Heya guys!! It’s story time!!
“Yay!!”
Hush now little death machines and listen. It’s time to learn how to kill people…
I’m trying out something new here and directly quoting the questions posed by my readers.
Hopefully you guys like it!
Skaven wrote:
Is it just me, or does it seem like unholy DK?s are getting haste stacked up all over them? Accelerated auto attacks and quicker rune regeneration doesn?t seem to be quite the flavor I was looking for in Unholy. Quick, fast and furious seems more of the dual wield thing, something which never appealed to me.
Keep in mind that with the new changes to DK’s in CATA, some old styles of playing may stay in place. Frost Presence will be the new Blood Presence. It’s entirely possible Unholy will still be playing in Frost Presence in CATA.
And yes, haste is an “uber” stat for Unholy now, and possibly in CATA as well… But even so I do not foresee Unholy ever hitting as fast as Frost does, or simulating their playstyle.
Simon wrote:
Epidemic aside, have they increased disease durations? With the slower rune regeneration my worry would be that we really can?t spare two of them to re-apply diseases all the time, and the increased focus on targeted rather than AoE DPS should mean that use of Pestilence isn?t viable in a lot of situations?
The rumor mill has it that diseases are looking at a base duration somewhere between 20-40 seconds, with a duration of somewhere near 40-60 seconds talented. That has not been confirmed, and is only speculation atm. But it’s solid conjecture.
I seriously doubt Pestilence will stop being effective. All AoE damage is supposed to be nerfed in CATA. The sky isn’t falling yet.
Rod wrote:
Sorry about the previous comment.. the info i had was from Consider?s Cata notes page, which he says ?This information is simply gathered through spell IDs, which are available through a variety of public, legal websites?
Multiple posters have put comments here on this site listing information that clearly breaks the NDA agreement. Just because they, or another site, didn’t get into the Alpha and never signed the NDA doesn’t mean that they are not doing something wrong.
MMO-Champion was already approached by Blizzard and told not to list their Cataclysm information (which was listed on MMO). Responding quickly, MMO-Champion pulled all CATA related information from public view per Blizzard’s wishes.
What you have to remember is that smaller sites won’t “wake the beast” like larger sites will. That said, staying under the radar is not enough for me. As per Blizzard’s wishes, I will honor their NDA. All NDA content posted on site by anyone will be deleted.
Trust me, you were not the only person by far. Many, many people have posted comments that have been deleted.
Funkyliciouz wrote:
Hey man, do you know why they’ve added “Might of the Frozen Wastes”? – Ofc you dont^^
But what’s your thoughts about it? Seeing as they put a TWO Hand weapon skill in the tier10 part of the frost tree O_o?`Are they going to mess with ma dual wield pwnage :<?
Blizzard’s intention is to keep Frost viable for dps DK’s who do not want to use two 1H weapons or spec into Unholy. With Blood becoming the tank tree, and Frost becoming the dual wield tree, 2H DK’s would be forced to spec Unholy in CATA.
Blizzard’s original game design for Death Knights was for them to be a two handed weapon class, with the option of dual wielding. Dual wield was folded into Frost finally to make DW DK’s happy and to alleviate balance issues.
It should make you happy to know that Blizzard has stated that they intend to make Frost 2H viable, and will prop it up, but have no intention of letting it surpass DW Frost. The goal is comparable, not better.
Barantos wrote:
This is a decent post the problem I see with alot of guilds is they let emotion get in the way for performance. Seem to be every guild I join and raid with someone?s terrible family member vcontinues to perform poorly and they are given a free pass. This eventually rubs most players the wrong way as this person wins gear over other raiders with better performance. I would like to see guild have more competition between classes.
This is a fine line to walk, and has made and broken many guilds.
On one side you want “cool” people in your guild that everyone gets along with. On the other side you want top performers as well. But what do you do when the top performers are complete asshats?
I think there is a balance that could be achieved, but again that is a very fine line to walk. Ultimately the GM and officers should make a decision on what the focus of a guild is, and then the guild mates can make their own decisions as to whether to stay.
However, this is an issue that cannot be answered easily. It really comes down to what guild you’re in, and what their priorities are.
Larísa wrote:
This seems very random and unfair since they even activiely invited BRK and let him stay inspite of his blogging. Booo for that kind of double standards.
Aside from that: I wouldn?t want to be either in the alpha or the beta. Software testing for free and the only thing you get for it is boredmom earlier when the real game launches. No thanks.
You pretty much hit the nail on the head. While I like BRK (he’s who got me to start this site!), it is a complete double standard on Blizzard’s part. That said, I’m glad he got in. Hopefully it will pave the road for other people to get included down the road from our neck of the woods.
As to the testing, I’d *KILL* to get into the Alpha/Beta early. Have you seen the proposed changes to Death Knights?! Last time I got into the Beta so late that everything was done and decided. My input meant nothing.
I would love to get in there and actually get some real testing done on my class changes so that I could iterate on the flaws and benefits, hopefully helping to improve my class balance as a whole!!
Henrique wrote:
yo SJ ! if u ever need help writing articles for the new website just sayt it. I can help typing the stuff on it if you want. also can bring up some articles. u have my email on this post if u ever need help
That has to be one of the worst applications to writing for someone I’ve ever seen, lol!! 
Do you remember a thing called proper grammar? 
While I am open to this concept, I am leery as hell too… I tried this once before with Geist. She did a few posts here on the site.
Ultimately the posts were not up to the standards I’d have liked them at, but they still offered a new perspective and useful information. I had to do some editing on every post all the same, and in the end she quit WoW which curtailed her interest in posting about WoW, lol.
It would take someone really impressing the hell out of me for me to consider bringing them on as a writer. And as I’m already focused on DPS and know a ton about it, I’d be likely only inclined if they had a deep understanding of PvP and/or Tanking to complement my skill sets.
And lastly, they’d have to have an ego the size of a flea. I would be editing and changing their posts most likely. Know someone who both has the credentials, some writing talent, the interest, and willingness to have me edit their posts? I sure don’t!! 
ODK wrote:
how to find a good guild when you suck at relations but carry your weight in fights?
If you go back through some of my older posts (from today) you can see some of the approaches I used to applying to a new guild. There’s even a whole post on it in “Improving Your Game by SJ”.
As to the “sucking at relations” part I’d recommend an old tried and true method. Shut up and listen.
While that won’t work in the interview process (if they have one), it will work for everything else. When you apply to a new guild keep your head low, comments to yourself, and just pay attention and listen.
Take the time to force yourself to joke around some with people and perform well. If you do that, when you finally decide to weigh in on a subject people will listen.
As to “applying”… If you don’t deal well with people then I can only suggest trying really hard not to mess up when on vent with them. A good idea might be to have a friend who plays WoW to come over for the interview (if they have one) and make suggestions on what not to say.
Ultimately though, playing in a guild is part of the “social aspect” in WoW. It’s something you’re going to have to find a way to integrate with or just get really lucky with finding a guild…
Dammanus wrote:
Hey SJ, can you please make a post on trinket alternatives…
I plan on making a post in the next week, to few weeks, regarding trinkets.
Seltor wrote:
Well, considering that he is NOT in the Alpha, he is not directly breaking any NDA policy.
Please also see Rod’s comment above in this post.
It amazes me how much “internet specific” legal issues are just ignored by people. Downloading movies, music, hacked games, etc… Those are all illegal, but people do it everyday without a concern.
You wouldn’t walk into a store and just take some movies and cd’s and steal them. But you would download them without paying on the internet. You = generic random person.
The phenomenon is amazing really. If you take away the risk of punitive action people become 100% willing to break the law. I’m sure there are psych studies on this, or at least there should be.
Just because someone didn’t sign the NDA themselves doesn’t mean they’re not breaking the law.
If you want to get down to it, Blizzard can prosecute anyone they want to for leaking CATA information. And they can enforce it. The law is on their side.
The NDA is what applies to the people playing in the Alpha and Beta. But it is not the only law or “legal statute” in place protecting Blizzard. Ever heard of things like intellectual rights, property laws, legal precedent, etc?
So you are correct. He did not break the NDA. That does not mean however that the multitudes of websites listing NDA information are not breaking the law.
It’s just easier to just say “NDA” when I refer to this stuff. Are they gonna come after me if I list NDA information? Not fricking likely. But just because I could get away with NDA information on my site doesn’t mean I should.
I choose to honor Blizzard’s wishes. If others do not, that is their prerogative. But it isn’t “legal” to do so whatever you, or other websites, think. Most likely they are fully aware that Blizzard could come after them, but just don’t care because they are too small of a fish.
Disclaimer: I take free movies from friends who download and burn them. While I don’t download them myself, I will watch them. The above was to make a point and to clarify my stance with this website. I do not claim to be a saint.
Bulbasaur wrote:
Hi there SJ, I have a question about gliphs. Is it worth for an unholy dps spec to use gliph of disease and not reapply FF and PS manually? In your last articles you said it?s a dps gain with frost but I didn?t get if it?s truly worthly for unholies.
You can use a Pestilence rotation for unholy if you want to, but it is a dps loss. I do not recommend using it except for an AoE or PvP specific build.
Luciferano wrote:
how much dps does your gargoyle give you over a point in necrosis?
I have no idea, but it’s a crap ton. Do not ever drop Gargoyle as Unholy. Don’t do it!!
Valishna wrote:
Was just wondering if you could do a post about the use of army of the dead on raid bosses in wotlk. I often doubt if i can use it or not. Would be nice if we could get some info bout using it on bosses. Thnx anyway and keep up the good work.
ICC
Excepting Dreamwalker and Lich King you should use AotD just before the pull on every boss. There are two exceptions.
Lady Deathwhisper – if you are on adds, and depending on placement and /petattack macros, you might not want to pop army here. You could make life hell on your tanks for picking up adds. Use at your own risk.
Professor Putricide – you use army twice here as Unholy. Once at the start of the encounter, and then again at the start of the final phase. That said, with the new 25% dps buff in effect, if your guild’s dps is high enough then this may no longer be possible.
Bliksem wrote:
Can you comment on whether or not you should be using blood presence or unholy presence while unholy spec?ed for max dps ??
Blood Presence always. While UP can do comparable dps in some situations, it is not as effective as Blood Presence. This goes for all currently “viable” dps specs in the 3.x+ world.
Dorraemir wrote:
Will you be using your Unholy ?Slow? spec for HLK? Hopefully ur guild will allow it.
I have both specs prepped now and I’ve regemmed for them as well. I plan on playing Unholy at H LK unless our Enhancement Shaman is not there.
Rikukun wrote:
In response to what you said about frost being better than blood, I am in all 251+ gear, other than a 245 neck. you can look me up on the armory if you want, im pretty sure im the only lv80 dk in the game with this name. Maybe i still need to get even more geared for frost to pull ahead, because outside of aoe im not seeing specing into frost being any different than blood with reaping. Also one specific question. If I were spec?d into reaping, and used scourge strike with the death runes, would I pull less dps than I would if I used the death runes for blood strike? thanks!
so i actually just tested that spec out (and modified it for dirge) and came to the conclusion that it is better than the icy talons spec if you have improved icy talons or windfury totem on you, but if you dont have either of these buffs, then the spec using icy talons is better?.which really just kinda bugs me that the spec is buff dependant.
Unholy has a few dps options for spec’ing around at lower gear levels. Whether you go sub-Blood or sub-Frost should not matter a great deal at your ilvl. Personal preference is what I’d recommend.
Reaping is a dps loss, but it’s a loss of less than 200 dps. I’m not even convinced it’s a dps loss of more than 100 dps honestly. You give up 3 talent points that only generate 300 dps to begin with, and 1 SS beats out 2 BS for dps. *shrug*
If you have Reaping, use SS.
As to that spec that I purposely did not relink, that would be a “negatory”. It’s a dps loss in a full raid with full raid buffs and debuffs.
And whenever I talk to you guys about dps, I always assume that you have all raid buffs and debuffs. I’m not getting into debates on situations where x buffs and y debuffs exist. That would be hell.
ODK wrote:
Heya SJ, for another idea on a post, could ya maby make a post of up to date WoW information and data sites or something? seems all the sites i use to use are old, stuff like guildprogress, where to find top dps lists that are accurate, stuff like warcrafter and wowjitsu are all old and those are examples of stuff i run into when i search for wow sites, without having a direct suggestion from someone i dont seem to find much of anything up to date, theres aLOT of old non-updated sites out there?.. just a thought tho?
It is on the list sir!
Skeleton Jack vs Blizzard
For all those who enjoyed the post: Skeleton Jack versus Blizzard thank you!!
The post idea came from a friend and I wasn’t sure if my attempt at humor would be well received. Thanks again for the comments there!!
You have questions? I have answers!!
Sometimes it takes a while to get them all out, but I do try!! Leave a comment here on site or drop me an e-mail any time.
Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com
-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…
Tags: Questions
