Story Time!!
Heya guys!! That’s right, it’s story time!! Time to talk about random stuff from today and some PvP comments. It was an eventuful, long day actually and I feel like I got a lot done. And I had the most epic Wintergrasp battle I’ve ever been in. It was amazing!!!
So lets dive in and talk about some topics eh?
POWER OUTAGES
We hates ‘em. Grrrrr…. Been wondering why there has been no SJ post? THAT’S WHY!!!! OMFG!! So I log off of WoW last night, and it’s been a good day. LOTS of stuff done, as you’re about to see. And I’m putting away like a good lil blogger writing up this post for you guys, and planning on getting in some of that finalized research on Frost like I’ve been promising you guys.
*flicker* *flicker*
“Oh no…”
*blackout*
“OH !@#$ $!#$ @!$ #@!$ $#@!$#@!$ !$#@$#@!$#@! !!!!!!!” (edited for younger viewers 
)
1 minute later… /power on
“WOOT!!!!”
*blackout*
“Are you !$#!$ $#@!$#$$ SERIOUS!?!? $#@! $#@$ $#@!$#@!$#@! $ #@!$#@!$@! !!!!”
So yeah…I was not a happy lil death knight. On the upside? I got today off and was able to sleep in until noon. /content sigh
GOLD
One of my favorite topics!! So, how is the market working out? Gotta say, I overestimated things a bit. I got so used to the pace of S2-4, that I forgot what S1 was like. On top of that add in that honor capped probably means you bought all of 2 epics and there isn’t all that much to use gems on eh? Plus no real Arena points to spend until next week at earliest.
I put up a ton of gems at very high prices and most of them did not sell. However I still did about 4000g in sales today all said and done, without really trying. So I’m happy. I should be able to generate at least 2-3k in sales every day for the next 3 weeks so long as I’m listing properly.
If you’re looking to make money you should try to focus on listing items on high profile days. Tues/Wed and then skip Thur to let the market pull back up. Then go back at it on the weekend and skip Mon to let the market pull back up again. Generally speaking you should take 2-3 days off of listing items on the AH every week, preferably when items dip low in price. Let your competitors sell low and make a small profit, and then sell later higher making more gold than them.
Wintergrasp
So the battle starts up, and it’s looking sweet. I’m running the raid and I’ve got about 8 guildmates and friends with me. We then start sending out random invites and get a team to the SE workshop where we steal it from the Horde for what appears to be the start of a decisive victory!! Things are looking awesome!
Wait…NO!!!! The Horde had focused their assault out of the SW workshop and punched a hole right through our first center gate right. No one called for backup!! We recalled our forces and went into pure defensive mode. With less than 30 minutes left the Horde has already breached our outer defenses, and they were closing in on us.
They pushed us harder and harder, and our “allies” in the Alliance were not calling for reinforcements no matter how dire their plight. So the next thing we know, we’re turtled up in front of our last gate praying for anything to change Fate’s hand, and we’ve still got to last another 20 minutes. This isn’t looking good kids.
The Horde’s Tenacity was faltering however. They brought so many of their forces to this battle that it truly was an epic struggle of near equals. Imagine the Field of Strife in Alterac Valley filled with all of the forces of the Alliance and the Horde crashing down upon one another. This was the image set before us as we were poised with trepidation before the unrelenting Horde.
Ten minutes to go, the last gate still stands!!! Victory might actually be in hand!! BOOM!!! And with that final shattering noise, our hopes are dashed and defeat looms before us. Only stubborn determination to make life a living hell for our Horde oppressors keeps up fighting on!!
Each minute feels like an hour as we pour our collected arcane and necromantic might into massive bursts of area effect explosions of raw power around the Orb. Every effort made to stave off the Horde’s Mages and Rogues from coming in stealthily and stealing victory from our hands.
Those who ressurect even find themselves staving off waves of attacks from the Horde trying to keep our reinforcements bottled up and away from the fight. But it serves them for naught, as like a tireless Juggernaught the Alliance streams down the hill and back into our gates, scattering the Horde lines as if they were no more than a handful of twigs.
5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute to go…
Every moment is filled with agonizing concentration as the Horde has had our final gate breached for over 10 minutes now. Focus, determination, iron will…feats of legend performed right before our eyes. And no one takes notice, so lost in the battle for victory over the Horde…
DING!!! VICTORY!!!
“HOLY F’ING CRAP ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?! WE WON??!?!?! NO WAI!!! LIES!!!! OMFG!!!! /HIGHFIVE”
It was one of the most epic experiences I have ever had the chance to take part in, in World of Warcraft. And were I not exhausted and ready to fall asleep this moment, I would have spent an hour truly writing the story in true detail, not this shoddy rough draft. I pray you all get the chance and opportunity to either defend or assault WG in such a manner. I will *never* forget it.
Arena
Did you Arena today? I sure as hell didn’t!! No thank you. I’m a newb again to PvP. New class and all. Walking in to butting heads against previous Gladiator teams doesn’t equate to fun for me. For those who don’t know my prior Arena expliots it works out like this.
I did S1 and it was an epic failure. I didn’t know many people who liked to PvP at the time, and I was brand new to my shaman. So no real practical experience to bring to the table you know? And I was trying to do it as Enhancement, back when Enhance was lolshaman. So we gear up for S2.
S2 went better. I hit the 1900’s on two different teams as Elemental and it was a lot of fun. However both times people ended up quitting the team for no real apparent reason. One team was stuck and not moving ahead at all, and they gave up. And then the next, someone had to miss due to rl, then someone else had to miss due to rl, and it snowballed.
S3, enter my warrior. I honor capped him and everything. I thought bringing in a fully decked warrior might help. No go. Why? Everyone had a decked warrior. /sigh So back to the Shaman and get into another 1900 bracket team as Elemental…and this time 2 of the people quit to go join another team with a Gladiator… /sigh
S4, things are new and I’ve got a fully decked out Enhancement Shaman. 3 melee dps teams are in, and between Purge, Wind Fury Totem, Heroism, and my new toys I’m useful. So again I get into 2 different teams and both go to the 1900’s. And yet again, people quit.
Noticing a trend here? /facepalm
This season my efforts will be in finding only reliable partners who play often. Read: availability to be there. Also I will be trying to focus only on ideal compositions, versus what I can get. Not always an option, but I will try. Generally bad compositions lead to what happened for me once or twice before. No matter how skilled the players, certain compositions only take you so far in ratings.
So my advice to you guys, re-read the last paragraph above this one. It’s solid.
Sons of Hodir
If you’re not an Inscriptor, this one is for you. I hit honored and I got my new little shoulder enchant. Woot!! But then they have these new honored quests. OK, time to rock it like a freight train. Yeah…when you get to the killing of the Wild Drake with that lil sissy ninny spear…stop. Go read up on the damn fight at WoWHead.com and don’t just rush into it. You will likely die. I and my roomie (who both hit Honored within 12 hours of each other and never talked to one another about the damn quest until we both finished it) both died repeatedly to it. Stop, read the buttons, read the details, and focus. This isn’t a quest you can just button smash through. I know. I tried. >.<
As a heads up after the big patch pushes through from PTR, those relicmabobs that drop out there in good old Hodir lands…they become BoE and can be turned in for SoH rep. So if you hate the quest grind like I do, it’ll be ok to skip a few days here and there if you are willing to farm the relics or buy them late. /win
PvP Epics
So I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and here is the realization I’ve come to. None of the blue or lower quality PvP pieces are even worth it if you have epic gear. Period. Arena is still too much about burst dps as it’s far more than most healers can compete with atm still. Focus only on equal level PvP epics or greater. And even then you may be able to skip them.
If you will be on a team where you have no healer (such as double dps 2v2’s) then you need some PvP gear. I swapped out to 2 Hateful pieces and 1 Deadly atm. The helm was a no brainer as my current had no Stamina on it whatsoever. But otherwise you will have to sit there and compare what items are good purchases for you. But if you only do say a 5v5 and you never get focus fired…if you have epics all of equal or greater value, then stick with those. Heroic farming alone could have you geared enough already to ignore the starting PvP gear.
If it’s Deadly, use it. It’s just too good honestly and if you get focused it’s damn nice to have.
If it’s Hateful, use it over anything that is T7 or lower. T7.5, you may want to stop and reconsider.
If it’s Blue Quality, don’t use it unless it’s equitable or greater than your current gear. It’s better to save your honor and badges for bigger upgrades. It’s ok if you don’t do that well due to gear for the first 1-2 months of Arena. Get the right gear and don’t waste your Honor/Arena points.
Remember you can purchase Hateful pieces for Badges of Valor from 25 mans in your faction headquarters at Dalaran. If you have crappy green or blue gear you can also spend Badges of Heroism from 10 mans there as well. I may have the wrong spellings on the badges, but you get the drift. I needs to go!!!
And soooo…
…that’s it for now!! I’m off to the store so I can make some home made New Orleans red beans and rice with sausage!!! Yumm!! I’m going to be working over the AH some, getting in some PvP, and doing that research I promised you guys on Frost PvP. Have a good one and see you all later this evening!! 
