A Trip Down Memory Lane..

Greetings adventurers and explorers alike! This post will cover two incredible Raids. Us PVE players have always gravitated around raiding content and what makes it worth all the hours of progression and the strive for gear and downing bosses for the good of our guilds. It was so hard for me to choose these top two, but in my mind they are the few that are most thought out and enjoyable throughout my entire seven years raiding experience. 

Without question, Karazhan was my most memorable experience in terms of proper progression raiding. Even though I did touch on Vanilla raiding in MC and two bosses in Naxx, This for me was my real chance to strive for top end raiding. With over ten bosses to face, some of which were on an RNG type system where you had the chance to go against 1 of 4 bosses (I.E Opera Event) it was one of the most complex and incredibly thought out places to delve into. Its geometric structure was unlike anything I have seen before.. I mean c'mon, A haunted castle, also known as Medivh's Tower who was the last former protector of Tirisfal. With spirits reawakened and Medivh himself still cascading down the haunted halls, you generally felt the epic scale of the place. Ley lines from each magical sector all pointed under Karazhan, from the mages in dalaran to the high priests of Stormwind..  and to me, still holds the title of the most epic Raid to date.

My second top raid would have to be without doubt one of the most awesome raids the dev team worked on after the burning crusade. With a wobbly start to re opening Naxx, Blizzard blew every PVE player out the water with this one. Ulduar, With 13 bosses and 1 extra to go up against, this place was incredible. From Titans to huge gnomish like constructions, old gods and the odd dragon, It was one of those places where everyone had something they loved here. The size of the halls, different sections like the huge conservatory and halls made out of ice, It was beyond the scope of any of our imaginations and to this day is still farmed for the mounts and just to feel the nostalgia of the mighty Ulduar. With the helping hand of Brann Bronzebeard who believed this place to be an old Titan city, we few mortals who dared to enter had one hell of a story to tell the rest of the guild and hold Ulduar close to one of the great raiding memories of all time.

So, these are my top two raids, what was yours?  

Vaylen, Ragnaros EU.

Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 70 - 80

Hello ladies and gents, I have had such a busy week as usual with the competition I have set up and some other promoting things going on I have really been tight for time, But I thought I would cover the next bracket on my playthrough series. Documenting and sharing information as I go has really made an impact on how I see things now and I think its made me a better player because of it. So enough waffle from me, lets dive in to the frozen depths of Northrend!  

As our adventure continues, we now have caught up to one of the most Iconic expansions so far, Wrath Of The Lich king. After the burning crusade, alot of players were unsure of this expansion, It seemed to be more user friendly and easier than the previous expansion, this was the year in which Blizzard saw its largest increase in new subscribers. I think it was due to the fact of making more things accessible for others not just the hardcore, which rejuvenated the older players to re sub, and give it a shot. Instances were easier no doubt but what I enjoyed about this expansion was the lore. 

At first, I was not that interested in it, I wanted to level fast, get raiding and see some progress, and that's what I did for the entire expansion. I played as a Enhancement Shaman back when this was in its golden days and lore was the least of my concern, It was only recently I bought the Rise of the Lich King book written by Christie Golden that made me really appreciated the work put in to this expansion. Anyway enough of that, lets have a look at the instances I healed through to reach 80. 

Utgarde Keep - This will be one of the first dungeons you will be faced against upon reaching level 70. The keep is guarded King Ymiron who leads the new race introduced to this expansion called Vrykul. Their mission is to prove to the lich king their power and be worthy of working alongside the lich. The Keep has a number of open hallways and then a upper tier that forces you out on to the very top of the structure to fend of proto drakes and face the evil king.

The Nexus - Is an ice structure unlike most you would have seen, the underground networks were forced by magical energies that Malygos harnessed during his time of madness to all focus on this region. Coldarra itself has been buckled by these recent events which make this dungeon a formidable and interesting experience. The frozen halls, shattered rifts and plant like creatures, this place has a huge variety of things going on within this zone. One of my favorites.

Azjol'nerub - This dungeon is extremely short and can be cleared within a very small amount of time, that being said it is still an extremely important instance, lore wise. Azjol is a series of tunnels that was used for the Nerubian to transport Arthas underground to the icecrown citadel were he would ultimately fight Illidan Stormrage. I liked this instance, the structure of the place is awesome and the fact you have to go deeper inside this zone to face the last boss gave it a different feel too the typical instance layout.

Drak'Tharon Keep -  This old stronghold has some deep and dark secrets. Home to the Trolls surrounding grizzly hills that were forced too look for new ways to help the Lich, a number of creatures now house this place also. Dinosaurs and undead are but a few that roam these halls and stairwells.  Drakuru, the troll leader of this hold is being tested for his loyalty to the Lich king and as you venture towards the end of the instance, you will see what the Lich has in store for poor old Drakuru. This is a great instance, but in terms of healing, there is not much to do.  The last boss for example forces you to transform into Skeletons and use the new abilities given to you, something I find annoying when I want to pump out some heals. Nonetheless an awesome zone. 

Gundrak - My favorite of this bracket by far! Home to the Ice trolls that hunt within Zul'Drak are constantly in battle between the scourge, so its unclear if we're cleansing this place from a curse or what not, However this instance is the one I enjoy most. Its corrupted bosses which include Elementals, trolls that transform to naga or a mammoth are so different to what we're used too.  The Trolls here have contacted their Loa to grant them strength against the hordes of Scourge but with a terrible backlash. You will fight your way through twisted halls, Infested waters, submerged chambers and in turn you will revitalize the Ice troll that dwell here. 

Caverns Of Time/Culling Of Strathholme - The final 5 man instance within this bracket that I experienced before getting level 80, what a way to end the bracket. Here we learn of how Arthas, The lich king became so torn and twisted. It all started with the Culling. He was lead by a evil force that was pushing him beyond his limits and made him believe the best way to cleanse a city, was to eradicate it. Disobeying the orders from Uther to investigate more, he destroyed every living being that stood in his way. During your time here you will be guiding him through the city streets, inns and secret passage ways to kill the demon Mal'Ganis who he believed to be the one behind the tampered grain that was turning people to scourge.  His hatred for this demon was what forced him to hunt for Frostmourne and eventually turn Arthas, A once noble paladin, too the lich king.

Although there are other instances you can jump in to, I only mentioned the ones I had experienced on this shaman. So for more information on the other instances head over to wowhead. Now for the Shaman/healing stuff! In this section I will go over important spells that will be useful to my healing output and which talent I took as well as the final set of glyphs. 

Grace of Air (Passive) - This gives all surrounding raid/party members a 3000 mastery buff, SO LONG BLESSING OF MIGHT, WE GOT THIS!

Mastery: Deep healing - This increases the potency of our healing spells by 24% based on the current health level of your target, the lower their health, the better the heal. Now I'm not to sure about this one, For progression, this stat seems to be great, for hard hitting bosses.. like a good way to stress test the damage your raid takes. BUT it only works when players are low, so the rest of the time it seems to me that its over shadowed by other class healing mastery's. Some testing and research will have to be done, as on paper it looks good, but I'm still unsure.

Rushing Streams (Talent) - I LOVE THIS! Your healing stream totem now heals two players for 15% additional healing, Beautiful! Short and simple. As I have this on CD Its an all and all healing increase.

Glyph of Totem Recall - This causes our totem recall ability to refund all the mana cost of the totem that was placed. I love this, I have got in to the habit early of using this spell and its great for mana.  I would recommend getting for your level 75 Glyph.

So that's it for this playthrough, as I have said before, I loved this bracket. Its an incredible moment in warcraft history.. well to me anyway, maybe because I love the book so much, BUT WHO KNOWS! Until next time guys and girls, Take care. Vay. 

Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 40 - 50

Hello Ladies and Gentleman! You know what time it is, This week I have done so many things out of game and also trying a few new things ingame I have had almost no time to post much recently! I have been making a few videos here and there, Tried my luck at some RP on Argent dawn, Was lucky enough to get enlisted into a really good and well known guild called <Darnassus> as well as some IRL things such as Popping up to london, cinema, few dinners with the lady friend and passed a pub called The Brewmaster, I have also got some leveling done on my shaman so enough waffle. Time to get on with this Diary Entry. 

As my readers shall know, and for new readers alike, I have been completely leveling through dungeons. I have had a few messages as to why this is the case and why I stick to this type of play. Alot of people ask if its boring, repetitive etc. So I thought I'd quickly go over this matter. Yes, It can be boring and yes it is extremely repetitive, I personally would not advise it if you're power leveling a specific class. BUT! and the only reason why I'm choosing to level as resto through dungeons is to gain that healer experience, Understand how spells work and really get a feel for the class. The easy way would be to quest to 90 as Elemental, soon as I get 90 buy some spirit gear, read some guides, learn all my spells, work out my key bindings etc... That to me just seems more hassle than its worth, What I really enjoy about playing a class is learning to understand it. Healing especially because it takes some time to master, sometime to really understand some of the spell synergy and to me, its always great to get a head start. 

So within this bracket I have been lucky enough to jump in to some of the most well made instances Blizzard has to throw at us pre Burning Crusade. I delve deep into Razorfen Downs, Dire Maul West and my favorite dungeon of all time, Scholomance, Heres a little background story on each dungeon: 

Scholomance - The twisted, evil building also known as the House Of Barov is located within a lake in Western Plaguelands, It is believed to be an academy, Or school for evil Necromancers and dark mages. This building fell during the Second war and for each day since, it has been home to some disgusting work. Humans, re building abominations, ghouls and Skeleton like creatures, this building has a dark past, that it does not wish to share. 

Dire Maul West (Capital gardens) - The second wing within dire maul  this one home to abundance of enemies. From Orc size trees, Ogers, Skeletons, Mana wraiths but that is not all that stands in the way,.Towards the end of the instance you will come across a imprisoned demon named Immol'Thar. This instance requires your group to navigate around the imprisoned monster, killing enemies safeguarding crystals that's shrouding him. Once this is done, you can then move on to kill his protector. 

Razorfen Downs - This Demonic, spiritual place is home to the original ancestral burial grounds for the QuilBoar, Embedded deep below Thousand Needles. The hallways and and tight ridges are now infested with Scourge trying to disrupt the well being of these creatures, its not long before more skeletons and abominations start over whelming this place. so be aware, get your cleansing waters ready!  

In this section I will go over the spells and talents I have acquired during this bracket, They are as follows:

Chain Heal - This beauty I got at level 44, FINALLY! This spell heals the initial target and will then bounce to another 4 targets healing the most injured. If players hit by the spell have a riptide rolling off them, this will then make the Chain heal 25% more potent. I glyphed it to give it that watery look, as well as Glyph of Chaining which will increases its radius. This spell is incredible for aoe healing paired with riptides as well as healing tide totem. 

Tidal Waves (Passive) - After casting Chain heal or Ripide your next 2 greater healing wave or healing wave cast time is reduced by 30% which makes it great for spot healing/tank healing. It also increases the critical effect chance of your healing surge by 30%. This also shares the same amount of charges as above. I love this Passive, it really does make chain heal a great way to keep tidal waves up during aoe healing just incase of huge spike damage. 

Call Of The Elements (Talent) - I chose this one because it works extremely well with healing stream totem, it has a 3 minute cooldown and when activated it finishes the cooldown on all totems with a base cooldown Shorter than 3 minutes. It's great I found for using another Healing stream, Tremor totem, Grounding totem and Capacitor totem.

So thats it for this update, I will be keeping you guys and girls up to speed more so with my progress on this shaman as well as Hearthstone Beta footage! Thats right! I got the key tonight and I was so happy I screamed like a bitch! I'm also doing WW pvp videos and I would love to give a shout out to Nyxrinne who's currently in the middle of my new Blog layout, It looks so awesome and I'm so lucky to have that work done for me, its much appreciated and You guys will see the final result soon enough! - Vaylen. 

Check out his blog at: http://touch-of-death.blogspot.co.uk/

Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 30 - 40

Hello Hello! It's come to that time once again were I post about my dungeon adventures between each bracket, this one in particular was one of my favorite dungeon groups, With a number of rather different dungeons to overcome my little shaman had a blast! 

So, as my journey continues ever more towards the end game content the recent dungeons have been a awesome change to the other ones I have seen so much of. From demonic creatures in the halls and pools of Dire Maul to the lost and all but forgotten mines and temples of the underground excavation site, Uldaman. I had a few new spells to play around with here and as ever I shall list the abilities I acquired through this bracket and a bit of background information on the dungeons. 

A little background on these instances:

Dire Maul East - The east wing is the first entrance that can be found in the dire maul hold to the right within the depths and dense forests of Feralas. The rolling hills give away to a path that runs right through this zone, heading north you will find this building guarded heavily by slightly clumsy ogres and cunning wolves.  The Instance is home to possessed demonic creatures, only but proving themselves to the burning legion. The halls are large but it is a simple navigate around, Just watch out for the trees and other shadowy inhabitants.

Maraudon - This incredible structure sits dormant in the caves of Desolace and unfolds to a huge chain of caverns and underwater features. You start your adventure within the Orange chambers that's home to toxic elements and really hungry plants.. Yes plants! This will then lead on to the twisted and lost caves of the Purple section home to demonic like creatures. Poison falls is then just around the corner, avoiding the blobs and toxic pools you will then see the beauty of the last section, Take a leap off of the waterfall and you will be in front of the last section, The Inner Sanctum of Maraudon.Here you will find Golems the size of zeppelins, Hydras and an assortment of waterlife which will ultimately lead you to take down the cursed Princess if you could call her that, Theradras.   

Uldaman - This long lost and ancient titan fault is buried deep within the mountains of the badlands. Currently in the state of excavation by the dark iron dwarves whom seek all the relics and riches for their master, Ragnaros.  The Caverns will lead you past Scorpions, Bats, Dwarfs, Constructs, Trogg like creatures and deep within his fault the servant of the Titans, Archaedas lies waiting.  

In this section I will go over my new spells

So! Here we go! The juicy bit, but with these 10 new levels I have not required new spells as such but some really strong passives, some are so strong I have noticed as difference straight away and I will list them as follows: 

Reincarnation (Passive) - This beauty is simple, If I die, I can bring myself back to life and continue the fight for survival, great in raids, great in questing, Great for everything, I love it. 

Ancestral Awakening (passive) - when I land a direct critical heal spell, An extra healing spell is thrown on to a player with the least health for 30% of the amount healed, a really strong passive when tank healing and such. It's just a shame you don't see the astral being doing his or hers thing. 

Burning Wrath (passive) - Plain and simple, gives raid and party members 10% spell power, thats why casters love us! 

Resurgence (passive) - This is my favorite one out of the four I have received this bracket. When Water shield is active our healing critical strikes will return a base amount of mana depending on what spell was used from what I read. Healing wave and Greater haling wave replenish more, then healing surge, riptide and unleashed life and then the least to receive the most mana return is chain heal. I hardly ever run out of mana with this beauty.  

So thats it from me this week! Stay tuned for the next bracket! and Remember, stay out of the fire and stay under the rain! - Vay.  

Lets play: World of Warcraft!

Greetings all, Follow an aspiring Orc and his trusted companion Barry throughout their exploration and discovery in Azeroth. During the 1 to 90 process we will be thrown in too deep forgotten dungeons, ancient battlegrounds, and exploring the vast places beyond the gates of Orgrimmar, Guys and Girls, You too can be apart of the adventure, so sit back, relax and Enjoy, Lets play: World Of Warcraft! 

Question & Answer Time With Sunnier The Brewmistress!

Hello to all my readers, I spoke about a special post in the works for you guys and girls out there! so for those who are interested in the ways of the Brew, want to know more about the class from another perspective as well as a whole bunch of cool facts then look no further! Today we get an insight into one of the monk communities most well known Blogger, Co host of Monk Meditation Podcast and Heroic raider in Frustration. Ladies and Gentlemen, Orc and Gnome alike, I give you Sunnier! 

I am Sunnier, brewmistress blogger of SunniersArtOfWar.com. I tank for my guild Frustration on Fenris-US, update various brewmaster guides around the web, and maintain a surprisingly popular set of Weak Auras. You can contact me via email, sunnier@sunniersartofwar.com, twitter, @SunnierBear, or ingame, Sunnier#1336.

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Class Based Questions.

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- Greetings Sunnier, Thank you for taking part in my questions and answer section for the Brewmaster Monk. As many people may or may not know, You originally played a Druid tank in your early days of world of warcraft. With the most recent addition to the tanking club, What was your main reason for the change from druid to monk? 

I've always loved monk archetypes in various games -- the agile, squishy melee character who punches and heals -- so I was very intrigued when monks were announced. I still loved my druid, but I think what finally pushed me over was aesthetics. Pandaren looked adorable, and monks could see their transmog in combat! Not to mention the unique animations. I'm a sucker for pretty things.

- The Brewmaster play style was introduced with active mitigation in mind, and it arguably is the strongest to tank with currently in terms of the new tanking system, Are you glad you changed classes when you did? 

I'd say paladins are the strongest tank right now, but there's no question that brewmasters are in a close second. However, even if monks were the worst tank, I'd still be happy with my choice. (I rather enjoy the challenge of being an underdog.) I still think that tanks are relatively balanced in today's world, such that any fight can be completed with any tank. The apparent imbalance only arises when placed under a microscope, and when unintended strategies used by high end guilds become expected in less hardcore guilds.

- The playstyle of the monk is somewhat different to the other tanks currently, do you feel the play style and *feel* of the class makes it stand out and really suit the monk identity?

Brewmasters are unique in that we have so many buttons to push. We have more active mitigation choices than other tanks, though some of those are closer to buff maintenance than true choices. We are exceptionally good at preparing for damage, and I really enjoy that proactive playstyle. I like that we are relatively smooth tanks, which fits well with our drunken brawler flavor. I especially love how Blizzard incorporated aspects of real life "drunken kung fu", like staggering or gift of the ox (where we actually have to make our characters weave about), into our own unique mechanics.

- With the Identity in mind, do you wish the Brewmaster had something else to make them stand out from the other monks specs, or do you feel blizzard have done this well enough with the stance animations and statue? 

Blizzard did a great job of establishing the Brewmaster identity, and I think it's the most well-defined monk spec. Our three identifying features are drunken brawling (the fighting style), brewing, and the ox. Drunken brawling gives us stagger, shuffle, our stance animations, and any other martial arts inspired abilities. Brewing gives us Keg Smash, Dizzying Haze, and the other brew skills. We can thank Niuzao for our ox skills, like Ox statue, Clash, and Gift of the Ox. Now if we're missing one thing, it's obviously the ability to summon Niuzao.

- A huge debate within the Brewmaster community is *what secondary stats do I go for* With this question forever popping up in forums, what would be your reasonings behind going Crit/haste heavy or Mastery/stam heavy? 

My general advice is always: if you die a lot, try mastery/stam; if you're not dying, try crit/haste. When we get into specifics, I usually advise newer players to start with mastery and stam because it's very forgiving. In a full mastery build, your damage intake is so smooth that even if you make a mistake, your healers can likely help you recover. It's also useful for experienced players who are going against an especially hard-hitting boss. When I advise people to go crit, it's usually because they want to push their personal dps. Crit is great for the majority of monks because it double dips as our best dps stat and a strong damage reduction stat. The downside is that you take more bursty damage and can be harder to heal.

As an aside, this stat paradigm is one of my favorite aspects of the class. There's no right or wrong answer (unless you're a high end guild, but most people aren't so we'll ignore that). A lot of our stats are optimal at levels the user feels most comfortable at. As a guide writer, I feel like I did my job when I enable people to make educated decisions for themselves, and since monks have no single correct answer, that makes my job more enjoyable.

- Many people enjoy Throne of Thunder, I personally feel it was one of the better content patches to be released this expansion, which two fights were your most enjoyable/memorable to tank?

My favorite fight is Horridon. When you have to tank both the trash and the dinosaur, you have to focus on two completely different aspects of tanking: add pickup and dealing with large, predictable damage. The different and often conflicting goals made the fight more interesting. And I can't forget that I just love giant dinosaurs in the first place. My second favorite is Megaera. After a bunch of complicated movement fights, it felt really nice to just sit relatively still and focus on surviving. That fight also encouraged the use of some unconventional tools, like transcendence, healing orbs, and glyph of guard.

- From your heroic raiding experience in this patch, what would you say was the most challenging and demanding fight you come up against? 

Dark Animus was the most challenging for me. We spent a lot of time attempting the zerg strat on Animus, which pushed both my survival and dps skills. I learned that I am not very good at maximizing both of those at the same time (though to be fair, neither was the rest of my guild) so we went back to the "normal" strategy and eventually killed it.

- Coming up to the end of the expansion, and with a number of changes to monks in general, do you feel the monk has handled and surpassed your expectations? 

I initially expected monks would experience a roller coaster of changes, similar to the death knight throughout WotLK. I was pleasantly surprised that, for brewmasters at least, we've been incredibly stable. We don't have any glaring issues, we're in high demand, and it looks like it's going to stay that way. I was a bit worried about us during the beta because we were slow to get a defining feel and it was starting to look like we were going to be very boring. But they pulled through and gave us some really great play.

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Get To Know The Person Behind The Class!

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- You have been playing long enough to see all the changes within world of warcraft, The good and the bad. What has been you most memorable moment? This can include an old guild, a specific item/mount you worked for etc. 

Most of my memorable moments revolve around boss kills. I think the one that sticks with me the most is killing H Spine of Deathwing pretty early in the progression race. It was an incredibly stressful experience, and the nature of that fight was that everything went completely nuts at the end. Most of our third phase wipes were due to tank mistakes, which meant that my guild leader was screaming at me the entire time. So when it finally went down, there was such a huge surge of relief.

- Which expansion was your most favorite and why? 

Despite its very obvious balance flaws, I loved the aesthetics and raids of The Burning Crusade. The zones were so bizarre and magical, there's still no expansion that's quite so recognizable as that one. I also have a soft spot for Cataclysm, where I experienced my best progression and I really enjoyed the low level zones.

- Every few months, blizzard has an in game event, winterveil, brewfest etc. Which one would you say is your most favorite and enjoyable?

I love the summer fire festival, especially back before you could fly in the old world. It was really relaxing to romp around on a ground mount and extinguish/honor all the bonfires.

- Out of all the raids you have seen and experienced  which one was your most enjoyable, you can also include the one you like the least. 

It's hard to pick just one, since there's something I love from just about every raid. Sunwell wins in the most categories because it was beautiful, challenging, and had excellent visual storytelling (like the elves became more demonic, the lighting grew darker). It all culminated in a fantastic story-as-encounter in Kil'jaeden. The conclusion of that raid was fantastic.

As for least favorite, the mood of Ice Crown Citadel bums me out. I mean, it's a well designed raid and understandably dark and cold. But it still bums me out.

- List your favorite zone from the following continents:

Eastern Kingdoms: Gilneas. They did an excellent job giving the worgens culture through their environment.

Kalimdor: Feralas. A green zone that I felt a special affinity for as a leveling feral druid.

Outland: Nagrand (obv). The home of the talbuks!

Northrend: Howling Fjord. It has wonderful music.

Pandaria: Jade Forest. It's so green!

- With each new expansion released, which one did you enjoy the leveling experience most? 

I really enjoyed the low level quests introduced in Cataclysm, but for high level characters I loved my initial quest through Northrend. The story felt so well connected, like I was contributing, while also learning about Azeroth's most interesting history.

- If you never rolled a druid or monk, what other class has caught your eye over the years? 

The one other class I've always gotten to max level is a hunter, though to be frank I've always felt I mesh better with shaman. I just was never able to stick with a spec long enough (I love them all) to reach max level on one. Power over the elements is very cool.

- With the new expansion on the horizon, what would you want it to be based on? 

I'm really hoping we get to fight the Burning Legion and visit other strange planets. Not only because of the TBC nostalgia, but because I want to see what Blizzard's concept artists can do when you give them free reign. Maybe we should give Azeroth a rest for a few years and go destroy another planet?

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A Sunny Future For Sunnier! 

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- With the success of your incredible blog, Sunniersartofwar.com which is also featured on Icy Veins, What other treats, posts are in the works for your much appreciated Blog?

In the short term, I'm doing a lot of work in preparation for 5.4. Updating guides, reviewing new bosses, catching up on new theorycraft. It's a lot of work! In the long term, I'm working on a few new guides and site improvements. I've slowly been teaching myself lua in hopes that I can translate my auras into a full blown addon, but that's going to take a while.

- Monk meditation is an incredible Podcast, I for one absolutely love it, But how did you guys come about making this awesome show? 

Monk Meditation was the brain child of the guys over in the Convert to Raid guild. CTR is huge and has supported an excellent podcast for a long time, so it's only natural that little baby podcasts branch off. Lucky for me, they reached out because they didn't have a brewmaster representative yet. I was attracted to the project because I've always been a fan of the druid equivalent, Team Waffle. A few weeks of organizing our ideas and Monk Meditation was born!

- Can we expect some master classes on the Brewmaster in the somewhat near future? maybe a tier 16 Trinket comparison?  :P

Ahhh trinket comparisons are so hard and the most requested thing! I've been playing around with them on the beta, but the difficult part about tank trinkets is that there's rarely a pair that is best for all situations and players. Some are good for dps, some for avoidance, some for smoothing, some are mixtures. On top of that, it's difficult to really get a feel for which ones are useful without spending a few nights raiding with them, and that's something you just can't do well on the PTR. 

After that, without diving deep into theorycrafting or returning to the progression race, the best I can do is read around and regurgitate what I find. Since we're nearing the end of the expansion, it's about time for retrospectives and commentary on the meta playstyle, which might be of interest to more experienced brewmasters. :)

- You're the voice of the Brewmasters in this webshow, as well as a key figure within the monk community, did you ever expect to get such a large following of players? 

It sort of snuck up on me. I started out blogging three years ago as a self-teaching tool, and slowly gained followers as a druid, and later as a monk. I try not to think about having a following because it's terrifying! What about when I steer players in the wrong direction, or forget to cover something important? I'm not a theorycrafter or progression leader, so I constantly worry about what I can offer. Whenever my worries get the best of me, I have to remind myself that my blog is just for self expression and conveying my passion for a niche subject, and that the people reading it are just a bonus.

- Frustration, Your home on Fenris, whats your guilds plans for the future? Are you preparing for 5.4 and beyond? 

We're really looking forward to the merged realms in the future. Fenris has a very small population, which makes recruiting skilled players nearly impossible. My team only has 10 raiders, and personally I'd love to have a tiny buffer so that we don't have to stop raiding for two weeks when someone goes on vacation. I hope that with merged realms, and the possibility of skilled pugs or full time raiders, we can actually clear all of upcoming Tier 16.

- What does the future hold in store for Sunnier?

Right now, my mind is very much focused on testing and research in preparation for the upcoming patch. I hope that once the patch drops, I can take a break and do something unimportant like pet battles, the new Timeless Isle, or level some alts, but that's unlikely! In a few weeks I get to go to PAX, a gaming convention in Seattle, and meet some other WoW bloggers. And then in a few months, Blizzcon!

I just want to say a huge thank you too Sunnier for taking the time in answering the following questions. The monk community have followed you throughout your Journeys, Updating us as you go and giving your view on upcoming changes, comparisons and such. I just want to also thank you from so many of us who use your fantastic Weakauras. Without your information a lot of us will be still in the dark, but your guides have given us light. Your blog has inspired me to work on my own one, and just passing 3500 views it was a great idea to work on the inspiration you gave me. Keep up the great work! We as a community appreciate it dearly. /bow

-Vaylen. Ragnaros Eu.

Explorers Diary #1

This is my first Entry to the Explorers Diary, I will focus on zones that bring back great memories from when I first started playing from each continent in Azeroth, Including events I experienced, Pvp, Questing, Dungeons and the most memorable Raids in my seven years of playing World Of Warcraft. 

Eastern Kingdoms - Stranglethorn Vale (STV)

Stv! One of my first places I ever really experienced World PVP to the fullest Potential. Being part of a huge PVP server when I first played this game I was lucky enough to see so much carnage in this zone! When ever you logged on, Or started your quests here at the small camp to the North, just below the rebel camp, there was pvp from the get go. Now it seems to have become somewhat remote as you can bypass this zone while questing, but this really held a lot of great moments and you will still find the odd Brawls in the Gurubashi Arena to the South.

Kalimdor - Winterspring

 Aww! The beautiful Winterpsring, I loved this place the moment I got out of that hell hole thats known as Felwood. The questing here was amazing, and with the long grinds to level back in Vanilla, I used to farm the undead that patrol the Lake Kel 'Theril ruins for Icy weapon enchantments. This place had everything, Yetis, Tigers, Bears and the odd Orc and Troll to hunt down, this place really did feel like an endgame zone.

Outland - Zangarmarsh

Once I finally got through the Dark Portal a few nights after the launch of The Burning Crusade which felt like such a huge achievement, I fought my way through the Fel Orcs of Hellfire and the twisted and demonic creatures that lay waste there, I found a new love for what I saw before me leaving this place.. Zangar. Blizzard did an amazing job on the new TBC content and Zangarmarsh in my mind was the most well thought of, and so out the box, It won the hearts of many. I really did enjoy the questing here, as well as having access to the legendary Shattrath City.

Northrend - Grizzly Hills

This one was a tough one to consider because after reading the Rise Of The Lich King book, I adored the Lore and feel to Icecrown, but the sheer Beauty and diversity in Grizzly Hills made it again, my favorite place within the cold rolling hills and jagged peaks of Northrend. I did not experience much PVP here as I would of liked but the questing and style of the place, from its Music to the ambiance, made this place amazing. 

Pandaria - Jade Forest

Finally we come to a close in this Diary Entry of the Explorer, many places through outland and Azeroth have been incredible, some of which I have not mentioned, but simply because the old zones, to new players will all be a great gaming experience, Just like, the feel of something new, something uncharted to ones eye. Jade Forest had this impression on me more than any other zone in Pandaria. Its flowing rivers, peaks beyond the mists and introduction to many new unknown races, this place pulled out all the stops. I think this zone was worked on so much, a lot of the other zones just look reskinned from previous expansions. But I will never forget, that moment of flying a beat down 'copter with all guns blazing to finally descend onto uncharted territory for the first time... In a long time.


So these are my favorite zones within the continents of Azeroth, What was yours?