Is anybody else overwhelmed with the amount of information now coming out regarding The Wrath of the Lich King? I can’t help but wonder about my toons and how they might change with the expansion. I don’t see many changes for my holy priest or my elemental shaman. I will be interested to see if frost will be a viable spec for raiding or if I will want to switch to fire or arcane. But the changes in the mechanics of tanking in general and in the talents and abilities of (protection) warriors are quite considerable. It would seem that tanks are getting perhaps the largest overhaul of all the classes/roles. I wonder what they are going to do to balance the three existing tank classes after the removal of crushing blows from the game.

Part of the reason for the gap in posts lately is that I was away from WoW for a whole week! I did a bit of vacationing in Oregon. Of course even though I couldn’t play WoW, my mind was still there. Here are a few screen shots.

The Oregon Dunes are reminiscent of Tanaris.

I got a good picture of a Sand Gnome.

I also visited Crater Lake. They say it was caused by a volcano, but personally I think this is what is left after our fire mage Veloreynn nuked a boss or something.

Near Bend I also found what looked like the remnants of Veloreynn’s work. Smokey the Bear would like to have a talk with you Vel.

I hope we are not the only raid that has more deaths due to falls than trash in the library section of Karazhan.

Yet another 80’s music reference. Hmmm…are those women topless? I never noticed that before. (It’ll be fun to count the clicks on that link in my log.)

Anyway, after reading this article in WoW Insider I was reflecting on my feelings toward Outland — specifically the ambience. The surreal quality of Outland zones is fun, but there always seemed to be something missing that I could not quite put my finger on. But then this morning I was grinding through some Bloodsail Buccaneers on a beach in Stranglethorn Vale with my Draenei shaman when it started to rain. But it wasn’t just rain, it was a tropical rainstorm with horizontal gusts of wind and rain as well. It was fantastic! Then it occurred to me that that is what is missing in Outland — weather. Does the weather ever change in Outland? Also aside from Nagrand is there any noticable difference between day and night in Outland? I understand that someplace like Outland may not have normal weather patterns like in Azeroth, but at least Nagrand and Terokkar should have some rain, and maybe there could be electrical/mana/nether storms in some of the other zones. I’m imagine we’ll see some fun weather patterns in Northrend.

So much for those celebratory group hugs after a boss kill. And what’s with the flame coming out the top!? I’m a little worried about my ears getting singed. If the shoulders drop off of Netherspite now I am going to shove them up his…well…somewhere where they’ll always be blocking the red beam.

I’m looking forward to the possibility of new dances. The Alizee thing for female Nelfs is getting a bit old. It’s a sexy dance we she does it, but the Nelf version is just slutty. We need something that is sexy and classy. May I suggest Flamenco?

So Keredria brought to my attention these shoulders after reading this post on BBB. They would be a considerable upgrade from my Shoulderguards of the Bold. Now I tried PvP a few times with Jess and really disliked it, but everything else I have is purple and I caught my guildies snickering about my shoulders a few times now, so I decided to bite the adamantium bullet and grind some honor.

The shoulders cost 20 Arathi Basin thingies, so I started there. Interesting, although not terribly productive given that the Alliance so rarely wins AB. I had to (re)learn how to fight in battle and berserker stance and use abilities that I rarely use while tanking like rend and hamstring. Of course I am a PvE-geared tank so I don’t die quickly, and although I don’t do much damage I can annoy people just by getting in their face. I like to go for casters since I can interrupt spells with both shield bash and concussion blow. I spent maybe 10 minutes just going back and forth with a holy paladin. After the fight was over (I died) she thanked me. Maybe she was being sarcastic but I like to think she had a good time. A few of my guildies came in with me and we all got on vent and had a fun time. Keredria said that she thinks of me as the bowling ball that they throw at the Horde pins. She wrote an amusing post about how we tried to save the corn.

I’m only a few short of the 20 AB thingies, so I’ve been doing Alterac Valley for honor since (a) we tend to win AV more than any other BG so more honor and (b) a tank can actually be useful there. I usually just try to make my way to Galv and/or Drek, although sometimes I have to play Bowling-for-Hordies if I get stuck at a choke point. Turtles suck although I just played an AV BG where a few of us were able to turn around a bad turtle by breaking through the horde position at IBGY. We took everything south of IBGY and took down Drek with a small but effective crew with me tanking. I still don’t know much about PvP and resilience and such, but tank and spank? That I can do.

So it’s been better than I anticipated, but once I have those shoulders Jess isn’t going back.

• If you are like me and started playing WoW after TBC came out, head out to Eastern Plaguelands and check out Naxxramus floating above Plaguewood (NW part of Eastern Plaguelands). I never noticed it on my first two toons that I brought through there. I would suggest you do it soon because it’s going to be moved when WotLK comes out. It makes me regret that I missed some of the pre-TBC raid content, but then I’m not really hardcore enough to get to those late endgame instances.
• We did Zul’Aman for the first time last week. We didn’t have much luck but we did have fun. Ghostlands is so eerily beautiful and the ambient music is wonderful. I enjoyed leveling my now neglected Blood Elf warlock through there.
• My human priest Muriel hit 70 about a week ago, respecced holy, and finished her primal mooncloth set. I’ve healed a few normal 70ish instances, one heroic (Underbog), and filled-in as the second of two healers on our first attempt at Netherspite. That gave me nightmares. You are not prepared! Very true.
• The spell animation for Prayer of Mending looks utterly cool. They need to use this for some new offensive spell in the holy school.
• I’ve started playing again with my Draenei shaman, Makawee. Why a shaman? Simple. Throwing lightning is totally cool and I want to wear kilts. Also she looks great — greyish-white dreadlocks and dark skin. I should have named her Storm. Keredria’s shadow priest is about the same level so we’ve been doing a little questing together. I realize that the most efficient spec for leveling a shaman is enhancement, but I’m trying elemental.
• It’s ironic perhaps since my main is a protection warrior, but I prefer magic over melee for my alts. I’ve done mage, warlock, priest, and now shaman. If I were to start another toon I’d try balance druid — i.e., “crit chicken” — but to me the moonkin form looks so silly. Shouldn’t the animal form for a nuker be something more menacing? Maybe something like those lightning-casting serpents in Blade’s Edge Mountains?

After tonight I will have a touch over 100 badges. I’ve had my eye on the Chestplate of Stoicism to replace my Vindicator’s Hauberk, but I thought I’d make a quick post before I decide to see if anyone else has some ideas. Check me out on the Armory.