There are now two Mimetirs.
She’s now also a male Tauren warrior on Argent Dawn (EU). This might sound like a bit of a break with the beaky tradition but it’s not too much of a stretch for a character who’s named for her ability to mimic other creatures. Being a warrior still makes her a birdbrain, after all,.
Why am I telling you this? I thought I’d share a happy occurrence with you. On Tuesday I heard (thanks Jaedia!) about Single Abstract Noun (SAN). It’s a community guild on Argent Dawn (horde side for EU, alliance side for US) open to anyone in the WoW blogging community, be ye a reader or blogger.
So, I’d like to thank Tamarind, Miss Medicina and crew for having the idea and setting it up – great thought, guys. I think the full story of how it came about – and the guild policies – are here (EU) and here (US).
The guild roster is already astonishingly long and guild chat on Tuesday was moving so fast it was almost impossible to keep up with, which was good to see. Not only that, it was lovely to see a whole load of warm welcomes when new folks signed up. So, if you’re in any way related to the blogging community – and if you’re reading this, you are – I think I’m right in saying that you’re welcome to roll an alt and join up, See moo there!
In other news …
meet my shaman, Ape. He quakes in his boots when he visits the badge vendors at the moment. At this rate he’s going to give all his frosties to the bartender at the Legerdemain in return for calming, calming wine. In the name of fun – and of my shaman’s sobriety – I’ve decided to put his dilemma to a vote with you guys.
You know how it is when you’re browsing the vendors in real life. You’ve tried various shinies on by this point. The blue top is only worth it if you get the new jeans as well. The stripey top only really works with some outfits. And the wristlet – well, it’s small and will put an inappropriately sized crater in your purse but then it is really shiny.
It’s easy to get in a tizwaz about upgrades to your wardrobe. Particularly if those upgrades have stats on them and it’s not just the colours that you’re trying to match to the rest of your outfit.
That’s how my shaman feels when he’s trying to decide which upgrade to buy next. I’m trying to decide whether to go for minor utility upgrades or to do what I think most of us should do more and say “dash and poppycock! I’m going to do the fun thing.”
I’ve seen and heard a lot of discussion about the various tier 10 set bonuses, and the sets themselves. I’m not going to ramble on about them here except to say the 2 piece tier 10 resto shaman bonus is nigh essential.
I will give a brief synopsis. Ape was in a mixture of 232s and 245s when he hit ICC. Several things were sorely in need of being upgraded and stats in need of being rejigged. To that end:
- I needed to upgrade chest and hands badly. My research dug up some info on the cloth 264 gloves and chest being somewhat marvellous, so Ape dilligently saved up for those first
- I examined and cross-examined the resto tier set and decided that I generally wasn’t very impressed with its individual pieces given my gear setup at the time
- Obviously I needed to get the two-piece tier bonus so i decided that head and shoulder pieces were my best bets
- I could also do with a new trinket (and belt). I’ve been running ToC25 and ICC25 as often as possible but haven’t once seen the relevant shines from them
- My guild does more 10 man content than 25 at present due to time constraints
At the moment I’m torn between three new additions to my outfit for different reasons.
I have 78 frosties saved up.
I’d like your opinion on which of them I should go for. I promise that whatever way the vote goes, that will be what I buy next – feel free to keep an eye on WoW-Heroes for confirmation. The options are:
- I bite the bullet and buy the Purified Lunar Dust. Happily, it’ll solve the trinket issue. On the other hand Murphy’s Law says I’ll then get Althor’s Abacus and/or Solace of the Fallen quicksmart thereafter.
- I save up for both the tier helm and tier shoulders and then buy them together: basically buy the set bonus, as neither item on its own is that much of an upgrade over what I’m currently wearing
- I buy the shoulders now even though they’re a next-to-nothing practical upgrade. Why? Because I’ve heard about the shoulder-shoveltusk animation and I think it sounds really quite fun. I know, I know, small things. The catch here is then deciding which of the other options to pursue after the shoulders have made my day.
As a fourth, ugly-duckling type option I could say dash it all, and go for the somewhat-shiny but not-critical-upgrade Waistband of Despair.
So what do you think – what should I go for? Cast your votes now! Feel free to either just post a vote or go as in depth as you like. Either vote here in the comments page or tweet @Juddr, voting closes on Monday or so.
This is a post by Mimetir, a druid of a raidleader on The Venture Co. (EU). You can find my twitter feed here.
Article images originally by Daniel Coomber and littleREDelf @ Flickr
You could always hope to get lucky with VoA and do 2-piece with Shoulders + Glove or Pants.
I would definitely pick up the head and shoulders. The two piece is fun and will improve your healing, especially in 10 mans. And, you get the cool shoulder animation. So, you get fun, utility, and whimsy all at the same time.
.-= Wugan´s last blog ..Pimp My Resto Shaman: Shimy =-.
I am convinced the Solace of the Fallen doesn’t exist (at least in my world) so I personally would go for the trinket. 😛
But – in all fairness – the 2 piece bonus would probably do wonders for you. Buy the shoulders and have fun oohing and ahhing at the animation now and then buy the helm for the 2 piece set second. 🙂
.-= Napps´s last blog ..When Good Players Act Bad =-.
First off I know next to nothing about Shamans, other than that I like watching chain lightning and that they have the coolest animation for the T10 shoulders. So, I would go with the shoulders. As long as you are not breaking a set bonus that you don’t want to break, you might as well take get the first piece of tier.
Also, about the trinket. I can only assume that the abacus is your current holy grail and thus you aren’t seeing it. Same thing happens to me every week with Reign of the Unliving. I have taken to joining a weekly GDKP run and I am prepared to pay quite a bit for it; it would go sooo well with the DFO, I already have. So, I think you should hold off and wait for the trinket. Trinkets have been the Christmas and birthday presents of raiding for me and they mean more to me when I win them. After I had Illustration of the Dragon Soul and Dying Curse that I got with a guild I had a blast running with, I loved them. Very few items from that time mean as much.
And, you are correct about SAN. I have been having a blast with the social aspect of the guild, here is the US. It has been a refreshing change to the daily grind and seriousness of the progression guild my I am in with my mage. I enjoy raiding with those guys and we were able to run all the way through Sindragosa 25 with only 2 wipes on Tues. But there is no grats to a new level 10 alt or saying hello when someone logs in, unless they initiate it, and no pages long discusions about, well just stuff in general. It has made the game shiny again for me and I realize how much I miss the social interaction of players that aren’t so serious all the time.
Tl;dr Grab the shiny new shoulders; they have the best animation in the new tier. Wait on the trink; it will drop (I have seen it drop a bunch, of course I don’t need it).
And, the new guild Single Abstract Noun on Argent Dawn US has been very fun and a nice change. Plus I get to chat it up with people I have been reading.
“I bite the bullet and buy the Purified Lunar Dust. Happily, it’ll solve the trinket issue. On the other hand Murphy’s Law says I’ll then get Althor’s Abacus and/or Solace of the Fallen quicksmart thereafter.”
You could always go the “rent-a-trinket route”.. Kinda shady, but as long as you’re keeping track of the time…
Buy it, use it for less than 2 hours, sell it back for 60 badges. Buy it again when you need it again. I did that for a while with a feral druid, but once I got a solid dps trinket upgrade I just held onto the tank trinket.
For mine I am going shoulders and head together unless I get a Kilt drop in VoA, because I have so many nonset pieces I would lose my 2 piece tier 9. My Shaman hit 80 after ICC was fully out and it is an alt. Plus I have the Ony Helm that is so Iconic for a shaman.
Edit also I like the 4 piece resto bonus, but that’s me.
.-= Arkaneena´s last blog ..Tier Piece or Nontier Piece That is the Question =-.
Go for the 2pt10, its the best you can get as a resto shaman (personally I woulda gotten it before the other vendor items you got).
As for trinkets I wouldn’t get the vendor healing trinket, it is only a minor throughput upgrade on Solace(245) or your current EotBM and its mp5 component is less than the 245 solace.
For trinkets what I would do is get the +128 int trinket from triumph badges and interchange it and EotBM depending on the fight (throughput vs mana) which will give you the most adaptability outside of getting Solace or the Abacus.
Thanks for the votes guys – keep ’em coming! Ape’s resting his hooves up in the bar, safe in the knowledge that you guys have got his back in the dangerous territory of the shops.
Also got a vote through from @mentalshaman on twitter, saying to save up for the shoulders n’ helm.
@Arkaneena: Aye, the 4 piece bonus is nice, although I’m not convinced but the itemization on a couple of the set pieces – particularly when compared to other options for those slots. Tough call perhaps.
@Handofdesu – Aye, was a choice of going for the set bonus or making a couple of critical upgrades first. Thanks for the trinket advice – looks like sound thoughts.
Keep em coming folks! Voting closes early on Monday.
On my shaman I got the bonus set first (4 set), I personally think that the 4set bonus is the best resto shaman have been offered for a long time and well worth getting.
If u ever get the upgrade badge u will need to have purchased the first set so its best to have at least one item u can upgrade to.
For my trinkets I have althors abacus and the lunar dust (this was my last purchase with the badges), for fights where I need the extra mana I swap Althors abacus with my +128 int trinket from the triumph badges never won the solace. Althors abacus is a nice trinket but is not very supportive mana usuage especially as most shaman are currently stacking haste,
While the 2pt10 bonus is nice, it is a situational ability. Casting Riptide specifically to speed up the next spell actually makes the next spell take LONGER because you still have to wait out the first GCD. The bonus proc should be considered more of an incidental bonus that is only occasionally useful. HItting riptide so you can cast a 1.04s HW still means it takes at least 2.04s to get the big heal off, vs 1.25s for just HW alone.0
Honestly, 4pt10 is going to give you the largest bang for the buck. Get your head, shoulders and chest, then worry about whether to pick legs or gloves depending on if you get lucky in VOA. The 4p bonus will put out about double the extra healing of the Abacus as well.
At 264, the best off-set piece is Lightning-Infused Leggings. If it comes time to buy the 4th piece, I would recommend the gloves.
As far as itemization goes, the head, shoulders AND chest are all itemized perfectly for shamans.
Once you have the 4pt10, then start looking at what other holes you need to fill, starting with the trinkets. While Lunar Dust is nice, you should also be running TOC25 whenever you can to pick up a Solace.
One more detail:
In the coming patches, we are going to start seeing the item stat changes, which will eventually include the issues with wearing other armor types than your intended one, both in bonuses and stat reworks.
Just because that cloth piece works now doesn’t mean it won’t get changed into something half-useless in a few months.
Shoulders. DEFINITELY the shoulders. ;D
Gear is important in MMOs like this, but at the same time, I never forget that I’m playing to have fun. Visual appeal and those little shinies, they give me a lot of personal happiness. That happiness, in my case, would keep me inspired all the way til my next upgrade which will in turn inspire me again, albeit for somewhat different reasons. I say get the shoulders now, and make your second decision later — maybe by the time you have enough badges for something else, you will have gotten a trinket/helm upgrade, and your decision will be made much easier.
Thanks for the votes folks! Voting is now closed, and Ape is in the process of getting his new shoulders. They’ll be visible on WoW Heroes in a little while.
Also thanks for the commentary and thoughts along with the votes. Several of you have given me interesting food for thought, particularly pertaining to trinkets (I’d never been convinced on the 245 badge trinket) and the 4pc bonus. It *is* shiny, just… just… dare I say that Ape likes his dress, at the moment anyhow? Good job there are a few months before Cata. to gather them thar badges as needed.