Ding, 85! It didn’t take much effort yesterday to cruise to 85. I had barely begun to quest in Twilight Highlands before I hit the 85 mark, and I went straight back to Stormwind to start my gearing process.
Now begins the fun of daily dungeons, reputation farming, and profession building. Congrats to all the 85s before me, and congrats to all of you who will hit 85 in the near future!
Oh Obsidium, Where Art Thou?
Khor is a Blacksmith and Miner, and I immediately went to level blacksmithing as soon as I hit 85. My bank was full of ore (mostly Elementium), and I was going to try to powerlevel my way through to 525. Only, I came up severely short on Obsidium. I had gathered 8 stacks while leveling, as compared to the 40+ of Elementium. Traveling back to Mount Hyjal, I gathered an additional 4 stacks in a little over an hour. A long way to go…
AoE vs CC in Dungeons
The AoE debate rocks back and forth, and I am beginning to see a much clearer picture in terms of what Blizzard’s intention for AoE damage is. I’m not ready to post up everything yet, but I am close. After tackling a long, grueling Halls of Origination, CC (creature control, ex: sheep, repentance) was prominent, and I suggest every Ret Paladin start getting into a habit of CCing without being instructed.
Most tanks are not going to sit and hold your hand by giving detailed CC instructions, so be prepared to CC every pull. Figure out what other CC classes are present, and if you see them lining up in line with one mob, line yourself up in front of the other. Some tanks will mark for CC, and others won’t, so anticipate either scenario.
Reforging at 85
Reforging at 85 is something you are going to want to do pretty quickly as a Ret Paladin. However, I recommend reforging only those pieces which you plan on being around awhile, which for me means rare gear and up. So far, every piece that has had Mastery has had that stat reforged into hit rating. I am piling up the hit, and still only sitting at around 6% or so. Part of me thinks I will eventually be reforging haste to hit or expertise, at least in the beginning.
Auction House Prices
We are still in our first week of Cataclysm, and everything new in Cataclysm that has been placed in the Auction House is ridiculously overpriced. Far more so than I have ever seen in any expansion. My advice is to hold off on buying AH mats and gear for at least one more week, then see where the prices go as more players hit 85. Farm for your profession materials, and run those instances for a few weeks, then maybe we can return to the AH for some better deals.
Be Mindful of What Role You Queue For
In the beginning stages of Cataclysm, every single person is looking for gear upgrades. Bottom line: If you queue as DPS, only roll on DPS gear unless someone else doesn’t want and off-spec piece. If you queue as a tank, only roll on tank gear.
If you queue as DPS, and the tank is a plate wearer too, and you see him rolling Need on the first DPS piece you see, then all is fair in greed and war. If he or she rolls on your DPS piece, then feel free to do the same to him on tank gear. I know that’s punk, but if they are using quick tank queues to roll on DPS loot too, instead of sitting in the 25-minute queues normal DPS have to sit through, then stick it to them. You can be polite about it, but I am of the stance of not letting players abuse the queue system in these early phases where everyone needs gear.
DPS at 85 is MUCH Better
For whatever reason, hitting the level 85 plateau has made me tougher and hit harder. Maybe it is the better gear, but I am having much better 5-man DPS numbers, and questing and daily questing has become much, much easier.
Holding Off on Enchants
I’m not raiding tomorrow, so I don’t need top-end enchants just yet. Since Khor isn’t an enchanter, and my guild enchanters aren’t always available, I have to resort to the AH for enchants…which needless to say, are way overpriced. I am very comfortable using cheaper enchants (ex. haste on boots instead of hit, which was 9g to 190g comparatively). Prices and mats will go down, so don’t feel the need to rush to enchant everything to BiS just yet, unless your guild is already raiding.
After 85
Now the real work begins, and I have a ton to research. See you guys on the flip side!
Regarding the DPS, i kind of disagree. we are still the minority when it comes to DPS..
It’s possible nub. My experience is limited thus far, but my end-of-run DPS was anywhere from 5.5-7k, with boss fights yielding 7-8k. Now comparatively, no class had done more than me except a Mage who was hitting 11k on bosses, but 5k on trash.
My DPS was more constant, with rotating AW, Zealotry, and Inquisition throughout the entire dungeon, not just on bosses.
There will be more to come for sure, and as gear gets better, we will have a much clearer picture on where we stand.
I’m just satisfied that I was not experiencing the difficulties I had while leveling…this gives me some much needed hope 🙂
Hey Khor, just popin in to say grats on the 85.
I noticed you mentioned to hold off on buying mats for gear from the ah for a week or so. in the mean time (for those who dont know) there is a raid level epic sword you can get through archeolgy to pass the time. just thought id drop a little heads up.
It seems to be a standoff Khor mats for Bsing and Mining suck heroics are hard to get into and gear is dumb to get faction gear is nice and im think im gunna run random normals and get rep till i hit better gear Obsidion sucks to get and fishing as well
Dps is average/good, but aoe is still ridiculous. Aoe – i done about 5-8k dps DeathKnight 14-18k. Boss – i done 8,5-11k and same +- dps another guys
I’m having alot of trouble keeping up with AoE dps, my boss dps is great though
I assume the obsidium ore is in the AH making a fortune hehe. I’m noticing pulling ahead on most classes for dps after 10 seconds or so, ramp up for boses is nuts. BTW I love Guardian of Ancient Kings!
Yeah i kind of notice too. But man sometimes its discouraging to see our dps being so top and now low. but anyhow i enjoy reading your blogs. I will update you as well with my paladins situation.
Regarding the leveling, we actually went by very smooth. The our heals.LoY,Divine Protection really made a big diff at some difficult situations.
Anyhow, i will be farming Valor points soon and such. Keep updating!!
I feel our DPS has gotten a skyrocket, especially on bosses. It takes a bit to ramp up because you want Inquisition up before you pop wing, ect. but after you get it up once (and try not to let it fall off) dps rocks. I would often be top or 2nd on the charts and thats with a PvP Ret Spec.
On a related note to CCs. Don’t forget that we have a kick no (its called rebuke or something but I just remember it as kick). From a tank perspective, I’ve noticed that I take the most dmg from cast spells. SO do your group a favor and kick a caster.
Grats on 85 Khor.
I queue as a tank for a faster queue AND I roll on Ret gear. My main spec is Ret and I need to gear that up for raiding. I could wait for the queues, sure, but that doesn’t help me OR the dps that I end up with in my group.
I start every dungeon by making it clear that I intend to roll on dps gear for my main spec. If dps doesn’t like that, they can leave and wait another hour. I’ll have another dps within seconds. They won’t have such luck.
On the same token, I have no problem with the DPS rolling on tank gear. Blizzard introduced the dual-spec mechanic and I pretty much expect that every toon is gearing up two specs. I use both of mine extensively, and I realize that others do the same.
I think the mentality of “only roll on what you queued as” is both short-sighted and unfortunate. It prevents tanks from queuing, which is detrimental to everyone. More tanks have to queue so that people can do dungeons faster. If people aren’t going to respect the fact that I’m willing to “take one for the team” and tank, then I’ve got no use for them.
I think that offspec in dungeons is whatever you are not queued as and might be different from what you actually do outside your raid or guild. Anyway I think that the correct way to handle this is that whoever needs the upgrade more should get the piece, after all we are there because we need to improve. If the piece is going to give me 1% more DPS and the other guy is going to improve 3% I give them the gear because difference is significant.
@Lykaon: I don’t find particularly attractive the way you see the things although I admit that is a roll on luck and your warning level the playground. I just hope that you’re not as rude to DPSers as you are here because it might not be really necessary on dungeons but I have wiped on Raids because DPSers are not up to the needs of the raid and most tanks I know (Warriors and Druids) actually think that they are from royalty and DPSers are commoners.
@Xav: I apologize for coming off as rude. I don’t treat the DPS (or healers) rudely. I generally start out a group with “FYI, my main spec is Ret so I’ll be rolling on DPS gear as well.”
I don’t know actually say “if you don’t like it, you can leave” though I guess that’s implied.
I try to be nice and as respectful to people as I can, but it’s realy about economics. Tanks are in high demand and if you are willing to tank then you’re really doing everyone a favor. Though I never actually say that to people in a group, I certainly also rarely get any sort of acknolwedgement of *my sacrifice* either so the sword cuts both ways.
I don’t want to tank. I want to DPS. The mechanics of the game and the class role economy are such that I am much more valuable as a tank. Therefore, I can help everyone by biting the bullet and tanking. I feel like it’s a nice thing for me to do.
I’m not royalty for tanking. I’m not even a raiding tank. But I am doing something that a lot of people refuse to do. And my reward for that is that I am more valuable to the community as a whole. I didn’t create the mechanics of the game that have yielded this outcome, but I sure am going to take advantage of the mechanics the best I can. That’s what playing a game is all about, afterall.
tanks always roll on the dps gear, but cry if dps roll on tank gear, generally i dont roll on tank gear if im dpsing simple fact that i can tank but couldnt be bothered, also new to it and dont want to be the reason for failure lol means he should get it if he wants, that said if hes a dick and rolls on my dps gear ill roll o his tank gear even if i dont need it, attitude goes along way……. back on topic of dps my single target dps is good kinda dies inbtween CD’s but i cna do 11-12k with mostly blues, no heroics yet, but aoe is woeful, DS is pitiful, i loved topping the charts of icc trash when we had seal of command, and t10 bonus