Let's play/blog World of Warcraft | Way of the Warrior | 20 - 30 | #3

Hello everyone! welcome to my third lets play/blog series as we follow the keen adventures and exploration of my brand new character Vay, the drunken Dwarf Warrior. It has been a absolute blast so far and I have to admit, I did not think I would have this much fun. Its an incredible class to play, especially fury. I decided for this level bracket I would try out some dungeons and before I knew it I was already 30. The class feels wild, it feels unrelenting and Its so much fun! So sit back, relax and enjoy... Lets blog Warcraft... Warrior style!

Here we are again folks! Questing and killing our way through the leveling brackets! Last week we was adventuring through Loch Modan, a beautiful location set between the rolling hills and tranquil mountain ranges of Dun Morogh and the wetlands. As much as I have enjoyed the questing in the dwarf themed areas, I decided to hit up some dungeons and before I knew it, It was time to get some material for a new blog post! So below is a list of the dungeons and I encountered and a little bit of a back story for them.

Shadowfang Keep - This haunted keep sits right above the borderline to Gilneas overlooking a small village called Pyrewood inhabited by wolves and other evil animals. It's home to a demented and cursed Vincent Godfrey, A traitor to his homeland and forsaken. This instance is the residence of a whole range of undead, and you wont find much trace of the old inhabitant anywhere in the dark and twisted halls. The creatures here are in small packs which make it great for some fury warrior damage. Plus the bosses are unique and different from each other.

Blackfathom Deeps - A incredible dungeon, one of the few underwater instances that drags you through many daunting caverns and leaking pathways that open on to ancient architecture which is probably nightelf origin, that is now over run with the twilight cult who are also joined by a mix of creatures and Naga to defend their holy demi god, Aku'Mai, a huge dragon like Hydra. This instance is a difficult one to find, but once the Temple is found to the far west of ashenvale along the coats line, it can be found after a short underground swim, So if you wish to find the entrance, don't forget your flippers and a waterproof map. This also had a re work for WoD and some of the boss encounters have some great mechanics. My new healing spell was great here along with Victory rush.

Scarlet Halls - This dungeon is located with its other counterparts in Tirisfal glades, slightly north of Undercity. This instance was re worked and now is home to what seem to be crazed Zealots and crusaders, defending their keeps from what was only Undead nightmares to pretty much anything living. The Scarlet crusade have a history of doing so, with anything that is attempting to disrupt their holy ground is an enemy. This particular instance is home to a Houndmaster, Armsmaster and a Wizard by the name of Koegler, Don't stand in the fire!

Level 25 was fast approaching so I took a look at some of the ones I thought would be great as you unlock a Major and a Minor slot at level 25, 50 and 75! From what I saw, the rage increasing glyphs was mandatory and the minor glyphs are only cosmetic so I decided to rock the burning anger one!

Once I hit level 30 I realized I had another set of talents to choose from, from what I can see from these, they are our healing utility. Below are the ones you unlock!  

Enraged Regeneration Second Wind Impending Victory 

The Idea of being able to heal myself when needed although for a very small amount was beneficial to my leveling, so as you can see from the image above, I decided to go with Enraged Regeneration. The others sound great and I can see their uses but I kill things fast enough that Victory Rush  takes care of my health most of the time. 

I also gained some interesting abilities while leveling!

Heroic Throw
Pummel
Whirlwind
Raging Blow

Raging Blow cosmetic looks amazing and hits like a truck, As a dwarf you leap in the air and hit targets with both weapons (Like a glorified Mutilate) But way cooler! I also gained an interrupt which will be valuable during my adventures.

So that's it from me Ladies and Gents, I hope you liked this some what different blog post due to the nature of my leveling this week but I have to say its been a blast as always. Again, thank you all for your continued support on the forums. I am really glad that other people can enjoy this adventure with me and if people would like to see more of my leveling, I may start a live stream! Until then folks follow me on the usual twitter/armory and I shall see you soon! - Vay. 

Episode 1
Episode 2

Vay
Twitter

Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 50 - 60

Hello everyone, hope you're all having a awesome weekend! A quick little IRL update.. I went out last night to see Turbo with the girlfriend which by the way was totally not my idea... :3 I'm going on 23 and I still want to watch dreamworks films? I refuse to grow up just yet! Anyway, I have to say it was one of my favorite animated films, Was so awesome. It's that time again! Lets see where our little Shaman went in this bracket and get to know a little bit more about the dungeons and why I enjoyed them.

So we finally reach the classic vanilla end game bracket and as you would expect, we was faced with some pretty huge instances to grind through. Some of the most loved and noticeable instances are within this bracket and for me on of the most diverse. The zones are huge, with so many different routes to take, shortcuts to be found etc, I really did enjoy this bracket in terms of healing. The huge pulls, interesting fights and not to mention the locations, It makes this post really exciting for me to write. 

Black rock depths/Spire - This to me is one of the greatest ideas and such a large scale of an area to hold some of the most game changing experiences in my World Of Warcraft playtime to date. Blackrock holds home to some of the most memorable encounters and incredible game development. For new players and people who were not too fond of dungeons per say, This location has been dramatically changed in terms of difficulty and ease of access. With the introduction to Looking For Dungeon, with a click of a button and depending your wait time you will be transported to this location and have quests to guide you through as well as Dungeon maps and can easily get through this in a decent amount of time and not to mention, heirlooms making everything that tad easier.

However, for seasonal players many will either hate this place or love it just like myself. This was the real turning point for me with my gaming Experience. First of all, Black Rock Depths (BRD) Looking for players to run through this place in trade chat was hard enough! But to finally get a team to delve into the depths of this dwarven mountain, each player knew they had 3 to 5 hours worth of challenges to tackle and overcome. With no real clear route to take, with tasks to complete to open gateways, huge dwarven doors and such, this really turned new Players to Veterans. With most people entering with Green/blue gear, backpacks full of potions and back up gear they did not need to repair, the night was set to defeat the mountain. There was also Black rock spire to attack once you reached level 60. This twisting maze of orcs, Dragonkin and trolls made this place even more epic. You heard rumors of this place, but nothing beats that feeling as a new player stepping in to this incredible Dungeon knowing this was the first stepping stone to the legendary Molten Core (MC)

Sunken Temple - The Temple of Atal' Hakkar, also known as Sunken Temple (ST) was a real challenge and used to take a decent amount of time. As mentioned above, with the new changes this instance has been made a tad easier than it used to be and a lot less time consuming. A skinning heaven this place was which made me see my first 500g back in the day, this was considered a lot! with so many twists and turns this maze full of Dragonkin and trolls was one of my favorite experiences. What this place also held was my first Epic item, Dragons call. which at the time was a huge thing, not many people were lucky enough to see one till raiding back then and when we did finally get that rare, mystical Item, We felt good! Even though I was a hunter and every melee weapon available we went for!

Blizzard seem to have put so much effort into the old content, not all of it was accessible to everyone like it is now days, so again looking in trade for a ST run was never easy, it was more of a guild thing, which back pre TBC days, being in a guild was more a privilege than a perk boost like it is becoming today, which I think is a shame. *Sad face* but nether the less, this place held so many good moments. I will never forget the Snakehead puzzle to summon the twin dragons as well as the summonable secret boss.

Now moving on to the shaman stuff! here I will mention each new spell/talent I gained

Tremor Totem - This beauty is great for moments such as boss/mob fears. If yourself or a player gets Feared, drop this and it removes the effect. Simple and yet, so very effective.

Mana Tide Totem - Another water totem to our disposal! This awesome thing gives your raid/party members 200% of your spirit for 16 seconds! It does have a 3 minute cooldown but this is great for low mana situations and no doubt will be used when needed within raiding, One thing about shamans is that you can always rely on there utility. This is just another gem to the bag.

Earth Elemental Totem - Use this and a huge earth like Golem is called forth to punch the things for a minute. This can be used with Fire elemental and I'm pretty sure gives you a buff once you pick a specific level 90 talent. We will have to wait and see.

Greater Healing Wave - Our last real main healing spell we have unlocked, this spell does have a longer cast time than others and is rather mana intensive but it does pack a huge healing punch so I tend to use this only when needed, and mostly used with the next Talent I shall mention.

Ancestral Swiftness (Talent) - Your next nature spell with a base cast time of less than 10 seconds becomes instant cast, Great when used with Greater Healing Wave, a real oh crap button when a player takes serious damage. It also gives you a passive 5% spell haste and 10% melee haste. Of course the Melee haste is ignored here but the spell haste is great, It helps with the lower end Haste break points so I hear and helps for lower gear levels.

Healing Rain - I LOVE THIS SPELL! It's received some love recently This is a blanket heal on a specific area and anyone who stands within the rain will be healed every 2 seconds for 10 seconds.  Great for stacked aoe damage and I also found great with healing tide totems and chain heals. Some great Aoe healing right there. ( This can also be instant cast when used after Ancestral Swiftness)

On to the glyphs! 

Glyph of Healing stream - This applies a 10% reduction to fire, frost and nature damage for 6 seconds to the player healed by the totem, It works great in dungeons and will be great within the raiding when moving out of fire and such becomes more frequent.

Glyph of deluge - This gives our chain heal and new cosmetic effect, Instead of a bright light (much like the mass resurrection effect around the caster) it turns it in to a torrent of water around our hands, Looks awesome!

So there you have it, some more detailed information on the dungeons and why I enjoyed them, as well as more information of the new spells I have acquired! It all helps towards the aim of becoming a decent heroic raider and hopefully a frequent blogger on them too. But don't worry my brew drinking monk friends, I have some information I will share soon with you all! 

I would just like to thank Nyxrinne for my new awesome blog layout, I was so pleased with the outcome I couldn't believe how great it was and exactly to my liking. To find out more information on her, she also has a great blog so please feel free to check it out at:

http://touch-of-death.blogspot.co.uk/

The End Is Near!

Have a great Hallow's end everyone and try not to get to preoccupied with the hunt for the mount and enjoy the festivities. - Vaylen.

Hearthstone Beta | Priest gameplay

first game I played with some recording software, I was real unlucky with some of the draws, I am new so I'm picking up new things every day! Still a great game!

Profession Progression!

Hello everyone! A little update on the professions on my Shaman, I thought I would post up some information on my professions I have currently got and also my plans for the future. I do intend on diving into heroic raiding so of course, one of the important thing is making sure I have the best professions I can have that will benefit my healing output. So lets crack on! 

Primary 

Currently Im working with mining and Jewelcrafting. On my Monk I raided with enchanting and still use skinning (SADFACE) But with my shaman I wanted to try something I have not done before since WOTLK. So I decided to level Jewelcrafting, the gem bonus seems great, especially early on when I need as much spirit a possible before I starting getting some decent gear.

Mining is my safety as it stands, It's saved me so much money because with this little beauty I can roam around while watching things on netflix and dropping down to pick up some mines, before I know it, I have a backpack ready to be used for Jewelcrafting.

Also, I have kept this because once I reach level 90, I will farm the mats needed to level blacksmithing and drop mining completely. Blacksmithing adds an extra gem slot to bracers and gloves which will help me socket those great gems from Jewelcrafting.

I'm also midway on my Secondary professions, Fishing, First aid and cooking. 

Cooking - I was going to level it once I was in pandaria as its so much easier but I really wanted the Deviate fish recipe to make some money and look awesome from time to time so I decided to take it as soon as I could.

Fishing - is the relaxing past time, I took this to help with cooking, achievements and such, it of course needs work like all of my other secondaries but I thought I would mention them anyway.

First aid - everyone loves first aid, always nice to have, not that is hugely important as I'm a healer but still, nice to have.

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.  

Monk Meditation | Brewmaster Roundtable

Greetings all, in this Episode I was lucky enough to be apart of the hosting team. With a number of great Brewmaster players from around the world, I was one of the lucky ones to be apart of this show.

We spoke on many topics including:

Vengeance, Class synergy, Monk playstyle, favorite spells, Crit vs Mastery, SoO and more!

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! 

Preparations for 5.4, Hearthstone, Diablo 3 talk and Monk Meditation.

This Vlog will be released every Wednesday evening. I will be discussing gaming news, stuff I have seen within the community and other all sorts of goodness. This is my very first Vlog I have done so sorry about the length. All of my upcoming videos will be a maximum of 5 minutes. So sit back with your finest Brew and enjoy. 

Vaylen, Ragnaros Eu.

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.

Small Update

Just a quick update for my readers, I have not been frequently posting the past few days, due to getting 12/13 Heroic in two nights, with a Lei Shen heroic one shot to add to the mix, I took a few days off to sort out my set up, move my room around and spent the last couple of nights down the Pub. I also have a incredible post for you soon, with an interview with one of the monk communities most loved Brewmasters. More on that soon! 

I had a little move around and decided to stop duel screening off my System. As much as I loved it and how convenient it was, there was no doubt my Pc was starting to struggle. So a few days ago, I bought some upgrades, new graphics card, SSD some cable protectors and decided to go back to a single Screen. I also polished up my Laptop and now will be using this to post, watch streams and such.  

Also, to add to the update, I finished reading Shadows Of The Horde. In my opinion its a really good book, and has some interesting moments, especially when you find out Vol'jin has an unlikely partner throughout his time/recovery in Pandaria. I will say though, out of the books I have read, Rise Of The Lich King is still the best one in my opinion.

Lei Shen... *waves*

Good evening to you all! As you can see tonight has been an awesome evening indeed. I know the reputations are so last two patches ago but I have been slacking on this little monk in terms of them so I thought I would polish of old reputations before 5.4 hits which, judging by the twitter feeds is soon! Between the 27th of august and the 3rd of september, so be ready!

Little shout out to Tadzu from Soul Swap who helped me out in terms of farming Warbringers and War Scouts for the tokens and congrats on his Epic mount that dropped! He now sits on 207 mounts, only fair because I was stealing every rep token in sight!! :D

And so, he dies, the guild has killed him a number of times, but in terms of personal progression, I now have 1 more to kill before a full house! This encounter requires every member to be on point with moving in and out of things and coordinating each platform perfectly, I won't go into detail on the strategy, as there are perfect ones out there, but for Brewmaster monks the following really helps:

- Tigers lust, it provides a great sprint for things like moving from decapitate and Helm of command. 
- Dampen harm, Works perfect in the last phase with the fast tank swaps and ready for taking large hits. 
- Leg sweep, timed right with other stuns for the lightning orbs on phase 2 and 3.
-  Breath of fire, the stun after the leg sweep on the previous tip provides you with another stun and aoe damage coverage beside Keg smash.
- Advert harm, A brilliant raid cooldown, so pick your moments. I used mine on the first group up on intermission 1 and phase 3 when I was not on the boss.
- Transcendence, It has its usages in every encounter, just find out were. On Lei Shen Heroic, Its great for the intermissions for the stacking as well as moving for decapitate, which leads me to my last tip..
- Zen meditation, it absorbs most of the Decapitate damage and makes your vengeance sky rocket.  

Hope some of that was easy to make sense off, tomorrow will be a fresh run in tot for myself again so lets hope for some upgrades, Until next time, Vaylen out.

Heroic Animus down!

Morning all! Last night was a pretty productive day again for myself. After selling on my mounts and making some gold for next patch/expansion the time had come to be ready for my first raid with Invictus Maneo. We went ahead with the zerg tactic and after a few attempts of getting proper cooldown management system going, We got him down. We could of had it a lot sooner if I was more aware of the specific tactic of had some experience with it but it was new for me and we got the sucker down.

The way we handled it was have myself tank three adds and kill them as fast as possible, feeding that vengeance through the roof, then once all three are dead I taunt over our healers add and dps the boss as hard as possible. Our Main tank, Dynoo, took adds as well as the boss and was putting out insane damage, we got the fight down just over two minutes. Such an easier way to defeat this sucker, if you  have the dps for it. From a Brewmaster perspective using Dampen Harm a few seconds into the fight works great with an early fortifying brew to boot. I think I was purifying every two or three seconds so making sure you have the chi is important. I never had the 4set at that time so I never had the luxury of that benefit.

Some nice items dropped and I replaced more ring, a great upgrade to one of my best in slots.

We then took down IQ and Twins down easily and was lucky enough to replace my helm with a heroic tier, not only getting my set bonus but a huge upgrade with my legendary meta to drop in there. With the rest of the night on Lei Shen and a 5% wipe, and lack of focus, from myself included we should hopefully have him dead tonight and hopefully I can be used for Ra den.

Stay tuned!

Vaylen, Ragnaros Eu.

Explorers Diary #2

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.

The Back Foot Of Defence, The Fist For Offence.

With new and old players alike looking for a change in progress and looking for new challenges to conquer, many players including myself switched to tanking and have enjoyed the experience ever since that initial change. I see a lot of people asking, what class is best to Tank with, what makes a tank better than a good Tank and what are the basic qualities of a Tank. In todays post I will cover some aspects briefly of the Tank roll, what to expect and hopefully give new players a peace of mind when jumping into the deep end. 

Basic aspects of tanking

People ask this in a number of ways, but Ideally they have played a while as a DPS/Healer and want a change. The tank in theory is the pushing force of the group. Depending on how your healer can handle your pulling speeds and efficiency in instances to not over pull groups of mobs you're generally in control of the pace. Knowing so, you have to understand the concepts of over pulling and managing aggro. 

Over pulling is aggroing a large amount of adds (more than necessary) and is a common reason why a tank has wiped the group. Knowing your limitations and having trust in your healer will make pulls a lot smoother. Use obstacles such as walls, pillars and doors to LOS (Line Of Sight) the mobs, this will force them to stop casting (if they were) and trace you down. This can also be a great way to manage your aggro on large groups.

Having them in a group, will effectively boost your output of your cleave, As a brewmaster the conjunction between Breath Of Fire and Keg Smash will hold a solid amount of aggro, meaning your dps can push that little harder in dps. Maintaining a group of mobs to remain stacked up is a good sign of your Capabilities as a tank and will forever be you go to tactic for casters and such.

Group those bad boys moar!

These reasonings may seem daunting to a new Tank, But what appeals to us, is the control you have over the fights, the dps can't do their job if the boss is jolting all over the place, the healers can't heal if you move to far away, so knowing your limitations, controlling each situation will always make you a better tank.

I hear tank swapping being used a lot, how do I tank swap with confidence?

Managing aggro will also affect how you perform on a boss. Knowing your effectiveness in a fight is key, so if you are starting a fight( Pre pot/use potion for dps/threat boost), use abilities that generate a lot of threat (will say which in the spell toolbar) In my case, Keg smash.

Its not that much needed in five man heroics/normals but if you're interested in raiding or wanting to know more, knowing how tank swaps work will help drastically.

Use of strong abilities on a boss that requires tank swapping

A basic example would be: 
Main tank receives 3 stacks of (random debuff name here)
This is the time you tank off him, Use taunt, use a large threat generating ability, Self heal (if available)
Once you receive the 3 stacks and his has worn off, he will taunt the boss off you, slow down on the dps, use some self heals, think about your position and if you should move closer to the tank or away and continue this cycle.

As mentioned, this is in raids were a lot of generic fights require tank swaps at all times,
So the same applies on tank swaps as if you was starting the encounter. Once you taunt the boss, drop some big damaging abilities and you shall be on your way with dancing with the Boss.

Quick tip: Have your tanking partner set to focus, doing so you are always aware of the debuff count he/she is receiving indicating you when to taunt. To do this follow these steps: (Right click on Tanks name plate > drop down box will appear > Select "Set To Focus") and there you have it, your tank now has your devoted attention. /hug.

Other traits of a good tank:
- Knowing when your healer needs mana, Ask for mana breaks. No healing mana = no heals = a slow death.. Or fast if you ignore the previous section. :P /cheer.
- Watch out for patrolling mobs. You will sometimes see some creatures to call over for you to beat down, but they may have some buddies so be careful, if you see a sequenced patrolling, what for them to pass, taunt over the mobs you were originally going for, pull them away from the patrols wandering around and you should be golden.
- Defensive cooldowns are there to use when things get rough, use them in a logical manner. If you use them when you feel like it, You never know, this one boss really wants you dead and your defensive is on cooldown, say goodbye to what could've saved you, don't play dumb.
- Be prepared, a sleepy orc or gnome, depending on your faction may walk to far ahead and pull some really aggravated mobs, be ready to grab them with some damaging abilities and a taunt if needed to protect your clumsy Allies.    

The verdict

Tanking in my opinion is the only way I will be playing this game for the rest of my days. I enjoy the key rolls, I enjoy taking responsibility for the lively hood of my pals and I like controlling the fights so to speak. With some basic knowledge of your class, understanding the key things to be aware of which you could get flamed for in instances (I.E aggro, over pulling, tank swapping) learning these will make you a better player and I hope this post helped answer some common questions and unearthed some basic conceptions of a tank.

So raise your shield in defiance, your weapon in glory... or.. if you're a tea drinking monk/tree hugging bear, Have fun and stay strong!

Netherix.

Loot cards everywhere!

Morning all! So this morning I finished Opening my box of Reign Of Fire TCG cards. The final installment of the Timewalkers set and the invasion of the burning legion. I'm going to be setting up some competitions weekly such as Transmog, screenshot treasure hunts and so much more and hopefully give some lucky readers a chance to win an ingame item! Codes will be emailed to the winners by myself that will have the specific card details.

Cards:

White Wooly Rhino is an in game mount worth around £100 - £130.
Thunderhead Hippogryph is an in game pet/battle pet worth £35 - £50
Sand Scarab is another ingame pet worth £4
Landro's Lil XT is another In game pet worth around £7 - £10
Landro's gift is a container that holds any of the WoW tcg mounts including the Spectral Tiger.
Landro's Longshot is an ingame tabard called Tabard Of The Flame worth £10.

These prices are the current selling prices for these cards on Ebay. Of course prices change but these are the ones that have sold within the last two months.

Happy looting!

Being Trolled by a Troll.

With another reset night, We went on a small mission on getting myself some new Gear to catch up with the rest of the guild. I think its hugely noticeable with the damage I sustain on Lei shen to know I need more gear to boost that as much as I can.

So we delve into TOT from the start due to two unsuccessful nights on Heroic Lei and My first attempt at heroic Council was a frustrating one to say the least. Our Druid Main tank took Sul and Frost lord to the left, I taunted the priest every CD while dpsing the grouped two bosses to add in some insane Keg smash damage. Soon as she would get the Dark Empowerment, I would Interrupt her cast, get our Hunter to interrupt her second and drag the crazy Troll lady to the rest of the bosses for some heavy dps. As soon as her empowerment dropped off, I interrupted her cast, rolled x2 (use Tiger Lust helps here) and took her back of the group to continue dps on the other Targets and new Dark empowered member of the council.

What was annoying the crap out of me was her cast time on her abilities making bringing her over very annoying and extremely painful, but with decent communication between myself and our Hunter, we managed to get it down after a few tries! So more progression towards the 12/12 and exalted with Shado-Pan Assault which was a bonus!

I also got two upgrades! heroic chest and my new shiny weapon! BOOM BABY!

Happy Hunting.