Master Blood Knight Aloysius McTacky entered the Silvermoon Inn.
"So?" asked the Bartender.
"What?" asked McTacky.
"It is a world event at the moment. So where is your tall story about saving Noblegarden?" asked the Bartender.
"I don't know what you are talking about," insisted McTacky, "I'm just heading out the back to play some two-up."
McTacky left the inn and entered Murder Row. A group of Blood Elves surrounded a Boxer collecting money.
The Spinner nodded and threw the two coins went up into the air. They landed odds.
"Look out! It's the blood knights!" said the Cockatoo, seeing McTacky.
"Relax, it's Just McTacky," said the Ringkeeper.
McTacky the Just: A slow completionist grind though the World of Warcraft!
Friday, 25 April 2014
Saturday, 12 April 2014
Flashback: Just say No to Demon Blood
At first it seemed that the champions with their The Tempest Key from the Sha'tar had killed Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider and taken Kael's Vial Remnant and one of his Verdant Spheres. Instead he was very much alive and clearly insane.
"... did you see how Kael'thas looked?" asked Ellrys Duskhallow.
"Yes. He hasn't been the same since the attack on Tempest Keep," said McTacky. He looked like a Wretched now.
"He was beaten and left for dead. If Priestess Delrissa hadn't arrived when she did, who knows what might have happened!" exclaimed Ellrys Duskhallow.
"That look in his eyes now... it scares me," admitted McTacky,
"Yes, but we will follow him to the end. It's our duty to head to Dawnblade Village on the Isle of Quel'Danas and hold it while he prepares." explained Ellrys Duskhallow.
"Prepares? Prepares for what?" asked McTacky.
"You will find out," said Ellrys Duskhallow ominously, "Also an elite few will be given the chance to become Felblood Elves, they will drink demon blood and gain fast strength and power, the Shadowsword. As a Master Blood Knight, you would rate highly on that list. First you just need to gather some items for us for the ritual."
"Of course," said McTacky.
Later....
"You just ran away?" asked the Bartender.
"No. I realised that the Warlock Duskhallow wasn't actually my superior, so myself and my squad came back to Silvermoon for new orders," explained McTacky.
"You just ran away?" asked the Bartender.
"That warlock wanted me to drink demon blood! I am already superb, I don't need Demon Blood!" said McTacky.
"So you ran away," shrugged the Bartender.
"See here, the Trolls over at Zul'Aman need our attention now. They are infusing their champions with their ancient animal gods!" said McTacky, "they could use that power to threaten the homeland."
"It just sounds like an excuse," said the Bartender.
"Listen. If someone offers you Demon Blood. You just say No!" said McTacky.
"You didn't say no. You ran away," said the Bartender.
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Countdown to Warlords of Draenor (21 week update/32 weeks to go)
I have been busy with Diablo III: Reaper of Souls the past two weeks, but I still attended the guild raids. The big news is that I've started attending the Normal Raids, not just the Flex Raids, with my guild, Frostwolves! After a couple of runs I beat my goal of 553 item level for holy! Now to push towards 566! I also now have my four set bonus.
I haven't killed Garrosh on Normal yet since that is done with two heals and not three. If my Ret spec was more viable I would be able to stay in the run. I need to research how to heal better in that fight as well.
The next Countdown to WoD update will be in four weeks, not two.
Important Stuff to do:
● Get Holy Item Level to over 566 (555/566)
● Get Ret Item Level to over 553
● Proving Grounds: Proving Yourself: Gold Healer
● Proving Grounds: Proving Yourself: Gold Damage
Old Raid Stuff to do:
● Glory of the Cataclysm Hero (27/28) (Crushing Bones and Cracking Skulls left)
● Glory of the Cataclysm Raider (20/24)
● Get Shado-Pan Assault to Exalted (Honored)
● Get all Burning Crusade Raid Pet Drops (5/10)
Misc Stuff to do:
● Get all Pristine Archaeology
● Do [The Longest Day] Achievement
● Get all Argent Tournament Mounts (10/15) (600 Tokens)
● Nat Pagle Friendship to Best Friends (7/64 hand-ins done)
Jewelcrafting Recipe Collection:
● 7 Burning Crusade Recipes - 1 Aldor, 5 Sunwell, 1 Dungeon Drop
● 11 Cataclysm Recipes - 2 World Drop; 9 Vendor (45 Cata Tokens)
-
Monday, 7 April 2014
Patch 5.0 Alpha vs Blood Knight Spells
Lets see what the damage is to Blood Knights in the current state of the 5.0 Alpha:
As Blood Knights are all Blood Elves, lets look at the racials:
• Arcane Acuity is a new racial passive ability that increases Critical Strike chance by 1%.
• Arcane Torrent now restores 1 Holy Power for Paladins. Other parts of the ability remain unchanged.
Nice, nice! Now what is being removed and restricted?
• Blinding Light has been removed - I think I should have used this more. But I suspect it was more a PvP ability. Maybe I am wrong?
• Hand of Salvation has been removed - Haven't used this since Burning Crusade
• Holy Light has been removed - Haven't used this spell since I changed over to my current built
• Inquisition has been removed - One I actually used when I went Ret. This changes damage rotations.
• Divine Plea has been removed. Mana costs for Paladins have been adjusted accordingly. - I use this all the time! Well things better cost less mana!
• Divine Light has been renamed Holy Light - This change makes sense! The name Holy Light is iconic, so it may as well be the workhorse spell again.
• Avenging Wrath is now only available to Retribution Paladins - No more wings while healing then!
• Devotion Aura is no longer available to Protection Paladins - This hurts our guild Blood Knights tanks like Xyn.
• Guardian of Ancient Kings is now only available to Protection Paladins -There goes my heal & haste boost!
• Holy Insight no longer increases the chance to hit with spells.
• Sanctuary now also reduces the chance for attacks to be parried by 3%.
• Repentance cast time has been increased to 1.8 seconds - up from 1.7 seconds. Well if I have to crowd control it'll take slightly longer, but I rarely get called on to do it myself
• Turn Evil cast time has been increased to 1.8 seconds and now has a 6 second duration in PvP (down from 8 seconds). - Up from 1.5 cast time. I used it sometimes if there when there was absolutely nothing to heal before my current build.
Prot get Guardian, Ret keep wings, Holy get a boosted Divine Favor.
Weakened Blows was a debuff that mattered almost exclusively to tanks, and that every tank automatically applied. We removed the debuff and reduced creature damage to compensate.
The following abilities no longer apply the Weakened Blows effect: Crusader Strike and Hammer of the Righteous. - Wait, Crusader Strike caused weakened blows effect? Well I'm surprised. Well I guess it doesn't any longer!
Holy get their spells rearranged:
Paladin Higher Efficiency: Holy Light, Holy Shock, Word of Glory, Light of Dawn
Paladin Higher Throughput: Flash of Light, Holy Radiance
Well I don't see anything wrong with that...
• Eternal Flame now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast) for Holy Paladins.
• Light of Dawn now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast).
• Word of Glory now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast).
Wait, what! Isn't the point of the Holy Power resource to be spent instantly after building them up! That means I really can't heal and move, again! /mourns death of instant cast spell heals
• Guarded by the Light (Protection) now also makes Word of Glory and Eternal Flame instant cast.
• Sword of Light (Retribution) now also makes Word of Glory and Eternal Flame instant cast.
Oh! OH! I see how it is! Ret keep Templar's Verdict, Prot keep Shield of the Righteous & Barkskin (Symbiosis), and they both keep Word of Glory/Eternal Flame as instants! It is only Holy, being balanced against other healers, that loses the instant nature of Holy Power. Meaning Holy may as well just have those spells cost Mana now.
I am excited to see these changes in action and see how the removal of 'smart heals' impacts on my healing. It does sound like healing is going back to being slower and more measured. More clever spell rotations like a Death Knight would, to push up Holy Power so you can cast Holy Power spells as a normal spell.
This is all far more technical than during Burning Crusade where I stacked Crit/MP5 only spammed one spell over and over to get the job done (well two spells if you count putting Blessing of Salvation on those at the top of the Threat Meter).
As Blood Knights are all Blood Elves, lets look at the racials:
• Arcane Acuity is a new racial passive ability that increases Critical Strike chance by 1%.
• Arcane Torrent now restores 1 Holy Power for Paladins. Other parts of the ability remain unchanged.
Nice, nice! Now what is being removed and restricted?
• Blinding Light has been removed - I think I should have used this more. But I suspect it was more a PvP ability. Maybe I am wrong?
• Hand of Salvation has been removed - Haven't used this since Burning Crusade
• Holy Light has been removed - Haven't used this spell since I changed over to my current built
• Inquisition has been removed - One I actually used when I went Ret. This changes damage rotations.
• Divine Plea has been removed. Mana costs for Paladins have been adjusted accordingly. - I use this all the time! Well things better cost less mana!
• Divine Light has been renamed Holy Light - This change makes sense! The name Holy Light is iconic, so it may as well be the workhorse spell again.
• Avenging Wrath is now only available to Retribution Paladins - No more wings while healing then!
• Devotion Aura is no longer available to Protection Paladins - This hurts our guild Blood Knights tanks like Xyn.
• Guardian of Ancient Kings is now only available to Protection Paladins -There goes my heal & haste boost!
• Holy Insight no longer increases the chance to hit with spells.
• Sanctuary now also reduces the chance for attacks to be parried by 3%.
• Repentance cast time has been increased to 1.8 seconds - up from 1.7 seconds. Well if I have to crowd control it'll take slightly longer, but I rarely get called on to do it myself
• Turn Evil cast time has been increased to 1.8 seconds and now has a 6 second duration in PvP (down from 8 seconds). - Up from 1.5 cast time. I used it sometimes if there when there was absolutely nothing to heal before my current build.
Prot get Guardian, Ret keep wings, Holy get a boosted Divine Favor.
Weakened Blows was a debuff that mattered almost exclusively to tanks, and that every tank automatically applied. We removed the debuff and reduced creature damage to compensate.
The following abilities no longer apply the Weakened Blows effect: Crusader Strike and Hammer of the Righteous. - Wait, Crusader Strike caused weakened blows effect? Well I'm surprised. Well I guess it doesn't any longer!
Holy get their spells rearranged:
Paladin Higher Efficiency: Holy Light, Holy Shock, Word of Glory, Light of Dawn
Paladin Higher Throughput: Flash of Light, Holy Radiance
Well I don't see anything wrong with that...
• Eternal Flame now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast) for Holy Paladins.
• Light of Dawn now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast).
• Word of Glory now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast).
Wait, what! Isn't the point of the Holy Power resource to be spent instantly after building them up! That means I really can't heal and move, again! /mourns death of instant cast spell heals
• Guarded by the Light (Protection) now also makes Word of Glory and Eternal Flame instant cast.
• Sword of Light (Retribution) now also makes Word of Glory and Eternal Flame instant cast.
Oh! OH! I see how it is! Ret keep Templar's Verdict, Prot keep Shield of the Righteous & Barkskin (Symbiosis), and they both keep Word of Glory/Eternal Flame as instants! It is only Holy, being balanced against other healers, that loses the instant nature of Holy Power. Meaning Holy may as well just have those spells cost Mana now.
I am excited to see these changes in action and see how the removal of 'smart heals' impacts on my healing. It does sound like healing is going back to being slower and more measured. More clever spell rotations like a Death Knight would, to push up Holy Power so you can cast Holy Power spells as a normal spell.
This is all far more technical than during Burning Crusade where I stacked Crit/MP5 only spammed one spell over and over to get the job done (well two spells if you count putting Blessing of Salvation on those at the top of the Threat Meter).
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Flashback: Blood for Blood at Tempest Keep
Tempest Keep was a floating fortress created by the Naaru. It had arrived in Outland to fight The Burning Legion after the Blood Elves and their allies had begun their campaign in Outland for a new Mana Source. The discovery of M'uru inside Tempest Keep have been fortuitous and directly lead to the creation of the Blood Knight order.
Many years ago...
"McTacky! By the Blood! You are back!" said Lord Sanguinar 'The Blood Hammer'.
Master Blood Knight Aloysius McTacky cast Mana Tap on a bloodgem crystal as he and his squad returned to Tempest Keep.
"We still hold the Eye of the Storm, M'Lord" reported McTacky. The Eye of Tempest Keep and The Eye of the Storm having simular names was annoying, McTacky kept traveling between the eyes so much he felt cross-eyed.
McTacky's squad had been defending the Eye of the Storm from a Sha'tar attack. The Eye of the Storm was just a series of barren rocks, but they were strategic barren rocks! In the past Draenei had successfully broken though once and taken the Exodar wing of Tempest Keep from the Blood Elves.
"The Sha'tar keep handing out The Tempest Key to their champions," said Lord Sanguinar, "it is said that to prove worthy for The Tempest Key they must slay the mighty Magtheridon."
"Magtheridon! Those ridiculous Fel Orcs, draining blood from a Demon to become stronger," said McTacky.
Lord Sanguinar gave McTacky a look. A look you would give a foolish child, "Yes. It is completely different from draining magic from the Naaru M'uru."
"It is entirely different, M'Lord. That is magic," said McTacky.
"It is all Blood Magic, Master Blood Knight. It isn't even a matter of degrees. M'uru bleeds light instead of green blood. Both sides of a coin have the same value," said Lord Sanguinar, "Blood for blood!"
Lord Sanguinar meaningfully tapped the huge bloodgem crystal floating in the room with his legendary Warp Slicer and not his signature Blood Hammer, before heading off.
McTacky wasn't one to have much agency or initiative when it came to these things. He'd been following orders for the Order, growing stronger and stronger. but he was starting to see things more clearly, and he didn't like the picture. He didn't even like the frame around the picture, and it was a nice frame too! The Frame was pretty on the outside and rotten on the inside. Sure it'd look good on the wall, but it would fall apart on you without warning one day. McTacky got lost in that analogy.
"McTacky! By the Blood! You are back!" said Lord Sanguinar 'The Blood Hammer'.
Master Blood Knight Aloysius McTacky cast Mana Tap on a bloodgem crystal as he and his squad returned to Tempest Keep.
"We still hold the Eye of the Storm, M'Lord" reported McTacky. The Eye of Tempest Keep and The Eye of the Storm having simular names was annoying, McTacky kept traveling between the eyes so much he felt cross-eyed.
McTacky's squad had been defending the Eye of the Storm from a Sha'tar attack. The Eye of the Storm was just a series of barren rocks, but they were strategic barren rocks! In the past Draenei had successfully broken though once and taken the Exodar wing of Tempest Keep from the Blood Elves.
"The Sha'tar keep handing out The Tempest Key to their champions," said Lord Sanguinar, "it is said that to prove worthy for The Tempest Key they must slay the mighty Magtheridon."
"Magtheridon! Those ridiculous Fel Orcs, draining blood from a Demon to become stronger," said McTacky.
Lord Sanguinar gave McTacky a look. A look you would give a foolish child, "Yes. It is completely different from draining magic from the Naaru M'uru."
"It is entirely different, M'Lord. That is magic," said McTacky.
"It is all Blood Magic, Master Blood Knight. It isn't even a matter of degrees. M'uru bleeds light instead of green blood. Both sides of a coin have the same value," said Lord Sanguinar, "Blood for blood!"
Lord Sanguinar meaningfully tapped the huge bloodgem crystal floating in the room with his legendary Warp Slicer and not his signature Blood Hammer, before heading off.
McTacky wasn't one to have much agency or initiative when it came to these things. He'd been following orders for the Order, growing stronger and stronger. but he was starting to see things more clearly, and he didn't like the picture. He didn't even like the frame around the picture, and it was a nice frame too! The Frame was pretty on the outside and rotten on the inside. Sure it'd look good on the wall, but it would fall apart on you without warning one day. McTacky got lost in that analogy.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
McTacky Abandons Belfs, Becomes Nelf
Merry April Fools Day!
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