Dopo aver più volte parlato del potere della classe del mage capace di interrompere con le proprie abilità istat le carte giocate dagli avversari, oggi ci occupremo finalmente del deck Arcane Mage basato sull’eroe Varanis Bitterstar uno dei deck più potenti sotto il profilo del controllo.

Eroe
Varanis Bitterstar

Per quanto riguarda il flip dell’eroe, esso è uno dei migliori flip tra gli Arcane Mage: al costo di 4 risorse è possibile infliggere 2 danni ad un eroe o alleato bersaglio e pescare una carta aggiuntiva.

Alleati 5
3x Blood Knight Kyria
2x Chief Researcher Amereldine

Gli alleati presenti in questo deck sono solo Blood Knight Kyria, protettore Blood Elf che cura 4 punti ferita ad un eroe o alleato bersaglio ogni volta che il proprio controllore gioca un’abilità, e Chief Researcher Amereldine, alleato Blood Elf 5/7 che ogni turno gira a faccia in su la prima missione che viene completata in quel turno, ottimo potere da usare in combinazione soprattuto con Solanian’s Belongings per riprendere dal cimitero un’abilità già utilizzata.

Abilità 37
4x Fizzle
3x The Taste of Arcane
4x Nether Fracture
3x Mystic Denial
3x Spell Suppression
4x Blizzard
2x The More, the Scarier
3x Invisibility
3x Slow
2x Invocation
2x Mana Sapphire
3x Conjured Cinnamon Roll

Per quanto riguarda le abilità del deck Arcane Mage Varanis Bitterstar, esse si possono suddividere in tre gruppi. Un primo gruppo di 17 abilità è centrato sulla possibilità dal parte dell’Arcane Mage di interrompere il gioco avversario impedendo che una sua abilità entri in gioco o che  una sua qualsiasi carta entri in gioco o di privare i poteri di una carta già presente in gioco, nello specifico: Fizzle interrompe un’abilità con costo inferiore a 3 risorse, The Taste of Arcane infligge un danno ad un eroe o ad un alleato beraglio e nel caso in cui il bersaglio sia un eroe interrompe una carta da esso giocata a meno che esso non spossi una risorsa aggiuntiva; Nether Fracture interrompe un carta alleato, abilità o equipaggiamento bersaglio; Mystic Denial interrompe in un primo momento una carta bersaglio e poi diventa un’abilità ongoing con il potere di interrompere la successiva carta giocata dall’avversario; e Spell Suppression priva i poteri una carta bersaglio sia essa alleato, abilità o equipaggiamento. un terzo gruppo di 12 abilità è centrata sul board control, in particolare: Blizzard all’inzio di ogni turno avversario infligge 1 danno da gelo all’eroe ed a tutti gli alleati avversari impedendo che essi in quel turno possano attaccare;  The More, the Scarier infligge x danni da fuoco a x bersagli; Invisibility nel turno in cui viene giocata conferisce al proprio eroe il potere di essere elusivo e intarghettabile e poi diventa un’abilità ongoing che annulla il potere elusivo e intarghettabile all’eroe ed agli alleati avversari; e Slow che impedisce all’avversario di giocare più di una carta per turno oltre al posizionamento di una carta risorsa. Il secondo gruppo di 7 abilità infine è centrata sul draw aggiuntivo di carte e sulla possibilità di cura, nello specifico: Invocation consente, una volta distrutta, che tutte le proprie risorse abbiano il potere di poter essere spossate e di far pescare una carta aggiuntiva; con Mana Sapphire è possibile, una volta distrutta e spossando massimo x risorse, è possibili pescare fino a 5 carte aggiuntive; ed infine Conjured Cinnamon Roll consente, una volta distrutta, di curare tanti punti ferita al proprio eroe quante sono le proprie risorse presenti in gioco. Una variante del deck Arcane Mage consiste nell’utilizzare e potenziare le bacchette che, a partire dalla espanzione Scourgewar, si ricorda sono diventate armi ranged, e che possono rappresentare una chiusura aggiuntiva; in particolare le carte che possono essere utilizzate per questa configurazione sono: Wand Specialization, Wand of Eternal Light e Voidfire Wand.

Equipaggiamento 4
2x Blade of Wizardry
2x Belt of Blasting

Gli equipaggiamenti consistono semplicemente in Blade of Wizardry con cui, scartando una propria abilità, è possibile distruggere un alleato bersaglio, e Belt of Blasting con cui pagando x risorse e spossando il proprie eroe è possibile inferire x danni ad un eroe o ad un alleato bersaglio avversario: ottima anche come chiusura.

Location e Missioni 15
3x Silvermoon City
3x Solanian’s Belongings
4x Forces of Jaedenar
3x Information Gathering
2x Counterattack!

Per quanto riguarda le location e le missioni, essendo Varanis Bitterstar un Blood Elf, non potevono mancare  Silvermoon City, che conferisce all’eroe o ad un alleato Blood Elf la resistenza scelta inizalmente, e Solanian Belongings, che permette tra l’altro di riprendere dal cimitero un’abilità ottima da usare in combianzione con Chief Researcher Amereldine. Forces of Jaedenar, Information Gathering e Counterattack! assicurano un ottimo draw aggiuntivo di carte. In questo tipo di deck non è difficile trovare come risorsa anche la missione Swift Discipline.

Side Deck 10
2x Nether Fissure
3x Metalmorph
3x Spell Ricochet
2x Netherbreath Spellblade

Per quanto riguarda le Side Deck a potenziare il controllo dell’Arcane Mage sono state inserite le seguenti carte: Nether Fissure abilità istantanea che non può essere interrotta e che interrompe una carta bersaglio, Metalmorph che annulla i poteri di un equipaggiamento ed imedisce di che esso possa essere utilizzarlo, e Spell Ricochet con cui è possibile scambiare il bersaglio di un abilità con un altro bersaglio; mentre per favorire l’utilizzo continuo delle proprie abilità una volta che esse siano state utilizzate o siano presenti nel cimitero è stato inserito il pugnale Netherbreath Spellblade.

Il deck Arcane Mage Varanis Bitterstar è sicuramente uno dei più forti deck di controllo, capace di bloccare ogni strategia e di rendere l’avversario quasi come uno spettatore durante tutto il protrarsi della partita. Poichè il punto di forza di questo deck è la possibilità di avere una risposta sempre immediata alle carte avverarie, la strategia capace di contrastare questo mazzo, o di rendergli sicuramente la vista difficile, è sicuramente quella basata sull’hand control; anche i mezzi rush o i mazze stealth possono mettere in difficoltà l’Arcane Mage ma solo fino a quando non è presente in gioco Blizzard o non viene giocata Invisibility.

Time sped forward and another memory played out.

 *****

“DaeNoth, look!” Ionee cried out to the lagging DaeNoth, as she stood on the edge of a small, rock-filled vale. It had taken her forever to convince DaeNoth to venture outside the Forest of Reflections, and she only got him to agree because she promised they wouldn’t venture into any populated areas. Now that they were outside the protective shell of the Aurisen enclave, DaeNoth had grown fearful of every little thing. She had wanted to see the crystal fields ever since she had heard some of the other Aurisens talking about them, and this was the first time she had managed to convince DaeNoth to venture forth from that artificial bubble of synthesized life inside the Forest of Reflections.

The one time she had snuck out on her own, DaeNoth had become so hysterical. After that, he rarely left her side so she had little opportunity to sneak away. However, because he insisted on following her everywhere, she managed to coax him into trying more and more things, as her desire for new experiences continued to draw her. Her need to experience real life was too compelling, so her only recourse was to convince DaeNoth into trying things with her.

Ever since she had heard of the crystal fields, she had connived and coaxed DaeNoth until now, here she was. One of the first things she had noticed was that the crystals of this world sang to her. They touched a place deep within her that only some of the most ethereal of compositions had ever spoken to. To be able to immerse herself in a place containing so much music and power, was simply too much to resist.

As she waited for DaeNoth to catch up, she let the energies flow over and around her. She stood at the edge of the first crystal field, her eyes closed, just listening with her whole being to the call of the crystals. One crystal, in particular, seemed to stand out from the others, and she allowed its call to lead her through the rocky terrain.

When DaeNoth finally caught up with her, Ionee held the newly freed crystal to his forehead, “Can you feel it now?”

“It seems very vibrant, yet soothing…” he turned to look at Ionee, who was smiling widely. “What type of crystal is it?”

“I do not know what it is named, only that it is some type of beryl. But you are correct, its song tells me that it would be a powerful healing crystal—offering both revitalization and comfort.”

They clambered over the rocks, Ionee following the voices of the crystals as they sang to her. As they scrambled over a particularly cumbersome stretch of loose rocks, DaeNoth lost his footing. His right ankle twisted and his foot wedged itself between several of the larger boulders, and as DaeNoth fell forward, a loud cracking sound echoed in the air.

At the sound of DaeNoth’s ankle breaking, Ionee stopped her mad dash across the rocks to see what had happened. Seeing DaeNoth sprawled across the rocks, she hurried back to help.

“DaeNoth! DaeNoth, are you all right?” She cried out as she crossed the loose jumble of rocks back to where DaeNoth’s body now lay. As she reached him, she noticed that a second DaeNoth stood next to the body. Drawing nearer, she realized that this second DaeNoth was not a solid image. She could see bits of the landscape through him. Hesitating, she looked from this ghost-like DaeNoth to the DaeNoth lying on the rocks.

“DaeNoth?…” she reached out to touch the not so solid image that stood near, and her hand connected with nothing. The only sensation was a light prickling of the hairs on her hand and arm as it passed through the image of DaeNoth.

*It is I, Ionee…yet it is not,* the image spoke directly into her mind. *I jumped out when the ankle broke. I could not face the impending pain.*

*But what of …* and squatting, she reached out and touched DaeNoth’s hair, and caressed the cheek of the fallen DaeNoth. *It still lives…* she turned her eyes up toward the translucent image of DaeNoth, *but how…?*

*I am still connected to the body, but I do not feel what it feels. I do not sense what it senses.*

*But how did you manage this? I thought once we accepted the physical form, we had to remain with it or it would perish.*

*There are levels of integration. You are fully integrated, while I am currently only minimally integrated. I can maintain the body, but only in a minimal way. I need you to help me heal it, so that I may return.*

His comment brought her back to herself, and she realized that her hand still rested on the body’s back. Looking back toward the physical form of DaeNoth, she saw that she would need to free his foot before she could heal it. Moving down to where the rocks wedged against his foot, she carefully began prying at them until she managed to shift one enough to free his foot. Gently, she unwedged his foot and straightened his ankle. Then holding her palms above it, she focused her energies on healing it.

As the ankle returned to normal, the ghost-like DaeNoth flickered as it hovered above his physical form. Then it just seemed to merge into the body, and the DaeNoth beneath her hands began to moan and stir.

Ionee helped DaeNoth sit up, then she gave him several more healing boosts to remove some of the bruises and cuts he had received when the body had fallen against the rocks. As she did so, she kept thinking about how he had freed himself from the body. When he was once again healthy, she could no longer put off her curiosity. “How did you jump free of the body? How long can you remain that way? Can you see and hear everything that goes around you?”

“Do you not even care that I was hurt?” DaeNoth grumbled, though in truth, he was rather touched to have so much of her attention, no matter the reason. Standing, he brushed the dirt from his robe, and tried to neaten himself as best as possible. Ionee also stood, but her eyes continued to probe his as she awaited some answers.

Finally giving in to her silent demands, DaeNoth found a medium sized boulder to settle himself on and Ionee found a spot next to him. “One of the elders explained about the seven connection points between us and the physical forms that we have created. Each one has a different purpose. Any of these points can be released without harming the body, except one—this one, here,” and he touched her abdomen, placing the flat of his hand just beneath her breasts. “If this one is released, then the physical form will die,” and he pulled his hand back.

“But how do you release the others without releasing that one, also?” Ionee persisted.

“I told myself to step free of the body and I did. So, as the body fell forward, I remained standing. However, you have to make an effort to sever all connections, and I did not do that. I merely wished to save myself from experiencing the pain, which I assumed would occur once I felt the bone in the body break. Therefore, I focused on releasing only those connections that would hold me within the body.”

“Are you saying that the body can be animated without our actually having to be within it?” Ionee leaned forward as if afraid to miss a single word.

“Yes…I suppose someone could,” DaeNoth said thoughtfully. To animate the body at a minimal level you would need two connections. This one,” and he indicated his abdomen, “and the one here,” he touched his forehead. This one directs the body’s basic movements and thoughts, while this one,” he touched his abdomen, “directs the body’s basic life force.”

“What about the others? What do they do?”

“The lowest connection, there,” and he indicated a spot at the base of Ionee’s pubic region, “connects the body, and you, to the planet. The next one, here,” he touched a finger to her stomach, “gives you a connection to self. It helps the body understand who you are. The connection near the body’s heart, lets the body feel and react to your emotions. This connection,” and he touched a finger to her throat, “lets you use the body to communicate.”

“Very interesting…” Ionee ‘s thoughts turned inward for a moment. “So, how do you release these connections?”

“Well, you just let go,” DaeNoth paused to try to come up with a better way to explain it. “It is similar to taking off these clothes, only in this instance, the clothes represent the physical form.”

“I want to try.” Ionee sat up straight, then her body began to slump forward. DaeNoth jumped up and caught Ionee as her body slid from the boulder, and eased her onto the ground.

*This is fascinating,* a ghostly Ionee said, as she watched DaeNoth lower her body onto the rocky ground.

*Ionee!* a frightened DaeNoth admonished. *You should not do this. Return this instant!* He demanded from his position next to Ionee’s physical body.

*Why? If it was all right for you to do this, why is it too dangerous for me to try?*

*I only did it because I was frightened. It is not something you should take so lightly. You could harm yourself.*

*How can I harm myself? I am simply in my natural state.*

*No, you are not. Not for this world. For this world, you need to retain your physical form.* DaeNoth scolded. *You need to return. If you remain absent for too long, the body will die.*

*What if it does? I will simply create another.*

*You know that is forbidden. If the body dies you must return to the transitional plane.*

Ionee’s hovering image shook her head in disdainful frustration. She had heard all the rules and explanations, too. So, she knew that what she did was up to her. It was her life and her choices, and his restrictiveness was becoming intolerable. Just once she wished she could do what she wanted, without all of DaeNoth’s attempts to control everything. And what I want is to see where real humans live, she thought.

Suddenly, she was standing near the edge of a busy cobblestone street. Several people walked by, and another nearly walked right through her. As a horse-pulled carriage came near, the horse reared. Shaking its hooves nearly in her face, she ducked. When she opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground at the base of the boulder, with several large, pointy rocks digging into her back.

Startled to be back at the crystal fields, let alone back inside her physical body, Ionee stammered, “Wha…what happened?”

DaeNoth, happy to have her back, gripped her in a hug and held her tight. “Thank goodness you came to your senses and returned.”

Ionee barely returned DaeNoth’s hug, but he didn’t seem to notice. Her mind was on what had just happened. She was positive that she had actually been in one of the human’s cities, even if was just for a few moments, she had been there. Slowly, a smile curved her lips upward and she started planning how she could use this new technique to see more of this world called Danaria.

Japp, nu är jag ägare av två hus för en stund. Köpekontraktet skrevs i eftermiddag/kväll, det tog en god stund minsann! Men nu är det gjort. Tillträde preliminärt den 15 januari så nu är det bara att börja packa. Vi har bott där vi bor i sisådär 20 år så ni kan ju tro att vi har samlat på oss en hel del “skit”! Det, förutom tvättstugan då, är nog det bästa med flytten. För jag har väl sagt att jag får en STOR tvättstuga nu – kan ni bara gissa hur glad jag är över den!

Sen blev det en trevlig stund hos syster minsann, värsta goda smörgåstårtan bjöd hon på så nu står magen i fyra hörn! Hon är kock min syster, så det serveras alltid delikata rätter när man kommer dit. Annat än här det Så klart fick jag se lite Idol även om det blir ganska splittrat när man pratar och dessutom växlar mellan Idol och Skavlan. Men det gick bra det med!

Kameran låg kvar hemma den… sånt är livet! Minnet blir ju inte precis bättre med åren. Nu ska jag nog överväga att krypa i säng, jag har nämligen hand om hästarna från och med i morgon bitti till söndag kväll, och dom är ju vana med tidiga mornar dom!

Om Idol i media i kväll: Aftonbladet, Expressen

They say that a picture speaks a thousand words, so this post should be an epic tale indeed!

And according the achievements page, Samhai is at 373/700 quests for Eastern Kingdoms and 363/700 for Kalimdor, too!

Back when I played Wai, hitting 40 meant I could finally get a slow mount. Although it took being run through Scarlet Monestary a couple of times before I had the gold. Nowadays? It means I get an epic mount not only 20 levels earlier but also a lot cheaper. Oh, and an achievement, too, yes please, thank you very much.

Yes, that’s the new, slow saber saber she’s currently riding. Didn’t I mention that she’s exalted with Darnassus? And Stormwind, too? This is what gaming’s about. Relaxing and having fun. Am I enjoying myself? Too right, I am!

So…I took the week off work because I had vacation days to use up. Great week for it, with Pilgrim’s Bounty and all. Karius and Kalyon both achieved Pilgrim status and got their plump turkey pets.

Kalyon got frustrated with all the people turkey hunting in Elwynn, so he decided it would be easier and more devious to go kill Horde turkeys in Tirisfal.

The rep bonus from eating at the feast tables gave an extra 10% rep for an hour. With that on top of the 10% human racial bonus, I decided it was time for some grinding. So Karius took one day and ground out the starting zones to get exalted with all the Alliance cities. His horse grew wings near Azure Watch thanks to a furbolg shaman.

Achievements he got that day included Exalted Champion of Ironforge, Exalted Champion of Gnomeregan, Filling Up The Barn, 10 Exalted Reputations, Ambassador of the Alliance, and Did Somebody Order a Knuckle Sandwich? … yeah he did Dun Morogh by punching all the mobs.

Kalyon used the bonus rep to farm Baron Rivendare over, and over, and over, and over …. no freaking horse. He killed him 12 times yesterday. Well, at least he got his title. Behold .. Kalyon the Argent Champion.

He also did some heroics and finally bought a couple upgrades with badges. And he ran around with Blood’s latest character doing the Noggenfogger quest. So, yes, once again … you get to see dancing skellies on the blog. Hurray!

I don’t know about the other mages out there, but I know that I am constantly at odds with myself as to what spec I’m going to play on my mage. 

I know, I know!  You’re supposed to play the spec you enjoy most! 

But that’s where all my conflict starts.  I like ALL three (well, “four”) specs you can play as a mage. 

I did levels 1 – 70 as a Fire mage.  I did not interest myself in theorycrafting and min/maxing my talents.  I picked the fire tree and took everything I could in that spec.  It was pretty decent for leveling.  You find the mob you need, load up your pyroblast and follow up with one or two fireballs and then you collect your loot.  NEXT!

But then finally my friends convinced me that Frost was the way to level.  So, when Wrath came out, I decided to utilize the free respec that came with the talent changes and grew some Frosticles.  And boy, the differences were very clear.  It took a few more frostbolts to take down a mob…but they often got rooted and you could take them down before they hit you.  And if they did get a chance to hit you, ice barrier absorbed the damage.  So now leveling involved nabbing four or five mobs, frost nova them in place, and then blizzard them all and collect your loot.   But I knew for raids, there’s no way this spec could keep up with any of the others.

And for the majority of my Raiding/Pugging life, I went as Frostfire.  Basically an “Icy Veins” fire build that utilizes the Frostfire bolt to reap the benefits of all those frost talents you took to get IV.  Another added benefit is a talent to reduce your required hit rating by 3%.  Very sexy for itemization.  Anyway, once I learned that spell power and crit were the way to go, I geared up and gemmed as best I could.  I could dish out 2800 – 3200 regularly and peak out at 3800 or so in a 25 man raid.

Arcane – I had always pondered about this one since the beginning of Burning Crusade, but I never bothered to try it until a month or two ago.  Ever since Wrath was released, I heard that Arcane was the way to go.  Most DPS EVARZ.   So I made my switch… and I definitely saw maybe a 500 dps increase over my “Frostfire” and even more if I utilized Arcane Blast appropriately.  It was fun to play, but I was expecting more.  I knew that I wasn’t properly geared for it, having put all my focus on crit and SP as opposed to haste.  I took a look at the work I’d have to do to re-gear for haste and basically gave up.  Too much work! 

So now I sit with full Fire (+TTW) spec.  I’m able to break 3500 dps regularly and I’ve peaked out at around 4900 (depending on the fight).  I had heard this spec was comparable to the Arcane spec, but I’m guessing if I was equally geared (same iLevel) but geared for more haste than crit, the Arcane spec would produce bigger numbers.  It’s also more flexible and less RNG dependent than Fire.

Now, I realize I’m not a progression raider.  I usually end up in VoA pugs and sometimes hop into a Naxx run just for fun.  I put out decent numbers and really I’m just splitting hairs, so I really shouldn’t worry about it.  (I don’t actually worry about it… but I do ponder!)  And with the changes coming in patch 3.3, this pondering of spec becomes a tad more complicated.

Frost is likely becoming a viable raiding spec.  Soon frost mages will have the option of a permanent water elemental (which probably pisses off Hunters and Warlocks. ).  Also, the once only-useful-in-PvP 51 point talent “Deep Freeze” will dish out damage to stun-immune targets (read: raid bosses).  And from what I’ve read over at Critical QQ, it’s actually quite a bit of damage.

So, I’m left to wonder how I should proceed through the next patch.  I like all the mage builds and their various fuctions.  Living bomb with fire mage is a blast, Arcane is flexible and you can manage your mana and dps, and frost will keep you alive longer and make your healers slightly less frantic.  (You’ll still have to get out of the fire, you silly frosties!) 

Are there any other mages out there that have the same neurosis that I do over these choices?  Or do you play a spec because you enjoy it the most?  Should I just be happy that I’ve got good dps, even if I’m not uberleetmaximus?

Whilst I ponder other things, it has been noticed the role of mages in holidays.  For the first holiday event EVER I have a max level mage!  Which sort of poses a dilemma… how does that help me get my crew around Azeroth?

Easy!  Second account!!!  Make a toon on the second account a raid leader [so your toons aren't automatically kicked from party], set them all in the same spot, turn off all your addons, have the mage toon pop a portal and then cycle through as quick as you can and have them hop through the portal – do all the quests at that location on all toons and rinse/repeat.

It also comes to mind that a lot of people take mages for granted and/or abuse the ones that exist.  Mages seem to be becoming absent more and more on the server… almost as much as the rogues [they all went into hiding I think].  Whispers such as “port me now” and “gimme port” are exactly why.  If you want to use a mage’s porting service and they AREN’T one of the ones adverting in trade, be kind to them [well be kind to those too, but you get my point here].  Most will be happy to port you somewhere if you ask nicely, and give them a tip.  1g is pretty standard but I’ve received as much as 10-20g for a single port.  I’ve had people tell me that I owe them portals because portals are free.  For those not in the know, portals use reagents and reagents do cost money, granted, not a whole lot.  The sense of entitlement is worse than it was on my warlock regarding summons.

Mages can make your life a lot easier during this event, so be kind to them!!!

In summary:

1. Be kind.

2. Ask, don’t assume.

3. Tip well.

In other news, all my toons have the Pilgrim title and pet!  Woot!

The Tier 10 set bonuses will come with the newest patch 3.3.

All set bonuses are listed below, classes arranged in alphabetical order.

Death Knight

• Death Knight T10 Tank 2P Bonus – Increases the damage done by your Death and Decay ability by 20%.
• Death Knight T10 Tank 4P Bonus – When you activate Blood Tap, you gain 12% damage reduction from all attacks for 10 sec.
• Death Knight T10 Melee 2P Bonus – Your Obliterate, Scourge Strike, and Death Strike abilities deal 10% increased damage.
• Death Knight T10 Melee 4P Bonus – Whenever all your runes are on cooldown, you gain 3% increased damage done with weapons, spells, and abilities for the next 15 sec.

Druid

• Druid T10 Restoration 2P Bonus – The healing granted by your Wild Growth spell reduces 0% less over time.
• Druid T10 Restoration 4P Bonus – Each time your Rejuvenation spell heals a target, it has a 2% chance to jump to a new target at full duration.
• Druid T10 Balance 2P Bonus – When you gain Clearcasting from your Omen of Clarity talent, you deal 10% additional Nature and Arcane damage for 6 sec.
• Druid T10 Balance 4P Bonus – Reduces the cooldown on your Eclipse talent by 6000.
• Druid T10 Feral 2P Bonus – Your Swipe (Bear) and Lacerate abilities deal 20% additional damage and the cost of your Rip ability is reduced by 10 energy.
• Druid T10 Feral 4P Bonus – Your Enrage ability no longer decreases your armor and instead decreases all damage taken by 12%, and the periodic damage done by your Rake ability can now be a critical strike.

Hunter

• Hunter T10 2P Bonus – Your Auto Shots have a 5% chance to cause you and your pet to deal 15% additional damage for until cancelled.
• Hunter T10 4P Bonus – Your Shot abilities deal 4% increased damage to targets afflicted with Viper Sting, Serpent Sting, or Wyvern Sting.

Mage

• Mage T10 2P Bonus – Your Mirror Image ability also causes you to deal 15% additional damage for 10 sec.
• Mage T10 4P Bonus – Your Hot Streak, Missile Barrage, and Brain Freeze talents also grant you 12% haste for 3 sec when the effect of the talent is consumed.

Paladin

• Paladin T10 Holy 2P Bonus – The cooldown on your Divine Favor talent is reduced by 60 sec.
• Paladin T10 Holy 4P Bonus – Your Holy Shock spell causes the next Holy Light you cast within 10 sec to have 0.3 sec reduced cast time.
• Paladin T10 Protection 2P Bonus – Your Hammer of the Righteous ability deals 20% increased damage.
• Paladin T10 Protection 4P Bonus – When you activate Divine Plea, you gain 12% dodge for 10 sec.
• Paladin T10 Retribution 2P Bonus – Your Seals and Judgements deal 10% additional damage.
• Paladin T10 Retribution 4P Bonus – Your melee attacks have a 4% chance to reset the cooldown on your Divine Storm ability.

Priest

• Priest T10 Healer 2P Bonus – After your Pain Suppression and Guardian Spirit talents expire on your target, they grant your target 10% increased healing received for 10 sec.
• Priest T10 Healer 4P Bonus – Your Flash Heal spell has a 15% chance to reset the cooldown on your Circle of Healing and Penance Spells.
• Priest T10 Shadow 2P Bonus – The critical strike chance of your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch spells is increased by 5%.
• Priest T10 Shadow 4P Bonus – Reduces the channel duration and period of your Mind Flay spell by 51%.

Rogue

• Rogue T10 2P Bonus – Gives your melee finishing moves a 13% chance to add 3 combo points to your target.
• Rogue T10 4P Bonus – Your Tricks of the Trade ability now grants you 15 energy instead of costing energy.

Shaman

• Shaman T10 Restoration 2P Bonus – Your Riptide spell grants 20% spell haste for your next spellcast.
• Shaman T10 Restoration 4P Bonus – Your Chain Heal critical strikes cause the target to heal for 25% of the healed amount over until cancelled.
• Shaman T10 Elemental 2P Bonus – Your Lightning Bolt spell reduces the remaining cooldown on your Elemental Mastery talent by 1 sec.
• Shaman T10 Elemental 4P Bonus – The cooldown on your Lava Burst ability is reduced by 15 sec.
• Shaman T10 Enhancement 2P Bonus – When you activate your Shamanistic Rage ability you also deal 12% additional damage for 15 sec.
• Shaman T10 Enhancement 4P Bonus – Each time the beneficial effect of your Maelstrom Weapon talent reaches 5 charges, you have a 15% chance to gain 20% attack power for 10 sec.

Warlock

• Warlock T10 2P Bonus – The critical strike chance of your Shadowbolt, Incinerate, and Corruption spells is increased by 5%.
• Warlock T10 4P Bonus – Each time your Immolate and Unstable Affliction spells deal periodic damage, you have a 15% chance to gain 12% spell haste for 10 sec.

Warrior

• Warrior T10 Protection 2P Bonus – Your Shield Slam and Shockwave abilities deal 20% increased damage.
• Warrior T10 Protection 4P Bonus – Your Bloodrage ability no longer costs health to use, and now causes you to absorb damage equal to 20% of your maximum health. Lasts until cancelled.
• Warrior T10 Melee 2P Bonus – When your Rend and Deep Wounds abilities deal damage you have a 2% chance to gain 20% attack power for until cancelled.
• Warrior T10 Melee 4P Bonus – You have a 20% chance for your Blood Surge and Sudden Death talents to grant 2 charges of their effect instead of 1 and for the duration of the effect to be increased by 100%.

One of my guildies and I were brainstorming some ideas for a new Arcane spec taking advantage of the mechanics in the fights in ToC, and we came up with a nice spec that maximizes theoretical DPS while keeping all of the core talents of the build.

Here’s a link to my WoW Armory profile; I may have my active spec set incorrectly, but you can still look at the Arcane spec.

Some of the major differences you may note are the lack of any points in either Arcane Stability or Magic Attunement (I don’t really feel the lack of 6 yd of range), as well as not taking Arcane Barrage. This is because, as I have mentioned before, the ideal rotation for Arcane is Arcane Blast x4 (or more, if you have the gear – which I don’t anymore) -> Arcane Missiles. What I’ve done with the extra talent points I freed up was dump them into Student of the Mind for a small crit bonus (although I’m not really geared for Spirit; once I get some more gear, this talent will only get better), and also pick up 3/3 Incanter’s Absorption.

Yes, Incanter’s Absorption. I don’t know whether I’ve said this on my blog, but I held for a very long time that IA was a cool sounding talent with no practical application, as you’d burn too much mana with Mana Shield absorbing incidental damage. I ended up being proved very, very wrong in 3.2 – you still aren’t burning mana, GCD’s, or anything using Mana Shield, Frost Ward, or Fire Ward, but Blizzard gave us a really cool opportunity to have a LOT of spellpower on certain fights.

Think about the mechanics of Val’kyr Twins. You pick a color aura to have – and both twins are doing a 1500/x time global AoE. By picking up an aura from the portal, you…ABSORB the damage from that color aura. ABSORB. That means…a HUGE bonus to spellpower from IA. We’re talking a hundreds-of-DPS increase here – my spellpower literally went up by 800 or more.

Situationally, you could probably gain some DPS in certain situations too – I’m thinking fires on some fights with a situational Flame Ward, or something to that effect – but largely you’re going to see the benefit coming from incidental, fight-based absorptions. Regardless, IA has shown itself as a decent utility talent, and I recommend grabbing it.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d quit Aion and I might have given the impression that I only logged back into Warcraft to collect the pet for Battle.net accounts before my subscription ran out.

As it turns out that impression turned out to be not quite accurate because since the last post I ended up renewing my subscription and am back in Azeroth, although not to the extent I once was.

I did actually give it some thought before renewing. I did! Stop snickering at the back! I knew I couldn’t really justify going back to Wai as when I left, she was pretty much at the top of the game. The only way to advance her was to get back into raiding which I didn’t want to do. As for my other maximum level characters; Corvai and Ravna, again the only thing left for them was to run heroics. Fun, perhaps but what else?

No, what I needed was something of a fresh start. I needed something long term, but not too hard core. Something that could be dropped and picked up again as I saw fit too. So, that was one consideration. The other was, with three characters ruled out and still effectively retired, that left seven low to mid level characters that I hadn’t really played in a long time and needed to re-learn how to.

I could have, if course, deleted one of the characters and re-rolled something brand new but that thought made me grimace as whilst it had been some time since I’d played with any of them, they each still had some history behind them such as quests done, achievements, uh, achieved and the like. No, it was going to be one of the existing characters, but which?

Definitely a caster. I like playing casters, simple as that. Wai was an exception for me but now I had the perfect opportunity to revert back to what I liked which narrowed it down to a mage or warlock. I didn’t really want to have the hassle of managing a pet class (for now) and then Blizzard did something which made me go “Yep. Decision made. That’s the one for me.”

They introduced paid race changes which meant I could take my human mage and transform her into what I’d wanted to do since TBC was launched; a Draenei mage. And so, on the day that marked my final day in Aion, Samhai was born. Yes, she’s named in honour of the holiday.

When they introduce it, she will be going through a further race change, to become a Kaldorei mage, something I’ve wanted since the very beginning of my WoW career. I even have a back story for her, which I’m particularly proud of because it ‘works’ lore-wise. No, I’m not going to publish it yet – you’ll have to wait until after Cataclysm. Why? Because I’ve not physically written it yet and because I need to see what Cataclysm actually does to the world first.

And as for my long time goal? Bet you thought I’d forgotten that, didn’t you? Well, it’s to get the Lore Master achievement as I level. I’m not going to race to reach maximum level in the shortest possible time and then go back and do it. Ideally, I’d like to have Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms and Loremaster of Kalimdor before I even set foot in Outland. And, of course, Loremaster of Outland before going to Northrend.

Will I do it? *shrugs* I don’t know. I’m certainly giving it a shot, but I do know this:

At the very least, I’ll get Explorer from exploring all the zones as I do them and see the old Azeroth one last time before Cataclysm hits..

As of writing, I’m Revered with four of the home cities and Exalted with Darnassus which means I no longer have to ride a fat ass elekk but can use a sleek saber instead. But Exalted with all means the Ambassador title and access to all the mounts so there is the Mountain of Mounts achievement too.

More importantly, I’m having a lot of fun playing at my own pace and I’m back talking to people I left behind.

Finally, to bring you completely up to date and to relate to the other meaning of the title of the post, today has been devoted to the Pilgrim holiday event that started today in Azeroth. You can read about the actual details in other blogs and news sites, but it was a joy not only to do some of the achievements (due to the higher level of some of the requirements, such as running Sethekk Halls, I won’t be getting the meta-achievement and pet this year) but also to power-level cooking from sub-200 to 300! At most, it would take an hour to take a character without cooking to 300. So I did it on my Horde warlock, too (possible faction change for that one, but even if not, this was an opportunity too good to let pass by).

*ponders* Coincidentally, I think I’ve answered the awesome Anna’s question posted here. It boils down to “all of the above”.

P.S. Happy 5th Anniversary, WoW! Thanks for the Onyxian Whelp pet.

P.P.S. I realise that there haven’t been pictures for awhile. I will try and remedy that for next time.

Neerah pulled back from the Pyramid of Echoes just far enough to pause the memory, but not enough to remove the bubble of energy that encapsulated her. She had paused because of the amount of fear which DaeNoth was feeling. It had almost overwhelmed her several times during the memory, and even now, she could still feel the stirrings of panic at the edges of her awareness. She had never realized just how frightened DaeNoth had been in coming to the physical plane. I…or rather, Ionee, had been so intent on her own pursuits and her own pleasures that she had failed to observe or acknowledge what poor DaeNoth was going through. Ionee had just assumed that he was enjoying the experiences as much as she was. It never occurred to her that he might be absolutely terrified.

Neerah took several deep breaths to clear her emotions. She wished she could somehow go back and at least apologize to DaeNoth; let him know how sorry she was for being so inconsiderate and not even trying to understand the amount of fear and anxiety that he was feeling. Just then, Yarrie’s voice filled her mind, *Understanding often results in regret. But only through acknowledgement of that feeling can you then not willingly repeat those actions or choices that resulted in the regret. This is change. This is growth. This is the beginning of balance.*

She nodded to herself as Yarrie’s voice faded away. Small steps in a long process, that’s what she was taking. She truly hoped though, that she wouldn’t need several centaras to fully understand and accept all the choices that were made, and that had led her to where she was now. Her impatience wasn’t just about wanting to be with DaeNoth again, either. She couldn’t fully explain, but it felt as if there was an aura of urgency surrounding her and everyone she was close to. Shaking off her qualms, she turned back toward the pyramidal crystal. 

Determined to reach that point of balance that the Ethereals said she needed to achieve, she let the resonance of the crystal encase her again. Releasing herself to her memories once more, she again found herself as Ionee in another fragment of memory. Neerah had the sense that this was another part of the earlier memory and that the elapsed time between the two was less than a day.

*****

Ionee was capering. That was the only term for it. She was dancing and hopping about on the springy mat of green grass that covered the ground, and she was enjoying herself.

DaeNoth had returned soon after leaving her last night, so she hadn’t really had a chance to experience everything that she had intended to. On his insistence, she had finally joined him at the main village, where they had spent the night in a wonderful place called a home. Constructed of stones, with glass cutouts so you could see the out of doors, it had contained many fabrics and cushions. Although, the stated purpose for their going to this home was that they were to rest for the night before attending some informational sessions the next day, she had actually been too excited and inquisitive to truly rest. Instead, she had spent the night touching and examining everything that she could.

This morning she had again managed to convince DaeNoth to go to these informational sessions on his own. So, with DaeNoth off learning all about how to be a physical being, she was exploring in her own way. She knew all about the physical world in an intellectual way—about how you needed to eat food and drink water in order to maintain the body, and the names of many of the objects that they would encounter—but she had never dreamed that something with such a bland name like grass could feel…well, so cushiony. The word grass just didn’t seem descriptive enough. She thought it should be called something more like green-cushion-ground. Laughing just for the fun of it, she started running across the wide meadow.

She stopped suddenly, aware of a strange sensation in her bare foot. Standing awkwardly on one leg, she tried to bring her left foot closer to her face. Unable to twist herself in such a way, she finally plopped onto the ground. Holding her left foot with both hands, she turned it so that she could clearly see the bottom of it. A streak of red oozed from a spot near the ball of her foot and she stared at it curiously. She touched the redness with the index finger of her right hand and it came away with a small bubble of red liquid on it. Dropping her foot, she puzzled over the red spot on her finger. Although, the red had moved from her foot to her finger, it was still her foot that felt oddly. She touched the tip of her finger to her tongue and was surprised by the taste. So, that’s what blood tastes like… if that’s blood, then what I’m feeling in my foot must be…Pain! Somewhat excited, she grabbed her foot again, and looked at the small slice. The cut was really rather small, so small, in fact, that it had already stopped bleeding.

Holding her right palm over the spot, she extended her energies to making the body perfect again. The small cut simply vanished. At the same time, the pain also ceased. Smiling, Ionee bounced to her feet again and did a little jig-like step.

So, that was pain, huh? Interesting… and she resumed her dash across the meadow.

*****

Neerah felt the anger and the frustration as DaeNoth tried to understand the surge of emotions that kept flooding through him. Neerah could tell that the overriding emotion seemed to be fear. He was frightened of almost everything—of what he saw, of what he felt, and of his own reactions to his feelings.

There were so many different feelings, and he didn’t even know how to identify them all. It was so confusing. Neerah felt sorry for him, and wished there was someone there who could help him understand what he was feeling and experiencing.

As she continued to follow the experiences within the crystal, Neerah felt time fly forward. She somehow knew that the next images she saw had occurred months after the last memory she had just experienced. Information seemed to simply pop into her head as the images appeared, so that she knew where the incidents were taking place as well as the time of day and any other information that might be needed to understand what she was experiencing.

On one level, she knew that the information was coming from inside her, from her own internal memories of when she was Ionee. Yet, it all seemed so new and bewildering. It was like reading a book where she knew all the characters, but had no idea of the plot. So, she simply allowed the images to flow around, filling her and encompassing her.

*****

“I wish you would not do that, Ionee,” a worried and querulous DaeNoth stated.

“You always worry so, DaeNoth,” Ionee laughed as she clambered out onto the tree branch in an effort to grab one of the last fruits dangling there.

“I simply do not wish any harm to come to you.”

“What possible harm could occur? And anyway, if perchance I do injure myself, I will simply heal myself as I did the other day,” Ionee persisted. Then reaching the piece of fruit, she began to scoot backwards on the branch, back towards the trunk of the tree.

“What do you mean ‘as you did the other day’? What happened?” DaeNoth was extremely agitated and glared up at Ionee’s back.

Glancing down at DaeNoth’s rigid stance, and angry face, Ionee laughed. “It was nothing. Do not carry on so. I merely cut the bottom of my foot. It took but a mere second to fix it.”

Sighing audibly, DaeNoth continued to chide Ionee, “I have told you how fragile these forms are. You must be more careful. I forbid you to go about without some sort of protection on your feet.”

The gaiety turned to anger and Ionee glared down at DaeNoth, “You forbid?! Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?!” In her anger, she released the branch she had been holding and tried to put her hands on her hips. However, she overbalanced. Sliding to her left, she reached forward and grabbed for the tree branch, but her body had already tossed most of its weight to the side. Her hands scrabbled against the bark, but she couldn’t keep herself from pitching sideways off the branch. She fell little more than six feet, and landed with a whump on her left hip.

DaeNoth was frantic and stooped to see if she were all right. Meanwhile, Ionee was laughing almost hysterically.

“What is so amusing?” DaeNoth’s voice was accusatory. “You could have been severely injured!”

“Oh…” she started, “the feeling…the feeling of falling was wonderful,” the laughter calming down into spurts of giggles, “but I do not care much for the landing.” She started to stand, and DaeNoth instantly reached out to help her. On her feet once again, she straightened the sleek outfit she wore. She had refused to continue wearing the traditional robe-like attire because she found it too inhibitive. How could she run or climb trees or any of the other of myriad of things she wanted to do with that on. Instead, she had created an outfit that fitted her form more closely and allowed her to move about more freely.

Rubbing at her backside with one hand, she retrieved the piece of fallen fruit with her other hand. “Oh, but that was an interesting experience,” her eyes sparkled with life and she felt the giggles just waiting to burst forth again.

New Release this week : Black Mage Set + Black Mage Ankle Boots *Black.

Are you a mage? Do you know spells and do you practice black magic? If you are a proud Black Mage and surely not scared to show some skin, this outfit is for you!

The staff glows and the magic stone on it change color too.  If you’re powerful enough, you will see some bubbles coming out of it! 2 of the same staffs included in the set, 1 with hold animation and the other without.

There are so many ways to wear this set. Not only they come with multiple layers for your convenience, there are also 2 types of leggings included. One is open legging and the other is full legging that cover your legs. Also, you can choose just to wear the panty and socks.

No big cloak like ordinary mage, but 2 mini cloak that attached to the shoulders.

The ankle boots is the perfect match for this set!

** Both of this new releases are  on special price for VIP members. Limited time offer!

Hope you like them!^^

Thank you and have a great weekend! \(^o^)/

<3 ezura xue

+ ezura + Black Mage Set on XStreet

+ ezura + Black Mage Ankle Boots *Black on XStreet

+ ezura + Mainstore
+ ezura + XStreet

Ja, tiden går så alt for fort! Hvor blir alle dagene av? Matheo begynner å bli stor nå, han vokser jo litt hele tiden…

Sånn så magen min ut for 3 mnd siden… Da gikk vi å ventet på at han skulle komme og var allerede 1 dag over termin! Men var ikke mange timene vi måtte vente.

Vi var på helsestasjonen å veide han i går og han veier nå 5170 gram, det betyr at på 3 mnd har han gått opp 2208 gram! Gutten vår er blitt stor…

I dag har vi vært sammen med mammaene vi treffer en gang i uken, og i dag var vi hos Kathleen og hennes Matheo! Det var som alltid kjempehyggelig… Siden vi ikke gjør noe særlig sammen i min barselsgruppe er det veldig koselig å ha sin egen lille barselsgjeng. Og alle jentene og barna vi treffer hver uke er bare kjempesøte!

Another Thursday, another Ony10, another night of rogue and warrior drops when there are none in the raid. Oh well, at least it’s fast … got the achievement for killing her in less than 6 minutes.

Our 3s team hit 1000 rating last night, so I was able to purchase furious robes. I think that puts my resilience up around 450 now. Hm … I think I logged out in it, brb armory. Meh, 439. I’m getting real good at letting two melee beat on me until the hunter can kill one of them at the same time they kill me. I hate playing double melee teams. I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with the new spec though, and at least feel like I’m contributing something to the team now, instead of just being carried by them.

Not much else happening, so … have a great weekend and I’ll see you all back here Monday!

For a lot of mages, the idea of the macro is a very foreign concept. This post is intended to intruduce the idea of the macro and provide examples of macros and macro behaviour.

To start making macros, the first thing you need to do is bring up the macro interface. To do this, hit ESC and select “Macros” or you may type “/m” in the chat frame. You have two sets of macros here; some will be shared between all of your characters on that realm while others are character-specific. You may name your macros whatever you wish to help yourself remember what the macro is for. You may also assign them an icon from any of the abilities in the game. Assigning the ‘?’ icon to a macro will cause it to take the icon of whichever is that of the first item or ability used in the macro.

Many functions in World of Warcraft can be executed via slash commands in the in-game chat window. “/cast <spellname>” casts a spell. For example,

• /cast fireball(Rank 2)

casts Fireball (Rank 2). If the rank is ommitted, the game will assume that you intend for the maximum rank to be used (This is probably what you want anyway). In addition, the spell names are not case sensitiv; “fireball” is the same as “Fireball” and “fIRe BAll”. A peculiarity is that every ability is considered a “spell”, not just what you would think is a spell. The following commands,

• /cast attack
• /cast will of the forsaken

both perform the expected actions, even though they are not typically considered spells.

“/cast” is not the only slash command. There are many commands as you surely know and all of them can be used in macros. Here are a few useful ones:

• /stopmacro
  • Stops the macro from continuing
• /petpassive
  • Puts your summoned pet on passive
  • Macro it with summoning your elemental to keep him from aggroing weird things
• /use
  • Like /cast, but for items
    • ie: /use hearthstone
  • Items you have equipped my be referred to by slot number
    • 13 & 14 are your trinkets
• /stopcasting
  • Stops whatever you are currently casting
  • Nice for aborting a cast to perform some time critical action, like Counterspell or Spellsteal

Slash commands can have additional parameters too. These are indicated by placing them in square brackets after the slash command but before the ability being used. More parameter after the first are placed in the same brackets but sperated by a comma. For example,

• /cast [harm,nodead] Dispel Magic

would cast Dispel Magic on the target only is the target was hostile to you, and not dead. Other parameters include (but are not limited too),

• target=<target>
  • Changes the target of the spell or ability to the target specified
    • ie: /cast [target=scraphammer] greater heal
  • There are some special names:
    • “target=mouseover” attempts to target whatever is under the cursor
    • “target=player” attempts to target the player’s character
    • “target=focus” attempts to target the focus, or does nothing if there is no focus
  • In patch 3.3 “@<target>” is being added as shorthand for “target=<target>”
• harm
  • Checks if the target is hostile to you (causes command to fail if false)
• help
• mod
  • Checks to see if you are holding a modifier key (like shift, alt etc.)
• nomod
• exists
  • Checks to see if the target is something that exists. This may sound very mundane but it is very important in target=mouseover macros
• noexists
• dead
• nodead
• spec:<num>
  • Checks to see if you are in that spec (people who don’t dual spec need not apply)
    • ie: /cast [spec:2] icy veins

Of course, the whole idea of the macro is to be able to issue more than one command at a time. Unfortunately, there are some restrictions on this. As soon as you macro fails or succeeds to cast an ability that is on the Global Cooldown your macro is prevented from doing any else that is meaningful. Abilities or items not on the Global Cooldown can be very easily chained together. If you must include a spell on the GCD in your macro, it is best to do it at the end. Here are some examples of macros that will execute all the way through.

1. Macro 1: PoM Pyro
   1. /cast presence of mind
   2. /cast pyroblast
   • • Note: Because of the incredible speed at which macros are processed Pyroblast may fail to cast if you are moving. An easy workaround is to stand still or push the macro twice
2. Macro 2: Mouseover Living Bomb
   1. /cast [target=mouseover,exists] living bomb
3. Macro 3:Activate Cooldowns
   1. /cast arcane power
   2. /cast combustion
   3. /cast icy veins
   4. /use 13
   5. /use 14
   • • Note: Even though some of these spells will fail, the macro will still “fall through” to the other spells since they are not on the GCD

The first thing that the male Aurisen noticed was how the air touched against his body. It tickled the hairs on his arms and caused small bumps to appear on his skin’s surface. The second thing he noticed was his inability to see much of his new surroundings because his eyes did not function well in such low light. Although for him, the sensations were not wholly positive, they were memorable, therefore, he decided that his name would be DaeNoth of Darkwind. When he turned to see what Ionee was doing, he saw that her attention was on the sky. Tilting his head, he watched the bits of light streaking across the sky until his attention was drawn back to Ionee. She wrapped her arms around herself, then spun in a circle letting her arms swing outward. When she stopped spinning, she wobbled on her feet, and DaeNoth lunged forward to help her. However, she plopped onto the grass, a large smile on her face. DaeNoth reached out to help her up, but she ignored his hand. Instead, she rubbed her hands through the grass enjoying the feel of the vegetation. When she brushed against a pebble, she picked it up, looking at it curiously. She rubbed her fingers across it as if she were trying to memorize each crease and dimple of its surface. Dropping the pebble back into the grass, she finally clambered to her feet, admiring the way her body worked. She paused momentarily as the trilling of a night bird filled the air, and DaeNoth realized that there were a great many sounds filling the night, though he had no names or descriptions for the sounds or those making them. He peered around cautiously, wondering just how safe they were in this strange environment.

He felt overwhelmed. There were too many stimulations here; too many sensations that he just didn’t comprehend. DaeNoth wrapped his arms around himself protectively and watched in horrified fascination as Ionee gave out a loud and vigorous whoop, before bending her knees and jumping straight up. Then, as if startled by her own vocalizations, she touched her throat. Giving another, even louder whoop, her grin grew even larger. Laughter erupted from deep inside her and she raced across the lawn.

She wore an expression that DaeNoth didn’t quite understand. He swore it seemed as if she loved the way the grass cushioned her feet as she ran, the feel of the dew between her toes, and the way the cool breeze flowed against her naked skin. He watched as her hair flew back off her shoulders as she skidded and streaked across the grass, and he shivered—not with cold, but with fear. How could she possibly be enjoying herself, when any moment they might be attacked, or these fragile forms injured?

*This is wonderful!* she called to DaeNoth mentally as she raced across the grass again. *I do not understand why all Numinousens do not want to come and try this.* Her face was lit with an inner giddiness, and her laughter was almost manic as she skidded past DaeNoth.

DaeNoth, though, wasn’t so ecstatic with this new world, and Ionee’s exuberance frightened him. Watching her as she streaked back and forth across the grassy expanse, he decided that he would have to gain control of her and quickly. If he didn’t get control of her now, she would lead them in a direction that he had no desire to go in. He could already see that she was becoming too enamored of this world and of the physical sensations that came with it. As he watched her come racing back toward him, he realized that the more she seemed to enjoy herself and this new world, the more frightened he was becoming.

Grabbing her arm as she streaked past him again, he brought her up short. “That is enough,” he heard himself saying and realized that vocalizations were much different in this plane. The language was not as musical nor as full of visual color as on the ethereal plane, and he almost let Ionee go in his confusion.

“It is not nearly enough,” Ionee responded, then giggled. “Listen to that. Is not that the most wonderful sound you have ever heard?” She shouted out a note, then sang a scale. “I cannot get over how marvelous it all is,” she said breathlessly. “Come,” she turned away from DaeNoth of Darkwind, his hand still around her upper arm, “let us both run.”

“No,” fear tinged his new voice and his grip tightened on her arm.

“Why not?” Her eyes glowed in the moonlight.

“The guides said we should seek out the elder Aurisens when we got here, so I think that is what we need to do,” DaeNoth said decisively.

Ionee shrugged, then shrugged again, “See how the muscles work,” she shrugged a third time, “It is all so fascinating.”

DaeNoth took her hand and led her toward the area where they were told other Aurisens would help them. As they went, Ionee continued to touch, smell, and stare at everything she could. They would only take a few steps before Ionee would stop and have to investigate something—a flower, a rock, a night bird as it flew across the sky.

*****

As they passed by one of the many trees, Ionee saw some interesting looking objects dangling from the branches. Breaking free of DaeNoth, she plucked a couple of the objects from the branch. They were yellow and coral colored, with a slightly fuzzy skin. She rubbed one against her cheek, and thought how pleasant it felt. Sniffing it, she noticed an aroma that was both sweet and spicy. Taking a bite from the juicy yellow and coral colored fruit, she giggled. “DaeNoth, you must try this,” she held out the second piece of fruit toward him, “it has the most delicious flavors. It is tangy, yet sweet.”

DaeNoth looked at the proffered piece of fruit as if it might bite him. “Are you sure that you should be eating that? What if it makes the body sick?”

“Oh, DaeNoth, do not worry so!” She wiped at the dribble of juice on her chin.

“I am merely being cautious,” he responded pedantically. “After all, we have only been corporeal for a few hours, and we do not yet know much about the care and maintenance of these bodies. I would think it would be wiser to spend time with the elder Aurisens. Perhaps, by learning from them, we can spare ourselves major traumas.”

“The whole purpose of being here is to have fun,” Ionee chided, “to experience life as a corporeal being. I cannot do that if I am sitting confined somewhere listening to another’s memories of their experiences.”

“And I cannot enjoy my experiences of life if I must constantly worry about what you are doing,” DaeNoth growled.

“Then stop worrying, and join me,” she countered, discarding the core of the first piece of fruit and biting into the piece DaeNoth had rejected.

“It is not safe. What if you damage the body? Why can you not at least try to consider the consequences of your actions before you act?” DaeNoth lectured.

Ionee sighed. If I damage the body, I will simply heal it again. And if I damage it beyond healing I will just create another. I do not understand why he fusses so. “What if you go and listen to these elders, while I remain here in the gardens?”

“How do I know that you will not take off and do something foolish?” DaeNoth challenged.

Putting her left palm against her heart, she looked solemnly at DaeNoth, “I promise I will not be the cause of anymore worries for you.”

She watched DaeNoth study her eyes and face, looking for any signs that she wasn’t serious. Finally, he nodded and she put her hand back down. As he turned to continue on to the guidance center, she heard him sigh. He seemed so frightened by everything, and she shook her head as she wondered why since everything so much fun. When DaeNoth was finally gone, Ionee smiled. Now she would have some fun. She was sorry that he didn’t want to venture out and try new things, but why did he have to try to force his way on her? If he wanted to sit and listen to some silly lectures on what they should and shouldn’t do, that was his choice. As for her, she was going to try as many things as possible in this new environment.

Another week, another failpug story, but this time it’s not mine.  Poor old Gnomeageddon takes the prize for Failpug of the Week and puts the “ew!” into “pew pew!” with this absolutely horrific tale of woe.  The Deathtards may be the new kids on the block but there’s always a Huntard somewhere willing to go that extra mile to reclaim the title.

The DPS questionairre seems to have caught some attention, with WoW.com giving it some link love, which explains the umpteen bazillion hits I took earlier on in the week.  But all the hot news is about the PTR, patch 3.3 and Icecrown Citadel!

So, what’s in it for mages?  Well first of all, Arcane is getting a utility buff with the change to Arcane Empowerment meaning that we’ll be giving the same 3% damage buff to the group/raid as Hunters with Ferocious Inspiration or Paladins with Sanctified Retribution.  Simply crit with Arcane Explosion, Missiles, Barrage or Blast and everyone gets the buff for the next 10 seconds.  The big changes, however, are in the Fire and Frost trees.  Fire gets the following very boring changes:

Mana cost of Blast Wave and Dragon’s Breath reduced.
Interrupt immunity granted by Burning Determination is now 20 seconds.
When Firestarter is triggered, it makes the next Flamestrike cost no mana in addition to being instant.

*yawn*

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?  Is this a change to Scorch I see before me?  You bet your pearly pink panties it is!

The debuff from Improved Scorch no longer stacks, and instead can apply the full effect from a single cast of Scorch.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!  Fire mages rejoice!  You no longer have to waste a useful Major Glyph slot to provide a buff that any other class gets either natively or with talents!  What happened to the Glyph of Scorch?  A 20% Scorch damage increase or something, who cares?  It’s still junk.  Moving on to Frost, the fun just continues!

Fingers of Frost: This talent now triggers immediately on casting a spell rather than being delayed until the spell strikes the target.
Frozen Core: This talent now also causes Ice Lance critical strikes to reduce the cast time of the mage’s next Frostbolt or Frostfire Bolt by 0.4/0.7/1 seconds.

All good stuff, but nothing to make you wish you’d packed a spare set of underwear.  Until we get to the Deep Freeze change, that is:

This spell now deals a large amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns. In addition, when this ability deals damage it will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost for those mages with the Shatter talent.

And that is just..  just..  well awesome doesn’t even begin to cover it.  Put into simple terms, “targets permanently immune to stuns” means raid and dungeon bosses.  Or in other words, Frost now has a 51 point PvE talent.  Enough to make Frost competitive in raids?  Possibly, I don’t have any numbers, but it’s going to be fun to find out.

Oh and Glyph of Water Elemental now makes ole Frosty a permanent pet.

Calm down, Frost mages, really!  There are children present!

Sadly it’s not all beer and skittles.  The following pearls of wisdom from the game developers made baby Jesus cry:

Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live.

and…

We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.

and…

There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.

There’s even more stuff about how you won’t be allowed to do X until you’ve done Y and so on and so forth, yadda yadda.  But with the help of my trusty Bullshit Translator, we can have everything converted into proper English in a jiffy!  Wait for it..  here it is:

We want to spin this shit out for as long as possible in order to free up resources for working on Cataclysm and Starcraft 2, so we’re going to drip feed you the next raid instance and force you to progress at a pace we choose rather than the pace your level of skill, gear and determination entitles you to.  Yes, this does mean that you’re going to end up clearing all the latest raid content in a night when it’s first released.  You can then either call it quits for the week or go back to farming Crusaders’ Coliseum again for the rest of the raid week.  No we don’t care.  Tough titty.

We will, of course, spin this in such a way that it will appear to the stupid and those without a Bullshit Translator that we’re releasing content this way because we only want the best for you, our loyal customers.  Not because we have to make this shit so easy for the common herd that the seasoned raiders burn through it in a night and want more.  Oh no.  Not us.

And they call me cynical.  Pfft.

So I got tagged from Repgrind and here’s my response.  Since there’s so much mage love coming from people on the blogs I read, I eventually settled on the Mage as my DPS choice.  Though it was hard to decide!!  Even now I’m sitting here thinking…maybe I should have gone with the warlock?

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?

Oh god!  Question one is so difficult!!  What’s this “main” you speak of?  I suppose I’ll have to go with Troutwort himself.  But oh man, I love Schubert!!  Why the choices?  Because even now Rossini the warlock is so much fun!!  Okay okay…since I was tagged from a mage, maybe I’ll go with a mage, since we have some different mage thoughts.  Brewmaster Schubert the mage, he is dual specced fire and frost.  He’s done most of his everything as frost.

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

Mostly 5 mans.  Raids are always a good time, but I just can’t seem to fit many into my constantly changing schedule.  I don’t really care for the repeated death of PvP.

What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?

Okay, it’s going to be Mirror Images, not because it’s awesome, but because it makes so many gnomes!

What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?

I don’t think I have EVER cast arcane missles.  Never.  Seriously, never.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?

As frost the thing I like the most is that I have enough survivability that I don’t take as much damage as some of the other DPS classes, also replenishment!!  Having a main as a healer, I understand the love of replenishment.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?

The biggest weakness of frost spec is that the DPS is lower than other mage specs, hopefully with patch 3.3 we’ll get some love.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?

Schubert, sadly, has never been on a 25-man. 

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?

Anyone that gives me bonuses to haste and spell power, so I have a love for the elemental shaman.

What tanking class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?

I don’t think there’s a tank class I don’t like.  They all have strengths and weaknesses and since I’m pretty much single target I don’t worry about agro too much.  And when or if I shoot the wrong mob, I can kite them around, freeze them, sheep them, and otherwise deal with them on my own so that there is no worry. 

What is your worst habit as a dps?

Freezing mobs!  Whoops, I know that I shouldn’t do it as much as I do, it’s harder on the tanks, but I like to freeze the AOE groups then blizzard them down with super crits from the freeze!

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?

I’m actually far too judgmental of the healers, being mostly a healer, I criticize them too much.  But for the other DPS, it’s when they run ahead or are generally not respectful of the tanks and heals.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?

Frost is behind the other mages, but they have so much control relative to the others as well, so it makes up for it.  More haste please!!

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a damage dealer?

I guess recount?  Nothing really though.  Mostly I evaluate my performance if I’m alive at the end of the fight and the boss is dead. 

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

Glass cannons.  Yes, it’s true, but we have many survivability tools, especially as frost.  The other misconception is that I’ll be a hazard because of low DPS, they usually fail to remember that frost gives replenishment.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?

Do what you’re told.  DPS the mob you’re supposed to, remove the curses, poisons, etc. if you don’t have another class that can.  Your DPS meter is great, but you still need to be a team player to get the job done.  Also:  Dear Ret Paladins, Priests can’t cleanse poisons, you need to do it or you die.  Love Elgar, the priest.

What dps class do you feel you understand least?

Hmmm…I probably least understand Rogues and Warriors.  I’ve never made it past level 18 with either one of them.  So I’m not sure how they work beyond stun-locking me until I’m dead.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?

None?  That’s not totally true…well kinda actually.  I only use Decursive to help with dispelling things and hmm…I can’t even think of the UI I run…X-Perl, that’s it!  But I only use it when raiding.  Otherwise I’m pretty much looking at a vanilla screen.  I don’t like clutter.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

Hit cap isn’t too hard to reach for frost, was much more a challenge on fire.  I try to stack spell power otherwise, and I have this strange infatuation with Intellect.  Otherwise, Schubert loves him some haste!  I think the strength lies in the spell power though.

The time has come to share with you the greatness that is Frost Mage AoE Grinding. Grinding on my first Mage was really what solidified my interest in the game. Up to that point I really didn’t care all that much for the game. It was something to do, storyline was decent, play style wasn’t too bad, but overall it was just something else that I could play save that I actually had to pay as I played as well. Up until I started playing the mage I had seriously considered just letting my account expire and go back to playing Diablo II and D&D and leaving this game to my wife and her friend. [Shameless plug: Wife @Fynralyl and her NaNoWriMo Blog and her friend: @Catarith]

But I was reading through one forum or another one day and stumbled onto a thread about AoE Grinding with a Frost Mage and decided to take a look. I got the general idea, hit YouTube for a visual example of what people meant by some of the terms, and then set about doing it myself. I got into it right away and found out that it was in fact a quick and easy process. However, I also noticed that several of the suggestions given were flawed. Some things they told me to do were not effective while others that they told me not to do were actually way more effective than the contrary. So, I gave up on the forums, the blogs, and the YouTube videos and did my own thing. My performance increased greatly and my leveling speed increased right along with it.

So what I am going to share with you today is what I have found to be the most effective way to perform AoE Grinding with a Frost Mage. I invite anyone who has done this themselves to join in with any thoughts, suggestions, experiences, and so forth that they have had as well. If you find something works better for you then go ahead and share it. If you disagree with something I’ve said then bring that up too.

Advice You Should Ignore
There are a lot of things that you will find in guides around the net that are not true. People will give you suggestions on how to spend your talents or which spells to cast or avoid, and while all information can help you improve on what you’re doing or prompt you to try something you hadn’t thought of before, that doesn’t mean that the information they give you is correct. Here I will cover some of the advice that I suggest you ignore. Take note of the fact that the statements I just made apply to me as well – this worked for me, but you may well find that it sucks for you and that you would rather go down the paths I tell you to avoid.

Misconceptions The following are all topics you will find discussed on forums and in blogs. I’ll tell you what many of those blogs say that I feel is wrong and then tell you what my thoughts on them are as well.

Frostbite Talent: Almost every AoE grinding guide you’ll find for Frost Mages will tell you not to take this because it will mess up your pulls. This is, by far, one of the single most effective grinding tools that the class has to offer.

Mana Shield: All of those guides that I just told you who don’t use Frostbite also tell you to use this worthless piece of crap of a spell. Blizzard has the highest mana cost of any spell you’re ever going to cast, and if you get a big pull and then find out you don’t have the mana to fire that bad boy off, then you’re well beyond screwed. You better hope you’ve got your running shoes with you. Forget this thing exists unless you’re in PvP.

Icy Veins: You’re also going to find a lot of guides that tell you that this is crucial to your grinding. Fact is, it’s not crucial at all. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly helps and can speed things up when it’s not on cooldown, but it is by no means crucial. Take the talent when you don’t have more important things to pick up instead. It’s great for having Blizzard do all of its damage in a short time, or firing off your Evocation in a shorter time, but it’s not necessary and I do most of my grinding without ever using it.

Frost AoE: General Information
If you have read my Paladin AoE Guides then you will know that I mentioned that there is no set rotation for AoE grinding with Paladins. For the Mage, it is pretty much the same. There are certain spells that you are going to cast, but not a specific order in which you are going to cast them as each pull and each situation can change what you have to do and how you have to react.

However, just like the Paladin’s guides, there are general steps that are always taken in pretty well the same order. I already mentioned the order in the Mage Leveling: 21-39 post: [Pull], Corral, Freeze, Distance, Blizzard, Clean Up

One difference that I will note right off the bat between Mage AoE and Paladin AoE is that I do not including Pulling as part of my rotation on a Mage where I do include it as a Paladin. With the mage you want everything in one spot and you want it to stay there, so pulling other mobs into the mix is generally a bad idea. So as a general rule of thumb, when you’re grinding with a Mage as soon as you’ve pulled the mobs you want, finish them off before you pull any more.

Getting Ready: Before you even begin to pull the mobs there are a couple of things you need to do. First thing’s first – Always, ALWAYS make sure you have enough mana to do what you’re about to do. Nothing sucks more than pulling a group of mobs, freezing them in place, and then wondering why Blizzard isn’t casting and then noticing you started the pull with 50 mana… Never go into a fight without mana. Second, make sure you’ve got your armor on. Personally, I suggest you go with Frost Armor when doing your AoE. Once you hit level 40 you will also have Ice Barrier, and I suggest you cast that as well as it will absorb most of the blows you take while pulling.

Once you’ve got your armor on and your mana’s up, then go ahead and start your pull.

Step 1: Pull There are various method of pulling mobs, but with mounts now available at level 20, which also happens to be when you get your AoE spell, Blizzard, the good old fashion Body Pull method is going to be your best bet. It’s not your only option, but it will generally be the best one you’ve got. So jump on your mount and run near all of the mobs that you want to AoE and allow yourself to draw agro simply by moving within their agro range. There are other methods that you can use depending on your situation which include casting a single Frostbolt on multiple mobs that are spread out, using Polymorph on a central mob and then pulling the others to it, and several others. Once you get into your 60’s you’ll have Ice Lance which is great for pulling, but otherwise stick to the body pulls.

Step 2: Corral For you city folks, you might note that corralling is basically the same thing as gathering up or grouping together, so that’s what you’re doing here if you aren’t familiar with the term. You need to gather up all of the mobs that you’ve pulled and get them bunched up together so that your Frost Nova will hit all of them.

This isn’t necessarily done by casting a spell so much as simply by running around towards or through the mobs that you’re pulling so that they all move closer together. The easiest way to corral the mobs does involve casting a spell, and that spell is Ice Block. I don’t use the method very often myself because I’m proficient in corralling as part of my pulling, but if you have a hard time doing it then just cast your Ice Block and go with that. By using Ice Block you make yourself immune to everything and the mobs will all run up to melee your block of ice until the spell wears off or you cancel it.

I suggest you practice corralling as part of your pulling, which is simply moving around so that the mobs get closer together, rather than relying on Ice Block as it has a cooldown that is far too long to rely upon it for every pull.

Call this step whatever you want to help you remember it. When I talked about AoE with a Paladin I didn’t bother including a Corral step because the paladin doesn’t give a crap where you are so long as you’re close to him. A Mage though, needs all of the mobs close together and he needs them there at the same time. So, I’m adding a step here that didn’t exist for the Paladin to help emphasize that point.

Step 3: Freeze The next thing on your list is to freeze the mobs in place. Your most reliable method of doing this is going to be by casting Frost Nova. It is possible to freeze them all with Cone of Cold if you put your talent points in Frostbite like I told you to, but I certainly wouldn’t rely on that. Stick with Frost Nova as it’s going to work every time so long as it hits.

As you get higher in levels you will get talent points that increase your critical hit chance, and your critical hit damage while your targets are frozen, which makes this all go a whole lot faster and smoother. But, the main reason for freezing them in place is so that you can get your distance and then cast Blizzard to hit them all at once so that you’re not wasting mana or time.

Step 4: Distance The next item of business is to put some distance between yourself and the mobs. You can do this one of two ways: cast Blink, or run. Personally, I just run a short distance and then call it good. Some people find that casting Blink is the way to go, but I disagree. The only time I use Blink instead of just running is when I am either Dazed, Stunned, or Rooted by the mobs that I am pulling. If none of those three things are happening, then I simply run and call it good.

There are a few flaws in using Blink that keep it from being my chosen method. You can accidentally blink into other mobs causing you to over pull, you can Blink over a glitched section of ground so that you basically waste the spell as you gain little or no distance at all, you can Blink into a glitch that causes you to fall through the world and die, or you can Blink out of the range of Blizzard causing you to run back towards them and waste whatever time you might have saved otherwise. I thought that Blizzard had fixed the glitches that send you falling through the world, but it happened to me last week in Redridge, so I know it’s still possible.

Step 5: Blizzard The spell, not the company. With your enemies safely frozen in a nice little corral of their soon-to-be death, cast Blizzard and let destruction rain (snow?) down upon your enemies. When you cast Blizzard make sure you put the far edge of the spell’s area as close to you as possible. In other words, try to leave as much of the spell’s area that isn’t on the mobs closer to you so that if the mobs break out of their freeze they still have to run through your Blizzard to get to you.

If you have taken Frostbite and Improved Blizzard then each time your Blizzard hits them it has a chance to freeze them again as well. Sometimes a mob will manage to escape your Blizzard without being frozen again (and again, and again), but even though you only have a 15% chance to freeze them from Frostbite, each spike from Blizzard has a chance to trigger that 15% chance so it happens a lot more than you would expect from such a small number. But, since it is a chance rather than a guarantee you never know how it might turn out.

Step 6: Clean Up Clean Up is where you have to make a decision and why a set rotation doesn’t actually exist. This is where you have to make a judgement call based on the situation.

If you still have multiple mobs that are still alive and they are not close to dying, then you either want to repeat Step 5 by casting another Blizzard, or go back to Step 3 and try to refreeze them if your Frost Nova is not on cool down.

If you have multiple mobs that are close to dying then I generally suggest you finish them off with Cone(s) of Cold or Arcane Explosion(s). Because of the extra benefits of your Frost talents I would generally suggest you use Cone of Cold for this if you know you can catch them all in it’s area, but if not then go ahead and use Arcane Explosion instead. You have more potential benefit from using CoC, but AE is the safer route if you’d rather do that for getting started.

Visual Representation
Rather than going with specific examples as I did with the Paladin series, I’m going to give you a bit more visual look at how things are done. Some of my other fellow bloggers have picked up this method, so I figured I would give it a shot myself to see how well it works for me.

Pull (a body pull using a mount)

Corral (grouping the mobs simply by positioning yourself in a central area)

Freeze (using Frost Nova, or a Water Elemental’s Freeze spell)

Distance (by running, or casting Blink)

Blizzard (there’s only one Blizzard, ladies and gents – only one)

Clean Up (Arcane Explosion in this case, Cone of Cold or other spells work too)

I morse på tunnelbanan var det ganska fullt. En dam som satt ner tittade på mig lite menande och frågade:
- Vill du sitta ner?
Min första tanke: Pratar hon med mig? …Aha, just det, jag är ju gravid och nu betyder det här att magen syns ganska tydlig även genom jackan. Jag som mest trodde jag såg ut som en tjockis med smala utstickande ben.
- Nej då, det är ingen fara! Svarade jag.
Killen som sitter bredvid tanten hajjar till, jag antar eftersom jag inte låter som en gammal dam vilket han måste ha trott först. Han tittar till och så ner på magen. – Ok, jag fattar, ser jag att han tänker.

Om det inte regnar i morgon så cyklar jag istället. Haha

Neerah, as Ionee, glided through the music and watched as the colors shifted from the pleasant rainbow of blues, greens and yellows, to the more strident reds and oranges causing the chords to become inharmonic.

“Oh, I do apologize, Ohna,” she offered the other Numinousen her regrets at ruining the composition.

“What is it that troubles you so?” Ohna sang as she allowed the other colors she had been holding to dissolve, fading back into the ether where she had gotten them from.

Ionee sighed, then plucked one of the crystal notes from its place and tried to shape it into a more pleasing sound and color. “I cannot decide whether to try being an Aurisen or not,” she put the note, which was now more golden, back with the others. “I have become of two minds. There is a part of me that longs to experience all things physical, yet there is another part of me that seeks not to experience these things.” She took several other notes out of the discordancy that displayed around them and turned them into starbursts.

“Why do you not simply become two Aurisens, then, if that is the way you feel?” Ohna scattered more blues and yellows into the composition. “For then you can experience both the world of the physical, but also remain apart from the physical, if you wish.”

Ionee flared blue, then white, then back to gold. “You are so wise, Ohna.”

Ohna shifted the composition from blues to greens and added several notes of purple. “I only propose what you already said,” Ohna trilled, pausing in her composing long enough to note Ionee’s improved mood.

“I must speak with Ryal, then, immediately, for I would participate in the upcoming ceremony,” Ionee tossed several emerald sparks into Ohna’s composition, before hurrying away.

* * *

It was the ceremony of Becoming. Those Numinousens who wished to experience physical life would gather together, and form themselves in a circle. The Numinousens who monitored and guided the newly physical beings would form a large circle around them. Then, at the appropriate moment, each of those wishing to try life as a corporeal being, would create a physical body. That body would then enter the Forest of Reflections on the planet of Danaria. In this form, they were referred to as Aurisens—a blending of Numinousen and physicality. Although, they wore a physical form, part of their essence would still show through, creating an all over golden aura. As Aurisens, they also retained all the knowledge gained as a Numinousen, which included their abilities to manipulate all energies existing within and between the physical plane and the ethereal plane.

While an Aurisen, they could dwell within the Forest of Reflections for as long as they wished, then when they wanted to return to the ethereal plane, they would simply deconstruct the physical shell they had created, and return to being a full Numinousen. The physical body was just another way in which they manipulated resonance. The body, a physical shell that could exist within the vibrational frequency of the physical plane, is what gave them the means by which they could then function and exist within the physical plane as a corporeal being. With the body they would have the ability to taste, touch, smell, and experience all the things within the physical plane. Without the body, their experience of the physical realm was limited, because Numinousens couldn’t experience physical reality. They could travel to and within the physical plane, but as a Numinousen, they didn’t have the ability to touch, taste, smell, or fully explore and take part in a physical life.

Becoming corporeal was not an easy decision for most Numinousens, so the majority of those that became Aurisens remained within the Forest of Reflections until they returned home to the ethereal plane. Occasionally, a Numinousen would become corporeal so that they could follow the Circle-of-Life path. Following the circle-of-life path was not something that most Numinousens or Aurisens took lightly, though. It normally required many choices and much planning before committing themselves to such a venture. There were a few Aurisens, though, that made no plans or gave it no thought, but simply involved themselves with man and his dramas. By doing so, they ended up committing themselves to the Circle-of-Life path whether they wanted to or not. Sometimes those along this type of path did fine, more often than not, though, the first few lives were very difficult, and the lessons exceedingly painful.

Ionee wasn’t thinking about any of this, though, as she floated into the inner circle being formed. Her mind was filled with joyous expectations. She had observed the physical world several times, and she had even visited there once—though without permission—when she was still a very young Numinousen. So, she was filled with unbridled anticipation, and laden with many second thoughts. It was the part of herself that had all the misgivings that she planned to separate from. As she tried to calm herself, she concentrated on grouping all those shades of trepidations and hesitations together, while holding onto her enthusiasms and joys. As her being alternated between these two vibrational frequencies, her golden essence began to flicker. Slowly at first, then faster until it appeared as if two Ionees were hovering there. When both beings were complete and distinct, the flickering stopped. Now there truly were two Ionees—one who couldn’t wait to go into the physical plane and try being a corporeal being, and one who wasn’t at all sure that becoming corporeal was a wise thing to do.

Looking around, the happy Ionee noted that several other Numinousens had also created a twin, so she knew that at least she wasn’t alone in her duality. Now, those going to the physical plane needed to create a body, so both Ionees began to do so. Soon, where two Numinousens had been, there were now two Aurisens. While most of those who had created twins had created bodies of the same gender, several had not, including Ionee. The happy Ionee had created a tall, lithe, blonde female form, while the hesitant Ionee had created an even taller, dark-haired, rather rugged male body.

The newly corporeal beings were guided to the Forest of Reflections where they were directed to meet with the other Aurisens who lived there so that they might gain some insights. However, once in the world, the blonde Ionee Aurisen was so fascinated by everything, that she merely stood and stared around her. The first thing that really caught her attention was a star streaking through the sky above. This was quickly followed by another, then two in rapid succession, then one more. Deciding that she would like to be named for this event she had just witnessed, she named herself Ionee of Starfall.

Most of you have probably seen this going around. It started as a healer Q&A  and was adjusted by Hine over at Death Goddess to get DPSers in on the fun. Some smart guy at That is Amazing (Wow)!  tagged me to give me something to do at work today. :p

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?

Karius, hawt arcane mage, sporting the standard 57/3/11 with a side of 51/0/20 for pvp

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

Mostly 10 man, although I typically at least get in 25-Ony each week and would do 25-VoA if the Alliance would ever freaking win Wintergrasp.

What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?

Nothing says sexy like missile barrage. And now it doesn’t even cost mana to cast!

What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?

Fireball hasn’t been used since I was level 54 and respecced arcane.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?

Arcane is all about the burst damage. You want it dead NOW? No problem.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?

Mana. I know I know .. it wouldn’t be a mage without mana, but really .. it’s not as bad as it used to be, but it still takes good mana management to get through certain fights and have enough. I think I’ve been OOM with pots/gems/evocate on cooldown at the end of Anub every time I’ve been in ToC.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?

DPS the boss. Sure, I can focus fire adds on Emalon, or snobolds, or whatever other adds you need me on, and I can AoE when necessary, but if you want Ony phase 2 to be over fast, let me stay on her.

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?

Lazer chicken aura is win. No complaints about having a shaman with their spell haste totem around, either. Any class that can bring the replenishment is good, too.

What tanking class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?

Probably warriors. It’s not that they are not good tanks, I know some excellent ones. But … if I run a heroic, I prefer a liesurely trip through the instance. Warriors are all like “but my rage bar is full NOW I have to go NOW while the whole bar is RED GO GO GO GO” …. I think warrior tanks are the reason I have not made a serious attempt to level a healer.

What is your worst habit as a dps?

Geez I dunno. Occasionally I will stand in something I shouldn’t because I’m concentrating too hard on pushing out as much damage as I can, but who doesn’t?

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?

People who do the same stupid things over and over and don’t learn. People who link damage meters over and over and brag about each new piece of gear they get. People who give up too easily. Two wipes on faction champs and you’re ready to call the raid? Seriously??

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?

Yeah, I think they’ve done a good job with the mage class. I wish more of the gear had haste on it instead of crit, but meh … minor complaint at best.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a damage dealer?

Recount. Did you know that if you click on your line there’s a whole pie chart and other cool information there on your personal statistics? Serious! It’s not just about damage done and overall DPS. It shows how many of each spell you cast, the average and max damage of each, how many misses, etc. I about cried the other day when recount showed that the arcane mage I ran a heroic with only cast 4 arcane blasts in the entire instance.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

AoE is what we do best. While it’s true that we are good at AoE (see recount for Ony, mages on whelps are crazy), our single target dps is among the best out there.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?

Depending on what class they played before, how to avoid being hit. More for soloing and pvp than group play but still, it’s important to understand how to use blink, frost nova, slow, sheep, and all the other skills mages have to keep things from beating on you. If you don’t think this is important for pve as well, see Faction Champs.  You can talk all you want about how squishy mages are, but I’m tellin ya … we have more tools for survival than most classes if you know how to use them.

Also, along with that last part … mages have to understand that we are NOT just there to provide dps. If you don’t decurse on Noth, the raid will die. If you don’t spellsteal that renew that Paletress casts on the Memory, it will get healed. If I hadn’t counterspelled the little guy on Iron Council the other day every time he stood in a Rune of Power, it would have been a wipe. Yes, leading the damage meters is fun, but knowing that I provided utility that would have made us unsuccessful if I hadn’t? That is priceless.

What dps class do you feel you understand least?

I think I’ve tried everything at least once up to level 15. I had a lock as my first caster, and she also became the first toon I deleted at 23. I want to try one of those again someday.  I never have quite gotten warrior, although I somehow made it to level 48. I have no idea what abilites rogues use in pve, I only know how to get destroyed by them in pvp.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?

I have the standard Omen, Recount, DBM, Decursive for raiding. I have Mik’s Scrolling Combat Text and Wardrobe and Random Companion for my mounts and pets. And some thing that puts map coordinates on my minimap. You’ve all seen my screenshots here … yes, it’s an ugly standard UI, but it works for me. I want to play the game, not dink around getting addons set up. I also have Gladius for arena. And some DKirunes I believe it’s called to make my DK’s runes show up better. Oh, and OmniCC. Yes, I know I should have Quartz, I keep forgetting. Oh yeah, and NPCScan to find rare mobs. Ok, I have more than I thought. :p

I have a few macros … nothing serious. I have one to sheep my focus. I have one on my counterspell button to stopcasting whatever I’m casting and cast counterspell RIGHT NAO. Same thing on my spellsteal button, my iceblock button, etc. That’s really it. I keybind almost everything. Exceptions are things like getting out a minipet, making portals, making mage tables, fishing … you know. Stuff that I can click on the sidebar because it’s mostly going to happen out of combat anyway.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

Spellpower to a point, then haste…assuming you are hit capped first of course. I think I have three iLevel 219 helms, so I’m using the one with haste instead of the ones with hit/crit. I still need more haste though.

Tag – You’re It

Um, let’s see. Nim already did the healery version, so maybe one of my other friends over at For The Horde can do the dps version for us. Aaaand …. Trout. I know he’s been extra busy lately, but maybe I can twist his arm.