Alts

While I’ve migrated back to the Warlock, thanks to Destruction actually becoming fun again, I’m spending more time at the moment on my alts, with Fuhai the Hunter getting her days in the spotlight right now.

Initially she was Beast Mastery (even acquiring the “best” DPS legendary for it), she’s since switched to Marksmanship because I’m finding the heavy hitting nature of it pretty cool right now (and whaddya know, I got the “best” DPS legendary for that spec too today, what a coincidence). This is a common theme for me; a lot of my alts started off as one spec (“this spec is the best and most fun!”) only for me to realise that actually, I prefer one or both of the others. Case in point, Huomofa, whose name in Chinese is 火魔法, which literally means FIRE MAGIC, started off as a Fire Mage, and is now a Frost Mage. Shokei the Demonology Warlock is now Shokei the Destruction Warlock. Muirisc the Arms Warrior is now all about that Fury.

It’s never a numbers thing. It’s always a playstyle thing.

8 down. 4 to go. Two of them with a considerable amount more to do. Maybe the Druid will be the next pet project? She’s a worgen, ’cause pandas can’t be Druids yet.

She’s also apparently wearing the same mog as my Hunter, which means one of them is going to have to go home and change.

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THE MIGHTY YOPAAT: A Day in the Life

This post is me taking part in Z & Cinder’s Blog Challenge 20: A Day in the Life of Your Toon because for fuck’s sake I need to blog more often

The Mighty Yopaat, Farseer of the Earthen Ring

Has quite a ring to it, doesn’t it? It makes you think of power and dignity and other assorted stuff like that, right? Well let me tell you, I sure don’t feel it right now.

I seem to spend my time dogsbodying for that lazy mage Khadgar, performing meaningless errands for the disparate groups that pepper the Broken Isles, or babysitting so-called “champions,” telling them where to go and what to do. It seems the Kirin Tor are more interested in playing games with barrels than fighting the legion.

Let’s take today. I went to Aszuna. I freed some of those morose demon hunters and killed their captors. I picked some weird fel flower. I extracted murloc eyes from their heads and stole a hydra’s egg. I killed a ghost, which is surely impossible as they’re already dead. Another ghost gave me a box with nothing of interest inside. Tomorrow I may well end up in Val’sharah doing other pointless errands.

Ah, but you’re not here to hear me complain about my lot in life, are you? Yes, I do try and relax sometimes.

I spend a lot of time in The Legerdemain Lounge. They do the nicest coffee on Azeroth, you know. A rich, dark Kun-Lai roast, none of this icy Highmountain rubbish. I enjoy the kick, it gives me the spark I need to make my own brews. Not coffee, mind, but potions. See, in my spare time I indulge in a bit of alchemy. I refuse to pay those scalpers at the auction house for herbs, mind, so I go and pick my own. I’ve got quite the knowledge of herbs now, though I still occasionally disintegrate Starlight Rose. Fat furry fingers, you know?

The alchemy shop being opposite Like Clockwork is an annoyance though. Explosions and robots fighting day in, day out. At least I’m able to make potions without Deucus’s supervision.

I still see Thrall occasionally. He likes to ask me if I’m taking good care of Doomhammer. Haven’t the heart to tell him it’s collecting dust in the care of some goblins, along with Sharas’dal. Sure, hitting things with a hammer is somewhat cathartic, but I don’t want to fall into that trap of “if all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” I much prefer to keep my distance, less chance of being bludgeoned myself, you know?

I don’t tend to socialise much. My fellow shamans tend to be rather stuffy and constantly in a state of elemental reverence, which is fine and all but take a break sometime, yeah? Not that other groups are better. The warlocks freak me out, the mages and paladins are full of themselves, the death knights and demon hunters are too… you know? Just too. Too much. And the druids? Worse than shaman! That said I do have a few friends I see every so often. There’s a warlock that seems less weird than the others, there’s a pretty cute monk I see meditating in Dalaran occasionally, and I know a rogue that opens locked boxes for me, and in return I give her potions. She’s got a missing eye too. Maybe I’ll ask her story one day?

Maybe not. She seems like that might be a sore point for her.

My eye? Oh it’s silly, really. You don’t wanna know.

I Believe I Can Fly

She’s gone back to her classic Chun Li-esque look

So, a week or two after everyone else because I’ve been having too much fun elsewhere (Persona 5 mainly, but also just not on the Broken Shore), I’ve finally unlocked flying in the Broken Isles. Not only that, but I’ve had somewhat of a windfall, loot-wise. Yopaat now has a 905 Whispers in the Dark, probably the most game changer-y trinket casters have access to right now, and my god it’s a beautiful thing. Just that trinket alone made my sim DPS jump by roughly 30-40k, which is insane. Add to that the shiny new hat he got, the shaman legendary Uncertain Reminder, and now all Heroism-style effects last 75% longer on him.

Whereas you get to play with 40 seconds of godly superspeed, I get a whopping 1 minute and 10 seconds! It also pairs up well in Restoration, as during Heroism, their healing is 25% stronger. Oh, if only I actually used Restoration anymore…

You see, my OTHER character also has some pretty strong stuff. Lunchi, who I’ve had ever since monks were a thing, and who has been Windwalker all that time, has opted for a career change to Mistweaver. I’ve mentioned it a couple of times before, but then it was just a “Panda Steve messes around as a healer for gits & shiggles” whereas now, she’s got (normal) raid completions under her belt, two really powerful legendaries ( trousers for fistweaving, which I ADORE as a playstyle, and the Velen trinket), and a trinket that drops cake. She also recently got her 4 set bonus, which makes my Vivify spam even more potent.

Now that I have unlocked flying though, I’m more keen to play around on other alts. Muirisc the warrior and Fujikomine the rogue have been taken out for a spin recently, and I’ve even played as Shokei the warlock. You remember, the class I played as the most for like 8 years? Who has a talent that I named this blog after? You know the one.

likes to wear NOT MUCH

I may even bother to finish levelling Poundshopwig and Huomofa, my criminally neglected paladin and mage.

…but there’s world quests to do on literally EVERYBODY ELSE though!

The Way of the Monk

Okay so being primarily a Shaman/Warlock player, you might think I am unqualified to be talking about what it means to be a Monk, but let me tell you, everyone refers to me as Grandmaster Lunchi, I’m wearing the clothes of a Grandmaster, and that wouldn’t be the case if I wasn’t a position of authority within the bigass turtle we all ride upon.

LOOK. SEE? Says it right there. Grandmaster.

So, given that I am the undisputed GRANDMASTER LUNCHI, isn’t it my duty to impart my wondrous wisdom upon you? To teach you the WAY OF THE MONK? Yes, I thought so, let’s begin.

• Roll everywhere. There’s a talent that lets you Roll more. Use it. There’s a brew that makes Roll have no cooldown for an hour. Use that liberally. Travel at the speed of Roll.
• Be careful when near cliff edges, especially if you are not a pandaren. Other races are not as Bouncy as us, and therefore cannot take the fall.

Sometimes even pandaren struggle if you fall off a cliff high enough.

• Kick. Punch. It’s all in the mind. If you wanna test me, I’m sure you’ll find that the things I’ll teach ya is sure to beat ya, but nevertheless, you’ll get a lesson from teacher, now KICK.

KICK

• It’s important to drink heavily when a monk. Whether it’s MAGICAL TEA that focuses your mind, deeply alcoholic brews that allow you to breathe fire or shrug off hits, or energy drinks to reinvigorate you, pick your poison and become one with it!
• You know how they say “never work with animals or children”? Ignore that, you have a cat, bird or ox to befriend.

Yes, I blew a 3 minute cooldown just to get this picture. Twice.

• JAB JAB UPLIFT oh wait that’s not a thing anymore.
• Utilising your zoning abilities (hadoken, long-ranged normals et al) is very important in controlling the horizontal playfield. A common tactic is to throw a fireball, then use a shoryuken if the opponent jumps over it towards you. Experienced players may well bait the shoryuken followup out of you, leading to a massive punish combo if mistimed.

TENMA GOZANKU!

• Try to remember some of the basics of CQC.
• Flying Serpent Kick, if walking upon the wind is more your style, can be an even better launcher than mere rolling or Chi Torpedoing. Skim atop the surface of water! Rush towards your enemies at lightning speed! Plummet to your death off a cliff yet AGAIN!
• Never use Roll, Chi Torpedo or Flying Serpent Kick when you’re on the Spine of Deathwing. Probably best to not use it where there’s Instant Death Water™ either, such as during the Krosus fight, or Gorefiend.
• Expecting to need an expeditious retreat? Transcend space and time by mere meditation!

That basically means “you have a Demonic Circle-esque ability, fuckin’ use it”

There are, of course, many more aspects to the Way of the Monk, but I think that is all a beginner like you needs to handle for now.

And yes, this was an excuse to show off what Lunchi looks like. Seriously, that Grandmaster armour set (from the class hall) is bloody amazing-looking, and several of the Sheilun appearances look STUNNING with it.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS WITH LEGION

Like, for real talk here, there’s some issues with Legion that I cannot get over until they are sorted out. SCATHING CRITICISMS. For instance:

FUMIGATION

Love is in the Air has the Vile Fumigator’s Mask, the most amazing piece of headgear in the game, yet it’s not a transmoggable item! MAKE IT COSMETIC! I want to run around in skimpy clothes and a motherfuckin’ gas mask, yo. Well, without hurting my stats anyway.

Maybe take away those tanks on the back too? Make a new item that’s the mask without the tanks, make it cosmetic so EVERY character can use it, and make me everyone happy!

KARGATH

Like seriously you need to drop the Bladefist NOW. I’m sick of visiting you every week.

The closest I’ve come is ctrl clicking it from the dungeon journal to open the dressing room

PANDAS

Unless you play a Monk, there’s a criminal shortage of pandaren. Huge amounts of humans or orcs, because of course there are, but where are my darling pandas?! Or gnomes for that matter. I would have said tauren too, but we have a whole zone of antlered tauren so they got it pretty sweet.

DEMON HUNTERS

This is mainly my problem as I have a frightening tendency to launch myself off cliffs with my monk. Give me a class that moves while attacking? Yeah I’m dead in a second. I’ll be swimming on Krosus for sure.

RUST IN PISCES

XE’RA

I’M
GONNA SWING
FROM THE CHANDELIER
FROM THE CHANDELIER

and hopefully it’ll fall to the ground and stop bothering me about Illidan, goodness me.

Things You Do That Annoy Me, A Novice Monk Healer

Hello, it’s me, Panda Steve, and recently I’ve been messing around with Lunchi. In particular, I’ve made her a healer now, because Mistweaver is very fun, and also because I can.

Here she is throwing out those hadokens or whatever.

Now, I’m a fairly novice healer, but I’ve been noticing some key areas where DPS and tanks can improve their play, because who better to give you advice on staying alive than the person keeping you alive?

I’m not just saying this to make my life easier. Honest.

(yes I’ve done a moaning novice healer post before, shut up I can do it again if I want)

• In Halls of Valor, there’s lots of enemies that make lightning. You might want to NOT STAND IN THE LIGHTNING. Whether they’re tornadoes, or dragon breaths, or those lines of Crackle, just go away from them please.
• Similarly, when fighting Fenryr, he may leap at you. Try not to be near other people or he puts the bleed on all of you and that’s just really annoying.
• SPEAKING OF FENRYR! Please run away when he’s fixating on you, don’t just let him rip your face off.
• SPEAKING OF (the trash before) FENRYR! Please don’t pick up ALL the wolves. They love to leap around and smack me random people, and they really can’t take too many of those before it’s unhealable.
• Hide behind that BIG GLOWY SHIELD whenever Skovald does Ragnarok. I mean, you DO know what Ragnarok means, right?
• Pull Hyrja to one side. Mein gott.
• Don’t kill both the adds when facing Parjesh. You need to hide behind one of them so they get speared!
• DON’T HIDE BEHIND ME WHEN HE’S THROWING SPEARS AT YOU.
• Pop. The bloody. Bubble. On Deepbeard.
• Ordinarily I’d moan about tanks running off way ahead, but shit I’m a monk, I’ve got movement for days.
• Please use your mitigation. I assume it’s on your bars?
• I’m questing as Windwalker, primarily because I kill things marginally quicker. When we enter a dungeon and I say “just changing spec, gimme a sec!” (I have that shit macroed), give me a sec. I need to drink for mana. If you’re skipping off merrily to engage enemies without your healer present, I hope you’ve got a Druid healthpool.

I’m not a good healer, but I’m getting better. Healing’s just a side project for me, something fun to pass the time, but boy oh boy does it ever do that.

Love is in the Air

And you know what that means.

TIME TO RUN THE EVENT DUNGEON HUNDREDS OF TIMES TO GET THE MOUNT THAT NEVER DROPS.

Aysa’s upset that she has no big pink love rocket.

Thanks to the fancy new dungeon scaling tech, you no longer need to be at/near max level to queue for this event dungeon. So long as you’re level 16 or higher, you can set yourself up for disappointment many times a day!

REJOICE as you tentatively log onto characters and classes you haven’t used since Warlords, or even Pandaria! BE CONFUSED as you figure out what the hell you press to make your druid actually do something. GRIMACE as you accidentally queue as healer when you’re in a DPS spec.

But more important than this mount? Yes, that’s right. It’s time for me to complain that the BEST-looking non-eyepatch headgear is still not classed as a cosmetic item, or even eligible for transmogrification.

Vile Fumigator’s Mask

FIX IT, BLIZZARD.

I Never Signed Up For This

Sure, when I joined the Alliance I was excited to join the Stormwind Guard, but for some reason here I am now as some sort of commander. I led an army in another dimension or something, and now my fellow Shaman are calling me the Farseer, and I’m helping some weirdo stop an invasion of demons while stationed in a floating city.

Aforementioned weirdo has a habit of popping up in the most irritating of places. I think he was trying to look in my storage boxes, see if there’s any magic paraphernalia he can purloin or something, but he made up some junk story about “oh I need to see you about some chandelier with an odd fixation on Malfurion’s brother” and I don’t believe him for a SECOND.

Life was simpler on the turtle.

I suppose there’s a bright side. I’ve learned some practical skills, like how to mix potions then subsequently sell them at a high mark up, how to fish and cook, how to summon small volcanoes beneath the feet of my opponents, you know, the usual stuff you need to get by. Every time I go near Things of the Past, some elf lady in there keeps trying to get me to learn Archaeology, but who has time for that? I apparently have a world to save for some reason.

Glamour Shots?

Fujikomine. Rogue extraordinaire. Her biggest weakness is a cold breeze, but I suppose that’s not really happening here unless she ambles into the mountains.

Huomofa is on her way to Stormheim too. She’s a bit more covered up, considering she’s a Frost Mage and doesn’t like being too cold.

Poundshopwig probably wonders why his mother even called him that.

Lunchi has a big stick and isn’t afraid to hit you with it.

Yopaat will tell you a different story about how he lost his eye every time you ask him.

He hasn’t actually lost it at all. He just thinks an eyepatch makes him look badass.

Well Muirisc COULD go out and save the world, but she’d much rather stay indoors.

Shokei, seriously, you’ll catch your death of cold.

Let’s Get Beautiful

Still adamant that the best things in WoW right now are the talkative artifact weapons, and the transmog wardrobe. Thal’kiel’s a veritable stunner.

Normally at this stage of an expansion, I’ve levelled at least 6-7 characters, maxed professions on my main, and am soloing old raids for mounts. Let’s see how that’s going shall we?

Well those sure as shit aren’t maxed out. My issue with profession levelling is that the recipes seem to go green very quickly. I’ve been stuck at 790 for weeks now, making Imbued Silkweave Bracers whenever I can and just not getting skill ups. Similarly, I’m struggling to level Enchanting because while I’m swimming in Chaos Crystals and Arkhana thanks to being able to disenchant unwanted greens from questing and epics from raiding/mythics, I’m rarely if ever getting anything blue drop so I have hardly any Leylight Shards.

In previous expansions there were recipes to shatter your purple crystals into the blue ones, and blue into green, and while there’s a recipe to shatter Leylight Shards into Arkhana, there’s nothing to shatter Chaos Crystals into Leylight Shards, at least that I have seen. I could go and run dungeons for a small chance at a blue, but no thanks. The Blood of Sargeras vendor alleviates this somewhat, but then I run into a shortage of Bloods, which means I can’t craft other stuff.

Endless.

As for levelling other things, well. The artifact system effectively puts me off wanting to. I mean, the weapons are awesome (particularly the talkative ones, as mentioned) but while my Warlock has a high-levelled Demonology weapon and two other semi-levelled ones, the other classes will endlessly be playing catch-up. I like to feel my characters are powerful in their own right, but right now all I can think of is “they’re OKAY but my Warlock is practically a god compared to the rest.”

Then there’s the neglected 4. The non-maxed and the ignored Demon Hunter that hasn’t even been to New Dalaran yet. I do enjoy Holy healing on the Priest, mind.

I know it sounds like I’m being negative, but it’s important to look at this sort of thing. I love this expansion, it’s not up at Mists level (and never will be because PANDAS) but I am having a ruddy good time, but I think it’s good to look at how some things can be frustrating too.

Some high points as a counterbalance?

• Raid encounters are fantastic. Il’gynoth and Odyn are my highlights so far.
• THE STORY, oh my goodness. THE CINEMATICS!
• Thal’kiel. Aluneth. Xal’atath. That Thal’kiel has conversations with your demons is even more awesome. The Succubus is a particular highlight. Voidwalkers just hate everything.
• I actually like World Quests.
• Demonology in general. Fuck Metamorphosis, those demon rejects can have it. NOW I HAVE AN ARMY.
• Pirate Rogue spec. Or Outlaw, whatever. Grappling Hook is great for ascending mountains!
• That floating Khadgar head pet. I wish it could battle though, I’d send it out to die constantly bring me victory or something.

Yarr.