Batman

Wow. The new rogue tier 13 was unveiled today, and all I have to say is...wow. It sure is one ugly set.

Yeah, everyone thinks that their class set is the ugliest (although the shamans seem to be pretty happy with the Flinstones look), I have to say this is a new low.

Rogues (like every other class) has had their ups and downs when it comes to tier sets. I personally love tier2, the bloodfang set, because I think it's both really awesome and deadly looking, while keeping in line with the whole idea of a stealthy, sneaky rogue. The dark red/black combo of the bloodfang set, combined with the not-too overdone shoulders and general motif made it look really great. The darkened headpiece that completely shrouds the face was also a great touch and made you look more sinister than ever.

The BC recolors of the tier2 set were really nice too - hence, that is why I'm collecting the dark blue/black recolor for my transmog set. I'd love to get my hands on the original bloodfang but alas, blackwing lair is not soloable...

Tier 1 set is alright too, you can tell blizz really drew some inspiration from ninjas, what with that headpiece and the scaled leg armor. While it looks nice overall, I find it a touch too bright for my tastes, and I just can't get over the bowling ball-look of the shoulderpads. If I could find an alternate shoulderpiece I'd consider getting the set for transmog.

Then blizz starts getting all weird on us. I mean, look at the Netherblade set. What is that bizarre shiny space suit all about? Because nothing says "rogue, master of stealth" like a bright glowing lavender chrome suit?

Things seem to get better with tiers 6-7, a bit too gladiator-like but still not too bad. Then blizz goes and makes it totally weird again with the Terrorblade series. What is with those creepy skeleton masks???

Tiers 9-10 I think are quite alright. Garona's set was pretty nice looking, actually. The Shadowblade set looked weird to me at first, with the tattered plague geist look and all that, but over time I grew to like the twisted, sinister look it had going on. Especially the 10H/25 version of the gear had a nice darkened look to it too.

And then came the abomination known as Wind Dancer's Regalia, which unfortunately I had to suffer through most of Cataclysm with. Those big ugly glowing shoulderpads looked awful on every single race. The helmet was truly the ugliest I'd seen in a long time (in fact I haven't seen a helmet I'd actually display since tier 2). I jumped for joy when I finally got some new shoulderpads...

Tier 12 looked great, I loved the Dark Phoenix set. Not sure why they went with that theme, but visually it looked pretty nice, even down to a mean-looking helm (which I have yet to acquire). Both the normal and heroic versions look good, though the darker purple set looks a tad bit prettier.

And now...tier 13. The ugly ass batman suit. Is this what I have to look forward to in the next patch? Thank god for transmog!

Top 2%

Heh, I just read a forum post where a guy was QQing that only 2% (by his rough estimates) have killed Ragnaros on normal mode. He was of course complaining that it was too hard, casuals deserve easier raids and more loot, etc etc etc.

Our guild just downed normal mode Rag after extending a raid lockout this Tuesday. We said, hey, let's not expend energy clearing the bosses over again, let's just get to Rag and DO THIS THING!

Especially given the announcement that they were going to nerf both normal and heroic Ragnaros next week, everyone was quite anxious to get him, come hell or high water.

We went for a pretty radical new strategy we had never used before and decided to 2-heal the fight. Things seemed a bit dicey at first, but around the 10th try or so, we got him down!

It reminded me a bit of the Nefarian fight, where we just struggled so damn much just to see the last phase. And once we made it to the last phase, it wasn't hard at all (at least for DPS, I imagine the healers were sweating bullets).

We were having trouble with the 2nd phase transition where the lava Scions come out. We were using a 3 healer strat previously, which meant that almost every time one of the sons of flame would get lose (due to lack of stuns on the last one) while the tanks picked up the scions, blow up and wipe the raid. Prior to tuesday night we had only managed to get past this transition once, and with half the raid dead at that.

But we decided to 2-heal it and have the tanks focus on stunning the sons and ignore the scions at the start. It worked like a champ, and even though it took us a few wipes to get to the phase transition, once it clicked, it worked. We had no problem getting the adds down, and we wiped once while the scions were still up due to fire (it's all fire. Fire is everywhere in Firelands). But the next time, the scions went down smoothly and the next phase finally started with everyone in the raid still alive.

This was the "meatball" phase, which I don't think anyone in the raid had really done before. But we knew we had to kite it, then attack it right before it hits you and send it bouncing to someone else. We still had about 25% more to push before Rag went down but luckily everyone was alive and focused. The meatballs bounced around, Rag summoned engulfing flames everywhere, and everyone was burning (the boss, not standing in fire) as hard as they could.

Someone died due to engulfing flames around 20%. I saw someone else die to...something. Then a DPS blew up from the meatball right next to me. 6% more to go. I see one of the tanks go down. Engulfing right under my foot! I'm fixated by a meatball! 2% left to go. It's coming towards me but it's far away. I pop every single CD I have available and literally start mashing some buttons. And just as I see that meatball about to run me over...Rag dies and everything vanishes.

Ah, it's always an epic feeling to down an end boss. Not to mention that we're in the top 2% of the population that managed to do it before the nerfs.

Deathwing, you're next.

Nerd Rage Topic: heroics =/= normal

Since when did heroics become so...non-heroic? By that I mean the general player base perception of heroics, not the dungeon difficulty itself.

Yeah, yeah, wrath was too easy and heroics were a joke, I get it, I get it. I was there too so I can understand where the mentality comes from. But I mean, cata has been out almost a year now, don't people understand that the wrath days of roflstomping a heroic in 15 minutes is gone?

Normals are easy. Normals are forgiving. One-shot abilities don't actually one-shot you because a good healer can heal through most anything on normal mode. Sure, let those shock blasts go off once or twice or every single time. Go ahead and stand in front of Ozruk, eat those ground slams and shatters, I will heal your sorry ass back up to full because everyone makes mistakes, right?

Heroics are not easy. They are not forgiving. Sure, you might think it's no more difficult than normals because you were lucky and got into a good run a few times where the tank was chain pulling and you stood in the fire and someone healed you through it. It made you cocky, it made you think heroics are just like normals!

No. No they are not. If you get in with the average dungeon group, heroics are a different experience, because you will end up with 1-4 idiots who do not know the difference between a normal and heroic dungeon.

NEWS FLASH: not only do things in heroics hit you harder, faster, and more frequently in the face, one-shot mechanics will ACTUALLY one-shot you.

Normal modes are where you learn these things, but the problem is no one learns the correct thing to do because they never see that doing the wrong thing = death. You tell a noob "don't stand in this" and he does, sees that he didn't die despite standing in it, so he thinks that it's ok to stand there. You tell the noob "interrupt this ability" and he forgets, and sees that no one died from it, so he thinks you can ignore the interrupts.

Which just leads to a big clusterf**k when you enter a heroic with one of these idiots. You see them just standing there. IN FIRE. Just standing there, their hp dropping faster than the time it takes you to cast a flash heal. They die, and wonder what happened, and about half the time they jump to this amusing conclusion: "I died because you're a bad healer"

Like the time I got Stonecore with a very intellectually challenged mage. First he almost dies to trash by standing in whirlwind. I life-gripped him out a couple times and managed to keep him alive.

At Corborus, he stands in the dust trail during the submerge phase and gets one-shotted. After the fight his words are "That's really weird, I wonder how I died."

I told him that he stood in the dust trail, and his response? "I don't think so, that's never happened to me before"

/facepalm.

Then he stands right in the crystal barrage during Slabhide, doens't even try to LoS the damn thing and dies almost immediately. After we kill him I say, "if you need an explanation on the fight just say so."

His response? "Lol I've done this place like 10 times, dude"

"Is that why you ate the crystal barrage to the face?" I asked. He just shrugged at me.

Finally at the pack of mobs with the sentry, he ignores the sentry (marked with a skull) and it ends up pulling another pack. As we're running back he says "how did we aggro the other group? That's never happened before"

I checked his achievement and lo and behold, he did not have the heroic: stonecore achievement. So the 10 times he had done Stonecore was on normal mode, which is why he was failing so miserably. I dropped group as soon as I zoned in.

What bothered me the most about his attitude was the constant "that's never happened before", which usually is an indirect way of saying it was someone else's fault, since it's clearly never happened to that player in another group. OR MAYBE it's never happened before because you've never done the goddamn heroic mode dungeon?!?! It's great that you've done the fight 10 times on normal, you know what that means? You don't know shit about the fight on heroic mode.

Healing is stressful enough, the last thing I need to hear is some snotty fail DPS pulling 4k making some thinly veiled jab and trying to blame me for their repairbill.

I'm not an unreasonable person, I don't expect you to go research the fights. I know I didn't, I simply learned from other people. Just speak up and admit you don't know it and I'd be more than happy to explain it to you. And if you're so terrible of a player that you can't even be bothered to admit that, then at least keep your mouth shut when you die and gratefully take the rez.

/end rant

Top 5...Epic Bromances

Ra ra ah ah ah, Roma roma-ma, ga, ga, ooh-la-la...what's your wow bromance?

Sometimes you see characters in wow that are just a little more than friends. The bromance is so blatantly obvious that you know it wasn't just poor dialogue choice, it was very deliberate, and shows that the devs have a sense of humor after all...

5. Kalecgos and Korialstrasz

At first they seem to be at war - the Nexus war, to be specific. But regardless of Kalec's allegiance to his flight, he admits to having deep respect and admiration for the red dragon Korialstrasz. This is fleshed out in much greater detail in the Sunwell Trilogy, the novels Night of the Dragon and Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, to some degree.

Sure, they bicker at first, but their begrudging friendship soon gives way to a budding bromance. With Korialstrasz's unfortunate and untimely demise in the latest novel, we won't be seeing any more of this draconic bromance. But these two show that even dragons have feelings!

4. Gidwin Goldbraids and Tarenar Sunstrike

You first encounter these energetic and sometimes troublesome duo in the Eastern Plaguelands. If you follow the entirety of Fiona's caravan questchain, you'll see them bicker, banter, frolic and finally rescue each other in a dramatic conclusion.

It's so cute how they both aspired to become paladins of the argent crusade ever since they were boys. Which also begs the question, how did they meet? I mean, Tarenar is a blood elf...Gidwin is a dwarf...technically they're supposed to be hated enemies. I like to think that they both lost their parents to the scourge and grew up in the same orphanage! How they ended up with a Gypsy Worgen caravan saleswoman named Fiona I'll never know.

3. Jadaar and Asric

These two would have to be classified as the bitter old bromance, sort of like two old married people who, deep down, do love each other but bicker constantly and don't even realize what they're fighting about. They've been arguing since Shattrath city, to the Dalaran Sewers, and finally have settled at the Argent Tournament grounds, drinking and lobbing insults at each other.

Their dialogue is really funny if you take the time to listen:

Jadaar says: Remind me again why I tolerate your company, Asric.
Asric smirks wryly.
Asric says: I have decades of practice handling blowhards like yourself, and I'm the only one you know here in this abominably freezing land.
Jadaar says: I should leave you to rot in this sewer with the filth.
Asric says: No doubt.
Jadaar says: You are beneath me.
Asric says: A lowly worm, I'm sure.
Jadaar says: Stop agreeing with me!
Asric says: You're right, of course, it's a terrible practice.
Jadaar says: AGH!

And then this little gem at the Argent Tourney grounds:

Jadaar says: You realize, of course, that we would likely have to joust one another should we enter the tournament.
Asric says: There is no doubt in my mind you'd lose. Speed and wit triumphs over brute strength and bullheadedness any day of the week.
Jadaar says: Bullheadedness? It is my perseverance that has gotten us this far, dandy. You wouldn't last five seconds.
Asric says: Typical empty boasting. Still, the stables are rather distant and the drinks here are decent enough.
Jadaar says: I hear those lances are rough-hewn, too. I'm no fan of splinters.
Asric says: Just as well.

Just listening to them talk about splinters cracks me up!

2. Koltira Deathweaver and Thasaarian

They were sworn enemies in life (Thasaarian actually even killed Koltira), but in undeath they seem to have worked out their differences. They claim it's just a totally "brotherly bond" (see Thasaarian's dialogue below), but I suspect there's more at work here...

Orbaz Bloodbane says: Why do you care, Thassarian?
Orbaz Bloodbane says: His weakness led to his capture.
Orbaz Bloodbane says: Only the strong should survive. Not to mention...
Thassarian says: What, Orbaz? That he's a blood elf?
Thassarian says: In life we were hated enemies - this is true...
Thassarian says: But in death... We are the children of the damned. The bastard sons and daughters of the Scourge.
Thassarian says: In death we are brothers.
Orbaz Bloodbane says: To hell with you, Thassarian.

Don't tell me it's just camaraderie when these two are being all buddy-buddy even after going back to their respective original allegiances. You know in Andorhal when they talk about how they'll kill each other, they're staring deeply and soulfully into each other's eyes when they say that. Er, as soulfully as they can, being death knights and not having a soul and all that...

And finally, the most EPIC wow bromance of all time...

1. Tholo Whitehoof and Anren Shadowseeker

Oh, these two are totally bromantic and they don't even bother to hide it! When you first stumble upon them they are standing back-to-back (described as a 'druid combat circle'), fighting mobs and cheering each other on in a most bromantic way. Just listen to some of the stuff they say to each other:

"Together we can do anything, Anren!"
"You are a good friend, Tholo!"
"I will stay with you, Anren!"
"Stay on my back, Tholo!" (EHEM)
"I will protect you, Anren!"
"I wish I knew how to quit you, Tholo."

Ok, so that last part isn't actually in the game, but these two are completely bromantic for each other, in a way that is very reminiscent of JD and Turk. You can almost just hear them singing 'Guy Love' when you're not looking...

Double points for that fact that not only is this bromance inter-horde/alliance, inter-racial, but like, inter-SPECIES! Tholo being a tauren and Anren being a night elf, just makes this bromance mind-blowingly adorable on so many levels.

So that's it for the most epic bromances of wow. Maybe someday I can find some examples of wow girl crushes for the next blog post.