Vampiric Touch: Could it be the Answer to Annariel's Mana Issues?

Annariel hit level 63 last night & with it, she finally obtained her 41 point shadow talent, Vampiric Touch. Now, the tool tip for rank 2 of the spells says it does 600 shadow damage over 15 seconds & the party will gain mana back equal to 5% of the shadow spell damage caused by the priest. This effect appears to apply even if you are solo...so you don't have to be in a group to get the benefit. I now use this spell to pull with instead of mind blast so I can get the full effect of the mana regeneration. However, is 5% mana regeneration any good?

Here is a simple example. Most of the mobs Annariel is facing now have about 5 to 6K in hit points. So lets use 6000 hit points for this example. All of her damage, except for her wand, is shadow damage. So assuming she doesn't use a wand and is able to keep Vampiric Touch up for the duration of the fight, she will do 6000 shadow spell damage. That means she will gain back 300 mana during the fight. Since rank 2 of vampiric touch costs 400 mana, it doesn't seem like much of a bargain. Right now, I'm not too impressed. However, in using it yesterday, it did seem like she was able to go a little bit longer before having to drink, so maybe I am missing something. I guess I'll just have to keep testing it to see if it allows Annariel to become more mana efficient.

Annariel enters her 60's!!!

Annariel hit level 61 yesterday! She's in Hellfire Pennisula right now. I've always liked this zone. I think my favorite part is the fact that you almost immediately get to upgrade all your pre-60 gear with really nice greens. So far I am doing ok with her shadow spec. She is able to solo most of the content. I still find it an extremely mana intensive build. I have Devarien help out on the group quests & in some of the more mob infested areas, but I find when Annariel groups with Dev, her experience is drastically reduced so I try to solo as much as I can. One of the highlights of Hellfire so far was that Dev & Annariel were able to complete the Overlord quest by themselves! Sometimes I have to resist the urge to have her group with Dev since things go so much faster when he is around =) I'm hoping I can get Annariel up to level 62 before leaving Hellfire, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Zangarmarsh will be her next stop.

Test Server Fun!!!

Well I finally got myself set up on the test server!!! The pre-made level 70 characters are absolutely amazing! You are only allowed 4 pre-made characters. As a result, I picked the Druid, Mage, Paladin & Shaman since I haven't had much experience with those particular classes and wanted to get a feel for how they played. I logged on the Druid first. I was like a kid in a candy store! 4 sets of Epic armor! One for every type of build you could imagine. Epic land & flying mounts! The druid actually had a netherdrake! She also had epic flight form. You also get 5000 gold and all the gems you could want. I spent at least an hour picking the right gear & gem combos. I decided to go with a feral talent build since that would be what I will use with my own druid leveling up.

As to the other characters, I went with a frost/presence of mind build with the Mage, an enhancement build with the Shaman & a retribution build with the Paladin. I was really impressed with the power of the mage & shaman (I was able to kill one of the level 68 elite demons in Legion Hold, Shadowmoon Valley with the Mage!). There are some down sides to playing on the test server. First, it takes a long time just to get on. Last night there was a queue of over 800 people. Second, it is very laggy. Third, for some reason you start out in the Ghostlands & unless you can find a port, it can take a long time to get to the Outlands. There also seems to be a lot of jerks playing. For example, there are people just camped out at the spawn point in the Ghostlands waiting to gank you. I guess there is a bug that tags you as PvP when you first log on with a pre-made character. As you can guess, you die almost instantly as none of your skills are set up & none of your talent points have been spent. I must have died at least 10 times with my Shaman until I was lucky enough to get invited into a raid group for a port to Shattrath. I had to resurrect right next to the portal & click immediately to avoid getting killed again! There are also people in the Ghostlands charging 500 gold for a port to Shattrath. I mean come on people, its just a test server!

Anyway, I have had a lot fun trying out the test server. I think I had more fun setting up the characters with their builds and gear than actually playing them...lol. If you are interested in trying a new class out or seeing how a particular talent build might work at level 70 on a character you are leveling up, I would highly recommend trying out a pre-made character on the Test server =)

Annariel starts her run to 70!

With Faerolin finally done with all the Shadowmoon Valley quests, I started to play Annariel, my level 53 priest, again. I decided to switch her to a shadow spec and play her solo...well sometimes she has Devarien's help as she is on my second account...lol. I got her to level 55 over the weekend and here are my preliminary thoughts on playing as a shadow priest.

First off, a shadow priest is incredibly mana intensive! Even with points in the spirit tap and meditation talents, I found that I would have to rest for mana after every couple of kills. This is much different from my experience with Warlock, where I had little or no down time. It is also a little scary playing priest in that if you don't time your Power Word: Shield correctly, you can die very quick! However, it has been fun playing a shadow priest so far. I have a pretty good casting sequence down now: PW: Shield just before engaging the enemy, pull with Mind Blast, then cast PW: Pain & Mind Flay. By the time Mind Flay is done channeling, I am ready to cast Mind Blast again. When there is less than 700 hit points left, I usually use my wand until the mob is dead to conserve mana. I like to cast PW: Shield before engaging the enemy because it gives me the option of casting it again during the fight. If I wait until after the pull, the "Weakened Soul" debuff, which prevents you from casting PW: Shield on yourself again, usually hasn't expired by the time I need another shield.

Hopefully, I'll have more updates on Annariel as she makes her way to 70!

Views from a Casual Player - Pick up Groups or the Lack Thereof

I don't know if its just me, but I've been finding it near impossible to get a group together lately. I recently finished most of the Shadowmoon Valley quests with Faerolin and was trying to find people to help me complete some of the group quests there (e.g., Gorefiend's Armor, Zulhead the Whacked & Ruul the Darkener). When trying to put together a group, I usually start out by sending a message on the Shadowmoon Valley general channel....no answer. I do that for a while, with no luck. Then I think, let me try the Looking for Group Interface. How the heck does it work!?!? It doesn't seem to do anything. It doesn't list anyone else who is looking for a group so I'm not sure anybody even sees that I need help doing a quest. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Anyway, I notice that when I use the LFG interface I am connected to a new channel called Looking for Group. So I type a message in that channel as well: "LFG for the Shadowmoon Valley quest Gorefiend's Armor"...no response. Doe anyone care?

I find this is very frustrating, especially when I waste an hour trying to find a group and I only had 2 to 3 hours to play in the first place! However, I just chalk it up to being one of the predicaments of being a casual/solo player. I don't have the time to invest into Guild membership, but without the support of guild mates, it's very difficult to get group oriented quests accomplished. Its not so bad with the lower levels of the Outlands, because I can always come back at a higher level and finish off the quests by myself. However, once you reach Netherstorm & Shadowmoon Valley, there is just no way you are going to finish the group quests by yourself. As a result, my quest log sits full of group quests from those zones =(

My suggestion to alleviate this problem is to allow the use of NPC henchmen like they have in Guild Wars. The henchmen don't have to be sophisticated, but a tank and healer would be very helpful. I think the henchmen should only be available in regular zones and not in instances. In my opinion, instances are designed to be completed by a group. However, in the regular zones where most people either solo or duo quests, it would be nice to be able to get help right away and not have to waste valuable time trying to find people to play with. Maybe as a form of balance, there could be an experience penalty or reduction in gold received for using henchmen to complete group quests.

WoW Expansion Speculation

With BlizzCon just around the corner, I am starting to see a lot of speculation and rumors about the next WoW expansion. There seems to be two main ones going around. First is "Wrath of the Lich King". There is a FAQ going around that was supposedly posted on the europe forums. WoW Insider has a nice blog post on this possible expansion. It will take place in Northrend and will supposedly allow a raid group to take on Arthas himself!!! Another major aspect of this expansion will be the introduction of the first hero class, the Death Knight. The other expansion rumor has to deal with the Maelstrom (the huge whirlpool in the center of the Azeroth World Map). However, this rumor is not at all fleshed out, so it doesn't seem to be true.

I think Northrend would make an amazing expansion. I loved playing the Warcraft RTS games and the lore introduced there. In my opinion, the cinematic sequences in the Warcraft games are still some of the best ever made for a computer game! It would really be fun to play in those locations as well. I am hopeful that Blizzard will introduce Hero Classes. I hope the hero class is one that your existing characters could access, rather than having to start a new character. How awesome would it be to have your Hunter turn into a Beastmaster! I know this would never happen, but if you could control two pets at the same time!!!

As to an expansion surrounding the Maelstrom, I guess it would deal with Queen Azshara and the Naga. I would assume it would have to be mostly underwater. I don't think I would like that at all. I hate fighting underwater in WoW. It is very cumbersome and stressful....lol. I guess if they improved gameplay underwater and allowed every class to have some water breathing ability it could be cool.

Anyway, I am anxiously awaiting BlizzCon and hoping for an official announcement!