Glyphs for Druids

Most people have heard by now that we will be able to add glyphs to a character to make some changes to abilities we already have. Here are the glyphs that have been discovered so far that affect the Druids. Looks like a lot of really nice stuff and a number of changes that will be beneficial to a each of the specs.

Druid

• Glyph of Natural Force (Class: Druid) - Empowers a Greater Glyph to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting your Wrath spells by 50%.
• Glyph of Moonfire (Class: Druid) - Empowers a Lesser Glyph to reduce the rage cost of your Demoralizing Roar by 20.
• Glyph of Thorns (Class: Druid) - Empowers a Minor Glyph to reduce the mana cost of your Thorns spells by %s1%.
• Glyph of Wild Endurance (Class: Druid) - Empowers a Minor Glyph to increase the duration of your Mark of the Wild and Gift of the Wild spells by 30 min.
• Glyph of the White Bear - Changes the appearance of your bear and dire bear forms to that of a polar bear.- This one will be very popular.
  
• Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration - While Frenzied Regeration is active, healing effects on you are 20% more powerful.
• Glyph of Growl - Increases the chance for your Growl ability to work successfully by 8%.
• Glyph of Mangle - Increases the duration of Mangle by 6 sec.
• Glyph of Swipe - Your Swipe ability now hits 1 additional target.
• Glyph of Shred - Increases the damage dealt by Shred to stunned and incapacitated targets by 20%.
• Glyph of Rip - Increases the duration of your Rip ability by 3 sec.
• Glyph of Rake - Your Rake ability prevents targets from fleeing.
• Glyph of Swiftmend - Your Swiftmend ability no longer consumes a Rejuvenation or Regrowth effect from the target.
• Glyph of Innervate - Your innervate ability now has an additional 20% strength mana regeneration effect on you in addition to the effect on your primary target.
• Glyph of Rebirth - Increases the amount of health on a character brought back to life via Rebirth by 100%.
• Glyph of Regrowth - Increases the amount of your initial Regrowth heal by 50% if your Regrowth effect is still active on the target.
• Glyph of Rejuvenation- While your rejuvenation targets are below 50% health you will heal them for an additional 50% health.
• Glyph of Healing Touch - Decreases the cast time of Healing Touch by 1.5 sec., the mana cost by -25% and the amount healed by -50%.
• Glyph of Lifebloom - Increases the duration of Lifebloom by 1 sec.- This one I like alot too
  
• Glyph of Starfire - Your Starfall ability increases the duration of your Moonfire effect on the target by 3 sec.
• Glyph of Insect Swarm - Increases the damage of your Insect Swarm ability by 30% but it no longer affects your victim's chance to hit.
• Glyph of Hurricane - Your Hurricane ability now also slows the movement speed of its victims by -20%.
• Glyph of Starfall- Increases the duration of Starfall by 2 sec.
• Glyph of Wrath - Increases the chance you'll resist spell interruption when casting your Wrath spell by 50%.
• Glyph of Moonfire - Increases the periodic damage of your Moonfire ability by 75% but initial damage is decreased by -90%.
• Glyph of Entangling Roots - Increases the damage your Entangling Roots victims can take before the Entangling Roots automatically breaks by 20%.

#$%&*! gankers

Maybe I'm just cranky today...more that usual, but I am so pissed at these freaking Alliance gankers lately. Now, I'm sure some Horde do it too and those that do are on my poop list too.

This is the scenario - I am questing/grinding/farming/whatever, and my health is dropping. Then I see my Combat Text pop up with Kidney Shot or Pounce and sure enough there is a Druid or Rogue attacking me from behind. Lately it seems that this happens when I am engaged with more than 1 mob to begin with. This is what makes the difference between world PvP and ganking. PvP has some measure of an honorable fight - ganking does not.

I rolled on a PvP server, which at the time I really didn't know what that meant, because some friends that recruited me to the game were already there. I have no problems with true world PvP, seeing an Alliance and facing off against him even if there is an element of surprise. It is not the reason I play the game and I prefer PvE objectives over PvP, but it's a PvP server and that is the way it it. What I dislike is the ganking - which is not PvP.

Ganking is PvEvP. Yep, Player vs. Environment vs. Player. Yeah, I just made that up. If it means so much to you to get the HK by attacking and killing me with the help of 2 other mobs, I feel kinda bad for you as a person. What do you brag about to your friends? "I killed this guy that was 2 levels higher than me while he was at half health and fighting two other mobs." Wow, you're awesome. At least wait until I kill the mobs I'm engaged with with and then pounce or kidney shot...or does that make it too fair for you?

Beta changes for Druids and Shaman

Some class changes are coming in beta - we should expect to see a lot more of this as this is the purpose of a beta testing phase. Spells, talents and abilities will continue to be changed and tweaked. Her are the ones that are affecting the classes I have been playing. (source - MMO-Champion)

Druid
Balance

• Moonkin Form mana cost has been changed from 22% base mana to 538 mana.
• Typhoon mana cost has been increased from 475 to 645 and the range changed from 20 to 24 Yards.
• Force of Nature mana cost has been changed from 12% base mana to 284 mana. Cooldown has been reduced from 3 to 2 minutes.
• Starfall mana cost has been increased from 655 to 866. Range increased from 30 to 36 yards. Damage seems to be changed as well but it looks like the version displayed in the talent calculator isn't the first rank of the spell.

Feral

• Faerie Fire range has been increased from 30 to 36 yards.
• Primal Tenacity now increases your chance to resist Stun and Fear mechanics by 5/10/15% (Old version : Reduces the duration of Fear effects by 5/10/15% and reduces all damage taken while stunned by 5/10/15%)
• Improved Mangle now reduces the cooldown of your Mangle (Bear) ability by 7% (instead of 0.5 sec) and reduces the energy cost of your Mangle (Cat) ability by 2.

Restoration

• Tree of Life mana cost reduced from 28% base mana to 978 mana.
• Flourish mana cost decreased from 585 to 450. Amount of healing decreased (Rank 1 now heals 672 HP instead of 1610).

Shaman
Elemental

• Convection (Tier 1) is now a 3 points talent, reducing the mana cost of Shock, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Thunder and Lava Burst spells by 4%/8%/12% (Old version : 5 points and 2/4/6/8/10%)
• Concussion doesn't affect Lava Burst and Thunderstorm anymore.
• Storm Reach now also increases the radius of your Thunderstorm spell by 10% along with the range improvement on Lightning Bolt / Chain Lightning.
• Elemental precision increases your chance to hit with Fire, Frost, and Nature spells by 2/4/6% and reduces the threat caused by these spells by 4/7/10% (Old version : 1/2/3% hit and 10/20/30% threat)
• Astral Shift now has a 33/66/100% chance to shift into the Astral Plane reducing all damage taken by 30% (Old version : 100% chance to reduce all damage taken by 10%/20%/30%)
• Thunderstorm range increased from 10 to 12 yards, damage increased from 595-679 to 640-729, knockback stays 20 yards.

Enhancement

• Improved shields now increases the amount of Mana Shield orbs by 10% instead of 5%, improvements to Lightning Shield and Earth Shield stay the same.
• Shamanistic Rage now gives your successful melee attacks a chance to regenerate mana equal to 15% of your attack power. (Old version : mana regeneration equal to 30% of your attack power)
• Maelstrom Weapon now reduces the casting time of any spell by 4/8/12/16/20% when you critically hit with a melee weapon. (Old version : was only affecting Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst)
• Feral Spirit now lasts 45 seconds instead of 30 seconds.

Restoration

• Nature's Guardian cooldown has been changed from 8 to 5 seconds.
• Spirit Link now also breaks if a shared damage would reduce a target's health below 20%.

Having some fun...

Lately it seems that the Guild had kinda stalled out and people really weren't doing too much together. I have been leveling the Shaman and doing some dailies to keep the gold supply up and that seemed to be what most of the others were doing too. Leveling alts or trying to get their mains up to 70. Mostly we seemed to be playing the game in 'single player mode'.

I'm not sure if it is the news of the Wrath beta or just the winding down of Summer - seems weird to say that - or just that some of them needed a break. Whatever it was seems to be lifting a little bit and we have tried to get some instance runs in to shake off the rust and boost our faction rep to get additional recipes or rewards.

After out latest run through Shattered Halls, I was reminded how much fun I have running instances with my friends. I just so happens that of the 5 of us in the run, I work with 3 of them and the 4th is the wife of one of those. It makes the run a lot of fun. I know that even if one of us screws up or causes a wipe there will only be good-natured kidding and no real drama. Our main tank Warrior, Rogue and Druid healer(me) were all level 70 Kara geared. We had our returning prodigal Boomkin, who should have been in Kara gear but sharded it all when he 'quit playing', and a 67 Shadow Priest who tried to keep their DPS up as best they could. Ya, we wiped a few times and had some problems with the final boss - but I had a blast and it was well worth the repair cost to run with my friends.

I wish we could find another group of players who are also real life friends that we could recruit or join up with and get 2 groups going that can combine for 10 man raids in Wrath. That is my greatest hope, a small tight knit guild that I can do 10 man raids with. I am sure that the draw of a 350 person mega-guild is a good fit for some people, but I just am not that guy. I guess I will have to try to start recruiting now to try to accomplish that goal by the release of WotLK, which I estimate to be between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

FO'SHIZZLE or FOSHIZZLE?

We have been called to action in the ongoing "situation" between BRKWWA, (a Hunter), and BBBB, (an honorable Druid). We cannot let this aggression stand unchecked and we are compelled to add the voice of the Herd to the conflict, so without further ado -

FO'SHIZZLE or FOSHIZZLE, whichever it may be.

Let's hope BRK soon sees the error of his ways and recants his previous statement advocating the enslavement of Ferals as hunter pets and who knows what he had planned for us trees.

Okole goes 'mental...Elemental

I have always had a hard time playing my characters as melee DPS, but I tried by going Enhancement with Okole until I hit level 64. So, when I visited the trainer to get my new skills - I decided it was time to respec and try out the Elemental tree for a while. Hybrid casters seem a much more natural fit for my playstyle, and although I do like to smack things with a heavy club, it is easier to kill them if they have already been softened up with a few lightning bolts.

My first impression is that it's a lot like playing my Druid as Moonkin, which I always liked. I have to pay attention to cooldowns on my shocks more now than I did on the Drood, but so far I am liking it. I do need to learn where I put all the new skills on my toolbars though, that is the worst part of a respec for me. I am still in the process of converting my gear over from the Strength and Attack Power focus to Intelligence and Spell Damage. I did manage to acquire some gear along the way from drops and quest rewards that I held onto for just this situation.

I have not gotten into any instances with this spec yet, but I am going to try to run Hellfire Ramparts and Blood Furnace soon to see how it works out in a dungeon setting. I will be augmenting Elemental with Restoration to provide some healing in a pinch.

The thing I miss most so far is...Improved Ghost Wolf, no more instant cast escape ability. I just can't see a way to justify spending the points in the Enhancement tree to pick it up.

Wrath Beta news

That's right folks...looks like the Wrath Beta is very near. Rumor has it that some European players are already getting beta invites. Hmm - this is very interesting news. Check out MMO-Champion's info and also some info from WoWInsider.

Looks some patch notes are included with these and I like what I am seeing for the classes I play the most - Druid and Shaman. Take a look and see what the beta might have in store for you.

So...what have you done?

This just in from Blizzard -

World of Warcraft’s achievements system will launch with more than 500 individual achievements covering every aspect of gameplay, including world exploration, PvE, PvP, professions, and character development; from the purely whimsical to the truly epic, there will be something for everyone. Some achievements come with in-game rewards such as tabards, vanity pets, and titles. All of these rewards are purely cosmetic and just for fun, but you’ll certainly stand out when you proudly display them.

And don’t fret about running out of achievements anytime soon. The list is easily expandable, so you can expect additional achievements with each new World of Warcraft content update.

Some of the different types of achievements available are:

• Player-vs.-Player: This includes arena, battlegrounds, and world player-vs.-player objectives. A few examples:
  • Hot Streak: Win 10 ranked arena matches in a row.
  • Alterac Valley All-Star: Capture graveyards, towers, and kill the enemy leader all in one game.
  • City Defender: Kill 50 enemy players in your faction’s capital cities.
• Dungeons and Raids: Every end boss of every raid and dungeon in the game grants its own achievement. Future achievements in this category may include ones for completing a run without any player deaths, with fewer than the maximum number of players, or within a certain time limit.
• Professions: Advancing to each tier of mastery in a profession earns you an achievement, and there are specific achievements for secondary skills (with major professions to follow).
• Quests: Quest-based achievements include completing a certain number of quests and completing specific quest lines. This category contains zone-specific subcategories.
• Events: Seasonal events such as the Midsummer Festival, the Lunar Festival, and Hallows’ End have specific achievements of their own.
• World Exploration: You’ll earn achievements by exploring each zone in the game -- and get meta-achievements when you fully explore a continent.
• Reputations: This set of achievements includes attaining exalted reputation with each faction in the game.
• General: These achievements tend toward the whimsical, including getting a shave and haircut (a new feature of Wrath of the Lich King), obtaining a certain number of tabards and vanity pets, falling from a great height, and more.

This looks like it could be a lot of fun and give players something else to shoot for. It is something that can keep casuals playing and developing their own from of progression. I like the idea of tracking bosses that you have personally downed. A lot of players say things like - "I'm in the top guild on the server" or "We downed Illidan" but you can never really prove it. Now your participation in the raid or boss kill will actually be able to be tracked.

I expect these achievements to be questioned and requested when applying to a progression focused guild. No matter what, this adds an interesting mini-game aspect to our endless grinding and questing as we level up to 80.

Blizzard Authenticator

Yep, got it Friday and set it up Friday night. The setup process took about 2 minutes...that's it. You go to the Blizzard website, login to Account Management, click the link for the Blizzard Authenticator, enter the number on the back of your particular authenticator and you're done.

Now when you login with username and password, a second screen pops up, you push the button on the authenticator and enter the 6 digit code that is shown on the authenticator screen and you are in. It adds 10-15 seconds to the login process.

This seems like a success and the only downside so far is that the Blizzard store keeps selling out of the fobs.

What amazes me about the whole thing is that this game may be deploying the most secure access to a public resource that has ever been done at this scale. Now the companies providing secure for "real" assets need to start asking how they can match up with a video game's protection of "virtual" assests. I would certainly opt-in to something like this if it was offered by my bank for secure online account access...so why don't they offer it?

Lich King beta opt-in

Head on over to Wrath of the Lich King Beta Opt-In program and let them know if you are interested in being a beta-tester. They are saying that the beta testers will be a random selection from all those who opt-in. I signed up on the account management page and when I ordered my Authenticator there was also an option to opt-in for beta testing. I am hopeful that we will see the game on shelves by Christmas break.

State of the Herd address for July

I ordered one of the Blizzard Authenticators this week, before they sold out, and am anxiously awaiting delivery. Obviously I am not the only one who is looking for a little more account security and I am in no way surprised by the quick sell out of this product.

On to the toons -

Bumwaller - finished the attunement process for Onyxia's Lair and Blackwing Lair. Just something we were doing to pass the time and give us something to do other than PUGging and battlegrounds. Also been doing a few dailies and picking herbs for the potions and elixirs for the leveling alts and mana pots always sell pretty good at auction.

Okole - almost level 62, should hit that this weekend if I have the time. I have been leveling in the "old world" so far, hoping that the more levels I get there will mean more time questing at 70 in Outlands., and that means more gold for a flyer. I am liking the enhancement spec, lot of burst damage and being able to heal myself on the fly is great to keep the fight going. I don't die very often and usually there is enough time in between deaths that my reincarnation is available when it happens.

Namenivob - doing the AH thing, making a few bags for friends and profit.