Heroic Cataclysm Dungeons

I recently switched guilds on my Hunter, Brieanna, and Priest, Brieonna. The reason was my old guild just wasn't doing anything. I liked the people but there were only a couple of us that were actually active and I wanted more from a guild. I wanted a guild that runs dungeons, heroics and raids together.

Within 20 minutes of joining my new guild I was healing heroic Lost City of the Tol'vir on Brieonna in a guild run. I went on to heal The Throne of the Tides that night as well.

Lost City of the Tol'vir went really well considering it was only the second Cata heroic I ever healed. I didn't lose anyone until the last boss, Siamat, and I ended up dying and losing a couple others. We did finish it though and it wasn't a wipe. I got the achievement for that one.

Right after that we ran The Throne of the Tides because one of the guild tanks was after a trinket off the second boss. That one wasn't as smooth but wasn't horrible, we wiped a couple times but it was a learning experience for me who had only done it once before on normal on my Hunter. We did finish that one too, and I got the achievement.

Last night they wanted to run another heroic and I agreed to heal. I didn't realize it was a random heroic and we ended up in Deadmines, the last place I wanted to be. This is another dungeon I had only done once on heroic and then it was on my Hunter. Unbelievably it went really well until we got to the nightmare, things went down hill from there. We wiped a couple times but got through it and I got the achievement.

So far that is 4 of the heroic Cata dungeons I have healed and completed including Stonecore. I still need to get my base mana, 77,202, up a little higher. I would like to get it over 80k base. On some of the longer boss fights I do OoM but not always. I have really been working on not over healing to conserve mana and it seems to be paying off.

Healing and Rezzing the Dead

I have been healing a lot of dungeons on Brieonna, my Holy/Shadow Priest, in the past few weeks. Most have been good but some have been really bad. Every once in awhile you will get a tank that is just not geared enough, can't hold aggro, and takes massive damage constantly. Those are a little more of a challenge than a tank that is correctly geared, but not impossible.

If a tank is taking massive damage and I have to spam greater heals on him, that is ok, as long as he can hold aggro. When the tank is taking massive damage and can't hold aggro, then the rest of the group takes massive damage as well (basically a group of tanks, some wearing cloth) I have to spam heal the entire group throughout every battle and that gets old fast.

When fully buffed my healer has around 121,000 health and 80,000 mana. I always get a little nervous when the tank has less buffed HP than I do. That is usually a sign they are not very well geared. As I have only been healing normal dungeons while I gear, I come across a lot of tanks that have less HP, fully buffed, than I do. I have found that skill will play a big part in what happens from there on out. I had a tank with 98k buffed HP that was easier to heal than one I had earlier with 147k HP. It really depends on how well they can play their toon, if they know how to use their CD's and when.

As I have gone about as far as I can with normal dungeon drops, Justice Point gear and rep gear I am now looking towards healing heroic's. I still have 2 more JP pieces to get for my Shadow set then I will have gone as far as I can with JP and I will need to start collecting Valor Points. I healed one heroic so far and that was Stonecore. It was brutal but we made it through. It was not only the first time I ever healed SC, it was the first time I ever did it on heroic. I queued into it by mistake.

The thing I am working on now is managing my mana better. A lot of healers over heal. I was one of them and it makes for OoM (Out of Mana) pretty quick. Currently I am using my HoT's (Heal over Time) a lot more and letting the tank get down to around 75% before I throw a regular heal (Greater Heal or Flash Heal) on him. I went from almost out of mana on trash fights in a lot of dungeons to coming out of it with 80% or more mana left. As I have high regen I am usually 100% before the next trash fight. Usually the tank will need no more than a HoT to get him through most fights. The better tanks that is, ones that are actually geared for the role they are playing.

I will be starting heroics this week, that is exciting and scary at the same time. I always have Shadow to fall back on if the healing doesn't work out lol.

Feeling Crabby?

Feeling Crabby? is one of the new Cata daily cooking quests obtained from Robby Flay (50,71) in Stormwind City. For those without coord's he is located right outside the Stockades.

Description:

Fresh crab legs have always been one of the King's favorite foods. We have had good luck catching fresh crabs in the canals over the past few weeks. Do you think you can lend me a hand and catch a few of them for me? Be sure to catch them alive, they are no good to me dead, the King requires the freshest catch we can muster.

Like all the Cata daily cooking quests this takes place right in, or immediately around, Stormwind. For this one you will be jumping in the canals and collecting 10 Canal Crabs. You will find them running around in the bottom of the canals. You need to remember to surface for breath once in awhile while you're doing this one. The crabs are tiny and move pretty fast so you have to be quick.

Once you have the 10 Canal Crabs, return to Robby Flay and turn them in for your reward. For completing this one you will receive 9g40s, 1 skill point to your cooking skill, 2 Chef's Awards and 250 rep with Stormwind. This is worth it just for the 2 Chef's Awards alone. You will need the Chef's Awards to buy the Cata recipes that cost either 3 or 5 Chef's Awards each.

Happy Cooking

-Wrann

The King's Cider

One of the new Cataclysm daily cooking quests, available from Robby Flay (50,71) in Stormwind City, is The King's Cider. For those without coord's he is located right outside The Stockades. Like all the cooking quests, this is completed in, or immediately around, Stormwind City.

Description:

I am forever in debt to our King for all that he has done for us. One thing I can do for him is make his favorite drink! Lucky for us, the ingredients we need to make this wonderful drink are located right here in Stormwind City. Apple trees can be found in every district of Stormwind. These trees are too tall to pick the fruit from, but lucky for us the apples have fallen to the ground and are easy to retrieve.

This one has you running around the city picking up apples from beneath apple trees. You need to gather 12. The apples can be found under apple trees along the canals and in the various areas of the city. One place you shouldn't overlook is Cathedral Square, there are a bunch of apple trees there. You will generally get 2 or 3 from beneath each tree. Of course that depends on how long it has been since someone was there picking them up.

Once you have 12, you return to Robby Flay and turn them in. For this daily you will receive 9g40s, 250 reputation with Stormwind, 2 points to your cooking skill and a Chef's Award which you need to buy the Cataclysm recipes. The recipes cost either 3 awards or 5 awards.

That is really all there is to this one and if it takes you more than 5 minutes from start to finish you are doing something wrong.

Happy Cooking

-Wrann

Thunder Falls

Thunder Falls is one of the new daily fishing quests you can get from Catherine Leland (55,69) who is located on a dock in the canals in Stormwind. For those without coords it is the dock between Trade District and Mage District.

Description:

Arnold and I have been fishing in and around Stormwind for years now. That's the kind of time it takes to find a good fishing spot. One of my favorites is called Thunder Falls.

It's just south of Stormwind in Elwynn Forest. Best part about Thunder Falls is the violet perch. I have never seen them anywhere else, only up there in at the falls. It's a bit of hike for me and Arnold to get out there these days though, do you think you could head up there and fetch some of those perch for us?

For this one all you need to do is head over to Thunder Falls (25,59) in Elwynn Forest. They are located just a little southwest of the gate to Stormwind. You want to go to the top of the falls to fish. There are some low level mobs there that might take offense to you being there but as they are only level 9 or so they are not a problem. There is a better than 50% catch rate so it only takes 5 or 6 casts to get the 4 Violet Perch you need.

Once you have those you can head back to Catherine Leland and turn them in for 7g40s and a Bag of Shiny Things, which so far has just had useless junk and an average of 1 silver in it. You will also get +1 to fishing skill which makes this quest worth it right there as you need to catch around a dozen fish to get one skill point in fishing when you are over 450 fishing skill.

Good Luck,

-Wrann

One Hump or Two?

Having gotten to exalted with all the factions that could give me anything useful, with the exception of Tol Barad, I decided to work on the rest. I am now exalted with Ramkahen. One of the things being exalted with Ramkahen has to offer is a Camel mount.

Getting the Camel mount gets you the achievement One Hump or Two?. It is truly an ugly mount. Quite possibly, in my opinion, one of the ugliest mounts in the game. I got the Reins of the Brown Riding Camel, it cost me 80 gold which in not bad for a non-mainstream mount. I got all my rep for them doing dungeons wearing one of their tabard's.

Alterac Valley - Again

A while ago I swore off battlegrounds because QQ Premades were screwing up the queues so bad you couldn't get an evenly matched BG. Most the Alterac Valley's I was in would start off with 10 Alliance against 40 Horde. Out of the 10 Alliance 6 would be AFK so you were basically starting off outnumbered 10 to 1. The reason for that is QQ Premades loading up the battleground queues then not accepting when the queue popped. I started doing dungeons after that and liked those. It has been about a year since I was in a battleground and I didn't think I was missing it at all.

Last night I went into Alterac Valley (40x40) on Brieanna just to see how the battlegrounds were now (I was bored). It wasn't too bad actually, I had a great time and did another one after that. In my first battleground in a year I came in 4th in damage and 5th in killing blows, I guess I didn't forget too much in the year I was away.

I am going to do a few more to get the honor I need to upgrade one of my rings, my last piece of 333 gear. Once I have that I probably won't bother with any more BG's, but it was nice to get in there again for a little while.

Wranngar - Level 83 Feral Druid

I worked on Wranngar for a little while today and got him to level 83. Wranngar is the last of my 80's I need to get to 85.

I was questing in Deepholm when I hit 83 and headed right over to Uldum to start questing there. I am more interested in getting to 85 than I am with rep or achievements at this time, I can always go back later and finish up all the quests to get the achievements later. I will get more XP per quest in Uldum and get to 84 quicker there which will then allow me to start questing in Twilight Highlands which will get me to 85 pretty quick.

After Wranngar is to 85 I will have to start working on getting them all geared. Right now my Hunter, Brieanna, is the best geared with an item level of 344. My Shaman, Breeonna, is the next best geared with an item level of 336 and my Priest, Brieonna, is next with an item level of 330. My Warlock, Gomorra, is coming in last with an item level of 320. It is gonna take awhile to get them all geared and I was more interested in getting them to 85 than getting them geared right away. Once they are all 85 there will be time for that.

Since they changed the armory around none of my character links were working. The ones in this post are updated and I will work on getting all the other links on this blog updated in the next couple days.

Rock Lobster

Rock Lobster is one of the new daily fishing quests obtained from Catherine Leland (55,69) on a dock in the canals in Stormwind. For those without coords it is the dock between Trade District and Mage District.

Description:

If I could choose my last meal, it would definitely be fresh lobster tail. Something about that tasty crustacean is just irresistible! We recently started trapping lobsters here in Stormwind. Would you mind heading out and checking the traps for me?

One more thing, watch out for the sharks. They can be viscous down there.

This is a really fast and simple one. You will be heading to Stormwind Harbor. Once there all you need to do is dive down and collect 6 Rock Lobsters from the traps scattered around on the bottom of the harbor. You can usually use 3 of the traps and just do 2 laps around them to get the 6 Rock Lobsters you need, they respawn fast. When you have the 6, head back to Catherine Leland and turn it in. You will receive 7g40s and a Bag of Shiny Things, which so far has just had useless junk and an average of 1 silver in it. You will also get +1 to fishing skill which makes this quest worth it right there as you need to catch around a dozen fish to get one skill point in fishing when you are over 450 fishing skill.

Good Luck,

-Wrann

Wranngar - Level 81 Feral Druid

I have started working on getting Wranngar, my last level 80, to 85. He has one advantage over the others in Vashj'ir, he can breath underwater and also has swim form which greatly increases his swim speed. I think it is faster than the seahorse mount you get from the quest in Vashj'ir but other people have said no. Until I can find someone to race I won't know, but it seems faster.

He is currently questing in Vashj'ir and will be there for a bit still. I had a bunch of gear that I sent to him from my other toons, drops mostly, and some gear he made so he is not doing too bad on gear. His dps is pretty low but I am writing that off to my not having played him in over a year. I think the last time I played him was to get him to level 80 and then some PvP to get 100000 Honorable Kills. After that I pretty much lost interest in him.

His skinning is around 480 now and his leatherworking is 501. He is making good gold off quests and drops and I am thinking about dual speccing him to Feral/Balance, so I have been keeping the caster gear he gets from quests and drops too.

I am working on him on and off so he won't be 85 tomorrow but he will get there eventually. I did have one bad moment when I hearthed from Vashj'ir and found myself in Dalaran which is a ghost town now. I had to fly back to the shore then take the boat back to Stormwind where I made sure I reset my hearth stone to.

Hitting A Walleye

Hitting a Walleye is one of the new daily fishing quests obtained from Catherine Leland (55,69) on a dock in the canals in Stormwind. For those without coords it is the dock between Trade District and Mage District.

Description:

Sometimes, I fish for fun. Other times to relax, but sometimes I want a challenge. That's where the hardened walleye comes into the picture. This prized fish is not caught for us to eat, but for the challenge. You can find the walleye in Stormwind Lake just north of the city. Think you are up to the challenge?

For this one you will be heading to Stormwind Lake. This is not the lake with the island, it is the lake between Dwarven District and Cathedral Square. Once there all you need to do is fish up 8 Hardened Walleye. As you get one pretty much every single cast this does not take long at all. Once you have the 8 you need, return to Catherine Leland and turn in for your reward.

You will receive 7g40s, a Bag of Shiny Things and +1 to Fishing Skill. The +1 to Fishing Skill is what makes it worth doing this daily. At fishing skill 450+ it takes about a dozen fish to get 1 skill point, so it is worth it to do this daily for the point alone. Your Bag of Shiny Things will contain around 1 silver (on average) and a couple useless items. That's really all there is to this one.

Good Luck,

-Wrann

Turtles All the Way Down

While fishing for Highland Guppy in Twilight Highlands tonight I caught a Sea Turtle. That earned me the achievement Turtles All the Way Down and got me a mount that pretty much crawls along on land but moves along pretty well in the water. It is funny too because I was just thinking about it about a half hour before I caught it. I was wondering if you could catch them in the new areas or still only in Northrend. As Twilight Highlands is in Azeroth I guess the answer is Northrend and the new areas.

I got it on my Hunter Brieanna. She is the luckiest when it comes to fishing. She is the only one of my toons that has the Jeweled Fishing Pole and Giant Sewer Rat and she has most of the other things you can get from fishing and the fishing daily's. Sea Turtle is BoP so you own it as soon as you catch it. All in all it was a pretty good day of fishing :)

More Cataclysm Random Heroic Dungeons 1/9/11

I did some more random heroics on Brieanna tonight and completed Grim Batol and Halls of Origination. Halls of Origination wasn't bad, the tank had an attitude and I was thinking about kicking him but he said he was having a bad day and apologized. We got through that one ok, but I didn't get anything out of it. I also queued into heroic Lost City of the Tol'vir to see if my new heroic weapon would drop, it didn't.

Grim Batol was another story, it is brutally hard. The third boss, Drahga Shadowburner, is anyway, the others aren't too bad. Drahga Shadowburner starts off pretty much the same as in normal but in heroic the fire adds he calls will one shot you, so you have to kill them before they get to their target and kite them if you are the target. In normal they hit for around 60,000 damage. Make sure you are not near anyone if they are going to make it to you or it will take them out too. The other thing he does that is different than normal is the dragon he gets on in phase 2 has an ability called Flame Breath that shoots out 180 degrees in front of him, you don't want to get caught in that either.

Being a ranged melee I usually stand way back when I am fighting, but that is not a good idea here. You want to stand close enough to him so you can get behind him quickly when he does flame breath. You can not outrun it. You will want to stay out of any clouds on the ground too.

The only real difference I saw with the last boss was he has an ability called knock back that isn't there in normal and he summons 2 adds at a time, after Gale Storm, instead of just the one in normal. Of course the fights last a lot longer in heroic than they do in normal but that is to be expected.

I got a new pair of boots out of Grim Batol so I guess it was worth the 26 gold repair bill.

Now I have Heroic Grim Batol, Halls of Origination, Lost City of the Tol'vir, Shadowfang Keep and The Vortex Pinnacle out of the way in my Cataclysm Dungeon Hero achievement.