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Subscribe and Listen Daily!

Subscribe to the Molsan Method podcast on iTunes.
Add the Molsan Method RSS feed to your reader.

Subscribe and Listen Daily!

Subscribe to the Molsan Method podcast on iTunes.
Add the Molsan Method RSS feed to your reader.

Subscribe and Listen Daily!

Subscribe to the Molsan Method podcast on iTunes.
Add the Molsan Method RSS feed to your reader.

Subscribe and Listen Daily!

Subscribe to the Molsan Method podcast on iTunes.
Add the Molsan Method RSS feed to your reader.

Subscribe and Listen Daily!

Subscribe to the Molsan Method podcast on iTunes.
Add the Molsan Method RSS feed to your reader.

Subscribe and Listen Daily!

Subscribe to the Molsan Method podcast on iTunes.
Add the Molsan Method RSS feed to your reader.

Subscribe and Listen Daily!

Subscribe to the Molsan Method podcast on iTunes.
Add the Molsan Method RSS feed to your reader.

Subscribe and Listen Daily!

Subscribe to the Molsan Method podcast on iTunes.
Add the Molsan Method RSS feed to your reader.

I’ve recently decided to level up my Shaman, changing his main spec from Enhancement to Restoration. Thanks to World of Warcraft patch 3.3, I can queue for random dungeons as a healer while I’m out questing. I put together a quick guide for itemizing a Resto Shammy using nothing but crafted items or bind-on-equip gear. The only exceptions are trinkets and the Shaman relic. Upgrades for these slots can be found by running the Venture Company dailies in Venture Bay.

Before reading this guide, please be aware of some assumptions:

• This guide is intended for players leveling up in Northrend, in preparation to run heroic dungeons
• Yes, I realize that there is better gear from quests and dungeons
• You are going to use only the best available gems and enchants
• The prefix/suffix random BoEs might be better in some cases, but ignored because of their uncertain availability

Here is the breakdown by slot. There are some cases where crafted items from Burning Crusade recipes are viable for leveling, especially Leatherworking’s Netherfury set. C = crafted, WD = world drop, DQ = daily quest. Now, on with it!

Head

Helm of the Lightning Halls (WD, 80)
Stormhide Crown (C, 78)
Duskweave Cowl (C, 75)
Nerubian Helm (C, 74)

Neck

Blood Sun Necklace (C, 75)
Crystal Citrine Necklace (C, 70)

Shoulder

Epaulets of Market Row (WD, 78)
Duskweave Shoulders (C, 77)
Nerubian Shoulders (C, 73)

Back

Wispcloak (C, 80)
Cloak of the Moon (C, 74)
White Remedy Cape (C, 69)

Chest

Revenant’s Breastplate (C, 80)
Stormhide Hauberk (C, 78)
Dark Nerubian Chestpiece (C, 76)

Wrist

Stormhide Wristguards (C, 78)
Bracers of Sizzling Heat (WD, 75)
Bracers of Havok (C, 69)

Hands

Stormhide Grips (C, 78)
Duskweave Gloves (C, 76)

Waist

Sash of Jordan (WD, 80)
Stormhide Belt (C, 78)
Netherfury Belt (C, 67)

Legs

Stormhide Legguards (C, 78)
Netherfury Leggings (C, 67)

Feet

Scaled Icewalkers (C, 77)
Netherfury Boots (C, 69)

Finger

Titanium Spellshock Ring (C, 80)
Runed Mana Band (C, 80)
Ring of Northern Tears (C, 78)
Shadowmight Ring (C, 77)
Sun Rock Ring (C, 70)

Trinket

Arcane Revitalizer (DQ, 74)
Goblin Repetition Reducer (DQ, 74)

Two-Handed Weapon

Zabra’s Misplaced Staff (WD, 77)
Lola’s Lifegiving Branch (WD, 71)

Main Hand Weapon

Titansteel Guardian (C, 80)
Cudgel of Saronite Justice (C, 77)
Melia’s Magnificent Scepter (WD, 75)
The Essence Focuser (WD, 70)

Off-Hand

Zom’s Crackling Bulwark (WD, 80)
Faces of Doom (C, 77)
Saronite Protector (C, 73)
Crystal Pulse Shield (WD, 69)

Totem

Totem of the Bay (DQ, 74)

So I’ve learned that I don’t tank fast enough. I know I’m probably more of a conservative player, but even I know when I’m pulling packs of mobs at a decent pace… especially since the “Molsan Method” was named after yours truly. However, what I didn’t know was that PUGs formed by the glorious “Looking for Dungeon” tool expect an even more rapid pace. Chain pulling, zerging, and engaging bosses without mana are now standard.

Halls of Lightning – I Don’t Have All Day

In my last two random heroics, I was called out for my slow and lazy approach. In Halls of Lightning, I pulled the first group with Avenger’s Shield. While that was on cooldown, I pulled a stray mob with Exorcism. My tanking abilities were immediately questioned: “Why are we killing unnecessary mobs and pulling with Exorcism?” I stopped to think about this. Am I doing it wrong? While contemplating justifying my skills and approach to tanking to this complete stranger, the person decided to quit the group, leaving us with a “lol I don’t have all day. thanks. bye” parting shot.

Since they were DPS, they were replaced by my friend, LFD, in a matter of seconds with a new person. After we buffed the new guy up, I went ahead and pulled the next pack of mobs, General Bjarngrim, and his adds. We then continued on, skipping the other three corners of the platform, and breezed through the rest of the instance. We stacked up on Loken, took him down with no trouble, and disenchanted all of his loots. I apologized to the group for taking too long.

The Nexus – I Have a Raid Starting in a Minute

I figured that these kinds of people are few and far between… right? Wrong. In The Nexus, we were moving right along, having taken down the first three bosses with little effort. We had a great pace going; there were no deaths and lots of shards passed around (not by me, but by the aforementioned LFD). As I headed down the hallway towards Ormorok the Tree-Shaper, a player asked, “Can we please hurry it up?” I asked, “Why?” and the player responded with, “I have a raid starting in a minute.” Now, me being the literal person that I am figured, “Gee, no way we can finish this thing in under a minute. I hope he doesn’t bail on us… oh wait, he’s DPS, and there are probably fifty DPS players in line for a random.” I confidently told the group, “Ok, I’ll pick up the pace. Let’s go.”

I skipped a few Crystalline Frayers and let the rest of the party deal with them while I headed for the boss. I patiently stopped to tank the elites, and then moved right in on Ormorok. Without any trouble, he went down; we then proceeded into the tunnel, hopped down, and headed towards Keristrasza. We decided to stack up in front of Keristrasza, and we smacked her around regardless of how intense her Intense Cold was (it really wasn’t that intense). Before I could finish typing, “Sorry I took so long” for the second time, the hardcore raider rolled greed on everything, and quickly left the party. I’m going to setup a macro for my apology… I wonder what the macro syntax is for targeting the top whiner of the party? “/target QQ?”

My second Paladin just hit level 80 over the weekend, so it’s time to start itemizing for a fresh level 80 Holy Paladin. As with my Death Knight gear checklists, I will be targeting pre-raid gear sources in this series. You could also classify these as “non-raid” or even (gasp!) “casual” upgrade lists. I didn’t say “welfare” though.

Like most players these days, you’ll find very significant upgrades in the regular and heroic version of the Trial of the Champion dungeons. For your head slot, you’re in luck as the best pre-raid helm is available in the regular version of ToC. If you prefer to farm Battlegrounds rather than instances, the Deadly Gladiator helm is a nice pickup, even for PvE.

1. Helm of the Bested Gallant
   Trial of the Champion - Champion’s Cache
2. Deadly Gladiator’s Ornamented Headcover
   PvP - 49,600 Honor
3. Helm of Purified Thoughts
   Argent Crusade - Exalted
4. Brilliant Titansteel Helm
   Blacksmith - 540 Gold
5. Titan-Forged Plate Headcover of Salvation
   PvP - 40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor
6. Helmet of the Constructor
   Heroic Utgarde Keep - Skarvald the Constructor
7. Faceguard of the Hammer Clan
   Heroic Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom – Jedoga Shadowseeker

Current prices obtained from Wowecon as of this post.

Here is a general progression of one-handed weapons for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.

Now that patch 3.2 is out, it’s time to take a look at one-handed weapons for dual-wielding specs. If you’re going to dual-wield, you’ll want two slow weapons, so I’m only showing progression for weapon speeds of 2.4 and above. What’s nice is you have crafted, bind-on-equip, non-unique weapons available to you at levels 71, 73, and 74 from a Blacksmith. If you’re a Weaponsmith yourself, you can pickup another pair of weapons at level 78.

Entering Northrend at level 68, you can obtain a Soldier’s Spiked Mace and Edge of the Tuskarr from quests very early on. These two weapons should carry you for three levels. Then at level 71, find two Cobalt Tenderizers until you hit Dragonblight and two Notched Cobalt War Axes when you hit level 73. The crafted Savage Cobalt Slicer is a fantastic upgrade at level 74. At level 75, you should find a couple of friends (especially a healer), and complete The Champion of Anguish quest chain in Zul’Drak. You can swap out one of your two crafted weapons for the Crimson Cranium Crusher.

Unless you are a Weaponsmith, or you can find a group willing to farm regular Utgarde Pinnacle at level 78, you’ll be waiting until level 80 to upgrade your weapons. If money is no object, check the auction house for a Krol Cleaver. In the meantime, start saving up gold or materials for a Titansteel Bonecrusher for your main hand. The TB is a main-hand-only weapon, so you’ll need to find an off-hand weapon to compliment it.

Finding a new off-hand at level 80 can be time-consuming depending on which faction you want to grind rep with. The Reaper of Dark Souls has a slight DPS edge over the Stalactite Chopper, but the Chopper comes with Armor Penetration. You’ll most likely be doing quests for both The Sons of Hodir and Knights of the Ebon Blade anyway, so pickup whichever one you get access to first.

1. Level 68 Soldier’s Spiked Mace (8966)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Cutting Off the Source (Borean Tundra)
2. Level 68 Edge of the Tuskarr (9020)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Tides Turn (Borean Tundra)
3. Level 71 Cobalt Tenderizer (9262)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith or AH (15 gold)
4. Level 71 Spiked Coldwind Club (9508)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Where the Wild Things Roam (Dragonblight)
5. Level 73 Yoke Slasher (9531)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Filling the Cages (Grizzly Hills)
6. Level 73 Notched Cobalt War Axe (9850)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith or AH (15 gold)
7. Level 74 Savage Cobalt Slicer (11240)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith of AH (80 gold)
8. Level 75 Crimson Cranium Crusher (12216)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Champion of Anguish (Zul’Drak)
9. Level 78 Corroded Saronite Edge (12427)
   Obtained by: Weaponsmith BoP
10. Level 78 Ymiron’s Blade (13104)
    Obtained by: King Ymiron (Utgarde Pinnacle)
11. Level 80 Stalactite Chopper (14299)
    Obtained by: The Sons of Hodir (Revered)
12. Level 80 Reaper of Dark Souls (14366)
    Obtained by: Knights of the Ebon Blade (Revered)
13. Level 80 Krol Cleaver (15718)
    Obtained by: World Drop or AH (5000 gold)
14. Level 80 Titansteel Bonecrusher* (15865)
    Obtained by: Blacksmith or AH (1000 gold)

* Main-hand only

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

The Death Knight rumor casting a cloud over this patch was that my spec would be “dead.” That’s a silly way to describe a Death Knight spec, but I bought into it, and replaced my build with a dual-wield Unholy build. I really like the look and feel of a melee player dual-wielding big weapons. What I didn’t like was that I had a hard time breaking 750 DPS in Sholazar Basin! I think the rhinos and tigers were laughing at me, wondering what I was doing out there slapping them around.

The Build: 0/18/53

I decided on this build after sifting through a 34-page thread on the Elitist Jerks forums. Skeleton Jack confirmed this build on his site, but stated that “the Frost tree is officially the ‘Dual Wield Tree’ as of 3.2 for PvE DPS.” I understand that, but what attracted me to Unholy was some of the soloing utility, including Master of Ghouls and Summon Gargoyle.

After going back and reading more about this spec, it seems that this is more suited for raiding. You maximize your output by stacking Armor Penetration, which is really only available from well-itemized Ulduar-level gear. So is it back to the drawing board already? Probably.

The “New” Build: 0/53/18

I refuse to give up on a dual-wield spec, and will try again going deeper into the Frost tree. This also requires me to manage two rotations, as opposed to the one rotation I used with Blood. In order to maximize this spec, you need to manage a “setup” rotation and a “main” rotation. This idea was explained in detail by Skeleton Jack in a comment, and I will spell it out even more clearly here.

The Setup Rotation

Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Pestilence -> Blood Strike -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike

The Main Rotation

Obliterate -> Pestilence -> Blood Strike -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike

The Frost Strikes in both rotations act as your runic power dump. I will try out this build and rotations at some point and report back on my findings. Thanks to Elitist Jerks and Skeleton Jack for the information and explanations.

Our second night of 25-man Ulduar didn’t start out quite how I expected. I was asked to tank because one of the main tanks no-showed, but I declined. I’ve been a Retribution Paladin with this group for about a month now, filling in as a tank on certain fights when needed. We had three Protection Warriors in the raid so we were covered anyway.

I used to be one of the main tanks back when we started our 10 and 25-man Naxxramas raids, but was eventually squeezed out after the raid leaders recruited additional tanks. I don’t know if I was doing a poor job for them as a tank, wasn’t vocal enough on Vent, or just smelled funny. I probably will never know, but don’t really care at this point anyway since I’m enjoying playing with this spec.

Ignis the Furnace Master

We started out with Ignis since we had cleared the other three Siege of Ulduar bosses on the previous night. The path down to Ignis is huge! It definitely felt epic, and the homage to Molten Core with the two Molten Colossus giants was a nice touch. Dancing around the whirlwinds cast by the fire revenants was pretty fun. After our raid leader performed the thankless job of explaining the fight to everyone, and from their perspective (how he knows all this I’ll never understand), we engaged Ignis and began the fight.

The attempts — all seven of them — were chaotic with the tank dying early and often. We had some difficulties with aggro management, mainly because there is no aggro reset (sorry, old joke). I was tasked with slapping Ignis in the leg with my mace and staying alive when I was put “on the pot.”

I Out-heal Priests

What was most surprising was the amount of passive healing I was doing with Judgement of Light. I was showing up third on Recount under “Healing Done.” Come to find out, this is getting nerfed in 3.2:

Judgement of Light: Now heals for 2% of the attacker’s maximum health instead of a variable amount based on the spell power and attack power of the judging paladin.

Although I got a kick out of the Priests whispering me and wondering if I had changed specs again, this really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’ll enjoy being able to simultaneously DPS and heal until this gets changed in the upcoming patch. Who needs a combat medic hero class anyway?

Raid Reassurance Time

We were reminded again that we wouldn’t be one-shotting bosses, even though all of us already knew that. Although I don’t think anyone is concerned that we’re not doing well and learning on each attempt, plenty of reassurances of how many attempts and wipes it will take us to defeat a boss were given out.

After the sixth attempt, the raid leader put out a vote to stay for another attempt, or move on to Kologarn. The majority voted to stay on Ignis, so we tried again. The main tank and off-tank switched, and the attempt was our best yet. We had Ignis down to 70% before any deaths occurred. We ended up wiping, and the raid leader put up another vote. This time, the majority voted to move on to Kologarn. This was strange to me because the last attempt on Ignis was clearly one where we had made some serious strides towards learning the fight.

Kologarn

We hit the trash hard on our way to Kologarn. When I say hard, I mean hard like you ran as fast as you could right into a brick wall. We attempted to sheep two of the mobs, but those were quickly broken by AoE. An exasperated voice on Vent pleaded for players to not break crowd controlled mobs, but this is probably some of our raiders first experience with a 25-man dungeon with crowd control. In Naxxramas, AoE was used on everything, so I don’t blame them for using AoE in their rotations.

We eventually made our way to Kologarn and had some decent attempts, four in total. We basically re-spawned the right arm once on each attempt, but called it there due to time constraints. I didn’t feel like everyone (including me) knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing on this fight, but hopefully we’ll be able to build on our experiences for next week. All in all another night full of learning experiences and several servings of humble pie.

The progression path here is probably the most straight-forward of any slot. One of your first rare items from Northrend will come from the group quest “Breaking Through” in Borean Tundra, available at level 68. Completing this quest will reward you with the Choker of Forceful Redemption which will carry you to at least 72, if not 75.

At level 75, you’ll want to find a Jewelcrafter and make friends with him or her. You can pick up the Jewelcrafter-made Jade Dagger Pendant until you finish the Oracles/Frenzyheart quest chain in Sholazar Basin for the Spiked Collar of Servitude.

If you are questing in Icecrown and need a buffer for this slot in the mid-70s, The Severed Noose of Westwind is available to you from a quest at 78. When you hit level 80, find that Jewelcrafter friend of yours and get the Titanium Impact Choker crafted for you.

1. Level 68 Worgtooth Pendant (668)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Walking Dead (Howling Fjord)
2. Level 68 Choker of Forceful Redemption (909)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Breaking Through (Borean Tundra)
3. Level 72 Wyrm-slave Collar (946)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Neltharion’s Flame (Dragonblight)
4. Level 75 Jade Dagger Pendant (1167)
   Obtained by: Jewelcrafter or AH (40 gold)
5. Level 76 Spiked Collar of Servitude (1276)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – A Hero’s Burden (Sholazar Basin)
6. Level 78 The Severed Noose of Westwind (1409)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Admiral Revealed (Icecrown)
7. Level 80 Titanium Impact Choker (1915)
   Obtained by: Jewelcrafter or AH (1200 gold)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

Starting out in Borean Tundra, you’ll want to focus on obtaining the Battle Leader’s Breastplate. This will carry you for three levels until you can hit Dragonblight for the Chestplate of the Ruby Champion.

Your first opportunity to pick up a rare item will be at level 76 with the Kalu’ak. If you’ve completed all of the quests for this faction in at least two out of the three zones where Kalu’ak quests exist, you should have no trouble reaching honored.

You can then run Gundrak for the Forlorn Breastplate of War from Moorabi, or hold off until 80 and complete the quest “Whatever it Takes!” in the Halls of Lightning. Although you can pick up this quest at level 77, you’re more likely to find a heroic HoL group at 80, then you are a regular HoL group at 77.

• Level 68 Mightstone Breastplate (1436)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Bury Those Cockroaches! (Borean Tundra)
• Level 68 Battle Leader’s Breastplate (1601)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – What the Cold Wind Brings… (Borean Tundra)
• Level 71 Chestplate of the Ruby Champion (1815)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – On Ruby Wings (Dragonblight)
• Level 73 Carapace of the Fallen (1932)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – A Minor Substitution (Grizzly Hills)
• Level 74 Chestplate of the Altar (1971)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Precious Elemental Fluids (Zul’Drak)
• Level 75 Links of the Terrified Deity (2001)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Convocation at Zol’Heb (Zul’Drak)
• Level 76 Whalebone Carapace (2194)
  Obtained by: The Kalu’ak (Honored)
• Level 76 Forlorn Breastplate of War (2413)
  Obtained by: Moorabi (Gundrak)
• Level 77 Breastplate of Jagged Stone (2812)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Whatever it Takes! (Halls of Lightning)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

June 29, 2009
Sole — my Warlock — hits level 80 in Feralas by completing one of the Midsummer Fire Festival quests.

June 29, 2009
Only 274 experience points shy of level 80 after turning in two Midsummer Fire Festival quests in Silithus.

As a raid healer, a common thing these days is trying to balance keeping everyone in your raid alive, while still being able to move when you need to (ie. having the right amount of situational awareness to your surroundings during raids).

I thought it would be neat to see how all the classes (even tanks and DPS) handle the multi-tasking that is required during raids. Do tanks and DPS sometimes have tunnel vision and forget to watch for the AOE effects or whatever they need to move out of? How do other healers deal with avoiding the tunnel vision problem?

My role in a raid is more often that of the off-tank. What’s an off-tank? It’s the backup quarterback of the raid. You need to be just as geared and just as prepared as the main tank, but relegated to “tanking” trash mobs and waiting for the main tank to die on boss fights. You’re designated as the off-tank by the raid leader by “losing a coin flip,” or because your total hit points is a few shy of the main tank’s. I’ll let the slight bitterness and sarcasm end here and will move on to the topic at hand.

As an off-tank, there are three duties to be aware of:

1. Assist with trash pulls
2. Be a situational tank for an encounter
3. Generate threat just beneath the main tank(s)

Trash Pull Assistance

The off-tank (or “trash tank”) is relied upon to help keep the raid moving forward. As an off-tank, I play the role of the “in-between tank” (I have a lot of different ways of describing an off-tank… Let me know if you need more), which allows me to bounce around the raid.

I always keep an eye on loose mobs (no, not that kind of loose mob, come on now) that are chasing after healers. I also watch the target’s target to see if one of the DPS has aggro’d a mob away from the tanking/AoE spot. I’ll then taunt the mob back to the AoE zone.

I don’t have to worry about the pulls or fret about the pacing of the raid. I do have to be ready when the main tank engages the next set of mobs in order to help round them up in the appropriate spot.

Situational Situational Awareness

Some fights require more than one tank to take care of a particular piece of the encounter. More often than not, this is more crucial than the job of actually main tanking the fight. Some examples are: distracting and keeping the chow away from Gluth and picking up Kel’thuzad’s Guardians of Icecrown.

Positioning is key here, ensuring that the mobs are faced away from the rest of the raid. Taunting crazed mobs off of the rest of the raid is also typically required, so you have one eye on the mobs in front of you, and your camera spun around appropriately so you can watch the healers and DPS.

For these fights, I’m certainly focused on the task at-hand and observing the rest of the raid, but also keeping an eye on the main tanks as well. In some cases when things go horribly wrong, I’ll need to be an off-tank and main tank simultaneously. I have to quickly taunt the boss and maintain threat until the main tank can be resurrected, or do everything I possibly can to save a wipe late in the fight. In the Naxxramas example, the right sequence of bubbling, laying on some hands, and trinket popping, one could tank the guardians and KT himself during those last few moments, ensuring victory.

Almost Pulling Aggro

This one is fairly straight-forward and requires very little awareness of the situation other than maintaining a steady diet of threat generation. Certain boss fights such as The Curator in Karazhan, Gruul from Gruul’s Lair, and Patchwerk in Naxxramas require the off-tank to maintain a secondary (or tertiary in Patch’s case) threat level.

With no adds for an off-tank to attend to, this is actually very simple. You basically keep an eye on Omen, and tuning your rotation accordingly in order to maintain your position on the threat meters. You’ll typically want to toss in one or two additional spells or abilities (such as Avenger’s Shield) when your threat dips, but the healers and DPS are pretty much on their own. These fights often provide off-tanks a much-needed break and a chance to give the main tanks a run for their threat-generating money.

Five Emblems of Valor and I’d have myself a nice cloak upgrade: the Hammerhead Sharkskin Cloak. I was a little worried when we arrived at the fifth boss, Heigan the Unclean. Our tank lost track of the phase eruptions on the second and third phase-one sequences. We lost half the raid during the second sequence, but I survived by not following the tank, and we were able to DPS him down. Our healers saved the day by healing the tank, me, and several others through the mess.

Earlier in the raid, I picked up Ruthlessness, upgrading my Ring of Indignant Rage, which is second only to the Inscribed Band of the Kirin Tor on my gear list. I outbid the main tank for the Libram of Resurgence for my last drop (I’m not sure what a main tank with a Holy off-spec would do with that anyway).

A quick look at WoW Web Stats from last night showed that I was at the bottom of the DPS list yet again. Although my DPS rose about 150 points from the start of the raid, it showed my swing (physical) miss percentage at 15.6%, Divine Storm miss at 18.6%, and Crusader Strike at 18.9%. My melee hit is very low (5.22%) so I’ll be switching out my glove enchant for Precision, and gobbling up as much Snapper Extreme as my stomach can handle.

The bad news is you don’t have many options here. The good news is you don’t have many options here.

Starting off in Borean Tundra, you can quickly obtain Warsong’s Fervor and Serrah’s Star. You can then jump over to Howling Fjord and work towards the First Mate’s Pocketwatch. At level 71 and after completing the Battle for the Undercity quest chain, you are rewarded with the Medallion of Heroism.

At this point, you won’t have to worry about trinket upgrades until level 77. When you hit 77, start working towards reputation gains with The Oracles faction. At exalted, you have the ability to purchase the Oracle Talisman of Ablution as an upgrade over the pocketwatch. Keep an eye out for the Nobles cards on the auction house and start building your Nobles Deck.

1. Level 68 Warsong’s Fervor (496)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – We Strike! (Borean Tundra)
2. Level 69 Serrah’s Star (608)
   Obtained by: – Keep the Secret Safe (Borean Tundra)
3. Level 69 First Mate’s Pocketwatch (708)
   Obtained by: – The Jig is Up (Howling Fjord)
4. Level 71 Medallion of Heroism (800)
   Obtained by: – The Battle For The Undercity (Dragonblight)
5. Level 77 Oracle Talisman of Ablution (1136)
   Obtained by: The Oracles (Exalted)
6. Level 80 Darkmoon Card: Greatness (2805)
   Obtained by: – Darkmoon Nobles Deck (Darkmoon Faire)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

LFM DPS

I’ve always challenged folks who claim that there is a shortage of tanks and healers in the game. My main spec will always be Protection, but I chose Holy for my second spec when the ability to dual spec was introduced to the game. I figured I’d be able to fill one of those two roles that there is an apparent shortage of. Boredom quickly set in as I sat in Dalran with a second “raid spec,” and couldn’t find a group. You would think that in a guild with over 4,600 characters, you’d be able to find an all-guild heroic that needs a healer.

Along Came Retribution

In one night, I ran more heroics as Retribution than I ever did as Holy. So much for that healer shortage. With most of my tanking gear on, I hovered around third on the damage meters for the night. This was partially because the shadow priest in our group disconnected for a bit in Violet Hold. All the mechanics of the class were working, and all those nifty spells and abilities were present on my action bars. The output was lacking, though, and my expectations for high burst damage were failing.

Gearing Up My Alt… Err, Second Spec

In these heroics, I really felt counted on, much more so than in heroic Naxxramas. After successfully completing heroic Violet Hold, Utgarde Pinnacle, and Utgarde Keep, I owed it to myself to start itemizing properly for this spec. The first place I started at was my weapon. I had been using a polearm and, for whatever reason, this really embarrassed me. A trip to the auction house and 1,100 gold quickly took care of that as I became the proud owner of one Titansteel Destroyer. I slapped Greater Savagery on that bad boy and I was off to find me some quests.

I located a nice cave in the Storm Peaks filled with worms that were eager to see me with my new weapon. With Seal of Command refreshed, I ran in, reared back with the mace, and swung as hard as I could… and missed! What happened? What is this “skill in two-handed maces has increased to 2″ all about?

Thirty worms and a few dozen worgs later, my two-handed mace skill was up over 350, and I finally got a taste of what the spec can do when itemized correctly. I hearthed back to Dalaran and turned in some leftover Emblems of Heroism for the Mirror of Truth and the Pendant of the Outcast Hero.  I also added a Jormungar Leg Armor kit to my pants for an additional stamina and agility boost.

Although I made the Kal’uak sad when I vendored their polearm, I now feel like a real Ret Paladin.

June 11, 2009
My first night in Naxxramas as a Retribution Paladin came to an end with Gluth. I’m certain my glowing Whale-Stick Harpoon had something to do with it.

One of the very first quests in Borean Tundra rewards you with a great starter weapon, the Combatant Greatsword. From there, you can follow a basic upgrade path, or work some dungeons and grind reputations to itemize as you level.

As you complete your Borean Tundra starter quests, the Axe of Frozen Death will become available to you from a level 68 quest chain reward. At level 70, you can start to farm Utgarde Keep for a chance at Ingvar’s Monolithic Cleaver. If you have difficulties getting a UK group, your next upgrade will come at level 73 from the Blacksmith-crafted Honed Cobalt Cleaver.

When you hit 75, you’ll want to travel to Zul’Drak and participate in the Ampitheater of Anguish event. Upon completion, you can choose between an axe (De-Raged Waraxe) and a polearm (Icier Barbed Spear). They are both similar, so your decision will probably be based on personal preference. You should consider a high-end enchant such as Massacre or Berserking for your weapon as there is a good chance you’ll keep this until level 80.

1. Level 68 Combatant Greatsword (12502)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Cutting Off the Source (Borean Tundra)
2. Level 68 Axe of Frozen Death (13675)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Hellscream’s Champion (Borean Tundra)
3. Level 73 Honed Cobalt Cleaver (14532)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith or BoE (100 gold)
4. Level 75 Banner Slicer (14752)
   Obtained by: World drop BoE (35 gold)
5. Level 70 Ingvar’s Monolithic Cleaver (14762)
   Obtained by: Ingvar the Plunderer (Utgarde Keep)
6. Level 74 Troll Butcherer (16390)
   Obtained by: Trollgore (Drak’Tharon Keep)
7. Level 75 De-Raged Waraxe (16870)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Champion of Anguish (Zul’Drak)
8. Level 75 Icier Barbed Spear (16898)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Champion of Anguish (Zul’Drak)
9. Level 78 Wyrmclaw Battleaxe (17646)
   Obtained by: Cache of Eregos (The Oculus)
10. Level 78 Whale-Stick Harpoon (17789)
    Obtained by: The Kalu’ak (Revered)
11. Level 78 Dreadlord’s Blade (17912)
    Obtained by: Dark Runed Chest (The Culling of Stratholme)
12. Level 78 Dirkee’s Superstructure (18235)
    Obtained by: Dirkee (rare elite) or BoE (400 gold) (The Storm Peaks)
13. Level 80 Argent Skeleton Crusher (19726)
    Obtained by: Argent Crusade (Revered)
14. Level 80 Runeblade of Demonstrable Power (19940)
    Obtained by: Knights of the Ebon Blade (Revered)
15. Level 80 Titansteel Destroyer (21721)
    Obtained by: Blacksmith or BoE (1000 gold)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

The glove itemization is fairly straight-forward, mainly because you don’t have a lot of options. Once you hit level 75, you’ll want to run The Violet Hold. The Plate Claws of the Dragon drop off the last boss, so you’ll have a consistent chance at a drop (rather than a random drop off of a random boss encounter in there).

If you pass on VH, there are two options at level 77 in the Storm Peaks. Hold on to those Astrid Riding Gloves until you have a chance to run Halls of Lightning for the Fists of Loken.

1. Level 68 Onyx Grips (1159)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Stop the Ascension! (Howling Fjord)
2. Level 71 Stonepath Gauntlets (1270)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Might of the Horde (Dragonblight)
3. Level 73 Spiked Cobalt Gauntlets (1409)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith or BoE (10 gold)
4. Level 75 Plate Claws of the Dragon (1604)
   Obtained by: Cyanigosa (The Violet Hold)
5. Level 77 Backhanded Grips (1473)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Krolmir, Hammer of Storms (The Storm Peaks)
6. Level 77 Astrid’s Riding Gloves (1525)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Making a Harness (The Storm Peaks)
7. Level 78 Gauntlets of The Culling (1712)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – A Royal Escort (The Culling of Stratholme)
8. Level 78 Fists of Loken (1923)
   Obtained by: Loken (Halls of Lightning)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

Now, while I’ve never gone Retribution on Molsan, my other Paladin has always been Retribution. Yes, I have two Paladins. Yes, they are both Horde and both on Earthen Ring.

DPS is DPS

So I was at least familiar with the abilities of the spec, the DPS rotation, etc. What I didn’t realize is I had none of the gear! I could have sworn that I had picked up several pieces of DPS plate prior to them being disenchanted, but I was wrong. So, I equipped my tanking gear, a couple of rare rings, and a polearm from the Kalu’ak; I was off and running.

Thankfully, the group I play with out-gears the instance now, so my bottom-of-Recount DPS (1721) went unnoticed. We one-shotted most of the bosses except for Razuvious (we lost him at less than 1%!) and Patchwerk. No loot for me, but I did add a few Emblems of Valor to my collection. I have over 50 Emblems of Heroism collecting dust, so the Mirror of Truth might be a good pickup if I want to get serious about my Ret set.

Going with a different spec gave me a new perspective on the raid. I believe this will help me be a better tank in the long run. I was also more motivated and excited to raid a dungeon that we’ve been working on for a couple months now. Old is now new again… at least for one night.

June 9, 2009
My Warlock dinged 78 so it was time to put his Tailoring skills to work. Here he is in Dalaran after crafting all eight pieces of the Frostsavage set.