Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 20 - 30

Happy weekend everybody! Hope you're all enjoying the few days off work we get! I work within the retail sector so getting the weekend off is actually a rare thing, but as I have two and a half weeks off work, I hope to get this Shaman level 90 before I go back! So now time for an update! 

So picking up where I left off from the last post, Once I got to level 20 and ran a few Shadowfang keeps I was able to dabble in Scarlet halls and Blackfathom deeps. Scarlet a really great instance and was remade really well. I do miss the old Scarlet instances, but the new ones make a nice addition to the low level dungeons.

A little background on these instances:

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.

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.

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!

In this section I will go over my new spells/talents of choice and glyphs

I finally have a selection of new heals to use! It was a great upbeat change to the first few levels and it seemed very basic in which heals to use and with the addition to some of the glyphs I have taken its making this a lot more interesting! heres a list of the useful spells i have gained in my adventures through the dungeons.

Spells

Earth shield - Our go to ability I use on the tanks. This beauty places a shield on our target of choice to increase our healing output on that target by 20% and also causing attacks to the target to heal them for a certain amount. This spell has 9 charges so maintaining it is one of our top priorities.

Earth living weapon - finally our main healing weapon imbue, this is so much better than the flametongue for healers as it increases our healing power and has a 20% chance to trigger a heal over time spell for 15 seconds, the cool this about this spell though is that if you heal a target thats below 35% health, the weapon effect automatically triggers, a real life saver.

Healing stream totem - Our first real healing totem, this has a 30 second cooldown but once placed it will heal the most injured player within 40 yards every 2 seconds for 15 seconds. Great I found for when the group is taking damage. I will use this on cooldown.

Talents

Level 15 talent:

I went with Astral Shift, this ability i found is great for when we're taking unexpected damage and will be even more stronger when we know when to use our damage reduction abilities. This spell reduces damage by 40% for 6 seconds and has a 1.5 minute cooldown, a great spell and the go to choice for me.

Level 30 Talent: 

In this section which seems to give use more utility with totems I went with Earthgrab totem. This Talent replaces our earthbind totem which makes our totem now act as a root instead of a snare. I thought this would be great for kiting mobs away from myself and getting some real distance on some unexpected pulls.

Glyphs

Upon reaching level 25 glyphs are unlocked, these effect how some of your spells work and of course, its up to you how you go about using the ones that most suit you, so here are the two I have chosen. Two more slots unlock at 50, the remaining two at 75. These are split up in to Major and Minor, of course, Majors being the ones that affect spells that are beneficial to raiding.

Glyph of Riptide - This removes the cooldown from out instant cast hot but reduces its initial heal direct heal by 75%. The reason I went for this is because the way I plan on using chain heal effectively in 10 man raiding. Having as many riptides out on the raid as a blanket heal as possible will cause the chain heals to be 25% more potent. With the changes to Chain heal which I have seen, this could be a great way to keep solid raid heals out and an easier way to maintain riptide, Something I will have to practise.

Glyph of Flaming Serpents - this remodels our Searing totem to look like a troll totem used by Vol'jin and gives it a cool fire snake type effect as seen below.

So there you have it! A little insight in to my travels and some new heals to learn and master. Stayed tuned for the next big jump to 40! and as always, stand out of the fire but jump in 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!

From Winds To Water

Greetings my fellow readers! As always a lot has been going on within the world of warcraft community and such things have brought my raiding guild to the conclusion it was time to take a back seat. Officers could not come to an agreement and that has lead to the guild I have progressed with to disband. We had a great run and I really did enjoy my time there, so I truly hope the players there find the other end game raiding guilds of their choice and all the best for the future!

As I went semi afk during the progress I was not really playing my monk so much, but instead gaining more experience in raids on my Holy Paladin. So recently my Brewmaster has taken the backseat. Due to recent changes to tanks, and the direction blizzard seem to be going in terms of tank game play, I have been switching around specs and really found my enjoyment for the class again as Windwalker. With the changes to mastery and some more potent cleave I have really found my footing within a Flex raiding guild and currently really enjoying it!

As times change, as does ones interests. Currently I'm working on a number of things out of wow and in wow.  I have been pretty absorbed by GTA and looking for a Hearthstone BETA key, with still no joys! As well as working out what class to play next, with much thought, changing of ideas and such I'm going back to my roots of playing a Resto/Elemental Shaman. 

My blog will be my place of random posts and what I discover on this new character as well as my thoughts and Ideas on the class as it develops. I think it will be pretty hard to fit it in within this blog but hopefully I can cut a nice deal with a really decent blogger and see if I can get a layout sorted for it. 

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! 

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.

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.

More heroic Kills in TOT!

Ahoy hoy! Another night with DeusEx! HODOR! Tonight was successful by all accounts, Getting four new bosses down heroic mode on the second night! You can really tell the guild have done this a number of times before, I knew I was way out of my comfort zone here, Learning new fights on the job, while playing a Brewmaster with enough Micromanagement, the amount of pressure was crazy. I literally read up the tactics on my way to work and on my lunch break, to then be thrown right in the deep end to actually do pretty well!

Durumu, Always a B!tch on Normal, Even more so on heroic. Despite having to solo tank it with two paladins dropping Hand of Protection on short stacks, I was then dealing with Purifying a whole lot more here. (Four set bonus really does help) anyway, with a few attempts we got the fat slob down.

Primordius, Actually surprised how simple the change was but I really enjoyed that fight. While dealing with the Normal mechanics of kiting the boss, two Adds spawn randomly around the room, The off tank has to pick these up and make sure they don't cross the path of the boss or its an instant wipe. So spinning the camera angle was key here. Again, spamming those Purifying brews like a drunken master.

Iron Qon, Awesome fight. First three phases are the same with an extra annoying mechanic from some adds, last phase = amazing. You tank the main boss as well as three of those flying mounts he hops on. Looked insane for healers and once again, I used Purify here so much more than on normal.

Twins, Epic fight on heroic. Makes the normal version like worse tenfold. Despite the same sort of idea were you tank the dusk boss for a while, then dps the nightmare that spawns, the second phase is a touch harder. Those comets that fall periodically have a lot more use here, The tank that is currently on the boss moves the dawn boss towards them enough to activate them so they get damaged over time and apply a debuff to the boss. She then casts Inferno every few moments during the phase so you have to keep a comet active to jump behind so you take zero damage. (good time to drop some healing spheres and Advert Harm)

Then once they both become active, I picked up the Dusk boss, moved her away from the raid, jumped behind comets when I had too (Clerity talent here works wonders = x3 roll) rinse and repeat till the dps finish the dawn boss then back in to the first phase till its down. Winning.

Really had fun tonight, and the guild got there third kill on Dark Animus HC. Looked like one hell of a boss, so I was happy to sit out and let the more experienced tank take over, Was pretty cool, I went to the Auction House and bought some new pets.

Goodnight!

Heroic Progression! Onward!

And so, My progression continues through the Throne Of Thunder. Today I joined an extremely successful 10 man raiding guild called DeusEx, With a number of heroic kills under their belt and a Realm first Heroic Feat of Strength, I was delighted to join. Although It's an Hungarian Guild and I'm as British as a Tea and a jam scone, I settled it and found my stride pretty quickly. I was lucky enough to be invited and be tested on new content for myself that I have never encountered before, which was pretty good!

Tortos, Really not that much different, Although it may be more of a healing coordination fight, for myself, All I had to do was tank the boss, Hit the Humming Shard before every stomp/quake, drop some aoe on the bats and happy days.

Magaera, This boss will always be tight on healers and raid cooldowns but on heroic with an extra Arcane head, more physical damage from those snakeheads as well as adds, the fight really did Push myself to the limit of working cooldowns as much as I could. But with My gear alot lower than my other guild members, I think they could tell the pure damage from the heads were putting a bit of a strain on the raid. However, we pushed on and it got it down, No new loot but a Secret of the empire no less! :D

I shall be continuing my progression through heroic content tomorrow learning a few new fights and hopefully all shall be good.

Path Of The Brew

"As you think, So shall you become." - Bruce lee

The path of the Brewmaster is not an easy one, In my opinion, we're the best active mitigation class currently in the game relying on drinking till our hearts content and provoking enemies with kegs of delicious beer but while this sounds fun, the daunting task of keeping a watchful eye on our Stagger damage, Elusive brew stacks, Energy regeneration and our balancing of Chi can soon overwhelm the smartest players and leave you in a pool of drunken tears before you can even drink your next Brew. But alas, not everything is all doom and gloom!

Follow me on my journey as I dive deeper into the ways of the Brew, Discovering new ways to master the art and adventures I pursue. If you're a keen Raider, Pet battle master/novice, explorer or Looking for information on the Brewmaster, May you find solace here.

- Netherix, Ragnaros Eu.