The Owls ding 80 - then proceed to get annihilated in arena

[Owltoid]

Owltoid, Weirdowl, and Owlive hit the magic 80 last night. Boy, that felt good. I was able to get a nice chunk of experience by doing the WotLK version of Ring of Blood in Zul'Drak. After one hit 80 I started removing them from group and tagging with those who still needed to ding. Weirdowl was the last to hit 80 and did it by farming a fast respawning 76 elite that he would tag and all three would demolish.

After hitting 80 and playing with my talents a bit I headed off to BGs with some friends. It was actually alot of fun. Alliance loses 80% of the time in Dalaran's BG and I'm happy to say that with the three owls and my two friends we turned the tide in two ABs. Having all cooldowns up for 3x starfall and 9x treants with a pally healer to keep you up was enough to overtake nearly any node that was in contention.

My friends logged off and I created the long awaited 3v3 arena team "Curiously Strong". I may rename Weirdowl and Owlive to versions of Owltoid for the entire Altoid theme, but I doubt I'll actually make the effort.

Arena was eye opening. Yes, I only have 11k health, mostly cloth gear, and I'm horrible at 3v3 when multiboxing. Even with knowing all that I was still surprised how quickly I died. One rogue can take down all three moonkins in about 9 seconds. A pally can demolish all three before the bubble runs out. It was pretty incredible. This is not the arena I remember with my warrior Jugz who sailed to a 1950-1975 rating without too much trouble.

The nice part is that by the time I have the gear to give arena a solid shot they will hopefully have had at least one balancing patch. I know I just need to be patient. Although I did go a solid 0-10 last night, I was able to kill one dude... hellz yeah! Small victories (that's one guy in one match... so 1/30).

Congrats to those who got easy points off of me. Even though I'm at a disgusting 1350 rating, there's not much more to go down but a whole lot of room to go up! At least BGs is still fun, even with crappy gear. I can hear them cursing MB now when three stealthed druids attack the lone defender. Even though they have double the health of me, and likely double the offensive power, I have 3x which is still greater than a geared one!

[Caspian]

Have you looked at the craftable resil gear? it is not the best for sure but it will get some resil and you should end up with a lot more HP and decent SP. It is also fairly cheap to make, and usually even cheaper to buy because people make it to level their LW? It is a good starting point I think.

[Owltoid]

Have you looked at the craftable resil gear? it is not the best for sure but it will get some resil and you should end up with a lot more HP and decent SP. It is also fairly cheap to make, and usually even cheaper to buy because people make it to level their LW? It is a good starting point I think.

Honestly I've been so busy leveling and trying to tweak multiboxing parameters that I have absolutely no idea what gear is available. I'll definitely look into that! I have about 8.5k gold saved up. Originally I thought I'd get three epic flight forms, but since I already have tons of dropped follows I'm not sure epic flying would even work for me.

Thanks for the advice!

[puppychow]

definitely get epic flying, there is an insane amount of gold to be made doing quests in all the zones plus dailies (Sons of Hodir, Icecrown, etc) and without a epic flyer you will be tearing your hair out. There are a few spots where you have to basically wait a few seconds for everyone to "phase" back and then refollow, and its especially bad inside Icecrown, but I run 5x team and all have epic flyers and while I yell at the screen daily due to phasing, I don't lose anyone in the zones without phasing (Howling, Sholozar, Dragon, Grizzly, Gundark, Borean).

[Owltoid]

definitely get epic flying, there is an insane amount of gold to be made doing quests in all the zones plus dailies (Sons of Hodir, Icecrown, etc) and without a epic flyer you will be tearing your hair out. There are a few spots where you have to basically wait a few seconds for everyone to "phase" back and then refollow, and its especially bad inside Icecrown, but I run 5x team and all have epic flyers and while I yell at the screen daily due to phasing, I don't lose anyone in the zones without phasing (Howling, Sholozar, Dragon, Grizzly, Gundark, Borean).

I'm debating whether I should take the 8.5k gold and try to powerlevel JC on all three toons just enough to be able to do the daily. I'm not sure how much the dragon eyes go for on Dalaran, and I'm also not sure if they current high prices will continue into the future. It's an odd feeling not knowing anything about level 80. At level 70, since I only had to concentrate on one toon I knew exactly what I wanted as soon as I dinged in BC. Now I just feel a bit lost.

Hell, I don't even know if 8.5k gold would be enough to get all three druids up in JC high enough to do the daily JC quest.

[genocyde]

Arena is indeed nuts right now. You want to see quick deaths tho.. find your way into 5v5. I went in with my PvP team (moonkin,3xmage,priest).

The worst match I've had so far.... I started a Prayer of Healing on my priest; According to my combat log my priest was the last to die... that cast did not finish. They aoe'd my whole team of 5 in under 2 seconds.
I think their team was something like hunter hunter moonkin mage 4 dps team with a priest healer. Granted hunters AOE Volley is ridiculously overpowered right now but the strat was insane.

It was the map with the two elevators and their priest threw out his 10 second 30 yd aoe stun (divine hymn) and stunned my whole team before the match even started. I trinketed my priest and immediately hit my PoH out of sheer terror that I was under attack before the match started; I could not even SEE the other team yet. The gates dropped and so did I x5 in under 2 seconds... I did not enter another match that week. I just queued and let it expire 9 times and went back to heroics.

So far I am 0-20 in arena. I was able to get off one good game so far. I hit a DPS toon with 3x PoM Pyroblast followed by 3x fireblast with the moonkin spamming moonfire.... 55k dmg almost simultaneously (pyro has travel time fireblast does not) in 2 casts worth of combat.... He lived. I have yet to kill an opponent in 5v5 and all my toons are over 400 resil and good overall gear set.

My hat is off to you for your successful kill!!!! :thumbsup:

[Dominian]

11k is insanly low!

Im at 16k and i still feel that i barley have hp.

[homerjunior]

I sit at 24k on my DK 5v5 buffed my clothie teammates are on 18-21k

[Multibocks]

definitely get epic flying, there is an insane amount of gold to be made doing quests in all the zones plus dailies (Sons of Hodir, Icecrown, etc) and without a epic flyer you will be tearing your hair out. There are a few spots where you have to basically wait a few seconds for everyone to "phase" back and then refollow, and its especially bad inside Icecrown, but I run 5x team and all have epic flyers and while I yell at the screen daily due to phasing, I don't lose anyone in the zones without phasing (Howling, Sholozar, Dragon, Grizzly, Gundark, Borean).

I'm debating whether I should take the 8.5k gold and try to powerlevel JC on all three toons just enough to be able to do the daily. I'm not sure how much the dragon eyes go for on Dalaran, and I'm also not sure if they current high prices will continue into the future. It's an odd feeling not knowing anything about level 80. At level 70, since I only had to concentrate on one toon I knew exactly what I wanted as soon as I dinged in BC. Now I just feel a bit lost.

Hell, I don't even know if 8.5k gold would be enough to get all three druids up in JC high enough to do the daily JC quest.
They are going to go down in value since JC is getting a combine that can produce Dragon's Eye, Sure it costs a frozen orb, but I am swimming in those right now.

[Owltoid]

Thanks for the heads up. I won't be powerleveling JC then

[Bovidae]

Im at 600 resil, 16k hp and at 1200 rating but still manage to barely get two casts (FS+LvB) off before being AOEd down. Somehow, I've managed to get 2-28 record, amazing.

AOE stun/silence, spell imunity, BUBBLES, forget it, just go in, die, repeatX10, collect your 200 arena points

[Stabface]

It's faster to just let the queue expire and go 0-10 that way.

I have almost 22K HP and 620 resil on my Warlock and it's better than I used to be, but I still die in 3-4 GCD's to a single rogue/paladin/dk.

[Siaea]

It's faster to just let the queue expire and go 0-10 that way.I've never arena'd (solo or boxing). Do you still get points that way?

I've been throwing around the idea of trying it, I have a DK and 4 Shammy team. All 4 shammies are decked out with the Titansteel Guardian and an epic spellpower shield I found on AH (Zom's Crackling Bulwark i think it's called). Do any of you think that's a viable team for 5s? The shaman are elemental and the DK is Unholy with a mix of frost and blood for the tanking stats. Dk has 23k health, shammies I think are sitting around 12k with about 1400 spellpower with flametongue. None have resilienc much in resilience. To be honest, my dk hasn't seen a single bg, and the shammies haven't been in since level 70.

[homerjunior]

definitely get epic flying, there is an insane amount of gold to be made doing quests in all the zones plus dailies (Sons of Hodir, Icecrown, etc) and without a epic flyer you will be tearing your hair out. There are a few spots where you have to basically wait a few seconds for everyone to "phase" back and then refollow, and its especially bad inside Icecrown, but I run 5x team and all have epic flyers and while I yell at the screen daily due to phasing, I don't lose anyone in the zones without phasing (Howling, Sholozar, Dragon, Grizzly, Gundark, Borean).

I'm debating whether I should take the 8.5k gold and try to powerlevel JC on all three toons just enough to be able to do the daily. I'm not sure how much the dragon eyes go for on Dalaran, and I'm also not sure if they current high prices will continue into the future. It's an odd feeling not knowing anything about level 80. At level 70, since I only had to concentrate on one toon I knew exactly what I wanted as soon as I dinged in BC. Now I just feel a bit lost.

Hell, I don't even know if 8.5k gold would be enough to get all three druids up in JC high enough to do the daily JC quest.
They are going to go down in value since JC is getting a combine that can produce Dragon's Eye, Sure it costs a frozen orb, but I am swimming in those right now.It is a 20 hour CD and also only a chance of getting one, That's like saying the Dragon's Eye prices would drop over damaged necklace's they should stay the same

[Perrigrin]

Im at 600 resil, 16k hp and at 1200 rating but still manage to barely get two casts (FS+LvB) off before being AOEd down. Somehow, I've managed to get 2-28 record, amazing.

AOE stun/silence, spell imunity, BUBBLES, forget it, just go in, die, repeatX10, collect your 200 arena pointsIs it worth doing that? All the arena gear I saw on the merchant (haven't bothered checking the web :P) has minimum rating requirements - So the old 10 loss gain a little aint worth it these days?

[Perrigrin]

Yes - You get points even for 10 losses.

As for being worth it, you will probably be dead in less than 30 seconds in most games - And lucky if you get a single kill - That's how it goes for my pal+4 sham team, although in worse gear than you have.


It's faster to just let the queue expire and go 0-10 that way.I've never arena'd (solo or boxing). Do you still get points that way?

I've been throwing around the idea of trying it, I have a DK and 4 Shammy team. All 4 shammies are decked out with the Titansteel Guardian and an epic spellpower shield I found on AH (Zom's Crackling Bulwark i think it's called). Do any of you think that's a viable team for 5s? The shaman are elemental and the DK is Unholy with a mix of frost and blood for the tanking stats. Dk has 23k health, shammies I think are sitting around 12k with about 1400 spellpower with flametongue. None have resilienc much in resilience. To be honest, my dk hasn't seen a single bg, and the shammies haven't been in since level 70.

[larifari]

^^i m glad if i kill one or two :), but still 0-10 in my third week ( 4 Shamans, 1 Pala ). But my pala is still tankskilled- i don´t know if i should buy healer or damage gear...i don´t think i can heal anything, right konw my toons die much too fast.
Blizzard made the melees much too strong- normaly they should get great damage only with highend gear. My goal is 1520 in season one ;)

[Owltoid]

Have you looked at the craftable resil gear? it is not the best for sure but it will get some resil and you should end up with a lot more HP and decent SP. It is also fairly cheap to make, and usually even cheaper to buy because people make it to level their LW? It is a good starting point I think.I took a look at thottbot last night and I found lvl 78 craftable gear. Is this the stuff you're talking about? If so, then I'm wondering if it would be worth power leveling a druid to get their LW high enough and then make it all myself. Since I need 3x a full set it seems like I could get quite a few skill points for stuff I can actually use.

[Caspian]

Have you looked at the craftable resil gear? it is not the best for sure but it will get some resil and you should end up with a lot more HP and decent SP. It is also fairly cheap to make, and usually even cheaper to buy because people make it to level their LW? It is a good starting point I think.I took a look at thottbot last night and I found lvl 78 craftable gear. Is this the stuff you're talking about? If so, then I'm wondering if it would be worth power leveling a druid to get their LW high enough and then make it all myself. Since I need 3x a full set it seems like I could get quite a few skill points for stuff I can actually use.That is the stuff I was talking about. It isn't great but it is a reasonable starting point for a fresh 80.

I don't think LW is that hard to power level but that is your call. I personally would want to farm as much of the leather as possible because the mid level leather is crazy expensive on my server (heavy thick and rugged). Skinning is by far the fastest profession to level though so it wouldn't be too bad. All the crafting professions now have pretty decent things to make for themselves (BoP). The LW one is Embossing I believe.

Having it made you could be in arena tonight. Doing it ourself you could be in by the end of the weekend and have the ability to make some PvE gear as well as the leg enchants which seem to sell well.

Edit
Well maybe not that fast - for your 3 guys it is
1512 Borean leather (252 Heavy leather) and 24 eternal water to make the set http://www.wowhead.com/?search=overcast

Plus the recipes cost 3 heavy Borean leather each from the vendor for 24 more or another 144 Borean leather.

I think it would be easier to buy the mats and have it crafted or look for it on the AH, at least with the prices on Uther.

[emesis]

I agree; unless you're a profession nut (like me), far better to buy the craftable directly off the AH, or just the mats, then level LWing. Farming just doesn't scale the way dailies/quests do. Although you can kill tons of mobs, you still end up mob starved with more than 2 toons relative to how much you _could_ kill, plus you still have to loot/skin 'em all one at a time.

Most of the level 78 LW blues take about 10 borean heavy leather and 1 eternal water, that's no more than 40g in mats in the Bonechewer AH, or 3 level 80 dailies (10 minutes?) on a single toon. Pretty easy to find someone to craft em for free if they are skilling up, or for a modest crafting fee. Should be able to afford the whole set in a couple hours of dailies or quests at level 80.

[Ualaa]

Losing 10 games a week, still earns you some points.
Until you're geared or skilled enough to win some games, or until arena is more balanced away from everyone bursting insanely quick, points about the only commodity that makes arena worthwhile.

Sure, you'll eventually need a rating of "xx" to get your gear, but at least you'll have a lot of points to spend.
If you're fairly certain you're undergeared and will be losing anyway, the queue and don't enter is faster and still gets you the points.

[Stabface]

I've found you can often buy the crafted blues for less than mat cost, since people are skilling up by making them and just dump it on the AH. Might change next patch with Dream Shards going up in price but we'll see...

[BobGnarly]

On JCing. I'm not sure I'd PL it up just to make cash. I'm already seeing a huge decrease in demand for the eyes (boy did I milk that early on ;b), and the market for desirable cuts is starting to get pretty crowded. Maybe your server is diff, check the AH, but it's starting to saturate here. And it's pretty expensive to level because you need a lot of pre-BC gems that aren't very plentiful any more (which means that even if you can find them on AH, they cost TONs).

Having said that, I am going to PL my main (a mage) in JC. It's gonna cost me, but I just think it's the best profession all around now. There will always be a little money in it and the self-only stuff is pretty good. Tailoring has really left me flat to be honest.

Leatherworking isn't hard to PL, but boy does it cost. You need a LOT of thick and rugged leather, and much like the JC gems, the few people who are producing it definitely know what they want for it. I wouldn't recommend leveling it if your only reason is to make some gear. Just find a LW and make a deal since you'll be wanting quite a bit.

[puppychow]

Also another reason why its really a good idea to have mining, skinning, herbalism on characters when you START your team, and level it as you level up. I have every prof except BS/eng at nearly max level and its hardly cost me anything since I gather all the mats as I level, and I powerlevel profs every time my bags get full. Its great, since I can make JC cuts myself, enchants, leg tailor patterns, LW patches, etc without having to find someone in trade or pay outrageous prices in the AH.

I actually regret not having a BS since eternal belt buckles are very nice to have, but paying 40-60g per one in the AH isn't too bad every time I upgrade.

[Owltoid]

I'm a little burned out after leveling to 80 and am currently just trying to maximize my fun until I'm ready to start grinding in some fashion. So, my bank is just supporting repair bills and small purchases for the time being. I'm not doing dailys (even though I know I'll need my shoulder rep) and instead just doing some BGs and instances with friends. I doubt I'll eat away my gold too quickly and I'm sure I'll be ready to start grinding in a week or two.