Sunday 23 December 2012

Happy Winter Veil 2012

Happy Winter Veil from R&R!

I hope you have a lovely Winter Veil, and I hope you get lots of time to put your feet up and do some gaming or relax with your family!

Thank you all for being here this year <3

Ps. You may be able to tell that the lovely cinder kitty in the pic above was from Karegina, thanks very much! 

Monday 17 December 2012

Wow Secret Santa: Need Heals!

Do you remember how I posted a few weeks ago about Discopriest's Secret Santa? Well, after a long and rather hot day today, I got home to discover a parcel on the doorstep! Sproutling and I unpacked it and found all sorts of goodies from the awesome @noaidikins, thanks sooo much!

Firstly, there was a most delicious smell coming from the box - and in a shower of pretty leaves there was a snowman containing some bath bombs from Lush! I shall certainly be soaking my roots in those once I'm on holidays tomorrow!


Under all that was a box containing some gingerbread men in need of healing! Judging by the colours, there was an attack on a bunch of monks, warlocks and paladins.



Sproutling and I got stuck into those right away.



Thank you so much @noaidikins, and thanks to Liala for organising the whole event.

If you're interested to see what goodies I made for my Secret Santee, Cymre, check out her post about it at Bubbles of Mischief!

Friday 7 December 2012

The Daily Grind: Rep Priorities



Dailies - love them or hate them, they're an integral part of the Wow end-game these days. What I'm finding in Pandaria as opposed to previous expansions and content patches is that the sheer number of daily quests available is really quite overwhelming, especially for a casual player.

**Updated for patch 5.2, March 5**

I dinged 90 on Aoifen the other night, so it was time to ask the rather bewildering question - what next?


Goal setting

My goal is to heal heroics and eventually LFR raids on Aoifen. To do that I need a plan to upgrade my gear a little.

The first thing I did after dinging 90 was go to the AH and drop some gold on a set of Contender's Wyrmhide PvP gear to (hopefully) make me slightly less squishy while being ganked doing dailies. The joys of PvP realms, eh?

I'd like a few more pieces of healing kit before I go into heroics - the PvP gear is better than my quest greens but it has no spirit or haste and isn't really meant for PvE healing.

On average, I'm getting roughly 8 hours play time a week. Last night it took me two hours to complete my farming (on all toons), Tillers dailies and Golden Lotus dailies, and I only did the ones at the Golden Gate. So, what to do? The only thing I can do, as always for those with limited playtime, is to prioritise.

Let's take a look at the Pandarian factions to evaluate their reputation-based gear and other rewards.

If you'd like to know more about Resto gear or Balance gear, my full lists may help.

Justice Point Gear

Justice point gear no longer requires an honored reputation. Almost everything except the new Operation: Shieldwall and Dominance Offensive trinkets can be purchased from Quartermasters in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and from Commander Lo Ping at Niuzao Temple:

Faction gear and other rewards

Golden Lotus
Need to get to Revered to unlock August Celestials and Shado-Pan dailies.
HonoredLeven's Circle of Hope
Revered: Whitepetal Shouldergarb, Mistfall Robes
Exalted: Riding Crane mounts

Klaxxi
Honored: Links of the Lucid
Revered: Klaxxi Lash of the Harbinger, Wind-Reaver Greaves
Exalted: Amber Spine of Klaxxi'vess, Reins of the Amber Scorpion (mount)

Shado-Pan
HonoredSagewhisper's Wrap
Revered: Snowdrift Helm, Scroll of Revered Ancestors
Exalted: Shado-pan Riding Tiger mounts

August Celestials
HonoredClever Ashyo's Wristbands
Revered: Boots of the High Adept, Ogo's Elder Gloves
Exalted: Reins of the Thundering August Cloud Serpent (mount)

Operation: Shieldwall (Alliance) / Dominance Offensive (Horde)
(new factions added in patch 5.1)
HonoredBand of the Shieldwall (Alliance)/Dominator's Band (Horde) or
Loop of the Shieldwall (Alliance)/Dominator's Loop (Horde)
ReveredStatue Summoner's Treads (Alliance)/Treads of Rejuvenating Mists (Horde)
Soothing Straps (Alliance)/Bambrick's Striking Strap (Horde)
Shock-Charger Medallion (Alliance)/Static-Caster's Medallion (Horde)
Heartwarmer Medallion (Alliance)/Cutstitcher Medallion (Horde)
Exalted: Grand Armored Gryphon/Grand Armored Wyvern mounts

Shado-Pan Assault **New in 5.2**
Neutral: Mender's Battletags
Friendly: Hearthfire ArmwrapsSoothing Talisman of the Shado-Pan AssaultRing of the Shado-Pan Assault  or Signet of the Shado-Pan Assault
Honored: Dreamweaver DrapeGloves of Enduring RenewalTrousers of Waning Shadow
Revered: Raiment of Silent Stars , Martiean's Splitleaf Girdle
Exalted: Heartroot Shoulderguards


Tillers
Revered: The ability to grow consumables of all sorts on the farm, eg. Motes of Harmony, herbs, ore etc.
Exalted: Black Riding Goat mounts

Order of the Cloud Serpent
Exalted: Cloud Serpent mounts

Lorewalkers
Exalted: Flying Cloud mount

 

Priorities

So, what to work on first? Aoifen is already Honored with the Klaxxi and almost Honored with the Shado Pan through quest lines in Townlong and Dread Wastes. I don't think it's worth finishing the quest lines just for the rep, since I wouldn't be getting Valor Points at the same time. I may finish them for story purposes in any case!

I think it will be important to get Golden Lotus to Revered first, then see what needs upgrading from that point on. I'll probably only work on one set of dailies a session to keep my sanity a little. It's going to take me a while, but I'll get there.

Did you have a plan in mind for attacking dailies? Do you have any advice for a new 90?