Cataclysm Post Mortem 1 Quests

This is a response to "Cataclysm Post Mortem -- Quest Design with Dave "Fargo" Kosak" found here.

He said the Main Goal going into Cataclysm but the community didnt feel that way.  Due to misleading hype about the world shattering zones people expected a sweeping epic story and that barely happened.

They should of stuck to their plan of remaking some zones, updating others, and ignoring the rest.  In the end the final product was very lackluster for its lack of focus relying on things such as bad CSI and Rambo jokes to try and carry it.  They dont have a place in WoW and they fell flat to everyone I know beyond a faint chuckle.

Warcraft Cataclysm Post Mortem Zero

Blizzard recently just started their Post Mortem of the Cataclysm expansion.  For those who arent up on what the term means its something that happens after death in classical meaning or in modern use after some event.  Theres sort of two kinds of Post Mortems.  One that's hard numbers.  X People Subscribed at the start, Y people quit in a month, Z people quit in 3 months, etc.  The other is more of a mood and feel.  You get to look at things less from a numbers viewpoint and more from how people involved felt.  That's what we were given and its a really cool look at how their feeling about Cataclysm.

Well...kind of cool.

Gearing and leveling in 4.3

So I thought Id work up my level 80 rogue into a level 85 rogue, get her geared up and maybe do some raiding.  It took 5 days to move from 80 to 85 moving at a casual pace.

80-82 in Mt Hyjal, far enough to unlock the Shrine of Malorn and thus the Firelands dailies if I feel like doing them.  Also doing 4 Dungeon PuG runs.
82-83 in Deepholm getting my Therezane rep up.  Mixed in some PvP battlegrounds as well as the 4 Dungeon runs.
83-84 in Uldum doing the Tol'vir quests.  Really great story.  Stop when it forces you to go back to Harrison Jones.  4 Dungeon runs, and some random pvp battlegrounds.
84-85 in twilight Highlands.  Well sort of.  50 quests in I hit 85 with my 4 dungeon runs.

Race Lore Changes, The good the bad and the WTF

Blizzard has made changes to its living universe over time to let people try more race-class combinations.  Some were introduced with style some were written in by someone wanting to just go home after a long week and no creative energy left and some were just added with no explanation whatsoever.  So just for fun here are my thoughts on them - Ill go from worst to best.

#1 & #2 - Orc & Mage (Cataclysm), Draenei & Mage (Burning Crusade)

Ok so Orcs and Draenei  have a cultural hatred for things Fel (Like mage magic drawn from the twisting Nether).  yet they just have Mageswith no real explanations given.  The starting mage trainers for both races doesn't even have a dialog when you click on her.

Demonhunter Drable II

This was composed listening to a simple song...sad music.
======================================================

A life of dreams flowed past her by - as she stood waiting,
A thousand pains of goodbye - yet she stood waiting.

Heroes with nothing to regret pass her by - yet she stands waiting,
Helplessness to fight the dark tide - yet she stands waiting,

She cant take the coward’s way and hide - so she stands waiting.
She calls her Master to fight -so  she she stands waiting.

So she stands against the dark night -  no one else beside her.
She screams defiance of the lost against the night -no light for her.

Agony...is...life....

Awsome

I kinda agree with one poster that it makes it sound a bit sexist but I figure its unintended and Ill take it as the way it was intended, pure greatness.

Drabble

A drabble done for a friend's podcast about my character's Shattering day.

Alexia Silverhart Ti'Silvermourn

"Regrets, perhaps, but never hesitation."

10-30 Hunter Talents

I hunt because hunting is my passion, I kill because it is my nature to kill

Nightwill and her companion Foehammer.

Pick a pet that goes with your character and their mood.

For leveling the choice in talents is simple, Beast Mastery.  Here is why.

Beast Mastery gives you a stun that also acts as a major agro generation.  This means you can almost always pull a mob back off you and even if you cant it should be out of the fight for long enough for you to run away.  At 1 minute the cooldown is a bit much but its really handy.  Compare that to Marksman and Survival which both have you doing more damage with an extra shot.  Nice but likely to pull threat off your pet and have monsters gnawing your face.

Level 10 Hunters

Superior firepower is an invaluable tool when entering 'negotiations'.

So why is level 10 such an important level for hunters?  Because its when your pet unlocks all of his abilities.

1) Your pet now gets hungry and needs to be fed.  If you don't eventually he will run away.  To feed him click on the Feed Pet spell and then on a bit of food in your inventory.  It will say if he doesn't like the food or not.

Petopia has great guides for caring for pets and is fantastic for thumbing through to find the right pet for you.

Having control of your pet means something very important to your fighting, you can send your pet in first so it holds the agro better.  at 14 you can combine that with casting hunters mark in a nice little macro.

/cast Hunter's mark
/click PetActionButton1

If you want a suggestion, get a bear.  At the moment its the best tank pet in the game until you can tame exotics and pets that are tanks let you go to town more on damage whatever spec you have.

The Cataclysmic Hunter

I am the lion among wolves.

Puppy cuddling!  Because a happy pet is one that will fight will die for you.

1 - Arcane Shot: 25 of your 100 focus, instant, pretty hard hitting shot.  Not enhanced by anything saying it adds to +arcane damage.
1 - Auto Shot: When you right click a mob thats attackable/fire a shot you keep firing at it till its dead or too close and you swap to melee weapons.  Only Hunters can do this- everyone else has to cast a spell for every shot.

Level 10-30 Paladin Talents

So I have another opinion that may set more experienced player's view upside down, especially if you have a full set of heirlooms.  If thats you make sure to read the notes at the end.

So your out judgin' crimes and having a good old time and you hit level 10, time to pick your only specialization till you get a second one at 30.  What to pick?  Well theres a few things you need to know.

Paladins get their first real healing spell (Flash Heal) at 16.  That means Holy is out the window till then.  Holy Shock is nice but its cooldown makes it of limited value and honestly the whole shockadin thing for leveling is just slow and painful.

This leaves Retribution (Ret) and Protection (Prot).  Now Blizzard really Jumped the Shark with this one.

The Cataclysmic Paladin

A quick look at the power of the paladin to get us started.

Yay kitties!

1 - Crusader's Strike: An extra melee swing with a 4.5 sec cooldown that will make holy power at level 9.
3 - Judgement: A 10 yard ranged holy power attack with an 8 sec cooldown, must have a seal on to use.
3 - Seal of Righteousness: You do extra holy damage when you hit things.  Always keep this on.  Lasts 30 min.

Level 10-30 Priest Talents

I'm going to assume that since you're playing a priest you want to heal some and damage (DPS) some.  After all at 15 you get random dungeons and healers get in easy, right?  


So look over the talents and then chose discipline.  Yes Discipline.  Your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate may have had a reason for saying holy or shadow was better but they're wrong, and I will explain why.

The Cataclysmic Priest

First a quick look at the skills you get as a starting priest

1 - Smite: Basic holy damage ranged attack.  2.5 Sec cast its slow.
3 - Flash Heal: 1.5 Sec cast and hits decently hard at your level.  useful in case you actually need healing.
4 -Shadow Word: Pain: An instant damage over time that helps contribute to kills.  Shortened to SW:P.
5 - Power Word: Shield: Your bread and butter of of invincibility at lower levels.  Prevents you from taking a good amount of damage.  It has a debuff that prevents it from being used again for a few seconds after its cast.

Cataclysm

In the new expansion they will be entirely removing the old coins given for pvp and revamping the system.  Unlike BC to Wrath they will be upgrading everything you did have.

I'm torn because I know why they allowed Badges of Justice to become of little value, it made designing their replacement easier.  I usually grab a few and get a bit of gear regardless when Im 70 as some of it is FAR superior to things you can get your hands on for a long whole.  heck with gem slots you can use some of the gear till your 80.