine min/maxing strategies; it inspires me to read the WarCraft novels and play through the prior games; it pushes me to lurk forums and browse blogs; and ultimately it's what enables me to come up with things to write about and focus my thoughts and opinions into something resembling coherency. Lack of raiding, quite simply, led to lack of content.
   

As I mentioned earlier, part of the reason for this post is to provide the people who have deemed this blog worthy enough of subscribing to an explanation as to what's been going on. The other part is to remind myself that none of the above is acceptable, and to tell myself to do better. Now let's see if I can browbeat some actual content of myself. ;D

On MP5 and Intellect—My Hopes for the Holy Paladin's Future

So, anyone who has been keeping track of Paladin news should probably know that Blizzard isn't too happy with how Holy Paladins have turned out in terms of stat wants. The sheer emphasis on Intellect since the introduction of Divine Plea and Repenishment has gotten to somewhat absurd levels, and I agree with Blizzard in that there do need to be some changes in the near future to keep everything in from getting out of hand.

As many Paladins have stated, the emphasis on stacking Intellect is the cumulative result of several issues:

1. Intellect as a stat provides Paladins with almost everything needed to function in a healing capacity. It increases total mana, mana regeneration, spell critical strike chance, and spell power (via the Holy Guidance talent. The only other stat Paladins might desire for healing purposes is haste, but a lot of the gear that allows the stacking of Intellect also provides some degree of haste, which combined with that granted by Judgements of the Pure is ample enough.
2. Unlike stats such as Intellect and crit, mp5 has no synergy whatsoever with Paladin spells and talents. Haste is in a similar situation, but unlike mp5 haste is considered to have one or more "soft caps" that players tend to shoot for, such as reducing the global cooldown to 1 second or reducing the casting time of a frequently cast spell to 1 second. For mp5, there really isn't an easily definable goal.
   
3. MP5 is a flat-out boring stat. Unlike the other valuable stats for Holy Paladins, mp5 does nothing to make itself exciting. Intellect contribues to a plethora of additional stats, as mentioned in #1 above, but also visibly increases the total mana available to the Paladin. Crit causes big numbers and the occasional mana restoration from Illumination to scroll across the screen. Spell power helps to make the numbers that scroll across the screen even bigger, and the effect of haste is felt in the rhythm of casting more than it's seen, but even then its effect shows up in the tooltips of various spells. MP5 requires one to dig into the character window to be able to see any meaningful numbers. One cannot easily feel the impact mp5 has on the game. It's simply something that's there, in the background, doing its own thing and not bothering to stand out. In other words, it settles for the bare minimum number of pieces of flair.
4. MP5 is a significantly more expensive stat in terms of itemization budget than other stats. Why would anyone bother with gems that give a measly 6 mp5 when they can instead invest in gems that give 16 Intellect or 18 spell power instead? The latter two values just feel much more meaningful than the former.

At the very least, at least Blizzard recognizes issue number 4. In a recent post, Ghostcrawler stated:

Regardless of any other changes we might make, mp5 just doesn't seem to provide enough point for point on gear. It's possible (likely?) we'll just increase all of the mp5 on gear.

Personally, I think this is an excellent first step. However, it's only that—a first step. By itself, I doubt it will fix the Intellect stacking issue, but Ghostcrawler seems to be implying that there are additional changes in the works and I'm hoping some of them will address issues 1, 2, and 3 above. So how should these issues be addressed?

In my opinion, the best way to address the remaining issues is to reevaluate Divine Plea. The unfortunate truth is that Divine Plea is the primary culprit for the current state of Holy Paladin itemization problems. Repenishment also contributes to some degree, but changing Divine Plea is the easiest way to tweak Paladins without messing with other classes.

Now, when I say "reevaluate" and "tweak", I do not mean "nerf". I think it's absolutely possible to adjust Divine Plea to remain as powerful as it is today, but scale from a stat other than total mana. A stat such as mp5. This would make mp5 more synergistic with Paladin spells, thereby increasing the value of mp5, as well as reducing the value of Intellect all in one elegant swoop. Additionally, if things are done carefully, it can be adjusted to scale for Holy Paladins without destroying its worth for Protection and Retribution Paladins. For example, Divine Plea could be changed to something more like:

Divine Plea
Instant
1 minute cooldown
You gain X% of your base mana and Y% of your casting mana regeneration over 15 sec, but the amount healed by your Flash of Light, Holy Light, and Holy Shock spells is reduced by 50%.

Since Protection and Retribution Paladins don't bother to get Intellect or mp5 on their gear, the X percentage could be set so that Divine Plea returns the same amount of mana to them as it does currently, while the Y percentage could be adjusted to whatever amount of regeneration Blizzard wants Holy Paladins to have at various itemization levels. It's a fairly simple change on the surface that will solve issues 1, 2, and 3. Intellect will become slightly less valuable (1), mp5 will become more synergistic with Paladin spells (2), and the numbers that will scroll across the screen when a Holy Paladin uses Divine Plea will help to directly show the impact mp5 has on gameplay (3). In my mind, it's a win-win-win scenario.

The Argent Tournament?

Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm a horrible blogger. But I've been going through what Ila would call "writer's blah" (WARNING: link contains profanity).

Regardless, if you've been paying attention to recent World of Warcraft news, you know that Blizzard has been announcing a flurry of information on Patch 3.1, including a new world event called "The Argent Tournament". Here's what Blizzard has to say about it:

In patch 3.1, a new world event titled “The Argent Tournament” will be coming to Northrend! This tournament will be live on the 3.1 PTR and open for testing, though certain aspects are still in development. Players will find a host of new features here, including:

• The ability to prove your worth to a capital city of your choosing through our new mounted combat system (still in development)
  
• New daily quests to construct the great Argent Crusade coliseum for glorious battles to come
  
• All new rewards - new items, titles, banners, tabards, pets, mounts, and more
  
• All new achievements
  
• Many more festivities, and more to come in future content updates!
  

Players will find the Argent Tournament in Icecrown. Speaking to any Northrend flight master will get you on track to prove your worth to the Argent Crusade, your faction’s leaders, and all denizens of Azeroth!

Now, personally, this event sounds incredibly exciting to me. I've always been a fan of all Paladin-related WarCraft lore, and this event seems like it's really going to bring the Argent Crusade's struggle against the Lich King to the foreground (more so than previous content in Wrath of the Lich King, since a hefty chunk of lore was dedicated to the Nexus War). Hopefully, it will also set the stage (or have its stage set by) Christie Golden's upcoming WarCraft novel, Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, which is due out in April of this year.

So, let's go through the tournament details point by point.

Gaining reputation with capital cities currently requires reputation spillover from quests, holiday events, or repeated turning in of Runecloth. Since Blizzard hasn't seen fit to continue with the ability to turn in high level cloth such as Netherweave Cloth from the Burning Crusade nor Frostweave Cloth from Wrath of the Lich King for reputation, giving some way to increase one's standing with the cities without having to farm ancient content is long overdue.

Mounted combat is something I've been looking forward to since the game first launched—after spending so much time playing the WarCraft real-time strategy games, not being able to participate in mounted combat just feels wrong. Idiosyncrasies such as cavalry units in the Alterac Valley battleground dismounting to attack nearby enemies and remounting when combat had concluded always seemed extremely strange, especially for a game that hailed from the WarCraft lineage. However, now that it's being added to World of Warcraft, I truly hope that Blizzard takes their time to make mounted combat something more than the current vehicle combat, or, at the very least, improve the way the user interface deals with vehicles.

New daily quests are always a good thing. At present, the only decent clustering of daily quests is in Dun Niffelem for gaining reputation with the Sons of Hodir. The rest of the Northrend dailies tend to be spread out across the entire continent, and the only other clustering I can convince myself to do on a daily (or close to) basis are the Frenzyheart/Oracle quests in Sholazar Basin. Also, while phasing is nice and truly does give the impression of your character having a great impact on the world, the truth is that the real notion that drew me towards World of Warcraft when I first heard of it (back when WarCraft 3 launched) was the idea that I would be able to play a regular unit—someone who could certainly have an impact on the Azeroth, but not necessarily someone whom the world would revolve around. Slow progression such as that which occurred on the Isle of Quel'Danas just feels as if you're participating in something much, much greater than yourself, and really helps to keep one's ego in check.

Last of all is the addition of new awards and achievements. Naturally, new items and such are certainly expected, but I'm incredibly glad Blizzard went out of their way to mention the addition of things such as new titles, pets, and tabards. While there may be some people out there who aren't particularly enthused by new items that aren't gear upgrades, I, for one, really do appreciate the little things in life in World of Warcraft. However, I really hope that Blizzard doesn't decide to make the Argent Tournament a real tournament, and thereby limit the rewards available to people. I'm of the opinion that while it's perfectly fine to reserve some things for the elite crowd, such as gear upgrades, the "fun" objects should be available to everyone. After all, they're what add such a rich flavor to the game.

Oh, and by the way, one word in the announcement really caught my eye, and is probably the thing I am most excited about seeing on the Public Test Realms...that word is banners.

3.1 Paladin Change Highlights

From the Upcoming Class Change Highlights (Part 3) thread:

PALADIN

• Blessing of Kings – this spell is now a base ability trainable by all paladins.
• Exorcism – this spell now causes damage to all types of enemy targets. However, it always critical strikes undead or demon targets. This change should make sure paladin damage doesn’t drop when going from Naxxramas to later tiers of content.
• Shield of the Templar now causes your Avenger’s Shield and Shield of the Righteousness [sic] to silence targets for 3 sec. The old damage bonus of this talent has been folded into Holy Shield, Avenger’s Shield, and Shield of the Righteousness [sic].
• Ardent Defender, Improved Hammer of Justice, One-Handed Weapon Specialization and more have had their ranks reduced.
• Guarded by the Light – no longer reduces the mana cost of shield spells, but now has a 50/100% chance to refresh Divine Plea duration.
  
• Judgements of the Just – now also reduces the cooldown of Hammer of Justice by 10/20 seconds and increases the duration of the Seal of Justice stun effect by 0.5/1 second.

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My thoughts on the changes:

• Hooray for a baseline Blessing of Kings! It's about time! I wonder if Improved Blessing of Kings will remain a talent, though.
• The Exorcism change makes Glyph of Exorcism very, very nice for PvP as well as a lot of PvE encounters. I wonder if the bonus to Exorcism in the Purifying Power talent will be adjusted.
• Does the Guarded by the Light change mean what I think it does—essentially 100% Divine Plea uptime for Protection Paladins?
• I'm guessing there are changes to Improved Hammer of Justice that haven't been announced. I don't see how they can reduce its ranks and give the exact same cooldown-decreasing effect to Judgements of the Just as well.
• I can't wait to see the rest of the changes. =)

An Explanation of Haste

When haste was first introduced into World of Warcraft as an item stat, it seemed there was a great deal of confusion on how it actually worked. Even now that haste has become an extremely common stat that can be found on a significant portion of caster gear, it seems that there are still questions on how exactly each percentage point of haste affects spell casts and global cooldowns.

Well, nowadays there are a great many resources (such as WoWWiki's Casting speed page) available that explain how exactly haste rating and haste percentages modify spell casting speed and the global cooldown, as well as formulas that allow you to calculate how much haste you need to reach a target goal—such as reducing the 1.5 second default global cooldown to the 1 second minimum. Unfortunately, it seems that what many of these resources don't provide is an explanation of why haste behaves the way it does, and so the purpose of this post is to explain exactly that on a conceptual level.

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If we think about it, there are two ways to view the meaning of the word "haste". The first way is to interpret it something along the lines of "take less time to do a set task", and the second way is more akin to "do more in a set amount of time". Generally speaking, when we think of haste, we're likely to think about the first interpretation. For example, "Max hastily made his bed" most likely means that although it normally takes Max 3 minutes to make his bed, in this case he managed to make it in 2 minutes because he rushed. However, World of Warcraft uses the second interpretation instead of the first. An example of this interpretation would be "If I work with great haste, I should be able to paint 3 walls before dinner instead of 2."

So, you're probably thinking "Well, what's the difference? Taking less time to do something is basically the same thing as doing more things in a certain amount of time!" It turns out, there's a significant difference, mathematically speaking. Let's say Al and Bob are cutting carrots, and it takes both of them about 1 minute (60 seconds) to cut 10 carrots. After a while, Al and Bob get bored, and so Al decides to cut his carrots in 50% less time while Bob decides to cut 50% more carrots each minute. If there was no difference between the two, then Al and Bob should still be cutting carrots at the same rate, right? Well, Al begins cutting 10 carrots in 60 - 50% = 60 - 30 = 30 seconds, and Bob begins cutting 10 + 50% = 10 + 5 = 15 carrots in 60 seconds. After 1 minute, Al ends up having cut 20 carrots while Bob has only managed 15.


Now, how does this apply to World of Warcraft? Well, if you think about haste using the first interpretation—making each cast/global cooldown take less time—then the numbers are going to seem counterintuitive. Thinking about it this way would lead to the conclusion that you would only require 33% haste in order to reduce 1.5 seconds to 1 second, since

1.5 seconds - 33% = 1.5 seconds - 0.5 seconds = 1 second.

It would also lead to the conclusion that 100% haste would make all of your spell casts instant, since

1.5 seconds - 100% = 1.5 seconds - 1.5 seconds = 0 seconds.

Yet this is not how haste behaves in the game.


However, if you try thinking about it with the other interpretation—that it allows you to cast more spells in a set amount of time—it begins to make much more sense. The way I conceptualize it is that haste increases your casting rate. So, if you have 100% haste, then you can cast twice as many spells in the same amount of time it would take you to cast a single spell with no haste. If we use a 3-second spell as an example, then

1 spell per 3 seconds + 100% = 1 spell per 3 seconds + 1 spell per 3 seconds = 2 spells per 3 seconds.

So, if it doesn't take 33% haste to reduce a 1.5 second spell cast or the 1.5 second global cooldown to 1 second, then how much haste does it take? If you conceptualize it with the formula just above this, you can math it out:

1 spell per 1.5 seconds + ? = 1 spell per 1 second
1 spell per 1.5 seconds + ? = 1.5 spells per 1.5 seconds
? = 1.5 spells per 1.5 seconds - 1 spell per 1.5 seconds
? = 0.5 spells per 1.5 seconds

0.5 spells per 1.5 seconds is what % of 1 spell per 1.5 seconds?
(0.5 spells per 1.5 seconds) / (1 spell per 1.5 seconds) = 1/2 = 0.5 = 50%

So, you need 50% haste to reduce a 1.5 second spell cast or global cooldown to a 1 second cast or global cooldown.

4 Unconventional Uses for Divine Intervention

By reading this post, you hereby agree that neither Gryphonheart nor The Lion Guard will be held responsible for any repercussions resulting from taking this blog post seriously, including but not limited to ostracization from the Paladin community, permanent removal from a raid group, addition to the opposing faction's "kill on sight" list, and repeated queries of "OMG wut just hapend?!?!?!"

And so, without further adieu, 4 Unconventional Uses for Divine Intervention:

1. Are you tired of your Pallyfriends giving your class a bad name by repeatedly bubble-hearthing after raids? Did some Nubadin just ninja-loot your item, run face first into the closest group of mobs, pull them back onto you, and then begin bubble-hearthing to add insult to injury? Put an end to the bubble-hearthing shenanigans with Divine Intervention! Nothing stops a bubble-hearth more effectively! That Hearthadin will never know what hit him!
2. Is another healer constantly sniping your heals? Does she refuse to stop, no matter how many times you've asked? Is she gloating over your lack of haste? Well, here's how to teach her not to mess with you: just Divine Intervention her as she tries to snipe your next heal, and watch the hilarity ensue. As a bonus, you'll even be able to taunt her by taking an AFK to go grab some cookies while she's forced to sit around and resurrect the entire raid group due to being the last person left alive.
3. Does your pre-made team repeatedly get steamrolled in battlegrounds because of that guy? Do you sometimes wish that guy were played by a headless chicken, so that he'd be more effective? Ever find yourself wishing you could just use that guy as bait? Well Divine Intervention can help! Simply cast it on that guy while he's being ganked and not only will your opponents be thoroughly confounded (leaving them open to a coordinated counter-attack), but the incessant "Immune" messages will rile them up into a frothy that guy-hating frenzy! It's a win-win scenario!
4. Are you exhausted of running all the way back to the beginning of an instance just so you can turn in your completed quest to the NPC standing right outside the instance gate? Does the prospect of taking a portal to a nearby city and then traveling back to the instance you just left leave a sour taste in your mouth. Well, once the final boss is downed, just Divine Intervention a nearby ally and you'll find yourself just a short corpse run back to the instance entrance! No longer will you have to put up with potential respawns or portals that inconveniently leave you half a continent away! Just take a quick short cut through the spirit world and BOOM!—you're just a loading screen or two away from your destination!

First Foray into the New Naxxramas

I am one of those people who holds the opinion that one should not enter the raiding environment until one has had the opportunity to properly prepare oneself. By this I mean taking the time to run some heroics, replace at least a few of the leveling greens and blues one's acquired on the trek to level 80, and started earning reputation with the appropriate factions to ensure access to good items and item enhancements. Additionally, I also feel that one should take the time to do some research about the items available from various reputations, dungeons, raids, and vendors, and then properly gem and enhance those items that seem as if they'll have decent enough staying power to remain worthwhile, as well as learn about the encounters one will inevitably come across in the raid.

So, knowing those beliefs, I probably look like a big fat hypocrite for going to Naxxramas less than 24 hours after reaching level 80, still wearing gear primarily consisting of Tier 5 quality items, and without knowing any of the encounters in the particular wing we entered (Military). Well, I sure feel like one, too. That's probably the biggest contributing factor to why I'm inclined to say my first post-Patch 3.0.2 Naxxramas experience was not as fun as I think it should have (or at least would have otherwise) been. Spending several hours feeling like you're just letting 9 other people down has a way of sucking all the enjoyment out of things, and even though I dearly love the group I went with, I don't think I'll be joining them for their future expeditions...at least not for now.

Although, to be fair, I do think that I managed to perform at least decently well, especially considering I wasn't the only undergeared person there. Also, it wasn't as if I sought out a Naxxramas run to go to—I was...uh...I guess the best term would be "aggressively recruited" by a group of friends who I've ran with for various raids since back before the Burning Crusade launched.

Still, I don't think I'll be doing that again. At least, not until I've had a chance to properly prepare myself for round 2.

Achievement Earned: Level 80

Yes, yes, I know. I'm horrible at keeping New Year Resolutions. But isn't just about everybody?

Regardless, I finally hit level 80 late last night (or this morning, if you want to be technical), which is great because now I can hopefully begin working on some higher-quality content for this blog. If you're wondering why I haven't been writing posts with more—oh shall we say "substance"—prior to now, it's because I find it very difficult to begin wrapping my mind around end-game concepts when I'm still leveling. I think it's probably because I'm one of those people who enjoys the journey more than the destination, and so eyeing end-game gear lists and stat weight scales and such just takes the fun away from the present.

Anyway, at the time I hit level 80, I had completed nearly every quest available to me in Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, and Grizzly Hills, as well as gotten just under halfway through Zul'Drak. (If you're wondering why I said "nearly", it's because I skipped the torture sequence in Borean Tundra.) I have to say, the early quest zones in Northrend are incredibly interesting to me, as both a gamer and a lore fanatic. Learning about the ancestry of the human and gnome races, as well as the battles within the various dragonflight, giant, dwarf, and troll factions was/is absolutely fascinating. Also, it's pretty much impossible to dislike a quest titled "Kickin' Nass and Takin' Manes", even if it is from a group Gryphonheart doesn't completely trust...

Happy New Year!

2009 is finally here, and with it comes a batch of New Year resolutions. My resolutions for The Lion Guard are (in no particular order):

• Post more often — the internet problems I still continue to face really put a damper on my posting habit. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon and I can meet the goal I originally set for myself back in early November.
  
• Update site graphics — I'm currently experimenting with a few graphics design programs, and hopefully I'll be able to spruce up the site a bit and possibly even add some original artwork.
  
• Add additional pages/features (such as blogrolls, helpful links, character profiles, etc.) — I've been planning to get this done for quite some time now. May as well add it to the resolution/to-do list, right? :P
  
• Be more positive — it feels like I'm doing (or at least wanting to do) a disproportionate amount of ranting on this blog, and that wasn't my original intent. Time to get back to the basics and find something more constructive/useful to say.

Happy 2009, everyone! Warmest wishes of health, happiness, and prosperity in the year to come!

The Wrathgate Event

I know pretty much every blogger who has done the quest chain has gushed (or will gush, as the case may be) about the Wrathgate in-game event, but the machinema is just too awesome to not join in. Personally, I don't think I could have completed the event at a better time. The lack of a stable internet coupled with a relatively full out-of-game schedule and the pressure to get to level 77 so I could have a reasonable chance to complete the With a Little Helper from My Friends achievement—and thereby the Merrymaker meta-achievement/title—was really beginning to get to me. For a while, I was afraid that I wouldn't manage to complete the meta-achievement before the event packs its backs at 6:00am on January 2nd.

But yesterday morning I finally completed the Wrathgate event...and the experience earned from its completion got me up to level 77. I must admit, I can think of no more satisfying way to gain a level than with the accompaniment of the completion of a truly epic chain of quests, an achievement to underline it (Veteran of the Wrathgate), and an in-game machinema to top it all off like a watermelon-sized cherry marinated in awesomesauce. After completing that chain, I feel like a brand new player. It's as if all of the wonder and excitement for the game that's been waning as I've become increasingly familiar with its mechanics, tables, and inner workings has come back in full force. I can't wait to see what's next.

Oh, and last night I managed to find a group for the Lake Wintergrasp battle, netting me the 47 kills I still needed to complete the With a Little Helper from My Friends achievement! Huzzah!