72 Paladin in Sholazar Basin - Yeah, about that . . .

Well, not much to report over on Wyrmrest Accord. Tzia is 80, has done heroics and seen Naxx 10 Man 2x and Maly 10 1x. She watched most of the Maly fight prior to the wipe from the floor... (note to self: do not follow Niqo anywhere!). Aside from that not much has been going on with the hunter.

No, I've been playing Casavel pretty extensively. She's sitting at 72, 2/3 of the way through to 73... but I've been working on her mining and blacksmithing. She's been running around Sholazar Basin quiet easily, 75-77 mobs are not bothering her a bit- she's an AoE Tankadin after all!

Just means I can manage to pull down groups of anywhere between 3-9 mobs at a time... though I have died at least 3 times when pulls went wrong and I missed a button in the rotation. Yes, these are levels 75 through 77, which is orange, orange, and RED! mobs. They hit hard, but being able to heal over some of the damage really helps... and if things get really desperate I can drop a mana potion.

I haven't seen Loque in all my mining runs though, and aside from the spot by the pillar and the one closer in to Nessingwary's I do run by all the others quiet regularly. The MapNote markers are still there, so I keep my eyes peeled. I know a few hunters that would probably like the location of the cat, and if I can make a bit of cash... well, I will need the epic flying, regular flying, epic mount, and cold weather flying all at the same time. 7k gold... ouch. She's sitting at about 2.4k though, so things could be worse.

Mining is maxed out at 450. The blacksmithing is stuck at 437. Yes, because I'm in yellow territory and need a ton of saronite to do anything what-so-ever. Its just mildly annoying. But I do have any and all gear I could want personally crafted from levels 73-78.

Remember how earlier I said if things got desperate I'd drop a mana potion... who had the brillant idea of making the potion cool downs only kick in once you were out of combat?! That kinda ends up killing me on longer fights... very, very, very quickly. Now, mind you, if Tzia had to drop a potion under the old system, either the mob died in under two minutes, or she did.

Cas would be entirely possible to last through a two minute cool down, but with the potions no longer on cool down, the effectiveness of potions has been diminished by about... oh, I'd say 90%? I'll only ever NEED five of either kind on the paladin or the hunter, because either I'm going to be dead or... dead by the time I need another potion.

No, I'm not pleased by this change. Could we just make potions only usable out of combat? I mean really... what's the point of having them anymore? Health and mana potions have largely been removed from the game... take one for each of the boss fights in an instance, and you should be peachy. Raid supply only, the same way flasks are.

Sorry about the rant... I'm just disgusted by the mechanics change. Never noticed it on Tzia because she really didn't use potions, while Cas at times was defined by that now non-existant cool down.

Casavel, my paladin tank

"My comrades are my weapons, and I am their shield.
While I draw breath, they shall not perish.
So long as they live, our enemies will fall.
I am defender, protector, guardian.
I am a Paladin." - Cathela the Seeker

This sums up so well what I feel when I pull on the plate and pick up a shield. I may only be a lowly level 70 tankadin at the moment, but she's coming along, slowly, but sure in her path.

So far I've only done a few guilded runs, the first of which was tanking for a 65, 70, 72 group. Yes, we four manned a few things like Underbog and Mana Tombs with only four people. I must say my level 65 healer rocked. I only freaked out once... and that was because I was tanking a nexus terror right next to a four pull. We somehow didn't pick up the four pull and the fear sent me in the opposite direction, Anti-Shadow buffs non-withstanding. Cleared both = happy, bit more confidant paladin tank.

Yes, those were my first attempts tanking. And the 65 priesty (welcome back Sol!!) was 66 by the time we were done, and rocked my socks off. The group was willing to risk getting severely mauled by a complete and utter rookie tank. I'd never actually tanked an instance prior to attempting those two.

Then last night? We did Nexus and Azjol-Nerub (AN). I did die twice, through no fault of our tree druid. The first time? I wasn't familiar with the patrols, and had a second patrol right into me. Single group pull turned into a massive two group pull, and I went down HARD. It basically was 60%, 40%, Dead.

Zharve (the Tree): "Wtf Cas' health? OMG MOBS!" :Dead Tree:

The second time? First time handling Keri in Nexus. Forgot about the tail swipe thingie, turned her just wrong, dead plant life, so dead paladin, and the 80 hunter kills her after everyone else is dead... go go Niqo!

AN went flawless as far as I'm concerned. Though, The paladin retadin/holyadin (Vel)and our Tree did comment at one point that it got close... I didn't notice, was too busy trying to keep all the mobs in ONE SPOT. I didn't have time to glance up at health bars, my eyes were trained on the mobs being hit by consecrate. They stayed put. ^_^

As I said to them, "If nobody died, it was a good pull." I admit as a tank, I put my trust in the healer and just dive in. I'll do my job to the best of my ability, just keep me alive. That's all I ask. Especially while learning the ropes of how to be a paladin tank.

Thank You Bloodriver. Thank you for being willing to let me practice on guild mates before attempting a PuG of any instance. Being able to survive two healers tells me I might actually be able to carry off this crazy idea of being a tankadin for our guild at 80. I'm also humbled by the fact you are even willing to let me try, when everyone knows I'm a hunter first. Thank you.

Spec 'Splosion

Well, I've got an annoying visual glitch on Casavel, my paladin over on WRA. Or more specifically, on her talents. Armory, and the game itself, both claim that for all intents and purposes I have a level 19 paladin, when in fact she's a 68. Armory shows I have a 0/10/8 build when I know its actually 0/51/8, with a planned 0/51/20. The game can't display anything past my first 10 points in protection. She does not have a dual spec, or even glyphs at this point. And she's the only character I've leveled since 3.1 came out... boy am I glad I don't need to put any points in the Prot Tree.

From reading a few forum posts, and talking to a friend over xfire, it sounds as though the glitch may be linked to dual specs. Or the new preview thing that Blizzard introduced. Jury's still out on that one, and I could see it being either.

I'm just worried that if she hits 69 the Ret tree will gray out like Prot did and I'll be stuck unable to spend points. I really do want to play my paladin, but with issues seemingly plaguing WoW, perhaps its time to test run War? I know, Tzia wondering about Warhammer... feel free to cringe. I know I am.