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WoWInsider Community Blog Topic: Would You Play on an Expansion Specific Server?
It's been a long time since I've blogged, mostly blaming work, where I read/edit/post blogs all day and keeping a raiding guild functioning on a regular basis. I have a lot of topics tumbling around in my head and not a lot of time to devote to writing, but this topic stood out to me while I ate dinner tonight, so I wanted to add my two cents! More content will be coming between all my travel and my workload, which hopefully won't explode in the near future!
So WoWInsider posed their Community Blog Topic today, asking if players would play on expansion specific servers. They asked that the following questions be considered when making your decision:
- How would you handle classes? Would you take a snapshot of how they were designed in the last patch before the next expansion prep-patch? Or would you make the classes behave as they did at the beginning of the expansion? Or would you leave the classes as they are now?
- Would you allow transfers to these servers or would you have to level a character from scratch? Would you leave in the experience bonuses put in toward the end of each expansion, or keep the leveling speed at how each expansion began?
- For Vanilla servers, would you leave in LFD or make everyone PUG? What about LFR? Would you implement it for the older servers or force those to be PUGged as well?
I'll admit, I'm a member of the rose-colored glasses wearing community. I joined the WoW community at the end of Vanilla. I never got a chance to raid, but I did have some great friends who introduced me to an RP realm, where we acted like crazies on Alliance-side, to a more, subtle, Horde guild where I got to experience playing a female Troll hunter, my first Horde character (her name was Zelinda). I don't think I ever made it past level 20, but I was having fun experiencing all that WoW had to offer then.
The Burning Crusade launched and that was probably when I threw myself into WoW, for a lot of reasons. I began leveling another hunter, playing on a PvP realm (what a huge change from an RP realm!), and hearing one of my friends talk about this "raiding" thing. Eventually I hit 70, got a bit of gear, and was recruited into a guild that a coworker raided in. Suddenly, I was checking out Gruul's Lair, and having fun with this whole "raiding" concept.
As I've mentioned earlier, the Burning Crusade was when my raiding "career" really began. It could be expanded further upon that BC became my WoW career. Running a guild with a 25-man raiding team and juggling all the work that went into that (let's just say the tech to support guilds both in AND out of WoW didn't exist to the point that it does today) was very time consuming. But it was fun. Kael'thas, not so much fun. Mount Hyjal and it's endless waves of trash? Possibly less fun than Kael.
The Burning Crusade raid team disbanded and I found myself running both 10 and 25-man raids in Wrath. And burning out pretty quickly. I gave a half-hearted effort to Ulduar as a 10-man raid, skipped all of Trial of the Crusader, and PUGged my way into Icecrown. All the while I wore my rose-colored glasses about how great the Burning Crusade was.
Cataclysm followed, along with a raiding break. I started raiding again in Firelands on a 10-man raid team, before making a short-lived jump to 25-man raiding again. Dragon Soul found me back into the 10-man mold, and I continued the tradition through Mists.
Through every expansion, I have extolled the virtues of the first WoW expansion. I really did love that time. But when I step back, it wasn't the game I really loved, but the people I played with. In some ways, I wish I could crash the people I played with for "drunk Kara" and Serpentshrine Cavern, together with my current raid team, because together, they would have a lot of fun.
If given the option, I would not play on an expansion specific server. Let me explain why:
- Tiny, minuscule amounts of gold
- Unclear questing or mobs that never contained items you needed to gather–I'm sure EVERYONE has had experience with Zhevra Hooves in the Barrens or Boar Livers in Westfall…
- Level 40 ground mounts and level 60 to get your "faster" ground mounts
- Tiny bag sizes
- Running to meeting stones to summon
- 5 minute buffs
- Fielding 40-man raids
Burning Crusade
- Rep grinds for everything
- Netherwing mount grind
- Attunements
- Fielding 25 players for raiding
- Alchemy/Cloth specialties–I remember standing at the Alchemy lab to make flasks before raids…
- Flying costs–and no flying until you hit 70
- PvPing to take graveyards close to SSC
- The launch of daily dungeons/quests
- Finding people who would want to run H. Shattered Halls for the Champion of the Naaru quest
- Doing Arena for gear when items wouldn't drop in raids
- Epic gems only came from Mount Hyjal and Black Temple
- Kael'thas
- Blood lust was group specific–BRING ON THE SHAMAN
Wrath of the Lich King
- 10 and 25-man raids that didn't share lockouts–the burnout, let me show you it
- All the different currencies to keep track of
- More daily dungeons/quests and weekly raid quests
- Vehicle fights–still iffy on these
- GearScore! (I know, this wasn't a Blizzard thing, but…)
- Introduction of LFG–is this even still in game?!? As in, the window where you selected the raids/stuff you wanted to run and people checked it to fill slots
- Underwater zone
- Introduction of LFD and LFR
- Resurrection of the Zul'Agains
- Heroic Al'akir
Now, not everything was bad though! Here were things I liked about, or have great memories of, the previous expansions:
- New world, tons of exploring to do
- Great people to show me the ropes
- Seeing someone in epic gear and hoping that one day I could "be like them"
Burning Crusade
- That epic feeling when we downed Lady Vashj and the screaming that erupted in Ventrilo when she died
- The people I raided with and still think about regularly
- Having the fully epic gear and being known as a great guild on the realm
- The realm teamwork of all the guild GMs to help each other out even though we were competing against each other
- The first ever guild Magister's Terrace run–mostly for the humor at us getting locked out of it and realizing JUST HOW HARD MAGT WAS
- The WoW Community
Wrath of the Lich King
- Fun and varied raids
- Getting my blue proto during a PUG run
- My first Lich King kill, which was actually in a PUG
- Finishing Tier 7 and being the best geared holy paladin on realm
- Old friends coming back to WoW and joining me
- Meeting great people on the raid scene
- Easy gearing of alts thanks to Dragon Soul LFR
- Killing Heroic Madness before the expansion ended
When I actually compose a list, it wasn't the game mechanics (though, let's be honest, playing a beast mastery hunter in the Burning Crusade meant you hit one button, and it was pretty sweet–sorta like being an arcane mage in Wrath) that made me like an expansion, it was the people. My memories are based around events that I did with people that I loved spending time with, not really about the content I cleared or the quests I did.
If given the option, I would remain where I am–in current content, with the people I currently play with. Would I love some of my blasts from my past from my old raid teams to resurface? Yep–maybe that's a door I can open thanks to FlexRaiding. But I would never go to an expansion specific server if it was an option.
Now, in the fairness of addressing all the questions that WoWInsider asked, let me provide answers if I WERE to have the opportunity to play on an expansion locked realm:
- How would you handle classes? Would you take a snapshot of how they were designed in the last patch before the next expansion prep-patch? Or would you make the classes behave as they did at the beginning of the expansion? Or would you leave the classes as they are now?
- Classes would be snapshotted at how they were designed in the last patch before the next expansion pre-patch. This includes the old talent trees, the ability to use ranked spells, and the return of the hunter trap dance! Original requirements would still be in place–books would have to be found to learn spell ranks, and hunters would need to go tame various levels/types of pets for them to train their current pets with new abilities.
- Would you allow transfers to these servers or would you have to level a character from scratch? Would you leave in the experience bonuses put in toward the end of each expansion, or keep the leveling speed at how each expansion began?
- I think players should have to level from scratch. Without heirlooms or experience bonuses. I remember how long it took to level–it wasn't great, but when you reached the end, you could /cheer and realize you wouldn't have to do it again unless you were 1/ bored, or 2/ your raid team needs a different class than the one you play.
- For Vanilla servers, would you leave in LFD or make everyone PUG? What about LFR? Would you implement it for the older servers or force those to be PUGged as well?
- If we're going old school, we're going old school. Players aren't going to have the ability of easy grouping via LFD and LFR. If we're going to go for the classic experience, we're going to do it the way it originally was.
Do I think this attitude will drive people away? Maybe. But that's how we used to play. If people stuck with it, I could see the Vanilla and Burning Crusade servers having a much more developed community than we currently possess in the MoP WoW iteration. The revival of the community could do great things for this game.
Miri's Thoughts on Flexible Raiding
It's been a while since I've done a post on an upcoming feature in WoW and my thoughts on it, but based on the discussions I had with guildmates last night and the flurry of activity on Twitter, now seems like as good of a time as ever to jump back in to blogging. I can spout of excuses as to why there haven't been many updates, but pretty much the best thing I can say is that the experiences that have kept me from blogging lately are going to result in blog posts in the future. I've been lax on communicating Paladin news and even more lax on my general opinion pieces. That changes now!
The Flexible Raiding Announcement
Last night I was sitting in Mumble bumbling my way through a heroic scenario on my Warlock with guildmates (who knew that clothies don't have the armor that a Paladin does?!) when suddenly a message flashed up on my screen from guild chat from another member who basically said "One of the 5.4 features is going to be flexible raiding!" Instantly intrigued, and probably almost as instantly killed (man, I HATE that boat scenario. HATE IT), I alt-tabbed to Twitter to see Tweets scrolling by faster than I could read; all discussing this new flexible raiding feature. We rolled through the heroic (haha, there were 2 monks in the group, get it? Roll? Hahaha…never mind) and I immediately pulled up the entire announcement on Blizzard's website.
Here's what it said:
Raids in World of Warcraft have a long history of not just challenging players, but changing and evolving as the years and expansions go by. As with everything in the game, we're always thinking about what more we can bring to raiding to improve the experience for an even wider range of players. While Normal and Heroic Raids are a great fit for many, we feel there's another gap worth filling—and to that end, we're currently working on the development of a new type of Raid for the next major content update: Flexible Raiding.
One Size Does Not Fit All
While it's impossible to fit every player into a neat, tidy archetype, we recognize that we could be providing a better experience to one broad category of raider: social groups comprised predominantly of friends and family, and smaller guilds that do their best to include as many members in their Raid outings possible.
During the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the 10-player Normal difficulty served these groups of players pretty well, but the unification of 10-player and 25-player into a single difficulty effectively eliminated that niche. While Raid Finder mode is extremely accessible, it doesn't provide smaller groups with a tight-knit social experience while progressing through the content. In Patch 5.4, we're planning to introduce a new mode of raiding that allows us to deliver the sort of experience that we think these players are looking for.
To fill this void, we're in the process of developing a new Flexible Raid system, which includes a new difficulty that sits between Raid Finder and Normal difficulty, while still allowing friends, family, or pick-up groups to play together. This difficulty will be available for premade groups of 10–25 players, including any number in between. That means whether you have 11, 14, or 23 friends available for a Raid, they'll all be able to participate.
The Flexible Raid system is designed so that the challenge level will scale depending on how many players you have in the Raid. So if you switch between 14 players one week and 22 the next, the difficulty will adjust automatically. Keep in mind that unlike Raid Finder, no matchmaking is available, so you'll need to make sure you invite people to attend—but if some can't make it, it's not the end of the world (or the Raid). You'll also still be able to invite Real ID or Battle.net friends cross-realm. Who you choose to bring and what Item Level gear they'll need to join your merry band is up to you, too—there's no Item Level requirement for this Raid difficulty.
Dressed to Kill
A new Raid difficulty also means a new Item Level. Flexible mode will award loot with an Item Level that falls between Raid Finder and Normal quality, and will use the Raid Finder's "per person" loot system, specialization choices, and bonus rolls, so you won't need to worry about bringing the "wrong" person and having them win that piece of gear you've long been waiting for.
You Have the Keys
We plan to unlock the Flexible Raid difficulty in wings, similar to Raid Finder, but on an accelerated timetable. This new difficulty also has a separate Raid lockout from Raid Finder and Normal difficulty, allowing you to take part in all three if you so desire. You'll also be able to complete portions of your "Glory of the Orgrimmar Raider" raid meta- achievement in Flexible mode as well as in Normal or Heroic to earn cosmetic rewards such as an epic mount. This will allow Raid groups the opportunity to switch off nights between raids to complete achievements. Finally, taking part in Flexible, Normal, or Heroic difficulty will provide access to additional rewards that won't be available in Raid Finder.
Getting Down to Brass Tacks
As with any in-development feature, we're continuing to refine how the Flexible Raid system will work, and we look forward to hearing your constructive feedback from your experiences on the Public Test Realm when the new system goes live.
I read the entire post to the 2 guildmates in Mumble and we vacillated between excitement and dread. And let me explain why…
Flexible Raid Excitement
The concept of having an adjustable slider to scale a raid dependent on the number of members is a great step forward in WoW's future. I'd love to be able to bring my raid team every night to down bosses as a team and not put anyone on standby. The ability to group up with RealID friends who are off-realm for current content is also a great step forward and will benefit many of my WoW friends. Not to mention being able to say "hey everyone, let's get together and bash some bosses as a group!" This appeals to me because of how we do LFR in my guild. We do an open invite for all the members and raiders, plus we extend invites to friends off realm and even go as far as opening it up to our realm for a weekly standing invite. LFR for Enigma is a big, crazy, sometimes drunken, fun night. We go in to parts 3 and 4 and explain fights, steamroll bosses, and laugh and tease each other in Mumble. We listen to the fun competition between our guildmates and friends in another guild. We wait for the poorly timed Time Warps because our Mage's trinkets procc'ed and he goes "I NEED ALL THE MAD DEEPS." It's fun! But being able to do that specifically with friends? Even more fun.
Flexible Raid Dread
Flexible raid dread will probably be more likely to apply to players who play at the level of intensity that I do. Right now, there's no real need for me to be running LFR, aside from a chance at the non-existent Runes I need to finish out the current stage of the Legendary. I need no loot from LFR, but I religiously do parts 3 and 4 because until last week, my guild hadn't gotten that far in our content clearing, so I needed to make sure I was getting Runes from somewhere. But let's assume I was trying to Valor cap (because I do this for gear upgrading), or I was still looking for Off Spec gear, so I'm running all 4 parts of LFR. And because it's LFR and I usually only sign into WoW around 9p and log by midnight, I'm going to get through 2 LFR segments a night. Well there's 2 nights in LFR. I also raid lead my 10-man team through Throne of Thunder right now, 2 days a week. So there's 4 nights already in the same content. Flexible raiding has a chance to give better loot than LFR, so why wouldn't I jump at the possibility to get items better than what drops in LFR? Even with friends, I don't think it's going to be possible to clear all of the flex raid bosses in one night, so let's slot 2 nights for the flex raid content. That puts me back up to raiding the same content 6 nights a week. The last time I raided 6 nights a week AND managed a guild was in BC, and I had significant burn-out. But this is even worse! In BC I was only raiding 25-man progression content 4 nights a week and then we had 2 nights devoted to Karazhan and Zul'Aman. Now I'm looking at 6 nights? There is not enough alcohol in the world to make that realization go down smoothly.
One of the positive sides to LFR is that it gives your group what you need. If you need tanks, you get them. Same for healers or DPS. But for a flex raid, you have to handle the group comp yourself. This isn't a huge deal, but some weeks we only bring 1 healer to LFR. One healer isn't going to cut it in a flex raid. You still need to bring 2 tanks and 2-3 healers, at a minimum. So what happens if I can't scrounge up healers? I guess I can pug it, but then I might as well do LFR.
Then there's the gearing concept. Some of my fellow raiders go to the extremes to make sure they have the best possible gear they can get their hands on. That means running LFR for upgrades, that means raiding. LFR is my fallback for pieces I don't get in normal raids. Flexible raiding would be another fallback that I'd work into my rotation. It's not that I love the content so much I want to run it every night (and sometimes I run it on multiple alts) on my main just for a chance that one of the 3 raid settings available to me could get me upgrades. So I should take advantage of them. It would be foolish of me to NOT.
Oh yea, and then there's the alt Army. Right now I have 3 characters who can run ToT LFR. My main, a DPS alt, and a healing alt. My second tank and second healer are just a few points shy of ToT. I like keeping my alts somewhat current if I enjoy playing them. And I love my warlock, and my shaman, and my priest, and my DK…I want to be able to keep playing them, as well as my other alts I'm still leveling. I had 12 characters at level 80 when Wrath ended, so it's not like I'm leveling characters from 1-90. They don't have a TON of leveling to do, but I still want to level them. And that's time that I have to pull away from gearing my main character. My brain won't let me NOT try to make my main the best that I can be for my raid team. It just doesn't work that way for me.
My fellow guildmates are wrestling with some of the same concerns. When we sign on to play, we hammer through the content so we have time to do other things. We are excellent time managers. But 6 nights a week devoted to 1 raid? Right now we have some challenges getting people to come to raid and LFR. As a raid leader, I now have to figure out how to make all the pieces come together. Do I tell everyone that LFR is off the calendar and if you want to run it, you're on your own? I can put flex raid dates up on the guild calendar without issue, but what happens if I don't get enough healers for the run? I guess then I'm off to RealID, once again, not a huge issue. But then we're trying to jive schedules and time zones and other people's raid calendars. WILL THEY BLEND?!? It basically becomes a scheduling nightmare…
What I'd Love to See…
When I heard the name "Flexible Raiding," I honestly thought we were going to see a melding of 10 and 25-man raiding. There wasn't going to be a 10-man or a 25-man raiding option, it was going to be flexible and it was going to scale with what you brought. If you brought 15 people, you could still raid. If you only had 23, well, still raiding! I didn't want it to be yet another lockout to make sure I took advantage of.
Blizzard made a comment that it will help small friends and family guilds raid. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it will. Setting the starting point at 10 seems too high to me. Lowering it to 8 makes more sense, because usually one of the limitations to for a small guild is finding those last couple people so they can start raiding. Someone on WoW Insider even mentioned scaling a raid size to 40, in case people wanted to feel the epicness of a large scale raid. I'm all for this!
I don't need more lockouts to juggle. Give me LFR and give me a scaling raid size that I can take advantage of for my raid team. So I can help out friends if they need it, and even form up for large scale raid fun with friends, if we so chose. But please Blizzard, another raid lockout to juggle, another ilvl to calculate, another raid schedule to manage. Give me the flexibility to play on a varying scale, but allow me to have the time to enjoy the other aspects of the game you've made available. Please don't make me clear content for a third time so I can stay competitive for myself and my team.
- A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.
- A riddle or paradox.
riddle – puzzle – conundrum – mystery
Those of you who are regular readers have probably noticed that I haven't been updating regularly. Some of it had to do with my decision to not cover each raid boss for the tier, some of it has had to do with things in WoW, and then there's been a sprinkle of real life in the mix as well.
You'll notice that my realm location has changed. You'll notice that my guild tag has changed if you look at me via the Armory links.
And now let me explain why…
Let me welcome you to the unveiling of Enigma, a Horde raiding guild on Wyrmrest Accord.
What is Enigma? Enigma is the blood, sweat, and tears of a trio of players who are dedicated to the player and the ability to progress through WoW content. We are a guild of adults striving to enjoy all that WoW offers, whether it be raiding, dungeons, achievements, or pet battles.
Our Mission: To foster a tight-knit community and progress through current content two nights a week.
So why am I sharing this? Well, aside from letting readers know where I am now, I also want to open our doors to potential raiding applicants. We raid Tuesday and Wednesday from 6-9p server (9-midnight Eastern). The team is almost full, so there aren't many spots available!
What we are looking for in a raider:
- 18 years of age, or older
- Thrives on challenge
- Is patient
- Is willing to listen to constructive critism
- Show up to raid focused and ready to perform at their best
- Will push themselves to improve each and every raid
- Enjoys helping others
- Has a good sense of humor
- Is not easily offended
- Is interested in doing things with guildmates (as opposed to joining just for the benefits)
- Strives to avoid drama
- Plays regularly
The details of raiding with Enigma can be found in our Raiding FAQ. Raid team applicants must accept everything outlined in the Raiding FAQ before they will be considered for a trial position. Each applicant will undergo an interview with the guild officers to determine fit.
In addition to accepting the raiding policy, all applicants to the guild must accept and adhere to the Guild Policies. Failure to follow the outlined rules will result in removal from the guild.
If you are interested in applying, please check out our Recruitment page for the application process.
Enigma in 5.2
As Blizzard just announced on Monday, February 11, 2013, patch 5.2 will be dropping by the end of the month. We realize that only a small collection of members who currently make up the raid team will have enough gear to step into the Thunder King's stronghold. With that in mind, the raid leaders have decided that the raid team will begin with, and progress through, the previously released content before stepping foot into Tier 15. This means that we will be starting in MSV, working through HoF, cleaning up in Terrace, and then evaluating our readiness for the new raid.
In Conclusion…
Another giant step that I have chosen to take, but one that has never felt more right. If you are looking for a home in WoW full of fun, active, and amusing players, drop us a note. If you'd like to give raiding a go in a solid group who likes to chatter during trash, take a moment to fill out an application. We're currently looking for some strong DPS, but any class/role is welcome to apply.
Thanks for being here to take this next step with me and my friends, and I will try my damnedest to turn out some more content on…content and on guild leadership in the near future!
Prot Paladining in Mists of Pandaria
I apparently have had my blog closed in my tabs list for a while…completely unplanned! There's been a lot going on IRL and in WoW, so I'm finally having some down time to actually do some writing! So let's talk prot as it currently stands in Mists of Pandaria!
I've been 90 for a while now, and have wrapped up my 3rd week of raiding Mogu'shan Vaults on Tuesday. My raid team is currently 3/6, while I have gone 4/6 in pugs and have devoted lots of time to Elegon. Prot paladins are at a weird point in WoW, which can make an introduction to the class a touch challenging for new players.
In Cataclysm, paladins were very easily able to to CTC cap. CTC stands for Combat Table Coverage. In short terms, it was your ability to push hits off the table. The magic number was 102.4% and was a combination of the 5% chance to miss, your block, and your avoidance stats. Prot paladins were able to cap easily due to how Mastery worked with our spec. Blizzard decided that they didn't like how easily paladins reached the 102.4% sweet spot, so they shared that they would modify the ability for any class to CTC cap, making it impossible to occur in Mists.
CTC capping was why you started seeing end-game raiding paladins gemming pure Stamina instead of hybrid gems. We had gotten to the point that we were shedding mitigation stats for avoidance and stamina. Much fun was had in LFR being called a "stamina stacking idiot" by armchair tanks who had no clue how to play the class.
Now, Mists has thrown a wrench into the entire gearing scheme. In the past, Mastery was king for us. We cared little for hit or expertise. Dodge and Parry weren't bad, but we really REALLY wanted that Mastery. So now what do we look for?
Well, it depends on your gearing scheme. Theck, over at Sacred Duty, has done a ton of Matlab simulations to determine what is going to benefit paladins the most.
We already know that expertise and hit matter. Blizzard told us that with the change to active mitigation (AM), we will value these stats. Simply put, if our attacks don't land, then we can't mitigate hits from bosses.
My stat priority is as follows:
Expertise hard cap (5100) > Hit hard cap (2550) > Haste > Mastery > Dodge/Parry
Yes, haste is my next focus after I expertise and hit cap. Why am I stacking haste as a tank? Haste means more hits during a fight, meaning more DPS thanks to Vengeance. Expertise means more hits actually landing, which means we are generating holy power at a regular rate, which we are spending on Shield of the Righteous.
You can choose to swap Haste and Mastery in the priority list, depending on how you are choosing to gear. The lowest priority for you is your avoidance stats. They just aren't worth it. As Theck states at the end of his post:
Shifting that dodge and parry into hit, expertise, and mastery or haste can reduce the likelihood of 80% spikes by a factor of 3 and that 90% spike by a factor of 100. While we can't say that this makes you 3x of 100x more survivable, it's pretty clear that abandoning avoidance is a large survivability increase. You're choosing to preferentially eliminate the most dangerous events at the cost of a little more throughput damage, and I think any healer will tell you that's a good trade.
If your mind can take tables and a lot of math, Theck's post, Damage Smoothing: Expertise, Mastery, and Haste is a must read. Also take a moment to check out the first post on the topic, Avoidance, Mitigation, and Damage Smoothing.
Since our gearing priorities have changed, it means that our gear options are completely crazy too. I assembled a BiS list for Dragon Soul and shared it in this blog. I took the time to assemble a "possible tank gear list" after our first week of raiding, and it's linked from the Excel graphic on the right. As my guild and raid team have discovered, spreadsheets are my answer to everything! Gear is sortable by slot (at some point I'll make it sortable by raid boss). Bolded gear is what I am targeting for my BiS list. Items that have been lined out are pure avoidance pieces and should be avoided at all costs. None of the gear on this spreadsheet has crit. I dismissed every piece of gear with crit on it as DPS loot (because it is).
If you have any questions about the spreadsheet, feel free to hit me up in the comments or on Twitter!
This is a bit up in the air right now. My recommendation is to hybrid gem, working to assist in your hard capping of expertise and hit. I'm currently using Guardian's Imperial Amethysts in my red and blue sockets, and Forceful Wild Jades in my yellows. My gemming will adjust as I reach my caps.
Here's the list of enchants:
|Greater Ox Horn Inscription
|+300 Stamina and +100 Dodge
|Enchant Cloak – Greater Protection
|+200 Stamina
|Enchant Chest – Superior Stamina
|+300 Stamina
|Enchant Bracer – Dodge
|+170 Dodge
|Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery
|+170 Mastery
|Ironscale Leg Armor
|+430 Stamina and +165 Dodge
|Enchant Boots – Pandaren's Step
|+140 Mastery and increased run speed
|Enchant Shield – Greater Parry
|+170 Parry
Enchanters should be making sure they are enchanting their rings with [Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina], which adds +240 stamina to each ring. Jewelcrafters will want to be making use of their JC only gems.
Spell Priority
Call me lazy, or let me tell you that I have a lot going on during raids that pulls my attention elsewhere, but I use WeakAuras to keep my attacks front and center on my screen so I can be aware of my cooldowns. Theck has been kind enough to keep sharing his WeakAuras strings on his blog. Scroll down to the bottom of his Tankadin WeakAuras Strings: 5.0.5 post for the strings to copy into the addon.
This makes my life infinity easier because I have it right in the center of my screen, so it's a quick glance to see when I need to refresh Sacred Shield or if wings are coming off CD.
Raziel, Savior of Azeroth
When Enveloping Shadows wants bosses dead, we'll get bosses dead. Past experience has proven that we can put our minds into this zen state and steamroll through content that we may have been dragging our feet on earlier. ES saw Heroic Zon'ozz and Hagara fall on the same night, completely unplanned, but quickly doable once we buckled down and focused.
Which is why, in the grand scheme of things, our July 31st and August 1st raids don't surprise me at all.
The Final Countdown
The team showed up, energetic and ready to get more attempts on Heroic Spine. We had been getting to third plate with regularity, but hadn't been able to hold it all together long enough to beat the encounter. We rolled through 6/8 Heroics, with only a mild hiccup on Skittles (something about a Blood DK out-healing a druid by 80%). The team blew through Heroic Gunship, and our raid leader gave us a quick reminder of our Heroic Spine strat before we were parachuted down onto Deathwing's back.
We lost a healer early on, but we kept pushing through the plates. The tanks were making changes to our strat on the fly, adjusting as we found rhythm to a fight we've been working on sporadically for months. And then, after almost 3 months of beating our heads against Heroic Spine, the DPS popped that final plate off and achievements lit up my screen.
There was a pause for screaming in Mumble, and then we were on the platforms for Madness. And we all paused, realizing that probably no one had looked at the strat. Our raid leader called for a 10 minute break for people to go read up, relax, or see family after our Heroic Spine 1-shot, so that they could come back to their PCs and be ready to push ahead on Madness.
I remember glancing at the clock, my mind still unable to process that we 1-shot Spine, realizing we were about to attempt the final fight of this raid tier, and it wasn't even 9p.
Descent into Madness
The raid team reconvened, people still in shock that we had 1-shot Spine, and I quickly began discussing survivability with my cotank. We decided to "wing it" and see what would happen for impales as we tossed around cooldown ideas. Our raid leader gave a quick rundown of the fight and we gave it a go (or 5). The beginning fights were discovering just how squishy I was on impales–quick trinket/glyph swapping, and we were back in business. (Quick note: Blood Death Knights are SUCH a broken class. My cotank takes an impale and drops to 95% health while I'm freaking out as the healers are recovering from me dropping to 40%. Blahblahblah nerf DKs =P) When we called our attempts for the night, we were clearing to platform 4 without issue, so we knew we had it in the bag on our next raid night.
The team showed up on Wednesday, ready to take Deathwing down once and for all. Our Holy priest had spec swapped after the previous raid to give Disc a go. Our warriors respecc'd for slows, I tweaked my glyphing even more, and we knuckled down for more attempts. We saw a .5% wipe and knew that we had the fight down. We would have had a kill on that attempt, but one of our legendary staff wielders DC'd on one of the platforms and we just couldn't recover before the enrage hit.
No speeches by yours truly (running joke from H. Gunship–Miri would give a fail pep talk and we'd down the boss on the next attempt, so the speech became a requirement for H. Gunship kills), instead you could feel the energy of the team in Mumble–they were ready for the kill! We zoned back in, focused, and away we went!
It was one of those moments, just like on Heroic Spine, where the achievements caught me off guard! On Spine I was wrangling bloods and had no clue what the tendon was at. On Madness I was slowing bloods so that we could push more DPS to end the fight. Neither time did I know health percentages, so when my screen lit up with Heroic Madness, I screamed for the second time in two days!
With the entire team standing, not a single death, we beat the enrage by almost 40 seconds! We were ecstatic! We doled out loot (Gurth and Kiril), and in typical ES fashion handed the drake to one of our druids.
We learned Madness, start to finish, in under 4 hours. We beat the tier, the expansion, and we still had hours left of raid. The team was let go early to go celebrate, and I raised a shot glass several times in toast to the team that achieved the kill.
Of course, finishing off Deathwing once and for all netted many of the raiders their Glory of the Dragon Soul Raider, so we had to go pose for pictures!
In Conclusion
It feels good to complete a raid tier when it's still current content. It feels even better to complete an expansion's final boss. Wrapping up Dragon Soul gives me closure to move on to MoP–a chapter that I am more than willing to let become a memory. Dragon Soul meant much to ES; our raid team shrunk from 25 to 10. Our raid leaders changed, our comp was continuously evolving. And still we persevered. The team banded together and supported each other through the entire tier, proving that 10 people with goals can achieve anything–even in a video game.
A big thanks and a massive congrats to my raid team. I look forward to us tackling MoP together in the near future!
On a Personal Note…
It's been a while, and I feel like I should stick a post up here letting you all know that yes, I am still alive, and yes, I am still blogging.
I've been incredibly busy since I came back from travel in April. Work has been a massive time sink–I've been training new team members and trying to get better control of my crazy work life–because, well, at some point, I don't want to be working 12+ hour days.
That being said, I relocated in May, and now spend 14 hours a week commuting (2 days a week). If you ever doubted my sanity, this should erase any question of doubt!
I'm still raiding with Enveloping Shadows 2 nights a week. We are currently wiping on Heroic Spine, and most nights end with me not even able to fathom where our weak point is (I have some ideas, but I'm still unsure). A lot of raid frustration is around the fact that our second staff (AKA, Staff 2.0), vanished from the game within a couple weeks of the team completing the second legendary (Staff 1.0 did the same thing). We currently cross our fingers at night that all 10 will sign on to raid because we don't have any members on stand by. It's a touch rough!
I haven't given Beta much time, which annoys me to no end! I love playing it, and finally feel somewhat in tune with the new Paladin stuff, but I just haven't had the time.
Most of my free time (what little there is) has been going to Diablo 3, where my Wizard is playing around in Nightmare level. I die a lot, but it's fun :) She's the only character I've played in D3, and I think I'll be taking her up to Inferno before I consider rolling an "alt."
I'm still on Twitter, though not as much as I was in the past. Usually because I'm so damn busy right now (which I'm hoping will change at the end of the month).
I've been studying for my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and I'm testing at the end of the month. It's a 4-hour test after 4 days of boot camp, so I'm hoping I can pull this off and cross it off my list before fiscal year ends!
I just returned from a jaunt to NC to do some teaming with my coworkers and meet the engineers who I abuse mercilessly on a daily basis. It was a great time to kick back, play some Kick Ball (yes, there are pictures), Bowl, drink, and eat a ton of sushi! My team is reorg'ing our business focus and alignment, as we are part of a service that no other company can offer to my customer base, so I've been doing a lot of design support at the ground level. I took on the massive redevelopment of our internal support space, so I will have my arms full with that for a bit–it's a godsend that my Director supports my random goals and helps me out when I need it. We'll see if this paves the way for some new role alignments in the future. I've been pondering a relo to NC in the next couple years but if I can put a support structure in place and maintain an escalation point for my greater team from the comfort of my home office (with little to no travel unless management requests), then I will be happy. We'll see–this is the time where I have more flexibility to push for things that benefit me. :)
Anyway–it's safe to say that very few of you give a shit about my private life, but I did want to let you know that I am still playing WoW (though not at the levels I used to, see above for reasoning) and that there are more blog posts in the pipeline!
Dragon Soul Paladin BiS List
Almost a month ago, I question was posed to me on Formsrping regarding Paladin BiS gear in Dragon Soul. The question was:
You mind showing the BiS gemmed and enchanted so we can get an idea?
It has been sitting flagged in my inbox begging me to take action, and my massive delay makes me feel pretty bad. Suffice to say, there's a lot of craziness going on in my personal/professional life that won't be settling out until the end of this month (but that's another blog post). So the fact that I was able to pour a drink on a Friday night and run numbers with a friend was relaxing. And thus, this post was born!
Here is our quick and dirty findings for a Paladin BiS list in Dragon Soul. Our goals:
- Stamina stacking for the hardest heroic fights in Dragon Soul (Gunship and Spine)
- Maintaining a large amount of avoidance
- CTC capping (or close to)
The end result was almost obscene. Raid buffed (Devo Aura, Horn of Winter, Mark of the Wild, Fortitude, Steelskin, Feast Buff, stacked trinket), I was looking at the following numbers:
- 260,459 health
- 44,358 Armor
- 2,225 Dodge Rating (20.07%)
- 3,456.83 Parry Rating (20.60%)
- 56.82% Block Chance
- 45.67% Avoidance
I needed a moment after I saw those avoidance numbers…
Anyway, on to the gear list!
Note: Raz is a JC/Enchanter, so this list reflects those professions. The only difference is that a non-JC/non-Enchanter player will have a smaller health pool.
|Faceguard of Eternal Glory (410)
|Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond
Solid Deepholm Iolite
Arcanum of the Earthen Ring
|Guardspike Choker (397)
|Brackenshell Shoulderplates (410)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz
Dodge -> Mastery
|Indefatigable Greatcloak (397)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Enchant Cloak – Protection
Expertise -> Mastery
|Chestguard of Radiant Glory (410)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Solid Deepholm Iolite
Solid Deepholm Iolite
Enchant Chest – Greater Stamina
|Graveheart Bracers (410)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Enchant Bracer – Superior Dodge
|Handguards of Radiant Glory (410)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery
Hit -> Mastery
|Goriona's Collar (410)
|Puissant Elven Peridot
Fractured Lightstone
Solid Deepholm Iolite
Dodge -> Mastery
|Legguards of Radiant Glory (410)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Solid Deepholm Iolite
Solid Chimera's Eye
Drakehide Leg Armor
Dodge -> Mastery
|Stillheart Warboots (410)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Solid Deepholm Iolite
Enchant Boots – Mastery
|Curled Twilight Claw (410)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Enchant Ring – Greater Stamina
Hit -> Parry
|Hardheart Ring (410)
|Solid Deepholm Iolite
Enchant Ring – Greater Stamina
|Indomitable Pride (410)
|Resolve of Undying (416)
|Souldrinker (416)
|Blackhorn's Mighty Bulwark (410)
|Puissant Elven Peridot
Solid Chimera's Eye
Enchant Shield – Mastery
Dodge -> Parry
|Stoutheart Talisman (397)
|Solid Chimera's Eye
Mastery -> Dodge
This may get tweaked a bit more, but that's what I'm currently targeting!
Dragon Soul Tanking – 10M Madness of Deathwing
A warped mass of molten hatred and unfathomable power, this formless, mindless horror cannot be stopped. Whatever was left of Neltharion the Earth-Warder is long gone, his mind and soul corrupted and devoured by his Old God masters. All this monstrous being desires is destruction, annihilation, and an end of all things. ~ Dungeon Journal
The first time you complete the Madness of Deathwing it is a breathless experience that will make you play on your toes. In fact, you can read my enthusiasm from when we downed him back in December here in my post entitled "Destroyer's End."
The only excitement in the fight for me now is when I forget to change one of my macros from a previous raid and I kill myself. But anyway…let's talk Madness!
The Madness of Deathwing is a 2 phase fight that involves your raid team, the Dragon Aspects, and Thrall. When you arrive at the Maelstrom, you will discover the 4 platforms that the fight takes place on. Each platform belongs to a different Dragon Aspect and starting the fight with the raid on a different platform than the one Thrall is located on changes the difficulty of the fight substantially. In this guide, I will review the "standard" kill order, but you can always change it up!
Once you "kill" each of Deathwing's limbs on the 4 platforms, the fight transitions into Phase 2, during which your raid fights Deathwing's head for the final 20%. Succeed in your attempts and you will officially become the "Destroyer's End."
The Aspects
Each Dragon Aspect (and Thrall) provide your team with a buff to succeed and finally banish Deathwing from Azeroth. Their buffs are as follows (done by order of platform, far left to right):
- Alexstraza – The red dragon buffs your raid with Alexstraza's Presence, which increases your health by 20%. She also casts Cauterize, which damages the tentacles that sprout from Deathwing's limbs over 5 seconds and reduced the damage taken by the Corrupted Blood.
- Nozdormu – The bronze dragon grants Nozdormu's Presence, which increases haste by 20%. Nozdormu also creates a yellow swirling circle on the platform, called Time Zone, which slows the Elementium Bolt that is cast at the platform and slows any mobs' attack speed by 50% when fought within the zone.
- Ysera – The green dragon buffs healing by 20% with the Ysera's Presence. She also provides a spell, a la Ultraxion, called Enter the Dream, which decreases all damage taken by 50% for 2 seconds.
- Kalecgos – The new leader of the Blues grants the Kalecgos' Presence, which increases all damage done to Deathwing and his minions by 20%. Kalecgos also buffs the raid with Spellweaving, which causes roughly 23K Arcane damage to enemies within 6 yards, but excludes your current target.
- Thrall – While not a dragon, Thrall's Carrying Winds will move players between the platforms (sometimes this fails) and increase the raid's movement speed by 60% for 10 seconds.
Deathwing – Phase 1
The following are the various things that Deathwing will "toss" at the raid as you work your way across the platforms. Each platform faces the same enemies, but how they are dealt with depends on which Dragon Aspect(s) you have left. The order they are listed is the order that they appear during the fight.
- Assault Aspect – Deathwing casts this as soon as the fight begins and looks for the platform with the largest number of players and a platform that still has a limb attached to it.
- Arm/Wing Tentacle – The main attention grabber on the platform, your raid will focus on the tentacle when there is nothing else to kill. The tentacle casts Burning Blood, which causes Fire damage on the raid every 2 seconds. The damage gets worse as the Tentacle's health decreases, so healers will need to be aware that healing will require more attention the lower the health of the Tentacle. Twice during the fight, at 70% and 40%, the tentacle sprouts Blistering Tentacles from it's arm. These cannot be AoE'd and they attack with Blistering Heat, an ability that deals 2500 Fire damage every 2 seconds and increases damage by 2 every stack. When Alexstraza is active, she will be killing the Blistering Tentacles for your raid.
- Mutated Corruption – A bonus tentacle that will spawn in the back of the platform. This tentacle is picked up by the tanks and all DPS should switch to it immediately. The tanks swap when the Mutated Corruption casts Impale, but they must use a personal cooldown as Impale hits it's targeted tank for 400K (physical) damage. Impale is channeled over 4 seconds before the hit lands. The Mutated Corruption also attacks the raid with Crush, which causes 100K (physical) damage in a conal attack. Your raid should spread out and not stack behind each other to reduce the chance of this affecting a large amount of your team. Once the Mutated Corruption is dead, your raid team will swap back to Deathwing's limb.
- Elementium Bolt – The Elementium Bolt is slowed by Nozdormu's Time Zone, but without the golden circle, it comes crashing into the platform and deals roughly 390K Fire damage to all players in range. The bolt will continue to pulse 390K Fire damage every 5 seconds until it is destroyed. It is recommended to focus the bolt as soon as it appears so it can either die before it hits the platform or soon after it lands. If your team can move quickly from the bolt's landing location, they can reduce the damage they take when it collides with the platform.
- Hemorrhage – Once per platform, Deathwing's tentacle will hemorrhage, causing Regenerative Blood to spawn. Bloods gain 10 energy every second, and when their energy reaches capacity, they heal themselves back to full. These are a high priority to kill with AoE because they are also casting Degenerative Bite, a stacking debuff which causes roughly 1500 Shadow damage every second for 10 seconds.
- Cataclysm – Deathwing will begin channeling Cataclysm as time progresses on each platform. Cataclysm is basically a hard enrage timer that is pushed back every time a limb is destroyed. If you fail to kill the limb in time, Deathwing will 1-shot your raid.
Once you destroy the limb on your platform, Deathwing becomes stunned and 20% of his health is whittled away. This is how Deathwing is at 20% health when you enter Phase 2.
Deathwing – Phase 2
Once your team lands on Ysera's platform, the DPS race is on. Your raid will begin to attack Deathwing's head, trying to deal as much damage as they can until the following adds spawn:
- Elementium Fragments – Three fragments will spawn in a 10-man raid. They will spawn at various spots on the platform, sometimes grouping up, sometimes spread out. Your DPS must switch to them immediately and burn them down. The fragments will debuff random members of the raid with Shrapnel, a spell that deals roughly 200K of unresistable physical damage. When players are targeted by Shrapnel, it is best if they make use of Ysera's buff to Enter the Dream.
- Elementium Terror – Two Elementium Terrors spawn on the platform and must be picked up by the tanks. The melee attacks apply the Tetanus debuff onto the tanks, which inflict roughly 60K physical damage and an additional 20K physical damage every second. The Tetanus debuff stacks, and thus the adds must be killed off quickly to avoid the loss of a tank.
- Corrupted Blood – Applies a debuff that inflicts Fire damage on the raid every 2 seconds. When Deathwing hemorrhages at 15%, 10%, and 5%, the damage done by Corrupted Blood is increased.
Here's how I handle Madness:
- Platform Order:
- Ysera (where you land)
- Nozdormu (left)
- Alexstraza (more left)
- Kalecgos (all the way right)
- DPS begin work on Limb.
- DPS/tanks switch to Mutated Corruption when it spawns.
- Tanks swap when Impale goes out.
- DPS swap to Elementium Bolt when it spawns.
- Finish off Bolt, finish off Mutated Corruption if it's not already dead.
- AoE Regenerative Blood when they spawn.
- Kill Limb.
Platform 4 is handled a bit differently and is usually dependent on your raid's DPS:
- DPS land on platform and stand around until Mutated Corruption spawns.
- DPS kill Mutated Corruption.
- DPS kill Elementium Bolt.
- DPS stand around and /dance while they wait for the Regenerative Blood to spawn.
- DPS kill Regenerative Blood.
- DPS kill Limb.
Paladin Pointers
- Raidwall each time an Elementium Bolt gets ready to land.
- Cooldown order for Impales (note: these CDs allow you to take no damage from the impale, resulting in much love from your healers):
Glyphing Thoughts
These are my picks, YMMV.
Dragon Soul Tanking – 10M Spine of Deathwing
When Deathwing first channeled the Dragon Soul's power against the other flights, the massive energies that were unleashed threatened to break apart his very body. Rather than forgo this weapon, he had adamantium plates fused to his scales to hold his body together. Later reinforced with elementium, these plates are now his weakness–the sole vulnerability to Deathwing's lethal presence. ~Dungeon Journal
I'd be lying if I said that this fight was fun. I think a good amount of my delay in writing this guide has to do with just how boring this fight (and Madness as well) is on normal. Anyway, I'm I completionist and I have two fights left to cover, so let's get through Spine of Deathwing. –M
Spine is exactly what it sounds like: the entire fight takes place on Deathwing's back, during which you're loosening (and removing) the plates that hold his body together, while killing the various things that spawn from his back.
If you have a weak stomach, it's best not to think about what you're killing on his back. It may make you squeamish.
Spine of Deathwing is a single phase fight that you must execute the same strategy three times before you are able to move on to the final fight of the raid, Madness of Deathwing.
Deathwing himself only has one ability that you need to watch out for: Roll. If Deathwing senses that the raid team is standing on one side of his back, he will attempt to roll in order to remove the players from his back. This can be quickly corrected by having your raid team spread out across the middle of his back. When this is achieved, a message will flash on your screen that says "Deathwing levels out."
The roll is very useful, and you will want to roll Deathwing regularly, usually once each time you release a plate (so three rolls a fight), in order to shed excess mobs from his back.
In 10-man, Deathwing is very sensitive and can roll very easily–so be aware!
When you first parachute down onto Deathwing's back, there are 4 Corruptions that emerge from his body. While the Corruptions are alive, they prevent anything from exiting the 4 hole in Deathwing's back, IE, the Hideous Amalgamations and the Corrupted Blood, the two things you need to remove the plates from his back. Once all Corruptions have been killed on Deathwing's back, another will spawn randomly from one of the holes. When a plate is removed, 2 new Corruptions spawn, but once they are all killed, only one will return.
Corruptions have 2 abilities in the raid:
- Searing Plasma (Physical) – A debuff that is placed on one member of the raid at a time, Searing Plasma will absorb the first 200K healing done on the target, or will expire after 5 minutes, whatever comes first. When the debuff is on a target, it deals 10K damage every 10 seconds.
- Fiery Grip (Fire) – Fiery Grip is a stun that is cast on a random member of the raid (never a tank) which stuns them until the Corruption has been damaged. In order to break the grip, 20% of it's health must be removed. While a player is immobilized by the Corruption, they take 60K damage every 3 seconds, which makes breaking the grip of utmost importance.
I find that it is easiest to assign a DPS to own the responsibility of breaking Fiery Grip off of players, and then we assign a back-up to that DPS in case they are gripped themselves. This makes sure that the damage meted on the Corruption is controlled so you don't worry about bursting them down too quickly and gaining an extra Amalgamation. The Corruptions do not have a large health pool, so the grip can be broken with 1 or 2 hits.
When you need to roll Deathwing, everyone dives into a hole previously occupied by a Corruption. While in the hole, Grasping Tendrils appear, which basically locks you in place for the roll. You don't want to remain in the spot for too long, because they slow all affected players' movement speed by 35% and cause roughly 3K damage every 5 seconds unless you move away from them. When it comes time to perform a roll, it's easiest to only "lock in" until you have shed the adds you need to remove and then run out.
Hideous Amalgamations
Amalgamations spawn every time a Corruption is killed. Once the Amalgamation spawns, Corrupted Bloods will soon follow.
Amalgamations have the following 3 abilities, listed in order that they will appear:
- Absorb Blood – The ability only occurs if the Amalgamation gets too close to a Residue from a Corrupted Blood. The Amalgamation is normally kited over a stack of Corrupted Bloods and gathers several stacks at once. Absorb Blood results in the Amalgamation dealing 10% more damage and attacking 20% faster. Once the Amalgamation has absorbed 9 stacks of Residue (thus dealing 90% more damage and attacking 180% faster) it becomes superheated.
- Superheated Nucleus (Fire) – When the Amalgamation reaches 9 stacks, it begins to pulse fire damage to everyone in the raid. Every 3 seconds the Amalgamation deals roughly 15K damage to each member of the raid. Your goal is to activate the Superheated mode when the Amalgamation is at low health to reduce the amount of time you are in this phase.
- Nuclear Blast (Fire) – When the Amalgamation's health pool reaches 0, the Amalgamation becomes immobile and begins to channel Nuclear Blast. Nuclear Blast deals roughly 375K damage to anyone within 8 yards and will basically one-shot members of your raid who haven't moved. Since there is not a lot of space to gather once your team has moved away from the Amalgamation, it is usually wise to use raidwall here to reduce the fire damage. If the Amalgamation is positioned right, (in this case it should be right up against the plate) the explosion will pry up the plate and allow you to enter the first Plate Burn phase.
Elementium Reinforced Plates
The plates that hold Deathwing together also hide the final add you must defeat (3 times) in order to move on to the final fight of the tier.
Tucked under the Elementium Reinforced Plates lie the Burning Tendons. The tendons are the last thing holding Deathwing's armor to his body. Once destroyed, the plate attached to Deathwing's body will fly off and give you more space to continue the battle.
When the Amalgamation explodes, a Burning Tendon is exposed to the raid. The team has 23 seconds to destroy the tendon before it snaps the plate back onto Deathwing's back and the entire Amalgamation phase must be repeated.
If your team is unable to defeat the tendon in the first attempt, it will not heal up. Your team will need to re-expose the tendon to finish it off.
It is worth noting that each plate contains two Burning Tendons, so if your raid team is unable to kill a tendon on the first attempt, you will want to make sure the next Amalgamation explosion loosens the plate on the same side again.
Fight Execution
As I mentioned earlier, this fight is a rinse and repeat fight. The outline below is how we perform the fight each week in all it's mind-numbing glory :)
- Destroy 3 Corruptions upon landing (we usually kill top Left, top Right, bottom Right.
- Lock in on the left side of Deathwing's back and roll him to shake the Hideous Amalgamations loose. Make sure you have the Grasping Tendrils debuff (DBM shows this).
- Kill the final Corruption. Tank picks up Hideous Amalgamation and drags him to the front of Deathwing's back.
- DPS begin to work on Amalgamation (usually melee). DPS assigned to break Fiery Grip (usually a hunter) performs task and assists ranged with AoEing Corrupted Bloods.
- Once Amalgamation reaches 40% health, Amalgamation tank takes him for a walk to the Residue left by the Corrupted Bloods. 40% is a random goal, but it can be done when the tank and healers are comfortable and done at different times to make sure no bloods are wasted. This is a big deal on the first plate because the bloods spawn so slowly.
- Tank repositions Amalgamation against one of the Elementium Reinforced Plates when 9 stacks are reached and DPS focus the Amalgamation down. All melee and tank run away from the exploding Amalgamation (8 yards).
- Once the plate lifts, all DPS attack the Burning Tendonto release plate. Our CD order for plates is as follows:
- Plate 1: Personal CDs
- Plate 2: Bloodlust/Timewarp/Ancient Hysteria/Dirty Alliance Ding Ding Clang spell
- Plate 3: Personal CDs
- Rinse and repeat. You will only want to have 1 Corruption up at any given time due to Fiery Grip.
Paladin Pointers
- Raidwall each time your team is dealing with Nuclear Blast. Every little bit helps when people don't move when they need to.
- Try not to fall asleep :)
Glyphing Thoughts
These are my picks, YMMV.
- Prime: Seal of Truth, Shield of the Righteous
Final option is a bit flexible, depending on your gearing and raid. My thoughts:
- Crusader Strike: Valid for fact that fight is a single mob fight. Increased crit results in more damage and a slightly faster boss death. This is good if you need some additional damage on the Burning Tendons.
- Judgement: Totally dependent on if you have the 2pc T13 bonus which grants you an absorb shield each time you judge. Basically you get a larger absorb, which helps to reduce healing required, but I haven't looked to see how much of a bonus you get. Probably not worth it in the long run, but every little bit helps.
Pick whichever one you feel most comfortable with!
- Major: Divine Protection, Focused Shield, Lay on Hands
My logic: Focused Shield because it's a single mob fight. Lay on Hands for the shorter duration (survivability again, but there's really nothing stopping you from having a shorter CD on this "save your ass" spell). Divine Protection for the magic damage reduction.
Miri's Thoughts on the New Scroll of Resurrection
So today the changes to the Scroll of Resurrection were announced. If you didn't know what the SoR was, basically it was a way to lure your friends back into WoW after they had quit for a period of time. You could issue them a scroll and they'd get some free play time. I'll be honest, I've never used a SoR to bring a friend back to WoW. They've come back of their own volition, usually to see new content or try out the changes to their class. Maybe they like what they see and they choose to stay, maybe they don't, or another game catches their eye, and they wander away from WoW again.
Friends who have quit did so because they were hardcore raiders and burned out, some needed to get finances in line. Some of them came back, some didn't.
The New Scroll of Resurrection
Let's take a look at what the new Scroll of Resurrection gives you:
Not bad huh? A free upgrade to Cata, a boost of your character to level 80, a free realm transfer or faction swap to play with your friend who brought you back.
Not gonna lie, it's tempting as heck! But tossing all these freebies at players who quit the game? Free Faction changes? That's a $30 savings right there. A free server transfer? That's another $25.
Not a bad deal in the least.
Miri's "Get off my Lawn" Rant…
So here's why this rubs me the wrong way. Every time we turn around, there's a "bonus" associated with bringing someone to WoW. Whether it be a player who quit the game eons ago or a new player who wanted to experience the game.
Now players can play WoW free to lvl 20, the $20 purchase of Vanilla WoW nets you the Burning Crusade, and now you can come back and get boosted to lvl 80.
Not gonna lie, it's better to be a new player (or a returning player) to WoW than it is to be a long-time subscriber.
And this bugs me!
The account that I play on each and every night hit it's 7th anniversary last month. Over 7 years this game has been paid for. That's Vanilla. That's BC. That's Wrath. That's Cata. Every single expansion picked up. Let's not mention that the account has every CE ever produced for those expansions tied to it as well.
I'd screenshot all the Feats of Strength I have on a character I no longer play, but it would take too long to piece together my WoW history in Photoshop. But if you want to take a gander, Mirina, my hunter, was the character I focused on in BC. My original Vanilla hunter and rogue were deleted eons ago, and only my baby druid still remains.
Admittedly, I play WoW because I enjoy it. I've RaF'd myself twice simply to speed level alts and get the Zhevra mount (on characters, once again, that I don't play anymore). I play because I like to raid, because I like to do things with friends, because I like to explore, work on achievements, and in general, immerse myself in the World of Warcraft.
And many will say "well, then you should be content with what you have. You have raids, and heroics, and all the content that's designed for players at max level." And that's great. I, as a player, have that. But so does every other max level player who plays WoW.
You know what else I had? I had a time were I had to buy ammo before raids, and your rep and the raids you were working on determined if you had the best ammo in game. I had to carry my mounts around in my bags, and pets too! I had to do my dailies so I could afford to raid, because guilds didn't have the ability to skim money off of my kills and deposit it; regifting it back to me as payment for repairs while we were learning fights. I had to pay each time I wanted to change my spec because we could have only one. I had to go tame pets for my higher level pet skills. I had to attune myself to the raids I was preparing to progress in. I could go on and on.Yes, things have gotten better. Yes, the game is much more friendly and open to new and returning players.
But what do I have to show for 7 years in the World of Warcraft? I have Feats of Strength that no one looks at. I have moments like I did in the previous paragraph, where I extol how WoW has changed. But within WoW, what do I have to show for it? Well, I have a couple pets that were there for years 4 and 5. And those are cool. But they don't go with my character for various reasons. Maybe it clashes with my Transmog, maybe it's just not something I want to pair with Raz because of his personality in game.
The Missing Link
Blizzard rewards players for coming back to WoW via the Scroll of Resurrection. Blizzard entices you with two-seater mounts to bring a friend to the game via Recruit a Friend. But there is nothing for the WoW Veterans.
This is a topic that has been batted around for years, with people coming up with various ideas. In fact, just last month a discussion was started by Mathew McCurley on WoW Insider asking what a WoW Veteran program would look like.
My favorite option is a token awarded for each year you've been an active subscriber. Everyone can earn tokens to spend on a pool of items–it will just take more time for the person who's been subscribed for a year to achieve all the items that a 7 year subscriber to get. It's an equal opportunity for all to walk away with something highlighting their time spent in Azeroth.
Or, you know, I would love a backpack upgrade.


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The Sarasota Ballet's latest program, "Ashton, Carter and Tuckett," features performances created by the company's own dancer Jamie Carter.
There's also an original, being billed as a "world premiere," by popular choreographer Will Tuckett.
In addition, the program includes a special performance of Sir Frederick Ashton's "Birthday Offering." It's in honor of Sarasota philanthropist Ulla Searing. She died in June and would've turned 100 this year.
"I brought this ballet to Sarasota for the main purpose of celebrating Ulla's birthday; it was created to express pride and admiration and I wanted to do just that," said Iain Webb, director of The Sarasota Ballet, in a statement. "Ulla was not only a supporter of the ballet, but a dear friend and we greatly miss her."
While "Birthday Offering" honors the past, the two other ballets aim to remind audiences that the Sarasota Ballet has a promising future ahead.
"Between Longing and Yearning" was choreographed by Carter, a Coryphee member of The Sarasota Ballet. Carter joined the Sarasota company in 2007 and has danced a wide variety of its repertoire. He began choreographing about four years ago.
"To have the opportunity to choreograph for this amazing company is very special to me," Carter said. "I have had so much support."
Ending the program will be a ballet created specifically for The Sarasota Ballet by Tuckett. It's set to a new piece of music composed by Jeremy Holland-Smith specifically for Tuckett's use.
"Will Tuckett has his own unique style that can be energetic and inventive," Webb said. "And based on his extensive work with Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet, among others, I'm confident that this original ballet is going to be amazing."
Details: 8 p.m. Feb. 1; 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 2; 2 and 7 p.m. Feb. 3, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets: $30-$90. Information: 941-359-0099 or sarasotaballet.org
--Wade Tatangelo

subset: commoncrawl


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The Suck Videos, The Suck Pictures, and The Suck Articles
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Tech Board of Regents to meet in Lubbock
SAN ANGELO, Texas - The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents will meet Thursday and Friday at the university's Student Union Building in Lubbock. Angelo State University is a member of the TTUS.
According to the agenda, the regents will address a request to drop ASU's master of science in kinesiology degree in favor the master of education in coaching, sport, recreation and fitness administration, which was launched in 2010 to meet a marketplace demand for more specific tracts. ASU students who were enrolled in the kinesiology degree program have been moved to the new program.
Regents also will be asked to approve a request to change the name of the bachelor of science in animal business to the bachelor of science in agribusiness, a more recognizable name for student recruitment and future employees.
For more information, go online to www.texastech.edu/bor.
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Ryuichi Sakamoto has the finest hair you've ever seen. It's incredibly thin, but there's so much of it, like the hair version of a high thread count. It comes up from the center of his head and out in two U arches. He is constantly flipping it over his face while he talks, just like he is constantly laughing. Actually, he's giggling. And mostly at himself. While he is an incredibly serious composer, he's got undeniable goofball vibes, as though as an adult he decided to stop taking this music shit so seriously and just jam the piano until he was entertained and that that might be good enough. Turns out, it is. In his West Village studio, surrounded by keyboards of different types, a big cardboard box of various percussion, years worth of scrapbook photos pinned to the wall and a rug that looks like it may have once lined a playpen, we talked with Sakamoto about his new album, the simply, aptly named Playing the Piano. Sakamoto has had a long career dabbling in many varieties of music—from his '70s electronic group Yellow Magic Orchestra (kinda like the Japanese Kraftwerk) to his film scores (including the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor)—but on Piano, he's winnowed away the extras, reworking many of his complex compositions to their marrow and playing them solo. It's a beautiful, moving record, and, curious about the propulsion behind its origins, we sat with Sakamoto to find out. He plays New York City this Monday. It's sold out, but worth scalping for. Playing the Piano is out now.
When did you first play the piano?
In kindergarten, all the kids had to at least touch keys, and that's probably the first encounter for me. Also, one of my uncles was a music lover and he had a big collection of vinyl, and sometimes I went to his room and picked up some vinyl and played it by myself. Mostly classical. After kindergarten, my friends took a piano lesson with an old Japanese lady piano teacher, so I just followed my friends. It was not my intention to fall in love with piano. When I realized no one was there, like fifth or sixth grade, everyone had stopped piano lessons except me. So it was not my intention, it's just like a routine I went there every Saturday and Sunday. It's always like that.
How did you decide to do a solo piano album?
I call it self-cover, because the pieces I played were written before for certain reasons, for my own solo albums, so I don't think there's a new piece for that CD, they're all covers. I just wanted to play, that's what I do onstage for a tour. More recently I played the piano of those pieces—some film music, some from my solo albums—but just on the piano. So that's what I do. I just wanted to put out what I do recently.
Why is it just you?
It's probably the easiest way to express my musicality, because I started playing the piano when I was three or four. I was forced by the school to play in kindergarten, but it was good. I was probably lucky to touch the piano. Since then, the piano is the closest instrument to me, almost some extension of my body. When I imagine some music in my mind, almost automatically I imagine the piano keys. Sometimes some kind of music is not able to be played on the piano. As far as the timbre, of course the piano is very limited, like compared to the guitar you can express many, many different timbres, very pure acoustic or very electric. With the piano, it's so limited, and also you cannot play the intervals between keys, that's also a limitation. But there are many benefits also. Probably more than half of the cases I imagine music in my mind on the piano keys. It's easy to go to the scores to write in that case. It's the easiest way for me to play music. Cost-wise, it's cheaper.
I would have expected you to have a very emotional response to it, but this seems very logical. Do logistics dictate that much of how you think about music?
Probably the biggest reason [I play piano] is I cannot play the other kinds of instruments. I'm a terrible drummer, I almost cannot play the guitar, nor sax, nor trumpet. A little bit of tuba, because when I was in junior high I played the tuba in marching band, but that's it. The piano is the instrument I can play the most.
But if you said, I want to make this record and tour with a drummer, you could. You have before.
The simplicity to have a piano on stage and just myself… It could be really wonderful to have Christian Fennesz, actually we have toured just the two of us in Europe sometimes, like last year or the year before, just my piano and Fennesz in summertime in Italy. It was so beautiful. So it's still possible in the future, but this time I like simplicity.


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From amazing wreck diving to stunning tropical reefs and encounters with Whale Sharks, Manta Rays and every other reef creature you can imagine, the underwater world of Western Australia has it all. Not nearly as crowded as Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, Western Australia is a secret jewel in the crown of the amazing diving on offer in Australia.
All photos courtesy of Tourism Western Australia http://www.tourism.wa.gov.au
Images 1-10 of 10
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Tag Archives: TV
In America for the summer
Posted on 24. Jun, 2011 by Brandon.
We're in America for the summer after wrapping up a frantically paced spring in Manila. There's nothing like the Tennessee lake and sun to absorb stress and decompress from our metropolitan lifestyle. I've been enjoying a bit of a digital diet considering the extent to which I'm connected while in Asia. That means very little internet, minimal Facebook, Twitter or email. I hardly watch any TV when in Manila, and have kept that also to a minimum.
We'll be relaxing here for a while, and then will head to Indian Rocks Beach, Florida for a couple of weeks in July.
On a completely separate note, here's a photo I took on the island of Negros, southern Philippines. Surreal sky:
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Poll: What percentage of your day is spent staring at some sort of screen?
Posted on 22. Apr, 2009 by Brandon.
Poll: What percentage of your day is spent staring at some sort of screen? (computer, TV, handphone, etc) I've asked the same question on Facebook and Twitter. I'll post the results soon.
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Earning supplemental income: How to make money in your spare time?
Posted on 22. Jan, 2009 by Brandon.
Money. As much as I strive to enjoy life without focusing on it, I'm beginning to feel that it's time to seek out more financial security. The global recession, New Year's resolutions, and the very lucid realization that I'm now in my 30′s has been the cause of such thinking.
For the past seven years, I've lived in Jakarta on a decent salary, with sufficient housing provided, a car that's paid off, maids that have cooked and cleaned, and have enjoyed much of the expat lifestyle defined by comfort and travel.
On the other hand, I've been a salaried employee this entire time, with not much potential to break out of the pre-determined pay scale beyond yearly (very modest) increases. I am friends with many expats making absurd amounts of money; generally they're working in the oil industry, investments, or other more lucrative fields. It's not easy seeing how much more they earn, not out of greed or jealousy, but from the knowlege that they've traveled the world, and don't stress about finances in the same manner. Having said that, I've never measured a man by his wealth.
In living like an expat, I spend like an expat. Whereas an Indonesian meal may cost less than $1, a decent meal of sushi or seafood will generally be well over $20. I won't continue with the disparities in lifestyle expenditures, but you get the point. There are areas where I can cut back.
I feel it's time to start being more financially responsible. Focusing on the basics, saving more money, and finding cheaper ways of enjoying life. Knowing this is a trend around the globe makes it easier, but budgeting alone isn't enough.
It's time to seek out other opportunities for making supplemental income. There are two factors that play into this:
A) The very real fact that the life of an expat is transient. I never know when I'll leave Indonesia, as my contracts are renewed annually. I'll need another source of income to bridge the gap when I decide to leave and/or switch careers.
B) Budgeting and saving may be sufficient for developing good habits, but it's simply not enough for things like buying property, a home, or investing carefully, at this time.
It will take lots of research, dedication, time, and money to get some things started, but I believe I have all of those aspects covered. Whereas many of my friends enjoy evenings of leisure, TV, reading, and socialization, after the gym, dinner, and some quality time with Novita, I'm back on the computer in the evenings doing photography, teaching myself new skills, etc. I have no problem dedicating at least an additional 2-4 hours per day to whatever venture I begin.
Now the question is… what should I do? I have a few ideas, and will dedicate another post to them. In the meantime, are there any ways you make additional income beyond your primary job? Do you find that the time you put into it is worthwhile in the end? Do you make sufficient income from it to rationalize giving up your free time?
More to come.
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The "I will not post about Obama's inauguration" post
Posted on 21. Jan, 2009 by Brandon.
There's no point. The entire world is blogging, posting, tweeting, flickring, chatting about the inauguration. Why bother to read more here?
So, this post will be about… what I didn't do during the inauguration.
- I didn't go to the Ritz for a $200/person event to watch the inauguration
- I didn't 'not' miss being in America during these times of excitement.
- I didn't 'not' watch the inauguration despite having to stay up till 1:30AM and getting up at 6AM for work.
- I didn't 'not' relish watching old George dubayu leave the stage forever.
- I didn't 'not' try streaming CNN live via UStream to my iPhone.
- I didn't 'not' take photos of my TV screen out of excitement despite knowing I'll likely never use them again.
- I didn't 'not' follow / interact with Twitter to gain perspectives from the world as a whole.
- I didn't 'not' feel slightly jealous at the fact that my cousin was 'dead-center, only 200 meters from the podium'.
- I didn't 'not' wish I was doing something slightly cooler than laying in bed watching TV during such a prime moment in history.
- I didn't 'not' feel pride at being an American for the second time in a long time. (the first being the election win)
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This article from 'Daring Fireball' pretty much sums up why I've been gushing over my iPhone 3G
Posted on 09. Oct, 2008 by Brandon.
From 'Daring Fireball':
Let's just say it up front: the iPhone is the greatest piece of consumer electronics that has ever been made.
If I could travel back 20 years and show my then 15-year-old self just one thing from the future of today, it would be the iPhone. It is our flying cars. Star Trek-style wireless long-distance voice communicator. The content of every major newspaper and magazine in the world. An encyclopedia. Video games. TV. Etc.
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Time and memories
Posted on 14. Nov, 2007 by Brandon.
My father's airplane, hanging upside down, was cradled by a gentle nest of tree branches and power lines. The scene proved more than my delicate psyche could absorb having only experienced five years of development in this world.
No one ever survives, my brief knowledge of plane crashes told me, formulated by viewing the height of action TV circa 1983. Half of my entire world revolved solely around this one man, and now he was leaving us?
Moments later, I found myself torn between the confirmation that my hero could survive anything and the brutal realization that I had just learned my first life lesson: we're all ephemeral and so very fragile.
Amazingly, 25 years later this scene replays itself clear as an autumn morning, reaffirming the formative power of time and memories.
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The Monk, my Neighbor, and a Celebrity O.D.
Posted on 21. Dec, 2006 by Brandon.
So the other night I pulled into my neighborhood. Driving down the palm lined street, I came to an intersection loaded with people, media vans, and police. I had no idea what was going on, but living in Jakarta for half a decade has taught me to hide my white-ass when I come upon such a scenario. I put up the heavily tinted windows of my Honda, and after I arriving home forgot the entire thing.
The next night, I pull in to my street, and the same thing is going on. This time it clicked – I had forgotten that there's some Indonesian celebrity that lives down my street. (forgot his name or why he's famous). I figured he must have been in the media for some reason, hence the crowds.
Turning on the TV, Novita informed me of the real reason. A (singer?) / celebrity, named Alda Risma had turned up dead in a hotel room. Apparently it was an overdose, but the truth has a way of shape-shifting here – foul play has been discussed. In the story I gathered, an unidentified (at the time) man had dropped her off at a hospital, left for dead.
Where does my neighbor come in? Well, it seems that the unidentified man is a monk, whose brother-in-law is my neighbor. Apparently he used my neighbor's car to drive the woman to the hospital – seems a bit shady.
If anyone has further insight, please share. I do find it morbid that they've been showing her body on the news. In a country where the local grocery store plays songs declaring, "Lick my p*ssy" from rap artists over the loudspeakers unknowingly while you're strolling the cereal isle (Sogo MKG), and sensors huge chunks of nude scenes from R-rated blockbusters, you'd think they'd be less intent on showing death and carnage in its full visceral nature to the 5 year olds at home.
Never a dull moment here, that's for sure.
Continue Reading
Tsunami Survivors Tell Tales
Posted on 25. Apr, 2006 by Brandon.
I forgot about this article in the Guardian following the Asian tsunami of 2004. I guess in the pandemonium, I never thought of passing it on at the time, even though this blog was mentioned.
But perhaps the saddest site I've visited today is javajive, written by another expat who has been waiting on news of friends in Phuket. At the time of writing this post he's still waiting, although a commenter on his blog tells of their heartbreak at losing a number of their family to the disaster.
Perhaps the most heart-rending aspect of the site is the pictures of playing children he's posted, taken only a couple of days before disaster struck. The question one is left asking after seeing them is barely worth repeating. An image grabbed from local TV further down his front page (with caution – it may upset some readers) tempts you to fear the very worst.
I truly hope the tragedy will not be forgotten. Perhaps 100 times as many people perished when compared to September 11, and yet I don't feel its impact reached the Western world even a fraction as much. Many people I spoke with in the States seemed disconcertingly uninformed, despite their best intentions.
My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones.


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Darius Rucker with Rodney Atkins & Jana Kramer
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The 22-year-old's body was discovered after the concert in a local landfill among trash from the stadium.


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Avenger Final Episode 13
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Updated: November 9, 2012
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|Advice, Suggestions and General Help
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I gotta lot to learn
Posted by: Riverboy on Jan-21-13 6:44 PM (EST)
Thanks Celia. After reading your post, I realise I have a lot to learn. Initially, I would stick to the shoreline until the boys gain the ability to handle the rougher water. I guess the first couple of years will be quite difficult for me being the engine.
For now, my goal is simply learning how to build one and doing some weekend camping trips. hopefully, We'll be graduate to a higher level and then I can focus on other boats if this one works out.
2-3 Canoe/Kayak Trailer
Emergency Cases
Women's PFD's
Dry Bags
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By Kevin Harvison
Photo Editor
McALESTER —
James E. Patterson, 78, of Eufaula, died Wednesday, July 31, 2013.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Lenna Baptist Church. Burial will be at Lenna Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Hunn, Black & Merritt Funeral Home & Crematory of Eufaula.


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MAQUOKETA — Lee E. Highly, 91, of Maquoketa, died Saturday at Clover Ridge Place in Maquoketa.
Friends and family may gather in remembrance of Lee on Friday from 10 a.m. to noon in the Bistro at the Carson Celebration of Life Center in Maquoketa. Public graveside military honors and burial will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday from the Tipton Masonic Cemetery.
Death date: Nov. 23, 2013


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Freeware: Nokia Battery Monitor – with activity usage estimates! S^3 and S60V5 (+video demo on 5800)
Right, as battery meters and monitors go – they're often quite boring, just telling you how much you have left by a visual indicator. If you're lucky it might give an estimate in time remaining based on current usage.
With the Nokia Battery Monitor, it really does monitor your power usage based on what exactly you're using on the phone.
It's available for S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3 handsets. Screenshots above were from the Nokia N8 (Which has a tremendous battery life)
There's a review over at Nokia Conversations by Adam, with a very important end note:
Note that the accuracy of the app might …vary. Mobile phone batteries do not discharge at a predictable rate. For example, if your phone has been on standby all day, then it might believe that it's got a full day's use left. If you then receive two hour-long phone calls, it was probably mistaken. Accuracy improves over time, though: it calibrates itself to your typical usage pattern.
Here's a video demo on the Nokia 5800
About the Author (Author Profile)Hey, thanks for reading my post. My name is Jay and I'm a medical student at the University of Manchester. When I can, I blog here at mynokiablog.com and tweet now and again @jaymontano. We also have a twitter and facebook accounts @mynokiablog and Facebook.com/mynokiablog. Check out the tips, guides and rules for commenting >>click<< Contact us at tips(@)mynokiablog.com or email me directly on jay[at]mynokiablog.com
Comments (7)
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I've found this quite interesting. However I have a couple of issues with it:
1) The statistics page only displays the current day's data, and doesn't save it so you can compare it with previous days. Perhaps a bug with my install.
2) I have to question the accuracy, as around 90% of my usage comes under the "other" category. One hour of GPS navigation was less than 1% of my day's usage.
I guess we'll see whether it improves with time.
I will say that judging from the comments below this same story posted on AllAboutSymbian, this software is potentially very unreliable at accurately reporting remaining battery.
So I guess best thing is to bear that in mind when trying it out and see if it actually is accurate or not…
What font is that in those two screenshots? I love it. Do tell.
I tried this on the N8 and I found it pretty inaccurate. Had full bars of battery on my device and the software says 53%. :/
And teh widget is lagggy all the time.
But the reason I already unistalled it is that it asked my permission to use the phones intel EVERY FREAKING TIME I started it. There are 2 options: allow it for the session or not. Only on Symbian.
Hi colleagues, its fantastic piece of writing
concerning teachingand entirely defined, keep it up all
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Rock's T-Bone Steaks84 Reviews 13 Pics
Prep8 m
Cook7 m
Ready In15 m
"This seasoning makes any steak awesome. This is the best. It doesn't overpower the steak. I can't eat a steak out anymore because I always compare it to this seasoning."
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Adjust Servings
Original recipe yields 4 t-bone steaks
- Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil the grate. Stir the salt, paprika, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, coriander, and turmeric together in a small bowl; set aside.
- Rub the steaks on all sides with the seasoning mixture. Cook on the preheated grill to your desired degree of doneness, 3 to 3 1/2 minutes per side for medium-rare. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 130 degrees F (54 degrees C).
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We've tried this steak rub three times now, and tonight was the best.... the first couple of times I used the full amount of salt, and tonight I cut both the salt and turmeric in half. Be sure to apply the rub just before grilling. If you leave it on too long, the flavor gets too strong, and the meat loses it's juice. Thanks, Rocky... the best steak we've had all year!
This steak rub Rocks! I cut the recipe in half for two good sized T-bones and it was perfect. I did use half the amont of salt though. It had just the right amount of spice and we melted a little butter over top of them when they came off the grill. I don't think any steakhouse could have compared. This is a definite keeper - these went great with grilled onions and Leslie's Saltly Grilled Potatoes from this site. Thanks Rocky.
Spunky Buddy
I looked at the ingredients and tried to imagine what this would taste like…I had no idea. It just looked interesting. After pulling the steak off the grill, letting it sit for five minutes and tasting it all I can say is, this is absolutely wonderful, a fantastic complement to steak on the grill. The rub enhanced that beef flavor a man looks for without being overpowering. I would make one adjustment. As some reviewers who preceded me indicated, I would cut back on the salt. Beyond that, this is something I will use again, and often. Special note: for those of you who love strip steaks and your significant other likes tenderloin, using a porterhouse and cutting the tenderloin off, cooking it separately (as shown in my photo), is an easy way to satisfy different tastes and different cooking temperatures.
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Emily's Marinated Venison Steaks
Amount Per Serving (4 total)
- Calories
- 929 cal
- 46%
- Fat
- 43.9 g
- 68%
- Carbs
- 2.5 g
- < 1%
- Protein
- 123 g
- 246%
- Cholesterol
- 258 mg
- 86%
- Sodium
- 2667 mg
- 107%
Based on a 2,000 calorie diet
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