With my latest Druid it was always my plan to check out the Balance tree however I didn’t have any intentions of taking that leap until I hit level 70.
One blogger changed that…
Kaozz of EtcMMO recently popped by my virtual home. Since I like to follow the few visitors that pop by my place I returned the favor and fell in love with Kaozz’s writing style. If you haven’t stumbled upon her wesbite I urge you to check it out. She writes about a variety of MMO’s and I truly enjoy her virtual home. She makes her visitors feel welcome. Thanks Kaozz! Anyway, in one of her posts she was writing about about Druids, Balance Druids to be specific. Reading her posts made me want start testing out Balance tree before I hit 70. Off to Thunderbluff I went. My Druid swapped out Feral for Balance and went to explore Hellfire Peninsula with her brand-new spec.
Whoa did I just write that my Druid is now in Hellfire? It seems like just the other day that my Druid was level 50! Yep a lot has happened since I last posted about my Druid. She hit 60 a few days ago and decided to test out her brand-new spec by questing. She’s quested in Hellfire Peninsula, and just starting to pick up quests in Terrokar Forest and Zangarmarsh. I’m all over the place when I quest.
Questing with a side order of Battlegrounds
From 40 – 60 the majority of my Druids leveling was done by playing Battlegrounds. I played my Restoration spec. May I just say that I love tree healing in Battlegrounds! However at 60 I decided to quest a bit too. The reason was simple, thanks to the recent changes Blizzard made WOW players can now pick up Flight Form at level 60 which makes leveling a lot faster. Oh I’m in love with the Druid flight form! What’s not to love about an instant cast? Jump off a cliff as a cow, no problem transform into a bird without dying, Whee!
How do I like being a Balance Druid?
Let’s just say that I’m really enjoying this play-style immensely! It’s a nice change from being a tree healer, and yes I’m still in love with that! I also am liking that the rotation my Balance Druid’s using isn’t as complex as Deimonia, my Affliction Warlock. Can you believe I’m thinking of leveling another Lock? However this time she’ll be Horde. When i first started playing last year, my first toons were Alliance. I have a few of them at level but my favorite faction is definitely Horde. I enjoy the lore, scenery. Within WoW Horde is my ‘virtual home’.
The real world has been kicking my butt big time (in a good way) so although I would love to write about the Balance rotation/spec I’m using, at the moment I don’t have the time. I’ll write more about that when I have a chance to exhale. :0
Wow this year has flown by quickly hasn’t it? Last week I was on vacation for the Thanksgiving holiday. My daughter and I arrived back in town yesterday. While away, I took a break from work and gaming. I had a blast hanging out with my daughter, and reconnecting with relatives that I hadn’t seen in a while. It’s always nice to take a break from gaming.
For the past few months work has been busy, and I haven’t played too much World of Warcraft. No biggie, I can go for weeks (and on two occasion months) when I rarely play the game.
Recently, I’ve had some extra time, and I’ve found myself drawn to the PvP aspect of World of Warcraft. Although WoW’s PvP needs some help, I’m finding I’m really enjoying this more than PvE. No surprise there I guess First Person Shooters is my favorite type of gaming.
I like raiding, but I always felt I was on a schedule. To top it off with one of my guilds raiding began a little after the time my daughter goes to sleep for the evening. For those of you who have children you might know that they don’t always go to sleep on schedule. I rarely game when my daughter is awake. It just doesn’t feel ‘right’ to me. When I was raiding on Bronzebeard, I kept having connection issues. /sighs yeah I know how to move out of fire and other bad things that happen but if I’m lagging there’s a good chance I’ll be stuck in a spot I’m not supposed to be. So yes I was one of those people that would lag and die. It wasn’t fun…
Anyway back to PvP…
I mainly play Battlegrounds. As I mentioned it before I enjoy it more than instances/raiding. I mainly ran the latter to hang out with my in-game PvE buddies. Battlegrounds are chaotic at times, especially if your exploring Battlegrounds without the benefit of a Premade. However a team still can be successful with those, you just have to work together. Eventually I’ll poke my heals into Arena with my pvp Disc Priest and my PvP Restoration Druid. However for now, I’m actually having fun playing Battlegrounds.
You can still be a ‘Dedicated guildy’ if you don’t Raid
Just because a person prefers PvP (or something else) over raiding doesn’t mean they are any less ‘dedicated’ to their guild than the person who raids often. There are still many ways you can ‘help’ your guild; Donating gold, stocking the guild bank with a variety of useful items, assisting guildmates when you have time. Judging by comments I’ve seen in some of the guilds I’ve been a part of, at times people tend to forget this. Don’t be one of those people, there are many ways to show your ‘dedication’ to a guild and it doesn’t always involve raiding.
I’m a tree lover, in real life and that carries over into World of Warcraft too. I’ve always loved the Druids tree form. I think their animations is adorable. Their dance always brings a smile to my face, and they look so cute when they are sleeping.
Imagine my Restoration Druids disappointment when she discovered she had to be 50 before acquiring that coveted form? She was thinking she would get it at forty, just like the Moonkin form.
Well look who’s a tree now, baby? A few days ago my Druid dinged 50 in Battlegrounds and proudly ‘treed’ around Orgrimmar in her new form. Since hitting 40 my Druid has mainly played as Restoration.
I leveled 40 – 50 mainly through Battlegrounds
Levels 40-50 were mainly leveled in Battlegrounds. Currently on the Cyclone Battle server, Horde wins a lot of Arathi Basin matches. If your faction wins, you receive a lot more experience from the battlegrounds so it pays to win. I haven’t been in any pre-mades in this bracket but I’ve found that Horde has been successful even against obvious pre-mades and the reason was we worked together.
One of the important parts of winning the Battlegrounds is communication. Listening to direction giving by those who know how to play the battlegrounds, having great defense, and not giving up. Since I’m fairly knowledgeable about the Battlegrounds I play I was one of the people giving instructions on what needed to be done in /bg chat. While others on the team were ‘raging’ I encouraged my teammates, suggested strategies and many of the times we won.
Kindness goes a long way, and I carry that over into the virtual world too. I personally believe people are more inclined to listen to you if you don’t insult them. With one of my guilds one of the guild leaders is the asshole type. It’s no surprise that his brand of ‘encouragement’ doesn’t go far with many within the guild. Insulting is the name of his game. Sadly he gets away with it and is not pulled up by other guild leaders.
Yesterday, my little Druid dinged 40! You want to know something? She’s already started healing Battlegrounds. My Druid was eager to heal her comrades in Battlegrounds so she immediately signed up for Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch.
PvP Healing as a Restoration Druid is different from healing as a PvP Discipline/Holy Priest. I’m slapping HOTs on people more in anticipation of incoming damage. I’ve always loved HOTs, Renew was something I enjoyed using with Holiterra and now with my Restoration Druid I have a few more HOTs to choose from.
Druid healing isn’t new to me. I’ve healed on my other Druids before, however my Druids healed using the Feral spec so their heals weren’t as powerful as a Restoration Druid.
Restoration Druid not as Squishy in Battlegrounds
My Druid has a lot more ways to get out of danger when comparing with my Priest. My little PvP Restoration Druid regularly uses Entangling Roots to lock people in place, The Tauren Racial Thunderstomp is used. I really like Thunderstomp, it’s an AOE stunlike ability and my lowbie Druid uses it often. Additionally Travel form is used to make a fast getaway from the droves of Alliance players that are trying to kill my Restoration Druid. If a getaway isn’t possible my sweet Tauren turns nasty and shifts into Dire Bear form.
My Druid leveled from 40 – 43 through Battlegrounds
My Lowbie Druid knocked out three levels through Battlegrounds. Although it’s true Blizzard doesn’t award you as much experience as you would receive from questing it’s a nice change in pace and I’m enjoying it immensely.
As I’ve mentioned before I’m an altoholic so really wanted a change of pace when it came to leveling another toon. At the lower levels there does seem to be a lot more people becoming active in Battlegrounds, and I imagine a major incentive is the experience gained from entering them. Additionally Twinks, for the most part, are in a separate battleground so you most likely won’t be seeing them in normal Battlegrounds.
Earlier today, I came up with a Restoration PvP spec and had a chance to test it out in Battlegrounds. At the moment, I’m enjoying it a lot. I’ll post my druids PvP Resto spec, and perhaps I’ll write about some of the strategies I’m using as a leveling PvP Restoration Druid in a later post. I’m looking forward to having two PvP healers at end-game. However, for now, I’m enjoying my Druid’s journey.
Tauren Druid receiving level 40 training
Earlier this morning, my Tauren Druid was two bars away from hitting level 40. I thought she would hit it in Battlegrounds and although she came close in Warsong Gulch, it didn’t happen. One more kill and she would ding 40. Once Warsong was over she was ported back to the Feralas where she dinged 40 while killing one of the rogue Tauren Druids in Feralas.
After dinging 40, my Druid hearthed to Dalaran. That’s been her home since her low 20’s (I paid 20 gold to a mage to port her there.) She took the portal to Thunderbluff and headed to her favorite trainer. They chatted for a bit; her trainer taught her the new spells. Eager to try something new my Druid plunked down the 1000 WOW gold for Dual Specialization and picked up Restoration. At some point, I’ll try out Balance too. However I love my Feral spec too much to drop it completely.
Playing Battlegrounds as a Feral Druid
I’m an altoholic who’s become tired of straight questing so with this toon I’ve been leveling two ways; Battlegrounds and questing. Battlegrounds are a nice break from questing, it doesn’t give as much experience as questing but she’s getting Honor. My Druid is saving the majority of her Honor points until she dings 80. In doing so, she’ll be able to purchase a lot of PvP gear.
She already picked up the oh so tasty PvP trinket, Insignia of the Horde, which is helpful in BG’s and in the PvE environment too. In PvE, there are plenty of mobs that can stun you. Especially if you decide to venture into instances. There are mobs in there that can stun you for a few seconds. As a healer a few seconds is all it can take for things to go screwy. Since I plan to be healing, being out of commission for even a few seconds is something I try to avoid.
Restoration Druid: Healing In Battlegrounds
I’m curious to try out Druid healing in Battlegrounds, and I imagine I’ll be healing instances too. Hey my Druid cannot pass up on the tasty blue gear as I press onwards to 80 now can she? 
Additionally healing as a Resto Druid so early will make it easier to heal once she hits 80. Forget raiding, this Druid will mainly heal in Battlegrounds and Arena. There have been numerous times I’ve popped out of kitty form to heal a comrade or gone into bear to ‘tank’ a bunch of Alliance players that were beating on the flag runner, are healers, or other team members.
My Druid is looking forward to Battlegrounds in her 40’s. She’s heard the experience gains is much better and on Cyclone it seems that Horde does very well. Playing Battlegrounds in her thirties, my Druid did see a fair amount of victories by the Horde.I’m looking forward to trying out Restoration later this week. It should be an interesting experience.
Stranglethorn Vale: Raptor vs. Kitty Druid, which one wins?
Earlier this morning, I snapped this shot of my Feral Kitty Druid. She was completing the raptor quest handed out by the Nesingwary Expedition.
Stranglethorn Vale…
I don’t think I’ll ever forget Stranglethorn Vale. It’s a gorgeous jungle filled with lots of things that can kill you if you’re not careful. All of my toons have ventured there to quest.
My first experience with Stranglethorn was on the Auchindoun realm. Auchindoun is a PvP server so I have my share of stories of being ganked by high-level Horde players. Being the PvP player at heart, the names were noted, and placed on my toons ‘Kill on Sight’ list for when my toons were higher and stronger.
Interestingly enough as my Alliance toons got higher I came across several of the Horde players that griefed me as a lowbie trying to complete my quests. I realized very quickly why the majority of them stuck to griefing lower level players. For the most part, they just didn’t do well against toons at their level. It works both ways too. I’ve come to the rescue of lowbie Horde players/buddies by taking out high level Alliance too. You see griefing going on in both factions.
Too Many Alts; Level Burnout
I’ve been facing leveling burnout, and that’s no surprise since I’ve leveled five toons to at least 70 in the past five or six months. My Druid will be leveled through Battlegrounds and questing. Yesterday, my 31 Druid participated in Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch and did well. I’ll try to write more about the Battleground experience gains and fighting techniques I’m using in another post. You better believe I look out for our Healers. They are cherished and I do my best to keep them alive at all cost. The enemy healer, well they are at the top of Druids Kill on Sight list.
This morning, shortly before I logged off of my Druid, she dinged 32. Congrats baby girl! Although you still have a long way to go before you ding 80. I’m really happy with how you’re turning out.
One of the proudest moments in Holiterra’s short PvP Disc Priest career happened this morning. She snagged the achievement, Call in the Calvary.
Call in the Calvary Achievment: How do you receive it?
Well obviously you have to have to participate in Battlegrounds to get the required marks. When you complete a Battleground, you’ll receive at least one Mark of Honor. If your faction wins, you’ll receive three. You can find how many marks of Honor you have by clicking on your character profile, and selecting Currency. If you have PvP marks they can be found there.
How many Battleground Marks of Honor do you need to get a PvP Mount?
- Altarac Valley 30 Marks of Honor
- Arathi Basin 30 Marks of Honor
- Warsong Gulch 30 Marks of Honor
Currently, each faction can choose between five war mounts. What’s great is that you don’t have to be exalted with the race in order to purchase or ride the mount.
Each Faction has five PvP Mounts
Alliance War Mounts
- Black Battlestrider
- Black War Elekk
- Black War Ram
- Black War Steed
- Black War Tiger
Horde War Mount Choices
- Black War Kodo
- Black War Raptor
- Red Skeletal Warhorse
- Swift Warstrider
- Black War Wolf
Allright, so you’ve got the marks, you already know which PvP mount you want. Now the only thing left is to purchase your War Mount.
Where do I purchase my PvP mount?
Alliance
You’ll need to go to Stormwind, once there head on over to the Champions Hall. Lieutenant Karter can be found outside, sitting on her horse.
Horde
You’ll need to go to Orgrimmar, once there head over to the Hall of Legends. You’ll find Raider Brok right outside sitting on his wolf mount.
Which PvP mount did my PvP Disc Priest choose?
Holiterra chose the Black War Kodo. As soon as Holi got the final Alterac Valley Mark of Honor she promptly headed to Orgrimmar to claim her new mount. She’s affectionately named her Black War Kodo, Baby.
I’ve always loved Kodos, and have been wanting to get one for Holi for quite a while. During Brewfest she saw the Great Brewfest Kodo drop twice (one right after the other) but since my toons are usually unlucky with rolls Holi didn’t get one. You want to know something, Holi like her Black War Kodo much more than the Brewfest Mount, and this is now her favorite mount.
Last year, I stumbled upon The song, Great Kodo. It’s written by Oxhorn (Brandon M. Dennis.) Brandon has his own website, called Oxhorn. While there, check out his music. I really enjoy the lyrics. music, and the video too. I decided to include the video below, enjoy!
Dear tank/DPS, I know you’re amazing and can take a beating, do mad DPS on the opposing faction that try to invade our turf. Yes I know at times (when you have Healers present healing the group) you might *think* that you are doing all this without the help from that Healer. You’re just that good, right? However, if we die, you might die too. So if you see a swarm of the opposing faction surrounding your Healer(s) in the Battlegrounds it might be a good idea to at least attempt to pull them off? That’s just a thought….
Anyone else been there as a Healer? I know I have many times. Thankfully, the past few days hasn’t been one of those times. /happy dance I’ve been in some amazing Battlegrounds. Many thanks to the Horde Players in the Cyclone Battlegroup. I didn’t feel like ranting after those battlegrounds. Not only did they do an amazing job tanking/DPS’ing, but the few times when Holiterra, my PvP Disc Priest was swarmed by Alliance players they stepped in and broke up the party. Result, I kept on healing. I DPs’d too. My teammates kept on fighting. No deaths occurred.
It’s simple, if there is a Healer in your group, don’t forget about them. If you’re a Healer, do your best to keep people alive too. With my PvP Disc spec my group heals aren’t as awesome as my Holy Priest spec. However I make up for it in being hard to kill. You know something I can still group heal too! I can assure you Prayer of Healing is still used. Prayer of Mending constantly bounces between those within my group. The HOT, Renew is applied when needed. Oh by the way, if Psychic Scream is off of Cooldown I toss that before I hit, Prayer of Healing. In fact, I have those two spells macroed.
Special thanks to a Kitty Druid, Friendly from the Azjol Nerub server who really went out of there way to make sure Holi stayed alive. Holi can handle quite a lot as Disc but at times well… even she gets overwhelmed. Friendly, the thoughtful Druid, stuck to Alliance like glue.
I made sure Friendly stayed alive. Bubbles were applied to increase their ‘you can’t kill’ me vibe they had going on. I kept the HOT, Renew on them at all times. Prayer of Mending ricocheted between us. Zing! Zing! Zing! The ever tasty Penance was applied, when needed, to the both of us. Pain Suppression was left for Holi when things got dicey. The Blood Elf Racial, Arcane Torrent, was used when it was off Cooldown, the same goes for Psychic Scream too. Free Action Potion was used also.
So yeah… Friendly tanked/Dps’d, Holiterra was healing (and she DPS’d when she could too.) Although many of the times we were the only ones defending that flag we were victorious in defending our base.
The setting was Arathi Basin, and we won that battleground. Alliance had some amazing players but Horde did an excellent job working together as a group. Great job!
Yesterday, my guildies did the For the Horde achievement. Both of my 80’s on the Bronzebeard server have had the achievement so one of my toons was going along for S&G’s.
Although I could have gone on Zugsa my Survival Hunter. I decided to go on Holiterra, my PvP Disc Priest. Holi has been complaining that I haven’t been giving her that much attention this past week so I decided to bring her out for some PvP fun.
This picture was taken in Darkshore. Straw Hat Pirates, and friends, were waiting to board the boat that would take them to the Night Elves capital city, Darnassus. If you closely look (towards the left of the picture) you’ll see Holiterra (Blond haired Blood Elf in her PvP gear) dancing with one lone Alliance Draenei. He danced with me, Holi flirted with him. He then kneeled down before Holi while she continued to entertain him with her Belf dancing.
The only resistance we faced was at Iron Forge, Alliance came to defend the King but it was useless. I had a few Rogues try to stun, sap, and kill me, but I had my Free Action Potion, tossed pain Suppression on myself, bubbled, Penance, and used Prayer of Healing on the group when appropriate. I also used my PvP trinket.
If you play PvP regularly and are one of the squishier classes it might be a great idea to invest in Free Action Potion. One Rogue was really annoying since she wouldn’t leave me alone. I guess she couldn’t believe that all her tricks wasn’t working against Holiterra who was in Disc PvP spec. Since she continued to be annoying, I had no choice but to stop healing, and DPS her down. Damn… some Rogues go down fast when none of their cheap tricks work. /snickers I have a lot of fun with them in Battlegrounds. I win some, I lose some.
Anyway that Night Elf Rogue got the message and tried to run away at the end. Yeah, that happens when you have a sliver of health left but since Holi is a ‘Holy Terror’ and even worse as Disc, that wasn’t going to happen… I stuck my Shadow Fiend on her Sneaky Night Elf butt. She died, and Holi smugly went back to using her beloved Bubbles, Penance, and group heals on her Horde buddies when needed.
Holi got a giggle, I’m sure the Night Elf Rogue was shocked that she just got beat down by a Priest. Disc priests aren’t as squishy as Holy Priests. At the moment, Holiterra’s resilience is close to 700. I have PvP gear, and I love PvP and do fairly well in that setting. Sure, I’m a Priest but I’m not an easy target. You’ll have to work to take Holi down, because if you don’t Holi will kill you.
Although I made sure everyone close to me got heals, some of my favorites like Candy, one of the guild leaders, and a few of my morning buddies, got extra attention too. Lovely bubbles from me, hastily applied Renews, and Penance was tossed on them when needed.
My schedule has been busy so I’m rarely on in the evenings when the majority of the Straw Hat Pirates are online so it was nice doing something with them.
I had written a long drawn out post about the times some of my lowbie toons who just ventured into Hellfire had encountered the Fel Reaver, but I erased it. Kalindi (My first toon and level 58 Night Elf Hunter), Kalira (level 61 Draenei Fire Mage), and Holiterra (level 58 Blood Elf Holy Priest) this is for all of you.
For some, killing the Fel Reaver isn’t a big deal but it was for me. Even though I play, a MMORPG I enjoy the solo aspects too. Now that I think about it I’m pretty much done with raiding for now. Who knows, perhaps my interest will return at a later date but for now I have no desire to raid.
One of the things I’ve always loved about soloing within WOW is I’m on my schedule. I’m busy so this suits me fine. Additionally, I don’t have to deal with the petty squabbles that can sometimes occur over freaking pixels. I don’t have any time for that. Additionally, I don’t care too much about gear. There… I said it.
Although I understand that gear can enhance your play style. I’m not willing to keep running raids in hopes that I get drops, or use my emblems for loot. Nor will I put up with some of that crap that occasionally arises because of it. The more I think about it, well that’s just not fun for me. Sure, the bonding with others is great but well… do I really need to raid if I want to hang out with people in-game? I would hope not. If people feel that they need to raid with me order to ‘hang out’ or ‘be friendly’ with me, well then I don’t want to be around them.
Anyway, back to the topic; For myself, there’s a certain satisfaction to coming back and tackling Mobs that were tough for my toons when they were weaker or tackling challenging mobs at level. Killing the Fel Reaver simply felt great. Ok so I killed two of them. In the first picture, the Fel Reaver despawned before I could take a picture of Zugsa and her faithful companion Hanuman posing beside its corpse. So I hunted another one and had fun killing it again.
I think the Fel Reaver was nerfed. It went down fast. Hanuman, the white gorilla, didn’t see too much of a dent in his health. I tossed him two ‘Mend Pet’s, Kill shot was used once in each kill. I didn’t even use Bestial Wrath. I did this with my Beast Mastery spec. I’ll try it again in Survival.
Nice to see other Hunters soloing the dreaded Fel Reaver, take a peek at The Art of Soloing WOW’s story on soling the Fel Reaver.
Shattered Hall Key Quest
Oh by the way, I obtained my Shattered Halls Key by killing the Fel Reaver. If you’re interested in acquiring your own Shattered Halls Key check out the information on WoWwiki.
Entering the Shattered Halls
I attempted to solo Shattered Halls and although I got fairly far in the instance I’ll still need to work on it some more. The above picture was taken after I cleared the first room.
