Tag: deathknight

Charting the Curve of Awesome

Posted on by Gazimoff

I’ve been levelling up a newbie mage using the Refer-a-Friend feature, and it’s been a slog. We’ve gone Hordeside and have no heirloom gear, so we’re relying on instance gear, random greenies and quest rewards to gear up. The slog is worth it though – I’m now getting to the stage where the new spells remind me how cool the class is. I even reckon that this coolness gets better as you level up, like mages have some kind of awesomeness amplifier built-in.

Let’s compare it with deathknights. With these guys it feels like all the awesomeness is blown in the first five minutes. It’s similar to a fireworks display – great to look at, but you’re picking up crap from the floor for weeks afterwards.

This is probably a symptom of what happens when you have a Bored Mage with PowerPoint. But it also reminds me of how things might change in Cataclysm. Will the Curve of Awesome look the same, or will the reshaping of the game world change how we feel about our favourite classes?

Honestly, I don’t have a clue. I just like graphs.

The Melee Misfit

Posted on by Gazimoff

As I’ve probably mentioned before, I’ve been trying out a new guild on a new server. Single Abstract Noun is on the Argent Dawn servers in both Europe and US. It’s a guild for warcraft bloggers, the people who read them and anyone else involved in the community. It’s got a great feel, and provides a welcome alternative to running raids or heroics. The European branch is also on a roleplay server, making for entertaining results when PvE or PvP server players encounter roleplay for the first time.

I’d originally intended to roll (yet another) mage. I got a blood elf to level 10, but left it there as I’ve also got other mage projects that I’m working on. I was beginning to feel that I needed something different if I was going to make it challenging enough to be worthwhile.

So I rolled a Deathknight called Juplaar.

But there’s a problem. Melee classes and I don’t get on. I have tried – I have a rogue in the mid 50s and a warrior languishing in Hellfire Peninsula. By far my best attempt is my Protection/Retribution specced Paladin, who’s currently in the mid 70s. I’ve even tried feral druids without success. It’s worth pointing out that these characters only got as high as they did due to Refer-A-Friend boosts.

So far, it’s been a somewhat confusing experience. I’ve had real difficulty in choosing a simple talent spec or even working out which buttons to press – I just tend to mash things randomly and mobs fall over. I guess it’s like anything else – I’ll need to do some research, maybe find a “Deathknights for the Complete Idiot”.

Maybe I’m just being too picky – I want to understand how a class works, what mechanics constrain it and where the opportunities are. I don’t want to be handed a talent spec and a rotation and be told that they’re the best, because it doesn’t tell me why. It also means that I don’t get the picture of how itemisation fits in, how stats complement talent choices and how patches and changes will affect the class.

I’m going to keep with it, as I want to prove to myself that I can actually do this. I’m just expecting a bumpy ride along the way. Luckily the guild is fantastic in providing help and support.

Let’s see if I can get away from being a melee misfit.