Gearing up for DPSing

This coming Sunday, as I previously mentioned, Shattered Dreams and Sacred Pack will be pwning face in Naxx 25 man.

I'm stoked.

No really. I am excited to be running with old friends and excited about the possibility of tanking my first ever 25 man.

I would like to point out, I am capable. I have the gear, I have the stats, and I have the know-how. What I lack is someone who has given me the opportunity to tank a 25 man. Because apparently pre-Wrath, Druids were only capable of tanking 10 mans. I'm not sure who came up with that theory, but in my guild, us bears were dps only unless a tank that couldn't be sheeped was required for a certain fight. i.e. the High King fight in Gruul's Lair.

I have fought hard to prove that I'm a respectable tank since I first decided to go bear butt forever ago. By no means do I think I'm the best bear tank out there, but I know I can hold my own. I'm nothing without my awesome healers though, and I know I'll have several of them in the upcoming 25 man run.

However, tanking aside, I've decided to work on a DPS set...just in case. I'm really hoping when the chips are down I have a chance of tanking at least on a rotating schedule or some such, but I forsee a kitty in my near future. Thus it's time to get prepared!

First things first...stat check.

For all of you feral cats out there, here's what you need to be shooting for:

Hit Rating Cap - 295.2
Expertise Rating Cap- 132 (cat only assuming 2/2 in Primal Precision)

The theories out there vary as to what stats are more important. Restro4Life does a really nice breakdown as to what caps are better to be working towards and why here. The flow looks like this:

hit > expertise > strength > agility > attack power > crit > armor penetration > haste

Notice strength is above agility on the list. Seems kind of strange doesn't it? Especially since strength only = attack power and agility = attack power + crit + dodge (which we're not too concerned with being feral kitties). Reason being, since Wrath, Strength actually gives us more attack power per Strength versus per Agility.

Sucks for trying to get a set together since I'm going to have to gem and enchant things a little differently for dps gear versus tank gear. But very cool because that's going to cut our crit down quite a bit. Some of you may argue with me, but I'm still a supporter of the less you crit in raids, the better. That stems from the fact that I play tank and if you're a crit machine, you're more than likely going to pass my threat up and I'm going to be fighting you for aggro thus making me what to chuck you across the dungeon. Therefore low crit = happy tank.

That should give you a nice idea of what stats to look for when gearing up for feral kitty.

Next on the list: gear.

Here comes the fun part...Personally I have used several different references to get a nice pre-Naxx dps set going. Notice I said pre-Naxx. I have been blasting through Naxx, but being primarily a tank, all of those upgrades are still going for the tank part of me so I'm not even attempting to get DPS gear in there yet...yet. So here we go...

Helm
$$%^&*$%^&$&%$^&$*#@^%#$%^*$#$&*$%^#%$^@
/sigh
Mask of the Watcher

I STILL do not have this for my tank set and it is the helm everyone seems to be recommending for freaking cat too. I finally gave up for my tank set and bought a PVP helm with extra badges. No, it's not the best, but it is better than what I had and not too short of the heroic dungeon drops that are recommended for pre-Naxx gear. I haven't decided if I'm going to break down and do that for my dps set as well or just use the helm I have for both sets. It'll probably be easier to pray the helm upgrades from Sapp or Kel drop at this point in my tanking career...

Anywho...moving on...

Neck
Here's a toss up...go figure, some toss up as my tank set!...between Titanium-Impact Choker and Pendant of the Outcast Hero. Depending on how many badges I can get, I'll probably elect for the badge Pendant of the Outcast Hero just to save on gold that the Choker will eat up.

Shoulders
Spaulders of Egotism are the top on the lists I've checked out, so if you're lucky enough to find them on the AH for a reasonable price...gratz! I will be electing to have another crafted Trollwoven Spaulders made. Luckily I had them made for about 400 gold on my server before and the price of mats have dropped quite a bit as of late, so I'm hoping to lucky out and get them for about 200 this go around.

Back
This one is a little tricky. Embrace of Sorrow is the highest Hit Rating cloak on the list but the Shroud of Revirbiration is the highest Expertise Rating cloak on the list. If we use the flow chart above, we're going for the Embrace of Sorrow right off the bat. But the Cloak of Gushing Wound has a nice amount of Agility on it and is second on the list with concerns to Hit Rating and the same as the other four cloaks with Expertise Rating. Notice I've yet to mention the Ice Striker's Cloak as an option. Comparing my stats with each of these Cloaks listed out on LootRank and Shifting Perspectives site, I probably will be grinding out one of the four that Dan lists out instead of having the crafted piece made. As far as I can tell the Ice Striker's Cloak gives me more straight up AP and that's about it. Personally I'd rather have the Hit Rating or Expertise Rating since I can enchant for AP a lot easier than the other stats. So all in all I will most likely being grinding out Embrace of Sorrow from the Maiden in Halls of Stone. Thankfully...it's a normal HOS so it should be fairly easy to get.

Chest
I contimplated picking up the Darkheart Chestguard for this piece since it's the number one pick from LootRank. However, I hopped on my Druid at lunch today and checked out the stat differences with the tank piece I have right now (my Tier piece gemmed up with Dodge, Agility, and Hit) and my Tier piece was better, even with the dodge that my DPS gear won't need. Therefore, I'm going to be grinding Heroics in the next few days for lots and lots of badges to get my tier token for a second chest piece. Yipee!

Wrist
Dragonfiend Bracers from the Wyrmrest Accord. Gee that's easy!

Gloves
Tier token gloves. Yay for more badges!

Waist
Jorach's Crocolisk Skin Belt is from badges as well. It won't break the bank at 40, but it is more Heroics that you'll have to do. If you're not in the mood for those, head over to Utgarde Keep and give Ingvar a run for his money for the Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt.

Legs
/sigh. Awesome. Another piece that I'd like to have two of for both sets and I can't seem to get ONE of the stupid thing. Gored Hide Legguards seem to be the top running for the pants slot. So strap on your patience and go hit up Heroic Gundrak again...and again...and again...

Feet
Boots of the Neverending Path from the Argent Crusade. /easymode Go.

Rings
Since we're going to be running Gundrak anyway...I'm going to shoot for the Hemorrhaging Circle as well as the pants since I'm sure the stupid ring will drop about five times before my pants will. And unless you can afford the awesome Band of the Kirin Tor...go get the Titanium Impact Band made.

Trinket
Darkmoon Card: Greatness. Yes, I want this for both sets as well. Other than that I will probably be picking up the Mirror of Truth.

Weapon
Staff of Trickery seems to be winning as the top for now, but Titansteel Destroyer is a close runner up. The AP on the mace is unreal, so I definitely see why it would be worth your time having it crafted. The staff drops off the last boss in Heroic Violet Hold, so it really just depends on if you want to have something crafted or farm a dungeon.

And there you have it. That's a breakdown of what I'm shooting for anyway. Now you need to gem and enchant everything up.

For your gems, the best advice I can give is that I've gleaned from the advice I've read. Socket everything with a Bold Scarlet Ruby or a Delicated Scarlet Ruby regardless of the socket bonus. That should make life a little easier for you and I hope those lovely gems are going for less than they are on my server.

Now to enchant everything. Let's see...we want a Arcanum of Torment on our helm, Greater Inscription of the Axe from Sons of Hodir on our Shoulders, Major Agility on our cloak, Powerful Stats on our Chest, Greater Assault on our Bracers, Precision on our Gloves, Icescale Leg Armor on our Pants, Icewalker on our Boots, since I'm an enchanter I get the added bonus of Assault on my rings, and Berskering on our weapon.

With all of those lovely items, gems, and enchants here's my final gear stat output:

AP - 7221
Agility - 975
Strength - 304
Crit Rating - 373
Hit Rating - 197
Expertise Rating - 255
Haste Rating - 43
Armor Penetration Rating - 45

Notice I am Expertise capped but not hit capped. That's where hit food, flasks, and raid buffs are going to come in handy. Plus I'm still in a 0/60/11 build for tanking.

Change all that up and here's what we're looking at:

Attack Power - 7895
Agility - 1172
Strength - 512
Crit Rating - 373
Hit Rating - 197
Expertise Rating - 255
Haste Rating - 43
Armor Pentration Rating - 45

Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. That above is not including food or pots either btw.

If I included hit food and flask I could get to 282 hit rating which is pretty dang close to the cap.

So with the build above, we'd be doing about 3k dps in a typical fight with an 83 boss mob. That is awesome I think. I'd be up there with the big rogues and dk's. And that is well worth the effort if I'm going to be doing serious dpsing in a raid.

Changes...they are a'coming...

Next Sunday marks the beginning of a joint adventure with Sacred Pack and Shattered Dreams. We're going to be tackling the 25 mans together to down content before the next big patch with the release of Uldar and the Citadel.

Let me start from the beginning. A while back Kroff and an old friend of ours had talked about possibly doing a joint thing but the idea was kind of dropped and we assumed they had lost interest. Well a few days ago I get a whisper from a buddy of mine and he says that they have decided to join with us and do the 25 man's. A little out of left field for me since I knew Kroff had talked to them about it but didn't realize how serious or far the conversation had gone. I tell Kroff and whisper my friend back and tell him that Kroff was the one all over that, but that I had told him. The next day another buddy of mine and Kroff's whispers him and they start working on the details. Over the next few days we talk through everything and Kroff calls a guild meeting to tell everyone and take a vote.

The vote was pretty unanimous. I had a couple of guildies who didn't want to go, but I've talked to them and I think I've put their fears to rest. One was really concerned about our people being left out with it being a joint venture. I assured them that Kroff and I have big voices in this thing and that we won't let anyone be left behind. Another is worried about pretty much everything under the sun, but we came to a compromise and now all of our people are signed up on the roster for Sunday and I'm stoked.

There are good times to come. I don't know all of Shattered Dreams people, but those that I do know I adore. They're good people. I've been running some dungeons the past couple of days with some more of there folks that will be going and from what I've seen and heard, they are all good peeps. I have a good feeling about this.

For the first time since Wolfden, I'm starting to feel at home. It's a good feeling that I've truly missed. Thank you guys, and you know who you are, for not judging us, looking down on us, or turning your backs on us. Thank you for welcoming us, all of us, as your own. I hope my guildies come to know and love you as much as I do.

Sunwell

Last night was our first guild event. It was a smashing success in my opinion. :-) Most of our guild, at least those big enough, went and had some fun. We picked up some old friends from Red Dawn, Hooligan Nation, and Shattered Dreams. Twenty one of us charged into Sunwell and met, surprisingly, tough mobs. Granted we had three that hadn't hit 80 yet with us, so they died...a lot. We wiped a few times on the first boss before I finally went and read up on it. Strategy in hand, we tried it, wiped once, and then I think it finally clicked what we needed to do. The next time in we killed the sucker, collected loot, and traveled on. We watched a short clip with Brutallas and tried him a few times before I had to call it for raid time.

No, we didn't get the achievement, but oh my goodness, we had fun. Everyone I talked to said they had a blast.

Let me set the scene for you...

The few of us from Sacred Pack are hanging out at the stone asking our friends if they'd like to come. Jules and I are inviting and everytime someone new joins the raid, chat is filled with their name followed by a thousand exclamation points. As we get everyone there and summoned, we start hoping on vent and chit chatting. A group heads on in the instance while a couple of us stay at the stone to keep summoning. Kroff is one of the ones that has headed inside....you know there's gonna be trouble.

I start grabbing some people from Red Dawn: Hypo, Sirgona, Bashy, Smaque, Drew...they all get there and head on inside.

I'm chatting with someone and try to get our group a little more filled up when I hear Kroff cackling and he says over vent "Incoming!". Oh...boy...

Yep...I look over at his screen and he has a HUGE mechanical thing following him...straight to the raid group.

Everyone just kinda hangs out so I calmly say over vent "Ummm...you might want to move cause he'll vanish."

A couple of people are like "omg!" and head out of the instance...but Sirgona...dear sweet Sirgona.../mourn.

Oh yea...we're all dying laughing at this point. I'm watching from the stone as about five ghosts go running past me into the instance.

So we're laughing it up and poking fun at each other still getting some more people there, when I hear it again. "Incoming!"

Yep! The master mind is at it again. This time his target isn't Sirgona, who has already tucked tail and headed straight for the door. This time Kroff's headed straight for Mar and Poncho. And well.../mourn.

That was the kind of hilarity that ensued last night when you get old Wolfden folks together. And that doesn't even touch at the fun on vent.

It makes me sad that we had to split into three guilds after Wolfden met it's demise. It's sad knowing I'm going to log on every day and not see all those guys in my guild. But getting together like we did last night...good times.

Kroff has to gentle remind me that we can do those kinds of things whenever we want to stay in touch with everyone. There not going anywhere and neither are we and it is okay that we're not all in the same guild. We're still around and we still know how to have fun.

I love my guild and I love the guys that came over. I miss the ones that didn't and know that I hold you close to my heart and love you just the same as my guildmates.

Then there are those days...

I do not pug. I hate pugging and I would rather bore my brain out with a rusty knife than pug a group.

Yesterday, I bored my brain out with a rusty knife...

Let me set the scene. Kroff and I log on, it's a little before our lunch our time and we want to play a bit before we clean the house. Mainly, I want to get the routine started for logging every hour and trying for my Peddlefeet. Teacc is the only one on in our guild and he and Kroff start chatting it up. He invites us both to a pug 10 man Vault since more than likely our guild isn't going to see Vault before Tuesday because of trying for Malygos. Kroff asks if I want to go and I'm like, okay sure. Teacc tells us who to whisper and I whisper them saying that my husband and I would both be up for going and I'm a tank but can go as dps and he's dps. No response. So Kroff ports over to Wintersgrasp and finds the person and /says to them we're interested in going. She politely responds the group is full. Kroff tells Teacc this and he says they ninjaed a couple of people into going at the last minute.

Okay, no biggie. So we go back to what we were doing. A couple more guildies log on and we're all chit chatting and kinda doing our own thing. I'm hanging out in Org not really doing much when I notice in Trade chat someone advertising for a 25 man pug. It's a guy from Dust. I start thinking...

Now, let me say something right here. Dust has a bad rep. They are the largest guild on the server and the guild that blasts through content before anyone else has a chance to say "Naxx what?". That is not the reason they have a bad rep though. They have a bad rep for their people being pricks and not really caring about anyone outside their guild. That being said, my opinion has always been very low of them and I usually steer clear. That being until our guild split a few weeks ago. A good friend of mine went over to Dust. He and I keep in contact and he's been very happy there. Another guy who used to be in my Kara raid went there quite a while back as well. He's always kept in touch and I recently learned he's been heading up his own Naxx run. Very sweet guy and both of them have helped me in my quest for healers for our second Naxx run.

So with the two of them there, I've been more receptive of Dust folks in general. You can't really judge a whole guild by a select few now can you? That's very judgmental of me and completely unfair.

Screw it, let's try it. I ask Kroff if he'd like to try and I whisper the guy advertising. He invites me and tells me to have Kroff whisper him. (Apparently he lacks the ability to type in /invite Kroffjr.) Anywho, we both get in and I notice a couple of people I know. One I'm not fond of and just pray he doesn't try and start crap with me this particular morning. Another is a guy that I picked up to OT our Naxx run this coming Wednesday. He spys me and Kroff and waves at us and is very friendly in general.

So far we've only got 15 people but they seem to be coming in at a steady rate and I ask if anyone in our guild would like to go. Two guildies say no and Teacc is still in the ten man. Okay, well if you get out and wanna go, we still have a few spots. We're piddling around when there's one spot left and Teacc say's okay, get me an invite. I tell him to whisper the guy and he gets the last spot. Here we go!

So everyone's in. There's no vent and they charge. The trash pulls go semi-smoothly. Not as smooth as they could have been, but we didn't wipe, so that's a plus. I'm watching chat and I see the moron who says "where are you guys?" Someone asked if he was saved and OMG imagine that, he was. I laugh and tell Kroff about reading BBB's post about this very thing.

We get to the boss. We've lost a few at this point, so they get a couple more people to bring us up to 24 and warlock summon them. Everyone's here...who are the tanks? The raid leader does a raid warning naming the tanks and we're off! The tanks weren't the smoothest, but we got him down and low and behold...rogue AND druid gear drops. Not just druid gear but FERAL druid gear. Cool.

Warrior gear is dished out first. Two warrior drops, two warriors. Easy enough. I whisper our warrior and congratulate him.

Rogue gear is next. Kroff is one of two rogues. They roll and Kroff wins! Yay!

Kroffjr receive's "Deadly Gladiators Dragonhide Legguards."

Wait...WHAT!?

Omg dude, you gave him the Druid pants. Okay, no one freak, just put in a ticket. Raid leader tells MAIN SPEC Druids to roll. The same thing he said at the beginning when we started the raid. Main specs. I'm one of four druids, two of us are feral, two are boomkin. My odds are 50/50.

The other feral druid rolls, I roll and win...gratz me! A boomkin rolls..."Give them to the other feral druid."

WHAT!??!?!?!? You can't do that.

"That's how we do every Dust raid. Get over it."

I'm about to type in raid chat that if that's the way "Dust does it" then you should have spelled that out at the BEGINNING of the raid, not when we're passing out loot. But before I can get all that typed I'm kicked from the raid.

Oh no you didn't! I'm getting pretty POed by this point.

I whisper the raid leader, "Dude, I don't care about the pants, really I don't. But be fair about loot. You can't change your rules when we're passing out loot."

He replies back, "that's the way Dust does it, if you don't like it, don't come" and puts me on ignore.

O...M....G...

Okay, I'm sitting in my loveseat fuming at this point. I haven't started yelling, but I'm steaming. Alright, Tab, calm down and don't lose your temper. You can't whisper the dude so just go do your hourly thing and calm down.

I head over to Org and do my adoration. Ding! Peddlefeet. Woot! Okay, I feel a little better. Now...to take care of the prick.

I hop over to my banker alt and whisper Spiltbloodd the raid leader of the pug guild that proved he's has no respect or consideration for anyone and really just didn't want to deal with me even though, hey, I was nice. Hmmm...how bout that you piece of crap?

So here's my marvelous BITE ME comment "Don't you dare block me. I was freaking nice to you when you screwed up. No wonder Dust has a bad rep with morons like you running raids. Be fair about loot dude, I don't care HOW Dust does it."

I didn't even wait for a response. /ignore

Hop back over to Aht /ignore the prick. And man, I feel a lot better.

Meanwhile my loving husband has put in a ticket and been extremely truthful. He accidentally got the druid pants, there was a dispute about who won them, but he believes Aht won them because she was highest roller, blah blah blah.

I told him it'll probably be a few days before I get them, but his ticket was answered within a few hours and guess what?

I got my pants. :-)

Take that *insert explicit here*.